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SERM. they were offended. Thus though they IV.. believed for a time, yet in the hour of temptation they fell away. These were the seed that fell in stony places.

Others also there were, who attended to the word for a season, and then went forth upon their worldly business; when the word which they professed was choked by the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the pleasures of this life. Thus the seed of heavenly truth had not sufficient room to vegetate; and therefore it could bring no fruit to perfection. These were the seed that fell among thorns.

Yet some there still remained, to whom our Saviour did not preach in vain; who heard and understood the word, received it in an honest and good heart, and brought forth fruit with patience. These were the seed that fell on good ground; and thus, according to their several talents and capacities, they bore increase, some a hundred fold, and some sixty fold, and some thirty fold.

This last kind of ground represented the character of our Saviour's true Disciples. While other hearers drooped or faultered in their attention, these con

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IV,

tinued firm and steady to the word. SERM. Convinced that Jesus was the very Christ, who was come both to illuminate and to save the world, they attached themselves to his person, they trusted in his merits, they obeyed his precepts; they relinquished all for him, they took up his cross and followed him in suffering, and they continued faithful to the last.

The Sower also represents any Preacher of the word among the Apostles and other primitive Disciples of Christ; who went abroad into the world to disseminate that gospel which was committed to their charge. Like him whom they served they discovered the same varieties of disposition among their Hearers, and they consequently found the same variety of success in their preaching. Whatever region of the world was the scene of their labours, the growth of religion was repeatedly obstructed, in some by the vanities, in others by the troubles, and again in others by the cares of life. Yet some there still remained, in whom their doctrine found an easy reception and a ready growth; who received the word

SERM. in their hearts, and brought forth fruit IV. in the tenour of their lives.

And

These primitive Sowers of the word had various impediments to surmount in their spiritual husbandry. The ground on which they sowed might be regarded as a drear and rugged waste, which had never yet been broken up by the labours of the Husbandman. In the commencement of their toils they found a rock of offence in the prejudice of the Jews, who could not be reconciled to the notion of a Messiah coming in the form and circumstance of humility. when the partition wall was broken down between the Jew and the Gentile, and the benefit of the heavenly seed was extended over the common field of the world, they found another impediment in the proud philosophy of the Greeks, which was equally at variance with the doctrine of a crucified Redeemer. Thus the Gospel was to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness. To counteract these impediments to its promulgation in the world, God was pleased to endow its first Ministers with extraordinary gifts; which equally served for a sup

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port to themselves under trials of every SERM. kind, and for an assurance to others that their doctrine was of God.

Again, The Sower has a fuller and more extensive application to all other Teachers in the Church of Christ, and may be brought home with advantage to the Ministers of the present day. Our case indeed is in some respects very different from that of the primitive Disciples. We have neither such obstacles on the one side, neither have we such extraordinary support on the other. Since the Religion of Christ is established in the land, the ground appointed for the exercise of our labours is in some degree prepared for an easier cultivation. But though we have not to contend either with Jewish prejudice or with Gentile pride, we have still to combat with the passions and propensities of human nature, which always have been, and always will remain, incumbrances to the growth and culture of true and vital religion in the soul of

man.

Yet in spite of all discouragements, that continually must arise from those diversities of character which prevail among mankind, it is the part of every

Christian

IV.

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SERM.

Christian Minister, after the example of IV. him whom he professes to serve, to give all his diligence and industry to the task he has undertaken, to persevere in his labours with unremitting patience, and even to increase his efforts in proportion to the difficulties that rise before him. If he is not endowed with such extraordinary powers in support of his doctrine, as were vouchsafed in primitive times,. he is encouraged to repair to the throne of grace for help to illuminate his studies of the divine word, and to bestow a blessing on his spiritual labours. Supported by the promise made by Christ, that our heavenly Father will give his holy Spirit to them that ask it, he will persevere in his pious efforts, in this assurance of faith, that though the hallowed seed may have no perceptible growth, yet the Lord of the spiritual field will not disregard his plant: the dew of heavenly grace, insensibly diffused upon it, will give it nurture and promote its in

crease.

But while a duty rests upon the Preacher of the word, a corresponding duty also rests upon the Hearer. When, the Preacher is doing his part for the correction and improvement of the peo

ple

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