INTRODUCTION. WHEN Adam by transgression fell, a blight came over the world in which he was placed,-a blight which shall never be removed until "the times of restitution of all things." "The whole creation groans, And waits to hear that voice and till then, all who "love his appearing" must in spirit cry, "Come, Lord, and wipe away The curse, the sin, the stain, And make this blighted world of ours, Thine own fair world again! Come then, Lord Jesus, come !" Once, the heart of man was pure and blessed; now it is impure, and defiled by sin. At first, all his desire was toward God; now he sees "no beauty in him that he should desire him." "The thoughts of his heart are only evil continually," (Gen. vi. 5.) "He loveth darkness rather than light, because his deeds are evil.” (John iii. 19.) But in the midst of the dreary waste, there are some green spots, like oases in the desert, fed by living water, and rich in undying verdure. From the time when, at his first coming, the Lord of life and glory left his throne above, "the day-spring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." (Luke i. 78, 79.) He came 66 to preach good tidings unto the meek: he was sent to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound." (Isa. lxi. 1.) "In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehendeth it not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." (John i. 4, 5, 12.) He came, to conquer death by dying-to give eternal life by rising again, omnipotent to save. The heart of man however must be prepared for the reception of these glad tidings. And by what agency? His own? Ah no! The soil of his heart is like the "ground cursed for his sake," fallow ground, full of briars and thorns. He who is the Author and Giver of life, the Holy Spirit, can alone break the hard and stony soil, and not until "the ploughshare of conviction" tears it up, can the seed of the gospel of the grace of God find entrance. But that entrance once obtained, the precious seed springs into life. "Verily, verily I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone, but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit." (John xii. 24.) If there be the death unto sin, there must be the life unto righteousness. Again, referring to the mysterious process of germination in the vegetable world, the Saviour declares, "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 knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that, the full corn in the ear." (Mark iv. 26-28.) So is it with " every one that is born of the Spirit." Wonderful transformation! The first indications of spiritual life in the heart are, like the first movements in vegetation, almost imperceptible; but in both is the germ of eventual fruition. But as the seed of corn has to be exposed to many influences in the natural world,-heat and cold, shade and sunshine, the early and the latter rain, before the full corn in the ear is perfected; so in the spiritual world has the young believer to pass through his appointed course. God is bountiful as the God of Providence, caring for the earthly wants of his creatures, and "making his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sending rain on the just and on the unjust." (Matt. vi. 45.) But how much more tenderly does he care for those whom he calls children. Not one individual of his spiritual harvest is ever forgotten by him, and from the first motions of grace in the heart, to the full ripening of the Christian life, each is brought under such guiding of the Holy Spirit as are necessary for him, and is led "by a way that he knows not," to the haven of his everlasting rest. Many are the texts of Holy Scripture which refer to these gracious influences. "My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as showers upon the grass," (Deut. xxxii. 2). "Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter rain unto the earth," (Hos. vi. 3). "I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine." (Hos. xiv. 5, 7; compare Micah v. 7). "He bringeth the wind also out of his treasuries," yet" he stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind." (Isa. xxvii. 8). "Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out." (Cant. iv. 16). "For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater; so shall my word be, that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void; but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." (Isa. lv. 10, 11). And unto "those who fear his name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing on his wings." (Mal. iv. 2). "For the Lord God is a sun and shield, the Lord will give grace and glory.” (Psa. lxxxiv. 11). Not one of these blessed influences could be spared in causing the seed to spring up, and the grain to ripen for the granary of heaven. The corn so ripened is distinguished from the weeds which grow around it. God's saints are "blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom they shine as |