The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1900-08-11

] tfDt HIS SlItNN SlIL III NaS
profusion all over the continents I.u~si
seems built on saltreiar here i. on
region in that country that turns ont 90 90
tons OF salt in a year. England and Kl4s
| and Italy have lneXhaustihle resources il
this respect. Norway and Sweden. whit
with snow above. white with salt bcncutli
! Austria, yielding 9900o0 tons annually
Nearly all the nations rich IN it-rock salt
| spring salt, sea salt.
Christ, the Creator OF Tie world whoi
| He uttered our text, knew it would hecon,
more and more significant as the shaft
were sunk. and the springs were bored
| and the pumps were worked. and The crys
tails We're gathered. SO the grace Of God il
abundant 1t is for all lands, for all ages
for all conditions. It seems to undergir,
everything pardon for the worst sin. com
fort for the sharpest suffering, brightes,
light for the thiclest darkness.
Around about the salt lakes of Saratov
there are 10000 men toling day and night
nd yet they never exhaust the saline treas
ures. And if the 600 900 900 of our race
there would be enough for al-for those
furthest gone in sin, for the murderer
standing on the drop of the gallows. 1t i.
an ocean of mercy, and if Europe and
Asia. Africa. North and South America.
and all the islands Of the sea went down
m 1t to-day they would have room enough
to wash and come up clean.
Let no man think that his case is too
tongh 4 one for God to act upon. Though
YOUR sin may be deep and raging. let me
tell you that Gods grace is bridge not
built on earthly piers. but suspended and
spanning the awful chasm of your guilt
one end resting upon the rock of eternal
promises and the other on the foundations
OF he4ven. Demetrius wore a robe SO in
crusted with jewels that no one after him
ever dared to wear it. But our King, Jesus,
takes off the robe of His righteousness. a
robe blood dyed and heaven impcarled,
and reaches it out to the worst wretch in
all the earth and says: Put that on. Wear
1t now. Wear it forever"
Again, the grace of God is like salt in
the way We come at it. The salt on the
surface is almost always impure-that
which incrusts the Rocky Mountains and
the South American pampas and in India
but the miners go down through the
shafts and through the dark labyrinths and
along by galleries OF rock and with
torches and pickaxes, find their way under
t he very touno1tions of the earth to where
the salt lies that makes up the nations
wealth. 10 get to the best saline springs
OF the earth huge machinery goes down,
boring depth below depth, depth below
depth, unth from under the very roofs of
the mountains the saline water supplies
he aqueduct. This water is brought to
the surface and is exposed in tanks to the
sun Tor evaporation. OF it is put in boilers
nightly heated and the water evaporates,
and the salt gathers at the bottom of the
,ank. The work is completed, and the for
tune is made.
Have you not been in enough trouble to
have that work go on9 l was reading of
Aristotle. who said there was q field of
lowers in Sicily so sweet that once
hound, coming on the track of game, came
o that field and was bewildered by the
,ur souls might become like "a field which
he Lord hath blessed" and exhale so much
II the sweetness of Christian character
hat the hounds of temptation, coming on
'ur. track. might lose it and 80 bowling
Jack with disappointment!
But ! remark again that the grace of |
iod is like the salt in it's rreservative |
luality. You know that salt absorbs the |
moisture of articles of food and infuscs |
hem with brine. which preserves them for
long while Salt is the great antiputre-
actor of the world. Experimenters. in
reserving wood. have tried sugar and |
moke and alright jars and everything
lse: but as long as the world stands
'hrist's words will be suggestive. and mep
7ill admit that as gress preservative
salt is good"
But for the grace of God the earth would
ave become stale carcass long before
his. That grace is the only preservative
laws and constitutions and literatures.
ust as soon as government loses this
ut of divine grace it perishes. The plllo-
'phy of this day, so far rs it is antagonis-
c to this religion, putrefies and stnk7.
he great want of our schools of learning
nd our institutions of science to-day is
OF more Leyden jars and galvanic batter
8 and spectroscopes and philosophical ap-
aratus, but more of that grace that will
ZACH our men Of science that the God of
le universe is the God of the Bible,
How strange it is that in oil their mag
ficent sweep of the telescope they have
ot seen the morning star of Jesus. and
lat IN all their experiments with light and
aat they have not seen the light and felt
,e warmth Of the Sun of Righteousness,
'e want more of the salt of Gods grace
our homes. in our schools. in our col
nd that which has it will live; that which
IS it not will die. proclaim the tenden-
of everything earthly to putrefaction
I'd death, the religion of Christ the only
'cservatire
MY subject s one of Great congratulation
those who have within their souls this
spel antlseDtic. This salt will preserve
en- through the temptations and sor-
VS. of life and through the ages of ctnr-
~. l do not mean to say that you will
We a smooth time because You are a
Tlstian. On the contrary, if YOU do yonr
hole duty | will promise you a rough
ne. You march through an enemv's
untrv, and they will try to double up
th tanks and to cut you off from vour
urce of supplies The war YOU wage will
t be with toy arrows, but sword plunged
the hilt, and squirting on your steed
er heaps of the slain. But | think that
ID omnipotent will see YOU through. /
ow He will. But why do l talk like IN
heist when | ought to say I know He ,
Il? Kept by the power of God through
III unto complete Nalvation'
When Governor Geary, of Pennsylvania.
ID years ago ] lost good friend. He
pressed me nightly with the horrors Of
r. In the eight hours that we rode to-
her in the cars he recited to me the
mes through which he had passed in the
II war. He SAID that there came one !
tile upon which everything seemed to
-ot. Telegrafns from Washington said
1t the bic Gf the nation depended on
1t struggle. He said to me: 81 went into
t battle, sir, with my son. His mother
1 L thought everything of him. You ,
ow how father will feel toward his >
VINO IS coming up manly and brave and
ID. Well, the battle opened and CON
tered, and it was awful. Horses and |
ers bent and twisted and piled ND to- ,