Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-02-15
Bv WILLIAM T. ELLIS

Wars red ploughshare has been
driven deep into the soil of the splrlI
of mankind. Even the densest dul-
lard knows that a new kind of hu-
man harvest is ahead of us, other
wise the fields watered with blood
and fertilized with the lives of our
fairest would have been prepared in
vain.
For this reaping tomorrow there
must be sowing to-day. To all con-
cerned for ideals and for the world
welfare and to all who covet spirit
ual gains from this time of carnage
the message of the old parable of
the sower is just-sow! SOW! SOW
The same eternal seed awaits plant
ing to insure the promised results
Not a mere mechanical scattering OF
the printed word is sufficient; but
n widespread, deep, and intelligent
dissemination OF the everything truth
of God
The Peerless Parable
The most vivid bits of literature
Whlcn InG WOTlQ DOSStSStS " 49,
are the little stories from everyday
life told 1000 years ago to groups
of open-eyed peasants by the new
Teacher from Galilee. Jesus invest
ed the common and material Incl
dents of life with an uncommon ana
spiritual significance. He made the
world of ordinary things to glow
with divine truth. One of the best
known of these parallels, as they are
called, is that of the Sower. Phrases
from it abound in our daily news
papers and common speech and the
books we read.
\ parable is both n revealing and
q concealing of truth. A little girl
once said that "a parable is an
earthly story with a heavenly mean
ing" Natural facts are made SYM
boIs of spiritual truths The orl-
entail mind thinks in imagery ana
is better instructed by illustration
than by logic.
The adroit use of parable con-
ceals certain hidden meanings that
the teacher would have untolded
only to those who are fit to receive
them. OF profound significance is
the word of the Master, in connec-
tion with this parable, to His Twelve
friends: Unto you is given the mys-
terry of the kingdom of God; but unto
them that are without all things are
done in parallels" The way to un-
derstand the mind of Christ is to
live close to the heart of Christ. A
husband and wife may say more by
n single glance of the eye than
strangers can tell in an hours con-
vcrsation. Friendship with Christ IS
the road to comprehension of HIS
teachings spiritual things are
Spiritually discerned." The hostile
critic who reads the Bible does not
find in it the same luminous truth
as the devout disciple who opens its
pages to learn the will of his Master
and Friend.
"The Great Idea"
Among the Christians of the Le-
want runs a phrase, "the great idea
iby which they mean the restoration
of the cross to the Mosque of st.
Sophia. which was a sixty century
church. In their mind this symbol
dzes the restoration of Christianity
dominion on the Bosphorous. The
great idea" represents large 10y
atty. Something of this eagerness
for the Kingdoms coming. and in
clearer comprehension, is abroad in
the earth to-day. The whole pas
sion of many noble souls in our
times is for the consummation OF
that ideal condition which is the
Kingdom of Heaven on earth.
This present parable was spoken
concerning the Kingdom. To allow
the lesson to pass without medita-
tion upon the Kingdom and it's COM
ing would be to miss the first sig
nificance of the lesson; it would be
failure to get the primary thought
which Jesus meant to convey to His
hearers as they first heard this story
warm from His tender lips. This is
an occasion to pass in review the
servants of the Kingdom who are
toiling all about us-the preachers,
the Sunday school teachers, the de-
Nout parents, the editors and writers,
social settlement workers, physicians,
nurses, labor leaders, reformers-
what a countless company are living
and laboring with an eye single to
that Kingdom which is the consum-
nation of Gods glory and mans
welfare.
For the sake of this service, men
and women are Sowing beside many
waters" The unmechanical. uncal-
CuIating, lavish ways of the oriental
agriculturists are adopted, as by any
means and by all means men and
women try to bring in the Kingdom
for which, following in the train of
Christ, they would give their lives
To-day we find a greater variety OF
forces at work for the Kingdom than
ever before in the history of the
universe The Kingdom gospel is
being preached to all classes of peo-
pie everywhere. The coming of the
Kingdom has created a social fer
ment throughout the earth. Books
are being written, churches are even
Advertising in the newspapers, meet
ings are being held in shops. organ
izations of boys and girls are being
perfected, and in multitude of 9TH
er ways the business of the coming
Kingdom is being done.
Side by side with the worlds mill
fary activities to-day goes Chris
tian service for the men that is with
out parallel in all the history of the
church. Tossing aside conventional
habiliments and usages, religion has
attired herself in new fashion to the
soldiers in ministry with message.
The war-ploughed fields of France
are good soil for the word of life.'
The Four Kinds of Soil
Some knowledge of Palestine Is
needed to make clear this parable
Of the sower. ] recall one evening
on Mt. Carmel when 1 saw. in one
pf the fertile valleys of that famous