it on to another, is not trustworthy. It is impossible, as well as most dangerous, to overlook the express declarations of Holy Writ on this subject. Very clearly is it implied by the language of the text, If ye have been faithful in the righteous Mammon, I will commit to your trust the true Riches.' If then we would know concerning ourselves whether we are treading the avenue of Life or not, we should ask ourselves this further question,-Am I acting like a faithful steward of my present opportunities or not? be they great or small. How have I employed them? How am I employing them now? If I am unjust towards the rightful Owner of that which is least, and which, least' though it be, He has seen fit to commit to my keeping,-let me not dare to hope for a larger Heavenly Trust. God will assuredly withhold it from me, lest I prove myself unjust and unfaithful, in that also! What? Shall he that has oppressed his neighbour,—dealt in petty acts of dishonesty,-spoken untrue words, or unclean,―been a careless, or a faithless, steward of earthly Trusts, be promoted straightway to Heavenly? It cannot be! No. If I am not faithful in that which is least, GOD will not trust me with more. Yet have I His sure promise, that if I am faithful in earthly things, He will trust me with Heavenly. If then I If then I may dare to believe that I am striving to be faithful in that which is His, I will all my life long cherish the blessed hope of an Immortality with Him; throughout which He will bless me with the possession of that which He has vouchsafed to call my own! The Tenth Sunday after Trinity. HOW THE BIBLE SHOULD BE READ. 1 Cor. xii. 8. To another, the word of Knowledge, by the same SPIRIT. ST. PAUL is here speaking of the miraculous gifts which were poured out so abundantly on the early Church. One of these, he calls 'the word of Knowledge.' He probably means that Divine Illumination whereby men were enabled rightly to explain the doctrines of the Bible. The state of things to which the Apostle refers has long since passed away, but the inspired Volume itself, the depository of all our Knowledge of Divine Truth,-yet remains; and we shall not be unprofitably employed, it seems, on this occasion, if we offer a few remarks on the manner in which those precious pages should be studied by ourselves, who may not hope for any but the ordinary help and guidance of the Holy Spirit of GOD. The chief obstacles to our advance in the knowledge of the Bible appear to be twofold: first, moral; then, intellectual. Both, it will be observed, depend equally upon ourselves: that is the obstacles are in us, not in the Word, preached or spoken. The former, however, depend on the state of heart in which we approach the Book of GOD's Law: the latter, result from some fault of the understanding. But in truth, the two run into one another, to a greater degree than any one would at first suppose; and in offering a few plain remarks in the way of advice on this subject, we are less careful to specify the source from which the mischief proceeds than to remind ourselves of its nearness and extent. Beyond all other things then, the great obstacle to the reception of God's Word, is the carelessness and indifference with which we listen to it, and read it in private. It is a sad truth, but it is a truth, that we are thus cold and careless about God's Word. Whether it be because we have been familiar with it from infancy, and have grown so used to its surpassing beauty, as no longer to perceive it, as those who live amid beautiful scenery are often unconscious of the loveliness which surrounds : them or whether we have learned to think of the Bible as a book full of hopeless difficulties, so that we read it as a task rather than as the crown and joy of every passing day :—whatever the reason may be, it is certain that very few men read the Bible to much advantage. They read it too fast. We have heard of gluttons who eat and drink slowly, that the flavour of the food or drink they love may linger on the palate, and that thus they may prolong their enjoyment. How does it happen that persons whose god is their belly, should have found out such an expedient for increasing a vulgar delight, while many Christians never attempt even, by a similar expedient, to prolong the taste of that which the Psalmist describes as 'sweeter than honey and the honeycomb ?' We believe, then, that most men read the Bible too fast; and, as a necessary consequence, do not understand what they read. The chapter is probably so well remembered; all its turns of expression,-its uncommon words and peculiar cadences, come so naturally to the tongue, or fall so familiarly on the ear; that a man thinks he knows more of it than in reality he does. One or two verses have always struck him as difficult,-and he is content that they |