The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1902-02-21


money or if he have an extensive traf-
fic, but in the humble work in life that
am called to the sphere is too small
for the action of such grand, heavenly
| principles" Who told you so? Do you
| not know that God watches the faded
| leaf on the brooks surface as certainly
| as he does the path of blazing sun?
And the moss that creeps up the side
of the rock makes as much impres sion
upon Gods mind as the waving tops
| of Oregon pine and Lebanon's cedar,
and the alder, cracking under the
| cows hoof, sounds a s loud in Gods ear
as the snap of worlds conflagrat ton.
When you have anything to do in life,
| however humble it may seem to be,
God is always there to help you to do
| it. If your work is that of fisher
man, then God will help you, as he
| helped Simon when he dragged Gen
nesaret. If your work is drawing wa
ter then He will help you, as when He
| talked at the well curb to the Samari-
tan woman. If you are engaged in the
custom house, He will lead you, as He
led Matthew sitting at the receipt of
customs. a religion that is not good in
one place is not worth anything in an
other place. The man who has only a
days wages in his pocket as certainly
needs the guidance of religion a he
who rattles the keys of a bank and
could abscond with a hundred thou
sand dollars.
1 think that the church of God and
the Sabbath are only an armory where
we are to get weapons. When war
comes, if a man wants to fight for his
country, he does not go to Troy or
Springfield to do battling, but he goes
there for swords and muskets. / look
upon the church of Christ and the Sab
bath day as only the place and time
! where and when we are to get armed
for Christian conflict, but the battle
field is on Monday, Tuesday, Wednes-
day, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
"St. Martins" and "Lenox" and "Old
Hundredth" do not amount to anything @
unless they sing all the week. A SER
mon is useless unless we can take it
with us behind the 'plow and the coun-
ter. The Sabbath day is worthless if
it last only "a hours.
There are many Christians who say:
eve are willing to serve God, but we
do not want to do it in these spheres
about which we are talking, and it
seems so insipid and monotonous. If
we had some great occasion, if we had
| lived in the time of Luther, if we had
been Pau's travelling companion, if
we could serve God on a great scale,
we would do it, but we can't in this
everyday life" / admit that great
deal of the romance and knight er-
rantry of life have disappeared before
the advance of this practical age. The
ancient temples of Rouen have been
| changed into storehouseS and smith
les. The residences of poets and
princes have been turned into brokers'
| shops. The classic mansion of Ashland
has been cut up into walking sticks.
The groves where the poets said the
gods dwelt have been carted out for
| firewood. The muses. that we used to
vead about have disappeared before
the immigrants AK and the trapper's
gun, and the man who is waiting for
| a life bewitched with wonders will
never find it. There is, however, a
field of endurance and great achieve
ment, but it is in everyday life. There
are Alps to scale, there are Helles-
points to swim, there are fires to brave,
but they are all around us now. This
is the hardest kind of martyrdom to
bear.
! Again, we need to bring the religion
of Christ into our commonest trials.
For severe losses, for bereavement, for
trouble that shocks like an earthquake
and that blasts like q storm, we pre-
scribe religious consolation; but, busi-
ness man, for the small annoyances of
last week how much of the grace of
God did you apply? "Oh," you say,
''these>trials are too small for such ap-
plication." My brother, they are
shaping your character, they are sour
ing your temper, they are wearing out
your patience and they are making you
less and less a man. go into sculp-
tors studio and see him shaping a
statue. He has a chisel in one hand
and mallet in the other, and he gives
a very gentle stroke-click, click
click! I say: "Why don't you strike
harder?" "Oh," he replies, ''that
would shatter the statue. / can't do
it that way. / must do it this way
So he works on and after awhile the
features come out, and everybody that
enters the studio is charmed and fas-
cinated. Well, God has your soul un.
der process of development, and it is
the little annoyances and veXations
of life that are chiseling out your i'm
mortal nature. 1t is click, click, click
1 wonder why some great providence
does not come and with one stroke
prepare you for Heaven. All, no. God
SAYS that is not the way. And so he
keeps on by strokes of little annoy
ances, little sorrows, little vexations
until at last you shall be glad spec,
tacle for angels and for men. You
know that a large fortune may be
spent in small change, and a vast
amount of moral character may go
away in small depletions. 1t is the
little troubles of life that are having
more effect upon you than the great
ones. a swarm of locusts will kill a
grainfield sooner than the incursion OF
three or four cattle. You say: "Since
| lost my child, since l lost my prop
erty, l have been a different man.
But you do not recognize the architec-
ture of little annoyances that are
hewing, digging, cutting, shaping
splitting and interjoining your moral
qualities. Rats may sink ship. One
lucifer match may send destruction
through block of storehouses. Cath
crime de- Medici got her death from
smelling a poisonous rose. Columbus
by stopping and asking for piece OF
bread and drink of water at Fran
ciscan convent, was led to the discov-
| orx- IF tba nav world And there is an