St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1898-06-04
RUINATION TO EVIL.
A Revolutionary Pronouncement in
the Lords Name.
An O~verturninE of Things Evolutionary In
he Family, the business Circle
and the Church by
Christianity.

" NAAOs Ii AlOA
around the house of Jason, in Thessa,
lonica. What has the nan done Sc
greatly to offend the people? He has
been entertaining Paul and his com
rades. The mob surround the house
and cry: Bring tut those turbulent
preachers! They are interfering with
our business. They are running our
religion! They are actually turning
the world upside down.
The charge was true; for there is
nothing that SO interferes with sin,
there is nothing so ruinous to every
form of established iniquity, there is
nothing that has such tendency to turn
n world upside down, as our glorious
Christianity. The fact is that the
world now 10 wrong side up. and il
needs to be turned upside down in or
der thatAmay be right side up. The
tlpew a when men wrote books emit
Sing them"Apologies for Christianity
Hope that day has passed. We want nc
more apologies for Christianity. LIE,
the apologies be OF the part of those
who do not believe in our religion. We
do not wish to hide the fact that Chris
tianity is revolutionary, and that its
tendency il to turn the world upside
down.
Our religion has often been misrep
resented as a principle of tears, and
mildness, and fastidiousness; afraid OF
crossing peoples prejudice; afraid OF
making somebody mad; with silken
gloves, lifting the people up from the
church pew into glory, as though they
were Bohemian glass, SO very delicate
that with one touch it may be demol-
ished forever. Men speak of religion
as though it were a spiritual chloro-
form, that the people were to take un-
til the sharp cutting of life were over
The Bible, SO far from this, represents
the religion of Christ as robust and
brawny-ransacking and upsetting TO-
600 things that now seem to be settled
on firm foundations. / hear some man
in this house say: Il thought religion
was peace" That is the final result.
A mans arm is out of place. Two men
come. and with great effort put it back
to the socket 1t goes back with great
pain. Then it gets well. Our world
is horribly d~isordered and out of joint.
1t must come under an omnipotent
surgery, beneath which there will be
pain and anguish before there can
come perfect health and quiet. l pro
claim, therefore, in the name of my
Lord Jesus Characterization!
The religion Of the Bible will make
q revolution in the family. Those
things that are wrong in the family
circle will be overthrown by it, while
justice and harmony will take the
place. The husband will be the head
of the household only when he is fit to
be. know n man who spends all the
money he makes in drink, as we'll as
all the money that his wife makes; and
sometimes sells the children's clothes
for rum. Do you tell me that he is to
be the head of that household? If the
wife have more nobility, more courage.
more consistency, more of all that is
right, she shall have the supremacy.
You say that the Bible says hat the
wife is to be the subject to the hus-
band. / know it. But that is a hus-
band, not q masculine caricature.
There is no human or divine law that
makes q woman subordinate to a man
of her. When Christianity
comes into a domestic circle, it will
give the dominancy to hat one who is
the most worthy of it.
As religion comes in at the front
door, mirth and laughter will not GO
put of the back door. 1t will not hopple
the childrcn's feet. John will laugh
as loud, and George will jump
that he ever did before. 1t will
steal from the little ones neither ball
bat, nor hoop, nor kite. 1t will
establish a family altar. Angels will
hover overit. Ladders of light will reach
DOWN to it. The glory Of Heaven will
upon it. The books of remem-
brance will record 1T; and tides of
blessedness will pour |
it. Not such q family altar as |
you may have e where the prayer
long and u long chapter is read, with |
tedious explanations, and the exercise
Keeps on until the children-s knees are
.0re, and their backs ache, and their
is lost and for the seventh |
lime they have counted all the rungs
the chair, but l mean a family altar
such as may have been in your fathers
house. You may have wandered
ar of in the paths OF sin and
darkness; but you have never for
that family altar where father
md mother knelt, importuning God for
soul. That is a memory that a
nan y gets over There will be q
joyful family altar in every do
circle. You will not have to go
ar to find Hannah rearing her Samuel
or the temple, or a grandmother Lois
nstructing her young Timothy in the
of Christ, or a Mary, and
Martha, and Lazarus gathered in fra
ernal and sisterly affection, or a table
It which Jesus sits. as at that of lac
.heus, " homein which Jesus dwclls, |
in the house of Simon, the tanner.
The religion Of Jesus Christ, coming
INTO the domestic circle, will overthrow
ii ~jealousies, all janglings; and peace,
md order, and holiness will take pos
ession of the home.
Again: Christianity will produce a
in commercial circles. Find
ne 80 merchants, and you will find that
hey have so standards of what is right
md wrong. You say TO some one
bout q merchant: rs he honest?'
oh, yes" the man says, she is honest;
nut he grinds the faces of his clerks.
lie is honest; but he exaggerates the
'alue of his goods. He is honest; but
loans money on bond and mortgage,
Nth the understanding hat the mort
age can lie quiet for ten years, but as
CON rs he gets the mortgage he
ecords it and begins a foreclosure suit,
nd the sheriff S writ comes down, and
he day of sale arrives, and away goes
he homestead, and creditor buys it in
t half price, Honest? When he
oaned the money he knew ths4 he
would get the homestead at half price.
But he goes to the insurance
,fice to get . policy on his life, and
els the doctor that he is well, when
knowa that for ten years he had Had
lun0. Hon0nt? thouUh he eel1s !