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Let us now consider what the Christian's behaviour would be, in this same particular of selfdenial. In the course of his conflict against sin dwelling within him, he might find, by experience, that the indulgence of one appetite provoked another and that the more he restrained his bodily inclinations, and refused to gratify them, the better he was able to serve God in all things, and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Therefore he might determine with himself to fast: i. e. to eat sparingly, and of the simplest things; such as are least likely to provoke a sinful thought or action. Or he might regulate himself according to a rule which has been recommended by eminent Christians, and deny himself" in some thing every day; on the principle of the apostle, where he says. "All things are lawful for me; but I will not be brought under the power of any:" I will not make them necessary to me. But this would be a matter between himself and God; his nearest friend would not be aware of it much less would he proclaim it to the multitude. Thou when thou fastest, (our Lord seems to imply that self-denial is essential to his disciples,) anoint thy head and wash thy face: that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret. He who seeth in secret, will, at the day of account, lay open much hypocrisy which had here, perhaps, received unmerited applause, and will reward concealed acts of piety and charity.

Let it be our care so to live, that we may rejoice in knowing, that our heavenly Father does

see in secret. And this will be if we keep this world in the right place, that is, in the lowest place, and make a heavenly inheritance our chief concern. Then neither credit nor reproach will affect us unduly; credit will not elevate, nor reproach depress. Our business is with our heavenly Father; and our object, according to the precept which follows, "glory and honour, and immortality."

19. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

20. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.

21. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

22. The light of the body is the eye; if, therefore, thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light :

23. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If, therefore, the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

The purpose of these precepts is, to warn us against allowing any earthly thing to be the main object of our lives. The lover of pleasure; the ambitious man; the man whose grand concern it is to advance himself or his family: all these lay up their treasures on earth, as much as he who covets riches. If our heart is so earnestly set upon any of these things, that we seek them more diligently than we seek heaven, then they are our treasure; and if they are our treasure, the principle of our life is wrong, and we are following an object which leads to disappointment and ends in death.

This is taught by an example: The light of the body is the eye; the eye leads and directs the motions of the body; and what the eye is to the body, such is, to the man, the ruling desire of the heart; the principle of action. If the eye be evil, fails or misleads, the whole body is full of darkness; so, if the principle of action be wrong, the whole conduct of life is wrong.

Therefore, if it is the principle of a man's life to lay up treasures on earth, to set his affections there, the light in him is darkness; he works by a wrong rule, he "labours for that which satisfies not ;" he will find himself deceived at the last. How great is that darkness which misleads the whole life!

But if his eye is single, if his first object be that which the gospel prescribes, to lay up treasures in heaven, then his whole body shall be full of light: this principle will reduce all the concerns and affairs of life into proper order, and show them in their true colours, their real magnitude.

The rich worldling, in the parable, betrayed his ruling principle when he said, "Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.' "Such was the light he followed; and how soon it ended in darkness! "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?"

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St. Paul, on the other hand, showed a very different principle: (Acts xx. 23.) "The Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying, that bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things

1 Luke xii. 17-19.

move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God."

Surely his whole body was full of light. He had "set his affections on things above, not on things of the earth." And "his life was hid with Christ in God."

LECTURE XV.

RELIANCE ON GOD'S PROVIDENTIAL CARE.

MATT. vi. 24-34.

24. No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and

mammon.

In the verses which precede this, our Lord has strongly urged the necessity of seeing and pursuing our real interest in life, and laying up treasure which should never fail. Here he warns us, that this must be done simply and decidedly; he shows, by an unanswerable example, that we cannot serve this world and the next together. We must as

1 Mammon is a Syriac word, signifying money or gain.

surely set before ourselves a leading object, as a man must choose a certain master. No man can serve two, without, at times, deserting one of them.

The heart of the worldly man often deceives him in this. He flatters himself that he is only paying a necessary attention to things on earth, and that he is still "laying up treasure in heaven." But occasions must arise when the interests of Mammon and of God are opposed to one another, and there must be a firm resolution, and a decided choice, that God is to be served. "The double-minded

man is unstable in all his ways.”

25. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment ?

This is the answer to the objection which human nature is likely to cast in the way of the preceding exhortations. Men will be disposed to ask, If I neglect worldly advantages, because the pursuit of them might endanger my soul, what will become of the interests of my family? Our Lord replies, Take no thought, no anxious thought concerning this. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? What would meat or raiment profit a man, who lost his life to obtain them? Even so much would this world's good profit him, who in seeking it neglected his soul."

2

* Doddridge has a different interpretation. "Is not life a more valuable gift than food, and the body than raiment? And if it be, why should you not trust the Almighty Being who formed your bodies, to maintain the work of his own hands?"

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