hilst the habit of laying up treasures in heaven would draw
the heart more and more heavenward; would be continually
strengthening his new, his divine nature, his spiritual faculties,
because it would call his spiritual faculties into use, and thus they
would be strengthened; and he would more and more, whilst yet in the
body, have his heart in heaven, and set upon heavenly things; and
thus the laying up treasures in heaven would bring along with it,
even in this life, precious spiritual blessings as a reward of
obedience to the commandment of our Lord.

II. The next passage, on which I desire to make a few remarks, is
Matthew vi. 33. "But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His
righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." After
our Lord, in the previous verses, had been pointing His disciples "to
the fowls of the air," and "the lilies of the field," in order that
they should be without carefulness about the necessaries of life; He
adds: "Therefore take no thought, (literally, be not anxious) saying,
What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we
be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek;) for
your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things."
Observe here particularly that we, the children of God, should be
different from the nations of the earth, from those who have no
Father in heaven, and who therefore make it their great business,
their first anxious concern, what they shall eat, and what they shall
drink, and wherewithal they shall be clothed. We, the children of
God, should, as in every other respect, so in this particular also,
be different from the world, and prove to the world that we believe
that we have a Father in heaven, who knoweth that we have need of all
these things. The fact that our Almighty Father, who is full of
infinite love to us His children, (and who has proved to us His love
in the gift of His only begotten Son, and His almighty power in
raising him from the dead), knows that we have need of these things,
should remove all anxiety from our minds. There is, however, one
thing that we have to attend to, and which we ought to attend to,
with reference to our temporal necessities, it is mentioned in our
verse: "But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness."
The great business which the disciple of the Lord Jesus has to be
concerned about (for this word was spoken to disciples, to professed
believers) is, to