We know the force of such an exhortation in earthly things. We know by experience how light is the labour which leads to rest, how possible it is to smile through present tears at the prospect of coming joy; what pains, and self-denials, and dangers, and encounters, are readily embraced by those whom ambition prompts, and approval cheers, and reward awaits. Nothing is too hard to bear, nothing too dear to relinquish, nothing too formidable to meet, nothing too much to do; the hands that hung down are lifted up, the sorrow is banished, the toil becomes pleasure, we rush to the fight, we delight in the race, forgetting the past, disregarding the present, hastening onward to the future, the rest, the victory, the prize, the glory. It is easy, then—not altogether, but comparatively—to obey the precept, “Be careful for nothing” in view of the prospect, “The LORD is at hand.” But, after all, I cannot but think that something better than a prospect is hinted at in the text. The apostle goes on to urge, “In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto GOD.” He does not say, “Make light of present cases, on account of coming consolation.” He does not bid the downcast lift up their eyes to the hills, whence by and by cometh their help. It is not “Bear, endure, encounter in hope,” but, “Get rid of what burthens you, by laying it upon Him, Who is near, by your side now, to take it. Be careful for nothing; put every care upon GOD (the LORD who is at hand to take it), by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.” I say this is something better than a prospect; better, because of its superior influence, and better, because of the immediate relief. The teaching of Advent, all important as it is, too often affects but little such poor creatures of the present as we are. We are exhorted to look back to the first coming of CHRIST, to see what He suffered and did for us, what a foundation He laid for us to build on. We are exhorted to look forward to the second advent, to consider what CHRIST will do, to anticipate the glorious completion of us in Him as the building of GOD. We obey, and we are moved to faint gratitude for the one, to faint hope of the other. The retrospect and the prospect considered, we both see from what rock we were hewn, and into how beautiful a fabric we shall be fashioned; and, unless we are very incapable of feeling, in the view of past and future, we strive to accept thankfully and to sanctify duly the present. But, oh! how little constraining is the influence of a Saviour who _once_ visited the earth, of a Judge who shall _by and by_ visit it! How dim is the remembrance of long past mercies! how distant is the prospect of heavenly consolations! Earth is now present with all its attractions and rewards. The world, the flesh, and the devil are now assailing and afflicting us with their many temptations. How can we resist the seen, and heard, and felt