p. 13 | SOW THE SEED AND WAIT by Mrs. Parrie L. H. Roberson

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jun 6, 1900

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 26, No. 23.

SOW THE SEED AND WAIT.

By Mrs. Parrie L. H. Roberson

FRIEND, to how many poor souls are you sending the SIGNS OF THE TIMES at your own expense? "None," did you say? Why not? Did you say it costs too much, and you can't afford it? Are you quite sure?

I am very well acquainted with a family dependent on daily labor for bread, who work hard with their hands in the service of others to earn money with which to buy the necessaries of life; yet this family find it possible to send the SIGNS OF THE TIMES as a messenger of truth to several dear souls for whom Jesus died.

The plan is to send the paper for a term of three months, which means an expense of only twenty-five cents for the good of each soul or family of souls to which it is sent. That twenty-five cents might be spent for a piece of ribbon or lace, or it might be used in buying candy, chewing gum, or some other unnecessary or hurtful thing.

While on a visit to relatives in Western Oregon last summer, our family became slightly acquainted with a few people who live out in a picturesque little valley nestled among the dark green mountains of the Coast Range. When they returned home, $2.25 was spent in sending the SIGNS for a term of three months to nine of these families. Letters were sent ahead as an introduction, and, judging from replies received from some of them, the effort in their behalf has not been unappreciated.

One dear old lady writes: "The SIGNS is all the Sunday-school or church I have, and I do enjoy reading it so much, and am so glad to get it."

Another says: "The SIGNS is the best paper we ever read. We like it very much."

One man writes: "Just as soon as I can get the money I am going to subscribe for the SIGNS and Review, and I never will let my subscription expire while I live. I feel lost without them. Surely the publishers of those papers have the Spirit of Christ dwelling in their hearts."

Again he says, "I don't want any more trashy reading in the house." And he goes on to say that he wants the Youth's Instructor and Little Friend for his children.

Dear friends, God loves all these dear people just as much as He loves you or me, and He has graciously given us, through the instrumentality of others, just what He wishes us to pass along to those yet unblessed. There are rich blessings all along the way for those who love to labor for the good of others. Do not say that you can not afford it, for God never asks us to do what we can not afford to do; but He asks us to labor for the good of one another, and in so doing we are co-laborers with Christ. So let us not withhold our hands from sowing the precious seed.

"Sow, tho the rock repel thee, In its cold and sterile pride; Some cleft there may be riven, Where the little seed may hide. Fear not, for some will flourish; And, tho the tares abound, Like the willows by the waters Will the scattered grain be found."

MRS. PARRIE L. H. ROBERSON. St. Helena, Cal.