While he was still upon his knees, a knock was heard at the door.  He arose and opened the door.  A stranger stood there.

“I wish to see Mr. Allston,” said he.

“I am Mr. Allston,” replied Mr. A.

“Pray tell me, sir, who has purchased your fine painting of the ‘Angel Uriel,’ which won the prize at the exhibition of the Royal Academy?”

“That painting has not been sold,” said Mr. A.

“Where is it to be found?”

“In this very room,” said the artist, bringing a painting from the corner, and wiping off the dust.

“What is the price of it?” asked the gentleman.

“I have done fixing a price on it,” said Mr. A., “for I have always asked more than people were willing to give.”

“Will four hundred pounds be enough for it?” was the next question.

“That is more than I ever asked.”

“Then the painting is mine,” said the stranger, who introduced himself as the Marquis of Stafford; and from that day he became one of Mr. Allston’s warmest friends.

What a lesson of encouragement the great painter learned that day, when he asked for bread, and while he was asking, received help that followed him all his days!

“The Hushed Tempest.”  A minister of the gospel in Canada gives this account of a lesson of encouragement to trust God in trouble, which he once received.

“It was in the year 1853, about the middle of the winter that we had a succession of snowstorms, followed by high winds, and severe cold.  I was getting ready to haul my supply of wood for the rest of the winter.  I had engaged a man to go out the day before and cut the wood and have it ready to haul.  I borrowed a sled and two horses from a neighbor and started early in the morning to haul the wood.  Just as I reached the place, it began to snow hard.  The wind blew such a gale that it was impossible to go on with the work.  What was I to do?  If it kept on snowing, I knew the roads would be impassable by the next day.  Besides, that was the only day on which I could get the help of the man or the team.  Unless I secured the wood that day it would not be in my power to get the fuel we needed for the rest of the winter.  I thought of that sweet promise, ’Call on me, in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee,’ Ps. i:  15.

“I kneeled down amid the drifting snow, and said, ’O, my God, this is a day of trouble to me.  Lord help me.  The elements are subject to thy will:  Thou holdest the winds in thy hands.  If thou wilt speak the word, there will be a great calm.  O Lord, for the sake of my helpless little ones, let this snow lie still, and give me the opportunity of doing what I came to do, and what it is so necessary to do to-day, for Jesus’ sake.  Amen!’

“I do not think it was more than fifteen minutes from the time I began to pray, before there was a visible change.  The wind became more moderate; the sky was calm; in less than half an hour all was still; and a more pleasant time for wood-hauling than we had that day I never saw, nor desire to see.  While I live, I never shall forget the lesson of encouragement to trust in God that was taught me on that day.”  And this was one of the lessons Jesus taught us by his miracles.