St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1897-03-13
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The Place in Which the Christian
Should Always be Safe,


The Home - Test Of Character, 40 ,
kefuge. - . Political Safeguard,
~ School. aud ~
TyPs Of Heaven.
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage took for tn,
subject of recent sermon: Harbo
OF Home" basing it on the text:
Go home TO thy friends. and tell them hov
great things the Lord kath done for thee."-
Mark w.
There are great many people long
ing for some grand sphere in which t.
serve God. They admire Luther At tn,
diet of Worms, and only wish tha
they had some such great opportunity
in which to display their Christian
prowess. They admire Paul making
Felix tremble, and they only wisl
that they had some such grand occa-
sion in which to preach righteousness
temperance and Judgment to come
All they want is an opportunity to ex
hibit their Christian heroism. Now
the apostle comes to US and he prac
tically says: Il will show you q place
where you can exhibit all that il
grand and beautiful and glorious in
Christian character, and that il the
pomestic circle"
If one is not faithful in an insignifi'
cant sphere he will not be faithful in
a resounding sphere. If Peter will
not help the cripple at the gate Of the
temple, he will not be able to preach
1900 souls into the kingdom at the
Pentecost. If Paul will not take
pains to instruct in the way of saliva.
tion the sheriff of the Philippian dun.
Geon. he will never make Felix trcm'
BILE. lie who is not faithful in . skir.
mish would not be faithful in an Ar
mageddon. The fact is, we are al
placed in just the position in which
we can most faithfully serve God, and
we ought not to be chiefly thoughtful
about some sphere Of usefulness which
we may after awhile gain, but the all.
absorbing question with you and with
me ought to be: Lord, what wilt
Thou have me (now and here) to do?"
There is one word in my text around
which the most Of our thoughts will
to-day revolve. That word is home.
Ask ten different men the meaning of
that word and they will give you ten
different definitions To one it means
love at the hearth, it means plenty at
the table. industry at the workstand,
intelligence at the books, devotion at
the altar. To him it means a greeting
ut the door and a smile at the chair.
Peace hovering like wings Joy clap
ping its hands with laughter. Life .
tranquil lake. Pillowed on the ripples
sleep the shadows.
Ask another man what home is, and
he will tell you it is want, looking out
Of cheerless FIRE CRATE and kneading
hunger in an empty bread tray. The
damp air shivering with curses. No
Bible on the shelf. Children. robbers
and murderers in embryo. Vile songs
their lullaby. Every face q picture of
ruin. Want in the background and
sin staring from the front: No Sab
bath wave rolling over that doorsill.
vestibule OF the pit. Shadow of in
fernal walls. Furnace for forging
everlasting chains. Faggots for an
amending funeral pile. Awful word!
1t 10 spelled with curses, it weeps with
ruin, it chokes with woe, it sweats
with the death agony of despair.
The word s'home" in the one case
means everything bright The word
..home" in the other case means every
thing terrific.
shall speak to you of home rs test
Of character, home as q refuge, home
rs a political safeguard, home a. .
school and home rs type OF Heaven.
And in tho first place remark that
home is q powerful test of character.
The disposition in public may be in
gay costume, while in private it is in
deshabille. As play actors may ap-
pear in one way on the stage and may
appear in another way behind the
scenes, SO private character may be
very different from ublic character.
Private character is often public char
acter turned wrong side out A man
may receive you into his parlor n
though he were distillation of smiles,
and yet his heart may be swamp Of
ncttles. There are business men who
all day long are mild and courteous
and genial and good natured to com.
mercial life, keeping back their irrita-
bility and their petulance and their
but at nightfall the dam
breaks. and scolding pours forth in
floods and freshets.
Reputation Is the only shadow of
and q very small house
will cast = very long shadow.
The lips may seem to drop myrrh and
and the disposition to be ~
bright and warm as = sheaf OF sun
beams, and yet they may only be .
show window to . wretch
ed stock of goods. There is many .
man who is affable in public life and
amid commercial spheres, who. in .
way, takes his anger and
petulance home and drops them in the
domestic circle.
The reason men do not display their
bad tember in public is because they
do not want to be knocked down.
There are men who hide their petu-
lance and their irritability just for
the same reason that they do not let
their notes 60 10 protest; it does not
pay. Or for the same reason that they
do not want man in their stock COM
pany to sell his stock at less than the
right price, lest it depreciate the value.
As 1T sunset the wind rises, SO after
\ sunshiny day there may be tenn
pestuous night There are people
who in public act the philanthroPist.
who at home act the Nero, with re.
spect to their slippers and their gown.
Audobon. the great ornithologist.
with gun and pencil. went through
the forests of America to bring down
and to sketch the beautiful birds, and
after reara of toll and exnoanra COM