do so. Truly "by grace are we saved through faith ; and that not of ourselves; it is the gift of God.”* “The day following, Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me. Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter."+ As Andrew sought his brother Simon, so 66 Philip findeth Nathaniel, and saith unto him, We have found him of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. + Nathaniel was slow to believe that any good thing could come out of Nazareth. Philip urged the most convincing plea: "COME AND SEE." Thus did the woman of Samaria: "Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: Is not this the Christ?"|| Her neighbours went, and blessed was their visit: "Now we believe," said they to the woman, “not because of thy saying; for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world."** Equally blessed was the visit of Nathaniel to Jesus. As he was approaching the Saviour, Jesus saith of him: "Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!" Nathaniel, surprised at this address, said, "Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig-tree, I saw thee." This display of divine omniscience, and this knowledge of what was passing in the mind and heart of Nathaniel in that secluded spot, caused him at once to exclaim, "Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel."++ How delightful are the manifestations of grace and mercy. Jesus is the light of the world. He can cast his bright beams into the minds of the simplehearted, while the self-righteous Pharisee is left enveloped in darkness. During the life of John the Baptist, an evident impression was made on the minds of his disciples, that Jesus was "the Lamb of God;" though it is probable they did not attach themselves to Christ, as their Lord and Master, till after John was cast into prison. "Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: (for they were fishers.) And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him."* As God said, Let light be, and light was: so, when the Incarnate Word said, "Follow me, "they straightway forsook their nets, and followed him. It would seem that when Andrew and Peter were deprived of the ministry of John, they returned to their usual occupation, but Jesus, who designed them for a glorious work, called them by his grace. They instantly obeyed the call; for the outward call of the word was accompanied by the inward call of the Spirit. They were inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon them the blessed office of becoming fishers of men. "When Jesus had gone a little farther thence, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the ship mending their nets." Little did they think what honour awaited them, of becoming the future ambassadors for Christ. "Straightway he called them:" and the call was equally effectual, for "they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants, and went after him."+ + This gracious call of Andrew and Peter, James and John, is also related in the fifth chapter of St. Luke,§ where a miracle is recorded, which led them * Mark i. 14-18. + Ver. 19. § Vers. 1-16. + Ver. 20. at once to believe that Jesus was that prophet who is come into the world; for "John did no miracle: but all things that John spake of this man were true.”* By his laborious journeys, and preaching, and by the miracles which he wrought, Jesus gathered around him, many who were closely attached to him, and became his constant disciples. The blessed Redeemer, at length, after much prayer, selected twelve out of the number of his followers, who were called, by way of distinction, Apostles. "And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named Apostles; Simon (whom he also named Peter) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alpheus, and Simon called Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor."+ Having thus ordained these twelve men to the work of the ministry, for we read in the third chapter of Mark, that Jesus "ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach :" he gave them a commission to proclaim the glad tidings of the kingdom, but only "to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." The extension of their commission did not take place till after the resurrection of Christ. Thus we read in the tenth chapter of Matthew: "These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand."§ This made St. Paul say to the unbelieving Jews at Antioch, in Pisidia: "It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you."|| + See Luke vi. 12-16. * John x. 41. § Vers. 5-7. Acts xiii. 46. + Ver. 14. We have practically set before us the election of grace. When Judas, the traitor, had absented himself to effect his deed in darkness, Jesus said to the eleven disciples: "Ye have not chosen me, but I. have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain."* What a sweet promise of persevering grace. The Apostles received a divine call and commission from Christ, as the Head of his Church. He appointed them to be his ambassadors, and heralds to proclaim the near approach of the kingdom of grace. But they saw not the spiritual nature of Messiah's reign, till after his resurrection; nor its fulness of glory, till after his ascension, and the descent of the Holy Ghost. This blessed kingdom, which Daniel foretold that the God of heaven would set up,† is the kingdom of the Messiah, the UNIVERSAL CHURCH OF CHRIST. Satan, in every age, has opposed this dominion of the Messiah. Against the true Church, this arch enemy has levelled all his power; but though often assaulted it is not destroyed, no, nor ever shall be. The true Church, the spiritual temple of the Lord, is "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone." It is secure, being founded on the Rock of ages. This redeemed Church, the mystical body of Christ, is knit together in love. It is closely united to its living Head. When any of its members suffer, the glorified Jesus sympathises with them. Is Saul haling men and women to prison, and consenting unto their death? The tender Saviour arrests him with these words: "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me ?" Christ in heaven was persecuted in his members upon earth. Oh! how great is the mystery of godliness! How unsearchable are the riches of grace! Saul, the persecutor, when Paul the Apostle, Eph. ii. 20. * John xv. 16. + Dan. ii. 44. most beautifully describes the love of Christ to his Church, under the figure of the marriage union.* The The visible Church of Christ, like his own little family of disciples while on earth, is composed of friends and traitors. For this reason he spake several parables, descriptive of its mixed character. wheat and the tares must now grow together in the same field; the good and the bad fishes must be contained in the same net; the wise and the foolish virgins must dwell together, until the great separation day, when "the Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth."+ Hooker asks this important question: "Is it then possible, that the self-same men should belong both to the synagogue of Satan, and to the Church of Jesus Christ? Unto that Church which is his mystical body, not possible; because that body consisteth of none but only true Israelites, true sons of Abraham, true servants and saints of God. Howbeit of the visible body and Church of Jesus Christ, those may be, and oftentimes are, in respect of the main parts of their outward profession, who in regard of their inward disposition of mind, yea, of external conversation, yea, even of some parts of their very profession, are most worthily both hateful in the sight of God himself, and in the eyes of the sounder part of the visible Church most execrable. Our Saviour, therefore, compareth the kingdom of heaven to a net, whereunto all which cometh, neither is, nor seemeth fish his Church he compareth unto a field, where tares, manifestly known and seen by all men, do grow intermingled with good corn; and even so shall continue till the final consummation of the world." "For lack of diligent observing the difference, first, between the Church of God, mystical and visible, then between the visible sound and corrupted, some : |