en
to feed the sparrows God spends more than the revenues of the French
king would buy.' And that universal bounty applies truly to those whose
lot is 'In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread.' For us it is
true. God feeds _us_. 'Thou givest meat to them that fear Thee, Thou
wilt ever be mindful of Thy covenant.' In giving us our daily bread, His
hand is hid under second causes, but these should not mask the truth
from us.

God is the life of nature. His will is the power whose orderly working
we call nature's laws. Force is the sign manual of God. There would be
no harvest, no growth, unless to each seed God gave a body as it hath
pleased Him. The existence of bread is the effect of His work. 'He hath
not left Himself without witness in that He giveth rain from heaven and
fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.' as Paul
said to the rough farmer folk of Lycaonia.

The distribution of the bread is of God.

By second causes, our work and other means.

Be it so. Here is a steam engine, in one room away at one end of your
mill; here is a spindle whirring five hundred yards off. What then? Who
thinks that that bit of belting moves the drum round which it turns, or
that the cog-wheel that carries the motion originates it? The motion
here has force at the other end, the effect here has its cause in God.

The nourishment by bread is of God.

'Man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out
of the mouth of God.'

The reason why any natural substance has properties is by reason of
present will of God; they reside not in itself, but in Him.

All this we say that we believe when we pray this prayer.

How much it conflicts with our modern habit of putting God as far away
from daily life as we can!

The prayer is the consecration of our work for bread.

The indirect way by which it is answered is a great blessing, and it
pledges us to labour.

_Orare est laborare._ Not, as it is sometimes quoted, as if toil was to
do instead of prayer, but that active life may be consecrated to God,
and all our efforts which terminate in gaining bread for ourselves and
for those we love may become prayer, and be offered to God.

How can we pray for God to give us our daily bread, and then go to seek
it by means which we dare not avow or defend in our prayers? Bless my
cheating, bless my sharp practice, bless my half-heartedness. It is no
part of my business to apply principles to deta