‘ , 
” 
4 
‘ae mo 
580 Perverted Scripture. 
he convinced of his fault? Not at all. Prodigality a 
fault! Why it isa virtue. Is it not written in the Bible 
“Take no thought for the morrow,’ and “ Sufficient unto 
the day is the evil thereof.” 
We turn to the Sermon on the Mount, from which the 
words are taken, and we find that to quote them in defence 
of improvidence is a gross perversion of Scripture. Chris- 
tianity is for the life that is, as well as for that life which is 
to be. It is for the body as well as the soul, and not in 
the whole Bible is there a text that palliates, much less in- 
culcates, the neglect of anything that is necessary to be 
done for the happiness of man on earth. The Saviour was 
rebuking his hearers for their want of faith in the love and 
goodness of God. “Behold the fowls of the air, for they 
sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, for 
your heavenly Father feedeth them; are ye not much 
better than they. Which of you, by taking thought, can 
add one cubit unto his stature?” Now, it will not be pre- 
tended that Christ was bidding his hearers not to labour. 
It will not be suggested that Christ meant that men, like 
the fowls of the air, should neither sow nor reap, nor gather 
into barns. ‘The lesson is too simple to permit any such 
misapprehension. It was that men should not allow anxiety 
about the future to darken the present. Labour in faith: 
labour in the faith that God will give the increase. The 
fowls of the air are fed, although they toil not; and shall not 
man, who’sows and reaps and gathers into barns, be fed ? 
But what is the use of anxiety? You cannot add to your 
stature by taking thought. “ Take, therefore, no thought 
for the morrow, for the morrow will take thought for the 
things of itself, sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” 
Now this text, so far from excusing prodigality, is an in- 
centive to providence. Nothing more depresses the springs 
of industry than uncertainty. It is the sanguine man who 
succeeds. The warrior triumphs who believes himself des- 
tined to triumph. It is the anxioys, doubtful, despondent 
man who fails. He works without hope, and, therefore, with- 
out vigour. And the doubting increases from year to year 
until despondency. about the result hinders a man from — 
doing his duty. Why sow, when a blight may destroy the 
harvest ? Why lay up a store that may rot or may be | 
stolen ? It is, amongst other things, to rebuke this doubting | 
and to encourage industry and providence, that the Saviour. 
uttered the words we have quoted. Do your duty and leave, 
as you must do, the issue to God. Sow, reap, and gather 
