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.