Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-04-28

THE AUDIENCE GATHERED.--Af-
ter the events OF last lesson Q4uke,
vif:3e-5o), Jesus, accompanied by His
disciples, made another tour through the
villages and cities of Galiiee duke. vili:t},
preaching the good tidings of the king
dom. He was continually beset by the
enissaries OF the Sanhedrn, who sought
to ensnare Him In His doctrine and de-
stroy His influence among the people. II
was during this trip that He was ae-
cused Of keing In coilusion with Beelzebub.
which aspersion He refuted. Some desired
sign In proof of His prophetic character.
For an account OF all this read Matt. xii:
$3.50: Mark. iii:2o-s5; Luke, viii:1-21. While
this transpired the summer OF the year Is
passed. and the autumn came on. Jesus
then returned to Capernaum, and after a
brief rest. much briefer than ministers in
our day enjoy. He went forth to the shore
Of Galilee. great multitude soon as
sembled, and He was obliged to enter into
small boat and pull out little distance
from the shore. There he taught. Oversees
and %
THE PARABLE RELATED oversees
to S.-Sitting in the fshermans boat, He
was In full view Of the people who gath
cred along the beach, vast and inspiring
audience. Following his usual custom
(Matt, xiii:34). He gave story, one of
the most beautiful and instructive of all
that ever fell from His lips. called by us
a parable, from two Greek words-para,
beside, and ballow. to cast. 1t was COM
parison similitude. yelled mode OF
speech which serves to conceal the main
object of the address, presenting 1t under
the appearance of something else which
accords with 1t in most particulars. 1t is
mostly employed for moral purposes IL
has been thought by some that Jesus could
see beyond the heads of His hearers, where
a little distance away may have been
Held, but that Is gratuitous assumption
of no Importance. The telling of the story
as we have 1t in our Testaments proceeded
In a very easy and natural way Inc
sower cast his seed, which fell IN different
places, sprang up and met with varying
fortunes.
THE REASON GIVEN oversees to
13)-Why this mode OF speech? why olo
He not adopt the philosophical method ana
argue with men, seeking 10 convlnSe S TTsn.
of the correctness of His positionf mat
is frequently done by preachers ana iec-
turers In our day. An appeal TO reason Is
supposed to be most effective with tnose
who think. But here there rs a mere re-
cital of what any one may have witnessed
many times, without any explanation or APP
plication as we would call II. He closed
the recital with the significant announce
ment. WHO hath ears to hear let hm near
those of you who can understand will UNI
derstand Then He dismissed the multi
tude When alone with the disciples He
gave the reason for speaking on TINS oc-
casion In parallels, having been requested
to do So That request implies that they
did not fully understand He informed
them that there were two classes OF per-
sons-those that were near to him, his as
sociates and those who were outside OF
that circle q Cor, v:12), a claSslfcation by
choice The former were expected to know
the mysteries Of the kingdom, while the
latter were blinded. Qsa. vi, %. The par
able was therefore a test, suited to each
class.
THE FAITHFUL PREACHER (verse
14).-Having assigned general reason for
the form of His speech to the people
Jesus proceeded to interpret 1t In detail.
He first directed attention to the chief per-
son in the parable the sower, who repre-
scented the man that handles the word of
God, the teacher or preacher. There was
no fault to find with him in any particular.
He went forth to do the duty appointed,
and he did 1t faithfully. Passing along
over the field he thrust His hand Matt.
xiii. 24 with graceful swinging move
ment into the basket at his left side, drew
forth a quantity of grain, which with an
other vigorous movement He cast over the
ground about him. This exercise repeated
again and again and the whole field was
covered. So the man with the precious
truths of the Divine word distributes them
on all sides feeling that this is His high vo-
cation. Jesus has here presented to US in
single sentence the minister who is true
to his trust. psalm cxxvi, 81 Whatever
may come or may not come Of that sowing
nothing can be laid against him.
THE WAYSIDE (verse 15). - No
care, with broadcast sowing, could pre-
vent some seed falling on the pathways
that lay through and around the field AS
these were beaten hard by the feet of
passers-by, the seed lay exposed, so that
the birds might easily gather ii up. This
part of the field Is made by our Lord to
represent those whose minds and hearts
are the thoroughfares for secular things,
SO that the word even when faithfully
preached cannot enter in. And so our
Lord said, Satan cometh Immediately and
taketh away the word" The record In
another place says the devil does this
luke, WHO. All this may be easily un-
derstood. The Bible and prayer neglected,
no serious thought given to another world
from weeks beginning to weeks end,
man comes into worse state than an un-
cultivated waste. The world with It's many
hurrying heavy feet tramples over poor
hearts day by day, year by year, from
childhood to old age. II such go to church.
though they find a preacher In the pulpit
thew meet devil In the pew
THE STONY GROUND oversees l6