The New Coat That Fitted Exactly.

"A few years since, a young preacher in the State of Massachusetts, who

was laboring in a field which yielded no great pecuniary returns, had

laid aside the sum of fifteen dollars from his scanty income, with which

to purchase himself a coat, of which he stood in need. Before he had

time to obtain it, there was presented to him a certain charitable

object which seemed to demand a portion of his little store. After some

consideration as to whether it was his duty to give as much as the ten

dollars, which first presented itself to his mind as the proper sum to

bestow, he concluded to follow his convictions, and thus assist one who

was more needy than himself, and trust in the Lord to provide the coat.



"Within two or three days afterwards, he was visiting at the house of

his mother, in another town, and she, as mothers will, noticed that his

coat had arrived at that condition which usually affords the preacher of

the Gospel evidence that he is shortly to have a new one, and she made

some remarks about its worn appearance, saying, 'It seems to me you need

a new coat.' 'I know it,' he replied, 'and I shall get me one as soon as

I get the means.' She said, 'There is a coat up stairs which your

brother had made for him not over two weeks ago, which he never has worn

but once, because it was _made too small_, and he said that you might

have it, if you wanted it.'



"The coat was accordingly brought down and tried on, and it fitted

exactly. The young man gladly accepted the coat, wondering a little at

the wisdom of the Lord in clothing him at the expense of his brother,

who was not particularly interested in the Lord's work, and who was so

much larger than he was, that nothing short of the wisdom of Providence

could have made a coat that was measured for one of them ever to fit the

other."



This was the return that God made to him for his sacrifice to the Lord.

_Never withhold from the Lord_.