The preacher's promptuary of anecdote, stories, new and old - Softcover

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1884 Excerpt: ...for me?' said the priest. 'Nay! not for thee,' replied our dear Lord, 'but for thy little choir boy. Seven times he has been tried, and seven times he has overcome; therefore for him are these seven crowns. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life! 75. The Hermit and his Tree. Pray and trust. God knows what is best for us. There was once in the Egyptian desert an aged hermit, who thought he should like to have an olive tree near his cave. So he got a little.tree, and planted it in a suitable spot near the door of his cell; and then, thinking it might want water, he prayed to God to send it rain. So the rain came down and watered his olive tree. Then he thought a little warm sun would do it good, and help to swell its buds; so he prayed for warmth and sunshine, and the sun shone forth and it was very hot. Then, as the sapling looked somewhat poor and feeble, the hermit thought,' What it now wants is a little frost to brace it.' Accordingly he prayed for frost, and that night the hoar-frost covered the ground. But the little olive tree somehow did not seem to thrive, so he thought that possibly a warm southerly wind might help it on. And he prayed that the south wind might blow upon his tree, and the hot south wind blew, and the olive died! Some days after, he was visiting a brother hermit in the same desert, and he noticed that he had a remarkably fine olive tree. 'Why, brother,' said he, 'how do you manage to get your olive tree to thrive so well?' 'I don't know that I did anything specially to it, but I just planted it, and God blessed it, and it grew.' 'Ah, brother, I once planted an olive tree, and when I thought it wanted water, I prayed God to give it rain, and He sent rain; and when I thought...