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fice? Was it not then more praiseworthy to follow His instructions to the letter rather than turn on being cured and rush back praising God? Read the answer in Christ's disappointed face. To turn to Him in adversity and forget Him in prosperity is not true love of God, nor is religion, pure and undefiled, content with merely keeping God's commands. The letter killeth but the spirit quickeneth. The Jewish idea of worship was formal externalism, empty ceremonial, with no regard for the emotions and the spontaneous outpourings of the heart. But the Lord looketh not on the outward appearance — the Lord looketh on the heart. Hence His disappointment in the nine. Not even the sudden change from the horrors of their outcast life to the unspeakable joy of having been cleansed could break the force of habit and bring them to His feet crying like children Abba, Father. They followed His directions to the letter and then selfishly hurried away to their kindred, for whose presence they had so long been hungering. Perhaps, too, their traditional contempt for everything Samaritan, though forgotten in affliction, broke out anew when health was returned, so that they were as eager to part with their companion as they were loath to follow his example. But he was hampered by no such prejudices and traditions. Immediately his disease dropped from him his one all-absorbing thought was thankfulness, and turning instantly he hurried back, crying glory to God, and flung himself adoringly at Jesus's feet. Brethren, looked at in a spiritual sense, which, think you, most