fascinations? How can we fill up the present void, and lull the present pain, and endure the pressing trial, by proposing to ourselves the hopes of the future? Does the promise of food to-morrow fill the hungry to-day? Does the sight of the physician’s prescription on the instant stay the pain and progress of inflammation? Will a drowning man float till by and by a rope is brought and thrown to him? Will a discomfited army rally and conquer, because reinforcements at some future time will reach the field? In each of these cases, the prospect will have _some_ influence, but will it be adequate to the occasion? Must not the present be met by the present? Do we not need, besides a Saviour of the past, and a Judge of the future, a LORD of the present? Yes, verily, and we are assured that we have Him in the words, “The LORD is at hand,” and advised how to avail ourselves of Him in what follows, “Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto GOD.” We are too apt to have but a religion of the future; to forget that there is _at hand_ a LORD and Helper; to act as though the first opportunity of serving GOD were in the hour of death, as though the blessings of reward and favour were only to be had in heaven; to treat GOD, in short, as if He were only the GOD of a future world. Such teaching as that of the text reproves and corrects us. As other passages of Holy Writ instruct us to make GOD the aim of this present life, using life as an apprentice-time to the profession of Christianity, as a season wherein to prove ourselves and be proved, and to set forth His glory; “Whether we live, we live unto the LORD.” “Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of GOD;” so the text bids us make GOD the guide and supporter of this life. “In everything by prayer, with supplication, and thanksgiving, let your requests be made known as to GOD. And the peace of GOD, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through CHRIST JESUS.” This is what we want to feel and act upon, that GOD is a GOD at hand, and not a GOD afar off; that we may _now_ cast all our care upon Him, knowing that He careth for us; that if we lay our burthen upon the LORD, He will _now_ sustain us: that if we commit our way unto Him, He will bring it to pass; that He waits to be gracious, not till this life is over, but only till we make known our requests, till we pray and supplicate, and give thanks. In proportion as we do not realise and act upon these assurances, we are blind to many of the charms, and insensible to many of the helps and comforts of our holy religion: we frustrate, too, the fulfilment in ourselves of the truth, that godliness has the promise of the life that now is: we run the risk of becoming earthly-minded, of being swallowed up of overmuch sorrow, of being cumbered with many cares, of being snared away and taken captive by the devil, of making shipwreck of our faith.