The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1904-03-11

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~>SlY3N and God might be
NH NW healed; that where
Ex4Av /, NV discord prevails,
NyS#I ( II kVJKII, harmony might be
WENY/ Il, /MzlHS| restore d; tn t
%2EIN//T,H H2f;k where estrange-
rI/MN[I/J ment and separa-
~, ton exist, there
might be fellowship and blessed
union. With man shut out of the
paradise which God had planted
and given to man, how could
God be content or satisfied until the
way back to paradise was opened?
With Israel in Egypt in bondage, God
could not be quiescent and forgetful.
He says: Il have surely seen the af-
Fiction of my people which are in
Egypt, and l have heard their cry by
reason of their taskmasters; for l
know their sorrows; and l am come
down to deliver them out of the hand
of the Egyptians, and to bring them up
out of that land unto good land and
large, unto a land flowing with milk
and honey" And neither can God be
Indifferent TO or neglectful of man
while he is in the Egypt of the worlds
bondage. The fathers house had an
empty room, and a vacant chair at the
table; and his heart had its unsatis
fed longing, while the prOdigal was
away in the far country. He watched
and he waited until at last the wander
ing, wayward boy came back. The
sOrrOwing father could know no peace
or rest until the Wanderer had re-
turned, until the lost had been found,
until he who had been as good as dead
had sought the safety and protection
of the fathers house, and had come
to life again. And so is it in infinite
ly greater degree with the Heavenly
Father He yearns for the return Of
His sinful, wayward children. If we
may so reverently speak of God, He is
unhappy, and unsatisfied while the
world continues to wander far from
Him. Jesus cry of anguish 20
Jerusalem, Jerusalem! How
often would | have gathered thy chill
dren together, even as a hen gathereth
her chickens under her wings, and ye
would not" is but the cry of God to a
lost world, is but the cry of the loving,
merciful Creator TO the poor, deIuded,
wayward creature. Gods supreme pur-
pose for man is that he should become
reconciled to God.
n UR text gives 10 us COD message to
~ His people. 1t was to be "DreceDt
upon precept, precept upon precept;
line upon line, line upon lile: here
little, there a little" forcibly remind
ing us that Gods message ig ever
Simnlp a nprtinnnt
persistent message, and an unchanging
message. And the latter clause of our
text is suggestive of the effect of Gods
message. First of all, then, let us
consider the simplicity of Gods mes
sage. 1t is ''precept upon precept, pre-
cept upon precept; line upon lire, line
urOn line; here a little, there a little"
When God is dealing with The sodIs
of men He does not indulge in plati-
tudes, and high-SOunding phrases: He
does not use the terms and phraseoIogy
of the wise and learned. Nay, rather.
in the quickest and most direct wav
possible He seeks TO administer to the
real needs of the soul. And for this
reason his message is one of sim
plicity. Simple because of its universal
mission. Gods message is to all the
world. To the most enlightened and TO
the most benighted; to the cultured
and refined and to the most vile and
degraded; 10 the man of gray hairs |
and tOttering steps and to the little
child with all of life before it. In it's
simplicity, Gods message is most strik- |
ingly differentiated from the message
of every other religion in the world. |
II re rlyC ohor
tic which stamps it as the message of |
God and proves its authenticity.
I SAIAH in another part Of his book de- |
| clares that Gods message is so simple !
that the wayfaring men, yea fools. shall |
not err therein" Even fools, those !
mentally deficient, may be able to receive !
and understand Gods simple message. |
And how often this has proven true You |
may go to whatever nation you choose, |
to whatever quarter of the globe you
wish, and you will find beautiful and |
striking examples of the truth that Gods |
message is so simple that it can reach to |
the lowest depths, as well as to those in /
the most exalted places of learning and !
authority 1t was even so when Jesus {
was on earth, for the learned and cul-
tured Nicodemus, member of the San
hedrin, was numbered among His disci-
pies, even though secretly, as was also
the poor. despised thief upon the cross.
Jesus sets a little child in our midst and
tells us that except we become as that
little child we cannot understand Gods
message and enter into the Kingdom of
Heaven. Jesus in one of His prayers
says: 81 thank Thee, oh Father, Lord OF
Heaven and earth, that Thou didst hide
these things from the wise and under
starding, and didst reveal them unto
babes" And Paul. in the first chapter
of his firstletter to the Corinthians, says:
Not many wise after the flesh, not many