Page:China's spiritual need and claims.djvu/90

76 The incidents narrated above, exemplify 's preserving care in circumstances of external peril. There are other difficulties to which persons labouring in the interior of China may be exposed, which do not come under this class. Their funds may become exhausted when far in the interior; and communication with the free ports may be difficult or impossible. Or they may be robbed of all that they possess, and may find themselves destitute in the midst of strangers. But they cannot be robbed of His presence and aid, whose are the gold and the silver, and the cattle on a thousand hills. And His promise, that if we seek first the kingdom of and His righteousness all needful temporal blessings shall be added, will be as reliable under these circumstances as when every external blessing abounds. 's arm is never shortened that it cannot save; and it is still true, that man doth not live by bread alone,—although this may be the ordinary means which employs to sustain life. The hearts of all men are under His control: He can soften the hardest heart, and give help to His servants, by means through which it was least expected. We give one more extract from our journal for 1856. The occasion was an attempted missionary journey from Shanghai to Ningpo, via Hang-chau, in which the writer was alone. After fourteen days spent in travelling, preaching, and distributing books, we reached a large town called Shih-mun-wan.