There are other religious truths, which the husbandman is particularly in the way of observing. He cannot turn up a clod of earth, without being reminded of his beginning and his end. Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. The very worm that crawls beneath his plough tells him that his flesh shall see corruption; and that worms shall destroy his body.

-But there is one great truth, on which I cannot help dwelling a little more; and that is the strong representation, which every part of nature, and especially the growth of corn, holds out, of the resurrection of the dead. The year dies away in the winter. All things are inanimate. The ground is without herbage: the tree without leaves. Nothing can give a more exact picture of death; and they, who should see all this desolation, without being acquainted with the change of seasons, would conclude, that the world had now little longer to last. But at the approach of spring all this appearance of death goes off. The grass grows; the leaves shoot; and the forest revives with new beauty. What a strong emblem is this of a resurrection from the dead! Yet it is still held out more strongly in corn; which is buried in the ground: where it rots and dies. But there is a principle

of

of life in it, which rises again, and opens into a ten-fold improvement. The tree, which revives in the spring, receives but little addition to its growth. It is not therefore so just an emblem of the resurrection from the dead, as a grain of corn, which receives after its death so great an increase. It was this part of the resemblance, which so particularly struck St. Paul: It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. So also is the resurrection of the dead.

THUS, my brethren, I have explained to you, in a variety of instances, the instruction you may receive from the culture of the ground. If you have not time to read your Bibles so much as you ought, you see, you may reap instruction, while you pursue your daily labour. Our blessed Saviour, you know, spoke in parables; which is, in other words, instructing us from the things we see around us and there is no doubt, but God Almighty bath, for our sakes, mixed instruction with the things of this world; that we may always have before us the means of improvement. Doth God take care for oxen?

the apostle asks, or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes no doubt, this is written : that as it follows in the text, he that plougheth, should plough in hope: and he that thresheth, should be partaker of his hope.

That we may all correct our faults, and improve ourselves by every mean of instruction that is offered, whether more directly in the Bible; or more obscurely in the field; may God of his infinite mercy grant, through the assistance of his holy spirit.

SERMON

JOHN, XIX. 30.

IT IS FINISHED.

THIS affecting expression, at the close of

blessed Saviour's life, was the conclusion, a were, of the grand scheme of the redemption mankind. It is finished, said the holy Suffer and bowing his head, gave up the ghost.

In contemplating these awful words I sh shew you first, what Christ finished for our s -and secondly, what we ought to finish for hi

WITH regard to what Christ finished, in first place, the prophecies respecting the Mess

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had no doubt in view, when he cried ou expired, It is finished.

Then also the types and ceremonies, larly the sacrifices of the Jewish law, filled. The devout Jew, no doubt, himself at a loss for the meaning of the rious rites, and though he was too question their propriety, as they had pointed by God himself; yet he could wish to have a more perfect insight i hidden meaning. All this darkness dispelled, when the blessed Jesus from declared, that all was finished. Then the propriety of those mystical represen the various sacrifices of the law-the pa the paschal lamb-the high-priest ent holy of holies-and all the other par Jewish ritual.

Again, the sufferings of the Messiah finished. In what those mysterious consisted-what was the extent of th