Moral Changes Sometimes Unconsciously Wrought
H. W. Beecher. Mark 4:26-29 And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground;… When I travelled in Italy I knew the line between Italy and Austria. We all had to go out and have our trunks examined and our passports vised. We were all of us hurried out suspiciously, as if we were contrabands. Then we went over, and I knew I was in Austria. But in America you can go from one State to another, as there is no Custom House, thank God, on the lines; as there are no passports required; as there is nothing to interrupt the journey. You glide into the State of New York from Connecticut, from New York into Pennsylvania, and from Pennsylvania into Ohio, and you do not think you have made any change in the State, though you have really. You bring a person up in Christian nurture, and in the admonition of the Lord, in the household, and he is gaining more light; he is adapting the light which he has; and he comes into that state of mind in which all he wants in order to realize that he is a Christian is to wake up into consciousness. (H. W. Beecher.) Parallel Verses KJV: And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; WEB: He said, "The Kingdom of God is as if a man should cast seed on the earth,