He begins with what they knew: “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; and yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” They knew the lilies--that is, they were used to seeing them, the little flowers so common, so insignificant, yet so beautiful. Jesus concludes: “Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?” In the same way he reasons of sparrows and men. He would inspire his disciples with the courage that has its root in faith in God’s loving and unfailing providence. He says to them the great God not only feeds the poor little birds, but cares for them, “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.” He would teach his disciples the folly of forgetting what is essential in brooding anxieties about small things: “And which of you with taking thought [worrying] can add to his stature one cubit? If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest?... Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on. The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment.” He would make men see how perfectly simple and unmysterious is prayer and how absolutely certain it is that God will answer. Have we not listened to mere men--preachers they called themselves, yet doing, it may be, the best they could--mystifying simple-minded people and little children--themselves most of all--with tortuous disquisitions concerning the “subjective” and “objective” results of their devotions! Answering infidels, they suppose! Jesus makes no argument about the nature of prayer; he has not a word to prove its reasonableness or to harmonize the doctrine with law. He says: “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” How does he prove what he affirms? He does not prove it; he brings it home to them: “What man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or, if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?” Every hearer, whether parent or child, answered out of his heart, “There is not such a man among us.” Jesus concludes: “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?”