persons, and baptized a sick child. At seven I preached to another large congregation, and concluded the day's work fatigued enough, but felt very happy."

The sufferings of the slaves in consequence of attending the chapel are thus alluded to :

"May 31st.-Mr. C has vented his rage on the poor slaves on his estate by pulling down their prayer-house, breaking the benches, and carrying away all the prayer-books and Bibles he could find. God will avenge their cause!

"19th.-Mr. C being from home, some of his slaves ventured to come to chapel. Poor creatures, they were nearly broken-hearted, being threatened with a 'cartwhipping' if they

came.

"June 18th.-I have been informed that Mr. C has had three of our leaders, two men and one woman, 'cartwhipped,' for no other crime than going to chapel.

"October 1st.-I heard of the death of Mr. C————, the cruel persecutor of the Missionaries. He went to the races at Antigua, where he took the fever, and died. Verily, there is a God who renders recompense to His enemies!

In the month of April, 1817, he returned to England, after having spent between six and seven years in the West Indies. The following is his record on the subject. "We went out at the command of God, 'not knowing whither we went;' and, preserved by a kind Providence, have now been brought home to our families and friends. Before I went to the West Indies, I thought, if one soul were saved, I should be recompensed for all my toils. But, after allowing for deaths and other losses, I find one thousand five hundred and ninetyeight was the number brought into the Societies with which I was connected; so that the united labours of myself and my brethren were abundantly blessed. To God be all the praise!" At the Conference of 1817, Mr. Coultas was appointed to the Brigg Circuit, along with the Rev. T. L. Hodgson, as his colleague. At the end of twelve months he was compelled to remove, in consequence of an affection of the lungs. He speaks, however, of the year as having been a happy and successful one." He afterwards laboured with great success in several Circuits, until, in 1844, he was stationed at Southport. Concerning this appointment he remarks, "Three happy years to me, though I began to beg as soon as I went, to get off a debt. I gathered some hundreds of pounds for a new chapel, saw it erected, and assisted in the opening services...... It will seat eight hundred and fifty persons, and is considered a very neat one." He lived to see the structure which he had so zealously assisted in rearing succeeded by two large chapels in Southport, which are among the most handsome in the kingdom.

In 1850, Mr. Coultas felt unequal to taking another Circuit. He says, "Throughout forty years of labour, at home and abroad, the good hand of God has been with me." He now came to reside as a Supernumerary at Southport; where for nearly sixteen years he was constant in his attendance at the prayer-meetings and public services, in which he greatly delighted. During the same period he was the leader of two classes. Much of his time was spent in visiting the sick, and in praying with the people from house to house. This was continued by him until within a short period of his death.

As the final hour approached, Mr. Coultas appeared to be kept in perfect peace. When confined to his bed, he was much engaged in prayer and praise, and he always appeared most happy when surrounded by his pious friends. The fear of death seemed to be entirely removed; and on retiring to rest at night, he frequently expressed himself as "perfectly satisfied, should he wake no more in this world, all would be well." A few hours before his departure, the powers of speech failed him, but even then his countenance expressed the happiness he felt. He peacefully passed away to that land of rest to which his soul had so long looked in hope, August 19th, 1866. His death was improved by the Rev. W. B. Pope, who preached from 2 Tim. iv. 6-8, in the chapel at Mornington-road, to s large congregation. Mr. Coultas was universally respected, and by many intimate friends sincerely beloved. His works of faith and labours of love will embalm his name in the memories of many in Southport. He was interred in the cemetery at York, where lie the remains of his wife and daughter.

THE LEAVEN.

"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." (Matt. xiii. 33.)

THE movement in the minds of the people which was produced by the ministry of Jesus was of deep significance. The novel character of His teaching, accompanied and sustained by His extraordinary miraculous power, which He exercised with so much benevolent freedom, elicited an amount of excitement which was in perfect contrast to the dull and lifeless monotony of their former condition. His friends and His foes were alike perplexed. The more graphic account of Mark (chap. iii.) brings the whole scene most vividly before us. His power over all the forms of evil filled the multitude with astonishment, and in vast crowds they gathered around Him; to the bitter mortification of the Pharisaic party, who now earnestly entered upon their course of opposition to Him; and to the apprehension of His

friends, who imagined that He was being carried beyond the point of self-control by the enthusiasm of the populace. He rebukes the diabolic charge of the one, by the intimation that Satan was not likely to "cast out Satan ;" and the carnal views of the other, by declaring that "whosoever shall do the will of My Father which is in heaven, the same is My brother, and sister, and mother: " such alone could understand His spirit and His work. To all others He speaks "the sharply-judging prophecies of chapter xii."

The scene which He had just witnessed was well fitted to awaken the profoundest thought and feeling in relation to the future. But thought and feeling in Him, however profound, were always commanded by the perfect balance of His wonderful powers. The prophetic history of the church and the world in their mutual relations rose before Him; and He proceeded to give utterance to it in the calm teaching of the parabolic series which Matthew has recorded, and which presents to us the vitality and varied aspects of His kingdom in its progressive development to the great end. The march of historical periods which is here indicated we have already in a former paper pointed out, in an exposition of the first of these parables.

Their intimate connexion should also be clearly apprehended. They are the different aspects of one grand whole. This relation is especially apparent between the "grain of mustard seed" and the "leaven." Both indicate the rise of active principles, from small beginnings, producing their results with secret unobtrusiveness, but, in their ultimate development, with striking effect. The figure of the mustard seed becoming a large tree was probably suggested to the mind of the Saviour by the prophetic intimations of Isaiah, that "the branch of the Lord should be beautiful and glorious ;" and "a rod should come forth out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch should grow out of his roots; " but especially by that of Ezekiel xvii. 22-24, where the Messiah and His kingdom are compared to a high tree, grown from a tender twig, so that all birds dwell under the shadow of its branches. The prophetic figure for the kingdoms of the world is here appropriated by the Founder of the true kingdom, who declares that, though His kingdom takes its rise from an apparently insignificant commencement, it will nevertheless prevail and spread its branches everywhere, and by its might and power afford a protection to men exceeding that of all earthly powers. It is quite true, when properly understood, that "as the mustard-seed even changes its species, passing from a herb to a sort of tree, so does the kingdom of heaven pass into the species and likeness of a great world-state." We must not, however, forget that the kingdom of Christ "is not of this world." The ignoring of this vital truth has involved the church and the world in mischief, which may only terminate in the great historic close. The evil as well as the good seek the protection

of the spreading tree," so that the outward appearance by no means corresponds to its internal nature." In the parable of the "leaven" we have not only the idea of the Church's extension, but also that of the internal, penetrating, and renewing power of the truth and grace which constitute the spiritual elements of the kingdom, and which are the producers of its outward expression. Its relation to the individual is here again made prominent; and the two ideas are blended to intimate the mode of its development, and the certainty of its ultimate success. These points will be made to appear in our exposition of the parable, which will be directed to the figures which it contains, and to the results which it declares.

The homely figures of this brief but significant passage first invite attention. "The kingdom of heaven is like unto," Sun, "leaven." This term is everywhere else used in an evil sense. In chap. xvi. 6, the Saviour bids the disciples "beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees," by which He refers to their false doctrines and their unhallowed spirit; and in 1 Cor. v. 6, 7, the Apostle exhorts the Corinthians to "purge out the old leaven," to expel from among them the scandalous person to whose case he has referred in the strongest terms,-to put away the various forms of vice which our corrupt nature produces. As the process of fermentation involves the idea of corruption, the term "leaven was figuratively applied to whatever has the power of morally corrupting." For this reason some have maintained that it also here refers to the corruptions which have crept into the Church. But the wording of the parable renders this interpretation obviously wrong: it does not represent "the kingdom of heaven" as "three measures of meal" into which the "leaven" was introduced, which in that case might be a corrupting element; but it declares that "the kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven," thus showing that the "leaven" represents the subduing power of the Gospel. It is not improbable that the Saviour uses the term with a side glance at the evil leaven, which He prophetically saw would work in the Church's condition, which the mustard-tree represented. And against the various powers of evil which find their wide sphere of action among men, He places His own good and heavenly doctrine which would prove its virtue and power by the extraordinary success which it would achieve. The application of the term is thus "changed from what is bad to what is good."

By the "leaven," therefore, we are to understand that which is peculiarly Divine in Christianity,-the power of the Spirit of God operating through the instrumentality of His word, which proclaims the doctrines of grace and salvation, through the death and mediation of Christ. However much the Church in its external form may be corrupted by the admixture of evil elements, this true

"leaven" repels all attempts to defile it, and remains in its own intrinsic purity and unchangeable character. Men may surround it by human additions, and render it inoperative upon each other; but it will ever and again assert itself in its own Divine singularity, and come forth in the lustre of its inherent energy, as "the power of God unto salvation." In the eyes of men it may appear insignificant as a piece of common leaven. There is nothing to please the eye in its outward aspect. The meretricious glare of a false philosophy is entirely absent; and the pride of fallen intellect turns away from it as a thing of nought. Like the "leaven," its very odour is offensive to the fastidious senses which are ever craving for the fragrance of human compounds, the evanescence of which proves their artificial character. But, as the "leaven," it is powerful in its operation. Who would suspect the wondrous chemical powers which lie hidden in the unsightly and offensive piece of sour dough? Employ it aright, place it in its proper relations, and its action becomes marvellous. In this respect also it well represents the doctrine of the Cross, which to the self-sufficiency of men ever appears as "foolishness," but which is in fact "the power of God, and the wisdom of God." In it the Divine "wisdom" appears in its perfection and beauty as devising the method of human restoration to purity and peace; and through it "the power of God" makes itself manifest in raising man "from the death of sin to the life of righteousness." Employ this Divine element according to its nature, and it will work grandly and irresistibly in the production of moral and spiritual results, which all the appliances of man vainly attempt to realize.

The

"The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven hid in three measures of meal." We here find a representation of the nature of man. "meal," as it comes from the mill, possesses many excellent qualities, but in that condition is unsuitable for human consumption. Subject it to the leavening process, and it soon becomes a great life-sustainer, one of the richest blessings which a paternal Providence has bestowed on mankind. Our fallen human nature has lost the heavenly leaven : great powers and capacities are comprised within it, but they cannot in themselves be employed for the high purposes for which they were originally given. They require to be brought under the power of Christianity, and by it to be renewed and elevated. Then the order and the beauty of a new creation appear in the blessedness of a godly character. Those lofty powers become fit instruments for the service of God, and means of salvation to men. The designs of man's creation are then happily accomplished, and his noble capacities find their proper sphere of eternal action.

We cannot suppose the expression, "three measures," to be in any sense accidental. "Three is the symbolical number for spiritual