Article October 2, 1909 Issue

THE SOWING

PORTER BOLLES JORDAN.

There seems to be in the thought of many parents a latent conviction that their sons must pass through a period in which youthful follies are to be indulged and "wild oats" sown. With resignation, unconscious in many cases, this event is sanctioned, and frequently a defensive explanation is heard, to the effect that it is better to have the "wild oats" sown and harvested as soon as possible, rather than to have them come later in life at a less opportune time. The parable of the prodigal son is even used in substantiation of this attitude, from which it is argued that the prodigal needed his bitter experience in order to learn life's larger lesson, and that thereafter he was a better man as a result of it.

A careful study of the entire fifteenth chapter of Luke unfolds quite a different moral in this parable. The chapter discloses the joy which is experienced by every just person when through repentance the wandering are led back to the true fold. The father's joy when receiving his son was not caused because of the "wild oats" which had been sown, but because the impetuous wilfulness of the youth had given place to humility and repentance. The prodigal had indeed returned to begin his life anew, but the shadows of his earlier experiences were not wholly eliminated thereby. Mistakes, though never to be repeated in action, yet left their impress upon his consciousness, and the process of eradicating their memories was a more difficult task than simply ceasing from their indulgence. Time and persevering toil in the right direction alone could efface the darkening shades of earlier wrong-doing.

We of today are living in an age which is facing gigantic problems. Every department of commerce, every profession, every social, political, and religious organization, is awakening to its need of men,—of men so imbued with altruistic motives, with absolute honesty, justice, intelligent efficiency, honor, and equitable regard for the rights of others, that they will be able to meet and master these problems in the right way. The frequency with which we are startled by disclosures of dishonesty where honesty was supposed to exist, the shocking injustices arising where justice was expected, the needless suffering caused by the setting aside of the golden rule, plainly indicate that this age is in need of something more spiritual than its own material success, something more divine than its human platitudes, something more vitalized with the Christly tenderness which loves one's neighbor as one's self, than the mere mental acquiescence to and appreciation of the highest and best ethics. This age is demanding the actual application of lofty ideals; and the repeated failures to realize them can be largely attributed to the inability of poor humanity, through itself, to measure up to and manifest in action those qualities which it plainly desires and realizes are essential.

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