religion which began in the upper chamber at Jerusalem, — ^had overrun the civilized world. It was professed by nearly all Europe, by a great part of Asia, and by the whole northern part of Africa. The prophetic words of the parable before us were literally fulfilled. The grain of mustard seed ''waxed a great tree ; and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of iV The Lord Jesus said it would be so. And so it came to pass.
Let us learn from this parable never to despair of any work for Christ, because its first beginnings are feeble and smell. A single minister in some large neglected town-district, — ^a single missionary amidst mjrriads of savage heathen, — ^a ^gle reformer in the midst of a fallen and corrupt church,— each and all of these may seem at first sight utteriy unlikely to do any good. To the eye of man, the work may appear too great, and the instrument employed quite unequal to -it. Let us never give way to such thoughts. Let us remember the parable before us, and take courage. When the line of duiy is plain, we should not begin to count numbers, and confer wi& flesh and blood. We should believe that one man with the living seed of God's truth on his side, like Luther or Knox, may turn a nation upside down. If G-od is with him, none shall stand against him. In spite of men and devils, the seed that he sows shall wax a great tree.
The parable of theieaven is iniiended to show the^^ro- gresa of the &ospet in the heart of a believer.
The first beginnings of the work of grace in a sinner are generally exceedingly small. It is like the mixture of leaven with a lump of dough. A single sentence of