The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-04-28

Is suited ID to the uninstructed, as
| being attractive in form and as re-
vealing spiritual truth exactly in pro-
portion to the capacity to the nearer
and (2) to the divfnely wise, as wrap
ping up a secret which he can pene-
trate by his spiritual insight. In this
it resembles the Platonic Myth. it was
/ the form in which many philosophers
clothed their deepest thoughts (3)
1t fulfills the condition Of all true
! knowledge. He alone who seeks finds.
1 In relation to nature, art, God himself,
| 1t may be said the dull seeing, see
not The commonest and most OBJ
/ vious things hide the greatest truths.
/ a. The divine Wisdom has been justi-
fled in respect to this mode Of teach
/ ing. The parallels have struck deep
i into the thought and language of men
! mot of Christian only), as no other
I teaching could have done; in proof Of
/ which 1t is sufficient to name such
words and expressions as talents,
light under bushel.' building on
sand.
The Farmers Part.
Simply. easily and naturally. this
! peerless Teacher led the thoughts of
his hearers up from what was com
/ mOnplace and everyday, to what was
new and eternal. bly, as he talk
| ed farmer was sowing the grain in
| full sight of him and of the people.
4 How natural it was for Jesus to lift
( forth his hand toward him and say.
Behold a SOWer went forth to SOW"
Then he proceeded to his wonderful
/ parable; but the farmer never knew
the part that he bore in that days
/ immortal teachings.
It was the fate of the sown grain
/ that Jesus made the point of his par
/ able. First, he indicated, some of it
/ fell on the Wayside or the trodden
path which separated field from field.
The frequent feet Of the passing peo-
! pie had so beaten down the soil that
I 1t had no producttvenes S; even as the
| hearts of many are deadened by the
! ceaseless tread of this worlds traffic.
1t would be as proper to expect
wheat crop from a cement sidewalk
as to expect it from that hard, beaten
wayside.
A second portion Of the seed fell on
stony grOUnd-not ground Uttered
with stones. but ground where the
rock, the underlying rock of all Pales-
tine, the rock upon which ''the wise
man. built his house, cropped out so
near the surface that the soil was shall
low and too thin to be productive. It
could neither hold the moisture nor
protect the seed from the suns scorch-
ing rays.
The thorn bush, from which were
plucked the thorns that later made a
mocking crown for this same Teach
er-infested the fields of Palestine AS
the Russian thistle has been to some
was to the farmer of Jesus land and
time Among these thOrns some grain
fell, but the rankness of the weeds
soon choked the life of the food-bear-
ing plant.
Other of the grain, and the larger
part it is to be noted, fell on the fruit
full soil by the lakeside; a soil so pro-
ducttve that Jesus was uttering a fact
within the knowledge of his hearers,
when he said that some brought forth
thirty-fold and some sixty-fold and
some a hundred-fold
Secrets for Friends.
Perfectly obvious as this story, in its
application. is to all who hear it to-
day, its meaning was not plain to those
who listened, Open-eared, by the blue
lake and later retold the para by
the Preside and by village we'll The
twelve asked the Master, when they
were alone, what his meaning was. He
the uttered the precious truth, ITO you
of God. 1t is those who are closest
to the heart of Jesus who best under
stood the mind of Jesus. Fellowship
produces wisdom. Love has clearest
vision. The great privilege of dis
cipleship throughout all the ages has
ualy discerned, and to affection and
fidelity have been revealed the deep
things which knowledge and wisdom
could not fathom: Hostility and re-
in vain to sound the depths of the
teachings of Christ; not scholarship
but saintliness, finds out the meaning
of his messages and the secrets of his
kingdom.
The direct route to a Knowledge of
the viii of God is faithfulness in ser
vice and genuineness in fellowship. No
one who walks close to the Master is
left long in darkness as to his will 1t
IS ever to those about Him that He
unfolds the mysteries of His grace.
The Key to the Story.
The parable of the sower was ex-
planned fully by Jesus himself His
own message is the good seed which. |
when given opportunity, brings forth |
so wondrously-and how Wondrously !
1t does bear fruiti Transformed lives |
on every side are the living evidence |
Of that.
Into four groups of hearers he clas-
slnes men. The first are they who (
show natural eptiveness of heart /
But while the seed Of the Word lies /
in their minds, the devil. whom Jesus
always treated as a very real and ac- I
tive personality, quickly snatches It /
away. It is simply because they lend I
a listening ear to sin that muItitudes /
never hear effectively the Word Of
Shallow lives are the discouraefnr
second group enumerated. These are /
quickest to receive the Word and the |
Arst TO give II welcome; but they have /
no deprn or continuance, They believe /
nothing intensely. 5teadfastness is un-
known to them. They are incapable
OF entertaining any OF the great senti- /
ments- Such are they of whom James
spoke, when he said that they vera
driven by the wind and tossed" It !
takes depth to receive the Word of |
God, or else to receive the Word Of
God creates depth. Wherever YOU And |
Bible reading Christians, there you fnd
DeOnfA EOIfHifv nd
Of character and mind,
me parable Is on an ascending scale.
A. It progresses. the classes Increase.
The largest cIas sof people who do not
ueVsIop spiritual life are those who,
as Jesus pointedly said. are infested
with the cares OF this world LElaa - |