out of my heart, and wants to put something into it.

2. What is the Seed? "The seed is the word of God." Jesus, as the sower, has come with the seed basket in His hand, to cast in something which He has and we have not, till He makes it ours. The seed is the word of God." It is not what you and I think, or what you and I do. No! "The seed is the word of God." Thus Peter says, "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever" (1 Peter i. 23). It is always by His word that God acts, and that word abides and lives for ever, therefore the importance of listening to the word. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?" says the Psalmist, and replies, " By taking heed thereto according to thy word" (Psalm exix. 9). "For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven" (Psalm cxix. 89). Again, "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee" (Psalm exix. 11). The word of the Lord can save your soul, and guide it also.

Your salvation, my beloved reader, rests entirely on this, your acceptance of the word of God. God's Son is the sower, God's word is the seed sown. God's word is the mighty lever to lift you out of the state you are in as a sinner. Education will not do it. Education may make you better neighbour, but it will not bring you to God. "Hear, and your soul shall live." It is not "work," or "pray," but "hear;" and, if God speaks, He speaks with autho

a

rity. And, my friend, if you do not listen to His voice now, the days will come when you will be, yourself, the witness of the truth of God's word, and you will be constrained to justify every word of God. Yes, though you do not believe now, when you pass away from His presence into eternal damnation, you, yourself, will be the witness of the truth of that word, "He that believeth not shall be damned" (Mark xvi. 16).

3. We look now at the Soil.

man.

This is the heart of

The Lord brings before us four classes of soil on which the seed can be cast. First, The wayside. Look at it. The Sower sows, but it is a hard beaten track, many feet have trodden it down, it is as hard as the nether millstone. Is that your heart, my reader? You have heard the word often. Have you received it yet? Do you say, "I do not believe in people being converted so easily"? Read the twelfth verse, "Those by the wayside are they that hear: then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved." Yes, no one so fully believes in the simplicity of the gospel as the devil. He knows, full well, it is only to "hear," "believe," and "be saved." What is he doing now with you? Trying to distract your thoughts as you read these lines, lest you should "believe and be saved." Are you interested? The devil will suggest to you not to be in a hurry-to think over the matter a bit. Ah, my friend, there will come a day of bitter sorrow to your soul, the day of the harvest,-for a harvest

there will be, and a full garner too, but you will not be there, for you have not believed the gospel. "The Lord will see of the travail of his soul, and be satisfied," but will your voice join in the blessed songs of that harvest-home? No, no! Wayside hearer, you will know of the harvest, you will see what the magnificence of His grace is to others; but from your heart can only arise the bitter wail, "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and I am not saved" (Jer. viii. 20).

But are you hearing and believing the word of God, my reader? Then the same word says you are saved. How simple! Have you been till now a wayside hearer? Oh, be that no longer.

Look we, in the second place, at the rocky-ground hearers. This class is the emotional one. The wayside are the indifferent hearers, who hear the gospel, week after week, and care nothing for it; but the rocky hearers have a little bit of earth on the surface, their hearts are apparently softer, but no plough has ever ploughed up the ground. Feelings may have been touched, but the word of God has produced no effect on the conscience. There is no fruit, and by and by, when trouble comes for the word's sake, they give it up. They are an emotional class. The gospel will bring them to the feet of Jesus to-day, and a string-band will carry them to the ball-room to-morrow. They receive the word for the joy of it, and give it up for the trouble connected with it. They have no root. Sorrowful state to be in!

The third class, the thorny-ground hearers, are the middle-aged, sober men and women we meet by thousands every day,-mothers of large families, full of cares; men full of business; others overwhelmed by riches. But cares should not keep you from Christ, for He says, "casting all your care on him, for he careth for you." And riches should not keep you from Christ, for you can use them for Him. A very large proportion of the thorny-ground hearers are those who are governed by the "pleasures of this life." They are not rich, they are not poor; they have enough to go along easily with, and "enjoy life," as they call it. Their thoughts are all for this life, and so the word of God is choked by the thorns, the pleasures of the flesh and of the mind, which the devil knows well how to pander to, in order to keep souls from Christ.

Now look at the last class,-the blessed class, I may call them, those who have an "honest and good heart;" that is, a heart that owns the truth that there is nothing good about it. A person without guile, is a person who is transparent and does not want to be thought what he is not. A broken heart, is a person agonizing before God on account of his sin. The ploughshare of conviction has gone in, and the deeper the furrow the deeper the root for the seed. But oh, my friend, if you have never been anxious about your soul before, it is high time you were. It will be too late when the sickle of judgment is put in, and you are swept away.

The prodigal had an "honest and good heart" when he said, "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.' A man who knows he is lost, and owns it, crying "God be merciful to me the sinner," has an "honest and good heart."

If you have not known these soul convictions all is wrong with you, the word has not gone down into your heart, and there is no fruit in your life. But a soul that has known this deep conviction of sin, knows that he is lost; and when God comes and says to that soul, "The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost," he believes it. When he hears that "Christ died for the ungodly," he believes it. Yes, he rests on the word of God, and lives by it as a new-born babe. This is the "honest and good heart," the soul that hears the word of God, and does it.

Which of the four classes are you in? In one you must be. Oh, be not among the hardened and indifferent; nor among the emotional, who receive the word of God to-day and give it up to-morrow; nor yet among those who let their cares, riches, or pleasures keep them from Christ; but be among those who, having the word of God, keep it, and bring forth fruit unto God,-of whom the Lord declares "they are mine," and shall be "mine in the day when I make up my jewels." In the harvest where will you be? Not to be with Christ, will prove the unreality of any profession you have made now.

W. T. P. W.