The St. Louis Republic., 1903-09-21
DISCUSSES THE PARABLE
OF SEED AND THE S0WER.
Doctor Burnham Tells of the Quail
fcatiOns of the Heart to Re-
ceive the Word.

Inc reverend Doctor VI. BurnhaH
preached yesterday morning in the Pill
grim Congregational Church on the text
Matthew xiii, 8: But other fell into good
ground. and brought forth fruit. some an
hundredfold. some sixtyfold. some thirty
fold" He said. in part:
Let us take this part of the parable
this morning.. Good ground gives its
whole strength and vigor to the seed In
such soil fruitaSe takes place. In the good
soil we see represented the honest and
coed heart and the thirty. sixty and hun
dred fold degree of fruitase.
There arc two phases of truth for us to
consider this morning: The qualities of
the heart that receives and cherishes the
word of God. and the degree of fruitful
ness to be expected.
We are TO understand that the word of
lie flnds different degrees in readiness and
moral ability to receive. even in the So
called good soil; but the honest and the
good soil must be round, and such soil.
where the seed is to find a home comes
and must come from God. Doctor HamiI-
ton Is right and thoroughly right when he
declares that goodness Is love in action
love with Its hand at the plow; love with
the burden on it's back; love carrying
medicine TO the sick and food to the fam
ishinS: love reading the Bible to the blind
ana explaining the gospel to the felon In
the ragged school: love at the hovel door;
love sailing far away in the missionary
snip Whatever task 1t undertakes, 1t is
still the same love. following his footsteps
who went about continually doing good
Honesty, then, in the heart deals with
self, and deals thoroughly with self.
the Word and the expression and the life
of the Word toward others. These defini
tions are worth our memory.
The honest and good heart is tender
N % CciN r0h- t1Ne h. Nf
derness. and hardens it; and there is moth
ing In this world so much to be dreaded
as hard heart, whether II he lard
hearted race or nation or institution or
man.
AN honest and good heart is deep. not
only in sympathy with truth. but growing
would get on far better If 1t thought more
and said less and did more. The babble
and froth of the surface, however, often
attracts the attention rather than the
universe. The pop of champagne bottle
always makes more noise than the rising
of the glorious sun; but there is vast
difference in the power. ! would rather
have the sun than all the political. moral
and spiritual champagne in the universe
Moreover, truth as fast as We find II
and that center is God. God is a thinker.
a reverent thinker. and everybody that
loves God thinks with greater or less rev.
erence. and thinks toward one central
perfcial truth; they must be profound.
And men of profound truth sooner or later
will find a following.
But heart is honest and good when
il is clear, clean and pure-Dure in
thought. pure in its imaginings. pure in
its purposes. and its purposes will gather
ten talents and impurities, although we
Goethe. faculties as fine as Byron, we
shall yet fill graves that 1dsa have 1yer 1s mem mem
have over them the shadow. without fruit
for God.
II mention one more quality OF an hon
est and good heart-patience. The honest
and good heart, having heard the word, |
keeps 1t and brings forth fruit with pa
.ience.' Patience! These are, impatient
sisters. brothers-we are perhaps |
all guilty. Many of us would like, with |
to make ten millions. Pa |
lenes; BISHOP Isl fp,,h horhe me Sizes = 'pS pS eace
he cherisher of love. the teacher of hu-
nility.' He paints the face of patience as |
lovely in silence. He. paints patience
clothed in the robes of the martyrs and
n her hand a scepter in the form of
ross. She rides not in the whirlwind and
stormy tempest OF passion, but her throne
lirgdom is the kingdom of peace But.
mark you. patience, while a sign of an |
loneSt and good heart, Is no lazy, sleepy
Tirtue 1t is born of faith and possesses
ar sight.
'I do not forget prayer as the absolutely
ssential condition of the good heart. The
rood heart will plead often and long with
iod.
'I have said that the fruitage for God
8 thing of kind a purpose like that of
Warren Hastings Is not enough. An en-
lis clothes, and tearing up his floor to
id fuel to the furnace and wearying his
wife, and amusing his neighbors with
reams of white enamel through the un-
fC |
pirit must be consecretad to God. There
8 no fruitage for God save as the heart
onditions have been compiled with.
But We may actually possess the quail
les of the good ground and vary as indi-
,iduals in degree of fruitfulness. The
hirtyfold In fruit. is very low: the sixty
the extent of power. You see, God is
more generous than man. Your thirty
old man. in the scale OF hundred, is
eft behind And yet there is not a busi-
less house in St Louis that would not
ecome bankrupt conducted en- the princi-
les on which men often conduct personal
iety or church life.
Let us see, then, that the question of
ruitage becomes at first not a question
( natural power. but grace. But. secon-
ar1ly, the question of bearing fruit for
iod % Is one Of natural power cooperating
With grace. So, friends, after all. we do
OF differ so much in talent as we try to
hink. But the differences which God
iarks most. strongly are not SO much
nd conservation.
But what is fruitage for God? A good,
onest heart is condition of fruitage; so
is itself q fruit of the spirit. If we
re genuine, be assured God will give
ou and me opportunity to prove our gem
ineness and to bear fruit"
Works MORE IMPORTANT
TO CHRIST THAN WORDS.