St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1904-10-29

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HkEas:D ENSl conflict while
GksSzA INV brought either dc
VS-:1 kNN$~l liverance or bond
WJMW age to their people
NIL The pages of his
I'M tory. sacred an
a. profane. are file
RE with the records 0
" warfare ard car
mage, of fierce fight
ing and glorious sictory or ignominiou
defeat The story of Israel's conflict
marks Palestine from north to sout
and from the sea coast to the border
of the great Euphrates on the west q
one great battlefield. Nations have ha,
their rise and fall upon the battlefield
Persian power marks its decline from
the great battle of Marathon, ant
Greece rises to a place of power ant
sends out her Alexander to conquer th'
world. Rome comes upon the scene
and wherever the conquering army Of
the Caesars went there were battlefields
which told of nations subjugated and
brought under the sway of imperial
Rome. Take your map of the world, and
wherever there was q battle which YOU
car remember offhand place dot, and
see how quickly you can DOT the surface
OF the earth over with battleields. You
will quickly become impressed with the
fact that the world is but one vast bat
tlefleid. Take it in our own land, the
country which is scarcely four centuries
old in the worlds history, and note
how from north to south and from east
to west there has been the track of the
warhorse. There is no state but has had
it's conflict with the red man, the orig
fnal proprietor of the land. and many
OF the states are dotted with its monu-
ments to mark the place of conflict in
revolutionary and civil war. And among
the innumerable battlefields which the
world has seen are hundreds and thou
sands which are important; battles
which have changed the map again and
again and given birth to new nations
and peoples. And at the present time
here is raging in the east one of the
great conflicts of modern times, and
great battlefields are being added to the
list-great battlefields in which man
has contended with man for supremacy
and power.
2 UT the greatest battlefield which
u Heaven or earth has seen is that
which is found within the human soul
On that place Of conflict have been
fought out questions and issues which
have to do not only with time but with
eternity. Every soul knows what this
conflict means. Some have more des-
perate battles to fight than others;
some have to wage the silent warfare
within until the very life's blood seems
to be forcing its way through the sweat
glands. and the anguish of spirit would |
crush out the very life; while others
the ordinary battles, and
know sometimes defeat and sometimes
victory. The few endure the supreme
but all experience the inner
6ghtings and strivings. The soul is q
battle-ground It is the place
where man decides the great issues of
life and eternity. 1t is the place from
which there sounds forth the cry of
defeat or victory. Never did warrior
On battlefield. as he contended hand to
hand with the determined foe, realize
more fully what conflict means than
1oes the soul to which comes the bitter
strife, the cOntending of the forces of
good and evil. 1t is within the soul
hat man decides whether self or
God shall rule; it is within the soul
hat desire and duty wage their des-
,erate strife; it is within the soul that
righteousness contends with upright
'ousness. truth with error, Gods spirit
With the spirit of the evil one. We all
NOW what 1t means to speak of the
Oul as battle-ground. 1t is a scene !,
4 conflict from which man can never .
eparate himself The worlds battle ;
lelds change. here to-day and there to- :
morrow. and seldom is second battle ,
ought upon the same ground and over !,
he same issue, but the greatest of all
the human soul, is the con-
tant recurring scene of warfare. and
yer and over again the soul finds It F,
aust fight against the besetting sin,
he prevailing weakness. the persistent
emptation.
THIS conflict began away back in the r
beginning. when Adam and Eve k
ought out the issue of good and evil a
/ the garden and met defeat because t
ley left God out of their reckoning. c
he record Of that battle has come t,
owastO us through the ages, and ev- n
y lie since then has come under the a
ladOw of that defeat. Adams defeat Il
as brought all the human race under e
lie dominion Of sin and death. But h
rem as by one man sin entered into CT
lie world and death by sin. so by one is
an. the man Christ Jesus, there came al
fe and salvation into the world by His el
Glory over sin and death. How the h
ltion looks for the hero who shall RI
silver it from the bondage of the OPP c
'essor! A David for Israel: a We'll al
lgton for Europe; Washington for "
nerica; Garcia for Cuba. And as A
ltions in bondage need a deliverer, di
the human race under the bondage sc
sin needed deiiverer. Jesus was to in
hit over again the battle where Adam 10
1T and thus bring back to man the OF
rity and the blessing which he lost ey
Adam. The supreme defeat Of the at
es was that which took place in the 81
rden at the dawn of human history. fe
e supreme victory was that which Of