lived, and speedily destroyed. The tender plant, one day flourishing in its beauty, is found perhaps the next day, dried up and withered, and used for the purpose of heating an oven. What then if a servant of God be thrown upon a bed of sickness, and thus be unable to labour for his livelihood;-will God forsake him? Let him not fear this, as long as a bird flies through the air, or a blade of grass is growing in the field!-Once more; After all these things do the Gentiles seek.—It is argument against the indulgence of a restless and worldly spirit, that it agrees with the character of the ignorant and idolatrous heathen. And shall the children of God be like them?-And lastly, Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.-It is not pretended that food and raiment are not necessary for you. The need is real;-but then God knows it. Have you the faith of a Christian? Then take the comfort of a Christian, -"My God shall supply all your need.” and honour." And in like manner he will give all his faithful servants as much of this world's wealth as may be really good for them. "Godliness is profitable unto all things; having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come;" 1 Tim. iv. 8. 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. Discharge the duties of every day with diligence, in their proper time. These will provide you with sufficient employment; and will bring with them abundant trials of your faithfulness and patience. But do not afflict your minds with needless fears or anxious speculations concerning the time to come. How intimate an acquaintance with human nature and the truth of things does our divine Teacher display in the passage now before us! How does he direct our attention to some of the secret, but most fruitful, sources of human happiness and woe! Well may we be lost in admiration of his wisdom and his love as they appear in the simple, but important, instructions which he here vouchsafes to give. May we have grace to receive and to act upon these holy lessons! They may be summed up in two short passages of the word of inspiration ;-" Having food and raiment, let us be therewith content;" 1 Tim. vi. 8; and, "Casting all your care upon Him; for he careth for Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness;-Make it your chief concern to retain an interest in God's favour, and to have a heart conformed to the divine will;-and then rest satisfied that all these things shall be added unto you ;-they shall be given as an overplus;-you shall have that which you chiefly desire, and enough of worldly possessions besides. Let us remember that Solomon asked for wisdom; and then you;" 1 Pet. v. 7. God gave him wisdom and also that which he did not ask, "both riches HYMN. Oh happy soul, that lives on high, His conscience knows no secret stings, Are hidden and divine. He waits in secret on his God; He dwells in heav'nly peace. His pleasures rise from things unseen, Beyond this world and time; Where neither eyes nor ears have been, Nor thoughts of sinners climb. He wants no pomp nor royal throne, He looks to heaven's eternal hill But, patient, waits his Saviour's will WATTS. 4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? 5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. 6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you. a Luke vi. 37. Rom. ii. 1; & xiv. 3, 4, 10, 13. 1 Cor. iv. 3, 5. Jam. iv. 11, 12.-b Mark iv. 24. Luke vi. 38. -c Luke vi. 41, 42.-d Pro. ix. 7, 8; & xxiii. 9. xiii. 45, 46. Acts READER. The habit of censorious and uncharitable judgment is an effect and a token of man's corrupt and depraved nature. It is a fruit of inordinate self-love; a symptom of that evil state of mind in which a man becomes jealous of the reputation of other men, lest it should detract something from his own credit and good name. Thus does the idolatry of self set a man at variance with his neighbour, while it leads him astray, or keeps him at a distance, from his God. But the Lord Jesus Christ, by his teaching and by his grace, opposes this corrupt nature, with all its evil tendencies. So here:-Judge not. Do not take pleasure in detecting the faults of others; do not be forward in condemning them. And we are reminded by an inspired Apostle that there is something presumptuous and arrogant, as well as malicious, in this evil practice. "Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth;" Rom. xiv. 4. And St. James says, "There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy; who art thou that judgest another?" (iv. 12.) We are not forbidden to form an opinion concerning the conduct of men, or to express that opinion when circumstances may require it; but it is declared inconsistent with our duty, and with a right state of feeling, to form an unfavourable opinion hastily, rashly, or with satisfaction to ourselves, and to declare such opinion unnecessarily, harshly, or with pleasure, and in a tone of triumph or exultation. In one word, every kind of judgment and censure is unchristian and unholy which is inconsistent with true brotherly love -with that charity which "thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;" 1 Cor. xiii. 5, 6. That ye be not judged.-Our Saviour warns those men who are prone to censure and condemn their neighbours, that they must expect to be exposed to the same kind of harsh judgment and unfeeling calumny in return. With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. The world will act upon the same principles towards you, as those which you have adopted towards your brethren. And our reflection on this head must extend not only to the common experience of life, but also, and more especially, to the righteous judgment of God, and what we may expect to receive at his hands. How solemn is that warning which we have received, "He shall have judgment without mercy, that hath showed no mercy!" James ii. 13.-"Why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ;" Rom. xiv. 10. "Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness; and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts;" 1 Cor. iv. 5. Why beholdest thou the mote, i.e., the splinter, that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?-How great is the folly, as well as the wickedness, of men, who not only censure their brethren unjustly, but often condemn them for those very faults concerning which they are ten times more guilty themselves. Lamentable blindness! And sometimes the failings which they discover, or pretend to discover, in other men, are of a nature less criminal and aggravated than those with which they are themselves chargeable. How offensive in the sight of Heaven must be the spectacle of a man busied in denouncing the smaller offences of his neighbours, but ignorant or careless of still more grievous wickedness committed by himself! And God knows what is in the hearts of all men. What said our Saviour to the clamorous accusers of the woman taken in adultery?" He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." "And," it is added, 66 they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last; " John viii. 7-9. Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye.-Let it be our first and principal employment, in dependence on divine grace, to remove the defects and blemishes of our own character, and to make our own lives harmless and free from blame. Let it be the object of our great ambition, and our earnest endeavour, to fulfil the injunction of the Apostle, "Do all things without murmurings or disputings; that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; holding forth the word of life;" Phil. ii. 14-16. By Give not that which is holy unto the dogs. In this verse our Saviour gives us a caution concerning the promulgation of religious truth, and the use of holy ordinances. "that which is holy," and "pearls," he denotes the doctrine of the Gospel, religious instruction, and the means of grace. By "dogs" and "swine," he designates evil and ungodly men; men of perverse or malignant tempers, and corrupt minds. It is a solemn and very painful thought, that there are some profligate, hardened, and abandoned sinners, who place themselves beyond the reach of religious ordinances, even according to the decision of the merciful Saviour himself. But the verse before us is plain and explicit on this subject. And, in order to set the matter in as clear a light as possible, I will read the explanation of our Saviour's precept, as given by several judicious commentators. "Dogs' signify men who spurn, oppose, and abuse the doctrine of the Gospel; men of peculiar sourness and malignity of temper, who meet it like growling and quarrelsome dogs; 2 Pet. ii. 22; Rev. xxii. 15. 'Swine' denotes those who would trample the precepts under feet; men of impure lives; corrupt and polluted, profane, obscene, and sensual, who would not know the value of the Gospel, and who would tread it down as swine would pearls; 2 Pet. ii. 22; Prov. xi. 22."-" By 'that which is holy,' understand the word and ordinances in general, but admonition and reproof in particular; by dogs' and 'swine,' incorrigible and unreclaimable sinners, hardened scorners of holy things. It is a proverbial speech, expressing how sure charitable reprehensions are to be cast away upon incorrigible sinners. Learn, first, that it is possible for sinners to arrive at such a height and pitch in wickedness and sin that it may be a Christian's duty not to admonish or reprove them. And observe, secondly, how Christ provides, as for the honour of his word, so for the safety of those who publish it." "As it is not every one that is fit to reprove, so it is not every one that is fit to be reproved. Though to seek men's salvation by teaching and are reproof be a work of great moment, when used in season, to them that are capable of it; yet, take this rule, -pretend not duty to teach and reprove when it is likely to do more hurt than good. Some men hardened scorners-and some hateful persecutors. To such as those, holy counsel, doctrine, and reproof, is but like casting sacramental or consecrated bread to the dogs, or pearls before swine." Awful indeed is the fact that there are dogs who are ready to bite even those who should offer them the bread of life, and swine who would trample under feet the pearl of great price! These solemn words of our merciful Redeemer deserve to be often and deeply considered in many points of view. Well may they lead us to unite with increasing fervour in that wise and humble petition, "From hardness of heart, and contempt of thy word and commandment, good Lord, deliver us!" And great is the encouragement which may be hence derived by all those who are engaged in imparting religious instruction to the young. Theirs is indeed a good, and hopeful, undertaking. They are employed in sowing heavenly seed in hearts which, by God's blessing, may now receive it to their eternal profit, but, if neglected a few years longer, would perhaps be involved in the ruin and condemnation implied in that precept, give not that which is holy to the dogs, cast not your pearls before swine! HYMN. How sweet, how heavenly, is the sight, And so fulfil his word. O may we feel each brother's sigh, And joy from heart to heart! May each his brother's failing hide, And show a brother's love! Let love, in one delightful stream, Through every bosom flow; And union sweet, and fond esteem, In every action glow. Love is the golden chain that binds The happy souls above; And he's an heir of heaven that finds His bosom glow with love. § XXIV. CHAP. VII. 7-11. Christ exhorteth to prayer. 7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: receiveth; and he that seeketh 8 For every one that asketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? 10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If ye then, "being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more |