Another Wonderful Record Of $25.
_A Christian minister_, living in Northern Indiana, was in want, and
knelt in prayer again and again before his Father in heaven. His
quarterly allowance had been withheld, and want stared him in the face.
Constrained by urgent need, and shut up to God for help, he pleaded
repeatedly for a supply of his temporal wants. Now see how extraordinary
was the plan of the Lord to send relief.
"In one of the lovel
homes of Massachusetts, while the snow was falling
and the winds were howling without, a lady sat on one side of the
cheerful fire, knitting a little stocking for her oldest grandson, and
her husband, opposite to her, was reading aloud a missionary paper, when
the following passage arrested the attention of the lady and fastened
itself in her memory.
"'In consequence of failure to obtain my salary when due, I have been so
oppressed with care and want, as to make it painfully difficult to
perform my duties as a minister. There is very little prospect,
seemingly, of improvement in this respect for some time to come. What I
say of my own painfully inadequate support, is substantially true of
nearly all your missionaries in this State. You, of course, cannot be
blamed for this. You are but the almoners of the churches, and can be
expected to appropriate only what they furnish. _This, however, the
Master will charge to somebody as a grievous fault;_ for it is not His
will that his ministers should labor unrequited.'
"This extract was without name or date. It was simply headed 'from a
missionary in Northern Indiana.' Scores of readers probably gave it only
a passing glance. Not so the lady who sat knitting by the fire and heard
her husband read it. The words sank into her mind, and dwelt in her
thoughts. The clause, '_This, however, the Master will charge to
somebody as a grievous fault_,' especially seemed to follow her wherever
she went. The case, she said, haunted her. She seemed to be herself that
very '_somebody_' who was to answer at the bar of God for the curtailed
supplies and straitened means of this humble minister.
"Impelled by an unseen, but, as she believes, a divine presence and
power, after asking counsel and guidance of the Lord, she took twenty-
five dollars which were at her own disposal, and requested her husband
to give it to the Rev. Dr. H------ for the writer of the above
communication, if he could devise any way to obtain the writer's
address.
"Doctor H------ is a prompt man, who does not let gold destined to such
an end rest in his pocket. Familiar with the various organizations of
the benevolent societies, and only too happy to have an agency in
supplying the wants of a laborer in Christ's vineyard, he soon started
the money on its appointed errand. Early in April, the lady in her rural
home had the happiness of receiving the following note, of which we omit
nothing, save the names of persons and places:
"'DEAR MADAM.--I have just received a draft for twenty-five
dollars, as a special donation from you. This I do with
profound gratitude to you for this unselfish and Christ-like
deed, and to Him who put it into your heart to do it. How you,
_a lady a thousand miles away, could know that I was, and had
been for some time, urged by unusual need to pray for succor
and worldly support with unwonted fervency, is a matter of
more than curious inquiry. It is an answer to my prayer, for
the Lord employs the instrumentality of his children to answer
prayer, and, when it is necessary, he moves them to it. This
is not the first nor second time that I have been laid under
special obligation by Christian sympathy and timely aid_. May
He who said, He that giveth a cup of cold water to a disciple,
in the name of a disciple, shall not lose his reward, repay
you a thousand-fold for this favor.'
"Does not this little incident illustrate the power of prayer? The man
of God, weary and heavy-laden, in his closet in Indiana, spread his case
before the Lord. A disciple in Eastern Massachusetts, _a thousand miles
away_ from the spot where the prayer was offered, who did not know
anything about him or his need, is touched with his wants, and moved to
send him immediate aid."