3. Sinful care is immoderate in the use of lawful means : Eccles. ii. 23, * For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief ; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night.' Those that have none else to trust to, no wonder if they make use of their own endeavours to the uttermost ; but he that hath an heavenly Father should not so cumber and distract his spirit : Eccles. iv. 8, ' There is one alone, and there is not a second ; yea, he hath neither child nor brother ; yet is there no end of all his labour ; neither is his eye satisfied with riches ; neither saitli he, For whom do I labour, and bereave my soul of good ? ' The world will not let them be quiet ; they toil and moil, and there is no end. AVhen men multiply means, they have no trust in God. God is tender of all his creatures, much more of the reasonable creature.
4. Sinful care increaseth upon good duties, but diligent care fairly complieth with them. Christ warns his disciples, Luke xxi. 34, ' Take heed to yourselves lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and cares of this life.' Our care for eter- nal things doth not carry any proportion to the excellency of them, but they are laid aside : Mat. xiii. 22, ' He heareth the word, and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.' They take up the room, travail, and affection which heavenly things should have, so that they have no time to con- verse with God, or to look into their souls, so that the heart groweth poor, lean, distempered, and unfit for holy uses ; they are greedy of wealth, and prodigal of salvation.
Secondhj, Whence it arise th. From a distrust of God, and dis- content with our portion.
1. From a distrust of God. Carking takes his work out of his hands, as the care of the son is a reproof to the father. You tax his being and providence. A child at school taketh no care for maintenance, because he hath a father : Mat. vi. 32, ' Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.'
2. From discontent with our portion. We have never enough, and expect more than God will allow : Heb. xiii. 5, ' Let your conver- sation be without covetousness, and be content with such things as you have ; for he hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.' It is not our necessities, but the enlargement of our desires, that causeth carking. We would have more and more worldly goods, which hind- ereth us from trusting God's promise, * I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.' The sea hath banks and bottom, but not man's heart. We begin and end with nothing, and yet nothing will suffice us. There is a story of a discourse between Pyrrhus and Cynicus, ^vhen he told him of his designs. When thou hast vanquished the Piomans, what wilt thou then do ? Conquer Sicily. What then ? Subdue Africa. AVlien that is eflfected, what then ? Then we will sit down, and be quiet, and spend
142 SERMONS UPON TITUS II. H-14. [SeR. VIII.
our time contentedly. And what hinders but thou mayest do so before, without all this labour and peril ?
Thirdly, The cure of it. Cure it by Christ's arguments: Mat. vi. 25, ' Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink ; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on : is not the life more than meat ? and the body than raiment ? ' &c.
1. Life is more than meat, and the body than raiment, ver. 25. Deus donando debet ; Grod by giving is become a debtor. Life, without any aid of ours, is a pledge of more mercy. God provided us two bottles of milk when we were new-born : Ps. xxii. 9, 10, ' Thou art he that took me out of the womb ; thou didst make me hope, when I was upon my motlier's breast. I was cast upon thee from the womb ; thou art my God from my mother's belly.' Who formed us, and suckled us, and continued us hitherto ? We are unthankful to God if we ascribe it to ourselves.
2. Consider God's providence to other creatures. God feeds the fowls : Mat. vi. 26, ' Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns ; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them : are not ye better than they ? ' God paints the lilies : ver. 28, 29, ' Consider the lilies of the field, how they gi'ow ; they toil not, neither do they spin : and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.' Luke instances in the raven, which is animal cibi rajjacissimum, a creRtnre ravenous of food: chap. xii. 34, ' Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which neither have storehouse nor barn, and God feedeth them.' The raven is a bird of providence : Ps. cxlvii. 9, ' He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry.' The raven as soon as it is hatched it is left to prayer, for the crying of the ravens is their prayer. Now ask the beasts if there be not a providence : Job xii. 7, ' But ask now the beasts, and they will teach thee ; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee.' These creatures have no ordinary means, they neither sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns; the lilies spin not ; and yet God feedeth and clotheth them ; ' And shall he not much more clothe you ? 0 ye of little faith ! ' Mat. vi. 30.