St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1901-10-12

shall be made the most attractive
place on earth, then we will wans
twice % many churches as we have
now. twice as large, and then they
win not half accommodated people,
say to the young men who are en-
tering the ministry, we must put on
more force, more energy and into our
religious services more vivaclty II We
want the people to come. You LOOK
into q church court OF any denomi-
nation of Christians. First you will
find the men OF large common sense
/ and earnest look. The education OF
their minds, the piety OF their
hearts, the holiness OF their lives,
qualify them for their work. Then
you will find in every church court
Of every denomination q group OF
men who utterly amaze you with tho
fact that such semi-imbecility can
get any pulpits to preach in! Those
are tie men who give forlorn sta
tistics about church decadence. Frogs
never croak in running water; ale
ways in stagnant. But I say to all
Christian workers, to all Sunday
school teachers, to all evangelists, to
all ministers of the Gospel, if we
want our Sunday schools and our
prayer meetings and our churches
to gather the people We must fresh.
en- up.
why should we go away to get an
illustra ton of the vicarious suffering
of Jesus Christ when at Bloomfield.
N. j., two little children were walk
ing on the rail track and train was
coming; but they were on q bridge
Of trestlework, and the little girl
took her brother and let him down
through the trestlework as gently 40
she could toward the water, very
carefully and lovingly and cautious
", SO that he might not be hurt in
the fall and might be picked up by
those who were standing near by;
while doing that the train struck
her, and hardly enough of her body
was left to gather into a funeral
casket? What was that? Vicarious
suffering. Like Christ. Pang for 9TH
ers. Woe for others. Suffering for
others. Death for others. What 10
the use of our going away OF to find
an illustration in past ages when in
Michigan . mail carrier on horse
back, riding on, pursued by those
flames which had swept over . hum
dred miles, saw an old man by the
dismounted, helped the old
man on the horse, saying: "Now,
whip up and get away?" The old
man got away, but the mail carrier
persisted. Just like Christ dismount-
ing from the glories of Heaven to
pat us on the way Of deliverance.
then falling back in the flames Of
sacrifice for others. Pang for others.
Woe for others. Death for others.
vicarious suffering. What is the use
II our going away of in ancient his
tory to find an illustration of the
TACT that it is dangerous to defy God
when in the Adirondacks saw .
lash Of lightning and bolt 80 vivid
said: ''That struck something very
1ear?" A few hours afterward we
'ound that two farmers that Monday
had been seated under :
rec, the one Boosting how that the
lay before-on the Lords day-he ;.
lad got his hay in and 30 cheated
he Lord out of that part Of the time
anyhow, and both of them laughing
,ver the achievement by which they
lad wronged the Lord Of His holy
lay, when the lightning struck ono
lead instantly, and the other had
,een two weeks in bed when we left
he Adirondacks and has become an
Invalid, suppose, for life. He did
lot make a. much out Of the Lord ~
le thought he did. Was it any less
n illustration for my soul because
met the clergyman on his way home
rom the funeral, and he told me Of
he facts and said the body Of tho
nan who had been destroyed was
lack with the electricity?
O Christian workers, we have got
o freshen up. What il the use of
ur going back in the Christian clas-
les to find an illustration of the VIC
orious Christian deathbed when my
ersonal friend, Alfred Goodman,
ew years ago went away in az inn
erial grandeur as did Edward Pay
on? Is it any less an illustration to
lie and to you because met him .
ew weeks before in front of Trinity
hurch, Broadway, and I said:
Goodman, you look a. il You were
'orking too hard?" Where in all
he classics is there such q story as
hat of Goodman when, in his last
loment, he cried: II am sweeping
trough the gates washed in the
lood of the Lamb?"
Oh, fellow Christian workers, WHAT
be use Of our being stale and obsolete
nd ancient when all around us are
,ese evidences of Gods grace, Gods
Gods mercy and Gods
isdom? We have got to- freshen up
our sermons, freshen up in our
,ngs, freshen up in our zeal, freshen
p in our conservation, and if we do It.
y brethren and sisters, we will no