offices which are about to be contemplated, that they arise from divine appointment. "The Lord of the harvest" alone sends forth labourers; and here, the Redeemer asserts his own prerogative"I sent you." The provision of an instrumentality, suited to the particular requirements of different positions which the world has held, is wholly dependent on the choice and arrangement of heaven. The priest, in early days, was anointed amidst the immediate tokens of the Divine presence. The prophet could relate,— "The word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Before I formed thee I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee; and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. Then said I, Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak; for I am a child. But the Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord. Then the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth: and the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth."*-And every address he delivered he could seal with-" Thus saith the Lord." The apostle heard the voice of the Redeemer, calling him by name from the common pursuits of life, and saying " Go out and preach :" he could tell how that Redeemer breathed upon the assembled body as he renewed the commission,

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and said, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost, whose soever sins, ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained:"* and he could relate how, in the upper room, amidst the congregation of Pentecost, there was heard "a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind which filled all the house where they were sitting," and then, how there descended the cloven tongues as of fire, by which he was filled with the Holy Ghost+the badge of his high celestial ordination.Those visible and sensible acts of appointment have been discontinued; there are no longer miracles and wonders, to attest the selection of the Most High; but we know that from the same source there emanates the permanent ministry of the word, and that when the Lord "ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men-some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, and for the edifying of the body of Christ." Labourers for God, true and faithful in their vocation, can testify their calling by grace from the mass of an unregenerate world: they can, without a fiction or a falsehood, assert that they are moved by the Holy Ghost, and can announce-" Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ." There can * John xx. 21--23. † Acts ii. 2-4. Eph. iv. 8-12.

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be no just and authorized employment of instrumentality in the field of the world, except such be its origin. All else is branded as intrusion, is attended with danger, is consummated in ruin; nor can any combination of qualifications-majesty of understanding, elevation of fancy, extent of knowledge, brilliance of rhetoric-supply or atone for the lack of those credentials which are stamped and sealed with the authority of heaven. One influence, and one spirit, must pervade all, from highest to lowest, from first to last; and then it is we can advance the claim" Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God."

It appears from the language of the text, that the labourers who thus possess a common ordination from God, have received different departments of work: they are not all employed precisely in the same manner, and in the same departments; but are adapted to the different seasons in which their time of existence is cast, and the different purposes which, by their exertions, are intended to be performed. We have therefore

2. To illustrate the nature of the offices which are thus exhibited.-Some are said to "sow," and others to "reap." He that sows, has not the immediate tokens of success; he has to cast the seed into the earth, and leave it covered and

unseen to the changes of seasons, and the influence of time: he that reaps, comes forth when autumn has poured her horn of plenty, gathers at once the waving and ripened corn, and soon returns" bringing his sheaves with him." It is thus, in the actual arrangements of husbandry, that "one labours, and another enters into his labours." So also it is in the church of God, and in that labour which concerns the spiritual ingathering of the world. It has been the office of some, to prepare the minds of men for receiving the good seed of the kingdom; to settle preliminaries, and arrange first principles, and lay the foundations of truth; to labour in solitude, without observation and without praise, planting but the primitive elements, which may remain long buried and concealed; and at last to expire, witnessing no visible success in that sphere, over which they have shed the tears of their anxiety, and wrestled in the prayers of their devotion, and exhausted the energies of their lives. It is the office of some, to follow after a lapse of time, and labour amidst abundant usefulness,―the instruments of converting many souls to God, of saving multitudes from spiritual danger, of extending widely the empire of the Messiah, as if almost the agency of miracle attended their steps; and when they retire in death, their names are handed down to future generations, encircled with all the glowing honours which attend the memory of triumphant zeal. At such distinctions in the nature and

effects of labour, it is not for man to murmur "Even so, Father, for so it seemeth good in thy sight."

The existence of the variety, to which we have now referred, and, at the same time, the connexion of that variety with the determinations of Providence, are evinced in the entire history of the church. One has sowed, another has reaped; some have “reaped that on which they bestowed no labour," some have "laboured," and others" have entered into their labours." It will be proper for us to illustrate the fact, and it will be observed what a remarkable alternation and succession there have been, and probably will be, to the end.

The Redeemer, in the immediate connexion of the text, is instituting a comparison between the prophets and the apostles, in their different spheres of instrumentality. The prophets sowed; the apostles reaped. The prophets did not

witness much success from their efforts. Theirs was a laborious calling, and, in appearance, was almost without reward. Their ministry was despised or hated by the age and country in which they lived. We read of but little impression produced by their most emphatic warnings, or most powerful appeals. Many of them participated in the sorrows inflicted on the land by the longdelayed judgments of Jehovah; they saw desolation and ruin sweep over the inheritance of the