RELIGIOUS WORLD.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 279, 22 November 1913, Page 14

RELIGIOUS WORLD.

THE CRIME OF WORRY. "By the RET. J. W. BURTON, of tbe Whiteley Memorial Church.) "Cn«tlnz all your enre upon Him: for He raietb for yon."—l l'eter v. T. The Revised Version makes an important alteration in the translation of ti i- passage. "Casting all your anxiety upon Him; for 11,. careth fur you." The I two a.iTds translated "anxiety" and caret It are quite different in the original. The former word comes from a root meaning to divide, and perhaps "di-tra.-tion" is an even better word tlinn "anxiety." The verb ''careth" is peculiarly tender in its m-anins in the original, and tieni.tes the loving solicitui.- of the father for the child. There i- a certain amount of "care" or anxiety which tr« must all take if we are to Live a healthy life. The Christian injunction is not to cultivate either carelessne-s or apathy. If there were no pains nr,.i nn care, we should have no pro;rr.--«-. We must provide filings honest in l!ie of all men. and thi-: means thoutrhi fulness and effort. Disorder, thriftlcssuoss, netriicrn.-.-' are not Christian virtues. We must care about the mr.ra! stnto uf the world, and earnestly strive to improve it. We must strutrtric against the things that spoil and hurt humanity.

But there is an improper care — a ' mind-racking anxiety—which the Apostle tells us is a c-rini''. It clocs our best efforts, and makes impossible bitrh achievement. Responsibilities must rom» to us. but tiiey should inspire us to more earnest effort, and not crash übeneath their' vritrhl. Tin- tr-.us: nv to rid ourself of the "worry that kills" is to believe simply an'! frunk'y that

GOD CARES FOR t"S. ; It is a trreat faitit that is :-.ble to rest 1 there. A great calm corj-.'S 'n the «n-tl ; when W" are .-urn that (led cares for us. j This is the doctrine ■■' the Dhin.'l Father as taujrht hy Jesus Christ. Man i must rest on the ihoucriii of the Ktftli-r's ; responsibility, .in,! thus only lie will do ' his best. I was talking with a man in j one of our Pacific 1o.v::s otic .lay. and j he told me that he had a son in Cana.'. t who was studying at the university. I! ■ was evidently an independent sort of iad. and the father was not in a very good position, so that it meant a struggle for lim to keep his toy at the college. he son had written so-iethintr to the effc-t that he hated the thought of his fatiier working and saving in order to enable bim to pursue bis studies, and suggested that he had better have the 'Varsity and try to cam some money. "I just wrote back to Fred." said the father, ".mil I told him that it was my business a. his father to see that lie was provider! v ii!t the Tr,eati\ and that it wa- his business to study and not to wcrry." His clear duty was to cast nil his anxiety upon the father who carid for him. 1 was travelling once in one of the Government steamers in Fiji, and we struck bad weather. Tbe captain had been on ihe bridge all night, and had i"'-n anxious as he na»icated the reef-strewn waters. At daylight he stopped at a little island and took "ii board a native pilot, then he turned and said, "1 think I'll go to bed now." He -was able to east bis care upon another in whom he bad confidence. You have bad a little child sick. Long hour-; of watching have made yon anxious, and it seemed as if the frail life would slip out into the darkness. At last there came the rap at the door, and the doctor entered. He felt th" little one's pulse, and in a few mom. said, "It's all right! She will pull through." What a relief! You had another upon whom you could cast your care. Let us believe that God's care extends to every detail of our life. It is to be feared that our sense of greatness produced by the discoveries of modern science has a tendency to weaken our faith in God's care for the individual. What is a single life, we ask? I was once tbe guest of the bead of a great mercantile concern. I called into his

office and waited for him to accompany i me to his house to tea. I was impressed j by the huge interests he had to consider and the vast sums with which he dealt. \ To a layman the whole thing was bewildering, and I had an added respect for the man who could captain such an ! undertaking. At length we were on the : street, going home. Suddenly be dived into a shop with just a hurried "Excuse me. please," and after a while he reappeared by my side. "I'm sorry," he said, "to leave you but it is my little girl's birthday to-morrow, and 1 had to get her a little present." The master of a great concern, and yet he had room in his busy mind for his baby daughter. And in the great Father-heart of God there is ahought for each one of us. We may cast all our anxiety upon Him. for He careth for us. To distrust Him is a crime against love.

THE REMEDY FOR ANXIETY. "Casting all your care upon Him." That is a hard thing' to do: it requires stern discipline of the mind. We are saved by faith, but the exercise of faith is one of the most'difficult habits for the adult to form. Jesus said that a child was better equipped for the life of the kingdom. It means a humbling of our personal pride. We are fo full of selfimportance, and to trust in God is to be willing to take His way in preference to our own. Possibly there is no relief to the mind so great as that which comes by prayer and communion with God. A celebrated alienist, or specialist in mental diseases. has told us recently that the alarming increase in insanity among the eilivised nations is due to a lack of faith in God. The mind gets no rest from strain, and he tells us that to pray and to believe in God is the surest way of preserving mental balance. And have we not experienced this? There have been times in our life when we felt that we had reached the very limit of onr powers, and when the human heart could bc:ir no more. Distraught and troubled, we hnv" thrown ourselves upon the Great Father's mercy, and in prayer we have sought His strength. Th- u. quietly and almost imperceptibly, i new power has stolen into our life, and the troubles that loomed so larcc in tbe night of our unbelief have become small with the sunrise of trust. It is not always that we can see the answers to our prayer, for God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform. A young lady consecrated herself to work in India, and set about prepara-

tion for what she believed to be her lifetask. Just as she was ready to go, her motbeT was taken ill, and for three vears the daughter had to nurse her. When Death relieved her of her responsibility, her sister fell a victim to consumption, and agam the task of nursing fell upon her. The sister died and a year or so later the husband followed her. leavin" five children to the care of the misskmarv' volunteer. It seemed all so mysterious that there were days when she was tempted to doubt God. Fifteen yea™ afterwards when *". WaS * Woma " £"£ she had the iov of putting her banrf- «_«* tie head, of lUVfa'S

family she had brought up who were sail- j ing as missionaries to India.. Then she | saw. God was sending three missionaries I instead of one. and she bowed her shining face in thankfulness. I A simple faith in the providence of | God requires cultivation! Let us set j about it earnestly and sincerely, and we shall form a habit of mind which will I make us proof against care. God cares; we need not. "Oh," you say, "it is easy to talk thus; but you do not know what a tangle my life is; you cannot understand the grief that saps my mind." True! Nor can you mine. But there are sufficiencies with God for all our various needs, and the sanest as well aa the happiest way in life is to follow the advice of the Psalmist: "Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him."