The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-06-22

His trusted S0ld1er W0ulo prove true
Joaquin Miller.
The parable of 1.-THE Sewer" is one of
the most suggestive and important
perhaps OF the many the Saviour gave
10 the disciples through all the ages.
"Bchold a Sewer went forth to SOW"
All men are sewers. They are either
sowing tares or wheat-bad seed or
good seed. The harvest Will he Ike the
seed. "Ee not deceived; Cod IS not
Knocked: for whatsoever d nan sOWath,
tina shall he also reap" To make a
good crop there must be toll, tact, cul-
tivatiOn. You must first plant and
then diligently cultivate the crop. II,
you neglect there will be a poor crop
for weeds, briers, thorrs, thistles,
brambles will spring up and choke the
good seed. The farmer understands
this we'll. 1t is no new condition to
him that he must SOW good seed and
attend actively, Dersistently upon it.
The primal curse laid upon man for
disObedience was labor-in the sweat
Dl the lace tlOL pIO" do 81 Illdlly
preachers quote IT'D, man was to earn
his bread. He was to be a ~bread-win-
ner through assiduOus, unbroken toll.
That is the law in the natural world
as to planting, sowing, reaping. The
price of success, of good fruitage, of
abundance, of thirty, fifty or IN hundred
fold, is faithfulness, is labor. When we
turn to the spiritual world the same
Law obtains. 1t is SO o in the moral
world. If you read vicious books or
keep bad company you are sowing bad
seed-are preparing to reap as you SOW.
If you have sOwn the wind" you
''shall' inevitably reap the whirl-
wind "a sOwer went forth to SOW"
He sowed the seeds Of death-the things
that choke and ruin. If thOrns are
planted you need not look for anything
better thar thorns. Evil dominates
the world to a very great extent. Ev-
cry man is a sower. If you would reap
truth, honor, purity, virtue. you must
SOW the seed that bring forth after it's
kind. Many a man leaving home sows
good seed, but the taTes come, and he
wanders. The explanation of the won
derful preacher is-that IAN enemy
hath done this" The sewers of evil
are every way as Industrious as the
sewers of good. The devil is always
active, energetic, at hand, ready to dis
poll and deceive the sower. lest he
should reap we'll. 1t is very essential
that those who essay to cultivate the
moral and spiritual fields should be
very watchful, very Industrious. very
determined. Sow the good seed, and
pray and work for o blessing that
the harvest fail not. So many men and
women begin the religious life with a
promise and a resolution. but they
neglect to cultivate, to be ssiduO
and firm, and soon fall away. They are
either without root or they are chok-
ed by the thorns" and they o
''wither away" We may I'VE COM
prehend in either the natural or spir-
itual the principle of growth, but we
can observe and behold results. The
fact remains, exists, if h process is
EOt k1ONH- LIN hldh WHo ASSS d pa
tent life of faith, of prayer, of fidelity
to God, observing diligently His COM
mands and striving daily, hourly to be
conformed in all things to the exalted
Divine standard and to be ever seek
ing to be like Christ. viii know results
in his own life. The fruifage will be
there. He has absolute knowledge of
growth, of development in Christian
races He realizes daily that his life
is hid with Christ in God" He is
filed with humility because of the
growth in grace" "He is not puffed
up, does not ehave ~unseemly.' While
the process of termination in the soul
and the growth that follows may not
be understood it is realized, it is felt.
TT is as though a man cast seed into
the earth, and it springeth up he
knoweth not how" Man can do much
God helping him. Said a preacher some
years ago with true insight and .fe-
Iicity:
1--WE will plant, we will pillow, we will
harrow, and we will enrich the soil
with every fertilizer adjunct at our
command. And, while we cannot or
der the process of termination, we will
sleep and rise night and day believ-
ing that God works for us and by us.
Nor will we be impatient for the full
harvest. There are stages of develop
ment. First h blade, then the ear,
then the full corn in the ear We can
not tell when n of these stages