The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1896-10-24

A deals with great re-
~ "a ligious truths. His
~, W text was John 1851:
EZA %-L %TsSHFA'Ny Father is the
ES3 @NAWhusbandman." DIR.
M IN Talmage said: The
VA IT'D last summer, having
EZ9F gone in differ emit di.
k GM rectionS over be-
A3A Y M%|MI FEs9tween 5000 and G.,
EtSssA SvsE EE9 O0O miles of harvest
NE44EiA L 70, #UI1 fields, | can hardly
YSM%& MMM open my Bible with
REV LIMA out smelling the
breath of new-mown hay and seeing
the golden light of the wheat field.
And when l open my Bible to take
my text, the scripture leaf rustles like
the tasseis of the corn.
We were nearly all of us born in the
country. We dropped corn in the hill,
and went on Saturday to the mill, tying
the grist in the center of the sack so
that the contents on either side of the
horse balanced each other; and drove
the cattle afield, our bare feet wet
with dew, and rode the horses with
the halter to the brook until we fell
off, and hunted the NOV for nests until
the feathered occupants went cackling
away. We were nearly all of us born
in the country, and all would have
stayed there had not some ad-
venturous 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 understand rustic illusions. The
Bible is full of them. In Christ's SER
mon on the mount you could see the
l-blo lilies and the glossy back of
the crows wing as it flies over Mount
Olivet. David and John, Paul and
Isaiah find in country life a source of
frequent illustration, while Christ in
the text takes the responsibility of
calling God n farmer, declaring: MY
Father is the husbandman."
Noah was the first farmer. We say
nothing abou Cain, the tiller of the
soil. Adam was n gardener on a large
scale, but to Noah was given all the
acres of the earth. Elisha was an
agriculturist, not ~cultivating n ten
acre lot, for we find him blowing with
IL yoke of oxen. In Bible times the
land was so plenty and the inhabitants
so few that Noah was right when he
gave to every ~inhabitant Il certain por-
ton of land; that laud, if cultivated,
ever aIJCr 10 DG Ills own pOSScSSlOn.
Just as in Nebraska the United States
government on payment of $40 years
ago gave presumption right to 160 acres
to any man who would settle there
and cultivate the soil.
All classes.of people were expected
to cultivate ground except ministers of
religion. 1t was supposed that they
would have their time entirely occupied
- -. -
am told that sometimes ministers do
plunge so deeply into worldliuess hat
they remind one of what Thomas
Fraser said in regard TO a man in his
dav who preached very we'll but lived
very i'll: when he is out of the pulpit,
it is n pity he should ever go into it,
and when he is in the pulpit, it is u pity
he should ever come out of it."
This wa the rule in regard to the
culture of the ground: Thou shalt
not pillow with an OK and an ass to-
gether," illustrating the folly of ever
putting intelligent and useful and pill
able men in association with the stub
born and 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 plow with
an OK and an ass together" In all
ages there has been greater honor paid
10 agriculture. Seven-eights of the
people in every country are dis
ciples of the pillow. A govern
ment is strong in proportion as
it is supported by an athletic and
industrious yeomanry. So long ago as
before the fall of Carthage, Strabo
wrote % books on agriculture; Hesiod
wrote a poem on the same subject
Weeks and Days" Cato was
prouder of his work on h4sbandry
of all his military conquests. But
] must not be tempted into a discussion
of agricultural c~onquests. Standing
the harvests and orchards and
of the Bible, and standing
amid the harvests and orchards and
vineyards of our own country-larger
haryests than have ever before been
g%atherel-I want to run out the
analogy between the production of
crops and the growth of grace in the
soul-all these sacred writer's making
use of that analogy.
In the first place, l remark, in grace
as ia fields there must be a pillow. That
theologiaps Gall conviction is
only the plowshare turning up the sins
have been rooted and matted ia
the soul. A farmer said TO his indolent
son: There are 500 buried deep In
that field" The son went to work and
the field from fence to fence,
and he plowed it very deep, and then
complained that he had not found
the money; but when the crop
had been gathered and sold for
500 more than any previous
then the young man took the
hint as to what his father meant when
said there were 500 buried down
in the field. Deep blowing for a crop.
Deep blowing for a soul. lie who
light of sin will never amount
to anything in the church or in the
If a man speaks of sin as
it were an inaccuracy or q miss
take. instead of the loathesome, abomi-
nable, consuming and damning things
that God hates, that man will never
yield a harvest of usefulness.
NV word is to all Sabbath school
teachers, to all parents, to all Christian
vorkers-PlOw deepl Plow deep!
Deep blowing for a crop Deep plow-
for d soul. Broken heart or no re-
igion. Broken soil OF no harvest
Why was it that David and the jailer
nd the publican and Paul made such
abont their sins? Had they loss
heir senses? No. Tne p~lowshare
truck them. Conviction turned up n
,raat many things that were forgot
en-. As n farmer blowing sometimes
@Macws !.