your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Here is revealed to us at once our privilege and our duty, the Christian portion of having engagements of this world without pursuing objects. And in accordance with our Divine Teacher are the words of the ductory of a passage already cited. nothing into this world, and it is carry nothing out. And having food and raiment, let us be therewith content 1." There is no excuse then for that absorbing pursuit of wealth, which many men indulge in, as if a virtue, and expatiate upon as if a science. "After all these things do the Gentiles seek!" Consider how different is the rule

Apostle, intro"We brought

certain we can

of life left us by the Apostles. "I speak this for your own profit," says St. Paul, "that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction." "This I say,

brethren, the time is short; it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none, and they that weep as though they wept not, and they that rejoice as though they rejoiced not, and they that buy, as though they possessed not, and they that use this world, as not abusing it, for the fashion of this world passeth away.” 66 Be anxious for nothing; but in every thing, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be

1 Matt. vi. 1 Tim. vi. 7, 8.

all

1

made known unto God." And St. Peter, " Casting your anxiety upon Him, for He careth for you 1." I have now given the main reason, why the pursuit of gain, whether in a large or small way, is prejudicial to our spiritual interests, that it fixes the mind upon an object of this world; yet others remain behind. Money is a sort of creation, and gives the acquirer, even more than the possessor, an imagination of his own power; and tends to make him idolize self. Again, what we have hardly won, we are unwilling to part with; so that a man who has himself made his wealth, will commonly be penurious, or at least will not part with it except in exchange for what will reflect credit upon himself, or increase his importance. Even when his conduct is most disinterested and amiable, (as in spending for the comfort of those who depend on him,) still this indulgence of self, of pride and worldliness, insinuates itself. Very unlikely therefore is it that he should be liberal towards God; for religious offerings are an expenditure without sensible return, and that upon objects for which the very pursuit of wealth has indisposed his mind. Moreover, if it may be added, there is a considerable tendency in occupations connected with gain to make a man unfair in his dealings, that is, in a subtle way. There are so many conventional deceits and prevarications in the details of the

1 1 Cor. vii. 29-31. 35. Phil. iv. 6. 1 Pet. v. 7.

world's business, so much intricacy in the management of accounts, so many perplexed questions about justice and equity, so many plausible subterfuges and fictions of law, so much confusion between the distinct yet approximating outlines of honesty and civil enactment, that it requires a very straightforward mind to keep firm hold of strict conscientiousness, honour and truth, and to look at matters in which he is engaged, as he would have looked on them, supposing he now came upon them all at once as a stranger.

And if such be the effect of the pursuit of gain on an individual, doubtless it will be the same on a nation; and if the peril be so great in the one case, why should it be less in the other? Rather considering that the tendencies of things are sure to be brought out, where time and numbers allow them fair course, is it not certain that any multitude, any society of men, whose object is gain, will on the whole be actuated by those feelings, and moulded into that character, which has been above described? With this thought before us, it is a very fearful consideration that we belong to a nation which in good measure subsists by making money. I will not pursue it; nor inquire whether the especial political evils of the day have not their root in that principle, which St. Paul calls the root of all evil, the love of money. Only let us consider the fact, that we are money-making people, with our Saviour's declarations before us against wealth, and trust in wealth;

and we shall have abundant matter for serious

thought.

Lastly, with this dreary view before us of our condition and prospects as a nation, the pattern of St. Matthew is our consolation; for it suggests that we, Christ's ministers, may use great freedom of speech, and state unreservedly the peril of wealth and gain, without aught of harshness or uncharitableness towards individuals who are exposed to it. They may be brethren of the Evangelist, who left all for Christ's sake. Nay such there have been (blessed be God!) in every age; and in proportion to the strength of the temptation which surrounds them, is their blessedness and their praise, if they are enabled amid the "wares of the seas" and the great wisdom of their traffick" to hear Christ's voice, to take up their Cross, and follow Him.

66

SERMON XXIX.

THE FEAST OF ST. MICHAEL AND ALL ANGELS.

THE POWERS OF NATURE.

PSALM Civ. 4.

Who maketh His Angels spirits, His Ministers a flaming fire.

ON to-day's Festival it well becomes us to direct our minds to the thought of those Blessed Servants of God, who have never tasted of sin; who are among us, though unseen, ever serving God joyfully on earth as well as in heaven; who minister, through their Maker's condescending will, to the redeemed in Christ, the heirs of salvation.

There have been ages of the world, in which men have thought too much of Angels, and paid them excessive honour; honoured them so perversely as to forget the supreme worship due to Almighty God. This is the sin of a dark age. But the sin of what is called an educated age, such as our own, is just the reverse; to account slightly of them, or