"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_.