CHAPTER II.
AT SCHOOL.
At length the children reached the school before the hymn was learned,and Kitty felt very much ashamed when, after stammering through threeverses, Mrs. Mordaunt gave her back the book, saying, "I would ratherhave no lesson from you, Kitty, than one learned so carelessly asthis." However, it was too late to repair the fault, so Kitty resolvedto give her very best attention to the chapter they were going toread. It was the parable of the sower and the seed, in the thirteenthof St. Matthew. I cannot tell you all that Mrs. Mordaunt said aboutit, but it was something of this kind:--
"The Saviour was sitting on a little strip of level land by the sideof the Sea of Galilee. Behind him were high mountains, towering oneabove another to the clouds; before him, the waves came ripplingquietly against the low shore. Around him were crowds of peoplegathered together from the villages and towns many miles around tolisten unto him. Had all these people come to Jesus for the samething, do you think, Jane Hutton?"
Jane Hutton started at the question. She had been playing with her newparasol, and her thoughts were very far from the Sea of Galilee. Mrs.Mordaunt repeated the question in another way. "Do you think all thepeople who came to Jesus came because they loved him, and wanted to behis disciples?"
"No; there were the Pharisees," said Kitty.
"Yes; they came to try to find fault with him."
"And the sick," said Amy timidly, "who came to be healed."
"True," said Mrs. Mordaunt. "And then there were very many, doubtless,who came from mere curiosity, because they had heard their friendstalk of his wonderful power of healing, or the new, wise, and strangewords of him who seemed to them only the son of a poor carpenter ofNazareth. But were there any who gathered close around him, and lovedhis words for their own sake, not because they were new orinteresting, but because they were _true_ and _God's words_, becausethey had sins to be forgiven and Jesus could forgive, and sick soulswhich only Jesus could heal?"
"Yes; there were the disciples."
"What do you mean by disciples?"
"Does it not mean those who love Jesus?" asked Amy.
"No; don't you remember it means scholars?" said Kitty, who wasquicker than her sister, and rather proud of her better memory.
"You are both right," said Mrs. Mordaunt. "The disciples of Jesus arethose who come to learn of him; and the first lesson every one whocomes to Jesus learns is to love him. Nothing can be learned of Christwithout loving him.
"Well," she continued, "our Lord looked round on the crowd: the proudand clever men who stood knitting their brows, and eagerly watchinghis words, and from time to time whispering to one another; the eagermultitude, who listened in mute wonder to his wonderful lessons; thelittle group of disciples who gathered affectionately about him; thesick whom he had healed; the possessed and mad whom he had restored toreason; the despised sinners whom he had received and forgiven; andperhaps there were some pious mothers there with little children whowere not afraid to come close to him, for he loved little children.But he saw more of that crowd than we should have seen if we had beenthere. What was it that he saw which we cannot see?"
The children were silent a minute, and then Amy murmured, "Was ittheir hearts, ma'am?"
Mrs. Mordaunt replied kindly, "Yes; and he saw how differently hiswords would tell on the hearts of the crowd around. And so he taughtthem a lesson in this story which we call--"
"The parable of the sower," said Kitty quickly.
Then Mrs. Mordaunt examined the children about the parable, andfinding they had attended to it and understood it, she talked to themabout it.
"Now, dear children," she said, "this school-room, with itswhitewashed walls, is a very different place from the shores of theSea of Galilee; and you, little children, with your pleasant Englishhomes, and your Bibles, and your Sunday schools, I daresay thinkyourselves very different from the grave priests, and clever lawyers,and rough Hebrew labourers and farmers, and Roman soldiers, whogathered around the Saviour then. But among you, as among thatmultitude, who have so long since gone the way of all the earth, theeye of Jesus Christ (for he sees here as well as there) sees two greatdivisions, not of rich and poor, or clever and stupid, but of thosewho are his disciples and those who are not. Which class would youlike to belong to?"
Kitty answered eagerly, "His disciples, ma'am."
Some of the children were silent, and some spoke with Kitty; butlittle Amy said nothing--the tears filled her eyes and choked hervoice.
"You may all be Christ's little disciples," said Mrs. Mordaunt. "Hecalls you to him. You may all come to him _privately_, as thedisciples did; pray to him in secret, and have his words made clear toyou, if you will. You may all bring forth fruit to his glory, thirty,or sixty, or a hundred fold.
"You see," she continued, "although there are only two great bodies orparties in the world,--those in whom Christ's words _live_, and thosein whom they _die_,--yet there are many smaller differences among eachof these parties. Some of the seed in the parable fell merely on thesurface, and never was seen any more after it was sown: just as, I amafraid, some of you have often left all thoughts of God behind whenyou left the school or the church, and never thought of him or hiswords from one Sunday to another. The fowls of the air--that is, somelight thought or play, or Satan, who goes about to put these in yourheart--come the moment the words die on your ear, and take the goodseed quite away. And then some of you like to hear about Christ, andhis words and works, and are quick, and easily understand and take innew thoughts, and, perhaps, think you would like to be good children,and to love Christ, and be his disciples, and go home and go to sleepfull of good intentions and plans of correcting your faults. But thenext morning other lessons have to be learned, and other things to bethought about, and your faults and bad habits are strong; and so everyday the echo of the Sunday's teaching grows fainter, and at last theend of the week comes, and finds you no nearer God or the fulfilmentof your good resolutions than the beginning. The thorns have sprungup--the cares and pleasures of this world--and choked the good seedthat was beginning to grow. And then, again, perhaps, there are someof you who would like very much to be pious, only you are afraid ofbeing unlike others, afraid of being teased for being strict, orlaughed at; for persecution does not only consist in burning orhurting the body,--little annoyances are often harder to bear thangreat sorrows. But think how very cowardly this would be, how veryungrateful and ungenerous to Jesus. He bore the sneers and taunts ofcrowds for your sake, and bore them too when he was suffering _greatpain_; and can you not bear a little laugh for his sake? Think howhappy it is to be able to bear a little for him who bore so very muchfor us; think what joy to have his eye on us, and to hear his kindvoice saying, 'Blessed are ye, little children, who confess me as yourMaster before men; for I will confess you to be my beloved ones beforethe angels of God.' And then, dear children," Mrs. Mordaunt added, "Ihope there are some of you who do love your Saviour, and aretreasuring up his words in your hearts; and to you I would say, thereare differences even among Christ's disciples. Some bring forth fruitthirty, some sixty, and some an hundred fold. Seek, then, not only tobring forth fruit, but _much_ fruit; to be better and happier everyday. God means you to do this; he will certainly enable you to do itif you ask.
"And before you leave," she said, "I will first tell you three thingswhich I particularly wish you to remember: the _place_ where the seedis to grow; the _enemies_ which try to destroy its life; and _whatmakes it grow_. First, where is the seed sown?"
"In the heart," replied all the children.
"Are your spelling lessons, or your lessons on the multiplicationtable, sown in your hearts?"
The children smiled, and answered, "No."
"Then you do not expect them to bear fruit in your life. It does notimprove your tempers or your hearts to learn that _h e a r t_ spellsheart, does it? or that 12 times 12 are 144?"
The children thought not.
"Then all you are expected to do with such lessons is to
rememberthem; is it not?"
"Yes, ma'am," was the reply.
"Now that is precisely the point where your lessons in reading andspelling differ from your lessons about the Bible. When you sow seedin your memories, it is like laying up grains in a closed box. We donot expect them to grow; we are quite content if we find as many as weleave; we do not expect any fruit or growth. But when I sow seed inyour hearts, it is like putting it into the ground; we want it to_grow_. It is not enough for it to remain safe and sound; we hope thatit will bear fruit in your lives. I do not care only for finding itsafe in your memories the next Sunday. I long to know that it has beenmaking you better and wiser children _during the week_, helping you tofight with faults, teaching you to love God and one another. Andspeaking of your faults leads me to think of the enemies the littleseed has to encounter. Can you think of some of the things which tryto hinder its growth?"
"There were the fowls," answered Kitty.
"And the thorns," said some of the other children.
"And the sun," said Amy.
"You know what the thorns and the scorching heat are?"
"Our faults and troubles?" asked Kitty.
"Yes. Side by side with the seed, and from the same soil, the heart,spring up thorns and weeds, which try to choke the seed. And thelittle seed has to struggle hard for its life; if it does not chokethe weeds, the weeds will choke it. What must we do with the weeds?"
"Cut them down," said the children.
"Yes. We must fight with our faults, and not let one, however small,be neglected, or it will soon cover the garden; for all weeds growfast. But the other enemies, the heat and the fowls, cannot be_destroyed_. The scorching sun--trials and mockery--can only injurethose plants which have no root, those hearts which are not trustingin Jesus, and rooted in him. But the fowls of the air,--those powerfuland wicked spirits who are constantly on the watch to crush all thatis good and encourage all that is evil in our hearts,--what can thelittle seed do against such enemies?"
The children gave no answer.
"_It can do nothing_," said Mrs. Mordaunt. "You all see it has nopower whatever; and in this, too, the seed is like us. What then cansave it?"
There was a pause of a minute, and then Amy ventured to ask, "Doesnot God watch over it?"
"He does, my child," replied Mrs. Mordaunt. "But do you remember why Isaid the plants are cared for without asking?"
"Because they cannot ask."
"But we can ask. What is it called to ask anything of God?"
"To pray," said all the children.
"Yes; that is what you may all do. Our Saviour calls himself the greathusbandman or gardener; and now that he has risen and reigns on high,if you ask him, he will not disdain to watch over the little seed ofgood sown in your hearts. He will send the Holy Spirit, like the rainto young corn, to strengthen all that is good in you; and he willenable you, feeble as you are, to keep down all bad feelings, andtempers, and habits, which would choke the seed.
"So there are three things for you to remember: the seed is sown inyour hearts, and must bring forth fruit in your lives; you haveenemies within and without to fight with far stronger than any of you;and you have a Friend far stronger than all your enemies, who willgive you the victory if you seek his aid. And shall I give you alittle grain of precious seed to bear home with you?"
The children all wished it.
"Think, then, on these words, '_By love serve one another_.' Try to_love_ them, and pray to God for his strength to enable you, for thesake of his Son, our Saviour; for remember, though I cannot go homewith you, _God does_."
The church bells were ringing, the classes broke up to form intomarching order, and the lesson was over.