The weekly messenger. [volume] (St. Martinsville [i.e. St. Martinville] La.) 1886-1948, 1890-10-11
REV. DR.. TAlMAGE.
THE BROOKLNN DIMES SUNDAY
SERMON.
subject: Farming Gospel Type.
preached Before the American
Farmers Encampment at
Mount Gretna. Pa.

TEXT: Elisha, the son Of ShdplGt, iche
rds pto,cing ,riM t,reire yoke of oren be.
fore him, and he ,cith the tue!fth.-I Kings
xix, 10.
Farmers Of America! Accept nv saluata-
ton. Our text puts Us down into the plow's
furrow, where many of us have been before.
My boyhood passed on farm and my father
farmer, your style of life is familiar to me,
One of my earliest recollections is that of INV
father coming in from the hot harvest field
exhausted, the perspiration streaming from
bis forehead and chin, and fainting on the
ioorsill, and my mother resuscitating him,
until seeing the alarm of the household he
,aid: Don't be frightened. / got a little
tired and the sun was hot, but | am all right
how.o And remember mother seated at
the table, often saying, "Well. am too tired
10 eatr' The fact is that do not think the
,ld folks got thoroughly rested until they lay
down in the graveyard back Of Somerville tc
take the last sleep.
Office seekers go through the land and they
stand on political platforms, and they tell the
farmers the story about the independent life
If farmer, giving fattery where they
ought to give sympathy. Independent OF
what? No class Of people in this country have
Il 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
rasshopper?of the locust, of the army wormi
II the potato bug? Independent Of the
irought that burns up the harvest Indepen.
aent OF the COW with the hollow horn? or the
sheep with the foot rot' or the pet horse With
nail in his hoof? Independent of the cold
that freezes Out the winters grains indie
pendent Of the Snowbank out of which he
must shovel himself? Independent of the
.old weather when he stands threshing his
aumbed fingers around his body to keen
shem from being frosted, Independent Of
The frozen ears and the frozen feet? indie
pendent Of what? Fancy farmers who have
made their fortunes in the city and 90 out
INTO the country to build houses with all the
modern improvements, and make farming
luxury, may not need any solace; hut the
geomahry who get their living out of the
Soil, and who that way have to clothe their
families and educate their children and pay
their taxes and meet their interest on mort.
gagged farms-such men find a terrific strug
gle And my hope is that this great Ma.
honal Farmers Encampment may do some
thing toward lifting the burdens of the az.
iiculturist. Yes, we were nearly all of Us
born in'the country. We dropped corn 10
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
lfield, our hare feet wet with the dew, and
rode the horses with the halter to the brook
antil We fell off. and hunted the NOW for
nests until the feathered occupants went
:ackling away. So we all understand rustic
illusions. The Bible is full of them. In
Christs sermon on the mount you see the
full blown lilies and the glossy back of the
crows wing as it flies over Mount Olivet
David and John, Paul and Isaiah find ir
country life source Of frequent illustration,
while Christ takes the responsibility OF call.
ing God a farmer. declaring, My Father i:
the busbandman."
Noah was the first farmer. We say moth
Ing about Cain, the tiller of the soil. Adam
was gardener on large scale, but to Moab
was given all the acres Of the earth. Elisha
was an agriculturist, not culturing a ten
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
lnhabitant certain portion of land; that
land, if cultured, ever after to be his OVID
possession.
They were not small crops raised in thos,
times, for though the arts were rude the
plow turned up very rich soil, and barley,
and cotton, and fax, and all kinds of grair
rame up at the call OF the harvesters. Plny
tells of one stalk of grain that had on it be
tween three and four hundred ears. Tn,
rivers and the brooks, through artificial
were brought down to the roots Of
the corn, and to this habit of turning river
wherever it was wanted Solomon refers wher
be says: The Kings 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
we're led over the field, and to that God re-
ers when He says to wicked Senacherib,
4 will put hook in thy nose and 1 will
bring thee back by the way which thou
,amest And God has q hook in every
mans nose, whether it be Nebuchadnezzar
very Independent, but some time in his
ite or in the hour of his death he will find
hat the Lord Almighty has a hook in his
nose
This was the rule in regard TO the culture
IF the ground, Thou shalt not plow with ar
,x and an ass together" illustrating the folly
II ever putting intelligent and useful anG
Diiable men in association with tae stubborn
md the unmanageable The vast majority
II trouble in the churches and in reforma,
.oTy institutions comes from the disregard OF
his command of the Lord, Thou shalt not
,l0v with an OK and an ass together"
inere were iargs amounts u property in.
rested in cattle. The Moabites paid 100, 900
sheep as an annual tax. job had 1000 sheep,
300 camels, 800 yoke Of oxen. The time OF
vintage was ushered in with mfrth and music.
| he clusters of the vine were put into the
vine press, and then five men would get into
he press and tromple out the juice from the
grape until their garments were saturated
With the wine and had become the emblems
'f slaughter. Christ Himself, wounded until
covered with the blood Ct crucifixion, made
Use OF this allasion whea the question was
lsked: "W therefore, art Thou red in Thine ap-
,arel and Thy garments Like one who tread
tn the wine vatw He responded: ~ have
rodden the wine press alone"
In all ages there has been great honor paid
o agriculture. Seven-eghths of the people