S. Without charity, all gifts are nothing; but with it we have all virtues. 1 Cor. xiii.

T. What follows these rules for our conduct towards man?

S. Rules concerning our communion with God.

T. How are our hearts to be ruled?

S. By the "peace of God."

T. What motive have we especially to this?

S. We are called to it in one body (Christ's Church). T. If in one body only, what should this teach us? S. Unity; to endeavour" to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." Eph. iv. 3.

T. What is our first duty in our communion with God? S. Thankfulness, for this calling and election being extended to us.

T. Where shall we find the Word of Christ?

S. In the Gospels.

T. Shall we merely read it?

S. No; it must "dwell in us richly in all wisdom," i. e. bring forth fruits in well-doing.

T. Does St. James exhort us in a like manner?

S. “Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms." c. 5, v. 10.

T. Where may we look for such spiritual songs," suited to sorrow or joy?

S. In the Psalms of David.

T. How must we sing them?

Heb. xiii. 9.

"It is a good thing that

S. With grace in our hearts. the heart be established with grace."

T. Finally, how shall we make our daily duties acceptable to God?

S. Doing them "all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him."

T. Repeat the words in St. Paul's Epistle to the

Ephesians, v. 19, 20, which describe the like effect of the Spirit in us.

S. "Be filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."

The Gospel. St. Matt. xiii. 24.

THE kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came, and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay: lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest; and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

T. For what did we pray in the Collect?

S. For God's Church and household.

T. To whom is the kingdom of heaven, or Christ's Church, likened in this Gospel?

S. To a man, which sowed good seed in his field.

T. What does the seed signify?

S. The children of the kingdom, i. e. those who are planted in the Church by holy baptism.

T. Who has planted us there?

S. The Son of Man.

T. What are we taught that there must ever be in Christ's Church?

S. A mixture of good and evil.

T. By whom is the evil sown, even among Christ's people?

S. By the enemy, the devil.

T. How may we know the tares, or children of the devil?

S." He that committeth sin is of the devil." 1 John, iii. 8. Christ says of the unbelieving Jews, "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him: When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it." John, viii. 44. T. When did the enemy come?

S. While men slept.

T. What should this teach us?

S. To "watch and pray that we enter not into temptation." Matt. xxvi. 41.

T. May not his work be concealed for a time?

S. Yes. We may seem to be good while we nourish evil in our hearts. "And no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light." 2 Cor. xi. 14.

T. How are we comforted concerning this mixture of good and evil? Rom. ix. 22, 23.

S. "What if God, willing to show His wrath, and to make His power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And

that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had afore prepared unto glory." T. What do we learn by the householder's answer to his servants?

S. God's mercy, who will not destroy the just with the unjust.

T. Is not this delay in mercy also to the wicked? 2 Pet. iii. 9.

S. Yes; the Lord is "long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."

T. What duty have we been taught towards each other in the Epistle?

S. Forbearance and forgiveness: we must leave the judgment of others to God.

T. What does the harvest signify?

S. The end of the world.

T. Who are the reapers who will gather and burn the tares?

S."The angels, whom the Son of Man shall send forth, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." Matt. xiii. 41-43.

THE SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY.

The Collect.

O GOD, whose blessed Son was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil, and make us the sons of God, and heirs of eternal life; Grant us,

we beseech Thee, that, having this hope, we may purify ourselves, even as He is pure; that, when He shall appear again with power and great glory, we may be made like unto Him in His eternal and glorious kingdom; where with Thee, O Father, and Thee, O Holy Ghost, He liveth and reigneth, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

T. What do we declare in this Collect was the object of Christ's manifestation?

S. "To destroy the works of the devil, and make us the sons of God and heirs of eternal life." 1 John, iii. 8.

T. What was the state of man, who had yielded to the power of Satan before Christ's coming on earth?

S. A state of darkness (sin, and unbelief) and condemnation.

T. What was the purpose of Christ's manifestation to the Gentiles, declared by St. Paul before Agrippa? Acts, xxvi. 18.

S. "To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me."

T. What way has Christ opened to us to become the sons of God and heirs of eternal life?

S. To believe and be baptized. Mark, xvi. 16. T. How did He accomplish our redemption? i. 20-22.

Col.

"You that were

S. Through the blood of His cross. sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and unblameable, and unreproveable in His sight."