St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1904-09-17
MESSAGE FROM
THE F;lELDS.&%
Sermon by the Highway and
Byway" Preacher.
lCopyright, 1904, by JIM. Edson.l
- Chicago. Sunday. Aug. IA, 1904
Text:-"Consider the lilies of the field. -

- Chicago. Sunday. Aug. IA, 1904.
Text:-"Consider the lilies of the field.
Matt. 6:2S .s"
! | | ! !
~ RI ESUS points US t
~ the common flow
~ M ers Of the field an
CUL&Gll| urges us to consid
M EG1XOI er them, for the,
| xvi w. have messag
! A% for the soul of man
ST ~ Throughout tn
/ Sm ages since Jesu
| spoke these words
| n Ml@ $ God has been plant
| TYMNx& Ing His garden IL
! W%i the fields, and tn,
fragrant blossoms
as they lift their bright faces up
| ward to receive the sunshine and tn,
rain, have been in their own sweet wa!
bringing to man Gods message and help
ing to interpret His written word. VIVA
picture our text brings before us. Jesul
seated on the green-carpeted slopes o.
the hillside, the group of faithful dis
ciples whom He has but just formally
| chosen to follow Him in His ministry
standing behind Him, while before Hin
and on either side the eager, attentive
expectant multitudes press to hear Him
And Jesus, looking out upon that multi
tude, sees the anxious, careworn and
hungry-looking faces behind which the
starving, unsatisfied souls were keeping
their vigil. He feels the throb of that
restless life; He Knows the anxious
thought and trouble which follow re-
lentlessly at the heels of those people
like an evil Nemesis; He understands
the work and struggle which go on
day after day-the anxiety for the neces-
stiles of life and the fretting for the
pleasures and Injuries. And that Jew
ish multitude gathered about the Saviour
in the Galilean hills was no different
from the multitudes of to-day. There
are the same anxious and carewOrn
faces; there are the same hungry, unsat-
isfied looks breaking forth from the
starving soul; 1T there are the same worry,
the same discontent the same feverish
pursuit for the perishable things of this
life-for food and raiment, for pleasures.
and for worldly place and power Jesus
as He looks out over the world to-day
from His throne in. glory sees human
nature the same. He can point us back
to that scene which our text brings be-
fore us, and ask us to see there the faith
full portrayal in miniature of the condi-
ton Of human heart and life to-day.
p UT Jesus saw more than that fever
- ish and anxious multitude ! He.
saw more than that, human sea OF
faces, ever which the stllrrowipg marks
of care and trouble and unwholesome
pleasures and indulgences had traced
their indelible lines. Yea, if He had
not, verify believe His heart would
have broken. In that human need
and soul-hunger before Him there was
naught to cheer His heart or bring
gladness to the Divine eyes. But that
was not all He saw. The grass and
the lilies of. the field were there He.
saw them, and they spoke their sweet
message of Gods faithful care as the
Creator and of their glad and humble
faith and trust as the dependent crea-
ture. But the multitudes did not see Ruth
lessly and thoughtlessly they. crushed
the grass and the scarlet-robed lilies
under their restless feet. They were.
pressing forward for they hardly knew
what Earthly care and material
wants made their hearts hard and
their souls insensible to the whispered
message of the fair, glad flowers at
their feet. And, oh. how that isttrue
to-day! How this materialistie age is.
out all sense and thought OF
God, and yet how the lilies Of the
field. how the birds Of the air. how all
aboundfng nature would bring their
tpsthe heart OF man and have
him learn Of God through them, andl
find in them the clear interpretationl
Of His Word! --sss .sje n, ssf3sfE
T HE fields bring their perennial mes
l sage. It is sold and. yet ever new.
Jesus says to you andsme as we turn our
anxious, troubled, unsatisfied hearts to-
wards Him: Consider the lilies of the
deld.." Why? Not alone to drink IN
their beauty and to fill the passing mo-
ment with fragrance and brightness.
Not just simply to admire them and rap
turously gush over their graceful out
lines and their exquisite colorings. Mot
to examine them with the scientific eye
Ind regard them as SO many more speci-
mems for the collection. Not to regard
hem as-the beautiful model to be paint
d into the landscape and lend their
beautiful color to brighten and glorify
he, picture. Not any of these. Jesus
vas not talking to the gushing and
and esthetic, not to the
b0tanist, not tosthe artist. Jesus loved
lature for more than. her. superficial
;elf. He saw deeper than the exqui-
lite colorings and the picturesque and
combinations. He heard the
pifitual message which nature whis-
,ered. He saw underneath the beauty
md the fragrance the lessons which
ould reveal God and Gods Word And |
80 He said: Consider the lilies Of the |
leqd. Have you considered them?
N, yes, you say How love to wan
Ter through the fields, how l delight !
10 search through the woods for the |
NOSES and the ferns and the tender
iolets which brighten the cool, shaded |
looks. How ! rejoice in the song Of |
he bird, in the ripple Of the stream,
a the murmur of the trees as the hurry
ng breeze skips from leaf to leaf and |
cts them al toawhisptfins of his visit |
nd his hasty fight, in the buzz and !
yum of the insect world! Oh, love. ma
ure, 1 love to be with her: Il love to COM
hume with her. She brings rest ana