The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1890-08-23
RURAL RELIGION.
d.. Talmage's Sermon to the
Farmers ON a Perti.
nent Topic.
AS q Man SoWeth in This
World 50 Must he
Reap,

LEBANON, Pa. Special-The American
Farmers Encampment at Mount Gretna,
near this city, to-day listened attentively to
Z discourse by Rev. I. Dewitt Talmage.
The subject was one peculiarly suited to the
vast audience, being on Farming a Gospel
Type."I. Kings, xix. 10: Elisha. the SON
OF Shaphat, who was ploughing with twelve
oxen before him. and he with the twelfth"
Representatives Of tho great Farmers as
.%soeiaticns from all parts.of the country are
at the encam pment, preparations for which
have been going on for months in advance.
The surrounding densely-populated counties
" PennsylvHnia are also July represented.
2To-day's services were held in the open air.
An immense choir, from the churches of Lei
banon, led the music.
Rev. DR.. Talmage spoke as follows:
Farmers of Amsrical Accept my saluta.
tion. Our text puts us down into the plow's
furrow, where many OF us have been before.
Ny boyhood passed on a farm, and my
father q farmer, your style of life is.amiliar
to me. One of my earliest recollections is
that Of my iather coming. in from the no
harvestfieM exhausted, the perspiration
streaming from his forehead and chin, and
fainting on the doorsill, and nv mother re,
suscitating him, until seeing the alarm oil
the household, be said, Don't be frightened
Igot q little tired, and the sun was hot. but ]
am all right now" And I remember mother
seated at the table, often saying, swell, I'm
too tired to eatl" Thu fact is, that l do not
until they lay down in the graveyard back
of Somerville, to take the last sleep.
Ofice-seekers go through the land and they
on political platforms, and they tell
the farmers the story about the Independent
life of q farmer, giving lattery where they
ought to give sympathy. Independents OF
what? No class of people in this country
have it harder than the farmers. Independ.
emit of what? Of the curculio that stings the
peach trees? or the rust in the wheat? of the
long rain with the rye down? Independent
of the grasshopper? of the locust? of the
army-wcrms? the potato.bug? Independent
Of the drought that burns up the harvest?
Independent of the COW with the hollow horn?
or the sheep with the .oot-rot? 0r the pet
horse with a nail in his hoof? Independent
ofthe cold that freezes out the winter grain?
Independent of the snowbank out OF which
he must shovel himself? Independent of the
cold weather when lie stands threshing his
numbed fingers around his body to keep
Them from being frosted? Independent of the
frozen ears and the frozen feet? Indcpend.
ent Of what? Fancy farmers who
nave mdQ6 GLelI iOTtuueb III IL Cley
and 60 out in the country to build houses
with all the modern improvements, and
make farming q luxury, may not need any
GOlace: but the yeomanry who get their liv-
ing out of the soil, and who that way haye to
clothe their families and educate their hill
dren, and pay their taxes and meet the III
forest on the mortgaged farms-such men
find d terrific struggle. And my hope is
that this great National Farmers' Encamp-
ment may do something toward lifting the
burdens of the agriculturists 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
center of the sack so that the contents or
either side of the horse balanced each other;
and drove the cattle afeld, our bare :eet wet
with the dew, and rode the horses with the
halter to the brook until we fell of, and
hunted the NOW for nests until the feathereds
occupants went cackllng away. So we oil
understand rustic illusions. The .Bible is
iul Of them. In Christ's sermon on the
mount you see the full blown lilies and the
glossy back of the crows wing as it lilies over
Mt. Oliyet. David and John, Paul and
Isaiah find in country life a source of frequent
illustration, while Christ takes the response
bility of declaring God a farmer, declaring:
INV father is the h%usbandman."
Noah was the first farmer. We say moth
inr about Cain the tiller OF the soil. Adam
was q gardener on Q large scale, oue 70 r Moan
was given all the acres of the earth. Eilsha
vas an aQricuIturist, not culturing q IL acre
III, for III my text you find him blowing with
% Yoke OF oxen before him, and he with the
1g4h. In Bible times the land wa SO plenty
and the inhabitants 30 few that Noah was
right when he gave to every lnnaDitant g
rartain norton of land. thai land If cultured,
sver after to be his wi possession.
Thev were not small crops raised in those
+;mas for though the arts were rude, the