the pit till he falls into the burning. And with regard to good men even, alas! not only do their strivings come far short of what the necessity of the case demands, but their conceptions of future wrath-of that wrath even from which they have been taught to flee-are feeble indeed, far below the terrible reality. The righteous scarcely are saved; they would linger on till they perished with others, if God were not merciful to them. And God is merciful to them, not only at the first, by warning them to flee, but afterwards, by compelling them to continue their flight till they are beyond the sphere of the danger. He makes his law to thunder and lighten above them, his word to cry in their ear, as the angel did in that of Lot, "Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed." Even good men need to be exhorted, "So run that ye may obtain."-From "Scenes from the Bible."

RULES FOR HOLY LIVING.

I. OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD.

"God is light."

ENDEAVOUR always to remember that you are in the immediate presence of God, and strive to act as you would if you saw the Saviour standing by your side. Recollect that He is really there.

Always aim to please God in all things. Frequently call to mind the expression," Thou God seest me."

Neither do nor undertake any thing which you would abstain from doing if the Lord Jesus were visibly before you; nor engage in any thing which you feel you would have to repent of in the solemn hour of your death.

Carry into all your engagements a sense of the omniscience and omnipresence of God. "In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.'

II. OF THE ATONEMENT AND EXAMPLE OF CHRIST. "Who was delivered for our offences."

"Who went about doing good."

Repose in unshaken confidence on the sacrificial atone

ment of Christ (" who gave himself for us") for acceptance with God. Think often of those solemn words, "Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price ; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's." And examine your hearts by these, "The love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead; and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again."

And remember continually that " even hereunto were ye called; because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps."

III. OF OBEDIENCE TO THE HOLY SPIRIT.

"Quench not the Spirit."

Be unwearied, constant, ardent, in supplication for the blessed influence of the Holy Spirit. Diligently attend to his inward monitions; "for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Aspire to the entire "sanctification of the Spirit."

"Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God," by unsanctified thoughts, by vain words, by trifling habits.

Pray much for the clear "witness of the Holy Spirit with your spirit."

IV. OF FAITH.

"The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Cultivate a deep sense of the reality of invisible things; for "the things which are not seen are eternal." Exercise the spirit of faith as much as you do the act of prayer.

Be humbly and watchfully obedient, that faith be not clouded.

Endeavour to rest upon the simple promise of God. Implicitly "believe."

V. OF LOVE.

"God is Love."

Frequently call to mind what God, in Christ, has done for you.

Think on what He has in reserve for you, if faithful. "How great is his goodness." Be ever striving, from the principle of Divine love, to please God in all your thoughts, words, and actions. Labour to realize that inspired truth, "He that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him."

S. A.

SHORT REFLECTIONS ON THE PARABLES OF OUR LORD.

THE

LABOURERS.

ST. MATT. xx. 1-16.

66

THIS parable seems intended to hold up to our view the goodness and grace of our heavenly Father, who will receive those who repent and come unto Him even at the very latest hour. Our Lord is represented as a householder, who went out early to hire labourers for his vineyard; that is, He called those who were willing to come at that hour into his kingdom. The master of the vineyard agreed to give his labourers a penny a day, which was about sevenpence halfpenny of our money. He goes out at different hours of the day, the third, the sixth, and the ninth hours, and does the same, always making the same agreement with the workmen. At last, when the eleventh hour comes, when the day is nearly done, He goes out once more, and seeing some standing idle, He says to them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?" They tell Him that they have found no one to hire them. Upon this He tells them to go into his vineyard, and whatever is right, they will receive for their labours. So, at different periods of life, the Saviour calls us to come to Him; we may disregard the invitation, and slight the warning, but still He calls; his voice is never weary, his arm is never withdrawn, if by any means He may save some. To the very last moment of life He calls us, and extends his pardoning hand, and if we look unto Him, we shall be safe; when the dark water-floods of death pass over us, He will support us, and underneath us will be the everlasting arms. But let not this goodness of our Lord in saving some at the eleventh hour, encourage us to put off our salvation-far from it; let us think, that although

He may call us often, yet that each call may be the eleventh hour to us; for how do we know that we shall ever live to see the end of the day? What is so uncer

tain as life? The Apostle tells us that "it is even as a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." Let us, then, eagerly enter into the vineyard of the Lord; for it is there, and there only, that we shall be safe when the hour comes. At the end of the day, the Lord of the vineyard desires his steward to call the labourers, and pay them, beginning with those who were last hired. They received each man a penny, as they had agreed; but when the first came, they supposed that as these received so much who had only worked for one hour, they themselves, who had borne the "burden and heat of the day," ought to receive more. This is the way in which the world judges; but ought a true Christian to feel anger when he sees a fellow-believer happy, although he has not passed through so much tribulation as himself? Ought he not rather to rejoice whenever the grace of God is displayed in the most signal manner, knowing that we are all indebted solely to that free grace for our salvation? We must not repine when we see others with happier lots than ourselves, but rather consider how many there are whose positions are much worse than our own. A discontented and unthankful spirit is most repugnant to the Gospel; for it is, in fact, claiming those blessings from God to which we have no right, and which we ought to be only too thankful if we receive. We all, when we have done our best, are but unprofitable servants, and "all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags;" let us, therefore, hasten to Christ, to wash us in his blood, and cleanse us from all our sins. We shall not seek Him in vain, for we know that He has said, "Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out.'

THE TWO SONS-THE HUSBANDMEN.

ST. MATT. xxi. 28-31. 33-44; also St. MARK xii. 1-11, and
ST. LUKE XX. 9—18.

THE meaning of both these parables appears to be nearly the same; namely, the privileges of the Jewish nation,

and their abuse of them, and the substitution of the Gentiles for the Jews. Our Lord had been attacked by the Pharisees in the temple, who demanded of Him the authority He had for what He did; the Saviour answered them by questioning them in their turn on the baptism of John, which question they were unable to answer. He then spoke the first parable-that of the two sons; one who professed to be obedient to his father, but afterwards was undutiful; the other, who at first was undutiful, but afterwards became obedient. The Scribes and Pharisees professed to be working in the Lord's vineyard, and pretended to have a high reverence and veneration for the commandments of God; which, indeed, they observed in the letter, but broke in the spirit. They professed to be zealous for the truth and the law; but rejected that Saviour, by whom we are redeemed from the curse of the law. On the other hand, the " publicans and harlots," the careless and profligate, listened to the preaching of John to the saving of their souls, though at first they had lived in open wickedness, "without God in the world." Just as the son who refused to work in his father's vineyard, afterwards repented and went; so they really worked in the vineyard of the Lord. much more than the hypocrites and formalists. How many are there in the present day, who think themselves to be something when they are nothing; who trust in empty forms, like the Pharisees of old; instead of going straight to Christ, to be washed in his blood, and clothed with the spotless robe of his righteousness.

The parable of the Husbandmen describes the conduct of God towards the Jews, and the ungrateful return which they made. As the householder planted a vineyard, and hedged it about, taking the greatest pains with it, that it might bring forth good fruit; so God chose out the Jews from among all nations to be his own peculiar people. He sent prophet after prophet to instruct and exhort them, and to confirm them in all good works; as the householder sent his different servants to receive the fruit of the vineyard. But the wicked husbandmen evil entreated his servants, and slew them; so that at last he sent his son to them. Thus the blood of all the pro