y fall upon our life
to bless it, and because men are often altogether unconscious of the
beginnings of their growth in them. Some seed of good influence falls
into the soil of their heart, and seems to lie there buried in the winter
of neglect or waste.

Thus some men may carry the seeds long and far, not knowing the power or
the potency of the life that is in them; but some day they strike root
and grow and bear fruit in new convictions, or in new desires and
purposes; and this may be the case with any one amongst us, and hence it
is natural that we should press the question on ourselves and on each
other--What are you making of those seeds of higher life which have been
sown in you by your mother's love, by your father's words, by all the
lessons and influences of such a place as this, seeds which are falling
around you continually, and may possibly be trodden down or overlaid?

As we look at these parables of the Lord telling of this sowing and this
growth of seeds, they bring it home to us very forcibly that the only
true test of life in Christ is growth in Christian graces. And this
brings us to a consideration of grave practical importance. It bids us
be very careful to distinguish between seeds of life taking root in the
heart and springing up into new activities, and mere waves of impression.
The seed springs up and grows in you, the wave merely flows over you,
lifting and moving you for a moment, and then leaving you as before.
Thus, and it is a warning which is not unneeded in our day, a day of much
emotional religion, there is all the difference in the world between a
religion of moods and a religion of growth. The one is the plaything of
the winds, the other is rooted in Christ.

Thus I am brought to two reflections, one on the function and aim of the
preacher, the other the duty of the hearer of God's word. The
preacher--and the same might be said of every master in such a society as
this--the preacher has to think of himself primarily and chiefly as a
servant of Christ charged with the duty of sowing the seeds of spiritual
life in your hearts. And the thought that the Saviour has revealed to us
seeds of life which have this regenerating power in them, and that in Him
we see what possibilities of growth there are in these seeds--this is our
constant encouragement.

The sower's hand may be feeble, and his sowing may be awkward, or
halting, or uncertain, but there is a Divine force or possibility in