Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1908-02-28

y
to consider whether you plant the best
seed to obtain the spiritual harvesfs.
Christian work means more than sim
ply giving bread to the hungry. clothes
to the naked and medicine to the sick.
Christian work emphatically means
the seed planting of Jesus Christ in
the hearts of your fellow men. If you
will only bring the divine personality
or Christ in touch with your fellow
men, he will lift men up out of their
sins and make men like unto himself
Oh, friend, from now let the chief par
pose of your life be to get the greatest
spiritual harvest by seeking chiefly 60
plant the spirit of Jesus Christ in the
hearts of your fellow menl Consider
your ways. Ye have sown much. but
bring in little" Will you not ponder
we'll upon his promise? He tells us
what he can do IL we only plant him
Alright. And 1, If 1 be lifted up. will
draw all men unto me-"
Barrenness of Soil.
But | am not more impressed with
the poorness of the seed which we 50
| forth to plant in our spiritual fields
than am with the rockiness and EaG.
renness Of the soil in which we arc
dropping this seed. / care not how
good the seed may be. if the soil is
barren there is no use in planting any
seed there. For instance, the soil lin
ing the banks Of the river Nile is the
richest in the world. On ii you can
grow two or three crops of wheat each
year. But IL you turn your back upon
the river Nile and travel five, ten miles
over the Sahara sands you can have
the land for nothing, for it is bar
rem land. The water will run through
IL as through a sieve. Besides that, no
water can be drawn so far away from
the Nile to irrigate the desert. even
though the sands would hold the wa
ter.
\ soil for the farmer is worth just
In proportion to what it can produce
no more and no less. a few years ago
was travelling over the Dakota prai-
ries, and stopped with the owner or
n large wheat ranch. The mans farm
extended for miles and miles away. IL
that farmer had been dependent upon
the old fashioned ways of scattering
the seed with his hand and reaplng
with the sickle, he could not have
placed under cultivation one-tenth OF
his farm. / asked him: "How can you
fertilizc such an immense area OF agri-
| cultural land? The winter SHOWS
come ON SD soon after harvest should
think you would not have the time"
The man laughed. why" said he.
''we never fertilize the Dakota wheat.
fields. This Is practically virgin soil"
. 1,a 1D.l %
digging. 1t was rich, black soil. able
TO produce anything. "Whenever we
feel" said he, ''that we are cxhaustlng
the land OF its strength. all that We
have 10 do Is TO drive In The pow n
little deeper. That soil is just like that
In richness sixty feet down." Now you
have some Idea OF the necessity of hav-
ing rich soil TO produce II crop: 4 soil
is only valuable in proportion as II Is
productive. No sane farmer would try
10 turn an Arabian desert into Il farm.
The sand dune is cheap merely because
il is unproductive. Are vow and I. rs
spiritual seed planters, seeking the best
soil for the coming spiritual harvestsy
The Virgin Soil.
Where is The human soil for richest
spiritual results? 1t is often in virgin
soil. David Livingstone opened the
map OF the world, and he saw IL In
Africa. DIR. Dun opened the map OF
the world, and he saw IL In India. Fa-
Their Damien opened the map of the
world, and he saw it in Molokai Mar
Gus Whitman opened the map of the
world, and he saw it among the Nez
Perces Indians William Booth opened
the map of the world. and he saw II
among the slums OF the English cities
You and osen the map of the world,
and we say-what? The people who
need the gospel the most are the peopie
who are in the most abject physical.
mental and spiritual want. The more
man and Il woman are social outcosts
the more they need TO be brought TO
Christs feet and the more they can be
spiritually benefited. These offer the
deepest soils for spiritual harvests. Are
you planting the gospel seed where it
VIII take the deepest root ana Will
Dring forth the greatest golden headed
sheaves, or are we living simply upon
( the spiritual farm lands already cult.
waited by other Christian planters and
reapers?
How are we to plant Christ i'm the
slnful hearts Of our fellow men? Can
we so to Christ and get certain forlnu-
as, certain Bible texts or some of his
divine promises and use these for the
gospel seed planting? Can we use
these promises as the husbandman did
In times of old when he took his bag
and filled il with seed and then went
across the fields scattering the seeds
fur and wide? oh, no! That Is not the
way we plant for a spiritual harvest.
We plant In the sinful lives of our fell
low men the divine life which is in us.
III we do not have the divine life with
IN us, then we cannot plant the Christ
life in others. We must plant ourselves
In the sinful lives OF others or we can
not plant at ali.
What did Jesus Christ mean whom
ne said: "Ye are the light of the world
1e are the salt of the earthg" He
| meant that ii is the divine light i'm Ms
! which shines forth and brings sinners
TO the cross, not the divine light
! thousand miles away. Have You that
divine light in you? How often do Won
pray to God and read your Bible and
commune with him? When YOU talll
when you live, do men see your face
afiame with gospel light. as was Moses
race when he stood in the presence of
the Lord? If your life is not filed