gress of our own soul, and also the source whence we may derive support and encouragement in our labour of love: others refer more directly to our position in the school-room, as in connection with our scholars, both as regards teaching them, with salvation ever in view; and also as regards training them, always directing them by the eye, and dealing with them according to their various dispositions.

1.-E mbrace every opportunity of self-improvement.

2-A im at nothing short of the salvation of each soul, pointing to the Saviour.

3.-R ule with firmness and kindness united, governing as far as possible with the eye.

4.-N ever despair of future success, whatever be the difficulties and discouragements.

5. E ver look upwards and onwards for help and encouragement, hoping to the end.

6. S tudy the character of each child, and deal with him accordingly.

7.-T rain as well as teach

EARNEST.

"Let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not."

Clapton.

F. C. 6.

ANECDOTE.

THE learned teacher of a Sunday school in the North, was one day, lately, endeavouring to prove to the pupils the existence of a Divine Being, as illustrated by the peculiar adaptation of the structure of every animal to the country and climate it was destined to inhabit. After lecturing for some time upon this subject he exclaimed, with much eloquence, "But why go to the icy Pole, or to the burning plains of Africa for examples to prove this important subject? Is not man himself an excellent example of the power and wisdom of the Divine hand? Had he been born with a fleece upon his back, it is true he might have been comforted by its warmth in the icy regions of the north, but what would have become of him in tropical countries, or under the equator ?" One of the pupils thinking the last question more especially directed to himself answered, with evident simplicity, "They could clip him.”

John o'Groat's Journal.

The Teacher in his Study.

ON THE STUDY OF THE FOUR GOSPELS.

III.

HITHERTO We have considered the Gospels merely as writings, examining their genuineness and authenticity, the sources of their compilation, and their respective designs and characteristic features. But we cannot forget that all this is but the shell, and that the kernel is yet untouched. To combine their fourfold testimony, and to study the life, character, and teaching, of Him whom they unite in presenting to us, is a far higher task. In the limited space yet at my disposal, I can but attempt to indicate the outline of such a course of study.

At the very threshold of the examination, it would be indispensa ble to form as clear an idea of the life of Christ in its historical sequence, as the casual notes of time and place in the four narratives will permit. And though it is a common thing to depreciate the efforts which have been made by Greswell, Robinson, and others, to construct a harmony of the Gospels, I venture to say, while allowing the extreme doubtfulness of one or two contested points, that it is possible to form a fair general idea of the course of events, and that without this we shall lose much of the valuable instruction the Saviour's life affords. Omitting all reference to matters of dispute, I shall now give a brief sketch of what is generally agreed to be the correct history of the three years comprising our Lord's public life.

After His Baptism, Fasting, and Temptation, we find Him on the banks of the Jordan, and thence returning with five disciples to Galilee, where He works His first miracle at Cana. This occurred in the spring, probably of the year A.D. 27*. At His first recorded visit to Jerusalem at the Passover, in April, His bold act of purging the temple, and other miracles not specified, attract the attention of many, including Nicodemus, one of the Sanhedrim. The next eight months are spent in Judea, but of them we have no account, beyond the significant notice that the new Teacher had gathered more disciples than John Baptist by the end of the year. Up to this point we have only St. John's narrative, but the Four Gospels all relate that on the Baptist's imprisonment by Herod Antipas, probably in December,† Christ departed into Galilee, journeying, as

See Archbp. Thomson's Art. Jesus Christ, in Smith's Bibl. Diet, and Ellicott, Huls. Lect., p. 104 (note).

+ Our Lord's notice, while on the journey, that there were yet four months to harvest (John iv. 35), i. e. to April, fixes this date.

John tells us, through Samaria. And now commences that wonderful series of miracles and instructions of which we have a fuller account than of any other part of the history, all but exclusively in the first three Gospels. Our Lord first preaches at His own city, Nazareth, but the men who had known Him for so long as the humble but spotless mechanic, reject His ministry and attempt His life. He then fixes His abode at Capernaum, and from that town as a centre makes, at intervals, lengthened circuits of the whole of Galilee. This work continues for sixteen months,* only once interrupted by the occurrence of the second Passover, which Jesus attends at Jerusalem, and at which the hostility of the Pharisees and Rulers is first openly manifested, being directed against His alleged Sabbath-breaking. On account of their ill-concealed designs against Him, He does not go up to the third Passover; but the two miracles of feeding the multitude, just at that period, April, A.D. 29, bring to a crisis the excitement of the people concerning Him, and His sudden retirement alone prevents their making Him king by main force. His refusal of their homage, and the crucial test He imposes in the mysterious declarations recorded in John vi., seem to cause a strong reaction, for after a solemn denunciation of the cities of Galilee for their impenitence and unbelief, He withdraws from their neighbourhood, and appears to spend the next six months in more extended tours in the extreme north of Palestine, visiting Phoenicia, the semi-barbarous districts of Decapolis, and the mountainous vicinity of Caesarea Philippi, where the transfiguration and the first intimation of His coming sufferings to the Apostles occur in significant proximity at a week's interval. We find him once again at Capernaum, and then, in October, He finally leaves Galilee, and "stedfastly sets His face to go to Jerusalem." There He appears at the Feast of Tabernacles in October, after which He spends the remaining six months of His life in the southern part of the country, chiefly in Peræa beyond Jordan, and to this period

* This has been much disputed. The whole question rests upon whether the "feast of the Jews," named in John v., 1, was a Passover or not. Ellicott (Huls. Leet., p. 135) maintains that it was the Feast of Purim, and works out this theory, which gives only three weeks for the whole "Central Galilean" ministry, with great force and beauty. But the arguments in favour of the feast being our Lord's second Passover seem decisive: see Robinson, Harmony, p. 199 (Tract Society); Archbp. Thomson's Art: Jesus Christ, in Smith's Bibl. Dict.; and Trench, Miracles, p. 243.

The final departure from Galilee named by Luke (ix. 51), can certainly be identified with the journey of John vii. From the Feast of Tabernacles to the Passover six months would elapse, to which period belong all the events narrated in Luke x.-xviii. See Ellicott, Huls. Lect., Lect. vi.

belongs the mission of the seventy, who precede Him in His tours. Our knowledge of this half-year is very slight, and the order of events doubtful. They are only recorded by St. Luke, with one or two important exceptions. St. John names a visit to Jerusalem at the feast of the dedication in December, and the visit to Bethany to raise Lazarus from the dead, which miracle determines the Rulers to put Jesus to death at all costs. For a short time, however, He remains in the village of Ephraim, safe from their hostile designs; until, five days before the Passover, He enters the city in triumph, to the amazement of His enemies, who exclaim, "Behold the world is gone after him." Disappointed, however, in the hope that He would now set up His Messianic kingdom in their midst, the fickle populace desert Him, and when, on the night of their solemn feast, He is arrested and arraigned before the governor, the voices which had so lately shouted Hosanna overcome the vacillation of Pilate by their maddened cry, "Crucify him! crucify him!"

But if it is interesting to realize the life of Christ in its historical aspects, how much more to study its moral features! The examina tion of the Gospels with a view to estimating, as far as we may, the personal character and the distinctive teaching of Jesus, His use of miraculous power, and many other aspects of His earthly life, will be found to reward in the highest degree the time and thought be stowed upon it. We will rapidly glance at some of these departments of Scripture study.*

And, first, regard the human character of our Lord. We feel instinctively, in reading the Gospels, that they present to us an unapproachable excellence. And this very perfection has been alleged as a ground for doubting its reality, and referring it to an ideal portraiture. I do not systematically refute this theory, but the reader will observe the bearing upon it of the considerations I submit on the general subject.

(1.) Observe the novelty of Christ's character. Not only is it unapproachable, but altogether unlike all previous ideals of human excellence. Take the various pattern men of the Old TestamentElijah, for instance, the austere type of humanity; or David, the heroic type; or Moses, the type of consecration to duty; or Joseph, the type of purity and gentleness; and compare these, noble as they are, with Jesus of Nazareth. Take the two ideals of the ancient

Many of the thoughts in the remaining portions of this paper are derived from Bishop Sumner's Ministerial Character of Christ, Bushnell's Character of Jesus, and from a course of lectures on The Life and Teaching of Christ, delivered to the Divinity students of the King's College Evening Classes, by Pro fessor Plumptre.

world; on the one hand the fearless, generous, yet vindictive, warrior Epaminondas or Coriolanus, and, on the other hand, the tranquil philosopher, the Socrates or Seneca, sublimely indifferent to his own or others' misfortunes; and how entirely apart from them all is the character of the Man Christ Jesus! Perhaps the highest human ideal of virtue was that of the Stoics, whose system produced some of the noblest characters of antiquity, a Scipio and a Marcus Aurelius; yet how do we shrink from its calm, unimpassioned severity, when we see the Saviour's human soul, while none the less pure and patient, so delicately sensitive to the sorrows, the joys, the sympathies of life.

(2). Observe the uniqueness of Christ's character. It is most remarkable how it embodies features which, in that of any other man, would be irremediable flaws. We associate weakness with innocence; a harmless, guileless man is, both in theory and fact, one destitute of manly spirit; but Jesus, though "meek and lowly in heart," impresses all who behold Him with a sense of majesty. Nothing is more repulsive in a man than the assumption of a dignity unbefitting his external circumstances; but Jesus, the Galilean carpenter, assumes the very highest supremacy without exciting in us any other feeling than reverence. What more irresistible argument that Christ is God than that He was able to say, without in the least offending us, "Ye are from beneath, I am from above;" "He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me"? And how can we reconcile with the humility of virtue the professed design of regenerating the earth and restoring the harmonious relations of the creature and the Creator, unless the poor Nazarene Teacher who avowed it were indeed Divine ? Again, we all know that increased familiarity with a friend reveals many little blemishes in his character before unobserved; but with Jesus it is just the reverse, as a careful study of the Gospels will show. Butgreatest contrast of all-whereas the very essence and foundation of human piety is repentance, and without confession of guilt virtue becomes self-righteousness, Jesus, acknowledging no sin, because having none to acknowledge, exhibits what to our distorted vision seems a complete anomaly.

(3). Observe the harmony of Christ's character. Qualities which, in ordinary men, would be most incongruous, in Him. are blended in perfect concord. We always run to extremes, even till our virtues become blemishes. How different is Jesus! He evinces an intense abhorrence of sin, yet overflows with love to sinners. He is never known to laugh, yet, so far from being unhappy, He "rejoices in spirit." His pure nature is ever communing with the world of spirits; yet He is no ascetic, but mingles with, and sym