WE

OVER-ANXIETY.

E all desire ease, and comfort, and peace. We think it a happy thing for a man to end his days in peace; and we like to look forward to a time when the troubles of this life shall be over, and we shall be where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest, if God be pleased to forgive our sins. And yet how often do we suffer our peace of mind to be disturbed by the cares of this life! How often do we make troubles for ourselves by brooding over evils which we cannot prevent, and which may never befall us! How often do we spoil the enjoyment of the present by anxious thoughts about next week, or next year; when, perhaps, next week may see us in our graves ! And this we do, even while we know that we ought to cast all our care upon God, because He careth for us; and because it is by His mercy only, and not by any forethought of ours, that we can dwell safely. St. Paul tells us to be "careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, to let our requests be made known unto God;" for then, he says, "the peace of God shall keep our hearts." Again, we read in the Psalms, "Cast

thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee." And so we find in the Gospel, that Martha was "careful, and troubled about many things; but Mary had chosen the good part," which, our Lord said, should not be taken from her. And again, in our Lord's Sermon on the Mount, He told his hearers to "take no thought for the morrow; for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto

the day is the evil thereof."

Now I do not mean to say that we are actually to live from day to day without trying to provide for the future; nor did our Lord or His apostles teach anyone to do so. But what Holy Scripture teaches us is, that we are not be over-anxious about the future. We are to do our daily work to the best of our power, to lay by something, if we are able, for the future need, to make a moderate use of such good things as God gives us, and not to waste anything; and then, when we have done this, done all that is in our power, we are not to vex ourselves with thoughts of what may happen in the future. If it is the will of God to bring misfortune, all the anxiety in the world will never hinder it; and if we seem to see the shadow of some coming misfortune before us, we may be sure that it will not come unless God wills it, and thinks it to be for our good.

There is enough of sin and sorrow in this world already, without our making sorrows for our

selves; and we have no right to expect that God will provide for our wants, unless we will trust His promises. Happy would it be for us all if we could feel how weak and helpless we are under the hand of God, and if we could see the work of our Heavenly Father in all the events of our lives; if we could see the same love shown in our afflictions as in our prosperity. Happy should we be if we could look upon Him, as indeed He is, as our best and kindest Friend, and go to Him in prayer in our wants, and in praise when our wants are satisfied; so that while labouring, as He commands, in the station in which He has placed us, we may pass our time here in rest and quietness, and after this life look forward to rest eternal.

WE

OVER-CONFIDENCE.

E are all weak and helpless creatures; God can do what He will with us, He can give us health or sickness, life or death; without His help and permission we can do nothing, with His help we can do everything; but we are never so weak and in so great danger of falling into harm, whether to our bodies or our souls, as when we think ourselves most strong, and trust most in ourselves and least in Him.

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St. Paul warns us against such over-confidence in solemn terms: "Let him," he says, "that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall;" and surely there is no one who has not proved for himself the need of such care, no one who has not at some time or other been inclined to think too much of his own powers of mind or body, and so found himself grievously deceived.

In earthly affairs, indeed, such folly is not long in bringing its own punishment, but in matters which concern religion, the punishment may not come in this world at all, though, indeed, it most certainly will come sooner or later. We should, therefore, be most especially careful not to trust too much to ourselves in the affairs of the soul, both because such self-confidence is a sin against God (since it brings with it a want of faith in Him), and because it is but too likely that in the next world those who do so will find that they have failed to obtain the glorious prize of which, while on earth, they have felt themselves too sure.

The truth is, that we are never safe as long as we remain on earth. As long as we put our whole trust in God, and lay our hearts open to Him in constant prayer, and try to obey His commands and live holy lives, so long may we feel that He looks upon us with favour, and will not fail us in our last hour; but if once we forget these duties, and begin to live as if we were in no danger from the attacks of the evil one, and as if nothing

could draw us away from the right path, then it will not be long before we fall into some sin, of which we little suspected our danger.

It is to be remembered that we are not all tempted in the same way: some people indulge in the more open kind of sins-drunkenness, adultery, lying, profane swearing, and such likeand the world condemns them, because their vices are known; whilst others, whom the world never condemns because it does not know their hearts, may not find it difficult to resist these sins, and yet give way to pride, envy, covetousness, hatred, and such forms of wickedness, which, whatever the world may think of them, are most hateful in the sight of God. As God is always ready to find us a way to escape from every temptation, so is Satan always ready to find for every man just that kind of temptation which is most likely to lead him into sin, and we should bear this truth in mind if ever we are inclined to think too much of our own goodness, and, while we thank God for the grace which has enabled us, if, indeed, we have been able, to keep ourselves free from the stain of any of those sins to which we have been tempted, we should pray to Him to open our eyes to our own weakness, to make us see how utterly unable we are to do anything good without His help, and how certain we are to fall into sin if for one moment we put our trust in ourselves instead of in Him, and to give us such