The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-09-23

DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON


but what II a man negiects his vine
yard or waters 1t too much7" III a man
tries TO force a vines grapes, and does
not allow 1t to sink it's roots deep enough
| INTO the soil, that vineyard will die. In
other words, If man cares for his Vine
yards Alright, they have practically no age
limit. With my. eyes 1 have seen luscious
grapes growing on vines over ninety years
| old, This was the testimony of the grape
grower. Did not your Christian. godly pa-
rents care for their gospel vineyards
Alright? Did they not let the roots sink
deep enough into the ground to bury their
hbers In the rich soil which Hes deep I'M
der the Calvary cross?
! Looking back over the long years of
your childhood and young manhood, you
cannot think of day in which those dear
1 old folks were not diligently at work In
! caring for their gospel vineyards. Your
father never started days work unless
he first gathered his family about him and
said, Come, children, let us ask God to
| help us prune our vineyards of all selfish
ness and sim" Then, that good man was
not satisfied with simply walking through
| his vineyard and sticking out an arm here
and hand there. and with the pruning
shears cutting of this bad vine and that
! dead wood, but he got right down on his
knees In order to De able better to see his
imperfeotions As he cut and slashed at
the evil nature of his own heart did he
not keep saying, 20 Lord help me to cut
away all the evil tendrils Of my sinful
| lfe9"
When the springtime comes, the rich,
green, tender shoots begin to grow, upon
which the rabbits love to feast To pre-
vent this injury. the wise owner of the
vineyards builds his wire fences clear
7 around the vineyard to keep the four
| legged pests out. When the army worms
marshal their hosts by the thousands and
| the millions and the billions and move for
ward to annihilate these vineyards, the
owners of the vineyards build their deep,
wide trenches about their precious fruits
so that these worm destroyers cannot get
In, as the cavalier of medieval times had
his meats filled with water about his wall
ed castle to keep the enemies out. When
the rich grapes come, the vineyard owner
has his armed men, as sentinels, contin-
ually moving In and out among the vines
to drive away the quail that would eat
up the young grapes. Thus did your
Christian father and mother continually
build their spiritual wire fences and dig
their bitches and fight away the little
foxes of evil and the quail of temptations
| which would come to destroy their spirit
ual vineyards. Did they not daily lift be-
tween themselves ana lne WOTlu the pre-
cious promises of God? Aye, they literally
soaked their lives in the commandments
of God. so that they could not be tempted
by any temptations greater than they
could bear.
A Better inheritance.
| DO not tell me that when your Chris
tlan father died he left you no inheritance.
| You say, when he died the farm went to
my eldest brother" But your fathers
greatest asset was not In his farm. You
say, HE had little money-a few thou
sand dollars-but he left all that to my
| mother and invalid sister" But your IA
TIERS estate had more than money, You
| inherited his spiritual vineyard. You have
! inherited his example of Christian life
we'll lived. You have inherited the exam
Pile of the Joy and peace which come to
noble Christian man who, In every word
he speaks and In every deed he does,
speaks and lives for God. Am I wrong in
declaring that the vineyards which have
! come to you are inherited vineyards? Your
| inherited spiritual vineyards are as old
as the prayers your father made on the
dday he first knelt at the communion of
the Lords supper. They are as old as the
| prayers he made on the day he dedicated
| you to God when you were baptized at
| the church affairs. They are as old as the
prayers he made for you at the family al
tar on the day you left the old homestead
I They are as old as the blessing and bene-.
| diction he gave when he put his trembling
hand upon your head on the day he died,
when he said, my boy, gave you to God
\ when you were born; I give you to God
| now that must leave you to stand before
the judgment seat of Christ" Oh, my
| frlendsi what spiritual blessing has been
| win vIa
ed last week or last year, You have an
| inherited gospel vineyard. You have In
herited those vineyards directly from your
! fathers and mothers Christian lives and
conseerated home. You cannot If. you
would, and you would not il you could,
get away from this vital, spiritual, life
| giving doctrine. - -----.sss
We do not inherit our gospel vines alone.
| We also, inherit a vast acreage Of rich,
uncultivated soil, upon which we should
plant new vineyards and enlarge our
grape-producing regions In other words,
no child has right to be content with the
work which his forefathers accomplished
| Each new generation has greater opportu-
mites for doing good than had the genera
ton which preceded 1t. Therefore it is
! your duty and mine to be continually go
ng ahead and doing larger and grander
and nobler work than did our fathers and
mothers, We should prOnt by their mis-
! takes as we'll as successes. To speak flgu-
ratively, by standing upon their broad
shoulders, we should lift our heads higher
| than they did. Therefore we should have
a larger horizon for our gospel vision Let
me illustrate my thoughts from the vine.
yard industry of Southern California.
Planting New Vineyards.
am a vineyard grower The time of the
annual ingathering of grapes is past. You
are also a vineyard grower. We have been
close friends for years. Having a few
weeks to rest up before the January and
February pruning, you come to make me
visit, With great pride l take you with
me through my vineyards to show you
their richness. l say: Yes, those are
fine vines. My father planted them fifty
years ago. He lived here and died here.
These vines were his one thought. He put
his best lifeblood into their development"
On the way back to the house we climb
I hill and l point out to you the extent of
my property. DO you see all those vines
at our feet? Well, they are all m<ne. Do
you see those posts running down from
yonder hills clear into the center of the
valley by those broad fields? Well, all
! that land is mine. Do you see those fields
to the east, and that jutting of rock yon-
der? Well, all that land is mine, There
is no soil in all this region which is richer
and better than those broad fields of
mine" "Oh," you say to me, Then your
father only cultivated a small part of mis-
no oh ha vim nutx MIA Mt Cd In