Wherefore if God so cloath the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more cloath you, O ye of little faith?
Therefore take no thought, saying, what shall we eat? Or, what shall we drink? Or, wherewithal shall we be cloathed?
(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
But first seek ye the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.
Take therefore no thought for the morrow; for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself: sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
1.IT is recorded of the nations whom the king of Assyria, after he had carried Israel away into captivity, placed in the cities of Samaria, They feared the Lord, and served their own gods. These nations, saith the inspired writer, feared the Lord, performed an outward service to him, (a plain proof that they had a fear of God, tho’ not according to knowledge) and served their graven images, both their children and their children’s children; as did their fathers, so did they unto this day, 2 Kings xvii. 33, &c.
How nearly does the practice of most modern Christians, resemble this of the ancient Heathens? They fear the Lord: they also perform an outward service to him, and hereby shew, they have some fear of God; but they likewise serve their own gods. There are those who teach them (as there were who taught the Assyrians) the manner of the God of the land; the God whose name the country bears to this day, and who was once worshipped there with an holy worship. Howbeit, they do not serve him alone; they do not fear him enough for this. But every nation maketh gods of their own, every nation in the cities wherein they dwell. These nations fear the Lord, they have not laid aside the outward form of worshipping him. But they serve their graven images, silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. Money, pleasure and praise, the gods of this world, more than divide their service with the God of Israel. This is the manner both of their children and their children’s children; as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.
2. But altho’ speaking in a loose way, after the common manner of men, those poor Heathens were said to fear the Lord, yet we may observe the Holy Ghost immediately adds, speaking according to the truth and real nature of things, They fear not the Lord, neither do after the law and commandment which the Lord commanded the children of Jacob: with whom the Lord made a covenant, and charged them, saying,Ye shall not fear other gods, nor serve them.—But the Lord your God ye shall fear, and he shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.
The same judgment is passed by the unerring Spirit of God, and indeed by all, the eyes of whose understanding he hath opened, to discern the things of God, upon these poor Christians, commonly so called. If we speak according to the truth and real nature of things, they fear not the Lord, neither do they serve him. For they do not after the covenant the Lord hath made with them, neither after the law and commandment which he hath commanded them, saying, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. They serve other gods unto this day. And no man can serve two masters.
3. How vain is it for any man to aim at this? To attempt the serving of two masters. Is it not easy to foresee, what must be the unavoidable consequence of such an attempt? Either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. The two parts of this sentence, altho’ separately proposed, are to be understood in connexion with each other. For the latter part is a consequence of the former. He will naturally hold to him whom he loves. He will so cleave to him, as to perform to him a willing, faithful, and diligent service. And in the mean time, he will so far, at least, despisethe master he hates, as to have little regard to his commands, and to obey them, if at all, in a slight and careless manner. Therefore, whatsoever the wise men of the world may suppose, Ye cannot serve God and mammon.