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

military CODQueSts. But must not OF
| tempted into discussion of agricultural
conquests. Standing amid the harvests
and orchards and vineyards OF the Bible,
and standing amid the harvests and
orchards and vineyards of our own coun-
try-Iarger harvests than have ever be-
fore been gathered-I want to run ont
the analogy between the production OF
crops and the growth Of grace IN the
soul, all these sacred writers making
use of that analogy.
The PIow.
In the first place, / remark, in grace
as in the fields. there must be a pillow.
That which theologians call conviction
| is only the plowshare turning up the
sins that have been rooted and matted
in the soul A farmer said to his indo-
lent son, ''There are 500 buried deep
in that field'' 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 500 more than
any previous year, then the young man
took the hint as to what his father
meant when he said there was 500
buried down in that field. Deep plow-
ing for crop. Deep blowing for soul.
He who makes light of sin will never
amount to anything in the church Or in
the world. IF a man speaks of sin as
though it were an inaccuracy Or a mis-
take instead of the loathsome, abom-
Unable, consuming, and damning thing
that God hates, that man will never
yield harvest of usefulness.
When I was q boy. I plowed a field
with team Of spirited horses. Tplowed
it very quickly. Once in while passed
over some Of the sod without turning it,
but I did not jerk back the pillow, with
its rafting devices. ! thought it made
no difference. After awhile my father
came along and said, "Why, this will
never do; this ism t plowed deep enough;
there you have missed this, and you have
missed that And he plowed 1t over
again. The difficulty with great many
people is that they are only scratched
with conviction when the subsOil pillow
of God truth ought to be put in up TO
the beam.
My word is to all Sabbath school
teachers, to all parents, to all Christian
workers: Plow deep Plow deepl
And if in your own personal expert
ence you are apt to take a lenient view
of the sinful side of your nature, put
down into your soul the Ten Command
ments, which reveal the holiness Of God,
and that sharp and glittering Golfer
will turn up your soul to the deepest
depths. If man breaches to you that
of Oyf1n t,xr
reason Of sin and that you need only a
little fixing up, he deceives. You have
suffered an appalling injury by reason
of sin. There are quick poisons and slow
poisons, but the druggist could give you
one drop that could kill the body. And
sin is like that drug; so virulent, SO
poisonous, SO fatal that one drop is
enough to kill the soul.
Deep Flowing.
Deep blowing for a crop. Deep pIow-
ing for soul. Broken heart or 10 re-
ligion. Broken soil or 10 harvest. 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. Con-
viction turned up q great many things
ing sometimes turns up the skeleton Of
q man or the anatomy Of q monster long
ago buried, SO the plowshare Of convic-
ton turns up the CHASTITY skeletons Of
sins long ago entombed. Biologists
never brought up from the depths Of the
mountain mightier ichthyosaurus c.
megatheriunl.
But what means all this crooked
blowing, these crooked burrows, the re-
pentance that amounts to nothing, the
that ends in nothing? Men
grOan over their sins, but get 10 better.
They weep, but their tears are not
They get convicted. but not
What is the reason? I re-
member that On the farm we set a
with red flag at the other
end of the field. We kept our eye on
that. We aimed at that. We pIowed up
to that. Losing sight Of that, we made
crooked furrow. Keeping our eye on
that, we made q straight furrow. Now,
in this matter of conviction we must
have some standard 20 guide US. 1t is q
red standard that God has set at the
other end Of the field. It is the cross.
your eye on that, you will make
a straight furrow. Losing 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 Of God, who bore
your sins and made satisfaction. Crying
and weeping will not bring you through.
s'Him hath God exalted to be prince
and Saviour to give repentance. . Oh,
plow up to the cross!
The Sowing.
Again I remark, in grace, as in the
field, there must be a sowing In the
autumnal weather you find the farmer
going across the field at stride of about
% inches, and at every stride he puts