The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1904-01-01

swiftly by that we are hardly conscious
of their passage. and the year is gone
before we realize it, and we have
scarcely heard a whispered message
from the days as they have flown by.
But while the Old Year is dying, and
the New Year is about to be born, here
is a disposition on the part of man to
stop and listen and think ere he steps
into the days Of the New Year. 1T is
time of retrospection and prospection.
1t is, as the business man would say,
a time of taking stock and planning
new business; a closing up of the old
set of books and the opening of new
ones. Expenditures and receipts are
carefully figured out, and the profits
ascertained. And man who has been
intrusted by God with 365 precious
days, and which he has spent one after
another, thoughtlessly or thoughtfully,
godlessly or righteously, selfishly or in
kindly service for others. ought to take
an accounting at the end of the year.
Expended: 365 days. given crisp and
fresh, like new bank notes, from the
hand of God. Receipts: What? Profits:
What? Days should speak, and what
hOuld be their message!
NAYS should speak of human limita-
IL ions and uncertainties, and of Goo
and eternity. There is an awful lack of
the consciousness of God and eternity
in the world. People spend their days
as though they were to be without end;
they plan with little thought of the
limitations and uncertainties which
bound those plans. 1t is positively
pathetic t o see the bold assurance with
which man passes through this life. He
lives and feels and acts as though he
were a fixture, when he is but "as grass
and as a flower of the field, so he -four
isheth; for the wind passeth over it, and
it is gone; and the place thereof shall
know it no more" But, on the other
hand, the Lord is the same yesterday,
to-day and forever" and His mercy is
from everlasting to everlasting upon
them that fear Him." and again in ].
Peter 1:25, after declaring that "all
flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man
as the flower of grass" the apostle goes
on to proclaim that the Word of the
Lord endureth forever" Mans days
are numbered. eternity is without end;
Mans plans and devices fail, but Gods
plans and purposes are as certain of
contamination as that day follows night.
What day during the year which is just
drawing to a close that has not felt the
tread of the silent reaper Death? 1t is
said that with every tick of the watch
a human life e out somewhere in the
world. While we are in life W. are in
the midst of death. Friends. acquaint-
ances, loved ones have fallen about us
on every hand. AS we Ook back over
the year, the sad days when the INT of
death has robbed us of those whom we
loved and cherished and esteemed stand
out prominently. And what message do
they speak to us? Is it one only of per-
sonal loss and sorrow? If so, you have
failed to hear its most important mes
sage to your soul. 1t would speak of
death which is sooner or later to rob
you of all that life now offers you and
it would point o to God who holds all
o may be possessed of in eternity.
How much did he leave?' was asked
concerning the wealthy man who had
just died. He left it all" was the sage
reply. And the all-important question is
not what he left, but what did he have
lad up in store on the other side? Did
he have treasure in Heaven? Did he
have a Saviour Who was preparing a
mansion for him in the Fathers House,
after the earthly house of this tabernacle
sbOuld be dissolved? Is it we'll with your
soul, with my soul? is the question which
the days filled with death ask as they
pass.