actual arrangement, in the mystical kingdom of Christ, will exhibit, in this latter instance, a succession as clearly marked, as in any of the former instances; and that, in the fulness of the times, the finders of the treasure in the field, will give way to a race of merchant-men; that is, of Timothies, inheritors of hereditary faith; and from children growing up in that knowledge, which "maketh wise unto salvation."

The excellency of such a system, when brought, through Almighty wisdom, into complete operation, . may be concluded, from the place held, by exactly such characters, in sacred history; the testimony given to them, and the services, in various instances, performed by them. It is remarkable, that all the eminent instruments, made use of in the Old Testament, were distinguished for early piety. To this rule, I do not recollect that there is a single exception. In the New Testament, the great archetype of excellence himself, as man, belongs, self-evidently, to the class of merchant-men; and, as it was fit that, in all things, he should have the pre-eminence, at twelve years old he appears in the Temple, the head and patron, as it were, of well-trained pious children. Of the Apostles, we know nothing, before their appearance in the Gospel; but we might conjecture, from the peculiar manner of St. John, that his mind had never moved in the track of common men; that it had ever been habituated to soar above earthly things, and that, therefore, it received the mysteries of Heaven, when presented to it, in their purest spirituality, and sublimest elevation.

St. Paul himself, though distinguished as a convert, and therefore standing at the head of all who have ever after found the hidden treasure, is not

wholly of this class. He singularly unites the two characters; and has thus been fitted, for being, in the most eminent degree, a good steward of the manifold grace of God. Changed from prejudices, as signally as ever any after convert was changed from profligacy, he could sympathize in every painful, and every joyous emotion, that the most revolutionary conversion could give rise to. At the same time, having, as he himself tells us, served God from his forefathers with a pure conscience, he possessed habits of mind, intellectually and morally, as well as supernaturally congenial, to every high and noble purpose of his heavenly calling. There is, therefore, no height, which his winged spirit has not looked down upon; no depth, which his knowledge does not explore; no remote possibility, which his divine philosophy does not embrace. He is, in a word, as much the Apostle of merchant-men, as of those who find the treasure; and in the ripest season of the Christian Church, whatever fruit shall be produced, the matchless writings of St. Paul will be found to contain, not only its seeds and elements, but the very model and specimen of its highest maturity.

On St. Paul's judgment, then, as the most capable estimater of both descriptions of Christians, we may rely, for the superiority of the class represented by the sixth parable; and, according to the series, destined to prevail in the sixth period. The Apostle gives this judgment, in his preference of Timothy, to all others who had laboured with him;-" I have none like-minded," says he; "for all men seek their own things, and not the things of Jesus Christ." And on what, in St. Paul's view, had this superiority of character been founded? He himself tells us, that it was on the excellent education, which Timothy

had received, from his grandmother Lois, and his mother Eunice. By them, he had been early instructed in revealed truth; and having received it with pure affection, his whole mind and heart became naturalized to goodness. Therefore, St. Paul could say of him, that, "as a son with a father, he had served with him in the Gospel ;" and that, while apostasies were multiplied, he relied on Timothy for perseverance and consistency.

It cannot, then, be doubted, that an age of Timothies, would be a golden age of the Church. And such an age, I conceive, we are taught to expect, by the united pointing of the four latter parables. That of the grain of mustard seed, by indicating such completeness of growth, affords ground for inferring, that the prosperity within, will, sooner or later, correspond to the prosperity without; it being unlikely, that Divine Wisdom would, as it were, take pains to construct an exquisite body, if that body were not, at one time or other, to be animated by a suitable soul. What the third parable thus intimates, the fourth expressly asserts the mingled mass of the visible Church, which was wheat and tares in the second parable, is, in this parable, leaven and meal; and, however unpromising the appearance, the result is certain,.."the leaven was hidden, till the whole was leavened."

But to this maturity of things, the next parable will not be found correspondent; when the whole mass shall be leavened, the kingdom of Heaven will self-evidently be no longer as hidden treasure; no longer a blessing to be found, as if by accident. This fifth parable, therefore, must of necessity be understood of an earlier age; namely, of that less perfect state of the Church, in which the inward principle works, more steadily than ostensibly, and rather mani

fests itself in favoured individuals, than shows any marked tendency to effectual diffusion. The unsuitableness, then, of this parable, to those happier circumstances already predicted, obliges us to examine the immediately following representation of the same thing, in order to see, if it will quadrate with that advanced improvement, which must necessarily be signified, by the leavening of the whole; and, if I mistake not, the more we weigh the sixth parable, the more we shall be convinced, that, in proportion as the true light diffuses itself, the kingdom of Heaven must be more and more like unto "a merchant-man:" in other words, must contain an increasing proportion of well-instructed seekers, and a decreasing proportion of seemingly fortuitous finders; till, at length, from fullgrown light, and ripened influence, the former character shall wholly supersede the latter.

On the last parable of all, that of the "Net," I need not dwell. Like the "seventh seal," and the "seventh trumpet," in the Apocalypse, it apparently does little more than mark the final close. What is most remarkable in this seventh parable, is, that it repeats the decree of Heaven, against a separation of real, from nominal Christians; a practice, however, still attempted, and therefore proving the necessity for this reduplicated prohibition.

426

REMARKS ON MRS. BARBAULD'S ESSAY ON
DEVOTIONAL TASTE,

THE thoughts in the preceding Essay are, in some instances, so truly original, and in almost every point so interesting and useful, that the present Editor cannot refrain from attempting to expand a few of those ideas, which, from their uncommon depth, might be but imperfectly apprehended by the generality of readers.

Many sober persons may be startled, at religion being, in any view of it, considered as a " taste, an affair of sentiment and feeling;" but such persons will do well to recollect, that religion cannot be liked or loved by us, without coming under this denomination.

Doubtless, religion, when at all thought of, is too generally attended to, not for its own sake, but because it is accounted necessary, in order to escaping certain future evils, and attaining certain future benefits. In this view, most certainly, it has nothing to do with taste: it is, on the contrary, a mere business of mercenary calculation; and may be pursued with as little of relish of heart, as any other lucrative, but self-denying occupation. To this class, therefore, the representing religion as a matter of taste, must necessarily appear a new, and, perhaps, a wholly unintelligible doctrine. Possibly, they may even dislike the idea; and deem it akin to that enthusiasm, which they are used to regard, as the greatest possible abuse of Christian piety.