his attainments are but small g. In process of time he shews himself solid and hopeful as "the ear:" his knowledge of self is more deep, and his views of Christ more precious ; his depen- dence on the power and grace of Christ is more simple and firm. Hence, though his conflicts may be more severe, he is more able to sustain them ; nor is there any part of his conversation wherein his profiting doth not appear h. After much experience, both of good and evil1, he becomes like " full corn in the ear." Though his views of himself are more humiliating than ever, he is not discouraged by them ; he only takes occasion from them to live more entirely by faith on Christ : there is an evident ripeness in all the fruit that he brings forth. Above all, he lives in a nearer expectation of " the harvest." He sits loose to all the concerns of this present life, and longs for the season when he shall be treasured up in the garner k.]
3. Inexplicable —
[The most acute philosopher " knoweth not how " the grain vegetates. That it should die before it springs up1, and then so change its appearance as to put forth the blade, &c. is a mystery that none can explain : thus the operations of grace in the soul of man are also inexplicable. We know not how the Spirit of God acts on the powers of our mind ; we discover, that he does so by the effects ; but how, we cannot tell. In this view our Lord compares the Spirit's agency to the wind, the precise point of whose rise or destination we are unable to ascertain"1 : nor is the mysteriousness of these changes, which we see in the natural world, ever made a reason for disbelieving them; neither should the difficulty of comprehending some things in a work of grace render us doubtful of its reality.]
This resemblance, already so striking, may be further seen,
II. In the end for which they grow —
The seed grows up in the field in order to the harvest —
[The husbandman in every part of his labour has the har- vest in view ; he manures, and ploughs, and sows his ground, in hopes of reaping at last. In every successive state of the corn he looks forward to the crop", and "when the harvest is come," he " immediately puts in the sickle."]
g Heb. v. 13.
h To this effect is St. John's description of the young men who are in an intermediate state between children and fathers. 1 John ii. 13, 14.
1 Heb. v. 14. k 1 Cor. i. 7. 2 Cor. v. 1—4.
1 1 Cor. xv. 30. m John iii. S. n Jam. v. 7.