blasphemy for a
man to stand up and say--'It is idolatry!' My dear brethren, I
declare I solemnly believe that, if I were to go on to the Manchester
Exchange next Tuesday, and stand up and say--'There is no God,' I
should not be thought half such a fool as if I were to go and
say--'Poverty is not an evil _per se_, and men do not come into
this world to get _on_ but to get _up_--nearer and liker to
God.' If you, by God's grace, lay hold of this principle of my text,
and honestly resolve to work it out, trusting in that dear Lord who
'though He was rich yet for our sakes became poor,' in ninety-nine
cases out of a hundred you will have to make up your minds to let the
big prizes of your trade go into other people's hands, and be
contented to say--'I live by peaceful, high, pure, Christ-like
thoughts.' 'He that needs least,' said an old heathen, 'is nearest
the gods'; but I would rather modify the statement into, 'He that
needs most, and knows it, is nearest the gods.' For surely Christ is
more than mammon; and a spirit nourished by calm desires and holy
thoughts into growing virtues and increasing Christlikeness is better
than circumstances ordered to our will, in the whirl of which we have
lost our God. 'In everything by prayer and supplication, with
thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace
of God and the God of peace shall keep your hearts and minds in
Christ Jesus.'

'LOVE BUILDETH UP'

'Now, as touching things offered unto idols, we know that
we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity
edifieth. 2. And if any man think that he knoweth any
thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know. 3. But
if any man love God, the same is known of him. 4. As
concerning therefore the eating of those things that
are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an
idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none
other God but one. 5. For though there be that are called
gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods
many, and lords many,) 6. But to us there is but one God,
the Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him; and
one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we
by Him. 7. Howbeit there is not in every man that
knowledge: for some, with conscience of the idol unto
this hour, eat it as a thing offered unto an idol; and
their conscience being weak is defiled. 8. But meat
commendeth us not to God: for