Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1896-10-23

III IQB UTsb place., Il LCu4oAAJ AZ bA~SO
as in the fields, there must be a plow.
That which theologians call conviction
is only the plowshare turning up the
sins that have been rooted and matted
IN the soul. A farmer said to his indo-
lent son, "There are 500 buried deep
in that field" The son went to work
and plowed 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 800 more than
any previous year, then the young man
took the hint as to what his father
meant when he said there was 800
buried down in that field. Deep plow-
ing for a crop. Deep plowing for a soul
He who makes light Of sin will never
amount to anything in the church or in
the world. If a man speaks Of sin as
though it were an inaccuracy or a mis-
take instead Of the loathsome, abom-
Unable, consuming, and damniDg thing
that God hates, that man will never
yield harvest of usefulness.
When ] was boy, l plowed a field
with a team of spirited horses. plowed
it very quickly. Once in while passed
over some Of the sod without turning 1t,
but 1 did not jerk back the plow, with
its rafting devices. | thought it made
no difference. After awhile my father
came along and said, why, this will
never do; this ism plowed deep enough
there you have missed this, and you have
missed that. And he plowed it over
again. The difficulty with great many
people is that they are only scratched
with conviction when the subsOil plow
Of Gods truth ought to be put in up to
the beam.
Ny word is to all Sabbath school
teachers, to all parents, to all Christian
workers: Plow deepl Plow deepl
And if in your own personal expert
ence you are apt to take a lenient view
Of the sinful side Of your nature, put
down into your soul the Ten Command
ments, which reveal the holiness Of God,
and that sharp and glittering Golfer
will turn up your soul to the deepest
depths. If a man breaches TO you that
you are only a little out Of order by
reason Of sin and that you need only a
little fixing up, he Geceives. 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 could kill the body. And
sin is like that drug; so virulent, sc
poisonous, so fatal that one drop i;
enough to kill the soul.
Deep Flowing.
Deep plowing for a crop. Deep plow'
ing for a soul Broken heart or no re-
ligion. Broken soil 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 plowshare struck them. Con
viction turned up great many thing'
that were forgotten. As farmer plow'
ing sometimes turns up the skeleton OF
a man or the anatomy Of a monster long
ago buried, so the plowshare Of convic
ton turns up the CHASTITY skeletons OF
sins long ago entombed. Geologist'
never brought up from the depths OF the
mountain mightier ichthyosaurus oi
megatheriunl.
But what means all this crooked
blowing, these crooked furrows, the re-
pentance that amounts TO nothing, the
repentance that ends in nothing? Men
proan 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 on the farm we set q
standard with red flag at the other
end of the field. We kept our eye on
that. We aimed at that We plowed NJ
to that. Losing sight Of that, we made
crooked furrow. Keeping our eye on
that. we made a 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
a straight furrow. Losing sight OF 1t
Won will make "a crooked furrow. Plow
mn TO the cross. Aim not at either enc
of the horizontal piece of the cross, bu
at the upright piece, at the center OF It
the heart of the Son Of God, who bore
vour sins and made satisfaction. Crying
and weeping will not bring you through
Him hath God exalted to be prince
and a Saviour to give repentance ~ On
plow up to the cross!
The Sowing.
Again | remark, in grace, as IL th
field, there must be sowing. In tn
autumnal weather you find the tarme
going across the field at stride OF abou
| % inches. and at every stride be put
his hand into the sack Of grain. and n
snrinkles the seed corn over the field l
looks silly to a man who does not know
what he is doing. he is doing ver,
important work. He is scattering IN
winter grain, and, though the snow ma,
come, the next year there will be
great crop. Now, that is what we ar
doing when we are preaching the gospe
we are scattering the seed. 1t is tn
foolishness of preaching, but 1t Is tn
winter grain. And though the SHOWS
worldliness may come down upon it,
will Weld after awhile glorious harvest
Let us be sure we SOW the right kind {
seed. Sow MULLEN stalk and muller
stalk will come up. Sow Canada thistle
and Canada thistles will come up. SOY
wheat and wheat will come up. Let
distinguish between truth and errol
Let us know the difference betwee
wheat and hellebore, oats and henoan'
, The largest denomination in thi
country is the denomination OF Moth
, ingarians. Their religion is system
) negations. You say to one OF then
"What do you believer" WELL ldon
D believe in infant baptism" what
, you believer "Well, l don't believe
the perseverance, of the saints. " We
r now tell me what you do believe
"Well, don't believe in the etern
s punishment of the wicked. So the
a religion is a row Of ciphers Belle
something and teach it; or, to resur
Z the figure of my text, scatter abroad {