Page:The Parochial System (Wilberforce, 1838).djvu/85

 that trust which ought to rest upon the Giver? and both in the confidence of their prosperity, and the anxiety of their adversity, do they not fulfil the words of the Psalmist, "In my prosperity, I said I shall never be removed. Thou, Lord, of thy goodness hast made my hill so strong. Thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled?" Their faith and hope are not ready to wait upon "a God that hideth Himself," because they have never understood and realized the full meaning of that prayer, Give us this day our daily bread.

And be it observed, that this danger from the deceitfulness of riches is by no means confined to the case of those who are lords of sea and land, and whose yearly revenues are counted by thousands or tens of thousands. That it cannot be so is evident enough from the condition of those to whom our Lord addressed Himself: they were poor fishermen, who would naturally regard as rich any man who had a fixed and certain income, which placed him above the necessity of daily labour, and the uncertainty which attends poverty. It is plain again, from the very nature of the danger; for the man who has thousands yearly differs from him who has hundreds, rather in the magnitude of his establishments and the number of his dependants, than in the security with which he holds his possessions as his own. The temptation to trust in riches accordingly, and to lean on the world, not on God, applies, almost in equal measure, to each.