The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-09-03
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
TIE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUN.
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "Farming q Gospel Type
preached Before the American
Farmers Encampment at
Mount Gretna, Penny

fore him, and he tcith the tmelfh.-I Kings
xix, 10.
Farmers of Americal Accept my saluata.
uon. Our text puts US down into the plow's
furrow, where many of us have been before
My boyhood passed on farm and my father
farmer, your style Of life is familiar to me
One Of my earliest recollectiops is that of my
father coming In from the hot harvest field
exhausted, the perspiration streaming from
his forehead and chin, and fainting on the
doorsill, and my mother resuscitating Linn,
until seeing the alarm Of the household he
said; "Don't be frightened. I got little
tired and the sun was hot, but am oil right
now." And remember mother seated al
the table often saying, "Well, I am too tired
to eat" The fact is that I do not think the
old folks got thoroughly rested until they lay
down in the graveyard back OF Somerville to
take the last sleep.
Office seekers 60 through the land and they
stand on political platforms, and they tell the
farmers the story about the independent life
Of a farmer, giving 1attery where they
ought to give sympathy. Independent OF
what? No class of people in this country have
it harder than farmers. Independent Of
what? OF the curculio that stings the peach
uees2 Of the rust in the wheat? Of the long
rain with the rye down. Independent Of the
grasshopper2of the locust? of the army worm!
Of the potato bugS Independent Of the
drought that burns up the harvest? Indepen-
dent Of the COW with the hollow hornS or the
sheep with the foot rot2 or the pet horse With
nail in bis Eoof? Independent Of the cold
that freezes out the winters grain? Inde-
PENDENT of the snowbank out Of which be
must shovel himself? Independent Of the
cold weather when he stands threshing his
numbed fingers around his body to keep
them from being frosteds Independent Of
the frozen ears and the frozen feet? Inde-
pendent of whatS Fancy farmers who have
made their fortunes in the city and 60 out
into the country to build houses with all the
modern improvements, and make farming a
luxury, may not need any solace; hut the
yeomanry who get their living out Of the
families and educate their children and pay
their taxes and meet their interest on mort
gnged farms-such men linda terrific strug-
gle. And my hope is that this great Ma
t1onal Farmers Encampment may do some
thing toward lifting the burdens Of the ag-
riculturist. Yes we were nearly all Of us
born in the country. We dropped corn in
the hill, and went on Saturday to the mill,
tying the grist in the centre Of the sack so
that tie contents on either side Of the horse
balanced each other, and drove the cattle
afeld, our hare feet wet with the dew, and
rode the horses with the halter to the brook
until We fell off, and hunted the NOW for
nests until the feathered occupants went
cackling away. 80 we all understand rustic
illusions The Bible is full of them. In
full blown lilies and the glossy back Of the
crows wing as it flies over Mount Olvet.
David and John, Paul and Isaiah find in
country life source of frequent illustration,
while Christ takes the responsibility of call
ing God farmer, declariag MY Father is
the husbandman."
Noah was the lrst farmer. We say moth
ing about Cain, the tiller of the soil. Adam
was a gardener on large scsle;. but to- Noah
was given all the acres Of the earth. Elisha
was on agriculturist not crituring ten
acre lot; for IN my text you frd him p5oW-
ing with twelve yoke Of oxen betore him, and
he with the twelfth. In Bible times the land
vas so plenty and the inhabitants 50 few
chat Noak was right when he gave. to every
irhabitant o certain portion of land; thes
land, if cultured, ever after to be his Owls
possession.
They were not small crops raised N those
times, for though the arts were rIde the
plow turned up very rich soil, and BARLEY,
and cotton, and fax, and all kinds of grain
came Up at the call OF the harvesters. Pliny
tells Of one stalk Of grain that had on it'bes-
tween Tlree and four hundred ears. The:
rivers and the brooks through artificial.
channels. were brought down to the roots Of
the corn and to this habit Of turning river
whereveoi ID was wanted Solomon refers wher,
Ae says: "The Kings heart is in the hand Of
the Lord, and He turneth it as the rivers cft
water are turned. %hithersoever He will"
The wild beasts were caught, and then a.
hoo3s.was Put into their Bose, and then they:
were led over the field, and to that God re-
fers when Ee says TO- wicked Senacherib, !.
II viii put hook In thy nose and I will
bring thee back By the way which thou
camesti" And God has hook in every
mans nose, .whetheriJ be Nebuchadnezzar
or Ahab or Herod.. He may think himself
very independently but some time in his
life or in the hour Of bis death lie will find
that tho Lord Almighty has a hook in his
nose.
This wos the rule IN regard to the culture
Of the ground, Thou shalt not plow with IN
OK and ON ass together" illustrating the folly
Of ever putting intelligent and useful and
piable men in association with the stubborn
and the unmanageable. The vast majority
Of trouble in the churches and in reforma-
tory institutionscomes.f from the disregard Of
this command Of the Lord, "Thou' shalt not
olow with an OK and an ass together"
vested in cattle. The Moabites paid loo, ,O0
sheep as an annunl tax. Job had 1000 sheep,
5000 canels, 500 yoke Of oxen. The time ol
vintage was usheped in with mirth and music
The clusters Of the vine were put into the
wine press, and then Eve men would get into
the press.and trample out the juice from the
grape Until their garments were saturated
with tbe-wine and had become the emblems
of slaughter ChFiss himself, wounded until
covered with the blood Of crucifxion, made
use Of this allusion when the question was
asked: Wherefore art Thou red In Thine ap-
parel and Ehy garments like one who tread.
eth the wine vatr' He responded " have:
trodden the wine press Rone."
In all ages there Los been great honor paid :
to agriculture. Ssveu-eighths Of the people
in ever-S country are disciples Of the plow. A
government is strong in proportion as it Is
supported BY an athletic and industrious
yeoma1ry. So long ago as before the fa4 OF
Carthage Strabo wrote twenty-eight books
on agriculture, Hesiod wrote poem or, tue
same subject-'sThe Weeks and Days" Cato
was prouler Of his work on husbandry; than
of his military conquests. ButI must not
be tempted into a discussion of agricultural
conauests. Standing amid the harvests and
orchards and vineyards Of the Billie, and
standing amid the harvests and orchards and
vineyards of our own country-1 want torun
cut the analogy between the prcduction Of
crops and the growth Of grace in the soul
ell these sacred writers making Use OF that
analogy.
In the first place remark, in grace as in
the fields. there must be plow.. That which.
tneolUglaLs cali convection Is only the plow-
share turning up the sins that have been
rooted and matted il the soil. A farmer
said to his indolent son, There are hurr
lred dollars buried deep in thnt field The
5,n went to work and plowed the field frcm
fence to fence, and he plowed it very. deep
and then complained that he had not found
the money, but when the crop had ssen
gathered and sold for hundred dollars more
than any previous year, than the younSman
took the hint as to what his father meant