The Merchant's Twenty-Five Dollars
Illustration★★★Two collectors called upon a rich merchant at his office to solicit a contribution to the missionary society. Their application was received courteously, and the gentleman subscribed twenty-five dollars. Encouraged by this success, the collectors asked permission to present their book to some of the clerks in the counting-house and warehouse. Whilst thus engaged, the postman entered with letters for the merchant.
Amongst other items of intelligence was information of a vessel wrecked at sea with a valuable cargo, uninsured, involving a loss of several thousand dollars. The merchant was evidently affected by the bad news he had received, but seeing the missionary collectors retiring from the premises, he called them, and said: “Gentlemen, I am sorry to trouble you, but since you left my office, I have received intelligence of the loss of one of my ships at sea, with a valuable cargo, uninsured, and I am consequently poorer by several thousand dollars than I thought I was; I must therefore ask permission to alter the figure which I wrote in your collecting book.”
The collectors handed their book to the mer chant, when, to their utter astonishment, he altered his contribution to one hundred dollars. When they inquired if he had not made 4 mis- take, he replied, “No, gentlemen, I wished tc alter my contribution to a higher figure sinca I heard of my heavy loss, for I doubt whether I have been giving to the cause of God in time past as much as I ought to have done.
Atall events, lam determined to give more liberally in the future, and that without delay, lest more of my property should be swallowed up in the Ben a8 a just punishment for my past unfaithfulness.’
The point
After learning he'd just lost a valuable, uninsured cargo at sea, a merchant surprises missionary collectors by raising his pledge instead of lowering it, resolving to give more generously out of past unfaithfulness.