July 6

Judas Iscariot ... was a thief, and had the bag, and bore what was put therein. — John 12:4,6

Freely ye have received, freely give. — Matt 10:8

Ah, but if we should go thoroughly into this matter, should we not probably find that many of us are guilty, in some modified and yet sufficiently alarming sense, of treachery to the poor? Are we not, some of us, sent to them with benefactions which never reach them, and are only unconscious of guilt because so long accustomed to look upon the goods as bestowed on us, whereas the light of God’s word would plainly reveal upon those goods the names of the poor and needy? — George Bowen.