“MAY," exclaimed Winnie, as she rushed into the schoolroom one Sunday morning, “just fancy, Miss Chester is going to teach us our Sunday lessons, and she is going to ask the Browns and Deans and Norah Temple and Nellie Wing to come too.”
“Who said so, Winnie?”
“Oh, Miss Chester asked Papa, and he said they might come.”
“There will be seven girls, nine with us, what a number!”
“Shall you like it, May?”
“Yes, I think so, I expect she will tell us some stories. Oh! Miss Chester," as the governess just at that moment entered the room, "are you going to begin this afternoon?”
“Yes, dear, we will ask some of your little friends this morning. I dare say we shall only have a small party at first, but, perhaps, next week we may get more.”
“I should like there to be ever so many," said May.
“Now, my dears, I have something to talk to you about. I wish you to start reading a portion of scripture every day, and want to know if you would like to do so. I can give you a card, with a list of scripture portions for every day, or you can read regularly through the whole Bible.”
“Oh! I should like to have a card, would not you, Winnie?”
“Yes," said Winnie, looking up from the card she had been examining, "and there is not much to read, only twelve verses sometimes. Are you going to ask the girls who are coming this afternoon to read also?”
“Yes, we must ask them, and I should like also to get a number of the village children to read a portion of God's word daily.”
“Oh, that will be nice," exclaimed May, "When shall we read, Miss Chester?”
“As soon as you are dressed in the morning would be the best time. And do you see that at the top of the card you are asked to pray that God would bless His own word? And every Sunday morning when you pray, will you remember to ask God to bless all the children who have promised to read portions of scripture, and pray that they may all be brought to believe on the Saviour?”
The seven little girls, who joined May and Winnie in the afternoon, were quite as eager as they had been to have each a card of texts, and to read regularly the verses that were upon them.
“Help me, O Lord, to bring these lambs to Thee," prayed Miss Chester, as the children took their places round the table. "Bless thy word to them, and sow the seed of eternal life in their hearts.”
After reading the 13 chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel, Miss Chester closed her Bible, and drawing a well-worn little volume towards her, said “We will see now what my little book says of the first parable.
“the Sower (Matt. 13)
“‘Jesus spake many things to them in parables.'”
“Before beginning to talk about the parable of the Sower, let me ask you to tell me what a parable is.
“Oh! you say it is ‘an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.' Yes, that is a very good answer.
“The parables are little stories that mean something good, only it is not always easy to make out the meaning of them. Let us think now of the parable of the Sower.
“The seed is sown on four kinds of ground. On the way-side, on stony places, among thorns, and on good ground.
“Do all the seeds grow?
“No, some are eaten by birds, some are withered by the sun, and some are choked with thorns.
“Whose fault is it? Is it the sower's, or is it the fault of the seed?
“No, it is the fault of the ground; it is hard, stony, and thorny. The seed is the word of God. (Luke 8:22And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, (Luke 8:2).) So the lessons you learn from the Bible are seeds sown in your hearts. Jesus Himself was the sower, and your hearts are like the fields. Jesus shows us pictures of four kinds of ground on which the seed is sown; only one is good or prepared ground. The seed sown by the way side are lessons taught to hard-hearted children. Lesson after lesson is sown, all sorts of good seed, but nothing seems to take root. The love of God, the story of Jesus, the wickedness of sin, all seem to be lost. But do you know what can reach hard hearts? Showers make the ground soft, don't they? And there is something that can soften your hearts, and make them altogether new. What is it? It is the grace of God which can reach the most hardened ones, and cause them to cry, What must I do to be saved?
"Some seed was sown on stony ground, which had not much earth; so it was withered by the sun, because it had no root. This is like some boys and girls, who listen to the lesson, and think they will try to be Christians, who seem to keep right for a short time, but when any one laughs at them for doing right, they cannot stand it and they go back. This is because they have no root; corn cannot grow if it has no root, so we cannot be real Christians unless we are rooted in Christ; that is, we must come to Jesus and believe on Him. Some seed fell among thorns, which choked it; and so some lessons fall into children's hearts and cannot grow, because there is no room for them. They are thinking so much of their play, their books, or their work that they have no time to think about Jesus. And some fell upon good ground; so some little ones listen to the word about Jesus; but they do not only listen, they believe it, and when they go home they pray to Him, and ask Him to help them to trust in Him fully, and to love and serve Him. The good seed brought forth fruit, so shall we if we believe in Jesus. God will cause His Holy Spirit to dwell in us, and the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith.
“Which of the four kinds of ground do you want your hearts to be like?" asked Miss Chester of her attentive little audience.
“Oh! the good ground, Miss Chester," they all cried.
“Then ask God, dear children, to soften them by His Holy Spirit, so that the good seed may grow in them; and now if you are not tired we will go on to the next parable.
“We now come to the parable of the Tares. Whom do the wheat and tares represent?
“Men and women, boys and girls, all are either wheat or tares.
“Which are we? Is it hard to tell? Let us see. The wheat and the tares looked almost alike, yet there were three great differences.
“First, they were different because the wheat was the children of the kingdom, and the tares the children of the evil one..
“Secondly, the wheat and the tares were different in nature; they would grow up differently, and have different fruit; so with you, if you have come to Jesus, and trusted in Him, you will show forth the fruits of the Spirit.
“Thirdly, the tares and wheat were to have a different end; the tares were to be burned, but the wheat was to he gathered into the barn. Jesus says, He will send His angels to gather together all people who are like the tares, and they shall be cast into the furnace of fire; but the righteous shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of the Father. Now, which do you want to be, tares or wheat; to be thrown into the furnace of fire, or to shine like the sun in God's kingdom?' You can be changed from being like the tares, and become like the wheat. Jesus calls the wheat the righteous; you have no righteousness of your own, how then can you be wheat? God will give you His righteousness if you come to Jesus and believe in Him.
“The Bible says, Jesus was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Jesus changed places with believers, He bore their sins, so that they might share His throne. Oh! children, think of the dreadful end of the tares, and before it is too late accept from God the robe of righteousness, so that you may shine in His kingdom.”
Miss Chester repeated, as she glanced round at the children's earnest faces,
"What is earth, but God's own field
Fruit unto His praise to yield?
Wheat and tares therein are sown
Unto joy or sorrow grown.
Ripening with a wondrous power
Till the final harvest hour;
Grant, O Lord of life, that we
Holy grain and pure may be.
“For we know that Thou wilt come
And wilt take Thy people home;
From the field wilt purge away
All that doth offend that day,
And the angels charge at last
In the fire the tares to cast.
But the faithful ears to store
In Thy garner evermore.
"Grant, O Lord of life, that we
Holy grain and pure may be.”
“And now let us have a moment of silent prayer. Will you use these two lines as a little prayer, and ask Jesus to lead you to believe on Him, and to clothe you with the robe of righteousness? I hope you will all be able to come next week," she added, as the little visitors took their leave.
“Oh, yes! Miss Chester, and thank you very much,"responded the children heartily.
“I hope the seed has fallen into good ground," thought Miss Chester, as she sat listening to the children's merry voices, as they ran down the garden path, accompanied by Winnie and May. "Oh what will the harvest be?”
“Sown in the darkness or sown in the light,
Sown in our weakness or sown in our might,
Gathered in time or eternity,
Sure, ah, sure will the harvest be.”