of man" (p. 68). It is "the labor and progress of incalculable ages (p. 66). "For a few thousand years they [the animal forms] reigned supreme, furthered the universal evolution by a hairbreadth, and passed away" (p. 70). Job, Isaiah, and Plato are a "matter of yesterday" in comparison with the beginnings of the human mind (p. 146).

So we have Newcomb, the astronomer, with his ten thousand years, Mahaffy, the philologist, with thirty thousand, and Drummond, the evolutionist, with his periods of human existence absolutely incomputable and inconceivable by any finite intellect whatever. These be thy gods, O Science! Surely the scientists have quite as much need to learn modesty and to cease assuming infallibility as the theologians. J. C. JACKSON. Jersey City, N. J.

REFORM IS NOT CONVERSION.

THE Saviour said to Nicodemus, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again." The expression "born of the flesh" all understand; but "born of the Spirit" is not well understood. All that a man can do for himself religiously is to reform; but he can convert his soul no more than he can change the color of his eyes. God only can convert the soul. Even in the cases of adults whose habits of life have been correct, and to whom, therefore, reform may not be needful, conversion is absolutely necessary for admission into the "kingdom of heaven." Nicodemus, Paul, Cornelius, and the "rich young man needed conversion, if they did not need reform. The necessity for conversion is based alone upon total depravity. If there be no depravity there can be no conversion; if there be no total depravity there can be no complete conversion. JASON YOUNG. St. Paris, 0.

CONTINGENT EVENTS.

A WRITER for this department makes this statement: "God can only foreknow contingent events as contingent and uncertain." I fail to understand what is meant by this. If God foreknows an event he must foreknow it as coming to pass. Otherwise he would foreknow an event which might not come to pass, which is an absurdity. If the element of contingency entered into the question, to him it would prevent his foreknowledge. What is contingent to the human mind is not necessarily contingent to the divine mind. Contingency is not an attribute of the future events, but of our finite faculties. That God did foreknow events which to men were contingent is abundantly proved from Scripture. Many of the prophecies of the Old Testament, viewed from a human standpoint, were contingent. But they were literally fulfilled, and so minutely fulfilled that there can be no doubt about the absolute foreknowledge of God. If we deny this absolute foreknowledge we seriously undermine the foundation for the inspiration of the Bible.

North Lansing, N. Y.

B. FRANKLIN.

THE ITINERANTS' CLUB.

FIDELITY THE PREACHER'S TEST.

In the last number of the Review attention was called to opportunism in the ministry, in its good and in its bad sense. The subject of this paper is a cognate one and not less important. In the second verse of the fourth chapter of First Corinthians Paul says, "Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful." Differences had arisen in the Corinthian church as to the merits of the most distinguished teachers of the Church, namely, Paul, Apollos, and Cephas. Factions had gathered around these several names, until these distinguished servants of Christ, without their approval and perhaps unknown to all of them, had become in popular estimation the chiefs of ecclesiastical parties. Against these divisions and the party spirit that prompted them the apostle writes with wonderful cogency in the early part of his letter. By disclaiming any desire that a party should gather around him he, by implication, disclaims it for the others: "Was Paul crucified for you? or were you baptized in the name of Paul?" Why, then," Paul seems to say, "should a party gather around my name?" It has been noted as a remarkable fact that no Church organization has come down to us bearing these honored names, so effectually did Paul crush this first attempt. In presenting the aspect under which he would have the people regard their leaders he says, in the first verse of the same chapter, "Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God." He does not emphasize the loyalty of Peter to Hebrew usage, the rhetorical skill and eloquence of Apollos, much less his own rich endowments; but he designates all three as "ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.” They are merely the bearers of the sacred mysteries to the world. requirement in a steward is fidelity, and this he considers as the great test by which their ministry is to be judged.

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The

May it not be well for the young minister to inquire whether this lesson may not have its application to our own times? We may well inquire to what extent the test which Paul presents is the test of to-day. Does the Church regard fidelity as the supreme quality in a pastor? Perhaps it is safe to say that, other things being equal, there are few Churches that will not agree with Paul's view. Certainly no one would even remotely hint that unfaithfulness is not a most undesirable characteristic; but some might be found who would not make faithfulness the highest quality. They would disparage it by allowing substitutes for it. If one is remarkably eloquent and draws large congregations he is regarded with leniency, though he may be neglectful of some of the most important functions of the minister. If he is cultured and scholarly many will say, "We must overlook his failures to visit the needy, because he requires time to study." Paul was a scholar, and Apollos was an orator; and yet

neither scholarship nor eloquence was the supreme test. The one question to which he seeks an answer is whether they are found faithful. It is not a protest against learning or eloquence. Learning is important in order to study and understand the mysteries of God, eloquence is valuable in order to explain and apply them; but most of all fidelity is necessary, in order that everything may be truly said and every act may be faithfully performed.

There is danger lest this characteristic be overlooked by ourselves and by others. It is less dazzling than many other possessions. The faithful minister must do much of his work apart from the gaze and without the approval and support of others. The work of the more eloquent, though perhaps less faithful, pastor is greeted with applause; while that of the faithful one is often unnoticed, and the world says, and says truly, "He has only done his duty." And so he has; and if he is truly faithful he will work cheerfully until life shall close, without, it may be, a sign of recognition or praise. He seeks the approval of God, and with that he is content.

Fidelity is not only unrecognized and unrewarded often, but it is frequently unpopular. It will demand of the preacher that he shall speak the truth, whether men will hear or whether they will forbear. He will thus be compelled to pay the price of fidelity, namely, the disapproval of those whom the truth antagonizes. This, however, is one of the tests of his fidelity and one which he willingly endures.

There is further danger that the quality will not be properly appreciated, arising out of the fact that too many regard it as a vulgar and commonplace virtue and one that can be practiced without special training or unusual gifts. Grant that it is within the reach of everybody; it is thereby ennobled, not degraded. The rays of the sun and the gentle showers fall on everybody alike, but they are none the less necessary on that account. But it is not strictly correct to say that every person can be faithful. On the contrary, fidelity is a quality that inheres only in the highest order of men and women. It is only attainable by those who have great resources in themselves and rich assurance of the divine favor. In a sense, it may be said that only those who have a genius for truth and goodness are entirely faithful; but it is a genius acquired by effort, as well as received by heavenly communications.

This is not written to depreciate such other ministerial requisites as are either natural or are acquired by study, but to emphasize the fact that, as all other gifts, attainments, and graces are worthless without love, so in the ministry all other powers are destitute of real power for Christ without fidelity. This is the one element which Paul selects as distinguishing the early teachers of the Church, and it is equally desirable in the ministry of the present time.

EXEGETICAL-MATT. XIII, 13–16.

ONE of the most difficult problems for the student of the Bible is the precise meaning of many Old Testament passages when employed as

quotations by New Testament writers. Much as has been written on the subject, it is evident that much still remains to be done. An illustration of this will appear from a study of Matt. xiii, 13–15: "Therefore speak I to them in parables; because seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And unto them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall in no wise understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall in no wise perceive: for this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest haply they should perceive with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should turn again, and I should heal them."* This passage has proved an embarrassment to many good people. They have supposed it to mean that our Lord addressed the people in parables in order to prevent their reception of the truth and, consequently, their turning again and receiving healing at his hands. Such a meaning seems out of harmony with our conceptions of the earnest desire of the Saviour to bless mankind and with his constant efforts to remove their intellectual and spiritual blindness. It can only be justified to our thinking by the assumption that such hardening is the result of second causes, and not the direct act of God.

The interpretation put by many upon this passage, however, does not grow out of any necessary construction of the language employed. That Christ's object is to make the people know the mysteries of the kingdom, rather than to condemn them, is evident from the eleventh verse. He had just given them the parable of the sower. It seems a mode of instruction which he had not hitherto employed and was consequently new to them. "And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? And he answered and said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given." He thus explains by saying that he could employ didactic methods with his disciples because they were familiar with the subject, while the others, who were ignorant of these mysteries and whose minds were blinded, required the employment of parables.

In

The passage is quoted, with slight variation, from Isa. vi, 9, 10: "And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed." Without stopping to interpret this passage we pass to the consideration of its employment in the New Testament. the fourteenth verse of the thirteenth chapter of Matthew the passage is introduced with these words: "And unto them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which saith,” etc. Their condition is such that they do not understand. Their "heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed." The last clause shows that the closing of the eyes was their own act. The use of this passage by Matthew is to show that they have reached the deplorable position portrayed

*Revised Version.

so vividly by Isaiah; and, hence, they need the teaching by parables in order to enlighten their minds and to remove their dullness. Christ had said of them, in explanation of the parable of the sower: "Therefore speak I to them in parables; because seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand." It seems clear from the statement of the Saviour himself that their spiritual condition was so dark that they needed special illustration of the truth; and, hence, his employment of parables.

Trollope, in his comment on verse 11, takes this view: "It cannot be meant that our Lord spoke in parables that the Jews might not understand him; but that their perverseness rendered them incapable of appreciating his divine instructions." Similarly Bloomfield remarks on verse 13, "We are by no means to understand from this and verse 15 ... that our Lord spake in parables in order to cause the blindness and obstinacy, and, therefore, occasion the final condemnation of the Jews." This passage is one of the quotations from the Old Testament in the New where the sacred writer employs the language of former times, not because it is applicable in all its details to the point in hand, but because its central idea expresses that which he wishes to convey.

METHODS OF MINISTERIAL SUCCESS.

For the purposes of this paper the work of the Church at home and of her missionaries abroad may be considered as one. The minister at home may get many lessons from the lives of those who have, in the order of Providence, founded and built up the modern missionary enterprise. Bishop John Coleridge Patteson, the apostle of New Zealand and a martyr for the Gospel, ranks among the foremost missionaries since the days of Paul. He was born near London, April 1, 1827, and carefully educated at Eton and Oxford, winning prizes and giving premonitions in many ways of a promising future in whatever calling he might select. He was profoundly stirred about the time of his graduation by a sermon of Bishop Selwyn. In 1853, joining in the welcome to this same bishop, on his return to England from his missionary labors in New Zealand, he was again deeply moved by his appeals, and going to his own room he sought relief in tears. Twelve years before the bishop had said to his mother, "Will you give me Coley?" His mother was now dead, and the bishop made the same request of his father, an earnest Christian and churchman. His father consented, and young Patteson accompanied Bishop Selwyn to New Zealand. We do not refer to this zealous missionary, who afterward was made a bishop, for the purpose of rehearsing his biography, but to speak of the sublimity of his character and his profound interest in his work. He was a discoverer of the best methods of missionary success. It did not take him long to ascertain that he must raise up a native ministry if he would be successful. He therefore brought his colored boys to the school at Auckland, where he had them trained, and subsequently he became the leader of the educational work and a thorough scholar and