July 16

The liberal soul shall be made fat. — PROV. xi. 25.

Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again. — LUKE vi. 38.

GIVE not stintedly, but freely, liberally, cheerfully, not as if driven by a need, except the need of a heart which must satisfy its own motions of love. It is therefore not simply a command from the Master by the authority of the Lord, but it is the challenge of one who is the believer's friend, and who by his wisdom knows how the exercise of this grace will enrich the giver with an abundance of all that is best. It is the voice of him whose love for his is ever actively desiring that his followers shall rejoice and be glad in the enjoyment of all that is enduring.

These words of our Saviour bear to us the thought which the apostle refers to when he says, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." Now while it is true that God's goodness is fullest in a spiritual sense, we do hurt to his truth and we fail to reach the intention of the words of Jesus in this text when we refer their application either to the world to come, or to the sphere of purely spiritual things. It is this life which is to be enriched by the free and loving emulation of the example of Jesus. It is here and now that the seed we sow with ungrudging spirit and an open hand shall bring us the promised return. Because "God loveth a cheerful giver," therefore it is that "he which soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully" (see 2 Cor. ix. 6-13). Thus, then, giving with loving heart and hand for Jesus' sake is the surest way of refreshing, beautifying, and enriching most abundantly our own life. Thus will his disciples be more like the Master both in spirit and deed.

W. Earnest Klofah

Who sparingly his seed bestows,

He sparingly shall also reap;

But whoso plentifully sows,

The plenteous sheaves his hand shall heap.

THOMAS COTTERILL.