ll amount, and offered
to the creditors 5s. in the pound, which they gladly accepted,
as they had not the least legal claim upon the children. After the
debts had been paid according to this agreement, A. L. said to herself;
"However sinful my father may have been, yet he was my father, and
as I have the means of paying his debts to the full amount, I ought, as
a believing child, to do so, seeing that my brothers and sisters will not
do it." She then went to all the creditors secretly, and paid the full
amount of the debts, which took 40l. more of her money, besides her
share which she had given before. Her brother and two sisters now gave
50l. each of their property to their mother; but A. L. said to herself:
"I am a child of God, surely I ought to give my mother twice as much
as my brother and sisters." She, therefore, gave her mother 100l. Shortly
after this she sent me the 100l. towards the Orphan-House. I was not a
little surprised when I received this money from her,
for I had always known her as a poor girl, and I had never heard
any thing about her having come into the possession of this
money, and her dress had never given me the
least indication of an alteration in her circumstances. Before, however,
accepting this money from her, I had a long conversation with her, in
which I sought to probe her as to her motives, and in which I sought to
ascertain whether, as I had feared, she might have given this money in the
feeling of the moment, without having counted the cost. I was the
more particular, because, if the money were given, without its being given
from Scriptural motives, and there should be regret
afterwards, the name of the Lord would be dishonoured. But I
had not conversed long with this beloved sister, before
I found that she was, in this particular, a quiet, calm, considerate
follower of the Lord Jesus, and one who desired, in spite
of what human reason might say, to act according to the words of our
Lord: "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth." Matthew vi. 19.
"Sell that ye have, and give alms." Luke xii. 33. When I remonstrated
with her, in order that I might see, whether she had counted the cost,
she said to me: "The Lord Jesus has given His last drop of blood for me,
and should I not give Him this 100l.?" She likewise said: "Rather than the
Orphan-House should not be established, I will give all the money I have."
When I saw that she had weighed the matter according to the word of God,
a