King's Business - 1910-02

is no union between God and Mammon, between light and darkness. Whoever is a friend of the world is an enemy of God. Eiehes are not sinful, but the bowing to them and serving them is a sin. Poor men worship Mammon as much as rich men. Whoever seeks to serve both God and Mammon, will end by deserting God. Men must choose. " I f the Lord be God, follow Him; if Baal, then follow h i m" (1 Ki. 17:21). We cannot play politics with God. Bunyan has a faced-two-ways man, but God has only men who face one way, and that Godward. We must serve some one master. We must be obe- dient to some one will and must choose here and now who are master'shall be. (3) THE TRANQUIL TRUST. Take no anxious thought for your life, would be a better reading. We are to take thought—we must. The farmer sows with a thought of the har- vest. We plan our service with" refer- ence to the future—but we. are not." anxious. DON'T WORRY. This is the sum of this section, and it is well worth our meditation. Work is a blessing, not a harm, but worry wears out the life. Worry is the height of foolish- ness. It not only does no good, but it brings the greatest harm. Worry unfits people for any kind of work, and dis- honors God. It is said of Mr. Carnegie that he once declared, " I would give one hun- dred million dollars, right now, if I could be absolutely assured of ten more years of life"—but he could not, with millions, add one cubit to his stature. Ten more years of life would not change the conditions. A man was once walking, with his brother, in the beau- tiful gardens surrounding his palace, aiid said to him, ' ' You ought to be happy, here." His brother answered,' "Yes, but there is that dreaded death." He could not stay that dreaded visitor. Worry belongs to the wicked and they have reason to worry. It would be a profitable thing if they could worry themselves sick of their sin. "Woe to the wicked; it shall be ill with them." Worry Is Faithless —There are three things over which most of our worries come—food, raiment, shelter; these three comprise the sum of living, down here; the things which are essential to life's sustenance. God feeds the birds —they neither sow nor reap, yet God careth for them.' We sow, and reap and ought to be able to trust: God to

Depredation— If spared from moths and rust, there were theives who in- vaded the homes and treasure houses, spoiling and plundering the property. All the elements combine to rob us of earthy accumulations—storms, winds, waters, pests, cold and heat. The earth shakes, cities disappear, mountains move from their foundations, ships go down, the hope and fruit of years van- ish in a moment. Disease touches the body, it wastes and withers, the limbs are paralyzed, the mind gives away. Death comes and robs us of our loved ones. If your heart is set upon any or all of these, woe be unto you. There is insecurity so far as safety is con- cerned, and insufficiency so far as sal- vation is concerned. The Soul's Object —Some object must be paramount in every life. The " e y e " is the lamp, not the light; the Word is the light. The eye has the capability of receiving the light. The eye stands for the purpose. An evil eye is a dis- eased eye, darkening the soul. It sees double; is not able to distinguish be- tween truth and error. " E a t not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire his dainty meals, for as he thinketh in his heart so is he. Eat and drink, saith he, to thee, but his heart is not with t h e e" (Prov. 23:6). A single eye has a perfectly unclouded vision. If the object of the heart is Christ Jesus, the whole body will have the light. If the heart is fixed upon Christ, the treasure will follow the heart and will be safely housed in heaven. How could any say that they were devoted to the Lord, that Christ and His glory was the object of their life, if they put their possessions where the danger was so great of losing, and of losing, with them, their eternal reward. (2) THE TWO MASTEBS. "No man can serve two masters." There is, in this verse, a further de- velopment of the them« we have con- sidered. Mammon stands for a per- sonification of that in which men put their trust; as worldly possessions, pleasure, earthly honor, etc. All of these things belong to the earth and the earth is ruled by Satan. So there are two masters—God and Satan. The Lord is imperial. He will not stand for any divided honor. He liketh not a half-hearted service. The Lord de- mands absolute loyalty. " Ye call mo Lord and Master and so I AM." You eannot belong to rival parties. There

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