Part 36 (1/2)
”They must be very poor who have _nothing_ to give,” said Mrs. Jarvis, as she deposited a pair of beautiful English blankets in a box that was being filled by the ladies of the church to be sent to the poor.
”And now, ladies, as you are nearly through, I would like to tell you an incident in my history; I was once very poor.”
”You once very poor?” said a lady.
”Yes; I was once _very poor_. There came to our village a missionary to deliver a lecture. I felt very desirous to go; but having no decent apparel to wear, I was often deprived of going to church, although I was a member.
”I waited until it was late, and then slipped in and took a seat behind the door.
”I listened with streaming eyes to the missionary's account of the dest.i.tution and darkness in heathen lands. Poor as I was, I felt it to be a great privilege to live in a Christian land and to be able to read my Bible.
”It was proposed by our pastor that the congregation should fill a box and send it out with the missionary on his return.
”O,” thought I, ”how I would like to send something.” ”When I returned home my poor children were still sleeping soundly, and my disconsolate husband waiting my return, for he had been out of employment some time.
After he had gone to bed I went to looking over my clothes, but I could find nothing that was suitable that I could possibly spare; then I began looking over the children's things, but could find nothing that the poor dears could be deprived of; so I went to bed with a heavy heart, and lay a long time thinking of the dest.i.tution of the poor heathen, and how much better off I was.
”I got to thinking over my little stock again. There was nothing I could put into the box except two brown towels.
”Next day I got my towels, pieced out the best one, and when it was almost dark, put on my bonnet, went to the church, slipped my towel into the box, and came away thinking that the Lord knew I had done what I could.
”And now, ladies, let me tell you it was not long after that till my husband got into a good situation; and prosperity has followed us ever since. So I date back my prosperity to this incident of the brown towel.”
Her story was done, and, as her carriage was waiting at the door, she took her departure, leaving us all mute with surprise that one so rich and generous had been trained to give amid poverty.
GIVING BLESSED.
A merchant of St. Petersburg, at his own cost, supported several native missionaries in India, and gave liberally to the cause of Christ at home. On being asked how he could afford to do it, he replied:
”Before my conversion, when I served the world and self, I did it on a grand scale, and at the most lavish expense. And when G.o.d by his grace called me out of darkness, I resolved that Christ and his cause should have more than I had ever spent for the world. And as to giving _so much_, it is G.o.d who enables me to do it; for, at my conversion, I solemnly promised that I would give to his cause a fixed proportion of all that my business brought in to me; and every year since I made that promise, it has brought me in about double what it did the year before, so that I easily can, as I do, double my gifts for his service.”
And so good old John Bunyan tells us,
”A man there was, some called him mad, The more he gave, the more he had.”
And there are truth and instruction in the inscription on the Italian tombstone, ”What I gave away, I saved; what I spent, I used; what I kept, I lost.” ”Giving to the Lord,” says another, ”is but transporting our goods to a higher floor.” And, says Dr. Barrow, ”In defiance of all the torture and malice and might of the world, the _liberal_ man will ever be rich; for G.o.d's providence is his estate; G.o.d's wisdom and power, his defense; G.o.d's love and favor, his reward; and G.o.d's word, his security.”
Richard Baxter says, ”I never prospered more in my small estate than when I gave most. My rule has been, _first_, to contrive to need, myself, as little as may be, to lay out none on _need-nots,_ but to live frugally on a little; _second_, to serve G.o.d in any place, upon that competency which he allowed me: to myself, that what I had myself might be as good a work for common good, as that which I gave to others; and _third_, to do all the good I could with all the rest, preferring the: most public and durable object, and the nearest. And the more I have practiced this, the more I have had to do it with; and when I gave almost all, more came in, I scarce knew how, at least unexpected. But when by improvidence I have cast myself into necessities of using more upon myself or upon things in themselves of less importance, I have prospered much less than when I did otherwise. And when I had contented myself to devote a stock I had gotten to charitable uses _after my death_, instead of laying it out at present, in all probability, _that_ is like to be lost; whereas, when I took the present opportunity, and trusted G.o.d for the time to come, I wanted nothing and lost nothing.”
These are a few of many evidences, that where we give from right motives, we are never the poorer, but the richer for doing it. ”The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth, shall be watered also, himself.”
LENDING TO THE LORD.