The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1890-08-29

not found the money; but when the croI
had been gathered and sold for s10t
more than any previous year, then the
| young man took the hint as to what his
father meant when he said there were
500 buried down in that field. Deer
blowing for crop. Deep blowing for q
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 1t were an inaccuracy or a
mistake, instead of the loathsome,
abominable, consuming and damning
thing that God hates, that man will
never yield harvest Of usefulness.
My word is to all Sabbath school
teachers, to all parents to all Christian
workers-Plow deep! And If in your
own personal experience you are apt to
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
glittering coulter will turn up your soul
to the deepest depths. If a man preach
es to you that you are only little out
OF order by reason Of sin and that you
need only a little fixing up, he deceives.
Deep blowing for crop Deep plow-
ing for soul. Broken heart or no re-
ligion. Broken soul or no harvest.
Why was it that David and the jailer
and the publican and Paul made such
ado about their sins? Had they lost
their senses? No. The plowshares
struck them. Conviction turned up a
great many things that were forgotten.
AS farmer blowing sometimes turns
up the skeleton of man or the anatomy
OF monster long ago buried, so the
plowshare of conviction turns up the
CHASTITY skeletons of sin long ago en-
tombed.
But what means all this crooked plow-
ing, these crooked burrows, the repent
ance that amounts to nothing? 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? / re-
member that on the farm we set a
standard with 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 a 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 straight
furrow. Losing sight of it you will
make crooked furrow. Pillow 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 sprinkles the seed corn
over the field. 1t looks silly to man
who does not know what he is doing
He is doing very important work. He
is scattering the winter grain, and
though the snow may come, the next
year there will be great crop.
Now, that is what we are doing when
we are preaching the Gospel-we are
scattering the seed. 1t is the foolish
ness of preaching, but it is the winter
grain; and though the snow of worldli-
ness may come down upon it. it will
yield after awhile glorious harvest. Let
US be sure we sow 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 'Well. don't
believe in infant baptism" 'What do
you believer" "Well, don't believe
in the perseverance of the saints"
"Well, now. tell me what you do be-
lieve?" ''Wel1, 1 don't believe in the
eternal punishment of the wicked" So
their religion is a row of ciphers. Be-
lieve something and teach it; or, to re-
sumo the figure of my text scatter
abroad the right kind of seed
A minister in New York preached
sermon calculated to set the denomina-
tions of Christian quarreling. He was
sowing nettles A minister in Boston
advertised that he would preach SER
mon on the superiority of transcendent-
al and organized forces to untranscen-
dental and unorganized forces. What
was he sowing? The Lord Jesus Christ
nineteen centuries ago planted the di-
vine seed of doctrine. 1t sprang up
On one side of the stalk are all the
churches of Christendom. On the other
side of the stalk are all the free govern
ments of the earth, and on the top there
shall be Towering millennium after
awhile. All from the gospel seed of
doctrine. Every word that parent, or
Sabbath school teacher, or city mission
airy, or other Christian worker speaks
for Christ comes up Yea, it comes up
with compound interest
Again, remark, in grace, as in the
farm, there must be narrowing. / refer
now not to harrow that goes over the
field in order to prepare the ground for
the seed, but harrow which goes over
after the seed is sown, lest the birds
pick up the seeds, sinking it down into
the earth so that it can take root.
Bereavement, sorrow, persecution,
are the Lords harrows to sink the Cos
pei truth into your heart. There were
truths that you heard thirty years ago,
but 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 |
country in 1857? For century there |
was the Gospel preached, but great
deal of it produced no result. Then
God harnessed wild panic to harrow
of commercial disaster, and that har-
row went down Wall street and up Wall |
cfraat doup Third ctraat and nv Third |