The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-12-03
International
SundaySehoolLesson'
By WILLIAM T. ELLIS.
For Dec, is, THE Growth of the
Kingdom. Mats. 13:1-43.

For Dec. is. THE Growth of the
Kingdom Matt. 13:1-43.
This Worlds Greatest Hope.
They have sky-nghts, but no win
dowss said somebody, in describing
a certain type of tra-pious, imprac-
tical Christians. Failure to look out
upon the realities OF life may be the
fault of some rapt Missionaries; but it
was. no defect of Jesus. He saw
straight and clear and whole. This
sanity of His has won the praise of
while Offering the Kingdom OF
heaven as the only hope of this
mussed-up old world, Jesus frankly
faced the fact that until the end. that
Kingdoms visible form. the church,
would lack perfection. All thru the
separatists who have withdrawn from
the church because of her faults, and
have sought to set up a holy body.
often protesting the doctrine of per-
fiction. Even these, however, have
been known to exhibit something less
than the flower of the Christian quail
ties, as they have assailed all who do
not agree with them.
The church is not perfect; all of US
agree upon that point. The church
herself knows it better than the world.
God knows it best of all. No sensible
persons lay any claim to impeecability
for the, church. Her hottest members
are the ones most sorely concerned
about her shortcomings. But not
withstanding all, the church does pro-
duce saints; and saints are the one
saving leaven of the world. It is
scarcely fair to dwell upon the tares in
the field, and blind to the wheat; for
if the wheatfield is corrupted by tares.
it is equally true that good grain does
grow and find its way to the garner,
in spite of the tares.
An Old Tales New Telling.
We have two Sunday school lessons
on Jesus parallels of the kingdom:
without q parable spake He not unto
them.' Jesus preached by pictures.
He never uttered a dull sermon. For
every embarrassing preacher there is a
supreme admonition in the simple fact
that the Master always presented His
message so that it appealed to folk of
all degree: the common people heard
Him gladly" and the-rabbis marvelled
at His wisdom.
One of his familiar picture-sermons,
drawn from the life closest at hand
what eyes our Lord had for the beauty
and wonder and msaningfulness of
this present world!-was the kingdom
parable of the wheat and the tares.
sion of Weymouth:
Another parable He put before
them.
The Kingdom of the Heavens
He said, may be compared to a man
who has sown good seed in his field,
but during the night his enemy comes,
and over the first seed he sows darpel
among the wheat, and goes away. But
when the blade shoots up and the
grain. is formed, then appears the
darnel also. .........
:. so the farmers men come and ask
him,
Sir, was it not good seed that you
soweth on your land? Where then
does the darnel come from?'
Some enemy has done this he
80. !" Shall we go, and collect it?' the
men inquire
No. he replied. for fear that
while collecting the darnel you should
at the same time root up the wheat
with it. Leave both to grow together
until the harvest, and at haryest-time
will direct the reapers, collect the
darnel first, and make it up into bun
dies to burn, but bring all the wheat
into my barn"
=. =. .
'sWhen He had finished the people
! disciples came to Him with the re-
quest. +et~ 30 ..-a-,- ..--+.,
Explain to US the parable of the
| darnel sown in the field sa4
The sower of the good seed he
replied, is the Son of Man; the field
is the world; the good seed-these are
the sons of the Kingdom; the darnel,
the sons of the Evil One. The enemy
who sows the darnel is The Devil;
the harvest is the Close of the Age; the
| reapers are the angels. AS then the
darnel is collected together and burnt
up with fire, SO will it be at the Close
of the Age. The Son of Man will COM
| mission His angels. and they will
gather out of His Kingdom all causes
of sin and all who violate His laws;
and these they will throw into the fiery
furnace. There will be the weeping
aloud and the gnashing of teeth. Then
will the righteous shine out like the
sun in their Fathers Kingdom. Listen,
| every one who has ears.'p
'Tnocking" the Church.
Today. in the time of her UNIQUE
opportunity, Christianity is anew on
trial. Apparently one does not, have
to possess any personal experience OF
religion in order to feel free to criti-
else the church The uttermost rascal
lambasts the hypocrites in the
church"
OF course there are hypocrites In
the church: Jesus said so first, in our
Lesson parable: but there are no hypo-
critics in the saloons. the brothels, the
|
initiate the devils flock. 1t is because
the church is predeminantly righteous
and beneficent that unworthy persons
seek to cloak themselves beneath hel
seemhness- A fair sense of proportion
would lead honest critics to praise tbs
worthiness of the true Christians, rath-
er than to rail at the unworthy imita-
tons; who. after all, are no more
christians than tares are wheat
| Right here a clear, sharp distinction
should be made between conscious
hypocrites and feeble saints. There /:
lail the difference between them that
there is between lusty tares and un-
derdeYeloped stalks of grain. Most OF
US are bitterly aware that we are I'M
worthy types of grain: yet in our deep
est hearts we know that we are not
hypocrites. We do belong to the Lord
His service and His glory are our in
nermost life detectives. We want to
1henor Christ, and to be and bear fruit
E-ra 81. !