in early times was very simple. Modern improvements, in this, as well as in other departments, stand widely contrasted with the plan of the ancients. It is not our present design to enter into detail here. What I wish to observe is, that as the soil requires cultivation before the seed is cast into it, so the mind of man requires to undergo some cultivation before the good seed of the kingdom can be safely

sown.

tion.

The reception of the gospel implies preceding thought, reflection, and resolution; which may be beautifully and characteristically expressed by the agricultural term, cultivaThere is a difference between a field ploughed up, and the fallow ground;-the one is ready to receive the seed, the other is not. And there is as great a difference between a heart open to receive the truth, and a heart shut against it. With the sinner there must be thought of God, of the moral law, of sin, and of his relations to these. Such a process may not occupy a long time, the spiritual farmer may plough and sow the same day;-and the sinner may have the fallow ground of his heart broken up, and the seed sown in less than one hour.

We observe :

II. THAT THE PROCESS OF SOWING IMPLIES SEED ADAPTED TO THE SOIL. There is a variety of seed mentioned in the text, and modern as well as ancient agriculture verifies the truth of the prophet's description.

Did our time and space permit, it might be interesting, and useful, to describe the different kinds of seed referred to. Observe that the prophet makes reference to "the principal wheat and the appointed barley." The phrase "the principal wheat" has been variously explained. Some are of the opinion that it refers to the mode of sowing. The margin has it "wheat in the principal place." South renders it "wheat in due measure; "Aben Eyrd and Kimchi consider it to mean, "by measure ;" i.e., the seed must be equally distributed over the soil; for were it sown too thickly, then

the stalks would be small and weak, the heads would crowd together and suffocate one another. Those who take this view regard the words as embodying the sentiment; "wheat sown according to rule." The term "principal" may be regarded as denoting the quality of the wheat. Gesenius, following the Arabic, regards it as meaning "fat wheat." The finest, or "the choicest," wheat, would clearly point out the prophet's meaning. "The appointed barley." In this phrase a word is used which may be traced to another meaning, "to mark with a seal;" so that the grain thus selected might be carefully passed, and used for seed; being superior in quality. The great attention paid to seed corn can be traced to a very ancient date. The Romans chose the best of their crops for this purpose, sifting the seed carefully after it was threshed, that the largest and healthiest grains might be selected. Now all this will hold

good in the moral, as well as in the agricultural sense.

First Let the seed for the mind be marked as with a seal. As the ancients chose the best of their crops for seed, so let the truths selected for the mind be of the highest and holiest description. Let there be great care and watchfulness manifested here; for if the seeds of error be sown in the human heart, these will germinate and grow, and bear their bitter fruits abundantly; and when the great and final harvest comes, what a crop of poisonous grain shall there be on which the soul must feed for ever! "Be not deceived, God is not mocked," &c. O! that all men were as careful with what they fill their minds as the farmer is about his seed! "Prove all things," &c.

Secondly Let the seed for the mind be varied. The farmer is not always sowing the same kind of seed; but a variety of seeds, to suit all the different kinds of soils, and the same soil at different seasons. So the word of God, independent of other sources, furnishes a great variety of truths to suit the soul in every conceivable state. And the same truth is set forth in` many different ways, and couched under many different figures, to fit all descriptions

of minds.

Such a view is by no means a straining of the

passage, as bringing a meaning out of it which was never

intended by the Spirit.

The text as a whole is figurative,

and we cannot go far wrong in bearing the figurative element in mind when breaking it down into its specific parts. There is the "choicest wheat," and there are other seeds not so valuable, nevertheless precious in their own place, and which also receive a share of the husbandman's attention. There is "the choicest wheat," which without hesitation, I would designate the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. The history of Jesus of Nazareth, the tragedy of Calvary, the Saviour's passion substituted for the sinner's punishment, is the most precious of all truths to the sons of men. But there are some who would hear nothing else, save the love of God and the sufferings of Christ. Exhort them to bend their minds to dutious habits, to exercise self-denial, to charity, to liberality, in a word to abound in every good word and work; that is all legality to them. Give us the "doctrines of grace" and the sufferings of Christ say they; we like nothing so well as the Gospel. And true they will be melted to tears while listening to the story of a Saviour's love, the history of Jesus of Nazareth, or to an account of His passion, and a vivid description of the last tragical scene. Take them in imagination to the upper room, from the upper room to the Garden of Gethsemane, to the Palace of Caiaphas, from the bar of Caiaphas to the judgment seat of Pilate, and thence to the cross, and they are delighted. Beloved brethren, when you find this the only acceptable theme, you may be sure it is all mere feeling;—a morbid sentimentalism.

What would be the thought of the agriculturist after he had cultivated his land and prepared the soil for the reception of the seed, should some say, there is nothing so good and precious as "the choicest wheat"? Suppose that all the farmers in England, Scotland, Ireland, America, and the world, were to do likewise ;— nothing is sown but "the choicest wheat," and when harvest

comes, nothing but "the choicest wheat" remains in ripeness. What would be the consequences ? The interests of humanity would be injured, if not jeopardized. And the preaching of nothing but those exciting themes would soon be followed with more dire and dreadful consequences.

If there is nothing to be preached but such subjects, what become of the sermon on the mount and hundreds of other parts of scripture that bear directly on Christian duty?

When I turn to the commencement of the sacred Scriptures I read, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth; and the earth was without form, and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep, and the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

There is no "gospel" as you would say here; nothing of the cross, nothing of the Saviour's passion; but there is history, there is divine truth :-truth which is fitted to bless and beautify the Christian's soul, and conform it to the image of God. That is part of the Old Scripture which is "given by inspiration." There are many who seek in their religious exercises the same gratification they receive from the perusal of an interesting novel, or in listening to a pleasant song. What did the Saviour say to those who had nothing but tears of natural sympathy to shed over his sufferings? "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but for yourselves, and for your children.”

And do I address any who can do nothing but weep over a Saviour's love, who would not part with a sixpence, though it were to save a soul from death? I would say, Weep not over the recital of a Saviour's passion; but weep over your own ungodliness, and selfishness; and for your children, in whom your ungodliness is being reproduced. It is not such weeping that is needed, but working.

How beautiful to see the sincere Christian who has received the love of God into his heart, and who feels honored in serving and suffering in the cause of that Saviour, who "poured out his soul unto death, and was

numbered with the transgressors, and bear the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors," whose heart is open to receive the whole variety of that seed, which God has sealed and set apart for the special purposes of implanting it in his soul, and which will yield for him a harvest of everlasting glory.

I believe it is the duty of every man as he has opportunity, to store his mind with all useful branches of knowledge, &c. All science, philosophy, and history, throw light upon the word of God. Why should men seek after no more information, than what is barely necessary to carry them through the world?

We observe:

III. THAT THE PROCESS OF SOWING IMPLIES A SUITABLE SEASON. Men do not sow at all times;-"there is a time to sow, and a time to reap." As soon as the ground was ploughed and mollified by the autumnal rains, it was ready by the end of October to receive the seed, and continued to be sown in different situations through November unto December: barley is not usually sown until January and February.

So there is a season for sowing the good seed of the kingdom. Life is that season; that period which as "a vapour," the Scriptures describe as "a shadow," that passes away, like "the post," the "swift ships," like the eagle hastening to her prey. A long time is not necessary to sow for eternity. If a man in the short period of fifty years can reject the gospel, and be lost, he could in the same period accept it, and be saved, &c.

With some the season for sowing may be no more than one year. It is morally certain that before the seed that is now being cast into the prepared soil, shall wave in ripeness, some of you shall have ceased to sow in this world and have gone to reap in the next.

As has been strikingly remarked, "Some minds like sowing seed on the margin of an ocean, all along whose