The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1890-08-23

D0 llo1LhA VI AAAec :
He may think himself very independent,
but some time in his life or in the hour
of his death he will find that the Lord
Almighty has a hook in his nose.
This was the rule in regard to the Gull
tiyation of the ground: Thou shalt not
pillow with an OK and an ass together"
illustrating the folly Of ever putting in
telligent and useful and pliable mon in
association with the stubborn and I'M
manageable. The vast majority Of
troubles in the churches and in roforma-
tory institutions comes from tho disre-
gard Of this command Of the Lord:
Thou shalt not pillow with an OK and an
ass together"
There we're large amounts Of property
invested in cattle. The Moabites 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 Ave men would get into the
press and trample out the juice from tho
grape until their garments were satu'
rated with the wine and had become the
emblems Of slaughter. Christ Himsolf,
wounded until covered with the blood
of crucifixion, made use Of this all usion
when the question was asked: "Where'
fore art thou red in thine apparel and
thy garments like n who trcadeth the
wine vat?" He responded: II have
trodden the wine press alone"
In all ages there has been greathonoI
Ia " .i,lra Snunn-ninhthu M
the people in every country arc disciples
Of the pillow. A government Is strong In
proportion as 1t is supported by an b
letic and industrious yeomanry, So
long ago as before the fall of Carthage,
Strabo wrote twenty-eight books on ag-
riculture. Hesoid wrote a poem on the
same s~ubjeot-''The Weeks and Days"
Cato was prouder Of his work on hus-
bandry than of all his military o
quests.
In the first place, Iremark. in grace as
In the fields, there must be a pillow.
That which theologians call conviction
Is only the plowshare turning up the
sins that have been rooted and matted
in the soul. A farmer said to his indo-
lent on: There are a hundred dollars
buried deep in that field" The son
went to work and plowed the field from
fence to fence. and he plowed 1t very
deep. and then complained that he had
not found tho money; but when the crop
had been gathered and sold for 800
more than any previous year., h Q the
young man took the hint as to what his
father meant when he said there were
800 buried down in that field. Deep
blowing for a 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 O man speaks Of sin
as though 1t were an inac"uracy or a
mistake. instead Of the loathsome,
abominable, consuming and damning
thing that God hates, hat man will
never yield a harvest Of usefulness.
My word Is to all Sabbath school
teachers, to all parents, to all Christian
workers-Plow deep! And II in your
W personal experience you are apt to
take a lenient view Of the sinful side Of
your nature, put down into your soul
the ten commandments, which reveal
the holiness of God, and hat sharp and
g%littering coulter will turn up your soul
to the deepest depths. II man preach
es to you that you are only a little out
Of order by reason Of sin and that you
need only a little fixing up, he deceives.
Deep blowing for a crop Deep plow-
ing for a soul. Broken heart or no re-
ligion. Broken soul or no harvest.
Why was 1t hat David and the jailer
and the publican and Paul made such
ado about their sins? Had they lost
their senses? No. The p~lowshares
struck them. Conviction turned up a
great many things that were forgotten.
But what means all this crooked plow-
ing, these crooked burrows, the repent
ance hat amounts to nothing2 Men
groan over their sins, but get no better.
They weep. but their tears are not
counted. They get convicted, but not
converted. What is the reason? I re-
member that on the farm we set a
standard with q red flag at the other
end Of the field. We kept our eve on
that We aimed at that We plowed
up to that Loosing sight Of that we
made a crooked furrow. Now in this
matter Of conviction we must have some
standard to guide us. 1t is q red stand
ard that God has set at the other end OF
the field. II is the cross. Keeping your
eye on that you will mako q straight
furrow. Losing sight of it you will
make q crooked furrow. Plow up to the
cross.
Again, / remark, in grace, as In the
field. there must be a sowing. In the
autumnal weather you find the farmer
going across the field at a stride of
about twenty-three inches and at every
stride he puts his hand into the sack of
grain and he sprlnkles the seed corn
w the field. 1t looks silly to q man
who does not know what no is doing.
He is doing a very important work. He
is scattering the winter grain, and
though the now may come. the next
year there will be a great crop.
Now, hat is what we are doing when
we are preaching the Gospel-we are
scattering the seed. 1t is the foolish
ness Of preaching, but 1t Is the winter
grain; and though the snow Of worldli-
ness may come down upon 1t. 1t will
yield after awhile glorious harvest Let
us be sure we 10 the right kind of
seed. Sow mullen stalk and mullen
stalk will come up. Sow Canada this
ties and Canada thistles will come up.
Sow wheat and wheat will come up.
Let us distinguish between truth and
error.
The largest denomination in this
country Is the denomination OF Moth
ingarians. Their religion is a system
OF negations. You say to one Of them:
"What do you believer" swell, l don't
believe in infant baptism" what do
you believer" well, / don't believe
in the perseverance Of the saints"
"Woll, now. tell me what you do be-
liove?" well, 1 don't believe in tho
eternal punishment Of the wicked" So
their religion is a row of ciphers. Be-
lieve something and teach 1t; or, to re-
sumo the figure of my text scatter
abroad the right kind OF seed.
A minister in Now York preached a
sermon calculated to set the denomina-
lions OF Christian guarreling. lie was
sowing nettles. A minister in BOSTON
advertised that no would preach a SER
mon on the superiority Of transcendent-
al and organized forces to u~ntransccn-
dental and unorganized forces. What
was he sowing? The Lord Jesus Christ
nineteen centuries ago planted tho d.
vino seed Of doctrine. 1t sprang up.
On one side Of the stalk arc all the
Of Christendom. On the other
side of the stalk are all the FREQ govern
ments OF tho earth, and on tho top there
shall be q Towering millennium after
awhile. All from the gospel seed OF
doctrine. Every word that a parent or
Sabbath school teacher, or city mission
airy, or other Christian worker speaks
Christ m up. Yea, It up
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