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which are distinct from the tree and foreign to it, must represent some agents distinct from the Church and foreign to it. Foreign nations seeking protection under the Assyrian empire, and the peoples of the earth, seeking to share the blessed security of Israel in the days of her coming glory, are represented by the striking emblem of the fowls of every wing dwelling under the shadow of a spreading tree. So in this parable the external prosperity of a corrupted Church attracts to its shelter those who are the unchanging enemies of the true Church. For in the connection in which this parable stands, the birds stand as the emblem of the wicked one and his agents, who, having first attempted to catch away the good seed, next corrupt the Church, and then find, in the expanded prosperity of the corrupted Church, a congenial shelter and lurking-place. The historical fulfilment of this prediction, it is, alas! too easy to trace.

The fourth parable of the series, that of the leaven which a woman hid in three measures of meal, is generally understood as teaching that the influence of the Church will gradually assimilate the whole human race to itself; or that the transforming power of the Gospel will at last make this world a Christian world. If that means that it will be a Christian world in the same sense in which these writers speak of the nations of Europe as Christian nations, it may be a question how far the world will be improved by the change. But in order to show that the Lord does not, in this parable, contradict Himself in His interpretation of the parable of the tares among the wheat, it is only necessary to point to the circumstance that the agent in depositing the leaven cannot be an emblem of Him who planted the Church or gave the Gospel to be preached. It is a woman who, in the types and allegories of Scripture, is either an emblem of the Church or of Satan's grand agent in corrupting the

truth. In the next place, three measures of meal cannot be an emblem of the whole mass of humanity, but a portion taken from the whole; and the connection in which it stands leaves it not doubtful what portion is meant. Lastly, leaven has a uniform and well-defined meaning in the word of God. There is not a single example in the Scripture in which it represents any good or excellence. But whether in the types of the Old Testament or in the most expressive figures of the New, it stands continually as the chosen emblem of corruption, hypocrisy, and all the evil which displays such a power to propagate and perpetuate itself in the nature of fallen man. Nothing could be more unlike the process by which truth achieves its conquests, and divine grace resists the tendencies of nature, than the operation of leaven. Nothing in nature could more strikingly represent the progress of corruption. And so, in sad harmony with all that goes before it, this parable, the last which the Lord delivered to the multitude on the shore of Genesareth, completes the mournful picture of the Church's degeneracy. Sad words they were for Jesus to utter! and sad words they are for us to read, "till the whole was leavened!" the apostasy complete and a false Church rejected and disowned by Him whose name it has so long profaned! That last point of final and complete corruption is not reached; but reviewing with candor and impartiality the history of Christianity from the days of the apostles, when the mystery of iniquity was already working, and is it not a practical commentary on these faithful premonitions of the Lord? And can we for a moment dispute the certainty of all that remains to be fulfilled? "The tares and the wheat shall grow together until the harvest." Nay, the leaven is still diffusing itself, and the whole will be leavened. The appalling results from the small beginnings of corruption, illustrate the operation of a

principle on a large scale, which calls for the vigilant and unsparing fidelity of every Christian in his more limited sphere of responsibility. "Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump," is a warning which applies to every sphere of Christian responsibility, and is especially the consideration by which we are urged to a jealous watchcare of the purity of every Church. "Purge out, therefore, the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ, our passover, is sacrificed for us; therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice or wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."

MIRACLES NEVER CEASE.

THE regeneration of a soul dead in trespasses and sins, it has often been said, is a more marvellous display of divine power than the creation of a material world. For, in the one case, a perishable structure of unconscious matter is called into existence; in the other case, a being is produced who is not only to exist for ever as part of the body of Christ, but who is capable of fellowship with the Creator, and who will reign in associated glory with Him in heaven and over the earth. The communication of the divine life that is in Christ to every believer, the unceasing miracle by which alone the Church exists, is the perpetual proclamation of the godhead of Jesus.

In order that the work may be seen to be of God, He often selects the weakest instruments in working out His purposes of grace to sinners. The following unadorned narrative of facts is designed to show the utter insufficiency of human intellect to find out God, or to sound those depths of the word of life which can be known only by His Spirit. In the event recorded, the mighty power of God will be seen no less plainly than it was in calling the dead to come forth from a four days' burial.

There resides in Paris a gentleman, well known to many who will peruse this paper, whom for convenience we may call Mons. S-, highly distinguished in the world of letters. At the time to which this narrative refers, he was Professor

of History in the University. He is the author of a voluminous work which has gained for him a high and wide-spread reputation; and, in a country where journalism takes the foremost place in literature, he was a celebrated journalist. Like many other reflecting unbelievers, he sat in the midst of so many cross-lights of the intellect that he could see nothing distinctly in the moral world; and his dazzling sword-fence of wit and learning seemed effectually to bar all approach to him with the word of truth.

He was paying a visit at the chateau of a lady near Lyons, where he frequently met Pastor Fisch, who is affectionately remembered by many who formed his acquaintance during his late visit to the United States. One day, as Pastor Fisch was walking in the grounds of the chateau, reading in the Scriptures, he met Mons. S-, who remarked to him: "I have had a great admiration of your conduct as a Christian, and have wished to know what are the principles that seem to produce such an effect on your life." He remarked, at the same time, that he had greatly desired to become religious, and that the proof of the truth of Christianity had appeared so conclusive that he had heartily adopted it as true, and had twice tried the Roman Catholic system with great earnestness, and for many months. "But," he added, "my judg ment revolted from the teaching of the Church-practically that religion is impossible—and nothing can now move me from the philosophic neutrality, with respect to all forms of belief, into which I have finally and firmly settled down. Yet, if you have any book which states the doctrines you profess, and the principles by which you live, I should be glad to read it."

"I have," replied the pastor, "an admirable treatise, written by one of the early converts to the Christian faith. I

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