Yer. 11.-The lessons of harvest. "Thou crownest the year," etc. Men see what t)icy ha"e eyes to see. The fai:mer_ looks on the field of golden grain, ripe for the ~1ckle, and sees the rewnrd of his toil and rat.urn for his capital. The painter sees a gloriou~ su bje~t for a pictur~ .. The econon~ist thinks <'f prices, averages, national prospent~·. 'l he devout Christian sees Gods hnnd opening to answer the prayer for daily brea,l. Now, it is one lrarling characteristic of the Scripture writers that they see God in everything. In this light let us try to read the lessons of harvest. I. TnAKKFULKEss. Literal rendering in margin, "Thou crownest the year of thy ~nodncss," which some take to refor to some special year of remarkably bountiful li:1rYe~t.. Perhaps rather the thought is that God's uuceasina0 goodness runs throuah th,, whole circle of the ~earnns, though the harvest is the crowning manifo,tati;n (~fatt. v. 45; Acts xiv. 17; 2 C0r. ix. 10). Grace at meals should be no dead form but the welling-up and outpouring uf new thankfulness for fresh goodness. God'; h:ind spreads the daily table for all creatures. As the secret spring of life is in him, ~n all that nourishes and maint.'lins life is from him. Hence our tfaviour makes the gift of <lail~· bread the image of himself-" the Bread of Life" (John vi. 33, 35, 48-51). II. OnEDIEXCE To LAW. God works according to those unchanging laws which he has orrlaine<l-unchanging as long as the present order of the world continues (Gen. viii. 22). Human labour is profitable only as it conforms to those laws. He who would reap in harvest-time must sow in seed-time. 'l'he natural is the image of the spiritual order (Gal. vi. 7-9). III. PATIBNCE. (Jas. v. 7.) Here also our Lord bids us see the spiritual order (Mark iv. 26-29). Do not expect ripe ears in January. Be patient with your children, your scholars, your hearers; yea, let the Christian even be patient with himself. IV. Co-oPERATION. The ploughman, sower, reaper, must join their toil; and the ploughman did not make his plough, the sower his basket, the reaper his sickle. Other hands built the garner. Who can reckon how many hands have combined their labour to place un our table a single loaf (Rom. xiv. 7)? V. HoPE. Under dark wintry skies, beneath frost and snow, the grain is growing, which summer suns shall ripen. The worst harvest that was ever reaped kept alive the germs of all the harvests that have since grown or ever will (1 Cor.. xv. 58). And note, that as long as the grain is stored, it preserves life (even for centuries), but pro- duces none. It must be flung away and buried, and, as grain, must perish, for the hidden life to burst forth. Hence our Lord makes it the image of his life-giving death (John xiL 24), and St. Paul of resurrection (1 Cor. xv. 35-38).
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. 1-13.-Harvest tlmnksgiving. The three great Jewish feasts had reference to the harvest. The Passover was kept early in the year, when the barley harvest was begun, and a sheaf of the firstfruits was offered as a thank-offering (Lev. xxiii. 10). Fifty days laler came Pentecost, when the wheat was ripe; and then two loaves of the new corn were presented (Lev. xxiii. 17). Last of all was the Feast of Tabernacles, when the fruits of the earth had been gathered in, and the people gave thanks and rejoiced before the Lord with "the joy of harvest" (Lev. xxiii. 40; Deut. xvi. 13-17). This psalm is a song of thanksgiving to God for the harvest. I. THE lllGHT STA1''DPOTh'T. Israel was a people near to God. They had been separated from other nations. They enjoyed special privileges and blessings. "Zion" was to them the great centre of unity. Thither the tribes went up. There the people, with their rulers, assembled to worship God. As with them, so with us. Our worship must be ruled by God's will as revealed to us. We can only come before him with acceptance when we come through Jesus Christ. Our standpoint also is "Zion" (Matt. xviii, 20; Eph. ii. 11-18 ; Heh. ii. 22-28). II. THE SPlRIT IN WHICH WE SHOtrLD DBA w NEA•• 1, With unfeigned f_aith. PII, LXV, 1-18.] THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 38