Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1896-11-04
REV. DR. TALAiaGE,
The Eminent Divine's Sunday
Discourse.
Subject: "Gospel Farming"
EXT: MY Father is the husbandman."-

CuUICCts 0OSpOA - 80 AAAAAsr'
TEXT: MY Father is the husbandman. -
John Ky. 1.
This last summer, having gone in different
directions over be, ween i've and six thousand
miles of harvest fields, can hardly open my
Bible without smelling the breath OF new-
mown hay and seeing the gol!en light OF the
wheat field Aud when open my Bible to
take my text, the Scripture ieaf rusties ike
the tassels OF the corn.
We were neariy all OF Us born in the coun-
Ty. 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 the horss balanced each other;
and drove the cattle afleld, our bare feet wet
with the dew, and rode the horses with the
halter TO the brook until we fell on, and
hunted the NOW for nests until the feathered
occupants went cackiinS away. We We're
nearly all of US born in the country, and all
would have stayed there had not some ad-
venturous lad on his vacation come back
with better clothes and softer hands and set
the whole village on fire with ambition for
city life. SO we all understand rustic ailus-
ions. The Bible Is full Of them. In Christ's
Sermon on the Mount you could ses the full
blown lilies andths glossy back ofths crows
WINS as it flies over Mount OIivet. David
and John. Paul and Isaiah find in country
life u source of frequent illustration, while
Christ in the text takes the responsibility OF
calling God farmer, declaring: MY Father
Is the husbandman."
Noah was the first farmer. We say nothing
about Cain, the tiller OF the soil. Alan was
gardener on a large scale, but to Noah was
given all the acres of the earth. Elisha was
an agrtcuturist, not cultivaftng ten-acre
lot. for we find him plowing with twelve
yoke OF oxen. In Bible times the land was
so plenty and the inhabitants so few that
tx rla., har - In
habit ant a certain portion Of land, that land
If cultivated ever after TO be his own posses
sion.
They were not small crops raised in those
times, for though the arts were rude, the
plow turned up very rich soil, AM barley
and cotton and fax and all KINDS of grain
came up at the call ofthe 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 1t was wanted, Solomon re'-rs
when he says: "The kings heart il in the
hand Of the Lord. and He turneth II es the
rivers of water are turned, whfthersoever He
will."
The wild beasts were saught. and then q
nook was put into their nose. and then they
| were led over the field, aud to that God re-
fers when He says to wicked Sennachsrib:
81 will put a hook in thy nose and l will
bring thee back by the way which thou
| camest." And God has a hook In every bad
mans nose. whether it be Nebuchadnezzar or
Ahab or Herod. He may think himself very
independent, but some time "a his life, or In
! the hour Of his death, he will ind that the
Lori Almighty has hook IN his nose.
This was the rule In regard to tho culture
ofths ground: "Thou shalt not plow with
An OK and an ass toRei her," illustrating the
| folly Of ever putting intelligent and useful
Iiahl in aGSOcfafiOn with. tho
stubborn and unmsnageatle. The vast ma
| 1ority Of troubles in the churches and in re-
! formatory instttution2 comes from tho diares
| gard Of this command OF the Lord, "rhou
shalt not plow with an OK and an ass TO-
| ssther.'
| The :e were large amounts Of property in.
/ sested in cattle The Mosbites paid loo, 900
! sheep q. an annual tax. Job had 1000 sheep,
5000 csmels. 500 yoke Of oxen. The time Of
vintage was ushered in with mirth and
music. fhe clusters OF the vine were put
| into the wine press, and then five men would
| get into the press and trampie out the juice
| from the grape until their garments were
1 saturated with the wine and had become the
emblems of slaughter. Christ Himself,
wounded until covered with the blood Of
| crucif1xion making use Of this aliusion when
| the question was asked: "Wherefore art
Thou red in Thine apparel and Thy garments
| like one who treadeth The wine vat?' He re-
| sponded: .'I have trodien the wine press
| alone"
| In all ages there has been great honor PAID
! 70 agriculture. Seven-eights Of the people
In every country are disciples OF the plow
| A government Is strong in proportion as 1t Is
| supported by an athletic and Industrious
| yeomanry. So long ago as before the fall Of
| Carthage, Strabo wrote twenty-eight books
On agriculture Hesiod wrote O poem on The
| sams subject--"The Weeks and Days" Cato
was prouder of his work on husbandry than
! Of all his military conquests. But must
| not be tempted futo discussion of agricul-
tural conquests. Standinga mid the harvests
| and orchards and vineyards of the Bible. and
| standing amid the harvests and orchards and
vineyards of our. own oountry-larger har-
| vests than have ever before been gathered-I
| want to run out the analogy between the
| production of crops and the growth OF grace
In the souI-all these sacred writers making.
use Of that analogy.
In the first place, remark, in grace as IL
| the de1ds, there must be plow. That which
theologians call conviction Is only the plow-
share turning up the sins that have been
rooted and matted in the soul. farmer
| said to his indolent son: There are d
hundred dollars buried deep in that field. u
| The son went to work and piowed the field
from fence to fence. and he plowed it very
deep. and then complained that he had not
found the money: but when the crop had
been gathered and sold for hundred dollars
more than any previous year, then the young
man took the hint to what his father
1 meant when he said there were hundred
dollars buried down in that field. Deep
| plowing for crop. Deep plowing for a
soul. He who makes light Of sin will never
| amount to anything In the church or in the
! world. II man speaks Of sin as though II
| were an inaccuracy or mistake, instead oil
the loathsome, abominable, consuming and
dsmning thing that God hates, that man
will never yield harvest OF usefulness.
Woap hnx r,lotrod oil xriYl
q team Of spirited horses. plowed it very
quickly. Once in a while passed over
| some Of the sod without turning it, but did
not jerk back the plow with its rafting de-
vices. thought it made no difference.
| Alter awhile my father came along and said
"Why, this will never do; this isn't plowed
| deep enough; there you have missed this
and you have missed that Ana he plowed
It over again. The difficulty with great
many people Is that they are only scratched
with conviction when the subsotl plow OF
Gods truth ought to be put In up to the
beam.
My word Is to all Sabbath-school teachers,
| to ali parents, to all Christian workers.
Plow deepl Piow deep.
But what means all this crooked plowing,
these crooked burrows. the repentance that
| amounts to nothing? Men groan over their
tears are not counted. They get convicted,
but not converted. What is the reason?
remember that on the farm We set q stand.
ard with red flag at the other end OF the
neld. We kept our eye on that. We aimed
at that. We plowed up to that. Losing
sight of that we made a crooked furrow
| Keeping our eye on that We made straight
! furrow. Now in this matter Of conviction
We must have some standard to guide us. II
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 n
straight furrow. Losing sight of it you
! will make q crooked furrow. Plow up t.
| the Gross. Aim not at either end OF the
horizontal piece Of the Gross, but at the up
right piece, at the centre Of it the heart o.
the Son Of God who bore your sins and
made satisfaction. Crying and weeping viii
not triug you through. Him hath Goo
exalted to be Prince and e Saviour to give
| repentance" Oh, plow up to the Cross.
| Again, I remark, in grace as IN the field,
thero must be q SOWING In the autumna
anA bo "a OcinO aPrlas