Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1890-08-18

other side of the stalk are all the free
governments of the earth, and on the
top there shall be a towering millennium
after awhile All from the gospel seed
of doctrine Every word that a parent,
or Sabbath school teacher, or city mis-
sionary or other Christian worker
speaks for Christ comes up. Yea, il
comes up with compound interest
you having one soul, that one saving
ten. the ten a hundred, the hundred a
| thousand, the thousand ten thousand,
the ten thousand one hundred thou
sand-on. on forever
NARROWING AND REAPING.
Again l remark, in grace as in the
farm there must be a narrowing [ re
fer not to harrow that goes over the
field in order to prepare the ground for
| the seed, but a harrow which goes over
after the seed is sown, lest the birds
pick up the seed, sinking it down into
the earth so that it can take root.
There are new kinds of harrow, but
| the harrow as [ remember it was made
of bars of wood nailed across each other,
| and the under side of each bar was
| furnished with sharp teeth, and when
the horses were hitched to it it went
tearing and leaping across the field,
| driving the seed down into the earth
| until it sprung up in the harvest. Be
reavement, sorrow, persecution are the
| Lords harrOws to sink the gospel
| truth into your heart. There were truths
| that you heard thirtS years ago that have
| not affected you until recently. Some
| great trouble came over you, and the
| truth was narrowed in, and it has come
| up What did God mean in this coun-
try in 1857? For a century there was
the gospel preached, but a great deal
| of it produced no result. Then God
harnessed wild panic to harrow of
| commercial disaster, and that harrow
went down Wall street and up Wall
street, down Third street and up Third
street, down State street and up State
street, until the whole land was torn to
| pieces as it had never been before.
What followed the harrow? A great
awakening in which there were 500, 600
| souls brought into the kingdom of our
Lord. No harrow, no crop.
Again | remark, in grace as in the
| farm there must be reaping. Many
Christians speak OF religion as though
| it were matter of economies or insur
| ance They expect to reap in the next
| world. Oh, no! Now is the time to
reap. Gather up the joy of the Chris
| tian religion this morning, this after
noon, this night. If you have not as
much grace as you would like to have,
| thank God for what you have and pray
| for more You are no worse enslaved
than Joseph, no worse troubled than
was David, no worse scourged than was
Paul Yet amid the rafting of fet-
tiers, and amid the gloom of dun
geons and amid the horror of ship
wreck they triumphed in the grace
of God. The weakest man here
has 500 acres of spiritual joy all
ripe. Why do you not go and reap it,
You have been groaning over your in
firmities for thirty years. Now give
one round shout over your emancipa-
ton. You say you have it SO hard;
you might have it worse. You wonder
why this great cold trouble keeps revolv-
ing through your soul, turning and turn
ing, with a black hand on the crank.
All, that trouble is the grindstone on
which you are to sharpen your sickle.
To the fields! Wake upl Take off
your green spectacles, your blue spec
tacles, your black spectaces. Pull up
the corners of your mouth as far as you
pull them down. TO the fields Reapi
Reap!
A TIME FOR THRESHING.
Again I remark, in grace as in farm
ing there is a time for threshing I tell
you bluntly that is death Just as a
farmer beats the wheat out of the
straw so death beats the soul out of
the body. Every sickness is stroke
of the fail and the sickbed is the
threshing floor. What, say you, is death
to good man only taking the wheat
out of the straw That is all. An aged
man has fallen asleep. Only yesterday
you saw him in the sunny porch play
ing with his grandchildren. Calmly he
received the message to leave this
world. He babe pleasant good-by to
his old friends. The telegraph carries
the tidings, and on swift rail trains the
kindred come, wanting once more to
look on the face of dear old grand
father. Brush back the gray hairs
from his brow; it will never ache again.
Put him away in the slumber of the
tomb. He will not be afraid of that
night. Grandfather was never afraid
of anything. He will rise in the morn
ing of the resurrection Grandfather
was always the first to rise His voice
has already mingled in the doxology of
heaven. Grandfather always did sing
in church Anything CHASTITY in that9
No. The threshing of the wheat out
of the straw. That is all.
The Saviour folds a lamb in his
bosom. The little child filled all the
house with her music, and her toys are
scattered all up and down the stairs
just as she left them. What if the hand
that plucked four-o clocks out of the
meadow is still2 1t will wave the eter-
nal triumph What if the voice that
made music in the home is still? 1t will
sing the eternal hosanna. Put white
rose in one hand, and red rose in the
other hand, and q wreath of orange
blossoms on the brow-the white flower
for the victory, the red flower for the
Saviour's sacrifice, the orange blossoms
for her marriage day. Anything ghast-
ly about that2 Oh, no. The sun went
down and the flower shut. The wheat
threshed out of the straw. ''Dear Lord,
give me Sleep" said dying boy, the
son of one of my elders; Dear Lord,
give me sleep" And he closed his eyes
and awoke in glory. Henry w. Long
fellow, writing a letter of coincidence
to those parents, said: ''Those last
words were beautifully poetic, Dear
Lord, give me Sleep"
Twas not in cruelty, not in wrath
That the reaper came that day;
Twas angel that visited the earth
And took the flower away.
So it may be with us when our work
is all done. ''Dear Lord, give me
sleep"
I have one more thought to present
I have spoken of the blowing, of the
sowing, of the narrowing, of the reap
ing, of the threshing. [ must now
e,.ooI~ q y,ooYnaot IF tho cra,.,,or;,oo