, 1885-02-03
SOWING WILD OATS.
An Eloquent aud Interesting sermon to
Young Men,

discourse in e,iI The revarend ~.en,la,
man took his text from Galatians 4. ! and
z ssWbatsoever n man sowetb that sball
he also reap. etcn There il n law If re.
production in nature. Every seed aae,
ia kind. Al certain kind Of seed Leads "a
a certain kind Of harvest The man who
soxs wheat reaps wheat. who sows corr
reaps corn. This. under the law of causs
and effect The law i invariable. the
same law prevails in moral and spirituaI
experience. The harvest in the text i.
made to depend on the nature Of the
ground sown Seed Il always chosen nc.
cordine 10 the soil That which Il sowu
upop the flesh is different seed from that
which is sovn mon the Holy Shirt Life
Is the seed time; our actions and our
motives are the seed; they bear a harvest,
the harvest corresponds with the seed. II
rests on us to determine the harvest BY
| Determining the seed. Wild oats grow.
The harvest is sure. No one can deprive
Us of the harvest that answers to the
seed. This Is the doctrine Of our text. II
true, our text is in direct conflict with
some very popular theories.
First, That young men may SOW wild
oats and in the end reap good grain.
Second. The greater the sinner the bet
ter the saint when he is once converted.
Society Judges a young lady by a dit
| ferent standard from that applied TO a
young man. If a young girl sow wild
oats, it is granted she viii reap wild oats.
| Society viii help her to gather the CROP
| right speedily. She is made an outcast
or hurried to a dishouored grave. but her
male associates are welcomed 70 the fell
lowship of your homes. By what rule Of
| logic or Of right is this distinction made2
A young man may be known rs wild,
wayward, fast. p~rofane, lawless, reckless,
dissomte-it is all CLOSED over by the re-
| mark. HHe is sowine his wild oatsl He
will come out all right in the end II
| is implied that youthful sin and folly is 10
be expected. The old mans faults
are hepious: those Of a Young
man senile. | know the temptations to
lead the voune into reckless wavs are
many and strong. All Of the paths of sin
are attmctive: the Young men in most of
our Western cities have nowhere 10 20
where they NAV find light warmth. ele-
eapce and social fellowship. and at the
same time. be free from evil associations.
But remember the harvest. 1t is easy to
forge the chains of evil habit The coal
Of evil habit is perdition. This by. the
law Of development. Eternal sin involves
eternal punishment But there is a har-
vest in this life. and with that we have to
do. The evidence of this awful fact is all
around us. Men are wearing the trade
mark Of dissipation; they are branded by
satan. Criminal statistics prove that a
majority Of voune men never eet over the
sowing of wild oats, and those who do re.
| form always carry the scars. There are
scars in memory; there are scarsin the con-
science; there are scars on the body. 1The
speaker illustrated fully these headsl
The sins called wild oats are grave dig.
gers. Natural laws broken call ont for
the penalty. 1t is paid every time. Di-
vine grace does not suspend this divine
law Of nature. No man can squander
his vital force in high living and give his
best effort to the world. Husband. then.
your vital forces. Fresh air and exercise
win aid YOU. Lord Palmerston said.
ssThe outside of a horse Is good for the
inside of a man. You cannot care
~pronerlv for the body and keen sow;no
wild oats The body is 10 be the temnle
of the HOLY Ghost Think what a dilap-
idated building the Holy Ghost has some.
times TO move into. Then there il the
harvest financial. The words ..sneud.
lthriA" and ''d~issipationu are eloquent
1.-THE small snms sayed amount IA no small
sum in the aggregate. The harvest in
character is an absolute failure. There
Is mildew and blight. The aim fife is
character. Life is hence n failure.
Better never to have lived than for sucb
an end.
The other theory which our text CON
dennis is. the greater the sinner the
better the saint when he Is converted.
R-epeptapce and reformation onlv enable
a man to make the best of what is left Of
himself. They do not restore the lost
inpocepcy. They do not make the man
the equal of him who has resisted sin and
taken salvation too. In n sense men
are all on a common level; all need saliva
ton: and no man can ave himself But
the man who has lived a life of debaucb.