Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-07-18
In The Religious World;
(REv1Ew OF SUNDAY SCHOOL LRssoN.)
THE SILENT FORCES.

THE SILENT FORCES.
The International Sunday School Les
son for July Fl Ia, 1.-THE Growth OF
the KInadom." Mark 4:26-32. Matt.
1888.
(By William T. Ellis)
A seed fell into crevice In rock.
where dust and soil had gathered. A
tiny green shoot soon appeared. This
grew into a sapling; the sapling grew
into a tree; and, 10, such was the
power of the living thing, that the
mighty rock was sundered. There
are seeds of new ideas sprouting In
our time in the cracked rocks OF an
cient customs and conservatism. Be-
cause the seeds seem little, foolish
men have disregarded them. II there
Is any lesson In the days newspaper,
or in this old story of the mustard
seed, as told by Jesus, 1t Is that what
Is despised today may be mighty to-
morrow.
While we study the parable OF the
insignificant little seed that became
a great plant, let us give glance in
passing to the amazing folly OF or
ganized Christianity, which has ever
shown itself strangely blind to the
tendencies of its own times. and
which has been at no pains to guide
the shaping forces Of life. Such
potent agencies as the Sunday school
and the Young Peoples society have
had to come to their greatness OF
power before ever the organized
churches realized their potentialities.
Who, among all the leaders Of Chris
tendon, would think it the business
of the church to encourage choice
young men to go into journalism, not
for purposes OF religious propaganda,
but for purposes Of human service and
kingdom ministry? So, too, young men
and young women become teachers OF
the young without ever an inspiring
or guiding word from their religious
leaders. Who gives heed to the men
who draw the pictures of the periodi-
cal press, which so affect the thinking
of the masses? Has any ecclesiastical
a consideration Of the power Of the
song writer, or even of the men who
determine the character of nations
humor? l know little woman who
writes hundreds of Sunday school
songs, sung by the very little children
songs that make an abiding impress
sion upon the plastic mind of youth;
I doubt, though, if she has ever had
a word of praise or encouragement
or suggestion from any Christian lead
er of our time. The truth Is the
churches are culpably derelict In I'M
derrating and ignoring the forces
which fix the ideals of our day. The
seeds and saplings that are to become
the trees Of tomorrow might be bet
ter for little tending.
Nobody has such faith as the farm
err. He spends winter, spring, and
most of summer in preparing for his
harvest With seed in the ground, he
simply waits. working, it is true. while
he waits. The seed cannot be hur-
ried IL it Is to bring forth good fruit.
Nevertheless, the farmer is an incura-
BILE optimist. He expects q harvest,
although he recognizes that 1t takes
a miracle of nature to produce 1t every
year.
AS we wait and watch for the COM
ing Of the kingdom, even as for the
coming of the flowers, let us be ad-
monished not to get excited. Flowers
will vindicate our waiting. The mus
tary seed will become tree that will
shelter birds. The kingdom Of heaven
will increasingly exercise Its benign
ministries upon the people. Its ulti-
mate triumph Is sure. Our faith In
all seed should enhance our faith in
the seed which is the word.
Some Kingdom BIunders.
There are three classes Of people
who especially need the teaching of
this parable of the mustard seed, for
they are laundering in the matter Of
the Kingdoms coming.
First, there is the kingdom-to.come-
in-a.hurry crowd. They are sure that
the millennium will dawn tomorrow.
They see in every express train and in
the infant airship fulfillment of the
prophecy that men shall run to and
fro over the earth. Few of these are
gifted with any historical sense, and
they are ignorant Of the fact that their
same type>of character got just as ex-
cited over the introduction OF the
stage coach. In the wireless telegraph
and in the discovery Of the North Pole
they see signs of the swift coming
of the kingdom. They have no pa
thence; they cannot understand any
other time than the present day:
their sense of proportions is lacking.
Every commotion among the nations
in our own time is to them an evil
dence that the fullness of all times
has come These need to remember
the parable of the mustard seed. The
Kingdoms coming is a growth. The
seed that terminated so wonderfully
in the first centuries has been stead
lily doing it's work, but not yet is it's
growth accomplished.
In the second place there is the
needless crowd who are really not
watching for the Kingdoms coming.
They see no growth and are not per-
turbed by any apparent declension
To them religion Is an unreal sort Of
fairy realm, to be taken on some
body's say so. They are not among
those who are watching. To them
might come anew the Masters word,
"Can We not discern the signs Of the
times?"
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