"They joy before thee according to the joy in harvest."--ISAIAH 9:3.
THE other day I kept the feast with a company who shouted "Harvest
Home." I was glad to see the rich and poor rejoicing together; and when
the cheerful meal was ended, I was glad to turn one of the tables into a
pulpit, and in the large barn to preach the gospel of the ever-blessed
God to an earnest audience. My heart was merry in harmony with the
occasion, and I shall now keep in the same key, and talk to you a little
upon the joy of harvest. Londoners forget that it is harvest time;
living in this great desert of dingy bricks we hardly know what a
wheat-ear is like, except as we see it dry and white in the window of a
corn dealer's shop; yet let us all remember that there is such a season
as harvest, when by God's goodness the fruits of the earth are gathered
in.
WHAT IS THE JOY OF HARVEST which is here taken as the simile of the joy
of the saints before God? I am afraid that to the mere selfish order of
spirits the joy of harvest is simply that of personal gratification at
the increase of wealth. Sometimes the farmer only rejoices because _he
sees the reward of his toils_, and is so much the richer man. I hope
that with many there mingles the second cause of joy; namely, gratitude
to God that an abundant harvest will give bread to the poor, and remove
complaining from our streets. There is a lawful joy in harvest, no
doubt, to the man who is enriched by it; for any man who works hard has
a right to rejoice when at last he gains his desire. It would be well if
men would always recollect that their last and greatest harvest will be
to them according to their labor. He that soweth to the flesh will of
the flesh reap corruption, and only the man that soweth to the spirit
will of the spirit reap life everlasting. Many a young man commences
life by sowing what he calls his wild oats, which he had better never
have sown, for they will bring him a terrible harvest. He expects that
from these wild oats he will gather a harvest of true pleasure, but it
cannot be; the truest pleasures of life spring from the good seed of
righteousness, and not from the hemlock of sin. As a man who sows
thistles in his furrows must not expect to reap the golden wheatsheaf,
so he who follows the ways of vice must not expect happiness. On the
contrary, if he sows the wind he will reap the whirlwind. When a sinner
feels the pangs of conscience he may well say, "This is what I sowed."
When he shall at last receive the punishment of his evil deeds he will
blame no one but himself; he sowed tares and he must reap tares. On the
other hand, the Christian man, though his salvation is not of works, but
of grace, will have a gracious reward given to him by his Master. Sowing
in tears, he shall reap in joy. Putting out his talents to interest, he
shall enter into his Master's joy, and hear him say, "Well done, good
and faithful servant." The joy of harvest in part consists of the reward
of labor; may such be our joy in serving the Lord.
The joy of harvest has another element in it, namely, that of _gratitude
to God for favors bestowed_. We are singularly dependent on God; far
more so than most of us imagine. When the children of Israel were in the
wilderness they went forth every morning and gathered the manna. Our
manna does not come to us every morning, but it comes once a year. It is
as much a heavenly supply as if it lay like a hoarfrost round about the
camp. If we went out into the field and gathered food which dropped from
the clouds we should think it a great miracle; and is it not as great a
marvel that our bread should come up from the earth as that it should
come down from the sky? The same God who bade the heavens drop with
angels' food bids the dull earth in its due season yield corn for
mankind. Therefore whenever we find that harvest comes, let us be
grateful to God, and let us not suffer the season to pass over without
psalms of thanksgiving. I believe I shall be correct if I say that there
is never in the world, as a rule, more than sixteen months' supply of
food; that is to say, when the harvest is gathered in, there may be
sixteen months' supply; but at the time of harvest there is not usually
enough wheat in the whole world to last the population more than four or
five months; so that if the harvest did not come we should be on the
verge of famine. We live still from hand to mouth. Let us pause and
bless God, and let the joy of harvest be the joy of gratitude.
To the Christian it should be great joy, by means of the harvest, _to
receive an assurance of God's faithfulness_. The Lord has promised that
seed-time and harvest, summer and winter, shall never cease; and when
you see the loaded wain carrying in the crop you may say to yourself,
"God is true to his promise. Despite the dreary winter and the damp
spring, autumn has come with its golden grain." Depend upon it, that as
the Lord keeps this promise he will keep all the rest. All his promises
are yea and amen in Christ Jesus; if he keeps his covenant to the earth,
much more will he keep his covenant with his own people, whom he hath
loved with an everlasting love. Go, Christian, to the mercy-seat with
the promise on your lip and plead it. Be assured it is not a dead
letter. Let not unbelief cause you to stammer when you mention the
promise before the throne, but say it boldly--"Fulfil this word unto thy
servant on which thou hast caused me to hope." Shame upon us that we so
little believe our God. The world is full of proofs of his goodness.
Every rising sun, every falling shower, every revolving season certifies
his faithfulness. Wherefore do we doubt him? If we never doubt him till
we have cause for it we shall never know distrust again. Encouraged by
the return of harvest, let us resolve in the strength of the Spirit of
God that we will not waver, but will believe in the divine word and
rejoice in it.
Once more. To the Christian, in the joy of harvest there will always be
_the joy of expectation_. As there is a harvest to the husbandman for
which he waiteth patiently, so there is a harvest for all faithful
waiters who are looking for the coming and the appearing of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ. The mature Christian, like the ripe ear of corn,
hangs down his head with holy humility. When he was but green in the
things of God he stood erect and was somewhat boastful, but now that he
has become full of the blessing of the Lord he is humbled thereby, and
bows himself down; he is waiting for the sickle, and he dreads it not,
for no common reaper shall come to gather Christ's people--he himself
shall reap the harvest of the world. The Lord leaves the destroying
angel to reap the vintage and to cast it into the wine-vat to be trodden
with vengeance; but as for the grain which he himself has sown, he will
gather it himself with his own golden sickle. We are looking for this.
We are growing among the tares, and sometimes we are half afraid lest
the tares should be stronger than ourselves and choke the wheat; but we
shall be separated by-and-by, and when the corn is well winnowed and
stored in the garner, we shall be there. It is this expectation which
even now makes our hearts throb with joy. We have gone to the grave with
precious sheaves that belonged to our Master, and when we were there we
thought we could almost say, "Lord, if they sleep they shall do well.
Let us die with them." Our joy of harvest is the hope of being at rest
with all the saints, and for ever with the Lord. A view of these shadowy
harvests upon earth should make us exceedingly glad, because they are
the image and foreshadowing of the eternal harvest above.
So much about the joy of harvest; but I hasten onward. WHAT JOYS ARE
THOSE WHICH TO THE BELIEVER ARE AS THE JOY OF HARVEST? It is a common
notion that Christians are an unhappy people. It is true that we are
tried, but it is false that we are miserable. With all their trials,
believers have such a compensation in the love of Christ that they are
still a blessed generation, and it may be said of them, "Happy art thou,
O Israel."
One of the first seasons in which we knew a joy equal to the joy of
harvest--a season which has continued with us ever since it
commenced--was _when we found the Saviour_, and so obtained salvation.
You recollect for yourselves, brethren and sisters, the time of the
ploughing of your souls. My heart was fallow, and covered with weeds;
but on a certain day the great Husbandman came and began to plough my
soul. Ten black horses were his team, and it was a sharp ploughshare
that he used, and the ploughers made deep furrows. The ten commandments
were those black horses, and the justice of God, like a ploughshare,
tore my spirit. I was condemned, undone, destroyed, lost, helpless,
hopeless--I thought hell was before me. Then there came a cross
ploughing, for when I went to hear the gospel it did not comfort me; it
made me wish I had a part in it, but I feared that such a boon was out
of the question. The choicest promises of God frowned at me, and his
threatenings thundered at me. I prayed, but found no answer of peace. It
was long with me thus. After the ploughing came the sowing. God who
ploughed the heart made it conscious that it needed the gospel, and the
gospel seed was joyfully received. Do you recollect that auspicious day
when at last you began to have some little hope? It was very
little--like a green blade that peeps up from the soil; you scarce knew
whether it was grass or corn, whether it was presumption or true faith.
It was a little hope, but it grew very pleasantly. Alas, a frost of
doubt came; snow of fear fell; cold winds of despondency blew on you,
and you said, "There can be no hope for me." But what a glorious day was
that when at last the wheat which God had sown ripened, and you could
say, "I have looked unto him and have been lightened; I have laid my
sins on Jesus, where God laid them of old, and they are taken away, and
I am saved." I remember well that day, and so no doubt do many of you.
O sirs! no husbandman ever shouted for joy as our heart shouted when a
precious Christ was ours, and we could grasp him with full assurance of
salvation in him. Many days have passed since then, but the joy of it is
still fresh with us. And, blessed be God, it is not the joy of the first
day only that we look back upon; it is the joy of every day since then,
more or less; for our joy no man taketh from us; still we are walking in
Christ, even as we received him. Even now all our hope on him is stayed,
all our help from him we bring; and our joy and peace continue with us
because they are based upon an immovable foundation. We rejoice in the
Lord, yea, and we will rejoice.
The joy of harvest generally shows itself by the farmer giving a feast
to his friends and neighbors; and, usually, those who find Christ
express their joy by telling their friends and their neighbors how great
things the Lord hath done for them. The grace of God is communicative. A
man cannot be saved, and always hold his tongue about it; as well look
for dumb choirs in heaven as for a silent church on earth. If a man has
been thirsty, and has come to the living stream, his first impulse will
be to cry, "Ho! every one that thirsteth!" Do you feel the joy of
harvest, the joy that makes you wish that others should share with you?
If so, do not repress the impulse to proclaim your happiness. Speak of
Christ to brothers and sisters, to friends and kinsfolk; and, if the
language be stammering, the message in itself is so important that the
words in which you couch it will be a secondary consideration. Tell it,
tell it out far and wide--that there is a Saviour, that you have found
him, and that his blood can wash away transgression. Tell it every
where; and so the joy of harvest shall spread o'er land and sea, and God
shall be glorified.
We have another joy which is like the joy of harvest. We frequently have
it, too. It is _the joy of answered prayer_. I hope you know what it is
to pray in faith. Some prayer is not worth the words used in presenting
it, because there is no faith mixed with it. "With all thy sacrifices
thou shalt offer salt," and the salt of faith is needful if we would
have our sacrifices accepted. Those who are familiar with the mercy-seat
know that prayer is a reality, and that the doctrine of divine answers
to prayer is no fiction. Sometimes God will delay to answer for wise
reasons; then his children must cry, and cry, and cry again. They are in
the condition of the husbandman who must wait for the precious fruits of
the earth; and when at last the answer to prayer comes, they are then in
the husbandman's position when he receives the harvest. Remember
Hannah's wail and Hannah's word. In the bitterness of her soul she cried
to God, and when her child was given to her she called it "Samuel,"
meaning, "Asked of God;" for, said she, "For this child I prayed." He
was a dear child to her, because he was a child of prayer. Any mercy
that comes to you in answer to prayer will be your Samuel mercy, your
darling mercy. You will say of it, "For this mercy I prayed," and it
will bring the joy of harvest to your spirit. If the Lord desires to
surprise his children he has only to answer their prayers; for the most
of them would be astonished if an answer came to their petitions. I know
how they speak about answers to prayer. They say, "How remarkable! How
wonderful!" as if it were anything remarkable that God should be true,
and that the Most High should keep his promise. Oh for more faith to
rest upon his word! and we should have more of these harvest joys.
We have another joy of harvest in ourselves _when we conquer a
temptation_. We know what it is to get under a cloud sometimes; sin
within us rises with a darkening force, or an external adversity
beclouds us, and we miss the plain path we were accustomed to walk in. A
child of God at such times will cry mightily for help; for he is fearful
of himself and fearful of his surroundings. Some of God's people have
been by the week and month together exposed to the double temptation,
from without and from within, and have cried to God in bitter anguish.
It has been a very hard struggle; the sinful action has been painted in
very fascinating colors, and the siren voice of temptation has almost
enchanted them. But when at last they have got through the valley of the
shadow of death without having slipped with their feet; when, after all,
they have not been destroyed by Apollyon, but have come forth again into
the daylight, they feel a joy unspeakable, compared with which the joy
of harvest is mere childish merriment. Those know deep joy who have felt
bitter sorrow. As the man feels that he is the stronger for the
conflict, as he feels that he has gathered experience and stronger faith
from having passed through the trial, he lifts up his heart, and
rejoices, not in himself, but before his God, with the joy of harvest.
Brethren beloved, you know what that means.
Again, there is such a thing as the joy of harvest _when we have been
rendered useful_. The master passion of every Christian is to be useful.
There should be a burning zeal within us for the glory of God. When the
man who desires to be useful has laid his plans and set about his work,
he begins to look out for the results; but perhaps it will be weeks, or
years, before results will come. The worker is not to be blamed that
there are no fruits as yet, but he is to be blamed if he is content to
be without fruits. A preacher may preach without conversions, and who
shall blame him? but if he be happy, who shall excuse him? It is ours to
break our own hearts if we cannot by God's grace break other men's
hearts, if others will not weep for their sins it should be our constant
habit to weep for them. When the heart becomes earnest, warm, zealous,
God usually gives a measure of success, some fiftyfold, some a
hundredfold. When the success comes it is the joy of harvest indeed. I
cannot help being egotistical enough to mention the joy I felt when
first I heard that a soul had found peace through my youthful ministry.
I had been preaching in a village some few Sabbaths with an increasing
congregation, but I had not heard of a conversion, and I thought,
"Perhaps I am not called of God. He does not mean me to preach, for if
he did he would give me spiritual children." One Sabbath my good deacon
said, "Don't be discouraged. A poor woman was savingly impressed last
Sabbath." How long do you suppose it was before I saw that woman? It was
just as long as it took me to reach her cottage. I was eager to hear
from her own lips whether it was a work of God's grace or not. I always
looked upon her with interest, though only a poor laborer's wife, till
she was taken away to heaven, after having lived a holy life. Many since
then have I rejoiced over in the Lord, but that first seal to my
ministry was peculiarly dear to me. It gave me a sip of the joy of
harvest. If somebody had left me a fortune it would not have caused me
one-hundredth part of the delight I had in discovering that a soul had
been led to the Saviour. I am sure Christian people who have not this
joy have missed one of the choicest delights that a believer can know
this side heaven. In fact, when I see souls saved, I do not envy Gabriel
his throne nor the angels their harps. It shall be our heaven to be out
of heaven for a season if we can but bring others to know the Saviour
and so add fresh jewels to the Redeemer's crown.
I will mention another delight which is as the joy of harvest, and that
is _fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ_. This is not so much a matter
for speech as for experience and delight. If we try to speak of what
communion with Christ is, we fail. Solomon, the wisest of men, when
inspired to write of the fellowship of the church with her Lord, was
compelled to write in allegories and emblems, and though to the
spiritual mind the Book of Canticles is always delightful, yet to the
carnal mind it seems a mere love song. The natural man discerneth not
the things that be of God, for they are spiritual, and can only be
spiritually discerned. But, oh, the bliss of knowing that Christ is
yours, and of entering into nearness of communion with him. To thrust
your hand into his side, and your finger into the print of the nails;
these be not everyday joys; but when such near and dear communings come
to us on our highdays and holydays, they make our souls like the
chariots of Ammi-nadib, or, if you will, they cause us to tread the
world beneath our feet and all that earth calls good or great. Our
condition matters nothing to us if Christ be with us--he is our God, our
comfort, and our all, and we rejoice before him as with the joy of
harvest.
I have no time to enlarge further; for I want to close with one other
practical word. Many of us are anxiously desiring a harvest which would
bring to us an intense delight. Of late, divers persons have
communicated to me in many ways the strong emotion they feel of pity for
the souls of men. Others of us have felt a mysterious impulse to pray
more than we did, and to be more anxious than ever we were that Christ
would save poor perishing sinners. We shall not be satisfied until there
is a thorough awakening in this land. We did not raise the feeling in
our own minds, and we do not desire to repress it. We do not believe it
can be repressed; but others will feel the same heavenly affection, and
will sigh and cry to God day and night until the blessing comes. This is
the sowing, this is the ploughing, this is the harrowing--may it go on
to harvesting. I long to hear my brethren and sisters universally
saying, "We are full of anguish, we are in agony till souls be saved."
The cry of Rachel, "Give me children, or I die," is the cry of your
minister this day, and the longing of thousands more besides. As that
desire grows in intensity a revival is approaching. We must have
spiritual children born to Christ, or our hearts will break for the
longing that we have for their salvation. Oh for more of these longings,
yearnings, cravings, travailings! If we plead till the harvest of
revival comes we shall partake in the joy of it.
Who will have the most joy? Those who have been the most concerned about
it. You who do not pray in private, nor come out to prayer-meetings,
will not have the joy when the blessing comes, and the church is
increased. You had no share in the sowing, therefore you will have
little share in the reaping. You who never speak to others about their
souls, who take no share in Sunday-school or mission work, but simply
eat the fat and drink the sweet--you shall have none of the joy of
harvest, for you do not put your hands to the work of the Lord. And who
would wish that idlers should be happy? Rather in our zeal and jealousy
we feel inclined to say, "Curse ye Meroz, curse ye bitterly the
inhabitants thereof; because they came not up to the help of the Lord,
to the help of the Lord against the mighty." If you come to the help of
the Lord by his own divine Spirit, you shall share the joy of harvest.
Perhaps none will have more of that joy than those who shall have the
privilege of seeing their own dear ones brought to God. Some of you have
children who are a trial to you whenever you think of them; let them be
such a trial to you that they drive you to incessant prayer for them,
and, if the blessing comes, why should it not drop on them? If a revival
comes, why should not your daughter yet be converted, and that wild boy
of yours be brought in, or even your gray-headed father, who has been
sceptical and unbelieving--why should not the grace of God come to him?
And, oh, what a joy of harvest you will have then? What bliss will
thrill through your spirit when you see those who are united to you in
ties of blood united to Christ your Lord! Pray much for them with
earnest faith, and you shall yet have the joy of harvest in your own
house, a shout of harvest home in your own family.
Possibly, my hearer, you have not much to do with such joy, for you are
yourself unsaved. Yet it is a grand thing for an unconverted person to
be under a ministry that God blesses, and with a people that pray for
conversions. It is a happy thing for you, young man, to have a Christian
mother. It is a great boon for you, O unconverted woman, that you have a
godly sister. These make us hopeful for you. While your relations are
prayerful, we are hopeful for _you_. May the Lord Jesus be yours yet.
But, oh! if you remain unbelieving, however rich a blessing comes to
others, it will leave _you_ none the better for it. "If ye be willing
and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land;" but there are some who
may cry in piteous accents, "The harvest is past, the summer is ended,
and we are not saved." It has been remarked that those who pass through
a season of revival and remain unconverted are more hardened and
unimpressed than before. I believe it to be so, and I therefore pray the
divine Spirit to come with such energy that none of you may escape his
power. May you be led to pray,
"Pass me not, O mighty Spirit!
Thou canst make the blind to see;
Witnesser of Jesus' merit,
Speak the word of power to me,
Even me.
"Have I long in sin been sleeping,
Long been slighting, grieving thee?
Has the world my heart been keeping?
Oh forgive and rescue me,
Even me."
Oh for earnest, importunate prayer from all believers throughout the
world! If our churches could be stirred up to incessant, vehement crying
to God, so as to give him no rest till he make Zion a praise in the
earth, we might expect to see God's kingdom come and the power of Satan
fall. As many of you as love Christ, I charge you by his dear name to be
much in prayer; as many of you as love the Church of God, and desire her
prosperity, I beseech you keep not back in this time of supplication.
The Lord grant that you may be led to plead till the harvest joy is
granted. Do you remember one Sabbath my saying, "The Lord deal so with
you as you deal with his work during this next month." I feel as if it
will be so with many of you--that the Lord will deal so with you as you
shall deal with his Church. If you scatter little you shall have little,
if you pray little you shall have little favor; but if you have zeal and
faith, and plead much and work much for the Lord, good measure, pressed
down and running over, shall the Lord return into your own bosoms. If
you water others with drops you shall receive drops in return; but if
the Spirit helps you to pour out rivers of living water from your own
soul, then floods of heavenly grace shall flow into your spirit. God
bring in the unconverted, and lead them to a simple trust in Jesus; then
shall they also know the joy of harvest. We ask it for his name's sake.
Amen.