THE SCALE INSECT.-

Psa. 22:6. Day unto day uttereth speech.-Psa. 19:2.

One of the most blessed characteristics of the Lord Jesus was His steadfast, self-sacrificing devotion to the Father in carrying out His purposes of blessing (Isa. 42:4) through the Cross. We find this expressed in ver. 6 of Psa. 22:which gives us the details of that awful scene. The words " I am a worm " are luminous when we look at what the "worm" is. We have been in the habit of interpreting this as humble or despised, as in the next verse, and looking no further we have missed much. " The word tolaath applies especially to the coccus from which the scarlet dye of the tabernacle was obtained, of course by its death; in that way how significant of the One before us! " (Num. Bible, notes on Psa. 22:) A concordance shows that in Heb.-| 9:19 the word scarlet is in Greek kokkinos; hence our word coccus-the family name, in Natural History, :tor all the scale insects; hence also the Spanish name "cochineal" of the Mexican variety. The Arabian name "kermes"is from "krim"-a worm; hence our words "crimson" and "carmine." See Webster's Dictionary.

The common varieties are a terror to all florists and fruit farmers, and have been specially destructive in Florida and California. We find them often on palms and begonias in our homes and gardens.

If, with a pin, you lift up the edge of one of these scales, sometime in the Spring before the young are hatched, a common magnifying glass will show underneath a mass of a 100 or more yellowish eggs; a little later the active little insects may be found running about. Within a few hours after hatching (in some varieties only a few minutes) the young escape from under the dead mother, and, selecting a fresh spot in the bark of the same or some neighboring plant, push their bills into it to drink the sap, and settle there for life-never to move again. Their upper surface secretes a waxy substance, their shape changes, flattening out like a little tent, while the legs become useless except to hold on with. If the bill should be withdrawn they are unable to pierce the bark again, and soon perish. After several moultings, the eggs are deposited; then the mother dies and her dead body forms a shelter for the young, by whom the story is repeated.

These phenomena may be briefly described as immovable or steadfast self-sacrifice even unto death, to provide a shelter for the children. It seems as if God had given the insect strict orders:-Immediately after your birth you are to select a place on the bark, put in your bill, and as soon as your eggs are deposited, die, and so provide a shelter for your young; pay attention to nothing else, and on no account whatever may you move from that spot on the bark; if you do, you shall die.

Turning now to Scripture for the spiritual counterpart of all this, it is impossible -not to recognize the unique features of the Lord Jesus who came with this steadfast purpose, to lay down His life for those whom God had given Him (Heb. 2:13)-a devotion even unto death. He had received this commandment from His Father (John 10:18), and held it before Him from His earliest childhood to the cross. The first we hear of Him after His birth was at twelve years of age. Luke 2:49 shows this was not the beginning of His obedience; He was already settled down to His life's work with a steadfastness of purpose from which neither the importunity of friends nor the threats of enemies could move Him (Mark 8:31-33; John 11:8; Luke 13:31-33). His parents should have known from His whole life at home that He could only be about His Father's business.

Activity is a prominent trait of insects in general, therefore a phenomenon like this serves to attract attention and admirably describes this character of our Lord-it is a living "working model of it." The dead body of the scale covers the eggs and young, and seems to be identified with them. Just so in His death the Lord has identified us and all our interests with Himself (John 14:19). His is not the interest of a hireling; the laying down of His life was the measure of His devotedness.

The shelter of the young under the dead body of the parent is the shelter of concealment, and so from the enemy. So is the "hiding place " of Psa. 32:7 and of John 10:28, 29 "none shall pluck them out of My hand." Our life and all our interests for time and eternity bound in a bundle with His and safely hidden beyond reach of the enemy in the secret place of the Most High. The whole of Psa. 91:, with John 10:28, 29 and Psa. 32:7, breathe the concealment of this sheltering scale.

THE TEST OF STEADFASTNESS.

"I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men and despised of the people." "Men will praise thee when thou doest well to thyself," and so His disciples said, "Pity Thyself Lord, this shall not be unto Thee " (Matt. 16:22, margin). Here was one with more than twelve legions of angels at His command, able and willing to deliver Him, who did not take advantage of it in His extremity. Men despise such an one; so they went on insulting Him, wagging their heads and saying, "Save Thyself." At such a time all but the true "worm " would have moved- would have failed in steadfastness. '' Therefore doth My Father love Me because I lay down My life that I might take it again." No wonder it is without a parallel!

This steadfastness should characterize the Lord's people. Once settled in the grace of God in Christ, we are to be " steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord" (i Cor. 15:58); we are to be in our Lord's business as the Lord was in His Father's. Only let us not forget that as in the path of self-sacrificing obedience, with blessing for others as its object, steadfastness is a divine virtue, so in the path of disobedience and self-will it is stubbornness, and "is as iniquity and idolatry" (i Sam. 15:23).

The blood of the kermes insect was for many centuries practically the only source of red dye. Since the discovery of America, the Mexican variety (cochineal, which is a better and brighter color) has superseded it. Both are very persistent-the most difficult of all colors to remove (Isa. 1:18). Both are very intense-a very little makes a large quantity of dye. This suggests-

"Dear dying Lamb Thy precious blood
Shall never lose its power
Till all the ransomed saints of God
Be saved to sin no more."

Such is the value of the blood of Christ that it is able to dye, so to speak, all the sinners in the world, so that the eye of God would detect it wherever applied, and thus perfectly satisfy Him:"When I see the blood I will pass over you." " His blood avails for me." How blessed to know that it will never fade-never can be washed away.

This insect provided the red in the tabernacle. Thus in the sanctuary it presents the value of the blood of Christ in the character we have had before us-not in that of the lamb or of the bullock sprinkled on the mercy-seat-it is not repetition.

WHERE IT THRIVES.

The desert is the ideal place where the cochineal lives. It feeds only on the cactus, whose Natural History name is coccus cacti:it is the characteristic plant of the desert, bearing beautiful flowers (suggestive of "the pleasures of sin for a season") but bearing thorns that wound, instead of fruit. Thorns are the result of the curse.

It is as beautifully fitting, then, that the cactus should be the food of the cochineal as that thorns crowned the Saviour's brow. You cannot have cochineal without the cactus, and it is sin that necessitated a Saviour.

KERMES.

But then, what about the kermes? It does not live in the desert, nor on the cactus, but on a scrub oak that grows all along the Mediterranean sea including Palestine, the land of the Jews. It is the Old World variety; and since the discovery of the New World the cochineal has superseded it just because it is a better and brighter color and has a bloom which the other lacks.

May not the kermes point to the blood under Judaism, and the cochineal the blood under Christianity? If so I can see a perfect fitness in all these details- no confusion, but all is consistent. The blood under Judaism did shelter. Israel was a protected nation while they abode under Jehovah. But the blood under Christianity has superseded it, and has indeed a bloom which the other lacks (Heb. 9:). The kermes would thus represent the old dispensation and the cochineal the new. It is business folly to cultivate kermes, now that cochineal has been discovered; but a greater folly to cultivate Judaism now that Christ has come.

Under Judaism the world is not a desert. It is under Christianity. Israel was placed by Jehovah in a land flowing with milk and honey, as the kermes lives in fertile lands; Christ and the Church find but a desert in this world, even as the cochineal on the cactus.

Is it not remarkable that (1) there should be only two valuable varieties? (2) that they should feed on different plants? (3) that while the injurious varieties are notoriously omnivorous, these should be conspicuous exceptions? (4) that they are natives of different continents? (5) separated by an ocean, and thus suggesting the immense difference between Judaism and Christianity? and (6) that the native of the new country should supersede the other? The above analogies are striking. If they are intended to be types of what is above suggested (and "the spiritual meaning governs everything") then all is plain; if not, then they are most remarkable coincidences.

UNKNOWN, YET KNOWN.
The strange appearance of the insect is another phenomenon to be noticed. It is so unusual that from all accounts no one suspected that kermes or cochineal were insects until about a. d. 1675, and only in 1715 the suspicion proved correct. This is borne out by the Greek name kokkos (a berry) because they thought it was the fruit of the scrub oak on which it lived. It is dark brown and about the size and shape of a small lady bird. Yet the Arabian name kermes (a worm), would indicate that they, at least, knew it to be an insect.

Thus the world knew not Christ, and none of the princes of this world knew Him or they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Even John must have it revealed to him (John 1:33). And no one knows Christ as a shelter unless he has been taught of God. Flesh and blood cannot reveal it (John 6:45, 46; Isa. 53:1-3). What could be so foolish to the natural mind as to expect shelter from a man
hanging on a tree, who, to the human eye, could not shelter even himself from his enemies? How then could He shelter others? The dying thief, alone, taught of God, recognized Him, to his eternal blessing. Wisdom is justified of her children.

THE INJURIOUS VARIETIES.

Those which secrete a waxy covering above the insect, but which is separate and distinct from it, are called armored scales; those which do not have it are called unarmored. They all agree in this:Their blood is of no value-it is not red. The family trait of sheltering their young is preserved as in the cochineal; otherwise they would be another family, and so not associated in our minds with it; but taken together they easily suggest a counterfeit. A counterfeit always looks like the genuine, in its resemblance to the true. The waxy scale is a covering over the sheltering insect-the concealment of dishonesty. This is a prominent feature of almost all false religions.

The unarmored scales would be as false religions, without concealment or dishonesty-making no pretensions:for instance, devil worshipers, who openly acknowledge and worship Satan as their god.

Under further and closer scrutiny these varieties may yield types of many of the false religions of the world-Spiritualism, Mormonism, Theosophy, Higher Criticism etc. The blood must be the final test-the blood without which there is no remission of sins, and no real shelter. THEO. MEADE.