onstant change is taking place all over the ocean. The
water from the top is sinking to the bottom, and the water from the
bottom is rising to the top. And this is one of the means which God
employs to keep the waters of the ocean always pure and wholesome.
But if the ocean should stop giving away its water, as it has always
been doing, then this constant change of its waters would cease. The
ocean would be left still and stagnant. It would become a great mass
of corruption; and the breezes from the ocean, that now carry health
and life to those who breathe them, would carry only disease and
death. And the thousands of people who now love the ocean and seek
its shores every summer, to get strong and well by breathing the air
that sweeps over its surface, and by bathing in its foaming surf,
would all be afraid of the ocean; and would keep as far away from its
shores as they could. And so we see how the ocean stands before us as
a grand illustration of the lesson of liberality which our Saviour
taught when he said, "Give, and it shall be given unto you." The
ocean gives away its water continually, and, in return for this, God
gives it freshness and purity, and makes it a blessing to the world.
And so the ocean illustrates the truth of the lesson we are now
studying, that "giving is God's rule for getting."

And yonder is the great sun, shining up in the sky. We do not know as
much about the sun as we do about the ocean, because it is so far
away from us. The ocean is very near us. We can walk along its
shores, and plunge into its waters, and sail over its surface. We
can study out all about the laws that govern it, and what the effect
of those laws is upon it. But it is very different with the sun. It
is about ninety millions of miles away from us. This is too far off
for us to know much about it. And yet, we know enough about the sun
to get from it a good illustration of God's rule about giving and
getting. The sun, like the ocean, is a great giver. It is giving away
light all the time. It was made for this purpose; and for this
purpose it is preserved. If the sun should stop giving, and should
try to keep all its light and heat for itself, the effect would be
its ruin. By ceasing to give it would be burnt up and destroyed. And
so, when we see the sower sowing his seed, or the reaper gathering in
his harvest; when we look upon the ocean, and see the clouds formed
from its waters, as they go sailing through the sky; or wh