The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1899-12-15

multitudes of friends. but have found
in my own experience that God has so
arranged il that the greatest oppor-
tunities of usefulness that have been
opened before me were opened by enc
mics. So yOL my harness your aDtag-
Onists to your best interests and COM
pei them to draw you on TO better work k
and higher character. Suppose, in
stead of waiting until % minutes aft=r
four this evening. when the sun Will
set. you transact this glorious work of
forgiveness at meridian.
Again, we ought not TO let the sun go
down on our wrath, because we will
sleep better if we are at peace with
everybody. Insomnia is getting to be
one of the most prevalent of disorders.
How few people retire at ten O'Clock at
night and sleep clear through TO six in
the morning! To relieve this disorder
all narcotics and sedatives and NOR
phine and choral and bromide of potas-
SUM and cocaine and intOxicants are
used. but nothing is more important
than a quiet spirit if we would win
| somnolence. How is a man going to
sleep when he is in mind pursuing an
enemy? With what nervous twitch he
will start out of a dream! That new
plan Of cornering his foe will keep HIM
wide awake while the clock strikes IL,
-, l, 2. l give you an unfailing
prescription for wakefulness: Spend
the evening hours rehearsing your
wrongs and the best way of avenging
them. Hold a convention of friends on
this subject in your parlor or office at
eight or nine o'clock. Close the evening
by writing a bitter letter expressing
your sentiments. Take from the desk
or pigeonhole the papers in the case to
refresh your mind with your enemy's
meannesS. Then lie down and wait for
the coming of the day, and il will come
before sleep comes, or your sleep will be
worried quiescence and, if you take the
preCaution to lie flat on your back, a
frightful nightmare.
Why not put a bound TO your animOs-
ity? Why let your foes come into the
sanctities of your dormitory? Why let
those slanderers who have already torn
your reputation TO pieces or injured
your business bend over your midnight
pillow and drive from you one of the
greatest blessings that God can offer
sweet, refreshing, all invigoratiug
sleep2 Why not fence out your enc
mics by the golden bars of the sunset?
Why not stand behind the barricade of
evening cloud and say 10 them: Thus
far and no farther" Many a man and
many a woman is having the health of
body as we'll as the health of soul eaten
away by the malevOlent spirit. | have
in time of religious awakening had per-
sons night after night come into the
inquiry room and get no peace of soul.
After awhile have bluntly asked them:
rs there not some one against whom
you have a hatred you are not willing
10 give up?" After little confusion,
they have slightly whispered: Yes"
Then | have said: You will never find
peace with God as long as you retain
that virulence."
Again, we ought not to allow the sun
to set before forgiveness takes place,
because we might not live to see an
other day. And what if we should be
ushered into the presence of our Maker
with a grudge upon our soul? The ma
jority of people depart this life in the
night. Between IL o'clock p. m. and
three o'clock a. m. there is something
in the atmosphere which relaxes the
grip which the body has on the soul,
and most people enter the next world
through the shadows of this world.
Perhaps God may have arranged il that
way as TO make the contrast the more
glorious. l have seen sunshiny days
in this world that must have been al
most like the radiance of Heaven. But
as most people leave the earth between
sundOwn and sunrise they quit this
world at its darkest, and Heaven. al
ways bright, will be the brighter for
that contrast. Out of darkness into ir-
radiation.
Shall we then leap over the roseate
bank of sunset into the favorite hunt
ing ground of disease and death, carry
ing our animosities with US? Who
would want to confront his God, against
whom we have all done meaner things
than anybody has ever done against
us, carrying old grudges? How can
we expect His forgiveness for the great
er when we are not willing to forgive
others for the less? Napoleon was en-
courage4 TO undertake the crossing of
the Alps because Charlemagne had pre-
viOusly crossed them. And all this
rugged path of forgiveness bears the
bleeding footsteps of Him who con-
quered through suffering, and we ought
to be willing 10 follow. On the night
of our departure from this life into
the next our one plea wiA have TO be
for mercy. and il will have to be offered
in the presence CT Him who has said:
u! you forgive not men their trespass6s.
neither will your Heavenly Father for
give your trespasses."
What sorry plight if we stand there
hating this one and hating that one and
wishing that one a damage and wishing
some one else calamity. and we our
selves needing forgiveness for 10000
Obliquities of heart and life. When our
last hour comes, we want il to find US
all right.
Hardly anything affects me so much
in the uncOvering of Pompeii as the ac-
count of the soldier who. after the city
had for many centuries been covered
with the ashes and scoriae of Nesuvius,
was found standing in his place on
guard, hand on spear and helmet on
head. Others fed at the awful sub
mergement, but the explorer, I,7OO
years after, found the body of that
brave fellow in right position. And it
will be a grand thing if, when our last |
moment comes, we are found in right |
position toward God, on guard and un-