Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1890-08-29
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUN.
DAY SERMON.
Subject: alarming q Gospel Type"
preached Before the American
Farmers Encampment at
Mount Gretna, Penny

TEXT: Elisha, the SON or ShdyhQC, tChO
was plowing NTH tUetue yoke Of oxen be-
xix, 10.
Farmers Of Americal Accept my saluata-
ton. Our text puts US down into the plow's
furrow where many Of Us have been before.
Ny boyhood passed on farm and my father
farmer, your style of life is familiar to me.
One of my earliest recollectious is that of my
father coming in from the hot harvest field
exhausted, the perspiration streaming from
his forehead and chin, and fainting On the
doorsill, and my mother resuscitating him,
until sceing the alarm OF the household he
said: Don't be frightened. / got a little
tired and tie sun was hot, bat am all right
now" And l remember mother seated at
the table, often saying "Well, am too tired
to eatr' The fact is that do not think the
old folks got thoroughly rested until they lay
down in the graveyard back of SomerviIle to
take the last sleep.
Office seekers 90 through the land and they
stand on political platforms and they tell the
farmers the story about the independent life
of farmer, giving fattery where they
ought to give sympathy. Independent of
it harder than farmers. Independent Of
what? Of the curculio that stings the peach
trees? of the rust in the wheat? of the long
rain with the rye down? Independent OF the
grasshOpper? of the locust? of the army wormS
of the potato bug? Independent of the
dent of the COW with the hollow horn? or the
sheep with the foot rot? or the pet horse with
a nail in his hoof? Independent of the cold
that freezes out the winters grain? indie
pendent of the snowbank out of which he
must shovel himself? Independent of the
cold weather when he stands threshing his
numbed fingers around his body to keep
them from being frosted? Independent Of
the frozen ears and the frozen feet? INDIE
pendent of what? Fancy farmers who have
do haiv %Io oIf
into the country to build houses with all the
modern improvements, and make farming
luxury, may not need any solace; but the
yeomanry who get their living out of the
soil, and who that way have to clothe tt
families and educate their children and pay
their taxes and meet their interest on mort
gagged farms such men linda terrific strug-
gle. And my hope is that this great Ma
tional Farmers Encampment may do some
thing toward lifting the burdens of the ag-
born in the country. We dropped corn in
the hill, and went on Saturday to the mill,
tying the grist in the centre of the sack so
that the contents on either side of the horse
balanced each other, and drove the cattle
afield, our bare feet wet with the dew and
rode the horses with the halter to the brook
until we fell off, and hunted the NOW for
nests until the feathered occupants went
cackling away. So we all understand rustic
illusions. The Bible is full Of them. In
full blown lilies and the glossy back of the
crows wing as it flies over Mount Olivet.
David and John, Paul and Isaiah find in
country life source of frequent illustration,
while Christ takes the responsibility of call
ing God farmer, declaring, MY Father is
the husbandman."
Noah was the first farmer. We say moth
ing about Cain, the tiller of the soil. Adam
was gardener on large scale, but to Noah
was given all the acres Of the earth. Elisha
OF not rt1ltI TON
acre lot; for in my text you find him plow-
ing with twelve yoke Of oxen before him, and
he with the twelfth. In Bible times the land
was so plenty and the inhabitants so few
that Noah was right when he gave to every
mhabitant certain portion OF land; that
land, if cultured, ever after to be his own
possession.
They were not small crops raised in those
times, for though the arts were rude the
pillow turned up very rich soil, and barley.
and cotton, and fax and all kinds of grain
came up at the call Of the harvesters. Pliny
tells of one stalk of grain that had On it be-
tween three and four hundred ears The
rivers and the brooks, through artificial
channels were brought down to the roots of
the corn, and to this habit of turning river
wherever it was wanted Solomon refers when
he says: 1.-The King heart is in the hand of
the Lord, and He turneth it as the rivers of
water are turned, whithersoever He will
The wild beasts were caught and then
hook was put into their nose, and then they
were led over the field, and to that God re-
fers when He says to wicked Senacherib
81 will put hook in thy nose and will
bring thee back by the way which thou
earnest " And God has a hook in every
mans nose. whether it be Nebuchadnezzar
or Ahab or Herod. 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 culture
of the ground Thou shalt not pillow with an
OK and an ass together" illustrating the folly
of ever putting intelligent and useful and
pliable men in association with the stubborn
and the unmanageable. The vast majority
of trouble in the churches and in reforma-
tory institutions comes from the disregard Of
this command of the Lord, Thou shalt not
pillow with an OK and an ass together"
1nefe were large amounts OF property in
vested i'll cattle. The Moabites paid 100 OO(
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 five men would get 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 Himself, wounded until
covered with the blood of crucifixion, made
use of this allusion when the question was
asked: Nv therefore, art Thou red in Thine ap-
parel and Thy garments like one who tread
eth the wine vat" He responded: 81 have
trOdden the wine press alone"
In all ages there has been great honor paid
TO agriculture. Seven-eighths of the people
IN every country are disciples of the pillow. A
government is strong in proportion as it is
supported by an athletic and industrious
Carthage Strabo wrote twenty-eight books
on agriculture: Hesiod wrote q Doem on tho