My brothers, whilst we thank God for giving us this harvest of corn, let us still more thank Him for the harvest of spiritual blessing, for the precious grace and mercy which make glad the hearts of hardened sinners, for the anointing of the Holy Spirit which makes our faces shine with joy and gladness, for the Bread which came down from Heaven, and which strengthens our hearts to be Christ's faithful soldiers and servants. One last word. The return of seed time and harvest teaches us that we are all sowers, and that the harvest is the end of the world. We seldom reap here the full results of our acts whether they be good or evil. "The evil that men do lives after them," yes, and the good too. It may seem to some of us who are trying to do our duty, trying to live as God's servants, that there is no harvest for us. We seem destined to labour in the weary field of the world, and to see no fruit of our labours. Ah! brothers, the harvest is not yet, but it will come, the harvest of the good and of the evil, since-- "We are sowers, and full seldom reapers, For life's harvest ripens when we die, 'Tis in death alone God gives His sleepers All for which they sigh. Cast thy bread upon the waters: after Many mornings, when thy head is low, Men shall gather it with songs and laughter, Though thou mayest not know." [1] Hugh Macmillan's _Bible Teachings in Nature_, to which work I am indebted for the structure of this Sermon. SERMON LXIII. GOD'S JEWELS. (Schools.) MALACHI III. 17. "They shall be Mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels." There is a legend of old time which tells us how a certain Jewish Rabbi returned to his home after a long absence. His first question was--"Where are my boys?" for his wife had greeted him alone. Then, instead of answering her husband's question, the wife asked his advice. She told him that some years before someone had lent her something very precious, and she would know whether after fourteen years the loan became hers. The Rabbi gently reproved his wife, and assured her that the treasure thus lent could not become her own. Then the wife told him that on that very day He who had lent the treasure had returned and claimed it. "Ought I to have kept it back, or repined at restoring the loan?" she asked. The Rabbi was astonished that she could ask such a question, and again enquired anxiously for his two boys. Then the wife took him by the hand, and turning back the sheet upon the bed, showed him the two boys lying dead. "The Lord who gave hath taken. They are dead."