re
again in straits, the mind would involuntarily be turned to further
credit which I might have, instead of being turned to the Lord, and
thus faith, which is kept up and strengthened only by being
EXERCISED, would become weaker and weaker, till at last, according to
all human probability, I should find myself deeply in debt, and have
no prospect of getting out of it. 4, Faith has to do with the word of
God,--rests upon the written word of God; but there is no promise that
He will pay our debts,--the word says rather: "Owe no man any thing;"
whilst there is the promise given to His children.: "I will never
leave thee, nor forsake thee," and "Whosoever believeth on. Him shall
not be confounded." On this account we could not say upon the ground
of the Holy Scriptures: Why do you not trust in God that He will
supply you with means to pay your debts, which you contract in His
service for the necessaries of the Orphans? 5, The last reason why we
do not take goods on credit is this: The chief and primary object of
the work was not the temporal welfare of the children, nor even their
spiritual welfare (blessed and glorious as it is, and much as,
through grace, we seek after it and pray for it); but the first and
primary object of the work was: To show before the whole world and
the whole church of Christ, that even in these last evil days the
living God is ready to prove Himself as the living God, by being ever
willing to help, succour, comfort, and answer the prayers of those
who trust in Him: so that we need not go away from Him to our
fellow-men, or to the ways of the world, seeing that He is both able
and willing to supply us with all we can need in His service. From
the beginning, when God put this service into my heart, I had
anticipated trials and straits; but knowing, as I did, the heart of
God, through the experience of several years previously, I also knew
that He would listen to the prayers of His child who trusts in Him,
and that He would not leave him in the hour of need, but listen to
his prayers, and deliver him out of the difficulty, and that then,
this being made known in print for the benefit of both believers and
unbelievers, others would be led to trust in the Lord. Thus it has
now been for more than nine years (i.e. in. 1845, when the third part
was first published). These accounts have been greatly owned by the
Lord. We discern, therefore, more and more clearly, that it is for
the church's benefit that w