In the midst thereof. As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I the Lord have poured out my fury upon you.' (Ezek. xxii. 17-22.) There cannot remain a lingering doubt that the furnace of fire' was the city of Jerusalem, into which God gathered the Jewish nation, and there he melted them in the fire of his wrath.

9. After the destruction of the wicked, the righteous were to shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Fatherwho were these? The answer is obvious-such as were in the kingdom-such as had set down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, while others were cast out; of whom it is said in the book of Daniel, that they shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they shall turn many to righteousness, as the stars forever and ever.' (xii. 3.) Their persecutors the Jews being destroyed, and persecutions on every hand being abated and softened, they would experience comparative earthly felicity, and have an enlarged enjoyment of gospel peace and life. Separated from hypocrites, the church would be purer-she would attract, by the whiteness of her robes, the admiration of heathen spectators, and constrain them to cry, 'Behold, how these Christians love one another.' She would shine as the sun, the more brilliantly, because the clouds of oppression and affliction had just been dispelled. 'Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.'

PARABLE OF THE GROWTH OF GRAIN.

Mark iv. 26-29.

'And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground: And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.'Mark iv. 26-29.

WRITERS differ in regard to the true interpretation of this parable. One class suppose, that the man who cast seed into the ground was Jesus Christ, who would not return to gather the fruit until the harvest. They understand the harvest in this case to be the event which is described under the same figure in the parable of the tares. It seems improper, however, to say of the Saviour, he 'should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how.'

Dr. Whitby gives the following note: This parable is mentioned only by St. Mark, and it seems to me to relate to the good ground; for that only brought forth ripe fruit, or fruit unto perfection. I, therefore, paraphrase it thus, "What I said of the seed sown upon good ground, may be illustrated by this parable, that the doctrine of the kingdom of God, received into a good and honest heart, is like seed sown by a man in his ground, manured and tilled, and so prepared to receive it; for when he hath sown it, he sleeps and wakes, day after day; and looking on it, he sees it spring and grow up through the virtue of the earth in which it is sown, though he knows not how it doth so; and when he finds it ripe, he reaps it, and so receives the benefit of the seed sown. So is it here; the seed sown in the good and honest heart, brings forth fruit with patience, and this fruit daily increas

eth, though we know not how the word and Spirit worketh that increase; and then Christ, the husbandman, who sows this seed, at the time of the harvest, sends forth the angels, his reapers, and gathers this good seed, i. e. the sons of the kingdom represented by it, into his celestial mansions."'* Adam Clarke has copied this note.

I am inclined to the opinion after all, that these writers have not hit the true design and intent of the parable; for it strikes me it was the object of Christ to illustrate, by the imperceptible growth of grain, the gradual and imperceptible growth of the word of the kingdom in the heart. A man after having cast seed, into the earth, cannot see the growth, because it is very gradual. He may rise by night or by day, to observe it, but he knoweth not how it is done. The process is carried on by the influence of the earth upon the plant; and the plant doth not come to maturity all at once, but there is 'first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.' But when the fruit is ripe, the husbandman knows what to do: he puts in his sickle, and reaps it. Thus it is with the progress of truth in the soul. A man cannot be made perfect in knowledge in a moment. The growth of truth in the heart is gradual; it can scarcely be perceived, and no man can expect to come at once to the full stature of a perfect man in Christ. The apostles prayed, Lord, increase our faith,' (Luke xvii. 5.) • Increase the fruits of your righteousness.' (2 Cor. ix. 10.) Being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.' (Col. i. 10.) We beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more.' (1 Thess. iv. 10.) So (Eph. iv. 10,) the Christians were required to grow up into Christ in all things.' Your faith groweth exceedingly.' (2 Thess. i. 3.) 'Grow in grace,' saith Peter, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.' (2 Peter iii. 18.)

Horne takes the same view of this parable. • With what singular beauty and propriety is the gradual progress

* Comment on the Par.

of religion in the soul, from the beginning to its maturity, represented by seed committed to a generous soil, which, after a few successions of day and night, imperceptibly vegetates-peeps above the surface-springs higher and higher and spontaneously producing, first, the verdant blade, then the ear, afterwards the swelling grain, gradually filling the ear; and, when the time of harvest is come, and it is arrived at its maturity, it is then reaped and collected into the store-house.' *

PARABLE OF THE MUSTARD SEED.

Matt. xiii. 31, 32. Mark iv. 31, 32. Luke xiii. 18, 19.

'Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard-seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: Which indeed is the least of all seeds; but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air, come and lodge in the branches thereof.'-Matt. xiii. 31, 32.

In

THERE is an apparent discrepancy between the account given in this place by our Lord and the character of the mustard plant, since, among us, the mustard never attains the size here described. In order to account for this, some writers have supposed that, in the more favorable climate of the East, its dimensions and strength would far exceed what they ever arrive at in colder countries. support of these conjectures Dr. Adam Clarke remarks, Some soils, being more luxuriant than others, and the climate much warmer, raise the same plant to a size and perfection, far beyond what a poorer soil, or a colder climate can possibly do.' Herodotus says, he has seen wheat and barley, in the country of Babylon, which carried

* Intro iii. 449.

a blade full four fingers, breadth, and that the millet and sesamum grew to an incredible size. The Dr, states, that he had himself seen a field of common cabbages, in one of the Norman isles, each of which was from seven to nine feet in height, and one in the garden of a friend which grew beside an apple-tree, though the latitude of the place was only about 48 deg. 18 min. N. was fifteen feet high. These facts, and several others which might be adduced, fully confirm, Dr. Clarke thinks, the possibility of what our Lord says of the mustard tree, however incredible such a thing may appear to those who are acquainted only with the productions of the northern regions and cold climates.* To this it is replied, that although there is a great difference found to obtain among plants of the same species, in different climates and soils, yet it is not to be supposed that they would change their distinctive character, so far as to convert an herbaceous plant into a tree. On this account, Mr. Frost has contended that the dwar spoken of by the Saviour does not signify what is generally termed mustard, but a species of the phytolacca. He sums up the evidences for his supposition as follows: 'Because the phytolacca dodecandra is one of the largest trees indigenous to the country where the obervation was made; because it has the smallest seed of any tree in that country; because it is both used as a culinary vegetable and medicinal stimulant, which common mustard is also; because a species of the same genus is well known in the United States by the term wild mustard; because the ulti mate chemical elements of the seed sinapis nigra and phytolaccca dodecandra are the same.' It is thought by good authors, that the statements of Mr. Frost, in regard to the latter plant, are not well authenticated. Dr. Campbell remarks, and after him Parkhurst, that the assertion of Christ, the smallest of all seeds, is to be understood 'of all those seeds with which the people of Judea were then acquainted. Our Lord's words are to be interpreted by popular use. And we learn, from Matt. xvii. 20, that

* See his Com. on the place. t Calmet's Dic. Art. Mustard.