SOWING BESIDE ALL WATERS.

BY REV. ROBERT TURNBULL, D. D.,

PASTOR OF THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, HARTFORD, CONN.

Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters.-Isaiah, xxxii, 20.

It is generally allowed that our text forms a part of a Messianic prediction. It was originally addressed to ancient Israel, whose land was to be "trodden under foot" until "the Spirit shall be poured out from on high," and "the wilderness become a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest;" when a man, (the Messiah,) shall be a hiding-place from the tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land;" when "the eyes of the blind shall see, and the ears of the deaf hear, the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing."

"Then," adds the prophet, fixing the nature of the event referred to, with the utmost precision, "judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field. And the work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever."

A resplendent prospect thus gradually opens upon the vision of the prophet-far distant, it is true, but distinct and luminous. The wilderness transformed into a fruitful field, the earth at rest, myriads of redeemed and sanctified men walking in the light of God, or reposing in "peaceable habitations, in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting-places."

Others, indeed, are cast off; for a scene of desolation momentarily breaks in upon the entrancing vision. "When it shall hail coming down on the forest, and the city shall be low in a low place."

But he speedily loses sight of this in the deepening splendors of the new creation, as he sees its peaceful subjects going forth, in

happy bands, to sow beside all waters. "Blessed," says he, with exultant emotion, "Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters!"

Brethren, the kingdom of Christ is come! His reign on earth has commenced. The wilderness and the solitary places are visited. Waters break out in the wilderness, and streams in the desert. Spring is breathing over land and sea. A motion and a stir are felt in the depths of forests. The sowers are abroad, on the hillside and in the valley. Is it not the sight, in its first stage of advancement, which greeted the eyes of the prophet? Did he not see the sowers, in the wilderness of this new land, on the banks of the Hudson and the Mississippi, by the far Oregon and the golden shores of the Pacific? Did he not see them on the banks of the Nile, by the waters of the Ganges, the Brahmapootra, and the Irrawaddy? Did not his heart go out towards them? Did he not mingle, so to speak, in their toils and triumphs? Above all, did he not behold the glorious harvest waving in the light of heaven, ripe for the sickle of the Lord-and so, hailing them through the ages, cry out, "Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters?"

This is the great work to which, in all times, the church is called. This is the work to which we are called. Let us inquire, then, with a view to a practical application of the subject, what and where and how we are to sow; and, finally, as to the blessedness of sowing beside all waters.

I. In answer to the question, What are we to sow? we reply, briefly and at once, in the words of Christ, "the good seed of the kingdom" that is, as we understand it, the seed of eternal truth, which, taking root in the soil of the human heart, shall "grow up, in some thirty, in others sixty, and in others a hundred fold, unto everlasting life." Hence, it is not every seed bearing the semblance of the divine which ripens for immortality. Nothing earth-born or artificial is capable of producing a result so stupendous and beautiful. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh;" and no "broad" or formal church can divest it of this character; "and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." It is emphatically the seed of God, the supernatural, and thence "incorruptible seed, which liveth and abideth forever." In plainer and less figurative words, it is the simple but omnipotent truth of God, given us in Christ, and made vital-"quick and powerful," as St. Paul expresses it-by the Holy Spirit. Descending from heaven as a power, it ascends thither as a growth.