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Nature in all her moods and phases is always ministerial, if we will have it. One may speak, for instance, of the opening of the spring, as a kind of annual Divine Sacrament, by attending upon which with wise and meek surrender, the better man in us may be awakened and stimulated. We speak of our Sundays, our religious services, our daily tasks and difficulties as means of grace; and the vernal advent and encompassment is no less really a means of grace, to be utilized to profit, or neglected to loss and condemnation.

I. WHO IS THERE WHO HAS NOT FELT AND ACKNOWLEDGED THE SOFTENING, EXPANDING, GENIALIZING INFLUENCE OF THE SPRING; ITS SWEETENING EFFECT UPON THE MENTAL MOOD AND TEMPER? It is a Divine means of grace. What you have to do is, just to seize the vernal feeling that has risen in you, and cherish and go forth with it: namely, by starting from the height of it, under the impulse of it, with new resolves and endeavours to cultivate the genial and generous temper; and by seeking to put it at once, before it fades, into some corresponding deed.

II. DOES NOT THE PRESENT SEASON TEND TO EXCITE IN US, AT TIMES, STRANGE, VAGUE, MYSTERIOUS YEARNINGS — YEARNINGS AMOUNTING OFTEN TO PAIN?... I recall vividly a sketch I once saw — a slight but very striking sketch — a lone evening shore, with the sun slowly sinking into the sea, and a woman sitting gazing at it from the beach, her hands clasped round her knees, a far-off, weary, wistful look in her eyes, her face as the face of one who listens for something that is unheard, and longs for more than is seen. It was as though the dying sun were drawing her to himself; as though presently she must arise and seek him through the waves, aching to find with him — she knew not what — but the larger, the brighter, the happier that seemed to be calling her. Now, that is an illustration of what I mean; when nature lays her hand upon us, and sees us dreamily yearning, as she is especially apt to do in her annual springing. Turn the feeling before it dies into a prayer — a prayer to be filled and satisfied from the Lord; a prayer to be made willing to seek and do in harmony with His will... It is an accepted time, a day of salvation; do not lose it.

III. HAS NOT THE LOVELINESS OF SPRING, AND THE BEAUTIFUL ORDER WHICH IT EXPRESSES AND REVEALS, BROUGHT HOME TO US NOW AND AGAIN, BY THE FORCE OF CONTRAST, THE UGLINESS AND DISORDERS THAT ABOUND IN MAN'S WORLD, AND CONSTRAINED US TO PONDER AND BEWAIL THEM AFRESH?... Whenever the spring leads you to lament thus, what is it but a fresh Divine call to you to philanthropic labour and effort; a fresh Divine impression upon you of humanity's sore needs and woes; that you may be awakened to increased sympathy with them, and urged to attempt more towards their relief? Seek, then, to waken and urge yourselves with it. Go, with the tears for the miseries and evils of man's world which the musical groves and the fine order of nature may have started in your eyes, to weep helpfully with them that weep, and to strive with renewed endeavour against the works of the devil. So shall the springing which the Lord blesses be blessed indeed.

(S. A. Tipple.)

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KJV: Thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly: thou settlest the furrows thereof: thou makest it soft with showers: thou blessest the springing thereof.

WEB: You drench its furrows. You level its ridges. You soften it with showers. You bless it with a crop.