The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1890-10-23

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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 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 be-
tween wheat and hellebore, oats and
henbane.
The largest denomination in this
country is the denomination of Moth
ingarians. Their religion is system
of negatiORs. You say to one of them:
what do you believer" We'll, don't
believe in infant baptism" ''What do
you believer" Well, l don't believe in
the perseverance of the saints?' "Well,
now tell me what you do believe. :"
We'll, don't believe in the eternal
punishment of the wicked" So their
religion is row of ciphers. Believe
something and teach it; or, to resume
the figure of my text scatter abroad
the right kind of seed.
Again, remark, in grace as in the
farm there must be narrowing. l re-
fer now not to a 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. There are new kinds of har-
row, but the harrow, as 1 re-
member, it was made of bars of
wood nailed across each other,
and the underside of each bar was
furnished with sharp teeth, and when
the horses were hitched to it it went
tearing and leaping across the field,
driving the seed down into the earth
until it sprang up in the harvest. Be-
reaVement, sorrow, persecution are the
Lords harrows to sink the Gospel truth
into your heart. There were truths
thatyou heard thirty years ago that have
not troubled 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 coun-
try 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 harrow
went down Wall street. down Third
street and up Third street, down State
| nv OF
whole land was torn to pieces as it never
had been before. What followed the
harrow? A great awakening, in which
there were five hundred thousand souls
brought into the kingdom of our Lord.
No harrow, no crop.
Again, | remark, in grace as in farm
ing there is time for thrashing.
tell you bluntly that is death. just as
a farmer beats the wheat out of the
body. Every sickness is a stroke of the
fax, and the sick-bed is the thrashing-
floor What, say you, is death to a
good man only taking the wheat out
of the straw? That is all. An
aged man has fallen asleep. Only yes
terday you saw him in the sunny porch
playing with his grandchildren. Calm
ly he received the message to leave
this world. He babe a pleasant good
bye to his old friends. The telegraph
carries the tidings, and on swift rail
trains the kindred come, wanting once
more to look on the face of dear
old grandfather. Brush back the gray
hairs from his brow; it will never
ache again. Put him away in the slum-
Der of the tomb. He will not be afraid
of that night Grandfather was never
afraid OF any thing. He will rise in
the morning of the resurrection.
Grandfather was always the first to
rise. His voice has already mingled in
the doxology of Heaven. Grandfather
always did sing in church. ANY thing
CHASTITY in that? No. The threshing
of the wheat out of the straw. That is
all
Where is the garner? Need I tell
you? Oh, no. So many have gone out
from your own circles-yea, from your
own family-that you have had your
eyes on that garner for many year.
What hard time some of them had!
In Gethsemanes of suffering they sweat
great drops of blood. They took the
''cup of trembling" and they put it to
their hot lips and they cried: "If
it be possible, let this cup pass
from me-" With tongues of burn
ing agony they cried: 80 Lord,
deliver my soulr' But they got over
it. They all got over it. Garnered!
Their tears wiped away; their battles
all ended; their burdens lifted. Gar
nered? The Lord of the harvest will
not allow those sheaves to perish in
the equinox. Garnercd Some of us
remember, on the farm, that the
sheaves were put on the top of the
rack, which surmounted the wagon,
and these sheaves were piled higher
and higher, and after awhile the
| horses started for the barn; and
these sheaves swayed to and fro
in the wind, and the old wagon
creaked, and the horses made a
struggle, and pulled SO hard the harness
came up in loops of leather on their
back, and when the front wheel struck
the elevated floor of the barn, it seemed
| as if tho load would Uo no 70 rtbap ,r4iI