delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification ?" * With a thankful heart Mrs. Mellis heard and witnessed the effects of her former interview with Mr. Sedley, and she was reminded of the wise man's saying"Cast thy bread upon the waters; for thou shalt find it after many days." t THE PLANT OF RENOWN. A PARABLE. THERE was a small colony planted on a creek of a vast continent. Their soil was very fertile, but its limits were somewhat narrow. However, its size and resources were sufficient for the inhabitants. We said that its limits were narrow. On the landward side it was enclosed by an amphitheatre of rocky mountains, so precipitous, that nothing, save the white clouds and the dwindling eagle, could pass over them; on the other side, it looked out on the bulging expanse of the immeasurable main. At the time we speak of, a pestilence had broken out, which made a fearful havoc all through the population. It was a dreadful disease, before whose touch the sturdiest manhood crumbled down, and the brightest beauty withered away. It was not long before two appalling discoveries were made. First, it was found that no one had escaped it: for, though some exhibited its virulence more fearfully than others, the little child in the cradle and the shepherd in the distant plain were smitten, as well as the grown people in the village streets; and next, the doctors declared that it was beyond their skill-they could do nothing for it. Just at the time the plague was raging worst, a stranger appeared and told them there was a cure. He said that there was a plant which healed this disorder, and he described it. tioned that it was a lowly plant, not conspicuous nor very arresting to the eye; that it had a red blossom and sweetscented leaves, and a bruised-looking stem, and that it was evergreen. He told a number of other particulars regarding it; and, as he could not tarry longer at that time, he left a paper in which, he said, they would find a full description of it, and directions how to find it. The tidings diffused considerable activity through the sickly colony. A plant of such efficacy deserved the most diligent search. † Eccles. xi. 1. * Rom. iv. 25. He men Almost all agreed that it must be far away: but a discussion arose whether it lay beyond the cliffs or across the sea. Most thought the latter; and some set to work and built a ship, and when they had launched her, they christened her " Ecclesia," and hoisted a red-cross flag, and sent around word that the fine ship Ecclesia was about to set sail in search of the famous plant, and all who wished to escape the plague were invited to take passage in this good ship. A few others, however, thought that the ship was going the wrong way, and that they would have better success by trying to get over the cliffs. This was an arduous enterprise; for the precipices were beetling steep and extremely high. A few attempts were made to climb by ravines and gulleys, which, however, ended in walls of glassy smoothness; and, after many weariful efforts, the climbers either grew dizzy and fell back, or allowed themselves to slide down again to the crumbling rubbish at the bottom. But others, more inventive, busied themselves in constructing artificial wings and aërial engines, of various kinds,--imitatio Christi, asceticism, penitential prayers, and such like; and some of them answered exceedingly well for a little while, and rose so high, that their neighbours really thought that they would reach the top; but, after getting a certain height, whether it was owing to the weakness of the materials, or a powerful current which they always met at a certain elevation, and which by a sort of down-draught blew them back from the brow of the mountain, they uniformly found themselves again on the spot from which they first ascended. A long time had now passed on, and multitudes had died of the plague, without any clearer views of the specific plant; when a poor sufferer who had already gone on a fruitless expedition in the ship, and from the severity of his anguish was eager in trying every scheme, lay tossing on his bed. He got hold of a large paper-roll which lay on a shelf beside him. It was very dirty, and the ink was faded; but, to while away the time, he began to unfold it, and found from the beginning that it was the Book of the Balm of Gilead. He at once suspected that it was the book which the stranger had left so long ago, and wondered how they had suffered it to fall aside; and he had not read far till it told him that if he would only read on, it would put him on the way of finding the Plant of Renown. It gave a full description-many particulars of which he had never heard before; and as he advanced in his feverish earnestness, unrolling it fold by fold, and reading rapidly as he went along, hoping that it would tell him the very spot where he should look for it, he found the plant itself! There it lay in the heart of the long-neglected volume; and Luther's eye glistened as he read, "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.""But where is Christ to be found? Must I ascend the height, or descend into the deep? Must I climb these cliffs, or cross that sea? Oh, no. Christ is here-nigh me-God's present gift to me conveyed in the volume of this book. I see him. I accept him. I believe." From that moment Christ was Luther's righteousness; and in the flash of sudden joy with which he discovered the Lord his righteousness, though it did not so strike him at the moment, Luther's eternal life began. The apologue has prematurely betrayed itself; but no matter: it is so historically true, that it could not be hid. The cure for a plague-stricken, dying world, was long concealed in the Bible, till, led by the Spirit of God, Luther found it there. You have only to go where Luther went, and you will find it again. But so inveterate is the disposition to travel far, or do some great thing for the sake of some surpassing good, that few are content with a salvation which has already come to their house. Leaving their Bible behind them, they go to sea in the ship of a so-called apostolic church, or they make to themselves the wings of a mystic piety, and, by dint of personal effort, try to bring down Christ from above. But all their labour is futile. That only "Christ" who is the "end of the law" and the "sinner's righteousness," is in the Bible already, and as such, is God's free gift to me-a gift unspeakable in its intrinsic value unspeakable in the everlasting results which its acceptance involves-Godlike in the freeness with which it is offered, and Godlike in the nearness with which it is brought; but missed by many because so nigh, and rejected by others because so free. Dr. Hamilton. FISH AND FISHERS. It was one of those calm, delicious evenings, not uncommon in the pleasant days between the summer and the autumn; when the sun hastening to its decline tinges the face of nature, and falls askance upon the corn-fields now quickly ripening for the golden harvest. The hedge-rows had lost their early brightness, and were in the full luxuriance of their summer verdure. The meadows were glowing in the slanting sunlight, as it fell upon the mounds of new-made hay. The air was heavy with fragrance, and alive with the innumerable insects which only a summer's evening can produce. I found myself entering a narrow valley through which a famous trout stream winds its way. A few steps onward from the place where I had been standing, I came in sight of an angler. He was half concealed from view by the boughs of a tree, near to which he had taken up his position. From hence he could command with his line the spot where the best sport had generally been afforded. It was easy to perceive, from his intent manner, that something more than common was occupying his attention. Being a brother angler, I could not refrain from stopping to admire the dexterity with which he adopted the following stratagem:-A fine trout had all that evening, and for days before, defied his utmost endeavours. It was at this moment passing to and fro close to the bank, its promenade extending, perhaps, twenty yards. It had been hooked three or four times, and was, consequently, as my companion with the rod remarked, "as wary as a miser," and refused every bait. Presently we observed an insect drop from the grass hanging over the bank upon the water beneath, just as our finny friend was swimming below. It was seized without hesitation. This gave my friend a hint, and he forthwith prepared for the capture. To the top of the rod he attached a short line with a small brown fly to conceal the hook. After the fish had passed out of sight, he placed his fly on a blade of grass which projected over the water, and then awaited the coming of the cautious, but still unsuspecting victim. As it approached, he gently shook the fly-it dropped from the blade of grass -and within a few moments the fish lay struggling on the turf beside the angler. How like to this is the method adopted by the archdeceiver with regard to men—his victims! In my friend's desire to entrap his fish, I see the devices which Satan employs in order to effect the capture of the soul. He unweariedly awaits his opportunity to throw the bait which he has prepared, with the skill of a being who retains angelic knowledge, while he has lost angelic purity. Thus does he attract the notice and compass the destruction of the victim whom he wishes to destroy. His devices are innumerable, and with the skill of a master he selects them; using, in each particular case, the one most calculated to effect his purpose. Who is there of us but can bear witness to the seductive powers of those fascinating baits? Among them are self-indulgence, sloth, vanity, the lust of the flesh and of the eye, and the pride of life. Among them, again, are the legion of attractions which, in our daily life, are assiduously placed along our path, or brought to us even in the most retired spots, and in retreats which we have thought the safest. No art is left untried, and no effort is spared, in order to allure us to destruction. The tempter himself is closely concealed. We see the bait, but the enemy is invisible. Only when seized and "led captive by the devil at his will," do we discover who it was that exercised upon us his malignant cunning. 66 Should we not then, my reader, be ever on our guard? Persons of the fairest character, the most carefully educated, the most moral and religious, are exposed to his devices. Watch and pray, then, lest you" enter into temptation." You need the Good Shepherd's care to keep you from the paths of the destroyer." Clement of Alexandria beautifully speaks of him as the true "Fisher of mortal men, ever enticing away by his sweet life, the holy fish from the wild ocean of the world's sinful sea." Satan, the fisher, allures in order to destroy; Jesus, the fisher of mortal men, in order that he may save. The tempter is represented to have approached our first parents in the garden of Eden, not in a direct and open attack, but— At first, as one who sought access, but fear'd Precisely in this manner is it, that he now beguiles and endeavours to delude mankind. A glance at the great picture of life will show, that they are the most easily entrapped whose minds are suffered to roam at large in |
