Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1890-08-28
TALMAGES SERMON.
A MAGNIFICENT DISCOURS f BY
THE GREAT BROOKLYN ID
VINE
Subject: '<Farming a Gospel Type.
preached Before the American
Farmers Encampment at
Mount Gretna, PENN

XIX, ~.
Farmers of Americai Accept my saluata-
ton. Our text puts US down into the plows
furrow, where many of us have been before.
My boyhood passed on farm and my father
a farmer, your style of life is familiar to me
One of my earliest recollections 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 him,
until seeing the alarm of the household he
said: "Don't be frightened. / got a little
tired and the sun was hot, but am all right
now And / remember mother seated at
the table, often saying, well. am too tired
70 eatm The fact is that 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 go through the land and they
stand on political platforms, and they tell the
farmers the story about the independent life
of a farmer, giving fattery where they
ought TO give sympathy. Independent of
WHAT No class of people in this country have
1t harder than farmers. Independent of
what? OF the curculio that stings the peach
treest OF the rust in the wheat of the long
rain with the rye DOWN. Independent of the
grasshoppers OF the locustf of the army wormY
Of the potato bug! Independent of the
drought that burns up the harvest! Indepen-
dent of the COW with the hollow horn2 or the
sheep with the foot rotf or the pet horse with
q nail in his hoofs Independent of the cold
that freezes out the winters grains indie
pendent of the snowbank out of which he
must shovel himselff Independent of the
cold weather when he stands threshing his
numhed fingers around his body to keep
them from being frostedS Independent OF
the frozen ears and the frozen feets indie
pendent of what? Fancy farmers who have
made their fortunes in the city and go out
into the country TO build houses with all the
modern improvements, and make farming
luxury, may not need any solace; hut the
yeomanry who get their living out Of the
soil, and who that way have TO clothe their
families and educate their children and pay
their taxes and meet their interest ON mort
gagged farms such men find a terrific strug-
gle. And my hope is that this great Ma
toDal Farmers Encampment may do some
thing toward lifting the burdens of the ag-
riculIurist. 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 the contents on either side of the horse
balanced each other, and drove the cattle
ateld, our bare 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. So we all understand rustic
illusions. The Bible is full 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 flies over Mount Olivet
David and John, Paul and Isaiah find in
country life a source of frequent illustration,
while Christ takes the responsibility OF cali
ing God farmer, declaring MY Father is
the husbandman.n
Noah was the first farme-. We say moth
ing about Cain, the tiller Of the soil Adam
was gardener on large scale but to Noah
was given all the acres of the earth. Elisha
was an agriculturist, not culturing a ten
acre lot; for in my text you find him plow-
ing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and
he with the twelfth In Bible times the land
was so plenty and the inhabitants so few
that Noah was right when he gave TO every
inhabitant a certain portion of land; that
land, If cultured, ever after to be his own
possession.
They were not small crops raised in those
times, for though the arts were rude the |
pillow 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 il be- /
tween three and four hundred ears. The 4
rivers and the brooks, through artificial /
channels, were brought down to the roots Of I
the corn, and to this habit OF turninga river I
wherever it was wanted Solomon refers when /
be says: 1.-THE Kings heart is in the hand OF |
he Lord, and He turneth 1t as the rivers of |
water are turned, whithersoever He willn
The wild beasts were caught and then a
hook was put into their nose, and then they
we're led over the field, and TO that God re
ers when He says to wicked Senacherib,
Il will put a hook in thy nose and l will
BRING thee back by the way which thou
'amest And God has hook In every
mans nose, whether it be Nebuchadnezzar
IT Ahab or Herod. He may think himself
rery independent but some time in his
life or in the hour of his death he will find
hat the Lord Almighty has hook in his
nose.
This was the rule in regard TO the culture
If the ground, Thou shalt not pillow with an
1x and an ass together" illustrating the folly
0f ever putting intelligent and useful and
pIiable men in association with the stubborn
md the unmanageable. Tie vast majority
Of trouble in the churches and in reforma-
tory institutions comes from the disregard of
This command of the Lord, Thou shalt not
pillow with an OK and an ass together"
There were large amounts of property in
vested in cattle. The Moabites paid 100, 900
sheep as an annual tax. Job had 1000 sheep
1000 camels. 500 yoke Of oxen. The time of
vintage was ushered In with mirth and music.
The clusters of the vine were put into the
the press and trample out the juice from the
grape until their garments were saturated
with the wine and had become the emblems
Of slaughter. Christ Himself wounded until
covered with the blood of crucifixion, made
use of this allusion when the question was
asked: Wherefore art Thou red in Thine APP
paTel and Thy garments like one who tread
eth the wine vatp He responded: ~ have
trodden the wine press alone"
In all ages there has been great honor paid
TO agriculture. Seven-eighths Of the people
N every country are disciples of theplow. A 1
government is strong in proportion as it is
by an athletic and industrious
yeomanry. So long ago as before the fall OF
Carthage Strabo wrote twenty-eight books
On agriculture: Hesiod wrote a poem on the 4
same subject-"The Weeks and Days" Cato 1
was prouder of his work on husbandry than /
Of all his military conquests. But / must not 4
be tempted into discussion of agricultural 4
conquests. Standing amid the harvests and /
orchards and vineyards of the Bible, and 1
standing amid the harvests and orchards ana 4
OF our own country-I want 10 run 1
out the analogy between the production of 1
crops and the growth of grace in the soul I
all these sacred writers making use Of that /
analogy.
In the first place / remark. in grace as in 4
the fields. there must be pillow. That which I
theologians cali conviction is only the plow- I
share turning up the sins that have been 1
rooted and matted in the soil. A farmer |
said to his indolent son, There are a hun
ired dollars hurried deem in that field y The /