"At this spring-time season, when the seed is cast into the brown bosom of the earth, the lesson taught by the great Teacher, eighteen hundred years ago, in Palestine, 'as the sower went forth to sow,' is borne in upon the mind once more, and these lines are the reflex of the impulses which are astir in many hearts: "I know my hand may never reap its sowing, And yet some other may; And I may never even see it growing-- So short my little day! "Still must I sow, although I go forth weeping, I cannot, dare not stay. God grant a harvest! though I may be sleeping, Under the shadows gray." CHAPTER XXV. THE SIN OF IDOLATRY. It is not that the city is glorious to behold, Her walls of lucid crystal, her very pavement gold, All shrined in dazzling splendor, beyond description fair, But I am pressing onward to see my Saviour there. How dangerous is idolatry. When God says, "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image," etc., He means that we should not only avoid kneeling to them, but we should worship Him alone, and come to Him through the _only mediator between God and man_--the man Christ Jesus. How explicit are the words of the beloved John: "Little children, keep yourselves from idols." (1 John, v. 21.) She seemed to realize the importance of speaking of _Jesus only_. There is an alarming and increasing propensity in religious circles, to look with leniency on the worship of saints, angels, martyrs, and the Virgin, but the Master himself said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by Me." Pure worship is spiritual, not aesthetical; hence the use of all pictures, crucifixes, and figureheads of apostles and saints dishonors Christ. * * * * * * In August, 1875, Mrs. Knowles writes: "Among many discouragements, I meet with enough to cheer me on my way, and induce me to feel that my labor is not all in vain. "Among other incidents, I will mention the case of a family I have referred to before, as having visited. The mother received me very kindly. She had four children, and as I was speaking to them of Jesus while the little ones gathered around me, the father came in, a very rough-looking man, and at the time apparently under the influence of liquor. The mother and children looked at me, and a feeling of sadness was visible on their faces. I spoke to him of his family, but he said little, and I then knelt and prayed with them. I asked if they had a Bible. He said 'No,' and they had not much time to read. I then asked him if he would like to have one. He said he would, as 'it was a good thing to have one in the house.'