The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1898-03-11

crutch, leaning on it; but when the
sheep were out of the way, the crook
was always busy pulling them back.
All we, like sheep, have gone astray,
and had it not been for the shepherds
crook, we would have fallen long ago
over the precipice.
Here is man who is making too
much money. He is getting very vain.
He says: after awhile L shall be in
dependent of all the world. Oh, my
soul, eat, drink and be merry" Busi-
ness disaster comes to him. What is
| God going to do with him? Has God
any grudge against him? Oh, no. God
is throwing over him the shepherds S
crook and pulling him back into better
pastures. Here is man who has al
ways been we'll. He has never had any
sympathy for invalids, he calls them
| coughing, wheeling nuisances. After
awhile sickness comes to him. He does
I not understand what God is going to
do with him. He says: rs the Lord
angry with me?" On, no. With the shep-
herds crook he has been pulled back
into better pastures. Here's a happy
household circle. The parent does not
| are only loaned to him. and he forgets
! from what source came his domestic
blessings. Sickness drops upon those
children, and death swoOps upon lit
tie one. He says, SIS God angry with
me?" No. His shepherds crook pulls
him back into better pastures. l do
not know what would have become of
US if it had not been for the shepherds
crook. Oh, the mercies of our troubles!
You take up apples and plums from
under the shade of the trees, and the
very best fruits of Christian character
we find in the deep shade of trouble.
When | was on the steamer coming
across the ocean 1 got a cinder in my
eye, and several persons tried to get it
out very gently, but it could not be
taken out in that way. 1 was told that
the engineer had a faculty in such
cases. l went to him. He put his
large, sooty hand on me, took knife
and wrapped the lid of the eye around
the knife. l expected to be hurt very
much, but without any pain, and in
stantly he removed the cinder. Oh,
there come times in our Chris
tian life, when our spiritual vision
is being spoiled, and all gentle appli-
ances fail Then there comes some
giant trouble, and, back-handed, lays
hold of us and removes that which
would have ruined our vision forever.
l will gather all your joys together in
one regiment of ten companies and
will put them under Col. JOY. Then
will gather all your sorrows together
in one regiment of ten companies, and
put them under Col. Breakheart. Then
l will ask: Which of these regiments
has gained for you the greatest spirit
ual victories? Certainly that under
Col. Breakheart.
In the time of war, you may remem-
Der, at the south and north, the qucs-
tion was whether the black troops
would fight; but when they were put
into the struggle on both sides they did
heroically. In the great day of eter-
nifty it will be found that it was not the
white regiment of joys that gained
your greatest successes, but the black
troops of trouble, misfortune and dis
aster. Where you have gained one
spiritual success from your prosperity,
you have gained ten spiritual successes
from your adversity
There is no animal that struggles
more violently than sheep when you
corner it and catch hold of it. Down
in the glen l see a group of men around
a lost sheep. A Flowman comes along
and seizes the sheep, and tries to pacify
it; but it is more frightened than ever.
A miller comes along, puts down his
grist, and careSseS the sheep, and it
seems as if it would die of fright.
After awhile some one breaks through
the ticket. He says: "Let me have
the poor thing" He comes up and lays
his arms around the sheep, and it is
Immediately quiet. Who is the last
man that comes? 1t is the shepherd.
All, my friends, be not afraid of the
shepherds crook. 1t is never used on
you, save in mercy, to pull you back.
The hard, cold icebergs of trouble will
melt in the warm stream of divine
sympathy.
There is one passage think you mis-
interpret: 1.-The bruised reed He will
break" Do you know that the shep-
herd in olden times played upon these
reeds? They were very easily bruised;
but when they were bruised they were
never mended. The shepherd could so
easily make another one, he would
snap the old one and throw it away,
and get another The Bible says it is
not so with our Shepherd. When the
music is gone out of mans soul, God
does not snap him in twain and throw
him away. He mends and restores.
1.-The bruised reed He will not break. !"
When, in the o'erhanging heavens of fate,
The threatening clouds of darkness dwell,
Then let US humbly watch and wait;
1t shall be well, it shall be we'll
And when the storm has passed away
And sunshine smile; on bod and fell,
How sweet to think, how sweet to say,
1t has been well. it has been well
Next 1 speak of the shepherds dogs.
They watch the straying sheep and
drive them back again. Every shep-
herd has his dog-from the nomads OF
the Bible times down to the Scotch
herdsman watching his focl1s on the
Grampian hills. Our Shepherd employs
the criticisms and prosecutions of the
world as His dogs. There are those,
you know, whose whole work is to
watch the Inconsistencies of Christians,
and bark at them. If one of Gods
sheep gets astray, the world howls.
With more avidity than shepherds
dog ever caught stray sheep
by the fanks or lugged it by the ears,
worldlings seize the Christian astray.
1t ought to do US good to know that we
are thus watched. 1t ought to put us
on our guard They can not bite us, if
we stay near the Shepherd. The sharp
knife of worldly assault will only trim
the vines until they produce better
grapes. Theunore you pound marjoram
and rosemary, the sweeter they smell.