"Have your conversation honest among the Gentiles; that whereas they speak against you as evil-doers, they may, by your good works which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation."2 And again, "Ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that if any obey not the word, they may also be won by the conversation of their wives; when they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear." Thus a glorious object is set before all, who have taken upon them their Saviour's yoke, that they "adorn His doctrine," by their temper, their charity, their uncorruptness, their consistent practice. They may, perhaps, " convert a sinner from the error of his way, and save a soul from death."3 There is no weed so rank in itself, or so noxious to the crop, but it may become, through grace, both beautiful and useful, fitted for the "garner of the heavenly husbandman." Indeed all that is now most promising among the wheat, had once the nature of tares: the good seed, the children of the kingdom, were children of Adam, like the worst among us. They have either been improved early, by the gracious care of their Saviour, nurturing their tender years by an education according to the gospel, or, it may perhaps be, that they have been far gone in actual trespasses and sins; so that one beholding them years ago, might have been ready to say with the servants in the par 1 Pet. ii. 12; iii. 1. 8 James vi. 2. able, "Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? The Lord, however, spared them for a time; and by the power of His grace the tares have become wheat. If man had been to judge, Paul would have been rooted out. When Ananias received a vision concerning him, he answered, "Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints in Jerusalem; and here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on Thy name. But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way; for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel." 4 So that he, who seemed to be one whom the Son of man should gather out of His kingdom, among those who offend and do iniquity; came at last to be one of the righteous, who shall shine as the Sun in the kingdom of the Father. For "with God all things are possible."' Acts ix. 13-15. 5 Matt. xix. 26. LECTURE XI. PARABLES OF THE MUSTARD SEED, AND LEAVEN. MATT. xiii. 31-33. (Mark iv. 30-34. Luke xiii. 18.) 31. "Another parable put He forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like unto a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: 32. "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." THIS parable describes the gradual but sure progress of the gospel in the world. When the Lord was now sowing the WORD, it was indeed the least seed of all; which, under the fostering care of God, has become a tree, stretching forth its branches into the most distant lands, and giving shelter to multitudes. But who that saw the spreading oak, where the birds of the air come and lodge, and knew not the provision of the Creator concerning the herb "whose seed is in itself;" who would believe that its origin is to be traced to the small seed from which it sprung? And so is the kingdom of heaven. So is the religion of Christ. Conceive, as if placed before your eyes, the Saviour when He spoke this parable. So humble and obscure, that He had not even the provision which the fowls of 1 Gen. i. 11. E the air enjoy: "the Son of man had not where to lay His head." So despised by the rulers and leaders of the nation, that they said, "He has a devil, and is mad; why hear ye Him ?" So averse from seeking power, that when the multitudes flocked to Him, He removed elsewhere, and when He conferred his blessings on them, charged them not to make Him known, So unlike those who desire to become great, that He chose his followers from among the fishermen of Galilee. Certainly this company may be fitly compared to the least of all seeds which a man takes and sows in his field. But as the Creator, when He made the world, ordained that from a diminutive seed a mighty tree should spring; so likewise did He ordain that the doctrine now taught by a humble company in an obscure region, should spread from man to man, and from family to family, and from village to village, and from town to town, and from one country to another, till it filled the whole earth, and all the inhabitants of the earth were able to find shelter under its branches. And this the Lord foresaw and predicted in His parable. He added another like comparison, to be expounded also by the experience of future ages. 33. "Another parable spake He unto them: The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened." Leaven is poured into a measure of meal, and for a while is hid there. So the doctrines taught by Jesus were introduced into the country of Judea, and remained there for a while unknown to the rest of the world. After a time, where leaven is hid, it causes a fermentation, and the meal begins to change its nature. So in Judea, a fermentation arose from the teaching of Jesus. He "taught as one having authority, and not as the Scribes." The people began to ask, “When Christ cometh, will He do more miracles than this man doeth ?" "Do the rulers know that this is the very Christ ?” ” 2 After his death, the work proceeded still more manifestly. The words of the Apostles were gladly received by many; and in one day, "there were added to them three thousand souls." 3 The chief Priests and elders were alarmed, and said, "What shall we do to these men ?" 4 Still "believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women." "And the word of the Lord increased, and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.""'" The Apostles were represented as persons "who had turned the world upside down."" Thus the leaven pervades the whole lump. And if the whole is not leavened, the fault is in itself. Meal that is corrupt or adulterated will not be made wholesome by leaven; but the leaven is there notwithstanding. The Scribes 2 John xii. 19. 3 Acts xi. 41. Ib. iv. 16. |