conversion of the world to the faith of Christ, cannot be questioned; but when the Lord shall consume that system of fraud and wickedness, "with the Spirit of His mouth, and the brightness of His coming," the spread of truth and true religion will probably be rapid beyond conception.

The conversion of the Jews is an event for which we have reason also to hope with undoubting confidence. "All Israel shall be saved;" and "if the fall of them was the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?...... For if the casting away of them was the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?" Their conversion, whenever it shall take place, will astonish the world, and gladden the church. Its suddenness, its universality, and the signal testimony it will give to the power of the Galilean, will largely contribute to strike infidelity dumb, and cast idolatry down in all the earth. It will furnish illustrations of the truth and inspiration of Scripture, of the wisdom of Providence, of the power and grace of God, so lucid, so loud, and so convincing, that the blindest shall see, the deafest shall hear, and the most prejudiced shall confess, “This is the Lord's doing; it is marvellous in our eyes."

Christianity a failure! its power expended! its resources exhausted! its meridian reached! its ultimate design already attained! No! Its power waxes stronger and stronger; its weapons are still mighty through God; its evidences are accumulating; its converts are multiplying; its great Author is on the throne of the universe; its resources are vast as the Divine fulness; and the entire subjugation and renovation of our race to His sceptre, is the ultimate conquest to which it aspires. Nothing, in fact, appears necessary to bring in the glorious consummation, when Christ shall reign "from the river to the ends of the earth," but a more copious outpouring of the Holy Spirit; and this will be given in proportion as the friends of the Redeemer abound in prayer, in piety, and in selfsacrificing efforts in His cause.

Having shown that the partial spread and limited influence of Christianity in the world are no valid grounds for denying its Divine origin, or for rejecting its claims, the question arises, "What are we called upon to do in order to hasten its triumphs?"

In the first place, let us steadfastly resist all attempts on the part of unbelievers, secret or open, to unsettle our faith in the inspiration of the Scriptures, and in the Divinity of our holy religion. If the clear fulfilment of prophecy,-if stupendous miracles,-if a character of universal benignity, if the total absence of national antipathies, and class preferences, -if the saintly lives and triumphant deaths of its faithful adherents,—if its perfect adaptation in doctrine, duties, ordinances, and benefits, to the circumstances and necessities of mankind everywhere, and if the wide diffusion of personal and domestic happiness, and of holiness among those who were once depraved and wretched,-be evidences of the only true religion, then Christianity is that religion. It bears the image and superscription of God: and were its legitimate influence to become universal, it is certain

the foundations of superstition would be uprooted; wars would cease to the ends of theearth; the rod of oppression would be broken; every captive would be set free; ignorance, crime, and wretchedness would vanish from our world, as the birds of night before the rising sun; trade and commerce would be established on equitable principles; and the church, including all nations within her ample pale, would shine forth "fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners." The Gospel, faithfully preached, and applied by the Spirit, is "a saving health" to the nations, "a savour of life unto life" to individuals. Let us, then, openly submit to its claims, and, believing with the heart unto righteousness on the Lord Jesus, its great Author, boldly say, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek."

Secondly, as infidels object to Christianity on the ground of its limited influence in the world, let us give a practical refutation to the objection, by personally embracing the Saviour all the more heartily, and by joining with His church in efforts to extend His kingdom at home and abroad.

Though the partial diffusion of Christianity can be accounted for without at all shaking our faith in its Divinity, it is a melancholy fact that many who " name the name of Christ" do not "depart from iniquity;" and that the larger portion of the human race are still sitting in the region and shadow of death. These facts are dishonouring to God, and discreditable to the church; and it is the solemn duty of the friends of the Redeemer to exert themselves to the utmost in correcting so unsatisfactory a state of things. In this matter no branch of the church is free from blame. As individual professors, we might all have been more holy, more useful, more zealous. Who among us have acted up to our obligations? or rendered to the Lord according to His benefits? or exhibited the full power of the Gospel in our lives and tempers? or have done our utmost to spread the religion of Jesus throughout our respective neighbourhoods? Let us be honest and earnest; and, instead of spending time in attempts at a nice appropriation of the degree of blame which attaches to others, let us humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, confess our guilt, apply anew to the blood of sprinkling, and consecrate ourselves afresh to the service of God and His church. Jesus said, "He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth." If we are not conspicuous and steady lights, pointing the way to God and heaven, we are sure to become stumbling-blocks, turning the lame out of the way, and causing the blind to err. The pastor who does not, by faithful preaching and consistent living, contribute to save his flock, will, by erroneous teaching and inconsistent conduct, contribute to their perdition. And the same may be affirmed of parents with regard to their children; Sunday-school teachers and their scholars; leaders and the members of their classes; masters and their servants; and of professors generally in regard to the non-professing multitude around. Our influence, for good or evil, will not terminate with our lives and the circle of our immediate acquaintances; but, like the undu

lations of the smitten lake, its vibrations will spread on every side, reaching many whom we never saw, and extending to generations yet unborn.

Are these things so? Then let us, in humble dependence on Divine aid, correct whatever is amiss in our conduct and conversation; in our tempers, Christian experience, business habits, attendance on public worship, or family government. Let us deny ourselves the pleasures and vanities of the world; and by our moderation in seeking its good things, and our liberality in distributing them, evince that our own heart and treasure are elsewhere. If we would convince unbelievers that Christianity is Divine, see error uprooted and truth triumphant, the kingdom of Christ extended and Satan's overthrown; if we would both save ourselves and them that hear our converse and observe our conduct, let us maintain our personal union with the Saviour inviolate, seek to be filled with the fulness of God, pray with deeper earnestness for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on all flesh. Consecrating body, spirit, soul, time, talents, property, influence, all we have and are, to God, let us do what in us lies to spread religion, until "every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low;" until "the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain;" until "the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together."

THE PERILS OF CHRISTIAN MINISTERS.

Ar the close of the last New College session in Edinburgh, Dr. Candlish gave an address, in which he spoke of the danger of familiarity in dealing with Divine things. His remarks are worthy of consideration by ministers of all churches.

"Ah! it is only too easy for us to fall into the way of handling Divine things without ourselves at the time having any adequate personal sense of them. It is only too easy for us to grow contented so to handle them. Then our profession becomes a terrible snare; a sad source or occasion of spiritual declension and the decay of vital godliness and heart religion. We are habitually, almost continually, handling Divine things. It is the necessity of our calling; we handle them for the uses and purposes of our calling; and, on the supposition I am making, we learn, at least occasionally, to handle them for these alone. We grow expert in so handling them. We learn to handle them well, skilfully, effectively. I repeat, it is a terrible snare. And it may be so all the more in proportion to our very success. The better we learn to handle Divine things thus, the worse may be for ourselves. For we often more or less consciously and deliberately affect what we do not feel; or at least more than at the time we feel. We may not be intentionally and wilfully hypocrites. We may deceiving ourselves more than others; or, not even deceiving ourselves, we plead the hour's necessity and the infirmity of the flesh. Still, we are acting a part; honestly trying to act it well; perhaps even from right motives

it

be

There are preachers

trying to act it well, that men may be impressed and good may be done. But all the while we may be actors; actors merely; or little more. I warn you against the beginning of this sore evil. When it comes to a height, to its maturity, it is indeed an evil very sore. who, however they may produce a great effect for a time, very soon convey to spiritual hearers the unequivocal conviction that they are simply professional. There is a rude familiarity, a flippancy and ease, a want of reverence and awe in their way of treating the most tremendous topics of the faith; or perhaps there is the reverse of that, an excess even of exaggerated solemnity,-a horrible wielding of heaven's thunder,-that cannot long impose on serious minds. But short of these extremes, there may be real sincerity so far; an honest desire to be useful. The preacher, really aiming at the faithful discharge of duty, and the saving of souls, does his very best to present the truths of the glorious Gospel in a clear, persuasive, and affecting way. But he has got the habit, we shall say, of doing this, and being satisfied with doing it, very much as an able and honest advocate would plead a cause he had set his whole heart in gaining, before a judge or jury whom he has to convince or persuade. That is the evil I have in my mind just now. That is the manner in which, as it seems to me, our profession may and does exercise an injurious influence on the cultivation of personal piety. But it is not our profession that must bear the blame ; it is ourselves."

OUR LORD'S MIRACLES.

(Concluded from our last Number.)

We now proceed to make some observations on the characteristic features of the miracles wrought by our Lord. With regard to the designation of them, there is one difference between St. John and the other Evangelists, which cannot but strike a reflecting reader as being significant. The other Evangelists call them "signs and wonders," and "mighty works;" but St. John almost uniformly designates them "works" simply. He does not even once apply to them the epithet "mighty." For example:"Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." "The works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me." (John v. 17, 36.) How is this peculiarity to be explained? St. John, more than any other of the Evangelists, seems to aim to bring into prominence our Lord's Divine glory. And the simple designation, "works," which he so constantly uses to describe His miracles, suggests the idea that, wonderful as they were in themselves and to us, they were not at all wonderful, but, on the contrary, quite natural, in their relation to Him. That a very clever man should write a book characterized by extraordinary acuteness and vigour, or that a man of the highest mechanical skill should plan a very superior

machine, is not at all surprising, but is what we naturally expect. These things would be wonderful, if they were effected by men of inferior parts; but as the fruits of high genius, they are simply natural. When the Apostles wrought miracles, they did it by virtue of a special endowment from heaven. Miracles were not within the sphere of their natural powers; whereas the miracles of Jesus were perfectly natural, as emanations of His "eternal power and Godhead ;" and therefore it is that St. John calls them simply His "works." It was not at all wonderful that "the Son of God should do works which in themselves were wonderful; we expect it from Him, and the wonder would have been in His not doing them. The grand central miracle was the incarnation. All that followed was perfectly natural. Christ was the 'wonderful' in His person, 'God manifest in the flesh; and, therefore, it was quite natural, quite in harmony with His wonderful person, that He should do works of wonder."

If we compare the miracles of Moses, which introduced the old dispensation, with those of our Lord, which introduced the new, we are struck with an obvious difference between them. Not a few of the miracles of Moses were characterized by severity; they were usually manifestations of God's purity and justice: whereas the miracles of Christ, without a single exception, were of a beneficent character. The first of the plagues of Egypt was the changing of water into blood; Christ's first miracle was the conversion of water into wine. The last plague was the destruction of the "first-born," which caused "a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead." But "the Son of Man came, not to destroy men's lives, but to save them." He never took away life, but He often cured persons of diseases which would have brought them to an early grave; and in three instances brought back the dead to life, thus turning the sorrow of their bereaved relatives into joy. Miriam, the sister of Moses, was smitten with leprosy as a punishment for her sin, and was only cured when "Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, Heal her now, O God, I beseech Thee." (Num. xii. 13.) But our Lord never once inflicted this terrible disease, even on the worst of men; but in many instances He cured it by His word or touch. The miracles of Moses were in striking harmony with the old dispensation, which was a dispensation of law; it was therefore not surprising that they should be characterized by some marks of severity. Our Lord's miracles, on the contrary, accorded with the new dispensation, which was one of grace. They were all beneficent. There is only one which can be regarded as forming an exception to this statement; that is, "the cursing of the barren fig-tree;" and this, when examined, will be found to be no exception to the rule, but the opposite. Our Lord had wrought a great number of miracles, all of which were manifestations of pure benevolence, without the slightest indication of severity. Now there was some danger lest men should be morally damaged by having their attention (as far as the miracles were concerned) fixed exclusively on the goodness of God, losing sight altogether of His righteous severity. It was therefore reasonable that He should work one miracle to