for the house of the Lord, then will anxious cares be banished from the heart. And this is verily something of vital importance to every Christian. The Christian docs seek the kingdom of God, and he possesses it in faith, but he lives in the world and he can not help but see the doings of the children of the world round about him. He beholds how they apply their whole energy, all their mind to making money, and frequently he will see them successful in their pursuit after wealth. The flesh and the devil will excite envy in his heart and a desire to keep pace with them, and if the Christian gives room to such thoughts he will soon. begin to act up to them, and perhaps before he is aware of it that which formerly was secondary in his heart, his worldly business, is become his foremost care, and the care for the kingdom of God which was foremost is become secondary. Such a man may outwardly remain the same, others may see no change in him, but his heart is changed and is no more the Lord's. Gradually becoming entangled in earthly cares is a rock on which many have made shipwreck, and we must be careful to steer clear of it. Bear in mind always this word of the Lord: "Seek ye first," first and not last, "seek ye FIRST the kingdom of God and his righteousness." II. Doing this, we have the glorious promise: "And all these things shall be added unto you." If we seek the kingdom of God first, if we cleave unto the righteousness of faith, if we thus wear the garments of the Son of God, then we have the one thing needful, then we are prepared to stand before the Son of man when He comes; for those who make it the primary object of their life to seek the kingdom of grace on earth are those to whom He will say: "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Matt. 25, 34. If this hope lives in our hearts that our ears shall hear these words from the lips of the Lord we should verily leap for joy, even though we possess not a dollar's worth of this world's goods. But with the Lord there is superabundance of grace. Besides the promise of eternal life to those who seek His kingdom, He has also given this promise: "And all these things shall be added unto you." What things? Why those things needful for the body and the support of this present life. 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? 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 was 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?" God has promised food and raiment to His children. When you make a large purchase from a merchant he will throw in an article of more or less value. God, as a rich merchant, offers for sale His grace, the forgiveness of sin, the righteousness of Jesus Christ, His heavenly kingdom. All these He sells for the taking. He cries out to the passers-by: "Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." Is. 55, 1. And with those who buy He throws in the promise of food and raiment, that His children shall have something to eat and something to wear. Now if you believe that God gives you His righteousness and heavenly kingdom, what an unworthy thing is it that you doubt Him as to food and raiment which He has promised to throw in? Is that the way for a child to do? Suppose your boy goes around hanging his head, and questioned as to what ails him he says: I do not know if I shall have something to eat to-morrow. Would you not say: Boy, am not I your father and did I ever let you starve? And if he would say: Yes, but I do not know how it will be to-morrow, would you not say: Child, since when do you no more look upon me as your father? It is certainly something very unchildlike, if we suffer our hearts to be tossed to and fro by gnawing cares. The Lord says: "Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need 1 of all these things," and we ought to trust Him that He will deal with us as a loving Father. The Lord here directs us to nature. The bird sings, the lily blooms and each creature does what God has made it for, and He provides for it. The butterfly is hatched in spring, spends the summer flitting from flower to flower, never thinking of winter, and in the fall it dies. The ant is never idle, it is busy the livelong summer to lay up a store for winter. Each of them lives according to the instinct with which God has endowed them. To man He gave a heart to trust Him and hands to work with, and said: "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread." Gen. 3, 19. Like the ant we should be industrious, because through industry God has promised us food, and like the butterfly we should be without cares, trusting the promise of our God. If we would so do we could live far more happily in this world, being spared many a gloomy hour and many a restless night. What good has worrying ever done you? "Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?" What can these anxious cares avail thee, These never ceasing moans and sighs? Every day has its burden, and why make it heavier by adding to it all manner of doubts and fears? Anxious cares are like the red clay on our hills after a summer shower. It clogs the wheels and makes them cumbrous. Away with the impediment, and you can run along lustily. Many of you have the motto in the house: "The Lord will provide." You have it in a frame hanging on the wall. What a blessed thing if you would inscribe it into the heart and practice it. In restless thought or blank despair. XVI. SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. : TEXT: And it came to pass the day after, that he went into a city called Nain; and many of his disciples went with him, and much people. Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow and much people of the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not. And he came and touched the bier and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother. And there came a fear on all and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his people. And this rumor of him went forth throughout all Judea, and throughout all the region round about. Luke 7, 11-17. This Gospel narrates two occurrences: something very common, and something very extraordinary. The first was the conveying of a corpse to its last resting-place. An every-day occurrence on this earth which is the domain of death. That corpse was not the first, neither was it the last carried out of the gates of Nain. They that carried it were thereafter themselves carried out by others. One generation must carry the other to the grave. Since Eve lent her ear to the wily words of the Serpent, only two of all those naturally born on the earth escaped death: Enoch and Elias, and these two were taken to heaven without dying, not because they had not been subject to mortality, but by a special dispensation of God. To us God has promised no such special dispensation; we cannot expect to be an exception to the common rule; we all know that we must die. The extraordinary occurrence which our Gospel relates is this: The men carrying that corpse intended to take it to the tomb, but they did not. At the gate of the city they were met by a man who put a stop to the whole funeral procession. This man first went to the sorrowing mother and said: "Weep not," say and so He gave light and life to the drooping soul of that mourning widow. Then He touched the bier, saying: "Young man, I unto thee, Arise. And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak." Those people had set out to inter a corpse, and they returned, bringing back alive him that had been dead. Surely, the inhabitants of Nain had great reason to ask: Who is this man? Who is this man, who calls the dead and they come, who turns the procession of death and mourning into a procession of life and rejoicing? It is He of whom John writes: In him was life; and the life was the light of men." John 1, 4. He it is that turns death into life and darkness into light. We must die, but Jesus Christ is come to be our life in the midst of death, our light in the midst of darkness. Because we must die and there is only One who can save in death and from death we ought frequently to consider these two facts; and as this text offers us an occasion let us to-day consider: I. THE RIGHT PREPARATION FOR DEATH, ASKING What is the right preparation for death? II. Why is it so necessary to hold ourselves in readiness always? I. Death is the most terrible thing on earth, dreaded by every thing living. Let a man be never so fearless, in the presence of death awe will creep over him. The reason why death is something so appalling to man is, because it is the punishment which God has pronounced on disobedience. "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." "The wages of sin is death." Rom. 6, 23. Death did not originate from God; God has pleasure in life and not in death; but by the wiles of Satan sin, and through sin death came into the world. If we were without sin, we would live forever, and would be received into heaven without death. It is because of sin that we must depart from the world in so dreadful a manner. But, whereas death now is in the world and no power or skill of man can do away with it, the great question is: How may we be prepared to meet |