vii. 38) that they may flow from him to quench that world of

wickedness, that, being set on fire of hell would set on fire the whole course of nature (Jas. iii. 6). They are "_empty_ vines that bear fruit to themselves" (Hosea x. 1).--_Trapp._

This bread of life which the disciples distribute is not like common bread. The more you give of it to the needy, the more remains for your own use. It is the bread which Jesus blesses in the wilderness--the bread from heaven, which Jesus is; and when from His hand, and at His bidding, you have fed three thousand on five loaves, you will have more bread remaining in your baskets than the stock you begin with. . . . Fools, so far from being helpful to other, have nothing for themselves. They have taken no oil in their vessels, and the flames of their lamp dies out.--_Arnot._

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 22.

The Source of True Riches.

This proverb cannot be understood to assert that a man needs nothing but God's blessing to make him a wealthy man in the ordinary sense of the word, because we know that there are many cases in which men would never have been rich if they had not toiled hard to obtain riches. Industry has been joined to the blessing of the Lord, and so they have become rich. God's favour does not generally make a man rich except he works; it is presumptuous sin to expect God to make us rich without honest toil. But the lesson to be learnt is evidently this--that diligence cannot command riches, that God must be taken into account in all our efforts to make money, that the "race is not" _always_ "to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding" (Eccles.