(Luke 21:1, 6 and Mark 12:41, 44.)

How rich and full is the precious Word, which is the lamp to our feet! and how full the beauty and perfection it reveals in our Lord, eternity alone will show; but through His Spirit, thank God, we can enjoy a little measure here.

In the opening verses of Luke 21:, we have the "poor widow;" the "rich men;" and then Christ looking on. The Lord reads all hearts. On the one hand, He reads the earthly thoughts of the "rich men " in whose actions is no denial of self-only casting in of their abundance; on the other, the utter abandonment of self in the "poor widow" – her heart has an absorbing object. To the natural mind the widow's act seems insignificant indeed as compared with that of the rich men:but, saith the Lord, As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts (Isa. 55:9). How little such an offering as hers would go toward the expense of the temple with all its costly decorations and service – and what money can do is all earthly men know. But Christ judged from an entirely different point of view, and so from His lips conies a judgment which abides eternally-"she hath cast in more than they all."

Are we, as individual children of God, like her ? Is not this a pattern of what God looks for as the great, leading characteristic in each one of us? And is not the Church-the true Church of Christ as a whole-set before us in that poor widow? Surely yes. Are we then in that attitude of heart which corresponds with this? Are we in spirit "widows indeed" mourning for an absent Lord, and looking for His return? Is He our absorbing Object, so that we cast in our living, all of it, as she did? The eyes of the world are not attracted by such a thing-it is of little importance; but how different with the Lord. " Two mites;" she could easily have divided her little "all "-one for herself, one for the temple of the Lord. But she cast in her all. If Christ is, as He should be, the most precious object of our hearts, the practical life flowing from it will surely be a true testimony. Further on, the Lord points us to the day when all things shall be taken at their true value; when the earthly shall have been cast down; and when the life in which Christ has been the object shall stand and go to adorn throughout, eternity the living temple. R. F. H.