Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1896-02-26
Rev. DR.. IgLuaGE.
The Eminent Divine's Sunday
Sermon.
Subjeet-''Bringing in the sheaves.

TEXT. ''Put va In the sickle, for the hap
vest Is ripe Joel iii. IS.
The sword has been poetizsi. anil the
Wofio mas celebrated the sword OF Bolivar,
the sword OF Cortes and the swor Of Lafav.
cite. The pen has been properly pulOg,Zed
and the world has celebrated the pen of A..
a'son, the pen OF Sonthey and the pen OF
Irving. The painters pencil has been hon.
orods and the world has celebrated the pen
Gil OF Murilio. the Den: :ii of Ruoens and the
pencil OF Bierstadt. The scuiptor's chiseI
mas come In for b gh encomium. and the
W6 rid has celebrated Chantrey's chisel aud
Crawford 8 chisel and Greenough's chisel But
mere Is one instrument about which sing
tne nrst canto that was ever sunS-the sickle,
| the sickle OF the Bible, the sickle that has
feaped the harvest Of many centuries. sharp
ana Dent into a semicircie and ,yittering, this
reaplnH hook, no longer than your arm. has
furnished the bread for tn ousands OF year,
Its success has produced the wealth Of Ma
mons. 1t has had more to do with the worlds
progress than sword and pen and pencil and
chtsel all put together. Christ puts the sickle
INTO exquisite sermOnic simlle, and you SEQ
that instrument flash ali up aud down the
! Apocalypse as St. John swings il. 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 ths
harvest Is ripe"
Last November there was great rejoicing
ali over the land. With trumpet AMI cornet
and organ and thousand voiced psalm we
praise The Lord for the temporal harves,s
We praised God for the wheat. the rye, the
oats, the cotton. the rice, all the fruits OF
; the orchard and all the grains OF the field,
and the Nation never does IA better thing
| than when in the autumn it gathers 10 fes-
ttvity and thanks God for the greatness OF
the harvest. But come to-day to speak 10
you OF richer harveSts, even the spiritual
How shall we estimate the value OF man?
! We say he Is wcrtn SO many dollars, or h.,
mas achieved such and such u position, but
we know very we'll there some men at
the top OF the ladder who ought to be at the
bottom and some at the bottom who ought
TO be ar the top. and tine only way TO esti.
mate man Is by his soul. We all know that
We shall live forever. Death cannot kill US.
Other crafts may be drawn into the whir,-
pool or shivered on the rocks. but the life
within US will westher all storms and drop no
anchor, and 10 ,0O0, 900 years after death will
shake out signals on the high seas of eterni-
ty. You put the mendcant off your door
step and say he is only beSSar, but he is
worth all tho gold of the mountains. worth
all the pear 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 feetest pens make figures
on that paper for 10, 900 years, and they will
soul. Suppose owned Colorado and Ne
vata and Australia, of how much value
would they be to me one moment after de-
parted this life? How mitch of PHILADELPHIA
does Stephen Girard own to-day? How
much of Boston property does Abbott Law
renee own to-day? Toe man who to-day
hath q dollar In his pocket hath more world
ly estate than the millionaire who died last
year. How do you suppose 1 feel. standing
here surrounded by multitude of souls
i each one worth more than the material uni.
| verse;
! Oh, was not right In saying this spiritual
harvest is richer than the temporal harvest
l must tighten the girdle, 1 must sharpen the
sickle, l must be careful how 1 swing the
instrument for gathering the grain, lest ona
stalk be lost One of the most powerful
stckles for reaping this spiritual harvest is
the preaching of the gospel. II the sickle
have rosewood handle, and it be adorned
with precious stones, and yet it cannot bring
down the grain. 1t is not much of sickle,
and preaching amounts to nothing unless il
harvests souls for God. Shall we preach phil.
osophyf The Ralph Waldo Emersons could
beat US at that. Shall We preach sciencei
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 har.
vest all around him waiting for the angel
sheaf binders. Oh, this harvest OF souls! ]
notice in the fields that the farmer did not
stand upright when he gathered the grain.
noticed he had to sto0p to his work. and
noticed in order to bind the sheaves the bet
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 eruditon. We have to
stoop to our work. Aye, we have to put our
knee to It 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
at Ktdderminster. and McCheyne at Dundee,
and vast multitudes came into the kingdom
Of our God
oh, this Is q mighty gospel 1t captured
not only John the lamb. but Paul the lion,
Men may gnash their teeth at 1t. and ciinch
their fists. but it is the power Of God and the
wisdom OF God unto salvation. But, alas,
II 1t 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
hours on the Sabbath and commend Christ to
tho people, but there are 1853 hours In the
week, and what are the two hours ON the
Sabbath against the 1852 Oh, there comes
down tho ordination of God this day upon
Al tho people, men who toll with head and
hand and foot -tne ordination comes upon
al merchants. upon all mechanics, upon all
toiler:, and God says to you as He says to
me: "Go, teach all Nations He that be-
Heveth and is baptized shall be saved, and
ne that believeth not shall be damned"
Mighty gospel, let the whole earth hear iti
The story OF Christ is TO regenerate the
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 the
chalices more than they did the face, and
hhA ola ;o<o
and he dashed out the picture of the cups,
and said: II shall have nothing to detra,t
rom the face Of the Lord. Christ is the all
N this picture"
Another powerful sickle for the reaping OF
this harvest il Christian song. 1 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
n and others cannot die for US, we cannot
delegate to others the work of singing for
u. While few drilled artists shall take the
chants and execute the more skillfui music.
when the hymn is given out let there be hun.
dreds and thousands Of voices uniting in the
reclamation. On the way TO grandeurs that
mover cease and glories that never die let US
Sing. At the battle Of Lutzen a general came
to the king and said: "Those soldiers are
singing as they are going into battle. Shall
stop them?" ''No," said the king. '.men
that can sing like that can fight" oh, the
power OF Christian songi When argue here,
you may argue back. The argument you
make against religion may be more skillfui
than the argument I make In behalf of -eIig-
Ion. But who can stand before the pathos of
some uplifted song like that which we some
times sing:
Show pity, Lord; o Lord, forgive!
Let a repenting rebel live.
Are not Thy mercies large and free?
May not a sinner trust in Thee?
Another mighty sickle for the reapinc OF
the gospel harvest is prayer. What does God
do with our prayersI Does He go on the bat
Elements Of heaven and throw them off. No.
What do you do with gifts given you by
lh0G0 Who Iowa Inuf.h1 You kaa