once. There is forgiveness with him for all who go to him in faith and in sorrow for their sins. Have you received this forgiveness? Do you believe in it? Have you sought it, and that as a present blessing?

Love followed forgiveness. When she believed that she was forgiven, then at once she loved. While yet that belief was faint and trembling, perhaps hardly more than a hope, even then she loved truly and deeply, and showed her love by all the means she could. Have you this proof that you are forgiven? Do you loveJesus? Do you do anything to show your love?

Then followed a full assurance of forgiveness, which nothing need shake, and peace, the peace of God. It was not her works, not even her sorrow for sin, that had saved her; but her faith in Jesus. He was her Saviour, and her faith gave her a part in him. Therefore she might go in peace, and thenceforth live in peace. Have you this peace? Have you heard the voice of Jesus by the Spirit saying to you, " Thy sins are forgiven; go in peace"? He gave this peace to this woman, he left it as a legacy to his disciples, he would have every humble believer enjoy it. Seek it. Seek it in faith. Rest not content without it: "the peace of God which passeth all understanding.”

...

IV.

THE FOOLISH RICH MAN.

"And one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me. And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you? And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: and he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do : I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God." LUKE xii. 13-21.

HERE was a great multitude of people gathered round our Lord at this time. This man was among them, and perhaps his brother was there too. We do not know which of them was in the right; but very likely he who spoke to our Lord was. But if he was in the right about the property, how wrong was the state of his heart! He could stand there and listen to those solemn words of our Lord, and yet be thinking all the while of nothing but the estate, and the dispute with his brother about it. If he was struck at all with what he heard, his only thought was that one who spoke with so much weight was just the person to prevail with his brother to do him justice. Whether right or wrong about the inheritance, he was clearly wrong in this,

that his heart was more set on worldly than on spiritual things, so that, even while he heard Jesus himself speak, his chief interest was in the disputed inheritance.

Even we can see thus far from the account itself. But our Lord could read the man's heart, and doubtless saw much more clearly how worldly-minded and covetous he was. "Man," said he, "who made me a judge or a divider over you?" This was all his answer. Whatever the rights of the case might be, this was no question to bring to him. He came for a far higher work than to settle the rights of property. He came to save souls, and to teach men the knowledge of God. That was no time, and he was no person, for the things of this world.

Such was his answer to the man. But he then turned to the people around, who had doubtless heard what had passed, and gave them, in the form of a parable, a solemn warning against covetousness.

The parable is one of a peculiar kind, peculiar from its simplicity. There is no double meaning here, as in most of the parables. This is a plain story; a true story, for anything we know to the contrary; at all events, a plain story of a covetous man.

He was not what would be called a bad man. We are not told that he had got rich by wrong means. He was a rich man, and this year richer than ever, because his ground had borne such plentiful crops. So plentiful were they that he was even in a difficulty; he had not room for all. What should he do? He soon settled the question. He would pull down his old barns, and build greater, and there he would store up his property. Then he would make himself happy in the thought of

his riches. In those great barns there would be corn enough to keep him in plenty for many years; he need have no anxiety; he would now enjoy life thoroughly, and indulge himself to the full. "Take thine ease," he would say to his soul, "eat, drink, and be merry."

But there was another concerned in this matter, whom the rich man quite forgot. How solemn the words that follow! "But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall these things be, which thou hast provided?" The barns might be built, and the corn might be stored, and there it might last for years; but the man himself, the owner of it all, would be gone. He was about to die. Even while he thought and spoke, he was on the brink of the grave. Before to-morrow's sun should rise, he would be a corpse. Whose would his wealth be then? Who would enjoy what he had laid up?

Now what was this man's fault? How was he wrong? For he was wrong, and foolish too.

Our Lord himself answers the question: "So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God." When his land brought forth so plentifully, his only thought was for himself. He did not consider what good he might do to others, what help he might give to the poor, what relief to the distressed. He had no intention of laying out any part of his riches in the service of God; all was to be spent on himself. "But," it may be said, "was not the corn his own? Did not his own land produce it? Was it not sown, and reaped, and gathered in, by his own servants?" In one sense it was his own; in another it was not. It was not his own to use as he pleased, with no reference to the will of God. All that he had was

given to him by God, and he was bound to use it as God willed. And it was not the will of God that he should spend all upon himself. He was but a steward,

not an absolute owner.

Here is a great lesson. We are all but stewards, God's stewards, of what we have. We have no right to spend it all on ourselves. If we do so, we are unfaithful stewards, for God did not give us our goods to be spent so. Riches, and talents of every kind, bring a responsibility with them. We must account to God for their use. Alas, how many there are whose secret feeling with regard to what they have is just that of this man, "Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry!" How many are spending all on self, with no thought or aim beyond their own enjoyment or advancement! They lay up treasure, but it is all for themselves; they are not rich towards God. And a poor miserable treasure it is; in danger of rust, and moth, and thieves: not "treasure in the heavens, that faileth not."

But this man was wrong in another respect also. "God said unto him, Thou fool," thou foolish man. How was he foolish? In this, that he overlooked the uncertainty of life, and laid his plans as if he were sure to continue to live. His barns were full, his riches were great; he forgot that he himself might be called away. And thus he lived all for the present life, with no thought of the future. This was foolish indeed, for eternity lay before him.

Are there none now, who are foolish in the same way? None? Nay; are there not thousands, millions? At this very time, and never more than now, vast