 Chapter 7 of Talks to Farmers This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Lauren Randall Talks to Farmers by Charles H. Spurgeon The Parable of the Sower And when much people were gathered together and were come to him out of every city, he spake by a parable. A sower went out to sow his seed, and as he sowed some fell by the wayside, and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it, and some fell upon a rock, and as soon as it was sprung up it withered away, because it lacked moisture, and some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it, and other fell on good ground and sprang up and bare fruit and hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Luke 8. 4-8 In our country, when the sower goes forth to his work, he generally enters into an enclosed field, and scatters the seed from his basket, along every ridge and furrow. But in the east, the corn growing country, hard by a small town, is usually an open area. It is divided into different properties, but there are no visible divisions except the ancient landmarks, or perhaps ridges of stones. Through these open lands there are footpaths, the most frequented being called the highways. You must not imagine these highways to be like our macadamized roads. They are merely paths, trodden tolerably hard. Here and there you notice byways, along which travelers who wish to avoid the public road may journey with a little more safety when the main road is infested with robbers. Hasty travelers also strike out shortcuts for themselves, and sow open fresh tracks for others. When the sower goes forth to sow, he finds a plot of ground scratched over with a primitive eastern plow. He aims at scattering his seed there most plentifully, but a path runs through the center of his field, and unless he is willing to leave a broad headland, he must throw a handful upon it. Yonder a rock crops out in the midst of the plowed land, and the seed falls on its shallow soil. Here is a corner full of the roots of nettles and thistles, and he flings a little here. The corn and the nettles come up together, and the thorns, being the stronger, soon choke the seed, so that it brings forth no fruit unto perfection. The recollection that the Bible was written in the east and that its metaphors and allusions must be explained to us by eastern travelers will often help us to understand a passage far better than if we think of English customs. The preacher of the gospel is like the sower. He does not make his seed. It is given him by his divine master. No man could create the smallest grain that ever grew upon the earth, much less the celestial seed of eternal life. The minister goes to his master in secret and asks him to teach him his gospel, and thus he fills his basket with the good seed of the kingdom. He then goes forth in his master's name and scatters precious truth. If he knew where the best soil was to be found, perhaps he might limit himself to that which had been prepared by the plow of conviction. But not knowing men's hearts, it is his business to preach the gospel to every creature, to throw a handful on the hardened heart and another on the mind which is overgrown with the cares and pleasures of the world. He has to leave the seed in the care of the Lord who gave it to him, for he is not responsible for the harvest. He is only accountable for the care and industry with which he does his work. If no single ear should ever make glad the reaper, the sower will be rewarded by his master. If he had planted the right seed with careful hand, if it were not for this fact with what despairing agony should we utter the cry of Isaiah who hath believed our report and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed. Our duty is not measured by the character of our hearers, but by the command of our God. We are bound to preach the gospel whether men will hear or whether they will forbear. It is ours to sow beside all waters. Let men's hearts be what they may, the minister must preach the gospel to them. He must sow the seed on the rock as well as in the furrow, on the highway as well as in the plowed field. I shall now address myself to the four classes of hearers mentioned in our Lord's parable. We have, first of all, those who are represented by the wayside, those who are hearers only. When those represented by the stony ground, these are transiently impressed, but the word produces no lasting fruit. Then those among thorns, on whom a good impression is produced, but the cares of this life and the deceitfulness of riches and the pleasures of the world choke the seed. And lastly, that small class, God be pleased to multiply it exceedingly, that small class of good ground hearers in whom the word brings forth abundant fruit. First of all, I address myself to those hearts which are like the wayside. Some fell by the wayside and it was trodden down Many of you do not go to the place of worship desiring a blessing. You do not intend to worship God or to be affected by anything that you hear. You are like the highway which was never intended to be a cornfield. If a single grain of truth should fall into your heart and grow, it would be as great a wonder as for corn to grow up in the street. If the seed shall be dexterously scattered, some of it will fall upon you and rest for a while upon your thoughts. Tis true, you will not understand it, but nevertheless, if it be placed before you in an interesting style, you will talk about it till some more congenial entertainment shall attract you. Even this slender benefit is brief. For in a little season, you will forget all that you have heard. Would to God, we could hope that our words would tarry with you. But we cannot hope it for the soil of your heart beaten by continual traffic that there is no hope of the seed finding a living root-hold. Satan is constantly passing over your heart with his company of blasphemies, lusts, lies, and vanities. The chariots of pride roll along it and the feet of greedy mammon tread it till it is hard as adamant. Alas, for the good seed it finds not a moment's respite. Crowds pass and repass. In fact, your soul is in exchange, across which continually hurry the busy feet of those who make merchandise of the souls of men. You are buying and selling, but you little think that you are selling the truth, and that you are buying your soul's destruction. You have no time, you say, to think of religion. No, the road of your heart is such a crowded thoroughfare that there is no room for the wheat to spring up. If it did begin to germinate, some rough foot would crush the green blade, air it could come to perfection. The seed has occasionally lain long enough to begin to sprout, but just then a new place of amusement has been opened and you have entered there, and as with an iron heel the germ of life that was in the seed was crushed out. Corn could not grow in Corn Hill or Cheepside. However excellent the seed might be, your heart is just like those crowded thoroughfares, for so many cares and sins throng it and so many proud, vain, evil, rebellious thoughts against God pass through it that the seed of truth cannot grow. We have looked at this hard roadside. Let us now describe what becomes of the good word when it falls upon such a heart. It would have grown if it had fallen on right soil, but it has dropped into the wrong place and it remains as dry as when it fell from the sower's hand. The word of the gospel lies upon the surface of such a heart, but never enters it. Like the snow, which sometimes falls upon our streets, drops upon the wet pavement, melts, and is gone at once. So it is with this man. The word has not time to quicken in his soul. It lies there an instant, but it never strikes root or takes the slightest effect. Why do men come to hear if the word never enters their hearts? That has often puzzled us. Some hearers would not be absent on the Sunday on any account. They are delighted to come up with us to worship, but yet the tear never trickles down their cheek. Their soul never mounts up to heaven on the wings of praise, nor do they truly join in our confessions of sin. They do not think of the wrath to come, nor of the future state of their souls. Their heart is as iron. The minister might as well speak to a heap of stones as preached to them. What brings these senseless sinners here? Surely we are as hopeful of converting lions and leopards as these untamed insensible hearts. O feeling, thou art fled to brutish beasts, and men have lost their reason. Do these people come to our assemblies because it is respectable to attend a place of worship? Or is it that their coming helps to make them comfortable in their sins? If they stopped away, conscience would prick them. They would become hither that they may flatter themselves with the notion that they are religious. O my hearers, your case is one that might make an angel weep. How sad to have the sun of the gospel shining on your faces, and yet to have blind eyes that never see the light. The music of heaven is lost upon you, for you have no ears to hear. You can catch the turn of a phrase, you can appreciate the poetry of an illustration, but the hidden meaning, the divine life, you do not perceive. You sit at the marriage feast, but you eat not of the dainties. The bells of heaven ring with joy over ransomed spirits, but you live unransomed, without God, and without Christ. Though we plead with you and pray for you and weep over you, you still remain as hardened, as careless, and as thoughtless as ever you were. May God have mercy on you and break up your hard hearts that his word may abide in you. We have not, however, completed the picture. The passage tells us that the fowls of the air devoured the seed. Is there here a wayside hearer? Perhaps he did not mean to hear this sermon. And when he has heard it, he will be asked by one of the wicked to come into company. He will go with the tempter, and the good seed will be devoured by the fowls of the air. Plenty of evil ones are ready to take away the gospel from the heart. He himself, that prince of the air, is eager at any time to snatch away a good thought. And then the devil is not alone. He has legions of helpers. He can set a man's wife, children, friends, enemies, customers, or creditors to eat up the good seed, and they will do it effectually. O sorrow upon sorrow, that heavenly seed should become devil's meat. That God's corn should feed fowl birds. My hearers, if you have heard the gospel from your youth, what wagon loads of sermons have been wasted on you. In your younger days, you heard Old Doctor so-and-so, and the dear old man was want to pray for his hearers till his eyes were read with tears. Do you recollect those many Sundays when you said to yourself, let me go to my chamber and fall on my knees and pray? But you did not. You had been on to sin as you had sinned before. Since then, by some strange impulse, you are very rarely absent from God's house, but now the seed of the gospel falls into your soul as if it dropped upon an iron floor, and nothing comes of it. The law may be thundered at you. You do not sneer at it, but it never affects you. Jesus Christ may be lifted up. His dear wounds may be exhibited. And blood may flow before your very eyes, and you may be bitten with all earnestness to look to him and live. But it is as if one should sow the seashore. What shall I do for you? Shall I stand here and reign tears upon this hard highway? Alas, my tears will not break it up. It is trodden too hard for that. Shall I bring the gospel plow? Alas, the plowshare will not enter ground so solid. Now we do. Oh, God, thou knowest how to melt the hardest heart with the precious blood of Jesus. Do it now, we beseech thee, and thus magnify thy grace by causing the good seed to live and to produce a heavenly harvest. I shall now turn to the second class of hearers, and some fell upon a rock, and as soon as it was sprung up it withered away because it lacked moisture. You can easily picture to yourselves that piece of rock in the midst of the field thinly veiled with soil, and of course the seed falls there as it does everywhere else. It springs up. It hastens to grow. It withers. It dies. None but those who love the souls of men can tell what hopes, what joys, and what bitter disappointments these stony places have caused us. We have a class of hearers whose hearts are hard, and yet they are apparently the softest and most impressable of men, while other men see nothing in the sermon. These men weep. Whether you preach the terrors of the law or the love of Calvary, they are like stirred in their souls, and the liveliest impressions are apparently produced. Such may be listening now. They have resolved, but they have procrastinated. They are not the sturdy enemies of God who clothe themselves in steel, but they seem to bear their breasts and lay them open to the minister. Rejoiced in heart we shoot our arrows there, and they appear to penetrate. But alas! A secret armor blunts every dart, and no wound is felt. The parable speaks of this character thus. Some fell upon stony places where they had not much earth, and for with they sprung up because they had no deepness of earth. Or as another passage explains it, and these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground, who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness, and have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time. Afterward, when affliction or persecution arises for the words' sake, immediately they are offended. Have we not thousands of hearers who receive the word with joy? They have no deep convictions, but they leap into Christ on a sudden and profess an instantaneous faith in him, and that faith has all the appearance of being genuine. When we look at it, the seed has really sprouted. There is a kind of life in it. There is apparently a green blade. We thank God that a sinner is brought back, a soul is born to God, but our joy is premature. They spring up on a sudden and receive the word with joy because they had no depth of earth, and the self-same cause which hastened the reception of the seed also causes them when the sun is risen with his fervent heat to wither away. These men we see every day in the week, they come to join the church, they tell us a story of how they heard us preach on such and such an occasion, and oh, the word was so blessed to them, they never felt so happy in their lives. Oh, sir, I thought I must leap when I heard about a precious Christ and I believed on him there and then. I am sure I did. We question them as to whether they were ever convinced of sin. They think they were but one thing they know they feel a great pleasure in religion. We put it to them. Do you think you will hold on? They are confident that they shall. They hate the things they once loved. They are sure they do. Everything has become new to them and all this is on a sudden. We inquire when the good work began we find it began when it ended. That is to say there was no previous work no plowing of the soil but on a sudden they spring from death to life as if a field should be covered with wheat by magic. Perhaps we received them into the church but in a week or two they are not so regular as they used to be we gently reprove them and they explain that they meet with such opposition in religion that they are obliged to yield a little. Another month and we lose them all together. The reason is that they have been laughed at or exposed to a little opposition and they have gone back and what think you are the feelings of the minister he is like the husbandman who sees his field all green and flourishing but at night he crossed nips every shoot and his hoped for gains are gone the minister goes to his chamber and cast himself on his face before God and cries I have been deceived my converts are fickle their religion has withered as the green herb in the ancient story Orpheus has said to have had such skill upon the liar that he made the oaks and stones to dance around him it is a poetical fiction that sometimes happen to the minister that not only have the godly rejoiced but men like oaks and stones have danced from their places alas they have been oaks and stones still hushed is the liar the oak returns to its rooting place and the stone cast itself heavily to the earth the sinner who like Saul was among the prophets goes back to plan mischief against the most high if it is bad to be a side hearer I cannot think it is much better to be like the rock this second class of hearers certainly gives us more joy than the first a certain company always comes round a new minister and I have often thought it is an act of God's kindness that he allows these people to gather at the first while the minister is young and has but few to stand by him these persons are easily moved and if the minister preaches earnestly they feel it and they love him and rally round him much to his comfort but time that proves all things proves them they seem to be made of true metal but when they are put into the fire to be tested they are consumed in the furnace some of the shallow kind are here now I have looked at you when I have been preaching and I have often thought that man one of these days will come out from the world I am sure he will I have thanked God for him alas he is the same as ever years and years have we sewed him in vain and it is to be feared it will be so to the end for he is without depth and without the moisture of the spirit shall it be so must I stand over the mouth of your open sepulcher and think here lies a chute which never became an ear a man in whom grace struggled but never reigned who gave some hopeful spasms of life and then subsided into eternal death God save you oh may the spirit deal with you effectually and may you even you yet bring forth fruit unto God that Jesus may have a reward for his sufferings I shall briefly treat of the third class and may the spirit of God assist me to deal faithfully with you and some fell among thorns and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it now this was good soil the two first characters were bad the wayside was not the proper place the rock was not a congenial situation for the growth of any plant but this is good soil for it grows thorns wherever thistle will spring up and flourish there would weep flourish too this was fat fertile soil it was no marvel therefore that the husbandman dealt largely there and through full after handful upon that corner of the field see how happy he is when in a month or two he visits the spot the seed has sprung up true there's a suspicious little plant down there of about the same size as the wheat oh he thinks that's not much the corn will outgrow that when it is stronger it will choke these few thistles that have unfortunately mixed with it I mr. husbandman you do not understand the force of evil or you would not thus dream he comes again and the seed has grown there is even the corn in the ear but the thistles the thorns and the briars have become inter twisted with one another and the poor wheat can hardly get a ray of sunshine it is so choked with thorns every way that it looks quite yellow the plant is starved still it perseveres and growing and it does seem as if it would bring forth a little fruit alas it never comes to anything with it the reaper never fills his arm we have this class very largely among us these hear the word and understand what they hear they take the truth home they think it over they even go the length of making a profession of religion the wheat seems to spring and ear it will soon come to perfection be in no hurry these men and women have a great deal to see after they have the cares of a large concern their establishment employs so many hundred hands do not be deceived as to their godliness they have no time for it they will tell you that they must live that they cannot neglect this world that they must anyhow look out for the present and as for the future they will render it all due attention by and by they continue to attend gospel preaching and the poor little stunted blade of religion keeps on growing after a fashion meanwhile they have grown rich they come to the place of worship in a carriage they have all the heart can wish ah now the seed will grow will it not no no they have no cares now the shop is given up they live in the country they have not to ask where shall the money come from to meet the next bill or how shall they be able to provide for an increasing family now they have too much instead of too little for they have riches and they are too wealthy to be gracious but says one they might spend their riches for God certainly they might but they do not for riches are deceitful they have to entertain much company and chime in with the world and so Christ and his church are left in the lurch yes but they begin to spend their riches they have surely got over that difficulty for they give largely to the cause of Christ and they are munificent in charity the little blade will grow will it not no for now behold the thorns of pleasure their liberality to others involves liberality to themselves their pleasures amusements and vanities choke the wheat of true religion the good grains of gospel truth cannot grow because they have to attend that musical party and that soiree and so they cannot think of the things of God I know several specimens of this class I knew one high in court circles who has confessed to me that he wished he were poor for then he might enter the kingdom of heaven he has said to me ah sir these politics these politics I wish I were rid of them they are eating the life out of my heart I cannot serve God as I would I know of another overloaded with riches who has said to me ah sir it is an awful thing to be rich one cannot keep close to the savior with all this earth about him ah my dear readers I will not ask for you that God may lay you on a bed of sickness that he may strip you of all your wealth and bring you to beggary but oh if he were to do it and you were to save your souls it would be the best bargain you could ever make if those mighty ones who now complain that the thorns choked the seed could give up all their riches and pleasures if they that fair sumptuously every day could take the place of Lazarus at the gate it were a happy change for them if their souls might be saved a man may be honorable and rich and yet go to heaven but it will be hard work for it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle then for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven God does make some rich men enter the kingdom of heaven but hard is their struggle steady young man steady hurry not to climb to wealth it is a place where many heads are turned do not ask God to make you popular they that have popularity are worried by it cry with auger give me neither poverty nor riches God give me to tread the golden mean and may I ever have in my heart that good seed which shall bring forth fruit a hundred fold to his own glory I now close with the last character namely the good ground of the good soil as you will mark we have but one in four will one in four of our hearers with well-prepared heart receive the word the ground is described as good not that it was good by nature but it had been made good by grace God had plowed it he had stirred it up with a plow of conviction and there it lay in ridge and furrow as it should lie when the gospel was preached the heart received it for the man said that is just the blessing I want mercy is what a needy center requires so that the preaching of the gospel was the thing to give comfort to this disturbed and plowed soil down fell the seed to take good root in some cases it produced fervency of love largeness of heart devotedness of purpose of a noble kind like seed which produces a hundred fold the man became a mighty servant for God he spent himself and was spent he took his place in the vanguard of Christ's army stood in the hottest of the battle and did deeds of daring which few could accomplish the seed produced a hundred fold it fell into another heart of like character the man could not do the most but still he did much he gave himself to God and in his business he had a word to say for his lord in his daily walk he quietly adorned the doctrine of God his savior he brought forth sixty fold then it fell on another whose abilities and talents were but small he could not be a star but he would be firm he could not do as the greatest but he was content to do something however humble the seed had brought forth in him ten fold perhaps twenty fold how many are there of this sort here is there one who prays within himself God be merciful to me a sinner the seed has fallen in the right spot soul by prayer shall be heard God never sets a man longing for mercy without willing to give it does another whisper oh that I might be saved believe on the lord Jesus Christ and thou even thou shall be saved has thou been the chief of sinners trust Christ and thy enormous sins shall vanish as the millstone sinks beneath the flood is there no one here that will trust the savior can it be possible that the soul not moving in one soul not be getting life in one spirit we will pray that he may now descend that the word may not be in vain end of chapter seven the parable of the sower recording by lauren randall chapter eight of talks to farmers this is a libra vox recording all libra vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to find out more please visit libravox.org recording by lauren randall talks to farmers by Charles H. Spurgeon the principal wheat the principal wheat Isaiah chapter 28 verse 25 the prophet mentions it as a matter of wisdom on the part of the husbandman that he knows what is the principal thing to cultivate the principal care the text with the connection runs thus does not the husbandman cast in the principal wheat he does not go to the granary and take out wheat and cumin and barley and rye and fling these about right and left but he estimates the value of each grain and arranges them in his mind accordingly he does not think that cumin and caraway which he merely grows to give a flavor to his meal are as his bread corn and though rye and barley have their values yet he does not reckon that even these are equal to what he calls the principal wheat he is a man of discretion he arranges things he places the most important crop in the front rank and spends upon it the most care here let us learn a lesson do keep things distinct in your minds not huddled and muddled by a careless thoughtlessness do not live a confused life without care and discretion running all things into one but sort things out and divide and distinguish between the precious and the vile see what this is worth and what the other is worth and set your matters in rank and order making some of them principal and others of them inferior I suggest to you young people especially that in starting life you say to yourselves what shall we live for there is a principal thing for which we ought to live what shall it be have you turned over that question or have you gone at it hit or miss what are you living for what is your principal aim is it going to be that of the old gentleman in Horace who said to his boy get money get it honestly if you can but by all means get money shall it be a money spinner shall coin be your principal corn or will you choose a life of pleasure a short life and a merry one as so many fools have said to their great sorrow is it in dissipation that your life is to be spent are thistles to be your principal crop because there is a pleasure in looking at a scotch thistle do you intend to grow acres of pleasurable vise and will you make your bed upon them search and see what is worthy of being the principal object in life and when you have found it out then beseech the Holy Spirit to help you to choose that one thing and to give all your powers and faculties to the cultivation of it the farmer who finds that we ought to be his principal crop makes it so and lays himself out with that end in view learn from this to have a main object your whole mind to it this farmer was wise because he counted that to be principal which was the most needful his family could do without cumin which was but a flavoring perhaps the mistress might complain or the cook might grumble but that did not signify so much as it would do if the children cried for bread they certainly must have wheat for bread is the staff of life it is bread that strengtheneth art and therefore the farmer must grow wheat if he does not grow anything else that which is necessary he regarded as the principal thing is not this common sense if we were wisely to sit down and estimate should we not say to be forgiven my sins to be right with God to be holy to be fit to live eternally in heaven is the greatest the most needful thing for me and therefore I will make it the principal object of my pursuit a creature cannot be satisfied unless he is answering the end for which he is created in the end of every intelligent creature is first to glorify God and next to enjoy God what a bliss it must be to enjoy God himself forever and ever other things may be desirable but this thing is needful a competence of income a sense of esteem among men a degree of health all these are the flavoring of life but to be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation is life itself Jesus Christ is the bread by which our soul's best life is sustained oh that we were all wise enough to feel that to be one with Christ is the one thing needful that to be at peace with God is the principal thing that to be brought into harmony is the true music of our being other herbs may take their place in due order but grace is the principal wheat and we must cultivate it this farmer was wise because he made that to be the principal thing which was the most fit to be so of course barley is useful as food for nations have lived on barley bread and lived healthily too and rye has been the nutriment of millions rye starved on oats and other grains still give me a piece of wheat and bread for it is the best staff for life's journey this farmer knew that wheat was the most fitting food for man and so he did not put the inferior grain which might act as a substitute into the prominent place but he gave his wheat the preference he did not say the principal barley or the principal rye much less the principal cumin or the principal fitches but the principal wheat and what is there brethren that is so fit for the heart the mind the soul of man as to know God and his Christ other mental foods such as the fruits of knowledge and the dainties of science excellent though they may be are inferior nutriment and unsuitable to build up the inner manhood in my God and my savior in heaven and my all my soul sits down to a crumb of truth about Jesus and finds great satisfaction in living upon it the more we can know God and enjoy God and become like to God and the more Christ is our daily bread the more do we perceive the fitness of all this to our newborn natures oh beloved make that to be your principal object which is the fittest pursuit of an immortal mind the chief concern of mortals here below may I its great importance learn its sovereign virtue know more needful this than glittering wealth or ought the world bestows not reputation food or health can give us such repose moreover this farmer was wise because he made that the principal thing which was the most profitable under certain circumstances in our own country the most profitable thing which a man can grow but ordinarily it is the best crop that the earth yields and therefore the text speaks of the principal wheat our grandfathers used to rely upon the wheat stack to pay their rent they look to their corn as the arm of their strength and though it is not so now it always was so of old and perhaps it may yet be so again anyhow the figure holds good with regard to true religion that is the most profitable thing I am told that rich men find it very hard to get hold of anything which yields five percent nowadays but this blessed fear of the Lord is an extraordinarily profitable investment for it does not yield a hundred percent or a thousand percent but a man begins with nothing and all things become his by faith being freely discharged of our sins we are by overflowing grace greatly enriched so that we number among our possessions heaven itself Christ himself God himself all things are ours oh what a blessed crop to sow what a harvest comes of it godliness is profitable for the life that now is and for that which is to come godliness is a blessing to a man's body it keeps him from drunkenness and vice and it is a blessing to his soul it makes him sweet and pure it is a blessing to him every way if I had to die like a dog I would like to live like a Christian if there were no hereafter yet still for comfort and for joy give me the life of one who strives to live like Christ there is a practical everyday truth in the verse his religion that can give sweetest pleasures while we live his religion must supply solid comfort when we die only that religion must not be of the common sort it must have for its root a hearty faith in Jesus Christ see you to it our religion must be either everything or nothing either first or nowhere make it the principal wheat and it will richly repay you secondly the husband is a lesson to us because he gives this principal thing the principal place I find that the Hebrew is rendered by some imminent scholars he puts the wheat into the principal place that little handful of cumin for the wife to flavor the cakes with he grows in a corner and the various herbs he places in their proper borders the barley he sets in its pot and the rye in its acre a bit of rich soil the best he has he appropriates it to the principal wheat he gives his choicest feels to that which is to be the main means of his living now here is a lesson for you and for me let us give to true godliness our principal powers and abilities let us give to the things of God our best and most intense thought I pray you do not take religion at second hand from what I tell or from what somebody else tells you but think it over read mark learn and inwardly digest the word of God the thoughtful Christian is the growing Christian remember the service of God deserves our first consideration and endeavor we are poor things at our prime but we ought to give the Lord nothing short of our best God would not have us serve him heedlessly but he would have us use all the brain and intellect and mind that we have in studying and practicing his word acquaint now thyself with him and be at peace meditate upon these things give thyself holy to them if your mind is more clear and active at one time than at another then so the principal wheat if you feel more fresh and more inclined to think at one time of the day than at another let your mind then go towards the best things be sure also to yield to this subject your most earnest love the best field in the little estate of manhood is not the head but the heart so the principal wheat there oh to have true religion in the heart to love what we know intensely to love it to hold it fast as with the grip of life and death never to let it go the Lord says my son give me thy heart and he will not be contented with anything less than our heart oh when your zeal is most burning and your love is most fervent let the warmth and the fervency all go towards the Lord your God and to the service of him who has redeemed you with his precious blood let the principal wheat have the principal part of your nature towards God and his Christ also turn your most fervent desires when you enlarge your desire desire Christ when you become ambitious let your ambition be all for God let your hunger and your thirst be after righteousness let your aspirations and your longings be all towards holiness and the things that shall make you like to Christ give to this principal wheat your principal desires then let the Lord have the fervent of respect of your life let the principal wheat be sown in every action if we are truly Christians we must be as much Christians outside the church as in it we shall try to make our eating and our drinking and everything we do tend to the glory of God draw no line between the secular and the religious part of your conduct but let the secular be made religious by a devout desire to glorify God and the one as much as in the other let us worship God in the commonest duties of life even as they do who stand before his throne so it ought to be let us sow the principal wheat in all the fields of our conversation in business in the family among our friends and with our children may we each one feel for me to live as Christ I cannot live without Christ or for anything but Christ let your whole nature yield itself to Jesus and to none else we should give to this principal wheat our most earnest labors we should spend ourselves for the spread of the gospel a Christian man ought to lay himself out to serve Jesus I hate to see a professing man zealous in politics and luke warm in devotion all on fire at a parish vestry and chill as winter when he comes to a prayer meeting some fly like eagles when they are serving the world but they have a broken wing in the service of God this should not be if anything could rouse us up and make the lion within us roar in his strength it should be when we confront the foes of Jesus or fight in his cause our Lord's service is the principal wheat let us labor most in connection with it this I think we should also take possession of us so as to lead to our greatest sacrifices the love of Christ ought to be so strong as to swallow up self and make sacrifice our daily joy for Christ names sake we should be willing to endure poverty reproach slander exile death nothing should be dear to a Christian in comparison with Christ now I will put it to you whether we know or know is the love of Jesus the principal wheat with us are we giving our religion to the chief place or not I am afraid some people treat religion as certain gentlemen treat an offhand farm they put a bailiff into it and only give an eye to it now and then their minister is the bailiff and they expect him to see to it for them these offhand farms are losing concerns look at these half and half brethren they have religion certainly but they are like the man of whom the child spoke at the Sunday school is your father a Christian said the teacher yes said the child but he has not worked much at it lately I could point out several of this sort who are sowing their wheat very sparingly and choosing the most bear and patch to so it in they profess to be Christians but religion is a tenth rate article on their farm some have a large acreage for the world and a poor little plot for Christ they are growers of worldly pleasure and self indulgence and they sow a little religion by the roadside for appearance sake this will not do God will not thus be mocked if we despise him and his truth we shall be lightly esteemed oh come let us give our principal time talent thought effort to that which is the chief concern of immortal spirits may we imitate the husbandman who gives the principal wheat the principal place in his farm let us learn a third lesson the husbandman selects the principal seed corn when he is sowing his wheat when a farmer is setting aside wheat for sowing he does not choose the tail corn and the worst of his produce but if he is a sensible man he can sow wheat in the world many farmers search the country round for a good sample of wheat for sowing for they do not expect to get a good harvest out of bad seed the husbandman is taught of God to put into the ground the principal wheat let me learn that if I am going to sow to the Lord and to be a Christian I should sow the best kind of Christianity I should try to do this first doctrines I would believe not this ism nor that but the unadulterated truth which Jesus taught for a holy character will only grow by the spirit of God out of true doctrine falsehood breeds sin truth begets and fosters holiness you and I therefore ought to select our seed carefully and cast out all error if we are wise we shall think most of the most important truths for I have known people attach the greatest importance to the smallest things they fight over the pitches and leave the wheat to the crows as for me those who will may dispute over vials and trumpets I shall mainly preach the doctrine of the precious blood and the glorious truths of substitution and atonement these doctrines are the principal wheat and therefore these shall have my choice next for that we ought to sow the noblest examples many men are dwarfed because they choose a bad model to start with they imitate dear old Mr. so-and-so till they grow wonderfully like him with the best of him left out a minister happens to be of a gloomy turn of mind and he preaches the deep experience of the children of God and in consequence a band of good people think it their duty to be melancholy they fall into a ditch because their leader has splashed himself we should never copy any man's infirmities to be like Paul there is no need to have weak eyes to be like Thomas there is no necessity to doubt if you copy any good man there is a point at which you ought to stop short if I must have a human model I would prefer one of the bravest of the saints of God but oh how much better to follow that perfect pattern which you have in Christ Jesus we should sow the best wheat by seeing that we have the purest spirit alas how soon do spirits become soiled by self or pride or despondency or sloth or some earthly taint but what a grand thing it is to live in the spirit of Christ may we be humble, lowly bold, self-sacrificing pure, chaste, and holy and then there is one more mode of sowing selected seed we should endeavor to live in the closest communion with God a dear brother prayed just now that we might have as much grace as we were capable of receiving and that God would bring us into such a state that we might not hinder him in anything which he willed to do by us this is a good prayer it should be our desire to rise to the highest form of spiritual life if you sow this principle wheat get the best sort of it there is a spirit and a spirit and there are doctrines and doctrines the best is the best for you oh young men if you mean to have piety go in for it thoroughly do not sneak through the world as if you were ashamed of your Lord if you are Christ's show your colors rally to his banner stand up stand up for Jesus if there is any manhood in you this great cause calls for it all exhibit it and may the spirit of God help you so to do fourthly the husband men grows the principle wheat with the principal care some critics say that the proper translation is that the husband men plants his wheat in rows it is said that the large crops in Palestine in olden time were due to the fact that they planted the wheat they set it in lines so that it was not checked or suffocated by its being too thick in one place neither was there any fear of its being too thin in another the wheat was planted and then streams of water were turned by the foot to each particular plant no wonder therefore that the land brought forth abundantly we should give our principal care to the principal thing which should be carried out with discretion and care brethren are we careful enough as to our religious walk have you ever search to the bottom of your profession why do you happen to be members of a certain church your mother was so well there is some good in that reason but not enough to justify you in the sight of God I pray you judge your standing if any Christian minister is afraid to urge you to this duty I stand in doubt of him I am not at all afraid I beg you to examine all that I teach you for I would not like to be responsible for another man's creed like the Bereans search and see whether these things be according to scripture or not one of the greatest blessings that could come upon the church would be a searching spirit which would refer everything to the holy scriptures if they speak not according to this word because there is no light in them do your service to God as carefully as the eastern farmer planted his wheat when he said it in rows with great orderliness and exactness you serve a precise God therefore serve him precisely he is a jealous God therefore be jealous of the least taint of error or will worship take care also that you water every part of your religion as the farmer watered each plant pray for grace from on high that you may never be parched and dried up perform to your faith to your hope to your love and to all the plants that are in your soul every other service which the husband men renders to his wheat give grace your principal care for it deserves it with this I close do this because from this you may expect your principal crop if religion be the principal thing you may look to religion for your principal reward the harvest will come to you in various ways you will make the greatest success in this life if you holy live to the glory of God success or failure must much depend upon the fitness of our object it is of no use my attempting to sing for I shall never be able to conduct a choir I could not succeed in that but if I preach I may succeed for that is my work now you Christian man if you try to live to the world you will not prosper for you are not fitted for it grace has spoiled you for sin if you live to God with all your heart you will succeed in it for God has made you on purpose for it as he made the fish for the water and the birds for the air so he made the believer for holiness and for the service of God and you will be out of your element a fish out of water or a bird in the stream if you leave the service of God the eastern farmers prosperity hinges on his wheat and yours upon your devotion to God it is to godliness that you must look for your joy is there any bliss like the bliss of knowing that you are in Christ and are the beloved of the Lord it is to your religion that you must look for comfort on a sick and dying bed and you may be there very soon in the world to come what a crop what a harvest will come of serving the Lord what will come out of all else what but mere smoke a man has made a million of money and he is dead what has he got by his wealth a man's fame rings throughout the earth as a great and successful warrior and he is dead what has he as the result of all his honors to live to the world is like playing with boys in the street for half pence or with babes for bits of platter and oyster shells life for God is real and substantial but all else is waste let us think so and gird up our loins to serve the Lord may the divine spirit help us to sow the principal wheat and to live in joyful expectation of reaping a happy harvest according to the promise they that sow in tears shall reap in joy end of chapter 8 the principal wheat chapter 9 of talks to farmers this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Lauren Randall talks to farmers by Charles H. Spurgeon Spring in the Heart thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly thou settlest the furrows thereof thou makest it soft with showers thou blessed the springing thereof Psalm 65 verse 10 though other seasons excel in fullness spring must always bear the palm for freshness and beauty we thank God when the harvest hours draw near and the golden grain invites the sickle but we ought equally to thank him for the rougher days of spring for these prepare the harvest April showers are mothers of the sweet May flowers and the wet and cold of winter are the parents of the splendor of summer God blesses the springing thereof or else it could not be said thou crownest the year with thy goodness there is as much necessity for divine benediction in spring as for heavenly bounty in summer and therefore we should praise God all the year round spiritual spring is a very blessed season in a church then we see youthful piety developed and on every hand we hear the joyful cry of those who say we have found the Lord our sons are springing up as the grass and as willows by the water-courses we hold up our hands in glad astonishment and cry who are these that fly through the clouds and as doves to their windows in the revival days of a church when God is blessing her with many conversions she has great cause to rejoice in God and to sing thou bless it the springing thereof I intend to take the text in reference to individual cases there is a time of springing of grace when it is just in its bud just breaking through the dull cold earth to talk a little about that and concerning the blessing which the Lord grants to the green blade of newborn godliness to those who are beginning to hope in the Lord first I shall have a little to say about the work previous to the springing thereof it appears from the text that there is work for God alone to do before the springing comes and we know that there is work for God to do through us as well there is work for us to do there can be a springing up in the soul of any there must be plowing, harrowing and sowing there must be a plowing and we do not expect that as soon as ever we plow we shall reap the sheaves blessed be God in many cases the reaper overtakes the plowmen but we must not always expect it in some hearts God is long in preparing the soul by conviction the law with its ten black horses and down the soul till there is no one part of it left unfurrowed conviction goes deeper than any plow to the very core and center of the spirit till the spirit is wounded the plowers make deep furrows indeed when God puts his hand to the work the soil of the heart is broken in pieces in the presence of the most high then comes the sowing before there can be a springing up it is certain that there must be something into the ground so that after the preacher has used the plow of the law he applies to his master for the seed basket of the gospel gospel promises gospel doctrines especially a clear exposition of free grace and the atonement these are the handfuls of corn which we scatter broadcast some of the grain falls on the highway and is lost but other handfuls fall where the plow has been and there abide then comes the harrowing work we do not expect to sow seed and then leave it the gospel has to be prayed over the prayer of the preacher and the prayer of the church make up God's harrow to rake in the seed after it is scattered and so it is covered up within the clods of the soul and is hidden in the heart of the hearer now there is a reason why I dwell upon this namely that I may exhort my dear brethren who have not seen success but to hope that they have been doing the plowing and sowing and harrowing work and that the harvest is to come I mention this for yet another reason and that is by way of warning to those who expect to have a harvest without this preparatory work I do not believe that much good will come from attempts at sudden revivals made without previous prayerful labor a revival to be permanent must be a matter of growth a result of much holy effort longing, pleading and watching the servant of God is to preach the gospel whether men are prepared for it or not but in order to large success depend upon it there is a preparedness necessary among the hearers upon some hearts warm earnest preaching drops like an unusual thing which startles but does not convince while in other congregations where good gospel preaching has long been the rule and much prayer has been offered the words fall into the hearer's souls and bring forth speedy fruit we must not expect to have results without work there is no hope of a church having an extensive revival in its midst unless there is continued and importunate waiting upon God together with earnest laboring, intense anxiety and hopeful expectation but there is also a work to be done which is beyond our power after plowing, sowing and harrowing there must come the shower from heaven thou visitest the earth and waterest it says the psalmist in vain are all our efforts unless God shall bless us with the reign of his holy spirit's influence oh holy spirit thou and thou alone workest wonders in the human heart and thou comest from the father and the son to do the father's purposes and to glorify the son three effects are spoken of first we are told he waters the ridges as the ridges of the field become well saturated through and through with the abundant reign so God sends his holy spirit till the whole heart of man is moved and influenced by his divine operations the understanding is enlightened the conscience is quickened the will is controlled the affections are inflamed all these powers which I may call the ridges of the heart come under the divine working it is ours to deal with men as men and bring to bear upon them gospel truth and to set before them motives that are suitable to move rational creatures but after all it is the reign from on high which alone can water the ridges there is no hope of the heart being savingly affected except by divine operations next it is added thou settlest the furrows by which some think it is meant that the furrows are drenched with water others think there is an illusion here to the beating down of the earth by heavy rain till the ridges become flat and by the soaking of the water are settled into a more compact mass certain it is that the influences of God's spirit have a humbling and settling effect upon a man he was unsettled once like the earth dry and crumbly and blown about and carried away with every wind of doctrine but as the earth when soaked with wet is compacted and knit together so the heart becomes solid and serious under the power of the spirit as the high parts of the ridge are beaten down into the furrows so the lofty ideas the grand schemes and carnal boastings of the heart begin to level down when the Holy Spirit comes to work upon the soul genuine humility is a very gracious fruit of the spirit to be broken in heart is the best means of preparing the soul for Jesus a broken and a contrite heart oh God thou wilt not despise brethren always be thankful when you see high thoughts of man brought down this settling the furrows is a very gracious preparatory work of grace yet again it is added thou makest it soft with showers man's heart is naturally hardened against the gospel like the eastern soil it is hard as iron if there be no gracious rain how sweetly and effectively does the spirit of God soften the man through and through he is no longer towards the word what he used to be he fills everything whereas once he felt nothing the rock flows with water the heart is dissolved in tenderness the eyes are melted into tears all this is God's work I have said already that God works through us but still it is God's immediate work to send down the rain of his grace from on high perhaps he is at work upon some of you though as yet there is no springing up of spiritual life in your souls though your condition is still a sad one we will hope for you that ere long there shall be seen the living seed of grace sending up its tender green shoot of the soil and may the Lord bless the springing thereof in the second place let us deliver a brief description of the springing thereof after the operations of the Holy Spirit have been quietly going on for a certain season as please if the great master and husband then there are signs of grace remember the apostles words first the blade then the ear then the full corn in the ear some of our friends are greatly disturbed because they cannot see the full corn in the ear in themselves they suppose that if they were the subjects of a divine work they would be precisely like certain advanced Christians with whom it is their privilege to commune or of whom they may have read in biographies beloved this is a very great mistake when first grace enters the heart it is not a great tree covering with its shadow whole acres but it is east of all seeds like a grain of mustard seed when it first rises upon the soul it is not the sun shining at high noon but it is the first dim ray of dawn are you so simple as to expect the harvest before you have passed through the springing time I shall hope that by a very brief description of the earliest stage of Christian experience you may be led to say I have gone as far as that and then I hope that you may be able to take the comfort of the text to yourselves thou blessed the springing thereof what then is the springing up of piety in the heart we think it is first seen in sincerely earnest desires after salvation the man is not saved in his own apprehension but he longs to be that which was once a matter of indifference is now a subject of intense concern once he despised Christians and needlessly earnest he thought religion a mere trifle and he looked upon the things of time and sense as the only substantial matters but now how changed he is he envies the meanest Christian and would change places with the poorest believer if he might but be able to read his title clear to mansions in the skies now worldly things have lost dominion over him and spiritual things are uppermost once with the unthinking many he cried who will show us any good but now he cries lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon me once it was the corn and the wine to which he looked for comfort but now he looks to God alone his rock of refuge must be God for he finds no comfort elsewhere his holy desires which he had years ago were like smoke from the chimney soon blown away but now his longings are permanent though not always operative to the same degree at times these desires amount to a hungering and a thirsting after righteousness and yet he is not satisfied with these desires but wishes for a still more anxious longing after heavenly things these desires are among the first springings of divine life in the soul the springing thereof shows itself next in prayer it is prayer now once it was the mocking of God with holy sounds unattended by the heart but now though the prayer is such that he would not like a human ear to hear him yet God approves it for it is the talking of a spirit to a spirit and not the muttering of lips to an unknown God his prayers perhaps are not very long they do not amount to more than this oh ah would to God lord have mercy upon me and such like short ejaculations but then they are prayers behold he prayeth does not refer to a long prayer it is quite as sure a proof of spiritual life within if it only refers to a sigh or to a tear these groanings that cannot be uttered are among the springings thereof there will also be manifest a hearty love for the means of grace and the house of God the bible long unread which was thought to be of little more use than an old almanac is now treated with great consideration and though the reader finds little in it that comforts him just now and much that alarms him yet he feels that it is the book for him and he turns to its pages with hope when he goes up to God's house he listens eagerly hoping that there may be a message for him before he attended worship as a sort of pious necessity incumbent upon all respectable people but now he goes up to God's house that he may find the savior once there was no more religion in him than in the door which turns upon its hinges but now he enters the house praying lord meet with my soul and if he gets no blessing he goes away sighing oh that I knew where I might find him that I might come even to his seat this is one of the blessed signs of the springing thereof yet more cheering is another namely that the soul in this state has faith in Jesus Christ at least in some degree it is not a faith which brings great joy and peace but still it is a faith which keeps the heart from despair and prevents it sinking under a sense of sin I have known the time when I do not believe any man living could see faith in me and when I could scarcely perceive any in myself and yet I was bold to say with Peter lord thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee what man cannot see Christ can see many people have faith in the lord Jesus Christ but they are so much engaged in looking at it that they do not see it if they would look to Christ and not to their own faith they do not see Christ but see their own faith too but they measure their faith and it seems so little when they contrast it with the faith of full grown Christians that they fear it is not faith at all oh little one if thou hast faith enough to receive Christ remember the promise to as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God poor simple weak hearted look to Jesus and answer can such a savior suffer in vain can such an atonement be offered in vain canst thou trust him and yet be cast away it cannot be it never was in the savior's heart to shake off one that did cling to his arm however feeble the faith he blesses the springing thereof the difficulty raises partly from misapprehension and partly the amount of confidence in God I say misapprehension now if like some Londoners you had never seen corn when it is green you would cry out what do you say that yonder green stuff is wheat yes the farmer says that is wheat you look at it again and you reply why man alive that is nothing but grass you do not mean to tell me that this grassy stuff will ever produce a loaf of bread such as I see in the baker's window I cannot conceive it no you could not conceive it but when you get accustomed to it it is not at all wonderful to see the wheat go through certain stages first the blade then the ear and afterwards the full corn in the ear some of you have never seen growing grace and do not know anything about it when you are newly converted you meet with Christians who are in ears and you say I am not like them true you are no more like them than that grassy stuff in the furrows is like full grown wheat but you will grow like them one of these days you must expect to go through the blade period before you get to the ear period and in the ear period you will have doubts whether you will ever come to the full corn in the ear but you will arrive at perfection in due time thank God that you are in Christ at all whether I have much faith or little faith whether I can do much for Christ or little for Christ is not the first question I am saved not on account of what I am but on account of what Jesus Christ is and if I am trusting to him however little in Israel I may be I am as safe as the brightest of the saints I have said however that mixed with misapprehension there is a great deal of unbelief I cannot put it all down to an ignorance that may be forgiven for there is sinful unbelief too oh sinner why do you not trust Jesus Christ poor quickened awakened conscience God gives you his word that he who trust in Christ is not condemned and yet you are afraid that you are condemned this is to give God the lie be ashamed and confounded that you should ever have been guilty of doubting the veracity of God all your other sins do not grieve Christ so much as the sin of thinking that he is unwilling to forgive you or the sin of suspecting that if you trust him he will cast you away do not slander his gracious character do not cast a slur upon the generosity of his tender heart he saith him that cometh to me I will in no ways cast out come in the faith of his promise and he will receive you just now I have thus given some description of the springing thereof thirdly according to the text there is one who sees this springing thou Lord thou bless it the springing thereof I wish that some of us had quicker eyes to see the beginning of grace in the souls of men for want of this we let slip many ways of helping the weaklings if a woman had the charge of a number of children that were not her own I do not suppose she would notice all the insipid stages of disease but when a mother nurses her own dear children as soon as ever upon the cheek or in the eye there is a token of approaching sickness she perceives it at once I wish we had just as quick an eye because just as tender a heart towards precious souls I do not doubt that many young people who have been sick for weeks and even months in distress who need not be if you who know the Lord were a little more watchful to help them in the time of their sorrow shepherds are up all night at lambing time to catch up the lambs as soon as they are born and take them in and nurse them and we who ought to be shepherds for God should be looking out for all the lambs especially at seasons when there are many born most stages of the new life God however when his servants do not see the springing thereof sees it all now you silent retired spirits who dare not speak to father or mother or brother or sister this text ought to be a sweet morsel to you thou bless it the springing thereof which proves that God sees you and your newborn grace the Lord sees the first sign of penitence though you only say to yourself I will arise and go to my father your father hears you though it is nothing but a desire your father registers it thou putest my tears into thy bottle are they not in thy book he is watching your return he runs to meet you and puts his arms about you and kisses you with the kisses of his accepting love oh soul be encouraged with that thought that up in the chamber in the village or wherever it is that thou hast sought secrecy God is there dwell on the thought thou God seist me that is a precious text all my desire is before thee and here is another sweet one the Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him in them that hope in his mercy he can see you when you only hope in his mercy and he takes pleasure in you with his gun to fear him here is the third choice word thou wilt perfect that which concerneth me have you a concern about these things is it a matter of soul concern with you to be reconciled to God and to have an interest in Jesus precious blood it is only the springing thereof but he blesses it it is written a bruised reed he will not break and the smoking flax he will not quench till he bring forth judgment unto victory there shall be victory for you even before the judgment seat of God though as yet you are only like the flax that smokes and gives no light or like the reed that is broken and yields no music God sees the first springing of grace a few words upon a fourth point what a misery it would be if it were possible to have this springing without God's blessing the text says thou blesseth the springing thereof we must just a moment by way of contrast think of how the springing would have been without the blessing suppose we were to see a revival among us without God's blessing it is my conviction that there are revivals which are not of God at all but are produced by excitement merely if there be no blessing from the Lord it will be all a delusion a bubble blown up into the air for a moment and then gone to nothing we shall only see the people stirred to become the more dull and dead afterwards and this is a great mischief to the church in the individual heart if there should be a springing up without God's blessing there would be no good in it suppose you have good desires but no blessing on these desires they will only tantalize and worry you and then after a time they will be gone and you will be more impervious than you were before to religious convictions for if religious desires are not of God's ascending but are caused by excitement they will probably prevent your giving a serious hearing to the word of God in times to come if convictions do not soften they will certainly harden to what extremities have some been driven who have had springings of a certain sort which have not led them to Christ some have been crushed by despair they tell us that religion crowds the madhouse it is not true but there is no doubt whatever that religiousness of a certain kind has driven many a man out of his mind the poor souls have felt their wound but have not seen the balm they have not known Jesus they have had a sense of sin and nothing more they have not fled for refuse to the hope which God has set before them marvel not if men do go mad when they refuse the savior it may come as a judicial visitation of God upon those men who when in great distress of mind will not fly to Christ I believe it is with some just this you must either fly to Jesus or else your burden will become heavier and heavier until your spirit will utterly fail this is not the fault of religion it is the fault of those who will not accept the remedy which religion presents a springing up of desires without God's blessing would be an awful thing but we thank him that we are not left in such a case and now I have to dwell upon the comforting thought that God does bless the springing thereof I wish to deal with you who are tender and troubled I want to show that God does bless your springing he does it in many ways frequently he does it by the cordials which he brings you have a few very sweet moments you cannot say that you are Christ's but at times the bells of your heart ring very sweetly at the mention of his name the means of grace are very precious to you when you enter the Lord's worship you feel a holy calm and you go away from the service wishing that there were seven Sundays in the week instead of one by the blessing of God the word has just suited your case as if the Lord has sent his servants on purpose to you you lay aside your crutches for a while and you begin to run though these things have been sadly transient they are tokens for good on the other hand if you have had none of these comforts or few of them and the means of grace have not been consolations to you I want you to look upon that as a blessing it may be the greatest blessing that God can give us to take away all comforts on the road in order to quicken our running towards the end when a man is flying to the city of refuge to be protected from the manslayer it may be an act of great consideration to stay him for a moment that he may quench his thirst and run more swiftly afterwards but perhaps in a case of imminent peril it may be the kindest thing neither to give him anything to eat or to drink nor invite him to stop for a moment in order that he may fly with undiminished speed to the place of safety the Lord may be blessing you in the uneasiness which you feel in as much as you cannot say that you are in Christ it may be the greatest blessing which heaven can give to take away every other blessing from you in order that you may be compelled to fly to the Lord you perhaps have a little of your self righteousness left and while it is so you cannot get joy and comfort the royal robe which Jesus gives will never shine brilliantly upon us till every rag of our own goodness is gone perhaps you are not empty and will never fill you with Christ till you are fear often drives men to faith have you never heard of a person walking in the fields into whose bosom a bird has flown because pursued by the hawk poor timid thing it would not have entered there had not a greater fear compelled it all this may be so with you your fears may be sent to drive you more swiftly and more closely to the saviour so I see in these present sorrows the signs that God is blessing the springing thereof in looking back upon my own springing I sometimes thank God bless me then in a lovelier way than now though I would not willingly return to that early stage of my spiritual life yet there were many joys about it an apple tree when loaded with apples is a very conely sight but give me for beauty the apple tree bloom the whole world does not present a more lovely sight than an apple blossom now a full grown Christian laden with fruit is a conely sight but still there is a peculiar loveliness about the young Christian let me tell you what that blessedness is you have probably now a greater horror of sin than professors who have known the Lord for years they might wish that they felt your tenderness of it's you have now a graver sense of duty and a more solemn fear of the neglect of it than some who are further advanced you have also a greater zeal than many you are now doing your first works for God and burning with your first love nothing is too hot or too heavy for you I pray that you may never decline but always advance and now to close I think there are three lessons for us to learn first let older saints be very gentle and kind to young believers God blesses the springing thereof mind that you do the same do not throw cold water upon young desires do not snuff out young believers with hard questions while they are babes and need the milk of the word do not be choking them with your strong meat they will eat meat by and by but not just yet remember Jacob could not overdrive the lambs be equally prudent teach and instruct them but let it be with gentleness and tenderness not as their superiors but as nursing fathers for Christ's sake God you see blesses the springing thereof may he bless it through you the next thing I have to say is fulfill the duty of gratitude beloved if God blesses the springing thereof we ought to be grateful for a little grace if you have only seen the first shoot peeping up through the mold be thankful and you shall see the green blade waving in the breeze be thankful for the ankle deep verger and you shall soon see the commencement of the ear be thankful for the first green ears and you shall see the flowering of the and by and by its ripening and the joyous harvest the last lesson is one of encouragement if God blesses the springing thereof dear beginners what will he not do for you in after days if he gives you such a meal when you break your fast what dainties will be on your table when he says to you come and dine and what a banquet will he furnish at the supper of the lamb oh troubled one at the storms which howl and the snows which fall and the wintry blasts that nip your springing all be forgotten in this one consoling thought that God blesses your springing and whom God blesses none can curse over your head dear desiring pleading languishing soul the lord of heaven and earth pronounces the blessing of the father and the son and the holy spirit take that blessing and rejoice evermore amen so then neither is he that planteth anything neither he that watereth but God that giveth the increase now he that planteth and he that watereth are one and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor for we are laborers together with God ye are God's husbandry first Corinthians chapter verses 6 through 9 I shall begin at the end of my text because I find it to be the easiest way of mapping out my discourse we shall first remark that the church is God's farm ye are God's husbandry in the margin of the revised version we read ye are God's tilled ground and that is the very expression for me ye are God's tilled ground or farm after we have spoken of the farm we will next say a little upon the fact that the Lord employs laborers on his estate and when we have looked at the laborers such poor fellows as they are we will remember that God himself is the great worker we are laborers together with God we began by considering that the church is God's farm the Lord has made the church his own by his sovereign choice he also secured it unto himself by purchase having paid for it at a price immense the Lord's portion is his people Jacob is the lot of his inheritance every acre of God's farm cost the Savior a bloody sweat ye the blood of his heart he loved us and gave himself for us that is the price he paid henceforth the church is God's free hold and he holds the title deeds it is our joy to feel that we are not our own we are bought with a price the church is God's farm by choice and purchase and now he has made it his by enclosure it lay exposed after time as part of an open common bear and barren covered with thorns and thistles and the haunt of every wild beast for we were by nature the children of wrath even as others their knowledge surveyed the waste and electing love marked out its portion with a full line of grace and thus set us apart to be the Lord's own estate forever in due time effectual grace came forth with power and separated us from the rest of mankind as fields are hedged and ditched to part them from the open heath hath not the Lord declared that he hath chosen his vineyard and fenced it and their garden walled around chosen and made peculiar ground a little spot enclosed by grace out of the world's wide wilderness the Lord has also made this farm evidently his own by cultivation what more could he have done for his farm he has totally changed the nature of the soil from being barren he hath made it a fruitful land he hath plowed it and digged it and fattened it and watered it with all manner of flowers and fruits it hath already brought forth to him many a pleasant cluster and there are brighter times to come when angels shall shout the harvest home and Christ shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied this farm is preserved by the Lord's continual protection not only did he enclose it and cultivate it by his miraculous power to make it his own farm but he continually maintains possession of it I the Lord do keep it I will water it every moment lest any hurt it I will keep it night and day if it were not for God's continual power her hedges would soon be thrown down and wild beasts would devour her fields wicked hands are always trying to break down her walls and lay her waste again so that there should be no true church in the world jealous for his land and will not allow it to be destroyed a church would not long remain a church if God did not preserve it unto himself what if God should say I will take away the hedge thereof and it shall be eaten up and break down the wall thereof and it shall be trodden down what a wilderness it would become what sayeth he go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh where I set my name the first and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel go ye to Jerusalem where of old was the city of his glory and the shrine of his indwelling and what is left there today go ye to Rome where once Paul preached the gospel with power what is it now but the center of idolatry the Lord may remove the candlestick and leave a place that was bright as day to become black as darkness itself hence God's own farm remains a farm because he is ever in it to prevent its returning to its former wildness omnipotent power is as needful to keep the fields of the church under cultivation as to reclaim them at the first in as much as the church is God's own farm he expects to receive a harvest from it the world is waste and he looks for nothing from it but we are tilled land and therefore a harvest is due from us darkness suits the more land but to a farm it would be a great discredit love looks for returns of love grace given to man's gracious fruit watered with the drops of the saviors bloody sweat shall we not bring forth a hundred fold to his praise kept by the eternal spirit of God shall there not be produced in us fruits to his glory the Lord's husbandry upon us has shown a great expenditure cost and labor and thought ought there not to be a proportion at return ought not the Lord to have a harvest of obedience a harvest of holiness a harvest of usefulness a harvest of praise shall it not be so I think some churches forget that an increase is expected from every field of the Lord's farm for they never have a harvest or even look for one farmers do not plow their lands or sow their fields for amusement they mean business and plow and sow because they desire a harvest if this fact could but enter into the heads of some professors surely they would look at things in a different light but of late it has seemed as if we thought that God's church was not expected to produce anything but existed for her own comfort and personal benefit brethren it must not be so the great husband must have some reward for his husbandry every field must yield its increase and the whole estate must bring forth to his praise we join with the bride in the song in saying my vineyard which is mine is before me thou O Solomon must have thousand and those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred but I come back to the place from which I started this farm is by choice by purchase by enclosure by cultivation by preservation entirely the lords see then the injustice of allowing any of the laborers to call even a part of the estate his own when a great man has a large farm of his own what would he think if Hodge the plowman should say look here I plow this farm and therefore it is mine I shall call this field Hodge's acres no says Hobbes I reaped that land last harvest and therefore it is mine I call it Hobbes field what if all the other laborers became Hodge heights and Hobbes heights and so parceled out the farm among them I think the landlord would soon eject the lot of them the farm belongs to its owner and let it be called by his name but it is absurd to call it by the names of the men who labor upon it shall insignificant nobodies rob God of his glory remember how Paul put it as Paul and who is Apollos is Christ divided was Paul crucified for you or were ye baptized in the name of Paul the entire church belongs to him who has chosen it in his sovereignty bought it with his blood fenced it by his grace cultivated it by his wisdom and preserved it by his power there is but one church on the face of the earth and those who love the Lord should keep this truth in mind Paul is a laborer Apollos is a laborer Cephas is a laborer but the farm is not Paul's not so much as the root of it nor does a single parcel of land belong to Apollos or the smallest allotment to Cephas for ye are Christ's the fact is that in this case the laborers belong to the land and not the land to the laborers for all things are yours whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas not ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake we have now to notice as our second head that the great husbandman employs laborers by human agency God ordinarily works out his designs he can if he pleases by his holy spirit get directly at the hearts of men but that is his business and not ours we have to do with such words as these it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe the master's commission is not sit still and see the spirit of God convert the nations but go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature observe God's method in supplying the race with food in answer to the prayer give us this day our daily bread he might have been the clouds drop manna morning by morning at each man's door but he sees for our good to work and so he uses the hands of the plowman and the sower for our supply God might cultivate his chosen farm the church by miracle or by angels but in great condescension he blesses her through her own sons and daughters he employs us for our own good for we who are laborers in his fields receive much more good for ourselves than we bestow labor develops our spiritual muscle and keeps us in health unto me says Paul who am less than the least of all saints is this grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ our great master means that every laborer on his farm should receive some benefit from it for he never muzzles the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn the laborers daily bread comes out of the soil though he works not for his master yet still he has his portion of food in the Lord's granary there is seed for the sower but there is also bread for the eater however disinterested we may serve God in the husbandry of his church we are ourselves for takers of the fruit it is a great condescension on God's part that he uses us at all for we are poor tools at the best and more hindrance than help the laborers employed by God are all occupied upon needful work notice I have planted apollos watered who beat the big drum or blew his own trumpet nobody on God's farm none are kept for ornamental purposes I have read some sermons which could only have been meant for show for there was not a grain of gospel in them they were plows with a share left out drills with no wheat in the box clawed crushers made of butter I do not believe that our God will ever pay wages to men who only walk about his grounds to show themselves orators who display their eloquence in the pulpit are more like gypsies who stray on the farm to pick up chickens than honest laborers who work to bring forth a crop for their master many of the members of our churches live as if their only business on the farm was to pluck blackberries or gather wild flowers they are great at finding fault but not a hands turn will they do themselves come on my good fellows why stand ye all the day idle the harvest is plentious and the laborers are few you who think yourselves more cultivated than ordinary people if you are indeed Christians must not strut about and despise those who are hard at work if you do I shall say that person has mistaken his master he may probably be in the employ and farmer who cares more for show than profit but our great lord is practical and on his estate his laborers attend to needful labor when you and I preach or teach it will be well if we say to ourselves what will be the use of what I am going to do I am about to teach a difficult subject will it do any good I have chosen an abtruse point of theology will it serve any purpose brethren a laborer may work very hard at a whim of his own and yet it may be all waste labor some discourses do little more than show the difference between Tweedledom and Tweedledee and what is the use of that suppose we sow the fields with sawdust or sprinkle them with rose water what of that will God bless our moral essays and fine compositions and pretty passages brethren we must aim at usefulness as laborers together with God be occupied with something that is worth doing I says one have planted it is well for planting must be done I answers another have watered that also is good and necessary see to it that ye can each bring in a solid report but let no man be content with the mere child's play of oratory or the getting up of entertainments and such like on the Lord's farm there is a division of labor even Paul did not say I have planted and watered no Paul planted and certainly Apollos could not say I have planted as well as watered no it was enough for him to attend to the watering no man has all gifts how foolish then are they who say I enjoy so and sows ministry because he edifies the saints in doctrine but when he was away the other Sunday I could not profit by the preacher because he was all for the conversion of sinners yes he was planting you have been planted a good while and do not need planting again but you ought to be thankful that others are made partakers of the benefit one soweth and another reapeth and therefore instead of grumbling at the honest plowman because he did not bring a sickle with him you ought to have prayed for him that he might have strength to plow deep and break up hard hearts observe that on God's farm there is a purpose among the laborers read the text now he that planteth and he that watereth are one one master has employed them and though he may send them out at different times and to different parts of the farm yet they are all one in being used for one end to work for one harvest in England we do not understand what is meant by watering because the farmer could not water all his farm but in the east a farmer waters his ground he would have no crop if he did not use all means for irrigating the fields if you have ever been in Italy Egypt or Palestine you will have seen a complete system of wells pumps wheels buckets channels little streamlets pipes and so on by which the water is carried all over the garden to every plant otherwise in the extreme heat of the sun it would be dried up planting needs wisdom watering needs quite as much and the piecing of these two works together needs that the laborers should be of one mind it is a bad thing when laborers are at cross purposes and work against each other and this evil is worse in the church than anywhere else how can I plant with success if my helper will not water what I have planted or what is the use of my watering if nothing is planted husbandry is spoiled when foolish people undertake it for from sowing to reaping the work is won and all must be done to one end let us pull together all our days for strife brings barrenness we are called upon to notice in our text that all the laborers put together are nothing at all neither is he that planted anything neither he that watereth the workmen are nothing at all without their master all the laborers on a farm could not manage it if they had no one at their head and all the preachers and Christian workers in the world can do nothing unless God be with them remember that every laborer on God's farm has derived all his qualifications from God no man knows how to plant or water souls except the Lord teaches him from day to day all these holy gifts are grants of free grace all the laborers work under God's direction and arrangement or they work in vain they know when or how to do their work if their master did not guide them by his spirit without whose help they cannot even think a good thought all God's laborers must go to him for their seed or else they will scatter tears all good seed comes out of God's greenery if we preach it must be the true word of God or nothing can come of it more than that all the strength that is in the laborer's arm to sow the heavenly seed we cannot preach except God be with us a sermon is vain talk and dreary word spending unless the Holy Spirit enlivens it he must give us both the preparation of the heart and the answer of the tongue or we shall be as men who sow the wind when the good seed is sown the whole success of it rest with God if he withhold the dew and the rain the seed will never rise from the ground and unless he shall shine upon it the green ear will never ripen the human heart will remain barren even though Paul himself should preach unless God the Holy Ghost shall work with Paul and bless the word to those that hear it therefore, since the increase is of God alone put the laborers into their place do not make too much of us for when we have done all we are unprofitable servants yet though inspiration calls the laborers nothing it says that God works our good works in us and then rewards us for them here we have mention of a personal service and a personal reward every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor the reward is proportionate not to the success but to the labor many discouraged workers may be comforted by that expression you are not to be paid by results but by endeavors you may have a stiff bit of clay or a plow or a dreary plot of land to sow where stones and birds and thorns and travelers and a burning sun may all be legged against the seed but you are not accountable for these things your reward shall be according to your work some put a great deal of labor into a little field and make much out of it others use a great deal of labor throughout a long life and yet they see but small result one soweth and another reapeth but the reaping man will not get all the reward the sowing man shall receive his portion of the joy the laborers are nobodies but they shall enter into the joy of their lord unitedly according to the text the workers have been successful and that is a great part of their reward I have planted apollos watered but God gave the increase frequently brethren say in their prayers apoll must plant and apollos may water but it is all in vain unless God gives the increase this is quite true but another truth is too much overlooked namely that when apollos plants and apollos waters God does give the increase we do not labor in vain there would be no increase without God but then we are not without God when such men as paul and apollos plant water there is sure to be an increase they are the right kind of laborers they work in a right spirit and God is certain to bless them this is a great part of the laborers wages so much upon the laborers now for the main point again God himself is the great worker he may use what laborers he pleases but the increase comes alone from him brethren you know it is so in natural things a skilful farmer cannot make the wheat germinate and grow and ripen he cannot even preserve a single field till harvest time for the farmer's enemies are many and mighty in husbandry there's many a slip twix the cup and the lip and when the farmer thinks good easy man that he shall reap his crop there are blights and mildews lingering about to rob him of his gains God must give the increase if any man is dependent on God it is the husbandman and through him we are all of us dependent upon God from year to year for the food by which we live even the king must live by the produce of the field God gives the increase in the barn and the hayrick and in the spiritual farm it is even more so for what can man do in this business if any of you think that it is an easy thing to win a soul I should like you to attempt it suppose that without divine aid you should try to save a soul you might as well attempt to make a world why you cannot create a fly how can you create a new heart and a right spirit regeneration is a great mystery it is out of your reach the wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but can't not tell whence it cometh and whether it goeth so is every one that is born of the spirit what can you and I do in this matter it is far beyond our line we can tell out the truth of God but to apply that truth to the heart and conscience is quite another thing I have preached Jesus Christ with my whole heart and yet I know that I have never produced a saving effect upon a single unregenerate man unless the spirit of God has opened the heart and placed the living seed of truth within it experience teaches us this equally is it the Lord's work to keep the seed alive when it springs up we think we have converts and we are not long before we are disappointed in them many are like blossoms on our apple trees they are fair to look upon but they do not come to anything and others are like the many little apples which fall off long before they have come to any size he who presides over a great church and fills an agony for the souls of men will soon be convinced that if God does not work there will be no work done we shall see no conversion no sanctification no final perseverance no glory brought to God no satisfaction for the passion of the Savior unless the Lord be with us well said our Lord without me ye can do nothing briefly I would draw certain practical lessons out of this important truth the first is that the whole farm of the church belongs exclusively to the great master worker and the laborers are worth nothing without him let this promote unity among all whom he employs if we are all under one master do not let us quarrel it is a miserable business when we cannot bear to see good being done by those of a different denomination who work in ways of their own if a new laborer comes on the farm and he uses a hoe of a new shape shall I become his enemy if he does his work better than I do mine shall I be jealous do you not remember reading in the scriptures that upon one occasion the disciples could not cast out a devil this ought to have made them humble but to our surprise we read a few verses further on that they saw one casting out devils in Christ's name and they forbade him because he followed not with their company they cast out the devil themselves and they forbade those who could a certain band of people are going about winning souls but because they are not doing it in our fashion we do not like it it is true that they have odd ways but they do really save souls and that is the main point instead of caveling let us encourage all on Christ's side wisdom is justified of her children though some of them are far from handsome the laborers ought to be satisfied with the new plowman if their master smiles upon him brother if the great lord has employed you it is no business of mine to question his choice can I lend you a hand can I show you how to work better or can you show me how I can improve this is the proper behavior of one workman to another this truth however ought to keep all the laborers very dependent are you going to preach young man yes I am going to do a great deal of good are you have you forgotten that you are nothing neither is he that planteth anything a divine is coming brimful of the gospel to comfort the saints if he is not coming in strict dependence upon God he too is nothing neither is he that watereth anything power belongeth unto God man is vanity and his words are wind God alone belongeth power and wisdom if we keep our places in all lowliness our lord will use us but if we exalt ourselves he will leave us to our nothingness next notice that this fact ennobles everybody who labors in God's husbandry my soul is lifted up with joy when I mark these words for we are laborers together with God mere laborers on his farm laborers with him does the Lord work with us we know he does by the signs following my father worketh hitherto and I work is language for all the sons of God as well as for the great first born God is with you my brethren when you are serving him with all your heart speaking to your class concerning Jesus it is God that speaks by you picking up that stranger on the way and telling him of salvation by faith Christ is speaking through you even as he spoke with a woman at the well addressing the rough crowd in the open air young man if you are preaching pardon through the atoning blood it is the God of Peter who is testifying of his son even as he did on the day of Pentecost but lastly how this should drive us to our knees since we are nothing without God let us cry mightily unto him for help in this our holy service let both sower and reaper pray together or they will never rejoice together if the blessing be withheld it is because we do not cry for it and expect it brother laborers come to the mercy seat and we shall yet see the reapers return from the fields bringing their sheaves with them though perhaps they went forth weeping to the sowing to our father who is the husband man be all glory forever and ever amen end of chapter 10 farm laborers