nd would make but _one investment,_ namely, using whatever
means God gave, to supply the necessities of the poor, depending on God
richly to repay him in the hour of his own need, according to the
promise:

"He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord;
And that which he hath given will He pay him again."
Proverbs xix. 17.

God so owned, at once, this disposition on Mr. Muller's part that his
courteous letter, declining the gift for himself, led the donor not only
to ask him to use the hundred pounds for the orphan work, but to add to
this sum a further gift of two hundred pounds more.

CHAPTER XXIII

GOD'S WITNESS TO THE WORK

THE eleventh chapter of Hebrews--that "Westminster Abbey" where Old
Testament saints have a memorial before God--gives a hint of a peculiar
reward which faith enjoys, even in this life, as an earnest and
foretaste of its final recompense.

By faith "the elders obtained a good report," that is, _they had witness
borne to them_ by God in return for witness borne to Him. All the marked
examples of faith here recorded show this twofold testimony. Abel
testified to his faith in God's Atoning Lamb, and God testified to his
gifts. Enoch witnessed to the unseen God by his holy walk with Him, and
He testified to Enoch, by his translation, and even before it, that he
pleased God. Noah's faith bore witness to God's word, by building the
ark and preaching righteousness, and God bore witness to him by bringing
a flood upon a world of the ungodly and saving him and his family in the
ark.

George Muller's life was one long witness to the prayer-hearing God;
and, throughout, God bore him witness that his prayers were heard and
his work accepted. The pages of his journal are full of striking
examples of this witness--the earnest or foretaste of the fuller
recompense of reward reserved for the Lord's coming.

Compensations for renunciations, and rewards for service, do not all
wait for the judgment-seat of Christ, but, as some men's sins are open
beforehand, going before to judgment, so the seed sown for God yields a
harvest that is 'open beforehand' to joyful recognition. Divine love
graciously and richly acknowledged these many years of self-forgetful
devotion to Him and His needy ones, by large and unexpected tokens of
blessing. Toils and trials, tears and prayers, were not in vain even
this side of the Hereafter.

For illustrations of this w