66 Christ; from first to last we have traced | Editor's motto that he sounded forth at Him along the pathway, and now it is the commencement of the year from the Christ, the hope of glory." O beloved, other side of the Irish Channel, “Go do you not pant to be with Him? do FORWARD!" We respond from this side, you not (as we saw last month), long "DRAW NOT BACK!"' "to be like Him, and see Him as He is ?" Let then this longing stimulate you to advance, for Cast not away your confidence, not even for a single moment in life," For it hath great recompense of reward." The most detestable condition for a child of God to get into, is a state of supineness and indifference to the things of God; a feeling, Well I did consider that there was something real in the life of faith, but really my experience is so would be, that I do think as other peostrangely contrary to what I thought it On that happy tranquil shore. Tried child of God, come, we must have those two sweet lines over again;ple do, who seem by their course to go enter into their spirit, and shout then aloud, Trouble ceases On that happy tranquil shore. Verily there is a loud chorus, for "tried" is the character of them all. This, then, beloved, has been the course of our present tracings. 1st. To bless God that we are not among those who draw back unto perdition, but through his covenant keeping are found still holding on our way in paths of righteousness, and "following on to know the Lord." 2ndly. To institute an examination of soul as to whether in our individual experience, we are not in any way drawing back and shrinking from Jehovah's unmistakeable commands. 3rdly. To follow on this examination in connection with the more minute movements of every-day life, that there may be a standing to one's colours wherever we are. 4thly. A desire that timid ones might not draw back, because of the apparent difficulties that are a-head, but place implicit reliance in their unerring Guide. 5thly. To notice, that while there should be "no drawing back," there should be no undue thrusting our wants before God. 6thly. To consider the object of our pursuit a pressing on to the mark for the prize of our high calling of God in Christ Jesus. You will see, beloved, our Notes for this month are a re-echo of our dear on much more smoothly and prosperously. Oh, repulse this feeling if it ever rises; hate it, loathe it, turn with disgust from it; it is the insinuation of Satan ; and do mark this fact on the contrary, that a confiding spirit in a covenant God brings a reward of an increase of the gifts and graces which are so desirable for the Christian in his onward progress. "It hath great recompense of reward." It is true, "Ye have need of patience, and that ye will have need of this grace to the end; but remember, He is faithful who has promised." Sure the Lord thus far has brought us How to seek his face by prayer: We will close with Samuel's assertion will not forsake his people for his great in answer to this inquiry, "The Lord Lord to make you his people." May name's sake, because it hath pleased the there be then no " drawing back," but a walking on with strong and steady, calm and confident reliance on a covenant God, that thereby He may be honoured the life and walk of faith. And do, beby his people's display of the reality of We are on the Conqueror's side. loved, press on, cheered by the fact, that realize it in all its bearings. G. C. CALVINISM. THE peculiar, the distinguishing views | mankind into being, und, from all eterof high Calvinism are-that, with the nity, purposed to do so, with no more exception of the elect, God brings all kindly feeling towards them than that of implacable hatred. Such feeling, moreover, having been entertained towards them, even before they were born; with no other benevolent purpose, intention, desire, wish, with regard to them, as to futurity, than that of their never-ending torment; that, from this unspeakably inconceivably, dreadful doom, no means of escape are placed within their reach; but, that they are unavoidably shut up thereto by a fixed, unchangeable decree formed in the Divine mind from all eternity. It being in contemplation to publish and distribute the preceding statement, unless repudiated by some competent authority or party, it is handed to the Editor of the GOSPEL MAGAZINE to be dealt with as may be thought fit. Southampton. [Before the writer of the above carries out his "contemplation," we advise him, "lest haply he be found even to fight against God," to take his Bible, and, after duly pondering over the Apostle's statements (1 Cor. ii. 14), “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned;" and Rom. viii. 7, "The carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be," we would suggest his turning to Prov. xvi. 4, "The Lord hath made all things for Himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil;" and Rom. ix. 11-17, Having carefully considered these words, not of man, but of GOD, we would say, proceed to the next verses, and ask your own conscience, as before a heart-searching God, whom ere long you must meet in your death-throes and at the judgment seat, are you not in the precise condition of the objector to whom the apostle there addresses himself? Are you not arraigning the great, the immutable, the glorious Jehovah at the bar of your puny wisdom? Are you not endeavouring to bring the Infinite within the narrow circumference of your tiny judgment? As well might an infant attempt to explain the wonders of the starry heavens, as you or any poor finite creature attempt to explore those heights and depths, and lengths and breadths, which passeth, not merely human, but angelic knowledge.- "Then wilt thon say unto me," adds the Apostle, in the language referred to, "Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus ? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: and that He might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had afore prepared unto glory, even us, whom He hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles ?" Poor fellow-worm! guilty, shortsighted, fellow-sinner, go and learn to "Be still, and know that (He) is GOD!" Be assured also, that, notwithstanding the mist and confusion, and carnal enmity of the human mind, Jehovah's word shall stand as inviolate as his eternal throne. "I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth." Before you circulate your trash-the effusion of a mind at present unsubdued by Divine grace, and still at enmity with Divine sovereignty (call us uncharitable, if you will; "The tree is known by its fruits ") go to your chamber, and under shades of evening (as emblematic of those evening-shades which must speedily gather round you as evidence of the closing up of your poor frail mortal life), read the latter half of the Book of Job. Resist the questions which Jehovah (in the 38th chapter onwards) puts from the whirlwind, if you can. And God, in mercy, if it be his sovereign will, humble you at his blessed feet, and bedew you with that self-indignation and holy outpouring with which he anointed Job, when, convinced of his folly, he exclaimed, "Behold, I am vile: what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth. * * I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. * * * I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I akhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes."-ED.] PARABOLIC TEACHING, EXEMPLIFIED IN AN EXPOSITION OF THE SEVEN PARABLES CONTAINED IN THE THIRTEENTH CHAPTER OF ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL. (Continued from page 178.) 5. THE HID TREASURE. III. Finally; as regards the special lessons deducable from this parable, not a few sweet and profitable ones have already been feebly touched upon, in our preceding remarks on its several features: still, in accordance with our usual method, we have selected three for somewhat more particular consideration; and to these we would now direct the reader's attention. is manifestly a plural seed, even all that are " of the faith of Abraham," and by that faith are proved to be "Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise (Rom. iv. 13-16; Gal. iii. 29); yet do they only become" heirs as being interested in the heritage of Christ; as it is written in the 8th chapter of the same epistle, "If (we be) children, then heirs; heirs (that is to say), of God, and 1. We may learn from the parable that joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we this world of ours is Christ's rightful suffer with Him, that we may also be possession. Upon this subject we have glorified "-receive our inheritanceupon a former occasion made some brief" together" (Rom. viii. 17). Christ, remarks; it may well, however, admit of some further enlargement here. Not to recur to the fact which we there mentioned that the world belongs to Christ by right of creation, He being the Eternal Son To whom it is said, Thou, Lord, in the beginning, hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands" (Heb. i. 10), and the Eternal Word or whom it is declared, "All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made" (John i. 3),—we maintain that it is his (1.) By promise (2.) By prophecy, and (3.) By purchase. (1.) This world is Christ's by promise. It is expressly declared in the epistle to the Hebrews, that God hath appointed the Lord Jesus Christ the "heir of all things" and truly if He be the "heir of all things," then must this world, as well as all others, be included in his universal inheritance. But more specifically, we learn from St. Paul, in his epistle to the Romans, that a promise was made to Abraham, that He should be the heir of the world" (Rom. iv. 13); and as it is certain that this promise was never fulfilled to him personally, it must have been made, like those other promises of which the same Apostle speaks in his epistle to the Galatians," to Abraham and (or in) his seed"—" which seed is Christ" (Gal. then, is the heir of this world; so was iii. 16). * See" Gospel Magazine" 1855, p. 280. (2.) Thus do the words of promise blend with the voice of prophecy, and teach us also that this world is Christ's by prophecy. Glorious, indeed, are the things spoken in the prophetic page of His possession of and rule over this world. The King and his kingdom-Messiah's reign, both in power and in person, over a ransomed and renovated world in "the times of restitution of all things,"--this is what has "been spoken of by all the holy prophets since the world began;' this is the glowing theme which sweeps every string of the prophetic harp, and which occurs twice in this verse is only supplied The reader will observe that the word "for," by the translators; the sense of the original is, however, more forcibly expressed without it. دو But now we see not YET all things put under HIM. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour" (Heb. ii. 5-9). The limits we have prescribed to ourselves will not allow us to refer to the beautiful prophecy in the 23rd chapter of Jeremiah, of that King whose name shall be called, " THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS." Or, to the last words of David, which speak of the JUST ONE, who shall " rule over men in the fear of God' (2 Sam. xxiii. 3). Or to the great vision of the investiture of the SON OF MAN with universal dominion and glory, recorded in the 7th chapter of Daniel;-a vision, the full accomplishment of which is described to us in the 11th chapter of Revelation, when, on the sounding of the seventh trumpet, there shall be heard great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever." We have said enough to establish the point, and we must pass on to notice that draws forth its sublimest notes of triumph. | in subjection under HIS feet. For in that The inspired Scriptures present us not He put all in subjection under him, He merely with the history of " Paradise left nothing that is not put under him. Lost," but with the prophecy of "Paradise Regained;"they tell us not only of the loss of the inheritance by the first Adam, but also of its final recovery by the second Adam. Adam, we are told, was but "the figure of Him that was to come (Rom. v. 14); and his dominion was but a prophecy of that of his Great Antitype. As the second Adam, therefore, Christ is the true Sovereign of the earth-among his "many crowns" shall be found the crown of creation. To Him alone belongs the beautiful language of the 8th Psalm-"What is man, that thou art mindful of him ?—and the Son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little (while) lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou makest him to have dominion over the works of thine hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas," ver. 4-8. For though this language would have been in a great measure applicable to the first Adam, and seems almost to echo the words of the (3.) This world is Christ's by pur1st chapter of Genesis, yet could the chase, as well as by promise and prosecond verse have no reference to his cir- phecy. Yes; this is the lesson the paracumstance, for where was then "the ble more specially teaches us, that this enemy and the avenger" to be stilled? world is Christ's actual property, for Clearly, then, this Psalm is an unfulfilled" He has sold all that He had and prophecy; and that it is a prophecy of bought it." He has not as yet, indeed, Christ's dominion is placed beyond all taken possession of his property; He doubt by the application of it directly to has not taken to Him his great power him by the apostle Paul, in the second and reigned; we see not yet all things chapter of Hebrews; where, speaking put under Him;" He has not "laid hold of the world to come," "he says,. For of the dragon, that old serpent, which is unto the angels hath He not put in sub- the Devil and Satan, and bound him for jection the world to come, whereof we the thousand prophetic years" but speak. But one in the certain place tes- though not de facto (in fact), it is de tified, saying, What is man, that thou jure (in law), his field (as it is called in art mindful of him? -or the son of man, the second parable),—his kingdom, “out that thou visitest him? Thou madest of which his angels shall gather all things him a little while lower than the angels; that offend, and them which do iniquity," thou crownedst him with glory and ho-his "purchased possession," till the nour, and didst set him over the works final redemption of which we can have of thy hands: Thou hast put all things but "the earnest of our inheritance *We commonly find this phrase vaguely applied to man's future eternal existence This world is used to express the present life, and the world to come the future life, what ever and wherever it may be. The words in the original Greek, however, have a far more precise and definite meaning than this, The oikoupeny the posay, literally the habitable earth that is to be; and the thing intended is this earth as man's dwelling-place, under the righteous dominion of the second Adam. (Eph. i. 14). Oh, beloved, be sure that this world is Christ's right-his property-his inheritance-his legal purchase. The first Adam, by his sin, sold his inheritance to the devil, and this World came under the power, and into the possession of "the Prince of the power of the air;" but the second Adam has restored the ruin of the first: He has rescued the world from the usurper's | was necessary that the "earth and the power; He has redeemed it from the hand of the enemy; He has "stilled the enemy and the avenger;" He has legally bought it back, and now, by every right of power, of law, and of justice, it is His, and His alone. fulness thereof" should be his; that it might in all respects be employed for their benefit, and included in the inventory of the possessions of the saints (1 Cor. iii. 21, 22). And for these, as well as for other reasons (some of which may presently appear), Christ bought the world even at the sacrifice of all that He had." 2. We may learn from the parable, in the second place, the reasons why Christ has bought, and sets so high a value upon this world. It may well be a matter of 2. And this, beloved, affords a second surprise, that the Lord Jesus should buy reason why the Lord Jesus sets so high this "atom globe" when He was the a value upon this earth; viz., the great Possessor of all the worlds above-that He should so labour for the recovery of this one sin-stricken planet when his almighty fiat could have called a thousand fairer and unfallen worlds into existence. Yet, at least three sufficient reasons, may we think be assigned for it. (1.) It is because it is the depository of his "treasure." (2.) It is because He has paid a great price for it. (3.) It is because it is the destined inheritance of His saints. (1.) It is because it is the depository of his "treasure." Aye, reader, this is the real source of Christ's interest in this world. He bought it because it contained his Church-He bought it for the sake of his Church. Apart from the Church, this world were indeed but a small thing in Christ's estimation-apart from his treasure, He would not have shed one drop of his precious blood to redeem it. But the treasure was hidden in the field, the Church was in the world though not of the world, and it was 'for joy" of that treasure-it was from love to that Church-that the Lord Jesus Christ" sold all that He had" to buy this world. It was, in the nature of things, essential, in order that He might save his people, that Christ should be the possessor of the world; just as it was essential to the man in the parable that he should buy the field in order to obtain the treasure. It was the quarry out of which his " lively stones were to be hewn-it was the mine out of which his "fine gold" ("the precious sons of Zion") was to be drawn-it was the casket in which his precious jewels lay concealed. It was necessary also that Christ should have power over all the elements of nature, lest they should be used to the destruction of his Church: it was necessary that He should have the absolute control over the course of this world, in order that providentially "all things might be made to work together for good" to his people: and it price which He has paid for it. For though, indeed, the reasons which we have given as his motives in buying the world, are also reasons why He should value it; yet it may be asked-When those purposes are all effected, when the number of his elect is accomplished, when the treasure is completely extracted,-Will not Christ then cease to regard it? Will He not cast it into the fire as the worthless dross? Will He not blast it with his curse as He did the "barren fig tree ?" To this we answer No. Though it is the jewel we valuc, yet we do not cast away the casketthough the rich mine be exhausted, we do not give away the estate in which it was situated. Because Christ values the "treasure" supremely, it does not follow that He cares nothing for the field. We are wont to think much of that which has cost us much-we feel a peculiar interest in the object (be it what it may) which awakens our most cherished remíniscences. The banner which the warrior has taken, at the hazard of his life, upon the field of battle, -does he not ever after regard it (though but a torn and bloody rag) as the most precious of his possessions? The medal which the student has obtained by years of mental toil-would he, think you, barter it (though of little intrinsic value) for thousands of gold and silver? The relic of former days; of scenes of peril, of years of poverty, of nights of toil,- do we not cherish it in our brighter days, above many of the richer possessions of our prosperity? And what the banner is to the warrior-the symbol of his triumph; what the medal is to the student-the reward of weary toil; what the relic of former adversity is in the day of prosperity; that, and much more, is this earth to Jesus. Think! as God it has been the centre of his thoughts from all eternity-as man it has been the scene of his incarnation and his sufferings. His holy eyes have been refreshed by its |