Talks to Farmers

4. We must next notice the _rapidity_ of God's works, "His word runneth very swiftly." It did not take many days to get rid of the last snow. A contractor would take many a day...

And now he has made it his by _enclosure_. It lay exposed aforetime as part of an open common, bare and barren, covered with thorns and thistles, and the haunt of every wild bea...

I will soliloquize, and say to myself as I read the text, "He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle. In this I perceive a satisfying provision for that form of creature. I am...

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 allusion here to the beating...

Notice that the shearers always _shear at a suitable time_. It would be a very wicked, cruel, and unwise thing to begin sheep-shearing in winter time. There is a proverb which t...

Sin also abuses the _mercy_ of God. When you, as many of you have done, sin with the higher hand because of his long-suffering toward you; when, because you have no sickness, no...

In the text _the gleaner is invited to come_. "At meal-time _come_ thou hither." We trust none of you will be kept away from the place of holy feasting by any shame on account o...

I. First, then, WE ALL NEED THRESHING. Some have a foolish conceit of themselves that they have no sin; but they deceive themselves, and the truth is not in them. The best of me...

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 co...

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...

First, _on God's part, there is an advance in what he does_. "Doth the ploughman plough all day?" No, he goes forward to other matters. It may be that in the case of some of you...

3. We remark, next, that _every ear the gleaner gets she has to stoop for_. Why is it that proud people seldom profit under the word? Why is it that certain "intellectual" folk...

_In many instances there will be a great deal of this evil produce_; for a field and a vineyard will yield more thistles and nettles than a piece of ground that has never been r...

We may expect also to see the seed ripen. Our works will by God's grace lead up to real faith in those he hath wrought upon by his word and Spirit; but _we must not expect to se...

By giving the angels work to do, all intelligent creatures, of whose existence we have information, are made to take an interest in the work of grace; whether for malice or for...

In many cases _sound principles were instilled in youth_, but these are forgotten. What a blessing is Christian education! Our parents, both by persuasion and example, taught ma...

"And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knowet...

Again, there is such a thing as the joy of harvest _when we have been rendered useful_. The master passion of every Christian is to be useful. There should be a burning zeal wit...

1. Observe the _directness_ of the Lord's work. I rejoice, as I read these words, to find how present our God is in the world. It is not written, "the laws of nature produce sno...

Why are certain men so extremely rocky? Some are so from a _peculiar stolidity of nature_. There are many people in the world whom you cannot very well move, they have a great d...

Secretary of the National Intercollegiate Association. A timely work for every citizen. The book is wholly practical and untechnical and is directly suited to the needs of every...

First, _we must die if we are to live_. There is no spiritual life for you, for me, for any man, except by dying into it. Have you a fine-spun righteousness of your own? It must...

"These bells are not muffled; they give out no uncertain sound. The fifty-two notes are clear, high, piercing, pulse-quickening, soul-uplifting; yet to the old parties, doubtles...