Kansas City daily journal., 1896-10-19

the winter grain: and though the SHOWS of
wordliness 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 I'D. Sow wheat and
wheat will come up. Let us distinguish
between truth and error. Let us know
the difference between wheat and helle-
bore, oats and henbane.
The largest denomination in this country
is the denomination of Nothingarians.
Their religion is a system of negatons.
You say to one of them, What do you
believer well. 1 don't believe in infant
baptism" What do you believer" We'll,
/ don't believe in the perseverance OF the
saints We'll. now tell lie what you do
believer" well. 1 don't believe in the
eternal punishment of the wicked" So
their religion is a 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 a reaping. Many Christians
speak of religion as though 1t were a mat
ter of economics or insurance. They ex-
pect 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. If 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 troubles than was
David no worse scourged than was Paul.
Yet amid the rafting of fetters, and amid
the gloom Of dungeons, and amid the hor-
ror of shipwreck, they triumphed in the
grace of God. The weakest man in the
house to-day has 500 acres of spiritual JOY.
all ripe. Why do you not go and reap 1t?
You have been groaning over your infirmi-
ties for thirty years. Now give one round
shout over your emancipation. You say
You have 1t SO hard: you might have 1t
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 grind
stone on which you are to sharpen your
sickle. To the fields! Wake up! Take
off your green spectacles, your blue specta-
cles, your black spectacles. Pull up the
corners of your mouth as far you pull
them down. To the fields! Reap. reap!
Again, remark, in grace as in farming
there is time for threshing. l tell you
bluntly that is death. Just as the farmer
with a fail beats the wheat out of the
straw, so death beats the soul out of the
body. Every sickness is a stroke of the
fail, and the sick-bed Is the threshing-foor.
What, say you, is death to good man, only
taking the wheat out of the straw? That Is
ali, An aged man has fallen asleep. Only
yesterday you saw MIN IN tue sunny poich
playing with his grandchildren. Calmly he
received the message to leave this world.
He bade a pleasant good-by 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 slumber
of the tomb. He will not be afraid of that
night. Grandfather was never afraid Of
anything. 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. Grand
father always did sing in church. Any
thing ghastly in that? No. The threshing
of the wheat out of the straw. That Is all.
The little child filled all the house with
her music, and her toys are scattered all
| up and down the stairs just as she left
| them What If the hand that plucked
four-o'clocks out of the meadow. is still?
1t will wave in the eternal triumph What
| IL the voice that made music in the home
| Put a white rose in one hand. a red rose in
the other hand. and wreath Of orange
| blossoms on the brow; the white flower for
the. victory. the red flower for the Saviour's
| sacrifice the orange-blossoms for her mar
riage day. Anything ghastly about that?
| oh, no! The sun went down ana the nower
shut. The wheat threshed out of the
straw.
I have one more thought to present. I
have spoken of the plowing, of the SOW
| ing, of the narrowing. of the reaping. of
the threshing. 1 must now speak mo-
ment of the garnering.
Where is the garner? Need 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 a year. What a 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 burning agony
they cried. 20 Lord, deliver my SOUL" But
| they got over it They all got over it.
! Garnered, Their tears wiped away; their
battles all ended; their burdens lifted.
Garnered! The Lord of the harvest will
not allow those sheaves to perish in the
| equinox.
The sheaves of the Christian soul sway
| to and fro in the wind of death, and the
| old body creaks under the load. and as the
| load strikes the floor of the celestial gar
ner. it seems as If 1t can go no farther
1: is the last struggle, until the voices of
angels and the voices of our departed kin
dred and the welcoming voice of God shall
send the harvest rolling into the eternal
| triumph, while all up and down the sky
the cry is heard: Harvest home! harvest
homet.