eth better things than that of Abel," that if they rise up against you with But further we would remark, that the Lord's chastening is a means of drawing us from the world unto Himself; our apparent foes ofttimes proving unknowingly our greatest friends. Thus :-probably one of the most prevalent causes of anxiety among the Lord's dear people, is their subjection to, or contact with, some uncongenial fellow-worm, some Goliah; and ofttimes the opposition and enmity arises from their abhorrence of doctrines so precious to the child of God; or it may be otherwise. Well, now, it is only a fellow-worm after all. Little David seemed to feel this, as he scanned from top to toe the huge frame of his vaunting opponent, exclaiming, "Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God ?" What can be lighter than the vanity of this world? And yet the Psalmist tells us, that men of low degree, and men of high degree, if laid in the balance, are altogether lighter than vanity. So and is sure to bring leanness of soul. come at once to that which forms in our | Christian, rocked considerably by the mind A MOST PRECIOUS BALANCE. CHASTENED EVERY-MORNING BUT PRESERVED ALL THE WAY winds of adversity, and the drawing-down powers of this lower world; yet poised upon covenant love, they will return again to their rest, the Rock of ages. Beloved, this, then, has been our object in these Notes this month; to encourage fainting ones, to bless the chastening power that brings them into this glorious position 66 Tranquil to sit at Jesu's feet, Though sorrows fix them there. you. And to say, "I was dumb; I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it." And to remind them that all their cunflicts end in eternal rest. A pilgrim passing through, and pressing on, is the character and condition of the Christian; and recollect, too, for your comfort, that passing away," is the direction upon And why, beloved, is the believer every trial and affliction that assails preserved all the way?-because Jesus It must be so. If you are this moment loves him to the end. "Having loved feeling the weight of a heavy trial, it is still his own which were in the world, He" passing away;" nothing can hinder it. loved them to the end." "I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.' And the Psalmist rightly grounds his salvation upon the fact, that he is a child of God: "I am thine (says he) save me." Love precedes, and is the cause of the action; because He loves, He leads. Herein is the greatest comfort and consolation. If He looked for some inherent merit, that He might love us, we should indeed be undone; for He would find none. But it is "I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee." Ah! this is worthy of a God. How blessed the association-how sweet and secure the conveyance-the loving-kindchastening every morning;" that we ness of a covenant God lengthened out may be meetened for that blessed home, to the spread of life; nor does it leave where all will be re-dressed. Wait for itbeyond its cover the dark valley of the look for it-long for it-and strive to be shadow of death-" As thy day thy imbued with Sarah's spirit, when "she strength shall be." Oh, we do praise judged Him faithful who had promised." God for this blessed balance, on the beam May the Lord bless these few hints to of which is engraven, Mercy! mercy!" chastened ones," that they may thereby and love holds up the counterpoise. We have comfort, and His dear name shall are told, that the nicely poised stones of have all the praise. the Druids, although moved considerably to and fro by the wind, always returned again to their rest; so it is with the There is no such thing as a stationary cloud; you see it as a speck on the hori zon-it grows bigger and bigger, till it flashes forth as lightning and thunders a solemn peal overhead; but it is all the while "passing away." Trials are among the " things seen and temporal," and are therefore but transitory. Watch, then, with longing spirits, to that which is to be revealed. Our precious Jesus, we verily believe, will soon come in all the glory of his Majesty; then will there be glory! glory! for groaning ones, and a precious Christ for chastened ones. Not merely is our mansion prepared for us, but we are being prepared daily for our mansion, part of the process being this Birmingham. G. C. MAN AND THE BIBLE.-The man whose | mankind, the more I perceive the Scripeyes are enlightened, and who sees and tures to be true, and that man is not a feels the depravity of human nature, whit better than the Word of God repreconfesses, "The more I converse with sents him." A PRAYER FOR MY BELOVED MINISTER. BRETHREN, PRAY FOR US." O HOLY Spirit, gracious Lord! He has been set apart by Thee To minister thy Word; But 'tis an earthen vessel, Lord, Where thy rich treasure lies; O guard it, keep it, strengthen it Tho' all thy people have to fight, Thou knowest th' trials, Lord, he has, And those connected with his charge, O Holy Spirit, Jesus, Lord, And open out thy sacred truths Lead him to portions of thy Word, The weak, the strong. the sick, the faint, Be with him in his study, Lord, O may thy Word, dispensed by him, And may he more, and more proclaim The writer hopes that our dear readers will receive in love the few remarks that may be made on the subject of praying for our respective ministers. But we have long feared there is a lack of earnest supplication at the throne of grace, by many of God's people, for those whom the Lord has placed over us in word and doctrine; which may be the cause-nay, must be one cause of their profiting so little under the word preached. Surely if we earnestly sought and expected a blessing, would we not receive it? We know that in the sovereignty of his love the Lord is found of them that sought Him not. But it is not his usual method of dealing after He has brought the soul to the knowledge of Himself. I will "that I be inquired of," Jehovah says, may do it for them." And the Saviour said, "Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find." Oh, then, let us be more in prayer for our beloved ministers, that they may be instructed to give to each their portion of meat in due season; that Christ may be their theme, and that theme more and more precious to us. And let us not forget that they are only earthen vessels, subject not merely to the assaults of Satan, in common with other of the Lord's people; but fur more, they are ambassadors for Christ, whom Satan hates; therefore we may expect they have more of his fierce attacks; and when we consider the various trials and difficulties, which perhaps we have no idea of, connected with their peculiar offices, in addition to those that are personal and relative, all these considerations should call forth our prayer and sympathy on their behalf. ́ ́ Ŏh, never let us tread the Lord's house without first in our own private retirement, as well as in our daily remembrance of them, entreat the Lord specially that they may be strengthened, and taught, and that the Word may be brought home with power to our hearts! We have been led to make these remarks from a knowledge of some individuals who we could not doubt as being the Lord's, but have not seen their pri vilege and duty to the extent we think it ought to be considered. If these few remarks should lead any of the Lord's family to more prayer in behalf of their minister, their own souls will be profited, and the hands of their pastor strengthened. We know it is a source of comfort for the Lord's servant to believe that he has a people supplicating for him. And those of us who are blest of God with a sound Gospel ministry, should rejoice in it, when it is to be feared there is much that is anything but glad tidings to the poor sinner who has nothing to pay." May the Lord's faithful Spirit-taught servants be increased, and the family of God prize the precious loan, and bear them on their hearts before the Lord. M. E. L. Dublin. PARABOLIC TEACHING, EXEMPLIFIED IN AN EXPOSITION OF THE SEVEN PARABLES CONTAINED IN THE THIRTEENTH CHAPTER OF ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. 5. (Continued from page 68.) : THE HID TREASURE. Father before the world was, Christ's II. But we pass on to consider, in the second place, the interesting circumstances which are related in the parable, in connection with the above comparison :-" The kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof, goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.” And here six points seem to present themselves, upon each of which we have some words to speak,-upon some, indeed, but very few, but upon other perhaps many. May they be words of soberness, of consolation, and of instruction. Aн, reader, this, and this alone is the reason, why God has in so wondrous, and perhaps to the unbeliever in so unaccountable a manner, seemed to have concentrated his attention and regard upon this little speck of earth-one amid the myriads that gem the firmament of his power: this is the reason why He has watched over it so tenderly in its dark and wayward course, and borne with it so patiently though laden with iniquities. heavy enough to sink it to hell: this is the reason why He has again and again made bare his holy arm on its behalf, and even sent his only-begotten Son to win it from the spoiler's grasp because He hath a treasure in it. Ah, reader, this, and this alone is the reason, why as its first foundations were laid, He caused "the morning stars to sing together, and all the sons of God to shout for joy" (Job xxxviii. 7): and why Christ Himself, as the incarnation of the Eternal Wisdom, even "when there were no depths; before the mountains were brought forth, or ever He had made the 1. In the first place, this "man," as earth and the world," did as we are told, we have already intimated, is none other rejoice in the habitable parts of this than the Lord Jesus Christ. The man earth, and have his delights with the yet who sowed the good seed in his fieldunborn sons of men" (Prov. viii. 23-31). the man who planted the mustard-tree Yes, He had a TREASURE in it-a "trea-—and the man who here buys the field more precious in his sight than in which the treasure was hid, are the deeps of diamonds," or mountains of same ;-for the parables, in general derubies, or worlds of gold-a "treasure" sign at least, are one. dearer to Him than suns and systems, 2. But concerning this man, it is said yea, than all the glories of the heaven of that he "found the treasure;" and this his holiness. Wondrous thought!-in- may at first sight appear to militate finite condescension!-that though girt against our interpretation of the parable; about with all the splendours of the eter--For how, it may be asked, can the nal throne, the Eternal Son should especially "rejoice in the habitable parts of this earth" that though lying in the bosom of the Father, and worshipped and adored by all the bright spirits who had their dwelling-place on high, his su"delights were with the miserable sons of men." But herein was his own saying verified" Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" (Matt. vi. 21). Oh, think of this, beloved! Even in the glory which He had with the sure preme Lord Jesus Christ be said to find his treasure, the Church-as the expression implies without a previous knowledge of it? Is there " any creature that is not manifest in his sight?" Are not “all things naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do ?" (Heb. iv. 13). Yes, assuredly. But, on the other hand, does not the Lord throughout the volume of his word, condescend to speak to us of Himself after the manner of men? Is there, in truth, was no strange god with him" Deut. xxxii. 9-12). Surely then we need not be stumbled by the fact, that this parable should represent the Lord Jesus as finding his Church in the world. any other conceivable way in which He | young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh could speak of Himself, and which our them, beareth them upon her wings; finite intellects would be able to compre- so Jehovah alone did lead him, and there hend? Hence, do we not find Him representing Himself as experiencing human emotions, as anger, pleasure, repentance, and sorrow? (See Deut. i. 37; Isa. xlii. 21; Gen. vi. 6). And again, as exercising human senses, as when, in the book of Exodus, He says, concerning his afflicted Israel, "I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and I have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows (Exodus iii. 7). Or, to confine our attention to the act of discovering what was before unknown, as in the present instance, are we not told in the parable of the "Lost Sheep," of the Good Shepherd going after his lost sheep until He finds it; and when He hath found it, laying it upon his shoulder rejoicing; and when He cometh home, calling his friends and neighbours together, saying unto them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost? Just as five hundred years before, He had said, by the mouth of Ezekiel; Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep, that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day" (Ezek. xxxiv. 11, 12). And again, in the very next parable contained in that chapter (the 15th of Luke), have we not the Holy Spirit set forth, under the figure of a woman, as sweeping the house and seeking diligently until she has found the piece of money which she had lost." And once more, in the last parable of that exquisite series, have we not the Almighty Father Himself, represented as rejoicing over the returned prodigal in such words as these "This my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found." Nor are these expressions confined to the parables; for what reader of his Bible does not remember the beautiful words of the song of Moses,- -a part of which we have already found it necessary to quote -"For Jehovah's portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. He FOUND him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; He led him about, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of his eye. As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her 3. "Which when a man hath found he hideth." Here it is well for us to understand clearly what the man is said to hide ;-It is not the treasure itself; for that was hidden before in the field; but the knowledge of its existence and locality. This, in the case of his Church, the Lord Jesus hid (1.) from Satan, “the roaring lion, who goeth about seeking whom he may devour." Even as a hen hideth her chickens under her wings, did the Lord "hide his people under his wings, and cover them with his feathers" from the I counsel of the wicked one' (Psal. lxiv. 2). Oh, "if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through" (Luke xii. 39). Oh, if "the prince of this world" had known how the treasure was to be bought, he would never have excited his children and servants to "crucify the Lord of glory" (Rom. ii. 8). But God “ took the wise in their own craftiness," and accomplished his eternal purposes of grace and mercy to his Church through those very means by which Satan designed to frustrate them altogether. In the very first promise given in Eden, Satan might have read the prophecy of his own defeat: but being either ignorant or careless of it, he approached the Lord Jesus, concealed as he thought behind his wretched instruments, and darted forth his poisoned sting-but, in the very act of thus permitting him to bruise his heel, the Almighty Conqueror for ever crushed the serpent's head. Thus "through death destroying him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and delivering them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage" (Hebrews ii. 14). Again, the Lord hid the mystery of his kingdom (2.) from angels. When the covenant of grace was concluded between the Persons of the adorable Trinity, it was not immediately proclaimed to the inhabitants of heaven. Only as it has been gradually developed, have the angels acquired their knowledge of the great scheme of man's salvation-only as the |