land, and covers it up, there will not be an ear of corn in time of harvest. But he cannot command the pros- perity of each grain. He cannot explain why some grains come up and others die. He cannot specify the hour or the minute when life shall begin to show itself. He can- not define what that life is. These are matters he must leave alone. He sows his seed, and leaves the growth to God. " God giveth the increase."* (1 Cor. iii. 7.)
The workings of grace in the heart in like manner, are utterly mysterious and unsearchable. We cannot explain why the word produces effects on one person in a congre- gation, and not upon another. We cannot explain why, in some cases — with every possible advantage, and in spite of every entreaty — people reject the word, and continue dead in trespasses and sins. We cannot explain why in other cases — with every possible difficulty, and with no encouragement — people are born again, and be- come decided Christians. We cannot define the manner in which the Spirit of God conveys life to a soul, and the exact process by which a believer receives a new nature. All these are hidden things to us. We see certain results, but we can go no further. " The wind
* " A grain of corn, committed to the ground by the hand of man, will sprout and shoot; the shoot will disclose the stem, the stem the ear, and the ear the fruit ; and were the most illiterate and unphilo- sophical person to be asked why all this should necessarily follow from the mere act of burying a seed in the earth, he might be disposed to laugh at the apparent simplicity of the question. Yet no human wisdom was ever able to return the answer to this question — no hu- man sagacity ever yet could penetrate into the true causes of this effect; and no human knowledge, upon such subjects, has ever gone further than the mere discovery, by a regular and constant experi- ence, that such and such consequences will uniformly follow from such and such previous acts." — Gresviell on ihr Parables. Vol. ii. : p. 132.
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bloweth where it listeth, and thou nearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth : so is every one that is born of the Spirit." (John iii. 10.)
Let us mark this truth also, for it is deeply instructive. It is humbling no doubt to ministers, and teachers of others. The highest abilities, the most powerful preach- ing, the most diligent working, cannot command success. God alone can give life. But it is a truth at the same time, which supplies an admirable antidote to over- carefulness and despondency. Our principal work is to sow the seed. That done, we may wait with faith and patience for the result. " We may sleep, and rise night and day," and leave our work with the Lord. He alone can, and, if He thinks fit, He will give success.
We are taught, thirdly, that, as in the growth of corn, so in the work of grace, life manifests itself gradually.
There is a true proverb which says, " Nature does nothing at a bound." The ripe ear of wheat does not appear at once, as soon as the seed bursts forth into life. The plant goes through many stages, before it arrives at perfection — " first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear." But in all these stages one great thing is true about it — even at its weakest, it is a living plant.
The work of grace, in like manner, goes on in the heart by degrees. The children of God are not born perfect in faith, or hope, or knowledge, or experience. Their be- ginning is generally a u day of small things." They see in part their own sinfulness, and Christ's fulness, and the beauty of holiness. But for all that, the weakest child in God's family is a true child of God. With all his