"stranger; " there the anci11nt " people of God" should find their inheritance ; and thither those who had been his wandering and distant children should resort, 'rhue we gain the idea of- I. THE ATTRACTIVENESS OF THE KINGDOM, As the Gentiles are here imagined as crossing the Jordan to sojourn within th~ borders of Israel, so we are to expect that men will come from beyond the pale of the Christian Church to find a home within its gates. - 1. It ought to be far more attractive than it has been made. The discord, the envy, the strife among its members; the lamentable inconsistencies in the lives of too many of its professors; and the grave unwisdom with which its teachers have pro- pounded their theories as if they were of the essence and substance of its truth ; - these have been repelling enough. 2. Yet, on the other hand, the gospel of Christ has been a great attractive power. (1) The repose which it offers to the human mind, presenting to it one Divine and holy Creator and Sustainer of all things and beings; (2) the rest which it offers to the human heart, tendering to it full and immediate restoration to a Divine FatMr's love; (3) the enlargement which it offers to human life, making it a sacred and noble thing even in obscurity and poverty; (4) the high and glorious hope it holds out to the human soul, speaking of a. heavenly future ;-all this may well prove, as it does prove, attractive (a) to those of other faiths which have no such doct1i11e to preach, no such glad tidings to convey; (b) to those of no faith at all, and to whom this world proves to be insufficient for lasting joy. II. THE WELCOME ON WHICH ALL OOMEBS MAY COUNT. 1. Christ welcomes them to his kingdom. There is no doubt at all as to the certainty or the cordiality of that welcome. Even the son that he.s gone into the very far conntry and done sad dis- honour to the Father's Name is received back with c,ery manifestation of parental joy (Luke xv.). Jesus Christ is not only the Approachable One, from whom no sincere seeker need shrink; he is the One that seeks, that comes to our own door, that stands and knocks and. waits for entrance there (Rev. iii. 20). 2. All his true disciples welcome them. There may be found communities bearing the Christian name, whose gates are too narrow to receive many a true follower of Christ; but all those in whom the Spirit of Jesus Christ is dwelling, and who do not mis1'epreaent their Master, will gladly welcome every "stranger" that comes to "sojourn" or to settle in the kingdom; they will encourage him to enter; they will give him the right hand of fellowship, they will find him a post in the vineyard of the Lord ; they will make him to know and feel that in entering "Israel" he has come to his true home, that he is "as the homo- bom."-C.
EXPOSITION. parallel strips from the Mediterranean to CHAPTER XLVIII. the east border, and be o.Jlocated to the The closingche.pterof the prophet's temple- tribes of Dan, Asher, Naphtali, Me.no.sseh, VU!ion tree.ta more particularly of the distri- Epbre.im, Reuben, and Judah. The diver- bution of the land among the several tribes gences between this and the ee.rlier divi- (vers. 1-29), and concludes with e. statement sion under Joehuo. (xiv.-xix.) are oppurent. concerning the gates, dimensions, e.nd name (1) In that Benben, Gad, and the half- of the city (vere. 30-35). tribe of Mane.sseh received portions on the Vere. 1-29.-The distribution of the land ea.et of Jordan ; in this no tribe obtains a lot among the seoeral tribes. First, the portions outside of the boundary of the Holy Land. north of the temrnah (vere. 1-7); secondly, (2) In that the allocation cornrnenoed in the the terurnah (veni. 8-22), embracing the south with J ude.h ; in this it begins in the portions of the priest.B and Levites (vors. 8- north with Dan (for the reason, see Expoai- 14), with the portions for the city (vers. 15- tion). (3) In that the moHt northern portions, 20) and the prince (vera. 21, 22); and those of .Asher and Ne.phtali, started from o thirdly, the portions south of the city point a little above Tyre; in this the most (vere. 28-30). northern portion, that of Dan, proceeds from Vere, 1-7.-Tl,,e portiom 1Wrth of the the entering in or the south border of terumall. These should be seven, lie in Hamath, some fifty or Bixty miles north of OH, XLVIII, 1-35.J THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL.