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The Sunday School
THE SEED IX TIIE FOUR KINDS OF
SOIL.
July 14, 1912. Mark 4:1-20.
Golden Text: "Receive with meekness
the engrafted word, which is able
to save your souls."?James 1:21.
HOME DAILY BIBLE READINGS.
'M.?Mark 4:1-9. The Seed in the
Four Kinds of Soil.
T.?Mark 4:10-20. The Parable Explained.
W.?Acts 17:1-9. Sowing on Stony
Soil.
T.?Acts 17:10-15. Sowing on Good
Soil.
P.?Matt. 7:15-27. The Doer and the
I-Iearer.
S.?Hefo. 4:1-12. Hearing Without
Faith.
S.?Gal. 6:1-10. Sowing and Reaping.
SHORTER CATECHISM.
Q. 6. 'How many persons are there
in the Godhead?
A. There are three persons in the
Godhead: the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Ghost; and these three are one
God, the same in substance, equal in
power and glory.
LESSON STUDY.
Place nnd Times On the shore of the
little Sea of Galilee, just following the
incident of the last lesson, and probably
In the early autumn of A. D. 28, the
second year of our Lord's ministry.
A New Method of Teaching: For a
HniihU nnrnnflo Ohrlat nrvw IntrrwInooH
and largely -used a new way of teaching.
The parable was so plain that the dullest
man with the right spirit could
understand it, but to the brightest man
not In sympathy with him it would appear
obscure.
The Parable: The parable is an illustration
of a truth in a higher sphere
drawn from the analogy to it of something
real or possible in a lower
sphere. The basis of it Is the actual or
the possible, the method of it analogy,
the medium of it experience. It became
Christ's favorite way of teaching truth.
Tt ur Q a V\nf K n oHnol r?/\w ? ?1
*V ???? MVVM 1" nv-t?v,ui auu iA/wcnui.
Self-explanatory: It would be absurd
tc undertake to explain this Scripture.
It would be the same as to try "to gild
refined gold or paint the lily." It would
be illustrating an illustration, explaining
an explanation. The Saviour himself
unfolding its meaning. No one can Improve
nnon his exposition of his own
worfi
So3d, Sowing, Soil: Good seed, well
bow: , in proper soil, are the essentials
to a happy harvest. This is the great
lesson of the day. The seed is the
word. There is only one kind of good
Beed. The sower is Christ, the Spirit,
the preacher, God's servant, any one
wht Is true and obedient to the Lord.
Thsre is but one kind of sower. It is
the ono who handles the true seed and
relies upon no other. There are different
kinds of soil, however.
Vonr Kinds of Soil: Trodden soil,
ton hard to take in the seed; rocky
sol, too thin to give It depth of root;
th ?rny soil, where evil growths are
th cker and more rapid; good soil, of
various degrees of fertility. Good seed,
fa thful sowing, and suitable soil must
b4 joined In the making of a harvest.
T1 e absence of any one of these spoils
It all. The fleflds of Palestine, Itself a
very stony land, were unenclosed and
pfcths were trodden through them. The
soil often overlay, in a thin skin as
It were, the solid rook. The fertility of
the soil when good was so great that
anything already rooted well, as the
tfiorns and weeds, would easily outgrow
k>
THE PRESBYTERIJ
the young and tender grain and choke it
out.
A Traveller's Account t One may see
today in Palestine the same conditions
as those of the older time. Dr. Thomson,
of "The Land and the Book," writes,
"Descending to the Plain of Gennesarel,
we passed a hill-side which was black
with over a thousand crows, which were
waiting there for the unhappy plowman
to move far enough away for them to
descend on their fields. Our horses actually
are trampling down some seeds
which have fallen by the wayside, and
larks and sparrows are busy picking
them up."
A Vivid lMcfrnrfi! Tt to a at -iVini, ?
which this lesson gives us, and one
easily drawn by the imagination
Christ, in order to avoid the press of
the crowd, is seated on a cross-board of
a little boat pushed out twenty or thirty
feet from the shore, in a little circular
bay of the sea. The throng of listeners
forms a crescent shaped mails of humanity
on the shelving bank, all within
easy reach of his clear voice. Back
of the crowd, on the gently sloping hillSides
are the 'lately plowed fields. A
sower, broadcasting his grain, is diligently
at work. The Master points to
this sower, and the crowd of hearers
turn their eyes and follow the Master's
words and see every part of his description
enacted before their very eyes. It
1b an object lesson of wondrous vivid
nc-oo d11vi liitrctiuii^ iuo, wen as or
clearness and beauty.
The Lessons: Hardness of heart, indifference,
the cares of the world, the
deceitfulness of riches, love of worldly
things, the thousand birds of prey
which will devour the good or snatch
It away, are among the causes which
keep God's word from doing men good.
Good seed and bad soil together will
not make a crop, any more than bad
seed and good soil. The two goods
must go together. Good seed and faithful
sowing are not enough; they must
have the soil, and the right soil. A large
part of good soil making consists in
uiakiing it friable and deepening it,
that it may give the seed chance to take
root, in fencing it, that it may not be
trampled upon and made hard, in digging
out the thorns, that they may not
infest the ground. 'Everything defends
upon tne preparation or tne son. wnat >
is enlightenment to some is obscurity to
others. Everything depends upon the
spirit or temper with 'Which the word
is received. The same Gospel is a
"savor of life unto lite" and of "death
unto death." The hearer has himself
to blame if he receives not the word
aright, or if the soil be unprepared to
make the seed give a good return.
FAITH OF A CHILD.
A little boy lay very sick. A minister
came to see him, but finding him
weafk, ^poke few sentences. Before
parting, however, he gave the child a
verse of five words as a motto, a word
for each finger of one hand.
The sick boy counted over the words
on his pale fingers. Yes, there they
were, five only, and one for each knuckle
The ?Lord?is?my?Shepherd. "And
my is the best of the five," he said.
A few days later another visit was
paid to that same home. At the door
the sorrowing mother met the minister.
"It Is all over," she said; "my little
son is dead. But come and see him."
Aua o-ue leu ine way to me aarKened
room. Very thin and white was the
little face, very sweet and peaceful was
the countenance of the little sleeper.
Then the mother drew down the coverlet,
and, turning: to the minister, said:
"That's the best.' The little hands
were crossed, and on the fourth knuckle
of the left hand rested still a finger
of the other hand. In silence the life
had sped, with the hands clasked to utter,
"The (Lord is my Shepherd."?Unknown
N OF THE SOUTH
Young People's Societies
PERSONAL APPEARANCE.
Topic for Sunday, July 14: How Much
Should a Christ inn Think of Personal 1
Appearance? 2 Klngrs 9:30-35; Psalm
45:7-15.
DAILY READINGS.
Monday: Vain ostentation. 1 John 2:
15-17.
Tuesday: Old-time finery. Isaiah
"3:16-26.
lVtdnesday: Inner adornment. 1
Peter 3:1-6.
Thursday: Womanly modesty. Genesis
24:61-67.
Friday: Apostolic ideals. 1 Timothy
2:8-10.
Saturday: Christ's advice. Matthew
6:28-34.
It matterB little how prepossessing
one may be in nersonal nrmanmnr-e' \*
the character be bad. A beautiful face
and an attractive form are nothing with
a bad heart back of them.
The first step towards making the
personal appearance attractive is to se4
the heart right. The very features will
respond in some measure to a beautiful
soul and become like it.
One thing is sure: a beautiful soul
will be so attractive that those who see
an unhandsome face or presence with
H will never think of the latter. And
after all, external handsomeness is hut
a.n impression.
There seems to be some undiscovered
connection between the material world
and the immaterial through which the
latter shapes itself. Indulge in fine and
lofty thoughts and your face and bearing
will in some strange way respond to
it
Contrasts or opposites sometimes
prove the truth. Jezebel with all her
outward paint could not whiten or
beautify her soul. But had her soul
been great, she would not have needed
the paint in the effort to make people
love and admire her. There's a brightness
in the eye, a smile upon the mouth,
a glow about the countenance when the
soul is all right, that keep anyone from
ever associating that face with homeliness.
The thought of prettiness o?
ugliness never enters when greatness
or soul is concerned.
" He is the handsomest man I ever
saw," remarked a stranger concerning
a great preacher, before she had been
listening to him for five minutes. Ten
minutes before, when she had not seer
the light of his great soul, she had said.
"He is the homeliest man T ever saw."
The basis of good appearance is neatness
or orderliness. "Order is heaven's
first law." The whole aim of religion
is to bring about the happy adjustmer
of the soul to its original relation. T"
is to bring order out of chaos. It is t'
make one like God, as unfallen man
was. May we not believe that our paents
in Eden were marvellously beauti
ful in person?
It is not vanity or lightness to endeavor
to be attractive. Every one.
man or woman, child or youth, owes it
to God and humanity no less than to
self to be just as beautiful as it is
possible to be, and to study that which
will add to personal attractiveness. If
it would 'be wrong to make oneself unattractive,
then it must be right to
make oneself pleasing.
God has implanted within all the love
of the beautiful as well as of* the true
and the good. He has also filled the
world with beauty, to entrance and develop
that aesthetic longing and taste.
Is it reasonable to exclude the beauty
of personal appearance from the verge
of this divinely given love? Christ himself
Is declared to be "chief among ten
thousand; the one altogether lovely."
[July 3, 1912
The Prayer Meeting
ELEMENTS OF GREATNESS.
John 13:1-17. Week of July 7.
Our Ix>rd was near the close of hlB
ministry. He was about to stoop to the
cross that thereby he might be the more
highly exalted. The vision of sitting at
the right band of the Majesty on high
was clearly before him, as well as the
vision of final obedience unto death. As
he came near to the last scenes of his
humiliation, solemn and forbidding as
they were, he was not preoccupied with
his ewn Impending trials, but & great
concern came over him for his disciples
who were to remain after his entrance
Into his glory. They were his
friends and he was to leave them to
continue the hard battle to which he
naa summoned mem. ine question or
moral stability after their leader should
be taken away must be adjusted, and
there must be such schooling as would
prepare them for It. They were not yet
prepared. They still had some strange
Ideas of the nature of the kingdom and
of what It meant to enjoy Its blessings.
The spirit of ambition had gotten the
maBtery and they disputed abooit who
should be greatest Their personal preferment
was engaging their thought at
the time when their Master was prei>aring
to give his life for them. It was at
supper time that ht arranged to teach
them the lesson that they needed.
The prevailing social custom was that
the host appointed a slave to wash the
feet of guests In the home. The dust
of the highway -was removed and the
person was refreshed. How this service
had formerly 'been rendered for the disciples
we are not told, but on this oc
oaslon there seemed to be no one ready
for the service; no one -to wash the feet
of his brethren and his faster. Here
was the opportunity for impressing the
needed lesson. His deede would be more
Impressive than words or parables. By
one act he would teach them a lesson
that they should never forget. After
making the needed preparation he began
to wash the disciples feet, even including
Tildas, whom, a few moments
after he made known as his betrayer.
His disciples must have been greatly
d (concerted by this act and with stricken
conscience must have reproached themselves
bitterly. Under a sense of unworthiness
and in silent shame they
submitted one after another. But
Peter, not accustomed to restrain hia
impulses, spoke out and said, "Lord
dost thou wash my feet?" This waa
an expression of contrition and a confession
of his conscious unworthiness.
The Master dealt tenderly with him until
he protested in positive terms, then
the Lord exposed the disciples need, not
only of bodily washing but the purifying
of his soul. So overcome was Peter that
he pleaded for the cleansing mediation
of Christ's mercy and grace. The lesson
had its efTect, certainly in the cas^
of this disciple, and the pride of a"
must have been subdued, for we hear
no more of wrangling disputes about
who should be greatest.
Here la one of the great lessons of
Christian service and of moral conduct
It Involves a law which affects human
duty In all the relations of one to another.
It should prevail in home litebusiness,
social life and the duties ef
citizenship. It has its root in the example
of our 'Lord and in hs preceptIf
I then, your Lord and Master have
washed your feet, ye also ought to wash
one another's feet '"Let this mind be in
you which was also in Christ Jesus,
who being in the form of God thought if
not robbery to 'be equal with Cod, l>u
made himself of no reputation, and took
upon him ihe form of a servant."