THE PARABLE OF THE FISHERMAN'S FLOAT. 15

Whilst the men followed games of this kind, we boys were not without amusements. Sometimes it would be telling tales, and sometimes a game called relieve-stocks. In winter, of course, we had sliding on the ice; and as this was generally done on the causeway, the game was spiced with the constant expectation that old Joe, who plied the two callings of tailor and constable, would pounce upon us in the latter capacity. Occasionally we resorted to tricks. The most ingenious of these was to get a reel of black strong cotton, a pin, and a black button. The button was tied nearly at the end of the cotton, and the pin quite at the end. The pin was then firmly stuck into some window sash as high up as possible. We then carried the thread across the way and climbed with it on to the top of some wall, or outhouse, on which we could conceal ourselves and from which we could readily escape. The trick was to keep letting the thread go slack, when the button would go tap, tap, tap against the window pane and cause the people to come out to see what was the matter. On one occasion a man, after putting aside the blind and vainly staring out into the darkness, at length came out with a lighted candle and held it up to the window. We held still and he could see nothing, for it is very difficult in candle-light to see a black thread or a black button. We heard him utter two or three exclamations of astonishment at the mystery, till not being able to contain our laughter any longer, we let go the thread, made a noise, and decamped with all speed. I dont mention this as a pattern for the boy readers of this magazine. Of course it was wrong to do such things. It was spirit-rapping on a small scale. They were dark séances; but we never charged anything for them.

A determined resolve to be brief compels me to be silent respecting the village drunkards. Otherwise I could tell sad tales of Dan the drunken stone-mason, Dick the drunken drover, and Moll B the the drunken wife who used to send for beer in the tea-kettle. perhaps such subjects are as well let alone.

But

J. FLETCHER.

IN

THE PARABLE OF THE FISHERMAN'S FLOAT.

WATCHING THE FLOAT.

my stroll this morning I noticed a fisherman, and observed that his eye was steadily fixed on his "float," and his hand responsive to each of its movements. Not for a moment did his attention wander. Persons passed close to him, but his strained attention was not arrested-he was as though he heard them not. A boat was rowed along: but save that his gaze was more fixed, and his look more resolute and apprehensive, he gave no sign of seeing or hearing its splashing oars. Nothing could bribe him to lose a single chance of "hauling his sport." We bait our hook, we fling it into the waters of human life,-do we watch for the slightest indications of success? Is the eye fixed on the move. ments of those for whose salvation we labour, with such absorbing abandon as to indicate that we are intensely anxious to catch souls? Parents, teachers, and preachers, hear ye, this New Year's morning, the parable of the Fisherman's Float! JOHN CLIFFord.

The Abuse of Metaphor in Relation to Religious

Belief.

BY DAWSON BURNS, M.A.

No. III.-Concerning the Church.

THEORIES of Church Authority and Papal Supremacy are not peculiar to our day; but, so far as they have grown out of Biblical exegesis, or have been supposed to derive support from the language of scripture, it will be found, on examination, that they are related to that abuse of Metaphor of which we are treating.

I. The dogma of Papal Domination appeals for scripture sanction to two texts, both of a highly figurative character.

1. Inside the vast dome of St. Peter's, at Rome, is inscribed, in letters of colossal size, the Latin version of the words (Matt. xvi. 18)— "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Yet the Church of Rome is properly shut out from using this very passage in support of the Papal claims by her own canon that no text must be interpreted other than according to the unanimous consent of the Fathers; the Fathers, as is known, being divided, and not unanimous on the sense of this passage, none of the earliest giving it the meaning put upon it by Papal writers. That it is peculiarly figurative is plain at a glance. Four distinct metaphors are contained in it: (1.) Peter was not a literal "stone,' (petros); (2.) the "rock" (petra) was not a literal rock; (3.) the Church is not literally "builded;" (4) hell has no literal " gates." Again, Christ does not identify Peter (petros) with the "rock" (petra), else He would have said, "Thou art Peter, and upon thee I will build my Church." Even if Peter were spoken of as the " rock," it could not be as a man, but as an apostle, and the apostles had no successors in power or office. If, as the body of commentators agree, "this rock" refers to the confession of Peter, or to the truth of the Divine Sonship contained in his confession, we then see the singular fitness and beauty of the metaphor, since a church worthy to be called Christian can be built on no other truth except that of the Divine Sonship of Christ. If He were less than God's Son, how could belief in Him avail? and if He be all that that Name involves, the foundation of Christian faith is, indeed, a rock" that can never be moved, and the church is a temple-fortress that can never be shaken by the powers ("the gates") of hell.

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2. The other text (Matt. xvi. 19) is-" And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." The same words were subsequently addressed, with the exception of the first clause, to all the apostles (Matt. xviii. 18); and after the resurrection of the Lord (John xx. 23) the power of remitting and retaining sins was given to the apostolate. Whatever privileges or powers these words may be supposed to have

THE ABUSE OF METAPHOR.

17

conferred, they were clearly possessed in common by the apostles, and no transmission of them is hinted at or implied. The allusions to "keys," "binding," "loosing," are obviously metaphorical, and can only be fully understood by a knowledge of the meaning attached to the same terms current at that day in the schools of rabbinical learning. It cannot be supposed for a moment that the apostles had power to absolve the impenitent, or retain the sins of the penitent; and any judicial prerogative they were entrusted with required a judicial insight which has certainly not been transmitted to their pretended successors.

II. By the upholders of High Church principles, Romish and Anglican, much stress is laid on the text (1 Tim. iii. 15)—" the house of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth." Here, again, we have three metaphors (1.) "house;" (2.) "pillar;" (3.) "ground." If we set aside the suggestion, that one sentence ends with "living God," and that another begins with "The pillar and ground of the truth," [reading as part of the same sentence the next verse] "and, without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness;" and if we accept the description "pillar and ground of the truth" as applicable to the Church, the question arises, What is the meaning of the metaphors "pillar" and "ground?" Do they imply that the Church is infallible, or that she has power to teach what she pleases and call it Christ's truth? Unquestionably not; for the truth is that which the Church receives-not creates-and it is her office and duty to be its "pillar and ground," not its controller and judge.

The metaphors, it will be observed, denotes passivity-not a power over, but a position under-in order to the support and exhibition of what is placed upon the "pillar" and "ground." Rightly construed, these metaphors teach, concerning the Church, not that which is taught by High Church advocates, but the very opposite doctrine, for if the Church ceases to be the "ground and pillar of the truth"-ceases to uphold and set forth the truth of Christ-she ceases to have any right to be called His Church; just as a Christian minister or member ceases by apostatising to have any claims to the position and privileges which a true minister or member enjoys because he is such.

III. The texts which speak of "feeding," and "bearing rule" in the Church are eagerly cited by the advocates of clerical authority in support of their case. But in vain. Pastors "feed the flock of Christ;" a metaphorical allusion, but one employed to denote the purpose and responsibility of the pastoral office; and if pastors bear rule, they do it by consent of the Church, and for the good of the Church,-and with the same intent they are also described as ministers" or servants. It will be remarked, too, how completely such passages overthrow the assumption that the ministry, or pastorate, have any right to speak of themselves, or to be spoken of, as "the Church." To gain their object some play fast and loose with the word "Church." By "Church authority" they mean clerical authority; but when they speak of ruling the Church, they mean by Church the laity! It is noticeable that the very term "Church" is an adapted one, secularly used to indicate an assembly of citizens having a voice in the determination of civil affairs; so that the word bears within itself a refutation of the theory which would make the government of the Church an oligarchy the clergy, or

teaching class, having a right to command, and the body of members being under obligation to obey.

IV. Certain texts speak of the Church as "redeemed by the blood of Christ;" and a certain school of theologians fastening on this use of the word "redeem," limit redemption to the Church. The term "redeem" is metaphorical, signifying to buy back, and so to put in possession of important blessings. Where in scripture the term is used of the actual enjoyment of the blessings procured by Christ, it is necessarily limited to those by whom the blessings are possessed; but to argue, as many have done, that the redemption is purposely limited, at any one time, to the persons constituting the Church, is to pronounce the Great Commission a mockery, and to take from the Gospel that universality of grace which is its distinguishing glory. That Christ paid a price for so many souls, and no more, and that these are redeemed in consequence, and no others, is an abuse of the metaphor contained in "redeem" that cannot be too earnestly denounced. As Christ is the Saviour, so He is the Redeemer, potentially, of all men; but "especially of those who believe," and who accept the redemption brought within their reach. What the Lord did had in it a redeeming virtue co-extensive with our race; though personal redemption can alone come through a submission to Him wherever He is made known. High clerical exclusiveness is bad, because it assumes to confine to one order-the clergy— rights and powers bestowed on the whole body, the Church; and High Calvinistic exclusiveness is worse, because it assumes to confine to one body, the Church, that provision of eternal good which is sufficient for the whole family of man.

A Word for Suburban Men of Business.

In the old times our forefathers who had attained a competency in business indicated the fact by taking an extra house a little way from town, at some distance, that is to say, from the place where they had laboured to amass their wealth. In course of time the process extended itself, and the place of business and the private house became essential, not for those who had won, but for those who were striving to win. The introduction of the railway system tended greatly to facilitate the desire for possession of town and country house, and in this day we have, in all our large cities and towns, men who are leaving their chambers, their offices, their consulting-rooms, every evening in great haste, that they may arrive at the train or other conveyance that will take them a journey of some miles to their homes. Again every morning the same men, usually in very great haste, leave their homes to return to business. If this double process of travel could be performed daily with deliberation, and without exposure to physical or mental shock, it would be free of danger, and perhaps, on the whole, conducive to health. For the man who can partly retire, and can pursue business as he lists, it is, I believe, conducive to health; but to the struggling man who is in the meshes of active life, few processes are more destructive. The elements of danger are many. There is the annoyance which springs from danger of absence from business; there is the temptation to remain occupied to the last possible moment, and to risk an exceeding hurry in order to join the family circle at an appointed hour; there is the tendency to become irregular in the method of meals; to take a hasty breakfast; to work during the day on imperfect snatches of food; and, late in the evening, when the stomach, like the rest of the body, is wearied, to compensate for previous deficiencies by eating an excessive meal. Lastly, there is the evil that some work, which might easily have been done during the hours sacrificed to travelling is brought home to be completed at night when the tired body should be seeking its natural repose.-Dr. Richardson's Diseases of Modern Life, ch. 5, pages 186, 187.

Harold: Mr. Tennyson's New Poem."

THE announcement that the English Poet Laureate had chosen Harold, the last of the English kings, as the subject for his dramatic treatment, produced a thrill of excitement in all lovers of the fruits of Mr. Tennyson's genius. The theme is most wisely chosen. As compared with Queen Mary it is less intensely religious in its interests, but more profoundly patriotic; less concerned with the craft and cunning of the Papacy, and more with the struggles of a great and capable nature against the ensnaring plots of human ambition and cruelty. Like Queen Mary, it shows the peril of England from the Pope and his emissaries; but at the same time its chief actor is a man of fine military genius, of incorruptible integrity, and death-daring patriotism, courageously battling against incredible odds on behalf of the freedom of his beloved country.

Harold carries us at once to one of the gravest crises in our national life. No day in England's history was more momentous than that in which the brave son of Earl Godwin met William of Normandy at Senlac. Epoch-making events centre with tragical distinctness in the career of the English Harold. The decay of England's power under the pious but feeble rule of Edward the Confessor; the growing sway of the frank and chivalrous champion of England's freedom, and mainstay of England's strength; the fierce, pitiless, and prolonged struggle of the two chief combatants; the wiliness and craft of William; the oath of Harold over the relics of the saints, extracted from him in his veiled bondage, these circumstances supply materials of surpassing interest for the cultured skill of the poet.

But the main interest of the drama centres in Harold himself. He is a defeated man warring on behalf of a sacred cause. Brave, stronglimbed, generous, loving the right and the true, ensnared and perplexed, he moves in fight under as heavy a curse as ever rested on the heroes of the Greek tragedies; but he moves in the lines of righteousness. Though vanquished, he has fought fairly. William conquers by dead men's bones, and not by a soldier's prowess. Harold is overcome; but he falls clinging to his country's cause, to freedom, and to truth. This English drama will win its way to all hearts as much by its broad human qualities, its loyalty to right and duty, its enthronement of a defeated hero, and its patriotic fire, as by its display of splendid capabilities, second only, if indeed second, to those of the immortal Shakespeare.

The first act of Harold opens in Edward the Confessor's reign, and in the king's palace, amid signs and portents of coming doom. Edward laments the decay of England's piety, and has visions of approaching disaster; whilst Harold reads in "the signs in heaven,-the sudden blast at sea," the indications of heaven's wrath. Harold craves from Edward the boon of a holiday "to hunt and hawk beyond the seas," and betakes himself to Flanders by the king's permission.

* Harold. A Drama. By Alfred Tennyson. Henry S. King & Co.