St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1898-09-17

1
are necessary to make man happy,
you have miscaleulated. suppose
that these Overhanging rocks only
m ldc Jonathan scramble the harder
and the faster to get up and ont into
the sunlight; and this combined shadow
of invalidism, and financial embarrass-
ment has often sent a man up the
quicker into the sunlight of Gods favor
aud the MONDAY of Ills glorious
promises.
1t is a difficult thing for a man ia
feel his dependence uron God when he
has SIC, 900 in bank and S5O,OOO in gov
ernment securities, and a block OF
stores and three ships. "Well," the
man says to himself. lit is silly for me
to pray. give me this day my daily
bread when my pantry is full, and
the canals from the west are crowded
with breadstuffs destined for my store
houses. Oh, my friend, If the COM
bined misfortunes and disasters of life
have made you climb up into the arms
of sympathetic and compassionate
God, through all eternity You will bless
Him that in this world "there was a
sharp rock on the side, and \ sharp
rock on the other side"
| Again, that man is in the crisis OF
tho text who has home troubles and
outside persecution at the same time.
The world treats q man well just as
long as it pays to treat him we'll. As
long as it can manufacture success out
of his bone anil brain and muscle, it
favors him. The world fattcns the
horse it wants to drive. But let . man
see it his duty to cross tho track Of the
world. then every bu sh is full Of horns
and tusss thrust at him. They will be-
little him. They will caricature him.
They will call .his generosity self-ag-
grandizement, aud his picty sane
timoniousness. The very worst persccu'
tion will sometimes come upon him
from those who profess to be Chris.
tianS.
John Milton-grcat and good John
Milton-so far forgot himself as to
pray, in SO many words, that his enc
mics might be eternnlly thrown down
into the darkest and deepest gulf of
hell. aud b. the undermost and most
detected. and the lowest down vassals
Of perdition! And Martin Luther SO far
forgot himselfa as to say,in regard to his
theological opponents: "Put them in
whichever sauce you please, roasted,
or fried. or baked, or stewed, or
boiled, or hashed. they are MOTH
ing but assss!" All, my friends.
if John Milton or Martin Luther
could come down to such scurrility,
what may you not expected from less
elevated opponents? Now, sometimes
the world takes after them; public
opinion takes after them; and the un-
fortunate man in lied about until all
the dictionary of BillingsSate is ex-
hausted on him. You often see man
whom you know to be good and pure
and honest, set upon by the world, and
maulcd By whole communities, while
vicious men take on supcrciliOus air
in condemnation of him; as though
Lord Jeffreys should write an essay on
gentlencss, or Henry VIII. talk about
purity, or King Herod take to blessing
little children.
Now, a certain amount Of persecution
rouses mans d ii ,nce, stirs his blood
for magnificent battle, and makes him
80 times more man than he would
have been without the persecution. So
it was with the great R,formcr when
he said: Il will not be put down;
will be heard" And so it was with
MillarI. the preacher, in the time of
Louis Nj. When Louis NJ. sent word
to him that unless he stopped preach
ing in that style he would throw him
into the river, he replied: .'Tell the
king that will reach Heaven sooner
by water than he will reach it by fast
horses" A certain amount Of persccu-
tion is a tonic and inspiration, but too
much of it. aud too long continued. be.
comes the rock of Bozez throwing dark
shadow over mans life. What is be to
do then? Go home, Jou say. Good ad-
vice, that. That is just the place for u
man TO 60 when tho world abuses him.
Go home. Blessed bc God for our quiet
and sympathetic homes! But there is
many man who has the reputation Of
having q home when he has none.
Through unthinkingncss or precip,ta-
tion there arc many matches made that
| ought never to have been made. An
officiating priest can not alone unite =
couple. The Lord Almighty must pro-
claim bannS There are many homes
in which there is no sympathy, and no
happiness, and no good cheer. The
clamor of the battle may not have
been heard outside; but God knows,
Notwithstanding all the playing
/ - <l,.a ssyva.lI;,,rr N~~cl ga Ill Ahc
odor of the orange blossoms, and the
benedictlon of the officiating pastor,
there has been no marriage. So some
| times men have awakened to find on
one side Of them the rock of persecu-
tion, and on the other side of them the
rock of domestic infelicity. What
shall such one do? Do ss Jonathan did
climb. Get up the heights of Gods
consolation, from which you may look
down in triumph upon outside perse-
cution and home trouble While good
and great John Wesley WAS being
silenced by the magistrates, and hav-
ing his name written on the
board fences Of London in doggerel,
at that very time his wife waa
making him as miserable as
she could-acting as though she
were possessed by the devil. - ]
suppose she was; never doing him a
kindness until the day she ran away.
% that he wrote in his diary these
words: ~ did not forsake her; have
not dismissed her." Planting one foot
upon outside persecution, and the other
foot on home trouble, John Wesley
climbed up into the heights OF Chris
tian JOY, and after preaching "a. 900 ser.
mons and travelling 10000 miles,
reached the heights of Heaven, though
in this world he had it hard enough
- sharp rock on the one side, and q
| sharp rock on the other."
Again, that woman stands in the
4 crisis Of the text who has bereavement
and struggle for livelihood 1T the
same time. Without mentioning
names, speak from observation. All
it is a hard thing for . woman to make
an honest living. even when her heart
il not troubled. and she has . fair
cheek, and the magnetism of an ex
quisite presence. but now the hus
band, or the father. is dead. The ex
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