The Russellville Democrat., 1890-08-28

1 growth of grace in the soul-all these sacred writers making use of that anal
 ogy.
 In the first place I remark, in grace
 as in the fields there must be blow. 1 That which theologians call conviction | is only tho plow-share turning up the
 sins that have been rooted and matted
 in the soul. A farmer said to his in 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 tho money; but when the crop had been gath cred and sold for Sl00 more than any l previous year, then the young man took tho hint as to what his father meant when he said there were one hun dred dollars buried down in the field. l Deep blowing for crop. Deep blowing for 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 in- accuracy or mistake, instead of the 1 loathsome, abominabIe, consuming and damning thing that God hates. and l that will never yield a harvest of use- l fulness.
 l When I was boy I plowed field
 with team of spirited horses. I plowed it very quickly. Once in awhile 1 passed over some of the sod without
 turning 1t, but did not jerk back the blow with it's rattling cleyises. l 1 thought it made no difference. After | awhile my father came along and said Why, this will never do; this isn't l plowed deep enough, there you have
 missed this and you have missed that :"
 And he plowed it over again. The difii- culty with great many people is that
 they are only scratched with conviction when the subsou blow of Gods truth ought to be put in up to the beam.
 My word is to all Sabbath-school l teachers, to all parents, to all Christian
 workers--plow deepl And if in your own personal experience you are apt to 1 take 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 ! E to the deepest depths. If a man breaches to you that you are only Q lit tie out of order by reason of sin and that you need only little fixing up, he | deceivesl You have suffered an ap- l palling 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, so fatal that one drop is enough to kill tho soul.
 Deep blowing for a crop. Deep blow l ing for soul. Broken heart or no re- I ligion. Broken soul or no harvest. Why
 was it that David and his jailer and tho | publican and Paul made such ado about their sins? Had they lost their senses? No. The plow-share struck them. Con viction turned up great many things | that were forgotten. As a farmer blow ing sometimes turns up the skeleton of man OF the anatomy of monster long ago buried, so the plow-share of convic- ton turns up the ghastly skeletons of | of sin long ago entombed. Geologists never brought up from the depths of the mountain mightier ichthyosaurus or megathcrium.
 But what means all this crooked blow
 ing, these crooked furrows, the repent ance that amounts to nothing, the re- | pentance that ends in nothing? Men l groan over their sins, but they get no
 better. They weep but their tears are not counted. They get convicted, but not converted. What is the reason? l | remember that on the farm we set a standard with 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 crooked furrow. Keeping our eyes on that we made straight fur row. Now in this matter of convic- tion we must have some standard to guide us. It is 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 a straight furrow. Losing sight of it. you will make a crooked furrow. Flow up to the cross. Aim not at ei ther end of the horizon tai piece of the cross, but at the upright piece. at the center Of it, the heart of the Son of | God, who bore your sins and made satis- | faction. Crying and weeping will not bring you through. Him hath God exalted to be a Prince and Saviour to give repentance" O. blow up to the crossl
 | Again, I remark inthe grace as in the | field there must be sowing. In the autumnal weather you find the farmer going across the field at stride of about | twenty-six inches and at every stride he puts his hand into the sack of grain, and he sprinkles the seed-corn over the field. It looks silly to man who does not know what he is doing He is doing a very important work. He is scat- tering the winter grain, and though the snow may come, the next year there will be a great crop. Now, that is what we arc doing when VIC 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 worldh- ness may come down upon it, it will yield after awhile glorious harvest.
 Let us be sure we SOW the right kind 
 stalk will come mp. Sow Canada thistles and Canada missiles will come up. Sow wheat and wheat will come up.
 The largest denomination in this country is the denomination of Noth- ingarians. Their religion is a system of negations. You say to one of them: What do you believer" Well, I don't believe in infant baptism" "What do you beheVe2" We'll don't believe in the perseverance of the saints?" Well, now tell ine what you do believe" Well, don't believe in the eternal punishment of the wicked" So their religion is row of ciphers. Believe some thing and teach it; or, to resume the figure of my text, scatter abroad the right kind of seed.
 A minister in New York preached a sermon calculated to set the denomina- tIons of Christians quarreling. He was sowing nettles. A minister in Boston