poor cottager's
faith and love gave them shelter for a night, and who,--beggars as to
the things which were Caesar's, but filled as never men were filled
before or since with the things which were God's, faith, hope, joy,
truth, wisdom, and Divine charity--went forth in this their might and
re-made society: the grandest revolution in the history of this
universe, accomplished by its beggars and, as the world thought, its
fools. And the fact repeats itself in every revolution. Let a man in any
age go forth with the fire of God in him; and the force he wields, the
mastery he wins, the new life he quickens in a nation, in a world, pours
silent contempt on gold. The gold is gathered, as spirit gathers flesh
about it and becomes incarnate; so all that belongs to Caesar's sphere is
at the commandment of that which comes straight from God's and glows
with the inspiration of His life. Gifts of a splendid lavishness in such
seasons are abundant; and strangely enough the givers feel enriched
unspeakably by the joy of giving, enlarged immeasurably by
impoverishment, and increased by abnegation. The richest in such seasons
are those who give most, not those who have most. A wonderful sense of
the glorious wealth of a heart which has a guest-chamber for Christ, and
whose pulses beat joyously as the free tide of the Divine love flows
through and over it on all around, kindles men's souls to a new
conception of riches. It fills the beatitudes with a wonderful meaning,
and shows the sorrows and straits of poverty overflowed by the riches
and joys of God.

III.

"UNTO THIS LAST."

"I will give unto this last, even as unto thee."--MATT. xx. 14.

These words appear at first sight to set us very decisively face to face
with the sovereignty of God, in its sternest and most naked
form--affirming its right to distribute its gifts and payments at its
pleasure, and refusing to consider the question of equity when urged by
the creature's sharp complaint. "Take that thine is, and go thy way."
"Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?" "I will give
unto this last, even as unto thee." There, it is said, and with apparent
truth, is Sovereignty--pure, naked Sovereignty. The "I will" of God
seems to be the sole explanation which is vouchsafed of His
dispensations and decrees. But this view of the matter has always seemed
to me deeply unsatisfactory. Equity is a strong instinctive principle,
which God Himself has establ