weakness and infirmity he is alive. The seed of grace has really come up in his heart, though at present it be only in the blade. He is " alive from the dead." And the wise man says, " a living dog is better than a dead lion." (Eccles. ix. 4.)
Let us mark this truth also, for it is full of consolation. Let us not despise grace, because it is weak, or think people are not converted, because they are not yet as strong in the faith as St. Paul. Let us remember that grace, like everything else, must have a beginning. The mightiest oak was once an acorn. The strongest man was once a babe. Better a thousand times have grace in the blade than no grace at all.
We are taught, lastly, that, as in the growth of corn, so in the work of grace, there is no harvest till the seed is ripe.
No farmer thinks of cutting his wheat when it is green. He waits till the sun, and rain, and heat, and cold, have done their appointed work, and the golden ears hang down. Then, and not till then, he puts in the sickle, and gathers the wheat into his barn.
God deals with His work of grace exactly in the same way. He never removes His people from this world till they are ripe and ready. He never takes them away till their work is done. They never die at the wrong time, however mysterious their deaths appear sometimes to man. Josiah, and James the brother of John were both cut off in the midst of usefulness. Our own King Edward the Sixth was not allowed to reach man's estate. Unfc we shall see in the resurrection morning that there was a needs-be. All was done well about their deaths, as well
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as about their births. The Great Husbandman never cuts His corn till it is ripe.
Let us leave the parable with this truth on our minds, and take comfort about the death of every believer. Let us rest satisfied, that there is no chance, no accident, no mistake about the decease of any of God's children. They are all " God's husbandry/' and God knows best when they are ready for the harvest.