firmly rooted, that all their parts are sound, and thus they shew that they are under good culture, and in a fine soil.

But all trees are not fruit trees; there are many kinds of forest trees, some of which are cultivated for special purposes, many of them for ornament, and are generally to be seen in shubberies; they are frequently used as a screen from the scorching heat of the sun, or from blighting winds in bleak situations, where they will defend tender fruit-bearing trees: such are men of the world when compared with the trees planted in the garden of the Lord, and it is to be lamented that in some of our churches these wild trees of the wood get footing, and occasionally their foliage thickens so as to cast a dense shade over the garden, which proves baneful to valuable plants. "Some persons possess a kind of religion which can be made to bend to places and seasons, to climates and customs, to times and circumstances; which takes its tincture from the fashion without, and not its habits from the principle within, which is decent with the pious, sober with the orderly, and loose with the licentious."

There are also fruit trees in this garden which are alive but barren; they seem to be suffered to retain their standing as if it were upon trial, to ascertain whether or not they will bear fruit; the parable of the barren fig tree is an illustration; the Lord often comes, seeking fruit, and notwithstanding the digging and the dunging they still remain unproductive; but there is a determined time when God will not bear longer with barren souls, for they are not only useless themselves, but there is danger of their spoiling others, as well as impoverishing the soil: "Cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?" It was of these leafbearing trees that the apostle Paul, the dresser of the

Galatian vineyard, said, "But now, after that you have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain."

Some trees stand fifteen or twenty years before they bear fruit, and of such are the walnut and mulberry trees; but as these are not the most valuable of fruit, so it will be granted they are not the most desirable; indeed, they are fruit trees that we can manage very well without, but how do these remarks appear when applied to professors? Are they too pointed? No, indeed; there are professors in some churches, that those churches could do very well without; there remains, however, this consolation, that bearing fruit at last will save their souls from final destruction, although they have but little profited the church or adorned their standing. But who that is wise will be content to occupy so low a station as to leave it doubtful whether or not he is a child of God? Who, that consults his own peace and comfort, would be numbered with those who are " scarcely saved?"

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Some trees bear fruit of a different kind from others. Abraham was eminent for faith; Moses for meekness; Job for patience and resignation; Enoch for holiness of life; Daniel for prayer, and an undaunted confidence in God; Joseph for chastity; St. Paul for indefatigable zeal; the apostle John for love. These were all trees of the Lord; and the graces for which they were conspicuous are left on record for our example, that we should tread in their steps, and glorify God. In a well cultivated, or rather in a curiously cultivated garden, we see trees bearing two, three, or more kinds of fruit upon the same stem; these

are trees that have been budded, or grafted with sorts which were foreign to their nature; and how beautifully is the comparison borne out in the lives of very, very many of the trees of the Lord, who are exercising graces quite foreign to the old Adamic stock.

As some trees bear fruit of a different kind from others, so some yield fruit of a better quality; all being ingrafted upon the old stock; and as in nature some trees are budded or grafted with a variety of sorts of fruit, so it is in the garden of the Lord; while there are some kinds of fruit that are in common to all the trees that are of his planting, of which faith and humility are the principal. Our Saviour was himself the greatest example of humility; for he debased himself to put on the form of a servant, to teach us to be meek and lowly. "Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls." But some fruit is of a better quality, and attains to a greater degree of perfection, than other sorts. There are many kinds of apples and pears; some of them are of finer flavour than others. Among the plants of the Lord this difference is to be accounted for, in some measure, from the nature of the stock upon which the fruits of grace are ingrafted; and which, although all are sinful, yet there is a difference of constitutional temperament that is not changed, but is turned into a different channel, and to which a different bias is given, and which exerts a various influence; and this may be one reason; another may be looked for in the length of time they have been in cultivation, for it must be borne in mind that the grafts grow as well as the stock. The many storms and tempests they have withstood, together with other atmospherical changes, must also be taken into the calculation.

Many have encountered greater hard

ships, weightier trials, keener afflictions, severer chastisements, than others; and on these trees the fruit is more rare, and of better quality. But as in nature, so in grace, there are seasons and circumstances when the old stock will bud; blessed be God, these unkindly shoots are no sooner visible than they are thumb pruned, or rubbed off.

Again, some trees yield more fruit than others; they are better bearers; some bring forth thirty, some sixty, and some an hundred-fold; and these are the trees that ARE Full of sap. The sap is the very vitals and life of the tree; hence the difference between a green branch and a dry stock; that which is alive and flourishing shall be watered that it may bring forth more fruit; but "thus saith the Lord, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every dry tree, and the flaming flame shall not be quenched." What the sap

is to the tree, that grace is to the heart; it is the vitals of Christianity; and those Christians that are full of this sap grow luxuriantly. Some are most conspicuous for being full of the sap of faith; some are full of the sap of humility, &c.; and these are they to whom the Psalmist alluded in the 92nd Psalm: "Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God; they shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing."

A tree that is in a flourishing condition, strong and healthy, well rooted in good soil, and full of sap, is not easily injured by atmospherical changes; it can stand either an intense frost or a burning sun; blight and mildew do not affect it; insects and animalculæ never attack it. These things only injure sickly trees, or those that are decayed; but the tree that is full of sap may be turned topsy turvy, the branches buried in the earth, and the roots exposed to the influence of

sun and air, and it will still thrive, and grow, and bear fruit. This experiment has been tried upon several hardy kinds of trees and shrubs, and has succeeded to admiration. The roots of a gooseberry tree thus exposed have put forth buds and thorns, and borne fruit. It may be asked, has not the same experiment, if it may be so called, often been tried upon believers? Have they not frequently been placed in reversed circumstances, and still thriven? Was it not so with holy Job, when he was bereft of everything? "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." God himself bare witness to the truth of it: “He said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, a perfect and an upright man? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause.”

The palm tree has been considered an apt emblem of a righteous man. Naturalists assert that it cannot be made to grow otherwise than in a straight and upright position; and though immensely heavy weights have been laid upon it, it will not grow crooked, or be bound downwards; but in proportion to the oppression so it flourisheth, the higher it grows, and the stronger and broader it spreads in the top. Hence it is the usual emblem of constancy, fruitfulness, patience, and victory. Such is the believer in distressing circumstances, —the more his faith is tried, the greater its increase; “The trees of the Lord are full of sap: the righteous shall flourish like the palm tree; he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon."

The church is the nursery in which those trees are reared and cultivated.—A nursery is usually an enclosure, and such is Christ's church; it is enclosed from