to nought, has been endeavoring, in a thousand ways, to stretch that man who is more precious than the gold of Ophir; but the bed is too short. The benevolent Jesus says, notwithstanding they have decked their bed with tapestry, and with the fine linen of Egypt, yet I have not where to lay my head. His head is therefore wet with dew, and his locks with the drops of the night.

How much skirting and fringing there has been to the creeds of antichrist, and after all, the covering is too narrow.

PARABLE XIV.

"Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The king. dom 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."

MAT. xiii, 31, 32.

In this parable, Christ represents,

1st. The gospel of everlasting life, by one grain of mustard seed; not on account of its smallness, or insignificancy, in itself considered; but on account of its small appearance when it was first revealed to man on earth, by a threat to the serpent in which it was said, "The seed of the woman should bruise his head."

2d. Mankind, or human nature, by a field, in which the mustard seed is sown; in which this parable corresponds with the former.

3d. Christ represents himself, by the man who sowed the mustard seed: His doctrine, which he

preached, by the mustard seed, which appeared vain and insignificant to the scribes and pharisees; the least of all seeds, the most despised in the eyes of vain and foolish men who judge by the outward appearance of things, without being able to scan their inward qualities, or determine their real worth. And how many millions of stupid mortals are daily neglecting those glorious truths of the kingdom of God, and the gospel of everlasting consequence and value, and running greedily in pursuit of the false glare of things of a momentary conscquence, and even building their happiness in acquisitions which ought and must be their shame.

4th. He showeth the future superiority of the gospel over all other religion, by the mustard seed, which, after it is grown, is the greatest among herbs.

And lastly, That rest which mankind shall finally obtain in the many mansions of divine grace, is signified by fowls lodging in the branches of this chiefest among herbs.

ILLUSTRATION.

In the 72d Psalm, the doctrine of Christ is rep resented as follows: See verse 16. "There shall be an handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth."

To the eye of human wisdom, the hope would be small, and the expectations faint, which should arise to the numerous inhabitants of a city, from one handful of corn, especially if that, in the room. of being sown in a luxuriant vale, should be cast on the tops of mountains. Yet not withstanding these

unpromising appearances. we are assured, in the sacred text, that its fruit shall shake like Lebanon, and that they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth. The extensiveness of the Redeemer's grace and kingdom is very beautifully set forth in this Psalm. See verse 6, &c. "He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass; as showers that water the earth. In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends. of the earth. They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him; and his enemies shall lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents; the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down before him; all nations shall serve him." What heart can refrain from joy on being assured that all those kings who have made their terrors known on the earth, whose wicked reigns are recorded as horrible monuments of human pride and ambition, whose very names, on account of their ungodly cruelty, are words of reproach, shall, finally, be the humble, penitent subjects of divine grace? there a lover of the blessed Jesus, in the world, who can refrain from gladness when assured that all nations shall serve this glorious captain of our salvation?

Is

The wonderful increase and growth of the gos pel in the world, and the diminishing of false doctrines in the same ratio, represented by the parable of the mustard, are clearly set forth in the 17th chapter of Ezekiel's prophecy: See verses 22, 23, 24. "Thus saith the Lord God, I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar, and

will set it, I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon an high mountain and eminent. In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it; and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell. And all the trees of the field shall know that I the Lord have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish I the Lord have spoken, and have done it." The popular religion, which has appeared so high, green and flourishing, in which the carnal pride of man has so much delighted, is set forth, in the above text, as brought low and dried up; while the true gospel, which, in the eyes of vain professors, has appeared low and dry, even as a root out of dry ground, having no comeliness, is represented as being exalted and flourishing.

Christ and his doctrine, as they appeared to the scribes, pharisees, and doctors of divinity, was low, mean and contemptible. Many were the plausible objections which those self-stiled learned divines could make to Jesus and his religion. He was not educated in their divinity school; he was not regularly inducted into Moses' seat as a teacher; he went about as an innovator, preached any where, where he found an audience, sometimes on board of a ship, at another in some desert place, then on some mountain. He was remarkable for being a friend to sinners, and was constantly in their com pany, which he seemed to prefer to the company of those who supposed that their sanctity and zeal for the true religion would have attracted the

attention of any true prophet of God. He forgave sinners their sins, set them at liberty from Satan's yoke, and adopted them into his family; this was very disgusting to those who prided themselves on their own goodness.

If those sinners, who knew not the law, could be forgiven and admitted into divine favor, they were just as well provided for as those who had studied the law according to the rules of their school, fasted twice in a week, and paid tithes of all which they possessed. This, in their opinions, must have appeared very irreligious and demoralizing, and of a tendency dangerous to the cause of true religion. The Sabbath day was so much disregarded as to have miracles of mercy performed on it, to the great grief of these godly fathers of the church. And, indeed, as if to render himself odious in their sight, Jesus informed them for certainty, that publicans and harlots should enter the kingdom of heaven before them. What could these blinded bigots naturally conclude, but that Jesus was a Samaritan and had a devil? Thus they thought, and thus they treated the Lord of glory with contempt, and his doctrine with scorn. Yet this least of all seeds GREW, RUN AND WAS GLORIFIED, until its towering branches over-topped all the religion of the Scribes and Pharisees, put out the light of pagan idolatry, and become very glorious. But Zion in her travels has her nights as well as her days. Since the revival of the doc trine of the old Pharisees, together with many superstitions of the Gentiles, all which have been established in Christendom, bearing the name of antichrist, Zion has been in the wilderness in a low condition and desolate, But her time is now