sus was alone, those who were with him and the twelve disciples
asked him what this story meant. He said to them, "Do you not see the
meaning of this? How then will you understand all my other stories? The
sower sows his teaching. The teaching that is sown along the road is
like some people who hear but immediately Satan comes and takes away the
teaching which has been sown in them.

"And the seed that has been sown on rocky places, is like those people
who hear the teaching and receive it at once with joy, but it takes no
root in them and they remember it only for a short time.

"The seed sown among thorns is like those who hear the teaching but the
pleasures of this life, the desire for wealth and other things makes
them forget the teaching, and so it bears no fruit.

"But the seed sown on good soil is like those people who hear the
teaching and remember it, and it bears fruit; some thirty, some sixty,
and some a hundredfold.

"Can a blind man guide a blind man? Will not both fall into a ditch? A
disciple is not above his teacher; but every pupil when perfectly
trained will be like his teacher.

"No good tree bears rotten fruit; neither does a rotten tree bear good
fruit; for each tree is known by its own fruit. Figs are not gathered
from thorns, nor grapes picked from a bramble-bush. From the good stored
in his heart the good man brings forth goodness, but the evil man
from his evil store brings forth evil; for the mouth speaks that with
which the heart is filled.

[Illustration: (C) _Curtis Publishing Company_

_The Sower_

Painted by Herbert Moore]

"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. One
does not light a candle to put it under a basket but on a stand, where
it shall give light to all who are in the house. So let your light shine
before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your heavenly
Father."

THE REWARDS FOR FOLLOWING JESUS' TEACHINGS

James and John, the sons of Zebedee, once came to Jesus and said,
"Master, we want you to do for us what we shall ask." So he said, "What
do you want me to do for you?" They answered, "When you enter into your
kingly glory, let one of us sit on your right hand and one on your
left." But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Can
you drink the cup of woe that I am to drink, or be baptized with the
baptism of suffering with which I am to be baptized?" They said to him,
"We can." Jesus said, "You will dri