St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1898-09-17
HELPS IN DISTRESS.
Encouraging Words by Rev. Dr..
Talmage to the Distress:d.
ClImb Up Ont Ct the Shadows Have Your
iWusted Life Forgiven, and Have
Your Eternal Life Placed ON
u Sure BASIS.


R,v. T.aDeWitt Talmage, in the fol.
lowing sermon, gives words Of cncour.
agement to the afflicted in boly and
mind. The text is: ~
There was q sharp rock ono on, sils and q
sharp rock on tae o.h . sid.-I Samuel. xiv, Z
The cruel army OF the Ph;sstines
must be taken and scattered. There is
just one man, accompanied by his
body-guard, to do that thing. iona.
than is the hero of the scene. Iknow
that David cracked the skull of the
giant with few pebbles well slung,
and that 400 Gidconites scattered 1O,Oot
Amelekites by the crash OF broken
croclsery; but here is more wonderful
conflict. Yonder are the Pnilistincs or
the rocks. Here is Jonathan with hi,
bodyguard in the valley. Ga the one
side is a rock called Bozez: on the other
side is rock called Sench. These two
were as famous in olden times as in
modern times arc Plymouth Rock and
Gibraltar. They were precipitous, un
scalablc and sharp. between these
two rocks Jonathan must make his as.
cent. The day comes for the scaling
of the height. Jonathan, on his
hands aud, feet, begins tue ascent
With strain and slip and bruise. l sup
pose, but still on AMI up, first goes
Jonathan. and th.n goes his body.
guard. Bo:ez on one side, Seneh on
the other. After sharp tug, and
push and clinging, see the head ol
jonathan above the hole in the noun
tain; and there is a challenge, and q
fight, and supernatural consterna'
ton. These two men, Jonathan and
his bodyguard, drive back and drive
down the Philistines over the rocks,
aud opens a campaign which dcmol-
ishcs the enemies Of Israel. suppose
that the overhanging and overshadOw
ing rocks on either side did not bAlk
or dishearten Jonathan or his body
guard, but only rousel and filed tn em
'sTherc was n sharp rock on the one
side, and a sharp rock Oh the other
side"
My friends, you have been, or are
now, some OF you, in this crisis OF the
text. Ii . man meets one trouble he
:an go through with it. lie gathers
all his energies. concentrates them on
one point, aud in the strength OF God,
Or by his own natural determination,
goes through it. But the man who has
trouble to the right OF him, and trou.
bic to the let of him, is to be piticd.
Did either trouble come along, he
might endure it, but two trou bles, two
disasters, two overshadowing mis-
fortunes, are Bozez and Sencb. God
pity him. There is sharp rock on
the one side, and a sharp rock on the
other side"
In this crisis OF the the text is that
man whose fortune and health fail him
ut the same time. Nine-tenths OF ali
our merchants capsize in business be-
fore theJ come 10 45 years OF age.
There is some collision in commercial
circles, and they stop payment. 1t
seems Us if every man must put his name
On the back of q note before he learns
what u. fool n man is who risks all his
own property on the prospect that sorre
man will tell the truth. 1t seems MS il
a man must have q large amount OF un-
salabIe goods on his own shelf before
he learns how much easier it is to buy
than TO sell. It seems rs il every man
must be completely burned out before
he learns the Importance OF always
keeping fully insured. 1t seems rs il
every man must be wrecked in II fnan.
cial tempest before he learns to keep
lhinQs snug in case Of sudden euro
clydon.
When the calamity does come. it is
awful. The man goes home in despair.
and he tells his family: We'll have to
go to the poor house" lie takes a
dolorous view OF everything. 1t seems
as il he never could rise. But little
time passes, and he says, "Why am
not SO badly off after NIL; / have my
family LETT"
Before the Lord turned Adam out oi
Paradise, He gave him Eve, SO that
when he lost Paradise lie could stand
it. Permit one who has never read but
. few novels in all his life, and who
has not great deal OF romance in his
composition, to say, that il, when .
mans fortune fail. he has good wife
"a goOd Christian wife-he ought not
TO be dsspondent. 'Oh," you say,
.'that only increases the embarrass-
ment, since you have her also to take
care Of" You are an migrate, for the
woman Is often supports the man aa
the man supports the woman. The
man may bring all the dollars, but the
woman generally brings the courage
and the faith in God.
Well. this man of whom am speak.
ing looks around, and he finds his fam.
lily is left, and he rallies. and the ligh,
comes to his eyes, and the smile to his
face. and the courage to his heart In
two years he is quite overit. He make
his financial calamity. the first chapter
in new era of prosperity. He met
that one trouble--conQuered it. He
sat down for . little while under the
grim shadow Of the rock BOzez; yet hs
soon arose, and began, like Jonathan
to climb. But how often is it tina,
physical ailment comes with financial
embarrassment! When the fortune
failed it broke the man's spirit. Hi
nerves were shattered. His brain was
stunned. can show you hundreds Of
men in our cities whose fortune and
health failed at the same time
They came prem3turely to the
staff. Their hand tremblcd with
incipient paralysis. They never
saw q we'll day since the hour when
they called their creditors together for
q compromise. 1t such men are i'm.
patient, and peculiar, aud irritable, ex.
cusc them. They had two troubles,
either one of which they could have
met successfully. II. when the health
went, the fortune had been retained,
it would not have been 50 bad. The
man could have bought the very besl
medical advice, and he could have had
the very best attendance, and long
lines Of carriages would have stopped
at the front door TO inquire - to hi,
welfare. But poverty ON the one side
and sickness on the other are Bozex and
Seneh, and they interlock their shad
ows, and drop them upon the pool
mans way. God hep him; "Thers
was . sharp rock on the one side, and
. sharp rock on the other side"
Now, what il such . man to do? II
the name of Almighty God, will tell