St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1899-07-29

Golden candlesticks! ScOur up thu
six lilies on each branch and known thai
the more lovely and bright they are thu
more fit they are to hold the light. But
Christless light is a damage to the
. world rather than . good. Cromwell
stabbed his cavalry horses in st. Paul'i
cathedral, and many now use thechurch
in which to stable vanities and worldli.
ness. A worldly church is candlestick
without the candle, and it had its proto-
type in st. Sophia, in Constantinople
built to the glory of God by Constantine
but transformed to base uses by Mo.
hammed the second. Built out Of col.
ored marble, a cupola with "a win.
dows soaring to height of $50 feet, the
ceiling one great bewilderment of mo.
sale. galleries supported by eight col.
umns of porphyry and 81 columns OF
green jasper, nine bronze doors with
alto relieve work fascinating to the eye
of any artist, vases and vestments in.
crusted with all manner of precious
stones. Four walls on fire with indie
scribable splendor.
Though labor was cheap, the building
cost 81. 500, 900. Ecclesiastical structure,
almost supernatural in pomp and males
ty. But Mohammeslanism tore down
from the walls of that building all the
sanity and Christly images. and high
up in the dome the figure of the cross
was rubbed out that the crescent of the
barbarous Turk might be substituted.
a H>,,H Ch~s~HH
gorgeous candlestick. but no candle!
Ten thousand such churches would not
give the world as much light as one
homemade tallow candle by which last
night some grandmother in the eighties
put on her spectacles and read the
Psalms Of David in large type. Up with
the churches by all means! Hundreds
of them, thousands of them, and the
more the better. But let each one be a
blaze of heavenly light, making the
world brighter and brighter, till the
last shadow has disappeared and the
last of the suffering children of God
shall have reached the land where they
have no need Of candlestick or ''of can
die, neither light of the sun, for the
Lord God giveth them light, and they
shall reign forever and ever" Seven
candlesticks the complete number Of
lights. Let your light shine before
men, that they, seeing your good works,
may glorify your Father which is in
Heaven.
Turn now in your Bible to the seven
stars. We are distinctly told that they
are the ministers of religion. Some are
large stars, some of them small stars,
some of them sweep wide circuit and
some Of them a small circuit, but 50 far
as they are genuine they get their light
from the great central sun around
whom they make revolution. Let each
one keep in his own sphere. The solar
system would be soon wrecked If the
stars, instead of keeping their own or
bits. should go to hunting down other
stars. Ministers of religion should
never clash. But in all the centuries of
the Christian church some of these
stars have been hunting an Edward
Irving or a Horace Bushnell or an Al
bert Barnes, and the stars that were in
pursuit of the other stars lost their owr
orbit, and some Of them could never
again find it. Alas for the heresy hunt
ers. The best way to destroy error is
to preach the truth. The best way to
scatter darkness is to strike a light.
There is in immensely room enough for
all the stars and in the church room
for all the ministers. The min
listers who give up righteousness and
the truth will get punishment enough
anyhow, for they are 1.-The wandering
stars for whom is reserved the black
ness of darkness forever"
l should like, NJ 4 minister, when
am dying to be able truth.ully to say
what captain of the English army.
talien at the head of his column and
lying on the Egyptian battlefield, said
to Gen. Wolseley, who came to condole
with him: II led them straight.
Didn't I lead them straight. generaI?"
iod has put VS. ministers as captains in
this battlefield of truth agains, error.
treat at last will be our chagrin IL we
tall leading the people the wrong way.
tut great will be our gladness il. when
he battle is over we can hand our sword
back to our great commander. saying:
Lord Jesus. We led the people
straight. Didn't we lead them
Those ministers who 60 OF
It tangent and preach some other
gospels are not stars, but comets. and
hey fash across the heavens a little
while and make people stare and throw
Town a few metcoric stones, and then
20 out Of sight il not out Of existence.
Brethren in the ministry. let NJ remem-
YER that God calls us stars, and our
business il to shine and to keep our own
pbere. and then when we get done try
ng to light up the darkness of this
world we will wheelinto pigher spheres,
md in ns shall be fulfilled the promise:
They that turn many to Righteousness
hall shine as the stare forever and |
YER"
The ministers are not all Pecksniffs
nd canting hypocrites, as some would
ave you think: Forgive me il. having |
I other times glorified the medical pro-
ession and the legal profession and the
literary profession. glorify my own.
have seen them in their homes and
card them in their pulpits, and
'rander array of men never breathed,
nd the Bible figure il not strained
hen it calls them stars. And whole
of glorious ministers
ave already taken their places on high,
here they shine even brighter than
hey shone on earth. Edward N. Kirk
t the Congregational church. Stephen
|. Tying Of the Episcopal church, Nat
hew Simpson of the Methodist church,
ohm Bowling of the Baptist church.
amuel X. Talmage Of the Presbyterian
hurch, Thomas De Witt Of the Re
,rmed church, John Chambers of the
ndependent church, and there ] stop,
II it 90 happens that have mentioned
he seven stars of the seven churches.
pass on to another mighty Bible
wen, and they are the seven seals. st.
ohm in vision saw . scroll with seven
.als. and he heard an angel cry:
Who il worthy to loose the seals there
=" Take eight or ten sheets OF fools
I'D DaDer haste them t01et her and rnll