The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1890-08-27
of the plow. A government is strong il


IIcsiod wrote a poem on tic same sub
iect-.,Thc Weeks and Days" Cato
was prouder Of his work on husbandry
than of all his military conQuests. But
| must not be tempted into a discussion
Of agricultural conqUcsts. Standing
amid the harvests and orchards and vine
wards Of the Bible. and standing amid
the harvcsts and orchards and vineyards
ot our own country--I want TO run out
the analogy between the production Of
crops and the growth Of grace i'll the
soul-all these sacred writers making
use Of that analogy.
In the first place l remark, in grace rs
in the fields there must be q plow. That
which theologians call conviction is only
the plowshare turning up the sins that
have been rooted and matted in the soul.
\ farmer said to his indolent SON:
There are hundred dollars buried
deep in that field" The son went to
work and plowed the field from fence to
fence. and ne plowcd it very deep, and
then complained that he had not found
the money; but when the crop had been
gathered and sold for 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 a
hundred dollars buried down in that
field. Deep plowins for crop. Deep
blowing fJr soul. He who makes
light OF sin will never amount to any
| thing in the church or in the world. If
L man speaks of sin as though it were
an inaccuracy or mistake, instead OF
the loathsome. abominable, consuming,
and damning thing that God hates, that
man will never yield a harvest ofusetul-
ness.
When | was 4 boy l plowcd field
with team Of spirited horses. Iplowed
it very quickly. Once in q while pass
ed over some Of the sod without turning
it, but did not jerk back the plow with
its rattliuS clevises. l thought it made
no difference. After awhile my father
came along and said: ''Why, this will
never do; this isn't plowcd deep enough;
there YOU have missed this and you have
missed that" And he plowed it over
again. The difficulty with great many
people is that they are only scratched
with conviction when the subsoil plow
of Gods truth ought to be put in up to
the beam.
Ny word is to all Sabbath-school
teachers, to all parents, to all Christian
workcrs-plow deep! And i in yonr
own personal experience you are apt to
! - &C tba FIJI cSSa Of
Your nature, put down into Your soul
the ten commandments which hreveal the
holiness Of God. and that sharp and
slittering coulter will turn up your soul
TO the deepest depths. Ifa man breaches
to YOU that you are only a little out OF
order by reason of sin and that you need
only little tixiug-up, he deceives! You
have suffered an appalling injury by
reason of sin. There are quickpoisons,
| and slow poisons, but the druggist could
give YOU one drop that would kill the
body. And sin is like that drug; SO
virulcnt. so poisonous. so fatal that one
dropis enough to kill the soul.
Deep ploughing for a crop. Deep
ploughlng for a 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 ploughshare
struck them. Conviction turned up a
great many things that were forgotten.
AS farmer ploughlng sometimes turns
up the skeleton Of a man or the anatomy
Of monster long ago buried. so the
ploughshare Of conviction turns up the
chastly skeletons of sin long ago en-
tombed. Biologists never brought up
from the depths Of the mountain nigh
tier ichthyosaurus or megatherium.
But what means all this crooked
plonghing. 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 count
ed. They get convicted, but not con-
verted. What is the reason? | remem-
Der that on the farm we set a standard
with a red flag at the other end OF the
field. We kept our eye on that. We
aimed ut that We ploushed up to that.
Losing sight Of that we made q crooked
furrow. Keeping our eyes on that we
made straight furrow. Now in this
matter ofconviction we must have some
standard to guide us. 1t is red stand
ard that God has set at the other end OF
the field. 1t is the cross. Keeping your
eve on that you will make straight
furrow. Losing sight Of it you will
make crooked furrow. Plough up TO
the cross. Aim not at either end OF the
horizontal piece Of the cross but at the
upright piece. at the centre oft. the
heart of the Son Of God who bore your
sins and made satisfaction. Crying and
weeping will not bring you through.
Him hath God exalted to be Prince
and Saviour to give repentance" Oh!
plough up to the cross!
Again. remark in grace as in the
field there must be sowing. In the
autumnal weather you find the farmer
going across the field at stride ofabout
twenty-three inches. and at every stride
he puts his hand into the sack OF grain
and he sprickles the seed corn over the
field. It looks silly to a man who does
not know what he is doing. He is doing
very important work. He is scatter
ing the winter grain, and though the
snow may come, the next year there
will be great crop. Now, that is what
we are doing when we are preaching the
Gospel-we are scattering the seed. 1t
is the foolishncss Of preaching, but it is
the winter grain; and though the snow
OF worldiness may come down upon it,
it will Weld after Il while glorious har-
vest. Let us be sure we sow the right
kind of seed. Sow mullen stalk and
mullen stalk will come up. Sow Canada
thristles and Canada thistles will come
up. Sow wheat and wheat will come up.
Let us distinguish between truth and