The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1903-08-14

e "a AZURE apparently
%oSopTfEZ9ZLkA n loses control OF
4 Y9OE her forces at
sJEG E%S times, and the
wv "a rainfall becomes a
* u "A clOudburst, or the
0aI \ IA days of glaring
ks4s.,s, IYs5k SF4N sunshine and ex-
\Sr-.1, E4k\"[1E ces ssiye h a
E1tAStsCA NSR lnN lengthen into the
ViSsEsS:s 1SsMFAR blighting drought
NEPy TgFiAT1 tH The flooded val
- ~#%> leys and the
washed-out grain fields, or the parched
ground and withering crops, tell the
sad story of excess and destruction,
and one realizes that the needful re-
freshing rain and life-giving sunshine
may become messengers of i'll when
given with unrestrained hand. 1t is
SO with all good things in life. That
which is necessary and beneficent
within reasonable bounds becomes a
positive evil when it leaps those
bounds and runs riot in the limitless
field of excess. Man is in constant
danger of converting good into evil
by reason of excess. Where the de
sires and appetites are allowed to con-
One excess follows another; desire
leads an eager race in one direction
to-day, and tomorrow it is something
else that consumes the time and at
tention. 1t is said that no good thing
has ever come into the world but that
it has been put to base and unwhole-
some use by some. The people of the
world, as distinguished from the pro-
Tossing Christian, are not expected to
be governed by the same high stand
ards which should control the latter.
The man in whose life Christ is not
the supreme hope and ruling motive
must look within himself for the con-
troll and conduct of his life, and to the
degree that he permits his desires and
appetites to rule, to that degree will good
become evil. And yet he is not sub
ject to the same condemnation as the
Christian, who might go to the same
degree of excess, for, as we have said,
there is a higher and holier motive
ruling in the latter life. Our text
gives us the ideal as well as the prac
tical picture of the Christian. He
should be temperate in all things,
because striving for victory and
crown. The race is not run until
death is swallowed up in victory; the
crown is not won until the presence Of
Jesus is gained, from Whose hands the
reward of service is obtained.
DAUL takes his illustration of the at
| titude and life of the Christian
from the Roman arena, or the Greek
stadium. The contestant must, by
weeks of plain diet, temperate habits
and careful training. prepare for the
conflict or the race. If he would
strive for the mastery he must be
temperate in all things. And he does
all this, Paul goes on to say, to win
perishable chaplet of fig or laurel
leaves. But the Christian trains and
strives that he may win a crown that
is incorruptible Many ran over the
Greek course, but only one could win
the prize. Not so with the Christian
who runs! For Paul says: II therefore
so run, not as uncertainty; so fight l,
not as one that beateth the air" He
knew there was crown for him, for
Mt the end of his course, he exclaimed,
as the celestial city began to break
upon his vision: 81 have fought a good
fight, l have kept the faith. hence
forth there is laid up for me crown
of righteousness which the Lord, the
righteous Judge, shall give me at that
day" And then, as he realizes how
all Christians may so run as to OBJ
tain" he adds: "And not to me only,
but unto all them that love His ap-
pearing."
THE Christian life is a battlefield;
| it is a conflict constantly, within
and without 1t is not pleasure park
laid out with f1owery beds of ease on
which to rest in idle content. 1t is not
n safe retreat in which to hide while
the soul sings and sleeps itself into |
everlasting bliss, 1t is a battlefield
1t means conflict 1t means self-denial |
trial and danger! 1t means earnest |
endeavor, and persistencyi And the |
one who does not find the Christian |
life such an experience has missed the !
right road and is not travelling in the |
direction of the Heavenly goal. He |
may have a name to live. but he is |
dead He may be identified with the |
great army of the cross of Jesus |
Christ which is marching through the |
conflict of life. enduring the persecu-
tions, and trials, and dangers ever to |
be met with, but if he is not sharing |
in the conflict, in the prosecutions, the |
trials and the dangers he is not a true
soldier, and his false position will be
revealed in the light of eternity. And |
if the Christian life is such an inward
and outward conflict with the world,
the flesh and the devil, then every
Christian who would strive for the
mastery must be temperate in all
things.
THE summertime always en-
| phasizes one thing-the lapse of
Christian zeal and endeavor. The
Christian of the summer time is diff
ferent person from the Christian of
the fall and winter time. The latter
holds himself to his Christian duty.
and among his home associates and
friends he walks in Christian livery.
He is known as Christian, and he
sets as one should. But with the CON-