St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1902-03-29
cows hoof, sounds as loud in Gods ear

When you have anything to do in life
however humble it may seem to be
God is always there to help you to d
it. 1t your work is that of a fisher
man, then God will help you, as h
helped Simon when he dragged Ger
nesaret. If your work is drawing wa
ter then he will help you, as when a
talked at the well curb to the Samari
tan woman. If you are engaged in tn
custom house, He will lead you, as 81
led Matthew sitting at the receipt o
customs. A religion that is not good i,
one place is not worth anything in an
other place. The man who has only
days wages in his pocket as certainl,
needs the guidance of religion as h
who rattles the keys of bank an.
| could abscond with a hundred thou
sand dollars.
/ think that the church of God ant
the Sabbath are only an armory wher,
we are to get weapons. When wal
| comes, If man wants to fight for hi!
country, he does not go to Troy OF
Springfield to do battling, but he goe!
there for swords and muskets. I lool
upon the church of Christ and the Sab
bath day as only the place and time
where and when we are to get armed
for Christian conflict, but the battle
field is on Monday, Tuesday, Wednes
day, Thursday, Friday and Saturday
"St. Martins and ''Lenox" and colo
Hundredth" do not amount to anything
unless they sing all the week. A ser
mon is useless unless we can take il
with US behind the pillow and the coun.
ter. The Sabbath day is worthless il
1t last only "a hours.
There are many Christians who say:
I'VE are willing to serve God, but We
do not want to do it in these spheres
about which we are talking, and il
seems so insipid and monotonous. If
we had some great occasion, if we had
lived in the time of Luther, if we had
been Pau's travelling companion, if
we could serve God on great scale,
we would do it, but we can't in this
everyday life" I admit that a great
deal of the romance and knight er-
rantry of life have disappeared before
the advance of this practical age. The
ancient temples of Rouen have been
changed into storehouses and smith
les. The residences of poets and
princes have been turned into brokers'
shops. The classic mansion of Ashland
has been cut up into walking sticks.
The groves where the poets said the
gods dwelt have been carted out for
firewood. The muses. that we used to
read about have disappeared before
the immigrants ak and the trapper's
gun, and the man who is waiting for
a life bewitched with wonders will
never find it. There is, however, a
field of endurance and great achieve
ment, but it is in everyday life. There
are Alps to scale, there are Helles-
points to swim, there are fires to brave,
but they are all around us now. This
is the hardest kind of martyrdom to
bear.
It took grace to lead Latimer and
Ridley through the fire triumphantly
when their armed enemies and their
friends were looking on, but it re.
quires more grace now to bring men
through persecution when nobody is
looking on. could show you in this
city woman who has had rheuma-
tism for 20 years who has endured
more suffering and exhausted more
grace than would have made 20 mar
tyrs pass triumphantly through the
fire. If you are not faithful in an in
position in life, you would
not be faithful in grand mission. II
you cannot stand the bite of nudge,
how could you endure the breath of
a basilisk?
Do not think that any work God
gives you to do in the world is on too
small scale for you to do. The whole
universe is not ashamed to take care
of one little flower. Plato had fable
which I have now nearly forgotten,
but it ran something like this: He
said spirits of the other world came
back to this world to find body and
lind sphere of work. One spirit came
md took the body of king and did
his work; another spirit came and
took the body of poet and did his
work; after awhile Ulysses came, and
nc said: 'Why,.al the fine bodies are
taken, and all the grand work is taken.
There is nothing left for me-" And
some one replied: "Ah, the best one
las been left for you" Ulysses said:
What's that?" And the reply was:
The body of common man, doing
! common work and for common re-
ward" A good fable for the world |
nd just as good fable for the
,hurch. Whether we eat or drink or
we do, let us do it to the
'lory of God.
Again, we need to bring the religion
# Christ into our commonest trials.
Tor severe losses, for bereavement, for
rouble that shocks like an earthquake
nd that blasts like storm, we pre-
cribe religious consolation; but, bust
less man, for the small annoyances Of
asst week how much of the grace of
od did you apply? "Oh," you say,
these trials are too small for such ap-
lication." Ny brother, they are
haping your character, they are sour
ng your temper, they are wearing out
our patience and they are making you
,ss and less man. 1 go into a sculp-
or's studio and see him shaping a
tatue. He has chisel in one hand
nd mallet in the other, and he gives
very gentle stroke-click, click,
lick! I say: "Why don't you strike
arder?" "Oh," he replies, "that
'ould shatter the statue. I can't do
; that way. I must do it this way"
o he works on and after awhile the
eatures come out, and everybody that
nters the studio is charmed and fas- ;
mated. Well, God has your soul un-
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