Kansas City daily journal., 1896-10-19

| I hay and seeing the
Rev. DR.. Talmage. golden light OF the
wheat field. And
when I open my Bible TO take my teNt,
the Scripture leaf rustles like the tasseis
of the corn.
We were nearly all of us born in the
country. We dropped corn in the nili'
and went on Saturday to the mii+' tyiis
the grist in the center of the sack SO thal
the contents on either side OF the hofse
balanced each other; and drove the ca'tie
afield our bare feet wet with ceW, anu
rode the horses with the matter W .ne
brook until we fell off, and hunted the
NOW for nests until the feathered occu-
pants went cackling away. We were near,
ly all of us born in the country, ana al
would have stayed there had not some au-
venturous lad on his vacation come pack
with better clothes and softer hands, ana
set the whole village on fire with amoitfon
for city life So we all understand rustic
aIlusions. 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 1t mes over
Mount Olivet David and John, Paui anu
Isaiah find in country life source OF ire
quent illustration, while Christ IN the te&t
takes the responsibility of calling God
farmer, declaring: My Father is the
husbandman."
Noah was the first farmer. We say
nothing about Cain, the tilier OF the soil.
Adam was a gardener on a large scale, DIT
to Noah was given all the acres OF the
earth. Elisha was an agriculturist, mol
cultivating a ten-acre lot, for we find him
piowing with twelve yoke of oxen. In
Bible times the land was SO plenty and the
Inhabitants so few that Noah was r1ght
when ne gave to every inhabitant certain
portion of land: that land. If cultivated.
ever after to be his own possession. Just
-nif fad Staf fS1Hy -1-
ment on payment of $16 years ago gave
pre-emption right to 160 acres to any man
who would settle there and cultivate the
soil
All classes Of people were expected to cul-
fivate ground except ministers of religion.
1t was supposed that they would have
their time entirely occupied with their own
profession although I am told that some
times ministers do plunge SO deeply into
woridliness that they remind one of what
Thomas Fraser said in regard to man in
his day who preached very well but lived
very i'll: when he is out of the pulpit, 1t
is a pity he should ever go into 1t. and
when he is in the pulpit, 1t Is pity ne
should ever come out of II"
This was the rule I'M regard to the cul-
ture of the ground: Thou shalt not plow
with an OK and an ass together" illustrat-
ing the folly Of ever putting intelligent and
useful and pliable men in association with
the stubborn and the unmanageabe. The
vast majority Of troubles in the churches
and in reformatory institutions comes from
the disregard of this command of the Lord,
''Thou shalt not plow with an OK and an
ass together.
In all ages there has been great honor
paid to agriculture. Seven-eighths of the
people in every country are disciples Of the
plow. A government is strong in proper
ton as it is supported by an athletic and
industrious yeomanry. So long ago as be-
fore the fall of Carthage, Strabo wrote
twenty eight books on agriculture; Hesiod
wrote a poem on the same subject-"The
Weeks and Days" Cato was prouder OF
his work on husbandry than of all his
military conquests. But I must not be
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 country-larger
harvests than have ever before been gath
ered-I want to run out the analogy be.
tween 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, 1 remark, in grace as
in the fields there must be a plow. 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 indolent son: ''There
are hundred dollars buried deep in tina,
feld." The. son went to work and plowed
the field from fence to fence, and he plow.
ed 1t very Deep and then complained that
he had not found the money: but when the
crop had been gathered and sold for a
hundred dollars more than any previou:
year. then the young man took the hin,
as to what his father meant when he said
there were a hundred dollars buried dowr
in the field. Deep blowing 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 mar
speaks of sin as though it were an inac.
curacy or mistake, instead of the loathe
some, abominable, consuming and damn
ing thing that God hates, that man will
never yield harvest of usefulness
Ny word is to all Sabbath school teach
ers, to all parents. to all Christian worker.
-Plow deep! Plow deep!
Deep plowing for a crop. Deep nlow,n.
for soul Broken heart or no religion
Broken soil or no harvest Why was s
that David and the jailer and the nuh
lican ard Paul made such ado about tbei
sins? Had they lost their senses? No. Nh,
plowshare struck them. Conviction turne,
up a great many things that were forgot
ten. AS farmer plowing sometimes turn!
up the skeleton of man or the anatom,
of a monster long ago buried, SO the plow
share of conviction turns up the ghastl,
skeletons of sins long ago entombed. Geoi
ogists never brought up from the depth
of the mountain mightier ichthyosaurus O
megatherium.
But what means all this crooked plow
ing, these crooked burrows, the repentanc
that amounts to nothing, the repentanc
that ends in nothing? Men groan owe
their sins, but get no better. They weer
but their tears are not counted. They ge
convicted, but not converted. What is tn
reason? ] remember that on the farm W
set a standard with red flag at the othe
end of the field. We kept our eve on tba,
We aimed at that. We plowed up TO thai
Losing sight of that We made a crooke
furrow. Keeping our eye on that we mad
a straight furrow. Now in this matter a
conviction We must have some standard t
guide us. 1t is a red standard that Go
has set at the other end of the field. II /
the cross. Keeping your eye on that yo
will make a straight furrow. Losing sigh
of it you Will make a crooked furrow
Plow up to the cross. Aim not at eithe
end OF the horizontal piece of the cross
but at the upright piece, at the center O
II. the heart of the Son OF God who bor
your sins and made satisfaction. erwin
and weeping will not bring you through
Him hath God exalted TO be prince an
a Savior 10 give repentance" Oh plow II
10 the cross.
Again. j remark, in grace as in the fiel
there must be a sowing. In the autumna
weather you find the farmer going acros
the field at a stride of about twenty-five
riches and at every stride he puts hi
hand into the sack of grain and he sprink
les the seed corn over the field. 1t look
silly 10 man who does not know wha
he is doing. He is doing very importar
work. He is scattering the winter grain
and though the snow may come. the mex
year there will be great crop. Now, tina
is what we are doing when We are preach
ing the Gospel-we are scattering the seet
it Is the foolishness Of preaching, but it