St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1900-08-11

T. + T'A,MMANY PARIS
or q medicihs to be taken aftef pow
ders and mustard plasters have failed
TO do their work, but ordinarily Q
mere superauity. string of bella
around ashorse's neck while he draws
the load, and in inowise helping him
to draw it. So far from that, declare
the grace of God to be the first and
the last necessity. 1t is food we must
take, or starye into. an. eternity Of
famine. It is clothing without which
we freeze to the mast of infinite ter
Por. 1t 10 the plank, and the only
plank, on which we-can float shore
ward. 1t is the ladder, and the only
ladder, on which we can climb up into
the light. 1t is = positive necessity
for the soul You can tell very easily
what the effect would be If a person
refused to take SAT- into the body.
The energies would fail. the lungs
would struggle with the air. slow
fevers would crawl through the brain,
the heart would futter, and the life
would be gone Salt necessity for
the life of the body; the grace of God
a necessity for the life of the soul.
Again I remark that grace is like
salt in abundance. God has strewn
salt in vast profusion all over the con-
.tinents.s Russia seems built on salt
cellar. There is one region of that
country that turns out 90.000 tons in
a year. England and Russia and Italy
have inexhaustible resources in this
respect. Norway and Sweden, white
with snow above, white. with salt be-
meath. Austria, yielding 100000 tons
annually Nearly all the nations rich
in it-rock salt, spring salt, sea salt.
Christ, the Creator of the world, when
He uttered our text, knew it would
become. more and more significant As
the shafts were sunk and the springs
were bored and the pumps were worked
and the crystals were gathered. So
the grace Of God is abundant. 1t is for
all lands, for all ages, for all condi-
tions. 1t seems to undergrad every
thing. Pardon for the worst sin, COM
fort for the sharpest suffering. bright
est light for the. thickest darkness.
Around about the salt lakes of Saratov
there are 10000 men toiling day and
night. and yet they never exhaust the
saline treasures. And if the 1000 ,000.-
600 Of our race should now cry out to
God for His mercy there would be
enough for all-for those farthest gone
in sin, for the murderer standing on
the drop of the gallows.s 1t is an ocean
of mercy; and if Europe and Asia. Afri-
ca, North and South America and all
the islands of the sea went down in it
to-day they would have room enough
to. wash. and come up Clean. Let no
man. think that his case is too tough
a 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 sus-
pended and spanning the awful chasm
of your guilt. one end resting upon the
rock Of eternal promises and the other
on the foundations of Heaven. Demet-
rius wore a robe so incrusted with
jewels that no one after him ever dared
to wear it, but our King. Jesus, takes
of the robe of His righteousness. robe
blood dyed and Heaven impearled. and
reaches out to, the worst wretch in
all the earth and says: Put. that on!
Wear il 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 noun
tains 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 the very founda-
tions of the earth. to where the salt
lies that makes up the nations wealth.
To get to the best saline springs of
the earth huge machinery goes down,
boring depth below depth, depth below
depth, until from under the very
roots of the mountains the saline wa
ter supplies the aqueduct. This wa
ter is, brought to the surface and Is
exposed in tanks to the sun for evap-
oration, or it is put in boilers nightly
heated. and the water evaporates. and
the salt gathers at the bottom of the
tank-the work is completed, and the
fortune is made. So with the grace of
God. It is to be profoundly sought
after. With all the concentered ener
gies Of body, mind and soul we must
dig for it. No man stumbles accident
ally on 1t. We need to go down to the
very lowest strata of earnestness and
faith TO find it. Superficial exploration
will not turn il up. We must strive and
implore and dig until we. strike the
spring foaming with living waters.
Then the work of evaporation begins.
and as when the saline waters are ex-
posed to the sun. the vapors float away.
leaving nothing but the pure white
salt at the bottom of the tank, SO, when
the Christian soul is exposed to the
Sun of Righteousness, the vapors Of
pride and selfishness and worldliness
float on, and there is chiefly left be-
meath pure white holiness of heart.
Then, as in the case of the salt. the
furnace is added. Blazing troubles.
stirred by smutted stokers of dark
ness, quicken the evaporation of world
liness. and the crystallization of grace.
Have you not been in enough trouble
to have that work go on? was read
ing of Aristotle. who said there was a
field of flowers in Sicily SO sweet that
once q hound. coming on the track of
game, came to that field and was be
wildered by the perfumes and SO lost
the track. Oh, that our souls might be-
come like "a field which the Lord hath
blessed' and exhale SO much of the
sweetness of Christian character that
the hounds of temptation, coming on
our track, might lose it and go bowling
back with disappointment!
But, remark again, that the grace OF
God is like the salt in its preservative
quality. You know that salt absorbs
the moisture of articles of food and i'm
fuses them with brine, which preserves
them for a long while. Salt is the
great .antiputrefactor Of the world.
Experimenters, in preserving food,