Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1896-02-28
REV. DR. TALMAGE.
The Eminent Washington pivine's
Sunday Serm
Subject. "Bringing in the sheaves."
TEXT, "Put ye in the sickle, for the har-
rest is rIpe."- ILL.,, IS.

and the world has celebrated the pen OF Ad-
Olson, the pen of Southey and the pen OF
Irving. The painters pencil has been hon.
ored, and the world has celebrated the PEN
Gil OF Murillo, the pencil OF Ruoens and the
pencil of Bierstadt. The scuptor's cnlsel
has come in for b Oh encomium, and Inc
We rid has celebrated Chantrey's chisel and
Crawford chisel and Greenough's chiseL Bur
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 glittering, TINS
reaping hook, no longer than your arm. has
furnished the breal for thousands OF years,
Its success has produced the wealth OF Ma"
tons. 1t has had more TO do with the worlds
progress than sword and pen and pencil ana
chisel all put together. Christ puts the sickle
into exquisite sermonic smile, and you see
that instrument flash all up and down the
Apocalypse as st. John swings 1t. while
through Joel in my text God commands the
people, as through His servants now He COM
nands them, ''Putye in the sickle, Tor 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 the 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 10 fesJ
tivity and thanks God for the greatness of
the harvest. But | come to-day to speak to;
you OF richer harvests, even the spiritual
How shall we estimate the value Of mann
We say he is worth 50 many dollars, or he
mas achieved such and such a position but
we know very wei! there are some men at
the top Of the ladder who ought to be at the
bottom and some at the bottom VINO ought
to be at the top. and tho only way to esti-
mate man is by his soul. We AL know that
we shalt live forever, Death cannot kill us.
Other crafts may be drawn into the whir.-
pool or shiverei on the rocks, bat the life
within us will weather all storms ard drop no
anchor, and IL, OJG, 900 years after death will
shake out signals on the high seas OF eterni-
ty. You put the mendicant off your door
step and say he is only beggar. but he is
worth all the gold OF the mountains, worth
all the pear Of the sea, worth the solid
earth. worth sun an moon aud stars, worth
the entire material universe. Take all the
paper that ever came from the paper mills
and put it side by side and sheet by sheet,
and lot men with heetest pens make figures
on that paper for 10, 900 years, AMI they will
Ony 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 today TIE man who to-day
hath dollar in his pocket hath more world
ly estate than the millionaire who died last
How 4 In Won a1nnOcn fppl cfnndinp
here surrounded by a multitude OF souls
each one worth more than the material uni
verse?
On, was not right in saying this spiritual
harvest is richer than the temporal harvestH
l must tighten the girdle, must sharpen the
sickle, l must be careful how swing the
instrument for gathering the grain, lest one
stalk be lost. Oae of the most powerful
sickes for reaping this spiritual harvest is
the preaching OF the gospel. II the sickle
have @ rosewood handle, aud 1t be adorned
with precious stones, aud yet it caunot bring
down the grain, ii is not much OF u sickle,
and preaching amounts to nothing unless it
harvests souls for God. Shall we preach phil
osophyl The Ralph Waldo Emersons could
beat us at that. Shall we preach science?
The Agassizes could beat us at that. The
minister OF Jesus Christ with weakest arm
going forth in earnest prayer and welding
this sickle OF the gospe, shall find the har-
vest all around him waiting for the angel
sheai binders Oh, this harvest OF soulsl
notice in the fields that the farmer did not
stand upright when he gathered the grain.
Noticed he had to stoop to his work, and |
noticed in orle- 10 bind the sheaves the oct
ter he had to put his knee upon them. And
as we so forth in this work for God we cam
not stand upright in our rhetoric and our
metaphysics and our erudition. We have to
stoop to our work. Aye, we have to put our
knee to 1t or we will nsver 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 a mighty gospel 1t captured
not only John the lamb, bat Paul the lion.
hen my gnash their teeth at it, aud c'inch
their fists, but it is tbs power of God and the
wisdom of God unto salvation. But alas,
ii it is only preached in pulpits and on Sab
bath days! We must 20 forth into our stores,
our shops, our banking houses, our factories
and the streets. and everywhere preach
Christ. We stand in our pulpits for two
hours on the Sabbath and commend Christ to
the people, but there are 16S hours in tbs
week, and what are the two hours on the
Sabbath against the 166! On, there comes
down the ordination Of God this day upon
all the people, men who toll with head and
hand aud foot line ordination comes upon
all merchants. upon all mechanics, upon all
toilers and God says to you as He says 10
me: $50, teach all Nations. He that be-
lieveth and is baptized shall be saved, and
he that belieyeth not shall be damned"
Mighty gospel, let the Whole earth hear it!
The story of Christ is to regenerate the
Nations, it is to eradicate all wrong, it 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 to
critcise the picture, they admired the
chaices more than they did the face, and
the old artist said, This picture is failure"
and he dashed out the picture of the cups,
and said: ~ shall have nothing to detract
from the face of the Lord. Christ is the all
OF this picture"
Another powerful sickle for the reaping OF
this harvest is Christian song. I know in
many churches the whole work is delegated
to few people standing in the organ loft.
But, my friends. as others cannot repent for
us and others cannot die for u.s. we cannot
delegate to others the work Of singing for
us. Viii lie few drilled artists shall take the
chants and execute the more skillful music,
when the hymns given out let there be hun.
dreds and thousands OF voices uniting 10 the
reclamation. On the wayto grandeurs that
never cease and glories that never die let US
sing. At the battle of Lutzen general came
to the king and said: "Those soldiers are
singing as they are going into battle. Shall
stop them" "No." said the king, "men
4 hot csn . 1, Rfrb 70
power of Christian song! When argue here,
you may argue back The argument you
make against religion may be more skillful
than the argument l make in behalf Of relig
ion. But who can stand before the pathos Of
some upifted song like that which we some
times sing:
cbo,r ,,;,,. I'D. n TorJ soroi,aI