The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1896-10-23

my DlDlt W ldhC my NNAl, hhS ~ ARNN'~
leaf rustles like the tassels OF the corn.
We were nearly all of us born in the
country. We dropped corn in the nil,
and went on Saturday to the mill, ty-
ing the grist in the center of the sack
so that the contents on either side The
horse balanced each other; and drove
the cattle afield our bare feet wet with
the dew, and rode the horses with the
halter to the brook until we fell off,
and hunted the NOW for nests until the
feathered occupants went cacklin%
away. We were nearly all of us born
in the country, and all would have
stayed there had not some adventur-
GUS lad on his vacation come back
with better clothes and softer hands,
and set the whole village on fire with
ambition for city life. So we all un-
derstand rustic illusions. The Bible
is full of them. In Christ's sermon
on the Mount you could see the full
blown lilies and the glossy back of the
crows wing as ii flies over Mount Oil
vet. David and John, Paul and Isaiah
find in country life a source of fire.
quent illustration, while Christ in the
text takes the responsibility of calling
God farmer, declaring, MY Father
is the husbandman."
Noah was the first farmer. We say
nothing about Cain, the tiller of the
soil Adam was a gardener on a large
scale, but TO Noah was given all the
acres of the earth. Elisha was an ag-
ri NJ attlffNotfn~- tpn
lot. for we find him blowing with
twelve yoke of oxen. In Bible times
the land was so plenty and the inhabi-
tants so few that Noah was right when
he gave TO every inhabitant a certain
portion of land; that land, if cult
waited, ever after to be his own posses
sion. Just as in Nebraska the United
States Government on payment of SIG
years ago gave presumption right TO
100 acres to any man who would settle
there and cultivate the soil.
All classes of people were expected to
cultivate ground except ministers Of re-
ligion. 1t was supposed that they
would have their time entirely occu-
pied with their own profession, al
NhOubh L dhi NOih mat AAAAl-
listers do plunge so deeply into world
illness that they remind one of what
Thomas Fraser said in regard to a
man in his day who preached very
well, but lived very i'll: when he is
out of the pulpit. it is pity he should
ever go into it. and when he is in the
pulpit it is a pity he should ever come
out of it,"
They were not small crops raised in
those times, for though the arts were
rude, the pillow turned up very rich
soil. and barley, and cotton, and flax,
and all kinds of grain came up at the
call of the harvesters. Pliny tells OF
one stalk of grain that had on it be-
tween three and four hundred ears.
The rivers and the brooks, through ar
tificial channels, were brought down 10
the roots OF the corn, and to this habit
of turning a river wherever IL was
wanted, Solomon refers when he says:
1.-THE kings heart is in the hand of the
Lord, and he turneth II as the rivers OF
water are turned. whithersoever he
will"
then a hook was put into their nose.
and then they were led over the field.
and to that God refers when he says
to wicked Sennacherib: II will put a
hook in thy nose and | will bring thee
back by the way which thou earnest"
And God has a hook in every bad mans
nose, whether 1t be Nebuchadnezzar or
Ah,b or Herod. He may think himself
very independent, but some time in
he will find that the Lord Almighty
has a hook in his nose.
This was the rule in regard to the
culture of the ground: Thou shalt
not plow with an OK and an ass to-
gether," illustrating the folly of ever
putting intelligent and useful and pill
able men in association with he stub
born and the unmanageable. The vast
majority of troubles in the churches
and in reformatory institutions comes
from the disregard of this command
of the Lord, "Thou shalt not pillow
with an OK and an ass together"
There were large amounts or prop
erly lnNcSltu III Cdille. nc MOdDlleG
raid 100000 sheep as an annual tax.
Job had 1000 sheep, 1900 camels, 500
yoke of oxen. The fine of vintage
was ushered in with mirth and music.
The clusters of the vine were put into
the wine press. and then five men
would get irto the press and trample
out the juice from the grape until their
garments were saturated with the vino
end had become the emblems of
slaughter. Christ himself. wounded
until covered with the blood of cruel
fxior. making use of this aIlusion
when the question was asked: where
fore art thou red In thine apparel and
thy garments Ike one who treadcth the
wine vat?" He Responded: II have
trodden the wine press alone"
In all agc5 there has been great
horror paid to agriculture Seven
e!ghths of the people in every coun-
try are disciples of the plow A gov
eminent is strong in proportion as 1t