ring their absence at Jerusalem, would have afforded
them; so we, by our want of confidence in God, lose those endearing
evidences of His love, which a simple trust in His promises is the
appointed means of drawing down from His open and bountiful hand.

What preachers of righteousness would these Jews have been, had they
obeyed the commands of their God! What a sermon on God's providence
over His chosen, would the three years' provision in one year, and
the miraculous protection of their coasts, have been to the Heathen
around! It may be of importance for us to remember, that it is God
alone whom we are afraid to trust. Where we have no doubt of the
integrity or ability of man, we fearlessly trust. If one of the
Princes of this world has an arduous undertaking to accomplish, which
requires the undivided care and attention of those to whom it is
committed; and if he says to his servants,--"Pursue steadily and
singly the business entrusted to you, without distraction about
personal provision, of which I will take sufficient care"; how many
are the candidates, how eager the contention, how secure the
confidence! Nay more, the obvious tendency of such a plan toward the
attainment of the end in view, is seen, and its wisdom appreciated.

Yet when the King of Heaven, after manifesting his unspeakable love
toward us, in the sacrifice of his Son, demands of us a similar
confidence, we make no scruple to withhold it. When our Blessed Lord
says,--"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth," that your
eye may be single in my service,--that your whole body may be full of
light to discern between good and evil: when He expressly
says,--"Take no thought saying,--'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall
we drink?' or, 'Wherewithal shall we be clothed;' but seek ye first
the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall
be added unto you";--we see neither the wisdom nor goodness of His
design. We begin to explain away His instructions concerning it; we
hesitate about the meaning of His promises; we put far from us the
privilege of believing that He, who neither slumbers nor sleeps,
hatchets over us. Whence then this confidence in man, whose breath is
in his nostrils, who is absent in the moment of calamity; yet
diffidence in God[15] who is the Omnipotent, the very present, help
in every time of trouble? Does it not arise from a fear--lest, if we
trust him with our provision, he might choose for us and ours the
por