THE PRINCIPAL WHEAT.

"The principal wheat."--ISAIAH 28:25.

THE prophet mentions it as a matter of wisdom on the part of the

husbandman, that HE KNOWS WHAT IS THE PRINCIPAL THING TO CULTIVATE, and

makes it his principal care. The text, with the connection, runs thus:

"Does not the husbandman cast in the principal wheat?" He does not go to

the granary and take out wheat, and cummin, and barley, and rye, and

fling these about right and left, but he estimates the value of each

grain, and arranges them in his mind accordingly. He does not think that

cummin and caraway, which he merely grows to give a flavor to his meal,

are of half such importance as his bread-corn; and, though rye and

barley have their values, yet he does not reckon that even these are

equal to what he calls "the principal wheat." He is a man of discretion,

he arranges things; he places the most important crop in the front rank,

and spends upon it the most care.

Here let us learn a lesson. Do keep things distinct in your minds--not

huddled and muddled by a careless thoughtlessness. Do not live a

confused life, without care and discretion, running all things into one;

but sort things out, and divide and distinguish between the precious and

the vile. See what this is worth, and what the other is worth, and set

your matters in rank and order, making some of them principal, and

others of them inferior. I suggest to you young people especially that,

in starting life, you say to yourselves, "What shall we live for? There

is a principal thing for which we ought to live, what shall it be?" Have

you turned over that question, or have you gone at it hit or miss? What

are you living for? What is your principal aim? Is it going to be that

of the old gentleman in Horace who said to his boy, "Get money: get it

honestly, if you can; but, by all means, get money." Will you be a

money-spinner? Shall coin be your principal corn? Or will you choose a

life of pleasure--"a short life and a merry one," as so many fools have

said to their great sorrow? Is it in dissipation that your life is to be

spent? Are thistles to be your principal crop? Because there is a

pleasure in looking at a Scotch thistle, do you intend to grow acres of

pleasurable vice? And will you make your bed upon them when you come to

die? Search and see what is worthy of being the principal object in

life; and, when you have found it out, then beseech the Holy Spirit to

help you to choose that one thing, and to give all your powers and

faculties to the cultivation of it. The farmer, who finds that wheat

ought to be his principal crop, makes it so, and lays himself out with

that end in view; learn from this to have a main object, and to give

your whole mind to it.

This farmer was wise, because _he counted that to be principal which was

the most needful_. His family could do without cummin, which was but a

flavoring. Perhaps the mistress might complain, or the cook might

grumble, but that did not signify so much as it would do if the children

cried for bread. They certainly must have wheat, for bread is the staff

of life. It is bread that strengtheneth man's heart, and therefore the

farmer must grow wheat if he does not grow anything else. That which is

necessary he regarded as the principal thing. Is not this common sense?

If we were wisely to sit down and estimate, should we not say, "To be

forgiven my sins, to be right with God, to be holy, to be fit to live

eternally in heaven, is the greatest, the most needful thing for me, and

therefore I will make it the principal object of my pursuit"? A creature

cannot be satisfied unless he is answering the end for which he is

created; and the end of every intelligent creature is first, to glorify

God, and next, to enjoy God. What a bliss it must be to enjoy God

himself for ever and ever! Other things may be desirable, but this thing

is needful. A competence of income, a measure of esteem among men, a

degree of health--all these are the flavoring of life, but to be saved

in the Lord with an everlasting salvation is life itself. Jesus Christ

is the bread by which our soul's best life is sustained. Oh, that we

were all wise enough to feel that to be one with Christ is the one thing

needful; that to be at peace with God is the principal thing; that to be

brought into harmony with the Most High is the true music of our being.

Other herbs may take their place in due order, but grace is the

principal wheat, and we must cultivate it.

This farmer was wise, because _he made that to be the principal thing

which was the most fit to be so_. Of course, barley is useful as food,

for nations have lived on barley bread, and lived healthily too; and rye

has been the nutriment of millions; neither have they starved on oats

and other grains. Still, give me a piece of wheaten bread, for it is the

best staff for life's journey. This farmer knew that wheat was the most

fitting food for man, and so he did not put the inferior grain, which

might act as a substitute, into the prominent place; but he gave his

wheat the preference. He did not say, "the principal barley," or "the

principal rye," much less "the principal cummin," or "the principal

fitches," but "the principal wheat."

And what is there, brethren, that is so fit for the heart, the mind, the

soul of man, as to know God and his Christ? Other mental foods, such as

the fruits of knowledge, and the dainties of science, excellent though

they may be--are inferior nutriment and unsuitable to build up the inner

manhood. In my God and my Saviour, I find my heaven and my all. My soul

sits down to a crumb of truth about Jesus, and finds great satisfaction

in living upon it. The more we can know God, and enjoy God, and become

like to God, and the more Christ is our daily bread, the more do we

perceive the fitness of all this to our new-born natures. O beloved,

make that to be your principal object which is the fittest pursuit of an

immortal mind.

"Religion is the chief concern

Of mortals here below;

May I its great importance learn,

Its sovereign virtue know!

"More needful this than glittering wealth,

Or aught the world bestows:

Not reputation, food, or health,

Can give us such repose."

Moreover, this farmer was wise, because _he made that the principal

thing which was the most profitable_. Under certain circumstances, in

our own country, wheat is not the most profitable thing which a man can

grow; but, ordinarily, it is the best crop that the earth yields, and

therefore the text speaks of "the principal wheat." Our grandfathers

used to rely upon the wheat stack to pay their rent. They looked to

their corn as the arm of their strength; and though it is not so now, it

always was so of old, and perhaps it may yet be so again. Anyhow, the

figure holds good with regard to true religion. That is the most

profitable thing. I am told that rich men find it very hard to get hold

of anything which yields five per cent, nowadays; but this blessed fear

of the Lord is an extraordinarily profitable investment, for it does not

yield a hundred per cent, or a thousand per cent, but a man begins with

nothing and all things become his by faith. Being freely discharged of

our sins, we are by overflowing grace greatly enriched, so that we

number among our possessions heaven itself, Christ himself, God himself.

All things are ours. Oh, what a blessed crop to sow! What a harvest

comes of it! Godliness is profitable for the life that now is, and for

that which is to come. Godliness is a blessing to a man's body, it keeps

him from drunkenness and vice; and it is a blessing to his soul, it

makes him sweet and pure. It is a blessing to him every way. If I had to

die like a dog, I would like to live like a Christian. If there were no

hereafter, yet still, for comfort and for joy, give me the life of one

who strives to live like Christ. There is a practical everyday truth in

the verse--

"'Tis religion that can give

Sweetest pleasures while we live;

'Tis religion must supply

Solid comfort when we die."

Only that religion must not be of the common sort; it must have for its

root a hearty faith in Jesus Christ. See ye to it. Our religion must be

either everything or nothing, either first or nowhere. Make it "the

principal wheat," and it will richly repay you.

II. Secondly, the husbandman is a lesson to us because HE GIVES THIS

PRINCIPAL THING THE PRINCIPAL PLACE. I find that the Hebrew is rendered

by some eminent scholars, "He puts the wheat into the principal place."

That little handful of cummin for the wife to flavor the cakes with he

grows in a corner; and the various herbs he places in their proper

borders. The barley he sets in its plot, and the rye in its acre; but if

there is a good bit of rich soil--the best he has--he appropriates it to

the principal wheat. He gives his choicest fields to that which is to be

the main means of his living.

Now, here is a lesson for you and for me. Let us give to true godliness

our principal powers and abilities. Let us give to the things of God our

best and _most intense thought_. I pray you, do not take religion at

second hand from what I tell you, or from what somebody else tells you;

but think it over. Read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the word of

God. The thoughtful Christian is the growing Christian. Remember, the

service of God deserves our first consideration and endeavor. We are

poor things at our prime, but we ought to give the Lord nothing short of

our best. God would not have us serve him heedlessly, but he would have

us use all the brain and intellect and mind that we have in studying and

practising his word. "Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace."

"Meditate upon these things. Give thyself wholly to them." If your mind

is more clear and active at one time than at another, then sow the

principal wheat. If you feel more fresh and more inclined to think at

one time of the day than at another, let your mind then go towards the

best things.

Be sure, also, to yield to this subject _your most earnest love_. The

best field in the little estate of manhood is not the head, but the

heart; sow the principal wheat there. Oh, to have true religion in the

heart; to love what we know--intensely to love it; to hold it fast as

with the grip of life and death--never to let it go! The Lord says, "My

son, give me thy heart," and he will not be contented with anything less

than our heart. Oh, when your zeal is most burning, and your love is

most fervent, let the warmth and the fervency all go towards the Lord

your God, and to the service of him who has redeemed you with his

precious blood. Let the principal wheat have the principal part of your

nature. Towards God and his Christ also turn your _most fervent

desires_. When you enlarge your desire, desire Christ; when you become

ambitious let your ambition be all for God. Let your hunger and your

thirst be after righteousness. Let your aspirations and your longings be

all towards holiness, and the things that shall make you like to Christ.

Give to this principal wheat your principal desires.

Then let the Lord have _the attentive respect of your life_. Let the

principal wheat be sown in every action. If we are truly Christians we

must be as much Christians outside the church as in it. We shall try to

make our eating and our drinking, and everything we do, tend to the

glory of God. Draw no line between the secular and the religious part of

your conduct, but let the secular be made religious by a devout desire

to glorify God in the one as much as in the other. Let us worship God

in the commonest duties of life, even as they do who stand before his

throne. So it ought to be. Let us sow the principal wheat in all the

fields of our conversation, in business, in the family, among our

friends, and with our children. May we each one feel, "For me to live is

Christ. I cannot live without Christ, or for anything but Christ." Let

your whole nature yield itself to Jesus, and to none else.

We should give to this principal wheat _our most earnest labors_. We

should spend ourselves for the spread of the gospel. A Christian man

ought to lay himself out to serve Jesus. I hate to see a professing man

zealous in politics and lukewarm in devotion; all on fire at a parish

vestry, and chill as winter when he comes to a prayer-meeting. Some fly

like eagles when they are serving the world, but they have a broken wing

in the service of God. This should not be. If anything could rouse us

up, and make the lion within us roar in his strength, it should be when

we confront the foes of Jesus or fight in his cause. Our Lord's service

is the principal wheat, let us labor most in connection with it.

This, I think, should also take possession of us so as to lead to _our

greatest sacrifices_. The love of Christ ought to be so strong as to

swallow up self, and make sacrifice our daily joy. For Christ's name's

sake we should be willing to endure poverty, reproach, slander, exile,

death. Nothing should be dear to a Christian in comparison with Christ.

Now, I will put it to you whether it is so or no. Is the love of Jesus

the principal wheat with us? Are we giving our religion the chief place

or not? I am afraid some people treat religion as certain gentlemen

treat an off-hand farm; they put a bailiff into it, and only give an

eye to it now and then. Their minister is the bailiff, and they expect

him to see to it for them. These off-hand farms are losing concerns.

Look at these half-and-half brethren. They have religion? Certainly. But

they are like the man of whom the child spoke at the Sunday-school. "Is

your father a Christian?" said the teacher. "Yes," said the child, "but

he has not worked much at it lately." I could point out several of this

sort, who are sowing their wheat very sparingly, and choosing the most

barren patch to sow it in. They profess to be Christians, but religion

is a tenth-rate article on their farm. Some have a large acreage for the

world, and a poor little plot for Christ. They are growers of worldly

pleasure and self-indulgence, and they sow a little religion by the

roadside for appearance sake. This will not do. God will not thus be

mocked. If we despise him and his truth we shall be lightly esteemed. O

come let us give our principal time, talent, thought, effort to that

which is the chief concern of immortal spirits. May we imitate the

husbandman who gives the principal wheat the principal place in his

farm.

III. Let us learn a third lesson. THE HUSBANDMAN SELECTS THE PRINCIPAL

SEED-CORN WHEN HE IS SOWING HIS WHEAT. When a farmer is setting aside

wheat for sowing, he does not choose the tail corn and the worst of his

produce, but if he is a sensible man he likes to sow the best wheat in

the world. Many farmers search the country round for a good sample of

wheat for sowing, for they do not expect to get a good harvest out of

bad seed. The husbandman is taught of God to put into the ground "the

principal wheat." Let me learn that if I am going to sow to the Lord

and to be a Christian, I should sow the best kind of Christianity.

I should try to do this, first, _by believing the weightiest doctrines_.

I would believe not this "ism," nor that, but the unadulterated truth

which Jesus taught; for a holy character will only grow by the Spirit of

God out of true doctrine. Falsehood breeds sin: truth begets and fosters

holiness. You and I therefore ought to select our seed carefully, and

cast out all error. If we are wise we shall think most of the most

important truths, for I have known people attach the greatest importance

to the smallest things. They fight over the fitches, and leave the wheat

to the crows. As for me, those who will may dispute over vials and

trumpets, I shall mainly preach the doctrine of the precious blood and

the glorious truths of substitution and atonement. These doctrines are

the principal wheat, and therefore these shall have my choice.

Next to that, we ought to sow _the noblest examples_. Many men are

dwarfed because they choose a bad model to start with. They imitate dear

old Mr. So-and-so till they grow wonderfully like him with the best of

him left out. A minister happens to be of a gloomy turn of mind, and he

preaches the deep experience of the children of God, and in consequence

a band of good people think it their duty to be melancholy. Why need

they fall into a ditch because their leader has splashed himself? We

should never copy any man's infirmities. To be like Paul there is no

need to have weak eyes; to be like Thomas there is no necessity to

doubt. If you copy any good man, there is a point at which you ought to

stop short. If I must have a human model, I would prefer one of the

bravest of the saints of God; but oh how much better to follow that

perfect pattern which you have in Christ Jesus!

We should sow the best wheat by seeing that we have _the purest spirit_.

Alas! how soon do spirits become soiled by self or pride, or despondency

or sloth, or some earthly taint. But what a grand thing it is to live in

the spirit of Christ! May we be humble, lowly, bold, self-sacrificing,

pure, chaste, and holy.

And, then, there is one more mode of sowing selected seed. We should

endeavor to live in _the closest communion with God_. A dear brother

prayed just now that we might have as much grace as we were capable of

receiving, and that God would bring us into such a state that we might

not hinder him in anything which he willed to do by us. This is a good

prayer. It should be our desire to rise to the highest form of spiritual

life. If you sow this principal wheat, get the best sort of it. There is

a spirit and a spirit; and there are doctrines and doctrines; the best

is the best for you. O young men, if you mean to have piety, go in for

it thoroughly. Do not sneak through the world as if you were ashamed of

your Lord. If you are Christ's, show your colors. Rally to his banner,

gather to his trumpet call, and then stand up, stand up for Jesus. If

there is any manhood in you, this great cause calls for it all; exhibit

it, and may the Spirit of God help you so to do.

IV. Fourthly, THE HUSBANDMAN GROWS THE PRINCIPAL WHEAT WITH THE

PRINCIPAL CARE. Some critics say that the proper translation is that the

husbandman plants his wheat in rows. It is said that the large crops in

Palestine in olden time were due to the fact that they planted the

wheat. They set it in lines, so that it was not checked or suffocated

by its being too thick in one place, neither was there any fear of its

being too thin in another. The wheat was planted, and then streams of

water were turned by the foot to each particular plant. No wonder,

therefore, that the land brought forth abundantly.

We should give our principal care to the principal thing. Our godliness

should be carried out with discretion and care. Brethren, are we careful

enough as to our religious walk? Have you ever searched to the bottom of

your profession? Why do you happen to be members of a certain church?

Your mother was so. Well, there is some good in that reason, but not

enough to justify you in the sight of God. I pray you judge your

standing. If any Christian minister is afraid to urge you to this duty,

I stand in doubt of him. I am not at all afraid. I beg you to examine

all that I teach you, for I would not like to be responsible for another

man's creed. Like the Bereans, search and see whether these things be

according to Scripture or not. One of the greatest blessings that could

come upon the church would be a searching spirit which would refer

everything to the Holy Scriptures. If they speak not according to this

word it is because there is no light in them. Do your service to God as

carefully as the eastern farmer planted his wheat, when he set it in

rows with great orderliness and exactness. You serve a precise God,

therefore serve him precisely. He is a jealous God, therefore be jealous

of the least taint of error or will-worship.

Take care, also, that you water every part of your religion, as the

farmer watered each plant. Pray for grace from on high that you may

never be parched and dried up. Perform to your faith, to your hope, to

your love, and to all the plants that are in your soul every other

service which the husbandman renders to his wheat. Give grace your

principal care, for it deserves it.

V. With this I close. Do this, because FROM THIS YOU MAY EXPECT YOUR

PRINCIPAL CROP. If religion be the principal thing, you may look to

religion for your principal reward. The harvest will come to you in

various ways. You will make the greatest success in this life if you

wholly live to the glory of God. Success or failure must much depend

upon the fitness of our object. It is of no use _my_ attempting to sing,

for I shall never be able to conduct a choir. I could not succeed in

that, but if I preach, I may succeed, for that is my work. Now you,

Christian man, if you try to live to the world you will not prosper, for

you are not fitted for it. Grace has spoiled you for sin. If you live to

God with all your heart you will succeed in it, for God has made you on

purpose for it. As he made the fish for the water, and the birds for the

air, so he made the believer for holiness, and for the service of God;

and you will be out of your element, a fish out of water, or a bird in

the stream, if you leave the service of God. The Eastern farmer's

prosperity hinges on his wheat, and yours upon your devotion to God. It

is to Godliness that you must look for your joy. Is there any bliss like

the bliss of knowing that you are in Christ, and are the beloved of the

Lord? It is to your religion that you must look for comfort on a sick

and dying bed, and you may be there very soon.

In the world to come what a crop, what a harvest will come of serving

the Lord! What will come out of all else? What but mere smoke? A man has

made a million of money, and he is dead. What has he got by his wealth?

A man's fame rings throughout the earth as a great and successful

warrior, and he is dead. What has he as the result of all his honors? To

live to the world is like playing with boys in the street for halfpence,

or with babes for bits of platter and oyster shells. Life for God is

real and substantial, but all else is waste. Let us think so, and gird

up our loins to serve the Lord. May the divine Spirit help us to sow

"the principal wheat," and to live in joyful expectation of reaping a

happy harvest according to the promise, "They that sow in tears shall

reap in joy."