It is an answer to my prayer, for the Lord employs the instrumentality of his children to answer prayer, and, when it is necessary, he moves them to it.  This is not the first nor second time that I have been laid under special obligation by Christian sympathy and timely aid.  May He who said, He that giveth a cup of cold water to a disciple, in the name of a disciple, shall not lose his reward, repay you a thousand-fold for this favor.’

“Does not this little incident illustrate the power of prayer?  The man of God, weary and heavy-laden, in his closet in Indiana, spread his case before the Lord.  A disciple in Eastern Massachusetts, a thousand miles away from the spot where the prayer was offered, who did not know anything about him or his need, is touched with his wants, and moved to send him immediate aid.”

MR. SPURGEON’S COW.

“My grandfather was a very poor minister, and kept a cow, which was a very great help in the support of his children—­he had ten of them;—­and the cow took the “staggers” and died.  ‘What will you do now?’ said my grandmother.  ‘I cannot tell what we shall do now,’ said he, ’but I know what God will do:  God will provide for us.  We must have milk for the children.’

“The next morning, there came L20 to him.  He had never made application to the fund for the relief of ministers; but, on that day, there were L5 left when they had divided the money, and one said, ’There is poor Mr. Spurgeon down in Essex, suppose we send it to him.’  The chairman—­a Mr. Morley of his day—­said, ‘We had better make it L10, and I’ll give L5.’  Another L5 was offered by another member, if a like amount could be raised, to make it up to L20; which was done.  They knew nothing about my grandfather’s cow; but God did, you see; and there was the new cow for him.  And those gentlemen in London were not aware of the importance of the service which they had rendered.

CHARLES SPURGEON.”

“TRUST IN THE LORD.”

“A poor negro woman, after the death of her husband, had no means of support for herself and two little children, except the labor of her own hands; yet she found means out of her deep poverty to give something for the promotion of the cause of her Redeemer, and would never fail to pay, on the very day it became due, her regular subscription to the church of which she was a member.  In a hard Winter she had found great difficulty in supplying the pressing needs of her little family; yet the few pence for religious purposes had been regularly put by.

“As one season for the contribution came round, she had only a little corn, a single salt herring, and a five-cent piece remaining of her little store.  Yet she did not waver; she ground the corn, prepared her children’s supper, and then, with a light heart and cheerful countenance, set out to meeting, where she gave joyfully the five cents, the last she had in the world.