ourselves; but at the same time we honour God, and if we neglect these we cannot be reverencing the place we are in. But nothing can be done here properly without a devout and suitable manner in the doing of it. If we pray we should kneel, because it shows we are asking for favours from the Almighty. If we praise, we should stand, not to gaze about us, but to signify the firmness of our purpose and the elevation to God of our hearts; rejoicing, yet as David says, "trembling," or reverent. If we receive the Holy Sacrament, it must be kneeling, and in a careful subdued manner, because the gift is great and awful. But all irreverence must be put away. Disregard of what they were doing was the way in which the prophet Malachi says the priests despised the Name and altar of God. Disorder was the way in which the Corinthians despised the Church of God. Let us beware what we despise, even if it be only at a wedding. Perhaps, one remedy against irreverence in Church would be the cultivation of reverence at home. Roughness at home and want of reverence to parents is no good school for reverence at Church. Every home should be a little sanctuary where daily prayers are offered up by the father; and if we would reverence our homes as such, we should not be irreverent in Church.

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Let us, then, encourage reverence on earth for it will elevate our minds to God, will fill them with a heavenly temper, instil into us an habitual awe and reverence of God, and, thus, prepare us to meet him

face to face, reconciled to us in Jesus; will fit us for that company, where the Cherubim cover their faces with their wings, as they cry, Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts ;" and where "the elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive honor and glory and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created."

SERMON VIII.

EARTHLY CARE.

LUKE X, 41, 42.

Thou art careful and troubled about many things ; but one thing is needful.

WHEN God made man he placed him in a garden, containing abundance of good things; and this showed that he wished man to be without care. But when he lost that happy state, he became liable to every kind of anxiety and care for his life. Yet God gave him then some remedy towards it, viz., labour, saying, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread;" for if we can do so, and can, as St. Peter says, also "cast all our care on God," we shall be above this snare.

But, though God has thus, as it were, said to us, do your appointed work, and leave the rest to me, we find ourselves harassed about present things, and our hearts to be like some thoroughfare in a great town, our troubled thoughts being like men hurrying backward and forward on innumerable businesses.

The worst feature in our anxiety for this present

world is covetousness; which is so great a sin, that he who covets is said to be especially a man abhorred of God.

But there is a much more common form of this anxiety, which shows itself in the cares and troubles we suffer through the fear of losing something, or because things do not go right. There are in this also many degrees: some cares being so great as to overwhelm the mind, when given way to; and others being of a smaller kind, which create a restless anxiety, that takes away the full calm and peace which there ought to be in a Christian's soul.

Of this latter we have an example in her, of whom our Lord says in the Text, "Thou art careful and troubled about many things."

Jesus, as his manner was, had accepted the hospitality of Martha, and no doubt took with him his twelve disciples. In such a case, considerable exertion would be necessary to provide for so large a company. Now, to this exertion Jesus did not object: he in no respect complained that Martha was very busy in her labours for his entertainment. But he did object to one thing, viz., her carefulness, and being anxious and troubled about her preparations, which prevented her from attending to other things. In any case anxiety is objectionable; for, as St. Paul says, "I would have you without carefulness;" but when Jesus, the Divine Teacher, was present, not only to labour, but to be anxious about such things as meat and drink, when

such greater things were in hand, was especially objectionable. To take thought about earthly things in such times and places as require us to attend to heavenly things, to let them come in in the midst of our private prayers, or our public worship, is particularly unfit, and calls for the warning voice of the Lord in the Text.

But in this warning Jesus does not merely say, thou art troubled about the things of the present entertainment he goes much further, and points to the general turn of Martha's mind, saying, "Thou art troubled about many things."

So it is with us: if we can be careful about one thing, we usually are careful about many things. For care is like an army of soldiers; if one gets into the fort of the soul, all the others will speedily follow: the rampart is broken through, and many cares follow where one has gone before. Now, do not think that excellent persons, and those who may be called good Christians are free from this danger. For our Lord was not speaking to a bad character, but to one who was striving to do what was pleasing to God, and of whom he thought highly, as we read, "Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus;" for their's no doubt was a house in which faith; and temperance, and charity, and other graces dwelt. No doubt this anxiety for the world is greatest in those who live for this world; but it exists in some degree in those who are living for God; and has done so, ever since man