Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1890-08-29

share turning up the sins that have been
rooted and matted in the soil. farmer
dred dollars buried deep in that field" The
son went to work and plowed the field from
fence to fence, and he plowed it very deep
and then complained that he had not found
the money, but when the crop had been
gathered and sold for a hundred dollars more
than any previous year, then the young man
took the hint as TO what his father meant
when he said there were hundred dollars
buried down in that field. Deep blowing for
a crop. Deep blowing for soul. He who
thing In the church or IN the world. II q
man speaks OF sin as though it were an mac
curacy or a mistake, instead of the loath-
some, abominable, consuming and damning
thing that God hates, that man viii never
yield q harvest OF usefulness.
When was a boy plowed a field with a
team Of spirited horses. l plowed it very
quickly Once in a while passed over sor1e
Of the sod without turning it, but did not
Jerk back the plow with its rafting cievises.
thought it made no difference. After "a
while my father GANG along and said:
''Why, this will never do; this isn't plowed
deep enough; there you have missed this and
you have missed that" And he plowed it
over again. The difficulty with a great
many people is that they are only scratched
Gods truth ought to be put in up to the
beam.
My word is to all Sabbath-school teachers,
to all parents, to all Christian workers.
plow deep! pillow deep!
And II in your own personal experience
you are apt to take a lenient view Of the
sinful side of your nature put down into
your soul the ten commandments which
reveal the holiness OF God, and that sharp
and gittering coulter will turn up your
soul to the deepest depths. If a man
breaches to you that you are only little
ont nj nv Of 80 o,.1 hot
need only a little fixing up, he deceives! You
have suffered an appalling injury by reason
of sin. There are quick poisons and slow
poisons but the druggist could give you one
drop that would kill the body. And sin is
like that drug; so virulent so poisonous, 80
fatal that one drop is enough to kill the soul
Deep blowing for crop. Deep blowing
for soul. Broken heart or no religion
Broken soul or no harvest. Why was it
that David and the jailer and the publican
and Paul made such ado about their sins?
Had they lost their senses No. The plow-
share struck them. Conviction turned up
great many things that were forgotten. As
q farmer blowing sometimes turns up the
skeleton Of a man or the anatomy Of mon
ster long ago buried, so the plowshare of
sin long ago intombed. Biologists never
brought up from the depths Of the mountain
mightier ichthyosaurus or megatherium.
But what means all this crooked blowing,
these crooked burrows, the repentance that
amounts to nothing, the repentance that ends
in nothing? Men groan over their sins, but
get no better. They weep, but their tears
are not counted. They get convicted, but
not converted. What is the reason? I re-
member that on the farm we set standard
With a red flag at the other end of the field.
We kept our eye on that. We aimed at that.
We plowed up to that. Losing sight of that
we made a crooked furrow Keeping our
eyes on that we made straight furrow.
Now in this matter of conviction we must
have some standard to guide us. It is a red
standard that God has set at the other end
of the field. It is the cross. Keeping your
eye on that you will make straight furrow.
Losing sight of it you will make crooked
furrow. Plow up to the cross. Aim not at
either end of the horizontal piece of the cross
but at the upright piece, at the centre of it,
the heart of the Son of God, who bore your
sins and made satisfaction. Crying and
weeping will not bring you through. Him
hath Goo exalted to be Prince and a Saviour
to give repentance" Oh, pillow up to the
croSsl
Again Iremark, in grace as in the field
there must be sowing. In the autumn
weather you find the farmer going across
the field at a stride of about twenty-three
inches, and at every stride he puts his hand
into the sack Of grain and he sprinkles the
seed corn over the Held. 1t LOOKS SHY TO a
man who does not know what he is doing.
He is doing a very important work. He is
scattering the winter grain, and though the
snow may come, the next year there will be
g great crop. Now, that is What we are
doing when we are preaching the Gospel
we are scattering the seed. It is the foolish
ness of preaching, but it is the winter grain;
and though the snow of worldliness may
come upon it, it will yield after a while
glorious harvest. Let JUS be sure we SOW the
right kind Of seed. Sow mullen stalk and
mullen stalk will come up. Sow Canada
thistles and Canada thistles will come up
Sow wheat and wheat will come up Let us
distinguish between truth and error. Lot US
know the difference between wheat and he'll
lebore, oats and henbane.
The largest denomination in this country
is the denomination Of Nothingarians. Their
religion is a system Of negations. You say
to one of them: ''What do you believer
'Well, don't believe in infant baptism"
what do you believer ''Well, don't be-
ieve in the perseverance of the saints"
"Weil, now tell me what you do believer
''Weu, don't believe in the eternal punish
mert of the wicked" So their religion is a
row of cyphers. Believe something and
teach it; or, to resume the figure Of n1Y text,
scatter abroad the right kind of seed.
A minister in New York preached SER
mon calculated to set the denominations of
Christians quarreling. He was sowing net
ties. A minister in Boston advertised that
he would preach a sermon ON the superiority
of transcendental and organized forces to I'M
transcendenta and unorganized forces
What was he sowing? The Lord Jesus Christ
nineteen centuries ago planted the divine
seed Of doctrine 1t sprang up On one side
of the stalk are all the churches of Christen-
dom. On the other side of the stalk are all
the free Governments of the earth, and on
the top there shall be Towering millep-
mum after q while. All from the Gospel seed
Of doctrine. Every word that a parent OF
Sabbath school teacher, or city missionary,
or other Christian worker speaks for Christ