Honesty Rewarded
1 Thessalonians 4:12
That you may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that you may have lack of nothing.


A farmer called on Earl Fitzwilliam to represent that his crop of wheat had been seriously injured in a field adjoining a certain wood where his lordship's hounds had, during the winter, frequently met. He stated that the young wheat had been so cut up and destroyed that in some parts he could not hope for any produce. "Well, my friend," said his lordship, "if you can procure an estimate of the loss you have sustained I will repay you." The farmer replied that he had requested a friend to assist him in estimating the damage, and they thought that, as the crop seemed entirely destroyed, £50 would not more than repay him. The Earl immediately gave him the money. As the harvest approached, however, the wheat grew, and in those parts of the field which were the most trampled the corn was strongest and most luxuriant. The farmer went again to his lordship, and said, "I am come, my lord, respecting the field of wheat adjoining such a wood. I find that I have sustained no loss at all; for where the horses had most cut up the land the crop is most promising, and therefore I brought the £50 back again." "Ah," exclaimed the venerable Earl, "this is what I like! this is as it should be between man and man!" His lordship then went into another room, and on returning, presented the farmer with a cheque for £100, saying, "Take care of this, and when your eldest son shall become of age present it to him, and tell him the occasion which produced it."



Parallel Verses
KJV: That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.

WEB: that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and may have need of nothing.




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