Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-02-22

| leaders of Christendom, would think
| it the business of the church to en-
/ courage choice young men to go into
! journalism, not for purposes of re-
! ligious propaganda, but for purposes
! of human service and kingdom min
| istry? So, too, young men and
! young women become teachers of
the young without even an inspiring
or guiding word from their reli-
gious leaders. Who gives heed to
the men who draw the pictures of
the periodical press. which so af-
feet the thinking of the masses? Has
any ecclesiastical assembly ever de-
| voted five minutes to a consideration
of the power of the song writer, or
even of the men who determine the
character of a nations humor? II
! know of 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:
| / doubt, though if she has ever
had a word of praise or encourage
ment or suggestion from any Chris
tian leader of our time. The truth
is the churches are culpably dere-
lict in undertaking and ignoring the
forces which fix the ideals of our
day. The seeds and saplings that
are to become the trees of to-mor-
row might be better for little
tending.
Patience With the Seed
All the great forces grow silently
| There is less power in a noisy crowd
than there is in the retired thinker
in his study. The philosopher, the
inventor, the scientist, working apart
from man, unheeded and unapprais-
ed by even his nearest neighbors,
may be setting into motion forces
which will profoundly affect the life
of tomorrow. All about us the mus
tard seed parable is being enacted.
Let us learn its lesson and not de-
spise the day of small things.
Nobody has such faith as the
farmer 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 hurried if it is TO bring
forth good fruit Nevertheless, the
farmer is an incurable optimist He
expects harvest, although he
recognizes that it takes a miracle
of nature to produce it every year.
In religion, too, something of the
same patience with the seed is need
ed. The Christian Church has un-
dertaken to raise q worldwide har-
vest. AS yet, the seed is only GER
places. Thus, in India, there has
been a wonderful sowing of Christ
ian truth, but the full harvest isl
not vet. All over that wonderful
land an observer may see the mus
tard seed of truth sprouting, and
he has faith that the day is to come
when that great tree. whose leaves
shall be for the healing of the ma
tions. will result. But patience isl
needed.
Here is an article of every Christ
ian's creed that should permeate all
his thinking: whether we watch lti
or not whether we understand it or
not, the kingdom of heaven is grow
ing and coming. In ways beyond
our ken, and by agencies that are
past human grasp, THAT kingdom,
which means mans veal as well as
Gods glory, is steadily rising to-
ward its fullness of dominion.
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 mat
ter 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 ex-
press train and cloud-piercing air.
ship a fulfllment 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
excited over the introduction of the |
stagecoach. In the wireless tele- |
graph and in the discovery of the
North pole they see signs of the swift |
coming of the kingdom. They have
no patience: they cannot understand |
any other time than the present
day: their sense of proportion Is |
lacking The present world war is |
to them an evidence that the full |
ness 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 steadily !
doing its work, but not yet is its (
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- /
turDed 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?'
The third company are the pessi-
mists, who are sure that the king |
dom is having sorry times of it, and
that the prince of the powers of |
this world is having things all his
own way. They are sure that the
world is growing worse, and the
only comfort their little souls eniov
is that they themselves are a saving
salt in the midst of so much wick
edness. There is no rainbow in their
sky. All the signs that come to them
are interpreted as tokens of defeat.
These, too, need the parable of the
Kingdom that grows greater and
offers shelter for many creatures.
They especially need to observe
more closely things in the large.
Signs of Promise
Why did Jesus tell this story. any,
how? What was the first purpose
or the parable? Was it not to
hearten His friends, who would
nave many reasons for discourage
ment, with no conviction that the
kingdom, to which they had given
their lives was a conquering king
dom. At the base of the parable
is a note of assurance. The king
dom of heaven is coming. Let MS
get that conviction into the ground
work of all our thinking, and we
shall see it's fuIlfillment on every
hand. Who so looks at life i'm itsl
relationships and with a wide horiI
Zon, knowing somewhat of other
centuries than his own, will observe
signs of promise everywhere.