HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Ver. 1.-0stentatious religion. Having spoken of the duties of e1·eryday social life, our Lord now passes on to deal with specifically religious actions-almsgiving, prayer, fasting. One thing he condemns in regard to all of these actions, viz. ostentation. His great requirement is sincerity, and, with this, simplicity and humility. I. THE CHARACTER 011' OSTENTATIOUS RELIGION. It is a theatrical performance, carried through before the eyes of men and in order to secure their admiration. In so far as it is ostentatious it does not aim at the service of God at all. Attention is not given to his will and approval. The lower sphere is all that is thought of. 1. Osten- tatious charity. This was largely practised in the days of Chri~t, so that the very word "righteousness" came to be narrowed down to the meaning of almsgiving. But it is still prevalent. A person gives not to help the needy or to hononr God, but to gain a reputation for generosity. His name must figure in the subscription list. If he were to have no public a.cknowledgment of his charity, he would withdraw his con- tributions. Why is it that some people will give more when they "subscribe" than when they put an offering in a "collection" for the very same object? 2. Ostentatious prayer. We do not observe the Oriental practice of praying out in the streets. But great attention to public services with neglect of private devotion is of the sawe character. Or if when at church there is the utmost decorum of behaviour with bent knee and bowed head, while the mind is not in the worship but wandering o.fter idle fancies, this is a show and a sham. 3. Ostentatioua self-denial. There a.re numerous opportunities for self-denial in ways invisible to man. If, therefore, a person passes these by and studies his own comfort in private, while.he makes a show of fasting in public, he proclaims himself an "actor;" he is but playing a part. His self-denial is self- display, for his own glory, and therefore no real self-denial at all. IJ, 'fnE FAILURE 011' OSTENTATIOUS RELIGION. 1. Its inutility. It bas ita rewaru in the admiration of beholders. The hypocrite is praised-till he is found out. Never- theless, he really fails. For if religion means anything, it means the soul's relations with God, But if in all this foolish display the thought of God is lost, the supposed worshipper is not worshipping. Praying so as to be seen of men, he forgets tho one Being whom it is his supreme duty to please. 2. Its positive wickedness. The conduct of the ostentatious worshipper is odious in the sight of God. (1) It is false. Pretending to be what it is not, claiming admiration for a charity, a piety, and n self-denial that do not really exist. (2) It is selfish. Worship should be the surrender of self to God. But this show of worship is all for the sake of self. (3) It is worldly. The admiration of men is cultivated, but there is no thought of a higher Witness. A purely temporal, eo.l'thly gain is all that such a religion can contemplate. ( 4) It is an insult to God. What can be moro awfully impious than to prostitute the soul's great privilege of communion with God so as to make it a mere decoration of personal vanity? This is rank hypocrisy, of all things the most hateful in the sight of God.-W. F. A.
Ver. 6.-Secree prayer. These words are not intended to discourage the practice of 248 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. [011. VI, 1-31.