Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1896-10-19
LESSONS IN FARMING.
REV. DR.. TALMAGE SEES A SERMON
IN RURAL LIFE.

He Finds Food For Thought In Flowing,
Planting, Reaping, Thrasiiing and Gar
nering-An Eloquent and Hortatory Per-
oration-The Harvest Home.
WASHINGTON, Oct 1S.-This sermon,
at this season, after most people have
had good, long breath of the country,
If they do not actually live there, will
revive many pleasant memories, whilo
it deals with great religious truths Dr.
Talmage's text was John XIV, 1, t'My
Father is the husbandman. %
This last summer, having gone in
different directions over between 5, 900
and 5000 miles Of harvest fields, I can
hardly open my Bible without smelling
the breath of new mown hay and seeing
the golden light Of the wheatfieid. And
when open my Bible to take my text,
the Scripture leaf rustles like the tassels
of the corn.
We were nearly all Of US born in the
country. We dropped corn in the hill,
and went on Saturday to the mill, tying
the grist in the center of the sack SO
that the contents on either side the horse
balanced each other, and drove the cat
tie afeld. our bare feet wet with the
dew, and rode the horses with the halter
to the brook until we fell off, and hunted
the NOW for nests until the feathered oc-
cupants went cackling away. We were
nearly all of US born in the country, and
all would have staid there had not
some adventurous 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 illusions. The Bible
is full of them. In Christ's sermon on
the mount you could see the full blown
lilies and the glossy back Of the crows
wing as it flies over Mount Olivet.
David and John, Paul and Isaiah, find
in country life source of frequent IL
lustration, while Christ in the text takes
the responsibility of calling God a
farmer, declaring, "My Father is the
husbandman.
Noah was the first farmer. We say
nothing about Cain, the tiller of the
soil. Adam was a gardener on a large
scale, but to Noah was given all the
acres of the earth. Elisha was an agri-
culturist, not cultivating 10 acre lot,
for we find him plowiag with 10 yoke
plenty and the inhabitants so few that
Noah was right when he gave to every
inhabitant certain portion of land,
that land, if cultivated, ever after to be
his own possession-just as in Nebraska
the United States government on pay
ment of SIG years ago gave presumption
right to 1G0 acres to any man who
would settle there and cultivate the soil
In the Fields.
All classes of people were expected to
cultivate ground except ministers Of re-
igion. 1t was supposed that they would
have their time entirely occupied with
their own profession, although | am
told that sometimes ministers do plunge
SO deeply into wOrIdliness that they re- |
mind one Of what Thomas Fraser said
in regard to q man in his day who
preached very well, but lived very i'll, |
"When he is out of the pulpit, it is q
pity he should ever go into it, and when
he is il tire pulpit it is a pity he should
ever como out OF it. !"
They were not small crops raised il
those times, for though the arts were
rude, tho plOw turned up very rich soil, |
and barley, and cotton, and fax, and |
all kinds CT grain came up at the call of
the harvesters. Pliny tells Of one stalk
of grain that had on it between 800 and !
400 ears. The rivers and the brooks,
through artificial channels, were brought |
down to the roots of the corn, and to
this habit Of turning q river wherever
it was wanted Solomon refers when he
says, ''-Iha kings heart is in the hand
of the Lord, and he turneth it as the
rivers Of water are turned, whitherso-
ever he Will
The wild beasts were caught, and |
then a hook was pat in to their nose, and |
then they were led over the field, and to
that God refers when he says to wicked |!
Sennacherib, Il will put hook in thy
nose and ] will bring thee back by the |
way which thou earnest. And God has |
a hook in every bad man S nose, whether
it be observation-disclosures CT Ahab Or Herod. |
He may think himself very independent, |
but some time in his life, or il the hour
of his death, he will find that the Lord
Almighty has hook in his 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 tine folly of ever putting in,
telligent and useful and pliable men in
association with the stubborn and the
unmanageabIe. The vast majority of
troubles in the churches and in reforma-
tory institutions comes from the dlsre-
gard of this command of the Lord,
<'Thou shalt not plow with an OK and
an ass together.
There were large amounts of property |
invested in cattle. The Moabites paid
100, 600 sheep as an annual tax. Job
had z, 900 sheep, 3, 200 camels, 500 yoke
of oxen. The time of vintage was usher
ed in with mirth and music. The clus-