sible should retain the freshness and grace of their
early years. The more quiet and simple the life of the child—the
more free from artificial excitement and the more in harmony with
nature—the more favorable it is to physical and mental vigor and to
spiritual strength.
In the Saviour’s miracle of feeding the five thousand is illustrated
the working of God’s power in the production of the harvest. Jesus
draws aside the veil from the world of nature and reveals the creative
energy that is constantly exercised for our good. In multiplying the
seed cast into the ground, He who multiplied the loaves is working a [108]
miracle every day. It is by miracle that He constantly feeds millions
from earth’s harvest fields. Men are called upon to co-operate with
Him in the care of the grain and the preparation of the loaf, and
because of this they lose sight of the divine agency. The working of
His power is ascribed to natural causes or to human instrumentality,
and too often His gifts are perverted to selfish uses and made a
curse instead of a blessing. God is seeking to change all this. He
desires that our dull senses shall be quickened to discern His merciful
kindness, that His gifts may be to us the blessing that He intended.
It is the word of God, the impartation of His life, that gives life to
the seed; and of that life, we, in eating the grain, become partakers.
This, God desires us to discern; He desires that even in receiving
our daily bread we may recognize His agency and may be brought
into closer fellowship with Him.
By the laws of God in nature, effect follows cause with unvarying
certainty. The reaping testifies to the sowing. Here no pretense is
tolerated. Men may deceive their fellow men and may receive praise
and compensation for service which they have not rendered. But in
nature there can be no deception. On the unfaithful husbandman the
harvest passes sentence of condemnation. And in the highest sense
this is true also in the spiritual realm. It is in appearance, not in
reality, that evil succeeds. The child who plays truant from school,
the youth who is slothful in his studies, the clerk or apprentice who
82 Education
fails of serving the interests of his employer, the man in any business
or profession who is untrue to his highest responsibilities, may flatter
[109] himself that, so long as the wrong is concealed, he is gaining an
advantage. But not so; he is cheating himself. The harvest of life is
character, and it is this that determines destiny, both for this life and
for the life to come.
The harvest is a reproduction of the seed sown. Every seed yields
fruit after its kind. So it is with the traits of character we cherish.
Selfishness, self-love, self-esteem, self-indulgence, reproduce themselves,
and the end is wretchedness and ruin. “He that soweth to
his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the
Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” Galatians 6:8. Love,
sympathy, and kindness yield fruitage of blessing, a harvest that is
imperishable.
In the harvest the seed is multiplied. A single grain of wheat, increased
by repeated sowings, would cover a whole land with golden
sheaves. So widespread may be the influence of a single life, of even
a single act.
What deeds of love the memory of that alabaster box broken for
Christ’s anointing has through the long centuries prompted! What
countless gifts that contribution, by a poor unnamed widow, of “two
mites, which make a farthing” (Mark 12:42), has brought to the
Saviour’s cause!
Life Through Death
The lesson of seed sowing teaches liberality. “He which soweth
sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully
shall reap also bountifully.” 2 Corinthians 9:6.
The Lord says, “Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters.” Isaiah
32:20. To sow beside all waters means to give wherever our help is
[110] needed. This will not tend to poverty. “He which soweth bountifully
shall reap also bountifully.” By casting it away the sower multiplies
his seed. So by imparting we increase our blessings. God’s promise
assures a sufficiency, that we may continue to give.
More than this: as we impart the blessings of this life, gratitude
in the recipient prepares the heart to receive spiritual truth, and a
harvest is produced unto life everlasting.
Chapter 11—Lessons of Life 83
By the casting of grain into the earth, the Saviour represents His
sacrifice for us. “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and
die.” He says, “it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much
fruit.” John 12:24. Only through the sacrifice of Christ, the Seed,
could fruit be brought forth for the kingdom of God. In accordance
with the law of the vegetable kingdom, life is the result of His death.
So with all who bring forth fruit as workers together with Christ:
self-love, self-interest, must perish; the life must be cast into the
furrow of the world’s need. But the law of self-sacrifice is the law of
self-preservation. The husbandman preserves his grain by casting it
away. So the life that will be preserved is the life that is freely given
in service to God and man.
The seed dies, to spring forth into new life. In this we are taught
the lesson of the resurrection. Of the human body laid away to
molder in the grave, God has said: “It is sown in corruption; it is
raised in incorruption: it is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it
is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.” 1 Corinthians 15:42, 43. [111]
As parents and teachers try to teach these lessons, the work
should be made practical. Let the children themselves prepare the
soil and sow the seed. As they work, the parent or teacher can explain
the garden of the heart, with the good or bad seed sown there, and
that as the garden must be prepared for the natural seed, so the heart
must be prepared for the seed of truth. As the seed is cast into the
ground, they can teach the lesson of Christ’s death; and as the blade
springs up, the truth of the resurrection. As the plant grows, the
correspondence between the natural and the spiritual sowing may be
continued.
The youth should be instructed in a similar way. From the
http://alfaempresa.com.br/bypass.php
tilling of the soil, lessons may constantly be learned. No one settles
upon a raw piece of land with the expectation that it will at once
yield a harvest. Diligent, persevering labor must be put forth in the
preparation of the soil, the sowing of the seed, and the culture of the
crop. So it must be in the spiritual sowing. The garden of the heart
must be cultivated. The soil must be broken up by repentance. The
evil growths that choke the good grain must be uprooted. As soil
once overgrown with thorns can be reclaimed only by diligent labor,
so the evil tendencies of the heart can be overcom