earth upon the top of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon." (Psalm lxxii. 16.) But the corn-field suggests other ideas of an equally interesting kind. It is our Lord's own emblem of the Church, as at all times existing in the world. The crop before us though strong, and heavy, is not free from weeds. And thus the Church of Christ in the present day, though promising and prosperous, is not devoid of false professors. The tares of Judea are unknown in this land; just as many of the heresies of ancient times are no longer apparent. But there are other tares which still mingle with the corn, and cannot be separated from it without injury to the crop. There is the shewy weed, aptly resembling the gay -the carnal professor, but known and distinguished by every eye from the true follower of Christ. There are also weeds less shewy, but still more obnoxious; fitly representing the barren professor, having a name to live but spiritually dead. Again, there is the true tare so much like the corn itself, that none but an experienced observer could discern the difference between them; forcibly presenting an image of those whose life and conversation so outwardly resemble the true Christian, that none but the eye of an omniscient Judge can detect their insincerity. Lastly, In every corn-field there are plants of sickly as well as of luxuriant appearance, supplying a fit emblem of the various characters which compose the true Church of Christ. Some indeed are stunted in their growth by various causes; others ripening into the full measure of the stature of Christ, having received a larger measure of the Spirit of all grace, and enjoyed a more copious effusion of the beams of the Sun of Righteousness. Yet all these must be permitted to mingle together till the harvest. Each have their separate uses; and as the wise husbandman is content and thankful if the weeds do not overpower the corn, so the wise Christian will be grateful to God that errors both in doctrine and practice are not more abounding than they are, being satisfied that in the final issue and separation of the tares from the corn, there will be nothing to complain of; but, on the contrary, that the purposes of God will work their way through all human hypocrisy and weakness, so as to fulfil the truth of the gracious promise, "As the rain cometh down 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 whereunto I sent it." (Isai. lv. 10.) REV. H. A. SIMCOE, (Penheale-press) Cornwall. "That thou givest them, they gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good." Ps. civ. 28. HARVEST HOME! What delightful feelings are To the eye of the Christian awakened by these words! Naturalist, the scenes which have just been passing before him-a rich and splendid harvest safely gathered in-have presented a lovely mirror, in which he has been enabled to contemplate anew some of the noblest of the divine perfections. For what are all the bounties of our God, as displayed in this lower world, but so many varied manifestations of himself—so many different expressions and shadows of his character-designed to arrest the attention, and kindle the devotion of thoughtless, cold, insensible man! "These are thy glorious works, Parent of good: Thus wondrous fair! Thyself how wondrous then To us invisible, or dimly seen In these thy lowest works; yet these declare L Such, most reasonably, may be our reflections at the present season; when every stack of corn is a visible memorial of the truth of God's word-" While the earth remaineth, seed time and harvest, &c., shall not cease." (Gen. viii. 22.) More than 4000 years have rolled away since this gracious promise was given to Noah, and every returning Harvest Home is an additional confirmation of the divine faithfulness. How strange is it then, that so many continually think and act as if they deemed it possible that the great and eternal Jehovah, "with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning," could break his word! And what infatuation is this which tempts men, in spite of his express declarations, to gainsay or doubt his purposes, without reflecting that if God has been faithful in lesser things-in things which concern the perishable body only-he must be at least equally so in things which relate to the immortal soul that was created after his own image! The harvest just gathered in, is, if we believe the record he has given us, a yearly emblem of the final judgment at the end of the world. So our Lord himself tells us, Matt. xiii. 39. But how many are there who by their conduct shew their disbelief of that great event? whose profane lips, whose unholy lives, and whose impenitent hearts, continually give God the lie, and seem profanely to ask, "Where is the promise of his coming?" "But God," as even unrighteous Balaam was constrained to confess, "Is not a man that he should lie, nor the son of man that he should repent." To the unbeliever, this is a truth which if he ever thinks of it must strike terror into his soul; for every Harvest Home shall at last rise up as it were in judgment, and condemn him for not having listened to that voice with which it so loudly proclaims the eternal truth of a sinhating, and a sin-avenging God. But what says the same voice to the humble and renewed believer? It may, indeed, convict him also, at the present time, of some remaining unbelief and mistrust. It may, perhaps, whisper a doubt, whether even he has always sufficiently relied upon the mercy and faithfulness of a God, who is pledged by promise, by covenant and by oath," to make all things work together for his good;" and he may feel humbled by the reflection, that in seasons of difficulty and temptation, he has but too feebly felt the force of the declaration, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." Yet although the return of the present season may serve to reprove these doubtings of a mind compassed with infirmity, and to call forth with more fervour that devout supplication of the disciples of old, "Lord increase our faith;" still, upon the whole, it affords to the sincere Christian matter of consolation, rather than of reproof. To him it is the type and pledge of that glorious day, when those "who have been redeemed from the earth" shall be safely gathered into the final granary of their Father and their God. And there are many things in the earthly Harvest Home, which seem to point to the heavenly Harvest Home in which he hopes to share. For, 1st In what a soil have these fruits which the farmer beholds with so much pride and joy, been long growing; and who could naturally have supposed that from the filth and offscouring of all things, this crop should have been reared and nourished to its splendid maturity. This is, indeed, one of the greatest mysteries of the natural world; and the process of vegetation eludes the researches of the wisest philosopher. It is only from |