this subject is applied to men's hearts, which it often is, though without any warrant, how the good seed is made to grow and expand itself into a great thing which is every where observed and admired, and that we ourselves being purified by the leaven (!!) of Christianity, so value our privileges, and become so changed, that every one can see the work of the Spirit within us, by the beauty and consistency of our lives. The next parables however give us a very different view of the true Church, and even of believers individually, as we shall presently see.

I believe, therefore, that these three first parables of the kingdom are intended to show man's view of the Church. It will be seen that our Lord spoke them in the hearing of the multitude, but the explanation of the tares and the wheat was given to the apostles only, as were also the concluding parables. These last were delivered to them "in the house," and are, I believe, the expression of God's view of the true Church as now existing in the world, a view that the multitude could not receive (see our Lord's reason. ver. 11); and to these parables I will now address myself.

The usual interpretation of the "hid treasure" and the "pearl of great price" is made to chime in with the flattering view taken of the former parables, without perhaps considering whether this is consistent with the general tenor of Scripture. These are said to represent true Christianity, which, when once seen and felt, is so admired, that the receiver is willing to give up all that he has that he may possess it. He is said to be the discoverer of it, and then the buyer; a quotation from the book of Proverbs is made, and it is shown that the inspired writer used the term "hid treasure," when giving advice to his son. Speaking of "wisdom," he says, "If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures." (Prov. ii. ver. 4.) Wisdom is here supposed to be the Son of God, as St, l'aul applies the word, "but of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness," &c. (1 Cor. i. 30.) Now as the word wisdom is used in Proverbs

upwards of fifty times, with various applications, and in the Bible nearly two hundred times, why the passage before us is fixed upon to support the interpretation of this parable which I am objecting to, I cannot understand. May it not be, as before stated, that there is a foregone conclusion as to the term "kingdom of heaven" to which support is attempted to be given by such passages?

The objection to the above interpretation is evident to those who believe that man by nature is alienated from God, that to him there is no beauty in Christ that he should desire Him, and that man loves darkness rather than light; that he can only discover the true nature of Christ's salvation by faith which is the" gift of God;" that He cannot in any sense buy this great blessing, it is absolutely and entirely an unsolicited gift. Besides this, what does experience tell us-do we see so much to admire in the Christian life, that even when we have entered upon it, we are willing all at once to give up the world, and all that we most value, to possess it? Is it not, especially in the earlier stages, a constant warfare, a struggle against inbred corruption frequently accompanied by a desire to be back again into the world, a longing eye to the fleshpots of Egypt, which would certainly overcome us but for the promised presence of the Holy Spirit strengthening us.

The

Now let us see another view. "field" where the treasure is hid is the world;" the Son of God discovers the treasure, His own chosen and elect people. He gives up all the glory He had with the Father, takes man's nature, and sheds His precious blood that he may claim by a legal purchase the right to that treasure.

If we wish for a parallel to this figure, we find it remarkably typified. in the case of Boaz. The kinsman was willing to buy the field, he redeemed it, and with it became the rightful possessor of Ruth his bride.

To Him it is not only precious but it is comely; it is the jewel that will adorn His crown when" He shall appear the second time without sin unto salvation." In this we see the "pearl of great price," the bride, the true

Church, that spotless thing washed and purified, and reflecting the beauty which His great merit alone can impart, He sees it and buys it, while the world passes it by unheeded, or without being able to judge of its value..

Does not this correspond with the general tenor of the word as regards the Lord's people. They are precious as the "apple of His eye;" they are His own little flock; the

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few" comparatively that have entered in at the strait and narrow way; the "remnant that shall be saved." These also are what He will find when He comes again. At that time, the world at large will be engaged as in the days of Noah when the flood came and swept them all away.

The separation which will take place at the judgment day is the subject of the last parable, and though relating to the same subject as the tares and the wheat, has this important difference: the former relates to our Lord's purposes towards the two classes while in the world, and only treats the subject of the separation as a distant event, not to take place till the end of the age; whereas, the last parable introduces us to that great event only.

This is therefore the conclusion I draw from a general review of this chapter. I believe that it specially marks this dispensation; the sowing time during which the Lord is gathering out of the world His own chosen people. The means used are the Gospel Message-the "seed," or the "Word." Secondly, man's view of the effect of this seed-sowing. Thirdly, God's own purposes towards His people, which the world cannot understand or value, and which are only revealed by His Spirit to His true Church.

By those who, notwithstanding our Lord's own express statements to the contrary, believe that the world is to be evangelised by the Gospel before the second advent, these views will all be rejected, and nothing but the Spirit's teaching can correct their great mistake; I write for those who have no set views on these questions, and are anxious to have the difficulties cleared up.

Some feel that the views I have expressed are discouraging to the young believer, and the evangelist or missionary who are going out with the love of Christ in their hearts to tell to others the glad tidings which have been blessed to themselves. On the contrary, I think they are encouraging and safe: with such views they would go to their work knowing exactly what to expect; and consequently, when they see on all sides a dislike to their doctrine, and a rejection of their Master and themselves, they are prepared for it; they have been taught that the servant shall not be above his Lord, and are satisfied to suffer contempt and injury as he did. Are we wiser than Jesus? and did he not expressly warn His disciples against the expectation that their preaching would be acceptable to the world? He spoke of the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive." He also said "Ye know that it hated me before it hated you." "In the world you shall have tribulation;" and knowing what they would have to meet with in the world, He said, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Ye have believed in God, believe also in Me." The servant of God then goes forth prepared for the conflict with the world, willing to leave the results to Him who alone can make His words effectual to the salvation of immortal souls.

In conclusion, I revert for a moment to the object with which I commenced this paper, viz., to show the relation which these parables bear to the second coming of Christ. It will be seen that I consider that great event to be pre-millennial; that when He comes, He will find the world unconverted; that He has, however, a people in the world, known to Him, who have been saved through grace. It is these I believe who are described in 1 Thess. iv. 14 to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air; and who will surround His throne when He shall manifest Himself to the world to take vengeance on His enemies; to take to Himself His great power and reign; a reign of righteousness and peace, to last for one thousand years, in which converted Israel will again stand forth pre-eminent above

all the nations of the earth; and when will be seen the fulfilment of those gracious promises made to the seed of Abraham, of which the Bible, and especially the Old Testament, is so full. Now is the sowing time: the angels have not yet been sent forth to put in the sickle for the harvest; we cannot tell how long the day of grace will last; a very general expectation is arising in the church that His second coming will not be long delayed; and it is to be earnestly desired that her shepherds will no longer keep this glorious subject in the background; but, following the teaching of our Lord and His apostles, set it forth as the great hope of the Church, remembering His words, Occupy till I come.”

JOHN GRANTHAM.

SCRIPTURE EMENDATIONS.

HEB. viii. 2. "A minister of the saints, even of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched and not man."

Wherever we meet with the term "the saints" in the A. V. the Greek is the same as in the above passage. How then comes it to pass that in several places in this epistle these words are otherwise translated? The answer is, perhaps, that the mind was so occupied with Jewish types that all was moulded accordingly.

The saints" and "the true tabernacle" are synonymous terms, as we read, "the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them," Rev. xxi. 3.

The word for "minister" is very suggestive. It is λeroupyos, an officer who had to provide victims for the sacrifice at his own charge. Oh, how does this set forth the official character of our Great High Priest! "Once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself."

The margin reads, " of holy things." This was a little nearer the mark; but holy persons, i.e. saints, are meant by Tuv ȧyiwv; thus, Jesus says, “I came not to be ministered unto, but to minister."

Kai-even, is exegetical here rather

than copulative. This is a wellknown use of the word, and needs no examination.

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"Which the Lord pitched." Earthly tabernacles are pitched by man; even the natural body is thus to be accounted for; man begets his children's bodies, but "if any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new creation;" so the Church, whether as a body, is a tabernacle for the Spirit; or considered as units, every individual is this likewise. Well may we exclaim, "What a noble piece of work is man!" Ennobled by such a guest, but more than a guest. Priests of the Most High, we are intercessors for a world in imminent peril from His fierce wrath. Our power is in proportion to the sanctity of our lives, and this will be as we have fellowship with our Great High Priest through the blood of the everlasting covenant.

Heb. ix. 8. "The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way of the saints was not yet manifest, the tabernacle yet standing."

There is the same disregard here of the words Tv åyiwv through preoccupation of the mind with Jewish institutions.

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The vail did not signify, i.e. declare that "the way into the Holiest of all was not yet made manifest," it made it so, it shut in, literally, the Holiest. Now this vail typified Christ (x. 20), and it must be rent in order that all may enter who can bear the blood. What is the wayof the saints thus typically hid? Christ says, "I am the way." The Spirit in the Acts speaks of the way.' (Acts xix. 23, et alia.) So that the whole economy of the Gospel is the way of the saints," opening from the Cross into the very presence of Jehovah, whose terribleness we have 'thus no dread of. This presence, into which "the high priest alone once every year" went, we enter into with confidence every day, yea, are there continually through the blood of our Great High Priest. This is the same Holiest of all-not "the holy place" of ix. 12, so carelessly rendered into which he entered" by His own blood once," So again vers. 24, 25, "into the Holiest,"

in the A. V. rendered “holy places and "holy place.” The “holy place" is τό ἅγιον or ἁγία, ix. 1, 2, but the "Most Holy" or "Holiest of all" is ἅγια ἁγιων, or elliptically ἅγια or rà ayia. This prepares us to consider:

Heb. x. 19, 20. "Having therefore, brethren, freedom* into the way of the saints by the blood of Jesus, a new and living way which he hath instituted for us, through the vail, that is to say, His flesh.'

The Greek παρρησία εἰς τὴν ἔἴσοδον T☎v åyíwv is in the A. V. "boldness to enter into the Holiest;" above it is "freedom into the way of the saints." In strictness, loodov should perhaps be" way in," or as it is elsewhere" entrance,' entering in," but this would be more than enough after the preposition is, unless we choose to consider that the power of the expression lies in its leading into the very presence of God; the ultimate destiny of those who enter this way. The word "by" has no warrant whatever in the Greek; it is a defiance of the laws of grammar to render the simple relative thus. 'A new and living way" is exponential of "the way of the saints," and this way lies through "His the rent vail, that is to say flesh." Now is seen the beautiful sequency of the utterances of the holy oracles.

The Greek expression for "the saints" occurs twice more in this epistle, in vi. 10, rois ȧyiois, and xiii. 24, Tous ȧyiovs. The Greek for “the Holiest" occurs once more xiii. 11, rà ayia, there rendered "sanctuary;" reference to Lev. xvi. shows that the Holiest is meant vers. 2 and 34. It is a simple argument that if "the saints should have a uniform Greek formula everywhere else, why should the same words here have a totally different rendering? Clifton.

W. HOWELL.

* Or liberty, or free access. Delitzsch renders this verse: "Having, therefore, brethren, a joyous confidence for entrance into the holiest in the blood of Jesus, which He inaugurated," &c. As far as we know, every one has confounded the Greek for "the saints," and that for "the holiest."

We gladly availed ourselves of the invitation. We determined to be in good time, but we found a vast crowd had preceded us. The immense tent erected for the occasionfor Mr. Stern rightly estimated that there was no room in any of the buildings in Palestine Place large enough to accommodate the company which he expected · was already crowded, as well as the sitting rooms at the Wanderer's Home, close to which the tent was placed. The Misses Stern did their best to make the visitors who constantly increased in numbers-welcome, and succeeded wonderfully. Tea and coffee, with their accompaniments, were served to every one present; the Hebrew Christian children, under the able direction of the worthy headmaster of the boys' school, Mr. Nickless, singing at intervals a well chosen selection of hymns and sacred songs. About half-past six, Mr. Stern intimated that the inauguration service of the opening of the new wing of the Wanderer's Home, was about to begin. There was a rush towards the tent, but very few more could rush in, and the successful ones could scarcely find standing space. Numbers were obliged to

stand outside, and be content to catch a word now and then of what was going on in the temporary canvass tabernacle.

A hymn having been sung with heart and soul, by the Hebrew children and their elders, Mr. Stern read part of 1 Kings viii. This chapter, relating to the dedication of the Temple by Solomon, Mr. S., treated as apropos to the present occasion, in an exceedingly interesting address. We regret that we have no space, in this issue, even for a digest of it. The Rev. G. W. Butler, Principal of the Jewish Converts' Operative Institution, followed with a soulstirring prayer. Another hymn having been sung, Mr. Stern called upon the Rev. Dr. Margoliouth to address the meeting. In responding to the call, Dr. M. took the Solomonic dedication as the key-note for his address. The Rev. F. Smith-chief Secretary of the London Jews' Society-then engaged in solemn prayer. The meeting was also addressed by Messrs. Ehrlich, Eisenstadt, Rosen-, zweig, Scott (of The Christian), and Brown. The last prayer was offered up by Mr. Stern himself; after which the venerable Vicar of St. Paul's, Dalston, closed one of the most interesting and edifying meetings that we have ever attended with the benediction. It was the expressed wish of the brethren present that such meeting should annually take place, as a sort of commemoration of that day. We were glad to hear that Mr. Stern intended to comply with the request.

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ANGLIA." It refutes the absurd and oft repeated figment that a Hebrew Christian repudiates his faith in Christ on his deathbed:

"Let any one peruse the Jewish weeklies in this country, and he will see the gratuitous and frenzied obloquy heaped, by their penmen, upon the Christian Jews; those the scribblers repeat, unabashed; over and over again, after the falsehood of their statements has been exposed a hundred times. Just like so many Codruses and Welsteds, whom Pope, the prince of English satirists, appropriately described in the following lines:

"Who shames the scribbler? Break one cobweb through,

He spins the slight, self-pleasing thread

Full ten years slandered - did I e'er reply?

Three thousand suns went down, on Welsted's lie!"

"The remnant according to the election of grace,' may change the first three words of the last-quoted couplet into Full eighteen hundred years,' Such has been the experience of the remnant,' from the nation's Scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, and Priests, ever since the Redeemer began to call sinners to repentance. Many a time did the fourfold hostile element of unbelief coalesce to crush out THE FAITH from the midst of the nation; but THE FAITH has been leavening the nation-now more, now less-ever since it was promulgated, and never more so than at this present time. The above-named coalition was never more rampant, more fierce, more reckless in their libellous statements against 'the remnant,' than since the beginning of this century. The historians which either the Talmudical, or the Reformed' Jews have since produced have proved themselves partial, narrow-minded, unscrupulous, unjust, and unreliable, when they spoke or wrote of Christian Jews. It will be long ere the virulent attack is forgotten, which the Jews of London made upon Mr. Samuda, at