Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1896-02-28
TALMAGE'S SERMON
INTERESTING THEME BY THE
WASHINGTON PREACHER.


the sword Of Curtes and the sword Of Laiay-
cite. The pen has been properly eulogized,
and the world has celebrated the pen OF Adj
olson. the pen Of Southey ana the pen u
Irving. The PAINTER pencil has been hon
orsl. and the world has celebrated the pen
ell % Murill0. the pencil Of Rubens and the
pencil % Birrs,ait. The sculpt0r'S chisel
has come ia Tor high sncOmium, aud the
world has celebrated Chantrey's ehisel aud
Crawford : chisel and GreenOugh's chiseL But
there Is one instrument about which | sing
the first canto that was ever sung-the sickle.
the sickle of the Bible. the sickle that has
reaped the harvest Of many centuries. Sharp
and bent into a semicircle and s;littering, this
reaping hook. no longer than your arm. has
furnished the breai for thousands OF years.
Its success has produced the wealth Of Ma
tiOns. 1T has hadmore 10 do with the worlds
progress than sword and pen and pencil and
chisel all put together. Christ puts the sickle
into exquisite sermonic smile. and you see
that instrument fash all mp and down the
Apocalypse as 81. John swings it. while
through Joel in my text God commands the
peope,'as through His servants now He COM
:nands them, Put We in the sickle, for the
harvest is ripe"
Last November there was great rejoicing
all over the land. With trumpet and cornet
and organ and thousand voiced psalm we
praised he Lord for the temporal harvests.
We praised God for the wheat. the rye, the
oats, the cotton. the rice, all the fruits of
the orchard aud all the grains OF the field,
and the Nation never does a better thing
than when in the autumn it gathers TO fes-
tivitv and thanks God for the greatness of
the harvest. But / come to-day to speak to
YOU Of richer harvestS even tho spiritual.
How shall we estimate the value of a man2
We say he is worth So many dollars. or he
has achieved such and such position, but
we know very well there are some men at
the top of the ladder who ought to he at the
bottom and some at the bottom who ought
70 be at the top. and the only way TO esti-
mate man is 10y his soul. We all knowthat
we shall live forever. Death cannot kill us.
Other crafts may be drawn into the whirl-
pool or shiyered on the rocks, but the life
within US will weather all storms ard drop no
anchor, and 10000 900 years after death will
shake out signals on the high seas of eterni-
~. You put the mendicant OF your door
step and say be is only "a beggar. but he is
worth all the gold OF the mountains, worth
all 1.-THE pears OF the sea, worth the solid
earth. worth sun and moon and stars, worth
the entire material universe. Take all the
paper that ever came from the paper mills
and put il side by side and sheet by sheet,
and let men with fieetest pens make figures
on that paper for $1,000 years, and they will
only have begun to express the value OF the
soul. Suppose | owned Colorado and Ne
Vada and Australia, Of how much value
would they be to me one moment after | de-
parted this life? How much Of Philadelphia
does stephen Girard own to-day? How
much Of Boston property does Abbott Law
renee own to-day? The man who to-day
hath dollar in his pocket hath more world
~ estate than the millionaire who died last
year. How do you suppose | feel standing
here surrounded by a multitude Of souls
Zach one worth more than the material uni
verse?
Oh, was not right in saying this spiritual
harvest is richer than the temporal harvest
/ must tighten the girdie. must sharpen the
sickle, ! must be careful how / swing ths
instrument for gathering the grain, lest one
stalk be lost. One Of the most powerful
sckles for reaping this spiritual harvest is
the preaching Of the gospel. II the sickle
have a rosewood handle, and it be adorned
with precious stones. and yet it cannot bring
down the grain. ii is not much Of sickle,
and preaching amounts to nothing unless il
haryests souls for God Shall we preach phil,
osOphy! The Ralph Waldo Emersons could
beat us at that. Shall we preach sciencef
The Agassizes could beat US ut that. The
minister Of Jesus Christ with weakest arm
going forth in earnest prayer, and welding
this sickle Of the gospel, shall find the har.
vest all around him waiting for the angel
sheat binders Oh this harvest OF souls,
notice in the fields that the farmer did not
stand upright when he gathered the grain.
noticed he mad to stoop to his work, and
noticed in orde- to bind the sheaves the bet.
ter he had to put his knee upon them And
as We 60 forth in this work for God we cam
not stand upright in our rhetoric and our
metaphysics and our eruditiOn. We have 20
stoop to our work. Aye, We have to put our
knee to it or we will never gather sheaves for
the Lords garner. Peter swung that sickle
on the day OF Pentecost. and 5000 sheaves
came in. Richard Baxter swung that sickle
at Kidderminster. and McCheyne at Dundee.
and vast multitudes came into the kingdom
of our God.
Oh, this is mighty gospel! 1t captured
not only John the lamb. but Paul the lion.
Men may Gnash their teeth at it, aud clinch
their fists, but II is the power Of God and the
wisdom Of God unto salvation. But. alas,
If it is only preached in pulpits and on Sab
bath days! We must 90 forth into our stores.
our shops. our banking houses our factories
and the streets. ana everywhere preach
Christ, We stand in our pulpits for two
hours on the Sabbath and commend Christ to
the people. but there are l6S hours in the
week. and what are the two hours on the
Sabbath against the l66! on, there comes
! down the ordination Of God this day upon
all the people, men who toll with head and
hand and foot tine ordination comes upon
all merchants, upon all mechanics upon all
toilers. and God says to YOU as He says TO
me: go, teach all Nations He that be-
! lieveth and is baptized shall be saved, and
he that beleveth not shall be damned -
Mighty gospel. LET the whole earth hear it
The story OF Christ is to regenerate this
Nations. 1t is to eradicate all wrong ii is to
turn the earth into paradise An old artist
painted the Lords Supper, and he wanted
the chief attention directed to the face Of
Christ. When he invited his friends in &c
criticiso the picture, they admired the
chalices more than they did the face, ant
the old artist said, This picture Is failure,
and he dashed out the picture of the cups
and said: II shalt have nothing to detrac
from the face OF the Lord Christ is the al
OF this picture"
Another powerful sickle for the reaping 0
this harvest is Christian song. l know il
many churches the whole work is delegated
TO few people standing in the organ loft
But, my friends. as others cannot repent TO
us and others cannot die for us. we canno
delegate to others the work OF singing TO
us. While a few drilled artists shall take tn
chants and execute the more skillful music
when the HYMNS given ont let there be hun
dreds and thousands OF voices uniting in tn
reclamation. On the wayto grandeurs tina
never cease and glorles that never die let II
sing. At the battle OF Lutzen a general cam
to the king and said: Those soldiers ar
singing as they are going into battle. Sha
Is stop them?" no. said the king, me
that can sing like ;hat can fight" Oh. tn
power OF Christian song! When argue here
you may argue back. The argument yo
make against religion may be more skillfu
than the argument l make in behalf of relie
ion. But who can stand before the pathos {
some upliftei song like that which we some
times sing:
Show ply, Lord; Lord, forgive
LET repenting rebel live!
Are not Thy mercies large and free?
May not Il sinner trust in Thee?
Another mighty sickle for the reaping {
the gospel harvest is prayer. What does Go
DO with our prayers? Does He go on the ba