The Press., 1894-09-27

thought on their part they could get the
 largest material results. Such is not tho
 world, however, in which God has placed l us. His purpose in this connection would
 seem evident enough. It certainly has not been to care for the indolent anC stupid. He would seem to put us upor our mettle as discoverers and thinkers
 He would seem to have put the weeds and the worms into nature purposely to
 make it hard for the lazy and the thought
 less to get living. To the man who is willing to work and think these are 6 stimulus. They give certain moral
 quality or christian character to his work that lifts it above the sphere of mere drudgery. He is the benefactor or say. for of the plants which he cultivates their protector against the foes which as- sail them, in return for which service they give him their fruits. In a word the weeds and worms in nature are premium on industry and intelligence as opposed to laziness and stupidity. They are bid for character in the farmer.
 | A second purpose of the weeds and worms is to serve as an object lesson tc keep constantly before us that for which we are in the world. We are not here just to get living, or merely to exist, as many think. If there were no other end in life than this there is no reason why we should be put to such straights ir order to get food and clothes. God might have planted the whole earth with tropi. cal vegetation, and made every tree bear fruit in abundance, which we should simp- ly have had to go forth and gather as the lsraelites gathered mama in the wilder ness. He might have clad us with furs as he had done the animals instead of l putting us to the exercise of our ingenui- ty to procure clothing to shield us from the cold and the wet. He has seen fit rather to give us innumerable desires and to put many obstacles in our way of grat. flying them that we might have to inves, tigate and think. He has done this, not l because he wishes to see us hungry and suffering, but because he would have us self-respecting and intelligent. It is bet. ter that we should suffer if thereby we are stimulated to creative effort than that we should simply receive everything at Gods hands. In other words, the world l is not place where we are intended to be happy after the physical conception of happiness that most people have; but it is school for our moral training. We have been put here for the development | of character. The fields and gardens | that it most behoves us to cultivate are our own minds and hearts. We are to see to 1t that good seeds are implanted there. | in and that the growth of these be stimu. lated and cherished. With these spiritu
 al plants. however, it is very much as il is with the plants in our gardens. They are exotics that will thrive only as we keep down the rank sensuous growths that threaten their existence. In order that | they may flourish there is demanded oi us constant effort and vigilance. We must conquer our incidence and be ever | ready with expedients against every hos tile influence that threatens us. Yet how easy it is to slacken effort in this direc- tion! How hard to keep the spirit contin. uaAy hraced up to battle with the weeds and worms, or those worldly influences that threaten to overrun it How con. stantly we need to be reminded of the necessity of doing this! The weeds and worms with which in the cultivation ot our fields and gardens we have to contend are meant to furnish just such a reminder
 The constant battle we have to fight with them is discipline intended to instil into us the conception and importance of that ! conflict we are to sustain with the foes that assail our spirits. Considered in this light it is deeply significant. Merely to be set to fight weeds and worms would be rather useless business were this the end but as much needed moral disci- pline it may be of inestimable value. In deed we can scarcely dispense with this discipline until we get it thoroughly drilled into us that the real business of life is to cultivate our minds and hearts for Eternity: It is not at all unlikely that when men have learned this lesson the weeds and worms will disappear be- cause no longer needed.
 Nor is it well that we should have too easy lot in life while in our state of sin. We need those difficulties to contend with hot sho11 ot> k1aA oil @% right with us. That battle with weeds and worms that we must keep up con- stantly in order to procure our supply of food is calculated to give us the impress ion of wild hostile power inimical to our interests. To awaken that impression is the matter of first importance in the mor- al education of men. So much is this the truth that it has been a maxim of theolo- gy that conversion must be preceded by conviction of sin. In other words men must be aroused to the perception of themselves as distinct from the world of natural forces in which they live and of which in their physical nature they are a part Until they have been aroused to this perception no large, free, personal life is possible for them. They live upon plain, however circumspect and moral their lives may be. Their thoughts are but merely outward and around them, not upward, in which direction alone true freedom lies. Nor will men, as a general thing, be prompted to look upward until they have been made to feel the limita- tion and tyranny of this sense-world. Who will set himself to study until he has became conscious of his ignorance as a limitation and a curse from which he must exert himself to escape? As little are men inclined to accept the salvation or deliverance into larger sphere of being held out to them through Christ until