seneual eot, .a senseless fool. Yet the dlegraceful sycophancy of the world teachea him to regard h1mseU aa a superior person. Now, pride ie the most effectual barrier to the entrance of the kingdom of heaven, Only the lowly and humble and childlike can creep through its humble doorway, 4. The hardening aelfiahness of richea. Wealth, though it gives the I?eane of helping othere, tends to seal up the fountains of generosity and destroy the eprmgs of sympathy, The self-indulgent man cannot enter that kingdom, the citizens of which have to deny themselves and carry the cross. II.· THE LESSONS OF THE Dll!'l!'IOULTY. l. The folly of CfYVetousness. Why should we make haste to be rich, if riches may become a curse to us? If in any case they are likely to bring fresh difficulties, should we be so anxious to acquire them? How is it that so many Christian people are to be fonnd eagerly pursuing the race for wealth? 2. The duty of contentment, We may never get riches, What of that if we have the kingdom of heaven, which is far better? Perhaps we are spared a dangerous tempta- tion. 3. · The need of sympathy with the difficulties of rich men. Jesus did not denounce the yollllg man who made the great refusal. He loved him and pitied him. If rich men fail, we should remember that they were beset with temptations that do not fall to the lot of most of us, 4. Faith• in the power of God. The rich man is gravely warned. He is in serious danger. He may fail miserably, crushed by the load of bis own wealth. His salvation would be a mi,acle. But God can work miracles. Though it be as hard for a rich man to eave himself as for a camel to pas!I like a thread through a needle's eye, God can save him. Therefore (1) the rich should have the gospel. preached to them; (2) we should pray for the rich; (3) we should rejoice greatly that there are rich men in the kingdom of God.-W. F. A. Ver. 26.-The impossi'ble made possi'ble. This is the solution of the rich man'1 difficulty; and it is the solution of many another difficulty. When we look away from man to God, the impossible becomes possible. I. MEN CANNOT SAVE THEMSELVES. The disciples are made to see this truth in the case of the .. rich, whose difficulties are peculiarly great. But that is only the extreme instance of what really applies to people in all conditions of life. l. I11, experience we see that men do not save themselves. We may preach the dignity and capacity of humanity. We may argue on the faculty and scope of free-will. But when we leave the pulpit and the lecture-room, what we see is a world of continuous bafflement and failure. The young man starts well, but if he is left to himself and trusts to himself, he soon discovers his weakness. Good resolutions seem only to be made in order to be broken. 2. The indwelling sin of men prevents them from saving themselves. The evil is within. The prisoner might cut his way out of a stone dungeon, and the exile might escape from the ocean island; but the man whose own . nature is his dungeon and his place of exile cannot escape from himself. In himself man has no lever by which he can lift himself above himself. 3. The depth of rui11, prevents men from saving themselves. The Fall is so awful, the offended Law is so majestic, that self-salvation is hopeless. 4. The circumstances of life prev1J11t men from saving themselves. Riches keep back the wealthy. Poverty, with its cares and anxieties, oppresses the destitute. Various calls and distractions, fascinations and delusions, hinder other men. II. Goo CAN SAVE WHERE Mill FAILS. 1. He does save. This is his work. He creates, and he renews. He gives life, and he regenerates. The Creator is the Saviour. . We have not got a glimmer of the meaning of" the glorious gospel of the blessed God " until we have begun to perceive this great truth. All the doctrines and ethics of Ohristianity are of little use while we are blind to its fundamental principle. This principle is not to be lost in any figure of speech. We have to see that God puts forth real power to change and renew his children, Helpless and ruined in themselves, when they turn to his grace his strong arm saves them. This is as actual a fact as the fact that the summer sun makes the vegetation of the eart.h to gro1v and ripen. Every true Christian can testify to it from personal experience. 2. There is no limit to his aaving power. There can be no limit if be is God, for God is Almighty. We see difficulties, but they all vanish as smoke when he puts forth his power. The Divine method of salvation is not as simple and easy as we might have expected. It involves the expenditure of God's only begotten Son. Christ must come to earth, and Christ 264 TIIE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. [arr. XII. 1-30.
must die, if man is to be saved. But Christ has come and died; God has done all that is necessary. The salvation is perft"Ct. Now it only rests with us to open our hearts to recei,·c its renewing grace. There is one thin" that God never does-he never over- rides a rebellious will. If we refuse, he cannot s.~ve us. It is for the willing that there is no limit to hie saving power.-W. F. A.