a subordinate object, and that the other alone will remain supreme. There is the same difficulty here as there would be in "serving two masters." Each claiming the whole time and the entire services, it would be impossible to satisfy both, or to adopt any arrangement or compromise in which both would acquiesce. Under these circumstances, the servant would escape from the difficulty by giving preference to one of the rival masters. Guided by his own predilection, or by his estimate of their respective claims, “he would hate the one and love the other, or," if he did not proceed so far, he would, practically, "hold to the one and despise the other." Nor is this merely an analogous case. Any attempt to make two independent and co-ordinate objects supreme objects of regard, would actually involve such a competition of opposing claims; for he that "lays up for himself treasures in heaven," serves God, and he that " lays up for himself treasures on earth," serves Mammon; and these rival and contending services it is impossible to reconcile. Thus there is no course open to us, if we would not resign ourselves to a supreme regard to earthly treasures and serve Mammon, but that of maintaining a supreme regard to heavenly treasures and serving God; or, in other words, that of maintaining a supreme regard to God as our sovereign and our portion.

3. But it may be thought that, though we should not lay up for ourselves treasures upon earth, we must, at least, be careful to make provision for the supply of our bodily wants. If we regard the making of this provision as a thing that devolves upon ourselves, and with respect to which we must exercise a special solicitude, taking thought for our life, what we shall eat and what we shall drink, and for our body, what we shall put on, the supply to be provided thus becomes to us, first, a distinct, and then, further, from the impossibility of co-ordination here, the supreme object of regard and pursuit; and we shall be found laying up for ourselves treasures on earth and serving Mammon.

4. What course, then, is to be pursued? We are subject to bodily wants, and how are they to be supplied? It is of great importance that this question be correctly answered; for on the answer given to it the aspect and aim of life greatly depend. Let it be observed, then, that God is conducting the affairs of our world to the accomplishment of certain ends the manifestation of his own glory, and the blessedness of all his righteous subjects. While he is himself thus engaged, he calls upon us to concur and co-operate with him; and the prescribed course of concurrence and co-operation is so arranged, that, while we pursue it with a view to the ultimate ends to be reached, all the intermediate results in which we are interested will arise. By our pursuit of it, or otherwise in connection with our pursuit of it, he will grant us those results. This he has undertaken and engaged to do. Trusting in him, therefore, as to all such results, we are to employ ourselves under his direction in seeking the great ends which he prescribes to us. The efforts which he enjoins us to make may, to a great extent, be such as bear directly on intermediate results, and may seem wholly to terminate in them; but, still, they are to us a part of the course by which we are to proceed to the ultimate ends to be sought by us, in concurrence and co-operation with him, and we are to view them in this light"Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”—(1 Cor. x. 31.) We are to surrender ourselves wholly to God as our Father, that he may employ us in his own service, trusting in him for every supply that may, in the meantime, be necessary for us.— "Take no thought, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed? 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."— (Matt. vi. 31-33.)

5. To this exercise of trust in God, which alone can liberate us from the service of Mammon, our Lord presents various motives and encouragements; and, first, he refers to the experience and proof which we have already had of the divine goodness and bounty. God has given us life, and life is more than the food which is necessary for its support; he has formed our bodies, and the body is more than the raiment which it needs. And having received from him what is greater, shall we not trust in him for what is less?-(Ver. 25.) To encourage trust in God for food, our Lord adduces the case of the fowls of the air. "They sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns." They exercise no forethought or industry; and yet God feedeth them. Relieving them of all necessity of taking thought for their life, what they shall eat and what they shall drink, he himself makes provision for them. And, if he thus feeds the fowls of the air, are there not far stronger reasons why he should feed his people? In the first place, his people are much better than the fowls of the air.-(Ver. 26.) They are a far higher order of creatures, fitted and intended to serve far higher purposes. Viewed as mere denizens of this earth, they are creatures of far higher rank. Their bodily organization surpasses, in many particulars, that of any other creatures upon earth, being evidently adapted to a more exalted sphere; and their mental powers raise them to a still loftier superiority. And then they are more than denizens of this earth. They are immortal beings, and heirs of heaven. They have already been renewed after the image of God, and, by the continued process of renewal carried forward in their case, they shall in due time be prepared for heavenly glory and blessedness. Shall not He, then, who feeds the fowls of the air, feed them? And, further, God is their Father. He is the creator and preserver of the fowls of the air; but his people are his adopted children, and he is thus in a close

and peculiar sense their Father. By assuming this relation to them, he assumed, as one of the obligations which attach to it, the obligation to provide for them, and, at the same time, regarding them with paternal love, he is disposed to provide for them. As their Father, he is conducting them to a glorious inheritance in heaven; and it is a part of his purpose with respect to them which he is thus executing, that he will in the meantime supply their bodily wants. Nor is it with him as with earthly fathers, whose power and means are very limited, and who often can accomplish but a small portion of what they desire and even design. The almighty Sovereign and Proprietor of the universe can accomplish all his pleasure. Shall he not, then, feed his children? Feeding the fowls of the air, though he sustains to them only the more remote relation of Creator, shall he not feed his people, to whom he sustains the closer relation of Father? Shall he not feed them, in that all things are his?

6. And, while believers have thus every encouragement to trust in God, they will gain nothing by taking thought; for none of them, by taking thought, can prolong his own life, even for the shortest period. The word, which in verse 27 is rendered "stature," denotes also age, or the duration of life; and, from the connection, it must be taken here in this latter sense. The subject under consideration is the support of life, as we see from the statement of it in verse 25,"Take no thought for your life;" and the question, "Which of you, by taking thought, can add even the briefest space to the duration of his life ?" is intended to detect and expose the folly of relying upon our own efforts for the support of it. The increase of our "stature," is an idea which does not at all fit into the connection. Such an increase is a result to which the thought-taking, to which men are so prone, is never directed. No difficulty, in the way of the proposed rendering, arises from the word "cubit," for terms expressive

of material dimension are often applied to time. The object of our Lord is to dissuade his people from taking thought for their life, by discovering to them the utter uselessness of their taking thought for it. They cannot prolong it by a single hour. God has reserved to himself the determination of its duration. The only rational and available course for them, therefore, is to trust in him for all that is necessary for its support.

7. From the exercise of trust in God for food, our Lord's exhortation passes on to the exercise of trust in him for raiment. And as, to encourage trust in the former case, he referred to his liberality in feeding the fowls of the air, so, to encourage trust in this latter case, he refers to his liberality in clothing the lilies of the field. The lilies "toil not, neither do they spin;" they take no thought, and make no effort; and yet, "God so clothes them, that even Solomon in all his glory," in the utmost splendour of regal state, 66 was not arrayed like one of them." If God thus clothes the grass of the field, which occupies so low a place among his creatures, and clothes it thus to-day, though to-morrow it is to be cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe his people, who occupy the highest place among his creatures on earth, and are the heirs of eternal glory? How weak is their faith, if they doubt that he will be as bountiful to them as he is to the grass!-(Ver. 28-30.)

8. While believers have thus abundant encouragement to trust in God for all that is necessary for them in the present life, if they do not exercise this trust, but "take thought, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed," they exalt earthly things to the same place which the idolatrous Gentiles assigned to themthey "seek after" them as their portion, and make them the supreme objects of their regard. Instead of acting this heathenish part, they should deem it enough that all their wants are known to their heavenly Father, who is able and