The Sower by R. M. Kilgore

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 14, 1872

The Sower.

By R. M. Kilgore

While sowing wheat for a brother a few days since, my mind was called to the words of the Saviour in that beautiful parable of the sower, and like figures used by others of the sacred writers, as illustrating so well the work of the people of God in these last days, into whose hands are committed the great truths connected with the last message to a perishing world.

Though this parable may have had its application in every age since it was uttered, yet it was never more applicable than at the present time. We see it fulfilled every time the seeds of present truth are sown in new fields; and while it may apply more particularly to the minister as the sower, we wish to make it more general.

The husbandman knows full well that unless he first prepares the ground to receive the seed, he shall obtain no fruit of his labor, even though the seed be ever so good. So with all those who believe the truth and desire its promulgation. They should know and realize that while minds are not impressible, word or action of ours, out of joint with the high profession we make, stands in the way. Our responsibility is truly great. Do we know it? Do we feel it?

The servants of God are sent forth “bearing precious seed.” They may be men who fear God, who have his glory before their eyes, and an earnest desire for the salvation of precious souls; they may be approved of God; workmen that can rightly divide the word of truth; yet their labors may prove abortive, to a very great extent, from the fact of influences that were against them, which prevented the precious seed from taking root in many hearts that would, under other and more favorable circumstances, have received it.

The enemy is just as busy and works through as many means now as he ever did to resist and oppose the truth. When he cannot effectually raise his own subjects to do this work, he often employs those who are friendly to the cause of God.

The friends of present truth are now comparatively in a scattered condition, a few here and there. All are more or less anxious that their neighbors and friends should become acquainted with the truth they love so much. These employ almost as many different modes of action as there are minds to act, each seeking to accomplish the same end. We no more question their motives than we do their honesty. We accept them as pure.

One finds himself surrounded by those who are wholly unacquainted with the great truths which to him are so dear. He feels that he has been benefited mentally, physically, and morally, by them. He is very anxious that his neighbors should receive a like benefit; but he is weak and too unworthy to present the truth to them. He remembers that Christ has said, “Let your light so shine that others may see,” &c. He lives the truth out before them. His actions are circumspect; he deals justly, walks uprightly; his words are few, but well chosen. Those around him take knowledge of him and confess that he has been with Jesus. Perhaps years may elapse before he can obtain the services of a minister. But, by his exemplary and consistent life of prayer and devotion, he has so prepared the ground for the seed, that, when sown by the living teacher, he has the satisfaction of seeing a large number of his neighbors embrace the truth, and with him share his joys, having the same hope. He now feels that his prayers have been answered, and his labor rewarded.

Another, perhaps a lone sister, together with the same course of action, lends her paper, and hands out a tract when questioned upon a certain point. By thus casting her bread upon the waters, after many days she finds that some of her neighbors are embracing the truth even before they have heard a single discourse. Here, too, by the godly life and upright conversation of this sister, the way is prepared, the grubbing is done, and the soil is ready for the seed when sown by the servant of God.

A third class, possessing no less zeal, yet not so great a stock of knowledge, take a different and more independent course. Forgetting that example is better than precept, they are more ready to talk than to act. They think everybody must see as they do, and that they can make them see it. They feel burdened, and to free themselves they must sound the alarm. The different points of the truth are presented; the most objectionable first, and that too in a very unfavorable light. For a hobby, one will take one part of the truth, and ride it. He selects the “state of the dead,” another chooses the “vision” question, a third takes the “health reform,” while a fourth prefers the “dress reform,” and elopes with that. The brother will in his zeal, perhaps, go so far as to inform his friends that if they become Adventists they must adopt the health reform, that they have got to leave off their tea, coffee, pork, and tobacco, while he himself may be a poor specimen of the benefits of the system. The sister may be a zealous advocate of the “dress reform,” while she is attired with one that she is pleased to style the dress, which, to say the least, falls far short of being any recommendation to the movement in question. In this manner, the entrance through which the truth might enter is completely blockaded.

The lives of some of the advocates of the cause are not what they should be; they are a reproach to any cause, the influence of which, ten preachers with the plain truths of God’s word, could not fully erase from the minds of the people, neither would they undertake the task as long as there remained any new territory. Men and women are disgusted, and, in many cases, their ears are forever closed against all true reforms.

A contrary influence I found the other day which I give to illustrate: While I was searching for a brother whom I had never seen, at every place where I made inquiry as to where he lived I also asked what kind of a man he was, when those that knew him gave me this answer, “We like the man, but we don’t think much of his doctrine.” This answer satisfied me in regard to the standing of this brother, and I was also satisfied that they knew very little about his doctrine.

This may be a strong picture, but it will do to look at. As a people, we should avoid extremes. We have enough to contend against without having to meet opposition fired by this strange zeal. It would be better not to sow any seed than to sow tares. In our intercourse with those we wish to benefit, we should not forget that there is “a time to keep silence, and a time to speak.” The wise man also says that “a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.” Prov. 25:11. The great apostle says, “Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.” Col. 4:6. Peter adds, “Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts; and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.” 1 Pet. 3:15. The sweet psalmist of Israel ends a psalm in the following beautiful strains: “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.” And “He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” Ps. 126:5, 6. R. M. KILGORE.