"Jesus said, 'Seek first the Kingdom of God.' If we do this we need concern ourselves with nothing else, and by concern I mean burden ourselves. The daily round—the vast machinery of life—must go on, but after all only he who belongs to the Kingdom is fitted to meet its problems. He brings to them a calm confidence, a clear vision. His heart does not beat quick with hate or envy. His energy is not weakened by worry. His sight is not dimmed by doubt.... Perhaps some of you are saying—what is so often said—that it is easy to preach; and you ask how one can cease to worry when the path is dark before him; how one can look upon the terrible problems of sin and suffering, and not feel their crushing weight. If what I am saying this morning were simply what I think about it, you are right to doubt. But these are not my words. Can you believe that our Lord when He told His disciples to seek the Kingdom and all other needful things would be added, was simply giving utterance to a beautiful but impracticable theory? For my part, I cannot.
"I would ask you to notice that Jesus founded all he has to say on one great fact: the love of your Heavenly Father for you individually. Are you struggling with poverty, perhaps? Your Heavenly Father knoweth. Try, if but for a day, to put aside your anxiety and fix your thought on this. The things you need shall be given, and you shall find strength for another day of trust.
"Have you been wronged? do you find it hard to forgive? are you bitter? Your Heavenly Father knoweth. He will take care of your cause. Leave it to Him; do not be afraid to forget it. Seek, ask, knock, that you may obtain entrance into the Kingdom of love.
"Are you crushed by sorrow or physical pain? Your Father knoweth. Cease to fight against it. Come into His Kingdom. Suffering endures but a little while; and if you will have it so, out of it will come a diviner joy.
"Is the world full of dark problems? Your Heavenly Father knoweth. It is His world. Your part is to do, not to despair.
"Are you full of youth and hope and glad anticipation? Your Father knoweth. He made you so, and in a special sense the Kingdom belongs to you. The simple-hearted, the teachable, the joyous,—of such is the Kingdom. Enter in, and immortal youth shall be yours.... Oh, if I might help you to know the beauty, the joy, the peace of the Kingdom into which we may enter now and here, if we will. Yet we go on our way, oppressed by care, warped by envy and hate, our eyes blinded by what we call worldly wisdom."
Something like this was what came to Celia; and as she listened, forgetful of her surroundings, it linked itself in her thought to the Forest secret.
It was not so much the words as the aspirations they stirred,—the new belief in the possibility of high and joyous living, the new courage that thrilled in her veins. She was still under the spell when after the benediction Miss Betty asked, with a certain timidity, if she had liked the sermon.
Celia looked at her blankly for a second before she replied, "Oh, so much! It was beautiful. I should like to know him." She turned away with a smile; she was not ready to discuss it yet. She wanted to think.
"He held my attention, I grant, but I don't call it a sermon; it was too elementary,—it was nothing but a talk," she heard Mrs. Molesworth saying.