had no superabundance of grace, " your strength has been according to your day."]
2. Our duty, as Saints —
[All, whilst they judged their first offices due to those who were immediately dependent on them, considered them- selves as members of one great family, and bound to admi- nister help to all whose necessities should require it. Thus should the whole collective mass of believers consider them- selves bound to render every possible assistance to every part of Christ's mystical body. Every joint is to supply a measure of nutriment according to its capacity, for the good of the whole body; that so the whole may be strengthened, and edified in lovef. The command is plain, " Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees : say unto them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong ; fear not ; your God will come and save youg." With whatever we be enriched, we should be ready to impart of our stores liberally and without grudging ; considering that we are but stewards of all that we possess, and that in dispensing to others the benefits we have received, whether they be of a temporal or spiritual nature, we most resemble our Heavenly Father, and best answer the ends for which those blessings have been committed to us. True, indeed, we have not any thing of our own, which we can impart to others; (we have no more oil in our lamps than is wanted for ourselves11;) nor can any diligence in the head of a family supersede the necessity of every member gathering for himself; (for " every man must bear his own burthen1:") but still, as instruments in God's hands, we may be serviceable to manyk, and may, as golden pipes, convey the golden oil, for the enlightening and edifying of the Church of God1.]
Having thus marked the distinct views in which I conceive the fact before us ought to be re- garded, I will now, in conclusion, suggest the instruction to be derived from it in a collective view. We may learn from it, I think, 1. Contentment —
[The whole people of Israel had but this food for forty years; nor, except for use on the Sabbath-day, was any of it to be treasured up, even for a single day. The whole people of Israel were to subsist on God's providence, exactly as the birds of the air and the beasts of the field. Nor was any thing more than food and raiment to be the portion of so much as
f Eph. iv. 1"), 16. 8 Isai. xxxv. 3,4. with Heb. xii. 12, 13.
h Matt. xxv. 8, 9. ! Gal. vi. 5. * Jam. v. 19, 20.
1 Zech. iv. 12. with 1 Thess. v. 11, 14.