was not the net broken. Then the fish were brought into the ship, which yet was itself still on the unquiet sea, even is it thus that men in the present time, who are taken for Christ, are brought t into the Church still itself exposed to the world's tempests; but now, the nets are drawn up to land, to the safe and quiet shore of eternity. Then, the ships were well-nigh sunk with their burden, for so is the ship of the clutch encumbered with evit livers till it well-nigh makes shipwreck altogether; but nothing of a like kind is mentioned here; there it is merely mentioned, that a great multitude was inclosed: but here a definite number, even as the number of the elect is fixed and preordained: and there, no doubt, small and great fishes, for nothing to the contrary is said, but here they are all great, for so shall be all that belong to that kingdom, 'being all equal to the angels. radarear 197 918--2199jduz vasm B That which follows is obscure and without the key which the sym. bolical interpretation supplies would be obscurer yet. What is the meaning of that meal which they found ready for them on the shore, with the Lord's invitation that they should come and share it ? It could not be needful for him with his risen body, and as little for them whose dwelllas ings were near

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ing, and a deep and rich one, in this all. As the large capture of fish was to them the pledge and promise of labour that should not be vain, so the meal when the labour was done a meal of the Lord's own preparing, and upon the shore, was the symbol of the great festival in heaven, 2 with which, after their earthly toil was over, he would refresh his ser vants when he should cause them to sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom, and as they were bidd bidden to bring of their fish to that meal, so should the souls which they had taken for life be their crown and rejoicing in that day, should help and contribute to their glad17d3sqarza Dis

ness then."

·

of this One short paragraph from the same note we must add. It is on our Lord's final address to Peter.at Lingual pan eldest rol no besedo. "But feed my sheep' is not all. The life of labour is to be crowned elife with a death of painfulness. And then the Lord, as he hath shown him the end, will also show Peter the way, for when he had spoken this he saith unto him, follow me. Now, we are not to suppose that these words to's merely signify in a general way, be thou an imitator of me.'d Such an explanation would show that we had altogether failed in realizing to ourselves that olemn scene as it actually took place on the shore of Gennesareth. That scene was quite as much in deed as in words and here, at the very moment that the Lord spoke the word it would seem that took some paces along the rough and rocky shore, bidding Peter to do the same, thus setting forth to him in a figure his future life, which should be a following of his Divine Master in the rude and rugged way of Christian life. That all not so much spoken as done is is evident from what follows. Peter turning about," is looking behind him, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved-words not introduced idly and as little softhe allusion to his familiarity at the Paschal supper, but to explain the boldness of John in following unbidden him he seeth following, and enquires, • Lord, what shall this man do? Is he too to follow by the same rugged

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ART. III. Lectures on Foreign Churches delivered in Edinburgh quand Glasgow, May 1845, in connection with the objects of the 915 Committee of the Free Church of Scotland on the State of Christian Churches on the Continent and in the East. First Series. Small Judoctavo, pp. 462. Edinburgh: WP. Kennedy, St Andrew St.

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39 Ditto, ditto. Second series. Pp. 407. 1846. on919d bus bonisbroorq bas bozit 15: 10% Jud BELIEVERS, however remote from each other in geographical position, differing however widely in sentiments and feelings on many subjects, are yet members of the same body, the church. There is thus a real and substantial unity among Christians-a unity which, happily, all their controversies with one another, and all their warrings against the members of their own body, cannot destroy. How strange is it, then, that a union so real should be so little recognised or acted upon. How strange that differences in church government, or external form should kindle within us antipathy to our brethren, so powerful as almost, if not altogether, to covermaster the love to which our common connection with Christ should give rise. Can the world be expected to recognise in us one body-indifferent to one another's We in the Welfare, distracted or jealous as we are? For what lengthened periods history has the intervention of a mountain, valley, or a stream a sufficient barrier to all inquiry and sympathy? When such is the case, the members indeed still form parts of the same body, but the circulation must be feeble and languid in the extreme, when the sense of this is thus obscured or lost.

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When one member suffers, all the members suffer with it." And yet, how often have the various branches of the church sunk into a state of utter apathy as to all that was befalling beyond their own immediate sphere, so that even when the lifeblood has been draining from the vitals of some, "am I my brother's keeper?" has been the sentiment of others. Nay, is it not with difficulty, even now, that we repress a rising satisfaction of triumph, on the fall or failure of our brethren in stand in a position somewhat antagonistic to our own? It is perhaps a sufficient explanation of the facts, that we regulate our affection for, and frame our views of our Christian brethren, rather by the less important matters in which we differ, than by the more important, yea, vital subjects on which wedaré atslone. It was the felt importance of the truths held in common, and the urgent necessity of union in opposing a common foe, which in other days enabled Bishop Jewel to inter

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change letters of sympathy and counsel with Peter Martyr and Bullinger, and John Knox, "to serve a cure in the Episcopal Church of England." When shall such days return! The heart of the reflecting Christian is ready to faint within him as he beholds the church morselled into almost microscopic fragments, too many of which seem rather instinct with repulsion against the others, than warm in the cause which it is their assigned function to promote. Too long have the elements of division and distraction been at play in the church; now, surely we may look for the commencement at least of the sway of those attractive principles which, if less congenial to human nature, are certainly far more characteristic of the gospel of peace. And the time will come at last-the time when He who is now for wise ends permitting so much unseemly division in the church, will breathe upon it a gale of love that will bring to a speedy end all in its feelings and its actings that is harsh and unchristian, and will inspire its various branches with the sudden and delightful consciousness, that they are members one of another. And 'doubtless, a closer union to the Head will be the mainspring of a livelier sympathy among the members. By this instrument God will speedily destroy the barriers which man has so labori ously raised up. And then will the prayer of our Saviour be "answered: "That they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me."

This train of reflections is suggested by the lectures now before us. We are willing to regard them as one token among ourselves of a reviving interest in the general well-being of Christ's body the church; and as such, also a proof of a revived and warmer tone of Christianity at home.

**The opening lecture of the course was delivered by Dr Candlish: its subject very appropriately is, "The Relation in which the Churches of Christ ought to stand to one another." The duty and privilege of Christian union are very lucidly developed. We offer a single extract.

-The boasted unity of popery with its wide-spread ramifications and Dorganization, throughout all lands, is the mimic rival and distorted caricature of that all-pervading sympathy, breathing submission to one sanother, and the submission of all to Christ, which overflowing the intersected field of Christianity, should have presented to the eyes of men the one unbroken tide of divine and brotherly love, filling up all inequalities, and covering all landmarks, and making the whole, as it were, one broad and placid ocean, reflecting in its bosom the wondrous unity of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, the one living and everlasting God." P. 10

Towards the close of the lecture, Dr Candlish advocates such a measure as the Evangelical Alliance, and offers the sketch of a scheme for the admission of members. Had our time permitted, it would have been interesting to compare his views as there expressed with the facts and the position of matters, now that the Alliance is set on foot.

In the following lecture, by Dr Wilson of Bombay, on the "Independent Eastern Churches," we are presented with a mass of important matter in relation to those churches whose claims on our interest are so many, and have hitherto been so little appreciated. It is not, surely, unreasonable to expect that we should be concerned about the religious well-being of those territories which were the cradle of the human race, and which the Son of God chose for the place of his sojourn while on his mission of love to mankind. The independent eastern churches, though they have kept themselves, free from alliance with apostate Rome, have yet fallen into very many of her errors. Corrupt human nature has led in many cases to the rejection of the same scriptural, and the adoption, of the same unscriptural, doctrines in both. Notwithstanding, however, the general obscurity in which the doctrines of our faith are enveloped, we are sometimes cheered by a feeble ray of evangelical truth struggling to make itself visible among the surrounding darkness. And who can tell how many hidden, yet earnest spirits, in the course of revolving ages, marking the direction of such a ray, and guided by its feeble light, may have been led to the fountain whence the true light shineth. May not the following, extracted from an Armenian prayer-book, have been to many the key to the scheme of redemption?, "Jesus Christ, my Lord, thou hast suffered for us sinners, who have been worthy of condemnation on account of our sins, and thou hast freely saved us without our merits, thanks be to thee. O Jesus, thou art sweet indeed, and the light of my eyes. Thy sufferings have been very bitter, and grievous i indeed, which thou sufferedst with thy condescension, and this for our sake. O how deeply do I feel that we have so heavily sinned, that thou hadst to suffer for it, &c."-P. 97. The lecture displays no little erudition in eastern lore, and a minute acquaintance with the oriental churches, a considerable portion of which is derived from personal observation. 2.

The two succeeding lectures, by the Rev. T. M'Crie and the Rev. R. Stewart, A.M., late of Erskine, respectively, give a rapid sketch of the ancient history and present condition of the Waldensian church. The subject is in many respects the most inviting, and the lectures are perhaps the most interesting of the series.

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To the question, put by a Papist, Where was your religion before Luther?" it was once felicitously replied, " In the Bibleg where yours never was." Still it is interesting to establish the fact, that the doctrines of the Protestant faith were believed upheld, and often bled for, long ere Luther was summoned forth, to deal, with his giant arm, so effective and fatal a blow at the Papacy, and the host of errors and corruptions that found shelter beneath its purple. Mr M Crie succeeds in tracing the his tory of the faithful churches which existed on both sides of thes Alps to a very remote antiquity, and in establishing at least as very strong presumption that their origin was apostolic. to Itrast remarkable how frequently churches maintaining a greater des gree of purity thun those by whom they are surrounded, have found a retreat in the mountain-fastnesses of nature, cand how invariably such churches have been subjected to most unsparing and merciless persecution. Witness the unoffending Nestorians among the mountains of Koordistan, and the faithful Waldenses among the heights of the Cottian Alps. Volumes might be filledi with the instances of barbarity perpetrated upon the unoffending Waldenses, that have come down to us. And who may know the extent and depth of their sufferings, with all their untold aggravations, of which history furnishes no records for Ondone occasion, all the Reformed inhabitants of the Valleys were ordered by an edict of almost unexampled eruelty to abandon within three days, their native territory, and this in the midst of winter How numerous, how overwhelming the calamities occasioned by such an edict, it is not difficult to conceive. A people were thus, in the midst of winter, without time to provide for themselves shelter or support, or to crave such hospitality as they might hope to receive from enemies, declared houseless, homeless, and subjected to the unrestrained brutality of a blood-thirsty soldiery Well may we sympathize with the feelings of the indignant Mor land, who, speaking of these events, says Thise story is so lined and interwoven with horrible attempts, such bloodyledicts such profound stratagems, and barbarous persecutions whole families miserably ruined, and the innocent blood of the saints poured out as water on the ground,insomuch that my spirit has often waxed cold within me, and my heart even failed me, yea, my very hand has trembled as with a fit of palsy in the writing thereof." P. 19920 6971797 odJxetong yas rabru

It is with pain we observe that even these hallowed retreats have not been entirely free from the encroachments of error and division. M. Mondon, the pastor of San Giovanni, had imbibed Socinian principles during the prosecution of his studies at Gel neva. The descendants of the witnesses for the truth could not