December 2

Why persecutest thou me? — Acts ix 4.

Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. — MATT. xxv. 45.

THESE words assign the reason for the dread sentence pronounced upon the lost. The righteous and wicked have been finally separated. The great company on the right hand of the Judge have heard the welcome, "Come, ye blessed," and now the irrevocable doom descends upon "them on the left hand." Here Christ as the King and Judge identifies himself with his people. The lost are not condemned for sins of which they have been found guilty, but for opportunities of serving the Master which they have selfishly neglected. The hungry, the sick, the naked, the stranger, and prisoner had not been ministered unto. Inasmuch as they had neglected to serve the least of these his brethren, they had neglected to serve Christ himself. It is the love of Christ which constrains his people to gentle deeds of loving ministration. Behind all doing lie thought and feeling. As we think of Christ and feel toward him so will our actions ever be. Neglecting to help and comfort his afflicted disciples implies lack of love to Christ and Christ's. Therefore doom falls upon the lost because they preferred an unloving, self-indulgent, utterly selfish life, to the loving self-denial which finds its truest happiness in imitating him "who came not to be ministered unto, but to minister."

David Walters

And we believe thy word,

Though dim our faith may be;

Whate'er for thine we do, O Lord,

We do it unto thee.

W. W. HOW.