Said he: “Suppose you had a friend to whom you should go one night at midnight, and ask him to lend you three loaves of bread, for a friend had arrived unexpectedly, and you had nothing for him. Suppose he should answer, ‘Don’t trouble me; I’ve shut my house for the night, and my children and I are in bed; I can’t get up and attend to you.’ Now I tell you, though he wouldn’t attend to you on account of friendship, yet if you persist in urging your need he will get up and give you what you want. Now I say to you: ask and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you. Every one that asks shall receive; he who seeks shall find; to him who knocks it shall be opened. Suppose your son asks for a piece of bread, would you give him a stone? Suppose he asks for a fish, would you give him a serpent? If he ask for an egg, would you give him a scorpion? Now, if you with evil hearts and ignorant minds, yet know enough to take care of your children and give them proper things, don’t you suppose that your Heavenly Father knows what you need, and will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?” [Illustration: SECRET PRAYER.—Matt. vi. 6.] WARNING AGAINST COVETOUSNESS. Jesus had been talking about the loving care of the Heavenly Father, and one of the listeners interrupted him with a request that he would talk to his brother and get him to divide equally between them the property that had been left. Jesus asked him who he thought made him a judge, or a divider over them; and then, by the story he told them, he showed the covetous thought that was in the man’s heart. He reminded them that the important thing in a man’s life was not to have a great deal of property. Said he: “There was a certain man who grew rich; his harvests were so great that he wondered what he should do with all his grain. At last he decided to pull down his barns and build larger ones, and then say to his soul, ‘Soul, you have plenty of food, enough to last you many years; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.’ But just then God spoke to him; He said, ‘Foolish man, this night your soul shall be called to leave the body; then who will have all these things which you have provided?’—Now,” said Jesus, “the man who plans for himself, laying up treasures for himself, and has none of the riches that God could give him, is like this poor, foolish man in the story.” Then He turned to His disciples and told them that living meant more than simply keeping the body alive and clothed. [Illustration: CONSIDER THE LILIES HOW THEY GROW.—Luke xii. 27.] WARNING AGAINST FORMALISM.