Upbraideth Not

James i. 5.

not that like God? It is much JJJJfor Him to give; more for Him to give liberally; most for Him not to upbraid the suppliants — because it is just here that so many well-meaning men brush off the exquisite bloom from the luscious fruits of their gifts.

We upbraid. We upbraid men that they are not more provident; that they come so often; that they ask so much. We make our aid the occasion for a reprimand or a lecture. We keep suppliants waiting until we have administered the reproof which we imagine their case demands; or have reminded them of the many instances of past

Ubc iPro&taaL ingratitude and sin. But there is nothing like that in God.

We may go to Him a thousand times in a single day; but He will never upbraid us with coming too often. We may go to Him with needs immense as the ocean’s bed; but He will never upbraid us with asking too much. We may go to Him after years of ingratitude and neglect; but He will never upbraid us with the past. It will never be so much as mentioned by Him; though His loving-kindness will bring it more to our minds than His severest censures.

What a blessing it was for the prodigal that he did not meet his elder brother before his father! Had the two, by any sad mischance, met face to face in the field, it is certain that the ragged wanderer would never have gone another step. His brother would have upbraided him with leaving home, and wasting his patrimony, and “Tllpbrafoetb Hot.’

coming back in so disgraceful a state. Assuredly he would not have killed the fatted calf; but he would have killed all hope in that sad and sin-stained soul. With one farewell glance at the dear old home, the penitent would have turned back to the far-country and the swine. Those upbraidings would have broken the bruised reed, and quenched the smoking flax in densest midnight.

But mercifully the prodigal first met his father, whose heart had never ceased to yearn for him, and whose eye strove against the blinding touch of grief and years, that it might still scan the road along which that prodigal child had gone. Was there upbraiding in his look or tone? Never! Was there upbraiding mingled with the first glad notes of welcome? Not a trace! Not a word about the long absence, the unbroken silence, the wasted wealth, the wild and evil life!

6otp fbe Olvcv.

If the son had had his way, he would have carried his confession to the end, and chosen for himself the servant’s lot; but even in that he was stopped, and silenced with the warm rush of his father’s love. “He gave liberally, and upbraided not.”

This is a true picture of God. He gives, and gives again. He gives tears and blood. He gives His darling and His All. And yet when men ask more, and demand from Him years of forbearance and patience, He still gives without flinching or chiding; in the firm desire to give the sinner no loop-hole for excuse, no ground for persistence in sin.

Tender love has sometimes changed to gall; and turning on the one to whom once it clung, but who has abused its trust, has bitterly upbraided the neglect, the abuse, the cruelty of years, in words which sting like fire. But the love of God beareth all things, “TUpbralbetb flot.”

believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things — and “upbraideth not.” Do not stay away, then, because your heart condemns you, or because you have abused His gifts in the past: the only upbraidings you need fear are those that may be uttered by your own heart for not having come before.

These words (“upbraideth not”) were principally spoken in reference to our need of wisdom — an incessantly recurring need! We are as little children groping in the dark. We have never before been along this road. We are daily being tested by difficulties we cannot master, and problems we cannot solve. How can we thread our way through a maze so intricate as this wondrous human life? Where is the man who is so reliant on his own sagacity as to be perfectly able to trust his own decisions? Do we not need some wise and ever-accessible Mentor and Friend, who shall teach

TOte&om Given. us just how to act when the road forks, and the sign-posts are wanting?

What a comfort, then, it is to know that whenever we lack wisdom we may come to God for it! We may have come very often before; but we may come again. We may need a great deal of patient teaching; but we need not be abashed. We may be very stupid, and require to have things put very simply and clearly, as to an idiot child; but God will never count the trouble one whit too much. We may not have previously acted on the advice given us; but we may come again, as though for the first time, sure of a hearty welcome, a sympathetic hearing, a liberal supply of wisdom. “He upbraideth not.”

The wisdom may not be given in advance, or in the form we might have thought; but it will be given just when the answer must be returned, or the step taken. It shall be given in “XUpbraibetb Hot” the strong impression on the heart; in the clear conviction of duty; in the concurrence of circumstances; in the indication of slight symptoms which could only be discerned by the eye fixed steadfastly or the* eye of God. “It shall be given. ’ None will be able to gainsay, or refute, or resist the wisdom thus bestowed. It will be like that gift whose presence in Solomon instantly betrayed itself to the world. “They saw that the wisdom of God was in him.”

And the time will never come, when in this or any other respect, there shall be any lack to those who seek the Lord; for

‘He giveth to all liberally,