SERMON VII.

HARVEST THOUGHTS.

PSALM CXvi., 17.

"I will offer to Thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the Name of the Lord."

I feel convinced that I anticipate your devout wishes, Volunteers, as well as discharge a Christian obligation, when I select for our present consideration, topics connected,—not with the disturbed condition of neighbouring States, -not with the excitement of our defensive preparation in arms against possible, if not probable, hostilities-not with the alternating hopes and fears, with which a thoughtful mind regards the course of passing events as they roll in a mighty tide of uncertainty, surging and eddying along the aspirations and interests, the liberties and energies, of nations towards a grand issue, whereof the wisest man cannot predict the nature-but, with the peaceful scenes of Harvest!

God knows, our recent alarm and anxious prayers have amply testified how deeply we are interested in them, and how vitally important to us is their golden store! While we felt the moist cold air, and saw the crops swept over by the hurricane, and soaked with frequent rain, and, longing for the accustomed warmth and fair weather of Autumn, were dreading, in a mildewed harvest, a worse enemy and scourge than any power of man could array against us, Divine Providence had a protecting hand stretched over us, and was preparing abundant store of the fruits of the earth to fill withal our garners and supply us with the bread of life. Impending want has been counteracted. The miseries of famine are withheld from us. And the fact ought to make us thankful (not with a silent gratitude, but) with the voice as well as emotion of thanksgiving. It ought also to make us thankful, seeing that it reminds us how entirely dependent we are upon the Divine goodness for “life, and breath, and all things," and how quickly, at the word of Divine displeasure, inevitable destruction would consume us! Then "praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits; Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; Who

crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies; Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things!"

66

In praising God, while He prolongs

My breath, I will that breath employ; And join devotion to my songs

Sincere as is in Him my joy!"

1. The in-gathering of the Harvest directs our thoughts naturally, in the first place, to the devout acknowledgment of the power and goodness of God. We exclaim, with the Psalmist, "the eyes of all creatures wait upon Him; and He giveth them meat in due season. He openeth His hand and satisfieth the desire of every living thing. The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works. He crowneth the year with His goodness, and His paths drop fatness. They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness; and the little hills rejoice on every side. The pastures are clothed with flocks. The valleys also are covered with corn. They shout for joy! They also sing!" What an incalculable immensity of power is expressed by these words of Inspiration and embodied in the operations of Divine Providence to which they refer! Well may the loftiness of

man be humbled before its majestic infinitude! We talk about the marvels of science; and extol the faculties of human professors of science, till we are prone to forget the Divine Author of those mighty works, of which the wisest of men can be but the intelligent observer, and of which the very meanest parts are as much beyond human power to create, as the mystery of their sustenance is beyond human explanation. See the insignificant grain sprouting forth its stalk and yielding ears of corn, in order to bring which, as well as other products of the earth, to due ripeness, showers have been made seasonably to fall, and sunbeams have shed their genial warmth, and purifying winds have swept by on their mysterious course! Observe, also, that corn converted into bread, and empowered to be "the staff of man's life!" What power— what goodness are here! "He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man; that He may bring food out of the earth, and wine that maketh glad the heart of man and bread to strengthen man's heart." Not for the human family only, but for all the millions of living creatures that tenant the earth, air, and waters, is food thus provided, "man knoweth not how," by the

Providence of God! and their life is thereby sustained in a manner equally mysterious! and all the enquiries of the human mind can push no further, than to the simple facts, "that Thou givest them, O Lord, they gather; Thou openest Thine hand, they are filled with good! Thou hidest Thy face, they are troubled! Thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust!"

With these facts before us, dear brethren, the earth becomes, as it were, another Bible, always open to us, written all over with God's handwriting, and full of instruction for the soul of man! Our very fields, under their influence, should become Temples (so to speak) of the Most Highest; so that, as we walk in them, we ought to feel the breath of Divine goodness passing over us, and moving our hearts unto prayer and penitence and faith and adoration! Alas! the reverse is often the case; and, in the midst of the mysterious blessings of their existence, we see men full of unholy thoughts and selfish worldliness! But the "voice of nature' protests against their impiety, and (while the Word of Revelation tells conscience of a Hell, and hope of a Heaven, and the soul of a Saviour) it invokes the witness of all things living to

F