St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1902-06-28
SOULS MOVING DAY.
Man Goeth to His Long Home, and
the Spirit Returneth to Cod"


Preacher in Which Forcible Les.
sons Are Drawn from Conn
mon Experience.
Copyright, 1902. by A. N. Kellogg Newspa
| per Coz
Chicago,
| Text: Man goeth to his long nome =.
and the spirit shall return unto God VIII
| gave it, Parts of Ecclesia stes 1875,
The period around the first of MAY
has come to be recognized as genera
moving time, especially SO in many o
| the larger cities of the country, ant
an event which so Immediately affect!
SO many lives ought not to pass with
! out its spiritual lessons being pointed
out. Scarcely does the man or woman
or child exist who has not at some Pc
| riod in his or her life known what it
was to move from one home to anoth.
er, from one state to another, from one
country to another. The medium
through which we reach and under.
stand the unseen and spiritual is that
of the natural world and the everyday
life experiences. Drummond's "Natur.
al Law in the Spiritual World" opens
the mind to the thought of the way in
which Gods spiritual forces operate,
and human experiences have their re-
semblances in the spiritual realm, and
bring their message to the human
heart in endeavor to point to God.
Moving day has inseparably asso-
ciated with it certain relative facts
which are Immediately connected with
it in our thoughts, such as leaving the
ing of the new home, new neigh
bors and friends, the new landlord, etc.
Reverently and prayerfully we ap-
proach the suggested thought in our
text. and shall seek to point out to the
soul the wonderful truth of God as re-
vealed in His Word. We shall endeavor
to avoid unwarranted speculation as
to unseen things, and draw parallels
between the spiritual life and human
experiences only where Gods Word
gives us authority so to do.
The Souls Moving Day. Our text at
once introduces us to the certainty of
this experience in every human life.
No argument is needed to enforce
this point. Man knoweth that his life
endureth but for season and like the
grass of the field he soon passeth
away, and yet oftentimes he puts off
the thought Of the souls moving day
for more convenient season (Which,
but for the patience and grace of God,
would never come, if it ever does come,
and goes on living during time as
though he had an eternity at his COM
mand.
Two beautiful thoughts flash out OF
our text to which we wish to refer at
once. that the infinite love and care of
God may overshadow our souls as we
proceed. The words "Home" and Gre
turneth" gently lead the soul into the
presence of death and give the bright
err side to dark picture. The dearest
in life are associated with
he thoughts of home. The tenderest
chords of the human heart vibrate at
the sound of the word ''home," so that |
eyen the man who never knew a home |
could sing "Home, Sweet Home" To
the soul willing to hear Gods voice He
always speaks of "Home" as the
blessed dwelling place of the re-
Ieemed. and death is robbed of its sting
is we triumph in Christ Jesus over it.
But to the soul given up to its own de-
ices. that will not hear the voice of |
5od, He speaks in thunder tones of the
Judgment seat and eternal darkness
md death. The soul may deaden its
piritual ear to the sound and only
lear the alluring music of the mer-
maids of worldly pleasure and ambi-
ion which lead onto the rocks of de-
;truction, but when man gpeth to his
ong-1 cannot say home-goeth to his
ong eternity. he will not be able to
hut out the sound thereof. and he
will understand then what God now
n His love and mercy is yearning to
ave him realize.
The other beautiful thought in our
ext is that of the soul returning to
he God Who gave it. How natural
hat it should do so. How unnatHal
hat man by his own wilful self-seek-
ng should turn it in any other direc-
ion. The carrier pigeon taken to a
istant point when given it's liberty re-
urneth straight as an arrow to the
oint from whence it came. How nat
raj, how beautiful. How sadly pa
hetic, when, DETECTED from its course,
he pigeon perishes by the wayside,
nd lifting its ruffied body and power
ass wings from the ground we realize
hat it was not intended thus to be,
ut its destiny lay at the point from
yhich it had been taken. The pigeon
lay not have been responsible for per-
hing by the wayside, but the spirit
iven by God which fndeth not it's way
ack to Him perisheth even while God
pleading with it to turn its will and
urpose towards Him. The soul has
apacity for God and can only find per-
ect satisfaction in Him. In recogni-
on of the souls right relationship to
cd our text speaks of the soul as re-
1rning to the God Who gave. The soul f.
elongs to God. BY priority right of .
then, it is but natural and ,,
to think of the soul as find ;.
e its eternal abiding place in the !
resence of it's Author. The soul, if it
beth the way God would have it, "shall ;
eturn to the God Who gave it." ,
Leaving the Old Home. Moving day .
as come and the old home is to be left
ehind. While there are pangs of re-
ret at leaving it's familiar shelter, still
re fascination of the new home to ,
hich we are going, with its larger ac
,mmo rotations and better surround
gs, make us forget the old in the hap
Y thoughts of the new. It is no hard
lip to leave the old if we know that
the other end of the line new and !