and again, "Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice," (John v. 25-28,) which "marvel" somewhat resembles that addressed to Nicodemus, "Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again;" and, indeed, the same truth is expressed in both verses. Examine, I repeat, the context thus; and when you hear the Son of God discoursing of works like these; and when you read him affirming that these works were given him to finish, for a testimony of his mission; and when you find that one of these works is expressed thus, "All that are in the graves shall hear my voice," then stay a moment, and ask yourselves a question or two about the common doctrine of the resurrection, whether it do or do not bear testimony to the mission of Christ, eighteen hundred years having elapsed, and as yet, according to the commonly received views, no fulfilment. Examine the works of the Son of God, from the first beginning of miracles which Jesus did in Cana in Galilee, down to the last work on record, the fall of Jerusalem, and you hear one and all giving greater witness than that of John, "Truly this was the Son of God."

Thus then it has been proved that Christ's ministry was prophesied in the Old Testament. Three several prophecies, from as many different prophets, have been quoted, with their fulfilment in the New Testament; therefore, as in the preceding ministry of John, it follows, that such and such portions of the prophets became, in Christ's ministry, a clear revelation to the church, no matter whether understood or not. Having thus exhibited the ministry, and its fulfilment, I will now proceed to enquire somewhat further into the circumstances attending it. And first, of the call of the disciples. John came preaching in the character of the forerunner of the Lord; so likewise Jesus "chose seventy disciples, and sent them before his face, into every city and place whither he himself would come." (Luke x. 1.) This choice of the seventy was subsequent to that of the twelve Apostles; "After these days, the Lord chose other seventy also." The preaching of the seventy, in the character of forerunners, was similar to that of John, "Be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you;" and yet their preaching differed from John's. John did no miracle, though Jesus puzzled the Scribes and Pharisees, so that they could not say that John's baptism was of men, because all the people counted John for a prophet. John's preaching was prophecy, unattended with miracle; the preaching of the seventy, and of the twelve, was accompanied with miraculous power, for Christ said, "Into whatsoever city ye enter, heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you" They did so. Having gone forth with their message, and exercised the powers with which they were entrusted, they returned to Jesus with joy, saying, "Lord, even the devils are subject unto us.' Thus, it is evident, from the prophetic testimony entrusted to John, and the miraculous powers bestowed upon the seventy, that there never was an imperfect ministry sent forth of God, but that when he commissioned any man, or any body of men, to perform the work which he had in hand, he fitted and qualified them for the work, and enabled them to go through with and finish it; and, if he has any work in hand now, any dispensation service, it is the very

same to this day; we must have ministers to do the work, and these must be qualified equally with their predecessors. There are ministers, we are told. Are they prophets? No. Can they work miracles? No. Therefore they are no ministers.

Jesus, as we have seen, sent the seventy before his face; and when they returned with joy, he intimated to them the high honour which in this their ministry they had received, "He turned him unto his disciples, and said privately, Blessed are the eyes which see the things which ye see; for I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them, and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them. (Luke x. 23, 24.) Here, once more, have we occasion to notice the paramount importance of a right division of Scripture; and here, again, we are reminded that the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth brighter and brighter unto the perfect day. The disciples went into every place whither Jesus himself would come, but they were commanded not to go into the way of the Gentiles, nor any city of the Samaritans, but rather unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. This latter part of the verse exactly corresponds with Christ's own ministerial mission, “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” I beg that this may be particularly noticed, as drawing a line of separation between the ministry of Christ and his disciples, and the succeeding ministry of the Apostles, and also as affording us a key, wherewith, among other things, to open the true meaning of the parables. When I hear, from Christ's own lips, that he was not sent (ministerially) except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel; when I know, moreover, that his parabolic discourses were delivered especially to the Jews, then I am led to search into the meaning of those parables, with special reference to the Jewish history. And how does the search operate, and with what result ? With a result which alone is sufficient to convince me that the views which I entertain are the truth of God. I consider what is left on record of the preaching of Christ to his own nation and people; I find that his preaching embraced the world before the flood, "declaring the end from the beginning;" I observe particularly, that he went to the root of the apostacy in that age, when he said to the Jews, "Ye are of your Father the devil, and the lusts of your Father ye will do," (surely the Devil is Cain here,) "he, the Devil, was a murderer from the beginning," just as he was a liar in Eve's peccable composition. I see, in Christ's preaching, that he associates the fratricide Cain with the fratricide Jews, in his declaration that the blood of Abel should be required of that generation, which had gone in the way of Cain." (Jude 11.) I discover that Christ was very particular, in discoursing upon Sodom and Gomorrah, the overthrow of Nineveh, and other remarkable Old Testament portions; and that he discoursed on these subjects, in order to confirm the evidence of prophecy, in a way of warning to the men of that generation, upon whom the ends of the world were come, and for whom the Apostle declares these things to be ensamples or types. (1 Cor. x. 11.) I behold, then, that Christ's preaching to the Jews was occupied with little else than the fall of Jerusalem, let the fall of Jerusalem be "old wives' fables" or not. I behold all the prophetic testimonies revolving round "that great and

notable day of the Lord," that day being, if the figure may be allowed, the centre from which the whole Bible is a multitude of radiating lines. I refer to the parables, properly so called, and the same Jerusalem, Jerusalem, is Alpha and Omega throughout; the same stiff-necked and uncircumcised people are still the inexhaustible theme. I behold, in the light of the successive ministries and dispensations, that the parables have a definite meaning, of which, while a Calvinist, I could form no conception whatever. Take, as an illustration, the parable of the prodigal son. The common notion of the prodigal son is, that he represents a repenting and returning sinner. Therefore it comes to pass that there are as many prodigal sons, as there are different descriptions of a repenting sinner, and there are as many different definitions of a repenting sinner as there are sects, systems, or parties — their name is legion. And then, for an interpretation of the elder brother, this is a character which religious systems could never fathom; all that they can say about him, or the whole parable, is, on their own confession, conjecture. How do we interpret this word of the wise, and his dark saying? The prodigal is none other than the ten lost tribes, which modern religious systems are so diligently seeking for to this day. The elder brother represents the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and who the Father is was never doubted. The same interpretation applies to the lost sheep, and the lost piece of silver, in the same xvth Luke, as also to Lazarus, in the parable of the rich man, which rich man denotes the elder brother Judah. The like interpretation is true of the "other sheep which are not of this fold," in John x. These represent the lost ten tribes, the lost sheep of the house of Israel, as do also the poor, the maimed, the halt, and the blind, for whom a feast was made and provided. Here is a list of parables, which, by understanding the nature and object of Christ's ministry, are plain and intelligible, but which, for lack of that understanding, are still parables, in the preaching of religious systems. Here is a power to exhibit God's most blessed will as one undivided truth, in opposition to a thousand different doctrines, which must be false.

Having considered the ministry of Christ, our next step (following the plan adopted in discoursing on the preceding ministry,) ought to be into the baptism thereto appended. I shall dismiss this part of our subject with a remark or two upon the latter part of the 3rd chapter of John's Gospel. We read, in verse 22, "After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judæa, and there he tarried with them and baptized." This is explained in a parenthesis, in 2nd verse of 4th chapter, "Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples," showing that the disciples' ministry, at that time, was only an appendage to that of Christ. John was baptizing at the same time, and his disciples, with certain of the Jews, came to him, saying, "Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold the same baptizeth, and all men come unto him." John's disciples and the Jews were then disputing a certain question about purifying, so that in this mention of purifying, and two baptisms, we are led to understand what was in Paul's mind when, in 6th Hebrews, he exhorted to leave the first principles, among which was the doctrine of "divers baptisms," or washings. The disciples, in their address to John, appear

to have entertained a fond thought that John was himself the Messiah, or, at least, a desire that he should assume that character, and the answer which is returned to that address would lead us so to conclude; "Ye yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ, but I am sent before him." The same remarks are illustrative of John's sending certain of his disciples, when he was in prison, to Christ, asking, "Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another ?" This was not, surely, for John's satisfaction, but for the satisfaction of those who followed him. He would here again divert men's minds from himself; and such would be the effect consequent upon the answer to the disciples' question, "Go and shew John again those things which ye do see and hear. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them." (Matt. 4.) Now John did no miracle; this, then, was to tell the disciples that he (Christ) had greater witness than that of John.

I will now offer a few observations on the subject of prayer, in connexion with this ministry of Christ. "And it came to pass, that as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples." The Lord did teach them a prayer, and that is commonly called The Lord's Prayer; and it is prayed four or five times every Sunday morning, thereby transgressing the precept, "Use not vain repetitions." This prayer was very necessary at the time when it was given, "Jesus said, If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit unto them that ask him." (Luke xi. 13.) How glorious here is the comparison of spiritual things with spiritual, in John vii. 39, "The Holy Ghost, or Spirit, was not yet given, for Jesus was not yet glorified." To ask for the Holy Spirit now, betrays the most lamentable ignorance of the Bible.

Again, "Thy kingdom come," was once a beautiful petition, for they were then preaching, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand." According to religious systems, it is at hand still. The cloven foot of Apostolic succession is ever creeping in, as exhibited in the absurd scheme of a double interpretation of scripture terms. It will be allowed by all sects, that the kingdom of heaven is come, in a certain sense or senses. They will speak of a kingdom of grace in the heart, a kingdom of Christ in the church, and a kingdom of glory above, while there never was but one kingdom of heaven. That was the Apostolic dispensation of the Holy Spirit-preached gospel, in its progress and final establishment to be an eternal and unchanging kingdom. It was this kingdom of the new and better covenant in Christ's blood, which the disciples prayed for, but when it was come, the petition was made void, because obsolete, out of date. This will clearly appear, if for a moment we connect the petition with what Christ is recorded to have said to his disciples; in John xvi. He had told them, "I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.' After this he added, " And in that day ye shall ask me nothing." What day? This question puzzled me a long time, until I discovered the answer in the foregoing verse. That day in which they should ask

him nothing, was the day when he should see them again; that is, the time between the resurrection and ascension; which day, for aught I can see, may as well be called the Lord's day, as the first day of the week. Thus scripture is truly its own interpreter, and thus it is that every day we see fresh cause for exclaiming, "It becometh well the just to be thankful." Well then, to proceed. When Christ had said, "At that day ye shall ask me nothing," he said, moreover, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Hitherto ye have asked nothing in my name; ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full." Was Christ a false witness, or the faithful and true, when he said, "Hitherto ye have asked nothing in my name?" Every one, from the highest Calvinist, down to the lowest Arminian, replies, "The faithful and true." Then, I ask, by what authority do you repeat, or by your presence in the services of the Church of England sanction, the repetition of this the Lord's prayer? If the testimony of Christ is of any any value, there is nothing asked in his name in that prayer; indeed, this is plain, from the wording of the prayer. But he bids them henceforth to ask in his name. If men are to be guided by the testimony of Christ, then that which is called the Lord's Prayer was a proverb to the disciples. "These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs, or parables." (John xvi. 25.) This is borne out by facts; for when the disciples prayed, "Thy kingdom come," every one knows that their notion of the kingdom was that it should be a kingdom of this world, a kingdom in deliverance from the Roman power, and not from Moses' law. Exactly the same is the notion of those who pray, Thy kingdom come," to this day, as is evident from their millennial dreams. But to return. "These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs; but the time cometh when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father." After this there follows, in the next verse, "At that day ye shall ask in my name." What day? The time then coming, when there should be no more proverbs; when they should be led into all truth; when the Holy Ghost, the wonderworker, should bring all things to their remembrance; then should they ask in his name, and if in his name, they must put the Lord's Prayer aside. Now that they did ask in his name is evident; "Whatsoever ye do, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus"-that Jesus who was crucified, and in his resurrection made Lord and Christ-" giving thanks unto God, even the Father, by him." And that the disciples did put aside the prayer Christ taught them, is equally evident; not a vestige of it is to be found in any one of the Epistles, or in the Acts; therefore, I conclude that on this one ground of objection we might safely rest our secession from the Church of England.

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I have thus glanced at the subject of prayer, in its connexion with Christ's ministry, and have proved from Scripture that the prayer of that ministration passed away.

Two states or constitutions have now been manifested; every thing that appertained to them has come to pass, whether one or one thousand understand the fulfilment. The vail has been withdrawn from the ministries of Christ and John; the curtain has been lifted up so far; we have read the proof of this revelation in the words, "I have finished the

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