[A MAN EXPECTS TO REAP
THE SAME KIND AS HE SOWS.]
“Herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit . . . after his kind.”—Gen. i: 12.
“Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?”—Matt. vii: 16.
“For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.”—Romans viii: 13.
CHAPTER IV.
A Man Expects to Reap the Same Kind as He Sows.
If I should tell you that I sowed ten acres of wheat last year and that watermelons came up, or that I sowed cucumbers and gathered turnips, you wouldn’t believe it. It is a fixed law that you reap the same kind of seed you sow. Plant wheat and you reap wheat, plant an acorn and there comes up an oak, plant a little elm and in time you have a big elm.
One day, the master of Lukman, an Eastern fabulist, said to him, “Go into such a field, and sow barley.” Lukman sowed oats instead. At the time of harvest his master went to the place, and, seeing the green oats springing up, asked him:
“Did I not tell you to sow barley here? Why, then, have you sown oats?”
He answered, “I sowed oats in the hope that barley would grow up.”