The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1898-12-09

| tween udID dHu ldi II, VI AhS' NNH~N
| Sc bastian Erard was much of his time
| bent over this chorded and vibrating
triangle Snd was not satisfied until he
had given 1t compass of six octaves.
| from + to E with all the semitones, or
! that when King Saul was demented the
son of Jesse came before him and. put
ting his fingers among the charmed
strings OF the harp, played the devil out
! Of the crazed monarch. or that in
! Heaven there shall be harpers harping
with their harps. So you will not blame
me for opening the dark saying on the
Gospel harp:
| Your harps, ye trembling saints,
| Down from the willows take;
| Loud the praise OF love DIVINE
| Bid every string awake!
Interrogation third: Why did the
good God let sin or trouble come into
the world when He might have keps
them out? My reply is: He had good
reason. He had reasons that He has
| never given us. lie had reasons which
| He could no more make us understand
| in our finite state than the father start
| ing out on some great and elaborate en-
| terprise, could make the tWo-year-old
| child in its armchair comprehend it.
| One was to demonstrate what grandeur
] of character may be achieved on earth
| by conquering evil Had there been no
evil to conquer and no trouble TO con-
| sole, then this universe would never
have known an Abraham. or a Moses,
or a Joshua. or an Ezekiel, or a Paul,
or Christ, or a Washington. or John
! Milton, or a John Howard, and 100000
victories which have been gained by the
| consecrated spirits of all ages would
never have been gained. Had there
been no battle there would have been
no victory. Nine-tenths Of the anthems
| of Heaven would never have been sung.
| Heaven could never have been a thou
sandth part of the Heaven that it is.
| | will not say that | am glad that sin
and sorrow did enter, but | do say that
am glad that after God has given all
| His reasons to an assembled universe
| He will be more honored than if sin and
sorrow had never entered, and that the
unfalIen celestials will be outdone and
will put down their trumpets to listen.
and it will be in Heaven, when those
who have conquered sin and sorrow
shall enter, as it would be in a small
singing school on earth if Thalberg and
Gottschalk and Wagner and Beethoven
and Rheinberger and Schuman should
all at once enter. The immortals that
have been chanting 10000 years before
the throne will say, as they close their
Iibrettos: ''Oh, if we could only sing
like that!" But God will say to those
who have never fallen, and consequent
ly have not been redeemed: "You must
be silent now. You have not the quail
ficaton for this anthem" So they sit
with closed lips and folded hands, and
sinners saved by grace take up the har-
mony, for the Bible says: NO man
could learn that song but the hundred
and forty and four thousand which
were redeemed from the earth"
But now come nearer home and put
a dark saying on the Gospel harp,
style of question that is asked mill
lion times every year Interrogation
the fourth: Why do have it so hard
while others have it SO easy? Or, Why
do | have so much difficulty in getting
a livelihood. while others go around
with a full portmonnaieC Or, Why
must l wear these plain clothes, while
wardrobes closed, so crowded are they
with brilliant attire? Or, Why should
I have to work so hard, while others
have 365 holidays every year? They are
all practically one question. ] answer
them by saying it is because the Lord
has His favorites, and He puts extra dis
cipline upon you and extra trial. be-
cause He has for you extra glory, extra
enthronement and extra felicities.
That is no guess of mine. but Divine
saws so: "Whom the Lord loveth He
chasteneth." "Well," says some one:
81 would rather have a little less in
Heaven and a little more here. Discount
Tny Heavenly robe ten per cent. and let
me now put it on fur-lined overcoat:
put me in less gorgeous room of the
house of many mansions and let me
have house here in better neighbor-
Lood." No, no; God is not going to rob
Ueaven. which is to be your residence
for nine hundred quadrillion of years,
&c fix up your earthly abode, which you
VIII occupy at most for less than CEN
tury, and where you may perhaps stay
only ten years longer, or only one year.
or perhaps a month more. Now. you
had better cheerfully let God have His
way, for, you see, He has been taking
care of folks for near 6,000 years and
knows how to do it and can see what is
best for you better than you can your
self. Don't think you are too insignifi-
cant to be divinely cared for. 1t was
said that Diana, the goddess, could not
be present to keep her temple at Ephe,
sus from burning because she was at
tending upon the birth of him who was
to be Alexander the Great. But / tell
you that your God and my God is so
great in small things as well as large
things, that He could attend the cradle
of a babe and al the same time the burn
ing of a world.
And God will make it all right with
you, and there is one song that you will
sing every hour your first ten years in
Heaven, and the refrain of that song
will be: II am so glad God did not let
ne have it my own way!" Your case
WILDE all fixed up in Heaven, and there
will be such reversal of conditions
that we can hardly find each other for
some time. Some OF US who have lived
in first-rate houses here and in frst-rate
ncighborhoods will be found, because
of our LUX ewarmness of earthly service,
living on one of the back streets of the
celestial city, and clear down at the end
Cf it at No. sos or 900 or 1908, while
some who had unattractive earthly
abodes, end cramped one at that, will
in the heavenly city be in house 'front.'
ing the royal plaza, right by the i'm