The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1896-12-12
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
rhe Eminent Divine's Sermon Dee
:ivsred In Washington.
Subject: "Gospel Farming"
TEXT. "My Father is the husbandmau.


directions over between five and six thousand
miles OF harvest fields, can hardly open my
Bible without smelling the breath OF new
mown hay and seeing the golden light OF the
wheat field And when l open my Bible 10
take my text, the Scripture leaf rustles Ike
the tassels OF the corn.
We were nearly all 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 or the sack so that the contents on
either side the hosss balanced each other;
and drove the cattle afield, our bare feet wet
with the dew, AMI rode the horses with the
halter 10 the brook until we fell OF, and
hunted the NOW foe nests until the feathered
occupants went cackling away. We were
nearly all OF us born in the country, ana all
would have stayed there had not some ad-
yenturous 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 allus-
ions. The Bible is full OF them. In Christs
Sermon on the Noun. You could see the full-
blown lilies and the glossy back ofthe crows
wings as ii flies over Mount Oiiyet. David
and John, Paul aud Isaiah find in country
life source of frequent illustration, while
Christ in the text takes the responsibility OF
calling God farmer, declaring: "My Father
is the husbandman."
about Cain, the tiler OF the soil. Adam was
a gardener on a large scale, but to Noah was
given nit tho acres OF the earth. Elisha was
an agriculturist, not cultlvaiing a ten-acre
lot. for we find him blowing with twelve
yoke Of oxen. In Bible times the land was
SO plenty and the inhabitants so few that
Noah was right when no gave to every in
bab.sant a certain portion OF land, that lant
II cultivated ever after to be his own posses
sion. 3
They were not small crops raisel in those
times, for though the arts were rude, the
plow turned up vsry rich SOIL AMI barley
and cotton and fax and all kinds OF grain
came up ut the call ofthe haryesters. Pliny
tells of one stalk Of grain that had on 1t be-
tween three and four hundred ears. The
rivers and the brooks, through artificial
channels, were brought down to the roots OF
the corn, and to this habit OF turning river
wherever it was wanted. solomon refers
when he says: "The kings heart Is in the
hand of the Lord. and he turneth it as the
rivers OF water are turned, whithersoeyer He
will"
The wild beasts were caught, and then a
hook was put into their nose. and then they
were led over the field. and to that God re-
fers when He says to wicked Sennaeherib:
~ will put hook in thy nose and l will
bring thee back by the way which thou
earnest" And God has hook in every bad
mans nose. whether Ii be Nebuchadnezzar or
Ahab or Herod. He may think himself very
independent, but soma time in his life, or in
the hour Of his DEATH he will find that the
Lori Almighty has hook in his nose.
This was the rule in regard to the culture
OF the ground: "rhou shalt not pillow with
an OK and an ass together" illustrating the
folly of ever putting intelligent and useful
and pliable men in association with the
stubborn and unmanageatle. !. The vast ma
iority Of troubles in the churches and in re-
formatory Institutions comes from the disre-
gard of this command of the Lord, "Thou
shalt not plow with an OK and an ass to-
gether."
There were large amounts Of property In
vested In cattle. The Moabites paid 100, 900
sheep as an annual tax. Job had 1000 sheep,
5000 camels, 600 yoke of oxen. The time OF
vintage was .ushered in with mirth and
music. Fhe clusters OF the vine were put
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
crucinxion, making use OF this allusion when
the question was asked: Wherefore art
Thou red in Thine apparel and Thy garments
like one who treadeth the wine vat?" he re-
sponded: "I have trod len the wine press
alone"
In all ages there has been great honor paid
to agriculture. Seyen-eights of the people
in every country are disciples OF the pillow
A government Is strong In proportion as it is
supported by an athletic and industrious
yeomanry. So long ago rs before the fall OF
Carthage, Stmbo wrote twenty-eight books
on agriculture: Hesod wrote poem on the
same substitute Weeks and Days" Cato
was prouder OF bis work on husbandry than
of all his military conquests. But / must
not be tempted into discussion OF agricul-
tural conquests. Standinga mid the harvests
and orchards and vineyards of the Bible. and
standing amid the harvests and orchards and
vineyards of our own country-larger har-
vests than have ever before been gathered
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, remark, In grace as In
the Acids, there must be a plow. That which
theologians call conviction Is only the plow-
share turning up the sins that have been
rooted and matted In the soul. A farmer
said to bis indo.ent son: "There are a
hundred dollars buried deep in that field 81
The son went to work and plowed 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 hundred dollars
more than any preyiousyear, then the young
man took the hint as to what his father
meant when he said there were hundred
dollars buried down in 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 man speaks OF sin as though IL
were an inaccuracy or mistake, instead Of
the ioathsome, abominabie, consuming and
damning thing that God hates, that man
will never yield harvest OF usefulness.
When / was boy plowed field with
ateam OF spirited horses. Iplowed It very
quickly. Once in a while I passed over
some Of the sod without turning it, but did
not jerk back the pillow with its rafting de-
vices. l thought 1t 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
it over again. The difficulty with great
many people Is that they are only scratched
with conviction when the subsoii plow OF
Gods Truth ought to be put in up to the
beam.
My word is TO all Sabbath-school teachers.
10 ali parents, to all Christian workers.
Plow deep! Plow deep.
But what means all this crooked blowing,
these crooked burrows. the repentance that
amounts to 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?
remember that on the farm we set a stand.
ard With red flag at the other end OF the
field. We kept our eye on that. We aimed
at that. We plowed up to that. Losing
sight OF that VS. made crooked furrow.
Keeping our eye on that we made straight