Num. xxv. 13. "Phinehas made an atonement for the children of Israel (viz. by slaying Zimri and Cozbi).

....

xxxi. 50. "We have therefore brought an oblation for the Lord. . . . jewels of gold, chains, and bracelets, rings, earrings, and tablets, to make an atonement for our souls before the Lord."

2 Sam. xxi. 3, 6, 14. "Wherefore David said unto the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? And wherewith shall I make the atonement, that ye may bless the inheritance of the Lord? . . . . And they answered the king, . . . . Let seven men of Saul's sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the Lord. . . . And after that God was entreated for the land."

Neh. x. 33. "The third part of a shekel. ... to make atonement."

Here is a remarkable concrete of Atonements. We find that atonement was made with blood-of bullocks, of goats, of lambs, of birds; and this whether as burnt-offerings, sin-offerings, trespass-offerings, or for sins of ignorance. Other materials for atonement were money, a living goat called "scape-goat,” incense, "jewels of gold, chains, and bracelets, rings, earrings, and tablets," the hanging of seven sons of Saul, and the intercession of Moses. The objects of atonement were the priests, the people, the altar, holy sanctuary, child-birth, the leper, for a nation under the hand of God. It was made also for Aaron, "for himself and his house;" and by Phinehas when he slew the idolaters, Zimri and Cozbi. Further that after atonement there was a cleansing, and then anointing to sanctify.

From a mere glance at these statements we draw the conclusion that atonement under the law of Moses meant nothing more than immunity from temporal judgment, never designed to be permanent, always "ready to vanish away." It had a burdensome ritual, "which," said one, "neither we nor our fathers were able to bear." It had a limited chronology—until Christ (eis xpiaròs): that was its vanishing-point, when He had fulfilled it. Its "weakness and unprofitableness" were determined by the inveteracy of the flesh; hence "disannulling of the commandment going before." It could "make nothing perfect;" it was only "the bringing in of a better hope." Hence its atonement was insufficient, having respect only to things of this

world; powerless for presumptuous sin, Lev. xxiv. 16; ineffectual for more than a ceremonial defilement, and for consecration, never having been designed for anything beyond. Under the law there was a continual "remembrance of sins every year," for the sacrifices could "never make the comers thereunto perfect," or "they would have ceased to be offered." The worshippers were not purged once for all; every year there was a calling to mind (Heb. x.). It must then give place to a better thing. Shall we continue to shrink and tremble under the brow of Sinai, or adoringly behold the Cross and Him who there accomplished the great work of Redemption-the will of God "by which will we are sanctified through the offering of Jesus Christ once" (Heb. x. 10); and "justified from all things from which we could not be justified by the law" (Acts xiii. 39). Can that which is called "the ministration of death" and "ministration of condemnation" have any attractions, any advantages for those who are under "the ministration of the Spirit"? None.

(To be concluded in our next No.)

THE LATE BISHOP OF WINCHESTER ON THE HEAVENWARD AIM.

ON turning over the leaves of one of our "Scrap-books," we came across a short Idyl, which was composed, according to our private diary, about fourteen years ago, soon after Dr. Samuel Wilberforce, then Bishop of Oxford, preached at the Choral Festival in the Peterborough Cathedral, June 25, 1863. The right reverend preacher, on that occasion, adduced the mechanism of a balloon in illustration of one of his appeals for the attainment of the Heavenward aim. The following lines-though in versegive an accurate idea of the lamented Bishop's telling illustration:

Friend! hast thou seen an aerial car
To earth made fast by many a chain,
Yet struggling hard to mount afar,
With frantic efforts all in vain ?

And hast thou known that car can ne'er
(Till every chain shall sever'd be)
Mount upwards in the heavenly air,
Or from this lower earth be free?

And hast thou not the image found
Of struggling souls reflected then,
Of souls in bitterest bondage bound-
The souls of timid, worldly men?

Of worldly men who hug their chains,
And yet on high would send their prayer,
But like the car-no use their pains—

Their chains of earth still hold them there.

Their chains may be of silk, or lace,
Or golden links, or finest cord;
But every chain will hold its place,
Its hinderance to prayer afford.

ALL must be snapp'd-EACH chain set free Before th' aerial car ascends,

But let but once the severance be,

It mounts in space, which never ends.

And with man's soul, each chain to earth
Requires its severance the same,
Or grosser chains of sin's foul birth,
Or golden ones, as love and fame.

But let each chain be cast away,

And then man's spirit and his prayer Shall soar, like air-ships, on their way

To heaven, and find an entrance there.

Where worship shall be all in all,
And each angelic portion be

To worship THERE, the Lord of all—
In one eternal rhapsody.

SCRIPTURE PORTRAITS-JACOB AND

ESAU.

.ב' ה By

THE duties of parentage are not relaxed by the decrees of God respecting the children, even supposing these decrees to be known to parents, as in a measure Jehovah made them known to Rebekah concerning her two children. Nay, rather, parental obligations are strictly defined with even more precision than are the terms in which He is pleased to state His own purposes. Difficulties will arise in discharge of these duties, but still greater from their neglect. If the obligation is parried by the plea of convenience, arising probably out of perplexity, the fence is thrown down that might defend from many ills. Perplexity is not a necessary evil; it is not of necessity general disturbance : it may indeed, often, in the affairs of mankind be inflicted that the common weal may be secured. We cannot survey the whole, therefore we cannot pronounce on the special administration of divine government. Few are competent to do this in the affairs of a nation, with anything like adequacy, for the conduct of a government. The union of various endowments go to make an able statesman. He must not only have conception, but judgment. Not only must he know what is good in itself, but what will be good relatively. For one nation the less intrinsically good may be the better law: this for another may be reversed. The ruler of a country should have a cool head as well as a capacious mind. Occasions may be, however, when the energetic outburst of indignant displeasure may be more effective than the quiet calm of a determined will. Not the most intellectual is always the most successful, but the wisest; though indeed a larger grasp of intellect may give his wisdom a wider range. With the Almighty is likewise inerrable wisdom. His infinite power-we speak reverently-is the servant of His infinite perception. We may think there is a defect here and there, we should know by faith that Jehovah hath arranged all things in perfect harmony. Parents have likewise to exercise similar discretion-never violating a just principle, but suiting its administration to the subjects of their rule.

"Children are the heritage of the Lord" (Ps. cxxvii. 3). Parents are stewards. A steward has no right to please himself in the matter of his trust he is to consider the interests of him whom he serves, of all that is committed to subordinate charge none can stand in competition with children. Everything should give place to the well-being of this goodly inheritance. If there must be neglect in anything, let it be anywhere rather then here. Nothing will repay for outlay like children: they will rise up and call their parents blessed if they have received from them their due. The burnt rod will sear the child's heart; "He that spareth his rod hateth his son" (Prov. xiii. 24). Love makes the rod bud, and blossom, and yield fruit at the same time it is a memorial of wise care laid up for generations to come. Solomon was a son only beloved, and he richly repaid his parent's wise solicitude. His own heart led him astray, when he became "his own father." He listened to the blandishments which he should never have courted; but the God of his father was still his God, though he did comply with the evil influence of his ungodly and unlawful wives.

Even as extreme cold has sometimes a similar effect to great heat, so is unwise love in its results like hatred. Perhaps the certainty of evil is greater in the exercise of blind affection than in the pursuit of hatred. He who watches over the affairs of men oftener interferes with unjust hatred to arrest its effects than with self-indulgent love to negative its evils. A harsh father is not so great a mischief-maker as a foolishly fond one. The reason is obvious; the former may repress evil, at the expense indeed of personal love and esteem for himself; but the other nurtures evil that bears on both parent and child, and it may be on many others consecutively. If "the child is father to the man," the important difference in these variously treated children is very great. Severity will, spite of its injustice, form a character of self-control; indulgence breeds indolence in body and mind, swamping all personal character for good.

"And the boys grew and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field: and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents. And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat ofhis venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob" (Gen. xxv. 27, 28).

In these few words we have simple but florid touches in the