XVII.

THE HIDDEN LEAVEN.

The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till the whole was leavened.--MATTH., xiii., 33.

THERE is a very important sense in which the divine administration over the world and its inhabitants does not conform to the analogy here employed to shadow forth its character and its action. The government of the material universe the laws which produce and modify the various conditions and changes of our physical state, are not subject to progress or variation, but are absolute and perfect. Nearly the same may be said of the Divine providence which is incessantly exercised over human affairs. Many deep questions have arisen, and many more may arise, as to the extent and influence of this supervision-as to the degree and kind of its interference, and the sphere and mode of its operation; but no doubt can be entertained, by either a pious or a philosophic mind, in regard to its free action and uncontrolled authority within its appropriate, allotted orbit. Here, no less divinely than over physical nature, "the Lord reigneth," though certainly under such conditions, and with such an inviolable respect for human freedom and agency, as the wisdom of the Most High is wont to prescribe to its own plans and operations.

The kingdom of heaven, that "is like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till the whole was leavened," is unlike God's reign over physical nature, or the ministries of his providence. It is capable of enlargement. It advances by growth. It proceeds from

small beginnings to universal dominion.

Such is the king

dom which the adorable Redeemer seeks to establish in the world and in the human heart.

1. The doctrine of the text finds apt and instructive illustration in the first propagation and subsequent history of the Gospel. We never more clearly discern what are the real elements of power and progress in our holy religion than when we contemplate the Church in its infancy. Twelve unlettered men, the most obscure in their social position, and utterly destitute of all the usual means of extending their authority or propagating their opinions, were then the sole depositories and apostles of the religious system which aspired to no less an achievement than the subversion of all existing forms of idolatry, and the universal establishment of a new creed in religion and ethics, and of new principles and modes of worship. Verily, the leaven was "hidden." Nobody would have suspected that the little company, assembled with their persecuted Master, in an upper room at Jerusalem, were to be the chief instruments of the mightiest of revolutions Herod, who slew the innocent babes of Bethlehem, lest there might be in some one of them the undeveloped germ of great powers and high destinies, could hardly have feared a dozen peasants and fishermen, of simple, blameless habits, and the most unambitious pretensions. In this humble band, however, were hidden the elements of a power absolutely unlimited. It was a divine power; and the Almighty is wont to conceal rather than to display his resources. which stir the depths of the ocean are unseen. vading agency which controls the heavenly bodies, and imposes its laws on every particle of matter upon or under the face of the earth, works without friction, and gives forth no sound.

The winds The all-per

It was for the glory of God that the excellent treasures of his truth were committed to earthen vessels, and it was favorable to the spread of the Gospel among the common peo

ple that its ministers were too humble to provoke the jeal- · ousy and interference of the government. The Gospel was preached to the poor, and soon made effectual lodgment in the faith and the love of the multitude. Thenceforth it had foothold and power for progress among men. This is the order in which pure religion makes its advancements. Not many wise, not many rich are at first called. The leaven is hidden and works in the masses, and by-and-by rises to the higher places of society. Religion works upward, seldom downward; and they who adapt their plans and operations to the few, rather than to the needy many, are likely to discover, in due time, that they lack a basis for extensive usefulness and success. Stately towers, and gilding, and ornaments must totter when the winds blow and the floods come, if they do not rest upon massive and solid foundations. To follow more closely the figure of our parable, the process I have indicated may produce dainty confectionery for a few pampered appetites, but not wholesome bread for the thousands of hungry souls who are ready to perish.

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2. Still guided by our parable, we may learn from it that it is the duty of the Church to make a strenuous use of the means of saving the people by spreading the Gospel. The leaven must be put in the meal in order that its peculiar powers may be brought into action, and that it may accomplish its proper function. It is else good for nothing. It is, as to all valuable results, as salt without savor." Not only is the meal the proper material to be transformed into wholesome food by the leaven, but it is the only element to which the leaven is adapted and in which it can operate. I fear that our covetousness and our backslidings of heart are fast at work to transform us, as a Church, into Antinomians. We have, no doubt, a sound faith in the Gospel as the only way of salvation, but we honor it so much or so little, that we are doing decidedly less than others, our obligations considered, to propagate its doctrines and carry out its measures.

"How shall they hear without a preacher ?" Will the Gospel save where it is unknown? Can the leaven work when it is not present? Is it our respect for the Gospel as the gift of Christ that makes us so passive in these days of great enterprises and great duties? We know the part which is assigned to the Church, and we know the mission of the Gospel. It must be preached in all nations. It must leaven the whole lump. How shall this be done, and when?

3. It is, no doubt, an object ever dear to Christ to see the kingdom of heaven established throughout the world. It is for this purpose, as well as to secure the salvation of individuals, that he brings it near unto every one of us. To the individual, as to the Church, "the kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven." It seeks incessantly to diffuse itself, to assimilate the mass to its own nature. "It is hid" in the heart. It often works for a season, unobserved, or, more properly, not well appreciated and understood by the subject of its operations. New, or stronger, or more vivid convictions take possession of his soul. A concern slight at first, but becoming progressively intense, is discovered to have been awakened by reflection, or by the word, or by affliction, or by sympathy, or by the more hidden means which God has chosen for making his light and truth manifest to the inner man. I think it may be affirmed of all such movements upon the human mind, however feeble and obscure they may be, that they bear with them always the primary elements and the free offer of spiritual life. Whoever will listen to the voice that now speaks to him in scarcely audible whispers ; whoever will cry out heartily to him that so gently knocketh, "Come in, Lord Jesus, that I may sup with thee, and thou with me," does, by such a consent, admit into his soul an element all divine, which is of sufficient virtue to change him into a new creature in Christ Jesus. The coming of this manifestation, whether of clear conviction, or of stable purpose, or of earnest desire, is full demonstration of God's

merciful designs toward the sinner; and its nature is a pledge of its perfect ability to accomplish the entire mission on which it was sent. It is the kingdom of heaven which is come nigh unto you, and that kingdom is " like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal until the whole was leavened." The man who becomes conscious that such an influence is upon him, and who desires that it should bear him onward to eternal life, is likely to have many causes of difficulty and hinderance within himself, and as many or more from surrounding circumstances; but he may safely dismiss all fears about the sufficiency of the manifestation. It may be hidden, but it is omnipotent, and tends to progress. It will accomplish its work with all certainty in each obedient heart. This follows from the quality of the agent. It is divine, and the appreciated degree of its action is nothing. It is as leaven, and it can not but choose to work until "the whole is leavened."

4. There is another view of the "kingdom of heaven," which an inquiring mind should keep before its eye in distinct and full manifestation. It is the leaven that transforms. We frequently lose sight of this in the midst of means and the din of effort, and thus slight and offend the divine agency, which is likely to work mightily within us, in proportion as we maintain a lively sense of our entire dependence upon it. The analogy of our text is instructive. The woman puts the leaven in the meal. She carefully excludes all foreign mixtures, and especially such as might counteract the process sought for, and she exposes the mass to the proper temperature; and yet it is neither the due degree of heat and cold, nor the absence of foreign substances, nor the diligent oversight it is the leaven alone that leaveneth the whole. I need not apply the lesson suggested by this illustration, farther than to exhort those who seek after God to be diligent in the use of such means as experience and the word of revelation prescribe; to fly from the chill