St. Tammany farmer., 1906-10-06


Moses shook his head sadly, and
for some minutes did not speak. Then,
turning ane sweeping his hand to-
wards the place in the camp where
the people rested amidst the heaps
of birds, he said, slowly:
"God has abandoned them to their
lust, and should we act as judges In
his behalf? Nay. rather must we
abide the time when their lust shall
have come to the full. Verify, the
people will bring upon themselves
some dreadful thing, by their tnor'
dinate indulgence"
That day and for many days there
after the people were fairly drunken
with the flesh of the quail. No longer
did the people go forth as on former
days for the mama which God SO
faithfully provided each morning; all
save those who had not utterly aban-
doned themselves to the lust Of the
flesh and had not forgotten that God
would have them eat of his mama
from heaven.
Upon such the ridicule and scorn OF
the others fell with unstinted meas
ure.
"Ho, ho," they said, "Why should
the slumbers of the morning be
broken by this distasteful task of
gathering the mama. We have tired
of that sickening food, and now we
have flesh to eat, and that in abund-
ance, we will not gather mama,
neither will we eat Of 1t any more"
And SO it was that there soon came
to be a marked division among the
people. Those who following the
lead of Moses went daily to the out
| skirts of the camp, and not only found
the mama, but that invigorating fel-
lowship which comes from reliance
upon God and doing his will, and
those who gave themselves up to the
| appetites and lusts and fed to the full
upon the flesh which they had gath
cred.
Thus matters stood in the camp Of
Israel when one day it was rumored
that sickness had broken out among
the people. Moses went out to inves-
tigate and he found that there were
indeed those who were i'll, but when
he admonished them to give up their
evil ways and turn to the Lord, they
spurned him, saying:
what would you have us do? Re-
| turn to the diet of mama? Rather
would we die with the quail between
our teeth than starve to death because
we have nothing but mama"
So it Is ever with the soul that has
given itself utterly to the gratifica-
ton of the fleshly desires. It does
not seem that anything else can ever
satisfy but that which feeds the gross
er desires, and SO there is the cling
ing to that which means certain dis
ease and death, and the turning from
that which would give life and health
and satisfaction.
AS the days went by the sickness
Like a scourge swept through the
camp, and the stricken ones, no long
er able to eat of the flesh which now
they loathed, begged succor Of those
who daily gathered the mama, but as
each household had only for Its own
needs, they were powerless to help.
Again Moses pleaded with them
THAI they rise and gather the mama
for themselves, but the people would
not, for as soon as they began to
get better, having refrained from par
taking of the flesh, they again chose
, the quail, saying that they could moi
eat, the mama and live.
Discouraged and saddened, Moses
withdrew, realizing that It was use
:, less for him to further appeal to the
, people to turn to the Lord, but thai
he must let the sin of the people rur
, its course. Soon death was stalking
, through the camp of Israel, and will
, grim hand was claiming the people By
! the scores and the hundreds. Whole
families were wiped out and the por
tion Of Israel that had refrained from
; eating the flesh to the full, and hat
:. gathered the daily portion of mann'
!. were forced to bear the dead to the1
graves and bury them.
But among those dying hosts Of Is
= rael there were some who turned t.
!. the Lord In their extremity, and Ohio
= although sick, and wan and weak
: dragged their weary bodies fron
: among the dead and the dying, AM
sought the place where the Lord
mama lay. To such there came tn
:. healing mercy Of the Lord, for sil
= repented of always brings forgiveness
= but sin persisted in brings fort
= death, for the wages Of sin is death
III And this story Of Israers lust afte
= the things of the flesh is told for ou
- edification and to show us of to-day
:. who find the world and the things G
y the world, alluring. that we 'shoul
= not lust after evil things" for. Go
:, may indeed give US the desire Of ou
!. hearts, but with 1t will come lear
!. ness of soul as will shut God and hi
= blessing out. Let us remember Israe
= and Israel's sin.
: "save the Hogs"
The following was taken from th
y exchange column of the Stewal
= (Minn.) Tribune. The irony OF
- strikes responsive chord in OF
' heart, and leads us to say: why
we'll, at any rate, save the hogs" wv
u read an item the other day in whic
:, it is said that pork breeders al
= raising big disturbance because II
o. refuse of the breweries pollutes tt
water the hogs drink with alcohol
: poison We do not censure the por