The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1883-08-25

field, driving the seed into the earth un-
til 1t springs up in the harvest. BereaVe-
ment, sorrow, persecution are the Lords
harrOws to sink the gospel truth into
your heart. These were truths you heard
thirty years ago, they have not affected
you until recently. Some great trouble
came over you, the truth was narrowed
in, and 1t has come up. What did God
mean in this country in 1872 For a
century was the gospel preached, but
great deal of it produced no result. God
then harnessed a wild panic to harrow
commercial disaster, and that harrow
went up and down Wall street. up and
down Third street, up and down State
street, until the whole laud was torn to
pieces as it never was before. What fol-
lowed the harrow? A great awakening
in which there were five hundred thou
sand souls brought into the kingdom of
God. No harrow, no crop.
Again, | remark, in grace as in the
farm, there must be reaping. Many
Christians speak of religion as though 1T
were matter of economics or insurance
they expect to reap in the next world.
Oh, mol Now is the time to reap. Gather
up the joy of the Christian religion this
morning, this noon, this night. If you
have not all the grace you would like to
have, thank God for what you have and
pray for more. You are no more ensla-
we'd than Joseph, no worse troubled than
David, no worse scOurged than Paul. Yet
amid the rafting of fetters and amid
the gloom Of dungeons, they triumphed
in the grace of God. The weakest man
in the house today has five hundred acres
of spiritual joy all ripe. Why do you
not 90 and reap itp You have been grOa-
ming over your infrmities for thirty
years. Now give one round shout over
your emancipation. You say yOI have
it so hard; you might have 1t worse. You
wonder why this great, cold trouble goes
revolving through your soul, turning
with black hand on the crank. All,
that trouble Is the grindst0ne on which
you are to sharpen your sickle. To the
lleldsl Wake upl Take off your green
spectacles, your blue spectacles, your
black spectacIes. To the fieldsl Reap!
Again l remark, in grace as in farm
ing, there Is time for threshing, and l
tell you bluntly that is death. Just as
the farmer with a fail beats the wheat
out of the straw, 80 death beats the soul
out of the body. Every sickness is a
strike of the Aail, and the sickbed Is the
threshing floor. What say you, is death
| to good man only taking the wheat
out of the straw? That is all. An aged
man has fallen asleep. Only yesterday
you saw him in the sunny porch playing
with his grandchildren. Calmly he re-
ceiVed the message to leave this world
He bade pleasant goodbye to his OIt
| friends. The telegraph carried the It'd
| ings, and on swift rail trains the kind
red come, wanting once more to look Oh
the face of dear old grandfather. Brush
back the gray hairs from his brow; II
will never ache again. Put him away
in the slumber Of the tomb. He will moi
| be afraid that night. Grandfather was
/ of of anut HING Hn will Fia(
in the morning of the resurrection. HI
was always the first to rise. His voice
has already mingled in the dOXOlOgy o
heaqen. Grandfather always did sins
in church. Anything CHASTITY in that
No. The threshing of the wheat out o
the straw; that is all. The Savior fOld'
a lamb in his bosom. The little chill
filled all the house with her music, ant
her toys are scattered all up and dOwI
the stairs, Just as she left them. Wha
if the hand that plucked your four
O'clOcks out of the meadow is stillp
will wave in the eternal triumph. Wha
if the voice that made music in tn
home is stillP 1t Will sing the eterna
hOsanna. Put white rose in one hand
red rose in the other, and a wreath o
orange blossoms on the brow; the whit
flower for the victory, the red flower fO
the SaviOr's sacrifice, the orange bios
SONS for her wedding day. Anything
CHASTITY about thisP Oh, no. The SUI
went down and the flower shut. Tn
wheat threshed out of the straw. "Dea
Lord, give me Sleep" said dying boy
the son of one Of my elders, dear Lord
give me Sleep" and he closed his eye
and awOke in glory. Henry W. Long
fellow, writing a letter of cOndOlenc
to those parents, said: "Those last word
were beautifully poetic" and Mr.. Long
fellow knew what is poetic. Dear Lord
give me Sleep"
| That the reaper came that day;
An angel visited the earth
| And took the flower away"
SO it may be with us when our work
all done, Dear Lord, give me Sleep"
have one more thought to present.
have spoken of the plOwing, of the SOW
ing, of the narrowing, of the threshine
must now speak moment of the gal
nering. Where is the garnerp Need
tell yOlp Oh, no; so many have gOn
out from your own circles-yea, frOI
your own family-that you have ha
your eyes on that garner for many yea
What hard time some of them hadl Il
Gethsemanes of suffering they swea
great drops of blood; they took the Ecu
Of trembling" and put 1t to their he
lips, and cried: "If it be possible let thi
, cup pass from me-" With tongues {
burning agony they cried, "Oh, LorC
deliver my sOulP' But they got over
They all got over it. Garnered! Thei
, tears wiped away; their battles all OIL
| ded; their burdens lifted. GaTneTeC
The Lord of the harvest will not allO'
those sheaVes to perish in the equinox
Garnered. Some of us remember on th
: farm the sheaves were put on top of th
rack that surmOunted the wagon, an
! these sheayes were piled higher an
, higher, and after while the horses star
ed for the barn; and these sheaves swa,
ed to and fro in the wind, and the Ol
, wagon creaked, and the horses made
struggle and pulled so hard the harnei
came up in loops of leather on the
backs, and when the 'front.' wheel struC
, the elevated floor of the barn, it SCENE
} as If the load would go no further, III
: til the wOrkmen gave great shout, an
3 then the horses, with OGe tremendOU
. strain, pulled in the load; then the
3 were Embarrassed, and fOrkful aft
fOrkful of grain fell into the NOW.
|. Oh, my friends, our getting to heave
: may be pull, hard pull, very hal
| pull, but these sheaVes are bound to {
: in. The Lord of the harvest has prom
!. ised it. see the load at last coming