, though it may be a very comfortable sign to
those who believe that a man's life consists in the abundance of the
things which he possesses, is a very ominous sign to some who study
history, and to some also who study their Bibles: and ask
yourselves earnestly the question, 'From where shall a man find food
for these men in this wilderness, not of want, but of wealth?' For,
believe me, that spiritual hunger, though stopped awhile by physical
comfort, will surely reawaken. Any severe and sudden depression in
trade--the stoppage of the cotton crop, for instance, will awaken in
the minds of hundreds of thousands deep questions--for which we, if
we are wise, shall have an explicit answer ready.

For it is a very serious moment, my friends, when large masses have
had enough to eat and drink, and have been saying, 'Let us eat and
drink, for to-morrow we die;' and then, suddenly, by _not_ having
enough to eat and drink, and yet finding themselves still alive, are
awakened to the sense that there is more in them than the mere
capacity for eating and drinking. Then begin once more the world-
old questions, Why are we thus? Who put us here? Who made us?
God? Is there a God? and if there be, what is he like? What is his
will toward us, good or evil? Is it hate or love?

My friends, those are questions which have been asked often enough
in the world's history, by vast masses at once. And they may be
answered in more ways than one.

They may be answered as the weavers of a certain country (thank God,
not England) answered them in the potato famine with their mad song,
'We looked to the earth, and the earth deceived us. We looked to
the kings, and the kings deceived us. We looked to God, and God
deceived us. Let us lie down and die.'

Or they may answer them--they will be more likely to answer them in
England just now, because there are those who will teach them so to
answer--in another, but a scarcely less terrible tone. 'Yes, there
is a God; and he is angry with us. And why? Because there is
something, or some one, in the nation which he abhors--heretics,
papists'--what not--any man, or class of men, on whom cowardly and
terrified ignorance may happen to fix as a scapegoat, and cry,
'These are the guilty! We have allowed these men, indulged them;
the accursed thing is among us, therefore the face of the Lord is
turned from us. We will serve him truly henceforth--and hate those
whom he hates. We will be orth