Matt. vi. 25 — 34. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, ivhat 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 thari raiment? 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 ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature ? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin : and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory tvas not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith ? Therefore take 710 thought, saying. What shall we eat ? or, What shall we drink ? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed ? (for after all these things do the Gentiles seek : ) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness ; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no
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thought for the morrow : for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the dag is the evil thereof.
IF we affirm that men must serve God only and with their whole hearts, we appear to them to require more than is necessary, and to assign them a task which it is impossible to perform. But, whilst they are so averse to hear of what God requires, they do not consider how closely privilege and duty are united : for, whilst we yield up ourselves wholly unto God, he,. on the other hand, permits us to look to him for a supply of all our wants. As an earthly master provides for the necessities of his servants, so much more will God, who therefore commands us to leave all our affairs to his disposal, and requires an affiance in him as a very essential part of our duty. Hence our blessed Lord having taught us how inconsistent are the services of God and Mammon, adds, " Therefore take no thought for your life ;" that is, whilst you are serving God with fidelity, commit all your concerns to him with full confidence in his paternal care.
Let us consider,
L The caution here given —
The evil against which we are cautioned is anxious carefulness —
[St. Paul to the Corinthians, says, I would have you without carefulness ^" The word which he uses, is the same as that used by our Lord throughout this whole passage. A thoughtfulness about the future is by no means improper : there is a care and a foresight which Christian prudence requires'': and they who go forward without due deliberation, invariably in- volve themselves in difficulties''. The Apostles themselves, who under pecuHar circumstances were supported without any care of their own, were afterwards commanded to use such means for their support as prudence dictated*^ ; and by this rule St. Paul himself walked ^ The ants are proposed to us as ex- amples ; and, in truth, we cannot conceive the instinct of animals to be in any thing more worthy of imitation, than theirs is in the particular to which Solomon alludes. They, in the harvest, lay up what will be necessary for their sustenance in
a 1 Cor. vii. 32. ^ Prov. xxiv. 27. "^ Prov. xxii. 3.
^ Luke xxii. 35, 36. « 2 Thess. iii. 8.