n;arvel. Especially, too, when they have daily to endure the supercilious and half- ~cornful treatment which the possesssion of wealth almost invariably begets towards those who have it not. 6. The hard s/111,qgle wliicl1 faith in God and hi., goodness cannot but have amid the hardships qf povei·ty. It is true that men would be far hnJJpier if they ~·ere better men, but it is also true that vast numbers of men would be better if they "Were only 1::sppier. When our children are happy they are good; it is un- happiness makes them cross and wrong. There is no more heartbreaking fact to a thoughtful and compassionate mind than this, that the blessing of faith in God and the love of God, which the poor most of all need, is for them the hardest of all to win and keep. 6. The dread temptation to sensual indulgence which the hardships of their lot expose them to. Can we wonder that these men rush to the gin-shop, the tavern, and there in strong drink forget for a while the miseries of their common life? It is a piteous fact that it is the most wretched of the poor who drink most desperately. (Let the reader turn to Dr. Cbauning's sermon on 'Ministry for the Poor,' to see many of these points worked out.) Such are the real evils of the lot of the poor, besido which their outward hardships are small in comparison. III. FROM ALL THIS WE LEARN WHY WE SHOULD COMPASSIONATE THEIR LOT, AND WHAT rN IT WE SHOULD CHIEFLY ENDEAVOUR TO RELIEVE. When their moral dis- advantages move our compassion, as they should and as they did our Lord's, we shall strive most of all to counteract and remove them. How shall we do this? We reply, After the manner of our Lord. Chiefly by ministering to their souls. He went about everywhere preaching and teaching. 'l'he very greatest kindness that can be done to a poor man is to bring him to Christ, to get him by God's grace thoroughly converted. That will lift him up and bless him every way. It will not despise secondary means. Our Lord fed the poor, healed them, ministered to their temporal relief frequently. But he did not do this indiscriminately. They were by no means his chief works. That chief work was a ministry to their souls. And so those who copy his example will not despise secondary means--charity, wise sanitary laws, education. But all these will be put in the second place, not in point of time and attention, but in esteem and wortl1. They will be counted only as aids to what is far better than themselves. It may be th-.t the Church has not availed herself of these aids as she should, but has left them to the care of the State more than she should. Still, it is ever those who are most intent on the moral well-being of the poor who are found to the front in all schemes for their physical and social well-being. So that the excellence of our Lord's method is that, whilst it aims at the highest good, it more than any other seeks to promote and indeed secures as a help to that highest, the lower and temporal good of those to whom it ministers. .And it has a rich reward. "Blessed are ye poor," said our Lord, "rich in faith and heirs," etc. Not a few of the greatest saints, the martyrs, the heroes of the faith, have been drawn from the ranks of the poor. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ has come to them, and straigbtway they have been as it were transformed. They have risen up above the low levels of their old life-so mean, sordid, foul, godless oftentimes-and have come to be like the Lord himself. And to-day, how perpetually may we see amid the godly poor all the disadvantages of their lot which we have enumerated above, completely overcome I 'l'hey reverence conscience; they envy not the rich; they cultivate and rejoice in the purest and tenderest home affections; though ignorant of most of human learning, they have the fear of God and the knowledge of his Word, and so are wise with a wisdom before which mere human wisdom dwindles i □ to iusigaificance. They keep themselves from all vice, they love and trust God with a simplicity of utter trust and calm confidence, beautiful and blessed even to contemplate-bow much more to possess I "Blessed arc yo poor I" Thun, then, after the manner of our Lord, would we strive to meet and overcome the moral disad van tagcs of the poor.-0. Ver. 7.-How men cur&e their blesaings. "When I bad fed them to the full," eto. I. Gou DOEt< THIB AT TIMEB. Of. Gen. iii. 17, "Cursed is the ground for thy sake," etc.; Hag. i. 11, etc. And whenever he makes our good and pleasant things the means of our punishment. Hezekiah's riches and prosperity were the lure which drew upon him the oppressing Assyrians. And 80 the body which, when possessed of nil its faculties and in health, ministers 80 much good to man, God, in judgment upon the on. v, 1-31.J 'l'llE BOOK OF 'l'HE PROPHET JEREMIAH. 135
man's sin, may for the sake of the sinful soul cause that disease, pain, impotence may curse it. .And the mind also-that may become a den of malignant, impure, p;ofane thoughts. II. BUT MEN DO THIS FAR HORE FREQUENTLY. The noblest physical gifts may be shattered, wrecked, by sins against the body. 'fhe mind-capable of such high service and a channel of such vast blessing-men may, do, pollute, corrupt, and pervert and so curse their blessings. The moral nature-this a great gift of God, the power to judge, choose, resolve; but see how soon man cursed that and turned his blessing into a curse. The gifts of providence are also abused in the same way (cf. text). The home. Oh, what joy comes to men through the blessings that were designed to be for ever associated with that word I But how often men, by self-indulgence, neglect, evil example, utter failure in parental duty, turn the blessing of home into a curse! Ancl even the gospel of Christ itself -God's unspeakable gift-men may make the know ledge of it to be "a savour of death unto death" for themselves. "'l'his Child is set for the fall of many in Israel," said Simeon of our Lord. IIL BUT IT IS A CRIME wmoH Go» CANNOT AWAY WITH. " How shall I pardon thee for this?" etc. "Shall I not visit," etc. ? ( ver. 9). Cf. parable of fruitless fig tree- " Cut it down," etc.; the talents-" Take from him the talent," etc. .And the human conscience everywhere assents to this judgment of God. We judge in like manner ourselves. We feel that such are without excuse. Let us, then, consider our blessing8, and ask ourselves, "What are we doing with them? how are we using them?" Let it be our daily prayer and endeavour that we fall not into this great sin. IV. GoD'S WAY IS TO TURN OUR CURSES INTO BLESSINGS. (Cf. Neh. xiii. 2.) 1. He has done so even with sin. What curse could be greater? Yet, by the redemptio11 there is in Christ, even that is so made subject that now "We may rise on stepping-ston01 Of our dead selves to higher things."