The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1910-07-07
Pictures of the
Kingdom
Sunday School Lesson for July 3, 1910
Specially Arranged for This Paper

Suggestion and Practical Thought.
The Parable or Story of the Mus
tard Seed.-Vs. 81, 80. Another par
able" showing another aspect of the
kingdom of heaven, which the Great
Sewer had sown in the field of the
world.
THE kingdom of heaven is like to
grain of mustard seed, which man."
representing the Son of man as in the
previous parallels, "sowed in his field"
1t was therefore good seed living
seed that could produce the harvest.
Which indeed is the least Of all
seeds" Not the least of all seeds
which botanists know, but the small
est of the seeds the people daily used;
and the smallest of these in contrast
with the plant which grows from it.
Greatest among herbs, and becometh
tree Not massive like a fir tree
of Lebanon, or oak, but an herb so
large that the birds of the air come
and lodge in the branches thereof"
The Teaching of this Parable. %
The growth and success in Gods field
of this world of the kingdom he has
planted. I heard statesman mission
airy from India say within week that
the religions of India looked upon the
present as the iron age. with their
golden age in the past But with
Christianity the golden age is in the
future, the kingdom is growing toward
its ideal and goal, and growing more
and more rapidly.
The Parable of the Leaven.-V 80.
Showing the Method by Which the
Kingdom Grows. The kingdom of
heaven is like unto leaven." Some Of
the later writer's argue from the fact
that leayen is usually the symbol of
evil, corrupting thing. a species Of
putrefaCtion, that therefore this par
able represents the fellowship Of
God In service seen to be marred dur
ing the present age by the introduce
ton of a corrupting influence."-G.
Campbell Morgan.
Which a woman took" The Son
of man who puts this leaven into the
meal is here represented by a woman
because breadmaking usually devolved
upon women.
This Parable Teaches that besides
all the visible manifestations of the
Gospel represented by the growth of
the mustard seed, there is a deeper
underlying progress of the Gospel
which operates silently. without OBJ
servation, but with constantly increas-
ing peryasiyeness TIL the whole mass
Of mankind, all hearts, all nations, all
commerce and business, social life,
and political Institutions. shall be
transformed. The leayen works by
personal contact with those who are
to be leayened from individual to in
diyidual. 1t is personal work, personal
soul in touch with other souls. The
leaven that does the work is a living
organism.
Two Stories of Finding Treasures
VS. 44-46 These two parallels were
told to the disciples in the house to
which they returned from the sea
shore
The Hid Treasure. The kingdom
of heaven is ike unto treasure hid in
a iA'lhs Nv hldl44B VI II tGlS Vi 10
necessary where there are no banks,
where the country is frequently over
run by marauders and robbers, where
no one can trust another to hold his
treasures or to use them in business,
and where the rulers are rapacious to
obtain the wealth Of their subjects. In
the unsettled state of the country oft
en- the owners never returned, and all
knowledge Of the treasure was lost.
The Spiritual Treasures in These
Two Parallels There are two quite
different interpretations of these par
ables, both of which are natural both
of which may be true, and each one
may imply the other. The movement
of the parallels depends on what is
represented by the Treasure and the
Pearl, and who by the one who gave
all he had to obtain them.
The common Interpretation is that
we are the seekers for the treasure,
and the Treasure and Pearl are the
| blessings which are found in the king
dom of heaven and only there. They
are the treasures of character useful
ness, happiness, and peace; treasures
of eternal life, growing more and more
in every good quality of the soul till
We become angels eXcelling in
| strength" with all the glories, ex-
ternal and internal. that are portrayed
in the description of heaven.
The Parable of the Draw Net-Vs.
1852 contain explanation of the mys-
terry that good and bad are found in
the visible kingdom of God, instead Of
| only the good, and a warning that
merely being a member of the visible
kingdom will not save him. There will
be separation of the good from the
bad, and each will go of necessity to
his own place, and the fate which is
the fruit of his faith and character.
Another Interpretation of the hid
treasure, skilfully advocated by DR..
Wolcott Calkins in his brilliant Par
ables for Our Time" and by Dr. Nor
gan. is that Christ IS the seeker after
the Treasure and the Pearl, which
represent the precious souls of men
The treasure is often hidden, like the
lost sheep from the ninety and nine,
hidden in publicans and sinners and
heatken 1t is not the search for good
he Iagf