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."



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