The Monitor-register., 1896-02-21
THE BIBLES SICKLE.
ITS HARVEST FAR GREATER THAN
THE TEMPORAL GARNERlNG.


has taken place. DR.. Talmage when
first coming to Washington preached on
" Sunday evenings, but SO great mas
been the demand for his services that he
now breaches Sunday morning and even
ing and takes charge of the Thursday
evening meeting. The throngs are I'M
mense. The subject of his sermon for
today was, Bringing In the Sheaves. =
the text being Joel iii, IS, "Put ye IN
the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.
The sword has been poetized, and the
world has celebrated the sword of Boil
var, the sword of Cortes and the SWORD
of Lafayette. The pen has been properly
eulogized, and the world has celebrated
the pen of Addison, the pen OF Soutney
and the pen of Irving. The painters
PENCIL has been honored, and the world
has celebrated the pencil of Murlllo, the
pencil of Rubens and the pencil OF bler-
stadt. The sculptor's chisel has come In
for high encomium, and the world has
celebrated Chantrey's chisel and Craw-
ford's chiseI and Greenoughs chlsei.
Rnt there is one instrument about which
sing the first canto that was ever sung
the sickle. the sickle of the Bible, the
sickIe that has reaped the harvest of
many centuries. Sharp and bent into a
semicircle and glittering. this reaping
hook. no longer than your arm, has
furnished the bread for thousands of
wears Its success has produced the
wealth of nations. 1t has had more to do
with the worlds progress than sword
and pen and pencil and ohisel all put
together. Christ puts the sickle into ex-
nnisite 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 commands them, "Put ye in the
sickle, for the harvest is ripe.
Richer Harvests.
Last November there was great re-
ioicing all over the land. With trumpet
and cornet and organ and thousand
voiced psalm we praised the Lord for
the temporal haryests. We praised God
for the wheat, the rye, the oats, the cot
ton, the rice, all the fruits of the Or
chard and all the grains of the field,
and the nation never does better thing
than when in the autumn it gathers to
festivity and thanks God for the great
ness of the harvest. But come today
to speak to you of richer harvests, even
the spiritual. How shall we estimate
the value of man? We say he is worth
SO many dollars, or he 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 the bot
tom and some at the bottom who ought
to be at the top, and the only way to
estimate a man is by his soul. We all
know that we shall live forever. Death
cannot kill us. Other crafts may be
drawn into the whirlpool or shivered on
the rocks, but this life within us will
weather all storms and drop no anchor.
and 100000 years after death will
shake out signals ON the high seas Of
eternity. You put the mendicant of
your doorstep and say he is only beg
gar, but he is worth all the gold of the
mountains, worth all the pearls of the
sea, worth the solid earth, worth sur
and moon and stars, worth the entire
material universe. Take all the papel
that ever came from the paper mills ant
put it side by side and sheet by sheet
and let men with fleetest pens make fig
ures on that paper for 10000 years, ant
they will only have begun to expires
the value of the soul. Suppose ownet
Colorado and Nevada and Australia, o
how much value would they be to M
one moment after I departed this life
How much of Philadelphia does Stephel
Girard own today? How much of Bos
ton property does Abbott Lawrence owl
today? The man who today hath dol
r lar in his pocket hath more worldly es
tate than the millionaire who died las
year. How do You suppose feel, stand
ing here surrounded by multitude @
souls, each one worth more than tn
material universe?
A Powerful Sickle.
Oh, was I not right in saying thi
spiritual harvest is richer than the TEN
poral harvest? must tighten the gi1
die, must sharpen the sickle, l mus
be careful how 1 swing the instrumen
for gathering the grain, lest one stall
be lost. One of the most powerful sic
kles for reaping this spiritual harvest i
the preaching of the gospel. If the sic
kle have a rosewood handle, and it b
adorned with precious stones, and yet i
cannot bring down the grain, it is no
much of a sickle, and preaching amount
to nothing unless it harvests souls TO
God. Shall we preach philosophy? TIL
Ralph Waldo Emersons could beat u
at that. Shall we preach science? Th
Agassizes could beat us at that TIL
minister of Jesus Christ with weakes
arm going forth in earnest prayer, ant
welding this sickle of the gospel, shall
find the harvest all around him waiting
for the angel sheaf binders. Oh, thi
harvest of souls! notice in the field
that the farmer did not stand uprigh
when he gathered the grain. I noticed
he had to stoop to his work, and no
ticed in order to bind the sheaves tn
better he had to put his knee upon them
And as we go forth in this work TO
God we cannot stand upright in GU
rhetoric and our metaphysics and on
erudition. We have to stoop to ou
work. Aye, we have to put our knee t
it or we will never gather sheaves 70
the Lords garner. Peter swung tina
sickle on the day of Pentecost, and 8, 00'
sheaves came in. Richard Baxter swung
that sickle at Kidderminster, and Mo
Cheyne at Dundee, and vast multitude
came into the kingdom of our God.
Teach All Nations.
Oh, this is a mighty gospel 1t cap
tured not only John the lamb, but Pau
Che lion. Men may gnash their teeth a
it, and clinch their fists, but it is tn
power of God and the wisdom Of Coz
unto salvation. But, alas, if it is onl,
preached in pulpits and on Sabbath
days We must go forth into our stores
our shops, our banking houses, our fac
tories and the streets, and everywher
preach Christ. We stand in our pulpit
for 2 hours on the Sabbath and com
mend Christ to the people, but Their
are 1853 hours in the week, and what ar,
the 2 hours on the Sabbath agains
the 1865? Oh, there comes down the or
dination of God this day upon all tn
people, men who toll with head an,
hand and foot-the ordination come
upon all merchants, upon ali mechanics
upon all toilers and God says to you a
he says to me: go, teach all nations
He that believeth and is baptized shall
be saved, and he that believeth not shal
be damned, Mighty gospel, let tn
whole earth hear it The story of Chris
is to regenerate tho nations, it is t
eradicate all wrong, it is to turn tn
earth into a paradise. An old arts
painted the Lords Supper" and b
wanted the chief attention directed to tn