The Wonders of Prayer by Various

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ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF BENEFICENCE.

"A liberal donor, in enclosing $100 to a sister institution, but
strictly withholding his name, says, 'When I began business, it was with
the intention and hope to become rich. A year afterward I became, as I
trust, a Christian, and about the same time met with 'Cobb's
Resolutions,' which I adopted. Some four or five years later, I read
'Normand Smith's Memoir,' and also Wesley's 'Sermon on the use of
Money,' which led me to devote all my gains to benevolent uses,
reserving to myself $5,000 while I remained unmarried, part of which I
have bequeathed to relatives, and the remainder to benevolent societies.
Up to this time--about sixteen years--by the grace of God--nothing
else--I have given about $24,500 to benevolent purposes, and lent about
$500 to those in need, which has not been returned; making in all about
$25,000."

COMMENDABLE EXAMPLES.

The Methodist Missionary Society mention one of their donors who, for
twenty years, has used the power given him of getting wealth, for his
Lord, in which time he has been enabled to appropriate to benevolent
purposes _more than thirty thousand dollars_, while operating with a
capital of but five thousand dollars. Another business man of that
denomination in Boston, during fifteen years, has appropriated
_thirty-nine thousand dollars_.

SYSTEM IN GIVING.

A correspondent of the American Tract Society says, "It was their
publications which induced me to appropriate statedly one-tenth of my
income to the cause of the Lord. After acting upon that scale nearly two
years, and finding that although _my donations greatly exceeded those of
former years_, my affairs were not thereby involved in any
embarrassment; but that, on the contrary, with increasing contributions
to the leading objects of Christian benevolence and to general charity,
came an _increased store and enlarging resources_, I concluded, with a
heart throbbing with grateful emotions to my Creator, in view of his
great love and kindness toward me, that I would increase the
proportion."

LENDING TO THE LORD.

"A poor man, some of whose family were sick, lived near Deacon Murray,
(referred to in the tract, 'Worth of a Dollar,') and occasionally called
at his house for a supply of milk. One morning he came while the family
were at breakfast. Mrs. Murray rose to wait upon him, but the deacon
said to her, 'Wait till after breakfast.' She did so, and meanwhile the
deacon made some inquiries of the man about his family and
circumstances.

"After family worship the deacon invited him to go out to the barn with
him. When they got into the yard, the deacon, pointing to one of the
cows, exclaimed, 'There, take that cow, and drive her home.' The man
thanked him heartily for the cow, and started for home; but the deacon
was observed to stand in the attitude of deep thought until the man had
gone some rods. He then looked up, and called out, 'Hey, bring that cow
back.' The man looked around, and the deacon added, 'Let that cow come
back, and you come back too.' He did so; and when he came into the yard
again, the deacon said, 'There, now, take your pick out of the cows; _I
a'n't going to lend to the Lord the poorest cow I've got_.'"

A STEWARD OF HIS LORD'S BOUNTY.

An aged benevolent friend in a western city, states some interesting
facts respecting his own experience in giving systematically as the Lord
prospered him. He says, "Our country and professors of religion in it
have become 'rich and increased in goods,' but I fear that a due
proportion is not returned to the Giver of every good.

"I commenced business in 1809 with $600, and united with the 'Northern
Missionary Society No. 2,' which met monthly for prayer, and required
the payment of two dollars a year from each member. That year I married,
and the next united with the Christian church. No definite system of
giving 'as the Lord had prospered' me, was fully made until the close of
the year 1841. The previous fourteen years had been assiduously devoted
to the interests of Sabbath-schools and the temperance enterprise, when
I found both my physical and pecuniary energies diminished, the latter
being less than $30,000.

"After days and nights of close examination into my affairs, with
meditation and prayer, I promised the Lord of all, I would try at the
close of every year to see what was the value of my property, and the
one-quarter of the increase I would return to him in such way as my
judgment, aided by his word and providence, might direct.

"For more than fifteen years I have lived up to this resolve, and though
most of the time I have been unable to attend to active business, the
investments I have made have more than quadrupled the value of my
property, and in that time enabled me to return to Him 'from whom all
blessings flow,' $11,739.61."

THE FIVE-DOLLAR GOLD PIECE.

"'A friend,' says a venerable clergyman, Rev. Mr. H----, 'at a time when
gold was scarce, made me a present of a five-dollar gold piece. I
resolved not to spend it, and for a long time carried it in my pocket as
a token of friendship. In riding about the country, I one day fell in
with an acquaintance, who presented a subscription-book for the erection
of a church in a destitute place.

"'I can do nothing for you, Mr. B----,' said I; 'my heart is in this
good undertaking, but my pocket is entirely empty; having no money, you
must excuse me.'

"'Oh, certainly,' said he; 'all right, sir. We know you always give when
it is in your power.'

"We parted; and after I had proceeded some distance, I bethought me of
the piece of gold in my vest pocket. 'What,' said I to myself, 'I told
that man I had no money, when I had by me all the time this gold
pocket-piece. This was an untruth, and I have done wrong.' I kept
reproaching myself in this way until I stopped, and took from my pocket
the five-dollar piece.

"'Of what use,' said I, 'is this piece of money, stowed away so nicely
in my pocket?' I made up my mind to turn back, and rode as fast as I
could until I overtook Mr. B----, to whom I gave the coin, and resumed
my journey.

"A few days after, I stopped at the house of a lady, who treated me very
hospitably, for which I could make no return, except in thanks and
Christian counsel. When I took leave, she slipped into my vest pocket a
little folded paper, which she told me to give to my wife. I supposed it
was some trifle for the children, and thought no more of it until I
reached home. I handed it to my wife, who opened it, and to my
astonishment _it was a five-dollar gold piece, the identical
pocket-piece I had parted with but a few days before_. I knew it was the
same, for I had made a mark upon it; how this had been brought about was
a mystery, but that the hand of the Lord was in it I could not doubt.
'See,' said I to my wife; 'I thought I _gave_ that money, but I only
_lent_ it; how soon has the Lord returned it! Never again will I doubt
his word.'

"I afterward learned that Mr. B---- had paid over the coin to the
husband of the lady at whose house I staid, along with some other money,
in payment for lumber, and he had given it to his wife.

"Take my advice, and when appealed to for aid, fear not to give of your
poverty; depend upon it the Lord will not let you lose by it, if you
wish to do good. If you wish to prosper, 'Give, and it shall be given
unto you; for with the same measure that ye mete, it shall be measured
to you again.' 'Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in
the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.'"

A NEW YEAR'S INCIDENT.

"One New Year's day I was going out to visit some of my poorer
neighbors, and thought I would take a sovereign to a certain widow who
had seen days of competence and comfort. I went to look in my drawer,
and was so sorry to find I had but one sovereign left in my bank for the
poor, and my allowance would not be due for two or three weeks. I had
nearly closed the drawer upon the solitary sovereign, when this passage
of Scripture flashed so vividly into my mind, 'The Lord is able to give
thee much more than this,' (2 Chron. xxv: 9.) that I again opened the
drawer, took the money, and entered the carriage which was waiting for
me. When I arrived at Mrs. A.'s, and with many good wishes for the New
Year, offered her the sovereign, I shall never forget her face of
surprised joy. The tears ran down her cheeks while she took my hands and
said, 'May the God of the widow and fatherless bless you; we had not one
penny in the house, nor a morsel of bread; it is he who has heard my
prayers, and sent you again and again to supply my need.' You who pray
for and visit the poor, and enjoy the blessedness of relieving their
temporal wants and of speaking to them of Jesus, you will understand the
gladness of heart with which I returned home.

"In the country we had only one post daily; so when evening came on, and
it was nearly ten o'clock, I was not a little surprised at receiving a
letter. When I opened it, how my heart beat for joy when I read these
words from a comparative stranger: 'You will have many poor just now to
claim your pity and your help, may I beg you to dispense the enclosed
five pounds as you see fit? and I have ordered a box of soap to be sent
to you for the same purpose.' These boxes of soap are worth four pounds.
Thus did our gracious God send nine times as much as I gave for his
sake, before that day had closed."

FENEBERG'S LOAN TO THE LORD.

"A poor man with an empty purse came one day to Michael Feneberg, the
godly pastor of Seeg, in Bavaria, and begged three crowns, that he might
finish his journey. It was all the money Feneberg had, but as he
besought him so earnestly in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus he
gave it. Immediately after, he found himself in great outward need, and
seeing no way of relief he prayed, saying, 'Lord, I lent Thee three
crowns; Thou hast not yet returned them, and Thou knowest how I need
them. Lord, I pray Thee, give them back.' The same day a messenger
brought a money-letter, which Gossner, his assistant, reached over to
Feneberg, saying, 'Here, father, is what you expended.' The letter
contained two hundred thalers, or about one hundred and fifty dollars,
which the poor traveler had begged from a rich man for the vicar; and
the childlike old man, in joyful amazement, cried out, 'Ah, dear Lord,
one dare ask nothing of Thee, for straightway Thou makest one feel so
much ashamed!'"

COMPOUND INTEREST.

_The Christian_ tells of a minister in Ohio, who in 1860 was engaged to
statedly supply a congregation who were in arrears for a whole year's
salary to their former pastor, and were only able to promise their
'supply' five dollars a Sunday till the old debt should be paid. At the
close of the year, only about two-thirds of this amount had been paid.
So it was not strange that their 'supply' soon found himself in arrears
for many things. That year the cost of his periodicals alone had
amounted to sixteen dollars. This he could not pay, and as none of them
could be stopped without payment of arrearages; the debt must continue
to increase.

On New Year's day the minister was called to marry a couple, and gave
the fee, five dollars, to his wife saying, "I want you to get yourself a
dress with this." There was a kind of material much worn then, which she
had very much admired, a dress of which would cost four dollars. So she
went to the Mission periodical to find the address of the Mission
Secretary, thinking to send the extra dollar there. But as she glanced
over its pages and noticed the trials and straits of the missionaries,
and the embarrassment of the Board that year, her heart was touched and
she felt that they needed the money more than she did the dress, and
instead of the one she concluded to send the five dollars.

She went to her husband and read her letter to him. "O," said he, "I'm
afraid we are too poor to give so much." With a little feeling of
disappointment she said, "Well, give me the change and I will send what
I had intended at first." "No," said he, "you have given it, and I dare
not take it back."

And so with a prayer that God would accept and bless the gift she signed
her letter, "A Friend of Missions," thinking, as no one would know the
author, that was the last she would hear about it in this world.

The ladies of that congregation were accustomed to meet weekly at the
parsonage to sew for those in need. The next week a lady who was
visiting in the place came with her friends, and as she entered the
parlor she tossed a bundle into the lap of the minister's wife, saying,
"Mrs. ----, here is a present for you."

The present was a dress pattern of the same kind of material she had
intended to purchase. And as she thought to herself, "God has given me
this in place of what I have given," she was reminded of the words,
"Give, and it shall be given to you." But that was not the end.

A short time afterwards she received a letter from the Secretary of the
Board of Missions, enclosing a printed copy of her own letter, and
asking if she were the author of it; and added, "If so, a large-hearted
man in New York has authorized me to send you twenty-five dollars, with
a special request that you purchase a dress worth five dollars, and give
the rest to your husband and children." There was her five dollars back,
with four times as much more added to it.

THE BROWN TOWEL.

The editor of _The Christian Woman_ tells the story of a poor woman who,
in her anxiety to give to the Lord, could find nothing but a poor brown
towel.

"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
destitution 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 destitution 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 God 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 God 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 God's providence is his estate; God's wisdom and
power, his defense; God's love and favor, his reward; and God'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 God 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 God 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.

As a series of religious meetings was held in a Baptist church in ----,
and the hearts of God's people were greatly encouraged, the church was
consumed by fire. It was proposed to continue the meetings in the
Congregational church, but the workmen were coming the next morning to
demolish and rebuild it. It was then proposed to hire the workmen to
delay, that the people might assemble for three days more, but nothing
was done; when the Congregational pastor walking his study, and thinking
that some souls might be gathered in, went to the workmen, and handed
them $10 from his own pocket, which he could ill afford; the meetings
were continued, and a number of souls hopefully converted to God. The
day following, as he passed the house, the man to whom he paid the $10
called to him, and constrained him to receive back the whole amount,
saying it was of no value compared with the saving of a soul.

THE LIBERAL FARMER.

A farmer in one of the retired mountain towns of Massachusetts, began
business in 1818, with six hundred dollars in debt. He began with the
determination to pay the debt in six years, in equal installments, and
to give all his net income if any remained above those installments. The
income of the first year, however, was expended in purchasing stock and
other necessaries for his farm.

In the six next years he paid off the debt, and having abandoned the
intention of ever being any richer, he has ever since given his entire
income, after supporting his family and thoroughly educating his six
children.

During all this period he has lived with the strictest economy, and
everything pertaining to his house, table, dress and equipage has been
in the most simple style; and though he has twice been a member of the
State Senate, he conscientiously retains this simplicity in his mode of
life. The farm is rocky and remote from the village, and his whole
property, real and personal, would not exceed in value three thousand
dollars. Yet sometimes he has been enabled to give from $200 to $300 a
year.

EXPERIENCE OF A SADDLER.

Normand Smith, a saddler of Hartford, Conn., after practicing for years
an elevated system of benevolence, bequeathed in charity the sum of
$30,000.

An anonymous writer says of himself, that he commenced business and
prosecuted it in the usual way till he lost $900, which was all he was
worth, and found himself in debt $1,100.

Being led by his trials to take God's word as his guide in business as
well as in heart and religion, he determined to give his earnings
liberally unto the Lord.

The first year he gave $12. For eighteen years the amount increased by
about 25 per cent., and the last year he gave $850, and he says he did
it easier than during the first year he paid the $12. Besides, though
with nothing but his hands to depend on when he began this course, he
paid the whole debt of $1,100 with interest, though it took him nine
years to do it.

JACOB NOT BLESSED UNTIL HE BECAME A LIBERAL GIVER.

Jacob went out from his father's house "with his staff," a poor man. But
at Bethel he vowed to give to God the _tenth_ of all that God should
bestow on him. Commencing thus, God blessed him, and in twenty years he
returned with great riches.

THE LORD'S INSURANCE MONEY.

A tradesman in New York had pledged to give to the Lord a certain
portion of his business receipts as fast as they were collected. He
called this _The Lord's insurance money_, for, said he, "so long as I
give so long will the Lord help me and bless me, and in some way he will
give me the means to give, so it is no money lost. Rather it is a
blessing to my heart to keep it open in gratitude, a blessing to dispose
of it to gladden other hearts, and the surest way to keep the Lord's
favor with me."

The results of his experience were blessed indeed, as he said, "I never
realized before how closely the Lord is connected with all my interests,
and how he helps me in all my business plans. Things happen constantly
which show me constantly that some one who knows more than I is
benefiting me--protecting me. Bad debts have been paid which I did not
expect. Errand boys, just getting into sly and bad habits, have been
discovered ere their thefts had proceeded far. As I needed competent
help in my business, it has come just as it was wanted. When customers
were failing, somehow their debts to me were paid, although they failed
to pay others. A severe fire came to my office and apparently seemed to
have swept all my valuables away. But it was stopped at just the right
moment, and not one thing valuable was lost. The insurance companies
paid me enough to replace every damage, and the office was renewed
better than before. The Lord sends me business enough to pay for my
debts, yet others are dull. _I cannot tell why it is, except that I
always pray for my business, and ask the Lord to bless it for the good
of others_, and that the means which come from it may be used for his
cause. When I stop giving, business stops coming. When I stop praying
specially for it, perplexities arise. As long as I pray for it, it all
moves easily, and I have no care or trouble. The Lord is my Banker, my
Helper, my Insurer, my Deliverer, my Patron, and my Blessed Savior of
temporal things as well as spiritual."

GIVE AND IT SHALL BE GIVEN.

"'Cheerful giving,' writes an aged minister, 'is what enriches the giver
and brings down a blessing from above. A poor clergyman attended one of
Zion's festivals in a distant city. The railroad company supplied him
with a return ticket, and though many of his brethren would secure
treasures from the book-stores, but a solitary twenty-five cent scrip
was in his possession, and he would need that to pay for refreshment on
his way home. It was the last day of the feast. Mention, again and
again, was made of the widow's mite, or poor men's gifts, and, as the
boxes were passed, he felt sad that, in his deep poverty, he could not
cast in a single penny. As the assembly was dismissed, it was announced
that collectors would stand at the door to gather up the _fragments_
which ought to be in the Lord's treasury. With slow steps this good man
passed down and put that last money he possessed into the waiting box.

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