The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-09-03

| sinful side OF your nature put down INTO
| your soul the ten commandments which
and glittering coulter will turn up Your
soul to the deepest depths. If a man
breaches 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 You
have suffered 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 virulent, SO poisonous, so
fatal that one drop is enough to kill the soul.
Deep plowing for q crop. Deep blowing
for soul. Broken heart or no religion:
Broken soul OF no harvest. Why was it
that David and the jailer and the publican
and Paul made such ado about their sinss
Had they LOST their senssss No. The plow-
share struck them. Conviction turned up
great many things that were forgotten. As
farmer plowing sometimes turns up the
skeleton of man or the anatomy Of mon
ster long ago buried, so the plowshare Of
conviction turns up the ghastly skeletons Of
ain long ago intombed. Biologists never
brought up from the depths of the mountain
mightier ichthyosaurus or megatherium.
But what means all this crooked plowing,
these crooked burrows the repentance that
amounts to nothing, the repentance that ends
get no better. They weep, but their tears
are not counted. They get convicted, but
not converted. What is the reasonS re-
member that on the farm we set 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 q straight furrow.
Now in this matter Of conviction we must
have some standard to guide U.s. 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 straight furrow.
Losing sight Of it you will make a crooked
furrow. Plow up to the cross. Aim not at
either end Of the horizontal piece Of the cross
but at the upright piece, at the centre Of it
the heart Of the Son Of God, who bore your
sins aud made satisfaction. Crying and
weeping will not bring You through. Him
hath Goo exalted to be O Prince and a Saviour
to give repentance" Oh, plow up to the
crossl
Again Iremarl, In grace as In the field
there must ba sowing. In the autumn
weather you find the farmer going across
the field at O stride of about twenty three
inches, and at every stride he puts his hand
uto the sack of grain and he sprinkles thu
seed corn over the field. It 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
O 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 worldiness may
come upon it it will yield after a while
glorious harvest. Let US be sure we SOW the
right kind Of seed. Sow mullen stalk and
mullen stalk will come up. Sow Canada
thistles and Canada thistles will come up
Sow wheat and wheat will come up. Let US
distinguish between truth and error. Let US
know the difference between wheat and bel
lebore, oats and henbane.
The largest Denomination in this country
is the denomination of Nothingarians. Their
religion is system Of negations You say
to one of them: "What do you believe?
"Well, I don't believe in infant baptism"
"What do you believer well, l don't be-
"WelI, now tell mewhat you do believer
SWELL, I don't believe 10 the e'eternal punish
nent Of the wicked" So their religion is o
row of cyphers. Believe something and
teach it; or, to resume tie figure Of my text
scatter abroad the right kind OF seed.
A minister in New YORK; preached q SER
mon calculated to set the denominations Of
Christians quarreling. He was sowing net
ties. A minister in Bostor' advertised that
he would preach sermon or'the superiority
Of tranScendental and organized forces soun-
transcendental and unorgenized forces.
What was he sowing? The Lord Jesus CETist
seed Of doctrine. Itsprang up, Onone side
of the stalk are all the churches CT Christen-
dom. On the other side Of the stalk are all
she free Governments Of the EARTH. and on
the top there shall be Towering millep-
Rium after while. All from the Gospel seed
Of doctrine. Every word that a, parent or
Sabbatd-school teacher, or city missionary,
OF othe5 Christian worker speaks eor Christ
comes up. Yea, it comes up with compound
icteres-you saving one soul that one saw
ing ten, the ten hundred, the hundred g.
thousand, the thousand ten thousand, the teni
thousand one hundred thousand-er, on for-
ever
Again I remark, in grace as in the farm,
there must be q narrowing, refer now not
to q. harrow that goes over the field in order
toprepare the ground for the seed, but e bar
row which goes over after the seed Is sown,
lest the birds pick up the seed, sinking it down
into the earth 30 that it can take root. There
are new kinds Of harrow, but the karrowas
I!remenber it was mede Of bars Of. wood
nailed aeross each other, and the under side
OF; 6acn DaT was "lUu Ccctu,
and when the horses were hitched toitit went
tearing aad leaping across the field 'driving:
the seed down into the earth until it sprung.
,pnin. the harvest. Bereavement, sorrow.
persecution are the Lords harrows-to sink.
The Gospel truth into your heart. There were
truths thst you heard thirty years ago that
haFenot affected you until recently. Some
great trouble came over you, and the truth.
Tas, narrowed in, and it has come Cp What
did. God mean in this country, in 1882 Fora
century tkeDe was the Gospel preached, but
s.preat cSee4 Of it produced no result. Then
SSllharnessed 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 tern to pieces as it never had been j
before. What followed the harrow? Az;
Great awakening in which there were SOC, ,0OD !
seuls brought into the kingdom. Of our Lord.
No harrow, no crop.
Again remark, in grace as: in tae farm J
there must be reaping. Maay Christians :,
speak OF religion as though it were a.;
matter Of econ ,mics or insurance. They:
expect to reep in the next world. Oh, moi,
Now is the time to reap. Gather up the /,
ioy OF tie Christian religion this mornings.
this afternoon, this night. IS you have nGst |
as much grace as you would like TO nave, !
thank God for what you lave, and pray
for more. You arc no worse enslavcd thar' 4
Joseph, no worse troubled than was David.
no worse scourged than was Paul. Vet. !
amid the rafting of fcsters, and ch,ia !
the. gloom OF dungeons, and amid the [
horror OF shipwreck, thay triumphec' in'
the. grace Of God. Tia weakest nar4 !
berehas 500 acres of spiritual Joy all ripe. I
Why do you not so and -eapit? 1or have
been eroaning over yoar inlrmities. fer
ttsrty 4 years. Now give ole round shousover
YOUR emancipation. Yc4s say you havait 50
hard; you might have isTorse. You wonder