y natural law comply with it,
and find it not altogether unfriendly. The Laplander will prefer his
wastes to the rich fields of England, not merely from ignorance, but for
the sake of certain blessings amongst which he has been born and brought
up. The blessedness of life depends far more on its interest than upon
its comfort. The need of exertion and the doubt of success, renders life
much more interesting to the poor than it is to those who, unblessed
with anxiety for the bread that perisheth, waste their poor hearts about
rank and reputation.'

'I thought such anxiety was represented as an evil in the New
Testament.'

'Yes. But it is a still greater evil to lose it in any other way than by
faith in God. You would remove the anxiety by destroying its cause: God
would remove it by lifting them above it, by teaching them to trust in
him, and thus making them partakers of the divine nature. Poverty is a
blessing when it makes a man look up.'

'But you cannot say it does so always.'

'I cannot determine when, where, and how much; but I am sure it does.
And I am confident that to free those hearts from it by any deed of
yours would be to do them the greatest injury you could. Probably their
want of foresight would prove the natural remedy, speedily reducing them
to their former condition--not however without serious loss.'

'But will not this theory prove at last an anaesthetic rather than an
anodyne? I mean that, although you may adopt it at first for refuge from
the misery the sight of their condition occasions you, there is surely a
danger of its rendering you at last indifferent to it.'

'Am I indifferent? But you do not know me yet. Pardon my egotism. There
may be such danger. Every truth has its own danger or shadow. Assuredly
I would have no less labour spent upon them. But there can be no true
labour done, save in as far as we are fellow-labourers with God. We must
work with him, not against him. Every one who works without believing
that God is doing the best, the absolute good for them, is, must be,
more or less, thwarting God. He would take the poor out of God's hands.
For others, as for ourselves, we must trust him. If we could thoroughly
understand anything, that would be enough to prove it undivine; and that
which is but one step beyond our understanding must be in some of its
relations as mysterious as if it were a hundred. But through all this
darkness about the poor, at least I can see wonderful vein