tion of the Slave, the promotion of Peace, the reformation of the Intemperate, until worn out by labour and by disease, he was compelled, in the year 1842, to resign his professorship. He took up his residence at Framingham. He hoped, and his friends hoped, that there was work which he could do for Christ and the Church. He was not yet fifty years

of age, and he could not but hope for useful and happy years yet to come. But He who seeth the end from the beginning, had otherwise ordained. The tabernacle was too feeble to hold the bright light in it longer. He began rapidly to droop. He was convinced that the time of his departure was at hand. There was no misgiving, no regret, but he seemed to be pressing forward. As he lay on his bed with his eyes closed, he would seem asleep or unconscious, but his spirit was still active, "My mind," he would say, "is crowded with thoughts, precious thoughts, of death and immortality." To his brother-in-law, Rev. Mr. Allen, of Northboro, he said, a few days before his death, "My life has been singularly blessed. My success has been beyond my brightest hopes. But my work is done. I am going. It is all right. All is well." To one of his family who asked him how he felt, he replied, "Quiet, contented, and happy."

Sometimes he wandered, and verged closely on delirium; but the ruling principle of his life was even then apparent. He would dwell on his condition, on his approaching change, on his faith, and on his Saviour. Once he stretched out his feeble arms, saying, "He intended it for all; he would gather all to his embrace." Warm and elevated expressions of gratitude to the Saviour, often fell from his lips, intermingled with affectionate counsels to his family. He lingered until Thursday, Sept. 21, 1843, when he was taken from the Church and the embraces of friends below, to the Church aud the embraces of friends in heaven. On the following Monday his remains were conveyed to Mount Auburn. He being dead yet speaketh.

THE TRINITY.

"THIS only I insist on, that the controversies concerning the Trinity cannot certainly be determined by the Writings of the Fathers, the Decrees of Councils, or by the undoubted documents of universal Tradition; nor is any thing to be believed or safely asserted, but what can be plainly proved from the Holy Scriptures."

DR. WHITBY.

THE PARABLES OF CHRIST.

LECTURE II.

The Unclean Spirit, MATT. XII. 43-45.-The Sower, MATT. XIII. 3-9;

18-23.

THE Parables of Christ are so much identified with Palestine, its scenes, and manners, and customs, that, while considering them, we feel as if we were then especially in his sacred presence, realizing, in some degree, what the Apostles experienced, accompanying him from place to place, listening to his divine instructions, and wondering at the gracious words which proceed out of his mouth. This is, indeed, a blessed and glorious privilege; surrounded by all Christian influences, and admirably calculated to improve us in all divine wisdom, knowledge, and goodness, and to enrich our minds with all Christian virtues and graces. "It is good for us to be here." On the occasion to which our attention will now be directed, Jesus had healed a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath day. For this act of merciful kindness performed on that sacred day, he was accused by the Pharisees with breaking the Sabbath; and they went out and held a council against him, how they might destroy him. To escape their machinations, he withdrew himself from the place. But he was soon encountered in his labours of love, by the same description of men, if not by the same individuals themselves. For having healed one that was possessed with a devil (an evil spirit, the spirit of insanity), and one, besides, that was blind and dumb, they accused him of being in league with the Evil One, of casting out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils. This was blasphemy against the Divine Spirit, and indicated an obduracy of heart which would preclude penitence, and, therefore, forgiveness. (Matt. xii. 10-42.)

Deeply affected by these things, and the extreme perversity which the Pharisees manifested, notwithstanding their great privileges, and many invitations of Divine mercy which had been addressed to them, Jesus delivered the following parable of The Unclean Spirit. (Matt. xii. 43-45.)

"When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be unto this generation."

There was a common belief among the people at that time, in demoniacal possessions, that is, that poor unfortunate insane persons were possessed of demons, or evil spirits. The insanity within them was the demon, or the evil spirit. Our Saviour, as mentioned in the 22d verse of this chapter, had cured one of these unhappy persons. And "we may suppose," as Livermore says in his Commentary on the Gospels, "that he employed opinions and even superstitions familiar to his hearers, but which he did not believe, as instruments to express and adorn his doctrines. Thus we commonly speak of the rising and setting of the sun, though we know that it is philosopically incorrect. Jesus frequently calls to his aid in his instructions the manners, customs, and institutions of his nation and age; without, however, vouching for their goodness and propriety. He even uses [as in the case of parables, ] fictitious narratives, the better to unfold and paint his divine principles."

This parable of The Unclean Spirit is designed to "illustrate," says the same writer, "the growing depravity of the Jews." It appears to have arisen out of a charge by the Pharisees, that Jesus cast out devils, or demons, by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils; as well as other instances of captious and perverse opposition. And it is founded on the popular notion at that time existing with regard to lunatics. These unhappy persons, as I have just intimated, were supposed to be possessed of unclean spirits, or demoniacal, evil spirits. When a lunatic was cured, the unclean spirit that possessed him, or was supposed to possess him, was said to have gone out of him; and, by a high flight of imagination, it was represented as afterwards wandering through "dry places," that is, waste, dreary places; "which," says Livermore, were supposed to be the peculiar haunts of such spirits." Sometimes, perhaps frequently, it would happen that the individual would relapse, and become much worse than he was before. Then it was thought that the unclean spirit, wandering in those desolate dreary places, seeking rest but finding none, returned to him, to its house, as it is here called, the mind of the individual in this melancholy state, and brought other evil spirits with it, more wicked than itself. The case was worse after the relapse; the lunatic was more raving and desperate. The wild state of wandering in dark and gloomy deserts, seeking rest, and finding none, is strikingly expressive of the unhappy state of mind of the individual, under so sad an affliction. The spirit returns to its

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own house; that is, to the mind of the poor lunatic. He is thus its habitation and abode. And it finds the house empty, swept, and garnished, quite "prepared," observes Livermore, "for the guests." It can enter it, and take possession of it without any impediment; and it can revel in it without any restraint. The door is open, and all is ready to indulge in wild and frantic delight.

And so this parable An Unclean Spirit possesses a man, that is, he is afflicted with lunacy. The spirit goes out of him, that is, he is cured. Having passed from him, and thus left its abode, it wanders through dry places. It is regarded as a houseless unhappy fugitive. It seeks a resting place, but finds none. In other words, the lunatic is only partially cured, his disease hovers round him. The spirit, not finding a new habitation, returns to its old one; and from its frantic delight on its return, it invites a number of other spirits more wild and raving than itself. It, in consequence, becomes more violent; and its last state is worse than its first. That is, the lunatic relapses, and his disease is much more aggravated and desperate than before. His last state is worse than the first.

And even so,' says our Saviour, 'shall it be also unto this wicked generation.' That is, the application of the parable is to the Jewish people, to show them the danger of a relapse into sin. They had often been disobedient, and had suffered the consequence of their evil deeds. They had been brought to repentance, by the chastisements which they had suffered. But that repentance was not unto life; it was not sincere and genuine; for they had rebelled more and more; and now, they were committing greater wickedness than ever, in rejecting him as the Messiah, and in their most guilty purpose of meditating his death. Therefore, this last state would be worse than the first.

This seems to be the purport of the parable, in regard to the Jewish nation. But it may be considered to have a general application. And it may serve to show persons in all ages, the great danger of relapsing into evil practices, which had been repented of; that by this means, they become more degenerate than they were before, and their last state more dangerous and alarming than the first.

It may serve to show to all, the unhappy state of wickedness; wandering in dry places, seeking rest but finding none. "For the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannct rest; whose waters cast up mire and dirt." And of all luna

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tics, they are the most out of their minds, and the most to be pitied; for theirs is the most unhappy and wretched state of mind that can be conceived. There is no peace to the wicked.

Our Saviour was probably, at this time, in the house of Peter, at Capernaum, where he principally resided, or near the house. And he had scarcely concluded the foregoing parable, before he was interrupted by a message, informing him that his mother and his brethren stood without, without the house, or without, or outside the crowd, desiring to speak with him. His freedom of speech to the people, and espe cially to the chief men of the nation, they might apprehend would be dangerous to him. He evidently saw that that was the purport of the message. And after a suitable remark on the worldly anxiety manifested on the occasion, he retired for a while.

But we find that on "the same day," Jesus resumed his instructions "by the sea side;" "the sea of Galilee, on the borders of which Capernaum was situated;" and he continued the same strain of parabolic illustrations, as that which he was pursuing when the interruption took place. We shall wonder the more at this, when we see how striking, how beautiful and impressive these illustrations are.

(Lecture II. to be concluded in our next No.)

THE AUTHORISED TRANSLATION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.

OPINION of the Right Honourable Charles Yorke, First Lord of the Admiralty, in 1809, on the Authorised Version of the New Testament:

"Mr. Yorke was an excellent classic. I frequently on a Sunday found him with a copy of Homer on the table, and sometimes with a Greek Testament open, and an English Testament by it. The first time I noticed this, he said to me, 'You must not suppose I am refreshing my Greek, or learning it. I have often suspected that certain passages in our English Translation are improperly rendered, and when this occurs, I always compare them with the original, and generally find them, to say the least, loosely translated.""-Autobiographical Memoir of Sir John Barrow, page 321.