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SOWING AND REAPING
BY
D. L. MOODY.
_'Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.'_
Gal. vi: 7.
Chicago: New York: Toronto
Fleming H. Revell Company
Publishers of Evangelical Literature
_Copyright 1896 by_
_Fleming H. Revell Company._
CONTENTS
Chap.
I. Sowing and Reaping
II. Be Not Deceived: God Is Not Mocked
III. When a Man Sows, He Expects to Reap
IV. A Man Reaps the Same Kind as He Sows
V. A Man Reaps More than He Sows
VI. Ignorance of the Seed Makes No Difference
VII. Forgiveness and Retribution
VIII. Warning
SOWING AND REAPING
SOWING AND REAPING.
CHAPTER I.
"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth,
that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of
the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of
the Spirit reap life everlasting." Galatians vi: 7, 8.
I think this passage contains truths that no infidel or sceptic will
dare to deny. There are some passages in the Word of God that need
no other proof than that which we can easily find in our daily
experience. This is one of them. If the Bible were to be blotted out
of existence, the words I have quoted would be abundantly verified
by what is constantly happening around us. We have only to take up
the daily papers to see them being fulfilled before our eyes.
I remember giving out this text once when a man stood right up in
the audience and said:
"I don't believe it."
I said, "My friend, that doesn't change the fact. Truth is truth
whether you believe it or not, and a lie is a lie whether you
believe it or not."
He didn't want to believe it. When the meeting broke up, an officer
was at the door to arrest him. He was tried and sent to the
penitentiary for twelve months for stealing. I really believe that
when he got into his cell, he believed that he had to reap what he
sowed.
We might as well try to blot the sun out of the heavens as to blot
this truth out of the Word of God. It is heaven's eternal decree.
The law has been enforced for six thousand years. Did not God make
Adam reap even before he left Eden? Had not Cain to reap outside of
Eden? A king on the throne, like David, or a priest behind the
altar, like Eli; priest and prophet, preacher and hearer, every man
must reap what he sows. I believed it ten years ago, but I believe
it a hundred times more to-day.
My text applies to the individual, whether he be saint or sinner or
hypocrite who thinks he is a saint; it applies to the family; it
applies to society; it applies to nations. I say the law that the
result of actions must be reaped is _as true for nations as for
individuals;_ indeed, some one has said that as nations have no
future existence, the present world is the only place to punish them
as nations. See how God has dealt with them. See if they have not
reaped what they sowed. Take Amalek: "Remember what Amalek did unto
thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt; how he met
thee, by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were
feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary; and he feared
not God." What was to be the result of this attack? Was it to go
unpunished? God ordained that Amalek should reap as they sowed, and
the nation was all but wiped out of existence under King Saul.
What has become of the monarchies and empires of the world? What
brought ruin on Babylon? Her king and people would not obey God, and
ruin came upon them. What has become of Greece and all her power?
She once ruled the world. What has become of Rome and all her
greatness? When their cup of iniquity was full, it was dashed to the
ground. What has become of the Jews? They rejected salvation,
persecuted God's messengers, and crucified their Redeemer; and we
find that eleven hundred thousand of them perished at one time. Look
at the history of this country. With an open Bible, our forefathers
planted slavery; but judgment came at last. There was not a family
North or South that had not to mourn over some one taken from them.
Take the case of France. It is said that a century ago men were
spending millions every year in France in the publication and
distribution of infidel literature. What has been the harvest? Has
France not reaped? Mark the result: "The Bible was suppressed. God
was denied. Hell broke loose. Half the children born in Paris were
bastards. More than a million of persons were beheaded, shot,
drowned, outraged, and done to death between September, 1792, and
December, 1795. Since that time France has had thirteen revolutions
in eighty years; and in the republic there has been an overturn on
an average once in nine months. One-third of the births in Paris are
illegitimate; ten thousand new-born infants have been fished out at
the outlet of the city sewers in a single year; the native
population of France is decreasing; the percentage of suicides is
greater in Paris than in any city in Christendom; and since the
French Revolution there have been enough French men and women
slaughtered in the streets of Paris in the various insurrections, to
average more than two thousand five hundred each year!"
The principle was not new in Scripture or in history when Paul
enunciated it in his letter to the Galatians. Paul clothes it in
language derived from the farm, but in other dress the Law of Sowing
and Reaping may be seen in the Law of Cause and Effect, the Law of
Retribution or Retaliation, the Law of Compensation. It is not to my
purpose to enter now into a philosophical discussion of the law as
it appears under any of these names. We see that it exists. It is
beyond reasonable dispute. Whatever else sceptics may carp at and
criticise in the Bible, they must acknowledge the truth of this. It
does not depend upon revelation for its support; philosophers are
agreed upon it as much as they are agreed upon any thing.
The Supremacy of Law.
The objection may be made, however, that while its application may
be admitted in the physical world, it is not so certain in the
spiritual sphere. It is just here that modern research steps in. The
laws of the spiritual world have been largely identified as the same
laws that exist in the natural world. Indeed, it is claimed that the
spiritual existed first, that the natural came after, and that when
God proceeded to frame the universe, He went upon lines already laid
down. In short, that God projected the higher laws downward, so that
the natural world became "an incarnation, a visible representation,
a working model of the supernatural." "In the spiritual world the
same wheels work--without the iron."
Our whole life is thus bounded and governed by laws ordained and
established by God, and that a man reaps what he sows is a law that
can be easily observed and verified, whether we regard sowing to the
flesh or sowing to the Spirit. The evil harvest of sin and the good
harvest of righteousness are as sure to follow the sowing as the
harvest of wheat and barley. "Life is not _casual_, but _causal_."
We shall see, as we proceed, that _the working of the law is evident
in the earliest periods of Bible history_. Job's three friends
reasoned that he must be a great sinner, because they took it for
granted that the calamities that overtook him must be the results of
his wickedness. "Remember, I pray thee," said one of them, "who ever
perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off? Even
as I have seen, they that plough iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap
the same."
In the book of Proverbs we find it written: "The wicked worketh a
deceitful work: but to him that soweth righteousness shall be a sure
reward." And again: "He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity."
In Isaiah we find these words: "Say ye to the righteous that it
shall be well with him; for they shall eat the fruit of their
doings. Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the
reward of his hands shall be given him."
Hosea prophesied regarding Israel: "They have sown the wind, and
they shall reap the whirlwind." "Sow to yourselves in righteousness,"
he advised them, "reap in mercy."
Teaching from Analogy.
The Bible is full of analogies drawn from nature. When Christ was on
earth, it was His favorite mode of teaching to convey heavenly
truths in earthly dress. "Truths came forth from His lips," wrote
one, "not stated simply on authority, but based on the analogy of
the universe. His human mind, in perfect harmony with the Divine
mind with which it was united, discerned the connection of things,
and read the eternal will in the simplest laws of nature. For
instance, if it were a question whether God would give His Spirit to
them that asked, it was not replied to by a truth revealed on His
_authority:_ the answer was derived from facts lying open to all
men's observation. 'Behold the fowls of the air'; 'behold the lilies
of the field'--learn from them the answer to your question. A
principle was there. God supplies the wants He has created. He feeds
the ravens--He clothes the lilies--He will feed with His Spirit the
craving spirits of His children."
This is the style of teaching that Paul adopts in the text. He takes
the simple process of sowing and reaping, a process familiar to all,
and reads in it a deeply spiritual and moral meaning. It is as if he
said that every man as he journeys through life is scattering seed
at every step. The seed consists of his thoughts, his words, his
actions. They pass from him, and by and by (it may be sooner or
later), they spring up and bear fruit, and the reaping time comes.
Life a Seed-Time.
The analogy contains some solemn lessons. Life is to be regarded as
a seed-time. Every one has his field to sow, to cultivate, and
finally, to reap. By our habits, by our intercourse with friends and
companions, by exposing ourselves to good or bad influences, we are
cultivating the seed for the coming harvest. We cannot see the seed
as it grows and develops, but time will reveal it.
Just as the full-grown harvest is potentially contained in the seed,
so the full results of sin or holiness are potentially contained in
the sinful or holy deed. "When lust hath conceived, it bringeth
forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death."
Just as we cannot reap a good harvest unless we have sown good seed,
so we cannot reap eternal life unless we have sown to the Spirit.
Weeds are easy to grow. They grow without the planting. And sin
springs up naturally in the human heart. Ever since our first
parents broke away from God, the human heart has of itself been
thoroughly vile, and all its fruits have been evil. "The heart of
the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." Do you doubt it?
If you do, ask yourself what would become of a child if it was left
to itself--no training, no guidance, no education. In spite of all
that is done for children, the evil too often gets the upper hand.
The good seed must be planted and cared for, often with toil and
trouble: but the harvest will be sure.
Do we desire the love of our fellows in our seasons of trial? Then
we must love them when they need its cheering influence most. Do we
long for sympathy in our sorrow and pain? Then we shall have it if
we have also wept with those who weep. Are we hoping to reap eternal
life? Then we must not sow to the flesh, or we shall reap
corruption, but to the Spirit, then the promise is that we shall
reap its immortal fruits.
Dr. Chalmers has drawn attention to _the difference between the act
of sowing and the act of reaping_. "Let it be observed," he says,
"that the act of indulging in the desires of the flesh is one thing
and the act of providing for the indulgence of them is another. When
a man, on the impulse of sudden provocation, wreaks his resentful
feelings upon the neighbor who has offended him, he is not at that
time preparing for the indulgence of a carnal feeling, but actually
indulging it. He is not at that time sowing, but reaping (such as it
is) a harvest of gratification. This distinction may serve to assist
our judgment in estimating the ungodliness of certain characters.
The rambling voluptuary who is carried along by every impulse, and
all whose powers of mental discipline are so enfeebled that he has
become the slave of every propensity, lives in the perpetual harvest
of criminal gratification. A daughter whose sole delight is in her
rapid transitions from one scene of expensive brilliancy to another,
who dissipates every care and fills every hour among the frivolities
and fascinations of her volatile society,--she leads a life than
which nothing can be imagined more opposite to a life of preparation
for the coming judgment or the coming eternity. Yet she _reaps_
rather than _sows_. It lies with another to gather the money which
purchaseth all things, and with her to taste the fruits of the
purchase. _It is the father who sows_. It is he who sits in busy and
brooding anxiety over his speculations, wrinkled, perhaps, by care,
and sobered by years into an utter distaste for the splendors and
insignificancies of fashionable life." The father sows, and he reaps
in his daughter's life.
"Painting for Eternity."
A famous painter was well known for the careful manner in which he
went about his work. When some one asked him why he took such pains,
he replied:
"Because I am painting for eternity."
It is a solemn thing to think that _the future will be the harvest
of the present_--that my condition in my dying hour may depend upon
my actions to-day! Belief in a future life and in a coming judgment
magnifies the importance of the present. Eternal issues depend upon
it. The opportunity for sowing will not last forever; it is slipping
through our fingers moment by moment; and the future can only reveal
the harvest of the seed sown now.
A sculptor once showed a visitor his studio. It was full of statues
of gods. One was very curious. The face was concealed by being
covered with hair, and there were wings on each foot.
"What is his name?" said the visitor.
"Opportunity," was the reply.
"Why is his face hidden?"
"Because men seldom know him when he comes to them."
"Why has he wings on his feet?"
"Because he is soon gone, and once gone can never be overtaken."
It becomes us, then, to make the most of the opportunities God has
given us. It depends a good deal on ourselves what our future shall
be. We can sow for a good harvest, or we can do like the Sioux
Indians, who once, when the United States Commissioner of Indian
Affairs sent them a supply of grain for sowing, ate it up. Men are
constantly sacrificing their eternal future to the passing enjoyment
of the present moment; they fail or neglect to recognize the
dependence of the future upon the present.
Nothing Trifling.
From this we may learn that there is no such thing as a trifle on
earth. When we realize that every thought and word and act has an
eternal influence, and will come back to us in the same way as the
seed returns in the harvest, we must perceive their responsibility,
however trifling they may seem. We are apt to overlook the results
that hinge on small things. The law of gravitation was suggested by
the fall of an apple. It is said that some years ago a Harvard
professor brought some gypsy-moths to this country in the hope that
they could with advantage be crossed with silkworms. The moths
accidentally got away, and multiplied so enormously that the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts has had to spend hundreds of thousands
of dollars trying to exterminate them.
When H. M. Stanley was pressing his way through the forests of
Darkest Africa, the most formidable foes that he encountered, those
that caused most loss of life to his caravan and came the nearest to
entirely defeating his expedition, were the little Wambutti dwarfs.
So annoying were they that very slow progress could be made through
their dwelling places.
These little men had only little bows and little arrows that looked
like children's playthings, but upon these tiny arrows there was a
small drop of poison which would kill an elephant or a man as
quickly and as surely as a Winchester rifle. Their defense was by
means of poison and traps. They would steal through the darkness of
the forest and, waiting in ambush, let fly their deadly arrows
before they could be discovered. They dug ditches and carefully
covered them over with leaves. They fixed spikes in the ground and
tipped them with the most deadly poison, and then covered them. Into
these ditches and on these spikes man and beast would fall or step
to their death.
A lady once writing to a young man in the navy who was almost a
stranger, thought "Shall I close this as anybody would, or shall I
say a word for my Master?" and, lifting up her heart for a moment,
she wrote, telling him that his constant change of scene and place
was an apt illustration of the word, "_Here we have no continuing
city_," and asked if he could say: "I seek one to come." Tremblingly
she folded it and sent it off.
Back came the answer. "Thank you so much for those kind words! I am
an orphan, and no one has spoken to me like that since my mother
died, long years ago." The arrow shot at venture hit home, and the
young man shortly after rejoiced in the fulness of the blessing of
the gospel of peace.
An obscure man preached one Sunday to a few persons in a Methodist
chapel in the South of England. A boy of fifteen years of age was in
the audience, driven into the chapel by a snowstorm. The man took as
his text the words, "Look unto me and be ye saved," and as he
stumbled along as best he could, the light of heaven flashed into
that boy's heart. He went out of the chapel saved, and soon became
known as C. H. Spurgeon, the boy-preacher.
The parsonage at Epworth, England, caught fire one night, and all
the inmates were rescued except one son. The boy came to a window,
and was brought safely to the ground by two farm-hands, one standing
on the shoulder of the other. The boy was John Wesley. If you would
realize the responsibility of that incident, if you would measure
the consequences of that rescue, ask the millions of Methodists who
look back to John Wesley as the founder of their denomination.
BE NOT DECEIVED; GOD IS NOT MOCKED.
"_Let no man deceive you_."--Eph. v: 6.
"_As one man mocketh another, do ye so mock Him?_"--Job xiii: 9.