^ In the Pilgrim's Progress, coming to the Cross is the last incident in the man's salvation. The Cross, which used to be the emblem of slavery, now becomes the means of liberty and light- ening. The point to notice here is that we are saved by what we see. The sinful man loses his burden upon realizing a fact, and the essence of Christianity is a magnificent realization. Sin had been too much for him, but now God has vanquished it. The joy that follows is inevitable. Bunyan tells us in his Grace Abound- ing, that, when the joy of this release came to him, he could have spoken of it to the very crows that sat upon the ploughed land by the wayside. The power and beauty of the simple sentence which tells of the burden tumbling into the mouth of the sepulchre make that passage one of the religious classics of the world. No commentary is necessary or possible except the memory of that experience in the hearts of those in whose lives it has happened.^
^ John Kelman, TJie Eoad, i. 71.
Sowing and Reaping.
Literature.
Alford (H.), Quebec Chapel Sermons, v. 122.
Banks (L. A.), Paul and Ms Friends, 308,
Crawford (T. J.), The Preaching of the Cross, 98.
Darlow (T. H.), Via Sacra, 87.
Dewey (0.), Works, 191.
Greenhough (J. Q.), in Jesus in the Cornfield, 167
Harris (H.), Sh(yrt Sermons, 273.
Lightfoot (J. B.), Cambridge Sermons, 48.
McQarvey (J. W.), Sermons, 202.
Macgregor (Q.H, C), '' Babboni," 47.
Macintosh (W.\ in Scotch Sermons, 140.
Momerie (A. W.), The Origin of Evil, 111.
Kobertson (F. W.), Sermons, i. 205.
Salmon (G.), The Reign of Law, 1.
Sampson (E. F.), Christ Church Sermons, 1.
Shore (T. T.), TJie Life of the World to Come, 3.
Shutter (M. D.), Justice cmd Mercy, 140.
Smith (J. H.), Healing Leaves, 218.
Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, liv, (1908), No. 3109.
Steel (T. H.), Sermons Preached in Harrow Chapel, 266.
Taylor (W. M,), Contrary Winds, 169.
Tulloch (J.), Some Facts of Religion and of Life, 65.
Williams (H. C), Christ the Centre, 97.
Christian World Pulpit, xxiii. 58 (F. W. Farrar) ; Ixvii. 157 (W. Martin).
Church of England Pulpit, xxxvi. 289 (C. Alfred Jones) ; Ixii. 52 (H.
Mayne Young). Clergyman's Magazine, 3rd Ser., vi. 154 (H. G. Youard). Literary Churchman, xxxiii. (1887) 317 (J. B. C. Murphy) ; xxxviii.
(1892) 404 (E. J. Hardy). Preacher's Magazine, xiv. 549 (J. Reid). Weekly Pulpit, u. 195 (D. L. Moody).
Sowing and Reaping.
Be not deceived ; God is not mocked : for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. — Gal. vi. 7.
1. It is one of the characteristics of St, Paul that he enforces the commonest duties by the highest motives. When he urges the Corinthians to make a contribution for the poor saints at Jerusalem, he drives home his appeal by these words : " For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might become rich," When he vindicates himself from the accusation of fanaticism which his enemies had made against him, he says : " Whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God : or whether we be sober, it is for your cause. For the love of Christ constraineth us ; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead ; and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again." His habit thus was to run up the separate actions of his life to great principles, by which they were dominated, and in accordance with which they were regulated. The poet has reminded us that in the material universe,
That very law which moulds a tear, And bids it trickle from its source.
That law preserves the earth a sphere, And guides the planets in their course.
And much in the same way the Apostle shows that the great fact of our redemption by Jesus Christ should affect the little things of our benevolence and our manner of speech as really as the great things of our life at the crucial and decisive turning points in our history. The background of his life was the cross of Christ, and from that every action, whether to human view important or the reverse, drew its inspiration and acquired its momentum.
432 SOWING AND REAPING
Accordingly we are not surprised to find that the words of the text stand in immediate connexion with the command that ministers of the gospel should be liberally supported by those whom they instruct. That is a commonplace duty, but it is lifted by St. Paul into eternal importance, when he links it on, as here, directly and immediately to the doctrine of retribution ; for then we are reminded that in the way in which we deal with it we must sow either to the flesh or to the spirit, and reap either corruption or everlasting life.
2. The principle on which this warning rests is stated in terms that give it universal application : Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. This is in fact the postulate of all moral responsibility. It asserts the continuity of personal existence, the connexion of cause and effect in human character. It makes man the master of his own destiny. It declares that his future depends upon his present choice, and is in truth its evolution and consummation. The twofold lot of " corruption " or " life eternal " is in every case no more, and no less, than the proper harvest of the kind of sowing practised here and now. The use made of our seed-time determines exactly, and with a moral certainty greater even than that which rules in the natural field, what kind of fruitage our immortality will render.