The Opelousas courier., 1893-04-01

fn-- a. IL oSi II 1iDlo re-
.ets 70 Ine migratory habits of the birds and
@ats' Inc storh knoweth her apnointad
'llle and the turtle and the crane and the
Willow the time of their going, but nv peo.
re knoW not the judgments OF the Lorin -.
"oulu the prophet lllustrats the fate of
iFand. he points to a failure at incnbation
.nd says; A a partridge stitch on eggs
anu hatcneth them not, SO he that pettefh
Ilches and not by right shall leave them in
tue MIDST OF his days and at his end shall he
1901. The partridg &c, the most careless of
al oirds IN choice of its place of nest hT;,d-
ng 1t on the ground and often near q fire.
quehted road or in a slight depression of
GROUND, without reference to safety and
sooh d moor or a scythe or a cart wheel ends
all. SO says the prophet, a man who gathers
under him dishonest dollars will hatch out
ness, no security. ffi
"naV VIVID slmilitude. The quickest way
70 amass a fortune is by iniquity. but the
trouble is about keeping it. Every hour of
every day some such partridge is driven off
the nest. Panics are only a hutter of
partrldges. 1t is too tedious work to become
rich in the old fashioned way, and if q man
can by one falsehood make as much as by
en years of hard labor, why not tell it,
AND II one counterfeit check will bring the
dollars as easily as genuine issue, WHY not
MAKE IL? One years fraud will be equal to
a half a hfetime's sweat. Why not live
solely by ones wits? A fortune thus built
will be firms and everlasting. Will it?
Hal build your house on a volcanoes crater.
go to sleep on the bosom of an avalanche
The volcano will blaze, and the avalanche
will thunder.
There are estates which have been coming
together from age to age. Many years ago
that estate started in a husbands industry
ana a Wifes economy. 1t grew from gen
Grafton to generation by good habits and
nigh minded enterprise. Old fashioned in
dustry was the mine fro which that gold
was dug, and God will Ike ep the deeds of such
an estate in His buc kler. Foreclose your
mortgage, spring your snap judgments, plot
With acutest intrigue against a family prop
erty like that aud you cannot do it a per-
manent damage, Better than w~arrantee
deed n better than fire insurance is the
defense which God's own hand will give it.
But here is a man to-day as poor as Job
after ne was robbed by satan of everything
but his boils, yet SUI ddenly tomorrow he is
a rlcn man. There is no accounting for his
sudden afluence. He has not yet failed
often enough to become wealthy. No one
p~retends to account for his princely ward
robe, or the chased silver, or the full curbed
steeds that rear and neign like Buc ephalus
in the grasp of his c~oachman. Did he come
to sudden inheritance? No. Did he make
a fortune on purchase and sale? No. Every
body asks where did that partridge hatch.
The devil suddenly threw him up, and the
devil will suddenly let him come down.
That hidden scheme God saw from the first
conception of the plot. That partridge,
swift disaster will shoot it down, and the
higher it flies the harder it falls. The proph-
ct saw, as you and l la ofte n seen, the
awful mistake of cartridges.
But from the top of a Bible fir tree hear
the shrin cry of the strork. job, Ezekiel,
jeremiah, speak of it. David cries out, "As
for the stork, the fir tree is her house."
This large white Bible bird is supposed,
without alighting sometimes to wing its
way from the region of the Rhine to Africa.
As winter comes all the storks fly to warmer
chimes and the last one of their n lumber that
arrives at the spot to which they migrate is
killed by them. What havoc it W ould make
in our species if those men were killed who
are always behind In oriental cities the
stork is domesticated and walks about on the
street and will follow its keeper.
In the city of Ephesus l saw a long row
of pillars, on the top of each pill lar a stork's
nest. But the word ''stork' ordinarily
means mercy add affection, from the fact
chat this bird was distinguish ed for its great
love for it's parents. 1t never forsakes them,
and even after they become feeble protects
and provides for them. In migrating the
old storks lean their necks on the young
SCOrkS. anu Wu6u bu5 Olu OACS give "a oAC
Young ones carry them on their backs.
God forbid that a dumb stork should have
more heart than we. Blessed is that table
at which an old father and mother sit;
blessed that altar at which an old father
and mother kneel!
What it is ttt nave q mother they know
best who havJlost her. God only knows
the agony she suffered for us, the times she
went over our cradle and the anxious signs
her bosom heaved as vs. lay upon it, the
sick nights when she watched us long after
every one was tired out but God and herself.
Her lifeblood beats in our hearts, and her
image lives in our face. a man is grace
less as a cannibal who ill treats his parents,
and he who ~begrudges them daily bread ana
clothes them but shabbily, may God have pa
thence with him; ! cannot. l heard a man
once say. 81 now nave my old mother on
my hands, Ye storks On your way with
foods to your aged parents, shame him!
But yonder in this Bible sky hies a blrd
that Is speckled. The prophet DESCRIBING
me as a speckled pird; the birds round
about are against her." So it was then; SO
it is now. Holiness picked at. Consecra-
ton picked at. Benevolence picked at.
Usefulness picked at. A speckled bird is a
peculiar birdpSnd chat arouses the antip-
athy of all the 5eaks of the forest.
The church of God is a peculiar lnstltu-
JlOu, hUu ul0U 40 OL4Ou5A ~
of the world, for it is a speckled bird TO De
picked at. The inconsistencies of Christians
are a banquet on which multitudes get tat'
They ascribe everything you do to wrong
motives. Put a dollar in the poor box ana
they will say that you dropped it there only
that you might hear it ring. Invite them
to Christ and they will call you a fanatic.
Let there be contention among Christians,
and they will says "Hurrahi The church is
in decadence."
Christ intended that His church should
always remain a speckled bird. Let birds
of another feather pick at her, but they
cannot rob her of a single plume. Like the
aIbatross, she can sleep on the bosom OF q
tempest. She has gone through the fires Of
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS furnace not got
burned; through the waters of the Red sea
and not been drowned; through the ship
wreck on the breakers of Melitia and not
been foundered. Let all earth and hell try to
hunt down this speckled bird, but far above
human scorn and Internal assault it shall
sing over every mountain top and fly over
every nation. and her triumphant song shall
be: 1.-THE church of Godl The pillar and
ground of the truth. The gates of hell shall
not prevail against her."
But we cannot stop Nsre. From a tall
cliff hanging over the sea L hear the eagle
calling unto the tempest and lifting its
wings to smite the whirlwind. Moses, Jere-
miah. Hosea and Habakkuk at times in their
writings take their pep from the eagles
wing. 1t is a bird with -~esrceness In its eye,
its feet armed with claws of iron Inc its
head with a dreadful beak. Two or three of
them can fill the heavens with clangor. But
generally this monster of the air is alone
and unacconlpanied, for the reason that it's
habits are SO predaceous it requires five or
ten miles of aerial OF earthly dominion all
for ifcn1F