St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1885-12-12

which are burning down and burning out,
never to be relighted, lest we wake up with
the discontinue of the foolish virgins and
cry: Sour lamps are gone out.
But, in the second place, commend that
behavior of these disciples in the text to-,
all the tempted. have heard people say
they were never tempted-peopI who have
come to mia life who have never been
tempted. Oh, my friends! it is because
they have never tried to do right If
man be handcuffed and hobbled and he lie
quiet, he does not test the power of the
chain or the manacle; but let him once try
to rise up and break off the handouts and
shackles, then he finds out the power of
he chain. If, my dear brother, you do
not know the power of temptation, it Is
because you are bound hand and foot of
sin, and have never made the attempt to
be emancipated.
Why, it is easy enough to go down
stream In boat. You can lie upon your
oars. You go just as the tide goes. But
suppose You turn around and head up
stream, then it is not so easy making
progress. As long as you go down with
the tide of sin and iniquity, it is easy
enough to go that way; but when you
turn around and head toward God and
heaven, then it is struggle, an awful
| struggle.
Can it be that you have never tested
the power of temptation? You have one
kind of temptation; you, another; you,
another. There is not person in the
| house but has been tempted, whether you
realize it OF not. never like to hear
| man say: 'sOh, I couldn't be tempted the
| way that man is" ecould not be tempted
| the way you are. A lion can not under
| stand why fish should be caught with
hook, and the fish can not understand why
| the lion should be caught with trap.
| You may be free from certain kinds OF
| temptation, but there are other kinds after
| you.
You see some men with a phlegmatic
temperament. ''Why," you say, SHAT
man hasn't any temptations at ALL" You
mistake him. He has temptations to in
doleoce, to consciousness, to sink down
into mere latitude and longitude Of FAITH
ness; to lie down on the road of life,
| to stop great enterprises, He has just
| as many temptations in gpe direction as
/ you, being of nervoas and e4r.itable tenn
| permanent have temp tins ia another d.
| rection.
/ You will see some aged man arise in a
prayer meeting, and at eighty years of age
he talks SO sweetIy of Christ and Heaven,
| you say: 'sThat man has lived without
| temptation" Ask him. He has as many
temptations at eighty years of age as he
had at twenty. They are only different
STYLES of temptations. Ask that aged man
| whether he has lived beyond the reach of
the powers of darkness in this world, and
he will say it has been conflict all the way
through.
Sfxtus was Fa cardinal, and he wanted
the pontifical chair, and history says he
pretended to be sick and crippled. He
said: "Now, if you elect me to that chair
shall occupy it, and I shall not live long
anyhow, and then you win put some one
else in the chair.n He was elected to that
position. He moved TO it on crutches.
/ Getting to the chair, he threw aside the
i crutches. He said While was hunting
for the keys of st, Peter it was appro-
pirate, 1 stopped; but, having found the
keys Of st. Peter, there is no reason why I
should stoop any longer" So his crutches
were gone and he was we'll Oh, how sug-
gestive of temptation! 1t seems at one
time to be wan and weak and crippled, but
give it throne and it becomes tyrant to
grind your soul into ruin.
| Well, now you say: IAN persons being
tempted, what are we to do when we are
assailed of temptations When the wave
dashes against us is there nothing to hold
onto? Is a man to so into this war with
the world, the flesh and the
devil, with no. help?i / Mill tel
i <you, my friends. The wisest thing
for you to do in the day of temptation is
like these disciples OF my text, to go and
tell Jesus. In the eyes that wept with the
Bethany sisters I see shining hope, In that
j voice that broke the silence of the tomb
until the widow of Main got back her son
and stupendous sorrow made up in the
arms of rapture-aye in that voice-I heal
the command and the promise: Coast thy
burden on the Lord, and he will sustain
thee" He knows all about temptation
Tempted in all points like as we. are. Gc
Land tell Jesus.
Il Again, / commend this behavior of the
disciples in my text to all those who arr
slandered and abused and persecuted
When these disciples saw that Herod had
taken the head Of John the Baptist, they
knew their own heads were not safe. Every
John has his Herod. There are people thai
do not think overmuch Of you. Your mis-.
fortunes would be honey-comb to them
They hiss at you through their teeth ant
misinterpret your actions, and would b
glad to see you upset. They would be thu
most submissive mourners at your funeral
Every one comes, during the course o
life. to be pommeled Some SANDER comes
at you, horned and tusked aand hoofed Il
trample and gore you, and you think 20,
are peculiar in that respect. No "AI
who live godIy in Christ Jesus must suffer