Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1896-11-06
REV. DR. TALMAGE.
The Eminent Washington Divine's
Sunday Sermon.
Subject: 'sGOsyseI Farming"
TEXT. "afy Father is the husbandman."--
john Ky, 1.
Subject: "GosyeI Farming"

take my text, the Scripture leaf rustles like
the tasSels OF the corn.
We were nearly ali of us born in the codn-
try. We dropped corn in the hill, and went
on Saturday to the mill, tying the grist In
the centre 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 of, and
hunted the NOW 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-
yenturous lad on his vacation como back
with better clothes and softer hands ana SET
he whole village on fire with ambition ior
city life. So we oil understand rustic alius-
ions. The Bibk, is full OF them. In Onrisis
Sa-rnon On the Mount YOU could see the full
blown lilies and the glossy back ofthe crows
wings as II 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 farmer, declaring: MY Father
is ne husbandman."
Noah was the first farmer we say notnlng
about Cain. the tlller OF the soil. Adam was
gardener on large scale, but to Moan was
given all the acres of the earth. Elsna was
an agrculturlst, not cultlvatin9 ten-acre
LOT. 1Or we uuQ PaONAA6
woke of oxen. In Bible times the land was
80 plenty and the inhabitants 50 few that
Noah was right when he gave to every IN
habitant certain portion of land, that land
II cultivated ever after to be his own posses
zion. i
They were not small crops raised In those
timss. for though the arts we're rude, the
plow turned up very rich soil, AMI barley
and cotton and fax and all KINDS OF grain
came up at the call ofthe harvesters. Pliny
tells OF one stalk OF grain that had on 1t be-
tween thrt 3 and four hundred ears. Inc
rivera and the brooks, through artificial
channels. were brought down to the roots OF
the corn, and to this habit Of turning river
wherever il was wanted, Solomon refers
when he SAYS: 1.-THE kings heart is in the
hand of the Lord, and He turneth 1t as the
rivers OF water are turned, whithersoeyer He
will"
The wild beasts were caught, and then
hook was put into their nose. and then tney
were led over the flel ], and to that Goa re-
| fers when He says to wicked Sennacnerlb;
al will put hook in thy nose and l will
bring thee back by the way which thou
camest." And God has hook In every bad
mans nose. whether 1t be Nebuchadnezzar or
| Ahab or Herod. He may think himself very
independent. but some time in his life, or III
the hour of his death, he will find that the
Lori Almighty has o book In bis nose.
This was the rule in regard to the culture
OF the ground: "Thou shalt not pillow with
an OK and an ass together" illustrating tne
| folly of ever putting Intelligent and use1ul
and pliable men In association with the
stubborn and unmanageable The vast ma
iority of troubles in the churches and IN re-
Observation-Disclosures comes from the disre-
gard of this command OF the Lord, "Thou
shalt not plOw with an OK and an ass to-
gether."
vested in cattle. The Moabites paid lOO,OO
sheep as an annual tax. Job had 1000 sheep,
5000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen. The time Oh
vintage was usherei In with mirth and
music. rhe clusters OF the vine were pu5
into the wine press, and then five men would
get into the press and trample out the juice
from the grape until their garments were
saturated with the wine and had become the
emblems of slaughter. Christ Himself.
wounded until covered with the blood oil
crucihxion, making use OF this alluSlon when
the question was asked: Wherefore art
Thou red in Thine apparel and Thy garments
like one who treadeth the wine vatr' lie re-
sDonded: az have trod len the wine press
alone"
In all ages there has been great honor paid
to agriculture. Ssven-eights of the people
In every country are disciples OF the plow
A government IS strong in proportion as 1t Is
supported by an athletic and Industrious
yeomanry. So long ago us before the fall OF
Carthage, Strabo wrote twenty-eight books
on agriculture: Hesiod wrote poem on the
same subject 1.-THE Weeks and Days" Cato
was prouder OF his work on husbandry than
Of al his military conquests. But must
not be tempted into discussion OF agreui-
tural conquests. StandInga midthe harvests
and orchards and vineyards the Bible, and
standing amid the harvests and orchards and
VINEYARDS of our own country-larger har-
vests than have ever before been gathered-l
want to run out the analogy between the
production of crops and the growth OF grace
In the soul all these sacred writers making
use of that analogy.
In the first place, remark, in grace as In
the fields, there must be pillow. That which
theologians call conviction Is only the plow-
share turning up the sins that have been
rooted and matted in the soul. farmer
aaid to his indolent son: "There are G
hundred dollars buried deep in that field.
The son went to work and plowed the field
from fence to fence, and he plowed 1t very
deep. and then complained that he had not
found the money: but when the crop bad
been gathered and sold for hundred dollars
mora than any previous year, then the young
man took the hint as TO what his father
meant WEtu H6 SUll tnOkO WOW hOAuAN N
dollars buried down ia that field. Deep
blowing for crop. Deep blowing for q
soul. He who makes light of sin will never
amount TO anything in the church or in the
world. II a man speaks Of sin as though it
were an inaccuracy or o mistake, instead OF
the loathsome, abominable, consuming and
damning thing that God hates, that man
will never yield harvest OF usefulness.
When was boy I plowed field with
team of spirited horses. l plowed 1t very
quickly. Once in a while passed over
some OF the sod without turning IT, but dld
not Jerk back the plow with its rafting de-
vices. l thought IL made no difference.
After awhile my father came along and said,
"Why. this will never do; this isn't plowed
deep enough: there you have missed this
and you have missed that" AND he plowed
Il over again. The difficulty with great
many people is that they are only scratched
with conviction when the subsoi plow OF
Gods truth ought to be put in up to the
beam.
My word is 10 all Sabbath-school teachers,
10 all parents, to all Christian WORKERS.
Plow deep! Piow deep!
But what means all this crooked blowing,
these crooked burrows, the repentance that
| amounts 10 nothing? Men groan over their
sins but get no better. They weep, but their
tears are not counted. They get convicted,
but not converted. What is the reason| L
remember that on the farm we Det stand
ard with red flag at the other end OF the
field. We kept our eye on that. we aimed
at thai. We plowed up to that. Losing
sight OF that we made crooked 1urrow.
Keeping our eye on that we made straight
furrow. Now in this matter Of conviction
we must have some standard to guide US. 1t
is a red standard that God has set at the
other end of the field. 1t is the Cross.