Mic. vii. 1. And so abundant and rich was the vintage of Ephraim, that it is said, "the grape-gleaning of Euphraim was better than the vintage of Abiezer," Judges viii. 2.

The high roads often passed through the vineyards, and travellers were permitted to gather and eat grapes as they passed along, but were not allowed to carry any away.-Deut. xxiii. 24. what justice and wisdom, as well as kindness, are manifested in this enactment about an apparently trivial thing! So also, in a regulation which prohibited a man from introducing his beast into the vineyard of his neighbour, Exod. xxii. 5. Before the fruit was gathered, the admission of cattle would be destructive; and even after the vintage, a serious injury would arise to the owner, if the cattle of strangers were permitted to consume the fodder on which perhaps he depended for the subsistence of his own through the winter.

Vines were sometimes trained up the sides of a house, especially so as to cover the outer staircase leading to the gallery or terrace roof: for this purpose the wall was covered with a lattice work of wood, (as is very common among us,) and the vine, trained thereto, with its pleasant verdure and rich clusters, added greatly to the appearance of the house. In allusion to this, the psalmist, describing the blessings of the godly man, thus elegantly portrays his domestic felicity: "Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine, by the sides of thy house," Ps. cxxviii. 3. --The vine formed a common and a delightful ar

the worst of parents. The ways of God are equal, and all transgressors, and murmurers against them, shall be eternally confounded.

In several prophetical parables, as well as in those of our blessed Lord, the Jewish church and nation are represented as a vine on a vineyard, to shew the high regard and tender care manifested towards it by the blessed God, and the just expectations He had of suitable returns from them of gratitude and obedience, Isa. xxvii. 1. v. 1, 2, 7. Ps. lxxx. 8-11. Their failing to produce these suitable fruits, their ingratitude, unprofitableness, and idolatry, are represented under the figure of a well-cultivated vineyard, yielding the disappointed proprietor, only wild and poisonous grapes, (see p. 552.) The rejection and ruin of the Jewish church and nation, in consequence, are set forth under the figure of the fences being taken down, and the vineyard left waste, Isa. v. 3-7. Our Lord gives a striking parable to the same purport, but under a somewhat different figure: He represents the Jewish church and its rulers as the husbandman occupying the vineyard in trust for their absent Lord; but they refuse to render him the fruits at the appointed time, and abuse his servants the prophets, whom from time to time he sent to recall them to their duty: at length He sent to them His only and beloved Son; and they filled up the measure of their iniquities by rejecting and crucifying Him, and in consequence were rejected from being a church and a nation: Matt. xxi. 33—

46., compared with Jerem. xliv. 4—6. 2 Chron. xxiv. 18-22. Luke xi. 45-54. xix. 41-44.

Under the figure of a chosen and cultivated wine, the church is beautifully represented as pleading with God to renew his former loving-kindnesses, and to protect her against the insults and encroachments of her enemies, Psa. lxxx. 12-19.

It will not be forgotten, that at the marriage of Cana in Galilee, our Lord miraculously converted the water into wine; thus shewing his divine power, as the Creator of all things, to impart that richness and strength to the water, which, in the ordinary course of nature, He imparts to the grape see John ii. 1-11.

Wine, as the most valuable of cordials, is often made an emblem of the blessings of the gospel, which are as cheering and invigorating to the soul. Thus these blessings are prophetically described, and thus the invitations of the gospel run: "And in this mountain will the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined," Isa. xxv. 6. "Ho every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come buy wine and milk, without money, and without price," Isa. iv. 1. The comparison is, in still plainer language, applied by our Lord himself to his atoning blood, which he would give for the life of the world. When he instituted that sacred ordinance, enjoined on his followers, to perpetuate to the end of time

the remembrance of his atoning sacrifice and dying love, "He took the cup and gave thanks, and said, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many, for the remission of sins; drink ye all of it. This do in remembrance of me.-I will no more drink of this fruit of the vine, until the day when I drink it new with you in the kingdom of my . Father," Matt. xxvi. 27-29.

Our Lord, who in his public addresses always took his illustrations from those objects or occurrences with which his hearers were perfectly familiar, and frequently from those which were in sight at the time he was speaking, declared Himself to be the true Vine-his Father the Husbandman-his people the branches, deriving all their sap and vigour from Him, and bringing forth fruit to his glory. His discourse probably had its rise in their passing through the vineyards of Judea, or sitting in view of a vine trained, as above described, along the side of the house. How delightful and important the instructions He communicated! Believers and ministers can do nothing really beneficial or acceptable, but as they are connected with Christ by a vital union.Those professors who are not thus united, are no better than dry branches separated from the vine, which -must be useless and barren-but thus united, Christ's disciples are expected to persevere, and glorify their Father by bringing forth much fruit:-and since all believers are united to one common root, from which they derive all their vitality and influence, so also

they ought to cherish a communion of love with each other.

The prophet Ezekiel, (chap. xv.) in an awful but instructive vision, beheld the rejection of the Jews, as set forth under the figure of the unfitness of the vine branch for any work. If it bear fruit, well, it answers the end of its creation and cultivation; but if not, what is it worth? to what other use can it be applied? Not to the substantial purposes of timber, for it is weak and inconsiderable; not to the lighter purposes of ornamental wood, for it is mean, crooked, and unsightly; it is indeed fit for nothing, but to be cast into the fire. Thus, every branch that beareth not fruit in Christ, he taketh away: "If a man abide not in Him, he is cast forth as a (lifeless) branch, and is withered; and men cast them into the fire, and they are burned." How emphatical then the exhortation, "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in me; for without me ye can do nothing,” John xv.

The Olive.

There were two kinds of olive-trees known in Judea; the one wild and useless, and the other cultivated and highly valuable. There is a considerable difference in their size and general appearance, yet as uniform a resemblance as can consist between uniform inferiority and superiority; perhaps as much so as between the wild sloe of our hedges, and the rich cultivated plums of our gardens; or the wild and