and quick perception as
an egg is full of food. A clear thinker, a cogent reasoner, and I may
add, full of love and the Holy Ghost, it is not a matter of wonder
that he excelled. What he might have achieved had he lived to an
advanced age, God only knows. His death was caused by an attack of
pneumonia. He left a comparatively young family. In the view of the
writer, who was intimately acquainted with him, the church of the
Brethren has never been called to give up a brighter or better man. He
is not _lost_. He has only moved away to the better land.

The following discourse was substantially preached by Brother Daniel
Thomas at the dwelling house of Elijah Judy in Hardy County, Virginia,
now West Virginia, on the evening of

MONDAY, May 14. _The parable of the sower_ is his subject. He said:
This parable, viewed in its natural or most obvious sense, is so
easily understood that it would be a suitable lesson for a primary
school reader. At the same time it holds within its grasp a fund of
spiritual instruction which, being received into the mind and heart,
fills both with light so clear as to illuminate many an otherwise dark
portion of Revealed Truth. To my mind this parable is the link
connecting the two ends of the great chain of God's work and man's
work in both the natural and spiritual life of man.

The Holy Land, as it is called, where our Lord was born, and where he
lived and died, comprised three small districts of country called
Judea, Samaria and Galilee. These districts, each about the size of
some of our Virginia counties, lay along the eastern shore of the
Mediterranean Sea. Their gusts of rain, with their lightning and
thunder, came from the west as ours do. The south winds came loaded
with warmth to them as ours do to us. On the eastern border of this
land was the river Jordan, a stream just about as large and swift as
your South Branch of the Potomac. Near the northeastern corner of this
land lay the beautiful Sea of Galilee, about three miles in breadth,
and from four to six miles in length. It was on this sea that our Lord
stilled the tempest. It was on the surface of this sea, that he was
seen walking as on a smooth pavement.

In our Savior's day the Holy Land was an agricultural country. The
farmers raised wheat and barley. These grains are often mentioned in
the Scriptures. But they had few fences in that country. The roads ran
through farms and fields with no sign of fence on either side. If
s