Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1896-10-19

s
the perseverance Of the saints. ssWell,
now tell me what you Go believer"
"Well. I 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
Eight kind OF SEED.
A minister the other day preached a
sermon calculated to set the denomina-
lions Of Christians quarreling. He was
sowing nettles A minister the other
day advertised that he would preach
sermon on the superiority of transcen-
dental and organized forces to untrans-
cendental and unorganized forces What
was he sowing? Weeds. The Lord Jesus
Christ 10 centuries ago planted the d.
vine seed of doctrine. 1t sprang up. On
one side of the stalk are all the churches
of Christendom. On the other side of
the stalk are all the free governments of
the earth, and on the top there shall be
a Towering millennium after awhile.
All from the gospel seed Of doctrine.
Every word that parent, Or Sabbath
school teacher, Or city missionary, or
other Christian worker speaks for
Christ comes up. Yea, it comes up
with compound interest-you saving
one soul, that one savingten, the ten
hundred, the hundred thousand, the
thousand ten thousand, the ten thousand
one hundred thousand-on, on forever
The narrowing.
Again I remark, in grace as in the
farm, there must be narrowing. ] re-
fer now not to harrow that goes over
the field in order to prepare the ground
for the seed, but harrow which goes
over after the seed is sown, lest the
| birds pick up the seed, sinking it down
into the earth SO tIFst it can take root
You know harrow. It is made of bars
of wood nailed across each other, and
the underside Of each bar is furnished
with sharp teeth, and when the horses
are hitched to it it goes tearing and
leaping across the field, driving the seed
down into the earth until it springs up
in the harvest. Bereavement, sorrow,
persecution are the Lords harrows to
sink the gospel truth into your heart.
These were truths that you heard 80
years ago. They have not affected you
until recently. Some great trouble came
over you, and the truth was narrowed
IN, and it has come up. What did God
mean IL this country in 1857? For
century there was the gospel preached,
but q great deal Of it produced no re-
suit. Then God harnessed q wild panic
to harrow of commercial disaster, and
that harrow went down Wall street and
up Wall street, down Third street and
up Third street, down State street and
up State street, down Pennsylvania ave-
nue. and up Pennsylvania avenue, until
the whole land was torn to pieces as it
had never been before. What followed
the harrow? A great awakening, in
which there were 500, 900 souls brought
into the kingdom of our Lord No har-
row, no crop.
The Reaping.
Again I remark, in grace, as in the
farm, there must be a reaping. Many
Christians speak of religion as though
it were a matter Of economics or insur-
ance. They expect TO reap in the next
world. Oh, no! Now is the time to
reap. Gather up the JOY of the Chris
tlan religion this morning, this after
noon, 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 troubled than
was David, no worse scourged than was
Paul. Yet, amid the rafting of letters
and amid the gloom of dungeons and
amid the horror Of shipwreck, they tri-
umphed in the grace OF God. The weak
est man in the house today has 500
acres Of spiritual joy all ripe. Why do
you not go and reap it? You have been
groaning over your infirmities for 80
years. Now give one round shout over
your emancipation. You say you have
it SO hard. You might have it worse
You wonder why this great cold trouble
keeps revolving 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 fieldsl 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
fieldsl Reap, reap!
The Thrashing.
Again I remark, III grace, as in farm
ing, there is q time for thrashing. I tell |
you bIuntly 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. Every sickness is a stroke
of the fail, and the sickbed is the |
thrashing floor. What, say you, is death
to a good man only taking the wheat
out Of the straw? That is all. An aged |
man has fallen asleep. Only yesterday
you saw him IN the sunny porch playing
with his grandchildren. Calmly he re-
ceived the message to leave this world.
He bade a pleasant goodby to his old |
friends. The telegraph carries the It'd
ings, and on swift rail trains the kim
dred come, wanting once more to look
on the face of dear old grandfather