Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1906-10-25
Calnnaqe
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmaee, d. d.

LUIS huScleS, tul., OCt. EI.-lH thih
sermon, using the familiar type Of the
seed sower, the preacher shows that no
worthy effort at winning men and wo-
men from sin is ever wasted, but is re-
warded by a spiritual harvest. The
text is Eccesiastes ri, 1. Cast thy
bread upon the waters, for thou shalt
find It after many days"
This text has been impressed on my
mind ever since I journeyed around
the world and came home by the land
of the pharaohs. When l wandered
amid the ancient ruins and stood under
the shadows of it's obelisks and pyra-
mlds and reflected that all these tenn
Piles and palaces and monuments and
! tornbs were the relics OF the ancient
race which was attracted by the fer
tillty Of the land lying along the banks
of the river Nile. these words have had
! for me a complete fascination for in
the light of Egyptian lore / thought
King Solomon was abiding TO the Gus
| tom with which the descendants Of the
ancient subjects Of the Rameses are
wont to SOW their seed. That custom is
|
hemisphere. Egypt is u vast desert.
From one end OF the year to the other
no rain falls on that parched soil. How,
then, is the land cultivated? BY the riv-
er Nile, which, when the spring fresh
cts flow into it, rises above its banks
and overflows the low lying lands on
each side. Then, as the river Nile
dries up again, most of the overlooking
| water Is drawn back into the original
channel and leaves the adjacent re-
gions under a layer Of thick mud, with
here and there small shallow lakes and
pools. Then the Egyptian farmer goes
! forth and scat!ers his seeds upon this
water. The seeds sink into the mud
They take root. Then. when the har-
vest time comes. the lands alongside of
tho Nile are covered with luxuriant
crops.
In light OF this strange custom of
/ Egyptian agriculture used to say:
"Ah. know what King Solomon meant
when he said. Cast thy bread upon the
waters, for thou shalt And it after
many days He is practically saying:
Pick out your richest grounds. Go up
to the rich mud covered fields by the
Nile. Drop here seed and there a
seed of Cod given teaching You will
never find that those seeds will die
Your harvests will soon yield their thlr-
ty, their sixty. their hundredfold. The
ground is so rich that 1t is certain to
bring forth a harvest" Thus I would
always picture the Christian in obey.
Ing this injunction as c0sting his seed
upon rich soil and then in a few
months driving up TO The gospel gran
nrcs with bis wagons laden with the
heavy golden sAeaves which he had
harvested for his Master.
Not n True vision.
That Is a very beautiful vision which
/ had about the message of my text.
There was only one trouble about it.
The vision was not true. When I be-
gan to look up what the Bible scholars
said about this theme found they
made no allusion to the river Nile and
its vast muddy banks. with their mud
filed with the sewers seeds. Accord
Ing to Thomas Scott. this text alludes
to the Palestine farmer and not to the
Egyptian. 1t pictures Palestine farm
er scattering the seed over his fields
and coming 10 y swampy region. 1t is
the poorest part of his farm. He has
never cultivated ii before, because,
when he came TO it, he always snid:
What is the Use OF my planting there?
l will never get any return for my Ia
Dor. My seed will only rot and never
bring me back any sheaves." But Solo
mon says: 20 farmer, 90 to the most
unprolnising parts of the farm. Scat
ter your good seeds amid the swampy
soils, where you and all good people
are skeptical about getting any return.
Your gospel seeds will never be useless
ly thrown away. The harvests will
come. Believe me, the harvests will
come" Let me read to you his very
words. Cast thy bread upon the wa.
tiers, for thou shalt find it after many
days" Could we have more practical
advice for Christian work?
Instead Of seeking the richest fields,
God is here telling us to SOW in the
most undesirable ones. Now. as |
begin to run over some Of the most
unpromising regions for gospel seeo
planting. my mind in the first place
naturally turns toward the child who
Is born OF dissoute or degraded par
ents. Oh you say as you look at
him, "there Is no use wasting any
thing upon that boy! He was born Of
a bad mother His father was divorced
from her ON account of her fragrant
sins. She is never ut home. You might
as well try to change leopard's spots
as to overcome the parental faint in
his blood" Or you say; what is the
use? That boys father Is drunkard
and an inf1del. He daily SCOTS at the
Bible. Any good seed we might SOW
in that child's heart would be rooted
out in Il night by the ridicule OF his
parent" Yes, Sunday school teacher,
l know how discouraged you are over
that boy. But do not despair. Go on
sowing your gospel seed in that child's
heart whenever you have an oppor-
tunity. Christ will look after the re-
suit. The gospel harvests in that life
will surely come. Do you not recall
the divine promise given to us in Ec-
clesiastes, Cast thy bread upon the
waters" That means Cast thy seed
in the unpromising fields, for thou
shalt End it after many days"