Very different is the proportion in which men will reap, even though all should sow the same precious seed. Some will have thirty, some an hundred fold. This disparity arises from the ground. In one case it is stony,-in another it is pre-occupied with thorns; but where it is of deep earth, free from stones and thorns, then it is the good ground, and brings forth with amazing fertility. Herodotus tells us that the Babylonian territory was so fruitful in the produce of corn, that it yielded continually two hundred fold, and, when it produced its best, it yielded even three hundred fold.* Christian brethren, let us aspire to a fertility like that. Let us plant the root of Faith at such a depth that no gust of affliction or persecution may be able to uproot it. Do not let the cares of this world, or deceitful riches, or desires after other things, choke the word, and render it unfruitful. The conviction that we shall hereafter reap is a great encouragement to sow. At the close of a good day's work we may congratulate ourselves : *ch. i. 193. To-day I have been sowing seeds of joy and peace for my future." Sometimes there comes a misgiving," Suppose I should die before the harvest?" Well, other men have sown, and you have entered into their labours: it is no great hardship if others should enter on what you have sown. Besides, all will reap together and rejoice together in the Paradise above. If any one still complains, I would answer him by the following apologue :-A very poor and aged man, busied in planting and grafting an apple tree, was rudely interrupted by the interrogation,-"Why do you plant trees, who cannot hope to eat the fruit of them?" He raised himself up, and, leaning upon his spade, replied, Some one planted trees before I was born, and I have eaten the fruit: I now plant for others, that the memorial of my gratitude may exist when I am dead and gone.' When the time of the fruit draws near, God sends his servants to the husbandmen, that they Elsewhere in the same may receive the fruits.* *Luke xxi. 34. gospel* he is said to come himself: "Behold these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none." Perhaps on this very day the Lord has come on a visit of inspection. O, my soul! let him not go away grieved with repeated disappointment. In the continental vineyards they gather in the grapes to the sound of music. This was the custom of ancient times likewise. Young virgins and youths, of tender minds, bore the luscious fruit in woven baskets, in the midst of whom a boy played sweetly on a shrill harp, and with tender voice sang gracefully to the chord; whilst they, beating the ground in unison with dancing and shouts, followed skipping with their feet.† Such is the joy of harvest. We who have sown spiritual things ought to have even a greater joy, and to come back from our seed-fields rejoicing, bringing our sheaves with us. Birds ever peck at the richest fruit; and Satan is not so much concerned to assail a corrupt sinner as to ruin a fruitful Christian. *ch. xiii. 7. Homer: Iliad, xviii. 567-572. The greater, therefore, our gifts and graces are, the more watchful we need to be. There is a danger of sowing mixed seeds, if we have not a single eye to God's glory. Some go on sinning and repenting,-full of self-indulgence to-day,-full of devotion to-morrow. What can one expect at the harvest but a grotesque mixture if he sows the seeds of roses and thistles together? When the fruit is gathered, much skill is requisite to prevent it from being destroyed: much care, too, is requisite for the preservation of Christian graces and virtues. Too much light is injurious to the fruit: so piety is often ruined by the glare of prosperity, or the lustre of popularity. He is a wise Christian who often. seeks the shade of retirement. We might all be more fruitful, just as we might be more wise, holy, and happy. If we might be, then we ought to be. And we should strive after increased fertility at once; for by and by we shall be cut down from the forest of life, and then be barren as the old man's staff. |