Be not much troubled about many things, Fear often hath no whit of substance in it,
And lives but just a minute; While from the very snow the wheat-blade springs.
And light is like a flower, That bursts in full leaf from the darkest hour.
And He who made the night, Made, too, the flowery sweetness of the light. Be it thy task, through His good grace, to win it.^
11.
Divine Care.
1. As already noticed, St. Peter at this point makes a signifi- cant change of word; he has spoken of our "distracting care" (a word in its etymology related to the common verb to divide), which will not suffer us to be a whole man to any one concern, but keeps us anxiously considering and forecasting risks elsewhere. But God's care has nothing of this distraction in it ; He cares for each as if there were no other life under His charge, and when you meet Him it is an undivided heart that meets you. "He cares not anxiously for you."
^ This word " careth " is a far nobler word than that trans- lated "anxiety" (A.V. "care") in the former part of the text. I like that phrase used by Jean Ingelow, "Much thought is spent in heaven." It seems to express very largely what is meant by Divine care — " Much thought is spent in heaven " over us. This is the care that is the outcome of interest, regard, and love. Like it the care of the mother for her infant brings with it joy rather than distraction. Have you not noticed what a wonderful power such a care has to focus every emotion, every thought, and every faculty into one point ? Ask the mother who cares for that little infant night and day how she views all. She will admit that the care of motherhood has its frets, doubtless, but amidst all she will indignantly deny that such a care distracts ; the rather it brings into its channel every thought, every feeling,
' Mrs. Sellar, Recollections and Imjiressioiis, 235. * Alice Cary.
I40 HUMAN ANXIETY AND DIVINE CARE
every energy. It is that which unites the whole being in one service of love. Is there any privilege to compare with such a care ? ^
^ The old world looked upon Paradise as a place without care. It measured the majesty of the gods by their exemp- tion from the cares of humanity. They dwelt on the top of Olympus, and rejoiced all the day in a sunshine whose cloudless- ness was its carelessness — its absence of interest in the problems of human want, its recklessness of the fate of those who pine and suffer and die. But Christ opened the door of a new Paradise and let man see in. He gave to the human eye a totally different vision of the nature of Divine majesty. He showed that the majesty of God differed from the majesty of earthly kings not in having less, but in having more care. All earthly kinghood was defective by its inability to lift the whole burdens of a people ; the government of the King of kings was supremely great because it could lift the burdens of all. That which distanced God from man was God's greater power of drawing near to the souls of men. Man held aloof from his brother man, and he had made his gods in his own image; Christ revealed a new image of God, a new thought of the Divine. Christ's majesty was the majesty of stooping; His cross was His crown. The sceptre which He wielded over humanity was the sceptre of love; because He was chief of all. He became the minister of all ; because He was the ruler of all life, He gave His life a ransom for many .2
^ Literally rendered, the verse reads, " He has you on His heart." He who fed the prophet by the brook, and kept the widow's cruse from wasting, and watched over the Israelites in the wilderness, and to whom even the sparrow's fall is not unnoticed — He has us, each one, on His almighty heart. Why, then, should we be so feverishly anxious, and worry ourselves out of all peace of mind. Why be so foolish as to carry that which the Infinite One will carry for us ? Why decline the privilege of casting our care on Him who " has us on His heart " ? Let us lighten our load by making God our burden-bearer. Let me from this day take my family cares, and my business cares, and roll them all over by faith and prayer on God, and have no care left except the care to please and honour my Lord. It will be well to get rid of my spiritual anxieties, too, in the same way. Let me lay the care of bringing me through on God. Let me tell God about everything, and burden Him with everything, " No more care," as the good
^ D. Davies, Talks with Men, Women and Children, vi. 383. ' G. Matheson, Moments on the Mount, 259.
I PETER V. 7 141
Leighton says, " but only quiet diligence in thy duty, and depend- ence on Him for the carriage of thy matter."
O Lord, how happy should we be