St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1899-04-08

bridge them, accepting eternal en-
thronement or choosing everlasting
exile Oh. what it is to be man! Oh,
what it is to be woman! Sublime and
infinite bundle of faculties! The
thought of it staggers me, swamps me,
stuns me, bewilders me, overwhelms
me. Oh. what bundle of life Abigail
of my text saw in David. and which we
ought to see in every human, yet i'm
mortal. being!
Know, also. that this bundle Of life
was put up with great care. Any mer-
chant and almost any faithful house
holder will tell you how much depends
on the way bundle is bound. The
cord. or rope. must be strong enough
to hold, the knot must be well tied.
Yon know not what rough hands may
toss the bundle. If not properly put to-
gether. though it may leave your hands
in good order and symmetrical, before
it reaches its proper destination it may
be loosened in fragments for the winds
to scatter or the rail train to lose.
Now. have to tell you that this bun
die of life is well put together-the
body. the mind, the soul. Who but the
omnipotent God could bind such bum
die? ANTAGONISTS, psychologists, physi-
cists, logicians, metaphysicians. declare
that we are fearfully and wonderfully
made. That we are bundle well put
together prove by the amour. Of jour
neying we can endure without damage,
by the amount OF rough handling we
can survive, by the fact that the vast
majority of us go through life without
the loss of an eye. or the crippling of a
limb. or the destruction of a single en-
ergy of body or faculty of mind. Isub-
poena for this trial that man in yonder
view. 20 or so years of age, and ask him
TO testify that after all the storms and
accidents and vicissitudes of long life
he still keeps his five senses, and.
though all the lighthouses as old as he
is have been reconstructed or new Ian
terms put in. he has in under his fore
head the same two lanterns with which
God started him, and, though the loco
motives of GO years ago were long ago
powers of locomotion in the limbs with
which God started him, and, though all
the electric wires that carried messages
% years ago have been torn down. his
nerves bring messages from all parts of
his body as we'll as when God strung
them IS years ago Was there ever such
a complete bundle put together as the
human being? What a factory! What
an engine! What mill race! What
lighthouse! What n locomotive! What
an electric battery! What a furnace!
What masterpiece of the Lord God
Or. to employ the anti;li-
max and use the figure of the text, what
a bundle!
Know also that this bundle of life is
properly directed. Many bundle has
missed its way and disappeared because
the address has dropped, and no one
can find by examination for what city
or town or neighborhood it was in
tended. All great carrying companies
have so many misdirected packages
that they appoint days of vendue to dis
pose of them. All intelligent people
know the importance of having a val
liable package plainly directed, the
name of the one to whom it is to go
plainly written. Baggage master and
ought to know at the first
glance to whom to take it.
This bundle of life that Abigail, in my
text, speaks of is plainly addressed. by
Divine penmanship it is directed Heav-
However long may be the
earthly distance it travels. its destina-
tion is the eternal city of God on high.
Every mile that it goes away from that
direction is by some human or Internal
fraud practiced against it. There are
those who put it on some other track,
who misplace it in some wrong convey
ance, who send it off or send it back by
some diabolical miscarriage. The value
of that bundle is SO well known all up
and down the universe that there are
a million dishonest hands which are
trying to detain or divert it, or to for
ever stop its progress in the right di-
rection. There are so many influences
abroad to ruin your body. mind and
soul that my wonder is not that SO many
are destroyed for this world and the
next. but that there are not more who
go down irremetliab!y.
Every human being is assailed at the
start. Within an hour of the time when
this bundle of life is made up the as
saut begins. First of all, there are the
irfantile disorders that threaten the
body just launched upon earthly exist
ence. Scarlet fevers and pneumonias.
and diphtherias and inf1uenzas. and the
whole pack of epidemics surround the
cradle and threaten its occupant, and
infant Moses in the ark of bulrushes
was not more imperiled by the mon
sters of the Nile than every cradle is
imperiled by ailments all devouring.
In after years there are foes within and
foes without. Evil appetite joined by
outside allurements. Temptations that
have utterly destroyed more people
than now inhabit the earth. Gambling
saloons and rummerieS. and places
where dissoluteness reigns supreme.
enough in number to go round and
round the earth. Discouragements,
jcalousies, revenges. indebtedness. dis
swindles, arsons, confia-
grations and cruelties which make con-
tinued existence of the human race a
Was any valuable bum
die ever so imPeriled as this bundle of
life? Oh. look at the address and get
that bundle going in the right way!
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart. and soul. and mind, and
strength" Heaven with its 12 gates
wide open with invitation. All
the forces of the Godhead pledged for
,nr heavenly arrival if we will do the
right thing. All angeldom ready for
our advance and guidance All the
lightn;ngs of Heaven so many drawn
swords for our protection. What
pity. what an everlasting pity. if this
bundle of life. so well bound and SO
plainly directed, does not come out at
The right station, but becomes lost
bundle, cast out amid the rubbish of
The universe!
Know also that this bundle of life will
be gladly received when it comes to the
ioor of the mansion for which it was
pound and plainly directed. With what