unknown. Bickering and strife are the rule, not the exception to the rule, of daily intercourse.— Then, there are hearts, in other respects Christian and kind,-persons who may be thought to be even exemplary in their lives,-who yet cherish, against some one person, hatred or ill-will; which they hide, like a treasure, in one corner of their memories. They brood over their grievance in secret; or only display it to some confidential friend, who will allow them to rehearse it, without interruption or contradiction.-Others again there are who seem as if they sought to make amends to themselves for their general calmness and habitual composure, by sudden outbreaks of unbecoming speech. And thus, as we before remarked, the Law of Love is violated in almost every imaginable way; and some may be scarcely aware that they are passing their whole lives in the very gall of bitterness.

Concerning all these unlovely forms of Sin we will but point out that the bond of Charity was never yet effectually broken without two persons being in fault. We will not enlarge on this unpalatable truth, but leave it to men's and women's consciences.

Secondly, if a sincere desire for peace be but present in the heart of any one of those en

gaged in a quarrel, that person need not remain. in his or her breach of charity for a single hour. The permanently unkind are without excuse.

Thirdly, whatever quarrelsome persons may be pleased to think on the subject, the curbing and subduing their own evil temper is the great business of their lives. It is the thing which they have to do. They may call it their 'cross,' if they will, but it is their curse rather;—a cross of their own making; a curse of their own choosing. They have cherished their self-love, or their selfconceit, or their self-indulgence it may be, until, (like highly inflammable bodies,) they explode under the slightest pressure; under the smallest provocation. They affect a devout exterior; but they deceive no one so much as themselves. Their whole life is spent in Sin.

For, lastly, kindness to one another is not outward decency; still less is tender-heartedness, the using of smooth words. This is the cheapest form of Love of all; a false coin which cannot pass current long. No: it is the forgiving one another. Not the saying, 'I forgive but I cannot forget;' but the forgiving and forgetting too. It is, the forgiving one another, even as GOD, for CHRIST's sake, hath forgiven us.

The Twentieth Sunday after Trinity.

THE PARABLE OF THE TALENTS.

ST. MATTHEW XXV. 21.

Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

So speaks ALMIGHTY GOD, in the parable of 'the Talents,' (which is one of that cluster of parables from which the Gospel for this day is taken,) to the servants who had made the most of their stewardship. It will be remembered that, in that Parable, He sets before us the conduct and the fate of three servants whom their lord, on travelling into a far country, had entrusted with his goods. Unto one, he gave five talents; to another, two; and to another, one: to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.' The two first doubled their talents; by skilful trading, making them ten and four: the last, buried his single talent in the earth. He said that he knew what an unreasonable and unjust master he had to do

with. He therefore chose to run no risk: but,

gone, and digged,

being afraid, he said that he had and hid his lord's money. Lo, there thou hast that is thine.' But, (said his lord,) Thou wicked and slothful servant! Thou knewest me to be covetous in my nature, and unreasonable in my expectations thou oughtest therefore at least to have so laid out my money that an ordinary return might have been made me.' Whereupon he consigned the unprofitable servant' to outer darkness. But to him who with five talents had gained other five, and him who with two talents had gained two more,-the lord addressed the comfortable words of the text,- Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.'

Now, if this were merely the history of something which had once happened in a certain place, we should be at liberty to attend to it, or not, as we pleased. We might make light of the story, as one which did not concern us. But when we consider that CHRIST is here the speaker, and that it is Himself of whom He here speaks; above all, when we consider that the servants whose conduct He describes, are we

ourselves; and that the fate of one or other of them, will be eventually ours ;-the whole matter is brought so nearly home to our own bosoms, that no one with a spark of seriousness, no one who cares at all for himself and his own Salvation, can forbear the inquiry,—'What warning, then, what message, does the parable convey to me?'

And certainly, to every one who reads our LORD'S Discourses in this spirit, they will all prove full of personal instruction;-full of help, guidance, warning, encouragement, reproof, consolation; telling him many things about GOD, many things about himself, which it concerns him, in the very highest degree, to know.-Let this be shewn to be the case by a few remarks on the parable now before us.

1. And the first thing that strikes us is our SAVIOUR'S admission that we have a diversity of trusts that one man is entrusted with five times, another with twice, as much as his neighbour. It will be perceived that the very phrase 'a man of talent' is taken from this parable; and that when we talk of a man's talents, (meaning thereby his mental gifts,) we are in fact interpreting our LORD's Discourse, and declaring our sense of the responsibility which attaches to