It soon became a great tree, 'stretching out its branches unto the sea, and its boughs unto the river.' Already it covers a large part of the known world; and year by year its roots are shooting deeper into the earth, and its shadows are spreading wider and wider. Quietly, yet steadily, it is reaching to that size when it will overshadow all nations; when the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth, as the waters cover the sea.'

Meanwhile, is not this truth almost self-evident, that a system which took its rise from so weak a beginning; which offered no worldly advantages to those who embraced it; which proclaimed open war against all other religions whatsoever; which encountered opposition the most determined from all quarters; which aimed at effecting an entire change in the hearts and affections of men; which invited those who adopted it to present self-denial and hardship, and held out the prospect only of a future and an unseen reward; never could have met with the success which has attended its progress, if it had been propagated by merely human means. If these alone had been at work, it most assuredly would have failed, as other systems have failed both before and since. A hand mightier than that of man must have given it birth: an influence more irresistible than any which human ingenuity can devise must have wrought these wondrous results. That hand must have been the finger of God;' that influence must have been shed down from heaven.

THE LEAVEN.

MATT. xiii. 33.

Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.

THIS

LUKE xiii. 20, 21.

And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.

HIS parable is recorded both by St. Matthew and St. Luke to have been spoken by our Lord immediately after that of the Grain of Mustard Seed. The occasion on which it was delivered will be found by a reference to that parable. See sup. page 12.

Leaven. The original is derived from a word which signifies to ferment.' Leaven answers to the modern term 'yeast.'

Measures. This word represents a dry measure, containing, as is stated in the margin of the English Bible, about a peck and a half, wanting a little more than a pint.' Thus three measures would amount to something less than four pecks; a quantity which would be sufficient for the consumption of an ordinary family at one time. The same quantity of meal is mentioned in Genesis xviii. 6.

As the parable of the Grain of Mustard Seed illustrates the truth that the kingdom of heaven would, from a small beginning, spread in a marvellous manner

over the world, so also does the parable of the Leaven. In both parables the result represented as produced is gradual. The growth of the mustard plant is gradual, yet from time to time the eye can judge of it; the leaven spreads through the meal, and the whole lump which is leavened is changed to the eye, the touch, and the taste. The Church of Christ, spreading like leaven through the world, wrought wondrous changes in the earth; changes that affected not only the nations which received it, but even those which still remained heathen. The parable of the Leaven sets forth not only the effect which the visible Church of Christ has produced in the world, but also, and that no less clearly, the effects which the Gospel of Christ, when received into the heart of a man, brings to pass within his soul. The effect here also is quiet and slow, but at the same time sure, and pervades the whole inner man. As with the meal, a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump,' so the Gospel of Christ, weak though it seem when contrasted with the influences which are against it, small though its attractions appear by the side of the glare and show of the world, yet if once sincerely and honestly entertained, if admitted into the heart as the one single principle of action, animates by degrees the whole body, soul, and spirit. It quickens every thought, and spiritualizes every desire; it changes darkness into light, lukewarmness into zeal, indifference into eagerness, and restores the image of the divine purity into the soul. It is true that with no child of Adam, while living

upon earth, is this happy work completed. But in spite of infirmities and drawbacks, from which none are exempt, wheresoever the truth of God's Word is allowed free entrance, there its influence is felt, and its power gradually developed. It will force its way into the inmost recesses of the heart; it will penetrate the hidden corners in which carnal affections still lurk; and will discover and lay bare those sources from which secret sins and involuntary breaches of the divine law, spring. Gradually it will change the whole man. 'If any man be in Christ he is a new creature; old things are passed away; all things are become new.' The full meaning and perfect realization of these words corresponds to that happy condition, represented in the parable under the figure of the Leaven, when the principles of the Gospel have so quickened the whole man, that all his tastes, habits, desires, and affections, nay, his whole character, have been entirely changed. The question each must ask himself is, whether this Leaven has begun to work within him; whether such a change has in any degree come over him? He who can feel within him a principle, which substitutes high and heavenly motives for those of earth, and which sets before him a rule of conduct founded on the law of God, instead of the maxims of human prudence, may rest assured that the Leaven of the Gospel is not inactive within him. It must indeed continue to work with increasing force so long as the state of trial upon earth lasts. But if not checked by negligence or wilful resistance,

its effects will quickly become manifest; gradually its influence will extend deeper and deeper, until, when the time shall arrive for the separation of soul and body, the work of purification shall be completed. Then will the spirit be prepared to meet the spirits of just men made perfect;' and to stand in the presence of God, decked in those pure and white robes which are the heritage of the saints.