have power to take it away from me; but for the love of thy dear Son, who hath given us this word, let me have grace to bring forth fruit abundantly.

FOR THE STONY GROUND.

Give me, oh our Father, that earnest faith, in which alone, as in a deep soil, can grow the hidden root of holy obedience. Give me truly to believe that nothing is of real value but the things belonging to thy kingdom, which, though we see not yet, Christ our Lord hath brought within our reach. So shall my hidden life with Christ, as a deep root, draw strength and power from the deep soil of Christian faith, and so shall I be able to bring forth the fruits of a holy life, though affliction and persecution may arise; and in the time of temptation I shall not fall away, for I shall be rooted and grounded in Christ the Lord.

FOR THE THORNS.

Thou knowest, blessed Lord, how many things there are that will choke thy word and make it unfruitful, unless thou give me strength to struggle against them. Oh how sharp are the thorns of the cares of this life! How they wound my heart while they choke the good seed of thy word! Thou knowest the struggle; and the cure thou alone canst give. More faith, more earnest faith, that I may cast all my care on thee. But besides my cares, even in this careful world, I am in danger from its pleasures. The fear to have not, the desire to have, the sinful use of those things thou hast given, these, all like the bind-weed, choke the good seed of thy word within me. Oh rouse me up by thy Holy Spirit to root them out, and to give myself wholly to thee, for it is most true that I cannot serve God and mammon.

FOR THE GOOD GROUND.

Blessed be thy name, O holy God, it is possible to be in this

VOL. II.

world, and not to be choked by its cares, or to be hardened by its business. It is possible to be rich, and not to be deceived by riches, to be poor and yet free from care. I bring my heart to thee in faith, that thou wilt root out of it all that hinders the life of my soul, that thou wilt warm it by the sunshine of thy love, that thou wilt send thy Holy Spirit, like the gentle dew, to soften my affections. Oh fit and prepare me to receive thy word. Sow it abundantly within me, and cause me abundantly to bring forth the fruits of holiness to thy power and glory. For Jesus Christ's dear sake.

Amen.

XXXVI.

MARK IV. 21-29.

When our Lord had ended the parables of the sower, we find in the Gospel of St. Mark nearly the same words repeated as are written in Matthew v. 15, and they come in here with great force, for they seem to say to the disciples, " If the good seed takes root in your hearts, and brings forth fruit, the effect will be, that you will in your turn see that it is sown abundantly in the hearts of others." The light of true religion once kindled, let them take care that they made it so shine out, as to drive away the darkness of ignorance. Therefore

MARK iv. 21, 22. "He said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? and not to be set on a candlestick? For there is nothing hid which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad."

If the light of religion is really in a man's heart, it will, and must, shine out in his life. The good seed cannot remain buried in a good soil, it will show the life that is within it, by

springing up into the light. All things in nature seek the light. If you place a stone upon the grass, so that air and light are shut out from the plants on which it is laid, you will soon see that the blades will push themselves sideways till they have found the light, and then they will spring up in it. If you shut up a plant in a room so darkened that scarce a ray of light can enter in, you will find that the branches will bend forward to seek that ray of light, forcing aside, or bringing with them, according to their strength, whatever would hinder them. So is it in the things of nature; so is it in the things belonging to religion. They cannot be hid, they seek the light, and in doing so they draw others to that light. No plant, but a dead one, will remain quietly in the darkness; and if there is true religion in a man's heart, it will show itself by seeking to know God more and more, and to share with others the blessings of the light of truth. Again our Lord repeats the solemn warning. If any man have ears to hear, let him

MARK IV. 23.

hear."

This cannot too often be repeated, nor the words that follow:

Verses 24, 25. "And He saith unto them, Take heed what ye hear with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you; and unto you that hear shall more be given. For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath."

If we keep our thoughts upon the picture of the seed and the soil, all this will be plain and easy to understand. If we have a fruitful garden, good soil, that brings forth well, we take more pains with it, and thus, as it were, give it back the good it gives to us. It is worth our trouble, we do not grudge what we spend upon it. But we treat very differently a barren and bad soil. If, after we have done all we can for it, it still has not made us any return, then we leave it to itself, in fact we

take

away from it even that which it had, for we turn it out of our garden, and leave it to the waste.

When all pains have been taken with the best soil, and good seed well sown in it, the farmer and the gardener know that it must be left in faith. They can do no more. Of this Jesus reminds his disciples.

MARK iv. 26-29.

"And He said, So is the kingdom

of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; and should sleep, and rise, night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come."

God, who produced the seed at first, will give power to the earth to bring it forth again much more abundantly, in a plentiful harvest. And God, who gave the word, will give it life in the heart of man, and its fruit shall be seen in the great harvest of eternal life.

There is a blessing hid in these few words, "when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come," and the more we think of the meaning of the verse, the more do we see the comfort that is in it. The sickle that reaps the corn is death, but it is not put in till the grain is ripe. Does not this shew us that the child of God shall not die till, in him, all Christian truths have been ripened into fruits? That the faithful shall not be taken away while yet the work of grace is imperfect within them? Does it not show that there is a kind care which orders and delays the moment of death till the work within them be fully done, for it is only "when the fruit is brought forth," that Christ "putteth in the sickle." Here is an answer of peace to the question we sometimes ask in agony of mind, when we see those we love

enduring the pains of a long, lingering death. Oh why must this suffering be? why so long? The fruit is ripening. These pains of body, that distress of mind, they are all needful, though we see not why. They will cease when the great work within is fully done. For we have the words of Christ himself, that "when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle." If we are the children of God,-and we may know whether we are His children by the sign that our greatest wish is that His will may be done-we may, through life and in death, rest in this happy trust that He will order all things well for the growth and the ripening of our fitness for the kingdom of heaven. "First the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear." And when death carries from our arms one dearer to us than our own lives, one who, we trusted, would have cheered us in our way to heaven, let this thought silence our grief; the fruit was ripe, to leave it would have hurt it, for the harvest was come.

This is truth in the private circle of our homes. It is truth of God's great family, the Universal Church. Christ has left the Divine seed, which He has planted in his Church, to grow on by night and by day, through storm and sunshine; still, through every hindrance, and every difficulty, secretly gaining power; and so will He let it go on, till it has brought to perfect ripeness all its appointed fruit. Then, and not till then, when the harvest of the world is fully ripe, and all God's children have been brought into his family, will Christ again, the second time, appear unto salvation, and thrust in his sickle, and reap the earth, gathering the wheat into his barns.*

Prayer.

O God, I hear! Give me grace to take heed how I hear. Give me that earnest longing for the light of truth that cannot be satisfied with any thing but the truth. Give me the power

* Trench.