blessings of the life to come. Oh! no; God does not leave His followers in want. He who so carefully provides for the ant, the worm, the smallest of His creatures, cannot disregard the necessities of His faithful servants. I do not ask you to receive this upon my word, but I do ask you to read the Gospel according to St. Matthew, in which you will find many assurances and promises on this subject. "Behold the birds of the air," says our Saviour, "for they neither sow, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns; and your Heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not you of much more value than they? ... Be not solicitous, therefore, saying: What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewith shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the heathen seek. For your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things. Seek ye, therefore, first the kingdom of God, and His justice, and all these things shall be added unto you."[1]
"Fear the Lord, all ye His saints," the Psalmist sings, "for they that fear Him know no want. The rich have wanted, and have suffered hunger; but they that seek the Lord shall not be deprived of any good."[2] "I have been young, and now am old, and I have not seen the just forsaken nor his seed seeking bread."[3]
If you would satisfy yourself still farther concerning the temporal blessings conferred on the just, read the divine promises recorded in Deuteronomy: "If thou wilt hear the voice of the Lord thy God, to do and keep all His command-
