The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1901-11-01


life. Ammianus Marcellinus said that
Chaldea was in olden times overrun
with lions, but many of them lost
their power because the great swamps
produced many gnars that would get
into the eyes of the lions, and tho
lions to free themselves of the gnats
would claw their own eyes out and
then starve. And in our time many .
lion has been overcome by a gnat.
The little singing annoyances of life
keep us from approaching the sweet
influences. And how many of these
last there arei Sweet influences Of
home, however plain it may be! That
is the harbor into which we sail.
That is the goal for which we run.
That is the place where we rest.
There abide all confidence and affec-
tions. There we lay our plans. There
we extend our sympath There
we talk over our successes. There
we unload our griefs. Its four walls
shut out a prying and inquisitive
world. Thank God for the home in
which we We're born, the home in
which we now live, the home in which
we expect to die!
Not sufficiently do we recognize the
sweet influences of the wife. We men
are of rougher mold, and our voice is
loud, and our manners need to be
tanned, and gentleness is not as much
of a characteristic as 1t ought to be,
and we often say things we ought to
take back. 1t is to change this that the
good wife comes in. The interests OF
the twain are identical. That which
from outsiders would be considered
criticism and to be resented becomes
kindly suggestion, sweet influences
that make us better men than we 9TH
erwise would have been or could have
been.
The sweet influences of the heavenly
world, which many wise men thought
for a long while was Alcyone, the CEN
ter of the constellation of the Plei-
AIDES, world of our future residence,
as we hope; world of chorus and IL
Elimination, world of reunion, world
where we shall be erlastingly COM
plete, world where our old faculties
will be intensified and quickened and
new faculties implanted, world of high
association with Christ, through
whose grace we got there at all, and
apostles and poets-Ha bakkuk and ST.
John, of Patmos, and Edward Young,
his might Thoughts. turned into
eternal day; and Horatius Bonar, Of
modern hymnology; and Hannah More,
and Mrs. Hemans and Mrs. Sigourney,
who struck their harps till nations lis
tened; and David, the victor over Go
Hath with what seemed insufficient
weapons; and Joshua, of the pro-
longed day in Gideon; and Haveiock,
the evangelist hero, and those thou
sands of men of the sword who fought
on the right side. What company to
move in. What guests TO entertain!
What personages to visit! What
choirs to chant! What banquets with
lifted chalices filed with "the new
wine of the kingdom!" What victories
to celebrated
The stories of that world and it's
holy hilarities come in upon our soul
sometimes in song, sometimes in SER
mon, sometimes in hours of solitary
reflection, and they are, to use the
words of my text, sweet influences.
But there is one star that affects us
more with its sweet influence than the
center star, the Alcyone of the Plei-
AIDES, and that is what one Bible au-
thor calls the Star of Jacob and anoth-
er Bible author calls the Morning
Star. OF all the sweet influences that
have ever touched our earth those
that radiate from Christ are the
sweetest. Born an Asiatic villager in
a mechanics home, living more among
hammers and saws and planes than
among books, yet at IL years of age
confounding ROBBED eccle astics and
starting out on a mission under which
those born without optic nerve took
in the clear daylight, and those af-
ficted with unresponsive tympanum
were made to hear, and those almost
doubled up with deformities were
into graceful poise, and
the leprous became rubicund, and the
widows only son exchanged the bier
on which he lay hfeless for the arms
of his overjoyed mother, and pro-
nouncing nine benedictions on the
Mount and Bea titudes and doing deeds
and speaking words which are filling
the centuries with sweet Influences.
Christ started every ambulance,
kindled every electric ray, spread
every soft hospital pillow and intro
duced all the alterations and pacifca-
tions and rescues and mercies of all
time. He was the loveliest being who
ever trod our earth, more beauty in
His eye, more tenderness in His man
ner, more gentleness in His footstep,
more music in His voice, more dignity
in His brow, more gracefulness in the
locks that rolled upon His shoulders,
more compassion in His soul.
Sweet influences of the Holy Ghost,
with all His Transforming and COM
fortinga and emancipatingp power! When
that power is fully felt, there will be
no more sins to pardon and no more
wrongs to correct and no more sor-
rows to comfort and no more bondage
to break. But as the old-time ship
captains watched the rising of the
sell IL Mediterranean waters, but
were sure to get back into port before
the constella tion Orion came into
sight, the season of cyclone and hurri-
cane, so there is q time to sail for Heav-
en-, and that is while the sweet in
fuences are upon us and before the
storms overtake the delay. Open all
your soul to the light and warmth and
comfort and inspiration of that Cos
pei which has already peopled Heaven
with millions of the ransomed and il
helping millions to that glorious desti-
nation. Do not postpone the things
Of God and eternity till the storms of
life swoop and the agitations of a
fr1fr1 H. 10