shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land." No command could be more lovingly considerate, and it beautifully reveals the gracious kindness and tender sympathy of our heavenly Father. Nevertheless, this continuance of the poor has occasionally been to some a sore perplexity, especially when the needy are not the poor simply, but the saintly poor who fear the Lord and do his will. It seems strange to them that a people declared to be so precious to him, and dear as the apple of his eye, should yet from time to time be left in such straits. They forget, in their perplexity, that these occasional straits are never accidental. There is wise and loving purpose in them, and they are made mightily helpful in invigorating every Christian grace. And in a very special degree they help to wean them from earth and ripen them for heaven. They forget, moreover, that these trials often serve the further end of being helpful to the rich as well as to the poor, by calling forth their loving sympathy and aid, and thereby saving them from the deadening influence of prosperity, and giving them the opportunity and privilege of ministering to Christ in his members: "Inasmuch as ye did it unto them, ye did it unto me." "Do good to the poor and needy, while your estates are your own; when you are dead, your estates belong to others. God is pleased with no music below so much as with the grateful songs and thanksgivings of relieved widows and supported orphans."

Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same which I also was forward to do.-GAL. ii. 10.

Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.-Ps. xli. 1.

It hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem.-ROM. xv. 26.

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February 22.

FALSE JOY AND TRUE.

S so many realities in this world have their counter

feits, it need not surprise us to find that if holiness has its delights and joys, so has sin. Were it otherwise, it could not have been said of Moses that he chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. These pleasures, indeed, are just the bait that covers the hook, the gilding on the fetter that hides the iron. Such joys, however, have nothing in common with the joy of the Lord. The one kind of joy is from beneath, spurious and unreal, the other from above, genuine and blessed; for it is not only a joy from the Lord, but a joy in the Lord, and which meets our every want and longing. It is the only joy which fully satisfies the soul; and it is so satisfying, that even when stripped of every earthly comfort the believer can still rejoice. When he has much, he enjoys God in all things; and when he has little, he enjoys all things in God.

They, then, are blind who would prefer the world to Christ. "Believe me," said Samuel Rutherford, "this world, which the Lord will not have to be yours, is but the dross, the refuse of creation-the portion of mere hired servants-a hard bone, whereon men rather break their teeth than satisfy their appetite." It is wholly otherwise with those who prefer Christ to the world.

When Mr. Gardiner of Aberdeen was dying, he said: "The valley is not dark, for Jesus is here. I know nothing of the bitterness of death. I have had a happy life preaching Christ, and now I am having a happy death, going to be with him." He had but one thought, the love of Christ; but one feeling, the joy of his presence.

"O Jesus! Friend unfailing,

How dear art thou to me!
Are cares or fears assailing?
I find my strength in thee.
Why should my feet grow weary

Of this my pilgrim way?

Rough though the path and dreary,

It ends in perfect day."

Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.-PHIL. iv. 4. Happy is the man that findeth wisdom. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.-PROV. iii. 13, 17.

Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell.-PROV. ix. 17, 18.

February 23.

NEEDED "BEWARES."

T is somewhat remarkable that in one brief verse we

IT

have no less than three emphatic cautions: "Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision."

The first of these cautions, "Beware of dogs," reminds us of another somewhat remarkable thing,-namely, the frequency with which in Scripture the good, and especially the evil qualities of men are set forth under animal symbols, as in passages like these: "Go ye, and tell that fox [Herod], Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to-day and to-morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected." Again: "I know that after my departing shall grievous

wolves enter in, not sparing the flock." And once more: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." The " dogs" warned against were false teachers, evil workers; the concision, those who, by preaching both Christianity and Judaism, as alike essential, corrupted the gospel, and thereby imperilled the highest interests of men. Such teachers are more to be dreaded than open persecutors. The latter may wound and kill the body, but the former do fatal injury to the soul, by poisoning the very food designed for its spiritual nourishment. As truth, and especially truth as it is in Jesus, is the Spirit's special instrument in saving and sanctifying men, so deadly error is the chosen instrument of Satan in corrupting and destroying them.

Doubtless the language is strong: "Beware of dogs; beware of evil workers." Nevertheless it is not too strong when used against those who, by artful wiles and a perverted gospel, would draw away the flock from the faith and the fellowship of God's redeemed. "It is a right thing," says an old divine, "to take off the vizard of seeming virtue under which the spreaders of error do usually lurk. Pretended piety is but the sheep's clothing, and it is never a wrong thing to take it off, if need be even with a rough hand, and let the wolf be seen." Few are more dangerous than good men holding false doctrine.

Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.-MATT. vii. 15.

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. -COL. ii. 8.

Beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.-2 PETER iii, 17.

IN

February 24.

THE REVEALED METHOD OF REDEMPTION.

N unfolding redemption, Scripture always puts these things together-Bethlehem and Calvary, the cradle and the cross, the incarnation birth and the atonement death; and what it hath joined we dare not put asunder, especially when told so emphatically by one apostle: 'Without shedding of blood is no remission;" and so impressively by another: "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." If anything less precious than this could have satisfied the claims of justice, and have taken away sin,-tears, or sweating toil, or costliest gift, or all combined,-we may rest assured that not one drop of the blood of the Son of God would have been shed. We often waste means; the Lord never does.

"Jehovah bade his sword awake,

O Christ, it woke 'gainst thee!
Thy blood its flaming blade must slake,
Thy heart its sheath must be:

All for my sake, my peace to make;
Now sleeps that sword for me.”

Yes, we owe everything to the atoning sufferings and death of Christ. It is because he wept, we rejoice; because he died, we live; because he bore the curse, we shall ever enjoy the blessing: for it is expressly written, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us."

All this was variously and strikingly typified in Old Testament times; yet when the true Paschal Lamb appeared, to whom John pointed and said, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world,"