until a later day, and you have a contrary decision. The hero of the past generation is the criminal of the present time. And it may be that the man or the action ihe multitude are praising is the one that God is most seriously condemnino-. Of what value, then, is "the honour that cometh from man"? (1) Care nothing for the opinion of the selfish and the vicious. (2) Care little for the judgment of those whose character you do not know. (3) Be desirous of living in the esteem of the good and wise. IT. Goo's SEARCHING GLANCE. "God knoweth your hearts." Men do not see us as we are ; we do not know ourselves with any thoroughness of knowledge ; the power we ba,·e and use to impose on others reaches its climax: when we impose on ourselves, and persuade ourselves that those things are true of us which a.re essentially false. Only God" knows us altogether; " for it is be alone that" looketh upon the heart," that is "a Discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." His glance penetrates to the innermost chambers of our soul. He sees: 1. The motives by which we are actuated in our deeds ; seeing often that apparently good deeds are inspired by low or even bad motives, and that deeds which society condemns are relieved by unselfish promptings. 2. The feeling that accompanies our expression ; whether it is slight or whether it is deep; oft.en perceiving that it is more or that it is less than we imagine it to be. 3. The purpose of our heart toward himself; determining whether, in the presence of much profession, there is genuine devotedness; whether, in the absence of profession and even of assurance, there is not true godliness in the soul. III. THE DIVINE REVERSAL. "That which is highly esteemed," etc. or those things concerning which these strong words are true, there are: 1. Assumed and also unpractical piety. The hypocrite is hateful in the sight of Absolute Purity; we know what Christ thought of him. Less guilty and yet guilty is the mere cere- monialist-he who has no more piety than is found in a multitude of sacred ceremonies, who has not learned to regulate his life or to regard the claims of others. 'l'o frequent the sanctuary on one day, and the next to take a mean advantage of some weak brother, is odious in the sight of the common Father. 2. Self-seeking philanthropy-the show of doing good to others which is nothing more than a. profi.ta.ble pretence, a course of conduct which has a benevolent aspect but which is secretly aiming at its own enrich- ment. 3. Irreverent activity. Men often yield great admiration to those whose lives are full of successful labour, who bnild up large fortunes or rise to great eminence and power by much energy and unremitting toil. But if those men are living godless lives, are excluding from the sphere of their thought and effort that Divine One, "with whom they have [everything] to do," and whose creative, preserving, and providing love has everything to do with their capacity, must we not say that the lives of these men are so seriously defective as to be even" abomination in the sight of God" ?-C. Vers. 19-26.-The sin and doom of selfish worlclliness. This parable, ta.ken (as I think it should be), not in connection with the immediately preceding verses (16-18), but with those that come before these (with vers. 1-15), is a very striking confirma- tion of the doctrine delivered by Christ concerning selfishness and worldliness. He brings its sinfulness and its doom into bold relief. L WHERE THE RICH MAN WAS WRONG. 1. Not in being rich. He is not brought forward as the type of those whose very possession of wealth-because ill-gotten-is itself a crime and a sin. He may be supposed to have entered on bis large estate quite honourably. 2. Not in being vicious. 'l'here is no trace of drunkenness or debauchery here. 3. Not in being scandalously cruel. It is not a monster that is here depicted; not one that took a savage and shameful pleasure in witnessing the sufferings of others. He was so far from this that he consented to the beggar being placed at his gate, and (it may be taken) that he allowed bis servants to give the suppliant broken pieces from his table; he was not at all unwilling that the poor wretch outside should have for his dire necessity what he himself would never miss. This is where he was wrong. 4. He was living an essentially selfish and worldly life. God gave him his powers and his possessions in order that with them he might glorify his Maker and Rerve his brethren. But he was expending them wholly upon himself, or rather upon his present personal enjoyment. If he parted with a few crumbs which he could not feel the loss of, that was an exception so pitifully small as to serve no other purpose tha.n that of on. XVI. 1-31.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE. 81
"proving the rule." It went for nothing at all. His spirit was radically and utterly eeUish; his principles were essentially worldly. It was nothing to him that outside hie gates was a world of poverty, of which poor Lazarus was only one painful illustra- tion; that sad fact did not disturb hie appetite or make his wines lose anythincr of their relish. It was nothing to him that there were treasures of a better kind than those of house and lands, of gold and silver; that there was an inheritance to be gained in the unseen world; enough for him that hie palace was his own, that his income was secure, that his pleasures there was no one to interrupt. Selfishness and worldliness characterized his spirit; they darkened and degraded his life, and they sealed his doom. II. THE SEVERITY OF HIB DOOM. "In hell he lift up hie eyes, being in torments; " "There is a great gulf fixed." Jesus Christ was not now unveiling the future world for curious eyes; he was simply using current language and familiar imagery to inti- mate to us that the man who has lived a selfish and worldly life will meet with severe condemnation and grievous penalty in the next world; a penalty in regard to which he has no right to expect either mitigation or release. 1. Are our lives governed by the spirit of active benevolence 1 To throw the crumbs to Lazarus is far from "fulfilling the law of Christ " (Gal. vi. 2). We must go a very long way beyond that infinitesimal kindness. We must have a heart to pity the poor and needy ; a soul to sympathize with them and share their burdens (Matt. viii. 17); a generous hand to help them (eh. x. 33-37). The sorrow and the sin of the world must be upon our heart as a serious and heavy weight, and we must be ready to make an earnest effort to soothe the one and to subdue the other. 2. Have we regard to the day of trial and thejutwre of retribution (eee Matt. xxv. 41-46) ?-C.