Day 34

We have already noticed how Our Lord uses the saying in St Luke, 1 Be not lifted up on high/ to express anxiety, as representing the state of one who knows not on what or whom he may lean, and who constantly dreads a fall ; and we have seen how we must avoid such a terrible state of fearfulness by firm faith in God’s support.

But of all the sayings peculiar to St Luke, in this sermon preached by the Son of God, the one that most inspires us with courage in our weakness and misery is this : — i Fear not, little flock, for it hath pleased your father to give you a kingdom.’ In all that comes before, we are taught not to fear that we shall be left to starve, since God will see to this ; and that His ordinary course is never to let those who trust in Him want for anything. But here He leads us higher. For, after all, if you should come to need bread, what then? You would still have ‘ a kingdom.’ And what Kingdom ? God’s own. ‘ Fear not, little flock, for God will give you His Kingdom.’ That is, not one intended for the great of this world, but a kingdom meant for the poor and humble : — for that little flock that the world counts as nothing, but on which the Father looks down : — which, in feet, seems to be actually nothing in comparison with the enormous multitude, and the brilliant appearance, of the wicked. Yet it is for the sake of this ‘little flock’ that God preserves the rest of the world.

What do you fear, then ? That you will die of hunger ? How many martyrs have died of it in prison ! Yet, not only was such a death no hindrance to their gaining the crown of martyrdom, but it actually won them their crown. Fear nothing, then, little flock ! but ‘sell what you possess, and give alms. Make to yourselves ... a treasure in heaven which feileth not ; where the thief approacheth not, nor the moth corrupteth ’ : — the treasure, that is, of good deeds.

Cbirts**fiftb Da> The same subject : of shunning all avarice . — Luke xii. 15, 21.

T is impossible to meditate too much on Our Lord’s admirable instruction to us, to 4 take heed and beware of all covetousness.’ There are several kinds of avarice. One is of a sour and sordid description, which amasses wealth unceasingly, but never touches it for enjoyment. Of this kind, the Wise Man says : 6 and what doth it profit the owner, but that he seeth the riches with his eyes ? ’ 1 But there is another sort of avarice, far more cheerful and liberal, which — like the former — desires to amass perpetually, but with the object of enjoyment and satisfaction. This was the avarice of the man depicted to us in this Gospel.

A covetous man of this latter kind feels great contempt for the miser who denies himself 1 Eccles. v. 9, 10.

everything in the midst of abundance. He fancies himself far wiser, because he is enjoying his possessions : yet God calls him 4 thou fool/ In fact, one is a fool through too much saving, and through imagining that riches which he does not use can make him happy ; and the other is equally a fool for his over-indulgence, and for believing himself secure in the ownership of goods that he may be deprived of any night. 4 Take heed’ therefore 4 and beware’ of every kind of covetousness : — alike of the spendthrift’s and the miser’s. Be 4 rich towards God ’ : make your sole treasure of Him and His goodness ; for, where this Treasure is concerned, we may enjoy freely. It will never diminish by spending, because the more it is used the larger it grows.

[ n8 J Gbirt\v0fytb Da> i J u dg e not * — Matt. vii. i , 2, seq .

DGE not.’ There is a judge above you ; a judge Who will try your judgments, and demand an account of them ; who, by a just sentence, will punish you for having passed sentence on others without authority and without knowledge : — the two greatest defects that a judgment can have.

(i.) Without authority: — i who art thou that judgest another man’s servant ? To his own master he standeth or falleth * 1 : — it is for the master only to judge.

Judge not, then, him whose judge you are not.

And what St Paul adds to this should serve yet more to close your mouth, O rash judge ! You pronounce on the state of another man’s servant, and say that he has either fallen or is 1 Rom. xiv. 4.

about to fall ; but ‘ he shall stand/ says the Apostle, c for God is able to make him stand/ Do not you, then, declare that he will fall.

St Paul goes on : — ‘ But why dost thou judge thy brother ? ’ And why do you despise your brother ? He is your fellow-man, and your equal ; and it does not belong to you to judge him. You are both alike answerable to the judge before whom both must appear. ‘For we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ. ... So then every one of us shall render an account of himself to God.’ 1 Do not dream, therefore, of judging others, but think of the account that you will have to give of yourself.

St James is no less decided. ‘There is/ he says, ‘one law -giver, and judge, who is able to destroy and to deliver .’ 2 And to this he adds, ‘But what art thou, who judgest thy neighbour?’ which reflection he deduces from the grand principle previously laid down : — ‘ He that detracteth his brother, or judgeth his brother, detracteth the law, and judgeth the law ’ : — namely, because the law itself has forbidden you to usurp the power of judgment. ‘ But/ continues this great apostle, 1 Rom. xiv. io, 12. 2 James iv. 12.