The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1898-02-25
FOR ORDINARY PEOPLE.
Words Of encouragement for Un-
heralded Heroes.
Rev. DIR. TalmaSe Talks of the Religion of
tho Ordinary People The Advan-
tagcs OF IncOnsPicUousness
in Christian Work.

EN- of the world whose good deeds go
| unheralded. The text is:
| Salute Asyncritus, Phlcron, Hermas. Patro-
/ bas Hsrmes, PhilOlogus and Ju.ia.-Ronans
| xvi. I4-l5.
Matthew Henry, Albert Barnes, Adam
| Clark, Thomas Scott, and all the com
| neutatCrs pass by these verses without
/ any especial remark. The other 20
/ people mentioned IL the chapter We're
| distinguished for something, and were
| therefore discussed by the illustrious
! expositors; but nothing is said about
/ Asyncritus, Phle-On, Hermas, PatrO-
has, Hermes, PhiIologus and Julia.
Where were they born? No one
knows. When did they die? There is
no record of their decease. For what
were they distinguished? Absolutely
nothing. or the trait of character
would have been brought out by the
apostle. If they had been very intrep-
id. or opulent. or hirsutc, or musical
OF cadence. or Grass of style, or in any
wise anomalOuss that feature would
have been caught by the apostolic
camera. But they were good people,
because Paul sends to them his high
Christian regards. They were ordi-
nary people moving in ordinary sphere,
attending TO ordinary duty and meet
ing ordinary responsibilities.
What the world wants is religion
for ordinary people. If there be in
the United States 7O.OOO,OOO people,
there are certainly not more than
1.OO0,000 extraordinary; and there are
G9.OO0.OOO ordinary, and we do well to
turn our backs for q little while upon
the distinguished and conspicuous peO-
pie Of the Bible and consider in our
text the seven ordinary. We spend too
much of our time twisting garlands
for remarkables. and building thrones
for magnates, and sculpturing warriors
and apotheOsizing philanthropists.
The rank and file of the Lords sol
dicry need especial help.
Thevast majority ofpcople viii never
lead an army. viii never write state
constitution. viii never clectrify sen
ate. viii never make an important in
vention. viii never introduce a new
philosophy, will never decide the fate
of d nation. You do not expect to; you
do not want to. You viii not be a
Moses to lead a nation out of bondage.
You viii not be a Joshua to prOlOng
the daylight until you can shut five
kings In Ii cavern. You viii not be
st. John TO unrOlI an Apocalypse. You
will not be a Paul TO preside over an
apostolic college. You will not be a
Mary to mother a Christ. You will
more probably be Asyncritus, or Phle-
gon. or Icrmas, or PatrObaS, or Her
mes. or Phiiologus, or Julia.
Many of Won are women at the head
of households. Every morning you
plan for. the day. The culinary depart
ment of the household IS your domin-
ion. You decide all questions of diet.
All the sanitary regulations of your
house are under your supervision. To
regulate the food, and the apparel
and the habits and decide the thOus-
and questions of home life is a tax upon
brain and nerve and general health alb
solutelv appalling, if there be no Di-
vine alienation.
1t does not help yOu much to be told
that Elizabeth Fry did wonderful
things amid the criminals at Newgate.
1t does not help YOU much to be told
that Mrs. Judson was very brave among
the BOrucsian canuibals. 1t does not
help You very much to be told that
Florence Nightingale was very kind to
the wounded in the Crimea. 1t would
be better for me to tell you that the
Divine friend of Mary and Martha is
your friend. and that He sees all the
annOvances and disappointments and
abrasions and eNasPerations of an or
binary housekeeper from morn till
night. and from the first day of the
year until the last day of the year, and
at your call He is ready with help and
Reinforcement.
They who provide the food of the
world decide the health of the world.
You have only to 20 on some errand
amid the taverns and the hotels of the
United States and Great Britain to APP
preciate the fact that a vast multitude
Of the human race are slaughtered by
incompetent cookery. Though young
woman may have taken lessons in
music and may have taken lessons in
painting, and lessons in astronomy,
she Is not well educated unless she has
taken lessons in dough. They who de-
eide the apparel of the world and the
food OF the world decide the endurance
OF the world.
An minimizing mgn may consider it
q matter of little importance-the cares
of the household and the economics of
domestic lifc-but l tell YOU the earth
is strewn with the martyrs of kitchen
and nursery. The health-shattered
womanhood of America cries out for a
God who can help ordinary women in
the ordinary duties of housekeeping.
The wearing. grinding, unappreciated
work goGz on, but the same Christ who
stood on the bank of Galilee in the
early morning and kindled the fire and
had the fish already cleaned and broil-
ing when the sportsmen stepped ashore,
chilled and hungry. viii help every
other woman to prepare breakfast.
whether by her own hand or the hand
of her hired help. The God who
made indestructible eulogy of Han
nah. who made a coat for Sam
ueI. her son. and carried it to
the temple every year. will help every |
woman in preparing the family ward !
robe The God who opens the Bible |
with the story of Abraham's entertain !
Inent by the three angels on the plains /
of Namre viii help every woman to /
hospitality, however rare and embar- /
RAISING. 1t is high time that some of /
the attention we have been giving to |
the remarkable women of the Bible !
for their virtue, or their /
want OF it, or remarkable for their /
deeds-Deborah and Jezebel, and Hero |
dias and Alfalfa. and Dorcas and the |
NIarvs. excellent and abandoned-it is /
high time some of the attention we 4
have been giving to these conspicuous |
women of the Bible be given to Julia, I
an ordinary woman, amid ordinary cir /