Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-07-15
fin Local Churches.

Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed
| like one of these
| 30. Wherefore, If God so clothe the grass
| OF the field, which today is, and tomorrow
| more clothe you. We Of little faith?
81 Therefore take no thought. saying.
what shall We eat? or, What shall we
drink. or. Wherewithal shall we be
80. For after all these things do the Gen.
tiles seek: for yonr heavenly Father know
eth that We have need Of all these things.
81. But seek we first the kingdom of God
and his righteousness; and all these things
! shall be added unto you.
"a. Take therefore no thought for the
| morrow; for the morrow shall take thought
day is the evil thereof.
James 10. Let the brother of low degree
| rejoice in that he is exalted:
10. But the rich, in that he is made low:
| because as the flower Of the grass he shall
pass away.
II. For the sun is no sooner risen with a
| and the flower thereof falleth. and the
| grace of the fashion of it perisheth; so also
I shall the rich man fade away in his ways
The Lesson.
Men willing to trust everything and
| everybody but God. They rust the milk
man and the butcher, and the druggist
| with his deadly drugs. tie doctor and the
| plumber. They trust the man who builds
| their houses that they will not fall In a
| high wind, and they trust the man who puts
| up the chimney that defective fiue will
| not set the house fire. They trust the
| banks though they often break, and they
hoard their treasures in vaults that are
| sc sometimes broken open. The savings of
| lifetime are put into property they have
not seen. and whose title may not be clear.
They trust their little. helpless children
| with strange servants, they trust their own
rt.+. IN, tln trrr0
and unloving friends. They even trust
| themselves and their own weak intentions.
But God they are afraid to trust. And yet
God made them, put them on this earth
with all that was needed to maintain the
life that He had created, and still gives
them all they have.
1t seems sad that even those who followed
Jesus closely when He was here upon earth
| had to be reminded of their failure in this
respect by the great lily-lesson their
Teacher gave them. To think that we
should any of us suppose that God who
cared to paint the tiny wild flower In colorS
so rare, and array 1t in texture so exquisite.
would forget to give His own loved ones
| the clothing they need,
Again and again does God have to take
away from Christians what they have in
| order to teach them the dependence of the
| lily. Even those who in other ways have al
most attained unto perfection have this one
blight sometimes upon their lives that they
are full of vexation and anxiety about the
future. They have set for themselves
standard of this world goods, and 1t is a
constant fret to them lest they may be him
dered from their purpose of attaining. 1t
is as If lily should begin to worry. lest
the soil would not be rich enough to make
its stalk longer than the stalks of all the
lilies round about. and as If by frettlng II
could bring a fertilizer into the earth.
We cannot think of a lovely lily turning
Its petals to grovel in the earth and trying
to help the roots gather in more nourish-
ment or twisting its blossoms to look down.
ri anYiOnslV how things are COM
Ing on, when II ought to be looking upward
to The full light of the sun, for the develop
ment OF its perfect beauty. Is 1t any more
consistent for a Christian to grovel IN the
earth for gold, and to give his whole time
and thought to the getting of gain? For
how Is our lot better than others If we may
not cast our care at the feet OF Him VINO
has borne II all for us?
1t is time we srnoothed the fret lines from
out brows and gave our lives the llsht OF
trust. not darkening that light by VAN
fears and futile plannings; not trying 10
serve both God and gold; not feeling un-
comfortable and refusing to go out because
we are not dressed In the latest style be
sure we have the lily nature in our hearts
and our God will see that we are suitably
clothed when His time comes to glorify US
before Others and despised garments we
sometimes have to wear may be In his
eyes as fair In fashioning as the petals OF
His flowers. Last year we all had to have
a certain kind of sleeve with voluminous
dip at the wrist, and this year we are all
at work frantically turning our sleeves up
side down. for the dip must become pun
on the shoulder. And what availeth 1t allY
The fashion of this world passeth away.
The rich man and his automobile that we
envy passes on, and the next generation
envies him not, because some new mode or
locomotion will have arisen. The flower
passes away. The death of the lily Is
quiet happening without glory. 1t falls un-
noted except by the few who have watched
it's lovely unfolding. sweetness may
gftner hon he Cf1nt W
a little while, but its beauty Is seen no
more.
Now, 1t seems as though this fact of
sudden ending must mar the beauty of any
life if constantly remembered, but here
again we are contradicted by the lily.
This life is not ALL" 1t says, II expect to
live again. My flower at my resurrection
must be lovelier than before 1t must con-
form to the perfect pattern. l must put
forth all joy, all energy, to make my flow
erng perfect now. that the seed ! leave
shall carry the perfect life into the grave
for a resurrection. Then when Gods
springtime comes 1 shall rise white and
glorious, Gods beautiful surprise. I must
drink in all the sunshine l can. and look
to heaven day and night. for 1t is the sun
that makes me white, and II will be the
sun that will call me into new life again.
This life is not all
So, to the child of Jesus, death is not
ending. The eternal life has begun now for
the one who is trusting In Jesus The
flower that has lived in the sunshine does
not fear 10 be folded away in the bulb In
the earth, for the sun is yet above It, and
the sun who called 1t forth in the beginning
can call IL again.
Applied Truth.
Paul Gerhardt, prosecuted. poor, obliged
to leave his country on account of his firm
religious convictions, came one night to the
climax of his troubles. Footsore and
weary he found a retreat in which to pray
in little arbor by the way, while his dis
couraged wife sat near by weeping. And
as he prayed his words took the form of
the wonderful hymn which has been sung
by so many discouraged ones since:
''Give to the winds thy fears;
Hope and be undismayed
God hears thy signs and counts thy tears
He shall lift up thy head"
And that very same night there came rid
tpg turo NH