ual.

Now, Dr. Martineau points out that Christ teaches, in contradistinction
to asceticism, that the animal body, with its instincts and appetites,
is as good on its own plane as the higher and spiritual attributes of
man are on theirs. Our Father knoweth that, in common with other
creatures, we have need of physical good, and He has provided us with a
self-acting mechanism for its attainment, which will work rightly if
only it is left alone and not tampered with. There is the same
provision in us as in them of unconscious instincts and appetites for
carrying on the lower life which is necessary as the platform of the
higher spiritual being, to set it free, as it were, for the pursuit of
its legitimate ends--all those higher and wider interests in life which
are comprised under the one comprehensive name of "the kingdom of God."
And the teaching of Christ is: Neither hate nor fear this part of your
nature with the ascetic, nor pamper and stimulate it with the Hedonist,
but let it alone to act on its own plane; trust it, trust God who made
it, while you throw all your conscious energies into the higher
concerns of life; and you will find, when left to its own unconscious
activity, it is neither an over-nor an under-provision for carrying on
your subsistence and that of the race. "Take no anxious thought
[(Greek: me merimnesete)] for the morrow." "Your Father knoweth that ye
have need of these things," and has arranged your being accordingly.
"Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added
to you." "Behold the birds of the air; your heavenly Father feedeth
them."

"Oh," says the practical man at once, "that is all very fine as
sentiment; it is very Eastern and poetical; but I should like to know
how, in these overcrowded days, I could support myself and family if I
am to trust God to feed me and them like the birds of the air, and only
think about religion." But is not this wholly to misunderstand our
Lord's teaching? How does God feed the birds of the air? Is it not by
incessant and untiring effort on their part? Those who have watched a
pair of birds flying backwards and forwards to the nest under the eave
may well question whether industry can go further. But in the
unconscious being of a bird it is toil without [Greek: merimna],
without thought and worry, and becomes, therefore, the very picture to
us of trust in a higher Power, who has thus adjusted an unerring
instinct to an unfailing end.