THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 141 



there would be no ground to mistrust the Divine 

 promises. If forty centuries were suffered to pass away 

 before the Sun of Righteousness arose, why should we 

 wonder that the spiritual harvest of the earth is not yet 

 quite ripe, after the lapse of only half this period ? 

 This event, however, like every other will come in it a 

 appointed season. The Divine promises may be de- 

 layed, but cannot be frustrated. As surely as the 

 grain ripens in the autumn, that period is rapidly 

 hastening to its completion when the whole earth shall 

 be '*asa fruitful field which the Lord hath blessed.' 

 It is the privilege of true faith to wait for the vision, 

 though it tarry long, and to adopt the triumphant per- 

 suasion of the dying lawgiver of Israel. " There is 

 none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon 

 the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the 

 sky. The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath 

 are the everlasting arms ; and he shall thrust out the 

 enemy from before thee; and shall say. Destroy them. 

 Israel then shall dwell in safety alone ; the fountain 

 of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine." (Deut. 

 xxxiii. 26.) 



But the corn-field suggests other ideas of an equally 

 interesting kind. It is our Lord's own emblem of the 



