THE GOOD PART,

who felt himself so unworthy, and
who cried for mercy with all his
heart, was heard and answered.
' God forgave him his sins, and ac-
cepted him, for Christ’s sake, |
“God resisteth the proud, but
giveth grace unto the humble.”
James iv. 6. We should remember
this when we pray. We are all sin-
ners; we all deserve to be punished
by God. He looks at the heart;
and the sins He sees there,—pride,

~r,

 

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and anger, and selfishness, and evil
tempers, are as displeasing to Him
as theft and murder can be. We
have no goodness to be proud of;
and therefore when we come to God,
we must come as poor sinners, look-
ing to Jesus only for salvation, not
to our own righteousness, and our
own good works. And if we pray
like the publican, then we shall
also be pardoned as he was.

 

CCCV.

JHE fpoop PART.

S Jesus was travelling, he

passed through a little vil-
| lage called Bethany; and
a@ woman, named Martha,
who lived there, asked
- Him to come into her house. Mar-
tha was a good woman, and loved
Jesus; and she was very much
pleased when he came to see her.
She made a great feast; and waited
herself upon the company, and was
very kind and hospitable.

Martha had a sister named Mary.
Mary loved Jesus too, and she
showed her love by sitting at His
feet,and listening attentively to every
word He said. When Martha saw
that Mary did not come to help her,
she felt a little angry, and she said
to Jesus, “ Lord, dost thou not care
that my sister has left me to serve
alone? ‘Tell her to come and help
me.” And did Jesus send Mary
away to help her sister? No; He
turned to Martha, and said, “ Mar-

tha, Martha, thou art careful and
29

 

troubled about many things, but
one thing is needful; and Mary has
chosen that good part which shall
never be taken away from her.”

Why did Jesus say this? Was
not Martha right to be kind and
hospitable to her friends? Yes;
but Martha was so busy and go
careful about her worldly things,
that she had no time to listen to
the holy words which Jesus was
saying; and this was wrong. We
must never be too busy to attend to
our souls. We should be active and
industrious in what we have to do;
but we ought to remember, always
to attend first and most to holy and
heavenly things. “Seek first the
kingdom of God.”

What was the “ good part” which
Mary chose? To sit at Jesus’ feet,
and. hear the words of salvation.
And this is what we ought to do.
Jesus speaks to us as He spoke to
Mary. He speaks to us in His
word, and tells us to come to Him,