The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1884-10-24
HARVEST HOME.

mon on covetousness and intemperance
in st. Matthews church on Harvest
Home day:
CovEToUsNEss AND INTEMPERANCE.
Ps. 104: 15-He bringeth food out of
the earth and wine that maketh glad
the heart of man.
Elk. 20: 17-Thou shall not covet.
/ Cor. viii 10-Drunkards shall not
inherit the Kingdom of God.
We are here to-day to keep our Har-
vest Home-our annual day of thanks
giving for Gods great benefits to us-and
to recall to our minds that it is He who
sends our blessings and not we ourselves
who fetch them-to stamp more deeply
upon our hearts the thought that it is
He who bringeth food out of the earth,
and wine that maketh glad the heart of
man. And the lesson which I would
have you draw is the avoidance of the
sin of converting Gods blessings into
curses, and Of allowing covetousness or
the inordinate love of the good things of
the world to govern and control our
lives, rather than the love of those things
which are above.
The blessings mentioned in the text
are taken-not only because they are
the greatest-but because they include
really all other temporal blessings.
And, too, because by reason of their
very necessity to lis and their frequency
we are apt, unless specially reminded, to
forget how dependent we are upon Him
for them.
The specific blessings for which we
are returning thanks to-day are in one
sense, say, the type of all. The very
fact that plentiful harvest is almost o
matter of course, and that by reason of
the vast territory of our country a gener-
al failure of the crops is almost an i'm
possibility, should not diminish but in
crease our gratitude. For it is not for
any merits of our own, but of His
great mercy that He has thus crowned
our lives with the greatest of all temper
al blessings. Abundant harvests have
always been placed as the highest gifts,
because they represent the honest labor
of mankind without which they are i'm
possible. 1t is written that man shall
not live if he will not work. Broad as
this earth is, it has no room for drones.
Yet, after his blowing and sowing and
cultlvatlng, man cannot absolutely con-
troll the laws of growth. He is CO.
laborer therefore with God. Man can
not, the Almighty does not produce the
fruit from the earth alone and unaided
by the other. This is the type of bless
ings and the highest of all, because it
includes all; because tilling the soil is the
type and representative of all honest la
Dor. Indeed, in its broad sense, agricul-
tire is but another name for commerce
And it may, think, be safely said, that
the only honest and clean way of acquir-
ing wealth is by in some way or other,
directly or Indirectly, contributing to
this end of causing the earth to bring
forth bread for the eater, and wine that
maketh glad the heart of man." which
two things, I take it, include all that
ministers to mans necessities or COM
forts. That is not only the farmer, he
who directly turns up the soil, is acquir-
ing wealth i'll Gods way, but he also who
makes the tools and implements of the
farmer he who delves in the earth for
the baser metal wherewith they are
made or the more precious metals
wherewith they are bought he who in
vents and provides means whereby the
grain is speedily converted into flour or
is cheaply transported to the market:
he who provides means of communica-
ton between the producer and the con-
sumner ; he who assists in framing lust
laws for the protection of the rights of
each in short, he who is engaged in
any occupation which ministers to the
necessities or comforts of mankind
This we call legitimate commerce. And
it all waits upon agriculture as its hand
maid, and centres around it as the sys
tenn of planets around the sun. ANY of
them may fail without more than tenn
porarily embarrassing each other but
poor crops and light harvests through
out the country, or through any CON
siderable section of the country, disturb
all commerce, and the consequences are
felt in every laborer's cottage all around |
the world. Hence our thankfulness
each year for continual abundant har-
vests.
And the lesson to be learned is this :.
Other things than frost and drought NAV
destroy the harvest Nations may and
nave through mistaken policy, individ-
lals have-and do now day by day-
through covetousness, making haste to
De rich, destroy bountiful harvests by
,ounteracting their effect in placing the
leedful grain beyond the reach OIL
he consumer, except at an exorbit-
mt price causing distress to both prof.
lucer and consumer for his own greed.
Honest buying and selling of grain
n the way of commerce or legitimate
BUSINESS is a wise and lawful way of !
cquiring wealth. Specializing (by which
mean combining to force prices I'D
r down. is not. Making corners /
] prohibited by the laws of God and {
IAN. Only the latter cannot always ,
each and deal with the offender; the S
'rmer surely will in the long run. 1.-THE is
Hills of God" may grind slowly, butt 1
ley grind exceeding fine 5
Therefore no good citizen should, no \
richly conscientious man will be, for n
rivate gain, party to any so-calIed busi- s
ess transaction which tends to force the d
rice of needful commodities and with
raw Gods greatest gifts to man from t.
le needs of His poorer children. Bust t,
ess and commerce are good and noble 4 fl
ock gambling and betting on margins 81
e bad and unworthy 0f Gods cove ~