The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1900-03-09

this skeptic will say to him: Il can
not die. cannot die" Death will say:
You must die. You have but ten sec,
onds more to live. Your soul-give il
to me right away. Your souiI" "Oh
mol" says the skeptic. do not
breathe that cold air into my face
You crowd me too hard. 1t is getting
dark in the room. Here-take my
rings and take all the pictures in the
room, but let me off" No" says
Death. "Your soul! Your soul" Then
the dying skeptic begins to say, sc
God!" Death says: You declared
there was no God" Then the dying
skeptic says: pray for me-" and
Death says: at is too late to pray
you have only three seconds more to
live, and / will count them off-one
two, three. Gone!" Where?. Where :
Carry him out and lay him down beside
his old father and mother, who died
under the delusiOns of the Christian
religion singing the songs of victory.
Again, avoid the idlers-that is, those
people who gather around the store OF
the shop or the factory and try to Sc
duce you away from your regular call
ing and in your business hours try to
seduce you away. There is nothing
that would please them so well as to
have you give up your employment and
consort with them.
Idleness is the next door to villainy.
When the police go to find criminals,
where do they go to find them? They
lo
have nothing to do, or, having some
thing to do, refuse to engage in their
daily work. Some one came to good
old Ashbel Green and asked him why
he worked at so years of age when it
was time for him to rest. oh" he
replied, Il work to keep out of mis-
chief" And no man can afford to be
idle. l care not how strong his moral
character. he cannot afford to be idle.
But you say: "a great many peo-
pie are suffering from enforced idle
ness. During the hard times there
were a great many people out of en-
plOyment." | know it, but the times
of dullness in business are the times
when men ought to be thoroughly en-
gagged in improving their minds and
charging their hearts. The fortunes
to be made 20 years from now will be
made by the young men who in the
times when business was dull culti-
waited their minds and improved their
hearts. They will get the fortunes
after awhile, while those men who
hang around their stores, never en-
gaging in any useful occupation, viii
be as poor then as they are now. 1t
is absurd for a Christian man to say
he has nothing to do.
People go to Florence and to Venice
and to Rome to see one of the works
of the great masters. I think [ can
show you the picture of one of the
great masters. 81 went by the field
of the slothful and by the vineyard
of the man void of understanding,
and, 10, it was all grown over with
thorns, and nettles had covered the
face thereof, and the stone wall there
of Eas broken down. Then | saw and
considered it well. I looked upon it
and received instruction. Yet a little
sleep, little slumber, little folding
of the hands to sleep. So shall thy
DONtIlN COlllC tS OIC tIllt u
and thy want as an armed man"
There is no more explosive passage in
all the Bible than that. 1t first be-
gins TO hiss like the fuse of a cannon
and then bursts like n 54-pounder.
The old proverb was true: "The
devil tempts most men. but idlers
tempt the DEVIL" Therefore seek
something to do. if no worldly bust
ness offers, then. in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ, go out on Christian
toll, and the Lord will bless you, and
the Lord will help you.
AgainI counsel you, avoid the pleas
ure seeker. the man whose entire
business it is to seek for recreation
and amusement. / believe in the
of the world so far as
they are innocent. | could not live
must have recreation or
die. And yet the amusements and re
creations of life must administer to
hard work. They are only prepara-
tive for the occupation to which God
has called us.
God would not have given us the ca
pacity to laugh if he did not some
times intend us to indulge it. God hath
hung in sky and set in wave and print
ed on grass many a roundelay. But all
the music and the brightness of the
natural world were merely intended
TO fit us for the earnest work of life.
The thundercloud has edges exquisite
y purpled, but it jars the mountain as
it says: 81 come down to water the
ielGs." The flowers standing under
he fence look gay and beautiful, but
hey say: 1--WE stand here to refresh
he husbandmen at the nooning." The
brock frolics and sparkles and foams,
out il says: Il go to baptize the moss;
go so Slake the thirst of the bird; l
urn the wheel of the mill; in my crys-
al cradle / rock muckshaw and water
lily; play, but | work"
Look out for the man who plays and
never works. Look out for that man
whose entire business is to play ball or
ail a yacht or engage in any kind of |
nerriment. These things are all beau
iful aud grand in their places, but |
when they become the chief work of |
ife they become a mans destruction. |
ieorge Brummei was admired of all |
England. He danced with peeresses |
nd went round of mirth and folly, |
ntil after awhile, exhausted of purse,
uined of reputation, blasted of soul, |
e begged q crust from a grocer, declar-
ng as his deliberate opinion that he
nSught dogs life was better than a
mans.
These mere pleasurists will come
round you while you are engaged in
our work, and they will try to take
ou away. They have lost their places.
Why not you lose your place? Then
ouwill be one of them. Oh, my friends,
efore you go with these pleasure seek
PC fbaca mon v-bOSa entire l;fo Sc g., |