The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1900-02-16

never saw 4 sick day and who, Ike Her
! cCles, show the giant in the cradle,
/ have more to answer for than those
/ who are the subjects of lifelong infirm-
tiles.
How often it is that you do not find
| physical energy indicative of spiritual
power! II clear head is worth more
! than one dizzy with perpetual vertigo,
! # muscles with the play of health IN
| them are worth more than those drawn
/ up in chronic 'rheumatics," if an eye
! quick to catch passing objects is better
| than one with vision DIN and uncertain,
! then God viii require of US efficiency
/ just in proportion to what He has given
us. Physical energy ought to be a
/ type OF moral power. We ought TO have
| as good digestion of truth as we have
1 capacity TO assimilate feed. Our spir-
/ ;tual hearing ought to be as good as
| our physical hearing. Our spiritual
taste ought to be as GEAR as our tongue.
Samsons in body, we ought to be giants
in moral power.
Il Is a most shameful fact that much
/ Of the business of the church ard of the
| world must be done by those comPara-
| lively invalid. Richard Baxter, by rea-
/ son Of his diseases. all his days sitting
| IL the door of his tomb, yet writing
! more tEan 100 volumes and sending out
an influence for God that viii endure
! as lon-as the Saints Everlas ting Rest"
| Edward PaysOn, never knowing a well
1 day. vet how he preached and how he
wrote, helping thousands Of dying
/ souls like himself to swim in the sea Of
glory. And Robert McCheyne, a walk
| ing skeleton. yet you know what he did
| in Dundee and how he shook Scotland
with zeal for God. Philip Doddridge,
| advised by his friends because of his Ill
ness not to enter the ministry, yet you
| know what he did for the Rise and
| Progress of Religion" in the church of
| the world.
II is not the small. weak men of the
| day who do the damage. These small
| men who go swearing and lCafiug about
1 your stores and shops and banking
/ houses, assailing Christ and the Bible
I and the chUrch-they do not do the
/ damage. They have no influence. They
are vermin that YOU crush with your
| foot But il is the giants of the day.
! al power. or giants in mental acumen.
( or giants in social position. or giants in
wealth. who do the dana ge-the men
| with sharp pens that-stab religion and
| throw their poison all through our lit
| erature. the men who use the power of
wealth to sanction iniQuity and bribe
/ Justice. ard make truth and honor bow
| to their golden scepter. Misguided gi-
/ ants-look cut for them! In the middle
ard latter part Of the last century no
/ doubt there were thousands of men in
I Paris ard Edinburgh and London who
! hated God and blasDhemed the name OF
| the Almighty; but they did but little
mischief-thcy wera small men. insig-
rificaut men. Yet there were giants i'm
| those DAYS. Who can calculate the soul
havoc Of a Rousseau. going on with
very enthusiasm of iHiquitv. with fiery
Imagination seizirg upon all the impul-
Sive natures of his day. or David Hume.
who employed his life as Il spider en-
ploys its summer. in spinning out silk
en- webs to trap the UTwary. or NOltaire,
the most learned man of his day. mar
sha'irg a great host of skenticS and
leading them ont in the dark land of in
/ fidelity. or Gibbon. who showed an un-
comfortable grudge against religion in
| his history of ore of the most fascinat-
| ing periods of the worlds existence
The Decline ard Fail Of the Roman
/ EmCire"-a book in which. with all the
splendor Of his genius, he mannified the
errors OF Christian disciples. while with
n sparscness of notice that never can be
l. 7
roes of whom the world was not
worthy?
On. men of stout physical health,
men Of great mental stature. men of
high social position. men of great pow
CT OF any sort, l want YOU to under
stand your power, aud 1 want YOU to
know that that power devoted TO God
viii be Il crown on earth. to you typical
of a crown in Heaven. but misguided.
bedraggled in sin, administrative OF
evil, God viii thunder against YOU
with His condemnation in the day when
millionaire and pauPer, master and
slave. king and subject. shall stand
side by side in the judgment and
money bags and judicial ermine and
royal robe shall be riven with the light
nings.
You who are seated in your Christian
homes, compaSsed by moral and reli-
gious restraints. DO not realize the
Sulf Of iniquity that bounds YOU on the
north and the south and the east and
the west. While 1 speak there are
tens OF thousands of men and wom-
en- going over the awful plunge of an
impure life, and while 1 cry to God for
mercy upon their souls cry to YOU TO
marshal in the defense of your homes.
your church and your nation. There is
n banqueting hall that you have never
heard described. You know al about the
feast of Ahasuerus, where 1000 lords
sat. You know all about BeIshazzar's
carOusal. where the blood of the muir
dered king spurted into the faces Of
the banqueters. You know of the scene
of riot and wassail where there was
set before AesOpus one dish of food that
cost 100000. But / speak now Of 4
different banqueting hall. Its roof is
fretted with fire. Its floor is tessel-
lated with fire. Its chalices are chased
with fire. Its song is a song of fire.
It's walls are buttresses of fire. Solo
mon. refers TO it when he says: Her
guests are in the depths of hell"
Our American communities are suf-
fering from the gospel OF free lovism
which 50 years ago was preached on
the platform anI in some of the
churches of this country. I charge
upon free lovism that it has blighted
innumerable homes and that it has
sent lnUumerablc souls to ruin. Free
lOviSm Is bestill: il is worse-it is in
fcrnal. II has furnished this land
with many Thousands Of divorces an