THE HOSPITABLE WIDOW AND THE TRACT.

“Cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou shalt find it after many days."-Solomon.

THE day of judgment alone can reveal the amount of good accomplished by the humble instrumentality of tracts. God's word is the "tree of life," but tracts are its leaves—the leaves which are for the "healing of the nations." Cheap, brief, and pithy statements of religious truth-cheap, that they may be multiplied and scattered broadcast; brief, that they may be read in the moments of leisure which the laboring man can snatch from his toil; and pithy, that they may be read with interest and profit-such publications ought to fall, like pure snow flakes, on all lands. Like the fall of the blossom leaves, they would be followed by fruit in due season. If we cannot give whole loaves, let us multiply by breaking them, and scatter the fragments, at least.

I could fill this volume with illustrations of their utility. I will give, however, but one fact, another example of the usefulness of Dr. Coke.*

*This anecdote is authenticated in one of the Reports of the English Religious Tract Society.

This indefatigable servant of Christ was traveling once in what was then a wilderness part of our country. At that time there were few bridges, but to swim streams was a small feat with the hardy pioneers of Methodism and their well-trained steeds. It was an exploit, however, to which the good doctor and his horse were not accustomed. A river lay in his course, and he endeavored, by an indirect route, to cross it at the ford, but missed the place. Impatient to proceed, and ambitious to equal the achievements of his American brethren, he patted the neck of his horse, and plunged into the flood. The water was deep, and the horse becoming alarmed, began to struggle and sink, to the imminent peril of his rider. The doctor, extricating his feet from the stirrups, seized on an overhanging bough, and, after being thoroughly drenched, reached the shore, to which the affrighted animal had also returned.

He remained in the forest till he had dried his clothes in the sun, and then mounted to return. On the road he met a man who directed him to the nearest village, and gave him the address of a kind family, where he might expect to be hospitably entertained as an ambassador of God. The doctor, as usual, gave him a hearty word of exhortation and rode on,

wearied with the fatigues of the day, but happy in the expectation of a cordial reception and comfortable rest in the neighboring hamlet.

Early in the evening he arrived at the village, and was received with all kindness by the good lady of the house to which he had been directed. The table was spread with a bountiful meal, and after his usual domestic service, which consisted in an appropriate exhortation, besides the Scripture lesson and prayer, he retired to rest, thankful to God for so comfortable a conclusion to the trials of the day. The next morning he took an early leave of the family, addressing to each some spiritual counsel, and leaving behind him a single tract, for at that day these convenient little vehicles of truth were rare and precious, and the few who distributed them were obliged to make the most of them.

The doctor returned to England, visited Ireland and the West Indies, traversing, as usual, land and sea in the cause of his Master. After five years had passed away, he was again on the American continent. On his way to one of the conferences, he overtook a number of the preachers who were journeying thither. They all hailed their old friend and bishop with hearty congratulations; but one young man

who accompanied them was deeply affected at the unexpected meeting, and was observed to wipe the tears from his eyes. When they had rode several miles, the young man contrived to get by the side of the doctor, and on inquiring if he recollected being in a certain part of America about five years ago, he answered in the affirmative.

"And do you recollect, sir, being nearly drowned in trying to cross a river?"

"I remember it quite well."

"And do you remember spending the night at the cottage of a widow lady in such a village?" "Indeed I do," said the doctor, " and I shall not soon forget the kindness shown me by that excellent family."

"And do you remember that you presented a tract to the lady when you departed the next morning?"

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"I do not recall that," replied the doctor," but as I do so often, it is quite possible I did so then."

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Well, sir, you did leave there a tract, which that lady still keeps, and if you ever pass through the village again you can see it; but no money can purchase it from her. She read it, and the Lord made it the instrument of her conversion; a number of her children and her 9

neighbors have also been converted through its instrumentality, and there is now in the village a prosperous society."

"God be praised," exclaimed the doctor, and the tears gushed in a flood from his eyes.

The young man weeping, also, proceeded,"I have not quite reported all yet. I am one of the sons of that widow, and I shall ever bless God for that tract, for by reading it, my feet were directed in the way to heaven, and I am now going to conference to be proposed as a traveling preacher. My saddle-bags are half full of tracts, and I shall ever carry them with me, and scatter them in my course."

Reader, though you may consider yourself the feeblest child of God, here is a potent means of good which you can use daily. Have you small talents? Can you not speak with readiness for your Lord? Then carry with you these little messages of truth. Let them speak in your stead. You may thus scatter seed that may bring forth fruit, "some a hundred-fold, some sixty, some thirty."