the first great lesson of Scripture on the relation of money to the kingdom.

Observe the contrast at every point between the two occurrences:

Abram receives from Melchizedek sustenance and refreshment, and bows his head as he pronounces blessing upon him; and to him he renders tithes of all. From the King of Sodom he will receive nothing, however trifling, for his own enrichment, lifting his own hand in solemn adjuration. To Melchizedek his bearing is respectful and reverential, but to the King of Sodom cold, reserved, business-like, and marked by the principle of separation. That worldly king is identified with the vicious, licentious, blasphemous Sodomites, and he avoids all complications and association with him and them. We think of those who in later time "went forth for His name's sake, taking nothing of the Gentiles" (comp. 2 Kings v.)

He must be a dull student of Scripture who does not see in Holy Scripture one uniform teaching concerning money and the kingdom, namely, that on the one hand God is to be regarded and treated as the universal proprietor, and we are to think of ourselves as his stewards and render him tithes of all; and on the other, we are not to become complicated with this world even for riches' sake. Most of all are we not to ask money of the ungodly to carry on the affairs of God. God needs not unsanctified capital. The altar must sanctify the gift, and the offerer must first offer himself if his gift is to be acceptable. What has brought more reproach on the Master than the practice of looking to worldly support and even appealing for help from the positively idolatrous worshipers of mammon in promoting the sacred cause of missions? We are taught that all things belong to God; that we need only to ask in faith and all things are ours; that we are to make sacrifices for His kingdom, and to avoid conformity to the world. And yet our churches are built, our ministers sustained, our benevolent

work carried on by a distinct appeal to those who do not even confess allegiance to Christ. And this double result is inevitable: First, the Church becomes a worldly body by catering to the worldliness whose support it seeks, and paying court to the men of the world whose patronage is desired; and secondly, the men of the world themselves are ensnared into the belief that they have laid God under obligation by their gifts, or at least accumulated some merit in his eyes by their "benevolence. " Let us read the sublime lesson of Ps. 1., where God teaches those who have entered into covenant with Him in the matter of offerings and sacrifices, that He has no needs, and therefore giving is for our good, not for His benefit; and that no gift is acceptable from one who casts behind him the words of the Master and is in rebellion against His authority. The doctrine is still a part of "the offense of the Cross"; but it is in every part of Scripture taught that God is independent of all unsanctified offerings. And the Church will inevitably decline in piety and conformity to God whenever there is dependence upon worldly patronage for her sacred enterprises or even for the support of the ministry. "No taxation without representation" is a broad principle of political equity, which gives donors and patrons a right to a voice in the affairs of the society or institution they help to maintain. If the Church seeks support outside of the brotherhood of faith, then it is legitimate to admit to her councils and put on her official boards the parties whose help is sought. Hence comes that monstrous anomaly, wholly unknown to the New Testament, professedly unconverted men occupying positions as trustees of Churches of Christ.

THE flower sheds its leaves, and ordinary mortals mourn over the departing glory; but the prophet looks from the falling leaves to the coming fruit, for which the flower but prepares the

way.

It is a most wise thing, now and then, to cull out and gather together the scattered biographical hints concerning some personage in the Bible; look at them as a whole, and seek to learn the lessons which such study of a human life may teach. One of the most interesting and stimulating of the New Testament characters is the young man Timothy.

Scene 1. It is at Lystra, a city of Lyconia. This Lystra was the residence of Timothy. He was a boy under the care of his mother, Eunice, and his grandmother, Lois. Remember what occurs

at Lystra. Paul and Barnabas are there on Paul's first great evangelizing journey. They are preaching; there is the miracle of the healing of the impotent man; the acclaim of the populace; then the swift change of the mob's mood. Paul and Barnabas are stoned. It is probable that this preaching, healing, popular applause, quick hatred of the changeful mob, stoning, Timothy heard and saw. It is probable that Timothy became at this time one of Paul's converts (2 Tim. iii. 10, 11). Timothy was at the time a young boy, scarcely fifteen years old.

Scene 2. It is again at Lystra. Seven years have sped away. Think a little of what has been taking place during those seven years: the return of Paul to Antioch, his rehearsal of his missionary experiences to the Church there; the plying of his ministry there for a good while; the breaking out of the discussions about the relations of the

Mosaic ritual to the New Covenant; the council at Jerusalem; the proposal of Paul to Barnabas to go upon a second missionary journey; the break with Barnabas about Mark; the choice of Silas as companion, and the Apostle is again at Lystra. Here the Apostle is told about the young Christian Timothy, who during all these seven years has been standing firm and growing. Paul finds Timothy in high repute among the brethren (Acts xvi. 2). Him would Paul have to go forth with him (Acts xvi. 3). Timothy is now a young man of twenty-two. Timothy's mother yields him to the Lord's service. Timothy is circumcised; Titus was not (Gal. ii. 3). Notice the reason of the difference In Timothy's case his circumcision was a wise expediency. In Titus' case, to have caused him to be circumcised would have been false to principle. Be wisely expedient. Be firm as granite when a principle is at stake. So Timothy, properly accredited and ordained, goes forth on his ministry the companion of the Apostle.

Thenceforward the lives of Paul and Timothy are intertwined. Timothy is toward Paul his most loved and trusted companion, sympathizer, helper, messenger, consoler.

It is not needful to trace further Timothy and Paul along their winding ways of evangelizing journeying.*

When there is any special and delicate duty to be done, as, for example, at Corinth, to bring the churches into the remembrance of the ways of the Apostle, Timothy is the one sent oftenest to do it. When the Apostle must hasten on, and the believers gathered in some city, as at Berea, need further edification and organization amid embittered foes, it is to Timothy the duty is chiefly delegated. When, as at Corinth, there is a long period of settled labor, Timothy is the Apostle's trusted helper. When, as among the Thessalonians, the hearts of believers are sink

*1 Tim. iv. 14; 2 Tim. i. 6, iv. 5.
+ Cor. iv. 17.
Acts xvii. 10, 11.
Acts xviii. 5.

ing amid manifold tribulations, it is Timothy who is sent to establish them and to comfort them concerning their faith. When the Apostle writes letters to the various churches, it is Timothy whose name the Apostle oftenest associates with his own. When the Apostle is a prisoner at Rome, though we have no record of Timothy's presence with him during the long journey thither-probably he could not travel with him as a prisoner-it is Timothy who comes at once to Rome to identify himself with the Apostle, to be his rejoicing support and stay. And it is of this true and steadfast friend Timothy, here with him at Rome, that the Apostle writes to the Philippian Christians his grand commendation: “But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort when I know your state. For I have no man like-minded who will naturally care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's." But Timothy still was true. "But ye know"the Apostle appeals to their knowledge of Timothy when he was with Him and them at Philippi-“but ye know the proof of Him, that as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the Gospel. Him therefore, I hope to send presently, so soon as I shall see how it shall go with me."‡

After the deliverance of the Apostle from his first imprisonment at Rome, it is still Timothy who is his companion in much of his journeying. § Subsequently, the Apostle gave him oversight of the Church at Ephesus. It is while he serves in this capacity that the Apostle addresses to him, from Macedonia, the letter we call the first Epistle to Timothy.||

But soon the great Apostle's course is hastening to its close. In a little time he is seized and carried to Rome a

*Thes. iii. 2, 3.

+ Colos. i. 1, Philemon i.

Phil. ii. 19, 23.

§ 1 Tim. i. 3.

Conybeare and Howson, "Life of St. Paul," vol. ii., p. 462.

De

prisoner a second time.* It is amid the rigors of the great first general persecution under Nero. The first imprisonment was like a June day compared with the second, which was like an Arctic winter. To be known as Paul's friend now was a very serious and dangerous matter. It is too hazardous a thing for some who have hitherto called themselves his friends. mas forsakes him. Crescens leaves him, too. Possibly even Titus fails in thorough friendship.† Only Luke stands faithful. And the aged Apostle yearns for Timothy. And so he writes to him what we know as the Second Epistle to Timothy, urging him to come to him. There are most pathetic touches in this Second Epistle-the last one we have from the hands of the Apostle. Paul is aged, and his prison is cold, and his covering scanty, and so he asks Timothy to be sure to bring the travelling cloak he left at Troas. Also he tells him to certainly bring as well the books and parchments -these will ease a little the tedium of his captivity.

If, as is the opinion of many scholars, we believe that the Epistle to the Hebrews was not written by Paul but by some other hand, possibly by that of Barnabas or of Apollos, and shortly after the death of Paul, § we learn there how nobly Timothy, true to the last, responded to this call of Paul the aged. For in the 13th chapter of that Epistle and at the 23d verse the author says, "Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty?" So that Timothy came to Paul at Rome, and stood by him even to sharing his imprisonment, though at that time he misses Paul's fate, for Paul was slain. Afterwards, tradition says, Timothy himself met also a martyr's death at Ephesus.

Gather up now certain lessons.

1. The value of a religious ancestry (2 Tim. i. 5).

* Conybeare and Howson, "Life of St. Paul," vol. ii., pp. 482, 491.

2. The power of a Christian motherhood. Get a glimpse of the housetraining of Timothy's mother, Eunice (2 Tim. iii. 14, 15).

3. Learn never to think the conversion of a child of small account. Timothy was but fifteen years old. Doubtless the oldest converts at Lystra spoke of him as "only little Timothy." But little Timothy was the most important convert Paul gained in Lystra.

4. Learn what exceeding carefulness should be exercised about introduction into the Christian ministry (Acts xvi. 2; 1 Tim. v. 22; 1 Tim. iii. 1, 7).

5. Learn the power of Christ over natural disposition. This Timothy was not naturally a great, strong pioneering character (1 Tim. v. 23); nor one who naturally, in an easy way, shouldered responsibility (2 Tim. ii. 1, 3); nor naturally a man careless of criticism and insensitive (2 Tim. i. 4). But how the power of Christ in him triumphed over natural disposition.

6. What a great and noble thing it is to be the means of the conversion of a young Timothy.

OCT. 14-20.-THE NEED OF A Right DOING WITHOUT.-John xii. 24.

The noble life is not the life ascetic. True words these of Frederic W. Robertson's "To shroud ourselves in no false mist of holiness; to dare to show ourselves as we are, making no solemn affectation of reserve or difference from others; to be found at the marriage feast; to accept the invitation of the rich Pharisee Simon, and the scorned publican Zaccheus; to mix with the crowd of men, and yet, amid it all, to remain a consecrated spirit—a being set apart alone in the heart's deeps with God; to put the cup of this world's gladness to the lips and yet be unintoxicated; to gaze steadily on all its grandeur and yet be undazzled, plain and simple in personal desires; to feel the world's brightness and yet deny its thrall-this is the difficult and rare and glorious life of God in the soul of man."

Behold the domain and possession of the Christian (1 Cor. iii. 21, 23).

And yet, though the noble life is not asceticism, and though it have possession as wide as the world and as limitless as eternity, in most real and even grim sense sacrifice must be in the noble life; there must be in it a real yielding, a right doing without. For, according to the teaching of the Master in our Scripture, the symbol of the noble life is the buried seed. And the buried seed, in order that it may grow and greaten into harvest, yields much-its beautiful smoothness and roundness, its stores of nutriment-that the germ within it may be fed, the outer air for the darkness of its burial.

A right doing without-this is the inexorable need and the inexorable note and badge of the true life.

See how true this is, and in several directions.

I. A right-doing without is the need and badge of the better life in the direction of a material prosperity.

And every one should desire this sort of prosperity. That is admirable advice which Robert Burns sings to a young friend:

"To catch Dame Fortune's golden smile,
Assiduous wait upon her;

And gather gear by ev'ry wile
That's justified by honor;
Not for to hide it in a hedge,
Not for a train attendant;
But for the glorious privilege
Of being independent."

But a man cannot do this in right ways and honest except he make up his mind that there are multitudes of things which he must do without. Thomas Carlyle says, "A man who has a sixpence is master of the world to the extent of that sixpence. But a man can only hold such mastery as, doing without a useless expenditure, he keeps his sixpence. This is the true path to honorable fortune.

II. A right doing without is the need and badge of the better life in the realm of the acquiring of knowledge. Here is a bit of a story I once came on. Fifteen years ago two poor boys from