nor scrip, neither bread nor money ; neither have two coats a piece. And whatsoever house ye enter into there abide, and thence depart." In part, these instructions apply only to a peculiar period. There came a day when our Lord Himself bade every one who had "no sword, to sell his garment and buy one." (Luke xxii. 36.) But, in part, these instructions contain a lesson for all time. The spirit of these verses is meant to be remembered by aU ministers of the Gospel.
The leading idea which the words convey is, a warning against worldliness and luxurious habits. Well would it be for the world and the Church if the warning had been more carefully heeded ! From no quarter has Christianity received such damage as it has from the hands of its own teachers. On no point have its teachers erred so much, and so often, as in the matter of personal worldliness and luxury of life. They have often destroyed, by their daily lives, the whole work of their lips. They have given occasion to the enemies of religion to say, that they love ease, and money, and good thiugs, far more than souls. From such ministers may we pray daily that the Church may be delivered ! They are a living stumbling- block in the way to heaven. They are helpers to the cause of the devil, and not of God. The preacher whose affections are set on money, and dress, and feasting, and pleasure-seeking, has clearly mistaken his vocation. He has forgotten his Master's instructions. He is not an apostolic man.
Let us observe, lastly, that our Lord prepares Sis discipks to meet with unbelief and impenitence in those to whom they preached. He speaks of those "who will not