Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1896-10-23
LESSONS IN FARMING.
REV. DR.. TALMAGE SEES A SERMON
IN RURAL LIFE.


WASHINGTON, Oct 1S.-This sermon,
at this season, after most people have
had a good, long breath of the country,
if they do not actually live there, will
revive many pleasant memories, while
it deals with great religious truths. Dr.
Talmage's text was John XIV, /, "My
Father is the husbandman.
This last summer, having gone in
different directions over between 5000
and 6 200 miles Of harvest fields, / can
hardly open my Bible without smelling
the breath of new mown hay and seeing
the golden light of the wheatfeld. And
when l open my Bible to take my text,
the Scripture leaf rustles like the tassels
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 the horse
balanced each other, and drove the cat
tie 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 oc
cupants went cackling away. We were
nearly all of US born in the country, and
all would have staid there had not
some adventurous 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 allusions. 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 it flies over Mount Olivet.
David and John, Paul and Isaiah, find
in country life source Of frequent IL
lustration, while Christ in the text takes
the responsibility of calling God a
farmer, declaring, "My Father is tue
husbandman.
Noah was the first farmer. We say
nothing about Cain, the tiller OF the
soil. Adam was a gardener on large
scale, but to Noah was given all the
acres Of the earth. Elisha was an agri-
culturist, not cultivating a 10 acre lot,
for We find him plowing with II yoke
Of oxen. In Bible times the land was so
plenty and the inhabitants 50 few that
Noah was right when he gave to every
inhabitant a certain portion Of land,
that land, if cultivated, ever after TO be
his own possession-just as in Nebraska
the United States government on pay
ment Of $40 years ago gave pre-emption
right to 100 acres TO any man who
would settle there and cultivate the soil.
In the Fields.
All classes of people were expected to
cultivate ground except ministers OF re-
ligion. 1t was supposed that they would
have their time entirely occupied with
their own profession, although l am
told that sometimes ministers do plunge
so deeply into wOrldliness that they re-
mind one Of what Thomas Fraser SAID
in regard to a man in his day who
preached very well but lived very III,
"When he is out Of the pulpit 1t is q
pity he should ever 90 into it, and when
he is in the pulpit it is apity he should
ever come out Of 1t. "
They were not small crops raised ID
those times, for though the arts We're
rude, the plow turned up very rich soil,
p, and barley. and cotton, and fax, and
all kinds Of grain came up at the call OF
the harvesters. Pliny tells Of one stalk
of grain that had on it between 300 and
400 ears. The rivers and the brooks,
through artificial channels, were brought
down to the roots of the corn, and to
this habit Of turning a river wherever
it was wanted Solomon refers when ne
saws. "The kings heart is in the hand
of the Lord, and he turneth It as the
rivers Of water are turned, whitherso-
ever he will "
The wild beasts were caught, and
then 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 hook in thy
nose and l will bring thee back by the
way which thou camest. And GOD mas
n hook in every bad mans nose, whether
il be Nebuchadnezzar or Ahab or Herod.
He may think himself very independent
, but some time in his life, or in the houl
of his death, 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 moi
D nlow with an OK and an ass together,
p illustrating the folly of ever putting In
r telIigent and useful and pliable men IL
association with the stubborn and the
unmanageable. The vast majority Of
troubles in the churches and in reforma
.. tory institutions comes from the dlsre
gard of this command Of the Lord
r "Thou shalt not plow with an OK an'
an ass together. "
There were large amounts OF property
u invested in cattle. The Moabites pait
? 100. 600 sheep as an annual tax Jol
il had 2. 900 sheep, 5000 camels, 500 yok'
9 of oxen. The time of vintage was usher
3. cd in with mirth and music. The clus
Il ters of the vine were put into the win
, nress. and then five men would get int
the press and trample out the juice iron
. the grape until their garments were sat
urated with the wine and had becom
} the emblems of slaughter. Christ him
u self. wounded until covered with tn
j. blood of crucifxion, making use OF thl
'r allusion when the question was asked
j. "Wherefore art thou red in thine appa
}, rel and thy garments like one wn
n treadeth the wine vat?" he responded
r 81 have trodden the wine press alone.
f In all ages there has been great homo
y, paid to agriculture. Seven-eighths Q
- the people in every country are disciple
=, of the plow. A government is strong !
" proportion as it is supported by an atn
W letic and industrious yeomanry. so Ion
" ago as before the fall Of Carthage, strab
~ wrote 2s books on agriculture. Heslo
., wrote q poem ON the same subject, IN
M Weeks and Days" " Cato was prouder
e his work on husbandry than Of all b
Id military conquests. But l must not
N tempted into discussion Of agricultur
10 eonquests. Standing amid the haryes
. and orchards and vineyards Of the Biol