of heart, he will welcome you for ever among

his blessed ones here he will make all things work together for your good; hereafter he will give you the crown for your joy and peace and everlasting triumph!

47

SERMON IV.

THE SOWER.

ST. MATTHEW Xiii. 3-9.

And he spake many things unto them in parables,

saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow: and when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth; and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: and when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: but other fell into good ground and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Or the different parables, none is more important and valuable than this: so simple that not

a child can fail of understanding it, and so instructive that not an advanced saint in the family of God but must be benefited by it. May the blessed Spirit enlighten all our minds to see, and open all our hearts to love, its precious truth, It was spoken by our divine Master, when he was preaching by the Lake of Tiberias to a vast number of people, who came to him from the different cities of the neighbourhood, and expounding to them by comparisons or similitudes the character of that new dispensation he now introduced into the world. And he so shapes

it, as to draw our observation to three things in particular, namely, the nature of the gospel in itself, the commonness and uniformity of it, and the inequality of its operation and production. By his own example we learn, that as far as the sound can reach, it is to be preached alike to all, -and that though the success be very different in many cases, and very limited in all,-and that out of four classes describing the whole human family, only one receives the Word to any saving purpose; yet we are taught that his ministering servants are never to cease liberally to sow the seed of it, ("In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand,") fervently praying to him, as the Lord not only of the harvest, but of the seed-time also, to take his own peculiar work upon himself, of causing the seed to become fruitful, in the conviction,

that "though Paul may plant, and Apollos water, yet God alone gives the increase!" For, though looking only to man, and to the small effects of man's labour in the vineyard, we should be tempted to sinful despair and distrust,-and though it is a painful fact, that under the continual sound of the word, multitudes, who are ready enough to exclaim, "The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are we,” yet remain lifeless and fruitless,-nay, actually " die in their sins,”—still are his ministers to deliver the message in all faithfulness and plainness to every soul," whether men will hear or whether they will forbear;" - still is" their sound to go through all the earth;" still is the word of the kingdom to be spoken to all men, in the trusting hope and assured faith, that God will deign to reveal it spiritually to some souls, to the bringing forth fruit, some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred fold. And it is a happy truth indeed, that his message stands not either in the wisdom or the strength of man,-that whatever be the abilities or the want of abilities in the servants of the sanctuary, his word alone shall "accomplish that whereto he sends it," that, under its simple delivery, many a heart shall be softened and changed and made fruitful. The giver of the blessing has provided that the germination of the seed shall not depend for a moment on the weak hand that sows it, so much.

E

as on the proper soil that receives it, viz. the

heart that" in the

honest and good,

day of his power" God makes

ready, fit, and equal to an abundant harvest. In whatever soul the word dwells richly, it is not because it has been dispensed with power to it by the mouth of any minister whatever, but because by the Spirit's presence and direction it has been made the savour of life unto life to that soul. Not a few are the instances on record, where a babe in Christ has been permitted, nay, manifestly chosen by God, as the instrument to speak" a word in season" with lasting effect to sinners who have resisted successfully, and for a long life, the appeal of the greatest eloquence, zeal, and tenderness!

But to the parable. There are four sorts of ground mentioned, on which the seed is stated to have been sown, and of which the three first are of a bad description, and only the fourth is of a good one. Of the former, the first may be called the highway ground; the second, the stony ground; and the third, the thorny ground. The Lord now enable us to contemplate these different divisions, for our own spiritual and lasting benefit! It will be indeed a blessed thing for us, and for ever shall we be indebted to his free and rich grace if, what is a parable to others with which they are only amused, become to us a plain truth by which we are enlightened and