St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1899-06-10
we're morning. would God it were night

| were mornings WOuiO OOu ~ were uISuts
was your frequent cry. But you are
better, or perhaps even well. Have you
thanked God that to-day you can come
out in the fresh air; that you are in
your place to hear Gods name and to
sing Gods praise and to implore Gods
help and to ask Gods forgiveness?
Bless the Lord who healeth all our dis
cases and redeemeth our lives from de.
struction.
Perhaps your last sorrow was finan.
cial embarrassment. 1 congratulate
some of you on your lucrative profess
sion or occupation, on ornate apparel,
on commodious residence-every.
thing you put your hands on seems to
turn to gold. But there are others Of
you who are like the ship on which
Paul sailed where two seas met, and
you are broken by the violence of the
waves. BY an unadvised Endorsement
or by n conjunction Of unforeseen
events, or by fire or storm. or a sense.
less panic, you have been flung head
long, and where you once dispensed
great charities you now have hard
work to win your daily bread. Have
/! you forgotten to thank God for your
days of prosperity and that through
your trials some of you have made in
vestments which will continue after the
last bank of this world has exploded
and the silver and gold are molten in
the fires OF a burning world? Have you,
amid all your losses and discourage
Elents. forgot that there was bread on
your table this morning and that there
shall be shelter for your head from
the storm. and there is air for your
lungs and blood for your heart and
light for your eye and a glad ard glo-
rious and triumphant religion for your
soul?
Perhaps your last trouble was a be-
reavement. That he art which in child
hood was your refuge, the parental
heart, and which has been a source of
the quickest sympathy ever since, has
suddenly become silent forever. And
now sometimes, whenever in sudden an
noyance and without deliberation you
say: 81 will go and tell MOTHER" the
thought flashes on you: II have no
mother" Or the father, with voice less
tender, but with heart as loving, watch
full of all your ways, exultant Over
your success without saying much, al
though the old people do talk it over
by themselves, his trembling hand on
that staff which you now keep as
family relic. his memory embalmed in
grateful hearts-is taken away f)r-
ever. Or there was your companion in
life, sharer of your joys and sorrows,
taken, leaving the heart an old ruin.
where the ill winds blow over a wild will
derness of desolation, the sands of the
desert driving across the place which
once bloomed like the garden of God.
And Abraham mourns for Sarah at the
cave of Machpelah. As you were NOV
ing along your path in life. suddenly.
right before you, was an open grave.
People looked down, and they saw it
was only few feet deep and few feet
wide, but to you it was a cavern, down
which went all your hopes and all your
expectations. But cheer up, in the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Com |
forter. He is not going to forsake you.
Did the Lord take that child out of
your arms? Why. He is going to shell |
ter it better than you could. He is
going to array it in a white robe ard |
palm branch and have it all ready to
greet you at your coming home. Blessed |
the BROKEN heart that Jesus heals! |
Blessed the importunate cry that Jesus |
compassionates.? Blessed the weeping |
eye from which the soft hand of Jesus |
wipes away the tear!
Some years ago 1 was sailing down |
the St. John river. which is the Rhine |
and the Hudson commingled. and while
1 was on the deck of the steamer a
gentleman pointed out to me the places |
of interest, and he said: "All this is in
terval land. and it is the richest land in
all the provinces of New Brunswick and
Nova Scotia" What" said /, do you
mean by interval land?'" 'Well." he
said, this land is submerged for part
of the year. Spring frcshcts come down,
and all these plains are overlooked with
the water, and the water leaves rich
deposit, and when the waters are gone
the harvest springs up. and there is
richer harves. than / know OF else
where" And l instantly thought:
IT is not the heights of the church. and
it is not the heights of the world that
are the scene of the greatest prosper
ity, but the soul over whish the floods
of sorrow have gone--the soul over
which the frcshets of tribulation have
torn their way-that yields the great
est fruits of Righteousness and the
largest harvest for time and the richest
harvest for eternity" Bless God that
your soul is interval land!
There is one more point Of absorbing
and that is the last hour
of life, when we have to look over all
Our past existence. What a moment
that will be! Iplace Napoleon's dying
on st. Helena beside Mrs.
Judson's dying "reminiscences in the har-
Dor of st. Helena, the same island, 90
years after. Napoleon's dying reminis-
cence was one of delirium-'Tete
d 'armee'-''Head of the army" Mrs.
Judson's dying "reminiscences, as she
came home from her missionary toll
md her life of self sacrifice for God,
lying in the cabin of the ship in the har-
Dor of st. Helena, was: Il always did
love the Lord Jesus Christ" And then,
the historian says, she fell into q sound
sleep for an hour and woke amid the
songs of angels. l place the dying rem
niscence of Augustus Caesar against
the dying Renaissance of the Apostle
Paul. The dying Renaissance of Au-
,ustus Caesar was, addressing his at !,
Have played my part well
IN the stage of life?" And they an
'wered in the affirmative. and he said: i;
Why. then, don't you applaud me"
The dying Renaissance of Paul the
apostle was: Il have fought good
light, l have finished my course. have
lept my faith; henceforth there is laid
lp for me crown of righteousness.
which the Lord. the righteous Judge. !,
will give NE in that day. and not to me
,nly, but to all them that love His APP
gearing" Augustus Caesar died amid
,omp and great surroundings. Paul
Uttered his dying Renaissance looking ,
ID through the wall Of dungeon. God