October 8

but for his fetters—not for his palace, but for his dungeon.—“This man was born there.”

Let us always look hopefully towards the afflicted. While the physician yet administers medicine we do not deem the case absolutely hopeless: while the husbandman prunes the tree, and digs about it, and manures it, we conclude he has not yet said to the feller, “Cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground.”

O what fools are we to look shy upon our troubles, and be afraid of our trials, instead of viewing them as some of the means of grace which God has ordained to bring us to himself. Let us not think of the bitterness of the draught, but of the sweetness of health which it is designed to produce. “We have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.”

OCTOBER 9.—“Verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.”—Matthew 13:17.

SOME may suppose that our Lord here uses what scholars call an anticlimax, and be ready to say, Surely “a prophet” is above “a righteous man.” Yet there is wisdom and design in the order in which he has mentioned these characters. A prophet was not necessarily a righteous man. Balaan prophesied, but followed the wages of unrighteousness. And the Saviour assures us that he will disown many in the last day as workers of iniquity, who prophesied in his name, and in his name did many wonderful things. And when the Apostle exhorts the Corinthians to covet earnestly the best gifts, he adds, And yet I shew unto you a more excellent way—adding, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.” So superior is grace, not only to all natural, but even supernatural endowments and capacities. He that humbled himself as a little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of God. O that we were wise, that we understood this! But here we see the folly of men, who are eager to join those distinctions which are confined to few, and never insure eternal life, while they disregard those privileges which always accompany salvation, and lie open to all. And we see the goodness of God in rendering what is essential to our highest welfare universally accessible. All cannot amass wealth, but all may be rich in faith:

all cannot rise in the state, but all may sit with Christ in the heavenly places; all have not opportunity or capacity to acquire human learning, but all may become wise unto salvation. None can be "prophets" now, but all may be "righteous men."

We here see that the desires of the great and the good are not always gratified. We think it hard when the schemes on which we set our fond hearts are denied us. But we must learn to leave our wishes with God, and refer them to his goodness and wisdom. There may be reasons, for the refusal of which we have no apprehension. He is often constrained to say to us, "Ye know not what ye ask." Let the Lord choose our inheritance for us. And let us not murmur or complain if we are called to drink of the same cup with the most dear and eminent of his servants. Moses, who had conducted his charge for forty years, and brought them to the border of the promised land, was forbidden to enter, and no importunity could revoke the mortifying sentence. David, who so anxiously longed to build the temple of the Lord, and for which he had been preparing materials all through life, was not allowed the pleasure. "And many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them."

They who have known something of the cause and glory of Christ will long to see and hear more. These persons had been favoured with some information concerning the Messiah, otherwise they could not have expressed these desires; for we cannot desire what we are entirely ignorant of: but the glimpse made them eager for the vision, and the dawn for the full day: the assurance made them eager for the reality, and the foretastes for the full fruition. It is always so. Knowledge keeps the possessor from self-satisfaction: and the more proficiency a man makes in any art or science the less will he be disposed to say, "I have attained, I am already perfect." It was a man who had seen more of the glory of God than any human being, who cried, "I beseech thee, shew me thy glory." Let a Christian know as much of Christ as Paul did, and he will think he knows nothing, and exclaim, "That I may know him."

In the knowledge God communicates to his creatures there are various degrees. The patriarchs knew more than the descendants of Seth before the Flood. The Jews under Moses and the Prophets knew more than the patriarchs. John's disciples knew more than the Jewish Church before them. The disciples of Jesus knew more than the disciples of John; and he that was least in the kingdom of heaven was greater than John himself. And how much more did the Apostles themselves know after the effusion of the Holy Ghost than before, according to the intimation and promise of the Saviour, "I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now: howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth is come, he shall guide you into all truth." And the same remark holds with regard to personal experience. There are many classes of scholars in the same school of Christ. How wise are some Christians! how clear, and full, and influential are their views of Divine truth. How cloudy and indistinct are the conceptions of others: they resemble the half-enlightened patient in the Gospel, who "saw men as trees walking." The stations and callings of men differ; and some require more