now is, what our ignorance forbids us to ask for, is frequently in mercy added unto us.

We are encouraged in the Epistle, by the example of the great Apostle, to walk in those virtues for which we have prayed, following him as he followed Christ, and looking forward, like him, to the great day of reward, the final appearing of our Lord and Saviour. The hope of a future state is the stay and comfort of this. "Man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upwards," and various as severe are the trials and sufferings that lie between our cradle and our grave. Vice is often triumphant and virtue neglected and persecuted. Conscious of this defect in man's condition, the heathen world hoped rather than believed in the immortality of the soul; but the glorious truth was made manifest by our Lord and Saviour. We no longer "see," in this respect, as "through a glass darkly." If our knowledge of a world to come is limited, it is clear and satisfactory. God has revealed the blessed truth of a life after death to us. Christ has given a pledge of it in his resurrection and ascension, and the Holy Spirit, in seasons when, without such support, we should be seen " of all men most miserable," breathes the assurance of it in consolations not to be uttered, enabling us to rise superior to the greatest trials.

In the Gospel the divine prudence and wisdom of Christ, in extricating himself from the insidious snares laid for him by his enemies, is propounded for our serious consideration and imitation. Taking our blessed

us.

Lord for our guide in this, as well as in every other respect, thus must we cautiously and wisely meet the enemies that would entrap us, and be ever on our guard against every artful and varied attempt to betray In the broad rule which our Lord has laid down “ to render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things which belong to God," he has for ever settled the question as to the duty of submission to lawful government, as well as to the reverence we are to pay the Lord, our Almighty Sovereign, his service, his ministers, his Sabbath, and his sanctuary. By a faithful performance of the first part of our duty, our earthly sojourn may be peaceful and easy; by the latter, we may live happily for ever hereafter.

The maxims of wisdom contained in the Proper Lessons for the day will aid us in our spiritual defence, and furnish us with such weapons as, properly used, will defeat the malice of the great enemy of our souls, and protect us in the still more hazardous warfare with the world and ourselves.

S

PROVERBS xi. 24.

There is that scattereth and yet increaseth.

FEAR not; or great or small thy store,
Feed thou the hungry, clothe the poor;
Let not the orphan cry in vain,

Nor the lone widow sad complain:

Th' oppressed, the sick, be thine the care—

Let all thy humble bounty share;

Nor, cold, reproach them with their woe,

The art to give take care to know: The smallest boon a gentle smile endears, The frigid look congeals our grateful tears.

Nor shall thy stores, so used, decrease,
Or fear of want invade thy peace.
The liberal hand but throws the grain
To spring anew with tenfold gain;

The bread upon the waters cast
Shall be re-found with joy at last :

No simple gift, no gentle word,

Is unrecorded or unheard

By Him who makes his poorest members claim Best proof of love and reverence for his name.

Himself most bounteous giver heed:
Mark the rich increase of the seed;

Perished to sight and all decayed,

Soon it puts forth or flower or blade,
While clouds from earth or ocean raised,
Re-clothe the fields by cattle grazed;

The more she opes her ample breast
In greater beauty Nature's drest:

'Tis only when she guards with churlish care
The wealth she hides, we see her blank and bare.

All give but to receive again,

None talents may possess in vain

The sun with ardent fire is fed
That he again may glory shed;
The moon receives her gentle light
To clothe with silver garb the night;
And rivers swell the ample sea

That they may each replenished be;

And grateful trees yield back in fruits and shade, Earth's kindly nutriment, thus doubly paid.

But

Then follow nature's wholesome law,
And knowledge from her precepts draw;
Since all creation bids thee learn,
Lo! humbly wise thy path discern.
That riches may increase, give more,
Good measure mete and running o'er:
The wealth that moulders in thy chest,
But slumbers there to mar thy rest;

ye shall reap, who scatter here your store,

Where moth devours and rust corrupts no more.

TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER

TRINITY.

Morning Lesson, Proverbs xiii.
Evening Lesson, Proverbs xiv.

Epistle, Colossians i. 3.
Gospel, St. Matt. ix. 18.

COLLECT.

O LORD, we beseech Thee, absolve Thy people from their offences; that through Thy bountiful goodness we may all be delivered from the bands of those sins which by our frailty we have committed. Grant this, O heavenly Father, for Jesus Christ's sake, our blessed Lord and Saviour. Amen.

The year having now nearly drawn to its close, the Church, taking a review of the past, and conscious how much and how frequently the frailty of our nature even amidst our best desires and endeavours after holiness, has betrayed us into error, converts her usual petitions into a prayer for absolution. Humiliating indeed is the reflection that we are, at the best, but unprofitable servants; but happy are they and they only who, owning the truth, fly to Him who alone can pardon the past and give grace for the future.

The Epistle very affectingly calls our attention to the duties of our holy profession, and excites us