Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1890-08-29
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIvINE's SUN.
DAY SERMON.
Subject: EARNING Gospel Type.S
preached Before the American
Farmers Eneampment at
Mount Gretna, PENN

Ny boyhood passed on a farm and my father |
/ farmer, your style OF life is familiar to me,
One of my earliest recollections Is that Of my |
'ather coming in from the hot harvest field |
the perspiration streaming from |
bis forehead and chin, ar. fainting on the |
ioorxill, and my mother resuscitating him,
until seeing the alarm Of the household he
said: Don't be frightened. l got little
tired and the sun was hot, but | am all right
now" And l remember mother seated al
the table, often saying, "Well. am too tired
TO eat 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 farmer, giving fattery where they
ought TO give sympathy. Independent OF
what! No class Of people in this country have
II harder than farmers. Independent OF
what' OF the curculio that stings the peach
treest of the rust in the wheatt OF the long
rain with the rye DOWN. Independent Of the
grasshopperi of the locust, OF the army worml
of the potato bugf Independent OF the
drought that bun Is up the harveSt1 Indepeif
dent Of the COW with the hollow horni or the
sheep with the foot roty or the pet horse with
q nail in his hooft independent Of the cold
that freezes out the winters graini Inde
pendent Of the snowbank out OF which h,
must shovel himself Independent Of tn,
cold weather when he stands threshing hii
numbed fingers around his body to keep
them from being frostedi Independent Of
the frozen ears and the frozen feeti Inde
pendent Of whati Fancy farmers who have
made their fortunes in the city and 60 out
into the country to build houses with all ths
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 theii
families and educate their children and pay
their taxes and meet their interest on mort
gagged farms such men find n terrific strug
gle. And my hope Is that this great Ma.
donal Farmers Encampment may do some
thing toward lifting the burdens Of the az
rculturist Yes we were nearly all OF VI
born in the country. We dropped corn 10
the hill. and went on Saturday to the mill,
tying the grist in the centre OF the sack &C
that the contents on either side OF the horst
balanced each other, and drove the cattl,
afield, our hare feet wet with the dew, and
rode the horses with the halter TO the brook
until We Yell of, and hunted the NOW fol
nests until the featbered occupants went
cackling away. So we all understand rustic
illusions. The Bible is full Of Them. IL
Christs sermon on the mount you see til,
full blown lilies and the glossy back OF tn,
crows wips as 1t flies over Mount Olivet
David ant John, Paul and Isaiah find il
country life a source of frequent illustration,
while Christ takes the responsibility Of CALI
ing God farmer. declaring, My Father b
the husbandman."
Noah was the first farmer. We say moth
Ing about Cain, the tiller Of the soil Adam
was gardener on a large scale, but TO Noah
- ali ~ Ako LA
was an agriculturist not culturing ter
acre lot for in my text you find him plow'
Ing with twelve yoke Of oxen before him, ant
be with the twelfth. In Bible times the land
was so plenty and the inhabitants so few
that Noah was right when ho gave to every
inhabitant a certain portion OF land; tha
land, If cultured, ever after to be his owl
possession.
They were not small crops raised in thos
times, for though the arts were rude th
plow turned up very rich soil, and barley
and cotton, and fax, and all kinds OF grail
came up at the call of the harvesters Plin!
tells of one stalk of grain that had on IL be
tween three and four hundred ears. Th
rivers and the brooks through artiticia
channels, were brought down to the roots O
the corn, and TO this habit Of turning rive
wherever 1t was wanted Solomon refers whe
he says: 1.-THE Kings heart Is in the hand O
the Lord, and He turneth it as the rivers Q
water are turned, whithersoever He will"
The wild beasts were caught and then
hook was put into their nose, and then the
we're led over the field, and TO that God re
fers when He says to wicked Senacherit
~ will put hook in thy nose and | vii
bring thee back by the way which tho
camest And God has q hook In ever
mans nose, whether it be Nebuchadnezza
or Ahab or Herod. He may think himse
very independent, but some time In hi
life or In the hour Of bis death he will fin
that the Lord Almighty has hook in hi
nose.
This was the rule in regard to the cultur
Of the ground. Thou shalt not plow with a
OF and an ass together" illustrating the foil
of ever putting intelligent and useful an
piiable men in association with the stubbor
and the unmanageable. The vast majorlt
of trouble in the churches and In reforms
tory institutions comes from the disregard (
this command of the Lord, Thou shalt nj
plow with an OK and an ass together"
There were large amounts Of property II
vested in cattle The Moabites paid 100, 0t
sheep as an annual tax. Job had 1000 shee
5000 camels, 500 yoke Of oxen. The time
vintage was ushered in with mirth and mdsi
The clusters Of the vine were put into Il
wine press, and then five men would get in
grape until their garments were saturat,
with the wine and had become the emblem
of slaughter. Christ Himself, wounded uni
covered with the blood Of crucifxion, ma
use of this allusion when the question W
asked: "Wherefore art Thou red In Thine a
parel and Thy garments like one who trea
eth the wine vatr' He responded: II ha'
tIodden the wine press alone"
In all ages there has been great honor pa
to agriculture. Seven-eighths Of the peop
In every country are disciples OF the pow
= government Is strong In proportion as 1t
; supported by an athletic and industrio
yeomanry. So long ago as before the fall
Carthage Strabo wrote twenty-eight boo
on agriculture; Hesiod wrote poem on d
same subiect-"The Weeks and Days" Ca
was prouder of his work on husbandry tn,
of all his military conquests. ButI must n
be tempted into q discussion Of agricultur
! conquests Standing amid the harvests q,
orchards and vineyards of the Bible, al
standing amid the harvests and orchards al
, vineyards Of our own country-l want 10 r,
out the analogy between the production
crops and the growth Of grace In the soul
, all these sacred writers making use Of th
analogy.
Z In the first place remark, In grace as
:, the fields, there must be plow. That whi
theologians call conviction is only the plo'
share turning up the sins that have be
rooted and matted In the soil A farm
4 said TO his indolent son, There are hu
dred dollars buried deep in that field" I
= son went to work and plowed the field frc
5 fence to fence, and he plowed it very de
/, and then complained that he had not fou
i the money, but when the crop had be
I gathered and sold for hundred dollars me
), than any previous year, then the young m
u took the hint as to what his father mea
' when he said there were hundred dollr
buried down In that field. Deep plowing
a crop. Deep plowing for soul. He W
a makes light OF sin will never amount to ar
thing In the church or In the world. II
u man speaks of sin as though II were an In
curacy OF q mistake, instead Of the loai
anna aboaninable consuming and damni