he was on earth. And since he has gone to heaven he is blessing them still, in the same way, by sending his gospel to them. And wherever people hear the gospel, and obey it, and become Christians, they find that Jesus does bless them in the way that he spoke of to the people of Nazareth. Now, if we look at these words of Jesus, we see that they refer to four ways in which he blesses people.

One of these is by giving riches to the poor.

He says he was sent "to preach the gospel to the poor." The word gospel means glad tidings, or good news. And what makes this gospel good news is, that it tells us of the grace of God that Jesus brings. This grace is what we all need more than anything else. If we really get this grace it will make us rich. It will be worth more to us than all the wealth in the world. It will do for us what no earthly treasure could do. It will secure to us the pardon of our sins. It will change our evil hearts and make them good. It will help us to love and serve God. It will open

the door of heaven to us, and make us fit to go in, and live there in happiness for ever.

And this is the way in which Jesus himself speaks of the grace of God; for this is what he means, when he says,—“I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich." Rev. iii: 18. Those who have this grace are rich indeed. They are "rich towards God." They have a treasure laid up in heaven, "where moth and rust do not corrupt, nor thieves break through and steal." That is a treasure that none can take from us, and it will last forever. And when Jesus was preaching the gospel to the poor; when he was telling them about the grace of God, and urging them to seek it, it might well be said that he was giving riches to the poor. And when he sends out his ministers to preach, and his servants to teach the blessed gospel, he is still doing the same thing. This gospel tells us of the grace of God, and teaches us how to get it. However much of the riches of this world we may have, our souls must be poor if we have not the grace of God in them. And however little of this world's wealth we have, our souls are rich if only the grace of God is ours. We may well look up to Jesus and say, as a good man once said:—

"Give what thou wilt, without Thee we are poor,

But, with Thee rich, take what thou wilt away!"

"A Poor Rich Minister.”—I saw an account lately of a good Methodist minister who was so well satisfied with the hope of these heavenly riches that he was not willing to own any of the riches of this world. He was very poor, and his family were sometimes in want of things necessary to their comfort. A rich farmer belonging to his congregation, and who loved him greatly, made him a present of a farm containing a number of acres, and gave him the title-deed to the property. The minister thanked his kind friend for his generous gift, and went home feeling very happy. But, about three months after this, he called one day on his good friend the farmer. After talking together for awhile the minister handed to his friend a roll of parchment saying:-"Here, sir, I want to give you back the title-deed to your farm."

"Why, what's the matter?" asked the astonished farmer. "Is there anything wrong about it?"

"No, sir."

"Well, isn't the land good?"

"There's none better in the State."

"Do you think I grudge having given it to you?"
"Not at all; I know how truly generous you are.'

'Then why don't you want to keep it?"

"Well, sir," said the minister, "you know I

"you know I am very fond of singing. And there is one hymn in our book the singing of which has

been the greatest comfort of my life. But I haven't been able to sing it with my whole heart since I owned this farm.

"No foot of land do I possess,

No cottage in the wilderness,
A poor wayfaring man.

I lodge awhile in tents below,
Or gladly wander to and fro,
Till I my Canaan gain.

This hymn says:—