Twentieth Sunday after Trinity.

FOR CHEERFULNESS IN GOD'S SERVICE.

O Almighty and most merciful God, of Thy bountiful goodness keep us, we beseech Thee, from all things that may hurt us; that we, being ready both in body and soul, may cheerfully accomplish those things that Thou wouldest have done; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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HIS Collect pictures to us a Father bestowing His gifts with bounteous hand, and His children delighting to do His bidding for very love to Him. The Epistle for the day (Eph. v. 18-20) and the Gospel (Matt. xxii. 1-14) both point to the joy which should be the portion of the true child of God, and the Collect fitly connects the two in its keynote of cheerfulness.

This life is full of dangers and accidents which may happen to the body, and of sins and temptations which may hurt the soul; but, coming as children, we ask that God, who is "Almighty and most merciful," as well as bountiful and good, will keep us from them, so that we may not be distracted by pain and anxiety, nor by the care of unforgiven sin, from serving Him as we ought.

God has given us a work that He would have done. To do it aright

(i.) We must be ready both in body and soul. Most wisely do we ask to be ready in body as well as soul, for sometimes the spirit is willing while the flesh is weak (Matt. xxvi. 41), and in consequence God's work is hindered. We desire to do what God sets before us, not as an irksome duty, but "understanding what the will of the Lord is " (Eph. v. 17), and then doing it with all our heart (Eph. vi. 6, 7; Col. iii. 23), and might (Eccles. ix. 10). Ready for it, because

duties come upon us unexpectedly, and "the King's business requireth haste" (1 Sam. xxi. 8); ready, because the enemy is never unready (1 Pet. v. 8), and we must be on the alert to escape him.

(ii) We must do it cheerfully (Ps. cxix. 32, P.B.). Our service should be one of joy. Let us show the brightness of our religion in all that we do; whether we believe (1 Pet. i. 8), or endure (Heb. xii. 2; Jas. i. 2), or forgive (Rom. xii. 8), or give (2 Cor. ix. 7), let us do it gladly. So doing shall we in some degree give a cheerful answer to St. Peter's trumpet call (1 Pet. i. 13).

My heavenly King, my mighty Friend,
Thy bounteous blessings Thou dost send
So royally;

Oh, give me grace, that I in turn
With glowing love may ever burn
Right loyally.

When gloomy clouds enshroud my heart,
Thy love sweet comfort doth impart
So cheerfully;

Lest I should e'er this grace despise,
Grant me to walk with watchful eyes
And fearfully.

Throughout my path I see Thy hand
My every step has ever planned
So carefully;

Wherever Thou, O Lord, dost lead,
There would I follow with good heed
And prayerfully.

The service of my heart and hand-
A tribute meet-Thou dost demand
So eagerly;

But oft I find my work a task,

And if I give what Thou dost ask,
'Tis meagrely.

And yet as in my need I pray,
My wants are fully met each day
So steadily;

Oh, grant that, filled with heavenly love,
Thee I may serve below,-above-

Aye readily.

John P. Hobson, 1879.

Twenty-first Sunday after Trinity.

FOR PARDON AND PEACE.

Grant, we beseech Thee, merciful Lord, to Thy faithful people pardon and peace, that they may be cleansed from all their sins, and serve Thee with a quiet mind; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

T is not to be supposed that this is a prayer asking

IT

for the first pardon of a sinner at his conversion, for it is the cry of God's "faithful people," who already are His. They ask for pardon. Let us never think that we shall get beyond this. "He that is washed," it is true, "needeth not save to wash his feet" (John xiii. 10); but he does need to wash them, and it is for this washing that we ask. In our intercourse with the world, defilement is contracted day by day (Jas. iii. 2; 1 John i. 8), and so we pray for pardon, or, as it is also expressed, cleansing from all our sins. On what ground do we ask this? On the work of Jesus Christ. His blood keeps cleansing us from all sin (1 John i. 7; ii. 1, 2), and this we plead in the Collect when we use the word "merciful," which is literally in the Latin "be propitiated" (Luke xviii. 13). Jesus Christ is our only propitiation (Rom. iii. 25). It is with our faith resting on Him alone, that we can ask for daily pardon (Matt. vi. 12).

But we want not only pardon, but the sense of pardon, and that is peace, or, as it is also expressed, power to serve

God with a quiet mind. The hardened sinner may do wrong without thought and without any qualms of conscience; not so the child of God. He is filled with trouble when he sins (Ps. li. 1-4), and he cannot rest till he has peace again. It is true that there may be pardon without peace, for, alas! we are so faithless that we do not always take God at His word. And there may be false peace without pardon (Jer. vi. 14; Ezek. xiii. 10). What we desire is pardon, and peace as its consequence (Rom. v. 1). It is a simple faith in God's promises of pardon (1 John ii. 25) which brings us that peace of God which passeth all understanding (Phil. iv. 7). And thus with "a mind at leisure from itself" shall we be free to serve God as His faithful people.

Faithful and just art Thou,

Forgiving all;

Loving and kind art Thou,

When poor ones call;

Lord, let the cleansing blood,
Blood of the Lamb of God,

Pass o'er my soul.

Then all is peace and light

This soul within ;

Then shall I walk with Thee,

The loved unseen.

Leaning on Thee, my God,

Guided along the road,

Nothing between.

H. Bonar.

Twenty-second Sunday after Trinity.

FOR GRACE TO SERVE GOD CONTINUALLY.

Lord, we beseech Thee to keep Thy household the Church in continual godliness; that through Thy protection it may be free from all adversities, and devoutly given to serve Thee in good works, to the glory of Thy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

THE

HE Church of Christ is likened to a family whose delight and duty it is to serve its Head, and who looks to its Head for help and protection. Notice then that we, as God's family, ask our Head to keep and protect us so that we may be free from all adversities. There are many adversities which assail the Church of Christ; such as, worldliness (1 John ii. 15); formality (2 Tim. iii. 5); error (2 Tim. ii. 18); unbelief (Heb. iii. 12). We ask Him to keep us from these things, so that we may be able rightly to perform that duty which we owe to Him. To do this we want to live (i.) in godliness, i.e. in likeness to Christ our Head (Rom. viii. 29; Eph. iv. 13, 15, 16); but the godliness must be (ii.) continual. Some have begun and not gone on (Gal. v. 7). Too many are at times most unlike Christ Jesus. But our aim should be always to be conformed to His character (Col. i. 22; iv. 2; 2 Tim. iii. 14). Another part of this duty is (iii.) to serve Him. His family consists of those who are servants as well as children. service is to be a settled principle with us, for we ask (iv.) that we may be given to it (Col. ii. 7), so that it may become a habit of our lives; it is to be done (v.) devoutly with whole-hearted devotion (see Twentieth after Trinity, p. 104); it is to manifest itself (vi.) in good works (Phil. i. 11). For by our fruits we are to be known (Matt.

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