The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1890-08-29
ushercd in with mirth and music.

| eohSAS' 80 WYNN III anu thuolCs uC
clusters of the vine were put in TO the
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 Him
self, wounded until covered wish the
blood OF crucifiXion, made use OF This
allusion when the question was asked (:
Wherefore art thou red in thine ap-
parel and thy garments like one who
treadeth the wine-vat" He responded {:
Il have trodden the wnepress alone"
In all ages there has been great honor
paid to agriculture. Seventh. eighths of
the people i'm every country are disciples
OF the plow. a government Is strong in
proportion as it is supported by an athle-
tic and Industrious yeomanry. So long
as before the fall of Carthage, Strabo
wrote twenty-eight books OIL agriculture;
ject-"The Weeks and Days." Cato
was prouder of his work on husbandry
than of all his military conquests. But
L must not be tempted into discussion
of agricultural cOnquests. Standing
amid the harvests and orchards and vine
yards of the Bible. and standing amid
the harvcsts and orchards and vineyards
OF our own country--I want to run out
the analogy between the production of
crops and the growth of grace in the
soul-all these sacred writers making
use of that analogy.
In the first place remark, in grace as
in the fields there must be plow. That
which heologians call conviction is only
the piowshare turning up the sips that
have been rooted and matted in the soul.
A farmer said to his indolent son |:
''There are hundred dollars buried
deep in that field" The son went to
work and plowcd the field from fence to
fence, and he plowed it very deep, and
then complained that he had not found
the money; but when the crop had been
gathered and sold for hundred dollars
more than any previous year, then the
young man took the hint as to what his
father meant when lie said there were a
hundred dollars buried down in that
field. Deep plowing for crop. Deep
plowing for soul. He who makes
light of sin will never amount to any
thing in the church or in the world. If
n man speaks of sin as though it were
an inaccuracy or q mistake, instead of
the loathsome, abominable, consuming,
and damning thing that God hates, that
man will never yield harvest of useful
ness.
When 1 was a boy plowed field
with team of spirited horses. plowed
ed over sdnit or tffg soif ~lcibae J.iinss.
it., but did not jerk back the plow with
no GtsssiHg GsH. clevises thaaHepht htj j. ataRaaff ataRaaf
came along and said: 'Why, this will
never do; this isn't plowed deep enough;
there you have missed this and you have
missed that" And he plowed it over
again. The difficulty with great many
people is that they are only scratched
with conviction when the subsoil plow
OF Gods truth ought to be put in up to
the beam.
My word is to all Sabbath-school
teachers, to all parents, to all Christian
workers-plow deep! And IL in yonr
own personal experience you are apt to
take lcnient view of the sinful side of
your nature, put down into your soul
the ten commandments which reveal the
eholfness of God, and that sharp and
sslittering coulter will turn up your soul
10, the deepest depths. If a man breaches
,toSyou that you are only little out of
sgEAer by reason of sin and that you need
only little fixing-up, he deceives You
leA1e sntfarod an appalling 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
virulcnt. so poisonous. so fatal that one
drop is enough to kill the soul.
Deep plOughing for a crop. Deep
ploughlng for soul. Broken heart or
no religion. Broken soul or no harvest.
Why was 1t that David aud the jailer
and the publican and Paul made such
ado about their sins Had they lost
their senses? No. The ploughshare
struck them. Conviction turned up a
great many things that were forgotten.
AS farmer ploughlng sometimes turns
up the skeleton of man or the anatomy
of monster long ago buried. so the
ploughshare of conviction turns up the
CHASTITY skeletons of sin long ago en-
tombed. Biologists never brought up
from the depths of the mountain NIGH
tier ichthyosaurus nr megatherium.
But what means all this crooked
plonghing, these crooked furrows, the
repentance that ends In nothing? Men
Stooik oNOt oiios uue SSO ho uCJlCIs
They weep, but their tears are not count
ed. They get convicted, but not con-
verted. What is the reason? l remem-
Der that on the farm VIC set a standard
with red flag at the other end of the
field. We kept our eye on that. We
aimed at that. We ploughed up to that.
Losing sight Of that VIC made crooked
furrOw. Keeping our eyes on that we
made straight furrow. Now in this
matter of conviction we must have some
standard to guide us. 1t is red stand
ard that God has set at the other end of
the field. 1t is the cross. Keeping your
eye on that you will make a straight
furrow. Losing sight of it you will
make a crooked furrow. Plough up TO
the cross. Aim not at either end of the
horizontal piece Of the cross but at the
upright piece. at the centre oft. the
heart of the Son of God who bore your
sins and made satisfaction. Crying and
weeping will not bring you through.
Him hath God exalted to be Prince
and Saviour to give repentance" Oh!
plough up to the cross
Again, / remark in grace as i'm the