in His Divine Person, more even than a confidence in His personal relation to Him: it was a loving and loyal surrender of his being to Him. "My Lord, and my God!" I am entirely thine;-my intellect, my affections, my powers, my energies, my all, are thine. Thou art mine ;-mine to guide me in difficulties, guard me in dangers, supply me with all I need through all the coming ages of being.

This is the blessed transcendentalism :-a loving self-abandonment to Christ; a moral-absorption in Him.

The Genius of the Gospel.

ABLE expositions of the Gospel, describing the manners, customs, and localities alluded to by the inspired writers; also interpreting their words, and harmonizing their formal discrepancies, are, happily, not wanting amongst us. But the eduction of its WIDEST truths and highest suggestions is still a felt desideratum. To some attempt at the work we devote these pages. We gratefully avail ourselves of all exegetical helps within our reach; but to occupy our limited space with any length. ened archæological, geographic, or philological remarks, would be to miss our aim; which is not to make bare the mechanical process of scriptural study, but to reveal its spiritual results.

SECTION FIFTY-THIRD :-Matt. xvi. 5—12.

SUBJECT:-"Beware of the Leaven," &c.-Spiritual Caution, &c.

IN reading this passage and its connexion, three things strike our attention with remarkable force. A brief mention of these things may serve as a suitable introduction to the main subjects which the passage contains, and which it will be our special purpose to develop on this occasion.

First: We are struck with the display of a terrible kind of displeasure. Christ was now on board a little skiff, sailing away from the shore where lived those Pharisees and Sadducees who had just tempted Him, by requesting that "he would show them a sign from heaven." Having denounced their conduct, it is said, "he left them and departed." He stepped on board the vessel, and left them, as an incorrigible set of

hypocrites and blasphemers. Who can tell His feeling? It is said, in Mark, that "he sighed deeply in spirit." It was the sigh of love, as it passes into righteous indignation. "He left them and departed!" What a catastrophe for the men He thus left! The principle that Paul inculcated, Christ now acted upon:-"A man that is an heretic," said the apostle, "after the first and second admonition reject, knowing that he that is such, is subverted and sins, being condemned of himself." We call the displeasure, which Christ now manifests, terrible, because it is the displeasure of Infinite love, and because it shuts out all hope for the recovery of the objects. The indignation of irascible natures is nothing, nor is the indignation of malign natures anything, compared with the indignation of benevolent spirits. Love in wrath is oil in flames.

Secondly: We are struck with the power of great subjects to drown minor ones in the human mind. The disciples who had gone on board the vessel with Christ were, it would seem, so taken up with the thoughts that Christ had addressed to the Pharisees and Sadducees, as well, perhaps, as with the absorbing ideas suggested by His leaving them, that they had forgotten to make the necessary temporal provision for their voyage. "And when his disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread." Mark says, "They had not taken more than one loaf." It is well to see great souls absorbed in great subjects; but it is not well to see them neglect even the minor matters of life: and yet to this we are disposed from the very infirmity of our nature. Man is prone to two extremes; either to exaggerate the spiritual to the neglect of the material—as in the case of the mystics-or to exaggerate the material to the neglect of the spiritual, which is alas the case with the great bulk of mankind.

Thirdly We are struck with the readiness of Christ to seize the passing thoughts in the minds of His hearers for the purpose of spiritual impression. The disciples as soon as they discovered their neglect began to feel anxious. Their minds were now taken up with "bread." Christ, knowing their thoughts, virtually says to them, "Do not be anxious about

material bread, take care of the leavened spirit of the men I have just denounced and from whom I have just parted." "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees;" that is, beware of the corrupting influence of their doctrines, and their spirit, which like leaven though it works secretly and silently, still works with effective force. Thus Christ here as everywhere seizes the passing idea of His hearers in order to make a spiritual impression on their hearts.

In this paragraph we discover three great spiritual evilsa corrupt social influence, an infirm religious faith, and an obtuse spiritual vision. Christ, in giving His disciples a distinct and emphatic caution against the first, charges them at the same time with being the subjects of the other two.

As these evils were not confined to the disciples in Christ's day, but are common to all ages, and are in close association with us all, we shall devote this article to an endeavor to develop with the greatest brevity their baneful character.

I. HERE WE HAVE A CORRUPT SOCIAL INFLUENCE. "Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees." In the New Testament both good and bad doctrine are spoken of as leaven, which silently diffuses itself throughout the mass in which it is placed. "Know ye not that a little leaven, leaveneth the whole lump?"

Paul urges the Corinthian Church "to purge out the old leaven" of corrupt sentiment and thought. Superstition and pious pretence constituted the leaven of the Pharisees; infidelity and pride that of the Sadducees, who denied the doctrine of Providence and of a future state, both of body and soul. The warning of our Saviour suggests :—

First That spiritual evil in society has a leavenous tendency. It works in society as leaven works in the mass of meal in which it is deposited,-progressively, permeating the whole, and transformingly, transmuting the whole to its own character. The warning of Christ suggests:

Secondly: That spiritual evil in society may influence us unconsciously. It is a fact as solemn as it is obvious, that our tastes, ideas, habits, manners, are always modified, and sometimes completely fashioned, by the society in which we live. The man, in whose company we have been living, often leaves his spirit upon us, and it often requires a resolute effort of our own manhood to shake that spirit off. How often do we find ourselves in possession of other men's thoughts and using other men's words and even tones. Hence the necessity of the caution given by Christ. "Take heed and beware," &c.

"And

II. HERE WE HAVE AN INFIRM RELIGIOUS FAITH. they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread: which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, Why reason ye among yourselves because ye have brought no bread?" It would seem from this that the disciples misconstrued the meaning of Christ. They seemed to think that His caution meant that they were not to take bread of the Pharisees, and hence they "reasoned amongst themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread."

First: Secular anxiety is a symptom of the infirmity of faith. Had the disciples possessed an unshaken trustfulness in the power and kindness of Christ who was with them, they would have experienced no solicitude on account of the want of provision. On the contrary they would have felt that having Him they had everything they required. Anxiety about secular circumstances, about the success of our worldly plans, about our temporal morrow, about provision for ourselves in old age, for our children when we are gone, evermore betrays a lack of confidence in the Fatherly providence of that God who clothes the lilies of the field and feeds the fowls of the air. "Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is and to-morrow is cast into the oven, Shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?"

Secondly: Memories of past mercies are means by which to strengthen faith. "Do ye not yet understand, neither remember

the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?" Had they kept this in memory they would not have had a particle of solicitude about their being unprovided with bread. They would have felt that having with them Him, who had wrought such marvels of mercy on their behalf before, and who could do so again at any moment He pleased, they were well provided for. Reminiscences of past mercies are amongst the best means to re-invigorate a failing faith. David felt this; his confidence in God at one time was sinking fast, but he bethought himself,-he recollected past mercies, and he was strong in faith again. Hear his experience. "And I said, this is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High, I will remember the works of the Lord; surely I will remember thy wonders of old. I will meditate also on thy works and talk of thy doings."

III. HERE WE HAVE AN OBTUSE SPIRITUAL PERCEPTION. The disciples misunderstood His reference to the "leaven;" they thought that He alluded to the material bread with which they had forgotten to provide for themselves. They reasoned amongst themselves, saying, "It is because we have taken no bread." But Jesus, after first reproving them for their want of faith, next reproves them for their obtuseness :-"How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees?" A thought is here suggested worthy of notice, namely:-That this spiritual obtuseness arose from the secularity of their thoughts. Why did they misunderstand Christ? The answer is clear. Because their minds were taken up with thoughts concerning their natural bread. This is ever the case. Men look at subjects through the medium of their own ideas and feelings at the time. The particular mental state, in which a man is when a subject is presented to him, acts as a kind of mirror to reflect that subject to his vision. Hence it is that secular minds must ever misinterpret spiritual