“If I were to do business on the principles laid down in the Sermon on the Mount I would be down and out in less than a year,” said a critic recently. “Why, the Bible is utterly impracticable under our present economic conditions; it is impossible to live according to it.” If that is true there is a good reason for the unbelief of the world, but in a court the accused is always allowed a fair trial, and let us examine the Bible thoroughly before we judge. What are the specific charges? “Why, they are countless,” answered the critic, “but to mention only a few, let us take such passages as, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven;’ ‘Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth;’ ‘Take no thought for the morrow, what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink.’ Such ideas point the way to the poor-house.” “Very well,” says the apologist, “let us take the last charge first. King James’ version says: ’No man can serve two masters. Ye cannot serve God and mammon, therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than food and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: they sow not, neither do they reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they toil not, neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, 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; your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.’”