of the field increase upon them. Is there a man in Chicago
that believes that! Then what does he teach it to little children for?
Let him tell the truth.

So the same God went into partnership with snakes. The children of
Israel lived on manna--one account says all the time, and another only
a little while. That is the reason there is a chance for commentaries,
and you can exercise faith. If the book was reasonable everybody could
get to heaven in a moment. But whenever it looks as if it could not be
that way and you believe, you are almost a saint, and when you know it
is not that way and believe, you are a saint. He fed them on manna.
Now manna is very peculiar stuff. It would melt in the sun, and yet
they used to cook it by seething and baking. I would as soon think of
frying snow and boiling icicles. But this manna had other peculiar
qualities. It shrank to an omer, no matter how much they gathered, and
swelled up to an omer, no matter how little they gathered. What a
magnificent thing manna would be for the currency, shrinking and
swelling according to the volume of business! There was not a change
in the bill of fare for forty years, and they knew that God could just
as well give them three square meals a day. They remembered about the
cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks and the onions of Egypt, and
they said: "Our souls abhorreth this light bread." Then this God got
mad--you know cooks are always touchy--and thereupon He sent snakes to
bite the men, women and children. He also sent them quails in wrath
and anger, and while they had the flesh between their teeth, he struck
thousands of them dead. He always acted in that way, all of a sudden.
People had no chance to explain--no chance to move for a new
trial--nothing. I want to know if it is reasonable He should kill
people for asking for one change of diet in forty years. Suppose you
had been boarding with an old lady for forty years, and she never had a
solitary thing on her table but hash, and one morning you said: "My
soul abhorreth hash!" What would you say if she let a basketful of
rattlesnakes upon you? Now is it possible for people to believe this?
The Bible says their clothes did not wax old, they did not get shiny at
the knees or elbows; and their shoes did not wear out. They grew right
along with them. The little boy starting out with his first pants grew
up and his pants grew with him. Some commentators have insisted that
angels