The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1898-12-16

Ii is good thing 10 preach on sun
day morning, the people assembled in
most respectable attire and seated on
soft cushions. the preacher standing in
neatly upholstered pulpit surrounded
| by personal friends. and after an in
spring hymn has been sung, and that
sermon. if preached in faith. will do
good: but the most effective sermon is
preached by one seated in dressing
gown in an armchair into which the
invalid has with much care been Fitted,
the surrounding shelves filed with
medicine bottles, some TO produce
! sleep some for the relief of sudden
| paroxysm, some for Stimulant. some
for tonic. some for anodyne and some
FORTE brifuge. the pale preacher quot
ing promises of the Gospel. telling of
the glories of sympathetic Christ, as
suring the one or two or three persons
who hear 1t of the mighty reinforce
ments of religion. You say that to
such a sermon there are only one or
two or three hearers. Aye. but the
visitor calling at that room. then clos
ing the door softly and going away,
tells the story. and the whole neighbOr-
| hood hears it. and it will take all CtCrni-
| ~ to realize the grand ard uplifting
| influence of that sermon about God and
| the soul. though preached to an audi
cuce of only one man or one woman.
| The Lord has ordained all such in
vGIids for style of usefulness which
| athletics and men of 200 healthy aV-
J oirdupois cannot affect. 1t was not an
enemy that fastened you in that one
| room or sent you on crutches, the long
est journey you have made for many
weeks being from bed TO sofa and from
sofa to looking glass, where you are
shocked at the pallor of your own
cheek and the pinchedness of your fea-
lures; then back again from mirror 10
sofa and sofa to bed, with long sigh
saying: How good it feels TO set back
again to my old place on the pillow!
Rene mber who it is that appointed the
| day when for the first time in many
years you could not go to business and
who has kept a record of all the weary
| days and all the sleepless nights OF
your exile from the world. 0 weary
man! o feeble woman, it was the Lord
who shut you in! Do you remember
| that some of the noblest and best of
men have been prisoners? Ezekiel
| prisoner, jeremiah q prisoner, Paul a
| prisoner, St. John prisoner John
Bunyan a prisoner Though human
| hate seemed to have all TO do with them,
! really the Lord shut them in.
No doubt, while on that voyage. Noah
| and his three sons and all the four Ia
| dies of the antediluvian world often
| thought cf the bright hillsides and the
| green fields where they had walked
| and Of the homes where they had lived.
| They had had many years of expert
| ences. Noah was COO years old al the
| time of this convulsion of nature. He
had seen 600 springtimes, 600 sum-
mers. 600 autumns, 600 winters. We
are not told how old his wife was at
this wreck of earth and sky. The Bible
tells the age of great many men. but
cnly once gives woman's age. At
| one time it gives Adams age as 130
years, and Jared's age at 162 years, and
| Enoch's age as 365 years, and all up
and down the Bible it gives the age Of
men, but does not give the age of wom-
en-. Why? Because, I suppose, wom-
ans age is none of our business. But
all the men and women that tossed in
that oriental craft had lived long
enough to remember q great many of
the mercies and kindnesses of God. and
they could not blot out, and | think
they had no disposition to blot out the
memory of those brightnessses, though
now they were shut in. Neither should
the shut in of our time forget the bless
ings of the past. Have you been blind
for ten years? Thank God for the time
when you saw as clearly as any of us
can see, and let the pageant of all the
radiant landscapes and illumined skies
which you ever looked upon kindle
your rapturous gratitude. / do not see
RaphaeI's Madonna di San Sisto" in
the picture gallery of Dresden. nor
Rubens' Descent from the Cross" at
Antwerp, nor Michael Angeles Last
Judgment" on the ceiling of the vati-
can, nor Saint Sophia at Constantine
pie, nor the Parthenon on the Acrop-
oils, nor the Tai Mahal of India. But
shall I not thank God that ! have seen
them? Is it possible that such mid
night darkness shall ever blast my vi
sion that | cannot call them up again?
Perhaps you are SO deaf that you can
not hear the chirp of bird or solo of
cantatrice, or even organ in full diapa-
son, though you feel the foundations
tremble under it's majestic roll, or even
the thunderstorm that makes Mount
Washington echo. But are you not
grateful that once you could hear trill
andi chant and carol doxology?
Do you forget when in childhood you
danced and skipped because you were
so full of life you had not patience to
walk, and in after years you climbed
the mountains of Switzerland. putting
your alpenstock high up on glaciers
which few others ever dared and
jumped long reaches in competition,
and after walk of ten miles you came
in jocund as the morning? Oh, you
shut-ins! Thank God for vivid mem
ory of the times when you were free
as the chamois on the rocks, as the
eagle going straight for the sun. When
the rain pounded the roof of the ark.
the eight voyagers on that craft did
not forget the time when it gayly pat
tered in a summer shower. and when
the door of the ark shut to keep out the
tempest they did not forget the time
when the door of their home in Ar
menia was closed to keep out the spring
rains which came to fill the cups of lily
and honeysuckle and make all the trees
of the wood clap their hands.
Again, notice that during that 40
days of storm which rocked that ship
ON that universal ocean of Noah's time