Neither was the traveller the Samaritan's fellow-countryman. We may not be able to go to them ourselves. But we may do as he did when he left the inn; we may give our money to those who are able and willing to go and help them; and God will graciously accept our offering.

Such are some of the many ways, in which we may act according to the teaching of this parable, and follow the example of that good Samaritan. We may go and do likewise. Try to do so; and your life will become a useful and a happy one; and you will be doing some good in the world. You may feel your deficiency; but if you look up for God's strength, He will assuredly make you an instrument of much blessing.

I cannot conclude without mentioning that there are some who see another and a still deeper meaning in this parable. They see, in the conduct of the good Samaritan, a picture of our blessed Lord Himself, coming as He did to seek and to save the lost, binding up the broken-hearted, and giving rest to the weary and the wounded.

N

I do not think that Jesus intended this when He spake the parable; but it may have been so. And at all events we know that no love was ever like His love, no pity like His pity; and no one ever did such great things for us as He has done. For not only did He stoop down to help us in our misery, but He Himself was 'wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities.' He shed for us His own most precious blood, that we might live for ever. Oh, amazing goodness! May it touch our hearts, and win us over to Him!

FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.

ST. LUKE, XVII. 11-19.

And it came to pass, as Jesus went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go, show yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole.

THE three years of our Lord's ministry were chiefly passed either in Judea or in Galilee. But in going from one country to the other, He must needs pass occasionally through Samaria. Sometimes therefore we read of a miracle being performed,

or of some other circumstance of interest taking place, in that country. One is recorded in the Gospel for today.

Our Lord was on His way to Jerusalem, and His road lay through parts of Galilee and Samaria. In passing through one of the villages, a group of ten men met him. From their wretched appearance, and from the fact of their keeping at a certain distance, for fear of touching Him, it was clear that they were Lepers. They had been cut off from their brethren; and even their familiar friends, and their closest kinsmen, shunned them. Their life was the life of outcasts; and they herded together in the hope of sympathy and companionship. Ah, and what added sadness to their sad condition was that their loathsome disease was al

most incurable. Their flesh gradually wasted, and their lives were a kind of living death.

Leprosy is a disease which is scarcely known now certainly not in its aggravated form. But it was by no means uncommon in our Lord's day, and also in the time of Moses. And so dreadful was the

disease, and so great the danger of infection, that we find in the Book of Leviticus the strictest laws regarding it. The moment the disease showed itself, the unhappy leper was forced to live apart from his fellow-men, a life of solitary wretchedness.

Such were the piteous beings who crossed our Lord's track as He journeyed towards Jerusalem. The moment He appears in sight, a cry goes forth from them. They evidently knew who He was, and were conscious of His healing powers: and they cry out with all earnestness, 'Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.'

Never was a truer prayer, or a more earnest one, offered. There could be no mistaking it. They had a deep and pressing want, and they put up a cry which came from their very hearts.

What is prayer? Is it a forced service? Is it a mere sound from our lips? Is it the utterance of a few finely turned phrases? Is it kneeling down for a time, and speaking a certain number of set words? Is this prayer? How was it with these lepers? They felt within them a