RELIGIOUS WORLD.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIV, Issue 3, 3 January 1903, Page 2 (Supplement)

RELIGIOUS WORLD.

THE LESSON OF THE

LILIES

'(By the Eev. Canon HAIG BEOWN, Master of the Charterhouse.)

"Why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they toll not, neither do they spin; and yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all lila glory was not arrayed like one of the*e."—St Matthew vi., 28.

(Third and concluding portion.)

There were, doubtless, in the land of Judea many more gorgeous flowers than those which our blessed Lord chose for an example—many other more magnificent efforts of vegetation—but neither these nor the stately cedar of Lebanon, nor that tall and graceful child of the forest ■which men have named Deodora — the tree of God —not these were selected to supply the illustration o2 the Divine lesson. "Consider," says He, "the lilies of the field," and from this we may take yet another step upwards in the contemplation of our nature, and see that still more certainly the yearning tenderness of our Father in Heaven will follow all the motions and struggles of the soul, for that is a particle of the Divine Eternal Being; it is a portion of God's own life which He breathed into maa when He formed him from the dust of the earth, aud, therefore, much more surely shall its efforts after truth and purity and holiness foe blessed by the approving smile of Him in whom we live and move and have our being. That minute and all-pervading care of which we see evidence in the creation about us— that same watchfulness which is exercised over every grain of matter in ithis world of ours and in thousandjthousands of others, too; the g-aze of the Eye that never slumbers nor sleeps—is directed on the most secret workings of our hearts, and finds out in their hidden depths thoughts and motives of which we are hardly conscious. For God bestows on each one soul as much earnest attention as.if that were the only one in existence which could claim Hiscare. Not one of its feeblest pulsations escapes Him. There is no aspiration after good, no half-formed prayer not yet shaped into words, no craving for help in difficulty, no sigh for encouragement, no effort, however slight, to turn the affections from earth and fix them on Him who claims and deserves them all—not one of these things escapes Him, not one is unnoted in the book of His remembrance. Surely the conscious sense of the loving and tender sympathy of cmr Father which is in Heaven will be 3D© slight aid towards the victory over selfish passions and unholy thoughts. If I have made my meaning clear you will find but little difficulty in following me to the last point for which I shall ask your attention, and that is, perhaps, the most salient point of the parable before us. It is this: That while God bids us labour and work as best we may with the means which He has given us, He tells us that the issue of the work must be left to Him. Perhaps few people who have set their minds heartily on any object have not found a difficulty in learning this lesson. To those who are earnestly engaged in any work it is hard to cast out deep anxiety for the result. It is very hard in anything we do to draw the line of separation between our part in it and God's part in it. It is no easy matter to bring our efforts completely to an end and then disembarrass ourselves of all care about the issue and eatisfy ourselves that we may cast all our care on Him who careth for us. But this is what God calle on us to do, and there is abundant reason for it; for surely lie is wasting his best energies who loses himself in vain and futile anxieties about the issue of work, when his whole force should be reserved for pchievement—he is frittering away ©n>riddles of speculation the power %vhieh God intended to be bestowed on that which is within Ms reach, he is paralysing by leer of what may never happen, the strength of which ehould be expended on real difficulties, and, what is worse than all, he is weakening his faith in the only strength that «an aid him. Enough for «very day are the sins and sorrows of every day. Only, let ns meet them as they come with nrmreliance on the goodness of our Heavenly Father and an honest and hearty determination to use to the best profit the means which He has given us.