THE LITTLE FLOCK.

Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Luke xii. 32.

A FLOCK-not a rabble of animals—but a flock, and therefore having a fold, a pen, and a Shepherd. Look at a map of the world. How small is Christendom! and, of Christendom, how few the countries of Bible Christians; and from Bible Christians, after deducting the unorthodox, how small the number of true spiritual believers !

This looks discouraging, and the sceptic heart will sometimes whisper, Can God' confine salvation to this small number? Are we not under some delusion? No. He himself declares that his flock will always be a little flock, but bearing the stamp and badge of their fold and Shepherd; born again from above-made heirs of eternal life-adopted into Jesus' family-having all a family likeness, as brothers and sisters, sons and daughters of the same Father, even the Almighty! separate from the world -a peculiar people—a humble, penitent, self-denying, self-condemning people.

But he tells this little flock not to fear. They are then in the habit of fearing; yes, it is a distinguishing feature. They fear when God turns from them the light of his countenance-comfort forsakes them -their heart sinks within them; but is not this in

itself evidence of their belonging to the flock? When did the worldling trouble himself as to whether he had an interest in Christ or not? when did the worldling complain that God's countenance was turned from him? See what Asaph says in the 73rd Psalm. They are not in trouble as other folk-behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world.

Again, it is the Father's good pleasure, to give them the kingdom. His good pleasure-his sovereign will. He deals with individuals as with nations. Deut. vii. 7-9. The Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself,―The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people; but because the Lord loved you. And John xv. 16,— Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. And John xvii. 9,—I pray for them—I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine.

And what is it that he will give to his flock?—the kingdom. Not a kingdom, but the kingdom. Dan. vii. Then shall the little flock become an innumerable multitude, whom no man can number-all in their priestly robes and kingly crowns, the Lord himself decked with his many crowns.

But the practical application for our present consideration is, that we are sheep-the most helpless and inoffensive of animals. We all were once as sheep going astray-wandering in the waste howling wilderness, without a fold, without a Shepherd! Did we seek out the Shepherd? No. He came and found us; he took us up and bore us in his loving bosom; he led us to the green pastures, beside the still waters of comfort. He permits us sometimes to

wander, but the crook is ready, to ward off danger and to bring us back to the fold. He anticipates our wants and our weaknesses; he allows us to fall, and he raises us up; and again he allows us to fall, and again he raises us up. But we are his sheep, his own property, purchased-paid for-sealed-and no man shall snatch us out of his hand. We are his sheep -and though we wander sometimes far from him, still we know his voice. He calls, and we come to him.

[The above notes were taken down in the church of a faithful minister of the gospel, in London, by one of his congregation.]

AND yet I know this to be true, that Christ is present with his holy church (which is his holy elected people) and shall be with them to the world's end, leading and governing them with his Holy Spirit, and teaching them all truth necessary to their salvation. And whensoever any such be gathered together in his name, there is he among them; and he shall not suffer the gates of hell to prevail against them. For although he may suffer them, by their own frailness, for a time to err, fall, and to die; yet finally neither Satan, hell, sin, nor eternal death shall prevail against them.-Cranmer.

NOTES ON GENESIS.

CHAPTER XII. CONTINUED.

GOD declares that "all false ways he utterly abhors." There is no exception made in favour of those false ways which men esteem to be right; on the contrary, we are told that many things "highly esteemed among men are an abomination in the sight of God;" and blindness of heart, blindness to the truth, are condemned throughout the scriptures, in passages too numerous for reference. The woe denounced by Isaiah (v. 20), on those who "call evil good, and good evil, who put light for darkness, and darkness for light," is found in one form or other in every part of the word of God. The Almighty has seen fit to give us a revelation of himself, of his will concerning us, of our state in his eyes, and of his designs of mercy towards us, because he sees that the knowledge of these things is necessary to our well-being: and shall we dare to say that a belief of quite different things, or a belief concerning these things, quite different from their realities, will answer every beneficial end just as well as the revelation God himself has given us?

Belief in testimony, or faith, "the evidence of things not seen," is the only possible means by which we can obtain a knowledge of things not within the reach of our senses. Belief in things as they actually are, and not in any misrepresentation of them, is the

only way in which faith can be available to us for good, whether in things spiritual or temporal, whether in things of eternal or trivial importance. False faith, or belief in what is false, tends only to mislead. If Noah had believed that on a high mountain he would be as safe as in the ark provided for him, and had adopted that mode of escape, the flood would have reached him there, as it did the multitude around him. If the Israelites, when commanded to pass through the Red Sea, out of the reach of the Egyptians, had only believed that the Lord would contrive some way for their deliverance, but could not credit that he would make the sea itself " a wall on their right hand and on their left," would this faith have encouraged them to venture on in the way in which their safety was found? If they had only believed that on seeing some mark on their door-posts, the destroying angel would pass over them, but did not believe that blood was the mark required, would this faith have availed for their preservation? Would it not rather have been an obstinate rejection of proffered mercy? Again, when commanded to look to the brazen serpent, and be healed; if they had believed that to look at some object elevated above them would suffice; have we any grounds in the word of God on which to presume that he would have rescinded his own declaration in favour of their caprice, and granted the healing power severally to the various objects of the fancy of each? In like manner, if, instead of believing, according to the testimony of God, that we are utterly lost in sin, and in bondage to Satan, and that we are utterly unable, nay naturally unwilling to deliver ourselves, we believe that though we are in some respects sinners