The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1902-02-21
SUBSCRIPTION: $1.OO Per Year


scratch of sixpenny nail sometimes
produces lockjaw, and the clip of
most infinitesimal annoyance may
damage YOU forever. Do not let any
annoyance or perplexity come across
your soul without its making you bet
ter.
Again, we must bring the religion or
Christ into our commonest blessings.
When the autumn comes and the har-
vests are in and the governors make
proclamations, we assemble in church.
es' and we are very thankful. But
every day ought to be thanksgiving
day. We do not recognize the COM
mon mercies of life. We have te see
blind man led by his dog before we
begin to bethink ourselves of what a
grand thing it is to have undimmed
eyesight. We have to see some wound
ed man hobbling on his crutch or with
his empty coat sleeve pinned up be-
fore we learn to think what a grand
thing God did for US when He gave US
healthy use of our limbs. We are so
stupid that nothing but the misfor-
tunes of others can rouse US up to our
blessings. AS the OK grazes in the
pasture up to its eye in clover, yet
and as the bird picks up the worm
from the furrow, not knowing that it
is God who makes everything, from
the animacule in the sod to the seraph
on the throne, so we go on eating,
drinking and enjoying, but never
thanking, or seldom thanking, or, 1T
thanking at all, with only half a
heart.
in6i fn
brute, but perhaps I wronged the
brute. L do not know but that,
among it's other instincts, it may
have an instinct by which it recognizes
the Divine hand that feeds it. 1 do
not know but that God is, through it,
holding communication with what
we call Irrational creation" The
COW that stands under the willow by
the watercourse chewing its cud
looks very thankful, and who can tell
how much a bird means by its song?
The aroma of the flowers smells like
incense, and the mist arising from
the river looks like the smoke of a
morning sacrifice. Oh, that we were
| as responsivei Yet who thanks God
for the water that Gushes up in the
well, and that foams in the cascade,
and that laughs over the rocks and
that patters in the showers, and that
claps its hands in the sea? Who
thanks God for the air, the fountain
of life, the bridge of sunbeams, the
path of sound, the great fan on a hot
summers day? Who thanks God for
this wonderful physical organism,
this sweep of the vision, this chime
of harmony struck into the ear, this
soft tread of a myriad delights over
the nervous tissue, this rolling of the
crimson tide through the artery and
vein, this drumming of the heart on
our march to immortality. We take
all these things as a matter of
| course.
But suppose God should withdraw
these common blessings! Your body,
would become AN inquisition of tor
ture, the cloud would refuse rain,
every green thing would crumple up,
and the earth would crack open un-
der your feet. The air would cease
its healthful circulation, pestilence
would swoop, and every house would
! become a place of skulls. Streams
would first swim with vermin and
then dry up, and thirst and hunger
and anguish and despair would lift
their scepters. Oh compare such a
life as that with the life you live
with your familiesi Is it not time
that, with every word of our lips and
with every action of our life we be-
gan to acknowledge these everyday
mercies? whether We eat or drink
or whatsoever We do, do all to the
glory of God" Do 1 address a man
or a woman who has not rendered to
God one single offering of thanks?
/ was preaching on Thanksgiving
day and announced my text-"Oh,
give thanks unto the Lord, for He is
good and His mercy cndureth for
ever 1 do not know whether there
was any blessing on the sermon or
not, but the text went straight to
Young mans heart. He said to him
self as 1 read the text: "Oh, give
thanks unto the Lord, for He is
good Why, 1 have never rendered
Him any thanks! Oh, what an in
crate / have beeni" Can it be, my
brother, that you have been fed by
the good hand of God all these days,
that YOU have had clothing and shell
ter and all the benefcent surround
ings, and yet have never offered your
heart to God? Oh, let a sense of the
Divine goodness shown in your every
day blessings melt your heart, and if
! YOU have never before uttered an ear
nest note of Thanksgiving let it be
this day which shall hear your songi
What say to one 1 say to all. Take
this practical religion L have recon-
mended into your everyday life.
Make every day q Sabbath and every
meal sacrament and every room
YOU enter holy of holies. We all
have work to do; let us be willing to
do it. We all have sorrows to bear;
let us cheerfully bear them. We all
have battles to fight; let us coura-
geously fight them. If you want to
die right, you must live right. Neg
ligence and Incidence will win tho
hiss of everlasting scorn, while faith
| fuIness will scatter its garlands and
| wave its scepter and sit upon it's
throne long after this earth has put
| on ashes and eternal ages have
| gun their march. You go home to-
day and attend to your little sphere
of duties. will go home and attend
to my little sphere of duties. Every
one in his own place. So our every
| step in life shall be triumphal
march, and the hunblest footstool
| on which we are called to sit will be
"a conqueror's throne.