<h2><SPAN name="THE_PRINCIPAL_WHEAT" id="THE_PRINCIPAL_WHEAT">THE PRINCIPAL WHEAT.</SPAN></h2>
<p class="small">"The principal wheat."—<span class="smcap">Isaiah</span> 28:25.</p>
<p class="p2"><span class="smcap">The</span> prophet mentions it as a matter of wisdom on
the part of the husbandman, that <span class="smcap">he knows what is the
principal thing to cultivate</span>, 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.</p>
<p>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<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</SPAN></span>
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.</p>
<p>This farmer was wise, because <i>he counted that to be
principal which was the most needful</i>. 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
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</SPAN></span>
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.</p>
<p>This farmer was wise, because <i>he made that to be the
principal thing which was the most fit to be so</i>. 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<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</SPAN></span>
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."</p>
<p>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.</p>
<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry">
<div class="stanza">
<div class="line small">"Religion is the chief concern</div>
<div class="line i2 small">Of mortals here below;</div>
<div class="line ip5 small">May I its great importance learn,</div>
<div class="line i2 small">Its sovereign virtue know!"</div>
</div>
<div class="stanza">
<div class="line small">"More needful this than glittering wealth,</div>
<div class="line i2 small">Or aught the world bestows:</div>
<div class="line ip5 small">Not reputation, food, or health,</div>
<div class="line i2 small">Can give us such repose."</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<p>Moreover, this farmer was wise, because <i>he made
that the principal thing which was the most profitable</i>. 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<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</SPAN></span>
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—</p>
<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry">
<div class="stanza">
<div class="line small">"'Tis religion that can give</div>
<div class="line ip5 small">Sweetest pleasures while we live;</div>
<div class="line ip5 small">'Tis religion must supply</div>
<div class="line ip5 small">Solid comfort when we die."</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<p>Only that religion must not be of the common sort; it
must have for its root a hearty faith in Jesus Christ.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</SPAN></span>
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.</p>
<p class="p2">II. Secondly, the husbandman is a lesson to us
because <span class="smcap">he gives this principal thing the principal
place</span>. 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.</p>
<p>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
<i>most intense thought</i>. 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<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</SPAN></span>
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.</p>
<p>Be sure, also, to yield to this subject <i>your most earnest
love</i>. 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
<i>most fervent desires</i>. 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.</p>
<p>Then let the Lord have <i>the attentive respect of your life</i>.
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<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</SPAN></span>
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.</p>
<p>We should give to this principal wheat <i>our most
earnest labors</i>. 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.</p>
<p>This, I think, should also take possession of us so
as to lead to <i>our greatest sacrifices</i>. 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<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</SPAN></span>
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.</p>
<p class="p2">III. Let us learn a third lesson. <span class="smcap">The husbandman
selects the principal seed-corn when he is sowing his
wheat.</span> 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<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</SPAN></span>
if I am going to sow to the Lord and to be a Christian,
I should sow the best kind of Christianity.</p>
<p>I should try to do this, first, <i>by believing the weightiest
doctrines</i>. 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.</p>
<p>Next to that, we ought to sow <i>the noblest examples</i>.
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;<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</SPAN></span>
but oh how much better to follow that perfect pattern
which you have in Christ Jesus!</p>
<p>We should sow the best wheat by seeing that we
have <i>the purest spirit</i>. 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.</p>
<p>And, then, there is one more mode of sowing selected
seed. We should endeavor to live in <i>the closest communion
with God</i>. 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.</p>
<p class="p2">IV. Fourthly, <span class="smcap">the husbandman grows the principal
wheat with the principal care</span>. 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<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</SPAN></span>
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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</SPAN></span>
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.</p>
<p class="p2">V. With this I close. Do this, because <span class="smcap">from this
you may expect your principal crop</span>. 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 <i>my</i> 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.</p>
<p>In the world to come what a crop, what a harvest<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</SPAN></span>
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."</p>
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