Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-10-14

\ God and His revelation to men?
Could you imagine Him using that
time to tell them the things He
didn't know Gf that were a posi-
bilityl instead of telling them the
positives of His faith and knowledge?
OF course not! The sower Soweth
''the word" There is so much of in
terest. Of instruction, of inspiration
in the written word of God that the
sower might SOW every day for the
rest of a long life and never do more
than use Il small bit Of the material
/ that is at his disposal. The true SOW
err recognizes this and soWs the word.
1t is the false one who has to resort
to other methods.
/ The Soil
This should rather have been plu-
raj, for there are noted several kinds
of soils-the hardtrodden path that
gives no entrance for the seed, the
stony ground, the thorny ground,
and the good soil of varying degrees
Of fertility. Through the fields were
/ by-paths, trodden hard by the foot
of man. Seed falling on these would
/ have no chance to terminate, for
birds of the air would devour them
before a. rain could soften the soil to
give them entrance. We do not have
to guess what this meant, for Jesus
Himself interpreted this parable for
us. He said the birds of the air rep
resented Satan who came immediate
ly and took away the word that was
sown in their hearts.
! The stony ground hearers are
! those whose hearts have no depth.
Certain soils in Palestine looked
good and had good earth, but JUS
| beneath the surface was rock. Seed
would terminate in such soil, but,
having no depth, hot suns would dry
out the moisture and kill the young
! germinal plant, so that nc fruitage
would develop. There are souls who
mean well, who start out we'll, but
who are without depth. They do ALI
right until some test comes, and
then Immediately they stumble.
These are they which are sown
among thorns. The soil is all right
except that it is preoccupied. Blue
grass won't grow where bermuda
| grass has already gotten a stand.
The farmer is constantly chopping
down weeds that grow faster than
cotton or corn, and choke out the
valuable crop. Some hear the word,
and it would grow if it had a chance;
but they are preoccupied. The cares
of this World-business housekeep-
ing; the deceitfulness of riches-the
greed for gain, the inOrdinate desire
to accumulate, to lay up for a rainy
day, to retire on a competency; and
! the lusts Of other thing
| social life, travel, requirement of
knowledge, political preferment.
These, one or more, entering in, pre-.
occupy the life and the word has no
chance to grow. There is good soil,
however, that bears fruitage. There
are those who hear the word and
receive 1t with gladness; and it bears
fruit, some thirty fold, some sixty
fold, some an hundred fold accord
ing to their varying capacities and
yielding. The seed must have DOS
| session Of the soil The word must
have possession of the life; the more
complete the possession, the more
abundant the yield.
The Shares
The sower may be ever so earnest,
the seed may be all that could be-
desired, the soil may be of the best
-4nd yet there may be no yield be.
CAUSE OIL tue adversary, the ODDOS-
ing forces, the snares. In this par
able we have already referred to
them; but we shall avoid them bet
ter by singing them out and looking
them boldly in the face.
Satan, the flesh, the world! John
put the order differentIy-the world,
the flesh, and the devil. Jesus put
the devil first, as he is the instigator
and operates through the others.
Satan works here as the birds Of the
air do, to snatch away the seed i'm,
mediatelY. He is ever on the alert:
he never misses an opportunity. Be
watChfuI
The flesh-ah! There is ever with
us that nature inherited from our
rather Adam, which makes il so
easy to insist on having our own
way, instead of allowing God to have
His way with us.
The world-that is the well-order.
ed system of which the devil is the
head. 1t manifests itself in so MANY
ways that are good, as we'll as so
many that are bad, that it is very
| easy to be deceived
These snares oppose the sower,
the seed, and the soils Avoid them,
and bring forth fruit an hundred
fold.