The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1890-09-11

breaches to you that you are only little
out of order by reason of sin and that you
need only 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 viruleut, so poisonous, so
fatal that one drop is enough to kill the soul.
Deep plowing for 4 crop. Deep blowing
for soul. Broken heart OF no religion.
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 plow-
share struck them. Conviction turned up o
great many things that were forgotten. AS
Il farmer blowing sometimes turns up the
skeleton Of man or the anatomy of mon-
ster long ago buried. so tho piowshare Of
conviction turns W the ghastly skeletons OF
sin long ago intombel. Biologists never
brought up from the depths Of tho mountain
uightier ichthyosaurus or megatherium.
But what means all this crooked plowing,
these crooked burrows, tho repentance that
amounts to nothing, the repentance that ends
in 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 OIL tie farm we set a standard
with rel flag at tie other end of the field.
We kept our eye on that. We aimed at that.
WeHNowed up to chat. 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 us. 1t is red
standard 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
cirhf nf To- nS
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 and made satisfaction. Crying and
weeping will not bring you through. Him
hath God exalted to be a Prince and Saviour
to give repentance" Oh, plow up to the
cross!
Again remark, i'll grace as in the field
there must be q sowing. In the autumn
weather you find the farmer going across
tho field at a stride of about twenty-three
inches, aud Mt every stride he puts his hand
into the sack Of grain AMI he sprinkles the
seed corn over the fell. 1t looks silly to
man who does not know what he is doing.
He is doing very important work. tie Is
scattering the winter grain, anu though the
snow may come, the next year there will be
great crop. Now, that is what we are
doing when we ara preaching the Gospel
We are scattering the see1. 1t is the foolish
ness Of preaching, but it is the winter grain;
and though the snow of worldliness may
come upon it, it will yield after while
GloriouS harvest. Let us he sure we sow the
right kind of seel. 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 hcl-
lebore, oats and henbanc.
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?
"WelI, I don't believe iii infant baptism"
"What do you belieye?" swell, don't be.
lieve in the perseverance of the saints"
"WelI, now tell me what you do believer
"Weli, don't believe in the eternal punish
ment Of the wicked" So their religion is a
row of cyphers. Believe something and
teach it; or, to resume the figure Of my text,
scatter abroad the right kind OF seed.
a minister in New York preached a ser.
mon calculated to set the denominations OF
Christians quarreling. He was sowing net
tlcs. A minister in Boston advertised that
he would preach sermon on the superiority
of transcendental and organized forces to un-
tran5cepdental and unorganized forces.
What was he sowing? The Lord Jesus Christ
nineteen centuries ago planted the divine
seed of doctrine. Itsprang up. On one side
of the stalk are all the churches Of Christen-
dom. On the other sile Of the stalk are all
the free Governmcn6SS the earth, and on
the top there shall DO a Towering millep-
mum after while. All from the Gospel seal
Of doctrine Every word that parent, OF
Sabbath school teacher, or city missionary,
or other Christian worker speaks for Christ
comes up. Yea, it comes up with compound
interest-you saving one soul, that one saw
ing ten, the ten hundred, the hundred
thousand, the thousand ten thousand, the ten
thousand one hundred thousand-on, on for
ever
Again remark, in grace rs in the farm
there must be narrowing. refer now not
to harrow that goes over tue field in order
to prepare the ground for the seed, but "a har-
row which goes over aft.r the seed is sown,
lest the birds pick up the seed, sinking it down
into the earth SO that it can take root There
are new kinds of harrow, but the harrow as
/ remember it was ma'lo Of bars OF wood
n1lled across each ether, and the under side
of each bar was furnished with sharp teeth,
and when the horses were hitched to it it went
teasing an leaping across the field, driving
the seed down into tho earth until it sprung
uD in the harvest. Bereavement sorrom,
persecution are the Lords harrowS to sink
the Gospel truth into your heart. There were
truths that you heard thirty years ago that
have not affected you until recently. Some
great troubl, callo over You, and the truth
was narrowed in, and it has come up. What
did God mean in this country in 1851? For
century there was the Gospel preached, but
1of hnn
Col harneSSei wild panic to harrow OF
commercial disaster, ani 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 torn to pieces as it nsver had been
before. What followed the harrow? A
great awakening in which there were 500, 0OJ
souls brought into the kingdom Of our Lord.
No harrow, no crop.
Again remark, in grace as in the farm
there must be a reaping. Many Christians
speak of religion rs though it were q
matter Of economies or insurance. They
expect to reap in the next world. Oh, no!
Now is the time to reap. Gather up the
JOY of the Christian religion this morning,
this afternoon this night. II you have not
as much grace as YOU would like to have,
thank God for what you have, and pray
for more. You are no worse enslaved than
Joseph, no worse troubled than was David,
10 worse scourged than was Paul. Yet,
ami,l the rafting Of fetters, and ami
the gloom of dungeons, and amid tho
horror of shipwreck, they triumphod in
the grace of God. The weakest man
here has SOD acres of spiritual joy all ripe.
Why do you not go and reapit2 You have
been groaning over your infrmties for
thirty years. Now give one round shout over
your emancipation. You say You have it 50
hard; you might have it worse You wonder
why this great cold trouble keeps revolving
through your soul, turning and turning, with
black hand on the crank. All, that trouble
is the grindstone on which you are to sharpen
your sickle. TO the fields! Wake up Take
uG your green spcctaclos. your blue specta-
cies, your black spectGclcs. Pull up the cor