assuredly provide.' Quoth the other, 'Our last peck of meal is now in
the oven at home a-baking, and many of our godly neighbors have quite
spent all, and we owe one loaf of that little we have.' Then spake a
third, 'My husband hath ventured himself among the Indians for corn, and
can get none, as also our honored Governor hath distributed his so far,
that a day or two more will put an end to his store, and all the rest,
and yet methinks our children are as cheerful, fat and lusty with
feeding upon these mussels, clambanks, and other fish, as they were in
England with their fill of bread, which makes me cheerful in the Lord's
providing for us, being further confirmed by the exhortation of our
pastor to trust the Lord with providing for us; whose is the earth and
the fulness thereof.'"

It is a genuine pleasure to us of little faith to note that such trust
was indeed justified; for, continued Johnson: "As they were encouraging
one another in Christ's careful providing for them, they lift up their
eyes and saw two ships coming in, and presently this news came to their
ears, that they were come--full of victuals.... After this manner did
Christ many times graciously provide for this His people, even at the
last cast."

If we will stop to consider the fact that many of these women of the
Massachusetts Bay Colony were accustomed to the comfortable living of
the middle-class country people of England, with considerable material
wealth and even some of the luxuries of modern civilization, we may
imagine, at least in part, the terrifying contrast met with in the New
World. For conditions along the stormy coast of New England were indeed
primitive. Picture the founding, for instance, of a town that later was
destined to become the home of philosopher and seer--Concord,
Massachusetts. Says Johnson in his _Wonder Working Providence_: