learned to say with David, " I am poor and needy ; bnt the Lord thinketh upon me." (Psalm xl. 17.)
We learn, for another thing, from these verses, who they are wham Christ reckons most liberal in giving money to religiom purposes, "We read that He said of her who cast in two mites into the treasury, '' She hath cast in more than they all. All these of their abundance have cast in unto the offerings of God : but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had." These words teach us that Christ looks at something more than the mere amount of men's gifts in measuring their liberality. He looks at the proportion which their gifts bear to their property. He looks at the degree of self-denial which their giving entails upon them. He would have us know that some persons appear to give much to religious purposes who in God's sight give very little, and that some appear to give very little who in God's sight give very much.
The subject before us is peculiarly heart-searching. On no point perhaps do professing Christians come short so much as in the matter of giving money to God's cause. Thousands, it may be feared, know nothing whatever of "giving" as a Christian duty. The little giving that there is, is confined entirely to a select few in the churdies. Even among those who give, it may be boldly asserted, that the poor generally give far more in proportion to their means than the rich. These are plain facts which cannot be denied. The experience of all who collect for religious societies and Christian charities, will testify that they are correct and true.
Let us judge ourselves in this matter of giving, that we