St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1898-07-09

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piety bow before Thorn. Hannah was
fair emblem OF entire worldliness, an
Mordecai the representative of I'M
finching godliness. Such were IN
usages Of society in ancient times that
had this Israelite bowed to the prim
minister, it would have been an &C
acknowledgement of respect for his char
acter and nation. Mordecai would
therefore, have sinned against his re
dropped his chin half an inch befo r
Haman. When, therefore proud Hamal
attempted to compel an homage which
was not felt, he only did what tn
world ever since has tried to do. when
it would force our holy religion in any
way to yield to its dictates. Daniel
if he had been man of religious com
promises, would never have beer
thrown into the den of lions. II,
might have made some arrangement.
with King Darius whereby he could
have retained part of his form of reli
gion without making himself 50 com
pletely obnoxious to the idolaters
Paul might have retained the favor o.
his rulers and escaped mirtyrdom il
he had only been willing to mix up hi.
Christian faith with few errors. Hi.
unbending Christian character wa
taken as an insult.
Fagot and rack and halter in all age
have been only the different ways in
which the world has deman obei
Sanca II xvaS ODoo oxv,y - -, <ho ~,
of the temple, that Satan commanded
the Holy One of Nazareth to kneel be
fore him. But it is not now so mucl
on the top of churches as down in tn,
aisle and the pew and the pulpit that
Satan tempts the espousers of tn,
Christian faith to kneel before him
Why was it that the Platonic philoso
piers Of early times, rs well a.
Toland, Spinoza and Bolingbroke
of later days, were so madly
opposed to Christianity? Certainly
not because it favored immortaiities
or arrested civilization or dwarfed the
intellect. The genuine reason, whether
admitted or not, was because the re
ligion of Christ paid no respect to theil
intellectual vanities Elount and Boyle
and the host of infidels Matched out BY
the vile reign Of Charles H.. as reptile.
crawl out of a marsh of slime, could
not keep their patience, because, As
they passed along, there were sitting
in the gate OF the church such men as
Matthew. and Mark, and Luke. and
John, who would not bend an inch in
respect to their philosophers.
Satan told our first parents that they
would become as gods if they would
only reach up and take taste OF the
fruit. They tried it and failed, but
their descendants are not yet satisfied
with the experiment. We have now
many desiring to be as gods, reaching
up after yet another apple. Reason,
scornful of Gods woril, may foam and
strut with the proud wrath of q
Haman, and attempt to compel the
homage of the good, but in the pres
ence of men and angels it shall be con-
founded. God shall smite thee, thou
whited wall" When science began to
make its brilliant discoveries there
were great facts brought to light that
seemed to overthrow the truth of the
Bible. The archasologist with his
crowbar, and the geoIogist with his
hammer, and the chemist with his bat
teries, charged upon the Bible. Moses
by the very structure Of the earth The
astronomer wheeled around his tele-
scope until the heavenly bodies seemed
to marshal themselves against the
Bible as The stars in their courses
fought against Sisera. Observatories
and universities rejoiced at what they
considered the extinction of Christian
ity. They gathered new courage at
what they considered past victory, and
pressed on their contest into the king
dom of nature, until, alas for them,
they discovered too much. Gods word
had only been lying in ambush, that.
in some ungarded moment, with a sud-
den bound, it might tear. infidelisy to
pieces.
1t was as when ] oshua attacked the
City of Al. He selected $4,000 men,
and concealed most of them; then with
a few men he assaulted the city, which
poured out its numbers and strength
upon Joshuas little band According
to previous plan. they fell back in
defeat, but, after all the proud
of the city had been
brought ont OF their homes, and had
joined in the pursuit of Joshua, suddenly
that brave man halted in his fight,
and with his spear pointing toward the
city, 10000 men bounded from the
thickets as panthers spring to their
prey, and the pursuers were d Ished
to pieces, while the hosts Of
Joshua pressed up to the city,
and with their lighted torches
tossed 1t into flame. Thus it was that
the discoveries of science seemed &C.
i've temporary victory against God and
he Bible, and for awhile the church
.cted as if she were on retreat; but
when all the opposers of God and truth
lad joined in the pursuit, and were
;ure Of the field, Christ gave the signal
% His church, and turning, they drove
pack their foes in shame. There was
ound to be no antagonism between
nature and revelation. The universe
md the Bible were found to be the
work of the same hand, two strokes Of
he same pen, their authorship the
"a me God.
Again: Learn the lesson that pride
,oeth before fall. Was any man ever
% far up as Hannah who tumbled SO
ar down? Yes, on . smaller scale
very day the world sees the same
hing. Against their very advantages
men trip into destruction. When God
proud men it is usually 1t the
moment Of their greatest arrogancy.
+ there be man in your community
realty puffed up with worldly sue
ess. you have but to stand = little
While and you will see him come down.
lou say, wonder that God allows
hat man to 60 riding over others
reads and making great assumptions OF
,ower. There is no wonder about it.
Iaman has not yet got to the top.
ride is = commander, well plumed
md caparisoned, but it leads forth
ark and frowning host. We have the
,est Of authority for saying that pride
'oeth before destruction and = naughty
pirit before . fall" The arrows from
he Alnighty's culver are apt to strike
man when on the wing. Goliath