seen in the long annual lists of self-complacent guinea subscribers, of whom many could easily give hundreds of pounds. The stinginess of professing Christians in all matters which concern God and religion, is one of the crying sins of the day, and one of the worst signs of the times. The givers to Christ's cause are but a small sec- tion of the visible church. Not one baptized person in twenty, probably, knows any thing of being " rich to- wards G-od." ( Luke xii. 21.) The vast majority spend pounds on themselves, and give not even pence to Christ. Let us mourn over this state of things, and pray Grod to amend it. Let us pray Him to open men's eyes, and awake men's hearts, and stir up a spirit of liberality. Above all, let us each do our own duty, and give liber- ally and gladly to every Christian object while we can. There will be no giving when we are dead. Let us give as those who remember that the eyes of Christ are upon us. He still sees exactly what each gives, and knows exactly how much is left behind. Above all let us give as the disciples of a crucified Saviour, who gave Himself for us, body and soul, on the cross. Freely we have received. Let us freely give.*
* It is probable, according to Arias Montanus and Brenius, that the words " all her living," mean " all her daily income," and not all her property.
It may be well to remark in this connection, that nothing can be more absurd than to say, as some do, that they contribute " their mite" to an object, when they probably contribute some trifling sum which they do not miss, and which bears not the most remote pro- portion to the widow's scale of liberality. — A man contributes "his mite" when he contributes half Ms daily income, and not till then.