Note 4 — CHRISTIAN DEVOTEDNESS, ETC.

The principal points to be attended to, in the above passage, are,--The importance attached to a "single eye" and the clear declaration of our Saviour, that riches disturb the clearness and simplicity of its vision;--God's care of the lowest of his creatures, and his provision for those which have neither storehouse nor barn;--the inference thence deduced by our Saviour, that he will much more care and provide for those who singly and earnestly seek the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, though they have neither store-house nor barn;--and the source of all our distrust and doubt, clearly intimated in the expression--"O ye of little faith." The parallel passage in St. Luke is almost verbally the same. It is, however, more striking, as it is introduced by a practical warning derived from the conduct of the "rich man",[4] who cries out, on the contemplation of his security from want,--"Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years", and to whom God replies...--"Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be required of thee; then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided" (Luke 12. 13-14). It also concludes with an exhortation somewhat different from that in St. Matthew. In the latter it is said--"Lay not up"; whereas in St. Luke it is said,--"Sell all that thou hast, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not."