The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1899-01-06

charged there are hundreds that stray
across the heavens, the glory of lan1
and sky asleep III their bosom. Be
cause death came and took your child
away. did you Immediately forget all
the five years, or the ten years, CT the IL
years, in which she came every night for
a kiss, all the tones of your heart peal
ing forth at the sound of her voice or
the soft touch of her hand? Because in
81 me financial Euroclydon your fortune
went into the breakers, did you forgct
ell those years in which the luxuries
aud eXtravagances of life showered on
your path? Alas, that is an unwise
man, an ungrateful man. an unfai. mai,
er unphilosophic man, and, mos; of all,
m un-Christian man, who measures his
lite on earth by groans and tears and
Gyspeptic fit and abuse and scorn and
terror and neuralgia thrust.
Again, remark that there are many
people who estimate their life on earth
by the amount of money they have ac-
cumulated. They say: The year 1866,
or 1870, or 1898. was wasted" Why?
Made 10 money" Now it is all cant
and ins:ncerity to talk against money,
as though it had no value. 1t may rep
resent refinement and education and
10000 blessed surroundings. 1t is
the spreading of the table that feeds
the children's hunger. 1t is the light-
ing Of the furnace that keeps you
warm. 1t is the making of the bed on
which you rest from care and anxiety
1t is the carrying of you out at last to
decent sepulcher and the putting up
Of the slab on which is chiscled the
story of your Christian hope. 1t is
simply hypocrisy, this TRADE in pulpit
and lecture hall against money.
But while all this is sc, he who uses
money or thinks OF money as anything
hut a means to an end will find out his
mistake when the glitteTing treasures
slip out of his nervciess grasp and he
goes out Of this world without a shil-
ling of money or certificate of stock.
He might better have been the Chris
tan porter that opened his gate, or the
begrimed workman who last night
heaved the coal into his cellar. Bones
and mortgages and leases have their
use, but they make a POOR yardstick
with which to measure life. They
that boast themselves in their wealth
and trust in the multitude of their
riches, none of them can, by any means.
redeem his brother or give TO God
ransom for him that he should not see
corruption"
But | remark there are many wish
there were morc-Who estimate their
life by the moral and spiritual develop
ment.
l remark again, there are mGny-arA
| wish there were mOre-who are es-
tinating life by the good they can do.
John Bradford said he counted that
day nothing at all in which he had not,
by pen or tongue, done some good. If
d man begin right, cannot tell now
many tears he may wipe away, how,
many burdens he may lift. how many
orphans he may comfort, how many
outcasts he may reclaim. There have
been men VINO have given their whole
life in the right direction, concentrat-
ing all their wit and ingenuity and
mental acumen and physical force and
enthusiasm for Christ. They climbed
the mountain and delved into the mine
and crossed the sea and dropped at last
into martyrs graves waiting for the
resurrection Of the just. They meas
ured their lives by the chains they
broke off, by the garments they put up
on nakedness, by the miles they trav-
eled to alleviate every kind of suffer
ing. They felt in the thrill of every
nerve, in the motion of every muscle,
in every throb of their heart, in every
of their lungs the magniti-
cent truth, "No man liveth unto him
self" They went through cold and
heat, foot blistered, cheek
smitten, back scourged, tempest
lashed, to do their whole duty. That is
the way they measured life-by the
amount of good they could do.
Do you want to know how old
Luther was; how old Richard Baxter
was; how old Philip Doddridge was?
Why, you cannot calculate the length
of their lives by any human arithmetic!
Add to their lives 10000 times 10000
years and you have not expressed it
what they have lived or will live. Oh,
what a standard that is to measure
mans life by! There are those in this
house who think they have only lived
so years. They will have lived 1000
they have lived 1000. There are those
who think they are so years of age.
They have not even entered upon their
infancy, FOR one must become babe in
Christ to begin at all.
Now, I do not know what your ad
vantages or disadvantages are; l do
not know what your tact or talent is:
do not know what may be the fascina-
tion of your manners or the repulsive-
ness of them; but | know this-there is
FOR you, my hearer, a field 10 culture, a
harvest to reap, tear to wipe away,
a soul to save. If you have worldly
means, consecrf 'e them to Christ. If
you have eloquence, use it on the side
that Paul and Wilberforce used theirs.
If you have learning, put it all into the
poor box of the worlds suffering. But
if you have none of these-neither
wealth, nor eloquence, nor learn
ing-you. at any rate, have
smile with which you can encourage
the disheartened: a frown with which
you may blast injustice; voice with
which you may call the wanderer back
to God. oh" you say, that is a very
view of lifel" 1t is not.
1t is the only bright view of life, and it
is the only bright view of death. Con-
trast the death scene of a man who has
measured life by the worldly stand
has measured life by the Christian
standard. Quin, the actor, in his last
moments, said: Il hope this tragic
scene win soon be over, and hope TO
keep my dignity to the last. Males
hel,bes said IN his last moments to the
confessor: Hold your tongue! Your