January 21

Fruit that may abound to your account. — PHIL. iv. 17.

He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much; and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? — LUKE xvi. 10, 11.

"TRUE riches!" Then there are riches untrue, — false, delusive riches, riches that mock the hopes of men, bringing disappointment, care, hardness, greed, instead of the liberation and repose they promised. There are such! Solomon describes them as winged. Jesus calls them deceitful. Paul pronounces them uncertain. But they have use. They are among those "least" things which may prepare the way for nobler trusts.

The chemical sunbeam, acting on the gross elements in the plant, produces color, fragrance, flavor, in flower and fruit; and the unrighteous mammon — wealth that has no moral worth and that tends so easily to evil — may be transmitted into the true riches of character, strength, achievement, heavenly treasures, under the constant touch of the actinic ray of fidelity.

All possessions are trusts, and all trusts are tests. The test both discovers the disposition and develops it. He who is faithful is advanced to larger service. He who is unfaithful is declared unjust; he wrongs all, the Master most, himself next; he is in danger of winning the curse of the fruitless fig-tree, the bitter doom of barrenness. The choice reward of faithful well-doing is increased opportunity to do good.

F. Gravel

Grant us hearts, dear Lord, to yield thee

Gladly, freely, of thine own;

With the sunshine of thy goodness,

Melt our thankless hearts of stone.

MRS. ALDERSON.