THE SOWER

MIRIAM ORMONDE SMALLWOOD.

It will appear to the thoughtful Christian Scientist that the parable of the sower has a specific bearing upon his own condition; and the degree of understanding with which he receives the seeds of Truth determines in great measure his capacity for growth. That understanding, whether it be much or little, is the soil in which the seed fructifies or fails, will be readily seen when we consider the parable in its many phases as presented in the first three gospels. In Luke we read: "A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it."

This first instance appears to indicate that one is in the state of spiritual darkness wherein the light shineth and "the darkness comprehended it not." The words, "and it was trodden down," are especially significant, in that they convey the idea of the pearls of Truth being stamped under foot by such as despise its message. Thought long turned to error in every form of belief, calloused and irreceptive, becomes the beaten track of materiality. Like the seed that fell by the wayside and which the fowls of the air devoured, the truths of divine Science under the assault of mortal sense find no lodgment in fruitful soil, and hence there is no harvest. Literally, the truth cannot be devoured, but, as it is more discriminatingly expressed farther on in the parable, it can be seemingly caught away. The figure, however, is significant, in that fowls devour anything they see, regardless of value or consequence; and mortal sense may be fitly likened to such in its ruthless and unintelligent attack upon the evidences of Spirit.

In the next instance, Matthew tells us that "some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: and when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away." To the thought not deeply aroused to the compelling power of Truth, but which receives it as one receives anything which pleases or interests for a time, the light of divine Science comes to no lasting purpose. The plowshare of understanding necessary to break up the fallow ground, the divine perception which alone can enrich and fertilize its soil, have either not yet been expressed or are so faintly manifested that when the great spiritual facts of Science appear, temptations overwhelm, as the scorching sun tries to its undoing the seed sprung up in stony places. Not ready to approach the crown by way of the cross, men fail to perceive that the path to the mount of transfiguration leads past Calvary. Not "girt about with truth," they give up the battle. Having "no root in themselves," they fall away.

The instance which Mark relates, where the seed "fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit," is a feature in the parable which has a more vital bearing upon the practice of Christian Science than any of the others, in that it presupposes cultivation of the soil, or necessary steps in regeneration for receiving the seed. In the other two stages the ground was fallow, or so nearly so as to prove barren. The seed in the first instance was devoured or caught away. In the second, it withered away. In the third there is nothing to indicate that the soil would not have yielded had the thorns not sprung up and choked it so that it bore no fruit. We may find here implied the truths of Christian Science falling upon thought which, deeply and truly desiring the grace and holiness of Spirit, is shut away from its activities by the insidious creeping in of error. These are they in whom, as the parable puts it, the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches crowd out the better part. The two striving together come to naught. "No man can serve two masters."

"Other," Matthew continues, "fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold." And these, Luke writes, "are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience." According as man is faithful to the light he has, is he tilling the soil for the reception of Truth. Only as the soil is fitted by spiritual living, can the seed of Truth take deep root. These last are also figured as torch-bearers of Truth—they who hide not the candle under a bushel, but place it in a candlestick that every one in the house may see the light thereof. "Take heed how ye hear," saith the Master. "To them that hath shall be given." To them who apply themselves daily and hourly to the gain of understanding, to the getting of wisdom, they who, deeply cherishing the treasures of Spirit, put steadfastly behind them the temptations of sense,—to them it shall be given to bring forth fruit in abundance.

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