The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1898-05-06


with competence. How have been
disappointed in all my expectations of
what would do for them!" Upon that
scene of pathos l break with a paean
of congratulation, that by your finan-
cial losses your own prospects for
Heaven, and the prospect for the
| Heaven of your children is NIGHTLY
improved. You may have lost toy,
but you have won palace.
''IIow hardly shall they that have
riches enter into the kingdom of God!''
lit is easier for a camel to go through
a needles eye than for rich man to
enter the kingdom of Heaven" What
does that mean? 1t means that the
| grandest blessing God ever bestowed
upon you was to take your money away
| from you. Let me here say. in passing,
do not put much stress on the treas
ures of this world. You can not
take them along with you. At
any rate, you can not take them
more than two or three miles:
! you will have to leave them at the
| cemetery. Attila had three collins. So
! fond was he of this life that he decreed
| that he should be buried in a cola of
! gold, and that then that should be in
closed in a coffin of silver, and that
! should be inclosed in Il coffin of iron,
and then large amount of treasure
| should be thrown in over his body
| And so he was buried. and the men
| who buried him were slain, 50 that no
| one might know where he was buried
and no one might there interfere with
/ his treasures. Ga, men of the world,
who want to take your money with
you, better have three collins!
Again, 1 remark, you ought to make
the very best of your bereavement.
The whole tendency is to brood over
these separations, and to give much
time to the handling of momentoeS of
the departed, and to make long vista
tiOns to the cemetery, and to say ''Oh,
l can never look up again; my hope is
gone; my courage is gone; my religion
is gone; my faith in God is gone Oh,
the wear and tear and cxhaus-
ton of this loneliness!" The most
frequent bereavement is the loss
of children. If your departed child
had lived as long as you have
lived, do you not suppose that he would
have had about the same amount of
trouble and trial that you have had?
If you could take a choice for your
child between forty years of annoy
ance, loss, veXatiOn, evaporation and
bereavementS, and forty years in Heav-
en-, would you take the responsibility
of choosing the former? Would you
snatch away the cup of eternal bliss
and put into that child's hands the cup
of many bereavements? Instead of
the complete safety into which
that child had been lifted would
you like to hold it down to the risks OF
this mortal state? Would you like to
keep it out on a sea in which there
have been more shipwrecks than safe
voyages? Is it not comfort to you to
know that that child, instead of being
besoiled and flung into the mire of sin,
is swung clear into the skies? Are not
those children to be congratulated that
the point of celestial bliss which you
expect to reach by a pilgrimage of so
or 60 or 20 years, they reached at a
flash? If the last 10, OJ) children who
had entered Heaven had gone through
the average of human life on earth, are
you sure all those 300 children would
have finally reached the blissful ter
minus? Besides that. my friends, you
are to look at this matter as d self-de-
NAL on your part for their benefit. If
your children want to go off in a May
day party; if your children want to 60
on howry and musical excursion, you
consent. You might. prefer to have
them with you, but their ju5ilant alb
sence satisfies You. Well, your de-
parted children have only gone Oat in
May-day party, amid fowery and
musical entertainment, amid joys and
hilarities forever. That ought to O. elI
some of your grief, the thought Of their
glee.
So it ought to be that you could make
the best of all bereavements. The fact
that you have 50 many friends in
Heaven will make your own departure
very cheerful. When you are going on
a voyage, everything depends upon
where your friends are-if they are on
the wharf that you leave, or on the
wharf toward which you are going to
sail. In other words, the more friends
you have in Heaven the easier it will
be to get away from this world. The
more friends here, the more bitter
gOod-bys; the more friends there
the more glorious welcomes. Some
of you have 50 many broth
ers, sisters, children, friends in
Heaven, that l do not know hardly
how you are going to crowd through. |
When the vessel came from foreign
lands, and brought a prince to our
harbor, the ships were covered with
bunting, and you remember how the
z I. 4 F.. I
there was no joy there compared with |
the Joy which shall be demonstrated |
when you sail up the broad bay of |
heavenly salutation. The more friends |
you have there, the easier your own |
transit. What is death to a mother |
whose children are in Heaven? Why |
there is no more grief in it than there |
is in her going into nursery amid the
romp the and laughter OF her house
hold. Though all around may be dark,
see you not the bright light in the !
clOuds-that light the irridated faces
of your glorified kindred?
So also, my friends, | would have |
you make the best of your sic1nesses. |
When you see one move off with elias
tic step and in full physical vigor, |
SOLhetIIueS you DecOIne InpdLleuC with
your lame foot. When man describes :
an object mile off, and you can not
see it at all, you become impatient of
your dim eye. When you hear of
well man making a great achieve |
ment you become impatient with |
your depressed nervous system or your
health. l will tell you |
how you can make the worst of it. |
Brood over it; brood over all these i'll