Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1896-02-20
THE TRUMPET BLAST
REV. DR.. TALMAGE ON "BRlNGING
IN THE sHEAvEs."
He Shows How Some Mighty sickIes May
He Used For the Gospel Hsrvest--A Pow
srful Sermon TO an Immense Thronr.

he Used For the Gospel Harvest--A Pow
srfui Sermon to an Immense Throng.
: WASHINGTON, Feb. 16.--A change has
taken place. DR.. Talmage when first com
ing to Washington preached only Sunday
evenings, but so great has been the de-
mand for his services that he now breaches
Sunday morning and evening and takes
charge Of the Thursday evening meeting.
The throngs are immense. The subject of
his sermon for today was bringing In
the Sheaves," the toxt being Joel Ill, 10,
Put 70 in the SICKLE, for the harvest is
ripe"
The sword has been pootized, and the
world has celebrated tho sword Of Bolivar,
the sword of Cortes and the sword Of La
fayette. The pen has been properly eulo-
gized, and the world has celebrated tho
pen Of Addison, the pen Of Southsy and
the pen Of Irving. The painters pencil
has been honored, and the world has cello
brated tho pencil Of Murillo, the pencil of
Rubens and the pencil Of Bierstadt. Tho
soulptor's ohisel has come in for high
encomium, and the world has celebrated
Chantrey's ohlsel, and Crawford's chisel,
and '9reenouRh's ohisel. But there is one
instrument about which / sing the first
canto that was ever sung-the sickle, tho
sickle of the Bible, tho sickle that has
Yeaped the harvest Of many centuries.
Sharp and bent into somicirole and gilt
tering, this reaping hook, no longer than
your arm, has furnished tho bread for
thousands of years. Its SUCCESS has pro.
duoed the wealth Of nations. 1t has had
more to do with the worlds progress than
sword and pen and pencil and ohisel oil
put together. Christ puts the sickle into
exquisite sermonic smile, and you SEQ
that instrument fash all up and down the
Apocalypse as st. John swings it, whlo
through Joel In my text God commands
the people, as through his servants now
he commands them, PUT ye in the sickle,
for the harvest IL ripe"
EsMmate Of Values.
Last November there was great rejoicing
oil over the land. With trumpet and cor.
net and organ and thousand voiced psalm
we praised the Lord for the temporal har-
vests. We praised God for the whent, tho
rye, the oats, the cotton, the rice, all tho
fruits Of the orchard and all tho grains Of
the field, and the nation never does bet
ter thing than when In tho autumn 1t
gathers to fcstivity and thanks God for
the greatness Of the harvest. But come
today to speak to you Of richer harvests,
even the spiritual. How shall we estimate
the value Of a man? We say he Is worth
30 many dollars, or he has achieved such
and such position, but wo know very
we'll there arc some men at tho top of tho
ladder who ought to be at the bottom and
some at the bottom who ought to DO at
the top, and the only way to estimate q
man Is by his soul. We all know that We
shall live forever. Death cannot kill us.
Other crafts may be drawn into the whirl
pool or shivered on the rocks, but this lifo
within US will weather oil storms and
drop no anchor and 10, 900, 900 years after
death will shake out signals on the high
seas Of eternity. You put the mendicant
of your doorstep and soy he Is only beg
gar, but he Is worth oil the gold Of tho
mountains, worth all the pearls Of the sea,
worth the solid earth, worth sun and moon
and stars, worth the entire material uni
verse. 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
Aeetest pens make figures on that paper
for 10000 years, and they will only havo
begun to express the value OF the SOUL
Suppose I owned Colorado and Nevada
and Australia, Of how much value would
they DO to me ono moment after departed
this life' How much Of Philadelphia does
stephen Girard own today How much
Of Boston property does Abbott Lawrence
own today Tho man who today hath u
dollar In his pocket hath more worldly es
tate than the millionaire who died last
year. How do you suppose feel, stand
ing here surrounded by multitude Of
souls, each ono worth more than tho ma
terial universal Oh, was 1 not right In
saying this spiritual harvest is richer than
the temporal harvestp must tighten tho
girdle I must sharpen the sickle. must
be careful how 1 swing the instrument for
gathering the grain lest one stalk be lost
One Of the most powerful siokles for
rsaping this spiritual harvest Is the preach
ing Of the gospel. If the sickle have q
rosewood handle, and 1t be adorned with
precious stones, and yet it cannot bring
down the graiA, 1t is not much Of sickle,
and preaching amounts to nothing unless
II harvests souls for God. Shall we preach
philosophy The Ralph Waldo Emersons
could beat us at that. Shall we preach
soiencsf The Agassizes beat us at that
Tho minister Of Jesus Christ with weakest
arm going forth in earnest prayer and
welding this sickle Of the gospel shall find
the harvest oil around him waiting for
tho angel sheaf binders. Oh, this harvest
Of souls I notice in tho fields that the
farmer did not stand upright when he
gathered the grain. I noticed he had to
stoop to his work, and noticed in order
to bind tho sheaves the better no had to
put his knee upon them. And as we go
forth In this work for God we cannot stand
upright In our rhetoric and our metaphys.
los and our erudition. We have to stoop
to our work. Aye, we have to put our
knee to 1t, or We will never gather sheayes
for the Lords garner. Peter swung that
sickle on the day of Pentecost, and 200
sheaves came in Richard Baxter swung
that SICKLE at Kidderminster, and Nc
Cheyne at Dundee, and vast inultitudes
oamo into the kingdom Of our God
',t. The Mighty Gospel.
Oh, this Is mighty gospel 1t captured
not only John, the lamb, but Paul. the
lion. Men may gnash their teeth at it and
clinoh their fists, but 1t Is the power OF
God and the wisdom OF God unto saliva.
ton. But, alas, II 1t is only preached in
pulpits and on Sabbath days. We must go
forth into our stores, our shops, our bank
Ing houses, our factories, and the Streets
and everywhere preach Christ. We stand
In our pulpits for 2 hours ON the Sab
bath and commend Christ to the people,
but thore are 1913 hours in tho week, and
what are the . hours on the Sabbath
against the 1882 Oh, there comes down
the ordination Of God this day upon all
the people, men who toll with head and
hand and foot-the ordination comes upon
ell merchants, upon oil mechanics, upon
ell toilers, and God says to you as he says
TO me: "Go, teach all nations. He TINT