1053 sick of their sin. “Woe to the wicked, it shall be ill with him” (Isa. 3:11). Worry is faithless. There are three things over which most people are in clined t worry,— food, raiment, shelter. These three things comprise the sum of living down here. They are the things most essential to daily life. God feeds the birds though they neither sow nor reap, yet God careth for them. We both sow and reap and ought to be able to trust God to give the increase. “ How much more are ye better than the fowls?” (Luke~12:24). If God cares for birds, how much more will He care for those for whom Jesus Christ shed His blood! God clothes the lilies, and the garments they wear are incomparably more beautiful than were the garments of King Solomon. Will He not clothe His own children? Has He not clothed us with His own right eousness, and promised that we will be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven? If He has assured us Of glorified resur rection bodies, will He forget us now? Why worry? Having given us His Son, will He not with Him also freely give us all things? Listen to His sorrow ful message to us: “ Oh, ye of little faith!” and to His message to the poor Syrophoenician woman, “ Oh, woman, great is thy faith!” PRACTICAL POINTS (1) If you deposit your securities with your Sovereign in heaven, you can sleep soundly. (2) Your heart will find its home where its treasures are housed. (3) What you give to the Lord is gain. What you lay up on earth is loss. (4) Periods of plenty are followed by seasons of scarcity. (5) Put your trust in Providence. (6) Make Mammon your servant, and compel it to glorify God. (7) Anxiety for tomorrow will sap
THE K I N G ’ S BUSINESS absolute loyalty (John 13:13). You cannot belong to rival parties. (James 4 :4). There is no union between God and Mammon; between light and dark ness. Riches are not sinful in themselves, but bowing to them and serving them, is a sin. Poor men worship Mammon as much as do rich men. Whoso seeks to serve both God and. Mammon will end by denying God. Men must choose (1 Ki. 18:21). “ A n d E lijah cam e unto all the people and said, H ow lon g halt ye betw een tw o opinions ? if the L ord be G od, follow him ; bu t if B aal, then follow h im /’ Men cannot play politics with God. Bunyan has a picture of a man facing two ways, but God’s men face one way —Godward. We must serve some one master. We must be obedient to some one will. We must choose here and now who that master is to be. (3) THE TRANQUIL TRUST, vs. 25- 34. “ Take no thought for your life.” “ Take no anxious thought for your life” would be a better rendering. We must take thought. The farmer sows with thought of the harvest. We plan our work with reference to the future and to the results,— but we are not to be anxious; we are not to worry. This is the sum of this section of our lesson, and it is well worth careful and thoughtful meditation. Work is a blessing to man, but worry is a curse. Worry is the height of foolishness. It does no good; adds nothing to our ability for service, but rather unfits us for service and dis honors God. It is said of Mr. Carnegie that he once declared: “ I would give $100,000,000.00 if I could be absolute ly sure of ten more years of life.” But he could not, with all his millions, be assured of even one week of life, or add one cubit to his stature. Worry belongs to the wicked and unregener ate, and they have good reason to worry; and it would be profitable for them if they would worry themselves
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