Welsh Journals

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Vol. II.] SEPTEMBER, 1869. [No. 9. THE CARDIFF CONGREGATIONAL MAGAZINE. THOUGHTS FOR THE "TIME OF HARVEST." The bountiful providence of the Universal Father has again brought round to us "the appointed weeks of harvest," and the yearly fruits of the earth are being gathered in. Let us look upon the glorious vision of the harvest fields, and receive instruction. Let us look upon it not merely as reminding us how our physical life as a people is sustained, nor yet merely in the higher light of poetic sentiment, but as that which has nobler offices to perform for us, and richer fruits to shed into our bosoms. There are grand lessons which it impresses on us as to the thoughtful, loving, and unfailing care of God over us all, and as to the way in which a practical beneficence, catching the inspiration and work¬ ing after the pattern of His, ought to be the law of our social life. But passing by these, let us think of the moral analogies of which the time of harvest is the perpetual memorial. If the familiar scenes and operations of the natural world do not continually lead forth our minds into the world of moral truth, they are failing to accomplish for us their highest end. They are meant to be images of something greater— shadows, prophecies of something more real and abiding ; and if we do not deal with them as such, we are so far abusing the glorious work of the Creator. We turn it only to its lower uses, and show that we have never yet attained to the right idea of it as one of God's great gifts to man for the education of his moral and spiritual nature. It is a great mistake, though a common one, to suppose that this elevated idea of the world as the sphere of our present existence, is one that can be appreciated only by people of learning and of educated taste—that it is beyond the reach of others. Such a notion has tended greatly to keep the common mind inactive, and make the world a blank to the great mass of men. There are many considerations, however, which show how false a notion it is ; and not the least of them is the fact that the general method of our Lord's teachings was by the use of figures and natural analogies. His teaching was always an appeal to the common