The Newark star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1909, 1909-10-11
DON'T WORRY OVER
INEVITABLE, SAYS
PASTOR IN SERMON
Our Advice to Others Ought to
Be Good Enough for Ourselves,
Declares DR.. IngIis.

The Rev. DR.. Robert Scott Inglis, Of
the Third Presbyterian Church. gave
his hearers some splendid advice on
the Don't Worry question at the
Evening services of his church lasl
night. DR.. Inglis spoke in part as fol-
lows:
Luke xii, %: I say unto you,
take no thought for your life
These words sound impractical.
What dc they. mean? A better trans
lation is, BE not anxious for your life.
This advice against anxiety does not
mean an epicurean tbriftlessness, born
of the idea that his is all there is of
life, and tina its best solution is to
make ii "a short and a merry one.f
Taking no thought for ones lif" does
not mean stoical indifference to it.
lust to bear the ills Of life as though
we could not help it. 1t does not re-
lieye us of the duty of making life
better or of the responsibility for fight
ing against a system of society that
degrades and enslaves mankind.
The Scriptures declare we are not to
be like the dumb brutes. restrained by
bit and goaded by the rod. But haV-
ing done all we can to better our own
conditions and that of all other men,
we. are not to fret ourselves because
of thesevil-doers and of him that bring
eth mischief to pass. We are to know
tina God is in Heaven, keeping watch
above his own, and that He will finally
bring earth to it's end.
z ."'Be not anxious does not mean that
we are to be like the infidel, ~prayerless
as to life. Jesus Christ Himself set us
the example of prayer for life and told
us to ask for what WE wanted. 1t does
not mean that we should make the
fatalist's mistake and think that LIES
course is inevitable-that luck or
nance OF fate governs every life. Jesus
in one of his parallels tells us of the
wise builder who made his plans and
counted the. cost beforehand; of the
wise soldier who planned his campaign
before he met the enemy. But be not
anxious does. mean that we are to
avoid carping cares. We are to avoid
worry and fretting over that which,
on account Of present conditions, may
be inevitable. There is a God in heaven.
There is a life beyond. And God has
made our condition in that life de-
pendent on our attitude in this life.
The man who keeps the eternal life in
view is likely to make the best use
of this one.
Anxiety is dishonoring to God. 1t
indicates a lack of trust in Him. 1t is
degrading to man, because it units
him for the better battling with the
evils we meet. We recognize the truth
of this when we say to our friends, as
we say so often, Don't worry Our
good advice for others ought to be
good enough for ourselves. We have
even a proverb to preach the practical
teaching of the text. for when we say,
Don't cross the bridge till you come
to it, we are saying what Jesus meant
when He said, Take no thought for
life Don't worry over accumulat-
ing duties You can do only one at a
time, and If you do that, neither man
nor God can find fault. Don't worry
over future trials. They may never
come, and YOU greatest trial may be
anticipation of adversely that may
never reach you.
Don't worry over your health. II
you have it you are apt to loose 1t
worrying. If you have not, you will
not gain it by anxiety. Don't worry, as
we are so apt to do. over what people
say of us. In a few days or months
we will have forgotten it, and the
world will not remember It long. Don't
worry over mountainous obstacles. A
step at a time will finally surmount
them If they are in the way of our
climbing. Any day the road may lead
into the valley"