Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1906-1908, 1906-07-06
SEED TIME AND HARVEST.
By Rev. Stephen Paulson.

he also reap.-Gal. Is: 1.
Man has ever been encouraged III his
sowing by the certainty of reaping. The
hope Of tomorrow SheaveS supports
to-day's toilsome sowing. Even so GER
tainty of victory has often won battles
before they We're fought. Armed with
confidence patriots have beaten down
stone walls with naked fists.
Uncertainty takes energy out of the
thought and the nerve out OF the arm
The rumor of some calamity is enough
to destroy enterprise. Men will not
plow if warehouses; are to trample down
the ripe grain. Men will not build II
the enemy are to warm their hands
over the blazing rafters. Men
will not plant vines If others are to
wrest away their fruits. Man needs
hope and a basis of certainty. There
fore the Divine promise: Give and
it shall be given unto you"
Let the husbandman give seed to the
burrows, and soon the burrows will give
back big bundles into the sewers arms.
Give labor to the vines, and they will
give back rich purple clusters. Give
sparingly to nature in seed and labor,
and scanty shall be your harvest. Give
bountifully and bounty shall be given
back.
This is a universal principle. Drag
one plank to the stream and you have
only narrow and frail bridge across
il. Give deep thought to steel cables
and stone buttresses and you have the
great bridge which spans the flood and
carries thousands of people. Bury your
one talent, and one talent shall be
yours to the end of time. Invest your
talent for God and humanity, and it
shall be doubled in the using. Give
kindness and hospitality and generosity
to your fellow men, and good meas
ure, pressed down and shaken together
shall men give into your bosom"
We have then mentioned two ele-
ments Of the principle Of sowing and
reaping-the element Of certainty by
which God encourages man to put forth
his labor; and, the element of proper
ton between the investment and the
return. There is a third element
which lies on the surface of our text.
Whatsoever a man soweth that shall
he also reap" If you SOW wheat seed
you will reap wheat; if you SOW tare
seed you will have a crop of tares; if
you plant acorns you do not expect an
orchard of peach trees. No, God is not
Knocked His eternal laws hold good
throughout the universe, and whatso-
ever man sows in material or spirit
ual things he shall reap that and not
something else.
Every day men are sowing and reap
ing. We are reaping the fruits and
we are sowing for future harvests. But
it takes so long to appreciate the prin-
ciple that we shall reap what we sow;
that if we SOW the wind, we shall reap
whirlwind; if we SOW to the flesh we
shall reap corruption, and if we SOW
to the spirit we shall reap a spiritual
harvest.
Childhood and youth are the spring
time of life. In a child, parents have
virgin soil in which to plant for time
and eternity. The child is open to
every impression, eager for every new
experience, drinks in every word spok-
Ell. The child is a mirror which re-
fleets every act done before 1t. You
are careful to plant good seed in your
field. Are you just as careful to plant
good emotions in the heart Of your
child? You take great pains to remove
weeds and briars from your garden.
Are you willing to spend the same
amount of time and labor to remove
obnoxious traits from your child's char
acter.
Let me make a plea for the children
In the seed-time of their lives. Parents,
what are you sowing in the fruitful
soil Of your children's hearts and
minds? Are you treating them with
inconsiderate harshness? Do not be
surprised If you reap the same from
them when they grow older Do you
neglect all their higher faculties and
better traits and only feed and clothe
them as you would an animal? Marvel
not if bitter neglect be your portion
in later years. Do you speak lightly be-
fore them of things that are true, things
that are honest things that are sacred,
and things that are Of good report?
One day they will bring you the fruit
Of irreverence and dishonesty, which is
q disgraced life.
THE child is the father of the man"
and how many men are spoilt in the
making! You study for years how to
get the best results from your fruit
trees and vines, you study the rotation
of crops, the chemical elements Of the
soil, the conditions Of the climate and
what seed will bring you the best har-
vest. How much study do you spend
on that boy or that girl Of yours? And
yet there you might reap harvest Of
joy and love and honest pride, with
which great wheat crop would not for
moment compare.
Were it only the parents who would
suffer for the improper training Of the
child, we might think it retributive JUS
tice. But society suffers, and your
child suffers, carrying through life a
distorted mind and a stunted soul even
as some must carry crooked body.
Whatsoever a man soweth that shall
he also reap" We stand here face to
face with an infallible law. The young
man sows his wild oats" and thinks
that somehow he is going to escape the