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Occasionally
a benevolent action done in faith brings with it an instantaneous recompense
in kind. Therein Providence
is seen as smiling upon the deed. While walking in Cheapside, the late John Andrew
Jones, a poor Baptist minister, was appealed to by someone he knew for help.
He had but a shilling in the world, and poised it in his mind, to give or not
to give? The greater distress of his acquaintance prevailed, and he gave his
all, walking away with a sweet remembrance of the promise, "He that has
pity on the poor, lends to the Lord, and that which he has given, will he pay
him again." He had not gone a hundred yards further before he met a
gentleman who said "Ah, Mr. Jones, I am glad to see you. I have had this
sovereign in my waistcoat pocket this past week for some needy minister, and
you may as well have it." Mr. Jones often added, when telling the story,
"If I had not stopped to give relief I would have missed the gentleman
and the sovereign too."
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