The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1902-09-05

wreckage, and their souls are in eter
nifty.
The honored statesman of Michigan
resting from the arduous and faithful
labors in congress at his, beautiful
summer home in Massachusetts,, and
while he rests outlining in his mind
the work of the coming congress. To
day he is out tramping across the
fields. The golf stick swings above his
head and the'ball goes leaping through
the air and across the sod. The tinge
of gray in his hair does not mark any
apparent lessening of the vigorous
strength of his splendid manhood
Years seem still before him, years of
service to his country, his state, his
family. But while life seems to be SO
full and vigorous, and the promise of
years to come SO certain, the sudden
gripping of death at the heart and eter-
nifty bursts upon the vision of the soul.
Face to face with eternity. Our text
rings out the message. Every word
and every syllable and every letter
fash their light of eternal truth to
the soul and would make it realize the
necessity of preparing in this life for
the life to come. Prepare to meet
thy God"
Four Important Points.-There are
four essential points to our text. AS
Mr.. Moody used to put it: !. There is
one God. 2. We are accounta bic to Him.
8. We must meet Him. 4. We need
preparation to meet Him. Let us turn
our thoughts to the first point. There
is one God. One God, the Creator. One
God, the Ruler of the universe. One
God, the lover of mems souls and the
hater of sin. One God, the Saviour of
men. One God who is all this. And
because He is the one and only God,
Thou shalt have no other gods before
Me-" Is this a message for to-day?
We carry it to the heather lands,
where the hideous little gods have
their place in every home and receive
the worship and alteration of its in
mates. We know it is a message for
those darkened lands, but ours is
Christian land, with no shrines in our
homes and no ugly images before
which we fall down and worship. And
because of this are there no strange
gods that are claiming our worship
and our service? How about the god
of pleasure, the god of gold. the god
of social supremacy, the god of self
will and self-indulgence, the god of
pride and worldly ambition, the god
of religious forms and ceremonies.
Read the last half of the fifth chapter
of Amos if you want to see how Jealous
in outward religious activity the chill
dren of Israel were. They had their
feast days, their burnt offerings and
meat offerings, and peace offerings as
in days of yore, when they assembled
as a sweet smelling SAVIOR to the Lord
from consecrated hearts. But God
says: 81 hate, l despise your feast
days, and I will not smell your solemn
assemblies" They had their fine
church music, but God says: Take
thou away from Ne the noise of thy
of thy VOLS" Why was this? Because
there was no longer one God before
them, but "Moloch and Chiun, your
images, the star of your god, which We
made to yourselves" Gods of their
own making and which were being
served in the form of their many re-
ligiOus activities. There is god
n every heart, there is a god in every
home, there is a god in every church in
the land. If it is not the one God of
Spiritual power and presence, it is
god of human making, and abhorrent
10 the one God of Heaven.
The second point before us is that
we are accountable to Him. Cain was
to God for the killing of
his brother Abel. 1t is significant that
Scripture gives no record of the par
ents calling their son to account for
MS awful sin, but tells of the wicked
youth being brought face to face with
MS God, the one to whom he was first
and from whose search
ng gaze he could not escape The all |
important question was not what |
would father or mother say or do, |
out what does God think about it, what |
will He do? The all-important ques-
ion to you, my friend, is not your
standing in the community, not what |
our friends or relatives say or think |
bout you, but what is my standing !
before God, whom l am to meet some |
lay face to face? David with the |
rimes of murder and adultery black |
ming his soul was accountable to God. |
lie realized it after he had hidden his |
i'm for months and tried to account to |
lis family and his nation for his sin |
~ making the widow of the man he |
lad cruelty slain in battle his wife. |
When David got into the presence of |
he Lord, upon his face, he cries: |
Against Thee, Thee only, have |
'inned, and done this evil in Thy sight"
Tod is the final auditor of all accounts. |
We cannot escape His searching eye or |
he record of Heaven. Fine speeches |
efore the throne of God will not pre-
all. We may plead: Lord, Lord,
ave we not prophesied in Thy name |
nd in Thy name have cast out devils?
nd in Thy name done many wonderful
vorks?" But the Lord will look deep
r than the mere outward profession
# the life and will say to many a soul:
Depart from me, We that work in
guilty" Are you more concerned
bout the opinion of those about you
han you are as to what God thinks
# you? Remember that your final
ccouEting is to be with Him. Are YOU
We servers and men pleasers? Re
lember that the eye of God runs to
nd fro through the whole earth and
ees your every action and fathoms
very hidden thought, and that it is
0 Him that the final account is to be
ende red.
And sou will meet Him face to face
ONE day. This is our third point.
dam and Eve sought tc, avoid God
fter they. had violated His command.
in made them shrink from His holy