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117 Manchester Street
“THE NAME.”
By S. L.
A Message to Those Seeking Deliverance from Any Evil Habit.
“Then shalt call His name Jesus; for He shall save His people from their sins.” Matt. 1:21.
“The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.” Prov. 18:10.
I LEARNED a wonderful lesson, now many years ago, concerning “The Name,” from an old heathen Mochuana. We were traveling in Bechuanaland; heavy rains, causing swollen rivers, stopped our progress, and we lay for days on the banks of an impassable stream, our only shelter from the inclement weather the old-fashioned bullock wagon. Other travelers by wagons and carts came along, each stopped in turn by the swollen torrent, until quite a little canvas camp lay along the water’s edge. There was no lack of discomforts of every kind to be endured on that marshy plain. Rain, rain, rain above, and mud, mud, mud below; and whenever the rain stopped, and the warmer air made itself felt, swarms of mosquitoes to make the night hideous with their trumpetings and their stings. Being limited for time in which to accomplish our journey, the trial of the delay in our onward progress increased the burden of the adverse circumstances in which we were placed; but there was a “needs be” for our being led to, and kept in, that precise spot.
Worse than all other trials, than the enforced imprisonment in the narrow confines of that wagon, than the inability to cook or prepare a comfortable meal, than the going for nights without rest on account of the onslaughts of the mosquitoes, was the fact that we were subjected to the horrible sights and sounds caused by the existence, in our near neighborhood, of one of those curses which in those days invariably followed in the wake of British occupation of a new territory,—the wayside canteen. Close to the drift of the river, on the main road which all wagons going to and from Kimberley with wood or produce from the interior must travel, lay this horrible den, this trap for unwary passers-by, and there the natives of the surrounding districts by hundreds had lost their all. The wagons and cattle, goats and sheep, which it had taken some of the poor creatures their lifetime to collect, were gone in a few months into the grasp of the rapacious trader, who thus throve and amassed wealth by draining the very essentials of life from the poor besotted beings who yielded up all in exchange for the vile adulterated compounds with which he robbed them of their senses, and made them from their “first drink” helpless victims, to be fleeced at his will; pliable dupes for his cupidity to fatten on. He told me himself, in reply to my pleading with him to give up the iniquitous traffic: “I came here almost penniless, a few years ago, and now I have gained possession of all these acres. All the land you see to that far outlying beacon is mine, and all these flocks and herds, these buildings and gardens, and you coolly ask me to give up the trade that has brought me all this wealth. No! the interests of my wife and children are to be considered in the question.” All remonstrance and pleading was vain.
An African Village.
The proprietor of—
This Money-making, Death-dealing Concern
was not to be moved, and I had to witness, during those days of storm and rain, numbers of fellow-men going back and forth between those wagons and that door of ruin,—old men, young men, here and there a white man, but mostly black men,—the ignorant natives of the country, ragged, wretched, besotted. Again and again my soul, in an agony too deep for articulate prayer, cried out to God, as those staggering figures, with brutalized faces, screaming out as only drunken savages can scream, passed in and out of that canteen door; every now and then English oaths, picked up in Kimberley, intermingling with their native language, made this horrible picture of what European civilization brings to the savage races still more horrible. One felt suffocating with the pain, the shame of it all, and O, so powerless, so helpless to do anything to stay the curse, to save those wretched lives from the destruction going on before one’s gaze hour after hour. My brain felt on fire, as it were, and I cried in an almost despairing agony to God, and then a calm came over me, and a prayer, and with the prayer a call.
I clambered out of the wagon and went toward the canteen. Out of all the figures there, I seemed to see only one—a poor aged man, with a few filthy rags, only very partially covering his equally filthy body, loathsome with sores, his bloated face and bleared eyes, so repulsive-looking that one shrank instinctively from the sight. He was just staggering toward the canteen to get another drink, when I went up to him and said, “Old man, I want to speak to you.” He turned round stupidly and gave assent.
“Come inside a little.” He followed me back to my wagon, and there in broken “taal,” which I could speak, and he understood a little of, I asked him why he was killing himself with this drink.
“Why?” he answered, “why? you know why—because I can’t help it!”
I said, “But you can help it; you need not go on drinking.”
“What!” said he, “do you think any man would be so foolish as to go on taking that stuff, that ‘brandt’ [literally, burning], if he could help it, if he could stop from it?—No, no! You English know that well enough, therefore you bring this ‘toer goed’ [literally, magic potion, witch’s stuff] to us. You know when we once taste it we can never be free again, never, never! It was so with me. For months after that canteen was opened, I never went near it. I saw how it diseased my neighbors; how they went mad after they had been there; how they gave their cattle and sheep to the white man there, just to get a bottle with that stuff in it; how they could not rest when that was done, but had to get more and more, till everything they had was given to the white man; and their bodies were sick and full of sores, as mine is to-day, and their eyes got blind, and their hands could not carry the food to their mouths without spilling it; and yet one day I let a mate talk me over to taste the white man’s magic. I thought I would only taste a little drop, just to see what it was like; that was five years ago, and—well, you know how it is when you drink the white man’s magic. You never leave off again. I drank and drank. I drank that time till I drank out all the money I had by me; then I went home and brought a goat to the canteen man, and sold it for the drink, and my wife cried when she saw that I also had come under the spell of the white man’s stuff; but it was no use; I was miserable too, but I could not stop; and I drank more and more. I drank out all my goats and sheep and cows and my few oxen and wagon—the canteen man has them all together. Now I’m sick and half blind, and with all my sores, and I only want to drink, drink!”
“But how do you get the drink, if you have no more things to sell to the canteen-keeper?”
He chuckled. “O, I get it. When all my money is done, the canteen-keeper gives me drink till I owe him £1. Then he won’t give me any more, so then I get my brother-in-law to lend me his wagon, and, weak as I am, I gather wood in the veld—bushes and bits of wood—till I get a wagon load. Then I am sick, the longing for the drink, when the canteen man won’t give me any more, makes me strong to go on getting the wood together, till I get enough to go to Kimberley to sell it; and my brother-in-law sends some one with me (my wife is with me now)13to take £1 for him for his wagon, and I sometimes buy a little brandy in Kimberley, and then bring all the other money, sometimes £3, to the canteen man here, and I drink every day till I drink all the money out. Then he lets me drink after that for another £1; then I have to get more wood. So I live.”
I said, “But you are killing yourself!”
“Yes,” he answered, “I know that; I am almost dying now. I shake all the time, and I can’t be without the drink one day. When my money is done, and the canteen-keeper won’t give me any more, I cry so that my friends must give me some; but to-day I can get plenty! I have just sold my wood in Kimberley. I can drink! I must go now and drink!” And he wanted to move off.
I pleaded with him then—asked him if he would not try to give up the drink, for his poor wife, for his children, to save himself from dying. He laughed a strange, despairing laugh. “You ask, Don’t I want to get well? Don’t I want to give my poor wife and children some money to buy food with?—Of course I do. What man would not like to be well of this disease? Why do you talk so? You know as well as I do that there is no help for me, that there is no doctor on this earth can cure a man of this witchcraft.”
“There is, there is!” I said, as it rushed over me, “They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.” I told him of Jesus, that loving One, who healed all the sick who came to Him. As I told him of one and another who had come to that Jesus and been made whole, those bleared eyes seemed strained with eagerness, and he broke in on me almost breathlessly in excitement, “Is it true, missis? Are you telling me true? Where is this man? Tell me, tell me! Is he in Kimberley? O take me to this doctor. I will give him all the money for the wood I gather, till he has ten loads, or even more, more if he wants it, only take me to him.”
I told him this doctor asked for no money, wanted no pay, only for people to ask Him to make them well; but here came the difficulty to explain how—
He Could Ask the Unseen Christ.
He was quite a heathen; had never had anything to do even with Christianized natives, knew nothing about God but the name as he had heard it in curses in his canteen experience. I asked the Spirit to help me to explain to him the Father’s great love, and the coming of Christ to live and die for us here, and the saving power of that Christ. But he wanted to see Him. I felt that the records of all Christ’s earthly ministry only deepened the sense that personal contact was necessary; then praying for light, I was led to get the Bible, and turning to Acts 3, told him word for word the story of that man lame from his mother’s womb, to whom Peter and John brought the message, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk;” and of what came to pass—how that helpless man got that perfect soundness in the presence of all. I told him that same Jesus was with us now, and would heal him if he asked for it. The blessed Spirit carried the message home; that darkened mind drank it in. At last he said, “Tell me the name.” I told him. Then he said, “How must I ask Him?” I said, “Just here we can ask Him,” and I knelt down on that wet grass by that wagon side; the old man knelt too. I can never forget that moment; the sun broke through the clouds, and shed its light upon that poor rugged besotted Kafir, kneeling there, with his face buried in his hands on the wet ground, seeking deliverance. In a few broken words, for my heart was almost too full to speak, I asked that God would glorify His child Jesus and show His mighty healing power on this poor life; and then this poor old drunken heathen said himself, “Great Doctor, make me well.” He rose and asked me again, “What is the Name?” “Jesus,” I said. “Jesus, Jesus,” he went away murmuring to himself.
I lost sight of him among the group of wagons, and that afternoon we moved away to a quieter and healthier spot some miles distant. After some days we returned to that crossing, to find the river had subsided sufficiently to allow of wagons getting over. As we approached one of the wagons, a woman came toward me. “Missis,” she said, “is it you that spoke to my husband last week? O, what did you do that he is healed from that drink?”
“Why!” I said, “did he not tell you?”
“No, he said he did not know if he might speak of it, but O Missis, he is cured, my husband is cured! He has never been to that canteen again, tho he has money in his handkerchief still. Yesterday I was afraid he was going. One of his drinking mates came to ask him to go with him to the canteen. He had half-a-crown, and begged my husband to go with him; he took hold of his arm, and they went half-way over to the canteen. O, my heart was sore; but all at once my husband turned round and pulled his arm loose and came back. O, he is cured, he is cured!”
Here the man came up, such a transformed face! and with tears of joy he said, “It is all true, Missis, all true what you told me. My wife wants to know, but I did not know if I might tell her.” Evidently he felt so wondrous a power might be too sacred to speak of, and had a dread of its being withdrawn.
“O, yes!” I said, “you may tell her all.”
“Then, wife,” he said lowering his voice to an awed whisper, “It’s a Name, just a Name.” Then turning to me, “May I tell the Name?” On my assuring, he breathed rather than uttered the word, “Jesus.”
It is impossible to convey in words what was borne in on my soul then. It has lived with me ever since. It has come to me in hours of greatest darkness, and brought light. It has swept through my being in moments of terrible temptation, and again and again when I have been at the point of yielding, it has brought me victory. It has given me—
Hope for the Most Helplessly Lost Lives,
and the recital of this that took place that day has brought deliverance to numbers. More drink slaves have been set free by telling them of that record in the third chapter of Acts, and this incident which grew out of it, than by any other message which it has been given me to bring them.
I now feel that I must send forth the lesson learned that day on a wider mission, to the hearts and lives my voice will never reach. Brothers, sisters, enslaved by drink or any other evil habit or passion, “try the Name.” It has untold power. That old heathen Mochuana found it able to save, able to deliver, able to give perfect soundness to his poor diseased body, helplessly shattered will power, and besotted, degraded soul. “Jesus, just a Name,” so he described it to his wife. He told us that all he had done after leaving me was to say that “Name” to himself, and the crave for the drink went away from him, and he felt just as he did before he had ever tasted the stuff; as he put it, “His mouth felt clean like a child’s,” and his body was well and strong. Of the day when he allowed the drinking companion by force of argument to get him to go toward the canteen, and so was mentally yielding, he said, “When I was going to the canteen, all at once the old disease come back. I felt it burn in me. I wanted the drink. I felt it all over my body; the sickness was on me again. I was so frightened; but just as I was half-way to the canteen, there by that bush, I called out softly three times, ‘Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!’ and the disease just left me at once, and my body felt cool, and I turned back, and so, wife, you see it’s just a Name.”
O, blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, “that Name” stands eternal in its saving power. It is for you, for me to lay hold of it. His Name, through faith in His Name, has given to every life that trusts it fully that perfect soundness in the presence of all which caused that first glad recipient of its power in Acts 3, after a lifetime of crippled helplessness, to go walking and leaping and praising God; and you dear brother or sister, who are agonizing under the cruel power of the drink or some other sinful habit, shall also thus rejoice, and say with the old Mochuana, “It is true, all true. I am healed through the Name.”
“Wherefore also God highly exalted Him, and gave unto Him the name which is above every name; that in the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth.” Phil. 2:8–10, R.V.—S. L., in Railway Signal.
A BLESSED OPPORTUNITY.
By Margaret E. Sangster
God gave me something very sweet to be mine own this day—
A precious opportunity a word for Christ to say:
A soul that my desire might reach, a work to do for Him;
And now I thank Him for this grace, ere yet the light grows dim.
No service that He sends me can be so welcome aye,
To guide a pilgrim's weary feet within the narrow way;
To share the Shepherd's quest, and so, by brake and fen,
To find for Him His wandering lambs the erring sons of men.
I did not seek this blessed thing, it came a rare surprise,
Flooding my heart with dearest joy, as, lifting wistful eyes,
Heaven's light upon a dear one's face shone plain and clear on mine;
And there an unseen third, I felt, was waiting—One divine.
So in this twilight hour I kneel, and pour my grateful thought
In song and prayer to Jesus for the gifts this day hath brought;
Sure never service is so sweet, nor life hath so much zest,
As when He bids me speak for Him, and then He does the rest.
—Margaret E. Sangster.
OUR WORK AND WORKERS.
A State workers' meeting will be held at Nevada, Iowa, November 5-10.
As a partial indication of the growth of the church-school idea among our people, we mention the fact that last year the brethren in Minnesota supported twenty-five schools.
Thirteen persons have accepted the faith during a series of meetings held at Hillsdale, Wis.
The Reporter notes the addition of eight to our ranks at Prentice, Wis., as the result of recent labors.
The brethren at Salem, Oregon, have completed their new house of worship, and dedicated it on the 26th ult.
The Reporter says that five new Sabbath-keepers, with as many more hopeful ones, is the latest word from Muncie, Ind.
At Portland, Oregon, the brethren and sisters have organized eight reading-circle classes in different parts of the city.
Meetings held at New Hampton, Iowa, by Brethren J. H. Kraft and E. H. Adams, have so far resulted in ten adherents to the faith.
At Richland, Ore., September 7, a church of ten members was organized by Brethren J. A. Holbrook, C. W. Lusk, and W. S. Holbrook.
Having been released from the recommendation to go to South Africa, Brother O. A. Olson has been elected president of the British Conference.
Meetings held at Hillman, Mich., resulted in four taking a firm stand for the truth, and the organization of a Sabbath-school of sixteen members.
A church of seventy members has been organized at Trenton, N. J., the result of tent and Bible work under the direction of Brother E. E. Franke.
Three members were added to the church at Denver, Colo., on the 12th ult., the fruit of meetings held by Brethren W. Zeigler and H. M. J. Richards.
Indiana Conference has secured thirty canvassers, and about as many more will go out part of the time. This was the last report, but effort was being made for more, with a prospect of success.
Reporting to the Review, Brother A. E. Field notes the organization of three churches in Arkansas Conference since July 20,—one at Cline, the second at Prescott, and the third at Batesville.
In Nueva Palmyra, Uruguay, South America, six candidates were baptized a few weeks ago, by Brother John McCarthy. These were the fruit of private missionary work by a young convert to the truth.
A Sabbath-school of twenty members has been organized at Scranton, Iowa, and seven adults have decided to keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. This interest has grown out of tent-meetings held by Brother Henry Johnson.
On the 12th ult., fifteen persons were baptized in connection with the tent work conducted by Brother W. J. Fitzgerald, Philadelphia, Pa. Others have accepted the Sabbath of the Lord, and were soon to also follow the Lord's example in baptism.
From Echoes from the Field we clip this item: Brother Serna writes us that there are nine Sabbath-keepers (Spanish) now in Clyde, N. M. All of these have recently accepted the truths of the third angel's message, and among them a Methodist Episcopal minister.
Brother J. H. Behrens, who recently went to Hawaii to take charge of the work there, writes to the Minnesota Worker: We had a very rough voyage the first half of our journey; but all are safe and well now. The Hawaiian Islands will be our new field of labor, and Honolulu, Ter. Hawaii, our postoffice address. Postage is the same on all mail matter as in the United States.
From Brother L. A. Roth, Papeete, Tahiti: Our company of thirteen, with children, arrived here October 2, after a thirteen days' voyage from San Francisco. We had good weather, and only two of our company—Brother and Sister Becker—were sick. Two or three others were affected by the heat. The ship's officers said it was the finest weather they ever had. Now we are in what we call our paradise on earth. It is just grand. We all thank the Lord for His goodness to us. This is better than home. Pray for us, that we may do all to honor and glorify God.
We have received the First Annual Calendar of Emmanuel Missionary College (successor to Battle Creek College), located at Berrien Springs, Mich. The calendar is a neat illustrated pamphlet of sixty-four pages, well filled with valuable information concerning the school. The fall term of the school began October 30, to continue ten weeks. The faculty comprises a number of leading educators, to which are added a number of well-known non-resident specialists. The calendar is both interesting and instructive. Sent free to those desiring to know more concerning the college.
PITHOM AND RAAMSES.
By G.
When the king of Egypt conceived the idea of afflicting the children of Israel with rigorous labor, they were set to work to build the treasure, or store cities of Pithom and Raamses. These were in the land of Goshen, and toward the eastern frontier of Egypt. They were depositories for grain and munitions of war. Modern archæologists have not yet discovered Raamses, but in 1883-84 Mr. Naville found Pithom, about twelve miles west of Ismailia on the Wady Tumilat. Through this wady runs the canal which was cut to supply water from the Nile to the workmen who built the great Suez Canal. Near this were some granite statues representing Rameses II.
Here were found the ruins of a treasure city called Pi Tum (“devoted to Tum”), its religious name, the civil name being Succoth, and the founder being Rameses II. The buildings were of brick, on some of which inscriptions were found of “Pi Tum” (Pithom). Specimens of these bricks may be found in the British museum, and in the Metropolitan Museum of New York, and are usually from four to eight inches square, and one and one-half to two inches thick. They are unbaked but very hard. The treasure chambers occupy almost the whole of the old city, the walls of which are six hundred and fifty feet square and twenty-two feet thick. The whole space was divided into chambers, each with brick walls eight to ten feet thick, but with no windows and no doors. The discoverer says that in proof that we can now look upon one of the very treasure cities which the Israelites built, is the fact that the lower course of these walls, and for some distance up, are of well-made bricks with chopped straw in them, but higher up the courses of brick are not so good, the straw being long and scanty; and the last courses have no straw at all, but have sedges, rushes, and water plants mixed in the clay. G.
1 “Now these are the names of the sons of Israel, which came into Egypt; every man and his household came with 2,3 Jacob, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; Issachar, Zebulun, 4,5 and Benjamin; Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy 6 souls; and Joseph was in Egypt already. And Joseph died, 7 and all his brethren, and all that generation. And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them. 8 “Now there arose a new king over Egypt, which knew not 9 Joseph. And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of 10 the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; come, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they also join themselves unto our enemies, and fight against us, and get them up out of the land. 11 Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they 12 built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And they were grieved because of 13 the children of Israel. And the Egyptians made the children 14 of Israel to serve with rigor; and they made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field, all their service, wherein they made them serve with rigor.”
Golden Text.—“God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant.” Ex. 2:24.
SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.
(1) What were the names of Jacob’s sons who went with him to Egypt? Verses 1-4. (2) How many men were there of Jacob’s posterity? Verse 5. Note 1. (3) What more is said of that generation? Verse 6. (4) What is said of Israel’s prosperity? Verse 7. Note 2. (5) What change in the government finally took place? Verse 8. Note 3. (6) What did this king say to his people? Verse 9. Note 4. (7) What did he propose to do in the matter? and why? Verse 10. Note 5. (8) What was the first move in this policy? In what public work were they engaged? Verse 11. Note 6. (9) In what way did this affliction fail of its purpose? How were the Egyptians affected by the failure of their purpose? Verse 12. (10) What course was next pursued toward Israel? Verse 13. (11) What was the character of this rigorous service? Verse 14. Note 7.
NOTES.
1. The seventy souls that “came out of the loins of Jacob” did not comprise all the company that went down to Egypt with Jacob. The list of names in Gen. 46:8-27 includes only his sons and grandsons, and two women. There were also “his daughters and his sons’ daughters,” and the children of his grandsons, some of whom were married.
2. “Were Fruitful.”—Not only were the Israelites a strong and prolific people naturally, but they were especially so in Egyptian bondage. The people of that country were very prolific; twins were common, and there were often three, and even four, children at a birth. When we take into account the fact that in the providence of God the people of Israel were even more productive in this respect than the Egyptians, it is easy to see how “the land was filled with them.” By “the land” is meant the district of Goshen, which had been assigned to the Israelites. They were also employed as herdsmen in other parts of Egypt, from their first immigration. See Gen. 47:5, 6.
3. “Knew not Joseph,” or, more likely, did not want to longer recognize any obligation to Israel because of Joseph’s great service to the country. The Israelites had all along been exempt from the tax of one-fifth of their products, which from the days of the great famine had been imposed upon the Egyptians. No doubt this had come to be deemed unfair by the people of Egypt.
4. “More and mightier” would indicate superiority not only in numbers, but also in physical strength.
5. Dealing Wisely.—The king’s idea of wisdom in the case, was to break the growing power of Israel, lest they might take advantage of a time of war, and not only aid Egypt’s enemies, but leave the country themselves. While the government was growing fearful of Israel’s power and possible disaffection, it was not desirable to lose the valuable labors of so skilful and thrifty a people.
6. “Taskmasters.”—This expression shows that the government decided to have the Israelites do compulsory service. This service at first consisted in building the store cities of Raamses and Pithom.
7. “With Rigor.”—The word translated rigor is a very rare one. It is derived from a root which means to break in pieces, to crush.—Rawlinson. The ancient Egyptian monuments show such scenes as heavy burdens, savage whips wielded by the taskmasters, poor food, naked backs, and intolerable sufferings.
LESSON VII.—NOVEMBER 16.—THE MUSTARD SEED. OTHER LESSONS.
NOTE.—In the preparation of these lessons all Scripture references, and the pages of “Christ’s Object Lessons,” should be thoroughly studied first, then the questions. The questions are not the lessons. They are only for the purpose of finding out what we have observed while studying. More of the preciousness of these lessons will be obtained if the lesson is studied each day throughout the week. In the parables of Jesus there is salvation from sin for every type of sinner—from the Pharisee to the prodigal. The notes are wholly selected from such portions of “Christ’s Object Lessons” as apply to each lesson.
30 “And He said, How shall we liken the kingdom of God? or 31 in what parable shall we set it forth? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown upon the earth, tho it be less than all the seeds that are upon the earth, yet when it is sown, groweth up, and becometh greater than all the herbs, and putteth out great branches; so that the birds of the heaven can lodge under the shadow thereof.”
11. But according to the parables thus far studied, how will the subjects of this kingdom be made ready?
12. What makes less noise than the growth of a seed?
13. How does this compare with political strife and the contending of armies?
14. Which attracts the more attention in the world? Which is enduring, and which is not? Dan. 2:44; 7:27.
15. Can one have the spirit of both these kingdoms at the same time?
16. Can the methods of both be followed by any one? To which do you and I belong?
NOTES.
The Jews looked for the kingdom of God to be established in the same way as the kingdoms of the world. To promote righteousness they resorted to external measures. They devised methods and plans. But Christ implants a principle. By implanting truth and righteousness He counterworks error and sin.
Not only is the growth of Christ’s kingdom illustrated by the parable of the mustard seed, but in every stage of its growth the experience represented in the parable is repeated.
At the outset its advocates are few. By the great men of the world, and by a world-conforming church, they are opposed and despised.
In this last generation the parable of the mustard seed is to reach a signal and triumphant fulfilment. The little seed will become a tree.
Every seed that sends up its green blade to the sunlight declares the wonder-working power of that word uttered by Him who “spake, and it was;” who “commanded, and it stood fast.”
In everything that tends to the sustenance of man is seen the concurrence of divine and human effort. There can be no reaping unless the human hand acts its part in the sowing of the seed.
