--Mark 12:41-43. The wealthy, the mighty, the renowned
who serve faithfully after they were redeemed from the curse of the
law (Gal. 3:13), from all iniquity (Titus 2:14), shall receive their
reward. But the poor, the weak, the obscure who serve faithfully after
they are redeemed shall receive equally as great rewards; and if they
have been more faithful, however small their sphere, they shall
receive even greater rewards. "Two mites that make a farthing," but it
was all she could do; "Verily I say unto you that this poor widow hath
cast in more than all they that have cast into the treasury."--Mark
12:42, 43. In an American city, one morning a man apparently sixty or
seventy years of age, dressed as a plain business man, walked into the
dining-room of one of the leading hotels and sat down to breakfast.
Some men at the adjoining table were talking of a sad case of
suffering, as reported in the morning paper; a poor widow with five
children was very sick, who had, since her husband's death a few years
before, struggled and made a living for herself and children; but now,
having been down sick for some time, everything was gone and they were
suffering. The stranger listened to the sad story; and, having
finished breakfast, he called a newsboy and bought a paper. The
account gave the street address of the poor widow. He went to the
street address, a street of poor cottages, and, knocking at the door,
was led into the sick room by a child. He saw the condition of affairs
and heard the widow's story. Sitting by the bedside, he talked in a
fatherly, cheerful way and tried to encourage the poor widow; and
quietly slipping something under the pillow, as he was talking, he
told the widow to use that as she needed it. Then taking out a little
book from his pocket, he wrote something and tore the paper out of the
little book and slipped the paper under a book and told the widow to
use that when she needed it. Then calling down God's blessings upon
the widow and her fatherless children, he bade them good-bye. As the
door closed, the widow slipped her hand under the pillow and drew out
a roll of money, to her a large sum. Then she reached for the piece of
paper under the book on the table. There was a check for a goodly sum,
signed by one of America's Christian millionaires. The glow in his
soul as he walked away from the widow's cottage was not the only
reward--"thou shalt be _recompensed at the resurrection of the
just_."--Luke 14