INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF A CHILD IN CHRIST'S SCHOOL.

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have my wants given occasion to thy kind interference! How has my misery excited thy mercy!

But I had much yet to learn; the old nature was to be crucified, and the new-man raised up in me. I was to forsake self, and find my Master everything. My enemy was highly useful herein, for driving so hard at me, I was compelled to flee to the Rock, and thus prove again and again, the strength of that fortress, "Howbeit He meaneth not so ?" &c. And the way in which I was worried and tormented, helped to wean me from earth. I felt I was in an enemy's land (all things not yet being subject to my Master), and open to his attacks; and what a burden is life, when his fiery darts are shot at the soul! Thus he reiterated the words, "Let your affection," &c.—and I have already intimated how my Master on such occasions ever drew nigh; for my going to Him arise only from his coming to me-proving his unseen influence, like the magnet, attracted me to Him, with all my deep sorrow, and has He not healed my wounds, and rescued me again and again? (Psal. xviii. 1, 2). And though I said I was open to attacks from the foe, yet am I so hedged in by omnipotent love, so encircled with a wall of fire, that he must get permission before he can strike a blow.

"Not a single shaft can hit,

Till the God of love sees fit."

And thus I have found it; and I believe he shall just go far enough to subserve the gracious purposes of my Master, and no further, the remainder of of wrath is restrained. The enemy has been ready to renew his assault, and I have dreaded the spot where he overwhelmed my soul; but he had no permission that night, and the words sounded in my ears, "He shall not shoot an arrow there" (Prov. xxi. 30).

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And thus I think I could see a design in my dear Master's dealings, and some fulfilment of his new-covenant promise, "All things shall work together for good," &c. Though I have waited for years, before I could say of a particular trial; that is, for my benefit; and even been so wanting to my best Friend, as to intimate to a scholar, that I did not see why He suffered it. But He pitied and forgave. This great lesson of forsaking self, and finding the Master everything, is much sooner learnt by some than others. I believe some of the children have made great proficiency herein, and enjoy a very heaven upon earth in consequence. For He vouchsafes so much of his loved presence (John xiv. 18, 21) in this case, as to fill the soul with unspeakable joy. Thus one child said to me, I would rather have a beam of his glory, than convert a thousand souls." Another was so favoured with his manifestations, as to be obliged to pray to have them removed, being more than flesh could bear. A third was so entranced with Divine love, as to be unconscious of the presence of any but the Beloved. And these are still at school. I pretend not to explain their higher lessons, I only mention them. They follow, I believe, on losing self, and letting it go for Christ; and though this preliminary lesson be long and painful, I would bless my Teacher for his instruction, which leads to so glorious an end; and with a longing eye on the privileges they enjoy, must return to a lower form, glad to know there are yet in the School such children; children whose hearts are on their home, who go within the veil, counting that their real place of worship; who walk and talk with the Master in holy communings; who dwell in the land of Beulah, and breathe the air of heaven.

"A SERVANT OF THE CHURCH."

(To be continued.)

PARABOLIC TEACHING,

EXEMPLIFIED IN AN EXPOSITION OF THE SEVEN PARABLES CONTAINED IN THE THIRTEENTH CHAPTER OF ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL.

(Continued from page 63).

2 THE WHEAT AND THE TARES.

MATT. XIII. 24-30, and 36-43.

It remains but that we should, as we proposed, briefly point out some few of those great general lessons which may be deduced from this important and interesting parable. And

1. We may learn in the first place, that there is a VISIBLE as well as an INVISIBLE Church. If the field be, as we have seen, a comparison of “ the kingdom of heaven;" or, in other words, of the Church in some aspect; and moreover, if both wheat and tares are found growing together in it, it is obvious that it cannot represent the true spiritual Church, for in that there is no such mixture; but must be a representation of that visible Church which comprehends all who profess and call themselves Christians. The confounding of these two has ever been a fruitful source of heresy and error. While the Romanist on the one hand, applies the glorious and distinguishing attri butes and privileges of the inward and spiritual, to the outward and visible Church; there are, on the other hand, those who seem to ignore the existence of the visible Church altogether. The former boldly assert, that by virtue of a certain baptismal rain which has fallen upon the whole field, all that it contains, whether wheat or tare originally, has been transmuted into wheat : but then this parable teaches us that both the wheat and the tares grow together in the same field. And the latter would persuade us, that the field had been so overrun that it now contains nothing but tares: but then the parable tells us that the wheat and the tares " grow together until the harvest which harvest is the end of the dispensation. The Romanist would exalt the rite of baptism, which is the door of entrance into the visible Church into regeneration, which is the door of entrance into the spiritual Church; and the Plymouth brother, denying the existence of any visible body whatever, would break down the hedge of Christ's field, and regard it as merely a part of the common wilderness, in which some few ears of wheat happen to grow. But from this parable we learn that both are wrong, howbeit the latter error is not to be compared with the former. There is a visible, and there is an invisible Church; and unless we make this distinction, there will ever be confusion in our own mind, and contradiction in the Scriptures of truth.

Thus for instance, in this parable the wheat only is said to be the children of the kingdom; and from thence we might infer; and, if we ignore the existence of an outward and visible Church, must infer, that this is a title given to true believers alone: but if we turn to the 8th chapter of this Gospel of St. Matthew, we read in the 11th and 12th verses, "And I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." The children of the kingdom "cast into outer darkness"-consigned to eternal weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth!" Can these be true believers? No; perish the thought. And yet they are called "the children of the kingdom of heaven." Yes; because there is a two-fold kingdom of heaven: there is an outward kingdom, "which suffereth violence, and which the violent take by force”—a kingdom which is openly

"preached, and into which every man presseth;" a kingdom in which the wheat and tares grow together: but within this there is another kingdom, into which none can enter "except they be born again;" a kingdom which "is not meat and drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost;" a kingdom which it is the Father's good pleasure to give that little flock which He loved with an everlasting love, and for which the Saviour laid down his precious life.

Again: Israel, as a nation, was a type of the Church. Oh, how much excellent instruction; how much precious truth shall we lose if we give up this, one of the greatest and most comprehensive types in the Bible. And yet we know that "all were not Israel who were of Israel :" "for he was not a Jew, which was one outwardly; neither was that circumcision which was outward in the flesh" (Rom. ix. 6; ii. 28). Nay, how small was the proportion of true Israelites, as compared with the mass of the whole nation! Sometimes they were so few that there was but a hidden seven thousand who had not bowed the knee to Baal: sometimes they were so few that the prophet could say, "Except the Lord of hosts had left us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, we should have been like unto Gomorrah (Isa. i. 9). And just so is it in the antitypical Israel: all are not Christians who bear the name; all are not born of the Holy Spirit who have been baptized with water; while " many are called, but few are chosen;" while multitudes surname themselves by the name of Israel, it is only one of a family, and two of a tribe," that God, in his sovereign and distinguishing grace, brings to his own true Zion.

2. We may learn in the second place, that there are but Two classes in the visible Church-professors and possessors-wheat and tares. The parable speaks of these two classes, but it does not say a word about any other; it tells us that the wheat and the tares grow together in Christ's field, but it gives no hint of anything else growing there. And yet how many are there who would fain believe there were three classes. They dare not flatter themselves they are children of God, and yet they do not wish to acknowledge themselves children of the devil-something between the two is what they wish, and hope, and aim to be. They do not pretend, they will tell you, to be saints; and yet they hope they are not great sinners. They think themselves hardly good enough for heaven, but certainly not bad enough for hell. They would almost be content not to be saved, if only they could escape being damned. But this is impossible-utterly, infinitely, eternally impossible. There is nothing between wheat and tares, there is nothing between life and death, there is nothing between salvation and condemnaton, there is nothing between heaven and hell. Did you ever hear of a man being neither dead nor alive? Does the Bible say anything of souls being neither lost nor saved? Have we any intimation of any third place of eternal destination, except the purgatory of the Church of Rome, invented by Satan to delude the souls of men, and promulgated by priests for the sake of filthy lucre? No, beloved, there may be many and wide distinctions in the world; there may be many sects and parties in the visible Church: there may be many degrees of spiritual light, of Christian zeal, of faith, and hope, and love, even among the people of God; but after all this is admitted and allowed, there are but Two great, real, eternally-divided classes in the Church and in the world-the sheep and the goats-the wise virgins and the foolish-those who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb, and those who have notprofessors of Christianity and possessors of it-wheat and tares.

A man may have a name to live, he may have been baptized by a priest of the (so-called) apostolic succession, he may be a member of a Christian

communion, he may have been admitted to all the privileges of Church-fellowship, he may be able to pronounce the shibboleth of a sect; yea, he may have an open Bible in his hand, and the sound of the Gospel ringing in his ears, and yet he may be but an empty, worthless, flaunting tare. Or he may be destitute of man's baptism, he may scarcely know a fellow-Christian, he may be profoundly ignorant and astonishingly obtuse, he may have few external privileges, no man may ever have regarded him as a believer, and yet he may be a grain of God's precious wheat. But, as one or the other, every soul who hears the Gospel, and submits to be called a Christian, stands before God this day. Oh, be not deceived; you are either God's wheat, and if so you shall in due time be gathered into God's barn; or you are the devil's tare, and must be consigned with him to the "furnace of fire, where there shall be weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth." There is no middle class—there is no medium character—and there will, as we said before, in the end be only the barn for the wheat! the barn for the wheat! and fire! fire! fire! for the tares.

3. We may learn in the third place, from this parable, that there neither is, nor can be, during the present dispensation, such a thing as a pure and perfect Church. Many have been the attempts made, either to discover some corner of Christ's wide-extended field in which there were no tares, or some means by which they could be rooted out. But the first is utterly vain, as the other is altogether wicked. There is no such thing as a pure and perfect communion upon earth; there is not a spot in the whole field where the wheat and the tares do not grow side by side; nor can we attempt to eradicate the latter without contravening the express command of the Great Husbandman, "let both grow together until the harvest." How awfully has the Church of Rome exhibited her opposition to this, the declared will of the Divine Redeemer ! Her law is, that heretics are to be exterminated, and that only "the faithful," as they are called, are to be tolerated in Christ's field.* But this is to antedate the final separation spoken at the close of the parable; it is for man to take God's fan in his hand, and attempt even now to purge his floor. And what has been the result? Even that while persecution has often been only too successful in rooting up the wheat, it has invariably spared the tares. Nor, though less sinful, have the attempts of others, made perhaps in sincere but ignorant zeal for purity and spirituality, been less futile. These without destroying the tares, have often endeavoured to transplant some ears of wheat into a little spot by themselves, around which they have drawn the magic circle of exclusiveness, and then with too little charity, and too much of self-complacency, cried, "The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, are these" (Jer. vii. 4). But as there was a Saul among the prophets; as there was a Judas among the apostles; as there was a Hymenæas and a Philetus, a Demas and an Alexander, in the primitive Church; so neither has there ever since been a Christian body of which all the members were sound. "Before Christ comes," it has been well said, "I do not expect to see a perfect Church. There cannot be such a thing. The wheat and the tares in the present state of things, will always be found together. I pity those who leave one Church and join another, because of a few faults and unsound members. I pity them,

*We need only refer to the awful decree of the fourth Council of Lateran-De Hereticis. Or to the well-known clause in the Oath taken by Roman Catholic Bishops :Hæriticos, Schismaticos et Rebelles eidem Domino nostro vel successreibus prædictis pro posse persequar et impugnabo." Heretics, schismatics, and rebels to our said Lord (the Pope), or his foresaid successors, I will to my utmost power persecute and wage war with."

because they are fostering ideas which can never be realized. I pity them, because they are seeking that which cannot be found. I see tares everywhere. I see imperfections and infirmities of some kind in every communion on earth. I believe there are few tables of the Lord, if any, where all the communicants are converted. I often see loud-talking professors exalted as saints. I often see holy and contrite believers, set down as having no grace at all. I am satisfied if men are too scrupulous, they may go fluttering about like Noah's dove all their days, and never find rest at all." No; until the harvest, the wheat and the tares must grow together; our Lord's command is, that we make no attempt to separate them. Do we long for a perfect Church? do we desire a field that contains no tares? would we fain see the garden of the Lord freed from those poisonous weeds of earth which now choke its fair flowers, and mar its perfect beauty? We must wait for the harvest-we must pray for the coming of the Lord: then, but not till then, He will present the Church to Himself all glorious without and within, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing.' Then, but not till then, the tares will be gathered together, and bound in bundles to be burned; and the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." Liverpool.

(To be continued.)

M. M.

WAYSIDE NOTES.

THE REAL POSITION OF A CHILD OF GOD.

WE would observe, that existing circumstances, both temporally and spiritually considered, create the necessity for individual inquiry, "What is my real position in connection with an eternal world?" For upon the slender thread of human existence, hangs an endless future; and such an inquiry has been ushered into the mind, from converse this morning with a Christian lady, whose brother was a minister of the everlasting Gospel. He preached on the Sabbath morning to the people of his charge, and in the evening they were again assembled to hear his voice. They waited to see him ascend the pulpit-stairs; the time passed, but no minister. Anxious looks were exchanged, when an agitated messenger came forward to announce the solemn intelligence, that their Pastor had suddenly breathed his last! He had retired to his study, as it was his wont before preaching, and his tender wife had taken one of the little ones of the family to imprint a child's kiss upon a fond parent's cheek, and say those familiar words, "Good night, dear Papa!" Õh, what a scene for mother and child! The Bible lay open on the table before him, and there in the easy chair, with a sweet smile on his countenance, reclined the corpse of the minister. It is such circumstances as these, that induce the inquiry, "What is my real position for an eternal world ?" And again, the innumerable forms of ailment that the poor body is the subject of, give constant proof of man's frailty. Take a single day's experience of any one who is at all moving about in the world, and almost every hour of that day will note a casualty. The common incidents then, of every-day life, show the necessity for soul-examination. What is my real position, since this day may terminate my career? nay, I know not whether the sixtieth minute of this hour will behold me a living or a dead man.

Again; here we are in this world of clamorous duties, struggling on through them day by day, with scarcely any time to sit down and contem