lessly unfruitful until broken up. This sterility remains until the Gospel 66 plough" is applied, as well by the "hand" of the sinner as by the power of the Spirit. Connected with such an application is a broken and contrite heart," through the influence of a living and lively faith, which renovates and renders fruitful every soul in which it operates. "Break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, till He come and rain righteousness upon you." Yes, "it is time to seek the Lord," and no season more convenient, or, perhaps, so convenient, can be anticipated. Preparation to meet our God, at whose tribunal we must all appear, should be the one great business of the life of each, and not one should for a moment be inclined to put off so momentous a work to "a more convenient season." "Now is the accepted time." "Time speeds away, away, away, "Boast not thyself of to-morrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth," is an admonition which may as properly be addressed to the youngest and strongest as to the eldest and most infirm. If the work of preparation has been begun, so also has "effectual fervent prayer," and very frequently do we "visit the throne of grace" with petitions such as these-"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me;" "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." If language such as this has ever been devoutly and heartily used by us, "the fallow ground" has been broken up. With this breaking up the work of sowing is intimately connected. Corn now stands thick in the valleys and on the slopes and summits of the hills, because seed was deposited at the appropriate "time to sow," which, having sprung up, has successively brought forth "first the blade, then the ear, and afterwards the full corn in the ear,"-now firm and ripe: the "time to reap" is come, and so related is reaping to sowing as to be consequent on it. And what is reaped, let it be observed, is of the very same nature as what was sown. So it is with respect to God's moral government: "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." Divine truth is metaphorically represented as seed. The seed which the sower went forth to sow," and which, in the good ground, brought forth 66 some an hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty," was "the Word of God:" this, when vitalized by the Spirit of truth, is productive of spiritual life, fruitfulness, and beauty. Those in whom it dwells richly and permanently grow as the vine, revive as the cane, and at last come to their graves each "like as a shock of corn cometh in his season." Vigilance is also indispensable. The farmer must not be indolent or negligent as regards his advancing crop, as if no vigilance nor care was necessary. Many casualties are likely to occur, and visitors not very conscientious or scrupulous likely to come: the stone wall may become broken down, gates and fences may get out of order, thorns and thistles may encroach, the little foxes may intrude, and so may the boar out of the wood, and so may the fowls of the air. Abraham was watchful over his sacrifice, and none doubt that he did a good work when he drove away the birds that came. Of equal importance, much greater, indeed, is it that the heart be diligently kept in which, by reading or hearing, with reflection, the seed of the kingdom has been sown. "Be sober, be vigilant," because the adversary is ever on the alert to take away the Word out of the heart; while "fleshly lusts, which war against the soul," are at no time so far from it that watchfulness is greatest amount of human skill, exertion, and vigilance would, however, be of no avail whatever independently of God. Influence from above is of paramount importance. "The little hills rejoice on every side, the pastures are clothed with flocks, the valleys also are covered over with corn," because our bounteous Lord has visited the earth by means of genial sunshine, dews, and showers: this is the efficient cause, without which all second causes would have been entirely abortive. Our hills and vales have brought forth and budded, and are now giving "seed to the sower, and bread to the eater," because the Creator and Lord of all has wrought efficiently by means of natural laws, originated and unalterably established by Himself. Equally regarding order, He, by a gracious exercise of His sovereignty, and, through "the faith of God's elect," makes His truth "the power of God unto salvation," and the ministers thereof " a saviour of life unto life." Consequently, "the stony heart" gives place to an heart of flesh," sterility yields to fruitfulness, "the wilderness" becomes " a fruitful field," chaos is transformed into a paradise. By the Spirit and the Word may we ever become partakers of the holiness of 66 the Lord, and "fruitful in every good word and work." By His diffusive goodness, our Father by example teaches us that it is our duty to do good unto all men in proportion to our ability, and to give freely, cheerfully, and indiscriminately. Nothing is more baneful to the soul than selfishness and covetousness (they co-exist), nothing more deleterious in its influence on society, nothing more detestable in the sight of God, who openeth His hand to satisfy "the desire of every living thing." Not many days since, a Judge remarked, in one of our Courts of Justice, that it was the fault of the age that everyone made haste to get rich. There is much truth in this remark, and, doubtless, to the inordinate desire to which it relates, and the selfishness, cupidity, and carelessness usually connected with it, must be attributed much of the crime, and not a little of the "mourning, lamentation, and woe," which disgrace and afflict society. "He that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent." Not influenced by this mania, it must be believed, was the poet when he penned the following noble lines : "Be not too narrow, husbandman! but fling From the full sheaf, with charitable stealth, The liberal handful. Think, oh grateful think! How good the God of harvest is to you, Who pours abundance o'er your fruitful fields." Jesus "went about doing good," and He has said, and still says, "It is more blessed to give than to receive," and the Apostle Paul says, "This I say, He that soweth sparingly, shall reap also sparingly; and he that soweth bountifully, shall reap also bountifully;" and in another epistle, "And let us not be weary in well-doing; for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." Would we enjoy the blessing of many a one "ready to perish," deliver many a one in heaven," who "maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." If everyone who has an abundance was a really "liberal soul," how rich would he himself grow in the Divine goodness, and how rapidly would crime and misery decrease around. Many of our species have become vicious and wretched because of having become hopelessly destitute. Any attempt to open their eyes, and turn them from darkness to light, before supplying them with "food convenient," or directing them to a benefactor or source manifestly accessible, or, at least, showing sympathy with them, together with a disposition to save them from perishing with hunger, can seldom, if ever, be hopefully made. "You should not dwell on this matter, but think on your soul's affairs," said a clerical visitor to a poor woman in distraction through want of common necessaries. 66 Sir," replied she, "if you were as I, you would feel that you could not do so." Be this reply inexcusable or not, it is instructive. Such compassion as was shown by the good Samaritan greatly facilitates gaining attention to the things that are excellent." If all the followers of the Lord Jesus fully obeyed His precept, "Be ye merciful, as your Father also is merciful," very small would the amount soon become of the distress and anguish which prevent thousands around from appreciating God as "love," and glorifying Him as such, and from "being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God." May all who "have passed from death unto life" SOW so bountifully from purity of motive, that they may be as distinguishable from a selfish and godless world as are the valleys covered over with corn from barren sandy plains. "Put on, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies," "Add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to 66 ABRAHAM'S FAITH. "WHO also walked in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham." All are imitators. Happy they that are followers of them "who through faith and patience inherit the promises." Well is it at times to dwell on the confidence of the olden worthies. The unbelief of some will thereby be confounded, and the belief of others may thus be strengthened. For this purpose we can hardly do better than turn our serious attention to Abraham's remarkable faith. The faith of Abraham was strong. When God bade him go to a land which He would show him he was not at all incredulous. Not for a moment did he doubt the Lord's word when the Lord promised to bless him, to make his name great, and to render him a blessing. On the Judge of all the Earth affirming that He would spare Sodom and Gomorrah were there but ten righteous within the cities, he firmly believed His affirmation. He was not in the least sceptical when the Almighty told him that though he and his wife were old they should have a son. No discreditable doubts possessed his mind on the Highest assuring him that He would make of him a great nation. His soul was not in the slightest degree staggered through unbelief when the Most High apprized him that his seed would be oppressed in a strange country and afterwards be brought out with a high hand and a stretched out arm and made to occupy Palestine, and that he should go to his fathers in peace and be buried in a good old age. With his whole heart he credited God on His declaring to him that the Messiah should spring from him, and that all families of the earth would consequently be blessed in him. In the Eternal's word he verily put the most unwavering confidence. Let the thing be ever so marvellous, if Jehovah only said to him it should come to pass he felt thoroughly persuaded that it would take place. Is your faith of this kind? God has intimated to you that your soul is guilty, polluted, and perishing. Have you unhesitatingly believed the intimation? Jehovah has promised you salvation, providing you will but trust in His Son as the propitiation for sin. Can you say that you are relying wholly on Christ crucified in the unshaken belief that the Holy One of Israel will keep His promise? The all-wise Being has warned you against delaying your best interests. O, have you deemed the warning really true and set about seeking the kingdom of God, and His righteousness with untiring diligence ? Are there no doubts on these momentous points lurking in your mind? Abraham's faith was active. It constrained him to leave his father's house, his kindred, and his country, and to travel into the land which the Lord engaged to show him; yea," he went out, not knowing whither he went." It led him to renounce the worship of senseless idols and to enter into the service of the living God. It prompted him to call on Jehovah from day to day. It induced him to approach the Holy One through a burnt offering, typical of the great sacrifice. It caused him to deliver Lot, his friends, and their property from the invaders, and to plead on behalf of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. It moved him to command his children and household "to keep the way the Lord," and "to do justice and judgment." It disposed him to give a portion of the spoils he took in war to Melchizedec as an expression of his thankfulness to God for granting him the victory, and even to offer up his son Isaac at God's command. Has your faith any such influence on you? Have you been inclined by it to come out of from among the ungodly? Think you it has had the effect of leading you to prefer the service of God to that of Satan? Does it prompt you to prayer? Do you find it causing you to draw near to to the Sacred Majesty of heaven through the expiating Lamb? Are you stirred up by it to relieve poor sufferers and to cry unto the Most High to have mercy on threatened sinners? Is it urging you to use your weight with relatives and neighbours for their present and everlasting good? Can you affirm that it leads you to contribute of your substance towards the support of God's cause, and to resign completely every rival with God for the sovereignty of your heart? Faith in the Patriarch's case was self-denying. At the very outset of his godly course he had to deny himself and take up his cross. Hard must it have been to him to leave his home, his relatives, and his country, and proceed to a foreign land and there spend the remainder of his days. We, who have never had to part from all that are dear to us, and go abroad can scarcely form an adequate idea of the pangs produced by such separation. Added to the pain of parting there would be the urgent dissuasions of some, and the irritating jeers of others. Then to say nothing of the trial of having to wait long for the promised child, he was required sorely to crucify his feelings towards the close of his remarkable career. He actually received a command from the Lord to go and offer his beloved son for a burnt offering upon a certain mountain. Now to take Isaac purposely to sacrifice him, to travel three days before reaching the appointed place, to hear the melting words, "My father, behold, the fire and the wood but where is the lamb for a burnt-offering?" to build the altar, to put the wood in order, to bind the dear one, to lay him upon the wood, and to stretch forth the hand to slay him, would be to impose on Abraham acts of self-denial, not only surpassing all his former ones, but so successively increasing in severity as to become perfectly marvellous. Yet there was no shrinking on the part of the aged Patriarch. The severest of the imposed deeds he performed without raising any objections. Does your faith constrain you to forego the momentary pleasures of sin, to prefer Christ's will to your own, to endure the scoffs of the ungodly, and to sacrifice your ease and wealth for the good of man and the glory of Jesus? If not, it will be of no advantage to you at the last day. God's friend had a faith which was evangelical. Abraham," says Jesus, "rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it and was glad." God renewed with the Patriarch His promise of a Deliverer, and gave him a type of the Deliverer's sacrifice in the offering required at his hands. Believing the one and discerning the other he looked forward to the coming of the Messiah, entertained a correct conception of the design of the Lord's advent, put his whole confidence in the anticipated expiatory death of the promised Christ, and felt delighted that he was privileged to glance into the distant future and perceive the Messiah's humble appearance among men and the sacrificial work He would accomplish on their behalf. On Jehovah first appearing to the father of the faithful He promised that Jesus, the blessing to all families of the earth, should come, and come too through one of his descendants. When Isaac was grown up, the Most High demanded him of his parent for a burnt offering. As the saintly old man was about to offer up his beloved and only son by Sarah he had prefigured to himself in that act God offering up His only begotten Son to expiate the sins of the world. This prefiguration he likewise discerned, believed, and welcomed. Consequently, his was a thorough Christian belief. Is yours of the same kind? Does it grasp Christ crucified as the propitiation for your sins? Or is it centred in God alone? If so, it insures to you no deliverance from the guilt, defilement, and doom of your transgressions. In Abraham faith was constant. It did not soon become weak, inactive, and lifeless, but ever continued alive, firm, and operative. All the marvellousness of the heavenly promises it staggered not. For the fulfilment of the divine engagements it looked long and without the slightest misgivings or impatience. Sacred commands the most difficult it shrunk not from obeying. Not only was it unshaken at the wondrous announcement that Sarah should have a child in her old age, but it steadfastly waited for the promised offspring for more than twenty-four years; and then when the expected son came, and had attained to manhood, it rendered the aged father ready to sacrifice him at the bidding of the Most High. Yea, the Patriarch's reliance on God and His word endured to the end of his pilgrimage. He lived and died fully believing that all God had engaged to do for him He would in His own time certainly accomplish to the very letter. Are you continuing to put your trust in the Lord? Or do you find yourself beginning to hesitate about the truth of God's word and to doubt the wisdom of His dealings with you? Has your faith in Jesus so far failed that you can now question His gracious sayings and violate His wise precepts? Have you begun to turn out of the way to the better land, with a view to once more settling down in this present evil world? Remember, 66 we are all made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end." To the Patriarch faith was advan tageous. By believing in the triune Jehovah he was a remarkable gainer. Through faith he grew exceedingly rich, obtained a great name, got to be a mighty nation, secured justification before God, realized a change of heart, enjoyed heaven's smile, held constant communion with the Highest, became the progenitor of Christ's human nature, lived a long and useful life, died a peaceful death, proved a boon to man. kind, and gained no ordinary place in |