The story of the poor widow is eminently calculated to inspire gratitude in the hearts of those who are mercifully exempted from the wretchedness of such extreme poverty, which exposes to the temptation of repining at the dispensations of Heaven, and of pursuing improper measures for obtaining relief. Nor is its least evil that of cherishing an envious spirit towards those who are in superior circumstances. From the abodes of penury and want it is indeed a pleasing fact that Divine Grace has chosen its objects, and from lowly vales and humble cottages elevated them to thrones of immortality. We hear apostles saying, "Silver and gold have we none;" and Bartimeus, brought into the train of disciples from "the highway-side," where he was "blind" and "begging." And though it is a delightful consideration, that religion Can alleviate the rigours of want, and infuse sweetness into the bitterest waters of sorrow; yet poverty, with its concomitant evils, is an affliction from which, in its extreme form, we may pray to be relieved. Though in the strictest sense, the Christian, like the apostle, while "having nothing," may yet be said to "possess all things;" yet that degree of necessity which arises from extreme poverty is far from being desirable either for the body or the soul.
In the most destitute circumstances, however, the promises of our Father in heaven, and the examples which we find upon sacred record, are encouraging. "I have never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread"--"He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth; and wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart." Of Zion it is asserted, "I will abundantly bless her provision; I will satisfy her poor with bread:" and "He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribery, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; he shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure."
Remember the interpositions of God to supply the necessities of the destitute. Go to Egypt and Canaan, and trace the wonderful appointments of that providence which supplied the famished household of Jacob! Go into the wilderness of Sin, and behold an extraordinary kind of dew covering the camp of Israel and sparkling in the morning sun, in fulfilment of the prediction, "I will rain bread from heaven for you!" Observe the famished prophet at "the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan," and see the ravens of heaven descending with bread and flesh to supply Elijah! Follow Jesus into a desert place, where five thousand weary, wayworn strangers, besides women and children, are fed by his liberal hand and his miraculous power! "Behold the fowls of the air; for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? and why take, ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or Wherewithal shall we he clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things."
O, how sweetly does that spirit rest which reclines upon the lap of providence, and feeds contentedly on "daily bread!" The storms may rise and the winds may blow--the clamours of human competition may fill the air; but nothing can disturb his repose. "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee." When Solomon was about to ascend his throne, how earnestly did he implore superior wisdom, and how readily leave the disposal of earthly good to his God and Father! And what was the consequence? "God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment; behold, I have done according to thy Words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days."
Finally, let us deduce motives for consolation under the pressure of sorrow, and for the limitation of our wishes to the necessary subsistence of life, from "a greater than Solomon." Who was it that stooped to a manger and a cross? Who fasted forty days and forty nights in the desert, refusing to employ his power in furnishing a miraculous table? Who had not "where to lay his head?" Who lived on the scanty fare of a small purse in common with the family of his disciples? Who withdrew from the entertainments of Jerusalem to the humble cottage of Mary and Martha, cheerfully subsisting on the most homely and casual provision?--HE, who has taught us to limit our desires of temporal good within the narrow circle of one short request--"GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD."
Sapphira.
Chapter IX.
Mixed Constitution of the Church of Christ--benevolent Spirit of the primitive Believers at Jerusalem--Anxiety of Ananias and Sapphira to appear as zealous and liberal as others--Ananias repairs to the Apostles to deposit the price of his Possessions--is detected in Deception and dies--similar Deceit and Death of Sapphira--Nature and Progress of Apostasy--peculiar Guilt of Sapphira--Agency of Satan distinctly marked--diabolical influence ascertained--consolatory Sentiments suggested to Christians.
"The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this.... The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; the enemy that sowed them is the devil."
This parable, so descriptive of the mixed constitution of the church of Christ, from the primitive times down to the present age, is strikingly exemplified in the history of Ananias and Sapphira. These were some of the first tares that appeared in the apostolic field of labour; and we should feel grateful that their names and characters are transmitted to us upon whom the ends of the world are come, for the purpose of salutary warning. Their singular atrocity was but a more full development of the very same evil principles that exist in embryo in the hearts of mankind in general; and their signal and immediate punishment, which was some deviation from the more ordinary methods of Providence, which permits the tares and the wheat to grow together till the harvest or "end of the world," was, under all the circumstances, a necessary expression of divine displeasure.