following giving in the way of receiving.
Alfred the Great was once so short of provisions that he had only
one loaf left, and an hungry beggar came and asked for relief.
He gave him their all, and very shortly after his men returned
from a forage bringing abundance. He gave and soon received.
A little English girl was sent to Paris to school that she might
speak the language purely. One evening she accompanied her schoolfellows
for a walk through the Passy gate where a soldier was on guard,
who asked them to get him something to drink. They refused proudly,
thinking it beneath them to wait upon a soldier, but the little
English maid ran and got him some water. He drank it, and feeling
better he thanked his little benefactress, and asked her what
was her name? He put it down; and, where did she live? That he
also noted down. That night was the St. Bartholomew Massacre.
That soldier went to her house and saved her. She only gave a
cup of cold water, but received her life and safety.
God sees the whole of our actions, and regards the
very least of them. At the last great day Jesus is described as
saying to those on His right hand, "Come, ye blessed of My
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you before the foundation
of the world. For I was an hungered, and ye gave Me meat, I was
thirsty, and ye gave Me drink. I was a stranger, and ye took Me
in. Naked, and ye clothed Me. I was sick and in prison, and ye
visited Me." But they answered Him, saying, "Lord, when
saw we Thee hungry or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick,
or in prison?" Then the King shall answer, " Inasmuch
as ye did it unto one of the least of these, My brethren, ye did
it unto Me." The smallest kind action never passes unobserved.
It is the custom in some of our Sunday Schools to subscribe ten
pounds a year to the Missionary Society to keep a native teacher,
who is named after some departed friend or some living teacher
or friend whose name it was desirous to keep in fragrant memory.
Many of these teachers are in the South Sea Islands, and are sent
as pioneers to prepare the way for the English missionary; and
how often God has blessed their labours and quite changed the
whole population. I have a coloured picture of the natives of
Savage Island given me by my brother who visited the island somewhere
between 1844 and 1849. It is by the draughtsman of their surveying
staff, and they were in a truly savage state. Now they are clothed
and in their right minds. They have chapels and schools, and all
the young can read their Bibles; and all this is to be
