The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1896-10-23

| Why was it that David and the jailer
and the publican and Paul made such
ado about their sins? Had they lost
their senses? No. The plowshare
struck them. Conviction turned up a
great many things that were forgot
ten. As a farmer blowing sometimes
turns up the skeleton of a man or the
anatomy of monster long ago buried,
so the plowshare of conviction turns
up the CHASTITY skeletons of sins long
ago entombed. Biologists never
brought up from the depths of the
mountain mightier ichthyosaurus or
megatherium-
But what means all this crooked
blowing, these crooked burrows. the
repentance that amounts to nothing.
the repentance that ends in nothing?
Men groau over their sins, but get no
better. They weep, but their tears
are not counted. They get convicted,
tut not converted. What is the rea-
son? remember that on the farm
we set a standard with a 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
we made a crooked furrow. Keeping
our eye on that we made a straight
furrow. Now in this matter of con-
viction we must have some standard to
guide us. It is red standard that God
has set at the other end of the field 1t
is the cross. Keeping your eye on that
you will make a straight furrow. Los
ing sight of it you will make crooked
furrow. Plow up to the cross. Aim not
at either end of the horizontal piece of
the cross, but at the upright piece, at
the center of it, the heart of the Son CT
God, who bore your sins and made sat
isfaction. Crying and weeping will
not bring you through. Him hath
God exalted to be a Prince and
Saviour to give repentance. Oh, pillow
up to the cross!
Again, remark, in grace as in the
field there must be sowing. In the
autumnal weather you find the farmer
going across the field at stride of
about % inches, and at every stride he
puts his hand into the sack of grain
and he sprinkles the seed corn over the
field. 1t looks silly to a man who does
not know what he is doing. He is scat
tering the winter grain. and though the
snow may come, the next year there
will be great crop. Now, that is what
we are doing when we are preaching the
gospel-we are scattering the seed. tits
the foolishness of preaching, but it is
the winter grain; and through the
81
upon it, it will yield after while glo-
rious harvest Let US be sure we sow
the right kind of seed. Sow mullen
stalk and mullen stalk will come up.
Sow Canada thistles and Canada this
ties will come up. Sow wheat and
wheat will come up. Let US distin-
guish between truth and error. Let
us know the difference between wheat
and hellebore, oats and henbane.
The largest denomination in this
country is the denomination of Moth
ingarians. Their religion is a system
of negations You say to one of them,
what do you believer" ''Well, l
don't believe in infant baptism"
What do you believer" "Well, 1 don't
believe in the perseverance of the
saints" well, now tell me what you
do believer" well, don't believe in
the eternal punishment of the wicked"
So their religion is a row of ciphers.
Believe something and teach it; or, to
resume the figure of my text, scatter
abroad the right kind of seed.
Again, remark, in grace as in the
farm there must be a reaping. Many
Christians speak of religion as though !
it were n matter of economics or iu-
surance. They expect to reap in the
next world. Oh, no! Now is the time
to reap. Gather up the joy of the
Christian religion this morning. this
afternoon, this night. If You have not |
as much grace as you would like to
have, thank God for what you have, |
and pray for more. You are no worse /
enslaved than Joseph, no worse trou- |
bled than was David, no worse scOurged |
than was Paul. Yet, amid the rattling |
of letters, and amid the gloom of dun
geons, and amid the horrors of ship. |
wreck, they triumphed in the grace
of God. The weakest man in the |
house to-day has 500 acres of spiritual /
Joy, all ripe. Why do you not go and
reap it? You have been groaning over
your infirmities for 30 years. Now
give one round shout over your eman.
cipation. You say you have it so hard;
you might have it worse. You wonder
why this great cold trouble keeps re-
volving through your soul, turning and
turning with a black hand on the
crank. All, that trouble is the grind.
stone on which you are to sharpen
your sickle. To the fields! Wake up
Take off your green spectacles, your
blue spectacles, your black spectacles.
Pull up the corners of your mouth as
far as you pull them down. To the
fields! Reap, reap!
Again, remark, in grace as in farm
ing there is time for thrashing. l tell
you bluntly that is death. just as the
farmer with fail beats the wheat out
of the straw, so death beats the soul
out of the body. Even sickness is
stroke of the fail, and the sick bed is
the treshingfOor. What, say you. is
death to good man. only taking the