out must accomplish the purpose whereunto he sent it, (Isa. lv. 10, 11). Jesus has foretold it; and though heaven and earth pass away, his word shall not pass away, (Matt. xxiv. 35). This is to be the final consummation of all things, as is declared by an Apostle; for all things in the end shall be subdued unto Christ; and then God shall be all in all, (1 Cor. xv. 24-28). So the little leaven shall finally leaven the whole lump. Let us feel grateful for so infinite a blessing as the Gospel, and let us prize it above all price. It will cure all the moral maladies of the world, and make the world good and happy. Let us, therefore, rejoice in the hope of its glorious consummation, both for ourselves and for our brethren of the human race. In it all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. We have received its blessing. Let us be zealous to extend it universally, that all may rejoice in it, and glorify God for the riches of his grace. "Freely ye have received, freely give." After the conclusion of the foregoing parable, Jesus dismissed the multitude, and went into the house. But it was not to indulge in listlessness, or to enjoy inglorious ease. For his disciples came to him and asked him to explain to them the parable of The Tares and the Wheat. He immediately complied with their request, in the words which have already been given under this parable, in the third Lecture, p. 295. And he then proceeded to address to them the parable following: 66 Again," says Jesus, "the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which, when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth that field." Matt. xiii. 44. The treasure here spoken of, we are naturally led to conclude, is a rich mine of gold or silver, under the field, in the bowels of the earth. A man discovers it, but keeps it a secret until he obtains a lawful possession of the field by purchase; and he is so firmly convinced of its great value that he is willing to give all that he is worth to buy it. He will cheerfully sacrifice everything else for the great prize he has in view." (Livermore.) " And so valuable is Christianity. It is worth all the worldly sacrifice we can make to obtain it. It will amply repay us, let those sacrifices be as great as they may. It is a treasure of inestimable wealth; and if we possess it, we are "rich beyond the dreams of avarice." What pleasing views does it give us of God, our infinitely kind and merciful Father, "the Father of mercies," the "God of love," who " so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life!" He leads his erring children to repentance by goodness, and blesses them with a Father's love. How sublime and beneficent is his Providence ! It presides over all in paternal tenderness. It clothes the fields with grass, and paints the lily with beauty. Without it, not a sparrow falls to the ground, and it numbers the very hairs of our head. We are the children of God; and as his "dear children," we are to serve him in love; loving him with the heart, the soul, the mind, and the strength. Love banishes all fear from our breasts, and we can delight and rejoice in him. We are all brethren one with another, and all are to love each other as ourselves, with brotherly love; we are to weep with them that weep, and rejoice with them that rejoice; to bear one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. While this rich provision is made for our well-being and happiness in this present world, another and a better is revealed to us hereafter; an infinitely more glorious one; a heavenly and an immortal state; a realm of infinite delights and neverending joys. And who can speak the value of eternal life, blessed with everlasting felicity, that grand discovery which the Gospel makes known! that infinite treasure reserved in heaven! And the most ample provision is made for us, that we may be fully qualified for this blessed state. The holy Gospel teaches us to cultivate those dispositions and affections, and those virtues and graces, which can alone render us capable of entering into this region of eternal bliss. For Revelation would in vain present this heavenly world to us, if it did not teach us how we might be fit to share in its pure and everlasting joys. It does this most abundantly. By its divine aid our minds may be adorned with all moral amiableness and goodness; we may be rich in all excellencies and graces; we may be thoroughly furnished unto all good works, and may go on unto perfection. So that we are not only by this means fitted for the happiness of heaven, but for its progressive increase through endless ages. Is not, then, the Gospel of Christ an infinite blessing? We must all acknowledge it to be so, who acknowledge its divine truth. And, this is set forth in a manner most admirably calculated to carry conviction to every "honest and good heart." It is seen in the striking coincidence or agree ment between the history of Christ, and the prophecies relating to him contained in the Old Testament; in his most excellent and transcendently perfect character; in his wonderful works, receiving from that character the most sacred voucher, and the strongest confirmation; in his sublime doctrines, and his pure, benignant, and heavenly precepts, bearing the impress of divinity, and thus testifying that their origin is divine; in the rapid and early spread of the Gospel, notwithstanding the most powerful and determined opposition against it from a hostile world; in the heavenly spirit which it breathes, and the heavenly destiny to which it points; and, finally, in the noble sacrifice of the great Christian Teacher for the salvation of mankind; at once testifying his sincerity as a divinely commissioned Messenger, and exhibiting the purest example of virtue that ever was offered to view. The Gospel is true, therefore. And as it is an infinite blessing, founded on divine truth, every one that is wise will be as anxious to obtain it as the man who found the treasure in the field, and sold all that he had that he might purchase that field, and secure the inestimable prize which it contained. With what propriety and force, then, does the Apostle Paul say, "What things were gain to me, these I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung that I may win Christ." How worthily does the Apostle here speak! And so "this parable," as Livermore says, "shews the preciousness of the Gospel, and the efforts and sacrifices worthy to be made in securing it. Worldly gratifications, sensual indulgences, cherished schemes of ambition, ease, and riches, and reputation, all that men have and love, they should be willing to relinquish for this inexhaustible and eternal treasure. Jesus even required that a man should give up father and mother, brother and sister, wife and children, houses and lands, yea, and his own life also, if need be, to become his true disciple. But this self-denying spirit is its own exceeding great reward, and compensates for all losses. Think what a wretched state you would be in, if every thing respecting Christ and Christianity were in a moment blotted from your minds! As in that case you would be miserable in the extreme, so are you, or ought to be, with your present glorious privileges and blessings, happy beyond expression. "Blessed are the eyes that see the things that ye see," said Jesus to his disciples then surrounding him, and his words are justly applicable to all his disciples in all ages of the world. For with the immense and inexhaustible treasure which they possess, they are blessed indeed; and they may rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory. (Lecture IV. to be concluded in our next No.) WORK-A-DAY HYMNS. No. I. (BY JOSEPH DARE, AUTHOR OF THE GARLAND OF GRATITUDE, ETC.) UP and on! tire not nor fear! Sun, and star, and glow-worm's light, And one little flower makes bright Would ye know the coming age? Guard and guide its infancy. Heaven confides futurity. If the "good time" is to come, And the waste a garden bloom, Our own hands must plant the flowers: Men must reap that which they sow, Up and on! to each his part, Share or shuttle, mine or mart, Up and on! tire not, nor fear, NATURAL THEOLOGY. No. VIII. THE DIVINE UNITY. POLYTHEISM was, in all probability, the earliest form of Natural Religion. So unlike in external appearance are man and the serpent, the bird and the fish, the quadruped and the vegetable, the oak and the rock, our earth and the moon, that it seems almost impossible for those who dwelt in the infancy of reason and the childhood of intelligence, to have refrained from referring each of them to a different Creator. It must have appeared to them much more probable, that so many species of unresembling and apparently unconnected and independent existences, were the workmanship of as many independent minds. Hence one is not surprised to learn, that the God who ruled the sea was supposed to have been impotent in the concerns of the land, nor that the presiding divinity of the mountain could afford. no protection to the inhabitants of the vale. In process of centuries, however, men would begin to discover, that there was not the complete isolation of each thing in the universe from every other, which their ancestors had rudely imagined; but, that on the contrary, mutual relationship and dependences existed even between the nearest and the most remote. It would be further perceived, as multitudes of observations were made and recorded, and as the concealed structure especially of living beings was patiently investigated, that each class of objects was formed upon the same general plan; that however diverse their exteriors, their interiors bore testimony that there existed a pre-conceived model, after which, or with reference to which, each of them was fashioned. It might be a slow, but it would ultimately become an unavoidable inference, that the assumption of various creative minds, had its origin merely in a superficial view of the world and its inhabitants; and that the greater probability was that He who framed one portion of the universe framed the entire universe. By such a process might men, guided by their reason alone, arrive at the great truth of the DIVINE UNITY; a truth to which every new discovery in science now yields additional evidence, and to which the lapse of ages and the progress of our race is destined to impart ever-increasing confirmation. When we have examined the structure of a single man, and made but a slight acquaintance with the osseous, the |