But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Therefore take no thought for the morrow for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. COMMENT. "They have their reward" was what our Lord had said of those whose alms, prayers, and fastings were made to obtain the favour of men, and thence He passes on to speak of the reward that may be laid up in heaven in perfect security. Treasure! It is a much more comprehensive word than riches. Our treasure is whatever is most precious to us-whether it be the being we love, or what we most enjoy. If it be on earth, it is sure to be frail and fleeting; but if we chiefly prize that which is in heaven, not only is it secured, but our affections are already in heaven, "for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." In the later discourse in St. Luke xii. nearly the same counsel is given, and the saying forms our second Offertory sentence :— Sell that ye have, and give alms: provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. But to have such heavenly treasure, it will not do to have an eye to earthly credit at the same time. Our eye, that is, our aim, must be single. It must look to heavenly light; and then our whole selves will be lighted up; but if it look to the dimness of earth, how great will be our darkness! "A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways," wrote St. James, following what his Master here taught him, that whereas no servant can possibly obey two masters at once, so we cannot serve God and this world-we must give up one or the other. "Mam " mon is an old Syriac word for riches, and it is here used to stand for what St. Paul afterwards calls "the god of this world." Therewith our Lord passes on to show how we may cease to serve It is like an expansion of the 127th Psalm mammon. It is but lost labour that ye haste to rise up early And eat the bread of carefulness; For so He giveth His beloved sleep. In St.Luke (xii.22—32) there is a parallel passage of equal beauty And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on. The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment. Consider the ravens for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls? And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit? If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest? Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothe the grass, which is to-day in the field, and to-morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith? And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after; and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you. Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Carefulness, be it well observed, does not mean improvidence, but fretting and taking care. Neither does it mean idleness, for these examples of ours, the birds, toil hard to build their nests and feed their young; and St. Paul's rules were strict: "If a man will not work, neither let him eat." But the attempt to amass wealth, rather than trust to God for our daily bread won by honest toil of head or hand, is what is here condemned. "He feedeth the young ravens that call on Him," and prayer and diligence have their certain promise. And as to raiment. The rich men of the East have always loved to store up robes of gorgeous dye, and such have always been favourite gifts of ceremony, while in every age dress has been one of the chief temptations of women. And here, in beautiful words, the Lord of Nature lays before us how little the most delicate materials and choicest colours can attempt to vie with the flowers of the field. Search into man's work: we see its coarseness and failure; search into God's work, and it only shows itself more and The more perfectly lovely and exquisite, even where most unseen. lilies; many guesses have been made as to what flowers were here pointed out. Some say a small brownish lily, which has been brought from Palestine; others the Amaryllis lutea, a flower like a light golden crocus; others the scarlet anemone; but it matters little. No robe of Solomon's, who, after all, borrowed them from sheep, silk-worm, and murex, could approach in beauty of texture or colour to the smallest flower that grows, and the lesson is ever the same. If the senseless, fleeting plant be so cared for by God, and the bird, which does but sing and fly by instinct, may not His own children, by creation and adoption, trust themselves entirely to Him, so long as they are wholly doing His work? Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you. Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets. Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat : Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. COMMENT.-After this strong lesson on reality and unworldliness in ourselves, the Lord goes on to bid us be very loth to decide on the motives of others. The same counsel, a little amplified, is in the Sermon on the Plain, but there it rises out of the command to remember our Father above in mercifulness (Luke vi. 37 −38) :— Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned forgive, and ye shall be forgiven : Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again. God deals with us as we deal with our neighbour. The 18th Psalm shows how this is : With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; And with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward. It is, if we may say so, as if God specially revealed that aspect of Himself to which something in our own character best answers. But in what plenteous measure doth He return the little that we can offer unto Him, through our neighbour ! Judge not, be not censorious. The parable of the mote, the tiny fragment of dust, and the beam (really a beam of wood), is exactly the same in St. Luke, but preceded by the warning, “ Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch?" The loving counsel from friend to friend is of course not forbidden, but a hypo. critical carping, in unconsciousness of our own errors; our own faults are the first we have to correct, before meddling with those of others; and besides, good judgment is needed in correcting, lest an appeal to a high and holy motive, to a person senseless with selfwill or ill-temper, should be like casting pearls before swine, and only lead to angry contempt of the holy thing, and greater passion against the speaker. One of the beautiful promises to prayer follows, but it is given more fully in the great discourse on prayer in St. Luke's Gospel, and shall be dwelt on then. Here it is part of the assurance of God's fatherly love, which has been the main theme throughout, as leading to all the details of the royal law of love to one another, the Great Commandment of the new kingdom, and yet implied and taught in the old law and prophets. But the observance is difficult, for, as the disciples are warned, the way to life is narrow, while the way of destruction is broad. Alas! how few keep this inward law, and write it in their hearts, compared with the many who outwardly seem to obey. It is all the difference between the visible and invisible Church, though none knows the truth, save the Almighty Judge. LESSON XXX. OUTSIDE AND INSIDE. A.D. 28.-MATT. vii. 15-19. Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works ? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock : And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: |