springs up with a life of its own, and with a new body. From every seed there groweth a plant of the same kind with that which bore the seed; God giveth to every seed its own body.

I also am taught by the word of God, to expect two lives. The one is my present earthly life, which I have of my parents; the other is the life which I shall have after I have been buried. For as the seed is not quickened except it die, so cannot I obtain eternal life but by the way of death.

The grave is as the furrow of the field, in which the seed is sown; and as the sunshine of the spring raiseth the seed to life, so shall the Sun of righteousness return, to raise all those who are buried in the earth. The time is coming, when they that are in their graves shall hear his voice and come forth, as Lazarus came forth from the tomb, when Jesus called him.

The good seed of wheat, and other grain, is gathered for use, and laid up in the barn, as the righteous when they die, are gathered to their fathers; but the evil seeds of the thistle are blown about by the winds, and scattered over the face of the earth. Such as I am at my death, such shall I be

at my resurrection. If I am the seed of a thorn or a thistle, when I die, (which God forbid) there will be no hope that I shall be found a rose or a lily, when I am risen again: for every seed will have its own body.

THE QUESTIONS,

Q. How many lives hath a seed P

A. A first and a second.

Q. What is its first life?

A. That life to which it is born in the plant that bears it.

Q. Which is its second life?

A. That which it hath when it rises again from the earth.

Q. With what sort of body doth it come?
A. With its own body.

Q. What do you mean by its own body? A. A plant of the same kind with the seed that was sown.

Q. What is your first life?

A. My natural life, which I have of my parents.

Q. What is your second life?

A. My spiritual life, which God will give to my body after it hath been sown in the earth, and raised again,

Q. The

Q. The sun brings seeds to life; but who is to raise the dead?

A. Jesus Christ, the Sun of Righteousness. Q. What becomes of good and bad seed, when they are ripe?

A. Wheat is gathered, and thistles are scattered by the winds.

THE TEXTS.

1 Cor. xv. 44. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. v. 38. God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed its own body.

Isa. xxvi. 19. Thy dead men shall live: together with my dead body shall they arise; awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out her dead.

4

1 Cor. xv. 36. Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened except it die.

Eph. v. 14. Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

Matth. xiii. 30. Gather the wheat into my barn.

2 Kings xxii. 20. I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy

grave

in peace.

4

Isa.

Isa. xli. 16. The wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them.

LESSON X.

WATER AND THE SPIRIT.

WHEN I wash my hands with water to make them clean, I should pray to God that he would be pleased to make me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me. The foulness of my hands is easily washed away, but I cannot wash the inward stain of sin from my soul, and give myself a clean heart. This is a second birth, and is no more in my own power than my first birth was. God, who willeth that all sinners should be saved, sent out his Apostles to baptize all nations, with water and the Holy Ghost, without which they cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.

In the temple of Solomon, there was a large bason, called a sea; it was made of brass, to hold water for the washing of those who came to worship. Under it there were the figures of twelve oxen; three of them looking each way, toward the four quarters of the heavens;

to

to shew that baptism fhould be carried out into all the world, by the twelve ministers of Jesus Christ. They have brought it even unto me, and I have been washed in baptism, that I may be saved. But I may defile myself, and lose the benefit of it; as the swine when it is washed, returns again to its wallowing in the mire. As the swine delighteth to be unclean, so do some take pleasure in a dirty conscience. Such are not the better, but the worse for their baptism; they forfeit the wedding garment. The sheep and the lamb, when they are washed, keep themselves pure. So must I, if I wish to continue in the fold with the sheep of Christ; who has promised to be my shepherd, to feed me in a green pasture, and to make me lie down beside the waters of comfort. He will appear again to separate the sheep from the goats, in the day of judgment; when, I trust, of his mercy, he will set me on his right hand, and make me happy for ever in his own kingdom.

THE QUESTIONS.

Q. What doth the water of baptism wash away?

A. The stain of sin.

Q. But