Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1902-06-20
TAL-MAGE
SERMON
BY Rev.
FRANK De WITT TALMAGE. DID,,
Pastor OF Jefferson Park Presby-
terrain Church, Chicago

S"'S VI "ionSuOlng are forcibly Ge-
scribed In the following sermon by
Rev. Frank De Witt Talmage from the
text Galatians vi, s. Gle that soweth 90
his flesh shall OF the flesh reap corrup-
ton"
Some familiar texts are like power
full tonics- They have a snap and
strength which we do not always find
in the water OF life when &c is held
In strange and peculiarly labeled bot
ties. They are like the lullabies with
which we We're sung to sleep in child
hood They have been repeated over
and over again by the lips of our de
parted loved ones. so that each word
is made sacred by holy associations.
Every time we speak them it seems as
though these words were the ushers
welcoming us into the vestibule of the
church in which the service was held
when we gave our hearts to God. Or
these texts are associated with the SER
mons OF some famous minister, which
we have either read or heard.
But though many great preachers
have spoken from this text and though
many holy associations gather around
its words yet would fain speak upon
1t for two reasons: First, because 1 am
passionately fond Of the country
Therefore any text which has in il the
figure Of the sower and the reaper, any
cimile which is scented with the smell
of the new mown hay or of the clover
tops. any figure which echoes the song
n IN, l,n 90 81
nightingale. any text which is glinted
with the golden colors of the wheat
fields or Redeemed with the hectic flush
of the autumn leaf, has for me ar Ia
tense and suggestive fascination. Ny
heart never beats more exultantly than
when :. is keeping time to the music
of the moving machine or 10 the swish
OF the swinging scythe.
The second reason why speak from
this text today is because the spring.
time Of the year. when the American
sower went forth to sow, is only n few
weeks past. The plows only q short
time ago had the rust of many months
rubbed of their sharp noses. The har-
rows teeth are yet white from chewing
and breaking the sods. And the sovver,
with his bag of seed hanging upon one
nrm and his handful of seed swinging
at the end OF the other arm, only a
short time ago, with measured tread.
went across the fields, scattering the
seeds to the right and TO the left May
God help US TO teach the lessons OF
sinners retribution in the language OF
the spring blowing.
The Seed md the Harvest.
The seeds OF the flesh by the inexora-
BILE law of the fields can only produce
the harvests OF the flesh. This state
ment is an axiom, a self evident fact.
So self evident is the law that the
seeds which are planted only produce
harveSts after their kind that n United
States agricultural department. has
been established, the chief purpose of
which is to introduce into the different
localities the right kind OF seeds for the
best development of the different kinds
of crops. The official head Of this de-
partment is a member OF the presi-
dents cabinet. Every year at public
expense thousands or seed packages
arc scattered over the country. Each
congressman has an allotment for gra-
tuitous distribution among his rural
constituents.
AS there is n spiritual law in the
natural world so there is n natural law
In the spiritual world. And the sowcr
TO the flesh has no more right TO expect
to reap the harvest OF the sower 10 the
spirit than farmer has right TO ex-
pect to gather q crop OF barley from
wheat seeds or crop of oats from
corn seeds or crop or rye from cotton
seeds or crop OF potatoes from musk.
melon seeds. Any sinner who is trying
TO argue himself into different spirit
ual belief is not only hooking God, but
making himself ridiculous.
Elon Foster tells us that one day n
sinful Roman master told his Christian
slave to so into n certain field and sow
crop OF barley. When the time OF |
harvest came, the master returned to |
that field and found there harvest of |
oats ready TO be garnered- In indigna- |
ton he called his slave and asked: |
did l not command you 10 sow here |
Held OF barley? Why, then, have We |
sown oatsl" The Christian slave an
swered, master, sowed oat seed in |
the hope that they would grow up into |
barley" His master gruffiy said: |
any one heard that oat seeds will pro-
duce harvest Of barley?" "Ah, mas
ter" replied the Christian slave, "you |
yourself are constantly sowing in the |
world the seed OF evil. and yet you ex-
pect to reap in the resurrection day the |
fruits of virtue. Therefore i thought |
also that might get barley by sowing |
oats" And the sinful master was
abashed and could not answer a word. |
GA Few wild oats.~
Go where you will you will find that |
the sower TO the flesh always reaps q
harvest of corruption. Sit with the |
Judge upon the bench. and he will tell
you that the young man standing be-
fore him for sentence did not think
that the seeds OF sin which he planted
in secret would ever take root and be-
gin to sprout. He did not think that
his sowing a few wild oats" would
ever cause his downfall. Yet God was
watching him sow those seeds. His
employers were watching him. Al
most every large business house in the
great cities has spies detailed to fol-
low the tracks of its employees So
when the money disappeared from the
safe the detectives naturally hunted up
the young man who spent his Sundays
at the races, the one whose compan-
Ions We're not what they ought to have
been. They naturally came to that
young man and put the hands of the
law upon his shoulder, saying: "Come,
young man. The convicts cell awaits
you. Conner
Charles Stewart Parnell was one of
the keenest. shrewdest, most farseeing
parliamentarians Ireland ever pro-
duced. For years, alone and single
handed, he fought the British parlia-
ment. But Charles Stewart Parnell,
genius though he might have been, was
not able to destroy the harvest of his
secret sin. How, then, can the ordinary
young man who has sown the evil
seeds hope to be declared guiltless
when Charles Stewart Parnell had to
reap from the flesh harvest of cor
ruption?
Tho nhuSicion IN, Tho lin