to cause your riches to abound, that ye may have abundance to every good icork ;"> eis ttSv Ipyov aya^w, in reference to, so as to be able to perform every good work. The logical con- nection is not with the intermediate participial clause, 'that having sufficiency, ye may have abundance,' but with the first clause, ' God is able to cause your resources to abound, that ye may have abundance.' The participial clause expresses simply what, notwithstanding their liberaUty, would be the result. Having (i. e. still having) a competency for yourselves, ye will have abundance for every good work. There is an- other interpretation of this passage which the Enghsh version naturally suggests. 'That ye may abound in every good work.' But this the Greek ^ill not admit ; because it is ct? Trav, K.r.X., and not Iv TravTL, k.t.X. See 1 Cor. 15, 58. Besides, the other interpretation is better suited to the context.
9. As it is written, He liath dispersed abroad ; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth forever.
The connection is with the last clause of the preceding verse. Paul had said that he who gives shall have abundance to give. This is precisely what is said in Psalm 112. Of the man who fears God it is there said, " Wealth and riches shall be in his house." " He showeth favour, and lendeth." " He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor ; his righteousness endureth forever." The main idea the apostle designs to pre- sent as having the sanction of the word of God is, that he who is hberal, who disperses, scatters abroad his gifts with free- handed generosity, as a man scatters seed, shall always have abundance. And this the Psalmist exj^ressly asserts. It may be said that this is not in accordance mth experience. We do not always see liberality attended by riches. This is a difficulty not peculiar to this case. The Bible is full of decla- rations concerning the blessedness of the righteous, and of the providential favours which attend their lot. This Psalm says, " Wealth and riches," or, as the LXX. and Vulgate have it, " Glory and riches shall be in their house ; " and our Lord says, that those who forsake all for him shall in this life re- ceive an hundred-fold, houses, lands, &c. Mark 10, 30. These passages were not designed to be taken literally or applied universally. They teach three things. 1st. The tendency of things. It is the tendency of righteousness to produce bless-