he help of God, to spend the remainder of my days in practising these
truths more than ever; and I am sure that when I am brought to the close
of my earthly pilgrimage, either in death, or by the appearing of our
Lord Jesus, I shall not have the least regret in having done so; and I
know that, should I leave my dear child behind, the Lord will abundantly
provide for her, and prove that there has been a better provision made
for her than her father could have made, if he had sought to insure his
life or lay up money for her.

Before leaving this part of the subject, I mention to the believing
reader, that I know instance upon instance in which what I have been
saying has been verified, but I will only mention the following: I knew
many years ago a brother as the manager of a large manufactory. Whilst
in this capacity he was liberal, and giving away considerably out of his
rather considerable salary. The Lord repaid this to him; for the
principals of the establishment, well knowing his value to their house
of business, gave him now and then, whilst he thus was liberally using
his means for the Lord, very large presents in money. In process of
time, however, this brother thought it right to begin business on his
own account, in a very small way. He still continued to be liberal,
according to his means, and God prospered him, and prospered him so that
now, whilst I am writing, his manufactory is as large as the one which
he formerly managed, or even larger, though that was a very considerable
one. And sure I am that if this brother shall be kept by God from
setting his heart upon earthly things, and from seeking more and more to
increase his earthly riches, but shall delight himself in being used as
a _steward_ by God, cheerfully communicating to the need of God's poor
children, or to his work in other ways, and doing so not sparingly, but
bountifully, the Lord will intrust him more and more with means; if
otherwise, if he shut up his hands, seek his own, wish to obtain
sufficient property that he may be able to live on his interest, then
what he has to expect is that God will shut up his hands, he will meet
with heavy losses, or there will be an alteration in his affairs for the
worse, or the like.

I also mention two other cases, to show that the Lord increases our
ability of communicating temporal blessings to others if we distribute
according to the means with which he has intrusted us, though we should
not be in a tra