Pharisee. But what avails the approbation of men, if, in gaining it, we forfeit the approbation of the holy Jehovah? The fickle breath of popular applause will soon die away; but how refreshing the words which fall upon the ear of the believer as he enters the eternal inheritance, "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." Calling the believer away from resting on the applause of his fellow-man, who giveth up the ghost, and where is he? Jesus points him forward to the coming judgment, and urges him to be chiefly influenced by a desire to approve himself in the sight of God.

Vv. 3 and 4. "But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth; that thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, Himself shall reward thee openly." Some duties are, from their very nature, public, and must therefore be performed before men; nay, in some circumstances, almsgiving itself may partake of this character, and thus come under the general rule given by our Lord to the Christian, "Let your light shine before men;" but cases of this kind are the exception, not the rule. Christian prudence and wisdom will enable the believer to discern when it is likely that his heavenly Father will be more glorified by public, than by secret almsgiving; but He who knows how feeble grace is in the child of God at the

multitudes who followed him, professing a wish to be baptised of him, "He that hath two coats let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise." Such is the generous spirit of the religion of Christ, and, accordingly, an apostle expressly teaches, 1 John iii. 17, "But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?" The Pharisees are not blamed by our Lord as having neglected this important Christian duty. They appear, on the contrary, to have abounded in it, but from no other motive than to be seen of men. They were wont to give their alms in the most public and ostentatious way; and in using the words, "Do not sound a trumpet before thee," Jesus probably alludes to a custom which prevailed among men of wealth in Eastern countries, of summoning the poor by sound of trumpet to receive alms on a certain day. From a similar spirit of ostentation, the hypocritical Pharisees selected the synagogues and the streets as the most public places for the distribution of their alms; and in doing so, their prevailing desire was to "have glory of men.” Nor did they lose their reward: men saw, admired and applauded. So highly were the Scribes and the Pharisees esteemed, that it was a current saying among the Jews, that if only two men were to enter heaven, the one would be a Scribe and the other a

a

Pharisee. But what avails the approbation of men, if, in gaining it, we forfeit the approbation of the holy Jehovah? The fickle breath of popular applause will soon die away; but how refreshing the words which fall upon the ear of the believer as he enters the eternal inheritance, "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." Calling the believer away from resting on the applause of his fellow-man, who giveth up the ghost, and where is he? Jesus points him forward to the coming judgment, and urges him to be chiefly influenced by a desire to approve himself in the sight of God.

Vv. 3 and 4. "But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth; that thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, Himself shall reward thee openly." Some duties are, from their very nature, public, and must therefore be performed before men; nay, in some circumstances, almsgiving itself may partake of this character, and thus come under the general rule given by our Lord to the Christian, "Let your light shine before men;" but cases of this kind are the exception, not the rule. Christian prudence and wisdom will enable the believer to discern when it is likely that his heavenly Father will be more glorified by public, than by secret almsgiving; but He who knows how feeble grace is in the child of God at the

best, is desirous to remove all obstacles out of his way, and to put him into a position the most favourable for the faithful and acceptable discharge of duty. Accordingly, His command in reference to alms-giving is, "When thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth." So strong, so allabsorbing ought to be our anxiety to glorify our heavenly Father, that, far from seeking the praise of men, we should strive to hide the deed of charity even from ourselves, lest, "being puffed up, we should fall into the condemnation of the devil." This almost total unconsciousness of our own good deeds is a high attainment of the Christian, and indicates a lively acting of the Divine life in the soul. The movements of a living body are never more healthy than when they take place unconsciously; but the moment that any one of the functions attracts the notice of the individual, that moment is disease to be apprehended; and so it is with the actings of the spiritual life. The believer dwells in God, and if grace be matured, every thought, and word, and action, has a reference to Him. God is the pole-star by which the believer steers his course. He has reached the exactly opposite point from the unbeliever, for God is now in all his thoughts. He gives to the poor because God hath commanded him, and under the influence of that sanctified compassion which the Spirit of God hath wrought in his heart. He does it, therefore, in secret,

concealing the act as it were even from himself, that God may be honoured and his brother relieved. Not that we can possibly be unconscious of our own deeds, but the Redeemer uses this strong language to show how anxious he is to exclude every other motive but the right one-a desire to 66 please God as

dear children."

And while the believer thus deals exclusively and alone with his heavenly Father, even in acts of kindness and benevolence to his fellow-men, the Redeemer informs us that the day is coming when there will be an open recognition before an assembled universe of these secret acts of Christian sympathy and love. The cup of cold water which was given to refresh the parched lips of yonder humble, obscure believer, shall not lose its reward. In that solemn day when "the secrets of all hearts shall be made manifest," "the Father who seeth in secret shall reward His people openly." He will acknowledge them as His own, clothed in the righteousness of His own Son, and sealed by His own Spirit, and every work of faith, and every labour of love, though hidden from the view of others and even of themselves, shall meet with its corresponding reward, and their's shall be the welcome invitation, "Come ye blesssed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."

1. What a beautiful exhibition does this passage