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to one of the little ones that believe in him," as done unto himself, and that he will recompense accordingly. There can scarcely be a child properly educated in a christian country, who is not acquainted with this doctrine; certainly no one, who is admitted to partake of the glory of Christ, will be ignorant of it. Surely without a very loose habit of interpreting Scripture language, we should never have thought that the words employed upon this occasion could properly belong to true christians, converted under the knowledge of the Gospel. Whereas if the persons, spoken of in this passage, had not been christians, previously converted by the preaching of the truth as it is in Jesus; then such might well express surprize at the Lord's words, being really and entirely ignorant of their true meaning.

6. Before considering how such persons could possibly be placed in the situation here represented, another remark must be made upon the information given them by Christ. He answers their request for information, by saying "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." Now to whom could he allude, by the words "these my brethren?" He has given us in his Gospel the strongest assurances, that he is the brother of true Christians, and that they are his brethren (Matt. xii. 48-50; xxviii. 10. Luke viii. 20, 21. John xx. 17. Rom. viii. 29. Heb. ii. 11, 12, 17); and we find no such expressions used respecting any other class of persons. We may therefore conclude, that by "my brethren " our Lord spoke of the glorified saints. But in speaking upon the present occasion, he points out these glorified saints as being then present, by saying "these my brethren." This would in fact be saying these yourselves, according to the meaning attached to the words by those, who suppose him to be speaking to the elect christians of all generations of the present life. This difficulty is taken away by referring to the previous verses of the chapter-10, 19, 21, 23-which shew that the good and faithful servants" who were ready" at his appearing, had entered "into the joy of their Lord." Being therefore with him, when he sits on the throne of his glory, and gathers all nations before Him and them, he points to these, his saints then judging the world with him (1 Cor. vi. 2); and tells the selected ones from the nations that, "inasmuch as they have done kindness unto one of the least of these his brethren, they have done it unto himself."

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7. But if this be the true meaning, we may perhaps be disposed to ask the same question as the persons on the right hand when could all this kindness or unkindness have been shewn?

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Our Lord has himself supplied us, in the former part of his discourse, with the means of gathering an answer to this question. He had just told his disciples that, before "the end shall come," the "gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world;" particularly adding that this shall be done "for a witness unto the very persons whom he is now addressing-" all nations :". the words in the Greek are exactly the same as those used to express, that before him shall be gathered "all nations," or "all the Gentiles," as explained above. (xxiv. 14; xxv. 32.) This preaching of the Gospel as a witness unto," or among all nations" (Mark xiii. 10), has already been shewn to be the way in which God is said, by St. James, to "visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name (Acts xv. 14): that is, to convert those whose names are written in the book of life," that they may be "added to the church," through faith in the gospel; and that the number of the elect saints may thus be accomplished, before Christ comes to call them to enter into his joy, and sit with him on his throne. In the last preaching of the gospel amongst "the Gentiles" by Missionaries, many of whom will be foreigners from other lands, they and their converts will be exposed to much persecution and ill-treatment from their own countrymen, as was the case at its first publication. (1 Thess. ii. 14-16.) Such a state of things will afford abundant opportunity for the exercise of feelings, both of kindness and of indifference, in those Heathen who will be living at the time. And under such circumstances, if it please God, to soften the hardness of some heathen hearts by an external effect of His Holy Spirit, (similar to that which is frequently seen in the amiable, disinterested, and compassionate conduct of persons living in christian countries, yet evidently not under the prevailing influence of spiritual religion); such a merciful departure from the ordinary result of heathenism would be manifested by the tender kindness drawn forth into action, upon seeing the sufferings of the christians. Such softened heathens, thus prepared by free mercy to receive the renewed impression of the image of God originally given to Adam, would feed the persecuted christians, when other heathens left them to hungerwould give them drink, when others left them to thirst-would give shelter to the christian missionaries, even though they were despised foreigners-would clothe them and their converts, when other heathens left them in nakedness; and when poor christians were suffering from disease and imprisonment, these blessed ones would display a righteous, as well as a courageous sympathy, in doing them service. It does not seem at all extraordinary, when

God has the intention of restoring the earth to its original beauty and blessedness, and employing it to its original purpose to be inhabited by man (Isaiah xlv. 8, 12)-that he should select and prepare some children of Adam for the beginning of the new generation of men, which his object requires. It must be observed, that the king does not tell them of their general charity and kindliness of heart; such as any heathen might possess at any time, and gain to himself the character of an amiable man in his generation. The qualification in the case before us is specially limited to works of charity done to the brethren of Christ. Not that we are led by our Lord to suppose, that the charitable persons performed these kindnesses as knowing the objects to be specially deserving as christians: on the contrary, we may rather conclude, that they knew nothing clearly of the character and claims of the persons they relieved; for they evidently had no idea of their spiritual connection with Christ. Whether it was the nature of their suffering, or its excess (or any other motive), which drew forth the peculiar attention of these persons towards the christians, we are not told: but we are distinctly told, that the works which Christ reckons as done to himself, were done to persons whom he calls "these my brethren," and to none other; and while this makes the distinction appear more arbitrary, it accords more completely with the view here given. With this view, the answer of the persons gathered before our Lord is rational and consistent. They could have had no idea that they were in any way assisting Him, who then addressed them and the Lord's answer would convey the knowledge of this to these heathen, for the first time.

8. But some think that the last words of this portion are inconsistent with this view of the passage: "the righteous individuals of "all nations" are said to go away "into life

eternal." The habit of a christian's mind is to associate with these words the thought of a glorified body living in heaven, because these are some of the exceeding privileges with which it is accompanied, in the cases of those who were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. (Eph. i. 4.) But these were not intended to be the accompaniments of the life given to Adam; when "the Lord God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." (Gen. ii. 7.) The life thus given was meant never to be interrupted at all by death; which was an alteration of God's original plan, rendered necessary by sin. If Adam had not sinned, his life would have been "life eternal;" and even after he had disobeyed God by eating of "the tree of knowledge of good and evil," and had

fallen under the consequent punishment, if Adam had put forth his hand and taken also of the tree of life, and eaten, he would have " lived for ever." (Gen. ii. 9; iii. 22.) Now we read of the "tree of life' once more placed upon the restored earth, after the final judgment: and "the leaves" of it are said to be for the healing of " the nations;" when the same word is used in the Greek as that which describes the people gathered before the Son of man when he comes. We can know no more of the way in which the effect of living for ever would have been produced, by Adam's eating of this tree of life, than we do of the way in which the effect of dying has been produced by his eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil: but we have enough lamentable experience of the certainty of the one, to make it idle to doubt the certainty of the other. And as there can be no doubt, that perpetual life in a natural body was part of the original inheritance, intended for Adam at the creation of the world; there need be no difficulty in believing, that those of his children, who are graciously called to the blessing of inheriting the dominion prepared for them at that time, should be restored to the possession of the same benefit.

HOW TO READ THE SCRIPTURES. No. V.

IN the last two numbers we have given-First, A General outline of the Gospel History: 2ndly, A General Index and Harmony of the Gospels. There remains the third portion of the plan proposed (see page 109), which will complete the arrangement intended to facilitate a ready reference to any passage in the Gospels. This consists of a classification of the greater part of our Lord's history into four divisions, with such short statements of each as will assist the memory in turning to every part. The following are the lists of our Lord's Miracles-His Parables-His Discourses-and His Conversations; with a reference to the portion numbered in the condensed Index, where each is to be found.

Besides these Miracles which are particularly related, many miracles were done by our Lord of which only a general account is given. There are nine such general accounts. See Portions 28, 50, 52, 56, 81, 82, 85, 87, 93. LIST OF OUR LORD'S PARABLES.

5 Concerning John the Baptist &c.

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6 Concerning Satan, the sin against the Holy Ghost

61, 62

7 Upon sending forth His Apostles

82, 83

11 On the duty of Forgiveness

12 Upon sending forth the Seventy disciples

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13 Upon importunity in prayer

14 On casting out Satan

15 On seeking a sign, &c.

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16 On the wickedness of the Pharisees and Lawyers 17 On hypocrisy-fear-sin against the Holy Ghost

18 On covetousness and carefulness

19 On domestic trials, watchfulness, and diligence 20 On the few to be saved

21 On forward pride in company

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