Our Saviour himself, compares the word of God to a seed, the hearts of the hearers to the ground, &c. See Math. 13, 3-8 v. 18-23. With how many other temporal things did he not compare the spiritual things of his kingdom ? But he never could, with propriety, have compared the economy of grace with that of nature, if there was not between them a similarity. We may hence conclude, since he compares his economy of grace with that of nature, that we can as little expect to receive his spiritual gifts without the ordinary means, as we can the natural crop without means.

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