ward advantages which the one enjoyed and which the others did not possess? These advantages, one would say, were all on the side of the nine Jews; and the Samaritan had none. And yet he returned to Christ

with a warm and loving heart, whilst they thankless.

went away

The case mentioned in the Gospel for last Sunday much resembles this. A man goes down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and falls among thieves. They rob him and illtreat him, and then leave him by the roadside, faint from his bleeding wounds. A Jewish priest comes by; a man from whom one would expect a good deal; a teacher of others, and one who should have practised what he taught. Does he help the poor sufferer? No, he passes by on the other side. Presently comes a Levite- -one too whose very calling brought him in contact with holy things -one who must have known something of the law of mercy. He also looks at the dying man and passes on. But a third traveller comes up; and he acts quite another part. His heart is moved with compassion. He goes up to his wounded

brother; comforts him; does all in his power to relieve him; and then carefully bears him to the nearest inn. And who was this child of mercy? A despised Samaritan; one whom the priest and the Levite would have scorned.

And so it is now. We frequently meet with one who has been well educated, carefully and religiously trained, who has been brought up in the ways of God, and who is fully acquainted with all the truths of the Bible. And even more; he has perhaps lived all his life with religious people; the language of the gospel may be on his lips; and yet the power, the life, the reality of religion may be wanting in him. And we may meet with another, with perhaps much fewer spiritual advantages, whose training has been neglected, whose lot has not been cast among pious persons or pious books; and yet a desire. for better things has been awakened in his heart; the seed of grace has been sown there; his soul is aroused, he feels himself to be a sinner, and knows Christ as his Saviour. In short, a good work, a real work, a saving work, has been begun in

him; and his heart is full of love and gratitude to God, who has shown him so much mercy. What makes the amazing difference? It is grace, which produces spiritual life in the one, but which is resisted and rejected by the other.

Truly, when our Lord looks down from heaven on His professing people, who are called by His name, must He not be grieved to see that, out of so many whom He has so greatly blest, there are but few, very few, who have given Him their hearts? May He not now exclaim concerning them, 'Were there not ten cleansed - tens of thousands, for whom I shed my blood- but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save here and there one, rescued by my grace, once a stranger, but now welcome to my fold.'

FIFTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.

ST. MATTHEW, vi. 24–33.

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink ; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on: Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air; for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; and yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field how they grow they toil not, neither do they spin and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven; shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or what shall we drink? or wherewithal shall we be clothed? (for after all these things do the Gentiles seek :) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added

unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow; for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself: sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

WHEN We take up any lengthened passage of Scripture, and try to understand it, it often seems to us a little confused, and we have a difficulty in getting a clear view of it as a whole. It is perhaps easy enough to understand the separate verses, but it is not so easy to see at a glance what the entire passage is intended to teach us.

In such cases we shall find it a great help if we can discover some key-verse which unlocks the wholesome one or two sentences around which all the verses seem to cluster. In doing this, you will generally succeed, and you will be surprised to find what light and clearness it throws upon the whole passage in question.

Now the key-verses to the portion of Scripture before us are the twenty-fourth and the thirty-third verses. In the first of these our Lord declares an important truth, 'No man can serve two masters;' and in the second He draws a lesson from that truth, 'Seek ye first the kingdom of God.'