St. Landry democrat., 1886-10-09

! see the closing hymn, ended the meeting
fearful that some long -winded pray
meeting bore would pull us down from the
seventh heaven.
Not word have [ to say against ac-
| curacy Of speech, or fine elocution, or high
mental culture. Get all these you can.
But do say to those VINO were brought up
III the day of poor school-houses and ig-
norant school masters, and no oppor-
tunlty, you may have SO much good in
your soul and so much of heaven in your
every day life that you will be mightier
| for good than any who went through the
| curriculum of Harvard or Yale, or Ok
| ford, yet never graduated in the school
Of Christ. When you get up to the gate
of Heaven no one will ask you whether
you can parse the first chapter of Genesis,
| hat whether you havo learned the fear OF
the Lord, which is the herjnnng of wis
dom; nor whether you know now to square
! the circle, but whether You have lived
square life in a roun world. Mount Zion
| is higher than Mount Paynassus.
4. But what other multitu les there are
under other disadvantages! Here is the
Christian woman w':oSo husband thinks
religion sham, and while the wife pravs
the children one WAY The husband swc3rs
them another. Or here is Christian man
who is trying to do his best for God and
| the Church, and his wife holds him back
and says on the way home from prayer
| meeting, where he gave testimony for
| Christ:
"What fool you make of Yourself. I
hope hereafter you will keep still"
And when he would be benevolent and
give fifty dollars, she criticise; him for
| giving fifty cents. l must do Justice, and
publicly thank God that never proposed
at home to give anything for any cause of
humanity or religion but the other part
ner in the domestic firm approved it. And
when it seemed beyond my ability and
| faith in God was necessary, she had three
fourths of the faith. But l know men
| who, when they contribute to charitable
| objects, are afraid that the wife shall find
it out What a whitening curse such
wife must be to good man.
| Then there are others under the great
disadvantage of poverty. Who ought to
get things cheapest? You say those who
have little means. But they pay more.
You buy coal by the ton, they buy it by
the bucket. You buy -four by the barrel,
they buy it by the pound. You get ap-
parel cheap because you pay cash. They
pay dear because they have to get trust
| ed. And the Bible was right when it said:
The destruction of the poor is their power.
| ty.
Others have unfortunate predominancs
of some mental faculty, and their rash.
| ness throws them into wild enterprises, or
their trepidation makes them decline
great opportunity, or there is a vein of
| melancholy in their disposition that de-
feats them, or they have an endowment of
over mirth that causes the impression of
insincerity.
Others have q mighty obstacle in their
personal appearace, for which they are
not responsible. They forget that God
fashioned their features and their COM
plexion, and their stature, the size of their
nose and mouth, and hands and feet, and
gave them the gait and the general
appearances; and they forget that much
of the worlds best work, and the
church's best work, has been
done by homely people; and that Paul the
Apostle is said to have been hump-backed,
and his eyesight weakened by ophthalmia,
while many of the finest in appearance
have passed their time before flattering-
looking glasses, or in studying killing at
| titudes, and in displaying the richness of
wardrobes-not one ribbon, or vest, or
sack, or glove, or button, or shoestring of
which they have had brains enough to
earn for themselves.
In the way of practical relief for all dis.
advantages and all woes, the only voice
that is worth listening to on this subject
is the voice of Christianity, which
is the voice of Almighty God. Whether
I have mentioned the particular dis
advantage under which you labor or
not, distinctly declare, in the name Of
my God, that there is way out and way
up for all of you. You can not be any
worse off than that Christian young
woman who was in the Pemberton mills
when they fell some years ago, and from
under the fallen timbers she was heard
singing:
1 am going home to die no more.
Take good courage from that Bible, all
of whose promises are for those in bad
predicament. There are better days for
you, either on earth or in Heaven. put
my hand under your chin and lift your
face into the light of the coming dawn.
Have God on your side, and then you
have for reserve troops all the armies OF
Heaven, the smallest company Of which is
10000 chariots, and the smallest battalion
$4,000, the lightnings of Heaven their
drawn swords.
An ancient warrior saw an overpower-
ing host come down upon his small com.
pany of armed men, and, mounting his
horse with handful of sand, he threw it