^ Bishoi) Francis Paget.
' Walter C. Smith, Hilda Among the Broken Gods.
The Antidote to Anxiety.
4?«
Literature.
Allon (H.), The Indwelliiig Christ, 107.
Barry (A.), Sermons Preached at Westminster Ahhey, 313.
Dewliurst (E. M.), The King and His Servants, 160.
Gordon (S. D.), Quiet Talks on Service, 193.
Hare (A. W.), Tlie Alton Sermons, 384.
Hickey (F. F.), Short Sermons, 2iid Ser., 9.
Jowett (J. H.), The High Calling, 180.
Knight (W.), Things New and Old, 109.
Maclaren (A.), Leaves from the Tree of Life, 219.
McNeill (J.), Regent Square Pulpit, iii. 375.
Martin (C. H.), Plain Bible Addresses, 199.
Pierson (A. T.), The Heart of the Gospel, 177.
Purves (P. C), The Divine Cure for Heart-Trouble, 16.
Koberts (D.), A Letter from Heaven, and other Sermons, 211.
Eoberts (W. Page), Our Prayer-Boole, Conformity and Conscience, 253.
Yorke (H. L.), The Law of the Spirit, 269.
Christian World Pulpit, viii. 110 (Lamson) ; xii. 143 (Fleming); xvi.
205 (Goadby) ; xliv. 403 (Jefferis). Literary Churchman, xxiv. (1878) 509. Preacher's Magazine, ix. (1898) 81.
4«9
The Antidote to Anxiety.
In nothing be anxious ; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. — Phil. iv. 6.
1. Who was he who here said to the Church at Philippi, " In nothing be anxious " ? A prisoner in a Eoman prison ; and when Eorae fixed its claws it did not usually let go without drawing blood. He was expecting his trial, which would probably end in death. Everything in the future was absolutely dark and uncertain. It was this man, with all the pressure of personal sorrows weighing upon him, who, in the very crisis of his life, turned to his brethren in Philippi, who had far fewer causes of anxiety than he had, and cheerfully bade them, " In nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." Had not that bird learned to sing when his cage was darkened ?
^ We are like men that live in a narrow alley in some city, with great buildings on either side towering high about their heads, and only a strip of sky visible. If we see up in that strip a cloud, we complain and behave as if the whole heavens, right away round the three hundred and sixty degrees of the horizon, were black with tempest. But we see only a strip, and there is a great deal of blue in the sky ; however, there may be a cloud in the patch that we see above our heads from the alley where we live. Everything, rightly understood, that God sends to men is a cause of thanksgiving ; therefore, " in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." ^
2. This is a double precept or exhortation — it forbids us to indulge in a certain habit which is evil and pernicious, and then it enjoins upon us a certain other habit, which is not only good in itself, but is also the effectual cure of the former evil one.
^ A. Maclaren, Leaves from the Tree of Life, 284.
423
424 THE ANTIDOTE TO ANXIETY
I.
A Prohibition.
" In nothing be anxious."
"In nothing be anxious." How exacting is the ideal! Harassing care is to play no part in the believer's life. Worry is an alloy which always debases the fine metal of the Christian ehafaclEer; ITmars'and spoilsit And so the counsel is uncondi- tional, and covers every "pemd and sphere in human life. Anxiety is to be banished from everything. It is not to be permitted the smallest foothold in the Kingdom of our Lord.
The root idea of the Greek word which is here translated
" anxious " is a divided mind. The mind is looking two ways, is
vibrating between two attractions ; and it has found no place as
yet where it can settle down and be at rest. Hence the sense of
weariness caused by anxiety. The root idea of the English word
"anxious," like that of "anger," is choking. It is obstruction,
i distress, pain, carried over from the bodily conception of it into
! the sphere of the mind. Under the pressure of this anxiety one
' becomes apprehensive, solicitous, confused; and every cloud
becomes a darker cloud, and every weight becomes a heavier
weight, and every outlook more ominous and dreadful. To yield
to anxiety is to turn evil conjurer and play all kinds of alarming
tricks on one's own heart. It is to be a prophet of night rather
than sunshine, of tears rather than songs.
The text does not mean that we are not to be industrious and economical and prudent and forethoughtful. Rational exertion to gain suitable ends is not denied to one, but urged and encouraged. The man who quotes, " In nothing be anxious," in justification of laziness, or a supine folding of the hands in presence of services to be rendered and duties to be done, must not forget that the author of these words is likewise author of the words " diligent in business." Neither the indifference of the fatalist nor that of the sensualist has any warrant in the Word of God. " If any will not work neither let him eat." But the thing which is condemned, and which ought to be condemned, and from which the great Apostle and our Lord before him sought to deliver us, is the