3. " They that sow shall reap." The seed is God's, and God's too is the increase ; only let us cast God's seed into God's soil, it matters not though we sow in tears, He will bless us with the harvest. God has His purpose in every call of duty ; His purpose is to give us the blessedness of what we do. Were the work ours alone, were we left to do it by ourselves, were success dependent on our efforts or skill, then as we think how imperfect we are, 1 Stopford A. Brooke,
PSALM cxxvi. 6 91
and as we contemplate the powerful influences at work to hinder and mar the cause which we have at heart, we might well despair. But the word of the Lord standeth sure ; God's promise cannot fail of fulfilment. The "shall come again" of the Omnipotent absolutely ensures success. Only sow faithfully, and you shall reap abundantly — here, if God sees it wise and well, hereafter, beyond all question. Yes, the harvest will come, must come. There may be cloudy skies, and dark days, and cold winds first — much that makes the sower anxious, and even causes weeping and painful fear; but still, the harvest will come.
^ Every promise of God hath this tacitly annexed to it — " Is anything too hard for the Lord ? " ^
^ The Methodist Chapel at Shotley Bridge, of which Mr. M'CuUagh became minister in 1849, was the only place of worship in this small village. One very in^resting member of the congregation, a most godly woman, was the sister of that brilliant man of letters, De Quincey, the English opium-eater. A local preacher of much originality was also a prominent figure in the congregation. Mr. M'Cullagh in after years wrote of him : " Henderson's prayers were sometimes remarkable. Once I heard him quote the passage, 'The promise is unto you and to your children,' thus, ' The promise is unto Henderson and his children.' Some years afterwards I met one of his children in the ranks of the ministry, and I thought of the good man's faith in wedging his own name and his children's into the promise. Once when I was preaching on the text, 'Whereby are given unto us exceeding, great and precious promises,' as I quoted one promise after another, Henderson half -audibly said, ' That is mine ! and that is mine ! and that is mine ! ' And when I uttered the words, 'Having nothing, and yet possessing all things,' he said with added emphasis, ' and that is mine.' " ^
* John Owen. " Thomas M'CuUagh, by his Eldest Son, 62.
The Gtifts of Sleep.
9?
Literature.
Banks (L. A.), The Great Promises of the Bible, 87.
Bell (C. D.), The Name above every Name, 232,
Boyd (A. K. H.), Tloe Graver Thoughts of a Country Pa/rson, i. {^4.
Bryce (W. K.), Appeals to the Soul, 60.
Burns (D.), The Song of the Well, 77.
Christopherson (H.), Sermons, 43.
Jerdan (C), Messages to the Children, 193.
Lefroy (E. C), The Christian Ideal, 92.
McFadyen (.J. E.), The Divine Pursuit, 83.
Martin (A.), Winning the Soul, 65.
Matheson (G.), Searchings in the Silence, 101.
„ „ Rests by the River, 198.
Miller (J. R.), A Help for the Common Days, 247. Morrison (G. H.), The Wings of the Morning, 24. Purves (P. C), The Divine Cure for Heart Trouble, 295. Speirs (E. B.), A Present Advent, 276.
Spurgeon (C. H.), New Park Street Pulpit, i. (1855), No. 12. Church of England Pulpit, xxxvii. 205 (C. L. Ooghlan).
94
The Gifts of Sleep.
So he gireth unto his beloved sleep.— Ps. cxxvii. 2.
This is a psalm of prosperity, and of how it comes. It is sung in the ear of those who boast themselves as able to command success. They have, to begin with, the common ambition to rear a home, to keep it safe, and to fill it with plenty. Since, however, they do not ask these things of God, they cannot be sure of them. If God does not work with them, their own labour will be lost. They may toil at the walls and find that the rain or the wind foils them. They may build on a peopled hill, and take turns to man the ramparts, and yet, by stealth or force, the city may be taken and their home wrecked. They may be up before dawn, and be busy until the light fails, only to sit down to a table where the very bread seems made of the pains by which it was earned. For nothing they have made themselves so anxious that they could not sleep when they would.
As a pendant to that bustling scene, we have this picture of peace. The figure is that of the man who cares only to do God's will and trusts God to work by him and for him. He lies under a canopy of Love Divine, with closed eyes, calm face, and restful hands. As we look, we seem to know that these sheltering walls are God-built ; and that this peace is God-kept ; and that God, with the morn, shall spread the table, and call His guest. All that the sleepless pant after, this man has, and he has his sleep too, both full and sound. " So " — by God Himself being builder, keeper, host — " he giveth unto his beloved sleep."