thy sin: and healeth all thine infirmities: Who saveth
thy life from destruction; and crowneth thee with mercy and
loving-kindness."

LII.

_TRUST IN GOD._

15th Sunday after Trinity.

S. Matt. vi. 31.

"Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness."

INTRODUCTION.--We read in ancient Roman history that a general named
Aemilius Paulus was appointed to the Roman army in a time of war and
great apprehension. He found in the army a sad condition of affairs,
there were more officers than fighting men, and all these officers
wanted to have their advice taken, and the war conducted in accordance
with their several opinions. Then Aemilius Paulus said to them, "Hold
your tongues, and sharpen your swords, and leave the rest to me."

It seems to me that our Lord's advice in this day's Gospel is of
somewhat the same nature. He finds in the army of His Church everyone
clamouring after his worldly affairs, wanting this, and objecting to
that, all seeking their own, and not the things of Jesus Christ. Then
He says, "Hold your tongues, and sharpen your swords, and leave the
rest to Me. Take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or what shall
we drink? or wherewithal shall we be clothed? 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."

SUBJECT.--In our great solicitude after our temporal welfare, we do not
seek first our spiritual welfare, but put that altogether in the
background. In fact, we do not trust God, we trust ourselves chiefly.
We fear if we do not devote our whole attention to our worldly
prosperity, we shall not get on. And so we neither seek the kingdom of
God, nor the righteousness of God; we seek only the world and the
things that are in the world. If we had more trust in God, it would
not be so.

I. The Bible is made up of six classes of books. To the first class
belong the historical books. To the second the book of Psalms. To the
third class belong the books that deal with Wisdom. To the fourth the
Prophets. To the fifth the Gospels, and to the sixth the canonical
Epistles.

Now in all these different classes of books we find the same assurance
made by God, that if we will but attend to our spiritual concerns, He
will see that our temporal affairs do not suffer. In one of the first
historical books we have this promise (Levit. xxvi. 3, 4, 5