St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1899-08-19

it he smiled as often n he wept. ChryS
ostom. George Herbert, Robert South
George Whi,efield. Jeremy Taylor, Row
land Hill, Ashael Nettletoon, Charles G
Finney and oil the men of the past who
greatly advanced the kingdom of Goo
consecrated their wit and their humol
to the cause of Christ. So it has been in
all the ages. and say to all our young
theological students, sharpen your
wits until they are as keen as scimiters
and then take them into this holy war
1t is a very short bridge between smile
and tear. a suspension bridge from eye
to lip. and it is soon crossed over. and
smile is sometimes just as sacred as q
tear. There is as much religion, and, ]
think. little more. in spring morn
ing than in starlcss midnight. Re-
lgious work without any humor or wit
in it is banquet with side of beef,
and that raw, and no condiments and no
dessert succeeding. People will not sit
down to such banquet. BY all means
remove all frivolity and all pathcs and
all lightness and vulgarity. Strain them
out through the sieve of holy discrimi-
nation, but, on the other hand, beware
of that monster which overshadows the
Christian church to-day--conventional-
ity-coming up from the great Sahara
desert of ecclesiasticism, having on its
back hump of saEctimonious gloom,
and vehemently refuse to swallow that
camel.
Oh, how particular great many peo-
pie are about the infinitesimals while
they are quite reckless about the magni-
tudes! What did Christ say? Did He
not eNcoriate the people in his time who
were so careful to wash their hands be-
fore q meal, but did not wash their
hearts? 1t is n bad thing to have I'M
clean hands. Ii is VOL Sc thing to have
an unclean heart. How many people
there are in our time who are very anx-
ious that after their death they shall be
buried with their faces toward the east
and not at all anxious that during their
whole life they should face in the right
SO that they shall come up in
the resurrection of the just. whichever
way they are buried! How many there
are chiefly anxious that minister of
the Gospel shall come in the line of
apostolic succession, not caring SO
much whether he comes from Apostle
Paul or Apostle Judas! They have a
way of measuring a gnat until it is
larger than a camel.
Again, my subject photographs all
those who are abhorrcnt OF small sins
while they are reckless in regard to
thefts. You will find
many a merchant who. while he is so
that he would not take yard
Of cloth or a spool of cotton from the
counter without paying for it, and who,
if bank cashier should make a mistake
md send in a roll of bills five dollars too
much, would dispatch messenger in
hot haste to return the surplus, yet who
will 60 into a stock company, in which
after awhile he gets control of the
stock, and then waters the stock and
makes 100000 appear like $4,000
He only stole 100000 by the operation
Many of the men Of fortune made their
wealth in that way.
One of those men engaged in such I'M
.ighteous acts that evening, the evening
# the very day when he watered the
took, will find q wharf rat stealing a
laily paper from the basement doorway
md will 60 out and catch the urchin by
he collar and twist the collar SO tightly
he poor fellow has no power to say that
was thirst for knowledge that led him
9 the dishonest act, but grip the collar
ighter and tighter, saying: Il have
cen looking for you long while. You
tole my paper four or five times,
aven't you, YOU miserable wretch ?"
nd then the old stock gambler, with a
oice they can hear three blocks, will
~ out: police, police!" That same
ian the evening of the day in which he /
altered the stock will kneel with his
lmily in prayers and thank God for the
of the day, then kiss his chill
ZEN good night with an air which
ems to say: Il hope you all will grow
? to be as good as your father" Pris-
rs for sins insectile in size, but palaces
n crimes dromedarian. No mercy for
ms animalculein proportion, but great
niency for mastodon iniquity. A poor
~ slyly takes from the basket of a
arket woman a choke pear-saving
me one else from the cholera-and
~ smother him in the horrible at
osphere of Raymond street Jail or
ew York tombs, while his cousin, who
IS been skillful enough to steal S5O, OCO
ON the city, You make candidate for
e state legislature.
There is a good deal of uneasiness
I'd nervousness now among some peo-
e in our time who have got unright-
us fortunes great deal of uneasi-
IS about dynamite. / tell them that
I'd will put under their unrighteous
rtunes something more explosive than
earthquake of His ON
potent indignation. 1t is time that
. learn in America that sin is not ex-
sable in proportion as it declares
rye dividends and has outriders in
uipage. Many man is riding to per-
ion. position ahead and lackey be- a
" s~"A SnS SoPy VI a HSWSpu-
: is gnat; to steal many thousands c
dollars is a camel. There is many a II
lit dealer who would not consent to 6
al basket Of peaches from a neigh
RS stall, but who would not scruple 4
depress the fruit market. and as long a
can remember we have heard every u
inner the peach crop of Maryland is "
failure. and by the time the crop a
mes in the Misrepresentation makes a
Inference of millions of dollars. A U
N who would Eot steal one basket of "
lches steals $4,000 baskets of peaches. =
10 down into The public library, in q
reading-rooms,a and see the Eewspa- !. !.
reports of the crops from all parts y
he country. and their phraseology is -
y much the same, and the same men :,
'te them, methodically and infa- :"
uSIY CARRYING mt the buuo 1x;,r