If we should attempt to mention all the parables which Jesus spoke,
and the miracles which he performed, and the many other lessons which
he taught, it would make a long list. As we have done before we can
only take one or two specimens of these general lessons which Jesus
taught.
We have one of these in the title to our present chapter, which
is--_Christ Teaching Liberality_. This was a very important lesson
for Jesus to teach. One of the sad effects of sin upon our nature is
to make it selfish, and covetous. We are tempted to love money more
than we ought to do. We are not so willing to part with it as we
should be. And we never can be good and true Christians unless we
overcome the selfishness of our sinful hearts, and not only learn to
give, but to give liberally. The Bible teaches us that God not only
expects his people to give, but, as St. Paul says, in one place, to
give "_cheerfully_." II. Cor. ix: 7.
And this is the lesson Jesus taught when he said to his
disciples,--"Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure,
pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give
into your bosoms." St. Luke vi: 38.
And when we come to consider these words of Jesus, there are three
things to engage our attention. _The first of these is the_--LESSON
OF LIBERALITY--_here set before us_.
_The second is_--THE PROOF--_that this lesson is taught all through
the Bible_.
_And the third is_--THE ILLUSTRATIONS--_of this lesson_.
And then, when put into its shortest form, our present subject may be
thus expressed--_the lesson of liberality; its proofs; and its
illustrations_.
And the lesson which Jesus here taught is all wrapped up in this
little word--"_Give_." Here we learn what the will of Jesus is on
this subject. This is not simply the expression of his opinion. It is
not merely his advice; no, but it is his _command_. He is speaking
here as our Master--our King--our God. He _commands_ us to--give.
And when we remember how he said to his disciples, "If ye love me,
_keep my commandments_," we see plainly, that we have no right to
consider ourselves as his disciples if we are neglecting this or any
other of his plain commands.
And this command about giving is not intended for any _one_ class of
persons among the followers of Christ, but for _all_ of them. It is
not a command designed for kings, or princes, or rich men only, but
for the poor as well. It is not a command for grown persons alone,
but for children also. As soon as we begin to _get_, God expects us
to begin to _give_.
Jesus says nothing here about _how much_ he expects us to give. But,
from other places in the Bible, we learn that he expects us to give
_at least one-tenth_ of all that we have. If we have a thousand
dollars he expects us to give one hundred out of the thousand. If we
have a hundred he expects us to give ten. If we have ten dollars we
must give one of them to God. If we have only one dollar we must give
ten cents of it to Him. If we have but ten cents we must give one of
them. If we have no money to give, God expects us to give kind words,
and kind actions, our sympathy and love.
Jesus does not tell us here _how often_ we are to give, but
simply--give. This means that we are to learn the lesson and form the
habit of giving. His command is--give. And in giving us this command
he is only asking us to imitate his own example. _He is giving all
the time_. The apostle Paul tells us that Jesus is "exalted to the
right hand of the Father to--give." He never tires of giving. "He
giveth to all life, breath, and all things." And if we have not the
Spirit of Christ in this respect, "we are none of his."
This, then, is the lesson of liberality that Jesus taught when he
said--"give." And that _giving is God's rule for getting_ is what we
are taught by our Saviour, when he said--"_Give, and it shall be
given unto you_."
And now, having seen what this lesson of liberality is, which Jesus
taught, _let us look at some of the Scripture proofs of it_. The same
lesson is taught in other places in the Bible. Let us see what is
said about it in some of these places.
In Ps. xli: 1 David says--"Blessed is he that considereth the poor:
the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble." Considering the poor
here, means being kind to them, and giving them such things as they
need. And the blessing promised to those who do this means that God
will reward them by giving to them good things in great abundance.
And, if this is so, then we have proof here that "giving is God's
rule for getting."
We have another proof that "giving is God's rule for getting," in
Prov. iii: 9, 10. Here Solomon says--"Honor the Lord with thy
substance, and with the first-fruits of all thine increase: So shall
thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with
new wine."
When the Jewish farmers gathered in their harvests they were required
to make an offering to God, of what had been gathered, before they
used any part of it for themselves; and the offerings thus made were
called "the first-fruits." God considered himself honored by his
people when they did this, because they were keeping his commandments
and doing what he wished them to do. And the meaning of this command,
when we apply it to ourselves, is that we should give something to
the cause of God from all the money, or property we have, and from
all the gain, or increase that we make to the same. This is the Bible
rule--the will or command of God for all his people. And then, in
the other part of this passage we have the promise of God to all who
do this. "So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses
shall burst out with new wine."
This means that they shall be rich and prosperous. And so we see that
this passage from the book of Proverbs, teaches the same lesson of
liberality that our Saviour taught when he said--"_Give and it shall
be given unto you_." It proves that "giving is God's rule for
getting."
And Solomon teaches the same, again, when he says, "The liberal soul
shall be made fat; and he that watereth shall be watered also
himself." Prov. xi: 25.
A "liberal soul" means a person who is in the habit of giving; and to
be "made fat" means to be prospered and happy. If you undertake to
water a garden, you are _giving_ to the thirsty plants that which
they need to make them grow and thrive; and when it is promised that
the person who does this shall "be watered also himself," the meaning
is that he shall have given to him all that is most important to
supply his wants, and make him happy. And this, we see, is only
teaching what our Saviour taught when he said, "Give, and it shall be
given unto you." It furnishes us with another proof that "giving is
God's rule for getting."
In the nineteenth chapter of Proverbs and seventeenth verse we have a
very clear proof of the lesson we are now considering. Here we find
it said: "_He that hath pity upon the poor, lendeth unto the Lord;
and that which he hath given will he pay him again_." Having pity on
the poor, as here spoken of, means giving them such things as they
need. Whatever we use in this way God looks upon as so much money
lent unto him; and we have his solemn promise that when we lend
anything to him, in this way, "He will pay us again." And when he
pays again what has been lent to him, it is always with interest. He
pays back four, or five, or ten times as much as was lent: to him.
This proves that "giving is God's rule for getting."
One other passage is all that need be referred to in order to prove
that the lesson of liberality which our Saviour taught is the same
lesson which the Bible teaches everywhere. In Eccles. xi: 1, God
says, "_Cast thy bread upon the waters; for thou shalt find it after
many days_."
If we should see a man standing on the end of a wharf and throwing
bread upon the waters, we should think that he was a foolish man,
who was wasting his bread, or only feeding the fishes with it. But
suppose that you and I were travelling through Egypt--the land of the
celebrated pyramids and other great wonders. The famous river Nile is
there. During our visit the inundation of that river takes place. It
overflows its banks, and spreads its water over all the level plains
that border on the river. This takes place every year. And when the
fields are all overflowed with water, the farmers go out in boats,
and scatter their grain over the surface of the water. The grain
sinks to the bottom. The sediment in the water settles down on the
grain, and covers it with mud. By and by the waters flow back into
the river. The fields become dry. The grain springs up and grows. The
mud that covered it is like rich manure, and makes it grow very
plentifully, and yield a rich harvest. And here we see the meaning of
this passage. God makes use of this Egyptian custom to teach us the
lesson of liberality that we are now considering. He tells us that
the money which we give to the poor, or use to do good with, is like
the grain which the Egyptian farmer casts upon the water, and which
will surely yield a rich harvest by and by.
This teaches us the lesson of liberality. And when we think of all
these passages, we see very clearly that the Bible teaches the same
lesson which Jesus taught when he said to his disciples, "Give, and
it shall be given unto you." And what we learn, both from the
teaching of Christ, and from the different passages referred to,
is--that "giving is God's rule for getting."
And now, having seen some of the Bible, proofs for this lesson of
liberality, or for this rule about giving and getting, _let us go on
to speak of some of the illustrations of this rule_. These are very
numerous.
And we may draw our illustrations from three sources, viz.:--_from
the Bible; from nature; and from everyday life_.
There are two illustrations of which we may speak from the Bible. We
find one of these in the history of the prophet Elijah. You remember
that there was a great famine in the land of Israel during the
lifetime of this prophet. For more than three years there was not a
drop of rain all through the land. The fields, the vineyards, and
gardens dried up, and withered, and yielded no fruit. During the
first part of the time when this famine was prevailing, God sent
Elijah to "the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan," I. Kings xvii:
7-17. There the ravens brought him food, and he drank of the water of
the brook.
But after awhile the brook dried up. Then God told him to go to the
city of Zarephath, or Sarepta, on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea,
and that he had commanded a widow woman there to sustain him. He did
not tell him the name of the woman; nor the street she lived in; nor
the number of her house. Elijah went. When he came near the place he
met a woman, picking up some sticks of wood. I suppose God told him
that this was the woman he was to stay with. Elijah spoke to her, and
asked her if she would please give him a drink of water. When she was
going to get it, he called to her again, and said he was hungry, and
asked her to bring him a piece of bread. Then she told him that there
was not a morsel of bread in her house. All she had in the world was
a handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse, and that
she was gathering a few sticks, that she might go and bake the last
cake for herself and her son, that they might eat it and die. And
Elijah said, "Fear not; go, and do as thou hast said; but make me
thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make
for thee, and for thy son. For thus saith the Lord God of Israel,
The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil
fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth."
This was a hard thing to ask a mother to do. It was asking her to
take the last morsel of bread she had, and that she needed for
herself and for her hungry boy, and give it to a stranger. Yet she
did it; because she believed God. I seem to see her turning the meal
barrel up, to get the meal all out. Then she pours out the oil from
the cruse, and drains out the last drop. She mixes the meal and the
olive oil together, as is the custom in that country still, and makes
a cake which can soon be baked. She takes it to the man of God, who
eats it thankfully, and is refreshed. Then she returns to the empty
barrel and cruse, and finds as much in them as she had lately taken
out. She prepares some bread for herself and her son, and they eat it
thankfully as bread sent from heaven. The next day it is the same,
and the day after, and so on through all the days of the famine. We
are not told how long it was after Elijah went to the widow's house
before the days of the famine were over. But suppose we make a
calculation about it. The famine lasted for three years. Now let us
suppose, that the first half of this time was spent by the prophet at
the brook Cherith. Then his stay at the widow's house must have been
at least eighteen months. And, if this miracle of increasing the meal
and the oil was repeated only once a day, there would be for the
first twelve months, or for the year, three hundred and sixty-five
miracles; and for the six months, or the half year, one hundred and
eighty-two more; and adding these together we have the surprising
number of _five hundred and forty-seven_ miracles, that were
performed to reward this good widow for the kindness she showed to
the prophet Elijah, when she gave him a piece of bread, and a drink
of water! What an illustration we have here of the truth we are
considering, that _giving is God's rule for getting_.
But the best illustration of this subject to be found in the Bible is
given in our Saviour's own experience. He not only _preached_ the
lesson of liberality, but _practised_ it. He is himself the greatest
giver ever heard of. In becoming our Redeemer he showed himself the
Prince of givers. He gave--not silver and gold; not all the wealth of
the world, or of ten thousand worlds like ours; but "He gave
_Himself_ for us." He can say indeed, to each of us, in the language
of the hymn:
"I gave my life for thee,
My precious blood I shed,
That thou might'st ransomed be,
And quickened from the dead."
And what is the result of this glorious giving to Jesus himself? St.
Paul answers this question when he says, "Wherefore God also hath
highly exalted him; and given him a name which is above every name;
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven,
and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God
the Father," Phil, ii: 9-11. Because of what he gave "for us men, and
for our salvation," he will be loved and praised and honored in
heaven, on the earth, and through all the universe, above all other
beings, for ever and ever. What a glorious illustration we have here
of the truth of this statement, that "giving is God's rule for
getting." These are some of the illustrations of this lesson of
liberality that we find in the Bible.
_And now, let us look at some illustrations of this subject, that we
have in nature_.
Solomon suggests one of these when he says, "_There is that
scattereth, and yet increaseth_." Prov. xi: 26. He is evidently
speaking here of a farmer sowing his fields with grain.
Now suppose that we had never seen a man sowing; and that we knew
nothing at all about the growth of grain, or how wonderfully the seed
sown in the spring is increased and multiplied when the harvest is
reaped. Then, the first time we saw a farmer sowing his fields, we
should have been ready to say, "What a foolish man that is! He is
taking that precious grain by the handful, and deliberately throwing
it away."
Of course, we should have expected that the grain thus thrown away,
or scattered over the ground, would all be lost. But, if we could
have come back to visit that farmer when he was gathering in his
harvest, how surprised we should have been! Then we should have
learned that for every handful of grain that the farmer had
scattered, or, as we thought, thrown away, in the spring, when he was
sowing, he had gained forty or fifty handfuls when he reaped in his
harvest. Then we should have understood what Solomon meant when he
said, "There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth." And we should
have here a good illustration of our Saviour's lesson of liberality,
when he said, "Give, and it shall be given unto you;" and of the
Bible truth we are now studying, that "giving is God's rule for
getting."
Yonder is the great ocean; it is one of the grandest of nature's
works. And the ocean gives us a good illustration of the lesson of
liberality which our Saviour taught. The waters of the ocean are
spread out for thousands of miles. As the sun shines on the surface
of the ocean, it makes the water warm, and turns it into vapor, like
the steam that comes from the boiling kettle. This vapor rises into
the air, and helps to form the clouds that are floating there. These
clouds sail over the land, and pour out the water that is in them, in
refreshing and fertilizing showers of rain. This rain makes the rills
start from the sides of the mountains. The rills run down into the
rivers, and the rivers flow back into the sea again. In this way the
ocean is a great giver. It has been giving away its water for
hundreds and thousands of years, ever since the day when God made it.
Now, let us suppose that the ocean could think, or speak; and that it
had power to control its own motions. And suppose that the ocean
should say:--"Well, I think I have been giving away water long
enough. I am going to turn over a new leaf. The sun may shine as much
as it pleases. I won't let another drop of water go out from my
surface. I am tired of giving, and I mean to stop doing it, any
longer." Let us pause for a moment here, and see what the effect of
this would be upon the ocean itself.
We know that all the water in the ocean is salt water. But when the
sun takes water from the ocean, in the form of vapor, it is always
taken out as fresh water. It leaves the salt behind it. Then the
water on the surface of the ocean, from which this vapor has been
taken, has more salt in it than the water underneath it. This makes
it heavier than the other water. The consequence of this, is that
this heavier water, on the top of the ocean, sinks to the bottom; and
at the same time the lighter water at the bottom rises to the top.
And so a constant change is taking place all over the ocean. The
water from the top is sinking to the bottom, and the water from the
bottom is rising to the top. And this is one of the means which God
employs to keep the waters of the ocean always pure and wholesome.
But if the ocean should stop giving away its water, as it has always
been doing, then this constant change of its waters would cease. The
ocean would be left still and stagnant. It would become a great mass
of corruption; and the breezes from the ocean, that now carry health
and life to those who breathe them, would carry only disease and
death. And the thousands of people who now love the ocean and seek
its shores every summer, to get strong and well by breathing the air
that sweeps over its surface, and by bathing in its foaming surf,
would all be afraid of the ocean; and would keep as far away from its
shores as they could. And so we see how the ocean stands before us as
a grand illustration of the lesson of liberality which our Saviour
taught when he said, "Give, and it shall be given unto you." The
ocean gives away its water continually, and, in return for this, God
gives it freshness and purity, and makes it a blessing to the world.
And so the ocean illustrates the truth of the lesson we are now
studying, that "giving is God's rule for getting."
And yonder is the great sun, shining up in the sky. We do not know as
much about the sun as we do about the ocean, because it is so far
away from us. The ocean is very near us. We can walk along its
shores, and plunge into its waters, and sail over its surface. We
can study out all about the laws that govern it, and what the effect
of those laws is upon it. But it is very different with the sun. It
is about ninety millions of miles away from us. This is too far off
for us to know much about it. And yet, we know enough about the sun
to get from it a good illustration of God's rule about giving and
getting. The sun, like the ocean, is a great giver. It is giving away
light all the time. It was made for this purpose; and for this
purpose it is preserved. If the sun should stop giving, and should
try to keep all its light and heat for itself, the effect would be
its ruin. By ceasing to give it would be burnt up and destroyed. And
so, when we see the sower sowing his seed, or the reaper gathering in
his harvest; when we look upon the ocean, and see the clouds formed
from its waters, as they go sailing through the sky; or when we see
the sun rising in the morning, going forth again to his appointed
work of giving light to a dark world; let us remember that these are
nature's illustrations of the lesson of liberality which Jesus taught
when he said, "Give, and it shall be given unto you." They all help
to show how true it is, that "giving is God's rule of getting."
_And now we may go on to look for our illustrations of this subject
from everyday life_.
If we are only watchful we shall meet with illustrations of this kind
continually. It would not be difficult to fill a volume with them.
Here are a few out of many that might be given.
"The Travellers in the Snow." Two travellers were on a journey in a
sleigh during a very severe winter. It was snowing fast as they drove
along. One of the travellers was a liberal, generous-hearted man, who
believed in giving; and was always ready to share whatever he had
with others. His companion was a selfish ungenerous man. He did _not_
believe in giving; and liked to keep whatever he had for himself. As
they drove along, they saw something covered up in the snow that
looked like the figure of a man. "Look there," said the generous man
to his friend, "that must be some poor fellow overcome by the cold.
Let's stop and see what we can do for him."
"You can get out, if you like," was his reply, "but it's too cold for
me. I intend to stay where I am;" and he wrapped his furs closely
round him.
The other traveller threw aside his furs and jumped out of the
sleigh. He found it was a poor man, who had sunk down in the snow a
short time before, overcome by the cold. He shook the snow from him,
and began to rub his hands and face and feet. He kept on rubbing for
a good while. At last the man began to get warm again and was saved
from death. Then the generous-hearted traveller helped him into the
sleigh, and shared his wrappings with him. The exertion he had made
in doing this kind act put him all in a glow of warmth. He made the
rest of the journey in comfort. But when they stopped at the end of
their journey, the selfish man, who was not willing to do anything
for the help of another, had his fingers, and toes, and nose, and
ears frozen. This illustrates the lesson of liberality; and shows
that "giving is God's rule for getting."
Here we see the truth of the lines which someone has written:
"Numb and weary on the mountain
Wouldst thou sleep amidst the snow?
Chafe the frozen form beside thee,
And together both shall glow.
Art thou stricken in life's battle?
Many wounded round thee moan;
Lavish on their wounds thy balsams,
And that balm shall heal thine own."
"The Officer and the Soldier." In one of the terrible battles in
Virginia, during the late war, a Union officer fell wounded in front
of the Confederate breastwork, which had been attacked. His wounds
brought on a raging fever, and he lay on the ground crying piteously
for water. A kind-hearted Confederate soldier heard the touching cry,
and leaping over the fortifications, with his canteen in his hand, he
crawled up to the poor fellow and gave him a drink of water. O, what
a comfort this was to the wounded man! His heart was filled with
gratitude towards this generous and noble soldier. He pulled out his
gold watch from his pocket, and cheerfully offered it to his
benefactor; but he refused to take it. Then he asked the soldier's
name and residence. He said his name was James Moore, and that he
lived in Burke County, North Carolina. Then they parted. This noble
soldier afterwards lost a limb in one of the Virginia battles, and
returned to his home as a cripple.
The officer recovered from his wounds; but he never forgot the
kindness of that Confederate soldier. And when the war was over, and
he was engaged in his business again, he wrote to James Moore,
telling him that he intended to send him the sum of ten thousand
dollars in four quarterly installments of twenty-five hundred
dollars each; and that he wished him to receive the same in token of
the heartfelt gratitude with which his generous kindness on the
battle-field was remembered. Certainly these were two noble men. It
is hard to tell which was the more noble of the two. But when the
crippled soldier thought of the drink of water which he gave to the
wounded officer, and of the ten thousand dollars which he received
for the same, he must have felt how true our Saviour's words were,
when he said: "Give, and it shall be given unto you." And he must
have felt sure of the lesson we are now considering, that "Giving is
God's rule for getting."
"The Secret of Success." Some time ago a Christian gentleman was
visiting a large paper mill that belonged to a friend of his, who was
a very rich man. The owner of the mill took him all through it, and
showed him the machinery, and told him how the paper was made. When
they were through the visitor said to his friend, "I have one
question to ask you; and if you will answer it, I shall feel very
much obliged to you. I am told that you started in life very poor,
and now you are one of the richest men in this part of the country.
My question is _this_: will you please tell me the _secret_ of your
success in business?"
"I don't know that there is any great secret about it," said his
friend, "but I will tell you all I know. I got a situation, and began
to work for my own living when I was only sixteen years old. My
wages, at first, were to be forty dollars a year, with my board and
lodging. My clothing and all my other expenses were to come out of
the forty dollars. I then made a solemn promise to the Lord that
_one-tenth_ of my wages, or four dollars out of the forty, should be
faithfully laid aside to be given to the poor, or to some religious
work. This promise I kept religiously, and after laying aside
one-tenth to give away, at the end of the year, besides meeting my
expenses, I had more than a tenth left for myself. I then made a vow
that whatever it might please God to give me, I would never give
_less_ than one-tenth of my income to him. This vow I have faithfully
kept from that day to this. If there be any secret to my
success--_this is it_. Whatever I receive during the year, I feel
sure that I am richer on nine-tenths of it, with God's blessing, than
I should be on the whole of it, without that blessing. I believe that
God has blessed me, and made my business prosper. And I am sure that
anyone who will make the trial of this secret of success, will find
it work as it has done in my case."
This man was certainly proving the truth of our Saviour's words, when
he said--"Give, and it shall be given unto you." And his experience
shows most satisfactorily that "giving is God's rule for getting."
"The Steamboat Captain and the Soldier." During the late war there
was a steamboat, one day, in front of a flourishing town on the Ohio
River. The captain, who had charge of her was the owner of the boat.
The steam was up; and the captain was about to start on a trip some
miles down the river with an excursion party, who had chartered the
boat for the occasion. While waiting for the party to come on board,
a poor wounded soldier came up to the captain. He said he was
suffering from severe sickness, as well as from his wounds. He had
been in the hospital. The doctor had told him he could not live long;
and he was very anxious to get home, and see his mother again, before
he died; and he wished to know if the captain would give him a
passage down the river on his boat. On hearing where his home was,
the captain said that the party who had chartered his boat were
going near that place; and he told the poor soldier that he would
gladly take him to his home.
But, when the excursion party came on board, and saw the soldier,
with his soiled and worn clothes, and his ugly-looking wounds, they
were not willing to let him go; and asked the captain to put him
ashore. The captain told the soldier's sad story, and pleaded his
cause very earnestly. He said he would place him on the lower deck
and put a screen round his bed, so that they could not see him. But
the young people refused. They said as they had hired the boat, it
belonged to them for the day, and they were not willing to have such
a miserable-looking object on board their boat; and that if the
captain did not put him off, they would hire another boat, and he
would lose the twenty dollars they had agreed to give him for the
day's excursion.
The good captain made one more appeal to them. He asked them to put
themselves in the poor soldier's place, and then to think how they
would like to be treated. But still they refused to let the soldier
go. Then the noble-hearted captain said: "Well, ladies and gentlemen,
whether you hire my boat or not, I intend to take this soldier home
to-day."
The party did hire another boat. The captain lost his twenty
dollars. But, when he returned the poor dying soldier to the arms of
his loving mother, he felt that the tears of gratitude with which she
thanked him were worth more than the money he had lost. The gentle
mother dressed the wounds of her poor suffering boy; and nursed and
cared for him, as none but a mother knows how to do. But she could
not save his life. He died after a few days; and the last words he
spoke, as his loving parents stood weeping at his bedside
were--"Don't forget the good captain." And he was not forgotten. For
after the soldier's funeral was over, his father went up the river to
the town where the captain lived. He found him out. He thanked him
again for his kindness in bringing home his dying boy; and made him a
present that was worth four or five times the twenty dollars he had
lost for the hire of his boat.
But this was not the end of it. For not long after this, the captain
and his wife were taken suddenly ill with a fatal disease that was
prevailing in that region of the country. They both died; leaving two
little orphan children, with no one to take care of them. The
soldier's father heard of it; and he went at once and asked that he
might be permitted to take the two helpless little ones and adopt
them as his own children. He took them home; and was a father and a
friend to them as long as he lived.
How beautifully our Saviour's words--"Give, and it shall be given
unto you," are illustrated in this story! How clearly we see here,
that "Giving is God's rule for getting!"
I have just one other illustration before closing this subject. We
may call it:
"The Miser and the Hungry Children." In a village in England were two
little motherless girls who lived in a small cottage. Sally, the
elder, was about eight years old and her sister Mary was six. They
were very poor. Their father was a laboring man, and he found great
difficulty in supporting himself and his children.
Once, in the midst of winter, these two little girls were left alone
all day, as their father had gone out to work. They had their
breakfast in the morning with their father, before he left. But they
had no dinner, nor anything to eat during the rest of the day. About
the middle of the afternoon, Mary said to her sister: "Sally, I'm
very hungry. Is there anything in the closet that we can get to eat?"
"No," said Sally; "I've looked all through the closet; but there
isn't a crust of bread, or a cold potato; nor anything to eat. I wish
there was something; for I'm hungry too."
"O, dear! what shall we do?" cried Mary; "I'm too hungry to wait till
father comes home!"
"Mary," said her sister, "suppose we ask our Father in heaven to give
us something to eat? Let us kneel down, and say the Lord's Prayer.
When we come to that part about 'daily bread' we'll say it over three
times, and then wait, and see if God will send us some."
Mary agreed to this. They both kneeled down, and Sally began: "Our
Father, who art in heaven; hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come;
thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven: give us this day our
daily bread; give us this day our daily bread; give us this day our
daily bread." Then they waited quietly, to see if anything would
come.
And now, while this was going on inside of that little cottage, let
me tell you what was taking place outside.
Not far from this cottage lived an old man who was a miser. He had a
good deal of money, but he never gave any of it to others; and never
would spend a penny for himself, if he could possibly help it. But,
on that afternoon, he had left home to go to the baker's and buy a
loaf of bread. He got the loaf, and, as it was a stormy afternoon, he
put it under his coat before starting to walk home. Now, it happened,
that just as he was passing the cottage in which the little girls
were, a strong blast of wind blew the rain in his face, and he
stepped into the porch of the cottage and crouched down in the
corner, to shelter himself from the wind and rain. In this position
his ear was brought quite close to the keyhole of the door. He heard
what the little girls had said about being hungry. He heard their
proposal to pray to the Father in heaven to give them bread. He heard
the thrice repeated prayer--"give us this day our daily bread." And
then came the silence, when the little ones waited, and watched for
the bread. This had a strange effect on the miser. His hard, selfish
heart, which had never felt a generous feeling for anyone, warmed up,
and grew suddenly soft in tenderness towards these helpless, hungry
little ones. Tears moistened his eyes. He put his thumb on the latch
of the door. The latch was gently lifted and the door opened. He took
the loaf from under his coat and threw it into the room. The little
girls, still waiting and watching on their knees, saw the loaf go
bouncing over the floor. They jumped up on their feet, and clapped
their hands for joy.
"O, Sally," said little Mary, "how good God is to answer our prayer
so soon! Did He send an angel from heaven to bring us this bread?"
"I don't know who brought it," answered Sally, "but I am sure that
God sent it."
And how about the miser? For the first time in his life he had given
to the poor. Did the promise fail which says, "Give, and it shall be
given unto you?" No; God's promises _never_ fail. He went to the
bakery and bought another loaf for himself, and then he went home
with different feelings from what he had ever had before. The warm,
soft feeling that came into his hard heart when he gave the loaf to
those children did not pass away. It grew upon him. He had found so
much pleasure in doing that one kind act that he went on and did
more. And God blessed him in doing it. He began to pray to that God
who had answered the prayer of those little girls for bread in such a
strange way. He read the Bible. He went to church. He became a
Christian; and some time after, he died a happy Christian death. But
before he died, as he was the owner of the cottage in which the
little girls lived, he gave it to their father. What a beautiful
illustration we have here of our Saviour's words--"Give, and it shall
be given unto you!" This miser gave _a loaf of bread_ to these hungry
children and God gave him _the grace that made him a Christian_! And
as we think of this we may well say that "giving _is_ God's rule for
getting."
And thus we have considered the lesson of liberality which our
Saviour taught; the proofs of that lesson found in the Bible; and the
illustrations of it from the Bible, from nature, and from everyday
life. The three things to be remembered from this subject are _the
lesson_--_the proofs_--_the illustrations_.
I will quote here, in finishing, three verses which teach the same
lesson that our Saviour taught when he spoke the words from which I
have tried to draw the lesson of liberality. The title at the head of
them is taken from Solomon's words in one of the passages from the
book of Proverbs, which we have already used.
"THERE IS THAT SCATTERETH AND YET INCREASETH."
"Is thy cruse of comfort wasting?
Rise, and share it with another;
And through all the years of famine,
It shall serve thee and thy brother.
God himself will fill thy storehouse,
Or thy handful still renew:
Scanty fare for _one_ will often
Make a royal feast for _two_.
"For the heart grows rich in giving;
All its wealth is living grain:
Seeds which mildew in the garner,
Scattered, fill with gold the plain.
Is thy burden hard and heavy?
Do thy steps drag wearily?
Help to bear thy brother's burden,--
God will bear both it and thee.
"Is thy heart a well left empty?
None but God its void can fill;
Nothing but a ceaseless fountain
Can this ceaseless longing still.
Is the heart a living power?
Self-entwined its strength sinks low;
It can only live in loving,
And by serving love will grow."