The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1903-12-04


might be supplied with food, and raj
ment, and shelter He has swung the
great sun in the blue vault of the
heavens that it might give light and
warmth and perpetuate the various
forms of life which had been placed
upon the earth. He sends the rain and
the dew to refresh the earth and make
it bring forth abundantly. He stored
within the bosom of old Mother Earth
every conceivable treasure-the coal,
the gas, the oil, the gold, the silver,
the baser metals, the precious stones
everything which man has discovered
and utilized for comfort, for utility, for
adOrnment, was first nodded into form
by the touch of God and placed where
man could find it. And the fact that
the devil, the original squatter and
claim Jumper of the world, has per-
verted to his uses the created things Of
God, and has spread himself over the
earth as sole proprietor and owner,
does not give man his warrant for like
attitude. The evil heart of man has
fallen into the DEVILS way of thinking
and acting, and God is forgotten as the
Creator. Man gathers and enjoys the
wealth and bounty of the earth, and
lifts never a thought toward God as the
Creator of all that the earth contains.
= Cd as Ruler of the universe main
- tains that which He has created.
God at all times sustains an intimate
relationship to His created world.
Man usually is not conscious of it. The
tendency to materialism blinds the
heart to the thought of God as an ac-
tive agent in every manifestation of ma
ture. The farmer sows his seed, and
cultivates his field and gathers his
crop and says: II sowed the seed,
tended the growing grain, reaped
and gathered into the barns. My
fields produced so much. 1t is all
mine" And Gods part in the whole
transaction is forgotten. AS the
farmer sowed the seed he forgot
that each tiny grain had within its
heart the germ of life which God and
God only could place there. While he
waited for the seed to push it's tender
sprout up through the yielding soil, he
failed to consider the mighty forces of
nature at work to transform that seed
into a growing, productive plant. But
sun and rain and nourishing soil were
busy with that mysterious something
called life, which man knows exists in
its myriad forms, but which he cannot
understand or explain. AS the farmer
cultivated the growing grain he forgot
that it was not he who was making it
grow. He could help it grow, but it
was not his effort nor power, which
transformed sunshine and rain and
black soil into green stalk and tassel-
ing ear. AS he reaped the grain and
the noisy thresher sent forth its gold
en- stream of ripened seed, he only saw
so much flour and so much seed corn
for sowing in the springtime. He did
not think of Gods power which had
packed each little kernel full of nour-
ishing food and creative life, but it was
what God put there which made the
grain worth cultivating and gathering
Man forgets, until sometimes the
drought dries UP the grain and makes
him turn to God and pray for the
needed rain. or the excessive rains
drown out the crops and force the ear
nest supplication for the blessed sun
shine. But to-day even Gods control
over the weather is lightly spoken of
and the weather forecasters of the
country are credited with making the
rain and the sunshine, the storm and
the calm. 1t is not done seriously, we
know, but the jest oft repeated becomes
the prevailing thought. What is the
weather man going to give us to-day?
is the way the question is asked. What
the weather man gave is the way it is
talked about. And he is praised or
scolded, according to the quality of the
weather experienced and the kind
wanted. This criticism may seem triv-
ial, but when you consider how the
thought of Gods rule and control is
being crowded out of every condition
and circumstance of life. believe you
will admit that in this testing there is
real merrill