they will do for them what they would never attempt for themselves. It Is not enough to have compassion for a great affliction. Love will search for remedies. 1. The parent brings his child to Ohrist's disciples. He is not to blame for thi.'!, because (1) Christ himself was out of reach; and (2) the disciples had received a. ,commission to work miracles (eh. x. 8). The people of Christ should be helpers of the distressed. The Church ia the natural home of the helpless. It is sad to see the miserable so disappointed by the failure of the Church to help them tha.t they tum aside to the new offers of " Secularists." 2. Wnen disappointed, the parent appeals to Ohrist. He does not despair ; he does not give up all efforts to have his child healed. Nothing in the world is so persevering as love. When the Church fails, Christ may yet be appealed to. It is a great mistake to allow our disappointment with ,Christiana to blind us to the goodness and power of Christ. We have to learn to tum from Christ's imperfect followers to the Lord himself. U. TnE DISCIPLES HUMILIATED. They tried to cure the lunatic boy, but they failed. 1. Good men are not always successful men. We may be true Christians, and yet we may meet with bitter disappointments in our efforts. The servant of Christ is often humiliated at the failure of his attempts to serve his Master or benefit hi3 fellow-men. 2. Ohristians are weak in the absence, of their Master. If Christ had been with them, the encouragement of his presence would have fortified his disciples. They who would do effective work for Christ must cleave close to Christ. 3. The failura of work is due to the failure of faith. St. James tells us that faith without works is dead. The absence of the fruit is the sign of its deadness. If there is no aap in the tree, the branches must wither. To do effective service in this world we must live much in the unseen. 4. Difficult Ohristian work is only possible when accompanud by prayer. The mistake of the disciples may have been that, while they lost faith in God, they were too confident of their own powers. We always fail when we are trusting to ourselves alone. ID. CHRIST To THE RESCUE. He came when he was most needed. 1. Ohrist rebuku ,unbelief. He sees a defective condition of mind in the disciples and in the people gene- rally. The atmosphere is not congenial to miracle-working. But this is a sign of some- thing wrong. A general state of unbelief is like the prevalence of a malaria. It must not be acquiesced in as a normal condition. 2. Ohrist makes up for the fai'lure of hi.a disciples. They may fail; he never fails. If he seems to fail in some cases (as at Nazareth, eh. xiii. 58), this is not because his power is insufficient, but because men are not receptive. He takes up our imperfect work, broken and marred as it is, and he perfects it for us.-W. F. A. Ver. 20.-The power of faith. This was the comment of our Lord on the failure of the disciples to cure the lunatic boy, and on his own subsequent success. The di1ference was accounted for by the fact that the disciples had not faith, while Christ poBBessed it. -On another occasion, when there was no question of any attempt of his disciples, our Lord answered the amazement caused by one of his miracles by pointing in a similar way to the power of faith (eh. xxi. 21). I. THE FAITH, 1. Its ezistence. "If ye have faith.n These words imply uncertainty. • Many people. have much religion, but no faith. They have a creed, but not faith. They do not really and actively trust God. Faith begins in us when we put our belief into action. 2. Its anuzllness. It may be but as a grain of.mustard seed. It is sad to think of its being so minute; certainly there is no virtue in its meagreness. Yet even a small faith may do great things if it is indeed a real faith. The great question is not-How many things do we believe? but-How firm is our grasp upon the objects of faith? The area of belief may be vast as a wind- ewept desert, and faith may be small as a shepherd's cot. Then it is that little hut of faith that saves us, while the storm passes overhead. 3. Its life. The mustard seed is better than a grain of sand. It is alive, and therefore it can grow. The living faith will not be always small. But even while it is small it is capable of wonderful possibilities. II. THE wonx OF FAITH, 1. An active work. Christ here speaks of what faith docs, and the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews recites achievements of faith (Heh. xi.). Faith not only affords shelter in trouble, it is an inspimtion for service. The 192 TIIE GOSPEL ACCOilDING TO ST. MATTHEW. [co. xvn. 1-27~
man of faith is the m_an of action, for he has within him a fountain of energy. It is, tl1~ref~re, _an utter mistake to suppose th~t "believing " is to be instead of " doing."' Faith 1s given to enable us to do great things which we could not accomplish without it. 2. A great work. This small faith is to accomplish grand results. The mustard seed is to remove a mountain. Only a foolish literalism can ocrasion any perplexity m the reading of Christ's words. Hie disciples were too familiar with Oriental metaphor& to fall int-0 the absurd mistake of supposing that Jesus really expected them to toss mountains of rock and earth from one place to another. It was customary for th& Jews to refer to a great rabbi as a remover of mountains, and therefore Christ wne employing proverbial language which would be well understood by his hearers, But this does not mean that his words contained no statement of importance. What it teaches is that faith can accomplish stupendous achievements, such as the etrona-est men would fail in attempting without it. 3, .A work of removing difficulties. 1.'he- forerunner of Christ was to lower mountains in order to prepare the way for the King (Isa. xl. 4). There are mR.ny hindrances in the path of Christian work. Some of these- seem to be insuperable. Sultans frown on the gospel; empires bar their gates against it. But faith, working by prayer, has removed many such a mountain of difficulty, and it will do so again.-W. F. A.