Shepherd-King. "Say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! Behold the Lord God will come with strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him: behold His reward is with Him, and His work before Him. He shall feed His flock like a Shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young."

How perfect is the order of divine teaching! It is Peter the Elder who speaks to the elders. He had been a witness of the sufferings of Christ, when He laid down His life for the sheep. He duly estimated the value of those sufferings, and could speak with divine certainty on such a ground, as about himself to partake of the glory to be revealed. But he knew how closely connected that glory was with the flock of God. It was after he had witnessed the sufferings of Christ, and had seen the Lord alive from the dead, that he had learned how dear to the heart of Christ were His sheep. "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? he saith unto Him; Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. He saith to him again, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto Him, Yea Lord, thou knowest that I love Thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because He said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto Him, Lord, thou knowest all things; Thou knowest that I love Thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep." Peter thus learned the value and preciousness of the sheep of Christ to Christ Himself. He could very feelingly associate the flock with the sufferings of Christ and the glory to follow; and how suitable for him who had received the thrice repeated commission to feed the flock, to say to the elders with his own eye on the glory, "Feed the flock of God." How suitable, also, for him, in the deep knowledge of the value of the sheep to Christ Himself, to connect the humble service of tending the flock with the crown of glory! It was the shepherd lad whom his father thought not of bringing before the prophet, on whom the Lord

had set his eye. "He chose David, also, his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds; from following the ewes great with young, he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance. So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands." The humble office of tending the flock was the suited preparation for the crown of royalty. David, the shepherd, becomes the Lord's anointed king,-true picture of the great and good Shepherd King! And where can the varied grace of Christ be so deeply learned as in tending the sheep of Christ? No trial, no sorrow, no temptation, no feebleness has escaped His forethought; and tending the flock is the application of the manifold grace of God in Christ, to the manifold need of His sheep. Such ministry may be very unobtrusive, and one which brings no present honour; its proper sphere is by no means necessarily one of publicity. Public ministry has its honoured place; but tending the flock will lead a great deal more into private and individual ministry. An elder physically disabled for the active ministry of public testimony, may still find an honourable retirement in watching over the flock of God; warning of coming danger, comforting the feeble-minded, restraining the impatience of youth, rectifying disproportioned truth. If an elder be indeed "a father," he knows "Him that was from the beginning;" having learned, by long experience, his own need of all that Christ is, he will be jealously alive to His glory, and will often see a danger unperceived by others, of some passing subject of interest displacing Christ. How many once absorbing objects, even in the Church of God, have passed away; how many fond expectations have been disappointed. The interest in Christ's sheep, in that which they were to the elder himself, has been superseded by the more healthful interest in them as belonging to Christ; and the crown of glory which fadeth not away is held out as an encouragement. A pet-lamb often grows to be mischievous, whilst the flock, which has had the common care of the shepherd, are gentle and docile. Christians have been injured almost

as much by being petted as by neglect. They often think of their pastor, to the practical forgetfulness of Christ Himself being the Shepherd and Bishop of their souls, and that His under-shepherds are responsible to Him for the care of His sheep. For the most part, pastoral care has too much in it of the human element; personal regard for the man himself is more prominent than esteem for his work's sake. Hence pastoral care has often much present reward-so as not to render needful the encouragement of the crown of glory. If pastoral care is bestowed on Christ's sheep, because they belong to Christ, it will feel and value such a blessed encourage

ment.

It is interesting to notice how inseparably these crowns are associated with the appearing of Jesus Himself. He is the Giver of the crown; and what would any crown be if it was not His gift, that we might wear it or cast it down in His own immediate presence? Does the apostle speak of a Crown of Righteousness? he says, "which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing." It is said, "he shall receive the Crown of Life, which the Lord has promised to them that love Him." "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory." And, lastly, it is written, When the Chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a Crown of Glory that fadeth not away.' The thought of personal or official glory can never displace in the soul the more blessed thought of seeing Jesus as He is, being like Him, and enjoying His immediate presence for ever. Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.'

66

66

PRESBUTES.

The

EXODUS. The word Exodus (§odos* way out), would find its solution, as the LXX name of the book, in chapter xii. Hebrew name, these are the names, or more usually nov, names, is taken from the first verse of the book, and is perhaps merely a technical guide to it.

See its use in Luke ix. 31-as interesting and peculiar-applied to the Lord's

death.

No. IX.

CRITICISMS.

To the Editor of the PRESENT TESTIMONY.

DEAR SIR,-I have been struck with the apparent connexion between the two following passages of Scripture, Isaiah lxiii. 9, and 2 Cor. vi. 12. I will first assume that there are reasons for a new rendering of the Hebrew, and give the rendering, and then state the grounds on which I would deviate from the authorised version.

Let us look at the verse in 2 Cor. vi.-"Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels." I would propose considering this as a reference to Isaiah lxiii. 9, the first words of which I would read as follows: "In all their straitening he was not straitened." I do not know what reasons our translators had for adopting the keri reading "to him" instead of "not.” They may have been good ones. But it is remarkable that the textual reading falls in very closely with the sense of the verse quoted above from 2 Cor. The difficulty with many will probably consist in finding "he was straitened" as a meaning of ". Retaining the kamets, there may be a difficulty; but I suppose, in investigations of this sort, we are free to consider what the meaning may be, unfettered by points. Now I find one meaning of (and even in a pause) to be arctus, angustus. We have only then to supply that most frequent of Hebrew omissions, the verb substantive, and we have the sense I am pleading for—“ In all their straitening He (God) was not straitened." I may add, that if this supposition is correct, it furnishes an additional instance, and an interesting one, of what sometimes occurs with the New Testament writers-their taking up the words of the Old Testament descriptive of God, and applying them to themselves, i. e., to the Church-(compare Eph. vi. with Isaiah lix. 17; Rom. viii., last verses, with Isaiah 1. 8; 2 Cor. vii. with Isaiah xlix. 8; also Acts xiii. 47, with Isaiah xlix. 6.

B.

No. X.

"A LITTLE LEAVEN LEAVENETH THE

WHOLE LUMP."

I HAD heard this passage referred to in the latter place, where it occurs (Gal. v.); but I confess my mind was struck on a comparison of the two passages where it occurs in the Word. In the first (in 1 Cor. v. 6), it is in respect to evil walking; in the second (Gal. v. 9), it is evil doctrine. And what is said of one will clearly apply to the other.

Let us look, therefore, at the former passage (1 Cor. v.) Evil of a very flagrant character had manifested itself in one instance. Remark one ground on which he calls for judgment on it: "Do ye not know, that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?" It is the character of the leprosy to spread. This, therefore, concerns them all. "Ye have not mourned," etc.

Next see the decided clearness and holiness that he calls for: "Purge out, therefore, the old leaven, that ye may be a NEW lump, even as ye are unleavened." Now, mark the most important ground on which this is put. "For even Christ, our passover, is sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast," etc. So that the allowance, the tolerance of leaven is a dishonour done to that Paschal Lamb. Is it not fitting, that the unleavened bread should be eaten with the Lamb? Shall we allow the little leaven to begin to rise, and work, till the whole be leavened?

Nor is the fact that such and such a one is a Christian, any reason for allowing leaven in him? It is not the persons that are to be looked at, but the fellowship of the Paschal Lamb: that determines all. Is it worthy of that? Compare 1 Cor. x. 18 (Greek), "Are not they that eat the sacrifices in communion with the altar" (kovovoi)? It is just because he is outwardly in fellowship there, that we are called upon to judge him.