The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1898-08-26

lines of carriages would have stopped
at the front door to inquire as to his
welfare. But poverty on the one side
and sickness on the other are Bozez and
Seneh, and they interloclS their shad.
ows, and drop them upon the poor
mans way. God help him! ''There
was sharp rock on the one side, and
sharp rock on the other side"
Now, what is such man to do? In
the name of Almighty God, will tell
him what to do. Do as Jonathan did
climb; climb up into the sunlight of
Gods favor and consolation. 1 can go
through the churches, and show you
men who lost fortune and health at the
same time, and yet who sing all day
and dream of Heaven all night. If you
have any idea that sound digestion,
and steady nerves, and clear eyesight,
and good hearing, and plenty of friends
are necessary to make man happy,
you have miscalculated. | suppose
that these overhanging rocks only
made Jonathan scramble the harder
and the faster to get up and out into
the sunlight; and this combined shadow
of invalidism, and financial embarrass-
ment has often sent a man up the
quicker into the sunlight of Gods favor
and the MONDAY of His glorious
promises.
1t is difficult thing for a man to
feel his dependence upon God when he
has $40, 900 in bank and $50, 900 in gov
ernment securities, and a block of
stores and three ships. "Well," the
man says to himself, sit is silly for me
to pray, give me this day my daily
Bread when my pantry is full, and
the canals from the west are crowded
with breadstuffs destined for my store
houses" Oh, my friend, if the COM
bined misfortunes and disasters of life
have made you climb up into the arms
of a sympathetic and compassionate
God, through all eternity you will bless
Him that in this world there was
sharp rock on the side, and a sharp
rock on the other side
Again, that man is in the crisis of
the text who has home troubles and
outside persecution at the same time.
The world treats a man we'll just as
long as it pays to treat him we'll. AS
long as it can manufacture success out
Vi I1lS UOLC anu dlh dutA IAuoNlS, ~
favors him. The world fattens the
horse it wants to drive. But let man
see it his duty to cross the track of the
world. then every bush is full of horns
and tuslSs thrust at him. They Will be-
little him. They will caricature him.
They will call his generosity self-ag-
grandizement, and his piety sane
timoniousness. The very worst perSecu-
tion will sometimes come upon him
from those who profess to be Chris
tianS.
John Milton-great and good John
Milton-so far forgot himself as to
pray, in SO many words, that his enc
mics might be eternally thrown down
into the darkest and deepest gulf of
hell, and be the undermost and most
detected, and the lowest down vassals
of perdition! And Martin Luther so far
forgot himself as to say,in regard to his
theological opponents: "Put them in
whichever sauce you please, roasted,
or fl ed or baked, or stewed, or
boiled, or hashed, they are moth
ing but asscs!" All, my friends,
if John Milton or Martin Luther
could come down to such scurriiity,
what may you not expected from less
elevated opponents? Now, sometimes
the world takes after them; public
opinion takes after them; and the un-
fortunate man is lied about until all
the dictionary of Billingsgate is ex-
hausted on him. You often see a man
whom you know to be good and pure
and honest, set upon by the world, and
mauled by whole communities, while
vicious men take on a supercilious air
in condemnation of him; as though
Lord Jeffreys should write an essay on
gentleness, or Henry VIII. talk about
purity, or King Herod take to blessing
little children.
Now, a certain amount of persecution
rouses a mans defiance, stirs his blood
for magnificent battle, and makes him
so times more a man than he would
have been without the persecution. So
it was with the great Reformer when
he said: Il will not be put down; l
will be heard.' And so it was with
Millard, the preacher, in the time of
Louis XI. When Louis XI. sent word
to him that unless he stopped preach
ing in that style he would throw him
into the river, he replied: Tell the
king that l will reach Heaven sooner
by water than he will reach it by fast
horses" A certain amount of persecu-
tion is a tonic and inspiration, but too
much of it, and too long contip ned, be-
comes the rock of Bozez thro . ing dark
shadow over mans life. That is he to
do then? Go home, you say. Good adj
vice, that. That is just the place for
man to go when the world abuses him.
Go home Blessed be God for our quiet
and sympathetic homes! But there is
many a man who has the reputation of
having a home when he has none.
Through unthinkingness or precipIta-
tion there are many matches made that
ought never to have been made. An
officiating priest can not alone unite a
couple. The Lord Almighty must pro-
claim banns There are many homes
in which there is no sympathy, and no
happiness, and no good cheer. The
clamor of the battle may not have
been heard outside; but God knows,
Notwithstanding all the playing
of the wedding March, and all the
odor of the orange blossoms, and the
benedictlon of the officiating pastor,
there has been no marriage. SO some
times men have awakened to find on
one side of them the rock of persecI-
ton, and on the other side of them the
rock of domestic infelicity. What
shall such a one do? Do as Jonathan did
climb. Get up the heights of Gods
from which you may look
down in triumph upon outside perse-
cution and home trouble. While good
and great John Wesley was being
.-ilaroad b,r +ha n, ncrisl1.atns and hay-