Milford chronicle., 1906-10-26
Ca(naoe
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt TalmaGe. D. D.

Los angeles, Cal, Oct. 2l.-In this
& sermon, using the familiar type of the
seed sower. the preacher shows that nc
worthy effort at winning men and wo
men from sin is ever wasted, but is re.
r Warded by spiritual harvest. The
text is Ecclesiastes xi, 1, Cast thy
bread upon the waters, for thou shalt
& md it after many days"
This text has been impressed on my
mind ever since l jOIrneyed around
4 the world and came home by the land
OF the pharaOhs. When l wandered
amid the ancient ruins and stood under
the shadows of its obelisks and pyra.
mids and reflected that all these ten.
pies and palaces and monuments and
tombs We're the relics of the ancient
race which was attracted bv the fer
tility of the land lying along the banks
OF the river Nile, these words have had
for me complete fascination. for in
the light of Egyptian lore l thought
King Solomon was aHuding to tie Gus.
tom with which the descendants of the
ancient subjects of the Rameses are
wont to SOW their seed. That custom is |
very interesting to a Traveller from this |
! hemisphere. Egypt is a vast desert |
FROM one end Of the year to the other |
z 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 overtOws the low lying lands Oh
each side. Then. as the river Nile
dries up again, most of the overhowine
water is drawn back into the original
channel and leaves the adjacent re.
glons under layer Of thick mud. with
here and there small shallow lakes and
pools. Then the Egyptian farmer goes
forth and scatters 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
the 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 find it after
many days. lie is practically saying:
Pick o,;1gFour richest grounds. Go up
70 -s@t.e rich mud covered fields by the !
Nile. Drop here a seed and there a
seed of God given teaching. You will ,
never find that those seeds will die.
Your haryests will soon yield their thir. +
ty, their sixty. their hundredfold. The ,
ground is so rich that it is certain to i
bring forth harvest Thus 1 would Ii
always picture the Christian in obey Y
Ing this injunction as casting his seed :
upon rich soil and then in a few "
months driving up to the gospel gran fl
aries with his wagons laden with the 4
heavy golden sheaves which he had II
harvested for his Master. :.
Not True Vision. Fl
That is a very beautiful vision which Ii
I had about the message of my text. v,
There was only one trouble about it. W
The vision was not true When | be- III
gan to look up what the Bible scholars h,
said about this theme l found they n,
made no allusiOn to the river Nile and
IS vast muddy banks, with their mud in
illed with the sewers seeds. Accord pC
ne to Thomas Scott, this text aludes n
0 the Palestine farmer and not to the he
Egyptian. 1t pictures a Palestine farm. p
r scattering the seed over his fields II
nd coming to a swampy region It is do
ne poorest part of his farm. He has sb
ever cultivated it before. because m,
hen he came to it, he always said: ch
What is the use of my planting there? Nj
will never get any return for my Ia. sir
)r. My seed will only rot and never he
ing me back any sheaves." But Solo. litt
on says: 20 farmer, go to the most tin
promising parts of the farm. Scat. flu
+ your good seeds amid the swampv the
lis, where you and all good people
e skeptical about getting any return. r
'ur gospel seeds will never be useless
thrown away The harvests will -
NE. Believe me, the harvests will Oni
ne" Let me read to you his very sil'
)fds, Cast thy bread upon the wa you
IS, for thou shalt find it after many 10"
vs." Could we have more practical bu
vice for Christian work? ual
instead of seeking the richest fields. Deg
ID is here telling us to sow in the knc
'st undesirable ones. Now, as I ner
gin TO run over some of the most DO,
promising regions for gospel seed tax
ntlng, my mind in the first place say
turally turns toward the child who abo
born Of dissolute or degraded par. mil
Is. "Oh," you say as you look at abo
n, "there is no use wasting anv. at &
ng upon that boy! He was born of feel
ad mother His father was divorced the
m her on account of her fragrant not
5. She is never at home. You might you
well try to change a leopard's spots Of
to overcome the parental faint in chill
blood" Or you say: "What Is the you
=? That boys father is a drunkard as l
an intdel. He daily SCOTS at the Der
lie. Any good seed we might sow wor
that child's heart would be rooted all l
in night By the ridicule of his Chri
ent." Yes. Sunday school teacher thes
now how discouraged you are over The
boy. But do not despair Go on wor
ing your gospe. seed IN that child's half
rt whenever "a" have an oppor- thy
lty. Christ will t,. after tba ra- thou
. The gospel bgrvests in that life BIT
surely come Do YOU not recall gosp