Year: 1870


ers to the following verses from the Il chap
Ter OF Luke Chap.


Consider the ravens for they neither upr reap
Will u neither have tcrehouse and Col feeeth
them. How much are ye better than the fowisf"


.Consider the lilies how they grow hey NOT they
spin not and vet yuu Solomon in all his gury
was not arrayed like one of these"


If then God rothe the erass how much more win he
elothe you ye Of little fAith,7


0ar.r remarks are intended to apply to sim
ners and saints, ou.self included.


Whether we believe or no. in Personal
Deity, all thoughtful men see a grand plan
and management in creation. Under its.
care thrives the tiniest plant and the smallest
insect under it's care the iunumerabse plan
cts sweep cross and interlace each others
orbits without confusion or collision. Il is
all stupendous mystery. We as yet stand
not on the Threshold of its solution.
This Plan, this Mystery. this Government,
which terminates the seed. this Life in man.
animal. aud insect, this Power holding the
ponderous worlds in space and. guiding them
with scrupulous exactness in their course is
| summed u2 in onq word, GoD


But we have little trust or confidence in
this power. We ever fear it will fail us.
We bad rather at any time trust for bread to
the profits derived from bargain verging on
the confines of rascality than trust in God.


The poison of human happiness to-day is
uneasiness concerning the immediate earthly
future. Afraid of not sdoing we'll" Afraid
Of coming TO want. Afraid that six months
hence we shall not be able to buy pair of
new boots.


In geining bread and clothes certain
amount of plan, care and fore-thought is well
and necessary. But what, help is our eternal
worry? What good comes of this ceaseess
brooding? Does it MD to prevent the mis-
fortune which has not yet nor may never
happen?


Consider the ravens; consider the lilies.
God feedeth them. The Grand Mysterious
Government of the Universe provides for
them. They have good time. They do not
,ror7y.


You will say; "but we are men and wo-
men; we are not ravens nor lilies; we must
work or starve; we can't iay on our backs
and have sugar and cream dropped into our
mouths"


Nor does the raven sit idly on the tree
open his mouth and receive his food. Tie
seeks it. He works for it. And il the lilies
neither toll nor spin, yet do they work. They
! u
the materials of which they are made and by
the unknown chemistry of Nature resolving
those elements into such substance form and
color that Solomon in all his glory was not
arranged like unto them. BIT they do not
ror1y. And they are the healthier for it.
| Equally with bird animal plant and insect
under the cnre and operation of tha. Great
Law, we call God, are men and women.
With more waits to satisfy, there is for us
more intellect to use in satisfying them. Oc-
cupatior we must have. Without it we are
miserable. Occupation is as much nccessi-
ty and requirement of human nature as the
mysterious life which building cell on Gel! at
last forms the flower. And occupation not to
over-fatigue. be it in field, workshop or study
is pleasure. The arms and the brain crave
work, and life itself is n craving to accom-
pish something, each in the line of his or
her talent. The energy. the restlessness.
the desire to do, the discomfort inevitable
when there is nothing to do. is the Power of
God, stirring within US. 1t is a part and
parcel of the Grand Life of the Universe, the
same which moves the planet and builds up
the plant.


| Being stirred then to work being unhappy
in thorough idleness. being able to accom-
pish something each in his or her line; hav-
ing health having food and clothing srifi-
cient for the hour, shall we not cast off this
unnecessary worry concerning what may
happen next month and trust little, Just
little to the Great Power, which is, in all tc
be used and enjoyed ever saying:
| '.IIov much are We better than the fowls ?
If God clo:be the grass. how much more will
he ciothe you. O We of little faith !"