Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1890-08-23
FARMING 4 GOSPEL TYPE
DR.. Talmage's Sermon at the Dedica-
ton at Mount Gretna, Penn.
Plough Deep, Aim for the Cross, Sow the
Right Seed and tho Crop VIII be
Worth Reaping.

Worth Reaping.
TEXT: Elisha, the son of shayhat ,rho
Wds piotcing ,cith tiselpe yoke of oren be-
fore him, and he Nth Tie t.ceifth.-I Kings,
XIX, 49,
Farmers of America Accept my saluata-
ton. Our text puts US down into the plow's
furrow, where many of us have been before.
My boyhood passed on a farm and my father
farmer, your style of life is familiar to me
One Of my earliest reeollections 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
doorsil and my mother resusctating him,
until seeing the alarm of the household he
said: Don't be frightened. l got a little
tired and the sun was hot, but | am all right
now.n And remember mother seated at
the table, often saying "Well, am too tired
to eatm Tho 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 20 through the land and they
stand on political platforms, and they tell the
fai ricTs the story about the independent life
of a farmer, giving flattery 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 eurculio that stings the peach
trees? of the rust in the wheat? of the long
rain with the rye DOWN Independent of the
grasshopper2 OF the locust? OF the army worm?
of the potato bug? Independent of the
drought that burns up the harvest? mdepen-
dent of the cow with the hollow horn? or the
sheep with the foot rot? or the pet horse with
"a nail in his hoof? Independent of the cold
that freezes out the winters grain? hide
pendent of the snowbank out of which he
shovel himSplfS lnda.aanfaDf ,f fha
cold weather when he stands threshing his
numbed fingers around his body to keep
them from being frosted? Independent of
the frozen ears and the frozen feet? INDIE
pendent of what? Fancy farmers who have
made their fortunes in the city and 60 out
into the country to build houses with ali 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 elothe their
families and educate their children and pay
their taxes and meet their interest on mort
gagged farms such men find terrific strug-
gle. And my hope is that this great Ma
tional Farmers Encampment may do some
thing toward lifting the burdens of the az
reulturist. 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 erist in the centre of the sack SO
that the contents on either side of the horse
balanced each other, and drove the cattle
afield, our hare feet wet with the dew and
rode the horses with the halter to the brook
until re fell off, and hunted the NOW for
nests until the feathered occupants went
cacklipg away. So we all understand rustic
illusions The Bible is full of them. In
Cbrists sermon on the mount you see the
full blown lilies and the glossy back of the
i crows wing as it flies over Mount Olivet.
David and John, Paul and Isaiah find in
81
while Christ takes the responsibility of cali
ing God farmer, declaring, My Father is
the husbandman"
Noah was the first farmer. 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 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 certain portion of land; that
land if cultured, ever after to be his own
possession.
They were not small crops raised in those
zines, for though the arts were rude the
pillow turned up v~ry rich soil, and barley
and cotton, and fax, and all kinds of grain
came up at the call of the haryesters. Pliny
tells of one stalk of grain that had on it be-
tween three 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
wherever it was wanted Solomon refers when
he says: "The Kings heart is in the hand of
the Lord, and He turneth it as the rivers of
water are turned whithersoever He will"
The wild beasts were caught, and then
hook was put into their nose, and then they
were led over the field, and to that God re-
L.
~ will put hook in thy nose and [ will
bring thee back by the way which thou
earnest And God has hook in every
mans nose, whether it be Nebuchadnezzar
or Ahab or IIerod. He may think himself
very independent, but some time in his
life or in The hour of bis death he will find
that the Lord Almighty has a hook in his
nose.
This was The rule in regard to the culture
OF the ground, ''rhou shalt not pillow with an
OK and an ass together" illustrating the folly
of ever putting Intelligent and useful anil
piiablc men i'll association with tine stubborn
and the uninanageable. The 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
plow with an OK and an ass together"
There were large amounts of property in.
vested in cattle. The Moabtes paid 100 900
sheep as an annual tax. Job had 1000 Sheep
5000 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
wine press, and then five men would get into
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 crucfixiou, made
use of this allusion when the question was
asked: Wherefore art Thou red in Thine ap-
parel and Thy garments like one who tread
eth the wine vatP He responded: II have
trodden the wine press alone"
In all ages there has been great honor paid
to agriculture. Seven-eighths of the people
in every country are disciples of the plow. A
government is strong in proportion as it is
supported by an athletic and industrious
yeomanry. SO long ago as before the falIof
Carthage Strabo wrote twenty-eight books
on agriculture; Uesiod wrote poem on the
same subiect-"The Weeks and Days" Cato
was rrouler of his work on husbandry than
ola his military cOnquests. But must not
be tempted into discussion of agricultural
conquestS. Standing amid the harvests and
orchards and vineyards of the Bible, and
standing amid the harvests and orchards and
vineyards of our own country-I want 10 run
out the analogy between the production of
crops AMI the growth of grace in the soul
all these sacred writers making use of that
analogy.
t In the first place remark, in grace as in
the fields, there must be plow That which
I theolosiaus call conviction is only the ploev-
share turning up the sins that have been
rooted and matted in the soil A farneS
said to his indolent son, There are a hum
dred dollars buried deep in that field" The
son went to work and plowed the field from
+ fence 10 fence, and he plowed it very deep
md then complained that he had not found
/ the money, but when the crop had been
/ gathered and sold for a hun ired 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
crop. Deep blowing for a soul He who
makes light of sin will never amount TO any
thing in the church or in the world II
{ man speaks of sin as though it were an mac
curacy or a mistake, instead of the loath-
SOM, abominable. consuming and damning
Thing that God hates, that man will never
/ yield harvest of usefulness.
/ When l was a boy pillow ID field with n
/ team of spirited horses L plowed it very
/ quickly. Once in a while passed over some
/ ot the sod without turning it, but | did not
( Jerk back the plow with its rafting clevises
/ thought it made no difference After a
while my father came along and said;
/ why, this will never do; this isn't plowed
teep enough; there you have missed this and
4 Fou have missed that And he plowed il
over again. The difficulty with a great
hany people Is that they are only scratched
with conviction when the subsoil pillow of
/ 6ods truth ought TO be put in up to the
BEAM
Ny word is to all Slbbath-school teachers
% all parents to all Christian workers.
plow deep! pillow deepl
ANA 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 len commandments which