St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1898-05-28

1t is easier for a camel to GO through
q needles eye than for rich man tx
enter the kingdom OF Heaven What
does that mean? It means that tn,
grandest blessing God ever bestowed
| upon you was to take your money away
from you. Let me here say. in passing
do not put much stress on the treas
| ures of this worfa. You can no,
take them along with you. Al
any rate, you can not take then
moro than two or three miles
cemetery. Attila had three collins. Sc
fond was he of this life that he decrecd
that he should be buried in a CO HI of
gold, and that then that should be in
closed in coffin Of silver, and that
should be incloscd in coffin of iron,
| and then large amount Of treasure
should be thrown in over his body.
And so he was buried. and the m.n
who buried him were slain, so that no
one might know where he was buried,
and no one might there interfere with
his treasures. Oh, men of the world,
who want to take your money with
you. better have three collins!
Again, remark. you ought to make
the very best of your bereavement.
The whole tendency is to brood over
these separations, and to give much
time to the handling Of mo-nentoes Of
the departed, and to make long vista
tions to the cemetery, and to say ''Oh,
| can never look up again; my hope is
gone; my courage is gone; my religion
is gone; my faith in God is gone! Oh,
the wear and tear and exhaus-
ton of this loneliness" The most
frequent bereavement is the loss
of children. If your departed child
had lived as long as you have
lived, do You not suppose that he would
have had about the same amount of
trouble and trial that you have had?
If you could take choice for your
child between forty years Of annoy
ance, loss. vexation. evaporation and
bereavements, and forty years in Heav-
en-, would you take the responsibility
of choosing the former? Would you
snatch away the cup Of eternal bliss
and put into that child's hands the cup
of many bereavements? Instead Of
the complete safety into which
that child had been lifted would
you like to hold it down to the risks o
this mortal state? Would you like TO
keep it out on a sea in which there
have been more shipwrecks than safe
voyages? Is it not comfort TO you to
know that that child, instead Of being
besoiled and flung into the mire Of sin,
is swung clear into the skies? Are not
those children to be congratulated that
the point of celestial bliss which you
expect to reach by pilgrimage of 50
or 60 or 20 years, they reached at a
fash? If the last 10000 children who
had entered Heaven had gone through
the average of human life on earth, are
you sure all those 10, 900 children would
have finally reached the blissful ter
minus? Besides that. my friends, you
are to look at this matter as aEself-de-
NAL on your part for their benefit. If
your children want to go off in a May
day party; if your children want to go
on fiowry and musical you
consent. Yon might prefer to have
them with you, but their jubilant alb
scnce satisfies you Well, your de-
parted children have only gone out in
May-day party, amid fowery and
musical entertainment, amid joys and
hilaritics forever. That ought to quell
some of your grief, the thought OF their
glee.
So it ought to be that you could make
the best of all bereavements. The fact
that you have so many friends in
Heaven will make your own departure
very cheerful. When you are going on
voyage, everything depends upon
where your friends are-if they are on
the wharf that you leave, or on the
wharf toward which you are going to
sail. In other words, the more friends
you have in Heaven the easier it will
be to get away from this world. The
more friends here, the more bitter
good-bys; the more friends there
the more glorious welcomes. Some
of you have SO many broth
ers, sisters, children, friends in
Heaven, that l do not know hardly
how you are going to crowd through.
When the vessel came from foreign
lands, and brought a primes to our
harbor, the ships were covered with
bunting. and you remember how the
men-of-war tn lndered broadsides; but
there was no JOY there compared with
the joy which shall be demonstrated
when you sail up the broad bay Of
heavenly salutation. The more friends
you have there, the easier your own
transit. What is death to a mother
whose children are in Heaven? Why
there is no more grief in it than there
is in her going into nursery amid the
romp the and laughter Of her house
hold. Though all around may b. dark,
see you not the bright light in the
clouds-that light the irridated faces
of your gloritiei kindred?
So also, my friends, / would have
you make the best of your sic.nesses.
When you see one move off with elas-
tic step and in full physical vigor,
sometimes you become impatient with
your lame foot When a man describes
an object mile off, and you can not
see it at all, you become impatient of
your dim eve. When you hear of a
well man making q great achieve
ment You become impatient with
your depressed nervous system or your
dilapidated health. l will tell you
how you can make the worst of it.
Brood over it; brood over all these i'll
nesses, and your nerves will become
twitchy. and your dyspepsia more ag-
gravated, and your weakness more APP
palling. But that is the devils work,
to tell you how to make the worst of
it; it is my work to show you brighter
light in the clouds.
Which Of the Bible men most attract
you attention? You say, Moses, Job,
David, jeremiah, Paul. Why, what a
strange thing it is that you have chosen
those who were physically disordered.
Moses-I know he was nervous from
the clip he gave the Egyptian. Job
his blood was vitiated and diseased,
and his skin distressfully eruptive.
David-he had a running sore, which
he speaks Of when he says: My sore
ran in the night and ceased not Jerc-
miah had enlargement of the spleen.