So we believe that every work of good influence, whether of man or boy,
will prosper, because we remember it as a part of God's providential law,
that His seed if sown grows of itself, mysteriously. And we need not
wonder at the mystery, for it is the Spirit of God which is in the seed;
and it is ready to swell and grow and bear new fruits as it lodges in
your heart.

Through and in that seed of good influence it is God Himself who is
working in you.

Such, as we learn from the word of Christ, such, as we see it exemplified
in His person, is the mystery of the Divine life in the hearts of men--not
in some other lives, but in your life and mine.

But this only leads us to another vital question--a question which I
leave with you for the present, and to which we may return another
day--What is your share of active duty in regard to these seeds of good
influence and good purpose that are sown in you; what are you doing, and
what are you intending to do, to secure that they shall be bearing some
fruit in your own daily life?




XIII. THE LENTEN FAST.


"This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer."--ST. MARK ix.
29.