The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1896-03-11
REV. DIR, TALMAGE.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE
NOTED DIVINE.
Subject: sEringing in the Sheaves."
TEXT. "Put ye in the sickle, for the ha
vest IS ripe. Joel ill, I3.

NeSt - ripe ---JOel Ill, 10.
The sword has been poetizei. and the
world has celebrated the sword CT Bolivar
the sword Of Cortes and the sword OF Lafay
ette. The pen has been properly euiogisA
and the world has celebrated the pen OF Ad
olson, the pen Of Southey and the pen o
Irving. The painters pencil has been hon
ored, and the world has celebrated the pen
ell OF Murilio. the pencil Of Ruhens and the
pencil of Bicrseadt. The sculptor's chisel
has come in for high encomium. and the
world has celebrated Chantrey's chisel and
Cfawford's S chisel and Greenough's chisel. But
there Is one instrument about which sing
the first cahto 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 semicircle and slitternS, TINS
reaping hook, no longer than your arm. mas
furnished the bread for thousands OF years.
Its success has produced the wealth OF Ma
tionS. 1t has had more to do with the worlds 8
progress than sword and pen and pencil and
chisel all put together. Christ putsthe sickle
into e8qr isite sermonic simile, and you see
that instrument flash all up and down the
Apocalypse as st. John swings it. while
through Joel in my text God commands the
people, as through His servants now He COM
:nands them, Put ye 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 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 better thing
than when in the autumn it gathers 10 fes.
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 a man?
We say he is worth so many dollars. or ne
has achieved such and such position, but
we know very we'll there are some men at
the top of the ladder who ought to be at tho
bottom and some at the bottom who ought
to be at the top. and the only way to esti-
mate man is by his soul. We all knowthat
we shall live forever Death cannot kill us.
Other crafts may be drawn into the whiri-
pool or shivered 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-
ty. You put the mendicant of your door
step and say he is only beggar, but he Is
worth all the gold OF the mountains. worth
all 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 it side by side and sheet by sheet,
and let men with fleetest pens make figures
on that paper for 10, 900 years, ami they will
only have begun to express the value OF the
soul. Suppose owned Colorado and Me-
vada and Australia, Ct 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
ly estate than the millionaire who died last
year. How do you suppose feel, standing
here surrounded by a multitude nf souls
each ono 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 girdle, I must sharpen the
sickle, 7 must be careful how I swing the
instrument for gathering the grain, lest one
stalk be lost. One Of the most powerful
siekies for reaping this spiritual harvest is
the preaching of the gospel. IF the sickle
have rosewood handle, and it be adorned
with precious stones, and yet 1t cannot bring
down the grain. it is not much OF a sickle,
and preaching amounts to nothing unless 1t
harvests souls for God. Shall We preach phil
osophyi The Ralph Waldo EmersonS could
beat us at that. Shall we preach science3
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 gospel, shall find the mar
= vest ali around him waiting for the angel
sheaf binders. Oh, this harvest OF souls! l
notice in the fields that the farmer did not
stand upright when he gathered the graip.
| noticed be had to stoop to his work, and
noticed in order to bind the sheaves the oct
ter he had to put his knee upon them. And
as we go forth in this work for God We can
not stand upright in our rhetoric and our
metaphysics and our erudition. We have 10
Stoop to our work. Aye, we have to put our
knee to 1t 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
and vast mUltitudeS came into the kingdom
OF our God.
Oh, this is a mighty gospel! 1t captured
not only John the lamb. but Paul the lion.
Men may gnash their teeth at it. and ciinch
their fists, but it Is the power ot God and the
wisdom Of God unto salvation. But, alas,
il 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
the people, but there are 16S hours in the
week. and what are the two hours on the
Sabbath against the 1862 On. thore 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 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
criticise the picture, they admired tho
cfalices 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: 81 shalt 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. 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 Us, we cannot
delegate to others the work OF singing for
us. While few drilled artists shall take the
onantS and execute the more skillful music,
when the hymn is given out letthere be hun.
dreds and thousands Of voices uniting 10 the
| acclamation. On the way to grnndeurs that
never cease and slories that never die let us
sing. At the battle Of Lutzen general came
Ito the king and said: "Thoss soldiers arc
singing as they are going into battle. Shall
I stop them?" "No," said the king. "men
that can sing like :ha. can fight" Oh. the
power of Christian song! When argue here,
you may argue back. The argument you
make against religion may be more skillful
than the argument make in behalf Of reliS-
ion. But who can stand before the pathos oi
home up!ifted song like that which We some