66 of the fallen race of man. The process was but continued, though with less of vail and obscurity; and they who were the first inclosed within what might in strictness be styled the Gospel net, were caught-to keep up the metaphorwithin the same meshes, and drawn to shore through the same instrumentality, as men of olden times, the righteous who obtained eternal life by the assistance of the patriarchal, or of the legal dispensation. But let us see whether this great truth may not have been figuratively taught by the facts of which we are endeavoring to find an explanation. There was already a fire kindled, when the Apostles dragged to shore the net which specially represented the Christian Church, the Church, that is, as it was to subsist in its expanded form, subsequently to the coming of Christ. And on the fire which was thus burning, there were fish already laid: yea, and the first direction to the Apostles was that they should bring of the fish which had just been caught, and add them to an hundred and fifty and three; and so also is the remark of the Evangelist, And for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken." As to the number, it appears that one hundred and fifty and three was exactly the num ber of kinds, or varieties of fish then known; so that we may most justly conclude that the number was an indication that persons of all nations and conditions should enter into the Church. And then the remark as to the net not being broken, though it inclosed so many fish, must be considered as prophetic of the capacity of the Christian Church; unlike the Jewish, which was not constructed for enlargement and extension, the Christian Church might embrace the ends of the earth, and not be overcharged, whatever the multitude and variety of converts. So far, there is little difficulty in assigning the parabolic character of the narrative before us; every one may readily follow the facts, and be aware of their typical import. But, now, we come again to the "fire of coals," and the prepared repast-those which were already on the coals what truths did these symbolically teach, when taken, as they must be, in immediate connection with the other figurative facts? My brethren, you are to observe and remember, that the Jewish and the Christian dispensations are not so truly distinct and detached economies, as component parts of one great plan and arrangement. There have never been two ways in which sinners might be saved: in the Old Testament, as in the New, "everlasting life is offered to | mankind by Christ, who is the only Mediator between God and man, being both God and man." In the New Testament, indeed, we have the clearer exposition of the great scheme of mercy: God's wondrous purpose of saving the Church through the sacrifice of His only-begotten Son is there set forth with a fulness and precision, which it were vain to seek in the writings of the Old. Nevertheless, there is no difference whatsoever in the doctrine propounded, but only in the measure of its revelation; and, however great the change which was made through the coming of Christ, when external distinctions were swept away, and life and immortality especially brought to light, there still went on the original process for the deliverance Now, since by the fish of all kinds which the net inclosed, we are undoubt edly to understand the members of the Church, under the Gospel dispensation, ought we not to understand, by the fish already on the coals, the members of the Church under the Jewish dispensation? This is nothing but preserving, or keeping up the metaphor. If the fish just caught represented the converts that would be made by the preaching of the Gospel, the fish which had been caught before, and not by those who now drew the net to land, may-we should rather say, must-represent those of whom the Church had been composed during the ministrations of the law. So that the visible Church before Christ was figured by the fish already on the coals, the visible Church after Christ by the fish just inclosed in the net; and when the newly-caught fish were placed on the same fire with those which had been previously secured, was it not shown that the visible Church, before and after the coming of Christ, was virtually but one and the same? that its members, at whatever time they lived, had to be brought to the same altar, and to be purified by the same flame? I know not why we should not think that that strange fire, mysteriously kindled on the lonely shore, was typical of the propitiatory work of the Redeemer, through whom alone the men of any age can be presented as a sacrifice acceptable unto God. We have all to be laid upon an altar; we have all, as it were, to be subjected to the action of fire: but there is no altar but the one Mediator, and no fire but that of his one great oblation, which will answer for those who seek to consecrate themselves, a whole burnt offering, to their Creator in hea ven. And what could be a more lively parable of this fact, than that, just before his departure from earth, when standing on the margin of the sea, the separating-line, so to speak, between time and eternity, Christ caused an altar to rise, mysterious as Himself-for no human hands reared it,—and crowned it with burning coals, which had not been kindled by any earthly flame; and then brought about that there should be placed on this sacred and significant fire representatives of the one visible Church, as it had subsisted before his incarnation, and as it was to subsist till He should come the second time to judgment? It seems to have been a lesson peculiarly needed by the Apostles, that they were but following up the labors of the men of earlier times; that they were not to consider themselves as going forth on a new mission, of which no notices had been previously issued; but rather as charged with the fresh proclamation of truths which had been continuously, though more obscurely, announced. There was naturally great likelihood that the first preachers of Christianity, having to publish the woudrous and startling facts of Christ's birth, and death, and resurrection, would overlook the close connection between the old and the new dispensation. Accordingly Christ had forcibly reminded them of it when He said, "Herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth. I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labor; other men labored, and ye are entered into their labors." And now he repeats something of the same lesson, conveying it, not through words, but through expressive emblems or figures. He gives them a miraculous draught of fishes: and for asmuch as He had before, in a parable, likened the kingdom of heaven to a net which gathered of all kinds, they would naturally consider these fishes as representing the converts to the Christian religion. But they were not to suppose that these converts formed a separate body, or were to be saved by different means, from the servants of God under earlier dispensations. The Church in all ages was one, and one also was the mode of deliverance. How shall this be shown, so as to keep up the lesson, or rather the emblem of the net and the draught? Indeed, whether the Apostles understood it or not at the first, we may venture to say that the truths, that there had never been but one altar for the sinful, never but one cleansing, consecrating flame, and that the righteous, however separated by time, and by external ordinances and privileges, had communion and fellowship in one and the same mystic body,—that these truths could not have been more significantly exhibited to them, nor more consistently with the emblem of the miraculous draught, than when, "so soon as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon and bread," and received immediately this direction from Christ, "Bring of the fish which ye have now caught." It Now it can hardly be said that there is any part of the remarkable transaction before us which does not thus find a consistent interpretation. is true, indeed, that we have made no observation on there having been bread as well as fish already provided; whereas the Evangelist is careful in noting it, and in afterwards mentioning that our Lord took of both, of the bread and the fish, and gave to his disciples. But we may readily allow that different ends were subserved by the same series of facts: it is never required, in the interpretation of a parable, whether delivered in word or by action, that every minute particular should be made to shadow forth a truth. When we interpreted the facts with a special reference to the case of St. Peter, we had no use to make either of the fish, or of the bread: but we do not on that account conclude that the fire of coals might not have been instrumental, or might not have been designed as instrumental, to the recalling to the Apostle the cir cumstances of his fearful apostasy. In like manner, if there be no special significance in the bread, when the narrative is applied to the shadowing out the progress of the Gospel, and the oneness of the Church under various dispensations, we do not think this any objection to the fitness of the application: we suppose that the refreshment of the wearied disciples was one of the purposes for which the fire had been kindled, and the food prepared; and there was use for the bread in regard of this purpose, if not of any other. Though it would not be hard to believe that the fish and the bread were combined with a higher intent. Christ, you will remember, had fed a great multitude with a few loaves and fishes, typifying how the truths and doctrines of his religion should suffice for the spiritual sustenance of the world. The disciples would naturally be reminded of this miracle, when Jesus again took bread and fish, and distributed amongst them-reminded too (and what parting lesson could be more important?) that the food which Christ delivered to them as spiritual pastors, would be an abundant provision for the men of all ages and countries. But, now, considering that a sufficient and consistent interpretation has been assigned to the several parts of the narrative before us, we would show you, in conclusion, into how beautiful an allegory some of the facts may be wrought, when a broader view is taken, one which shall more distinctly comprehend ourselves. We would not, indeed, claim, for what we have now to advance, the character of an explanation, or interpretation, of the significative circumstances-it is at best but an accommodation of the parable: but when a portion of Scripture has been expounded, as if relating rather to others than to ourselves, it is both lawful and useful to search for some personal application, that we may feel our own interest, and find our own profit, in the passage reviewed. It is a natural and appropriate simile which likens life to a voyage, a voyage which has variety of terminationssometimes in calm, sometimes in storm; the vessel, in one case, casting anchor in placid waters, so that the spirit has but, if we may use the expression, to step gently ashore; in another, suffering shipwreck, so that there is fearful strife and peril in escaping from the waves. We shall all reach the shore of another world: for though some may be said to be thrown violently on that shore, whilst others are landed on it, as though by the kind ministry of angels, none can perish as if existence might terminate at death; of all it will have to be said, as of those with St. Paul in the ship, some by swimming, some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship, "it came to pass that they escaped all safe to land." And there is something of a delineation of this variety of modes of death, in Peter's struggling through the water, whilst the other disciples approach the shore in their boat. Peter's is the violent death, the death of the martyr; but his companions find a gentler dismissal from the flesh; theirs is the natural death, death with fewer of the accompaniments which invest the last act with terror and awfulness. Yet, die when we will, and how we will, there is a mysteriousness about the moment of dissolution, which must cause it to be expected with some measure of fear and apprehension. The passing in that moment from time to eternity-the becoming in that instant a disembodied spirit, a naked, unclothed soul, launched upon an unknown scene, with none of the instruments heretofore employed for the ingathering of knowledge, or the communication of thought-oh, who ever marked, so far as it can be marked, the noiseless flitting away of man's immortal part, without experiencing a painful inquisitiveness as to what had become of that part, as to where it was, as to what it saw, as to what it heard? There may be a thorough assurance that the soul has gone to be with the Lord; but whilst this destroys all anxiety on its account, it does not, cannot, repress the striving of the mind to follow it in its flight, the intense gaze at the folds of the vail which hangs between the present world and the future, as if it must have been so far withdrawn for the admission of the spirit just freed from flesh, that some glimpse might be caught by the watchful of the unexplored region beyond. But in vain this striving of the mind, this intenseness of the gaze. Whilst we live, it is as an infinite desert, which material, and make heaven all the richer no thought can traverse, that separates and the brighter by their arrival? It is the two worlds; though, when we come "the communion of saints ;" and whilst to die, it will be found but a line, like each saint shall draw cause of rapture that which the last wave leaves on a sandy from those who have gone before, they shore. Let it satisfy us, in the mean- also shall draw cause of rapture from while, that whatever the mode in which him. Ah, then, how beautifully appothe soul of the righteous is dismissed- site the direction, "Bring of the fish whether that mode be imaged in Peter's which ye have now caught." The bancasting himself into the sea, and strug- quet, the marriage-supper of the Lamb, gling to the land, or whether it be re- shall be furnished from the contributions presented in the quieter approachings of every generation; all that any man, of the boat with the other disciples in any age, has been enabled to accomthe soul will find preparation, as it were, plish in works of righteousness and for its reception : Christ stands upon the faith, every spiritual battle won, every shore, expecting his faithful servants; convert made, shall be mingled in that and of all of them it will have to be vast store of happiness, of which the glosaid, in the words of our text, " As soon rified Church shall everlastingly partake. as they were come to land, they saw a "Blessed are the dead which die in fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, the Lord: yea, saith the Spirit, that and bread." Oh, this may well shadow they may rest from their labors; and out, what we have abundant warrant for their works do follow them." They believing from more express statements" rest from their labors," in that, as soon of Scripture, that, to the faithful in Christ, the moment of being detached from the body is the moment of being admitted into happiness. "As soon as they were come to land"-no delay, no interval-all that was needed was found ready; the fire kindled, and the banquet spread. Yet who doubts that the righteous will not only find the material of happiness prepared, but that they will carry with them, so to speak, additions to that as they come to land, they see a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread: "their works do follow them," in that they are then bidden to bring of the fish which they have caught. Oh, that we may all so labor during life, that hereafter, when judged, as we must be, by our works, there may be found, not indeed-what can never be—a claim to the happiness of heaven, but an evidence of our having loved the Lord Je. sus in sincerity and truth. SERMON III. THE FINDING THE GUEST-CHAMBER. And he sendeth forth two of his disciples, and saith unto them, Go ye into the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water: follow him. And wheresoever he shall go in, say ye to the good man of the house, The Master saith, Where is the guest-chamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples? And he will shew you a large upper room furnished and prepared: there make ready for us."-ST. MARK, xiv. 13, 14, 15. The time was now at hand when our Lord was to complete, by the sacrifice of Himself, the great work for which He had taken upon Him our nature. He had wrought miracle upon miracle, in evidence of a divine commission; and He had delivered discourse upon discourse, in illustration of the dispensation which he had come to introduce. But without shedding of blood there could be no remission of siu; and all his actions, and sermons, had been but preparatory to a wondrous and fearful occurrence, the surrender of Himself to the will of his enemies, to the death of a malefactor. and that his dying this shameful death passed with them as well-nigh a proof, that He could not be the deliverer promised unto Israel. But it is beautiful to observe what pains, so to speak, were taken by the compassionate Savior to fortify the disciples, to arm them for the approaching days of temptation and disaster. We have at other times shown you how this tender consideration for his followers may be traced in the arrangements which He made for his last entry into Jerusalem, in accomplishment of the prophecy of Zechariah, that her King should come to Zion, sitting upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. It was in a strange and circuitous way that Christ provided Himself with the animal on which He was to ride. sent two of his disciples to a particular spot, informing them that they should there find an ass and a colt. He directed them to take possession of these animals, and lead them away, as though they had been their own. He furnished them with certain words, in reply to any remonstrance which the owners might make, and assured them that these words would induce the owners to part with their property. How singular, how intricate a mode of obtaining, He The disciples should have been aware -for Christ gave them frequent warning-that the time of separation from their Master was almost arrived, and that the separation would be effected in a manner most trying to their faith. Yet they appear to have closed their eyes, in a great degree, to the coming events after all which had been done to prepare them, they were taken by surprise, and seemed as bewildered and confounded by what befel Christ, as though He had not, in the most express terms, forewarned them of his crucifixion and burial. This arose from their unbelief and hardness of heart: they had not yet divested themselves of the what probably would have been brought thought and hope of a temporal kingdom; and, whatever the process by which they contrived to explain away, or hide from themselves, the clear statements of our Lord, it is manifest that they had virtually no expectation that Christ would be nailed to the cross, Him, had He merely mentioned his wish to any one in the multitude. But was there not good reason for his preferring this circuitous method! We may be sure there was; even as, when the tribute money had to be paid, there was good reason for his sending Peter |