from the wheat, gathering the wheat into the barn, and burning the tares in the fire.

The parable of the mustard-seed naturally follows the preceding. The mustard-seed is the smallest grain that becomes a tree. This it does, and often so tall that men can ride under it. The fowls like the seed, and lodge in the branches. This emblem is chosen to indicate how great a thing the kingdom of God shall be from so insignificant a beginning. A peasant, born in a small and despised province of Rome, is to give his religion to the world, and rule all the nations of the earth. The power of his truth is to be in the soul-to renovate, restrain, and console. It is to pervade all nations, to control all law, government, and trade, till the very bells of the horses have inscribed on them, "Holiness to the Lord."

The parable of the leaven is unlike the three preceding ones they speak of the outside or palpable growth of the kingdom; the leaven indicates the secret growth and transforming power in the soul and in the world. There are various kinds of leaven -good and bad-and these indicate the principles which govern men, whether they be the old leaven of malice, or the leaven of truth. It sets forth the power of the Gospel in the heart, as it touches each particle, and in the end leavens the whole lump.

The parable of the hidden treasure introduces us to the intrinsic value of the Gospel. It is a treasure hid in the field, of more worth than all things else. The "topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it. It can

not be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof. It can not be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire. The gold and the crystal can not equal it; and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold. No mention shall be made of coral or of pearls." The doctrine of this parable is, that all that seek the Gospel, yield all that stand in the way of its acceptance. If a man can not abandon father and mother, wife and home, if need be, and even life itself, he does not value the Gospel sufficiently to attain it. The parable represents a class of men who are not directly seeking salvation. The husbandman working in his field, and accidentally, as it were, turns up a treasure. So Nathanael found him whom Moses and the prophets did write. The woman of Samaria did not leave her home with the expectation of finding that water of which if she drank she would never thirst. The centurion, at the cross, did not marshal the hundred men to guard Christ to his death, with the expectation of confessing that Christ as the Messiah before the world. Zaccheus, in his zeal to see the Lord, when he climbed the tree, had no expectation that Jesus would be his guest, and come with the blessing of salvation to his own house. But all who desire the Gospel will regard it as the chief good of life, and will sell all that they have to buy it. As the angel said to the Church of Laodicea, the Gospel says to all the world: "I counsel thee buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayst be rich."

The parable of the merchantman seeking goodly

pearls differs from the hid treasure, in that the husbandman found the treasure unexpectedly in the field, recognized its value, and immediately secured it. In the parable of the pearls, the merchantman represents a class who are searching for pearls, the value of which they know. He had a distinct purpose in going out, and resolved to search until he found a treasure. He wanted goodly pearls, and these represent that truth which men are to seek, and which they are to buy, but may not sell. With an earnest desire to accomplish the purpose for which he had left his home, the merchantman "found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it." How plainly the Saviour is set forth, in this parable, as the great treasure to be secured, to obtain which every other treasure is to be sacrificed.

The parable of the draw-net is unlike the parable of the tares. That of the tares represent the present mixture of the Church; that of the drawnet, the final separation. Men must not root up the tares. God will do so in the day he has appointed. The hauling-nets of the East were of an immense length, some nearly half a mile long, leaded below and corked at the top. These represent the Gospel, which was to go into all the world and sweep the whole earth. The net would embrace all who heard the Gospel, and all grades and all characters. The separation is represented as being made, and made with great deliberation-the good separated from the bad, the clean from the unclean. As our Lord applies it, "So shall it be at the end of the world:

'the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth."

XXXII.-FOOTSTEPS ON THE MOUNTAINS; OR,
PREACHING CONSIDERED AS A PROFESSION.

"Bid the trumpet of redemption

Greet our country's farthest shore,
Boldly claim our Lord's pre-emption
For the agonies he bore.

On the prairie and the mountain,
In the valley rich and fair,
By the river and the fountain,

Plant the Rose of Sharon there."

ISAIAH, wrapt in vision, saw the Messiah's day, and spoke of him. On the distant mountains he caught sight of the coming messengers laden with the tidings of salvation. Kings sent couriers, trained to running, who bore messages of importance to distant parts of the realm. The dress of the envoy indicated the character of the message. Black foretold calamity; red indicated war; white promised that the coming herald bore tidings of peace, with the favor of the king. As the herald came from mountain to valley, his very feet appeared beautiful on the hilltop, when his dress told both that he was the king's servant, and that he brought tidings of peace and joy. Applying this to the coming ministry of the kingdom of our Lord, the prophet says: "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!"

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