The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1901-06-07

art thou cast down, ~ my soul, ana
why art thou disquieted within me?
Hope thou in God, for 1 shall yet
praise him who is the health of my
countenance and my God"
Again, is your talent that of wit or
humor? Use it for God. Much of the
worlds wit is damaging. Most of sat
ire has a sting in it. Much of carica-
ture is malevolent. Much of smart re-
tort is vitriolic. In order to say smart
things how many will sacrifice the
feelings of others! The sword they
carry is keen, and il is employed to
thrust and lacerate. But few men in
all the world and in all the churches
realize that if wit is bestowed it is
given them for useful, for improving,
for healthful purposes. If we all had
more of it and knew how 20 use it
Alright, how much it would improve
our Christian conversation and prayer
meeting talk and sermon! Robert
South and Rowland Hill and Jeremy
Taylor and Dean Swift and Lorenzo
Dow and George Whiteield used their
wit and their humor to gather great
audiences and then lead them into the
kingdom of God. Frivolity is repulsive
in religious discussion, but 1 like the
humor of Job when he said to his in
solent critics: mo doubt but We are
the people, and wisdom shall die with
you," and like the humor of the
prophet Elijah, who told the Baalites
to pray louder, as their god was out
hunting or on an excursion or in such
loud conversation that he could not
hear them. / like the sarcasm of
Christ when He told the self-right-
eous Pharisees that they were so good
they needed no help: 1.-The whole need
not a physician, but that they are
SICK" or when in mirthful hyPerpole
he arraigns the hypocritical teachers
of His day who were so particular
about little things and careless about
big things, saying: Eye blind guides
that strain at a gnat and swallow
camel" and the Bible is all ablaZe with
epigram, words surprisingly put and
phraseology that must have made the
audiences of Paul and Christ nudge
each other and exchange chances and
smile and then appropriate the ire
mendous truths of the Gospel. There
are some evils you can laugh down
easier than you can preach down. The
question is always being asked, why
do not more people go to church,
prayer meeting and other religious
meetings? 1 will tell you. We of the
pulpit and the pew are so dull they
cannot stand it. But when we ask
why people do not GO to church we ask
misleading question. More people
go now to church than ever in the
worlds history, and the reason is in
all our denominations there is a new
race of ministers stepping into the
pulpits which are not the apostles of
humdrum. Sure enough, we want in
the Lords army the heavy artillery,
but we want also more men-who, like
Burns, a farmer at Gettysburg, took
muSket and went out on his own ac-
count to do little shooting different
from the other soldiers. The church
of God is dying of the proprieties.
Or is your talent an opportunity to
set a good example? One person do
ing right under adverse circumstances
will accomplish more than many trea-
tises about what is right. The census
has never been taken of lovely old
folks. Most of us, if we have not such
one in our own house now, have in
our memory such a saint. We went
to those old people with all our trou-
bles- They were perpetual evangel-
lists, by their soothing words, by their
hopefulness of spirit, an ineXpressible
help. | cannot see how Heaven could
| make them any lovelier than they are
or were. But there are exceptions.
There is a daughter in that family
whose father is impatient and the
| mother querulous. The passage of
many years does not always improve
| the disposition, and there are a great
| many disagreeable old folks. Some of
| them forget that they were young
| themselves, and they become untidy
in their habits and wonder how, when
| their asthma or rheumatism is so bad,
other people can laugh or sing and go
on as they do. The daughter in that
| family bears all the peevishness and
unreasonable behavior of senility
without answering back or making
any kind of complaint. If you should
| ask her what her five talents are or
her one talent is, she would answer
that she has no talent at all. Greatly
mistaken is she. Her one talent is to
forbear and treat the childishness Of
| the old as well as she treats the child
ishness of the young. She is no mu-
stefan, and besides there may not be a
| piano in the house. She cannot skill
| fully swing a croquet mallet or golf
stick. Indeed, she seems shut up to
see what she can do with ladle and
| a broom and a brush and other house
hold implements. She is the personi-
| fication of patience. and her reward
| will be as long as Heaven. Indeed,
much of her reward may be given on
earth. She is in rough college, from
which she may after awhile graduate
into brightest domesticity. She is a
heroine, though at present she may
receive nothing but scolding and de-
| probation. Her one talent of pa
| thence under trial will do more good
than many morocco covered sermons
on patience preached to-day from the
| tasseled cushion of the pulpit.
There is man in business life whose
one talent is honesty. He has not the
genius or the force to organize a com
pany or plan what is called a corner
| in wheat or "a corner in stocks" or
"a corner" in anything. He goes to
! business at a reasonable hour and re-
| turns when it is time to lock up. He
| never gave a check for $1,000 in all
| and in the church and in many honor
able circles as an honest man. His
word is as good as his bond. He has