initial commit of ebook 11553HEADmain

6 files changed, 40910 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/old/11553-8.txt b/old/11553-8.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9af643e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/11553-8.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,13653 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Wonders of Prayer, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Wonders of Prayer
+       A Record of Well Authenticated and Wonderful Answers to Prayer
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: March 12, 2004 [EBook #11553]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WONDERS OF PRAYER ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by John Hagerson, Kevin Handy and PG Distributed Proofreaders
+
+
+
+
+FACTS STRANGER THAN FICTION
+
+THE WONDERS OF PRAYER:
+
+A RECORD OF WELL AUTHENTICATED AND WONDERFUL ANSWERS TO PRAYER.
+
+AS NARRATED BY:
+
+    GEORGE MULLER,      W.W. PATTEN, D.D.,
+    D.L. MOODY,         CHAS. CULLIS,
+    C.H. SPURGEON,      S.I. PRIME, D.D.,
+    BISHOP SIMPSON,     E. KRUMMACHER,
+    NEWMAN HALL, D.D.,  MARTIN LUTHER,
+    BISHOP T. BOWMAN,   JOHN KNOX,
+    CHAS. G. FINNEY,    ABRAHAM LINCOLN,
+
+AND HOSTS OF OTHERS.
+
+
+NEW EDITION. REVISED BY D.W. WHITTLE.
+
+1885
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION TO FIRST EDITION.
+
+
+The incidents which are published in this volume, are vouched for upon
+the strongest proofs of authenticity possible to obtain, and are either
+of circumstances known amid my own experience, or connected with the
+lives of my correspondents and their friends. They are the thankful
+record and tribute to the power of _persevering faith_.
+
+Nothing has been published concerning which there is the least shadow of
+doubt. All have been carefully investigated.
+
+Every case has been one of real prayer, and the results that have come,
+came only in answer to the prayer of faith, and were not possible to
+obtain without it.
+
+They demonstrate to a wonderful degree, the immediate practical ways of
+the Lord with his children in this world, that He is far nearer and more
+intimate with their plans and pursuits than it is possible for them to
+realize.
+
+Neither have we depended upon the relation of facts of a few, to
+convince the world of the real power of faith, but have added concurrent
+testimony of incidents actually known in the experience of such eminent
+clergymen as Charles Spurgeon, Newman Hall, Martin Luther, W.
+Huntington, Dr. Waterbury, George Muller, Dr. Cullis, Dr. Patton, Dr.
+Adams, Dr. Prime, Bishop Simpson, and many others.
+
+Also we have added some incidents known and investigated and found
+absolutely true, by the editors of the following journals, who add their
+unquestioning belief in the power of prayer: _The Christian, The
+Evangelist, The Observer, The Congregationalist, The Advance, The
+Illustrated Christian Weekly, The American Messenger, The Witness_.
+Likewise we have been greatly assisted by some of our Home Missionaries,
+who, from their daily experiences with the poor and suffering, have been
+eye-witnesses to remarkable experiences and the wonderful help of the
+Lord in answering their prayers.
+
+These testimonies here recorded must be accepted as true. They
+demonstrate that answers to prayer are not occasional, and therefore
+remarkable that they do occur, but are of constant occurrence.
+
+There may be many minds who, having carried no trial to the Lord, have
+never been brought into intimate acquaintances of the ways in which the
+Lord tries the faith of his children, nor led to see and observe his
+wonderful control over human wills and circumstances. The power of the
+Lord is learned only by those who in deep trouble have faithfully sought
+Him and seen his ways of deliverance.
+
+None can ever understand the full power of prayer until they have
+learned the lesson of trust. It is only when for the _first time_ in the
+Christian's own life of faith, it realizes the hand of God in his
+personal dealings with him, how near He is, or how clearly he feels the
+presence of that tremendous overruling Spirit which
+
+    "_Turneth the heart whithersoever He will_."
+
+The actual existence of our God is therefore proved, not alone from
+_History_, nor from the Bible alone, nor from current natural or
+religious feeling and beliefs, nor from the testimony of old witnesses
+several thousand years old, _but from the actual incidents of present
+prayer_, and the _literal answer_. Daily faith and trust and prayer have
+made the Christian deeply acquainted with Him and his ways, and humbly
+dependent upon his care and love and help, in the events of life. _No
+one ever faithfully trusted the Lord in vain_.
+
+Circumstances so clouded that it has been impossible for men to control,
+have, through believing prayer, been so made to change, that through
+them has been revealed _living evidences_ of the presence of
+
+    _The Ever Living God_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+DISCERNING PRAYER.
+
+
+INTRODUCTORY.
+
+
+BY D.W. WHITTLE.
+
+
+To recognize God's existence is to necessitate prayer to Him, by all
+intelligent creatures, or, a consciously living in sin and under
+condemnation of conscience, because they do not pray to Him. It would be
+horrible to admit the existence of a Supreme Being, with power and
+wisdom to create, and believe that the creatures he thought of
+consequence and importance enough to bring into existence, are not of
+enough consequence for him to pay any attention to in the troubles and
+trials consequent upon that existence.
+
+Surely such a statement is an impeachment of both the wisdom and
+goodness of God.
+
+It were far more sensible for those who deny the fitness and necessity
+of prayer to take the ground of the atheist and say plainly "We do not
+pray, for there is no God to pray to," for to deny prayer, is practical
+atheism.
+
+So in the very constitution of man's being there is the highest
+reasonableness in prayer. And, if the position of man in his relation to
+the earth he inhabits is recognized and understood, there is no
+unreasonableness in a God-fearing man looking to God for help and
+deliverance under any and all circumstances, in all the vicissitudes of
+life. The earth was _made_ for man. One has said "there is nothing great
+in the world but man; and there is nothing great in man but his soul."
+With this in view, how absurd to talk about "fixed laws" and
+"unchangeable order," in a way to keep man in his trouble from God. It
+is all the twaddle of the conceit of man setting himself up to judge and
+limit his maker. "To whom then will ye liken Me, or shall I be equal?
+saith the Holy One." The Creator is greater than his creation; the law
+giver is supreme over all law. He created the earth that it might be
+inhabited by man, and He governs the earth in subordination to the
+interests, the eternal and spiritual welfare of the race of immortal
+beings that are here being prepared for glory and immortality.
+
+Laws, indeed, are fixed in their operation and results as subserving the
+highest good in the training and the disciplining of the race, giving
+them hope in their labor and sure expectation of fruit from their toil.
+But as set in operation for _man's good_, so, in an exigency that may
+make necessary their suspension, to secure his deliverance from peril
+and bring man back to the recognition of the personal God, as above,
+law, is it unreasonable to believe that God has power thus to suspend or
+overrule his own arrangements? A wise father will govern his children by
+rules as securing their best good. But he will retain in his power the
+suspending of those rules when special occasions arise, when the object
+for which they exist can be better secured by their suspension. Shall
+not the living God have the same right?
+
+So much as to the reflections suggested by the dogmas of natural
+religion. They sustain in reason our faith in prayer. The basis,
+however, of our faith rests upon the unchanging and unchangeable
+revelation of God, and not upon man's philosophy. Jesus taught his
+disciples to pray, saying, "Our Father which art in Heaven." As
+Christians, this is our authority for prayer. In the words, "OUR
+FATHER," our Blessed Lord has given us the substance of all that can be
+said, as to _the privilege of prayer, what to pray for_, and _how to
+pray_. There can be no loftier exercise of soul ever given to created
+intelligence than to come into conscious contact with the living God,
+and be able to say "_My_ Father."
+
+And surely, as my Father, with a loving father's heart, it must be his
+desire that I should tell him _all_ my needs, _all_ my sorrows, _all_ my
+desires. And, so his word commands, "Be careful for nothing, but _in
+everything_, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your
+requests be made known unto God." (Phil, iv., 6.) Under this verse there
+is positively no exception of any request that may not be made known
+unto God. So there is true faith and right Christian philosophy in the
+remark, "if a _pin_ was needful to my happiness and I could not find one
+I would pray to God for it."
+
+The mistake of Christians is in _not_ praying over _little_ things. "The
+hairs of your head are all numbered." Consult God about everything.
+Expect His counsel, His guidance, His care, His provision, His
+deliverance, His blessing, in everything. Does not the expression, "Our
+_daily_ bread," mean just this? Can there be any true life of faith that
+does not include this? Whatever will serve to help God's children to a
+better understanding of the blessed privileges of prayer, and prove to
+them the reality of God's answering prayer in the cares, trials and
+troubles of _daily life_, will approve itself to all thoughtful minds as
+a blessing to them and an honor to God. It is the purpose of this volume
+to do this. We are more helped by testimony to _facts_ than by theories
+and doctrines. When we have illustrations before our eyes of God's care
+for his children, and His response to their faith, even in the minutest
+things, we understand the meaning of His promises and the reality of His
+providences.
+
+The writer had many thoughts in this line suggested to him by an
+incident, with which he was connected, in the life of George Muller. It
+was my happiness to cross the Atlantic in the company of this dear
+brother on the steamship Sardinian, from Quebec to Liverpool, in June,
+1880.
+
+I met Mr. Muller in the express office the morning of sailing, about
+half an hour before the tender was to take the passengers to the ship.
+He asked of the agent if a deck chair had arrived for him from New York.
+He was answered, No, and told that it could not possibly come in time
+for the steamer. I had with me a chair I had just purchased and told Mr.
+Muller of the place near by, where I had obtained it, and suggested that
+as but a few moments remained he had better buy one at once. His reply
+was, "No, my brother, Our Heavenly Father will send the chair from New
+York. It is one used by Mrs. Muller, as we came over, and left in New
+York when we landed. I wrote ten days ago to a brother who promised to
+see it forwarded here last week. He has not been prompt as I would have
+desired, but I am sure Our Heavenly Father will send the chair. Mrs.
+Muller is very sick upon the sea, and has particularly desired to have
+this same chair, and not finding it here yesterday when we arrived, as
+we expected, we have made special prayer that Our Heavenly Father would
+be pleased to provide it for us, and we will trust Him to do so." As
+this dear man of God went peacefully on board the tender, running the
+risk of Mrs. Muller making the voyage without a chair, when for a couple
+of dollars she could have been provided for, I confess I feared Mr.
+Muller was carrying his faith principles too far and not acting wisely.
+
+I was kept at the express office ten minutes after Mr. Muller left. Just
+as I started to hurry to the wharf a team drove up the street, and on
+top of a load just arrived from New York, _was Mr. Muller's chair_! It
+was sent at once to the tender and placed in _my hands_ to take to Mr.
+Muller (the Lord having a lesson for me) just as the boat was leaving
+the dock. I found Mr. and Mrs. Muller in a retired spot on one side of
+the tender and handed him the chair. He took it with the happy, pleased
+expression of a child who has just received a kindness deeply
+appreciated, and reverently removing his hat and folding his hands over
+it, he thanked his Heavenly Father for sending the chair. "In
+_everything_ by prayer and supplication let your requests be made known
+unto God." "Casting _all_ your care upon Him, for He careth for you."
+
+So the word of God teaches us as His children (_inviting_ us to pray,
+_commanding_ us to pray, and _teaching us_ how to pray), that there is a
+divine reality in prayer. Experience abundantly corroborates the
+teaching.
+
+Every truly converted man knows from this experience that God answers
+prayer. He has verified the promise. "Call unto me, and I will answer
+thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not."
+(Jer. xxxiii., 8.) His life is a life of prayer, and grows more and more
+to be a life of almost unconscious dependence upon God, as he becomes
+fixed in the habit of prayer. This, and it is the purpose of God, is the
+result secured by prayer. With this in view, it will not be so much what
+we expect to get by praying, as a consciousness of coming into closer
+relations to God, the giver of all, in our prayers, that will give us
+true joy.
+
+Often God's children are driven to the throne of grace by some desperate
+need of help and definite supply of an absolute want, and, as they cry
+to God and plead their case with tears before him, he so manifests his
+presence to them and so fills them with a consciousness of his love and
+power, that the burden is gone and _without the want being supplied_
+that drove them to God, they rejoice in _God himself_ and care not for
+the deprivation. This was Paul's experience when he went thus to God
+about the thorn, and came away without the specific relief he had prayed
+for, but with such a blessing as a result of his drawing near to God,
+that he little cared whether the thorn remained or not--or, rather,
+rejoiced that it was not removed; that it might be used to keep him near
+to God, whose love so filled his soul.
+
+A widow once told the writer of the turning point in her Christian life,
+when God's love was so shed abroad in her heart that she had been
+enabled to go on through all her trials rejoicingly conscious of God's
+presence, and casting all her burdens upon Him. She was driven to seek
+God by great need. Her husband's death left her destitute, with little
+children to provide for, and few friends from whom to look for
+continuous aid. Winter drew on, and, one day, her little boy came in
+shivering with cold and asked if he could not have a fur cap, as his
+straw hat was very cold and none of the boys at school wore straw hats.
+She was without a cent in the world. She gave a hopeful answer to the
+boy and sent him out to play, and then went to her bedroom and knelt and
+wept in utter desolation of heart before God, praying most earnestly
+that God would give her a token that He _was_ her God and was caring for
+her by sending her a cap for her boy. While she prayed the peace of God
+filled her soul. She was made to feel the presence of her Saviour in
+such a way that all doubts as to his love for her and his fulfillment of
+all his promises to care for her vanished away, and she went out of her
+room, rejoicing in the Lord and singing his praise. She had no burden
+about the cap, and was quite content for God to send it or not as it
+pleased Him; and, in the afternoon, when a neighbor called, occupied
+with the Lord and his wonderful love, the thought of the cap had gone
+from her mind. When the neighbor rose to depart, she said, "You know my
+little boy died last fall. Just before he died I bought him a fur cap:
+he only wore it two or three times. After his death I put away all his
+things and thought I could never part with any of them. But, this
+morning, as I went to the drawer to look them over, I felt that I should
+give you this cap for your little boy. Will you take it of me?" As she
+took the cap and told her neighbor of the morning trial, prayer and
+blessing, two souls were filled with the sense of the reality of prayer
+and the love of God for his children. "My little boy," said the widow,
+"wore that cap for three winters. And often, when sorely tried by my
+circumstances, has God lifted the burden from my heart, by my just
+looking at it, and remembering the blessing that came with it."
+
+Experiences like this God gives to all his children, not for the purpose
+of leading them to look to Him for supplying their physical necessities,
+as an end, but to make Himself known to them, and to secure their
+confidence and love, for "this is life eternal, that they might know
+Thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." (Jno.
+xvii, 8.)
+
+The use of prayer is to bring us into communion with God, for the growth
+of the spiritual life, that is ours by faith in Christ Jesus. To leave
+it upon any lower plane than this, is to rob it of its highest functions
+and to paralyze it of lasting power for good in any direction. The
+promises of God are conditioned upon our being in this state of heart
+toward God. "If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask
+what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." (Jno. xv., 7.) Abiding in
+Christ, our will will be His will, as to desiring that which will most
+advance the divine life and promote confidence in God, and all our
+desires for material blessings will be subordinated to this motive.
+Right here must come in a line of truth that will lead us from the
+spirit of dictation in our prayers to God in all matters pertaining to
+our worldly concerns. We cannot tell what is for our highest spiritual
+good. The saving of our property or the taking it away. The recovery
+from sickness or the continuance of it; the restoration of the health of
+our loved one, or his departing to be with Christ; the removing the
+thorn or the permitting it to remain. "_In everything_" it is indeed our
+blessed privilege to let _our requests_ be make known unto God, but,
+praise his name, he has not passed over to us the awful responsibility
+of the assurance that _in everything_ the requests we make known will be
+granted. He has reserved the decision, where we should rejoice to leave
+it, to his infinite wisdom and his infinite love.
+
+There is a danger to be carefully guarded against in the reading of this
+book and in the consideration of the precious truth. The incidents it
+relates bring before the mind, of the unlimited resources and the
+unquenchable love of God, that are made available to believing prayer.
+That danger has been suggested by what has been said, that the highest
+use of prayer is to bring the soul nearer to God, and _not the making of
+it a mere matter of convenience to escape physical ills or supply
+physical necessities_.
+
+"That which is born of the flesh is flesh" and continues flesh until the
+end. "Have no confidence in the flesh" is always a much needed
+exhortation. Now, unquestionably, the desires of the natural heart may
+and do deceive us, and often lead as to believe that our fervent earnest
+prayer for temporal blessing is led of the Spirit, when the mind of the
+Spirit is, that we will be made more humble, more Christ-like and more
+useful by being denied than by being granted. Again, we are in danger of
+disobeying the plain commands of _God's word_ in allowing prayer ever to
+take the place of anything _in our power_ to do, and _that we are
+commanded to do as a means to secure needed good_. He who has said "pray
+always," has also said, "Be ambitious to be quiet and to do your own
+business, and to work with your hands, even as we charged you; that ye
+may walk honestly toward them that are without, and may have need of
+nothing." (1 Thess., iv., 11, 12; R.V.)
+
+How often the _flesh_ has led men to read (Phil, iv., 19): "My God shall
+supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus,"
+in a spirit entirely opposed to this exhortation. They have ceased to
+labor with their hands, and, without warrant in the providences of God
+and the judgment of brethren, have turned from doing their own business,
+expecting the Lord to pay their debts and provide for their necessities.
+The quotations of Scripture made by our Lord to Satan, "Thou shalt not
+tempt the Lord, thy God," is surely applicable in all such cases. The
+spirit of a "sound mind" (see 2 Tim. i., 7) will surely recognize this.
+
+So in _all_ things, that which God has given me intelligence and power
+to do, in avoiding evil or securing good, I am under direct command from
+him to do, always depending upon His blessing to secure the needed
+result. A _true faith_ in God will be made manifest by careful obedience
+to known commands. An _intelligent_ faith can never allow dependence
+upon means used to take the place of dependence upon the living God, who
+alone makes them efficacious.
+
+It must result in _presumptions_ faith, if obedience is neglected, and
+the results only promised to obedience are expected. That God _can_ give
+blessing, without the use of the ordinary means, on man's part, there is
+no question. That he _has_ done so is a matter of record. Yet we should
+remember that there were but _two_ miraculous draughts of fishes, and
+_only twice_ did our Lord make bread without the use of seed-time,
+harvest, grinding and baking. The _rule_ of Christ in his earthly
+ministry was, most certainly, to receive the supply of his physical
+wants from His Heavenly Father, in the use of means to secure the
+results offered in the ordinary operation of the laws of God. He went
+into the corn-field at autumn and visited the olive tree for sustenance
+as did other men. And the question for his disciples is not what God
+_can_ do, and not what he _has_ done (that he may be known as God over
+all creation, blessed for evermore) in the suspension of natural laws,
+but what has he revealed to us as his will during the time of the
+present dispensation of the church on this earth, as to his children
+using means for the avoidance of evil and securing of good, or depending
+entirely upon miraculous interference in answer to the prayer of faith
+for all need without reference to use of means.
+
+Does the prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread," mean that we are to
+do nothing to secure our bread, lest we show no faith in God, and simply
+wait in idleness for God to repeat the miracle of sending it by a
+raven? or, does it mean that with thankful hearts to God for the ability
+he has given us to work, that we go forth diligently fulfilling our task
+in the use of all appropriate means to secure that which his loving
+bounty has made possible for us in the fruitful seasons of the earth,
+and return with devout recognition that He is the Creator, Upholder and
+Giver of all, bringing our sheaves with us. When seed-time and harvest
+fail and death is on the land, when corn fails in Egypt and there is no
+bread, when _we have obeyed him_ and sought to toil with our hands and
+no man has given unto us, then we will expect his interposition and will
+have faith that he who has fed us by use of means, will supply us
+without means, and that He alone is the living God.
+
+It is noticeable that the prophet Elisha, whose prayers God heard in the
+multiplication of the twenty loaves during the dearth at Gilgal, was
+made Elijah's successor when following his twelve yoke of oxen at the
+plough in the field, diligently using means to obtain bread, and
+undoubtedly communing with God all the while and recognizing the
+evidences of his love and power in every upturned daisy as he ploughed
+the sod, and in every seed that he dropped into the fertile earth, and
+thought it grand to be a fellow worker with God in the husbandry of the
+earth and not one to be fed in idleness, neglecting the toil appointed
+to man, and losing the blessing that is promised in the word of God, in
+the discipline and the knowledge of God in the operations of His laws,
+that comes in a greater or less degree to all of earth's honest toilers.
+
+It is the opinion of many of God's children that as the present
+dispensation draws to its close, there will be among the spiritually
+minded and consecrated ones of the church, a reproduction of the gifts
+of Pentecost for a last testimony to the world before Christ comes in
+glory. There is much Scripture that might be quoted to sustain this
+opinion. God grant in His grace and mercy that it may be so. But neither
+the church or the world have any _claim_ upon God for it. The church has
+abused grace and the world has despised mercy. All the promises as to
+miracles wrought for a testimony as to the truth of Christ's
+resurrection, have been fulfilled. If Christ were to come to-day, the
+world would be without excuse in having rejected him, and could not
+plead that signs and wonders had been abundantly wrought in His name in
+the establishing of His church upon the earth.
+
+The question of our Lord in Luke xviii., 8, "When the son of man cometh
+shall he find faith on the earth?" suggests to many minds that there may
+not be vouchsafed during the time immediately preceding his
+manifestations, any marked interference by God in the way of miracles or
+signs among his children, but that their faith in Him as the unseen God,
+and their trust in the truth and verify of His word, will be brought
+forth to the praise and glory of God and their joy, by their being left
+to the _word alone_ and the operations of the Holy Ghost by and through
+the word for their comfort and stability in the faith.
+
+Coupled with this thought let it ever be borne in mind by the believer
+that the testimony of God's word as to miracles, signs and wonders
+wrought by _Satanic agency_ in the church, during the last day, is clear
+and unmistakable, and warnings abound as to our danger from them.
+
+"The Spirit saith expressly that in later times some shall fall away
+from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of
+devils." 1 Tim. iv., 1.
+
+"But know this, that in the last days grievous times shall come." "Evil
+men and impostors shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being
+deceived." 2 Tim. iii., 1 and 13.
+
+"Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no
+great thing if his ministers be transformed as the ministers of
+righteousness. 2 Cor. xi., 14.
+
+"And then shall that wicked be revealed. Even him whose coming is after
+the working of Satan, _with all power, and signs_, and _lying wonders_;
+and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish,
+because they received not the love of the truth that they might be
+saved." 2 Thess. ii., 8 to 10.
+
+By these passages it is plain that a sign or a wonder does not establish
+a doctrine or endorse a man as certainly being _from God_. The doctrine
+and the man must be judged by the written word of God.
+
+If there is ought in the doctrine that denies that Jesus is the Son of
+God, that derogates in the slightest degree from the merit of His
+atonement on the cross for our sins, or that takes the eye off from Him
+as the risen and coming Lord, the alone object of our faith and hope, or
+that dishonors in any way God's holy word, taking from or adding to it,
+_then_ the more signs and wonders and manifestations of mysterious power
+that there may be connected with it, then the more certainly we may know
+that it is of Satan and not of God.
+
+And if, in the man who exhibits signs and wonders, there is a spirit
+contrary to the spirit of Christ, in his seeking honor from man, and
+using his power to establish a claim to such honor, "speaking of himself
+as some great one," and not walking in humility as a sinner saved from
+hell and kept day by day by the power of God through faith in Christ,
+And if the purpose of his signs be to establish revelations he is
+receiving in any form apart from the written word, then, though his
+signs be as marvelous as those of the magicians in Egypt, or Simon
+Magnus in Samaria, he is, like them, a minister of Satan and not a
+minister of Jesus Christ.
+
+The age abounds in doctrines and men of this kind. The life of faith
+lays the soul open to assaults of the Devil by their agency.
+
+"Beloved try the spirits whether they be of God."
+
+Let us not waver in our faith in God's overruling providence, and in the
+reality of His interposition in answer to prayer for the deliverance and
+help of his people under any and all circumstances. "In _everything_, by
+prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let our requests be made
+known unto God," but let our first request be that we be kept in a sound
+mind obedient to the word, and let _all of_ our requests close with the
+utterance, from a sincere heart, of the words, "Thy will be done." If
+this be the attitude of our hearts our prayers shall be abundantly and
+graciously answered, and God shall guide us from the wiles of the Evil
+One for the sake of His dear Son Jesus Christ our Lord, through whose
+precious blood we have all grace and all blessing. Amen.
+
+LAKE VIEW, July 24th, 1885.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+A MAN CAN RECEIVE NOTHING EXCEPT IT BE GIVEN HIM FROM HEAVEN. JOHN 3:
+27.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+HIS COVENANT.
+
+
+_"Know, that the Lord, thy God he is God, the faithful God, which
+keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him, and keep his
+commandments, to a thousand generations."_
+
+_"My Covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of
+my lips."_
+
+_"I will not suffer my faithfulness to fail."_
+
+_"I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I
+will also do it."_
+
+_"He is faithful that promised."_
+
+_"I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of
+David."_
+
+_"Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David."_
+
+_"God is not a man, that he should lie; hath he said and shall he not do
+it? hath he spoken and shall he not make it good?"_
+
+_"Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in Heaven; thy faithfulness is
+unto all generations, thy word is true from the beginning."_
+
+_"Thy faithfulness is unto all generations."_
+
+_"The word of our God shall stand forever."_
+
+_"So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth; it shall not
+return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it
+shall prosper in the things whereto I sent it."_
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+ANSWERS TO PRAYER
+
+
+A WONDERFUL ANSWER TO PRAYER AND PROOF OF THE EXISTENCE OF THE HOLY
+SPIRIT.
+
+
+A trustful Christian, whose heart had been deeply touched with thoughts
+of religion, was one day thinking and pondering and wishing that he
+might be more truly convinced of the actual existence of the Holy
+Spirit. "If," thought he, "there is a Holy Spirit, a Superior Mind and
+Will, I reverently and sincerely wish that I may be convinced of it
+beyond all doubt; that I may indeed know God is a living reality and
+daily guide and mighty among the plans and ways of men." Though having
+all the needed mental, historic and heart belief and trust in God--still
+there was desired that special satisfaction which can only come by
+_personal evidence._
+
+With reverent feeling one morning, he asked the Lord humbly, in Prayer,
+"_What can thy servant, do for thee this day? Teach him, that he may
+gladly minister to any one in thy name_." In the course of the day there
+came to him the thought of the revival services then proceeding in
+Brooklyn, and feeling a cordial sympathy, he sat down and wrote a letter
+to _Mr. Moody_, with these words: "_I know not how you are supported, or
+anything of your needs; but I feel like helping you in your good work.
+Enclosed find check for $25; take it and use it if you need it for
+yourself; if not, then do some good with it_." The circumstance was
+almost forgotten, when the day after there came this wonderful reply
+from Mr. Moody:
+
+     "_Your letter came to hand in the_ SAME MAIL, _at the_ SAME
+     INSTANT _of_ TIME, _with a letter from a brother in distress_
+     WANTING THE SAME AMOUNT. _And now you have made him happy, and
+     my heart glad, and the Lord will bless you for it."_
+
+
+     D.L. MOODY.
+
+Had there been a direct revelation from heaven, it could not have been
+more astounding than this, to the heart of that Christian. His own
+prayer was answered, as to his search for the evidences of the Holy
+Spirit, but oh, how wonderfully!
+
+None but a Superior, Higher, Overruling Spirit, could have known the
+thoughts and desires of each heart. Nothing but an Omnipotent hand of
+Power and Wisdom could have brought these two letters together at that
+identical instant of time. None but an All-knowing Father could have
+fixed the amount of money which the one was to give and the other was to
+pray for.
+
+This was a wonderful conjuncture of time, desire and amount, and could
+never have happened by any chance operation of Nature or the natural
+heart and will. Strangest of all, neither of the parties had ever met,
+known or corresponded with each other before. Neither did Mr. Moody know
+of the desire of the one, nor the necessity of the other, until in the
+act of opening the two letters side by side. In the one envelope was the
+prayer; in the other the answer.
+
+That check, those letters, with all signatures and endorsements and
+those persons are this day living and can testify to the authenticity of
+the circumstance.
+
+
+THE PRAYER OF FAITH.
+
+
+The family of Mr. James R. Jordan has resided in Lake View, Chicago,
+since the spring of 1871. They are members of Lincoln Park
+Congregational Church. The father, Mr. James R. Jordan, died in October,
+1882, aged eighty-four years. Through a long series of financial trials,
+sorrows, afflictions by death and pressing cares, this family learned to
+depend on God for their daily prosperity; and the cures wrought in them,
+according to God's Word, are only a small portion of the remarkable
+answers to prayer with which their history is filled.
+
+It is an instructive fact for Christian meditation, that when the
+exercise of intelligent faith was necessary to their cures, the faith
+was there _ready for exercise._ They had not to begin, as, alas! so many
+do, at the very foundation, and find out first, what faith is, and next,
+how to exercise it. They had learned long before what faith is and what
+faith is not; that _faith is trustful obedience to the Word of God;_
+that it _is not_ a determination to have one's own way, nor to expect
+the immediate gratification of a desire, simply because the desire has
+been made known to God. They knew that faith obediently accepts God's
+commands and promises, expects to comply with the conditions of those
+commands and promises, and, so complying, expects to receive the results
+of such obedience at such times and in such ways as God appoints; all of
+which truths they found, and all of which may be found in the Holy
+Scriptures.
+
+Thus living in the hopes of the Gospel, realizing as much that their
+"home is in heaven" as that their "rest is not here," they have, through
+the years, performed the daily duties of their pilgrimage.
+
+The writer has known them for thirteen years, and gratefully testifies
+that their faith has strengthened her's, and that their cheerful hope in
+the Lord has been a strong consolation to many who were in trouble.
+
+After the sudden death of the youngest son of the family, in 1880, the
+care of the family devolved entirely upon the two daughters, Mrs. H.J.
+Furlong and Miss Addie S. Jordan.
+
+In April, 1876, Mrs. Jordan fell and badly fractured her hip. She was
+then seventy-seven years old. On account of her age she could not well
+be etherized, nor endure the repeated necessary resetting of the bones,
+and consequently they grew together irregularly. Her hip-joint was
+stiff, so that she was never able to walk without the support of a cane
+or crutch. For eight years she could not leave her own little yard, nor
+climb into a carriage, nor walk without support.
+
+Through this misfortune her afflictions grew worse. In January, 1884,
+she fell and broke one bone and dislocated another in the left wrist.
+Notwithstanding all that medical help could do, the shock brought on a
+severe sickness, and when, after eight weeks, she left her bed to move
+around feebly, she had almost lost her sight and hearing, her hand was
+useless, and her mind greatly impaired.
+
+On her birthday, June 10, 1884, when she was eighty-five years old, she
+greatly mourned that she had outlived her usefulness; that she could no
+longer feed herself, nor read her Bible, nor remember the desirable
+subjects for her prayers, and she hoped that she should not linger here
+long in such a helpless and useless condition.
+
+During the latter part of this time the two daughters were sick, Mrs.
+Furlong with paralysis and Miss Jordan with consumption.
+
+In the latter part of 1882 Miss Jordan, then in feeble health, was
+needed at home to attend the father's last sickness, and Mrs. Furlong
+was left to conduct their business alone. 'The extraordinary exertion
+brought on paralysis. It began in her right arm, which became so
+insensible that the strongest ammonia produced no sensation or apparent
+effect. Gradually her whole right side lost power, her foot dragged, and
+though she did manage to move about, she was comparatively helpless.
+Physicians spoke not hopefully; and protracted rest was recommended as a
+_possible_ relief. She planned to take electric treatment, though not
+very hopeful about the result. She failed once to meet her physician,
+and while planning the second time to take the treatment, and
+considering Christ's miracles of healing, and the Bible's promises to
+the sick, and having a feeling that possibly she might be doing wrong in
+not relying entirely on the Lord, who had hitherto so much helped them,
+she delayed a little, and failed again to meet the appointment. It was a
+Saturday evening in January, 1883.
+
+She went home and sat down that evening alone, in the dining-room,
+depressed. The enfeebled family--the aged crippled mother, the sick
+sister and her own young son--had retired. As she thought the subject
+through, she became convinced that it was not good to spend time and
+money in the way proposed. Instantly the words THE SAVIOUR filled her
+soul with indescribable hope, and as she thought of His miracles, and
+how _the same Jesus_, on earth, healed paralyzed ones, the hope grew
+that He would heal her.
+
+With the well hand she stretched out her paralyzed hand on the table and
+said: "Dear Lord, will you heal me?" Like an electric shock the life
+began to move in her arm, and the continued sensation was as though
+something that, previously, had not moved was set in motion. The feeling
+passed up to the head, and down the body to the foot. _She was healed!
+and she was grateful!_ She did not speak of her experience to the
+family, but retired. She rose early the next morning, and awoke her
+son,--a prayerful, dutiful young man,--and said to him, "I'm going to
+church, to-day." He replied, "Then I'll get up and go with you,"
+expecting that she must ride.
+
+Her soul was solemnly full that day of the felt presence of the Holy
+Spirit, and she did not like to talk. Her son watched her movements,
+astonished.
+
+She went to the church, took a class again in Sunday School, and; in
+going back and forth to church that day and evening, walked about sixty
+blocks without weariness.
+
+We are not permitted, here, to draw aside the curtain, to dwell upon the
+surprises and the grateful joy of that ever-to-be-remembered, sacred
+day.
+
+A few days after this healing, she, with a consciousness that she was
+running a risk, lifted a heavy weight, and a numbness returned. She
+confessed the sin to the Lord, and asked Him that, when she had been
+sufficiently chastened, He would take the trouble away. Gradually,
+within two days, it disappeared, and has never returned.
+
+At the time when Mrs. Furlong was healed, in answer to prayer, Miss.
+Jordan's case was considered hopeless. Her lungs had been diseased since
+1876. In November, 1879, her physician had decided that tubercles had
+formed in the left lung, and that the right lung was much congested and
+hardened.
+
+In 1882 she had many hemorrhages, and gradually grew worse, so that she
+could not use her left arm or shoulder without producing hemorrhage.
+
+Mrs. Furlong, soon after her own healing, received a comforting
+assurance from the Lord that her sister would be healed; but Miss
+Jordan, herself, had not that assurance. At this time she took little or
+no medicines, the physicians and the family having no confidence in
+their curative effect; but, on the 1st of January, 1884, she had so many
+chills and hemorrhages, that they sent for the family physician to aid
+in checking, if possible, the severe attack.
+
+During this apparently rapid descent deathward, Mrs. Furlong continued
+to repeat to the family and to the physicians that the Lord would heal
+her sister.
+
+Miss Jordan was one day so low that she could just be aroused to take
+her medicine. As Mrs. Furlong went to give it, Miss Jordan said to her,
+"Do you want to throw that medicine away?" Mrs. Furlong said "Yes," and
+threw it away. Six hours of united waiting upon the Lord followed. They
+were hours of pain. From nine in the morning till three in the afternoon
+she suffered indescribable pain. A few minutes after three, the pain
+left her, and with a bright look she said, "I believe I'm better." She
+wanted to rise and dress, but Mrs. Furlong advised her to rest through
+the night. She said she had not, in five years, been so free from
+weariness and pain.
+
+The aged mother was sick in bed with that broken wrist, and Mrs. Furlong
+feared that her sister's improved condition would shock and perplex her.
+
+Miss Jordan lay on the lounge the most of the time for two days. One of
+her expressions was, "It's perfect bliss to lie here free from pain."
+Her breathing became perfectly natural, and very soon the great hollow
+place in the upper part of the chest, over the left lung, filled out.
+Shortly before her healing she only weighed eighty pounds; but a few
+months after her weight had increased to one hundred and twenty pounds.
+
+She progressed in health rapidly, and on the second Sunday after the
+healing came she attended church. The feeble mother was most sensitively
+anxious lest her daughter should pursue some unwarrantable course which
+should lead to relapse.
+
+Miss Jordan's health steadily improved, but it was several months before
+a cough entirely left her. You may be sure that doubters made the most
+of that cough! _But it left her!_ At one time she brought on a slight
+relapse by giving lessons in crayon drawing. She came to the conclusion
+that the Lord had other work for her to do: and at this writing,
+September, 1885, having prayerfully and watchfully followed the leadings
+of the Lord, is a missionary among the freedmen of the South, and is
+strong in health and in faith, "giving glory to God."
+
+One of the aged mother's perplexities was that the Lord should want her
+to live on in such a helpless and useless condition, while her
+daughters, who might be so useful, must die; but oh, how successful she
+had by precept and example taught those daughters that "He hath done all
+things well!" How patiently she suffered whatever she thought was the
+Lord's will! How sweet was her constant thanksgiving! Said a pious
+Christian neighbor, whose poor health restricted her attendance at
+church, "When I'm hungry for a blessing I go down to see old lady
+Jordan."
+
+After eight painful weeks, she so far recovered from the sickness
+consequent on the broken and dislocated wrist as to move around feebly,
+but sight and hearing were almost gone. Her leg was stiff, her hand
+stiff, her wrist deformed, and her mind greatly impaired.
+
+Miss Jordan became very hopeful, and received strong assurance, in
+answer to prayer, that her mother might be healed. Mrs. Furlong received
+no assurance whatever in her mother's case. There was a great deal of
+talking and praying about it, in the family, and finally Mrs. Jordan
+humbly claimed the Lord's help, beseeching Him that since He had
+recorded that He would make the blind to see, the lame to walk, and the
+deaf to hear, if it was His will He would heal her. This was the night
+of June 16th, 1884.
+
+In the morning Miss Jordan was so hopeful that she rose early, and
+attentively listened to the movements in her mother's room. She called
+the little family's attention to them, saying, "Just listen to her;" and
+as, holding on by the banister, the aged mother came with her accustomed
+slow movements down to the dining room, Miss Jordan said, to them, "Now,
+watch her."
+
+According to the long habit of eight years, she began to reach out for
+her cane, unconscious that she had been walking around her room with new
+freedom. Miss Jordan went toward her and said, "Mother, do you want your
+cane?" and, wondering, the old lady walked freely into the dining room.
+They gathered around her, and said, "Are you not healed, mother?" and
+she began to think _she was_, and sat down in her chair by the table.
+Could she move her hand? The doubled-up thumb, and straight, stiff
+finger, were _perfectly free_ and as _limber as ever_, and the stiff
+wrist joint _moved with perfect freedom!_ She _heard as well as
+anybody!_ Could she see? She went up-stairs to her Bible, whose blurred,
+dim pages she had thought closed to her forever, and _she could read as
+well as ever_, and without glasses! She could thread the finest needle.
+Could she kneel and thank the Lord? She had not knelt for eight years.
+Yes, she could kneel as well as when she served the Lord in her youth!
+
+Christian reader, stop here and think what a joyful family that was that
+June morning. That aged saint, of a little more than 85 years, was in
+good health again! And her two daughters had been snatched from the jaws
+of death! What a triumph of blessed memories to leave in legacy to that
+young, hopeful, Christian son, who, in childhood, had himself repeatedly
+proved that the Lord hears and answers prayer!
+
+Mrs. Jordan has never used cane or crutch since that morning. She has
+frequently walked five blocks, to go to her church; and, a few weeks
+after her healing, she one day walked the distance of about fifteen
+blocks. She has walked for hours in Lincoln Park, among the plants and
+flowers, and she goes up and down stairs, and wherever she likes, as
+well as anyone.
+
+She has the use of her faculties, and an altogether comfortable use of
+her sight, though that is not so acute as at first. Her earliest joy was
+that she was permitted to see that the Lord had some purpose in sparing
+her so long.
+
+Dear Christian reader, shall the wonderful manifestation of that
+"purpose" strengthen your faith? It helps me.
+
+"Is anything too hard for the Lord?" "No good thing will He withhold
+from them that walk uprightly." "If ye then, being evil, know how to
+give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father
+which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him." "If we live
+by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit."
+
+In the hopes of the Gospel,
+
+                                                        Miss E. Dryer.
+
+150 Madison St., Chicago.
+
+
+ALMOST A BANKRUPT.
+
+
+A prominent Christian had just entered a merchant's counting-room, when
+the head man of the place said to him, "Let us kneel and ask God to help
+me through, for without his help, I shall be a bankrupt before the
+setting of the sun." So they knelt and prayed. That man went through the
+pressure, and did not become a bankrupt.
+
+
+"HE COULD NOT FLEE FROM THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT."
+
+
+A clergyman of distinction gives this instance of the worthlessness of
+all attempts to flee from the Power of the Spirit.
+
+"I looked out of my window one morning, while it was yet dark, and saw a
+lady standing at my gate, leaning against a post, and evidently weeping
+bitterly. I knew her. She was a member of the church, and was an
+earnest, consistent Christian. She was married to one of the most bitter
+Universalists I ever knew. I stepped down the steps to her, and asked,
+'What is the matter?' She replied, 'Oh, my poor husband! I had so hoped
+and prayed that he might be converted in this revival! and now he has
+rode away, and says that _he will not come back till this religious
+flurry is over_. What shall I do to bear up under this?'
+
+"I said, 'It is near the time for prayer. We will go and lay his case
+before the Lord, and make _special request_ that God will bring him back
+again under the power of the Spirit. The Lord can bring him home, and I
+believe He will do it. We must pray for him.'
+
+"She dried her tears in a moment, and seemed to seize hold of this
+'strong hope,' as we walked to the place of prayer. We found the room
+crowded. It fell to my lot to lead the meeting.
+
+"At the opening, I stated the case of this Universalist husband, who had
+undertaken to run away from the influence of the Spirit, by fleeing into
+the country. I said that we must all pray _that the Holy Spirit may
+follow him, overtake him, and bring him back again_, show him his sins,
+and lead him to Jesus.
+
+"The meeting took up the case with great earnestness, and I could not
+but feel that prayer would in some way be answered.
+
+"_But can you imagine our surprise when, at our evening prayer meeting,
+this same Universalist came in_?
+
+"After standing a few minutes, till the opportunity offered, he said:
+
+"'I went away on horseback this morning, and told my wife I was going
+into the country to stay till this flurry was over. I rode right over
+the hills, back from the river, into the country, till I had got
+eighteen miles away. _There, on the top of a hill, I was stopped as Paul
+was, and just as suddenly_, and made to feel what a horrible sinner I
+am. I am one of the worst sinners that ever lived. _I have lost my
+Universalism_, and I know I must be born again, or I can never see the
+kingdom of Heaven. Oh, pray for me that I may be converted; nothing else
+will do for me.'
+
+"He took his seat amid the tears and sobs of the whole assembly. The
+hour was full of prayer for that man's conversion.
+
+"This strong and intelligent man, once one of the bitterest
+Universalists I ever knew, is now an elder in a Presbyterian church, and
+one of the most joyous, happy, energetic men of God you will meet in
+many a day. He believes he was 'converted on the spot in that prayer
+meeting.'"
+
+
+LIFE BROUGHT BACK AGAIN IN THE MIDST OF DEATH.
+
+
+The following instance, when _death itself was made to give back the
+life it claimed_, is personally known to us to be true: A mother, in
+this city, sent a request for prayer to the Fulton street
+prayer-meeting, asking the Lord for the recovery of her daughter, who
+was sinking rapidly, and who she felt was almost dying.
+
+Her husband, an eminent physician, and others, also, the most skilled
+physicians of the city, gave up the case as hopeless. The mother felt
+that now none but God could or would help; that in the Fulton street
+prayer-meeting were sympathizing friends, and to it sent her request.
+She came to the meeting herself, to join in their prayers and testify
+her faith. The moments of the meeting passed on. One request after
+another was read, but hers was not touched. She was sadly disappointed.
+Her child was so weak and almost dying, it could not live the day
+through, perhaps. The time was within a few minutes, less than three, of
+the close of the meeting. She, at last, with faltering steps and
+palpitating heart, pressed her way to the desk and asked if her request
+was there. Upon search, it was found that it had been overlooked. _Too
+late_, said the leader, to _read it to-day_. See, the clock is at its
+last moment; but it shall be read first thing at 12 o'clock, to-morrow,
+and special prayer shall be offered immediately.
+
+With what heavy heart the mother went away, back to the chamber of the
+dying one, none can ever know. All night the waiting ones watched, with
+their ceaseless attentions and silent prayers.
+
+_A few minutes before_ 12 _o'clock the body sank, the eyes closed,
+pallor came over the features, the spirit seemed gone_, and _all was
+still; not a breath, not a motion--death had come_.
+
+The mother had taken her watch, hung it on the pillow of the bed, and
+with streaming eyes, yet ceaseless prayer, they watched the slow finger
+move to 12 o'clock. At precisely twelve, all joined in prayer, lifting
+their hearts to God. _At fifteen minutes past twelve, the daughter
+opened her eyes_, saying, "Mother, _I feel better_," then sank into
+sleep, _breathing steadily_; after three hours awoke to consciousness
+and sat up in bed, and before night was able to walk the floor of her
+chamber. Prayer brought that life back, even when death had taken it.
+_At the very moment when that precious prayer was offered in the
+meeting, the Lord came and touched the dying one, and gave it new life._
+The mother's faith and prayer was honored, and the Lord remembered his
+promise, "_If ye believe, ye shall see the glory of God."_ The same Lord
+who raised Lazarus and bade him come forth, also came and bade this
+precious life come back again to earth.
+
+
+SAVED FROM THE HANDS OF A DESPERADO.
+
+
+The following circumstance is communicated to us by a United States
+Surgeon:
+
+"After the close of the Mexican war, and in the year 1849, a train was
+sent out from San Antonio to establish military posts on the upper Rio
+Grande, particularly at El Paso. I was surgeon of the quartermaster's
+department, numbering about four hundred men. While the train was making
+up, the cholera prevailed in camp, for about six weeks, at first with
+terrible severity. On the 1st of June it had so far subsided that we
+took up the line of march. After about four days out from San Antonio,
+the health of the men became very good, and continued so through the
+whole route, with the exception of occasional cases of prostration from
+heat, and slight fevers, the Summer being unusually hot. One evening in
+July, after coming into camp, I received a call to see a man who had
+been taken sick on the march. I found him lying under his wagon. The
+wagon was loaded with bacon, in bulk about two tons. The heat with the
+pressure had caused it to drip freely. I asked him to come from under
+the wagon, that I might examine his case and prescribe, for him. This he
+refused to do; but demanded that I should crawl under the wagon to him,
+which I, of course, would not consent to do. No persuasion could induce
+him to change his position in the least. Becoming satisfied that he was
+not much, if at all sick, I left him. His profanity, threats and
+imprecations were fearful. Perhaps it would be well to give a short
+sketch of his life for the three years previous, as I learned it from
+men who knew him, and had been with him for considerable portion of that
+period. He went to Mexico, at the beginning of the war, a soldier in the
+regular army. When his term of service expired, he was discharged, and
+sought employment in the quartermaster's department, as a teamster. He
+had the reputation of being a thief, a robber and an assassin. In a few
+months he was ignominiously discharged from the service, and, at the
+close of the war, he came to Texas, and sought and obtained employment
+as teamster in the train then organizing for El Paso. But, to return to
+my narrative. On the morning after the occurrence at the wagon, a
+teamster came to me and said, in a hasty and abrupt manner, 'Doctor, Mc
+will kill you to-day or to-night. He is full of rage, and muttering
+terrible threats. He was out very early this morning and emptied his
+six-shooter, and came in and reloaded it and put it in first-rate
+order.' I said, 'Mc, what's up now?' He replied, 'I will kill that
+d----d old doctor to-day or to-night;' and he will do it. I have known
+him make threats before, and have never known him fail to execute them.
+But I must go; he must not know that I have seen you.' Knowing the man,
+I realized the danger, and felt that I was powerless, either to resist
+or avoid it. I retired within my tent and closed it up. I prostrated
+myself before Him who is able to save. I prayed for deliverance from the
+hands of the cruel and blood-thirsty man, and that I might not be left
+in the power of him who was my enemy without cause. I submitted my cause
+into the hands of Him who doeth all things well, and prayed for entire
+submission to his will. My anxiety subsided; my fear was removed, and I
+commenced the duties of the day with usual cheerfulness.
+
+"Soon after this, the camp broke and we were on the march. I fell back
+with the officers of the rear guard, and the excitement of the morning
+was soon forgotten. About 10 o'clock, a courier came back in haste, for
+me to see a man who had been thrown from his mule and crushed under the
+wheels of his wagon. He did not know who the man was--he was about half
+or three-quarters of a mile ahead. The thought then occurred to me, I
+shall probably have to pass Mc's team. I will ride square up with the
+courier, and keep him between myself and the train. When we came to the
+spot I inquired who the man was, for he was so mutilated I could not
+recognize him. _It was Mc. God was there_. Awe and terror took hold upon
+me. I was dumb with amazement.
+
+"Mc had dismounted and walked some fifty rods by the side of his team.
+Attempting to remount, his mule whirled and pitched, and he was thrown
+upon his back, and his team with fourteen others instantly stampeded.
+Both the fore and hind wheels on the near side of his wagon, passed
+directly over his face, and crushed every bone in his head. It was a
+fearful sight; not a feature of the human face could be discerned.
+
+"The stampeded teams were flying wildly over the prairie, in spite of
+every effort of the teamsters to control them.
+
+"I directed the head of the corpse to be inserted in some new, thick
+sacks, in such a way as to prevent the oozing of blood, and that it be
+wrapped in his blanket and taken to the next camp for burial. When the
+stampeded teams came in, it was found that no other person was injured,
+nor any damage done.
+
+"The philosopher may tell us of the reign of law; of the coincidence of
+circumstances; of the action of natural causes; but, to the Christian,
+the fact still remains--prayer was answered. God heareth his people when
+they cry unto Him."
+
+
+THE PRAYER OF A MISSIONARY IN MEXICO ANSWERED.--SAVED FROM BANDITTI.
+
+
+"In the Spring of 1872, I was, with my wife and child, in the city of
+Cadereita, Mexico, where we had been laboring as missionaries, but felt
+it was our duty to return to the States for a little season, and had
+been asking God to open up the way for us. At length, about the middle
+of March, the opportunity appeared to be given, the means being
+provided; but the country was in a state of revolution (a no uncommon
+thing there), and, consequently, there were no stages running out of the
+country, so we had to take conveyance in Mexican carts. Therefore, we
+engaged two men, with their carts; one in which we might ride and carry
+a mattress, which should serve as a bed at night, and the other, to
+carry the baggage and provisions for ourselves and the horses, as our
+way was mostly through an uncultivated country.
+
+"We knew that General Cortinas, with his troops, was somewhere between
+us and Texas, as the State we were in was one of those in rebellion. The
+blood-thirsty character of General Cortinas is well known on the
+frontier, there being no less than seventeen indictments against him for
+murder in the State of Texas. He is regarded as having a special hatred
+against Americans, and the Mexicans, themselves, stand in terror of him.
+
+"Our friends and brethren in Cadereita tried hard to deter us from
+going, as most likely we would fall into the hands of General Cortinas;
+in which event, they said, the very utmost we could expect would be to
+escape with our lives, being left destitute of everything, in a
+wilderness road; but, as God had seemed to open up the way, providing
+the means, we determined to go forward, trusting that He also would
+protect us in the way. Therefore, having completed our arrangements, we
+started for Matamoras, some three hundred miles distant, on the 19th of
+March, the wives of the two men accompanying their husbands, making our
+party six adults and one child; the brethren in Cadereita promising to
+pray daily for our safety. The third morning, after commending
+ourselves, as usual, into the care of our covenant-keeping God, we
+started on our journey. Some two hours later, we espied the troops of
+General Cortinas, about two miles distant, marching toward us. We again
+all looked to God for protection, and prayed that, as he shut the mouths
+of the lions, that they should not hurt his servant Daniel, so He would
+now restrain the evil passions of men, that they might not hurt nor
+injure us--then we went on till we met the advance guard, who commanded
+us to halt and wait till the General came up. After nearly half an hour,
+General Cortinas, with his escort, rode up to where we were waiting for
+him. After the ordinary salutation, he asked: (_¿de adonde vienen y
+adonde van?_) 'From whence have you come, and where are you going?'--to
+which we replied properly; then he asked: 'What is the news from Nueva
+Leon?' (the State we left)--to which we replied as faithfully as we
+could. Then I asked him, 'Is the road safe between us and Matamoras?' He
+replied: 'Perfectly; you can go on without any fear, and as safely as
+you would in your own country.' Then, bidding us 'good morning,' he rode
+on, not even inquiring about or examining any of our baggage.
+
+"When we arrived in Brownsville, Texas, and told of how gentlemanly
+General Cortinas had treated us, all pronounced it wonderful, and said,
+'We could not have believed General Cortinas capable of such kindness to
+Americans so in his power. It was truly a miracle.' We believed that it
+was God who restrained the naturally vicious passions of the man, in
+direct answer to prayer."
+
+
+AN INFIDEL'S LIFE SPARED A FEW DAYS.
+
+
+"During the Summer of 1862, I became acquainted with a Mr. A----, who
+professed infidelity, and who was, I think, as near an atheist as any I
+ever met. I held several conversations with him on the subject of
+religion, but could not seem to make any impression on his mind, and,
+when a point was pressed strongly, he would become angry.
+
+"In the Fall, he was taken ill, and seemed to go into a rapid decline.
+I, with others, sought kindly and prayerfully to turn his mind to his
+need of a Saviour, but only met with rebuffs. As I saw that his end was
+drawing near, one day I pressed the importance of preparing to meet God,
+when he became angry and said I need not trouble myself any more about
+his soul, as there was no God, the Bible was a fable, and when we die
+that is the last of us, and was unwilling that I should pray with him. I
+left him, feeling very sad.
+
+"Some four weeks after, on New Year's morning, I awoke with the
+impression that I should go and see Mr. A----, and I could not get rid
+of that impression; so, about nine o'clock, I went to see him, and, as I
+approached the house, I saw the two doctors, who had been holding a
+consultation, leaving. When I rang the bell, his sister-in-law opened
+the door for me, and exclaimed, 'Oh! I am so glad you have come; John is
+dying. The doctors say he cannot possibly live above two hours, and
+probably not one.' When I went up to his room, he sat bolstered up in a
+chair, and appeared to have fallen into a doze. I sat down, about five
+feet from him, and when, in about two minutes, he opened his eyes and
+saw me, he started up, with agony pictured on his face and in the tones
+of his voice, exclaimed, 'O! Mr. P----, I am not prepared to die; there
+is a God; the Bible is true! O, pray for me! pray God to spare me a few
+days, till I shall know I am saved.'
+
+"These words were uttered with the intensest emotion, while his whole
+physical frame quivered through the intense agony of his soul. I replied
+in effect, that Jesus was a great Saviour, able and willing to save all
+who would come unto Him, even at the eleventh hour, as He did the thief
+on the cross.
+
+"When I was about to pray with him, he again entreated me to pray
+especially that God would spare him a few days, till he might have the
+evidences of his salvation. In prayer, I seemed to have great assurance
+of his salvation, and asked God to give us the evidence of his
+salvation, by granting him a few days more in this world. Several others
+joined in praying God to spare him a few days, till he should give
+evidence of being saved.
+
+"I called again in the evening; he seemed even stronger than in the
+morning, and his mind was seeking the truth. The next day, as I
+entered, his face expressed the fact that peace and joy had
+taken the place of fear and anxiety. He was spared some five
+days, giving very clear evidence that he had passed from death to life.
+His case was a great mystery to the doctors. They could not understand
+how he lived so long; but his friends, who had been praying for him, all
+believed it was in direct answer to prayer."
+
+
+REMARKABLE PRESERVATION FROM BRAIN DIFFICULTIES.
+
+
+"A few weeks ago, a man who had once been a member of my church, but had
+fallen from his steadfastness through strong drink, fell from a ladder,
+striking his head on the corner of a stone, which made a dent in the
+skull of over two and one-half inches in length, and three-fourths of an
+inch in width, and half an inch in depth. This happened on Friday
+afternoon. At our prayer-meeting, in the evening, most earnest prayers
+were offered in his behalf; the brethren prayed that God would restore
+him his senses and spare him a few days, that he might repent of his
+back-sliding and be saved.
+
+"The surgeons raised the skull, and his senses were restored; his mind
+seemed clear. This continued over a week, when it was evident that there
+was still some pressure on the brain. The surgeons removed the skull,
+and found three pieces driven down into the brain. They expressed, from
+the first, no hope of his recovery; but wondered much at the clearness
+of his mind, which continued for over two weeks. We believed that it was
+in answer to the prayers of the church that he might have time and
+opportunity to repent and prepare to meet God, which we trust he did."
+
+
+LITTLE GEORGE'S PRAYER.
+
+
+A clergyman writes us these incidents:
+
+"I knew a poor family whose son George, four or five years old, was
+accustomed to pray. They lived five or six miles from neighbors, and, at
+times, were quite destitute. One day, as little George observed his
+mother weeping over their destitution, he said, "Why, mother, don't cry
+any; we shall not starve; God will send us something to eat, I know He
+will. I've just been praying, and asked Him to." The little fellow just
+as much believed God would send them food, as if he had asked a reliable
+neighbor and obtained his promise to supply their wants. In a day or two
+after this, some friends living at a distance and knowing they were
+poor, took them the welcome surprise of a wagon-load of substantial
+material for food and other comforts. The little boy grew up to be a
+Christian minister, and, about a year ago, on inquiry, his uncle told me
+he had been at the head of an institution of learning in the
+South-west."
+
+
+A PRAYER FOR A HORSE.
+
+
+"My horse died, and, after traveling through the snow-drifts to my
+appointments, till I was lame, half sick, and unfit for service--as I
+had not means to purchase a horse, I thought of quitting the work and
+going to teaching, and laid the matter before God, in prayer; soon after
+which, some person at a distance, who heard that I had lost my horse,
+without my saying a word about it, raised the means by which I procured
+another."
+
+
+A PRAYER FOR A WIFE.
+
+
+"When I believed it would be well for me to seek a companion for life, I
+asked of God direction in making a wise choice, and that, in a matter of
+so much importance to me and others, I might meet with success or
+_hindrance_, as my heavenly Father knew best. He led me to a choice and
+marriage, which I have not since regretted."
+
+
+CHURCH TROUBLES QUELLED.
+
+
+"I might mention a dozen instances in which church troubles were
+gathering, and trials between members appeared certain, when all my
+tactics failed, and the wisdom of brethren was of no avail; my last
+resort was to ask God to send help and deliver from the threatened
+evil--and in ways that no one could foresee, complete deliverance came."
+
+
+A MINISTER'S SUPPLIES FALL SHORT.
+
+
+"When very much in need of funds to procure supplies for a coming
+Winter, all expedients failed; then I asked God for assistance, when,
+unexpectedly, a friend in California sent me a little package of gold
+dust, which I sold, at once, for $130. This came when it was needed, and
+it did us good."
+
+
+A PRAYER FOR A SERVANT.
+
+
+"Some time after, we failed to find anything like suitable help in the
+house, which we greatly needed. Before starting out one morning, in
+secret I prayed to God to direct me as I went on my uncertain business,
+and prayed as I called at different places, and soon found a colored
+girl sixteen years old wanting a place, who came and proved to be the
+best help we ever had, before or since. For seven years and a half she
+lived in the family, taught two of our children to read; was glad, from
+choice, to move with us to different places, till she left to be
+married, fell sick and passed away. A dozen other times when driven in
+straits, _in answer to prayer_ God has enabled us to procure necessary
+help, which was difficult to obtain.
+
+"In 1874, while on my way to see my mother in Pennsylvania--who had just
+been paralyzed, and died the next week--I was suddenly paralyzed in my
+left arm, by which, I have since been helpless and useless. After coming
+here to live, being in want of a man to lift me in and out of bed, dress
+me, etc., for which we inquired of people, and prayed to God to send us
+the needed help. We had not means to hire and pay any person to do such
+work, even if he could be found. Soon the right one came, in the person
+of a young German, who was tramping through the country in search of
+employment and food; was ready and glad to do any work for a living. For
+pay that satisfied him and us, he staid in the family over a year,
+working out doors and in; could be trusted to do business with money,
+and return every cent correctly. After being with us over a year, when
+we needed him no longer, he obtained a situation in a good family, where
+he is now living. In many instances, I have prayed to be healed of
+special sickness, always using what remedies I thought best, yet asking
+the divine blessing on their use."
+
+
+HEALING.
+
+
+"For over three years, I was troubled with frequent raising of blood
+from my right lung, which physicians failed to cure. Of this I prayed to
+be relieved; after which, the soreness healed, and for several years it
+has ceased to trouble me."
+
+
+THAT $18.75.
+
+
+A man who had led a very wicked life, was converted and hopefully saved.
+Previous to this time, a debt of $18.75 had not given him the slightest
+thought. After receiving a new heart, he distinctly heard God's command,
+"Pay what thou owest;" so called on his creditor, and urged him to send
+to his house and get a bureau, table and looking-glass, which he desired
+him to sell and pay himself the sum due him; but, not wishing to deprive
+his debtor of such necessary articles, refused, saying he would wait
+till he could pay. The 18th of November was set, and, as the day
+approached, the prospect was no brighter; and when the night of the 17th
+came around, he spent it in prayer that God would deliver him, and rose
+from his knees at daybreak, with the full assurance that "He knoweth how
+to deliver."
+
+On passing down a street the next morning, on his way to business, a man
+who kept a large store was standing in the door-way, and called to him
+to stop a minute. Wondering what could be the nature of the call, he
+retraced his steps, to hear this astonishing news: "_For three days I
+have been impressed with the idea that I must give you_ $18.75, _and for
+three days have been trying to ascertain why I must give you this
+amount, for I do not owe any man a penny_. I cannot get rid of the
+thought, and if you value my peace of mind, I beg you take the money!"
+Seeing, instantly, the hand of God in it, he told the story to the
+astonished storekeeper, then left to pay his debt with the money so
+strangely given. His creditor, surprised to see him so promptly on time,
+questioned him as to the manner of obtaining it, thinking, perhaps, he
+had made a great sacrifice to do so. On being told just how it was given
+him, said, "_I won't take it; keep it. If God is as near to people as
+that, I don't want it; it seems as if it had come directly from his
+Almighty hand_." The result was the conversion of both the storekeeper
+and creditor, to whom the incident came as the undoubted evidence of
+God's presence among them.
+
+
+GOD SENT THE BAG OF FLOUR.
+
+
+In about the year 1830, in Central New York, there was a time of great
+scarcity of provisions. Grain was very high, and difficult to be
+obtained at any price; and, of course, families of limited means were
+very much straitened. In one family, the wife and mother of six
+children, a Godly woman, worked at her trade (tailoress) to the extent
+of her ability, and prayed earnestly that God would deliver them from
+pressing want. Husband and children all knew of their need, and of the
+fervent prayers of the wife and mother for their supply; but no one knew
+by what means the supply was to come. Every day, as their scanty means
+were being consumed, the prospect grew darker. On the farm was a large
+quantity of pine timber. Four miles from there, in the next town, lived
+a man who needed some shingles; and, casting about him to see where he
+should obtain a supply, thought he would go and purchase a pine tree,
+and himself and man go into the woods and work it up into shingles. As
+he was about starting, the thought occurred to him, "Perhaps they may be
+in want of wheat flour--a bag cannot come amiss in this time of
+scarcity." So, putting two bushels in a bag, he proceeded to the next
+town, entered the house, and made known his errand, saying, "I have
+brought along two bushels of flour towards paying for the tree, thinking
+you might be in want of it in this time of scarcity, and I knew you live
+six or seven miles from the mill, and have no horse." "That is in answer
+to prayer," said the noble woman; and the husband believed it, though
+not a praying man. When, at night, the oldest son came in, the mother
+said to him, "God has answered our prayers, and sent a bag of flour." It
+is believed that, while this was not miraculous, it was as directly the
+interposition of God, as feeding Elijah by the ravens; and it was in
+direct answer to prayer for that special blessing."
+
+
+INCIDENTS FROM THE EXPERIENCE OF A CITY MISSIONARY.--A PRAYER FOR SUPPER
+ANSWERED.
+
+
+An educated, accomplished lady, reduced to the very lowest round of
+poverty's ladder, whom we shall call Mrs. X----, bears unfailing
+testimony to God's hearing and answering the prayer of faith. The
+daughter came up-stairs one day to announce the utter emptiness of the
+larder. There was not even a piece of dry bread, nor a drawing of tea;
+not a potato, nor a bean; and "Charles, poor fellow, will come home from
+his work at six, tired and so hungry; what _shall_ we do, mother?"
+
+"The Lord will send us something, before he comes," said Mrs. X----. So,
+for three hours more the daughter waited. "Mother, it is five o'clock,
+and the Lord has not sent us anything." "He will, my dear, before
+half-past six;" and the widow went in an adjoining room, to ask that her
+daughter might not feel it vain to call upon God. In fifteen minutes,
+the door-bell rang violently, and a gentleman, valise in hand, said,
+"Mrs. X----, I left the room which I hired of you one year ago, in a
+great hurry, you will remember; and I owed you five dollars. I have not
+been in the city since, and am rushing out of it again--jumped off the
+car just to give you this money. Good-bye."
+
+
+RELIEF FROM A CREDITOR'S DEMANDS.
+
+
+"At another time, being sorely pressed by a heartless creditor, and
+almost beside herself, she concluded to walk out and get free from the
+insupportable burden, by change of air and scene for two or three hours.
+Passing the house of a friend, just returned from Europe, she called for
+a few moments, and was presented with a small and peculiar plant,
+brought from Wales. All the way home she was asking the Lord to release
+her from this relentless creditor, and all the way home a man, without
+her knowledge, was following her. Arrived at her own stoop, he suddenly
+confronted her, bowed, apologized for the liberty, but said he had not
+had a sight of that dear old plant since he left home; and if she would
+sell it to him, he would gladly give her ten dollars for it. As that was
+half the sum for which she was persecuted, and would probably relieve
+her from annoyance until she could raise the balance, she accepted the
+offer."
+
+
+TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS NEEDED AND GIVEN AT THE LAST MOMENT.
+
+
+"At the time of her husband's death, there were _two hundred dollars_
+due an institute, for board and tuition of their two little boys. His
+death was the flood-gate opened, which let in a successive torrent of
+perplexities, losses, dilemmas, delays, law-suits, etc. She had not been
+able to pay that bill; the principal was importunate, persevering,
+bitter, and, at last, abusive. She cried to the Lord for a week, day and
+night, almost without ceasing. Then, a gentleman whom she had taken to
+her own house and carefully nursed through a dangerous illness, three
+years before, called to say good-bye. He was on his way to a Bremen
+steamer, and all other adieus were said, all his baggage on board,
+except the valise in his hand. Might her boy ride down to the wharf and
+see him off? Of course she was glad to consent. When her son returned he
+brought back a letter, which opened, she found to contain _two hundred
+dollars_ and the words, 'Not that money can ever express my gratitude,
+but the enclosed may be useful for gas-bills or some other little
+household matter.'"
+
+
+HOW THE LORD REPAID A GENEROUS GIFT.
+
+
+"Some gentlemen, urged to contribute to a most worthy cause, said, 'Go
+first to Mr. Z.--whatever he gives, we will.' Mr. Z., upon application,
+concluded to make his neighbors do something worth while, and, as he was
+expecting a thousand dollars in a very few days, subscribed the whole of
+that. Upon the arrival of the vessel which was to pay his subscription,
+he found the difference in exchange between certain countries, had
+swelled his thousand dollars to _twenty-two hundred_."
+
+
+THE ASTONISHED GIVER.
+
+
+"A gentleman, not marching in the ranks of 'cheerful givers,' was urged
+to bestow five dollars toward the 'Fresh Air Fund.' 'He could not;
+business wretched; poor enough himself,' and all the well known line of
+excuses. The friend assured him, if the Lord did not more than make it
+up to him, before the end of the week, he himself would return the
+money. To those terms he agreed, quite sure he should call on Saturday
+and get back the $5. But, the very next morning, he ran to the office of
+his friend to say that an old debt, given up long ago, and for which he
+would have taken one hundred dollars any moment, was paid him about an
+hour after the friend left his store. So astonished was he, that he even
+doubted the check, which was for _five thousand dollars,_ and sent it to
+the bank to test its genuineness before he would give a receipt for it!"
+
+
+ALL SAVED.
+
+
+In a dismal basement, A. found a very interesting American family. The
+father, in the last stage of consumption; a little girl of ten years, an
+invalid from infancy. The mother and two daughters, both under fifteen,
+were out all day at work, trying to keep even such a wretched shelter,
+and a little coarse food, as daily supplies. The three together could
+not make over four dollars a week. The only person to wait on the two
+sick ones during the day, was a little boy four years of age, who, when
+the missionary entered, was reclining upon the bed. But he started up,
+put more coal on the fire, and brought a drink of water, first to his
+sister, then his father; without any bidding, and with the consideration
+of a grown person.
+
+On A.'s next visit, a few days after, he found the mother at home,
+grief-stricken. Her eldest daughter had been taken ill the day previous.
+He gave her all the money he had, prayed with them, and sent at once a
+kind, assiduous physician. In a few weeks the daughter died, but not
+without a good hope in Christ; and was buried at the expense of the few
+kind friends whom A. had sent to see the family. The dying daughter
+exhorted her dying father to seek his soul's eternal welfare, and not
+boast, as heretofore, of his life-long morality. Her conversations led
+him to see his danger out of Christ, and, in a little while after his
+daughter's departure, he followed. The mother had not before had a sure
+Christian hope; but, amidst such influences, her heart was soon opened
+to admit the truth. Not long after her bereavement she began having a
+"cottage prayer-meeting" in her room, and united with an evangelical
+church. She immediately became anxious for the conversion of her two
+boys, who were away, and urged the missionary to write them. He did so,
+frequently, and his heaven-directed appeals led one of the boys very
+soon to Christ. Soon after, he died; the brother returned home with
+consumption. He took great pleasure in the little prayer-meetings, and
+in three months cheerfully and exultantly exchanged this world of
+suffering for the one where father, brother and sister awaited him. Worn
+out with anxiety, care, hard work and poor health, the mother followed;
+leaving the invalid girl and youngest boy; who are watched over, not
+only by their Friend in heaven, but friends on earth. The eldest
+surviving daughter is an esteemed and consistent member of a church of
+Christ.
+
+
+"THE LORD WOKE ME UP IN TIME TO SAVE MY CLOTHES."
+
+
+In the very top of a four-story building, used only for various
+manufacturing purposes, lived an old man and daughter. They lived
+literally _by faith in Christ_, from _day_ to _day_; one hour at a time.
+At his voice, followed Him, whether into darkness or light. Neither took
+a step but as they held his hand. A lady calling one day, said, "Oh!
+Jennie, I thought of your large wash hanging on the roof, last night,
+when the drenching rain came; and I was so sorry to think you would have
+your hard work all over again!" "_Oh! no ma'am. The Lord woke me up out
+of a sound sleep, just as the first few drops fell_! I hastened up and
+brought them all down nice and dry, and had only got to the foot of the
+stairs with the last armful, when it poured down. Now that was the Lord,
+ma'am, for there was not a single noise of any kind to waken me, and I
+was sound asleep!"
+
+
+THE LORD TAKES AWAY THE CUSTOM OF A LIQUOR SALOON.
+
+
+At one time, the landlord rented the ground floor to a liquor seller.
+The loafers going in and out, especially on Sunday, were a great grief
+to Jennie and her saintly old father. They concluded to take it to the
+Lord together, and, said the old man, "He will be sure to attend to it;
+I have been young, and now am old, and I have never known Him fail
+me--He _never_ does." _In three weeks after, the dram-seller closed his
+place for want of patronage_.
+
+
+HELP IN TIME OF NEED.
+
+
+A poor, humble Christian woman had a claim on some property in a
+neighboring State. It was in law, and she was summoned to attend court
+at a certain time. Having scarcely money enough for her daily bread, she
+was obliged to borrow the means to take her there, and pay some cheap
+board while awaiting the conclusion of the trial. She was positively
+assured by the lawyers, that she would receive several hundred dollars.
+She was detained five weeks, instead of one, as she expected, and then
+the suit was postponed till Fall. She was in agony of mind; in a strange
+place--owing for board and washing, and no money to take her to her
+home. Having spent a whole night pacing the floor and calling on the
+Lord to redeem his promises, she felt the fresh air would do her good,
+and sadly took her way down a side street. She had gone but three blocks
+when she found a diamond ring. Being accustomed to the ownership of
+diamonds in her younger days, she knew very nearly its value; took it
+home, watched the principal papers, and the same evening saw a reward of
+seventy-five dollars offered for it. We can imagine that joy lent wings
+to her feet, and thanksgiving filled her whole heart. The sum was
+sufficient to pay her bills, bring her back and return a portion of the
+borrowed money.
+
+
+CAST OUT INTO THE STREET, YET NOT FORSAKEN.
+
+
+A piteous wail was heard on the street one day, and a poor Scotchman
+crossed over to see the trouble. A widow and three children sat on their
+few articles of household furniture. Put in the street, when they could
+no longer find five dollars for the rent of the kennel in which, for six
+months, they had not lived, but existed. He had just received five
+dollars for a piece of work, and was hurrying home with it to his sick
+wife, crippled mother and two children. He thought of the piece of
+meat--a long untasted luxury--he meant to buy; of the tea his mother so
+much craved, and hesitated. Could he give these up? But the streaming
+eyes of the children, and the mute despair on the face of the mother,
+took down the scale. He ran several blocks and found an empty basement;
+hired it for four dollars; enlisted the sympathy and help of a colored
+boy to carry the furniture; put up the stove, bought a bundle of wood,
+pail of coal, and some provisions with the other dollar; held a little
+prayer-meeting on the spot, and left with the benedictions of the
+distressed ones filling his ears. The recital of his adventure
+obliterated for the time all sense of their own desires, and they
+thanked God together that their loss had been the widow's gain. The next
+morning, while taking their frugal meal, a tea dealer, for whom this man
+had frequently put up shelves, came to say he was short-handed, and if
+the Scotchman was not very busy, he would give him a regular position in
+his establishment, at a better salary than he could hope to earn.
+Meanwhile, hearing his wife was sick, he had brought her a couple pounds
+prime tea, and it occurred to him that venison steaks were a little out
+of the ordinary run of meat, and, as he had a quantity at home, he
+brought a couple. Thus the Lord answered the prayer of the poor, and
+repaid the generous giver who sacrificed his money for the Lord.
+
+
+A PERSECUTOR PUNISHED BY THE LORD.
+
+
+A most devout, hard-working and poorly paid man, was the object of
+constant persecution by a cross-grained, ugly, infidel neighbor. For
+three years the thing went on, till the Christian thought he must remove
+from the place. He could not do it without breaking up his humble home,
+for which he had worked night and day. He and his wife were in deep
+distress; told their plans to the Lord; asked Him to direct them to
+another home, and then went to a newspaper office to advertise their
+little place for sale. The editor was out, and they preferred to see
+him--would return home and call again to-morrow. The next morning the
+infidel was found dead in his bed, from a stroke of apoplexy.
+
+
+HOW GOD ANSWERED MY PRAYER FOR $90.
+
+
+"Suffice it, then, I was in debt. I was owing the large sum (large for a
+poor home missionary) of $90.00. Expecting soon to be called upon for
+the payment of it, and not seeing any way to meet it, _I went to the
+Lord with it_. Early in life I had made this resolution: that no man
+whom I was _owing_ should ever ask me for money, and I not pay him; but
+now, I could see no way out; and if, as I expected, it should be
+demanded, I was not in a condition to meet it. Such was my condition
+when, on a certain day, the demand came. I took the letter from the
+office at noon. What now was to be done? Again I took the case to the
+Lord, and asked Him to help me pay it, so that my word need not fail, or
+_his cause suffer reproach._ I first determined to pay a part; but, as
+no letter could be sent out that day, I awaited the results of the day
+following. From the northern mail, which first arrived, I took a letter
+containing an unexpected draft of $50 to my wife, from parties whom we
+did not know, and had never seen, nor they us. Within twenty minutes
+more I was presented with a _surprise_ of $40, from a people where I had
+preached for the six months past. Here was my $90, and, before the mail
+went out, I had my letter written and in the mail. Both were as
+unexpected as if they had come from heaven direct."
+
+
+FROM WEALTH, TO POVERTY.
+
+
+A lady of superior culture and refinement, fell from opulence to extreme
+poverty, within four years. No less ready when at the bottom of
+fortune's ladder, than at the top, to do good as she had opportunity,
+she paid another poor woman's way to a neighboring State, where
+employment awaited her, and did it literally with her _last_ dollar-and
+a-half! Supposing herself the possessor of a ten cent note, over and
+above the twelve shillings, she went with her somewhat feeble protege
+over Jersey city ferry, and saw her safely in the cars. Starting back,
+she was dismayed to find no ten cents in her pocket-book, and, all too
+late, remembered having paid it for a quart of milk that morning; the
+sole breakfast of herself and daughter. Night was approaching--what to
+do she did not know. She had a plain, worn, old gold ring on her finger;
+she took it off, offered it to the ferry-master, who would not take it,
+though she told him she found her money gone and would redeem it next
+day. She went back in the ladies' room and told it to the Lord,
+beseeching his assistance. Just then, a girl passing, jostled against
+her and knocked down her parasol. She picked it up, happened to turn it
+upside down, and out rolled a _five-cent nickel!_ The Lord, then, hears
+prayer for even _five cents_ to provide for the comfort and need of
+those whom He loves.
+
+
+A PRAYER FOR FIFTY DOLLARS.
+
+
+A clergyman writes _The Christian_ as follows:
+
+"The Winter of 1872 I spent in missionary work, carrying the glad
+tidings of the kingdom of God into new fields in the 'regions beyond.'
+With my devoted wife, I labored ardently for the salvation of men 'from
+the wrath to come.' We were full of comfort to be thus engaged, though
+without pledge from man for support, or promised salary for preaching.
+
+"In spite of our rigid economy, I had contracted some debts for the
+necessaries of life. I have since learned to go without what the Lord
+does not provide means to pay for at once. I needed the money to pay the
+debts, and felt impressed to pray for fifty dollars. I said to my wife:
+'_I am going to pray for fifty dollars_.' 'Well,' said she, 'I will join
+you;' and we bowed before God and told Him our needs, and unitedly asked
+Him for fifty dollars; so that we might not bring ourselves or the truth
+we preached, into reproach, by being unable to pay debts. We were agreed
+in asking, and thus claiming the promise: 'If two of you shall agree as
+touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my
+Father which is in heaven.' (Matt, xviii. 19). We had the assurance that
+money would come; but from whence we did not know, nor care, for we knew
+the 'silver and gold' are the Lord's, as well as the 'cattle upon a
+thousand hills,' and he could easily cause some one to give or send us
+the money.
+
+"We felt full of peace; for we knew it was for God's glory to answer
+that prayer. No one outside of the family knew we were praying for
+money. We did not go around among our friends and tell them we were
+praying for fifty dollars, in hopes that they would take it upon
+themselves to answer the prayer. We told none but the God whom we serve.
+
+"Some little time passed, and no money came, but we did not lose our
+faith or assurance. One morning, at family prayer, I was led out to pray
+that we might see the Lord's working in our behalf that day, and I rose
+from my knees with perfect confidence that our hearts would be made to
+rejoice in God that day. When I came in to my dinner I asked my wife if
+any one had brought our mail from the post-office. She said, 'Yes, there
+are some papers on your table.' 'What!' said I, with surprise, 'no
+letters?' I saw a peculiar expression on her countenance, and I asked no
+more questions, but sat down to the dinner table and turned over my
+plate, and there saw a letter she had put beneath it; and as soon as I
+saw the hand-writing I felt, there is money in this, though, of all
+sources, this was from the one least expected. I opened the letter, and
+there was a draft for _fifty dollars, 'a gift to aid in preaching the
+Gospel.'_ If I ever recognized the hand of God in anything, I did in
+this; and if there was ever a time of devout thanksgiving to God, and a
+humbling of self before Him in my house, it was that day. Since then, it
+has been easier to trust in Him than before. He has said, 'I will never
+leave thee nor forsake thee.' He has also said, through his apostles,
+'Be careful for nothing; but in everything, by prayer and supplication
+with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.'"
+
+
+CONCURRENT TESTIMONY OF THE VALUE OF PRAYER.
+
+
+A request was published by the _Illustrated Christian Weekly,_ asking
+that all who could report positive facts as direct results of prayer,
+and thus, tend to show that _"God does answer prayer,"_ should
+communicate them. Very many were communicated, regarding all trials and
+troubles of the heart, and daily temporal or spiritual life. No one can
+question they are authentic to the highest degree; they should silence
+the skeptic, and convince the worldly of the presence of the mysterious
+power and wonderful Spirit of God, which tempers the hearts and lives of
+men and controls them as He wills.
+
+
+A WORLDLY MAN SURRENDERS.
+
+
+A clergyman says, "I was very anxious for the building of a mission
+chapel to accommodate a flourishing mission-school that had been
+organized under my pastorate. Knowing that a certain physician of the
+city was possessed of abundant means and had a praying Christian mother,
+though he had long since given up going to church, I resolved to call
+upon him. Before starting from my study I knelt down and asked God to
+prosper me in my appeal. Upon going out of my parsonage the physician
+was in the act of passing in his carriage. I hailed him, explained to
+him my desire, and the result was not only a contribution of money as
+large as the largest, but a gift of a lot for the chapel worth several
+hundred dollars."
+
+
+A SERVANT'S PRAYER FOR A GOOD HOME.
+
+
+"I was brought up religiously as a servant in a family in Connecticut,
+and from twelve years of age until twenty-three, knew no other home. The
+old couple died, and I lived with their children, but they were so
+different that I became very unhappy and hardly knew what to do or which
+way to turn. I had no relatives and knew nothing of any world save the
+little one in which I had all my life moved, and I was terribly afraid
+to try any other. I could only offer my constant prayer for help, and it
+was answered so much beyond my highest hope, and so kind were God's
+dealings with me that I was taken, almost without an effort of my own,
+into a warm, loving heart, and such a happy home, and all so easily and
+smoothly that to me it seems like a miracle; and never can I forget
+while I live, nor cease to believe that truly 'He is the hearer and
+answerer of prayer.'"
+
+
+"BEFORE THEY CALL I WILL ANSWER."--A PASTOR PRAYS FOR DECISION AS TO
+GOOD CHOICES.
+
+
+"The writer was once in great trouble to know what was duty. Urged by
+ministers and laymen in high standing to undertake a work not exactly in
+the line of the ministry, he hesitated. God's displeasure was feared,
+lest in doing what was desired 'sin might lie at his door.' To refuse
+the wish of good and wise men might be resisting God's call. In this
+trial of conscience he sought in fasting and special prayer the guidance
+of his Heavenly Father. While so doing the above promise came very
+distinctly to his mind. He brought it to God as his own promise, and
+pleaded, if it could be graciously done, that He would literally fulfill
+it to the suppliant. In the very act of thus pleading, he heard a rap on
+the door. Opening it, there stood his mother-in-law. She said, 'Two
+gentlemen are in the parlor waiting for you.' I went down, and the
+interview revealed the exact fulfillment both of the promise and the
+prophecy. The Lord answered my prayer two days before I called on Him.
+One of the two came from New York to my home in a Western city to
+inquire about _the very thing which was troubling me. He was to me an
+entire stranger_, never having heard of him until I saw him. Having
+consulted his friend, the Rev. M.W. Jacobus, D.D., they together came to
+call on me about the matter at the very moment I was pleading with God
+that He would mercifully, 'while yet speaking, hear me.' Now could
+Tyndall and his followers desire a more literal, a more exact
+fulfillment of this prophecy and promise as proof of its inspiration,
+and of prayer as God's ordinance than that prayer for such fulfillment
+of these words actually before the prayer was made, and while the
+petitioner was 'yet speaking?'"
+
+It will be noticed that the best judgment of good men advise one course,
+but trust in God for superior wisdom brought the case to answer in a
+totally different manner, by means of an unknown person, a total
+stranger, who neither knew him nor his desire. The circumstance should
+convince the world.
+
+
+A FAMILY PRAY FOR A GOOD SERVANT.
+
+
+"About three years since my family comfort was very much disturbed by
+failure to obtain a good housemaid. And, having been accustomed to wait
+upon God for right direction in my _temporal_ as well as spiritual
+affairs, in simple faith I asked Him to direct me on reaching New York
+City to where I would find a girl of good character that would
+appreciate a Christian home. My steps were led to a boarding-house on
+Greenwich street, and on inquiring for a German or Swede girl I was told
+they had a nice Swede just landed. I talked to her through an
+interpreter and was satisfied from what she said, as well as from her
+countenance, that she was the one I was searching for. She came to my
+home and proved, in two years' service, almost faultless. In
+conversation one day, a short time after she came to our home, she said
+she had had several places offered her that morning before I came, but
+she did not like them; but as soon as she saw me, felt that she could go
+with me--she was a Christian, member of the Lutheran church and wanted a
+Christian home. Her desire was granted and my prayer was answered."
+
+
+A RECOVERY FROM A DEATH-BED.
+
+
+"Some forty years ago, in a rural parish in New England, a young man lay
+apparently on his death-bed with a putrid fever. His aunt, in whose
+family he was staying, was a woman who had long lived in habitual
+intercourse with the unseen world through prayer. One afternoon, when it
+seemed to those around him that the sick one must die, she went away
+alone to speak with God. With intense earnestness she pleaded for the
+young man's life. And, being deeply interested in the portion of our
+country then beginning to be settled, she asked also that he might
+become a home missionary at the West. There were various circumstances
+which made this latter request, as well as the other, seem very unlikely
+to be fulfilled. And yet it was. The young man recovered, pursued a
+collegiate and theological course, and still lives and labors as a most
+devoted and useful Christian pioneer. More than once he has been a
+member of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, and his name
+is familiar to many."
+
+
+A POOR STUDENT PRAYS FOR MONEY.
+
+
+"I was a poor student in a Manual Labor Institute at the West. The month
+of February was our regular Winter vacation. We were privileged to keep
+our rooms and have board at one dollar a week. But I had absolutely no
+money. I was six hundred miles from my friends, and they were unable to
+furnish me with funds. I had no books for the new term, though these
+were a necessity if I went on with my class, and there was no work about
+the Institution, nor that I know of in the neighborhood at that season.
+My case seemed an exceedingly bad one; and I had no idea from where any
+help could come. So I went to my room in the third story, locked my door
+and carried my case to the Lord. It was a long, earnest, tearful cry for
+help from Him who alone seemed able to give it. My prayer was answered.
+When I had been there I do not know how long, I heard footsteps in the
+empty hall, and in a moment a knock at my door. I wiped my eyes, and put
+myself into presentable shape as soon as I could, and opened the door. A
+lad stood there who said: 'A man wants to see you at the front door.'
+Down the stairs I went, wondering who could want me and what he could
+want me for. In the front yard was a man on a restless horse, who at
+once said: 'We want you to teach our school for a month. The boys have
+driven out the female teacher. We want you to take them in hand, and
+we'll give you fifteen dollars and your board.' I said, 'All right, I'll
+be down there to-morrow morning.' And then I went back to my room to
+thank God for hearing my prayer."
+
+
+"I CAN'T STOP TO PRAY."
+
+
+"A deacon living in a Berkshire town was requested to give his prayers
+in behalf of a poor man with a large family who had broken his leg. 'I
+can't stop now to pray,' said the deacon (who was picking and barreling
+his early apples for the city market), 'but you can go down into the
+cellar and get some corned beef, salt pork, potatoes, and butter--that's
+the best I can do.'"
+
+
+REMARKABLE HEALING OF A CHILD.
+
+
+A clergyman writes that during the ministration of his labors at Battle
+Greek, Mich., there were several remarkable manifestations of divine
+power--especially in the case of a little girl, the daughter of a Mr.
+Smith, a child of about six years.
+
+"In September last, she was taken very sick with spinal fever. She
+became much reduced, extremely nervous and helpless, excepting to move
+her hands. Physicians gave up the case as a hopeless one, deciding that
+should she live, her condition would be that of helplessness, a burden
+to herself and to her parents.
+
+"But our gracious God had better things in store for that afflicted
+family. It was on a Sabbath afternoon, at the very hour when the crowded
+congregation in our house of worship were in prayer for the influences
+of the divine Spirit, that a holy, solemn influence came into the
+dwelling of Brother Smith, as if an angel had come to touch the child
+with healing power. The mother could not leave the bedside of her
+suffering child to attend the meeting, and she says that a sudden change
+came over her feelings, and it appeared to her that an angel had come
+into the house, and had shed a holy influence in every part of it. It
+was at that moment that the hitherto helpless child drew herself up in a
+sitting posture, and next rose upon her feet. She rapidly recovered to
+her usual habits of taking food and sleeping, and now takes the exercise
+of the most robust children of her age."
+
+
+GOD PAID THE RENT.--ANSWER TO PRAYER.
+
+
+A poor Christian family were in distress. The husband, during a long and
+painful sickness, had borne his trials for months with cheerful
+Christian resignation; "but, on this day," said a City Missionary, "I
+found them, for the first time, in tears. The cause I soon learned was
+the want of means to pay the rent of their little home, which would come
+due on the following Monday, and must be paid then, or they would have
+to leave and go they knew not where. The amount needed, _fifteen
+dollars_, and the amount in hand but _fifty cents;_ the future all dark,
+and no hope of recovery from sickness, and no hope of being able to meet
+their expenses--it might be of a long sickness and want--what could I do
+for them? If theirs had been the only case of like wants that day, I no
+doubt could have gone to a few friends and have collected the amount.
+But that would not do them the good I felt they needed. But I felt sure
+of a better way to get it, and lead them to trust in the Lord, and
+glorify God and not man.
+
+"On the wall, at the foot of the sick man's bed, I had hung, but a short
+time previous, one of those precious silent comforters, a scroll of
+Scripture texts, printed in large type, and a different prayer for every
+day in the month. On the page before us for _that day_, after calling
+their attention to it, I read the following words: '_And all things
+whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer believing, ye shall receive_.' Matt.
+21:22. 'Again I say unto you, _that if two of you shall agree on earth
+as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them_.
+Matt. 18:9; remarking, 'Are not those precious promises? Your fears,
+dear brother and sister, are that you will not be able to pay the rent
+on Monday, and may be turned out into the street, unless you get the
+means to pay the rent; are they not?' 'That is so,' said they. 'There
+are two ways: one, to try to get some one to lend you the amount until
+you can pay, if the landlord will not wait; another, to go and beg for
+it.' I have learned a better way, and wish I could lead you to do the
+same. Do as David did. Have you ever gone to the Lord as directed above,
+and found in Him, as David did, a very present help in time of trouble?
+Would not your faith and confidence in God's word and in his kind,
+overruling providence be more strengthened, if, in going to Him now and
+making known your present troubles and wants, He should in a way,
+without your making known your wants to any other person, on Monday
+enable you to pay all?' The answer was, 'We should.'
+
+"After prayer and encouragement to do so, I left them, with the promise
+to call the following Tuesday. Doing so, I was met at the door by the
+wife with a countenance full of joy. '_Oh, brother, we could not wait
+until you came, to tell you the wonderful answer to our prayer_. On
+Monday, _the very day_ that we had to pay the rent, one gentleman came
+and handed my husband _five dollars_, and early in the morning Mrs.
+F---- called and handed me _ten dollars_, making in all _just fifteen
+dollars_, the amount we needed; was it not wonderful? Oh, how good the
+Lord is!' The same week another called and gave them an order for fifty
+dollars more, so that they were able to pay up all their debts, and the
+sudden joy soon led to a speedy restoration to health, and the husband
+is now one of the most active Christian workers and teachers in a
+mission school, and the wife and daughter are also trying to do all they
+can to lead others to trust in Jesus."
+
+
+HE FORGETTETH NOT THE CRY OF THE HUMBLE.
+
+
+A City home missionary has told us of the case of a poor colored family,
+the husband nearly one hundred years old, totally incapacitated for
+work, and confined to his room by sickness nearly twelve years.
+
+Although very often in straitened circumstances, the Lord has never left
+them to want for any good they needed, having, in a truly wonderful
+manner supplied their wants, in answer to prayer. The wife, having for a
+long time been kept from the enjoyment of church privileges by close
+confinement, she had been sorely tempted to doubt her acceptance in
+Christ, and was in great darkness for days; but one day, in reading the
+following words, found in the fifteenth chapter of John, _"If ye abide
+in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will and it shall
+be done unto you,"_ she was led to go to God in prayer, and to ask, if
+not wrong in his sight, to grant her a request, that she might know that
+her prayer was answered, and that she was abiding in Him. The request
+was that, as they were in trouble for the rent coming due the next day,
+and still in need of _three dollars,_ that the Lord would send them a
+friend in a stranger, some one that they had never seen before, and that
+he would put it into the heart of that stranger to give them three
+dollars, and then they would not be tempted to believe, as they had
+sometimes before, that it would have been sent by a friend even if they
+had not prayed.
+
+"But," said she, "I knows if a stranger comes, none but the Lord could
+send, then I would know the Lord heard my prayer, and I was truly the
+Lord's. So I watch for the answer for you knows, brother, when we prays,
+the Lord says we must believe we shall receive what we ask of Him, and
+then He will give it. So I watch and listen for the knock at the door,
+and do you believe me, brother, about three o'clock in the afternoon, I
+hears a knock and opens the door, and a strange lady was there, one I
+never saw before, and asked me if Mrs. H---- lived here; and said she
+had been looking for us before, but could not find us; 'when, to-day I
+felt I must try again, and I am so glad I have found you. I heard of you
+through a friend who has known you a long time.' She spoke many kind
+words, and when she took my hand to say good-by, she left a little roll
+of notes, and when she is gone I count it, and _it was just three
+dollars._ I is been so happy ever since. I loves to tell how good the
+Lord has been to us; every time I does so I feels so happy."
+
+
+INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF AN INVALID.--HOW GOD CARES AND COMFORTS IN
+SMALL THINGS.
+
+
+The following incidents are from the life of an invalid, personally
+known to the editor of this book, and can be depended upon as authentic
+in every particular. They illustrate most beautifully the blessed way in
+which the Savior's everlasting arms are around, strengthening, and His
+presence comforting His weak and helpless ones, in all their little as
+well as great trials of life. The ways in which he sent relief, and the
+many hundred promises which he has given; will encourage other Christian
+hearts to trust the same _Omnipotent, ever Helping Friend._
+
+
+GIVING HER LAST MONEY TO THE LORD.
+
+
+"'The first money the Lord gives me I will send to you,' were the last
+words I said to my old father, as I stood waiting for the train to bear
+me to distant friends. So the weeks passed on, but I remembered my
+promise and waited patiently for the Lord to enable me to fulfill that
+promise. I had two dollars, but thought I must not give it away until
+more came. But this feeling did not last long; something seemed to tell
+me the Lord would not send me any until that was gone. One day I
+received a letter from a friend containing this sentence: 'I have not
+had three cents in five weeks.' My whole nature responded in a moment. I
+put part of my money into a letter for him, the rest into a letter for
+my father. Now I felt clear. Then I told the Lord all about it. A week
+passed, and $5 came to me from my mother to pay my return fare. A few
+days longer, and another $5 came from a lady friend, so I was provided
+for. I needed a certain article of clothing, and one night made all
+arrangements to get it next day. Morning came, and I went to the Bible
+for my orders for the day; my eyes rested on these words: 'Be content
+with what ye have.' This seemed so strange, because the Lord knew I
+needed the dress; I was obliged to stay out of society on this account.
+'But the Lord knows best,' I thought, and gave up all idea of getting
+it. Nor did it trouble me further. I gave it all into his hands, feeling
+He knew best. And afterwards it was made clear to my own heart I had not
+trusted in vain. _'Commit all thy ways unto the Lord, for He careth for
+thee.'"_
+
+
+MONEY WANTED TO PAY RAILROAD FARE.
+
+
+"Once, on a visit, I left the company below, and went up stairs for an
+hour's quiet and prayer. I was to return the coming week and I had only
+just enough to pay my fare. For several days I had been anxious how I
+was to get some money. This afternoon I had to pray very earnestly,
+because the need was great. An hour passed; I felt weary and
+unrefreshed, when a voice clear and near said unto me: 'Trust in the
+Lord and do good, and verily thou shalt be fed.' It was not a human
+voice, for no one was near me, but I started and looked around, _almost_
+expecting to see an angel visitant. I saw nothing, but the sun shone
+brighter outside, and the room seemed brighter than before. And why
+should it not? The Lord had been there with words of cheer and comfort
+for his little child. I arose and went below, where I found other
+company had called, and I was introduced to the lady and her husband,
+whom I had met five years before. A pleasant chat and they left, after
+giving me an invitation to visit them. At the door, as I learned from my
+friend who attended them, Mrs. N---- said: 'I should like to give Miss
+B---- something,' and handed my friend _a five dollar bill for me_. I
+was more than surprised. I cannot tell you the emotions of my heart.
+While I was yet asking, even, the messenger had brought my answer. I
+could yet hear the soft sound of the voice up-stairs, and the soothing
+influence of the unseen presence still lingered round me. How quickly
+our needs flow on the wings of prayer into the very presence of our
+Friend and Master."
+
+
+PRAYER SAVES THE LIFE OF A LITTLE CHILD.
+
+
+"A year ago this Summer, my sister's little baby, only five months old,
+was taken very ill with that distressing complaint which often proves so
+fatal, and takes so many sweet little ones out of loving hearts and
+homes. I loved baby Ernest, but never so well as when he lay so sick he
+could not know it. We all loved him, and everything was done that could
+be thought of to ease the little sufferer all those long, close, hot
+days. Day after day, for four long weeks, we tenderly cared for him.
+Sometimes his mother would watch his every breath, fearing each would be
+the last. One Sunday he lay just where we put him, so quiet and still,
+with the sweet baby face so white and calm, we thought we should lose
+him soon, the little hands and feet were so cold. All through his
+illness, I kept asking the Lord to let his parents keep the tender bud
+he had sent them. We could not let him die, and to-day I prayed very
+earnestly all the time--even when we could not warm the little body at
+all--we could not let him go. Well, Ernnie passed over the fearful day
+and became a happy, well boy. He was saved. No physician saved him. Our
+tender care did not save him. Prayer saved our Ernnie. Precious baby! He
+is such a jolly, happy boy now, filling every heart and the whole house
+with his sunshine. How I love the little fellow. When I am here at his
+home, he always comes to Auntie for love and tenderness. When I am
+resting on the lounge, he comes every few moments to kiss me, giving and
+receiving real heart-love. We know God only lends these little treasures
+to their human friends. But oh, they bring so much love with them, it is
+hard to give them up."
+
+
+THE LOST THIMBLE.
+
+
+"One day I lost my silver thimble, a gift from my mother when I was a
+young girl. I prized it _very highly_. I looked everywhere, long and
+faithfully. The tears would come, at the best, it had been so long a
+constant companion. I gave up the search after a while, thinking some
+one had taken it, or a child had lost it--any way, it was gone. Feeling
+sad over it, I sat down to console myself, and the thought came--pray
+about it; so I did, and while I knelt there something whispered, 'Look
+on the bed,' so plainly that I arose and went into my sister's
+sleeping-room where I had turned the spread aside, and there nestled, in
+a fold of the quilt, _my thimble_. I involuntarily said, 'Thank God!'
+out of the depths of my glad heart. I had lain down a moment on this bed
+with baby Ernest, early in the morning, and the thimble had fallen out
+of my pocket."
+
+
+A PRAYER FOR $25.
+
+    "God moves in a mysterious way
+    His wonders to perform."
+
+
+"I had a present of twenty-five dollars once, which was a direct answer
+to earnest, pleading prayer. I was entirely out of money for months--I
+could not earn a dollar. I had those who might have assisted me, but
+they did not. I could have borrowed, but I might never be able to return
+it; I knew not what to do. One evening, thinking it all over, scanning
+the dark cloud with anxious eyes, I said, 'If the Lord cannot help me,
+no one else can; I will ask Him.' And so I did, bringing all the
+previous promises before Him, pleading my unworthiness, but my great
+need; asking first for _ten dollars_; then, as I grew more earnest, I
+asked for _twenty-five,_ feeling almost frightened as the words came
+from my lips. Sometimes the thought would intrude, 'How can you ask for
+any given sum--how do you expect it will come?' so I said, one day, to
+the Lord, 'Any sum you choose; you know best; I will be content.'
+Several weeks passed, and a sweet feeling of rest and assurance came,
+that, whatever came of it, would be all for the best. But, by-and-by,
+when the anxious pleading feeling was all gone, one morning came a
+letter from one I had never seen, with $25--just what I had asked for. I
+cannot tell you just how I felt; I only know I held the check long in my
+hand, scarcely realizing it could be for me."
+
+
+PRAYING FOR OTHERS.
+
+
+"My sister's husband wished to raise a certain sum of interest money by
+a given time, but could see no way; was very much troubled about it;
+said he knew no one to whom he could apply. I told him to pray for it.
+He answered, 'God won't hear the prayer of the wicked; suppose you ask
+him yourself.' I did ask Him, earnestly and faithfully, and it was even
+given me the idea who my brother could ask to loan it him. I spoke of
+the man to him--said I thought he might get it; so he called on him one
+evening, and the way was made plain for my brother to introduce the
+subject; and when he came home that night, he brought with him the three
+hundred dollars."
+
+
+A VISIT TO FRIENDS.
+
+     "I will hold thee by thy right hand, saying unto thee, fear
+     not, I will help thee."
+
+
+"Once I held in my hand an open letter, containing an invitation to
+visit friends I had never seen. My heart bounded with pleasure at
+thought of the journey, and the pleasant visit to follow; but, on second
+thought, it almost stood still--where could I get money and proper
+clothing? Several weeks passed in thought. I could see no way, and so I
+wrote my friends I could not come at present; but, in my heart, I could
+not give it up. My parents were visiting in the far West, and I had no
+one to advise me; so, up in my little room, night after night, I made it
+a point to tell the Lord about it; and soon it seemed as easy and right
+as though I were talking to a friend. One day, my brother-in-law said he
+would pay my expenses to and fro. I thanked him, and took fresh courage,
+and still kept on praying. Then the same good brother gave me money for
+a dress; then a friend furnished other articles, and soon, I was en
+route for the quaint old city by the sea. Every step was accomplished by
+the simple way of prayer; and, when I slept, late that night, in a cosy
+room at the Methodist parsonage in N.B., I could look back over the last
+few weeks, and thank God for the _power of prayer_. But the best of it
+all was the lesson I had learned--one which I shall never forget, while
+memory holds her magic power--to carry _everything_ to God in prayer; to
+trust him in every matter, however small; and this is the whole secret
+of the power that lies in prayer."
+
+"I found another lady visitor at my friend's and we were to share the
+same bed. This was a little trial; I had to ask the Lord to give me
+patience--and He did. One night, I was very restless and nervous; I
+could not sleep. I knew I was disturbing my friend--soon she said,
+'Annie, I am going to ask the Lord to come and put you to sleep. Now,
+lay still, and in five minutes you will be all right'. I did so, also
+breathing the words, 'Give me sleep, dear Saviour.' The room seemed to
+be full of a soft, soothing influence, and I fell asleep. Once only in
+the night I awoke, but soon went asleep. When I awoke in the morning,
+rested and refreshed, Tillie, who was dressing near me, looked up with
+her pleasant smile and said, 'Annie, how wonderful it was. You were
+asleep in less than five minutes. It seemed as though Jesus stood close
+by your side; I could _almost see_ Him, I felt so clearly His presence.
+He is here now, Annie; can't you feel Him near? He was very good to you
+last night.' Yes, indeed, I felt the influence of His presence, and, all
+day, whenever I entered the room, I felt it, and it seemed as though I
+must tread softly, it was so like holy ground. This feeling lasted
+through my stay, and, last Winter, while again visiting the home of my
+friends, it all came back to me again. This beautiful influence has ever
+kept with me, and I never close my eyes in sleep until I say, 'Oh, Lord,
+breathe upon me the sweet spirit of sleep.' However weary, sick or
+nervous I may be, I feel that the soothing power will come; and, with my
+hand in His, I rest peacefully, at last."
+
+
+PRAYING FOR A NEW HAT.
+
+    "Whatsoever thing ye ask in _My_ name"--
+
+
+"For a long while I had been without money, and my need was very great.
+I wanted a new hat so much; and the question arose in my mind, 'What am
+I going to do about it?' As I had no human arm to depend on for
+anything, of course there was only one way for me to do--ask the Lord
+for money to get me a hat. With me, to think is to act, and so I told
+the Lord all about it, asking, if it was His will, to send me, in His
+own way, money for the article I needed. Day after day passed, and I
+felt almost discouraged. One day, a letter came from a lady friend I had
+never seen, enclosing one dollar. I bought my hat--neither could I have
+used that dollar for another purpose. Soon after this, my physician
+ordered something for me. I had no money to get it, but said I would get
+it soon as I could. Three weeks passed, and no money came. Then I asked
+the Lord for enough to get my medicine. Another letter came from an old
+nurse, with a gift of one dollar. I had my medicine. Time after time, I
+have not had wherewith to send my letters, and, as I have a large
+correspondence, it often is a real trouble. The only way I have to do is
+to _pray for it,_ and always, in some way, it comes; not in _my
+way_--not just as soon as I ask for it--but in His own way, He always
+provides. I have learned to trust and not be afraid, even though the
+clouds hang heavy, and I see no ray of light, the promise is there, and
+for me, 'I will _never_ leave thee, or forsake thee.' I am so entirely
+dependent on Him for everything that sometimes, in little matters, my
+faith will, for a brief season, droop. Sometimes I have to plead and
+plead over again some particular promises; but these times of waiting on
+Him only strengthen me for future conflicts. 'Wait on the Lord, and he
+shall renew thy strength,' comes in beautifully on such occasions. No
+human being to help me; no one but God. Sometimes, when I sit alone,
+such a flood of feelings come over me, I well nigh sink. Loneliness,
+homesickness, and the great want in every human heart of sympathy and
+love, leave me, for a moment, without hope or faith; but, when the heart
+is weakest, and the need greatest, the loving Saviour is nearest. 'Like
+as a mother comforteth her child, so does He comfort me;' and then,
+soothed by his power and love, how the aching heart rests 'by the still
+waters, and in the green pastures.' There is nothing but prayer for the
+helpless sinner; nothing else will bring us into loving companionship
+with the Lord. We may go to Him always, with every trial, need or
+sorrow. He is ever waiting--ever ready to hear and answer."
+
+
+PRAYING FOR A SEWING MACHINE.
+
+
+"One day a lady friend said to me: 'Would you like some nice sewing,
+easy to do?' I answered, 'Yes.' 'Have you a sewing machine?' 'I have
+not, but am praying for one.' 'That is right; so you believe you will
+have it by praying for it?' I replied: 'If the Lord thinks I need it, He
+will send it.' I had learned to use my sister's, but I wanted one of my
+own, to use just when I felt like it. So the thought kept in my heart,
+'Why can't I pray for one?' And yet it seemed foolish to go in prayer to
+God for such a simple thing, but I had not then learned that _all
+things,_ with Him, meant every wish and want of the human heart. But
+there was no other way. He must send my machine, or I could have none. I
+prayed very earnestly. After a few weeks of waiting, one golden winter
+morning it came--my beautiful machine--just what I wanted. This seemed
+so wonderful to me, that it seemed to bring me into nearer companionship
+with the Lord, and ever after, whatever I needed, I went directly to Him
+for. A ministerial friend once asked me what it was I had covered up on
+the stand. I told him it was my piano, taking the cover aside and
+showing him at once how my beautiful sewing machine worked. _'What tune
+do you play oftenest?'_ he asked. _'Rock of Ages_ is its favorite one,
+and I never sew without singing it.'"
+
+
+
+MONEY FOR POSTAGE.
+
+
+"One day I opened my port-monnaie to get change for some little needful,
+when I found I had but ten cents. I used five of it. As visions of six
+or seven letters and many little things I needed came up before me, I
+said aloud: 'The Lord will have to send me some money pretty soon.' I
+think once through the day I prayed for some money, but felt no
+uneasiness about it. That evening a lady friend called to say good-by
+for the winter, and as she left gave me _fifty cents for postage._ While
+I was calling He answered me. About a week before this, I thought I
+would ask the Lord for $5 for my physician. He had come so faithfully,
+day after day, without ever expecting one dollar, because I had told him
+freely my circumstances. But I felt I must give him something for a gift
+at least. So I asked for five dollars. Day after day passed away, and I
+thought perhaps the Lord did not want me to have it. But still I prayed,
+asking it for His will, not mine. One morning a letter came from a very
+dear friend, containing a check for the amount for which I had prayed,
+and a little beside. It seemed such a signal answer to my prayer, that I
+could scarcely speak, and in my heart a glad prayer of thanksgiving went
+up to Him, who had told me _to ask and I should receive._ A friend, to
+whom I told this, said: 'Now you need this money yourself; I would not
+give it to the doctor now--wait awhile.' 'But,' I replied, 'I dare not
+do it. I need it, I know, but I asked God for it for my doctor, and I
+must give it.' And here let me say, when we ask God for money, it is
+sacred, and must be spent only to please Him."
+
+
+PRAYING FOR A BIBLE.
+
+
+"For a long while it has been my habit to be entirely guided for the day
+by the first verse in the Bible on which my eyes rested. While dressing
+for the day, I glance at the open page, or sometimes turning over the
+leaves. But my old Bible was poor print and small, and it troubled me
+for a long while. So I thought I would ask the Lord to send me a new
+one. I told Him all about it. One day, this Summer, the postman brought
+me a package of magazines and a letter. I began to undo the package,
+eager to scan their welcome pages. My sister laughingly said she would
+read my letter, and suiting the action to the word, opened the envelope.
+I really did not mind what she was doing, until she said: 'Why there is
+some money here, but no letter.' So she handed me the half sheet of
+paper, with the money folded inside. I looked it over, and there were
+only these words in pencil: 'For a Bible, and three dollars.' We looked
+at each other; I could not say a word, until she said, 'What does it all
+mean? 'I answered, 'The Lord sent it, I know; where could it come from?'
+It was wonderful--wonderful because I could not remember as I ever told
+any one that I was praying for a Bible."
+
+
+A SPRING MATTRESS.
+
+
+"Last Summer, when I bought my bedstead, I did not have money to get
+either springs or a mattress, so I fixed up a clean, straw bed, and
+covered it nicely with a thick comfortable. It was pretty hard--I did
+not rest well. So, one sleepless night, I said aloud, 'I will just ask
+the Lord to send me a set of springs.' I kept on day by day. When I felt
+the severe pain which denoted illness, I thought of my hard bed and
+prayed more earnest. One day my physician spoke of my hard bed. I told
+him I was going to have a better one; I was praying for some springs.
+And so I kept on. One day, a lady friend said something about my bed. I
+did not say much. Somehow I felt I must not; I wanted to have it all the
+Lord's doings, if I ever had any. One day my sister said a man was at
+the door, who wanted to fit a set of springs to my bed. Why, I can't
+tell how I felt; even after God had answered my simple prayers, and
+honored my faith so many times, I was astonished at this. But she helped
+me up, and the bed was fitted with nice, new springs. And they were
+mine. The man could not tell anything about them. My sister says,
+'Annie, did you order them?' I said, 'No.' 'Don't you know who sent
+them?' I said, 'No.' 'Did you ask Mrs. W---- to order them?' I said, 'I
+did not; I would lay here six years before I would do it. No, somebody
+had a hand in it, but the Lord sent them, because I prayed for them all
+the time.' A friend was present when my physician called. I told him
+about the new springs. His kind face lit up grandly at this new evidence
+that God did answer humble, faithful prayer, and he turned to my friend
+with the words: 'I am glad they were just what she has been praying
+for.' I do not think he had anything to do about them. But these springs
+are only another proof of his love and power, in touching the hearts of
+his children to help others. And they have their reward. Soon after
+this, a lady sent me a white spread for my bed. Surely, God is good to
+his little ones."
+
+
+THE HEALING OF MARY THEOBALD.
+
+
+The following incident is related by her pastor, at Woburn, Mass., who,
+for three and a half years, was well acquainted with her physical
+condition, and who testified, in _The Congregationalist_, that no
+medicine, or physician's aid or advice, was of any avail:
+
+"From the first of my acquaintance to the last, she had an unswerving
+confidence in her recovery. Many times has she said to me: 'I believe
+that I shall be well. Jesus will raise me up. I shall hear you preach
+some day.'
+
+"But, in common with the friends who were watching her case, and with
+the physicians who had exhausted their skill upon her in vain, I had
+little or no hope for her. It seemed to me that her life was to be one
+of suffering; that God was keeping her with us that we might have a
+heroic example of what His grace could enable one to bear and to become.
+
+"A few days ago, I received from her lips the following statement of the
+origin and progress of her sickness: 'My first sickness occurred when I
+was about sixteen years old. This illness lasted for a year. Indeed, I
+was never well again. That sickness left me with a bad humor, which, for
+two years, kept me covered with boils. When the boils disappeared, the
+trouble was internal. Physicians feared a cancer. For ten years, I was
+sick, more or less--sometimes able to work, sometimes utterly prostrate.
+
+"'My second severe illness began in the Autumn of 1871. I had been
+failing for two years. Then I was obliged to give up. I was on the bed
+five months. From this illness I never recovered so as to labor or walk
+abroad. When not confined to my bed, I have been on the lounge, as you
+have known me. No one can ever know the suffering which these years have
+brought me.'
+
+"My acquaintance with her began in the Spring of 1873. Several times
+since I have known her, she has been carried so low that we have thought
+her release near at hand; and, indeed, the general tendency has been
+downwards. I recently asked an intelligent physician, who had attended
+her for a year or more, to give me the facts in her case. He replied:
+'She is diseased throughout. Her system is thoroughly soured. It
+responds to nothing. Almost every function is abnormal. There is no help
+for her in medicine.' Other physicians had tried their skill with the
+same result. It was generally admitted by doctors, friends and family,
+that nothing more could be done for her. While all saw only suffering
+and an early death in store for her, yet she confidently expected to be
+well, and her faith never waned.
+
+"It was her custom to spend a few weeks each year in the family of one
+of the sisters in the church. At her last visit, it was evident to this
+lady that Mary was not so well as in former years. One day, when
+conversation turned upon this topic, she felt constrained to express her
+fears. But Mary was hopeful. A proposition was made, and arrangements
+were perfected to visit Doctor Cullis, to secure the benefit of his
+prayers. But her feebleness was so great that the plan was abandoned.
+'If,' said Mrs. F., 'faith is to cure you, why go to Doctor Cullis, or
+to any one? Let us go to God ourselves; and, Mary, if you have faith
+that God can and will cure you sometime, why not believe that He will
+_cure you now?_'
+
+"She felt herself cast on God alone. All hope of human help was at an
+end. She had thought it, hitherto, enough patiently to wait His time.
+She saw that, after all, she must not dishonor God by limiting His
+power. Again her Bible opened to the familiar passages, '_the prayer of
+faith shall save the sick_;' 'according to your faith be it unto you.'
+She felt that the time for testing her faith had come. She would
+dishonor the Lord no longer. Requesting the prayers of the family that
+God would now grant healing and restoration, she tottered to her couch,
+and, asking that in the morning she might be well, calmly closed her
+eyes in the assurance that it would be so. _And according to her faith,
+so it was. She came forth in the morning without a remnant of the pain
+which had filled a decade of years with agony_. That Sabbath was to her,
+indeed, 'a high day.' A week later the frequent prophecy that she should
+hear me preach was fulfilled.
+
+"_Not a vestige of suffering remained_. So far as that is concerned,
+there was not a hint left that she had been an invalid for almost a
+score of years.
+
+"_She immediately took her place in the family as a well person._ Two
+days after, I saw her. She came to meet me with a step light and strong,
+and with a face written all over with thankfulness and joy. Since that
+time all the abandoned duties of active life have been resumed. When
+last I saw her, she was in bounding health and spirits, declaring that
+she could not remember when she had felt so happy and well. That
+night--one of the coldest of the winter, the roads at their iciest--she
+walked more than half a mile to and from the prayer-meeting.
+
+It is difficult for those who are not conversant with the case to
+believe it, yet there is no illusion in it. _That she went to sleep a
+suffering, feeble, shattered woman, and, awoke free from pain, and that
+she has been gaining in strength ever since, are facts that cannot be
+doubted_."
+
+
+HOW PRAYER HELPED HIM TO KEEP THE PLEDGE.
+
+
+In a rural district, in the North of England, lived a shoe-maker who had
+signed the temperance pledge often, but never had strength to keep it.
+After a while, he was able to keep it, and reformed entirely. A friend
+was curious to learn how he had been able, at last, to win the victory,
+and went to see him.
+
+"Well, William, how are you?"
+
+"Oh, pretty well. I had only eighteen pence and an old hen when I
+signed, and a few old scores; but now I have about ten pounds in the
+bank, and my wife and I have lived through the summer without getting
+into debt. But as I am only thirty weeks old yet (so he styled himself),
+I cannot be so strong yet, my friend."
+
+"How is it you never signed before?"
+
+"I did sign; but I keep it different now to what I did before, friend."
+
+"How is this?"
+
+"Why, I _gae doon_ on my knees and pray."
+
+Here was the _real strength of prayer_. His own resolves were of no
+value; but when he called on God to help, then came new strength, and he
+was kept by restraining grace. The bitter experience of those who pledge
+and pledge over and over again, and never gain the victory, at last must
+come to either of two ends--their utter destruction, or else to call on
+God in prayer, to help them keep the pledge manfully, and make them
+steadfast in their resolutions.
+
+
+ONE WHO REFUSED THE HOLY SPIRIT.
+
+
+The following incident is related by D.L. Moody, the Evangelist, which
+contains a warning, how the Holy Spirit avenges itself to those who
+refuse its admonitions. It is a remarkable instance of the control of an
+overruling God, who alone knew that man's mind, and which alone could
+bring that text so often to his memory:
+
+"There was a young man in my native village--he was not a young man when
+I was talking to him--we were working on the farm together one day and
+he was weeping; I asked him what he was weeping about, and he told me a
+very strange story. When he left home his mother gave him the text:
+'_Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these
+things will be added unto you_.' He was ambitious to get rich, and
+thought when he had got comfortable, that was the time to give his
+attention to religion. He went from village to village, and got nothing
+to do. Sunday came, and he went into the village church. _What was his
+great surprise to hear the minister preach from that text_. It went down
+into his heart--he thought that it was his mother's prayers that were
+following him--he thought the whole sermon was for himself, and thought
+he would like to get out. For days be could not get that text and sermon
+out of his mind. He went on still, from village to village, and at last
+he went into another church after weeks had rolled away. He went for
+some Sundays to the church, and it wasn't a great while before the
+minister _gave out this very text_. He thought surely it was God calling
+him then, and he said, coolly and deliberately, _he would not seek the
+Kingdom of God_. He went on in this way, and in the course of a few
+months, to his great surprise, he heard the _third sermon from the third
+minister on the same text_. He tried to stifle it, but it followed him.
+At last he made up his mind he would not go to church any more. When he
+came back to Northfield, after years, his mother had died, but the text
+kept coming to him over and over, and he said, 'I will not become a
+Christian;' and said he to me, 'Moody, my heart is as hard as that
+stone.' It was all Greek to me, because I was not a Christian myself at
+the time. After my conversion, in Boston, he was about the first man I
+thought of. When I got back and asked my mother about him, she told me
+he was gone out of his mind, and to every one who went to the asylum to
+see him he pointed his finger and said: '_Seek ye first the Kingdom, of
+God and His Righteousness_.' When I went back to my native village,
+after that, I was told he was still out of his mind, but at home. I went
+to see him, and asked him did he know me. He was rocking backwards and
+forwards in his rocking chair, and he gave me that vacant stare and
+pointed to me as he said, '_Young man, seek first the Kingdom of God and
+His Righteousness_.' When, last month, I laid down my younger brother in
+his grave, I could not help but think of that man lying but a few yards
+away. May every man and woman here be wise for eternity and seek now the
+Kingdom of God and His Righteousness, is my prayer."
+
+
+THE PRAYING SHOE-MAKER.
+
+
+A correspondent of _The American Messenger_ relates this instance of a
+poor man in the village where he lived, who, with a family of young
+children and a wife in very feeble health, found it extremely difficult
+to obtain a livelihood. He was at length compelled to work by the week
+for a shoe-dealer in the city, four miles from the village, returning to
+his family every Saturday evening, and leaving home early on Monday
+morning.
+
+He usually brought home the avails of his week's labor in provisions for
+the use of his family during the following week; but on one cold and
+stormy night, in the depth of winter, he went towards his humble
+dwelling with empty hands, but a full heart. His employer had declared
+himself unable to pay him a penny that night, and the shoe-maker, too
+honest to incur a debt without knowing that he should be able to cancel
+it, bent his weary steps homeward, trusting that He who hears the ravens
+when they cry, would fill the mouths of his little family. He knew that
+he should find a warm house and loving hearts to receive him, but he
+knew, too, that a disappointment awaited them which would make at least
+_one_ heart ache.
+
+When he entered his cottage, cold and wet with the rain, he saw a bright
+fire, brighter faces, and a table neatly spread for the anticipated
+repast. The tea-kettle was sending forth its cloud of steam, all ready
+for "the cup which cheers, but not inebriates," and a pitcher of milk,
+which had been sent in by a kind neighbor, was waiting for the bread so
+anxiously expected by the children. The sad father confessed his
+poverty, and his wife in tears begged him to make _some_ effort to
+procure food for them before the Sabbath. He replied, "Let us ask God to
+give us our daily bread. Prayer avails with God when we ask for temporal
+good, as well as when we implore spiritual blessings." The sorrowing
+group knelt around the family altar, and while the father was entreating
+fervently for the mercies they so much needed, a gentle knocking at the
+door was heard. When the prayer was ended the door was opened, and there
+stood a woman in the "peltings of the storm," who had never been at that
+door before, though she lived only a short distance from it. She had a
+napkin in her hand, which contained a large loaf of bread; and half
+apologizing for offering it, said she had unintentionally made "a larger
+batch of bread" than usual that day, and though she hardly knew why, she
+thought it might be acceptable there.
+
+After expressing their sincere gratitude to the woman, the devout
+shoe-maker and his wife gave thanks to God with overflowing hearts.
+While the little flock were appeasing their hunger with the nice new
+bread and milk, the father repaired to the house where I was an inmate,
+and told his artless tale with streaming eyes, and it is unnecessary to
+say, that he returned to his home that night with a basket heavily
+laden, and a heart full of gratitude to a prayer-answering God.
+
+
+HOW THE LORD CONTROLS EVEN THE LOCOMOTIVE AND THE RAILROAD TRAIN.
+
+
+A remarkable instance of how the Lord controlled circumstances for the
+detention of one train, and speeded the arrival of the other, in answer
+to the prayer of a poor widow, who was in anxiety and distress, is thus
+known to the editor of _The Watchman and Reflector_:
+
+"Not long ago an engineer brought his train to a stand at a little
+Massachusetts village, where the passengers have five minutes for lunch.
+A lady came along the platform and said: 'The conductor tells me the
+train at the junction in P---- leaves fifteen minutes before our
+arrival. It is Saturday night, that is the last train. I have a very
+sick child in the car, and no money for a hotel, and none for a private
+conveyance for the long, long journey into the country. What shall I
+do?' 'Well,' said the engineer, 'I wish I could tell you.' 'Would it be
+possible for you to hurry a little?' said the anxious, tearful mother.
+'No, madam, I have the time-table, and the rules say I must run by it.'
+
+She turned sorrowfully away, leaving the bronzed face of the engineer
+wet with tears. Presently she returned and said, 'Are you a Christian?'
+'I trust I am,' was the reply. 'Will you pray with me that the Lord may,
+in some way, delay the train at the junction?' 'Why, yes, I will pray
+with you, but I have not much faith.' Just then, the conductor cried,
+'All aboard.' The poor woman hurried back to her deformed and sick
+child, and away went the train, climbing the grade. 'Somehow,' says the
+engineer, 'everything worked to a charm. _As I prayed, I couldn't help
+letting my engine out just a little_. We hardly stopped at the first
+station, people got on and off with wonderful alacrity, the conductor's
+lantern was in the air in half a minute, and then away again. Once over
+the summit, it was dreadful easy to give her a little more, and then a
+little more, as I prayed, till she seemed to shoot through the air like
+an arrow. Somehow I couldn't hold her, knowing I had the road, and so we
+dashed up to the junction six minutes ahead of time.' There stood the
+train, and the conductor with his lantern on his arm. 'Well,' said he,
+'_will you tell me what I am waiting here for? Somehow I felt I must
+wait your coming to-night, but I don't know why_.' 'I guess,' said the
+brother conductor, 'it is for this woman, with her sick and deformed
+child, dreadfully anxious to get home this Saturday night.' But the man
+on the engine and the grateful mother think they can tell why the train
+waited. God held it to answer their prayers."
+
+Think of this wonderful improbability according to natural
+circumstances. These trains never connected with each other, nor were
+intended to. There was no message sent ahead to stop. There was not the
+slightest business reason for waiting, yet the second conductor, on
+arrival of the first, asks this question, "_What am I waiting for_," and
+the answer of the first is more singular, "I don't know."
+
+
+ANOTHER INSTANCE OF SUPERHUMAN CONTROL OF THE LOCOMOTIVE, IN ANSWER TO
+PRAYER.
+
+
+An exact parallel instance to the foregoing is given in the experience
+of a correspondent of _The Christian_, which occurred in the latter part
+of November, 1864, while traveling with her aged father and two small
+girls:
+
+"We started from New Hampshire on Thursday morning, expecting to have
+ample time to get through to Indiana before Saturday night; but, after
+we crossed the St. Lawrence River, the next day, I think, there was a
+smash-up on a freight train, which hindered our train about two hours. I
+began to feel anxious, as I knew our limited means would not permit us
+to stop long on the way. After the cars had started again, I inquired of
+the conductor what time we should get to Toledo, fearing we should not
+reach there in time for the down train. _He said it would be impossible
+to gain the time._ Soon they changed conductors, and I made a similar
+inquiry, getting about the same answer. Still I hoped, till we reached
+the Detroit River. Here I found that, though they had put on all the
+steam they dared to, they were _almost an hour behind time_, so I should
+have to stay over till Sunday night.
+
+"After getting seated in the cars on the other side, I ventured to ask
+the conductor if we should get to Toledo in time for the down train. He
+readily said, '_No, madam, impossible! If we put on all the steam, we
+dare to, we shall be more than half an hour behind time._ If we were on
+some trains we might hope they would wait; but on this, _never! He is
+the most exact conductor you ever saw. He was never known to wait a
+second, say nothing about a minute, beyond the time._' I then inquired
+if we could not stay at the depot. He said, No; we should all freeze to
+death, for the fire is out till Sunday evening.
+
+"A gentleman sitting in front of us said he would show us a good hotel
+near by, as he was acquainted there. I thanked him, but sunk back on my
+seat. Covering my eyes with my hand, and raising my heart to God, I
+said, 'O, God, if thou art my Father, and I am thy child, put it into
+the heart of that conductor to wait till we get there.'
+
+"Soon I became calm, and fell asleep, not realizing that God would
+answer my poor prayer; but, when we reached Toledo, to the astonishment
+of us all, there stood the conductor, _wanting to know the reason why he
+had to wait_, when our conductor told him there was a lady with her
+crippled father and two little daughters, who were going down on that
+train.
+
+"Soon as all were out of the car, both conductors came with their
+lanterns and gave their aid in helping my father to the other train,
+where they had reserved seats by keeping the door locked. All was hurry
+and confusion to me, as I had my eye on father, fearing he might fall,
+it being very slippery, when the baggage-master said, 'Your checks,
+madam!' I handed them to him, and rushed into the car; but, before I got
+seated, the car started, and I had no checks for my baggage. Again my
+heart cried out, 'O, Thou that hearest prayer, take care of my baggage!'
+believing He could do that as well as make the conductor wait. In a few
+moments the conductor came to me with a face radiant with smiles,
+saying, '_Madam, I waited a whole half hour for you_,--_a thing I never
+did before since I was a conductor, so much as to wait one minute after
+my time_.' He said, 'I know it was your father that I was waiting for,
+because there was nothing else on the train for which I could have
+waited.' I exclaimed, in a half suppressed tone, 'Praise the Lord!' I
+could not help it; it gushed out. Then he said, '_At the very moment all
+were on board, and I was ready to start, such a feeling came over me as
+I never had in my life before. I could not start_. Something kept saying
+to me, _you must wait_, for there is something pending on that train you
+must wait for. I waited, and here you are, all safe.' Again my heart
+said, Praise the Lord! and he started to leave me, when I said, 'But
+there is one thing.' 'What is it?' was his quick reply. 'I gave the
+baggage-master my checks, and have none in return.' 'What were the
+numbers?' I told him. 'I have them,' he said, handing them to me, 'but
+your baggage will not be there till Monday morning. We had no time to
+put it on, we had waited so long.'"
+
+
+
+ANOTHER WONDERFUL RECORD OF $25.
+
+
+_A Christian minister_, living in Northern Indiana, was in want, and
+knelt in prayer again and again before his Father in heaven. His
+quarterly allowance had been withheld, and want stared him in the face.
+Constrained by urgent need, and shut up to God for help, he pleaded
+repeatedly for a supply of his temporal wants. Now see how extraordinary
+was the plan of the Lord to send relief.
+
+"In one of the lovely homes of Massachusetts, while the snow was falling
+and the winds were howling without, a lady sat on one side of the
+cheerful fire, knitting a little stocking for her oldest grandson, and
+her husband, opposite to her, was reading aloud a missionary paper, when
+the following passage arrested the attention of the lady and fastened
+itself in her memory.
+
+"'In consequence of failure to obtain my salary when due, I have been so
+oppressed with care and want, as to make it painfully difficult to
+perform my duties as a minister. There is very little prospect,
+seemingly, of improvement in this respect for some time to come. What I
+say of my own painfully inadequate support, is substantially true of
+nearly all your missionaries in this State. You, of course, cannot be
+blamed for this. You are but the almoners of the churches, and can be
+expected to appropriate only what they furnish. _This, however, the
+Master will charge to somebody as a grievous fault;_ for it is not His
+will that his ministers should labor unrequited.'
+
+"This extract was without name or date. It was simply headed 'from a
+missionary in Northern Indiana.' Scores of readers probably gave it only
+a passing glance. Not so the lady who sat knitting by the fire and heard
+her husband read it. The words sank into her mind, and dwelt in her
+thoughts. The clause, '_This, however, the Master will charge to
+somebody as a grievous fault_,' especially seemed to follow her wherever
+she went. The case, she said, haunted her. She seemed to be herself that
+very '_somebody_' who was to answer at the bar of God for the curtailed
+supplies and straitened means of this humble minister.
+
+"Impelled by an unseen, but, as she believes, a divine presence and
+power, after asking counsel and guidance of the Lord, she took twenty-
+five dollars which were at her own disposal, and requested her husband
+to give it to the Rev. Dr. H------ for the writer of the above
+communication, if he could devise any way to obtain the writer's
+address.
+
+"Doctor H------ is a prompt man, who does not let gold destined to such
+an end rest in his pocket. Familiar with the various organizations of
+the benevolent societies, and only too happy to have an agency in
+supplying the wants of a laborer in Christ's vineyard, he soon started
+the money on its appointed errand. Early in April, the lady in her rural
+home had the happiness of receiving the following note, of which we omit
+nothing, save the names of persons and places:
+
+     "'DEAR MADAM.--I have just received a draft for twenty-five
+     dollars, as a special donation from you. This I do with
+     profound gratitude to you for this unselfish and Christ-like
+     deed, and to Him who put it into your heart to do it. How you,
+     _a lady a thousand miles away, could know that I was, and had
+     been for some time, urged by unusual need to pray for succor
+     and worldly support with unwonted fervency, is a matter of
+     more than curious inquiry. It is an answer to my prayer, for
+     the Lord employs the instrumentality of his children to answer
+     prayer, and, when it is necessary, he moves them to it. This
+     is not the first nor second time that I have been laid under
+     special obligation by Christian sympathy and timely aid_. May
+     He who said, He that giveth a cup of cold water to a disciple,
+     in the name of a disciple, shall not lose his reward, repay
+     you a thousand-fold for this favor.'
+
+"Does not this little incident illustrate the power of prayer? The man
+of God, weary and heavy-laden, in his closet in Indiana, spread his case
+before the Lord. A disciple in Eastern Massachusetts, _a thousand miles
+away_ from the spot where the prayer was offered, who did not know
+anything about him or his need, is touched with his wants, and moved to
+send him immediate aid."
+
+
+MR. SPURGEON'S COW.
+
+
+"My grandfather was a very poor minister, and kept a cow, which was a
+very great help in the support of his children--he had ten of them;--and
+the cow took the "staggers" and died. 'What will you do now?' said my
+grandmother. 'I cannot tell what we shall do now,' said he, 'but I know
+what God will do: God will provide for us. We must have milk for the
+children.'
+
+"The next morning, there came £20 to him. He had never made application
+to the fund for the relief of ministers; but, on that day, there were £5
+left when they had divided the money, and one said, 'There is poor Mr.
+Spurgeon down in Essex, suppose we send it to him.' The chairman--a Mr.
+Morley of his day--said, 'We had better make it £10, and I'll give £5.'
+Another £5 was offered by another member, if a like amount could be
+raised, to make it up to £20; which was done. They knew nothing about my
+grandfather's cow; but God did, you see; and there was the new cow for
+him. And those gentlemen in London were not aware of the importance of
+the service which they had rendered.
+
+                                                    CHARLES SPURGEON."
+
+
+"TRUST IN THE LORD."
+
+
+"A poor negro woman, after the death of her husband, had no means of
+support for herself and two little children, except the labor of her own
+hands; yet she found means out of her deep poverty to give something for
+the promotion of the cause of her Redeemer, and would never fail to pay,
+on the very day it became due, her regular subscription to the church of
+which she was a member. In a hard Winter she had found great difficulty
+in supplying the pressing needs of her little family; yet the few pence
+for religious purposes had been regularly put by.
+
+"As one season for the contribution came round, she had only a little
+corn, a single salt herring, and a five-cent piece remaining of her
+little store. Yet she did not waver; she ground the corn, prepared her
+children's supper, and then, with a light heart and cheerful
+countenance, set out to meeting, where she gave joyfully the five cents,
+_the last she had in the world_.
+
+"Returning from the church, she passed the house of a lady to whom, a
+long time before, she had sold a piece of pork, so long indeed that she
+had entirely forgotten the circumstance. But, seeing her this morning,
+the lady called her in, apologized for having been so tardy in the
+settlement, and then inquired how much it was. Old Sukey did not know,
+and the lady, determined to be on the safe side, gave her two dollars,
+besides directing her housekeeper to put up a basket of flour, sugar,
+coffee, and other luxuries for her use. Poor Sukey returned home with a
+joyful heart, saying, as she displayed her treasures, "See, my children,
+the Lord is a good paymaster, giving us 'a hundred-fold even in this
+present life, and in the world to come life everlasting.'"
+
+
+EXACTLY EIGHTY DOLLARS.--"THEY ARE SAFE THAT TRUST IN THEE."
+
+
+A clergyman somewhat advanced in years recently related to a
+correspondent of _The Messenger_ an incident in his own life, which well
+illustrates the provident care of our heavenly Father over his children.
+
+"His first church was at V----, and, though he labored diligently,
+working with his own hands for his support, he became eighty dollars in
+debt. It was a grievous burden, and all his efforts to remove it proved
+unavailing. One day, when he felt especially cast down, he retired to
+pray over the matter, and on his knees he besought the Lord to aid, as
+he despaired of help from any other source. He felt strengthened and
+hopeful when he left his closet, and entered his church on Sabbath
+morning with a lighter heart than usual. As he passed the door a young
+lady met him, and placed in his hand _fifty dollars_, saying that
+_twenty_ was to go for the Sabbath-school library, and the remaining
+_thirty_ was for himself. He was so surprised that he scarcely trusted
+his senses, and asked her not less than three times, that he might not
+be mistaken. As he preached that day, God seemed 'a very present help.'
+At the close of the service, a young man, noted for his free-hearted,
+impulsive character, stepped up and requested that he would perform a
+marriage ceremony for him the next week. He did so, and received for his
+services a bill, which he placed in his pocket, and, on looking at it
+afterwards, found it _fifty dollars_, thus making up _exactly the
+eighty_ he had prayed the Lord to send him."
+
+We too often forget that God is as willing to listen to our temporal
+wants as to our spiritual, and that "no good thing will He withhold from
+them that walk uprightly."
+
+
+A PRAYER FOR FOUR DOLLARS.
+
+
+A Home Missionary from Brooklyn called one day upon an editor to gather
+some tracts for distribution which he had published. The editor became
+interested in the story of his visits among the poor, and though at
+first not specially moved to give money at that time, yet toward the
+last, putting his hand into his pocket he pulled out all the bills there
+were there, $4, and gave them to the missionary with these words: "There
+is something which may come useful." The gift was all forgotten until a
+few days afterward the missionary returned and said to the editor,
+"After I left you I received a letter from a poor lady who had been
+owing money for rent for several months, which she could not possibly
+pay. That very morning the landlord came and said that if she could only
+raise $4 he would excuse the rest; but she did not have the $4. I did
+not know where to get it. I happened to drop in to see you; did not tell
+you anything of the need, and asked for nothing; yet you gave me the
+exact $4 to answer that poor woman's prayer."
+
+An infinite Creator and God had brought these circumstances together in
+this exact way. Neither the editor nor missionary had ever met before.
+The missionary did not know that the lady was in distress. Who was it
+that sent the landlord to the lady and fixed that amount of $4 in his
+mind? Who was it that sent the home missionary to the office of a person
+he had never seen or known? Who was it that knew of the $4 waiting in
+that pocket and prompted that hand to take it out and give it away? Who
+was it that led that missionary to obtain and send relief just as she
+was praying for that special amount?
+
+_Was it chance or science? No, No. It was the will of a loving God_.
+
+
+"AUNT SALLY'S" FAITH.
+
+
+"'Aunt Sally,' says the _American Messenger_, was a devout, working,
+trustful Christian. Her husband was a cripple, almost helpless, an
+unbeliever, and to some extent an opposer of religion. They lived alone.
+The severity of a northern winter was upon them, and in spite of her
+best exertions their stock of fuel was scarcely a day's supply.
+
+"'What can be done?' was the anxious inquiry of the unbelieving husband
+as they were rising from their bed. 'The Lord will provide,' was 'Aunt
+Sally's' cheerful reply. 'I know you always say so, and so it has always
+proved,' was the answer of her unbelieving companion; 'but I see no way
+in which we can be provided for now.' 'Nor do I,' said 'Aunt Sally.'
+'But help will come. God will not desert us.'
+
+"That winter's morning had not passed when their son, who had been a
+soldier in the Mexican war, entered the door. It had been long since
+they had heard from him, and they feared he was not alive. The sun went
+down upon an abundant supply of fuel, cut in the forest by the strong
+arms of the soldier-boy, and drawn to the door by means of his
+procuring. The unbelieving husband and father declared he would never be
+distrustful again.
+
+
+GOD CARETH FOR YOU.
+
+
+"Nearly forty years ago I was given up by the doctors for a dying man
+from consumption. I had a wife and five children dependent on me, and
+for many months was unable to provide for them by my own labors. All our
+earthly resources were gone, and one Sabbath morning, when breakfast was
+over, we were entirely destitute; there was no meal in the barrel nor
+oil in the cruse. In family worship I read the fortieth chapter of
+Isaiah. I think up to that time I had never found the word of God so
+sweet and precious. I had very near access in prayer, and was enabled to
+lay my burden at the Saviour's feet. I closed with the Lord's Prayer; it
+seemed made on purpose for me. I think the petition, 'Give us this day
+our daily bread,' was offered in faith.
+
+"_Within an hour there was a rap at the door_. When I opened it a young
+man stood there who had come three miles to bring us bread, sugar, and
+money. He apologized for coming on the Sabbath morning, but said an aunt
+of his was at their house the evening before, and felt so anxious about
+us she could not go away till he promised her he would come and bring us
+those things."
+
+
+A PRAYER NOT ANSWERED.
+
+
+"Many years ago, a man then recently married, settled in my native town.
+It was then quite new, destitute of religious privileges, and given to
+all manner of wickedness. There was no Sabbath, and no sanctuary. The
+man was pious. The thought of bringing up a family in such a place
+distressed him. He wished to remove; and he used to retire daily to a
+little grove, and _pray that God would send some one to buy his farm_.
+This prayer was not answered. Better things were in store. A neighbor
+was taken sick. He visited and conversed with him. In the midst of the
+conversation, one sitting by interrupted him and said, 'Sir, if what you
+say is true, I am lost.' This gave new interest to the occasion. Prayer
+was offered, the Spirit was found out, and many were converted. A
+prayer-meeting was started; other revivals followed; in due time a
+church was organized, a house of worship built, and a pastor settled,
+mainly through the instrumentality of that one man; and he trained up
+his family there, and lived to see most of them members of the church of
+Christ. Do not despair, God will _either answer your exact prayer,_ or
+_do something better for you_; He knows what is for your best good."
+
+
+TRUST IN THE LORD.
+
+
+"A pious woman, who was reduced to extreme poverty and deserted by her
+intemperate husband, was taken sick, and lay several days without
+physical power to provide food for her two little children. She had
+directed them where to find the little that was remaining in the house,
+and they had eaten it all. Still she lay sick, with no means of
+obtaining more, as night closed upon the hungry household. The children
+soon forgot their hunger in sleep; but not so the mother. She saw no
+help for them but in God, and she spent the night-watches in spreading
+before him their necessities. As the morning approached her confidence
+in God increased, and that passage from his word rested with peculiar
+sweetness upon her mind, 'Trust in the Lord and do good; so shalt thou
+dwell in the land, and _verily thou shalt be fed_.'
+
+"Morning came. The starving children managed by her direction to build
+them a little fire, and almost before they had commenced telling their
+mother of their hunger, a stranger came in. She introduced herself as
+Mrs. J., saying she had known for some time that there was a new family
+in the neighborhood, and intended to call and make their acquaintance,
+but had been prevented. _During the last night she had been so troubled
+and disturbed about it_, that she thought she would run in early, lest
+she should again be prevented, and see if there was any way in which she
+could be of service to them. The mother in bed, with her head bound to
+mitigate its pain, revealed the story of her sufferings, and the good
+lady soon learned their entire destitution. They were immediately made
+comfortable; and all will be glad to know that it was the beginning of
+better days to that deserted wife and mother."
+
+
+THE NECESSITY OF ASKING GOD'S BLESSING EVERY DAY, UPON YOUR DAILY WORK.
+EVERY WORK, HOWEVER GOOD, NEEDS SPECIAL, SPECIFIC, DAILY PRAYER FOR ITS
+PROSPERITY.
+
+
+"A colporteur in the Wabash valley became quite discouraged and was
+almost ready to give up his work, on account of the smallness of his
+sales. On every side, his ears were filled with complaints of 'hard
+times;' the wheat crop had partially failed two years in succession--the
+California emigration, and railroad and plank-road speculations had
+almost drained the country of money. Frequently he would be told, that
+if he could come after harvest they would buy his books, but that it was
+impossible to do so then. His sales were daily decreasing, and he became
+more and more disheartened, until one night, after a laborious day's
+effort, he found that he had _only sold twenty-five cents' worth_! He
+felt that he could not go on in this way any longer. He was wasting his
+strength and time, and the money of the Society. On examination of the
+state of his heart, he found that it had, gradually and almost
+unconsciously, grown cold and departed far from Christ. He felt that he
+had not prayed as he ought to have done, especially _he had neglected
+each morning, and on his approach to each dwelling, to pray that then
+and there God would guide him, and own and bless his efforts to sell
+books._ He saw that probably here was at least a part of the cause why
+his sales had become so small. Early the next morning, before any of the
+family were up, he arose and retired to the adjoining woods, where he
+had a long and precious season of communion with God. There he anew
+dedicated himself and his all to the service of Christ. There, as under
+the eye of the Master, he reviewed the time he had labored as a
+colporteur, and prayed for forgiveness for the past and grace for the
+future. There he told the Saviour all about his work, and asked him to
+go with him that day, preparing the way and enabling him to succeed in
+the work on which he had entered. The result was what might have been
+expected. He went forth a new man; his heart was interested more deeply
+in the truths which he was circulating--they were more precious than
+ever to his own soul, and he could recommend his books, as he failed to
+do when his heart was cold and prayerless. _That first day he sold more
+books than during the whole week before._ In one instance, he sold
+several dollars' worth in a family where, as he was afterwards told by
+pious men in the neighborhood, the father was most bitterly opposed to
+everything connected with true religion. God had prepared that man's
+heart, so that he was ready to purchase quite a library for his family.
+And in many families that met him that day with the usual salutation,
+'no money,' he succeeded in disposing of more than one volume by sale.
+As he went from family to family, lifting up his heart in prayer to God
+for success in the particular object of his visit, God heard his prayers
+and owned his efforts. And so, he assured me, it had been since;
+whenever he had been _prayerful_--_prayerful for this particular
+object_, and then had diligently and faithfully done his best, he had
+invariably succeeded in doing even more than he expected."
+
+
+PRAYER FOUND THE REMEDY FOR THE DISEASE.
+
+
+"A correspondent of _The Illustrated Christian Weekly_, states that a
+mother of her acquaintance had a child taken alarmingly ill. She sent
+for the physician. The child was in convulsions. The doctor began at
+once vigorously to apply the customary remedies--cold water to the head,
+warm applications to the feet, chafing of the hands and limbs. All was
+in vain. The body lost nothing of its dreadful rigidity. Death seemed
+close at hand, and absolutely inevitable. At length he left the child,
+and sat down by the window, looking out. He seemed, to the agonized
+mother, to have abandoned her darling. For herself, she could do nothing
+but pray; and even her prayer was but an inarticulate and unvoiced cry
+for help. _Suddenly the physician started from his seat. 'Send and see
+if there be any jimson weed in the yard_,' he cried. His order was
+obeyed; the poisonous weed was found. The remedies were instantly
+changed. Enough of the seeds of this deadly weed were brought away by
+the medicine to have killed a man. The physician subsequently said that
+he thought that in that five minutes every kindred case he had ever
+known in a quarter century's practice passed before his mind. Among them
+was the one case which suggested the real, but before hidden, cause of
+the protracted and dreadful convulsions. And the child was saved.
+
+"Now, is there anything inconsistent or unphilosophical in the belief
+that, at that critical moment, a loving God, answering the mother's
+Helpless cry, flashed on the mind of the physician the thought that
+saved the child? Is it any objection to that faith to say, the age of
+miracles is past? If the mother, may call in a second physician, to
+suggest the cause and the cure, may she not call on God? What the doctor
+can do for a fellow-practitioner, cannot the Great Physician do? Though
+the doctor had often tried and thought, yet it was not till the last
+prayer and call on God, brought the remedy to his mind."
+
+
+PRAYER INSTANTANEOUSLY ANSWERED FOR CONVERSION.
+
+
+On the evening of the fifty-first daily prayer-meeting in Augusta, Ga.,
+a large gathering assembled in the St. John's M.E. Church, at which Dr.
+Irvine presided, and some very touching communications were read. One
+was from a widowed mother, asking thanksgiving for the salvation of her
+youngest daughter, recently from a boarding-school in New York city,
+where she had finished her education. Some weeks ago she had sought the
+prayers of the daily prayer-meeting for the conversion of her precious
+child, who was spending a few weeks with some friends seventy miles from
+Augusta. Prayers were offered accordingly, but without intimation of any
+change. The loving mother sent in a second application or prayer to Dr.
+Irvine, to be read on a recent Monday morning; all this without her
+daughter's knowledge. On Tuesday the mother received a letter from her
+daughter, dated two o'clock on Sabbath, informing her that on that day,
+and at that hour, she had resolved to give her heart to Christ,
+intending to ask admission to the church at the next communion. Strange
+to say, at the very moment when the faithful mother was writing her
+application for prayers for that child, she was announcing her own
+conversion.
+
+What a verification of the blessed promise: "Before they call I will
+answer; and while they are yet speaking I will hear."
+
+
+HELP FOR THE SHIPWRECKED.
+
+
+Admiral Sir Thomas Williams, a straight-forward and excellent man, was
+in command of a ship crossing the Atlantic Ocean. His course brought him
+in sight of the Island of Ascension, at that time uninhabited, and
+_never visited by any ship_, except for the purpose of collecting
+turtles, which abound on the coast. The island was barely descried on
+the horizon, and was not to be noticed at all; but as Sir Thomas looked
+at it, he was _seized by an unaccountable desire to steer toward it_.
+
+He felt how strange such a wish would appear to his crew, and _tried to
+disregard it; but in vain_. His desire became more and more urgent and
+distressing, and foreseeing that it would soon be more difficult to
+gratify it, he told his lieutenant to prepare to "_put about ship_" and
+steer for Ascension. _The officer to whom he spoke ventured to
+respectfully represent that changing their course would greatly delay
+them_--that just at that moment the men were going to their dinner--that
+at least some delay might be allowed.
+
+But these arguments seemed, to increase Captain Williams' anxiety, and
+the ship was steered toward the uninteresting little island. All eyes
+and spy-glasses were now fixed upon it, and soon something was perceived
+on the shore. "It is white--it is a flag--it must be a signal!" And when
+they neared the shore, it was ascertained that sixteen men, wrecked on
+the coast many days before, and suffering the extremity of hunger, had
+set up a signal, though almost without hope of relief. What made the
+captain steer his ship in the very opposite direction to what he and his
+crew wanted to go, but the _superhuman Spirit of God_.
+
+
+SAMUEL HARRIS'S LAWSUIT, AND HOW THE LORD SETTLED IT FOR HIM.
+
+
+"When Samuel Harris, of Virginia, began to preach, his soul was so
+absorbed in the work, that he neglected to attend to the duties of this
+life. Finding, upon a time, that it was absolutely necessary that he
+should provide more grain for his family than he had raised upon his own
+farm, he called upon a man who owed him a debt, and told him he would be
+glad to receive the money.
+
+"The man replied: 'I have no money by me, and cannot oblige you.'
+
+"Harris said; 'I want the money to purchase wheat for my family; and as
+you have raised a good crop of wheat, I will take that of you instead of
+money, at a current price.'
+
+"The man answered: 'I have other uses for my wheat, and cannot let you
+have it.'
+
+"'How then,' said Harris, 'do you intend to pay me?'
+
+"'I never intend to pay you until you sue me,' replied the debtor, 'and
+therefore you may begin your suit as soon as you please.'
+
+"Mr. Harris left him, meditating. Said he to himself, 'What shall I do?
+Must I leave preaching, and attend to a vexatious lawsuit? Perhaps a
+thousand souls may perish in the meantime, for want of hearing of Jesus!
+No; I will not. Well, what will you do for yourself? Why, this will I
+do; I will sue him at the Court of Heaven.' Having resolved what he
+would do, he turned aside into a wood, and on his knees laid the matter
+before the Lord. Mr. Harris felt such an evidence of Divine favor,--he
+felt, to use his own expressive language, that Jesus would become
+bondsman for the man, and see that he was paid if he went on preaching.
+Mr. Harris arose from prayer, resolved to hold the man no longer a
+debtor, since Jesus had assumed the payment. He therefore wrote a
+receipt in full of all accounts against the man, and dating it in the
+woods, where he had prayed, signed it with his own name. Going the next
+day by the man's house, on his way to meeting, he gave the receipt to a
+servant, directing him to give it to his master. On his return from
+meeting, the man hailed him, and demanded what he meant by the receipt
+he had sent him in the morning.
+
+"Mr. Harris replied: 'I mean just as I wrote.'
+
+"'But you know, sir,' answered the debtor, 'I have never paid you.'
+
+"'True,' said Mr. Harris, 'and I know you said that you never would
+unless I sued you. But, sir, I sued you at the Court of Heaven, and
+Jesus entered bail for you, and has agreed to pay me; I have therefore
+given you a discharge!'
+
+"'But I insist upon it,' said the man; 'matters shall not be left so.'
+
+"'I am well satisfied,' answered Harris. 'Jesus will not fail me. I
+leave you to settle the account with him at another day. Farewell.'
+
+"This operated so effectually on the man's conscience, that in a few
+days he _came and paid the debt_."
+
+
+A WAGON-LOAD OF FOOD.
+
+
+"A young minister and his wife were sent on to their first charge in
+Vermont about the year 1846. On the circuit were few members, and most
+of these were in poor circumstances. After a few months the minister and
+his wife found themselves getting short of provisions. Finally their
+last food had been cooked, and where to look for a new supply was a
+question which demanded immediate attention.
+
+"The morning meal was eaten, not without anxious feelings; but this
+young servant of the Most High had laid his all upon the altar, and his
+wife also possessed much of the spirit of self-sacrifice; and they could
+not think the Saviour who had said to those he had called and sent out
+to preach in his name: 'Lo! I am with you always,' would desert them
+among strangers. After uniting in family prayer he sought a sanctuary in
+an old barn, and there committed their case to God;--his wife met her
+Savior in her closet and poured out her heart before him there.
+
+"That morning a young married farmer, a mile or two away, was going with
+a number of hands to his mowing-field. But as he afterward told the
+minister, he was obliged to stop short. He told his hired help to go on,
+but he _must go back_--_he must go and carry provisions to the
+minister's house_. He returned to the house, and telling his wife how he
+felt, asked her help in putting up the things he must carry. He
+harnessed his horse into his wagon; put up a bushel of potatoes, meat,
+flour, sugar, butter, etc. He was not a professor of religion. The
+minister's wife told me there was a good wagon-load. He drove it to the
+house, and found that his gifts were most thankfully received. This
+account was received from the minister himself,--David P.--, who died in
+Chelsea, Mass., in Dec. 1875, and subsequently from his wife,--and
+communicated to a correspondent of '_The Christian_.'"
+
+
+"GOD'S RAVEN."
+
+
+"A lady who lived on the north side of London, set out one day to see a
+poor sick friend, living in Drury Lane, and took with her a basket
+provided with tea, butter, and food. The day was fine and clear when she
+started; but as she drew near Islington a thick fog came on, and
+somewhat frightened her, as she was deaf, and feared it might be
+dangerous in the streets if she could not see. Thicker and darker the
+fog became; they lighted the lamps, and the omnibus went at a walking
+pace. She might have got into another omnibus and returned; but a strong
+feeling which she could not explain made her go on. When they reached
+the Strand they could see nothing. At last the omnibus stopped, and the
+conductor guided her to the foot-path. As she was groping her way along,
+the fog cleared up, just at the entrance to Drury Lane, and even the
+blue sky was seen. She now easily found the narrow court, rang the
+number 5 bell, and climbed to the fifth story. She knocked at the door,
+and a little girl opened it.
+
+"'How is grandmother?'
+
+"'Come in, Mrs. A----,' answered the grandmother. 'How did you get here?
+We have been in thick darkness all day.'
+
+"The room was exceedingly neat, and the kettle stood boiling on a small
+clear fire. Everything was in perfect order; on the table stood a little
+tea-tray ready for use. The sick woman was in bed, and her daughter sat
+working in a corner of the room.
+
+"'I see you are ready for tea,' said the lady; 'I have brought something
+more to place upon the table.'
+
+"With clasped hands the woman breathed a few words of thanksgiving
+first, and then said, 'O, Mrs. A----, you are indeed God's raven, sent
+by him to bring us food to-day, for we have not tasted any yet. I felt
+sure he would care for us.'
+
+"'But you have the kettle ready for tea?'
+
+"'Yes, ma'am,' said the daughter; 'mother would have me set it on the
+fire; and when I said, 'What is the use of doing so? you know we have
+nothing in the house,' she still would have it, and said, 'My child, God
+will provide. Thirty years he has already provided for me, through all
+my pain and helplessness, and he will not leave me to starve at last: he
+will send us help, though we do not yet see how.' In this expectation
+mother has been waiting all day, quite sure that some one would come and
+supply our need. But we did not think of the possibility of your coming
+from such a distance on such a day. Indeed, it must be God who sent you
+to us.'
+
+"'The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of
+all their troubles.'"
+
+
+HOW THE STOLEN SLEIGH WAS RETURNED BY A THIEF.
+
+
+The widow of a minister of the Gospel sends to "_The Christian_" the
+following instance illustrating God's faithfulness in hearing and
+answering prayer:
+
+"About the year 1829, my husband, who died January 2d, 1854, lent his
+sleigh and harness to a man calling himself John Cotton, to go some
+twenty miles and be gone three days. Cotton was quite a stranger among
+us, having been in our place but six weeks. During that time he had
+boarded with my husband's brother, working for him a part of the time,
+and the rest of the time selling wooden clocks, of which he had bought a
+number. Three days passed, but he did not return. The fourth went by,
+and we began to think he had absconded. On inquiry, Mr. P. found that
+the clocks had been purchased on credit, and all sold for watches or
+money; that Cotton owed sixty dollars toward his horse, and had borrowed
+of the brother with whom he boarded, horse-blanket, whip, and mittens.
+Now it seemed sure that he was a rogue, but what could be done? Pursuit
+was useless after such a lapse of time.
+
+"My husband felt his loss severely, for we had little property then, and
+what we had was the product of hard labor. But he was a Christian, and,
+I believe, always made his business a subject of prayer.
+
+"About three weeks passed away. One evening, having been out longer than
+usual, he came in, and, with his characteristic calmness, said: 'I shall
+not worry any more about my sleigh and harness, I think I shall get them
+again.' 'Why do you think so?' His answer was: 'I have been praying to
+God to arrest Cotton's conscience, so that he will be obliged to _leave
+them where I can get them_, and I believe he will do it.'
+
+"From this time, which was Wednesday evening, he seemed at rest on the
+subject. The next Tuesday morning, as he stepped into the post-office, a
+letter was handed him from Littleton, N.H. It was written by the keeper
+of a public house, and read thus:
+
+     "'_Mr. P.--Sir, Mr. John Cotton has left your sleigh and
+     harness here, and you can have them by calling for them_.
+
+                                                 Yours, etc., J--N
+     N----N.'
+
+"He returned home with the letter, and started for L----; went there the
+same day, some forty miles; found sleigh and harness safe, with no
+encumbrance. The landlord informed him that, a few nights before, at
+twelve o'clock, a man calling himself John Cotton came to his house,
+calling for horse-baiting and supper; would not stay till morning, but
+wished to leave the sleigh and harness for Mr. S.--- P.--- of
+Marshfield, Vt. He said he could not write himself; and requested the
+landlord to write for him, saying he took them on a poor debt for Mr.
+P., in one of the towns below! He started off at two o'clock at night,
+on horseback, with an old pair of saddle-bags and a horse blanket, on a
+saddle with one stirrup and no crupper, on one of the coldest nights of
+that or any other year. He took the road leading through the Notch in
+the mountains, left nothing for either of those he owed, and we have
+never since heard from him."
+
+
+"NONE OF THE LORD'S CHILDREN LEFT DESOLATE."
+
+
+"_The Christian Era_ tells of a Dutch preacher who held a meeting one
+evening in a strange city. While he was preaching, and enforcing upon
+the hearts of his hearers the doctrine of the Cross, a police officer
+came into the room and forbade him to go on. He even commanded him to
+leave the city. As he was a stranger in the place, and the night was
+dark, he wandered around the city gates. He was not, however, without
+consolation; for he remembered Him who had said, 'Lo, I am with you
+always. I will fear no evil, for thou art with me; thy rod and thy
+staff, they comfort me.'
+
+"He had long been in the school of Christ, and had learned to watch for
+the slightest intimations of His will. While he was thus wandering
+around, suddenly he saw a light in the distance. 'See,' he said to
+himself, 'perhaps the Lord has provided me a shelter there,' and, in the
+simplicity of faith, he directed his steps thither. On arriving, he
+heard a voice in the house; and, as he drew nearer, he discovered that a
+man was praying. Joyful, he hoped, that he had found here the home of a
+brother. He stood still for a moment, and heard these words, poured
+forth from an earnest heart: 'Lord Jesus, one of thy persecuted servants
+may, perhaps, be wandering, at this moment, in a strange place of which
+he knows nothing. O, may he find my home, that he may receive here food
+and lodging.'
+
+"The preacher, having heard these words, glided into the house, as soon
+as the speaker said, 'Amen.' Both fell on their knees, and together
+thanked the Lord, who is a hearer of prayer, and who never leaves nor
+forsakes His servants."
+
+
+THE NEW COAT THAT FITTED EXACTLY.
+
+
+"A few years since, a young preacher in the State of Massachusetts, who
+was laboring in a field which yielded no great pecuniary returns, had
+laid aside the sum of fifteen dollars from his scanty income, with which
+to purchase himself a coat, of which he stood in need. Before he had
+time to obtain it, there was presented to him a certain charitable
+object which seemed to demand a portion of his little store. After some
+consideration as to whether it was his duty to give as much as the ten
+dollars, which first presented itself to his mind as the proper sum to
+bestow, he concluded to follow his convictions, and thus assist one who
+was more needy than himself, and trust in the Lord to provide the coat.
+
+"Within two or three days afterwards, he was visiting at the house of
+his mother, in another town, and she, as mothers will, noticed that his
+coat had arrived at that condition which usually affords the preacher of
+the Gospel evidence that he is shortly to have a new one, and she made
+some remarks about its worn appearance, saying, 'It seems to me you need
+a new coat.' 'I know it,' he replied, 'and I shall get me one as soon as
+I get the means.' She said, 'There is a coat up stairs which your
+brother had made for him not over two weeks ago, which he never has worn
+but once, because it was _made too small_, and he said that you might
+have it, if you wanted it.'
+
+"The coat was accordingly brought down and tried on, and it fitted
+exactly. The young man gladly accepted the coat, wondering a little at
+the wisdom of the Lord in clothing him at the expense of his brother,
+who was not particularly interested in the Lord's work, and who was so
+much larger than he was, that nothing short of the wisdom of Providence
+could have made a coat that was measured for one of them ever to fit the
+other."
+
+This was the return that God made to him for his sacrifice to the Lord.
+_Never withhold from the Lord_.
+
+
+PRAYING TO STOP THE WIND AND THE SAILING OF A VESSEL.
+
+
+The late aged and venerable Rev. Dr. Cleaveland, of Boston, relates the
+following incident:
+
+"In a revival of religion in the church of which he was pastor, he was
+visited one morning by a member of his church, a widow, whose only son
+was a sailor. With a voice trembling with emotion, she said, 'Doctor
+Cleaveland, I have called to entreat you to join me in praying _that the
+wind may change_.' He looked at her in silent amazement. 'Yes,' she
+exclaimed, earnestly, 'my son has gone on board his vessel; they sail
+to-night, unless the wind changes.' 'Well, madam,' replied the doctor,
+'I will pray that your son may be converted on this voyage; but to pray
+that God would alter the laws of His universe on his account, I fear is
+presumptuous.' 'Doctor,' she replied, 'my heart tells me differently.
+God's Spirit is _here_. Souls are being converted here. You have a
+meeting this evening, and, if the wind would change, John would stay and
+go to it; and, I believe, if he went he would be converted. Now, if you
+cannot join me, I must pray alone, for he must stay.' 'I will pray for
+his conversion,' said the doctor.
+
+"On his way to the meeting, he glanced at the weather-vane, and, to his
+surprise, _the wind had changed_, and it was blowing landward. On
+entering his crowded vestry, he soon observed John, sitting upon the
+front seat. The young man seemed to drink in every word, rose to be
+prayed for, and attended the inquiry meeting. When he sailed from port,
+the mother's prayers had been answered; he went a Christian. The pastor
+had learned a lesson he never forgot. The Lord had said, 'O, woman,
+great is thy faith; be it unto thee, even as thou wilt.' God answered
+that prayer because the mother was seeking to advance His own kingdom.
+God always hears a prayer that will in any way bring a soul to the
+Lord."
+
+
+INSANITY CURED AND SUICIDE PREVENTED.
+
+
+"_Augusta Moore_, writes _The Christian_, of a young lady called home by
+the illness of her widowed mother, who died before she could reach her.
+This alone was a terrible shock to the delicate daughter, who, having
+been reared in luxury, was ill-fitted for firm endurance of calamity.
+But, when it became known that a relative, in whom she had placed
+confidence, had managed, in ways that need not be explained, to defraud
+her out of her inheritance, her mind gave way and _she became insane_.
+
+"For years, her distressed husband strove in every way to restore her
+reason, but she seemed rather to become worse, and showed signs of
+intentions to commit suicide; and her family and friends lived in a
+wretched state of apprehension. In spite of the most faithful
+watchfulness, she twice succeeded in securing the means for
+self-destruction, but something prevented her from accomplishing her
+design. At last, it occurred to a friend to present this woman's case in
+the prayer-meeting, to the Lord, and earnest prayer was offered for her
+restoration.
+
+"No immediate result appeared; but the friends _persevered_. During the
+Winter, a revival of religion occurred in the town where she dwelt, and,
+with much difficulty, the insane woman, who declared that she was
+utterly and finally forsaken by God, was prevailed upon to attend the
+meetings. They began immediately to have a good effect upon her. She
+could sleep better; she grew more cheerful, and, in a short time, her
+reason returned to her. A happier, or more grateful woman than she now
+is, no mortal eyes ever beheld, and she affords one more instance of the
+Lord's willingness to hear and answer fervent prayer."
+
+
+ANSWERS TO PRAYER.
+
+
+Dr. Newman Hall, minister of Surrey Chapel, London, gives the following
+instances of answers to prayer from his own experience:
+
+"The writer's brother, when superintendent of a Sunday School, felt a
+strong impulse, one Saturday evening, to call on a member of his
+Bible-class, whom he had never visited before, and to inquire if he was
+in any need. He found him very ill. Though the mother and sister seemed
+in comfortable circumstances, he felt constrained to inquire if he could
+aid them in any way. They burst into tears, and said that the young man
+had been asking for food which they had no power to supply, and that, on
+Monday, some of their goods were to be taken in default of the payment
+of rates. When he knocked at the door _they were on their knees in
+prayer for help to be sent them_. By the aid of a few friends, the
+difficulty was at once met--but the timely succor was felt to be the
+divine response to prayer.
+
+"With that brother, the writer was once climbing the Cima di Jazzi, one
+of the mountains in the chain of Monte Rosa. When nearly at the top,
+they entered a dense fog. Presently, the guides faced right about, and
+grounded their axes on the frozen snow-slope. The brother--seeing the
+slope still beyond, and not knowing it was merely the cornice,
+overhanging a precipice of several thousand feet--rushed onward. The
+writer will never forget their cry of agonized warning. His brother
+stood a moment on the very summit, and then, the snow yielding, began to
+fall through. One of the guides, at great risk, rushed after him and
+seized him by the coat. This tore away, leaving only three inches of
+cloth, by which he was dragged back. It seemed impossible to be nearer
+death, and yet escape. On his return home, an invalid member of his
+congregation told him that she had been much in prayer for his safety,
+and mentioned a special time when she particularly was earnest, as if
+imploring deliverance from some great peril. _The times corresponded!_
+Was not that prayer instrumental in preserving that life?"
+
+
+BISHOP SIMPSON'S RECOVERY.
+
+
+Bishop Bowman gives the following instance from his own experience:
+
+"In the Fall of 1858, whilst visiting Indiana, I was at an annual
+conference where Bishop Janes presided. We received a telegram that
+Bishop Simpson was dying. Said Bishop Janes, 'Let us spend a few
+moment's in earnest prayer for the recovery of Bishop Simpson.' We
+kneeled to pray. William Taylor, the great California street preacher,
+was called to pray, and such a prayer I never heard since. The
+impression seized upon me irresistibly, _Bishop Simpson will not die_. I
+rose from my knees perfectly quiet. Said I, 'Bishop Simpson will not
+die.' 'Why do you think so?' Because I have had an _irresistible
+impression_ made upon my mind during this prayer.' Another said, '_I
+have the same impression_.' We passed it along from bench to bench,
+until we found that a very large proportion of the conference had the
+same impression. I made a minute of the time of day, and when I next saw
+Simpson, he was attending to his daily labor. I inquired of the Bishop,
+'How did you recover from your sickness?' He replied, '_I cannot tell_.'
+'What did your physician say?' '_He said it was a miracle_.' I then said
+to the Bishop, 'Give me the time and circumstances under which the
+change occurred.' He fixed upon the day, and _the very hour_, making
+allowance for the distance--a thousand miles away--that the preachers
+were engaged in prayer at this conference. The physician left his room
+and said to his wife, '_It is useless to do anything further; the Bishop
+must die_.' In about an hour, he returned and started back, inquiring,
+'_What have you done?' 'Nothing,'_ was the reply. 'He is recovering
+rapidly,' said the physician; '_a change has occurred in the disease
+within the last hour beyond anything I have ever seen; the crisis is
+past, and the Bishop will recover_.' And he did."
+
+The doctor was puzzled; it was beyond all the course and probabilities
+of nature and the laws of science. What was it that made those ministers
+so sure--what was it that made the patient recover, at the exact hour
+that they prayed? There is only one answer, "_The ever living Power of a
+Superior Spirit which rules the world_."
+
+
+THE SEVEN LETTERS.
+
+
+The following incident is given by "_The Presbyterian_," on the
+authority of a private letter from Paris:
+
+"At a Bible reunion, held at the house of an English Congregationalist
+minister, where several colporteurs, teachers and others meet for
+devotional reading and conversation, a brief anecdote was related by a
+clergyman living in La Force, who established there an institution for
+epileptics, where he has now three hundred, supported entirely on the
+principle of faith, like Muller's orphanage.
+
+"At one time, he found himself in debt to the amount of five hundred
+pounds. After a sleepless, anxious night, he found, on his table, seven
+letters. Opening five, he found them to be all applications, some of
+them most painful in their details, for the admission of new inmates.
+His excited mind could not bear it. Without opening the other two
+letters he threw them to his wife. 'Put them into the fire,' he said,
+and turned to seek relief in the open air. 'John,' said a sweet voice,
+'this won't do. Come back.' So he did, taking up the sixth letter, which
+proved to be from a stranger, enclosing a check for three hundred
+pounds. The other envelope gave him just what was needed, just that and
+no more. He thanked God, and took courage. Will he ever again hear the
+sweet, sad voice, 'Wherefore didst thou doubt?'"
+
+
+THE LORD DID NOT FORGET THE POTATOES.
+
+
+"A correspondent of _Arthur's Magazine_ tells of a poor woman who had
+been washing for us, who said: 'Seems as if the Lord took very direct
+ways to reach people's feelings sometimes. Now, I was astonished once in
+my life. I lived away out West, on the prairie, I and my four children,
+and I couldn't get much work to do, and our little stock of provisions
+kept getting lower and lower. One night, we sat hovering over our fire,
+and I was gloomy enough. There was about a pint of corn-meal in the
+house, and that was all. I said, 'Well, children, may be the Lord will
+provide something.' '_I do hope it will be a good mess of potatoes_,'
+said cheery little Nell; 'seems to me _I never was so hungry for taters
+before_.' After they were all asleep, I lay there tossing over my hard
+bed, and wondering what I would do next. All at once, the sweetest peace
+and rest came over me, and I sank into such a good sleep. Next morning,
+I was planning that I would make the tinfull of meal into mush, and fry
+it in a greasy frying-pan, in which our last meat had been fried. As I
+opened the door to go down to the brook to wash, I saw something new.
+_There, on the bench, beside the door, stood two wooden pails and a
+sack. One pail was full of meat, the other full of potatoes, and the
+sack filled with flour_. I brought my hands together in my joy, and just
+hurrahed for the children to come. Little dears! They didn't think of
+trousers and frocks then, but came out all of a flutter, like a flock of
+quails. Their joy was supreme. They knew the Lord had sent some, of his
+angels with the sack and pails. Oh, it was such a precious gift! _I
+washed the empty pails, and put the empty sack in one of them, and, at
+night, I stood them on the bench where I had found them, and, the next
+morning, they were gone_. I tried and tried to find out who had
+befriended us, but I never could. The Lord never seemed so far off after
+that time,' said the poor woman, looking down with tearful eyes."
+
+
+THE PRAYER IN THE WOODS.
+
+
+A friend relates the following incident, as received from the lips of a
+poor afflicted, crippled orphan boy, whose own experience is a practical
+illustration of the words: "When my father and my mother forsake me,
+then the Lord will take me up." Ps. xxvii 10.
+
+"Out of many instances of answered prayer I will tell the following one:
+In August, 1874, I wished to go to Lowell, a distance of some thirty
+miles, or more. I had no money, and did not know how to get there. I
+asked the station-agent and the conductor, but each refused, saying it
+would not be consistent with their duty. Knowing of no human help, I
+left the depot and went into the woods, some ways from the station,
+where I could be alone, and tell that Friend who is able to provide, and
+who is rich unto all that call upon Him. I knelt down beside the stump
+of a tree and prayed, and told the Lord all about it, and asked Him
+either to give me money, or provide some way that I could go where I
+desired. I felt that the Lord heard and answered me, and filled my soul
+with praise and joy. The language of my heart was, 'Bless the Lord.'
+
+"As I turned and was going out of the woods, I heard a voice saying,
+'Halloo.' As I had seen no one, and knew not that any human being was
+near, I was surprised at this greeting. 'Halloo!' said the stranger,' I
+never heard such a prayer in my life. Why did you go and pray?' I told
+him that I felt heavy, burdened, and I took the burden to the Lord. He
+said, 'I heard you pray--you want money, do you? The Lord has opened the
+way; here is five dollars. It is the best way to go to the Lord, and
+trust Him to open the way. Go and use the money.' I thanked him, and I
+thanked the Lord, and went oh my way rejoicing in Him whose promise is,'
+My God shall supply all your needs,' and who himself had heard and
+answered my request."
+
+
+THE LORD CAN DO IT.
+
+
+"In one of the mountainous towns--says _The Christian_--in the north-
+western part of Connecticut, there lived, some time since, an aged
+couple who had seen some eighty years of earthly pilgrimage, and who, in
+their declining days, enjoyed the care of a son and daughter, who
+resided with them at their home.
+
+"In process of time, the son became sick, and drew nigh the gates of
+death. The doctor pronounced him incurable, saying that one lung was
+consumed, and that he could live but a short time.
+
+"The fear of her brother's death, and the thoughts of being left alone
+to bear the responsibility of the aged parents' care, burdened the
+sister's heart exceedingly, and led her to cry mightily to the Lord, to
+interpose for his recovery, and spare him still to them; and her
+importunate supplications ascended to God, until the answer came to her
+heart as a sacred whisper,--'I have heard thy cry, and have come down to
+deliver thee.'
+
+"Comforted by this sweet assurance, she rejoiced exceedingly, knowing
+that what our Heavenly Father promises he is abundantly able to perform,
+and that He will fulfill his word, though heaven and earth shall pass
+away. But her faith was destined to be tried, and, on the very day after
+she had obtained the assurance of her brother's recovery, in came some
+one, saying, 'The doctor says S---- can live but a little time.' For an
+instant, these words were like a dagger to the sister's heart, but she
+still held fast her confidence, and replied: 'If _men_ can't cure him,
+the _Lord_ can.'
+
+"From that very moment, the brother began to amend. On the next day,
+when the physician came, he looked at him, commenced examining his
+symptoms, and exclaimed in astonishment: 'What have you been doing? You
+are evidently better, and I don't know but you will get up, after all.'
+
+"His recovery was so rapid, that in two weeks' time he was out about his
+customary duties on the farm; and that in weather so damp and foggy that
+it would have kept some stronger men in-doors. But he was well; the
+prayer of faith was answered, and it had saved the sick."
+
+
+ANSWER TO PRAYER IN ALL THE LITTLE TEMPORAL ANXIETIES OF LIFE
+
+
+The question having been asked, "Does God answer Prayer, in even all the
+little anxieties and cares of daily life." _The Illustrated Christian
+Weekly_, called in 1876, for testimonies of the surety of God in
+fulfilling his promise, and giving answer in little things as well as
+great things. Many, even good Christians have believed that they should
+not pray for anything for themselves, but only for those things which
+were to be used for God's work. The following instances show that those
+who are devoted to God's good work and helping in his service can ask
+for anything needed for their personal comfort, and expect the Lord to
+grant them. In truth the Lord _has commanded_ all his disciples, "_Ask
+and receive, that your joy may be full." "Anything that ye shall ask in
+my name, I will do it_."
+
+
+BREAD TO THE HUNGRY.
+
+
+"God was pleased to deprive me totally of my hearing in early boyhood.
+By the late war I lost all of my earthly possessions. I have a wife and
+family totally dependent on me for a support. A man employed to attend
+to my little manufacturing business as manager, by imprudent management,
+deprived me of every earthly dependence for a support. I had no refuge
+but God. This feeling was intense beyond expression--God was my only
+hope. I laid my case before him. Then this came to me, 'Seek first the
+kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be
+added unto you.' 'Now,' I said, 'I am deeply conscious that I and my
+wife seek and desire the kingdom of God above all things; God then will
+give us temporal help.' Then a feeling came over me, a feeling of
+waiting upon God. It was sweet waiting. I was at rest. I had thought
+frequently if I could get _two hundred dollars_ I could start my little
+business again. While thus trusting, and waiting, and praying, a package
+was handed to me by the express-agent containing $200 from a stranger in
+a distant county, against whom I held an old note dated 1856; and for
+many years I had forgotten the note, and would have taken twenty-five
+cents for it any time. The man was bankrupt, and did not fear the Lord,
+nor know anything of my situation in life. He was under no legal
+obligation to pay the note."
+
+
+NO "IFS."
+
+"A number of years ago I went West to better my condition.... After a
+little time I went into business of my own, had but little capital, and
+my good name to be punctual in paying for what I bought on credit was of
+great importance to me. I had promised to pay on a certain day a note of
+about $60. I thought I was sure to get the money, but was disappointed;
+I went to the Lord for help, not knowing how he could send me the money,
+but convinced that he was able to do it. At about noon the same day a
+man inquired for me. I knew him by sight; he had the name of being a
+hard man, took all the interest he could get, and never put any money
+out without security. He had not the note, but he asked me if I wanted
+to hire any money; if so he had _sixty dollars_ he would like to let me
+have. The man took my note and never did ask for any security.
+
+"At another time, being away from home some 2,000 miles, was at the
+house of an uncle; same evening I received a letter from my wife that
+the children were very sick and but little hope of recovery. The letter
+had been written for over a week. I communicated the contents of the
+letter to my aunt; went up in my room and prayed the Lord to be their
+physician. I felt so sure that my prayer would be answered that I could
+not help singing; when they heard me they thought what a cold-hearted
+man I must be to sing if the children were dying at home. _But from,
+that day the children did get better, and in a short time were out of
+danger_.
+
+"In my younger years I had a good many ifs, but those are all gone; I
+know that the Lord has the means at his command to answer all my prayers
+if I come believing, asking in the name of Christ."
+
+
+THE HORSE IS HIS.
+
+
+"The writer was preaching Sundays at a little country church, about 70
+miles by rail from the institution where he attended. He went Saturday,
+returning on Monday. One Saturday the train ran off the track. All day
+long they worked at the wreck. At last, finding it too late to make
+connection with the other railroad, he took the down train back to the
+institution. What should be done? A promise to preach forty miles across
+the country had been made. There was also an appointment six miles
+beyond for an afternoon service. It was now night. To drive across the
+country was the only way open, or stay at home. Two disappointed
+congregations the result in the latter case. But the roads were heavy
+from recent rains. 'Twill be so late that none can direct. Friends said,
+'Stay; you can't go forty miles across, to you, an unknown country.' But
+the writer felt it duty to go. Hiring a horse noted for endurance, at
+nine o'clock at night--dark, threatening--he set out. As he headed the
+horse in the direction of the village--for he could find none who could
+tell him the exact road--he prayed: 'O God, starting out to preach thy
+word to-morrow, direct the way--guide this horse.' The night wore on; as
+cross-roads came, dropping the lines over the dashboard, the same prayer
+was offered. When the horse chose a road, the driver urged him on. As
+day began to break, emerging from some wood in an unfrequented road,
+they entered the village they sought. The sermon that morning was from
+the text, 'Son, go work to-day in my vineyard.' The largest congregation
+of the Summer had gathered. It will not do to say that the horse knew
+the road. Returning in broad daylight the next day, though directed and
+directed again, we lost the way and went seven miles out of our course.
+A scientist might laugh at this way of driving, or at asking God to
+guide in such trivial matters. But we shall still believe that God led
+the horse and blessed us in our attempt to serve him."
+
+
+ALL OUR NEEDS.
+
+
+"About eight years ago, while a Student in college, I became embarrassed
+for want of funds. Debts began to accumulate. Anticipating money from
+usual sources, promises had been made to pay at a certain date.
+
+"The time to make these payments approached. The anticipated money did
+not come. A student in debt is most dependent and hopeless. In great
+distress, locking the study-door, I sat down to think. First came
+visions of an auction sale of a few books and scanty furniture; then of
+notes and protests; finally the promises of God came into mind. I knew
+he had promised to supply my wants. 'All things whatsoever ye have need
+of,' came home in great power. I am needy, I have given up business,
+all, to preach the gospel. I remember as 'twere yesterday the feelings,
+the struggles, of that hour. With all earnestness I asked for help in my
+hour of distress. At last I felt confident that the aid needed would
+come in time, Saturday; this was Monday. I thanked God for the answer--
+and being questioned by a needy creditor of that afternoon, assured him
+that his money would be ready.
+
+"Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday passed--no sign, but faith said God will
+not fail. Friday morning--heart beat fast as I went to the
+post-office--it seemed as if through its agency the help would come.
+Nothing. But it must be here to-day. Returning from the office Friday
+evening, wondering how God would send deliverance, I saw on my table a
+long official envelope. A classmate preceding me at the office had
+brought it. A letter from a gentleman in Wall street whom I have never
+seen. On Monday, he casually asked of a tea-broker, an acquaintance, if
+he knew of any one in H----. The broker mentioned, after a little
+thought, my name.
+
+"The letter contained a request for service of a peculiar sort,
+connected with some legal matters, contained money and promise of more.
+_Over three times the sum I asked God for was finally given. More than
+enough for a term's expenses_.
+
+"I never mentioned the matter of my need at that time to a human being,
+nor spoke of the prayer. I have always thanked God for that, and am sure
+he provides for me in accordance with his promise."
+
+
+HE HEALETH THE SICK.
+
+
+"The wife of Deacon W. was sinking rapidly with pneumonia. Friends gave
+up all hope of her recovery, and even the hopeful physician felt that he
+was hoping against hope. In his despair the husband bore the case
+directly to God; he sought the prayers of his minister and of the
+church; and he asked all Christians to pray that the mother of his
+little children might be spared. She lingered between life and death for
+several days, when unexpectedly to many, she began to gain strength, and
+in due season was about again. This was several years ago, and she has
+been an active worker in the church and Sunday-school ever since."
+
+
+A POWERFUL DREAM.
+
+
+"My father, a minister of the gospel, was prostrated by sickness. A
+large family of little ones was dependent upon him for support. Funds
+ran low. One evening my mother remarked that she had broken the last
+dollar. My father lay awake most of the night, praying to his God for
+help in this emergency. That same night a man in a parish not many miles
+distant was much impressed by a dream. He dreamed that a minister who
+preached in his church not long before, was sick and in want. He knew
+neither his name nor his place of residence. He arose at the first dawn
+of day, and going to his own pastor inquired the name and address of the
+stranger who had recently preached for them. These obtained, he mounted
+his horse, and knocked at our door just as my mother drew up the
+window-shades. She answered the knock, when, without a word, a stranger
+placed an envelope in her hand and immediately rode away. The envelope
+contained a ten-dollar bill, which we all believed was the Lord's answer
+to our father's prayer. Afterwards these facts were disclosed by the
+pastor to him whom the Lord chose to disperse his bounty."
+
+
+ASK AND YE SHALL RECEIVE.
+
+
+"In 1874, through Providence, I became sore pressed to provide for
+myself and family; two of my children had just begun to learn to read. I
+was desirous to procure for them the 'N.---,' (a children's journal,)
+but I could not see how I was to pay for it and meet other obligations.
+So I carried it to our Father in heaven, asking if it was best and
+according to his will my children should get the 'N.---.' In about ten
+days afterward I received a note from a lady friend, with whom I or none
+of our family had had any communication for weeks, and in that note she
+advised us that her little daughter, the same age as our second, had
+sent as a Christmas gift a subscription for the 'N.---,' to be sent to
+our Mary's address. 'If ye abide in me, and my words in you, ye shall
+ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you.'"
+
+
+CASTING ALL YOUR CARE ON HIM.
+
+
+"Once, soon after the death of my husband and the loss of all his large
+property, I had a bill of _fifty dollars_ to pay, and was notified two
+weeks beforehand that not a day's grace would be given. Besides what I
+was earning by my pen, I had due me, in a neighboring city, just the
+amount I should need--the income on my only remaining piece of real
+estate; and, as my tenant was always prompt, I wrote to him where to
+send me the money, and gave the subject no farther thought. But, when
+the time for his response was already past, and I heard nothing from my
+debts, and but a few days to the time of my own need yet remained, I
+felt anxious and sought divine direction as to the course I ought to
+pursue. Rising from my knees, I took up my Bible, and the very first
+words my eyes rested upon, were these: 'Casting all your care upon Him,
+for he careth for you.' All anxiety from that hour left me; but I felt
+impelled to apply to a certain editor for the payment of _twenty
+dollars_ he owed me, and I felt sure the other thirty would come from
+somewhere.
+
+"So the days passed until the morning of the day upon which I should be
+called on for the fifty dollars, and _still I had not a single dollar_
+on hand to meet the claim. At ten o'clock my creditor came, but half an
+hour before him the postman had put into my hand a letter containing a
+check for _fifty dollars_, the exact amount I needed. It had come from
+the editor to whom I had applied for twenty dollars, and lo! he had sent
+me fifty. The thirty advanced he said I could give him credit for on my
+next MS. He did not know my need, but God did, and thus He had answered
+my prayer."
+
+
+IN EVERYTHING MAKE KNOWN YOUR WANTS.
+
+
+"Six years ago, on the low country of South Carolina, a friend asked me
+to go with him to a camp-meeting. I was delighted with the idea, for, in
+my estimation, a good camp-meeting comes nearer heaven than any other
+place on earth.
+
+"Just three days before we were to go, an unexpected circumstance
+connected with his business, made it impossible for him to leave. It was
+with real heartfelt sorrow I heard of it. The day before we were to have
+started, as I saw another member of the family, who was going with a
+friend, packing her trunk, it seemed to me I could not bear it. I
+carried my trouble to my dear heavenly Father, begging him to send me a
+way to go.
+
+"I rose from my knees with the sweet assurance in my heart my prayer was
+heard--packed my trunk and waited patiently. When night came and the men
+came home, in the place of the expected buggy came a small spring-wagon,
+and a seat for me. What may seem more remarkable, the change between
+buggy and spring-wagon was made ten miles away, while I was praying.
+
+"I believe I enjoyed the meeting more for the feeling of thankfulness
+that pervaded my whole being while there."
+
+
+THE GREAT PHYSICIAN.
+
+
+"Nearly five years ago, after a decline of almost two years, I was
+brought very near to the grave. Medical aid availed nothing. I was
+fearfully emaciated, and my death was daily expected. A devoted mother
+and a sister, who had watched over me tenderly during my long illness,
+were completely exhausted.
+
+"I determined to apply to the Great Physician, as directed in James
+5:14. As I united with others in prayer, unconsciously I uttered these
+words, 'I shall yet praise Thee in the great congregation.' All present
+felt assured that it was the will of God to restore me to health.
+Appearances were against me; for some time I could sleep but very
+little, and there was no perceptible gain. But trusting in the sure
+promise, the next Sabbath I rode a short distance to church, and, as I
+thus ventured out little by little, my strength gradually returned. A
+few months later, my mother, who through disease had been in a state of
+despair for some years, was enabled again to hope in God's mercy."
+
+
+SHALL SAVE THE SICK.
+
+
+"I was desperately ill. My physicians had done all in their power,
+without success--and yet I lived! For my father's sake, the hearts of
+hundreds waited the issue, and prayed for me! For his sake, the bells in
+the neighborhood were tied--the criers did not come within sound of the
+house--nor was the sound of wheels heard upon the street. There was a
+death-like stillness without and within.
+
+"The physicians sat with folded hands and wept, because the blow seemed
+too heavy for my father to bear--the thought that I was going to die
+without any assurance that I trusted in my Saviour!
+
+"'It cannot be,' he said, 'I will wrestle with my God until He hears
+me!' Sunday came. In almost every church a special prayer was offered
+for my recovery. After morning service, a band of devoted women met, and
+offered fervent prayers that God would spare my life. Evening came--the
+weary doctors went home, leaving the last sacred moments to my parents.
+Early next morning they came again, and exclaimed, as they entered the
+room, 'She is better! Prayer has saved her!' I still live, 'a spared
+monument of God's mercy.'"
+
+
+ALL-SUFFICIENT FOR ALL NEED.
+
+
+"I am a mother of seven children. By the help of our Father in heaven,
+we have all of us gone regularly to church and Sunday-school. We are
+poor; and at length the time came we were not clothed so we could
+comfortably go to church. I earnestly asked our Father to show me,
+within a week, which was right for us to do: to go in debt for clothes,
+or stay at home. Within that week, I received a large package of
+ready-made clothing. The clothing came from a source I never thought of
+receiving anything from."
+
+
+A VERY PRESENT HELP IN TROUBLE.
+
+"At one time, during a season of adversity, there was urgent occasion
+for a certain sum beyond the income of the family, and there was no way
+of borrowing it. I took the matter to the Lord in prayer, asking Him, if
+the money were really needed, as it appeared to be, to send it, and, if
+it were not, to remove the distressing circumstances. The answer came in
+a sum five times the amount asked for, and in a manner totally
+unexpected."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"At another time, the mother of the family was very ill, and, when
+apparently near death, the physicians had ordered a remedy which was to
+be constantly employed, as her life, so far as they could judge,
+depended on its use. One night, her symptoms became so alarming as to
+compel the writer (who had charge of the nursing) to use this remedy
+more freely than ever, and, about midnight the supply was exhausted.
+There was no possibility of obtaining any more before morning, and the
+rest of that night, while attending to the other directions of the
+doctors, I spent in one earnest, agonizing prayer that God would so
+overrule natural causes that death would not occur in consequence of
+what I felt to be my own culpable carelessness in not having provided a
+larger quantity of an article so necessary. In His great mercy, He
+granted the prayer, the dangerous symptoms did not increase during the
+seven or eight hours that intervened before the remedy could be
+procured. One proof that it was a special mercy, is found in the fact
+that there was no other such standing still of the disease, either
+before this or afterward. And the doctors were astonished when they saw
+that the disease had made no progress, under conditions that rendered
+that progress inevitable in the usual law of cause and effect. And when,
+on her final recovery, Doctor Parker told her that she owed her life to
+the good care I had taken of her, my thoughts went back to the long
+hours of that night of anguish, and I said, 'It was the Lord that took
+care of her.' 'I meant your care, under Providence,' was the reply."
+
+
+HE SHALL DIRECT THY PATHS
+
+"I am a teacher by profession, and, a few years ago, I found myself
+placed in a school whose every surrounding was utterly repugnant to my
+tastes, and to all my ideas of right and wrong and what good teaching
+should be. At first, I kept hoping that things would grow better, and
+that I should, at least, be able to have some influence on the modes of
+teaching; but I soon found that everything connected with the
+establishment was directed by the iron will of an unscrupulous and
+tyrannical woman, whose laws were as irrevocable as those of the Medes
+and Persians. I at once decided I could not stay there long, but I had
+no other position in view, and it was not easy to secure one in the
+middle of the term. As usual, I made it a subject of prayer, and the
+result was that, in a short time, I was most unexpectedly, and without
+the least solicitation on my part, offered a much better position, in
+every respect, which, of course, I was only too thankful to accept. That
+is only one instance, out of thousands I could name, where God has heard
+and answered my prayers, and I believe He will do so to the end."
+
+
+HOW THE LORD IS CONSTANTLY CARING FOR HIS TRUSTING POOR.
+
+
+A city missionary recently found, in this city on the streets, a refined
+Englishwoman with her children, who had been turned out of her home for
+non-payment of rent. With the aid of a few friends he installed her in a
+new domicile, and procured work for her. From time to time he visited
+her, and rejoiced with her that God had sent him to her in the hour of
+extremity. At length, pressure of business kept him away for some time,
+until, one evening, he started out to look up a few dollars owing him,
+in order to procure some delicacies for a sick wife. One dollar was all
+he could procure, and with that in his pocket he was returning homeward,
+when he became so impressed with the idea that he should visit the
+Englishwoman that he turned aside and did so. He found her in tears, and
+asking the cause, heard the sorrowful tale of no work, no food in the
+house for to-morrow, which was Sunday. He was in doubt whether to give
+her the dollar and suffer his sick wife to go without something
+palatable, but in a moment, "Blessed is he that considereth the poor;
+the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble," presented itself to his
+mind, and--the dollar dried the widow's tears.
+
+Upon reaching his home he found a lady had called on his wife and
+brought with her three or four kinds of jellies, fruit, home-made
+biscuit, various relishing things; three times more than the dollar
+would have purchased.
+
+The same gentleman, while calling on a poor family one day, discovered a
+little house in the rear, which he visited, finding a neat, cleanly
+room, occupied by an old lady, crippled with rheumatism. He found she
+had no one in the world but a sister, a monthly nurse, to care for her.
+When first setting out on his tour that morning, the missionary had
+fifty cents given him by a gentleman, who expressed the hope that "it
+might do some good during the day." Although a number of visits had been
+made, he had not felt called upon to bestow it until then, nor could he
+tell why he should want to put it in the old lady's hand at parting, but
+he did so.
+
+She was too much overcome by her emotions to speak, but she took his
+hand and led him to a little table, on which lay a Bible, opened at the
+passage, "Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, He will give it
+you." She said, "Please tell me if any one sent you here?" "No." "Did
+you ever hear that I lived here?" "I did not." "Then the Lord sent you
+in answer to my prayer this morning. For the first time in my life, I am
+without food. My sister was to have come home yesterday, but has not. I
+was just asking the Lord to provide for me when you knocked at the
+door."
+
+Such scenes as these amply repay our missionaries for all the toils and
+weariness, all the anxieties and perplexities of the work.
+
+
+A PRAYER FOR BREAD.
+
+
+"Washington Allston, who stood at the head of American artists a half
+century ago, was, at one time, so reduced by poverty, that he locked his
+studio, in London, one day, threw himself on his knees and prayed for a
+loaf of bread for himself and wife. While thus engaged, a knock was
+heard at the door, which the artist hastened to open. A stranger
+inquired for Mr. Allston, and was anxious to know who was the fortunate
+purchaser of the painting of the 'Angel Uriel,' which had won the prize
+at the exhibition of the Royal Academy. He was told that it was not
+sold. 'Where is it to be found?' 'In this very room,' said Allston,
+producing a painting from a corner and wiping off the dust. 'It is for
+sale, but its value has not been adequately appreciated, and I would not
+part with it.' 'What is its price?' 'I have done affixing any nominal
+sum. I have always so far exceeded any offers, I leave it to you to name
+the price.' 'Will four hundred pounds be an adequate recompense?' 'It is
+more than I ever asked for it.' 'Then the painting is mine,' said the
+stranger, who introduced himself as the Marquis of Stafford, and, from
+that time, became one of Mr. Allston's warmest friends and patrons."
+
+
+THE DAUGHTER'S PRAYER.
+
+
+The late Doctor Krummacher, chaplain to the king of Prussia, in
+referring to faith and prayer, writes as follows:
+
+"A little incident occurs to me which I can hardly withhold, on account
+of its simplicity and beauty. The mother of a little girl, only four
+years of age, had been, for some time, most dangerously ill. The
+physician had given her up. When the little girl heard this, she went
+into an adjoining room, knelt down, and said: 'Dear Lord Jesus, O make
+my mother well again.'
+
+"After she had thus prayed, she said, as though in God's name, with as
+deep a voice as she could: 'Yes, my dear child, I will do it gladly!'
+This was the little girl's amen. She rose up, joyfully ran to her
+mother's bed, and said: 'Mother, you will get well!'
+
+"And she recovered, and is in health to this day. Is it, then, always
+permitted for me to pray thus unconditionally respecting temporal
+concerns? No; thou must not venture to do so, if, whilst you ask, you
+doubt. But shouldst thou ever be inclined by God's Spirit to pray thus,
+without doubt or scruple, in a filial temper, and with simplicity of
+heart, resting on the true foundation, and in genuine faith, then pray
+thus by all means! None dare censure thee; God will accept thee."
+
+
+THE LORD WILL PROVIDE.
+
+
+"A city missionary, one Saturday night, was going home with a basket of
+provisions on his arm. Meeting a policeman, he asked him if there had
+any families moved in the bounds of his beat during the week. He
+answered, 'Yes,' and, pointing to a building up an alley, said, 'a woman
+and some children are living there now.'
+
+"The missionary went to the house, rapped at the door, and was admitted.
+The woman was sitting by a small light, sewing. In the corner of the
+room, were two little girls, apparently from nine to twelve years of
+age, playing.
+
+"The missionary said, 'Madam, I am here to see if you will allow your
+girls to attend Sunday-school to-morrow morning.' 'I would, sir; but
+what you see on them is all the clothing they have, and you would not
+wish them to go as they are now.' 'The Lord will provide, madam. Have
+you no money?' 'Not yet, but I have committed my case into the hands of
+the Lord.' 'Have you anything to eat?' 'Nothing, sir!' 'What will you do
+for breakfast?' 'O, sir, I once had a husband; he provided when he
+could. These children had a father; he supplied their wants; but he is
+dead now. Yet my Maker, even God, is my husband, and He has promised to
+be a father to the fatherless. We have committed all to Him, have called
+upon Him in this our day of trouble. I am trusting in God to take care
+of a poor widow and her children in a strange place, and I know He will
+provide.' 'Thank God for such faith,' said the missionary; and, handing
+her the basket, said 'here is your breakfast, and you shall have the
+clothing for your children.' With tears streaming down her face, she
+replied: 'Oh, thank God for his faithfulness! He heareth and answereth
+prayer. May He bless you!' And, said our dear brother to us, 'I felt the
+promise was sure, for she was blessed in receiving, I was more so in
+giving.'"
+
+
+A PRAYER FOR A LOAD OF WOOD.
+
+
+Here is an illustration of the way in which God sends relief in trouble.
+The story is told by the Christian woman to whom it happened, in her own
+language:
+
+"About the month of January, 1863, I was living in Connecticut, alone
+with two little boys, one of them four years old, and the other about a
+year and a half old. My husband was away in the service of his country.
+When the coldest weather came, I was nearly out of wood. I went down
+into the village, one day, to try and get some, but tried in vain; so
+many men were away in the army that help was scarce. Very little wood
+was brought into market, and those living on the main street, got all
+that came, while those who lived outside the village could get none. I
+tried to buy a quarter of a cord from two or three merchants, but could
+not get any. One of them told me he could not get what he wanted for his
+own family. Another said he wasn't willing to yoke up his team for so
+small a quantity; but, as I only had a dollar and seventy-five cents, I
+could not buy any more, and so I was obliged to go home without any. I
+went back to my little ones, feeling very sad. But while I sat there,
+almost ready to cry, the words of Abraham came into my mind, 'Jehovah-
+Jireh, the Lord will provide.' Then I went up to my chamber. There I
+knelt down and told God of my trouble, and asked him to help me and send
+the relief that we needed. Then I went to the window and waited, looking
+down the street, expecting to see the wood coming. After waiting a
+while, without seeing any come, my faith began to fail. I said to
+myself, 'The Lord did provide for Abraham, but He won't provide for me.'
+Our last stick of wood was put in the stove. It was too cold to keep the
+children in the house without fire. I got the children's clothes out,
+and thought I would take them to the house of a kind neighbor, where I
+knew they could stay till we got some wood. But, just as I was going out
+with the children, in passing by the window, I saw the top of a great
+load of wood coming up the road towards our little house. Can that be
+for us? I asked myself. Presently I saw the wagon turn off the road and
+come up towards our door. Then I was puzzled to know how to pay for it.
+A dollar and seventy-five cents I knew would only go a little way
+towards paying for all that wood. The oxen came slowly on, dragging the
+load to our door. I asked the man if there wasn't same mistake about it.
+'No, ma'am,' said he, 'there's no mistake.' 'I did not order it, and I
+cannot pay for it,' was my reply. 'Never mind, ma'am,' said he, 'a
+friend ordered it, and it is all paid for.' Then he unhitched the oxen
+from the wagon, and gave them some hay to eat. When this was done, he
+asked for a saw and ax, and never stopped till the whole load was cut
+and split and piled away in the woodshed.
+
+"This was more than I could stand. My feelings overcame me, and I sat
+down and cried like a child. But these were not bitter tears of sorrow.
+They were tears of joy and gladness, of gratitude and thankfulness. I
+felt ashamed of myself for doubting God's word, and I prayed that I
+might never do so again. What pleasure I had in using that wood! Every
+stick of it, as I took it up, seemed to have a voice with which to say
+'Jehovah-Jireh.' As Abraham stood on the top of Mount Moriah he could
+say, 'The Lord _will_ provide.' But every day, as I went into our
+woodshed, I could point to that blessed pile of wood sent from heaven,
+and say, 'The Lord _does_ provide.'"
+
+
+A REFRACTORY MAN COMPELLED TO PAY A DEBT.
+
+
+A refractory man who owed a small debt of about $43, refused to pay it
+all, but offered to do so if ten dollars was taken off. His creditor,
+feeling that it was just, declined to abate the amount.
+
+For more than a year the creditor waited, after having no attention paid
+to his correspondence or, claim by the debtor, who exhibited
+unmistakable obstinacy and want of courtesy. At last it was put into the
+hands of a lawyer. The lawyer, too, was fairly provoked at the
+faithlessness of the debtor in his promises or his attention to the
+subject; thus matters dragged wearily for months, yet exercised leniency
+in pressing the claim.
+
+The creditor, whose forbearance had now reached the extremity of
+endurance, at last was led to take it to the Lord in prayer; saying he
+would "willingly forgive the whole debt if in anything he was wrong, but
+if the Lord thought it was right, hoped that his debtor _might be
+compelled to pay the amount he so obstinately withheld_."
+
+To the astonishment of all, a letter received from the lawyer four days
+after, informed him _that his debtor had called and paid the claim in
+full_ with interest to date. "In doing so, he said he paid it _under
+protest_," thus showing he was _compelled by something he could not
+resist to pay it all_.
+
+
+A HURRICANE PASSES AROUND A SHIP.
+
+
+A Sea Captain relates to the editor of the _Christian_, a remarkable
+incident, whereby in one of his voyages his ship was unaccountably held
+still, and thereby saved from sailing directly into the midst of a
+terrible hurricane:--"We sailed from the Kennebec on the first of
+October, 1876. There had been several severe gales, and some of my
+friends thought it hardly safe to go, but after considerable prayer I
+concluded it was right to undertake the voyage. On the 19th of October
+we were about one hundred and fifty miles west of the Bahamas, and we
+encountered very disagreeable weather. _For five or six days we seemed
+held by shifting currents, or some unknown power, in about the same
+place. We would think we had sailed thirty or forty miles_, when on
+taking our observations we would find we _were within three or four
+miles of our position the day before_. This circumstance occurring
+repeatedly proved a trial to my faith, and I said within my heart,
+'_Lord, why are we so hindered, and kept in this position_?' Day after
+day we were held as if by an unseen force, until at length a change took
+place, and we went on our way. Reaching our port they inquired, 'Where
+have you been through the gale?' '_What gale_?' we asked. '_We have seen
+no gale_.' We then learned that a terrible hurricane had swept through
+that region, and that all was desolation. We afterwards learned that
+_this hurricane had swept around us, and had almost formed a circle
+around the place occupied by us during the storm. A hundred miles in one
+direction all was wreck and ruin, fifty miles in the opposite direction
+all was desolation; and while that storm was raging in all its fury, we
+were held in perfect safety, in quiet waters_, and in continual anxiety
+to change our position and pursue our voyage _One day of ordinary
+sailing would have brought us into the track of the storm, and sent us
+to the bottom of the sea._ We were anxious to sail on, but some unseen
+power held us where we were, and we escaped."
+
+The Captain was a prayerful man, trusting in his Lord, though his faith
+was tried, and he thought the Lord was not helping him. Yet the Lord was
+keeping his promise to him, "_The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in
+safety by him, and the Lord shall cover him all the day long_."
+
+
+RECOVERY FROM SPINAL DISEASE.
+
+
+"Miss M---- is the daughter of a respectable farmer, an elder in a
+Presbyterian church in Western Pennsylvania. When a young girl her spine
+was injured while nursing her aged and helpless grandmother, and she has
+been a great sufferer for many years. For eleven years she has not been
+able to attend church nor to go from home, and for a long time was
+unable to leave her chamber or her bed. Two years ago she was so ill
+that hopes of her recovery were abandoned, her mind was thought to be
+seriously, even hopelessly impaired. Her physician acknowledged that her
+disease baffled his skill.
+
+"A few months ago, being near her residence and hearing that her health
+was better, I called on her, and to my surprise, found her able to sew,
+walk about, and even go down stairs. She informed me that she suffered
+so intensely from the remedies used for her cure, and constantly grew
+worse, that she determined to do nothing more; it seemed like fighting
+against God; she would put herself into His hands to do with her as He
+pleased. Then it seemed to her that the Saviour came to her and said,
+'M----, what aileth thee?' She told Him all her case, and He soothed and
+comforted her. From that time she began to improve; the paroxysms of
+pain grew less, and disappeared; her nervousness was relieved, she could
+sleep, her mind was full of peace. She said, 'I am not cured, and do not
+expect to be well, but I can bear what I have to suffer, and am willing
+to depart whenever it is the Lord's will to take me away to himself.'"
+
+
+PRAYER FOR A PAIR OF BOOTS.
+
+
+In the Fall of 1858, H----, a student in the Theological Seminary at
+Princeton, N.J., was in great need of a new pair of boots. His toes were
+sticking out of his old ones, and he had no money to purchase new ones.
+All the money he could command was barely enough to pay his fare to his
+home, where be had promised a dear friend to be present on the
+approaching communion Sabbath.
+
+H---- was a man of great faith, and was accustomed to carry all his
+wants to God in prayer. To God he carried the present emergency, and
+earnestly importuned Him, that He would send him a pair of boots, and
+that He would do it before the approaching Sabbath. He was persuaded
+that God heard, and would answer his petition, yet his faith was sorely
+tried. Saturday morning came and still there was no answer; he resolved,
+however, to go to his home, fully persuaded that God would in good time
+grant his request. He took the morning train at the Princeton depot, and
+reached home about eleven o'clock. It was a hard trial for him to go to
+"Preparatory Lecture" with his boots in the condition they were in; yet
+at two o'clock he went, still praying that God would send him a new pair
+of boots. During the service, a merchant in the town took a seat in the
+same pew with him, and at the close of the service, without a word being
+spoken on the subject, the merchant, after shaking hands with H---- and
+inquiring of his welfare, asked him if he would do him the favor of
+going down town to a certain boot and shoe store and select from the
+stock as good a pair of boots as he could find, and, said the merchant,
+"have them charged to me." It was, as, H---- said to me on his return to
+the seminary, a direct answer to prayer. Indeed, it might be said of
+H---- that he went through college and seminary _on prayer_. He laid all
+his plans before God, pleaded his promises, and never was disappointed.
+
+
+UNDER GARMENTS IN ANSWER TO PRAYER.
+
+
+Among the students in the Theological Seminary at Princeton, N.J., in
+1860, was my intimate friend L----. He was at the time poorly clad, but
+was a devoted Christian, and is at present a successful foreign
+missionary.
+
+One day when on the Seminary campus, I heard two of the students very
+thoughtlessly criticising the exceeding shabbiness of L----'s wearing
+apparel, his short pants, old shoes, and socks with no heels in them. At
+almost every step L---- took when playing ball, his bare heels could be
+seen. That day, after evening prayers, I took L---- by the arm, for a
+walk to "Orthodox point," a tree about a mile distant from the Seminary.
+During our walk, I gently told him of the criticisms I had heard, and
+learned more fully than I had ever done of his destitution of wearing
+apparel, especially of under garments. I offered him a share of mine, or
+the loan of money, so as to meet his present wants, but this he declined
+to receive, saying, that he "would take it to the Lord in prayer," and
+that God would in good time supply all his wants. I, too, bore his case
+to the throne of grace. The next day after this, on going into his room,
+he laid before me an empty envelope, and a five dollar bill, and asked
+me the question, "Did you throw that envelope with that bill in it,
+through that ventilator?" I assured him that I did not. "Well," said he,
+"when I came in from recitation a short time ago, I found this envelope
+on the floor and that five dollar bill in it. It has evidently been
+thrown in through the ventilator." We both recognized God's hand in the
+provision made and mentally gave thanks to our Heavenly Father. Soon
+after this, "a missionary box" was sent to the Seminary, and my friend
+was therefrom well supplied with under garments. Frequently afterward
+did he say to me, in substance, "Prayer is the key to God's treasury.
+Trust in Him and the Lord will provide."
+
+
+UNEXPECTED RELIEF.
+
+
+Henry Badgerow was a man about seventy years of age at the time of the
+incident, and a resident of Steuben county, State of New York. This was
+in the year about A.D. 1830-31. He had been for many years an invalid--
+so much so that he couldn't walk--the result of a horse running away
+with him. In a forest, isolated from neighbors, the old man resided
+alone with an aged wife. They were quite poor, and wholly dependent upon
+the labor of a son who worked away from home for others. This son was at
+length taken sick with a fever, and unable to minister to his parents'
+wants. This was in mid-winter, when storms were frequent and the snows
+deep and lasting. One evening when the storm was at its highest, this
+old couple found themselves without a particle of food in the house.
+Matters were desperate with them. They could see but starvation staring
+them in the face. They resolved upon prayer, having a firm trust in
+their Heavenly Father, whom for many years they had been humbly serving.
+They did not retire, but continued in fervent prayer that God would send
+them food. About two and a half miles distant lived a young married man
+in comfortable circumstances, by the name of Joseph Clason (the author
+of the story). He was not at this time a Christian, although it was not
+long after this he was converted, and has since lived an eminently
+active and godly life. About 12 o'clock on the night of the snow storm
+above mentioned, young Clason awoke. His first thoughts were of old Mr.
+Badgerow and his condition in that storm. His mind became so impressed
+with the thought of him, and so wrought upon that he could not again go
+to sleep, although trying so to do. At length he awakened his wife, told
+her that he was in trouble about Mr. B., for fear he and his wife were
+starving. She replied that if he would get right up and make a light,
+she would prepare something, and that he had better take it right down.
+Young C. did so, taking with him a pail of provisions. After a jaunt
+through the storm and snow in the dead hour of night, he reached the old
+man's cabin. There he found a light burning. He knocked; the door was
+opened by the wife. The old man was fervently praying; but when he saw
+young C. with the pail of provisions, he held up both hands and said,
+"Now I know that God heareth prayer. Not one mouthful have we in the
+house to eat. I know that God sent you here." Young C. staid with the
+old couple until daylight. The conversation revealed that about midnight
+the old man perceiving that a storm had arisen, and that unless relief
+came, which was not likely, they would starve, resolved to appeal to his
+Heavenly Father, saying that God who sent the ravens to feed Elijah
+would feed him if he went to him in faith, and now God had heard his
+prayer, and he blessed God that he could do so in all trouble and trial.
+
+The old man having asked C. how he came to visit them, he replied he
+didn't know, but supposed God had sent him, as he had awoke and couldn't
+again sleep on account of thought of him.
+
+The incident made a serious and lasting impression on young C's mind.
+
+In the morning, as C. was returning home, he came by his father's house;
+his mother, espying his pail, wished to know where he had been. He
+replied, "To feed the hungry." His father spreading the incident, the
+neighbors all turned out and brought in enough provision to last them
+during several weeks, the old man being greatly loved and respected by
+his community, on account of his sterling Christian life and character.
+
+Mr. Joseph Clason is still living, now seventy-five years of age, in
+Bazine, Ness county, Kansas.
+
+
+THAT BEAUTIFUL CHRISTMAS GIFT. HOW THE LORD USED IT.
+
+
+A lady and gentleman were walking up Madison avenue, New York City, from
+church, when incidentally the lady said, "We are trying to get up
+Christmas decorations and entertainment for our Mission School."
+
+"_Well, put my name down for anything you like_," and then came into his
+mind a certain sum to give.
+
+A day passed on, it seemed forgotten; but a note from the lady reminded
+him of his promise, and he responded, giving the exact sum originally
+thought of, $25. Notice, now, the most singular disposition of it,
+which, by the hand of Providence, was made to go on its circuitous way
+to meet those who needed it most.
+
+The next Sabbath, the lady and gentleman again meeting each other, she
+said, "Your gift was too large. I cannot take so much from you. I shall
+give you back part."
+
+"But I won't take it."
+
+"Well, you must. I can't keep it."
+
+It resulted in the lady taking $15 from her muff and forcing it back
+into the gentleman's hand.
+
+The gentleman felt badly. "_I intended this for the Lord, and now it is
+refused. It is the first time I ever heard that money ever given to a
+Sunday school was not wanted. I meant the whole for the. Lord_. If she
+don't want it and wont keep it, I will give the rest away. _It does not
+belong to me_." Before night he had enclosed it in a letter and sent it
+out of the city to an invalid as a _Christmas present_. He had occasion
+not long after to visit the invalid, and was fairly astonished at the
+extraordinary circumstances connected with its use; and this is his
+story, told in his letter to the lady who returned the $15.
+
+"The sequel to the $15 is far more beautiful and wonderful than anything
+I have ever known. This invalid had been praying for some money for a
+needed article of dress to protect her from cold. _The_ $15 _came the
+very next morning in answer to her prayer. But it was more than enough_.
+As a consistent Christian, having asked the Lord only for enough to meet
+but one need, she felt as if the rest belonged to the Lord and must be
+used for Him. So in wondering how to use it, she thought of a poor woman
+who needed a new calico dress, and at once bought it and gave it to her.
+She had but $5 left. A dear friend was in distress; his horse and
+carriage had been seized for failure to pay the livery bill of their
+keeping; he could not collect any money of the debts due him, to pay his
+bill, and had nothing. His wife and children were in New Britain, and
+here he was, no means to get there. The little Christian invalid sent
+him her $5, the last money she had, not knowing where her next was to
+come from, with these words: "_The Lord has sent you this_," and though
+he offered to return, or use only part, she said, "_No, the Lord meant
+this for you_. You must keep it, I will not take it back." Now see how
+beautifully all these incidents have been made to work for the good of
+many, by the managing hand of Providence.
+
+"My original gift of $25 to you was _more than enough_. You did not need
+it all for your Sunday-school, and the Lord made you force back the $15
+upon me. I could not keep it, because I felt, it belonged to the Lord.
+So I sent it to the little invalid.
+
+"She, too, had only needed a part, and used only what she asked the Lord
+for, and then she, in her turn, gave the rest away. The most wonderful
+part of it is, that the money you gave back to me, and I gave to the
+Lord, was _three-fifths of the amount you received_, and the money the
+little invalid gave away _to the Lord_ was also _three-fifths the amount
+she received. The money which you kept for your use was just two-fifths,
+and the money that the invalid kept for her own use was just two-fifths
+also. The very next day after she had given her money away_, a lady
+called and gave her some money, which _was precisely the same amount_
+which _the poor woman's calico dress_ had cost, (though she knew nothing
+of the circumstances), and in return for the $5 which she gave her
+friend in distress, and refused to take back, the Lord remembered her
+and gave her a good home.
+
+
+THE WIDOW'S WOOD AND FLOUR.--THE UNBELIEVING ONES MADE SPEECHLESS.
+
+
+The following instance is known to _The Christian_ as true, and to a
+remarkable degree indicates how thoroughly God knows our minutest needs,
+and how effectively He makes those who ever reproach his name ashamed of
+their unbelief.
+
+"A friend and relative of the one who was 'a widow indeed,' one who
+trusted in God, and continued in supplications and prayers day and
+night, was once brought into circumstances of peculiar straitness and
+trial. She had two daughters who exerted themselves with their needles
+to earn a livelihood; and at that time they were so busily engaged in
+trying to finish some work that had long been on their hands, they had
+neglected to make provision for their ordinary wants until they found
+themselves one Winter's day in the midst of a New England snow storm,
+with food and fuel almost exhausted, at a distance from neighbors, and
+without any means of procuring needful sustenance.
+
+"The daughters began to be alarmed, and were full of anxiety at the
+dismal prospect, but the good old mother said, 'Don't worry, girls, the
+Lord will provide; we have enough for to-day, and to-morrow may be
+pleasant,' and in this hope the girls settled down again to their labor.
+
+"Another morning came, and with it no sunshine, but wind and snow in
+abundance. The storm still raged, but no one came near the house, and
+all was dark and dismal without.
+
+"Noon came, and the last morsel of food was eaten, the wind was almost
+gone, and there were no tokens of any relief for their necessities.
+
+"The girls became much distressed, and talked anxiously of their
+condition, but the good mother said, 'Don't worry, the Lord will
+provide.'
+
+"But they had heard that story the day before, and they, knew not the
+strong foundation upon which that mother's trust was builded, and could
+not share the confidence she felt.
+
+"'If we get anything to-day the Lord will have to bring it himself, for
+nobody else can get here if they try,' said one of the daughters,
+impatiently, but the mother said, 'Don't worry.' And so they sat down
+again to their sewing, the daughters to muse upon their necessitous
+condition, and the mother to roll her burden on the Everlasting Arms."
+
+Now mark the way in which the Lord came to their rescue, and just at
+this moment of extremity, put it into the heart of one of his children
+to go and carry relief. _Human Nature_ at such a time would never have
+ventured out in such a storm, but waited for a pleasant day. But Divine
+Wisdom and power made him carry _just what was needed, in the face of
+adverse circumstances, and just at the time it was needed_.
+
+"Mr. M. sat at his fireside, about a mile away, surrounded by every
+bounty and comfort needed to cheer his heart, with his only daughter
+sitting by his side.
+
+"For a long time not a word had been spoken, and he had seemed lost in
+silent meditation, till at length he said, 'Mary, I want you to go and
+order the cattle yoked, and then get me a bag. I must go and carry some
+wood and flour to sister C.'
+
+"'Why, Father, it is impossible for you to go. There is no track, and it
+is all of a mile up there. You would almost perish.'
+
+"The old man sat in silence a few moments and said, 'Mary, I must go.'
+She knew her father too well to suppose that words would detain him, and
+so complied with his wishes. While she held the bag for him, she felt
+perhaps a little uneasiness to see the flour so liberally disposed of,
+and said, 'I wish you would remember that _I_ want to give a poor woman
+some flour, if it ever clears off.' The old man understood the
+intimation and said, 'Mary, give all you feel it duty to, and when the
+Lord says stop, I will do so.'
+
+"Soon all things were ready, and the patient oxen took their way to the
+widow's home, wallowing through the drifted snow, and dragging the sled
+with its load of wood and flour. About four o'clock in the afternoon,
+the mother had arisen from her work to fix the fire, and, looking out of
+the window, she saw the oxen at the door, and she knew that the Lord had
+heard her cry.
+
+"She said not a word--why should she? She was not surprised!--but,
+presently, a heavy step at the threshold caused the daughters to look up
+with astonishment, as Mr. M. strode unceremoniously into the room,
+saying, '_The Lord told me, Sister C, that you wanted some wood and
+flour_.'
+
+"'_He told you the truth_,' said the widow, 'and I will praise Him
+forever.'
+
+"'_What think you now girls_?' she continued, as she turned in solemn
+joy to her unbelieving daughters.
+
+"_They were speechless_; not a word escaped their lips; but they
+pondered that new revelation of the providential mercy of the Lord,
+until it made upon their minds an impression never to be effaced.
+
+"From that hour they learned to trust in Him who cares for _His needy_
+in the hour of distress, and who, from His boundless stores, supplies
+the wants of those who trust in Him."
+
+
+A PAIR OF SHOES.--THE LORD'S REBUKE TO THOSE WHO "DIDN'T BELIEVE."
+
+
+The following incident occurred in Connecticut: In an humble cottage two
+sisters were watching over and caring for a much-loved brother, who, for
+many long months had been upon a bed of sickness. At length, the younger
+of them began to be discouraged. She was dependent, for her clothing,
+upon her labor; her shoes were worn out, and how should she get another
+pair, unless she could leave the sick bed and go away from home and work
+and earn some money.
+
+"Well," said the mother, "I know you need a pair of shoes, but don't
+worry, the Lord will provide."
+
+"_Do you think that_ THE LORD _will come down from heaven and buy me a
+pair of shoes_?" said the younger sister, with an expression of
+discouragement and vexation on her countenance.
+
+"No," said the mother, "but perhaps he will put it into somebody's heart
+to buy you a pair."
+
+"Perhaps He will, _but I don't believe it_," said the discouraged girl.
+
+"Well," said the other sister, who was a little more hopeful, "you won't
+get them any quicker by fretting, so you might as well be quiet." Then
+the subject dropped and the day passed as usual.
+
+As the shades of evening were gathering, a brother who lived at some
+distance, and who knew nothing of their previous conversation, called to
+inquire after their prosperity. After the customary salutations he said,
+"You have been sick here a long time, and I thought I would come round
+and see if I could not do something for you; thought perhaps by this
+time the girls needed something." Then turning to the younger sister, he
+said, "_How is it, aren't your shoes worn out?"_
+
+She dropped her eyes, blushed deeply, and, perhaps, a little
+conscience-smitten, answered not a word. Nothing was said of the
+previous conversation, though it was not forgotten by those who heard
+it. The brother soon saw for himself enough to satisfy him, and said no
+more, but went away. The next day _two pairs of shoes_ were sent around
+to her, and with them came to her heart a lesson which she never forgot.
+
+She lived many years after that, but was never heard to murmur in that
+way again, and often said that the two pairs of shoes taught her to
+_wait, hope and trust_, and thereby learn implicit confidence in Him who
+sendeth all blessings. The last time she alluded to the occurrence, she
+said, "_I was speechless then, but, by the grace of God, I will not be
+in the world to come_."
+
+
+THE LAME HEALED.
+
+
+Rev. Charles G. Finney, during his life-time, was familiar with the
+circumstances connected with the remarkable healing of a sick lady in
+Oberlin, O., the wife of Rev. R.D. Miller, and these facts were vouched
+for as unquestionably authentic. Mr. Finney says:
+
+"Mrs. Miller is the wife of a Congregational minister, and a lady of
+unquestionably veracity. However the fact of her healing is to be
+accounted for, her story is no doubt worthy of entire confidence, as we
+have known her for years as a lame, suffering invalid, and now see her
+in our midst in sound health. This instantaneous restoration will be
+accounted for by different persons in different ways. Mrs. Miller and
+those who were present regard the healing as supernatural and a direct
+answer to prayer. The facts must speak for themselves. Why should not
+the sick be healed in answer to the prayer of faith? Unbelief can
+discredit them, but faith sees nothing incredible in such facts as are
+stated by Mrs. Miller. Mrs. Miller's own statement is as follows, and it
+is fully endorsed by the most reliable citizens and members of the First
+church at Oberlin:
+
+"From my parents I inherited a constitution subject to a chronic form of
+rheumatism. In early life I was attacked with rheumatic weaknesses and
+pains, which affected my whole system. For nearly forty years I was
+subject to more or less suffering from this cause, sometimes unable to
+attend meeting for months at a time. For seven years, until the last
+three months, I have been unable to get about without the aid of crutch
+or staff, generally both. I have used many liniments and remedies, but
+with no permanently good result. I have been a Christian from early
+life, but last Spring, in our revival, I received a spiritual refreshing
+from the Lord, which gave a new impulse to my faith. Since then my
+religion has been a new life to me.
+
+"Last Summer, several of us Christian sisters were in the habit of
+spending short seasons of prayer together, that the Lord would send us a
+pastor. Some of our number had read the narrative of Dorothea Trudel,
+and had spoken to me on the subject of healing in answer to prayer. My
+faith had not then risen to this elevation. I had in fact accepted what
+I supposed to be the will of God, and made up my mind to be a lame and
+suffering invalid the rest of my life. I had long since ceased to use
+remedies for the restoration of my health, and had not even thought of
+praying in regard to it, for I regarded it as the will of God that I
+should suffer in silent submission.
+
+"Notwithstanding what had been said to me, I remained in this opinion
+and in this attitude until the 26th of September, 1872, when several
+ladies met at our house, by appointment, for a prayer-meeting. I had
+been growing worse for some time, and was at that time unable to get out
+to attend a meeting. I was suffering much pain that afternoon; indeed, I
+was hardly able to be out of my bed. Up to this time none of the sisters
+who had conversed with me about the subject of healing by faith, had
+been able to tell me anything from their own experience. That afternoon,
+one lady was present who could speak to me from her own experience of
+being healed in answer to the prayer of faith. She related several
+striking instances in which her prayers had been answered in the removal
+of divers forms of disease to which she was subject. She also repeated a
+number of passages of Scripture, which clearly justified the expectation
+of being healed in answer to the prayer of faith. She also said that
+Jesus had shown her that he was just as ready to heal diseases now as he
+was when on earth; that such healing was expressly promised in
+Scripture, in answer to the prayer of faith, and that it was nowhere
+taken back. These facts, reasonings, and passages of Scripture, made a
+deep impression on my mind, and, for the first time, I found myself able
+to believe that Jesus would heal me in answer to prayer. She asked me if
+I could join my faith with hers and ask for present healing. I told her
+I felt that I could. We then knelt, and called upon the Lord. She
+offered a mighty prayer to God, and I followed. While she was leading in
+prayer I felt a quickening in my whole being, whereupon my pain
+subsided, and when we rose from prayer I felt that a great change had
+come over me, that I was cured. I found that I could walk without my
+staff or crutch, or any assistance from any one. Since then my pains
+have never returned; I have more than my youthful vigor; I walk with
+more ease and rapidity than I ever did in my life, and I never felt so
+fresh and young as I now do, at the age of fifty-two.
+
+"Now, the hundred and third psalm is my psalm, and my youth is more than
+renewed, like the eagle's. I cannot express the constant joy of my heart
+for the wonderful healing of my soul and body. I feel as if I was every
+whit made whole."
+
+The testimony of eye-witnesses to this healing is as follows:
+
+"We were all present at the time of the healing, and know the facts to
+be true. We are all Christians, and have no interest in deceiving
+anybody, and would by no means dishonor God by stating more than the
+exact truth. Since the healing, Mrs. Miller is still with us, and in
+excellent health. Neither the severe cold of last Winter, nor the
+extreme heat of this Summer, has at all injured her health. From our
+first acquaintance with her, she has been so lame as to be unable to
+walk, except by the aid of crutches. Since which time she has been able
+to walk without help, and appears perfectly well."
+
+Her husband, also adding his testimony, says:
+
+"She has been unable to walk without crutches for a series of years. A
+long time ago, we tried many remedies and physicians, with no lasting
+good results, and were expecting she would remain an invalid. Of late,
+she had applied no remedy, nor taken any medicine. At the time of her
+cure, she was much worse than for a long while before, being in great
+pain continually, until the moment she fully believed, and, _in an
+instant_, she was restored to perfect soundness. From that moment to
+this she has not felt a particle of her former complaint.
+
+"She can now walk for miles as fast as I wish to, without feeling very
+much fatigue, does all her own housework, and attends seven meetings
+during the week. In short, she is stronger, and seems as young and spry,
+as when we were married, thirty-two years ago. The work of the dear
+Savior in her cure seems to be perfect, and she is an astonishment to
+all who knew her before and see her now. To _His_ name be all the
+praise.
+
+"Another lady, the same week my wife was healed, a member of the First
+Congregational Church, confined to her bed with a complicated disease,
+was prayed for, and restored at once to soundness."
+
+
+THE WONDERFUL CURE OF MRS. SHERMAN.
+
+
+Although there are so many cases of healing in answer to prayer, yet the
+incident of the healing of Mrs. Sherman is so minute, and resulted in
+such a radical change of the physical constitution, that it is necessary
+to relate it in full detail. It is too well proven to admit the
+possibility of a doubt.
+
+"Mrs. Ellen Sherman is the wife of Rev. Moses Sherman, and, at the time
+of this occurrence, in 1873, they were residents of Piermont, N.H. She
+had been an invalid for many years. In the Winter after she was fifteen,
+she fell on the ice and hurt her left knee, so that it became weak and
+easy to slip out of joint. Six years after, she fell again on the same
+knee, so twisting it and injuring the ligaments that it became partially
+stiff, and, the physician said, incurable.
+
+"The next Summer, by very fast walking, one day, she brought on special
+weakness, which no physician was able to cure. From that moment she was
+subject to severe neuralgia, sick-headaches, at least monthly, and
+sometimes even weekly.
+
+"In December, 1859, while stepping out of doors, she slipped, by reason
+of her stiff joint, and fell, striking near the base of the spine,
+directly across the sharp edge of the stone step. This caused such a
+sickness that she was obliged to leave the school she was attending.
+
+"Three years after (in January, 1862), she fell at the top of a
+stairway, striking just as before, and sliding all the way down to the
+foot. This nearly paralyzed the spinal cord, and caused deep and
+permanent spinal disease. After this she was up and down for many years,
+attended by various physicians, yet nothing bettered, but, rather,
+growing worse. It may be said, for short, that every organ of the lower
+body became chronically diseased, and that the headaches increased in
+violence.
+
+"In September, 1872, through a severe cold, she took her bed, where she
+lay, except when lifted from it, till the night of August 27, 1873. She
+was unable to walk a step, or even stand. She could sit up only a short
+time without great distress. The best medical skill that could be
+procured gave only temporary relief. The spine grew worse in spite of
+every appliance, and the nervous sensitiveness and prostration were
+increasing. During the two or three weeks immediately preceding her cure
+she was especially helpless, two persons being required to lift her off
+and on the bed. On the Monday before, one of her severest neuralgia
+sick-headaches came on. During Wednesday she began to be relieved, but
+was still so sick that when, in the evening, she tried to have her
+clothes changed, she could only endure the change of her night-dress."
+
+It will be seen from this her utter physical helplessness, and not the
+slightest hope of any amelioration. During the night of August 27th, she
+enjoyed a blessed time of communion with her Lord, giving herself, in
+all her helplessness, wholly to Him to do as he wills.
+
+With feelings beyond all expression, she _felt_ the nearness of her
+mighty Savior, and the sense of receiving a new and most delicious
+pulsation of new life. At last, though she had been bed-ridden for
+twelve months, and incapable of any bodily assistance, she felt an
+uncontrollable impulse to throw off the clothes of the bed with her left
+arm, and sprang out of bed upon her feet, and started to walk across the
+room.
+
+"Her husband's first thought was that she was crazed, and would fall to
+the floor, and he sprang towards her to help her. But she put up her
+hands against him, saying with great energy, 'Don't you touch me! Don't
+you touch me!' and went walking back and forth across the room speaking
+rapidly, and declaring the work which Jesus had been working upon her.
+
+"Her husband, quickly saw that she was in her right mind, and had been
+healed by the Lord, and his soul was filled with unutterable emotion.
+
+"One of the women of the household was called, also their son, twelve
+years old, and together they thanked God for the great and blessed
+wonder he had wrought.
+
+"In the morning, after a sleep of several hours, she further examined
+herself to see if entirely healed, and found both knees perfectly well;
+and though for sixteen years she had not been able to use either, now
+she lifted the left _foot_ and _put it upon the right knee_, thus
+proving the completeness of her restoration.
+
+"At the end of two years from her healing, inquiry having been made as
+to how thorough had been the work, Mrs. Sherman gave full and abundant
+evidence. 'I cannot remember a Summer when I have been so healthy and
+strong, and able to work hard. I am a constant wonder to myself, and to
+others, and have been for the two years past. The cure exceeded my
+highest expectations at the time I was cured. I did not look forward to
+such a state of vigor and strength. No words can express my joy and
+gratitude for all this.'
+
+"The parents of Mrs. Sherman also testify of the wonderful change
+physically which occurred with the cure.
+
+"Before, her appetite was always disordered, but on the very morning of
+the healing it was wholly changed, and her food, which distressed her
+formerly, she ate with a relish and without any pain following; and she
+so continues. For years before a natural action of the bowels was rare.
+From that day since, an unnatural one is equally rare.
+
+"For fifteen years, with few exceptions, she had had severe neuralgic
+sick headaches monthly or oftener. From that time she has been natural
+and without pain, with no return of the headaches, except a
+comparatively slight one once, from overdoing and a cold taken through
+carelessness.
+
+"There was also at that time an immediate and radical change in the
+action of the kidneys, which had become a source of great trouble
+before. Moreover the knee which had been partially stiff for so many
+years was made entirely well. In fine, her body, which had been so full
+of pain, became at once free from pain, and full of health.
+
+"The week after she was healed she went fifty miles to attend a
+camp-meeting, riding five miles in a carriage, the rest by cars. A near
+neighbor said, 'She will come back worse than ever.' Though the weather
+was especially bad, she came back better than when she went."
+
+These are but few out of many expressions respecting her extraordinary
+recovery, which fully satisfy the believing Christian that _the Great_
+Physician is with us now, "_healing the lame_," and curing the sick. It
+is faith only, unyielding, which the Lord requires ere he gives his
+richest blessing.
+
+The unbelieving one simply sees in it "_something strange_," which he
+can not understand, but the faith-keeping Christian knows it is the sign
+of his _Precious Lord_, in whom he trusts and abides forever.
+
+
+DR. NEWMAN HALL'S TESTIMONIES TO THE VALUE OF PRAYER.
+
+
+Dr. Newman Hall, of London, in his wide experience has met with many
+incidents of answered prayer, and thus relates several:
+
+
+A PRAYER FOR THIRTY POUNDS.
+
+
+"On a recent evangelizing visit to Newport, one of its citizens said to
+me, 'In yonder house dwell a man and wife, who recently needed a sum of
+£30 to meet some payment the next morning. Having failed in their
+efforts to collect it, they earnestly prayed God to provide it. The
+store was being closed for the night when a sea-captain knocked at the
+door and asked for some seamen's clothes. The gas was relighted, and
+various articles were selected; the purchaser then asked for the
+account, and the money was paid--_a little more than_ £30. The man and
+his wife thanked their Heavenly Father for sending it in this way in
+answer to prayer.'"
+
+
+RECOVERY FROM DANGEROUS ILLNESS.
+
+
+Dr. Newman Hall was once visiting, on his dying bed, John Cranfield, son
+of the great originator of ragged schools, under the ministry of Rowland
+Hill.
+
+"We were conversing on prayer. He said, 'A remarkable instance occurred
+in connection with my father. The former organist of Surry Chapel, Mr.
+Howard, was dangerously ill. He was greatly beloved, and his friends met
+for special prayer that God would spare his life. My father on that
+occasion was remarkably earnest in asking that the life of his friend
+might be lengthened, as in the case of Hezekiah. The next day he began
+to recover; and during fifteen years was a blessing to his friends and
+the church.'"
+
+
+A SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER IN DISTRESS.
+
+
+"My brother," says Dr. Hall, "told me that when superintendent of a
+Sunday school he felt a strong impulse, one Saturday evening, to call at
+the home of one of his teachers whom he had never visited before. He
+found his mother and sisters in such evident distress that he inquired
+the cause. With much reluctance they explained that, being unable to pay
+their taxes, their goods were to be taken on the coming Monday, and they
+had been asking special help from God to save them from a disaster which
+they felt would be a dishonor to religion. By the aid of a few friends
+the difficulty was at once met, but the timely succor was regarded as
+the divine answer to their prayer."
+
+
+RESCUED IN PERIL.
+
+
+"With my brother I was once climbing the _Cirrha di Jazze_, one of the
+mountains in the chain of _Mount Rosa_. When nearly at the top, we
+entered a dense fog. Presently our guides faced right about and grounded
+their axes on the frozen snowed slope. My brother, seeing the slope
+still beyond, and not knowing it was merely the cornice overhanging a
+precipice of several thousand feet, rushed onward. I shall never forget
+their cry of agonized warning. He stood a moment on the very summit, and
+then, the snow yielding, he began to fall through. One of the guides, at
+great risk, had rushed after him, and seizing him by the coat, drew him
+down to a place of safety.
+
+"No one could be nearer death and yet escape. On his return home, an
+invalid member of his congregation told him that she had been much in
+prayer for his safety, and mentioned a special time when she was
+particularly earnest, as if imploring deliverance from some great peril.
+_The times corresponded._ His life was saved in answer to her prayer."
+
+
+A PHYSICAL IMPEDIMENT REMOVED.
+
+
+"A clergyman, of great scholarship and genius, has told me of a
+remarkable answer to prayer, authenticated by three missionaries known
+to himself, who are personally acquainted with the facts.
+
+"A Prussian, the master of a hotel in India, was anxious to relinquish
+his large income, and labor as a missionary among the Santil tribes.
+Objection was made to him on account of an impediment in his speech
+which would render him, in speaking a foreign language, incapable of
+being understood. Believing in the efficacy of prayer, he called
+together his friends, specially to ask that his impediment might be
+removed. The next morning, he presented himself again at the Mission
+House--_the impediment had gone_! He was accepted, relinquished his
+business, and is now preaching the gospel to the Santils in their own
+tongue."
+
+
+RESTORATION FROM DEATH.
+
+
+"My father, the author of the _Sinner's Friend_, narrates in his
+autobiography a circumstance which he often used to speak of with great
+emotion.
+
+"My mother was very ill, and apparently dying. The Doctor said that now,
+if at all, the children might be brought for her to look at them once
+more. One by one we were brought to the bedside, and her hand was placed
+on our heads.
+
+"Then my father bade her farewell, and she lay motionless as if soon to
+breathe her last.
+
+"He then said to himself, 'There is yet one promise I have not pleaded,
+"If ye ask anything in my name I will do it." He stepped aside, and in
+an agony of soul exclaimed, '_O, Lord, for the honor of thy dear Son,
+give me the life of my wife!'_
+
+"He could say no more, and sank down exhausted. Just then the nurse
+called him to the bedside saying, 'She has opened her mouth again as if
+for food.' Nourishment was given, and from that time she began to
+recover. The doctor said it was miraculous. My father said it was God,
+who had heard his prayer."
+
+
+THE HELP OF THE LORD IN LITTLE THINGS.
+
+
+The Rev. Dr. Patton, of Chicago, in receiving many letters from
+clergymen, received one from Mr. F., a pastor in Massachusetts.
+
+In it he speaks of his unsuccessful search for a valuable knife, prized
+as a present from a friend, which he had lost on a hillside covered with
+laurels. He paused in prayer, asked to be guided, commenced his search,
+and was almost immediately successful thereafter.
+
+The same letter also mentions the case of a friend in a responsible
+position under the government, whose accounts failed to balance by
+reason of an error, which, after long search, he could not detect.
+
+In great distress he betook himself to prayer, and then opening his
+books, _on the very first page_, which he happened to glance at, and at
+the top of the column, he saw instantly the looked for error, standing
+out so plainly that he wondered he had not seen it before.
+
+The writer also speaks of a rubber shoe being lost and promptly found
+after mention in prayer.
+
+These may seem little matters, but they are the privileges of the
+righteous to ask "anything" of "Him who careth for them."
+
+
+A BOY'S FAITH IN PRAYER
+
+
+In a letter to Dr. W.W. Patton, by Mr. T.I. Goodwin, M.D., of Staten
+Island, he describes a little incident which happened to him when only
+thirteen years old.
+
+"He lost a choice penknife while collecting and driving several cows
+from a pasture covered with grass two inches high. Having read
+Huntington's Book of Faith, he thought of prayer, and in childlike trust
+he knelt under a tree, outside the bars, and prayed for his lost
+treasure; for he was a farmer's boy, and his spending money amounted to
+only about fifty cents a year. 'I rose up, cast my eyes down on the
+ground, and without planning my course or making any estimate of
+probabilities, walked across the meadow centrally to near its farther
+edge, saw the penknife down in the grass directly before me, and picked
+it up all as readily as I could have done had any one stood there
+pointing to the exact place. _Had I gone ten feet to the right or left_
+I could not have seen the knife, for the grass was too high.'"
+
+
+A PRAYER FOR FIVE DOLLARS.
+
+
+One of the City Home missionaries in New York city received on a certain
+day five dollars with special directions that it be given to a certain
+poor minister in Amos street. In the evening the missionary called and
+gave him the money.
+
+For a moment the good man stood amazed and speechless. Then taking down
+a little journal he turned to the record made in his diary of that
+morning, and showed it to the missionary. "_Spent two and a half hours
+in earnest prayer for five dollars_."
+
+"And now here it is," said the man, with a heart overflowing with
+gratitude. "The Lord has sent it." Both giver and receiver had their
+faith strengthened by the incident.
+
+
+GO TO THE POST-OFFICE.
+
+
+A correspondent of "_The Guiding Hand_" relates this incident:
+
+"In the year 18--, having a brother living in the city of R., I went to
+see him. Going to the store where he had been at work, I found that the
+firm had suspended, and that he was thrown out of employment, and had
+broken up housekeeping, but could not ascertain where he was, only that
+he was boarding somewhere out in the suburbs of the city. I searched for
+him all day, but in vain.
+
+"It was _absolutely necessary_ that I should find _him_. What MORE to do
+I knew not, except to _pray_. Finally, I was impressed to write a line
+and drop it into the post-office, and I obeyed the impression, telling
+him, if he got it, to meet me at a stated place, the next morning, at
+ten o'clock. _I prayed earnestly_ that the Lord would cause him _to go
+to the post-office,_ so that he might get my letter. I felt full of
+peace, and at rest about the matter. The next morning, at ten o'clock, I
+went to the place appointed for him to meet me, _and he soon came in_."
+
+This incident might seem one of ordinary or chance occurrence, but for
+the following unusual circumstances:
+
+"As they were returning to their home, his brother said: 'There is
+something _very strange_ about my going to the post-office this
+morning--_I had my arrangements all made to go with a party, this
+morning early, to the bay, fishing; but, when I awoke, I had such an
+impression to go down to the post-office, that I had to forgo the
+pleasure of going to the bay, and went to the post-office and found your
+letter_.'
+
+"I replied, '_It was the Lord_ that impressed you in answer to my
+prayer, for I have prayed earnestly for the Lord to send you to the
+office this morning,' and, although but young in years and religion, I
+gave God the praise for his guidance and His grace."
+
+
+THE WIDOW'S TREE
+
+
+Not many years ago a violent storm, with wind and thunder, spread
+devastation all through the valley of Yellow Creek, Georgia. For a mile
+in width, trees were uprooted, barns and fences were prostrated, and all
+the lands were desolated.
+
+Right in the center of the tornado stood a small cabin. Its sole
+occupants were an aged widow and her only son. The terrible wind struck
+a large tree in front of her humble dwelling, twisting and dashing it
+about. If it fell it would lay her home in ruins. Desolation, death
+itself, might follow. The storm howled and raged. The great trees fell
+in all directions. When it seemed her tree must also fall and there was
+no remedy, she knelt in fervent supplication to Him who gathereth the
+wind in his fists, that he would spare that tree. Her prayer was heard.
+The tree was spared, and was the _only one_ left within a considerable
+distance of the widow's cabin.
+
+
+THE LORD PAID HIS INTEREST.
+
+
+A most curious answer to prayer occurred in the experience of a home
+missionary in Brooklyn. It illustrates how God, in his trials of faith
+to see if His people do really cling to the promises, compels them to
+march right into the scene of danger, and into the mouth of the cannon,
+that apparently is open specially to shoot them down.
+
+The interest on the mortgage of his property was due in a few days. Its
+amount was $300. He did not have the money--did not know where to obtain
+it. With anxious heart during the day, he kept up his faith and courage
+by thinking of the Lord's promises, and, the last night before the
+eventful day, was spent in prayer, until the assurance came that all was
+well. Often he pleaded, often he reminded the Lord that, as his life was
+_His_, to save him from reproach, and not let his trust in the Lord
+suffer dishonor before others.
+
+The last moment came--no money--no relief. With sinking heart he went to
+the holder of the mortgage to announce his utter inability to meet his
+demand. While there, just at the last moment, when he was about to
+leave, the gentleman said, "_By the way, here is an envelope I was told
+to give you."_
+
+The missionary opened it, _and out came six fifty dollar bills,_ just
+the _three hundred dollars prayed for_. The Lord met and delivered him
+in the very jaws of the enemy.
+
+
+WILL THE LORD DELIVER FROM BAD HABITS OF TOBACCO, RUM, LIQUOR,
+LICENTIOUSNESS, ETC., IN ANSWER TO PRAYER.
+
+
+This question having been asked by a clergyman of Brooklyn, Rev. S.H.
+Platt, he received a large number of communications, which evidently
+prove that the Lord is _willing_ and _does_, either _instantaneously_ or
+gradually in answer to prayer, deliver and take away wholly the bad
+_habits_ and _appetites_ of those who are willing to forsake their
+sinful ways and cleave only to Him. _The Lord's salvation cleanses and
+delivers the body as well as the soul_.
+
+We quote a few extracts from his correspondence, which is but a small
+portion out of many published in his volume, "_The Power of Grace_."
+
+
+CURED OF TOBACCO APPETITE.
+
+
+"A little more than a year has elapsed since I left off the use of
+tobacco. This further time has more fully developed the thoroughness of
+the case spoken of and the completeness of the victory over an evil
+habit. I am filled with wonder, for I expected a terrible fight with an
+appetite, strengthened by an indulgence of about thirty-five years, but
+the enemy has not shown his head. _Not only has the desire for smoking
+been effectually squelched_, but a perfect hatred of smoking has been
+developed on account of the offensiveness of the odor of tobacco. I
+frequently cross the street, or change my seat in a car to escape the
+puff of smoke, or the fetid breath of a smoker. 'Thanks be unto God who
+giveth us the victory.'"
+
+
+BAD HABITS WHOLLY OVERCOME.
+
+
+"A physician of extended practice was converted and reclaimed while I
+had charge of the place in which he lived. He had acquired the habit of
+using large quantities of whiskey and brandy, and withal more or less
+given to licentiousness. Since that time he has been steadily advancing
+in morals and moral power, till he now preaches the gospel as a local
+preacher, side by side with the best of the district."
+
+
+WAS IT INSTANTANEOUS?
+
+
+"Yes, as respects tobacco; he became convicted of its sinfulness by a
+voice saying, 'That is not the way to glorify God: stop, and stop now.'
+And from that moment he says he has never used it, neither does he in
+any way like the smell, or even the sight of tobacco."
+
+
+THE LORD DELIVERS FROM BODILY SINS.
+
+"I had used tobacco from my childhood, and the love and use thereof grew
+upon me. I became convicted of its sinfulness, went to God and said,
+'_Destroy the appetite, and give me power over it_. Save me that I may
+glorify thee as a God of power for our present sins, and I will glorify
+thee ever more.' I wrote out the contract and signed it, and from that
+blessed afternoon have no recollection of ever desiring it even."
+
+
+ANOTHER DELIVERANCE.
+
+
+"Tobacco was a great trouble to me; and I had tried a number of times to
+leave it off, but could not do so. One night as I was retiring to rest,
+I thought I would kneel by my bed and ask _Him_, who never refuses to
+answer prayer, to take from me the desire for tobacco, and from that
+moment it has been impossible for me to use it.
+
+
+NOT YOUR OWN STRENGTH CAN BREAK THE HABIT.
+
+
+"I smoked tobacco excessively for fifteen years, commencing when I was
+about twenty years old. I often strove to break off from the use of it;
+indeed I determined time and again to desist from it, sometimes
+abstaining for a few months or weeks, once for twelve months, _but the
+desire never left me_, and whenever I tasted it I was sure to take to it
+again. I sometimes vowed whilst upon my knees in prayer, to abstain from
+it and never touch it again, but I always attempted to do this in my own
+strength; hence I failed, being overcome by the almost irresistible
+influences it had upon my appetite, so long accustomed to the use.
+
+"One Sunday morning, I retired to a secluded place, got down upon my
+knees, and asked the Lord to help me quit it, determining then and there
+that I would, God being my helper, never touch the accursed thing again
+by any kind of use in the way of consumption, and from that day to this,
+I have never had any desire to smoke or chew tobacco, or to use it in
+any way; I lifted my heart to God, imploring his assistance in
+abstaining from it. I have now been clear of the desire of it for nearly
+twenty-three years."
+
+
+A DOUBLE CURE.
+
+
+"At the age of twelve years I commenced to use tobacco, and continued to
+use it, both smoking and chewing, till five years ago, when in answer to
+prayer the appetite was instantly removed.
+
+"The circumstances were as follows: I had tried many ways to leave off
+the use of tobacco, but the appetite was so strong that I could not
+withstand it. At one time I left it off for a month, but not a day
+passed but I craved it, and when I did begin again it tasted as good as
+ever. I found that tobacco was injuring my health. My nervous system was
+much deranged.
+
+"For more than a year before I left it off there was scarcely a night
+but I lay for two or three hours, before I could go to sleep. I resolved
+a great many times I would leave off, but always failed. I had also
+acquired the habit of drinking, and became a confirmed drunkard.
+
+"I knew the habits were killing me, but I was powerless to stop. One
+evening a prayer-meeting was appointed at my house. The minister in his
+remarks spoke about habits, and said that religion would cure all bad
+habits, such as tobacco, &c., and that by prayer God would remove all
+evil appetites.
+
+"I thought but little about it that night; was very careless and
+trifling about it. The next morning I took out my tobacco to take a
+chew, and thought of what the minister had said the night before. It was
+a new idea to me. I put the tobacco in my pocket again, and said, '_I'll
+try it_.'
+
+"_I was alone in my barn; I kneeled down and asked God to remove the
+appetite from me. It was done. I was cured_. I felt it. I knew it then.
+I have never had a desire for it since. There has been no hankering for
+it or for strong drink since. My sins were all forgiven, and I was made
+a new man all over, inside and outside.
+
+"When I go into company where they are smoking, I have no desire for it
+at all, neither have I for drinking, any more than if I had never had
+those habits. _My nervous difficulty was also instantly cured_. No more
+trouble about sleeping, and I know that Jesus can heal and remove and
+destroy all evil habits."
+
+
+A SPECIAL WORD TO ALL SEEKING TO ESCAPE EVIL WAYS.
+
+
+Should these words meet the eye of any one so troubled over any evil way
+or bad habit from whose bondage he would gladly escape, let me say to
+you these words of good cheer: "_The Lord can save you, the Lord can
+deliver you, the Lord can wholly heal you. He can take away your
+appetite and cleanse you thoroughly_. He has done it for many others. He
+can do it for you. Realize that your own strength can not do it. Forget
+not that it is only in answer to your own prayer. Those who want this
+good gift must _pray for it_. Deliverance may be instantaneous or
+gradual, but do not cease your prayer. Seek in the Bible for those
+promises which show that he can _deliver from all evil_, and plead them
+and then trust in Him and his strength to fulfill them.
+
+"Forget not also to ask others to pray for you, and remember that the
+answer is sure to come if you add to your prayer these true thoughts of
+your heart, '_Deliver me and I give myself to thee forever_.'
+
+"If you expect so great a gift from the Lord, he asks of you, '_What are
+you willing to do for me_?'"
+
+
+HELP AT THE VERY LAST MOMENT. FAITH REWARDED.
+
+
+A clergyman in the State of New York, through the influence of a
+disaffected member, was unfairly and precipitately deprived of his
+pulpit, which involved a large family in necessity. At supper the good
+man had the pain of beholding the last morsel of bread placed upon the
+table without the least means or prospect of a supply for his children's
+breakfast. His wife, full of grief with her children, retired to her
+bed. The minister chose to sit up and employ his dark hours in prayer,
+and reading the promises of God. Some secret hope of supply pervaded his
+breast, but when, whence, or by whom, he knew not. He retired to rest,
+and in the morning appeared with his family, and offered family prayer.
+It being the depth of Winter, and a little fire on the hearth, he
+desired his wife to hang on the kettle, and spread the cloth upon the
+table. The kettle boiled, the children cried for bread; the afflicted
+father, standing before the fire, felt those deep emotions of heart over
+his helplessness and impending starvation which those reared in
+affluence never know.
+
+While in this painful state some one knocked at the door, entered, and
+delivered a letter into the minister's hand. When the gentleman was gone
+the letter was opened, and to the minister's astonishment it contained a
+few bank bills, with a desire for acceptance. So manifest an answer to
+prayer from Divine Goodness could not but be received with gratitude and
+joy, and fulfills to the very letter these promises: "Verily thou shalt
+be fed." Psalm 37:3. "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." Heb.
+13:5.
+
+To ascertain how this occurrence came to take place, this remarkable
+coincidence of relief at the identical moment of time when there was the
+last appeal to God, the incident was communicated to the editor of a
+religious journal. Having an intimacy with the gentleman said to be the
+one whose hand had offered the seasonable relief, he determined the next
+time he made him a visit to introduce the subject, and, if possible, to
+know the reason that induced the generous action. The story was told
+with a modest blush which evinced the tenderness of his heart. On
+interrogation, he said "he had frequently heard that minister. On a
+certain morning he was disposed for a walk; thought in the severity of
+the winter season a trifle might be of service, as fuel was high; felt a
+kind of necessity to enclose the money in a letter; went to the house,
+found the family, delivered the paper and retired, but knew not the
+extreme necessity of the minister and his family, either at that time
+nor till this very moment when his friend introduced the subject. Thus
+it is seen none but God knew the want or moved the hand that gave the
+supply, and brought them to meet at the right time.
+
+
+SPINAL DISEASE CURED.
+
+
+"There was a little girl in this place that had the
+cerebro-spinal-meningitis; several had died with this disease, and the
+physician had given her up to die. The weekly prayer-meeting met in town
+that night, and her parents wrote a note and sent it by their little
+son, requesting prayer that their little daughter might live and not
+die, signed with the names of both parents. From that time she began to
+recover, and to-day she is a bright little girl, with full use of every
+faculty, and not deformed as most persons are from this terrible
+disease. I cannot view it in any other light than a direct answer to
+prayer."
+
+
+AN OLD MAN'S PRAYER.
+
+
+"I feel also like mentioning another instance. I knew an old father in
+Israel, a minister of the gospel, who once in speaking with a brother
+minister, after a revival of religion in which five of his grandchildren
+had professed their faith in Christ, among others with whom he had
+labored; said if he could only live to see his one remaining
+granddaughter brought into the fold, and the two Presbyterian churches,
+then, called the Old and New school, united, he could say, like Simeon
+of old, 'Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine
+eyes have seen thy salvation.' About three years after, the two
+Presbyteries met near this place in Germantown, Mo., and he seemed as if
+he could not contain himself till the time came for the meeting, so
+anxious was he for this great desire of his heart to be fulfilled. On
+the day of meeting he took sick and could not be present at any of the
+sessions, but many of his brethren were with him, among whom was this
+one he had been conversing with. The sessions lasted three days, and
+upon the last evening his wishes were gratified, the two Presbyteries
+merged into one, singing 'Blest be the tie that binds;' and his youngest
+granddaughter united with the church, and after the meeting adjourned
+this brother came to watch with the aged servant of God. He was
+permitted to convey the glad news to him, and see a heavenly smile light
+up his countenance as he passed away with his earnest prayer gratified."
+
+
+THE MYSTERIOUS LEADINGS OF PROVIDENCE.
+
+
+The following incidents are contributed to the book by a prominent
+clergyman:
+
+"A period, ever memorable in the life of the writer, occurred in the
+Autumn of 1832, while attending a protracted meeting of more than
+ordinary interest and power, held under the auspices of the Baptist
+church in the city of Schenectady, under the then pastoral charge of
+Rev. Abraham D. Gillette, this being his first settlement. It was in one
+of the meetings that the Holy Spirit impressed my mind of its sinfulness
+and the need of a Savior, not only to cleanse my soul of sin and sinful
+stains, but to save me. These impressions caused me to humble myself at
+the feet of sovereign mercy; and in the midst of my pleadings, God
+answered my prayer, and opened to me new views, views of the heavenly
+kingdom, which so electrified my soul, that with a full heart I could
+say, 'Blessed be the Lord who has shown me marvelous works in this
+lonely place beneath the star-lit sky.'
+
+"This great change was, and is, to me the most wonderful interposition
+of God in my behalf in answer to prayer. This answer to prayer the
+promised result of faith in Him."
+
+"Again, in the year 1836, the writer in the year mentioned was employed
+by a transportation company, in the city of Troy, in the character of an
+employee having direction of a portion of the business of the company
+which brought me into close relation with the many boatmen connected
+with the company. Association with the boatmen was painful to my
+religious nature, compelled, as I was, to hear all manner of offensive
+talk. The latter led me to indulge a wish that I might free myself from
+such company, in order to form associations with persons of my own
+religious turn of mind. But God willed otherwise, as will be learned
+from the recital of God's dealings with me on an occasion of a journey
+alone in a carriage from Troy to Schenectady. It was on the occasion
+alluded to that most of the time was occupied in prayer, and the burden
+of my prayer was 'that God would open up a way for me wherein I could
+find more congenial company, where in fact my religious feelings would
+not meet with the trials incident to my present associations.' But He
+who knew my needs better, came to my relief in words seemingly distinct
+enough to be heard. This was the answer: 'I have placed you just where I
+want you.' Instantly my prayer for a change of location or separation
+from my business and its connections ceased, and since, instead of
+looking for easy positions, wherein the principles of the faith which is
+in me may be undisturbed, I deem it suited to my growth in grace and
+increase in devotion to my Master's cause, to covet the association of
+men whose only tendency is to evil continually. I have found by
+experience in the latter direction, that although many tongues are loose
+in the habit of profanity, I am roused more and more by grace to impart
+words of counsel. I know that efforts at consistency in Christian
+conduct and converse will stop the mouth of profaners of the name of our
+Redeemer, God."
+
+Another instance of the presence of God with his children is clearly
+manifest in the following sketch of a meeting of two brethren, of whom
+the writer was one, held in the conference room of the First Baptist
+church in Troy, N.Y., of which church he was a member. The meeting
+alluded to occurred in the early spring of 1840 or '41. We were
+accustomed to meet almost every day for the purpose of arranging the
+Sunday school library, but would occupy a portion of the time, usually
+at noon, in prayer for such persons or objects as were presented to the
+mind. On the particular occasion we propose to mention, it was mutually
+agreed that we pray for one of the brethren, whose gifts were of a high
+order, and his usefulness hindered by a lack of spirituality. We
+mutually bowed in prayer for this brother, and while thus engaged the
+door of the room was opened, and a person entered and knelt between us,
+but who he was, or the purpose of his visit we knew not until we had
+ended our prayer, at which time the person spoke and requested us to
+continue praying for him.
+
+At the conclusion of the service, the question was mooted how he came
+there. His reply was in substance as follows: "When standing on a stoop
+on the corner of Fourth and Congress streets, cogitating which way I
+should go, I was impressed by a voice within which directed my course to
+the Conference Room. I debated with the impression, taking the position
+that it being noon no meeting was then in progress. Still the impression
+remained, and could not be removed. Noticing this, I gave way to the
+voice and here I am." Neither of the three thus brought together could
+doubt for a moment that our prayer for this brother was answered. His
+joy was great in view of being thus called from his delinquency to share
+in the fullness of his Savior's love.
+
+"Another instance in the experience of the writer very clearly shows the
+power and worth of prayer. About the year 1840, in the Autumn thereof,
+he experienced a lack of vital, spiritual energy. This had been of
+months' continuance, but to his joy, culminated after retiring to rest.
+After this manner, before sleep overcame him, he was impressed to
+present his case before the mercy-seat. To do so he arose from his bed,
+retired to a quiet part of his home and bowed in prayer, seeking to
+occupy the entire night if need be in prayer for the bestowal of the
+Holy Spirit, and the consequent revival influences of other days. This
+season of prayer was of short continuance; but not by reason of
+disrelish for the exercise, but because my prayer was answered and a
+complete breaking away of the previous hindrances to my spiritual
+enjoyment. Since the event alluded to, now more than thirty-six years, I
+have not been afflicted by doubts, and counsel brethren and sisters not
+to allow themselves to be made unhappy by this evil to our spiritual
+progress."
+
+
+LIFE SPARED FOR TWO WEEKS.
+
+
+"On the 8th of January, last, I was called upon to visit a dying man in
+Jersey City, whom the doctors had said could not live but a few hours. I
+found him in severe bodily sufferings and a terrible agony of mind. He
+had lived a moral and upright life in the eyes of the world, but
+careless and neglectful of all religious duties, and now with eternity
+before him he felt his life a failure and his imperative need of help.
+
+"In his agony he would cry out, 'Lord, help me,' and perhaps the next
+moment blaspheme the name of God. I sought to show him his great sin in
+having so long neglected God and his salvation, and at the same time
+assured him that Jesus was a great Savior, 'able to save to the
+uttermost all who would come unto Him.' I went from his bedside to the
+union prayer-meeting, held in our city during the week of prayer, where
+I presented his case and asked the brethren to pray that God would save
+this poor man even at the eleventh hour, and spare him to give good
+evidence of his conversion. His case seemed to reach the hearts of all
+present, and most earnest prayers were offered in his behalf; so strong
+was the faith that many came to me at the close of the meeting and said
+that young man will certainly be saved before he is taken from this
+world.
+
+"In answer to prayer he was spared nearly two weeks, and for some six or
+seven days before his death, gave much clearer evidence of being truly
+converted than could have been expected of one in his condition."
+
+
+A MISSIONARY'S EXPERIENCE IN MEXICO.
+
+
+"While laboring with my wife as a missionary in Northern Mexico, we
+supported ourselves for nearly four years by teaching and such other
+ways as the Lord opened up to us.
+
+"But our schools being decidedly Protestant, and I preaching regularly,
+the opposition from Romanists was very strong; this, together with the
+extreme poverty of the people, made our income very small. Frequently
+the opposition would rise to that pitch that only the children of the
+poorest would be permitted to come, but we never turned these away,
+though they could pay no tuition, trusting that God would provide for us
+in some other way.
+
+"Early in the year 1869, we were much exercised to know the will of the
+Lord concerning us, whether he would have us continue or not. We brought
+our case before the Lord and prayed him to make known his will and
+provide for our necessary wants. In about three weeks we received a
+check for eighty dollars, sent us, as we felt, truly by the Lord in
+answer to our prayer through a friend in New York, who knew nothing of
+our circumstances or prayer.
+
+"In August the same year, our condition became such that it seemed as if
+in a few days we would be wholly without the necessaries of life. We
+laid our case before the Lord, and as he did not appear to open up any
+way for us to leave the field, we went forward with our work as
+faithfully as we knew how, believing that the Lord would provide in his
+own time and way, when one evening, just after family worship, a rap
+came to the door. I opened it, there came in quite a company of persons,
+all bearing something, and just exactly the things we needed most, and
+to the amount of over fifty dollars' worth, and about a sixth of it was,
+as we learned, given by Romanists who had opposed us very strongly all
+the time we had been there. Truly the Lord answers prayer and turns the
+hearts of men to do his will."
+
+
+THE GREATEST OF PHYSICIANS.
+
+
+Miss X. of Brooklyn, had suffered long and severely from a distressing
+tumor. One physician after another had plied his skill, but to no
+purpose; even the celebrated Doctor Simms of New York, corroborated
+their verdict, that there was no help for her but in the knife. She
+finally consented to that terrific method, but was in no condition of
+strength to bear the operation. It was decided to postpone it till the
+22d of June. Twelve doctors were invited to be present. Meanwhile a diet
+nurse sent from New York, remained with her, to prepare her system for
+the ordeal.
+
+Three days preceding the one appointed for the operation, she was
+attacked by severe nausea, which lasted two days, and so weakened her
+that again the doctors were all notified by the attending one, that a
+further postponement was imperative, and a certain date fixed in
+November.
+
+All this time her own prayers were unceasing, those of her friends added
+to her own; and many a remembrance in the Fulton Street meeting, cheered
+and encouraged her.
+
+_By November, the tumor had totally disappeared!_ That was two years
+ago. She is still well, strong; able to walk three miles any time.
+
+She is as certain that the whole cure was performed by the Lord in
+answer to all those fervent prayers, as she is certain she lives and
+moves.
+
+
+HOW THE LORD PAID BACK THE $5.
+
+
+Mr. H., missionary, was appealed to by a poor man who seemed almost
+distracted. He had a wife and five children; one of them ill; had been
+sick himself for three months, and owed rent for the whole of that time.
+The landlord had served him with a writ of ejectment, and he could get
+no other tenement, unless he could pay five dollars on the rent. He had
+applied to a well-known society in Brooklyn; but they were entirely out
+of funds and gave him a note to the missionary, hoping he might have or
+find the desired help. But missionaries' pockets are more often
+depleted, than those of benevolent organizations, and the one in
+question was fain to take the applicant to a friend, whom we shall call
+Q.
+
+The poor man told his story, asked the five dollars only as a loan, and,
+having an order for the painting of two signs, said he should be paid
+for them when done, and could return the loan the next Saturday, one
+week from that time.
+
+Mr. Q. saw, at once, that the utter destitution of the family, and the
+need of _everything_, would prevent the man returning the money, however
+much he might wish to, and so refused to lend it. The case was urged,
+but without avail; and the missionary sent the man away, promising to
+see him again that night or on Monday. After his departure, the
+following conversation passed between the gentlemen:
+
+Q.--"Now, H., I don't take any stock in that man. Can you not see that
+his paying that money back, is a simple impossibility?"
+
+H.--"Well, perhaps so; but the question with me in such cases, is this:
+What is duty? Admit that he cannot pay it, or even that he will not try;
+is it not better to relieve his desperate need, than to have him perhaps
+turn criminal and prey upon society? He _must_ leave the house he is in;
+he _cannot_ get another without the money, and he is desperate; feels
+that five dollars he must have, by fair means or foul. Moreover, think
+of his wife and children, leaving him out of the question. Now let us
+open this little Bible, and see what meets our eye first."
+
+Q.--"Oh, pshaw! You know I do not believe in that kind of thing! Do you
+go to the Bible for everything?"
+
+H.--"Why not? Can we have any better guide?"
+
+Q.--"Oh! well, I don't work that way. Now about that man and his money.
+I will toss up a penny with you, whether I lend or not."
+
+H.--"No you won't! You know I don't believe in chance, but in the Lord.
+And would you sooner rest your decision on a gambler's test, than on
+God's promise? Now just let us open the book."
+
+Q.--"Well; what do you see?"
+
+H.--"'The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again; but the righteous
+sheweth mercy, and lendeth.'" 37th Psalm, 21st verse.
+
+As there was no hunting up of passages, nor leaves turned down to open
+easily, the coincidence was impressive, as well as amusing, and H.,
+following it up, said, "Lend him the money, and if he does not pay you
+next Saturday night, I will."
+
+It was so agreed upon, and, when the man called on the missionary on
+Monday morning, he was sent to Q. for the relief.
+
+The week passed on, as they all pass, weighted and freighted with human
+ills; some capable of alleviation, some not; but of the former, a full
+share had come under the notice and care of the missionary, and Saturday
+found him stepping into the Fulton street prayer-meeting, N.Y., for
+fresh encouragement and benediction on his labors.
+
+At its close, a gentleman said to him, "Mr. H., I have known you by
+sight for years; know your work; but have never given you anything; and
+I promised myself the next time I saw you, I would do so. Have you any
+special need of five dollars now? If so, and you will step to the bank
+with me, you shall have it." Instantly it flashed through the mind of H.
+that this was the day when, either the borrower or he, must pay his
+friend. It may be supposed that he went to the bank with alacrity. Going
+back to B. and meeting the friend, he learned that neither man nor money
+had appeared, and at once tendered the five dollars, telling the story
+of the Lord's care in the matter.
+
+Q. was so interested in this manner of obtaining supplies, that he
+refused to take the money, and instructed H. to use it in the Lord's
+work.
+
+
+PRAYING FOR MONEY FOR A JOURNEY.
+
+
+A lady, Miss E., residing in New Bedford, received a letter telling of
+the serious illness of her mother, in New York. Sick herself, from
+unremitted care of an invalid during eight years, poor as Elijah when
+his only grocers were the ravens, too old for new ambitions, too well
+acquainted with the gray mists of life to hope for many rifts through
+which the sunshine might enter, she had no sum of money at all
+approaching the cost of the trip between the two places.
+
+"He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou
+trust," is a text bound over her daily life, as a phylactery was bound
+between the eyes of an ancient Hebrew. She lives literally, _only one
+day at a time_, and walks literally by faith and not by sight. So then
+as ever, the Lord was her committee of ways and means; but for three
+days the answer was delayed. Then, an old lady called to express her
+indebtedness for Miss E.'s services three years before, and ask her
+acceptance of ten dollars therefor, "no sort of equivalent for days and
+days of writing and searching law papers, but only a little token that
+the service was not forgotten."
+
+There was the answer to her prayer; there the redemption of the pledge:
+"As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about
+his people from henceforth, even forever."
+
+
+EMPLOYMENT FOUND.
+
+
+A man and wife were out of employment, and in very great trouble. Mr. H.
+(missionary) had added his efforts to theirs, and sedulously sought
+among the families he knew, for positions for them. After two weeks'
+fruitless endeavor, he said to the man, "Well, John, let us go into the
+Fulton street meeting and leave it with the Lord." They did so; the
+request was read and remembered.
+
+The very next day, Mr. H. received a note from one of the families to
+whom he had already applied, and without success, requesting him to send
+the man and wife of whom he had spoken. Very joyfully he did so, and
+they were both engaged! Mr. H. considered it a very marked answer to
+prayer, inasmuch as it was quite difficult to find a family who wanted a
+man as well as woman servant; and that particular family was, of all
+others, the least likely to make such an arrangement!
+
+
+A BARREL OF FLOUR.
+
+
+For the "Faith Home for Incurables" Mr. H. received, one day, five
+dollars. A barrel of flour was terribly needed. He went to a large house
+in New York, hoping the Lord would incline the proprietor to sell him a
+barrel for that sum. He felt too poor, was not willing; and with a heavy
+heart, Mr. H. returned, asking the Lord what next he should do. He
+called at the store of a friend, where the following conversation took
+place. "Well, did you get the flour?" "I did not; they feel too poor,
+and I am terribly disappointed. It is almost dark now; I have lost my
+time going over there, and at this hour, the flour merchants here are
+closed." "Well, Mr. ---- called here, and I told him you were in, and on
+what errand you had gone to New York. He said he would send a barrel to
+my store if I would send it up to the Home; and I did so, about an hour
+ago."
+
+
+WONDERFUL WAYS OF THE LORD IN GUIDING HIS PEOPLE.
+
+
+Our missionaries move amidst the reality of scenes which religious
+fiction vainly strives to equal. Remarkable proofs of genuine and vivid
+piety, triumphs of patience and grace, lifting their possessors above
+the most painful and distressing circumstances, are met with in all
+their explorations, and more than repay them for toil or privation.
+
+
+WONDERFUL CONVERSION OF A ROMAN CATHOLIC.
+
+
+A frame dwelling in an alley, two rooms on the first floor, in the
+smaller one a bed-ridden old colored man, who had fought the battle of
+life for ninety years, fifteen of them on his bed, with eyes so dimmed
+by age that he could not even read; and a wife who was eye, ear and
+solace to him, are the salient points of our first picture.
+
+They were both earnest, exultant Christians, around whom the angels of
+God encamped day and night. The wife was brought up in the West Indies,
+as a Catholic, but her ideas of religion consisted mostly in counting
+beads on a rosary. After coming to Brooklyn, she became a servant in the
+family of a well-known naval officer, and was always a favorite on
+account of her vivacity. One day, a young painter who was working there,
+and proved to be one of the Christians whose light shines for all in the
+house, spoke to her, and invited her to a prayer-meeting in a Protestant
+chapel. She refused, laughing; but the painter's assurance next day,
+that she had been prayed for in that meeting, made her restless, uneasy
+and sick. In a few days, she was confined to her bed and pronounced by
+some doctors, a victim to consumption. One, more sagacious than the
+rest, said her trouble was of the mind, not the body, and a minister
+would be better than a doctor.
+
+It proved to be the case; she was soon led into a glimmering hope,
+though feeling that she literally carried a burden on her back. Starting
+out, one night, to look for a place of worship, she turned her feet to a
+Methodist meeting from whence the sound of singing had reached her. In
+the prayer and exhortation, however, there were words which revealed to
+her the secret of faith and salvation. She felt the burden loosen and
+fall from her shoulders, so sensibly, that involuntarily, she turned and
+looked for it on the floor. In a few moments she began to realize the
+freedom she had gained, and started to her feet in joy and wonder.
+
+Her work then began in her own home, and through her prayers of faith,
+five members of the Commodore's own family and an Irish Catholic servant
+girl, were brought to "Christ, the living way." For years her faith was
+proved by her works; her daily example in the household, her watchings
+and waitings by the bedside of her helpless husband--poverty, sickness,
+perplexities of every sort, but made her hope the brighter, her hold the
+firmer. With no dependence for their daily bread but the benefactions of
+one and another person, sometimes entire strangers, they never knew what
+it was to suffer actual want, nor did Frances ever believe that her
+friend would forget her.
+
+
+REMARKABLE PRESERVATION OF LIFE FROM LIGHTNING IN ANSWER TO PRAYER.
+
+
+I was riding on top of the Boulder Pass of the Rocky Mountains, in the
+summer of 1876, when a sudden storm of rain, wind, and furious tempest
+came up. There was no shelter from rocks, no trees or buildings to be
+seen--a lonely, wind-swept summit. I knew that the lightning on those
+high elevations was fearful in intensity. I was appalled at the prospect
+before me, but feeling that God had promised to care for his children--
+"No evil shall befall thee or come nigh thy dwelling"--I composed
+myself, and though on horseback, with the rain beating in torrents, I
+offered simple prayer to God that he would save me from the rain and
+stop it. But _No_, it came harder than ever; then I prayed that I might
+be protected from all danger, "_for I trusted in Him_!"
+
+I rode on and on for miles, chilly, cold, wet through, the clouds
+hanging low and the lightning flashing above me, around me, striking
+near me, constant flashes, peals of thunder; but I was not terrified.
+"God must keep me." _Twice I was distinctly struck_ with the electric
+flash, detached portions or sparks from the electric cloud, directly in
+the center of the forehead, but it had no more force than just to close
+my eyes, shake my head a little, obscure my sight a moment, and then it
+was all over, and I was clearer, cooler, calmer, happier, and more
+self-possessed than ever before. I attribute my protection from peril
+entirely to prayer, and the fierceness of the tempest and the proximity
+of danger were permitted by the Lord to try my trust. Those portions
+which struck me, if in ordinary times had been given me from an electric
+battery in a school-room, a shock with sparks only one-hundredth the
+size, would have killed me.
+
+I can thus say with thanks, faith was then made perfect in danger, and
+the Lord _was faithful_ in hearing his child's cry, and delivered him.
+
+
+GOD NEVER FAILED HER.
+
+
+An aged colored woman, lived that life of faith which shines brighter
+and brighter unto the perfect day. Born a slave, on Long Island, she was
+never taught to read, never enjoyed any social privileges; but the God
+of the widow of Sarepta, who had neither "store-house nor barn," was her
+God, and brought her out of the house of spiritual bondage.
+
+She outlived all her early associations; all her children and
+grandchildren, husband and brother passed on before, leaving her alone
+in poverty and sickness. Yet she sat in her little hut, a cheerful,
+happy Christian; a living witness for God as a covenant-keeper.
+Doubting, despondent souls were always glad to visit her, to listen to
+her simple words of wisdom and gather strength from her invincible
+trust. Roman Catholic neighbors persecuted and even threatened her; but
+in reply to a missionary who remarked that it must be very trying and
+somewhat dangerous, she said, "Don't you know the Lord has a hook in the
+jaws of the wicked, so they shan't hurt us if we belong to him? Jesus is
+always with me; so I'm never alone and never afraid."
+
+
+HIS MOTHER'S PRAYER.
+
+
+A poor sailor, leading a most profligate and abandoned life, whose
+praying mother followed him like a shadow into and out of his drinking
+saloons and gambling houses, at last absented himself from home,
+whenever he was in port. Her burden, finally, seemed too great to bear,
+and she resolved to make a stronger effort than ever before, to cast it
+upon the Lord. As she knelt, with her heart well-nigh bursting with this
+desire, she felt a powerful conviction that, at last, she was answered.
+For several years the son went on in his wicked career, and the mother
+sorrowed that it was so, but her soul was no longer laden with fear; she
+felt the assurance of his conversion, sooner or later. Again, for
+several years, she never heard of him, and thought him dead; then she
+ceased praying for him, and was steadfast in the faith of meeting him in
+heaven. But sight was to be given her, as a reward for faith. He
+returned, at last, only thirty years of age, but broken down in health,
+and worn out by dissipation and hardship. Still unconverted, but, to
+satisfy his mother, he consented to remain in the room during a visit of
+the missionary of that district; a man with sufficient tact not to make
+his efforts obnoxious. He did not tell the young man he was a sinner and
+must flee from the wrath to come; he merely presented the _love_ of
+Jesus; the love that saved to the very _uttermost_; that waited more
+patiently than any earthly friend, and forgave more royally. At first,
+he listened indifferently, but, at last, burst into tears, saying, "I
+thought I was so bad He didn't want anything to do with me." A long
+conversation, and others at intervals followed, and, before his death,
+which occurred several months after, his mother's heart was gladdened by
+the account of his change, and the knowledge that, in farthest lands,
+his thoughts were back with her. The deeper he went in sin, the more
+unsatisfactory and abhorrent it became, and he would have turned, long
+before, to the Lord, had he believed there was the least hope for him.
+When he closed his eyes to earth, a few friends enabled his mother to
+give him respectable burial, in the same grave where, years before, his
+father was laid.
+
+
+THE HEART OF STONE RELENTS.
+
+
+Another consumptive in the neighborhood, was thoroughly an infidel. Mr.
+A. visited the house three times a week, and, at last, succeeded in
+overcoming his objections to a weekly prayer-meeting in his house. In
+his hearing, earnest supplication was always made for him, and, at the
+end of four months, the heart of stone relented. He had not, at first,
+the courage to appropriate the promises to himself; but one morning very
+early he sent for the missionary to reveal the news that he felt all his
+sins forgiven, and had "Christ _in_ him, the hope of glory." four months
+more he lived to hear witness continually to God's amazing mercy, and
+then joyfully expired, declaring himself saved by grace alone.
+
+
+A DISCOURAGED ONE REVIVED.
+
+
+Mr. C----, walking home one Saturday afternoon, fell into a discouraged
+train of thought because he appeared to have done so little for the
+Master that whole week. At that moment a young man took him by the hand
+saying--"You do not know me, but I know you. A few weeks ago I was on
+the high road to destruction, but now through your instrumentality I am
+in the narrow path which leads to everlasting life. I attended your
+prayer-meeting one evening in company with a friend of mine. You spoke
+with great earnestness, and after we sang the last hymn you remarked,
+'How can I bless whom God has cursed? For he declares, If any man love
+not the Lord, he shall be accursed.' I cannot describe my sensations.
+For several days I could find no peace, but when at last my faith rested
+on Jesus, I found that peace which flows like a river; and now, like
+Moses, I have chosen rather to suffer affliction with the children of
+God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin, for I know if I have to face any
+trouble on account of my religion, I can look forward to a glorious
+reward."
+
+
+THE PRISONER LOOSED.
+
+
+On the third floor of a tenement house, a missionary, Mr. B., found a
+comely, intelligent young English woman in great distress. Her heart
+seemed wrung by grief. A few kind words of sympathy drew from her the
+story of her woe. She came to this country with her husband and three
+young children. He was employed as book-keeper in a large mercantile
+house; but soon became addicted to drink, and the story is ever the
+same; loss of position, poverty, disgrace, suffering and recklessness.
+On the day of the missionary's visit, he was in a prison cell, committed
+as a vagrant and common drunkard. The wife was bitterly weeping in her
+cheerless home, and the children around her fretting with hunger. Mr. B.
+was so touched he could scarcely find words with which to console her,
+but turned to Isaiah and read, "For thy maker is thy husband; the Lord
+of Hosts is his name." "For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but
+with great mercies will I gather thee." After his prayer, she felt
+calmer, and entreated him to come the next week, on the day her husband
+would be released. He complied; found a prepossessing and cultivated
+man; and upon telling him how earnestly his wife and himself had prayed
+for him, was rejoiced to learn that in that lonesome cell the Spirit of
+God had visited him, filled him with a sincere wish to reform the future
+and redeem the past. The missionary called again and again, and
+witnessed the strong determination of the young man to fight against his
+pernicious habit. He was soon employed again in a large house, became a
+regular attendant at the Lord's house, and began to pray both publicly
+and privately for help from on high. Only a few months, and both husband
+and wife united with a church and became teachers in the Sabbath school.
+Their own home, once laid waste, again blossomed like the rose.
+
+
+PRAYING FOR TEA.
+
+
+On a top floor in a street of tenements lives a colored woman one
+hundred and ten years old! Her son, a man over seventy, lost his wife, a
+neat, active Christian woman, very suddenly, and his aged mother was
+plunged in despairing grief. "Why, why was I left, old and rheumatic and
+useless, and Mary, a smart, busy, capable woman taken away without a
+minute's warning?" was her continual cry. But the son was left desolate,
+and the two rooms were to be kept clean, the meals provided before he
+left for his work in the morning, and after his work at night; there was
+no one else to do it, and love for him called out new effort. With cane
+in one hand she treads the rooms back and forth, performing the
+household duties. Eyes undimmed, faculties unimpaired, she _does what
+she can_. Upon receiving a call a few months after the death of her
+daughter-in-law, she said--"You've brought me a whole pound of that nice
+tea! Well, honey, _I asked the Lord for some good tea last night, and I
+knowed well enough it would be along some time to-day, cos He never
+keeps me waiting long_. I found out why he took Mary instead of me; old
+as I was, I wasn't half so fit to go, and he was so full of mercy he let
+me stay long enough to see it! You know, honey, I've got no one to talk
+over old times with. There ain't none of 'em left that I was young with,
+and not many I was old with; but I'm never lonesome, for I'm too busy
+thinking of all the Lord's watching and waiting for me. I'm dreadful
+little use, but my son couldn't get along very well without me, and then
+I tell you I'm so busy thinking, I ain't got any time to be lazy or
+lonesome. Good many little things we want, too, and I have to be runnin'
+to the Lord for 'em."
+
+"Do they come every time, auntie?", "Every single time, honey! He never
+fails, no matter who else does. He knows I don't ask for no nonsense;
+only for the things we really need, and he has promised them all the
+time." "But, are there not times, auntie, for instance, when your son is
+sick, when you cannot see where rent and food is coming from?" "Don't
+want to see, honey! What's the use seein'? Believin's the thing!
+Believin's better than money." And so, all the revolving months, this
+relic of the last century walks by faith in the unseen.
+
+
+GIVING HER LAST DOLLAR TO THE LORD.
+
+
+A poor woman, sitting in a little church, heard the minister make an
+urgent appeal for money enough to pay a debt of two hundred dollars,
+contracted by the church the previous Winter. She had one dollar in her
+pocket; half drew it out; thought of the improbability of having any
+more for several days; put it back. Thought again, "Trust in the Lord
+for more;" drew it wholly out, and deposited it in the basket. The next
+morning, a lady called to settle a bill of two dollars, so long unpaid
+that it was, long before, set down among the losses.
+
+
+THE DANISH GIRL'S BLESSING.
+
+
+A very poor Danish girl, broken down in health, utterly unable longer to
+labor for her own support, was provided with the means, and urged to go
+to Denmark, as her friend felt sure there was some good in store for her
+there, meaning, more definitely, the restoration of her health. She
+could not be induced until, thoroughly satisfied by several tokens that
+it was the Lord's will, and then she consented.
+
+A devout, humble Christian missionary became acquainted with her soon
+after her arrival, and, being struck with the beauty of holiness in
+every action and conversation of her life, asked her to marry him, that
+he might have the constant satisfaction of rendering her life
+comfortable, and finding his own encouragement in her unfailing faith.
+His letters are full of his saintly wife, and her signally blessed
+efforts in winning people to put their trust where it need fear no
+betrayal.
+
+
+THE SWEDISH GIRL BLESSED.
+
+
+A Christian Swedish girl, who had, for three years, done the washing of
+a certain family, had so interested them by her care of an aged father,
+and gained their esteem by her humble piety, that, wishing to go to
+Europe for six months, they offered her two rooms in their house for
+that time, that she might not only save the labor necessary to pay her
+rent, but, also, take charge of their effects. The offer was gladly
+accepted, and recognized as a token especially from the Lord.
+
+In times when the father was yet able to work a little, they had
+economized to a degree that resulted in saving twenty dollars. It was
+laid by for three months' rent, when he should be no longer able to earn
+it. That time had come; as yet the money had not been touched; but Satan
+sent a wicked woman to hire the next room, and, while the father was
+asleep, and his poor daughter at church, she stole it. Their grief was
+great, but they reminded the Lord how hardly it was earned, and how
+faithful lie had always been to His promises. It can be easily
+understood with what emphasis this unexpected offer came to them.
+
+
+SAVED FROM DROWNING.
+
+
+A poor German woman rushed frantically through the street and into the
+house of a countrywoman, very little better off than herself, declaring
+she would drown herself that very night if _no_ one would give her work.
+A family on the same floor gave her the use of a very small, bare room
+for one week, free of charge; after that, it would be eighty cents per
+week rent. Her countrywoman shared with her, such as she had for the
+evening and the morning, and after the breakfast, sent for a good,
+ever-ready missionary to talk and pray her into a better frame of mind.
+He did so, but confirmed and rested her faith on substantial works. He
+procured employment for her before the sun set; enough to pay the rent
+and get a little common food. Then obtained coal sufficient to last a
+couple of months; and so, leading her little by little into light and
+hope, drew her into regular attendance at the Mission chapel in her
+neighborhood.
+
+
+THE WIDOW IN "WANT".
+
+
+A home missionary in Brooklyn, who has an enviable reputation for his
+entire consecration to the work of helping the poor, one day when
+engaged in his benevolent works, entered a restaurant, kept by a
+Christian friend, a man of like spirit with himself, who, in the course
+of conversation, related to him the following circumstances,
+illustrative of the power of prayer.
+
+He had, on a certain day, cleared a large sum, part of which consisted
+of _Mexican dollars_. Returning home in high spirits, he felt as if he
+could go to sleep sweetly on this silver pillow. But a thought suddenly
+intruded, which gave a new turn to his feelings. It related to a poor
+woman in his neighborhood, the widow of a very dear friend of his, whom
+he knew to be in want. "Shall I take all this money to myself?" thought
+he. "Does not the Providence who gave it to me say, _No! Give some of it
+to the widow of your friend_."
+
+With this impression he retired, as was his habit, quite early, but he
+could not sleep. The thought of the needy widow haunted him. "I will go
+to-morrow," said he to himself, "and see what I can do for her." But
+this good intention proved no opiate to his disturbed mind. "Possibly
+she or I may not live to see to-morrow." Something seemed to say _go
+now_. He tossed from side to side, but could not sleep. _Go now_ kept
+ringing in his ear. So at length the restless man had to dress himself
+and go.
+
+At this late hour, not far from eleven, he sallied forth to find the
+widow. Seeing a dim light in the upper story where she resided, and
+following its lead, he crept softly along on the stairway, until he
+reached the room from which a low sound issued. The door was slightly
+ajar; through which he could hear the voice of prayer, scarcely audible,
+but deeply earnest. He dared hardly stir, lest he should disturb the
+praying widow. But he came on an errand, and he must accomplish it. But
+how? Recollecting at the moment, that he had in his pocket a few of the
+_Mexican dollars_, he gently pushed at the door, and it opened just wide
+enough for his purpose. So taking each piece of money between his
+fingers, he rolled it in along the carpet, and withdrew as noiselessly
+as he had ascended. Returning to his home, he fell asleep and slept
+soundly, as well he might, after this act.
+
+The widow at length arose from her knees, and was struck on seeing the
+shining money lying about her floor. Where had these pieces of silver
+come from? Here was a mystery she could not solve. But she knew it was
+from the Lord, and that he had answered her prayer. So with tears of
+gratitude, she gave thanks to Him, "whose is the silver and the gold."
+
+Shortly after this event, she attended prayer-meeting, where she felt
+constrained to make known this wonderful interposition in answer to
+prayer. The Christians present were as much astonished as herself. The
+silence which ensued was broken by a brother of that church, who rose
+and said, "What this good woman has told you, is strictly true. These
+dollars came from the Lord. They came in answer to her prayer." He then
+detailed the circumstances before related. "God deputed me to carry this
+money, and providentially I am here to night to testify to the fact that
+God hears and answers prayer."
+
+It seems, from a subsequent statement, that this widow, owed a certain
+sum, that she was obliged to pay immediately, and having nothing in
+hand, she was pleading, that night, that her Heavenly Father would send
+her the needed amount.
+
+
+THE SEWING GIRL RELIEVED JUST IN TIME.
+
+
+A sick Scotch girl was found lying on a narrow bed in a close,
+uncomfortable room, her sobs audible to the missionary, when half-way up
+the stairs. Her story was short. When about, she earned three dollars
+and a half a week, at a business that was killing her. Of that, she paid
+three dollars for her board; leaving but the half-dollar for clothing or
+incidentals. But now--she had been lying there two weeks; six dollars
+were due for board, and still she was unable to rise, and, when she did,
+how could she ever pay the back indebtedness?
+
+The woman with whom she lived, was too poor herself to give her the lost
+time, and, moreover, was one of the class whom struggle and battle
+hardens. The missionary came just in time to quell the poor girl's
+fears, and paid her debts; mind and body were set at rest, and, one or
+two Christian ladies being made acquainted with the case, attended to
+the comforts which hastened her recovery; and, when once more pursuing
+her avocation, her "mither's God" seemed very near, not as one afar off.
+
+
+PRAYING FOR A HOME.
+
+
+A young Southern girl, who had lost a position through five months'
+sickness, and found herself, at last, in the street and penniless,
+turned her steps to a daily prayer-meeting. She said her earliest
+impressions from her mother were, that the Lord never failed those who
+really put their trust in Him. She had sought work for food and shelter,
+though destitute of sufficient covering to keep her from trembling with
+cold, and, so far, sought in vain; but she was sure it was waiting for
+her somewhere, and she thought perhaps God's people could tell her
+where. She was right. A sweet-faced lady, who had listened, said she
+wanted some young girl who might help her a little when she left for her
+summer residence, and she had been waiting to find a child of pious
+parents. Bessie went home with her from that very meeting, and, in two
+weeks, came back, with bright eyes and warm, good clothing, to say
+good-by to the ladies who had spoken to her so kindly, and, in whose
+midst, she had found a second mother. They were to leave town the next
+day, and she asked permission to come to the meeting once more and tell
+what the Lord had done for her.
+
+
+HOW MUCH GOOD TWO DOLLARS DID.
+
+
+A lady sent two dollars to a brave-hearted sister--who, by faith alone,
+and not by money, had gathered some sick and poor about her, and lived
+only by prayer--and a note of apology and half-contempt that it was such
+a miserable pittance. She received, in reply, the following little
+financial statement:
+
+"My Dear Friend:--Remember the five loaves and two fishes, and listen to
+the message of your two dollars. This is the way I expended it:
+
+    Corned beef,. . . . . . . . . . . . .  $0 80
+    Chop and egg for sick aunty,. . . . . .   13
+    Sweet potatoes, . . . . . . . . . . . .   25
+    White potatoes, . . . . . . . . . . . .   10
+    Cabbage and bread,. . . . . . . . . . .   30
+    Tea, milk and sugar,. . . . . . . . . .   30
+                                           -----
+                                           $1 88
+
+The balance bought the coal with which it was cooked, and _fifteen_
+people were fed!"
+
+
+SAVED FROM STARVATION.
+
+
+On the second floor of a rear house lived a lady well known once as
+among the foremost members of a wealthy church. The first blow of
+adversity opened a wide passage for a succession of disasters. She
+passed through the whole sliding scale, until the missionary found her
+in the poor, dilapidated tenement where, for two days and nights, she
+had lain in bed to keep warm; or as nearly so as her scanty covering
+would admit.
+
+It was Saturday, and the only food she had to keep her alive until
+Monday, was two soda biscuits! She had sold everything comfortable in
+the way of furniture; all her clothing but one respectable suit for the
+street, and the only thing remaining, that pointed to the history of
+better days, was a pair of gold eye-glasses, given her by her dying
+mother. Within a few months her dire necessity had often pointed to the
+glasses; but she could not see without them, nor could she sell the gold
+frames unless she had means to have the glass set in commoner ones.
+Moreover, the harpies who feed and thrive on the miseries of the poor,
+would in no case have given her more than twenty-five cents for them;
+and the short respite derived from that amount would not have
+compensated for the sacrifice. She had looked at them that morning; felt
+that starve she must and would, but that souvenir of her mother should
+never leave her. She went back to bed and prayed fervently that the Lord
+would show her some way of escape, or take her that day to himself. She
+slept an hour or two, and then awakened, strong in the conviction that
+he would show her some way before night, and though it was six o'clock
+P.M., before the missionary called, no doubt had arisen to trouble her
+mind; and as soon as he entered and introduced himself, she said--"You
+are a messenger from the Lord, sir; I have been expecting you."
+
+
+GOD WITH US.
+
+
+An old woman was taking home' some sewing the night before, and passing
+through a narrow and dark street, was knocked down by a runaway horse.
+Taken up senseless and unknown, she was carried into the house of a kind
+family who sent for a physician. It was not till next morning that she
+recovered consciousness, and was able to give her address. A messenger
+was at once dispatched to her husband, who was supposed to be wild with
+terror. He was truly thankful to hear from human lips of her
+whereabouts; but said he knew she was not dead, and he would see her in
+the morning; for the Lord had been with him all night and assured him of
+it. He had also kept the fire from going out; and now that she would be
+brought home in a few hours, he was ready to trust his Father, as he had
+been through the night. His hourly friend was Immanuel, God _with_ us;
+not God somewhere or other in infinite space.
+
+
+A VESSEL SAVED.
+
+
+A vessel was six months making the passage from Liverpool to Bermuda
+Island. Fogs enveloped it; winds sent it hither and thither; captain and
+mate lost their reckoning, lost their senses; and when, added to the
+rest, the vessel sprung a leak, gave up in despair. Crew and passengers
+were finally reduced to a few drops of water and one potato a day, and
+they merely waited death from starvation or drowning. All but one! One
+man; a minister, whose faith and belief in their final escape burned but
+brighter and brighter, as the others sank in the gloom of silent
+despair. A few days before they made the land, the leakage suddenly
+ceased; no one could account for it; but a week after their arrival,
+when the vessel had been condemned by the authorities as unsea-worthy,
+it was proposed to turn it bottom upward and see what stopped the leak.
+God seemed to have performed a miracle for them, when it was discovered
+that that end of the vessel was entirely covered with barnacles!
+
+
+A REMARKABLE PRAYER CONCERNING A REMARKABLE TEXT.
+
+
+A clergyman, accustomed to preach regularly in his journey through
+Fleming Circuit, Kentucky, was preparing on one Saturday for the labors
+of the next day. He was then staying at the residence of a family named
+Bowers, from which he was to journey the next day five miles to preach
+at 11 A.M., at a church called Mt. Olivet. On this Saturday, as he
+relates the incident, as soon and as privately as practicable, I pored
+over the Bible in quest of a suitable subject for the next day at Mount
+Olivet, and strange to tell! not one passage in the whole Book, that
+afternoon and night, could I fix upon, as, in my estimation, suitable
+for the next day. There was one passage, (two or three clauses of which
+I had by some means got fixed in my memory), that early that afternoon
+appeared in my mind as though each word was written in CAPITAL LETTERS.
+I turned to the whole passage as soon as I could find it; Heb. 6: 4-6;
+and read, "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened,"
+etc., etc. I had previously studied that whole subject, as recorded in
+the original, and as disposed of by learned Commentators of different
+creeds. I had settled in my own mind the import of the passage. But it
+seemed unsuitable for me, not then three years old in the ministry, to
+attempt the settlement of a theological question, about which the best
+and most learned of modern days had differed. I therefore tried to
+dismiss it from my mind, and to find some passage more suitable for the
+coming morrow. But my constant effort proved unsuccessful; and the said
+passage in Hebrews often recurred to my mind. Thus passed my time till I
+had to go to bed, resolving to attempt an early settlement of the
+growing difficulty next morning. But the morning studies produced no
+change in the unsettled state of the question, what shall I preach from
+to-day? Thus matters remained until I reached Mount Olivet, and had to
+begin service without a text. But I concluded if a suitable text did not
+occur while singing, praying and reading some Scripture lesson, rather
+than have no text, I would take Heb. 6: 4-6. And, cornered in this
+dilemma, so I did, and used it as well as I could.
+
+I then passed around the circuit as usual, and the fourth Saturday
+thereafter, I arrived again at Brother Bowers', preached, met the class,
+etc. Then, when all the class had left the room except their own family,
+Brother and Sister Bowers said to me, each manifesting intense feeling
+and interest, "Have you heard of the _strange_ thing that happened when
+you were here four weeks ago?" Said I, "No! what was it?" They said,
+"Did you see a man sitting in the house while you was preaching to-day?"
+describing his dress, looks, etc. I answered, "Yes." Said they, "Did you
+see a woman sitting over there," describing her? I said, "Yea." Said
+they, "They are husband and wife--their name is--(I have long since
+forgotten the name)--they are good members of the Presbyterian church,
+their children are members of our class, as you have called their names
+every time you have examined us. The man and his wife were here and
+heard you four weeks ago--they know our rules, and when those not of our
+church were dismissed, they left their children with us, as usual, and
+their parents started home. And, as they themselves tell us and others,
+as they went along, said the woman to her husband, 'Does not Mr. Akers
+preach to-morrow at Mount Olivet?' And he answered, 'I believe he does.'
+Said she, '_Well, if I thought he would take a certain text I would like
+very much to go and hear him._' Said her husband, '_What text_?' And she
+repeated the whole passage in _Hebrews_ 6:4-6. Said her husband, 'Well,
+I reckon he will take some subject that will be interesting, and if you
+say so we will not go to our own church to-morrow, we will go to Mount
+Olivet.' She answered, '_Agreed,_ and I do pray the Lord that he may
+take that text.' And she says, she continued to pray all that evening
+and next morning, until sitting in the church at Mount Olivet, she heard
+_you read out the said text, when she knew the Lord had answered her
+prayer_, and she could scarcely help from loud crying of thanks to God."
+
+I then told Brother and Sister Bowers my troubles about that text, as
+above stated. The Lord answers prayer.
+
+
+HOW SHE LEARNED TO LOVE THE BIBLE.
+
+
+The Rev. Frederick G. Clark thus writes of an answer to prayer, from one
+who wanted to love the Bible more:
+
+"Twenty-seven years ago, in the congregation of my first charge, was a
+lady whose love for the Bible was something remarkable. In the
+confidence of a pastoral visit, she told me of her joy in the divine
+word, and also recited the incidents of her experience in this regard.
+She had formerly read her Bible as so many do--a chapter now, and a
+halfchapter then, without much interest or profit. She was, even then,
+most interested in religious things. But her chief sources of spiritual
+strength were in such writings as those of Baxter, Payson and Robert
+Phillips. It was her custom to read the Bible from duty, and then turn
+to these uninspired volumes for the kindling of a higher devotion. For a
+good while this satisfied her; but, at length, she came to feel grieved
+about it. She thought it a dishonor to God's word that any book should
+be as interesting to her as the Bible. She tried to change this, but, at
+first, with little success. The Bible was still duty--Baxter was
+pleasure and spiritual elevation.
+
+"_At length, she could bear it no longer; so she took the case to God,
+with strong crying. She told her Heavenly Father how grieved she was
+that any book should rival the Bible in her affections. She asked this
+one thing--and she renewed her prayer every day--that her first delight
+might be in reading the word of God_. I think it was some time before
+she felt that her request was granted. But, at length, the answer to her
+prayer was complete and marvelous. A strange light came over the sacred
+page. A fascination held her to her Bible. She discovered a depth, a
+meaning, a curiosity, a charm, which were all new and most wonderful.
+Sometimes, when she had finished reading her Bible for the night, and
+had closed the book and had moved towards her bed, she would go back
+again and enjoy the luxury of a few more verses.
+
+
+THE BLIND RESTORED TO SIGHT.
+
+
+At the age of twenty years, a lady in Winchester, Iowa, began to lose
+her health, and in a short time was confined to her bed. And she
+writes:--"In addition to this I lost the use of my eyes, and was blind
+and helpless, a greater portion of my time for five years.
+
+"I enjoyed the blessing of prayer and trust some six months before
+feeling a liberty to pray for the healing of my body; fearing I should
+desire it without due submission to God's will. It was with _fear and
+trembling_ that I first made known this request. Though my pleadings in
+this direction were earnest, and often agonizing, yet I could say with a
+fervor as never before, 'Not my will, but thine be done.'
+
+"About the end of November, or early in December, 1873, I realized that
+my faith was perfect, that I was ready _now_ to be healed, that my faith
+was momentarily waiting on God, resting without a doubt on the promises.
+From this time forward my faith remained fixed with but one exception.
+During the time between December, 1873, and July, 1874, I was healed to
+such an extent that I could walk some, and see more or less every day,
+though sometimes with only one of my eyes. A portion of this time I felt
+as though in a furnace of fire; but amid the flames I realized the
+presence of the Son of God, who said, '_have chosen thee in the furnace
+of affliction_.' This for a time seemed an answer to my petition, and so
+thought it my life-work to suffer; for a while my faith became inactive,
+and I almost ceased praying for my health. Though I felt submissive, yet
+somehow I was soon crying, and that most instinctively, 'Thou Son of
+David, have mercy on me.' After this, my faith did not waver. Oh, the
+lesson of patience I learned in thus _waiting_ on _God's_ good time. And
+with what comfort could I present my body an offering to Him, realizing
+that as soon as at all possible with His will, I should be healed; I had
+an assurance of this, but did not know whether it would be during life,
+or accomplished only at death.
+
+"In this manner I waited before God until the morning of the 29th of
+July, when, without ecstasy of joy, or extra illumination, came a sense
+of the presence of Jesus, and a presentation of this gift, accompanied
+with these words: 'Here is the gift for which you have been praying; are
+you willing to receive it?'
+
+"I at first felt the incoming of the Divine power at the parts diseased,
+steadily driving out the same, until death was swallowed up in victory.
+I at once arose from my bed, and proceeded to work about the house, to
+the great astonishment of my friends, some of whom thought me wild; but
+I continued my work, assuring them that Jesus had healed me. Realizing
+the scrutiny and doubt with which I was observed, I said to my father,
+'What do you think?' He replied, 'It is supernatural power; no one can
+deny it.'
+
+"My healing took place on Wednesday; on Saturday was persuaded to lie
+down, which I did, but found the bed was no place for me; thought of
+Peter's wife's mother, who 'arose and ministered to them; knew that to
+her, strength, as well as health, was instantly given, as in the case of
+the palsied man, who rose, took up his bed, and departed. I returned to
+my work, backing my experience with those in God's word, and since then
+have not lain down during the day time.
+
+"My friends could not realize the completeness of the cure, until I read
+a full hour, and that by lamp-light, and until asked to desist, the
+first opportunity after being healed.
+
+"A week from this time, I discharged the hired girl, taking charge of
+the household work, which I have continued with perfect ease. About four
+weeks after my healing, had occasion to walk four miles, which I did
+with little or no weariness. Let me add to the praise of God, that I
+have no disease whatever. Am able to do more hard work with less
+weariness, than at any other period in my life, and faith in the Lord is
+the balm that made me whole."
+
+
+THE WIDOW'S SHOES.
+
+
+A poor woman--a widow with an invalid son--a member of the church, could
+not attend church, or the neighborhood prayer-meetings, for the want of
+shoes. She asked the Lord for the shoes. That very day the village
+school-master called in to see her son. Meanwhile he noticed that the
+boy's mother had very poor shoes. He said nothing, but felt impressed,
+and inwardly resolved to purchase the poor woman a pair of shoes
+forthwith. He accordingly hired a horse, rode two miles on horseback to
+a shoe-store, bought the shoes, and requested them sent to the widow's
+cottage without delay. They proved a perfect fit; and that very night
+the overjoyed woman hurried to the prayer-meeting to announce that in
+answer to prayer the Lord had sent her the shoes.
+
+The young school-master, who, I suspect, was my informant himself, now a
+venerable, white-haired man, heard the poor woman's testimony; and his
+pillow that night was wet with tears of gratitude and joy because God
+had used him thus to bless the poor widow, and to answer her prayers.
+
+
+A REMARKABLE DREAM.
+
+
+The late Dr. Whitehead was accustomed to repeat with pleasure' the
+following fact: In the year 1764, he was stationed as an itinerant
+preacher in Cornwall. He had to preach one evening in a little village
+where there was a small Methodist Society. "The friend," said he, "at
+whose house we preached, had at that time a daughter, who lived with one
+of our people about ten miles off. His wife was gone to attend her
+daughter, who was dangerously ill of a fever; and her husband had that
+day received a message from her, informing him that his child's life was
+despaired of. He earnestly and with tears desired Mr. Whitehead to
+recommend his daughter to God in prayer, both before and after
+preaching. He did so in the most warm and affectionate manner. Late that
+evening, or very early next morning, while the young woman's mother was
+sitting by her daughter's bedside (who had been in a strong delirium for
+several days), she opened her eyes and hastily addressed her mother
+thus: 'O mother! I have been dreaming that I saw a man lifting up his
+eyes and hands to heaven, and fervently praying to God for my recovery!
+The Lord has heard his prayers, and my fever is gone; and what is far
+better, the Lord has spoken peace to my soul, and sealed His pardoning
+love on my heart. I know it, I feel it, my dear mother; and His Spirit
+bears witness with my spirit, that I am a child of God, and an heir of
+glory.' Her mother, thinking that she was still in delirium, desired her
+to compose herself, and remain quiet. The daughter replied, 'My dear
+mother, I am in no delirium now; I am perfectly in my senses; do help me
+to rise, that upon my bended knees I may praise God.' Her mother did so,
+and they both praised God with joyful hearts, and from that hour the
+young woman recovered so fast, that she was soon able to attend to the
+affairs of the family where she lived. She had never seen Mr. Whitehead,
+previous to this remarkable time; but some weeks after, she saw him, and
+the moment she beheld his face, she fainted away. As soon as she came to
+herself, she said, 'Sir, you are the person I saw in my dream, when I
+was ill in a violent fever; and I beheld you lift up your hands and eyes
+to heaven, and most fervently pray for my recovery and conversion to
+God. The Lord, in mercy, heard your prayers, and answered them to the
+healing of my wounded spirit, and to the restoration of my body. I have
+walked in the light of His countenance from that time to the present,
+and I trust I shall do so as long as I live.' How remarkably does this
+circumstance illustrate the words of St. James, 'The prayer of faith
+shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he have
+committed sins, they shall be forgiven him!'"
+
+
+"YOU MUST NOT GO."
+
+
+A remarkable instance of deep impression occasionally made by the Holy
+Spirit on the mind of the Rev. William Bramwell during prayer, occurred
+in Liverpool. A pious young woman, a member of Society, wished to go to
+her friends, then living in Jamaica. She took her passage, had her
+luggage taken on board, and expected to sail on the following day.
+Having the greatest respect for Mr. Bramwell, she waited upon him, to
+take leave and request an interest in his prayers. Before parting, they
+knelt down, and he recommended her to the care of God. After he had been
+engaged in prayer some time, he suddenly paused, and thus addressed her,
+"My dear sister, you must not go to-morrow. God has just told me you
+must not go." She was surprised, but he was positive, and prevailed upon
+her to postpone her voyage, and assisted her to remove her luggage out
+of the vessel. The ship sailed, and in about six weeks intelligence
+arrived that the vessel was lost, and all on board had perished.
+
+
+EVIL AVERTED.
+
+
+A correspondent of the _Guide to Holiness_ says: "We remember a poor
+woman who had had a life of sore vicissitude which she bore with
+remarkable Christian cheerfulness; and after a time of the suspension of
+trial, a bad prospect came in sight. She resorted to a friend to whom
+she confidingly related the threatening evil, and at parting said, 'Oh
+pray for us.' The case as it was known was taken immediately that early
+morning to the throne of grace and laid out in all its circumstances
+with a deeply sympathizing heart, and a consciousness of the past
+sufferings of that woman--and as the friend rose from prayer, the answer
+was given that the evil was averted, and a new change would come to that
+afflicted one.
+
+"That very day a strange deliverance and opening appeared which set that
+family at rest from their peculiar trials for the rest of life."
+
+
+HOW A POOR LITTLE CRIPPLE CONVERTED A VILLAGE.
+
+
+Mr. D.L. Moody relates the instance of a poor little cripple, whose
+prayers were answered to the conversion of _fifty-six people._
+
+"I once knew a little cripple who lay upon her death bed. She had given
+herself to God, and was distressed only because she could not labor for
+Him actively among the lost. Her clergyman visited her, and hearing her
+complaint, told her from her sick bed she could pray; to pray for those
+she wished to see turning to God. He told her to write the names down,
+and then to pray earnestly; he went away and thought of the subject no
+more.
+
+"Soon a feeling of religious interest sprang up in the village, and the
+churches were crowded nightly. The little cripple heard of the progress
+of the revival, and inquired anxiously for the names of the saved. A few
+weeks later she died, and among a roll of papers that was found under
+her little pillow, was one bearing the names of fifty-six persons, every
+one of whom had in the revival been converted. By each name was a little
+cross by which the poor crippled saint had checked off the names of the
+converts as they had been reported to her."
+
+
+PLEASE GOD, GIVE US A HOME.
+
+
+Mr. Moody tells of a beautiful answer to the faith of a little child.
+
+"I remember a child that lived with her parents in a small village. One
+day the news came that her father had joined the army (it was the
+beginning of our war), and a few days after, the landlord came to demand
+the rent. The mother told him she hadn't got it, and that her husband
+had gone into the army. He was a hard-hearted wretch, and he stormed,
+and said that they must leave the house; he wasn't going to have people
+who couldn't pay the rent.
+
+"After he was gone, the mother threw herself into the armchair, and
+began to weep bitterly. Her little girl, whom she taught to pray in
+faith, (but it is more difficult to practice than to preach,) came up to
+her, and said, '_What makes you cry, mamma, I will pray to God to give
+us a little home, and won't He_?' What could the mother say? So the
+little child went into the next room and began to pray. The door was
+open, and the mother could hear every word.
+
+_"'O, God, you have come and taken away father, and mamma has got no
+money, and the landlord will turn us out because we can't pay, and we
+will have to sit on the door-step, and mamma will catch cold. Give us a
+little home_.' Then she waited as if for an answer, and then added,
+'_Won't you, please, God_?'
+
+"She came out of that room quite happy, expecting a home to be given
+them. The mother felt reproved. God heard the prayer of that little one,
+for he touched the heart of the cruel landlord, and she has never paid
+any rent since."
+
+God give us the faith of that little child, that we may likewise expect
+an answer, "_nothing wavering_."
+
+
+"OF COURSE HE WILL."
+
+
+Mr. Moody also gives the story of a little child whose father and mother
+had died, and she was taken into another family. The first night she
+asked if she could pray, as she used to do.
+
+They said, Oh, yes! So she knelt down, and prayed as her mother taught
+her, and when that was ended she added a little prayer of her own: "_Oh,
+God, make these people as kind to me as father and mother were_." Then
+she paused, and looked up, as if expecting an answer, and added, "_Of
+course he will_."
+
+How sweetly simple was that little one's faith; she expected God to
+"do," and she got her request.
+
+
+STRIKING ANSWER.
+
+
+The following incidents are specially contributed to these pages by Rev.
+J.S. Bass, a Home Missionary of Brooklyn, N.Y.:
+
+"While living in Canada, my eldest daughter, then a girl of ten years of
+age, rather delicate and of feeble health, had a severe attack of
+chorea, "St. Vitus's dance." To those who have had any experience in
+this distressing complaint, nothing need be said of the deep affliction
+of the household at the sight of our loved one, as all her muscles
+appeared to be affected, the face distorted with protrusion of the
+tongue, and the continuous involuntary motions by jerks of her limbs.
+The ablest medical advice and assistance were employed, and all that the
+sympathy of friends and the skill of physicians could do were of no
+avail. She grew worse rather than better, and death was looked to as a
+happy release to the sufferings of the child, and the anguish of the
+parents; as the medical men had given as their opinion that the mind of
+the child would become diseased, and if her life were lengthened, it
+would be an enfeebled body united to an idiotic mind.
+
+"But God was better to us than our most sanguine hopes far better to us
+than our fears.
+
+"In our trouble we thought on God, and asked his help. We knew we had
+the prayers of some of God's chosen ones. On a certain Sunday morning I
+left my home to fill an appointment in the Wesleyan chapel in the
+village of Cooksville, two miles distant. I left with a heavy heart. My
+child was distressing to look upon, my wife and her sister were worn out
+with watching and fatigue. It was only from a sense of duty that I left
+my home that morning. During the sermon God refreshed and encouraged my
+heart still to trust in him. After the service, many of the congregation
+tarried to inquire of my daughter's condition, among them an aged saint,
+Sister Wilson, widow of a Wesleyan preacher, and Sister Galbraith, wife
+of the class-leader. Mother Wilson encouraged me to 'hope in God,'
+saying 'the sisters of the church have decided to spend to-morrow
+morning together in supplication and prayer for you and your family, and
+that God would cure Ruth.'
+
+"Monday morning came. Ruth had passed a restless night. Weak and
+emaciated, her head was held that a tea-spoonful of water should be
+given her. My duties called me away (immediately after breakfast) to a
+neighbor's; about noon, a messenger came, in great haste, to call me
+home. On entering the sick-chamber, I noticed the trundle-bed empty, and
+my little girl, with smiling face, sitting in a chair at the window,
+(say eight feet from the bed.) I learned from the child that, while on
+the bed, the thought came to her that, if she could only get her feet on
+the floor, the Lord would help her to sit up. By an effort, she
+succeeded, moving herself to the edge of the bed, put her legs over the
+side until her feet touched the floor, and sat up. She then thought, if
+she tried, the Lord would help her to stand up, and then to walk; all of
+which she accomplished, without any human aid, she being left in the
+room alone. The same afternoon she was in the yard playing with her
+brothers, quickly gained flesh, recovered strength, with intellect clear
+and bright; she lived to the age of twenty-two, never again afflicted
+with this disease, or anything like it. At the age of twenty-two, ripe
+for heaven, it pleased God to take her to himself.
+
+"The sisters, led by Mother Wilson, waited on God in prayer, and God
+fulfilled that day the promise--Isaiah 65:24: 'And it shall come to
+pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet
+speaking, I will hear.'"
+
+
+A REMARKABLE CASE.
+
+
+On the afternoon of Monday, August 20, 1869, I was sent for to visit
+Mrs. M., who was reported to be very sick. Arriving at the house, I was
+told that "Mrs. M., after a hard day's work, had retired to rest
+Saturday night in her usual state of health, that immediately after
+getting in bed she had fallen asleep and had not awoke up to this time,
+(6 o'clock Monday evening,) that three physicians had been in attendance
+for 30 hours, that all their efforts to arouse her were without avail."
+
+In the chamber, Mrs. M. lay in the bed apparently in a troubled sleep,
+she was a woman of medium size, about 50 years of age, the mother of a
+large family; around her bed stood her husband, four sons and a
+daughter, and relatives, about twelve persons in all. The husband and
+sons were irreligious, but awed in the presence of this affliction.
+
+I felt, as perhaps I never felt before, my ignorance, my helplessness,
+and the necessity of entire dependence on God for guidance and
+inspiration, that prayer should be made in accordance with his will.
+
+I knelt at the bedside and held the woman's hand in mine, lifted up my
+heart to God and prayed, "If it be thy will and for thy glory, and for
+the good of this family, grant that this woman may once more open her
+eyes to look upon her children, once more open her lips in counsel and
+holy admonition." While thus praying, as I believe, inspired by the
+Spirit of God, and with faith in Jesus Christ, I was conscious of a
+movement around me, and opening my eyes, I saw Mrs. M. sitting up in
+bed. Some of the persons in the room were weeping, others laughing; the
+sons came nearer the bed, and asked, "Mother, do you know me? do you
+know me?" She called each by name, and beckoned to her daughter, held
+her by the hand. I, poor faithless one, was wondering what does this
+mean? One of the sons took me by the hand saying, "Oh! Mr. Bass, God
+heard and answered that prayer." I sung the hymn, "There is a fountain
+filled with blood," Mrs. M. singing to the close, and then, apparently
+exhausted, sank back on the pillow, speechless and unconscious. The
+physicians were sent for, came, wondered, speculated, administered
+medicine, blistered the calves of the legs, and cupped the back of the
+neck, but to no purpose. She remained in speechless unconsciousness till
+the next afternoon, when, while prayer was being made, she again opened
+her eyes, sat up and conversed with her children and friends. In a few
+days she resumed her household duties, enjoying a good degree of health
+and strength, and faithfully serving God and her generation until it
+pleased God to call her home to the rest prepared for the people of God,
+three years after the incident, the subject of this paper.
+
+
+A LITTLE GIRL'S BEAUTIFUL FAITH.
+
+
+A little German girl, who had never hitherto known the name of the Lord
+Jesus, was led to attend a Mission school. It was the custom at the
+school, before the little ones received their dinner, to lift their
+hands and thank God for their food.
+
+When in course of time she spent her days at home, and her father's
+family were gathered around their own table, this little girl said:
+
+"_Pa, we must hold up our hand's and thank God before we eat._ That's
+the way we do at the Mission."
+
+So winning was the little one in her ways, the parents yielded at once.
+
+At another time her father was sick and unable to work, and the little
+girl said, "_Pa, I'm going to pray that you may get well and go to work
+to-morrow morning_."
+
+At four o'clock in the morning she awoke and called out, "_Pa, don't you
+feel better_." The father said, "Yes, I am better," and he went to his
+work in the morning, although weak and obliged to rest by the way.
+
+There came a time once when he could not get work, and there was no food
+in the house for dinner.
+
+This little girl knelt down and asked God to send them their dinner, and
+when she rose from her knees, she said, "Now we must wait till the
+whistle blows, till 12 o'clock."
+
+At twelve o'clock the whistle blew, and the little girl said, "Get the
+table ready, it is coming," and just then in came a neighbor with soup
+for their dinner.
+
+
+THE LORD HELPS TO PAY DEBTS.
+
+
+The author of this incident is known to the editor of "Remarkable
+Providences," and speaking of it says: "_God never gave me exactly what
+I wanted. He always gave me more."_
+
+"When I married I was a working man; I had not much money to spare. In
+about three months after my marriage, I fell ill, and my illness
+continued for more than nine months. At that period I was in great
+distress. I owed a sum of money and had no means to pay it. It must be
+paid on a certain day, or I must go to jail. I had no food for myself or
+wife; and in this distress I went up to my room, and took my Bible. I
+got down on my knees and opened it, laid my fingers on several of the
+promises, and claimed them as mine. I said, 'Lord, this is thine own
+word of promise; I claim thy promises.' I endeavored to lay hold of them
+by faith. I wrestled with God for sometime in this way. I got up off my
+knees, and walked about some time. I then went to bed, and took my
+Bible, and opened it on these words: '_Call upon me in the day of
+trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me_.'
+
+"I said, 'it is enough, Lord.' I knew deliverance would come, and I
+praised God with my whole heart. Whilst in this frame of mind I heard a
+knock at the door. I went and opened it and a man handed me a letter. I
+turned to look at the letter, and when I looked up again, the man was
+gone.
+
+"The letter contained the sum I wanted, and five shillings over. It is
+now eighteen years ago. I never knew who sent it. God only knows. Thus
+God delivered me out of all my distress. To Him be all the praise."
+
+
+PRAYING FOR A LOST POCKET-BOOK.
+
+
+A contributor to _The Christian_ writes as follows:
+
+"A few months since I lost my pocket-book, containing money and papers
+of a large amount--more than I felt able to lose--and which I should
+feel the loss of, as I was owing at that time about the same amount.
+
+"On the day of my loss, I had been from home about a mile and a half,
+and it was about 9 o'clock _in the evening_, when I returned. And it was
+not till then that I ascertained my loss.
+
+"My health was very poor, and the prospect of regaining the lost
+pocket-book was quite uncertain; it was so dark that I thought it would
+be impossible for me to find it. Consequently I determined to remain
+awake during the night, and at 3 o'clock in the morning search for it,
+and if possible, find it before any one should pass over the road.
+
+"The seeming impossibility of finding it, and the reflections consequent
+upon the loss of the money were so unpleasant to me that I was led to
+make it a subject of prayer, fully trusting that in some way God would
+so direct that I should come in possession of it. If so, I determined to
+give him $25 of it.
+
+"As soon as I had formed this purpose, all that unpleasant feeling left
+me, and I did not admit a single doubt but I should get it.
+
+"Accordingly, _at 3 o'clock in the morning_ I made a thorough search,
+but could not find it. Yet my faith in God's guiding hand did not fail
+me, and I believed that my trust would be realized.
+
+"While I was thus thinking of the certainty of the fulfillment of the
+promises of the Gospel to the believer, I was called on by a gentleman,
+a leading business man of the place, who came to know if _I had lost
+anything_.
+
+"I told him I had lost my pocket-book. He wanted to know how much it
+contained. I told him. He said his son had occasion to pass early on
+that morning, and had found it in the road, and that in all probability
+I should otherwise have lost it, as two men passed by immediately after
+it was found.
+
+"Thus God found it and returned it to me."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+LIVES OF FAITH AND TRUST
+
+
+AN EXTRAORDINARY LIFE OF FAITH AND TRUST.
+
+
+For many centimes there has not been a more remarkable testimony of
+unfaltering trust in the faithfulness of God in supplying human wants,
+than is found in the life and labor of George Muller and his Orphan
+Home, in Bristol, England. His record is one of humility, yet one of
+daily dependence upon the providence and the knowledge of God to supply
+his daily wants. It has been one of extraordinary trial; yet never, for
+a single hour, has God forsaken him. Beginning, in 1834, with absolutely
+nothing; giving himself, his earthly all and his family to the Lord, and
+asking the Lord's pleasure and blessing upon his work of philanthropy,
+he has never, for once, appealed to any individual for aid, for
+assistance, for loans; but has relied wholly in prayer to the
+Lord--coming with each day's cares and necessities--and the Lord has
+ever supplied. He has never borrowed, never been in debt; living only
+upon what the Lord has sent--yet in the forty-third year of his life of
+faith and trust--he has been able, through the voluntary contributions
+which the Lord has prompted the hearts of the people to give, to
+accomplish these wonderful results: _Over half a million dollars_ have
+been spent in the construction of buildings--_over fifteen thousand
+orphans have been cared for and supported--and over one million dollars_
+have been received for their support. _Every dollar of which has been
+asked for in believing prayer from the Lord_. The record is the most
+astounding in the faith of the Christian religion, and the power and
+providence of God to answer prayer, that modern times can show.
+
+The orphans' homes have been visited again and again by Christian
+clergymen of all denominations, to feel the positive satisfaction and
+certainty that all this were indeed the work of prayer, and they have
+been abundantly convinced.
+
+The spectacle is indeed a _standing miracle. "A man sheltering, feeding,
+clothing, educating, and mailing comfortable and happy, hundreds of poor
+orphan children, with no funds of his own, and no possible means of
+sustenance, save that which God sent him in answer to prayer_."
+
+An eminent clergyman who for five years had been constantly hearing of
+this work of faith, and could hardly believe in its possibility, at last
+visited Mr. Muller's home for the purpose of thorough investigation,
+exposing it, if it were under false pretenses or mistaken ways of
+securing public sympathy, or else with utmost critical search, desired
+to become convinced it was indeed supported only by true prayer. He had
+reserved for himself, as he says, a wide margin for deductions and
+disappointment, but after his search, as "_I left Bristol, I exclaimed
+with the queen of Sheba, 'The half had not been told me.' Here I saw,
+indeed, seven hundred orphan children fed and provided for, by the hand
+of God, in answer to prayer, as literally and truly as Elijah was fed by
+ravens with meat which the Lord provided_."
+
+Mr. Muller himself has said in regard to their manner of living:
+"_Greater and more manifest nearness of the Lord's presence I have never
+had, than when after breakfast, there were no means for dinner, and then
+the Lord provided the dinner for more than one hundred persons; and when
+after dinner, there were no means for the tea; and yet the Lord provided
+the tea; and all this without one single human being having been
+informed about our need_."
+
+Thus it will be seen his life is one of daily trial and trust, and he
+says, "Our desire therefore, is, not that we may be without trials of
+faith, but that the Lord graciously would be pleased to support us in
+the trial, that we may not dishonor him by distrust."
+
+The question having been asked of him, "Such a way of living must lead
+the mind continually to think whence food, clothes, etc., are to come,
+with no benefit for spiritual exercise," he replies: "Our minds are very
+little tried about the necessaries of life; just because the care
+respecting them is laid upon our Father, who, because we are his
+children, not _only allows_ us to do so, _but will have us to do so_.
+
+"It must also be remembered that even if our minds _were_ much tried
+about our supplies, yet because we look to the _Lord alone_ for all
+these things, we should be brought by our sense of need, into the
+presence of our Father for the supply of it, _and that is a blessing_,
+and satisfying to the soul."
+
+This humble statement from the experience of one who has tried and
+proven the Lord in little things, as well as large, conveys to the
+Christian that world of practical instruction which is contained in the
+precepts of the Bible, viz: to _encourage all to cast their cares on
+God_; and teaches them the lessons of their dependence upon Him for
+their daily supplies.
+
+The meaning of the Lord's blessing upon the work of Mr. Muller, is to
+make it a standing example and illustration to be adopted in every
+Christian home. "_How God supplies our needs, how he rewards faith, how
+he cares for those who trust in Him. How he can as well take care of his
+children to-day as he did in the days of the Prophets, and how surely he
+fulfills his promise, even when the trial brings us to the extremities
+of circumstances seemingly impossible_."
+
+Mr. Muller's experience is remarkable, not because the Lord has made his
+an exceptional case for the bestowal of blessings, but because of the
+_remarkable, unwavering and persevering application of his faith_, by
+the man himself.
+
+His faith began with small degrees, and small hopes. It was painfully
+tried. But it clung hopefully, and never failed to gain a triumph. Each
+trial only increased its tenacity, and brought him greater humility, for
+it opened his own heart to a sense of his own powerlessness, and this
+faith has grown with work and trial, till its strength is beyond all
+precedent.
+
+The lessons which the Lord wishes each one to take from it, is this:
+"_Be your faith little or weak, never give it up; apply my promises to
+all your needs, and expect their fulfillment. Little things are as
+sacred as great things_."
+
+In the journal kept by Mr. Muller during his many years of experience,
+he has preserved many incidents of answer to prayer in small matters, of
+which we quote the following from his book. "_The Power of Faith and
+Prayer_."
+
+1. "One of the orphan boys needed to be apprenticed. I knew of no
+suitable believing master who would take an indoor apprentice. I gave
+myself to prayer, and brought the matter daily before the Lord. At last,
+though I had to pray about the matter from May 21 to September, the Lord
+granted my request, and I found a suitable place for him.
+
+2. I asked the Lord that he would be pleased to deliver a certain sister
+in the Lord from the great spiritual depression under which she was
+suffering, and after three days the Lord granted my request.
+
+3. I asked the Lord daily in his mercy to keep a sister in the Lord from
+insanity, who was then apparently on the border of it. I have now to
+record his praise, after nearly four years have passed away, that the
+Lord has kept her from it.
+
+4. During this year has occurred the conversion of one of the greatest
+sinners that I had ever heard of in all my service for the Lord.
+Repeatedly I fell on my knees with his wife, and asked the Lord for his
+conversion, when she came to me in the deepest distress of soul, on
+account of the most barbarous and cruel treatment that she had received
+from him in his bitter enmity against her for the Lord's sake. And now
+the awful persecutor is converted.
+
+5. It pleased the Lord to try my faith in a way in which before, it had
+not been tried. My beloved daughter was taken ill on June 20. This
+illness, at first a low fever, turned to typhus, _and July 3 there
+seemed no hope of her recovery_.
+
+Now was the trial of faith, but faith triumphed. My wife and I were
+enabled to give her up into the hands of the Lord. He sustained us both
+exceedingly.
+
+She continued very ill till about July 20, when restoration began. On
+August 18, she was so far restored that she could be removed to Clevedon
+for change of air. It was then 59 days since she was taken ill.
+
+6. The heating apparatus of our Orphan Home unexpectedly gave out. It
+was the commencement of Winter. To repair the leak was a questionable
+matter. To put in a new boiler would in all probability take many weeks.
+Workmen were sent for to make repairs. But on the day fixed for repairs
+a _bleak north wind set in_."
+
+Now came cold weather, the fire must be put out, the repairs could not
+be put off. Gladly would I have paid one hundred pounds if thereby the
+difficulty could have been overcome, and the children not be exposed to
+suffer for many days from living in cold rooms.
+
+At last I determined on falling entirely into the hands of God, who is
+very merciful and of tender compassion. I now asked the Lord for two
+things, viz.: "That He would be pleased to change the _north wind into a
+south wind_, and that he would give the workmen a mind to work.
+
+Well, the memorable day came. The evening before, the bleak north wind
+blew still; but on the Wednesday the south wind blew _exactly as I had
+prayed_. The weather was so mild that no fire was needed.
+
+About half-past eight in the evening, the principal of the firm whence
+the boiler-makers came, arrived to see how the work was going on, and
+whether he could in any way speed the matter.
+
+The principal went with me to see his men; to the foreman of whom he
+said: "The men will work late this evening, and come very early again
+to-morrow."
+
+"_We would rather_," said the leader, "_work all night_."
+
+Then remembered I the second part of my prayer, that God would give the
+men a mind to work. By morning the repair was accomplished, the leak was
+stopped, and in thirty hours the fire was again in the boiler; _and all
+the time the south wind blew so mildly that there was not the least need
+of a fire_.
+
+7. In the year 1865, the scarlet fever broke out in several of the
+Orphan Homes. In one of which were four hundred girls, and in the other
+four hundred and fifty. It appeared among the infants. The cases
+increased more and more. But we betook ourselves to God in prayer. Day
+by day we called upon Him regarding this trial, and generally two or
+three times a day. At last, when the infirmary rooms were filled, and
+some other rooms that could be spared for the occasion, to keep the sick
+children from the rest, and when we had no other rooms to spare, at
+least not without inconvenience, it pleased the Lord to answer our
+prayers, and in mercy stay the disease. The disease was very general in
+the town of Bristol, and many children died in consequence. _But not one
+in the Orphan Home died. All recovered_.
+
+At another date, the whooping-cough also broke out among the four
+hundred and fifty girls of our Home, and though many were dying in the
+towns of the same disease, yet all in the Orphan Home recovered except
+one little girl who had very weak lungs, a constitutional tendency to
+consumption.
+
+8. In the early part of one Summer, it was found that we had several
+boys ready to be apprenticed, but there were no applications made by
+masters for apprentices. This was no small difficulty, as the master
+must be also willing to receive the apprentice into his own family. We
+again gave ourselves to _prayer_, instead of _advertising_. Some weeks
+passed, but the difficulty remained. We continued in prayer, and then
+one application was made for an apprentice, and from the time we first
+began, we have been able to find places for eighteen boys."
+
+
+THE CONSUMPTIVE'S HOME.
+
+
+In the United States there is a Parallel Record to George Mailer's Life
+of Faith and Trust, found in the history of the Consumptive's Home of
+Boston, Mass. It was established twelve years since by Doctor Cullis,
+who in the ardor of his faith and trust gave himself to the work of the
+Lord, by ministering in _Jesus' Name_, to the poor consumptives who were
+unable to provide for themselves. Doctor Cullis is a man of humility,
+and devoted to his life work, and has been most abundantly blessed by
+the Lord in his field. To the honor and glory of our Heavenly Father, he
+has never been forsaken by Him.
+
+The Institution began twelve years ago, in small quarters. Now it
+embraces a very large gathering of useful enterprises: _A Consumptive's
+Home, Children's Home, Grove Hall Church, Tract Repository, a Training
+College_, and a _Cancer Home_. The means provided have all been sent by
+the Lord, who has prompted the hearts of good people to send to it their
+voluntary contributions.
+
+There is no financial fund, endowment, or pecuniary provision whatever
+existing for the support of the Home. No individuals have made any
+agreement for its support; there is no trade or occupation used or
+connected with it, whereby to obtain any remuneration. There has never
+been any appeal to man for assistance, no subscriptions ever taken, no
+contributions solicited, either publicly or privately; there are no
+agencies or connections to receive funds from any religious society for
+procuring charitable relief.
+
+The supplies for the carrying on of this work, during these twelve
+years, have been wholly _in answer to believing prayer, to the Lord_.
+
+They have fulfilled faithfully the Lord's commands, "_Cast all your
+cares on Him, for he careth for you_." They have also pleaded in faith,
+without a doubt, "_Anything ye shall ask the Father in my name, I will
+do it_." And they have asked and received, and the Provider has never
+yet failed them.
+
+During the twelve years' time there has been sent to the Consumptive's
+Home, without any solicitation whatever, but in answer to believing
+prayer and faith and trust in God's providence, a sum no less than
+_three hundred and sixty thousand dollars, and over fifteen hundred
+patients have been gratuitously cared for_. No one has been urged,
+asked, or even hinted to contribute to it. Each morning, noon and night
+prayer has been offered to send means to provide for their daily wants,
+and the Great Shepherd has sent the supplies.
+
+During these twelve years, the experiences of Doctor Cullis, the
+founder, have been most remarkable in the frequent answers to prayer in
+minute details of life, and especially in healing. There are so many
+such cases, that there is no possible room to doubt. There have often
+been moments, yes, days of distress and intense trial, when, with not a
+single penny on hand, it seemed as if failure had come; but faith could
+not let the promise go, neither was it possible for them to believe that
+He who could do so much, would forsake so good a work, which was
+undertaken only in obedience to the guidance and direction of the Lord;
+and God has always brought deliverance, and honored them and brought
+glory to his own name.
+
+In the daily history of these struggles and trials and triumphs of
+faith, are found many surprising incidents, a few of which we relate.
+
+
+A BAD DEBT PAID.
+
+
+"To-day a bill was paid of $31, which I had given up as good for
+nothing. A long time ago I gave it to the Lord in prayer, and promised
+Him if it was ever canceled that it should be His."
+
+
+HELP IN NEED.
+
+
+"The sums received for several days had been small. One day as the
+Doctor was in prayer for his needs, he received a note from a lady
+asking him to call at her house, naming the day and the hour. At the
+time appointed he called, and found the lady sick in consumption, near
+to death. She said she had some money which she wished to dispose of
+before her death. She placed in his hand a _five hundred dollar note_.
+It was her last gift. She had received it from the hand of the Lord, and
+she returned it to Him again."
+
+
+PRAYING FOR STOVES.
+
+
+"This afternoon, knowing the necessity of stoves for some of the upper
+rooms, as the weather is quite cool, I went to the Lord, in prayer, and
+told him of our need, praying Him in one way to supply us.
+
+"I then went down town to a friend, to look at stoves and inquire the
+price, when he said, 'that's all right, I shall not charge anything,'
+and said he would see that they were put up. This man knew nothing of
+our great need; he had never visited the Home, knew but little about it,
+and not a word did he know of the state of my purse. "The Lord inclined
+the man's heart to give the stoves."
+
+
+PRAYING FOR A FURNACE.
+
+
+"I am earnestly praying for the means to purchase a furnace, for we
+cannot receive patients into the new Home until it can be warmed. I am
+looking to the Lord, and He will help."
+
+_Seven days later_. "A gentleman has this day ordered a furnace to be
+put in, with fourteen tons of coal at his expense. I will here say that
+his attention was not called to our need, but he asked how the house was
+to be warmed; he then learned of our want, and ordered as above. Truly,
+'Whosoever believeth in Him shall not be confounded.'"
+
+
+THE LORD'S RETURN FOR GIVING UNTO THE POOR.
+
+
+"This afternoon a poor woman, whose history I have known for some time,
+and who has a sick husband over eighty years of age, called on me,
+stating that she had only a ten-cent loaf of bread for herself and her
+husband to eat since Wednesday, and to-day is Saturday.
+
+"Notwithstanding my own need, I felt that I could not withhold from one
+in greater straits than myself, so in Christ's name, I gave her enough
+to procure necessary food for a few days. The Lord did not forget it,
+but this evening has returned the amount with bountiful interest. For
+the turn I gave Him, He has sent me $40. _'There is that scattereth yet
+increaseth_.'"
+
+
+A WATCH GIVEN TO THE LORD--HOW THE LORD RETURNS A BETTER ONE.
+
+
+"Last year, during a season of great need, I sold my watch; yesterday,
+the Lord returned it by a gift of a much better one from a friend, who
+had purchased it abroad, knowing nothing of my need, thus proving, 'He
+that soweth bountifully, shall reap also bountifully.'"
+
+
+THE LORD GAVE DOUBLE WHAT WAS ASKED FOR.
+
+
+"This morning and noon I called upon the Lord in prayer for the means to
+pay a bill of $100. By three P.M., a check was sent me of $200."
+
+
+BLESSINGS AMID CALAMITIES.
+
+
+"The roof of one of our houses having caught fire from a spark from a
+neighbor's chimney, it was mostly destroyed; some of the furniture, and
+the whole home badly damaged by water. All hearts thanked the Lord the
+circumstances were no worse. In the midst of our calamity, blessings
+surrounded us. An unknown donor sends in 20 tons of coal. For weeks I
+have been praying for the means to purchase our Winter fuel, and now the
+Lord has inclined the heart of an unknown friend to supply our need."
+
+
+A REMARKABLE PROMISE.
+
+
+At one period in the history of the Consumptive's Home, a sum of three
+thousand dollars placed in the safe, and reserved to be used for payment
+on the purchase of a new building was stolen, and there was not left a
+single dollar; every penny was gone.
+
+Nothing daunted, again going to the Lord, and pleading the Lord's own
+promise, "_If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask
+what ye will and it shall be done unto you_." The request was made in
+prayer for the three thousand dollars, and the promise of the amount was
+definitely made to be paid out a certain day.
+
+The day came. Before it had arrived, the Lord had sent the three
+thousand dollars with unusual contributions, and both the promises of
+the Lord and that of his children were kept.
+
+The ordinary business man would have said it was foolishness for a poor
+man, with not a penny in the world, all his means stolen from him, to
+positively promise on a certain day the next month, to pay so large a
+sum, exactly the same as was stolen.
+
+The skeptic would have said, "All foolish to plead before an unseen God,
+and ask for such a sum. You will never get it. Why didn't your God
+prevent your money from being stolen. If your Bible is true, he ought to
+have protected you from loss."
+
+The answer to all these is thus: The Doctor did trust in the promise of
+an unseen God, whom he had tested in the past many hundred times, and
+who had always been faithful in keeping his promises, and his faith knew
+that his God would not suffer his own work to fail nor suffer reproach.
+
+Still further to silence the skeptic, let it be said that after the
+robbery became known, the sympathy for the institution became so much
+greater, that the contributions voluntarily sent in consequence thereof
+replaced the three thousand dollars within thirty days, and produced far
+more in excess, to go towards other needs. Thus an adversity became a
+blessing. The Lord uses sorrow to produce good.
+
+
+A WOMAN DELIVERED FROM THE HABIT OF DRINKING.
+
+
+"I visited a family for whom I have felt a deep interest for weeks past.
+The father had been out of employment some time, and they have lacked
+food and clothing. Much of their trouble has been caused by the
+intemperance of the mother. Her husband has borne long and patiently
+with her, and although she would for a long time leave off drinking, it
+was only to fall again still lower. While furnishing them with clothing,
+and assisting them in other ways, I besought the mother to give her
+heart to Jesus, knowing that he could keep her from falling. She became,
+a constant attendant at our meetings. Says "_Jesus has taken her love
+for drink all away_." One of her little ones, who is just beginning to
+talk, said the other day, "Mamma, you don't drink now." They are a happy
+family, and their home is greatly changed.
+
+
+PRAYER FOR PURCHASERS.
+
+
+When removal to the new Home was determined upon, there still remained
+five of the old buildings on hand to be disposed of. This too was taken
+to the Lord in prayer that he might send purchasers.
+
+One building was sold in October, and the remaining four in November.
+When it is considered that a portion was property usually very difficult
+of sale, and that no advertisement of it had been made, no other means
+than prayer resorted to, it must be convincing to all that there must be
+"one who knoweth all things," who hears and helps in financial as well
+as in spiritual necessities.
+
+
+ASKING FOR LARGE GIFTS.
+
+
+Upon the 26th of September the record of the Home was as follows: "There
+is due on the first of next month, $2,450 interest on our property, and
+we are now within four days of the time, with not a dollar towards it.
+For several days I have been asking that amount of the Lord."
+
+Now here was a man depending wholly upon _chance gifts_ for the
+livelihood of several hundred people, with a debt of over two thousand
+dollars to pay in four days. His occupation and work were such that no
+one could even possibly think of making any loans, as there was no
+security. Neither was it the principle or the practice of the Home ever
+to solicit a dollar. What was to be done? _It was taken to the Lord in
+prayer_, and all waited the result.
+
+Was it at all probable that so large a sum of money could be sent in so
+short a time by any one or any number of persons?
+
+That evening a letter from the probate office at Exeter, N. H., was
+received by Dr. Cullis, informing them of the death of a citizen of
+Portsmouth, with a bequest to the Home of _five thousand dollars_. The
+Lord answered their prayer the same day and sent _double what was asked
+for_.
+
+
+A SEVERE TUMOR HEALED.
+
+
+During the year 1872, there was under the professional care of Dr.
+Cullis, at the Consumptive's Home, a Christian lady with a tumor which
+confined her almost continuously to her bed in severe suffering. All
+remedies were unavailing, and the only human hope was the knife; but
+feeling in my own heart the power of the promise, I one morning sat down
+by her bedside, and taking up the Bible, I read aloud, God's promise to
+his believing children. "_And the prayer of faith shall save the sick,
+and the Lord shall raise him up: and if he have committed sins, they
+shall be forgiven him_."
+
+I then asked her if she would trust the Lord to remove this tumor and
+restore her to health and to her missionary work. She replied, "I am
+willing to trust the Lord for it."
+
+I then knelt and anointed her with oil in the name of the Lord, asking
+Him to fulfill his own word. Soon after I left she got up and walked
+three miles. From that time the tumor rapidly lessened until all trace
+of it at length disappeared.
+
+
+FAITH CURED HER.
+
+
+This incident was related by the lady herself in a public meeting in
+Boston, where it was heard by the sorrowing wife of an afflicted
+husband, whose statement is as follows:
+
+"I was first confined to my house with a violent cold. I lost my voice
+completely, suffered with pain in my lungs and expectorated almost
+constantly. I grew worse every day, and in a week called in a physician.
+On examination he found my lungs diseased. I also had fever. With all
+his care my cough grew worse, and night sweats set in; a few weeks later
+my wife was told by the Doctor that my lungs were badly ulcerated, and
+that my case being hopeless, it was not worth while for him to attend
+longer; also that she must NOT be surprised if I should pass away
+suddenly. I then tried some highly recommended medicine, which seemed
+only to increase my disease.
+
+"When I became so weak as to be nearly helpless, Dr. Cullis was called
+in. He sounded my lungs and gave the same verdict, saying my only hope
+for recovery was in the Lord. Diarrhea also set in, and my feet began to
+swell."
+
+This statement will show his perfect helplessness.
+
+After the return of his wife from the above meeting, he read over and
+over the precious promises of God, and became more and more convinced of
+the power of faith. Believing that "_He is faithful that promised_" he
+sent for Dr. Cullis to come and pray with him.
+
+"Dr. C. prayed, anointed me with oil, and in the name of the Lord Jesus,
+commanded me to be healed. Instantly my whole being was thrilled with an
+unknown power, from the top of my head to the soles of my feet. From the
+moment I believed, the _work was done_. My lungs, so long diseased,
+breathed with new vigor, and I returned thanks to God for the results of
+faith. Since that memorable night I have taken no medicine, and my
+health has been constantly improving, so _that I am feeling better now
+than I did before my sickness_."
+
+Two years after he was seen by Dr. Cullis, and continued in perfect
+health, and engaged in active business.
+
+
+CURED OF CANCER.
+
+
+A lady came to the Consumptive's Home with a cancer in the cheek, which
+had attained the size of a filbert. It had a very red and angry
+appearance. After prayer for her healing she went into the country, when
+some one remarked, 'E. thinks that faith will cure her, but _that_ is
+something that will have to be burned out or cut out.' Her friends tried
+to induce the use of various applications, all of which she firmly
+refused. She returned home in eight weeks, entirely cured. Her friends
+acknowledged, '_Faith did do good after all_.'
+
+
+CURED OF NEURALGIA.
+
+
+A lady of East Cambridge writes, "For nineteen years I have been
+afflicted with neuralgia; added to this, of late years a combination of
+diseases has rendered life an intolerable burden, and baffled the skill
+of every physician to whom I have applied. By the prayer of faith I have
+been healed, both body and soul, and made to rejoice continually. I can
+now say I am entirely well, and engaged in arduous work--often among the
+sick, losing whole nights of rest."
+
+
+CURED OF SPINE DISEASE.
+
+
+Dr. Cullis thus speaks of a signal answer to his prayer. "While at the
+home of L.R. in England, I was asked to pray with his daughter, who had
+spinal curvature. Subsequently L.R. writes, 'We. are full of
+thankfulness and praise about E. She is quite well and strong, and does
+everything like her sisters. She has such perfect faith that the Lord
+had healed her, that she at once put away the board and said she should
+never lie upon it again, and on the following Sunday she walked four
+miles in a hot sun, and sat for two hours on a bench without a back. As
+far as we can judge, she is quite well in every respect. For fifteen
+months before she had been a constant cause of anxiety to us--never
+walked or attended to study.'"
+
+
+AN INJURED LEG RESTORED TO PROPER LENGTH.
+
+
+"Some months ago a young lady called, requesting to be prayed for. She
+simply told me that some years ago she was run over and her hip badly
+injured. I asked her if she could trust the Lord for healing. She
+replied, 'Yes.' I prayed, with her, and she went home.
+
+"I learned after a day or two, that she was perfectly cured, and
+obtained from her these facts: Some six years before, she was run over
+by a hack, and her hip so injured that she was confined to her bed for
+six months. She then got up with a permanent lameness, one limb being
+shorter than the other. In two or three instances since, she has been
+confined to her bed for three months at a time. She now walks perfectly,
+both limbs being of the same length. She says of herself, 'I can leap
+and run as well as any other person, and my heart overruns with praise
+and thanksgiving to God.'"
+
+
+A LOST VOICE REGAINED.
+
+
+"Some nine months since a lady showed signs of indisposition, and soon
+was attacked by a cough. Change of air was prescribed, but after a lapse
+of some weeks she returned to her home, in no way improved. Physicians
+were consulted, her lungs found to be much irritated and pulse low. Soon
+all appetite left her, a hoarseness succeeded, resulting in entire loss
+of voice.
+
+"There was little desire to eat, as everything taken into the stomach
+caused great distress. Months succeeded; nothing could be gained from
+medical treatment. I felt that I must trust all to God. I seemed to feel
+that God would heal me. I read in his Bible, 'The prayer of _faith shall
+save the sick_.' I accepted it at once, I felt sure that it was for me.
+I was led to visit Boston and see Doctor Cullis. I stated all the
+circumstances of my illness, and was asked if I could trust God to heal
+me? I replied, 'Yes, I am sure the Lord is able and willing.'
+
+"'We knelt in prayer; _in a moment, as it were, my. voice came to me, I
+was able to talk with ease_, and from that time nothing that I have
+eaten has given me any distress. The Lord's promises are sure, and He
+has filled my soul with joy and praise.'"
+
+In speaking of the many cases of cures in answer to prayer, Doctor
+Cullis says: "I have noticed that in some cases the cure has been
+instantaneous; others I have prayed with two or three times, or even
+more. My explanation is, as far as I have been able to observe, that
+there has been oftentimes a question or lack of faith on the part of the
+patient; for some seem to come, not in faith, but as a matter of
+_experiment. God's word says it is the prayer of faith that shall save
+the sick._"
+
+From this it will be noticed that the _faith is that of the patient,_
+and the more strongly it is fixed on God and the promise, the surer the
+answer.
+
+It is but justice to say, that in no case has there ever been the
+thought or the assumption, by Doctor Cullis himself, of having _any
+divinely conferred power_ to heal all that come to him, or for whom he
+may pray. No such power would ever be given to any human creature by our
+Lord. It is the Lord himself who works the wonder--but solely because of
+the faith of sufferers who have sought the addition of the prayer of one
+who is stronger in faith and prayer than its own. Each must wait upon
+God, and must have faith without a doubt, and perfect willingness to
+trust all to Him, and continue to expect the blessing.
+
+It should be noticed, also, that all who have come pleading the prayer
+of faith, and asking the Lord for relief, have either then, or before,
+_pledged themselves to the service of the Lord_, and have desired the
+good gifts they seek, that they may more efficiently work for His own
+honor and glory, and the good of others.
+
+When such a desire for healing is united with the desire and the promise
+to work in future for the Lord, His own kingdom and glory, the Lord is
+pleased with it, and His promise is made sure to those who come in
+faith.
+
+It is needless to say that those who come for prayer, with the desire
+only for _experiment_, and also those who are _withholding their lives
+or pledges of devotion to Him, need never expect an answer_.
+
+
+CURED OF ST. VITAS' DANCE.
+
+
+"Very early in childhood, I was seized with a nervous trouble, something
+like St. Vitus' Dance. As I grew older it did not pass off, but settled
+into a disease of the muscles. It became a terrible affliction. It was
+usually under my control, but I could not endure protracted work of any
+kind, or unusual fatigue; I had consulted, in various cities, the best
+physicians, but they pronounced it incurable. All that could be done was
+to be careful of overwork and excitement. It must have been twenty-five
+years since I was first taken.
+
+"Doctor Cullis asked me if I could give my body to the Lord to be
+healed; I felt that I could truly say 'Yes.' He then, in a simple
+manner, prayed that the Lord would restore strength of nerve and muscle.
+I went home, touched and improved by the comforting words. At the end of
+the week I was startled at the recollection that I had felt hardly
+anything of my trouble. My nerves began to feel as if they were held
+with a grasp of iron. The muscles refused to move as before at every
+inclination. For two weeks this painful tension lasted. Then I felt a
+gradual relaxation, and found that I was strong like other people. I
+tested myself in the severest way--walked, wrote and lifted--after each
+exertion I could enjoy perfect rest. The mystery of the miracles was
+explained to me. This power of God manifested in the past, is manifest
+to us still. Faith can grasp and use it. Close beside us stands a
+_living Christ_."
+
+
+HIP DISEASE CURED.
+
+
+A lady from Brooklyn, N.Y., came to the Consumptive's Home for prayer
+cure.
+
+"She had a diseased hip, and _had used crutches for twenty years_. Often
+the hip joint would slip from its socket, so that it was impossible for
+her to walk without crutches. She now writes, 'My lameness was
+incurable, and God interposed in my behalf, in answer to your prayer. I
+have been able to walk for five months without the crutches I have used
+for over twenty years.'"
+
+
+A BAD DEBT PAID.
+
+
+A correspondent of Doctor Cullis, who was unable to collect a debt from
+a refractory and worthless debtor, promised to give it to the Lord, if
+it was ever paid. The following is his letter:
+
+"Perhaps you remember that the writer, some months ago, asked you to
+pray that some money which had been due him a long time, and which to
+all human appearance was never to be paid, might by God's interposition
+be paid in full. Enclosed, find the full amount, $25, which was paid a
+few days since. All glory to Him, who _never, never fails_."
+
+
+CONSUMPTION INSTANTLY HEALED.
+
+
+"At a meeting in the Chapel of the Consumptive's Home, held March 7,
+1876, public prayer was offered for a young man in Florida, who was
+apparently gone in consumption; an interested friend had previously
+written him that prayer would be offered for him at that time.
+
+"Not long after she received letters from him, stating that at _that
+same hour_ he too had joined in supplication, and _was instantly
+healed_. He says that while before the Lord, pleading his promise, his
+voice and strength were taken away for a time. Then he began to praise
+the Lord, and to feel, 'tis done,' and it was done, and tells of the
+wonderful change, his ability to talk and sing, with no difficulty
+whatever."
+
+
+CURED OF CATARRH.
+
+
+"I have been afflicted with catarrh for over twenty years. I had
+consulted many physicians and used many remedies--all failed to help me.
+In the Spring of 1874, I grew so much worse that life became a burden; I
+suffered from dizziness and great prostration; I was urged to go to you
+for faith cure. This was no new thing to me; I believed in it, yet found
+it difficult to exercise faith for myself.
+
+"My daughter went to see you, as I was then unable to go. I looked to
+God, and believed from that very moment. My whole soul and body seemed
+thrilled, and I began to gain strength immediately.
+
+"In a few days I was able to go to your _Home_. You prayed simply that
+God would take all disease from me. I have been entirely well from that
+time; not only cured of catarrh, but tumors on my limbs were entirely
+removed. I desire to give God the praise; I bless him that He does
+forgive our transgressions and heal our diseases."
+
+These instances are only a very few out of many, that have occurred, too
+numerous for repetition here. It must be admitted, that God has most
+signally blessed the faith of the inmates of the Consumptive's Home,
+answered their prayer for others. In nearly all the cases of healing
+which have occurred, the sufferers have failed in all other means, and
+in their extremity have depended wholly in faith in God.
+
+In speaking of them, Doctor Cullis says: "We do not give these instances
+of the healing of the body, dear friends of Jesus, as in any degree
+paramount to the healing of the soul; but that as the dear children of
+God, we may claim all our privileges, and enjoy the knowledge of our
+fullness of possession in Him who declares" _all things are, yours_."
+Shall we in any manner, of smallest or largest import, limit the love
+and power of God, who deigneth out of the highest heaven to declare,"
+_The Lord thinketh upon me_." As an earthly parent separates no part of
+the well-being of his child from his watchful care, so doth our Heavenly
+Father not only "_forgive all our iniquities_," but "_healeth all our
+diseases." Let us not confine faith operation to the saving of the soul,
+while God's word is full of previous promise for the saving, keeping,
+and healing of the body_.
+
+"_For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy
+wounds, saith the Lord_."
+
+
+A MOTHER'S FAITH--THE LIFE OF BEATE PAULUS.
+
+
+In a sketch of the life of Beate Paulus, the wife of a German minister
+who lived on the borders of the Black Forest, are several incidents
+which illustrate the power of living faith, and the providence of a
+prayer-hearing God.
+
+Though destitute of wealth, she much desired to educate her children,
+and five of her six boys were placed in school, while she struggled, and
+prayed, and toiled,--not only in the house, but out of doors,--to
+provide for their necessities.
+
+"On one occasion," writes one of her children, "shortly before harvest,
+the fields stood thick with corn, and our mother had already calculated
+that their produce would suffice to meet all claims for the year. She
+was standing at the window casting the matter over in her mind, with
+great satisfaction, when her attention was suddenly caught by some
+heavy, black clouds with white borders, drifting at a great rate across
+the Summer sky. 'It is a hail-storm!' she exclaimed in dismay, and
+quickly throwing up the window, she leaned out. Her eyes rested upon a
+frightful mass of wild storm-clouds, covering the western horizon, and
+approaching with rapid fury.
+
+"'O God!' she cried, 'there comes an awful tempest, and what _is_ to
+become of my corn?' The black masses rolled nearer and nearer, while the
+ominous rushing movement that precedes a storm, began to rock the sultry
+air, and the dreaded hail-stones fell with violence. Half beside herself
+with anxiety about those fields lying at the eastern end of the valley,
+she now lifted her hands heavenward, and wringing them in terror, cried:
+'Dear Father in heaven, what art thou doing? Thou knowest I cannot
+manage to pay for my boys at school, without the produce of those
+fields! Oh! turn Thy hand, and do not let the hail blast my hopes!'
+Scarcely, however, had these words crossed her lips when she started,
+for it seemed to her as if a voice had whispered in her ear,' Is my arm
+shortened that it cannot help thee in other ways?' Abashed, she shrank
+into a quiet corner, and there entreated God to forgive her want of
+faith. In the meantime the storm passed. And now various neighbors
+hurried in, proclaiming that the whole valley lay thickly covered with
+hail-stones, _down to the very edge of the parsonage fields, but the
+latter_ had been quite spared. The storm had reached their border, and
+then suddenly taking another direction into the next valley. Moreover,
+that the whole village was in amazement, declaring that God had wrought
+a miracle for the sake of our mother, whom he loved. She listened,
+silently adoring the goodness of the Lord, and vowing that henceforth
+her confidence should be only in Him."
+
+At another time she found herself unable to pay the expenses of the
+children's schooling, and the repeated demands for money were rendered
+more grievous by the reproaches of her husband, who charged her with
+attempting impossibilities, and told her that her self-will would
+involve them in disgrace. She, however, professed her unwavering
+confidence that the Lord would soon interpose for their relief, while
+his answer was: "We shall see; time will show."
+
+In the midst of these trying circumstances, as her husband was one day
+sitting in his study, absorbed in meditation, the postman brought three
+letters from different towns where the boys were at school, each
+declaring that unless the dues were promptly settled, the lads would be
+dismissed. The father read the letters with growing excitement, and
+spreading them out upon the table before his wife as she entered the
+room, exclaimed: "There, look at them, and pay our debt with your faith!
+I have no money, nor can I tell where to go for any."
+
+"Seizing the papers, she rapidly glanced through them, with a very grave
+face, but then answered firmly, 'It is all right; the business shall be
+settled. For He who says, "The gold and silver is mine," will find it an
+easy thing to provide these sums.' Saying which she hastily left the
+room.
+
+"Our father readily supposed she intended making her way to a certain
+rich friend who had helped us before. He was mistaken, for this time her
+steps turned in a different direction. We had in the parsonage an upper
+loft, shut off by a trap-door from the lower one, and over this door it
+was that she now knelt down, and began to deal with Him in whose
+strength she had undertaken the work of her children's education. She
+spread before Him those letters from the study table, and told Him of
+her husband's half scoffing taunt. She also reminded Him how her life
+had been redeemed from the very gates of death, for the children's sake,
+and then declared that she could not believe that He meant to forsake
+her at this juncture; she was willing to be the _second_ whom He might
+forsake, but she was determined not to be the _first_.
+
+"In the meanwhile, her husband waited down stairs, and night came on;
+but she did not appear. Supper was ready, and yet she stayed in the
+loft. Then the eldest girl, her namesake Beate, ran up to call her; but
+the answer was, 'Take your supper without me, it is not time for me to
+eat.' Late in the evening, the little messenger was again dispatched,
+but returned with the reply: 'Go to bed; the time has not come for me to
+rest.' A third time, at breakfast next morning, the girl called her
+mother. 'Leave me alone,' she said; 'I do not need breakfast; when I am
+ready I shall come.' Thus the hours sped on, and down stairs her husband
+and the children began to feel frightened, not daring, however, to
+disturb her any more. At last the door opened, and she entered, her face
+beaming with a wonderful light. The little daughter thought that
+something extraordinary must have happened; and running to her mother
+with open arms, asked eagerly: 'What is it? Did an angel from heaven
+bring the money?' 'No, my child,' was the smiling answer, 'but now I am
+sure that it will come.' She had hardly spoken, when a maid in peasant
+costume entered, saying: 'The master of the Linden Inn sends to ask
+whether the Frau Pastorin can spare time to see him?' 'Ah, I know what
+he wants,' answered our mother. 'My best regards, and I will come at
+once.' Whereupon she started, and mine host, looking out of his window,
+saw her from afar, and came forward to welcome her with the words: 'O
+Madame, how glad I am you have come!' Then leading her into his back
+parlor he said; 'I cannot tell how it is, but the whole of this last
+night I could not sleep for thinking of you. For some time I have had
+several hundred _gulden_ lying in that chest, and all night long I was
+haunted by the thought that you needed this money, and that I ought to
+give it to you. If that be the case, there it is--take it; and do not
+trouble about repaying me. Should you be able to make it up again, well
+and good--if not, never mind.' On this my mother said: 'Yes, I do most
+certainly need it, my kind friend; for all last night I too was awake,
+crying to God for help. Yesterday there came three letters, telling us
+that all our boys would he dismissed unless the money for their board is
+cleared at once.'
+
+"'Is it really so?' exclaimed the innkeeper, who was a noble-hearted and
+spiritual Christian man. 'How strange and wonderful! Now I am doubly
+glad I asked you to come!' Then opening the chest, he produced three
+weighty packets, and handed them to her with a prayer that God's
+blessing might rest upon the gift. She accepted it with the simple
+words: 'May God make good to you this service of Christian sympathy; for
+you have acted as the steward of One who has promised not even to leave
+the giving of a cup of cold water unrewarded.'
+
+"Husband and children were eagerly awaiting her at home, and those three
+dismal letters still lay open on the table, when the mother, who had
+quitted that study in such deep emotion the day before, stepped up to
+her husband, radiant with joy. On each letter, she laid a roll of money
+and then cried: 'Look, there it is! And now believe that faith in God is
+no empty madness!'"
+
+
+THE PERSECUTOR'S FATE.
+
+
+Dr. Eugenio Kincaid, the Burman missionary, states, that among the first
+converts in Ava were two men who had held respectable offices about the
+palace. Some time after they had been baptized, a neighbor determined to
+report them to government, and drew up a paper setting forth that these
+two men had forsaken the customs and religion of their fathers, were
+worshiping the foreigner's God, and went every Sunday to the teacher's
+house; with other similar charges. He presented the paper to the
+neighbors of the two disciples, taking their names as witnesses, and
+saving that he should go and present the accusation on the next day.
+
+The two Christians heard of it, and went to Mr. Kincaid in great alarm,
+to consult as to what they should do. They said if they were accused to
+government, the mildest sentence they could expect would be imprisonment
+for life at hard labor, and perhaps they would be killed. Kincaid told
+them that they could not flee from Ava, if they would; that he saw
+nothing he could do for them, and all that they could do was to trust in
+God to protect them, and deliver them from the power of their enemies.
+They also prayed, and soon left Kincaid, saying that they felt more
+calm, and could leave the matter with God.
+
+That night the persecutor was attacked by a dreadful disease in the
+bowels, which so distressed him that he roared like a madman; and his
+friends, which is too often the case with the heathen, left him to
+suffer and die alone. The two Christians whom he would have ruined then
+went and took care of him till he died, two or three days after his
+attack. The whole affair was well known in the neighborhood, and from
+that time not a dog dared move his tongue against the Christians of Ava.
+
+Is there no evidence in this of a special providence, and that God
+listens to the prayers of persecuted and distressed children?
+
+
+THE CAPTAIN AND THE QUADRANT.
+
+
+A godly man, the master of an American ship, during one voyage found his
+ship bemisted for days, and he became rather anxious respecting her
+safety. He went down to his cabin and prayed. The thought struck him, if
+he had with confidence committed his soul to God, he might certainly
+commit his ship to Him; and so, accordingly, he gave all into the hands
+of God, and felt at perfect peace; but still he prayed, that if He would
+be pleased to give a cloudless sky at twelve o'clock, he should like to
+take an observation to ascertain their real position, and whether they
+were on the right course.
+
+He came on deck at eleven o'clock, with the quadrant under his coat. As
+it was thick drizzling, the men looked at him with amazement. He went to
+his cabin, prayed, and came up. There seemed still to be no hope. Again
+he went down and prayed, and again he appeared on deck with his quadrant
+in his hand. It was now ten minutes to twelve o'clock, and still there
+was no appearance of a change; but he stood on the deck, waiting upon
+the Lord, when, in a few minutes, the mist seemed to be folded up and
+rolled away as by an omnipotent and invisible hand; the sun shown
+clearly from the blue vault of heaven, and there stood the man of prayer
+with the quadrant in his hand, but so awe-struck did he feel, and so
+"dreadful" was that place, that he could scarcely take advantage of the
+answer to his prayer. He, however, succeeded, although with trembling
+hands, and found, to his comfort, that all was well. But no sooner had
+he finished taking the observation than the mist rolled back over the
+heavens, and it began to drizzle as before.
+
+This story of prayer was received from the lips of the good Captain
+Crossby, who was so useful in the Ardrossan awakening; and he himself
+was the man who prayed and waited upon his God with the quadrant in his
+hand.
+
+
+THE FAITH OF DOROTHEA TRUDEL.
+
+
+The life of Dorothea Trudel has afforded some remarkable instances of
+answer to prayer; during the years 1850 to 1860, at the Swiss village of
+Männedorf, near the Lake of Zurich, and that of Molltingen, were seen
+and witnessed, cases of cure in response to unyielding faith in the
+promises of the Lord.
+
+Dorothea Trudel was a worker in flowers, and in time came to have many
+workers under her, and when she was about thirty-seven years of age,
+four or five of her workers fell sick. The sickness resisted all
+treatment, grew worse, appeared to be hopeless. She was a deep, earnest
+Christian, and while diligent and unselfish as a nun, yet her anxiety
+for her work people drew her to earnest prayer and study of the
+Scriptures for relief. Like a sudden light, she says, the well known
+prayer of the Epistle of James, 5: 14, 15, flashed upon her.
+
+"If medical skill was unavailing, was there not prayer? And could not
+the same Lord who chose to heal through medicines, also heal without
+them? Was he necessarily restricted to the one means? There was a time
+when his healing power went forth directly; might it not be put forth
+directly still?"
+
+Agitated by these questions, she sought help in prayer, and then
+kneeling by the bedside of these sick people, she prayed for them. They
+recovered; and the thought that at first had startled her, became now
+the settled conviction of her life.
+
+Her reputation spread; others who were sick, came to her for relief, but
+she sought only the recovery of the patients by prayer alone. Many
+recovered. Her doors were besieged, and at last she consented to receive
+invalids at her home, from compassion. By degrees her own house grew
+into three, and at last it became in fact a hospital.
+
+She lived a life of humility, and perfect simplicity, yet strength of
+faith, and at her death her work was, and still is, carried on by Mr.
+Zeller, who also has had marvelous successes in answer to prayer.
+
+
+REMARKABLE CURES.
+
+
+There have been gathered together in her biography, well authenticated
+cases of answer to prayer, when the patient was considered wholly
+incapable of help from medical skill.
+
+"There was one of a stiff knee, that had been, treated in vain by the
+best physicians in France, Germany and Switzerland; one of an elderly
+man who could not walk, and had been given up by his physicians, but who
+soon dispensed with his crutches; a man came with a burned foot, and the
+surgeons said it was a case of '_either amputation or death_' and he
+also was cured; one of the leading physicians of Wurtemburg, testifies
+to the cure of a hopeless patient of his own; another remained six
+weeks, and says he saw all kinds of sicknesses healed; cancers and
+fevers have been treated with success; epilepsy and insanity more
+frequently than any other form of disease.
+
+"Neither is the life and experience of Dorothea Trudel an exceptional
+one. Pastor Blumenhart of Wurtemberg, has had his home crowded for years
+with patients, and cures occur constantly.
+
+"The mother of Dorothea Trudel was an eminently pious woman, and it was
+her custom, when any of her children were ill, to bring them in prayer
+before the feet of the Heavenly Physician, as Dorothea herself says:
+'Our mother had no cure except prayer, and though at that time we did
+not understand, yet since then we have found it out, that it was the
+healing hand of the Saviour alone, that helped and restored us.'"
+
+
+CURED OF THE SMALL-POX.
+
+
+"Even when I had the small-pox, and became blind, no doctor was sent
+for, and no one was told of it. Our father was not at home (he, father,
+most unfortunately, was not a religious person); and when our mother
+asked him to come, telling him how ill I was, he would not believe it,
+and preferred to remain with his friends. Our mother, however, was not
+in the least vexed or excited; she prayed for him, for all of us,
+especially for her sick child, and before my father came home, my eyes
+were re-opened."
+
+
+CURED OF SEVERE FITS.
+
+
+"Once again, one of my brothers had a fit brought on through fright. It
+was a most violent and painful attack, and we were greatly alarmed. This
+time, also, our father was out; and our mother said to us, I know this
+fearful illness, my children; it is one of the heaviest trials which
+could have, occurred, but Jesus, who cured that lunatic boy, can heal
+our child. Do not speak of the attack to any one; we will go only to
+Jesus about it; and then she prayed with us.
+
+"Not long after, a second fit came on, and again our father was taking
+his pleasure at the public house. This time mother told him what had
+happened in his absence; but he laughed at it, and said, 'I don't
+believe it; you were frightened at the child having bad dreams.'
+
+"His wife replied, 'For the sake of your unbelief, I hope that the child
+will have another attack whilst you are at home, so that you may witness
+it yourself, then you will believe; I pray God, however, that this may
+be the last time.'
+
+"It came to pass about a week after, that another most dreadful fit came
+on; the boy foamed violently, and threw himself about in fearful
+convulsions; on this occasion the father was present, and he was
+convinced of the nature of the attack, and alarmed at what he saw. _But
+the mother's prayer was heard, for the disease never showed itself again
+for thirty-four years, while both parents lived_."
+
+
+BUYING A COW.
+
+
+"Our father going away abroad, he sold one of our two cows, and took the
+proceeds with him. (He, the father, was a reckless spendthrift, idle,
+and fond of the public inn.) A rich neighbor directly offered to loan us
+money enough to buy another; this kind proposal we gratefully accepted.
+Although we did not understand much about bargains of this kind, yet the
+cow we purchased served us so remarkably, that we were obliged to
+acknowledge whence the blessing came. In Summer we could sell fourteen
+measures of milk; in Winter, twelve to the dairyman, so that the
+borrowed money was speedily paid.
+
+"At the same time the cow performed the farm work required of it, with
+such strength and quickness, we were astonished. When our father, on his
+return, heard us speaking with pleasure of this animal, he became so
+enraged with the poor thing, that he was determined to sell it, and
+actually _offered it at half its value_.
+
+"The faithless children were in a continual fright. When any one came
+near the house, we thought that we were assuredly going to lose our cow.
+But mother exhorted us not to be so fearful; for, said she, 'If your
+father could do always as he likes, none of you would be alive now; but
+God will never let him go any farther than he sees to be for our good.
+Believe me, God, who has given us this cow, will keep it for us as long
+as we need it.'
+
+"And so it turned out, for the cow never left us whilst our mother was
+alive; and when we were all provided for, a purchaser came, who paid a
+high price for the creature, having heard of its wonderful powers from
+the man to whom we sold the milk for so many years; but no sooner was
+the animal taken to its new home, than the wonder ceased, and _this cow
+became no better than any other_."
+
+
+A LADY CURED, WHO HAD BEEN REJECTED FROM AN ASYLUM.
+
+
+"Madam M----, the mother of twelve children, had been quite shattered in
+mind by the death of her husband, and had been actually sent away
+uncured from an asylum. She came to Dorothea's home, was blessed in
+remembrance in her prayers, _and after seven weeks went away perfectly
+cured_. She acknowledged the Lord was indeed her helper, and she has
+remained well to this day."
+
+
+THE SOUL CURED AS WELL AS THE BODY.
+
+
+On many occasions she experienced wonderful help from God, who, while
+performing marvels for the body, which is the least important part,
+accomplishes what is far greater, even the salvation of souls.
+
+"Among others, one named B. T----, went to her, who had been suffering
+for six months from a disease of his bones, and had been for a
+lengthened period in a Swiss hospital, under medical treatment. At
+length he, by the advice of Christian friends, sought for relief from
+his malady at Dorothea's house. His care began in the first week of his
+visit, and in a few weeks he was completely recovered."
+
+On one occasion a young artisan came, in whom cancer had made such
+progress as to render any approach to him almost unbearable.
+
+"At the Bible lessons, this once frivolous man, now an earnest inquirer,
+learned where the improvement must begin; and from the day that he
+confessed his sins against God and man, the disease abated. Some time
+afterwards he acknowledged one sin he had hitherto concealed, and then
+he speedily recovered his bodily health, and returned to his home cured
+in spirit also."
+
+"A lady in S---- had so injured her knee by a fall, that for weeks she
+lay in the greatest agony. The doctors declared that dropsy would
+supervene; but the Heavenly Physician fulfilled those promises which
+will abide until the end of the world; and by prayer, and the laying on
+of Dorothea's hand, the knee was cured in twenty-four hours, and the
+swelling vanished."
+
+
+PRAYER, NOT MESMERISM.
+
+
+"Several people have maintained that her work was one of mesmerism; and
+when once she was asked to visit an out patient, she earnestly implored
+the Lord _not_ to heal this invalid through her means if she employed
+mesmerism; but if not, to permit recovery. The woman was cured in a
+short time, though Dorothea had never entered her house, and had,
+therefore, no opportunity of placing herself in a mesmeric relation to
+this patient."
+
+
+HELP IN PECUNIARY AFFAIRS.
+
+
+"In pecuniary affairs, also, the Lord was their helper. Many times
+something had to be paid, and they had no means wherewith to meet the
+claims. Once, God actually sent aid by means of an enemy, who offered
+money; another time, _three thousand francs_ came from Holland, just as
+they were needed, and also unexpected on a third occasion they were
+about to borrow money to pay for bread, when two hundred and fifty
+francs arrived."
+
+
+THE FAITH LIFE OF MR. ZELLER.
+
+
+After the death of Dorothea Trudel, the work at Männedorf, instituted by
+her, has been furthered and carried on by Mr. Samuel Zeller, who had
+been her associate. He has published two reports, which contain many
+instances of answers to prayer, showing that the Lord still gave blessed
+results, and rewarded their faithful trust.
+
+"No disease is found to be more obstinate than epilepsy, yet several
+instances are recorded of patients being restored to perfect health.
+Persons afflicted with mental disorder and convulsions are frequently
+brought to Männedorf, and many return cured or benefited.
+
+"On one occasion, a lady who had been afflicted with constant headache
+for five years, found her disorder removed speedily under the influence
+of prayer. In other cases the passion for strong drink was taken away;
+fever more or less disappeared; and the subjects of various kinds of
+chronic diseases, even some apparently far gone in consumption, have
+found their strength return to them under the same influence.
+
+"Unhappy victims of spiritualist delusions have found deliverance at the
+mercy-seat; and there, too, many in the bondage of sin have rejoiced in
+a present Saviour.
+
+"One patient afflicted with convulsions, who came several years
+successively without being cured, at last confessed that she possessed a
+book of 'charms' in which she put some degree of, faith, and she had
+recommended them to others. She was led to see the folly and sin of such
+things, and soon after the book was burned she was restored to health."
+
+Many cases have occurred where the suffering patient was utterly unable
+to come to Männedorf, but prayer has been offered there in their behalf,
+and the answers have been as frequent as with the cases which have come
+under the same roof.
+
+"A brother living at R---- was seized with a violent fever, and appeared
+to be at death's door. Intelligence having been sent to Männedorf,
+united prayer was made in his behalf; and very soon afterwards a
+telegraphic message announced that he was recovering. On this occasion
+the promise was remembered with joy,' Before they call I will answer.'"
+
+"Perhaps one of the most striking cases of blessing recorded is that of
+a lady, who was subject to fits of insanity so violent that they
+threatened her life, and who was so far conscious of her miserable
+condition, that happening to go into a meeting where she heard God's
+word, she requested to be prayed for. A friend wrote to Männedorf,
+describing the case, and asking prayer on her behalf; and only a
+fortnight later, the same friend communicated the happy news of her
+recovery. After a fit of unusual severity, she fell into a deep sleep,
+from which she awoke in her right mind; more than that, she learned to
+believe in the _Lord Jesus_, and rejoiced in His love."
+
+"A patient in this institution, who arrived unconverted, and was thought
+to be in a dying state, heard the good news of Salvation, and was
+enabled to rejoice in the Lord, through simple trust in Him; and from
+that moment she began to rapidly recover from her disorder, and soon
+became strong enough to nurse another patient."
+
+Another remarkable case was that of a young girl who, in consequence of
+the breaking off of a marriage engagement, manifested decided symptoms
+of insanity. She not only recovered from her malady, but found the
+Saviour.
+
+
+THE BLIND RESTORED TO SIGHT.
+
+
+Prayer was asked for a young lady who was wholly blind. A letter
+received soon after brought this joyful news:
+
+"In answer to your prayer for our niece, I must thankfully tell you, her
+eyes are so much better that the Doctor this morning told her to thank
+God for having saved her from the most dangerous kind of cataract.
+
+"While examining her eyes, the Doctor, who is a Jew, took up a book
+lying near, and opening it told her to try and read, which she was able
+to do with ease. It was a hymn book, and the first words on which her
+eyes fell were these:
+
+    'Christ Jesus, glorious King of Light,
+      Great Conqueror, David's heir,
+    Come now and give my blind eyes sight,
+      O Saviour, hear my prayer!'
+
+"'That will do,' said the Doctor, 'you are much better.'
+
+"I for my part hastened to my chamber, and shutting the door fell on my
+knees with a cry of joyful praise."
+
+Threats were made by many of the villagers that they would burn up the
+house for this institution, saying all manner of unreasonable things.
+"You can not prevent this by prayer," said one writer, "we have taken an
+oath to do it." Mr. Zeller remained quiet, taking no notice of these
+threats, but quietly trusted in the Lord. Though other anonymous letters
+came frequently, yet the threats were never carried out.
+
+It will he seen from this that, blessed as was the work of faith, still
+the spirit of persecution was permitted by the Lord only to make his own
+children rely more confidently on Him, and that he might fulfill more
+positively his promise, "_No evil shall befall thee, no harm come nigh
+thy dwelling_."
+
+
+THE BANK OF FAITH. GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR.
+
+
+Perhaps the providence of God in supplying the wants of the poor never
+was more closely watched and better described than has been done by the
+late William Huntington, formerly a minister in London, England, who, in
+a book with the quaint title of the "Bank of Faith," tells how, in his
+course of life, day by day the Lord guarded him, helped him, and
+provided for every need, even the most trifling. It is a precious record
+of faith and full of true encouragement. He answers as follows this
+question: "_Should we fray for temporal blessings?_"
+
+"Some have affirmed that we have no warrant to pray for temporal
+blessings, but, blessed be God, he has given us '_the promise of the
+life that now is, and of that which is to come_.' Yea, the promise of
+all things pertaining to life and Godliness, and whatever God has
+promised we may warrantably pray for.
+
+"Those that came to our Saviour in the days of his flesh, prayed chiefly
+for temporal mercies. The blind prayed for sight, the lepers for a cure,
+the lame far the use of their limbs, and the deaf for the use of their
+ears, and surely had they prayed unwarrantably, their prayers would not
+have been so miraculously answered.
+
+"Elijah prayed for a temporal mercy when he prayed for rain, and it is
+clear that God answered him. Elisha works a miracle to produce a
+temporal mercy when he healed the barren plains of Jericho."
+
+Is my reader a poor Christian? Take it patiently. God maketh the poor as
+well as the rich. Envy not the rich. Riches are often seen to be a
+canker-worm at the root of a good man's comfort, a snare in his life, an
+iron pillar at the back of his pride. A gar prayed to be fed with food
+convenient for him, and you may pray for the same, and what God gives
+you in answer to your prayer you will be thankful for.
+
+That state is surely best which keeps you dependent on God and thankful
+to Him, and so you shall find it to the end. _Go on, poor Christian,
+trusting in the providence of God_.
+
+
+THE LIFE OF HIS CHILD SAVED.
+
+
+"My eldest daughter now living fell sick at about five or six months
+old, and was wasted to a skeleton. She had a doctor to attend her, but
+she got worse and worse. It seemed as if God intended to bereave us of
+her, for he brought her even to death's door.
+
+"My wife and I have sat up with her night after night, watching the
+cradle, expecting every breath to be her last, for two or three weeks
+together. At last I asked the Doctor if he thought there was any hope of
+her life. He answered, no, he would not flatter me. _She would surely
+die_.
+
+"This distressed me beyond measure, and as he told me to do no more for
+her, I left my room, went to my garden in the evening, and, in my little
+tool house, wrestled hard with God in prayer for the life of the child.
+
+"I went home satisfied that God had heard me; _and in three days the
+child was as well as she is now_, and ate as heartily. This effectually
+convinced me that all things were possible with God."
+
+
+GOD SENT SUPPLIES.
+
+
+"When I had been three weeks out of employment, I found a new place, and
+after pawning all my best clothes to pay expenses, when the cart set us
+down at the new home on Monday morning, I had the total sum of _ten
+pence half-penny left,_ to provide for myself, my wife and child, till
+the ensuing Saturday night.
+
+"Though I was thus poor, yet I knew God had made me rich in faith. We
+went on our knees beseeching the Almighty to send relief, as he in his
+wisdom thought proper.
+
+"The next evening my landlord's daughter, and son-in-law, came up to see
+their mother, and brought some baked meat, which they had just taken out
+of their oven, and brought for me and my wife to sup along with them.
+
+"These poor people knew nothing of us, nor of our God. The next day in
+the evening they did the same, and kept sending victuals and garden
+stuff to us all the week long."
+
+
+THE GOD WHO SUPPLIED ELIJAH BY A RAVEN SUPPLIED ME WITH FISH.
+
+
+One of the most beautiful instances ever known, which almost identically
+repeats the Bible over again, especially in the instance of Elijah as he
+was fed in an unseen way by the hand of God, is given in the life of Mr.
+Huntington. He was wholly unable to provide for his family, and could
+depend only on God.
+
+"As I went over a bridge, I cast my eye on the right-hand side, and
+there lay a _very large eel_ on the mud by the river side, apparently
+dead. I caught hold of it and soon found it was only asleep. With
+difficulty I got it safe out of the mud upon the grass, and then carried
+it home. My little one was very fond of it, and it richly supplied all
+her wants that day. But at night I was informed the eel was all gone, so
+the next day afforded me the same distress and trouble as the preceding
+day had done.
+
+"The next morning, as I entered the garden gate, I saw a _partridge_ lie
+dead on the walk. I took it up and found it warm; so I carried it home,
+and it richly supplied the table of our little one that day.
+
+"Again the next day still found me unprovided, and brought forth fresh
+work for faith and prayer. However, the morrow took thought for the
+things of itself, for when I came to take the scythe in my hand to mow
+the short grass, I looked into the pond, and there I saw three very
+large carp lying on the water apparently sick. When the master came I
+told him of it. He went and looked and said they were dead, and told me
+I might have them if I would, for they were not in season. However, they
+came in due season to me. _And I found, morning after morning, there lay
+two or three of these fish at a time, dead, just as I wanted them, till
+I believe there was not one live fish remaining, six inches long, in the
+pond, which was near three hundred feet in length._
+
+"I could not help weeping, admiring the goodness of God. As I studied
+the Bible, I clearly perceived that the most eminent saints of the Bible
+were brought into _low_ circumstances, as Jacob, David, Moses, Joseph,
+Job and Jeremiah, and all the apostles, in order that the hand of
+providence might be watched."
+
+
+GOD TAKES AWAY THE SNOW.
+
+
+"In the Winter the Lord sent a very deep snow, which lay a considerable
+time on the ground. We were brought into great straits, as our wheat was
+now of no use to us, and we could obtain no wood, the landlady saying
+that as the snow was likely to last some time, she must keep what little
+she had left, and could sell us no more.
+
+"There was before us the fear of great suffering with the cold. I begged
+of God that he might _that night take away the snow_, and send us
+something to burn, that our little one might not perish with the cold,
+_and the next morning the snow was all gone_."
+
+
+SIGHT RESTORED.
+
+
+"A violent humor came into my eyes, and for some months I was in danger
+of losing my sight. Both myself and my second daughter had it more or
+less for several years.
+
+"In answer to prayer, God healed her eyes and mine too, so that our
+sight was perfectly recovered."
+
+
+PRAYING FOR TEA.
+
+
+"As the life of faith consists in bearing the cross of Christ, we must
+not expect to be long without trials. Providence soon frowned on me
+again, and I got behindhand, as usual.
+
+"This happened at a time when my wife was about delivery of child, and
+we were destitute of those necessaries of life which are needful at such
+times. The nurse came: we told her there was no tea in the house. My
+wife replied, '_Set the kettle on, even if there is not_.'
+
+"The nurse said, '_You have no tea, nor can you get any_.' My wife
+replied, '_Set on the kettle_.' She did so, and before it boiled, a
+woman (with whom at that time we had no acquaintance) came to the door,
+and told the nurse that she had brought some tea as a present for my
+wife."
+
+
+THE LORD PAID HIS DEBT.
+
+
+"It was the time of my returning from the north country. I observed that
+there were some small debts to be discharged. But the hand of God was
+fast closed; this continued for some time: and for all that time, I
+watched and observed narrowly.
+
+"At this time there was a special debt due of twenty pounds. This sum
+hung long. I looked different ways, and chalked out different roads for
+the Almighty to walk in; but his paths were in the deep waters, and his
+footsteps were not known; no raven came, neither in the morning, nor in
+the evening.
+
+"There was a gentlewoman at my house on a visit, and I asked her if she
+had got the sum of twenty pounds in her pocket, telling her at the same
+time how much I wanted it. She told me she had not; if she had, I should
+have it. A few hours after, the same woman was coming into my study, but
+she found it locked, and knocked at the door; I let her in, and she
+said, 'I am sorry I disturbed you.' I replied, 'You do not disturb me; I
+have been begging a favor of God, and I had just done when you knocked;
+and that favor I have now got in faith, and shall shortly have in hand,
+and you will see it.'"
+
+"The afternoon of the same day, two gentlemen out of the city came to
+see me; and after a few hours of conversation, they left me, and to my
+great surprise, each of them at parting put a letter into my hand,
+which, when they were gone, _I opened, and found a ten pound note in
+each_. I immediately sent for the woman up-stairs, and let her read the
+letters, and then sent the money to pay the debt."
+
+It is impossible to give in this page any large portion of the life of
+Mr. Huntington, who was rich in faith, and upon whom God showered
+abundant answers to prayer. But, like all of us, he, too, suffered
+extremely in all the necessities of life, yet ever looked to God above
+for help. Of his experience, he says in his own words, after having for
+years thoroughly tested the promises and faithfulness of God:
+
+"_A succession of crosses was always followed with perpetual blessings,
+for as sure as adversity led the van, so sure prosperity brought up the
+rear_.
+
+"_Never, no never, did the Holy Spirit withhold his prevalent
+intercession from, me in times of trouble, nor did my God ever turn a
+deaf ear to my prayer, or fail to deliver me_."
+
+"_Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him
+out of them all_."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+THE FAITH OF LITTLE CHILDREN.
+
+
+HOW GOD HONORS THEIR TRUST, AND ANSWERS THEIR PRAYERS.
+
+
+GOD KEEPS HOLD OF THE OTHER HAND.
+
+
+A little boy with his mother was returning from a visit; the night was
+very dark, and little could be seen ahead. She led her little boy, by
+the hand, who trustingly walked by her side. He had only just begun to
+learn and remember the stories of the Bible, and he believed and trusted
+everything he heard. After walking for sometime in the darkness, very
+silently, he burst out with,
+
+"Mamma, I'm not afraid."
+
+"Why, what makes you feel so."
+
+"_Because, mamma, God keeps hold of the other hand_."
+
+This is the beautiful lesson older ones, too, must learn, the simple,
+childlike confidence in God, which gives no fear, no alarm.
+
+The skeptic can never accuse little children of the same theories,
+philosophies, imaginations and beliefs which are characteristic of older
+heads. The child knows nothing of such books of reason, science or
+religion. Many a child who could not read has asked of God and his
+prayer has been answered; and when the whole world witnesses a little
+child, who in its innocence has been told that God lives, that God loves
+him, that God can do everything and will surely hear his prayer, and
+then in its care and grief, kneels before the God it trusts, offers its
+little prayer, _and the prayer is answered_, let none of maturer minds
+ever presume to doubt. The faith of little children is typical of the
+very simplest faith wherewith any human being must approach its Creator.
+The child never questions, never doubts; but in its simplicity asks, and
+God honors the trust. The following incident illustrates the point,
+_that not one thing is ere too small for God to consider, or a soul to
+bring to him in prayer_.
+
+
+A CHILD WHOSE LIFE WAS SAVED IN ANSWER TO PRAYER--BY HIS OWN PRAYER THE
+LIFE OF HIS SISTER IS SAVED.
+
+
+One of the most beautiful incidents ever known relating to the faith of
+children, and the reward of their trust, is contained in the following
+circumstance, personally known to the editor of this book, who was a
+participant in the facts.
+
+The only child of a young married couple, living in this city, their
+pride, their hope and joy, and the darling of the whole family, was
+seized with severe sickness, grew rapidly worse. The grandfather, who
+was a skilled physician, was constantly present, ministering in every
+way, by every means, but nothing was of any avail. No medicine could
+cure, and the child seemed ready to die. No one could think of relief or
+knew where to find it. The grandfather, at last, proposed to lay the
+case before God, and ask the prayers of His people in the child's
+behalf. The mother was only too glad to ask other prayers with her own,
+to bring relief. The father, who had hitherto never seriously thought of
+religion, was in intense anxiety and despair. Here was his first, his
+only child about to be taken away from him, and then came the thought,
+is it possible his family life was not to be blessed; his child was in
+distress, no human effort was available. At last, he too joined in the
+prayer of his wife and father, and bowing before the Great Unknown,
+unseen God, he poured out his heart in prayer, saying, "_Lord, if thou
+wilt spare my child, wilt give him life, and thus show to me thy power
+and will to save, I will never doubt again, and will give thee my
+heart"_
+
+A request for prayer was written and sent to the pastor, Dr. William
+Adams, of the Madison Square Church. It arrived after church service had
+begun; the sexton was unwilling to carry it to the pulpit, as it was
+against the rule, but when told he _must, as a life was in great
+danger_, he consented, and delivered it to the pastor.
+
+The messenger waited breathlessly, and when in silence the doctor
+specifically mentioned the case before him, and asked the Lord to heal
+and spare the little one, and comfort the hearts of all, and make it a
+witness of his love and power, the messenger accidentally looked at the
+clock, and it marked just _quarter to eleven_, A.M.
+
+When prayer was finished he returned home. Arriving at home, he was
+astonished to find the child better, its whole condition had changed,
+the medicine had taken hold, and the doctor now said everything was so
+hopeful the child would surely recover, and it did. But mark the
+unparalleled singularity of the scene. The father asked the messenger
+the _time_ when the prayer was offered. He replied, "At a _quarter to
+eleven."_ The father in astonishment said, "_At that very moment_ the
+disease changed, and the doctor said he was better."
+
+The father, who had thus been proving the Lord with this test of prayer
+and its identity of time in his answer, was so overwhelmingly convinced
+of the real power of prayer, and thereby of the real existence of God,
+and that a Christian life was one of facts as well as beliefs, now
+finding that the Lord had indeed kept His own promise, he, too, kept his
+promise and gave his heart to the Lord, and became henceforth, a
+professing Christian.
+
+But there were more wonderful things yet to happen--a period of five
+years passed. Other children were added to the family, and one day, the
+youngest, a sweet, beautiful girl, was taken suddenly ill with
+convulsions. The sickness for days tasked the strength of the mother,
+and the skill of the doctor, but no care, ingenuity, or knowledge could
+overcome the disease or subdue the pain. The little girl's fits were
+severe and distressing, and there were but short intervals between, just
+time to come out of one and with a gasp, pass into another still more
+terrible. In its occasional moments of reason, it would look piteously
+as if mutely appealing, and then the next convulsion would take it and
+seem to leave it just at death's door.
+
+All attendants were worn with care, the doctor fairly lived in the house
+and forsook all his other business. The clergyman came and comforted the
+anxious hearts with words of sympathy and prayer; but her _little
+brother Merrill_, (whose own life we have just related,) tender-hearted,
+a mere child, scarce seven years of age, who had known of the Lord, and
+who believed that He was everywhere and could do everything, was
+intensely grieved at "Mamie's" distress, and came at last to his mother
+and asked if he could go and "_make a prayer to God for Sissy_." The
+mother said, "Go." The little boy went back into his room, and kneeling
+humbly by the side of his bed, as he did at his night and morning
+prayers, uttered this request:
+
+_"O God, please to bless little sister, she is very sick. Please stop
+her fits so she won't have any more. For Jesus' sake, amen."_
+
+He came back, told his mamma what he said, and added: "_Mamma, I don't
+think she will have any more_."
+
+Now mark how the Lord honored this simple faith of the little child.
+_From that very moment the fits left her. They never returned; and the
+child soon entirely recovered_.
+
+Notice the full beauty and instruction of these two incidents: _Little
+Merrill's life was saved in answer to prayer; was the means of his
+father's salvation, and when he in turn had grown to an age when he
+could learn of God, his own prayer was the means of saving his own
+sister's life_.
+
+Notice, too, that all earthly available means were used to save each
+child, but to no effect. Physicians and parents considered the case
+hopeless, and then committed it to the decision of God.
+
+Notice, too, that when little Merrill was so sick, that the mother and
+doctor both prayed, yet it was not until his father had also prayed that
+the answer came. God meant to honor the faith of the first two, but was
+_waiting for the prayer of the third_ ere he granted the request. That
+child's sickness was one of the purposes of God. Notice in the second
+case, that while father, mother, doctor, the clergyman, and others of
+the house were all trusting in prayer, yet the Lord _was waiting for the
+prayer of the little brother_, ere he sent the blessing of relief. Such
+an incident draws its own conclusion. _Never cease in prayer for
+anything which is to God's honor and glory. Use all the possible means
+to help God. Where human means are of no avail, commit it to God and
+wait in humble resignation. Ask others to pray, too, for the same
+object_, that when the answer comes, God may be glorified before the
+sight of others as well as your own. When so many are waiting to see if
+_God_ will honor his promises, depend upon it, _God will be found
+faithful to all his word_.
+
+
+TRUSTING IN GOD'S PROMISES.
+
+
+"It was a fierce, wild night in March, and the blustering wind was
+blowing, accompanied by the sharp, sleety snow. It was very desolate
+without, but still more desolate within the home I am going to describe
+to you. The room was large and almost bare, and the wind whistled
+through the cracks in the most dismal manner. In one corner of the room
+stood an old-fashioned bedstead upon which a woman lay, her emaciated
+form showing her to be in the last stage of consumption. A low fire
+burned in the large fire-place, and before it a little girl was
+kneeling. She had a small testament, and was trying by the dim
+fire-light to read a chapter, as was her custom, before going to bed. A
+faint voice called to her from the bed, 'Nellie, my daughter, read the
+14th chapter of St. John for your Mother.' 'Yes, Mother,' was the reply,
+and after turning the leaves a few moments, the child began. All that
+long Winter day that poor mother had been tortured with pain and
+remorse. She was poor, very poor, and she knew she must die and leave
+her child to the mercies of the world. Her husband had died several
+years before. Since then she had struggled on, as best she could, till
+now she had almost grown to doubt God's promises to the helpless. 'In my
+Father's house are many mansions.' 'I go to prepare a place for you.'
+Here the little reader paused, and crept to her mother's side. She lay
+motionless, with closed eyes, while great hot tears were stealing down
+her wasted cheeks. 'Mother, He has a place almost ready for you, hasn't
+He.' 'Yes, my child, and I am going very soon, but _He_ will watch over
+you, Nellie, when Mother has gone to her last home.'
+
+"The weeks went slowly by to the suffering invalid; but when the violets
+were blooming, they made a grave upon the hillside, and laid the weary
+body down to rest, but the spirit had gone to the home which Christ
+himself had gone to prepare.
+
+"Years passed away. It was sunny May. The little church of Grenville was
+crowded. I noticed in one of the seats a lady plainly but neatly
+attired. There was nothing remarkable in the face with its mournful
+brown eyes, and decided looking mouth and chin. I ransacked my memory to
+find who the lady was. Suddenly a vision of the poor widow came. This,
+then, was the little girl, little Nellie Mason. 'We will read a part of
+the 14th chapter of St. John,' the minister said. 'In my Father's house
+are many mansions; I go to prepare a place for you.' The slow,
+deliberate tones recalled me from my reverie, and I looked at Nellie.
+Her head was bowed, but I could see the tears flowing like rain."
+
+
+THE FAITH OF A LITTLE CHILD.
+
+
+An incident most beautiful was told in the Fulton Street prayer meeting
+by a converted Jew.
+
+"Journeying in the cars, I was attracted by two little girls, Jewesses.
+I asked them if they loved Jesus. To my surprise, they said they did. I
+found that their mother was in a seat near by. She had attended some of
+the gospel meetings for Jews, and was interested in them. She said her
+husband had not been to church or synagogue for eleven years, and she
+did not know his views on religion. Her two little girls had attended a
+Methodist Sunday school, and there learned of Jesus. A day or so after,
+the mother was taken very sick, and remedies failing, the eldest child,
+a little over eight years old, said: 'O Mamma, if you will let me pray
+to Jesus for you, He can take away your pains and give you sleep.' She
+knelt with her sister and prayed in simple words to Jesus to heal her
+mother, telling Him that He had so promised to hear prayer. Shortly
+after, the mother, after long hours of restlessness and suffering, fell
+into a deep sleep and awoke relieved of pain and much refreshed. She
+heard from her daughter's lips the story of her faith in Jesus and love
+for Him, and then sent for me, begging me to pray for her. I am glad to
+tell you that she is now a converted woman, a believer in the Lord Jesus
+Christ."
+
+
+THE WANDERER FOUND.
+
+
+A mother sent a request for prayer to the Fulton Street prayer-meeting,
+that she might hear from him who had long ago left home, and wandered
+far away. She had been praying very earnestly for him, and soon she
+wrote that she had just heard from him, and heard too that he had become
+a Christian and learned to trust in Him.
+
+
+ARE YOU THERE.
+
+
+A mother, one morning, gave her two little ones books and toys to amuse
+them while she went up-stairs to attend to something. A half hour passed
+quietly away, and then one of the little ones went to the foot of the
+stairs, and in a timid voice called out, "Mamma, are you there?"
+
+"Yes, darling."
+
+"All right," said the little one, and-went on with her play. By-and-by
+the question was repeated, "Mamma, are you there?"
+
+"Yes, darling."
+
+"All right," said the child again, and once more went on with her play.
+And this is just the way we should feel towards Jesus. He has gone
+up-stairs, to the right hand of God, to attend to some things for us. He
+has left us down in this lower room of this world to be occupied here
+for a while. But to keep us from being worried by fear or care, He
+speaks to us from His word, as that mother spoke to her little ones. He
+says to us, "Fear not; I am with thee. I will never leave thee, nor
+forsake thee." "The Lord will provide."
+
+And so we see how certain it is that God does provide relief in trouble
+for those who love and serve Him.
+
+
+GOD KNOWS THE BOTTOM OF THE BARREL.
+
+
+"Mother, I think God always hears when we scrape the bottom of the
+barrel," said a little boy to his mother one day. His mother was poor.
+They often used up their last stick of wood and their last bit of bread
+before they could tell where the next supply was to come from. But they
+had so often been provided for in unexpected ways, just when they were
+most in need, that the little boy thought _God always heard when they
+scraped the bottom of the barrel_. This was only that little fellow's
+way of saying what Abraham said when he called the name of the place
+where God had delivered him, "Jehovah-Jireh."
+
+
+GOD'S CARE FOR LITTLE CHILDREN IN LITTLE WANTS.
+
+
+"I was early taught that God cares for His children, even to regard
+their _little_ daily wants. An illustration of my implicit confidence,
+which I do not remember ever to have been betrayed, occurred when I was
+about ten years of age. I was accustomed to give five cents each Sabbath
+at the Sunday School collection for foreign missions. This money was not
+given me directly by my parents; but I was allowed to go on an errand,
+or to do some little piece of work for a neighbor and thus earn it,
+outside of the performance of the duties that naturally fell to my lot
+at home. At one time, when I was attending school about a mile from
+home, my time out of school was taken up by my walk to and from it and
+the chores which necessarily fall to a farmer's boy, so that for some
+months I had no opportunity of earning anything. One Sabbath morning, I
+dropped my last silver piece into the collection, with a prayer--which I
+always offered at such a time--that God would bless it to the heathen,
+that some one might be led to Him by it.
+
+"I went home that day with a child's anxiety, feeling that I could not
+bear the thought of giving nothing for the heathen on next Sabbath, and
+yet not seeing how I could possibly obtain it. That night I asked my
+Heavenly Father to provide the money for me. The anxiety was all gone;
+for I felt that God would answer. Next morning, when almost at the
+school-house, I found a handkerchief in the road, in the corner of which
+was securely tied a silver quarter and a silver dime. Instantly my
+thoughts flew to the next Sabbath, and to the prayer I had offered. O,
+yes! I thought, God has more than answered my prayer; instead of giving
+me just enough for next Sabbath, He has given me enough, for seven
+Sabbaths.
+
+Then the thought came, somebody lost it; yes, it was my duty to find the
+owner, which I did not expect would be difficult, although it was in
+town. So I cheerfully gave it up, thinking that 'the Lord will provide'
+in some other way. I took it directly to my teacher, and asked her to
+find the owner. She made faithful inquiry, but no one was found to claim
+it. Who can question this being an answer to prayer, when we think of
+the numerous _chances_ against its occurring just as it did."
+
+
+A CHILD'S PRAYER FOR PAPA.
+
+
+A drunkard, who had run through his property, returned one night to his
+unfurnished house. He entered his empty hall. Anguish was gnawing at his
+heart-strings, and language was inadequate to express his agony as he
+entered his wife's apartment, and there beheld the victims of his
+appetite, his loving wife and a darling child. Morose and sullen, he
+seated himself without saying a word; he could not speak; he could not
+look up then. The mother said to the little angel at her side, "Come, my
+child, it is time to go to bed;" and that little baby, as she was wont,
+knelt by her mother's lap and gazing wistfully into the face of her
+suffering parent, like a piece of chiseled statuary, slowly repeated her
+nightly orison. When she had finished, the child (but four years of age)
+said to her mother, "Dear Mother, may I not offer up one more prayer?"
+"Yes, yes, my sweet pet, pray;" and she lifted up her tiny hands, closed
+her eyes, and prayed: "O God! spare, oh! spare my dear papa!" That
+prayer was lifted with electric rapidity to the throne of God. It was
+heard on high--it was heard on earth. The responsive "Amen!" burst from
+the father's lips, and his heart of stone became a heart of flesh. Wife
+and child were both clasped to his bosom, and in penitence he said: "My
+child, you have saved your father from the grave of a drunkard. I'll
+sign the pledge!"
+
+
+A LITTLE QUAKER BOY'S PRAYER RIGHT OUT IN MEETING.
+
+
+A little Quaker boy, about six years old, after sitting, like the rest
+of the congregation, in silence, all being afraid to speak first, as he
+thought, got up on the seat, and, folding his arms over his breast,
+murmured in a clear, sweet voice, just loud enough to be distinctly
+heard on the front seat, "I do wish the Lord would make us all gooder,
+and gooder, and gooder, till there is no bad left."
+
+
+WHAT THE LITTLE CHILDREN MAY DO.
+
+
+At family prayer, little Mary, one evening when all was silent, looked
+anxiously in the face of her back-sliding father, who had ceased to pray
+in his family, and said to him with quivering lips, "Pa, is God dead?"
+
+"No, my child--why do you ask that?"
+
+"Why, Pa, you never talk to him now as you used to do," she replied.
+
+These words haunted the father until he was mercifully reclaimed.
+
+
+THE UNBELIEVING FATHER LED TO GO TO CHURCH.
+
+
+An unbelieving father came home one evening and asked where his little
+girl was. "She has gone to bed," said his wife. "I'll just go and give
+her one kiss," said the father, for he loved his little daughter dearly.
+As he stood at the door of her bedroom, he heard some one praying. It
+was his little Jane, and he heard her say, "Do, God Almighty, please
+lead daddy to hear Mr. Stowell preach."
+
+She had often asked him to go, and he had always said, "No, no, my
+child." After listening to her prayer, he determined, the next time she
+asked him, to accompany her, which he did, and heard a sermon which took
+his attention and pricked his conscience. On leaving the church, he
+clasped the hand of his little girl in his, and said, "Jane, thy God
+shall be my God, and thy minister shall be my minister." And the man
+became a true follower of the Lord.
+
+
+A CHILD'S PRAYER FOR RELIEF
+
+
+An interesting little daughter of a professor in Danville, Kentucky, in
+the Summer of 1876, in eating a watermelon, got one of the seeds lodged
+in her windpipe. The effort was made to remove it, but proved
+ineffectual, and it was thought that the child would have to be taken to
+one of the large cities to have an operation performed by a skillful
+surgeon. To this she was decidedly opposed, and pleaded with her mamma
+to tell her if there was no other way of relief. Finally, in order to
+quiet her childish fears, her Christian mother told her to ask God to
+help her.
+
+The little one went into an adjoining room and offered her prayer to God
+to help her. Shortly thereafter she came running to her mamma with the
+seed in her hand, and her beautiful and intelligent face lighted up with
+joy. In response to the eager inquiry of the mother, the little one said
+that she had asked God to help her, and while she was praying she was
+taken with a severe cough, in which she threw up the seed.
+
+
+GOD'S CARE OVER HIS PEOPLE--THE PRAYING WIDOW
+
+
+A young widow with two children was living in the city of Berlin. She
+was a Christian woman, and trusted in Jehovah-Jireh to take care of her.
+One evening she had to be away for a while. During her absence a man
+entered her house for the purpose of robbing her. But "the Lord who
+provides" protected her from this danger in a very singular way. On
+returning to her home she found a note lying on her table, which read as
+follows:
+
+"Madam, I came here with the intention of robbing you, but the sight of
+this little room, with the religious pictures hanging around in it, and
+those two sweet-looking children quietly sleeping in their little bed,
+have touched my heart. I cannot take anything of yours. The small amount
+of money lying on your desk I leave untouched, and I take the liberty of
+adding fifty dollars besides." The Bible tells us that "the hearts of
+men are in the hands of God. and he turneth them as the rivers of waters
+are turned." He turned the heart of this robber from his wicked purpose,
+and in this way he protected the widow who trusted in him.
+
+
+GOD SAVED A FAMILY MERCIFULLY.
+
+
+One morning a Christian farmer, in Rhode Island, put two bushels of rye
+in his wagon and started to the mill to get it ground. On his way to the
+mill he had to drive over a bridge that had no railings to the sides of
+it. When he reached the middle of this bridge his horse, a quiet, gentle
+creature, began all at once to back. In spite of all the farmer could
+do, he kept on backing till the hinder wheels went over the side of the
+bridge, and the bag of grain was tipped out and fell into the stream.
+Then the horse stood still. Some men came to help the farmer. The wagon
+was lifted back and the bag of grain was fished up from the water. Of
+course it could not be taken to the mill in that state. So the farmer
+had to take it home and dry it. He had prayed that morning that God
+would protect and help him through the day, and he wondered what this
+accident had happened for. He found out, however, before long. On
+spreading out the grain to dry he noticed a great many small pieces of
+glass mixed up with it. If this had been ground up with the grain into
+the flour it would have caused the death of himself and his family. But
+Jehovah-Jireh was on that bridge. He made the horse back and throw the
+grain into the water to save the family from the danger that threatened
+them.
+
+
+A CHILD'S FAITH IN THE LORD'S PRAYER.
+
+
+About the 30th of July, 1864, the beautiful village of Chambersburgh was
+invaded and pillaged by the Confederate army. A superintendent of a
+Sabbath school, formerly resident in the South, but who had been obliged
+to flee to the North because of his known faithfulness to the national
+government, was residing there, knowing that if discovered by the
+Confederate soldiers, he would be in great peril of life, property and
+every indignity,--in the gray dawn of that memorable day, with his wife
+and two little girls, again on foot, he fled to the chain of mountains
+lying north-west of the doomed village.
+
+After remaining out for some days and nights, with no shelter but such
+as was afforded by the friendly boughs of large forest trees, and
+without food, they became nearly famished. At last, the head of the
+family, unable to endure the agony of beholding his wife and children
+starving to death before his face, and he not able to render the needed
+relief, withdrew to a place by himself, that he might not witness the
+sad death of his loved ones. With his back against a large oak, he had
+been seated only a short time, when his eldest little daughter, not
+quite ten years old, came to him and exclaimed:
+
+"_Father, father, I have found such a precious text in my little
+Testament, which I brought to the mountain with me, for very joy I could
+not stop to read it to mother, but hastened to you with it. Please
+listen while I read_." To which he said:
+
+"Yes, my child, read it. There is comfort to be found in the Scriptures.
+We will not long be together on earth, and there could be no better way
+of spending our last mortal hours." To which she replied:
+
+"O, father, I believe that we will not die at this time; that we will
+not be permitted to starve; that God will surely send us relief; but do
+let me read." Then opening her dear little volume, at the ninth verse of
+the sixth chapter of Matthew, she read as follows:
+
+"'_Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom
+come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; give us this day our
+daily bread.' O, father, to think that our dear Saviour Himself taught
+His disciples to pray for their daily bread. These are His own words. It
+is not possible, therefore, that He will allow any person to starve,
+who, in His own appointed language, asks Him for food. Will He not, dear
+father, hear our prayers for bread_?"
+
+At once and forever the scales fell from the eyes of that parent. With
+tears streaming down his cheeks, he clasped his child to his bosom, and
+earnestly repeated the Lord's Prayer. _He had scarcely finished it when
+a small dog ran to where he and his daughter were upon their knees, and
+barked so fiercely as to attract to the spot its owner, a wealthy
+Pennsylvania farmer,_ who was upon the mountain in search of cattle that
+he had lost for several days. The kind-hearted tiller of the soil
+immediately piloted the suffering family to his own comfortable home,
+and properly provided for their wants.
+
+
+A CHILD PRESERVED FROM WOLVES.
+
+
+A little girl only nine years old, named Sutherland, living at
+Platteville, Col., was recently saved from death by ferocious forest
+wolves as follows: The child went with her father on a cold afternoon to
+the woods to find the cattle, and was told to follow the calves home,
+while the father continued his search for the cows. She did so, but the
+calves misled her, and very soon she became conscious that she was lost.
+Night came on, and with it the cold of November and the dreaded wolves.
+With a strange calmness she continued on her uncertain way. The next
+day, Sunday, at 10 A.M., she reached, in her wanderings, the house of
+John Beebe, near a place called Evans, having traveled constantly
+eighteen hours, and a distance of not less than twenty-five miles. _All
+night the wolves growled around her, but harmed her not_; neither was
+she in the least frightened by them. All know that in ordinary cases
+fierce packs of blood-thirsty wolves would devour a man, and even a
+horse. But this little one was invincible in her trusting, simple faith.
+The narrative states: "She said that the wolves kept close to her heels
+and snapped at her feet; but her mother told her that if she was _good_
+the Lord would _always_ take care of her; so she asked the Lord to take
+care of her, and she knew the wolves would not hurt her, _because God
+wouldn't let them_!" The child was hunted for by a great number of
+people, and being found was restored shortly to her parents in perfect
+health and soundness.
+
+
+JESUS CURED ME.
+
+
+In the family of a missionary pastor in Kansas, was a daughter of twelve
+years of age, seriously afflicted with chronic rheumatism. For three
+years she suffered, until the leg was shrunken, stiff at the knee,
+shorter by some two inches than, the other, and the hip joint was being
+gradually drawn from its socket. The child read of Mrs. Miller's cure by
+prayer, originally published in _The Advance_, and wondered why she
+could not also be cured by the same means. She repeated to her mother
+some of the promised answers to prayer, and asked: "Don't Jesus mean
+what he says, and isn't it just as true now as then?" The mother
+endeavored to divert her attention by representing the affliction as a
+blessing. The physician also called and left another prescription, and
+encouraged the child to hope for benefit from it. The child could not,
+however, be diverted from the thought that Jesus could and would heal
+her. After the doctor's departure she said: "_Mamma, I cannot have that
+plaster put on."_
+
+"Why, dear."
+
+"_Because, mother, Jesus is going to cure me, and he must have all the
+glory. Dr. ---- doesn't believe in God; if we put the plaster on, he
+will say it was that which helped me; and it must be all Jesus_." So
+earnest was she, that her mother at length placed the package, just as
+she had received it, on a shelf, and said no more about it.
+
+The little girl and her mother were alone that day, the father being
+absent from home. When the household duties were done she called her
+mother to her.
+
+"Mother, will you pray now to Jesus to cure me_? I have got the faith; I
+know he will if you will ask him_." The mother, overcome, yielded to her
+daughter's request, and commenced praying. She was blest with unusual
+consciousness of the presence of God, and became insensible of all
+outward surroundings, pleading for the child. She remained in this state
+of intercession for more than an hour, when she was aroused by her
+daughter, who with her hand on the mother's shoulder was joyfully
+exclaiming, "_Mother, dear mother, wake up! Don't you see Jesus has
+cured me? O, I am well! I am all well!" and she danced about the room,
+literally healed._
+
+One week from that day, the girl was seen by the writer in the
+"_Advance,"_ who says she was _out sliding on the ice with her
+companions_. From that day to this she has had no further trouble; _the
+limb is full, round and perfect_; there is _no difference between it and
+the other_.
+
+To every question asked she replies, with the overflowing gratitude of a
+loving heart, "Jesus cured me!"
+
+
+THE LITTLE BOY WHO WANTED HIS SISTER TO READ THE BIBLE.
+
+
+Rev. Mr. Spurgeon, of London, tells of the excellent faith of a little
+boy in one of the schools of Edinburgh, who had attended a
+prayer-meeting, and at the last said to his teacher who conducted it:
+
+"Teacher, I wish my sister could be got to read the Bible; she never
+reads it."
+
+"Why, Johnny, should your sister read the Bible?"
+
+"Because if she once read it I am sure it would do her good, and she
+would he converted and saved."
+
+"Do you think so, Johnny?"
+
+"Yes, I do, sir; and I wish the next time there was a prayer-meeting you
+would ask the people to pray for my sister, that she may begin to read
+the Bible."
+
+"Well, well, it shall be done, John."
+
+So the teacher gave out that a little boy was anxious that prayer should
+be offered that his sister might read the Bible. John was observed to
+get up and go out. The teacher thought it very rude of the boy to
+disturb the people in a crowded room, and so the next day, when the lad
+came, he said:
+
+"John, I thought it very rude of you to get up in the prayer-meeting and
+go out. You ought not to have done so."
+
+"O, sir," said the boy, "I did not mean to be rude; _but I thought I
+should like to go home and see my sister reading her Bible for the first
+time_."
+
+_True to his faith, when he reached his home, he found the little girl
+reading her Bible_.
+
+
+NETTIE'S DAILY BREAD.
+
+
+A little girl in a wretched attic, whose sick mother had no bread, knelt
+down by the bedside, and said slowly: "Give us this day our daily
+bread." Then she went into the street and began to wonder where God kept
+his bread. She turned around the corner and saw a large, well-filled
+baker's shop.
+
+"This," thought Nettie, "is the place." So she entered confidently, and
+said to the big baker, "I've come for it."
+
+"Come for what?"
+
+"My daily bread," she said, pointing to the tempting loaves. "I'll take
+two, if you please--one for mother and one for me."
+
+"All right," said the baker, putting them into a bag, and giving them to
+his little customer, who started at once into the street.
+
+"Stop, you little rogue!" he said, roughly; "where is your money?"
+
+"I haven't any," she said simply.
+
+"Haven't any!" he repeated, angrily; "you little thief, what brought you
+here, then?"
+
+The hard words frightened the little girl, who, bursting into tears,
+said: "Mother is sick, and I am so hungry. In my prayers I said, 'Give
+us this day our daily bread,' and then I thought _God meant me to fetch
+it, and so I came_."
+
+The rough, but kind-hearted baker was softened by the child's simple
+tale, and instead of chiding her or visiting threats of punishment, as
+is usually the case, he said: "_You poor, dear girl; here, take this to
+your mother_," and he filled a large basketful and gave it to her.
+
+
+THE BROTHER'S PRAYER.
+
+
+A physician, who for many years practiced his profession in the State of
+California, was called once to see the child of Mr. Doak, of Calveras
+County, living on the road between San Andreas and Stockton, and not far
+from the mining town of Campo Seco, or Dry Camp. He says: The patient
+was a little girl about ten years of age, bright and intelligent and one
+of twins, the other being a boy, equally bright and well-disposed. The
+primary symptoms had indicated inflammation of the stomach, which the
+attending physician had hopelessly combated, and finally, when by
+metastasis it attacked the brain, with other unfavorable symptoms, he
+was inclined to abandon the case in despair.
+
+It was at this juncture I was called in. The symptoms were exceedingly
+unfavorable, and my own opinion coincided with my professional
+brother's. However, we determined to go to work. A day and night of
+incessant watching, and the state of the patient caused us both to feel
+the case hopeless, and we only continued our attendance at the earnest
+solicitation of the child's mother. The anxious, care-worn and restless
+sorrow of the little brother, his deep grief as he saw his sister given
+over to the power of the King of Terrors, had attracted our attention.
+He would creep up to the bedside of his sister silently, with pale and
+tearful face, controlling his emotion with great effort, and then steal
+away again and weep bitterly. With a vague, indefinite idea of
+comforting the little fellow, I took him to my knee, and was about to
+utter some platitude, when the little fellow, looking me in the face,
+his own the very picture of grief, burst out with--
+
+"Oh, Doctor, must sister die?"
+
+"Yes," I replied, "but,"--
+
+Before I could go farther he again interrupted me: "Oh, Doctor, is there
+nothing, nothing that will save her? Can nobody, nobody save my sister?"
+
+For an instant the teachings of a tender and pious mother flashed over
+my mind. They had been long neglected, were almost forgotten.
+California, in those days, was not well calculated to fasten more deeply
+on the mind home teachings. There were very few whose religious training
+survived the ordeal, and for a long time I had hardly thought of prayer.
+But the question brought out with the vividness of a flash of lightning,
+and as suddenly, all that had been obscured by my course of life, and,
+hardly knowing what I did, I spoke to him of the power that might reside
+in prayer. I said, God had promised to answer prayer. I dared not allow
+the skeptical doubt, that came to my own mind, meet the ear of that
+innocent boy, and told him, more as my mother had often told me than
+with any thought of impressing a serious subject on his mind, "_That the
+prayers of little boys, even, God would hear_." I left that night with
+some simple directions, that were given more to satisfy the mother than
+from having the slightest hope of eventual recovery, promising to return
+next day.
+
+In the morning, as I rode to the door, the little boy was playing round
+with a bright and cheerful countenance, and looked so happy that
+involuntarily I asked:
+
+"Is your sister better?"
+
+"Oh, no, Doctor," he replied, "but she is going to get well."
+
+"How do you know," I asked.
+
+"_Because I prayed to God_" said he, "and _he told me she would."_
+
+"How did he tell you?"
+
+The little fellow looked at me for an instant, and reverently placing
+his hand on the region of his heart, said:
+
+"_He told me in my heart_."
+
+Going to the room where my patient was lying, I found no change
+whatever, but in spite of my own convictions there had sprung up a hope
+within me. The medical gentleman with whom I was in consultation came to
+the room, and as he did, _a thought of a very simple remedy_ I had seen
+used by an old negro woman, in a very dissimilar case, _occurred to my
+mind._ It became so _persistently present_ that I mentioned it to my
+brother practitioner. He looked surprised, but merely remarked. "It can
+do no harm." I applied it. In two hours we both felt the case was out of
+danger.
+
+The second day after that, as we rode from the house, my friend asked me
+how I came to think, of so simple a remedy.
+
+"_I think it was that boy's prayer_," I replied.
+
+"Why, Doctor! you are not so superstitious as to connect that boy's
+prayers with his sister's recovery," said he.
+
+"Yes, I do," I replied; "for the life of me I cannot help thinking his
+prayers were more powerful than our remedies."
+
+
+LIGHT GIVEN TO A BLIND CHILD.
+
+
+"A missionary visiting one of the mission schools of Brooklyn, was
+introduced to a remarkable child. He was brought into the school from
+the highways and hedges, and young as he was, he had been taught of God.
+One day he was playing with powder, and putting his mouth to the match
+to blow it, it exploded, and the whole charge went into his face and
+eyes. He became totally blind, and the physician gave but little hope of
+recovery. But the little sufferer was patient and calm, and even
+hopeful; sitting through the dark days meditating on what he had learned
+at the mission Sabbath-school, and repeating passages of Scripture and
+many a beautiful hymn.
+
+"One evening after the physician had spoken discouragingly, and his
+parents, as he perceived, were in deep distress, he was absorbed on his
+knees in a corner of the room in earnest prayer. His voice, though
+subdued almost to a whisper, was indicative of intense feeling. His
+parents inquired what he had been praying so earnestly for. Why, said
+he, that _Jesus Christ would open my eyes. The doctor says he can't, and
+so I thought I would ask the Savior to do it for me. God honored his
+faith. In a few days his sight came to him; and the prayer was answered.
+He can now see clearly_."
+
+
+ASKING THE LORD TO HELP HIM IN HIS LESSONS.
+
+
+"A little boy was at school, he was diligent, and determined to succeed,
+but found that parsing was rather hard.
+
+"One day he went to his mamma for a little help in analyzing some
+sentences. She told him the proper manner of doing it, and he followed
+her directions; but he was much troubled that he could not understand
+the whys and wherefores himself.
+
+"His mamma told him it was rather hard for him then, but that after he
+had studied a little longer, it would be quite easy.
+
+"Johnnie went into another room to study alone, but after a little came
+back, his face perfectly radiant with joy. He said: 'O mamma, I want to
+begin again. I asked Jesus to help me, and now I think I see just how it
+is. He always helps us when we ask him;' and with unspeakable delight he
+with his mamma went over his lesson again."
+
+
+GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD.
+
+
+"The _American Messenger_ tells the story of Johnny Hall, a poor boy.
+His mother worked hard for their daily bread. 'Please give me something
+to eat; I am very hungry,' he said one evening. His mother let the work
+upon which she was sewing fall from her knee, and drew Johnny toward
+her. Her tears fell fast as she said: 'Mamma is very poor, and cannot
+give you any supper to-night.' 'Never mind, mamma; I shall soon be
+asleep, and then I sha'n't feel hungry. But you will sit and sew, and be
+so hungry and cold. Poor mamma,' he said, and kissed her many times to
+comfort her.
+
+"'Now, Johnny, you may say your prayers;' for dearly as his mother loved
+him, she could ill afford to lose a moment from her work. He repeated
+'Our Father' with her until they came to the petition, 'Give us this day
+our daily bread.' The earnestness, almost agony, with which the mother
+uttered these words, impressed Johnny strongly. He said them over again:
+'_Give us this day our daily bread_.' Then opening his blue eyes, he
+fixed them on his mother, and said: 'We shall never be hungry any more.
+God is _our Father_, and he _will_ hear us.' The prayer was finished and
+Johnny laid to rest. The mother sewed with renewed energy. Her heart was
+sustained by the simple faith of her child. Many were the gracious
+promises which came to her remembrance. Although tired and hungry, still
+it was with a light heart she sank to rest.
+
+"Early in the morning a gentleman called on his way to business. He
+wished Johnny's mother to come to his home to take charge of his two
+motherless boys. She immediately accepted the offer. They were thus
+provided with all the comforts of a good home. Johnny is a man now, but
+he has never forgotten the time when he prayed so earnestly for his
+daily bread.
+
+"_God will hear prayer_ is his firm belief. In many ways has he had the
+faith of his childhood confirmed. He looks to God as his Father with the
+same trust now as then.
+
+
+GOD WILL TAKE CARE OF ME.
+
+
+"When the yellow fever raged in New Orleans, the pestilence visited a
+Christian household, and the father died. Then the mother was suddenly
+seized, and knowing that she must die, she gathered the four children
+around her bed, the oldest being only about ten years of age, and said
+to them that God was about to take her home to heaven. She urged them to
+have no fears, and assured them that the kind, heavenly Father who had
+so long provided for them would surely come and take care of them. The
+children, with almost breaking hearts, believed what the dying mother
+had told them.
+
+"She was buried. The three youngest soon followed her, although they
+received every necessary attention from friends during their sickness.
+The oldest, a boy, was also seized by the pestilence, and in an
+unguarded moment, under the influence of delirium, wandered from his
+sick-bed out into the suburbs of the city, and lying down in the tall
+grass by the roadside, looked steadfastly up, murmuring, incoherently at
+times, 'Mother said God would come and take care of me--would come and
+take care of me!' A gentleman happening to pass at the time, and hearing
+the unusual sounds, went where the lad was lying, and rousing him, asked
+him what he was doing there. Said the little fellow in reply: '_Father
+died; mother died; little brother and sisters died. But just before
+mother went away into heaven, she told us to have no fear, for God would
+come and take care of us, and I am now waiting for him to come down and
+take me. I know he will come, for mother said so, and she always told us
+the truth_.'
+
+"'Well,' said the gentleman, whose kindliest sympathies were stirred by
+the little fellow's sad condition and his implicit confidence in his
+sainted mother's pious instructions, '_God has sent me, my son, to take
+care of you_.' So he had him carried to his home, and kindly nursed and
+cared for by his own family. He recovered, and to-day is one of the most
+useful Christian young men in the far West, where he has fixed his
+home."
+
+
+LAURA HEALED.
+
+
+"A Christian teacher, connected with a Southern Orphan Asylum, writes
+_The Christian_, that often when the children were sick, and most of
+them came to me more or less diseased, I cried to the Lord for help, and
+He who 'bore our infirmities, and carried our sicknesses,' healed them.
+Oh it is so good to trust in the Lord! How much better to rely on Him
+'in whom we live, and move, and have our being,' than to put confidence
+in man, even in the most skillful physician. To confirm and strengthen
+the faith of the doubting, I send you the following account of the
+healing of one of our orphans.
+
+"Laura was one of a large orphan family, living on Port Royal Island,
+S.C. When her mother died, she went to live with a colored woman who
+made her work very hard, 'tote' wood and water, hoe cotton and corn, do
+all manner of drudgery, rise at daybreak, and live on scanty food. Laura
+suffered from want, exposure and abuse. The freed-women of the
+plantation looked with pity into her eyes, and desired her to run away.
+But she replied, 'Aunt Dora will run after me, and when she done cotch
+me, she'll stripe me well with the lash; she done tell so already.'
+
+"One morning, however, when Laura went to the creek for crabs, a good
+aunty followed her, and throwing a shawl over the poor child's rags,
+said, 'Now, Laura, put foot for Beaufort fast as ever you can, and when
+you get there, inquire where Mrs. Mather lives: go straight to her; she
+has a good home for jes sich poor creeters as you be.' Laura obeyed,
+hastened to Beaufort, seven miles distant, found my home, was made
+welcome, and her miserable rags exchanged for good clean clothes. In the
+morning, I said, 'Laura, did you sleep well last night?' She replied,
+'O, missis, my heart too full of joy to sleep. Me lay awake all night,
+thinking how happy me is in dis nice, clean bed, all to myself. Me never
+sleep in a bed before, missis.'
+
+"Laura, then about thirteen years old, came to me with a hard cough, and
+pain in her side. I put on flannels, gave her a generous diet, and
+hoped, that with rest and cheerful surroundings, she would soon rally as
+other children had, who came to me in a similar broken-down condition.
+Still the cough and pain continued. I dosed her with various
+restoratives, such as flax-seed, and slippery elm, etc., but all were of
+no avail. She steadily grew worse. Every week I could see she declined.
+Her appetite failed; night sweats came on; and she was so weak that most
+of the day she lay in bed. The children, all of whom loved Laura, she
+was so patient and gentle, whispered one to another, 'Laura is gwine to
+die; dere is def in her eye."
+
+"One evening in mid-winter, the poor child's short breath, fluttering
+pulse, and cold, clammy sweat alarmed me, and I felt sure that unless
+the dear Lord interposed in her behalf, her time with us was very short.
+I lingered by her bed till near midnight in prayer for her recovery. I
+could not give her up. Again in my own room I poured out my soul in
+prayer for the child, and then slept. About two o'clock, I suddenly
+awoke, and heard what seemed a voice saying to me, '_Go to Laura; I can
+heal her now; the conditions are right; you are both calm and
+trustful_.'
+
+"I arose quickly, hastened to her room and said to her, 'Laura, do you
+want to get well?' 'O, yes, missis, me wants to get well.' 'Do you
+believe Jesus can cure you?' She replied, 'I know he can if he will.'
+'Well, Laura,' I said, 'Jesus has just waked me out of a sound sleep,
+and told me to go and tell you that he _will cure you now_. Do you
+believe he will, Laura?' 'Yes, missis, me _do believe_,' she replied
+earnestly. She then repeated this prayer. 'O, Jesus, do please to make
+me well; let me live a long time, and be a good and useful woman.'
+
+"The burden had rolled off my heart; I returned to my room and slept
+sweetly. In the morning, Tamar, Laura's attendant, met me at the door,
+exclaiming joyfully, 'O, I'se so glad! Laura is a heap better, Missis.
+She wake me up long time before day and begged me to get her something
+to eat, she so hungry.'
+
+"From that night Laura rapidly recovered. Her cough abated, her appetite
+was restored, her night sweats ceased, and in less than a month she was
+strong and well."
+
+
+A LITTLE SLAVE'S FAITH.
+
+
+A missionary in India, passing one day through the school room, observed
+a little boy engaged in prayer, and overheard him say, "O, Lord Jesus, I
+thank thee for sending big ship into my country and wicked men to steal
+me and bring me here, that I might hear about Thee and love Thee. And
+now, Lord Jesus, I have one great favor to ask Thee. Please to send
+wicked men with another big ship, and let them catch my father and my
+mother, and bring them to this country, that they may hear the
+missionaries preach and love Thee."
+
+The missionary in a few days after saw him standing on the sea-shore,
+looking very intently as the ships came in. "What are you looking at,
+Tom?" "I am looking to see if Jesus Christ answers prayer."
+
+For two years he was to be seen day after day watching the arrival of
+every ship. One day, as the missionary was viewing him, he observed him
+capering about and exhibiting the liveliest joy.
+
+"Well, Tom, what gives you so much joy?" "_O, Jesus Christ answer
+prayer. Father and mother come in that ship_," which was actually the
+case.
+
+
+A GOOD REASON FOR PRAYING.
+
+
+A little girl about four years of age being asked, "Why do you pray to
+God?" replied: "Because I know He hears me, and I love to pray to Him."
+
+"But how do you know He hears you?"
+
+Putting her little hand to her heart, she said, "I know He does, because
+there is something _here_ that tells me so."
+
+
+MY HEART TALKED.
+
+
+A child six years old, in a Sunday school, said: "When we kneel down in
+the school-room to pray, it seems as if my heart talked."
+
+
+WHY, SIR, I BEGGED.
+
+
+A little boy, one of the Sunday school children in Jamaica, called upon
+the missionary and stated that he had lately been very ill, and in his
+sickness often wished his minister had been present to pray with him.
+
+"But, Thomas," said the missionary, "I hope you prayed." "Oh, yes, sir."
+"Did you repeat the collect I taught you?" "I prayed." "Well, but how
+did you pray?" "Why, sir, I begged."
+
+
+A LITTLE CHILD'S PRAYER FOR HEALING.
+
+
+A very little child, who had but recently learned to talk, and the
+daughter of a Home missionary, had been for weeks troubled with a severe
+cough, which was very severe in its weakness upon her. At last her
+father said to her, "Daughter, ask Jesus, the good Lord, to heal you."
+
+Putting up her little hands as she lay in bed, she said, "_Dear Jesus,
+will oo please to cure me, and do please tell papa what to give me_."
+
+The father, who was listening, thought several times of "_syrup of
+ipecac_" but did not connect it immediately with the prayer. At last the
+thought came so often before him, that he felt, "Well, it will do no
+harm, perhaps this is what the Lord wants me to give her." He procured
+it, administered it, and in three hours the little child's cough had
+wholly ceased, and she was playing on the floor with the other children.
+A most singular feature is the fact that the same medicine was
+administered at other times and had no effect in relief.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+THE BLESSEDNESS OF GIVING
+
+
+"_Blessed is he that considereth the poor; the Lord will deliver him in
+time of trouble_."
+
+"_Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all
+thine increase, so shalt thy barns be filled with plenty_."
+
+"_There is that scattereth and yet increaseth; and there is that
+withholdeth more than is meet, but it lendeth to poverty_."
+
+"_The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth shall be
+watered also himself_."
+
+"_He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and that which
+he hath given will He pay him again."_
+
+"_Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry
+himself, but shall not be heard_."
+
+"_He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed, for he giveth of his
+bread to the poor_."
+
+"_He that putteth his trust in the Lord shall be made fat_."
+
+"_He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack; but he that hideth his
+eye shall have many a curse_."
+
+"_Cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou shall find it after many
+days_."
+
+"_If thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted
+soul, the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in
+drought, and make fat thy bones. And thou shall be like a watered
+garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not_."
+
+"_He which soweth bountifully, shall reap also bountifully_."
+
+"_Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not
+grudgingly, nor of necessity, for_
+
+GOD LOVETH A CHEERFUL GIVER.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+HOW THE LORD BLESSES THOSE "WHO GIVE LIBERALLY TO HIS CAUSE.
+
+
+A disciple of the Lord Jesus, poor in this world's goods, but rich in
+faith, became greatly perplexed in regard to the meaning of the
+forty-second verse of the fifth chapter of Matthew. The words are: "Give
+to him that asketh thee; and from him that would borrow of thee turn not
+thou away." After a season of prolonged mental inquiry, as to whether
+the language was to be regarded as literal or not, she suddenly paused
+and exclaimed: "It is easy enough to find out; test it and see."
+
+It was Saturday. Her money, all but two dollars, had been expended in
+providing for the Sabbath. The amount left, which was absolutely needed
+for the following Monday, she put in her pocket, and went out.
+
+On the street, a friend, whose husband had been for some time out of
+business, met her and stated their distresses, and asked if she could
+lend them _two dollars to last over the Sabbath_.
+
+She was surprised. The test had come sooner than she expected, but,
+without hesitation, the money was "_lent to the Lord,"_ and the now
+penniless believer went home to wait and see.
+
+Now mark the result. Monday came, and with it the needs to be supplied.
+While pondering what course to pursue, a knock was heard, and, on
+opening the door, a lady, with a bundle in her hand, inquired if she
+could do a little work for her. Replying in the affirmative, and naming
+the price, the lady took from her pocket-book two dollars, and handed it
+to her, saying: "It is more than you ask, but you might as well have
+it." "I was never more astonished," said this true disciple, "and
+literally shouted for joy. I had tested and proved that the promises of
+God are yea and amen in Christ Jesus. Glory to God. I have never doubted
+since; and though often in straits, I have always been delivered."
+
+Would it not be well for Christians to "test" where they cannot
+understand? "Ye are my friends," said the blessed Lord, "if ye do
+whatsoever I command you." Obedience will solve difficulties that
+reasoning cannot unravel. Try and see.
+
+
+DIVIDING WITH GOD.
+
+
+A merchant, in answer to inquiries, refers back to a period when, he
+says, "In consecrating my life anew to God, aware of the ensnaring
+influences of riches, and the necessity of deciding on a plan of charity
+before wealth should bias my judgment, I adopted the following system:
+
+"I decided to balance my accounts as nearly as I could, every month; and
+reserving such a portion of profits as might appear adequate to cover
+probable losses, to lay aside, by entry on a benevolent account,
+one-tenth of the remaining profits, great or small, as a fund for
+benevolent expenditure, supporting myself and family on the remaining
+nine-tenths. I further determined, that when at any time my net profits,
+that is, profits from which clerk-hire and store expenses had been
+deducted, should exceed $500 in a month, I would give twelve and a half
+per cent.; if over $700, fifteen per cent.; if over $900, seventeen and
+a half per cent.; if over $1,100, twenty per cent.; if over $1,300,
+twenty-two and a half per cent.; thus increasing the proportion of the
+whole as God should prosper, until at $1,500, I should give twenty-five
+per cent., or $375 a month. As capital was of the utmost importance to
+my success in business, I decided not to increase the foregoing scale
+until I had acquired a certain capital, after which I would give
+one-quarter of all net profits, great or small; and on the acquisition
+of another certain amount of capital, I decided to give half; and on
+acquiring what I determined would be a full sufficiency of capital, then
+to give the whole of my net profits.
+
+"It is now several years since I adopted this plan, and under it I have
+acquired a handsome capital, and have been prospered beyond my most
+sanguine expectations. Although constantly giving, I have never yet
+touched the bottom of my fund, and have been repeatedly astonished to
+find what large drafts it would bear. True, during some months I have
+encountered a salutary trial of faith, when this rule has led me to lay
+by the tenth, while the remainder proved inadequate to my support; but
+the tide has soon turned, and with gratitude I have recognized a
+heavenly hand more than making good all past deficiencies."
+
+
+PROSPERITY AND LIBERALITY.
+
+
+A London correspondent of the _Western Christian Advocate_, writing some
+years ago of raising a fund for the extinction of debts on chapels,
+gives the following incident:
+
+"A gentleman named Wilkes, who was promised a subscription of one
+thousand guineas to this fund, has a history so remarkable as to be
+worth relating across the Atlantic. Seven years ago he was a journeyman
+mechanic. Having invented and patented some kind of a crank or spindle
+used in the cotton manufacture, and needing capital to start himself in
+the business of making them, he made it a matter of earnest prayer that
+he might be directed to some one able and willing to assist him. In a
+singular and unexpected manner he fell in with an elderly Quaker, a
+perfect stranger, who accosted him with the strange inquiry: 'Friend, I
+should like to know if a little money would be of any service to thee.'
+Having satisfied himself as to Wilkes' genius and honesty, the Quaker at
+once advanced him the required amount. The praying mechanic started in
+business on his own account, and everything he has touched of late
+appeared to prosper.
+
+"Hearing of a field in Ireland offered for sale, in which was a deserted
+mine, he went over to see it; bought the field for a small sum,
+recommenced working the mine, and it now turns out to yield abundance of
+excellent copper. For the year 1852, he promised to give the Missionary
+Society a _guinea a day_; but such abundance has poured in upon him
+during the year, that he felt that to be below his duty, and has,
+therefore, enlarged his subscription for the present year seven-fold. He
+is actually giving to that noble cause seven guineas daily, or upwards
+of $10,500 a year, during this year, 1853; in addition to which he has
+just given one thousand guineas to the fund above referred to." "It is
+pleasing to add," says the writer, "that this remarkable man retains the
+utmost simplicity."
+
+Would that liberality and prosperity might ever go hand in hand. Often,
+as wealth increases liberality is starved out, and the rich give far
+less than the poor in proportion to their means and ability.
+
+
+THE DEACON'S SINGING SCHOOL.
+
+
+"I am going out to see if I can start a singing school," said a good
+man, as he stood buttoning up his overcoat, and muffling up his ears,
+one bitterly cold Winter night.
+
+"A singing school," said his wife, "how will you do that?"
+
+"I have heard of a widow around the corner a block or two who is in
+suffering circumstances. She has five little children, and two of them
+down sick, and has neither fire nor food. So Bennie Hope, the office boy
+tells me. I thought I would just step around and look into the case."
+
+"Go, by all means," said his wife, "and lose no time. If they are in
+such need we can give some relief. But I cannot see what all this has to
+do with starting a singing school. But never mind, you need not stop to
+tell me now; go quickly and do all you can for the poor woman."
+
+So out into the piercing cold of the wintry night went the husband,
+while the wife turned to the fireside and her sleeping babes, who, in
+their warm cribs, with the glow of health upon their cheeks, showed that
+they knew nothing of cold or pinching want. With a thankful spirit she
+thought of her blessings, as she sat down to her little pile of mending.
+Very busily and quietly she worked, puzzling all the time over what her
+husband could have meant by starting a singing school. A singing school
+and the widow--how queer! What possible connection could they have?
+
+At last she grew tired of the puzzling thought, and said to herself, "I
+won't bother myself thinking about it any more. He will tell me all
+about it when he comes home. I only hope we may be able to help the poor
+widow and make her 'poor heart sing for joy.' There," she exclaimed,
+"can that be what he meant? The widow's heart singing for joy! Wouldn't
+that be a singing school? It must be; it is just like John. How funny
+that I should find it out!" and she laughed merrily at her lucky guess.
+Taking up her work again, she stitched away with a happy smile on her
+face, as she thought over again her husband's words, and followed him in
+imagination in his kind ministrations. By-and-by two shining tears
+dropped down, tears of pure joy, drawn from the deep wells of her love
+for her husband, of whom she thought she never felt so fond before. At
+the first sound of footsteps she sprang to open the door.
+
+"Oh, John! did you start the singing school?"
+
+"I reckon I did," said the husband, as soon as he could loose his
+wrappings; "but I want you to hunt up some flannels and things to help
+to keep it up."
+
+"Oh, yes! I will; I know now what you mean. I have thought it all out.
+Making the widow's 'heart sing for joy' is your singing school. (Job.
+xxix:13.) What a precious work, John! 'Pure religion and undefiled is to
+visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction.' My own heart has
+been singing for joy all the evening because of your work, and I do not
+mean to let you do it alone. I want to draw out some of this wonderful
+music."
+
+
+IT PAYS TO GIVE TO THE LORD.
+
+
+"A clergyman states, that soon after he dedicated himself to the service
+of Christ, he resolved, as Jacob did, 'Of all that thou shalt give me, I
+will surely give a tenth unto thee.' Of the first $500 he earned, he
+gave $130, and in such a way that it incited a wealthy friend to give
+several hundreds more, including a donation of $100 to this clergyman
+himself. For four years, the clergyman says, 'My expenses were small, my
+habits economical, and the only _luxury_ in which I indulged was the
+luxury of giving. In the two first of these years I was permitted to
+give $500.' 'On a review of my ministry of about sixteen years,' he
+adds, 'I find God has graciously permitted me to give to the cause of my
+Redeemer nearly $1,200, by which amount about forty life memberships
+have been created in various evangelical societies. During all these
+years God has prospered me; has given me almost uninterrupted health;
+has surrounded me with sweet domestic ties; and my congregation, by
+means in part perhaps of a steady example, have given _more in these
+sixteen years_ than in all their long previous history."
+
+
+ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF BENEFICENCE.
+
+
+"A liberal donor, in enclosing $100 to a sister institution, but
+strictly withholding his name, says, 'When I began business, it was with
+the intention and hope to become rich. A year afterward I became, as I
+trust, a Christian, and about the same time met with 'Cobb's
+Resolutions,' which I adopted. Some four or five years later, I read
+'Normand Smith's Memoir,' and also Wesley's 'Sermon on the use of
+Money,' which led me to devote all my gains to benevolent uses,
+reserving to myself $5,000 while I remained unmarried, part of which I
+have bequeathed to relatives, and the remainder to benevolent societies.
+Up to this time--about sixteen years--by the grace of God--nothing
+else--I have given about $24,500 to benevolent purposes, and lent about
+$500 to those in need, which has not been returned; making in all about
+$25,000."
+
+
+COMMENDABLE EXAMPLES.
+
+
+The Methodist Missionary Society mention one of their donors who, for
+twenty years, has used the power given him of getting wealth, for his
+Lord, in which time he has been enabled to appropriate to benevolent
+purposes _more than thirty thousand dollars_, while operating with a
+capital of but five thousand dollars. Another business man of that
+denomination in Boston, during fifteen years, has appropriated
+_thirty-nine thousand dollars_.
+
+
+SYSTEM IN GIVING.
+
+
+A correspondent of the American Tract Society says, "It was their
+publications which induced me to appropriate statedly one-tenth of my
+income to the cause of the Lord. After acting upon that scale nearly two
+years, and finding that although _my donations greatly exceeded those of
+former years_, my affairs were not thereby involved in any
+embarrassment; but that, on the contrary, with increasing contributions
+to the leading objects of Christian benevolence and to general charity,
+came an _increased store and enlarging resources_, I concluded, with a
+heart throbbing with grateful emotions to my Creator, in view of his
+great love and kindness toward me, that I would increase the
+proportion."
+
+
+LENDING TO THE LORD.
+
+
+"A poor man, some of whose family were sick, lived near Deacon Murray,
+(referred to in the tract, 'Worth of a Dollar,') and occasionally called
+at his house for a supply of milk. One morning he came while the family
+were at breakfast. Mrs. Murray rose to wait upon him, but the deacon
+said to her, 'Wait till after breakfast.' She did so, and meanwhile the
+deacon made some inquiries of the man about his family and
+circumstances.
+
+"After family worship the deacon invited him to go out to the barn with
+him. When they got into the yard, the deacon, pointing to one of the
+cows, exclaimed, 'There, take that cow, and drive her home.' The man
+thanked him heartily for the cow, and started for home; but the deacon
+was observed to stand in the attitude of deep thought until the man had
+gone some rods. He then looked up, and called out, 'Hey, bring that cow
+back.' The man looked around, and the deacon added, 'Let that cow come
+back, and you come back too.' He did so; and when he came into the yard
+again, the deacon said, 'There, now, take your pick out of the cows; _I
+a'n't going to lend to the Lord the poorest cow I've got_.'"
+
+
+A STEWARD OF HIS LORD'S BOUNTY.
+
+
+An aged benevolent friend in a western city, states some interesting
+facts respecting his own experience in giving systematically as the Lord
+prospered him. He says, "Our country and professors of religion in it
+have become 'rich and increased in goods,' but I fear that a due
+proportion is not returned to the Giver of every good.
+
+"I commenced business in 1809 with $600, and united with the 'Northern
+Missionary Society No. 2,' which met monthly for prayer, and required
+the payment of two dollars a year from each member. That year I married,
+and the next united with the Christian church. No definite system of
+giving 'as the Lord had prospered' me, was fully made until the close of
+the year 1841. The previous fourteen years had been assiduously devoted
+to the interests of Sabbath-schools and the temperance enterprise, when
+I found both my physical and pecuniary energies diminished, the latter
+being less than $30,000.
+
+"After days and nights of close examination into my affairs, with
+meditation and prayer, I promised the Lord of all, I would try at the
+close of every year to see what was the value of my property, and the
+one-quarter of the increase I would return to him in such way as my
+judgment, aided by his word and providence, might direct.
+
+"For more than fifteen years I have lived up to this resolve, and though
+most of the time I have been unable to attend to active business, the
+investments I have made have more than quadrupled the value of my
+property, and in that time enabled me to return to Him 'from whom all
+blessings flow,' $11,739.61."
+
+
+THE FIVE-DOLLAR GOLD PIECE.
+
+
+"'A friend,' says a venerable clergyman, Rev. Mr. H----, 'at a time when
+gold was scarce, made me a present of a five-dollar gold piece. I
+resolved not to spend it, and for a long time carried it in my pocket as
+a token of friendship. In riding about the country, I one day fell in
+with an acquaintance, who presented a subscription-book for the erection
+of a church in a destitute place.
+
+"'I can do nothing for you, Mr. B----,' said I; 'my heart is in this
+good undertaking, but my pocket is entirely empty; having no money, you
+must excuse me.'
+
+"'Oh, certainly,' said he; 'all right, sir. We know you always give when
+it is in your power.'
+
+"We parted; and after I had proceeded some distance, I bethought me of
+the piece of gold in my vest pocket. 'What,' said I to myself, 'I told
+that man I had no money, when I had by me all the time this gold
+pocket-piece. This was an untruth, and I have done wrong.' I kept
+reproaching myself in this way until I stopped, and took from my pocket
+the five-dollar piece.
+
+"'Of what use,' said I, 'is this piece of money, stowed away so nicely
+in my pocket?' I made up my mind to turn back, and rode as fast as I
+could until I overtook Mr. B----, to whom I gave the coin, and resumed
+my journey.
+
+"A few days after, I stopped at the house of a lady, who treated me very
+hospitably, for which I could make no return, except in thanks and
+Christian counsel. When I took leave, she slipped into my vest pocket a
+little folded paper, which she told me to give to my wife. I supposed it
+was some trifle for the children, and thought no more of it until I
+reached home. I handed it to my wife, who opened it, and to my
+astonishment _it was a five-dollar gold piece, the identical
+pocket-piece I had parted with but a few days before_. I knew it was the
+same, for I had made a mark upon it; how this had been brought about was
+a mystery, but that the hand of the Lord was in it I could not doubt.
+'See,' said I to my wife; 'I thought I _gave_ that money, but I only
+_lent_ it; how soon has the Lord returned it! Never again will I doubt
+his word.'
+
+"I afterward learned that Mr. B---- had paid over the coin to the
+husband of the lady at whose house I staid, along with some other money,
+in payment for lumber, and he had given it to his wife.
+
+"Take my advice, and when appealed to for aid, fear not to give of your
+poverty; depend upon it the Lord will not let you lose by it, if you
+wish to do good. If you wish to prosper, 'Give, and it shall be given
+unto you; for with the same measure that ye mete, it shall be measured
+to you again.' 'Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in
+the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.'"
+
+
+A NEW YEAR'S INCIDENT.
+
+
+"One New Year's day I was going out to visit some of my poorer
+neighbors, and thought I would take a sovereign to a certain widow who
+had seen days of competence and comfort. I went to look in my drawer,
+and was so sorry to find I had but one sovereign left in my bank for the
+poor, and my allowance would not be due for two or three weeks. I had
+nearly closed the drawer upon the solitary sovereign, when this passage
+of Scripture flashed so vividly into my mind, 'The Lord is able to give
+thee much more than this,' (2 Chron. xxv: 9.) that I again opened the
+drawer, took the money, and entered the carriage which was waiting for
+me. When I arrived at Mrs. A.'s, and with many good wishes for the New
+Year, offered her the sovereign, I shall never forget her face of
+surprised joy. The tears ran down her cheeks while she took my hands and
+said, 'May the God of the widow and fatherless bless you; we had not one
+penny in the house, nor a morsel of bread; it is he who has heard my
+prayers, and sent you again and again to supply my need.' You who pray
+for and visit the poor, and enjoy the blessedness of relieving their
+temporal wants and of speaking to them of Jesus, you will understand the
+gladness of heart with which I returned home.
+
+"In the country we had only one post daily; so when evening came on, and
+it was nearly ten o'clock, I was not a little surprised at receiving a
+letter. When I opened it, how my heart beat for joy when I read these
+words from a comparative stranger: 'You will have many poor just now to
+claim your pity and your help, may I beg you to dispense the enclosed
+five pounds as you see fit? and I have ordered a box of soap to be sent
+to you for the same purpose.' These boxes of soap are worth four pounds.
+Thus did our gracious God send nine times as much as I gave for his
+sake, before that day had closed."
+
+
+FENEBERG'S LOAN TO THE LORD.
+
+
+"A poor man with an empty purse came one day to Michael Feneberg, the
+godly pastor of Seeg, in Bavaria, and begged three crowns, that he might
+finish his journey. It was all the money Feneberg had, but as he
+besought him so earnestly in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus he
+gave it. Immediately after, he found himself in great outward need, and
+seeing no way of relief he prayed, saying, 'Lord, I lent Thee three
+crowns; Thou hast not yet returned them, and Thou knowest how I need
+them. Lord, I pray Thee, give them back.' The same day a messenger
+brought a money-letter, which Gossner, his assistant, reached over to
+Feneberg, saying, 'Here, father, is what you expended.' The letter
+contained two hundred thalers, or about one hundred and fifty dollars,
+which the poor traveler had begged from a rich man for the vicar; and
+the childlike old man, in joyful amazement, cried out, 'Ah, dear Lord,
+one dare ask nothing of Thee, for straightway Thou makest one feel so
+much ashamed!'"
+
+
+COMPOUND INTEREST.
+
+
+_The Christian_ tells of a minister in Ohio, who in 1860 was engaged to
+statedly supply a congregation who were in arrears for a whole year's
+salary to their former pastor, and were only able to promise their
+'supply' five dollars a Sunday till the old debt should be paid. At the
+close of the year, only about two-thirds of this amount had been paid.
+So it was not strange that their 'supply' soon found himself in arrears
+for many things. That year the cost of his periodicals alone had
+amounted to sixteen dollars. This he could not pay, and as none of them
+could be stopped without payment of arrearages; the debt must continue
+to increase.
+
+On New Year's day the minister was called to marry a couple, and gave
+the fee, five dollars, to his wife saying, "I want you to get yourself a
+dress with this." There was a kind of material much worn then, which she
+had very much admired, a dress of which would cost four dollars. So she
+went to the Mission periodical to find the address of the Mission
+Secretary, thinking to send the extra dollar there. But as she glanced
+over its pages and noticed the trials and straits of the missionaries,
+and the embarrassment of the Board that year, her heart was touched and
+she felt that they needed the money more than she did the dress, and
+instead of the one she concluded to send the five dollars.
+
+She went to her husband and read her letter to him. "O," said he, "I'm
+afraid we are too poor to give so much." With a little feeling of
+disappointment she said, "Well, give me the change and I will send what
+I had intended at first." "No," said he, "you have given it, and I dare
+not take it back."
+
+And so with a prayer that God would accept and bless the gift she signed
+her letter, "A Friend of Missions," thinking, as no one would know the
+author, that was the last she would hear about it in this world.
+
+The ladies of that congregation were accustomed to meet weekly at the
+parsonage to sew for those in need. The next week a lady who was
+visiting in the place came with her friends, and as she entered the
+parlor she tossed a bundle into the lap of the minister's wife, saying,
+"Mrs. ----, here is a present for you."
+
+The present was a dress pattern of the same kind of material she had
+intended to purchase. And as she thought to herself, "God has given me
+this in place of what I have given," she was reminded of the words,
+"Give, and it shall be given to you." But that was not the end.
+
+A short time afterwards she received a letter from the Secretary of the
+Board of Missions, enclosing a printed copy of her own letter, and
+asking if she were the author of it; and added, "If so, a large-hearted
+man in New York has authorized me to send you twenty-five dollars, with
+a special request that you purchase a dress worth five dollars, and give
+the rest to your husband and children." There was her five dollars back,
+with four times as much more added to it.
+
+
+THE BROWN TOWEL.
+
+
+The editor of _The Christian Woman_ tells the story of a poor woman who,
+in her anxiety to give to the Lord, could find nothing but a poor brown
+towel.
+
+"They must be very poor who have _nothing_ to give," said Mrs. Jarvis,
+as she deposited a pair of beautiful English blankets in a box that was
+being filled by the ladies of the church to be sent to the poor.
+
+"And now, ladies, as you are nearly through, I would like to tell you an
+incident in my history; I was once very poor."
+
+"You once very poor?" said a lady.
+
+"Yes; I was once _very poor_. There came to our village a missionary to
+deliver a lecture. I felt very desirous to go; but having no decent
+apparel to wear, I was often deprived of going to church, although I was
+a member.
+
+"I waited until it was late, and then slipped in and took a seat behind
+the door.
+
+"I listened with streaming eyes to the missionary's account of the
+destitution and darkness in heathen lands. Poor as I was, I felt it to
+be a great privilege to live in a Christian land and to be able to read
+my Bible.
+
+"It was proposed by our pastor that the congregation should fill a box
+and send it out with the missionary on his return.
+
+"O," thought I, "how I would like to send something." "When I returned
+home my poor children were still sleeping soundly, and my disconsolate
+husband waiting my return, for he had been out of employment some time.
+After he had gone to bed I went to looking over my clothes, but I could
+find nothing that was suitable that I could possibly spare; then I began
+looking over the children's things, but could find nothing that the poor
+dears could be deprived of; so I went to bed with a heavy heart, and lay
+a long time thinking of the destitution of the poor heathen, and how
+much better off I was.
+
+"I got to thinking over my little stock again. There was nothing I could
+put into the box except two brown towels.
+
+"Next day I got my towels, pieced out the best one, and when it was
+almost dark, put on my bonnet, went to the church, slipped my towel into
+the box, and came away thinking that the Lord knew I had done what I
+could.
+
+"And now, ladies, let me tell you it was not long after that till my
+husband got into a good situation; and prosperity has followed us ever
+since. So I date back my prosperity to this incident of the brown
+towel."
+
+Her story was done, and, as her carriage was waiting at the door, she
+took her departure, leaving us all mute with surprise that one so rich
+and generous had been trained to give amid poverty.
+
+
+GIVING BLESSED.
+
+
+A merchant of St. Petersburg, at his own cost, supported several native
+missionaries in India, and gave liberally to the cause of Christ at
+home. On being asked how he could afford to do it, he replied:
+
+"Before my conversion, when I served the world and self, I did it on a
+grand scale, and at the most lavish expense. And when God by his grace
+called me out of darkness, I resolved that Christ and his cause should
+have more than I had ever spent for the world. And as to giving _so
+much_, it is God who enables me to do it; for, at my conversion, I
+solemnly promised that I would give to his cause a fixed proportion of
+all that my business brought in to me; and every year since I made that
+promise, it has brought me in about double what it did the year before,
+so that I easily can, as I do, double my gifts for his service."
+
+And so good old John Bunyan tells us,
+
+    "A man there was, some called him mad,
+     The more he gave, the more he had."
+
+And there are truth and instruction in the inscription on the Italian
+tombstone, "What I gave away, I saved; what I spent, I used; what I
+kept, I lost." "Giving to the Lord," says another, "is but transporting
+our goods to a higher floor." And, says Dr. Barrow, "In defiance of all
+the torture and malice and might of the world, the _liberal_ man will
+ever be rich; for God's providence is his estate; God's wisdom and
+power, his defense; God's love and favor, his reward; and God's word,
+his security."
+
+Richard Baxter says, "I never prospered more in my small estate than
+when I gave most. My rule has been, _first_, to contrive to need,
+myself, as little as may be, to lay out none on _need-nots,_ but to live
+frugally on a little; _second_, to serve God in any place, upon that
+competency which he allowed me: to myself, that what I had myself might
+be as good a work for common good, as that which I gave to others; and
+_third_, to do all the good I could with all the rest, preferring the:
+most public and durable object, and the nearest. And the more I have
+practiced this, the more I have had to do it with; and when I gave
+almost all, more came in, I scarce knew how, at least unexpected. But
+when by improvidence I have cast myself into necessities of using more
+upon myself or upon things in themselves of less importance, I have
+prospered much less than when I did otherwise. And when I had contented
+myself to devote a stock I had gotten to charitable uses _after my
+death_, instead of laying it out at present, in all probability, _that_
+is like to be lost; whereas, when I took the present opportunity, and
+trusted God for the time to come, I wanted nothing and lost nothing."
+
+These are a few of many evidences, that where we give from right
+motives, we are never the poorer, but the richer for doing it. "The
+liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth, shall be watered
+also, himself."
+
+
+LENDING TO THE LORD.
+
+
+As a series of religious meetings was held in a Baptist church in ----,
+and the hearts of God's people were greatly encouraged, the church was
+consumed by fire. It was proposed to continue the meetings in the
+Congregational church, but the workmen were coming the next morning to
+demolish and rebuild it. It was then proposed to hire the workmen to
+delay, that the people might assemble for three days more, but nothing
+was done; when the Congregational pastor walking his study, and thinking
+that some souls might be gathered in, went to the workmen, and handed
+them $10 from his own pocket, which he could ill afford; the meetings
+were continued, and a number of souls hopefully converted to God. The
+day following, as he passed the house, the man to whom he paid the $10
+called to him, and constrained him to receive back the whole amount,
+saying it was of no value compared with the saving of a soul.
+
+
+THE LIBERAL FARMER.
+
+
+A farmer in one of the retired mountain towns of Massachusetts, began
+business in 1818, with six hundred dollars in debt. He began with the
+determination to pay the debt in six years, in equal installments, and
+to give all his net income if any remained above those installments. The
+income of the first year, however, was expended in purchasing stock and
+other necessaries for his farm.
+
+In the six next years he paid off the debt, and having abandoned the
+intention of ever being any richer, he has ever since given his entire
+income, after supporting his family and thoroughly educating his six
+children.
+
+During all this period he has lived with the strictest economy, and
+everything pertaining to his house, table, dress and equipage has been
+in the most simple style; and though he has twice been a member of the
+State Senate, he conscientiously retains this simplicity in his mode of
+life. The farm is rocky and remote from the village, and his whole
+property, real and personal, would not exceed in value three thousand
+dollars. Yet sometimes he has been enabled to give from $200 to $300 a
+year.
+
+
+EXPERIENCE OF A SADDLER.
+
+
+Normand Smith, a saddler of Hartford, Conn., after practicing for years
+an elevated system of benevolence, bequeathed in charity the sum of
+$30,000.
+
+An anonymous writer says of himself, that he commenced business and
+prosecuted it in the usual way till he lost $900, which was all he was
+worth, and found himself in debt $1,100.
+
+Being led by his trials to take God's word as his guide in business as
+well as in heart and religion, he determined to give his earnings
+liberally unto the Lord.
+
+The first year he gave $12. For eighteen years the amount increased by
+about 25 per cent., and the last year he gave $850, and he says he did
+it easier than during the first year he paid the $12. Besides, though
+with nothing but his hands to depend on when he began this course, he
+paid the whole debt of $1,100 with interest, though it took him nine
+years to do it.
+
+
+JACOB NOT BLESSED UNTIL HE BECAME A LIBERAL GIVER.
+
+
+Jacob went out from his father's house "with his staff," a poor man. But
+at Bethel he vowed to give to God the _tenth_ of all that God should
+bestow on him. Commencing thus, God blessed him, and in twenty years he
+returned with great riches.
+
+
+THE LORD'S INSURANCE MONEY.
+
+
+A tradesman in New York had pledged to give to the Lord a certain
+portion of his business receipts as fast as they were collected. He
+called this _The Lord's insurance money_, for, said he, "so long as I
+give so long will the Lord help me and bless me, and in some way he will
+give me the means to give, so it is no money lost. Rather it is a
+blessing to my heart to keep it open in gratitude, a blessing to dispose
+of it to gladden other hearts, and the surest way to keep the Lord's
+favor with me."
+
+The results of his experience were blessed indeed, as he said, "I never
+realized before how closely the Lord is connected with all my interests,
+and how he helps me in all my business plans. Things happen constantly
+which show me constantly that some one who knows more than I is
+benefiting me--protecting me. Bad debts have been paid which I did not
+expect. Errand boys, just getting into sly and bad habits, have been
+discovered ere their thefts had proceeded far. As I needed competent
+help in my business, it has come just as it was wanted. When customers
+were failing, somehow their debts to me were paid, although they failed
+to pay others. A severe fire came to my office and apparently seemed to
+have swept all my valuables away. But it was stopped at just the right
+moment, and not one thing valuable was lost. The insurance companies
+paid me enough to replace every damage, and the office was renewed
+better than before. The Lord sends me business enough to pay for my
+debts, yet others are dull. _I cannot tell why it is, except that I
+always pray for my business, and ask the Lord to bless it for the good
+of others_, and that the means which come from it may be used for his
+cause. When I stop giving, business stops coming. When I stop praying
+specially for it, perplexities arise. As long as I pray for it, it all
+moves easily, and I have no care or trouble. The Lord is my Banker, my
+Helper, my Insurer, my Deliverer, my Patron, and my Blessed Savior of
+temporal things as well as spiritual."
+
+
+GIVE AND IT SHALL BE GIVEN.
+
+
+"'Cheerful giving,' writes an aged minister, 'is what enriches the giver
+and brings down a blessing from above. A poor clergyman attended one of
+Zion's festivals in a distant city. The railroad company supplied him
+with a return ticket, and though many of his brethren would secure
+treasures from the book-stores, but a solitary twenty-five cent scrip
+was in his possession, and he would need that to pay for refreshment on
+his way home. It was the last day of the feast. Mention, again and
+again, was made of the widow's mite, or poor men's gifts, and, as the
+boxes were passed, he felt sad that, in his deep poverty, he could not
+cast in a single penny. As the assembly was dismissed, it was announced
+that collectors would stand at the door to gather up the _fragments_
+which ought to be in the Lord's treasury. With slow steps this good man
+passed down and put that last money he possessed into the waiting box.
+
+"In a few moments, a gentleman of the city invited him to his, table to
+dine, with quite a number of the dignitaries of the church. During the
+repast, the host was called from the table for a little time. At the
+conclusion of a pleasant entertainment, the poor minister was taken one
+side and an envelope put into his hands, with this remark: 'I was called
+from the table by a man who has long owed me a small debt, which I
+thought was lost a long time since, and I cannot think what it was paid
+to-day for, except that I might give it to you.' The envelope contained
+twenty-five dollars. When the books are opened, that rich steward will
+see how his money was used, and thank God, who put it into his heart to
+dispose of it thus."
+
+
+"LENDING TO THE LORD."
+
+
+"A physician who is not a professor of religion, in a neighboring city,
+has for many years exhibited an unshaken faith in that declaration. He
+told me that he has made many experiments on it, and the Lord has
+fulfilled his words, 'That which he hath given will He pay him again,'
+in every case. One of his 'experiments' came under my observation.
+
+"It was a bleak and chilling day in the Winter of 1847-8. The doctor was
+going his rounds and met a poor colored boy in the street. He was nearly
+frozen to death. He accosted the doctor, and asked him most piteously
+for a little money, stating, at the same time, that his master, an old
+Quaker, had excluded him from the house, and compelled him to remain in
+the barn; he could stand it no longer, and desired to go home--twenty
+miles up the river. The doctor now had the materials for another test of
+the promise. 'You shall not suffer if I can help you,' was his cheering
+reply to the boy. He requested him to call at his office, and went to a
+neighboring hotel and told the landlord to keep the boy until farther
+orders. Late in the evening the boy again appeared at the office, and
+stated that the landlord had said, 'We don't keep darkies over night.'
+The doctor immediately started out in search of new quarters, and, after
+some difficulty, found a colored woman who was willing to keep the boy
+for a few days. In a short time the river, which had been closed with
+ice, was open. The doctor paid the bills, gave the boy a dollar, and
+bade him God speed. That is what he calls lending to the Lord. Now for
+the payment. When he called at the house of the colored person to pay
+the bill, he 'accidentally' met an old lady, who scrutinized him
+closely, and at length said, 'A'n't you Doctor B----?' 'Yes,' was the
+reply; 'but who are you?' 'No matter about my name; I owe you four
+dollars, which you have long since forgotten, and which I did not intend
+to pay you till I saw what you have done to that poor boy. The Lord
+bless you for your kindness. Next week you shall have your money.' She
+came according to her promise and offered the money, but the doctor was
+unwilling to take it, as he had no charge on his books. She forced it on
+him. He afterwards simply remarked, 'My meeting that woman was not a
+mere _accident_; the Lord always fulfills his promise. I generally get
+my capital back, with compound interest.'"
+
+
+THE PRAYING SHOE-MAKER.
+
+
+A shoe-maker being asked how he contrived to give so much, replied that
+it was easily done by obeying St. Paul's precept in I Cor. 16: 2: "Upon
+the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as
+God hath prospered him." "I earn," said he, "one day with another, about
+a dollar a day, and I can without inconvenience to myself or family lay
+by five cents of this sum for charitable purposes; the amount is thirty
+cents a week. My wife takes in sewing and washing, and earns something
+like two dollars a week, and she lays by ten cents of that. My children
+each of them earn a shilling or two, and are glad to contribute their
+penny; so that altogether we _lay by us in store_ forty cents a week.
+And if we have been unusually prospered, we contribute something more.
+The weekly amount is deposited every Sunday morning in a box kept for
+that purpose, and reserved for future use. Thus, by these small
+earnings, we have learned that it is more blessed to give than to
+receive. The yearly amount saved in this way is about _twenty-five
+dollars_; and I distribute this among the various benevolent societies,
+according to the best of my judgment."
+
+
+THE HISTORY AND BUSINESS SUCCESSES OF LIBERAL GIVERS.
+
+
+Mr. Nathaniel R. Cobb, a merchant connected with the Baptist church in
+Boston, in 1821, at the age of twenty-three, drew up and subscribed the
+following covenant, to which he faithfully adhered till on his death-bed
+he praised God that by acting according to it he had given in charity
+more than $40,000.
+
+"By the grace of God, I will never be worth more than $50,000.
+
+"By the grace of God, I will give one fourth of the net profits of my
+business to charitable and religious uses.
+
+"If I am ever worth $20,000, I will give one-half of my net profits; and
+if I am ever worth $30,000, I will give three-fourths; and the whole,
+after $50,000. So help me God, or give to a more faithful steward, and
+set me aside.
+
+                                                          "N.R. COBB."
+
+
+FAITH IN GOD'S LIBERALITY.
+
+
+A clergyman, himself an exponent of God's bountiful dealings with men,
+was called upon in test of his own principles of giving to the Lord.
+
+Preaching, in the morning, a sermon on Foreign Missions, an unusually
+large contribution was taken up. In the afternoon, he listened to
+another sermon, by a brother, on Home Missions, and the subject became
+so important that he was led closely to agitate the question how much he
+should himself give to the cause. "I was, indeed, in a great strait
+between charity and necessity. I felt desirous to contribute; but, there
+I was, on a journey, and I had given so much in the morning that I
+really feared I had no more money than would bear my expenses.
+
+"The collection was taken; I gave my last dollar, and trusted in the
+Lord to provide. I proceeded on my journey, stopping to see a friend for
+whom I had collected forty dollars. I was now one hundred and forty
+miles from home, and how my expenses were to be met, I could not
+imagine. But, judge my surprise, when, on presenting the money to my
+friend, he took a hundred dollars, and, adding it to the forty, placed
+the whole of it in my hand, saying he would make me a present of it.
+
+"Gratitude and joy swelled my bosom; my mind at once remembered my
+sacrifice of the day before, and now I had realized the literal
+fulfillment of the promise, 'Give, and it shall be given unto you; good
+measure, pressed down and running over, shall men give into your
+bosom.'"
+
+
+HE GAVE HIS LAST $5 TO THE LORD.
+
+
+A missionary agent thus relates this incident in the life of a poor
+physician:
+
+"I preached a missionary sermon in the town of -----, and a physician
+subscribed and paid five dollars. A gentleman standing by told me that
+the five dollars was all he had, or was worth; that he had lost his
+property and paid up his debts, and moved into town to commence
+practicing, with no other resources than that five-dollar bill. He and
+his wife were obliged to board out, as he was not able to keep house.
+
+"I resolved, at once, that I would keep watch of that man, and see what
+the Lord would do with him. About a year after this interview, I visited
+the place again, and found the physician keeping house in good style.
+
+"During the Summer, while the cholera raged in the country, by a series
+of events, guided, as he believes, by the providence of God, most of the
+practice was thrown into his hands, and he had taken more than $2,500."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+BELIEVE NOTHING OF YOUR GOD BUT WHAT IS MOST NOBLE AND GENEROUS.--PRES.
+EDWARDS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+MORE THINGS ARE WROUGHT BY PRAYER THAN THE WORLD DREAMS OF.--TENNYSON.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+PRAYERS ANSWERED
+
+
+IN BUSINESS AND SOCIAL ANXIETIES.
+
+
+HELP IN PAYING A MORTGAGE.
+
+
+A business man in New York had several large amounts due for payment. An
+unprecedented series of calls from tradesmen wishing their bills paid
+sooner than customary, drained his means, and he was satisfied from the
+situation that his means would not be sufficient to pay them all. His
+business receipts, at this juncture, fell to one-half what they had
+usually been. A loan was due at the bank; a mortgage on his property, as
+well as large notes. He could do no more than ask the Lord constantly in
+prayer, to either send supplies of business, or open ways of relief.
+Committing his cares all to the Lord, he endeavored to throw off his
+burden and with diligence in trade do what was possible for protection.
+
+He was greatly surprised when the bank loan fell due to learn that a
+trifling payment would be acceptable, and the rest extended at his
+convenience. This was remarkable, as the security had depreciated
+somewhat, and the loan had been then extended longer than usual.
+
+The holder of the mortgage did not call as usual for his interest. In
+great surprise the tradesman dropped a note, saying he would meet his
+demand, but if not all the mortgage was needed, its extension would
+benefit the use of the capital in his business. To his surprise, he
+received a reply that the mortgage would be extended one-half until the
+next interest day, and the rest might be paid now if it could be spared.
+_This was just the money which the tradesman could spare_, and was
+intending to propose, but refrained from mentioning it.
+
+A sudden opportunity in business arose which enabled him to see how to
+use the rest of the money he had on hand, as capital, whereby he could
+clear within three months the remainder of the mortgage before it became
+due.
+
+Thus the Lord in answer to prayer, relieved his necessities, eased his
+creditors, gave him knowledge and intelligence of profitable ways of
+trade, and helped him freely according to his faith.
+
+Thus business needs prayer, as well as the interests of the home, the
+church and the soul. When the means derived in business is used to bless
+the Lord's poor, "_The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble_."
+
+
+A REMARKABLE PRAYER AND ITS ANSWER.
+
+
+A lady, who had led for many years a life of faith, caring for orphans
+and invalids, was led one day in thought to wish that she might devote
+all her money to the work of the Lord, and use it specially for one
+branch of his service which few had ever entered. She possessed only a
+thousand dollars; and not knowing whether the thought was her own and
+therefore rash, or whether it came from the Lord, she asked the Lord in
+prayer, that if the thought was from _Him_ "it might be continually
+before me; if it were not, that I might cease to think of the matter."
+
+"It was kept before me as a privilege, to help me realize a greater
+personal nearness to God as my Father. It was a very important matter,
+and fearing a mistake, I requested a sign. I asked God, if he wished me
+to give the money, (which we held at His disposal,) that _He_ would send
+me _one dollar,_ (no more, no less,) from some individual with whom I
+had no acquaintance. About three weeks after my request, I attended a
+prayer-meeting, where about a dozen ladies were gathered. After the
+meeting, an elderly lady I had never seen before, put something in my
+hand saying, '_You will not be offended, dear, will you?_' When I looked
+at the money, I found that it _was just one dollar_, my token. I
+exclaimed, mentally, dear Lord, do not let me ever doubt thee again. I
+afterwards asked the lady why she gave me the dollar. She said, 'Before
+I went to the prayer-meeting, I felt that I ought to take a dollar with
+me, and when I saw you, I felt that you were the one I should give it
+to.'"
+
+"Nearly five years have passed since then, when I gave all, and my purse
+has never been empty. I have been constantly occupied in work of love,
+and my Father has sweetly cared for me in every respect."
+
+This lady in her faith work has had under her constant care as many as
+twenty-two helpless invalids, of utter poverty, yet prayer has always
+brought them needed supplies, and the Lord has kept them.
+
+
+RECOVERY FROM INSANITY.
+
+
+A most remarkable case of recovery from insanity is given by President
+William M. Brooks, of Tabor College, Iowa.
+
+"A young lady of my acquaintance, of a finished education, lost her
+reason in the Winter of 1871-2, and in August, 1872, was placed in the
+institution for the insane, at Mt. Pleasant, Ia. No encouragement was
+given of her recovery, and a year later, when her father visited her, in
+June, 1873, she appeared so badly, that he said it would be a relief to
+know that she was dead. Soon after, Mrs. H., the wife of a Baptist
+minister, who had long known and loved her, being shut up for days in a
+dark room, because of inflamed eyes, felt drawn out in special prayer in
+her behalf, and finally sent for the father and told him of her
+exercises, and of the assurance gained that his daughter would be fully
+restored.
+
+"In a few days, came news of a sudden change for the better, and in a
+little over two months she returned home well, and is now teaching with
+all her powers in full vigor.
+
+"The acting superintendent of the hospital, who is not a professed
+Christian, and who knew nothing of the prayers referred to, said that
+when the change occurred there was not a case among the five hundred
+inmates of which he had less hope, and that it was the most remarkable
+case of recovery which he had known during the eight years of his
+connection with the hospital."
+
+
+SEEKING DIRECTION IN BUSINESS.
+
+
+A lady clerk employed in an apparently successful business was offered
+an opportunity in a new business, which, though much smaller and less
+successful than the first, yet had rich promise in it for the future.
+The salary promised was the same in either case. In doubt, she often
+waited upon the Lord, and asked to be guided,--a whisper in her heart
+kept saying, "Go," "Go." Constant praying kept it growing stronger and
+stronger,--at last she decided to go, feeling it was the decision of the
+Lord. She accepted the new position, was pleased, and often declared she
+never desired to return. The old business in less than three years
+decreased so that half of the employees were discharged; the rest had
+their salaries reduced. The new business doubled in its extent, and her
+salary was increased one-fifth.
+
+
+SEEKING GUIDANCE OF THE LORD.
+
+
+A school teacher, without family or a special home, in New York City,
+asked the Lord for direction in finding a home, and prayed often that
+the way might be made so plain, she might acknowledge His hand, and
+understand His direction.
+
+Soon it transpired, in taking lunch at a restaurant kept by a man and
+his wife, that they advised her to choose a certain family hotel. She
+did so, and found in time more friends and acquaintances, and a
+pleasanter home than she ever possessed before.
+
+She also gained new scholars to her school. Sufficient to pay for her
+living.
+
+Was she not fully answered? "_They that seek the Lord shall not want any
+good thing_."
+
+
+SAVED FROM CHOLERA.
+
+
+The Rev. J.B. Waterbury relates several incidents which prove the power
+of Prayer.
+
+"In the year 1832 he was compelled by pulmonary symptoms, to leave his
+field of ministerial labor in one of the eastern cities, and travel
+south, hoping that a milder climate might be favorable.
+
+"He had not proceeded far, before the cholera, that fearful scourge,
+made its appearance in the States, and obliged him to rejoin his family
+in the city of Brooklyn.
+
+"Whilst many were dying around him, _his health_ continued to improve;
+so that with the disappearance of the epidemic he found himself
+sufficiently restored to venture, if Providence should open the door, to
+resume his ministerial work.
+
+"But where should he go? The future, to human view, was shrouded in
+uncertainty. In so important a matter, affecting his usefulness and
+happiness, there was nothing left, but to give himself to prayer. His
+faith in that promise, 'In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He will
+direct thy Paths,' led him to pray without ceasing, 'Lord, what wilt
+thou have me to do.'"
+
+On a certain day, when the burden lay heavily upon his heart, he retired
+as usual, to implore light and guidance. He read on that occasion, the
+chapter of Acts where, by divine direction, Cornelius the Centurion sent
+messengers to Peter at Joppa, to come to him with the Gospel. The
+apostle, meanwhile; is instructed by a vision to go to Cornelius.
+
+The case was so applicable to the circumstances that the writer was led
+to cry mightily to God for light to be shed also upon _his_ path.
+
+While thus praying the door-bell rang, and the servant announced two men
+who wished to see me.
+
+This was somewhat startling. After introducing themselves, they remarked
+that they had come on a very important errand, viz: to ask my services
+for a vacant church in which they were officers.
+
+"But how is this," I inquired, "How did you know of _me_?"
+
+They did not until that very day. But inquiring at the Bible House in
+Nassau street if any of the officers of that Society knew of a minister
+who could be recommended to fill their pulpit, now vacant for some
+months.
+
+Dr. B., the Secretary, answered, "Yes, I know a young minister in
+Brooklyn, whom I can recommend, provided his health, which has been
+delicate, is adequate."
+
+So the messenger came inadvertently over to B----, and I was called from
+my knees to receive their invitation. I promptly responded, "Yes, I will
+go?" for what was I that I could withstand God. A successful and happy
+ministry of fourteen years, attests the good results of that decision.
+
+
+THE AID OF THE LORD IN BUSINESS AND SOCIAL PROSPERITY. THE WONDERFUL
+DELIVERANCE OF DANIEL LOEST.
+
+
+John Daniel Loest, a celebrated German tradesman of Berlin, Germany,
+was, by the aid of the Lord, so prospered in his worldly circumstances,
+that by steady industry, he raised himself to rank with the most
+respectable tradesmen of Berlin, where he kept a well-frequented fringe
+and trimming shop.
+
+He was always benevolent, willing to help others, and both fervent in
+spirit and constant in prayer, asking the help of the Lord in the
+minutest details of his business.
+
+Yet there once occurred in his experience a season of severest trial,
+which demanded his utmost trust and unflinching confidence in God. He
+seemed almost forsaken, and circumstances almost impossible to overcome.
+But his deliverance so astonished him that he was lost in wonder at the
+mysterious way in which the Lord helped his business and sent him all
+that he needed.
+
+By means of acquaintances of high social character, whom he fully
+trusted as good Christians, never supposing there could be any degree of
+hypocrisy, he became security for a Christian lady of good property to
+the amount of _six hundred thalers_. The attorney assured him that there
+was not a shadow of a risk in going security for her, as her property
+would be more than ample to cover any claim.
+
+Months elapsed, and the circumstance forgotten, when Mr. Loest was most
+unpleasantly reminded by receiving an order from the Court to pay in on
+the following Tuesday the _six hundred thalers_ for which he had become
+security, under the penalty of execution.
+
+He now discovered that he had been designedly mystified, and there was
+no escape. The six hundred thalers must be paid before the next Tuesday.
+He had just accepted a bill for _three hundred thalers_, to be paid for
+on the ensuing Saturday. And in his first thoughts of his perplexity, he
+hoped to get out of his dilemma by hurrying to a rich friend to obtain a
+loan. On his way to his friend's home, he stumbled on another
+acquaintance who had lent him _four hundred_ thalers on a mere note of
+hand, and he saluted him with the news that he must try for repayment of
+that sum on the following Friday, as he required it to pay for a parcel
+of goods which would arrive that day.
+
+"You shall have it," said Loest, as he hurried on to his friend. The
+friend was at home, but before Loest could speak his errand, he is
+addressed thus: "It is lucky you came, my friend, for I was just going
+to send for you, to request you to make provision to pay me back the
+_five hundred thalers you owe me_, for I must needs have it on Wednesday
+to pay off a mortgage on my house, which has just been called up." "_You
+shall have it_," replied Loest, calmly, yet his heart became heavier
+every moment.
+
+Suddenly it occurred to him that the widow of a friend just dead was
+possessed of large means, and she might be inclined to help him. But
+alas, disappointment thickened fast upon him. Loest owed the deceased
+friend five hundred thalers for note, and three hundred thalers for
+goods just delivered. As he entered the room of the widow, she handed
+him an order from the court of trustees, under which he was bound to pay
+up _the five hundred thalers on Thursday_, and, continued the lady,
+before the poor man had time to utter a word, "I would earnestly entreat
+you to pay the other three hundred thalers early on Saturday to me, for
+there are accounts constantly pouring in on me, and the funeral
+expenses," here her voice faltered. "It shall be cared for," said Loest,
+and he withdrew, not having had opportunity to utter one word as to the
+business that took him thither. He had failed at every turn; not one
+thing was for him, all seemed against him. But though the waves surged,
+and rose, and oppressed, yet they did not overwhelm his hope; the more
+the discouragements, the greater became his faith that all things were
+appointed for his good, and thought he could not guess, yet even the
+trial would result by God's own working hand, to the honor and glory of
+his great name.
+
+Yet here was his situation. _Six hundred thalers to be paid on Tuesday,
+five hundred on Wednesday, five hundred on Thursday, four hundred on
+Friday, three hundred Saturday morning, and three hundred on Saturday
+afternoon; in all, two thousand six hundred thalers_. It was already the
+Saturday just previous, and his purse contained _only four thalers_.
+There was only one prospect left, and he went to a rich money lender,
+and in response to his request for relief in money difficulties, was met
+with this reply of irony and sarcasm from one who loved to indulge his
+enmity to the Christian faith. "_You in money difficulties, or any
+difficulties, Mr. Loest! I cannot believe it; it is altogether
+impossible! you are at all times and in all places boasting that you
+have such a rich and loving Master! Why don't you apply to him now_."
+And the unseen face could not conceal his pleasure at this opportunity
+of testing a Christian.
+
+Loest turned away; hard as the random taunt and remark of his opponent
+was, yet it recalled him to a sense of his duty, and his forgetfulness
+of the fact that he had not hitherto asked of God for special help in
+this circumstance. With cheerful steps he hurried home, and in long and
+imploring prayer, asked for help and forgiveness in this, his neglect of
+trust in one so rich and generous. He was refreshed and comforted, and
+the Sunday was one of peace and sweetness. He knew and felt assured,
+"_That the Lord would provide_."
+
+The eventful week opened, and on Monday he arose with a cheerful thought
+in his heart; ere he had had full time to dress, he noticed with great
+surprise, that both his sister and the assistant in the store, seemed,
+notwithstanding the earliness of the hour, to have full as much as they
+could do in serving customers and making up parcels, and he at once
+hastened into the shop to give them assistance, and thus it continued
+all day. _Never, in all his experience_, could Loest remember such a
+ceaseless stream of customers as poured, on that memorable Monday, into
+his rather out-of-the-way shop. Cooking dinner was out of the question;
+neither masters nor maid had time for that; coffee and bread, taken by
+each in turn, served instead of the accustomed meal, and still the
+customers came and went; still three pairs of hands were in requisition
+to satisfy their wants.
+
+Nor was it for new purchasers alone, that money came in. More than one
+long outstanding account, accompanied by excuses for delayed payment,
+and assurances that it had not been possible to settle it sooner,
+enlarged the contents of the till; and the honest-hearted debtor, on
+whom this unwonted stream of money flowed in, was tempted every minute
+to call out, "_It is the Lord_."
+
+At length night came, when Loest and his literally worn out assistants,
+after having poured out their hearts in thankful adoration in family
+prayer, sat down to the first meal they had that day enjoyed in common.
+When it was over, the brother and sister set themselves to count over
+the money which had that day been taken. Each hundred thalers was set by
+itself, and the result showed _six hundred and three thalers, fourteen
+silver groschen_.
+
+This was sufficient to pay the first debt due the next day, and leave
+but ten shillings and eight pence over, a trifle less than they
+commenced the day with. Loest was lost in wonder and grateful emotion at
+this gracious testimony of how faithfully his Lord could minister to him
+in his earthly necessities.
+
+"How countless must be the host of his ministering servants, seen or
+unseen, since He can employ some hundreds of them, and send them to buy
+of Daniel Loest to-day, or pay him that bill which thou owest. What a
+wondrous God is ours, who in the government of this great universe, does
+not overlook my mean affairs, nor forget His gracious promise, 'Call
+upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee.'"
+
+Tuesday was a repetition of Monday's splendid business, and brought in
+the five hundred thalers which he needed the next morning to pay off the
+mortgage of his friend's house, due that day.
+
+Wednesday's sales gave him five hundred more thalers, which he was
+obliged to have ready to pay on Thursday morning into the court of
+trustees.
+
+Thursday's sales brought him four hundred thalers, just the amount he
+had given promise to pay the next day for goods delivered.
+
+And Friday's sales gave him just three hundred thalers with which to
+honor the widow's demand on Saturday, to pay funeral and contingent
+expenses.
+
+During these days of wonderful business and deliverances, after each
+indebtedness was discharged, there still was not left cash in hand a sum
+exceeding three to five dollars.
+
+On Saturday morning, after he had sent the three hundred thalers to the
+widow, he had left precisely two thalers and twenty silver groschen (six
+shillings eight pence sterling), the smallest balance he had yet had;
+and what seemed most alarming, the rush to the shop seemed to be
+entirely over; for while during the five days past, he had had scarcely
+time to draw his breath from hurry and bustle, he was now left in
+undisturbed possession of his place. Not a single customer appeared. The
+wants of the vicinity seemed to have come to an end, for not a child
+even entered to fetch a pennyworth of thread, or a few ells of tape.
+This utter cessation of trade was as unusual and out of the accustomed
+shop business, as the extra rush had been.
+
+At five o'clock on Saturday, was due the debt of three hundred thalers
+to his scoffing and tantalizing money lender. Three o'clock came, and
+still there was but six shillings eight pence in the till. Where was his
+money to come from? But Loest sat still, and "_possessed his soul in
+patience_" for he knew the Lord would choose the best time, and he
+desired to be found waiting and watching for the Lord's coming. The
+trial was severe. It seemed hopeless, and if it should happen that, the
+creditor came and went away unsatisfied, his commercial character would
+be injured, his credit shaken, and his reputation severely suffer. That
+last hour ran slowly on. At a _quarter to four_, almost the last few
+moments of painful suspense, a little old woman came in, and asking for
+Mr. Loest, said to him half in a whisper, "I live here close by, quite
+alone, in a cellar, and I have had a few thalers paid me, and now I want
+to beg of you to be so good as to keep them for me. I have not slept
+over night since I had them; it is a great charge for a lone woman like
+me."
+
+Loest was only too glad to accept the money, and offered interest, which
+she declined. She hurried back, brought in her money, counted it out on
+his table, and there _were just three hundred thalers_, six rouleaux of
+fifty thalers each.
+
+_She had scarcely left the house, with her receipt in her pocket, ere
+the clerk of the creditor with his demand in his hand, rushed into
+Loest's presence. He received his three hundred thalers, and both parted
+speechless with amazement_.
+
+Loest was lost in wonder at the marvelous way and exactness of time in
+which the Lord delivered him, while the creditor was astonished thus to
+find Loest's Mighty Friend had not failed him in his hour of need.
+
+Thus in one short week, from a beginning of less than five thalers, God
+had so exactly supplied his business needs that he had paid all his
+obligations of two thousand six hundred thalers, saved him from failure,
+saved his honor and good name, and now all was peace.
+
+The history of Loest and other providences which helped him in his
+business, are still further given more at length in a little book, "_The
+Believing Tradesman_," from the records of the Religious Tract Society
+of Berlin.
+
+This sketch illustrates the necessity of looking to God daily for help,
+and strength, and success, and deliverance in our business occupations
+as well as the concerns of our soul, and must effectively prove that
+those who use their business and the means from it to honor the good
+works of the Lord on earth, will be blessed on earth with the favor of
+the Lord. It teaches the sublime lesson that _money and prosperity are
+gifts from the Lord_, and must be considered as such, acknowledged with
+thankfulness, and used to please the Giver.
+
+Whenever the Christian learns to love the gift more than the Giver, the
+Lord takes it often away to remind him of his need of dependence upon
+_Him_. But whenever the Christian loves the _Giver_ because of His
+gifts, and spends his means again to please his Heavenly Father, he
+becomes the Father's steward, and his lap is filled with bountiful
+blessings, such as one finds by true experience, "_The Lord is my
+Shepherd, I shall not want_."
+
+
+SPURGEON'S PRAYER FOR MONEY.
+
+
+Charles Spurgeon relates this incident connected with his ministry:
+"When the college, of which I am President, had been commenced, for a
+year or so all my means stayed; my purse was dried up, and I had no
+other means of carrying it on. In this very house, one Sunday evening, I
+had paid away all I had for the support of my young men for the
+ministry. There is a dear friend now sitting behind me who knows the
+truth of what I am saying. I said to him, '_There is nothing left,
+whatever_.' He said, 'You _have a good banker, sir_.' 'Yes,' I said,
+'and I should like to draw upon him now, for I have nothing.' 'Well,'
+said he, 'how do you know, have you prayed about it?' 'Yes, I have.'
+'Well, then leave it with Him; have you opened your letters?' 'No, I do
+not open my letters on Sundays.' 'Well,' said he, 'open them for once.'
+I did so, and in the first one I opened there was a banker's letter to
+this effect: 'Dear Sir, we beg to inform you that a lady, totally
+unknown to us, has left with us two hundred pounds for you to use in the
+education of young men.' Such a sum has never come since, and it never
+came before; and I have no more idea than the dead in their graves how
+it came then, nor from whom it came, but to me it seemed that it came
+directly from God."
+
+
+THE PRAYER OF LATIMER.
+
+
+The prayers of the martyr, Latimer, were very remarkable for their
+faith. There were three principal matters for which he prayed:
+
+1. That God would give him grace to stand to his doctrine until death.
+
+2. That God would of His mercy restore His gospel to England once again,
+repeating and insisting on these words "once again," as though he had
+seen God before him, and spoken to Him face to face.
+
+3. That God would preserve Elizabeth; with many tears, desiring God to
+make her a comfort to this comfortless realm of England. All these
+requests were most fully and graciously answered.
+
+
+A MOTHER'S PRAYERS ANSWERED.
+
+
+A Christian evangelist, whose work has been most singularly blessed,
+related this incident, how once in the days of his folly and sin, while
+as yet his course of life ran counter to the fondest wishes and prayers
+of his mother's heart, he one day asked her the strange question,
+whether she really believed that he ever would be converted to God. And
+her answer, inexpressibly touching and instructive, as being the answer
+of _assured faith_, which could see as yet no signs of the coming of
+what it so anxiously sought, was,
+
+"Yes, I believe that you will one day be as eminent as a Christian, and
+an instrument for good, as you have been eminent in sin, and an
+instrument for evil."
+
+In later years the evangelist looked back with admiration to the faith
+of his mother, and thanked the Lord for His gracious answer to her
+prayers.
+
+
+HOW THE LORD RESCUED HIM.
+
+
+A wonderful incident is told by Dr. S.I. Prime among his many facts
+relating to prayer, as published in _The Observer_ and "_The Power of
+Prayer_."
+
+"A young man held a good position in a large publishing house in this
+city. He was about thirty years old, a married man, and happy in all the
+relations of life. The missionary of the church knew him through years
+of comfort and prosperity. Years passed away, and there came a dark
+place in his life. Intemperance, of the most depraved kind, made his
+career most dreadful. He disappeared, and was not heard from for some
+time. He separated himself from his family, and from all good.
+
+"He was met in Boston one day by an old friend, after long years, who
+noticed a marked difference in his appearance. He approached him,
+grasped him by the hand and said:
+
+"'I am a changed man. I one day got up in the morning, after a night of
+wakefulness, and thinking over what a wretch I had become, and how
+wretched I had made my poor wife and children, I resolved to go to the
+barn, and there all alone, to pray that God would take away utterly
+forever my accursed thirst for rum, and to pray till I felt answered
+that my prayer was heard. I went down on my knees, and on them I stayed
+until I had asked God many times to take away all my appetite for rum
+and tobacco, and everything else which was displeasing to Him, and make
+me a new creature in Christ Jesus--a holy, devoted Christian man, for
+the sake of Him who died for sinners. I told God that I could not be
+denied; I could not get up from my knees till I was forgiven and the
+curse was forever removed. I was in earnest in my prayer.
+
+"'I was on my knees two hours, short hours, as they seemed to me; two
+blessed hours, for I arose from my knees assured that all of the
+dreadful past was forgiven, and my sins blotted out forever. Oh! I tell
+you, God hears prayer. God has made me a happy man. I left all my
+appetite in the old barn. In that old barn, I was born again. Not one
+twinge of the old appetite has ever been felt since then.'"
+
+
+JESUS KEEPS ME FROM DRINKING.
+
+
+A young man arose in the Fulton Street prayer-meeting one day, and
+detailed his struggles and triumphs with his appetites. He was a perfect
+drunkard, helpless, poor; his friends' best efforts to reclaim' him were
+of no avail. The most solemn vows that he had ever taken, still were
+unable to hold him up. At last he gave himself up for lost. There seemed
+no hope for him, and in his despair he wandered away to the ocean shore.
+He met a young man who showed him a good many favors, and to whom he
+offered a drink from his flask of liquor.
+
+"'No,' said he, 'I never drink intoxicating drink, and I ask the Lord
+Jesus to help me never to touch it.'
+
+"I looked at him with surprise, and inquired, 'Are you a Christian?'
+
+"'Yes, I trust I am,' he answered.
+
+"'_And does Jesus keep you from drinking intoxicating liquor?'_
+
+"'_He does, and I never wish to touch it_.'
+
+"That short answer set me to thinking. In it was revealed a new power. I
+went home that night and said to myself, as I went, '_How do I know but
+Christ would keep one from drinking if I would ask him_?'
+
+"When I got to my room, I thought over my whole case, and then I knelt
+down and told Jesus what a poor, miserable wretch I was; how I had
+struggled against my appetite, and had always been overcome by it. I
+told Him if he would take the appetite away I would give myself up to
+Him to be his forever, and I would forever love and serve Him. I told
+Him that I felt assured that He could help me, and that He would.
+
+"Now I stand here, and I tell you all most solemnly, _that Jesus took me
+at my word_. He did take away my appetite then and there, so that, from
+that sacred moment of casting myself on his help, I have not tasted a
+drop of liquor, nor _desired_ to taste it. _The old appetite is gone_.
+
+"The last two weeks have been rich experience of Divine goodness and
+grace."
+
+
+MR. MOODY'S FAITH, IN PRAYER. A REMARKABLE ANSWER.
+
+
+Mr. Moody, on his return from England, while conducting a prayer-meeting
+in Northfield, Mass., gave this illustration of the power of prayer to
+subdue the most unlikely cases of sin and unbelief:
+
+"There is not a heart so hard that God cannot touch it. While in
+Edinburgh, a man was pointed out to me by a friend who said, 'Moody,
+that man is chairman of the Edinburgh infidel club.' So I went and sat
+down beside him, and said, 'Well, my friend, I am glad to see you at
+this meeting. Are you not concerned about your welfare?' He said that he
+did not believe in a hereafter. I said, 'Well, you just get down on your
+knees and let me pray for you.'
+
+"'_I don't believe in prayer_.'
+
+"I tried unsuccessfully to get the man down on his knees, and finally
+knelt down beside him and prayed for him. Well, he made a good deal of
+sport over it, and I met him again many times in Edinburgh after that. A
+year ago last month, while in the north of Scotland, I met the man
+again. Placing my hand on his shoulder, I asked, '_Hasn't God answered
+the prayer_?'
+
+"He replied, 'There is no God. I am just the same as I always have been.
+If you believe in a God, and in answer to prayer, do as I told you. Try
+your hand on me.'
+
+"'Well,' I said, 'God's time will come; there are a great many praying
+for you; and I have faith to believe you are going to be blessed.'
+
+"Six months ago I was in Liverpool; and there I got a letter from the
+leading barrister of Edinburgh, telling me that my friend, the infidel,
+had come to Christ, and that of his club of thirty men _seventeen_ had
+followed his example.
+
+"How it happened he could not say, but whereas he was once blind, now he
+could see. God has answered the prayer. '_I didn't know how it was to be
+answered_,' said Mr. Moody, '_but I believed it would be and it was
+done. What we want to do is to come boldly to God_.'"
+
+
+THE WONDERS OF A SINGLE PRAYER.
+
+
+The Rev. Dr. Edwin F. Hatfield, of New York City, well known and eminent
+among the clergymen of the Presbyterian church, is personally acquainted
+with the following instance of a remarkable case in answer to prayer.
+From the mother of the daughter he obtained this statement, which has
+been published by Dr. Patton, of Chicago, in his volume, "On Prayer."
+
+"My daughter was for fourteen months afflicted with hip disease. It was
+brought on by a fall, and a consequent dislocation, when she was eight
+years of age.
+
+"Her right side was paralyzed, and she had an abscess. I placed her in a
+hospital, under the care of good nurses, and the very best medical
+advice.
+
+"Everything possible was done for her, but all to no avail; she grew
+worse instead of better, and the doctors directed me, as there was no
+hope for her, to take her home to die.
+
+"But I did not cease to hope. I did as the doctors directed, but
+continued to pray the prayer of faith for her recovery for two weeks.
+One morning, at the end of this period, we were conversing together
+about the wonderful cures wrought by the Savior, when on earth, and
+particularly that of the man at the pool of Bethesda.
+
+"In the midst of our conversation, my daughter rose to obtain a drink of
+water, when she exclaimed, '_Mother, I can walk.'_ 'Thanks be to God!'
+said I, 'Come, and let me see you!'
+
+"Her crutches, the only means by which she could move about, before,
+were now useless. Upon examination, I found that the abscess had
+entirely disappeared, and that the paralyzed limb was restored whole,
+like the other.
+
+"She was again dangerously ill, five months afterward. I prayed for her
+recovery one night, before retiring, and the next morning she arose,
+perfectly cured."
+
+She is now twenty-one years of age, and during all this intervening time
+has been free from any trouble of this kind. To-day she is as well as
+any one, working and running about without the slightest trouble."
+
+
+THE TAVERN KEEPER OVERCOME.
+
+
+Rev. Charles G. Finney relates, in his "Spirit of Prayer," of an
+acquaintance of his whose faith and importunity in prayer and the answer
+were very remarkable:
+
+"In a town in the northern part of the State of New York, where there
+was a revival, there was a certain individual, who was a most violent
+and outrageous opposer. He kept a tavern, and used to delight in
+swearing at a desperate rate, whenever there were Christians within
+hearing, on purpose to hurt their feelings. He was so bad, that one man
+said he believed he should have to sell his place or give it away, and
+move out of town, for he could not live near a man that swore so.
+
+"This good man of faith and prayer that I have spoken of, was passing
+through the town and heard the case, and was very much grieved and
+distressed for the individual. He took him on his praying list. The case
+weighed on his mind when he was asleep, and when he was awake. He kept
+thinking about him, and praying for him, for days; and the first we knew
+of it, this ungodly man came into a meeting, and got up and confessed
+his sins, and poured out his soul. His barroom immediately became the
+place where they held prayer-meetings."
+
+
+VICTORIES OVER BAD HABITS, TOBACCO, OPIUM, ETC.
+
+
+The Rev. W.H. Boole, a city missionary in New York City, has been
+witness in his ministries, of many cases of complete deliverance from
+bad habits, and appetites, solely by believing prayer. Many are
+contained in a little tract written by him, "The Wonder of Grace." He
+gives a few of these incidents:
+
+"One is an officer in a church in New York, who had used tobacco for
+forty years, making during that time many efforts to abandon the
+practice, but always failing because of the resultant inward growing.
+But he was brought to an act of specific faith in Jesus, to save him
+from the appetite, and now, after several years, he testifies, 'From
+that hour all desire left me, and I have ever since hated, what I once
+so fondly loved.'"
+
+"Another is of a prominent church member in Brooklyn, N.Y., who had used
+tobacco for thirty years, and could not endure to be without a cigar in
+his mouth, and sometimes even rose and smoked in the night; after many
+failures to overcome the habit, one night when alone, he cast himself on
+his Savior for just this victory; and from that hour was delivered from
+the desire as well as from the outward act, and now wonders that he ever
+loved the filthy practice."
+
+"A certain old lady, who lived near Westbrook, Conn., aged seventy, was
+a confirmed opium eater, and used daily, an amount sufficient to kill
+twenty persons. She was led to see that the habit was a _sin_; and as
+such, she abandoned it, with specific application to Christ to save her
+from it. She was heard, and lived for two years afterward, free from any
+desire for that drug."
+
+"A similar case was that of a carpenter, in Brooklyn, N.Y., who, from
+taking morphine to allay the pain of a fractured leg, fell into its
+habitual use, till he almost lived upon it for several years after his
+recovery. He once swallowed, in the presence of several physicians, a
+dose which it was calculated would destroy the lives of two hundred
+ordinary men. Not long since, he was made to look at this as a sin, and
+tried to break off the habit, abstaining, with an alarming reaction,
+till five physicians declared that death would ensue, if he did not
+resume it. This he did for a year; but then on a certain Sunday evening,
+broke off again, casting himself by faith on Christ, from which moment
+the desire left him, and has never returned, and he has experienced no
+reaction or other ill effect, but has greatly improved in health."
+
+
+MRS. WHITNEY'S CURE IN ANSWER TO PRAYER.
+
+
+Mrs. C.S. Whitney of Hartford, Conn., a lady well known for her
+Christian work among the poor, thus gives in a letter to Dr. Patton, her
+personal testimony of the efficacy of prayer:
+
+"Three years ago, I was healed of a bodily disease. I had been troubled
+from my birth with canker, and at times suffered greatly. I had
+consulted some of the best physicians in the land, and had been treated
+by the most skillful. My case was said to be incurable. When I learned
+to trust Christ for everything, I applied to Him for healing. My husband
+joined with me in this prayer for three weeks; but all the time I was
+growing worse. I then prayed for entire submission. About the first of
+October, 1872, my stomach, throat and mouth were so cankered, I could
+scarcely eat anything. One day, I took up the little book entitled,
+'Dorothea Trudel;' and while reading, I seemed to hear a voice saying
+unto me, _'All things are possible unto him that believeth.' 'According
+to thy faith be it unto thee.'_ I claimed the faith, and immediately
+asked God to heal me, and in His own way. While yet on my knees, it
+seemed very clear to me that I should go to Boston, and ask Doctor
+Cullis to pray with me. I obeyed that leading, and made preparations to
+go the day following. Just as I was ready to start for the depot, I
+realized that I was cured. An entire change was wrought in my system,
+and my soul was filled with joy and gratitude."
+
+
+PRESIDENT FINNEY'S PRAYER FOR RAIN.
+
+
+The following incident of the prayer of President Finney for rain, and
+its immediate answer, is furnished by Professor Cowles, the intimate
+friend of President Finney:
+
+"Somewhat more than twenty years ago, the village of Oberlin and its
+adjacent country along the lake shore, suffered severely through the hot
+season from a total failure of rain, for nearly three months. Clouds
+that seemed to promise rain were repelled from the heated dry atmosphere
+over the land, and attracted by the more moist atmosphere over the lake,
+to pour out their waters there. On one such occasion, the clouds had
+gathered dark, low, and heavy over the lakes, and lay there with no
+particular indication of rising. President Finney walked out with his
+eye on these clouds. I give the sequel in his own words, as they fell
+from his lips, less than three months since:
+
+"'In this walk I met Ralph, who turned sharply upon me. 'Mr. Finney, I
+should like to know what you mean in preaching that God is always wise
+and always good, when you see him pouring out that great rain upon the
+lake, where it can do no good, and leaving us to suffer so terribly for
+the want of that wasted water?'
+
+"'His words cut me to the heart; I turned, and ran home to my closet,
+fell on my knees, and told the Lord what Ralph had been saying about
+Him; and besought Him, for the honor of His great name, to confound this
+caviler, and show forth the glory of His power and the greatness of His
+love. I pleaded with Him that He had encouraged His people to pray for
+rain, and that now the time seemed to have come for Him to show His
+power in this thing, and His faithfulness as a hearer of prayer.
+
+"'Before I rose from my knees, there was a sound of a rushing, mighty
+wind. I looked out, and lo! the heavens were black; that cloud was
+rolling up, and soon the rain fell in torrents, two full hours.'
+
+"The writer, (Professor Cowles,) himself remembers how that cloud lay
+over the lake; how it drove him, also, to his closet; and that soon and
+signally the prayers of that hour came back to us in mighty rain."
+
+
+LUTHER'S MIGHTY PRAYER AND PROPHECY.
+
+
+At one time in the life of Luther, there was a critical moment in the
+affairs of the Reformation. Bitter persecution prevailed with
+extraordinary power, and threatened every one. They were the dark days
+when faith could only cling. There were but few friends to the
+reformers, and these were of little strength. Their enemies were every
+where strong, proud, arrogant. But Luther relied on his God, and at this
+moment, with his favorite hymn in his heart, "_A strong fortress is our
+God,_" he went to the Lord in prayer, and prayed that omnipotence would
+come to the help of their weakness. Long he wrestled alone with God in
+his closet, till like Jacob he prevailed. Then he went into the room,
+where his family had assembled, with joyous heart and shining face, and
+raising both hands, and lifting his eyes heavenward, exclaimed, "_We
+have overcome, we have overcome_."
+
+This was astonishing, as there was not the slightest of news which had
+yet been heard to give them hope of relief. But immediately after that,
+the welcome tidings came that _the Emperor, Charles V., had issued his
+Proclamation of "Religious Toleration in Germany_." In Luther's prayer
+was fulfilled the remarkable promise of Proverbs, 21: I. "_The king's
+heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water; he turneth it
+whithersoever he will_."
+
+
+JOHN KNOX AND HIS PROPHETICAL PRAYER.
+
+
+"John Knox was famous for his earnest prayers. Queen Mary said that she
+feared his prayers more than she did all the armies of Europe. One
+night, in the days of his bitterest persecution, while he and his
+friends were praying together, Knox spoke out, and declared _that
+deliverance has come_. He could not tell how. _Immediately the_ news
+came that _Queen Mary was dead_."
+
+
+MELANCTHON'S LIFE SAVED FROM DEATH IN ANSWER TO LUTHER'S PRAYER.
+
+
+The most powerful tribute to the efficacy of prayer, was the answer to
+Luther's prayer which the Lord sent. A messenger was sent to Luther that
+Melancthon was dying. He found him presenting the usual premonitory
+symptoms of death. Melancthon roused, looked in the face of Luther, and
+said, "O Luther, is this you? Why don't you let me depart in peace."
+"_We can't spare you yet, Philip_," was the reply, and turning around,
+he threw himself upon his knees, and wrestled with God for his recovery
+for upwards of an hour. He went from his knees to the bed, and took his
+friend by the hand; again he said, "Dear Luther, why don't you let me
+depart in peace?" "No, no, Philip; we can not spare you yet," was the
+reply. He then ordered some soup, and when pressed to take it,
+Melancthon declined, again saying, "Dear Luther, why will you not let me
+go home and be at rest." "We can not spare you yet, Philip," was the
+reply. He then added, "Philip, take this soup, or I will excommunicate
+you." He took the soup, regained his wonted health, and labored for
+years afterwards in the cause of the Reformation; and when Luther
+returned home he said to his wife with joy, "God gave me my brother
+Melancthon back in direct answer to prayer."
+
+In this incident is given this extraordinary statement that while death
+has really seized a man, who too wished to die, and did not want to live
+longer on the earth, yet his life was given back to him again in answer
+to the prayer of faith of another.
+
+
+THE WONDERFUL POWER OF FAITH AND TRUST IN THE LORD TO DELIVER WHOLLY
+FROM BAD HABITS.
+
+
+A victim of licentiousness and sensuousness, who often, amid his sinful
+pleasures, had the memory of Christian parents before him, felt his was
+indeed a life of shame. But the downward steps had destroyed his will,
+his self-control, his manliness, his virtue. He had no power to resist,
+all was wickedness, irresolution, constant yielding. In vain he hung
+back, and tried to save himself from the cursed appetite; at last he
+realized that in a few weeks' time he must go to the grave; strength
+could not stand such a waste of life. "What a miserable life. What
+wicked ways, what wicked thoughts; how I wish I was pure; O, that I
+might get free; I do not love this sin any more, I don't want it, but I
+can't stop it. O, I wish I could be a Christian, and wholly free."
+
+Such were his constant thoughts. In mercy, the Lord who had been reading
+his thoughts, sent him a great reverse in business, and in agony of
+heart, he knew not where to turn but to the Lord, and pray for relief.
+His prayer, too, asked to be emancipated from his wickedness, and his
+strength and health restored. "_Lord, save me and I will_ be thine
+forever. I am lost unless thou wilt come and save."
+
+By gradual degrees, in the absorption of his thoughts over other
+distresses, his mind was diverted from his usual ways and thoughts of
+sinful living; gradually the habits of lust grew less and less strong,
+and finally ceased altogether. But the body still remained under
+excessive weakness. But faith that the Lord who had saved others, could
+save him too, led him to pray, not only for the destruction of the
+habit, but entire recovery from its evil effects. His perseverance was
+persistent, and met with a _triumphant reward_. After a long; time, he
+felt himself wholly healed. New strength, new life, came back to him.
+"It seems as if my life had been put back again ten years, and I was
+young again." "I never have any more wicked thoughts or imaginations,
+while I was once full of them. Since I learned to seek the Lord and love
+his Bible, I have never had such peace, or purity. I love the name and
+tender mercies of my God." If in a few months, prayer saved that man's
+life, and so wholly changed it from a foul blot to a thing of purity,
+what can it not do again. _No sin can ever be conquered until in
+humility either saint or sinner_ gets down upon his knees, and implores
+the love and power of the Lord in _never ceasing prayer_, to wholly
+emancipate him from the control of the evil habit. _The Lord will surely
+hear it_. He can as truly deliver the body from the most persistent and
+enchaining habit, as he can wholly convert the mind and heart. The
+result is not always instantaneous; more often gradual, but _always
+sure_ if the sufferer _always prays_.
+
+It is simple enough for the sinning one to believe that the _Lord can_,
+and seeking the Bible _for the Lord's own promise that he, will; to
+cling to it and never surrender_.
+
+The sin may be repeated when you can not resist it, and do not desire
+for it, but take all pains to avoid; still pray though you often fail;
+still try, still trust the Lord to loose your chains and remove your
+desire, and deliverance is sure to come at last.
+
+
+RECOVERY FROM PARALYSIS.
+
+
+"Between two and three years ago, the writer was struck down by
+paralysis, disabling entirely the limbs of the left side. In this
+apparently helpless state, I employed a man to take care of me, and felt
+that unless God should interpose, I must be a continuous burden on my
+friends. My kind physician gave me no hope of _entire recovery_.
+
+"In this state I made my prayer to God continually, that he would so far
+restore my strength as to enable me to take care of myself.
+
+"This prayer he was pleased to answer, for in eight weeks I dismissed my
+attendant, finding myself able to take care of myself. I now walk more
+than half a mile each day, and attend to all the associations of home
+life. I record with thankfulness this restoration of my disabled frame
+in answer to prayer."
+
+
+THE STOLEN BONDS RETURNED.
+
+
+The _New York Observer_ relates a remarkable instance of the return of
+stolen property, which in its extraordinary way can be accounted for
+only by the control of a Supreme Will, and all in answer to prayer.
+
+"On February 16, 1877, United States and railroad bonds and mortgages to
+the amount of $160,000, belonging to Edgar H. Richards, were stolen from
+the banking house of James G. King's Sons, of this city. No clue
+whatever to the robbers could be obtained. Several parties were arrested
+on suspicion, but nothing could be proved, and the mystery remained
+unsolved.
+
+"Mr. Richards, being a member of one of our most prominent churches,
+made it a subject of constant prayer, that the Lord would wholly prevent
+the thieves from any use of the property and cause it to be returned to
+him. When asked if he was ever incredulous, he said, 'No, I have never
+lost my faith in recovering this property. I believe in prayer, and I
+have made it from the first a subject of prayer, and it will be
+answered.'
+
+"Meanwhile some curious influences must have been at work among the
+thieves, for they acted in an extraordinary manner as follows:
+
+"One day last week a stranger, well dressed, modest looking,
+gentlemanly, walked into the office of Elliott F. Shepard, Esq., one of
+Messrs. King's counsel, and tendered his services for the recovery of
+the property, asserting he knew nothing about the robbery, nor the
+thieves, but that he could get the treasure. He was told that a reward
+would be paid for the capture of the thieves, but he earnestly protested
+that it was entirely out of his power to obtain any clue to the person
+or whereabouts of the thief; and no inquiries ever disclosed that this
+was not a perfectly true statement. Indeed, it proved that he had been
+selected as an agent to do this work, and that there were at least five
+or six connecting intermediaries between him and the robbers, each
+exercising that virtue which is called honor among thieves, and which on
+this occasion proved a wall of adamant to every attempt to pierce it or
+break it down.
+
+"True to his word the stranger caused the delivery at Mr. Shepard's
+office, at the appointed hour to a second, of an ordinary pasteboard
+bandbox, wrapped in newspaper, by the hands of a little boy. He had come
+in a pelting rain-storm, and part of the newspaper had become torn, and
+disclosed the blue, unsuspected hat box. The boy knew nothing about it,
+except that a gentleman had given him a dime in the street to bring the
+box.
+
+"Mr. Richards being present, opened the bandbox, examined and checked
+off the contents with one of Messrs. King's head clerks, and found every
+single item of his missing securities, stocks, bonds, mortgages,
+accounts, bank books, wills, everything. A most remarkable thing! The
+parties could hardly believe their eyes."
+
+
+MR. MOODY'S ANSWERS TO PRAYERS.
+
+
+Mr. D.L. Moody, the Evangelist, when a boy, was possessed of an unusual
+amount of muscular strength and animal spirits, and a strong will that
+knew little of impossibility or submission. When only six years old,
+being wistful to do something to help his mother, he was set to drive
+the cows of a neighboring farmer to and from their mountain pasture. On
+one occasion, a heavy fence fell upon him from which he could not
+extricate himself. After trying his utmost and crying as loud as he
+could for help, but in vain, the thought struck him that God would help
+him if he asked him. In his own simple language he prayed to his
+mother's God for help, and made another effort, and succeeded in getting
+free. This, his first answer to prayer, made a vivid impression on his
+heart, which gave a decided turn to his opening life.
+
+
+NO FLOUR IN THE HOUSE--IN THE DAYS OF FAMINE, HIS SOUL SHALL BE
+SATISFIED.
+
+
+Mr. Moody's domestic life has always been a happy one, but in the early
+days of his marriage, he was very poor, and his faith was often put to
+the severest tests.
+
+One day, on leaving home in his missionary work and labors of love, he
+remarked to his wife, "I have no money, and the house is without
+supplies. It looks dark; is it possible that the Lord has had enough of
+me in this mission work, and is going to send me back again to sell
+boots and shoes." But he prayed. In a day or two, a Stranger sent him
+two checks of $50 each--one for himself, and one for his school.
+
+On another occasion his wife informed him that they had no flour for the
+day's use, and asked him to order some on his way. Having no money in
+his possession, he was perplexed how to proceed to raise the required
+amount; but meeting a person in whose spiritual welfare he was
+concerned, he forgot all about such sublunary considerations as money
+and flour, and went heart and soul into the Lord's work before him.
+
+On his return home at night, he felt somewhat nervous about his
+reception on account of his not having sent the flour, but to his joyful
+surprise, he found that on his arrival the table was spread with a
+bountiful repast.
+
+It seems that a friend of his was powerfully impressed that morning, and
+without seeing the family or knowing anything about their need, had
+packed up a barrel of flour and sent it.
+
+Others of his friends, who were interested in his work, and felt
+confidence in his work, _unknown to him_, selected a new house, and
+furnished it throughout with every facility for convenience and comfort,
+and when all was completed invited him and his family to it, and made
+him a present of the loan of his house, and all its contents.
+
+Thus the _Great Helper_ remembered him and answered his daily prayer,
+"Give us this day our daily bread."
+
+
+PERSEVERING PRAYER.
+
+
+At one of the prayer-meetings at the Brooklyn tabernacle, Mr. Moody
+closed by narrating an instance of persevering prayer by a Christian
+wife for an infidel husband. She resolved to pray for him at noon for
+eighteen months, and at the expiration of that time, her knocking not
+having been responded to, she exclaimed, "_Lord, I will pray for him,
+every day, and at all hours, as long as life lasts_."
+
+That day the Lord heard her knock, and gave her the desire of her heart,
+in the conversion of her husband. When the Lord saw her faith would not
+give up, he sent the answer immediately.
+
+
+NOAH'S PRAYER.--HE DID NOT GET DISCOURAGED.
+
+
+The life of faith and the necessity of uncompromising hold on the
+promise's, expecting their fulfillment, is admirably explained in the
+illustration of Noah's prayer. One day Mr. Moody was much discouraged,
+and it was as dark a Sabbath as ever he had, and a friend suggested to
+him to study the life of Noah.
+
+"I got out my Bible, and the thought came over me, 'Here is a man who
+labored and talked a hundred years, and didn't succeed; didn't get a
+convert notwithstanding all his efforts, all his prayers, but he didn't
+get discouraged.'
+
+"But he took God at his word; he worked right on; he prayed right on;
+and he waited God's time. And, my friends, from that time, I have never
+been discouraged. Whenever I think of him, it lifts me up out of the
+darkness into the light. Don't get discouraged."
+
+The lesson of Noah's life is briefly this: He never converted a soul
+outside of his own family. That was the work God gave him to do, and he
+prayed and waited and worked, and never gave up, and he was saved and
+all his family with him.
+
+So every Christian must recognize that his field is not far off, but
+right around him, in his house, among his friends, working, praying,
+waiting, but never getting discouraged. The Lord will never fail those
+who "_abide in Him_."
+
+
+SAMUEL HICK'S PRAYER FOR RAIN.
+
+
+Samuel Hick was one of the men of "_mighty faith_" in the Lord, and as a
+preacher among the Methodists of England. He was of great eminence for
+his happy spirit, remarkable trust, powerful and practical preaching,
+and unbounded liberality. Among the many incidents connected with his
+life of faith, we quote a few to illustrate with what simplicity he
+expected always an answer to his prayer, and was not satisfied until he
+got it:
+
+In the course of a Summer of excessive drought a few years back, when
+the grain suffered greatly, and many of the cattle, especially in
+Lincolnshire, died. Samuel Hick was much affected. He visited
+Knaresborough, at which place he preached on the Lord's day.
+
+Remaining in the town and neighborhood over the Sabbath, he appeared
+extremely restless in the house in which he resided, during the whole of
+Monday. He spoke but little--was full of thought, now praying, now
+walking about the room, next sitting in a crouching posture--then
+suddenly starting up and going to the door, turning his eyes toward
+heaven, as if looking for some celestial phenomenon, when he would
+return again, groan in spirit, and resume his seat. The family, being
+impressed with his movements, asked him whether there was anything the
+matter with him or whether he expected any person, as the occasion of
+his going to the door so frequently.
+
+"Bless you Bairns," was his reply, "do you not recollect that I was
+praying for rain last night in the pulpit, and what will the infidel at
+Knaresborough think if it do not come; if my Lord should fail me, and
+not stand by me." But it must have time; it can not be here yet; it has
+to come from the sea. Neither can it be seen at first. The prophet only
+saw a bit of cloud like a man's hand. By and by it spread along the sky.
+I am looking for an answer to my prayer, but it must have time.
+
+He continued in the same unsettled state, occasionally going out, and
+looking with intensity on the pure azure over his head; for _a more
+unclouded sky was rarely ever seen_. Contrary to all external signs of
+rain, and contrary to the expectations of all, except himself, the sky
+became overcast toward evening, and the clouds dropped the fullness of a
+shower upon the earth. His very soul seemed to drink in the falling
+drops. The family grouped around him, like children around their father,
+while he gave out his favorite hymn, "_I'll praise my Maker while I've
+breath_;" "and after singing it with a countenance all a-glow, through
+the sunshine of heaven upon his soul, he knelt down and prayed. All were
+overpowered; it was a season of refreshing from the presence of the
+Lord.
+
+His biographer says of him: "Samuel had no weather glass upon which to
+look except the Bible, in which he was taught to believe, and expect
+_that_ for which he prayed; nothing on which he could depend but God,
+and _his faith_ was set in God for _rain_."
+
+
+PRAYING FOR THE WIND TO COME.
+
+
+A remarkable incident, showing how God makes the winds to obey him in
+obedience to the prayer of his righteous ones, and the expectations of
+their faith, occurred also in Samuel Hick's life, which is really an
+astonishing proof of God's supernatural power.
+
+A church gathering was to take place at Micklefleld, and Samuel had
+promised two loads of corn for their use. The day fixed drew near, but
+there was no flour in the house, and the wind-mills, in consequence of a
+long calm, stretched out their arms in vain to catch the rising breezes.
+In the midst of this death-like quiet, Samuel carried his corn to the
+mill nearest his own residence, and requested the miller to unfurl his
+sails. The miller objected, stating that there was "no wind." Samuel, on
+the other hand, continued to urge his request, saying, "_I will go and
+pray while you spread the cloth._" More with a view of gratifying the
+applicant than of any faith he had, the man stretched his canvas. _No
+sooner had he done this than, to his utter astonishment, a fine breeze
+sprung up, the fans whirled around, the corn was converted into meal,
+and Samuel returned with his burden rejoicing,_ and had everything in
+readiness for the festival.
+
+In the mean time, a neighbor who had seen the fan in vigorous motion,
+took also some corn to be ground; but the wind had dropped, and the
+miller remarked to him, "You must send for Sammy Hick to pray for the
+wind to blow again."
+
+
+SNAILS IN THE ARK.
+
+
+To many who with despondency protest that they have not faith enough,
+get along so slow, are too weak, &c, the following sharp retort of Hick
+will prove a bright lining to their dark cloud of failing, and lead them
+to plod on in prayer.
+
+"To a gentleman laboring under great nervous depression, whom he had
+visited, and who was moving along the streets as though he was
+apprehensive that every step would shake his system in pieces, he was
+rendered singularly useful. They met, and Samuel, having a deeper
+interest in the soul than the body, asked: 'Well, how are you getting on
+your way to Heaven.'"
+
+The poor invalid, in a dejected, half desponding tone, replied, "But
+slowly I fear," intimating that he was creeping along only at a poor
+pace.
+
+"Why bless you Bairn," returned Samuel, "_there were snails in the
+ark_."
+
+The reply was so earnest, so unexpected, and met the dispirited man so
+immediately on his own ground, that the temptation broke away, and he
+was out of his depression.
+
+It was a resurrection to his feelings, inferring that if the snail
+reached the ark and was saved, he too, "faint yet pursuing," might gain
+admission into heaven.
+
+
+HE GAVE ALL THE MONEY HE HAD.
+
+
+At one time he attended a missionary meeting near Harrowgate. "We had a
+blessed meeting," said Samuel, "I was very happy and gave all the money
+I had in my pocket." After the meeting was concluded, he mounted his
+horse to return home. No one had offered to pay his expenses--he had not
+a farthing in his pocket. Advanced in life--a slow rider, and not a very
+sprightly horse--in the night--alone--twenty miles from home. Think of
+the lonesomeness; the time for the tempter to come and lead him to
+distrust in his Lord. But he struggled; the trial was short and the
+victory complete, for, said he, "Devil, I never stuck fast yet."
+
+Just as he entered Harewood, a gentleman took his horse by the bridle,
+asked him where he had been, talked with him long, and to whom Samuel's
+talk was a wonderful consolation. Said Sammy:
+
+"I have not wanted for any good thing, and could always pray with Job,
+'The Lord gave and the Lord taketh away, blessed be the name of the
+Lord.'"
+
+The gentleman asked, "Can you read?"
+
+"Yes," returned Samuel.
+
+"Then," replied the gentleman, holding a piece of paper in his hand,
+which was rendered visible by the glimmering light of the stars,
+
+"There is a five pound note for you. You love God and his cause, and I
+believe you will never want."
+
+And Sammy said, "I cried for joy. This was a fair salvation from the
+Lord. When I got home, I told my wife. She burst into tears, and we
+praised the Lord together," and he added: "You see, we never give to the
+Lord but He gives in return."
+
+
+"THE LORD WILL PROVIDE."
+
+
+A poor but pious widow in Boston, in her eighty-seventh year, said to a
+friend, "When I was left a widow with three little children, I was
+brought into such extremity that they were crying for bread, and I had
+nothing for them to eat. As I arose on a Sabbath morning, I knew not
+what to do but to ask my heavenly Father to feed my little ones, and
+commit myself and them to his care.
+
+"I then went out to the well to get a pail of water, and saw on the
+ground a six cent piece, which I took up; and learning that it did not
+belong to any of those who lived in the same house with me, I thought I
+might take it to feed my famishing children. Though it was a Sabbath
+morning, I felt that it would be right to go to a baker who lived in the
+neighborhood, tell him our circumstances, and buy bread with the money
+Providence had thus cast in my way. The baker not only did this, but the
+Lord opened his heart to add a bountiful supply; and from that hour to
+the present, which is nearly fifty years, I have never doubted that _God
+would take care of his children_."
+
+
+ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S FAITH IN PRAYER.
+
+
+When President Lincoln left his home in Springfield, Ill., February 11,
+1861, on his way to Washington, he made the following farewell address
+to his friends and neighbors: "My friends, no one not in my position can
+appreciate the sadness I feel at this parting. To this people I owe all
+I am. Here I have lived more than a quarter of a century; here my
+children were born, and here one of them lies buried. I know not how
+soon I shall see you again. A duty devolves upon me which is perhaps
+greater than that which has devolved upon any other man since the days
+of Washington. He would never have succeeded except for the aid of
+Divine Providence, upon which he at all times relied. I feel that I
+cannot succeed without the same Divine aid which sustained him, and on
+the same Almighty Being I place my reliance for support; and I hope you,
+my friends, will all pray that I may receive that Divine assistance,
+without which I cannot succeed, but with which success is certain.
+Again, I bid you all an affectionate farewell." That simple but earnest
+request sent an electric thrill through every Christian heart, and
+without doubt, in response to it, more prayer was offered for him
+throughout his administration, than for any one who ever before occupied
+the Presidential chair.
+
+At a Sabbath-school convention in Massachusetts, a speaker stated that a
+friend of his, during an interview with Mr. Lincoln, asked him if he
+loved Jesus. The President buried his face in his handkerchief and wept.
+He then said, "When I left home to take this chair of state, I requested
+my countrymen to pray for me. I was not then a Christian. When my son
+died--the severest trial of my life--I was not a Christian. But when I
+went to Gettysburg, and looked upon the graves of our dead heroes who
+had fallen in defense, of their country, I then and there consecrated
+myself to Christ. _I do love Jesus."_ Rev. Mr. Adams, of Philadelphia,
+stated in his Thanksgiving sermon that, having an appointment to meet
+the President at 5 o'clock in the morning, he went a quarter of an hour
+before the time. While waiting for the hour, he heard a voice in the
+next room as if in grave conversation, and asked the servant, "Who is
+talking in the next room?" "It is the President, sir." "Is anybody with
+him?" "No, sir; he is reading the Bible." "Is that his habit so early in
+the morning?" "Yes, sir. He spends every morning, from 4 o'clock to 5,
+in reading the Scriptures and praying."
+
+_It was the Lord who Guided the mind of Mr. Lincoln in his extraordinary
+act of the Emancipation of the Slaves of America._ The Lord had prepared
+it, and chose him as the means whereby to accomplish it.
+
+_Were not his Prayers and efforts specially blessed by the Lord in
+wisdom, for the guidance of our Nation_?
+
+
+EXTRAORDINARY CARE OF THE LORD IN ANSWER TO PRAYER.
+
+
+"The scenes of the riots in New York, at the time of our civil war, are
+of national celebrity; but few, however, know that one of the most
+atrocious acts of cruelty attempted to be perpetrated by the
+malefactors, and which utterly failed of its purpose, _came solely in
+answer to prayer_. On the first day of the mob, however, several
+thousand men, _women and children_, armed with clubs and brickbats,
+suddenly appeared at the door of the Colored Orphan Asylum, and effected
+an entrance by breaking down the front door with an axe. The building
+was soon fired in ten or fifteen places, and the work of destruction was
+accomplished in twenty minutes.
+
+"There were at the time two hundred and twenty-three children in the
+building with their attendants and teachers. The matron having assembled
+all the children after the first alarm, one of the teachers thus
+addressed them: 'Children, do you believe that Almighty God can deliver
+you from a mob?' The reply was promptly made in the affirmative. 'Then,'
+said she, 'I wish you now to pray silently to God to protect you from
+this mob. I believe that he is able and will do it. Pray earnestly to
+him, and when I give the signal, go in order, without noise, to the
+dining-room.' At this every head was instantly bowed in prayer, such
+prayer as is not frequently offered, the silent, earnest supplication of
+terrified and persecuted little children. When, at the sound of the
+bell, their heads were raised, the teacher said the tears were
+streaming, but not a sound, not even a sob, was to be heard. They then
+quietly went down stairs and through the halls, and she remarked that
+'to her dying day she should never forget the scene;' the few moments of
+eloquent silence, the streaming noiseless tears, the funereal march
+through the halls, the yells and the horrible sounds which were nearer
+and nearer approaching. _Not one of these helpless innocents was injured
+in the least_; but in spite of the threats and the blood-thirstiness of
+the rioters, through whom they were obliged to pass, all were removed
+unmolested to a place of safety."
+
+
+A REMARKABLE DECISION BY A JURY.
+
+
+"In one of our northern cities, a trial at law took place between a
+Christian and an infidel. The latter had sued the former for a heavy
+sum, falsely alleging his promise to pay it for some stocks which he
+claimed to have sold him. The Christian admitted AN OFFER of the stock,
+but protested that so far from promising the sum demanded, he had
+steadily refused to make any trade whatever with the plaintiff. Each of
+the parties to the suit had a friend who fully corroborated their
+assertions. Thus the case went before the jury for decision.
+
+"The charge of the judge was stern and significant. 'It was a grave and
+most painful task which devolved upon him to instruct the jurors that
+one of the parties before them must be guilty of deliberate and willful
+perjury. Their statements were wholly irreconcilable with each other;
+nay more, were diametrically opposite; and that either were innocently
+mistaken in their assertions was impossible.
+
+"'Your verdict, gentlemen,' he said in conclusion, 'must decide upon
+which side this awful and heaven-daring iniquity belongs. The God of
+truth help you to find the truth, that the innocent suffer not.'
+
+"It was late in the day when the judge's charge was given, and the
+finding of the jury was to be rendered in the morning. The plaintiff
+went carelessly from the court arm in arm with the wicked associate whom
+he had bribed to swear falsely on his behalf. The defendant and his
+friend walked away together in painful silence. When the Christian
+reached his home, he told his family of the judge's solemn charge and of
+the grave responsibility which rested upon the jurors. 'They are to
+decide which of us has perjured ourselves on this trial,' he said; 'and
+how terrible a thing for me if they should be mistaken in their
+judgment. There is so little of any thing tangible for their decision to
+rest upon, that it seems to me as if a breath might blow it either way.
+They cannot see our hearts, and I feel as if, only God could enable them
+to discern the truth. Let us spend the evening in prayer that he may
+give them a clear vision.'"
+
+The twelve jurymen ate their supper in perplexed silence, and were shut
+in their room for deliberation and consultation. "I never sat in such a
+case before," said the foreman. "The plaintiff and defendant have sworn
+point-blank against each other; and how we are to tell which speaks the
+truth, I can not see. I should not like to make a mistake in the matter;
+it would be a sad affair to convict an innocent man of perjury." Again
+there was silence among them, as if each were weighing the case in his
+own mind. "_For myself_ I feel as if the truth must be with the
+defendant; I am constrained to think that he is an honest man. What say
+you, gentlemen?" _Every hand was raised in affirmation of this opinion_.
+They were fully persuaded of its truth, and _gave a unanimous verdict
+accordingly._
+
+Thus the Christian man was rightfully acquitted, and gave thanks to God,
+with a new and stronger confidence in the power of prayer. "Call upon me
+in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me,"
+saith the Lord.
+
+
+THAT WONDERFUL $25. ANOTHER EVIDENCE OF THE EVER-PRESENT SPIRIT OF GOD.
+
+
+The following incident is marvelous, as at the time of its occurrence
+neither party had ever been known to each other:
+
+In _New Haven, Conn._, lives a little invalid widow, almost helpless,
+with no one upon whom to rely for support, and only indebted to friendly
+acquaintances for a temporary home. With no money, no acquaintances, she
+had nowhere else to turn to but to the Father of all good. She had
+prayed often, and often had answers, but this time, though needing
+money, still she received none. The answer was long delayed; she was
+almost discouraged. "_Was God at last to fail and forget her? No, it
+could not be. Let God be true even if I perish, I shall still cling to
+Him. I can not give Him up."_
+
+Just at that time a business man in New York, who had been absent on a
+long journey for the Summer and had just returned, happened to pick up a
+note among many hundred lying on his desk, and noticed that the writer
+asked for some trifling favor, saying she was poor, had no means.
+
+Her circumstances were unknown: he knew nothing but her name. He was
+eager to _minister to the little ones of the Lord,_ and felt deeply
+impressed in prayer that morning, in asking a blessing on his day's
+labors, that he might be able to help the need of some of "his children"
+who might then be in want. In his business hours the thought came over
+him with the depth of emotion, "WHAT CAN I DO? LORD, THY SERVANT IS
+READY." Just at that moment he picked up this note of the little
+invalid, who asked the trivial favor, saying it would be such a comfort.
+_(No money whatever was asked for in this note_.)
+
+Suddenly the thought came to him, "_Perhaps this is my very opportunity.
+This may be the Lord's little one in need_." But there was nothing in
+the letter to indicate she was a Christian. She solicited no money or
+pecuniary help.
+
+Immediately there came to his mind, amid floods of tears, "_Inasmuch as
+ye have done it unto the least of these, my children, ye have done it
+unto me_." Instantly he understood it as a message from the Lord, and
+the intimation of the Holy Spirit. He immediately sat down and wrote a
+check for $25, and enclosed it to her, saying, "_I know not your need;
+you have not asked me for help, but I send you something which may be
+useful. I trust you are a Christian. I shall be happy to learn if it has
+done good, and made you happy. Give me no thanks. The Lord's blessing is
+enough for me_."
+
+The letter was sent and forgotten, but a strange presentiment came over
+the mind of the writer. "_I am afraid I did not direct that letter
+right_." He sent a second postal card, asking if a letter had been
+received at her home; if not, to go to her post office and inquire.
+
+Now notice the wonderful singularity of incident. Here is a man sending
+money, _never asked for, to an unknown person, about whom he knew
+nothing; then misdirecting his letter_, and then remembering and
+_sending another message to go and find where the first had gone to. But
+notice the marvelous result_. The little invalid received the postal
+card, but not the letter. She sent to the post office, and sure enough
+there was the first letter with its misdirection. She was _just in time_
+to save it from being sent to _another woman of the same name living in
+another part of the same city_.
+
+She opened her letter, and with tears of thankfulness perused this
+wonderful reply, a marvelous witness to the power of an overruling
+Spirit, who had directed everything.
+
+"My heart is full, that God should so answer my simple prayer. I first
+asked him for $10, then $15, _and then for_ $25. I asked him for $25
+several times, and was astonished at my boldness, but the amount was so
+fixed in my mind, _I could not ask for anything else_, and then I humbly
+trusted it to Him, and from that time I thought, I will not name any
+sum; let it be as He knows my need. And how He has honored my simple
+faith and trust in these dark days. _Your letter contained exactly the
+$25 I prayed for_. I have not had $1.50 to spend this Summer. I have
+suffered for everything. But through it all I have felt such perfect
+faith in the Lord, that his hand was leading me, even when I could not
+see a step before me; and that He should move your heart to help me
+seems so wonderful, so good. I am so glad I can thank you now, but ah,
+so much "_over there_" where words will express so much more in the
+beautiful atmosphere of heaven. Your letter and kind gift was mailed
+_the very same day_ that I was praying in great distress and trial. I
+knew not but that I should be without even a home. My verse was Psalms
+50: 15. O, how I had to pray that day. So day by day I was comforted,
+and now to-day the answer has come."
+
+Here, then, is a portion of the story of a sweet life who trusted God,
+not as a God of the past, nor far off, but ever living, ever present,
+ever faithful, and believed Him _able, willing_, and that He _would
+help_ her in her daily life. She tried her Lord, to prove if his
+promises were indeed true, and she clung to them to the very last. No
+one knew her need. No one knew what she was praying for. The stranger
+did not know anything of her. She had asked money of no one but the
+Lord. Hesitant ever, she dared not name any amount of the Lord, but that
+ever present Spirit of God guided her heart, made her _fix the amount_,
+and then touched the heart of the stranger and fixed the amount also in
+his mind, and then, by his own guidance saved the letter from being
+lost, and behold! when opened the _prayer of the one and the gift of the
+other was the same_.
+
+What a comfort, what a privilege, then, it is for the true-hearted
+Christian thus to feel, "_There is one who careth for us_."
+
+
+WHY HE FAILED.
+
+
+A prominent business man failed in the Spring of 1877. He had been for
+years a prominent and consistent member of a Christian church. He had
+even supported a church once almost entirely. Nothing was known against
+his character, _but he failed; he failed in business_. No one knew the
+reason why, but there it was, _failure_.
+
+At last, in moments of bitter repentance before God, he unbosomed
+himself to his pastor, and said, "_Long ago I promised to give the Lord
+one-tenth of all the profits I gained from my business, and while I did
+so, I was immensely prosperous and successful; never did any one have
+any such splendid success,--but I forgot my promise, stopped giving,
+thought that I did not need to spend so much, and I began to invest my
+means in real estate. When I stopped giving I stopped getting. Now all
+is gone. I lost my all because I did not keep my promise to the Lord_."
+
+This incident is a practical one, telling how utter is the impossibility
+of true success, without the aid of the Lord, and how absolutely
+necessary it is to our own peace and comfort of mind to religiously
+observe one's promises made to God. The Bible only too truly tells of
+the end of those who forget Him.
+
+"_But Jeshurun waxed fat, then he forsook God which made him; and when
+the Lord saw it, he abhorred them, and said, 'I will hide my face from
+them_.'"
+
+"_Ye can not prosper; because ye have forsaken the Lord_, He _hath also
+forsaken you." "There shall be desolation; because thou hast forgotten
+the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy
+strength_."
+
+       *       *       *       *       * HOW THE LORD
+
+
+CONTROLS THE WINDS AND THE WAVES
+
+
+JOHN EASTER'S PRAYER.
+
+
+In his "Memorials of Methodism in Virginia," Dr. W.W. Bennet relates the
+following incidents in the life of John Easter, one of the pioneer
+ministers who labored there nearly one hundred years ago: He is
+represented as being the most powerful exhortatory preacher of his day.
+His faith was transcendent, his appeals irresistible, his prayers like
+talking with God face to face. Perhaps no man has ever been more
+signally honored of God as an instrument in the conversion of souls. On
+one of his circuits eighteen hundred members were added to the church in
+a single year.
+
+Many thrilling scenes under his preaching yet linger among the people in
+those counties where he principally labored. A most extraordinary
+display of his faith was witnessed in Brunswick. At Merritt's meeting-
+house a quarterly meeting was in progress, and so vast was the concourse
+of people from many miles around, that the services were conducted in a
+beautiful grove near the church. In the midst of the exercises, a heavy
+cloud arose, and swept rapidly towards the place of worship. From the
+skirts of the grove the rain could be seen coming on across the fields.
+The people were in consternation; no house could hold one-third of the
+multitude, and they were about to scatter in all directions. Easter rose
+in the midst of the confusion--"Brethren," cried he at the top of his
+voice, "be still while I call upon God to stay the clouds, till His word
+can be preached to perishing sinners." Arrested by his voice and manner,
+they stood between hope and fear. He kneeled down and offered a fervent
+prayer that God would then stay the rain, that the preaching of His word
+might go on, and afterwards send refreshing showers. _While he was
+praying, the angry cloud, as it swiftly rolled up to them, was seen to
+part asunder in the midst, pass on either side of them, and close again
+beyond, leaving a space several hundred yards in circumference perfectly
+dry. The next morning a copious rain fell again, and the fields that had
+been left dry were well watered_."
+
+
+THE HUSHED TEMPEST.
+
+
+The following circumstance is communicated to _The Christian_ by a
+minister of the editor's acquaintance, as a memorial of God's care for
+the poor and needy who trust in him:
+
+It was about the year 1853, and near the middle of a Canadian Winter, we
+had a succession of snowfalls, followed by high winds and severe cold. I
+was getting ready to haul my Winter's stock of wood, for which I had to
+go two miles over a road running north and south, entirely unprotected
+from the keen cold west winds that prevail the most of the time in that
+part of Canada during the Winter months.
+
+The procuring of my Winter's supply of wood was no small task for me,
+for I had very little to do with, and was unable to endure much fatigue,
+or bear the severe cold. I had, however, succeeded in securing the
+services of an excellent hand to chop, and help me load, and had also
+engaged a horse of one neighbor, and a horse and sled of another, and
+was ready on Monday morning to commence my job. Monday morning the roads
+were fair, the day promised well, and my man was off at daybreak to the
+woods to, have a load ready for me. There had been quite a fall of snow
+during the night; not enough to do any harm if it only lay still, but
+should the wind rise, as it had after every snow-fall before, it would
+make it dreadful for me. Soon as possible I harnessed my team, and
+started. I had not gone a quarter of a mile before it became painfully
+evident that a repetition of our previous "blows" was impending. The sky
+was dark and stormy, the wind rose rapidly, and in every direction
+clouds of the newly fallen snow were beginning to ride on the "wings of
+the wind," pouring over the fences, and filling the road full! My heart
+sank within me. What could I do? At this rate, by next morning the roads
+would be impassable, and it was so cold! Besides, if I failed to go on
+now, it would be very difficult to get my borrowed team together again,
+and impossible to get my man again; and we could as well live without
+bread as without wood in a Canadian Winter.
+
+Every moment the wind increased. In deep distress, I looked upon the
+threatening elements, exclaiming over and over, "What shall I do?" I
+felt then that there was but one thing that I could do, and that was
+just what poor sinking Peter did; and with feelings I imagine something
+like his, I looked up to God, and cried out, "O, my God, this is more
+than I am able to bear. Lord, help me! The elements are subject to thee;
+thou boldest the winds in thy fist. If thou wilt speak the word, there
+will be a great calm. O, for Jesus' sake, and for the sake of my little
+helpless family, let this snow lie still and give me an opportunity of
+accomplishing this necessary labor comfortably!" I do not think it was
+above fifteen minutes after I began to call upon the Lord before there
+was a visible change. The wind began to subside, the sky grew calm, and
+in less than half an hour all was still, and a more pleasant time for
+wood-hauling than I had that day, I never saw nor desire to see. Many
+others beside me enjoyed the benefit of that "sudden change" of weather,
+but to them it was only a "nice spell of weather," a "lucky thing;"
+while to me it was full of sweet and encouraging tokens of the
+"loving-kindness of the Lord." And now, after so many years, I feel
+impelled to give this imperfect narrative, to encourage others in the
+day of trouble to call upon the Lord; and also, as a tribute of
+gratitude to Him who has "never said to the house of Jacob, seek ye my
+face in vain."
+
+
+PRAYING IN FAIR WEATHER.
+
+
+The ways in which God saves those whom he wishes to deliver from death,
+are sometimes too wonderful for our understanding. A certain ship was
+overtaken in a severe and prolonged storm at sea. She had a noble
+Christian man for a captain, and as good a sailor as ever trod the
+quarter-deck, and he had under him a good and obedient crew. But they
+could not save the ship; she was too badly strained, her leaks were too
+great for the pumps, she must go to the bottom. The captain committed
+them all to the care of the God in whom he put his trust, and made ready
+to take to their boats. Just then a sail was descried, and, by signals
+of distress, drawn to their relief. All on board were taken off safely
+and put on the ship, soon after which they saw their own ship go down.
+
+Now comes the peculiar part. The ship was soon overtaken in a dreadful
+storm, was cast on her beam ends, and everything seemed to be lost. The
+passengers were praying, and many of the old seamen were calling on God
+to save them from the great deep. The captain of the ship had done his
+best, but could not right the vessel, and all was given up to go down.
+The captain, whose ship was lost, then asked if he might take his crew
+and try to right the vessel.
+
+"Take them, and do what you can," was the reply. He called to his men
+and told them they must save that ship; he inspired them with
+confidence, for they knew he was a true man of God. They executed his
+orders with alacrity and care. They cut away the masts, and cleared away
+the rigging, and brought all the force they could to right the vessel.
+God prospered the efforts--the ship righted; they got the pumps at work,
+rigged a sail, and were finally all saved. It seemed as if it was
+necessary to put the captain of the first ship and his crew on the
+second ship, that they might save it and those on board when the
+terrible storm came.
+
+Now it was particularly noticed in connection with this deliverance,
+that the captain of the lost vessel did not make any ado in prayer, or
+in calling on God, while the storm was raging; and knowing that he was a
+Christian man, they asked him the reason of this. He answered them,
+_that he did his praying in fair weather; "and then_" said he, _"when
+the storm comes, I work_." He did not distrust God then, any more than
+in fair weather; but he knew that God requires man to do all he can to
+save himself, and praying might lose him his ship, when his own efforts
+must save it.
+
+
+THE RESCUE FROM THE VILLE DU HAVRE, AND THE LOCH EARN.
+
+
+A remarkable illustration of God's mysterious way is found in connection
+with the rescue of some of the passengers of the ill-fated French
+steamship, Ville du Havre, which was sunk by a collision with the Loch
+Earn, November 22, 1873, on her voyage from New York to France. After
+the sinking of the Ville du Havre, with some two hundred of her
+passengers, the rest were taken up by the Loch Earn, from which most of
+them were afterwards transferred to the Trimountain. Others remained on
+board the Loch Earn, where in consequence of its disabled condition they
+seemed again in imminent danger of being lost.
+
+On the 11th of December, while Mr. D.L. Moody was conducting a noonday
+prayer-meeting in the city of Edinburgh, Rev. Dr. Andrew Thompson read a
+letter from a Christian lady, the mother of one of these imperiled
+passengers, which contained the following account:
+
+"After the Trimountain left them, and they had examined their ship, many
+a heart failed, and they feared they would never see land again. They
+could not navigate the vessel, and were left to the mercy of the winds
+and waves, or rather to the care of Him who ruleth wind and waves. Vain
+was the help of man. The wind drove them out of the course of ships,
+northward. You are aware that two ministers were left on board the Loch
+Earn. One, Mr. Cook, a truly godly man, did all he could to encourage
+their hearts. Every day, at noon, he gathered them together, and
+earnestly, by prayer, strove to lead them to the Savior; and this he
+continued to do till they reached England. The day before they were
+rescued they knew that very shortly the ship must go down. The wind had
+changed, bringing them nearer the track of ships, but they had little
+hope of being saved. Mr. Cook told them of his own hope, that death to
+him would be eternal life, and he urgently entreated them to put their
+trust in 'Him who was mighty to save.' At the same time he told them he
+had no doubt they would be rescued, that even then a vessel was speeding
+to save them, that God had answered their prayers, that next day as
+morning dawned they would see her. That night was one of great anxiety.
+
+"As morning dawned every eye was strained to see the promised ship.
+There truly she was, and the British Queen bore down upon them. You may
+think that with thankful hearts they left the Loch Earn. One thing is
+remarkable--_the officer in charge on board the British Queen had a most
+unaccountable feeling that there was something for him to do,_ and
+_three times during the night he changed the course of the vessel,
+bearing northward_. He told the watch to keep a sharp lookout for a
+ship, and immediately on sighting the Loch Earn bore down upon her. At
+first he thought she had been abandoned, as she lay helpless in the
+trough of the sea, but soon they saw her signal of distress. It seems to
+me a remarkable instance of faith on the one side and a guiding
+Providence on the other. After they were taken on board the pilot-boat
+that brought them into Plymouth, at noon, when they for the last time
+joined together in prayer, Mr. Cook read to them the account of Paul's
+shipwreck, showing the similarity of their experience. _'What made that
+captain change his course against his will?' but the ever present Spirit
+of God"_.
+
+
+THE STORM MADE CALM.
+
+
+At a Sunday morning meeting at Repository Hall, January 25, 1874, a
+Christian brother, in illustration of the power and faithfulness of God,
+and his willingness to hear and answer prayer, related these facts in
+his own experience. An account of them was subsequently published in the
+_Christian_:
+
+"In 1839 I was a sailor on board the brig Pandora, Captain G----, bound
+from Savannah to Boston, with a cargo of cotton. When off the coast of
+Virginia, some twenty-five miles distant from Chesapeake Bay, we
+encountered a heavy gale. Saturday evening, December 21st, the wind blew
+gently from the south. On sounding, we found ourselves in thirty fathoms
+of water. At midnight the wind veered to the eastward, gradually
+increasing until four o'clock Sunday morning, by which time the brig was
+under close-reefed topsails and foresail. The wind still increasing,
+every stitch of canvas was taken in, and now the vessel lay helpless and
+unmanageable in the trough of the sea, not minding her helm at all,
+while the wind blew a perfect hurricane. The vessel being very light,
+loaded with cotton, made much leeway, and though we had worn ship four
+times during the preceding night, hoping, if possible, to weather some
+shoals which the captain judged were near, and to make Chesapeake Bay,
+where we might have a clear beach before us in case the vessel should
+strand, yet at eight o'clock Sunday morning we were in but seventeen
+fathoms of water.
+
+"The gale now increased with fearful violence, waves rising like
+mountains, and rain and sleet pouring from the dismal clouds. At ten,
+A.M., being then in fifteen fathoms of water, and drifting rapidly
+towards the shore, the captain summoned all hands into the cabin to
+consult about throwing our deck-load overboard, in order to leave us a
+better chance to secure ourselves to the rigging, and thus save our
+lives when the vessel should strike, which he judged would be in about
+half an hour. Not a gleam of hope appeared, and here our distress was
+increased by observing that the captain seemed under the influence of
+liquor, to which he had probably resorted in order to stifle his fears
+of approaching death.
+
+"The order was given, and we went to work to throw the cotton over,
+while the captain, frightened and despairing, went into the cabin to
+drown his fears in drink. Seeing the state of things, and believing that
+shipwreck was imminent, I found two of my shipmates who were Christians,
+and who had prayed daily with me in the forecastle, and I asked them if
+they had any faith in God now, that he would hear our prayers and
+deliver us? They both said they had; and I told them to pray, then, that
+the Lord might rebuke the winds and calm the waves.
+
+"With an unspeakable mingling of fear and hope we applied ourselves to
+the task of casting the cotton into the sea, at the same time lifting up
+earnest and united prayers to God for deliverance from the threatened
+destruction, occasionally gliding in close contact with each other, and
+speaking words of hope in each other's ears, and feeling, as we toiled,
+a blessed confidence that our prayers were not in vain.
+
+"It did not seem more than five minutes from the time we commenced to
+throw the cotton overboard, for we had scarcely tumbled twenty bales
+into the sea, when we heard a shout from the quarter deck:
+
+"'Avast heaving cotton overboard! _The wind is coming out from our lee!_
+Avast there!'
+
+"It was the captain's voice, bidding us stay our hands; we obeyed, and
+looking up we saw him clinging to the rigging, apparently so drunk that
+he could hardly stand, _while away over our lee-bow we could see blue
+sky and fair weather_, and _it seemed that in less than ten minutes from
+the time the hurricane was at its height, the wind had chopped around in
+shore, and was gently wafting us away from danger, and out into deep
+water again_.
+
+"There were glad souls on board the Pandora that day, as she swung
+around in obedience to the helm, and we laid her course again for our
+destined port. And some who before had mocked at prayers and blasphemed
+the God we loved, admitted then that God had answered prayer, and that
+he had delivered us from death.
+
+"And I love to repeat the story to the praise of the Lord, who yet lives
+to hear, and bless, and save his trusting children."
+
+
+NO FEAR OF THUNDER.
+
+
+Some years ago a camp-meeting was held in Southern Indiana. It rained
+nearly all the time of the meeting. Father Haven, a man mighty in
+prayer, rose to preach. Just as he announced his text it thundered, and
+the congregation seemed to be restless and alarmed. The old hero
+instantly said, "Let us engage a moment in prayer." He prayed that God
+would allow the storm to pass by and not disturb them.
+
+After having plead for a few moments he said, "Friends, keep your seats;
+it will not rain one drop here to-day." He commenced to preach, and it
+thundered again. He repeated his assurance, and thus it continued until
+the storm-cloud was almost over the encampment. It divided north and
+south, and passed about a quarter of a mile on either side of them,
+reunited again and passed on, and not one solitary drop of rain fell on
+that encampment.
+
+
+THE PRAYER OF THE PILGRIMS FOR RAIN ANSWERED.
+
+
+It is well known that many of the good men who were driven from England
+to America by persecution in the seventeenth century, had to endure
+great privations. In the Spring of 1623 they planted more corn than ever
+before; but by the time they had done planting, their food was spent.
+They daily prayed, "Give us this day our daily bread;" and in some way
+or other the prayer was always answered. With a single boat and a net
+they caught some fish, and when these failed, they dug in the sand for
+shell-fish. In the month of June their hopes of a harvest were nearly
+blasted by a drought which withered up their corn and made the grass
+look like hay. All expected to perish with hunger.
+
+In their distress the pilgrims set apart a day of humiliation and
+prayer, and continued their worship for eight or nine hours. God heard
+their prayers, and answered them in a way which excited universal
+admiration. Although the morning of that day was clear, and the weather
+very hot and dry during the whole forenoon, yet before night it began to
+rain, and gentle showers continued to fall for many days, so that the
+ground became thoroughly soaked, and the drooping corn revived.
+
+
+THE ENEMIES OF A GOD FEARING NATION.
+
+
+"An answer to prayer," says Le Clerc, "may be seen by what happened on
+the coast of Holland in the year 1672. The Dutch expected an attack from
+their enemies by sea, and public prayers were ordered for their
+deliverance. It came to pass that when their enemies waited only for the
+tide, in order to land, _the tide was retarded, contrary to its usual
+course, for twelve hours_, so their enemies were obliged to defer the
+attempt to another opportunity; which they never found, _because a
+storm, arose afterwards_, and drove them from the coast."
+
+
+CHANGING THE COURSE ONE POINT.
+
+
+Walking across Palace Square in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with an American
+ship-master, (says a correspondent of the _Watchman_) he invited me to
+accompany him to his hotel. While there he showed me a very large gold
+medal he had received from the British government for saving a ship's
+company at sea. The circumstances were these: One night at sea, when it
+was the captain's "mid-watch,"--the watch from twelve, midnight, till
+four o'clock in the morning--just before turning in, he gave the officer
+of the watch the ship's course; the direction in which she was to be
+steered. While undressing, it was impressed on his mind that he ought to
+change the course a point; but he could see no reason for the change, as
+the ship was on the right course for the port of her destination. He
+turned in and tried to fall asleep, as it was only four hours to his
+watch; but the impression that he ought to change the ship's course kept
+him awake. In vain he tried to throw off that impression; and yielding
+to it, he went on deck and gave the order for the change. On returning
+to his berth, he was asleep as soon as his head was on the pillow. The
+next day he sighted a ship in distress, and made sail for her. The ship
+was in a sinking condition, and he rescued the whole ship's company.
+Shortly after, a gale of wind arose and carried the sinking ship to
+complete destruction. Had not the American captain changed the course of
+his ship that evening, he would not have come in sight of the ship in
+distress, and all of the company would have perished.
+
+_Query_--_What made that Captain arise in the middle of the night and,
+contrary to all science, reason and his own will, change the course of
+his vessel_, but a _Supreme Being, whose power he could not resist_, and
+what made him _exactly_ reach that sinking _ship just in time_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+THE FULTON ST. PRAYER MEETING.
+
+
+ANSWERS TO PRAYER FROM ITS HISTORY, RECORDS AND CORRESPONDENCE.
+
+
+The following Incidents of Prayer and the remarkable Answers, have been
+obtained from the records of the Fulton Street Prayer Meeting in New
+York City. They include both facts which have been related by speakers
+in their daily meetings, or furnished from the letters of those who have
+solicited Prayer and received the Answer to their Faith.
+
+They are of the utmost diversity of subjects, literally including the
+"all things" of the Bible, and temporal as well as spiritual interests.
+
+Numerous as the incidents are, which we here give, still they cover only
+_one-sixtieth_ part of the whole Record of the Blessed Meeting.
+
+History can never tell of the wonders done in Answer to the Prayers of
+these trusting ones; but Faith can rejoice, for here is fulfilled daily
+those cheerful Promises of the Lord: "_If ye abide in me and my words
+abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you."
+"Ask and receive, that your joy may be full_."
+
+
+SAVED FROM A LIFE OF DEGRADATION.
+
+
+"Your prayers for my husband have been answered; _on the very day_ I
+wished your prayers for him, and _before the hour of prayer had
+expired_" he came into the house, and said, '_I am going to do better_.'
+He had not been home before for _several weeks_. He was a profane,
+hard-drinking man. He has since joined the church. 'All hail the power
+of Jesus' name.'"
+
+
+RECOVERY OF AN INVALID.
+
+
+"One year ago, the prayers of this meeting were asked for an invalid who
+had years of intense suffering before her, unless soon relieved. Prayers
+were offered for her. Now we would like to acknowledge the
+loving-kindness and tender mercy of our God, for, since that time, she
+has slowly but steadily improved, even under most trying and unfavorable
+circumstances, and-has now recovered comparative strength."
+
+
+RELIEF IN BUSINESS.
+
+
+"_None of those who trust in Him shall be made desolate_."
+
+"Some three weeks ago, I wrote you, stating that _my business had been a
+failure_, and asked your prayers that God, in His mercy, would point out
+a way for me to _provide for my family._ The clouds grew thicker and
+blacker, but the more earnest were my prayers. _Last Saturday the Lord
+came to my rescue_, and provided me with the necessities of life, and
+to-day I wish you to join with me in thanksgiving to Almighty God for
+these favors;--'For He is good; His mercy endureth forever.'"
+
+
+A DAUGHTER SAVED FROM MARRIAGE WITH A CORRUPT MAN.
+
+
+"I pray you give God praise and thanks for His merciful deliverance of
+my dear daughter from the _evil influence_ of the man to whom she had
+given her love and promise of marriage. THE LORD gave her strength and
+courage to break her engagement, in answer to our earnest prayers. Oh,
+implore _Him_ to keep that man out of her path, for he is constantly
+lying in wait to meet her when she goes out. He wanted her to read bad
+books, but told her that they were not wrong. He constantly laid
+temptation in alluring forms before her. To HIM alone be the thanks for
+this step she has taken."
+
+
+A SKEPTIC OVERPOWERED.
+
+
+"More and more God is pouring out His Spirit, gloriously answering your
+prayers and ours. I have been constantly asking your prayers, and
+though, for a while, the vision tarried, _yet it has come. The young
+man_, from a neighborhood where there was _not one Christian_, and _he
+himself scarcely less than a skeptic, is now sitting, in his right mind,
+at Jesus' feet."_
+
+
+SAVED FROM DEATH.
+
+
+"My brother, that lay apparently at the point of death, has been
+restored to comparative health."
+
+
+AN INTEMPERATE YOUNG MAN RECLAIMED.
+
+
+"Rejoice with me, and thank God for his gracious answer to prayer. The
+intemperate young man for whom I requested prayer some months ago, has
+turned away from his cups, and is earnestly striving to overcome his
+appetite for strong drink. He is competent to be the means of doing so
+much good."
+
+
+THE CONVERSION OF INTIMATE FRIENDS.
+
+
+"Some time since, I sent request for prayer for the conversion of
+friends. Since then _three_ have united with the church."
+
+
+RAISED UP FROM DEATH'S DOOR.
+
+
+"Our former pastor was raised up from death's door, in answer to your
+prayer. _The doctor gave him up_. He says the Lord alone saved him, in
+answer to prayer. Praise His name."
+
+
+THE DESIRE OF THE HEART FULFILLED.
+
+
+"A few weeks since I sent a request for prayer in my behalf, asking you
+to pray God very earnestly that He would grant me the desire of my
+heart, for which I was praying almost unceasingly. _On the evening of
+the same day_ on which I supposed you would receive my request, _the
+answer came,_ lifting a great burden from my heart. I send this in
+acknowledgment of God's loving-kindness to me, and to encourage' every
+burdened, praying one, to _trust Him more_."
+
+
+A POOR OLD SICK LADY RESTORED.
+
+
+"The poor, sick old lady for whom I requested your prayers some time
+since, wishes to return thanks to Almighty God, for _restoring her
+health_, and _sending friends_. It is wonderful how your and our
+requests are answered."
+
+
+A NEW BIRTH.
+
+
+"Give thanks with me. Since I wrote you last, our son has given himself
+to Jesus."
+
+
+A CHURCH SAVED FROM STRIFE.
+
+
+"It is with heartfelt gratitude to God that I write you of answer to
+your prayer. Last Spring, I asked your prayers in behalf of our church.
+It was almost destroyed by a man trying to get into our Conference
+without proper papers, and could not. He then broke up a Presbyterian
+church, and formed another. He gathered a number of our members with
+him, and tried hard to take our parsonage, but did not succeed. Thank
+God! though we are few, and have had a hard struggle, we still hold our
+property, our circuit has doubled, God is reviving His work, and is now
+answering your prayers"
+
+
+REASON RESTORED.
+
+
+"Last March, I requested you to pray for a dear friend in Massachusetts,
+who was deprived of her reason through sickness and great trouble. _Give
+thanks unto God, she is fully restored."_
+
+
+"Arise And Walk."
+
+
+"It will be just one year since Jesus came and took me by the hand, and
+_I arose from what was supposed to be my death-bed_, and _walked to the
+astonishment of all_. I have not claimed the fullness of the promise,
+but feel that I may. I prayed God not to heal my body wholly, until I
+was more patient under my cross."
+
+
+THE APPETITE FOR STRONG DRINK TAKEN AWAY.
+
+
+"Sometime ago I wrote to you for my husband. He was _a victim to strong
+drink_ at that time, but _blessed be God, he has not drank one drop for
+five months_."
+
+
+SPIRITUAL STRENGTH.
+
+
+"I feel your prayers; I think I know the day and the hour, for I felt
+strengthened with strength in my soul."
+
+
+HEALING OF SOUL AND BODY.
+
+
+"I have reason to rejoice that I have been greatly blessed in answer to
+your prayers. Two young lady friends of mine have been enabled to claim
+the blessed promise of full salvation, not only to the healing of the
+soul, _but the body also_.
+
+My own experience helped them: On the 16th of January, last, in answer
+to constant prayer offered by myself and friends, I arose from what all
+thought to be my death-bed, and walked all over the house; also many
+miles on the streets during the next few months. I did not claim the
+full extent of the promise as I craved only relief from such terrible
+pain, as was then my portion to bear. I think God in his goodness would
+have granted full restoration to health, as I was so anxious to work for
+Him, but I pleaded with Him _not to heal my body_ until my mind had had
+the discipline I felt it needed."
+
+
+AN INTEMPERATE HUSBAND SAVED BY PRAYER.
+
+
+"Some three weeks since, I asked you for my intemperate husband, that
+you would pray that he might be _willing to be saved. He has been made
+willing to give up the intoxicating cup,_ and says he has _not any
+desire_ for it. To God be all the praise."
+
+
+RELIGION LOST, RELIGION REGAINED.
+
+
+"I wrote you two months since, asking an interest in your prayers for a
+young man that experienced religion a year ago, but failed to confess
+Christ by uniting with the church. Your prayers have been answered. Last
+night my heart was made to rejoice by seeing him confess Christ, before
+the world. He is now happy in the love of Jesus, and will he useful and
+active in the church."
+
+
+DRUNKARDS REFORMED.
+
+
+"Return thanks to God for two men signing the pledge, about one month
+ago, who have been enabled to keep it through great temptation. _They
+were drunkards for over twenty years_. Their reformation was in answer
+to a praying mother's prayers, and to the prayers for them at your
+meeting."
+
+
+A HOPELESS CASE.
+
+
+"A little less than a year ago, prayers were desired at the Fulton
+street prayer-meeting for a man whose case seemed wholly hopeless.
+Shortly after he gave up drink, and became a Christian; is now a happy
+man, and has a happy family.
+
+"Please carry this thank offering to God, that he has given us such a
+Savior, and such a way to escape from temptation."
+
+
+A HARVEST OF CONVERSIONS.
+
+
+"Last Fall, I wrote you to pray for us. You did pray. The result was a
+wonderful increase of spiritual life--_fifty conversions."_
+
+
+A FAMILY MADE HAPPY.
+
+
+"Two years ago, I wrote asking your prayers for a dear sister, brothers
+and nieces. Since then, one brother, about sixty, and my two nieces have
+been converted, and are now rejoicing in a Savior's love."
+
+
+THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
+
+
+"About two years ago we requested your prayers for the Holy Spirit upon
+a revival work then in progress in our church." _The Lord answered us_
+by giving us _over four score souls."_
+
+
+HEARTS MADE GLAD.
+
+
+"We return most hearty thanks for the answer to prayer given. I wrote
+more than a year ago last August of our low state. Last Winter twenty
+young persons were converted, and continue to work faithfully."
+
+
+GIVEN UP BY MAN, BUT RESCUED BY THE GREAT PHYSICIAN.
+
+
+"The writer was himself raised up by prayer, from the gates of death,
+offered by the heart and lips of one who is now a sufferer. _Two of the
+most skillful physicians in the land had given me up_."
+
+
+THE STORY OF A WAYWARD LIFE, SAVED BY PRAYER.
+
+
+"In the last fourteen years I have stood beside the deathbeds of eight
+who were near and dear to me, and the last words that each spoke to me
+as they were leaving the world were, "_Will you not meet me in Heaven_?"
+I have been a wayward child. Eight years ago I became addicted to strong
+drink. I became a drunkard, which brought my dear old father down to an
+untimely grave. I made a promise on his death-bed that I would not drink
+any more, and for six long years I kept that promise, but at last I
+broke it. I again became a drunkard, which began to tell on my wife. I
+promised her that I would not drink, but that promise was broken time
+after time. Within this year, in the week of prayer, I attended the
+prayer-meetings, asked prayers for me, and on the night following, I
+erected the family altar, which had for four years been neglected, and,
+thank God, it is there yet. I am now trusting in the promise that _He
+will not let his children be tempted beyond what they are able to
+endure_."
+
+
+A WONDERFUL CURE.
+
+
+An earnest Christian woman who believed the Lord greater than any
+earthly physician, cries, "_O, praise the Lord. He hath delivered me in
+six troubles, and in the seventh he hath not forsaken me_." "And the
+seventh was the worst. By the help of _eight physicians_, and in answer
+to prayer, partly of this meeting, a fearful tumor has been taken from
+me weighing twelve pounds, with three gallons of water in the sack. O,
+praise the Lord, for He is good, and his mercy endureth forever."
+
+This case was one of extraordinary risk and apparently impossible
+achievement; but the Lord gave faith to try, and skill to win the
+victory. No earthly power could have dared the venture.
+
+
+GIVEN UP.
+
+
+"Our pastor, after four months' sickness, preached to us last evening
+the most solemn sermon I ever heard, and says he was raised up in answer
+to prayer. The physicians gave him up several times, and say they have
+never known such an instance of recovery."
+
+
+CHAINS BROKEN AT LAST.
+
+
+"Long months, week by week, I have asked you to pray that my husband
+might be saved from the eternal doom of a drunkard. God has mercifully
+given him strength to break the fetters that bound him fast."
+
+
+BETTER THAN WE EXPECTED.
+
+
+"We asked your prayers; they have been answered. They were answered more
+and better than we had hoped or dreamed they could be."
+
+
+PRAYER ANSWERED FOR EMPLOYMENT.
+
+
+"A foreigner without means and friendless tried in vain for ten months
+to succeed in finding some employment. He requested your prayers to God,
+and _God answered_. In less than eighteen hours a splendid position was
+offered to him. He and his wife give thanks, and pray that they may
+devote their lives usefully to the cause of God who has been so good to
+them."
+
+
+FOUND EMPLOYMENT.
+
+
+"God has answered our united prayers, and given employment to his
+child."
+
+
+AN OLD LADY SAVED FROM LITTLE ANNOYANCES.
+
+
+"Your prayers have been heard and answered in mercy. The old lady has
+not been quite so much annoyed. Thank God for some peace for the aged
+one, not able to bear what younger people can, that go out into the
+world and can find relief. I thank my heavenly Father for his loving-
+kindness and tender mercy for those that cry to him in trouble."
+
+
+INSANITY DISPELLED.
+
+
+"I sent a petition months ago, for prayers for an insane husband. Your
+prayers have been answered. He has rapidly recovered."
+
+
+RECLAIMED.
+
+
+"I must ask you to return thanks with me that your prayers have been
+answered. An intemperate brother has been reclaimed."
+
+
+RESTORED TO HEALTH.
+
+
+"One month since, I requested prayer specially for my own family. My
+oldest son, who was then sick, has been restored to his usual health.
+'_The prayer of faith hath indeed saved the sick_.'"
+
+
+TEMPTATIONS REMOVED.
+
+
+"Some months ago I asked your prayers for a son in college, amid great
+temptations. I desire to give thanks that those temptations have been
+removed."
+
+THE HEART OF A CLERGYMAN TURNED FROM THOUGHTS OF AMBITION.
+
+
+"I sent a request to you for a young man, who was called, and eminently
+fitted for the ministry, but was tempted, by ambition, not to listen to
+the divine call, and obstacles had hedged his way somewhat. After I
+requested your prayers in his behalf, this temptation was removed, and
+nearly one hundred persons were converted in the church which was under
+his care."
+
+
+A GRATEFUL TRIBUTE.
+
+
+"For a long time I have been the subject of personal affliction, caused
+by _two internal tumors_ of the _worst type_. Speedy death seemed
+inevitable; yet there was a little hope that a surgical operation might
+possibly remove the difficulty and prolong my day. To this hope I clung,
+submitted to the operation, and it was a success. To the earnest prayers
+of Christian people is due this grateful acknowledgment."
+
+
+WAS A PERFECT SLAVE TO LIQUOR.
+
+
+"Please return _thanks_ to our kind Heavenly Father for this answer to
+prayer. All last Winter requests were sent in for a gentleman, a perfect
+slave to liquor. Those prayers were answered, and he is attending church
+regularly, striving to do what is right to please his Heavenly Master."
+
+
+ALWAYS ANSWERED.
+
+
+"Several times in years past I have asked for the prayers of this
+meeting, and always found them answered."
+
+
+CURED OF EPILEPSY.
+
+
+"I wrote you to aid me by your prayers, that my afflicted son, who was
+troubled with epilepsy, might be cured. Thanks be to the Heavenly
+Father, he is better."
+
+
+ALMOST LOST.
+
+
+"Your prayers and mine for my son have been answered. He was almost
+lost, on the downward road of intemperance. He has now reformed."
+
+
+A SITUATION OBTAINED BY PRAYER.
+
+
+"Yesterday I sent a request that God would give me sustaining grace and
+abiding faith, and in his own good time give me a situation where I
+might be able to support my family. In that very afternoon, I made a
+contract of $1,200 a year. Praise the Lord."
+
+
+A BOUNTIFUL BLESSING.
+
+
+"Some time ago I solicited your prayers for a blessing on my services,
+and _never, in all my life_ before have I been blessed as since that
+time. 'Tis truly wonderful; it has seemed as if I must have become some
+one else, and that it could not longer be me speaking with such
+boldness, and apparent success. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that
+is within me, bless his holy name."
+
+
+SAVED FROM THE COMPANY OF A BAD LOVER.
+
+
+"A week ago I begged you to pray for my daughter, who had given her
+heart to an unworthy man, praying that God might guide her to see him as
+he is, and turn her love from him. She is a child of God. In answer, God
+has caused a rupture between them."
+
+
+AWAY FROM HOME, BUT NOT AWAY FROM GOD.
+
+
+"Some weeks since I sent in a request for prayer for my sons who had
+fallen victims to intemperance and vice. My heart rejoices to-day in the
+hope that it has.
+
+
+"Two who left home, and had gone to distant cities to seek employment,
+have written me to pray that they may be able to forsake sin in all its
+forms, and come to Christ and be Christians. One of them was skeptical
+when he left home. The one remaining at home has resolved to quit
+drinking."
+
+
+GOD ALWAYS ANSWERS BELIEVING PRAYER.
+
+
+"Your prayers asked on several occasions have all been graciously
+answered. Return thanks unto the Lord that sendeth mercy."
+
+
+THE HARDEST HEART YIELDS AT LAST.
+
+
+"Several years since your prayers were solicited in behalf of one who
+seemed given over to hardness of heart and reprobacy of mind. Since that
+time there has been some reform in his life. God only knows how far
+those prayers have been answered in restraining grace. Last week he said
+to the friend who had solicited your prayers for him, 'I wish you would
+ask Fulton Street prayer-meeting to pray again for me. _I believe it did
+me good._'"
+
+
+UP FROM THE LOWEST DEPTHS.
+
+
+"One year ago I wrote you respecting prayer for my husband. He has since
+been reclaimed from the lowest depths of a drunkard's life, and is now a
+member of the Christian church. Thanks be to God, the giver of all
+good."
+
+
+SAVED AND HONORED.
+
+
+"Almost three years ago I asked you to pray for a young man that was
+wandering from God. Thank God, your and my prayers were answered. He is
+now an active Christian, a superintendent of the Sabbath school, and a
+most zealous member of the Young Men's Christian Association of this
+place."
+
+
+ALMOST PERSUADED.
+
+
+"Some weeks since I requested prayer for a member of this Institution
+who was 'almost persuaded' to be a Christian. Thanks to our Father, and
+to those who have offered prayer in her behalf, she has been _altogether
+persuaded_, and has united with the Lord's people."
+
+
+ANSWERED THE SAME DAY.
+
+
+"You received a letter yesterday. My husband rose for prayers the same
+night."
+
+
+OH, HOW PRECIOUS.
+
+
+"I wrote five months since for prayers for myself, and I now write to
+say that I have found my Savior very precious to my soul."
+
+
+PRAYING FOR A PASTOR.
+
+
+"Several months ago I wrote asking you to pray for a feeble church in
+need of a pastor. Since then I am happy to say that this church has been
+blessed and we now have a pastor."
+
+
+A TELEGRAM OF PRAYER.
+
+
+An incident was related at one of the meetings by a clergyman who had
+written a telegram asking for prayers. God heard it before it was sent.
+
+"When we were in Switzerland, my daughter was taken very ill, so that
+the doctor despaired of her life. I felt the need of sympathy and help
+and prayer, and I made up my mind that I would send a telegraphic
+dispatch to this meeting, where I had so often united with you in
+prayer. I wrote the dispatch and was prepared to send it, when all at
+once there was poured out such a joyful faith and confidence in God on
+me as I never felt before in all my life, and I fell on my knees in
+devout thanksgiving for the assurance that God gave me that he had heard
+and answered our prayers, for we had prayed for that dear daughter's
+life. There lay the telegram ready to be sent. There I was waiting and
+praying. In less than half an hour my wife came into the room and said,
+'There is a change for the better in our daughter,' and the telegram was
+never sent, though I believe the writing of it was the prayer that God
+answered."
+
+
+HE DID NOT KEEP HIS PROMISE, BUT GOD DID.
+
+
+A remarkable instance of how God keeps his promises and is faithful, and
+how man often forgets to keep his, and at last receives deserved
+punishment for his thanklessness to God, was recently related in the
+Fulton Street prayer-meeting.
+
+A very urgent case was presented by a friend. He said: "A friend of mine
+is seeking Jesus. A little while ago his only child lay near death. He
+prayed God to restore her to health, promising to serve the Lord for the
+rest of his life if the child's life was spared. His daughter recovered,
+but _the man forgot the promise he had made and sought not after God._
+In a very little while the child was suddenly taken sick again, and
+almost as suddenly died. The father remembered his vows, and feels that
+this is God's solemn warning to him to seek the Savior."
+
+
+A DOUBLE PRAYER ANSWERED.
+
+
+At the Fulton Street prayer-meeting a number of remarkable cases were
+related of real answers to prayer for recovery to health, and obtaining
+of positions.
+
+"I must tell you how God has been answering prayer, for his glory and
+for your encouragement. Your prayers were asked for a sick wife. She was
+thought by the doctors to be beyond recovery, but in response to prayer
+God spared her life, and she and her husband returned their heartfelt
+thanks to Him. But there was another trouble. The husband had long
+needed employment, and was in great pecuniary distress. He had been
+praying for help, beseeching the Lord to open up a way for him. But help
+did not come, and the cloud seemed darker, and the poor man got
+discouraged. Friends begged him to hope on, and not to give up his trust
+in that God who, in answer to prayer, had raised his sick wife to
+health. He continued to pray, and on the long, dark night, morning at
+last dawned. He is now in a good position, and sends a request to
+friends to thank God with him for this two-fold goodness of the Lord.
+
+
+HOW THE LORD BLESSED AN OLD ADVERTISEMENT.
+
+
+"I had another acquaintance who was also greatly distressed. With a wife
+and family to care for, and all his means gone, and no prospect of
+employment, he was in trouble indeed. We induced him to present his case
+for prayer here, as it would encourage him to have others pray for him.
+Then we inserted an advertisement in one of the daily papers, offering
+his services, hoping the Lord would bless the means used and answer
+prayer. Day by day passed, but no response came. Some two weeks after
+the advertisement was inserted, a merchant picked up _an old paper_, and
+noticing the advertisement, showed it to his partner, remarking, 'Why,
+this is just the man we need.' Observing the _old date_ on the paper,
+his partner said he thought it would be too late to respond; but the
+trial was made. The man was requested to call, and proved to be just
+what these merchants had been wishing for, and was very quickly engaged.
+He feels that the Heavenly Father who cares for the sparrows,
+undoubtedly met his need, and that all the circumstances connected with
+the case were providential."
+
+
+HATING THE ACCURSED DRINK.
+
+
+A brother rose in the meeting and said, "I believe it is God's will that
+I should tell you how He saved me, about two years since. I came into
+the meeting when it was held in the old church, and was at the time
+under the influence of liquor. The missionary took me into the gallery
+and talked with me, and prayed with me, and God heard prayer and saved
+me. I became a new man in Christ, and have lost all appetite for drink;
+I hate the accursed stuff."
+
+
+A DRUNKARD FOR THIRTY YEARS.
+
+
+Another told a remarkable story of his life: "I was a drunkard for
+thirty years, and I tried all kinds of means to get free, but all
+failed. I pledged myself over and over again, and swore off many a time.
+At last, Jesus met me at the mission meeting, and he saved me. He took
+away the appetite for drink from me. I am a different man; I am tempted
+in various ways at times, but when tempted I think of Jesus and look to
+Him, and He saves me."
+
+
+THE HOPELESS ONE BROUGHT HOME.
+
+
+"A pastor related the incident of the conversion of a man who had
+disgraced his family, and all through drink. All the people in the
+village where he lived regarded him as a hopeless case. But he was
+prayed for, and one night in answer to an appeal to those desiring
+Christ to rise, he rose. He soon became a new man, and a steadfast
+soldier of the Cross, completely delivered from his hopeless situation,
+and all his appetites taken away."
+
+
+"NO MAN CAN PLUCK THEM OUT OF MY FATHER'S HAND."
+
+
+A brother says, "Jesus says this, and I rest just there." "A year ago I
+was in Philadelphia. I had resolved not to drink any liquor that day,
+but my resolution was soon broken. In the evening as I wandered the
+streets, that voice of God, '_Turn ye, turn ye_,' gave me great
+uneasiness. Although I tried hard not to go, yet the Spirit was at work
+within me, and against my will led me to the meetings of the Young Men's
+Christian Association. When the call came for those desiring prayers, I
+felt that it was my last call, and I pushed forward and rose. Friends
+prayed with me, and that night, as I pleaded for mercy, the burden of my
+sin was lifted and I was free. Christ took the appetite for drink away,
+and He has kept me ever since, and will keep me to the end, for He says,
+'_Fear not, for I have redeemed thee; I have called thee by thy name;
+thou art mine_.' Oh! I know He won't let me go."
+
+
+ANSWER TO PRAYER IN TEMPORAL MATTERS.
+
+
+A speaker said at one meeting, "God answers prayer in temporal matters.
+In a Western college, at a time when the last morsels of food had been
+eaten, and some had to go away from the table empty, four of the number
+retired to pray, and before they had ceased praying relief came.
+Provisions in large quantities were received, thus verifying the old
+promise, 'Before they call I will answer.'"
+
+
+THE LORD PROVED TRUE.
+
+
+"The Lord reigns," another exclaimed, "I have proved that during my long
+life! It has looked dark very often, and I have been in difficult
+places, but again and again the Lord has brought me through
+triumphantly. I have found the promise true." "Trust in the Lord, and do
+good, so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed."
+
+
+A LITTLE BOY'S QUESTION.
+
+
+A brother related a touching incident which occurred in Brooklyn. "A
+little boy asked his father at the dinner table, '_Papa, why don't you
+read the Bible_?' The father was a passionate man, and was about driving
+the boy out of his presence, but his anger made the little fellow weep.
+That brought tears to the mother's eyes, and then the father followed
+suit. The boy's tears moved him, and the question struck his heart; and
+father and mother, up to that hour unconverted, were soon on their way
+to the prayer-meeting, where they found Jesus."
+
+
+A LITTLE GIRL'S QUESTION.
+
+
+A touching little story, with eternal results in it, was told at one of
+the meetings, illustrating that word of God's book, "A little child
+shall lead them." "A dress-maker called on a very wealthy lady in a city
+not far from New York, and took with her her little girl, five years
+old. The lady took a fancy to the child, and showed her over the house.
+She expressed great admiration at all she saw, and, particularly
+attracted by the carpet, said to the lady: 'Why, I should think Jesus
+must come here very often, it is such a nice house, and such a beautiful
+carpet--He must come here very often. He comes to our house, and we have
+no carpet; I am sure He must come here very often, doesn't He?' The lady
+not answering, the child repeated the question, when the reply came,
+with deep emotion, "I am afraid not." The child left, but God's message
+was delivered. The lady related the incident to her husband in the
+evening, and both were led to seek the Savior.
+
+
+GOD CARED FOR ME.
+
+
+At a meeting a young man in broken English, said: "If any man ought to
+believe in prayer, I ought to. My friends turned me out of my home,
+because I was seeking for Christ. I was too much Christian my landlady
+said. I told her I wished I was all Christian. It was seven o'clock in
+the evening when she refused to let me come into the house. I went then
+to the prayer-meeting in Water Street; we had such a good meeting, that
+I quite forgot that I had no place to sleep. The services over, I found
+it was raining fast, and I had no place to which to go. I went back into
+the room, and kneeling at one of the benches, I begged God to give me a
+place to rest. I did not go home my usual way that night, but on the way
+I took I met an old friend, and walking with him to his house he begged
+me to stay the night, as he did not like to be alone. I staid there that
+night, though I had never told him of my condition. What was it but an
+answer to prayer. Many a time since has God thus provided for my wants.
+O friends, let your heart go out, for Him, then He will never let you
+want."
+
+
+THE BLIND CAN SEE.
+
+
+Said another, "I came here yesterday to ask you to pray for my sister.
+She has been sick some time, and then she lost her _sight_. I did not
+get an opportunity to present my request because so many took part; but
+I thought I would just take my sister's case to Jesus, remembering that
+'the prayer of faith shall save the sick.' In the afternoon I found her
+in sad need of sleep. I told her just to look to Jesus, because it was
+written of Him, 'So He giveth His beloved sleep.' We prayed together,
+and I left her in a _profound slumber_, 'This morning when I called on
+her she could _see me.' Friends, the Lord does answer prayer."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Wonders of Prayer, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WONDERS OF PRAYER ***
+
+***** This file should be named 11553-8.txt or 11553-8.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        https://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/5/5/11553/
+
+Produced by John Hagerson, Kevin Handy and PG Distributed Proofreaders
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+https://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+https://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at https://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit https://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations.  To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's
+eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII,
+compressed (zipped), HTML and others.
+
+Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over
+the old filename and etext number.  The replaced older file is renamed.
+VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving
+new filenames and etext numbers.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000,
+are filed in directories based on their release date.  If you want to
+download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular
+search system you may utilize the following addresses and just
+download by the etext year. For example:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org/etext06
+
+    (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99,
+     98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90)
+
+EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are
+filed in a different way.  The year of a release date is no longer part
+of the directory path.  The path is based on the etext number (which is
+identical to the filename).  The path to the file is made up of single
+digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename.  For
+example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234
+
+or filename 24689 would be found at:
+     https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689
+
+An alternative method of locating eBooks:
+     https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL
+
+
diff --git a/old/11553-8.zip b/old/11553-8.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..06bb45a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/11553-8.zip
diff --git a/old/11553-h.zip b/old/11553-h.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..148e24c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/11553-h.zip
diff --git a/old/11553-h/11553-h.htm b/old/11553-h/11553-h.htm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d548fc3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/11553-h/11553-h.htm
@@ -0,0 +1,13604 @@
+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
+  "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<head>
+  <meta http-equiv="Content-Type"
+        content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" />
+  <title>The Wonders of Prayer</title>
+  <style type="text/css">
+
+  body
+  {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;}
+
+  p
+  {text-align: justify;}
+
+  blockquote
+  {text-align: justify;}
+
+  h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6
+  {text-align: center;}
+
+  hr
+  {text-align: center; width: 50%;}
+
+  html>body hr
+  {margin-right: 25%; margin-left: 25%; width: 50%;}
+
+  hr.full
+  {width: 100%;}
+  html>body hr.full
+  {margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 0%; width: 100%;}
+
+  pre
+  {font-size: 0.7em; color: #000; background-color: #FFF;}
+
+  .poetry
+  {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 0%;
+  text-align: left;}
+
+  .footnote
+  {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;
+  font-size: 0.9em;}
+
+  .index
+  {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;
+  text-align: center;}
+
+  .figure
+  {margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%;
+  text-align: center; font-size: 0.8em;}
+  .figure img
+  {border: none;}
+
+  .date
+  {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;
+  text-align: right;}
+
+  span.rightnote
+  {position: absolute; left: 92%; right: 1%;
+  font-size: 0.7em; border-bottom: solid 1px;}
+
+  span.leftnote
+  {position: absolute; left: 1%; right: 92%;
+  font-size: 0.7em; border-bottom: solid 1px;}
+
+  span.linenum
+  {float:right;
+  text-align: right; font-size: 0.7em;}
+  </style>
+</head>
+
+<body>
+
+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Wonders of Prayer, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Wonders of Prayer
+       A Record of Well Authenticated and Wonderful Answers to Prayer
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: March 12, 2004 [EBook #11553]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WONDERS OF PRAYER ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by John Hagerson, Kevin Handy and PG Distributed Proofreaders
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<h1>FACTS STRANGER THAN FICTION</h1>
+
+<h2>The Wonders of Prayer:</h2>
+
+<h3>A Record Of Well Authenticated And Wonderful</h3>
+<h3>Answers To Prayer.</h3>
+
+<b>AS NARRATED BY:</b><br />
+
+<blockquote>
+<b>George Muller,      W.W. Patten, D.D.,</b><br />
+<b>D.L. Moody,         Chas. Cullis,</b><br />
+<b>C.H. Spurgeon,      S.I. Prime, D.D.,</b><br />
+<b>Bishop Simpson,     E. Krummacher,</b><br />
+<b>Newman Hall, D.D.,  Martin Luther,</b><br />
+<b>Bishop T. Bowman,   John Knox,</b><br />
+<b>Chas. G. Finney,    Abraham Lincoln,</b><br />
+</blockquote>
+
+<b>AND HOSTS OF OTHERS.</b>
+
+
+<h3>New Edition.</h3> <h3>Revised By D.W. Whittle.</h3>
+
+<h3>1885</h3>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<h1>Introduction To First Edition.</h1>
+
+
+<p>The incidents which are published in this volume, are vouched for upon
+the strongest proofs of authenticity possible to obtain, and are either of
+circumstances known amid my own experience, or connected with the lives of
+my correspondents and their friends. They are the thankful record and
+tribute to the power of <i>persevering faith</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing has been published concerning which there is the least shadow of
+doubt. All have been carefully investigated.</p>
+
+<p>Every case has been one of real prayer, and the results that have come,
+came only in answer to the prayer of faith, and were not possible to obtain
+without it.</p>
+
+<p>They demonstrate to a wonderful degree, the immediate practical ways of
+the Lord with his children in this world, that He is far nearer and more
+intimate with their plans and pursuits than it is possible for them to
+realize.</p>
+
+<p>Neither have we depended upon the relation of facts of a few, to
+convince the world of the real power of faith, but have added concurrent
+testimony of incidents actually known in the experience of such eminent
+clergymen as Charles Spurgeon, Newman Hall, Martin Luther, W. Huntington,
+Dr. Waterbury, George Muller, Dr. Cullis, Dr. Patton, Dr. Adams, Dr. Prime,
+Bishop Simpson, and many others.</p>
+
+<p>Also we have added some incidents known and investigated and found
+absolutely true, by the editors of the following journals, who add their
+unquestioning belief in the power of prayer: <i>The Christian, The
+Evangelist, The Observer, The Congregationalist, The Advance, The
+Illustrated Christian Weekly, The American Messenger, The Witness</i>.
+Likewise we have been greatly assisted by some of our Home Missionaries,
+who, from their daily experiences with the poor and suffering, have been
+eye-witnesses to remarkable experiences and the wonderful help of the Lord
+in answering their prayers.</p>
+
+<p>These testimonies here recorded must be accepted as true. They
+demonstrate that answers to prayer are not occasional, and therefore
+remarkable that they do occur, but are of constant occurrence.</p>
+
+<p>There may be many minds who, having carried no trial to the Lord, have
+never been brought into intimate acquaintances of the ways in which the
+Lord tries the faith of his children, nor led to see and observe his
+wonderful control over human wills and circumstances. The power of the Lord
+is learned only by those who in deep trouble have faithfully sought Him and
+seen his ways of deliverance.</p>
+
+<p>None can ever understand the full power of prayer until they have
+learned the lesson of trust. It is only when for the <i>first time</i> in
+the Christian's own life of faith, it realizes the hand of God in his
+personal dealings with him, how near He is, or how clearly he feels the
+presence of that tremendous overruling Spirit which</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+"<i>Turneth the heart whithersoever He will</i>."<br />
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>The actual existence of our God is therefore proved, not alone from
+<i>History</i>, nor from the Bible alone, nor from current natural or
+religious feeling and beliefs, nor from the testimony of old witnesses
+several thousand years old, <i>but from the actual incidents of present
+prayer</i>, and the <i>literal answer</i>. Daily faith and trust and prayer
+have made the Christian deeply acquainted with Him and his ways, and humbly
+dependent upon his care and love and help, in the events of life. <i>No one
+ever faithfully trusted the Lord in vain</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Circumstances so clouded that it has been impossible for men to control,
+have, through believing prayer, been so made to change, that through them
+has been revealed <i>living evidences</i> of the presence of</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<i>The Ever Living God</i>.<br />
+</blockquote>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<h1>Discerning Prayer.</h1>
+
+
+<h2>Introductory.</h2>
+
+
+<h3>By D.W. Whittle.</h3>
+
+
+<p>To recognize God's existence is to necessitate prayer to Him, by all
+intelligent creatures, or, a consciously living in sin and under
+condemnation of conscience, because they do not pray to Him. It would be
+horrible to admit the existence of a Supreme Being, with power and wisdom
+to create, and believe that the creatures he thought of consequence and
+importance enough to bring into existence, are not of enough consequence
+for him to pay any attention to in the troubles and trials consequent upon
+that existence.</p>
+
+<p>Surely such a statement is an impeachment of both the wisdom and
+goodness of God.</p>
+
+<p>It were far more sensible for those who deny the fitness and necessity
+of prayer to take the ground of the atheist and say plainly "We do not
+pray, for there is no God to pray to," for to deny prayer, is practical
+atheism.</p>
+
+<p>So in the very constitution of man's being there is the highest
+reasonableness in prayer. And, if the position of man in his relation to
+the earth he inhabits is recognized and understood, there is no
+unreasonableness in a God-fearing man looking to God for help and
+deliverance under any and all circumstances, in all the vicissitudes of
+life. The earth was <i>made</i> for man. One has said "there is nothing
+great in the world but man; and there is nothing great in man but his
+soul." With this in view, how absurd to talk about "fixed laws" and
+"unchangeable order," in a way to keep man in his trouble from God. It is
+all the twaddle of the conceit of man setting himself up to judge and limit
+his maker. "To whom then will ye liken Me, or shall I be equal? saith the
+Holy One." The Creator is greater than his creation; the law giver is
+supreme over all law. He created the earth that it might be inhabited by
+man, and He governs the earth in subordination to the interests, the
+eternal and spiritual welfare of the race of immortal beings that are here
+being prepared for glory and immortality.</p>
+
+<p>Laws, indeed, are fixed in their operation and results as subserving the
+highest good in the training and the disciplining of the race, giving them
+hope in their labor and sure expectation of fruit from their toil. But as
+set in operation for <i>man's good</i>, so, in an exigency that may make
+necessary their suspension, to secure his deliverance from peril and bring
+man back to the recognition of the personal God, as above, law, is it
+unreasonable to believe that God has power thus to suspend or overrule his
+own arrangements? A wise father will govern his children by rules as
+securing their best good. But he will retain in his power the suspending of
+those rules when special occasions arise, when the object for which they
+exist can be better secured by their suspension. Shall not the living God
+have the same right?</p>
+
+<p>So much as to the reflections suggested by the dogmas of natural
+religion. They sustain in reason our faith in prayer. The basis, however,
+of our faith rests upon the unchanging and unchangeable revelation of God,
+and not upon man's philosophy. Jesus taught his disciples to pray, saying,
+"Our Father which art in Heaven." As Christians, this is our authority for
+prayer. In the words, "OUR FATHER," our Blessed Lord has given us the
+substance of all that can be said, as to <i>the privilege of prayer, what
+to pray for</i>, and <i>how to pray</i>. There can be no loftier exercise
+of soul ever given to created intelligence than to come into conscious
+contact with the living God, and be able to say "<i>My</i> Father."</p>
+
+<p>And surely, as my Father, with a loving father's heart, it must be his
+desire that I should tell him <i>all</i> my needs, <i>all</i> my sorrows,
+<i>all</i> my desires. And, so his word commands, "Be careful for nothing,
+but <i>in everything</i>, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving,
+let your requests be made known unto God." (Phil, iv., 6.) Under this verse
+there is positively no exception of any request that may not be made known
+unto God. So there is true faith and right Christian philosophy in the
+remark, "if a <i>pin</i> was needful to my happiness and I could not find
+one I would pray to God for it."</p>
+
+<p>The mistake of Christians is in <i>not</i> praying over <i>little</i>
+things. "The hairs of your head are all numbered." Consult God about
+everything. Expect His counsel, His guidance, His care, His provision, His
+deliverance, His blessing, in everything. Does not the expression, "Our
+<i>daily</i> bread," mean just this? Can there be any true life of faith
+that does not include this? Whatever will serve to help God's children to a
+better understanding of the blessed privileges of prayer, and prove to them
+the reality of God's answering prayer in the cares, trials and troubles of
+<i>daily life</i>, will approve itself to all thoughtful minds as a
+blessing to them and an honor to God. It is the purpose of this volume to
+do this. We are more helped by testimony to <i>facts</i> than by theories
+and doctrines. When we have illustrations before our eyes of God's care for
+his children, and His response to their faith, even in the minutest things,
+we understand the meaning of His promises and the reality of His
+providences.</p>
+
+<p>The writer had many thoughts in this line suggested to him by an
+incident, with which he was connected, in the life of George Muller. It was
+my happiness to cross the Atlantic in the company of this dear brother on
+the steamship Sardinian, from Quebec to Liverpool, in June, 1880.</p>
+
+<p>I met Mr. Muller in the express office the morning of sailing, about
+half an hour before the tender was to take the passengers to the ship. He
+asked of the agent if a deck chair had arrived for him from New York. He
+was answered, No, and told that it could not possibly come in time for the
+steamer. I had with me a chair I had just purchased and told Mr. Muller of
+the place near by, where I had obtained it, and suggested that as but a few
+moments remained he had better buy one at once. His reply was, "No, my
+brother, Our Heavenly Father will send the chair from New York. It is one
+used by Mrs. Muller, as we came over, and left in New York when we landed.
+I wrote ten days ago to a brother who promised to see it forwarded here
+last week. He has not been prompt as I would have desired, but I am sure
+Our Heavenly Father will send the chair. Mrs. Muller is very sick upon the
+sea, and has particularly desired to have this same chair, and not finding
+it here yesterday when we arrived, as we expected, we have made special
+prayer that Our Heavenly Father would be pleased to provide it for us, and
+we will trust Him to do so." As this dear man of God went peacefully on
+board the tender, running the risk of Mrs. Muller making the voyage without
+a chair, when for a couple of dollars she could have been provided for, I
+confess I feared Mr. Muller was carrying his faith principles too far and
+not acting wisely.</p>
+
+<p>I was kept at the express office ten minutes after Mr. Muller left. Just
+as I started to hurry to the wharf a team drove up the street, and on top
+of a load just arrived from New York, <i>was Mr. Muller's chair</i>! It was
+sent at once to the tender and placed in <i>my hands</i> to take to Mr.
+Muller (the Lord having a lesson for me) just as the boat was leaving the
+dock. I found Mr. and Mrs. Muller in a retired spot on one side of the
+tender and handed him the chair. He took it with the happy, pleased
+expression of a child who has just received a kindness deeply appreciated,
+and reverently removing his hat and folding his hands over it, he thanked
+his Heavenly Father for sending the chair. "In <i>everything</i> by prayer
+and supplication let your requests be made known unto God." "Casting
+<i>all</i> your care upon Him, for He careth for you."</p>
+
+<p>So the word of God teaches us as His children (<i>inviting</i> us to
+pray, <i>commanding</i> us to pray, and <i>teaching us</i> how to pray),
+that there is a divine reality in prayer. Experience abundantly
+corroborates the teaching.</p>
+
+<p>Every truly converted man knows from this experience that God answers
+prayer. He has verified the promise. "Call unto me, and I will answer thee,
+and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not." (Jer.
+xxxiii., 8.) His life is a life of prayer, and grows more and more to be a
+life of almost unconscious dependence upon God, as he becomes fixed in the
+habit of prayer. This, and it is the purpose of God, is the result secured
+by prayer. With this in view, it will not be so much what we expect to get
+by praying, as a consciousness of coming into closer relations to God, the
+giver of all, in our prayers, that will give us true joy.</p>
+
+<p>Often God's children are driven to the throne of grace by some desperate
+need of help and definite supply of an absolute want, and, as they cry to
+God and plead their case with tears before him, he so manifests his
+presence to them and so fills them with a consciousness of his love and
+power, that the burden is gone and <i>without the want being supplied</i>
+that drove them to God, they rejoice in <i>God himself</i> and care not for
+the deprivation. This was Paul's experience when he went thus to God about
+the thorn, and came away without the specific relief he had prayed for, but
+with such a blessing as a result of his drawing near to God, that he little
+cared whether the thorn remained or not--or, rather, rejoiced that it was
+not removed; that it might be used to keep him near to God, whose love so
+filled his soul.</p>
+
+<p>A widow once told the writer of the turning point in her Christian life,
+when God's love was so shed abroad in her heart that she had been enabled
+to go on through all her trials rejoicingly conscious of God's presence,
+and casting all her burdens upon Him. She was driven to seek God by great
+need. Her husband's death left her destitute, with little children to
+provide for, and few friends from whom to look for continuous aid. Winter
+drew on, and, one day, her little boy came in shivering with cold and asked
+if he could not have a fur cap, as his straw hat was very cold and none of
+the boys at school wore straw hats. She was without a cent in the world.
+She gave a hopeful answer to the boy and sent him out to play, and then
+went to her bedroom and knelt and wept in utter desolation of heart before
+God, praying most earnestly that God would give her a token that He
+<i>was</i> her God and was caring for her by sending her a cap for her boy.
+While she prayed the peace of God filled her soul. She was made to feel the
+presence of her Saviour in such a way that all doubts as to his love for
+her and his fulfillment of all his promises to care for her vanished away,
+and she went out of her room, rejoicing in the Lord and singing his praise.
+She had no burden about the cap, and was quite content for God to send it
+or not as it pleased Him; and, in the afternoon, when a neighbor called,
+occupied with the Lord and his wonderful love, the thought of the cap had
+gone from her mind. When the neighbor rose to depart, she said, "You know
+my little boy died last fall. Just before he died I bought him a fur cap:
+he only wore it two or three times. After his death I put away all his
+things and thought I could never part with any of them. But, this morning,
+as I went to the drawer to look them over, I felt that I should give you
+this cap for your little boy. Will you take it of me?" As she took the cap
+and told her neighbor of the morning trial, prayer and blessing, two souls
+were filled with the sense of the reality of prayer and the love of God for
+his children. "My little boy," said the widow, "wore that cap for three
+winters. And often, when sorely tried by my circumstances, has God lifted
+the burden from my heart, by my just looking at it, and remembering the
+blessing that came with it."</p>
+
+<p>Experiences like this God gives to all his children, not for the purpose
+of leading them to look to Him for supplying their physical necessities, as
+an end, but to make Himself known to them, and to secure their confidence
+and love, for "this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only
+true God and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." (Jno. xvii, 8.)</p>
+
+<p>The use of prayer is to bring us into communion with God, for the growth
+of the spiritual life, that is ours by faith in Christ Jesus. To leave it
+upon any lower plane than this, is to rob it of its highest functions and
+to paralyze it of lasting power for good in any direction. The promises of
+God are conditioned upon our being in this state of heart toward God. "If
+ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it
+shall be done unto you." (Jno. xv., 7.) Abiding in Christ, our will will be
+His will, as to desiring that which will most advance the divine life and
+promote confidence in God, and all our desires for material blessings will
+be subordinated to this motive. Right here must come in a line of truth
+that will lead us from the spirit of dictation in our prayers to God in all
+matters pertaining to our worldly concerns. We cannot tell what is for our
+highest spiritual good. The saving of our property or the taking it away.
+The recovery from sickness or the continuance of it; the restoration of the
+health of our loved one, or his departing to be with Christ; the removing
+the thorn or the permitting it to remain. "<i>In everything</i>" it is
+indeed our blessed privilege to let <i>our requests</i> be make known unto
+God, but, praise his name, he has not passed over to us the awful
+responsibility of the assurance that <i>in everything</i> the requests we
+make known will be granted. He has reserved the decision, where we should
+rejoice to leave it, to his infinite wisdom and his infinite love.</p>
+
+<p>There is a danger to be carefully guarded against in the reading of this
+book and in the consideration of the precious truth. The incidents it
+relates bring before the mind, of the unlimited resources and the
+unquenchable love of God, that are made available to believing prayer. That
+danger has been suggested by what has been said, that the highest use of
+prayer is to bring the soul nearer to God, and <i>not the making of it a
+mere matter of convenience to escape physical ills or supply physical
+necessities</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"That which is born of the flesh is flesh" and continues flesh until the
+end. "Have no confidence in the flesh" is always a much needed exhortation.
+Now, unquestionably, the desires of the natural heart may and do deceive
+us, and often lead as to believe that our fervent earnest prayer for
+temporal blessing is led of the Spirit, when the mind of the Spirit is,
+that we will be made more humble, more Christ-like and more useful by being
+denied than by being granted. Again, we are in danger of disobeying the
+plain commands of <i>God's word</i> in allowing prayer ever to take the
+place of anything <i>in our power</i> to do, and <i>that we are commanded
+to do as a means to secure needed good</i>. He who has said "pray always,"
+has also said, "Be ambitious to be quiet and to do your own business, and
+to work with your hands, even as we charged you; that ye may walk honestly
+toward them that are without, and may have need of nothing." (1 Thess.,
+iv., 11, 12; R.V.)</p>
+
+<p>How often the <i>flesh</i> has led men to read (Phil, iv., 19): "My God
+shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ
+Jesus," in a spirit entirely opposed to this exhortation. They have ceased
+to labor with their hands, and, without warrant in the providences of God
+and the judgment of brethren, have turned from doing their own business,
+expecting the Lord to pay their debts and provide for their necessities.
+The quotations of Scripture made by our Lord to Satan, "Thou shalt not
+tempt the Lord, thy God," is surely applicable in all such cases. The
+spirit of a "sound mind" (see 2 Tim. i., 7) will surely recognize this.</p>
+
+<p>So in <i>all</i> things, that which God has given me intelligence and
+power to do, in avoiding evil or securing good, I am under direct command
+from him to do, always depending upon His blessing to secure the needed
+result. A <i>true faith</i> in God will be made manifest by careful
+obedience to known commands. An <i>intelligent</i> faith can never allow
+dependence upon means used to take the place of dependence upon the living
+God, who alone makes them efficacious.</p>
+
+<p>It must result in <i>presumptions</i> faith, if obedience is neglected,
+and the results only promised to obedience are expected. That God
+<i>can</i> give blessing, without the use of the ordinary means, on man's
+part, there is no question. That he <i>has</i> done so is a matter of
+record. Yet we should remember that there were but <i>two</i> miraculous
+draughts of fishes, and <i>only twice</i> did our Lord make bread without
+the use of seed-time, harvest, grinding and baking. The <i>rule</i> of
+Christ in his earthly ministry was, most certainly, to receive the supply
+of his physical wants from His Heavenly Father, in the use of means to
+secure the results offered in the ordinary operation of the laws of God. He
+went into the corn-field at autumn and visited the olive tree for
+sustenance as did other men. And the question for his disciples is not what
+God <i>can</i> do, and not what he <i>has</i> done (that he may be known as
+God over all creation, blessed for evermore) in the suspension of natural
+laws, but what has he revealed to us as his will during the time of the
+present dispensation of the church on this earth, as to his children using
+means for the avoidance of evil and securing of good, or depending entirely
+upon miraculous interference in answer to the prayer of faith for all need
+without reference to use of means.</p>
+
+<p>Does the prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread," mean that we are to
+do nothing to secure our bread, lest we show no faith in God, and simply
+wait in idleness for God to repeat the miracle of sending it by a
+raven? or, does it mean that with thankful hearts to God for the ability he
+has given us to work, that we go forth diligently fulfilling our task in
+the use of all appropriate means to secure that which his loving bounty has
+made possible for us in the fruitful seasons of the earth, and return with
+devout recognition that He is the Creator, Upholder and Giver of all,
+bringing our sheaves with us. When seed-time and harvest fail and death is
+on the land, when corn fails in Egypt and there is no bread, when <i>we
+have obeyed him</i> and sought to toil with our hands and no man has given
+unto us, then we will expect his interposition and will have faith that he
+who has fed us by use of means, will supply us without means, and that He
+alone is the living God.</p>
+
+<p>It is noticeable that the prophet Elisha, whose prayers God heard in the
+multiplication of the twenty loaves during the dearth at Gilgal, was made
+Elijah's successor when following his twelve yoke of oxen at the plough in
+the field, diligently using means to obtain bread, and undoubtedly
+communing with God all the while and recognizing the evidences of his love
+and power in every upturned daisy as he ploughed the sod, and in every seed
+that he dropped into the fertile earth, and thought it grand to be a fellow
+worker with God in the husbandry of the earth and not one to be fed in
+idleness, neglecting the toil appointed to man, and losing the blessing
+that is promised in the word of God, in the discipline and the knowledge of
+God in the operations of His laws, that comes in a greater or less degree
+to all of earth's honest toilers.</p>
+
+<p>It is the opinion of many of God's children that as the present
+dispensation draws to its close, there will be among the spiritually minded
+and consecrated ones of the church, a reproduction of the gifts of
+Pentecost for a last testimony to the world before Christ comes in glory.
+There is much Scripture that might be quoted to sustain this opinion. God
+grant in His grace and mercy that it may be so. But neither the church or
+the world have any <i>claim</i> upon God for it. The church has abused
+grace and the world has despised mercy. All the promises as to miracles
+wrought for a testimony as to the truth of Christ's resurrection, have been
+fulfilled. If Christ were to come to-day, the world would be without excuse
+in having rejected him, and could not plead that signs and wonders had been
+abundantly wrought in His name in the establishing of His church upon the
+earth.</p>
+
+<p>The question of our Lord in Luke xviii., 8, "When the son of man cometh
+shall he find faith on the earth?" suggests to many minds that there may
+not be vouchsafed during the time immediately preceding his manifestations,
+any marked interference by God in the way of miracles or signs among his
+children, but that their faith in Him as the unseen God, and their trust in
+the truth and verify of His word, will be brought forth to the praise and
+glory of God and their joy, by their being left to the <i>word alone</i>
+and the operations of the Holy Ghost by and through the word for their
+comfort and stability in the faith.</p>
+
+<p>Coupled with this thought let it ever be borne in mind by the believer
+that the testimony of God's word as to miracles, signs and wonders wrought
+by <i>Satanic agency</i> in the church, during the last day, is clear and
+unmistakable, and warnings abound as to our danger from them.</p>
+
+<p>"The Spirit saith expressly that in later times some shall fall away
+from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils." 1
+Tim. iv., 1.</p>
+
+<p>"But know this, that in the last days grievous times shall come." "Evil
+men and impostors shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived."
+2 Tim. iii., 1 and 13.</p>
+
+<p>"Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no
+great thing if his ministers be transformed as the ministers of
+righteousness. 2 Cor. xi., 14.</p>
+
+<p>"And then shall that wicked be revealed. Even him whose coming is after
+the working of Satan, <i>with all power, and signs</i>, and <i>lying
+wonders</i>; and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that
+perish, because they received not the love of the truth that they might be
+saved." 2 Thess. ii., 8 to 10.</p>
+
+<p>By these passages it is plain that a sign or a wonder does not establish
+a doctrine or endorse a man as certainly being <i>from God</i>. The
+doctrine and the man must be judged by the written word of God.</p>
+
+<p>If there is ought in the doctrine that denies that Jesus is the Son of
+God, that derogates in the slightest degree from the merit of His atonement
+on the cross for our sins, or that takes the eye off from Him as the risen
+and coming Lord, the alone object of our faith and hope, or that dishonors
+in any way God's holy word, taking from or adding to it, <i>then</i> the
+more signs and wonders and manifestations of mysterious power that there
+may be connected with it, then the more certainly we may know that it is of
+Satan and not of God.</p>
+
+<p>And if, in the man who exhibits signs and wonders, there is a spirit
+contrary to the spirit of Christ, in his seeking honor from man, and using
+his power to establish a claim to such honor, "speaking of himself as some
+great one," and not walking in humility as a sinner saved from hell and
+kept day by day by the power of God through faith in Christ, And if the
+purpose of his signs be to establish revelations he is receiving in any
+form apart from the written word, then, though his signs be as marvelous as
+those of the magicians in Egypt, or Simon Magnus in Samaria, he is, like
+them, a minister of Satan and not a minister of Jesus Christ.</p>
+
+<p>The age abounds in doctrines and men of this kind. The life of faith
+lays the soul open to assaults of the Devil by their agency.</p>
+
+<p>"Beloved try the spirits whether they be of God."</p>
+
+<p>Let us not waver in our faith in God's overruling providence, and in the
+reality of His interposition in answer to prayer for the deliverance and
+help of his people under any and all circumstances. "In <i>everything</i>,
+by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let our requests be made
+known unto God," but let our first request be that we be kept in a sound
+mind obedient to the word, and let <i>all of</i> our requests close with
+the utterance, from a sincere heart, of the words, "Thy will be done." If
+this be the attitude of our hearts our prayers shall be abundantly and
+graciously answered, and God shall guide us from the wiles of the Evil One
+for the sake of His dear Son Jesus Christ our Lord, through whose precious
+blood we have all grace and all blessing. Amen.</p>
+
+<p>LAKE VIEW, July 24th, 1885.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<h2>A Man Can Receive</h2> <h2>Nothing</h2> <h2>Except it be Given Him</h2>
+<h2>From</h2> <h2>Heaven.</h2> <h2>John 3: 27.</h2>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<h1>His Covenant.</h1>
+
+
+<p><i>"Know, that the Lord, thy God he is God, the faithful God, which
+keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him, and keep his
+commandments, to a thousand generations."</i></p>
+
+<p><i>"My Covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out
+of my lips."</i></p>
+
+<p><i>"I will not suffer my faithfulness to fail."</i></p>
+
+<p><i>"I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it,
+I will also do it."</i></p>
+
+<p><i>"He is faithful that promised."</i></p>
+
+<p><i>"I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies
+of David."</i></p>
+
+<p><i>"Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto
+David."</i></p>
+
+<p><i>"God is not a man, that he should lie; hath he said and shall he not
+do it? hath he spoken and shall he not make it good?"</i></p>
+
+<p><i>"Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in Heaven; thy faithfulness is
+unto all generations, thy word is true from the beginning."</i></p>
+
+<p><i>"Thy faithfulness is unto all generations."</i></p>
+
+<p><i>"The word of our God shall stand forever."</i></p>
+
+<p><i>"So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth; it shall not
+return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it
+shall prosper in the things whereto I sent it."</i></p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<h1>Answers To Prayer</h1>
+
+
+<h3>A Wonderful Answer to Prayer and Proof of the Existence of the Holy
+Spirit.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A trustful Christian, whose heart had been deeply touched with thoughts
+of religion, was one day thinking and pondering and wishing that he might
+be more truly convinced of the actual existence of the Holy Spirit. "If,"
+thought he, "there is a Holy Spirit, a Superior Mind and Will, I reverently
+and sincerely wish that I may be convinced of it beyond all doubt; that I
+may indeed know God is a living reality and daily guide and mighty among
+the plans and ways of men." Though having all the needed mental, historic
+and heart belief and trust in God--still there was desired that special
+satisfaction which can only come by <i>personal evidence.</i></p>
+
+<p>With reverent feeling one morning, he asked the Lord humbly, in Prayer,
+"<i>What can thy servant, do for thee this day? Teach him, that he may
+gladly minister to any one in thy name</i>." In the course of the day there
+came to him the thought of the revival services then proceeding in
+Brooklyn, and feeling a cordial sympathy, he sat down and wrote a letter to
+<i>Mr. Moody</i>, with these words: "<i>I know not how you are supported,
+or anything of your needs; but I feel like helping you in your good work.
+Enclosed find check for $25; take it and use it if you need it for
+yourself; if not, then do some good with it</i>." The circumstance was
+almost forgotten, when the day after there came this wonderful reply from
+Mr. Moody:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p> "<i>Your letter came to hand in the</i> SAME MAIL, <i>at
+the</i> SAME INSTANT <i>of</i> TIME, <i>with a letter from a brother in
+distress</i> WANTING THE SAME AMOUNT. <i>And now you have made him happy,
+and my heart glad, and the Lord will bless you for it."</i></p>
+
+<p class="date">D.L. MOODY.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Had there been a direct revelation from heaven, it could not have been
+more astounding than this, to the heart of that Christian. His own prayer
+was answered, as to his search for the evidences of the Holy Spirit, but
+oh, how wonderfully!</p>
+
+<p>None but a Superior, Higher, Overruling Spirit, could have known the
+thoughts and desires of each heart. Nothing but an Omnipotent hand of Power
+and Wisdom could have brought these two letters together at that identical
+instant of time. None but an All-knowing Father could have fixed the amount
+of money which the one was to give and the other was to pray for.</p>
+
+<p>This was a wonderful conjuncture of time, desire and amount, and could
+never have happened by any chance operation of Nature or the natural heart
+and will. Strangest of all, neither of the parties had ever met, known or
+corresponded with each other before. Neither did Mr. Moody know of the
+desire of the one, nor the necessity of the other, until in the act of
+opening the two letters side by side. In the one envelope was the prayer;
+in the other the answer.</p>
+
+<p>That check, those letters, with all signatures and endorsements and
+those persons are this day living and can testify to the authenticity of
+the circumstance.</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Prayer Of Faith.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The family of Mr. James R. Jordan has resided in Lake View, Chicago,
+since the spring of 1871. They are members of Lincoln Park Congregational
+Church. The father, Mr. James R. Jordan, died in October, 1882, aged
+eighty-four years. Through a long series of financial trials, sorrows,
+afflictions by death and pressing cares, this family learned to depend on
+God for their daily prosperity; and the cures wrought in them, according to
+God's Word, are only a small portion of the remarkable answers to prayer
+with which their history is filled.</p>
+
+<p>It is an instructive fact for Christian meditation, that when the
+exercise of intelligent faith was necessary to their cures, the faith was
+there <i>ready for exercise.</i> They had not to begin, as, alas! so many
+do, at the very foundation, and find out first, what faith is, and next,
+how to exercise it. They had learned long before what faith is and what
+faith is not; that <i>faith is trustful obedience to the Word of God;</i>
+that it <i>is not</i> a determination to have one's own way, nor to expect
+the immediate gratification of a desire, simply because the desire has been
+made known to God. They knew that faith obediently accepts God's commands
+and promises, expects to comply with the conditions of those commands and
+promises, and, so complying, expects to receive the results of such
+obedience at such times and in such ways as God appoints; all of which
+truths they found, and all of which may be found in the Holy
+Scriptures.</p>
+
+<p>Thus living in the hopes of the Gospel, realizing as much that their
+"home is in heaven" as that their "rest is not here," they have, through
+the years, performed the daily duties of their pilgrimage.</p>
+
+<p>The writer has known them for thirteen years, and gratefully testifies
+that their faith has strengthened her's, and that their cheerful hope in
+the Lord has been a strong consolation to many who were in trouble.</p>
+
+<p>After the sudden death of the youngest son of the family, in 1880, the
+care of the family devolved entirely upon the two daughters, Mrs. H.J.
+Furlong and Miss Addie S. Jordan.</p>
+
+<p>In April, 1876, Mrs. Jordan fell and badly fractured her hip. She was
+then seventy-seven years old. On account of her age she could not well be
+etherized, nor endure the repeated necessary resetting of the bones, and
+consequently they grew together irregularly. Her hip-joint was stiff, so
+that she was never able to walk without the support of a cane or crutch.
+For eight years she could not leave her own little yard, nor climb into a
+carriage, nor walk without support.</p>
+
+<p>Through this misfortune her afflictions grew worse. In January, 1884,
+she fell and broke one bone and dislocated another in the left wrist.
+Notwithstanding all that medical help could do, the shock brought on a
+severe sickness, and when, after eight weeks, she left her bed to move
+around feebly, she had almost lost her sight and hearing, her hand was
+useless, and her mind greatly impaired.</p>
+
+<p>On her birthday, June 10, 1884, when she was eighty-five years old, she
+greatly mourned that she had outlived her usefulness; that she could no
+longer feed herself, nor read her Bible, nor remember the desirable
+subjects for her prayers, and she hoped that she should not linger here
+long in such a helpless and useless condition.</p>
+
+<p>During the latter part of this time the two daughters were sick, Mrs.
+Furlong with paralysis and Miss Jordan with consumption.</p>
+
+<p>In the latter part of 1882 Miss Jordan, then in feeble health, was
+needed at home to attend the father's last sickness, and Mrs. Furlong was
+left to conduct their business alone. 'The extraordinary exertion brought
+on paralysis. It began in her right arm, which became so insensible that
+the strongest ammonia produced no sensation or apparent effect. Gradually
+her whole right side lost power, her foot dragged, and though she did
+manage to move about, she was comparatively helpless. Physicians spoke not
+hopefully; and protracted rest was recommended as a <i>possible</i> relief.
+She planned to take electric treatment, though not very hopeful about the
+result. She failed once to meet her physician, and while planning the
+second time to take the treatment, and considering Christ's miracles of
+healing, and the Bible's promises to the sick, and having a feeling that
+possibly she might be doing wrong in not relying entirely on the Lord, who
+had hitherto so much helped them, she delayed a little, and failed again to
+meet the appointment. It was a Saturday evening in January, 1883.</p>
+
+<p>She went home and sat down that evening alone, in the dining-room,
+depressed. The enfeebled family--the aged crippled mother, the sick sister
+and her own young son--had retired. As she thought the subject through, she
+became convinced that it was not good to spend time and money in the way
+proposed. Instantly the words THE SAVIOUR filled her soul with
+indescribable hope, and as she thought of His miracles, and how <i>the same
+Jesus</i>, on earth, healed paralyzed ones, the hope grew that He would
+heal her.</p>
+
+<p>With the well hand she stretched out her paralyzed hand on the table and
+said: "Dear Lord, will you heal me?" Like an electric shock the life began
+to move in her arm, and the continued sensation was as though something
+that, previously, had not moved was set in motion. The feeling passed up to
+the head, and down the body to the foot. <i>She was healed! and she was
+grateful!</i> She did not speak of her experience to the family, but
+retired. She rose early the next morning, and awoke her son,--a prayerful,
+dutiful young man,--and said to him, "I'm going to church, to-day." He
+replied, "Then I'll get up and go with you," expecting that she must
+ride.</p>
+
+<p>Her soul was solemnly full that day of the felt presence of the Holy
+Spirit, and she did not like to talk. Her son watched her movements,
+astonished.</p>
+
+<p>She went to the church, took a class again in Sunday School, and; in
+going back and forth to church that day and evening, walked about sixty
+blocks without weariness.</p>
+
+<p>We are not permitted, here, to draw aside the curtain, to dwell upon the
+surprises and the grateful joy of that ever-to-be-remembered, sacred
+day.</p>
+
+<p>A few days after this healing, she, with a consciousness that she was
+running a risk, lifted a heavy weight, and a numbness returned. She
+confessed the sin to the Lord, and asked Him that, when she had been
+sufficiently chastened, He would take the trouble away. Gradually, within
+two days, it disappeared, and has never returned.</p>
+
+<p>At the time when Mrs. Furlong was healed, in answer to prayer, Miss.
+Jordan's case was considered hopeless. Her lungs had been diseased since
+1876. In November, 1879, her physician had decided that tubercles had
+formed in the left lung, and that the right lung was much congested and
+hardened.</p>
+
+<p>In 1882 she had many hemorrhages, and gradually grew worse, so that she
+could not use her left arm or shoulder without producing hemorrhage.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Furlong, soon after her own healing, received a comforting
+assurance from the Lord that her sister would be healed; but Miss Jordan,
+herself, had not that assurance. At this time she took little or no
+medicines, the physicians and the family having no confidence in their
+curative effect; but, on the 1st of January, 1884, she had so many chills
+and hemorrhages, that they sent for the family physician to aid in
+checking, if possible, the severe attack.</p>
+
+<p>During this apparently rapid descent deathward, Mrs. Furlong continued
+to repeat to the family and to the physicians that the Lord would heal her
+sister.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Jordan was one day so low that she could just be aroused to take
+her medicine. As Mrs. Furlong went to give it, Miss Jordan said to her, "Do
+you want to throw that medicine away?" Mrs. Furlong said "Yes," and threw
+it away. Six hours of united waiting upon the Lord followed. They were
+hours of pain. From nine in the morning till three in the afternoon she
+suffered indescribable pain. A few minutes after three, the pain left her,
+and with a bright look she said, "I believe I'm better." She wanted to rise
+and dress, but Mrs. Furlong advised her to rest through the night. She said
+she had not, in five years, been so free from weariness and pain.</p>
+
+<p>The aged mother was sick in bed with that broken wrist, and Mrs. Furlong
+feared that her sister's improved condition would shock and perplex
+her.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Jordan lay on the lounge the most of the time for two days. One of
+her expressions was, "It's perfect bliss to lie here free from pain." Her
+breathing became perfectly natural, and very soon the great hollow place in
+the upper part of the chest, over the left lung, filled out. Shortly before
+her healing she only weighed eighty pounds; but a few months after her
+weight had increased to one hundred and twenty pounds.</p>
+
+<p>She progressed in health rapidly, and on the second Sunday after the
+healing came she attended church. The feeble mother was most sensitively
+anxious lest her daughter should pursue some unwarrantable course which
+should lead to relapse.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Jordan's health steadily improved, but it was several months before
+a cough entirely left her. You may be sure that doubters made the most of
+that cough! <i>But it left her!</i> At one time she brought on a slight
+relapse by giving lessons in crayon drawing. She came to the conclusion
+that the Lord had other work for her to do: and at this writing, September,
+1885, having prayerfully and watchfully followed the leadings of the Lord,
+is a missionary among the freedmen of the South, and is strong in health
+and in faith, "giving glory to God."</p>
+
+<p>One of the aged mother's perplexities was that the Lord should want her
+to live on in such a helpless and useless condition, while her daughters,
+who might be so useful, must die; but oh, how successful she had by precept
+and example taught those daughters that "He hath done all things well!" How
+patiently she suffered whatever she thought was the Lord's will! How sweet
+was her constant thanksgiving! Said a pious Christian neighbor, whose poor
+health restricted her attendance at church, "When I'm hungry for a blessing
+I go down to see old lady Jordan."</p>
+
+<p>After eight painful weeks, she so far recovered from the sickness
+consequent on the broken and dislocated wrist as to move around feebly, but
+sight and hearing were almost gone. Her leg was stiff, her hand stiff, her
+wrist deformed, and her mind greatly impaired.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Jordan became very hopeful, and received strong assurance, in
+answer to prayer, that her mother might be healed. Mrs. Furlong received no
+assurance whatever in her mother's case. There was a great deal of talking
+and praying about it, in the family, and finally Mrs. Jordan humbly claimed
+the Lord's help, beseeching Him that since He had recorded that He would
+make the blind to see, the lame to walk, and the deaf to hear, if it was
+His will He would heal her. This was the night of June 16th, 1884.</p>
+
+<p>In the morning Miss Jordan was so hopeful that she rose early, and
+attentively listened to the movements in her mother's room. She called the
+little family's attention to them, saying, "Just listen to her;" and as,
+holding on by the banister, the aged mother came with her accustomed slow
+movements down to the dining room, Miss Jordan said, to them, "Now, watch
+her."</p>
+
+<p>According to the long habit of eight years, she began to reach out for
+her cane, unconscious that she had been walking around her room with new
+freedom. Miss Jordan went toward her and said, "Mother, do you want your
+cane?" and, wondering, the old lady walked freely into the dining room.
+They gathered around her, and said, "Are you not healed, mother?" and she
+began to think <i>she was</i>, and sat down in her chair by the table.
+Could she move her hand? The doubled-up thumb, and straight, stiff finger,
+were <i>perfectly free</i> and as <i>limber as ever</i>, and the stiff
+wrist joint <i>moved with perfect freedom!</i> She <i>heard as well as
+anybody!</i> Could she see? She went up-stairs to her Bible, whose blurred,
+dim pages she had thought closed to her forever, and <i>she could read as
+well as ever</i>, and without glasses! She could thread the finest needle.
+Could she kneel and thank the Lord? She had not knelt for eight years. Yes,
+she could kneel as well as when she served the Lord in her youth!</p>
+
+<p>Christian reader, stop here and think what a joyful family that was that
+June morning. That aged saint, of a little more than 85 years, was in good
+health again! And her two daughters had been snatched from the jaws of
+death! What a triumph of blessed memories to leave in legacy to that young,
+hopeful, Christian son, who, in childhood, had himself repeatedly proved
+that the Lord hears and answers prayer!</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Jordan has never used cane or crutch since that morning. She has
+frequently walked five blocks, to go to her church; and, a few weeks after
+her healing, she one day walked the distance of about fifteen blocks. She
+has walked for hours in Lincoln Park, among the plants and flowers, and she
+goes up and down stairs, and wherever she likes, as well as anyone.</p>
+
+<p>She has the use of her faculties, and an altogether comfortable use of
+her sight, though that is not so acute as at first. Her earliest joy was
+that she was permitted to see that the Lord had some purpose in sparing her
+so long.</p>
+
+<p>Dear Christian reader, shall the wonderful manifestation of that
+"purpose" strengthen your faith? It helps me.</p>
+
+<p>"Is anything too hard for the Lord?" "No good thing will He withhold
+from them that walk uprightly." "If ye then, being evil, know how to give
+good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in
+heaven give good things to them that ask Him." "If we live by the Spirit,
+let us also walk by the Spirit."</p>
+
+<p>In the hopes of the Gospel,</p>
+
+<p class="date">Miss E. Dryer.</p>
+
+<p>150 Madison St., Chicago.</p>
+
+
+<h3>Almost A Bankrupt.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A prominent Christian had just entered a merchant's counting-room, when
+the head man of the place said to him, "Let us kneel and ask God to help me
+through, for without his help, I shall be a bankrupt before the setting of
+the sun." So they knelt and prayed. That man went through the pressure, and
+did not become a bankrupt.</p>
+
+
+<h3>"He Could Not Flee from the Power of the Holy Spirit."</h3>
+
+
+<p>A clergyman of distinction gives this instance of the worthlessness of
+all attempts to flee from the Power of the Spirit.</p>
+
+<p>"I looked out of my window one morning, while it was yet dark, and saw a
+lady standing at my gate, leaning against a post, and evidently weeping
+bitterly. I knew her. She was a member of the church, and was an earnest,
+consistent Christian. She was married to one of the most bitter
+Universalists I ever knew. I stepped down the steps to her, and asked,
+'What is the matter?' She replied, 'Oh, my poor husband! I had so hoped and
+prayed that he might be converted in this revival! and now he has rode
+away, and says that <i>he will not come back till this religious flurry is
+over</i>. What shall I do to bear up under this?'</p>
+
+<p>"I said, 'It is near the time for prayer. We will go and lay his case
+before the Lord, and make <i>special request</i> that God will bring him
+back again under the power of the Spirit. The Lord can bring him home, and
+I believe He will do it. We must pray for him.'</p>
+
+<p>"She dried her tears in a moment, and seemed to seize hold of this
+'strong hope,' as we walked to the place of prayer. We found the room
+crowded. It fell to my lot to lead the meeting.</p>
+
+<p>"At the opening, I stated the case of this Universalist husband, who had
+undertaken to run away from the influence of the Spirit, by fleeing into
+the country. I said that we must all pray <i>that the Holy Spirit may
+follow him, overtake him, and bring him back again</i>, show him his sins,
+and lead him to Jesus.</p>
+
+<p>"The meeting took up the case with great earnestness, and I could not
+but feel that prayer would in some way be answered.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>But can you imagine our surprise when, at our evening prayer
+meeting, this same Universalist came in</i>?</p>
+
+<p>"After standing a few minutes, till the opportunity offered, he
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"'I went away on horseback this morning, and told my wife I was going
+into the country to stay till this flurry was over. I rode right over the
+hills, back from the river, into the country, till I had got eighteen miles
+away. <i>There, on the top of a hill, I was stopped as Paul was, and just
+as suddenly</i>, and made to feel what a horrible sinner I am. I am one of
+the worst sinners that ever lived. <i>I have lost my Universalism</i>, and
+I know I must be born again, or I can never see the kingdom of Heaven. Oh,
+pray for me that I may be converted; nothing else will do for me.'</p>
+
+<p>"He took his seat amid the tears and sobs of the whole assembly. The
+hour was full of prayer for that man's conversion.</p>
+
+<p>"This strong and intelligent man, once one of the bitterest
+Universalists I ever knew, is now an elder in a Presbyterian church, and
+one of the most joyous, happy, energetic men of God you will meet in many a
+day. He believes he was 'converted on the spot in that prayer
+meeting.'"</p>
+
+
+<h3>Life Brought Back Again in the Midst of Death.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The following instance, when <i>death itself was made to give back the
+life it claimed</i>, is personally known to us to be true: A mother, in
+this city, sent a request for prayer to the Fulton street prayer-meeting,
+asking the Lord for the recovery of her daughter, who was sinking rapidly,
+and who she felt was almost dying.</p>
+
+<p>Her husband, an eminent physician, and others, also, the most skilled
+physicians of the city, gave up the case as hopeless. The mother felt that
+now none but God could or would help; that in the Fulton street
+prayer-meeting were sympathizing friends, and to it sent her request. She
+came to the meeting herself, to join in their prayers and testify her
+faith. The moments of the meeting passed on. One request after another was
+read, but hers was not touched. She was sadly disappointed. Her child was
+so weak and almost dying, it could not live the day through, perhaps. The
+time was within a few minutes, less than three, of the close of the
+meeting. She, at last, with faltering steps and palpitating heart, pressed
+her way to the desk and asked if her request was there. Upon search, it was
+found that it had been overlooked. <i>Too late</i>, said the leader, to
+<i>read it to-day</i>. See, the clock is at its last moment; but it shall
+be read first thing at 12 o'clock, to-morrow, and special prayer shall be
+offered immediately.</p>
+
+<p>With what heavy heart the mother went away, back to the chamber of the
+dying one, none can ever know. All night the waiting ones watched, with
+their ceaseless attentions and silent prayers.</p>
+
+<p><i>A few minutes before</i> 12 <i>o'clock the body sank, the eyes
+closed, pallor came over the features, the spirit seemed gone</i>, and
+<i>all was still; not a breath, not a motion--death had come</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The mother had taken her watch, hung it on the pillow of the bed, and
+with streaming eyes, yet ceaseless prayer, they watched the slow finger
+move to 12 o'clock. At precisely twelve, all joined in prayer, lifting
+their hearts to God. <i>At fifteen minutes past twelve, the daughter opened
+her eyes</i>, saying, "Mother, <i>I feel better</i>," then sank into sleep,
+<i>breathing steadily</i>; after three hours awoke to consciousness and sat
+up in bed, and before night was able to walk the floor of her chamber.
+Prayer brought that life back, even when death had taken it. <i>At the very
+moment when that precious prayer was offered in the meeting, the Lord came
+and touched the dying one, and gave it new life.</i> The mother's faith and
+prayer was honored, and the Lord remembered his promise, "<i>If ye believe,
+ye shall see the glory of God."</i> The same Lord who raised Lazarus and
+bade him come forth, also came and bade this precious life come back again
+to earth.</p>
+
+
+<h3>Saved From The Hands Of A Desperado.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The following circumstance is communicated to us by a United States
+Surgeon:</p>
+
+<p>"After the close of the Mexican war, and in the year 1849, a train was
+sent out from San Antonio to establish military posts on the upper Rio
+Grande, particularly at El Paso. I was surgeon of the quartermaster's
+department, numbering about four hundred men. While the train was making
+up, the cholera prevailed in camp, for about six weeks, at first with
+terrible severity. On the 1st of June it had so far subsided that we took
+up the line of march. After about four days out from San Antonio, the
+health of the men became very good, and continued so through the whole
+route, with the exception of occasional cases of prostration from heat, and
+slight fevers, the Summer being unusually hot. One evening in July, after
+coming into camp, I received a call to see a man who had been taken sick on
+the march. I found him lying under his wagon. The wagon was loaded with
+bacon, in bulk about two tons. The heat with the pressure had caused it to
+drip freely. I asked him to come from under the wagon, that I might examine
+his case and prescribe, for him. This he refused to do; but demanded that I
+should crawl under the wagon to him, which I, of course, would not consent
+to do. No persuasion could induce him to change his position in the least.
+Becoming satisfied that he was not much, if at all sick, I left him. His
+profanity, threats and imprecations were fearful. Perhaps it would be well
+to give a short sketch of his life for the three years previous, as I
+learned it from men who knew him, and had been with him for considerable
+portion of that period. He went to Mexico, at the beginning of the war, a
+soldier in the regular army. When his term of service expired, he was
+discharged, and sought employment in the quartermaster's department, as a
+teamster. He had the reputation of being a thief, a robber and an assassin.
+In a few months he was ignominiously discharged from the service, and, at
+the close of the war, he came to Texas, and sought and obtained employment
+as teamster in the train then organizing for El Paso. But, to return to my
+narrative. On the morning after the occurrence at the wagon, a teamster
+came to me and said, in a hasty and abrupt manner, 'Doctor, Mc will kill
+you to-day or to-night. He is full of rage, and muttering terrible threats.
+He was out very early this morning and emptied his six-shooter, and came in
+and reloaded it and put it in first-rate order.' I said, 'Mc, what's up
+now?' He replied, 'I will kill that d----d old doctor to-day or to-night;'
+and he will do it. I have known him make threats before, and have never
+known him fail to execute them. But I must go; he must not know that I have
+seen you.' Knowing the man, I realized the danger, and felt that I was
+powerless, either to resist or avoid it. I retired within my tent and
+closed it up. I prostrated myself before Him who is able to save. I prayed
+for deliverance from the hands of the cruel and blood-thirsty man, and that
+I might not be left in the power of him who was my enemy without cause. I
+submitted my cause into the hands of Him who doeth all things well, and
+prayed for entire submission to his will. My anxiety subsided; my fear was
+removed, and I commenced the duties of the day with usual cheerfulness.</p>
+
+<p>"Soon after this, the camp broke and we were on the march. I fell back
+with the officers of the rear guard, and the excitement of the morning was
+soon forgotten. About 10 o'clock, a courier came back in haste, for me to
+see a man who had been thrown from his mule and crushed under the wheels of
+his wagon. He did not know who the man was--he was about half or
+three-quarters of a mile ahead. The thought then occurred to me, I shall
+probably have to pass Mc's team. I will ride square up with the courier,
+and keep him between myself and the train. When we came to the spot I
+inquired who the man was, for he was so mutilated I could not recognize
+him. <i>It was Mc. God was there</i>. Awe and terror took hold upon me. I
+was dumb with amazement.</p>
+
+<p>"Mc had dismounted and walked some fifty rods by the side of his team.
+Attempting to remount, his mule whirled and pitched, and he was thrown upon
+his back, and his team with fourteen others instantly stampeded. Both the
+fore and hind wheels on the near side of his wagon, passed directly over
+his face, and crushed every bone in his head. It was a fearful sight; not a
+feature of the human face could be discerned.</p>
+
+<p>"The stampeded teams were flying wildly over the prairie, in spite of
+every effort of the teamsters to control them.</p>
+
+<p>"I directed the head of the corpse to be inserted in some new, thick
+sacks, in such a way as to prevent the oozing of blood, and that it be
+wrapped in his blanket and taken to the next camp for burial. When the
+stampeded teams came in, it was found that no other person was injured, nor
+any damage done.</p>
+
+<p>"The philosopher may tell us of the reign of law; of the coincidence of
+circumstances; of the action of natural causes; but, to the Christian, the
+fact still remains--prayer was answered. God heareth his people when they
+cry unto Him."</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Prayer of a Missionary in Mexico Answered.--Saved from
+Banditti.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"In the Spring of 1872, I was, with my wife and child, in the city of
+Cadereita, Mexico, where we had been laboring as missionaries, but felt it
+was our duty to return to the States for a little season, and had been
+asking God to open up the way for us. At length, about the middle of March,
+the opportunity appeared to be given, the means being provided; but the
+country was in a state of revolution (a no uncommon thing there), and,
+consequently, there were no stages running out of the country, so we had to
+take conveyance in Mexican carts. Therefore, we engaged two men, with their
+carts; one in which we might ride and carry a mattress, which should serve
+as a bed at night, and the other, to carry the baggage and provisions for
+ourselves and the horses, as our way was mostly through an uncultivated
+country.</p>
+
+<p>"We knew that General Cortinas, with his troops, was somewhere between
+us and Texas, as the State we were in was one of those in rebellion. The
+blood-thirsty character of General Cortinas is well known on the frontier,
+there being no less than seventeen indictments against him for murder in
+the State of Texas. He is regarded as having a special hatred against
+Americans, and the Mexicans, themselves, stand in terror of him.</p>
+
+<p>"Our friends and brethren in Cadereita tried hard to deter us from
+going, as most likely we would fall into the hands of General Cortinas; in
+which event, they said, the very utmost we could expect would be to escape
+with our lives, being left destitute of everything, in a wilderness road;
+but, as God had seemed to open up the way, providing the means, we
+determined to go forward, trusting that He also would protect us in the
+way. Therefore, having completed our arrangements, we started for
+Matamoras, some three hundred miles distant, on the 19th of March, the
+wives of the two men accompanying their husbands, making our party six
+adults and one child; the brethren in Cadereita promising to pray daily for
+our safety. The third morning, after commending ourselves, as usual, into
+the care of our covenant-keeping God, we started on our journey. Some two
+hours later, we espied the troops of General Cortinas, about two miles
+distant, marching toward us. We again all looked to God for protection, and
+prayed that, as he shut the mouths of the lions, that they should not hurt
+his servant Daniel, so He would now restrain the evil passions of men, that
+they might not hurt nor injure us--then we went on till we met the advance
+guard, who commanded us to halt and wait till the General came up. After
+nearly half an hour, General Cortinas, with his escort, rode up to where we
+were waiting for him. After the ordinary salutation, he asked: (<i>¿de
+adonde vienen y adonde van?</i>) 'From whence have you come, and where are
+you going?'--to which we replied properly; then he asked: 'What is the news
+from Nueva Leon?' (the State we left)--to which we replied as faithfully as
+we could. Then I asked him, 'Is the road safe between us and Matamoras?' He
+replied: 'Perfectly; you can go on without any fear, and as safely as you
+would in your own country.' Then, bidding us 'good morning,' he rode on,
+not even inquiring about or examining any of our baggage.</p>
+
+<p>"When we arrived in Brownsville, Texas, and told of how gentlemanly
+General Cortinas had treated us, all pronounced it wonderful, and said, 'We
+could not have believed General Cortinas capable of such kindness to
+Americans so in his power. It was truly a miracle.' We believed that it was
+God who restrained the naturally vicious passions of the man, in direct
+answer to prayer."</p>
+
+
+<h3>An Infidel's Life Spared A Few Days.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"During the Summer of 1862, I became acquainted with a Mr. A----, who
+professed infidelity, and who was, I think, as near an atheist as any I
+ever met. I held several conversations with him on the subject of religion,
+but could not seem to make any impression on his mind, and, when a point
+was pressed strongly, he would become angry.</p>
+
+<p>"In the Fall, he was taken ill, and seemed to go into a rapid decline.
+I, with others, sought kindly and prayerfully to turn his mind to his need
+of a Saviour, but only met with rebuffs. As I saw that his end was drawing
+near, one day I pressed the importance of preparing to meet God, when he
+became angry and said I need not trouble myself any more about his soul, as
+there was no God, the Bible was a fable, and when we die that is the last
+of us, and was unwilling that I should pray with him. I left him, feeling
+very sad.</p>
+
+<p>"Some four weeks after, on New Year's morning, I awoke with the
+impression that I should go and see Mr. A----, and I could not get rid of
+that impression; so, about nine o'clock, I went to see him, and, as I
+approached the house, I saw the two doctors, who had been holding a
+consultation, leaving. When I rang the bell, his sister-in-law opened the
+door for me, and exclaimed, 'Oh! I am so glad you have come; John is dying.
+The doctors say he cannot possibly live above two hours, and probably not
+one.' When I went up to his room, he sat bolstered up in a chair, and
+appeared to have fallen into a doze. I sat down, about five feet from him,
+and when, in about two minutes, he opened his eyes and saw me, he started
+up, with agony pictured on his face and in the tones of his voice,
+exclaimed, 'O! Mr. P----, I am not prepared to die; there is a God; the
+Bible is true! O, pray for me! pray God to spare me a few days, till I
+shall know I am saved.'</p>
+
+<p>"These words were uttered with the intensest emotion, while his whole
+physical frame quivered through the intense agony of his soul. I replied in
+effect, that Jesus was a great Saviour, able and willing to save all who
+would come unto Him, even at the eleventh hour, as He did the thief on the
+cross.</p>
+
+<p>"When I was about to pray with him, he again entreated me to pray
+especially that God would spare him a few days, till he might have the
+evidences of his salvation. In prayer, I seemed to have great assurance of
+his salvation, and asked God to give us the evidence of his salvation, by
+granting him a few days more in this world. Several others joined in
+praying God to spare him a few days, till he should give evidence of being
+saved.</p>
+
+<p>"I called again in the evening; he seemed even stronger than in the
+morning, and his mind was seeking the truth.
+The next day, as I entered, his face expressed the fact that peace and
+joy had taken the place of fear and anxiety. He was spared some five days,
+giving very clear evidence that he had passed from death to life. His case
+was a great mystery to the doctors. They could not understand how he lived
+so long; but his friends, who had been praying for him, all believed it was
+in direct answer to prayer."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Remarkable Preservation from Brain Difficulties.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"A few weeks ago, a man who had once been a member of my church, but had
+fallen from his steadfastness through strong drink, fell from a ladder,
+striking his head on the corner of a stone, which made a dent in the skull
+of over two and one-half inches in length, and three-fourths of an inch in
+width, and half an inch in depth. This happened on Friday afternoon. At our
+prayer-meeting, in the evening, most earnest prayers were offered in his
+behalf; the brethren prayed that God would restore him his senses and spare
+him a few days, that he might repent of his back-sliding and be saved.</p>
+
+<p>"The surgeons raised the skull, and his senses were restored; his mind
+seemed clear. This continued over a week, when it was evident that there
+was still some pressure on the brain. The surgeons removed the skull, and
+found three pieces driven down into the brain. They expressed, from the
+first, no hope of his recovery; but wondered much at the clearness of his
+mind, which continued for over two weeks. We believed that it was in answer
+to the prayers of the church that he might have time and opportunity to
+repent and prepare to meet God, which we trust he did."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Little George's Prayer.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A clergyman writes us these incidents:</p>
+
+<p>"I knew a poor family whose son George, four or five years old, was
+accustomed to pray. They lived five or six miles from neighbors, and, at
+times, were quite destitute. One day, as little George observed his mother
+weeping over their destitution, he said, "Why, mother, don't cry any; we
+shall not starve; God will send us something to eat, I know He will. I've
+just been praying, and asked Him to." The little fellow just as much
+believed God would send them food, as if he had asked a reliable neighbor
+and obtained his promise to supply their wants. In a day or two after this,
+some friends living at a distance and knowing they were poor, took them the
+welcome surprise of a wagon-load of substantial material for food and other
+comforts. The little boy grew up to be a Christian minister, and, about a
+year ago, on inquiry, his uncle told me he had been at the head of an
+institution of learning in the South-west."</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Prayer For A Horse.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"My horse died, and, after traveling through the snow-drifts to my
+appointments, till I was lame, half sick, and unfit for service--as I had
+not means to purchase a horse, I thought of quitting the work and going to
+teaching, and laid the matter before God, in prayer; soon after which, some
+person at a distance, who heard that I had lost my horse, without my saying
+a word about it, raised the means by which I procured another."</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Prayer For A Wife.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"When I believed it would be well for me to seek a companion for life, I
+asked of God direction in making a wise choice, and that, in a matter of so
+much importance to me and others, I might meet with success or
+<i>hindrance</i>, as my heavenly Father knew best. He led me to a choice
+and marriage, which I have not since regretted."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Church Troubles Quelled.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"I might mention a dozen instances in which church troubles were
+gathering, and trials between members appeared certain, when all my tactics
+failed, and the wisdom of brethren was of no avail; my last resort was to
+ask God to send help and deliver from the threatened evil--and in ways that
+no one could foresee, complete deliverance came."</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Minister's Supplies Fall Short.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"When very much in need of funds to procure supplies for a coming
+Winter, all expedients failed; then I asked God for assistance, when,
+unexpectedly, a friend in California sent me a little package of gold dust,
+which I sold, at once, for $130. This came when it was needed, and it did
+us good."</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Prayer For A Servant.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Some time after, we failed to find anything like suitable help in the
+house, which we greatly needed. Before starting out one morning, in secret
+I prayed to God to direct me as I went on my uncertain business, and prayed
+as I called at different places, and soon found a colored girl sixteen
+years old wanting a place, who came and proved to be the best help we ever
+had, before or since. For seven years and a half she lived in the family,
+taught two of our children to read; was glad, from choice, to move with us
+to different places, till she left to be married, fell sick and passed
+away. A dozen other times when driven in straits, <i>in answer to
+prayer</i> God has enabled us to procure necessary help, which was
+difficult to obtain.</p>
+
+<p>"In 1874, while on my way to see my mother in Pennsylvania--who had just
+been paralyzed, and died the next week--I was suddenly paralyzed in my left
+arm, by which, I have since been helpless and useless. After coming here to
+live, being in want of a man to lift me in and out of bed, dress me, etc.,
+for which we inquired of people, and prayed to God to send us the needed
+help. We had not means to hire and pay any person to do such work, even if
+he could be found. Soon the right one came, in the person of a young
+German, who was tramping through the country in search of employment and
+food; was ready and glad to do any work for a living. For pay that
+satisfied him and us, he staid in the family over a year, working out doors
+and in; could be trusted to do business with money, and return every cent
+correctly. After being with us over a year, when we needed him no longer,
+he obtained a situation in a good family, where he is now living. In many
+instances, I have prayed to be healed of special sickness, always using
+what remedies I thought best, yet asking the divine blessing on their
+use."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Healing.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"For over three years, I was troubled with frequent raising of blood
+from my right lung, which physicians failed to cure. Of this I prayed to be
+relieved; after which, the soreness healed, and for several years it has
+ceased to trouble me."</p>
+
+
+<h3>That $18.75.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A man who had led a very wicked life, was converted and hopefully saved.
+Previous to this time, a debt of $18.75 had not given him the slightest
+thought. After receiving a new heart, he distinctly heard God's command,
+"Pay what thou owest;" so called on his creditor, and urged him to send to
+his house and get a bureau, table and looking-glass, which he desired him
+to sell and pay himself the sum due him; but, not wishing to deprive his
+debtor of such necessary articles, refused, saying he would wait till he
+could pay. The 18th of November was set, and, as the day approached, the
+prospect was no brighter; and when the night of the 17th came around, he
+spent it in prayer that God would deliver him, and rose from his knees at
+daybreak, with the full assurance that "He knoweth how to deliver."</p>
+
+<p>On passing down a street the next morning, on his way to business, a man
+who kept a large store was standing in the door-way, and called to him to
+stop a minute. Wondering what could be the nature of the call, he retraced
+his steps, to hear this astonishing news: "<i>For three days I have been
+impressed with the idea that I must give you</i> $18.75, <i>and for three
+days have been trying to ascertain why I must give you this amount, for I
+do not owe any man a penny</i>. I cannot get rid of the thought, and if you
+value my peace of mind, I beg you take the money!" Seeing, instantly, the
+hand of God in it, he told the story to the astonished storekeeper, then
+left to pay his debt with the money so strangely given. His creditor,
+surprised to see him so promptly on time, questioned him as to the manner
+of obtaining it, thinking, perhaps, he had made a great sacrifice to do so.
+On being told just how it was given him, said, "<i>I won't take it; keep
+it. If God is as near to people as that, I don't want it; it seems as if it
+had come directly from his Almighty hand</i>." The result was the
+conversion of both the storekeeper and creditor, to whom the incident came
+as the undoubted evidence of God's presence among them.</p>
+
+
+<h3>God Sent The Bag Of Flour.</h3>
+
+
+<p>In about the year 1830, in Central New York, there was a time of great
+scarcity of provisions. Grain was very high, and difficult to be obtained
+at any price; and, of course, families of limited means were very much
+straitened. In one family, the wife and mother of six children, a Godly
+woman, worked at her trade (tailoress) to the extent of her ability, and
+prayed earnestly that God would deliver them from pressing want. Husband
+and children all knew of their need, and of the fervent prayers of the wife
+and mother for their supply; but no one knew by what means the supply was
+to come. Every day, as their scanty means were being consumed, the prospect
+grew darker. On the farm was a large quantity of pine timber. Four miles
+from there, in the next town, lived a man who needed some shingles; and,
+casting about him to see where he should obtain a supply, thought he would
+go and purchase a pine tree, and himself and man go into the woods and work
+it up into shingles. As he was about starting, the thought occurred to him,
+"Perhaps they may be in want of wheat flour--a bag cannot come amiss in
+this time of scarcity." So, putting two bushels in a bag, he proceeded to
+the next town, entered the house, and made known his errand, saying, "I
+have brought along two bushels of flour towards paying for the tree,
+thinking you might be in want of it in this time of scarcity, and I knew
+you live six or seven miles from the mill, and have no horse." "That is in
+answer to prayer," said the noble woman; and the husband believed it,
+though not a praying man. When, at night, the oldest son came in, the
+mother said to him, "God has answered our prayers, and sent a bag of
+flour." It is believed that, while this was not miraculous, it was as
+directly the interposition of God, as feeding Elijah by the ravens; and it
+was in direct answer to prayer for that special blessing."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Incidents from the Experience of a City Missionary.--A Prayer for
+Supper Answered.</h3>
+
+
+<p>An educated, accomplished lady, reduced to the very lowest round of
+poverty's ladder, whom we shall call Mrs. X----, bears unfailing testimony
+to God's hearing and answering the prayer of faith. The daughter came
+up-stairs one day to announce the utter emptiness of the larder. There was
+not even a piece of dry bread, nor a drawing of tea; not a potato, nor a
+bean; and "Charles, poor fellow, will come home from his work at six, tired
+and so hungry; what <i>shall</i> we do, mother?"</p>
+
+<p>"The Lord will send us something, before he comes," said Mrs. X----. So,
+for three hours more the daughter waited. "Mother, it is five o'clock, and
+the Lord has not sent us anything." "He will, my dear, before half-past
+six;" and the widow went in an adjoining room, to ask that her daughter
+might not feel it vain to call upon God. In fifteen minutes, the door-bell
+rang violently, and a gentleman, valise in hand, said, "Mrs. X----, I left
+the room which I hired of you one year ago, in a great hurry, you will
+remember; and I owed you five dollars. I have not been in the city since,
+and am rushing out of it again--jumped off the car just to give you this
+money. Good-bye."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Relief From A Creditor's Demands.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"At another time, being sorely pressed by a heartless creditor, and
+almost beside herself, she concluded to walk out and get free from the
+insupportable burden, by change of air and scene for two or three hours.
+Passing the house of a friend, just returned from Europe, she called for a
+few moments, and was presented with a small and peculiar plant, brought
+from Wales. All the way home she was asking the Lord to release her from
+this relentless creditor, and all the way home a man, without her
+knowledge, was following her. Arrived at her own stoop, he suddenly
+confronted her, bowed, apologized for the liberty, but said he had not had
+a sight of that dear old plant since he left home; and if she would sell it
+to him, he would gladly give her ten dollars for it. As that was half the
+sum for which she was persecuted, and would probably relieve her from
+annoyance until she could raise the balance, she accepted the offer."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Two Hundred Dollars Needed and Given at the Last Moment.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"At the time of her husband's death, there were <i>two hundred
+dollars</i> due an institute, for board and tuition of their two little
+boys. His death was the flood-gate opened, which let in a successive
+torrent of perplexities, losses, dilemmas, delays, law-suits, etc. She had
+not been able to pay that bill; the principal was importunate, persevering,
+bitter, and, at last, abusive. She cried to the Lord for a week, day and
+night, almost without ceasing. Then, a gentleman whom she had taken to her
+own house and carefully nursed through a dangerous illness, three years
+before, called to say good-bye. He was on his way to a Bremen steamer, and
+all other adieus were said, all his baggage on board, except the valise in
+his hand. Might her boy ride down to the wharf and see him off? Of course
+she was glad to consent. When her son returned he brought back a letter,
+which opened, she found to contain <i>two hundred dollars</i> and the
+words, 'Not that money can ever express my gratitude, but the enclosed may
+be useful for gas-bills or some other little household matter.'"</p>
+
+
+<h3>How The Lord Repaid A Generous Gift.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Some gentlemen, urged to contribute to a most worthy cause, said, 'Go
+first to Mr. Z.--whatever he gives, we will.' Mr. Z., upon application,
+concluded to make his neighbors do something worth while, and, as he was
+expecting a thousand dollars in a very few days, subscribed the whole of
+that. Upon the arrival of the vessel which was to pay his subscription, he
+found the difference in exchange between certain countries, had swelled his
+thousand dollars to <i>twenty-two hundred</i>."</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Astonished Giver.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"A gentleman, not marching in the ranks of 'cheerful givers,' was urged
+to bestow five dollars toward the 'Fresh Air Fund.' 'He could not; business
+wretched; poor enough himself,' and all the well known line of excuses. The
+friend assured him, if the Lord did not more than make it up to him, before
+the end of the week, he himself would return the money. To those terms he
+agreed, quite sure he should call on Saturday and get back the $5. But, the
+very next morning, he ran to the office of his friend to say that an old
+debt, given up long ago, and for which he would have taken one hundred
+dollars any moment, was paid him about an hour after the friend left his
+store. So astonished was he, that he even doubted the check, which was for
+<i>five thousand dollars,</i> and sent it to the bank to test its
+genuineness before he would give a receipt for it!"</p>
+
+
+<h3>All Saved.</h3>
+
+
+<p>In a dismal basement, A. found a very interesting American family. The
+father, in the last stage of consumption; a little girl of ten years, an
+invalid from infancy. The mother and two daughters, both under fifteen,
+were out all day at work, trying to keep even such a wretched shelter, and
+a little coarse food, as daily supplies. The three together could not make
+over four dollars a week. The only person to wait on the two sick ones
+during the day, was a little boy four years of age, who, when the
+missionary entered, was reclining upon the bed. But he started up, put more
+coal on the fire, and brought a drink of water, first to his sister, then
+his father; without any bidding, and with the consideration of a grown
+person.</p>
+
+<p>On A.'s next visit, a few days after, he found the mother at home,
+grief-stricken. Her eldest daughter had been taken ill the day previous. He
+gave her all the money he had, prayed with them, and sent at once a kind,
+assiduous physician. In a few weeks the daughter died, but not without a
+good hope in Christ; and was buried at the expense of the few kind friends
+whom A. had sent to see the family. The dying daughter exhorted her dying
+father to seek his soul's eternal welfare, and not boast, as heretofore, of
+his life-long morality. Her conversations led him to see his danger out of
+Christ, and, in a little while after his daughter's departure, he followed.
+The mother had not before had a sure Christian hope; but, amidst such
+influences, her heart was soon opened to admit the truth. Not long after
+her bereavement she began having a "cottage prayer-meeting" in her room,
+and united with an evangelical church. She immediately became anxious for
+the conversion of her two boys, who were away, and urged the missionary to
+write them. He did so, frequently, and his heaven-directed appeals led one
+of the boys very soon to Christ. Soon after, he died; the brother returned
+home with consumption. He took great pleasure in the little
+prayer-meetings, and in three months cheerfully and exultantly exchanged
+this world of suffering for the one where father, brother and sister
+awaited him. Worn out with anxiety, care, hard work and poor health, the
+mother followed; leaving the invalid girl and youngest boy; who are watched
+over, not only by their Friend in heaven, but friends on earth. The eldest
+surviving daughter is an esteemed and consistent member of a church of
+Christ.</p>
+
+
+<h3>"The Lord Woke Me Up in Time to Save My Clothes."</h3>
+
+
+<p>In the very top of a four-story building, used only for various
+manufacturing purposes, lived an old man and daughter. They lived literally
+<i>by faith in Christ</i>, from <i>day</i> to <i>day</i>; one hour at a
+time. At his voice, followed Him, whether into darkness or light. Neither
+took a step but as they held his hand. A lady calling one day, said, "Oh!
+Jennie, I thought of your large wash hanging on the roof, last night, when
+the drenching rain came; and I was so sorry to think you would have your
+hard work all over again!" "<i>Oh! no ma'am. The Lord woke me up out of a
+sound sleep, just as the first few drops fell</i>! I hastened up and
+brought them all down nice and dry, and had only got to the foot of the
+stairs with the last armful, when it poured down. Now that was the Lord,
+ma'am, for there was not a single noise of any kind to waken me, and I was
+sound asleep!"</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Lord Takes Away the Custom of a Liquor Saloon.</h3>
+
+
+<p>At one time, the landlord rented the ground floor to a liquor seller.
+The loafers going in and out, especially on Sunday, were a great grief to
+Jennie and her saintly old father. They concluded to take it to the Lord
+together, and, said the old man, "He will be sure to attend to it; I have
+been young, and now am old, and I have never known Him fail me--He
+<i>never</i> does." <i>In three weeks after, the dram-seller closed his
+place for want of patronage</i>.</p>
+
+
+<h3>Help In Time Of Need.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A poor, humble Christian woman had a claim on some property in a
+neighboring State. It was in law, and she was summoned to attend court at a
+certain time. Having scarcely money enough for her daily bread, she was
+obliged to borrow the means to take her there, and pay some cheap board
+while awaiting the conclusion of the trial. She was positively assured by
+the lawyers, that she would receive several hundred dollars. She was
+detained five weeks, instead of one, as she expected, and then the suit was
+postponed till Fall. She was in agony of mind; in a strange place--owing
+for board and washing, and no money to take her to her home. Having spent a
+whole night pacing the floor and calling on the Lord to redeem his
+promises, she felt the fresh air would do her good, and sadly took her way
+down a side street. She had gone but three blocks when she found a diamond
+ring. Being accustomed to the ownership of diamonds in her younger days,
+she knew very nearly its value; took it home, watched the principal papers,
+and the same evening saw a reward of seventy-five dollars offered for it.
+We can imagine that joy lent wings to her feet, and thanksgiving filled her
+whole heart. The sum was sufficient to pay her bills, bring her back and
+return a portion of the borrowed money.</p>
+
+
+<h3>Cast Out Into The Street, Yet Not Forsaken.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A piteous wail was heard on the street one day, and a poor Scotchman
+crossed over to see the trouble. A widow and three children sat on their
+few articles of household furniture. Put in the street, when they could no
+longer find five dollars for the rent of the kennel in which, for six
+months, they had not lived, but existed. He had just received five dollars
+for a piece of work, and was hurrying home with it to his sick wife,
+crippled mother and two children. He thought of the piece of meat--a long
+untasted luxury--he meant to buy; of the tea his mother so much craved, and
+hesitated. Could he give these up? But the streaming eyes of the children,
+and the mute despair on the face of the mother, took down the scale. He ran
+several blocks and found an empty basement; hired it for four dollars;
+enlisted the sympathy and help of a colored boy to carry the furniture; put
+up the stove, bought a bundle of wood, pail of coal, and some provisions
+with the other dollar; held a little prayer-meeting on the spot, and left
+with the benedictions of the distressed ones filling his ears. The recital
+of his adventure obliterated for the time all sense of their own desires,
+and they thanked God together that their loss had been the widow's gain.
+The next morning, while taking their frugal meal, a tea dealer, for whom
+this man had frequently put up shelves, came to say he was short-handed,
+and if the Scotchman was not very busy, he would give him a regular
+position in his establishment, at a better salary than he could hope to
+earn. Meanwhile, hearing his wife was sick, he had brought her a couple
+pounds prime tea, and it occurred to him that venison steaks were a little
+out of the ordinary run of meat, and, as he had a quantity at home, he
+brought a couple. Thus the Lord answered the prayer of the poor, and repaid
+the generous giver who sacrificed his money for the Lord.</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Persecutor Punished by the Lord.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A most devout, hard-working and poorly paid man, was the object of
+constant persecution by a cross-grained, ugly, infidel neighbor. For three
+years the thing went on, till the Christian thought he must remove from the
+place. He could not do it without breaking up his humble home, for which he
+had worked night and day. He and his wife were in deep distress; told their
+plans to the Lord; asked Him to direct them to another home, and then went
+to a newspaper office to advertise their little place for sale. The editor
+was out, and they preferred to see him--would return home and call again
+to-morrow. The next morning the infidel was found dead in his bed, from a
+stroke of apoplexy.</p>
+
+
+<h3>How God Answered My Prayer for $90.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Suffice it, then, I was in debt. I was owing the large sum (large for a
+poor home missionary) of $90.00. Expecting soon to be called upon for the
+payment of it, and not seeing any way to meet it, <i>I went to the Lord
+with it</i>. Early in life I had made this resolution: that no man whom I
+was <i>owing</i> should ever ask me for money, and I not pay him; but now,
+I could see no way out; and if, as I expected, it should be demanded, I was
+not in a condition to meet it. Such was my condition when, on a certain
+day, the demand came. I took the letter from the office at noon. What now
+was to be done? Again I took the case to the Lord, and asked Him to help me
+pay it, so that my word need not fail, or <i>his cause suffer reproach.</i>
+I first determined to pay a part; but, as no letter could be sent out that
+day, I awaited the results of the day following. From the northern mail,
+which first arrived, I took a letter containing an unexpected draft of $50
+to my wife, from parties whom we did not know, and had never seen, nor they
+us. Within twenty minutes more I was presented with a <i>surprise</i> of
+$40, from a people where I had preached for the six months past. Here was
+my $90, and, before the mail went out, I had my letter written and in the
+mail. Both were as unexpected as if they had come from heaven direct."</p>
+
+
+<h3>From Wealth, To Poverty.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A lady of superior culture and refinement, fell from opulence to extreme
+poverty, within four years. No less ready when at the bottom of fortune's
+ladder, than at the top, to do good as she had opportunity, she paid
+another poor woman's way to a neighboring State, where employment awaited
+her, and did it literally with her <i>last</i> dollar-and a-half! Supposing
+herself the possessor of a ten cent note, over and above the twelve
+shillings, she went with her somewhat feeble protege over Jersey city
+ferry, and saw her safely in the cars. Starting back, she was dismayed to
+find no ten cents in her pocket-book, and, all too late, remembered having
+paid it for a quart of milk that morning; the sole breakfast of herself and
+daughter. Night was approaching--what to do she did not know. She had a
+plain, worn, old gold ring on her finger; she took it off, offered it to
+the ferry-master, who would not take it, though she told him she found her
+money gone and would redeem it next day. She went back in the ladies' room
+and told it to the Lord, beseeching his assistance. Just then, a girl
+passing, jostled against her and knocked down her parasol. She picked it
+up, happened to turn it upside down, and out rolled a <i>five-cent
+nickel!</i> The Lord, then, hears prayer for even <i>five cents</i> to
+provide for the comfort and need of those whom He loves.</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Prayer For Fifty Dollars.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A clergyman writes <i>The Christian</i> as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"The Winter of 1872 I spent in missionary work, carrying the glad
+tidings of the kingdom of God into new fields in the 'regions beyond.' With
+my devoted wife, I labored ardently for the salvation of men 'from the
+wrath to come.' We were full of comfort to be thus engaged, though without
+pledge from man for support, or promised salary for preaching.</p>
+
+<p>"In spite of our rigid economy, I had contracted some debts for the
+necessaries of life. I have since learned to go without what the Lord does
+not provide means to pay for at once. I needed the money to pay the debts,
+and felt impressed to pray for fifty dollars. I said to my wife: '<i>I am
+going to pray for fifty dollars</i>.' 'Well,' said she, 'I will join you;'
+and we bowed before God and told Him our needs, and unitedly asked Him for
+fifty dollars; so that we might not bring ourselves or the truth we
+preached, into reproach, by being unable to pay debts. We were agreed in
+asking, and thus claiming the promise: 'If two of you shall agree as
+touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my
+Father which is in heaven.' (Matt, xviii. 19). We had the assurance that
+money would come; but from whence we did not know, nor care, for we knew
+the 'silver and gold' are the Lord's, as well as the 'cattle upon a
+thousand hills,' and he could easily cause some one to give or send us the
+money.</p>
+
+<p>"We felt full of peace; for we knew it was for God's glory to answer
+that prayer. No one outside of the family knew we were praying for money.
+We did not go around among our friends and tell them we were praying for
+fifty dollars, in hopes that they would take it upon themselves to answer
+the prayer. We told none but the God whom we serve.</p>
+
+<p>"Some little time passed, and no money came, but we did not lose our
+faith or assurance. One morning, at family prayer, I was led out to pray
+that we might see the Lord's working in our behalf that day, and I rose
+from my knees with perfect confidence that our hearts would be made to
+rejoice in God that day. When I came in to my dinner I asked my wife if any
+one had brought our mail from the post-office. She said, 'Yes, there are
+some papers on your table.' 'What!' said I, with surprise, 'no letters?' I
+saw a peculiar expression on her countenance, and I asked no more
+questions, but sat down to the dinner table and turned over my plate, and
+there saw a letter she had put beneath it; and as soon as I saw the
+hand-writing I felt, there is money in this, though, of all sources, this
+was from the one least expected. I opened the letter, and there was a draft
+for <i>fifty dollars, 'a gift to aid in preaching the Gospel.'</i> If I
+ever recognized the hand of God in anything, I did in this; and if there
+was ever a time of devout thanksgiving to God, and a humbling of self
+before Him in my house, it was that day. Since then, it has been easier to
+trust in Him than before. He has said, 'I will never leave thee nor forsake
+thee.' He has also said, through his apostles, 'Be careful for nothing; but
+in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your
+requests be made known unto God.'"</p>
+
+
+<h3>Concurrent Testimony of the Value of Prayer.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A request was published by the <i>Illustrated Christian Weekly,</i>
+asking that all who could report positive facts as direct results of
+prayer, and thus, tend to show that <i>"God does answer prayer,"</i> should
+communicate them. Very many were communicated, regarding all trials and
+troubles of the heart, and daily temporal or spiritual life. No one can
+question they are authentic to the highest degree; they should silence the
+skeptic, and convince the worldly of the presence of the mysterious power
+and wonderful Spirit of God, which tempers the hearts and lives of men and
+controls them as He wills.</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Worldly Man Surrenders.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A clergyman says, "I was very anxious for the building of a mission
+chapel to accommodate a flourishing mission-school that had been organized
+under my pastorate. Knowing that a certain physician of the city was
+possessed of abundant means and had a praying Christian mother, though he
+had long since given up going to church, I resolved to call upon him.
+Before starting from my study I knelt down and asked God to prosper me in
+my appeal. Upon going out of my parsonage the physician was in the act of
+passing in his carriage. I hailed him, explained to him my desire, and the
+result was not only a contribution of money as large as the largest, but a
+gift of a lot for the chapel worth several hundred dollars."</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Servant's Prayer For A Good Home.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"I was brought up religiously as a servant in a family in Connecticut,
+and from twelve years of age until twenty-three, knew no other home. The
+old couple died, and I lived with their children, but they were so
+different that I became very unhappy and hardly knew what to do or which
+way to turn. I had no relatives and knew nothing of any world save the
+little one in which I had all my life moved, and I was terribly afraid to
+try any other. I could only offer my constant prayer for help, and it was
+answered so much beyond my highest hope, and so kind were God's dealings
+with me that I was taken, almost without an effort of my own, into a warm,
+loving heart, and such a happy home, and all so easily and smoothly that to
+me it seems like a miracle; and never can I forget while I live, nor cease
+to believe that truly 'He is the hearer and answerer of prayer.'"</p>
+
+
+<h3>"Before They Call I Will Answer."--A Pastor Prays for Decision as to
+Good Choices.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"The writer was once in great trouble to know what was duty. Urged by
+ministers and laymen in high standing to undertake a work not exactly in
+the line of the ministry, he hesitated. God's displeasure was feared, lest
+in doing what was desired 'sin might lie at his door.' To refuse the wish
+of good and wise men might be resisting God's call. In this trial of
+conscience he sought in fasting and special prayer the guidance of his
+Heavenly Father. While so doing the above promise came very distinctly to
+his mind. He brought it to God as his own promise, and pleaded, if it could
+be graciously done, that He would literally fulfill it to the suppliant. In
+the very act of thus pleading, he heard a rap on the door. Opening it,
+there stood his mother-in-law. She said, 'Two gentlemen are in the parlor
+waiting for you.' I went down, and the interview revealed the exact
+fulfillment both of the promise and the prophecy. The Lord answered my
+prayer two days before I called on Him. One of the two came from New York
+to my home in a Western city to inquire about <i>the very thing which was
+troubling me. He was to me an entire stranger</i>, never having heard of
+him until I saw him. Having consulted his friend, the Rev. M.W. Jacobus,
+D.D., they together came to call on me about the matter at the very moment
+I was pleading with God that He would mercifully, 'while yet speaking, hear
+me.' Now could Tyndall and his followers desire a more literal, a more
+exact fulfillment of this prophecy and promise as proof of its inspiration,
+and of prayer as God's ordinance than that prayer for such fulfillment of
+these words actually before the prayer was made, and while the petitioner
+was 'yet speaking?'"</p>
+
+<p>It will be noticed that the best judgment of good men advise one course,
+but trust in God for superior wisdom brought the case to answer in a
+totally different manner, by means of an unknown person, a total stranger,
+who neither knew him nor his desire. The circumstance should convince the
+world.</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Family Pray For A Good Servant.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"About three years since my family comfort was very much disturbed by
+failure to obtain a good housemaid. And, having been accustomed to wait
+upon God for right direction in my <i>temporal</i> as well as spiritual
+affairs, in simple faith I asked Him to direct me on reaching New York City
+to where I would find a girl of good character that would appreciate a
+Christian home. My steps were led to a boarding-house on Greenwich street,
+and on inquiring for a German or Swede girl I was told they had a nice
+Swede just landed. I talked to her through an interpreter and was satisfied
+from what she said, as well as from her countenance, that she was the one I
+was searching for. She came to my home and proved, in two years' service,
+almost faultless. In conversation one day, a short time after she came to
+our home, she said she had had several places offered her that morning
+before I came, but she did not like them; but as soon as she saw me, felt
+that she could go with me--she was a Christian, member of the Lutheran
+church and wanted a Christian home. Her desire was granted and my prayer
+was answered."</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Recovery From A Death-Bed.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Some forty years ago, in a rural parish in New England, a young man lay
+apparently on his death-bed with a putrid fever. His aunt, in whose family
+he was staying, was a woman who had long lived in habitual intercourse with
+the unseen world through prayer. One afternoon, when it seemed to those
+around him that the sick one must die, she went away alone to speak with
+God. With intense earnestness she pleaded for the young man's life. And,
+being deeply interested in the portion of our country then beginning to be
+settled, she asked also that he might become a home missionary at the West.
+There were various circumstances which made this latter request, as well as
+the other, seem very unlikely to be fulfilled. And yet it was. The young
+man recovered, pursued a collegiate and theological course, and still lives
+and labors as a most devoted and useful Christian pioneer. More than once
+he has been a member of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church,
+and his name is familiar to many."</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Poor Student Prays For Money.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"I was a poor student in a Manual Labor Institute at the West. The month
+of February was our regular Winter vacation. We were privileged to keep our
+rooms and have board at one dollar a week. But I had absolutely no money. I
+was six hundred miles from my friends, and they were unable to furnish me
+with funds. I had no books for the new term, though these were a necessity
+if I went on with my class, and there was no work about the Institution,
+nor that I know of in the neighborhood at that season. My case seemed an
+exceedingly bad one; and I had no idea from where any help could come. So I
+went to my room in the third story, locked my door and carried my case to
+the Lord. It was a long, earnest, tearful cry for help from Him who alone
+seemed able to give it. My prayer was answered. When I had been there I do
+not know how long, I heard footsteps in the empty hall, and in a moment a
+knock at my door. I wiped my eyes, and put myself into presentable shape as
+soon as I could, and opened the door. A lad stood there who said: 'A man
+wants to see you at the front door.' Down the stairs I went, wondering who
+could want me and what he could want me for. In the front yard was a man on
+a restless horse, who at once said: 'We want you to teach our school for a
+month. The boys have driven out the female teacher. We want you to take
+them in hand, and we'll give you fifteen dollars and your board.' I said,
+'All right, I'll be down there to-morrow morning.' And then I went back to
+my room to thank God for hearing my prayer."</p>
+
+
+<h3>"I Can't Stop To Pray."</h3>
+
+
+<p>"A deacon living in a Berkshire town was requested to give his prayers
+in behalf of a poor man with a large family who had broken his leg. 'I
+can't stop now to pray,' said the deacon (who was picking and barreling his
+early apples for the city market), 'but you can go down into the cellar and
+get some corned beef, salt pork, potatoes, and butter--that's the best I
+can do.'"</p>
+
+
+<h3>Remarkable Healing Of A Child.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A clergyman writes that during the ministration of his labors at Battle
+Greek, Mich., there were several remarkable manifestations of divine
+power--especially in the case of a little girl, the daughter of a Mr.
+Smith, a child of about six years.</p>
+
+<p>"In September last, she was taken very sick with spinal fever. She
+became much reduced, extremely nervous and helpless, excepting to move her
+hands. Physicians gave up the case as a hopeless one, deciding that should
+she live, her condition would be that of helplessness, a burden to herself
+and to her parents.</p>
+
+<p>"But our gracious God had better things in store for that afflicted
+family. It was on a Sabbath afternoon, at the very hour when the crowded
+congregation in our house of worship were in prayer for the influences of
+the divine Spirit, that a holy, solemn influence came into the dwelling of
+Brother Smith, as if an angel had come to touch the child with healing
+power. The mother could not leave the bedside of her suffering child to
+attend the meeting, and she says that a sudden change came over her
+feelings, and it appeared to her that an angel had come into the house, and
+had shed a holy influence in every part of it. It was at that moment that
+the hitherto helpless child drew herself up in a sitting posture, and next
+rose upon her feet. She rapidly recovered to her usual habits of taking
+food and sleeping, and now takes the exercise of the most robust children
+of her age."</p>
+
+
+<h3>God Paid The Rent.--Answer To Prayer.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A poor Christian family were in distress. The husband, during a long and
+painful sickness, had borne his trials for months with cheerful Christian
+resignation; "but, on this day," said a City Missionary, "I found them, for
+the first time, in tears. The cause I soon learned was the want of means to
+pay the rent of their little home, which would come due on the following
+Monday, and must be paid then, or they would have to leave and go they knew
+not where. The amount needed, <i>fifteen dollars</i>, and the amount in
+hand but <i>fifty cents;</i> the future all dark, and no hope of recovery
+from sickness, and no hope of being able to meet their expenses--it might
+be of a long sickness and want--what could I do for them? If theirs had
+been the only case of like wants that day, I no doubt could have gone to a
+few friends and have collected the amount. But that would not do them the
+good I felt they needed. But I felt sure of a better way to get it, and
+lead them to trust in the Lord, and glorify God and not man.</p>
+
+<p>"On the wall, at the foot of the sick man's bed, I had hung, but a short
+time previous, one of those precious silent comforters, a scroll of
+Scripture texts, printed in large type, and a different prayer for every
+day in the month. On the page before us for <i>that day</i>, after calling
+their attention to it, I read the following words: '<i>And all things
+whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer believing, ye shall receive</i>.' Matt.
+21:22. 'Again I say unto you, <i>that if two of you shall agree on earth as
+touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them</i>. Matt.
+18:9; remarking, 'Are not those precious promises? Your fears, dear brother
+and sister, are that you will not be able to pay the rent on Monday, and
+may be turned out into the street, unless you get the means to pay the
+rent; are they not?' 'That is so,' said they. 'There are two ways: one, to
+try to get some one to lend you the amount until you can pay, if the
+landlord will not wait; another, to go and beg for it.' I have learned a
+better way, and wish I could lead you to do the same. Do as David did. Have
+you ever gone to the Lord as directed above, and found in Him, as David
+did, a very present help in time of trouble? Would not your faith and
+confidence in God's word and in his kind, overruling providence be more
+strengthened, if, in going to Him now and making known your present
+troubles and wants, He should in a way, without your making known your
+wants to any other person, on Monday enable you to pay all?' The answer
+was, 'We should.'</p>
+
+<p>"After prayer and encouragement to do so, I left them, with the promise
+to call the following Tuesday. Doing so, I was met at the door by the wife
+with a countenance full of joy. '<i>Oh, brother, we could not wait until
+you came, to tell you the wonderful answer to our prayer</i>. On Monday,
+<i>the very day</i> that we had to pay the rent, one gentleman came and
+handed my husband <i>five dollars</i>, and early in the morning Mrs. F----
+called and handed me <i>ten dollars</i>, making in all <i>just fifteen
+dollars</i>, the amount we needed; was it not wonderful? Oh, how good the
+Lord is!' The same week another called and gave them an order for fifty
+dollars more, so that they were able to pay up all their debts, and the
+sudden joy soon led to a speedy restoration to health, and the husband is
+now one of the most active Christian workers and teachers in a mission
+school, and the wife and daughter are also trying to do all they can to
+lead others to trust in Jesus."</p>
+
+
+<h3>He Forgetteth Not The Cry Of The Humble.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A City home missionary has told us of the case of a poor colored family,
+the husband nearly one hundred years old, totally incapacitated for work,
+and confined to his room by sickness nearly twelve years.</p>
+
+<p>Although very often in straitened circumstances, the Lord has never left
+them to want for any good they needed, having, in a truly wonderful manner
+supplied their wants, in answer to prayer. The wife, having for a long time
+been kept from the enjoyment of church privileges by close confinement, she
+had been sorely tempted to doubt her acceptance in Christ, and was in great
+darkness for days; but one day, in reading the following words, found in
+the fifteenth chapter of John, <i>"If ye abide in me, and my words abide in
+you, ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you,"</i> she was
+led to go to God in prayer, and to ask, if not wrong in his sight, to grant
+her a request, that she might know that her prayer was answered, and that
+she was abiding in Him. The request was that, as they were in trouble for
+the rent coming due the next day, and still in need of <i>three
+dollars,</i> that the Lord would send them a friend in a stranger, some one
+that they had never seen before, and that he would put it into the heart of
+that stranger to give them three dollars, and then they would not be
+tempted to believe, as they had sometimes before, that it would have been
+sent by a friend even if they had not prayed.</p>
+
+<p>"But," said she, "I knows if a stranger comes, none but the Lord could
+send, then I would know the Lord heard my prayer, and I was truly the
+Lord's. So I watch for the answer for you knows, brother, when we prays,
+the Lord says we must believe we shall receive what we ask of Him, and then
+He will give it. So I watch and listen for the knock at the door, and do
+you believe me, brother, about three o'clock in the afternoon, I hears a
+knock and opens the door, and a strange lady was there, one I never saw
+before, and asked me if Mrs. H---- lived here; and said she had been
+looking for us before, but could not find us; 'when, to-day I felt I must
+try again, and I am so glad I have found you. I heard of you through a
+friend who has known you a long time.' She spoke many kind words, and when
+she took my hand to say good-by, she left a little roll of notes, and when
+she is gone I count it, and <i>it was just three dollars.</i> I is been so
+happy ever since. I loves to tell how good the Lord has been to us; every
+time I does so I feels so happy."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Incidents in the Life of an Invalid.--How God cares and comforts in
+small things.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The following incidents are from the life of an invalid, personally
+known to the editor of this book, and can be depended upon as authentic in
+every particular. They illustrate most beautifully the blessed way in which
+the Savior's everlasting arms are around, strengthening, and His presence
+comforting His weak and helpless ones, in all their little as well as great
+trials of life. The ways in which he sent relief, and the many hundred
+promises which he has given; will encourage other Christian hearts to trust
+the same <i>Omnipotent, ever Helping Friend.</i></p>
+
+
+<h3>Giving Her Last Money To The Lord.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"'The first money the Lord gives me I will send to you,' were the last
+words I said to my old father, as I stood waiting for the train to bear me
+to distant friends. So the weeks passed on, but I remembered my promise and
+waited patiently for the Lord to enable me to fulfill that promise. I had
+two dollars, but thought I must not give it away until more came. But this
+feeling did not last long; something seemed to tell me the Lord would not
+send me any until that was gone. One day I received a letter from a friend
+containing this sentence: 'I have not had three cents in five weeks.' My
+whole nature responded in a moment. I put part of my money into a letter
+for him, the rest into a letter for my father. Now I felt clear. Then I
+told the Lord all about it. A week passed, and $5 came to me from my mother
+to pay my return fare. A few days longer, and another $5 came from a lady
+friend, so I was provided for. I needed a certain article of clothing, and
+one night made all arrangements to get it next day. Morning came, and I
+went to the Bible for my orders for the day; my eyes rested on these words:
+'Be content with what ye have.' This seemed so strange, because the Lord
+knew I needed the dress; I was obliged to stay out of society on this
+account. 'But the Lord knows best,' I thought, and gave up all idea of
+getting it. Nor did it trouble me further. I gave it all into his hands,
+feeling He knew best. And afterwards it was made clear to my own heart I
+had not trusted in vain. <i>'Commit all thy ways unto the Lord, for He
+careth for thee.'"</i></p>
+
+
+<h3>Money Wanted To Pay Railroad Fare.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Once, on a visit, I left the company below, and went up stairs for an
+hour's quiet and prayer. I was to return the coming week and I had only
+just enough to pay my fare. For several days I had been anxious how I was
+to get some money. This afternoon I had to pray very earnestly, because the
+need was great. An hour passed; I felt weary and unrefreshed, when a voice
+clear and near said unto me: 'Trust in the Lord and do good, and verily
+thou shalt be fed.' It was not a human voice, for no one was near me, but I
+started and looked around, <i>almost</i> expecting to see an angel
+visitant. I saw nothing, but the sun shone brighter outside, and the room
+seemed brighter than before. And why should it not? The Lord had been there
+with words of cheer and comfort for his little child. I arose and went
+below, where I found other company had called, and I was introduced to the
+lady and her husband, whom I had met five years before. A pleasant chat and
+they left, after giving me an invitation to visit them. At the door, as I
+learned from my friend who attended them, Mrs. N---- said: 'I should like
+to give Miss B---- something,' and handed my friend <i>a five dollar bill
+for me</i>. I was more than surprised. I cannot tell you the emotions of my
+heart. While I was yet asking, even, the messenger had brought my answer. I
+could yet hear the soft sound of the voice up-stairs, and the soothing
+influence of the unseen presence still lingered round me. How quickly our
+needs flow on the wings of prayer into the very presence of our Friend and
+Master."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Prayer Saves The Life Of A Little Child.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"A year ago this Summer, my sister's little baby, only five months old,
+was taken very ill with that distressing complaint which often proves so
+fatal, and takes so many sweet little ones out of loving hearts and homes.
+I loved baby Ernest, but never so well as when he lay so sick he could not
+know it. We all loved him, and everything was done that could be thought of
+to ease the little sufferer all those long, close, hot days. Day after day,
+for four long weeks, we tenderly cared for him. Sometimes his mother would
+watch his every breath, fearing each would be the last. One Sunday he lay
+just where we put him, so quiet and still, with the sweet baby face so
+white and calm, we thought we should lose him soon, the little hands and
+feet were so cold. All through his illness, I kept asking the Lord to let
+his parents keep the tender bud he had sent them. We could not let him die,
+and to-day I prayed very earnestly all the time--even when we could not
+warm the little body at all--we could not let him go. Well, Ernnie passed
+over the fearful day and became a happy, well boy. He was saved. No
+physician saved him. Our tender care did not save him. Prayer saved our
+Ernnie. Precious baby! He is such a jolly, happy boy now, filling every
+heart and the whole house with his sunshine. How I love the little fellow.
+When I am here at his home, he always comes to Auntie for love and
+tenderness. When I am resting on the lounge, he comes every few moments to
+kiss me, giving and receiving real heart-love. We know God only lends these
+little treasures to their human friends. But oh, they bring so much love
+with them, it is hard to give them up."</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Lost Thimble.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"One day I lost my silver thimble, a gift from my mother when I was a
+young girl. I prized it <i>very highly</i>. I looked everywhere, long and
+faithfully. The tears would come, at the best, it had been so long a
+constant companion. I gave up the search after a while, thinking some one
+had taken it, or a child had lost it--any way, it was gone. Feeling sad
+over it, I sat down to console myself, and the thought came--pray about it;
+so I did, and while I knelt there something whispered, 'Look on the bed,'
+so plainly that I arose and went into my sister's sleeping-room where I had
+turned the spread aside, and there nestled, in a fold of the quilt, <i>my
+thimble</i>. I involuntarily said, 'Thank God!' out of the depths of my
+glad heart. I had lain down a moment on this bed with baby Ernest, early in
+the morning, and the thimble had fallen out of my pocket."</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Prayer for $25.</h3>
+
+<blockquote>
+"God moves in a mysterious way<br />
+His wonders to perform."<br />
+</blockquote>
+
+
+<p>"I had a present of twenty-five dollars once, which was a direct answer
+to earnest, pleading prayer. I was entirely out of money for months--I
+could not earn a dollar. I had those who might have assisted me, but they
+did not. I could have borrowed, but I might never be able to return it; I
+knew not what to do. One evening, thinking it all over, scanning the dark
+cloud with anxious eyes, I said, 'If the Lord cannot help me, no one else
+can; I will ask Him.' And so I did, bringing all the previous promises
+before Him, pleading my unworthiness, but my great need; asking first for
+<i>ten dollars</i>; then, as I grew more earnest, I asked for
+<i>twenty-five,</i> feeling almost frightened as the words came from my
+lips. Sometimes the thought would intrude, 'How can you ask for any given
+sum--how do you expect it will come?' so I said, one day, to the Lord, 'Any
+sum you choose; you know best; I will be content.' Several weeks passed,
+and a sweet feeling of rest and assurance came, that, whatever came of it,
+would be all for the best. But, by-and-by, when the anxious pleading
+feeling was all gone, one morning came a letter from one I had never seen,
+with $25--just what I had asked for. I cannot tell you just how I felt; I
+only know I held the check long in my hand, scarcely realizing it could be
+for me."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Praying For Others.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"My sister's husband wished to raise a certain sum of interest money by
+a given time, but could see no way; was very much troubled about it; said
+he knew no one to whom he could apply. I told him to pray for it. He
+answered, 'God won't hear the prayer of the wicked; suppose you ask him
+yourself.' I did ask Him, earnestly and faithfully, and it was even given
+me the idea who my brother could ask to loan it him. I spoke of the man to
+him--said I thought he might get it; so he called on him one evening, and
+the way was made plain for my brother to introduce the subject; and when he
+came home that night, he brought with him the three hundred dollars."</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Visit To Friends.</h3>
+
+<blockquote><p> "I will hold thee by thy right hand, saying unto thee, fear
+not, I will help thee." </p></blockquote>
+
+
+<p>"Once I held in my hand an open letter, containing an invitation to
+visit friends I had never seen. My heart bounded with pleasure at thought
+of the journey, and the pleasant visit to follow; but, on second thought,
+it almost stood still--where could I get money and proper clothing? Several
+weeks passed in thought. I could see no way, and so I wrote my friends I
+could not come at present; but, in my heart, I could not give it up. My
+parents were visiting in the far West, and I had no one to advise me; so,
+up in my little room, night after night, I made it a point to tell the Lord
+about it; and soon it seemed as easy and right as though I were talking to
+a friend. One day, my brother-in-law said he would pay my expenses to and
+fro. I thanked him, and took fresh courage, and still kept on praying. Then
+the same good brother gave me money for a dress; then a friend furnished
+other articles, and soon, I was en route for the quaint old city by the
+sea. Every step was accomplished by the simple way of prayer; and, when I
+slept, late that night, in a cosy room at the Methodist parsonage in N.B.,
+I could look back over the last few weeks, and thank God for the <i>power
+of prayer</i>. But the best of it all was the lesson I had learned--one
+which I shall never forget, while memory holds her magic power--to carry
+<i>everything</i> to God in prayer; to trust him in every matter, however
+small; and this is the whole secret of the power that lies in prayer."</p>
+
+<p>"I found another lady visitor at my friend's and we were to share the
+same bed. This was a little trial; I had to ask the Lord to give me
+patience--and He did. One night, I was very restless and nervous; I could
+not sleep. I knew I was disturbing my friend--soon she said, 'Annie, I am
+going to ask the Lord to come and put you to sleep. Now, lay still, and in
+five minutes you will be all right'. I did so, also breathing the words,
+'Give me sleep, dear Saviour.' The room seemed to be full of a soft,
+soothing influence, and I fell asleep. Once only in the night I awoke, but
+soon went asleep. When I awoke in the morning, rested and refreshed,
+Tillie, who was dressing near me, looked up with her pleasant smile and
+said, 'Annie, how wonderful it was. You were asleep in less than five
+minutes. It seemed as though Jesus stood close by your side; I could
+<i>almost see</i> Him, I felt so clearly His presence. He is here now,
+Annie; can't you feel Him near? He was very good to you last night.' Yes,
+indeed, I felt the influence of His presence, and, all day, whenever I
+entered the room, I felt it, and it seemed as though I must tread softly,
+it was so like holy ground. This feeling lasted through my stay, and, last
+Winter, while again visiting the home of my friends, it all came back to me
+again. This beautiful influence has ever kept with me, and I never close my
+eyes in sleep until I say, 'Oh, Lord, breathe upon me the sweet spirit of
+sleep.' However weary, sick or nervous I may be, I feel that the soothing
+power will come; and, with my hand in His, I rest peacefully, at last."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Praying For A New Hat.</h3>
+
+<blockquote>
+"Whatsoever thing ye ask in <i>My</i> name"--<br />
+</blockquote>
+
+
+<p>"For a long while I had been without money, and my need was very great.
+I wanted a new hat so much; and the question arose in my mind, 'What am I
+going to do about it?' As I had no human arm to depend on for anything, of
+course there was only one way for me to do--ask the Lord for money to get
+me a hat. With me, to think is to act, and so I told the Lord all about it,
+asking, if it was His will, to send me, in His own way, money for the
+article I needed. Day after day passed, and I felt almost discouraged. One
+day, a letter came from a lady friend I had never seen, enclosing one
+dollar. I bought my hat--neither could I have used that dollar for another
+purpose. Soon after this, my physician ordered something for me. I had no
+money to get it, but said I would get it soon as I could. Three weeks
+passed, and no money came. Then I asked the Lord for enough to get my
+medicine. Another letter came from an old nurse, with a gift of one dollar.
+I had my medicine. Time after time, I have not had wherewith to send my
+letters, and, as I have a large correspondence, it often is a real trouble.
+The only way I have to do is to <i>pray for it,</i> and always, in some
+way, it comes; not in <i>my way</i>--not just as soon as I ask for it--but
+in His own way, He always provides. I have learned to trust and not be
+afraid, even though the clouds hang heavy, and I see no ray of light, the
+promise is there, and for me, 'I will <i>never</i> leave thee, or forsake
+thee.' I am so entirely dependent on Him for everything that sometimes, in
+little matters, my faith will, for a brief season, droop. Sometimes I have
+to plead and plead over again some particular promises; but these times of
+waiting on Him only strengthen me for future conflicts. 'Wait on the Lord,
+and he shall renew thy strength,' comes in beautifully on such occasions.
+No human being to help me; no one but God. Sometimes, when I sit alone,
+such a flood of feelings come over me, I well nigh sink. Loneliness,
+homesickness, and the great want in every human heart of sympathy and love,
+leave me, for a moment, without hope or faith; but, when the heart is
+weakest, and the need greatest, the loving Saviour is nearest. 'Like as a
+mother comforteth her child, so does He comfort me;' and then, soothed by
+his power and love, how the aching heart rests 'by the still waters, and in
+the green pastures.' There is nothing but prayer for the helpless sinner;
+nothing else will bring us into loving companionship with the Lord. We may
+go to Him always, with every trial, need or sorrow. He is ever
+waiting--ever ready to hear and answer."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Praying For A Sewing Machine.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"One day a lady friend said to me: 'Would you like some nice sewing,
+easy to do?' I answered, 'Yes.' 'Have you a sewing machine?' 'I have not,
+but am praying for one.' 'That is right; so you believe you will have it by
+praying for it?' I replied: 'If the Lord thinks I need it, He will send
+it.' I had learned to use my sister's, but I wanted one of my own, to use
+just when I felt like it. So the thought kept in my heart, 'Why can't I
+pray for one?' And yet it seemed foolish to go in prayer to God for such a
+simple thing, but I had not then learned that <i>all things,</i> with Him,
+meant every wish and want of the human heart. But there was no other way.
+He must send my machine, or I could have none. I prayed very earnestly.
+After a few weeks of waiting, one golden winter morning it came--my
+beautiful machine--just what I wanted. This seemed so wonderful to me, that
+it seemed to bring me into nearer companionship with the Lord, and ever
+after, whatever I needed, I went directly to Him for. A ministerial friend
+once asked me what it was I had covered up on the stand. I told him it was
+my piano, taking the cover aside and showing him at once how my beautiful
+sewing machine worked. <i>'What tune do you play oftenest?'</i> he asked.
+<i>'Rock of Ages</i> is its favorite one, and I never sew without singing
+it.'"</p>
+
+
+
+<h3>Money For Postage.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"One day I opened my port-monnaie to get change for some little needful,
+when I found I had but ten cents. I used five of it. As visions of six or
+seven letters and many little things I needed came up before me, I said
+aloud: 'The Lord will have to send me some money pretty soon.' I think once
+through the day I prayed for some money, but felt no uneasiness about it.
+That evening a lady friend called to say good-by for the winter, and as she
+left gave me <i>fifty cents for postage.</i> While I was calling He
+answered me. About a week before this, I thought I would ask the Lord for
+$5 for my physician. He had come so faithfully, day after day, without ever
+expecting one dollar, because I had told him freely my circumstances. But I
+felt I must give him something for a gift at least. So I asked for five
+dollars. Day after day passed away, and I thought perhaps the Lord did not
+want me to have it. But still I prayed, asking it for His will, not mine.
+One morning a letter came from a very dear friend, containing a check for
+the amount for which I had prayed, and a little beside. It seemed such a
+signal answer to my prayer, that I could scarcely speak, and in my heart a
+glad prayer of thanksgiving went up to Him, who had told me <i>to ask and I
+should receive.</i> A friend, to whom I told this, said: 'Now you need this
+money yourself; I would not give it to the doctor now--wait awhile.' 'But,'
+I replied, 'I dare not do it. I need it, I know, but I asked God for it for
+my doctor, and I must give it.' And here let me say, when we ask God for
+money, it is sacred, and must be spent only to please Him."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Praying For A Bible.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"For a long while it has been my habit to be entirely guided for the day
+by the first verse in the Bible on which my eyes rested. While dressing for
+the day, I glance at the open page, or sometimes turning over the leaves.
+But my old Bible was poor print and small, and it troubled me for a long
+while. So I thought I would ask the Lord to send me a new one. I told Him
+all about it. One day, this Summer, the postman brought me a package of
+magazines and a letter. I began to undo the package, eager to scan their
+welcome pages. My sister laughingly said she would read my letter, and
+suiting the action to the word, opened the envelope. I really did not mind
+what she was doing, until she said: 'Why there is some money here, but no
+letter.' So she handed me the half sheet of paper, with the money folded
+inside. I looked it over, and there were only these words in pencil: 'For a
+Bible, and three dollars.' We looked at each other; I could not say a word,
+until she said, 'What does it all mean? 'I answered, 'The Lord sent it, I
+know; where could it come from?' It was wonderful--wonderful because I
+could not remember as I ever told any one that I was praying for a
+Bible."</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Spring Mattress.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Last Summer, when I bought my bedstead, I did not have money to get
+either springs or a mattress, so I fixed up a clean, straw bed, and covered
+it nicely with a thick comfortable. It was pretty hard--I did not rest
+well. So, one sleepless night, I said aloud, 'I will just ask the Lord to
+send me a set of springs.' I kept on day by day. When I felt the severe
+pain which denoted illness, I thought of my hard bed and prayed more
+earnest. One day my physician spoke of my hard bed. I told him I was going
+to have a better one; I was praying for some springs. And so I kept on. One
+day, a lady friend said something about my bed. I did not say much. Somehow
+I felt I must not; I wanted to have it all the Lord's doings, if I ever had
+any. One day my sister said a man was at the door, who wanted to fit a set
+of springs to my bed. Why, I can't tell how I felt; even after God had
+answered my simple prayers, and honored my faith so many times, I was
+astonished at this. But she helped me up, and the bed was fitted with nice,
+new springs. And they were mine. The man could not tell anything about
+them. My sister says, 'Annie, did you order them?' I said, 'No.' 'Don't you
+know who sent them?' I said, 'No.' 'Did you ask Mrs. W---- to order them?'
+I said, 'I did not; I would lay here six years before I would do it. No,
+somebody had a hand in it, but the Lord sent them, because I prayed for
+them all the time.' A friend was present when my physician called. I told
+him about the new springs. His kind face lit up grandly at this new
+evidence that God did answer humble, faithful prayer, and he turned to my
+friend with the words: 'I am glad they were just what she has been praying
+for.' I do not think he had anything to do about them. But these springs
+are only another proof of his love and power, in touching the hearts of his
+children to help others. And they have their reward. Soon after this, a
+lady sent me a white spread for my bed. Surely, God is good to his little
+ones."</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Healing Of Mary Theobald.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The following incident is related by her pastor, at Woburn, Mass., who,
+for three and a half years, was well acquainted with her physical
+condition, and who testified, in <i>The Congregationalist</i>, that no
+medicine, or physician's aid or advice, was of any avail:</p>
+
+<p>"From the first of my acquaintance to the last, she had an unswerving
+confidence in her recovery. Many times has she said to me: 'I believe that
+I shall be well. Jesus will raise me up. I shall hear you preach some
+day.'</p>
+
+<p>"But, in common with the friends who were watching her case, and with
+the physicians who had exhausted their skill upon her in vain, I had little
+or no hope for her. It seemed to me that her life was to be one of
+suffering; that God was keeping her with us that we might have a heroic
+example of what His grace could enable one to bear and to become.</p>
+
+<p>"A few days ago, I received from her lips the following statement of the
+origin and progress of her sickness: 'My first sickness occurred when I was
+about sixteen years old. This illness lasted for a year. Indeed, I was
+never well again. That sickness left me with a bad humor, which, for two
+years, kept me covered with boils. When the boils disappeared, the trouble
+was internal. Physicians feared a cancer. For ten years, I was sick, more
+or less--sometimes able to work, sometimes utterly prostrate.</p>
+
+<p>"'My second severe illness began in the Autumn of 1871. I had been
+failing for two years. Then I was obliged to give up. I was on the bed five
+months. From this illness I never recovered so as to labor or walk abroad.
+When not confined to my bed, I have been on the lounge, as you have known
+me. No one can ever know the suffering which these years have brought
+me.'</p>
+
+<p>"My acquaintance with her began in the Spring of 1873. Several times
+since I have known her, she has been carried so low that we have thought
+her release near at hand; and, indeed, the general tendency has been
+downwards. I recently asked an intelligent physician, who had attended her
+for a year or more, to give me the facts in her case. He replied: 'She is
+diseased throughout. Her system is thoroughly soured. It responds to
+nothing. Almost every function is abnormal. There is no help for her in
+medicine.' Other physicians had tried their skill with the same result. It
+was generally admitted by doctors, friends and family, that nothing more
+could be done for her. While all saw only suffering and an early death in
+store for her, yet she confidently expected to be well, and her faith never
+waned.</p>
+
+<p>"It was her custom to spend a few weeks each year in the family of one
+of the sisters in the church. At her last visit, it was evident to this
+lady that Mary was not so well as in former years. One day, when
+conversation turned upon this topic, she felt constrained to express her
+fears. But Mary was hopeful. A proposition was made, and arrangements were
+perfected to visit Doctor Cullis, to secure the benefit of his prayers. But
+her feebleness was so great that the plan was abandoned. 'If,' said Mrs.
+F., 'faith is to cure you, why go to Doctor Cullis, or to any one? Let us
+go to God ourselves; and, Mary, if you have faith that God can and will
+cure you sometime, why not believe that He will <i>cure you now?</i>'</p>
+
+<p>"She felt herself cast on God alone. All hope of human help was at an
+end. She had thought it, hitherto, enough patiently to wait His time. She
+saw that, after all, she must not dishonor God by limiting His power. Again
+her Bible opened to the familiar passages, '<i>the prayer of faith shall
+save the sick</i>;' 'according to your faith be it unto you.' She felt that
+the time for testing her faith had come. She would dishonor the Lord no
+longer. Requesting the prayers of the family that God would now grant
+healing and restoration, she tottered to her couch, and, asking that in the
+morning she might be well, calmly closed her eyes in the assurance that it
+would be so. <i>And according to her faith, so it was. She came forth in
+the morning without a remnant of the pain which had filled a decade of
+years with agony</i>. That Sabbath was to her, indeed, 'a high day.' A week
+later the frequent prophecy that she should hear me preach was
+fulfilled.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Not a vestige of suffering remained</i>. So far as that is
+concerned, there was not a hint left that she had been an invalid for
+almost a score of years.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>She immediately took her place in the family as a well person.</i>
+Two days after, I saw her. She came to meet me with a step light and
+strong, and with a face written all over with thankfulness and joy. Since
+that time all the abandoned duties of active life have been resumed. When
+last I saw her, she was in bounding health and spirits, declaring that she
+could not remember when she had felt so happy and well. That night--one of
+the coldest of the winter, the roads at their iciest--she walked more than
+half a mile to and from the prayer-meeting.</p>
+
+<p>It is difficult for those who are not conversant with the case to
+believe it, yet there is no illusion in it. <i>That she went to sleep a
+suffering, feeble, shattered woman, and, awoke free from pain, and that she
+has been gaining in strength ever since, are facts that cannot be
+doubted</i>."</p>
+
+
+<h3>How Prayer Helped him to Keep the Pledge.</h3>
+
+
+<p>In a rural district, in the North of England, lived a shoe-maker who had
+signed the temperance pledge often, but never had strength to keep it.
+After a while, he was able to keep it, and reformed entirely. A friend was
+curious to learn how he had been able, at last, to win the victory, and
+went to see him.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, William, how are you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, pretty well. I had only eighteen pence and an old hen when I
+signed, and a few old scores; but now I have about ten pounds in the bank,
+and my wife and I have lived through the summer without getting into debt.
+But as I am only thirty weeks old yet (so he styled himself), I cannot be
+so strong yet, my friend."</p>
+
+<p>"How is it you never signed before?"</p>
+
+<p>"I did sign; but I keep it different now to what I did before,
+friend."</p>
+
+<p>"How is this?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, I <i>gae doon</i> on my knees and pray."</p>
+
+<p>Here was the <i>real strength of prayer</i>. His own resolves were of no
+value; but when he called on God to help, then came new strength, and he
+was kept by restraining grace. The bitter experience of those who pledge
+and pledge over and over again, and never gain the victory, at last must
+come to either of two ends--their utter destruction, or else to call on God
+in prayer, to help them keep the pledge manfully, and make them steadfast
+in their resolutions.</p>
+
+
+<h3>One Who Refused The Holy Spirit.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The following incident is related by D.L. Moody, the Evangelist, which
+contains a warning, how the Holy Spirit avenges itself to those who refuse
+its admonitions. It is a remarkable instance of the control of an
+overruling God, who alone knew that man's mind, and which alone could bring
+that text so often to his memory:</p>
+
+<p>"There was a young man in my native village--he was not a young man when
+I was talking to him--we were working on the farm together one day and he
+was weeping; I asked him what he was weeping about, and he told me a very
+strange story. When he left home his mother gave him the text: '<i>Seek ye
+first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will
+be added unto you</i>.' He was ambitious to get rich, and thought when he
+had got comfortable, that was the time to give his attention to religion.
+He went from village to village, and got nothing to do. Sunday came, and he
+went into the village church. <i>What was his great surprise to hear the
+minister preach from that text</i>. It went down into his heart--he thought
+that it was his mother's prayers that were following him--he thought the
+whole sermon was for himself, and thought he would like to get out. For
+days be could not get that text and sermon out of his mind. He went on
+still, from village to village, and at last he went into another church
+after weeks had rolled away. He went for some Sundays to the church, and it
+wasn't a great while before the minister <i>gave out this very text</i>. He
+thought surely it was God calling him then, and he said, coolly and
+deliberately, <i>he would not seek the Kingdom of God</i>. He went on in
+this way, and in the course of a few months, to his great surprise, he
+heard the <i>third sermon from the third minister on the same text</i>. He
+tried to stifle it, but it followed him. At last he made up his mind he
+would not go to church any more. When he came back to Northfield, after
+years, his mother had died, but the text kept coming to him over and over,
+and he said, 'I will not become a Christian;' and said he to me, 'Moody, my
+heart is as hard as that stone.' It was all Greek to me, because I was not
+a Christian myself at the time. After my conversion, in Boston, he was
+about the first man I thought of. When I got back and asked my mother about
+him, she told me he was gone out of his mind, and to every one who went to
+the asylum to see him he pointed his finger and said: '<i>Seek ye first the
+Kingdom, of God and His Righteousness</i>.' When I went back to my native
+village, after that, I was told he was still out of his mind, but at home.
+I went to see him, and asked him did he know me. He was rocking backwards
+and forwards in his rocking chair, and he gave me that vacant stare and
+pointed to me as he said, '<i>Young man, seek first the Kingdom of God and
+His Righteousness</i>.' When, last month, I laid down my younger brother in
+his grave, I could not help but think of that man lying but a few yards
+away. May every man and woman here be wise for eternity and seek now the
+Kingdom of God and His Righteousness, is my prayer."</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Praying Shoe-Maker.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A correspondent of <i>The American Messenger</i> relates this instance
+of a poor man in the village where he lived, who, with a family of young
+children and a wife in very feeble health, found it extremely difficult to
+obtain a livelihood. He was at length compelled to work by the week for a
+shoe-dealer in the city, four miles from the village, returning to his
+family every Saturday evening, and leaving home early on Monday
+morning.</p>
+
+<p>He usually brought home the avails of his week's labor in provisions for
+the use of his family during the following week; but on one cold and stormy
+night, in the depth of winter, he went towards his humble dwelling with
+empty hands, but a full heart. His employer had declared himself unable to
+pay him a penny that night, and the shoe-maker, too honest to incur a debt
+without knowing that he should be able to cancel it, bent his weary steps
+homeward, trusting that He who hears the ravens when they cry, would fill
+the mouths of his little family. He knew that he should find a warm house
+and loving hearts to receive him, but he knew, too, that a disappointment
+awaited them which would make at least <i>one</i> heart ache.</p>
+
+<p>When he entered his cottage, cold and wet with the rain, he saw a bright
+fire, brighter faces, and a table neatly spread for the anticipated repast.
+The tea-kettle was sending forth its cloud of steam, all ready for "the cup
+which cheers, but not inebriates," and a pitcher of milk, which had been
+sent in by a kind neighbor, was waiting for the bread so anxiously expected
+by the children. The sad father confessed his poverty, and his wife in
+tears begged him to make <i>some</i> effort to procure food for them before
+the Sabbath. He replied, "Let us ask God to give us our daily bread. Prayer
+avails with God when we ask for temporal good, as well as when we implore
+spiritual blessings." The sorrowing group knelt around the family altar,
+and while the father was entreating fervently for the mercies they so much
+needed, a gentle knocking at the door was heard. When the prayer was ended
+the door was opened, and there stood a woman in the "peltings of the
+storm," who had never been at that door before, though she lived only a
+short distance from it. She had a napkin in her hand, which contained a
+large loaf of bread; and half apologizing for offering it, said she had
+unintentionally made "a larger batch of bread" than usual that day, and
+though she hardly knew why, she thought it might be acceptable there.</p>
+
+<p>After expressing their sincere gratitude to the woman, the devout
+shoe-maker and his wife gave thanks to God with overflowing hearts. While
+the little flock were appeasing their hunger with the nice new bread and
+milk, the father repaired to the house where I was an inmate, and told his
+artless tale with streaming eyes, and it is unnecessary to say, that he
+returned to his home that night with a basket heavily laden, and a heart
+full of gratitude to a prayer-answering God.</p>
+
+
+<h3>How the Lord Controls even the Locomotive and the Railroad Train.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A remarkable instance of how the Lord controlled circumstances for the
+detention of one train, and speeded the arrival of the other, in answer to
+the prayer of a poor widow, who was in anxiety and distress, is thus known
+to the editor of <i>The Watchman and Reflector</i>:</p>
+
+<p>"Not long ago an engineer brought his train to a stand at a little
+Massachusetts village, where the passengers have five minutes for lunch. A
+lady came along the platform and said: 'The conductor tells me the train at
+the junction in P---- leaves fifteen minutes before our arrival. It is
+Saturday night, that is the last train. I have a very sick child in the
+car, and no money for a hotel, and none for a private conveyance for the
+long, long journey into the country. What shall I do?' 'Well,' said the
+engineer, 'I wish I could tell you.' 'Would it be possible for you to hurry
+a little?' said the anxious, tearful mother. 'No, madam, I have the
+time-table, and the rules say I must run by it.'</p>
+
+<p>She turned sorrowfully away, leaving the bronzed face of the engineer
+wet with tears. Presently she returned and said, 'Are you a Christian?' 'I
+trust I am,' was the reply. 'Will you pray with me that the Lord may, in
+some way, delay the train at the junction?' 'Why, yes, I will pray with
+you, but I have not much faith.' Just then, the conductor cried, 'All
+aboard.' The poor woman hurried back to her deformed and sick child, and
+away went the train, climbing the grade. 'Somehow,' says the engineer,
+'everything worked to a charm. <i>As I prayed, I couldn't help letting my
+engine out just a little</i>. We hardly stopped at the first station,
+people got on and off with wonderful alacrity, the conductor's lantern was
+in the air in half a minute, and then away again. Once over the summit, it
+was dreadful easy to give her a little more, and then a little more, as I
+prayed, till she seemed to shoot through the air like an arrow. Somehow I
+couldn't hold her, knowing I had the road, and so we dashed up to the
+junction six minutes ahead of time.' There stood the train, and the
+conductor with his lantern on his arm. 'Well,' said he, '<i>will you tell
+me what I am waiting here for? Somehow I felt I must wait your coming
+to-night, but I don't know why</i>.' 'I guess,' said the brother conductor,
+'it is for this woman, with her sick and deformed child, dreadfully anxious
+to get home this Saturday night.' But the man on the engine and the
+grateful mother think they can tell why the train waited. God held it to
+answer their prayers."</p>
+
+<p>Think of this wonderful improbability according to natural
+circumstances. These trains never connected with each other, nor were
+intended to. There was no message sent ahead to stop. There was not the
+slightest business reason for waiting, yet the second conductor, on arrival
+of the first, asks this question, "<i>What am I waiting for</i>," and the
+answer of the first is more singular, "I don't know."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Another Instance of Superhuman Control of the Locomotive, in Answer to
+Prayer.</h3>
+
+
+<p>An exact parallel instance to the foregoing is given in the experience
+of a correspondent of <i>The Christian</i>, which occurred in the latter
+part of November, 1864, while traveling with her aged father and two small
+girls:</p>
+
+<p>"We started from New Hampshire on Thursday morning, expecting to have
+ample time to get through to Indiana before Saturday night; but, after we
+crossed the St. Lawrence River, the next day, I think, there was a smash-up
+on a freight train, which hindered our train about two hours. I began to
+feel anxious, as I knew our limited means would not permit us to stop long
+on the way. After the cars had started again, I inquired of the conductor
+what time we should get to Toledo, fearing we should not reach there in
+time for the down train. <i>He said it would be impossible to gain the
+time.</i> Soon they changed conductors, and I made a similar inquiry,
+getting about the same answer. Still I hoped, till we reached the Detroit
+River. Here I found that, though they had put on all the steam they dared
+to, they were <i>almost an hour behind time</i>, so I should have to stay
+over till Sunday night.</p>
+
+<p>"After getting seated in the cars on the other side, I ventured to ask
+the conductor if we should get to Toledo in time for the down train. He
+readily said, '<i>No, madam, impossible! If we put on all the steam, we
+dare to, we shall be more than half an hour behind time.</i> If we were on
+some trains we might hope they would wait; but on this, <i>never! He is the
+most exact conductor you ever saw. He was never known to wait a second, say
+nothing about a minute, beyond the time.</i>' I then inquired if we could
+not stay at the depot. He said, No; we should all freeze to death, for the
+fire is out till Sunday evening.</p>
+
+<p>"A gentleman sitting in front of us said he would show us a good hotel
+near by, as he was acquainted there. I thanked him, but sunk back on my
+seat. Covering my eyes with my hand, and raising my heart to God, I said,
+'O, God, if thou art my Father, and I am thy child, put it into the heart
+of that conductor to wait till we get there.'</p>
+
+<p>"Soon I became calm, and fell asleep, not realizing that God would
+answer my poor prayer; but, when we reached Toledo, to the astonishment of
+us all, there stood the conductor, <i>wanting to know the reason why he had
+to wait</i>, when our conductor told him there was a lady with her crippled
+father and two little daughters, who were going down on that train.</p>
+
+<p>"Soon as all were out of the car, both conductors came with their
+lanterns and gave their aid in helping my father to the other train, where
+they had reserved seats by keeping the door locked. All was hurry and
+confusion to me, as I had my eye on father, fearing he might fall, it being
+very slippery, when the baggage-master said, 'Your checks, madam!' I handed
+them to him, and rushed into the car; but, before I got seated, the car
+started, and I had no checks for my baggage. Again my heart cried out, 'O,
+Thou that hearest prayer, take care of my baggage!' believing He could do
+that as well as make the conductor wait. In a few moments the conductor
+came to me with a face radiant with smiles, saying, '<i>Madam, I waited a
+whole half hour for you</i>,--<i>a thing I never did before since I was a
+conductor, so much as to wait one minute after my time</i>.' He said, 'I
+know it was your father that I was waiting for, because there was nothing
+else on the train for which I could have waited.' I exclaimed, in a half
+suppressed tone, 'Praise the Lord!' I could not help it; it gushed out.
+Then he said, '<i>At the very moment all were on board, and I was ready to
+start, such a feeling came over me as I never had in my life before. I
+could not start</i>. Something kept saying to me, <i>you must wait</i>, for
+there is something pending on that train you must wait for. I waited, and
+here you are, all safe.' Again my heart said, Praise the Lord! and he
+started to leave me, when I said, 'But there is one thing.' 'What is it?'
+was his quick reply. 'I gave the baggage-master my checks, and have none in
+return.' 'What were the numbers?' I told him. 'I have them,' he said,
+handing them to me, 'but your baggage will not be there till Monday
+morning. We had no time to put it on, we had waited so long.'"</p>
+
+
+
+<h3>Another Wonderful Record Of $25.</h3>
+
+
+<p><i>A Christian minister</i>, living in Northern Indiana, was in want,
+and knelt in prayer again and again before his Father in heaven. His
+quarterly allowance had been withheld, and want stared him in the face.
+Constrained by urgent need, and shut up to God for help, he pleaded
+repeatedly for a supply of his temporal wants. Now see how extraordinary
+was the plan of the Lord to send relief.</p>
+
+<p>"In one of the lovely homes of Massachusetts, while the snow was falling
+and the winds were howling without, a lady sat on one side of the cheerful
+fire, knitting a little stocking for her oldest grandson, and her husband,
+opposite to her, was reading aloud a missionary paper, when the following
+passage arrested the attention of the lady and fastened itself in her
+memory.</p>
+
+<p>"'In consequence of failure to obtain my salary when due, I have been so
+oppressed with care and want, as to make it painfully difficult to perform
+my duties as a minister. There is very little prospect, seemingly, of
+improvement in this respect for some time to come. What I say of my own
+painfully inadequate support, is substantially true of nearly all your
+missionaries in this State. You, of course, cannot be blamed for this. You
+are but the almoners of the churches, and can be expected to appropriate
+only what they furnish. <i>This, however, the Master will charge to
+somebody as a grievous fault;</i> for it is not His will that his ministers
+should labor unrequited.'</p>
+
+<p>"This extract was without name or date. It was simply headed 'from a
+missionary in Northern Indiana.' Scores of readers probably gave it only a
+passing glance. Not so the lady who sat knitting by the fire and heard her
+husband read it. The words sank into her mind, and dwelt in her thoughts.
+The clause, '<i>This, however, the Master will charge to somebody as a
+grievous fault</i>,' especially seemed to follow her wherever she went. The
+case, she said, haunted her. She seemed to be herself that very
+'<i>somebody</i>' who was to answer at the bar of God for the curtailed
+supplies and straitened means of this humble minister.</p>
+
+<p>"Impelled by an unseen, but, as she believes, a divine presence and
+power, after asking counsel and guidance of the Lord, she took twenty-five
+dollars which were at her own disposal, and requested her husband to give
+it to the Rev. Dr. H------ for the writer of the above communication, if he
+could devise any way to obtain the writer's address.</p>
+
+<p>"Doctor H------ is a prompt man, who does not let gold destined to such
+an end rest in his pocket. Familiar with the various organizations of the
+benevolent societies, and only too happy to have an agency in supplying the
+wants of a laborer in Christ's vineyard, he soon started the money on its
+appointed errand. Early in April, the lady in her rural home had the
+happiness of receiving the following note, of which we omit nothing, save
+the names of persons and places:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p> "'DEAR MADAM.--I have just received a draft for twenty-five
+dollars, as a special donation from you. This I do with profound gratitude
+to you for this unselfish and Christ-like deed, and to Him who put it into
+your heart to do it. How you, <i>a lady a thousand miles away, could know
+that I was, and had been for some time, urged by unusual need to pray for
+succor and worldly support with unwonted fervency, is a matter of more than
+curious inquiry. It is an answer to my prayer, for the Lord employs the
+instrumentality of his children to answer prayer, and, when it is
+necessary, he moves them to it. This is not the first nor second time that
+I have been laid under special obligation by Christian sympathy and timely
+aid</i>. May He who said, He that giveth a cup of cold water to a disciple,
+in the name of a disciple, shall not lose his reward, repay you a
+thousand-fold for this favor.' </p></blockquote>
+
+<p>"Does not this little incident illustrate the power of prayer? The man
+of God, weary and heavy-laden, in his closet in Indiana, spread his case
+before the Lord. A disciple in Eastern Massachusetts, <i>a thousand miles
+away</i> from the spot where the prayer was offered, who did not know
+anything about him or his need, is touched with his wants, and moved to
+send him immediate aid."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Mr. Spurgeon's Cow.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"My grandfather was a very poor minister, and kept a cow, which was a
+very great help in the support of his children--he had ten of them;--and
+the cow took the "staggers" and died. 'What will you do now?' said my
+grandmother. 'I cannot tell what we shall do now,' said he, 'but I know
+what God will do: God will provide for us. We must have milk for the
+children.'</p>
+
+<p>"The next morning, there came &pound;20 to him. He had never made
+application to the fund for the relief of ministers; but, on that day,
+there were &pound;5 left when they had divided the money, and one said,
+'There is poor Mr. Spurgeon down in Essex, suppose we send it to him.' The
+chairman--a Mr. Morley of his day--said, 'We had better make it &pound;10,
+and I'll give &pound;5.' Another &pound;5 was offered by another member, if
+a like amount could be raised, to make it up to &pound;20; which was done.
+They knew nothing about my grandfather's cow; but God did, you see; and
+there was the new cow for him. And those gentlemen in London were not aware
+of the importance of the service which they had rendered.</p>
+
+<p class="date">CHARLES SPURGEON."</p>
+
+
+<h3>"Trust In The Lord."</h3>
+
+
+<p>"A poor negro woman, after the death of her husband, had no means of
+support for herself and two little children, except the labor of her own
+hands; yet she found means out of her deep poverty to give something for
+the promotion of the cause of her Redeemer, and would never fail to pay, on
+the very day it became due, her regular subscription to the church of which
+she was a member. In a hard Winter she had found great difficulty in
+supplying the pressing needs of her little family; yet the few pence for
+religious purposes had been regularly put by.</p>
+
+<p>"As one season for the contribution came round, she had only a little
+corn, a single salt herring, and a five-cent piece remaining of her little
+store. Yet she did not waver; she ground the corn, prepared her children's
+supper, and then, with a light heart and cheerful countenance, set out to
+meeting, where she gave joyfully the five cents, <i>the last she had in the
+world</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"Returning from the church, she passed the house of a lady to whom, a
+long time before, she had sold a piece of pork, so long indeed that she had
+entirely forgotten the circumstance. But, seeing her this morning, the lady
+called her in, apologized for having been so tardy in the settlement, and
+then inquired how much it was. Old Sukey did not know, and the lady,
+determined to be on the safe side, gave her two dollars, besides directing
+her housekeeper to put up a basket of flour, sugar, coffee, and other
+luxuries for her use. Poor Sukey returned home with a joyful heart, saying,
+as she displayed her treasures, "See, my children, the Lord is a good
+paymaster, giving us 'a hundred-fold even in this present life, and in the
+world to come life everlasting.'"</p>
+
+
+<h3>Exactly Eighty Dollars.--"They are Safe that Trust in Thee."</h3>
+
+
+<p>A clergyman somewhat advanced in years recently related to a
+correspondent of <i>The Messenger</i> an incident in his own life, which
+well illustrates the provident care of our heavenly Father over his
+children.</p>
+
+<p>"His first church was at V----, and, though he labored diligently,
+working with his own hands for his support, he became eighty dollars in
+debt. It was a grievous burden, and all his efforts to remove it proved
+unavailing. One day, when he felt especially cast down, he retired to pray
+over the matter, and on his knees he besought the Lord to aid, as he
+despaired of help from any other source. He felt strengthened and hopeful
+when he left his closet, and entered his church on Sabbath morning with a
+lighter heart than usual. As he passed the door a young lady met him, and
+placed in his hand <i>fifty dollars</i>, saying that <i>twenty</i> was to
+go for the Sabbath-school library, and the remaining <i>thirty</i> was for
+himself. He was so surprised that he scarcely trusted his senses, and asked
+her not less than three times, that he might not be mistaken. As he
+preached that day, God seemed 'a very present help.' At the close of the
+service, a young man, noted for his free-hearted, impulsive character,
+stepped up and requested that he would perform a marriage ceremony for him
+the next week. He did so, and received for his services a bill, which he
+placed in his pocket, and, on looking at it afterwards, found it <i>fifty
+dollars</i>, thus making up <i>exactly the eighty</i> he had prayed the
+Lord to send him."</p>
+
+<p>We too often forget that God is as willing to listen to our temporal
+wants as to our spiritual, and that "no good thing will He withhold from
+them that walk uprightly."</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Prayer For Four Dollars.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A Home Missionary from Brooklyn called one day upon an editor to gather
+some tracts for distribution which he had published. The editor became
+interested in the story of his visits among the poor, and though at first
+not specially moved to give money at that time, yet toward the last,
+putting his hand into his pocket he pulled out all the bills there were
+there, $4, and gave them to the missionary with these words: "There is
+something which may come useful." The gift was all forgotten until a few
+days afterward the missionary returned and said to the editor, "After I
+left you I received a letter from a poor lady who had been owing money for
+rent for several months, which she could not possibly pay. That very
+morning the landlord came and said that if she could only raise $4 he would
+excuse the rest; but she did not have the $4. I did not know where to get
+it. I happened to drop in to see you; did not tell you anything of the
+need, and asked for nothing; yet you gave me the exact $4 to answer that
+poor woman's prayer."</p>
+
+<p>An infinite Creator and God had brought these circumstances together in
+this exact way. Neither the editor nor missionary had ever met before. The
+missionary did not know that the lady was in distress. Who was it that sent
+the landlord to the lady and fixed that amount of $4 in his mind? Who was
+it that sent the home missionary to the office of a person he had never
+seen or known? Who was it that knew of the $4 waiting in that pocket and
+prompted that hand to take it out and give it away? Who was it that led
+that missionary to obtain and send relief just as she was praying for that
+special amount?</p>
+
+<p><i>Was it chance or science? No, No. It was the will of a loving
+God</i>.</p>
+
+
+<h3>"Aunt Sally's" Faith.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"'Aunt Sally,' says the <i>American Messenger</i>, was a devout,
+working, trustful Christian. Her husband was a cripple, almost helpless, an
+unbeliever, and to some extent an opposer of religion. They lived alone.
+The severity of a northern winter was upon them, and in spite of her best
+exertions their stock of fuel was scarcely a day's supply.</p>
+
+<p>"'What can be done?' was the anxious inquiry of the unbelieving husband
+as they were rising from their bed. 'The Lord will provide,' was 'Aunt
+Sally's' cheerful reply. 'I know you always say so, and so it has always
+proved,' was the answer of her unbelieving companion; 'but I see no way in
+which we can be provided for now.' 'Nor do I,' said 'Aunt Sally.' 'But help
+will come. God will not desert us.'</p>
+
+<p>"That winter's morning had not passed when their son, who had been a
+soldier in the Mexican war, entered the door. It had been long since they
+had heard from him, and they feared he was not alive. The sun went down
+upon an abundant supply of fuel, cut in the forest by the strong arms of
+the soldier-boy, and drawn to the door by means of his procuring. The
+unbelieving husband and father declared he would never be distrustful
+again.</p>
+
+
+<h3>God Careth For You.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Nearly forty years ago I was given up by the doctors for a dying man
+from consumption. I had a wife and five children dependent on me, and for
+many months was unable to provide for them by my own labors. All our
+earthly resources were gone, and one Sabbath morning, when breakfast was
+over, we were entirely destitute; there was no meal in the barrel nor oil
+in the cruse. In family worship I read the fortieth chapter of Isaiah. I
+think up to that time I had never found the word of God so sweet and
+precious. I had very near access in prayer, and was enabled to lay my
+burden at the Saviour's feet. I closed with the Lord's Prayer; it seemed
+made on purpose for me. I think the petition, 'Give us this day our daily
+bread,' was offered in faith.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Within an hour there was a rap at the door</i>. When I opened it a
+young man stood there who had come three miles to bring us bread, sugar,
+and money. He apologized for coming on the Sabbath morning, but said an
+aunt of his was at their house the evening before, and felt so anxious
+about us she could not go away till he promised her he would come and bring
+us those things."</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Prayer Not Answered.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Many years ago, a man then recently married, settled in my native town.
+It was then quite new, destitute of religious privileges, and given to all
+manner of wickedness. There was no Sabbath, and no sanctuary. The man was
+pious. The thought of bringing up a family in such a place distressed him.
+He wished to remove; and he used to retire daily to a little grove, and
+<i>pray that God would send some one to buy his farm</i>. This prayer was
+not answered. Better things were in store. A neighbor was taken sick. He
+visited and conversed with him. In the midst of the conversation, one
+sitting by interrupted him and said, 'Sir, if what you say is true, I am
+lost.' This gave new interest to the occasion. Prayer was offered, the
+Spirit was found out, and many were converted. A prayer-meeting was
+started; other revivals followed; in due time a church was organized, a
+house of worship built, and a pastor settled, mainly through the
+instrumentality of that one man; and he trained up his family there, and
+lived to see most of them members of the church of Christ. Do not despair,
+God will <i>either answer your exact prayer,</i> or <i>do something better
+for you</i>; He knows what is for your best good."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Trust In The Lord.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"A pious woman, who was reduced to extreme poverty and deserted by her
+intemperate husband, was taken sick, and lay several days without physical
+power to provide food for her two little children. She had directed them
+where to find the little that was remaining in the house, and they had
+eaten it all. Still she lay sick, with no means of obtaining more, as night
+closed upon the hungry household. The children soon forgot their hunger in
+sleep; but not so the mother. She saw no help for them but in God, and she
+spent the night-watches in spreading before him their necessities. As the
+morning approached her confidence in God increased, and that passage from
+his word rested with peculiar sweetness upon her mind, 'Trust in the Lord
+and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and <i>verily thou shalt be
+fed</i>.'</p>
+
+<p>"Morning came. The starving children managed by her direction to build
+them a little fire, and almost before they had commenced telling their
+mother of their hunger, a stranger came in. She introduced herself as Mrs.
+J., saying she had known for some time that there was a new family in the
+neighborhood, and intended to call and make their acquaintance, but had
+been prevented. <i>During the last night she had been so troubled and
+disturbed about it</i>, that she thought she would run in early, lest she
+should again be prevented, and see if there was any way in which she could
+be of service to them. The mother in bed, with her head bound to mitigate
+its pain, revealed the story of her sufferings, and the good lady soon
+learned their entire destitution. They were immediately made comfortable;
+and all will be glad to know that it was the beginning of better days to
+that deserted wife and mother."</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Necessity of Asking God's Blessing Every Day, upon Your Daily Work.
+Every Work, however Good, Needs Special, Specific, Daily Prayer for its
+Prosperity.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"A colporteur in the Wabash valley became quite discouraged and was
+almost ready to give up his work, on account of the smallness of his sales.
+On every side, his ears were filled with complaints of 'hard times;' the
+wheat crop had partially failed two years in succession--the California
+emigration, and railroad and plank-road speculations had almost drained the
+country of money. Frequently he would be told, that if he could come after
+harvest they would buy his books, but that it was impossible to do so then.
+His sales were daily decreasing, and he became more and more disheartened,
+until one night, after a laborious day's effort, he found that he had
+<i>only sold twenty-five cents' worth</i>! He felt that he could not go on
+in this way any longer. He was wasting his strength and time, and the money
+of the Society. On examination of the state of his heart, he found that it
+had, gradually and almost unconsciously, grown cold and departed far from
+Christ. He felt that he had not prayed as he ought to have done, especially
+<i>he had neglected each morning, and on his approach to each dwelling, to
+pray that then and there God would guide him, and own and bless his efforts
+to sell books.</i> He saw that probably here was at least a part of the
+cause why his sales had become so small. Early the next morning, before any
+of the family were up, he arose and retired to the adjoining woods, where
+he had a long and precious season of communion with God. There he anew
+dedicated himself and his all to the service of Christ. There, as under the
+eye of the Master, he reviewed the time he had labored as a colporteur, and
+prayed for forgiveness for the past and grace for the future. There he told
+the Saviour all about his work, and asked him to go with him that day,
+preparing the way and enabling him to succeed in the work on which he had
+entered. The result was what might have been expected. He went forth a new
+man; his heart was interested more deeply in the truths which he was
+circulating--they were more precious than ever to his own soul, and he
+could recommend his books, as he failed to do when his heart was cold and
+prayerless. <i>That first day he sold more books than during the whole week
+before.</i> In one instance, he sold several dollars' worth in a family
+where, as he was afterwards told by pious men in the neighborhood, the
+father was most bitterly opposed to everything connected with true
+religion. God had prepared that man's heart, so that he was ready to
+purchase quite a library for his family. And in many families that met him
+that day with the usual salutation, 'no money,' he succeeded in disposing
+of more than one volume by sale. As he went from family to family, lifting
+up his heart in prayer to God for success in the particular object of his
+visit, God heard his prayers and owned his efforts. And so, he assured me,
+it had been since; whenever he had been <i>prayerful</i>--<i>prayerful for
+this particular object</i>, and then had diligently and faithfully done his
+best, he had invariably succeeded in doing even more than he expected."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Prayer Found The Remedy For The Disease.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"A correspondent of <i>The Illustrated Christian Weekly</i>, states that
+a mother of her acquaintance had a child taken alarmingly ill. She sent for
+the physician. The child was in convulsions. The doctor began at once
+vigorously to apply the customary remedies--cold water to the head, warm
+applications to the feet, chafing of the hands and limbs. All was in vain.
+The body lost nothing of its dreadful rigidity. Death seemed close at hand,
+and absolutely inevitable. At length he left the child, and sat down by the
+window, looking out. He seemed, to the agonized mother, to have abandoned
+her darling. For herself, she could do nothing but pray; and even her
+prayer was but an inarticulate and unvoiced cry for help. <i>Suddenly the
+physician started from his seat. 'Send and see if there be any jimson weed
+in the yard</i>,' he cried. His order was obeyed; the poisonous weed was
+found. The remedies were instantly changed. Enough of the seeds of this
+deadly weed were brought away by the medicine to have killed a man. The
+physician subsequently said that he thought that in that five minutes every
+kindred case he had ever known in a quarter century's practice passed
+before his mind. Among them was the one case which suggested the real, but
+before hidden, cause of the protracted and dreadful convulsions. And the
+child was saved.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, is there anything inconsistent or unphilosophical in the belief
+that, at that critical moment, a loving God, answering the mother's
+Helpless cry, flashed on the mind of the physician the thought that saved
+the child? Is it any objection to that faith to say, the age of miracles is
+past? If the mother, may call in a second physician, to suggest the cause
+and the cure, may she not call on God? What the doctor can do for a
+fellow-practitioner, cannot the Great Physician do? Though the doctor had
+often tried and thought, yet it was not till the last prayer and call on
+God, brought the remedy to his mind."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Prayer Instantaneously Answered for Conversion.</h3>
+
+
+<p>On the evening of the fifty-first daily prayer-meeting in Augusta, Ga.,
+a large gathering assembled in the St. John's M.E. Church, at which Dr.
+Irvine presided, and some very touching communications were read. One was
+from a widowed mother, asking thanksgiving for the salvation of her
+youngest daughter, recently from a boarding-school in New York city, where
+she had finished her education. Some weeks ago she had sought the prayers
+of the daily prayer-meeting for the conversion of her precious child, who
+was spending a few weeks with some friends seventy miles from Augusta.
+Prayers were offered accordingly, but without intimation of any change. The
+loving mother sent in a second application or prayer to Dr. Irvine, to be
+read on a recent Monday morning; all this without her daughter's knowledge.
+On Tuesday the mother received a letter from her daughter, dated two
+o'clock on Sabbath, informing her that on that day, and at that hour, she
+had resolved to give her heart to Christ, intending to ask admission to the
+church at the next communion. Strange to say, at the very moment when the
+faithful mother was writing her application for prayers for that child, she
+was announcing her own conversion.</p>
+
+<p>What a verification of the blessed promise: "Before they call I will
+answer; and while they are yet speaking I will hear."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Help For The Shipwrecked.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Admiral Sir Thomas Williams, a straight-forward and excellent man, was
+in command of a ship crossing the Atlantic Ocean. His course brought him in
+sight of the Island of Ascension, at that time uninhabited, and <i>never
+visited by any ship</i>, except for the purpose of collecting turtles,
+which abound on the coast. The island was barely descried on the horizon,
+and was not to be noticed at all; but as Sir Thomas looked at it, he was
+<i>seized by an unaccountable desire to steer toward it</i>.</p>
+
+<p>He felt how strange such a wish would appear to his crew, and <i>tried
+to disregard it; but in vain</i>. His desire became more and more urgent
+and distressing, and foreseeing that it would soon be more difficult to
+gratify it, he told his lieutenant to prepare to "<i>put about ship</i>"
+and steer for Ascension. <i>The officer to whom he spoke ventured to
+respectfully represent that changing their course would greatly delay
+them</i>--that just at that moment the men were going to their dinner--that
+at least some delay might be allowed.</p>
+
+<p>But these arguments seemed, to increase Captain Williams' anxiety, and
+the ship was steered toward the uninteresting little island. All eyes and
+spy-glasses were now fixed upon it, and soon something was perceived on the
+shore. "It is white--it is a flag--it must be a signal!" And when they
+neared the shore, it was ascertained that sixteen men, wrecked on the coast
+many days before, and suffering the extremity of hunger, had set up a
+signal, though almost without hope of relief. What made the captain steer
+his ship in the very opposite direction to what he and his crew wanted to
+go, but the <i>superhuman Spirit of God</i>.</p>
+
+
+<h3>Samuel Harris's Lawsuit, and How the Lord Settled it for Him.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"When Samuel Harris, of Virginia, began to preach, his soul was so
+absorbed in the work, that he neglected to attend to the duties of this
+life. Finding, upon a time, that it was absolutely necessary that he should
+provide more grain for his family than he had raised upon his own farm, he
+called upon a man who owed him a debt, and told him he would be glad to
+receive the money.</p>
+
+<p>"The man replied: 'I have no money by me, and cannot oblige you.'</p>
+
+<p>"Harris said; 'I want the money to purchase wheat for my family; and as
+you have raised a good crop of wheat, I will take that of you instead of
+money, at a current price.'</p>
+
+<p>"The man answered: 'I have other uses for my wheat, and cannot let you
+have it.'</p>
+
+<p>"'How then,' said Harris, 'do you intend to pay me?'</p>
+
+<p>"'I never intend to pay you until you sue me,' replied the debtor, 'and
+therefore you may begin your suit as soon as you please.'</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Harris left him, meditating. Said he to himself, 'What shall I do?
+Must I leave preaching, and attend to a vexatious lawsuit? Perhaps a
+thousand souls may perish in the meantime, for want of hearing of Jesus!
+No; I will not. Well, what will you do for yourself? Why, this will I do; I
+will sue him at the Court of Heaven.' Having resolved what he would do, he
+turned aside into a wood, and on his knees laid the matter before the Lord.
+Mr. Harris felt such an evidence of Divine favor,--he felt, to use his own
+expressive language, that Jesus would become bondsman for the man, and see
+that he was paid if he went on preaching. Mr. Harris arose from prayer,
+resolved to hold the man no longer a debtor, since Jesus had assumed the
+payment. He therefore wrote a receipt in full of all accounts against the
+man, and dating it in the woods, where he had prayed, signed it with his
+own name. Going the next day by the man's house, on his way to meeting, he
+gave the receipt to a servant, directing him to give it to his master. On
+his return from meeting, the man hailed him, and demanded what he meant by
+the receipt he had sent him in the morning.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Harris replied: 'I mean just as I wrote.'</p>
+
+<p>"'But you know, sir,' answered the debtor, 'I have never paid you.'</p>
+
+<p>"'True,' said Mr. Harris, 'and I know you said that you never would
+unless I sued you. But, sir, I sued you at the Court of Heaven, and Jesus
+entered bail for you, and has agreed to pay me; I have therefore given you
+a discharge!'</p>
+
+<p>"'But I insist upon it,' said the man; 'matters shall not be left
+so.'</p>
+
+<p>"'I am well satisfied,' answered Harris. 'Jesus will not fail me. I
+leave you to settle the account with him at another day. Farewell.'</p>
+
+<p>"This operated so effectually on the man's conscience, that in a few
+days he <i>came and paid the debt</i>."</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Wagon-Load Of Food.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"A young minister and his wife were sent on to their first charge in
+Vermont about the year 1846. On the circuit were few members, and most of
+these were in poor circumstances. After a few months the minister and his
+wife found themselves getting short of provisions. Finally their last food
+had been cooked, and where to look for a new supply was a question which
+demanded immediate attention.</p>
+
+<p>"The morning meal was eaten, not without anxious feelings; but this
+young servant of the Most High had laid his all upon the altar, and his
+wife also possessed much of the spirit of self-sacrifice; and they could
+not think the Saviour who had said to those he had called and sent out to
+preach in his name: 'Lo! I am with you always,' would desert them among
+strangers. After uniting in family prayer he sought a sanctuary in an old
+barn, and there committed their case to God;--his wife met her Savior in
+her closet and poured out her heart before him there.</p>
+
+<p>"That morning a young married farmer, a mile or two away, was going with
+a number of hands to his mowing-field. But as he afterward told the
+minister, he was obliged to stop short. He told his hired help to go on,
+but he <i>must go back</i>--<i>he must go and carry provisions to the
+minister's house</i>. He returned to the house, and telling his wife how he
+felt, asked her help in putting up the things he must carry. He harnessed
+his horse into his wagon; put up a bushel of potatoes, meat, flour, sugar,
+butter, etc. He was not a professor of religion. The minister's wife told
+me there was a good wagon-load. He drove it to the house, and found that
+his gifts were most thankfully received. This account was received from the
+minister himself,--David P.--, who died in Chelsea, Mass., in Dec. 1875,
+and subsequently from his wife,--and communicated to a correspondent of
+'<i>The Christian</i>.'"</p>
+
+
+<h3>"God's Raven."</h3>
+
+
+<p>"A lady who lived on the north side of London, set out one day to see a
+poor sick friend, living in Drury Lane, and took with her a basket provided
+with tea, butter, and food. The day was fine and clear when she started;
+but as she drew near Islington a thick fog came on, and somewhat frightened
+her, as she was deaf, and feared it might be dangerous in the streets if
+she could not see. Thicker and darker the fog became; they lighted the
+lamps, and the omnibus went at a walking pace. She might have got into
+another omnibus and returned; but a strong feeling which she could not
+explain made her go on. When they reached the Strand they could see
+nothing. At last the omnibus stopped, and the conductor guided her to the
+foot-path. As she was groping her way along, the fog cleared up, just at
+the entrance to Drury Lane, and even the blue sky was seen. She now easily
+found the narrow court, rang the number 5 bell, and climbed to the fifth
+story. She knocked at the door, and a little girl opened it.</p>
+
+<p>"'How is grandmother?'</p>
+
+<p>"'Come in, Mrs. A----,' answered the grandmother. 'How did you get here?
+We have been in thick darkness all day.'</p>
+
+<p>"The room was exceedingly neat, and the kettle stood boiling on a small
+clear fire. Everything was in perfect order; on the table stood a little
+tea-tray ready for use. The sick woman was in bed, and her daughter sat
+working in a corner of the room.</p>
+
+<p>"'I see you are ready for tea,' said the lady; 'I have brought something
+more to place upon the table.'</p>
+
+<p>"With clasped hands the woman breathed a few words of thanksgiving
+first, and then said, 'O, Mrs. A----, you are indeed God's raven, sent by
+him to bring us food to-day, for we have not tasted any yet. I felt sure he
+would care for us.'</p>
+
+<p>"'But you have the kettle ready for tea?'</p>
+
+<p>"'Yes, ma'am,' said the daughter; 'mother would have me set it on the
+fire; and when I said, 'What is the use of doing so? you know we have
+nothing in the house,' she still would have it, and said, 'My child, God
+will provide. Thirty years he has already provided for me, through all my
+pain and helplessness, and he will not leave me to starve at last: he will
+send us help, though we do not yet see how.' In this expectation mother has
+been waiting all day, quite sure that some one would come and supply our
+need. But we did not think of the possibility of your coming from such a
+distance on such a day. Indeed, it must be God who sent you to us.'</p>
+
+<p>"'The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of
+all their troubles.'"</p>
+
+
+<h3>How the Stolen Sleigh was Returned by a Thief.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The widow of a minister of the Gospel sends to "<i>The Christian</i>"
+the following instance illustrating God's faithfulness in hearing and
+answering prayer:</p>
+
+<p>"About the year 1829, my husband, who died January 2d, 1854, lent his
+sleigh and harness to a man calling himself John Cotton, to go some twenty
+miles and be gone three days. Cotton was quite a stranger among us, having
+been in our place but six weeks. During that time he had boarded with my
+husband's brother, working for him a part of the time, and the rest of the
+time selling wooden clocks, of which he had bought a number. Three days
+passed, but he did not return. The fourth went by, and we began to think he
+had absconded. On inquiry, Mr. P. found that the clocks had been purchased
+on credit, and all sold for watches or money; that Cotton owed sixty
+dollars toward his horse, and had borrowed of the brother with whom he
+boarded, horse-blanket, whip, and mittens. Now it seemed sure that he was a
+rogue, but what could be done? Pursuit was useless after such a lapse of
+time.</p>
+
+<p>"My husband felt his loss severely, for we had little property then, and
+what we had was the product of hard labor. But he was a Christian, and, I
+believe, always made his business a subject of prayer.</p>
+
+<p>"About three weeks passed away. One evening, having been out longer than
+usual, he came in, and, with his characteristic calmness, said: 'I shall
+not worry any more about my sleigh and harness, I think I shall get them
+again.' 'Why do you think so?' His answer was: 'I have been praying to God
+to arrest Cotton's conscience, so that he will be obliged to <i>leave them
+where I can get them</i>, and I believe he will do it.'</p>
+
+<p>"From this time, which was Wednesday evening, he seemed at rest on the
+subject. The next Tuesday morning, as he stepped into the post-office, a
+letter was handed him from Littleton, N.H. It was written by the keeper of
+a public house, and read thus:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p> "'<i>Mr. P.--Sir, Mr. John Cotton has left your sleigh and
+harness here, and you can have them by calling for them</i>.</p>
+
+<p class="date">Yours, etc., J--N N----N.'</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>"He returned home with the letter, and started for L----; went there the
+same day, some forty miles; found sleigh and harness safe, with no
+encumbrance. The landlord informed him that, a few nights before, at twelve
+o'clock, a man calling himself John Cotton came to his house, calling for
+horse-baiting and supper; would not stay till morning, but wished to leave
+the sleigh and harness for Mr. S.--- P.--- of Marshfield, Vt. He said he
+could not write himself; and requested the landlord to write for him,
+saying he took them on a poor debt for Mr. P., in one of the towns below!
+He started off at two o'clock at night, on horseback, with an old pair of
+saddle-bags and a horse blanket, on a saddle with one stirrup and no
+crupper, on one of the coldest nights of that or any other year. He took
+the road leading through the Notch in the mountains, left nothing for
+either of those he owed, and we have never since heard from him."</p>
+
+
+<h3>"None Of The Lord's Children Left Desolate."</h3>
+
+
+<p>"<i>The Christian Era</i> tells of a Dutch preacher who held a meeting
+one evening in a strange city. While he was preaching, and enforcing upon
+the hearts of his hearers the doctrine of the Cross, a police officer came
+into the room and forbade him to go on. He even commanded him to leave the
+city. As he was a stranger in the place, and the night was dark, he
+wandered around the city gates. He was not, however, without consolation;
+for he remembered Him who had said, 'Lo, I am with you always. I will fear
+no evil, for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.'</p>
+
+<p>"He had long been in the school of Christ, and had learned to watch for
+the slightest intimations of His will. While he was thus wandering around,
+suddenly he saw a light in the distance. 'See,' he said to himself,
+'perhaps the Lord has provided me a shelter there,' and, in the simplicity
+of faith, he directed his steps thither. On arriving, he heard a voice in
+the house; and, as he drew nearer, he discovered that a man was praying.
+Joyful, he hoped, that he had found here the home of a brother. He stood
+still for a moment, and heard these words, poured forth from an earnest
+heart: 'Lord Jesus, one of thy persecuted servants may, perhaps, be
+wandering, at this moment, in a strange place of which he knows nothing. O,
+may he find my home, that he may receive here food and lodging.'</p>
+
+<p>"The preacher, having heard these words, glided into the house, as soon
+as the speaker said, 'Amen.' Both fell on their knees, and together thanked
+the Lord, who is a hearer of prayer, and who never leaves nor forsakes His
+servants."</p>
+
+
+<h3>The New Coat That Fitted Exactly.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"A few years since, a young preacher in the State of Massachusetts, who
+was laboring in a field which yielded no great pecuniary returns, had laid
+aside the sum of fifteen dollars from his scanty income, with which to
+purchase himself a coat, of which he stood in need. Before he had time to
+obtain it, there was presented to him a certain charitable object which
+seemed to demand a portion of his little store. After some consideration as
+to whether it was his duty to give as much as the ten dollars, which first
+presented itself to his mind as the proper sum to bestow, he concluded to
+follow his convictions, and thus assist one who was more needy than
+himself, and trust in the Lord to provide the coat.</p>
+
+<p>"Within two or three days afterwards, he was visiting at the house of
+his mother, in another town, and she, as mothers will, noticed that his
+coat had arrived at that condition which usually affords the preacher of
+the Gospel evidence that he is shortly to have a new one, and she made some
+remarks about its worn appearance, saying, 'It seems to me you need a new
+coat.' 'I know it,' he replied, 'and I shall get me one as soon as I get
+the means.' She said, 'There is a coat up stairs which your brother had
+made for him not over two weeks ago, which he never has worn but once,
+because it was <i>made too small</i>, and he said that you might have it,
+if you wanted it.'</p>
+
+<p>"The coat was accordingly brought down and tried on, and it fitted
+exactly. The young man gladly accepted the coat, wondering a little at the
+wisdom of the Lord in clothing him at the expense of his brother, who was
+not particularly interested in the Lord's work, and who was so much larger
+than he was, that nothing short of the wisdom of Providence could have made
+a coat that was measured for one of them ever to fit the other."</p>
+
+<p>This was the return that God made to him for his sacrifice to the Lord.
+<i>Never withhold from the Lord</i>.</p>
+
+
+<h3>Praying to Stop the Wind and the Sailing of a Vessel.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The late aged and venerable Rev. Dr. Cleaveland, of Boston, relates the
+following incident:</p>
+
+<p>"In a revival of religion in the church of which he was pastor, he was
+visited one morning by a member of his church, a widow, whose only son was
+a sailor. With a voice trembling with emotion, she said, 'Doctor
+Cleaveland, I have called to entreat you to join me in praying <i>that the
+wind may change</i>.' He looked at her in silent amazement. 'Yes,' she
+exclaimed, earnestly, 'my son has gone on board his vessel; they sail
+to-night, unless the wind changes.' 'Well, madam,' replied the doctor, 'I
+will pray that your son may be converted on this voyage; but to pray that
+God would alter the laws of His universe on his account, I fear is
+presumptuous.' 'Doctor,' she replied, 'my heart tells me differently. God's
+Spirit is <i>here</i>. Souls are being converted here. You have a meeting
+this evening, and, if the wind would change, John would stay and go to it;
+and, I believe, if he went he would be converted. Now, if you cannot join
+me, I must pray alone, for he must stay.' 'I will pray for his conversion,'
+said the doctor.</p>
+
+<p>"On his way to the meeting, he glanced at the weather-vane, and, to his
+surprise, <i>the wind had changed</i>, and it was blowing landward. On
+entering his crowded vestry, he soon observed John, sitting upon the front
+seat. The young man seemed to drink in every word, rose to be prayed for,
+and attended the inquiry meeting. When he sailed from port, the mother's
+prayers had been answered; he went a Christian. The pastor had learned a
+lesson he never forgot. The Lord had said, 'O, woman, great is thy faith;
+be it unto thee, even as thou wilt.' God answered that prayer because the
+mother was seeking to advance His own kingdom. God always hears a prayer
+that will in any way bring a soul to the Lord."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Insanity Cured And Suicide Prevented.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"<i>Augusta Moore</i>, writes <i>The Christian</i>, of a young lady
+called home by the illness of her widowed mother, who died before she could
+reach her. This alone was a terrible shock to the delicate daughter, who,
+having been reared in luxury, was ill-fitted for firm endurance of
+calamity. But, when it became known that a relative, in whom she had placed
+confidence, had managed, in ways that need not be explained, to defraud her
+out of her inheritance, her mind gave way and <i>she became insane</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"For years, her distressed husband strove in every way to restore her
+reason, but she seemed rather to become worse, and showed signs of
+intentions to commit suicide; and her family and friends lived in a
+wretched state of apprehension. In spite of the most faithful watchfulness,
+she twice succeeded in securing the means for self-destruction, but
+something prevented her from accomplishing her design. At last, it occurred
+to a friend to present this woman's case in the prayer-meeting, to the
+Lord, and earnest prayer was offered for her restoration.</p>
+
+<p>"No immediate result appeared; but the friends <i>persevered</i>. During
+the Winter, a revival of religion occurred in the town where she dwelt,
+and, with much difficulty, the insane woman, who declared that she was
+utterly and finally forsaken by God, was prevailed upon to attend the
+meetings. They began immediately to have a good effect upon her. She could
+sleep better; she grew more cheerful, and, in a short time, her reason
+returned to her. A happier, or more grateful woman than she now is, no
+mortal eyes ever beheld, and she affords one more instance of the Lord's
+willingness to hear and answer fervent prayer."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Answers To Prayer.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Dr. Newman Hall, minister of Surrey Chapel, London, gives the following
+instances of answers to prayer from his own experience:</p>
+
+<p>"The writer's brother, when superintendent of a Sunday School, felt a
+strong impulse, one Saturday evening, to call on a member of his
+Bible-class, whom he had never visited before, and to inquire if he was in
+any need. He found him very ill. Though the mother and sister seemed in
+comfortable circumstances, he felt constrained to inquire if he could aid
+them in any way. They burst into tears, and said that the young man had
+been asking for food which they had no power to supply, and that, on
+Monday, some of their goods were to be taken in default of the payment of
+rates. When he knocked at the door <i>they were on their knees in prayer
+for help to be sent them</i>. By the aid of a few friends, the difficulty
+was at once met--but the timely succor was felt to be the divine response
+to prayer.</p>
+
+<p>"With that brother, the writer was once climbing the Cima di Jazzi, one
+of the mountains in the chain of Monte Rosa. When nearly at the top, they
+entered a dense fog. Presently, the guides faced right about, and grounded
+their axes on the frozen snow-slope. The brother--seeing the slope still
+beyond, and not knowing it was merely the cornice, overhanging a precipice
+of several thousand feet--rushed onward. The writer will never forget their
+cry of agonized warning. His brother stood a moment on the very summit, and
+then, the snow yielding, began to fall through. One of the guides, at great
+risk, rushed after him and seized him by the coat. This tore away, leaving
+only three inches of cloth, by which he was dragged back. It seemed
+impossible to be nearer death, and yet escape. On his return home, an
+invalid member of his congregation told him that she had been much in
+prayer for his safety, and mentioned a special time when she particularly
+was earnest, as if imploring deliverance from some great peril. <i>The
+times corresponded!</i> Was not that prayer instrumental in preserving that
+life?"</p>
+
+
+<h3>Bishop Simpson's Recovery.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Bishop Bowman gives the following instance from his own experience:</p>
+
+<p>"In the Fall of 1858, whilst visiting Indiana, I was at an annual
+conference where Bishop Janes presided. We received a telegram that Bishop
+Simpson was dying. Said Bishop Janes, 'Let us spend a few moment's in
+earnest prayer for the recovery of Bishop Simpson.' We kneeled to pray.
+William Taylor, the great California street preacher, was called to pray,
+and such a prayer I never heard since. The impression seized upon me
+irresistibly, <i>Bishop Simpson will not die</i>. I rose from my knees
+perfectly quiet. Said I, 'Bishop Simpson will not die.' 'Why do you think
+so?' Because I have had an <i>irresistible impression</i> made upon my mind
+during this prayer.' Another said, '<i>I have the same impression</i>.' We
+passed it along from bench to bench, until we found that a very large
+proportion of the conference had the same impression. I made a minute of
+the time of day, and when I next saw Simpson, he was attending to his daily
+labor. I inquired of the Bishop, 'How did you recover from your sickness?'
+He replied, '<i>I cannot tell</i>.' 'What did your physician say?' '<i>He
+said it was a miracle</i>.' I then said to the Bishop, 'Give me the time
+and circumstances under which the change occurred.' He fixed upon the day,
+and <i>the very hour</i>, making allowance for the distance--a thousand
+miles away--that the preachers were engaged in prayer at this conference.
+The physician left his room and said to his wife, '<i>It is useless to do
+anything further; the Bishop must die</i>.' In about an hour, he returned
+and started back, inquiring, '<i>What have you done?' 'Nothing,'</i> was
+the reply. 'He is recovering rapidly,' said the physician; '<i>a change has
+occurred in the disease within the last hour beyond anything I have ever
+seen; the crisis is past, and the Bishop will recover</i>.' And he
+did."</p>
+
+<p>The doctor was puzzled; it was beyond all the course and probabilities
+of nature and the laws of science. What was it that made those ministers so
+sure--what was it that made the patient recover, at the exact hour that
+they prayed? There is only one answer, "<i>The ever living Power of a
+Superior Spirit which rules the world</i>."</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Seven Letters.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The following incident is given by "<i>The Presbyterian</i>," on the
+authority of a private letter from Paris:</p>
+
+<p>"At a Bible reunion, held at the house of an English Congregationalist
+minister, where several colporteurs, teachers and others meet for
+devotional reading and conversation, a brief anecdote was related by a
+clergyman living in La Force, who established there an institution for
+epileptics, where he has now three hundred, supported entirely on the
+principle of faith, like Muller's orphanage.</p>
+
+<p>"At one time, he found himself in debt to the amount of five hundred
+pounds. After a sleepless, anxious night, he found, on his table, seven
+letters. Opening five, he found them to be all applications, some of them
+most painful in their details, for the admission of new inmates. His
+excited mind could not bear it. Without opening the other two letters he
+threw them to his wife. 'Put them into the fire,' he said, and turned to
+seek relief in the open air. 'John,' said a sweet voice, 'this won't do.
+Come back.' So he did, taking up the sixth letter, which proved to be from
+a stranger, enclosing a check for three hundred pounds. The other envelope
+gave him just what was needed, just that and no more. He thanked God, and
+took courage. Will he ever again hear the sweet, sad voice, 'Wherefore
+didst thou doubt?'"</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Lord Did Not Forget The Potatoes.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"A correspondent of <i>Arthur's Magazine</i> tells of a poor woman who
+had been washing for us, who said: 'Seems as if the Lord took very direct
+ways to reach people's feelings sometimes. Now, I was astonished once in my
+life. I lived away out West, on the prairie, I and my four children, and I
+couldn't get much work to do, and our little stock of provisions kept
+getting lower and lower. One night, we sat hovering over our fire, and I
+was gloomy enough. There was about a pint of corn-meal in the house, and
+that was all. I said, 'Well, children, may be the Lord will provide
+something.' '<i>I do hope it will be a good mess of potatoes</i>,' said
+cheery little Nell; 'seems to me <i>I never was so hungry for taters
+before</i>.' After they were all asleep, I lay there tossing over my hard
+bed, and wondering what I would do next. All at once, the sweetest peace
+and rest came over me, and I sank into such a good sleep. Next morning, I
+was planning that I would make the tinfull of meal into mush, and fry it in
+a greasy frying-pan, in which our last meat had been fried. As I opened the
+door to go down to the brook to wash, I saw something new. <i>There, on the
+bench, beside the door, stood two wooden pails and a sack. One pail was
+full of meat, the other full of potatoes, and the sack filled with
+flour</i>. I brought my hands together in my joy, and just hurrahed for the
+children to come. Little dears! They didn't think of trousers and frocks
+then, but came out all of a flutter, like a flock of quails. Their joy was
+supreme. They knew the Lord had sent some, of his angels with the sack and
+pails. Oh, it was such a precious gift! <i>I washed the empty pails, and
+put the empty sack in one of them, and, at night, I stood them on the bench
+where I had found them, and, the next morning, they were gone</i>. I tried
+and tried to find out who had befriended us, but I never could. The Lord
+never seemed so far off after that time,' said the poor woman, looking down
+with tearful eyes."</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Prayer In The Woods.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A friend relates the following incident, as received from the lips of a
+poor afflicted, crippled orphan boy, whose own experience is a practical
+illustration of the words: "When my father and my mother forsake me, then
+the Lord will take me up." Ps. xxvii 10.</p>
+
+<p>"Out of many instances of answered prayer I will tell the following one:
+In August, 1874, I wished to go to Lowell, a distance of some thirty miles,
+or more. I had no money, and did not know how to get there. I asked the
+station-agent and the conductor, but each refused, saying it would not be
+consistent with their duty. Knowing of no human help, I left the depot and
+went into the woods, some ways from the station, where I could be alone,
+and tell that Friend who is able to provide, and who is rich unto all that
+call upon Him. I knelt down beside the stump of a tree and prayed, and told
+the Lord all about it, and asked Him either to give me money, or provide
+some way that I could go where I desired. I felt that the Lord heard and
+answered me, and filled my soul with praise and joy. The language of my
+heart was, 'Bless the Lord.'</p>
+
+<p>"As I turned and was going out of the woods, I heard a voice saying,
+'Halloo.' As I had seen no one, and knew not that any human being was near,
+I was surprised at this greeting. 'Halloo!' said the stranger,' I never
+heard such a prayer in my life. Why did you go and pray?' I told him that I
+felt heavy, burdened, and I took the burden to the Lord. He said, 'I heard
+you pray--you want money, do you? The Lord has opened the way; here is five
+dollars. It is the best way to go to the Lord, and trust Him to open the
+way. Go and use the money.' I thanked him, and I thanked the Lord, and went
+oh my way rejoicing in Him whose promise is,' My God shall supply all your
+needs,' and who himself had heard and answered my request."</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Lord Can Do It.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"In one of the mountainous towns--says <i>The Christian</i>--in the
+north-western part of Connecticut, there lived, some time since, an aged
+couple who had seen some eighty years of earthly pilgrimage, and who, in
+their declining days, enjoyed the care of a son and daughter, who resided
+with them at their home.</p>
+
+<p>"In process of time, the son became sick, and drew nigh the gates of
+death. The doctor pronounced him incurable, saying that one lung was
+consumed, and that he could live but a short time.</p>
+
+<p>"The fear of her brother's death, and the thoughts of being left alone
+to bear the responsibility of the aged parents' care, burdened the sister's
+heart exceedingly, and led her to cry mightily to the Lord, to interpose
+for his recovery, and spare him still to them; and her importunate
+supplications ascended to God, until the answer came to her heart as a
+sacred whisper,--'I have heard thy cry, and have come down to deliver
+thee.'</p>
+
+<p>"Comforted by this sweet assurance, she rejoiced exceedingly, knowing
+that what our Heavenly Father promises he is abundantly able to perform,
+and that He will fulfill his word, though heaven and earth shall pass away.
+But her faith was destined to be tried, and, on the very day after she had
+obtained the assurance of her brother's recovery, in came some one, saying,
+'The doctor says S---- can live but a little time.' For an instant, these
+words were like a dagger to the sister's heart, but she still held fast her
+confidence, and replied: 'If <i>men</i> can't cure him, the <i>Lord</i>
+can.'</p>
+
+<p>"From that very moment, the brother began to amend. On the next day,
+when the physician came, he looked at him, commenced examining his
+symptoms, and exclaimed in astonishment: 'What have you been doing? You are
+evidently better, and I don't know but you will get up, after all.'</p>
+
+<p>"His recovery was so rapid, that in two weeks' time he was out about his
+customary duties on the farm; and that in weather so damp and foggy that it
+would have kept some stronger men in-doors. But he was well; the prayer of
+faith was answered, and it had saved the sick."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Answer to Prayer in all the Little Temporal Anxieties of Life</h3>
+
+
+<p>The question having been asked, "Does God answer Prayer, in even all the
+little anxieties and cares of daily life." <i>The Illustrated Christian
+Weekly</i>, called in 1876, for testimonies of the surety of God in
+fulfilling his promise, and giving answer in little things as well as great
+things. Many, even good Christians have believed that they should not pray
+for anything for themselves, but only for those things which were to be
+used for God's work. The following instances show that those who are
+devoted to God's good work and helping in his service can ask for anything
+needed for their personal comfort, and expect the Lord to grant them. In
+truth the Lord <i>has commanded</i> all his disciples, "<i>Ask and receive,
+that your joy may be full." "Anything that ye shall ask in my name, I will
+do it</i>."</p>
+
+
+<h4>Bread To The Hungry.</h4>
+
+
+<p>"God was pleased to deprive me totally of my hearing in early boyhood.
+By the late war I lost all of my earthly possessions. I have a wife and
+family totally dependent on me for a support. A man employed to attend to
+my little manufacturing business as manager, by imprudent management,
+deprived me of every earthly dependence for a support. I had no refuge but
+God. This feeling was intense beyond expression--God was my only hope. I
+laid my case before him. Then this came to me, 'Seek first the kingdom of
+God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.'
+'Now,' I said, 'I am deeply conscious that I and my wife seek and desire
+the kingdom of God above all things; God then will give us temporal help.'
+Then a feeling came over me, a feeling of waiting upon God. It was sweet
+waiting. I was at rest. I had thought frequently if I could get <i>two
+hundred dollars</i> I could start my little business again. While thus
+trusting, and waiting, and praying, a package was handed to me by the
+express-agent containing $200 from a stranger in a distant county, against
+whom I held an old note dated 1856; and for many years I had forgotten the
+note, and would have taken twenty-five cents for it any time. The man was
+bankrupt, and did not fear the Lord, nor know anything of my situation in
+life. He was under no legal obligation to pay the note."</p>
+
+
+<h4>No "Ifs."</h4>
+
+<p>"A number of years ago I went West to better my condition.... After a
+little time I went into business of my own, had but little capital, and my
+good name to be punctual in paying for what I bought on credit was of great
+importance to me. I had promised to pay on a certain day a note of about
+$60. I thought I was sure to get the money, but was disappointed; I went to
+the Lord for help, not knowing how he could send me the money, but
+convinced that he was able to do it. At about noon the same day a man
+inquired for me. I knew him by sight; he had the name of being a hard man,
+took all the interest he could get, and never put any money out without
+security. He had not the note, but he asked me if I wanted to hire any
+money; if so he had <i>sixty dollars</i> he would like to let me have. The
+man took my note and never did ask for any security.</p>
+
+<p>"At another time, being away from home some 2,000 miles, was at the
+house of an uncle; same evening I received a letter from my wife that the
+children were very sick and but little hope of recovery. The letter had
+been written for over a week. I communicated the contents of the letter to
+my aunt; went up in my room and prayed the Lord to be their physician. I
+felt so sure that my prayer would be answered that I could not help
+singing; when they heard me they thought what a cold-hearted man I must be
+to sing if the children were dying at home. <i>But from, that day the
+children did get better, and in a short time were out of danger</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"In my younger years I had a good many ifs, but those are all gone; I
+know that the Lord has the means at his command to answer all my prayers if
+I come believing, asking in the name of Christ."</p>
+
+
+<h4>The Horse Is His.</h4>
+
+
+<p>"The writer was preaching Sundays at a little country church, about 70
+miles by rail from the institution where he attended. He went Saturday,
+returning on Monday. One Saturday the train ran off the track. All day long
+they worked at the wreck. At last, finding it too late to make connection
+with the other railroad, he took the down train back to the institution.
+What should be done? A promise to preach forty miles across the country had
+been made. There was also an appointment six miles beyond for an afternoon
+service. It was now night. To drive across the country was the only way
+open, or stay at home. Two disappointed congregations the result in the
+latter case. But the roads were heavy from recent rains. 'Twill be so late
+that none can direct. Friends said, 'Stay; you can't go forty miles across,
+to you, an unknown country.' But the writer felt it duty to go. Hiring a
+horse noted for endurance, at nine o'clock at night--dark, threatening--he
+set out. As he headed the horse in the direction of the village--for he
+could find none who could tell him the exact road--he prayed: 'O God,
+starting out to preach thy word to-morrow, direct the way--guide this
+horse.' The night wore on; as cross-roads came, dropping the lines over the
+dashboard, the same prayer was offered. When the horse chose a road, the
+driver urged him on. As day began to break, emerging from some wood in an
+unfrequented road, they entered the village they sought. The sermon that
+morning was from the text, 'Son, go work to-day in my vineyard.' The
+largest congregation of the Summer had gathered. It will not do to say that
+the horse knew the road. Returning in broad daylight the next day, though
+directed and directed again, we lost the way and went seven miles out of
+our course. A scientist might laugh at this way of driving, or at asking
+God to guide in such trivial matters. But we shall still believe that God
+led the horse and blessed us in our attempt to serve him."</p>
+
+
+<h4>All Our Needs.</h4>
+
+
+<p>"About eight years ago, while a Student in college, I became embarrassed
+for want of funds. Debts began to accumulate. Anticipating money from usual
+sources, promises had been made to pay at a certain date.</p>
+
+<p>"The time to make these payments approached. The anticipated money did
+not come. A student in debt is most dependent and hopeless. In great
+distress, locking the study-door, I sat down to think. First came visions
+of an auction sale of a few books and scanty furniture; then of notes and
+protests; finally the promises of God came into mind. I knew he had
+promised to supply my wants. 'All things whatsoever ye have need of,' came
+home in great power. I am needy, I have given up business, all, to preach
+the gospel. I remember as 'twere yesterday the feelings, the struggles, of
+that hour. With all earnestness I asked for help in my hour of distress. At
+last I felt confident that the aid needed would come in time, Saturday;
+this was Monday. I thanked God for the answer--and being questioned by a
+needy creditor of that afternoon, assured him that his money would be
+ready.</p>
+
+<p>"Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday passed--no sign, but faith said God will
+not fail. Friday morning--heart beat fast as I went to the post-office--it
+seemed as if through its agency the help would come. Nothing. But it must
+be here to-day. Returning from the office Friday evening, wondering how God
+would send deliverance, I saw on my table a long official envelope. A
+classmate preceding me at the office had brought it. A letter from a
+gentleman in Wall street whom I have never seen. On Monday, he casually
+asked of a tea-broker, an acquaintance, if he knew of any one in H----. The
+broker mentioned, after a little thought, my name.</p>
+
+<p>"The letter contained a request for service of a peculiar sort,
+connected with some legal matters, contained money and promise of more.
+<i>Over three times the sum I asked God for was finally given. More than
+enough for a term's expenses</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"I never mentioned the matter of my need at that time to a human being,
+nor spoke of the prayer. I have always thanked God for that, and am sure he
+provides for me in accordance with his promise."</p>
+
+
+<h4>He Healeth The Sick.</h4>
+
+
+<p>"The wife of Deacon W. was sinking rapidly with pneumonia. Friends gave
+up all hope of her recovery, and even the hopeful physician felt that he
+was hoping against hope. In his despair the husband bore the case directly
+to God; he sought the prayers of his minister and of the church; and he
+asked all Christians to pray that the mother of his little children might
+be spared. She lingered between life and death for several days, when
+unexpectedly to many, she began to gain strength, and in due season was
+about again. This was several years ago, and she has been an active worker
+in the church and Sunday-school ever since."</p>
+
+
+<h4>A Powerful Dream.</h4>
+
+
+<p>"My father, a minister of the gospel, was prostrated by sickness. A
+large family of little ones was dependent upon him for support. Funds ran
+low. One evening my mother remarked that she had broken the last dollar. My
+father lay awake most of the night, praying to his God for help in this
+emergency. That same night a man in a parish not many miles distant was
+much impressed by a dream. He dreamed that a minister who preached in his
+church not long before, was sick and in want. He knew neither his name nor
+his place of residence. He arose at the first dawn of day, and going to his
+own pastor inquired the name and address of the stranger who had recently
+preached for them. These obtained, he mounted his horse, and knocked at our
+door just as my mother drew up the window-shades. She answered the knock,
+when, without a word, a stranger placed an envelope in her hand and
+immediately rode away. The envelope contained a ten-dollar bill, which we
+all believed was the Lord's answer to our father's prayer. Afterwards these
+facts were disclosed by the pastor to him whom the Lord chose to disperse
+his bounty."</p>
+
+
+<h4>Ask And Ye Shall Receive.</h4>
+
+
+<p>"In 1874, through Providence, I became sore pressed to provide for
+myself and family; two of my children had just begun to learn to read. I
+was desirous to procure for them the 'N.---,' (a children's journal,) but I
+could not see how I was to pay for it and meet other obligations. So I
+carried it to our Father in heaven, asking if it was best and according to
+his will my children should get the 'N.---.' In about ten days afterward I
+received a note from a lady friend, with whom I or none of our family had
+had any communication for weeks, and in that note she advised us that her
+little daughter, the same age as our second, had sent as a Christmas gift a
+subscription for the 'N.---,' to be sent to our Mary's address. 'If ye
+abide in me, and my words in you, ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be
+done unto you.'"</p>
+
+
+<h4>Casting All Your Care On Him.</h4>
+
+
+<p>"Once, soon after the death of my husband and the loss of all his large
+property, I had a bill of <i>fifty dollars</i> to pay, and was notified two
+weeks beforehand that not a day's grace would be given. Besides what I was
+earning by my pen, I had due me, in a neighboring city, just the amount I
+should need--the income on my only remaining piece of real estate; and, as
+my tenant was always prompt, I wrote to him where to send me the money, and
+gave the subject no farther thought. But, when the time for his response
+was already past, and I heard nothing from my debts, and but a few days to
+the time of my own need yet remained, I felt anxious and sought divine
+direction as to the course I ought to pursue. Rising from my knees, I took
+up my Bible, and the very first words my eyes rested upon, were these:
+'Casting all your care upon Him, for he careth for you.' All anxiety from
+that hour left me; but I felt impelled to apply to a certain editor for the
+payment of <i>twenty dollars</i> he owed me, and I felt sure the other
+thirty would come from somewhere.</p>
+
+<p>"So the days passed until the morning of the day upon which I should be
+called on for the fifty dollars, and <i>still I had not a single dollar</i>
+on hand to meet the claim. At ten o'clock my creditor came, but half an
+hour before him the postman had put into my hand a letter containing a
+check for <i>fifty dollars</i>, the exact amount I needed. It had come from
+the editor to whom I had applied for twenty dollars, and lo! he had sent me
+fifty. The thirty advanced he said I could give him credit for on my next
+MS. He did not know my need, but God did, and thus He had answered my
+prayer."</p>
+
+
+<h4>In Everything Make Known Your Wants.</h4>
+
+
+<p>"Six years ago, on the low country of South Carolina, a friend asked me
+to go with him to a camp-meeting. I was delighted with the idea, for, in my
+estimation, a good camp-meeting comes nearer heaven than any other place on
+earth.</p>
+
+<p>"Just three days before we were to go, an unexpected circumstance
+connected with his business, made it impossible for him to leave. It was
+with real heartfelt sorrow I heard of it. The day before we were to have
+started, as I saw another member of the family, who was going with a
+friend, packing her trunk, it seemed to me I could not bear it. I carried
+my trouble to my dear heavenly Father, begging him to send me a way to
+go.</p>
+
+<p>"I rose from my knees with the sweet assurance in my heart my prayer was
+heard--packed my trunk and waited patiently. When night came and the men
+came home, in the place of the expected buggy came a small spring-wagon,
+and a seat for me. What may seem more remarkable, the change between buggy
+and spring-wagon was made ten miles away, while I was praying.</p>
+
+<p>"I believe I enjoyed the meeting more for the feeling of thankfulness
+that pervaded my whole being while there."</p>
+
+
+<h4>The Great Physician.</h4>
+
+
+<p>"Nearly five years ago, after a decline of almost two years, I was
+brought very near to the grave. Medical aid availed nothing. I was
+fearfully emaciated, and my death was daily expected. A devoted mother and
+a sister, who had watched over me tenderly during my long illness, were
+completely exhausted.</p>
+
+<p>"I determined to apply to the Great Physician, as directed in James
+5:14. As I united with others in prayer, unconsciously I uttered these
+words, 'I shall yet praise Thee in the great congregation.' All present
+felt assured that it was the will of God to restore me to health.
+Appearances were against me; for some time I could sleep but very little,
+and there was no perceptible gain. But trusting in the sure promise, the
+next Sabbath I rode a short distance to church, and, as I thus ventured out
+little by little, my strength gradually returned. A few months later, my
+mother, who through disease had been in a state of despair for some years,
+was enabled again to hope in God's mercy."</p>
+
+
+<h4>Shall Save The Sick.</h4>
+
+
+<p>"I was desperately ill. My physicians had done all in their power,
+without success--and yet I lived! For my father's sake, the hearts of
+hundreds waited the issue, and prayed for me! For his sake, the bells in
+the neighborhood were tied--the criers did not come within sound of the
+house--nor was the sound of wheels heard upon the street. There was a
+death-like stillness without and within.</p>
+
+<p>"The physicians sat with folded hands and wept, because the blow seemed
+too heavy for my father to bear--the thought that I was going to die
+without any assurance that I trusted in my Saviour!</p>
+
+<p>"'It cannot be,' he said, 'I will wrestle with my God until He hears
+me!' Sunday came. In almost every church a special prayer was offered for
+my recovery. After morning service, a band of devoted women met, and
+offered fervent prayers that God would spare my life. Evening came--the
+weary doctors went home, leaving the last sacred moments to my parents.
+Early next morning they came again, and exclaimed, as they entered the
+room, 'She is better! Prayer has saved her!' I still live, 'a spared
+monument of God's mercy.'"</p>
+
+
+<h4>All-Sufficient For All Need.</h4>
+
+
+<p>"I am a mother of seven children. By the help of our Father in heaven,
+we have all of us gone regularly to church and Sunday-school. We are poor;
+and at length the time came we were not clothed so we could comfortably go
+to church. I earnestly asked our Father to show me, within a week, which
+was right for us to do: to go in debt for clothes, or stay at home. Within
+that week, I received a large package of ready-made clothing. The clothing
+came from a source I never thought of receiving anything from."</p>
+
+
+<h4>A Very Present Help In Trouble.</h4>
+
+<p>"At one time, during a season of adversity, there was urgent occasion
+for a certain sum beyond the income of the family, and there was no way of
+borrowing it. I took the matter to the Lord in prayer, asking Him, if the
+money were really needed, as it appeared to be, to send it, and, if it were
+not, to remove the distressing circumstances. The answer came in a sum five
+times the amount asked for, and in a manner totally unexpected."</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p>"At another time, the mother of the family was very ill, and, when
+apparently near death, the physicians had ordered a remedy which was to be
+constantly employed, as her life, so far as they could judge, depended on
+its use. One night, her symptoms became so alarming as to compel the writer
+(who had charge of the nursing) to use this remedy more freely than ever,
+and, about midnight the supply was exhausted. There was no possibility of
+obtaining any more before morning, and the rest of that night, while
+attending to the other directions of the doctors, I spent in one earnest,
+agonizing prayer that God would so overrule natural causes that death would
+not occur in consequence of what I felt to be my own culpable carelessness
+in not having provided a larger quantity of an article so necessary. In His
+great mercy, He granted the prayer, the dangerous symptoms did not increase
+during the seven or eight hours that intervened before the remedy could be
+procured. One proof that it was a special mercy, is found in the fact that
+there was no other such standing still of the disease, either before this
+or afterward. And the doctors were astonished when they saw that the
+disease had made no progress, under conditions that rendered that progress
+inevitable in the usual law of cause and effect. And when, on her final
+recovery, Doctor Parker told her that she owed her life to the good care I
+had taken of her, my thoughts went back to the long hours of that night of
+anguish, and I said, 'It was the Lord that took care of her.' 'I meant your
+care, under Providence,' was the reply."</p>
+
+
+<h4>He Shall Direct Thy Paths</h4>
+
+<p>"I am a teacher by profession, and, a few years ago, I found myself
+placed in a school whose every surrounding was utterly repugnant to my
+tastes, and to all my ideas of right and wrong and what good teaching
+should be. At first, I kept hoping that things would grow better, and that
+I should, at least, be able to have some influence on the modes of
+teaching; but I soon found that everything connected with the establishment
+was directed by the iron will of an unscrupulous and tyrannical woman,
+whose laws were as irrevocable as those of the Medes and Persians. I at
+once decided I could not stay there long, but I had no other position in
+view, and it was not easy to secure one in the middle of the term. As
+usual, I made it a subject of prayer, and the result was that, in a short
+time, I was most unexpectedly, and without the least solicitation on my
+part, offered a much better position, in every respect, which, of course, I
+was only too thankful to accept. That is only one instance, out of
+thousands I could name, where God has heard and answered my prayers, and I
+believe He will do so to the end."</p>
+
+
+<h3>How the Lord is Constantly Caring for His Trusting Poor.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A city missionary recently found, in this city on the streets, a refined
+Englishwoman with her children, who had been turned out of her home for
+non-payment of rent. With the aid of a few friends he installed her in a
+new domicile, and procured work for her. From time to time he visited her,
+and rejoiced with her that God had sent him to her in the hour of
+extremity. At length, pressure of business kept him away for some time,
+until, one evening, he started out to look up a few dollars owing him, in
+order to procure some delicacies for a sick wife. One dollar was all he
+could procure, and with that in his pocket he was returning homeward, when
+he became so impressed with the idea that he should visit the Englishwoman
+that he turned aside and did so. He found her in tears, and asking the
+cause, heard the sorrowful tale of no work, no food in the house for
+to-morrow, which was Sunday. He was in doubt whether to give her the dollar
+and suffer his sick wife to go without something palatable, but in a
+moment, "Blessed is he that considereth the poor; the Lord will deliver him
+in time of trouble," presented itself to his mind, and--the dollar dried
+the widow's tears.</p>
+
+<p>Upon reaching his home he found a lady had called on his wife and
+brought with her three or four kinds of jellies, fruit, home-made biscuit,
+various relishing things; three times more than the dollar would have
+purchased.</p>
+
+<p>The same gentleman, while calling on a poor family one day, discovered a
+little house in the rear, which he visited, finding a neat, cleanly room,
+occupied by an old lady, crippled with rheumatism. He found she had no one
+in the world but a sister, a monthly nurse, to care for her. When first
+setting out on his tour that morning, the missionary had fifty cents given
+him by a gentleman, who expressed the hope that "it might do some good
+during the day." Although a number of visits had been made, he had not felt
+called upon to bestow it until then, nor could he tell why he should want
+to put it in the old lady's hand at parting, but he did so.</p>
+
+<p>She was too much overcome by her emotions to speak, but she took his
+hand and led him to a little table, on which lay a Bible, opened at the
+passage, "Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, He will give it
+you." She said, "Please tell me if any one sent you here?" "No." "Did you
+ever hear that I lived here?" "I did not." "Then the Lord sent you in
+answer to my prayer this morning. For the first time in my life, I am
+without food. My sister was to have come home yesterday, but has not. I was
+just asking the Lord to provide for me when you knocked at the door."</p>
+
+<p>Such scenes as these amply repay our missionaries for all the toils and
+weariness, all the anxieties and perplexities of the work.</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Prayer For Bread.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Washington Allston, who stood at the head of American artists a half
+century ago, was, at one time, so reduced by poverty, that he locked his
+studio, in London, one day, threw himself on his knees and prayed for a
+loaf of bread for himself and wife. While thus engaged, a knock was heard
+at the door, which the artist hastened to open. A stranger inquired for Mr.
+Allston, and was anxious to know who was the fortunate purchaser of the
+painting of the 'Angel Uriel,' which had won the prize at the exhibition of
+the Royal Academy. He was told that it was not sold. 'Where is it to be
+found?' 'In this very room,' said Allston, producing a painting from a
+corner and wiping off the dust. 'It is for sale, but its value has not been
+adequately appreciated, and I would not part with it.' 'What is its price?'
+'I have done affixing any nominal sum. I have always so far exceeded any
+offers, I leave it to you to name the price.' 'Will four hundred pounds be
+an adequate recompense?' 'It is more than I ever asked for it.' 'Then the
+painting is mine,' said the stranger, who introduced himself as the Marquis
+of Stafford, and, from that time, became one of Mr. Allston's warmest
+friends and patrons."</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Daughter's Prayer.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The late Doctor Krummacher, chaplain to the king of Prussia, in
+referring to faith and prayer, writes as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"A little incident occurs to me which I can hardly withhold, on account
+of its simplicity and beauty. The mother of a little girl, only four years
+of age, had been, for some time, most dangerously ill. The physician had
+given her up. When the little girl heard this, she went into an adjoining
+room, knelt down, and said: 'Dear Lord Jesus, O make my mother well
+again.'</p>
+
+<p>"After she had thus prayed, she said, as though in God's name, with as
+deep a voice as she could: 'Yes, my dear child, I will do it gladly!' This
+was the little girl's amen. She rose up, joyfully ran to her mother's bed,
+and said: 'Mother, you will get well!'</p>
+
+<p>"And she recovered, and is in health to this day. Is it, then, always
+permitted for me to pray thus unconditionally respecting temporal concerns?
+No; thou must not venture to do so, if, whilst you ask, you doubt. But
+shouldst thou ever be inclined by God's Spirit to pray thus, without doubt
+or scruple, in a filial temper, and with simplicity of heart, resting on
+the true foundation, and in genuine faith, then pray thus by all means!
+None dare censure thee; God will accept thee."</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Lord Will Provide.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"A city missionary, one Saturday night, was going home with a basket of
+provisions on his arm. Meeting a policeman, he asked him if there had any
+families moved in the bounds of his beat during the week. He answered,
+'Yes,' and, pointing to a building up an alley, said, 'a woman and some
+children are living there now.'</p>
+
+<p>"The missionary went to the house, rapped at the door, and was admitted.
+The woman was sitting by a small light, sewing. In the corner of the room,
+were two little girls, apparently from nine to twelve years of age,
+playing.</p>
+
+<p>"The missionary said, 'Madam, I am here to see if you will allow your
+girls to attend Sunday-school to-morrow morning.' 'I would, sir; but what
+you see on them is all the clothing they have, and you would not wish them
+to go as they are now.' 'The Lord will provide, madam. Have you no money?'
+'Not yet, but I have committed my case into the hands of the Lord.' 'Have
+you anything to eat?' 'Nothing, sir!' 'What will you do for breakfast?' 'O,
+sir, I once had a husband; he provided when he could. These children had a
+father; he supplied their wants; but he is dead now. Yet my Maker, even
+God, is my husband, and He has promised to be a father to the fatherless.
+We have committed all to Him, have called upon Him in this our day of
+trouble. I am trusting in God to take care of a poor widow and her children
+in a strange place, and I know He will provide.' 'Thank God for such
+faith,' said the missionary; and, handing her the basket, said 'here is
+your breakfast, and you shall have the clothing for your children.' With
+tears streaming down her face, she replied: 'Oh, thank God for his
+faithfulness! He heareth and answereth prayer. May He bless you!' And, said
+our dear brother to us, 'I felt the promise was sure, for she was blessed
+in receiving, I was more so in giving.'"</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Prayer For A Load Of Wood.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Here is an illustration of the way in which God sends relief in trouble.
+The story is told by the Christian woman to whom it happened, in her own
+language:</p>
+
+<p>"About the month of January, 1863, I was living in Connecticut, alone
+with two little boys, one of them four years old, and the other about a
+year and a half old. My husband was away in the service of his country.
+When the coldest weather came, I was nearly out of wood. I went down into
+the village, one day, to try and get some, but tried in vain; so many men
+were away in the army that help was scarce. Very little wood was brought
+into market, and those living on the main street, got all that came, while
+those who lived outside the village could get none. I tried to buy a
+quarter of a cord from two or three merchants, but could not get any. One
+of them told me he could not get what he wanted for his own family. Another
+said he wasn't willing to yoke up his team for so small a quantity; but, as
+I only had a dollar and seventy-five cents, I could not buy any more, and
+so I was obliged to go home without any. I went back to my little ones,
+feeling very sad. But while I sat there, almost ready to cry, the words of
+Abraham came into my mind, 'Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord will provide.' Then I
+went up to my chamber. There I knelt down and told God of my trouble, and
+asked him to help me and send the relief that we needed. Then I went to the
+window and waited, looking down the street, expecting to see the wood
+coming. After waiting a while, without seeing any come, my faith began to
+fail. I said to myself, 'The Lord did provide for Abraham, but He won't
+provide for me.' Our last stick of wood was put in the stove. It was too
+cold to keep the children in the house without fire. I got the children's
+clothes out, and thought I would take them to the house of a kind neighbor,
+where I knew they could stay till we got some wood. But, just as I was
+going out with the children, in passing by the window, I saw the top of a
+great load of wood coming up the road towards our little house. Can that be
+for us? I asked myself. Presently I saw the wagon turn off the road and
+come up towards our door. Then I was puzzled to know how to pay for it. A
+dollar and seventy-five cents I knew would only go a little way towards
+paying for all that wood. The oxen came slowly on, dragging the load to our
+door. I asked the man if there wasn't same mistake about it. 'No, ma'am,'
+said he, 'there's no mistake.' 'I did not order it, and I cannot pay for
+it,' was my reply. 'Never mind, ma'am,' said he, 'a friend ordered it, and
+it is all paid for.' Then he unhitched the oxen from the wagon, and gave
+them some hay to eat. When this was done, he asked for a saw and ax, and
+never stopped till the whole load was cut and split and piled away in the
+woodshed.</p>
+
+<p>"This was more than I could stand. My feelings overcame me, and I sat
+down and cried like a child. But these were not bitter tears of sorrow.
+They were tears of joy and gladness, of gratitude and thankfulness. I felt
+ashamed of myself for doubting God's word, and I prayed that I might never
+do so again. What pleasure I had in using that wood! Every stick of it, as
+I took it up, seemed to have a voice with which to say 'Jehovah-Jireh.' As
+Abraham stood on the top of Mount Moriah he could say, 'The Lord
+<i>will</i> provide.' But every day, as I went into our woodshed, I could
+point to that blessed pile of wood sent from heaven, and say, 'The Lord
+<i>does</i> provide.'"</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Refractory Man Compelled to Pay a Debt.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A refractory man who owed a small debt of about $43, refused to pay it
+all, but offered to do so if ten dollars was taken off. His creditor,
+feeling that it was just, declined to abate the amount.</p>
+
+<p>For more than a year the creditor waited, after having no attention paid
+to his correspondence or, claim by the debtor, who exhibited unmistakable
+obstinacy and want of courtesy. At last it was put into the hands of a
+lawyer. The lawyer, too, was fairly provoked at the faithlessness of the
+debtor in his promises or his attention to the subject; thus matters
+dragged wearily for months, yet exercised leniency in pressing the
+claim.</p>
+
+<p>The creditor, whose forbearance had now reached the extremity of
+endurance, at last was led to take it to the Lord in prayer; saying he
+would "willingly forgive the whole debt if in anything he was wrong, but if
+the Lord thought it was right, hoped that his debtor <i>might be compelled
+to pay the amount he so obstinately withheld</i>."</p>
+
+<p>To the astonishment of all, a letter received from the lawyer four days
+after, informed him <i>that his debtor had called and paid the claim in
+full</i> with interest to date. "In doing so, he said he paid it <i>under
+protest</i>," thus showing he was <i>compelled by something he could not
+resist to pay it all</i>.</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Hurricane Passes Around A Ship.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A Sea Captain relates to the editor of the <i>Christian</i>, a
+remarkable incident, whereby in one of his voyages his ship was
+unaccountably held still, and thereby saved from sailing directly into the
+midst of a terrible hurricane:--"We sailed from the Kennebec on the first
+of October, 1876. There had been several severe gales, and some of my
+friends thought it hardly safe to go, but after considerable prayer I
+concluded it was right to undertake the voyage. On the 19th of October we
+were about one hundred and fifty miles west of the Bahamas, and we
+encountered very disagreeable weather. <i>For five or six days we seemed
+held by shifting currents, or some unknown power, in about the same place.
+We would think we had sailed thirty or forty miles</i>, when on taking our
+observations we would find we <i>were within three or four miles of our
+position the day before</i>. This circumstance occurring repeatedly proved
+a trial to my faith, and I said within my heart, '<i>Lord, why are we so
+hindered, and kept in this position</i>?' Day after day we were held as if
+by an unseen force, until at length a change took place, and we went on our
+way. Reaching our port they inquired, 'Where have you been through the
+gale?' '<i>What gale</i>?' we asked. '<i>We have seen no gale</i>.' We then
+learned that a terrible hurricane had swept through that region, and that
+all was desolation. We afterwards learned that <i>this hurricane had swept
+around us, and had almost formed a circle around the place occupied by us
+during the storm. A hundred miles in one direction all was wreck and ruin,
+fifty miles in the opposite direction all was desolation; and while that
+storm was raging in all its fury, we were held in perfect safety, in quiet
+waters</i>, and in continual anxiety to change our position and pursue our
+voyage <i>One day of ordinary sailing would have brought us into the track
+of the storm, and sent us to the bottom of the sea.</i> We were anxious to
+sail on, but some unseen power held us where we were, and we escaped."</p>
+
+<p>The Captain was a prayerful man, trusting in his Lord, though his faith
+was tried, and he thought the Lord was not helping him. Yet the Lord was
+keeping his promise to him, "<i>The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in
+safety by him, and the Lord shall cover him all the day long</i>."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Recovery From Spinal Disease.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Miss M---- is the daughter of a respectable farmer, an elder in a
+Presbyterian church in Western Pennsylvania. When a young girl her spine
+was injured while nursing her aged and helpless grandmother, and she has
+been a great sufferer for many years. For eleven years she has not been
+able to attend church nor to go from home, and for a long time was unable
+to leave her chamber or her bed. Two years ago she was so ill that hopes of
+her recovery were abandoned, her mind was thought to be seriously, even
+hopelessly impaired. Her physician acknowledged that her disease baffled
+his skill.</p>
+
+<p>"A few months ago, being near her residence and hearing that her health
+was better, I called on her, and to my surprise, found her able to sew,
+walk about, and even go down stairs. She informed me that she suffered so
+intensely from the remedies used for her cure, and constantly grew worse,
+that she determined to do nothing more; it seemed like fighting against
+God; she would put herself into His hands to do with her as He pleased.
+Then it seemed to her that the Saviour came to her and said, 'M----, what
+aileth thee?' She told Him all her case, and He soothed and comforted her.
+From that time she began to improve; the paroxysms of pain grew less, and
+disappeared; her nervousness was relieved, she could sleep, her mind was
+full of peace. She said, 'I am not cured, and do not expect to be well, but
+I can bear what I have to suffer, and am willing to depart whenever it is
+the Lord's will to take me away to himself.'"</p>
+
+
+<h3>Prayer For A Pair Of Boots.</h3>
+
+
+<p>In the Fall of 1858, H----, a student in the Theological Seminary at
+Princeton, N.J., was in great need of a new pair of boots. His toes were
+sticking out of his old ones, and he had no money to purchase new ones. All
+the money he could command was barely enough to pay his fare to his home,
+where be had promised a dear friend to be present on the approaching
+communion Sabbath.</p>
+
+<p>H---- was a man of great faith, and was accustomed to carry all his
+wants to God in prayer. To God he carried the present emergency, and
+earnestly importuned Him, that He would send him a pair of boots, and that
+He would do it before the approaching Sabbath. He was persuaded that God
+heard, and would answer his petition, yet his faith was sorely tried.
+Saturday morning came and still there was no answer; he resolved, however,
+to go to his home, fully persuaded that God would in good time grant his
+request. He took the morning train at the Princeton depot, and reached home
+about eleven o'clock. It was a hard trial for him to go to "Preparatory
+Lecture" with his boots in the condition they were in; yet at two o'clock
+he went, still praying that God would send him a new pair of boots. During
+the service, a merchant in the town took a seat in the same pew with him,
+and at the close of the service, without a word being spoken on the
+subject, the merchant, after shaking hands with H---- and inquiring of his
+welfare, asked him if he would do him the favor of going down town to a
+certain boot and shoe store and select from the stock as good a pair of
+boots as he could find, and, said the merchant, "have them charged to me."
+It was, as, H---- said to me on his return to the seminary, a direct answer
+to prayer. Indeed, it might be said of H---- that he went through college
+and seminary <i>on prayer</i>. He laid all his plans before God, pleaded
+his promises, and never was disappointed.</p>
+
+
+<h3>Under Garments In Answer To Prayer.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Among the students in the Theological Seminary at Princeton, N.J., in
+1860, was my intimate friend L----. He was at the time poorly clad, but was
+a devoted Christian, and is at present a successful foreign missionary.</p>
+
+<p>One day when on the Seminary campus, I heard two of the students very
+thoughtlessly criticising the exceeding shabbiness of L----'s wearing
+apparel, his short pants, old shoes, and socks with no heels in them. At
+almost every step L---- took when playing ball, his bare heels could be
+seen. That day, after evening prayers, I took L---- by the arm, for a walk
+to "Orthodox point," a tree about a mile distant from the Seminary. During
+our walk, I gently told him of the criticisms I had heard, and learned more
+fully than I had ever done of his destitution of wearing apparel,
+especially of under garments. I offered him a share of mine, or the loan of
+money, so as to meet his present wants, but this he declined to receive,
+saying, that he "would take it to the Lord in prayer," and that God would
+in good time supply all his wants. I, too, bore his case to the throne of
+grace. The next day after this, on going into his room, he laid before me
+an empty envelope, and a five dollar bill, and asked me the question, "Did
+you throw that envelope with that bill in it, through that ventilator?" I
+assured him that I did not. "Well," said he, "when I came in from
+recitation a short time ago, I found this envelope on the floor and that
+five dollar bill in it. It has evidently been thrown in through the
+ventilator." We both recognized God's hand in the provision made and
+mentally gave thanks to our Heavenly Father. Soon after this, "a missionary
+box" was sent to the Seminary, and my friend was therefrom well supplied
+with under garments. Frequently afterward did he say to me, in substance,
+"Prayer is the key to God's treasury. Trust in Him and the Lord will
+provide."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Unexpected Relief.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Henry Badgerow was a man about seventy years of age at the time of the
+incident, and a resident of Steuben county, State of New York. This was in
+the year about A.D. 1830-31. He had been for many years an invalid--so much
+so that he couldn't walk--the result of a horse running away with him. In a
+forest, isolated from neighbors, the old man resided alone with an aged
+wife. They were quite poor, and wholly dependent upon the labor of a son
+who worked away from home for others. This son was at length taken sick
+with a fever, and unable to minister to his parents' wants. This was in
+mid-winter, when storms were frequent and the snows deep and lasting. One
+evening when the storm was at its highest, this old couple found themselves
+without a particle of food in the house. Matters were desperate with them.
+They could see but starvation staring them in the face. They resolved upon
+prayer, having a firm trust in their Heavenly Father, whom for many years
+they had been humbly serving. They did not retire, but continued in fervent
+prayer that God would send them food. About two and a half miles distant
+lived a young married man in comfortable circumstances, by the name of
+Joseph Clason (the author of the story). He was not at this time a
+Christian, although it was not long after this he was converted, and has
+since lived an eminently active and godly life. About 12 o'clock on the
+night of the snow storm above mentioned, young Clason awoke. His first
+thoughts were of old Mr. Badgerow and his condition in that storm. His mind
+became so impressed with the thought of him, and so wrought upon that he
+could not again go to sleep, although trying so to do. At length he
+awakened his wife, told her that he was in trouble about Mr. B., for fear
+he and his wife were starving. She replied that if he would get right up
+and make a light, she would prepare something, and that he had better take
+it right down. Young C. did so, taking with him a pail of provisions. After
+a jaunt through the storm and snow in the dead hour of night, he reached
+the old man's cabin. There he found a light burning. He knocked; the door
+was opened by the wife. The old man was fervently praying; but when he saw
+young C. with the pail of provisions, he held up both hands and said, "Now
+I know that God heareth prayer. Not one mouthful have we in the house to
+eat. I know that God sent you here." Young C. staid with the old couple
+until daylight. The conversation revealed that about midnight the old man
+perceiving that a storm had arisen, and that unless relief came, which was
+not likely, they would starve, resolved to appeal to his Heavenly Father,
+saying that God who sent the ravens to feed Elijah would feed him if he
+went to him in faith, and now God had heard his prayer, and he blessed God
+that he could do so in all trouble and trial.</p>
+
+<p>The old man having asked C. how he came to visit them, he replied he
+didn't know, but supposed God had sent him, as he had awoke and couldn't
+again sleep on account of thought of him.</p>
+
+<p>The incident made a serious and lasting impression on young C's
+mind.</p>
+
+<p>In the morning, as C. was returning home, he came by his father's house;
+his mother, espying his pail, wished to know where he had been. He replied,
+"To feed the hungry." His father spreading the incident, the neighbors all
+turned out and brought in enough provision to last them during several
+weeks, the old man being greatly loved and respected by his community, on
+account of his sterling Christian life and character.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Joseph Clason is still living, now seventy-five years of age, in
+Bazine, Ness county, Kansas.</p>
+
+
+<h3>That Beautiful Christmas Gift. How the Lord Used it.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A lady and gentleman were walking up Madison avenue, New York City, from
+church, when incidentally the lady said, "We are trying to get up Christmas
+decorations and entertainment for our Mission School."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Well, put my name down for anything you like</i>," and then came
+into his mind a certain sum to give.</p>
+
+<p>A day passed on, it seemed forgotten; but a note from the lady reminded
+him of his promise, and he responded, giving the exact sum originally
+thought of, $25. Notice, now, the most singular disposition of it, which,
+by the hand of Providence, was made to go on its circuitous way to meet
+those who needed it most.</p>
+
+<p>The next Sabbath, the lady and gentleman again meeting each other, she
+said, "Your gift was too large. I cannot take so much from you. I shall
+give you back part."</p>
+
+<p>"But I won't take it."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you must. I can't keep it."</p>
+
+<p>It resulted in the lady taking $15 from her muff and forcing it back
+into the gentleman's hand.</p>
+
+<p>The gentleman felt badly. "<i>I intended this for the Lord, and now it
+is refused. It is the first time I ever heard that money ever given to a
+Sunday school was not wanted. I meant the whole for the. Lord</i>. If she
+don't want it and wont keep it, I will give the rest away. <i>It does not
+belong to me</i>." Before night he had enclosed it in a letter and sent it
+out of the city to an invalid as a <i>Christmas present</i>. He had
+occasion not long after to visit the invalid, and was fairly astonished at
+the extraordinary circumstances connected with its use; and this is his
+story, told in his letter to the lady who returned the $15.</p>
+
+<p>"The sequel to the $15 is far more beautiful and wonderful than anything
+I have ever known. This invalid had been praying for some money for a
+needed article of dress to protect her from cold. <i>The</i> $15 <i>came
+the very next morning in answer to her prayer. But it was more than
+enough</i>. As a consistent Christian, having asked the Lord only for
+enough to meet but one need, she felt as if the rest belonged to the Lord
+and must be used for Him. So in wondering how to use it, she thought of a
+poor woman who needed a new calico dress, and at once bought it and gave it
+to her. She had but $5 left. A dear friend was in distress; his horse and
+carriage had been seized for failure to pay the livery bill of their
+keeping; he could not collect any money of the debts due him, to pay his
+bill, and had nothing. His wife and children were in New Britain, and here
+he was, no means to get there. The little Christian invalid sent him her
+$5, the last money she had, not knowing where her next was to come from,
+with these words: "<i>The Lord has sent you this</i>," and though he
+offered to return, or use only part, she said, "<i>No, the Lord meant this
+for you</i>. You must keep it, I will not take it back." Now see how
+beautifully all these incidents have been made to work for the good of
+many, by the managing hand of Providence.</p>
+
+<p>"My original gift of $25 to you was <i>more than enough</i>. You did not
+need it all for your Sunday-school, and the Lord made you force back the
+$15 upon me. I could not keep it, because I felt, it belonged to the Lord.
+So I sent it to the little invalid.</p>
+
+<p>"She, too, had only needed a part, and used only what she asked the Lord
+for, and then she, in her turn, gave the rest away. The most wonderful part
+of it is, that the money you gave back to me, and I gave to the Lord, was
+<i>three-fifths of the amount you received</i>, and the money the little
+invalid gave away <i>to the Lord</i> was also <i>three-fifths the amount
+she received. The money which you kept for your use was just two-fifths,
+and the money that the invalid kept for her own use was just two-fifths
+also. The very next day after she had given her money away</i>, a lady
+called and gave her some money, which <i>was precisely the same amount</i>
+which <i>the poor woman's calico dress</i> had cost, (though she knew
+nothing of the circumstances), and in return for the $5 which she gave her
+friend in distress, and refused to take back, the Lord remembered her and
+gave her a good home.</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Widow's Wood and Flour.--The Unbelieving Ones Made Speechless.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The following instance is known to <i>The Christian</i> as true, and to
+a remarkable degree indicates how thoroughly God knows our minutest needs,
+and how effectively He makes those who ever reproach his name ashamed of
+their unbelief.</p>
+
+<p>"A friend and relative of the one who was 'a widow indeed,' one who
+trusted in God, and continued in supplications and prayers day and night,
+was once brought into circumstances of peculiar straitness and trial. She
+had two daughters who exerted themselves with their needles to earn a
+livelihood; and at that time they were so busily engaged in trying to
+finish some work that had long been on their hands, they had neglected to
+make provision for their ordinary wants until they found themselves one
+Winter's day in the midst of a New England snow storm, with food and fuel
+almost exhausted, at a distance from neighbors, and without any means of
+procuring needful sustenance.</p>
+
+<p>"The daughters began to be alarmed, and were full of anxiety at the
+dismal prospect, but the good old mother said, 'Don't worry, girls, the
+Lord will provide; we have enough for to-day, and to-morrow may be
+pleasant,' and in this hope the girls settled down again to their
+labor.</p>
+
+<p>"Another morning came, and with it no sunshine, but wind and snow in
+abundance. The storm still raged, but no one came near the house, and all
+was dark and dismal without.</p>
+
+<p>"Noon came, and the last morsel of food was eaten, the wind was almost
+gone, and there were no tokens of any relief for their necessities.</p>
+
+<p>"The girls became much distressed, and talked anxiously of their
+condition, but the good mother said, 'Don't worry, the Lord will
+provide.'</p>
+
+<p>"But they had heard that story the day before, and they, knew not the
+strong foundation upon which that mother's trust was builded, and could not
+share the confidence she felt.</p>
+
+<p>"'If we get anything to-day the Lord will have to bring it himself, for
+nobody else can get here if they try,' said one of the daughters,
+impatiently, but the mother said, 'Don't worry.' And so they sat down again
+to their sewing, the daughters to muse upon their necessitous condition,
+and the mother to roll her burden on the Everlasting Arms."</p>
+
+<p>Now mark the way in which the Lord came to their rescue, and just at
+this moment of extremity, put it into the heart of one of his children to
+go and carry relief. <i>Human Nature</i> at such a time would never have
+ventured out in such a storm, but waited for a pleasant day. But Divine
+Wisdom and power made him carry <i>just what was needed, in the face of
+adverse circumstances, and just at the time it was needed</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. M. sat at his fireside, about a mile away, surrounded by every
+bounty and comfort needed to cheer his heart, with his only daughter
+sitting by his side.</p>
+
+<p>"For a long time not a word had been spoken, and he had seemed lost in
+silent meditation, till at length he said, 'Mary, I want you to go and
+order the cattle yoked, and then get me a bag. I must go and carry some
+wood and flour to sister C.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Why, Father, it is impossible for you to go. There is no track, and it
+is all of a mile up there. You would almost perish.'</p>
+
+<p>"The old man sat in silence a few moments and said, 'Mary, I must go.'
+She knew her father too well to suppose that words would detain him, and so
+complied with his wishes. While she held the bag for him, she felt perhaps
+a little uneasiness to see the flour so liberally disposed of, and said, 'I
+wish you would remember that <i>I</i> want to give a poor woman some flour,
+if it ever clears off.' The old man understood the intimation and said,
+'Mary, give all you feel it duty to, and when the Lord says stop, I will do
+so.'</p>
+
+<p>"Soon all things were ready, and the patient oxen took their way to the
+widow's home, wallowing through the drifted snow, and dragging the sled
+with its load of wood and flour. About four o'clock in the afternoon, the
+mother had arisen from her work to fix the fire, and, looking out of the
+window, she saw the oxen at the door, and she knew that the Lord had heard
+her cry.</p>
+
+<p>"She said not a word--why should she? She was not surprised!--but,
+presently, a heavy step at the threshold caused the daughters to look up
+with astonishment, as Mr. M. strode unceremoniously into the room, saying,
+'<i>The Lord told me, Sister C, that you wanted some wood and
+flour</i>.'</p>
+
+<p>"'<i>He told you the truth</i>,' said the widow, 'and I will praise Him
+forever.'</p>
+
+<p>"'<i>What think you now girls</i>?' she continued, as she turned in
+solemn joy to her unbelieving daughters.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>They were speechless</i>; not a word escaped their lips; but they
+pondered that new revelation of the providential mercy of the Lord, until
+it made upon their minds an impression never to be effaced.</p>
+
+<p>"From that hour they learned to trust in Him who cares for <i>His
+needy</i> in the hour of distress, and who, from His boundless stores,
+supplies the wants of those who trust in Him."</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Pair of Shoes.--The Lord's Rebuke to those who "Didn't Believe."</h3>
+
+
+<p>The following incident occurred in Connecticut: In an humble cottage two
+sisters were watching over and caring for a much-loved brother, who, for
+many long months had been upon a bed of sickness. At length, the younger of
+them began to be discouraged. She was dependent, for her clothing, upon her
+labor; her shoes were worn out, and how should she get another pair, unless
+she could leave the sick bed and go away from home and work and earn some
+money.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said the mother, "I know you need a pair of shoes, but don't
+worry, the Lord will provide."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Do you think that</i> THE LORD <i>will come down from heaven and buy
+me a pair of shoes</i>?" said the younger sister, with an expression of
+discouragement and vexation on her countenance.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said the mother, "but perhaps he will put it into somebody's heart
+to buy you a pair."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps He will, <i>but I don't believe it</i>," said the discouraged
+girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said the other sister, who was a little more hopeful, "you won't
+get them any quicker by fretting, so you might as well be quiet." Then the
+subject dropped and the day passed as usual.</p>
+
+<p>As the shades of evening were gathering, a brother who lived at some
+distance, and who knew nothing of their previous conversation, called to
+inquire after their prosperity. After the customary salutations he said,
+"You have been sick here a long time, and I thought I would come round and
+see if I could not do something for you; thought perhaps by this time the
+girls needed something." Then turning to the younger sister, he said,
+"<i>How is it, aren't your shoes worn out?"</i></p>
+
+<p>She dropped her eyes, blushed deeply, and, perhaps, a little
+conscience-smitten, answered not a word. Nothing was said of the previous
+conversation, though it was not forgotten by those who heard it. The
+brother soon saw for himself enough to satisfy him, and said no more, but
+went away. The next day <i>two pairs of shoes</i> were sent around to her,
+and with them came to her heart a lesson which she never forgot.</p>
+
+<p>She lived many years after that, but was never heard to murmur in that
+way again, and often said that the two pairs of shoes taught her to
+<i>wait, hope and trust</i>, and thereby learn implicit confidence in Him
+who sendeth all blessings. The last time she alluded to the occurrence, she
+said, "<i>I was speechless then, but, by the grace of God, I will not be in
+the world to come</i>."</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Lame Healed.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Rev. Charles G. Finney, during his life-time, was familiar with the
+circumstances connected with the remarkable healing of a sick lady in
+Oberlin, O., the wife of Rev. R.D. Miller, and these facts were vouched for
+as unquestionably authentic. Mr. Finney says:</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Miller is the wife of a Congregational minister, and a lady of
+unquestionably veracity. However the fact of her healing is to be accounted
+for, her story is no doubt worthy of entire confidence, as we have known
+her for years as a lame, suffering invalid, and now see her in our midst in
+sound health. This instantaneous restoration will be accounted for by
+different persons in different ways. Mrs. Miller and those who were present
+regard the healing as supernatural and a direct answer to prayer. The facts
+must speak for themselves. Why should not the sick be healed in answer to
+the prayer of faith? Unbelief can discredit them, but faith sees nothing
+incredible in such facts as are stated by Mrs. Miller. Mrs. Miller's own
+statement is as follows, and it is fully endorsed by the most reliable
+citizens and members of the First church at Oberlin:</p>
+
+<p>"From my parents I inherited a constitution subject to a chronic form of
+rheumatism. In early life I was attacked with rheumatic weaknesses and
+pains, which affected my whole system. For nearly forty years I was subject
+to more or less suffering from this cause, sometimes unable to attend
+meeting for months at a time. For seven years, until the last three months,
+I have been unable to get about without the aid of crutch or staff,
+generally both. I have used many liniments and remedies, but with no
+permanently good result. I have been a Christian from early life, but last
+Spring, in our revival, I received a spiritual refreshing from the Lord,
+which gave a new impulse to my faith. Since then my religion has been a new
+life to me.</p>
+
+<p>"Last Summer, several of us Christian sisters were in the habit of
+spending short seasons of prayer together, that the Lord would send us a
+pastor. Some of our number had read the narrative of Dorothea Trudel, and
+had spoken to me on the subject of healing in answer to prayer. My faith
+had not then risen to this elevation. I had in fact accepted what I
+supposed to be the will of God, and made up my mind to be a lame and
+suffering invalid the rest of my life. I had long since ceased to use
+remedies for the restoration of my health, and had not even thought of
+praying in regard to it, for I regarded it as the will of God that I should
+suffer in silent submission.</p>
+
+<p>"Notwithstanding what had been said to me, I remained in this opinion
+and in this attitude until the 26th of September, 1872, when several ladies
+met at our house, by appointment, for a prayer-meeting. I had been growing
+worse for some time, and was at that time unable to get out to attend a
+meeting. I was suffering much pain that afternoon; indeed, I was hardly
+able to be out of my bed. Up to this time none of the sisters who had
+conversed with me about the subject of healing by faith, had been able to
+tell me anything from their own experience. That afternoon, one lady was
+present who could speak to me from her own experience of being healed in
+answer to the prayer of faith. She related several striking instances in
+which her prayers had been answered in the removal of divers forms of
+disease to which she was subject. She also repeated a number of passages of
+Scripture, which clearly justified the expectation of being healed in
+answer to the prayer of faith. She also said that Jesus had shown her that
+he was just as ready to heal diseases now as he was when on earth; that
+such healing was expressly promised in Scripture, in answer to the prayer
+of faith, and that it was nowhere taken back. These facts, reasonings, and
+passages of Scripture, made a deep impression on my mind, and, for the
+first time, I found myself able to believe that Jesus would heal me in
+answer to prayer. She asked me if I could join my faith with hers and ask
+for present healing. I told her I felt that I could. We then knelt, and
+called upon the Lord. She offered a mighty prayer to God, and I followed.
+While she was leading in prayer I felt a quickening in my whole being,
+whereupon my pain subsided, and when we rose from prayer I felt that a
+great change had come over me, that I was cured. I found that I could walk
+without my staff or crutch, or any assistance from any one. Since then my
+pains have never returned; I have more than my youthful vigor; I walk with
+more ease and rapidity than I ever did in my life, and I never felt so
+fresh and young as I now do, at the age of fifty-two.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, the hundred and third psalm is my psalm, and my youth is more than
+renewed, like the eagle's. I cannot express the constant joy of my heart
+for the wonderful healing of my soul and body. I feel as if I was every
+whit made whole."</p>
+
+<p>The testimony of eye-witnesses to this healing is as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"We were all present at the time of the healing, and know the facts to
+be true. We are all Christians, and have no interest in deceiving anybody,
+and would by no means dishonor God by stating more than the exact truth.
+Since the healing, Mrs. Miller is still with us, and in excellent health.
+Neither the severe cold of last Winter, nor the extreme heat of this
+Summer, has at all injured her health. From our first acquaintance with
+her, she has been so lame as to be unable to walk, except by the aid of
+crutches. Since which time she has been able to walk without help, and
+appears perfectly well."</p>
+
+<p>Her husband, also adding his testimony, says:</p>
+
+<p>"She has been unable to walk without crutches for a series of years. A
+long time ago, we tried many remedies and physicians, with no lasting good
+results, and were expecting she would remain an invalid. Of late, she had
+applied no remedy, nor taken any medicine. At the time of her cure, she was
+much worse than for a long while before, being in great pain continually,
+until the moment she fully believed, and, <i>in an instant</i>, she was
+restored to perfect soundness. From that moment to this she has not felt a
+particle of her former complaint.</p>
+
+<p>"She can now walk for miles as fast as I wish to, without feeling very
+much fatigue, does all her own housework, and attends seven meetings during
+the week. In short, she is stronger, and seems as young and spry, as when
+we were married, thirty-two years ago. The work of the dear Savior in her
+cure seems to be perfect, and she is an astonishment to all who knew her
+before and see her now. To <i>His</i> name be all the praise.</p>
+
+<p>"Another lady, the same week my wife was healed, a member of the First
+Congregational Church, confined to her bed with a complicated disease, was
+prayed for, and restored at once to soundness."</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Wonderful Cure Of Mrs. Sherman.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Although there are so many cases of healing in answer to prayer, yet the
+incident of the healing of Mrs. Sherman is so minute, and resulted in such
+a radical change of the physical constitution, that it is necessary to
+relate it in full detail. It is too well proven to admit the possibility of
+a doubt.</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Ellen Sherman is the wife of Rev. Moses Sherman, and, at the time
+of this occurrence, in 1873, they were residents of Piermont, N.H. She had
+been an invalid for many years. In the Winter after she was fifteen, she
+fell on the ice and hurt her left knee, so that it became weak and easy to
+slip out of joint. Six years after, she fell again on the same knee, so
+twisting it and injuring the ligaments that it became partially stiff, and,
+the physician said, incurable.</p>
+
+<p>"The next Summer, by very fast walking, one day, she brought on special
+weakness, which no physician was able to cure. From that moment she was
+subject to severe neuralgia, sick-headaches, at least monthly, and
+sometimes even weekly.</p>
+
+<p>"In December, 1859, while stepping out of doors, she slipped, by reason
+of her stiff joint, and fell, striking near the base of the spine, directly
+across the sharp edge of the stone step. This caused such a sickness that
+she was obliged to leave the school she was attending.</p>
+
+<p>"Three years after (in January, 1862), she fell at the top of a
+stairway, striking just as before, and sliding all the way down to the
+foot. This nearly paralyzed the spinal cord, and caused deep and permanent
+spinal disease. After this she was up and down for many years, attended by
+various physicians, yet nothing bettered, but, rather, growing worse. It
+may be said, for short, that every organ of the lower body became
+chronically diseased, and that the headaches increased in violence.</p>
+
+<p>"In September, 1872, through a severe cold, she took her bed, where she
+lay, except when lifted from it, till the night of August 27, 1873. She was
+unable to walk a step, or even stand. She could sit up only a short time
+without great distress. The best medical skill that could be procured gave
+only temporary relief. The spine grew worse in spite of every appliance,
+and the nervous sensitiveness and prostration were increasing. During the
+two or three weeks immediately preceding her cure she was especially
+helpless, two persons being required to lift her off and on the bed. On the
+Monday before, one of her severest neuralgia sick-headaches came on. During
+Wednesday she began to be relieved, but was still so sick that when, in the
+evening, she tried to have her clothes changed, she could only endure the
+change of her night-dress."</p>
+
+<p>It will be seen from this her utter physical helplessness, and not the
+slightest hope of any amelioration. During the night of August 27th, she
+enjoyed a blessed time of communion with her Lord, giving herself, in all
+her helplessness, wholly to Him to do as he wills.</p>
+
+<p>With feelings beyond all expression, she <i>felt</i> the nearness of her
+mighty Savior, and the sense of receiving a new and most delicious
+pulsation of new life. At last, though she had been bed-ridden for twelve
+months, and incapable of any bodily assistance, she felt an uncontrollable
+impulse to throw off the clothes of the bed with her left arm, and sprang
+out of bed upon her feet, and started to walk across the room.</p>
+
+<p>"Her husband's first thought was that she was crazed, and would fall to
+the floor, and he sprang towards her to help her. But she put up her hands
+against him, saying with great energy, 'Don't you touch me! Don't you touch
+me!' and went walking back and forth across the room speaking rapidly, and
+declaring the work which Jesus had been working upon her.</p>
+
+<p>"Her husband, quickly saw that she was in her right mind, and had been
+healed by the Lord, and his soul was filled with unutterable emotion.</p>
+
+<p>"One of the women of the household was called, also their son, twelve
+years old, and together they thanked God for the great and blessed wonder
+he had wrought.</p>
+
+<p>"In the morning, after a sleep of several hours, she further examined
+herself to see if entirely healed, and found both knees perfectly well; and
+though for sixteen years she had not been able to use either, now she
+lifted the left <i>foot</i> and <i>put it upon the right knee</i>, thus
+proving the completeness of her restoration.</p>
+
+<p>"At the end of two years from her healing, inquiry having been made as
+to how thorough had been the work, Mrs. Sherman gave full and abundant
+evidence. 'I cannot remember a Summer when I have been so healthy and
+strong, and able to work hard. I am a constant wonder to myself, and to
+others, and have been for the two years past. The cure exceeded my highest
+expectations at the time I was cured. I did not look forward to such a
+state of vigor and strength. No words can express my joy and gratitude for
+all this.'</p>
+
+<p>"The parents of Mrs. Sherman also testify of the wonderful change
+physically which occurred with the cure.</p>
+
+<p>"Before, her appetite was always disordered, but on the very morning of
+the healing it was wholly changed, and her food, which distressed her
+formerly, she ate with a relish and without any pain following; and she so
+continues. For years before a natural action of the bowels was rare. From
+that day since, an unnatural one is equally rare.</p>
+
+<p>"For fifteen years, with few exceptions, she had had severe neuralgic
+sick headaches monthly or oftener. From that time she has been natural and
+without pain, with no return of the headaches, except a comparatively
+slight one once, from overdoing and a cold taken through carelessness.</p>
+
+<p>"There was also at that time an immediate and radical change in the
+action of the kidneys, which had become a source of great trouble before.
+Moreover the knee which had been partially stiff for so many years was made
+entirely well. In fine, her body, which had been so full of pain, became at
+once free from pain, and full of health.</p>
+
+<p>"The week after she was healed she went fifty miles to attend a
+camp-meeting, riding five miles in a carriage, the rest by cars. A near
+neighbor said, 'She will come back worse than ever.' Though the weather was
+especially bad, she came back better than when she went."</p>
+
+<p>These are but few out of many expressions respecting her extraordinary
+recovery, which fully satisfy the believing Christian that <i>the Great</i>
+Physician is with us now, "<i>healing the lame</i>," and curing the sick.
+It is faith only, unyielding, which the Lord requires ere he gives his
+richest blessing.</p>
+
+<p>The unbelieving one simply sees in it "<i>something strange</i>," which
+he can not understand, but the faith-keeping Christian knows it is the sign
+of his <i>Precious Lord</i>, in whom he trusts and abides forever.</p>
+
+
+<h3>Dr. Newman Hall's Testimonies to the Value of Prayer.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Dr. Newman Hall, of London, in his wide experience has met with many
+incidents of answered prayer, and thus relates several:</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Prayer For Thirty Pounds.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"On a recent evangelizing visit to Newport, one of its citizens said to
+me, 'In yonder house dwell a man and wife, who recently needed a sum of
+&pound;30 to meet some payment the next morning. Having failed in their
+efforts to collect it, they earnestly prayed God to provide it. The store
+was being closed for the night when a sea-captain knocked at the door and
+asked for some seamen's clothes. The gas was relighted, and various
+articles were selected; the purchaser then asked for the account, and the
+money was paid--<i>a little more than</i> &pound;30. The man and his wife
+thanked their Heavenly Father for sending it in this way in answer to
+prayer.'"</p>
+
+
+<h3>Recovery From Dangerous Illness.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Dr. Newman Hall was once visiting, on his dying bed, John Cranfield, son
+of the great originator of ragged schools, under the ministry of Rowland
+Hill.</p>
+
+<p>"We were conversing on prayer. He said, 'A remarkable instance occurred
+in connection with my father. The former organist of Surry Chapel, Mr.
+Howard, was dangerously ill. He was greatly beloved, and his friends met
+for special prayer that God would spare his life. My father on that
+occasion was remarkably earnest in asking that the life of his friend might
+be lengthened, as in the case of Hezekiah. The next day he began to
+recover; and during fifteen years was a blessing to his friends and the
+church.'"</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Sunday School Teacher In Distress.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"My brother," says Dr. Hall, "told me that when superintendent of a
+Sunday school he felt a strong impulse, one Saturday evening, to call at
+the home of one of his teachers whom he had never visited before. He found
+his mother and sisters in such evident distress that he inquired the cause.
+With much reluctance they explained that, being unable to pay their taxes,
+their goods were to be taken on the coming Monday, and they had been asking
+special help from God to save them from a disaster which they felt would be
+a dishonor to religion. By the aid of a few friends the difficulty was at
+once met, but the timely succor was regarded as the divine answer to their
+prayer."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Rescued In Peril.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"With my brother I was once climbing the <i>Cirrha di Jazze</i>, one of
+the mountains in the chain of <i>Mount Rosa</i>. When nearly at the top, we
+entered a dense fog. Presently our guides faced right about and grounded
+their axes on the frozen snowed slope. My brother, seeing the slope still
+beyond, and not knowing it was merely the cornice overhanging a precipice
+of several thousand feet, rushed onward. I shall never forget their cry of
+agonized warning. He stood a moment on the very summit, and then, the snow
+yielding, he began to fall through. One of the guides, at great risk, had
+rushed after him, and seizing him by the coat, drew him down to a place of
+safety.</p>
+
+<p>"No one could be nearer death and yet escape. On his return home, an
+invalid member of his congregation told him that she had been much in
+prayer for his safety, and mentioned a special time when she was
+particularly earnest, as if imploring deliverance from some great peril.
+<i>The times corresponded.</i> His life was saved in answer to her
+prayer."</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Physical Impediment Removed.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"A clergyman, of great scholarship and genius, has told me of a
+remarkable answer to prayer, authenticated by three missionaries known to
+himself, who are personally acquainted with the facts.</p>
+
+<p>"A Prussian, the master of a hotel in India, was anxious to relinquish
+his large income, and labor as a missionary among the Santil tribes.
+Objection was made to him on account of an impediment in his speech which
+would render him, in speaking a foreign language, incapable of being
+understood. Believing in the efficacy of prayer, he called together his
+friends, specially to ask that his impediment might be removed. The next
+morning, he presented himself again at the Mission House--<i>the impediment
+had gone</i>! He was accepted, relinquished his business, and is now
+preaching the gospel to the Santils in their own tongue."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Restoration From Death.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"My father, the author of the <i>Sinner's Friend</i>, narrates in his
+autobiography a circumstance which he often used to speak of with great
+emotion.</p>
+
+<p>"My mother was very ill, and apparently dying. The Doctor said that now,
+if at all, the children might be brought for her to look at them once more.
+One by one we were brought to the bedside, and her hand was placed on our
+heads.</p>
+
+<p>"Then my father bade her farewell, and she lay motionless as if soon to
+breathe her last.</p>
+
+<p>"He then said to himself, 'There is yet one promise I have not pleaded,
+"If ye ask anything in my name I will do it." He stepped aside, and in an
+agony of soul exclaimed, '<i>O, Lord, for the honor of thy dear Son, give
+me the life of my wife!'</i></p>
+
+<p>"He could say no more, and sank down exhausted. Just then the nurse
+called him to the bedside saying, 'She has opened her mouth again as if for
+food.' Nourishment was given, and from that time she began to recover. The
+doctor said it was miraculous. My father said it was God, who had heard his
+prayer."</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Help Of The Lord In Little Things.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The Rev. Dr. Patton, of Chicago, in receiving many letters from
+clergymen, received one from Mr. F., a pastor in Massachusetts.</p>
+
+<p>In it he speaks of his unsuccessful search for a valuable knife, prized
+as a present from a friend, which he had lost on a hillside covered with
+laurels. He paused in prayer, asked to be guided, commenced his search, and
+was almost immediately successful thereafter.</p>
+
+<p>The same letter also mentions the case of a friend in a responsible
+position under the government, whose accounts failed to balance by reason
+of an error, which, after long search, he could not detect.</p>
+
+<p>In great distress he betook himself to prayer, and then opening his
+books, <i>on the very first page</i>, which he happened to glance at, and
+at the top of the column, he saw instantly the looked for error, standing
+out so plainly that he wondered he had not seen it before.</p>
+
+<p>The writer also speaks of a rubber shoe being lost and promptly found
+after mention in prayer.</p>
+
+<p>These may seem little matters, but they are the privileges of the
+righteous to ask "anything" of "Him who careth for them."</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Boy's Faith In Prayer</h3>
+
+
+<p>In a letter to Dr. W.W. Patton, by Mr. T.I. Goodwin, M.D., of Staten
+Island, he describes a little incident which happened to him when only
+thirteen years old.</p>
+
+<p>"He lost a choice penknife while collecting and driving several cows
+from a pasture covered with grass two inches high. Having read Huntington's
+Book of Faith, he thought of prayer, and in childlike trust he knelt under
+a tree, outside the bars, and prayed for his lost treasure; for he was a
+farmer's boy, and his spending money amounted to only about fifty cents a
+year. 'I rose up, cast my eyes down on the ground, and without planning my
+course or making any estimate of probabilities, walked across the meadow
+centrally to near its farther edge, saw the penknife down in the grass
+directly before me, and picked it up all as readily as I could have done
+had any one stood there pointing to the exact place. <i>Had I gone ten feet
+to the right or left</i> I could not have seen the knife, for the grass was
+too high.'"</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Prayer For Five Dollars.</h3>
+
+
+<p>One of the City Home missionaries in New York city received on a certain
+day five dollars with special directions that it be given to a certain poor
+minister in Amos street. In the evening the missionary called and gave him
+the money.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment the good man stood amazed and speechless. Then taking down
+a little journal he turned to the record made in his diary of that morning,
+and showed it to the missionary. "<i>Spent two and a half hours in earnest
+prayer for five dollars</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"And now here it is," said the man, with a heart overflowing with
+gratitude. "The Lord has sent it." Both giver and receiver had their faith
+strengthened by the incident.</p>
+
+
+<h3>Go To The Post-Office.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A correspondent of "<i>The Guiding Hand</i>" relates this incident:</p>
+
+<p>"In the year 18--, having a brother living in the city of R., I went to
+see him. Going to the store where he had been at work, I found that the
+firm had suspended, and that he was thrown out of employment, and had
+broken up housekeeping, but could not ascertain where he was, only that he
+was boarding somewhere out in the suburbs of the city. I searched for him
+all day, but in vain.</p>
+
+<p>"It was <i>absolutely necessary</i> that I should find <i>him</i>. What
+MORE to do I knew not, except to <i>pray</i>. Finally, I was impressed to
+write a line and drop it into the post-office, and I obeyed the impression,
+telling him, if he got it, to meet me at a stated place, the next morning,
+at ten o'clock. <i>I prayed earnestly</i> that the Lord would cause him
+<i>to go to the post-office,</i> so that he might get my letter. I felt
+full of peace, and at rest about the matter. The next morning, at ten
+o'clock, I went to the place appointed for him to meet me, <i>and he soon
+came in</i>."</p>
+
+<p>This incident might seem one of ordinary or chance occurrence, but for
+the following unusual circumstances:</p>
+
+<p>"As they were returning to their home, his brother said: 'There is
+something <i>very strange</i> about my going to the post-office this
+morning--<i>I had my arrangements all made to go with a party, this morning
+early, to the bay, fishing; but, when I awoke, I had such an impression to
+go down to the post-office, that I had to forgo the pleasure of going to
+the bay, and went to the post-office and found your letter</i>.'</p>
+
+<p>"I replied, '<i>It was the Lord</i> that impressed you in answer to my
+prayer, for I have prayed earnestly for the Lord to send you to the office
+this morning,' and, although but young in years and religion, I gave God
+the praise for his guidance and His grace."</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Widow's Tree</h3>
+
+
+<p>Not many years ago a violent storm, with wind and thunder, spread
+devastation all through the valley of Yellow Creek, Georgia. For a mile in
+width, trees were uprooted, barns and fences were prostrated, and all the
+lands were desolated.</p>
+
+<p>Right in the center of the tornado stood a small cabin. Its sole
+occupants were an aged widow and her only son. The terrible wind struck a
+large tree in front of her humble dwelling, twisting and dashing it about.
+If it fell it would lay her home in ruins. Desolation, death itself, might
+follow. The storm howled and raged. The great trees fell in all directions.
+When it seemed her tree must also fall and there was no remedy, she knelt
+in fervent supplication to Him who gathereth the wind in his fists, that he
+would spare that tree. Her prayer was heard. The tree was spared, and was
+the <i>only one</i> left within a considerable distance of the widow's
+cabin.</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Lord Paid His Interest.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A most curious answer to prayer occurred in the experience of a home
+missionary in Brooklyn. It illustrates how God, in his trials of faith to
+see if His people do really cling to the promises, compels them to march
+right into the scene of danger, and into the mouth of the cannon, that
+apparently is open specially to shoot them down.</p>
+
+<p>The interest on the mortgage of his property was due in a few days. Its
+amount was $300. He did not have the money--did not know where to obtain
+it. With anxious heart during the day, he kept up his faith and courage by
+thinking of the Lord's promises, and, the last night before the eventful
+day, was spent in prayer, until the assurance came that all was well. Often
+he pleaded, often he reminded the Lord that, as his life was <i>His</i>, to
+save him from reproach, and not let his trust in the Lord suffer dishonor
+before others.</p>
+
+<p>The last moment came--no money--no relief. With sinking heart he went to
+the holder of the mortgage to announce his utter inability to meet his
+demand. While there, just at the last moment, when he was about to leave,
+the gentleman said, "<i>By the way, here is an envelope I was told to give
+you."</i></p>
+
+<p>The missionary opened it, <i>and out came six fifty dollar bills,</i>
+just the <i>three hundred dollars prayed for</i>. The Lord met and
+delivered him in the very jaws of the enemy.</p>
+
+
+<h3>Will the Lord Deliver from Bad Habits of Tobacco, Rum, Liquor,
+Licentiousness, etc., in Answer to Prayer.</h3>
+
+
+<p>This question having been asked by a clergyman of Brooklyn, Rev. S.H.
+Platt, he received a large number of communications, which evidently prove
+that the Lord is <i>willing</i> and <i>does</i>, either
+<i>instantaneously</i> or gradually in answer to prayer, deliver and take
+away wholly the bad <i>habits</i> and <i>appetites</i> of those who are
+willing to forsake their sinful ways and cleave only to Him. <i>The Lord's
+salvation cleanses and delivers the body as well as the soul</i>.</p>
+
+<p>We quote a few extracts from his correspondence, which is but a small
+portion out of many published in his volume, "<i>The Power of
+Grace</i>."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Cured Of Tobacco Appetite.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"A little more than a year has elapsed since I left off the use of
+tobacco. This further time has more fully developed the thoroughness of the
+case spoken of and the completeness of the victory over an evil habit. I am
+filled with wonder, for I expected a terrible fight with an appetite,
+strengthened by an indulgence of about thirty-five years, but the enemy has
+not shown his head. <i>Not only has the desire for smoking been effectually
+squelched</i>, but a perfect hatred of smoking has been developed on
+account of the offensiveness of the odor of tobacco. I frequently cross the
+street, or change my seat in a car to escape the puff of smoke, or the
+fetid breath of a smoker. 'Thanks be unto God who giveth us the
+victory.'"</p>
+
+
+<h3>Bad Habits Wholly Overcome.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"A physician of extended practice was converted and reclaimed while I
+had charge of the place in which he lived. He had acquired the habit of
+using large quantities of whiskey and brandy, and withal more or less given
+to licentiousness. Since that time he has been steadily advancing in morals
+and moral power, till he now preaches the gospel as a local preacher, side
+by side with the best of the district."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Was It Instantaneous?</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Yes, as respects tobacco; he became convicted of its sinfulness by a
+voice saying, 'That is not the way to glorify God: stop, and stop now.' And
+from that moment he says he has never used it, neither does he in any way
+like the smell, or even the sight of tobacco."</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Lord Delivers From Bodily Sins.</h3>
+
+<p>"I had used tobacco from my childhood, and the love and use thereof grew
+upon me. I became convicted of its sinfulness, went to God and said,
+'<i>Destroy the appetite, and give me power over it</i>. Save me that I may
+glorify thee as a God of power for our present sins, and I will glorify
+thee ever more.' I wrote out the contract and signed it, and from that
+blessed afternoon have no recollection of ever desiring it even."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Another Deliverance.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Tobacco was a great trouble to me; and I had tried a number of times to
+leave it off, but could not do so. One night as I was retiring to rest, I
+thought I would kneel by my bed and ask <i>Him</i>, who never refuses to
+answer prayer, to take from me the desire for tobacco, and from that moment
+it has been impossible for me to use it.</p>
+
+
+<h3>Not Your Own Strength Can Break the Habit.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"I smoked tobacco excessively for fifteen years, commencing when I was
+about twenty years old. I often strove to break off from the use of it;
+indeed I determined time and again to desist from it, sometimes abstaining
+for a few months or weeks, once for twelve months, <i>but the desire never
+left me</i>, and whenever I tasted it I was sure to take to it again. I
+sometimes vowed whilst upon my knees in prayer, to abstain from it and
+never touch it again, but I always attempted to do this in my own strength;
+hence I failed, being overcome by the almost irresistible influences it had
+upon my appetite, so long accustomed to the use.</p>
+
+<p>"One Sunday morning, I retired to a secluded place, got down upon my
+knees, and asked the Lord to help me quit it, determining then and there
+that I would, God being my helper, never touch the accursed thing again by
+any kind of use in the way of consumption, and from that day to this, I
+have never had any desire to smoke or chew tobacco, or to use it in any
+way; I lifted my heart to God, imploring his assistance in abstaining from
+it. I have now been clear of the desire of it for nearly twenty-three
+years."</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Double Cure.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"At the age of twelve years I commenced to use tobacco, and continued to
+use it, both smoking and chewing, till five years ago, when in answer to
+prayer the appetite was instantly removed.</p>
+
+<p>"The circumstances were as follows: I had tried many ways to leave off
+the use of tobacco, but the appetite was so strong that I could not
+withstand it. At one time I left it off for a month, but not a day passed
+but I craved it, and when I did begin again it tasted as good as ever. I
+found that tobacco was injuring my health. My nervous system was much
+deranged.</p>
+
+<p>"For more than a year before I left it off there was scarcely a night
+but I lay for two or three hours, before I could go to sleep. I resolved a
+great many times I would leave off, but always failed. I had also acquired
+the habit of drinking, and became a confirmed drunkard.</p>
+
+<p>"I knew the habits were killing me, but I was powerless to stop. One
+evening a prayer-meeting was appointed at my house. The minister in his
+remarks spoke about habits, and said that religion would cure all bad
+habits, such as tobacco, &amp;c., and that by prayer God would remove all
+evil appetites.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought but little about it that night; was very careless and
+trifling about it. The next morning I took out my tobacco to take a chew,
+and thought of what the minister had said the night before. It was a new
+idea to me. I put the tobacco in my pocket again, and said, '<i>I'll try
+it</i>.'</p>
+
+<p>"<i>I was alone in my barn; I kneeled down and asked God to remove the
+appetite from me. It was done. I was cured</i>. I felt it. I knew it then.
+I have never had a desire for it since. There has been no hankering for it
+or for strong drink since. My sins were all forgiven, and I was made a new
+man all over, inside and outside.</p>
+
+<p>"When I go into company where they are smoking, I have no desire for it
+at all, neither have I for drinking, any more than if I had never had those
+habits. <i>My nervous difficulty was also instantly cured</i>. No more
+trouble about sleeping, and I know that Jesus can heal and remove and
+destroy all evil habits."</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Special Word to all Seeking to Escape Evil Ways.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Should these words meet the eye of any one so troubled over any evil way
+or bad habit from whose bondage he would gladly escape, let me say to you
+these words of good cheer: "<i>The Lord can save you, the Lord can deliver
+you, the Lord can wholly heal you. He can take away your appetite and
+cleanse you thoroughly</i>. He has done it for many others. He can do it
+for you. Realize that your own strength can not do it. Forget not that it
+is only in answer to your own prayer. Those who want this good gift must
+<i>pray for it</i>. Deliverance may be instantaneous or gradual, but do not
+cease your prayer. Seek in the Bible for those promises which show that he
+can <i>deliver from all evil</i>, and plead them and then trust in Him and
+his strength to fulfill them.</p>
+
+<p>"Forget not also to ask others to pray for you, and remember that the
+answer is sure to come if you add to your prayer these true thoughts of
+your heart, '<i>Deliver me and I give myself to thee forever</i>.'</p>
+
+<p>"If you expect so great a gift from the Lord, he asks of you, '<i>What
+are you willing to do for me</i>?'"</p>
+
+
+<h3>Help at the Very Last Moment. Faith Rewarded.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A clergyman in the State of New York, through the influence of a
+disaffected member, was unfairly and precipitately deprived of his pulpit,
+which involved a large family in necessity. At supper the good man had the
+pain of beholding the last morsel of bread placed upon the table without
+the least means or prospect of a supply for his children's breakfast. His
+wife, full of grief with her children, retired to her bed. The minister
+chose to sit up and employ his dark hours in prayer, and reading the
+promises of God. Some secret hope of supply pervaded his breast, but when,
+whence, or by whom, he knew not. He retired to rest, and in the morning
+appeared with his family, and offered family prayer. It being the depth of
+Winter, and a little fire on the hearth, he desired his wife to hang on the
+kettle, and spread the cloth upon the table. The kettle boiled, the
+children cried for bread; the afflicted father, standing before the fire,
+felt those deep emotions of heart over his helplessness and impending
+starvation which those reared in affluence never know.</p>
+
+<p>While in this painful state some one knocked at the door, entered, and
+delivered a letter into the minister's hand. When the gentleman was gone
+the letter was opened, and to the minister's astonishment it contained a
+few bank bills, with a desire for acceptance. So manifest an answer to
+prayer from Divine Goodness could not but be received with gratitude and
+joy, and fulfills to the very letter these promises: "Verily thou shalt be
+fed." Psalm 37:3. "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." Heb.
+13:5.</p>
+
+<p>To ascertain how this occurrence came to take place, this remarkable
+coincidence of relief at the identical moment of time when there was the
+last appeal to God, the incident was communicated to the editor of a
+religious journal. Having an intimacy with the gentleman said to be the one
+whose hand had offered the seasonable relief, he determined the next time
+he made him a visit to introduce the subject, and, if possible, to know the
+reason that induced the generous action. The story was told with a modest
+blush which evinced the tenderness of his heart. On interrogation, he said
+"he had frequently heard that minister. On a certain morning he was
+disposed for a walk; thought in the severity of the winter season a trifle
+might be of service, as fuel was high; felt a kind of necessity to enclose
+the money in a letter; went to the house, found the family, delivered the
+paper and retired, but knew not the extreme necessity of the minister and
+his family, either at that time nor till this very moment when his friend
+introduced the subject. Thus it is seen none but God knew the want or moved
+the hand that gave the supply, and brought them to meet at the right
+time.</p>
+
+
+<h3>Spinal Disease Cured.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"There was a little girl in this place that had the
+cerebro-spinal-meningitis; several had died with this disease, and the
+physician had given her up to die. The weekly prayer-meeting met in town
+that night, and her parents wrote a note and sent it by their little son,
+requesting prayer that their little daughter might live and not die, signed
+with the names of both parents. From that time she began to recover, and
+to-day she is a bright little girl, with full use of every faculty, and not
+deformed as most persons are from this terrible disease. I cannot view it
+in any other light than a direct answer to prayer."</p>
+
+
+<h3>An Old Man's Prayer.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"I feel also like mentioning another instance. I knew an old father in
+Israel, a minister of the gospel, who once in speaking with a brother
+minister, after a revival of religion in which five of his grandchildren
+had professed their faith in Christ, among others with whom he had labored;
+said if he could only live to see his one remaining granddaughter brought
+into the fold, and the two Presbyterian churches, then, called the Old and
+New school, united, he could say, like Simeon of old, 'Lord, now lettest
+thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.'
+About three years after, the two Presbyteries met near this place in
+Germantown, Mo., and he seemed as if he could not contain himself till the
+time came for the meeting, so anxious was he for this great desire of his
+heart to be fulfilled. On the day of meeting he took sick and could not be
+present at any of the sessions, but many of his brethren were with him,
+among whom was this one he had been conversing with. The sessions lasted
+three days, and upon the last evening his wishes were gratified, the two
+Presbyteries merged into one, singing 'Blest be the tie that binds;' and
+his youngest granddaughter united with the church, and after the meeting
+adjourned this brother came to watch with the aged servant of God. He was
+permitted to convey the glad news to him, and see a heavenly smile light up
+his countenance as he passed away with his earnest prayer gratified."</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Mysterious Leadings Of Providence.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The following incidents are contributed to the book by a prominent
+clergyman:</p>
+
+<p>"A period, ever memorable in the life of the writer, occurred in the
+Autumn of 1832, while attending a protracted meeting of more than ordinary
+interest and power, held under the auspices of the Baptist church in the
+city of Schenectady, under the then pastoral charge of Rev. Abraham D.
+Gillette, this being his first settlement. It was in one of the meetings
+that the Holy Spirit impressed my mind of its sinfulness and the need of a
+Savior, not only to cleanse my soul of sin and sinful stains, but to save
+me. These impressions caused me to humble myself at the feet of sovereign
+mercy; and in the midst of my pleadings, God answered my prayer, and opened
+to me new views, views of the heavenly kingdom, which so electrified my
+soul, that with a full heart I could say, 'Blessed be the Lord who has
+shown me marvelous works in this lonely place beneath the star-lit
+sky.'</p>
+
+<p>"This great change was, and is, to me the most wonderful interposition
+of God in my behalf in answer to prayer. This answer to prayer the promised
+result of faith in Him."</p>
+
+<p>"Again, in the year 1836, the writer in the year mentioned was employed
+by a transportation company, in the city of Troy, in the character of an
+employee having direction of a portion of the business of the company which
+brought me into close relation with the many boatmen connected with the
+company. Association with the boatmen was painful to my religious nature,
+compelled, as I was, to hear all manner of offensive talk. The latter led
+me to indulge a wish that I might free myself from such company, in order
+to form associations with persons of my own religious turn of mind. But God
+willed otherwise, as will be learned from the recital of God's dealings
+with me on an occasion of a journey alone in a carriage from Troy to
+Schenectady. It was on the occasion alluded to that most of the time was
+occupied in prayer, and the burden of my prayer was 'that God would open up
+a way for me wherein I could find more congenial company, where in fact my
+religious feelings would not meet with the trials incident to my present
+associations.' But He who knew my needs better, came to my relief in words
+seemingly distinct enough to be heard. This was the answer: 'I have placed
+you just where I want you.' Instantly my prayer for a change of location or
+separation from my business and its connections ceased, and since, instead
+of looking for easy positions, wherein the principles of the faith which is
+in me may be undisturbed, I deem it suited to my growth in grace and
+increase in devotion to my Master's cause, to covet the association of men
+whose only tendency is to evil continually. I have found by experience in
+the latter direction, that although many tongues are loose in the habit of
+profanity, I am roused more and more by grace to impart words of counsel. I
+know that efforts at consistency in Christian conduct and converse will
+stop the mouth of profaners of the name of our Redeemer, God."</p>
+
+<p>Another instance of the presence of God with his children is clearly
+manifest in the following sketch of a meeting of two brethren, of whom the
+writer was one, held in the conference room of the First Baptist church in
+Troy, N.Y., of which church he was a member. The meeting alluded to
+occurred in the early spring of 1840 or '41. We were accustomed to meet
+almost every day for the purpose of arranging the Sunday school library,
+but would occupy a portion of the time, usually at noon, in prayer for such
+persons or objects as were presented to the mind. On the particular
+occasion we propose to mention, it was mutually agreed that we pray for one
+of the brethren, whose gifts were of a high order, and his usefulness
+hindered by a lack of spirituality. We mutually bowed in prayer for this
+brother, and while thus engaged the door of the room was opened, and a
+person entered and knelt between us, but who he was, or the purpose of his
+visit we knew not until we had ended our prayer, at which time the person
+spoke and requested us to continue praying for him.</p>
+
+<p>At the conclusion of the service, the question was mooted how he came
+there. His reply was in substance as follows: "When standing on a stoop on
+the corner of Fourth and Congress streets, cogitating which way I should
+go, I was impressed by a voice within which directed my course to the
+Conference Room. I debated with the impression, taking the position that it
+being noon no meeting was then in progress. Still the impression remained,
+and could not be removed. Noticing this, I gave way to the voice and here I
+am." Neither of the three thus brought together could doubt for a moment
+that our prayer for this brother was answered. His joy was great in view of
+being thus called from his delinquency to share in the fullness of his
+Savior's love.</p>
+
+<p>"Another instance in the experience of the writer very clearly shows the
+power and worth of prayer. About the year 1840, in the Autumn thereof, he
+experienced a lack of vital, spiritual energy. This had been of months'
+continuance, but to his joy, culminated after retiring to rest. After this
+manner, before sleep overcame him, he was impressed to present his case
+before the mercy-seat. To do so he arose from his bed, retired to a quiet
+part of his home and bowed in prayer, seeking to occupy the entire night if
+need be in prayer for the bestowal of the Holy Spirit, and the consequent
+revival influences of other days. This season of prayer was of short
+continuance; but not by reason of disrelish for the exercise, but because
+my prayer was answered and a complete breaking away of the previous
+hindrances to my spiritual enjoyment. Since the event alluded to, now more
+than thirty-six years, I have not been afflicted by doubts, and counsel
+brethren and sisters not to allow themselves to be made unhappy by this
+evil to our spiritual progress."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Life Spared For Two Weeks.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"On the 8th of January, last, I was called upon to visit a dying man in
+Jersey City, whom the doctors had said could not live but a few hours. I
+found him in severe bodily sufferings and a terrible agony of mind. He had
+lived a moral and upright life in the eyes of the world, but careless and
+neglectful of all religious duties, and now with eternity before him he
+felt his life a failure and his imperative need of help.</p>
+
+<p>"In his agony he would cry out, 'Lord, help me,' and perhaps the next
+moment blaspheme the name of God. I sought to show him his great sin in
+having so long neglected God and his salvation, and at the same time
+assured him that Jesus was a great Savior, 'able to save to the uttermost
+all who would come unto Him.' I went from his bedside to the union
+prayer-meeting, held in our city during the week of prayer, where I
+presented his case and asked the brethren to pray that God would save this
+poor man even at the eleventh hour, and spare him to give good evidence of
+his conversion. His case seemed to reach the hearts of all present, and
+most earnest prayers were offered in his behalf; so strong was the faith
+that many came to me at the close of the meeting and said that young man
+will certainly be saved before he is taken from this world.</p>
+
+<p>"In answer to prayer he was spared nearly two weeks, and for some six or
+seven days before his death, gave much clearer evidence of being truly
+converted than could have been expected of one in his condition."</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Missionary's Experience In Mexico.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"While laboring with my wife as a missionary in Northern Mexico, we
+supported ourselves for nearly four years by teaching and such other ways
+as the Lord opened up to us.</p>
+
+<p>"But our schools being decidedly Protestant, and I preaching regularly,
+the opposition from Romanists was very strong; this, together with the
+extreme poverty of the people, made our income very small. Frequently the
+opposition would rise to that pitch that only the children of the poorest
+would be permitted to come, but we never turned these away, though they
+could pay no tuition, trusting that God would provide for us in some other
+way.</p>
+
+<p>"Early in the year 1869, we were much exercised to know the will of the
+Lord concerning us, whether he would have us continue or not. We brought
+our case before the Lord and prayed him to make known his will and provide
+for our necessary wants. In about three weeks we received a check for
+eighty dollars, sent us, as we felt, truly by the Lord in answer to our
+prayer through a friend in New York, who knew nothing of our circumstances
+or prayer.</p>
+
+<p>"In August the same year, our condition became such that it seemed as if
+in a few days we would be wholly without the necessaries of life. We laid
+our case before the Lord, and as he did not appear to open up any way for
+us to leave the field, we went forward with our work as faithfully as we
+knew how, believing that the Lord would provide in his own time and way,
+when one evening, just after family worship, a rap came to the door. I
+opened it, there came in quite a company of persons, all bearing something,
+and just exactly the things we needed most, and to the amount of over fifty
+dollars' worth, and about a sixth of it was, as we learned, given by
+Romanists who had opposed us very strongly all the time we had been there.
+Truly the Lord answers prayer and turns the hearts of men to do his
+will."</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Greatest Of Physicians.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Miss X. of Brooklyn, had suffered long and severely from a distressing
+tumor. One physician after another had plied his skill, but to no purpose;
+even the celebrated Doctor Simms of New York, corroborated their verdict,
+that there was no help for her but in the knife. She finally consented to
+that terrific method, but was in no condition of strength to bear the
+operation. It was decided to postpone it till the 22d of June. Twelve
+doctors were invited to be present. Meanwhile a diet nurse sent from New
+York, remained with her, to prepare her system for the ordeal.</p>
+
+<p>Three days preceding the one appointed for the operation, she was
+attacked by severe nausea, which lasted two days, and so weakened her that
+again the doctors were all notified by the attending one, that a further
+postponement was imperative, and a certain date fixed in November.</p>
+
+<p>All this time her own prayers were unceasing, those of her friends added
+to her own; and many a remembrance in the Fulton Street meeting, cheered
+and encouraged her.</p>
+
+<p><i>By November, the tumor had totally disappeared!</i> That was two
+years ago. She is still well, strong; able to walk three miles any
+time.</p>
+
+<p>She is as certain that the whole cure was performed by the Lord in
+answer to all those fervent prayers, as she is certain she lives and
+moves.</p>
+
+
+<h3>How The Lord Paid Back The $5.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Mr. H., missionary, was appealed to by a poor man who seemed almost
+distracted. He had a wife and five children; one of them ill; had been sick
+himself for three months, and owed rent for the whole of that time. The
+landlord had served him with a writ of ejectment, and he could get no other
+tenement, unless he could pay five dollars on the rent. He had applied to a
+well-known society in Brooklyn; but they were entirely out of funds and
+gave him a note to the missionary, hoping he might have or find the desired
+help. But missionaries' pockets are more often depleted, than those of
+benevolent organizations, and the one in question was fain to take the
+applicant to a friend, whom we shall call Q.</p>
+
+<p>The poor man told his story, asked the five dollars only as a loan, and,
+having an order for the painting of two signs, said he should be paid for
+them when done, and could return the loan the next Saturday, one week from
+that time.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Q. saw, at once, that the utter destitution of the family, and the
+need of <i>everything</i>, would prevent the man returning the money,
+however much he might wish to, and so refused to lend it. The case was
+urged, but without avail; and the missionary sent the man away, promising
+to see him again that night or on Monday. After his departure, the
+following conversation passed between the gentlemen:</p>
+
+<p>Q.--"Now, H., I don't take any stock in that man. Can you not see that
+his paying that money back, is a simple impossibility?"</p>
+
+<p>H.--"Well, perhaps so; but the question with me in such cases, is this:
+What is duty? Admit that he cannot pay it, or even that he will not try; is
+it not better to relieve his desperate need, than to have him perhaps turn
+criminal and prey upon society? He <i>must</i> leave the house he is in; he
+<i>cannot</i> get another without the money, and he is desperate; feels
+that five dollars he must have, by fair means or foul. Moreover, think of
+his wife and children, leaving him out of the question. Now let us open
+this little Bible, and see what meets our eye first."</p>
+
+<p>Q.--"Oh, pshaw! You know I do not believe in that kind of thing! Do you
+go to the Bible for everything?"</p>
+
+<p>H.--"Why not? Can we have any better guide?"</p>
+
+<p>Q.--"Oh! well, I don't work that way. Now about that man and his money.
+I will toss up a penny with you, whether I lend or not."</p>
+
+<p>H.--"No you won't! You know I don't believe in chance, but in the Lord.
+And would you sooner rest your decision on a gambler's test, than on God's
+promise? Now just let us open the book."</p>
+
+<p>Q.--"Well; what do you see?"</p>
+
+<p>H.--"'The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again; but the righteous
+sheweth mercy, and lendeth.'" 37th Psalm, 21st verse.</p>
+
+<p>As there was no hunting up of passages, nor leaves turned down to open
+easily, the coincidence was impressive, as well as amusing, and H.,
+following it up, said, "Lend him the money, and if he does not pay you next
+Saturday night, I will."</p>
+
+<p>It was so agreed upon, and, when the man called on the missionary on
+Monday morning, he was sent to Q. for the relief.</p>
+
+<p>The week passed on, as they all pass, weighted and freighted with human
+ills; some capable of alleviation, some not; but of the former, a full
+share had come under the notice and care of the missionary, and Saturday
+found him stepping into the Fulton street prayer-meeting, N.Y., for fresh
+encouragement and benediction on his labors.</p>
+
+<p>At its close, a gentleman said to him, "Mr. H., I have known you by
+sight for years; know your work; but have never given you anything; and I
+promised myself the next time I saw you, I would do so. Have you any
+special need of five dollars now? If so, and you will step to the bank with
+me, you shall have it." Instantly it flashed through the mind of H. that
+this was the day when, either the borrower or he, must pay his friend. It
+may be supposed that he went to the bank with alacrity. Going back to B.
+and meeting the friend, he learned that neither man nor money had appeared,
+and at once tendered the five dollars, telling the story of the Lord's care
+in the matter.</p>
+
+<p>Q. was so interested in this manner of obtaining supplies, that he
+refused to take the money, and instructed H. to use it in the Lord's
+work.</p>
+
+
+<h3>Praying For Money For A Journey.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A lady, Miss E., residing in New Bedford, received a letter telling of
+the serious illness of her mother, in New York. Sick herself, from
+unremitted care of an invalid during eight years, poor as Elijah when his
+only grocers were the ravens, too old for new ambitions, too well
+acquainted with the gray mists of life to hope for many rifts through which
+the sunshine might enter, she had no sum of money at all approaching the
+cost of the trip between the two places.</p>
+
+<p>"He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou
+trust," is a text bound over her daily life, as a phylactery was bound
+between the eyes of an ancient Hebrew. She lives literally, <i>only one day
+at a time</i>, and walks literally by faith and not by sight. So then as
+ever, the Lord was her committee of ways and means; but for three days the
+answer was delayed. Then, an old lady called to express her indebtedness
+for Miss E.'s services three years before, and ask her acceptance of ten
+dollars therefor, "no sort of equivalent for days and days of writing and
+searching law papers, but only a little token that the service was not
+forgotten."</p>
+
+<p>There was the answer to her prayer; there the redemption of the pledge:
+"As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his
+people from henceforth, even forever."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Employment Found.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A man and wife were out of employment, and in very great trouble. Mr. H.
+(missionary) had added his efforts to theirs, and sedulously sought among
+the families he knew, for positions for them. After two weeks' fruitless
+endeavor, he said to the man, "Well, John, let us go into the Fulton street
+meeting and leave it with the Lord." They did so; the request was read and
+remembered.</p>
+
+<p>The very next day, Mr. H. received a note from one of the families to
+whom he had already applied, and without success, requesting him to send
+the man and wife of whom he had spoken. Very joyfully he did so, and they
+were both engaged! Mr. H. considered it a very marked answer to prayer,
+inasmuch as it was quite difficult to find a family who wanted a man as
+well as woman servant; and that particular family was, of all others, the
+least likely to make such an arrangement!</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Barrel Of Flour.</h3>
+
+
+<p>For the "Faith Home for Incurables" Mr. H. received, one day, five
+dollars. A barrel of flour was terribly needed. He went to a large house in
+New York, hoping the Lord would incline the proprietor to sell him a barrel
+for that sum. He felt too poor, was not willing; and with a heavy heart,
+Mr. H. returned, asking the Lord what next he should do. He called at the
+store of a friend, where the following conversation took place. "Well, did
+you get the flour?" "I did not; they feel too poor, and I am terribly
+disappointed. It is almost dark now; I have lost my time going over there,
+and at this hour, the flour merchants here are closed." "Well, Mr. ----
+called here, and I told him you were in, and on what errand you had gone to
+New York. He said he would send a barrel to my store if I would send it up
+to the Home; and I did so, about an hour ago."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Wonderful Ways of the Lord in Guiding His People.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Our missionaries move amidst the reality of scenes which religious
+fiction vainly strives to equal. Remarkable proofs of genuine and vivid
+piety, triumphs of patience and grace, lifting their possessors above the
+most painful and distressing circumstances, are met with in all their
+explorations, and more than repay them for toil or privation.</p>
+
+
+<h3>Wonderful Conversion Of A Roman Catholic.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A frame dwelling in an alley, two rooms on the first floor, in the
+smaller one a bed-ridden old colored man, who had fought the battle of life
+for ninety years, fifteen of them on his bed, with eyes so dimmed by age
+that he could not even read; and a wife who was eye, ear and solace to him,
+are the salient points of our first picture.</p>
+
+<p>They were both earnest, exultant Christians, around whom the angels of
+God encamped day and night. The wife was brought up in the West Indies, as
+a Catholic, but her ideas of religion consisted mostly in counting beads on
+a rosary. After coming to Brooklyn, she became a servant in the family of a
+well-known naval officer, and was always a favorite on account of her
+vivacity. One day, a young painter who was working there, and proved to be
+one of the Christians whose light shines for all in the house, spoke to
+her, and invited her to a prayer-meeting in a Protestant chapel. She
+refused, laughing; but the painter's assurance next day, that she had been
+prayed for in that meeting, made her restless, uneasy and sick. In a few
+days, she was confined to her bed and pronounced by some doctors, a victim
+to consumption. One, more sagacious than the rest, said her trouble was of
+the mind, not the body, and a minister would be better than a doctor.</p>
+
+<p>It proved to be the case; she was soon led into a glimmering hope,
+though feeling that she literally carried a burden on her back. Starting
+out, one night, to look for a place of worship, she turned her feet to a
+Methodist meeting from whence the sound of singing had reached her. In the
+prayer and exhortation, however, there were words which revealed to her the
+secret of faith and salvation. She felt the burden loosen and fall from her
+shoulders, so sensibly, that involuntarily, she turned and looked for it on
+the floor. In a few moments she began to realize the freedom she had
+gained, and started to her feet in joy and wonder.</p>
+
+<p>Her work then began in her own home, and through her prayers of faith,
+five members of the Commodore's own family and an Irish Catholic servant
+girl, were brought to "Christ, the living way." For years her faith was
+proved by her works; her daily example in the household, her watchings and
+waitings by the bedside of her helpless husband--poverty, sickness,
+perplexities of every sort, but made her hope the brighter, her hold the
+firmer. With no dependence for their daily bread but the benefactions of
+one and another person, sometimes entire strangers, they never knew what it
+was to suffer actual want, nor did Frances ever believe that her friend
+would forget her.</p>
+
+
+<h3>Remarkable Preservation of Life from Lightning in Answer to
+Prayer.</h3>
+
+
+<p>I was riding on top of the Boulder Pass of the Rocky Mountains, in the
+summer of 1876, when a sudden storm of rain, wind, and furious tempest came
+up. There was no shelter from rocks, no trees or buildings to be seen--a
+lonely, wind-swept summit. I knew that the lightning on those high
+elevations was fearful in intensity. I was appalled at the prospect before
+me, but feeling that God had promised to care for his children--"No evil
+shall befall thee or come nigh thy dwelling"--I composed myself, and though
+on horseback, with the rain beating in torrents, I offered simple prayer to
+God that he would save me from the rain and stop it. But <i>No</i>, it came
+harder than ever; then I prayed that I might be protected from all danger,
+"<i>for I trusted in Him</i>!"</p>
+
+<p>I rode on and on for miles, chilly, cold, wet through, the clouds
+hanging low and the lightning flashing above me, around me, striking near
+me, constant flashes, peals of thunder; but I was not terrified. "God must
+keep me." <i>Twice I was distinctly struck</i> with the electric flash,
+detached portions or sparks from the electric cloud, directly in the center
+of the forehead, but it had no more force than just to close my eyes, shake
+my head a little, obscure my sight a moment, and then it was all over, and
+I was clearer, cooler, calmer, happier, and more self-possessed than ever
+before. I attribute my protection from peril entirely to prayer, and the
+fierceness of the tempest and the proximity of danger were permitted by the
+Lord to try my trust. Those portions which struck me, if in ordinary times
+had been given me from an electric battery in a school-room, a shock with
+sparks only one-hundredth the size, would have killed me.</p>
+
+<p>I can thus say with thanks, faith was then made perfect in danger, and
+the Lord <i>was faithful</i> in hearing his child's cry, and delivered
+him.</p>
+
+
+<h3>God Never Failed Her.</h3>
+
+
+<p>An aged colored woman, lived that life of faith which shines brighter
+and brighter unto the perfect day. Born a slave, on Long Island, she was
+never taught to read, never enjoyed any social privileges; but the God of
+the widow of Sarepta, who had neither "store-house nor barn," was her God,
+and brought her out of the house of spiritual bondage.</p>
+
+<p>She outlived all her early associations; all her children and
+grandchildren, husband and brother passed on before, leaving her alone in
+poverty and sickness. Yet she sat in her little hut, a cheerful, happy
+Christian; a living witness for God as a covenant-keeper. Doubting,
+despondent souls were always glad to visit her, to listen to her simple
+words of wisdom and gather strength from her invincible trust. Roman
+Catholic neighbors persecuted and even threatened her; but in reply to a
+missionary who remarked that it must be very trying and somewhat dangerous,
+she said, "Don't you know the Lord has a hook in the jaws of the wicked, so
+they shan't hurt us if we belong to him? Jesus is always with me; so I'm
+never alone and never afraid."</p>
+
+
+<h3>His Mother's Prayer.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A poor sailor, leading a most profligate and abandoned life, whose
+praying mother followed him like a shadow into and out of his drinking
+saloons and gambling houses, at last absented himself from home, whenever
+he was in port. Her burden, finally, seemed too great to bear, and she
+resolved to make a stronger effort than ever before, to cast it upon the
+Lord. As she knelt, with her heart well-nigh bursting with this desire, she
+felt a powerful conviction that, at last, she was answered. For several
+years the son went on in his wicked career, and the mother sorrowed that it
+was so, but her soul was no longer laden with fear; she felt the assurance
+of his conversion, sooner or later. Again, for several years, she never
+heard of him, and thought him dead; then she ceased praying for him, and
+was steadfast in the faith of meeting him in heaven. But sight was to be
+given her, as a reward for faith. He returned, at last, only thirty years
+of age, but broken down in health, and worn out by dissipation and
+hardship. Still unconverted, but, to satisfy his mother, he consented to
+remain in the room during a visit of the missionary of that district; a man
+with sufficient tact not to make his efforts obnoxious. He did not tell the
+young man he was a sinner and must flee from the wrath to come; he merely
+presented the <i>love</i> of Jesus; the love that saved to the very
+<i>uttermost</i>; that waited more patiently than any earthly friend, and
+forgave more royally. At first, he listened indifferently, but, at last,
+burst into tears, saying, "I thought I was so bad He didn't want anything
+to do with me." A long conversation, and others at intervals followed, and,
+before his death, which occurred several months after, his mother's heart
+was gladdened by the account of his change, and the knowledge that, in
+farthest lands, his thoughts were back with her. The deeper he went in sin,
+the more unsatisfactory and abhorrent it became, and he would have turned,
+long before, to the Lord, had he believed there was the least hope for him.
+When he closed his eyes to earth, a few friends enabled his mother to give
+him respectable burial, in the same grave where, years before, his father
+was laid.</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Heart Of Stone Relents.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Another consumptive in the neighborhood, was thoroughly an infidel. Mr.
+A. visited the house three times a week, and, at last, succeeded in
+overcoming his objections to a weekly prayer-meeting in his house. In his
+hearing, earnest supplication was always made for him, and, at the end of
+four months, the heart of stone relented. He had not, at first, the courage
+to appropriate the promises to himself; but one morning very early he sent
+for the missionary to reveal the news that he felt all his sins forgiven,
+and had "Christ <i>in</i> him, the hope of glory." four months more he
+lived to hear witness continually to God's amazing mercy, and then joyfully
+expired, declaring himself saved by grace alone.</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Discouraged One Revived.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Mr. C----, walking home one Saturday afternoon, fell into a discouraged
+train of thought because he appeared to have done so little for the Master
+that whole week. At that moment a young man took him by the hand saying--
+"You do not know me, but I know you. A few weeks ago I was on the high road
+to destruction, but now through your instrumentality I am in the narrow
+path which leads to everlasting life. I attended your prayer-meeting one
+evening in company with a friend of mine. You spoke with great earnestness,
+and after we sang the last hymn you remarked, 'How can I bless whom God has
+cursed? For he declares, If any man love not the Lord, he shall be
+accursed.' I cannot describe my sensations. For several days I could find
+no peace, but when at last my faith rested on Jesus, I found that peace
+which flows like a river; and now, like Moses, I have chosen rather to
+suffer affliction with the children of God than to enjoy the pleasures of
+sin, for I know if I have to face any trouble on account of my religion, I
+can look forward to a glorious reward."</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Prisoner Loosed.</h3>
+
+
+<p>On the third floor of a tenement house, a missionary, Mr. B., found a
+comely, intelligent young English woman in great distress. Her heart seemed
+wrung by grief. A few kind words of sympathy drew from her the story of her
+woe. She came to this country with her husband and three young children. He
+was employed as book-keeper in a large mercantile house; but soon became
+addicted to drink, and the story is ever the same; loss of position,
+poverty, disgrace, suffering and recklessness. On the day of the
+missionary's visit, he was in a prison cell, committed as a vagrant and
+common drunkard. The wife was bitterly weeping in her cheerless home, and
+the children around her fretting with hunger. Mr. B. was so touched he
+could scarcely find words with which to console her, but turned to Isaiah
+and read, "For thy maker is thy husband; the Lord of Hosts is his name."
+"For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I
+gather thee." After his prayer, she felt calmer, and entreated him to come
+the next week, on the day her husband would be released. He complied; found
+a prepossessing and cultivated man; and upon telling him how earnestly his
+wife and himself had prayed for him, was rejoiced to learn that in that
+lonesome cell the Spirit of God had visited him, filled him with a sincere
+wish to reform the future and redeem the past. The missionary called again
+and again, and witnessed the strong determination of the young man to fight
+against his pernicious habit. He was soon employed again in a large house,
+became a regular attendant at the Lord's house, and began to pray both
+publicly and privately for help from on high. Only a few months, and both
+husband and wife united with a church and became teachers in the Sabbath
+school. Their own home, once laid waste, again blossomed like the rose.</p>
+
+
+<h3>Praying for Tea.</h3>
+
+
+<p>On a top floor in a street of tenements lives a colored woman one
+hundred and ten years old! Her son, a man over seventy, lost his wife, a
+neat, active Christian woman, very suddenly, and his aged mother was
+plunged in despairing grief. "Why, why was I left, old and rheumatic and
+useless, and Mary, a smart, busy, capable woman taken away without a
+minute's warning?" was her continual cry. But the son was left desolate,
+and the two rooms were to be kept clean, the meals provided before he left
+for his work in the morning, and after his work at night; there was no one
+else to do it, and love for him called out new effort. With cane in one
+hand she treads the rooms back and forth, performing the household duties.
+Eyes undimmed, faculties unimpaired, she <i>does what she can</i>. Upon
+receiving a call a few months after the death of her daughter-in-law, she
+said--"You've brought me a whole pound of that nice tea! Well, honey, <i>I
+asked the Lord for some good tea last night, and I knowed well enough it
+would be along some time to-day, cos He never keeps me waiting long</i>. I
+found out why he took Mary instead of me; old as I was, I wasn't half so
+fit to go, and he was so full of mercy he let me stay long enough to see
+it! You know, honey, I've got no one to talk over old times with. There
+ain't none of 'em left that I was young with, and not many I was old with;
+but I'm never lonesome, for I'm too busy thinking of all the Lord's
+watching and waiting for me. I'm dreadful little use, but my son couldn't
+get along very well without me, and then I tell you I'm so busy thinking, I
+ain't got any time to be lazy or lonesome. Good many little things we want,
+too, and I have to be runnin' to the Lord for 'em."</p>
+
+<p>"Do they come every time, auntie?", "Every single time, honey! He never
+fails, no matter who else does. He knows I don't ask for no nonsense; only
+for the things we really need, and he has promised them all the time."
+"But, are there not times, auntie, for instance, when your son is sick,
+when you cannot see where rent and food is coming from?" "Don't want to
+see, honey! What's the use seein'? Believin's the thing! Believin's better
+than money." And so, all the revolving months, this relic of the last
+century walks by faith in the unseen.</p>
+
+
+<h3>Giving Her Last Dollar To The Lord.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A poor woman, sitting in a little church, heard the minister make an
+urgent appeal for money enough to pay a debt of two hundred dollars,
+contracted by the church the previous Winter. She had one dollar in her
+pocket; half drew it out; thought of the improbability of having any more
+for several days; put it back. Thought again, "Trust in the Lord for more;"
+drew it wholly out, and deposited it in the basket. The next morning, a
+lady called to settle a bill of two dollars, so long unpaid that it was,
+long before, set down among the losses.</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Danish Girl's Blessing.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A very poor Danish girl, broken down in health, utterly unable longer to
+labor for her own support, was provided with the means, and urged to go to
+Denmark, as her friend felt sure there was some good in store for her
+there, meaning, more definitely, the restoration of her health. She could
+not be induced until, thoroughly satisfied by several tokens that it was
+the Lord's will, and then she consented.</p>
+
+<p>A devout, humble Christian missionary became acquainted with her soon
+after her arrival, and, being struck with the beauty of holiness in every
+action and conversation of her life, asked her to marry him, that he might
+have the constant satisfaction of rendering her life comfortable, and
+finding his own encouragement in her unfailing faith. His letters are full
+of his saintly wife, and her signally blessed efforts in winning people to
+put their trust where it need fear no betrayal.</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Swedish Girl Blessed.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A Christian Swedish girl, who had, for three years, done the washing of
+a certain family, had so interested them by her care of an aged father, and
+gained their esteem by her humble piety, that, wishing to go to Europe for
+six months, they offered her two rooms in their house for that time, that
+she might not only save the labor necessary to pay her rent, but, also,
+take charge of their effects. The offer was gladly accepted, and recognized
+as a token especially from the Lord.</p>
+
+<p>In times when the father was yet able to work a little, they had
+economized to a degree that resulted in saving twenty dollars. It was laid
+by for three months' rent, when he should be no longer able to earn it.
+That time had come; as yet the money had not been touched; but Satan sent a
+wicked woman to hire the next room, and, while the father was asleep, and
+his poor daughter at church, she stole it. Their grief was great, but they
+reminded the Lord how hardly it was earned, and how faithful lie had always
+been to His promises. It can be easily understood with what emphasis this
+unexpected offer came to them.</p>
+
+
+<h3>Saved From Drowning.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A poor German woman rushed frantically through the street and into the
+house of a countrywoman, very little better off than herself, declaring she
+would drown herself that very night if <i>no</i> one would give her work. A
+family on the same floor gave her the use of a very small, bare room for
+one week, free of charge; after that, it would be eighty cents per week
+rent. Her countrywoman shared with her, such as she had for the evening and
+the morning, and after the breakfast, sent for a good, ever-ready
+missionary to talk and pray her into a better frame of mind. He did so, but
+confirmed and rested her faith on substantial works. He procured employment
+for her before the sun set; enough to pay the rent and get a little common
+food. Then obtained coal sufficient to last a couple of months; and so,
+leading her little by little into light and hope, drew her into regular
+attendance at the Mission chapel in her neighborhood.</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Widow In "Want".</h3>
+
+
+<p>A home missionary in Brooklyn, who has an enviable reputation for his
+entire consecration to the work of helping the poor, one day when engaged
+in his benevolent works, entered a restaurant, kept by a Christian friend,
+a man of like spirit with himself, who, in the course of conversation,
+related to him the following circumstances, illustrative of the power of
+prayer.</p>
+
+<p>He had, on a certain day, cleared a large sum, part of which consisted
+of <i>Mexican dollars</i>. Returning home in high spirits, he felt as if he
+could go to sleep sweetly on this silver pillow. But a thought suddenly
+intruded, which gave a new turn to his feelings. It related to a poor woman
+in his neighborhood, the widow of a very dear friend of his, whom he knew
+to be in want. "Shall I take all this money to myself?" thought he. "Does
+not the Providence who gave it to me say, <i>No! Give some of it to the
+widow of your friend</i>."</p>
+
+<p>With this impression he retired, as was his habit, quite early, but he
+could not sleep. The thought of the needy widow haunted him. "I will go
+to-morrow," said he to himself, "and see what I can do for her." But this
+good intention proved no opiate to his disturbed mind. "Possibly she or I
+may not live to see to-morrow." Something seemed to say <i>go now</i>. He
+tossed from side to side, but could not sleep. <i>Go now</i> kept ringing
+in his ear. So at length the restless man had to dress himself and go.</p>
+
+<p>At this late hour, not far from eleven, he sallied forth to find the
+widow. Seeing a dim light in the upper story where she resided, and
+following its lead, he crept softly along on the stairway, until he reached
+the room from which a low sound issued. The door was slightly ajar; through
+which he could hear the voice of prayer, scarcely audible, but deeply
+earnest. He dared hardly stir, lest he should disturb the praying widow.
+But he came on an errand, and he must accomplish it. But how? Recollecting
+at the moment, that he had in his pocket a few of the <i>Mexican
+dollars</i>, he gently pushed at the door, and it opened just wide enough
+for his purpose. So taking each piece of money between his fingers, he
+rolled it in along the carpet, and withdrew as noiselessly as he had
+ascended. Returning to his home, he fell asleep and slept soundly, as well
+he might, after this act.</p>
+
+<p>The widow at length arose from her knees, and was struck on seeing the
+shining money lying about her floor. Where had these pieces of silver come
+from? Here was a mystery she could not solve. But she knew it was from the
+Lord, and that he had answered her prayer. So with tears of gratitude, she
+gave thanks to Him, "whose is the silver and the gold."</p>
+
+<p>Shortly after this event, she attended prayer-meeting, where she felt
+constrained to make known this wonderful interposition in answer to prayer.
+The Christians present were as much astonished as herself. The silence
+which ensued was broken by a brother of that church, who rose and said,
+"What this good woman has told you, is strictly true. These dollars came
+from the Lord. They came in answer to her prayer." He then detailed the
+circumstances before related. "God deputed me to carry this money, and
+providentially I am here to night to testify to the fact that God hears and
+answers prayer."</p>
+
+<p>It seems, from a subsequent statement, that this widow, owed a certain
+sum, that she was obliged to pay immediately, and having nothing in hand,
+she was pleading, that night, that her Heavenly Father would send her the
+needed amount.</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Sewing Girl Relieved Just In Time.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A sick Scotch girl was found lying on a narrow bed in a close,
+uncomfortable room, her sobs audible to the missionary, when half-way up
+the stairs. Her story was short. When about, she earned three dollars and a
+half a week, at a business that was killing her. Of that, she paid three
+dollars for her board; leaving but the half-dollar for clothing or
+incidentals. But now--she had been lying there two weeks; six dollars were
+due for board, and still she was unable to rise, and, when she did, how
+could she ever pay the back indebtedness?</p>
+
+<p>The woman with whom she lived, was too poor herself to give her the lost
+time, and, moreover, was one of the class whom struggle and battle hardens.
+The missionary came just in time to quell the poor girl's fears, and paid
+her debts; mind and body were set at rest, and, one or two Christian ladies
+being made acquainted with the case, attended to the comforts which
+hastened her recovery; and, when once more pursuing her avocation, her
+"mither's God" seemed very near, not as one afar off.</p>
+
+
+<h3>Praying For A Home.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A young Southern girl, who had lost a position through five months'
+sickness, and found herself, at last, in the street and penniless, turned
+her steps to a daily prayer-meeting. She said her earliest impressions from
+her mother were, that the Lord never failed those who really put their
+trust in Him. She had sought work for food and shelter, though destitute of
+sufficient covering to keep her from trembling with cold, and, so far,
+sought in vain; but she was sure it was waiting for her somewhere, and she
+thought perhaps God's people could tell her where. She was right. A
+sweet-faced lady, who had listened, said she wanted some young girl who
+might help her a little when she left for her summer residence, and she had
+been waiting to find a child of pious parents. Bessie went home with her
+from that very meeting, and, in two weeks, came back, with bright eyes and
+warm, good clothing, to say good-by to the ladies who had spoken to her so
+kindly, and, in whose midst, she had found a second mother. They were to
+leave town the next day, and she asked permission to come to the meeting
+once more and tell what the Lord had done for her.</p>
+
+
+<h3>How Much Good Two Dollars Did.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A lady sent two dollars to a brave-hearted sister--who, by faith alone,
+and not by money, had gathered some sick and poor about her, and lived only
+by prayer--and a note of apology and half-contempt that it was such a
+miserable pittance. She received, in reply, the following little financial
+statement:</p>
+
+<p>"My Dear Friend:--Remember the five loaves and two fishes, and listen to
+the message of your two dollars. This is the way I expended it:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+Corned beef,. . . . . . . . . . . . .  $0 80<br />
+Chop and egg for sick aunty,. . . . . .   13<br />
+Sweet potatoes, . . . . . . . . . . . .   25<br />
+White potatoes, . . . . . . . . . . . .   10<br />
+Cabbage and bread,. . . . . . . . . . .   30<br />
+Tea, milk and sugar,. . . . . . . . . .   30<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;-----<br />
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$1 88<br />
+
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>The balance bought the coal with which it was cooked, and <i>fifteen</i>
+people were fed!"</p>
+
+
+<h3>Saved From Starvation.</h3>
+
+
+<p>On the second floor of a rear house lived a lady well known once as
+among the foremost members of a wealthy church. The first blow of adversity
+opened a wide passage for a succession of disasters. She passed through the
+whole sliding scale, until the missionary found her in the poor,
+dilapidated tenement where, for two days and nights, she had lain in bed to
+keep warm; or as nearly so as her scanty covering would admit.</p>
+
+<p>It was Saturday, and the only food she had to keep her alive until
+Monday, was two soda biscuits! She had sold everything comfortable in the
+way of furniture; all her clothing but one respectable suit for the street,
+and the only thing remaining, that pointed to the history of better days,
+was a pair of gold eye-glasses, given her by her dying mother. Within a few
+months her dire necessity had often pointed to the glasses; but she could
+not see without them, nor could she sell the gold frames unless she had
+means to have the glass set in commoner ones. Moreover, the harpies who
+feed and thrive on the miseries of the poor, would in no case have given
+her more than twenty-five cents for them; and the short respite derived
+from that amount would not have compensated for the sacrifice. She had
+looked at them that morning; felt that starve she must and would, but that
+souvenir of her mother should never leave her. She went back to bed and
+prayed fervently that the Lord would show her some way of escape, or take
+her that day to himself. She slept an hour or two, and then awakened,
+strong in the conviction that he would show her some way before night, and
+though it was six o'clock P.M., before the missionary called, no doubt had
+arisen to trouble her mind; and as soon as he entered and introduced
+himself, she said--"You are a messenger from the Lord, sir; I have been
+expecting you."</p>
+
+
+<h3>God With Us.</h3>
+
+
+<p>An old woman was taking home' some sewing the night before, and passing
+through a narrow and dark street, was knocked down by a runaway horse.
+Taken up senseless and unknown, she was carried into the house of a kind
+family who sent for a physician. It was not till next morning that she
+recovered consciousness, and was able to give her address. A messenger was
+at once dispatched to her husband, who was supposed to be wild with terror.
+He was truly thankful to hear from human lips of her whereabouts; but said
+he knew she was not dead, and he would see her in the morning; for the Lord
+had been with him all night and assured him of it. He had also kept the
+fire from going out; and now that she would be brought home in a few hours,
+he was ready to trust his Father, as he had been through the night. His
+hourly friend was Immanuel, God <i>with</i> us; not God somewhere or other
+in infinite space.</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Vessel Saved.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A vessel was six months making the passage from Liverpool to Bermuda
+Island. Fogs enveloped it; winds sent it hither and thither; captain and
+mate lost their reckoning, lost their senses; and when, added to the rest,
+the vessel sprung a leak, gave up in despair. Crew and passengers were
+finally reduced to a few drops of water and one potato a day, and they
+merely waited death from starvation or drowning. All but one! One man; a
+minister, whose faith and belief in their final escape burned but brighter
+and brighter, as the others sank in the gloom of silent despair. A few days
+before they made the land, the leakage suddenly ceased; no one could
+account for it; but a week after their arrival, when the vessel had been
+condemned by the authorities as unsea-worthy, it was proposed to turn it
+bottom upward and see what stopped the leak. God seemed to have performed a
+miracle for them, when it was discovered that that end of the vessel was
+entirely covered with barnacles!</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Remarkable Prayer Concerning a Remarkable Text.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A clergyman, accustomed to preach regularly in his journey through
+Fleming Circuit, Kentucky, was preparing on one Saturday for the labors of
+the next day. He was then staying at the residence of a family named
+Bowers, from which he was to journey the next day five miles to preach at
+11 A.M., at a church called Mt. Olivet. On this Saturday, as he relates the
+incident, as soon and as privately as practicable, I pored over the Bible
+in quest of a suitable subject for the next day at Mount Olivet, and
+strange to tell! not one passage in the whole Book, that afternoon and
+night, could I fix upon, as, in my estimation, suitable for the next day.
+There was one passage, (two or three clauses of which I had by some means
+got fixed in my memory), that early that afternoon appeared in my mind as
+though each word was written in CAPITAL LETTERS. I turned to the whole
+passage as soon as I could find it; Heb. 6: 4-6; and read, "For it is
+impossible for those who were once enlightened," etc., etc. I had
+previously studied that whole subject, as recorded in the original, and as
+disposed of by learned Commentators of different creeds. I had settled in
+my own mind the import of the passage. But it seemed unsuitable for me, not
+then three years old in the ministry, to attempt the settlement of a
+theological question, about which the best and most learned of modern days
+had differed. I therefore tried to dismiss it from my mind, and to find
+some passage more suitable for the coming morrow. But my constant effort
+proved unsuccessful; and the said passage in Hebrews often recurred to my
+mind. Thus passed my time till I had to go to bed, resolving to attempt an
+early settlement of the growing difficulty next morning. But the morning
+studies produced no change in the unsettled state of the question, what
+shall I preach from to-day? Thus matters remained until I reached Mount
+Olivet, and had to begin service without a text. But I concluded if a
+suitable text did not occur while singing, praying and reading some
+Scripture lesson, rather than have no text, I would take Heb. 6: 4-6. And,
+cornered in this dilemma, so I did, and used it as well as I could.</p>
+
+<p>I then passed around the circuit as usual, and the fourth Saturday
+thereafter, I arrived again at Brother Bowers', preached, met the class,
+etc. Then, when all the class had left the room except their own family,
+Brother and Sister Bowers said to me, each manifesting intense feeling and
+interest, "Have you heard of the <i>strange</i> thing that happened when
+you were here four weeks ago?" Said I, "No! what was it?" They said, "Did
+you see a man sitting in the house while you was preaching to-day?"
+describing his dress, looks, etc. I answered, "Yes." Said they, "Did you
+see a woman sitting over there," describing her? I said, "Yea." Said they,
+"They are husband and wife--their name is--(I have long since forgotten the
+name)--they are good members of the Presbyterian church, their children are
+members of our class, as you have called their names every time you have
+examined us. The man and his wife were here and heard you four weeks
+ago--they know our rules, and when those not of our church were dismissed,
+they left their children with us, as usual, and their parents started home.
+And, as they themselves tell us and others, as they went along, said the
+woman to her husband, 'Does not Mr. Akers preach to-morrow at Mount
+Olivet?' And he answered, 'I believe he does.' Said she, '<i>Well, if I
+thought he would take a certain text I would like very much to go and hear
+him.</i>' Said her husband, '<i>What text</i>?' And she repeated the whole
+passage in <i>Hebrews</i> 6:4-6. Said her husband, 'Well, I reckon he will
+take some subject that will be interesting, and if you say so we will not
+go to our own church to-morrow, we will go to Mount Olivet.' She answered,
+'<i>Agreed,</i> and I do pray the Lord that he may take that text.' And she
+says, she continued to pray all that evening and next morning, until
+sitting in the church at Mount Olivet, she heard <i>you read out the said
+text, when she knew the Lord had answered her prayer</i>, and she could
+scarcely help from loud crying of thanks to God."</p>
+
+<p>I then told Brother and Sister Bowers my troubles about that text, as
+above stated. The Lord answers prayer.</p>
+
+
+<h3>How She Learned To Love The Bible.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The Rev. Frederick G. Clark thus writes of an answer to prayer, from one
+who wanted to love the Bible more:</p>
+
+<p>"Twenty-seven years ago, in the congregation of my first charge, was a
+lady whose love for the Bible was something remarkable. In the confidence
+of a pastoral visit, she told me of her joy in the divine word, and also
+recited the incidents of her experience in this regard. She had formerly
+read her Bible as so many do--a chapter now, and a halfchapter then,
+without much interest or profit. She was, even then, most interested in
+religious things. But her chief sources of spiritual strength were in such
+writings as those of Baxter, Payson and Robert Phillips. It was her custom
+to read the Bible from duty, and then turn to these uninspired volumes for
+the kindling of a higher devotion. For a good while this satisfied her;
+but, at length, she came to feel grieved about it. She thought it a
+dishonor to God's word that any book should be as interesting to her as the
+Bible. She tried to change this, but, at first, with little success. The
+Bible was still duty--Baxter was pleasure and spiritual elevation.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>At length, she could bear it no longer; so she took the case to God,
+with strong crying. She told her Heavenly Father how grieved she was that
+any book should rival the Bible in her affections. She asked this one
+thing--and she renewed her prayer every day--that her first delight might
+be in reading the word of God</i>. I think it was some time before she felt
+that her request was granted. But, at length, the answer to her prayer was
+complete and marvelous. A strange light came over the sacred page. A
+fascination held her to her Bible. She discovered a depth, a meaning, a
+curiosity, a charm, which were all new and most wonderful. Sometimes, when
+she had finished reading her Bible for the night, and had closed the book
+and had moved towards her bed, she would go back again and enjoy the luxury
+of a few more verses.</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Blind Restored To Sight.</h3>
+
+
+<p>At the age of twenty years, a lady in Winchester, Iowa, began to lose
+her health, and in a short time was confined to her bed. And she
+writes:--"In addition to this I lost the use of my eyes, and was blind and
+helpless, a greater portion of my time for five years.</p>
+
+<p>"I enjoyed the blessing of prayer and trust some six months before
+feeling a liberty to pray for the healing of my body; fearing I should
+desire it without due submission to God's will. It was with <i>fear and
+trembling</i> that I first made known this request. Though my pleadings in
+this direction were earnest, and often agonizing, yet I could say with a
+fervor as never before, 'Not my will, but thine be done.'</p>
+
+<p>"About the end of November, or early in December, 1873, I realized that
+my faith was perfect, that I was ready <i>now</i> to be healed, that my
+faith was momentarily waiting on God, resting without a doubt on the
+promises. From this time forward my faith remained fixed with but one
+exception. During the time between December, 1873, and July, 1874, I was
+healed to such an extent that I could walk some, and see more or less every
+day, though sometimes with only one of my eyes. A portion of this time I
+felt as though in a furnace of fire; but amid the flames I realized the
+presence of the Son of God, who said, '<i>have chosen thee in the furnace
+of affliction</i>.' This for a time seemed an answer to my petition, and so
+thought it my life-work to suffer; for a while my faith became inactive,
+and I almost ceased praying for my health. Though I felt submissive, yet
+somehow I was soon crying, and that most instinctively, 'Thou Son of David,
+have mercy on me.' After this, my faith did not waver. Oh, the lesson of
+patience I learned in thus <i>waiting</i> on <i>God's</i> good time. And
+with what comfort could I present my body an offering to Him, realizing
+that as soon as at all possible with His will, I should be healed; I had an
+assurance of this, but did not know whether it would be during life, or
+accomplished only at death.</p>
+
+<p>"In this manner I waited before God until the morning of the 29th of
+July, when, without ecstasy of joy, or extra illumination, came a sense of
+the presence of Jesus, and a presentation of this gift, accompanied with
+these words: 'Here is the gift for which you have been praying; are you
+willing to receive it?'</p>
+
+<p>"I at first felt the incoming of the Divine power at the parts diseased,
+steadily driving out the same, until death was swallowed up in victory. I
+at once arose from my bed, and proceeded to work about the house, to the
+great astonishment of my friends, some of whom thought me wild; but I
+continued my work, assuring them that Jesus had healed me. Realizing the
+scrutiny and doubt with which I was observed, I said to my father, 'What do
+you think?' He replied, 'It is supernatural power; no one can deny it.'</p>
+
+<p>"My healing took place on Wednesday; on Saturday was persuaded to lie
+down, which I did, but found the bed was no place for me; thought of
+Peter's wife's mother, who 'arose and ministered to them; knew that to her,
+strength, as well as health, was instantly given, as in the case of the
+palsied man, who rose, took up his bed, and departed. I returned to my
+work, backing my experience with those in God's word, and since then have
+not lain down during the day time.</p>
+
+<p>"My friends could not realize the completeness of the cure, until I read
+a full hour, and that by lamp-light, and until asked to desist, the first
+opportunity after being healed.</p>
+
+<p>"A week from this time, I discharged the hired girl, taking charge of
+the household work, which I have continued with perfect ease. About four
+weeks after my healing, had occasion to walk four miles, which I did with
+little or no weariness. Let me add to the praise of God, that I have no
+disease whatever. Am able to do more hard work with less weariness, than at
+any other period in my life, and faith in the Lord is the balm that made me
+whole."</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Widow's Shoes.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A poor woman--a widow with an invalid son--a member of the church, could
+not attend church, or the neighborhood prayer-meetings, for the want of
+shoes. She asked the Lord for the shoes. That very day the village
+school-master called in to see her son. Meanwhile he noticed that the boy's
+mother had very poor shoes. He said nothing, but felt impressed, and
+inwardly resolved to purchase the poor woman a pair of shoes forthwith. He
+accordingly hired a horse, rode two miles on horseback to a shoe-store,
+bought the shoes, and requested them sent to the widow's cottage without
+delay. They proved a perfect fit; and that very night the overjoyed woman
+hurried to the prayer-meeting to announce that in answer to prayer the Lord
+had sent her the shoes.</p>
+
+<p>The young school-master, who, I suspect, was my informant himself, now a
+venerable, white-haired man, heard the poor woman's testimony; and his
+pillow that night was wet with tears of gratitude and joy because God had
+used him thus to bless the poor widow, and to answer her prayers.</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Remarkable Dream.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The late Dr. Whitehead was accustomed to repeat with pleasure' the
+following fact: In the year 1764, he was stationed as an itinerant preacher
+in Cornwall. He had to preach one evening in a little village where there
+was a small Methodist Society. "The friend," said he, "at whose house we
+preached, had at that time a daughter, who lived with one of our people
+about ten miles off. His wife was gone to attend her daughter, who was
+dangerously ill of a fever; and her husband had that day received a message
+from her, informing him that his child's life was despaired of. He
+earnestly and with tears desired Mr. Whitehead to recommend his daughter to
+God in prayer, both before and after preaching. He did so in the most warm
+and affectionate manner. Late that evening, or very early next morning,
+while the young woman's mother was sitting by her daughter's bedside (who
+had been in a strong delirium for several days), she opened her eyes and
+hastily addressed her mother thus: 'O mother! I have been dreaming that I
+saw a man lifting up his eyes and hands to heaven, and fervently praying to
+God for my recovery! The Lord has heard his prayers, and my fever is gone;
+and what is far better, the Lord has spoken peace to my soul, and sealed
+His pardoning love on my heart. I know it, I feel it, my dear mother; and
+His Spirit bears witness with my spirit, that I am a child of God, and an
+heir of glory.' Her mother, thinking that she was still in delirium,
+desired her to compose herself, and remain quiet. The daughter replied, 'My
+dear mother, I am in no delirium now; I am perfectly in my senses; do help
+me to rise, that upon my bended knees I may praise God.' Her mother did so,
+and they both praised God with joyful hearts, and from that hour the young
+woman recovered so fast, that she was soon able to attend to the affairs of
+the family where she lived. She had never seen Mr. Whitehead, previous to
+this remarkable time; but some weeks after, she saw him, and the moment she
+beheld his face, she fainted away. As soon as she came to herself, she
+said, 'Sir, you are the person I saw in my dream, when I was ill in a
+violent fever; and I beheld you lift up your hands and eyes to heaven, and
+most fervently pray for my recovery and conversion to God. The Lord, in
+mercy, heard your prayers, and answered them to the healing of my wounded
+spirit, and to the restoration of my body. I have walked in the light of
+His countenance from that time to the present, and I trust I shall do so as
+long as I live.' How remarkably does this circumstance illustrate the words
+of St. James, 'The prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall
+raise him up, and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven
+him!'"</p>
+
+
+<h3>"You Must Not Go."</h3>
+
+
+<p>A remarkable instance of deep impression occasionally made by the Holy
+Spirit on the mind of the Rev. William Bramwell during prayer, occurred in
+Liverpool. A pious young woman, a member of Society, wished to go to her
+friends, then living in Jamaica. She took her passage, had her luggage
+taken on board, and expected to sail on the following day. Having the
+greatest respect for Mr. Bramwell, she waited upon him, to take leave and
+request an interest in his prayers. Before parting, they knelt down, and he
+recommended her to the care of God. After he had been engaged in prayer
+some time, he suddenly paused, and thus addressed her, "My dear sister, you
+must not go to-morrow. God has just told me you must not go." She was
+surprised, but he was positive, and prevailed upon her to postpone her
+voyage, and assisted her to remove her luggage out of the vessel. The ship
+sailed, and in about six weeks intelligence arrived that the vessel was
+lost, and all on board had perished.</p>
+
+
+<h3>Evil Averted.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A correspondent of the <i>Guide to Holiness</i> says: "We remember a
+poor woman who had had a life of sore vicissitude which she bore with
+remarkable Christian cheerfulness; and after a time of the suspension of
+trial, a bad prospect came in sight. She resorted to a friend to whom she
+confidingly related the threatening evil, and at parting said, 'Oh pray for
+us.' The case as it was known was taken immediately that early morning to
+the throne of grace and laid out in all its circumstances with a deeply
+sympathizing heart, and a consciousness of the past sufferings of that
+woman--and as the friend rose from prayer, the answer was given that the
+evil was averted, and a new change would come to that afflicted one.</p>
+
+<p>"That very day a strange deliverance and opening appeared which set that
+family at rest from their peculiar trials for the rest of life."</p>
+
+
+<h3>How a Poor Little Cripple Converted a Village.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Mr. D.L. Moody relates the instance of a poor little cripple, whose
+prayers were answered to the conversion of <i>fifty-six people.</i></p>
+
+<p>"I once knew a little cripple who lay upon her death bed. She had given
+herself to God, and was distressed only because she could not labor for Him
+actively among the lost. Her clergyman visited her, and hearing her
+complaint, told her from her sick bed she could pray; to pray for those she
+wished to see turning to God. He told her to write the names down, and then
+to pray earnestly; he went away and thought of the subject no more.</p>
+
+<p>"Soon a feeling of religious interest sprang up in the village, and the
+churches were crowded nightly. The little cripple heard of the progress of
+the revival, and inquired anxiously for the names of the saved. A few weeks
+later she died, and among a roll of papers that was found under her little
+pillow, was one bearing the names of fifty-six persons, every one of whom
+had in the revival been converted. By each name was a little cross by which
+the poor crippled saint had checked off the names of the converts as they
+had been reported to her."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Please God, Give Us A Home.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Mr. Moody tells of a beautiful answer to the faith of a little
+child.</p>
+
+<p>"I remember a child that lived with her parents in a small village. One
+day the news came that her father had joined the army (it was the beginning
+of our war), and a few days after, the landlord came to demand the rent.
+The mother told him she hadn't got it, and that her husband had gone into
+the army. He was a hard-hearted wretch, and he stormed, and said that they
+must leave the house; he wasn't going to have people who couldn't pay the
+rent.</p>
+
+<p>"After he was gone, the mother threw herself into the armchair, and
+began to weep bitterly. Her little girl, whom she taught to pray in faith,
+(but it is more difficult to practice than to preach,) came up to her, and
+said, '<i>What makes you cry, mamma, I will pray to God to give us a little
+home, and won't He</i>?' What could the mother say? So the little child
+went into the next room and began to pray. The door was open, and the
+mother could hear every word.</p>
+
+<p><i>"'O, God, you have come and taken away father, and mamma has got no
+money, and the landlord will turn us out because we can't pay, and we will
+have to sit on the door-step, and mamma will catch cold. Give us a little
+home</i>.' Then she waited as if for an answer, and then added, '<i>Won't
+you, please, God</i>?'</p>
+
+<p>"She came out of that room quite happy, expecting a home to be given
+them. The mother felt reproved. God heard the prayer of that little one,
+for he touched the heart of the cruel landlord, and she has never paid any
+rent since."</p>
+
+<p>God give us the faith of that little child, that we may likewise expect
+an answer, "<i>nothing wavering</i>."</p>
+
+
+<h3>"Of Course He Will."</h3>
+
+
+<p>Mr. Moody also gives the story of a little child whose father and mother
+had died, and she was taken into another family. The first night she asked
+if she could pray, as she used to do.</p>
+
+<p>They said, Oh, yes! So she knelt down, and prayed as her mother taught
+her, and when that was ended she added a little prayer of her own: "<i>Oh,
+God, make these people as kind to me as father and mother were</i>." Then
+she paused, and looked up, as if expecting an answer, and added, "<i>Of
+course he will</i>."</p>
+
+<p>How sweetly simple was that little one's faith; she expected God to
+"do," and she got her request.</p>
+
+
+<h3>Striking Answer.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The following incidents are specially contributed to these pages by Rev.
+J.S. Bass, a Home Missionary of Brooklyn, N.Y.:</p>
+
+<p>"While living in Canada, my eldest daughter, then a girl of ten years of
+age, rather delicate and of feeble health, had a severe attack of chorea,
+"St. Vitus's dance." To those who have had any experience in this
+distressing complaint, nothing need be said of the deep affliction of the
+household at the sight of our loved one, as all her muscles appeared to be
+affected, the face distorted with protrusion of the tongue, and the
+continuous involuntary motions by jerks of her limbs. The ablest medical
+advice and assistance were employed, and all that the sympathy of friends
+and the skill of physicians could do were of no avail. She grew worse
+rather than better, and death was looked to as a happy release to the
+sufferings of the child, and the anguish of the parents; as the medical men
+had given as their opinion that the mind of the child would become
+diseased, and if her life were lengthened, it would be an enfeebled body
+united to an idiotic mind.</p>
+
+<p>"But God was better to us than our most sanguine hopes far better to us
+than our fears.</p>
+
+<p>"In our trouble we thought on God, and asked his help. We knew we had
+the prayers of some of God's chosen ones. On a certain Sunday morning I
+left my home to fill an appointment in the Wesleyan chapel in the village
+of Cooksville, two miles distant. I left with a heavy heart. My child was
+distressing to look upon, my wife and her sister were worn out with
+watching and fatigue. It was only from a sense of duty that I left my home
+that morning. During the sermon God refreshed and encouraged my heart still
+to trust in him. After the service, many of the congregation tarried to
+inquire of my daughter's condition, among them an aged saint, Sister
+Wilson, widow of a Wesleyan preacher, and Sister Galbraith, wife of the
+class-leader. Mother Wilson encouraged me to 'hope in God,' saying 'the
+sisters of the church have decided to spend to-morrow morning together in
+supplication and prayer for you and your family, and that God would cure
+Ruth.'</p>
+
+<p>"Monday morning came. Ruth had passed a restless night. Weak and
+emaciated, her head was held that a tea-spoonful of water should be given
+her. My duties called me away (immediately after breakfast) to a
+neighbor's; about noon, a messenger came, in great haste, to call me home.
+On entering the sick-chamber, I noticed the trundle-bed empty, and my
+little girl, with smiling face, sitting in a chair at the window, (say
+eight feet from the bed.) I learned from the child that, while on the bed,
+the thought came to her that, if she could only get her feet on the floor,
+the Lord would help her to sit up. By an effort, she succeeded, moving
+herself to the edge of the bed, put her legs over the side until her feet
+touched the floor, and sat up. She then thought, if she tried, the Lord
+would help her to stand up, and then to walk; all of which she
+accomplished, without any human aid, she being left in the room alone. The
+same afternoon she was in the yard playing with her brothers, quickly
+gained flesh, recovered strength, with intellect clear and bright; she
+lived to the age of twenty-two, never again afflicted with this disease, or
+anything like it. At the age of twenty-two, ripe for heaven, it pleased God
+to take her to himself.</p>
+
+<p>"The sisters, led by Mother Wilson, waited on God in prayer, and God
+fulfilled that day the promise--Isaiah 65:24: 'And it shall come to pass,
+that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I
+will hear.'"</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Remarkable Case.</h3>
+
+
+<p>On the afternoon of Monday, August 20, 1869, I was sent for to visit
+Mrs. M., who was reported to be very sick. Arriving at the house, I was
+told that "Mrs. M., after a hard day's work, had retired to rest Saturday
+night in her usual state of health, that immediately after getting in bed
+she had fallen asleep and had not awoke up to this time, (6 o'clock Monday
+evening,) that three physicians had been in attendance for 30 hours, that
+all their efforts to arouse her were without avail."</p>
+
+<p>In the chamber, Mrs. M. lay in the bed apparently in a troubled sleep,
+she was a woman of medium size, about 50 years of age, the mother of a
+large family; around her bed stood her husband, four sons and a daughter,
+and relatives, about twelve persons in all. The husband and sons were
+irreligious, but awed in the presence of this affliction.</p>
+
+<p>I felt, as perhaps I never felt before, my ignorance, my helplessness,
+and the necessity of entire dependence on God for guidance and inspiration,
+that prayer should be made in accordance with his will.</p>
+
+<p>I knelt at the bedside and held the woman's hand in mine, lifted up my
+heart to God and prayed, "If it be thy will and for thy glory, and for the
+good of this family, grant that this woman may once more open her eyes to
+look upon her children, once more open her lips in counsel and holy
+admonition." While thus praying, as I believe, inspired by the Spirit of
+God, and with faith in Jesus Christ, I was conscious of a movement around
+me, and opening my eyes, I saw Mrs. M. sitting up in bed. Some of the
+persons in the room were weeping, others laughing; the sons came nearer the
+bed, and asked, "Mother, do you know me? do you know me?" She called each
+by name, and beckoned to her daughter, held her by the hand. I, poor
+faithless one, was wondering what does this mean? One of the sons took me
+by the hand saying, "Oh! Mr. Bass, God heard and answered that prayer." I
+sung the hymn, "There is a fountain filled with blood," Mrs. M. singing to
+the close, and then, apparently exhausted, sank back on the pillow,
+speechless and unconscious. The physicians were sent for, came, wondered,
+speculated, administered medicine, blistered the calves of the legs, and
+cupped the back of the neck, but to no purpose. She remained in speechless
+unconsciousness till the next afternoon, when, while prayer was being made,
+she again opened her eyes, sat up and conversed with her children and
+friends. In a few days she resumed her household duties, enjoying a good
+degree of health and strength, and faithfully serving God and her
+generation until it pleased God to call her home to the rest prepared for
+the people of God, three years after the incident, the subject of this
+paper.</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Little Girl's Beautiful Faith.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A little German girl, who had never hitherto known the name of the Lord
+Jesus, was led to attend a Mission school. It was the custom at the school,
+before the little ones received their dinner, to lift their hands and thank
+God for their food.</p>
+
+<p>When in course of time she spent her days at home, and her father's
+family were gathered around their own table, this little girl said:</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Pa, we must hold up our hand's and thank God before we eat.</i>
+That's the way we do at the Mission."</p>
+
+<p>So winning was the little one in her ways, the parents yielded at
+once.</p>
+
+<p>At another time her father was sick and unable to work, and the little
+girl said, "<i>Pa, I'm going to pray that you may get well and go to work
+to-morrow morning</i>."</p>
+
+<p>At four o'clock in the morning she awoke and called out, "<i>Pa, don't
+you feel better</i>." The father said, "Yes, I am better," and he went to
+his work in the morning, although weak and obliged to rest by the way.</p>
+
+<p>There came a time once when he could not get work, and there was no food
+in the house for dinner.</p>
+
+<p>This little girl knelt down and asked God to send them their dinner, and
+when she rose from her knees, she said, "Now we must wait till the whistle
+blows, till 12 o'clock."</p>
+
+<p>At twelve o'clock the whistle blew, and the little girl said, "Get the
+table ready, it is coming," and just then in came a neighbor with soup for
+their dinner.</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Lord Helps to Pay Debts.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The author of this incident is known to the editor of "Remarkable
+Providences," and speaking of it says: "<i>God never gave me exactly what I
+wanted. He always gave me more."</i></p>
+
+<p>"When I married I was a working man; I had not much money to spare. In
+about three months after my marriage, I fell ill, and my illness continued
+for more than nine months. At that period I was in great distress. I owed a
+sum of money and had no means to pay it. It must be paid on a certain day,
+or I must go to jail. I had no food for myself or wife; and in this
+distress I went up to my room, and took my Bible. I got down on my knees
+and opened it, laid my fingers on several of the promises, and claimed them
+as mine. I said, 'Lord, this is thine own word of promise; I claim thy
+promises.' I endeavored to lay hold of them by faith. I wrestled with God
+for sometime in this way. I got up off my knees, and walked about some
+time. I then went to bed, and took my Bible, and opened it on these words:
+'<i>Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou
+shalt glorify me</i>.'</p>
+
+<p>"I said, 'it is enough, Lord.' I knew deliverance would come, and I
+praised God with my whole heart. Whilst in this frame of mind I heard a
+knock at the door. I went and opened it and a man handed me a letter. I
+turned to look at the letter, and when I looked up again, the man was
+gone.</p>
+
+<p>"The letter contained the sum I wanted, and five shillings over. It is
+now eighteen years ago. I never knew who sent it. God only knows. Thus God
+delivered me out of all my distress. To Him be all the praise."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Praying for a Lost Pocket-Book.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A contributor to <i>The Christian</i> writes as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"A few months since I lost my pocket-book, containing money and papers
+of a large amount--more than I felt able to lose--and which I should feel
+the loss of, as I was owing at that time about the same amount.</p>
+
+<p>"On the day of my loss, I had been from home about a mile and a half,
+and it was about 9 o'clock <i>in the evening</i>, when I returned. And it
+was not till then that I ascertained my loss.</p>
+
+<p>"My health was very poor, and the prospect of regaining the lost
+pocket-book was quite uncertain; it was so dark that I thought it would be
+impossible for me to find it. Consequently I determined to remain awake
+during the night, and at 3 o'clock in the morning search for it, and if
+possible, find it before any one should pass over the road.</p>
+
+<p>"The seeming impossibility of finding it, and the reflections consequent
+upon the loss of the money were so unpleasant to me that I was led to make
+it a subject of prayer, fully trusting that in some way God would so direct
+that I should come in possession of it. If so, I determined to give him $25
+of it.</p>
+
+<p>"As soon as I had formed this purpose, all that unpleasant feeling left
+me, and I did not admit a single doubt but I should get it.</p>
+
+<p>"Accordingly, <i>at 3 o'clock in the morning</i> I made a thorough
+search, but could not find it. Yet my faith in God's guiding hand did not
+fail me, and I believed that my trust would be realized.</p>
+
+<p>"While I was thus thinking of the certainty of the fulfillment of the
+promises of the Gospel to the believer, I was called on by a gentleman, a
+leading business man of the place, who came to know if <i>I had lost
+anything</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"I told him I had lost my pocket-book. He wanted to know how much it
+contained. I told him. He said his son had occasion to pass early on that
+morning, and had found it in the road, and that in all probability I should
+otherwise have lost it, as two men passed by immediately after it was
+found.</p>
+
+<p>"Thus God found it and returned it to me."</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<h1>Lives Of Faith And Trust</h1>
+
+
+<h3>An Extraordinary Life of Faith and Trust.</h3>
+
+
+<p>For many centimes there has not been a more remarkable testimony of
+unfaltering trust in the faithfulness of God in supplying human wants, than
+is found in the life and labor of George Muller and his Orphan Home, in
+Bristol, England. His record is one of humility, yet one of daily
+dependence upon the providence and the knowledge of God to supply his daily
+wants. It has been one of extraordinary trial; yet never, for a single
+hour, has God forsaken him. Beginning, in 1834, with absolutely nothing;
+giving himself, his earthly all and his family to the Lord, and asking the
+Lord's pleasure and blessing upon his work of philanthropy, he has never,
+for once, appealed to any individual for aid, for assistance, for loans;
+but has relied wholly in prayer to the Lord--coming with each day's cares
+and necessities--and the Lord has ever supplied. He has never borrowed,
+never been in debt; living only upon what the Lord has sent--yet in the
+forty-third year of his life of faith and trust--he has been able, through
+the voluntary contributions which the Lord has prompted the hearts of the
+people to give, to accomplish these wonderful results: <i>Over half a
+million dollars</i> have been spent in the construction of
+buildings--<i>over fifteen thousand orphans have been cared for and
+supported--and over one million dollars</i> have been received for their
+support. <i>Every dollar of which has been asked for in believing prayer
+from the Lord</i>. The record is the most astounding in the faith of the
+Christian religion, and the power and providence of God to answer prayer,
+that modern times can show.</p>
+
+<p>The orphans' homes have been visited again and again by Christian
+clergymen of all denominations, to feel the positive satisfaction and
+certainty that all this were indeed the work of prayer, and they have been
+abundantly convinced.</p>
+
+<p>The spectacle is indeed a <i>standing miracle. "A man sheltering,
+feeding, clothing, educating, and mailing comfortable and happy, hundreds
+of poor orphan children, with no funds of his own, and no possible means of
+sustenance, save that which God sent him in answer to prayer</i>."</p>
+
+<p>An eminent clergyman who for five years had been constantly hearing of
+this work of faith, and could hardly believe in its possibility, at last
+visited Mr. Muller's home for the purpose of thorough investigation,
+exposing it, if it were under false pretenses or mistaken ways of securing
+public sympathy, or else with utmost critical search, desired to become
+convinced it was indeed supported only by true prayer. He had reserved for
+himself, as he says, a wide margin for deductions and disappointment, but
+after his search, as "<i>I left Bristol, I exclaimed with the queen of
+Sheba, 'The half had not been told me.' Here I saw, indeed, seven hundred
+orphan children fed and provided for, by the hand of God, in answer to
+prayer, as literally and truly as Elijah was fed by ravens with meat which
+the Lord provided</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Muller himself has said in regard to their manner of living:
+"<i>Greater and more manifest nearness of the Lord's presence I have never
+had, than when after breakfast, there were no means for dinner, and then
+the Lord provided the dinner for more than one hundred persons; and when
+after dinner, there were no means for the tea; and yet the Lord provided
+the tea; and all this without one single human being having been informed
+about our need</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Thus it will be seen his life is one of daily trial and trust, and he
+says, "Our desire therefore, is, not that we may be without trials of
+faith, but that the Lord graciously would be pleased to support us in the
+trial, that we may not dishonor him by distrust."</p>
+
+<p>The question having been asked of him, "Such a way of living must lead
+the mind continually to think whence food, clothes, etc., are to come, with
+no benefit for spiritual exercise," he replies: "Our minds are very little
+tried about the necessaries of life; just because the care respecting them
+is laid upon our Father, who, because we are his children, not <i>only
+allows</i> us to do so, <i>but will have us to do so</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"It must also be remembered that even if our minds <i>were</i> much
+tried about our supplies, yet because we look to the <i>Lord alone</i> for
+all these things, we should be brought by our sense of need, into the
+presence of our Father for the supply of it, <i>and that is a blessing</i>,
+and satisfying to the soul."</p>
+
+<p>This humble statement from the experience of one who has tried and
+proven the Lord in little things, as well as large, conveys to the
+Christian that world of practical instruction which is contained in the
+precepts of the Bible, viz: to <i>encourage all to cast their cares on
+God</i>; and teaches them the lessons of their dependence upon Him for
+their daily supplies.</p>
+
+<p>The meaning of the Lord's blessing upon the work of Mr. Muller, is to
+make it a standing example and illustration to be adopted in every
+Christian home. "<i>How God supplies our needs, how he rewards faith, how
+he cares for those who trust in Him. How he can as well take care of his
+children to-day as he did in the days of the Prophets, and how surely he
+fulfills his promise, even when the trial brings us to the extremities of
+circumstances seemingly impossible</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Muller's experience is remarkable, not because the Lord has made his
+an exceptional case for the bestowal of blessings, but because of the
+<i>remarkable, unwavering and persevering application of his faith</i>, by
+the man himself.</p>
+
+<p>His faith began with small degrees, and small hopes. It was painfully
+tried. But it clung hopefully, and never failed to gain a triumph. Each
+trial only increased its tenacity, and brought him greater humility, for it
+opened his own heart to a sense of his own powerlessness, and this faith
+has grown with work and trial, till its strength is beyond all
+precedent.</p>
+
+<p>The lessons which the Lord wishes each one to take from it, is this:
+"<i>Be your faith little or weak, never give it up; apply my promises to
+all your needs, and expect their fulfillment. Little things are as sacred
+as great things</i>."</p>
+
+<p>In the journal kept by Mr. Muller during his many years of experience,
+he has preserved many incidents of answer to prayer in small matters, of
+which we quote the following from his book. "<i>The Power of Faith and
+Prayer</i>."</p>
+
+<p>1. "One of the orphan boys needed to be apprenticed. I knew of no
+suitable believing master who would take an indoor apprentice. I gave
+myself to prayer, and brought the matter daily before the Lord. At last,
+though I had to pray about the matter from May 21 to September, the Lord
+granted my request, and I found a suitable place for him.</p>
+
+<p>2. I asked the Lord that he would be pleased to deliver a certain sister
+in the Lord from the great spiritual depression under which she was
+suffering, and after three days the Lord granted my request.</p>
+
+<p>3. I asked the Lord daily in his mercy to keep a sister in the Lord from
+insanity, who was then apparently on the border of it. I have now to record
+his praise, after nearly four years have passed away, that the Lord has
+kept her from it.</p>
+
+<p>4. During this year has occurred the conversion of one of the greatest
+sinners that I had ever heard of in all my service for the Lord. Repeatedly
+I fell on my knees with his wife, and asked the Lord for his conversion,
+when she came to me in the deepest distress of soul, on account of the most
+barbarous and cruel treatment that she had received from him in his bitter
+enmity against her for the Lord's sake. And now the awful persecutor is
+converted.</p>
+
+<p>5. It pleased the Lord to try my faith in a way in which before, it had
+not been tried. My beloved daughter was taken ill on June 20. This illness,
+at first a low fever, turned to typhus, <i>and July 3 there seemed no hope
+of her recovery</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Now was the trial of faith, but faith triumphed. My wife and I were
+enabled to give her up into the hands of the Lord. He sustained us both
+exceedingly.</p>
+
+<p>She continued very ill till about July 20, when restoration began. On
+August 18, she was so far restored that she could be removed to Clevedon
+for change of air. It was then 59 days since she was taken ill.</p>
+
+<p>6. The heating apparatus of our Orphan Home unexpectedly gave out. It
+was the commencement of Winter. To repair the leak was a questionable
+matter. To put in a new boiler would in all probability take many weeks.
+Workmen were sent for to make repairs. But on the day fixed for repairs a
+<i>bleak north wind set in</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Now came cold weather, the fire must be put out, the repairs could not
+be put off. Gladly would I have paid one hundred pounds if thereby the
+difficulty could have been overcome, and the children not be exposed to
+suffer for many days from living in cold rooms.</p>
+
+<p>At last I determined on falling entirely into the hands of God, who is
+very merciful and of tender compassion. I now asked the Lord for two
+things, viz.: "That He would be pleased to change the <i>north wind into a
+south wind</i>, and that he would give the workmen a mind to work.</p>
+
+<p>Well, the memorable day came. The evening before, the bleak north wind
+blew still; but on the Wednesday the south wind blew <i>exactly as I had
+prayed</i>. The weather was so mild that no fire was needed.</p>
+
+<p>About half-past eight in the evening, the principal of the firm whence
+the boiler-makers came, arrived to see how the work was going on, and
+whether he could in any way speed the matter.</p>
+
+<p>The principal went with me to see his men; to the foreman of whom he
+said: "The men will work late this evening, and come very early again
+to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>We would rather</i>," said the leader, "<i>work all night</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Then remembered I the second part of my prayer, that God would give the
+men a mind to work. By morning the repair was accomplished, the leak was
+stopped, and in thirty hours the fire was again in the boiler; <i>and all
+the time the south wind blew so mildly that there was not the least need of
+a fire</i>.</p>
+
+<p>7. In the year 1865, the scarlet fever broke out in several of the
+Orphan Homes. In one of which were four hundred girls, and in the other
+four hundred and fifty. It appeared among the infants. The cases increased
+more and more. But we betook ourselves to God in prayer. Day by day we
+called upon Him regarding this trial, and generally two or three times a
+day. At last, when the infirmary rooms were filled, and some other rooms
+that could be spared for the occasion, to keep the sick children from the
+rest, and when we had no other rooms to spare, at least not without
+inconvenience, it pleased the Lord to answer our prayers, and in mercy stay
+the disease. The disease was very general in the town of Bristol, and many
+children died in consequence. <i>But not one in the Orphan Home died. All
+recovered</i>.</p>
+
+<p>At another date, the whooping-cough also broke out among the four
+hundred and fifty girls of our Home, and though many were dying in the
+towns of the same disease, yet all in the Orphan Home recovered except one
+little girl who had very weak lungs, a constitutional tendency to
+consumption.</p>
+
+<p>8. In the early part of one Summer, it was found that we had several
+boys ready to be apprenticed, but there were no applications made by
+masters for apprentices. This was no small difficulty, as the master must
+be also willing to receive the apprentice into his own family. We again
+gave ourselves to <i>prayer</i>, instead of <i>advertising</i>. Some weeks
+passed, but the difficulty remained. We continued in prayer, and then one
+application was made for an apprentice, and from the time we first began,
+we have been able to find places for eighteen boys."</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Consumptive's Home.</h3>
+
+
+<p>In the United States there is a Parallel Record to George Mailer's Life
+of Faith and Trust, found in the history of the Consumptive's Home of
+Boston, Mass. It was established twelve years since by Doctor Cullis, who
+in the ardor of his faith and trust gave himself to the work of the Lord,
+by ministering in <i>Jesus' Name</i>, to the poor consumptives who were
+unable to provide for themselves. Doctor Cullis is a man of humility, and
+devoted to his life work, and has been most abundantly blessed by the Lord
+in his field. To the honor and glory of our Heavenly Father, he has never
+been forsaken by Him.</p>
+
+<p>The Institution began twelve years ago, in small quarters. Now it
+embraces a very large gathering of useful enterprises: <i>A Consumptive's
+Home, Children's Home, Grove Hall Church, Tract Repository, a Training
+College</i>, and a <i>Cancer Home</i>. The means provided have all been
+sent by the Lord, who has prompted the hearts of good people to send to it
+their voluntary contributions.</p>
+
+<p>There is no financial fund, endowment, or pecuniary provision whatever
+existing for the support of the Home. No individuals have made any
+agreement for its support; there is no trade or occupation used or
+connected with it, whereby to obtain any remuneration. There has never been
+any appeal to man for assistance, no subscriptions ever taken, no
+contributions solicited, either publicly or privately; there are no
+agencies or connections to receive funds from any religious society for
+procuring charitable relief.</p>
+
+<p>The supplies for the carrying on of this work, during these twelve
+years, have been wholly <i>in answer to believing prayer, to the
+Lord</i>.</p>
+
+<p>They have fulfilled faithfully the Lord's commands, "<i>Cast all your
+cares on Him, for he careth for you</i>." They have also pleaded in faith,
+without a doubt, "<i>Anything ye shall ask the Father in my name, I will do
+it</i>." And they have asked and received, and the Provider has never yet
+failed them.</p>
+
+<p>During the twelve years' time there has been sent to the Consumptive's
+Home, without any solicitation whatever, but in answer to believing prayer
+and faith and trust in God's providence, a sum no less than <i>three
+hundred and sixty thousand dollars, and over fifteen hundred patients have
+been gratuitously cared for</i>. No one has been urged, asked, or even
+hinted to contribute to it. Each morning, noon and night prayer has been
+offered to send means to provide for their daily wants, and the Great
+Shepherd has sent the supplies.</p>
+
+<p>During these twelve years, the experiences of Doctor Cullis, the
+founder, have been most remarkable in the frequent answers to prayer in
+minute details of life, and especially in healing. There are so many such
+cases, that there is no possible room to doubt. There have often been
+moments, yes, days of distress and intense trial, when, with not a single
+penny on hand, it seemed as if failure had come; but faith could not let
+the promise go, neither was it possible for them to believe that He who
+could do so much, would forsake so good a work, which was undertaken only
+in obedience to the guidance and direction of the Lord; and God has always
+brought deliverance, and honored them and brought glory to his own
+name.</p>
+
+<p>In the daily history of these struggles and trials and triumphs of
+faith, are found many surprising incidents, a few of which we relate.</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Bad Debt Paid.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"To-day a bill was paid of $31, which I had given up as good for
+nothing. A long time ago I gave it to the Lord in prayer, and promised Him
+if it was ever canceled that it should be His."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Help In Need.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"The sums received for several days had been small. One day as the
+Doctor was in prayer for his needs, he received a note from a lady asking
+him to call at her house, naming the day and the hour. At the time
+appointed he called, and found the lady sick in consumption, near to death.
+She said she had some money which she wished to dispose of before her
+death. She placed in his hand a <i>five hundred dollar note</i>. It was her
+last gift. She had received it from the hand of the Lord, and she returned
+it to Him again."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Praying For Stoves.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"This afternoon, knowing the necessity of stoves for some of the upper
+rooms, as the weather is quite cool, I went to the Lord, in prayer, and
+told him of our need, praying Him in one way to supply us.</p>
+
+<p>"I then went down town to a friend, to look at stoves and inquire the
+price, when he said, 'that's all right, I shall not charge anything,' and
+said he would see that they were put up. This man knew nothing of our great
+need; he had never visited the Home, knew but little about it, and not a
+word did he know of the state of my purse. "The Lord inclined the man's
+heart to give the stoves."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Praying For A Furnace.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"I am earnestly praying for the means to purchase a furnace, for we
+cannot receive patients into the new Home until it can be warmed. I am
+looking to the Lord, and He will help."</p>
+
+<p><i>Seven days later</i>. "A gentleman has this day ordered a furnace to
+be put in, with fourteen tons of coal at his expense. I will here say that
+his attention was not called to our need, but he asked how the house was to
+be warmed; he then learned of our want, and ordered as above. Truly,
+'Whosoever believeth in Him shall not be confounded.'"</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Lord's Return for Giving unto the Poor.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"This afternoon a poor woman, whose history I have known for some time,
+and who has a sick husband over eighty years of age, called on me, stating
+that she had only a ten-cent loaf of bread for herself and her husband to
+eat since Wednesday, and to-day is Saturday.</p>
+
+<p>"Notwithstanding my own need, I felt that I could not withhold from one
+in greater straits than myself, so in Christ's name, I gave her enough to
+procure necessary food for a few days. The Lord did not forget it, but this
+evening has returned the amount with bountiful interest. For the turn I
+gave Him, He has sent me $40. <i>'There is that scattereth yet
+increaseth</i>.'"</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Watch given to the Lord--How the Lord returns a better one.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Last year, during a season of great need, I sold my watch; yesterday,
+the Lord returned it by a gift of a much better one from a friend, who had
+purchased it abroad, knowing nothing of my need, thus proving, 'He that
+soweth bountifully, shall reap also bountifully.'"</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Lord Gave Double what was Asked for.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"This morning and noon I called upon the Lord in prayer for the means to
+pay a bill of $100. By three P.M., a check was sent me of $200."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Blessings Amid Calamities.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"The roof of one of our houses having caught fire from a spark from a
+neighbor's chimney, it was mostly destroyed; some of the furniture, and the
+whole home badly damaged by water. All hearts thanked the Lord the
+circumstances were no worse. In the midst of our calamity, blessings
+surrounded us. An unknown donor sends in 20 tons of coal. For weeks I have
+been praying for the means to purchase our Winter fuel, and now the Lord
+has inclined the heart of an unknown friend to supply our need."</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Remarkable Promise.</h3>
+
+
+<p>At one period in the history of the Consumptive's Home, a sum of three
+thousand dollars placed in the safe, and reserved to be used for payment on
+the purchase of a new building was stolen, and there was not left a single
+dollar; every penny was gone.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing daunted, again going to the Lord, and pleading the Lord's own
+promise, "<i>If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask
+what ye will and it shall be done unto you</i>." The request was made in
+prayer for the three thousand dollars, and the promise of the amount was
+definitely made to be paid out a certain day.</p>
+
+<p>The day came. Before it had arrived, the Lord had sent the three
+thousand dollars with unusual contributions, and both the promises of the
+Lord and that of his children were kept.</p>
+
+<p>The ordinary business man would have said it was foolishness for a poor
+man, with not a penny in the world, all his means stolen from him, to
+positively promise on a certain day the next month, to pay so large a sum,
+exactly the same as was stolen.</p>
+
+<p>The skeptic would have said, "All foolish to plead before an unseen God,
+and ask for such a sum. You will never get it. Why didn't your God prevent
+your money from being stolen. If your Bible is true, he ought to have
+protected you from loss."</p>
+
+<p>The answer to all these is thus: The Doctor did trust in the promise of
+an unseen God, whom he had tested in the past many hundred times, and who
+had always been faithful in keeping his promises, and his faith knew that
+his God would not suffer his own work to fail nor suffer reproach.</p>
+
+<p>Still further to silence the skeptic, let it be said that after the
+robbery became known, the sympathy for the institution became so much
+greater, that the contributions voluntarily sent in consequence thereof
+replaced the three thousand dollars within thirty days, and produced far
+more in excess, to go towards other needs. Thus an adversity became a
+blessing. The Lord uses sorrow to produce good.</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Woman Delivered from the Habit of Drinking.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"I visited a family for whom I have felt a deep interest for weeks past.
+The father had been out of employment some time, and they have lacked food
+and clothing. Much of their trouble has been caused by the intemperance of
+the mother. Her husband has borne long and patiently with her, and although
+she would for a long time leave off drinking, it was only to fall again
+still lower. While furnishing them with clothing, and assisting them in
+other ways, I besought the mother to give her heart to Jesus, knowing that
+he could keep her from falling. She became, a constant attendant at our
+meetings. Says "<i>Jesus has taken her love for drink all away</i>." One of
+her little ones, who is just beginning to talk, said the other day, "Mamma,
+you don't drink now." They are a happy family, and their home is greatly
+changed.</p>
+
+
+<h3>Prayer For Purchasers.</h3>
+
+
+<p>When removal to the new Home was determined upon, there still remained
+five of the old buildings on hand to be disposed of. This too was taken to
+the Lord in prayer that he might send purchasers.</p>
+
+<p>One building was sold in October, and the remaining four in November.
+When it is considered that a portion was property usually very difficult of
+sale, and that no advertisement of it had been made, no other means than
+prayer resorted to, it must be convincing to all that there must be "one
+who knoweth all things," who hears and helps in financial as well as in
+spiritual necessities.</p>
+
+
+<h3>Asking For Large Gifts.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Upon the 26th of September the record of the Home was as follows: "There
+is due on the first of next month, $2,450 interest on our property, and we
+are now within four days of the time, with not a dollar towards it. For
+several days I have been asking that amount of the Lord."</p>
+
+<p>Now here was a man depending wholly upon <i>chance gifts</i> for the
+livelihood of several hundred people, with a debt of over two thousand
+dollars to pay in four days. His occupation and work were such that no one
+could even possibly think of making any loans, as there was no security.
+Neither was it the principle or the practice of the Home ever to solicit a
+dollar. What was to be done? <i>It was taken to the Lord in prayer</i>, and
+all waited the result.</p>
+
+<p>Was it at all probable that so large a sum of money could be sent in so
+short a time by any one or any number of persons?</p>
+
+<p>That evening a letter from the probate office at Exeter, N. H., was
+received by Dr. Cullis, informing them of the death of a citizen of
+Portsmouth, with a bequest to the Home of <i>five thousand dollars</i>. The
+Lord answered their prayer the same day and sent <i>double what was asked
+for</i>.</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Severe Tumor Healed.</h3>
+
+
+<p>During the year 1872, there was under the professional care of Dr.
+Cullis, at the Consumptive's Home, a Christian lady with a tumor which
+confined her almost continuously to her bed in severe suffering. All
+remedies were unavailing, and the only human hope was the knife; but
+feeling in my own heart the power of the promise, I one morning sat down by
+her bedside, and taking up the Bible, I read aloud, God's promise to his
+believing children. "<i>And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and
+the Lord shall raise him up: and if he have committed sins, they shall be
+forgiven him</i>."</p>
+
+<p>I then asked her if she would trust the Lord to remove this tumor and
+restore her to health and to her missionary work. She replied, "I am
+willing to trust the Lord for it."</p>
+
+<p>I then knelt and anointed her with oil in the name of the Lord, asking
+Him to fulfill his own word. Soon after I left she got up and walked three
+miles. From that time the tumor rapidly lessened until all trace of it at
+length disappeared.</p>
+
+
+<h3>Faith Cured Her.</h3>
+
+
+<p>This incident was related by the lady herself in a public meeting in
+Boston, where it was heard by the sorrowing wife of an afflicted husband,
+whose statement is as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"I was first confined to my house with a violent cold. I lost my voice
+completely, suffered with pain in my lungs and expectorated almost
+constantly. I grew worse every day, and in a week called in a physician. On
+examination he found my lungs diseased. I also had fever. With all his care
+my cough grew worse, and night sweats set in; a few weeks later my wife was
+told by the Doctor that my lungs were badly ulcerated, and that my case
+being hopeless, it was not worth while for him to attend longer; also that
+she must NOT be surprised if I should pass away suddenly. I then tried some
+highly recommended medicine, which seemed only to increase my disease.</p>
+
+<p>"When I became so weak as to be nearly helpless, Dr. Cullis was called
+in. He sounded my lungs and gave the same verdict, saying my only hope for
+recovery was in the Lord. Diarrhea also set in, and my feet began to
+swell."</p>
+
+<p>This statement will show his perfect helplessness.</p>
+
+<p>After the return of his wife from the above meeting, he read over and
+over the precious promises of God, and became more and more convinced of
+the power of faith. Believing that "<i>He is faithful that promised</i>" he
+sent for Dr. Cullis to come and pray with him.</p>
+
+<p>"Dr. C. prayed, anointed me with oil, and in the name of the Lord Jesus,
+commanded me to be healed. Instantly my whole being was thrilled with an
+unknown power, from the top of my head to the soles of my feet. From the
+moment I believed, the <i>work was done</i>. My lungs, so long diseased,
+breathed with new vigor, and I returned thanks to God for the results of
+faith. Since that memorable night I have taken no medicine, and my health
+has been constantly improving, so <i>that I am feeling better now than I
+did before my sickness</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Two years after he was seen by Dr. Cullis, and continued in perfect
+health, and engaged in active business.</p>
+
+
+<h3>Cured Of Cancer.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A lady came to the Consumptive's Home with a cancer in the cheek, which
+had attained the size of a filbert. It had a very red and angry appearance.
+After prayer for her healing she went into the country, when some one
+remarked, 'E. thinks that faith will cure her, but <i>that</i> is something
+that will have to be burned out or cut out.' Her friends tried to induce
+the use of various applications, all of which she firmly refused. She
+returned home in eight weeks, entirely cured. Her friends acknowledged,
+'<i>Faith did do good after all</i>.'</p>
+
+
+<h3>Cured Of Neuralgia.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A lady of East Cambridge writes, "For nineteen years I have been
+afflicted with neuralgia; added to this, of late years a combination of
+diseases has rendered life an intolerable burden, and baffled the skill of
+every physician to whom I have applied. By the prayer of faith I have been
+healed, both body and soul, and made to rejoice continually. I can now say
+I am entirely well, and engaged in arduous work--often among the sick,
+losing whole nights of rest."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Cured Of Spine Disease.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Dr. Cullis thus speaks of a signal answer to his prayer. "While at the
+home of L.R. in England, I was asked to pray with his daughter, who had
+spinal curvature. Subsequently L.R. writes, 'We. are full of thankfulness
+and praise about E. She is quite well and strong, and does everything like
+her sisters. She has such perfect faith that the Lord had healed her, that
+she at once put away the board and said she should never lie upon it again,
+and on the following Sunday she walked four miles in a hot sun, and sat for
+two hours on a bench without a back. As far as we can judge, she is quite
+well in every respect. For fifteen months before she had been a constant
+cause of anxiety to us--never walked or attended to study.'"</p>
+
+
+<h3>An Injured Leg Restored to Proper Length.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Some months ago a young lady called, requesting to be prayed for. She
+simply told me that some years ago she was run over and her hip badly
+injured. I asked her if she could trust the Lord for healing. She replied,
+'Yes.' I prayed, with her, and she went home.</p>
+
+<p>"I learned after a day or two, that she was perfectly cured, and
+obtained from her these facts: Some six years before, she was run over by a
+hack, and her hip so injured that she was confined to her bed for six
+months. She then got up with a permanent lameness, one limb being shorter
+than the other. In two or three instances since, she has been confined to
+her bed for three months at a time. She now walks perfectly, both limbs
+being of the same length. She says of herself, 'I can leap and run as well
+as any other person, and my heart overruns with praise and thanksgiving to
+God.'"</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Lost Voice Regained.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Some nine months since a lady showed signs of indisposition, and soon
+was attacked by a cough. Change of air was prescribed, but after a lapse of
+some weeks she returned to her home, in no way improved. Physicians were
+consulted, her lungs found to be much irritated and pulse low. Soon all
+appetite left her, a hoarseness succeeded, resulting in entire loss of
+voice.</p>
+
+<p>"There was little desire to eat, as everything taken into the stomach
+caused great distress. Months succeeded; nothing could be gained from
+medical treatment. I felt that I must trust all to God. I seemed to feel
+that God would heal me. I read in his Bible, 'The prayer of <i>faith shall
+save the sick</i>.' I accepted it at once, I felt sure that it was for me.
+I was led to visit Boston and see Doctor Cullis. I stated all the
+circumstances of my illness, and was asked if I could trust God to heal me?
+I replied, 'Yes, I am sure the Lord is able and willing.'</p>
+
+<p>"'We knelt in prayer; <i>in a moment, as it were, my. voice came to me,
+I was able to talk with ease</i>, and from that time nothing that I have
+eaten has given me any distress. The Lord's promises are sure, and He has
+filled my soul with joy and praise.'"</p>
+
+<p>In speaking of the many cases of cures in answer to prayer, Doctor
+Cullis says: "I have noticed that in some cases the cure has been
+instantaneous; others I have prayed with two or three times, or even more.
+My explanation is, as far as I have been able to observe, that there has
+been oftentimes a question or lack of faith on the part of the patient; for
+some seem to come, not in faith, but as a matter of <i>experiment. God's
+word says it is the prayer of faith that shall save the sick.</i>"</p>
+
+<p>From this it will be noticed that the <i>faith is that of the
+patient,</i> and the more strongly it is fixed on God and the promise, the
+surer the answer.</p>
+
+<p>It is but justice to say, that in no case has there ever been the
+thought or the assumption, by Doctor Cullis himself, of having <i>any
+divinely conferred power</i> to heal all that come to him, or for whom he
+may pray. No such power would ever be given to any human creature by our
+Lord. It is the Lord himself who works the wonder--but solely because of
+the faith of sufferers who have sought the addition of the prayer of one
+who is stronger in faith and prayer than its own. Each must wait upon God,
+and must have faith without a doubt, and perfect willingness to trust all
+to Him, and continue to expect the blessing.</p>
+
+<p>It should be noticed, also, that all who have come pleading the prayer
+of faith, and asking the Lord for relief, have either then, or before,
+<i>pledged themselves to the service of the Lord</i>, and have desired the
+good gifts they seek, that they may more efficiently work for His own honor
+and glory, and the good of others.</p>
+
+<p>When such a desire for healing is united with the desire and the promise
+to work in future for the Lord, His own kingdom and glory, the Lord is
+pleased with it, and His promise is made sure to those who come in
+faith.</p>
+
+<p>It is needless to say that those who come for prayer, with the desire
+only for <i>experiment</i>, and also those who are <i>withholding their
+lives or pledges of devotion to Him, need never expect an answer</i>.</p>
+
+
+<h3>Cured Of St. Vitas' Dance.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Very early in childhood, I was seized with a nervous trouble, something
+like St. Vitus' Dance. As I grew older it did not pass off, but settled
+into a disease of the muscles. It became a terrible affliction. It was
+usually under my control, but I could not endure protracted work of any
+kind, or unusual fatigue; I had consulted, in various cities, the best
+physicians, but they pronounced it incurable. All that could be done was to
+be careful of overwork and excitement. It must have been twenty-five years
+since I was first taken.</p>
+
+<p>"Doctor Cullis asked me if I could give my body to the Lord to be
+healed; I felt that I could truly say 'Yes.' He then, in a simple manner,
+prayed that the Lord would restore strength of nerve and muscle. I went
+home, touched and improved by the comforting words. At the end of the week
+I was startled at the recollection that I had felt hardly anything of my
+trouble. My nerves began to feel as if they were held with a grasp of iron.
+The muscles refused to move as before at every inclination. For two weeks
+this painful tension lasted. Then I felt a gradual relaxation, and found
+that I was strong like other people. I tested myself in the severest
+way--walked, wrote and lifted--after each exertion I could enjoy perfect
+rest. The mystery of the miracles was explained to me. This power of God
+manifested in the past, is manifest to us still. Faith can grasp and use
+it. Close beside us stands a <i>living Christ</i>."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Hip Disease Cured.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A lady from Brooklyn, N.Y., came to the Consumptive's Home for prayer
+cure.</p>
+
+<p>"She had a diseased hip, and <i>had used crutches for twenty years</i>.
+Often the hip joint would slip from its socket, so that it was impossible
+for her to walk without crutches. She now writes, 'My lameness was
+incurable, and God interposed in my behalf, in answer to your prayer. I
+have been able to walk for five months without the crutches I have used for
+over twenty years.'"</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Bad Debt Paid.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A correspondent of Doctor Cullis, who was unable to collect a debt from
+a refractory and worthless debtor, promised to give it to the Lord, if it
+was ever paid. The following is his letter:</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you remember that the writer, some months ago, asked you to
+pray that some money which had been due him a long time, and which to all
+human appearance was never to be paid, might by God's interposition be paid
+in full. Enclosed, find the full amount, $25, which was paid a few days
+since. All glory to Him, who <i>never, never fails</i>."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Consumption Instantly Healed.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"At a meeting in the Chapel of the Consumptive's Home, held March 7,
+1876, public prayer was offered for a young man in Florida, who was
+apparently gone in consumption; an interested friend had previously written
+him that prayer would be offered for him at that time.</p>
+
+<p>"Not long after she received letters from him, stating that at <i>that
+same hour</i> he too had joined in supplication, and <i>was instantly
+healed</i>. He says that while before the Lord, pleading his promise, his
+voice and strength were taken away for a time. Then he began to praise the
+Lord, and to feel, 'tis done,' and it was done, and tells of the wonderful
+change, his ability to talk and sing, with no difficulty whatever."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Cured Of Catarrh.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"I have been afflicted with catarrh for over twenty years. I had
+consulted many physicians and used many remedies--all failed to help me. In
+the Spring of 1874, I grew so much worse that life became a burden; I
+suffered from dizziness and great prostration; I was urged to go to you for
+faith cure. This was no new thing to me; I believed in it, yet found it
+difficult to exercise faith for myself.</p>
+
+<p>"My daughter went to see you, as I was then unable to go. I looked to
+God, and believed from that very moment. My whole soul and body seemed
+thrilled, and I began to gain strength immediately.</p>
+
+<p>"In a few days I was able to go to your <i>Home</i>. You prayed simply
+that God would take all disease from me. I have been entirely well from
+that time; not only cured of catarrh, but tumors on my limbs were entirely
+removed. I desire to give God the praise; I bless him that He does forgive
+our transgressions and heal our diseases."</p>
+
+<p>These instances are only a very few out of many, that have occurred, too
+numerous for repetition here. It must be admitted, that God has most
+signally blessed the faith of the inmates of the Consumptive's Home,
+answered their prayer for others. In nearly all the cases of healing which
+have occurred, the sufferers have failed in all other means, and in their
+extremity have depended wholly in faith in God.</p>
+
+<p>In speaking of them, Doctor Cullis says: "We do not give these instances
+of the healing of the body, dear friends of Jesus, as in any degree
+paramount to the healing of the soul; but that as the dear children of God,
+we may claim all our privileges, and enjoy the knowledge of our fullness of
+possession in Him who declares" <i>all things are, yours</i>." Shall we in
+any manner, of smallest or largest import, limit the love and power of God,
+who deigneth out of the highest heaven to declare," <i>The Lord thinketh
+upon me</i>." As an earthly parent separates no part of the well-being of
+his child from his watchful care, so doth our Heavenly Father not only
+"<i>forgive all our iniquities</i>," but "<i>healeth all our diseases." Let
+us not confine faith operation to the saving of the soul, while God's word
+is full of previous promise for the saving, keeping, and healing of the
+body</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy
+wounds, saith the Lord</i>."</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Mother's Faith--The Life of Beate Paulus.</h3>
+
+
+<p>In a sketch of the life of Beate Paulus, the wife of a German minister
+who lived on the borders of the Black Forest, are several incidents which
+illustrate the power of living faith, and the providence of a
+prayer-hearing God.</p>
+
+<p>Though destitute of wealth, she much desired to educate her children,
+and five of her six boys were placed in school, while she struggled, and
+prayed, and toiled,--not only in the house, but out of doors,--to provide
+for their necessities.</p>
+
+<p>"On one occasion," writes one of her children, "shortly before harvest,
+the fields stood thick with corn, and our mother had already calculated
+that their produce would suffice to meet all claims for the year. She was
+standing at the window casting the matter over in her mind, with great
+satisfaction, when her attention was suddenly caught by some heavy, black
+clouds with white borders, drifting at a great rate across the Summer sky.
+'It is a hail-storm!' she exclaimed in dismay, and quickly throwing up the
+window, she leaned out. Her eyes rested upon a frightful mass of wild
+storm-clouds, covering the western horizon, and approaching with rapid
+fury.</p>
+
+<p>"'O God!' she cried, 'there comes an awful tempest, and what <i>is</i>
+to become of my corn?' The black masses rolled nearer and nearer, while the
+ominous rushing movement that precedes a storm, began to rock the sultry
+air, and the dreaded hail-stones fell with violence. Half beside herself
+with anxiety about those fields lying at the eastern end of the valley, she
+now lifted her hands heavenward, and wringing them in terror, cried: 'Dear
+Father in heaven, what art thou doing? Thou knowest I cannot manage to pay
+for my boys at school, without the produce of those fields! Oh! turn Thy
+hand, and do not let the hail blast my hopes!' Scarcely, however, had these
+words crossed her lips when she started, for it seemed to her as if a voice
+had whispered in her ear,' Is my arm shortened that it cannot help thee in
+other ways?' Abashed, she shrank into a quiet corner, and there entreated
+God to forgive her want of faith. In the meantime the storm passed. And now
+various neighbors hurried in, proclaiming that the whole valley lay thickly
+covered with hail-stones, <i>down to the very edge of the parsonage fields,
+but the latter</i> had been quite spared. The storm had reached their
+border, and then suddenly taking another direction into the next valley.
+Moreover, that the whole village was in amazement, declaring that God had
+wrought a miracle for the sake of our mother, whom he loved. She listened,
+silently adoring the goodness of the Lord, and vowing that henceforth her
+confidence should be only in Him."</p>
+
+<p>At another time she found herself unable to pay the expenses of the
+children's schooling, and the repeated demands for money were rendered more
+grievous by the reproaches of her husband, who charged her with attempting
+impossibilities, and told her that her self-will would involve them in
+disgrace. She, however, professed her unwavering confidence that the Lord
+would soon interpose for their relief, while his answer was: "We shall see;
+time will show."</p>
+
+<p>In the midst of these trying circumstances, as her husband was one day
+sitting in his study, absorbed in meditation, the postman brought three
+letters from different towns where the boys were at school, each declaring
+that unless the dues were promptly settled, the lads would be dismissed.
+The father read the letters with growing excitement, and spreading them out
+upon the table before his wife as she entered the room, exclaimed: "There,
+look at them, and pay our debt with your faith! I have no money, nor can I
+tell where to go for any."</p>
+
+<p>"Seizing the papers, she rapidly glanced through them, with a very grave
+face, but then answered firmly, 'It is all right; the business shall be
+settled. For He who says, "The gold and silver is mine," will find it an
+easy thing to provide these sums.' Saying which she hastily left the
+room.</p>
+
+<p>"Our father readily supposed she intended making her way to a certain
+rich friend who had helped us before. He was mistaken, for this time her
+steps turned in a different direction. We had in the parsonage an upper
+loft, shut off by a trap-door from the lower one, and over this door it was
+that she now knelt down, and began to deal with Him in whose strength she
+had undertaken the work of her children's education. She spread before Him
+those letters from the study table, and told Him of her husband's half
+scoffing taunt. She also reminded Him how her life had been redeemed from
+the very gates of death, for the children's sake, and then declared that
+she could not believe that He meant to forsake her at this juncture; she
+was willing to be the <i>second</i> whom He might forsake, but she was
+determined not to be the <i>first</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"In the meanwhile, her husband waited down stairs, and night came on;
+but she did not appear. Supper was ready, and yet she stayed in the loft.
+Then the eldest girl, her namesake Beate, ran up to call her; but the
+answer was, 'Take your supper without me, it is not time for me to eat.'
+Late in the evening, the little messenger was again dispatched, but
+returned with the reply: 'Go to bed; the time has not come for me to rest.'
+A third time, at breakfast next morning, the girl called her mother. 'Leave
+me alone,' she said; 'I do not need breakfast; when I am ready I shall
+come.' Thus the hours sped on, and down stairs her husband and the children
+began to feel frightened, not daring, however, to disturb her any more. At
+last the door opened, and she entered, her face beaming with a wonderful
+light. The little daughter thought that something extraordinary must have
+happened; and running to her mother with open arms, asked eagerly: 'What is
+it? Did an angel from heaven bring the money?' 'No, my child,' was the
+smiling answer, 'but now I am sure that it will come.' She had hardly
+spoken, when a maid in peasant costume entered, saying: 'The master of the
+Linden Inn sends to ask whether the Frau Pastorin can spare time to see
+him?' 'Ah, I know what he wants,' answered our mother. 'My best regards,
+and I will come at once.' Whereupon she started, and mine host, looking out
+of his window, saw her from afar, and came forward to welcome her with the
+words: 'O Madame, how glad I am you have come!' Then leading her into his
+back parlor he said; 'I cannot tell how it is, but the whole of this last
+night I could not sleep for thinking of you. For some time I have had
+several hundred <i>gulden</i> lying in that chest, and all night long I was
+haunted by the thought that you needed this money, and that I ought to give
+it to you. If that be the case, there it is--take it; and do not trouble
+about repaying me. Should you be able to make it up again, well and
+good--if not, never mind.' On this my mother said: 'Yes, I do most
+certainly need it, my kind friend; for all last night I too was awake,
+crying to God for help. Yesterday there came three letters, telling us that
+all our boys would he dismissed unless the money for their board is cleared
+at once.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Is it really so?' exclaimed the innkeeper, who was a noble-hearted and
+spiritual Christian man. 'How strange and wonderful! Now I am doubly glad I
+asked you to come!' Then opening the chest, he produced three weighty
+packets, and handed them to her with a prayer that God's blessing might
+rest upon the gift. She accepted it with the simple words: 'May God make
+good to you this service of Christian sympathy; for you have acted as the
+steward of One who has promised not even to leave the giving of a cup of
+cold water unrewarded.'</p>
+
+<p>"Husband and children were eagerly awaiting her at home, and those three
+dismal letters still lay open on the table, when the mother, who had
+quitted that study in such deep emotion the day before, stepped up to her
+husband, radiant with joy. On each letter, she laid a roll of money and
+then cried: 'Look, there it is! And now believe that faith in God is no
+empty madness!'"</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Persecutor's Fate.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Dr. Eugenio Kincaid, the Burman missionary, states, that among the first
+converts in Ava were two men who had held respectable offices about the
+palace. Some time after they had been baptized, a neighbor determined to
+report them to government, and drew up a paper setting forth that these two
+men had forsaken the customs and religion of their fathers, were worshiping
+the foreigner's God, and went every Sunday to the teacher's house; with
+other similar charges. He presented the paper to the neighbors of the two
+disciples, taking their names as witnesses, and saving that he should go
+and present the accusation on the next day.</p>
+
+<p>The two Christians heard of it, and went to Mr. Kincaid in great alarm,
+to consult as to what they should do. They said if they were accused to
+government, the mildest sentence they could expect would be imprisonment
+for life at hard labor, and perhaps they would be killed. Kincaid told them
+that they could not flee from Ava, if they would; that he saw nothing he
+could do for them, and all that they could do was to trust in God to
+protect them, and deliver them from the power of their enemies. They also
+prayed, and soon left Kincaid, saying that they felt more calm, and could
+leave the matter with God.</p>
+
+<p>That night the persecutor was attacked by a dreadful disease in the
+bowels, which so distressed him that he roared like a madman; and his
+friends, which is too often the case with the heathen, left him to suffer
+and die alone. The two Christians whom he would have ruined then went and
+took care of him till he died, two or three days after his attack. The
+whole affair was well known in the neighborhood, and from that time not a
+dog dared move his tongue against the Christians of Ava.</p>
+
+<p>Is there no evidence in this of a special providence, and that God
+listens to the prayers of persecuted and distressed children?</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Captain And The Quadrant.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A godly man, the master of an American ship, during one voyage found his
+ship bemisted for days, and he became rather anxious respecting her safety.
+He went down to his cabin and prayed. The thought struck him, if he had
+with confidence committed his soul to God, he might certainly commit his
+ship to Him; and so, accordingly, he gave all into the hands of God, and
+felt at perfect peace; but still he prayed, that if He would be pleased to
+give a cloudless sky at twelve o'clock, he should like to take an
+observation to ascertain their real position, and whether they were on the
+right course.</p>
+
+<p>He came on deck at eleven o'clock, with the quadrant under his coat. As
+it was thick drizzling, the men looked at him with amazement. He went to
+his cabin, prayed, and came up. There seemed still to be no hope. Again he
+went down and prayed, and again he appeared on deck with his quadrant in
+his hand. It was now ten minutes to twelve o'clock, and still there was no
+appearance of a change; but he stood on the deck, waiting upon the Lord,
+when, in a few minutes, the mist seemed to be folded up and rolled away as
+by an omnipotent and invisible hand; the sun shown clearly from the blue
+vault of heaven, and there stood the man of prayer with the quadrant in his
+hand, but so awe-struck did he feel, and so "dreadful" was that place, that
+he could scarcely take advantage of the answer to his prayer. He, however,
+succeeded, although with trembling hands, and found, to his comfort, that
+all was well. But no sooner had he finished taking the observation than the
+mist rolled back over the heavens, and it began to drizzle as before.</p>
+
+<p>This story of prayer was received from the lips of the good Captain
+Crossby, who was so useful in the Ardrossan awakening; and he himself was
+the man who prayed and waited upon his God with the quadrant in his
+hand.</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Faith Of Dorothea Trudel.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The life of Dorothea Trudel has afforded some remarkable instances of
+answer to prayer; during the years 1850 to 1860, at the Swiss village of
+M&auml;nnedorf, near the Lake of Zurich, and that of Molltingen, were seen
+and witnessed, cases of cure in response to unyielding faith in the
+promises of the Lord.</p>
+
+<p>Dorothea Trudel was a worker in flowers, and in time came to have many
+workers under her, and when she was about thirty-seven years of age, four
+or five of her workers fell sick. The sickness resisted all treatment, grew
+worse, appeared to be hopeless. She was a deep, earnest Christian, and
+while diligent and unselfish as a nun, yet her anxiety for her work people
+drew her to earnest prayer and study of the Scriptures for relief. Like a
+sudden light, she says, the well known prayer of the Epistle of James, 5:
+14, 15, flashed upon her.</p>
+
+<p>"If medical skill was unavailing, was there not prayer? And could not
+the same Lord who chose to heal through medicines, also heal without them?
+Was he necessarily restricted to the one means? There was a time when his
+healing power went forth directly; might it not be put forth directly
+still?"</p>
+
+<p>Agitated by these questions, she sought help in prayer, and then
+kneeling by the bedside of these sick people, she prayed for them. They
+recovered; and the thought that at first had startled her, became now the
+settled conviction of her life.</p>
+
+<p>Her reputation spread; others who were sick, came to her for relief, but
+she sought only the recovery of the patients by prayer alone. Many
+recovered. Her doors were besieged, and at last she consented to receive
+invalids at her home, from compassion. By degrees her own house grew into
+three, and at last it became in fact a hospital.</p>
+
+<p>She lived a life of humility, and perfect simplicity, yet strength of
+faith, and at her death her work was, and still is, carried on by Mr.
+Zeller, who also has had marvelous successes in answer to prayer.</p>
+
+
+<h3>Remarkable Cures.</h3>
+
+
+<p>There have been gathered together in her biography, well authenticated
+cases of answer to prayer, when the patient was considered wholly incapable
+of help from medical skill.</p>
+
+<p>"There was one of a stiff knee, that had been, treated in vain by the
+best physicians in France, Germany and Switzerland; one of an elderly man
+who could not walk, and had been given up by his physicians, but who soon
+dispensed with his crutches; a man came with a burned foot, and the
+surgeons said it was a case of '<i>either amputation or death</i>' and he
+also was cured; one of the leading physicians of Wurtemburg, testifies to
+the cure of a hopeless patient of his own; another remained six weeks, and
+says he saw all kinds of sicknesses healed; cancers and fevers have been
+treated with success; epilepsy and insanity more frequently than any other
+form of disease.</p>
+
+<p>"Neither is the life and experience of Dorothea Trudel an exceptional
+one. Pastor Blumenhart of Wurtemberg, has had his home crowded for years
+with patients, and cures occur constantly.</p>
+
+<p>"The mother of Dorothea Trudel was an eminently pious woman, and it was
+her custom, when any of her children were ill, to bring them in prayer
+before the feet of the Heavenly Physician, as Dorothea herself says: 'Our
+mother had no cure except prayer, and though at that time we did not
+understand, yet since then we have found it out, that it was the healing
+hand of the Saviour alone, that helped and restored us.'"</p>
+
+
+<h3>Cured Of The Small-Pox.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Even when I had the small-pox, and became blind, no doctor was sent
+for, and no one was told of it. Our father was not at home (he, father,
+most unfortunately, was not a religious person); and when our mother asked
+him to come, telling him how ill I was, he would not believe it, and
+preferred to remain with his friends. Our mother, however, was not in the
+least vexed or excited; she prayed for him, for all of us, especially for
+her sick child, and before my father came home, my eyes were
+re-opened."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Cured Of Severe Fits.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Once again, one of my brothers had a fit brought on through fright. It
+was a most violent and painful attack, and we were greatly alarmed. This
+time, also, our father was out; and our mother said to us, I know this
+fearful illness, my children; it is one of the heaviest trials which could
+have, occurred, but Jesus, who cured that lunatic boy, can heal our child.
+Do not speak of the attack to any one; we will go only to Jesus about it;
+and then she prayed with us.</p>
+
+<p>"Not long after, a second fit came on, and again our father was taking
+his pleasure at the public house. This time mother told him what had
+happened in his absence; but he laughed at it, and said, 'I don't believe
+it; you were frightened at the child having bad dreams.'</p>
+
+<p>"His wife replied, 'For the sake of your unbelief, I hope that the child
+will have another attack whilst you are at home, so that you may witness it
+yourself, then you will believe; I pray God, however, that this may be the
+last time.'</p>
+
+<p>"It came to pass about a week after, that another most dreadful fit came
+on; the boy foamed violently, and threw himself about in fearful
+convulsions; on this occasion the father was present, and he was convinced
+of the nature of the attack, and alarmed at what he saw. <i>But the
+mother's prayer was heard, for the disease never showed itself again for
+thirty-four years, while both parents lived</i>."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Buying A Cow.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Our father going away abroad, he sold one of our two cows, and took the
+proceeds with him. (He, the father, was a reckless spendthrift, idle, and
+fond of the public inn.) A rich neighbor directly offered to loan us money
+enough to buy another; this kind proposal we gratefully accepted. Although
+we did not understand much about bargains of this kind, yet the cow we
+purchased served us so remarkably, that we were obliged to acknowledge
+whence the blessing came. In Summer we could sell fourteen measures of
+milk; in Winter, twelve to the dairyman, so that the borrowed money was
+speedily paid.</p>
+
+<p>"At the same time the cow performed the farm work required of it, with
+such strength and quickness, we were astonished. When our father, on his
+return, heard us speaking with pleasure of this animal, he became so
+enraged with the poor thing, that he was determined to sell it, and
+actually <i>offered it at half its value</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"The faithless children were in a continual fright. When any one came
+near the house, we thought that we were assuredly going to lose our cow.
+But mother exhorted us not to be so fearful; for, said she, 'If your father
+could do always as he likes, none of you would be alive now; but God will
+never let him go any farther than he sees to be for our good. Believe me,
+God, who has given us this cow, will keep it for us as long as we need
+it.'</p>
+
+<p>"And so it turned out, for the cow never left us whilst our mother was
+alive; and when we were all provided for, a purchaser came, who paid a high
+price for the creature, having heard of its wonderful powers from the man
+to whom we sold the milk for so many years; but no sooner was the animal
+taken to its new home, than the wonder ceased, and <i>this cow became no
+better than any other</i>."</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Lady Cured, who had been rejected from an Asylum.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Madam M----, the mother of twelve children, had been quite shattered in
+mind by the death of her husband, and had been actually sent away uncured
+from an asylum. She came to Dorothea's home, was blessed in remembrance in
+her prayers, <i>and after seven weeks went away perfectly cured</i>. She
+acknowledged the Lord was indeed her helper, and she has remained well to
+this day."</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Soul Cured As Well As The Body.</h3>
+
+
+<p>On many occasions she experienced wonderful help from God, who, while
+performing marvels for the body, which is the least important part,
+accomplishes what is far greater, even the salvation of souls.</p>
+
+<p>"Among others, one named B. T----, went to her, who had been suffering
+for six months from a disease of his bones, and had been for a lengthened
+period in a Swiss hospital, under medical treatment. At length he, by the
+advice of Christian friends, sought for relief from his malady at
+Dorothea's house. His care began in the first week of his visit, and in a
+few weeks he was completely recovered."</p>
+
+<p>On one occasion a young artisan came, in whom cancer had made such
+progress as to render any approach to him almost unbearable.</p>
+
+<p>"At the Bible lessons, this once frivolous man, now an earnest inquirer,
+learned where the improvement must begin; and from the day that he
+confessed his sins against God and man, the disease abated. Some time
+afterwards he acknowledged one sin he had hitherto concealed, and then he
+speedily recovered his bodily health, and returned to his home cured in
+spirit also."</p>
+
+<p>"A lady in S---- had so injured her knee by a fall, that for weeks she
+lay in the greatest agony. The doctors declared that dropsy would
+supervene; but the Heavenly Physician fulfilled those promises which will
+abide until the end of the world; and by prayer, and the laying on of
+Dorothea's hand, the knee was cured in twenty-four hours, and the swelling
+vanished."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Prayer, Not Mesmerism.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Several people have maintained that her work was one of mesmerism; and
+when once she was asked to visit an out patient, she earnestly implored the
+Lord <i>not</i> to heal this invalid through her means if she employed
+mesmerism; but if not, to permit recovery. The woman was cured in a short
+time, though Dorothea had never entered her house, and had, therefore, no
+opportunity of placing herself in a mesmeric relation to this patient."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Help In Pecuniary Affairs.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"In pecuniary affairs, also, the Lord was their helper. Many times
+something had to be paid, and they had no means wherewith to meet the
+claims. Once, God actually sent aid by means of an enemy, who offered
+money; another time, <i>three thousand francs</i> came from Holland, just
+as they were needed, and also unexpected on a third occasion they were
+about to borrow money to pay for bread, when two hundred and fifty francs
+arrived."</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Faith Life Of Mr. Zeller.</h3>
+
+
+<p>After the death of Dorothea Trudel, the work at M&auml;nnedorf,
+instituted by her, has been furthered and carried on by Mr. Samuel Zeller,
+who had been her associate. He has published two reports, which contain
+many instances of answers to prayer, showing that the Lord still gave
+blessed results, and rewarded their faithful trust.</p>
+
+<p>"No disease is found to be more obstinate than epilepsy, yet several
+instances are recorded of patients being restored to perfect health.
+Persons afflicted with mental disorder and convulsions are frequently
+brought to M&auml;nnedorf, and many return cured or benefited.</p>
+
+<p>"On one occasion, a lady who had been afflicted with constant headache
+for five years, found her disorder removed speedily under the influence of
+prayer. In other cases the passion for strong drink was taken away; fever
+more or less disappeared; and the subjects of various kinds of chronic
+diseases, even some apparently far gone in consumption, have found their
+strength return to them under the same influence.</p>
+
+<p>"Unhappy victims of spiritualist delusions have found deliverance at the
+mercy-seat; and there, too, many in the bondage of sin have rejoiced in a
+present Saviour.</p>
+
+<p>"One patient afflicted with convulsions, who came several years
+successively without being cured, at last confessed that she possessed a
+book of 'charms' in which she put some degree of, faith, and she had
+recommended them to others. She was led to see the folly and sin of such
+things, and soon after the book was burned she was restored to health."</p>
+
+<p>Many cases have occurred where the suffering patient was utterly unable
+to come to M&auml;nnedorf, but prayer has been offered there in their
+behalf, and the answers have been as frequent as with the cases which have
+come under the same roof.</p>
+
+<p>"A brother living at R---- was seized with a violent fever, and appeared
+to be at death's door. Intelligence having been sent to M&auml;nnedorf,
+united prayer was made in his behalf; and very soon afterwards a
+telegraphic message announced that he was recovering. On this occasion the
+promise was remembered with joy,' Before they call I will answer.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps one of the most striking cases of blessing recorded is that of
+a lady, who was subject to fits of insanity so violent that they threatened
+her life, and who was so far conscious of her miserable condition, that
+happening to go into a meeting where she heard God's word, she requested to
+be prayed for. A friend wrote to M&auml;nnedorf, describing the case, and
+asking prayer on her behalf; and only a fortnight later, the same friend
+communicated the happy news of her recovery. After a fit of unusual
+severity, she fell into a deep sleep, from which she awoke in her right
+mind; more than that, she learned to believe in the <i>Lord Jesus</i>, and
+rejoiced in His love."</p>
+
+<p>"A patient in this institution, who arrived unconverted, and was thought
+to be in a dying state, heard the good news of Salvation, and was enabled
+to rejoice in the Lord, through simple trust in Him; and from that moment
+she began to rapidly recover from her disorder, and soon became strong
+enough to nurse another patient."</p>
+
+<p>Another remarkable case was that of a young girl who, in consequence of
+the breaking off of a marriage engagement, manifested decided symptoms of
+insanity. She not only recovered from her malady, but found the
+Saviour.</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Blind Restored To Sight.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Prayer was asked for a young lady who was wholly blind. A letter
+received soon after brought this joyful news:</p>
+
+<p>"In answer to your prayer for our niece, I must thankfully tell you, her
+eyes are so much better that the Doctor this morning told her to thank God
+for having saved her from the most dangerous kind of cataract.</p>
+
+<p>"While examining her eyes, the Doctor, who is a Jew, took up a book
+lying near, and opening it told her to try and read, which she was able to
+do with ease. It was a hymn book, and the first words on which her eyes
+fell were these:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+'Christ Jesus, glorious King of Light,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Great Conqueror, David's heir,<br />
+Come now and give my blind eyes sight,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;O Saviour, hear my prayer!'<br />
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>"'That will do,' said the Doctor, 'you are much better.'</p>
+
+<p> "I for my part
+hastened to my chamber, and shutting the door fell on my knees with a cry
+of joyful praise."</p>
+
+<p>Threats were made by many of the villagers that they would burn up the
+house for this institution, saying all manner of unreasonable things. "You
+can not prevent this by prayer," said one writer, "we have taken an oath to
+do it." Mr. Zeller remained quiet, taking no notice of these threats, but
+quietly trusted in the Lord. Though other anonymous letters came
+frequently, yet the threats were never carried out.</p>
+
+<p>It will he seen from this that, blessed as was the work of faith, still
+the spirit of persecution was permitted by the Lord only to make his own
+children rely more confidently on Him, and that he might fulfill more
+positively his promise, "<i>No evil shall befall thee, no harm come nigh
+thy dwelling</i>."</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Bank Of Faith. God The Guardian Of The Poor.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Perhaps the providence of God in supplying the wants of the poor never
+was more closely watched and better described than has been done by the
+late William Huntington, formerly a minister in London, England, who, in a
+book with the quaint title of the "Bank of Faith," tells how, in his course
+of life, day by day the Lord guarded him, helped him, and provided for
+every need, even the most trifling. It is a precious record of faith and
+full of true encouragement. He answers as follows this question: "<i>Should
+we fray for temporal blessings?</i>"</p>
+
+<p>"Some have affirmed that we have no warrant to pray for temporal
+blessings, but, blessed be God, he has given us '<i>the promise of the life
+that now is, and of that which is to come</i>.' Yea, the promise of all
+things pertaining to life and Godliness, and whatever God has promised we
+may warrantably pray for.</p>
+
+<p>"Those that came to our Saviour in the days of his flesh, prayed chiefly
+for temporal mercies. The blind prayed for sight, the lepers for a cure,
+the lame far the use of their limbs, and the deaf for the use of their
+ears, and surely had they prayed unwarrantably, their prayers would not
+have been so miraculously answered.</p>
+
+<p>"Elijah prayed for a temporal mercy when he prayed for rain, and it is
+clear that God answered him. Elisha works a miracle to produce a temporal
+mercy when he healed the barren plains of Jericho."</p>
+
+<p>Is my reader a poor Christian? Take it patiently. God maketh the poor as
+well as the rich. Envy not the rich. Riches are often seen to be a
+canker-worm at the root of a good man's comfort, a snare in his life, an
+iron pillar at the back of his pride. A gar prayed to be fed with food
+convenient for him, and you may pray for the same, and what God gives you
+in answer to your prayer you will be thankful for.</p>
+
+<p>That state is surely best which keeps you dependent on God and thankful
+to Him, and so you shall find it to the end. <i>Go on, poor Christian,
+trusting in the providence of God</i>.</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Life Of His Child Saved.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"My eldest daughter now living fell sick at about five or six months
+old, and was wasted to a skeleton. She had a doctor to attend her, but she
+got worse and worse. It seemed as if God intended to bereave us of her, for
+he brought her even to death's door.</p>
+
+<p>"My wife and I have sat up with her night after night, watching the
+cradle, expecting every breath to be her last, for two or three weeks
+together. At last I asked the Doctor if he thought there was any hope of
+her life. He answered, no, he would not flatter me. <i>She would surely
+die</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"This distressed me beyond measure, and as he told me to do no more for
+her, I left my room, went to my garden in the evening, and, in my little
+tool house, wrestled hard with God in prayer for the life of the child.</p>
+
+<p>"I went home satisfied that God had heard me; <i>and in three days the
+child was as well as she is now</i>, and ate as heartily. This effectually
+convinced me that all things were possible with God."</p>
+
+
+<h3>God Sent Supplies.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"When I had been three weeks out of employment, I found a new place, and
+after pawning all my best clothes to pay expenses, when the cart set us
+down at the new home on Monday morning, I had the total sum of <i>ten pence
+half-penny left,</i> to provide for myself, my wife and child, till the
+ensuing Saturday night.</p>
+
+<p>"Though I was thus poor, yet I knew God had made me rich in faith. We
+went on our knees beseeching the Almighty to send relief, as he in his
+wisdom thought proper.</p>
+
+<p>"The next evening my landlord's daughter, and son-in-law, came up to see
+their mother, and brought some baked meat, which they had just taken out of
+their oven, and brought for me and my wife to sup along with them.</p>
+
+<p>"These poor people knew nothing of us, nor of our God. The next day in
+the evening they did the same, and kept sending victuals and garden stuff
+to us all the week long."</p>
+
+
+<h3>The God who Supplied Elijah by a Raven Supplied me with Fish.</h3>
+
+
+<p>One of the most beautiful instances ever known, which almost identically
+repeats the Bible over again, especially in the instance of Elijah as he
+was fed in an unseen way by the hand of God, is given in the life of Mr.
+Huntington. He was wholly unable to provide for his family, and could
+depend only on God.</p>
+
+<p>"As I went over a bridge, I cast my eye on the right-hand side, and
+there lay a <i>very large eel</i> on the mud by the river side, apparently
+dead. I caught hold of it and soon found it was only asleep. With
+difficulty I got it safe out of the mud upon the grass, and then carried it
+home. My little one was very fond of it, and it richly supplied all her
+wants that day. But at night I was informed the eel was all gone, so the
+next day afforded me the same distress and trouble as the preceding day had
+done.</p>
+
+<p>"The next morning, as I entered the garden gate, I saw a
+<i>partridge</i> lie dead on the walk. I took it up and found it warm; so I
+carried it home, and it richly supplied the table of our little one that
+day.</p>
+
+<p>"Again the next day still found me unprovided, and brought forth fresh
+work for faith and prayer. However, the morrow took thought for the things
+of itself, for when I came to take the scythe in my hand to mow the short
+grass, I looked into the pond, and there I saw three very large carp lying
+on the water apparently sick. When the master came I told him of it. He
+went and looked and said they were dead, and told me I might have them if I
+would, for they were not in season. However, they came in due season to me.
+<i>And I found, morning after morning, there lay two or three of these fish
+at a time, dead, just as I wanted them, till I believe there was not one
+live fish remaining, six inches long, in the pond, which was near three
+hundred feet in length.</i></p>
+
+<p>"I could not help weeping, admiring the goodness of God. As I studied
+the Bible, I clearly perceived that the most eminent saints of the Bible
+were brought into <i>low</i> circumstances, as Jacob, David, Moses, Joseph,
+Job and Jeremiah, and all the apostles, in order that the hand of
+providence might be watched."</p>
+
+
+<h3>God Takes Away The Snow.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"In the Winter the Lord sent a very deep snow, which lay a considerable
+time on the ground. We were brought into great straits, as our wheat was
+now of no use to us, and we could obtain no wood, the landlady saying that
+as the snow was likely to last some time, she must keep what little she had
+left, and could sell us no more.</p>
+
+<p>"There was before us the fear of great suffering with the cold. I begged
+of God that he might <i>that night take away the snow</i>, and send us
+something to burn, that our little one might not perish with the cold,
+<i>and the next morning the snow was all gone</i>."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Sight Restored.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"A violent humor came into my eyes, and for some months I was in danger
+of losing my sight. Both myself and my second daughter had it more or less
+for several years.</p>
+
+<p>"In answer to prayer, God healed her eyes and mine too, so that our
+sight was perfectly recovered."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Praying For Tea.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"As the life of faith consists in bearing the cross of Christ, we must
+not expect to be long without trials. Providence soon frowned on me again,
+and I got behindhand, as usual.</p>
+
+<p>"This happened at a time when my wife was about delivery of child, and
+we were destitute of those necessaries of life which are needful at such
+times. The nurse came: we told her there was no tea in the house. My wife
+replied, '<i>Set the kettle on, even if there is not</i>.'</p>
+
+<p>"The nurse said, '<i>You have no tea, nor can you get any</i>.' My wife
+replied, '<i>Set on the kettle</i>.' She did so, and before it boiled, a
+woman (with whom at that time we had no acquaintance) came to the door, and
+told the nurse that she had brought some tea as a present for my wife."</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Lord Paid His Debt.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"It was the time of my returning from the north country. I observed that
+there were some small debts to be discharged. But the hand of God was fast
+closed; this continued for some time: and for all that time, I watched and
+observed narrowly.</p>
+
+<p>"At this time there was a special debt due of twenty pounds. This sum
+hung long. I looked different ways, and chalked out different roads for the
+Almighty to walk in; but his paths were in the deep waters, and his
+footsteps were not known; no raven came, neither in the morning, nor in the
+evening.</p>
+
+<p>"There was a gentlewoman at my house on a visit, and I asked her if she
+had got the sum of twenty pounds in her pocket, telling her at the same
+time how much I wanted it. She told me she had not; if she had, I should
+have it. A few hours after, the same woman was coming into my study, but
+she found it locked, and knocked at the door; I let her in, and she said,
+'I am sorry I disturbed you.' I replied, 'You do not disturb me; I have
+been begging a favor of God, and I had just done when you knocked; and that
+favor I have now got in faith, and shall shortly have in hand, and you will
+see it.'"</p>
+
+<p>"The afternoon of the same day, two gentlemen out of the city came to
+see me; and after a few hours of conversation, they left me, and to my
+great surprise, each of them at parting put a letter into my hand, which,
+when they were gone, <i>I opened, and found a ten pound note in each</i>. I
+immediately sent for the woman up-stairs, and let her read the letters, and
+then sent the money to pay the debt."</p>
+
+<p>It is impossible to give in this page any large portion of the life of
+Mr. Huntington, who was rich in faith, and upon whom God showered abundant
+answers to prayer. But, like all of us, he, too, suffered extremely in all
+the necessities of life, yet ever looked to God above for help. Of his
+experience, he says in his own words, after having for years thoroughly
+tested the promises and faithfulness of God:</p>
+
+<p>"<i>A succession of crosses was always followed with perpetual
+blessings, for as sure as adversity led the van, so sure prosperity brought
+up the rear</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Never, no never, did the Holy Spirit withhold his prevalent
+intercession from, me in times of trouble, nor did my God ever turn a deaf
+ear to my prayer, or fail to deliver me</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth
+him out of them all</i>."</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<h1>The Faith Of Little Children.</h1>
+
+
+<h2>HOW GOD HONORS THEIR TRUST, AND ANSWERS THEIR PRAYERS.</h2>
+
+
+<h3>God Keeps Hold Of The Other Hand.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A little boy with his mother was returning from a visit; the night was
+very dark, and little could be seen ahead. She led her little boy, by the
+hand, who trustingly walked by her side. He had only just begun to learn
+and remember the stories of the Bible, and he believed and trusted
+everything he heard. After walking for sometime in the darkness, very
+silently, he burst out with,</p>
+
+<p>"Mamma, I'm not afraid."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, what makes you feel so."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Because, mamma, God keeps hold of the other hand</i>."</p>
+
+<p>This is the beautiful lesson older ones, too, must learn, the simple,
+childlike confidence in God, which gives no fear, no alarm.</p>
+
+<p>The skeptic can never accuse little children of the same theories,
+philosophies, imaginations and beliefs which are characteristic of older
+heads. The child knows nothing of such books of reason, science or
+religion. Many a child who could not read has asked of God and his prayer
+has been answered; and when the whole world witnesses a little child, who
+in its innocence has been told that God lives, that God loves him, that God
+can do everything and will surely hear his prayer, and then in its care and
+grief, kneels before the God it trusts, offers its little prayer, <i>and
+the prayer is answered</i>, let none of maturer minds ever presume to
+doubt. The faith of little children is typical of the very simplest faith
+wherewith any human being must approach its Creator. The child never
+questions, never doubts; but in its simplicity asks, and God honors the
+trust. The following incident illustrates the point, <i>that not one thing
+is ere too small for God to consider, or a soul to bring to him in
+prayer</i>.</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Child whose Life was Saved in Answer to Prayer--by his own Prayer the
+Life of his Sister is Saved.</h3>
+
+
+<p>One of the most beautiful incidents ever known relating to the faith of
+children, and the reward of their trust, is contained in the following
+circumstance, personally known to the editor of this book, who was a
+participant in the facts.</p>
+
+<p>The only child of a young married couple, living in this city, their
+pride, their hope and joy, and the darling of the whole family, was seized
+with severe sickness, grew rapidly worse. The grandfather, who was a
+skilled physician, was constantly present, ministering in every way, by
+every means, but nothing was of any avail. No medicine could cure, and the
+child seemed ready to die. No one could think of relief or knew where to
+find it. The grandfather, at last, proposed to lay the case before God, and
+ask the prayers of His people in the child's behalf. The mother was only
+too glad to ask other prayers with her own, to bring relief. The father,
+who had hitherto never seriously thought of religion, was in intense
+anxiety and despair. Here was his first, his only child about to be taken
+away from him, and then came the thought, is it possible his family life
+was not to be blessed; his child was in distress, no human effort was
+available. At last, he too joined in the prayer of his wife and father, and
+bowing before the Great Unknown, unseen God, he poured out his heart in
+prayer, saying, "<i>Lord, if thou wilt spare my child, wilt give him life,
+and thus show to me thy power and will to save, I will never doubt again,
+and will give thee my heart"</i></p>
+
+<p>A request for prayer was written and sent to the pastor, Dr. William
+Adams, of the Madison Square Church. It arrived after church service had
+begun; the sexton was unwilling to carry it to the pulpit, as it was
+against the rule, but when told he <i>must, as a life was in great
+danger</i>, he consented, and delivered it to the pastor.</p>
+
+<p>The messenger waited breathlessly, and when in silence the doctor
+specifically mentioned the case before him, and asked the Lord to heal and
+spare the little one, and comfort the hearts of all, and make it a witness
+of his love and power, the messenger accidentally looked at the clock, and
+it marked just <i>quarter to eleven</i>, A.M.</p>
+
+<p>When prayer was finished he returned home. Arriving at home, he was
+astonished to find the child better, its whole condition had changed, the
+medicine had taken hold, and the doctor now said everything was so hopeful
+the child would surely recover, and it did. But mark the unparalleled
+singularity of the scene. The father asked the messenger the <i>time</i>
+when the prayer was offered. He replied, "At a <i>quarter to eleven."</i>
+The father in astonishment said, "<i>At that very moment</i> the disease
+changed, and the doctor said he was better."</p>
+
+<p>The father, who had thus been proving the Lord with this test of prayer
+and its identity of time in his answer, was so overwhelmingly convinced of
+the real power of prayer, and thereby of the real existence of God, and
+that a Christian life was one of facts as well as beliefs, now finding that
+the Lord had indeed kept His own promise, he, too, kept his promise and
+gave his heart to the Lord, and became henceforth, a professing
+Christian.</p>
+
+<p>But there were more wonderful things yet to happen--a period of five
+years passed. Other children were added to the family, and one day, the
+youngest, a sweet, beautiful girl, was taken suddenly ill with convulsions.
+The sickness for days tasked the strength of the mother, and the skill of
+the doctor, but no care, ingenuity, or knowledge could overcome the disease
+or subdue the pain. The little girl's fits were severe and distressing, and
+there were but short intervals between, just time to come out of one and
+with a gasp, pass into another still more terrible. In its occasional
+moments of reason, it would look piteously as if mutely appealing, and then
+the next convulsion would take it and seem to leave it just at death's
+door.</p>
+
+<p>All attendants were worn with care, the doctor fairly lived in the house
+and forsook all his other business. The clergyman came and comforted the
+anxious hearts with words of sympathy and prayer; but her <i>little brother
+Merrill</i>, (whose own life we have just related,) tender-hearted, a mere
+child, scarce seven years of age, who had known of the Lord, and who
+believed that He was everywhere and could do everything, was intensely
+grieved at "Mamie's" distress, and came at last to his mother and asked if
+he could go and "<i>make a prayer to God for Sissy</i>." The mother said,
+"Go." The little boy went back into his room, and kneeling humbly by the
+side of his bed, as he did at his night and morning prayers, uttered this
+request:</p>
+
+<p><i>"O God, please to bless little sister, she is very sick. Please stop
+her fits so she won't have any more. For Jesus' sake, amen."</i></p>
+
+<p>He came back, told his mamma what he said, and added: "<i>Mamma, I don't
+think she will have any more</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Now mark how the Lord honored this simple faith of the little child.
+<i>From that very moment the fits left her. They never returned; and the
+child soon entirely recovered</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Notice the full beauty and instruction of these two incidents: <i>Little
+Merrill's life was saved in answer to prayer; was the means of his father's
+salvation, and when he in turn had grown to an age when he could learn of
+God, his own prayer was the means of saving his own sister's life</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Notice, too, that all earthly available means were used to save each
+child, but to no effect. Physicians and parents considered the case
+hopeless, and then committed it to the decision of God.</p>
+
+<p>Notice, too, that when little Merrill was so sick, that the mother and
+doctor both prayed, yet it was not until his father had also prayed that
+the answer came. God meant to honor the faith of the first two, but was
+<i>waiting for the prayer of the third</i> ere he granted the request. That
+child's sickness was one of the purposes of God. Notice in the second case,
+that while father, mother, doctor, the clergyman, and others of the house
+were all trusting in prayer, yet the Lord <i>was waiting for the prayer of
+the little brother</i>, ere he sent the blessing of relief. Such an
+incident draws its own conclusion. <i>Never cease in prayer for anything
+which is to God's honor and glory. Use all the possible means to help God.
+Where human means are of no avail, commit it to God and wait in humble
+resignation. Ask others to pray, too, for the same object</i>, that when
+the answer comes, God may be glorified before the sight of others as well
+as your own. When so many are waiting to see if <i>God</i> will honor his
+promises, depend upon it, <i>God will be found faithful to all his
+word</i>.</p>
+
+
+<h3>Trusting In God's Promises.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"It was a fierce, wild night in March, and the blustering wind was
+blowing, accompanied by the sharp, sleety snow. It was very desolate
+without, but still more desolate within the home I am going to describe to
+you. The room was large and almost bare, and the wind whistled through the
+cracks in the most dismal manner. In one corner of the room stood an
+old-fashioned bedstead upon which a woman lay, her emaciated form showing
+her to be in the last stage of consumption. A low fire burned in the large
+fire-place, and before it a little girl was kneeling. She had a small
+testament, and was trying by the dim fire-light to read a chapter, as was
+her custom, before going to bed. A faint voice called to her from the bed,
+'Nellie, my daughter, read the 14th chapter of St. John for your Mother.'
+'Yes, Mother,' was the reply, and after turning the leaves a few moments,
+the child began. All that long Winter day that poor mother had been
+tortured with pain and remorse. She was poor, very poor, and she knew she
+must die and leave her child to the mercies of the world. Her husband had
+died several years before. Since then she had struggled on, as best she
+could, till now she had almost grown to doubt God's promises to the
+helpless. 'In my Father's house are many mansions.' 'I go to prepare a
+place for you.' Here the little reader paused, and crept to her mother's
+side. She lay motionless, with closed eyes, while great hot tears were
+stealing down her wasted cheeks. 'Mother, He has a place almost ready for
+you, hasn't He.' 'Yes, my child, and I am going very soon, but <i>He</i>
+will watch over you, Nellie, when Mother has gone to her last home.'</p>
+
+<p>"The weeks went slowly by to the suffering invalid; but when the violets
+were blooming, they made a grave upon the hillside, and laid the weary body
+down to rest, but the spirit had gone to the home which Christ himself had
+gone to prepare.</p>
+
+<p>"Years passed away. It was sunny May. The little church of Grenville was
+crowded. I noticed in one of the seats a lady plainly but neatly attired.
+There was nothing remarkable in the face with its mournful brown eyes, and
+decided looking mouth and chin. I ransacked my memory to find who the lady
+was. Suddenly a vision of the poor widow came. This, then, was the little
+girl, little Nellie Mason. 'We will read a part of the 14th chapter of St.
+John,' the minister said. 'In my Father's house are many mansions; I go to
+prepare a place for you.' The slow, deliberate tones recalled me from my
+reverie, and I looked at Nellie. Her head was bowed, but I could see the
+tears flowing like rain."</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Faith Of A Little Child.</h3>
+
+
+<p>An incident most beautiful was told in the Fulton Street prayer meeting
+by a converted Jew.</p>
+
+<p>"Journeying in the cars, I was attracted by two little girls, Jewesses.
+I asked them if they loved Jesus. To my surprise, they said they did. I
+found that their mother was in a seat near by. She had attended some of the
+gospel meetings for Jews, and was interested in them. She said her husband
+had not been to church or synagogue for eleven years, and she did not know
+his views on religion. Her two little girls had attended a Methodist Sunday
+school, and there learned of Jesus. A day or so after, the mother was taken
+very sick, and remedies failing, the eldest child, a little over eight
+years old, said: 'O Mamma, if you will let me pray to Jesus for you, He can
+take away your pains and give you sleep.' She knelt with her sister and
+prayed in simple words to Jesus to heal her mother, telling Him that He had
+so promised to hear prayer. Shortly after, the mother, after long hours of
+restlessness and suffering, fell into a deep sleep and awoke relieved of
+pain and much refreshed. She heard from her daughter's lips the story of
+her faith in Jesus and love for Him, and then sent for me, begging me to
+pray for her. I am glad to tell you that she is now a converted woman, a
+believer in the Lord Jesus Christ."</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Wanderer Found.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A mother sent a request for prayer to the Fulton Street prayer-meeting,
+that she might hear from him who had long ago left home, and wandered far
+away. She had been praying very earnestly for him, and soon she wrote that
+she had just heard from him, and heard too that he had become a Christian
+and learned to trust in Him.</p>
+
+
+<h3>Are You There.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A mother, one morning, gave her two little ones books and toys to amuse
+them while she went up-stairs to attend to something. A half hour passed
+quietly away, and then one of the little ones went to the foot of the
+stairs, and in a timid voice called out, "Mamma, are you there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, darling."</p>
+
+<p>"All right," said the little one, and-went on with her play. By-and-by
+the question was repeated, "Mamma, are you there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, darling."</p>
+
+<p>"All right," said the child again, and once more went on with her play.
+And this is just the way we should feel towards Jesus. He has gone
+up-stairs, to the right hand of God, to attend to some things for us. He
+has left us down in this lower room of this world to be occupied here for a
+while. But to keep us from being worried by fear or care, He speaks to us
+from His word, as that mother spoke to her little ones. He says to us,
+"Fear not; I am with thee. I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." "The
+Lord will provide."</p>
+
+<p>And so we see how certain it is that God does provide relief in trouble
+for those who love and serve Him.</p>
+
+
+<h3>God Knows The Bottom Of The Barrel.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Mother, I think God always hears when we scrape the bottom of the
+barrel," said a little boy to his mother one day. His mother was poor. They
+often used up their last stick of wood and their last bit of bread before
+they could tell where the next supply was to come from. But they had so
+often been provided for in unexpected ways, just when they were most in
+need, that the little boy thought <i>God always heard when they scraped the
+bottom of the barrel</i>. This was only that little fellow's way of saying
+what Abraham said when he called the name of the place where God had
+delivered him, "Jehovah-Jireh."</p>
+
+
+<h3>God's Care for Little Children in Little Wants.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"I was early taught that God cares for His children, even to regard
+their <i>little</i> daily wants. An illustration of my implicit confidence,
+which I do not remember ever to have been betrayed, occurred when I was
+about ten years of age. I was accustomed to give five cents each Sabbath at
+the Sunday School collection for foreign missions. This money was not given
+me directly by my parents; but I was allowed to go on an errand, or to do
+some little piece of work for a neighbor and thus earn it, outside of the
+performance of the duties that naturally fell to my lot at home. At one
+time, when I was attending school about a mile from home, my time out of
+school was taken up by my walk to and from it and the chores which
+necessarily fall to a farmer's boy, so that for some months I had no
+opportunity of earning anything. One Sabbath morning, I dropped my last
+silver piece into the collection, with a prayer--which I always offered at
+such a time--that God would bless it to the heathen, that some one might be
+led to Him by it.</p>
+
+<p>"I went home that day with a child's anxiety, feeling that I could not
+bear the thought of giving nothing for the heathen on next Sabbath, and yet
+not seeing how I could possibly obtain it. That night I asked my Heavenly
+Father to provide the money for me. The anxiety was all gone; for I felt
+that God would answer. Next morning, when almost at the school-house, I
+found a handkerchief in the road, in the corner of which was securely tied
+a silver quarter and a silver dime. Instantly my thoughts flew to the next
+Sabbath, and to the prayer I had offered. O, yes! I thought, God has more
+than answered my prayer; instead of giving me just enough for next Sabbath,
+He has given me enough, for seven Sabbaths.</p>
+
+<p>Then the thought came, somebody lost it; yes, it was my duty to find the
+owner, which I did not expect would be difficult, although it was in town.
+So I cheerfully gave it up, thinking that 'the Lord will provide' in some
+other way. I took it directly to my teacher, and asked her to find the
+owner. She made faithful inquiry, but no one was found to claim it. Who can
+question this being an answer to prayer, when we think of the numerous
+<i>chances</i> against its occurring just as it did."</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Child's Prayer For Papa.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A drunkard, who had run through his property, returned one night to his
+unfurnished house. He entered his empty hall. Anguish was gnawing at his
+heart-strings, and language was inadequate to express his agony as he
+entered his wife's apartment, and there beheld the victims of his appetite,
+his loving wife and a darling child. Morose and sullen, he seated himself
+without saying a word; he could not speak; he could not look up then. The
+mother said to the little angel at her side, "Come, my child, it is time to
+go to bed;" and that little baby, as she was wont, knelt by her mother's
+lap and gazing wistfully into the face of her suffering parent, like a
+piece of chiseled statuary, slowly repeated her nightly orison. When she
+had finished, the child (but four years of age) said to her mother, "Dear
+Mother, may I not offer up one more prayer?" "Yes, yes, my sweet pet,
+pray;" and she lifted up her tiny hands, closed her eyes, and prayed: "O
+God! spare, oh! spare my dear papa!" That prayer was lifted with electric
+rapidity to the throne of God. It was heard on high--it was heard on earth.
+The responsive "Amen!" burst from the father's lips, and his heart of stone
+became a heart of flesh. Wife and child were both clasped to his bosom, and
+in penitence he said: "My child, you have saved your father from the grave
+of a drunkard. I'll sign the pledge!"</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Little Quaker Boy's Prayer right out in Meeting.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A little Quaker boy, about six years old, after sitting, like the rest
+of the congregation, in silence, all being afraid to speak first, as he
+thought, got up on the seat, and, folding his arms over his breast,
+murmured in a clear, sweet voice, just loud enough to be distinctly heard
+on the front seat, "I do wish the Lord would make us all gooder, and
+gooder, and gooder, till there is no bad left."</p>
+
+
+<h3>What The Little Children May Do.</h3>
+
+
+<p>At family prayer, little Mary, one evening when all was silent, looked
+anxiously in the face of her back-sliding father, who had ceased to pray in
+his family, and said to him with quivering lips, "Pa, is God dead?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, my child--why do you ask that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Pa, you never talk to him now as you used to do," she replied.</p>
+
+<p>These words haunted the father until he was mercifully reclaimed.</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Unbelieving Father led to go to Church.</h3>
+
+
+<p>An unbelieving father came home one evening and asked where his little
+girl was. "She has gone to bed," said his wife. "I'll just go and give her
+one kiss," said the father, for he loved his little daughter dearly. As he
+stood at the door of her bedroom, he heard some one praying. It was his
+little Jane, and he heard her say, "Do, God Almighty, please lead daddy to
+hear Mr. Stowell preach."</p>
+
+<p>She had often asked him to go, and he had always said, "No, no, my
+child." After listening to her prayer, he determined, the next time she
+asked him, to accompany her, which he did, and heard a sermon which took
+his attention and pricked his conscience. On leaving the church, he clasped
+the hand of his little girl in his, and said, "Jane, thy God shall be my
+God, and thy minister shall be my minister." And the man became a true
+follower of the Lord.</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Child's Prayer For Relief</h3>
+
+
+<p>An interesting little daughter of a professor in Danville, Kentucky, in
+the Summer of 1876, in eating a watermelon, got one of the seeds lodged in
+her windpipe. The effort was made to remove it, but proved ineffectual, and
+it was thought that the child would have to be taken to one of the large
+cities to have an operation performed by a skillful surgeon. To this she
+was decidedly opposed, and pleaded with her mamma to tell her if there was
+no other way of relief. Finally, in order to quiet her childish fears, her
+Christian mother told her to ask God to help her.</p>
+
+<p>The little one went into an adjoining room and offered her prayer to God
+to help her. Shortly thereafter she came running to her mamma with the seed
+in her hand, and her beautiful and intelligent face lighted up with joy. In
+response to the eager inquiry of the mother, the little one said that she
+had asked God to help her, and while she was praying she was taken with a
+severe cough, in which she threw up the seed.</p>
+
+
+<h3>God's Care over His People--The Praying Widow</h3>
+
+
+<p>A young widow with two children was living in the city of Berlin. She
+was a Christian woman, and trusted in Jehovah-Jireh to take care of her.
+One evening she had to be away for a while. During her absence a man
+entered her house for the purpose of robbing her. But "the Lord who
+provides" protected her from this danger in a very singular way. On
+returning to her home she found a note lying on her table, which read as
+follows:</p>
+
+<p>"Madam, I came here with the intention of robbing you, but the sight of
+this little room, with the religious pictures hanging around in it, and
+those two sweet-looking children quietly sleeping in their little bed, have
+touched my heart. I cannot take anything of yours. The small amount of
+money lying on your desk I leave untouched, and I take the liberty of
+adding fifty dollars besides." The Bible tells us that "the hearts of men
+are in the hands of God. and he turneth them as the rivers of waters are
+turned." He turned the heart of this robber from his wicked purpose, and in
+this way he protected the widow who trusted in him.</p>
+
+
+<h3>God Saved A Family Mercifully.</h3>
+
+
+<p>One morning a Christian farmer, in Rhode Island, put two bushels of rye
+in his wagon and started to the mill to get it ground. On his way to the
+mill he had to drive over a bridge that had no railings to the sides of it.
+When he reached the middle of this bridge his horse, a quiet, gentle
+creature, began all at once to back. In spite of all the farmer could do,
+he kept on backing till the hinder wheels went over the side of the bridge,
+and the bag of grain was tipped out and fell into the stream. Then the
+horse stood still. Some men came to help the farmer. The wagon was lifted
+back and the bag of grain was fished up from the water. Of course it could
+not be taken to the mill in that state. So the farmer had to take it home
+and dry it. He had prayed that morning that God would protect and help him
+through the day, and he wondered what this accident had happened for. He
+found out, however, before long. On spreading out the grain to dry he
+noticed a great many small pieces of glass mixed up with it. If this had
+been ground up with the grain into the flour it would have caused the death
+of himself and his family. But Jehovah-Jireh was on that bridge. He made
+the horse back and throw the grain into the water to save the family from
+the danger that threatened them.</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Child's Faith In The Lord's Prayer.</h3>
+
+
+<p>About the 30th of July, 1864, the beautiful village of Chambersburgh was
+invaded and pillaged by the Confederate army. A superintendent of a Sabbath
+school, formerly resident in the South, but who had been obliged to flee to
+the North because of his known faithfulness to the national government, was
+residing there, knowing that if discovered by the Confederate soldiers, he
+would be in great peril of life, property and every indignity,--in the gray
+dawn of that memorable day, with his wife and two little girls, again on
+foot, he fled to the chain of mountains lying north-west of the doomed
+village.</p>
+
+<p>After remaining out for some days and nights, with no shelter but such
+as was afforded by the friendly boughs of large forest trees, and without
+food, they became nearly famished. At last, the head of the family, unable
+to endure the agony of beholding his wife and children starving to death
+before his face, and he not able to render the needed relief, withdrew to a
+place by himself, that he might not witness the sad death of his loved
+ones. With his back against a large oak, he had been seated only a short
+time, when his eldest little daughter, not quite ten years old, came to him
+and exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Father, father, I have found such a precious text in my little
+Testament, which I brought to the mountain with me, for very joy I could
+not stop to read it to mother, but hastened to you with it. Please listen
+while I read</i>." To which he said:</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, my child, read it. There is comfort to be found in the Scriptures.
+We will not long be together on earth, and there could be no better way of
+spending our last mortal hours." To which she replied:</p>
+
+<p>"O, father, I believe that we will not die at this time; that we will
+not be permitted to starve; that God will surely send us relief; but do let
+me read." Then opening her dear little volume, at the ninth verse of the
+sixth chapter of Matthew, she read as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"'<i>Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom
+come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; give us this day our
+daily bread.' O, father, to think that our dear Saviour Himself taught His
+disciples to pray for their daily bread. These are His own words. It is not
+possible, therefore, that He will allow any person to starve, who, in His
+own appointed language, asks Him for food. Will He not, dear father, hear
+our prayers for bread</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>At once and forever the scales fell from the eyes of that parent. With
+tears streaming down his cheeks, he clasped his child to his bosom, and
+earnestly repeated the Lord's Prayer. <i>He had scarcely finished it when a
+small dog ran to where he and his daughter were upon their knees, and
+barked so fiercely as to attract to the spot its owner, a wealthy
+Pennsylvania farmer,</i> who was upon the mountain in search of cattle that
+he had lost for several days. The kind-hearted tiller of the soil
+immediately piloted the suffering family to his own comfortable home, and
+properly provided for their wants.</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Child Preserved From Wolves.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A little girl only nine years old, named Sutherland, living at
+Platteville, Col., was recently saved from death by ferocious forest wolves
+as follows: The child went with her father on a cold afternoon to the woods
+to find the cattle, and was told to follow the calves home, while the
+father continued his search for the cows. She did so, but the calves misled
+her, and very soon she became conscious that she was lost. Night came on,
+and with it the cold of November and the dreaded wolves. With a strange
+calmness she continued on her uncertain way. The next day, Sunday, at 10
+A.M., she reached, in her wanderings, the house of John Beebe, near a place
+called Evans, having traveled constantly eighteen hours, and a distance of
+not less than twenty-five miles. <i>All night the wolves growled around
+her, but harmed her not</i>; neither was she in the least frightened by
+them. All know that in ordinary cases fierce packs of blood-thirsty wolves
+would devour a man, and even a horse. But this little one was invincible in
+her trusting, simple faith. The narrative states: "She said that the wolves
+kept close to her heels and snapped at her feet; but her mother told her
+that if she was <i>good</i> the Lord would <i>always</i> take care of her;
+so she asked the Lord to take care of her, and she knew the wolves would
+not hurt her, <i>because God wouldn't let them</i>!" The child was hunted
+for by a great number of people, and being found was restored shortly to
+her parents in perfect health and soundness.</p>
+
+
+<h3>Jesus Cured Me.</h3>
+
+
+<p>In the family of a missionary pastor in Kansas, was a daughter of twelve
+years of age, seriously afflicted with chronic rheumatism. For three years
+she suffered, until the leg was shrunken, stiff at the knee, shorter by
+some two inches than, the other, and the hip joint was being gradually
+drawn from its socket. The child read of Mrs. Miller's cure by prayer,
+originally published in <i>The Advance</i>, and wondered why she could not
+also be cured by the same means. She repeated to her mother some of the
+promised answers to prayer, and asked: "Don't Jesus mean what he says, and
+isn't it just as true now as then?" The mother endeavored to divert her
+attention by representing the affliction as a blessing. The physician also
+called and left another prescription, and encouraged the child to hope for
+benefit from it. The child could not, however, be diverted from the thought
+that Jesus could and would heal her. After the doctor's departure she said:
+"<i>Mamma, I cannot have that plaster put on."</i></p>
+
+<p>"Why, dear."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Because, mother, Jesus is going to cure me, and he must have all the
+glory. Dr. ---- doesn't believe in God; if we put the plaster on, he will
+say it was that which helped me; and it must be all Jesus</i>." So earnest
+was she, that her mother at length placed the package, just as she had
+received it, on a shelf, and said no more about it.</p>
+
+<p>The little girl and her mother were alone that day, the father being
+absent from home. When the household duties were done she called her mother
+to her.</p>
+
+<p>"Mother, will you pray now to Jesus to cure me<i>? I have got the faith;
+I know he will if you will ask him</i>." The mother, overcome, yielded to
+her daughter's request, and commenced praying. She was blest with unusual
+consciousness of the presence of God, and became insensible of all outward
+surroundings, pleading for the child. She remained in this state of
+intercession for more than an hour, when she was aroused by her daughter,
+who with her hand on the mother's shoulder was joyfully exclaiming,
+"<i>Mother, dear mother, wake up! Don't you see Jesus has cured me? O, I am
+well! I am all well!" and she danced about the room, literally
+healed.</i></p>
+
+<p>One week from that day, the girl was seen by the writer in the
+"<i>Advance,"</i> who says she was <i>out sliding on the ice with her
+companions</i>. From that day to this she has had no further trouble;
+<i>the limb is full, round and perfect</i>; there is <i>no difference
+between it and the other</i>.</p>
+
+<p>To every question asked she replies, with the overflowing gratitude of a
+loving heart, "Jesus cured me!"</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Little Boy who Wanted His Sister to Read the Bible.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Rev. Mr. Spurgeon, of London, tells of the excellent faith of a little
+boy in one of the schools of Edinburgh, who had attended a prayer-meeting,
+and at the last said to his teacher who conducted it:</p>
+
+<p>"Teacher, I wish my sister could be got to read the Bible; she never
+reads it."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Johnny, should your sister read the Bible?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because if she once read it I am sure it would do her good, and she
+would he converted and saved."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think so, Johnny?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I do, sir; and I wish the next time there was a prayer-meeting you
+would ask the people to pray for my sister, that she may begin to read the
+Bible."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, well, it shall be done, John."</p>
+
+<p>So the teacher gave out that a little boy was anxious that prayer should
+be offered that his sister might read the Bible. John was observed to get
+up and go out. The teacher thought it very rude of the boy to disturb the
+people in a crowded room, and so the next day, when the lad came, he
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"John, I thought it very rude of you to get up in the prayer-meeting and
+go out. You ought not to have done so."</p>
+
+<p>"O, sir," said the boy, "I did not mean to be rude; <i>but I thought I
+should like to go home and see my sister reading her Bible for the first
+time</i>."</p>
+
+<p><i>True to his faith, when he reached his home, he found the little girl
+reading her Bible</i>.</p>
+
+
+<h3>Nettie's Daily Bread.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A little girl in a wretched attic, whose sick mother had no bread, knelt
+down by the bedside, and said slowly: "Give us this day our daily bread."
+Then she went into the street and began to wonder where God kept his bread.
+She turned around the corner and saw a large, well-filled baker's shop.</p>
+
+<p>"This," thought Nettie, "is the place." So she entered confidently, and
+said to the big baker, "I've come for it."</p>
+
+<p>"Come for what?"</p>
+
+<p>"My daily bread," she said, pointing to the tempting loaves. "I'll take
+two, if you please--one for mother and one for me."</p>
+
+<p>"All right," said the baker, putting them into a bag, and giving them to
+his little customer, who started at once into the street.</p>
+
+<p>"Stop, you little rogue!" he said, roughly; "where is your money?"</p>
+
+<p>"I haven't any," she said simply.</p>
+
+<p>"Haven't any!" he repeated, angrily; "you little thief, what brought you
+here, then?"</p>
+
+<p>The hard words frightened the little girl, who, bursting into tears,
+said: "Mother is sick, and I am so hungry. In my prayers I said, 'Give us
+this day our daily bread,' and then I thought <i>God meant me to fetch it,
+and so I came</i>."</p>
+
+<p>The rough, but kind-hearted baker was softened by the child's simple
+tale, and instead of chiding her or visiting threats of punishment, as is
+usually the case, he said: "<i>You poor, dear girl; here, take this to your
+mother</i>," and he filled a large basketful and gave it to her.</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Brother's Prayer.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A physician, who for many years practiced his profession in the State of
+California, was called once to see the child of Mr. Doak, of Calveras
+County, living on the road between San Andreas and Stockton, and not far
+from the mining town of Campo Seco, or Dry Camp. He says: The patient was a
+little girl about ten years of age, bright and intelligent and one of
+twins, the other being a boy, equally bright and well-disposed. The primary
+symptoms had indicated inflammation of the stomach, which the attending
+physician had hopelessly combated, and finally, when by metastasis it
+attacked the brain, with other unfavorable symptoms, he was inclined to
+abandon the case in despair.</p>
+
+<p>It was at this juncture I was called in. The symptoms were exceedingly
+unfavorable, and my own opinion coincided with my professional brother's.
+However, we determined to go to work. A day and night of incessant
+watching, and the state of the patient caused us both to feel the case
+hopeless, and we only continued our attendance at the earnest solicitation
+of the child's mother. The anxious, care-worn and restless sorrow of the
+little brother, his deep grief as he saw his sister given over to the power
+of the King of Terrors, had attracted our attention. He would creep up to
+the bedside of his sister silently, with pale and tearful face, controlling
+his emotion with great effort, and then steal away again and weep bitterly.
+With a vague, indefinite idea of comforting the little fellow, I took him
+to my knee, and was about to utter some platitude, when the little fellow,
+looking me in the face, his own the very picture of grief, burst out
+with--</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Doctor, must sister die?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," I replied, "but,"--</p>
+
+<p>Before I could go farther he again interrupted me: "Oh, Doctor, is there
+nothing, nothing that will save her? Can nobody, nobody save my
+sister?"</p>
+
+<p>For an instant the teachings of a tender and pious mother flashed over
+my mind. They had been long neglected, were almost forgotten. California,
+in those days, was not well calculated to fasten more deeply on the mind
+home teachings. There were very few whose religious training survived the
+ordeal, and for a long time I had hardly thought of prayer. But the
+question brought out with the vividness of a flash of lightning, and as
+suddenly, all that had been obscured by my course of life, and, hardly
+knowing what I did, I spoke to him of the power that might reside in
+prayer. I said, God had promised to answer prayer. I dared not allow the
+skeptical doubt, that came to my own mind, meet the ear of that innocent
+boy, and told him, more as my mother had often told me than with any
+thought of impressing a serious subject on his mind, "<i>That the prayers
+of little boys, even, God would hear</i>." I left that night with some
+simple directions, that were given more to satisfy the mother than from
+having the slightest hope of eventual recovery, promising to return next
+day.</p>
+
+<p>In the morning, as I rode to the door, the little boy was playing round
+with a bright and cheerful countenance, and looked so happy that
+involuntarily I asked:</p>
+
+<p>"Is your sister better?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, Doctor," he replied, "but she is going to get well."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you know," I asked.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Because I prayed to God</i>" said he, "and <i>he told me she
+would."</i></p>
+
+<p>"How did he tell you?"</p>
+
+<p>The little fellow looked at me for an instant, and reverently placing
+his hand on the region of his heart, said:</p>
+
+<p>"<i>He told me in my heart</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Going to the room where my patient was lying, I found no change
+whatever, but in spite of my own convictions there had sprung up a hope
+within me. The medical gentleman with whom I was in consultation came to
+the room, and as he did, <i>a thought of a very simple remedy</i> I had
+seen used by an old negro woman, in a very dissimilar case, <i>occurred to
+my mind.</i> It became so <i>persistently present</i> that I mentioned it
+to my brother practitioner. He looked surprised, but merely remarked. "It
+can do no harm." I applied it. In two hours we both felt the case was out
+of danger.</p>
+
+<p>The second day after that, as we rode from the house, my friend asked me
+how I came to think, of so simple a remedy.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>I think it was that boy's prayer</i>," I replied.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Doctor! you are not so superstitious as to connect that boy's
+prayers with his sister's recovery," said he.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I do," I replied; "for the life of me I cannot help thinking his
+prayers were more powerful than our remedies."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Light Given To A Blind Child.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"A missionary visiting one of the mission schools of Brooklyn, was
+introduced to a remarkable child. He was brought into the school from the
+highways and hedges, and young as he was, he had been taught of God. One
+day he was playing with powder, and putting his mouth to the match to blow
+it, it exploded, and the whole charge went into his face and eyes. He
+became totally blind, and the physician gave but little hope of recovery.
+But the little sufferer was patient and calm, and even hopeful; sitting
+through the dark days meditating on what he had learned at the mission
+Sabbath-school, and repeating passages of Scripture and many a beautiful
+hymn.</p>
+
+<p>"One evening after the physician had spoken discouragingly, and his
+parents, as he perceived, were in deep distress, he was absorbed on his
+knees in a corner of the room in earnest prayer. His voice, though subdued
+almost to a whisper, was indicative of intense feeling. His parents
+inquired what he had been praying so earnestly for. Why, said he, that
+<i>Jesus Christ would open my eyes. The doctor says he can't, and so I
+thought I would ask the Savior to do it for me. God honored his faith. In a
+few days his sight came to him; and the prayer was answered. He can now see
+clearly</i>."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Asking The Lord to Help Him in his Lessons.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"A little boy was at school, he was diligent, and determined to succeed,
+but found that parsing was rather hard.</p>
+
+<p>"One day he went to his mamma for a little help in analyzing some
+sentences. She told him the proper manner of doing it, and he followed her
+directions; but he was much troubled that he could not understand the whys
+and wherefores himself.</p>
+
+<p>"His mamma told him it was rather hard for him then, but that after he
+had studied a little longer, it would be quite easy.</p>
+
+<p>"Johnnie went into another room to study alone, but after a little came
+back, his face perfectly radiant with joy. He said: 'O mamma, I want to
+begin again. I asked Jesus to help me, and now I think I see just how it
+is. He always helps us when we ask him;' and with unspeakable delight he
+with his mamma went over his lesson again."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"The <i>American Messenger</i> tells the story of Johnny Hall, a poor
+boy. His mother worked hard for their daily bread. 'Please give me
+something to eat; I am very hungry,' he said one evening. His mother let
+the work upon which she was sewing fall from her knee, and drew Johnny
+toward her. Her tears fell fast as she said: 'Mamma is very poor, and
+cannot give you any supper to-night.' 'Never mind, mamma; I shall soon be
+asleep, and then I sha'n't feel hungry. But you will sit and sew, and be so
+hungry and cold. Poor mamma,' he said, and kissed her many times to comfort
+her.</p>
+
+<p>"'Now, Johnny, you may say your prayers;' for dearly as his mother loved
+him, she could ill afford to lose a moment from her work. He repeated 'Our
+Father' with her until they came to the petition, 'Give us this day our
+daily bread.' The earnestness, almost agony, with which the mother uttered
+these words, impressed Johnny strongly. He said them over again: '<i>Give
+us this day our daily bread</i>.' Then opening his blue eyes, he fixed them
+on his mother, and said: 'We shall never be hungry any more. God is <i>our
+Father</i>, and he <i>will</i> hear us.' The prayer was finished and Johnny
+laid to rest. The mother sewed with renewed energy. Her heart was sustained
+by the simple faith of her child. Many were the gracious promises which
+came to her remembrance. Although tired and hungry, still it was with a
+light heart she sank to rest.</p>
+
+<p>"Early in the morning a gentleman called on his way to business. He
+wished Johnny's mother to come to his home to take charge of his two
+motherless boys. She immediately accepted the offer. They were thus
+provided with all the comforts of a good home. Johnny is a man now, but he
+has never forgotten the time when he prayed so earnestly for his daily
+bread.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>God will hear prayer</i> is his firm belief. In many ways has he had
+the faith of his childhood confirmed. He looks to God as his Father with
+the same trust now as then.</p>
+
+
+<h3>God Will Take Care Of Me.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"When the yellow fever raged in New Orleans, the pestilence visited a
+Christian household, and the father died. Then the mother was suddenly
+seized, and knowing that she must die, she gathered the four children
+around her bed, the oldest being only about ten years of age, and said to
+them that God was about to take her home to heaven. She urged them to have
+no fears, and assured them that the kind, heavenly Father who had so long
+provided for them would surely come and take care of them. The children,
+with almost breaking hearts, believed what the dying mother had told
+them.</p>
+
+<p>"She was buried. The three youngest soon followed her, although they
+received every necessary attention from friends during their sickness. The
+oldest, a boy, was also seized by the pestilence, and in an unguarded
+moment, under the influence of delirium, wandered from his sick-bed out
+into the suburbs of the city, and lying down in the tall grass by the
+roadside, looked steadfastly up, murmuring, incoherently at times, 'Mother
+said God would come and take care of me--would come and take care of me!' A
+gentleman happening to pass at the time, and hearing the unusual sounds,
+went where the lad was lying, and rousing him, asked him what he was doing
+there. Said the little fellow in reply: '<i>Father died; mother died;
+little brother and sisters died. But just before mother went away into
+heaven, she told us to have no fear, for God would come and take care of
+us, and I am now waiting for him to come down and take me. I know he will
+come, for mother said so, and she always told us the truth</i>.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Well,' said the gentleman, whose kindliest sympathies were stirred by
+the little fellow's sad condition and his implicit confidence in his
+sainted mother's pious instructions, '<i>God has sent me, my son, to take
+care of you</i>.' So he had him carried to his home, and kindly nursed and
+cared for by his own family. He recovered, and to-day is one of the most
+useful Christian young men in the far West, where he has fixed his
+home."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Laura Healed.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"A Christian teacher, connected with a Southern Orphan Asylum, writes
+<i>The Christian</i>, that often when the children were sick, and most of
+them came to me more or less diseased, I cried to the Lord for help, and He
+who 'bore our infirmities, and carried our sicknesses,' healed them. Oh it
+is so good to trust in the Lord! How much better to rely on Him 'in whom we
+live, and move, and have our being,' than to put confidence in man, even in
+the most skillful physician. To confirm and strengthen the faith of the
+doubting, I send you the following account of the healing of one of our
+orphans.</p>
+
+<p>"Laura was one of a large orphan family, living on Port Royal Island,
+S.C. When her mother died, she went to live with a colored woman who made
+her work very hard, 'tote' wood and water, hoe cotton and corn, do all
+manner of drudgery, rise at daybreak, and live on scanty food. Laura
+suffered from want, exposure and abuse. The freed-women of the plantation
+looked with pity into her eyes, and desired her to run away. But she
+replied, 'Aunt Dora will run after me, and when she done cotch me, she'll
+stripe me well with the lash; she done tell so already.'</p>
+
+<p>"One morning, however, when Laura went to the creek for crabs, a good
+aunty followed her, and throwing a shawl over the poor child's rags, said,
+'Now, Laura, put foot for Beaufort fast as ever you can, and when you get
+there, inquire where Mrs. Mather lives: go straight to her; she has a good
+home for jes sich poor creeters as you be.' Laura obeyed, hastened to
+Beaufort, seven miles distant, found my home, was made welcome, and her
+miserable rags exchanged for good clean clothes. In the morning, I said,
+'Laura, did you sleep well last night?' She replied, 'O, missis, my heart
+too full of joy to sleep. Me lay awake all night, thinking how happy me is
+in dis nice, clean bed, all to myself. Me never sleep in a bed before,
+missis.'</p>
+
+<p>"Laura, then about thirteen years old, came to me with a hard cough, and
+pain in her side. I put on flannels, gave her a generous diet, and hoped,
+that with rest and cheerful surroundings, she would soon rally as other
+children had, who came to me in a similar broken-down condition. Still the
+cough and pain continued. I dosed her with various restoratives, such as
+flax-seed, and slippery elm, etc., but all were of no avail. She steadily
+grew worse. Every week I could see she declined. Her appetite failed; night
+sweats came on; and she was so weak that most of the day she lay in bed.
+The children, all of whom loved Laura, she was so patient and gentle,
+whispered one to another, 'Laura is gwine to die; dere is def in her
+eye."</p>
+
+<p>"One evening in mid-winter, the poor child's short breath, fluttering
+pulse, and cold, clammy sweat alarmed me, and I felt sure that unless the
+dear Lord interposed in her behalf, her time with us was very short. I
+lingered by her bed till near midnight in prayer for her recovery. I could
+not give her up. Again in my own room I poured out my soul in prayer for
+the child, and then slept. About two o'clock, I suddenly awoke, and heard
+what seemed a voice saying to me, '<i>Go to Laura; I can heal her now; the
+conditions are right; you are both calm and trustful</i>.'</p>
+
+<p>"I arose quickly, hastened to her room and said to her, 'Laura, do you
+want to get well?' 'O, yes, missis, me wants to get well.' 'Do you believe
+Jesus can cure you?' She replied, 'I know he can if he will.' 'Well,
+Laura,' I said, 'Jesus has just waked me out of a sound sleep, and told me
+to go and tell you that he <i>will cure you now</i>. Do you believe he
+will, Laura?' 'Yes, missis, me <i>do believe</i>,' she replied earnestly.
+She then repeated this prayer. 'O, Jesus, do please to make me well; let me
+live a long time, and be a good and useful woman.'</p>
+
+<p>"The burden had rolled off my heart; I returned to my room and slept
+sweetly. In the morning, Tamar, Laura's attendant, met me at the door,
+exclaiming joyfully, 'O, I'se so glad! Laura is a heap better, Missis. She
+wake me up long time before day and begged me to get her something to eat,
+she so hungry.'</p>
+
+<p>"From that night Laura rapidly recovered. Her cough abated, her appetite
+was restored, her night sweats ceased, and in less than a month she was
+strong and well."</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Little Slave's Faith.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A missionary in India, passing one day through the school room, observed
+a little boy engaged in prayer, and overheard him say, "O, Lord Jesus, I
+thank thee for sending big ship into my country and wicked men to steal me
+and bring me here, that I might hear about Thee and love Thee. And now,
+Lord Jesus, I have one great favor to ask Thee. Please to send wicked men
+with another big ship, and let them catch my father and my mother, and
+bring them to this country, that they may hear the missionaries preach and
+love Thee."</p>
+
+<p>The missionary in a few days after saw him standing on the sea-shore,
+looking very intently as the ships came in. "What are you looking at, Tom?"
+"I am looking to see if Jesus Christ answers prayer."</p>
+
+<p>For two years he was to be seen day after day watching the arrival of
+every ship. One day, as the missionary was viewing him, he observed him
+capering about and exhibiting the liveliest joy.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Tom, what gives you so much joy?" "<i>O, Jesus Christ answer
+prayer. Father and mother come in that ship</i>," which was actually the
+case.</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Good Reason For Praying.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A little girl about four years of age being asked, "Why do you pray to
+God?" replied: "Because I know He hears me, and I love to pray to Him."</p>
+
+<p>"But how do you know He hears you?"</p>
+
+<p>Putting her little hand to her heart, she said, "I know He does, because
+there is something <i>here</i> that tells me so."</p>
+
+
+<h3>My Heart Talked.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A child six years old, in a Sunday school, said: "When we kneel down in
+the school-room to pray, it seems as if my heart talked."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Why, Sir, I Begged.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A little boy, one of the Sunday school children in Jamaica, called upon
+the missionary and stated that he had lately been very ill, and in his
+sickness often wished his minister had been present to pray with him.</p>
+
+<p>"But, Thomas," said the missionary, "I hope you prayed." "Oh, yes, sir."
+"Did you repeat the collect I taught you?" "I prayed." "Well, but how did
+you pray?" "Why, sir, I begged."</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Little Child's Prayer For Healing.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A very little child, who had but recently learned to talk, and the
+daughter of a Home missionary, had been for weeks troubled with a severe
+cough, which was very severe in its weakness upon her. At last her father
+said to her, "Daughter, ask Jesus, the good Lord, to heal you."</p>
+
+<p>Putting up her little hands as she lay in bed, she said, "<i>Dear Jesus,
+will oo please to cure me, and do please tell papa what to give
+me</i>."</p>
+
+<p>The father, who was listening, thought several times of "<i>syrup of
+ipecac</i>" but did not connect it immediately with the prayer. At last the
+thought came so often before him, that he felt, "Well, it will do no harm,
+perhaps this is what the Lord wants me to give her." He procured it,
+administered it, and in three hours the little child's cough had wholly
+ceased, and she was playing on the floor with the other children. A most
+singular feature is the fact that the same medicine was administered at
+other times and had no effect in relief.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<h1>The Blessedness Of Giving</h1>
+
+
+<p>"<i>Blessed is he that considereth the poor; the Lord will deliver him
+in time of trouble</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all
+thine increase, so shalt thy barns be filled with plenty</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>There is that scattereth and yet increaseth; and there is that
+withholdeth more than is meet, but it lendeth to poverty</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth shall be
+watered also himself</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and that
+which he hath given will He pay him again."</i></p>
+
+<p>"<i>Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry
+himself, but shall not be heard</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed, for he giveth of his
+bread to the poor</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>He that putteth his trust in the Lord shall be made fat</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack; but he that hideth his
+eye shall have many a curse</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou shall find it after many
+days</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>If thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted
+soul, the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in
+drought, and make fat thy bones. And thou shall be like a watered garden,
+and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>He which soweth bountifully, shall reap also bountifully</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give;
+not grudgingly, nor of necessity, for</i></p>
+
+<h2>God Loveth A Cheerful Giver.</h2>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+<h3>How the Lord Blesses Those "Who Give Liberally to His Cause.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A disciple of the Lord Jesus, poor in this world's goods, but rich in
+faith, became greatly perplexed in regard to the meaning of the
+forty-second verse of the fifth chapter of Matthew. The words are: "Give to
+him that asketh thee; and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou
+away." After a season of prolonged mental inquiry, as to whether the
+language was to be regarded as literal or not, she suddenly paused and
+exclaimed: "It is easy enough to find out; test it and see."</p>
+
+<p>It was Saturday. Her money, all but two dollars, had been expended in
+providing for the Sabbath. The amount left, which was absolutely needed for
+the following Monday, she put in her pocket, and went out.</p>
+
+<p>On the street, a friend, whose husband had been for some time out of
+business, met her and stated their distresses, and asked if she could lend
+them <i>two dollars to last over the Sabbath</i>.</p>
+
+<p>She was surprised. The test had come sooner than she expected, but,
+without hesitation, the money was "<i>lent to the Lord,"</i> and the now
+penniless believer went home to wait and see.</p>
+
+<p>Now mark the result. Monday came, and with it the needs to be supplied.
+While pondering what course to pursue, a knock was heard, and, on opening
+the door, a lady, with a bundle in her hand, inquired if she could do a
+little work for her. Replying in the affirmative, and naming the price, the
+lady took from her pocket-book two dollars, and handed it to her, saying:
+"It is more than you ask, but you might as well have it." "I was never more
+astonished," said this true disciple, "and literally shouted for joy. I had
+tested and proved that the promises of God are yea and amen in Christ
+Jesus. Glory to God. I have never doubted since; and though often in
+straits, I have always been delivered."</p>
+
+<p>Would it not be well for Christians to "test" where they cannot
+understand? "Ye are my friends," said the blessed Lord, "if ye do
+whatsoever I command you." Obedience will solve difficulties that reasoning
+cannot unravel. Try and see.</p>
+
+
+<h3>Dividing With God.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A merchant, in answer to inquiries, refers back to a period when, he
+says, "In consecrating my life anew to God, aware of the ensnaring
+influences of riches, and the necessity of deciding on a plan of charity
+before wealth should bias my judgment, I adopted the following system:</p>
+
+<p>"I decided to balance my accounts as nearly as I could, every month; and
+reserving such a portion of profits as might appear adequate to cover
+probable losses, to lay aside, by entry on a benevolent account, one-tenth
+of the remaining profits, great or small, as a fund for benevolent
+expenditure, supporting myself and family on the remaining nine-tenths. I
+further determined, that when at any time my net profits, that is, profits
+from which clerk-hire and store expenses had been deducted, should exceed
+$500 in a month, I would give twelve and a half per cent.; if over $700,
+fifteen per cent.; if over $900, seventeen and a half per cent.; if over
+$1,100, twenty per cent.; if over $1,300, twenty-two and a half per cent.;
+thus increasing the proportion of the whole as God should prosper, until at
+$1,500, I should give twenty-five per cent., or $375 a month. As capital
+was of the utmost importance to my success in business, I decided not to
+increase the foregoing scale until I had acquired a certain capital, after
+which I would give one-quarter of all net profits, great or small; and on
+the acquisition of another certain amount of capital, I decided to give
+half; and on acquiring what I determined would be a full sufficiency of
+capital, then to give the whole of my net profits.</p>
+
+<p>"It is now several years since I adopted this plan, and under it I have
+acquired a handsome capital, and have been prospered beyond my most
+sanguine expectations. Although constantly giving, I have never yet touched
+the bottom of my fund, and have been repeatedly astonished to find what
+large drafts it would bear. True, during some months I have encountered a
+salutary trial of faith, when this rule has led me to lay by the tenth,
+while the remainder proved inadequate to my support; but the tide has soon
+turned, and with gratitude I have recognized a heavenly hand more than
+making good all past deficiencies."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Prosperity And Liberality.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A London correspondent of the <i>Western Christian Advocate</i>, writing
+some years ago of raising a fund for the extinction of debts on chapels,
+gives the following incident:</p>
+
+<p>"A gentleman named Wilkes, who was promised a subscription of one
+thousand guineas to this fund, has a history so remarkable as to be worth
+relating across the Atlantic. Seven years ago he was a journeyman mechanic.
+Having invented and patented some kind of a crank or spindle used in the
+cotton manufacture, and needing capital to start himself in the business of
+making them, he made it a matter of earnest prayer that he might be
+directed to some one able and willing to assist him. In a singular and
+unexpected manner he fell in with an elderly Quaker, a perfect stranger,
+who accosted him with the strange inquiry: 'Friend, I should like to know
+if a little money would be of any service to thee.' Having satisfied
+himself as to Wilkes' genius and honesty, the Quaker at once advanced him
+the required amount. The praying mechanic started in business on his own
+account, and everything he has touched of late appeared to prosper.</p>
+
+<p>"Hearing of a field in Ireland offered for sale, in which was a deserted
+mine, he went over to see it; bought the field for a small sum, recommenced
+working the mine, and it now turns out to yield abundance of excellent
+copper. For the year 1852, he promised to give the Missionary Society a
+<i>guinea a day</i>; but such abundance has poured in upon him during the
+year, that he felt that to be below his duty, and has, therefore, enlarged
+his subscription for the present year seven-fold. He is actually giving to
+that noble cause seven guineas daily, or upwards of $10,500 a year, during
+this year, 1853; in addition to which he has just given one thousand
+guineas to the fund above referred to." "It is pleasing to add," says the
+writer, "that this remarkable man retains the utmost simplicity."</p>
+
+<p>Would that liberality and prosperity might ever go hand in hand. Often,
+as wealth increases liberality is starved out, and the rich give far less
+than the poor in proportion to their means and ability.</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Deacon's Singing School.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"I am going out to see if I can start a singing school," said a good
+man, as he stood buttoning up his overcoat, and muffling up his ears, one
+bitterly cold Winter night.</p>
+
+<p>"A singing school," said his wife, "how will you do that?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have heard of a widow around the corner a block or two who is in
+suffering circumstances. She has five little children, and two of them down
+sick, and has neither fire nor food. So Bennie Hope, the office boy tells
+me. I thought I would just step around and look into the case."</p>
+
+<p>"Go, by all means," said his wife, "and lose no time. If they are in
+such need we can give some relief. But I cannot see what all this has to do
+with starting a singing school. But never mind, you need not stop to tell
+me now; go quickly and do all you can for the poor woman."</p>
+
+<p>So out into the piercing cold of the wintry night went the husband,
+while the wife turned to the fireside and her sleeping babes, who, in their
+warm cribs, with the glow of health upon their cheeks, showed that they
+knew nothing of cold or pinching want. With a thankful spirit she thought
+of her blessings, as she sat down to her little pile of mending. Very
+busily and quietly she worked, puzzling all the time over what her husband
+could have meant by starting a singing school. A singing school and the
+widow--how queer! What possible connection could they have?</p>
+
+<p>At last she grew tired of the puzzling thought, and said to herself, "I
+won't bother myself thinking about it any more. He will tell me all about
+it when he comes home. I only hope we may be able to help the poor widow
+and make her 'poor heart sing for joy.' There," she exclaimed, "can that be
+what he meant? The widow's heart singing for joy! Wouldn't that be a
+singing school? It must be; it is just like John. How funny that I should
+find it out!" and she laughed merrily at her lucky guess. Taking up her
+work again, she stitched away with a happy smile on her face, as she
+thought over again her husband's words, and followed him in imagination in
+his kind ministrations. By-and-by two shining tears dropped down, tears of
+pure joy, drawn from the deep wells of her love for her husband, of whom
+she thought she never felt so fond before. At the first sound of footsteps
+she sprang to open the door.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, John! did you start the singing school?"</p>
+
+<p>"I reckon I did," said the husband, as soon as he could loose his
+wrappings; "but I want you to hunt up some flannels and things to help to
+keep it up."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes! I will; I know now what you mean. I have thought it all out.
+Making the widow's 'heart sing for joy' is your singing school. (Job.
+xxix:13.) What a precious work, John! 'Pure religion and undefiled is to
+visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction.' My own heart has been
+singing for joy all the evening because of your work, and I do not mean to
+let you do it alone. I want to draw out some of this wonderful music."</p>
+
+
+<h3>It Pays To Give To The Lord.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"A clergyman states, that soon after he dedicated himself to the service
+of Christ, he resolved, as Jacob did, 'Of all that thou shalt give me, I
+will surely give a tenth unto thee.' Of the first $500 he earned, he gave
+$130, and in such a way that it incited a wealthy friend to give several
+hundreds more, including a donation of $100 to this clergyman himself. For
+four years, the clergyman says, 'My expenses were small, my habits
+economical, and the only <i>luxury</i> in which I indulged was the luxury
+of giving. In the two first of these years I was permitted to give $500.'
+'On a review of my ministry of about sixteen years,' he adds, 'I find God
+has graciously permitted me to give to the cause of my Redeemer nearly
+$1,200, by which amount about forty life memberships have been created in
+various evangelical societies. During all these years God has prospered me;
+has given me almost uninterrupted health; has surrounded me with sweet
+domestic ties; and my congregation, by means in part perhaps of a steady
+example, have given <i>more in these sixteen years</i> than in all their
+long previous history."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Another Example Of Beneficence.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"A liberal donor, in enclosing $100 to a sister institution, but
+strictly withholding his name, says, 'When I began business, it was with
+the intention and hope to become rich. A year afterward I became, as I
+trust, a Christian, and about the same time met with 'Cobb's Resolutions,'
+which I adopted. Some four or five years later, I read 'Normand Smith's
+Memoir,' and also Wesley's 'Sermon on the use of Money,' which led me to
+devote all my gains to benevolent uses, reserving to myself $5,000 while I
+remained unmarried, part of which I have bequeathed to relatives, and the
+remainder to benevolent societies. Up to this time--about sixteen years--by
+the grace of God--nothing else--I have given about $24,500 to benevolent
+purposes, and lent about $500 to those in need, which has not been
+returned; making in all about $25,000."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Commendable Examples.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The Methodist Missionary Society mention one of their donors who, for
+twenty years, has used the power given him of getting wealth, for his Lord,
+in which time he has been enabled to appropriate to benevolent purposes
+<i>more than thirty thousand dollars</i>, while operating with a capital of
+but five thousand dollars. Another business man of that denomination in
+Boston, during fifteen years, has appropriated <i>thirty-nine thousand
+dollars</i>.</p>
+
+
+<h3>System In Giving.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A correspondent of the American Tract Society says, "It was their
+publications which induced me to appropriate statedly one-tenth of my
+income to the cause of the Lord. After acting upon that scale nearly two
+years, and finding that although <i>my donations greatly exceeded those of
+former years</i>, my affairs were not thereby involved in any
+embarrassment; but that, on the contrary, with increasing contributions to
+the leading objects of Christian benevolence and to general charity, came
+an <i>increased store and enlarging resources</i>, I concluded, with a
+heart throbbing with grateful emotions to my Creator, in view of his great
+love and kindness toward me, that I would increase the proportion."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Lending To The Lord.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"A poor man, some of whose family were sick, lived near Deacon Murray,
+(referred to in the tract, 'Worth of a Dollar,') and occasionally called at
+his house for a supply of milk. One morning he came while the family were
+at breakfast. Mrs. Murray rose to wait upon him, but the deacon said to
+her, 'Wait till after breakfast.' She did so, and meanwhile the deacon made
+some inquiries of the man about his family and circumstances.</p>
+
+<p>"After family worship the deacon invited him to go out to the barn with
+him. When they got into the yard, the deacon, pointing to one of the cows,
+exclaimed, 'There, take that cow, and drive her home.' The man thanked him
+heartily for the cow, and started for home; but the deacon was observed to
+stand in the attitude of deep thought until the man had gone some rods. He
+then looked up, and called out, 'Hey, bring that cow back.' The man looked
+around, and the deacon added, 'Let that cow come back, and you come back
+too.' He did so; and when he came into the yard again, the deacon said,
+'There, now, take your pick out of the cows; <i>I a'n't going to lend to
+the Lord the poorest cow I've got</i>.'"</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Steward Of His Lord's Bounty.</h3>
+
+
+<p>An aged benevolent friend in a western city, states some interesting
+facts respecting his own experience in giving systematically as the Lord
+prospered him. He says, "Our country and professors of religion in it have
+become 'rich and increased in goods,' but I fear that a due proportion is
+not returned to the Giver of every good.</p>
+
+<p>"I commenced business in 1809 with $600, and united with the 'Northern
+Missionary Society No. 2,' which met monthly for prayer, and required the
+payment of two dollars a year from each member. That year I married, and
+the next united with the Christian church. No definite system of giving 'as
+the Lord had prospered' me, was fully made until the close of the year
+1841. The previous fourteen years had been assiduously devoted to the
+interests of Sabbath-schools and the temperance enterprise, when I found
+both my physical and pecuniary energies diminished, the latter being less
+than $30,000.</p>
+
+<p>"After days and nights of close examination into my affairs, with
+meditation and prayer, I promised the Lord of all, I would try at the close
+of every year to see what was the value of my property, and the one-quarter
+of the increase I would return to him in such way as my judgment, aided by
+his word and providence, might direct.</p>
+
+<p>"For more than fifteen years I have lived up to this resolve, and though
+most of the time I have been unable to attend to active business, the
+investments I have made have more than quadrupled the value of my property,
+and in that time enabled me to return to Him 'from whom all blessings
+flow,' $11,739.61."</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Five-Dollar Gold Piece.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"'A friend,' says a venerable clergyman, Rev. Mr. H----, 'at a time when
+gold was scarce, made me a present of a five-dollar gold piece. I resolved
+not to spend it, and for a long time carried it in my pocket as a token of
+friendship. In riding about the country, I one day fell in with an
+acquaintance, who presented a subscription-book for the erection of a
+church in a destitute place.</p>
+
+<p>"'I can do nothing for you, Mr. B----,' said I; 'my heart is in this
+good undertaking, but my pocket is entirely empty; having no money, you
+must excuse me.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Oh, certainly,' said he; 'all right, sir. We know you always give when
+it is in your power.'</p>
+
+<p>"We parted; and after I had proceeded some distance, I bethought me of
+the piece of gold in my vest pocket. 'What,' said I to myself, 'I told that
+man I had no money, when I had by me all the time this gold pocket-piece.
+This was an untruth, and I have done wrong.' I kept reproaching myself in
+this way until I stopped, and took from my pocket the five-dollar
+piece.</p>
+
+<p>"'Of what use,' said I, 'is this piece of money, stowed away so nicely
+in my pocket?' I made up my mind to turn back, and rode as fast as I could
+until I overtook Mr. B----, to whom I gave the coin, and resumed my
+journey.</p>
+
+<p>"A few days after, I stopped at the house of a lady, who treated me very
+hospitably, for which I could make no return, except in thanks and
+Christian counsel. When I took leave, she slipped into my vest pocket a
+little folded paper, which she told me to give to my wife. I supposed it
+was some trifle for the children, and thought no more of it until I reached
+home. I handed it to my wife, who opened it, and to my astonishment <i>it
+was a five-dollar gold piece, the identical pocket-piece I had parted with
+but a few days before</i>. I knew it was the same, for I had made a mark
+upon it; how this had been brought about was a mystery, but that the hand
+of the Lord was in it I could not doubt. 'See,' said I to my wife; 'I
+thought I <i>gave</i> that money, but I only <i>lent</i> it; how soon has
+the Lord returned it! Never again will I doubt his word.'</p>
+
+<p>"I afterward learned that Mr. B---- had paid over the coin to the
+husband of the lady at whose house I staid, along with some other money, in
+payment for lumber, and he had given it to his wife.</p>
+
+<p>"Take my advice, and when appealed to for aid, fear not to give of your
+poverty; depend upon it the Lord will not let you lose by it, if you wish
+to do good. If you wish to prosper, 'Give, and it shall be given unto you;
+for with the same measure that ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.'
+'Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and
+verily thou shalt be fed.'"</p>
+
+
+<h3>A New Year's Incident.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"One New Year's day I was going out to visit some of my poorer
+neighbors, and thought I would take a sovereign to a certain widow who had
+seen days of competence and comfort. I went to look in my drawer, and was
+so sorry to find I had but one sovereign left in my bank for the poor, and
+my allowance would not be due for two or three weeks. I had nearly closed
+the drawer upon the solitary sovereign, when this passage of Scripture
+flashed so vividly into my mind, 'The Lord is able to give thee much more
+than this,' (2 Chron. xxv: 9.) that I again opened the drawer, took the
+money, and entered the carriage which was waiting for me. When I arrived at
+Mrs. A.'s, and with many good wishes for the New Year, offered her the
+sovereign, I shall never forget her face of surprised joy. The tears ran
+down her cheeks while she took my hands and said, 'May the God of the widow
+and fatherless bless you; we had not one penny in the house, nor a morsel
+of bread; it is he who has heard my prayers, and sent you again and again
+to supply my need.' You who pray for and visit the poor, and enjoy the
+blessedness of relieving their temporal wants and of speaking to them of
+Jesus, you will understand the gladness of heart with which I returned
+home.</p>
+
+<p>"In the country we had only one post daily; so when evening came on, and
+it was nearly ten o'clock, I was not a little surprised at receiving a
+letter. When I opened it, how my heart beat for joy when I read these words
+from a comparative stranger: 'You will have many poor just now to claim
+your pity and your help, may I beg you to dispense the enclosed five pounds
+as you see fit? and I have ordered a box of soap to be sent to you for the
+same purpose.' These boxes of soap are worth four pounds. Thus did our
+gracious God send nine times as much as I gave for his sake, before that
+day had closed."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Feneberg's Loan To The Lord.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"A poor man with an empty purse came one day to Michael Feneberg, the
+godly pastor of Seeg, in Bavaria, and begged three crowns, that he might
+finish his journey. It was all the money Feneberg had, but as he besought
+him so earnestly in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus he gave it.
+Immediately after, he found himself in great outward need, and seeing no
+way of relief he prayed, saying, 'Lord, I lent Thee three crowns; Thou hast
+not yet returned them, and Thou knowest how I need them. Lord, I pray Thee,
+give them back.' The same day a messenger brought a money-letter, which
+Gossner, his assistant, reached over to Feneberg, saying, 'Here, father, is
+what you expended.' The letter contained two hundred thalers, or about one
+hundred and fifty dollars, which the poor traveler had begged from a rich
+man for the vicar; and the childlike old man, in joyful amazement, cried
+out, 'Ah, dear Lord, one dare ask nothing of Thee, for straightway Thou
+makest one feel so much ashamed!'"</p>
+
+
+<h3>Compound Interest.</h3>
+
+
+<p><i>The Christian</i> tells of a minister in Ohio, who in 1860 was
+engaged to statedly supply a congregation who were in arrears for a whole
+year's salary to their former pastor, and were only able to promise their
+'supply' five dollars a Sunday till the old debt should be paid. At the
+close of the year, only about two-thirds of this amount had been paid. So
+it was not strange that their 'supply' soon found himself in arrears for
+many things. That year the cost of his periodicals alone had amounted to
+sixteen dollars. This he could not pay, and as none of them could be
+stopped without payment of arrearages; the debt must continue to
+increase.</p>
+
+<p>On New Year's day the minister was called to marry a couple, and gave
+the fee, five dollars, to his wife saying, "I want you to get yourself a
+dress with this." There was a kind of material much worn then, which she
+had very much admired, a dress of which would cost four dollars. So she
+went to the Mission periodical to find the address of the Mission
+Secretary, thinking to send the extra dollar there. But as she glanced over
+its pages and noticed the trials and straits of the missionaries, and the
+embarrassment of the Board that year, her heart was touched and she felt
+that they needed the money more than she did the dress, and instead of the
+one she concluded to send the five dollars.</p>
+
+<p>She went to her husband and read her letter to him. "O," said he, "I'm
+afraid we are too poor to give so much." With a little feeling of
+disappointment she said, "Well, give me the change and I will send what I
+had intended at first." "No," said he, "you have given it, and I dare not
+take it back."</p>
+
+<p>And so with a prayer that God would accept and bless the gift she signed
+her letter, "A Friend of Missions," thinking, as no one would know the
+author, that was the last she would hear about it in this world.</p>
+
+<p>The ladies of that congregation were accustomed to meet weekly at the
+parsonage to sew for those in need. The next week a lady who was visiting
+in the place came with her friends, and as she entered the parlor she
+tossed a bundle into the lap of the minister's wife, saying, "Mrs. ----,
+here is a present for you."</p>
+
+<p>The present was a dress pattern of the same kind of material she had
+intended to purchase. And as she thought to herself, "God has given me this
+in place of what I have given," she was reminded of the words, "Give, and
+it shall be given to you." But that was not the end.</p>
+
+<p>A short time afterwards she received a letter from the Secretary of the
+Board of Missions, enclosing a printed copy of her own letter, and asking
+if she were the author of it; and added, "If so, a large-hearted man in New
+York has authorized me to send you twenty-five dollars, with a special
+request that you purchase a dress worth five dollars, and give the rest to
+your husband and children." There was her five dollars back, with four
+times as much more added to it.</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Brown Towel.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The editor of <i>The Christian Woman</i> tells the story of a poor woman
+who, in her anxiety to give to the Lord, could find nothing but a poor
+brown towel.</p>
+
+<p>"They must be very poor who have <i>nothing</i> to give," said Mrs.
+Jarvis, as she deposited a pair of beautiful English blankets in a box that
+was being filled by the ladies of the church to be sent to the poor.</p>
+
+<p>"And now, ladies, as you are nearly through, I would like to tell you an
+incident in my history; I was once very poor."</p>
+
+<p>"You once very poor?" said a lady.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; I was once <i>very poor</i>. There came to our village a
+missionary to deliver a lecture. I felt very desirous to go; but having no
+decent apparel to wear, I was often deprived of going to church, although I
+was a member.</p>
+
+<p>"I waited until it was late, and then slipped in and took a seat behind
+the door.</p>
+
+<p>"I listened with streaming eyes to the missionary's account of the
+destitution and darkness in heathen lands. Poor as I was, I felt it to be a
+great privilege to live in a Christian land and to be able to read my
+Bible.</p>
+
+<p>"It was proposed by our pastor that the congregation should fill a box
+and send it out with the missionary on his return.</p>
+
+<p>"O," thought I, "how I would like to send something." "When I returned
+home my poor children were still sleeping soundly, and my disconsolate
+husband waiting my return, for he had been out of employment some time.
+After he had gone to bed I went to looking over my clothes, but I could
+find nothing that was suitable that I could possibly spare; then I began
+looking over the children's things, but could find nothing that the poor
+dears could be deprived of; so I went to bed with a heavy heart, and lay a
+long time thinking of the destitution of the poor heathen, and how much
+better off I was.</p>
+
+<p>"I got to thinking over my little stock again. There was nothing I could
+put into the box except two brown towels.</p>
+
+<p>"Next day I got my towels, pieced out the best one, and when it was
+almost dark, put on my bonnet, went to the church, slipped my towel into
+the box, and came away thinking that the Lord knew I had done what I
+could.</p>
+
+<p>"And now, ladies, let me tell you it was not long after that till my
+husband got into a good situation; and prosperity has followed us ever
+since. So I date back my prosperity to this incident of the brown
+towel."</p>
+
+<p>Her story was done, and, as her carriage was waiting at the door, she
+took her departure, leaving us all mute with surprise that one so rich and
+generous had been trained to give amid poverty.</p>
+
+
+<h3>Giving Blessed.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A merchant of St. Petersburg, at his own cost, supported several native
+missionaries in India, and gave liberally to the cause of Christ at home.
+On being asked how he could afford to do it, he replied:</p>
+
+<p>"Before my conversion, when I served the world and self, I did it on a
+grand scale, and at the most lavish expense. And when God by his grace
+called me out of darkness, I resolved that Christ and his cause should have
+more than I had ever spent for the world. And as to giving <i>so much</i>,
+it is God who enables me to do it; for, at my conversion, I solemnly
+promised that I would give to his cause a fixed proportion of all that my
+business brought in to me; and every year since I made that promise, it has
+brought me in about double what it did the year before, so that I easily
+can, as I do, double my gifts for his service."</p>
+
+<p>And so good old John Bunyan tells us,</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+"A man there was, some called him mad,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;The more he gave, the more he had."<br />
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>And there are truth and instruction in the inscription on the Italian
+tombstone, "What I gave away, I saved; what I spent, I used; what I kept, I
+lost." "Giving to the Lord," says another, "is but transporting our goods
+to a higher floor." And, says Dr. Barrow, "In defiance of all the torture
+and malice and might of the world, the <i>liberal</i> man will ever be
+rich; for God's providence is his estate; God's wisdom and power, his
+defense; God's love and favor, his reward; and God's word, his
+security."</p>
+
+<p>Richard Baxter says, "I never prospered more in my small estate than
+when I gave most. My rule has been, <i>first</i>, to contrive to need,
+myself, as little as may be, to lay out none on <i>need-nots,</i> but to
+live frugally on a little; <i>second</i>, to serve God in any place, upon
+that competency which he allowed me: to myself, that what I had myself
+might be as good a work for common good, as that which I gave to others;
+and <i>third</i>, to do all the good I could with all the rest, preferring
+the: most public and durable object, and the nearest. And the more I have
+practiced this, the more I have had to do it with; and when I gave almost
+all, more came in, I scarce knew how, at least unexpected. But when by
+improvidence I have cast myself into necessities of using more upon myself
+or upon things in themselves of less importance, I have prospered much less
+than when I did otherwise. And when I had contented myself to devote a
+stock I had gotten to charitable uses <i>after my death</i>, instead of
+laying it out at present, in all probability, <i>that</i> is like to be
+lost; whereas, when I took the present opportunity, and trusted God for the
+time to come, I wanted nothing and lost nothing."</p>
+
+<p>These are a few of many evidences, that where we give from right
+motives, we are never the poorer, but the richer for doing it. "The liberal
+soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth, shall be watered also,
+himself."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Lending To The Lord.</h3>
+
+
+<p>As a series of religious meetings was held in a Baptist church in ----,
+and the hearts of God's people were greatly encouraged, the church was
+consumed by fire. It was proposed to continue the meetings in the
+Congregational church, but the workmen were coming the next morning to
+demolish and rebuild it. It was then proposed to hire the workmen to delay,
+that the people might assemble for three days more, but nothing was done;
+when the Congregational pastor walking his study, and thinking that some
+souls might be gathered in, went to the workmen, and handed them $10 from
+his own pocket, which he could ill afford; the meetings were continued, and
+a number of souls hopefully converted to God. The day following, as he
+passed the house, the man to whom he paid the $10 called to him, and
+constrained him to receive back the whole amount, saying it was of no value
+compared with the saving of a soul.</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Liberal Farmer.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A farmer in one of the retired mountain towns of Massachusetts, began
+business in 1818, with six hundred dollars in debt. He began with the
+determination to pay the debt in six years, in equal installments, and to
+give all his net income if any remained above those installments. The
+income of the first year, however, was expended in purchasing stock and
+other necessaries for his farm.</p>
+
+<p>In the six next years he paid off the debt, and having abandoned the
+intention of ever being any richer, he has ever since given his entire
+income, after supporting his family and thoroughly educating his six
+children.</p>
+
+<p>During all this period he has lived with the strictest economy, and
+everything pertaining to his house, table, dress and equipage has been in
+the most simple style; and though he has twice been a member of the State
+Senate, he conscientiously retains this simplicity in his mode of life. The
+farm is rocky and remote from the village, and his whole property, real and
+personal, would not exceed in value three thousand dollars. Yet sometimes
+he has been enabled to give from $200 to $300 a year.</p>
+
+
+<h3>Experience Of A Saddler.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Normand Smith, a saddler of Hartford, Conn., after practicing for years
+an elevated system of benevolence, bequeathed in charity the sum of
+$30,000.</p>
+
+<p>An anonymous writer says of himself, that he commenced business and
+prosecuted it in the usual way till he lost $900, which was all he was
+worth, and found himself in debt $1,100.</p>
+
+<p>Being led by his trials to take God's word as his guide in business as
+well as in heart and religion, he determined to give his earnings liberally
+unto the Lord.</p>
+
+<p>The first year he gave $12. For eighteen years the amount increased by
+about 25 per cent., and the last year he gave $850, and he says he did it
+easier than during the first year he paid the $12. Besides, though with
+nothing but his hands to depend on when he began this course, he paid the
+whole debt of $1,100 with interest, though it took him nine years to do
+it.</p>
+
+
+<h3>Jacob Not Blessed Until He Became A Liberal Giver.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Jacob went out from his father's house "with his staff," a poor man. But
+at Bethel he vowed to give to God the <i>tenth</i> of all that God should
+bestow on him. Commencing thus, God blessed him, and in twenty years he
+returned with great riches.</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Lord's Insurance Money.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A tradesman in New York had pledged to give to the Lord a certain
+portion of his business receipts as fast as they were collected. He called
+this <i>The Lord's insurance money</i>, for, said he, "so long as I give so
+long will the Lord help me and bless me, and in some way he will give me
+the means to give, so it is no money lost. Rather it is a blessing to my
+heart to keep it open in gratitude, a blessing to dispose of it to gladden
+other hearts, and the surest way to keep the Lord's favor with me."</p>
+
+<p>The results of his experience were blessed indeed, as he said, "I never
+realized before how closely the Lord is connected with all my interests,
+and how he helps me in all my business plans. Things happen constantly
+which show me constantly that some one who knows more than I is benefiting
+me--protecting me. Bad debts have been paid which I did not expect. Errand
+boys, just getting into sly and bad habits, have been discovered ere their
+thefts had proceeded far. As I needed competent help in my business, it has
+come just as it was wanted. When customers were failing, somehow their
+debts to me were paid, although they failed to pay others. A severe fire
+came to my office and apparently seemed to have swept all my valuables
+away. But it was stopped at just the right moment, and not one thing
+valuable was lost. The insurance companies paid me enough to replace every
+damage, and the office was renewed better than before. The Lord sends me
+business enough to pay for my debts, yet others are dull. <i>I cannot tell
+why it is, except that I always pray for my business, and ask the Lord to
+bless it for the good of others</i>, and that the means which come from it
+may be used for his cause. When I stop giving, business stops coming. When
+I stop praying specially for it, perplexities arise. As long as I pray for
+it, it all moves easily, and I have no care or trouble. The Lord is my
+Banker, my Helper, my Insurer, my Deliverer, my Patron, and my Blessed
+Savior of temporal things as well as spiritual."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Give And It Shall Be Given.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"'Cheerful giving,' writes an aged minister, 'is what enriches the giver
+and brings down a blessing from above. A poor clergyman attended one of
+Zion's festivals in a distant city. The railroad company supplied him with
+a return ticket, and though many of his brethren would secure treasures
+from the book-stores, but a solitary twenty-five cent scrip was in his
+possession, and he would need that to pay for refreshment on his way home.
+It was the last day of the feast. Mention, again and again, was made of the
+widow's mite, or poor men's gifts, and, as the boxes were passed, he felt
+sad that, in his deep poverty, he could not cast in a single penny. As the
+assembly was dismissed, it was announced that collectors would stand at the
+door to gather up the <i>fragments</i> which ought to be in the Lord's
+treasury. With slow steps this good man passed down and put that last money
+he possessed into the waiting box.</p>
+
+<p>"In a few moments, a gentleman of the city invited him to his, table to
+dine, with quite a number of the dignitaries of the church. During the
+repast, the host was called from the table for a little time. At the
+conclusion of a pleasant entertainment, the poor minister was taken one
+side and an envelope put into his hands, with this remark: 'I was called
+from the table by a man who has long owed me a small debt, which I thought
+was lost a long time since, and I cannot think what it was paid to-day for,
+except that I might give it to you.' The envelope contained twenty-five
+dollars. When the books are opened, that rich steward will see how his
+money was used, and thank God, who put it into his heart to dispose of it
+thus."</p>
+
+
+<h3>"Lending To The Lord."</h3>
+
+
+<p>"A physician who is not a professor of religion, in a neighboring city,
+has for many years exhibited an unshaken faith in that declaration. He told
+me that he has made many experiments on it, and the Lord has fulfilled his
+words, 'That which he hath given will He pay him again,' in every case. One
+of his 'experiments' came under my observation.</p>
+
+<p>"It was a bleak and chilling day in the Winter of 1847-8. The doctor was
+going his rounds and met a poor colored boy in the street. He was nearly
+frozen to death. He accosted the doctor, and asked him most piteously for a
+little money, stating, at the same time, that his master, an old Quaker,
+had excluded him from the house, and compelled him to remain in the barn;
+he could stand it no longer, and desired to go home--twenty miles up the
+river. The doctor now had the materials for another test of the promise.
+'You shall not suffer if I can help you,' was his cheering reply to the
+boy. He requested him to call at his office, and went to a neighboring
+hotel and told the landlord to keep the boy until farther orders. Late in
+the evening the boy again appeared at the office, and stated that the
+landlord had said, 'We don't keep darkies over night.' The doctor
+immediately started out in search of new quarters, and, after some
+difficulty, found a colored woman who was willing to keep the boy for a few
+days. In a short time the river, which had been closed with ice, was open.
+The doctor paid the bills, gave the boy a dollar, and bade him God speed.
+That is what he calls lending to the Lord. Now for the payment. When he
+called at the house of the colored person to pay the bill, he
+'accidentally' met an old lady, who scrutinized him closely, and at length
+said, 'A'n't you Doctor B----?' 'Yes,' was the reply; 'but who are you?'
+'No matter about my name; I owe you four dollars, which you have long since
+forgotten, and which I did not intend to pay you till I saw what you have
+done to that poor boy. The Lord bless you for your kindness. Next week you
+shall have your money.' She came according to her promise and offered the
+money, but the doctor was unwilling to take it, as he had no charge on his
+books. She forced it on him. He afterwards simply remarked, 'My meeting
+that woman was not a mere <i>accident</i>; the Lord always fulfills his
+promise. I generally get my capital back, with compound interest.'"</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Praying Shoe-Maker.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A shoe-maker being asked how he contrived to give so much, replied that
+it was easily done by obeying St. Paul's precept in I Cor. 16: 2: "Upon the
+first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath
+prospered him." "I earn," said he, "one day with another, about a dollar a
+day, and I can without inconvenience to myself or family lay by five cents
+of this sum for charitable purposes; the amount is thirty cents a week. My
+wife takes in sewing and washing, and earns something like two dollars a
+week, and she lays by ten cents of that. My children each of them earn a
+shilling or two, and are glad to contribute their penny; so that altogether
+we <i>lay by us in store</i> forty cents a week. And if we have been
+unusually prospered, we contribute something more. The weekly amount is
+deposited every Sunday morning in a box kept for that purpose, and reserved
+for future use. Thus, by these small earnings, we have learned that it is
+more blessed to give than to receive. The yearly amount saved in this way
+is about <i>twenty-five dollars</i>; and I distribute this among the
+various benevolent societies, according to the best of my judgment."</p>
+
+
+<h3>The History And Business Successes Of Liberal Givers.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Mr. Nathaniel R. Cobb, a merchant connected with the Baptist church in
+Boston, in 1821, at the age of twenty-three, drew up and subscribed the
+following covenant, to which he faithfully adhered till on his death-bed he
+praised God that by acting according to it he had given in charity more
+than $40,000.</p>
+
+<p>"By the grace of God, I will never be worth more than $50,000.</p>
+
+<p>"By the grace of God, I will give one fourth of the net profits of my
+business to charitable and religious uses.</p>
+
+<p>"If I am ever worth $20,000, I will give one-half of my net profits; and
+if I am ever worth $30,000, I will give three-fourths; and the whole, after
+$50,000. So help me God, or give to a more faithful steward, and set me
+aside.</p>
+
+<p class="date">"N.R. COBB."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Faith In God's Liberality.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A clergyman, himself an exponent of God's bountiful dealings with men,
+was called upon in test of his own principles of giving to the Lord.</p>
+
+<p>Preaching, in the morning, a sermon on Foreign Missions, an unusually
+large contribution was taken up. In the afternoon, he listened to another
+sermon, by a brother, on Home Missions, and the subject became so important
+that he was led closely to agitate the question how much he should himself
+give to the cause. "I was, indeed, in a great strait between charity and
+necessity. I felt desirous to contribute; but, there I was, on a journey,
+and I had given so much in the morning that I really feared I had no more
+money than would bear my expenses.</p>
+
+<p>"The collection was taken; I gave my last dollar, and trusted in the
+Lord to provide. I proceeded on my journey, stopping to see a friend for
+whom I had collected forty dollars. I was now one hundred and forty miles
+from home, and how my expenses were to be met, I could not imagine. But,
+judge my surprise, when, on presenting the money to my friend, he took a
+hundred dollars, and, adding it to the forty, placed the whole of it in my
+hand, saying he would make me a present of it.</p>
+
+<p>"Gratitude and joy swelled my bosom; my mind at once remembered my
+sacrifice of the day before, and now I had realized the literal fulfillment
+of the promise, 'Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure,
+pressed down and running over, shall men give into your bosom.'"</p>
+
+
+<h3>He Gave His Last $5 To The Lord.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A missionary agent thus relates this incident in the life of a poor
+physician:</p>
+
+<p>"I preached a missionary sermon in the town of -----, and a physician
+subscribed and paid five dollars. A gentleman standing by told me that the
+five dollars was all he had, or was worth; that he had lost his property
+and paid up his debts, and moved into town to commence practicing, with no
+other resources than that five-dollar bill. He and his wife were obliged to
+board out, as he was not able to keep house.</p>
+
+<p>"I resolved, at once, that I would keep watch of that man, and see what
+the Lord would do with him. About a year after this interview, I visited
+the place again, and found the physician keeping house in good style.</p>
+
+<p>"During the Summer, while the cholera raged in the country, by a series
+of events, guided, as he believes, by the providence of God, most of the
+practice was thrown into his hands, and he had taken more than $2,500."</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+<h2>Believe</h2> <h2>Nothing of Your God</h2> <h2>But what is</h2> <h2>Most
+Noble and Generous.</h2> <h2>--Pres. Edwards.</h2>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2>More Things</h2> <h2>Are Wrought by Prayer</h2> <h2>Than the World</h2>
+<h2>Dreams of.</h2> <h2>--Tennyson.</h2>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+<h1>Prayers Answered</h1>
+
+
+<h2>In Business and Social Anxieties.</h2>
+
+
+<h3>Help In Paying A Mortgage.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A business man in New York had several large amounts due for payment. An
+unprecedented series of calls from tradesmen wishing their bills paid
+sooner than customary, drained his means, and he was satisfied from the
+situation that his means would not be sufficient to pay them all. His
+business receipts, at this juncture, fell to one-half what they had usually
+been. A loan was due at the bank; a mortgage on his property, as well as
+large notes. He could do no more than ask the Lord constantly in prayer, to
+either send supplies of business, or open ways of relief. Committing his
+cares all to the Lord, he endeavored to throw off his burden and with
+diligence in trade do what was possible for protection.</p>
+
+<p>He was greatly surprised when the bank loan fell due to learn that a
+trifling payment would be acceptable, and the rest extended at his
+convenience. This was remarkable, as the security had depreciated somewhat,
+and the loan had been then extended longer than usual.</p>
+
+<p>The holder of the mortgage did not call as usual for his interest. In
+great surprise the tradesman dropped a note, saying he would meet his
+demand, but if not all the mortgage was needed, its extension would benefit
+the use of the capital in his business. To his surprise, he received a
+reply that the mortgage would be extended one-half until the next interest
+day, and the rest might be paid now if it could be spared. <i>This was just
+the money which the tradesman could spare</i>, and was intending to
+propose, but refrained from mentioning it.</p>
+
+<p>A sudden opportunity in business arose which enabled him to see how to
+use the rest of the money he had on hand, as capital, whereby he could
+clear within three months the remainder of the mortgage before it became
+due.</p>
+
+<p>Thus the Lord in answer to prayer, relieved his necessities, eased his
+creditors, gave him knowledge and intelligence of profitable ways of trade,
+and helped him freely according to his faith.</p>
+
+<p>Thus business needs prayer, as well as the interests of the home, the
+church and the soul. When the means derived in business is used to bless
+the Lord's poor, "<i>The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble</i>."</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Remarkable Prayer And Its Answer.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A lady, who had led for many years a life of faith, caring for orphans
+and invalids, was led one day in thought to wish that she might devote all
+her money to the work of the Lord, and use it specially for one branch of
+his service which few had ever entered. She possessed only a thousand
+dollars; and not knowing whether the thought was her own and therefore
+rash, or whether it came from the Lord, she asked the Lord in prayer, that
+if the thought was from <i>Him</i> "it might be continually before me; if
+it were not, that I might cease to think of the matter."</p>
+
+<p>"It was kept before me as a privilege, to help me realize a greater
+personal nearness to God as my Father. It was a very important matter, and
+fearing a mistake, I requested a sign. I asked God, if he wished me to give
+the money, (which we held at His disposal,) that <i>He</i> would send me
+<i>one dollar,</i> (no more, no less,) from some individual with whom I had
+no acquaintance. About three weeks after my request, I attended a
+prayer-meeting, where about a dozen ladies were gathered. After the
+meeting, an elderly lady I had never seen before, put something in my hand
+saying, '<i>You will not be offended, dear, will you?</i>' When I looked at
+the money, I found that it <i>was just one dollar</i>, my token. I
+exclaimed, mentally, dear Lord, do not let me ever doubt thee again. I
+afterwards asked the lady why she gave me the dollar. She said, 'Before I
+went to the prayer-meeting, I felt that I ought to take a dollar with me,
+and when I saw you, I felt that you were the one I should give it to.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Nearly five years have passed since then, when I gave all, and my purse
+has never been empty. I have been constantly occupied in work of love, and
+my Father has sweetly cared for me in every respect."</p>
+
+<p>This lady in her faith work has had under her constant care as many as
+twenty-two helpless invalids, of utter poverty, yet prayer has always
+brought them needed supplies, and the Lord has kept them.</p>
+
+
+<h3>Recovery From Insanity.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A most remarkable case of recovery from insanity is given by President
+William M. Brooks, of Tabor College, Iowa.</p>
+
+<p>"A young lady of my acquaintance, of a finished education, lost her
+reason in the Winter of 1871-2, and in August, 1872, was placed in the
+institution for the insane, at Mt. Pleasant, Ia. No encouragement was given
+of her recovery, and a year later, when her father visited her, in June,
+1873, she appeared so badly, that he said it would be a relief to know that
+she was dead. Soon after, Mrs. H., the wife of a Baptist minister, who had
+long known and loved her, being shut up for days in a dark room, because of
+inflamed eyes, felt drawn out in special prayer in her behalf, and finally
+sent for the father and told him of her exercises, and of the assurance
+gained that his daughter would be fully restored.</p>
+
+<p>"In a few days, came news of a sudden change for the better, and in a
+little over two months she returned home well, and is now teaching with all
+her powers in full vigor.</p>
+
+<p>"The acting superintendent of the hospital, who is not a professed
+Christian, and who knew nothing of the prayers referred to, said that when
+the change occurred there was not a case among the five hundred inmates of
+which he had less hope, and that it was the most remarkable case of
+recovery which he had known during the eight years of his connection with
+the hospital."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Seeking Direction In Business.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A lady clerk employed in an apparently successful business was offered
+an opportunity in a new business, which, though much smaller and less
+successful than the first, yet had rich promise in it for the future. The
+salary promised was the same in either case. In doubt, she often waited
+upon the Lord, and asked to be guided,--a whisper in her heart kept saying,
+"Go," "Go." Constant praying kept it growing stronger and stronger,--at
+last she decided to go, feeling it was the decision of the Lord. She
+accepted the new position, was pleased, and often declared she never
+desired to return. The old business in less than three years decreased so
+that half of the employees were discharged; the rest had their salaries
+reduced. The new business doubled in its extent, and her salary was
+increased one-fifth.</p>
+
+
+<h3>Seeking Guidance Of The Lord.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A school teacher, without family or a special home, in New York City,
+asked the Lord for direction in finding a home, and prayed often that the
+way might be made so plain, she might acknowledge His hand, and understand
+His direction.</p>
+
+<p>Soon it transpired, in taking lunch at a restaurant kept by a man and
+his wife, that they advised her to choose a certain family hotel. She did
+so, and found in time more friends and acquaintances, and a pleasanter home
+than she ever possessed before.</p>
+
+<p>She also gained new scholars to her school. Sufficient to pay for her
+living.</p>
+
+<p>Was she not fully answered? "<i>They that seek the Lord shall not want
+any good thing</i>."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Saved From Cholera.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The Rev. J.B. Waterbury relates several incidents which prove the power
+of Prayer.</p>
+
+<p>"In the year 1832 he was compelled by pulmonary symptoms, to leave his
+field of ministerial labor in one of the eastern cities, and travel south,
+hoping that a milder climate might be favorable.</p>
+
+<p>"He had not proceeded far, before the cholera, that fearful scourge,
+made its appearance in the States, and obliged him to rejoin his family in
+the city of Brooklyn.</p>
+
+<p>"Whilst many were dying around him, <i>his health</i> continued to
+improve; so that with the disappearance of the epidemic he found himself
+sufficiently restored to venture, if Providence should open the door, to
+resume his ministerial work.</p>
+
+<p>"But where should he go? The future, to human view, was shrouded in
+uncertainty. In so important a matter, affecting his usefulness and
+happiness, there was nothing left, but to give himself to prayer. His faith
+in that promise, 'In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct thy
+Paths,' led him to pray without ceasing, 'Lord, what wilt thou have me to
+do.'"</p>
+
+<p>On a certain day, when the burden lay heavily upon his heart, he retired
+as usual, to implore light and guidance. He read on that occasion, the
+chapter of Acts where, by divine direction, Cornelius the Centurion sent
+messengers to Peter at Joppa, to come to him with the Gospel. The apostle,
+meanwhile; is instructed by a vision to go to Cornelius.</p>
+
+<p>The case was so applicable to the circumstances that the writer was led
+to cry mightily to God for light to be shed also upon <i>his</i> path.</p>
+
+<p>While thus praying the door-bell rang, and the servant announced two men
+who wished to see me.</p>
+
+<p>This was somewhat startling. After introducing themselves, they remarked
+that they had come on a very important errand, viz: to ask my services for
+a vacant church in which they were officers.</p>
+
+<p>"But how is this," I inquired, "How did you know of <i>me</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>They did not until that very day. But inquiring at the Bible House in
+Nassau street if any of the officers of that Society knew of a minister who
+could be recommended to fill their pulpit, now vacant for some months.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. B., the Secretary, answered, "Yes, I know a young minister in
+Brooklyn, whom I can recommend, provided his health, which has been
+delicate, is adequate."</p>
+
+<p>So the messenger came inadvertently over to B----, and I was called from
+my knees to receive their invitation. I promptly responded, "Yes, I will
+go?" for what was I that I could withstand God. A successful and happy
+ministry of fourteen years, attests the good results of that decision.</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Aid of the Lord in Business and Social Prosperity. The Wonderful
+Deliverance of Daniel Loest.</h3>
+
+
+<p>John Daniel Loest, a celebrated German tradesman of Berlin, Germany,
+was, by the aid of the Lord, so prospered in his worldly circumstances,
+that by steady industry, he raised himself to rank with the most
+respectable tradesmen of Berlin, where he kept a well-frequented fringe and
+trimming shop.</p>
+
+<p>He was always benevolent, willing to help others, and both fervent in
+spirit and constant in prayer, asking the help of the Lord in the minutest
+details of his business.</p>
+
+<p>Yet there once occurred in his experience a season of severest trial,
+which demanded his utmost trust and unflinching confidence in God. He
+seemed almost forsaken, and circumstances almost impossible to overcome.
+But his deliverance so astonished him that he was lost in wonder at the
+mysterious way in which the Lord helped his business and sent him all that
+he needed.</p>
+
+<p>By means of acquaintances of high social character, whom he fully
+trusted as good Christians, never supposing there could be any degree of
+hypocrisy, he became security for a Christian lady of good property to the
+amount of <i>six hundred thalers</i>. The attorney assured him that there
+was not a shadow of a risk in going security for her, as her property would
+be more than ample to cover any claim.</p>
+
+<p>Months elapsed, and the circumstance forgotten, when Mr. Loest was most
+unpleasantly reminded by receiving an order from the Court to pay in on the
+following Tuesday the <i>six hundred thalers</i> for which he had become
+security, under the penalty of execution.</p>
+
+<p>He now discovered that he had been designedly mystified, and there was
+no escape. The six hundred thalers must be paid before the next Tuesday. He
+had just accepted a bill for <i>three hundred thalers</i>, to be paid for
+on the ensuing Saturday. And in his first thoughts of his perplexity, he
+hoped to get out of his dilemma by hurrying to a rich friend to obtain a
+loan. On his way to his friend's home, he stumbled on another acquaintance
+who had lent him <i>four hundred</i> thalers on a mere note of hand, and he
+saluted him with the news that he must try for repayment of that sum on the
+following Friday, as he required it to pay for a parcel of goods which
+would arrive that day.</p>
+
+<p>"You shall have it," said Loest, as he hurried on to his friend. The
+friend was at home, but before Loest could speak his errand, he is
+addressed thus: "It is lucky you came, my friend, for I was just going to
+send for you, to request you to make provision to pay me back the <i>five
+hundred thalers you owe me</i>, for I must needs have it on Wednesday to
+pay off a mortgage on my house, which has just been called up." "<i>You
+shall have it</i>," replied Loest, calmly, yet his heart became heavier
+every moment.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly it occurred to him that the widow of a friend just dead was
+possessed of large means, and she might be inclined to help him. But alas,
+disappointment thickened fast upon him. Loest owed the deceased friend five
+hundred thalers for note, and three hundred thalers for goods just
+delivered. As he entered the room of the widow, she handed him an order
+from the court of trustees, under which he was bound to pay up <i>the five
+hundred thalers on Thursday</i>, and, continued the lady, before the poor
+man had time to utter a word, "I would earnestly entreat you to pay the
+other three hundred thalers early on Saturday to me, for there are accounts
+constantly pouring in on me, and the funeral expenses," here her voice
+faltered. "It shall be cared for," said Loest, and he withdrew, not having
+had opportunity to utter one word as to the business that took him thither.
+He had failed at every turn; not one thing was for him, all seemed against
+him. But though the waves surged, and rose, and oppressed, yet they did not
+overwhelm his hope; the more the discouragements, the greater became his
+faith that all things were appointed for his good, and thought he could not
+guess, yet even the trial would result by God's own working hand, to the
+honor and glory of his great name.</p>
+
+<p>Yet here was his situation. <i>Six hundred thalers to be paid on
+Tuesday, five hundred on Wednesday, five hundred on Thursday, four hundred
+on Friday, three hundred Saturday morning, and three hundred on Saturday
+afternoon; in all, two thousand six hundred thalers</i>. It was already the
+Saturday just previous, and his purse contained <i>only four thalers</i>.
+There was only one prospect left, and he went to a rich money lender, and
+in response to his request for relief in money difficulties, was met with
+this reply of irony and sarcasm from one who loved to indulge his enmity to
+the Christian faith. "<i>You in money difficulties, or any difficulties,
+Mr. Loest! I cannot believe it; it is altogether impossible! you are at all
+times and in all places boasting that you have such a rich and loving
+Master! Why don't you apply to him now</i>." And the unseen face could not
+conceal his pleasure at this opportunity of testing a Christian.</p>
+
+<p>Loest turned away; hard as the random taunt and remark of his opponent
+was, yet it recalled him to a sense of his duty, and his forgetfulness of
+the fact that he had not hitherto asked of God for special help in this
+circumstance. With cheerful steps he hurried home, and in long and
+imploring prayer, asked for help and forgiveness in this, his neglect of
+trust in one so rich and generous. He was refreshed and comforted, and the
+Sunday was one of peace and sweetness. He knew and felt assured, "<i>That
+the Lord would provide</i>."</p>
+
+<p>The eventful week opened, and on Monday he arose with a cheerful thought
+in his heart; ere he had had full time to dress, he noticed with great
+surprise, that both his sister and the assistant in the store, seemed,
+notwithstanding the earliness of the hour, to have full as much as they
+could do in serving customers and making up parcels, and he at once
+hastened into the shop to give them assistance, and thus it continued all
+day. <i>Never, in all his experience</i>, could Loest remember such a
+ceaseless stream of customers as poured, on that memorable Monday, into his
+rather out-of-the-way shop. Cooking dinner was out of the question; neither
+masters nor maid had time for that; coffee and bread, taken by each in
+turn, served instead of the accustomed meal, and still the customers came
+and went; still three pairs of hands were in requisition to satisfy their
+wants.</p>
+
+<p>Nor was it for new purchasers alone, that money came in. More than one
+long outstanding account, accompanied by excuses for delayed payment, and
+assurances that it had not been possible to settle it sooner, enlarged the
+contents of the till; and the honest-hearted debtor, on whom this unwonted
+stream of money flowed in, was tempted every minute to call out, "<i>It is
+the Lord</i>."</p>
+
+<p>At length night came, when Loest and his literally worn out assistants,
+after having poured out their hearts in thankful adoration in family
+prayer, sat down to the first meal they had that day enjoyed in common.
+When it was over, the brother and sister set themselves to count over the
+money which had that day been taken. Each hundred thalers was set by
+itself, and the result showed <i>six hundred and three thalers, fourteen
+silver groschen</i>.</p>
+
+<p>This was sufficient to pay the first debt due the next day, and leave
+but ten shillings and eight pence over, a trifle less than they commenced
+the day with. Loest was lost in wonder and grateful emotion at this
+gracious testimony of how faithfully his Lord could minister to him in his
+earthly necessities.</p>
+
+<p>"How countless must be the host of his ministering servants, seen or
+unseen, since He can employ some hundreds of them, and send them to buy of
+Daniel Loest to-day, or pay him that bill which thou owest. What a wondrous
+God is ours, who in the government of this great universe, does not
+overlook my mean affairs, nor forget His gracious promise, 'Call upon me in
+the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee.'"</p>
+
+<p>Tuesday was a repetition of Monday's splendid business, and brought in
+the five hundred thalers which he needed the next morning to pay off the
+mortgage of his friend's house, due that day.</p>
+
+<p>Wednesday's sales gave him five hundred more thalers, which he was
+obliged to have ready to pay on Thursday morning into the court of
+trustees.</p>
+
+<p>Thursday's sales brought him four hundred thalers, just the amount he
+had given promise to pay the next day for goods delivered.</p>
+
+<p>And Friday's sales gave him just three hundred thalers with which to
+honor the widow's demand on Saturday, to pay funeral and contingent
+expenses.</p>
+
+<p>During these days of wonderful business and deliverances, after each
+indebtedness was discharged, there still was not left cash in hand a sum
+exceeding three to five dollars.</p>
+
+<p>On Saturday morning, after he had sent the three hundred thalers to the
+widow, he had left precisely two thalers and twenty silver groschen (six
+shillings eight pence sterling), the smallest balance he had yet had; and
+what seemed most alarming, the rush to the shop seemed to be entirely over;
+for while during the five days past, he had had scarcely time to draw his
+breath from hurry and bustle, he was now left in undisturbed possession of
+his place. Not a single customer appeared. The wants of the vicinity seemed
+to have come to an end, for not a child even entered to fetch a pennyworth
+of thread, or a few ells of tape. This utter cessation of trade was as
+unusual and out of the accustomed shop business, as the extra rush had
+been.</p>
+
+<p>At five o'clock on Saturday, was due the debt of three hundred thalers
+to his scoffing and tantalizing money lender. Three o'clock came, and still
+there was but six shillings eight pence in the till. Where was his money to
+come from? But Loest sat still, and "<i>possessed his soul in patience</i>"
+for he knew the Lord would choose the best time, and he desired to be found
+waiting and watching for the Lord's coming. The trial was severe. It seemed
+hopeless, and if it should happen that, the creditor came and went away
+unsatisfied, his commercial character would be injured, his credit shaken,
+and his reputation severely suffer. That last hour ran slowly on. At a
+<i>quarter to four</i>, almost the last few moments of painful suspense, a
+little old woman came in, and asking for Mr. Loest, said to him half in a
+whisper, "I live here close by, quite alone, in a cellar, and I have had a
+few thalers paid me, and now I want to beg of you to be so good as to keep
+them for me. I have not slept over night since I had them; it is a great
+charge for a lone woman like me."</p>
+
+<p>Loest was only too glad to accept the money, and offered interest, which
+she declined. She hurried back, brought in her money, counted it out on his
+table, and there <i>were just three hundred thalers</i>, six rouleaux of
+fifty thalers each.</p>
+
+<p><i>She had scarcely left the house, with her receipt in her pocket, ere
+the clerk of the creditor with his demand in his hand, rushed into Loest's
+presence. He received his three hundred thalers, and both parted speechless
+with amazement</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Loest was lost in wonder at the marvelous way and exactness of time in
+which the Lord delivered him, while the creditor was astonished thus to
+find Loest's Mighty Friend had not failed him in his hour of need.</p>
+
+<p>Thus in one short week, from a beginning of less than five thalers, God
+had so exactly supplied his business needs that he had paid all his
+obligations of two thousand six hundred thalers, saved him from failure,
+saved his honor and good name, and now all was peace.</p>
+
+<p>The history of Loest and other providences which helped him in his
+business, are still further given more at length in a little book, "<i>The
+Believing Tradesman</i>," from the records of the Religious Tract Society
+of Berlin.</p>
+
+<p>This sketch illustrates the necessity of looking to God daily for help,
+and strength, and success, and deliverance in our business occupations as
+well as the concerns of our soul, and must effectively prove that those who
+use their business and the means from it to honor the good works of the
+Lord on earth, will be blessed on earth with the favor of the Lord. It
+teaches the sublime lesson that <i>money and prosperity are gifts from the
+Lord</i>, and must be considered as such, acknowledged with thankfulness,
+and used to please the Giver.</p>
+
+<p>Whenever the Christian learns to love the gift more than the Giver, the
+Lord takes it often away to remind him of his need of dependence upon
+<i>Him</i>. But whenever the Christian loves the <i>Giver</i> because of
+His gifts, and spends his means again to please his Heavenly Father, he
+becomes the Father's steward, and his lap is filled with bountiful
+blessings, such as one finds by true experience, "<i>The Lord is my
+Shepherd, I shall not want</i>."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Spurgeon's Prayer For Money.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Charles Spurgeon relates this incident connected with his ministry:
+"When the college, of which I am President, had been commenced, for a year
+or so all my means stayed; my purse was dried up, and I had no other means
+of carrying it on. In this very house, one Sunday evening, I had paid away
+all I had for the support of my young men for the ministry. There is a dear
+friend now sitting behind me who knows the truth of what I am saying. I
+said to him, '<i>There is nothing left, whatever</i>.' He said, 'You
+<i>have a good banker, sir</i>.' 'Yes,' I said, 'and I should like to draw
+upon him now, for I have nothing.' 'Well,' said he, 'how do you know, have
+you prayed about it?' 'Yes, I have.' 'Well, then leave it with Him; have
+you opened your letters?' 'No, I do not open my letters on Sundays.'
+'Well,' said he, 'open them for once.' I did so, and in the first one I
+opened there was a banker's letter to this effect: 'Dear Sir, we beg to
+inform you that a lady, totally unknown to us, has left with us two hundred
+pounds for you to use in the education of young men.' Such a sum has never
+come since, and it never came before; and I have no more idea than the dead
+in their graves how it came then, nor from whom it came, but to me it
+seemed that it came directly from God."</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Prayer Of Latimer.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The prayers of the martyr, Latimer, were very remarkable for their
+faith. There were three principal matters for which he prayed:</p>
+
+<p>1. That God would give him grace to stand to his doctrine until
+death.</p>
+
+<p>2. That God would of His mercy restore His gospel to England once again,
+repeating and insisting on these words "once again," as though he had seen
+God before him, and spoken to Him face to face.</p>
+
+<p>3. That God would preserve Elizabeth; with many tears, desiring God to
+make her a comfort to this comfortless realm of England. All these requests
+were most fully and graciously answered.</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Mother's Prayers Answered.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A Christian evangelist, whose work has been most singularly blessed,
+related this incident, how once in the days of his folly and sin, while as
+yet his course of life ran counter to the fondest wishes and prayers of his
+mother's heart, he one day asked her the strange question, whether she
+really believed that he ever would be converted to God. And her answer,
+inexpressibly touching and instructive, as being the answer of <i>assured
+faith</i>, which could see as yet no signs of the coming of what it so
+anxiously sought, was,</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I believe that you will one day be as eminent as a Christian, and
+an instrument for good, as you have been eminent in sin, and an instrument
+for evil."</p>
+
+<p>In later years the evangelist looked back with admiration to the faith
+of his mother, and thanked the Lord for His gracious answer to her
+prayers.</p>
+
+
+<h3>How The Lord Rescued Him.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A wonderful incident is told by Dr. S.I. Prime among his many facts
+relating to prayer, as published in <i>The Observer</i> and "<i>The Power
+of Prayer</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"A young man held a good position in a large publishing house in this
+city. He was about thirty years old, a married man, and happy in all the
+relations of life. The missionary of the church knew him through years of
+comfort and prosperity. Years passed away, and there came a dark place in
+his life. Intemperance, of the most depraved kind, made his career most
+dreadful. He disappeared, and was not heard from for some time. He
+separated himself from his family, and from all good.</p>
+
+<p>"He was met in Boston one day by an old friend, after long years, who
+noticed a marked difference in his appearance. He approached him, grasped
+him by the hand and said:</p>
+
+<p>"'I am a changed man. I one day got up in the morning, after a night of
+wakefulness, and thinking over what a wretch I had become, and how wretched
+I had made my poor wife and children, I resolved to go to the barn, and
+there all alone, to pray that God would take away utterly forever my
+accursed thirst for rum, and to pray till I felt answered that my prayer
+was heard. I went down on my knees, and on them I stayed until I had asked
+God many times to take away all my appetite for rum and tobacco, and
+everything else which was displeasing to Him, and make me a new creature in
+Christ Jesus--a holy, devoted Christian man, for the sake of Him who died
+for sinners. I told God that I could not be denied; I could not get up from
+my knees till I was forgiven and the curse was forever removed. I was in
+earnest in my prayer.</p>
+
+<p>"'I was on my knees two hours, short hours, as they seemed to me; two
+blessed hours, for I arose from my knees assured that all of the dreadful
+past was forgiven, and my sins blotted out forever. Oh! I tell you, God
+hears prayer. God has made me a happy man. I left all my appetite in the
+old barn. In that old barn, I was born again. Not one twinge of the old
+appetite has ever been felt since then.'"</p>
+
+
+<h3>Jesus Keeps Me From Drinking.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A young man arose in the Fulton Street prayer-meeting one day, and
+detailed his struggles and triumphs with his appetites. He was a perfect
+drunkard, helpless, poor; his friends' best efforts to reclaim' him were of
+no avail. The most solemn vows that he had ever taken, still were unable to
+hold him up. At last he gave himself up for lost. There seemed no hope for
+him, and in his despair he wandered away to the ocean shore. He met a young
+man who showed him a good many favors, and to whom he offered a drink from
+his flask of liquor.</p>
+
+<p>"'No,' said he, 'I never drink intoxicating drink, and I ask the Lord
+Jesus to help me never to touch it.'</p>
+
+<p>"I looked at him with surprise, and inquired, 'Are you a Christian?'</p>
+
+<p>"'Yes, I trust I am,' he answered.</p>
+
+<p>"'<i>And does Jesus keep you from drinking intoxicating liquor?'</i></p>
+
+<p>"'<i>He does, and I never wish to touch it</i>.'</p>
+
+<p>"That short answer set me to thinking. In it was revealed a new power. I
+went home that night and said to myself, as I went, '<i>How do I know but
+Christ would keep one from drinking if I would ask him</i>?'</p>
+
+<p>"When I got to my room, I thought over my whole case, and then I knelt
+down and told Jesus what a poor, miserable wretch I was; how I had
+struggled against my appetite, and had always been overcome by it. I told
+Him if he would take the appetite away I would give myself up to Him to be
+his forever, and I would forever love and serve Him. I told Him that I felt
+assured that He could help me, and that He would.</p>
+
+<p>"Now I stand here, and I tell you all most solemnly, <i>that Jesus took
+me at my word</i>. He did take away my appetite then and there, so that,
+from that sacred moment of casting myself on his help, I have not tasted a
+drop of liquor, nor <i>desired</i> to taste it. <i>The old appetite is
+gone</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"The last two weeks have been rich experience of Divine goodness and
+grace."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Mr. Moody's Faith, in Prayer. A Remarkable Answer.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Mr. Moody, on his return from England, while conducting a prayer-meeting
+in Northfield, Mass., gave this illustration of the power of prayer to
+subdue the most unlikely cases of sin and unbelief:</p>
+
+<p>"There is not a heart so hard that God cannot touch it. While in
+Edinburgh, a man was pointed out to me by a friend who said, 'Moody, that
+man is chairman of the Edinburgh infidel club.' So I went and sat down
+beside him, and said, 'Well, my friend, I am glad to see you at this
+meeting. Are you not concerned about your welfare?' He said that he did not
+believe in a hereafter. I said, 'Well, you just get down on your knees and
+let me pray for you.'</p>
+
+<p>"'<i>I don't believe in prayer</i>.'</p>
+
+<p>"I tried unsuccessfully to get the man down on his knees, and finally
+knelt down beside him and prayed for him. Well, he made a good deal of
+sport over it, and I met him again many times in Edinburgh after that. A
+year ago last month, while in the north of Scotland, I met the man again.
+Placing my hand on his shoulder, I asked, '<i>Hasn't God answered the
+prayer</i>?'</p>
+
+<p>"He replied, 'There is no God. I am just the same as I always have been.
+If you believe in a God, and in answer to prayer, do as I told you. Try
+your hand on me.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Well,' I said, 'God's time will come; there are a great many praying
+for you; and I have faith to believe you are going to be blessed.'</p>
+
+<p>"Six months ago I was in Liverpool; and there I got a letter from the
+leading barrister of Edinburgh, telling me that my friend, the infidel, had
+come to Christ, and that of his club of thirty men <i>seventeen</i> had
+followed his example.</p>
+
+<p>"How it happened he could not say, but whereas he was once blind, now he
+could see. God has answered the prayer. '<i>I didn't know how it was to be
+answered</i>,' said Mr. Moody, '<i>but I believed it would be and it was
+done. What we want to do is to come boldly to God</i>.'"</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Wonders Of A Single Prayer.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The Rev. Dr. Edwin F. Hatfield, of New York City, well known and eminent
+among the clergymen of the Presbyterian church, is personally acquainted
+with the following instance of a remarkable case in answer to prayer. From
+the mother of the daughter he obtained this statement, which has been
+published by Dr. Patton, of Chicago, in his volume, "On Prayer."</p>
+
+<p>"My daughter was for fourteen months afflicted with hip disease. It was
+brought on by a fall, and a consequent dislocation, when she was eight
+years of age.</p>
+
+<p>"Her right side was paralyzed, and she had an abscess. I placed her in a
+hospital, under the care of good nurses, and the very best medical
+advice.</p>
+
+<p>"Everything possible was done for her, but all to no avail; she grew
+worse instead of better, and the doctors directed me, as there was no hope
+for her, to take her home to die.</p>
+
+<p>"But I did not cease to hope. I did as the doctors directed, but
+continued to pray the prayer of faith for her recovery for two weeks. One
+morning, at the end of this period, we were conversing together about the
+wonderful cures wrought by the Savior, when on earth, and particularly that
+of the man at the pool of Bethesda.</p>
+
+<p>"In the midst of our conversation, my daughter rose to obtain a drink of
+water, when she exclaimed, '<i>Mother, I can walk.'</i> 'Thanks be to God!'
+said I, 'Come, and let me see you!'</p>
+
+<p>"Her crutches, the only means by which she could move about, before,
+were now useless. Upon examination, I found that the abscess had entirely
+disappeared, and that the paralyzed limb was restored whole, like the
+other.</p>
+
+<p>"She was again dangerously ill, five months afterward. I prayed for her
+recovery one night, before retiring, and the next morning she arose,
+perfectly cured."</p>
+
+<p>She is now twenty-one years of age, and during all this intervening time
+has been free from any trouble of this kind. To-day she is as well as any
+one, working and running about without the slightest trouble."</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Tavern Keeper Overcome.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Rev. Charles G. Finney relates, in his "Spirit of Prayer," of an
+acquaintance of his whose faith and importunity in prayer and the answer
+were very remarkable:</p>
+
+<p>"In a town in the northern part of the State of New York, where there
+was a revival, there was a certain individual, who was a most violent and
+outrageous opposer. He kept a tavern, and used to delight in swearing at a
+desperate rate, whenever there were Christians within hearing, on purpose
+to hurt their feelings. He was so bad, that one man said he believed he
+should have to sell his place or give it away, and move out of town, for he
+could not live near a man that swore so.</p>
+
+<p>"This good man of faith and prayer that I have spoken of, was passing
+through the town and heard the case, and was very much grieved and
+distressed for the individual. He took him on his praying list. The case
+weighed on his mind when he was asleep, and when he was awake. He kept
+thinking about him, and praying for him, for days; and the first we knew of
+it, this ungodly man came into a meeting, and got up and confessed his
+sins, and poured out his soul. His barroom immediately became the place
+where they held prayer-meetings."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Victories over Bad Habits, Tobacco, Opium, etc.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The Rev. W.H. Boole, a city missionary in New York City, has been
+witness in his ministries, of many cases of complete deliverance from bad
+habits, and appetites, solely by believing prayer. Many are contained in a
+little tract written by him, "The Wonder of Grace." He gives a few of these
+incidents:</p>
+
+<p>"One is an officer in a church in New York, who had used tobacco for
+forty years, making during that time many efforts to abandon the practice,
+but always failing because of the resultant inward growing. But he was
+brought to an act of specific faith in Jesus, to save him from the
+appetite, and now, after several years, he testifies, 'From that hour all
+desire left me, and I have ever since hated, what I once so fondly
+loved.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Another is of a prominent church member in Brooklyn, N.Y., who had used
+tobacco for thirty years, and could not endure to be without a cigar in his
+mouth, and sometimes even rose and smoked in the night; after many failures
+to overcome the habit, one night when alone, he cast himself on his Savior
+for just this victory; and from that hour was delivered from the desire as
+well as from the outward act, and now wonders that he ever loved the filthy
+practice."</p>
+
+<p>"A certain old lady, who lived near Westbrook, Conn., aged seventy, was
+a confirmed opium eater, and used daily, an amount sufficient to kill
+twenty persons. She was led to see that the habit was a <i>sin</i>; and as
+such, she abandoned it, with specific application to Christ to save her
+from it. She was heard, and lived for two years afterward, free from any
+desire for that drug."</p>
+
+<p>"A similar case was that of a carpenter, in Brooklyn, N.Y., who, from
+taking morphine to allay the pain of a fractured leg, fell into its
+habitual use, till he almost lived upon it for several years after his
+recovery. He once swallowed, in the presence of several physicians, a dose
+which it was calculated would destroy the lives of two hundred ordinary
+men. Not long since, he was made to look at this as a sin, and tried to
+break off the habit, abstaining, with an alarming reaction, till five
+physicians declared that death would ensue, if he did not resume it. This
+he did for a year; but then on a certain Sunday evening, broke off again,
+casting himself by faith on Christ, from which moment the desire left him,
+and has never returned, and he has experienced no reaction or other ill
+effect, but has greatly improved in health."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Mrs. Whitney's Cure in Answer to Prayer.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Mrs. C.S. Whitney of Hartford, Conn., a lady well known for her
+Christian work among the poor, thus gives in a letter to Dr. Patton, her
+personal testimony of the efficacy of prayer:</p>
+
+<p>"Three years ago, I was healed of a bodily disease. I had been troubled
+from my birth with canker, and at times suffered greatly. I had consulted
+some of the best physicians in the land, and had been treated by the most
+skillful. My case was said to be incurable. When I learned to trust Christ
+for everything, I applied to Him for healing. My husband joined with me in
+this prayer for three weeks; but all the time I was growing worse. I then
+prayed for entire submission. About the first of October, 1872, my stomach,
+throat and mouth were so cankered, I could scarcely eat anything. One day,
+I took up the little book entitled, 'Dorothea Trudel;' and while reading, I
+seemed to hear a voice saying unto me, <i>'All things are possible unto him
+that believeth.' 'According to thy faith be it unto thee.'</i> I claimed
+the faith, and immediately asked God to heal me, and in His own way. While
+yet on my knees, it seemed very clear to me that I should go to Boston, and
+ask Doctor Cullis to pray with me. I obeyed that leading, and made
+preparations to go the day following. Just as I was ready to start for the
+depot, I realized that I was cured. An entire change was wrought in my
+system, and my soul was filled with joy and gratitude."</p>
+
+
+<h3>President Finney's Prayer For Rain.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The following incident of the prayer of President Finney for rain, and
+its immediate answer, is furnished by Professor Cowles, the intimate friend
+of President Finney:</p>
+
+<p>"Somewhat more than twenty years ago, the village of Oberlin and its
+adjacent country along the lake shore, suffered severely through the hot
+season from a total failure of rain, for nearly three months. Clouds that
+seemed to promise rain were repelled from the heated dry atmosphere over
+the land, and attracted by the more moist atmosphere over the lake, to pour
+out their waters there. On one such occasion, the clouds had gathered dark,
+low, and heavy over the lakes, and lay there with no particular indication
+of rising. President Finney walked out with his eye on these clouds. I give
+the sequel in his own words, as they fell from his lips, less than three
+months since:</p>
+
+<p>"'In this walk I met Ralph, who turned sharply upon me. 'Mr. Finney, I
+should like to know what you mean in preaching that God is always wise and
+always good, when you see him pouring out that great rain upon the lake,
+where it can do no good, and leaving us to suffer so terribly for the want
+of that wasted water?'</p>
+
+<p>"'His words cut me to the heart; I turned, and ran home to my closet,
+fell on my knees, and told the Lord what Ralph had been saying about Him;
+and besought Him, for the honor of His great name, to confound this
+caviler, and show forth the glory of His power and the greatness of His
+love. I pleaded with Him that He had encouraged His people to pray for
+rain, and that now the time seemed to have come for Him to show His power
+in this thing, and His faithfulness as a hearer of prayer.</p>
+
+<p>"'Before I rose from my knees, there was a sound of a rushing, mighty
+wind. I looked out, and lo! the heavens were black; that cloud was rolling
+up, and soon the rain fell in torrents, two full hours.'</p>
+
+<p>"The writer, (Professor Cowles,) himself remembers how that cloud lay
+over the lake; how it drove him, also, to his closet; and that soon and
+signally the prayers of that hour came back to us in mighty rain."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Luther's Mighty Prayer And Prophecy.</h3>
+
+
+<p>At one time in the life of Luther, there was a critical moment in the
+affairs of the Reformation. Bitter persecution prevailed with extraordinary
+power, and threatened every one. They were the dark days when faith could
+only cling. There were but few friends to the reformers, and these were of
+little strength. Their enemies were every where strong, proud, arrogant.
+But Luther relied on his God, and at this moment, with his favorite hymn in
+his heart, "<i>A strong fortress is our God,</i>" he went to the Lord in
+prayer, and prayed that omnipotence would come to the help of their
+weakness. Long he wrestled alone with God in his closet, till like Jacob he
+prevailed. Then he went into the room, where his family had assembled, with
+joyous heart and shining face, and raising both hands, and lifting his eyes
+heavenward, exclaimed, "<i>We have overcome, we have overcome</i>."</p>
+
+<p>This was astonishing, as there was not the slightest of news which had
+yet been heard to give them hope of relief. But immediately after that, the
+welcome tidings came that <i>the Emperor, Charles V., had issued his
+Proclamation of "Religious Toleration in Germany</i>." In Luther's prayer
+was fulfilled the remarkable promise of Proverbs, 21: I. "<i>The king's
+heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water; he turneth it
+whithersoever he will</i>."</p>
+
+
+<h3>John Knox And His Prophetical Prayer.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"John Knox was famous for his earnest prayers. Queen Mary said that she
+feared his prayers more than she did all the armies of Europe. One night,
+in the days of his bitterest persecution, while he and his friends were
+praying together, Knox spoke out, and declared <i>that deliverance has
+come</i>. He could not tell how. <i>Immediately the</i> news came that
+<i>Queen Mary was dead</i>."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Melancthon's Life saved from Death in Answer to Luther's Prayer.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The most powerful tribute to the efficacy of prayer, was the answer to
+Luther's prayer which the Lord sent. A messenger was sent to Luther that
+Melancthon was dying. He found him presenting the usual premonitory
+symptoms of death. Melancthon roused, looked in the face of Luther, and
+said, "O Luther, is this you? Why don't you let me depart in peace." "<i>We
+can't spare you yet, Philip</i>," was the reply, and turning around, he
+threw himself upon his knees, and wrestled with God for his recovery for
+upwards of an hour. He went from his knees to the bed, and took his friend
+by the hand; again he said, "Dear Luther, why don't you let me depart in
+peace?" "No, no, Philip; we can not spare you yet," was the reply. He then
+ordered some soup, and when pressed to take it, Melancthon declined, again
+saying, "Dear Luther, why will you not let me go home and be at rest." "We
+can not spare you yet, Philip," was the reply. He then added, "Philip, take
+this soup, or I will excommunicate you." He took the soup, regained his
+wonted health, and labored for years afterwards in the cause of the
+Reformation; and when Luther returned home he said to his wife with joy,
+"God gave me my brother Melancthon back in direct answer to prayer."</p>
+
+<p>In this incident is given this extraordinary statement that while death
+has really seized a man, who too wished to die, and did not want to live
+longer on the earth, yet his life was given back to him again in answer to
+the prayer of faith of another.</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Wonderful Power of Faith and Trust in the Lord to deliver wholly
+from Bad Habits.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A victim of licentiousness and sensuousness, who often, amid his sinful
+pleasures, had the memory of Christian parents before him, felt his was
+indeed a life of shame. But the downward steps had destroyed his will, his
+self-control, his manliness, his virtue. He had no power to resist, all was
+wickedness, irresolution, constant yielding. In vain he hung back, and
+tried to save himself from the cursed appetite; at last he realized that in
+a few weeks' time he must go to the grave; strength could not stand such a
+waste of life. "What a miserable life. What wicked ways, what wicked
+thoughts; how I wish I was pure; O, that I might get free; I do not love
+this sin any more, I don't want it, but I can't stop it. O, I wish I could
+be a Christian, and wholly free."</p>
+
+<p>Such were his constant thoughts. In mercy, the Lord who had been reading
+his thoughts, sent him a great reverse in business, and in agony of heart,
+he knew not where to turn but to the Lord, and pray for relief. His prayer,
+too, asked to be emancipated from his wickedness, and his strength and
+health restored. "<i>Lord, save me and I will</i> be thine forever. I am
+lost unless thou wilt come and save."</p>
+
+<p>By gradual degrees, in the absorption of his thoughts over other
+distresses, his mind was diverted from his usual ways and thoughts of
+sinful living; gradually the habits of lust grew less and less strong, and
+finally ceased altogether. But the body still remained under excessive
+weakness. But faith that the Lord who had saved others, could save him too,
+led him to pray, not only for the destruction of the habit, but entire
+recovery from its evil effects. His perseverance was persistent, and met
+with a <i>triumphant reward</i>. After a long; time, he felt himself wholly
+healed. New strength, new life, came back to him. "It seems as if my life
+had been put back again ten years, and I was young again." "I never have
+any more wicked thoughts or imaginations, while I was once full of them.
+Since I learned to seek the Lord and love his Bible, I have never had such
+peace, or purity. I love the name and tender mercies of my God." If in a
+few months, prayer saved that man's life, and so wholly changed it from a
+foul blot to a thing of purity, what can it not do again. <i>No sin can
+ever be conquered until in humility either saint or sinner</i> gets down
+upon his knees, and implores the love and power of the Lord in <i>never
+ceasing prayer</i>, to wholly emancipate him from the control of the evil
+habit. <i>The Lord will surely hear it</i>. He can as truly deliver the
+body from the most persistent and enchaining habit, as he can wholly
+convert the mind and heart. The result is not always instantaneous; more
+often gradual, but <i>always sure</i> if the sufferer <i>always
+prays</i>.</p>
+
+<p>It is simple enough for the sinning one to believe that the <i>Lord
+can</i>, and seeking the Bible <i>for the Lord's own promise that he, will;
+to cling to it and never surrender</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The sin may be repeated when you can not resist it, and do not desire
+for it, but take all pains to avoid; still pray though you often fail;
+still try, still trust the Lord to loose your chains and remove your
+desire, and deliverance is sure to come at last.</p>
+
+
+<h3>Recovery From Paralysis.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Between two and three years ago, the writer was struck down by
+paralysis, disabling entirely the limbs of the left side. In this
+apparently helpless state, I employed a man to take care of me, and felt
+that unless God should interpose, I must be a continuous burden on my
+friends. My kind physician gave me no hope of <i>entire recovery</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"In this state I made my prayer to God continually, that he would so far
+restore my strength as to enable me to take care of myself.</p>
+
+<p>"This prayer he was pleased to answer, for in eight weeks I dismissed my
+attendant, finding myself able to take care of myself. I now walk more than
+half a mile each day, and attend to all the associations of home life. I
+record with thankfulness this restoration of my disabled frame in answer to
+prayer."</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Stolen Bonds Returned.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The <i>New York Observer</i> relates a remarkable instance of the return
+of stolen property, which in its extraordinary way can be accounted for
+only by the control of a Supreme Will, and all in answer to prayer.</p>
+
+<p>"On February 16, 1877, United States and railroad bonds and mortgages to
+the amount of $160,000, belonging to Edgar H. Richards, were stolen from
+the banking house of James G. King's Sons, of this city. No clue whatever
+to the robbers could be obtained. Several parties were arrested on
+suspicion, but nothing could be proved, and the mystery remained
+unsolved.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Richards, being a member of one of our most prominent churches,
+made it a subject of constant prayer, that the Lord would wholly prevent
+the thieves from any use of the property and cause it to be returned to
+him. When asked if he was ever incredulous, he said, 'No, I have never lost
+my faith in recovering this property. I believe in prayer, and I have made
+it from the first a subject of prayer, and it will be answered.'</p>
+
+<p>"Meanwhile some curious influences must have been at work among the
+thieves, for they acted in an extraordinary manner as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"One day last week a stranger, well dressed, modest looking,
+gentlemanly, walked into the office of Elliott F. Shepard, Esq., one of
+Messrs. King's counsel, and tendered his services for the recovery of the
+property, asserting he knew nothing about the robbery, nor the thieves, but
+that he could get the treasure. He was told that a reward would be paid for
+the capture of the thieves, but he earnestly protested that it was entirely
+out of his power to obtain any clue to the person or whereabouts of the
+thief; and no inquiries ever disclosed that this was not a perfectly true
+statement. Indeed, it proved that he had been selected as an agent to do
+this work, and that there were at least five or six connecting
+intermediaries between him and the robbers, each exercising that virtue
+which is called honor among thieves, and which on this occasion proved a
+wall of adamant to every attempt to pierce it or break it down.</p>
+
+<p>"True to his word the stranger caused the delivery at Mr. Shepard's
+office, at the appointed hour to a second, of an ordinary pasteboard
+bandbox, wrapped in newspaper, by the hands of a little boy. He had come in
+a pelting rain-storm, and part of the newspaper had become torn, and
+disclosed the blue, unsuspected hat box. The boy knew nothing about it,
+except that a gentleman had given him a dime in the street to bring the
+box.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Richards being present, opened the bandbox, examined and checked
+off the contents with one of Messrs. King's head clerks, and found every
+single item of his missing securities, stocks, bonds, mortgages, accounts,
+bank books, wills, everything. A most remarkable thing! The parties could
+hardly believe their eyes."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Mr. Moody's Answers To Prayers.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Mr. D.L. Moody, the Evangelist, when a boy, was possessed of an unusual
+amount of muscular strength and animal spirits, and a strong will that knew
+little of impossibility or submission. When only six years old, being
+wistful to do something to help his mother, he was set to drive the cows of
+a neighboring farmer to and from their mountain pasture. On one occasion, a
+heavy fence fell upon him from which he could not extricate himself. After
+trying his utmost and crying as loud as he could for help, but in vain, the
+thought struck him that God would help him if he asked him. In his own
+simple language he prayed to his mother's God for help, and made another
+effort, and succeeded in getting free. This, his first answer to prayer,
+made a vivid impression on his heart, which gave a decided turn to his
+opening life.</p>
+
+
+<h3>No Flour in the House--In the days of Famine, his Soul shall be
+Satisfied.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Mr. Moody's domestic life has always been a happy one, but in the early
+days of his marriage, he was very poor, and his faith was often put to the
+severest tests.</p>
+
+<p>One day, on leaving home in his missionary work and labors of love, he
+remarked to his wife, "I have no money, and the house is without supplies.
+It looks dark; is it possible that the Lord has had enough of me in this
+mission work, and is going to send me back again to sell boots and shoes."
+But he prayed. In a day or two, a Stranger sent him two checks of $50
+each--one for himself, and one for his school.</p>
+
+<p>On another occasion his wife informed him that they had no flour for the
+day's use, and asked him to order some on his way. Having no money in his
+possession, he was perplexed how to proceed to raise the required amount;
+but meeting a person in whose spiritual welfare he was concerned, he forgot
+all about such sublunary considerations as money and flour, and went heart
+and soul into the Lord's work before him.</p>
+
+<p>On his return home at night, he felt somewhat nervous about his
+reception on account of his not having sent the flour, but to his joyful
+surprise, he found that on his arrival the table was spread with a
+bountiful repast.</p>
+
+<p>It seems that a friend of his was powerfully impressed that morning, and
+without seeing the family or knowing anything about their need, had packed
+up a barrel of flour and sent it.</p>
+
+<p>Others of his friends, who were interested in his work, and felt
+confidence in his work, <i>unknown to him</i>, selected a new house, and
+furnished it throughout with every facility for convenience and comfort,
+and when all was completed invited him and his family to it, and made him a
+present of the loan of his house, and all its contents.</p>
+
+<p>Thus the <i>Great Helper</i> remembered him and answered his daily
+prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Persevering Prayer.</h3>
+
+
+<p>At one of the prayer-meetings at the Brooklyn tabernacle, Mr. Moody
+closed by narrating an instance of persevering prayer by a Christian wife
+for an infidel husband. She resolved to pray for him at noon for eighteen
+months, and at the expiration of that time, her knocking not having been
+responded to, she exclaimed, "<i>Lord, I will pray for him, every day, and
+at all hours, as long as life lasts</i>."</p>
+
+<p>That day the Lord heard her knock, and gave her the desire of her heart,
+in the conversion of her husband. When the Lord saw her faith would not
+give up, he sent the answer immediately.</p>
+
+
+<h3>Noah's Prayer.--He Did Not Get Discouraged.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The life of faith and the necessity of uncompromising hold on the
+promise's, expecting their fulfillment, is admirably explained in the
+illustration of Noah's prayer. One day Mr. Moody was much discouraged, and
+it was as dark a Sabbath as ever he had, and a friend suggested to him to
+study the life of Noah.</p>
+
+<p>"I got out my Bible, and the thought came over me, 'Here is a man who
+labored and talked a hundred years, and didn't succeed; didn't get a
+convert notwithstanding all his efforts, all his prayers, but he didn't get
+discouraged.'</p>
+
+<p>"But he took God at his word; he worked right on; he prayed right on;
+and he waited God's time. And, my friends, from that time, I have never
+been discouraged. Whenever I think of him, it lifts me up out of the
+darkness into the light. Don't get discouraged."</p>
+
+<p>The lesson of Noah's life is briefly this: He never converted a soul
+outside of his own family. That was the work God gave him to do, and he
+prayed and waited and worked, and never gave up, and he was saved and all
+his family with him.</p>
+
+<p>So every Christian must recognize that his field is not far off, but
+right around him, in his house, among his friends, working, praying,
+waiting, but never getting discouraged. The Lord will never fail those who
+"<i>abide in Him</i>."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Samuel Hick's Prayer For Rain.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Samuel Hick was one of the men of "<i>mighty faith</i>" in the Lord, and
+as a preacher among the Methodists of England. He was of great eminence for
+his happy spirit, remarkable trust, powerful and practical preaching, and
+unbounded liberality. Among the many incidents connected with his life of
+faith, we quote a few to illustrate with what simplicity he expected always
+an answer to his prayer, and was not satisfied until he got it:</p>
+
+<p>In the course of a Summer of excessive drought a few years back, when
+the grain suffered greatly, and many of the cattle, especially in
+Lincolnshire, died. Samuel Hick was much affected. He visited
+Knaresborough, at which place he preached on the Lord's day.</p>
+
+<p>Remaining in the town and neighborhood over the Sabbath, he appeared
+extremely restless in the house in which he resided, during the whole of
+Monday. He spoke but little--was full of thought, now praying, now walking
+about the room, next sitting in a crouching posture--then suddenly starting
+up and going to the door, turning his eyes toward heaven, as if looking for
+some celestial phenomenon, when he would return again, groan in spirit, and
+resume his seat. The family, being impressed with his movements, asked him
+whether there was anything the matter with him or whether he expected any
+person, as the occasion of his going to the door so frequently.</p>
+
+<p>"Bless you Bairns," was his reply, "do you not recollect that I was
+praying for rain last night in the pulpit, and what will the infidel at
+Knaresborough think if it do not come; if my Lord should fail me, and not
+stand by me." But it must have time; it can not be here yet; it has to come
+from the sea. Neither can it be seen at first. The prophet only saw a bit
+of cloud like a man's hand. By and by it spread along the sky. I am looking
+for an answer to my prayer, but it must have time.</p>
+
+<p>He continued in the same unsettled state, occasionally going out, and
+looking with intensity on the pure azure over his head; for <i>a more
+unclouded sky was rarely ever seen</i>. Contrary to all external signs of
+rain, and contrary to the expectations of all, except himself, the sky
+became overcast toward evening, and the clouds dropped the fullness of a
+shower upon the earth. His very soul seemed to drink in the falling drops.
+The family grouped around him, like children around their father, while he
+gave out his favorite hymn, "<i>I'll praise my Maker while I've
+breath</i>;" "and after singing it with a countenance all a-glow, through
+the sunshine of heaven upon his soul, he knelt down and prayed. All were
+overpowered; it was a season of refreshing from the presence of the
+Lord.</p>
+
+<p>His biographer says of him: "Samuel had no weather glass upon which to
+look except the Bible, in which he was taught to believe, and expect
+<i>that</i> for which he prayed; nothing on which he could depend but God,
+and <i>his faith</i> was set in God for <i>rain</i>."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Praying For The Wind To Come.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A remarkable incident, showing how God makes the winds to obey him in
+obedience to the prayer of his righteous ones, and the expectations of
+their faith, occurred also in Samuel Hick's life, which is really an
+astonishing proof of God's supernatural power.</p>
+
+<p>A church gathering was to take place at Micklefleld, and Samuel had
+promised two loads of corn for their use. The day fixed drew near, but
+there was no flour in the house, and the wind-mills, in consequence of a
+long calm, stretched out their arms in vain to catch the rising breezes. In
+the midst of this death-like quiet, Samuel carried his corn to the mill
+nearest his own residence, and requested the miller to unfurl his sails.
+The miller objected, stating that there was "no wind." Samuel, on the other
+hand, continued to urge his request, saying, "<i>I will go and pray while
+you spread the cloth.</i>" More with a view of gratifying the applicant
+than of any faith he had, the man stretched his canvas. <i>No sooner had he
+done this than, to his utter astonishment, a fine breeze sprung up, the
+fans whirled around, the corn was converted into meal, and Samuel returned
+with his burden rejoicing,</i> and had everything in readiness for the
+festival.</p>
+
+<p>In the mean time, a neighbor who had seen the fan in vigorous motion,
+took also some corn to be ground; but the wind had dropped, and the miller
+remarked to him, "You must send for Sammy Hick to pray for the wind to blow
+again."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Snails In The Ark.</h3>
+
+
+<p>To many who with despondency protest that they have not faith enough,
+get along so slow, are too weak, &amp;c, the following sharp retort of Hick
+will prove a bright lining to their dark cloud of failing, and lead them to
+plod on in prayer.</p>
+
+<p>"To a gentleman laboring under great nervous depression, whom he had
+visited, and who was moving along the streets as though he was apprehensive
+that every step would shake his system in pieces, he was rendered
+singularly useful. They met, and Samuel, having a deeper interest in the
+soul than the body, asked: 'Well, how are you getting on your way to
+Heaven.'"</p>
+
+<p>The poor invalid, in a dejected, half desponding tone, replied, "But
+slowly I fear," intimating that he was creeping along only at a poor
+pace.</p>
+
+<p>"Why bless you Bairn," returned Samuel, "<i>there were snails in the
+ark</i>."</p>
+
+<p>The reply was so earnest, so unexpected, and met the dispirited man so
+immediately on his own ground, that the temptation broke away, and he was
+out of his depression.</p>
+
+<p>It was a resurrection to his feelings, inferring that if the snail
+reached the ark and was saved, he too, "faint yet pursuing," might gain
+admission into heaven.</p>
+
+
+<h3>He Gave All The Money He Had.</h3>
+
+
+<p>At one time he attended a missionary meeting near Harrowgate. "We had a
+blessed meeting," said Samuel, "I was very happy and gave all the money I
+had in my pocket." After the meeting was concluded, he mounted his horse to
+return home. No one had offered to pay his expenses--he had not a farthing
+in his pocket. Advanced in life--a slow rider, and not a very sprightly
+horse--in the night--alone--twenty miles from home. Think of the
+lonesomeness; the time for the tempter to come and lead him to distrust in
+his Lord. But he struggled; the trial was short and the victory complete,
+for, said he, "Devil, I never stuck fast yet."</p>
+
+<p>Just as he entered Harewood, a gentleman took his horse by the bridle,
+asked him where he had been, talked with him long, and to whom Samuel's
+talk was a wonderful consolation. Said Sammy:</p>
+
+<p>"I have not wanted for any good thing, and could always pray with Job,
+'The Lord gave and the Lord taketh away, blessed be the name of the
+Lord.'"</p>
+
+<p>The gentleman asked, "Can you read?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," returned Samuel.</p>
+
+<p>"Then," replied the gentleman, holding a piece of paper in his hand,
+which was rendered visible by the glimmering light of the stars,</p>
+
+<p>"There is a five pound note for you. You love God and his cause, and I
+believe you will never want."</p>
+
+<p>And Sammy said, "I cried for joy. This was a fair salvation from the
+Lord. When I got home, I told my wife. She burst into tears, and we praised
+the Lord together," and he added: "You see, we never give to the Lord but
+He gives in return."</p>
+
+
+<h3>"The Lord Will Provide."</h3>
+
+
+<p>A poor but pious widow in Boston, in her eighty-seventh year, said to a
+friend, "When I was left a widow with three little children, I was brought
+into such extremity that they were crying for bread, and I had nothing for
+them to eat. As I arose on a Sabbath morning, I knew not what to do but to
+ask my heavenly Father to feed my little ones, and commit myself and them
+to his care.</p>
+
+<p>"I then went out to the well to get a pail of water, and saw on the
+ground a six cent piece, which I took up; and learning that it did not
+belong to any of those who lived in the same house with me, I thought I
+might take it to feed my famishing children. Though it was a Sabbath
+morning, I felt that it would be right to go to a baker who lived in the
+neighborhood, tell him our circumstances, and buy bread with the money
+Providence had thus cast in my way. The baker not only did this, but the
+Lord opened his heart to add a bountiful supply; and from that hour to the
+present, which is nearly fifty years, I have never doubted that <i>God
+would take care of his children</i>."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Abraham Lincoln's Faith In Prayer.</h3>
+
+
+<p>When President Lincoln left his home in Springfield, Ill., February 11,
+1861, on his way to Washington, he made the following farewell address to
+his friends and neighbors: "My friends, no one not in my position can
+appreciate the sadness I feel at this parting. To this people I owe all I
+am. Here I have lived more than a quarter of a century; here my children
+were born, and here one of them lies buried. I know not how soon I shall
+see you again. A duty devolves upon me which is perhaps greater than that
+which has devolved upon any other man since the days of Washington. He
+would never have succeeded except for the aid of Divine Providence, upon
+which he at all times relied. I feel that I cannot succeed without the same
+Divine aid which sustained him, and on the same Almighty Being I place my
+reliance for support; and I hope you, my friends, will all pray that I may
+receive that Divine assistance, without which I cannot succeed, but with
+which success is certain. Again, I bid you all an affectionate farewell."
+That simple but earnest request sent an electric thrill through every
+Christian heart, and without doubt, in response to it, more prayer was
+offered for him throughout his administration, than for any one who ever
+before occupied the Presidential chair.</p>
+
+<p>At a Sabbath-school convention in Massachusetts, a speaker stated that a
+friend of his, during an interview with Mr. Lincoln, asked him if he loved
+Jesus. The President buried his face in his handkerchief and wept. He then
+said, "When I left home to take this chair of state, I requested my
+countrymen to pray for me. I was not then a Christian. When my son
+died--the severest trial of my life--I was not a Christian. But when I went
+to Gettysburg, and looked upon the graves of our dead heroes who had fallen
+in defense, of their country, I then and there consecrated myself to
+Christ. <i>I do love Jesus."</i> Rev. Mr. Adams, of Philadelphia, stated in
+his Thanksgiving sermon that, having an appointment to meet the President
+at 5 o'clock in the morning, he went a quarter of an hour before the time.
+While waiting for the hour, he heard a voice in the next room as if in
+grave conversation, and asked the servant, "Who is talking in the next
+room?" "It is the President, sir." "Is anybody with him?" "No, sir; he is
+reading the Bible." "Is that his habit so early in the morning?" "Yes, sir.
+He spends every morning, from 4 o'clock to 5, in reading the Scriptures and
+praying."</p>
+
+<p><i>It was the Lord who Guided the mind of Mr. Lincoln in his
+extraordinary act of the Emancipation of the Slaves of America.</i> The
+Lord had prepared it, and chose him as the means whereby to accomplish
+it.</p>
+
+<p><i>Were not his Prayers and efforts specially blessed by the Lord in
+wisdom, for the guidance of our Nation</i>?</p>
+
+
+<h3>Extraordinary Care of the Lord in Answer to Prayer.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"The scenes of the riots in New York, at the time of our civil war, are
+of national celebrity; but few, however, know that one of the most
+atrocious acts of cruelty attempted to be perpetrated by the malefactors,
+and which utterly failed of its purpose, <i>came solely in answer to
+prayer</i>. On the first day of the mob, however, several thousand men,
+<i>women and children</i>, armed with clubs and brickbats, suddenly
+appeared at the door of the Colored Orphan Asylum, and effected an entrance
+by breaking down the front door with an axe. The building was soon fired in
+ten or fifteen places, and the work of destruction was accomplished in
+twenty minutes.</p>
+
+<p>"There were at the time two hundred and twenty-three children in the
+building with their attendants and teachers. The matron having assembled
+all the children after the first alarm, one of the teachers thus addressed
+them: 'Children, do you believe that Almighty God can deliver you from a
+mob?' The reply was promptly made in the affirmative. 'Then,' said she, 'I
+wish you now to pray silently to God to protect you from this mob. I
+believe that he is able and will do it. Pray earnestly to him, and when I
+give the signal, go in order, without noise, to the dining-room.' At this
+every head was instantly bowed in prayer, such prayer as is not frequently
+offered, the silent, earnest supplication of terrified and persecuted
+little children. When, at the sound of the bell, their heads were raised,
+the teacher said the tears were streaming, but not a sound, not even a sob,
+was to be heard. They then quietly went down stairs and through the halls,
+and she remarked that 'to her dying day she should never forget the scene;'
+the few moments of eloquent silence, the streaming noiseless tears, the
+funereal march through the halls, the yells and the horrible sounds which
+were nearer and nearer approaching. <i>Not one of these helpless innocents
+was injured in the least</i>; but in spite of the threats and the
+blood-thirstiness of the rioters, through whom they were obliged to pass,
+all were removed unmolested to a place of safety."</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Remarkable Decision By A Jury.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"In one of our northern cities, a trial at law took place between a
+Christian and an infidel. The latter had sued the former for a heavy sum,
+falsely alleging his promise to pay it for some stocks which he claimed to
+have sold him. The Christian admitted AN OFFER of the stock, but protested
+that so far from promising the sum demanded, he had steadily refused to
+make any trade whatever with the plaintiff. Each of the parties to the suit
+had a friend who fully corroborated their assertions. Thus the case went
+before the jury for decision.</p>
+
+<p>"The charge of the judge was stern and significant. 'It was a grave and
+most painful task which devolved upon him to instruct the jurors that one
+of the parties before them must be guilty of deliberate and willful
+perjury. Their statements were wholly irreconcilable with each other; nay
+more, were diametrically opposite; and that either were innocently mistaken
+in their assertions was impossible.</p>
+
+<p>"'Your verdict, gentlemen,' he said in conclusion, 'must decide upon
+which side this awful and heaven-daring iniquity belongs. The God of truth
+help you to find the truth, that the innocent suffer not.'</p>
+
+<p>"It was late in the day when the judge's charge was given, and the
+finding of the jury was to be rendered in the morning. The plaintiff went
+carelessly from the court arm in arm with the wicked associate whom he had
+bribed to swear falsely on his behalf. The defendant and his friend walked
+away together in painful silence. When the Christian reached his home, he
+told his family of the judge's solemn charge and of the grave
+responsibility which rested upon the jurors. 'They are to decide which of
+us has perjured ourselves on this trial,' he said; 'and how terrible a
+thing for me if they should be mistaken in their judgment. There is so
+little of any thing tangible for their decision to rest upon, that it seems
+to me as if a breath might blow it either way. They cannot see our hearts,
+and I feel as if, only God could enable them to discern the truth. Let us
+spend the evening in prayer that he may give them a clear vision.'"</p>
+
+<p>The twelve jurymen ate their supper in perplexed silence, and were shut
+in their room for deliberation and consultation. "I never sat in such a
+case before," said the foreman. "The plaintiff and defendant have sworn
+point-blank against each other; and how we are to tell which speaks the
+truth, I can not see. I should not like to make a mistake in the matter; it
+would be a sad affair to convict an innocent man of perjury." Again there
+was silence among them, as if each were weighing the case in his own mind.
+"<i>For myself</i> I feel as if the truth must be with the defendant; I am
+constrained to think that he is an honest man. What say you, gentlemen?"
+<i>Every hand was raised in affirmation of this opinion</i>. They were
+fully persuaded of its truth, and <i>gave a unanimous verdict
+accordingly.</i></p>
+
+<p>Thus the Christian man was rightfully acquitted, and gave thanks to God,
+with a new and stronger confidence in the power of prayer. "Call upon me in
+the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me," saith
+the Lord.</p>
+
+
+<h3>That Wonderful $25. Another Evidence of the Ever-Present Spirit of
+God.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The following incident is marvelous, as at the time of its occurrence
+neither party had ever been known to each other:</p>
+
+<p>In <i>New Haven, Conn.</i>, lives a little invalid widow, almost
+helpless, with no one upon whom to rely for support, and only indebted to
+friendly acquaintances for a temporary home. With no money, no
+acquaintances, she had nowhere else to turn to but to the Father of all
+good. She had prayed often, and often had answers, but this time, though
+needing money, still she received none. The answer was long delayed; she
+was almost discouraged. "<i>Was God at last to fail and forget her? No, it
+could not be. Let God be true even if I perish, I shall still cling to Him.
+I can not give Him up."</i></p>
+
+<p>Just at that time a business man in New York, who had been absent on a
+long journey for the Summer and had just returned, happened to pick up a
+note among many hundred lying on his desk, and noticed that the writer
+asked for some trifling favor, saying she was poor, had no means.</p>
+
+<p>Her circumstances were unknown: he knew nothing but her name. He was
+eager to <i>minister to the little ones of the Lord,</i> and felt deeply
+impressed in prayer that morning, in asking a blessing on his day's labors,
+that he might be able to help the need of some of "his children" who might
+then be in want. In his business hours the thought came over him with the
+depth of emotion, "WHAT CAN I DO? LORD, THY SERVANT IS READY." Just at that
+moment he picked up this note of the little invalid, who asked the trivial
+favor, saying it would be such a comfort. <i>(No money whatever was asked
+for in this note</i>.)</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly the thought came to him, "<i>Perhaps this is my very
+opportunity. This may be the Lord's little one in need</i>." But there was
+nothing in the letter to indicate she was a Christian. She solicited no
+money or pecuniary help.</p>
+
+<p>Immediately there came to his mind, amid floods of tears, "<i>Inasmuch
+as ye have done it unto the least of these, my children, ye have done it
+unto me</i>." Instantly he understood it as a message from the Lord, and
+the intimation of the Holy Spirit. He immediately sat down and wrote a
+check for $25, and enclosed it to her, saying, "<i>I know not your need;
+you have not asked me for help, but I send you something which may be
+useful. I trust you are a Christian. I shall be happy to learn if it has
+done good, and made you happy. Give me no thanks. The Lord's blessing is
+enough for me</i>."</p>
+
+<p>The letter was sent and forgotten, but a strange presentiment came over
+the mind of the writer. "<i>I am afraid I did not direct that letter
+right</i>." He sent a second postal card, asking if a letter had been
+received at her home; if not, to go to her post office and inquire.</p>
+
+<p>Now notice the wonderful singularity of incident. Here is a man sending
+money, <i>never asked for, to an unknown person, about whom he knew
+nothing; then misdirecting his letter</i>, and then remembering and
+<i>sending another message to go and find where the first had gone to. But
+notice the marvelous result</i>. The little invalid received the postal
+card, but not the letter. She sent to the post office, and sure enough
+there was the first letter with its misdirection. She was <i>just in
+time</i> to save it from being sent to <i>another woman of the same name
+living in another part of the same city</i>.</p>
+
+<p>She opened her letter, and with tears of thankfulness perused this
+wonderful reply, a marvelous witness to the power of an overruling Spirit,
+who had directed everything.</p>
+
+<p>"My heart is full, that God should so answer my simple prayer. I first
+asked him for $10, then $15, <i>and then for</i> $25. I asked him for $25
+several times, and was astonished at my boldness, but the amount was so
+fixed in my mind, <i>I could not ask for anything else</i>, and then I
+humbly trusted it to Him, and from that time I thought, I will not name any
+sum; let it be as He knows my need. And how He has honored my simple faith
+and trust in these dark days. <i>Your letter contained exactly the $25 I
+prayed for</i>. I have not had $1.50 to spend this Summer. I have suffered
+for everything. But through it all I have felt such perfect faith in the
+Lord, that his hand was leading me, even when I could not see a step before
+me; and that He should move your heart to help me seems so wonderful, so
+good. I am so glad I can thank you now, but ah, so much "<i>over there</i>"
+where words will express so much more in the beautiful atmosphere of
+heaven. Your letter and kind gift was mailed <i>the very same day</i> that
+I was praying in great distress and trial. I knew not but that I should be
+without even a home. My verse was Psalms 50: 15. O, how I had to pray that
+day. So day by day I was comforted, and now to-day the answer has
+come."</p>
+
+<p>Here, then, is a portion of the story of a sweet life who trusted God,
+not as a God of the past, nor far off, but ever living, ever present, ever
+faithful, and believed Him <i>able, willing</i>, and that He <i>would
+help</i> her in her daily life. She tried her Lord, to prove if his
+promises were indeed true, and she clung to them to the very last. No one
+knew her need. No one knew what she was praying for. The stranger did not
+know anything of her. She had asked money of no one but the Lord. Hesitant
+ever, she dared not name any amount of the Lord, but that ever present
+Spirit of God guided her heart, made her <i>fix the amount</i>, and then
+touched the heart of the stranger and fixed the amount also in his mind,
+and then, by his own guidance saved the letter from being lost, and behold!
+when opened the <i>prayer of the one and the gift of the other was the
+same</i>.</p>
+
+<p>What a comfort, what a privilege, then, it is for the true-hearted
+Christian thus to feel, "<i>There is one who careth for us</i>."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Why He Failed.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A prominent business man failed in the Spring of 1877. He had been for
+years a prominent and consistent member of a Christian church. He had even
+supported a church once almost entirely. Nothing was known against his
+character, <i>but he failed; he failed in business</i>. No one knew the
+reason why, but there it was, <i>failure</i>.</p>
+
+<p>At last, in moments of bitter repentance before God, he unbosomed
+himself to his pastor, and said, "<i>Long ago I promised to give the Lord
+one-tenth of all the profits I gained from my business, and while I did so,
+I was immensely prosperous and successful; never did any one have any such
+splendid success,--but I forgot my promise, stopped giving, thought that I
+did not need to spend so much, and I began to invest my means in real
+estate. When I stopped giving I stopped getting. Now all is gone. I lost my
+all because I did not keep my promise to the Lord</i>."</p>
+
+<p>This incident is a practical one, telling how utter is the impossibility
+of true success, without the aid of the Lord, and how absolutely necessary
+it is to our own peace and comfort of mind to religiously observe one's
+promises made to God. The Bible only too truly tells of the end of those
+who forget Him.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>But Jeshurun waxed fat, then he forsook God which made him; and when
+the Lord saw it, he abhorred them, and said, 'I will hide my face from
+them</i>.'"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Ye can not prosper; because ye have forsaken the Lord</i>, He
+<i>hath also forsaken you." "There shall be desolation; because thou hast
+forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock
+of thy strength</i>."</p>
+
+<hr /> <h1>How The Lord</h1>
+
+
+<h2>Controls the Winds and the Waves</h2>
+
+
+<h3>John Easter's Prayer.</h3>
+
+
+<p>In his "Memorials of Methodism in Virginia," Dr. W.W. Bennet relates the
+following incidents in the life of John Easter, one of the pioneer
+ministers who labored there nearly one hundred years ago: He is represented
+as being the most powerful exhortatory preacher of his day. His faith was
+transcendent, his appeals irresistible, his prayers like talking with God
+face to face. Perhaps no man has ever been more signally honored of God as
+an instrument in the conversion of souls. On one of his circuits eighteen
+hundred members were added to the church in a single year.</p>
+
+<p>Many thrilling scenes under his preaching yet linger among the people in
+those counties where he principally labored. A most extraordinary display
+of his faith was witnessed in Brunswick. At Merritt's meeting-house a
+quarterly meeting was in progress, and so vast was the concourse of people
+from many miles around, that the services were conducted in a beautiful
+grove near the church. In the midst of the exercises, a heavy cloud arose,
+and swept rapidly towards the place of worship. From the skirts of the
+grove the rain could be seen coming on across the fields. The people were
+in consternation; no house could hold one-third of the multitude, and they
+were about to scatter in all directions. Easter rose in the midst of the
+confusion--"Brethren," cried he at the top of his voice, "be still while I
+call upon God to stay the clouds, till His word can be preached to
+perishing sinners." Arrested by his voice and manner, they stood between
+hope and fear. He kneeled down and offered a fervent prayer that God would
+then stay the rain, that the preaching of His word might go on, and
+afterwards send refreshing showers. <i>While he was praying, the angry
+cloud, as it swiftly rolled up to them, was seen to part asunder in the
+midst, pass on either side of them, and close again beyond, leaving a space
+several hundred yards in circumference perfectly dry. The next morning a
+copious rain fell again, and the fields that had been left dry were well
+watered</i>."</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Hushed Tempest.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The following circumstance is communicated to <i>The Christian</i> by a
+minister of the editor's acquaintance, as a memorial of God's care for the
+poor and needy who trust in him:</p>
+
+<p>It was about the year 1853, and near the middle of a Canadian Winter, we
+had a succession of snowfalls, followed by high winds and severe cold. I
+was getting ready to haul my Winter's stock of wood, for which I had to go
+two miles over a road running north and south, entirely unprotected from
+the keen cold west winds that prevail the most of the time in that part of
+Canada during the Winter months.</p>
+
+<p>The procuring of my Winter's supply of wood was no small task for me,
+for I had very little to do with, and was unable to endure much fatigue, or
+bear the severe cold. I had, however, succeeded in securing the services of
+an excellent hand to chop, and help me load, and had also engaged a horse
+of one neighbor, and a horse and sled of another, and was ready on Monday
+morning to commence my job. Monday morning the roads were fair, the day
+promised well, and my man was off at daybreak to the woods to, have a load
+ready for me. There had been quite a fall of snow during the night; not
+enough to do any harm if it only lay still, but should the wind rise, as it
+had after every snow-fall before, it would make it dreadful for me. Soon as
+possible I harnessed my team, and started. I had not gone a quarter of a
+mile before it became painfully evident that a repetition of our previous
+"blows" was impending. The sky was dark and stormy, the wind rose rapidly,
+and in every direction clouds of the newly fallen snow were beginning to
+ride on the "wings of the wind," pouring over the fences, and filling the
+road full! My heart sank within me. What could I do? At this rate, by next
+morning the roads would be impassable, and it was so cold! Besides, if I
+failed to go on now, it would be very difficult to get my borrowed team
+together again, and impossible to get my man again; and we could as well
+live without bread as without wood in a Canadian Winter.</p>
+
+<p>Every moment the wind increased. In deep distress, I looked upon the
+threatening elements, exclaiming over and over, "What shall I do?" I felt
+then that there was but one thing that I could do, and that was just what
+poor sinking Peter did; and with feelings I imagine something like his, I
+looked up to God, and cried out, "O, my God, this is more than I am able to
+bear. Lord, help me! The elements are subject to thee; thou boldest the
+winds in thy fist. If thou wilt speak the word, there will be a great calm.
+O, for Jesus' sake, and for the sake of my little helpless family, let this
+snow lie still and give me an opportunity of accomplishing this necessary
+labor comfortably!" I do not think it was above fifteen minutes after I
+began to call upon the Lord before there was a visible change. The wind
+began to subside, the sky grew calm, and in less than half an hour all was
+still, and a more pleasant time for wood-hauling than I had that day, I
+never saw nor desire to see. Many others beside me enjoyed the benefit of
+that "sudden change" of weather, but to them it was only a "nice spell of
+weather," a "lucky thing;" while to me it was full of sweet and encouraging
+tokens of the "loving-kindness of the Lord." And now, after so many years,
+I feel impelled to give this imperfect narrative, to encourage others in
+the day of trouble to call upon the Lord; and also, as a tribute of
+gratitude to Him who has "never said to the house of Jacob, seek ye my face
+in vain."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Praying In Fair Weather.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The ways in which God saves those whom he wishes to deliver from death,
+are sometimes too wonderful for our understanding. A certain ship was
+overtaken in a severe and prolonged storm at sea. She had a noble Christian
+man for a captain, and as good a sailor as ever trod the quarter-deck, and
+he had under him a good and obedient crew. But they could not save the
+ship; she was too badly strained, her leaks were too great for the pumps,
+she must go to the bottom. The captain committed them all to the care of
+the God in whom he put his trust, and made ready to take to their boats.
+Just then a sail was descried, and, by signals of distress, drawn to their
+relief. All on board were taken off safely and put on the ship, soon after
+which they saw their own ship go down.</p>
+
+<p>Now comes the peculiar part. The ship was soon overtaken in a dreadful
+storm, was cast on her beam ends, and everything seemed to be lost. The
+passengers were praying, and many of the old seamen were calling on God to
+save them from the great deep. The captain of the ship had done his best,
+but could not right the vessel, and all was given up to go down. The
+captain, whose ship was lost, then asked if he might take his crew and try
+to right the vessel.</p>
+
+<p>"Take them, and do what you can," was the reply. He called to his men
+and told them they must save that ship; he inspired them with confidence,
+for they knew he was a true man of God. They executed his orders with
+alacrity and care. They cut away the masts, and cleared away the rigging,
+and brought all the force they could to right the vessel. God prospered the
+efforts--the ship righted; they got the pumps at work, rigged a sail, and
+were finally all saved. It seemed as if it was necessary to put the captain
+of the first ship and his crew on the second ship, that they might save it
+and those on board when the terrible storm came.</p>
+
+<p>Now it was particularly noticed in connection with this deliverance,
+that the captain of the lost vessel did not make any ado in prayer, or in
+calling on God, while the storm was raging; and knowing that he was a
+Christian man, they asked him the reason of this. He answered them, <i>that
+he did his praying in fair weather; "and then</i>" said he, <i>"when the
+storm comes, I work</i>." He did not distrust God then, any more than in
+fair weather; but he knew that God requires man to do all he can to save
+himself, and praying might lose him his ship, when his own efforts must
+save it.</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Rescue from the Ville du Havre, and the Loch Earn.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A remarkable illustration of God's mysterious way is found in connection
+with the rescue of some of the passengers of the ill-fated French
+steamship, Ville du Havre, which was sunk by a collision with the Loch
+Earn, November 22, 1873, on her voyage from New York to France. After the
+sinking of the Ville du Havre, with some two hundred of her passengers, the
+rest were taken up by the Loch Earn, from which most of them were
+afterwards transferred to the Trimountain. Others remained on board the
+Loch Earn, where in consequence of its disabled condition they seemed again
+in imminent danger of being lost.</p>
+
+<p>On the 11th of December, while Mr. D.L. Moody was conducting a noonday
+prayer-meeting in the city of Edinburgh, Rev. Dr. Andrew Thompson read a
+letter from a Christian lady, the mother of one of these imperiled
+passengers, which contained the following account:</p>
+
+<p>"After the Trimountain left them, and they had examined their ship, many
+a heart failed, and they feared they would never see land again. They could
+not navigate the vessel, and were left to the mercy of the winds and waves,
+or rather to the care of Him who ruleth wind and waves. Vain was the help
+of man. The wind drove them out of the course of ships, northward. You are
+aware that two ministers were left on board the Loch Earn. One, Mr. Cook, a
+truly godly man, did all he could to encourage their hearts. Every day, at
+noon, he gathered them together, and earnestly, by prayer, strove to lead
+them to the Savior; and this he continued to do till they reached England.
+The day before they were rescued they knew that very shortly the ship must
+go down. The wind had changed, bringing them nearer the track of ships, but
+they had little hope of being saved. Mr. Cook told them of his own hope,
+that death to him would be eternal life, and he urgently entreated them to
+put their trust in 'Him who was mighty to save.' At the same time he told
+them he had no doubt they would be rescued, that even then a vessel was
+speeding to save them, that God had answered their prayers, that next day
+as morning dawned they would see her. That night was one of great
+anxiety.</p>
+
+<p>"As morning dawned every eye was strained to see the promised ship.
+There truly she was, and the British Queen bore down upon them. You may
+think that with thankful hearts they left the Loch Earn. One thing is
+remarkable--<i>the officer in charge on board the British Queen had a most
+unaccountable feeling that there was something for him to do,</i> and
+<i>three times during the night he changed the course of the vessel,
+bearing northward</i>. He told the watch to keep a sharp lookout for a
+ship, and immediately on sighting the Loch Earn bore down upon her. At
+first he thought she had been abandoned, as she lay helpless in the trough
+of the sea, but soon they saw her signal of distress. It seems to me a
+remarkable instance of faith on the one side and a guiding Providence on
+the other. After they were taken on board the pilot-boat that brought them
+into Plymouth, at noon, when they for the last time joined together in
+prayer, Mr. Cook read to them the account of Paul's shipwreck, showing the
+similarity of their experience. <i>'What made that captain change his
+course against his will?' but the ever present Spirit of God"</i>.</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Storm Made Calm.</h3>
+
+
+<p>At a Sunday morning meeting at Repository Hall, January 25, 1874, a
+Christian brother, in illustration of the power and faithfulness of God,
+and his willingness to hear and answer prayer, related these facts in his
+own experience. An account of them was subsequently published in the
+<i>Christian</i>:</p>
+
+<p>"In 1839 I was a sailor on board the brig Pandora, Captain G----, bound
+from Savannah to Boston, with a cargo of cotton. When off the coast of
+Virginia, some twenty-five miles distant from Chesapeake Bay, we
+encountered a heavy gale. Saturday evening, December 21st, the wind blew
+gently from the south. On sounding, we found ourselves in thirty fathoms of
+water. At midnight the wind veered to the eastward, gradually increasing
+until four o'clock Sunday morning, by which time the brig was under
+close-reefed topsails and foresail. The wind still increasing, every stitch
+of canvas was taken in, and now the vessel lay helpless and unmanageable in
+the trough of the sea, not minding her helm at all, while the wind blew a
+perfect hurricane. The vessel being very light, loaded with cotton, made
+much leeway, and though we had worn ship four times during the preceding
+night, hoping, if possible, to weather some shoals which the captain judged
+were near, and to make Chesapeake Bay, where we might have a clear beach
+before us in case the vessel should strand, yet at eight o'clock Sunday
+morning we were in but seventeen fathoms of water.</p>
+
+<p>"The gale now increased with fearful violence, waves rising like
+mountains, and rain and sleet pouring from the dismal clouds. At ten, A.M.,
+being then in fifteen fathoms of water, and drifting rapidly towards the
+shore, the captain summoned all hands into the cabin to consult about
+throwing our deck-load overboard, in order to leave us a better chance to
+secure ourselves to the rigging, and thus save our lives when the vessel
+should strike, which he judged would be in about half an hour. Not a gleam
+of hope appeared, and here our distress was increased by observing that the
+captain seemed under the influence of liquor, to which he had probably
+resorted in order to stifle his fears of approaching death.</p>
+
+<p>"The order was given, and we went to work to throw the cotton over,
+while the captain, frightened and despairing, went into the cabin to drown
+his fears in drink. Seeing the state of things, and believing that
+shipwreck was imminent, I found two of my shipmates who were Christians,
+and who had prayed daily with me in the forecastle, and I asked them if
+they had any faith in God now, that he would hear our prayers and deliver
+us? They both said they had; and I told them to pray, then, that the Lord
+might rebuke the winds and calm the waves.</p>
+
+<p>"With an unspeakable mingling of fear and hope we applied ourselves to
+the task of casting the cotton into the sea, at the same time lifting up
+earnest and united prayers to God for deliverance from the threatened
+destruction, occasionally gliding in close contact with each other, and
+speaking words of hope in each other's ears, and feeling, as we toiled, a
+blessed confidence that our prayers were not in vain.</p>
+
+<p>"It did not seem more than five minutes from the time we commenced to
+throw the cotton overboard, for we had scarcely tumbled twenty bales into
+the sea, when we heard a shout from the quarter deck:</p>
+
+<p>"'Avast heaving cotton overboard! <i>The wind is coming out from our
+lee!</i> Avast there!'</p>
+
+<p>"It was the captain's voice, bidding us stay our hands; we obeyed, and
+looking up we saw him clinging to the rigging, apparently so drunk that he
+could hardly stand, <i>while away over our lee-bow we could see blue sky
+and fair weather</i>, and <i>it seemed that in less than ten minutes from
+the time the hurricane was at its height, the wind had chopped around in
+shore, and was gently wafting us away from danger, and out into deep water
+again</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"There were glad souls on board the Pandora that day, as she swung
+around in obedience to the helm, and we laid her course again for our
+destined port. And some who before had mocked at prayers and blasphemed the
+God we loved, admitted then that God had answered prayer, and that he had
+delivered us from death.</p>
+
+<p>"And I love to repeat the story to the praise of the Lord, who yet lives
+to hear, and bless, and save his trusting children."</p>
+
+
+<h3>No Fear Of Thunder.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Some years ago a camp-meeting was held in Southern Indiana. It rained
+nearly all the time of the meeting. Father Haven, a man mighty in prayer,
+rose to preach. Just as he announced his text it thundered, and the
+congregation seemed to be restless and alarmed. The old hero instantly
+said, "Let us engage a moment in prayer." He prayed that God would allow
+the storm to pass by and not disturb them.</p>
+
+<p>After having plead for a few moments he said, "Friends, keep your seats;
+it will not rain one drop here to-day." He commenced to preach, and it
+thundered again. He repeated his assurance, and thus it continued until the
+storm-cloud was almost over the encampment. It divided north and south, and
+passed about a quarter of a mile on either side of them, reunited again and
+passed on, and not one solitary drop of rain fell on that encampment.</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Prayer of the Pilgrims for Rain Answered.</h3>
+
+
+<p>It is well known that many of the good men who were driven from England
+to America by persecution in the seventeenth century, had to endure great
+privations. In the Spring of 1623 they planted more corn than ever before;
+but by the time they had done planting, their food was spent. They daily
+prayed, "Give us this day our daily bread;" and in some way or other the
+prayer was always answered. With a single boat and a net they caught some
+fish, and when these failed, they dug in the sand for shell-fish. In the
+month of June their hopes of a harvest were nearly blasted by a drought
+which withered up their corn and made the grass look like hay. All expected
+to perish with hunger.</p>
+
+<p>In their distress the pilgrims set apart a day of humiliation and
+prayer, and continued their worship for eight or nine hours. God heard
+their prayers, and answered them in a way which excited universal
+admiration. Although the morning of that day was clear, and the weather
+very hot and dry during the whole forenoon, yet before night it began to
+rain, and gentle showers continued to fall for many days, so that the
+ground became thoroughly soaked, and the drooping corn revived.</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Enemies Of A God Fearing Nation.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"An answer to prayer," says Le Clerc, "may be seen by what happened on
+the coast of Holland in the year 1672. The Dutch expected an attack from
+their enemies by sea, and public prayers were ordered for their
+deliverance. It came to pass that when their enemies waited only for the
+tide, in order to land, <i>the tide was retarded, contrary to its usual
+course, for twelve hours</i>, so their enemies were obliged to defer the
+attempt to another opportunity; which they never found, <i>because a storm,
+arose afterwards</i>, and drove them from the coast."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Changing The Course One Point.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Walking across Palace Square in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with an American
+ship-master, (says a correspondent of the <i>Watchman</i>) he invited me to
+accompany him to his hotel. While there he showed me a very large gold
+medal he had received from the British government for saving a ship's
+company at sea. The circumstances were these: One night at sea, when it was
+the captain's "mid-watch,"--the watch from twelve, midnight, till four
+o'clock in the morning--just before turning in, he gave the officer of the
+watch the ship's course; the direction in which she was to be steered.
+While undressing, it was impressed on his mind that he ought to change the
+course a point; but he could see no reason for the change, as the ship was
+on the right course for the port of her destination. He turned in and tried
+to fall asleep, as it was only four hours to his watch; but the impression
+that he ought to change the ship's course kept him awake. In vain he tried
+to throw off that impression; and yielding to it, he went on deck and gave
+the order for the change. On returning to his berth, he was asleep as soon
+as his head was on the pillow. The next day he sighted a ship in distress,
+and made sail for her. The ship was in a sinking condition, and he rescued
+the whole ship's company. Shortly after, a gale of wind arose and carried
+the sinking ship to complete destruction. Had not the American captain
+changed the course of his ship that evening, he would not have come in
+sight of the ship in distress, and all of the company would have
+perished.</p>
+
+<p><i>Query</i>--<i>What made that Captain arise in the middle of the night
+and, contrary to all science, reason and his own will, change the course of
+his vessel</i>, but a <i>Supreme Being, whose power he could not
+resist</i>, and what made him <i>exactly</i> reach that sinking <i>ship
+just in time</i>.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+<h1>The Fulton St. Prayer Meeting.</h1>
+
+
+<h2>ANSWERS TO PRAYER FROM ITS HISTORY, RECORDS AND CORRESPONDENCE.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The following Incidents of Prayer and the remarkable Answers, have been
+obtained from the records of the Fulton Street Prayer Meeting in New York
+City. They include both facts which have been related by speakers in their
+daily meetings, or furnished from the letters of those who have solicited
+Prayer and received the Answer to their Faith.</p>
+
+<p>They are of the utmost diversity of subjects, literally including the
+"all things" of the Bible, and temporal as well as spiritual interests.</p>
+
+<p>Numerous as the incidents are, which we here give, still they cover only
+<i>one-sixtieth</i> part of the whole Record of the Blessed Meeting.</p>
+
+<p>History can never tell of the wonders done in Answer to the Prayers of
+these trusting ones; but Faith can rejoice, for here is fulfilled daily
+those cheerful Promises of the Lord: "<i>If ye abide in me and my words
+abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you."
+"Ask and receive, that your joy may be full</i>."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Saved From A Life Of Degradation.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Your prayers for my husband have been answered; <i>on the very day</i>
+I wished your prayers for him, and <i>before the hour of prayer had
+expired</i>" he came into the house, and said, '<i>I am going to do
+better</i>.' He had not been home before for <i>several weeks</i>. He was a
+profane, hard-drinking man. He has since joined the church. 'All hail the
+power of Jesus' name.'"</p>
+
+
+<h3>Recovery Of An Invalid.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"One year ago, the prayers of this meeting were asked for an invalid who
+had years of intense suffering before her, unless soon relieved. Prayers
+were offered for her. Now we would like to acknowledge the loving-kindness
+and tender mercy of our God, for, since that time, she has slowly but
+steadily improved, even under most trying and unfavorable circumstances,
+and-has now recovered comparative strength."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Relief In Business.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"<i>None of those who trust in Him shall be made desolate</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"Some three weeks ago, I wrote you, stating that <i>my business had been
+a failure</i>, and asked your prayers that God, in His mercy, would point
+out a way for me to <i>provide for my family.</i> The clouds grew thicker
+and blacker, but the more earnest were my prayers. <i>Last Saturday the
+Lord came to my rescue</i>, and provided me with the necessities of life,
+and to-day I wish you to join with me in thanksgiving to Almighty God for
+these favors;--'For He is good; His mercy endureth forever.'"</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Daughter Saved from Marriage with a Corrupt Man.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"I pray you give God praise and thanks for His merciful deliverance of
+my dear daughter from the <i>evil influence</i> of the man to whom she had
+given her love and promise of marriage. THE LORD gave her strength and
+courage to break her engagement, in answer to our earnest prayers. Oh,
+implore <i>Him</i> to keep that man out of her path, for he is constantly
+lying in wait to meet her when she goes out. He wanted her to read bad
+books, but told her that they were not wrong. He constantly laid temptation
+in alluring forms before her. To HIM alone be the thanks for this step she
+has taken."</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Skeptic Overpowered.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"More and more God is pouring out His Spirit, gloriously answering your
+prayers and ours. I have been constantly asking your prayers, and though,
+for a while, the vision tarried, <i>yet it has come. The young man</i>,
+from a neighborhood where there was <i>not one Christian</i>, and <i>he
+himself scarcely less than a skeptic, is now sitting, in his right mind, at
+Jesus' feet."</i></p>
+
+
+<h3>Saved From Death.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"My brother, that lay apparently at the point of death, has been
+restored to comparative health."</p>
+
+
+<h3>An Intemperate Young Man Reclaimed.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Rejoice with me, and thank God for his gracious answer to prayer. The
+intemperate young man for whom I requested prayer some months ago, has
+turned away from his cups, and is earnestly striving to overcome his
+appetite for strong drink. He is competent to be the means of doing so much
+good."</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Conversion Of Intimate Friends.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Some time since, I sent request for prayer for the conversion of
+friends. Since then <i>three</i> have united with the church."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Raised up from Death's Door.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Our former pastor was raised up from death's door, in answer to your
+prayer. <i>The doctor gave him up</i>. He says the Lord alone saved him, in
+answer to prayer. Praise His name."</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Desire Of The Heart Fulfilled.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"A few weeks since I sent a request for prayer in my behalf, asking you
+to pray God very earnestly that He would grant me the desire of my heart,
+for which I was praying almost unceasingly. <i>On the evening of the same
+day</i> on which I supposed you would receive my request, <i>the answer
+came,</i> lifting a great burden from my heart. I send this in
+acknowledgment of God's loving-kindness to me, and to encourage' every
+burdened, praying one, to <i>trust Him more</i>."</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Poor Old Sick Lady Restored.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"The poor, sick old lady for whom I requested your prayers some time
+since, wishes to return thanks to Almighty God, for <i>restoring her
+health</i>, and <i>sending friends</i>. It is wonderful how your and our
+requests are answered."</p>
+
+
+<h3>A New Birth.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Give thanks with me. Since I wrote you last, our son has given himself
+to Jesus."</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Church Saved From Strife.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"It is with heartfelt gratitude to God that I write you of answer to
+your prayer. Last Spring, I asked your prayers in behalf of our church. It
+was almost destroyed by a man trying to get into our Conference without
+proper papers, and could not. He then broke up a Presbyterian church, and
+formed another. He gathered a number of our members with him, and tried
+hard to take our parsonage, but did not succeed. Thank God! though we are
+few, and have had a hard struggle, we still hold our property, our circuit
+has doubled, God is reviving His work, and is now answering your
+prayers"</p>
+
+
+<h3>Reason Restored.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Last March, I requested you to pray for a dear friend in Massachusetts,
+who was deprived of her reason through sickness and great trouble. <i>Give
+thanks unto God, she is fully restored."</i></p>
+
+
+<p>"Arise And Walk."</p>
+
+
+<p>"It will be just one year since Jesus came and took me by the hand, and
+<i>I arose from what was supposed to be my death-bed</i>, and <i>walked to
+the astonishment of all</i>. I have not claimed the fullness of the
+promise, but feel that I may. I prayed God not to heal my body wholly,
+until I was more patient under my cross."</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Appetite for Strong Drink Taken Away.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Sometime ago I wrote to you for my husband. He was <i>a victim to
+strong drink</i> at that time, but <i>blessed be God, he has not drank one
+drop for five months</i>."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Spiritual Strength.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"I feel your prayers; I think I know the day and the hour, for I felt
+strengthened with strength in my soul."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Healing Of Soul And Body.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"I have reason to rejoice that I have been greatly blessed in answer to
+your prayers. Two young lady friends of mine have been enabled to claim the
+blessed promise of full salvation, not only to the healing of the soul,
+<i>but the body also</i>.</p>
+
+<p>My own experience helped them: On the 16th of January, last, in answer
+to constant prayer offered by myself and friends, I arose from what all
+thought to be my death-bed, and walked all over the house; also many miles
+on the streets during the next few months. I did not claim the full extent
+of the promise as I craved only relief from such terrible pain, as was then
+my portion to bear. I think God in his goodness would have granted full
+restoration to health, as I was so anxious to work for Him, but I pleaded
+with Him <i>not to heal my body</i> until my mind had had the discipline I
+felt it needed."</p>
+
+
+<h3>An Intemperate Husband Saved by Prayer.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Some three weeks since, I asked you for my intemperate husband, that
+you would pray that he might be <i>willing to be saved. He has been made
+willing to give up the intoxicating cup,</i> and says he has <i>not any
+desire</i> for it. To God be all the praise."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Religion Lost, Religion Regained.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"I wrote you two months since, asking an interest in your prayers for a
+young man that experienced religion a year ago, but failed to confess
+Christ by uniting with the church. Your prayers have been answered. Last
+night my heart was made to rejoice by seeing him confess Christ, before the
+world. He is now happy in the love of Jesus, and will he useful and active
+in the church."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Drunkards Reformed.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Return thanks to God for two men signing the pledge, about one month
+ago, who have been enabled to keep it through great temptation. <i>They
+were drunkards for over twenty years</i>. Their reformation was in answer
+to a praying mother's prayers, and to the prayers for them at your
+meeting."</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Hopeless Case.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"A little less than a year ago, prayers were desired at the Fulton
+street prayer-meeting for a man whose case seemed wholly hopeless. Shortly
+after he gave up drink, and became a Christian; is now a happy man, and has
+a happy family.</p>
+
+<p>"Please carry this thank offering to God, that he has given us such a
+Savior, and such a way to escape from temptation."</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Harvest Of Conversions.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Last Fall, I wrote you to pray for us. You did pray. The result was a
+wonderful increase of spiritual life--<i>fifty conversions."</i></p>
+
+
+<h3>A Family Made Happy.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Two years ago, I wrote asking your prayers for a dear sister, brothers
+and nieces. Since then, one brother, about sixty, and my two nieces have
+been converted, and are now rejoicing in a Savior's love."</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Power Of The Holy Spirit</h3>
+
+
+<p>"About two years ago we requested your prayers for the Holy Spirit upon
+a revival work then in progress in our church." <i>The Lord answered us</i>
+by giving us <i>over four score souls."</i></p>
+
+
+<h3>Hearts Made Glad.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"We return most hearty thanks for the answer to prayer given. I wrote
+more than a year ago last August of our low state. Last Winter twenty young
+persons were converted, and continue to work faithfully."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Given Up by Man, but Rescued by the Great Physician.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"The writer was himself raised up by prayer, from the gates of death,
+offered by the heart and lips of one who is now a sufferer. <i>Two of the
+most skillful physicians in the land had given me up</i>."</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Story of a Wayward Life, Saved by Prayer.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"In the last fourteen years I have stood beside the deathbeds of eight
+who were near and dear to me, and the last words that each spoke to me as
+they were leaving the world were, "<i>Will you not meet me in Heaven</i>?"
+I have been a wayward child. Eight years ago I became addicted to strong
+drink. I became a drunkard, which brought my dear old father down to an
+untimely grave. I made a promise on his death-bed that I would not drink
+any more, and for six long years I kept that promise, but at last I broke
+it. I again became a drunkard, which began to tell on my wife. I promised
+her that I would not drink, but that promise was broken time after time.
+Within this year, in the week of prayer, I attended the prayer-meetings,
+asked prayers for me, and on the night following, I erected the family
+altar, which had for four years been neglected, and, thank God, it is there
+yet. I am now trusting in the promise that <i>He will not let his children
+be tempted beyond what they are able to endure</i>."</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Wonderful Cure.</h3>
+
+
+<p>An earnest Christian woman who believed the Lord greater than any
+earthly physician, cries, "<i>O, praise the Lord. He hath delivered me in
+six troubles, and in the seventh he hath not forsaken me</i>." "And the
+seventh was the worst. By the help of <i>eight physicians</i>, and in
+answer to prayer, partly of this meeting, a fearful tumor has been taken
+from me weighing twelve pounds, with three gallons of water in the sack. O,
+praise the Lord, for He is good, and his mercy endureth forever."</p>
+
+<p>This case was one of extraordinary risk and apparently impossible
+achievement; but the Lord gave faith to try, and skill to win the victory.
+No earthly power could have dared the venture.</p>
+
+
+<h3>Given Up.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Our pastor, after four months' sickness, preached to us last evening
+the most solemn sermon I ever heard, and says he was raised up in answer to
+prayer. The physicians gave him up several times, and say they have never
+known such an instance of recovery."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Chains Broken At Last.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Long months, week by week, I have asked you to pray that my husband
+might be saved from the eternal doom of a drunkard. God has mercifully
+given him strength to break the fetters that bound him fast."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Better Than We Expected.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"We asked your prayers; they have been answered. They were answered more
+and better than we had hoped or dreamed they could be."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Prayer Answered For Employment.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"A foreigner without means and friendless tried in vain for ten months
+to succeed in finding some employment. He requested your prayers to God,
+and <i>God answered</i>. In less than eighteen hours a splendid position
+was offered to him. He and his wife give thanks, and pray that they may
+devote their lives usefully to the cause of God who has been so good to
+them."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Found Employment.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"God has answered our united prayers, and given employment to his
+child."</p>
+
+
+<h3>An Old Lady Saved From Little Annoyances.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Your prayers have been heard and answered in mercy. The old lady has
+not been quite so much annoyed. Thank God for some peace for the aged one,
+not able to bear what younger people can, that go out into the world and
+can find relief. I thank my heavenly Father for his loving-kindness and
+tender mercy for those that cry to him in trouble."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Insanity Dispelled.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"I sent a petition months ago, for prayers for an insane husband. Your
+prayers have been answered. He has rapidly recovered."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Reclaimed.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"I must ask you to return thanks with me that your prayers have been
+answered. An intemperate brother has been reclaimed."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Restored To Health.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"One month since, I requested prayer specially for my own family. My
+oldest son, who was then sick, has been restored to his usual health.
+'<i>The prayer of faith hath indeed saved the sick</i>.'"</p>
+
+
+<h3>Temptations Removed.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Some months ago I asked your prayers for a son in college, amid great
+temptations. I desire to give thanks that those temptations have been
+removed."</p>
+
+<h3>The Heart of a Clergyman Turned from Thoughts of Ambition.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"I sent a request to you for a young man, who was called, and eminently
+fitted for the ministry, but was tempted, by ambition, not to listen to the
+divine call, and obstacles had hedged his way somewhat. After I requested
+your prayers in his behalf, this temptation was removed, and nearly one
+hundred persons were converted in the church which was under his care."</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Grateful Tribute.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"For a long time I have been the subject of personal affliction, caused
+by <i>two internal tumors</i> of the <i>worst type</i>. Speedy death seemed
+inevitable; yet there was a little hope that a surgical operation might
+possibly remove the difficulty and prolong my day. To this hope I clung,
+submitted to the operation, and it was a success. To the earnest prayers of
+Christian people is due this grateful acknowledgment."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Was A Perfect Slave To Liquor.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Please return <i>thanks</i> to our kind Heavenly Father for this answer
+to prayer. All last Winter requests were sent in for a gentleman, a perfect
+slave to liquor. Those prayers were answered, and he is attending church
+regularly, striving to do what is right to please his Heavenly Master."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Always Answered.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Several times in years past I have asked for the prayers of this
+meeting, and always found them answered."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Cured Of Epilepsy.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"I wrote you to aid me by your prayers, that my afflicted son, who was
+troubled with epilepsy, might be cured. Thanks be to the Heavenly Father,
+he is better."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Almost Lost.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Your prayers and mine for my son have been answered. He was almost
+lost, on the downward road of intemperance. He has now reformed."</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Situation Obtained By Prayer.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Yesterday I sent a request that God would give me sustaining grace and
+abiding faith, and in his own good time give me a situation where I might
+be able to support my family. In that very afternoon, I made a contract of
+$1,200 a year. Praise the Lord."</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Bountiful Blessing.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Some time ago I solicited your prayers for a blessing on my services,
+and <i>never, in all my life</i> before have I been blessed as since that
+time. 'Tis truly wonderful; it has seemed as if I must have become some one
+else, and that it could not longer be me speaking with such boldness, and
+apparent success. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me,
+bless his holy name."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Saved From The Company Of A Bad Lover.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"A week ago I begged you to pray for my daughter, who had given her
+heart to an unworthy man, praying that God might guide her to see him as he
+is, and turn her love from him. She is a child of God. In answer, God has
+caused a rupture between them."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Away From Home, But Not Away From God.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Some weeks since I sent in a request for prayer for my sons who had
+fallen victims to intemperance and vice. My heart rejoices to-day in the
+hope that it has.</p>
+
+
+<p>"Two who left home, and had gone to distant cities to seek employment,
+have written me to pray that they may be able to forsake sin in all its
+forms, and come to Christ and be Christians. One of them was skeptical when
+he left home. The one remaining at home has resolved to quit drinking."</p>
+
+
+<h3>God Always Answers Believing Prayer.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Your prayers asked on several occasions have all been graciously
+answered. Return thanks unto the Lord that sendeth mercy."</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Hardest Heart Yields At Last.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Several years since your prayers were solicited in behalf of one who
+seemed given over to hardness of heart and reprobacy of mind. Since that
+time there has been some reform in his life. God only knows how far those
+prayers have been answered in restraining grace. Last week he said to the
+friend who had solicited your prayers for him, 'I wish you would ask Fulton
+Street prayer-meeting to pray again for me. <i>I believe it did me
+good.</i>'"</p>
+
+
+<h3>Up From The Lowest Depths.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"One year ago I wrote you respecting prayer for my husband. He has since
+been reclaimed from the lowest depths of a drunkard's life, and is now a
+member of the Christian church. Thanks be to God, the giver of all
+good."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Saved And Honored.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Almost three years ago I asked you to pray for a young man that was
+wandering from God. Thank God, your and my prayers were answered. He is now
+an active Christian, a superintendent of the Sabbath school, and a most
+zealous member of the Young Men's Christian Association of this place."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Almost Persuaded.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Some weeks since I requested prayer for a member of this Institution
+who was 'almost persuaded' to be a Christian. Thanks to our Father, and to
+those who have offered prayer in her behalf, she has been <i>altogether
+persuaded</i>, and has united with the Lord's people."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Answered The Same Day.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"You received a letter yesterday. My husband rose for prayers the same
+night."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Oh, How Precious.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"I wrote five months since for prayers for myself, and I now write to
+say that I have found my Savior very precious to my soul."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Praying For A Pastor.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Several months ago I wrote asking you to pray for a feeble church in
+need of a pastor. Since then I am happy to say that this church has been
+blessed and we now have a pastor."</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Telegram Of Prayer.</h3>
+
+
+<p>An incident was related at one of the meetings by a clergyman who had
+written a telegram asking for prayers. God heard it before it was sent.</p>
+
+<p>"When we were in Switzerland, my daughter was taken very ill, so that
+the doctor despaired of her life. I felt the need of sympathy and help and
+prayer, and I made up my mind that I would send a telegraphic dispatch to
+this meeting, where I had so often united with you in prayer. I wrote the
+dispatch and was prepared to send it, when all at once there was poured out
+such a joyful faith and confidence in God on me as I never felt before in
+all my life, and I fell on my knees in devout thanksgiving for the
+assurance that God gave me that he had heard and answered our prayers, for
+we had prayed for that dear daughter's life. There lay the telegram ready
+to be sent. There I was waiting and praying. In less than half an hour my
+wife came into the room and said, 'There is a change for the better in our
+daughter,' and the telegram was never sent, though I believe the writing of
+it was the prayer that God answered."</p>
+
+
+<h3>He Did not Keep His Promise, but God Did.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A remarkable instance of how God keeps his promises and is faithful, and
+how man often forgets to keep his, and at last receives deserved punishment
+for his thanklessness to God, was recently related in the Fulton Street
+prayer-meeting.</p>
+
+<p>A very urgent case was presented by a friend. He said: "A friend of mine
+is seeking Jesus. A little while ago his only child lay near death. He
+prayed God to restore her to health, promising to serve the Lord for the
+rest of his life if the child's life was spared. His daughter recovered,
+but <i>the man forgot the promise he had made and sought not after God.</i>
+In a very little while the child was suddenly taken sick again, and almost
+as suddenly died. The father remembered his vows, and feels that this is
+God's solemn warning to him to seek the Savior."</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Double Prayer Answered.</h3>
+
+
+<p>At the Fulton Street prayer-meeting a number of remarkable cases were
+related of real answers to prayer for recovery to health, and obtaining of
+positions.</p>
+
+<p>"I must tell you how God has been answering prayer, for his glory and
+for your encouragement. Your prayers were asked for a sick wife. She was
+thought by the doctors to be beyond recovery, but in response to prayer God
+spared her life, and she and her husband returned their heartfelt thanks to
+Him. But there was another trouble. The husband had long needed employment,
+and was in great pecuniary distress. He had been praying for help,
+beseeching the Lord to open up a way for him. But help did not come, and
+the cloud seemed darker, and the poor man got discouraged. Friends begged
+him to hope on, and not to give up his trust in that God who, in answer to
+prayer, had raised his sick wife to health. He continued to pray, and on
+the long, dark night, morning at last dawned. He is now in a good position,
+and sends a request to friends to thank God with him for this two-fold
+goodness of the Lord.</p>
+
+
+<h3>How The Lord Blessed An Old Advertisement.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"I had another acquaintance who was also greatly distressed. With a wife
+and family to care for, and all his means gone, and no prospect of
+employment, he was in trouble indeed. We induced him to present his case
+for prayer here, as it would encourage him to have others pray for him.
+Then we inserted an advertisement in one of the daily papers, offering his
+services, hoping the Lord would bless the means used and answer prayer. Day
+by day passed, but no response came. Some two weeks after the advertisement
+was inserted, a merchant picked up <i>an old paper</i>, and noticing the
+advertisement, showed it to his partner, remarking, 'Why, this is just the
+man we need.' Observing the <i>old date</i> on the paper, his partner said
+he thought it would be too late to respond; but the trial was made. The man
+was requested to call, and proved to be just what these merchants had been
+wishing for, and was very quickly engaged. He feels that the Heavenly
+Father who cares for the sparrows, undoubtedly met his need, and that all
+the circumstances connected with the case were providential."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Hating The Accursed Drink.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A brother rose in the meeting and said, "I believe it is God's will that
+I should tell you how He saved me, about two years since. I came into the
+meeting when it was held in the old church, and was at the time under the
+influence of liquor. The missionary took me into the gallery and talked
+with me, and prayed with me, and God heard prayer and saved me. I became a
+new man in Christ, and have lost all appetite for drink; I hate the
+accursed stuff."</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Drunkard For Thirty Years.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Another told a remarkable story of his life: "I was a drunkard for
+thirty years, and I tried all kinds of means to get free, but all failed. I
+pledged myself over and over again, and swore off many a time. At last,
+Jesus met me at the mission meeting, and he saved me. He took away the
+appetite for drink from me. I am a different man; I am tempted in various
+ways at times, but when tempted I think of Jesus and look to Him, and He
+saves me."</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Hopeless One Brought Home.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"A pastor related the incident of the conversion of a man who had
+disgraced his family, and all through drink. All the people in the village
+where he lived regarded him as a hopeless case. But he was prayed for, and
+one night in answer to an appeal to those desiring Christ to rise, he rose.
+He soon became a new man, and a steadfast soldier of the Cross, completely
+delivered from his hopeless situation, and all his appetites taken
+away."</p>
+
+
+<h3>"No Man can pluck them out of my Father's Hand."</h3>
+
+
+<p>A brother says, "Jesus says this, and I rest just there." "A year ago I
+was in Philadelphia. I had resolved not to drink any liquor that day, but
+my resolution was soon broken. In the evening as I wandered the streets,
+that voice of God, '<i>Turn ye, turn ye</i>,' gave me great uneasiness.
+Although I tried hard not to go, yet the Spirit was at work within me, and
+against my will led me to the meetings of the Young Men's Christian
+Association. When the call came for those desiring prayers, I felt that it
+was my last call, and I pushed forward and rose. Friends prayed with me,
+and that night, as I pleaded for mercy, the burden of my sin was lifted and
+I was free. Christ took the appetite for drink away, and He has kept me
+ever since, and will keep me to the end, for He says, '<i>Fear not, for I
+have redeemed thee; I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine</i>.' Oh!
+I know He won't let me go."</p>
+
+
+<h3>Answer To Prayer In Temporal Matters.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A speaker said at one meeting, "God answers prayer in temporal matters.
+In a Western college, at a time when the last morsels of food had been
+eaten, and some had to go away from the table empty, four of the number
+retired to pray, and before they had ceased praying relief came. Provisions
+in large quantities were received, thus verifying the old promise, 'Before
+they call I will answer.'"</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Lord Proved True.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"The Lord reigns," another exclaimed, "I have proved that during my long
+life! It has looked dark very often, and I have been in difficult places,
+but again and again the Lord has brought me through triumphantly. I have
+found the promise true." "Trust in the Lord, and do good, so shalt thou
+dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed."</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Little Boy's Question.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A brother related a touching incident which occurred in Brooklyn. "A
+little boy asked his father at the dinner table, '<i>Papa, why don't you
+read the Bible</i>?' The father was a passionate man, and was about driving
+the boy out of his presence, but his anger made the little fellow weep.
+That brought tears to the mother's eyes, and then the father followed suit.
+The boy's tears moved him, and the question struck his heart; and father
+and mother, up to that hour unconverted, were soon on their way to the
+prayer-meeting, where they found Jesus."</p>
+
+
+<h3>A Little Girl's Question.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A touching little story, with eternal results in it, was told at one of
+the meetings, illustrating that word of God's book, "A little child shall
+lead them." "A dress-maker called on a very wealthy lady in a city not far
+from New York, and took with her her little girl, five years old. The lady
+took a fancy to the child, and showed her over the house. She expressed
+great admiration at all she saw, and, particularly attracted by the carpet,
+said to the lady: 'Why, I should think Jesus must come here very often, it
+is such a nice house, and such a beautiful carpet--He must come here very
+often. He comes to our house, and we have no carpet; I am sure He must come
+here very often, doesn't He?' The lady not answering, the child repeated
+the question, when the reply came, with deep emotion, "I am afraid not."
+The child left, but God's message was delivered. The lady related the
+incident to her husband in the evening, and both were led to seek the
+Savior.</p>
+
+
+<h3>God Cared For Me.</h3>
+
+
+<p>At a meeting a young man in broken English, said: "If any man ought to
+believe in prayer, I ought to. My friends turned me out of my home, because
+I was seeking for Christ. I was too much Christian my landlady said. I told
+her I wished I was all Christian. It was seven o'clock in the evening when
+she refused to let me come into the house. I went then to the
+prayer-meeting in Water Street; we had such a good meeting, that I quite
+forgot that I had no place to sleep. The services over, I found it was
+raining fast, and I had no place to which to go. I went back into the room,
+and kneeling at one of the benches, I begged God to give me a place to
+rest. I did not go home my usual way that night, but on the way I took I
+met an old friend, and walking with him to his house he begged me to stay
+the night, as he did not like to be alone. I staid there that night, though
+I had never told him of my condition. What was it but an answer to prayer.
+Many a time since has God thus provided for my wants. O friends, let your
+heart go out, for Him, then He will never let you want."</p>
+
+
+<h3>The Blind Can See.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Said another, "I came here yesterday to ask you to pray for my sister.
+She has been sick some time, and then she lost her <i>sight</i>. I did not
+get an opportunity to present my request because so many took part; but I
+thought I would just take my sister's case to Jesus, remembering that 'the
+prayer of faith shall save the sick.' In the afternoon I found her in sad
+need of sleep. I told her just to look to Jesus, because it was written of
+Him, 'So He giveth His beloved sleep.' We prayed together, and I left her
+in a <i>profound slumber</i>, 'This morning when I called on her she could
+<i>see me</i>.' Friends, the Lord does answer prayer."</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Wonders of Prayer, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WONDERS OF PRAYER ***
+
+***** This file should be named 11553-h.htm or 11553-h.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        https://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/5/5/11553/
+
+Produced by John Hagerson, Kevin Handy and PG Distributed Proofreaders
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+https://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+https://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at https://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit https://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations.  To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's
+eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII,
+compressed (zipped), HTML and others.
+
+Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over
+the old filename and etext number.  The replaced older file is renamed.
+VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving
+new filenames and etext numbers.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000,
+are filed in directories based on their release date.  If you want to
+download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular
+search system you may utilize the following addresses and just
+download by the etext year. For example:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org/etext06
+
+    (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99,
+     98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90)
+
+EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are
+filed in a different way.  The year of a release date is no longer part
+of the directory path.  The path is based on the etext number (which is
+identical to the filename).  The path to the file is made up of single
+digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename.  For
+example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234
+
+or filename 24689 would be found at:
+     https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689
+
+An alternative method of locating eBooks:
+     https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+</body>
+</html>
+
diff --git a/old/11553.txt b/old/11553.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e22906b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/11553.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,13653 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Wonders of Prayer, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Wonders of Prayer
+       A Record of Well Authenticated and Wonderful Answers to Prayer
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: March 12, 2004 [EBook #11553]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WONDERS OF PRAYER ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by John Hagerson, Kevin Handy and PG Distributed Proofreaders
+
+
+
+
+FACTS STRANGER THAN FICTION
+
+THE WONDERS OF PRAYER:
+
+A RECORD OF WELL AUTHENTICATED AND WONDERFUL ANSWERS TO PRAYER.
+
+AS NARRATED BY:
+
+    GEORGE MULLER,      W.W. PATTEN, D.D.,
+    D.L. MOODY,         CHAS. CULLIS,
+    C.H. SPURGEON,      S.I. PRIME, D.D.,
+    BISHOP SIMPSON,     E. KRUMMACHER,
+    NEWMAN HALL, D.D.,  MARTIN LUTHER,
+    BISHOP T. BOWMAN,   JOHN KNOX,
+    CHAS. G. FINNEY,    ABRAHAM LINCOLN,
+
+AND HOSTS OF OTHERS.
+
+
+NEW EDITION. REVISED BY D.W. WHITTLE.
+
+1885
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION TO FIRST EDITION.
+
+
+The incidents which are published in this volume, are vouched for upon
+the strongest proofs of authenticity possible to obtain, and are either
+of circumstances known amid my own experience, or connected with the
+lives of my correspondents and their friends. They are the thankful
+record and tribute to the power of _persevering faith_.
+
+Nothing has been published concerning which there is the least shadow of
+doubt. All have been carefully investigated.
+
+Every case has been one of real prayer, and the results that have come,
+came only in answer to the prayer of faith, and were not possible to
+obtain without it.
+
+They demonstrate to a wonderful degree, the immediate practical ways of
+the Lord with his children in this world, that He is far nearer and more
+intimate with their plans and pursuits than it is possible for them to
+realize.
+
+Neither have we depended upon the relation of facts of a few, to
+convince the world of the real power of faith, but have added concurrent
+testimony of incidents actually known in the experience of such eminent
+clergymen as Charles Spurgeon, Newman Hall, Martin Luther, W.
+Huntington, Dr. Waterbury, George Muller, Dr. Cullis, Dr. Patton, Dr.
+Adams, Dr. Prime, Bishop Simpson, and many others.
+
+Also we have added some incidents known and investigated and found
+absolutely true, by the editors of the following journals, who add their
+unquestioning belief in the power of prayer: _The Christian, The
+Evangelist, The Observer, The Congregationalist, The Advance, The
+Illustrated Christian Weekly, The American Messenger, The Witness_.
+Likewise we have been greatly assisted by some of our Home Missionaries,
+who, from their daily experiences with the poor and suffering, have been
+eye-witnesses to remarkable experiences and the wonderful help of the
+Lord in answering their prayers.
+
+These testimonies here recorded must be accepted as true. They
+demonstrate that answers to prayer are not occasional, and therefore
+remarkable that they do occur, but are of constant occurrence.
+
+There may be many minds who, having carried no trial to the Lord, have
+never been brought into intimate acquaintances of the ways in which the
+Lord tries the faith of his children, nor led to see and observe his
+wonderful control over human wills and circumstances. The power of the
+Lord is learned only by those who in deep trouble have faithfully sought
+Him and seen his ways of deliverance.
+
+None can ever understand the full power of prayer until they have
+learned the lesson of trust. It is only when for the _first time_ in the
+Christian's own life of faith, it realizes the hand of God in his
+personal dealings with him, how near He is, or how clearly he feels the
+presence of that tremendous overruling Spirit which
+
+    "_Turneth the heart whithersoever He will_."
+
+The actual existence of our God is therefore proved, not alone from
+_History_, nor from the Bible alone, nor from current natural or
+religious feeling and beliefs, nor from the testimony of old witnesses
+several thousand years old, _but from the actual incidents of present
+prayer_, and the _literal answer_. Daily faith and trust and prayer have
+made the Christian deeply acquainted with Him and his ways, and humbly
+dependent upon his care and love and help, in the events of life. _No
+one ever faithfully trusted the Lord in vain_.
+
+Circumstances so clouded that it has been impossible for men to control,
+have, through believing prayer, been so made to change, that through
+them has been revealed _living evidences_ of the presence of
+
+    _The Ever Living God_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+DISCERNING PRAYER.
+
+
+INTRODUCTORY.
+
+
+BY D.W. WHITTLE.
+
+
+To recognize God's existence is to necessitate prayer to Him, by all
+intelligent creatures, or, a consciously living in sin and under
+condemnation of conscience, because they do not pray to Him. It would be
+horrible to admit the existence of a Supreme Being, with power and
+wisdom to create, and believe that the creatures he thought of
+consequence and importance enough to bring into existence, are not of
+enough consequence for him to pay any attention to in the troubles and
+trials consequent upon that existence.
+
+Surely such a statement is an impeachment of both the wisdom and
+goodness of God.
+
+It were far more sensible for those who deny the fitness and necessity
+of prayer to take the ground of the atheist and say plainly "We do not
+pray, for there is no God to pray to," for to deny prayer, is practical
+atheism.
+
+So in the very constitution of man's being there is the highest
+reasonableness in prayer. And, if the position of man in his relation to
+the earth he inhabits is recognized and understood, there is no
+unreasonableness in a God-fearing man looking to God for help and
+deliverance under any and all circumstances, in all the vicissitudes of
+life. The earth was _made_ for man. One has said "there is nothing great
+in the world but man; and there is nothing great in man but his soul."
+With this in view, how absurd to talk about "fixed laws" and
+"unchangeable order," in a way to keep man in his trouble from God. It
+is all the twaddle of the conceit of man setting himself up to judge and
+limit his maker. "To whom then will ye liken Me, or shall I be equal?
+saith the Holy One." The Creator is greater than his creation; the law
+giver is supreme over all law. He created the earth that it might be
+inhabited by man, and He governs the earth in subordination to the
+interests, the eternal and spiritual welfare of the race of immortal
+beings that are here being prepared for glory and immortality.
+
+Laws, indeed, are fixed in their operation and results as subserving the
+highest good in the training and the disciplining of the race, giving
+them hope in their labor and sure expectation of fruit from their toil.
+But as set in operation for _man's good_, so, in an exigency that may
+make necessary their suspension, to secure his deliverance from peril
+and bring man back to the recognition of the personal God, as above,
+law, is it unreasonable to believe that God has power thus to suspend or
+overrule his own arrangements? A wise father will govern his children by
+rules as securing their best good. But he will retain in his power the
+suspending of those rules when special occasions arise, when the object
+for which they exist can be better secured by their suspension. Shall
+not the living God have the same right?
+
+So much as to the reflections suggested by the dogmas of natural
+religion. They sustain in reason our faith in prayer. The basis,
+however, of our faith rests upon the unchanging and unchangeable
+revelation of God, and not upon man's philosophy. Jesus taught his
+disciples to pray, saying, "Our Father which art in Heaven." As
+Christians, this is our authority for prayer. In the words, "OUR
+FATHER," our Blessed Lord has given us the substance of all that can be
+said, as to _the privilege of prayer, what to pray for_, and _how to
+pray_. There can be no loftier exercise of soul ever given to created
+intelligence than to come into conscious contact with the living God,
+and be able to say "_My_ Father."
+
+And surely, as my Father, with a loving father's heart, it must be his
+desire that I should tell him _all_ my needs, _all_ my sorrows, _all_ my
+desires. And, so his word commands, "Be careful for nothing, but _in
+everything_, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your
+requests be made known unto God." (Phil, iv., 6.) Under this verse there
+is positively no exception of any request that may not be made known
+unto God. So there is true faith and right Christian philosophy in the
+remark, "if a _pin_ was needful to my happiness and I could not find one
+I would pray to God for it."
+
+The mistake of Christians is in _not_ praying over _little_ things. "The
+hairs of your head are all numbered." Consult God about everything.
+Expect His counsel, His guidance, His care, His provision, His
+deliverance, His blessing, in everything. Does not the expression, "Our
+_daily_ bread," mean just this? Can there be any true life of faith that
+does not include this? Whatever will serve to help God's children to a
+better understanding of the blessed privileges of prayer, and prove to
+them the reality of God's answering prayer in the cares, trials and
+troubles of _daily life_, will approve itself to all thoughtful minds as
+a blessing to them and an honor to God. It is the purpose of this volume
+to do this. We are more helped by testimony to _facts_ than by theories
+and doctrines. When we have illustrations before our eyes of God's care
+for his children, and His response to their faith, even in the minutest
+things, we understand the meaning of His promises and the reality of His
+providences.
+
+The writer had many thoughts in this line suggested to him by an
+incident, with which he was connected, in the life of George Muller. It
+was my happiness to cross the Atlantic in the company of this dear
+brother on the steamship Sardinian, from Quebec to Liverpool, in June,
+1880.
+
+I met Mr. Muller in the express office the morning of sailing, about
+half an hour before the tender was to take the passengers to the ship.
+He asked of the agent if a deck chair had arrived for him from New York.
+He was answered, No, and told that it could not possibly come in time
+for the steamer. I had with me a chair I had just purchased and told Mr.
+Muller of the place near by, where I had obtained it, and suggested that
+as but a few moments remained he had better buy one at once. His reply
+was, "No, my brother, Our Heavenly Father will send the chair from New
+York. It is one used by Mrs. Muller, as we came over, and left in New
+York when we landed. I wrote ten days ago to a brother who promised to
+see it forwarded here last week. He has not been prompt as I would have
+desired, but I am sure Our Heavenly Father will send the chair. Mrs.
+Muller is very sick upon the sea, and has particularly desired to have
+this same chair, and not finding it here yesterday when we arrived, as
+we expected, we have made special prayer that Our Heavenly Father would
+be pleased to provide it for us, and we will trust Him to do so." As
+this dear man of God went peacefully on board the tender, running the
+risk of Mrs. Muller making the voyage without a chair, when for a couple
+of dollars she could have been provided for, I confess I feared Mr.
+Muller was carrying his faith principles too far and not acting wisely.
+
+I was kept at the express office ten minutes after Mr. Muller left. Just
+as I started to hurry to the wharf a team drove up the street, and on
+top of a load just arrived from New York, _was Mr. Muller's chair_! It
+was sent at once to the tender and placed in _my hands_ to take to Mr.
+Muller (the Lord having a lesson for me) just as the boat was leaving
+the dock. I found Mr. and Mrs. Muller in a retired spot on one side of
+the tender and handed him the chair. He took it with the happy, pleased
+expression of a child who has just received a kindness deeply
+appreciated, and reverently removing his hat and folding his hands over
+it, he thanked his Heavenly Father for sending the chair. "In
+_everything_ by prayer and supplication let your requests be made known
+unto God." "Casting _all_ your care upon Him, for He careth for you."
+
+So the word of God teaches us as His children (_inviting_ us to pray,
+_commanding_ us to pray, and _teaching us_ how to pray), that there is a
+divine reality in prayer. Experience abundantly corroborates the
+teaching.
+
+Every truly converted man knows from this experience that God answers
+prayer. He has verified the promise. "Call unto me, and I will answer
+thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not."
+(Jer. xxxiii., 8.) His life is a life of prayer, and grows more and more
+to be a life of almost unconscious dependence upon God, as he becomes
+fixed in the habit of prayer. This, and it is the purpose of God, is the
+result secured by prayer. With this in view, it will not be so much what
+we expect to get by praying, as a consciousness of coming into closer
+relations to God, the giver of all, in our prayers, that will give us
+true joy.
+
+Often God's children are driven to the throne of grace by some desperate
+need of help and definite supply of an absolute want, and, as they cry
+to God and plead their case with tears before him, he so manifests his
+presence to them and so fills them with a consciousness of his love and
+power, that the burden is gone and _without the want being supplied_
+that drove them to God, they rejoice in _God himself_ and care not for
+the deprivation. This was Paul's experience when he went thus to God
+about the thorn, and came away without the specific relief he had prayed
+for, but with such a blessing as a result of his drawing near to God,
+that he little cared whether the thorn remained or not--or, rather,
+rejoiced that it was not removed; that it might be used to keep him near
+to God, whose love so filled his soul.
+
+A widow once told the writer of the turning point in her Christian life,
+when God's love was so shed abroad in her heart that she had been
+enabled to go on through all her trials rejoicingly conscious of God's
+presence, and casting all her burdens upon Him. She was driven to seek
+God by great need. Her husband's death left her destitute, with little
+children to provide for, and few friends from whom to look for
+continuous aid. Winter drew on, and, one day, her little boy came in
+shivering with cold and asked if he could not have a fur cap, as his
+straw hat was very cold and none of the boys at school wore straw hats.
+She was without a cent in the world. She gave a hopeful answer to the
+boy and sent him out to play, and then went to her bedroom and knelt and
+wept in utter desolation of heart before God, praying most earnestly
+that God would give her a token that He _was_ her God and was caring for
+her by sending her a cap for her boy. While she prayed the peace of God
+filled her soul. She was made to feel the presence of her Saviour in
+such a way that all doubts as to his love for her and his fulfillment of
+all his promises to care for her vanished away, and she went out of her
+room, rejoicing in the Lord and singing his praise. She had no burden
+about the cap, and was quite content for God to send it or not as it
+pleased Him; and, in the afternoon, when a neighbor called, occupied
+with the Lord and his wonderful love, the thought of the cap had gone
+from her mind. When the neighbor rose to depart, she said, "You know my
+little boy died last fall. Just before he died I bought him a fur cap:
+he only wore it two or three times. After his death I put away all his
+things and thought I could never part with any of them. But, this
+morning, as I went to the drawer to look them over, I felt that I should
+give you this cap for your little boy. Will you take it of me?" As she
+took the cap and told her neighbor of the morning trial, prayer and
+blessing, two souls were filled with the sense of the reality of prayer
+and the love of God for his children. "My little boy," said the widow,
+"wore that cap for three winters. And often, when sorely tried by my
+circumstances, has God lifted the burden from my heart, by my just
+looking at it, and remembering the blessing that came with it."
+
+Experiences like this God gives to all his children, not for the purpose
+of leading them to look to Him for supplying their physical necessities,
+as an end, but to make Himself known to them, and to secure their
+confidence and love, for "this is life eternal, that they might know
+Thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." (Jno.
+xvii, 8.)
+
+The use of prayer is to bring us into communion with God, for the growth
+of the spiritual life, that is ours by faith in Christ Jesus. To leave
+it upon any lower plane than this, is to rob it of its highest functions
+and to paralyze it of lasting power for good in any direction. The
+promises of God are conditioned upon our being in this state of heart
+toward God. "If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask
+what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." (Jno. xv., 7.) Abiding in
+Christ, our will will be His will, as to desiring that which will most
+advance the divine life and promote confidence in God, and all our
+desires for material blessings will be subordinated to this motive.
+Right here must come in a line of truth that will lead us from the
+spirit of dictation in our prayers to God in all matters pertaining to
+our worldly concerns. We cannot tell what is for our highest spiritual
+good. The saving of our property or the taking it away. The recovery
+from sickness or the continuance of it; the restoration of the health of
+our loved one, or his departing to be with Christ; the removing the
+thorn or the permitting it to remain. "_In everything_" it is indeed our
+blessed privilege to let _our requests_ be make known unto God, but,
+praise his name, he has not passed over to us the awful responsibility
+of the assurance that _in everything_ the requests we make known will be
+granted. He has reserved the decision, where we should rejoice to leave
+it, to his infinite wisdom and his infinite love.
+
+There is a danger to be carefully guarded against in the reading of this
+book and in the consideration of the precious truth. The incidents it
+relates bring before the mind, of the unlimited resources and the
+unquenchable love of God, that are made available to believing prayer.
+That danger has been suggested by what has been said, that the highest
+use of prayer is to bring the soul nearer to God, and _not the making of
+it a mere matter of convenience to escape physical ills or supply
+physical necessities_.
+
+"That which is born of the flesh is flesh" and continues flesh until the
+end. "Have no confidence in the flesh" is always a much needed
+exhortation. Now, unquestionably, the desires of the natural heart may
+and do deceive us, and often lead as to believe that our fervent earnest
+prayer for temporal blessing is led of the Spirit, when the mind of the
+Spirit is, that we will be made more humble, more Christ-like and more
+useful by being denied than by being granted. Again, we are in danger of
+disobeying the plain commands of _God's word_ in allowing prayer ever to
+take the place of anything _in our power_ to do, and _that we are
+commanded to do as a means to secure needed good_. He who has said "pray
+always," has also said, "Be ambitious to be quiet and to do your own
+business, and to work with your hands, even as we charged you; that ye
+may walk honestly toward them that are without, and may have need of
+nothing." (1 Thess., iv., 11, 12; R.V.)
+
+How often the _flesh_ has led men to read (Phil, iv., 19): "My God shall
+supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus,"
+in a spirit entirely opposed to this exhortation. They have ceased to
+labor with their hands, and, without warrant in the providences of God
+and the judgment of brethren, have turned from doing their own business,
+expecting the Lord to pay their debts and provide for their necessities.
+The quotations of Scripture made by our Lord to Satan, "Thou shalt not
+tempt the Lord, thy God," is surely applicable in all such cases. The
+spirit of a "sound mind" (see 2 Tim. i., 7) will surely recognize this.
+
+So in _all_ things, that which God has given me intelligence and power
+to do, in avoiding evil or securing good, I am under direct command from
+him to do, always depending upon His blessing to secure the needed
+result. A _true faith_ in God will be made manifest by careful obedience
+to known commands. An _intelligent_ faith can never allow dependence
+upon means used to take the place of dependence upon the living God, who
+alone makes them efficacious.
+
+It must result in _presumptions_ faith, if obedience is neglected, and
+the results only promised to obedience are expected. That God _can_ give
+blessing, without the use of the ordinary means, on man's part, there is
+no question. That he _has_ done so is a matter of record. Yet we should
+remember that there were but _two_ miraculous draughts of fishes, and
+_only twice_ did our Lord make bread without the use of seed-time,
+harvest, grinding and baking. The _rule_ of Christ in his earthly
+ministry was, most certainly, to receive the supply of his physical
+wants from His Heavenly Father, in the use of means to secure the
+results offered in the ordinary operation of the laws of God. He went
+into the corn-field at autumn and visited the olive tree for sustenance
+as did other men. And the question for his disciples is not what God
+_can_ do, and not what he _has_ done (that he may be known as God over
+all creation, blessed for evermore) in the suspension of natural laws,
+but what has he revealed to us as his will during the time of the
+present dispensation of the church on this earth, as to his children
+using means for the avoidance of evil and securing of good, or depending
+entirely upon miraculous interference in answer to the prayer of faith
+for all need without reference to use of means.
+
+Does the prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread," mean that we are to
+do nothing to secure our bread, lest we show no faith in God, and simply
+wait in idleness for God to repeat the miracle of sending it by a
+raven? or, does it mean that with thankful hearts to God for the ability
+he has given us to work, that we go forth diligently fulfilling our task
+in the use of all appropriate means to secure that which his loving
+bounty has made possible for us in the fruitful seasons of the earth,
+and return with devout recognition that He is the Creator, Upholder and
+Giver of all, bringing our sheaves with us. When seed-time and harvest
+fail and death is on the land, when corn fails in Egypt and there is no
+bread, when _we have obeyed him_ and sought to toil with our hands and
+no man has given unto us, then we will expect his interposition and will
+have faith that he who has fed us by use of means, will supply us
+without means, and that He alone is the living God.
+
+It is noticeable that the prophet Elisha, whose prayers God heard in the
+multiplication of the twenty loaves during the dearth at Gilgal, was
+made Elijah's successor when following his twelve yoke of oxen at the
+plough in the field, diligently using means to obtain bread, and
+undoubtedly communing with God all the while and recognizing the
+evidences of his love and power in every upturned daisy as he ploughed
+the sod, and in every seed that he dropped into the fertile earth, and
+thought it grand to be a fellow worker with God in the husbandry of the
+earth and not one to be fed in idleness, neglecting the toil appointed
+to man, and losing the blessing that is promised in the word of God, in
+the discipline and the knowledge of God in the operations of His laws,
+that comes in a greater or less degree to all of earth's honest toilers.
+
+It is the opinion of many of God's children that as the present
+dispensation draws to its close, there will be among the spiritually
+minded and consecrated ones of the church, a reproduction of the gifts
+of Pentecost for a last testimony to the world before Christ comes in
+glory. There is much Scripture that might be quoted to sustain this
+opinion. God grant in His grace and mercy that it may be so. But neither
+the church or the world have any _claim_ upon God for it. The church has
+abused grace and the world has despised mercy. All the promises as to
+miracles wrought for a testimony as to the truth of Christ's
+resurrection, have been fulfilled. If Christ were to come to-day, the
+world would be without excuse in having rejected him, and could not
+plead that signs and wonders had been abundantly wrought in His name in
+the establishing of His church upon the earth.
+
+The question of our Lord in Luke xviii., 8, "When the son of man cometh
+shall he find faith on the earth?" suggests to many minds that there may
+not be vouchsafed during the time immediately preceding his
+manifestations, any marked interference by God in the way of miracles or
+signs among his children, but that their faith in Him as the unseen God,
+and their trust in the truth and verify of His word, will be brought
+forth to the praise and glory of God and their joy, by their being left
+to the _word alone_ and the operations of the Holy Ghost by and through
+the word for their comfort and stability in the faith.
+
+Coupled with this thought let it ever be borne in mind by the believer
+that the testimony of God's word as to miracles, signs and wonders
+wrought by _Satanic agency_ in the church, during the last day, is clear
+and unmistakable, and warnings abound as to our danger from them.
+
+"The Spirit saith expressly that in later times some shall fall away
+from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of
+devils." 1 Tim. iv., 1.
+
+"But know this, that in the last days grievous times shall come." "Evil
+men and impostors shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being
+deceived." 2 Tim. iii., 1 and 13.
+
+"Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no
+great thing if his ministers be transformed as the ministers of
+righteousness. 2 Cor. xi., 14.
+
+"And then shall that wicked be revealed. Even him whose coming is after
+the working of Satan, _with all power, and signs_, and _lying wonders_;
+and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish,
+because they received not the love of the truth that they might be
+saved." 2 Thess. ii., 8 to 10.
+
+By these passages it is plain that a sign or a wonder does not establish
+a doctrine or endorse a man as certainly being _from God_. The doctrine
+and the man must be judged by the written word of God.
+
+If there is ought in the doctrine that denies that Jesus is the Son of
+God, that derogates in the slightest degree from the merit of His
+atonement on the cross for our sins, or that takes the eye off from Him
+as the risen and coming Lord, the alone object of our faith and hope, or
+that dishonors in any way God's holy word, taking from or adding to it,
+_then_ the more signs and wonders and manifestations of mysterious power
+that there may be connected with it, then the more certainly we may know
+that it is of Satan and not of God.
+
+And if, in the man who exhibits signs and wonders, there is a spirit
+contrary to the spirit of Christ, in his seeking honor from man, and
+using his power to establish a claim to such honor, "speaking of himself
+as some great one," and not walking in humility as a sinner saved from
+hell and kept day by day by the power of God through faith in Christ,
+And if the purpose of his signs be to establish revelations he is
+receiving in any form apart from the written word, then, though his
+signs be as marvelous as those of the magicians in Egypt, or Simon
+Magnus in Samaria, he is, like them, a minister of Satan and not a
+minister of Jesus Christ.
+
+The age abounds in doctrines and men of this kind. The life of faith
+lays the soul open to assaults of the Devil by their agency.
+
+"Beloved try the spirits whether they be of God."
+
+Let us not waver in our faith in God's overruling providence, and in the
+reality of His interposition in answer to prayer for the deliverance and
+help of his people under any and all circumstances. "In _everything_, by
+prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let our requests be made
+known unto God," but let our first request be that we be kept in a sound
+mind obedient to the word, and let _all of_ our requests close with the
+utterance, from a sincere heart, of the words, "Thy will be done." If
+this be the attitude of our hearts our prayers shall be abundantly and
+graciously answered, and God shall guide us from the wiles of the Evil
+One for the sake of His dear Son Jesus Christ our Lord, through whose
+precious blood we have all grace and all blessing. Amen.
+
+LAKE VIEW, July 24th, 1885.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+A MAN CAN RECEIVE NOTHING EXCEPT IT BE GIVEN HIM FROM HEAVEN. JOHN 3:
+27.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+HIS COVENANT.
+
+
+_"Know, that the Lord, thy God he is God, the faithful God, which
+keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him, and keep his
+commandments, to a thousand generations."_
+
+_"My Covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of
+my lips."_
+
+_"I will not suffer my faithfulness to fail."_
+
+_"I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I
+will also do it."_
+
+_"He is faithful that promised."_
+
+_"I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of
+David."_
+
+_"Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David."_
+
+_"God is not a man, that he should lie; hath he said and shall he not do
+it? hath he spoken and shall he not make it good?"_
+
+_"Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in Heaven; thy faithfulness is
+unto all generations, thy word is true from the beginning."_
+
+_"Thy faithfulness is unto all generations."_
+
+_"The word of our God shall stand forever."_
+
+_"So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth; it shall not
+return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it
+shall prosper in the things whereto I sent it."_
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+ANSWERS TO PRAYER
+
+
+A WONDERFUL ANSWER TO PRAYER AND PROOF OF THE EXISTENCE OF THE HOLY
+SPIRIT.
+
+
+A trustful Christian, whose heart had been deeply touched with thoughts
+of religion, was one day thinking and pondering and wishing that he
+might be more truly convinced of the actual existence of the Holy
+Spirit. "If," thought he, "there is a Holy Spirit, a Superior Mind and
+Will, I reverently and sincerely wish that I may be convinced of it
+beyond all doubt; that I may indeed know God is a living reality and
+daily guide and mighty among the plans and ways of men." Though having
+all the needed mental, historic and heart belief and trust in God--still
+there was desired that special satisfaction which can only come by
+_personal evidence._
+
+With reverent feeling one morning, he asked the Lord humbly, in Prayer,
+"_What can thy servant, do for thee this day? Teach him, that he may
+gladly minister to any one in thy name_." In the course of the day there
+came to him the thought of the revival services then proceeding in
+Brooklyn, and feeling a cordial sympathy, he sat down and wrote a letter
+to _Mr. Moody_, with these words: "_I know not how you are supported, or
+anything of your needs; but I feel like helping you in your good work.
+Enclosed find check for $25; take it and use it if you need it for
+yourself; if not, then do some good with it_." The circumstance was
+almost forgotten, when the day after there came this wonderful reply
+from Mr. Moody:
+
+     "_Your letter came to hand in the_ SAME MAIL, _at the_ SAME
+     INSTANT _of_ TIME, _with a letter from a brother in distress_
+     WANTING THE SAME AMOUNT. _And now you have made him happy, and
+     my heart glad, and the Lord will bless you for it."_
+
+
+     D.L. MOODY.
+
+Had there been a direct revelation from heaven, it could not have been
+more astounding than this, to the heart of that Christian. His own
+prayer was answered, as to his search for the evidences of the Holy
+Spirit, but oh, how wonderfully!
+
+None but a Superior, Higher, Overruling Spirit, could have known the
+thoughts and desires of each heart. Nothing but an Omnipotent hand of
+Power and Wisdom could have brought these two letters together at that
+identical instant of time. None but an All-knowing Father could have
+fixed the amount of money which the one was to give and the other was to
+pray for.
+
+This was a wonderful conjuncture of time, desire and amount, and could
+never have happened by any chance operation of Nature or the natural
+heart and will. Strangest of all, neither of the parties had ever met,
+known or corresponded with each other before. Neither did Mr. Moody know
+of the desire of the one, nor the necessity of the other, until in the
+act of opening the two letters side by side. In the one envelope was the
+prayer; in the other the answer.
+
+That check, those letters, with all signatures and endorsements and
+those persons are this day living and can testify to the authenticity of
+the circumstance.
+
+
+THE PRAYER OF FAITH.
+
+
+The family of Mr. James R. Jordan has resided in Lake View, Chicago,
+since the spring of 1871. They are members of Lincoln Park
+Congregational Church. The father, Mr. James R. Jordan, died in October,
+1882, aged eighty-four years. Through a long series of financial trials,
+sorrows, afflictions by death and pressing cares, this family learned to
+depend on God for their daily prosperity; and the cures wrought in them,
+according to God's Word, are only a small portion of the remarkable
+answers to prayer with which their history is filled.
+
+It is an instructive fact for Christian meditation, that when the
+exercise of intelligent faith was necessary to their cures, the faith
+was there _ready for exercise._ They had not to begin, as, alas! so many
+do, at the very foundation, and find out first, what faith is, and next,
+how to exercise it. They had learned long before what faith is and what
+faith is not; that _faith is trustful obedience to the Word of God;_
+that it _is not_ a determination to have one's own way, nor to expect
+the immediate gratification of a desire, simply because the desire has
+been made known to God. They knew that faith obediently accepts God's
+commands and promises, expects to comply with the conditions of those
+commands and promises, and, so complying, expects to receive the results
+of such obedience at such times and in such ways as God appoints; all of
+which truths they found, and all of which may be found in the Holy
+Scriptures.
+
+Thus living in the hopes of the Gospel, realizing as much that their
+"home is in heaven" as that their "rest is not here," they have, through
+the years, performed the daily duties of their pilgrimage.
+
+The writer has known them for thirteen years, and gratefully testifies
+that their faith has strengthened her's, and that their cheerful hope in
+the Lord has been a strong consolation to many who were in trouble.
+
+After the sudden death of the youngest son of the family, in 1880, the
+care of the family devolved entirely upon the two daughters, Mrs. H.J.
+Furlong and Miss Addie S. Jordan.
+
+In April, 1876, Mrs. Jordan fell and badly fractured her hip. She was
+then seventy-seven years old. On account of her age she could not well
+be etherized, nor endure the repeated necessary resetting of the bones,
+and consequently they grew together irregularly. Her hip-joint was
+stiff, so that she was never able to walk without the support of a cane
+or crutch. For eight years she could not leave her own little yard, nor
+climb into a carriage, nor walk without support.
+
+Through this misfortune her afflictions grew worse. In January, 1884,
+she fell and broke one bone and dislocated another in the left wrist.
+Notwithstanding all that medical help could do, the shock brought on a
+severe sickness, and when, after eight weeks, she left her bed to move
+around feebly, she had almost lost her sight and hearing, her hand was
+useless, and her mind greatly impaired.
+
+On her birthday, June 10, 1884, when she was eighty-five years old, she
+greatly mourned that she had outlived her usefulness; that she could no
+longer feed herself, nor read her Bible, nor remember the desirable
+subjects for her prayers, and she hoped that she should not linger here
+long in such a helpless and useless condition.
+
+During the latter part of this time the two daughters were sick, Mrs.
+Furlong with paralysis and Miss Jordan with consumption.
+
+In the latter part of 1882 Miss Jordan, then in feeble health, was
+needed at home to attend the father's last sickness, and Mrs. Furlong
+was left to conduct their business alone. 'The extraordinary exertion
+brought on paralysis. It began in her right arm, which became so
+insensible that the strongest ammonia produced no sensation or apparent
+effect. Gradually her whole right side lost power, her foot dragged, and
+though she did manage to move about, she was comparatively helpless.
+Physicians spoke not hopefully; and protracted rest was recommended as a
+_possible_ relief. She planned to take electric treatment, though not
+very hopeful about the result. She failed once to meet her physician,
+and while planning the second time to take the treatment, and
+considering Christ's miracles of healing, and the Bible's promises to
+the sick, and having a feeling that possibly she might be doing wrong in
+not relying entirely on the Lord, who had hitherto so much helped them,
+she delayed a little, and failed again to meet the appointment. It was a
+Saturday evening in January, 1883.
+
+She went home and sat down that evening alone, in the dining-room,
+depressed. The enfeebled family--the aged crippled mother, the sick
+sister and her own young son--had retired. As she thought the subject
+through, she became convinced that it was not good to spend time and
+money in the way proposed. Instantly the words THE SAVIOUR filled her
+soul with indescribable hope, and as she thought of His miracles, and
+how _the same Jesus_, on earth, healed paralyzed ones, the hope grew
+that He would heal her.
+
+With the well hand she stretched out her paralyzed hand on the table and
+said: "Dear Lord, will you heal me?" Like an electric shock the life
+began to move in her arm, and the continued sensation was as though
+something that, previously, had not moved was set in motion. The feeling
+passed up to the head, and down the body to the foot. _She was healed!
+and she was grateful!_ She did not speak of her experience to the
+family, but retired. She rose early the next morning, and awoke her
+son,--a prayerful, dutiful young man,--and said to him, "I'm going to
+church, to-day." He replied, "Then I'll get up and go with you,"
+expecting that she must ride.
+
+Her soul was solemnly full that day of the felt presence of the Holy
+Spirit, and she did not like to talk. Her son watched her movements,
+astonished.
+
+She went to the church, took a class again in Sunday School, and; in
+going back and forth to church that day and evening, walked about sixty
+blocks without weariness.
+
+We are not permitted, here, to draw aside the curtain, to dwell upon the
+surprises and the grateful joy of that ever-to-be-remembered, sacred
+day.
+
+A few days after this healing, she, with a consciousness that she was
+running a risk, lifted a heavy weight, and a numbness returned. She
+confessed the sin to the Lord, and asked Him that, when she had been
+sufficiently chastened, He would take the trouble away. Gradually,
+within two days, it disappeared, and has never returned.
+
+At the time when Mrs. Furlong was healed, in answer to prayer, Miss.
+Jordan's case was considered hopeless. Her lungs had been diseased since
+1876. In November, 1879, her physician had decided that tubercles had
+formed in the left lung, and that the right lung was much congested and
+hardened.
+
+In 1882 she had many hemorrhages, and gradually grew worse, so that she
+could not use her left arm or shoulder without producing hemorrhage.
+
+Mrs. Furlong, soon after her own healing, received a comforting
+assurance from the Lord that her sister would be healed; but Miss
+Jordan, herself, had not that assurance. At this time she took little or
+no medicines, the physicians and the family having no confidence in
+their curative effect; but, on the 1st of January, 1884, she had so many
+chills and hemorrhages, that they sent for the family physician to aid
+in checking, if possible, the severe attack.
+
+During this apparently rapid descent deathward, Mrs. Furlong continued
+to repeat to the family and to the physicians that the Lord would heal
+her sister.
+
+Miss Jordan was one day so low that she could just be aroused to take
+her medicine. As Mrs. Furlong went to give it, Miss Jordan said to her,
+"Do you want to throw that medicine away?" Mrs. Furlong said "Yes," and
+threw it away. Six hours of united waiting upon the Lord followed. They
+were hours of pain. From nine in the morning till three in the afternoon
+she suffered indescribable pain. A few minutes after three, the pain
+left her, and with a bright look she said, "I believe I'm better." She
+wanted to rise and dress, but Mrs. Furlong advised her to rest through
+the night. She said she had not, in five years, been so free from
+weariness and pain.
+
+The aged mother was sick in bed with that broken wrist, and Mrs. Furlong
+feared that her sister's improved condition would shock and perplex her.
+
+Miss Jordan lay on the lounge the most of the time for two days. One of
+her expressions was, "It's perfect bliss to lie here free from pain."
+Her breathing became perfectly natural, and very soon the great hollow
+place in the upper part of the chest, over the left lung, filled out.
+Shortly before her healing she only weighed eighty pounds; but a few
+months after her weight had increased to one hundred and twenty pounds.
+
+She progressed in health rapidly, and on the second Sunday after the
+healing came she attended church. The feeble mother was most sensitively
+anxious lest her daughter should pursue some unwarrantable course which
+should lead to relapse.
+
+Miss Jordan's health steadily improved, but it was several months before
+a cough entirely left her. You may be sure that doubters made the most
+of that cough! _But it left her!_ At one time she brought on a slight
+relapse by giving lessons in crayon drawing. She came to the conclusion
+that the Lord had other work for her to do: and at this writing,
+September, 1885, having prayerfully and watchfully followed the leadings
+of the Lord, is a missionary among the freedmen of the South, and is
+strong in health and in faith, "giving glory to God."
+
+One of the aged mother's perplexities was that the Lord should want her
+to live on in such a helpless and useless condition, while her
+daughters, who might be so useful, must die; but oh, how successful she
+had by precept and example taught those daughters that "He hath done all
+things well!" How patiently she suffered whatever she thought was the
+Lord's will! How sweet was her constant thanksgiving! Said a pious
+Christian neighbor, whose poor health restricted her attendance at
+church, "When I'm hungry for a blessing I go down to see old lady
+Jordan."
+
+After eight painful weeks, she so far recovered from the sickness
+consequent on the broken and dislocated wrist as to move around feebly,
+but sight and hearing were almost gone. Her leg was stiff, her hand
+stiff, her wrist deformed, and her mind greatly impaired.
+
+Miss Jordan became very hopeful, and received strong assurance, in
+answer to prayer, that her mother might be healed. Mrs. Furlong received
+no assurance whatever in her mother's case. There was a great deal of
+talking and praying about it, in the family, and finally Mrs. Jordan
+humbly claimed the Lord's help, beseeching Him that since He had
+recorded that He would make the blind to see, the lame to walk, and the
+deaf to hear, if it was His will He would heal her. This was the night
+of June 16th, 1884.
+
+In the morning Miss Jordan was so hopeful that she rose early, and
+attentively listened to the movements in her mother's room. She called
+the little family's attention to them, saying, "Just listen to her;" and
+as, holding on by the banister, the aged mother came with her accustomed
+slow movements down to the dining room, Miss Jordan said, to them, "Now,
+watch her."
+
+According to the long habit of eight years, she began to reach out for
+her cane, unconscious that she had been walking around her room with new
+freedom. Miss Jordan went toward her and said, "Mother, do you want your
+cane?" and, wondering, the old lady walked freely into the dining room.
+They gathered around her, and said, "Are you not healed, mother?" and
+she began to think _she was_, and sat down in her chair by the table.
+Could she move her hand? The doubled-up thumb, and straight, stiff
+finger, were _perfectly free_ and as _limber as ever_, and the stiff
+wrist joint _moved with perfect freedom!_ She _heard as well as
+anybody!_ Could she see? She went up-stairs to her Bible, whose blurred,
+dim pages she had thought closed to her forever, and _she could read as
+well as ever_, and without glasses! She could thread the finest needle.
+Could she kneel and thank the Lord? She had not knelt for eight years.
+Yes, she could kneel as well as when she served the Lord in her youth!
+
+Christian reader, stop here and think what a joyful family that was that
+June morning. That aged saint, of a little more than 85 years, was in
+good health again! And her two daughters had been snatched from the jaws
+of death! What a triumph of blessed memories to leave in legacy to that
+young, hopeful, Christian son, who, in childhood, had himself repeatedly
+proved that the Lord hears and answers prayer!
+
+Mrs. Jordan has never used cane or crutch since that morning. She has
+frequently walked five blocks, to go to her church; and, a few weeks
+after her healing, she one day walked the distance of about fifteen
+blocks. She has walked for hours in Lincoln Park, among the plants and
+flowers, and she goes up and down stairs, and wherever she likes, as
+well as anyone.
+
+She has the use of her faculties, and an altogether comfortable use of
+her sight, though that is not so acute as at first. Her earliest joy was
+that she was permitted to see that the Lord had some purpose in sparing
+her so long.
+
+Dear Christian reader, shall the wonderful manifestation of that
+"purpose" strengthen your faith? It helps me.
+
+"Is anything too hard for the Lord?" "No good thing will He withhold
+from them that walk uprightly." "If ye then, being evil, know how to
+give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father
+which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him." "If we live
+by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit."
+
+In the hopes of the Gospel,
+
+                                                        Miss E. Dryer.
+
+150 Madison St., Chicago.
+
+
+ALMOST A BANKRUPT.
+
+
+A prominent Christian had just entered a merchant's counting-room, when
+the head man of the place said to him, "Let us kneel and ask God to help
+me through, for without his help, I shall be a bankrupt before the
+setting of the sun." So they knelt and prayed. That man went through the
+pressure, and did not become a bankrupt.
+
+
+"HE COULD NOT FLEE FROM THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT."
+
+
+A clergyman of distinction gives this instance of the worthlessness of
+all attempts to flee from the Power of the Spirit.
+
+"I looked out of my window one morning, while it was yet dark, and saw a
+lady standing at my gate, leaning against a post, and evidently weeping
+bitterly. I knew her. She was a member of the church, and was an
+earnest, consistent Christian. She was married to one of the most bitter
+Universalists I ever knew. I stepped down the steps to her, and asked,
+'What is the matter?' She replied, 'Oh, my poor husband! I had so hoped
+and prayed that he might be converted in this revival! and now he has
+rode away, and says that _he will not come back till this religious
+flurry is over_. What shall I do to bear up under this?'
+
+"I said, 'It is near the time for prayer. We will go and lay his case
+before the Lord, and make _special request_ that God will bring him back
+again under the power of the Spirit. The Lord can bring him home, and I
+believe He will do it. We must pray for him.'
+
+"She dried her tears in a moment, and seemed to seize hold of this
+'strong hope,' as we walked to the place of prayer. We found the room
+crowded. It fell to my lot to lead the meeting.
+
+"At the opening, I stated the case of this Universalist husband, who had
+undertaken to run away from the influence of the Spirit, by fleeing into
+the country. I said that we must all pray _that the Holy Spirit may
+follow him, overtake him, and bring him back again_, show him his sins,
+and lead him to Jesus.
+
+"The meeting took up the case with great earnestness, and I could not
+but feel that prayer would in some way be answered.
+
+"_But can you imagine our surprise when, at our evening prayer meeting,
+this same Universalist came in_?
+
+"After standing a few minutes, till the opportunity offered, he said:
+
+"'I went away on horseback this morning, and told my wife I was going
+into the country to stay till this flurry was over. I rode right over
+the hills, back from the river, into the country, till I had got
+eighteen miles away. _There, on the top of a hill, I was stopped as Paul
+was, and just as suddenly_, and made to feel what a horrible sinner I
+am. I am one of the worst sinners that ever lived. _I have lost my
+Universalism_, and I know I must be born again, or I can never see the
+kingdom of Heaven. Oh, pray for me that I may be converted; nothing else
+will do for me.'
+
+"He took his seat amid the tears and sobs of the whole assembly. The
+hour was full of prayer for that man's conversion.
+
+"This strong and intelligent man, once one of the bitterest
+Universalists I ever knew, is now an elder in a Presbyterian church, and
+one of the most joyous, happy, energetic men of God you will meet in
+many a day. He believes he was 'converted on the spot in that prayer
+meeting.'"
+
+
+LIFE BROUGHT BACK AGAIN IN THE MIDST OF DEATH.
+
+
+The following instance, when _death itself was made to give back the
+life it claimed_, is personally known to us to be true: A mother, in
+this city, sent a request for prayer to the Fulton street
+prayer-meeting, asking the Lord for the recovery of her daughter, who
+was sinking rapidly, and who she felt was almost dying.
+
+Her husband, an eminent physician, and others, also, the most skilled
+physicians of the city, gave up the case as hopeless. The mother felt
+that now none but God could or would help; that in the Fulton street
+prayer-meeting were sympathizing friends, and to it sent her request.
+She came to the meeting herself, to join in their prayers and testify
+her faith. The moments of the meeting passed on. One request after
+another was read, but hers was not touched. She was sadly disappointed.
+Her child was so weak and almost dying, it could not live the day
+through, perhaps. The time was within a few minutes, less than three, of
+the close of the meeting. She, at last, with faltering steps and
+palpitating heart, pressed her way to the desk and asked if her request
+was there. Upon search, it was found that it had been overlooked. _Too
+late_, said the leader, to _read it to-day_. See, the clock is at its
+last moment; but it shall be read first thing at 12 o'clock, to-morrow,
+and special prayer shall be offered immediately.
+
+With what heavy heart the mother went away, back to the chamber of the
+dying one, none can ever know. All night the waiting ones watched, with
+their ceaseless attentions and silent prayers.
+
+_A few minutes before_ 12 _o'clock the body sank, the eyes closed,
+pallor came over the features, the spirit seemed gone_, and _all was
+still; not a breath, not a motion--death had come_.
+
+The mother had taken her watch, hung it on the pillow of the bed, and
+with streaming eyes, yet ceaseless prayer, they watched the slow finger
+move to 12 o'clock. At precisely twelve, all joined in prayer, lifting
+their hearts to God. _At fifteen minutes past twelve, the daughter
+opened her eyes_, saying, "Mother, _I feel better_," then sank into
+sleep, _breathing steadily_; after three hours awoke to consciousness
+and sat up in bed, and before night was able to walk the floor of her
+chamber. Prayer brought that life back, even when death had taken it.
+_At the very moment when that precious prayer was offered in the
+meeting, the Lord came and touched the dying one, and gave it new life._
+The mother's faith and prayer was honored, and the Lord remembered his
+promise, "_If ye believe, ye shall see the glory of God."_ The same Lord
+who raised Lazarus and bade him come forth, also came and bade this
+precious life come back again to earth.
+
+
+SAVED FROM THE HANDS OF A DESPERADO.
+
+
+The following circumstance is communicated to us by a United States
+Surgeon:
+
+"After the close of the Mexican war, and in the year 1849, a train was
+sent out from San Antonio to establish military posts on the upper Rio
+Grande, particularly at El Paso. I was surgeon of the quartermaster's
+department, numbering about four hundred men. While the train was making
+up, the cholera prevailed in camp, for about six weeks, at first with
+terrible severity. On the 1st of June it had so far subsided that we
+took up the line of march. After about four days out from San Antonio,
+the health of the men became very good, and continued so through the
+whole route, with the exception of occasional cases of prostration from
+heat, and slight fevers, the Summer being unusually hot. One evening in
+July, after coming into camp, I received a call to see a man who had
+been taken sick on the march. I found him lying under his wagon. The
+wagon was loaded with bacon, in bulk about two tons. The heat with the
+pressure had caused it to drip freely. I asked him to come from under
+the wagon, that I might examine his case and prescribe, for him. This he
+refused to do; but demanded that I should crawl under the wagon to him,
+which I, of course, would not consent to do. No persuasion could induce
+him to change his position in the least. Becoming satisfied that he was
+not much, if at all sick, I left him. His profanity, threats and
+imprecations were fearful. Perhaps it would be well to give a short
+sketch of his life for the three years previous, as I learned it from
+men who knew him, and had been with him for considerable portion of that
+period. He went to Mexico, at the beginning of the war, a soldier in the
+regular army. When his term of service expired, he was discharged, and
+sought employment in the quartermaster's department, as a teamster. He
+had the reputation of being a thief, a robber and an assassin. In a few
+months he was ignominiously discharged from the service, and, at the
+close of the war, he came to Texas, and sought and obtained employment
+as teamster in the train then organizing for El Paso. But, to return to
+my narrative. On the morning after the occurrence at the wagon, a
+teamster came to me and said, in a hasty and abrupt manner, 'Doctor, Mc
+will kill you to-day or to-night. He is full of rage, and muttering
+terrible threats. He was out very early this morning and emptied his
+six-shooter, and came in and reloaded it and put it in first-rate
+order.' I said, 'Mc, what's up now?' He replied, 'I will kill that
+d----d old doctor to-day or to-night;' and he will do it. I have known
+him make threats before, and have never known him fail to execute them.
+But I must go; he must not know that I have seen you.' Knowing the man,
+I realized the danger, and felt that I was powerless, either to resist
+or avoid it. I retired within my tent and closed it up. I prostrated
+myself before Him who is able to save. I prayed for deliverance from the
+hands of the cruel and blood-thirsty man, and that I might not be left
+in the power of him who was my enemy without cause. I submitted my cause
+into the hands of Him who doeth all things well, and prayed for entire
+submission to his will. My anxiety subsided; my fear was removed, and I
+commenced the duties of the day with usual cheerfulness.
+
+"Soon after this, the camp broke and we were on the march. I fell back
+with the officers of the rear guard, and the excitement of the morning
+was soon forgotten. About 10 o'clock, a courier came back in haste, for
+me to see a man who had been thrown from his mule and crushed under the
+wheels of his wagon. He did not know who the man was--he was about half
+or three-quarters of a mile ahead. The thought then occurred to me, I
+shall probably have to pass Mc's team. I will ride square up with the
+courier, and keep him between myself and the train. When we came to the
+spot I inquired who the man was, for he was so mutilated I could not
+recognize him. _It was Mc. God was there_. Awe and terror took hold upon
+me. I was dumb with amazement.
+
+"Mc had dismounted and walked some fifty rods by the side of his team.
+Attempting to remount, his mule whirled and pitched, and he was thrown
+upon his back, and his team with fourteen others instantly stampeded.
+Both the fore and hind wheels on the near side of his wagon, passed
+directly over his face, and crushed every bone in his head. It was a
+fearful sight; not a feature of the human face could be discerned.
+
+"The stampeded teams were flying wildly over the prairie, in spite of
+every effort of the teamsters to control them.
+
+"I directed the head of the corpse to be inserted in some new, thick
+sacks, in such a way as to prevent the oozing of blood, and that it be
+wrapped in his blanket and taken to the next camp for burial. When the
+stampeded teams came in, it was found that no other person was injured,
+nor any damage done.
+
+"The philosopher may tell us of the reign of law; of the coincidence of
+circumstances; of the action of natural causes; but, to the Christian,
+the fact still remains--prayer was answered. God heareth his people when
+they cry unto Him."
+
+
+THE PRAYER OF A MISSIONARY IN MEXICO ANSWERED.--SAVED FROM BANDITTI.
+
+
+"In the Spring of 1872, I was, with my wife and child, in the city of
+Cadereita, Mexico, where we had been laboring as missionaries, but felt
+it was our duty to return to the States for a little season, and had
+been asking God to open up the way for us. At length, about the middle
+of March, the opportunity appeared to be given, the means being
+provided; but the country was in a state of revolution (a no uncommon
+thing there), and, consequently, there were no stages running out of the
+country, so we had to take conveyance in Mexican carts. Therefore, we
+engaged two men, with their carts; one in which we might ride and carry
+a mattress, which should serve as a bed at night, and the other, to
+carry the baggage and provisions for ourselves and the horses, as our
+way was mostly through an uncultivated country.
+
+"We knew that General Cortinas, with his troops, was somewhere between
+us and Texas, as the State we were in was one of those in rebellion. The
+blood-thirsty character of General Cortinas is well known on the
+frontier, there being no less than seventeen indictments against him for
+murder in the State of Texas. He is regarded as having a special hatred
+against Americans, and the Mexicans, themselves, stand in terror of him.
+
+"Our friends and brethren in Cadereita tried hard to deter us from
+going, as most likely we would fall into the hands of General Cortinas;
+in which event, they said, the very utmost we could expect would be to
+escape with our lives, being left destitute of everything, in a
+wilderness road; but, as God had seemed to open up the way, providing
+the means, we determined to go forward, trusting that He also would
+protect us in the way. Therefore, having completed our arrangements, we
+started for Matamoras, some three hundred miles distant, on the 19th of
+March, the wives of the two men accompanying their husbands, making our
+party six adults and one child; the brethren in Cadereita promising to
+pray daily for our safety. The third morning, after commending
+ourselves, as usual, into the care of our covenant-keeping God, we
+started on our journey. Some two hours later, we espied the troops of
+General Cortinas, about two miles distant, marching toward us. We again
+all looked to God for protection, and prayed that, as he shut the mouths
+of the lions, that they should not hurt his servant Daniel, so He would
+now restrain the evil passions of men, that they might not hurt nor
+injure us--then we went on till we met the advance guard, who commanded
+us to halt and wait till the General came up. After nearly half an hour,
+General Cortinas, with his escort, rode up to where we were waiting for
+him. After the ordinary salutation, he asked: (_?de adonde vienen y
+adonde van?_) 'From whence have you come, and where are you going?'--to
+which we replied properly; then he asked: 'What is the news from Nueva
+Leon?' (the State we left)--to which we replied as faithfully as we
+could. Then I asked him, 'Is the road safe between us and Matamoras?' He
+replied: 'Perfectly; you can go on without any fear, and as safely as
+you would in your own country.' Then, bidding us 'good morning,' he rode
+on, not even inquiring about or examining any of our baggage.
+
+"When we arrived in Brownsville, Texas, and told of how gentlemanly
+General Cortinas had treated us, all pronounced it wonderful, and said,
+'We could not have believed General Cortinas capable of such kindness to
+Americans so in his power. It was truly a miracle.' We believed that it
+was God who restrained the naturally vicious passions of the man, in
+direct answer to prayer."
+
+
+AN INFIDEL'S LIFE SPARED A FEW DAYS.
+
+
+"During the Summer of 1862, I became acquainted with a Mr. A----, who
+professed infidelity, and who was, I think, as near an atheist as any I
+ever met. I held several conversations with him on the subject of
+religion, but could not seem to make any impression on his mind, and,
+when a point was pressed strongly, he would become angry.
+
+"In the Fall, he was taken ill, and seemed to go into a rapid decline.
+I, with others, sought kindly and prayerfully to turn his mind to his
+need of a Saviour, but only met with rebuffs. As I saw that his end was
+drawing near, one day I pressed the importance of preparing to meet God,
+when he became angry and said I need not trouble myself any more about
+his soul, as there was no God, the Bible was a fable, and when we die
+that is the last of us, and was unwilling that I should pray with him. I
+left him, feeling very sad.
+
+"Some four weeks after, on New Year's morning, I awoke with the
+impression that I should go and see Mr. A----, and I could not get rid
+of that impression; so, about nine o'clock, I went to see him, and, as I
+approached the house, I saw the two doctors, who had been holding a
+consultation, leaving. When I rang the bell, his sister-in-law opened
+the door for me, and exclaimed, 'Oh! I am so glad you have come; John is
+dying. The doctors say he cannot possibly live above two hours, and
+probably not one.' When I went up to his room, he sat bolstered up in a
+chair, and appeared to have fallen into a doze. I sat down, about five
+feet from him, and when, in about two minutes, he opened his eyes and
+saw me, he started up, with agony pictured on his face and in the tones
+of his voice, exclaimed, 'O! Mr. P----, I am not prepared to die; there
+is a God; the Bible is true! O, pray for me! pray God to spare me a few
+days, till I shall know I am saved.'
+
+"These words were uttered with the intensest emotion, while his whole
+physical frame quivered through the intense agony of his soul. I replied
+in effect, that Jesus was a great Saviour, able and willing to save all
+who would come unto Him, even at the eleventh hour, as He did the thief
+on the cross.
+
+"When I was about to pray with him, he again entreated me to pray
+especially that God would spare him a few days, till he might have the
+evidences of his salvation. In prayer, I seemed to have great assurance
+of his salvation, and asked God to give us the evidence of his
+salvation, by granting him a few days more in this world. Several others
+joined in praying God to spare him a few days, till he should give
+evidence of being saved.
+
+"I called again in the evening; he seemed even stronger than in the
+morning, and his mind was seeking the truth. The next day, as I
+entered, his face expressed the fact that peace and joy had
+taken the place of fear and anxiety. He was spared some five
+days, giving very clear evidence that he had passed from death to life.
+His case was a great mystery to the doctors. They could not understand
+how he lived so long; but his friends, who had been praying for him, all
+believed it was in direct answer to prayer."
+
+
+REMARKABLE PRESERVATION FROM BRAIN DIFFICULTIES.
+
+
+"A few weeks ago, a man who had once been a member of my church, but had
+fallen from his steadfastness through strong drink, fell from a ladder,
+striking his head on the corner of a stone, which made a dent in the
+skull of over two and one-half inches in length, and three-fourths of an
+inch in width, and half an inch in depth. This happened on Friday
+afternoon. At our prayer-meeting, in the evening, most earnest prayers
+were offered in his behalf; the brethren prayed that God would restore
+him his senses and spare him a few days, that he might repent of his
+back-sliding and be saved.
+
+"The surgeons raised the skull, and his senses were restored; his mind
+seemed clear. This continued over a week, when it was evident that there
+was still some pressure on the brain. The surgeons removed the skull,
+and found three pieces driven down into the brain. They expressed, from
+the first, no hope of his recovery; but wondered much at the clearness
+of his mind, which continued for over two weeks. We believed that it was
+in answer to the prayers of the church that he might have time and
+opportunity to repent and prepare to meet God, which we trust he did."
+
+
+LITTLE GEORGE'S PRAYER.
+
+
+A clergyman writes us these incidents:
+
+"I knew a poor family whose son George, four or five years old, was
+accustomed to pray. They lived five or six miles from neighbors, and, at
+times, were quite destitute. One day, as little George observed his
+mother weeping over their destitution, he said, "Why, mother, don't cry
+any; we shall not starve; God will send us something to eat, I know He
+will. I've just been praying, and asked Him to." The little fellow just
+as much believed God would send them food, as if he had asked a reliable
+neighbor and obtained his promise to supply their wants. In a day or two
+after this, some friends living at a distance and knowing they were
+poor, took them the welcome surprise of a wagon-load of substantial
+material for food and other comforts. The little boy grew up to be a
+Christian minister, and, about a year ago, on inquiry, his uncle told me
+he had been at the head of an institution of learning in the
+South-west."
+
+
+A PRAYER FOR A HORSE.
+
+
+"My horse died, and, after traveling through the snow-drifts to my
+appointments, till I was lame, half sick, and unfit for service--as I
+had not means to purchase a horse, I thought of quitting the work and
+going to teaching, and laid the matter before God, in prayer; soon after
+which, some person at a distance, who heard that I had lost my horse,
+without my saying a word about it, raised the means by which I procured
+another."
+
+
+A PRAYER FOR A WIFE.
+
+
+"When I believed it would be well for me to seek a companion for life, I
+asked of God direction in making a wise choice, and that, in a matter of
+so much importance to me and others, I might meet with success or
+_hindrance_, as my heavenly Father knew best. He led me to a choice and
+marriage, which I have not since regretted."
+
+
+CHURCH TROUBLES QUELLED.
+
+
+"I might mention a dozen instances in which church troubles were
+gathering, and trials between members appeared certain, when all my
+tactics failed, and the wisdom of brethren was of no avail; my last
+resort was to ask God to send help and deliver from the threatened
+evil--and in ways that no one could foresee, complete deliverance came."
+
+
+A MINISTER'S SUPPLIES FALL SHORT.
+
+
+"When very much in need of funds to procure supplies for a coming
+Winter, all expedients failed; then I asked God for assistance, when,
+unexpectedly, a friend in California sent me a little package of gold
+dust, which I sold, at once, for $130. This came when it was needed, and
+it did us good."
+
+
+A PRAYER FOR A SERVANT.
+
+
+"Some time after, we failed to find anything like suitable help in the
+house, which we greatly needed. Before starting out one morning, in
+secret I prayed to God to direct me as I went on my uncertain business,
+and prayed as I called at different places, and soon found a colored
+girl sixteen years old wanting a place, who came and proved to be the
+best help we ever had, before or since. For seven years and a half she
+lived in the family, taught two of our children to read; was glad, from
+choice, to move with us to different places, till she left to be
+married, fell sick and passed away. A dozen other times when driven in
+straits, _in answer to prayer_ God has enabled us to procure necessary
+help, which was difficult to obtain.
+
+"In 1874, while on my way to see my mother in Pennsylvania--who had just
+been paralyzed, and died the next week--I was suddenly paralyzed in my
+left arm, by which, I have since been helpless and useless. After coming
+here to live, being in want of a man to lift me in and out of bed, dress
+me, etc., for which we inquired of people, and prayed to God to send us
+the needed help. We had not means to hire and pay any person to do such
+work, even if he could be found. Soon the right one came, in the person
+of a young German, who was tramping through the country in search of
+employment and food; was ready and glad to do any work for a living. For
+pay that satisfied him and us, he staid in the family over a year,
+working out doors and in; could be trusted to do business with money,
+and return every cent correctly. After being with us over a year, when
+we needed him no longer, he obtained a situation in a good family, where
+he is now living. In many instances, I have prayed to be healed of
+special sickness, always using what remedies I thought best, yet asking
+the divine blessing on their use."
+
+
+HEALING.
+
+
+"For over three years, I was troubled with frequent raising of blood
+from my right lung, which physicians failed to cure. Of this I prayed to
+be relieved; after which, the soreness healed, and for several years it
+has ceased to trouble me."
+
+
+THAT $18.75.
+
+
+A man who had led a very wicked life, was converted and hopefully saved.
+Previous to this time, a debt of $18.75 had not given him the slightest
+thought. After receiving a new heart, he distinctly heard God's command,
+"Pay what thou owest;" so called on his creditor, and urged him to send
+to his house and get a bureau, table and looking-glass, which he desired
+him to sell and pay himself the sum due him; but, not wishing to deprive
+his debtor of such necessary articles, refused, saying he would wait
+till he could pay. The 18th of November was set, and, as the day
+approached, the prospect was no brighter; and when the night of the 17th
+came around, he spent it in prayer that God would deliver him, and rose
+from his knees at daybreak, with the full assurance that "He knoweth how
+to deliver."
+
+On passing down a street the next morning, on his way to business, a man
+who kept a large store was standing in the door-way, and called to him
+to stop a minute. Wondering what could be the nature of the call, he
+retraced his steps, to hear this astonishing news: "_For three days I
+have been impressed with the idea that I must give you_ $18.75, _and for
+three days have been trying to ascertain why I must give you this
+amount, for I do not owe any man a penny_. I cannot get rid of the
+thought, and if you value my peace of mind, I beg you take the money!"
+Seeing, instantly, the hand of God in it, he told the story to the
+astonished storekeeper, then left to pay his debt with the money so
+strangely given. His creditor, surprised to see him so promptly on time,
+questioned him as to the manner of obtaining it, thinking, perhaps, he
+had made a great sacrifice to do so. On being told just how it was given
+him, said, "_I won't take it; keep it. If God is as near to people as
+that, I don't want it; it seems as if it had come directly from his
+Almighty hand_." The result was the conversion of both the storekeeper
+and creditor, to whom the incident came as the undoubted evidence of
+God's presence among them.
+
+
+GOD SENT THE BAG OF FLOUR.
+
+
+In about the year 1830, in Central New York, there was a time of great
+scarcity of provisions. Grain was very high, and difficult to be
+obtained at any price; and, of course, families of limited means were
+very much straitened. In one family, the wife and mother of six
+children, a Godly woman, worked at her trade (tailoress) to the extent
+of her ability, and prayed earnestly that God would deliver them from
+pressing want. Husband and children all knew of their need, and of the
+fervent prayers of the wife and mother for their supply; but no one knew
+by what means the supply was to come. Every day, as their scanty means
+were being consumed, the prospect grew darker. On the farm was a large
+quantity of pine timber. Four miles from there, in the next town, lived
+a man who needed some shingles; and, casting about him to see where he
+should obtain a supply, thought he would go and purchase a pine tree,
+and himself and man go into the woods and work it up into shingles. As
+he was about starting, the thought occurred to him, "Perhaps they may be
+in want of wheat flour--a bag cannot come amiss in this time of
+scarcity." So, putting two bushels in a bag, he proceeded to the next
+town, entered the house, and made known his errand, saying, "I have
+brought along two bushels of flour towards paying for the tree, thinking
+you might be in want of it in this time of scarcity, and I knew you live
+six or seven miles from the mill, and have no horse." "That is in answer
+to prayer," said the noble woman; and the husband believed it, though
+not a praying man. When, at night, the oldest son came in, the mother
+said to him, "God has answered our prayers, and sent a bag of flour." It
+is believed that, while this was not miraculous, it was as directly the
+interposition of God, as feeding Elijah by the ravens; and it was in
+direct answer to prayer for that special blessing."
+
+
+INCIDENTS FROM THE EXPERIENCE OF A CITY MISSIONARY.--A PRAYER FOR SUPPER
+ANSWERED.
+
+
+An educated, accomplished lady, reduced to the very lowest round of
+poverty's ladder, whom we shall call Mrs. X----, bears unfailing
+testimony to God's hearing and answering the prayer of faith. The
+daughter came up-stairs one day to announce the utter emptiness of the
+larder. There was not even a piece of dry bread, nor a drawing of tea;
+not a potato, nor a bean; and "Charles, poor fellow, will come home from
+his work at six, tired and so hungry; what _shall_ we do, mother?"
+
+"The Lord will send us something, before he comes," said Mrs. X----. So,
+for three hours more the daughter waited. "Mother, it is five o'clock,
+and the Lord has not sent us anything." "He will, my dear, before
+half-past six;" and the widow went in an adjoining room, to ask that her
+daughter might not feel it vain to call upon God. In fifteen minutes,
+the door-bell rang violently, and a gentleman, valise in hand, said,
+"Mrs. X----, I left the room which I hired of you one year ago, in a
+great hurry, you will remember; and I owed you five dollars. I have not
+been in the city since, and am rushing out of it again--jumped off the
+car just to give you this money. Good-bye."
+
+
+RELIEF FROM A CREDITOR'S DEMANDS.
+
+
+"At another time, being sorely pressed by a heartless creditor, and
+almost beside herself, she concluded to walk out and get free from the
+insupportable burden, by change of air and scene for two or three hours.
+Passing the house of a friend, just returned from Europe, she called for
+a few moments, and was presented with a small and peculiar plant,
+brought from Wales. All the way home she was asking the Lord to release
+her from this relentless creditor, and all the way home a man, without
+her knowledge, was following her. Arrived at her own stoop, he suddenly
+confronted her, bowed, apologized for the liberty, but said he had not
+had a sight of that dear old plant since he left home; and if she would
+sell it to him, he would gladly give her ten dollars for it. As that was
+half the sum for which she was persecuted, and would probably relieve
+her from annoyance until she could raise the balance, she accepted the
+offer."
+
+
+TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS NEEDED AND GIVEN AT THE LAST MOMENT.
+
+
+"At the time of her husband's death, there were _two hundred dollars_
+due an institute, for board and tuition of their two little boys. His
+death was the flood-gate opened, which let in a successive torrent of
+perplexities, losses, dilemmas, delays, law-suits, etc. She had not been
+able to pay that bill; the principal was importunate, persevering,
+bitter, and, at last, abusive. She cried to the Lord for a week, day and
+night, almost without ceasing. Then, a gentleman whom she had taken to
+her own house and carefully nursed through a dangerous illness, three
+years before, called to say good-bye. He was on his way to a Bremen
+steamer, and all other adieus were said, all his baggage on board,
+except the valise in his hand. Might her boy ride down to the wharf and
+see him off? Of course she was glad to consent. When her son returned he
+brought back a letter, which opened, she found to contain _two hundred
+dollars_ and the words, 'Not that money can ever express my gratitude,
+but the enclosed may be useful for gas-bills or some other little
+household matter.'"
+
+
+HOW THE LORD REPAID A GENEROUS GIFT.
+
+
+"Some gentlemen, urged to contribute to a most worthy cause, said, 'Go
+first to Mr. Z.--whatever he gives, we will.' Mr. Z., upon application,
+concluded to make his neighbors do something worth while, and, as he was
+expecting a thousand dollars in a very few days, subscribed the whole of
+that. Upon the arrival of the vessel which was to pay his subscription,
+he found the difference in exchange between certain countries, had
+swelled his thousand dollars to _twenty-two hundred_."
+
+
+THE ASTONISHED GIVER.
+
+
+"A gentleman, not marching in the ranks of 'cheerful givers,' was urged
+to bestow five dollars toward the 'Fresh Air Fund.' 'He could not;
+business wretched; poor enough himself,' and all the well known line of
+excuses. The friend assured him, if the Lord did not more than make it
+up to him, before the end of the week, he himself would return the
+money. To those terms he agreed, quite sure he should call on Saturday
+and get back the $5. But, the very next morning, he ran to the office of
+his friend to say that an old debt, given up long ago, and for which he
+would have taken one hundred dollars any moment, was paid him about an
+hour after the friend left his store. So astonished was he, that he even
+doubted the check, which was for _five thousand dollars,_ and sent it to
+the bank to test its genuineness before he would give a receipt for it!"
+
+
+ALL SAVED.
+
+
+In a dismal basement, A. found a very interesting American family. The
+father, in the last stage of consumption; a little girl of ten years, an
+invalid from infancy. The mother and two daughters, both under fifteen,
+were out all day at work, trying to keep even such a wretched shelter,
+and a little coarse food, as daily supplies. The three together could
+not make over four dollars a week. The only person to wait on the two
+sick ones during the day, was a little boy four years of age, who, when
+the missionary entered, was reclining upon the bed. But he started up,
+put more coal on the fire, and brought a drink of water, first to his
+sister, then his father; without any bidding, and with the consideration
+of a grown person.
+
+On A.'s next visit, a few days after, he found the mother at home,
+grief-stricken. Her eldest daughter had been taken ill the day previous.
+He gave her all the money he had, prayed with them, and sent at once a
+kind, assiduous physician. In a few weeks the daughter died, but not
+without a good hope in Christ; and was buried at the expense of the few
+kind friends whom A. had sent to see the family. The dying daughter
+exhorted her dying father to seek his soul's eternal welfare, and not
+boast, as heretofore, of his life-long morality. Her conversations led
+him to see his danger out of Christ, and, in a little while after his
+daughter's departure, he followed. The mother had not before had a sure
+Christian hope; but, amidst such influences, her heart was soon opened
+to admit the truth. Not long after her bereavement she began having a
+"cottage prayer-meeting" in her room, and united with an evangelical
+church. She immediately became anxious for the conversion of her two
+boys, who were away, and urged the missionary to write them. He did so,
+frequently, and his heaven-directed appeals led one of the boys very
+soon to Christ. Soon after, he died; the brother returned home with
+consumption. He took great pleasure in the little prayer-meetings, and
+in three months cheerfully and exultantly exchanged this world of
+suffering for the one where father, brother and sister awaited him. Worn
+out with anxiety, care, hard work and poor health, the mother followed;
+leaving the invalid girl and youngest boy; who are watched over, not
+only by their Friend in heaven, but friends on earth. The eldest
+surviving daughter is an esteemed and consistent member of a church of
+Christ.
+
+
+"THE LORD WOKE ME UP IN TIME TO SAVE MY CLOTHES."
+
+
+In the very top of a four-story building, used only for various
+manufacturing purposes, lived an old man and daughter. They lived
+literally _by faith in Christ_, from _day_ to _day_; one hour at a time.
+At his voice, followed Him, whether into darkness or light. Neither took
+a step but as they held his hand. A lady calling one day, said, "Oh!
+Jennie, I thought of your large wash hanging on the roof, last night,
+when the drenching rain came; and I was so sorry to think you would have
+your hard work all over again!" "_Oh! no ma'am. The Lord woke me up out
+of a sound sleep, just as the first few drops fell_! I hastened up and
+brought them all down nice and dry, and had only got to the foot of the
+stairs with the last armful, when it poured down. Now that was the Lord,
+ma'am, for there was not a single noise of any kind to waken me, and I
+was sound asleep!"
+
+
+THE LORD TAKES AWAY THE CUSTOM OF A LIQUOR SALOON.
+
+
+At one time, the landlord rented the ground floor to a liquor seller.
+The loafers going in and out, especially on Sunday, were a great grief
+to Jennie and her saintly old father. They concluded to take it to the
+Lord together, and, said the old man, "He will be sure to attend to it;
+I have been young, and now am old, and I have never known Him fail
+me--He _never_ does." _In three weeks after, the dram-seller closed his
+place for want of patronage_.
+
+
+HELP IN TIME OF NEED.
+
+
+A poor, humble Christian woman had a claim on some property in a
+neighboring State. It was in law, and she was summoned to attend court
+at a certain time. Having scarcely money enough for her daily bread, she
+was obliged to borrow the means to take her there, and pay some cheap
+board while awaiting the conclusion of the trial. She was positively
+assured by the lawyers, that she would receive several hundred dollars.
+She was detained five weeks, instead of one, as she expected, and then
+the suit was postponed till Fall. She was in agony of mind; in a strange
+place--owing for board and washing, and no money to take her to her
+home. Having spent a whole night pacing the floor and calling on the
+Lord to redeem his promises, she felt the fresh air would do her good,
+and sadly took her way down a side street. She had gone but three blocks
+when she found a diamond ring. Being accustomed to the ownership of
+diamonds in her younger days, she knew very nearly its value; took it
+home, watched the principal papers, and the same evening saw a reward of
+seventy-five dollars offered for it. We can imagine that joy lent wings
+to her feet, and thanksgiving filled her whole heart. The sum was
+sufficient to pay her bills, bring her back and return a portion of the
+borrowed money.
+
+
+CAST OUT INTO THE STREET, YET NOT FORSAKEN.
+
+
+A piteous wail was heard on the street one day, and a poor Scotchman
+crossed over to see the trouble. A widow and three children sat on their
+few articles of household furniture. Put in the street, when they could
+no longer find five dollars for the rent of the kennel in which, for six
+months, they had not lived, but existed. He had just received five
+dollars for a piece of work, and was hurrying home with it to his sick
+wife, crippled mother and two children. He thought of the piece of
+meat--a long untasted luxury--he meant to buy; of the tea his mother so
+much craved, and hesitated. Could he give these up? But the streaming
+eyes of the children, and the mute despair on the face of the mother,
+took down the scale. He ran several blocks and found an empty basement;
+hired it for four dollars; enlisted the sympathy and help of a colored
+boy to carry the furniture; put up the stove, bought a bundle of wood,
+pail of coal, and some provisions with the other dollar; held a little
+prayer-meeting on the spot, and left with the benedictions of the
+distressed ones filling his ears. The recital of his adventure
+obliterated for the time all sense of their own desires, and they
+thanked God together that their loss had been the widow's gain. The next
+morning, while taking their frugal meal, a tea dealer, for whom this man
+had frequently put up shelves, came to say he was short-handed, and if
+the Scotchman was not very busy, he would give him a regular position in
+his establishment, at a better salary than he could hope to earn.
+Meanwhile, hearing his wife was sick, he had brought her a couple pounds
+prime tea, and it occurred to him that venison steaks were a little out
+of the ordinary run of meat, and, as he had a quantity at home, he
+brought a couple. Thus the Lord answered the prayer of the poor, and
+repaid the generous giver who sacrificed his money for the Lord.
+
+
+A PERSECUTOR PUNISHED BY THE LORD.
+
+
+A most devout, hard-working and poorly paid man, was the object of
+constant persecution by a cross-grained, ugly, infidel neighbor. For
+three years the thing went on, till the Christian thought he must remove
+from the place. He could not do it without breaking up his humble home,
+for which he had worked night and day. He and his wife were in deep
+distress; told their plans to the Lord; asked Him to direct them to
+another home, and then went to a newspaper office to advertise their
+little place for sale. The editor was out, and they preferred to see
+him--would return home and call again to-morrow. The next morning the
+infidel was found dead in his bed, from a stroke of apoplexy.
+
+
+HOW GOD ANSWERED MY PRAYER FOR $90.
+
+
+"Suffice it, then, I was in debt. I was owing the large sum (large for a
+poor home missionary) of $90.00. Expecting soon to be called upon for
+the payment of it, and not seeing any way to meet it, _I went to the
+Lord with it_. Early in life I had made this resolution: that no man
+whom I was _owing_ should ever ask me for money, and I not pay him; but
+now, I could see no way out; and if, as I expected, it should be
+demanded, I was not in a condition to meet it. Such was my condition
+when, on a certain day, the demand came. I took the letter from the
+office at noon. What now was to be done? Again I took the case to the
+Lord, and asked Him to help me pay it, so that my word need not fail, or
+_his cause suffer reproach._ I first determined to pay a part; but, as
+no letter could be sent out that day, I awaited the results of the day
+following. From the northern mail, which first arrived, I took a letter
+containing an unexpected draft of $50 to my wife, from parties whom we
+did not know, and had never seen, nor they us. Within twenty minutes
+more I was presented with a _surprise_ of $40, from a people where I had
+preached for the six months past. Here was my $90, and, before the mail
+went out, I had my letter written and in the mail. Both were as
+unexpected as if they had come from heaven direct."
+
+
+FROM WEALTH, TO POVERTY.
+
+
+A lady of superior culture and refinement, fell from opulence to extreme
+poverty, within four years. No less ready when at the bottom of
+fortune's ladder, than at the top, to do good as she had opportunity,
+she paid another poor woman's way to a neighboring State, where
+employment awaited her, and did it literally with her _last_ dollar-and
+a-half! Supposing herself the possessor of a ten cent note, over and
+above the twelve shillings, she went with her somewhat feeble protege
+over Jersey city ferry, and saw her safely in the cars. Starting back,
+she was dismayed to find no ten cents in her pocket-book, and, all too
+late, remembered having paid it for a quart of milk that morning; the
+sole breakfast of herself and daughter. Night was approaching--what to
+do she did not know. She had a plain, worn, old gold ring on her finger;
+she took it off, offered it to the ferry-master, who would not take it,
+though she told him she found her money gone and would redeem it next
+day. She went back in the ladies' room and told it to the Lord,
+beseeching his assistance. Just then, a girl passing, jostled against
+her and knocked down her parasol. She picked it up, happened to turn it
+upside down, and out rolled a _five-cent nickel!_ The Lord, then, hears
+prayer for even _five cents_ to provide for the comfort and need of
+those whom He loves.
+
+
+A PRAYER FOR FIFTY DOLLARS.
+
+
+A clergyman writes _The Christian_ as follows:
+
+"The Winter of 1872 I spent in missionary work, carrying the glad
+tidings of the kingdom of God into new fields in the 'regions beyond.'
+With my devoted wife, I labored ardently for the salvation of men 'from
+the wrath to come.' We were full of comfort to be thus engaged, though
+without pledge from man for support, or promised salary for preaching.
+
+"In spite of our rigid economy, I had contracted some debts for the
+necessaries of life. I have since learned to go without what the Lord
+does not provide means to pay for at once. I needed the money to pay the
+debts, and felt impressed to pray for fifty dollars. I said to my wife:
+'_I am going to pray for fifty dollars_.' 'Well,' said she, 'I will join
+you;' and we bowed before God and told Him our needs, and unitedly asked
+Him for fifty dollars; so that we might not bring ourselves or the truth
+we preached, into reproach, by being unable to pay debts. We were agreed
+in asking, and thus claiming the promise: 'If two of you shall agree as
+touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my
+Father which is in heaven.' (Matt, xviii. 19). We had the assurance that
+money would come; but from whence we did not know, nor care, for we knew
+the 'silver and gold' are the Lord's, as well as the 'cattle upon a
+thousand hills,' and he could easily cause some one to give or send us
+the money.
+
+"We felt full of peace; for we knew it was for God's glory to answer
+that prayer. No one outside of the family knew we were praying for
+money. We did not go around among our friends and tell them we were
+praying for fifty dollars, in hopes that they would take it upon
+themselves to answer the prayer. We told none but the God whom we serve.
+
+"Some little time passed, and no money came, but we did not lose our
+faith or assurance. One morning, at family prayer, I was led out to pray
+that we might see the Lord's working in our behalf that day, and I rose
+from my knees with perfect confidence that our hearts would be made to
+rejoice in God that day. When I came in to my dinner I asked my wife if
+any one had brought our mail from the post-office. She said, 'Yes, there
+are some papers on your table.' 'What!' said I, with surprise, 'no
+letters?' I saw a peculiar expression on her countenance, and I asked no
+more questions, but sat down to the dinner table and turned over my
+plate, and there saw a letter she had put beneath it; and as soon as I
+saw the hand-writing I felt, there is money in this, though, of all
+sources, this was from the one least expected. I opened the letter, and
+there was a draft for _fifty dollars, 'a gift to aid in preaching the
+Gospel.'_ If I ever recognized the hand of God in anything, I did in
+this; and if there was ever a time of devout thanksgiving to God, and a
+humbling of self before Him in my house, it was that day. Since then, it
+has been easier to trust in Him than before. He has said, 'I will never
+leave thee nor forsake thee.' He has also said, through his apostles,
+'Be careful for nothing; but in everything, by prayer and supplication
+with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.'"
+
+
+CONCURRENT TESTIMONY OF THE VALUE OF PRAYER.
+
+
+A request was published by the _Illustrated Christian Weekly,_ asking
+that all who could report positive facts as direct results of prayer,
+and thus, tend to show that _"God does answer prayer,"_ should
+communicate them. Very many were communicated, regarding all trials and
+troubles of the heart, and daily temporal or spiritual life. No one can
+question they are authentic to the highest degree; they should silence
+the skeptic, and convince the worldly of the presence of the mysterious
+power and wonderful Spirit of God, which tempers the hearts and lives of
+men and controls them as He wills.
+
+
+A WORLDLY MAN SURRENDERS.
+
+
+A clergyman says, "I was very anxious for the building of a mission
+chapel to accommodate a flourishing mission-school that had been
+organized under my pastorate. Knowing that a certain physician of the
+city was possessed of abundant means and had a praying Christian mother,
+though he had long since given up going to church, I resolved to call
+upon him. Before starting from my study I knelt down and asked God to
+prosper me in my appeal. Upon going out of my parsonage the physician
+was in the act of passing in his carriage. I hailed him, explained to
+him my desire, and the result was not only a contribution of money as
+large as the largest, but a gift of a lot for the chapel worth several
+hundred dollars."
+
+
+A SERVANT'S PRAYER FOR A GOOD HOME.
+
+
+"I was brought up religiously as a servant in a family in Connecticut,
+and from twelve years of age until twenty-three, knew no other home. The
+old couple died, and I lived with their children, but they were so
+different that I became very unhappy and hardly knew what to do or which
+way to turn. I had no relatives and knew nothing of any world save the
+little one in which I had all my life moved, and I was terribly afraid
+to try any other. I could only offer my constant prayer for help, and it
+was answered so much beyond my highest hope, and so kind were God's
+dealings with me that I was taken, almost without an effort of my own,
+into a warm, loving heart, and such a happy home, and all so easily and
+smoothly that to me it seems like a miracle; and never can I forget
+while I live, nor cease to believe that truly 'He is the hearer and
+answerer of prayer.'"
+
+
+"BEFORE THEY CALL I WILL ANSWER."--A PASTOR PRAYS FOR DECISION AS TO
+GOOD CHOICES.
+
+
+"The writer was once in great trouble to know what was duty. Urged by
+ministers and laymen in high standing to undertake a work not exactly in
+the line of the ministry, he hesitated. God's displeasure was feared,
+lest in doing what was desired 'sin might lie at his door.' To refuse
+the wish of good and wise men might be resisting God's call. In this
+trial of conscience he sought in fasting and special prayer the guidance
+of his Heavenly Father. While so doing the above promise came very
+distinctly to his mind. He brought it to God as his own promise, and
+pleaded, if it could be graciously done, that He would literally fulfill
+it to the suppliant. In the very act of thus pleading, he heard a rap on
+the door. Opening it, there stood his mother-in-law. She said, 'Two
+gentlemen are in the parlor waiting for you.' I went down, and the
+interview revealed the exact fulfillment both of the promise and the
+prophecy. The Lord answered my prayer two days before I called on Him.
+One of the two came from New York to my home in a Western city to
+inquire about _the very thing which was troubling me. He was to me an
+entire stranger_, never having heard of him until I saw him. Having
+consulted his friend, the Rev. M.W. Jacobus, D.D., they together came to
+call on me about the matter at the very moment I was pleading with God
+that He would mercifully, 'while yet speaking, hear me.' Now could
+Tyndall and his followers desire a more literal, a more exact
+fulfillment of this prophecy and promise as proof of its inspiration,
+and of prayer as God's ordinance than that prayer for such fulfillment
+of these words actually before the prayer was made, and while the
+petitioner was 'yet speaking?'"
+
+It will be noticed that the best judgment of good men advise one course,
+but trust in God for superior wisdom brought the case to answer in a
+totally different manner, by means of an unknown person, a total
+stranger, who neither knew him nor his desire. The circumstance should
+convince the world.
+
+
+A FAMILY PRAY FOR A GOOD SERVANT.
+
+
+"About three years since my family comfort was very much disturbed by
+failure to obtain a good housemaid. And, having been accustomed to wait
+upon God for right direction in my _temporal_ as well as spiritual
+affairs, in simple faith I asked Him to direct me on reaching New York
+City to where I would find a girl of good character that would
+appreciate a Christian home. My steps were led to a boarding-house on
+Greenwich street, and on inquiring for a German or Swede girl I was told
+they had a nice Swede just landed. I talked to her through an
+interpreter and was satisfied from what she said, as well as from her
+countenance, that she was the one I was searching for. She came to my
+home and proved, in two years' service, almost faultless. In
+conversation one day, a short time after she came to our home, she said
+she had had several places offered her that morning before I came, but
+she did not like them; but as soon as she saw me, felt that she could go
+with me--she was a Christian, member of the Lutheran church and wanted a
+Christian home. Her desire was granted and my prayer was answered."
+
+
+A RECOVERY FROM A DEATH-BED.
+
+
+"Some forty years ago, in a rural parish in New England, a young man lay
+apparently on his death-bed with a putrid fever. His aunt, in whose
+family he was staying, was a woman who had long lived in habitual
+intercourse with the unseen world through prayer. One afternoon, when it
+seemed to those around him that the sick one must die, she went away
+alone to speak with God. With intense earnestness she pleaded for the
+young man's life. And, being deeply interested in the portion of our
+country then beginning to be settled, she asked also that he might
+become a home missionary at the West. There were various circumstances
+which made this latter request, as well as the other, seem very unlikely
+to be fulfilled. And yet it was. The young man recovered, pursued a
+collegiate and theological course, and still lives and labors as a most
+devoted and useful Christian pioneer. More than once he has been a
+member of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, and his name
+is familiar to many."
+
+
+A POOR STUDENT PRAYS FOR MONEY.
+
+
+"I was a poor student in a Manual Labor Institute at the West. The month
+of February was our regular Winter vacation. We were privileged to keep
+our rooms and have board at one dollar a week. But I had absolutely no
+money. I was six hundred miles from my friends, and they were unable to
+furnish me with funds. I had no books for the new term, though these
+were a necessity if I went on with my class, and there was no work about
+the Institution, nor that I know of in the neighborhood at that season.
+My case seemed an exceedingly bad one; and I had no idea from where any
+help could come. So I went to my room in the third story, locked my door
+and carried my case to the Lord. It was a long, earnest, tearful cry for
+help from Him who alone seemed able to give it. My prayer was answered.
+When I had been there I do not know how long, I heard footsteps in the
+empty hall, and in a moment a knock at my door. I wiped my eyes, and put
+myself into presentable shape as soon as I could, and opened the door. A
+lad stood there who said: 'A man wants to see you at the front door.'
+Down the stairs I went, wondering who could want me and what he could
+want me for. In the front yard was a man on a restless horse, who at
+once said: 'We want you to teach our school for a month. The boys have
+driven out the female teacher. We want you to take them in hand, and
+we'll give you fifteen dollars and your board.' I said, 'All right, I'll
+be down there to-morrow morning.' And then I went back to my room to
+thank God for hearing my prayer."
+
+
+"I CAN'T STOP TO PRAY."
+
+
+"A deacon living in a Berkshire town was requested to give his prayers
+in behalf of a poor man with a large family who had broken his leg. 'I
+can't stop now to pray,' said the deacon (who was picking and barreling
+his early apples for the city market), 'but you can go down into the
+cellar and get some corned beef, salt pork, potatoes, and butter--that's
+the best I can do.'"
+
+
+REMARKABLE HEALING OF A CHILD.
+
+
+A clergyman writes that during the ministration of his labors at Battle
+Greek, Mich., there were several remarkable manifestations of divine
+power--especially in the case of a little girl, the daughter of a Mr.
+Smith, a child of about six years.
+
+"In September last, she was taken very sick with spinal fever. She
+became much reduced, extremely nervous and helpless, excepting to move
+her hands. Physicians gave up the case as a hopeless one, deciding that
+should she live, her condition would be that of helplessness, a burden
+to herself and to her parents.
+
+"But our gracious God had better things in store for that afflicted
+family. It was on a Sabbath afternoon, at the very hour when the crowded
+congregation in our house of worship were in prayer for the influences
+of the divine Spirit, that a holy, solemn influence came into the
+dwelling of Brother Smith, as if an angel had come to touch the child
+with healing power. The mother could not leave the bedside of her
+suffering child to attend the meeting, and she says that a sudden change
+came over her feelings, and it appeared to her that an angel had come
+into the house, and had shed a holy influence in every part of it. It
+was at that moment that the hitherto helpless child drew herself up in a
+sitting posture, and next rose upon her feet. She rapidly recovered to
+her usual habits of taking food and sleeping, and now takes the exercise
+of the most robust children of her age."
+
+
+GOD PAID THE RENT.--ANSWER TO PRAYER.
+
+
+A poor Christian family were in distress. The husband, during a long and
+painful sickness, had borne his trials for months with cheerful
+Christian resignation; "but, on this day," said a City Missionary, "I
+found them, for the first time, in tears. The cause I soon learned was
+the want of means to pay the rent of their little home, which would come
+due on the following Monday, and must be paid then, or they would have
+to leave and go they knew not where. The amount needed, _fifteen
+dollars_, and the amount in hand but _fifty cents;_ the future all dark,
+and no hope of recovery from sickness, and no hope of being able to meet
+their expenses--it might be of a long sickness and want--what could I do
+for them? If theirs had been the only case of like wants that day, I no
+doubt could have gone to a few friends and have collected the amount.
+But that would not do them the good I felt they needed. But I felt sure
+of a better way to get it, and lead them to trust in the Lord, and
+glorify God and not man.
+
+"On the wall, at the foot of the sick man's bed, I had hung, but a short
+time previous, one of those precious silent comforters, a scroll of
+Scripture texts, printed in large type, and a different prayer for every
+day in the month. On the page before us for _that day_, after calling
+their attention to it, I read the following words: '_And all things
+whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer believing, ye shall receive_.' Matt.
+21:22. 'Again I say unto you, _that if two of you shall agree on earth
+as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them_.
+Matt. 18:9; remarking, 'Are not those precious promises? Your fears,
+dear brother and sister, are that you will not be able to pay the rent
+on Monday, and may be turned out into the street, unless you get the
+means to pay the rent; are they not?' 'That is so,' said they. 'There
+are two ways: one, to try to get some one to lend you the amount until
+you can pay, if the landlord will not wait; another, to go and beg for
+it.' I have learned a better way, and wish I could lead you to do the
+same. Do as David did. Have you ever gone to the Lord as directed above,
+and found in Him, as David did, a very present help in time of trouble?
+Would not your faith and confidence in God's word and in his kind,
+overruling providence be more strengthened, if, in going to Him now and
+making known your present troubles and wants, He should in a way,
+without your making known your wants to any other person, on Monday
+enable you to pay all?' The answer was, 'We should.'
+
+"After prayer and encouragement to do so, I left them, with the promise
+to call the following Tuesday. Doing so, I was met at the door by the
+wife with a countenance full of joy. '_Oh, brother, we could not wait
+until you came, to tell you the wonderful answer to our prayer_. On
+Monday, _the very day_ that we had to pay the rent, one gentleman came
+and handed my husband _five dollars_, and early in the morning Mrs.
+F---- called and handed me _ten dollars_, making in all _just fifteen
+dollars_, the amount we needed; was it not wonderful? Oh, how good the
+Lord is!' The same week another called and gave them an order for fifty
+dollars more, so that they were able to pay up all their debts, and the
+sudden joy soon led to a speedy restoration to health, and the husband
+is now one of the most active Christian workers and teachers in a
+mission school, and the wife and daughter are also trying to do all they
+can to lead others to trust in Jesus."
+
+
+HE FORGETTETH NOT THE CRY OF THE HUMBLE.
+
+
+A City home missionary has told us of the case of a poor colored family,
+the husband nearly one hundred years old, totally incapacitated for
+work, and confined to his room by sickness nearly twelve years.
+
+Although very often in straitened circumstances, the Lord has never left
+them to want for any good they needed, having, in a truly wonderful
+manner supplied their wants, in answer to prayer. The wife, having for a
+long time been kept from the enjoyment of church privileges by close
+confinement, she had been sorely tempted to doubt her acceptance in
+Christ, and was in great darkness for days; but one day, in reading the
+following words, found in the fifteenth chapter of John, _"If ye abide
+in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will and it shall
+be done unto you,"_ she was led to go to God in prayer, and to ask, if
+not wrong in his sight, to grant her a request, that she might know that
+her prayer was answered, and that she was abiding in Him. The request
+was that, as they were in trouble for the rent coming due the next day,
+and still in need of _three dollars,_ that the Lord would send them a
+friend in a stranger, some one that they had never seen before, and that
+he would put it into the heart of that stranger to give them three
+dollars, and then they would not be tempted to believe, as they had
+sometimes before, that it would have been sent by a friend even if they
+had not prayed.
+
+"But," said she, "I knows if a stranger comes, none but the Lord could
+send, then I would know the Lord heard my prayer, and I was truly the
+Lord's. So I watch for the answer for you knows, brother, when we prays,
+the Lord says we must believe we shall receive what we ask of Him, and
+then He will give it. So I watch and listen for the knock at the door,
+and do you believe me, brother, about three o'clock in the afternoon, I
+hears a knock and opens the door, and a strange lady was there, one I
+never saw before, and asked me if Mrs. H---- lived here; and said she
+had been looking for us before, but could not find us; 'when, to-day I
+felt I must try again, and I am so glad I have found you. I heard of you
+through a friend who has known you a long time.' She spoke many kind
+words, and when she took my hand to say good-by, she left a little roll
+of notes, and when she is gone I count it, and _it was just three
+dollars._ I is been so happy ever since. I loves to tell how good the
+Lord has been to us; every time I does so I feels so happy."
+
+
+INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF AN INVALID.--HOW GOD CARES AND COMFORTS IN
+SMALL THINGS.
+
+
+The following incidents are from the life of an invalid, personally
+known to the editor of this book, and can be depended upon as authentic
+in every particular. They illustrate most beautifully the blessed way in
+which the Savior's everlasting arms are around, strengthening, and His
+presence comforting His weak and helpless ones, in all their little as
+well as great trials of life. The ways in which he sent relief, and the
+many hundred promises which he has given; will encourage other Christian
+hearts to trust the same _Omnipotent, ever Helping Friend._
+
+
+GIVING HER LAST MONEY TO THE LORD.
+
+
+"'The first money the Lord gives me I will send to you,' were the last
+words I said to my old father, as I stood waiting for the train to bear
+me to distant friends. So the weeks passed on, but I remembered my
+promise and waited patiently for the Lord to enable me to fulfill that
+promise. I had two dollars, but thought I must not give it away until
+more came. But this feeling did not last long; something seemed to tell
+me the Lord would not send me any until that was gone. One day I
+received a letter from a friend containing this sentence: 'I have not
+had three cents in five weeks.' My whole nature responded in a moment. I
+put part of my money into a letter for him, the rest into a letter for
+my father. Now I felt clear. Then I told the Lord all about it. A week
+passed, and $5 came to me from my mother to pay my return fare. A few
+days longer, and another $5 came from a lady friend, so I was provided
+for. I needed a certain article of clothing, and one night made all
+arrangements to get it next day. Morning came, and I went to the Bible
+for my orders for the day; my eyes rested on these words: 'Be content
+with what ye have.' This seemed so strange, because the Lord knew I
+needed the dress; I was obliged to stay out of society on this account.
+'But the Lord knows best,' I thought, and gave up all idea of getting
+it. Nor did it trouble me further. I gave it all into his hands, feeling
+He knew best. And afterwards it was made clear to my own heart I had not
+trusted in vain. _'Commit all thy ways unto the Lord, for He careth for
+thee.'"_
+
+
+MONEY WANTED TO PAY RAILROAD FARE.
+
+
+"Once, on a visit, I left the company below, and went up stairs for an
+hour's quiet and prayer. I was to return the coming week and I had only
+just enough to pay my fare. For several days I had been anxious how I
+was to get some money. This afternoon I had to pray very earnestly,
+because the need was great. An hour passed; I felt weary and
+unrefreshed, when a voice clear and near said unto me: 'Trust in the
+Lord and do good, and verily thou shalt be fed.' It was not a human
+voice, for no one was near me, but I started and looked around, _almost_
+expecting to see an angel visitant. I saw nothing, but the sun shone
+brighter outside, and the room seemed brighter than before. And why
+should it not? The Lord had been there with words of cheer and comfort
+for his little child. I arose and went below, where I found other
+company had called, and I was introduced to the lady and her husband,
+whom I had met five years before. A pleasant chat and they left, after
+giving me an invitation to visit them. At the door, as I learned from my
+friend who attended them, Mrs. N---- said: 'I should like to give Miss
+B---- something,' and handed my friend _a five dollar bill for me_. I
+was more than surprised. I cannot tell you the emotions of my heart.
+While I was yet asking, even, the messenger had brought my answer. I
+could yet hear the soft sound of the voice up-stairs, and the soothing
+influence of the unseen presence still lingered round me. How quickly
+our needs flow on the wings of prayer into the very presence of our
+Friend and Master."
+
+
+PRAYER SAVES THE LIFE OF A LITTLE CHILD.
+
+
+"A year ago this Summer, my sister's little baby, only five months old,
+was taken very ill with that distressing complaint which often proves so
+fatal, and takes so many sweet little ones out of loving hearts and
+homes. I loved baby Ernest, but never so well as when he lay so sick he
+could not know it. We all loved him, and everything was done that could
+be thought of to ease the little sufferer all those long, close, hot
+days. Day after day, for four long weeks, we tenderly cared for him.
+Sometimes his mother would watch his every breath, fearing each would be
+the last. One Sunday he lay just where we put him, so quiet and still,
+with the sweet baby face so white and calm, we thought we should lose
+him soon, the little hands and feet were so cold. All through his
+illness, I kept asking the Lord to let his parents keep the tender bud
+he had sent them. We could not let him die, and to-day I prayed very
+earnestly all the time--even when we could not warm the little body at
+all--we could not let him go. Well, Ernnie passed over the fearful day
+and became a happy, well boy. He was saved. No physician saved him. Our
+tender care did not save him. Prayer saved our Ernnie. Precious baby! He
+is such a jolly, happy boy now, filling every heart and the whole house
+with his sunshine. How I love the little fellow. When I am here at his
+home, he always comes to Auntie for love and tenderness. When I am
+resting on the lounge, he comes every few moments to kiss me, giving and
+receiving real heart-love. We know God only lends these little treasures
+to their human friends. But oh, they bring so much love with them, it is
+hard to give them up."
+
+
+THE LOST THIMBLE.
+
+
+"One day I lost my silver thimble, a gift from my mother when I was a
+young girl. I prized it _very highly_. I looked everywhere, long and
+faithfully. The tears would come, at the best, it had been so long a
+constant companion. I gave up the search after a while, thinking some
+one had taken it, or a child had lost it--any way, it was gone. Feeling
+sad over it, I sat down to console myself, and the thought came--pray
+about it; so I did, and while I knelt there something whispered, 'Look
+on the bed,' so plainly that I arose and went into my sister's
+sleeping-room where I had turned the spread aside, and there nestled, in
+a fold of the quilt, _my thimble_. I involuntarily said, 'Thank God!'
+out of the depths of my glad heart. I had lain down a moment on this bed
+with baby Ernest, early in the morning, and the thimble had fallen out
+of my pocket."
+
+
+A PRAYER FOR $25.
+
+    "God moves in a mysterious way
+    His wonders to perform."
+
+
+"I had a present of twenty-five dollars once, which was a direct answer
+to earnest, pleading prayer. I was entirely out of money for months--I
+could not earn a dollar. I had those who might have assisted me, but
+they did not. I could have borrowed, but I might never be able to return
+it; I knew not what to do. One evening, thinking it all over, scanning
+the dark cloud with anxious eyes, I said, 'If the Lord cannot help me,
+no one else can; I will ask Him.' And so I did, bringing all the
+previous promises before Him, pleading my unworthiness, but my great
+need; asking first for _ten dollars_; then, as I grew more earnest, I
+asked for _twenty-five,_ feeling almost frightened as the words came
+from my lips. Sometimes the thought would intrude, 'How can you ask for
+any given sum--how do you expect it will come?' so I said, one day, to
+the Lord, 'Any sum you choose; you know best; I will be content.'
+Several weeks passed, and a sweet feeling of rest and assurance came,
+that, whatever came of it, would be all for the best. But, by-and-by,
+when the anxious pleading feeling was all gone, one morning came a
+letter from one I had never seen, with $25--just what I had asked for. I
+cannot tell you just how I felt; I only know I held the check long in my
+hand, scarcely realizing it could be for me."
+
+
+PRAYING FOR OTHERS.
+
+
+"My sister's husband wished to raise a certain sum of interest money by
+a given time, but could see no way; was very much troubled about it;
+said he knew no one to whom he could apply. I told him to pray for it.
+He answered, 'God won't hear the prayer of the wicked; suppose you ask
+him yourself.' I did ask Him, earnestly and faithfully, and it was even
+given me the idea who my brother could ask to loan it him. I spoke of
+the man to him--said I thought he might get it; so he called on him one
+evening, and the way was made plain for my brother to introduce the
+subject; and when he came home that night, he brought with him the three
+hundred dollars."
+
+
+A VISIT TO FRIENDS.
+
+     "I will hold thee by thy right hand, saying unto thee, fear
+     not, I will help thee."
+
+
+"Once I held in my hand an open letter, containing an invitation to
+visit friends I had never seen. My heart bounded with pleasure at
+thought of the journey, and the pleasant visit to follow; but, on second
+thought, it almost stood still--where could I get money and proper
+clothing? Several weeks passed in thought. I could see no way, and so I
+wrote my friends I could not come at present; but, in my heart, I could
+not give it up. My parents were visiting in the far West, and I had no
+one to advise me; so, up in my little room, night after night, I made it
+a point to tell the Lord about it; and soon it seemed as easy and right
+as though I were talking to a friend. One day, my brother-in-law said he
+would pay my expenses to and fro. I thanked him, and took fresh courage,
+and still kept on praying. Then the same good brother gave me money for
+a dress; then a friend furnished other articles, and soon, I was en
+route for the quaint old city by the sea. Every step was accomplished by
+the simple way of prayer; and, when I slept, late that night, in a cosy
+room at the Methodist parsonage in N.B., I could look back over the last
+few weeks, and thank God for the _power of prayer_. But the best of it
+all was the lesson I had learned--one which I shall never forget, while
+memory holds her magic power--to carry _everything_ to God in prayer; to
+trust him in every matter, however small; and this is the whole secret
+of the power that lies in prayer."
+
+"I found another lady visitor at my friend's and we were to share the
+same bed. This was a little trial; I had to ask the Lord to give me
+patience--and He did. One night, I was very restless and nervous; I
+could not sleep. I knew I was disturbing my friend--soon she said,
+'Annie, I am going to ask the Lord to come and put you to sleep. Now,
+lay still, and in five minutes you will be all right'. I did so, also
+breathing the words, 'Give me sleep, dear Saviour.' The room seemed to
+be full of a soft, soothing influence, and I fell asleep. Once only in
+the night I awoke, but soon went asleep. When I awoke in the morning,
+rested and refreshed, Tillie, who was dressing near me, looked up with
+her pleasant smile and said, 'Annie, how wonderful it was. You were
+asleep in less than five minutes. It seemed as though Jesus stood close
+by your side; I could _almost see_ Him, I felt so clearly His presence.
+He is here now, Annie; can't you feel Him near? He was very good to you
+last night.' Yes, indeed, I felt the influence of His presence, and, all
+day, whenever I entered the room, I felt it, and it seemed as though I
+must tread softly, it was so like holy ground. This feeling lasted
+through my stay, and, last Winter, while again visiting the home of my
+friends, it all came back to me again. This beautiful influence has ever
+kept with me, and I never close my eyes in sleep until I say, 'Oh, Lord,
+breathe upon me the sweet spirit of sleep.' However weary, sick or
+nervous I may be, I feel that the soothing power will come; and, with my
+hand in His, I rest peacefully, at last."
+
+
+PRAYING FOR A NEW HAT.
+
+    "Whatsoever thing ye ask in _My_ name"--
+
+
+"For a long while I had been without money, and my need was very great.
+I wanted a new hat so much; and the question arose in my mind, 'What am
+I going to do about it?' As I had no human arm to depend on for
+anything, of course there was only one way for me to do--ask the Lord
+for money to get me a hat. With me, to think is to act, and so I told
+the Lord all about it, asking, if it was His will, to send me, in His
+own way, money for the article I needed. Day after day passed, and I
+felt almost discouraged. One day, a letter came from a lady friend I had
+never seen, enclosing one dollar. I bought my hat--neither could I have
+used that dollar for another purpose. Soon after this, my physician
+ordered something for me. I had no money to get it, but said I would get
+it soon as I could. Three weeks passed, and no money came. Then I asked
+the Lord for enough to get my medicine. Another letter came from an old
+nurse, with a gift of one dollar. I had my medicine. Time after time, I
+have not had wherewith to send my letters, and, as I have a large
+correspondence, it often is a real trouble. The only way I have to do is
+to _pray for it,_ and always, in some way, it comes; not in _my
+way_--not just as soon as I ask for it--but in His own way, He always
+provides. I have learned to trust and not be afraid, even though the
+clouds hang heavy, and I see no ray of light, the promise is there, and
+for me, 'I will _never_ leave thee, or forsake thee.' I am so entirely
+dependent on Him for everything that sometimes, in little matters, my
+faith will, for a brief season, droop. Sometimes I have to plead and
+plead over again some particular promises; but these times of waiting on
+Him only strengthen me for future conflicts. 'Wait on the Lord, and he
+shall renew thy strength,' comes in beautifully on such occasions. No
+human being to help me; no one but God. Sometimes, when I sit alone,
+such a flood of feelings come over me, I well nigh sink. Loneliness,
+homesickness, and the great want in every human heart of sympathy and
+love, leave me, for a moment, without hope or faith; but, when the heart
+is weakest, and the need greatest, the loving Saviour is nearest. 'Like
+as a mother comforteth her child, so does He comfort me;' and then,
+soothed by his power and love, how the aching heart rests 'by the still
+waters, and in the green pastures.' There is nothing but prayer for the
+helpless sinner; nothing else will bring us into loving companionship
+with the Lord. We may go to Him always, with every trial, need or
+sorrow. He is ever waiting--ever ready to hear and answer."
+
+
+PRAYING FOR A SEWING MACHINE.
+
+
+"One day a lady friend said to me: 'Would you like some nice sewing,
+easy to do?' I answered, 'Yes.' 'Have you a sewing machine?' 'I have
+not, but am praying for one.' 'That is right; so you believe you will
+have it by praying for it?' I replied: 'If the Lord thinks I need it, He
+will send it.' I had learned to use my sister's, but I wanted one of my
+own, to use just when I felt like it. So the thought kept in my heart,
+'Why can't I pray for one?' And yet it seemed foolish to go in prayer to
+God for such a simple thing, but I had not then learned that _all
+things,_ with Him, meant every wish and want of the human heart. But
+there was no other way. He must send my machine, or I could have none. I
+prayed very earnestly. After a few weeks of waiting, one golden winter
+morning it came--my beautiful machine--just what I wanted. This seemed
+so wonderful to me, that it seemed to bring me into nearer companionship
+with the Lord, and ever after, whatever I needed, I went directly to Him
+for. A ministerial friend once asked me what it was I had covered up on
+the stand. I told him it was my piano, taking the cover aside and
+showing him at once how my beautiful sewing machine worked. _'What tune
+do you play oftenest?'_ he asked. _'Rock of Ages_ is its favorite one,
+and I never sew without singing it.'"
+
+
+
+MONEY FOR POSTAGE.
+
+
+"One day I opened my port-monnaie to get change for some little needful,
+when I found I had but ten cents. I used five of it. As visions of six
+or seven letters and many little things I needed came up before me, I
+said aloud: 'The Lord will have to send me some money pretty soon.' I
+think once through the day I prayed for some money, but felt no
+uneasiness about it. That evening a lady friend called to say good-by
+for the winter, and as she left gave me _fifty cents for postage._ While
+I was calling He answered me. About a week before this, I thought I
+would ask the Lord for $5 for my physician. He had come so faithfully,
+day after day, without ever expecting one dollar, because I had told him
+freely my circumstances. But I felt I must give him something for a gift
+at least. So I asked for five dollars. Day after day passed away, and I
+thought perhaps the Lord did not want me to have it. But still I prayed,
+asking it for His will, not mine. One morning a letter came from a very
+dear friend, containing a check for the amount for which I had prayed,
+and a little beside. It seemed such a signal answer to my prayer, that I
+could scarcely speak, and in my heart a glad prayer of thanksgiving went
+up to Him, who had told me _to ask and I should receive._ A friend, to
+whom I told this, said: 'Now you need this money yourself; I would not
+give it to the doctor now--wait awhile.' 'But,' I replied, 'I dare not
+do it. I need it, I know, but I asked God for it for my doctor, and I
+must give it.' And here let me say, when we ask God for money, it is
+sacred, and must be spent only to please Him."
+
+
+PRAYING FOR A BIBLE.
+
+
+"For a long while it has been my habit to be entirely guided for the day
+by the first verse in the Bible on which my eyes rested. While dressing
+for the day, I glance at the open page, or sometimes turning over the
+leaves. But my old Bible was poor print and small, and it troubled me
+for a long while. So I thought I would ask the Lord to send me a new
+one. I told Him all about it. One day, this Summer, the postman brought
+me a package of magazines and a letter. I began to undo the package,
+eager to scan their welcome pages. My sister laughingly said she would
+read my letter, and suiting the action to the word, opened the envelope.
+I really did not mind what she was doing, until she said: 'Why there is
+some money here, but no letter.' So she handed me the half sheet of
+paper, with the money folded inside. I looked it over, and there were
+only these words in pencil: 'For a Bible, and three dollars.' We looked
+at each other; I could not say a word, until she said, 'What does it all
+mean? 'I answered, 'The Lord sent it, I know; where could it come from?'
+It was wonderful--wonderful because I could not remember as I ever told
+any one that I was praying for a Bible."
+
+
+A SPRING MATTRESS.
+
+
+"Last Summer, when I bought my bedstead, I did not have money to get
+either springs or a mattress, so I fixed up a clean, straw bed, and
+covered it nicely with a thick comfortable. It was pretty hard--I did
+not rest well. So, one sleepless night, I said aloud, 'I will just ask
+the Lord to send me a set of springs.' I kept on day by day. When I felt
+the severe pain which denoted illness, I thought of my hard bed and
+prayed more earnest. One day my physician spoke of my hard bed. I told
+him I was going to have a better one; I was praying for some springs.
+And so I kept on. One day, a lady friend said something about my bed. I
+did not say much. Somehow I felt I must not; I wanted to have it all the
+Lord's doings, if I ever had any. One day my sister said a man was at
+the door, who wanted to fit a set of springs to my bed. Why, I can't
+tell how I felt; even after God had answered my simple prayers, and
+honored my faith so many times, I was astonished at this. But she helped
+me up, and the bed was fitted with nice, new springs. And they were
+mine. The man could not tell anything about them. My sister says,
+'Annie, did you order them?' I said, 'No.' 'Don't you know who sent
+them?' I said, 'No.' 'Did you ask Mrs. W---- to order them?' I said, 'I
+did not; I would lay here six years before I would do it. No, somebody
+had a hand in it, but the Lord sent them, because I prayed for them all
+the time.' A friend was present when my physician called. I told him
+about the new springs. His kind face lit up grandly at this new evidence
+that God did answer humble, faithful prayer, and he turned to my friend
+with the words: 'I am glad they were just what she has been praying
+for.' I do not think he had anything to do about them. But these springs
+are only another proof of his love and power, in touching the hearts of
+his children to help others. And they have their reward. Soon after
+this, a lady sent me a white spread for my bed. Surely, God is good to
+his little ones."
+
+
+THE HEALING OF MARY THEOBALD.
+
+
+The following incident is related by her pastor, at Woburn, Mass., who,
+for three and a half years, was well acquainted with her physical
+condition, and who testified, in _The Congregationalist_, that no
+medicine, or physician's aid or advice, was of any avail:
+
+"From the first of my acquaintance to the last, she had an unswerving
+confidence in her recovery. Many times has she said to me: 'I believe
+that I shall be well. Jesus will raise me up. I shall hear you preach
+some day.'
+
+"But, in common with the friends who were watching her case, and with
+the physicians who had exhausted their skill upon her in vain, I had
+little or no hope for her. It seemed to me that her life was to be one
+of suffering; that God was keeping her with us that we might have a
+heroic example of what His grace could enable one to bear and to become.
+
+"A few days ago, I received from her lips the following statement of the
+origin and progress of her sickness: 'My first sickness occurred when I
+was about sixteen years old. This illness lasted for a year. Indeed, I
+was never well again. That sickness left me with a bad humor, which, for
+two years, kept me covered with boils. When the boils disappeared, the
+trouble was internal. Physicians feared a cancer. For ten years, I was
+sick, more or less--sometimes able to work, sometimes utterly prostrate.
+
+"'My second severe illness began in the Autumn of 1871. I had been
+failing for two years. Then I was obliged to give up. I was on the bed
+five months. From this illness I never recovered so as to labor or walk
+abroad. When not confined to my bed, I have been on the lounge, as you
+have known me. No one can ever know the suffering which these years have
+brought me.'
+
+"My acquaintance with her began in the Spring of 1873. Several times
+since I have known her, she has been carried so low that we have thought
+her release near at hand; and, indeed, the general tendency has been
+downwards. I recently asked an intelligent physician, who had attended
+her for a year or more, to give me the facts in her case. He replied:
+'She is diseased throughout. Her system is thoroughly soured. It
+responds to nothing. Almost every function is abnormal. There is no help
+for her in medicine.' Other physicians had tried their skill with the
+same result. It was generally admitted by doctors, friends and family,
+that nothing more could be done for her. While all saw only suffering
+and an early death in store for her, yet she confidently expected to be
+well, and her faith never waned.
+
+"It was her custom to spend a few weeks each year in the family of one
+of the sisters in the church. At her last visit, it was evident to this
+lady that Mary was not so well as in former years. One day, when
+conversation turned upon this topic, she felt constrained to express her
+fears. But Mary was hopeful. A proposition was made, and arrangements
+were perfected to visit Doctor Cullis, to secure the benefit of his
+prayers. But her feebleness was so great that the plan was abandoned.
+'If,' said Mrs. F., 'faith is to cure you, why go to Doctor Cullis, or
+to any one? Let us go to God ourselves; and, Mary, if you have faith
+that God can and will cure you sometime, why not believe that He will
+_cure you now?_'
+
+"She felt herself cast on God alone. All hope of human help was at an
+end. She had thought it, hitherto, enough patiently to wait His time.
+She saw that, after all, she must not dishonor God by limiting His
+power. Again her Bible opened to the familiar passages, '_the prayer of
+faith shall save the sick_;' 'according to your faith be it unto you.'
+She felt that the time for testing her faith had come. She would
+dishonor the Lord no longer. Requesting the prayers of the family that
+God would now grant healing and restoration, she tottered to her couch,
+and, asking that in the morning she might be well, calmly closed her
+eyes in the assurance that it would be so. _And according to her faith,
+so it was. She came forth in the morning without a remnant of the pain
+which had filled a decade of years with agony_. That Sabbath was to her,
+indeed, 'a high day.' A week later the frequent prophecy that she should
+hear me preach was fulfilled.
+
+"_Not a vestige of suffering remained_. So far as that is concerned,
+there was not a hint left that she had been an invalid for almost a
+score of years.
+
+"_She immediately took her place in the family as a well person._ Two
+days after, I saw her. She came to meet me with a step light and strong,
+and with a face written all over with thankfulness and joy. Since that
+time all the abandoned duties of active life have been resumed. When
+last I saw her, she was in bounding health and spirits, declaring that
+she could not remember when she had felt so happy and well. That
+night--one of the coldest of the winter, the roads at their iciest--she
+walked more than half a mile to and from the prayer-meeting.
+
+It is difficult for those who are not conversant with the case to
+believe it, yet there is no illusion in it. _That she went to sleep a
+suffering, feeble, shattered woman, and, awoke free from pain, and that
+she has been gaining in strength ever since, are facts that cannot be
+doubted_."
+
+
+HOW PRAYER HELPED HIM TO KEEP THE PLEDGE.
+
+
+In a rural district, in the North of England, lived a shoe-maker who had
+signed the temperance pledge often, but never had strength to keep it.
+After a while, he was able to keep it, and reformed entirely. A friend
+was curious to learn how he had been able, at last, to win the victory,
+and went to see him.
+
+"Well, William, how are you?"
+
+"Oh, pretty well. I had only eighteen pence and an old hen when I
+signed, and a few old scores; but now I have about ten pounds in the
+bank, and my wife and I have lived through the summer without getting
+into debt. But as I am only thirty weeks old yet (so he styled himself),
+I cannot be so strong yet, my friend."
+
+"How is it you never signed before?"
+
+"I did sign; but I keep it different now to what I did before, friend."
+
+"How is this?"
+
+"Why, I _gae doon_ on my knees and pray."
+
+Here was the _real strength of prayer_. His own resolves were of no
+value; but when he called on God to help, then came new strength, and he
+was kept by restraining grace. The bitter experience of those who pledge
+and pledge over and over again, and never gain the victory, at last must
+come to either of two ends--their utter destruction, or else to call on
+God in prayer, to help them keep the pledge manfully, and make them
+steadfast in their resolutions.
+
+
+ONE WHO REFUSED THE HOLY SPIRIT.
+
+
+The following incident is related by D.L. Moody, the Evangelist, which
+contains a warning, how the Holy Spirit avenges itself to those who
+refuse its admonitions. It is a remarkable instance of the control of an
+overruling God, who alone knew that man's mind, and which alone could
+bring that text so often to his memory:
+
+"There was a young man in my native village--he was not a young man when
+I was talking to him--we were working on the farm together one day and
+he was weeping; I asked him what he was weeping about, and he told me a
+very strange story. When he left home his mother gave him the text:
+'_Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these
+things will be added unto you_.' He was ambitious to get rich, and
+thought when he had got comfortable, that was the time to give his
+attention to religion. He went from village to village, and got nothing
+to do. Sunday came, and he went into the village church. _What was his
+great surprise to hear the minister preach from that text_. It went down
+into his heart--he thought that it was his mother's prayers that were
+following him--he thought the whole sermon was for himself, and thought
+he would like to get out. For days be could not get that text and sermon
+out of his mind. He went on still, from village to village, and at last
+he went into another church after weeks had rolled away. He went for
+some Sundays to the church, and it wasn't a great while before the
+minister _gave out this very text_. He thought surely it was God calling
+him then, and he said, coolly and deliberately, _he would not seek the
+Kingdom of God_. He went on in this way, and in the course of a few
+months, to his great surprise, he heard the _third sermon from the third
+minister on the same text_. He tried to stifle it, but it followed him.
+At last he made up his mind he would not go to church any more. When he
+came back to Northfield, after years, his mother had died, but the text
+kept coming to him over and over, and he said, 'I will not become a
+Christian;' and said he to me, 'Moody, my heart is as hard as that
+stone.' It was all Greek to me, because I was not a Christian myself at
+the time. After my conversion, in Boston, he was about the first man I
+thought of. When I got back and asked my mother about him, she told me
+he was gone out of his mind, and to every one who went to the asylum to
+see him he pointed his finger and said: '_Seek ye first the Kingdom, of
+God and His Righteousness_.' When I went back to my native village,
+after that, I was told he was still out of his mind, but at home. I went
+to see him, and asked him did he know me. He was rocking backwards and
+forwards in his rocking chair, and he gave me that vacant stare and
+pointed to me as he said, '_Young man, seek first the Kingdom of God and
+His Righteousness_.' When, last month, I laid down my younger brother in
+his grave, I could not help but think of that man lying but a few yards
+away. May every man and woman here be wise for eternity and seek now the
+Kingdom of God and His Righteousness, is my prayer."
+
+
+THE PRAYING SHOE-MAKER.
+
+
+A correspondent of _The American Messenger_ relates this instance of a
+poor man in the village where he lived, who, with a family of young
+children and a wife in very feeble health, found it extremely difficult
+to obtain a livelihood. He was at length compelled to work by the week
+for a shoe-dealer in the city, four miles from the village, returning to
+his family every Saturday evening, and leaving home early on Monday
+morning.
+
+He usually brought home the avails of his week's labor in provisions for
+the use of his family during the following week; but on one cold and
+stormy night, in the depth of winter, he went towards his humble
+dwelling with empty hands, but a full heart. His employer had declared
+himself unable to pay him a penny that night, and the shoe-maker, too
+honest to incur a debt without knowing that he should be able to cancel
+it, bent his weary steps homeward, trusting that He who hears the ravens
+when they cry, would fill the mouths of his little family. He knew that
+he should find a warm house and loving hearts to receive him, but he
+knew, too, that a disappointment awaited them which would make at least
+_one_ heart ache.
+
+When he entered his cottage, cold and wet with the rain, he saw a bright
+fire, brighter faces, and a table neatly spread for the anticipated
+repast. The tea-kettle was sending forth its cloud of steam, all ready
+for "the cup which cheers, but not inebriates," and a pitcher of milk,
+which had been sent in by a kind neighbor, was waiting for the bread so
+anxiously expected by the children. The sad father confessed his
+poverty, and his wife in tears begged him to make _some_ effort to
+procure food for them before the Sabbath. He replied, "Let us ask God to
+give us our daily bread. Prayer avails with God when we ask for temporal
+good, as well as when we implore spiritual blessings." The sorrowing
+group knelt around the family altar, and while the father was entreating
+fervently for the mercies they so much needed, a gentle knocking at the
+door was heard. When the prayer was ended the door was opened, and there
+stood a woman in the "peltings of the storm," who had never been at that
+door before, though she lived only a short distance from it. She had a
+napkin in her hand, which contained a large loaf of bread; and half
+apologizing for offering it, said she had unintentionally made "a larger
+batch of bread" than usual that day, and though she hardly knew why, she
+thought it might be acceptable there.
+
+After expressing their sincere gratitude to the woman, the devout
+shoe-maker and his wife gave thanks to God with overflowing hearts.
+While the little flock were appeasing their hunger with the nice new
+bread and milk, the father repaired to the house where I was an inmate,
+and told his artless tale with streaming eyes, and it is unnecessary to
+say, that he returned to his home that night with a basket heavily
+laden, and a heart full of gratitude to a prayer-answering God.
+
+
+HOW THE LORD CONTROLS EVEN THE LOCOMOTIVE AND THE RAILROAD TRAIN.
+
+
+A remarkable instance of how the Lord controlled circumstances for the
+detention of one train, and speeded the arrival of the other, in answer
+to the prayer of a poor widow, who was in anxiety and distress, is thus
+known to the editor of _The Watchman and Reflector_:
+
+"Not long ago an engineer brought his train to a stand at a little
+Massachusetts village, where the passengers have five minutes for lunch.
+A lady came along the platform and said: 'The conductor tells me the
+train at the junction in P---- leaves fifteen minutes before our
+arrival. It is Saturday night, that is the last train. I have a very
+sick child in the car, and no money for a hotel, and none for a private
+conveyance for the long, long journey into the country. What shall I
+do?' 'Well,' said the engineer, 'I wish I could tell you.' 'Would it be
+possible for you to hurry a little?' said the anxious, tearful mother.
+'No, madam, I have the time-table, and the rules say I must run by it.'
+
+She turned sorrowfully away, leaving the bronzed face of the engineer
+wet with tears. Presently she returned and said, 'Are you a Christian?'
+'I trust I am,' was the reply. 'Will you pray with me that the Lord may,
+in some way, delay the train at the junction?' 'Why, yes, I will pray
+with you, but I have not much faith.' Just then, the conductor cried,
+'All aboard.' The poor woman hurried back to her deformed and sick
+child, and away went the train, climbing the grade. 'Somehow,' says the
+engineer, 'everything worked to a charm. _As I prayed, I couldn't help
+letting my engine out just a little_. We hardly stopped at the first
+station, people got on and off with wonderful alacrity, the conductor's
+lantern was in the air in half a minute, and then away again. Once over
+the summit, it was dreadful easy to give her a little more, and then a
+little more, as I prayed, till she seemed to shoot through the air like
+an arrow. Somehow I couldn't hold her, knowing I had the road, and so we
+dashed up to the junction six minutes ahead of time.' There stood the
+train, and the conductor with his lantern on his arm. 'Well,' said he,
+'_will you tell me what I am waiting here for? Somehow I felt I must
+wait your coming to-night, but I don't know why_.' 'I guess,' said the
+brother conductor, 'it is for this woman, with her sick and deformed
+child, dreadfully anxious to get home this Saturday night.' But the man
+on the engine and the grateful mother think they can tell why the train
+waited. God held it to answer their prayers."
+
+Think of this wonderful improbability according to natural
+circumstances. These trains never connected with each other, nor were
+intended to. There was no message sent ahead to stop. There was not the
+slightest business reason for waiting, yet the second conductor, on
+arrival of the first, asks this question, "_What am I waiting for_," and
+the answer of the first is more singular, "I don't know."
+
+
+ANOTHER INSTANCE OF SUPERHUMAN CONTROL OF THE LOCOMOTIVE, IN ANSWER TO
+PRAYER.
+
+
+An exact parallel instance to the foregoing is given in the experience
+of a correspondent of _The Christian_, which occurred in the latter part
+of November, 1864, while traveling with her aged father and two small
+girls:
+
+"We started from New Hampshire on Thursday morning, expecting to have
+ample time to get through to Indiana before Saturday night; but, after
+we crossed the St. Lawrence River, the next day, I think, there was a
+smash-up on a freight train, which hindered our train about two hours. I
+began to feel anxious, as I knew our limited means would not permit us
+to stop long on the way. After the cars had started again, I inquired of
+the conductor what time we should get to Toledo, fearing we should not
+reach there in time for the down train. _He said it would be impossible
+to gain the time._ Soon they changed conductors, and I made a similar
+inquiry, getting about the same answer. Still I hoped, till we reached
+the Detroit River. Here I found that, though they had put on all the
+steam they dared to, they were _almost an hour behind time_, so I should
+have to stay over till Sunday night.
+
+"After getting seated in the cars on the other side, I ventured to ask
+the conductor if we should get to Toledo in time for the down train. He
+readily said, '_No, madam, impossible! If we put on all the steam, we
+dare to, we shall be more than half an hour behind time._ If we were on
+some trains we might hope they would wait; but on this, _never! He is
+the most exact conductor you ever saw. He was never known to wait a
+second, say nothing about a minute, beyond the time._' I then inquired
+if we could not stay at the depot. He said, No; we should all freeze to
+death, for the fire is out till Sunday evening.
+
+"A gentleman sitting in front of us said he would show us a good hotel
+near by, as he was acquainted there. I thanked him, but sunk back on my
+seat. Covering my eyes with my hand, and raising my heart to God, I
+said, 'O, God, if thou art my Father, and I am thy child, put it into
+the heart of that conductor to wait till we get there.'
+
+"Soon I became calm, and fell asleep, not realizing that God would
+answer my poor prayer; but, when we reached Toledo, to the astonishment
+of us all, there stood the conductor, _wanting to know the reason why he
+had to wait_, when our conductor told him there was a lady with her
+crippled father and two little daughters, who were going down on that
+train.
+
+"Soon as all were out of the car, both conductors came with their
+lanterns and gave their aid in helping my father to the other train,
+where they had reserved seats by keeping the door locked. All was hurry
+and confusion to me, as I had my eye on father, fearing he might fall,
+it being very slippery, when the baggage-master said, 'Your checks,
+madam!' I handed them to him, and rushed into the car; but, before I got
+seated, the car started, and I had no checks for my baggage. Again my
+heart cried out, 'O, Thou that hearest prayer, take care of my baggage!'
+believing He could do that as well as make the conductor wait. In a few
+moments the conductor came to me with a face radiant with smiles,
+saying, '_Madam, I waited a whole half hour for you_,--_a thing I never
+did before since I was a conductor, so much as to wait one minute after
+my time_.' He said, 'I know it was your father that I was waiting for,
+because there was nothing else on the train for which I could have
+waited.' I exclaimed, in a half suppressed tone, 'Praise the Lord!' I
+could not help it; it gushed out. Then he said, '_At the very moment all
+were on board, and I was ready to start, such a feeling came over me as
+I never had in my life before. I could not start_. Something kept saying
+to me, _you must wait_, for there is something pending on that train you
+must wait for. I waited, and here you are, all safe.' Again my heart
+said, Praise the Lord! and he started to leave me, when I said, 'But
+there is one thing.' 'What is it?' was his quick reply. 'I gave the
+baggage-master my checks, and have none in return.' 'What were the
+numbers?' I told him. 'I have them,' he said, handing them to me, 'but
+your baggage will not be there till Monday morning. We had no time to
+put it on, we had waited so long.'"
+
+
+
+ANOTHER WONDERFUL RECORD OF $25.
+
+
+_A Christian minister_, living in Northern Indiana, was in want, and
+knelt in prayer again and again before his Father in heaven. His
+quarterly allowance had been withheld, and want stared him in the face.
+Constrained by urgent need, and shut up to God for help, he pleaded
+repeatedly for a supply of his temporal wants. Now see how extraordinary
+was the plan of the Lord to send relief.
+
+"In one of the lovely homes of Massachusetts, while the snow was falling
+and the winds were howling without, a lady sat on one side of the
+cheerful fire, knitting a little stocking for her oldest grandson, and
+her husband, opposite to her, was reading aloud a missionary paper, when
+the following passage arrested the attention of the lady and fastened
+itself in her memory.
+
+"'In consequence of failure to obtain my salary when due, I have been so
+oppressed with care and want, as to make it painfully difficult to
+perform my duties as a minister. There is very little prospect,
+seemingly, of improvement in this respect for some time to come. What I
+say of my own painfully inadequate support, is substantially true of
+nearly all your missionaries in this State. You, of course, cannot be
+blamed for this. You are but the almoners of the churches, and can be
+expected to appropriate only what they furnish. _This, however, the
+Master will charge to somebody as a grievous fault;_ for it is not His
+will that his ministers should labor unrequited.'
+
+"This extract was without name or date. It was simply headed 'from a
+missionary in Northern Indiana.' Scores of readers probably gave it only
+a passing glance. Not so the lady who sat knitting by the fire and heard
+her husband read it. The words sank into her mind, and dwelt in her
+thoughts. The clause, '_This, however, the Master will charge to
+somebody as a grievous fault_,' especially seemed to follow her wherever
+she went. The case, she said, haunted her. She seemed to be herself that
+very '_somebody_' who was to answer at the bar of God for the curtailed
+supplies and straitened means of this humble minister.
+
+"Impelled by an unseen, but, as she believes, a divine presence and
+power, after asking counsel and guidance of the Lord, she took twenty-
+five dollars which were at her own disposal, and requested her husband
+to give it to the Rev. Dr. H------ for the writer of the above
+communication, if he could devise any way to obtain the writer's
+address.
+
+"Doctor H------ is a prompt man, who does not let gold destined to such
+an end rest in his pocket. Familiar with the various organizations of
+the benevolent societies, and only too happy to have an agency in
+supplying the wants of a laborer in Christ's vineyard, he soon started
+the money on its appointed errand. Early in April, the lady in her rural
+home had the happiness of receiving the following note, of which we omit
+nothing, save the names of persons and places:
+
+     "'DEAR MADAM.--I have just received a draft for twenty-five
+     dollars, as a special donation from you. This I do with
+     profound gratitude to you for this unselfish and Christ-like
+     deed, and to Him who put it into your heart to do it. How you,
+     _a lady a thousand miles away, could know that I was, and had
+     been for some time, urged by unusual need to pray for succor
+     and worldly support with unwonted fervency, is a matter of
+     more than curious inquiry. It is an answer to my prayer, for
+     the Lord employs the instrumentality of his children to answer
+     prayer, and, when it is necessary, he moves them to it. This
+     is not the first nor second time that I have been laid under
+     special obligation by Christian sympathy and timely aid_. May
+     He who said, He that giveth a cup of cold water to a disciple,
+     in the name of a disciple, shall not lose his reward, repay
+     you a thousand-fold for this favor.'
+
+"Does not this little incident illustrate the power of prayer? The man
+of God, weary and heavy-laden, in his closet in Indiana, spread his case
+before the Lord. A disciple in Eastern Massachusetts, _a thousand miles
+away_ from the spot where the prayer was offered, who did not know
+anything about him or his need, is touched with his wants, and moved to
+send him immediate aid."
+
+
+MR. SPURGEON'S COW.
+
+
+"My grandfather was a very poor minister, and kept a cow, which was a
+very great help in the support of his children--he had ten of them;--and
+the cow took the "staggers" and died. 'What will you do now?' said my
+grandmother. 'I cannot tell what we shall do now,' said he, 'but I know
+what God will do: God will provide for us. We must have milk for the
+children.'
+
+"The next morning, there came L20 to him. He had never made application
+to the fund for the relief of ministers; but, on that day, there were L5
+left when they had divided the money, and one said, 'There is poor Mr.
+Spurgeon down in Essex, suppose we send it to him.' The chairman--a Mr.
+Morley of his day--said, 'We had better make it L10, and I'll give L5.'
+Another L5 was offered by another member, if a like amount could be
+raised, to make it up to L20; which was done. They knew nothing about my
+grandfather's cow; but God did, you see; and there was the new cow for
+him. And those gentlemen in London were not aware of the importance of
+the service which they had rendered.
+
+                                                    CHARLES SPURGEON."
+
+
+"TRUST IN THE LORD."
+
+
+"A poor negro woman, after the death of her husband, had no means of
+support for herself and two little children, except the labor of her own
+hands; yet she found means out of her deep poverty to give something for
+the promotion of the cause of her Redeemer, and would never fail to pay,
+on the very day it became due, her regular subscription to the church of
+which she was a member. In a hard Winter she had found great difficulty
+in supplying the pressing needs of her little family; yet the few pence
+for religious purposes had been regularly put by.
+
+"As one season for the contribution came round, she had only a little
+corn, a single salt herring, and a five-cent piece remaining of her
+little store. Yet she did not waver; she ground the corn, prepared her
+children's supper, and then, with a light heart and cheerful
+countenance, set out to meeting, where she gave joyfully the five cents,
+_the last she had in the world_.
+
+"Returning from the church, she passed the house of a lady to whom, a
+long time before, she had sold a piece of pork, so long indeed that she
+had entirely forgotten the circumstance. But, seeing her this morning,
+the lady called her in, apologized for having been so tardy in the
+settlement, and then inquired how much it was. Old Sukey did not know,
+and the lady, determined to be on the safe side, gave her two dollars,
+besides directing her housekeeper to put up a basket of flour, sugar,
+coffee, and other luxuries for her use. Poor Sukey returned home with a
+joyful heart, saying, as she displayed her treasures, "See, my children,
+the Lord is a good paymaster, giving us 'a hundred-fold even in this
+present life, and in the world to come life everlasting.'"
+
+
+EXACTLY EIGHTY DOLLARS.--"THEY ARE SAFE THAT TRUST IN THEE."
+
+
+A clergyman somewhat advanced in years recently related to a
+correspondent of _The Messenger_ an incident in his own life, which well
+illustrates the provident care of our heavenly Father over his children.
+
+"His first church was at V----, and, though he labored diligently,
+working with his own hands for his support, he became eighty dollars in
+debt. It was a grievous burden, and all his efforts to remove it proved
+unavailing. One day, when he felt especially cast down, he retired to
+pray over the matter, and on his knees he besought the Lord to aid, as
+he despaired of help from any other source. He felt strengthened and
+hopeful when he left his closet, and entered his church on Sabbath
+morning with a lighter heart than usual. As he passed the door a young
+lady met him, and placed in his hand _fifty dollars_, saying that
+_twenty_ was to go for the Sabbath-school library, and the remaining
+_thirty_ was for himself. He was so surprised that he scarcely trusted
+his senses, and asked her not less than three times, that he might not
+be mistaken. As he preached that day, God seemed 'a very present help.'
+At the close of the service, a young man, noted for his free-hearted,
+impulsive character, stepped up and requested that he would perform a
+marriage ceremony for him the next week. He did so, and received for his
+services a bill, which he placed in his pocket, and, on looking at it
+afterwards, found it _fifty dollars_, thus making up _exactly the
+eighty_ he had prayed the Lord to send him."
+
+We too often forget that God is as willing to listen to our temporal
+wants as to our spiritual, and that "no good thing will He withhold from
+them that walk uprightly."
+
+
+A PRAYER FOR FOUR DOLLARS.
+
+
+A Home Missionary from Brooklyn called one day upon an editor to gather
+some tracts for distribution which he had published. The editor became
+interested in the story of his visits among the poor, and though at
+first not specially moved to give money at that time, yet toward the
+last, putting his hand into his pocket he pulled out all the bills there
+were there, $4, and gave them to the missionary with these words: "There
+is something which may come useful." The gift was all forgotten until a
+few days afterward the missionary returned and said to the editor,
+"After I left you I received a letter from a poor lady who had been
+owing money for rent for several months, which she could not possibly
+pay. That very morning the landlord came and said that if she could only
+raise $4 he would excuse the rest; but she did not have the $4. I did
+not know where to get it. I happened to drop in to see you; did not tell
+you anything of the need, and asked for nothing; yet you gave me the
+exact $4 to answer that poor woman's prayer."
+
+An infinite Creator and God had brought these circumstances together in
+this exact way. Neither the editor nor missionary had ever met before.
+The missionary did not know that the lady was in distress. Who was it
+that sent the landlord to the lady and fixed that amount of $4 in his
+mind? Who was it that sent the home missionary to the office of a person
+he had never seen or known? Who was it that knew of the $4 waiting in
+that pocket and prompted that hand to take it out and give it away? Who
+was it that led that missionary to obtain and send relief just as she
+was praying for that special amount?
+
+_Was it chance or science? No, No. It was the will of a loving God_.
+
+
+"AUNT SALLY'S" FAITH.
+
+
+"'Aunt Sally,' says the _American Messenger_, was a devout, working,
+trustful Christian. Her husband was a cripple, almost helpless, an
+unbeliever, and to some extent an opposer of religion. They lived alone.
+The severity of a northern winter was upon them, and in spite of her
+best exertions their stock of fuel was scarcely a day's supply.
+
+"'What can be done?' was the anxious inquiry of the unbelieving husband
+as they were rising from their bed. 'The Lord will provide,' was 'Aunt
+Sally's' cheerful reply. 'I know you always say so, and so it has always
+proved,' was the answer of her unbelieving companion; 'but I see no way
+in which we can be provided for now.' 'Nor do I,' said 'Aunt Sally.'
+'But help will come. God will not desert us.'
+
+"That winter's morning had not passed when their son, who had been a
+soldier in the Mexican war, entered the door. It had been long since
+they had heard from him, and they feared he was not alive. The sun went
+down upon an abundant supply of fuel, cut in the forest by the strong
+arms of the soldier-boy, and drawn to the door by means of his
+procuring. The unbelieving husband and father declared he would never be
+distrustful again.
+
+
+GOD CARETH FOR YOU.
+
+
+"Nearly forty years ago I was given up by the doctors for a dying man
+from consumption. I had a wife and five children dependent on me, and
+for many months was unable to provide for them by my own labors. All our
+earthly resources were gone, and one Sabbath morning, when breakfast was
+over, we were entirely destitute; there was no meal in the barrel nor
+oil in the cruse. In family worship I read the fortieth chapter of
+Isaiah. I think up to that time I had never found the word of God so
+sweet and precious. I had very near access in prayer, and was enabled to
+lay my burden at the Saviour's feet. I closed with the Lord's Prayer; it
+seemed made on purpose for me. I think the petition, 'Give us this day
+our daily bread,' was offered in faith.
+
+"_Within an hour there was a rap at the door_. When I opened it a young
+man stood there who had come three miles to bring us bread, sugar, and
+money. He apologized for coming on the Sabbath morning, but said an aunt
+of his was at their house the evening before, and felt so anxious about
+us she could not go away till he promised her he would come and bring us
+those things."
+
+
+A PRAYER NOT ANSWERED.
+
+
+"Many years ago, a man then recently married, settled in my native town.
+It was then quite new, destitute of religious privileges, and given to
+all manner of wickedness. There was no Sabbath, and no sanctuary. The
+man was pious. The thought of bringing up a family in such a place
+distressed him. He wished to remove; and he used to retire daily to a
+little grove, and _pray that God would send some one to buy his farm_.
+This prayer was not answered. Better things were in store. A neighbor
+was taken sick. He visited and conversed with him. In the midst of the
+conversation, one sitting by interrupted him and said, 'Sir, if what you
+say is true, I am lost.' This gave new interest to the occasion. Prayer
+was offered, the Spirit was found out, and many were converted. A
+prayer-meeting was started; other revivals followed; in due time a
+church was organized, a house of worship built, and a pastor settled,
+mainly through the instrumentality of that one man; and he trained up
+his family there, and lived to see most of them members of the church of
+Christ. Do not despair, God will _either answer your exact prayer,_ or
+_do something better for you_; He knows what is for your best good."
+
+
+TRUST IN THE LORD.
+
+
+"A pious woman, who was reduced to extreme poverty and deserted by her
+intemperate husband, was taken sick, and lay several days without
+physical power to provide food for her two little children. She had
+directed them where to find the little that was remaining in the house,
+and they had eaten it all. Still she lay sick, with no means of
+obtaining more, as night closed upon the hungry household. The children
+soon forgot their hunger in sleep; but not so the mother. She saw no
+help for them but in God, and she spent the night-watches in spreading
+before him their necessities. As the morning approached her confidence
+in God increased, and that passage from his word rested with peculiar
+sweetness upon her mind, 'Trust in the Lord and do good; so shalt thou
+dwell in the land, and _verily thou shalt be fed_.'
+
+"Morning came. The starving children managed by her direction to build
+them a little fire, and almost before they had commenced telling their
+mother of their hunger, a stranger came in. She introduced herself as
+Mrs. J., saying she had known for some time that there was a new family
+in the neighborhood, and intended to call and make their acquaintance,
+but had been prevented. _During the last night she had been so troubled
+and disturbed about it_, that she thought she would run in early, lest
+she should again be prevented, and see if there was any way in which she
+could be of service to them. The mother in bed, with her head bound to
+mitigate its pain, revealed the story of her sufferings, and the good
+lady soon learned their entire destitution. They were immediately made
+comfortable; and all will be glad to know that it was the beginning of
+better days to that deserted wife and mother."
+
+
+THE NECESSITY OF ASKING GOD'S BLESSING EVERY DAY, UPON YOUR DAILY WORK.
+EVERY WORK, HOWEVER GOOD, NEEDS SPECIAL, SPECIFIC, DAILY PRAYER FOR ITS
+PROSPERITY.
+
+
+"A colporteur in the Wabash valley became quite discouraged and was
+almost ready to give up his work, on account of the smallness of his
+sales. On every side, his ears were filled with complaints of 'hard
+times;' the wheat crop had partially failed two years in succession--the
+California emigration, and railroad and plank-road speculations had
+almost drained the country of money. Frequently he would be told, that
+if he could come after harvest they would buy his books, but that it was
+impossible to do so then. His sales were daily decreasing, and he became
+more and more disheartened, until one night, after a laborious day's
+effort, he found that he had _only sold twenty-five cents' worth_! He
+felt that he could not go on in this way any longer. He was wasting his
+strength and time, and the money of the Society. On examination of the
+state of his heart, he found that it had, gradually and almost
+unconsciously, grown cold and departed far from Christ. He felt that he
+had not prayed as he ought to have done, especially _he had neglected
+each morning, and on his approach to each dwelling, to pray that then
+and there God would guide him, and own and bless his efforts to sell
+books._ He saw that probably here was at least a part of the cause why
+his sales had become so small. Early the next morning, before any of the
+family were up, he arose and retired to the adjoining woods, where he
+had a long and precious season of communion with God. There he anew
+dedicated himself and his all to the service of Christ. There, as under
+the eye of the Master, he reviewed the time he had labored as a
+colporteur, and prayed for forgiveness for the past and grace for the
+future. There he told the Saviour all about his work, and asked him to
+go with him that day, preparing the way and enabling him to succeed in
+the work on which he had entered. The result was what might have been
+expected. He went forth a new man; his heart was interested more deeply
+in the truths which he was circulating--they were more precious than
+ever to his own soul, and he could recommend his books, as he failed to
+do when his heart was cold and prayerless. _That first day he sold more
+books than during the whole week before._ In one instance, he sold
+several dollars' worth in a family where, as he was afterwards told by
+pious men in the neighborhood, the father was most bitterly opposed to
+everything connected with true religion. God had prepared that man's
+heart, so that he was ready to purchase quite a library for his family.
+And in many families that met him that day with the usual salutation,
+'no money,' he succeeded in disposing of more than one volume by sale.
+As he went from family to family, lifting up his heart in prayer to God
+for success in the particular object of his visit, God heard his prayers
+and owned his efforts. And so, he assured me, it had been since;
+whenever he had been _prayerful_--_prayerful for this particular
+object_, and then had diligently and faithfully done his best, he had
+invariably succeeded in doing even more than he expected."
+
+
+PRAYER FOUND THE REMEDY FOR THE DISEASE.
+
+
+"A correspondent of _The Illustrated Christian Weekly_, states that a
+mother of her acquaintance had a child taken alarmingly ill. She sent
+for the physician. The child was in convulsions. The doctor began at
+once vigorously to apply the customary remedies--cold water to the head,
+warm applications to the feet, chafing of the hands and limbs. All was
+in vain. The body lost nothing of its dreadful rigidity. Death seemed
+close at hand, and absolutely inevitable. At length he left the child,
+and sat down by the window, looking out. He seemed, to the agonized
+mother, to have abandoned her darling. For herself, she could do nothing
+but pray; and even her prayer was but an inarticulate and unvoiced cry
+for help. _Suddenly the physician started from his seat. 'Send and see
+if there be any jimson weed in the yard_,' he cried. His order was
+obeyed; the poisonous weed was found. The remedies were instantly
+changed. Enough of the seeds of this deadly weed were brought away by
+the medicine to have killed a man. The physician subsequently said that
+he thought that in that five minutes every kindred case he had ever
+known in a quarter century's practice passed before his mind. Among them
+was the one case which suggested the real, but before hidden, cause of
+the protracted and dreadful convulsions. And the child was saved.
+
+"Now, is there anything inconsistent or unphilosophical in the belief
+that, at that critical moment, a loving God, answering the mother's
+Helpless cry, flashed on the mind of the physician the thought that
+saved the child? Is it any objection to that faith to say, the age of
+miracles is past? If the mother, may call in a second physician, to
+suggest the cause and the cure, may she not call on God? What the doctor
+can do for a fellow-practitioner, cannot the Great Physician do? Though
+the doctor had often tried and thought, yet it was not till the last
+prayer and call on God, brought the remedy to his mind."
+
+
+PRAYER INSTANTANEOUSLY ANSWERED FOR CONVERSION.
+
+
+On the evening of the fifty-first daily prayer-meeting in Augusta, Ga.,
+a large gathering assembled in the St. John's M.E. Church, at which Dr.
+Irvine presided, and some very touching communications were read. One
+was from a widowed mother, asking thanksgiving for the salvation of her
+youngest daughter, recently from a boarding-school in New York city,
+where she had finished her education. Some weeks ago she had sought the
+prayers of the daily prayer-meeting for the conversion of her precious
+child, who was spending a few weeks with some friends seventy miles from
+Augusta. Prayers were offered accordingly, but without intimation of any
+change. The loving mother sent in a second application or prayer to Dr.
+Irvine, to be read on a recent Monday morning; all this without her
+daughter's knowledge. On Tuesday the mother received a letter from her
+daughter, dated two o'clock on Sabbath, informing her that on that day,
+and at that hour, she had resolved to give her heart to Christ,
+intending to ask admission to the church at the next communion. Strange
+to say, at the very moment when the faithful mother was writing her
+application for prayers for that child, she was announcing her own
+conversion.
+
+What a verification of the blessed promise: "Before they call I will
+answer; and while they are yet speaking I will hear."
+
+
+HELP FOR THE SHIPWRECKED.
+
+
+Admiral Sir Thomas Williams, a straight-forward and excellent man, was
+in command of a ship crossing the Atlantic Ocean. His course brought him
+in sight of the Island of Ascension, at that time uninhabited, and
+_never visited by any ship_, except for the purpose of collecting
+turtles, which abound on the coast. The island was barely descried on
+the horizon, and was not to be noticed at all; but as Sir Thomas looked
+at it, he was _seized by an unaccountable desire to steer toward it_.
+
+He felt how strange such a wish would appear to his crew, and _tried to
+disregard it; but in vain_. His desire became more and more urgent and
+distressing, and foreseeing that it would soon be more difficult to
+gratify it, he told his lieutenant to prepare to "_put about ship_" and
+steer for Ascension. _The officer to whom he spoke ventured to
+respectfully represent that changing their course would greatly delay
+them_--that just at that moment the men were going to their dinner--that
+at least some delay might be allowed.
+
+But these arguments seemed, to increase Captain Williams' anxiety, and
+the ship was steered toward the uninteresting little island. All eyes
+and spy-glasses were now fixed upon it, and soon something was perceived
+on the shore. "It is white--it is a flag--it must be a signal!" And when
+they neared the shore, it was ascertained that sixteen men, wrecked on
+the coast many days before, and suffering the extremity of hunger, had
+set up a signal, though almost without hope of relief. What made the
+captain steer his ship in the very opposite direction to what he and his
+crew wanted to go, but the _superhuman Spirit of God_.
+
+
+SAMUEL HARRIS'S LAWSUIT, AND HOW THE LORD SETTLED IT FOR HIM.
+
+
+"When Samuel Harris, of Virginia, began to preach, his soul was so
+absorbed in the work, that he neglected to attend to the duties of this
+life. Finding, upon a time, that it was absolutely necessary that he
+should provide more grain for his family than he had raised upon his own
+farm, he called upon a man who owed him a debt, and told him he would be
+glad to receive the money.
+
+"The man replied: 'I have no money by me, and cannot oblige you.'
+
+"Harris said; 'I want the money to purchase wheat for my family; and as
+you have raised a good crop of wheat, I will take that of you instead of
+money, at a current price.'
+
+"The man answered: 'I have other uses for my wheat, and cannot let you
+have it.'
+
+"'How then,' said Harris, 'do you intend to pay me?'
+
+"'I never intend to pay you until you sue me,' replied the debtor, 'and
+therefore you may begin your suit as soon as you please.'
+
+"Mr. Harris left him, meditating. Said he to himself, 'What shall I do?
+Must I leave preaching, and attend to a vexatious lawsuit? Perhaps a
+thousand souls may perish in the meantime, for want of hearing of Jesus!
+No; I will not. Well, what will you do for yourself? Why, this will I
+do; I will sue him at the Court of Heaven.' Having resolved what he
+would do, he turned aside into a wood, and on his knees laid the matter
+before the Lord. Mr. Harris felt such an evidence of Divine favor,--he
+felt, to use his own expressive language, that Jesus would become
+bondsman for the man, and see that he was paid if he went on preaching.
+Mr. Harris arose from prayer, resolved to hold the man no longer a
+debtor, since Jesus had assumed the payment. He therefore wrote a
+receipt in full of all accounts against the man, and dating it in the
+woods, where he had prayed, signed it with his own name. Going the next
+day by the man's house, on his way to meeting, he gave the receipt to a
+servant, directing him to give it to his master. On his return from
+meeting, the man hailed him, and demanded what he meant by the receipt
+he had sent him in the morning.
+
+"Mr. Harris replied: 'I mean just as I wrote.'
+
+"'But you know, sir,' answered the debtor, 'I have never paid you.'
+
+"'True,' said Mr. Harris, 'and I know you said that you never would
+unless I sued you. But, sir, I sued you at the Court of Heaven, and
+Jesus entered bail for you, and has agreed to pay me; I have therefore
+given you a discharge!'
+
+"'But I insist upon it,' said the man; 'matters shall not be left so.'
+
+"'I am well satisfied,' answered Harris. 'Jesus will not fail me. I
+leave you to settle the account with him at another day. Farewell.'
+
+"This operated so effectually on the man's conscience, that in a few
+days he _came and paid the debt_."
+
+
+A WAGON-LOAD OF FOOD.
+
+
+"A young minister and his wife were sent on to their first charge in
+Vermont about the year 1846. On the circuit were few members, and most
+of these were in poor circumstances. After a few months the minister and
+his wife found themselves getting short of provisions. Finally their
+last food had been cooked, and where to look for a new supply was a
+question which demanded immediate attention.
+
+"The morning meal was eaten, not without anxious feelings; but this
+young servant of the Most High had laid his all upon the altar, and his
+wife also possessed much of the spirit of self-sacrifice; and they could
+not think the Saviour who had said to those he had called and sent out
+to preach in his name: 'Lo! I am with you always,' would desert them
+among strangers. After uniting in family prayer he sought a sanctuary in
+an old barn, and there committed their case to God;--his wife met her
+Savior in her closet and poured out her heart before him there.
+
+"That morning a young married farmer, a mile or two away, was going with
+a number of hands to his mowing-field. But as he afterward told the
+minister, he was obliged to stop short. He told his hired help to go on,
+but he _must go back_--_he must go and carry provisions to the
+minister's house_. He returned to the house, and telling his wife how he
+felt, asked her help in putting up the things he must carry. He
+harnessed his horse into his wagon; put up a bushel of potatoes, meat,
+flour, sugar, butter, etc. He was not a professor of religion. The
+minister's wife told me there was a good wagon-load. He drove it to the
+house, and found that his gifts were most thankfully received. This
+account was received from the minister himself,--David P.--, who died in
+Chelsea, Mass., in Dec. 1875, and subsequently from his wife,--and
+communicated to a correspondent of '_The Christian_.'"
+
+
+"GOD'S RAVEN."
+
+
+"A lady who lived on the north side of London, set out one day to see a
+poor sick friend, living in Drury Lane, and took with her a basket
+provided with tea, butter, and food. The day was fine and clear when she
+started; but as she drew near Islington a thick fog came on, and
+somewhat frightened her, as she was deaf, and feared it might be
+dangerous in the streets if she could not see. Thicker and darker the
+fog became; they lighted the lamps, and the omnibus went at a walking
+pace. She might have got into another omnibus and returned; but a strong
+feeling which she could not explain made her go on. When they reached
+the Strand they could see nothing. At last the omnibus stopped, and the
+conductor guided her to the foot-path. As she was groping her way along,
+the fog cleared up, just at the entrance to Drury Lane, and even the
+blue sky was seen. She now easily found the narrow court, rang the
+number 5 bell, and climbed to the fifth story. She knocked at the door,
+and a little girl opened it.
+
+"'How is grandmother?'
+
+"'Come in, Mrs. A----,' answered the grandmother. 'How did you get here?
+We have been in thick darkness all day.'
+
+"The room was exceedingly neat, and the kettle stood boiling on a small
+clear fire. Everything was in perfect order; on the table stood a little
+tea-tray ready for use. The sick woman was in bed, and her daughter sat
+working in a corner of the room.
+
+"'I see you are ready for tea,' said the lady; 'I have brought something
+more to place upon the table.'
+
+"With clasped hands the woman breathed a few words of thanksgiving
+first, and then said, 'O, Mrs. A----, you are indeed God's raven, sent
+by him to bring us food to-day, for we have not tasted any yet. I felt
+sure he would care for us.'
+
+"'But you have the kettle ready for tea?'
+
+"'Yes, ma'am,' said the daughter; 'mother would have me set it on the
+fire; and when I said, 'What is the use of doing so? you know we have
+nothing in the house,' she still would have it, and said, 'My child, God
+will provide. Thirty years he has already provided for me, through all
+my pain and helplessness, and he will not leave me to starve at last: he
+will send us help, though we do not yet see how.' In this expectation
+mother has been waiting all day, quite sure that some one would come and
+supply our need. But we did not think of the possibility of your coming
+from such a distance on such a day. Indeed, it must be God who sent you
+to us.'
+
+"'The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of
+all their troubles.'"
+
+
+HOW THE STOLEN SLEIGH WAS RETURNED BY A THIEF.
+
+
+The widow of a minister of the Gospel sends to "_The Christian_" the
+following instance illustrating God's faithfulness in hearing and
+answering prayer:
+
+"About the year 1829, my husband, who died January 2d, 1854, lent his
+sleigh and harness to a man calling himself John Cotton, to go some
+twenty miles and be gone three days. Cotton was quite a stranger among
+us, having been in our place but six weeks. During that time he had
+boarded with my husband's brother, working for him a part of the time,
+and the rest of the time selling wooden clocks, of which he had bought a
+number. Three days passed, but he did not return. The fourth went by,
+and we began to think he had absconded. On inquiry, Mr. P. found that
+the clocks had been purchased on credit, and all sold for watches or
+money; that Cotton owed sixty dollars toward his horse, and had borrowed
+of the brother with whom he boarded, horse-blanket, whip, and mittens.
+Now it seemed sure that he was a rogue, but what could be done? Pursuit
+was useless after such a lapse of time.
+
+"My husband felt his loss severely, for we had little property then, and
+what we had was the product of hard labor. But he was a Christian, and,
+I believe, always made his business a subject of prayer.
+
+"About three weeks passed away. One evening, having been out longer than
+usual, he came in, and, with his characteristic calmness, said: 'I shall
+not worry any more about my sleigh and harness, I think I shall get them
+again.' 'Why do you think so?' His answer was: 'I have been praying to
+God to arrest Cotton's conscience, so that he will be obliged to _leave
+them where I can get them_, and I believe he will do it.'
+
+"From this time, which was Wednesday evening, he seemed at rest on the
+subject. The next Tuesday morning, as he stepped into the post-office, a
+letter was handed him from Littleton, N.H. It was written by the keeper
+of a public house, and read thus:
+
+     "'_Mr. P.--Sir, Mr. John Cotton has left your sleigh and
+     harness here, and you can have them by calling for them_.
+
+                                                 Yours, etc., J--N
+     N----N.'
+
+"He returned home with the letter, and started for L----; went there the
+same day, some forty miles; found sleigh and harness safe, with no
+encumbrance. The landlord informed him that, a few nights before, at
+twelve o'clock, a man calling himself John Cotton came to his house,
+calling for horse-baiting and supper; would not stay till morning, but
+wished to leave the sleigh and harness for Mr. S.--- P.--- of
+Marshfield, Vt. He said he could not write himself; and requested the
+landlord to write for him, saying he took them on a poor debt for Mr.
+P., in one of the towns below! He started off at two o'clock at night,
+on horseback, with an old pair of saddle-bags and a horse blanket, on a
+saddle with one stirrup and no crupper, on one of the coldest nights of
+that or any other year. He took the road leading through the Notch in
+the mountains, left nothing for either of those he owed, and we have
+never since heard from him."
+
+
+"NONE OF THE LORD'S CHILDREN LEFT DESOLATE."
+
+
+"_The Christian Era_ tells of a Dutch preacher who held a meeting one
+evening in a strange city. While he was preaching, and enforcing upon
+the hearts of his hearers the doctrine of the Cross, a police officer
+came into the room and forbade him to go on. He even commanded him to
+leave the city. As he was a stranger in the place, and the night was
+dark, he wandered around the city gates. He was not, however, without
+consolation; for he remembered Him who had said, 'Lo, I am with you
+always. I will fear no evil, for thou art with me; thy rod and thy
+staff, they comfort me.'
+
+"He had long been in the school of Christ, and had learned to watch for
+the slightest intimations of His will. While he was thus wandering
+around, suddenly he saw a light in the distance. 'See,' he said to
+himself, 'perhaps the Lord has provided me a shelter there,' and, in the
+simplicity of faith, he directed his steps thither. On arriving, he
+heard a voice in the house; and, as he drew nearer, he discovered that a
+man was praying. Joyful, he hoped, that he had found here the home of a
+brother. He stood still for a moment, and heard these words, poured
+forth from an earnest heart: 'Lord Jesus, one of thy persecuted servants
+may, perhaps, be wandering, at this moment, in a strange place of which
+he knows nothing. O, may he find my home, that he may receive here food
+and lodging.'
+
+"The preacher, having heard these words, glided into the house, as soon
+as the speaker said, 'Amen.' Both fell on their knees, and together
+thanked the Lord, who is a hearer of prayer, and who never leaves nor
+forsakes His servants."
+
+
+THE NEW COAT THAT FITTED EXACTLY.
+
+
+"A few years since, a young preacher in the State of Massachusetts, who
+was laboring in a field which yielded no great pecuniary returns, had
+laid aside the sum of fifteen dollars from his scanty income, with which
+to purchase himself a coat, of which he stood in need. Before he had
+time to obtain it, there was presented to him a certain charitable
+object which seemed to demand a portion of his little store. After some
+consideration as to whether it was his duty to give as much as the ten
+dollars, which first presented itself to his mind as the proper sum to
+bestow, he concluded to follow his convictions, and thus assist one who
+was more needy than himself, and trust in the Lord to provide the coat.
+
+"Within two or three days afterwards, he was visiting at the house of
+his mother, in another town, and she, as mothers will, noticed that his
+coat had arrived at that condition which usually affords the preacher of
+the Gospel evidence that he is shortly to have a new one, and she made
+some remarks about its worn appearance, saying, 'It seems to me you need
+a new coat.' 'I know it,' he replied, 'and I shall get me one as soon as
+I get the means.' She said, 'There is a coat up stairs which your
+brother had made for him not over two weeks ago, which he never has worn
+but once, because it was _made too small_, and he said that you might
+have it, if you wanted it.'
+
+"The coat was accordingly brought down and tried on, and it fitted
+exactly. The young man gladly accepted the coat, wondering a little at
+the wisdom of the Lord in clothing him at the expense of his brother,
+who was not particularly interested in the Lord's work, and who was so
+much larger than he was, that nothing short of the wisdom of Providence
+could have made a coat that was measured for one of them ever to fit the
+other."
+
+This was the return that God made to him for his sacrifice to the Lord.
+_Never withhold from the Lord_.
+
+
+PRAYING TO STOP THE WIND AND THE SAILING OF A VESSEL.
+
+
+The late aged and venerable Rev. Dr. Cleaveland, of Boston, relates the
+following incident:
+
+"In a revival of religion in the church of which he was pastor, he was
+visited one morning by a member of his church, a widow, whose only son
+was a sailor. With a voice trembling with emotion, she said, 'Doctor
+Cleaveland, I have called to entreat you to join me in praying _that the
+wind may change_.' He looked at her in silent amazement. 'Yes,' she
+exclaimed, earnestly, 'my son has gone on board his vessel; they sail
+to-night, unless the wind changes.' 'Well, madam,' replied the doctor,
+'I will pray that your son may be converted on this voyage; but to pray
+that God would alter the laws of His universe on his account, I fear is
+presumptuous.' 'Doctor,' she replied, 'my heart tells me differently.
+God's Spirit is _here_. Souls are being converted here. You have a
+meeting this evening, and, if the wind would change, John would stay and
+go to it; and, I believe, if he went he would be converted. Now, if you
+cannot join me, I must pray alone, for he must stay.' 'I will pray for
+his conversion,' said the doctor.
+
+"On his way to the meeting, he glanced at the weather-vane, and, to his
+surprise, _the wind had changed_, and it was blowing landward. On
+entering his crowded vestry, he soon observed John, sitting upon the
+front seat. The young man seemed to drink in every word, rose to be
+prayed for, and attended the inquiry meeting. When he sailed from port,
+the mother's prayers had been answered; he went a Christian. The pastor
+had learned a lesson he never forgot. The Lord had said, 'O, woman,
+great is thy faith; be it unto thee, even as thou wilt.' God answered
+that prayer because the mother was seeking to advance His own kingdom.
+God always hears a prayer that will in any way bring a soul to the
+Lord."
+
+
+INSANITY CURED AND SUICIDE PREVENTED.
+
+
+"_Augusta Moore_, writes _The Christian_, of a young lady called home by
+the illness of her widowed mother, who died before she could reach her.
+This alone was a terrible shock to the delicate daughter, who, having
+been reared in luxury, was ill-fitted for firm endurance of calamity.
+But, when it became known that a relative, in whom she had placed
+confidence, had managed, in ways that need not be explained, to defraud
+her out of her inheritance, her mind gave way and _she became insane_.
+
+"For years, her distressed husband strove in every way to restore her
+reason, but she seemed rather to become worse, and showed signs of
+intentions to commit suicide; and her family and friends lived in a
+wretched state of apprehension. In spite of the most faithful
+watchfulness, she twice succeeded in securing the means for
+self-destruction, but something prevented her from accomplishing her
+design. At last, it occurred to a friend to present this woman's case in
+the prayer-meeting, to the Lord, and earnest prayer was offered for her
+restoration.
+
+"No immediate result appeared; but the friends _persevered_. During the
+Winter, a revival of religion occurred in the town where she dwelt, and,
+with much difficulty, the insane woman, who declared that she was
+utterly and finally forsaken by God, was prevailed upon to attend the
+meetings. They began immediately to have a good effect upon her. She
+could sleep better; she grew more cheerful, and, in a short time, her
+reason returned to her. A happier, or more grateful woman than she now
+is, no mortal eyes ever beheld, and she affords one more instance of the
+Lord's willingness to hear and answer fervent prayer."
+
+
+ANSWERS TO PRAYER.
+
+
+Dr. Newman Hall, minister of Surrey Chapel, London, gives the following
+instances of answers to prayer from his own experience:
+
+"The writer's brother, when superintendent of a Sunday School, felt a
+strong impulse, one Saturday evening, to call on a member of his
+Bible-class, whom he had never visited before, and to inquire if he was
+in any need. He found him very ill. Though the mother and sister seemed
+in comfortable circumstances, he felt constrained to inquire if he could
+aid them in any way. They burst into tears, and said that the young man
+had been asking for food which they had no power to supply, and that, on
+Monday, some of their goods were to be taken in default of the payment
+of rates. When he knocked at the door _they were on their knees in
+prayer for help to be sent them_. By the aid of a few friends, the
+difficulty was at once met--but the timely succor was felt to be the
+divine response to prayer.
+
+"With that brother, the writer was once climbing the Cima di Jazzi, one
+of the mountains in the chain of Monte Rosa. When nearly at the top,
+they entered a dense fog. Presently, the guides faced right about, and
+grounded their axes on the frozen snow-slope. The brother--seeing the
+slope still beyond, and not knowing it was merely the cornice,
+overhanging a precipice of several thousand feet--rushed onward. The
+writer will never forget their cry of agonized warning. His brother
+stood a moment on the very summit, and then, the snow yielding, began to
+fall through. One of the guides, at great risk, rushed after him and
+seized him by the coat. This tore away, leaving only three inches of
+cloth, by which he was dragged back. It seemed impossible to be nearer
+death, and yet escape. On his return home, an invalid member of his
+congregation told him that she had been much in prayer for his safety,
+and mentioned a special time when she particularly was earnest, as if
+imploring deliverance from some great peril. _The times corresponded!_
+Was not that prayer instrumental in preserving that life?"
+
+
+BISHOP SIMPSON'S RECOVERY.
+
+
+Bishop Bowman gives the following instance from his own experience:
+
+"In the Fall of 1858, whilst visiting Indiana, I was at an annual
+conference where Bishop Janes presided. We received a telegram that
+Bishop Simpson was dying. Said Bishop Janes, 'Let us spend a few
+moment's in earnest prayer for the recovery of Bishop Simpson.' We
+kneeled to pray. William Taylor, the great California street preacher,
+was called to pray, and such a prayer I never heard since. The
+impression seized upon me irresistibly, _Bishop Simpson will not die_. I
+rose from my knees perfectly quiet. Said I, 'Bishop Simpson will not
+die.' 'Why do you think so?' Because I have had an _irresistible
+impression_ made upon my mind during this prayer.' Another said, '_I
+have the same impression_.' We passed it along from bench to bench,
+until we found that a very large proportion of the conference had the
+same impression. I made a minute of the time of day, and when I next saw
+Simpson, he was attending to his daily labor. I inquired of the Bishop,
+'How did you recover from your sickness?' He replied, '_I cannot tell_.'
+'What did your physician say?' '_He said it was a miracle_.' I then said
+to the Bishop, 'Give me the time and circumstances under which the
+change occurred.' He fixed upon the day, and _the very hour_, making
+allowance for the distance--a thousand miles away--that the preachers
+were engaged in prayer at this conference. The physician left his room
+and said to his wife, '_It is useless to do anything further; the Bishop
+must die_.' In about an hour, he returned and started back, inquiring,
+'_What have you done?' 'Nothing,'_ was the reply. 'He is recovering
+rapidly,' said the physician; '_a change has occurred in the disease
+within the last hour beyond anything I have ever seen; the crisis is
+past, and the Bishop will recover_.' And he did."
+
+The doctor was puzzled; it was beyond all the course and probabilities
+of nature and the laws of science. What was it that made those ministers
+so sure--what was it that made the patient recover, at the exact hour
+that they prayed? There is only one answer, "_The ever living Power of a
+Superior Spirit which rules the world_."
+
+
+THE SEVEN LETTERS.
+
+
+The following incident is given by "_The Presbyterian_," on the
+authority of a private letter from Paris:
+
+"At a Bible reunion, held at the house of an English Congregationalist
+minister, where several colporteurs, teachers and others meet for
+devotional reading and conversation, a brief anecdote was related by a
+clergyman living in La Force, who established there an institution for
+epileptics, where he has now three hundred, supported entirely on the
+principle of faith, like Muller's orphanage.
+
+"At one time, he found himself in debt to the amount of five hundred
+pounds. After a sleepless, anxious night, he found, on his table, seven
+letters. Opening five, he found them to be all applications, some of
+them most painful in their details, for the admission of new inmates.
+His excited mind could not bear it. Without opening the other two
+letters he threw them to his wife. 'Put them into the fire,' he said,
+and turned to seek relief in the open air. 'John,' said a sweet voice,
+'this won't do. Come back.' So he did, taking up the sixth letter, which
+proved to be from a stranger, enclosing a check for three hundred
+pounds. The other envelope gave him just what was needed, just that and
+no more. He thanked God, and took courage. Will he ever again hear the
+sweet, sad voice, 'Wherefore didst thou doubt?'"
+
+
+THE LORD DID NOT FORGET THE POTATOES.
+
+
+"A correspondent of _Arthur's Magazine_ tells of a poor woman who had
+been washing for us, who said: 'Seems as if the Lord took very direct
+ways to reach people's feelings sometimes. Now, I was astonished once in
+my life. I lived away out West, on the prairie, I and my four children,
+and I couldn't get much work to do, and our little stock of provisions
+kept getting lower and lower. One night, we sat hovering over our fire,
+and I was gloomy enough. There was about a pint of corn-meal in the
+house, and that was all. I said, 'Well, children, may be the Lord will
+provide something.' '_I do hope it will be a good mess of potatoes_,'
+said cheery little Nell; 'seems to me _I never was so hungry for taters
+before_.' After they were all asleep, I lay there tossing over my hard
+bed, and wondering what I would do next. All at once, the sweetest peace
+and rest came over me, and I sank into such a good sleep. Next morning,
+I was planning that I would make the tinfull of meal into mush, and fry
+it in a greasy frying-pan, in which our last meat had been fried. As I
+opened the door to go down to the brook to wash, I saw something new.
+_There, on the bench, beside the door, stood two wooden pails and a
+sack. One pail was full of meat, the other full of potatoes, and the
+sack filled with flour_. I brought my hands together in my joy, and just
+hurrahed for the children to come. Little dears! They didn't think of
+trousers and frocks then, but came out all of a flutter, like a flock of
+quails. Their joy was supreme. They knew the Lord had sent some, of his
+angels with the sack and pails. Oh, it was such a precious gift! _I
+washed the empty pails, and put the empty sack in one of them, and, at
+night, I stood them on the bench where I had found them, and, the next
+morning, they were gone_. I tried and tried to find out who had
+befriended us, but I never could. The Lord never seemed so far off after
+that time,' said the poor woman, looking down with tearful eyes."
+
+
+THE PRAYER IN THE WOODS.
+
+
+A friend relates the following incident, as received from the lips of a
+poor afflicted, crippled orphan boy, whose own experience is a practical
+illustration of the words: "When my father and my mother forsake me,
+then the Lord will take me up." Ps. xxvii 10.
+
+"Out of many instances of answered prayer I will tell the following one:
+In August, 1874, I wished to go to Lowell, a distance of some thirty
+miles, or more. I had no money, and did not know how to get there. I
+asked the station-agent and the conductor, but each refused, saying it
+would not be consistent with their duty. Knowing of no human help, I
+left the depot and went into the woods, some ways from the station,
+where I could be alone, and tell that Friend who is able to provide, and
+who is rich unto all that call upon Him. I knelt down beside the stump
+of a tree and prayed, and told the Lord all about it, and asked Him
+either to give me money, or provide some way that I could go where I
+desired. I felt that the Lord heard and answered me, and filled my soul
+with praise and joy. The language of my heart was, 'Bless the Lord.'
+
+"As I turned and was going out of the woods, I heard a voice saying,
+'Halloo.' As I had seen no one, and knew not that any human being was
+near, I was surprised at this greeting. 'Halloo!' said the stranger,' I
+never heard such a prayer in my life. Why did you go and pray?' I told
+him that I felt heavy, burdened, and I took the burden to the Lord. He
+said, 'I heard you pray--you want money, do you? The Lord has opened the
+way; here is five dollars. It is the best way to go to the Lord, and
+trust Him to open the way. Go and use the money.' I thanked him, and I
+thanked the Lord, and went oh my way rejoicing in Him whose promise is,'
+My God shall supply all your needs,' and who himself had heard and
+answered my request."
+
+
+THE LORD CAN DO IT.
+
+
+"In one of the mountainous towns--says _The Christian_--in the north-
+western part of Connecticut, there lived, some time since, an aged
+couple who had seen some eighty years of earthly pilgrimage, and who, in
+their declining days, enjoyed the care of a son and daughter, who
+resided with them at their home.
+
+"In process of time, the son became sick, and drew nigh the gates of
+death. The doctor pronounced him incurable, saying that one lung was
+consumed, and that he could live but a short time.
+
+"The fear of her brother's death, and the thoughts of being left alone
+to bear the responsibility of the aged parents' care, burdened the
+sister's heart exceedingly, and led her to cry mightily to the Lord, to
+interpose for his recovery, and spare him still to them; and her
+importunate supplications ascended to God, until the answer came to her
+heart as a sacred whisper,--'I have heard thy cry, and have come down to
+deliver thee.'
+
+"Comforted by this sweet assurance, she rejoiced exceedingly, knowing
+that what our Heavenly Father promises he is abundantly able to perform,
+and that He will fulfill his word, though heaven and earth shall pass
+away. But her faith was destined to be tried, and, on the very day after
+she had obtained the assurance of her brother's recovery, in came some
+one, saying, 'The doctor says S---- can live but a little time.' For an
+instant, these words were like a dagger to the sister's heart, but she
+still held fast her confidence, and replied: 'If _men_ can't cure him,
+the _Lord_ can.'
+
+"From that very moment, the brother began to amend. On the next day,
+when the physician came, he looked at him, commenced examining his
+symptoms, and exclaimed in astonishment: 'What have you been doing? You
+are evidently better, and I don't know but you will get up, after all.'
+
+"His recovery was so rapid, that in two weeks' time he was out about his
+customary duties on the farm; and that in weather so damp and foggy that
+it would have kept some stronger men in-doors. But he was well; the
+prayer of faith was answered, and it had saved the sick."
+
+
+ANSWER TO PRAYER IN ALL THE LITTLE TEMPORAL ANXIETIES OF LIFE
+
+
+The question having been asked, "Does God answer Prayer, in even all the
+little anxieties and cares of daily life." _The Illustrated Christian
+Weekly_, called in 1876, for testimonies of the surety of God in
+fulfilling his promise, and giving answer in little things as well as
+great things. Many, even good Christians have believed that they should
+not pray for anything for themselves, but only for those things which
+were to be used for God's work. The following instances show that those
+who are devoted to God's good work and helping in his service can ask
+for anything needed for their personal comfort, and expect the Lord to
+grant them. In truth the Lord _has commanded_ all his disciples, "_Ask
+and receive, that your joy may be full." "Anything that ye shall ask in
+my name, I will do it_."
+
+
+BREAD TO THE HUNGRY.
+
+
+"God was pleased to deprive me totally of my hearing in early boyhood.
+By the late war I lost all of my earthly possessions. I have a wife and
+family totally dependent on me for a support. A man employed to attend
+to my little manufacturing business as manager, by imprudent management,
+deprived me of every earthly dependence for a support. I had no refuge
+but God. This feeling was intense beyond expression--God was my only
+hope. I laid my case before him. Then this came to me, 'Seek first the
+kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be
+added unto you.' 'Now,' I said, 'I am deeply conscious that I and my
+wife seek and desire the kingdom of God above all things; God then will
+give us temporal help.' Then a feeling came over me, a feeling of
+waiting upon God. It was sweet waiting. I was at rest. I had thought
+frequently if I could get _two hundred dollars_ I could start my little
+business again. While thus trusting, and waiting, and praying, a package
+was handed to me by the express-agent containing $200 from a stranger in
+a distant county, against whom I held an old note dated 1856; and for
+many years I had forgotten the note, and would have taken twenty-five
+cents for it any time. The man was bankrupt, and did not fear the Lord,
+nor know anything of my situation in life. He was under no legal
+obligation to pay the note."
+
+
+NO "IFS."
+
+"A number of years ago I went West to better my condition.... After a
+little time I went into business of my own, had but little capital, and
+my good name to be punctual in paying for what I bought on credit was of
+great importance to me. I had promised to pay on a certain day a note of
+about $60. I thought I was sure to get the money, but was disappointed;
+I went to the Lord for help, not knowing how he could send me the money,
+but convinced that he was able to do it. At about noon the same day a
+man inquired for me. I knew him by sight; he had the name of being a
+hard man, took all the interest he could get, and never put any money
+out without security. He had not the note, but he asked me if I wanted
+to hire any money; if so he had _sixty dollars_ he would like to let me
+have. The man took my note and never did ask for any security.
+
+"At another time, being away from home some 2,000 miles, was at the
+house of an uncle; same evening I received a letter from my wife that
+the children were very sick and but little hope of recovery. The letter
+had been written for over a week. I communicated the contents of the
+letter to my aunt; went up in my room and prayed the Lord to be their
+physician. I felt so sure that my prayer would be answered that I could
+not help singing; when they heard me they thought what a cold-hearted
+man I must be to sing if the children were dying at home. _But from,
+that day the children did get better, and in a short time were out of
+danger_.
+
+"In my younger years I had a good many ifs, but those are all gone; I
+know that the Lord has the means at his command to answer all my prayers
+if I come believing, asking in the name of Christ."
+
+
+THE HORSE IS HIS.
+
+
+"The writer was preaching Sundays at a little country church, about 70
+miles by rail from the institution where he attended. He went Saturday,
+returning on Monday. One Saturday the train ran off the track. All day
+long they worked at the wreck. At last, finding it too late to make
+connection with the other railroad, he took the down train back to the
+institution. What should be done? A promise to preach forty miles across
+the country had been made. There was also an appointment six miles
+beyond for an afternoon service. It was now night. To drive across the
+country was the only way open, or stay at home. Two disappointed
+congregations the result in the latter case. But the roads were heavy
+from recent rains. 'Twill be so late that none can direct. Friends said,
+'Stay; you can't go forty miles across, to you, an unknown country.' But
+the writer felt it duty to go. Hiring a horse noted for endurance, at
+nine o'clock at night--dark, threatening--he set out. As he headed the
+horse in the direction of the village--for he could find none who could
+tell him the exact road--he prayed: 'O God, starting out to preach thy
+word to-morrow, direct the way--guide this horse.' The night wore on; as
+cross-roads came, dropping the lines over the dashboard, the same prayer
+was offered. When the horse chose a road, the driver urged him on. As
+day began to break, emerging from some wood in an unfrequented road,
+they entered the village they sought. The sermon that morning was from
+the text, 'Son, go work to-day in my vineyard.' The largest congregation
+of the Summer had gathered. It will not do to say that the horse knew
+the road. Returning in broad daylight the next day, though directed and
+directed again, we lost the way and went seven miles out of our course.
+A scientist might laugh at this way of driving, or at asking God to
+guide in such trivial matters. But we shall still believe that God led
+the horse and blessed us in our attempt to serve him."
+
+
+ALL OUR NEEDS.
+
+
+"About eight years ago, while a Student in college, I became embarrassed
+for want of funds. Debts began to accumulate. Anticipating money from
+usual sources, promises had been made to pay at a certain date.
+
+"The time to make these payments approached. The anticipated money did
+not come. A student in debt is most dependent and hopeless. In great
+distress, locking the study-door, I sat down to think. First came
+visions of an auction sale of a few books and scanty furniture; then of
+notes and protests; finally the promises of God came into mind. I knew
+he had promised to supply my wants. 'All things whatsoever ye have need
+of,' came home in great power. I am needy, I have given up business,
+all, to preach the gospel. I remember as 'twere yesterday the feelings,
+the struggles, of that hour. With all earnestness I asked for help in my
+hour of distress. At last I felt confident that the aid needed would
+come in time, Saturday; this was Monday. I thanked God for the answer--
+and being questioned by a needy creditor of that afternoon, assured him
+that his money would be ready.
+
+"Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday passed--no sign, but faith said God will
+not fail. Friday morning--heart beat fast as I went to the
+post-office--it seemed as if through its agency the help would come.
+Nothing. But it must be here to-day. Returning from the office Friday
+evening, wondering how God would send deliverance, I saw on my table a
+long official envelope. A classmate preceding me at the office had
+brought it. A letter from a gentleman in Wall street whom I have never
+seen. On Monday, he casually asked of a tea-broker, an acquaintance, if
+he knew of any one in H----. The broker mentioned, after a little
+thought, my name.
+
+"The letter contained a request for service of a peculiar sort,
+connected with some legal matters, contained money and promise of more.
+_Over three times the sum I asked God for was finally given. More than
+enough for a term's expenses_.
+
+"I never mentioned the matter of my need at that time to a human being,
+nor spoke of the prayer. I have always thanked God for that, and am sure
+he provides for me in accordance with his promise."
+
+
+HE HEALETH THE SICK.
+
+
+"The wife of Deacon W. was sinking rapidly with pneumonia. Friends gave
+up all hope of her recovery, and even the hopeful physician felt that he
+was hoping against hope. In his despair the husband bore the case
+directly to God; he sought the prayers of his minister and of the
+church; and he asked all Christians to pray that the mother of his
+little children might be spared. She lingered between life and death for
+several days, when unexpectedly to many, she began to gain strength, and
+in due season was about again. This was several years ago, and she has
+been an active worker in the church and Sunday-school ever since."
+
+
+A POWERFUL DREAM.
+
+
+"My father, a minister of the gospel, was prostrated by sickness. A
+large family of little ones was dependent upon him for support. Funds
+ran low. One evening my mother remarked that she had broken the last
+dollar. My father lay awake most of the night, praying to his God for
+help in this emergency. That same night a man in a parish not many miles
+distant was much impressed by a dream. He dreamed that a minister who
+preached in his church not long before, was sick and in want. He knew
+neither his name nor his place of residence. He arose at the first dawn
+of day, and going to his own pastor inquired the name and address of the
+stranger who had recently preached for them. These obtained, he mounted
+his horse, and knocked at our door just as my mother drew up the
+window-shades. She answered the knock, when, without a word, a stranger
+placed an envelope in her hand and immediately rode away. The envelope
+contained a ten-dollar bill, which we all believed was the Lord's answer
+to our father's prayer. Afterwards these facts were disclosed by the
+pastor to him whom the Lord chose to disperse his bounty."
+
+
+ASK AND YE SHALL RECEIVE.
+
+
+"In 1874, through Providence, I became sore pressed to provide for
+myself and family; two of my children had just begun to learn to read. I
+was desirous to procure for them the 'N.---,' (a children's journal,)
+but I could not see how I was to pay for it and meet other obligations.
+So I carried it to our Father in heaven, asking if it was best and
+according to his will my children should get the 'N.---.' In about ten
+days afterward I received a note from a lady friend, with whom I or none
+of our family had had any communication for weeks, and in that note she
+advised us that her little daughter, the same age as our second, had
+sent as a Christmas gift a subscription for the 'N.---,' to be sent to
+our Mary's address. 'If ye abide in me, and my words in you, ye shall
+ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you.'"
+
+
+CASTING ALL YOUR CARE ON HIM.
+
+
+"Once, soon after the death of my husband and the loss of all his large
+property, I had a bill of _fifty dollars_ to pay, and was notified two
+weeks beforehand that not a day's grace would be given. Besides what I
+was earning by my pen, I had due me, in a neighboring city, just the
+amount I should need--the income on my only remaining piece of real
+estate; and, as my tenant was always prompt, I wrote to him where to
+send me the money, and gave the subject no farther thought. But, when
+the time for his response was already past, and I heard nothing from my
+debts, and but a few days to the time of my own need yet remained, I
+felt anxious and sought divine direction as to the course I ought to
+pursue. Rising from my knees, I took up my Bible, and the very first
+words my eyes rested upon, were these: 'Casting all your care upon Him,
+for he careth for you.' All anxiety from that hour left me; but I felt
+impelled to apply to a certain editor for the payment of _twenty
+dollars_ he owed me, and I felt sure the other thirty would come from
+somewhere.
+
+"So the days passed until the morning of the day upon which I should be
+called on for the fifty dollars, and _still I had not a single dollar_
+on hand to meet the claim. At ten o'clock my creditor came, but half an
+hour before him the postman had put into my hand a letter containing a
+check for _fifty dollars_, the exact amount I needed. It had come from
+the editor to whom I had applied for twenty dollars, and lo! he had sent
+me fifty. The thirty advanced he said I could give him credit for on my
+next MS. He did not know my need, but God did, and thus He had answered
+my prayer."
+
+
+IN EVERYTHING MAKE KNOWN YOUR WANTS.
+
+
+"Six years ago, on the low country of South Carolina, a friend asked me
+to go with him to a camp-meeting. I was delighted with the idea, for, in
+my estimation, a good camp-meeting comes nearer heaven than any other
+place on earth.
+
+"Just three days before we were to go, an unexpected circumstance
+connected with his business, made it impossible for him to leave. It was
+with real heartfelt sorrow I heard of it. The day before we were to have
+started, as I saw another member of the family, who was going with a
+friend, packing her trunk, it seemed to me I could not bear it. I
+carried my trouble to my dear heavenly Father, begging him to send me a
+way to go.
+
+"I rose from my knees with the sweet assurance in my heart my prayer was
+heard--packed my trunk and waited patiently. When night came and the men
+came home, in the place of the expected buggy came a small spring-wagon,
+and a seat for me. What may seem more remarkable, the change between
+buggy and spring-wagon was made ten miles away, while I was praying.
+
+"I believe I enjoyed the meeting more for the feeling of thankfulness
+that pervaded my whole being while there."
+
+
+THE GREAT PHYSICIAN.
+
+
+"Nearly five years ago, after a decline of almost two years, I was
+brought very near to the grave. Medical aid availed nothing. I was
+fearfully emaciated, and my death was daily expected. A devoted mother
+and a sister, who had watched over me tenderly during my long illness,
+were completely exhausted.
+
+"I determined to apply to the Great Physician, as directed in James
+5:14. As I united with others in prayer, unconsciously I uttered these
+words, 'I shall yet praise Thee in the great congregation.' All present
+felt assured that it was the will of God to restore me to health.
+Appearances were against me; for some time I could sleep but very
+little, and there was no perceptible gain. But trusting in the sure
+promise, the next Sabbath I rode a short distance to church, and, as I
+thus ventured out little by little, my strength gradually returned. A
+few months later, my mother, who through disease had been in a state of
+despair for some years, was enabled again to hope in God's mercy."
+
+
+SHALL SAVE THE SICK.
+
+
+"I was desperately ill. My physicians had done all in their power,
+without success--and yet I lived! For my father's sake, the hearts of
+hundreds waited the issue, and prayed for me! For his sake, the bells in
+the neighborhood were tied--the criers did not come within sound of the
+house--nor was the sound of wheels heard upon the street. There was a
+death-like stillness without and within.
+
+"The physicians sat with folded hands and wept, because the blow seemed
+too heavy for my father to bear--the thought that I was going to die
+without any assurance that I trusted in my Saviour!
+
+"'It cannot be,' he said, 'I will wrestle with my God until He hears
+me!' Sunday came. In almost every church a special prayer was offered
+for my recovery. After morning service, a band of devoted women met, and
+offered fervent prayers that God would spare my life. Evening came--the
+weary doctors went home, leaving the last sacred moments to my parents.
+Early next morning they came again, and exclaimed, as they entered the
+room, 'She is better! Prayer has saved her!' I still live, 'a spared
+monument of God's mercy.'"
+
+
+ALL-SUFFICIENT FOR ALL NEED.
+
+
+"I am a mother of seven children. By the help of our Father in heaven,
+we have all of us gone regularly to church and Sunday-school. We are
+poor; and at length the time came we were not clothed so we could
+comfortably go to church. I earnestly asked our Father to show me,
+within a week, which was right for us to do: to go in debt for clothes,
+or stay at home. Within that week, I received a large package of
+ready-made clothing. The clothing came from a source I never thought of
+receiving anything from."
+
+
+A VERY PRESENT HELP IN TROUBLE.
+
+"At one time, during a season of adversity, there was urgent occasion
+for a certain sum beyond the income of the family, and there was no way
+of borrowing it. I took the matter to the Lord in prayer, asking Him, if
+the money were really needed, as it appeared to be, to send it, and, if
+it were not, to remove the distressing circumstances. The answer came in
+a sum five times the amount asked for, and in a manner totally
+unexpected."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"At another time, the mother of the family was very ill, and, when
+apparently near death, the physicians had ordered a remedy which was to
+be constantly employed, as her life, so far as they could judge,
+depended on its use. One night, her symptoms became so alarming as to
+compel the writer (who had charge of the nursing) to use this remedy
+more freely than ever, and, about midnight the supply was exhausted.
+There was no possibility of obtaining any more before morning, and the
+rest of that night, while attending to the other directions of the
+doctors, I spent in one earnest, agonizing prayer that God would so
+overrule natural causes that death would not occur in consequence of
+what I felt to be my own culpable carelessness in not having provided a
+larger quantity of an article so necessary. In His great mercy, He
+granted the prayer, the dangerous symptoms did not increase during the
+seven or eight hours that intervened before the remedy could be
+procured. One proof that it was a special mercy, is found in the fact
+that there was no other such standing still of the disease, either
+before this or afterward. And the doctors were astonished when they saw
+that the disease had made no progress, under conditions that rendered
+that progress inevitable in the usual law of cause and effect. And when,
+on her final recovery, Doctor Parker told her that she owed her life to
+the good care I had taken of her, my thoughts went back to the long
+hours of that night of anguish, and I said, 'It was the Lord that took
+care of her.' 'I meant your care, under Providence,' was the reply."
+
+
+HE SHALL DIRECT THY PATHS
+
+"I am a teacher by profession, and, a few years ago, I found myself
+placed in a school whose every surrounding was utterly repugnant to my
+tastes, and to all my ideas of right and wrong and what good teaching
+should be. At first, I kept hoping that things would grow better, and
+that I should, at least, be able to have some influence on the modes of
+teaching; but I soon found that everything connected with the
+establishment was directed by the iron will of an unscrupulous and
+tyrannical woman, whose laws were as irrevocable as those of the Medes
+and Persians. I at once decided I could not stay there long, but I had
+no other position in view, and it was not easy to secure one in the
+middle of the term. As usual, I made it a subject of prayer, and the
+result was that, in a short time, I was most unexpectedly, and without
+the least solicitation on my part, offered a much better position, in
+every respect, which, of course, I was only too thankful to accept. That
+is only one instance, out of thousands I could name, where God has heard
+and answered my prayers, and I believe He will do so to the end."
+
+
+HOW THE LORD IS CONSTANTLY CARING FOR HIS TRUSTING POOR.
+
+
+A city missionary recently found, in this city on the streets, a refined
+Englishwoman with her children, who had been turned out of her home for
+non-payment of rent. With the aid of a few friends he installed her in a
+new domicile, and procured work for her. From time to time he visited
+her, and rejoiced with her that God had sent him to her in the hour of
+extremity. At length, pressure of business kept him away for some time,
+until, one evening, he started out to look up a few dollars owing him,
+in order to procure some delicacies for a sick wife. One dollar was all
+he could procure, and with that in his pocket he was returning homeward,
+when he became so impressed with the idea that he should visit the
+Englishwoman that he turned aside and did so. He found her in tears, and
+asking the cause, heard the sorrowful tale of no work, no food in the
+house for to-morrow, which was Sunday. He was in doubt whether to give
+her the dollar and suffer his sick wife to go without something
+palatable, but in a moment, "Blessed is he that considereth the poor;
+the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble," presented itself to his
+mind, and--the dollar dried the widow's tears.
+
+Upon reaching his home he found a lady had called on his wife and
+brought with her three or four kinds of jellies, fruit, home-made
+biscuit, various relishing things; three times more than the dollar
+would have purchased.
+
+The same gentleman, while calling on a poor family one day, discovered a
+little house in the rear, which he visited, finding a neat, cleanly
+room, occupied by an old lady, crippled with rheumatism. He found she
+had no one in the world but a sister, a monthly nurse, to care for her.
+When first setting out on his tour that morning, the missionary had
+fifty cents given him by a gentleman, who expressed the hope that "it
+might do some good during the day." Although a number of visits had been
+made, he had not felt called upon to bestow it until then, nor could he
+tell why he should want to put it in the old lady's hand at parting, but
+he did so.
+
+She was too much overcome by her emotions to speak, but she took his
+hand and led him to a little table, on which lay a Bible, opened at the
+passage, "Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, He will give it
+you." She said, "Please tell me if any one sent you here?" "No." "Did
+you ever hear that I lived here?" "I did not." "Then the Lord sent you
+in answer to my prayer this morning. For the first time in my life, I am
+without food. My sister was to have come home yesterday, but has not. I
+was just asking the Lord to provide for me when you knocked at the
+door."
+
+Such scenes as these amply repay our missionaries for all the toils and
+weariness, all the anxieties and perplexities of the work.
+
+
+A PRAYER FOR BREAD.
+
+
+"Washington Allston, who stood at the head of American artists a half
+century ago, was, at one time, so reduced by poverty, that he locked his
+studio, in London, one day, threw himself on his knees and prayed for a
+loaf of bread for himself and wife. While thus engaged, a knock was
+heard at the door, which the artist hastened to open. A stranger
+inquired for Mr. Allston, and was anxious to know who was the fortunate
+purchaser of the painting of the 'Angel Uriel,' which had won the prize
+at the exhibition of the Royal Academy. He was told that it was not
+sold. 'Where is it to be found?' 'In this very room,' said Allston,
+producing a painting from a corner and wiping off the dust. 'It is for
+sale, but its value has not been adequately appreciated, and I would not
+part with it.' 'What is its price?' 'I have done affixing any nominal
+sum. I have always so far exceeded any offers, I leave it to you to name
+the price.' 'Will four hundred pounds be an adequate recompense?' 'It is
+more than I ever asked for it.' 'Then the painting is mine,' said the
+stranger, who introduced himself as the Marquis of Stafford, and, from
+that time, became one of Mr. Allston's warmest friends and patrons."
+
+
+THE DAUGHTER'S PRAYER.
+
+
+The late Doctor Krummacher, chaplain to the king of Prussia, in
+referring to faith and prayer, writes as follows:
+
+"A little incident occurs to me which I can hardly withhold, on account
+of its simplicity and beauty. The mother of a little girl, only four
+years of age, had been, for some time, most dangerously ill. The
+physician had given her up. When the little girl heard this, she went
+into an adjoining room, knelt down, and said: 'Dear Lord Jesus, O make
+my mother well again.'
+
+"After she had thus prayed, she said, as though in God's name, with as
+deep a voice as she could: 'Yes, my dear child, I will do it gladly!'
+This was the little girl's amen. She rose up, joyfully ran to her
+mother's bed, and said: 'Mother, you will get well!'
+
+"And she recovered, and is in health to this day. Is it, then, always
+permitted for me to pray thus unconditionally respecting temporal
+concerns? No; thou must not venture to do so, if, whilst you ask, you
+doubt. But shouldst thou ever be inclined by God's Spirit to pray thus,
+without doubt or scruple, in a filial temper, and with simplicity of
+heart, resting on the true foundation, and in genuine faith, then pray
+thus by all means! None dare censure thee; God will accept thee."
+
+
+THE LORD WILL PROVIDE.
+
+
+"A city missionary, one Saturday night, was going home with a basket of
+provisions on his arm. Meeting a policeman, he asked him if there had
+any families moved in the bounds of his beat during the week. He
+answered, 'Yes,' and, pointing to a building up an alley, said, 'a woman
+and some children are living there now.'
+
+"The missionary went to the house, rapped at the door, and was admitted.
+The woman was sitting by a small light, sewing. In the corner of the
+room, were two little girls, apparently from nine to twelve years of
+age, playing.
+
+"The missionary said, 'Madam, I am here to see if you will allow your
+girls to attend Sunday-school to-morrow morning.' 'I would, sir; but
+what you see on them is all the clothing they have, and you would not
+wish them to go as they are now.' 'The Lord will provide, madam. Have
+you no money?' 'Not yet, but I have committed my case into the hands of
+the Lord.' 'Have you anything to eat?' 'Nothing, sir!' 'What will you do
+for breakfast?' 'O, sir, I once had a husband; he provided when he
+could. These children had a father; he supplied their wants; but he is
+dead now. Yet my Maker, even God, is my husband, and He has promised to
+be a father to the fatherless. We have committed all to Him, have called
+upon Him in this our day of trouble. I am trusting in God to take care
+of a poor widow and her children in a strange place, and I know He will
+provide.' 'Thank God for such faith,' said the missionary; and, handing
+her the basket, said 'here is your breakfast, and you shall have the
+clothing for your children.' With tears streaming down her face, she
+replied: 'Oh, thank God for his faithfulness! He heareth and answereth
+prayer. May He bless you!' And, said our dear brother to us, 'I felt the
+promise was sure, for she was blessed in receiving, I was more so in
+giving.'"
+
+
+A PRAYER FOR A LOAD OF WOOD.
+
+
+Here is an illustration of the way in which God sends relief in trouble.
+The story is told by the Christian woman to whom it happened, in her own
+language:
+
+"About the month of January, 1863, I was living in Connecticut, alone
+with two little boys, one of them four years old, and the other about a
+year and a half old. My husband was away in the service of his country.
+When the coldest weather came, I was nearly out of wood. I went down
+into the village, one day, to try and get some, but tried in vain; so
+many men were away in the army that help was scarce. Very little wood
+was brought into market, and those living on the main street, got all
+that came, while those who lived outside the village could get none. I
+tried to buy a quarter of a cord from two or three merchants, but could
+not get any. One of them told me he could not get what he wanted for his
+own family. Another said he wasn't willing to yoke up his team for so
+small a quantity; but, as I only had a dollar and seventy-five cents, I
+could not buy any more, and so I was obliged to go home without any. I
+went back to my little ones, feeling very sad. But while I sat there,
+almost ready to cry, the words of Abraham came into my mind, 'Jehovah-
+Jireh, the Lord will provide.' Then I went up to my chamber. There I
+knelt down and told God of my trouble, and asked him to help me and send
+the relief that we needed. Then I went to the window and waited, looking
+down the street, expecting to see the wood coming. After waiting a
+while, without seeing any come, my faith began to fail. I said to
+myself, 'The Lord did provide for Abraham, but He won't provide for me.'
+Our last stick of wood was put in the stove. It was too cold to keep the
+children in the house without fire. I got the children's clothes out,
+and thought I would take them to the house of a kind neighbor, where I
+knew they could stay till we got some wood. But, just as I was going out
+with the children, in passing by the window, I saw the top of a great
+load of wood coming up the road towards our little house. Can that be
+for us? I asked myself. Presently I saw the wagon turn off the road and
+come up towards our door. Then I was puzzled to know how to pay for it.
+A dollar and seventy-five cents I knew would only go a little way
+towards paying for all that wood. The oxen came slowly on, dragging the
+load to our door. I asked the man if there wasn't same mistake about it.
+'No, ma'am,' said he, 'there's no mistake.' 'I did not order it, and I
+cannot pay for it,' was my reply. 'Never mind, ma'am,' said he, 'a
+friend ordered it, and it is all paid for.' Then he unhitched the oxen
+from the wagon, and gave them some hay to eat. When this was done, he
+asked for a saw and ax, and never stopped till the whole load was cut
+and split and piled away in the woodshed.
+
+"This was more than I could stand. My feelings overcame me, and I sat
+down and cried like a child. But these were not bitter tears of sorrow.
+They were tears of joy and gladness, of gratitude and thankfulness. I
+felt ashamed of myself for doubting God's word, and I prayed that I
+might never do so again. What pleasure I had in using that wood! Every
+stick of it, as I took it up, seemed to have a voice with which to say
+'Jehovah-Jireh.' As Abraham stood on the top of Mount Moriah he could
+say, 'The Lord _will_ provide.' But every day, as I went into our
+woodshed, I could point to that blessed pile of wood sent from heaven,
+and say, 'The Lord _does_ provide.'"
+
+
+A REFRACTORY MAN COMPELLED TO PAY A DEBT.
+
+
+A refractory man who owed a small debt of about $43, refused to pay it
+all, but offered to do so if ten dollars was taken off. His creditor,
+feeling that it was just, declined to abate the amount.
+
+For more than a year the creditor waited, after having no attention paid
+to his correspondence or, claim by the debtor, who exhibited
+unmistakable obstinacy and want of courtesy. At last it was put into the
+hands of a lawyer. The lawyer, too, was fairly provoked at the
+faithlessness of the debtor in his promises or his attention to the
+subject; thus matters dragged wearily for months, yet exercised leniency
+in pressing the claim.
+
+The creditor, whose forbearance had now reached the extremity of
+endurance, at last was led to take it to the Lord in prayer; saying he
+would "willingly forgive the whole debt if in anything he was wrong, but
+if the Lord thought it was right, hoped that his debtor _might be
+compelled to pay the amount he so obstinately withheld_."
+
+To the astonishment of all, a letter received from the lawyer four days
+after, informed him _that his debtor had called and paid the claim in
+full_ with interest to date. "In doing so, he said he paid it _under
+protest_," thus showing he was _compelled by something he could not
+resist to pay it all_.
+
+
+A HURRICANE PASSES AROUND A SHIP.
+
+
+A Sea Captain relates to the editor of the _Christian_, a remarkable
+incident, whereby in one of his voyages his ship was unaccountably held
+still, and thereby saved from sailing directly into the midst of a
+terrible hurricane:--"We sailed from the Kennebec on the first of
+October, 1876. There had been several severe gales, and some of my
+friends thought it hardly safe to go, but after considerable prayer I
+concluded it was right to undertake the voyage. On the 19th of October
+we were about one hundred and fifty miles west of the Bahamas, and we
+encountered very disagreeable weather. _For five or six days we seemed
+held by shifting currents, or some unknown power, in about the same
+place. We would think we had sailed thirty or forty miles_, when on
+taking our observations we would find we _were within three or four
+miles of our position the day before_. This circumstance occurring
+repeatedly proved a trial to my faith, and I said within my heart,
+'_Lord, why are we so hindered, and kept in this position_?' Day after
+day we were held as if by an unseen force, until at length a change took
+place, and we went on our way. Reaching our port they inquired, 'Where
+have you been through the gale?' '_What gale_?' we asked. '_We have seen
+no gale_.' We then learned that a terrible hurricane had swept through
+that region, and that all was desolation. We afterwards learned that
+_this hurricane had swept around us, and had almost formed a circle
+around the place occupied by us during the storm. A hundred miles in one
+direction all was wreck and ruin, fifty miles in the opposite direction
+all was desolation; and while that storm was raging in all its fury, we
+were held in perfect safety, in quiet waters_, and in continual anxiety
+to change our position and pursue our voyage _One day of ordinary
+sailing would have brought us into the track of the storm, and sent us
+to the bottom of the sea._ We were anxious to sail on, but some unseen
+power held us where we were, and we escaped."
+
+The Captain was a prayerful man, trusting in his Lord, though his faith
+was tried, and he thought the Lord was not helping him. Yet the Lord was
+keeping his promise to him, "_The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in
+safety by him, and the Lord shall cover him all the day long_."
+
+
+RECOVERY FROM SPINAL DISEASE.
+
+
+"Miss M---- is the daughter of a respectable farmer, an elder in a
+Presbyterian church in Western Pennsylvania. When a young girl her spine
+was injured while nursing her aged and helpless grandmother, and she has
+been a great sufferer for many years. For eleven years she has not been
+able to attend church nor to go from home, and for a long time was
+unable to leave her chamber or her bed. Two years ago she was so ill
+that hopes of her recovery were abandoned, her mind was thought to be
+seriously, even hopelessly impaired. Her physician acknowledged that her
+disease baffled his skill.
+
+"A few months ago, being near her residence and hearing that her health
+was better, I called on her, and to my surprise, found her able to sew,
+walk about, and even go down stairs. She informed me that she suffered
+so intensely from the remedies used for her cure, and constantly grew
+worse, that she determined to do nothing more; it seemed like fighting
+against God; she would put herself into His hands to do with her as He
+pleased. Then it seemed to her that the Saviour came to her and said,
+'M----, what aileth thee?' She told Him all her case, and He soothed and
+comforted her. From that time she began to improve; the paroxysms of
+pain grew less, and disappeared; her nervousness was relieved, she could
+sleep, her mind was full of peace. She said, 'I am not cured, and do not
+expect to be well, but I can bear what I have to suffer, and am willing
+to depart whenever it is the Lord's will to take me away to himself.'"
+
+
+PRAYER FOR A PAIR OF BOOTS.
+
+
+In the Fall of 1858, H----, a student in the Theological Seminary at
+Princeton, N.J., was in great need of a new pair of boots. His toes were
+sticking out of his old ones, and he had no money to purchase new ones.
+All the money he could command was barely enough to pay his fare to his
+home, where be had promised a dear friend to be present on the
+approaching communion Sabbath.
+
+H---- was a man of great faith, and was accustomed to carry all his
+wants to God in prayer. To God he carried the present emergency, and
+earnestly importuned Him, that He would send him a pair of boots, and
+that He would do it before the approaching Sabbath. He was persuaded
+that God heard, and would answer his petition, yet his faith was sorely
+tried. Saturday morning came and still there was no answer; he resolved,
+however, to go to his home, fully persuaded that God would in good time
+grant his request. He took the morning train at the Princeton depot, and
+reached home about eleven o'clock. It was a hard trial for him to go to
+"Preparatory Lecture" with his boots in the condition they were in; yet
+at two o'clock he went, still praying that God would send him a new pair
+of boots. During the service, a merchant in the town took a seat in the
+same pew with him, and at the close of the service, without a word being
+spoken on the subject, the merchant, after shaking hands with H---- and
+inquiring of his welfare, asked him if he would do him the favor of
+going down town to a certain boot and shoe store and select from the
+stock as good a pair of boots as he could find, and, said the merchant,
+"have them charged to me." It was, as, H---- said to me on his return to
+the seminary, a direct answer to prayer. Indeed, it might be said of
+H---- that he went through college and seminary _on prayer_. He laid all
+his plans before God, pleaded his promises, and never was disappointed.
+
+
+UNDER GARMENTS IN ANSWER TO PRAYER.
+
+
+Among the students in the Theological Seminary at Princeton, N.J., in
+1860, was my intimate friend L----. He was at the time poorly clad, but
+was a devoted Christian, and is at present a successful foreign
+missionary.
+
+One day when on the Seminary campus, I heard two of the students very
+thoughtlessly criticising the exceeding shabbiness of L----'s wearing
+apparel, his short pants, old shoes, and socks with no heels in them. At
+almost every step L---- took when playing ball, his bare heels could be
+seen. That day, after evening prayers, I took L---- by the arm, for a
+walk to "Orthodox point," a tree about a mile distant from the Seminary.
+During our walk, I gently told him of the criticisms I had heard, and
+learned more fully than I had ever done of his destitution of wearing
+apparel, especially of under garments. I offered him a share of mine, or
+the loan of money, so as to meet his present wants, but this he declined
+to receive, saying, that he "would take it to the Lord in prayer," and
+that God would in good time supply all his wants. I, too, bore his case
+to the throne of grace. The next day after this, on going into his room,
+he laid before me an empty envelope, and a five dollar bill, and asked
+me the question, "Did you throw that envelope with that bill in it,
+through that ventilator?" I assured him that I did not. "Well," said he,
+"when I came in from recitation a short time ago, I found this envelope
+on the floor and that five dollar bill in it. It has evidently been
+thrown in through the ventilator." We both recognized God's hand in the
+provision made and mentally gave thanks to our Heavenly Father. Soon
+after this, "a missionary box" was sent to the Seminary, and my friend
+was therefrom well supplied with under garments. Frequently afterward
+did he say to me, in substance, "Prayer is the key to God's treasury.
+Trust in Him and the Lord will provide."
+
+
+UNEXPECTED RELIEF.
+
+
+Henry Badgerow was a man about seventy years of age at the time of the
+incident, and a resident of Steuben county, State of New York. This was
+in the year about A.D. 1830-31. He had been for many years an invalid--
+so much so that he couldn't walk--the result of a horse running away
+with him. In a forest, isolated from neighbors, the old man resided
+alone with an aged wife. They were quite poor, and wholly dependent upon
+the labor of a son who worked away from home for others. This son was at
+length taken sick with a fever, and unable to minister to his parents'
+wants. This was in mid-winter, when storms were frequent and the snows
+deep and lasting. One evening when the storm was at its highest, this
+old couple found themselves without a particle of food in the house.
+Matters were desperate with them. They could see but starvation staring
+them in the face. They resolved upon prayer, having a firm trust in
+their Heavenly Father, whom for many years they had been humbly serving.
+They did not retire, but continued in fervent prayer that God would send
+them food. About two and a half miles distant lived a young married man
+in comfortable circumstances, by the name of Joseph Clason (the author
+of the story). He was not at this time a Christian, although it was not
+long after this he was converted, and has since lived an eminently
+active and godly life. About 12 o'clock on the night of the snow storm
+above mentioned, young Clason awoke. His first thoughts were of old Mr.
+Badgerow and his condition in that storm. His mind became so impressed
+with the thought of him, and so wrought upon that he could not again go
+to sleep, although trying so to do. At length he awakened his wife, told
+her that he was in trouble about Mr. B., for fear he and his wife were
+starving. She replied that if he would get right up and make a light,
+she would prepare something, and that he had better take it right down.
+Young C. did so, taking with him a pail of provisions. After a jaunt
+through the storm and snow in the dead hour of night, he reached the old
+man's cabin. There he found a light burning. He knocked; the door was
+opened by the wife. The old man was fervently praying; but when he saw
+young C. with the pail of provisions, he held up both hands and said,
+"Now I know that God heareth prayer. Not one mouthful have we in the
+house to eat. I know that God sent you here." Young C. staid with the
+old couple until daylight. The conversation revealed that about midnight
+the old man perceiving that a storm had arisen, and that unless relief
+came, which was not likely, they would starve, resolved to appeal to his
+Heavenly Father, saying that God who sent the ravens to feed Elijah
+would feed him if he went to him in faith, and now God had heard his
+prayer, and he blessed God that he could do so in all trouble and trial.
+
+The old man having asked C. how he came to visit them, he replied he
+didn't know, but supposed God had sent him, as he had awoke and couldn't
+again sleep on account of thought of him.
+
+The incident made a serious and lasting impression on young C's mind.
+
+In the morning, as C. was returning home, he came by his father's house;
+his mother, espying his pail, wished to know where he had been. He
+replied, "To feed the hungry." His father spreading the incident, the
+neighbors all turned out and brought in enough provision to last them
+during several weeks, the old man being greatly loved and respected by
+his community, on account of his sterling Christian life and character.
+
+Mr. Joseph Clason is still living, now seventy-five years of age, in
+Bazine, Ness county, Kansas.
+
+
+THAT BEAUTIFUL CHRISTMAS GIFT. HOW THE LORD USED IT.
+
+
+A lady and gentleman were walking up Madison avenue, New York City, from
+church, when incidentally the lady said, "We are trying to get up
+Christmas decorations and entertainment for our Mission School."
+
+"_Well, put my name down for anything you like_," and then came into his
+mind a certain sum to give.
+
+A day passed on, it seemed forgotten; but a note from the lady reminded
+him of his promise, and he responded, giving the exact sum originally
+thought of, $25. Notice, now, the most singular disposition of it,
+which, by the hand of Providence, was made to go on its circuitous way
+to meet those who needed it most.
+
+The next Sabbath, the lady and gentleman again meeting each other, she
+said, "Your gift was too large. I cannot take so much from you. I shall
+give you back part."
+
+"But I won't take it."
+
+"Well, you must. I can't keep it."
+
+It resulted in the lady taking $15 from her muff and forcing it back
+into the gentleman's hand.
+
+The gentleman felt badly. "_I intended this for the Lord, and now it is
+refused. It is the first time I ever heard that money ever given to a
+Sunday school was not wanted. I meant the whole for the. Lord_. If she
+don't want it and wont keep it, I will give the rest away. _It does not
+belong to me_." Before night he had enclosed it in a letter and sent it
+out of the city to an invalid as a _Christmas present_. He had occasion
+not long after to visit the invalid, and was fairly astonished at the
+extraordinary circumstances connected with its use; and this is his
+story, told in his letter to the lady who returned the $15.
+
+"The sequel to the $15 is far more beautiful and wonderful than anything
+I have ever known. This invalid had been praying for some money for a
+needed article of dress to protect her from cold. _The_ $15 _came the
+very next morning in answer to her prayer. But it was more than enough_.
+As a consistent Christian, having asked the Lord only for enough to meet
+but one need, she felt as if the rest belonged to the Lord and must be
+used for Him. So in wondering how to use it, she thought of a poor woman
+who needed a new calico dress, and at once bought it and gave it to her.
+She had but $5 left. A dear friend was in distress; his horse and
+carriage had been seized for failure to pay the livery bill of their
+keeping; he could not collect any money of the debts due him, to pay his
+bill, and had nothing. His wife and children were in New Britain, and
+here he was, no means to get there. The little Christian invalid sent
+him her $5, the last money she had, not knowing where her next was to
+come from, with these words: "_The Lord has sent you this_," and though
+he offered to return, or use only part, she said, "_No, the Lord meant
+this for you_. You must keep it, I will not take it back." Now see how
+beautifully all these incidents have been made to work for the good of
+many, by the managing hand of Providence.
+
+"My original gift of $25 to you was _more than enough_. You did not need
+it all for your Sunday-school, and the Lord made you force back the $15
+upon me. I could not keep it, because I felt, it belonged to the Lord.
+So I sent it to the little invalid.
+
+"She, too, had only needed a part, and used only what she asked the Lord
+for, and then she, in her turn, gave the rest away. The most wonderful
+part of it is, that the money you gave back to me, and I gave to the
+Lord, was _three-fifths of the amount you received_, and the money the
+little invalid gave away _to the Lord_ was also _three-fifths the amount
+she received. The money which you kept for your use was just two-fifths,
+and the money that the invalid kept for her own use was just two-fifths
+also. The very next day after she had given her money away_, a lady
+called and gave her some money, which _was precisely the same amount_
+which _the poor woman's calico dress_ had cost, (though she knew nothing
+of the circumstances), and in return for the $5 which she gave her
+friend in distress, and refused to take back, the Lord remembered her
+and gave her a good home.
+
+
+THE WIDOW'S WOOD AND FLOUR.--THE UNBELIEVING ONES MADE SPEECHLESS.
+
+
+The following instance is known to _The Christian_ as true, and to a
+remarkable degree indicates how thoroughly God knows our minutest needs,
+and how effectively He makes those who ever reproach his name ashamed of
+their unbelief.
+
+"A friend and relative of the one who was 'a widow indeed,' one who
+trusted in God, and continued in supplications and prayers day and
+night, was once brought into circumstances of peculiar straitness and
+trial. She had two daughters who exerted themselves with their needles
+to earn a livelihood; and at that time they were so busily engaged in
+trying to finish some work that had long been on their hands, they had
+neglected to make provision for their ordinary wants until they found
+themselves one Winter's day in the midst of a New England snow storm,
+with food and fuel almost exhausted, at a distance from neighbors, and
+without any means of procuring needful sustenance.
+
+"The daughters began to be alarmed, and were full of anxiety at the
+dismal prospect, but the good old mother said, 'Don't worry, girls, the
+Lord will provide; we have enough for to-day, and to-morrow may be
+pleasant,' and in this hope the girls settled down again to their labor.
+
+"Another morning came, and with it no sunshine, but wind and snow in
+abundance. The storm still raged, but no one came near the house, and
+all was dark and dismal without.
+
+"Noon came, and the last morsel of food was eaten, the wind was almost
+gone, and there were no tokens of any relief for their necessities.
+
+"The girls became much distressed, and talked anxiously of their
+condition, but the good mother said, 'Don't worry, the Lord will
+provide.'
+
+"But they had heard that story the day before, and they, knew not the
+strong foundation upon which that mother's trust was builded, and could
+not share the confidence she felt.
+
+"'If we get anything to-day the Lord will have to bring it himself, for
+nobody else can get here if they try,' said one of the daughters,
+impatiently, but the mother said, 'Don't worry.' And so they sat down
+again to their sewing, the daughters to muse upon their necessitous
+condition, and the mother to roll her burden on the Everlasting Arms."
+
+Now mark the way in which the Lord came to their rescue, and just at
+this moment of extremity, put it into the heart of one of his children
+to go and carry relief. _Human Nature_ at such a time would never have
+ventured out in such a storm, but waited for a pleasant day. But Divine
+Wisdom and power made him carry _just what was needed, in the face of
+adverse circumstances, and just at the time it was needed_.
+
+"Mr. M. sat at his fireside, about a mile away, surrounded by every
+bounty and comfort needed to cheer his heart, with his only daughter
+sitting by his side.
+
+"For a long time not a word had been spoken, and he had seemed lost in
+silent meditation, till at length he said, 'Mary, I want you to go and
+order the cattle yoked, and then get me a bag. I must go and carry some
+wood and flour to sister C.'
+
+"'Why, Father, it is impossible for you to go. There is no track, and it
+is all of a mile up there. You would almost perish.'
+
+"The old man sat in silence a few moments and said, 'Mary, I must go.'
+She knew her father too well to suppose that words would detain him, and
+so complied with his wishes. While she held the bag for him, she felt
+perhaps a little uneasiness to see the flour so liberally disposed of,
+and said, 'I wish you would remember that _I_ want to give a poor woman
+some flour, if it ever clears off.' The old man understood the
+intimation and said, 'Mary, give all you feel it duty to, and when the
+Lord says stop, I will do so.'
+
+"Soon all things were ready, and the patient oxen took their way to the
+widow's home, wallowing through the drifted snow, and dragging the sled
+with its load of wood and flour. About four o'clock in the afternoon,
+the mother had arisen from her work to fix the fire, and, looking out of
+the window, she saw the oxen at the door, and she knew that the Lord had
+heard her cry.
+
+"She said not a word--why should she? She was not surprised!--but,
+presently, a heavy step at the threshold caused the daughters to look up
+with astonishment, as Mr. M. strode unceremoniously into the room,
+saying, '_The Lord told me, Sister C, that you wanted some wood and
+flour_.'
+
+"'_He told you the truth_,' said the widow, 'and I will praise Him
+forever.'
+
+"'_What think you now girls_?' she continued, as she turned in solemn
+joy to her unbelieving daughters.
+
+"_They were speechless_; not a word escaped their lips; but they
+pondered that new revelation of the providential mercy of the Lord,
+until it made upon their minds an impression never to be effaced.
+
+"From that hour they learned to trust in Him who cares for _His needy_
+in the hour of distress, and who, from His boundless stores, supplies
+the wants of those who trust in Him."
+
+
+A PAIR OF SHOES.--THE LORD'S REBUKE TO THOSE WHO "DIDN'T BELIEVE."
+
+
+The following incident occurred in Connecticut: In an humble cottage two
+sisters were watching over and caring for a much-loved brother, who, for
+many long months had been upon a bed of sickness. At length, the younger
+of them began to be discouraged. She was dependent, for her clothing,
+upon her labor; her shoes were worn out, and how should she get another
+pair, unless she could leave the sick bed and go away from home and work
+and earn some money.
+
+"Well," said the mother, "I know you need a pair of shoes, but don't
+worry, the Lord will provide."
+
+"_Do you think that_ THE LORD _will come down from heaven and buy me a
+pair of shoes_?" said the younger sister, with an expression of
+discouragement and vexation on her countenance.
+
+"No," said the mother, "but perhaps he will put it into somebody's heart
+to buy you a pair."
+
+"Perhaps He will, _but I don't believe it_," said the discouraged girl.
+
+"Well," said the other sister, who was a little more hopeful, "you won't
+get them any quicker by fretting, so you might as well be quiet." Then
+the subject dropped and the day passed as usual.
+
+As the shades of evening were gathering, a brother who lived at some
+distance, and who knew nothing of their previous conversation, called to
+inquire after their prosperity. After the customary salutations he said,
+"You have been sick here a long time, and I thought I would come round
+and see if I could not do something for you; thought perhaps by this
+time the girls needed something." Then turning to the younger sister, he
+said, "_How is it, aren't your shoes worn out?"_
+
+She dropped her eyes, blushed deeply, and, perhaps, a little
+conscience-smitten, answered not a word. Nothing was said of the
+previous conversation, though it was not forgotten by those who heard
+it. The brother soon saw for himself enough to satisfy him, and said no
+more, but went away. The next day _two pairs of shoes_ were sent around
+to her, and with them came to her heart a lesson which she never forgot.
+
+She lived many years after that, but was never heard to murmur in that
+way again, and often said that the two pairs of shoes taught her to
+_wait, hope and trust_, and thereby learn implicit confidence in Him who
+sendeth all blessings. The last time she alluded to the occurrence, she
+said, "_I was speechless then, but, by the grace of God, I will not be
+in the world to come_."
+
+
+THE LAME HEALED.
+
+
+Rev. Charles G. Finney, during his life-time, was familiar with the
+circumstances connected with the remarkable healing of a sick lady in
+Oberlin, O., the wife of Rev. R.D. Miller, and these facts were vouched
+for as unquestionably authentic. Mr. Finney says:
+
+"Mrs. Miller is the wife of a Congregational minister, and a lady of
+unquestionably veracity. However the fact of her healing is to be
+accounted for, her story is no doubt worthy of entire confidence, as we
+have known her for years as a lame, suffering invalid, and now see her
+in our midst in sound health. This instantaneous restoration will be
+accounted for by different persons in different ways. Mrs. Miller and
+those who were present regard the healing as supernatural and a direct
+answer to prayer. The facts must speak for themselves. Why should not
+the sick be healed in answer to the prayer of faith? Unbelief can
+discredit them, but faith sees nothing incredible in such facts as are
+stated by Mrs. Miller. Mrs. Miller's own statement is as follows, and it
+is fully endorsed by the most reliable citizens and members of the First
+church at Oberlin:
+
+"From my parents I inherited a constitution subject to a chronic form of
+rheumatism. In early life I was attacked with rheumatic weaknesses and
+pains, which affected my whole system. For nearly forty years I was
+subject to more or less suffering from this cause, sometimes unable to
+attend meeting for months at a time. For seven years, until the last
+three months, I have been unable to get about without the aid of crutch
+or staff, generally both. I have used many liniments and remedies, but
+with no permanently good result. I have been a Christian from early
+life, but last Spring, in our revival, I received a spiritual refreshing
+from the Lord, which gave a new impulse to my faith. Since then my
+religion has been a new life to me.
+
+"Last Summer, several of us Christian sisters were in the habit of
+spending short seasons of prayer together, that the Lord would send us a
+pastor. Some of our number had read the narrative of Dorothea Trudel,
+and had spoken to me on the subject of healing in answer to prayer. My
+faith had not then risen to this elevation. I had in fact accepted what
+I supposed to be the will of God, and made up my mind to be a lame and
+suffering invalid the rest of my life. I had long since ceased to use
+remedies for the restoration of my health, and had not even thought of
+praying in regard to it, for I regarded it as the will of God that I
+should suffer in silent submission.
+
+"Notwithstanding what had been said to me, I remained in this opinion
+and in this attitude until the 26th of September, 1872, when several
+ladies met at our house, by appointment, for a prayer-meeting. I had
+been growing worse for some time, and was at that time unable to get out
+to attend a meeting. I was suffering much pain that afternoon; indeed, I
+was hardly able to be out of my bed. Up to this time none of the sisters
+who had conversed with me about the subject of healing by faith, had
+been able to tell me anything from their own experience. That afternoon,
+one lady was present who could speak to me from her own experience of
+being healed in answer to the prayer of faith. She related several
+striking instances in which her prayers had been answered in the removal
+of divers forms of disease to which she was subject. She also repeated a
+number of passages of Scripture, which clearly justified the expectation
+of being healed in answer to the prayer of faith. She also said that
+Jesus had shown her that he was just as ready to heal diseases now as he
+was when on earth; that such healing was expressly promised in
+Scripture, in answer to the prayer of faith, and that it was nowhere
+taken back. These facts, reasonings, and passages of Scripture, made a
+deep impression on my mind, and, for the first time, I found myself able
+to believe that Jesus would heal me in answer to prayer. She asked me if
+I could join my faith with hers and ask for present healing. I told her
+I felt that I could. We then knelt, and called upon the Lord. She
+offered a mighty prayer to God, and I followed. While she was leading in
+prayer I felt a quickening in my whole being, whereupon my pain
+subsided, and when we rose from prayer I felt that a great change had
+come over me, that I was cured. I found that I could walk without my
+staff or crutch, or any assistance from any one. Since then my pains
+have never returned; I have more than my youthful vigor; I walk with
+more ease and rapidity than I ever did in my life, and I never felt so
+fresh and young as I now do, at the age of fifty-two.
+
+"Now, the hundred and third psalm is my psalm, and my youth is more than
+renewed, like the eagle's. I cannot express the constant joy of my heart
+for the wonderful healing of my soul and body. I feel as if I was every
+whit made whole."
+
+The testimony of eye-witnesses to this healing is as follows:
+
+"We were all present at the time of the healing, and know the facts to
+be true. We are all Christians, and have no interest in deceiving
+anybody, and would by no means dishonor God by stating more than the
+exact truth. Since the healing, Mrs. Miller is still with us, and in
+excellent health. Neither the severe cold of last Winter, nor the
+extreme heat of this Summer, has at all injured her health. From our
+first acquaintance with her, she has been so lame as to be unable to
+walk, except by the aid of crutches. Since which time she has been able
+to walk without help, and appears perfectly well."
+
+Her husband, also adding his testimony, says:
+
+"She has been unable to walk without crutches for a series of years. A
+long time ago, we tried many remedies and physicians, with no lasting
+good results, and were expecting she would remain an invalid. Of late,
+she had applied no remedy, nor taken any medicine. At the time of her
+cure, she was much worse than for a long while before, being in great
+pain continually, until the moment she fully believed, and, _in an
+instant_, she was restored to perfect soundness. From that moment to
+this she has not felt a particle of her former complaint.
+
+"She can now walk for miles as fast as I wish to, without feeling very
+much fatigue, does all her own housework, and attends seven meetings
+during the week. In short, she is stronger, and seems as young and spry,
+as when we were married, thirty-two years ago. The work of the dear
+Savior in her cure seems to be perfect, and she is an astonishment to
+all who knew her before and see her now. To _His_ name be all the
+praise.
+
+"Another lady, the same week my wife was healed, a member of the First
+Congregational Church, confined to her bed with a complicated disease,
+was prayed for, and restored at once to soundness."
+
+
+THE WONDERFUL CURE OF MRS. SHERMAN.
+
+
+Although there are so many cases of healing in answer to prayer, yet the
+incident of the healing of Mrs. Sherman is so minute, and resulted in
+such a radical change of the physical constitution, that it is necessary
+to relate it in full detail. It is too well proven to admit the
+possibility of a doubt.
+
+"Mrs. Ellen Sherman is the wife of Rev. Moses Sherman, and, at the time
+of this occurrence, in 1873, they were residents of Piermont, N.H. She
+had been an invalid for many years. In the Winter after she was fifteen,
+she fell on the ice and hurt her left knee, so that it became weak and
+easy to slip out of joint. Six years after, she fell again on the same
+knee, so twisting it and injuring the ligaments that it became partially
+stiff, and, the physician said, incurable.
+
+"The next Summer, by very fast walking, one day, she brought on special
+weakness, which no physician was able to cure. From that moment she was
+subject to severe neuralgia, sick-headaches, at least monthly, and
+sometimes even weekly.
+
+"In December, 1859, while stepping out of doors, she slipped, by reason
+of her stiff joint, and fell, striking near the base of the spine,
+directly across the sharp edge of the stone step. This caused such a
+sickness that she was obliged to leave the school she was attending.
+
+"Three years after (in January, 1862), she fell at the top of a
+stairway, striking just as before, and sliding all the way down to the
+foot. This nearly paralyzed the spinal cord, and caused deep and
+permanent spinal disease. After this she was up and down for many years,
+attended by various physicians, yet nothing bettered, but, rather,
+growing worse. It may be said, for short, that every organ of the lower
+body became chronically diseased, and that the headaches increased in
+violence.
+
+"In September, 1872, through a severe cold, she took her bed, where she
+lay, except when lifted from it, till the night of August 27, 1873. She
+was unable to walk a step, or even stand. She could sit up only a short
+time without great distress. The best medical skill that could be
+procured gave only temporary relief. The spine grew worse in spite of
+every appliance, and the nervous sensitiveness and prostration were
+increasing. During the two or three weeks immediately preceding her cure
+she was especially helpless, two persons being required to lift her off
+and on the bed. On the Monday before, one of her severest neuralgia
+sick-headaches came on. During Wednesday she began to be relieved, but
+was still so sick that when, in the evening, she tried to have her
+clothes changed, she could only endure the change of her night-dress."
+
+It will be seen from this her utter physical helplessness, and not the
+slightest hope of any amelioration. During the night of August 27th, she
+enjoyed a blessed time of communion with her Lord, giving herself, in
+all her helplessness, wholly to Him to do as he wills.
+
+With feelings beyond all expression, she _felt_ the nearness of her
+mighty Savior, and the sense of receiving a new and most delicious
+pulsation of new life. At last, though she had been bed-ridden for
+twelve months, and incapable of any bodily assistance, she felt an
+uncontrollable impulse to throw off the clothes of the bed with her left
+arm, and sprang out of bed upon her feet, and started to walk across the
+room.
+
+"Her husband's first thought was that she was crazed, and would fall to
+the floor, and he sprang towards her to help her. But she put up her
+hands against him, saying with great energy, 'Don't you touch me! Don't
+you touch me!' and went walking back and forth across the room speaking
+rapidly, and declaring the work which Jesus had been working upon her.
+
+"Her husband, quickly saw that she was in her right mind, and had been
+healed by the Lord, and his soul was filled with unutterable emotion.
+
+"One of the women of the household was called, also their son, twelve
+years old, and together they thanked God for the great and blessed
+wonder he had wrought.
+
+"In the morning, after a sleep of several hours, she further examined
+herself to see if entirely healed, and found both knees perfectly well;
+and though for sixteen years she had not been able to use either, now
+she lifted the left _foot_ and _put it upon the right knee_, thus
+proving the completeness of her restoration.
+
+"At the end of two years from her healing, inquiry having been made as
+to how thorough had been the work, Mrs. Sherman gave full and abundant
+evidence. 'I cannot remember a Summer when I have been so healthy and
+strong, and able to work hard. I am a constant wonder to myself, and to
+others, and have been for the two years past. The cure exceeded my
+highest expectations at the time I was cured. I did not look forward to
+such a state of vigor and strength. No words can express my joy and
+gratitude for all this.'
+
+"The parents of Mrs. Sherman also testify of the wonderful change
+physically which occurred with the cure.
+
+"Before, her appetite was always disordered, but on the very morning of
+the healing it was wholly changed, and her food, which distressed her
+formerly, she ate with a relish and without any pain following; and she
+so continues. For years before a natural action of the bowels was rare.
+From that day since, an unnatural one is equally rare.
+
+"For fifteen years, with few exceptions, she had had severe neuralgic
+sick headaches monthly or oftener. From that time she has been natural
+and without pain, with no return of the headaches, except a
+comparatively slight one once, from overdoing and a cold taken through
+carelessness.
+
+"There was also at that time an immediate and radical change in the
+action of the kidneys, which had become a source of great trouble
+before. Moreover the knee which had been partially stiff for so many
+years was made entirely well. In fine, her body, which had been so full
+of pain, became at once free from pain, and full of health.
+
+"The week after she was healed she went fifty miles to attend a
+camp-meeting, riding five miles in a carriage, the rest by cars. A near
+neighbor said, 'She will come back worse than ever.' Though the weather
+was especially bad, she came back better than when she went."
+
+These are but few out of many expressions respecting her extraordinary
+recovery, which fully satisfy the believing Christian that _the Great_
+Physician is with us now, "_healing the lame_," and curing the sick. It
+is faith only, unyielding, which the Lord requires ere he gives his
+richest blessing.
+
+The unbelieving one simply sees in it "_something strange_," which he
+can not understand, but the faith-keeping Christian knows it is the sign
+of his _Precious Lord_, in whom he trusts and abides forever.
+
+
+DR. NEWMAN HALL'S TESTIMONIES TO THE VALUE OF PRAYER.
+
+
+Dr. Newman Hall, of London, in his wide experience has met with many
+incidents of answered prayer, and thus relates several:
+
+
+A PRAYER FOR THIRTY POUNDS.
+
+
+"On a recent evangelizing visit to Newport, one of its citizens said to
+me, 'In yonder house dwell a man and wife, who recently needed a sum of
+L30 to meet some payment the next morning. Having failed in their
+efforts to collect it, they earnestly prayed God to provide it. The
+store was being closed for the night when a sea-captain knocked at the
+door and asked for some seamen's clothes. The gas was relighted, and
+various articles were selected; the purchaser then asked for the
+account, and the money was paid--_a little more than_ L30. The man and
+his wife thanked their Heavenly Father for sending it in this way in
+answer to prayer.'"
+
+
+RECOVERY FROM DANGEROUS ILLNESS.
+
+
+Dr. Newman Hall was once visiting, on his dying bed, John Cranfield, son
+of the great originator of ragged schools, under the ministry of Rowland
+Hill.
+
+"We were conversing on prayer. He said, 'A remarkable instance occurred
+in connection with my father. The former organist of Surry Chapel, Mr.
+Howard, was dangerously ill. He was greatly beloved, and his friends met
+for special prayer that God would spare his life. My father on that
+occasion was remarkably earnest in asking that the life of his friend
+might be lengthened, as in the case of Hezekiah. The next day he began
+to recover; and during fifteen years was a blessing to his friends and
+the church.'"
+
+
+A SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER IN DISTRESS.
+
+
+"My brother," says Dr. Hall, "told me that when superintendent of a
+Sunday school he felt a strong impulse, one Saturday evening, to call at
+the home of one of his teachers whom he had never visited before. He
+found his mother and sisters in such evident distress that he inquired
+the cause. With much reluctance they explained that, being unable to pay
+their taxes, their goods were to be taken on the coming Monday, and they
+had been asking special help from God to save them from a disaster which
+they felt would be a dishonor to religion. By the aid of a few friends
+the difficulty was at once met, but the timely succor was regarded as
+the divine answer to their prayer."
+
+
+RESCUED IN PERIL.
+
+
+"With my brother I was once climbing the _Cirrha di Jazze_, one of the
+mountains in the chain of _Mount Rosa_. When nearly at the top, we
+entered a dense fog. Presently our guides faced right about and grounded
+their axes on the frozen snowed slope. My brother, seeing the slope
+still beyond, and not knowing it was merely the cornice overhanging a
+precipice of several thousand feet, rushed onward. I shall never forget
+their cry of agonized warning. He stood a moment on the very summit, and
+then, the snow yielding, he began to fall through. One of the guides, at
+great risk, had rushed after him, and seizing him by the coat, drew him
+down to a place of safety.
+
+"No one could be nearer death and yet escape. On his return home, an
+invalid member of his congregation told him that she had been much in
+prayer for his safety, and mentioned a special time when she was
+particularly earnest, as if imploring deliverance from some great peril.
+_The times corresponded._ His life was saved in answer to her prayer."
+
+
+A PHYSICAL IMPEDIMENT REMOVED.
+
+
+"A clergyman, of great scholarship and genius, has told me of a
+remarkable answer to prayer, authenticated by three missionaries known
+to himself, who are personally acquainted with the facts.
+
+"A Prussian, the master of a hotel in India, was anxious to relinquish
+his large income, and labor as a missionary among the Santil tribes.
+Objection was made to him on account of an impediment in his speech
+which would render him, in speaking a foreign language, incapable of
+being understood. Believing in the efficacy of prayer, he called
+together his friends, specially to ask that his impediment might be
+removed. The next morning, he presented himself again at the Mission
+House--_the impediment had gone_! He was accepted, relinquished his
+business, and is now preaching the gospel to the Santils in their own
+tongue."
+
+
+RESTORATION FROM DEATH.
+
+
+"My father, the author of the _Sinner's Friend_, narrates in his
+autobiography a circumstance which he often used to speak of with great
+emotion.
+
+"My mother was very ill, and apparently dying. The Doctor said that now,
+if at all, the children might be brought for her to look at them once
+more. One by one we were brought to the bedside, and her hand was placed
+on our heads.
+
+"Then my father bade her farewell, and she lay motionless as if soon to
+breathe her last.
+
+"He then said to himself, 'There is yet one promise I have not pleaded,
+"If ye ask anything in my name I will do it." He stepped aside, and in
+an agony of soul exclaimed, '_O, Lord, for the honor of thy dear Son,
+give me the life of my wife!'_
+
+"He could say no more, and sank down exhausted. Just then the nurse
+called him to the bedside saying, 'She has opened her mouth again as if
+for food.' Nourishment was given, and from that time she began to
+recover. The doctor said it was miraculous. My father said it was God,
+who had heard his prayer."
+
+
+THE HELP OF THE LORD IN LITTLE THINGS.
+
+
+The Rev. Dr. Patton, of Chicago, in receiving many letters from
+clergymen, received one from Mr. F., a pastor in Massachusetts.
+
+In it he speaks of his unsuccessful search for a valuable knife, prized
+as a present from a friend, which he had lost on a hillside covered with
+laurels. He paused in prayer, asked to be guided, commenced his search,
+and was almost immediately successful thereafter.
+
+The same letter also mentions the case of a friend in a responsible
+position under the government, whose accounts failed to balance by
+reason of an error, which, after long search, he could not detect.
+
+In great distress he betook himself to prayer, and then opening his
+books, _on the very first page_, which he happened to glance at, and at
+the top of the column, he saw instantly the looked for error, standing
+out so plainly that he wondered he had not seen it before.
+
+The writer also speaks of a rubber shoe being lost and promptly found
+after mention in prayer.
+
+These may seem little matters, but they are the privileges of the
+righteous to ask "anything" of "Him who careth for them."
+
+
+A BOY'S FAITH IN PRAYER
+
+
+In a letter to Dr. W.W. Patton, by Mr. T.I. Goodwin, M.D., of Staten
+Island, he describes a little incident which happened to him when only
+thirteen years old.
+
+"He lost a choice penknife while collecting and driving several cows
+from a pasture covered with grass two inches high. Having read
+Huntington's Book of Faith, he thought of prayer, and in childlike trust
+he knelt under a tree, outside the bars, and prayed for his lost
+treasure; for he was a farmer's boy, and his spending money amounted to
+only about fifty cents a year. 'I rose up, cast my eyes down on the
+ground, and without planning my course or making any estimate of
+probabilities, walked across the meadow centrally to near its farther
+edge, saw the penknife down in the grass directly before me, and picked
+it up all as readily as I could have done had any one stood there
+pointing to the exact place. _Had I gone ten feet to the right or left_
+I could not have seen the knife, for the grass was too high.'"
+
+
+A PRAYER FOR FIVE DOLLARS.
+
+
+One of the City Home missionaries in New York city received on a certain
+day five dollars with special directions that it be given to a certain
+poor minister in Amos street. In the evening the missionary called and
+gave him the money.
+
+For a moment the good man stood amazed and speechless. Then taking down
+a little journal he turned to the record made in his diary of that
+morning, and showed it to the missionary. "_Spent two and a half hours
+in earnest prayer for five dollars_."
+
+"And now here it is," said the man, with a heart overflowing with
+gratitude. "The Lord has sent it." Both giver and receiver had their
+faith strengthened by the incident.
+
+
+GO TO THE POST-OFFICE.
+
+
+A correspondent of "_The Guiding Hand_" relates this incident:
+
+"In the year 18--, having a brother living in the city of R., I went to
+see him. Going to the store where he had been at work, I found that the
+firm had suspended, and that he was thrown out of employment, and had
+broken up housekeeping, but could not ascertain where he was, only that
+he was boarding somewhere out in the suburbs of the city. I searched for
+him all day, but in vain.
+
+"It was _absolutely necessary_ that I should find _him_. What MORE to do
+I knew not, except to _pray_. Finally, I was impressed to write a line
+and drop it into the post-office, and I obeyed the impression, telling
+him, if he got it, to meet me at a stated place, the next morning, at
+ten o'clock. _I prayed earnestly_ that the Lord would cause him _to go
+to the post-office,_ so that he might get my letter. I felt full of
+peace, and at rest about the matter. The next morning, at ten o'clock, I
+went to the place appointed for him to meet me, _and he soon came in_."
+
+This incident might seem one of ordinary or chance occurrence, but for
+the following unusual circumstances:
+
+"As they were returning to their home, his brother said: 'There is
+something _very strange_ about my going to the post-office this
+morning--_I had my arrangements all made to go with a party, this
+morning early, to the bay, fishing; but, when I awoke, I had such an
+impression to go down to the post-office, that I had to forgo the
+pleasure of going to the bay, and went to the post-office and found your
+letter_.'
+
+"I replied, '_It was the Lord_ that impressed you in answer to my
+prayer, for I have prayed earnestly for the Lord to send you to the
+office this morning,' and, although but young in years and religion, I
+gave God the praise for his guidance and His grace."
+
+
+THE WIDOW'S TREE
+
+
+Not many years ago a violent storm, with wind and thunder, spread
+devastation all through the valley of Yellow Creek, Georgia. For a mile
+in width, trees were uprooted, barns and fences were prostrated, and all
+the lands were desolated.
+
+Right in the center of the tornado stood a small cabin. Its sole
+occupants were an aged widow and her only son. The terrible wind struck
+a large tree in front of her humble dwelling, twisting and dashing it
+about. If it fell it would lay her home in ruins. Desolation, death
+itself, might follow. The storm howled and raged. The great trees fell
+in all directions. When it seemed her tree must also fall and there was
+no remedy, she knelt in fervent supplication to Him who gathereth the
+wind in his fists, that he would spare that tree. Her prayer was heard.
+The tree was spared, and was the _only one_ left within a considerable
+distance of the widow's cabin.
+
+
+THE LORD PAID HIS INTEREST.
+
+
+A most curious answer to prayer occurred in the experience of a home
+missionary in Brooklyn. It illustrates how God, in his trials of faith
+to see if His people do really cling to the promises, compels them to
+march right into the scene of danger, and into the mouth of the cannon,
+that apparently is open specially to shoot them down.
+
+The interest on the mortgage of his property was due in a few days. Its
+amount was $300. He did not have the money--did not know where to obtain
+it. With anxious heart during the day, he kept up his faith and courage
+by thinking of the Lord's promises, and, the last night before the
+eventful day, was spent in prayer, until the assurance came that all was
+well. Often he pleaded, often he reminded the Lord that, as his life was
+_His_, to save him from reproach, and not let his trust in the Lord
+suffer dishonor before others.
+
+The last moment came--no money--no relief. With sinking heart he went to
+the holder of the mortgage to announce his utter inability to meet his
+demand. While there, just at the last moment, when he was about to
+leave, the gentleman said, "_By the way, here is an envelope I was told
+to give you."_
+
+The missionary opened it, _and out came six fifty dollar bills,_ just
+the _three hundred dollars prayed for_. The Lord met and delivered him
+in the very jaws of the enemy.
+
+
+WILL THE LORD DELIVER FROM BAD HABITS OF TOBACCO, RUM, LIQUOR,
+LICENTIOUSNESS, ETC., IN ANSWER TO PRAYER.
+
+
+This question having been asked by a clergyman of Brooklyn, Rev. S.H.
+Platt, he received a large number of communications, which evidently
+prove that the Lord is _willing_ and _does_, either _instantaneously_ or
+gradually in answer to prayer, deliver and take away wholly the bad
+_habits_ and _appetites_ of those who are willing to forsake their
+sinful ways and cleave only to Him. _The Lord's salvation cleanses and
+delivers the body as well as the soul_.
+
+We quote a few extracts from his correspondence, which is but a small
+portion out of many published in his volume, "_The Power of Grace_."
+
+
+CURED OF TOBACCO APPETITE.
+
+
+"A little more than a year has elapsed since I left off the use of
+tobacco. This further time has more fully developed the thoroughness of
+the case spoken of and the completeness of the victory over an evil
+habit. I am filled with wonder, for I expected a terrible fight with an
+appetite, strengthened by an indulgence of about thirty-five years, but
+the enemy has not shown his head. _Not only has the desire for smoking
+been effectually squelched_, but a perfect hatred of smoking has been
+developed on account of the offensiveness of the odor of tobacco. I
+frequently cross the street, or change my seat in a car to escape the
+puff of smoke, or the fetid breath of a smoker. 'Thanks be unto God who
+giveth us the victory.'"
+
+
+BAD HABITS WHOLLY OVERCOME.
+
+
+"A physician of extended practice was converted and reclaimed while I
+had charge of the place in which he lived. He had acquired the habit of
+using large quantities of whiskey and brandy, and withal more or less
+given to licentiousness. Since that time he has been steadily advancing
+in morals and moral power, till he now preaches the gospel as a local
+preacher, side by side with the best of the district."
+
+
+WAS IT INSTANTANEOUS?
+
+
+"Yes, as respects tobacco; he became convicted of its sinfulness by a
+voice saying, 'That is not the way to glorify God: stop, and stop now.'
+And from that moment he says he has never used it, neither does he in
+any way like the smell, or even the sight of tobacco."
+
+
+THE LORD DELIVERS FROM BODILY SINS.
+
+"I had used tobacco from my childhood, and the love and use thereof grew
+upon me. I became convicted of its sinfulness, went to God and said,
+'_Destroy the appetite, and give me power over it_. Save me that I may
+glorify thee as a God of power for our present sins, and I will glorify
+thee ever more.' I wrote out the contract and signed it, and from that
+blessed afternoon have no recollection of ever desiring it even."
+
+
+ANOTHER DELIVERANCE.
+
+
+"Tobacco was a great trouble to me; and I had tried a number of times to
+leave it off, but could not do so. One night as I was retiring to rest,
+I thought I would kneel by my bed and ask _Him_, who never refuses to
+answer prayer, to take from me the desire for tobacco, and from that
+moment it has been impossible for me to use it.
+
+
+NOT YOUR OWN STRENGTH CAN BREAK THE HABIT.
+
+
+"I smoked tobacco excessively for fifteen years, commencing when I was
+about twenty years old. I often strove to break off from the use of it;
+indeed I determined time and again to desist from it, sometimes
+abstaining for a few months or weeks, once for twelve months, _but the
+desire never left me_, and whenever I tasted it I was sure to take to it
+again. I sometimes vowed whilst upon my knees in prayer, to abstain from
+it and never touch it again, but I always attempted to do this in my own
+strength; hence I failed, being overcome by the almost irresistible
+influences it had upon my appetite, so long accustomed to the use.
+
+"One Sunday morning, I retired to a secluded place, got down upon my
+knees, and asked the Lord to help me quit it, determining then and there
+that I would, God being my helper, never touch the accursed thing again
+by any kind of use in the way of consumption, and from that day to this,
+I have never had any desire to smoke or chew tobacco, or to use it in
+any way; I lifted my heart to God, imploring his assistance in
+abstaining from it. I have now been clear of the desire of it for nearly
+twenty-three years."
+
+
+A DOUBLE CURE.
+
+
+"At the age of twelve years I commenced to use tobacco, and continued to
+use it, both smoking and chewing, till five years ago, when in answer to
+prayer the appetite was instantly removed.
+
+"The circumstances were as follows: I had tried many ways to leave off
+the use of tobacco, but the appetite was so strong that I could not
+withstand it. At one time I left it off for a month, but not a day
+passed but I craved it, and when I did begin again it tasted as good as
+ever. I found that tobacco was injuring my health. My nervous system was
+much deranged.
+
+"For more than a year before I left it off there was scarcely a night
+but I lay for two or three hours, before I could go to sleep. I resolved
+a great many times I would leave off, but always failed. I had also
+acquired the habit of drinking, and became a confirmed drunkard.
+
+"I knew the habits were killing me, but I was powerless to stop. One
+evening a prayer-meeting was appointed at my house. The minister in his
+remarks spoke about habits, and said that religion would cure all bad
+habits, such as tobacco, &c., and that by prayer God would remove all
+evil appetites.
+
+"I thought but little about it that night; was very careless and
+trifling about it. The next morning I took out my tobacco to take a
+chew, and thought of what the minister had said the night before. It was
+a new idea to me. I put the tobacco in my pocket again, and said, '_I'll
+try it_.'
+
+"_I was alone in my barn; I kneeled down and asked God to remove the
+appetite from me. It was done. I was cured_. I felt it. I knew it then.
+I have never had a desire for it since. There has been no hankering for
+it or for strong drink since. My sins were all forgiven, and I was made
+a new man all over, inside and outside.
+
+"When I go into company where they are smoking, I have no desire for it
+at all, neither have I for drinking, any more than if I had never had
+those habits. _My nervous difficulty was also instantly cured_. No more
+trouble about sleeping, and I know that Jesus can heal and remove and
+destroy all evil habits."
+
+
+A SPECIAL WORD TO ALL SEEKING TO ESCAPE EVIL WAYS.
+
+
+Should these words meet the eye of any one so troubled over any evil way
+or bad habit from whose bondage he would gladly escape, let me say to
+you these words of good cheer: "_The Lord can save you, the Lord can
+deliver you, the Lord can wholly heal you. He can take away your
+appetite and cleanse you thoroughly_. He has done it for many others. He
+can do it for you. Realize that your own strength can not do it. Forget
+not that it is only in answer to your own prayer. Those who want this
+good gift must _pray for it_. Deliverance may be instantaneous or
+gradual, but do not cease your prayer. Seek in the Bible for those
+promises which show that he can _deliver from all evil_, and plead them
+and then trust in Him and his strength to fulfill them.
+
+"Forget not also to ask others to pray for you, and remember that the
+answer is sure to come if you add to your prayer these true thoughts of
+your heart, '_Deliver me and I give myself to thee forever_.'
+
+"If you expect so great a gift from the Lord, he asks of you, '_What are
+you willing to do for me_?'"
+
+
+HELP AT THE VERY LAST MOMENT. FAITH REWARDED.
+
+
+A clergyman in the State of New York, through the influence of a
+disaffected member, was unfairly and precipitately deprived of his
+pulpit, which involved a large family in necessity. At supper the good
+man had the pain of beholding the last morsel of bread placed upon the
+table without the least means or prospect of a supply for his children's
+breakfast. His wife, full of grief with her children, retired to her
+bed. The minister chose to sit up and employ his dark hours in prayer,
+and reading the promises of God. Some secret hope of supply pervaded his
+breast, but when, whence, or by whom, he knew not. He retired to rest,
+and in the morning appeared with his family, and offered family prayer.
+It being the depth of Winter, and a little fire on the hearth, he
+desired his wife to hang on the kettle, and spread the cloth upon the
+table. The kettle boiled, the children cried for bread; the afflicted
+father, standing before the fire, felt those deep emotions of heart over
+his helplessness and impending starvation which those reared in
+affluence never know.
+
+While in this painful state some one knocked at the door, entered, and
+delivered a letter into the minister's hand. When the gentleman was gone
+the letter was opened, and to the minister's astonishment it contained a
+few bank bills, with a desire for acceptance. So manifest an answer to
+prayer from Divine Goodness could not but be received with gratitude and
+joy, and fulfills to the very letter these promises: "Verily thou shalt
+be fed." Psalm 37:3. "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." Heb.
+13:5.
+
+To ascertain how this occurrence came to take place, this remarkable
+coincidence of relief at the identical moment of time when there was the
+last appeal to God, the incident was communicated to the editor of a
+religious journal. Having an intimacy with the gentleman said to be the
+one whose hand had offered the seasonable relief, he determined the next
+time he made him a visit to introduce the subject, and, if possible, to
+know the reason that induced the generous action. The story was told
+with a modest blush which evinced the tenderness of his heart. On
+interrogation, he said "he had frequently heard that minister. On a
+certain morning he was disposed for a walk; thought in the severity of
+the winter season a trifle might be of service, as fuel was high; felt a
+kind of necessity to enclose the money in a letter; went to the house,
+found the family, delivered the paper and retired, but knew not the
+extreme necessity of the minister and his family, either at that time
+nor till this very moment when his friend introduced the subject. Thus
+it is seen none but God knew the want or moved the hand that gave the
+supply, and brought them to meet at the right time.
+
+
+SPINAL DISEASE CURED.
+
+
+"There was a little girl in this place that had the
+cerebro-spinal-meningitis; several had died with this disease, and the
+physician had given her up to die. The weekly prayer-meeting met in town
+that night, and her parents wrote a note and sent it by their little
+son, requesting prayer that their little daughter might live and not
+die, signed with the names of both parents. From that time she began to
+recover, and to-day she is a bright little girl, with full use of every
+faculty, and not deformed as most persons are from this terrible
+disease. I cannot view it in any other light than a direct answer to
+prayer."
+
+
+AN OLD MAN'S PRAYER.
+
+
+"I feel also like mentioning another instance. I knew an old father in
+Israel, a minister of the gospel, who once in speaking with a brother
+minister, after a revival of religion in which five of his grandchildren
+had professed their faith in Christ, among others with whom he had
+labored; said if he could only live to see his one remaining
+granddaughter brought into the fold, and the two Presbyterian churches,
+then, called the Old and New school, united, he could say, like Simeon
+of old, 'Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine
+eyes have seen thy salvation.' About three years after, the two
+Presbyteries met near this place in Germantown, Mo., and he seemed as if
+he could not contain himself till the time came for the meeting, so
+anxious was he for this great desire of his heart to be fulfilled. On
+the day of meeting he took sick and could not be present at any of the
+sessions, but many of his brethren were with him, among whom was this
+one he had been conversing with. The sessions lasted three days, and
+upon the last evening his wishes were gratified, the two Presbyteries
+merged into one, singing 'Blest be the tie that binds;' and his youngest
+granddaughter united with the church, and after the meeting adjourned
+this brother came to watch with the aged servant of God. He was
+permitted to convey the glad news to him, and see a heavenly smile light
+up his countenance as he passed away with his earnest prayer gratified."
+
+
+THE MYSTERIOUS LEADINGS OF PROVIDENCE.
+
+
+The following incidents are contributed to the book by a prominent
+clergyman:
+
+"A period, ever memorable in the life of the writer, occurred in the
+Autumn of 1832, while attending a protracted meeting of more than
+ordinary interest and power, held under the auspices of the Baptist
+church in the city of Schenectady, under the then pastoral charge of
+Rev. Abraham D. Gillette, this being his first settlement. It was in one
+of the meetings that the Holy Spirit impressed my mind of its sinfulness
+and the need of a Savior, not only to cleanse my soul of sin and sinful
+stains, but to save me. These impressions caused me to humble myself at
+the feet of sovereign mercy; and in the midst of my pleadings, God
+answered my prayer, and opened to me new views, views of the heavenly
+kingdom, which so electrified my soul, that with a full heart I could
+say, 'Blessed be the Lord who has shown me marvelous works in this
+lonely place beneath the star-lit sky.'
+
+"This great change was, and is, to me the most wonderful interposition
+of God in my behalf in answer to prayer. This answer to prayer the
+promised result of faith in Him."
+
+"Again, in the year 1836, the writer in the year mentioned was employed
+by a transportation company, in the city of Troy, in the character of an
+employee having direction of a portion of the business of the company
+which brought me into close relation with the many boatmen connected
+with the company. Association with the boatmen was painful to my
+religious nature, compelled, as I was, to hear all manner of offensive
+talk. The latter led me to indulge a wish that I might free myself from
+such company, in order to form associations with persons of my own
+religious turn of mind. But God willed otherwise, as will be learned
+from the recital of God's dealings with me on an occasion of a journey
+alone in a carriage from Troy to Schenectady. It was on the occasion
+alluded to that most of the time was occupied in prayer, and the burden
+of my prayer was 'that God would open up a way for me wherein I could
+find more congenial company, where in fact my religious feelings would
+not meet with the trials incident to my present associations.' But He
+who knew my needs better, came to my relief in words seemingly distinct
+enough to be heard. This was the answer: 'I have placed you just where I
+want you.' Instantly my prayer for a change of location or separation
+from my business and its connections ceased, and since, instead of
+looking for easy positions, wherein the principles of the faith which is
+in me may be undisturbed, I deem it suited to my growth in grace and
+increase in devotion to my Master's cause, to covet the association of
+men whose only tendency is to evil continually. I have found by
+experience in the latter direction, that although many tongues are loose
+in the habit of profanity, I am roused more and more by grace to impart
+words of counsel. I know that efforts at consistency in Christian
+conduct and converse will stop the mouth of profaners of the name of our
+Redeemer, God."
+
+Another instance of the presence of God with his children is clearly
+manifest in the following sketch of a meeting of two brethren, of whom
+the writer was one, held in the conference room of the First Baptist
+church in Troy, N.Y., of which church he was a member. The meeting
+alluded to occurred in the early spring of 1840 or '41. We were
+accustomed to meet almost every day for the purpose of arranging the
+Sunday school library, but would occupy a portion of the time, usually
+at noon, in prayer for such persons or objects as were presented to the
+mind. On the particular occasion we propose to mention, it was mutually
+agreed that we pray for one of the brethren, whose gifts were of a high
+order, and his usefulness hindered by a lack of spirituality. We
+mutually bowed in prayer for this brother, and while thus engaged the
+door of the room was opened, and a person entered and knelt between us,
+but who he was, or the purpose of his visit we knew not until we had
+ended our prayer, at which time the person spoke and requested us to
+continue praying for him.
+
+At the conclusion of the service, the question was mooted how he came
+there. His reply was in substance as follows: "When standing on a stoop
+on the corner of Fourth and Congress streets, cogitating which way I
+should go, I was impressed by a voice within which directed my course to
+the Conference Room. I debated with the impression, taking the position
+that it being noon no meeting was then in progress. Still the impression
+remained, and could not be removed. Noticing this, I gave way to the
+voice and here I am." Neither of the three thus brought together could
+doubt for a moment that our prayer for this brother was answered. His
+joy was great in view of being thus called from his delinquency to share
+in the fullness of his Savior's love.
+
+"Another instance in the experience of the writer very clearly shows the
+power and worth of prayer. About the year 1840, in the Autumn thereof,
+he experienced a lack of vital, spiritual energy. This had been of
+months' continuance, but to his joy, culminated after retiring to rest.
+After this manner, before sleep overcame him, he was impressed to
+present his case before the mercy-seat. To do so he arose from his bed,
+retired to a quiet part of his home and bowed in prayer, seeking to
+occupy the entire night if need be in prayer for the bestowal of the
+Holy Spirit, and the consequent revival influences of other days. This
+season of prayer was of short continuance; but not by reason of
+disrelish for the exercise, but because my prayer was answered and a
+complete breaking away of the previous hindrances to my spiritual
+enjoyment. Since the event alluded to, now more than thirty-six years, I
+have not been afflicted by doubts, and counsel brethren and sisters not
+to allow themselves to be made unhappy by this evil to our spiritual
+progress."
+
+
+LIFE SPARED FOR TWO WEEKS.
+
+
+"On the 8th of January, last, I was called upon to visit a dying man in
+Jersey City, whom the doctors had said could not live but a few hours. I
+found him in severe bodily sufferings and a terrible agony of mind. He
+had lived a moral and upright life in the eyes of the world, but
+careless and neglectful of all religious duties, and now with eternity
+before him he felt his life a failure and his imperative need of help.
+
+"In his agony he would cry out, 'Lord, help me,' and perhaps the next
+moment blaspheme the name of God. I sought to show him his great sin in
+having so long neglected God and his salvation, and at the same time
+assured him that Jesus was a great Savior, 'able to save to the
+uttermost all who would come unto Him.' I went from his bedside to the
+union prayer-meeting, held in our city during the week of prayer, where
+I presented his case and asked the brethren to pray that God would save
+this poor man even at the eleventh hour, and spare him to give good
+evidence of his conversion. His case seemed to reach the hearts of all
+present, and most earnest prayers were offered in his behalf; so strong
+was the faith that many came to me at the close of the meeting and said
+that young man will certainly be saved before he is taken from this
+world.
+
+"In answer to prayer he was spared nearly two weeks, and for some six or
+seven days before his death, gave much clearer evidence of being truly
+converted than could have been expected of one in his condition."
+
+
+A MISSIONARY'S EXPERIENCE IN MEXICO.
+
+
+"While laboring with my wife as a missionary in Northern Mexico, we
+supported ourselves for nearly four years by teaching and such other
+ways as the Lord opened up to us.
+
+"But our schools being decidedly Protestant, and I preaching regularly,
+the opposition from Romanists was very strong; this, together with the
+extreme poverty of the people, made our income very small. Frequently
+the opposition would rise to that pitch that only the children of the
+poorest would be permitted to come, but we never turned these away,
+though they could pay no tuition, trusting that God would provide for us
+in some other way.
+
+"Early in the year 1869, we were much exercised to know the will of the
+Lord concerning us, whether he would have us continue or not. We brought
+our case before the Lord and prayed him to make known his will and
+provide for our necessary wants. In about three weeks we received a
+check for eighty dollars, sent us, as we felt, truly by the Lord in
+answer to our prayer through a friend in New York, who knew nothing of
+our circumstances or prayer.
+
+"In August the same year, our condition became such that it seemed as if
+in a few days we would be wholly without the necessaries of life. We
+laid our case before the Lord, and as he did not appear to open up any
+way for us to leave the field, we went forward with our work as
+faithfully as we knew how, believing that the Lord would provide in his
+own time and way, when one evening, just after family worship, a rap
+came to the door. I opened it, there came in quite a company of persons,
+all bearing something, and just exactly the things we needed most, and
+to the amount of over fifty dollars' worth, and about a sixth of it was,
+as we learned, given by Romanists who had opposed us very strongly all
+the time we had been there. Truly the Lord answers prayer and turns the
+hearts of men to do his will."
+
+
+THE GREATEST OF PHYSICIANS.
+
+
+Miss X. of Brooklyn, had suffered long and severely from a distressing
+tumor. One physician after another had plied his skill, but to no
+purpose; even the celebrated Doctor Simms of New York, corroborated
+their verdict, that there was no help for her but in the knife. She
+finally consented to that terrific method, but was in no condition of
+strength to bear the operation. It was decided to postpone it till the
+22d of June. Twelve doctors were invited to be present. Meanwhile a diet
+nurse sent from New York, remained with her, to prepare her system for
+the ordeal.
+
+Three days preceding the one appointed for the operation, she was
+attacked by severe nausea, which lasted two days, and so weakened her
+that again the doctors were all notified by the attending one, that a
+further postponement was imperative, and a certain date fixed in
+November.
+
+All this time her own prayers were unceasing, those of her friends added
+to her own; and many a remembrance in the Fulton Street meeting, cheered
+and encouraged her.
+
+_By November, the tumor had totally disappeared!_ That was two years
+ago. She is still well, strong; able to walk three miles any time.
+
+She is as certain that the whole cure was performed by the Lord in
+answer to all those fervent prayers, as she is certain she lives and
+moves.
+
+
+HOW THE LORD PAID BACK THE $5.
+
+
+Mr. H., missionary, was appealed to by a poor man who seemed almost
+distracted. He had a wife and five children; one of them ill; had been
+sick himself for three months, and owed rent for the whole of that time.
+The landlord had served him with a writ of ejectment, and he could get
+no other tenement, unless he could pay five dollars on the rent. He had
+applied to a well-known society in Brooklyn; but they were entirely out
+of funds and gave him a note to the missionary, hoping he might have or
+find the desired help. But missionaries' pockets are more often
+depleted, than those of benevolent organizations, and the one in
+question was fain to take the applicant to a friend, whom we shall call
+Q.
+
+The poor man told his story, asked the five dollars only as a loan, and,
+having an order for the painting of two signs, said he should be paid
+for them when done, and could return the loan the next Saturday, one
+week from that time.
+
+Mr. Q. saw, at once, that the utter destitution of the family, and the
+need of _everything_, would prevent the man returning the money, however
+much he might wish to, and so refused to lend it. The case was urged,
+but without avail; and the missionary sent the man away, promising to
+see him again that night or on Monday. After his departure, the
+following conversation passed between the gentlemen:
+
+Q.--"Now, H., I don't take any stock in that man. Can you not see that
+his paying that money back, is a simple impossibility?"
+
+H.--"Well, perhaps so; but the question with me in such cases, is this:
+What is duty? Admit that he cannot pay it, or even that he will not try;
+is it not better to relieve his desperate need, than to have him perhaps
+turn criminal and prey upon society? He _must_ leave the house he is in;
+he _cannot_ get another without the money, and he is desperate; feels
+that five dollars he must have, by fair means or foul. Moreover, think
+of his wife and children, leaving him out of the question. Now let us
+open this little Bible, and see what meets our eye first."
+
+Q.--"Oh, pshaw! You know I do not believe in that kind of thing! Do you
+go to the Bible for everything?"
+
+H.--"Why not? Can we have any better guide?"
+
+Q.--"Oh! well, I don't work that way. Now about that man and his money.
+I will toss up a penny with you, whether I lend or not."
+
+H.--"No you won't! You know I don't believe in chance, but in the Lord.
+And would you sooner rest your decision on a gambler's test, than on
+God's promise? Now just let us open the book."
+
+Q.--"Well; what do you see?"
+
+H.--"'The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again; but the righteous
+sheweth mercy, and lendeth.'" 37th Psalm, 21st verse.
+
+As there was no hunting up of passages, nor leaves turned down to open
+easily, the coincidence was impressive, as well as amusing, and H.,
+following it up, said, "Lend him the money, and if he does not pay you
+next Saturday night, I will."
+
+It was so agreed upon, and, when the man called on the missionary on
+Monday morning, he was sent to Q. for the relief.
+
+The week passed on, as they all pass, weighted and freighted with human
+ills; some capable of alleviation, some not; but of the former, a full
+share had come under the notice and care of the missionary, and Saturday
+found him stepping into the Fulton street prayer-meeting, N.Y., for
+fresh encouragement and benediction on his labors.
+
+At its close, a gentleman said to him, "Mr. H., I have known you by
+sight for years; know your work; but have never given you anything; and
+I promised myself the next time I saw you, I would do so. Have you any
+special need of five dollars now? If so, and you will step to the bank
+with me, you shall have it." Instantly it flashed through the mind of H.
+that this was the day when, either the borrower or he, must pay his
+friend. It may be supposed that he went to the bank with alacrity. Going
+back to B. and meeting the friend, he learned that neither man nor money
+had appeared, and at once tendered the five dollars, telling the story
+of the Lord's care in the matter.
+
+Q. was so interested in this manner of obtaining supplies, that he
+refused to take the money, and instructed H. to use it in the Lord's
+work.
+
+
+PRAYING FOR MONEY FOR A JOURNEY.
+
+
+A lady, Miss E., residing in New Bedford, received a letter telling of
+the serious illness of her mother, in New York. Sick herself, from
+unremitted care of an invalid during eight years, poor as Elijah when
+his only grocers were the ravens, too old for new ambitions, too well
+acquainted with the gray mists of life to hope for many rifts through
+which the sunshine might enter, she had no sum of money at all
+approaching the cost of the trip between the two places.
+
+"He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou
+trust," is a text bound over her daily life, as a phylactery was bound
+between the eyes of an ancient Hebrew. She lives literally, _only one
+day at a time_, and walks literally by faith and not by sight. So then
+as ever, the Lord was her committee of ways and means; but for three
+days the answer was delayed. Then, an old lady called to express her
+indebtedness for Miss E.'s services three years before, and ask her
+acceptance of ten dollars therefor, "no sort of equivalent for days and
+days of writing and searching law papers, but only a little token that
+the service was not forgotten."
+
+There was the answer to her prayer; there the redemption of the pledge:
+"As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about
+his people from henceforth, even forever."
+
+
+EMPLOYMENT FOUND.
+
+
+A man and wife were out of employment, and in very great trouble. Mr. H.
+(missionary) had added his efforts to theirs, and sedulously sought
+among the families he knew, for positions for them. After two weeks'
+fruitless endeavor, he said to the man, "Well, John, let us go into the
+Fulton street meeting and leave it with the Lord." They did so; the
+request was read and remembered.
+
+The very next day, Mr. H. received a note from one of the families to
+whom he had already applied, and without success, requesting him to send
+the man and wife of whom he had spoken. Very joyfully he did so, and
+they were both engaged! Mr. H. considered it a very marked answer to
+prayer, inasmuch as it was quite difficult to find a family who wanted a
+man as well as woman servant; and that particular family was, of all
+others, the least likely to make such an arrangement!
+
+
+A BARREL OF FLOUR.
+
+
+For the "Faith Home for Incurables" Mr. H. received, one day, five
+dollars. A barrel of flour was terribly needed. He went to a large house
+in New York, hoping the Lord would incline the proprietor to sell him a
+barrel for that sum. He felt too poor, was not willing; and with a heavy
+heart, Mr. H. returned, asking the Lord what next he should do. He
+called at the store of a friend, where the following conversation took
+place. "Well, did you get the flour?" "I did not; they feel too poor,
+and I am terribly disappointed. It is almost dark now; I have lost my
+time going over there, and at this hour, the flour merchants here are
+closed." "Well, Mr. ---- called here, and I told him you were in, and on
+what errand you had gone to New York. He said he would send a barrel to
+my store if I would send it up to the Home; and I did so, about an hour
+ago."
+
+
+WONDERFUL WAYS OF THE LORD IN GUIDING HIS PEOPLE.
+
+
+Our missionaries move amidst the reality of scenes which religious
+fiction vainly strives to equal. Remarkable proofs of genuine and vivid
+piety, triumphs of patience and grace, lifting their possessors above
+the most painful and distressing circumstances, are met with in all
+their explorations, and more than repay them for toil or privation.
+
+
+WONDERFUL CONVERSION OF A ROMAN CATHOLIC.
+
+
+A frame dwelling in an alley, two rooms on the first floor, in the
+smaller one a bed-ridden old colored man, who had fought the battle of
+life for ninety years, fifteen of them on his bed, with eyes so dimmed
+by age that he could not even read; and a wife who was eye, ear and
+solace to him, are the salient points of our first picture.
+
+They were both earnest, exultant Christians, around whom the angels of
+God encamped day and night. The wife was brought up in the West Indies,
+as a Catholic, but her ideas of religion consisted mostly in counting
+beads on a rosary. After coming to Brooklyn, she became a servant in the
+family of a well-known naval officer, and was always a favorite on
+account of her vivacity. One day, a young painter who was working there,
+and proved to be one of the Christians whose light shines for all in the
+house, spoke to her, and invited her to a prayer-meeting in a Protestant
+chapel. She refused, laughing; but the painter's assurance next day,
+that she had been prayed for in that meeting, made her restless, uneasy
+and sick. In a few days, she was confined to her bed and pronounced by
+some doctors, a victim to consumption. One, more sagacious than the
+rest, said her trouble was of the mind, not the body, and a minister
+would be better than a doctor.
+
+It proved to be the case; she was soon led into a glimmering hope,
+though feeling that she literally carried a burden on her back. Starting
+out, one night, to look for a place of worship, she turned her feet to a
+Methodist meeting from whence the sound of singing had reached her. In
+the prayer and exhortation, however, there were words which revealed to
+her the secret of faith and salvation. She felt the burden loosen and
+fall from her shoulders, so sensibly, that involuntarily, she turned and
+looked for it on the floor. In a few moments she began to realize the
+freedom she had gained, and started to her feet in joy and wonder.
+
+Her work then began in her own home, and through her prayers of faith,
+five members of the Commodore's own family and an Irish Catholic servant
+girl, were brought to "Christ, the living way." For years her faith was
+proved by her works; her daily example in the household, her watchings
+and waitings by the bedside of her helpless husband--poverty, sickness,
+perplexities of every sort, but made her hope the brighter, her hold the
+firmer. With no dependence for their daily bread but the benefactions of
+one and another person, sometimes entire strangers, they never knew what
+it was to suffer actual want, nor did Frances ever believe that her
+friend would forget her.
+
+
+REMARKABLE PRESERVATION OF LIFE FROM LIGHTNING IN ANSWER TO PRAYER.
+
+
+I was riding on top of the Boulder Pass of the Rocky Mountains, in the
+summer of 1876, when a sudden storm of rain, wind, and furious tempest
+came up. There was no shelter from rocks, no trees or buildings to be
+seen--a lonely, wind-swept summit. I knew that the lightning on those
+high elevations was fearful in intensity. I was appalled at the prospect
+before me, but feeling that God had promised to care for his children--
+"No evil shall befall thee or come nigh thy dwelling"--I composed
+myself, and though on horseback, with the rain beating in torrents, I
+offered simple prayer to God that he would save me from the rain and
+stop it. But _No_, it came harder than ever; then I prayed that I might
+be protected from all danger, "_for I trusted in Him_!"
+
+I rode on and on for miles, chilly, cold, wet through, the clouds
+hanging low and the lightning flashing above me, around me, striking
+near me, constant flashes, peals of thunder; but I was not terrified.
+"God must keep me." _Twice I was distinctly struck_ with the electric
+flash, detached portions or sparks from the electric cloud, directly in
+the center of the forehead, but it had no more force than just to close
+my eyes, shake my head a little, obscure my sight a moment, and then it
+was all over, and I was clearer, cooler, calmer, happier, and more
+self-possessed than ever before. I attribute my protection from peril
+entirely to prayer, and the fierceness of the tempest and the proximity
+of danger were permitted by the Lord to try my trust. Those portions
+which struck me, if in ordinary times had been given me from an electric
+battery in a school-room, a shock with sparks only one-hundredth the
+size, would have killed me.
+
+I can thus say with thanks, faith was then made perfect in danger, and
+the Lord _was faithful_ in hearing his child's cry, and delivered him.
+
+
+GOD NEVER FAILED HER.
+
+
+An aged colored woman, lived that life of faith which shines brighter
+and brighter unto the perfect day. Born a slave, on Long Island, she was
+never taught to read, never enjoyed any social privileges; but the God
+of the widow of Sarepta, who had neither "store-house nor barn," was her
+God, and brought her out of the house of spiritual bondage.
+
+She outlived all her early associations; all her children and
+grandchildren, husband and brother passed on before, leaving her alone
+in poverty and sickness. Yet she sat in her little hut, a cheerful,
+happy Christian; a living witness for God as a covenant-keeper.
+Doubting, despondent souls were always glad to visit her, to listen to
+her simple words of wisdom and gather strength from her invincible
+trust. Roman Catholic neighbors persecuted and even threatened her; but
+in reply to a missionary who remarked that it must be very trying and
+somewhat dangerous, she said, "Don't you know the Lord has a hook in the
+jaws of the wicked, so they shan't hurt us if we belong to him? Jesus is
+always with me; so I'm never alone and never afraid."
+
+
+HIS MOTHER'S PRAYER.
+
+
+A poor sailor, leading a most profligate and abandoned life, whose
+praying mother followed him like a shadow into and out of his drinking
+saloons and gambling houses, at last absented himself from home,
+whenever he was in port. Her burden, finally, seemed too great to bear,
+and she resolved to make a stronger effort than ever before, to cast it
+upon the Lord. As she knelt, with her heart well-nigh bursting with this
+desire, she felt a powerful conviction that, at last, she was answered.
+For several years the son went on in his wicked career, and the mother
+sorrowed that it was so, but her soul was no longer laden with fear; she
+felt the assurance of his conversion, sooner or later. Again, for
+several years, she never heard of him, and thought him dead; then she
+ceased praying for him, and was steadfast in the faith of meeting him in
+heaven. But sight was to be given her, as a reward for faith. He
+returned, at last, only thirty years of age, but broken down in health,
+and worn out by dissipation and hardship. Still unconverted, but, to
+satisfy his mother, he consented to remain in the room during a visit of
+the missionary of that district; a man with sufficient tact not to make
+his efforts obnoxious. He did not tell the young man he was a sinner and
+must flee from the wrath to come; he merely presented the _love_ of
+Jesus; the love that saved to the very _uttermost_; that waited more
+patiently than any earthly friend, and forgave more royally. At first,
+he listened indifferently, but, at last, burst into tears, saying, "I
+thought I was so bad He didn't want anything to do with me." A long
+conversation, and others at intervals followed, and, before his death,
+which occurred several months after, his mother's heart was gladdened by
+the account of his change, and the knowledge that, in farthest lands,
+his thoughts were back with her. The deeper he went in sin, the more
+unsatisfactory and abhorrent it became, and he would have turned, long
+before, to the Lord, had he believed there was the least hope for him.
+When he closed his eyes to earth, a few friends enabled his mother to
+give him respectable burial, in the same grave where, years before, his
+father was laid.
+
+
+THE HEART OF STONE RELENTS.
+
+
+Another consumptive in the neighborhood, was thoroughly an infidel. Mr.
+A. visited the house three times a week, and, at last, succeeded in
+overcoming his objections to a weekly prayer-meeting in his house. In
+his hearing, earnest supplication was always made for him, and, at the
+end of four months, the heart of stone relented. He had not, at first,
+the courage to appropriate the promises to himself; but one morning very
+early he sent for the missionary to reveal the news that he felt all his
+sins forgiven, and had "Christ _in_ him, the hope of glory." four months
+more he lived to hear witness continually to God's amazing mercy, and
+then joyfully expired, declaring himself saved by grace alone.
+
+
+A DISCOURAGED ONE REVIVED.
+
+
+Mr. C----, walking home one Saturday afternoon, fell into a discouraged
+train of thought because he appeared to have done so little for the
+Master that whole week. At that moment a young man took him by the hand
+saying--"You do not know me, but I know you. A few weeks ago I was on
+the high road to destruction, but now through your instrumentality I am
+in the narrow path which leads to everlasting life. I attended your
+prayer-meeting one evening in company with a friend of mine. You spoke
+with great earnestness, and after we sang the last hymn you remarked,
+'How can I bless whom God has cursed? For he declares, If any man love
+not the Lord, he shall be accursed.' I cannot describe my sensations.
+For several days I could find no peace, but when at last my faith rested
+on Jesus, I found that peace which flows like a river; and now, like
+Moses, I have chosen rather to suffer affliction with the children of
+God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin, for I know if I have to face any
+trouble on account of my religion, I can look forward to a glorious
+reward."
+
+
+THE PRISONER LOOSED.
+
+
+On the third floor of a tenement house, a missionary, Mr. B., found a
+comely, intelligent young English woman in great distress. Her heart
+seemed wrung by grief. A few kind words of sympathy drew from her the
+story of her woe. She came to this country with her husband and three
+young children. He was employed as book-keeper in a large mercantile
+house; but soon became addicted to drink, and the story is ever the
+same; loss of position, poverty, disgrace, suffering and recklessness.
+On the day of the missionary's visit, he was in a prison cell, committed
+as a vagrant and common drunkard. The wife was bitterly weeping in her
+cheerless home, and the children around her fretting with hunger. Mr. B.
+was so touched he could scarcely find words with which to console her,
+but turned to Isaiah and read, "For thy maker is thy husband; the Lord
+of Hosts is his name." "For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but
+with great mercies will I gather thee." After his prayer, she felt
+calmer, and entreated him to come the next week, on the day her husband
+would be released. He complied; found a prepossessing and cultivated
+man; and upon telling him how earnestly his wife and himself had prayed
+for him, was rejoiced to learn that in that lonesome cell the Spirit of
+God had visited him, filled him with a sincere wish to reform the future
+and redeem the past. The missionary called again and again, and
+witnessed the strong determination of the young man to fight against his
+pernicious habit. He was soon employed again in a large house, became a
+regular attendant at the Lord's house, and began to pray both publicly
+and privately for help from on high. Only a few months, and both husband
+and wife united with a church and became teachers in the Sabbath school.
+Their own home, once laid waste, again blossomed like the rose.
+
+
+PRAYING FOR TEA.
+
+
+On a top floor in a street of tenements lives a colored woman one
+hundred and ten years old! Her son, a man over seventy, lost his wife, a
+neat, active Christian woman, very suddenly, and his aged mother was
+plunged in despairing grief. "Why, why was I left, old and rheumatic and
+useless, and Mary, a smart, busy, capable woman taken away without a
+minute's warning?" was her continual cry. But the son was left desolate,
+and the two rooms were to be kept clean, the meals provided before he
+left for his work in the morning, and after his work at night; there was
+no one else to do it, and love for him called out new effort. With cane
+in one hand she treads the rooms back and forth, performing the
+household duties. Eyes undimmed, faculties unimpaired, she _does what
+she can_. Upon receiving a call a few months after the death of her
+daughter-in-law, she said--"You've brought me a whole pound of that nice
+tea! Well, honey, _I asked the Lord for some good tea last night, and I
+knowed well enough it would be along some time to-day, cos He never
+keeps me waiting long_. I found out why he took Mary instead of me; old
+as I was, I wasn't half so fit to go, and he was so full of mercy he let
+me stay long enough to see it! You know, honey, I've got no one to talk
+over old times with. There ain't none of 'em left that I was young with,
+and not many I was old with; but I'm never lonesome, for I'm too busy
+thinking of all the Lord's watching and waiting for me. I'm dreadful
+little use, but my son couldn't get along very well without me, and then
+I tell you I'm so busy thinking, I ain't got any time to be lazy or
+lonesome. Good many little things we want, too, and I have to be runnin'
+to the Lord for 'em."
+
+"Do they come every time, auntie?", "Every single time, honey! He never
+fails, no matter who else does. He knows I don't ask for no nonsense;
+only for the things we really need, and he has promised them all the
+time." "But, are there not times, auntie, for instance, when your son is
+sick, when you cannot see where rent and food is coming from?" "Don't
+want to see, honey! What's the use seein'? Believin's the thing!
+Believin's better than money." And so, all the revolving months, this
+relic of the last century walks by faith in the unseen.
+
+
+GIVING HER LAST DOLLAR TO THE LORD.
+
+
+A poor woman, sitting in a little church, heard the minister make an
+urgent appeal for money enough to pay a debt of two hundred dollars,
+contracted by the church the previous Winter. She had one dollar in her
+pocket; half drew it out; thought of the improbability of having any
+more for several days; put it back. Thought again, "Trust in the Lord
+for more;" drew it wholly out, and deposited it in the basket. The next
+morning, a lady called to settle a bill of two dollars, so long unpaid
+that it was, long before, set down among the losses.
+
+
+THE DANISH GIRL'S BLESSING.
+
+
+A very poor Danish girl, broken down in health, utterly unable longer to
+labor for her own support, was provided with the means, and urged to go
+to Denmark, as her friend felt sure there was some good in store for her
+there, meaning, more definitely, the restoration of her health. She
+could not be induced until, thoroughly satisfied by several tokens that
+it was the Lord's will, and then she consented.
+
+A devout, humble Christian missionary became acquainted with her soon
+after her arrival, and, being struck with the beauty of holiness in
+every action and conversation of her life, asked her to marry him, that
+he might have the constant satisfaction of rendering her life
+comfortable, and finding his own encouragement in her unfailing faith.
+His letters are full of his saintly wife, and her signally blessed
+efforts in winning people to put their trust where it need fear no
+betrayal.
+
+
+THE SWEDISH GIRL BLESSED.
+
+
+A Christian Swedish girl, who had, for three years, done the washing of
+a certain family, had so interested them by her care of an aged father,
+and gained their esteem by her humble piety, that, wishing to go to
+Europe for six months, they offered her two rooms in their house for
+that time, that she might not only save the labor necessary to pay her
+rent, but, also, take charge of their effects. The offer was gladly
+accepted, and recognized as a token especially from the Lord.
+
+In times when the father was yet able to work a little, they had
+economized to a degree that resulted in saving twenty dollars. It was
+laid by for three months' rent, when he should be no longer able to earn
+it. That time had come; as yet the money had not been touched; but Satan
+sent a wicked woman to hire the next room, and, while the father was
+asleep, and his poor daughter at church, she stole it. Their grief was
+great, but they reminded the Lord how hardly it was earned, and how
+faithful lie had always been to His promises. It can be easily
+understood with what emphasis this unexpected offer came to them.
+
+
+SAVED FROM DROWNING.
+
+
+A poor German woman rushed frantically through the street and into the
+house of a countrywoman, very little better off than herself, declaring
+she would drown herself that very night if _no_ one would give her work.
+A family on the same floor gave her the use of a very small, bare room
+for one week, free of charge; after that, it would be eighty cents per
+week rent. Her countrywoman shared with her, such as she had for the
+evening and the morning, and after the breakfast, sent for a good,
+ever-ready missionary to talk and pray her into a better frame of mind.
+He did so, but confirmed and rested her faith on substantial works. He
+procured employment for her before the sun set; enough to pay the rent
+and get a little common food. Then obtained coal sufficient to last a
+couple of months; and so, leading her little by little into light and
+hope, drew her into regular attendance at the Mission chapel in her
+neighborhood.
+
+
+THE WIDOW IN "WANT".
+
+
+A home missionary in Brooklyn, who has an enviable reputation for his
+entire consecration to the work of helping the poor, one day when
+engaged in his benevolent works, entered a restaurant, kept by a
+Christian friend, a man of like spirit with himself, who, in the course
+of conversation, related to him the following circumstances,
+illustrative of the power of prayer.
+
+He had, on a certain day, cleared a large sum, part of which consisted
+of _Mexican dollars_. Returning home in high spirits, he felt as if he
+could go to sleep sweetly on this silver pillow. But a thought suddenly
+intruded, which gave a new turn to his feelings. It related to a poor
+woman in his neighborhood, the widow of a very dear friend of his, whom
+he knew to be in want. "Shall I take all this money to myself?" thought
+he. "Does not the Providence who gave it to me say, _No! Give some of it
+to the widow of your friend_."
+
+With this impression he retired, as was his habit, quite early, but he
+could not sleep. The thought of the needy widow haunted him. "I will go
+to-morrow," said he to himself, "and see what I can do for her." But
+this good intention proved no opiate to his disturbed mind. "Possibly
+she or I may not live to see to-morrow." Something seemed to say _go
+now_. He tossed from side to side, but could not sleep. _Go now_ kept
+ringing in his ear. So at length the restless man had to dress himself
+and go.
+
+At this late hour, not far from eleven, he sallied forth to find the
+widow. Seeing a dim light in the upper story where she resided, and
+following its lead, he crept softly along on the stairway, until he
+reached the room from which a low sound issued. The door was slightly
+ajar; through which he could hear the voice of prayer, scarcely audible,
+but deeply earnest. He dared hardly stir, lest he should disturb the
+praying widow. But he came on an errand, and he must accomplish it. But
+how? Recollecting at the moment, that he had in his pocket a few of the
+_Mexican dollars_, he gently pushed at the door, and it opened just wide
+enough for his purpose. So taking each piece of money between his
+fingers, he rolled it in along the carpet, and withdrew as noiselessly
+as he had ascended. Returning to his home, he fell asleep and slept
+soundly, as well he might, after this act.
+
+The widow at length arose from her knees, and was struck on seeing the
+shining money lying about her floor. Where had these pieces of silver
+come from? Here was a mystery she could not solve. But she knew it was
+from the Lord, and that he had answered her prayer. So with tears of
+gratitude, she gave thanks to Him, "whose is the silver and the gold."
+
+Shortly after this event, she attended prayer-meeting, where she felt
+constrained to make known this wonderful interposition in answer to
+prayer. The Christians present were as much astonished as herself. The
+silence which ensued was broken by a brother of that church, who rose
+and said, "What this good woman has told you, is strictly true. These
+dollars came from the Lord. They came in answer to her prayer." He then
+detailed the circumstances before related. "God deputed me to carry this
+money, and providentially I am here to night to testify to the fact that
+God hears and answers prayer."
+
+It seems, from a subsequent statement, that this widow, owed a certain
+sum, that she was obliged to pay immediately, and having nothing in
+hand, she was pleading, that night, that her Heavenly Father would send
+her the needed amount.
+
+
+THE SEWING GIRL RELIEVED JUST IN TIME.
+
+
+A sick Scotch girl was found lying on a narrow bed in a close,
+uncomfortable room, her sobs audible to the missionary, when half-way up
+the stairs. Her story was short. When about, she earned three dollars
+and a half a week, at a business that was killing her. Of that, she paid
+three dollars for her board; leaving but the half-dollar for clothing or
+incidentals. But now--she had been lying there two weeks; six dollars
+were due for board, and still she was unable to rise, and, when she did,
+how could she ever pay the back indebtedness?
+
+The woman with whom she lived, was too poor herself to give her the lost
+time, and, moreover, was one of the class whom struggle and battle
+hardens. The missionary came just in time to quell the poor girl's
+fears, and paid her debts; mind and body were set at rest, and, one or
+two Christian ladies being made acquainted with the case, attended to
+the comforts which hastened her recovery; and, when once more pursuing
+her avocation, her "mither's God" seemed very near, not as one afar off.
+
+
+PRAYING FOR A HOME.
+
+
+A young Southern girl, who had lost a position through five months'
+sickness, and found herself, at last, in the street and penniless,
+turned her steps to a daily prayer-meeting. She said her earliest
+impressions from her mother were, that the Lord never failed those who
+really put their trust in Him. She had sought work for food and shelter,
+though destitute of sufficient covering to keep her from trembling with
+cold, and, so far, sought in vain; but she was sure it was waiting for
+her somewhere, and she thought perhaps God's people could tell her
+where. She was right. A sweet-faced lady, who had listened, said she
+wanted some young girl who might help her a little when she left for her
+summer residence, and she had been waiting to find a child of pious
+parents. Bessie went home with her from that very meeting, and, in two
+weeks, came back, with bright eyes and warm, good clothing, to say
+good-by to the ladies who had spoken to her so kindly, and, in whose
+midst, she had found a second mother. They were to leave town the next
+day, and she asked permission to come to the meeting once more and tell
+what the Lord had done for her.
+
+
+HOW MUCH GOOD TWO DOLLARS DID.
+
+
+A lady sent two dollars to a brave-hearted sister--who, by faith alone,
+and not by money, had gathered some sick and poor about her, and lived
+only by prayer--and a note of apology and half-contempt that it was such
+a miserable pittance. She received, in reply, the following little
+financial statement:
+
+"My Dear Friend:--Remember the five loaves and two fishes, and listen to
+the message of your two dollars. This is the way I expended it:
+
+    Corned beef,. . . . . . . . . . . . .  $0 80
+    Chop and egg for sick aunty,. . . . . .   13
+    Sweet potatoes, . . . . . . . . . . . .   25
+    White potatoes, . . . . . . . . . . . .   10
+    Cabbage and bread,. . . . . . . . . . .   30
+    Tea, milk and sugar,. . . . . . . . . .   30
+                                           -----
+                                           $1 88
+
+The balance bought the coal with which it was cooked, and _fifteen_
+people were fed!"
+
+
+SAVED FROM STARVATION.
+
+
+On the second floor of a rear house lived a lady well known once as
+among the foremost members of a wealthy church. The first blow of
+adversity opened a wide passage for a succession of disasters. She
+passed through the whole sliding scale, until the missionary found her
+in the poor, dilapidated tenement where, for two days and nights, she
+had lain in bed to keep warm; or as nearly so as her scanty covering
+would admit.
+
+It was Saturday, and the only food she had to keep her alive until
+Monday, was two soda biscuits! She had sold everything comfortable in
+the way of furniture; all her clothing but one respectable suit for the
+street, and the only thing remaining, that pointed to the history of
+better days, was a pair of gold eye-glasses, given her by her dying
+mother. Within a few months her dire necessity had often pointed to the
+glasses; but she could not see without them, nor could she sell the gold
+frames unless she had means to have the glass set in commoner ones.
+Moreover, the harpies who feed and thrive on the miseries of the poor,
+would in no case have given her more than twenty-five cents for them;
+and the short respite derived from that amount would not have
+compensated for the sacrifice. She had looked at them that morning; felt
+that starve she must and would, but that souvenir of her mother should
+never leave her. She went back to bed and prayed fervently that the Lord
+would show her some way of escape, or take her that day to himself. She
+slept an hour or two, and then awakened, strong in the conviction that
+he would show her some way before night, and though it was six o'clock
+P.M., before the missionary called, no doubt had arisen to trouble her
+mind; and as soon as he entered and introduced himself, she said--"You
+are a messenger from the Lord, sir; I have been expecting you."
+
+
+GOD WITH US.
+
+
+An old woman was taking home' some sewing the night before, and passing
+through a narrow and dark street, was knocked down by a runaway horse.
+Taken up senseless and unknown, she was carried into the house of a kind
+family who sent for a physician. It was not till next morning that she
+recovered consciousness, and was able to give her address. A messenger
+was at once dispatched to her husband, who was supposed to be wild with
+terror. He was truly thankful to hear from human lips of her
+whereabouts; but said he knew she was not dead, and he would see her in
+the morning; for the Lord had been with him all night and assured him of
+it. He had also kept the fire from going out; and now that she would be
+brought home in a few hours, he was ready to trust his Father, as he had
+been through the night. His hourly friend was Immanuel, God _with_ us;
+not God somewhere or other in infinite space.
+
+
+A VESSEL SAVED.
+
+
+A vessel was six months making the passage from Liverpool to Bermuda
+Island. Fogs enveloped it; winds sent it hither and thither; captain and
+mate lost their reckoning, lost their senses; and when, added to the
+rest, the vessel sprung a leak, gave up in despair. Crew and passengers
+were finally reduced to a few drops of water and one potato a day, and
+they merely waited death from starvation or drowning. All but one! One
+man; a minister, whose faith and belief in their final escape burned but
+brighter and brighter, as the others sank in the gloom of silent
+despair. A few days before they made the land, the leakage suddenly
+ceased; no one could account for it; but a week after their arrival,
+when the vessel had been condemned by the authorities as unsea-worthy,
+it was proposed to turn it bottom upward and see what stopped the leak.
+God seemed to have performed a miracle for them, when it was discovered
+that that end of the vessel was entirely covered with barnacles!
+
+
+A REMARKABLE PRAYER CONCERNING A REMARKABLE TEXT.
+
+
+A clergyman, accustomed to preach regularly in his journey through
+Fleming Circuit, Kentucky, was preparing on one Saturday for the labors
+of the next day. He was then staying at the residence of a family named
+Bowers, from which he was to journey the next day five miles to preach
+at 11 A.M., at a church called Mt. Olivet. On this Saturday, as he
+relates the incident, as soon and as privately as practicable, I pored
+over the Bible in quest of a suitable subject for the next day at Mount
+Olivet, and strange to tell! not one passage in the whole Book, that
+afternoon and night, could I fix upon, as, in my estimation, suitable
+for the next day. There was one passage, (two or three clauses of which
+I had by some means got fixed in my memory), that early that afternoon
+appeared in my mind as though each word was written in CAPITAL LETTERS.
+I turned to the whole passage as soon as I could find it; Heb. 6: 4-6;
+and read, "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened,"
+etc., etc. I had previously studied that whole subject, as recorded in
+the original, and as disposed of by learned Commentators of different
+creeds. I had settled in my own mind the import of the passage. But it
+seemed unsuitable for me, not then three years old in the ministry, to
+attempt the settlement of a theological question, about which the best
+and most learned of modern days had differed. I therefore tried to
+dismiss it from my mind, and to find some passage more suitable for the
+coming morrow. But my constant effort proved unsuccessful; and the said
+passage in Hebrews often recurred to my mind. Thus passed my time till I
+had to go to bed, resolving to attempt an early settlement of the
+growing difficulty next morning. But the morning studies produced no
+change in the unsettled state of the question, what shall I preach from
+to-day? Thus matters remained until I reached Mount Olivet, and had to
+begin service without a text. But I concluded if a suitable text did not
+occur while singing, praying and reading some Scripture lesson, rather
+than have no text, I would take Heb. 6: 4-6. And, cornered in this
+dilemma, so I did, and used it as well as I could.
+
+I then passed around the circuit as usual, and the fourth Saturday
+thereafter, I arrived again at Brother Bowers', preached, met the class,
+etc. Then, when all the class had left the room except their own family,
+Brother and Sister Bowers said to me, each manifesting intense feeling
+and interest, "Have you heard of the _strange_ thing that happened when
+you were here four weeks ago?" Said I, "No! what was it?" They said,
+"Did you see a man sitting in the house while you was preaching to-day?"
+describing his dress, looks, etc. I answered, "Yes." Said they, "Did you
+see a woman sitting over there," describing her? I said, "Yea." Said
+they, "They are husband and wife--their name is--(I have long since
+forgotten the name)--they are good members of the Presbyterian church,
+their children are members of our class, as you have called their names
+every time you have examined us. The man and his wife were here and
+heard you four weeks ago--they know our rules, and when those not of our
+church were dismissed, they left their children with us, as usual, and
+their parents started home. And, as they themselves tell us and others,
+as they went along, said the woman to her husband, 'Does not Mr. Akers
+preach to-morrow at Mount Olivet?' And he answered, 'I believe he does.'
+Said she, '_Well, if I thought he would take a certain text I would like
+very much to go and hear him._' Said her husband, '_What text_?' And she
+repeated the whole passage in _Hebrews_ 6:4-6. Said her husband, 'Well,
+I reckon he will take some subject that will be interesting, and if you
+say so we will not go to our own church to-morrow, we will go to Mount
+Olivet.' She answered, '_Agreed,_ and I do pray the Lord that he may
+take that text.' And she says, she continued to pray all that evening
+and next morning, until sitting in the church at Mount Olivet, she heard
+_you read out the said text, when she knew the Lord had answered her
+prayer_, and she could scarcely help from loud crying of thanks to God."
+
+I then told Brother and Sister Bowers my troubles about that text, as
+above stated. The Lord answers prayer.
+
+
+HOW SHE LEARNED TO LOVE THE BIBLE.
+
+
+The Rev. Frederick G. Clark thus writes of an answer to prayer, from one
+who wanted to love the Bible more:
+
+"Twenty-seven years ago, in the congregation of my first charge, was a
+lady whose love for the Bible was something remarkable. In the
+confidence of a pastoral visit, she told me of her joy in the divine
+word, and also recited the incidents of her experience in this regard.
+She had formerly read her Bible as so many do--a chapter now, and a
+halfchapter then, without much interest or profit. She was, even then,
+most interested in religious things. But her chief sources of spiritual
+strength were in such writings as those of Baxter, Payson and Robert
+Phillips. It was her custom to read the Bible from duty, and then turn
+to these uninspired volumes for the kindling of a higher devotion. For a
+good while this satisfied her; but, at length, she came to feel grieved
+about it. She thought it a dishonor to God's word that any book should
+be as interesting to her as the Bible. She tried to change this, but, at
+first, with little success. The Bible was still duty--Baxter was
+pleasure and spiritual elevation.
+
+"_At length, she could bear it no longer; so she took the case to God,
+with strong crying. She told her Heavenly Father how grieved she was
+that any book should rival the Bible in her affections. She asked this
+one thing--and she renewed her prayer every day--that her first delight
+might be in reading the word of God_. I think it was some time before
+she felt that her request was granted. But, at length, the answer to her
+prayer was complete and marvelous. A strange light came over the sacred
+page. A fascination held her to her Bible. She discovered a depth, a
+meaning, a curiosity, a charm, which were all new and most wonderful.
+Sometimes, when she had finished reading her Bible for the night, and
+had closed the book and had moved towards her bed, she would go back
+again and enjoy the luxury of a few more verses.
+
+
+THE BLIND RESTORED TO SIGHT.
+
+
+At the age of twenty years, a lady in Winchester, Iowa, began to lose
+her health, and in a short time was confined to her bed. And she
+writes:--"In addition to this I lost the use of my eyes, and was blind
+and helpless, a greater portion of my time for five years.
+
+"I enjoyed the blessing of prayer and trust some six months before
+feeling a liberty to pray for the healing of my body; fearing I should
+desire it without due submission to God's will. It was with _fear and
+trembling_ that I first made known this request. Though my pleadings in
+this direction were earnest, and often agonizing, yet I could say with a
+fervor as never before, 'Not my will, but thine be done.'
+
+"About the end of November, or early in December, 1873, I realized that
+my faith was perfect, that I was ready _now_ to be healed, that my faith
+was momentarily waiting on God, resting without a doubt on the promises.
+From this time forward my faith remained fixed with but one exception.
+During the time between December, 1873, and July, 1874, I was healed to
+such an extent that I could walk some, and see more or less every day,
+though sometimes with only one of my eyes. A portion of this time I felt
+as though in a furnace of fire; but amid the flames I realized the
+presence of the Son of God, who said, '_have chosen thee in the furnace
+of affliction_.' This for a time seemed an answer to my petition, and so
+thought it my life-work to suffer; for a while my faith became inactive,
+and I almost ceased praying for my health. Though I felt submissive, yet
+somehow I was soon crying, and that most instinctively, 'Thou Son of
+David, have mercy on me.' After this, my faith did not waver. Oh, the
+lesson of patience I learned in thus _waiting_ on _God's_ good time. And
+with what comfort could I present my body an offering to Him, realizing
+that as soon as at all possible with His will, I should be healed; I had
+an assurance of this, but did not know whether it would be during life,
+or accomplished only at death.
+
+"In this manner I waited before God until the morning of the 29th of
+July, when, without ecstasy of joy, or extra illumination, came a sense
+of the presence of Jesus, and a presentation of this gift, accompanied
+with these words: 'Here is the gift for which you have been praying; are
+you willing to receive it?'
+
+"I at first felt the incoming of the Divine power at the parts diseased,
+steadily driving out the same, until death was swallowed up in victory.
+I at once arose from my bed, and proceeded to work about the house, to
+the great astonishment of my friends, some of whom thought me wild; but
+I continued my work, assuring them that Jesus had healed me. Realizing
+the scrutiny and doubt with which I was observed, I said to my father,
+'What do you think?' He replied, 'It is supernatural power; no one can
+deny it.'
+
+"My healing took place on Wednesday; on Saturday was persuaded to lie
+down, which I did, but found the bed was no place for me; thought of
+Peter's wife's mother, who 'arose and ministered to them; knew that to
+her, strength, as well as health, was instantly given, as in the case of
+the palsied man, who rose, took up his bed, and departed. I returned to
+my work, backing my experience with those in God's word, and since then
+have not lain down during the day time.
+
+"My friends could not realize the completeness of the cure, until I read
+a full hour, and that by lamp-light, and until asked to desist, the
+first opportunity after being healed.
+
+"A week from this time, I discharged the hired girl, taking charge of
+the household work, which I have continued with perfect ease. About four
+weeks after my healing, had occasion to walk four miles, which I did
+with little or no weariness. Let me add to the praise of God, that I
+have no disease whatever. Am able to do more hard work with less
+weariness, than at any other period in my life, and faith in the Lord is
+the balm that made me whole."
+
+
+THE WIDOW'S SHOES.
+
+
+A poor woman--a widow with an invalid son--a member of the church, could
+not attend church, or the neighborhood prayer-meetings, for the want of
+shoes. She asked the Lord for the shoes. That very day the village
+school-master called in to see her son. Meanwhile he noticed that the
+boy's mother had very poor shoes. He said nothing, but felt impressed,
+and inwardly resolved to purchase the poor woman a pair of shoes
+forthwith. He accordingly hired a horse, rode two miles on horseback to
+a shoe-store, bought the shoes, and requested them sent to the widow's
+cottage without delay. They proved a perfect fit; and that very night
+the overjoyed woman hurried to the prayer-meeting to announce that in
+answer to prayer the Lord had sent her the shoes.
+
+The young school-master, who, I suspect, was my informant himself, now a
+venerable, white-haired man, heard the poor woman's testimony; and his
+pillow that night was wet with tears of gratitude and joy because God
+had used him thus to bless the poor widow, and to answer her prayers.
+
+
+A REMARKABLE DREAM.
+
+
+The late Dr. Whitehead was accustomed to repeat with pleasure' the
+following fact: In the year 1764, he was stationed as an itinerant
+preacher in Cornwall. He had to preach one evening in a little village
+where there was a small Methodist Society. "The friend," said he, "at
+whose house we preached, had at that time a daughter, who lived with one
+of our people about ten miles off. His wife was gone to attend her
+daughter, who was dangerously ill of a fever; and her husband had that
+day received a message from her, informing him that his child's life was
+despaired of. He earnestly and with tears desired Mr. Whitehead to
+recommend his daughter to God in prayer, both before and after
+preaching. He did so in the most warm and affectionate manner. Late that
+evening, or very early next morning, while the young woman's mother was
+sitting by her daughter's bedside (who had been in a strong delirium for
+several days), she opened her eyes and hastily addressed her mother
+thus: 'O mother! I have been dreaming that I saw a man lifting up his
+eyes and hands to heaven, and fervently praying to God for my recovery!
+The Lord has heard his prayers, and my fever is gone; and what is far
+better, the Lord has spoken peace to my soul, and sealed His pardoning
+love on my heart. I know it, I feel it, my dear mother; and His Spirit
+bears witness with my spirit, that I am a child of God, and an heir of
+glory.' Her mother, thinking that she was still in delirium, desired her
+to compose herself, and remain quiet. The daughter replied, 'My dear
+mother, I am in no delirium now; I am perfectly in my senses; do help me
+to rise, that upon my bended knees I may praise God.' Her mother did so,
+and they both praised God with joyful hearts, and from that hour the
+young woman recovered so fast, that she was soon able to attend to the
+affairs of the family where she lived. She had never seen Mr. Whitehead,
+previous to this remarkable time; but some weeks after, she saw him, and
+the moment she beheld his face, she fainted away. As soon as she came to
+herself, she said, 'Sir, you are the person I saw in my dream, when I
+was ill in a violent fever; and I beheld you lift up your hands and eyes
+to heaven, and most fervently pray for my recovery and conversion to
+God. The Lord, in mercy, heard your prayers, and answered them to the
+healing of my wounded spirit, and to the restoration of my body. I have
+walked in the light of His countenance from that time to the present,
+and I trust I shall do so as long as I live.' How remarkably does this
+circumstance illustrate the words of St. James, 'The prayer of faith
+shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he have
+committed sins, they shall be forgiven him!'"
+
+
+"YOU MUST NOT GO."
+
+
+A remarkable instance of deep impression occasionally made by the Holy
+Spirit on the mind of the Rev. William Bramwell during prayer, occurred
+in Liverpool. A pious young woman, a member of Society, wished to go to
+her friends, then living in Jamaica. She took her passage, had her
+luggage taken on board, and expected to sail on the following day.
+Having the greatest respect for Mr. Bramwell, she waited upon him, to
+take leave and request an interest in his prayers. Before parting, they
+knelt down, and he recommended her to the care of God. After he had been
+engaged in prayer some time, he suddenly paused, and thus addressed her,
+"My dear sister, you must not go to-morrow. God has just told me you
+must not go." She was surprised, but he was positive, and prevailed upon
+her to postpone her voyage, and assisted her to remove her luggage out
+of the vessel. The ship sailed, and in about six weeks intelligence
+arrived that the vessel was lost, and all on board had perished.
+
+
+EVIL AVERTED.
+
+
+A correspondent of the _Guide to Holiness_ says: "We remember a poor
+woman who had had a life of sore vicissitude which she bore with
+remarkable Christian cheerfulness; and after a time of the suspension of
+trial, a bad prospect came in sight. She resorted to a friend to whom
+she confidingly related the threatening evil, and at parting said, 'Oh
+pray for us.' The case as it was known was taken immediately that early
+morning to the throne of grace and laid out in all its circumstances
+with a deeply sympathizing heart, and a consciousness of the past
+sufferings of that woman--and as the friend rose from prayer, the answer
+was given that the evil was averted, and a new change would come to that
+afflicted one.
+
+"That very day a strange deliverance and opening appeared which set that
+family at rest from their peculiar trials for the rest of life."
+
+
+HOW A POOR LITTLE CRIPPLE CONVERTED A VILLAGE.
+
+
+Mr. D.L. Moody relates the instance of a poor little cripple, whose
+prayers were answered to the conversion of _fifty-six people._
+
+"I once knew a little cripple who lay upon her death bed. She had given
+herself to God, and was distressed only because she could not labor for
+Him actively among the lost. Her clergyman visited her, and hearing her
+complaint, told her from her sick bed she could pray; to pray for those
+she wished to see turning to God. He told her to write the names down,
+and then to pray earnestly; he went away and thought of the subject no
+more.
+
+"Soon a feeling of religious interest sprang up in the village, and the
+churches were crowded nightly. The little cripple heard of the progress
+of the revival, and inquired anxiously for the names of the saved. A few
+weeks later she died, and among a roll of papers that was found under
+her little pillow, was one bearing the names of fifty-six persons, every
+one of whom had in the revival been converted. By each name was a little
+cross by which the poor crippled saint had checked off the names of the
+converts as they had been reported to her."
+
+
+PLEASE GOD, GIVE US A HOME.
+
+
+Mr. Moody tells of a beautiful answer to the faith of a little child.
+
+"I remember a child that lived with her parents in a small village. One
+day the news came that her father had joined the army (it was the
+beginning of our war), and a few days after, the landlord came to demand
+the rent. The mother told him she hadn't got it, and that her husband
+had gone into the army. He was a hard-hearted wretch, and he stormed,
+and said that they must leave the house; he wasn't going to have people
+who couldn't pay the rent.
+
+"After he was gone, the mother threw herself into the armchair, and
+began to weep bitterly. Her little girl, whom she taught to pray in
+faith, (but it is more difficult to practice than to preach,) came up to
+her, and said, '_What makes you cry, mamma, I will pray to God to give
+us a little home, and won't He_?' What could the mother say? So the
+little child went into the next room and began to pray. The door was
+open, and the mother could hear every word.
+
+_"'O, God, you have come and taken away father, and mamma has got no
+money, and the landlord will turn us out because we can't pay, and we
+will have to sit on the door-step, and mamma will catch cold. Give us a
+little home_.' Then she waited as if for an answer, and then added,
+'_Won't you, please, God_?'
+
+"She came out of that room quite happy, expecting a home to be given
+them. The mother felt reproved. God heard the prayer of that little one,
+for he touched the heart of the cruel landlord, and she has never paid
+any rent since."
+
+God give us the faith of that little child, that we may likewise expect
+an answer, "_nothing wavering_."
+
+
+"OF COURSE HE WILL."
+
+
+Mr. Moody also gives the story of a little child whose father and mother
+had died, and she was taken into another family. The first night she
+asked if she could pray, as she used to do.
+
+They said, Oh, yes! So she knelt down, and prayed as her mother taught
+her, and when that was ended she added a little prayer of her own: "_Oh,
+God, make these people as kind to me as father and mother were_." Then
+she paused, and looked up, as if expecting an answer, and added, "_Of
+course he will_."
+
+How sweetly simple was that little one's faith; she expected God to
+"do," and she got her request.
+
+
+STRIKING ANSWER.
+
+
+The following incidents are specially contributed to these pages by Rev.
+J.S. Bass, a Home Missionary of Brooklyn, N.Y.:
+
+"While living in Canada, my eldest daughter, then a girl of ten years of
+age, rather delicate and of feeble health, had a severe attack of
+chorea, "St. Vitus's dance." To those who have had any experience in
+this distressing complaint, nothing need be said of the deep affliction
+of the household at the sight of our loved one, as all her muscles
+appeared to be affected, the face distorted with protrusion of the
+tongue, and the continuous involuntary motions by jerks of her limbs.
+The ablest medical advice and assistance were employed, and all that the
+sympathy of friends and the skill of physicians could do were of no
+avail. She grew worse rather than better, and death was looked to as a
+happy release to the sufferings of the child, and the anguish of the
+parents; as the medical men had given as their opinion that the mind of
+the child would become diseased, and if her life were lengthened, it
+would be an enfeebled body united to an idiotic mind.
+
+"But God was better to us than our most sanguine hopes far better to us
+than our fears.
+
+"In our trouble we thought on God, and asked his help. We knew we had
+the prayers of some of God's chosen ones. On a certain Sunday morning I
+left my home to fill an appointment in the Wesleyan chapel in the
+village of Cooksville, two miles distant. I left with a heavy heart. My
+child was distressing to look upon, my wife and her sister were worn out
+with watching and fatigue. It was only from a sense of duty that I left
+my home that morning. During the sermon God refreshed and encouraged my
+heart still to trust in him. After the service, many of the congregation
+tarried to inquire of my daughter's condition, among them an aged saint,
+Sister Wilson, widow of a Wesleyan preacher, and Sister Galbraith, wife
+of the class-leader. Mother Wilson encouraged me to 'hope in God,'
+saying 'the sisters of the church have decided to spend to-morrow
+morning together in supplication and prayer for you and your family, and
+that God would cure Ruth.'
+
+"Monday morning came. Ruth had passed a restless night. Weak and
+emaciated, her head was held that a tea-spoonful of water should be
+given her. My duties called me away (immediately after breakfast) to a
+neighbor's; about noon, a messenger came, in great haste, to call me
+home. On entering the sick-chamber, I noticed the trundle-bed empty, and
+my little girl, with smiling face, sitting in a chair at the window,
+(say eight feet from the bed.) I learned from the child that, while on
+the bed, the thought came to her that, if she could only get her feet on
+the floor, the Lord would help her to sit up. By an effort, she
+succeeded, moving herself to the edge of the bed, put her legs over the
+side until her feet touched the floor, and sat up. She then thought, if
+she tried, the Lord would help her to stand up, and then to walk; all of
+which she accomplished, without any human aid, she being left in the
+room alone. The same afternoon she was in the yard playing with her
+brothers, quickly gained flesh, recovered strength, with intellect clear
+and bright; she lived to the age of twenty-two, never again afflicted
+with this disease, or anything like it. At the age of twenty-two, ripe
+for heaven, it pleased God to take her to himself.
+
+"The sisters, led by Mother Wilson, waited on God in prayer, and God
+fulfilled that day the promise--Isaiah 65:24: 'And it shall come to
+pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet
+speaking, I will hear.'"
+
+
+A REMARKABLE CASE.
+
+
+On the afternoon of Monday, August 20, 1869, I was sent for to visit
+Mrs. M., who was reported to be very sick. Arriving at the house, I was
+told that "Mrs. M., after a hard day's work, had retired to rest
+Saturday night in her usual state of health, that immediately after
+getting in bed she had fallen asleep and had not awoke up to this time,
+(6 o'clock Monday evening,) that three physicians had been in attendance
+for 30 hours, that all their efforts to arouse her were without avail."
+
+In the chamber, Mrs. M. lay in the bed apparently in a troubled sleep,
+she was a woman of medium size, about 50 years of age, the mother of a
+large family; around her bed stood her husband, four sons and a
+daughter, and relatives, about twelve persons in all. The husband and
+sons were irreligious, but awed in the presence of this affliction.
+
+I felt, as perhaps I never felt before, my ignorance, my helplessness,
+and the necessity of entire dependence on God for guidance and
+inspiration, that prayer should be made in accordance with his will.
+
+I knelt at the bedside and held the woman's hand in mine, lifted up my
+heart to God and prayed, "If it be thy will and for thy glory, and for
+the good of this family, grant that this woman may once more open her
+eyes to look upon her children, once more open her lips in counsel and
+holy admonition." While thus praying, as I believe, inspired by the
+Spirit of God, and with faith in Jesus Christ, I was conscious of a
+movement around me, and opening my eyes, I saw Mrs. M. sitting up in
+bed. Some of the persons in the room were weeping, others laughing; the
+sons came nearer the bed, and asked, "Mother, do you know me? do you
+know me?" She called each by name, and beckoned to her daughter, held
+her by the hand. I, poor faithless one, was wondering what does this
+mean? One of the sons took me by the hand saying, "Oh! Mr. Bass, God
+heard and answered that prayer." I sung the hymn, "There is a fountain
+filled with blood," Mrs. M. singing to the close, and then, apparently
+exhausted, sank back on the pillow, speechless and unconscious. The
+physicians were sent for, came, wondered, speculated, administered
+medicine, blistered the calves of the legs, and cupped the back of the
+neck, but to no purpose. She remained in speechless unconsciousness till
+the next afternoon, when, while prayer was being made, she again opened
+her eyes, sat up and conversed with her children and friends. In a few
+days she resumed her household duties, enjoying a good degree of health
+and strength, and faithfully serving God and her generation until it
+pleased God to call her home to the rest prepared for the people of God,
+three years after the incident, the subject of this paper.
+
+
+A LITTLE GIRL'S BEAUTIFUL FAITH.
+
+
+A little German girl, who had never hitherto known the name of the Lord
+Jesus, was led to attend a Mission school. It was the custom at the
+school, before the little ones received their dinner, to lift their
+hands and thank God for their food.
+
+When in course of time she spent her days at home, and her father's
+family were gathered around their own table, this little girl said:
+
+"_Pa, we must hold up our hand's and thank God before we eat._ That's
+the way we do at the Mission."
+
+So winning was the little one in her ways, the parents yielded at once.
+
+At another time her father was sick and unable to work, and the little
+girl said, "_Pa, I'm going to pray that you may get well and go to work
+to-morrow morning_."
+
+At four o'clock in the morning she awoke and called out, "_Pa, don't you
+feel better_." The father said, "Yes, I am better," and he went to his
+work in the morning, although weak and obliged to rest by the way.
+
+There came a time once when he could not get work, and there was no food
+in the house for dinner.
+
+This little girl knelt down and asked God to send them their dinner, and
+when she rose from her knees, she said, "Now we must wait till the
+whistle blows, till 12 o'clock."
+
+At twelve o'clock the whistle blew, and the little girl said, "Get the
+table ready, it is coming," and just then in came a neighbor with soup
+for their dinner.
+
+
+THE LORD HELPS TO PAY DEBTS.
+
+
+The author of this incident is known to the editor of "Remarkable
+Providences," and speaking of it says: "_God never gave me exactly what
+I wanted. He always gave me more."_
+
+"When I married I was a working man; I had not much money to spare. In
+about three months after my marriage, I fell ill, and my illness
+continued for more than nine months. At that period I was in great
+distress. I owed a sum of money and had no means to pay it. It must be
+paid on a certain day, or I must go to jail. I had no food for myself or
+wife; and in this distress I went up to my room, and took my Bible. I
+got down on my knees and opened it, laid my fingers on several of the
+promises, and claimed them as mine. I said, 'Lord, this is thine own
+word of promise; I claim thy promises.' I endeavored to lay hold of them
+by faith. I wrestled with God for sometime in this way. I got up off my
+knees, and walked about some time. I then went to bed, and took my
+Bible, and opened it on these words: '_Call upon me in the day of
+trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me_.'
+
+"I said, 'it is enough, Lord.' I knew deliverance would come, and I
+praised God with my whole heart. Whilst in this frame of mind I heard a
+knock at the door. I went and opened it and a man handed me a letter. I
+turned to look at the letter, and when I looked up again, the man was
+gone.
+
+"The letter contained the sum I wanted, and five shillings over. It is
+now eighteen years ago. I never knew who sent it. God only knows. Thus
+God delivered me out of all my distress. To Him be all the praise."
+
+
+PRAYING FOR A LOST POCKET-BOOK.
+
+
+A contributor to _The Christian_ writes as follows:
+
+"A few months since I lost my pocket-book, containing money and papers
+of a large amount--more than I felt able to lose--and which I should
+feel the loss of, as I was owing at that time about the same amount.
+
+"On the day of my loss, I had been from home about a mile and a half,
+and it was about 9 o'clock _in the evening_, when I returned. And it was
+not till then that I ascertained my loss.
+
+"My health was very poor, and the prospect of regaining the lost
+pocket-book was quite uncertain; it was so dark that I thought it would
+be impossible for me to find it. Consequently I determined to remain
+awake during the night, and at 3 o'clock in the morning search for it,
+and if possible, find it before any one should pass over the road.
+
+"The seeming impossibility of finding it, and the reflections consequent
+upon the loss of the money were so unpleasant to me that I was led to
+make it a subject of prayer, fully trusting that in some way God would
+so direct that I should come in possession of it. If so, I determined to
+give him $25 of it.
+
+"As soon as I had formed this purpose, all that unpleasant feeling left
+me, and I did not admit a single doubt but I should get it.
+
+"Accordingly, _at 3 o'clock in the morning_ I made a thorough search,
+but could not find it. Yet my faith in God's guiding hand did not fail
+me, and I believed that my trust would be realized.
+
+"While I was thus thinking of the certainty of the fulfillment of the
+promises of the Gospel to the believer, I was called on by a gentleman,
+a leading business man of the place, who came to know if _I had lost
+anything_.
+
+"I told him I had lost my pocket-book. He wanted to know how much it
+contained. I told him. He said his son had occasion to pass early on
+that morning, and had found it in the road, and that in all probability
+I should otherwise have lost it, as two men passed by immediately after
+it was found.
+
+"Thus God found it and returned it to me."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+LIVES OF FAITH AND TRUST
+
+
+AN EXTRAORDINARY LIFE OF FAITH AND TRUST.
+
+
+For many centimes there has not been a more remarkable testimony of
+unfaltering trust in the faithfulness of God in supplying human wants,
+than is found in the life and labor of George Muller and his Orphan
+Home, in Bristol, England. His record is one of humility, yet one of
+daily dependence upon the providence and the knowledge of God to supply
+his daily wants. It has been one of extraordinary trial; yet never, for
+a single hour, has God forsaken him. Beginning, in 1834, with absolutely
+nothing; giving himself, his earthly all and his family to the Lord, and
+asking the Lord's pleasure and blessing upon his work of philanthropy,
+he has never, for once, appealed to any individual for aid, for
+assistance, for loans; but has relied wholly in prayer to the
+Lord--coming with each day's cares and necessities--and the Lord has
+ever supplied. He has never borrowed, never been in debt; living only
+upon what the Lord has sent--yet in the forty-third year of his life of
+faith and trust--he has been able, through the voluntary contributions
+which the Lord has prompted the hearts of the people to give, to
+accomplish these wonderful results: _Over half a million dollars_ have
+been spent in the construction of buildings--_over fifteen thousand
+orphans have been cared for and supported--and over one million dollars_
+have been received for their support. _Every dollar of which has been
+asked for in believing prayer from the Lord_. The record is the most
+astounding in the faith of the Christian religion, and the power and
+providence of God to answer prayer, that modern times can show.
+
+The orphans' homes have been visited again and again by Christian
+clergymen of all denominations, to feel the positive satisfaction and
+certainty that all this were indeed the work of prayer, and they have
+been abundantly convinced.
+
+The spectacle is indeed a _standing miracle. "A man sheltering, feeding,
+clothing, educating, and mailing comfortable and happy, hundreds of poor
+orphan children, with no funds of his own, and no possible means of
+sustenance, save that which God sent him in answer to prayer_."
+
+An eminent clergyman who for five years had been constantly hearing of
+this work of faith, and could hardly believe in its possibility, at last
+visited Mr. Muller's home for the purpose of thorough investigation,
+exposing it, if it were under false pretenses or mistaken ways of
+securing public sympathy, or else with utmost critical search, desired
+to become convinced it was indeed supported only by true prayer. He had
+reserved for himself, as he says, a wide margin for deductions and
+disappointment, but after his search, as "_I left Bristol, I exclaimed
+with the queen of Sheba, 'The half had not been told me.' Here I saw,
+indeed, seven hundred orphan children fed and provided for, by the hand
+of God, in answer to prayer, as literally and truly as Elijah was fed by
+ravens with meat which the Lord provided_."
+
+Mr. Muller himself has said in regard to their manner of living:
+"_Greater and more manifest nearness of the Lord's presence I have never
+had, than when after breakfast, there were no means for dinner, and then
+the Lord provided the dinner for more than one hundred persons; and when
+after dinner, there were no means for the tea; and yet the Lord provided
+the tea; and all this without one single human being having been
+informed about our need_."
+
+Thus it will be seen his life is one of daily trial and trust, and he
+says, "Our desire therefore, is, not that we may be without trials of
+faith, but that the Lord graciously would be pleased to support us in
+the trial, that we may not dishonor him by distrust."
+
+The question having been asked of him, "Such a way of living must lead
+the mind continually to think whence food, clothes, etc., are to come,
+with no benefit for spiritual exercise," he replies: "Our minds are very
+little tried about the necessaries of life; just because the care
+respecting them is laid upon our Father, who, because we are his
+children, not _only allows_ us to do so, _but will have us to do so_.
+
+"It must also be remembered that even if our minds _were_ much tried
+about our supplies, yet because we look to the _Lord alone_ for all
+these things, we should be brought by our sense of need, into the
+presence of our Father for the supply of it, _and that is a blessing_,
+and satisfying to the soul."
+
+This humble statement from the experience of one who has tried and
+proven the Lord in little things, as well as large, conveys to the
+Christian that world of practical instruction which is contained in the
+precepts of the Bible, viz: to _encourage all to cast their cares on
+God_; and teaches them the lessons of their dependence upon Him for
+their daily supplies.
+
+The meaning of the Lord's blessing upon the work of Mr. Muller, is to
+make it a standing example and illustration to be adopted in every
+Christian home. "_How God supplies our needs, how he rewards faith, how
+he cares for those who trust in Him. How he can as well take care of his
+children to-day as he did in the days of the Prophets, and how surely he
+fulfills his promise, even when the trial brings us to the extremities
+of circumstances seemingly impossible_."
+
+Mr. Muller's experience is remarkable, not because the Lord has made his
+an exceptional case for the bestowal of blessings, but because of the
+_remarkable, unwavering and persevering application of his faith_, by
+the man himself.
+
+His faith began with small degrees, and small hopes. It was painfully
+tried. But it clung hopefully, and never failed to gain a triumph. Each
+trial only increased its tenacity, and brought him greater humility, for
+it opened his own heart to a sense of his own powerlessness, and this
+faith has grown with work and trial, till its strength is beyond all
+precedent.
+
+The lessons which the Lord wishes each one to take from it, is this:
+"_Be your faith little or weak, never give it up; apply my promises to
+all your needs, and expect their fulfillment. Little things are as
+sacred as great things_."
+
+In the journal kept by Mr. Muller during his many years of experience,
+he has preserved many incidents of answer to prayer in small matters, of
+which we quote the following from his book. "_The Power of Faith and
+Prayer_."
+
+1. "One of the orphan boys needed to be apprenticed. I knew of no
+suitable believing master who would take an indoor apprentice. I gave
+myself to prayer, and brought the matter daily before the Lord. At last,
+though I had to pray about the matter from May 21 to September, the Lord
+granted my request, and I found a suitable place for him.
+
+2. I asked the Lord that he would be pleased to deliver a certain sister
+in the Lord from the great spiritual depression under which she was
+suffering, and after three days the Lord granted my request.
+
+3. I asked the Lord daily in his mercy to keep a sister in the Lord from
+insanity, who was then apparently on the border of it. I have now to
+record his praise, after nearly four years have passed away, that the
+Lord has kept her from it.
+
+4. During this year has occurred the conversion of one of the greatest
+sinners that I had ever heard of in all my service for the Lord.
+Repeatedly I fell on my knees with his wife, and asked the Lord for his
+conversion, when she came to me in the deepest distress of soul, on
+account of the most barbarous and cruel treatment that she had received
+from him in his bitter enmity against her for the Lord's sake. And now
+the awful persecutor is converted.
+
+5. It pleased the Lord to try my faith in a way in which before, it had
+not been tried. My beloved daughter was taken ill on June 20. This
+illness, at first a low fever, turned to typhus, _and July 3 there
+seemed no hope of her recovery_.
+
+Now was the trial of faith, but faith triumphed. My wife and I were
+enabled to give her up into the hands of the Lord. He sustained us both
+exceedingly.
+
+She continued very ill till about July 20, when restoration began. On
+August 18, she was so far restored that she could be removed to Clevedon
+for change of air. It was then 59 days since she was taken ill.
+
+6. The heating apparatus of our Orphan Home unexpectedly gave out. It
+was the commencement of Winter. To repair the leak was a questionable
+matter. To put in a new boiler would in all probability take many weeks.
+Workmen were sent for to make repairs. But on the day fixed for repairs
+a _bleak north wind set in_."
+
+Now came cold weather, the fire must be put out, the repairs could not
+be put off. Gladly would I have paid one hundred pounds if thereby the
+difficulty could have been overcome, and the children not be exposed to
+suffer for many days from living in cold rooms.
+
+At last I determined on falling entirely into the hands of God, who is
+very merciful and of tender compassion. I now asked the Lord for two
+things, viz.: "That He would be pleased to change the _north wind into a
+south wind_, and that he would give the workmen a mind to work.
+
+Well, the memorable day came. The evening before, the bleak north wind
+blew still; but on the Wednesday the south wind blew _exactly as I had
+prayed_. The weather was so mild that no fire was needed.
+
+About half-past eight in the evening, the principal of the firm whence
+the boiler-makers came, arrived to see how the work was going on, and
+whether he could in any way speed the matter.
+
+The principal went with me to see his men; to the foreman of whom he
+said: "The men will work late this evening, and come very early again
+to-morrow."
+
+"_We would rather_," said the leader, "_work all night_."
+
+Then remembered I the second part of my prayer, that God would give the
+men a mind to work. By morning the repair was accomplished, the leak was
+stopped, and in thirty hours the fire was again in the boiler; _and all
+the time the south wind blew so mildly that there was not the least need
+of a fire_.
+
+7. In the year 1865, the scarlet fever broke out in several of the
+Orphan Homes. In one of which were four hundred girls, and in the other
+four hundred and fifty. It appeared among the infants. The cases
+increased more and more. But we betook ourselves to God in prayer. Day
+by day we called upon Him regarding this trial, and generally two or
+three times a day. At last, when the infirmary rooms were filled, and
+some other rooms that could be spared for the occasion, to keep the sick
+children from the rest, and when we had no other rooms to spare, at
+least not without inconvenience, it pleased the Lord to answer our
+prayers, and in mercy stay the disease. The disease was very general in
+the town of Bristol, and many children died in consequence. _But not one
+in the Orphan Home died. All recovered_.
+
+At another date, the whooping-cough also broke out among the four
+hundred and fifty girls of our Home, and though many were dying in the
+towns of the same disease, yet all in the Orphan Home recovered except
+one little girl who had very weak lungs, a constitutional tendency to
+consumption.
+
+8. In the early part of one Summer, it was found that we had several
+boys ready to be apprenticed, but there were no applications made by
+masters for apprentices. This was no small difficulty, as the master
+must be also willing to receive the apprentice into his own family. We
+again gave ourselves to _prayer_, instead of _advertising_. Some weeks
+passed, but the difficulty remained. We continued in prayer, and then
+one application was made for an apprentice, and from the time we first
+began, we have been able to find places for eighteen boys."
+
+
+THE CONSUMPTIVE'S HOME.
+
+
+In the United States there is a Parallel Record to George Mailer's Life
+of Faith and Trust, found in the history of the Consumptive's Home of
+Boston, Mass. It was established twelve years since by Doctor Cullis,
+who in the ardor of his faith and trust gave himself to the work of the
+Lord, by ministering in _Jesus' Name_, to the poor consumptives who were
+unable to provide for themselves. Doctor Cullis is a man of humility,
+and devoted to his life work, and has been most abundantly blessed by
+the Lord in his field. To the honor and glory of our Heavenly Father, he
+has never been forsaken by Him.
+
+The Institution began twelve years ago, in small quarters. Now it
+embraces a very large gathering of useful enterprises: _A Consumptive's
+Home, Children's Home, Grove Hall Church, Tract Repository, a Training
+College_, and a _Cancer Home_. The means provided have all been sent by
+the Lord, who has prompted the hearts of good people to send to it their
+voluntary contributions.
+
+There is no financial fund, endowment, or pecuniary provision whatever
+existing for the support of the Home. No individuals have made any
+agreement for its support; there is no trade or occupation used or
+connected with it, whereby to obtain any remuneration. There has never
+been any appeal to man for assistance, no subscriptions ever taken, no
+contributions solicited, either publicly or privately; there are no
+agencies or connections to receive funds from any religious society for
+procuring charitable relief.
+
+The supplies for the carrying on of this work, during these twelve
+years, have been wholly _in answer to believing prayer, to the Lord_.
+
+They have fulfilled faithfully the Lord's commands, "_Cast all your
+cares on Him, for he careth for you_." They have also pleaded in faith,
+without a doubt, "_Anything ye shall ask the Father in my name, I will
+do it_." And they have asked and received, and the Provider has never
+yet failed them.
+
+During the twelve years' time there has been sent to the Consumptive's
+Home, without any solicitation whatever, but in answer to believing
+prayer and faith and trust in God's providence, a sum no less than
+_three hundred and sixty thousand dollars, and over fifteen hundred
+patients have been gratuitously cared for_. No one has been urged,
+asked, or even hinted to contribute to it. Each morning, noon and night
+prayer has been offered to send means to provide for their daily wants,
+and the Great Shepherd has sent the supplies.
+
+During these twelve years, the experiences of Doctor Cullis, the
+founder, have been most remarkable in the frequent answers to prayer in
+minute details of life, and especially in healing. There are so many
+such cases, that there is no possible room to doubt. There have often
+been moments, yes, days of distress and intense trial, when, with not a
+single penny on hand, it seemed as if failure had come; but faith could
+not let the promise go, neither was it possible for them to believe that
+He who could do so much, would forsake so good a work, which was
+undertaken only in obedience to the guidance and direction of the Lord;
+and God has always brought deliverance, and honored them and brought
+glory to his own name.
+
+In the daily history of these struggles and trials and triumphs of
+faith, are found many surprising incidents, a few of which we relate.
+
+
+A BAD DEBT PAID.
+
+
+"To-day a bill was paid of $31, which I had given up as good for
+nothing. A long time ago I gave it to the Lord in prayer, and promised
+Him if it was ever canceled that it should be His."
+
+
+HELP IN NEED.
+
+
+"The sums received for several days had been small. One day as the
+Doctor was in prayer for his needs, he received a note from a lady
+asking him to call at her house, naming the day and the hour. At the
+time appointed he called, and found the lady sick in consumption, near
+to death. She said she had some money which she wished to dispose of
+before her death. She placed in his hand a _five hundred dollar note_.
+It was her last gift. She had received it from the hand of the Lord, and
+she returned it to Him again."
+
+
+PRAYING FOR STOVES.
+
+
+"This afternoon, knowing the necessity of stoves for some of the upper
+rooms, as the weather is quite cool, I went to the Lord, in prayer, and
+told him of our need, praying Him in one way to supply us.
+
+"I then went down town to a friend, to look at stoves and inquire the
+price, when he said, 'that's all right, I shall not charge anything,'
+and said he would see that they were put up. This man knew nothing of
+our great need; he had never visited the Home, knew but little about it,
+and not a word did he know of the state of my purse. "The Lord inclined
+the man's heart to give the stoves."
+
+
+PRAYING FOR A FURNACE.
+
+
+"I am earnestly praying for the means to purchase a furnace, for we
+cannot receive patients into the new Home until it can be warmed. I am
+looking to the Lord, and He will help."
+
+_Seven days later_. "A gentleman has this day ordered a furnace to be
+put in, with fourteen tons of coal at his expense. I will here say that
+his attention was not called to our need, but he asked how the house was
+to be warmed; he then learned of our want, and ordered as above. Truly,
+'Whosoever believeth in Him shall not be confounded.'"
+
+
+THE LORD'S RETURN FOR GIVING UNTO THE POOR.
+
+
+"This afternoon a poor woman, whose history I have known for some time,
+and who has a sick husband over eighty years of age, called on me,
+stating that she had only a ten-cent loaf of bread for herself and her
+husband to eat since Wednesday, and to-day is Saturday.
+
+"Notwithstanding my own need, I felt that I could not withhold from one
+in greater straits than myself, so in Christ's name, I gave her enough
+to procure necessary food for a few days. The Lord did not forget it,
+but this evening has returned the amount with bountiful interest. For
+the turn I gave Him, He has sent me $40. _'There is that scattereth yet
+increaseth_.'"
+
+
+A WATCH GIVEN TO THE LORD--HOW THE LORD RETURNS A BETTER ONE.
+
+
+"Last year, during a season of great need, I sold my watch; yesterday,
+the Lord returned it by a gift of a much better one from a friend, who
+had purchased it abroad, knowing nothing of my need, thus proving, 'He
+that soweth bountifully, shall reap also bountifully.'"
+
+
+THE LORD GAVE DOUBLE WHAT WAS ASKED FOR.
+
+
+"This morning and noon I called upon the Lord in prayer for the means to
+pay a bill of $100. By three P.M., a check was sent me of $200."
+
+
+BLESSINGS AMID CALAMITIES.
+
+
+"The roof of one of our houses having caught fire from a spark from a
+neighbor's chimney, it was mostly destroyed; some of the furniture, and
+the whole home badly damaged by water. All hearts thanked the Lord the
+circumstances were no worse. In the midst of our calamity, blessings
+surrounded us. An unknown donor sends in 20 tons of coal. For weeks I
+have been praying for the means to purchase our Winter fuel, and now the
+Lord has inclined the heart of an unknown friend to supply our need."
+
+
+A REMARKABLE PROMISE.
+
+
+At one period in the history of the Consumptive's Home, a sum of three
+thousand dollars placed in the safe, and reserved to be used for payment
+on the purchase of a new building was stolen, and there was not left a
+single dollar; every penny was gone.
+
+Nothing daunted, again going to the Lord, and pleading the Lord's own
+promise, "_If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask
+what ye will and it shall be done unto you_." The request was made in
+prayer for the three thousand dollars, and the promise of the amount was
+definitely made to be paid out a certain day.
+
+The day came. Before it had arrived, the Lord had sent the three
+thousand dollars with unusual contributions, and both the promises of
+the Lord and that of his children were kept.
+
+The ordinary business man would have said it was foolishness for a poor
+man, with not a penny in the world, all his means stolen from him, to
+positively promise on a certain day the next month, to pay so large a
+sum, exactly the same as was stolen.
+
+The skeptic would have said, "All foolish to plead before an unseen God,
+and ask for such a sum. You will never get it. Why didn't your God
+prevent your money from being stolen. If your Bible is true, he ought to
+have protected you from loss."
+
+The answer to all these is thus: The Doctor did trust in the promise of
+an unseen God, whom he had tested in the past many hundred times, and
+who had always been faithful in keeping his promises, and his faith knew
+that his God would not suffer his own work to fail nor suffer reproach.
+
+Still further to silence the skeptic, let it be said that after the
+robbery became known, the sympathy for the institution became so much
+greater, that the contributions voluntarily sent in consequence thereof
+replaced the three thousand dollars within thirty days, and produced far
+more in excess, to go towards other needs. Thus an adversity became a
+blessing. The Lord uses sorrow to produce good.
+
+
+A WOMAN DELIVERED FROM THE HABIT OF DRINKING.
+
+
+"I visited a family for whom I have felt a deep interest for weeks past.
+The father had been out of employment some time, and they have lacked
+food and clothing. Much of their trouble has been caused by the
+intemperance of the mother. Her husband has borne long and patiently
+with her, and although she would for a long time leave off drinking, it
+was only to fall again still lower. While furnishing them with clothing,
+and assisting them in other ways, I besought the mother to give her
+heart to Jesus, knowing that he could keep her from falling. She became,
+a constant attendant at our meetings. Says "_Jesus has taken her love
+for drink all away_." One of her little ones, who is just beginning to
+talk, said the other day, "Mamma, you don't drink now." They are a happy
+family, and their home is greatly changed.
+
+
+PRAYER FOR PURCHASERS.
+
+
+When removal to the new Home was determined upon, there still remained
+five of the old buildings on hand to be disposed of. This too was taken
+to the Lord in prayer that he might send purchasers.
+
+One building was sold in October, and the remaining four in November.
+When it is considered that a portion was property usually very difficult
+of sale, and that no advertisement of it had been made, no other means
+than prayer resorted to, it must be convincing to all that there must be
+"one who knoweth all things," who hears and helps in financial as well
+as in spiritual necessities.
+
+
+ASKING FOR LARGE GIFTS.
+
+
+Upon the 26th of September the record of the Home was as follows: "There
+is due on the first of next month, $2,450 interest on our property, and
+we are now within four days of the time, with not a dollar towards it.
+For several days I have been asking that amount of the Lord."
+
+Now here was a man depending wholly upon _chance gifts_ for the
+livelihood of several hundred people, with a debt of over two thousand
+dollars to pay in four days. His occupation and work were such that no
+one could even possibly think of making any loans, as there was no
+security. Neither was it the principle or the practice of the Home ever
+to solicit a dollar. What was to be done? _It was taken to the Lord in
+prayer_, and all waited the result.
+
+Was it at all probable that so large a sum of money could be sent in so
+short a time by any one or any number of persons?
+
+That evening a letter from the probate office at Exeter, N. H., was
+received by Dr. Cullis, informing them of the death of a citizen of
+Portsmouth, with a bequest to the Home of _five thousand dollars_. The
+Lord answered their prayer the same day and sent _double what was asked
+for_.
+
+
+A SEVERE TUMOR HEALED.
+
+
+During the year 1872, there was under the professional care of Dr.
+Cullis, at the Consumptive's Home, a Christian lady with a tumor which
+confined her almost continuously to her bed in severe suffering. All
+remedies were unavailing, and the only human hope was the knife; but
+feeling in my own heart the power of the promise, I one morning sat down
+by her bedside, and taking up the Bible, I read aloud, God's promise to
+his believing children. "_And the prayer of faith shall save the sick,
+and the Lord shall raise him up: and if he have committed sins, they
+shall be forgiven him_."
+
+I then asked her if she would trust the Lord to remove this tumor and
+restore her to health and to her missionary work. She replied, "I am
+willing to trust the Lord for it."
+
+I then knelt and anointed her with oil in the name of the Lord, asking
+Him to fulfill his own word. Soon after I left she got up and walked
+three miles. From that time the tumor rapidly lessened until all trace
+of it at length disappeared.
+
+
+FAITH CURED HER.
+
+
+This incident was related by the lady herself in a public meeting in
+Boston, where it was heard by the sorrowing wife of an afflicted
+husband, whose statement is as follows:
+
+"I was first confined to my house with a violent cold. I lost my voice
+completely, suffered with pain in my lungs and expectorated almost
+constantly. I grew worse every day, and in a week called in a physician.
+On examination he found my lungs diseased. I also had fever. With all
+his care my cough grew worse, and night sweats set in; a few weeks later
+my wife was told by the Doctor that my lungs were badly ulcerated, and
+that my case being hopeless, it was not worth while for him to attend
+longer; also that she must NOT be surprised if I should pass away
+suddenly. I then tried some highly recommended medicine, which seemed
+only to increase my disease.
+
+"When I became so weak as to be nearly helpless, Dr. Cullis was called
+in. He sounded my lungs and gave the same verdict, saying my only hope
+for recovery was in the Lord. Diarrhea also set in, and my feet began to
+swell."
+
+This statement will show his perfect helplessness.
+
+After the return of his wife from the above meeting, he read over and
+over the precious promises of God, and became more and more convinced of
+the power of faith. Believing that "_He is faithful that promised_" he
+sent for Dr. Cullis to come and pray with him.
+
+"Dr. C. prayed, anointed me with oil, and in the name of the Lord Jesus,
+commanded me to be healed. Instantly my whole being was thrilled with an
+unknown power, from the top of my head to the soles of my feet. From the
+moment I believed, the _work was done_. My lungs, so long diseased,
+breathed with new vigor, and I returned thanks to God for the results of
+faith. Since that memorable night I have taken no medicine, and my
+health has been constantly improving, so _that I am feeling better now
+than I did before my sickness_."
+
+Two years after he was seen by Dr. Cullis, and continued in perfect
+health, and engaged in active business.
+
+
+CURED OF CANCER.
+
+
+A lady came to the Consumptive's Home with a cancer in the cheek, which
+had attained the size of a filbert. It had a very red and angry
+appearance. After prayer for her healing she went into the country, when
+some one remarked, 'E. thinks that faith will cure her, but _that_ is
+something that will have to be burned out or cut out.' Her friends tried
+to induce the use of various applications, all of which she firmly
+refused. She returned home in eight weeks, entirely cured. Her friends
+acknowledged, '_Faith did do good after all_.'
+
+
+CURED OF NEURALGIA.
+
+
+A lady of East Cambridge writes, "For nineteen years I have been
+afflicted with neuralgia; added to this, of late years a combination of
+diseases has rendered life an intolerable burden, and baffled the skill
+of every physician to whom I have applied. By the prayer of faith I have
+been healed, both body and soul, and made to rejoice continually. I can
+now say I am entirely well, and engaged in arduous work--often among the
+sick, losing whole nights of rest."
+
+
+CURED OF SPINE DISEASE.
+
+
+Dr. Cullis thus speaks of a signal answer to his prayer. "While at the
+home of L.R. in England, I was asked to pray with his daughter, who had
+spinal curvature. Subsequently L.R. writes, 'We. are full of
+thankfulness and praise about E. She is quite well and strong, and does
+everything like her sisters. She has such perfect faith that the Lord
+had healed her, that she at once put away the board and said she should
+never lie upon it again, and on the following Sunday she walked four
+miles in a hot sun, and sat for two hours on a bench without a back. As
+far as we can judge, she is quite well in every respect. For fifteen
+months before she had been a constant cause of anxiety to us--never
+walked or attended to study.'"
+
+
+AN INJURED LEG RESTORED TO PROPER LENGTH.
+
+
+"Some months ago a young lady called, requesting to be prayed for. She
+simply told me that some years ago she was run over and her hip badly
+injured. I asked her if she could trust the Lord for healing. She
+replied, 'Yes.' I prayed, with her, and she went home.
+
+"I learned after a day or two, that she was perfectly cured, and
+obtained from her these facts: Some six years before, she was run over
+by a hack, and her hip so injured that she was confined to her bed for
+six months. She then got up with a permanent lameness, one limb being
+shorter than the other. In two or three instances since, she has been
+confined to her bed for three months at a time. She now walks perfectly,
+both limbs being of the same length. She says of herself, 'I can leap
+and run as well as any other person, and my heart overruns with praise
+and thanksgiving to God.'"
+
+
+A LOST VOICE REGAINED.
+
+
+"Some nine months since a lady showed signs of indisposition, and soon
+was attacked by a cough. Change of air was prescribed, but after a lapse
+of some weeks she returned to her home, in no way improved. Physicians
+were consulted, her lungs found to be much irritated and pulse low. Soon
+all appetite left her, a hoarseness succeeded, resulting in entire loss
+of voice.
+
+"There was little desire to eat, as everything taken into the stomach
+caused great distress. Months succeeded; nothing could be gained from
+medical treatment. I felt that I must trust all to God. I seemed to feel
+that God would heal me. I read in his Bible, 'The prayer of _faith shall
+save the sick_.' I accepted it at once, I felt sure that it was for me.
+I was led to visit Boston and see Doctor Cullis. I stated all the
+circumstances of my illness, and was asked if I could trust God to heal
+me? I replied, 'Yes, I am sure the Lord is able and willing.'
+
+"'We knelt in prayer; _in a moment, as it were, my. voice came to me, I
+was able to talk with ease_, and from that time nothing that I have
+eaten has given me any distress. The Lord's promises are sure, and He
+has filled my soul with joy and praise.'"
+
+In speaking of the many cases of cures in answer to prayer, Doctor
+Cullis says: "I have noticed that in some cases the cure has been
+instantaneous; others I have prayed with two or three times, or even
+more. My explanation is, as far as I have been able to observe, that
+there has been oftentimes a question or lack of faith on the part of the
+patient; for some seem to come, not in faith, but as a matter of
+_experiment. God's word says it is the prayer of faith that shall save
+the sick._"
+
+From this it will be noticed that the _faith is that of the patient,_
+and the more strongly it is fixed on God and the promise, the surer the
+answer.
+
+It is but justice to say, that in no case has there ever been the
+thought or the assumption, by Doctor Cullis himself, of having _any
+divinely conferred power_ to heal all that come to him, or for whom he
+may pray. No such power would ever be given to any human creature by our
+Lord. It is the Lord himself who works the wonder--but solely because of
+the faith of sufferers who have sought the addition of the prayer of one
+who is stronger in faith and prayer than its own. Each must wait upon
+God, and must have faith without a doubt, and perfect willingness to
+trust all to Him, and continue to expect the blessing.
+
+It should be noticed, also, that all who have come pleading the prayer
+of faith, and asking the Lord for relief, have either then, or before,
+_pledged themselves to the service of the Lord_, and have desired the
+good gifts they seek, that they may more efficiently work for His own
+honor and glory, and the good of others.
+
+When such a desire for healing is united with the desire and the promise
+to work in future for the Lord, His own kingdom and glory, the Lord is
+pleased with it, and His promise is made sure to those who come in
+faith.
+
+It is needless to say that those who come for prayer, with the desire
+only for _experiment_, and also those who are _withholding their lives
+or pledges of devotion to Him, need never expect an answer_.
+
+
+CURED OF ST. VITAS' DANCE.
+
+
+"Very early in childhood, I was seized with a nervous trouble, something
+like St. Vitus' Dance. As I grew older it did not pass off, but settled
+into a disease of the muscles. It became a terrible affliction. It was
+usually under my control, but I could not endure protracted work of any
+kind, or unusual fatigue; I had consulted, in various cities, the best
+physicians, but they pronounced it incurable. All that could be done was
+to be careful of overwork and excitement. It must have been twenty-five
+years since I was first taken.
+
+"Doctor Cullis asked me if I could give my body to the Lord to be
+healed; I felt that I could truly say 'Yes.' He then, in a simple
+manner, prayed that the Lord would restore strength of nerve and muscle.
+I went home, touched and improved by the comforting words. At the end of
+the week I was startled at the recollection that I had felt hardly
+anything of my trouble. My nerves began to feel as if they were held
+with a grasp of iron. The muscles refused to move as before at every
+inclination. For two weeks this painful tension lasted. Then I felt a
+gradual relaxation, and found that I was strong like other people. I
+tested myself in the severest way--walked, wrote and lifted--after each
+exertion I could enjoy perfect rest. The mystery of the miracles was
+explained to me. This power of God manifested in the past, is manifest
+to us still. Faith can grasp and use it. Close beside us stands a
+_living Christ_."
+
+
+HIP DISEASE CURED.
+
+
+A lady from Brooklyn, N.Y., came to the Consumptive's Home for prayer
+cure.
+
+"She had a diseased hip, and _had used crutches for twenty years_. Often
+the hip joint would slip from its socket, so that it was impossible for
+her to walk without crutches. She now writes, 'My lameness was
+incurable, and God interposed in my behalf, in answer to your prayer. I
+have been able to walk for five months without the crutches I have used
+for over twenty years.'"
+
+
+A BAD DEBT PAID.
+
+
+A correspondent of Doctor Cullis, who was unable to collect a debt from
+a refractory and worthless debtor, promised to give it to the Lord, if
+it was ever paid. The following is his letter:
+
+"Perhaps you remember that the writer, some months ago, asked you to
+pray that some money which had been due him a long time, and which to
+all human appearance was never to be paid, might by God's interposition
+be paid in full. Enclosed, find the full amount, $25, which was paid a
+few days since. All glory to Him, who _never, never fails_."
+
+
+CONSUMPTION INSTANTLY HEALED.
+
+
+"At a meeting in the Chapel of the Consumptive's Home, held March 7,
+1876, public prayer was offered for a young man in Florida, who was
+apparently gone in consumption; an interested friend had previously
+written him that prayer would be offered for him at that time.
+
+"Not long after she received letters from him, stating that at _that
+same hour_ he too had joined in supplication, and _was instantly
+healed_. He says that while before the Lord, pleading his promise, his
+voice and strength were taken away for a time. Then he began to praise
+the Lord, and to feel, 'tis done,' and it was done, and tells of the
+wonderful change, his ability to talk and sing, with no difficulty
+whatever."
+
+
+CURED OF CATARRH.
+
+
+"I have been afflicted with catarrh for over twenty years. I had
+consulted many physicians and used many remedies--all failed to help me.
+In the Spring of 1874, I grew so much worse that life became a burden; I
+suffered from dizziness and great prostration; I was urged to go to you
+for faith cure. This was no new thing to me; I believed in it, yet found
+it difficult to exercise faith for myself.
+
+"My daughter went to see you, as I was then unable to go. I looked to
+God, and believed from that very moment. My whole soul and body seemed
+thrilled, and I began to gain strength immediately.
+
+"In a few days I was able to go to your _Home_. You prayed simply that
+God would take all disease from me. I have been entirely well from that
+time; not only cured of catarrh, but tumors on my limbs were entirely
+removed. I desire to give God the praise; I bless him that He does
+forgive our transgressions and heal our diseases."
+
+These instances are only a very few out of many, that have occurred, too
+numerous for repetition here. It must be admitted, that God has most
+signally blessed the faith of the inmates of the Consumptive's Home,
+answered their prayer for others. In nearly all the cases of healing
+which have occurred, the sufferers have failed in all other means, and
+in their extremity have depended wholly in faith in God.
+
+In speaking of them, Doctor Cullis says: "We do not give these instances
+of the healing of the body, dear friends of Jesus, as in any degree
+paramount to the healing of the soul; but that as the dear children of
+God, we may claim all our privileges, and enjoy the knowledge of our
+fullness of possession in Him who declares" _all things are, yours_."
+Shall we in any manner, of smallest or largest import, limit the love
+and power of God, who deigneth out of the highest heaven to declare,"
+_The Lord thinketh upon me_." As an earthly parent separates no part of
+the well-being of his child from his watchful care, so doth our Heavenly
+Father not only "_forgive all our iniquities_," but "_healeth all our
+diseases." Let us not confine faith operation to the saving of the soul,
+while God's word is full of previous promise for the saving, keeping,
+and healing of the body_.
+
+"_For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy
+wounds, saith the Lord_."
+
+
+A MOTHER'S FAITH--THE LIFE OF BEATE PAULUS.
+
+
+In a sketch of the life of Beate Paulus, the wife of a German minister
+who lived on the borders of the Black Forest, are several incidents
+which illustrate the power of living faith, and the providence of a
+prayer-hearing God.
+
+Though destitute of wealth, she much desired to educate her children,
+and five of her six boys were placed in school, while she struggled, and
+prayed, and toiled,--not only in the house, but out of doors,--to
+provide for their necessities.
+
+"On one occasion," writes one of her children, "shortly before harvest,
+the fields stood thick with corn, and our mother had already calculated
+that their produce would suffice to meet all claims for the year. She
+was standing at the window casting the matter over in her mind, with
+great satisfaction, when her attention was suddenly caught by some
+heavy, black clouds with white borders, drifting at a great rate across
+the Summer sky. 'It is a hail-storm!' she exclaimed in dismay, and
+quickly throwing up the window, she leaned out. Her eyes rested upon a
+frightful mass of wild storm-clouds, covering the western horizon, and
+approaching with rapid fury.
+
+"'O God!' she cried, 'there comes an awful tempest, and what _is_ to
+become of my corn?' The black masses rolled nearer and nearer, while the
+ominous rushing movement that precedes a storm, began to rock the sultry
+air, and the dreaded hail-stones fell with violence. Half beside herself
+with anxiety about those fields lying at the eastern end of the valley,
+she now lifted her hands heavenward, and wringing them in terror, cried:
+'Dear Father in heaven, what art thou doing? Thou knowest I cannot
+manage to pay for my boys at school, without the produce of those
+fields! Oh! turn Thy hand, and do not let the hail blast my hopes!'
+Scarcely, however, had these words crossed her lips when she started,
+for it seemed to her as if a voice had whispered in her ear,' Is my arm
+shortened that it cannot help thee in other ways?' Abashed, she shrank
+into a quiet corner, and there entreated God to forgive her want of
+faith. In the meantime the storm passed. And now various neighbors
+hurried in, proclaiming that the whole valley lay thickly covered with
+hail-stones, _down to the very edge of the parsonage fields, but the
+latter_ had been quite spared. The storm had reached their border, and
+then suddenly taking another direction into the next valley. Moreover,
+that the whole village was in amazement, declaring that God had wrought
+a miracle for the sake of our mother, whom he loved. She listened,
+silently adoring the goodness of the Lord, and vowing that henceforth
+her confidence should be only in Him."
+
+At another time she found herself unable to pay the expenses of the
+children's schooling, and the repeated demands for money were rendered
+more grievous by the reproaches of her husband, who charged her with
+attempting impossibilities, and told her that her self-will would
+involve them in disgrace. She, however, professed her unwavering
+confidence that the Lord would soon interpose for their relief, while
+his answer was: "We shall see; time will show."
+
+In the midst of these trying circumstances, as her husband was one day
+sitting in his study, absorbed in meditation, the postman brought three
+letters from different towns where the boys were at school, each
+declaring that unless the dues were promptly settled, the lads would be
+dismissed. The father read the letters with growing excitement, and
+spreading them out upon the table before his wife as she entered the
+room, exclaimed: "There, look at them, and pay our debt with your faith!
+I have no money, nor can I tell where to go for any."
+
+"Seizing the papers, she rapidly glanced through them, with a very grave
+face, but then answered firmly, 'It is all right; the business shall be
+settled. For He who says, "The gold and silver is mine," will find it an
+easy thing to provide these sums.' Saying which she hastily left the
+room.
+
+"Our father readily supposed she intended making her way to a certain
+rich friend who had helped us before. He was mistaken, for this time her
+steps turned in a different direction. We had in the parsonage an upper
+loft, shut off by a trap-door from the lower one, and over this door it
+was that she now knelt down, and began to deal with Him in whose
+strength she had undertaken the work of her children's education. She
+spread before Him those letters from the study table, and told Him of
+her husband's half scoffing taunt. She also reminded Him how her life
+had been redeemed from the very gates of death, for the children's sake,
+and then declared that she could not believe that He meant to forsake
+her at this juncture; she was willing to be the _second_ whom He might
+forsake, but she was determined not to be the _first_.
+
+"In the meanwhile, her husband waited down stairs, and night came on;
+but she did not appear. Supper was ready, and yet she stayed in the
+loft. Then the eldest girl, her namesake Beate, ran up to call her; but
+the answer was, 'Take your supper without me, it is not time for me to
+eat.' Late in the evening, the little messenger was again dispatched,
+but returned with the reply: 'Go to bed; the time has not come for me to
+rest.' A third time, at breakfast next morning, the girl called her
+mother. 'Leave me alone,' she said; 'I do not need breakfast; when I am
+ready I shall come.' Thus the hours sped on, and down stairs her husband
+and the children began to feel frightened, not daring, however, to
+disturb her any more. At last the door opened, and she entered, her face
+beaming with a wonderful light. The little daughter thought that
+something extraordinary must have happened; and running to her mother
+with open arms, asked eagerly: 'What is it? Did an angel from heaven
+bring the money?' 'No, my child,' was the smiling answer, 'but now I am
+sure that it will come.' She had hardly spoken, when a maid in peasant
+costume entered, saying: 'The master of the Linden Inn sends to ask
+whether the Frau Pastorin can spare time to see him?' 'Ah, I know what
+he wants,' answered our mother. 'My best regards, and I will come at
+once.' Whereupon she started, and mine host, looking out of his window,
+saw her from afar, and came forward to welcome her with the words: 'O
+Madame, how glad I am you have come!' Then leading her into his back
+parlor he said; 'I cannot tell how it is, but the whole of this last
+night I could not sleep for thinking of you. For some time I have had
+several hundred _gulden_ lying in that chest, and all night long I was
+haunted by the thought that you needed this money, and that I ought to
+give it to you. If that be the case, there it is--take it; and do not
+trouble about repaying me. Should you be able to make it up again, well
+and good--if not, never mind.' On this my mother said: 'Yes, I do most
+certainly need it, my kind friend; for all last night I too was awake,
+crying to God for help. Yesterday there came three letters, telling us
+that all our boys would he dismissed unless the money for their board is
+cleared at once.'
+
+"'Is it really so?' exclaimed the innkeeper, who was a noble-hearted and
+spiritual Christian man. 'How strange and wonderful! Now I am doubly
+glad I asked you to come!' Then opening the chest, he produced three
+weighty packets, and handed them to her with a prayer that God's
+blessing might rest upon the gift. She accepted it with the simple
+words: 'May God make good to you this service of Christian sympathy; for
+you have acted as the steward of One who has promised not even to leave
+the giving of a cup of cold water unrewarded.'
+
+"Husband and children were eagerly awaiting her at home, and those three
+dismal letters still lay open on the table, when the mother, who had
+quitted that study in such deep emotion the day before, stepped up to
+her husband, radiant with joy. On each letter, she laid a roll of money
+and then cried: 'Look, there it is! And now believe that faith in God is
+no empty madness!'"
+
+
+THE PERSECUTOR'S FATE.
+
+
+Dr. Eugenio Kincaid, the Burman missionary, states, that among the first
+converts in Ava were two men who had held respectable offices about the
+palace. Some time after they had been baptized, a neighbor determined to
+report them to government, and drew up a paper setting forth that these
+two men had forsaken the customs and religion of their fathers, were
+worshiping the foreigner's God, and went every Sunday to the teacher's
+house; with other similar charges. He presented the paper to the
+neighbors of the two disciples, taking their names as witnesses, and
+saving that he should go and present the accusation on the next day.
+
+The two Christians heard of it, and went to Mr. Kincaid in great alarm,
+to consult as to what they should do. They said if they were accused to
+government, the mildest sentence they could expect would be imprisonment
+for life at hard labor, and perhaps they would be killed. Kincaid told
+them that they could not flee from Ava, if they would; that he saw
+nothing he could do for them, and all that they could do was to trust in
+God to protect them, and deliver them from the power of their enemies.
+They also prayed, and soon left Kincaid, saying that they felt more
+calm, and could leave the matter with God.
+
+That night the persecutor was attacked by a dreadful disease in the
+bowels, which so distressed him that he roared like a madman; and his
+friends, which is too often the case with the heathen, left him to
+suffer and die alone. The two Christians whom he would have ruined then
+went and took care of him till he died, two or three days after his
+attack. The whole affair was well known in the neighborhood, and from
+that time not a dog dared move his tongue against the Christians of Ava.
+
+Is there no evidence in this of a special providence, and that God
+listens to the prayers of persecuted and distressed children?
+
+
+THE CAPTAIN AND THE QUADRANT.
+
+
+A godly man, the master of an American ship, during one voyage found his
+ship bemisted for days, and he became rather anxious respecting her
+safety. He went down to his cabin and prayed. The thought struck him, if
+he had with confidence committed his soul to God, he might certainly
+commit his ship to Him; and so, accordingly, he gave all into the hands
+of God, and felt at perfect peace; but still he prayed, that if He would
+be pleased to give a cloudless sky at twelve o'clock, he should like to
+take an observation to ascertain their real position, and whether they
+were on the right course.
+
+He came on deck at eleven o'clock, with the quadrant under his coat. As
+it was thick drizzling, the men looked at him with amazement. He went to
+his cabin, prayed, and came up. There seemed still to be no hope. Again
+he went down and prayed, and again he appeared on deck with his quadrant
+in his hand. It was now ten minutes to twelve o'clock, and still there
+was no appearance of a change; but he stood on the deck, waiting upon
+the Lord, when, in a few minutes, the mist seemed to be folded up and
+rolled away as by an omnipotent and invisible hand; the sun shown
+clearly from the blue vault of heaven, and there stood the man of prayer
+with the quadrant in his hand, but so awe-struck did he feel, and so
+"dreadful" was that place, that he could scarcely take advantage of the
+answer to his prayer. He, however, succeeded, although with trembling
+hands, and found, to his comfort, that all was well. But no sooner had
+he finished taking the observation than the mist rolled back over the
+heavens, and it began to drizzle as before.
+
+This story of prayer was received from the lips of the good Captain
+Crossby, who was so useful in the Ardrossan awakening; and he himself
+was the man who prayed and waited upon his God with the quadrant in his
+hand.
+
+
+THE FAITH OF DOROTHEA TRUDEL.
+
+
+The life of Dorothea Trudel has afforded some remarkable instances of
+answer to prayer; during the years 1850 to 1860, at the Swiss village of
+Maennedorf, near the Lake of Zurich, and that of Molltingen, were seen
+and witnessed, cases of cure in response to unyielding faith in the
+promises of the Lord.
+
+Dorothea Trudel was a worker in flowers, and in time came to have many
+workers under her, and when she was about thirty-seven years of age,
+four or five of her workers fell sick. The sickness resisted all
+treatment, grew worse, appeared to be hopeless. She was a deep, earnest
+Christian, and while diligent and unselfish as a nun, yet her anxiety
+for her work people drew her to earnest prayer and study of the
+Scriptures for relief. Like a sudden light, she says, the well known
+prayer of the Epistle of James, 5: 14, 15, flashed upon her.
+
+"If medical skill was unavailing, was there not prayer? And could not
+the same Lord who chose to heal through medicines, also heal without
+them? Was he necessarily restricted to the one means? There was a time
+when his healing power went forth directly; might it not be put forth
+directly still?"
+
+Agitated by these questions, she sought help in prayer, and then
+kneeling by the bedside of these sick people, she prayed for them. They
+recovered; and the thought that at first had startled her, became now
+the settled conviction of her life.
+
+Her reputation spread; others who were sick, came to her for relief, but
+she sought only the recovery of the patients by prayer alone. Many
+recovered. Her doors were besieged, and at last she consented to receive
+invalids at her home, from compassion. By degrees her own house grew
+into three, and at last it became in fact a hospital.
+
+She lived a life of humility, and perfect simplicity, yet strength of
+faith, and at her death her work was, and still is, carried on by Mr.
+Zeller, who also has had marvelous successes in answer to prayer.
+
+
+REMARKABLE CURES.
+
+
+There have been gathered together in her biography, well authenticated
+cases of answer to prayer, when the patient was considered wholly
+incapable of help from medical skill.
+
+"There was one of a stiff knee, that had been, treated in vain by the
+best physicians in France, Germany and Switzerland; one of an elderly
+man who could not walk, and had been given up by his physicians, but who
+soon dispensed with his crutches; a man came with a burned foot, and the
+surgeons said it was a case of '_either amputation or death_' and he
+also was cured; one of the leading physicians of Wurtemburg, testifies
+to the cure of a hopeless patient of his own; another remained six
+weeks, and says he saw all kinds of sicknesses healed; cancers and
+fevers have been treated with success; epilepsy and insanity more
+frequently than any other form of disease.
+
+"Neither is the life and experience of Dorothea Trudel an exceptional
+one. Pastor Blumenhart of Wurtemberg, has had his home crowded for years
+with patients, and cures occur constantly.
+
+"The mother of Dorothea Trudel was an eminently pious woman, and it was
+her custom, when any of her children were ill, to bring them in prayer
+before the feet of the Heavenly Physician, as Dorothea herself says:
+'Our mother had no cure except prayer, and though at that time we did
+not understand, yet since then we have found it out, that it was the
+healing hand of the Saviour alone, that helped and restored us.'"
+
+
+CURED OF THE SMALL-POX.
+
+
+"Even when I had the small-pox, and became blind, no doctor was sent
+for, and no one was told of it. Our father was not at home (he, father,
+most unfortunately, was not a religious person); and when our mother
+asked him to come, telling him how ill I was, he would not believe it,
+and preferred to remain with his friends. Our mother, however, was not
+in the least vexed or excited; she prayed for him, for all of us,
+especially for her sick child, and before my father came home, my eyes
+were re-opened."
+
+
+CURED OF SEVERE FITS.
+
+
+"Once again, one of my brothers had a fit brought on through fright. It
+was a most violent and painful attack, and we were greatly alarmed. This
+time, also, our father was out; and our mother said to us, I know this
+fearful illness, my children; it is one of the heaviest trials which
+could have, occurred, but Jesus, who cured that lunatic boy, can heal
+our child. Do not speak of the attack to any one; we will go only to
+Jesus about it; and then she prayed with us.
+
+"Not long after, a second fit came on, and again our father was taking
+his pleasure at the public house. This time mother told him what had
+happened in his absence; but he laughed at it, and said, 'I don't
+believe it; you were frightened at the child having bad dreams.'
+
+"His wife replied, 'For the sake of your unbelief, I hope that the child
+will have another attack whilst you are at home, so that you may witness
+it yourself, then you will believe; I pray God, however, that this may
+be the last time.'
+
+"It came to pass about a week after, that another most dreadful fit came
+on; the boy foamed violently, and threw himself about in fearful
+convulsions; on this occasion the father was present, and he was
+convinced of the nature of the attack, and alarmed at what he saw. _But
+the mother's prayer was heard, for the disease never showed itself again
+for thirty-four years, while both parents lived_."
+
+
+BUYING A COW.
+
+
+"Our father going away abroad, he sold one of our two cows, and took the
+proceeds with him. (He, the father, was a reckless spendthrift, idle,
+and fond of the public inn.) A rich neighbor directly offered to loan us
+money enough to buy another; this kind proposal we gratefully accepted.
+Although we did not understand much about bargains of this kind, yet the
+cow we purchased served us so remarkably, that we were obliged to
+acknowledge whence the blessing came. In Summer we could sell fourteen
+measures of milk; in Winter, twelve to the dairyman, so that the
+borrowed money was speedily paid.
+
+"At the same time the cow performed the farm work required of it, with
+such strength and quickness, we were astonished. When our father, on his
+return, heard us speaking with pleasure of this animal, he became so
+enraged with the poor thing, that he was determined to sell it, and
+actually _offered it at half its value_.
+
+"The faithless children were in a continual fright. When any one came
+near the house, we thought that we were assuredly going to lose our cow.
+But mother exhorted us not to be so fearful; for, said she, 'If your
+father could do always as he likes, none of you would be alive now; but
+God will never let him go any farther than he sees to be for our good.
+Believe me, God, who has given us this cow, will keep it for us as long
+as we need it.'
+
+"And so it turned out, for the cow never left us whilst our mother was
+alive; and when we were all provided for, a purchaser came, who paid a
+high price for the creature, having heard of its wonderful powers from
+the man to whom we sold the milk for so many years; but no sooner was
+the animal taken to its new home, than the wonder ceased, and _this cow
+became no better than any other_."
+
+
+A LADY CURED, WHO HAD BEEN REJECTED FROM AN ASYLUM.
+
+
+"Madam M----, the mother of twelve children, had been quite shattered in
+mind by the death of her husband, and had been actually sent away
+uncured from an asylum. She came to Dorothea's home, was blessed in
+remembrance in her prayers, _and after seven weeks went away perfectly
+cured_. She acknowledged the Lord was indeed her helper, and she has
+remained well to this day."
+
+
+THE SOUL CURED AS WELL AS THE BODY.
+
+
+On many occasions she experienced wonderful help from God, who, while
+performing marvels for the body, which is the least important part,
+accomplishes what is far greater, even the salvation of souls.
+
+"Among others, one named B. T----, went to her, who had been suffering
+for six months from a disease of his bones, and had been for a
+lengthened period in a Swiss hospital, under medical treatment. At
+length he, by the advice of Christian friends, sought for relief from
+his malady at Dorothea's house. His care began in the first week of his
+visit, and in a few weeks he was completely recovered."
+
+On one occasion a young artisan came, in whom cancer had made such
+progress as to render any approach to him almost unbearable.
+
+"At the Bible lessons, this once frivolous man, now an earnest inquirer,
+learned where the improvement must begin; and from the day that he
+confessed his sins against God and man, the disease abated. Some time
+afterwards he acknowledged one sin he had hitherto concealed, and then
+he speedily recovered his bodily health, and returned to his home cured
+in spirit also."
+
+"A lady in S---- had so injured her knee by a fall, that for weeks she
+lay in the greatest agony. The doctors declared that dropsy would
+supervene; but the Heavenly Physician fulfilled those promises which
+will abide until the end of the world; and by prayer, and the laying on
+of Dorothea's hand, the knee was cured in twenty-four hours, and the
+swelling vanished."
+
+
+PRAYER, NOT MESMERISM.
+
+
+"Several people have maintained that her work was one of mesmerism; and
+when once she was asked to visit an out patient, she earnestly implored
+the Lord _not_ to heal this invalid through her means if she employed
+mesmerism; but if not, to permit recovery. The woman was cured in a
+short time, though Dorothea had never entered her house, and had,
+therefore, no opportunity of placing herself in a mesmeric relation to
+this patient."
+
+
+HELP IN PECUNIARY AFFAIRS.
+
+
+"In pecuniary affairs, also, the Lord was their helper. Many times
+something had to be paid, and they had no means wherewith to meet the
+claims. Once, God actually sent aid by means of an enemy, who offered
+money; another time, _three thousand francs_ came from Holland, just as
+they were needed, and also unexpected on a third occasion they were
+about to borrow money to pay for bread, when two hundred and fifty
+francs arrived."
+
+
+THE FAITH LIFE OF MR. ZELLER.
+
+
+After the death of Dorothea Trudel, the work at Maennedorf, instituted by
+her, has been furthered and carried on by Mr. Samuel Zeller, who had
+been her associate. He has published two reports, which contain many
+instances of answers to prayer, showing that the Lord still gave blessed
+results, and rewarded their faithful trust.
+
+"No disease is found to be more obstinate than epilepsy, yet several
+instances are recorded of patients being restored to perfect health.
+Persons afflicted with mental disorder and convulsions are frequently
+brought to Maennedorf, and many return cured or benefited.
+
+"On one occasion, a lady who had been afflicted with constant headache
+for five years, found her disorder removed speedily under the influence
+of prayer. In other cases the passion for strong drink was taken away;
+fever more or less disappeared; and the subjects of various kinds of
+chronic diseases, even some apparently far gone in consumption, have
+found their strength return to them under the same influence.
+
+"Unhappy victims of spiritualist delusions have found deliverance at the
+mercy-seat; and there, too, many in the bondage of sin have rejoiced in
+a present Saviour.
+
+"One patient afflicted with convulsions, who came several years
+successively without being cured, at last confessed that she possessed a
+book of 'charms' in which she put some degree of, faith, and she had
+recommended them to others. She was led to see the folly and sin of such
+things, and soon after the book was burned she was restored to health."
+
+Many cases have occurred where the suffering patient was utterly unable
+to come to Maennedorf, but prayer has been offered there in their behalf,
+and the answers have been as frequent as with the cases which have come
+under the same roof.
+
+"A brother living at R---- was seized with a violent fever, and appeared
+to be at death's door. Intelligence having been sent to Maennedorf,
+united prayer was made in his behalf; and very soon afterwards a
+telegraphic message announced that he was recovering. On this occasion
+the promise was remembered with joy,' Before they call I will answer.'"
+
+"Perhaps one of the most striking cases of blessing recorded is that of
+a lady, who was subject to fits of insanity so violent that they
+threatened her life, and who was so far conscious of her miserable
+condition, that happening to go into a meeting where she heard God's
+word, she requested to be prayed for. A friend wrote to Maennedorf,
+describing the case, and asking prayer on her behalf; and only a
+fortnight later, the same friend communicated the happy news of her
+recovery. After a fit of unusual severity, she fell into a deep sleep,
+from which she awoke in her right mind; more than that, she learned to
+believe in the _Lord Jesus_, and rejoiced in His love."
+
+"A patient in this institution, who arrived unconverted, and was thought
+to be in a dying state, heard the good news of Salvation, and was
+enabled to rejoice in the Lord, through simple trust in Him; and from
+that moment she began to rapidly recover from her disorder, and soon
+became strong enough to nurse another patient."
+
+Another remarkable case was that of a young girl who, in consequence of
+the breaking off of a marriage engagement, manifested decided symptoms
+of insanity. She not only recovered from her malady, but found the
+Saviour.
+
+
+THE BLIND RESTORED TO SIGHT.
+
+
+Prayer was asked for a young lady who was wholly blind. A letter
+received soon after brought this joyful news:
+
+"In answer to your prayer for our niece, I must thankfully tell you, her
+eyes are so much better that the Doctor this morning told her to thank
+God for having saved her from the most dangerous kind of cataract.
+
+"While examining her eyes, the Doctor, who is a Jew, took up a book
+lying near, and opening it told her to try and read, which she was able
+to do with ease. It was a hymn book, and the first words on which her
+eyes fell were these:
+
+    'Christ Jesus, glorious King of Light,
+      Great Conqueror, David's heir,
+    Come now and give my blind eyes sight,
+      O Saviour, hear my prayer!'
+
+"'That will do,' said the Doctor, 'you are much better.'
+
+"I for my part hastened to my chamber, and shutting the door fell on my
+knees with a cry of joyful praise."
+
+Threats were made by many of the villagers that they would burn up the
+house for this institution, saying all manner of unreasonable things.
+"You can not prevent this by prayer," said one writer, "we have taken an
+oath to do it." Mr. Zeller remained quiet, taking no notice of these
+threats, but quietly trusted in the Lord. Though other anonymous letters
+came frequently, yet the threats were never carried out.
+
+It will he seen from this that, blessed as was the work of faith, still
+the spirit of persecution was permitted by the Lord only to make his own
+children rely more confidently on Him, and that he might fulfill more
+positively his promise, "_No evil shall befall thee, no harm come nigh
+thy dwelling_."
+
+
+THE BANK OF FAITH. GOD THE GUARDIAN OF THE POOR.
+
+
+Perhaps the providence of God in supplying the wants of the poor never
+was more closely watched and better described than has been done by the
+late William Huntington, formerly a minister in London, England, who, in
+a book with the quaint title of the "Bank of Faith," tells how, in his
+course of life, day by day the Lord guarded him, helped him, and
+provided for every need, even the most trifling. It is a precious record
+of faith and full of true encouragement. He answers as follows this
+question: "_Should we fray for temporal blessings?_"
+
+"Some have affirmed that we have no warrant to pray for temporal
+blessings, but, blessed be God, he has given us '_the promise of the
+life that now is, and of that which is to come_.' Yea, the promise of
+all things pertaining to life and Godliness, and whatever God has
+promised we may warrantably pray for.
+
+"Those that came to our Saviour in the days of his flesh, prayed chiefly
+for temporal mercies. The blind prayed for sight, the lepers for a cure,
+the lame far the use of their limbs, and the deaf for the use of their
+ears, and surely had they prayed unwarrantably, their prayers would not
+have been so miraculously answered.
+
+"Elijah prayed for a temporal mercy when he prayed for rain, and it is
+clear that God answered him. Elisha works a miracle to produce a
+temporal mercy when he healed the barren plains of Jericho."
+
+Is my reader a poor Christian? Take it patiently. God maketh the poor as
+well as the rich. Envy not the rich. Riches are often seen to be a
+canker-worm at the root of a good man's comfort, a snare in his life, an
+iron pillar at the back of his pride. A gar prayed to be fed with food
+convenient for him, and you may pray for the same, and what God gives
+you in answer to your prayer you will be thankful for.
+
+That state is surely best which keeps you dependent on God and thankful
+to Him, and so you shall find it to the end. _Go on, poor Christian,
+trusting in the providence of God_.
+
+
+THE LIFE OF HIS CHILD SAVED.
+
+
+"My eldest daughter now living fell sick at about five or six months
+old, and was wasted to a skeleton. She had a doctor to attend her, but
+she got worse and worse. It seemed as if God intended to bereave us of
+her, for he brought her even to death's door.
+
+"My wife and I have sat up with her night after night, watching the
+cradle, expecting every breath to be her last, for two or three weeks
+together. At last I asked the Doctor if he thought there was any hope of
+her life. He answered, no, he would not flatter me. _She would surely
+die_.
+
+"This distressed me beyond measure, and as he told me to do no more for
+her, I left my room, went to my garden in the evening, and, in my little
+tool house, wrestled hard with God in prayer for the life of the child.
+
+"I went home satisfied that God had heard me; _and in three days the
+child was as well as she is now_, and ate as heartily. This effectually
+convinced me that all things were possible with God."
+
+
+GOD SENT SUPPLIES.
+
+
+"When I had been three weeks out of employment, I found a new place, and
+after pawning all my best clothes to pay expenses, when the cart set us
+down at the new home on Monday morning, I had the total sum of _ten
+pence half-penny left,_ to provide for myself, my wife and child, till
+the ensuing Saturday night.
+
+"Though I was thus poor, yet I knew God had made me rich in faith. We
+went on our knees beseeching the Almighty to send relief, as he in his
+wisdom thought proper.
+
+"The next evening my landlord's daughter, and son-in-law, came up to see
+their mother, and brought some baked meat, which they had just taken out
+of their oven, and brought for me and my wife to sup along with them.
+
+"These poor people knew nothing of us, nor of our God. The next day in
+the evening they did the same, and kept sending victuals and garden
+stuff to us all the week long."
+
+
+THE GOD WHO SUPPLIED ELIJAH BY A RAVEN SUPPLIED ME WITH FISH.
+
+
+One of the most beautiful instances ever known, which almost identically
+repeats the Bible over again, especially in the instance of Elijah as he
+was fed in an unseen way by the hand of God, is given in the life of Mr.
+Huntington. He was wholly unable to provide for his family, and could
+depend only on God.
+
+"As I went over a bridge, I cast my eye on the right-hand side, and
+there lay a _very large eel_ on the mud by the river side, apparently
+dead. I caught hold of it and soon found it was only asleep. With
+difficulty I got it safe out of the mud upon the grass, and then carried
+it home. My little one was very fond of it, and it richly supplied all
+her wants that day. But at night I was informed the eel was all gone, so
+the next day afforded me the same distress and trouble as the preceding
+day had done.
+
+"The next morning, as I entered the garden gate, I saw a _partridge_ lie
+dead on the walk. I took it up and found it warm; so I carried it home,
+and it richly supplied the table of our little one that day.
+
+"Again the next day still found me unprovided, and brought forth fresh
+work for faith and prayer. However, the morrow took thought for the
+things of itself, for when I came to take the scythe in my hand to mow
+the short grass, I looked into the pond, and there I saw three very
+large carp lying on the water apparently sick. When the master came I
+told him of it. He went and looked and said they were dead, and told me
+I might have them if I would, for they were not in season. However, they
+came in due season to me. _And I found, morning after morning, there lay
+two or three of these fish at a time, dead, just as I wanted them, till
+I believe there was not one live fish remaining, six inches long, in the
+pond, which was near three hundred feet in length._
+
+"I could not help weeping, admiring the goodness of God. As I studied
+the Bible, I clearly perceived that the most eminent saints of the Bible
+were brought into _low_ circumstances, as Jacob, David, Moses, Joseph,
+Job and Jeremiah, and all the apostles, in order that the hand of
+providence might be watched."
+
+
+GOD TAKES AWAY THE SNOW.
+
+
+"In the Winter the Lord sent a very deep snow, which lay a considerable
+time on the ground. We were brought into great straits, as our wheat was
+now of no use to us, and we could obtain no wood, the landlady saying
+that as the snow was likely to last some time, she must keep what little
+she had left, and could sell us no more.
+
+"There was before us the fear of great suffering with the cold. I begged
+of God that he might _that night take away the snow_, and send us
+something to burn, that our little one might not perish with the cold,
+_and the next morning the snow was all gone_."
+
+
+SIGHT RESTORED.
+
+
+"A violent humor came into my eyes, and for some months I was in danger
+of losing my sight. Both myself and my second daughter had it more or
+less for several years.
+
+"In answer to prayer, God healed her eyes and mine too, so that our
+sight was perfectly recovered."
+
+
+PRAYING FOR TEA.
+
+
+"As the life of faith consists in bearing the cross of Christ, we must
+not expect to be long without trials. Providence soon frowned on me
+again, and I got behindhand, as usual.
+
+"This happened at a time when my wife was about delivery of child, and
+we were destitute of those necessaries of life which are needful at such
+times. The nurse came: we told her there was no tea in the house. My
+wife replied, '_Set the kettle on, even if there is not_.'
+
+"The nurse said, '_You have no tea, nor can you get any_.' My wife
+replied, '_Set on the kettle_.' She did so, and before it boiled, a
+woman (with whom at that time we had no acquaintance) came to the door,
+and told the nurse that she had brought some tea as a present for my
+wife."
+
+
+THE LORD PAID HIS DEBT.
+
+
+"It was the time of my returning from the north country. I observed that
+there were some small debts to be discharged. But the hand of God was
+fast closed; this continued for some time: and for all that time, I
+watched and observed narrowly.
+
+"At this time there was a special debt due of twenty pounds. This sum
+hung long. I looked different ways, and chalked out different roads for
+the Almighty to walk in; but his paths were in the deep waters, and his
+footsteps were not known; no raven came, neither in the morning, nor in
+the evening.
+
+"There was a gentlewoman at my house on a visit, and I asked her if she
+had got the sum of twenty pounds in her pocket, telling her at the same
+time how much I wanted it. She told me she had not; if she had, I should
+have it. A few hours after, the same woman was coming into my study, but
+she found it locked, and knocked at the door; I let her in, and she
+said, 'I am sorry I disturbed you.' I replied, 'You do not disturb me; I
+have been begging a favor of God, and I had just done when you knocked;
+and that favor I have now got in faith, and shall shortly have in hand,
+and you will see it.'"
+
+"The afternoon of the same day, two gentlemen out of the city came to
+see me; and after a few hours of conversation, they left me, and to my
+great surprise, each of them at parting put a letter into my hand,
+which, when they were gone, _I opened, and found a ten pound note in
+each_. I immediately sent for the woman up-stairs, and let her read the
+letters, and then sent the money to pay the debt."
+
+It is impossible to give in this page any large portion of the life of
+Mr. Huntington, who was rich in faith, and upon whom God showered
+abundant answers to prayer. But, like all of us, he, too, suffered
+extremely in all the necessities of life, yet ever looked to God above
+for help. Of his experience, he says in his own words, after having for
+years thoroughly tested the promises and faithfulness of God:
+
+"_A succession of crosses was always followed with perpetual blessings,
+for as sure as adversity led the van, so sure prosperity brought up the
+rear_.
+
+"_Never, no never, did the Holy Spirit withhold his prevalent
+intercession from, me in times of trouble, nor did my God ever turn a
+deaf ear to my prayer, or fail to deliver me_."
+
+"_Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him
+out of them all_."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+THE FAITH OF LITTLE CHILDREN.
+
+
+HOW GOD HONORS THEIR TRUST, AND ANSWERS THEIR PRAYERS.
+
+
+GOD KEEPS HOLD OF THE OTHER HAND.
+
+
+A little boy with his mother was returning from a visit; the night was
+very dark, and little could be seen ahead. She led her little boy, by
+the hand, who trustingly walked by her side. He had only just begun to
+learn and remember the stories of the Bible, and he believed and trusted
+everything he heard. After walking for sometime in the darkness, very
+silently, he burst out with,
+
+"Mamma, I'm not afraid."
+
+"Why, what makes you feel so."
+
+"_Because, mamma, God keeps hold of the other hand_."
+
+This is the beautiful lesson older ones, too, must learn, the simple,
+childlike confidence in God, which gives no fear, no alarm.
+
+The skeptic can never accuse little children of the same theories,
+philosophies, imaginations and beliefs which are characteristic of older
+heads. The child knows nothing of such books of reason, science or
+religion. Many a child who could not read has asked of God and his
+prayer has been answered; and when the whole world witnesses a little
+child, who in its innocence has been told that God lives, that God loves
+him, that God can do everything and will surely hear his prayer, and
+then in its care and grief, kneels before the God it trusts, offers its
+little prayer, _and the prayer is answered_, let none of maturer minds
+ever presume to doubt. The faith of little children is typical of the
+very simplest faith wherewith any human being must approach its Creator.
+The child never questions, never doubts; but in its simplicity asks, and
+God honors the trust. The following incident illustrates the point,
+_that not one thing is ere too small for God to consider, or a soul to
+bring to him in prayer_.
+
+
+A CHILD WHOSE LIFE WAS SAVED IN ANSWER TO PRAYER--BY HIS OWN PRAYER THE
+LIFE OF HIS SISTER IS SAVED.
+
+
+One of the most beautiful incidents ever known relating to the faith of
+children, and the reward of their trust, is contained in the following
+circumstance, personally known to the editor of this book, who was a
+participant in the facts.
+
+The only child of a young married couple, living in this city, their
+pride, their hope and joy, and the darling of the whole family, was
+seized with severe sickness, grew rapidly worse. The grandfather, who
+was a skilled physician, was constantly present, ministering in every
+way, by every means, but nothing was of any avail. No medicine could
+cure, and the child seemed ready to die. No one could think of relief or
+knew where to find it. The grandfather, at last, proposed to lay the
+case before God, and ask the prayers of His people in the child's
+behalf. The mother was only too glad to ask other prayers with her own,
+to bring relief. The father, who had hitherto never seriously thought of
+religion, was in intense anxiety and despair. Here was his first, his
+only child about to be taken away from him, and then came the thought,
+is it possible his family life was not to be blessed; his child was in
+distress, no human effort was available. At last, he too joined in the
+prayer of his wife and father, and bowing before the Great Unknown,
+unseen God, he poured out his heart in prayer, saying, "_Lord, if thou
+wilt spare my child, wilt give him life, and thus show to me thy power
+and will to save, I will never doubt again, and will give thee my
+heart"_
+
+A request for prayer was written and sent to the pastor, Dr. William
+Adams, of the Madison Square Church. It arrived after church service had
+begun; the sexton was unwilling to carry it to the pulpit, as it was
+against the rule, but when told he _must, as a life was in great
+danger_, he consented, and delivered it to the pastor.
+
+The messenger waited breathlessly, and when in silence the doctor
+specifically mentioned the case before him, and asked the Lord to heal
+and spare the little one, and comfort the hearts of all, and make it a
+witness of his love and power, the messenger accidentally looked at the
+clock, and it marked just _quarter to eleven_, A.M.
+
+When prayer was finished he returned home. Arriving at home, he was
+astonished to find the child better, its whole condition had changed,
+the medicine had taken hold, and the doctor now said everything was so
+hopeful the child would surely recover, and it did. But mark the
+unparalleled singularity of the scene. The father asked the messenger
+the _time_ when the prayer was offered. He replied, "At a _quarter to
+eleven."_ The father in astonishment said, "_At that very moment_ the
+disease changed, and the doctor said he was better."
+
+The father, who had thus been proving the Lord with this test of prayer
+and its identity of time in his answer, was so overwhelmingly convinced
+of the real power of prayer, and thereby of the real existence of God,
+and that a Christian life was one of facts as well as beliefs, now
+finding that the Lord had indeed kept His own promise, he, too, kept his
+promise and gave his heart to the Lord, and became henceforth, a
+professing Christian.
+
+But there were more wonderful things yet to happen--a period of five
+years passed. Other children were added to the family, and one day, the
+youngest, a sweet, beautiful girl, was taken suddenly ill with
+convulsions. The sickness for days tasked the strength of the mother,
+and the skill of the doctor, but no care, ingenuity, or knowledge could
+overcome the disease or subdue the pain. The little girl's fits were
+severe and distressing, and there were but short intervals between, just
+time to come out of one and with a gasp, pass into another still more
+terrible. In its occasional moments of reason, it would look piteously
+as if mutely appealing, and then the next convulsion would take it and
+seem to leave it just at death's door.
+
+All attendants were worn with care, the doctor fairly lived in the house
+and forsook all his other business. The clergyman came and comforted the
+anxious hearts with words of sympathy and prayer; but her _little
+brother Merrill_, (whose own life we have just related,) tender-hearted,
+a mere child, scarce seven years of age, who had known of the Lord, and
+who believed that He was everywhere and could do everything, was
+intensely grieved at "Mamie's" distress, and came at last to his mother
+and asked if he could go and "_make a prayer to God for Sissy_." The
+mother said, "Go." The little boy went back into his room, and kneeling
+humbly by the side of his bed, as he did at his night and morning
+prayers, uttered this request:
+
+_"O God, please to bless little sister, she is very sick. Please stop
+her fits so she won't have any more. For Jesus' sake, amen."_
+
+He came back, told his mamma what he said, and added: "_Mamma, I don't
+think she will have any more_."
+
+Now mark how the Lord honored this simple faith of the little child.
+_From that very moment the fits left her. They never returned; and the
+child soon entirely recovered_.
+
+Notice the full beauty and instruction of these two incidents: _Little
+Merrill's life was saved in answer to prayer; was the means of his
+father's salvation, and when he in turn had grown to an age when he
+could learn of God, his own prayer was the means of saving his own
+sister's life_.
+
+Notice, too, that all earthly available means were used to save each
+child, but to no effect. Physicians and parents considered the case
+hopeless, and then committed it to the decision of God.
+
+Notice, too, that when little Merrill was so sick, that the mother and
+doctor both prayed, yet it was not until his father had also prayed that
+the answer came. God meant to honor the faith of the first two, but was
+_waiting for the prayer of the third_ ere he granted the request. That
+child's sickness was one of the purposes of God. Notice in the second
+case, that while father, mother, doctor, the clergyman, and others of
+the house were all trusting in prayer, yet the Lord _was waiting for the
+prayer of the little brother_, ere he sent the blessing of relief. Such
+an incident draws its own conclusion. _Never cease in prayer for
+anything which is to God's honor and glory. Use all the possible means
+to help God. Where human means are of no avail, commit it to God and
+wait in humble resignation. Ask others to pray, too, for the same
+object_, that when the answer comes, God may be glorified before the
+sight of others as well as your own. When so many are waiting to see if
+_God_ will honor his promises, depend upon it, _God will be found
+faithful to all his word_.
+
+
+TRUSTING IN GOD'S PROMISES.
+
+
+"It was a fierce, wild night in March, and the blustering wind was
+blowing, accompanied by the sharp, sleety snow. It was very desolate
+without, but still more desolate within the home I am going to describe
+to you. The room was large and almost bare, and the wind whistled
+through the cracks in the most dismal manner. In one corner of the room
+stood an old-fashioned bedstead upon which a woman lay, her emaciated
+form showing her to be in the last stage of consumption. A low fire
+burned in the large fire-place, and before it a little girl was
+kneeling. She had a small testament, and was trying by the dim
+fire-light to read a chapter, as was her custom, before going to bed. A
+faint voice called to her from the bed, 'Nellie, my daughter, read the
+14th chapter of St. John for your Mother.' 'Yes, Mother,' was the reply,
+and after turning the leaves a few moments, the child began. All that
+long Winter day that poor mother had been tortured with pain and
+remorse. She was poor, very poor, and she knew she must die and leave
+her child to the mercies of the world. Her husband had died several
+years before. Since then she had struggled on, as best she could, till
+now she had almost grown to doubt God's promises to the helpless. 'In my
+Father's house are many mansions.' 'I go to prepare a place for you.'
+Here the little reader paused, and crept to her mother's side. She lay
+motionless, with closed eyes, while great hot tears were stealing down
+her wasted cheeks. 'Mother, He has a place almost ready for you, hasn't
+He.' 'Yes, my child, and I am going very soon, but _He_ will watch over
+you, Nellie, when Mother has gone to her last home.'
+
+"The weeks went slowly by to the suffering invalid; but when the violets
+were blooming, they made a grave upon the hillside, and laid the weary
+body down to rest, but the spirit had gone to the home which Christ
+himself had gone to prepare.
+
+"Years passed away. It was sunny May. The little church of Grenville was
+crowded. I noticed in one of the seats a lady plainly but neatly
+attired. There was nothing remarkable in the face with its mournful
+brown eyes, and decided looking mouth and chin. I ransacked my memory to
+find who the lady was. Suddenly a vision of the poor widow came. This,
+then, was the little girl, little Nellie Mason. 'We will read a part of
+the 14th chapter of St. John,' the minister said. 'In my Father's house
+are many mansions; I go to prepare a place for you.' The slow,
+deliberate tones recalled me from my reverie, and I looked at Nellie.
+Her head was bowed, but I could see the tears flowing like rain."
+
+
+THE FAITH OF A LITTLE CHILD.
+
+
+An incident most beautiful was told in the Fulton Street prayer meeting
+by a converted Jew.
+
+"Journeying in the cars, I was attracted by two little girls, Jewesses.
+I asked them if they loved Jesus. To my surprise, they said they did. I
+found that their mother was in a seat near by. She had attended some of
+the gospel meetings for Jews, and was interested in them. She said her
+husband had not been to church or synagogue for eleven years, and she
+did not know his views on religion. Her two little girls had attended a
+Methodist Sunday school, and there learned of Jesus. A day or so after,
+the mother was taken very sick, and remedies failing, the eldest child,
+a little over eight years old, said: 'O Mamma, if you will let me pray
+to Jesus for you, He can take away your pains and give you sleep.' She
+knelt with her sister and prayed in simple words to Jesus to heal her
+mother, telling Him that He had so promised to hear prayer. Shortly
+after, the mother, after long hours of restlessness and suffering, fell
+into a deep sleep and awoke relieved of pain and much refreshed. She
+heard from her daughter's lips the story of her faith in Jesus and love
+for Him, and then sent for me, begging me to pray for her. I am glad to
+tell you that she is now a converted woman, a believer in the Lord Jesus
+Christ."
+
+
+THE WANDERER FOUND.
+
+
+A mother sent a request for prayer to the Fulton Street prayer-meeting,
+that she might hear from him who had long ago left home, and wandered
+far away. She had been praying very earnestly for him, and soon she
+wrote that she had just heard from him, and heard too that he had become
+a Christian and learned to trust in Him.
+
+
+ARE YOU THERE.
+
+
+A mother, one morning, gave her two little ones books and toys to amuse
+them while she went up-stairs to attend to something. A half hour passed
+quietly away, and then one of the little ones went to the foot of the
+stairs, and in a timid voice called out, "Mamma, are you there?"
+
+"Yes, darling."
+
+"All right," said the little one, and-went on with her play. By-and-by
+the question was repeated, "Mamma, are you there?"
+
+"Yes, darling."
+
+"All right," said the child again, and once more went on with her play.
+And this is just the way we should feel towards Jesus. He has gone
+up-stairs, to the right hand of God, to attend to some things for us. He
+has left us down in this lower room of this world to be occupied here
+for a while. But to keep us from being worried by fear or care, He
+speaks to us from His word, as that mother spoke to her little ones. He
+says to us, "Fear not; I am with thee. I will never leave thee, nor
+forsake thee." "The Lord will provide."
+
+And so we see how certain it is that God does provide relief in trouble
+for those who love and serve Him.
+
+
+GOD KNOWS THE BOTTOM OF THE BARREL.
+
+
+"Mother, I think God always hears when we scrape the bottom of the
+barrel," said a little boy to his mother one day. His mother was poor.
+They often used up their last stick of wood and their last bit of bread
+before they could tell where the next supply was to come from. But they
+had so often been provided for in unexpected ways, just when they were
+most in need, that the little boy thought _God always heard when they
+scraped the bottom of the barrel_. This was only that little fellow's
+way of saying what Abraham said when he called the name of the place
+where God had delivered him, "Jehovah-Jireh."
+
+
+GOD'S CARE FOR LITTLE CHILDREN IN LITTLE WANTS.
+
+
+"I was early taught that God cares for His children, even to regard
+their _little_ daily wants. An illustration of my implicit confidence,
+which I do not remember ever to have been betrayed, occurred when I was
+about ten years of age. I was accustomed to give five cents each Sabbath
+at the Sunday School collection for foreign missions. This money was not
+given me directly by my parents; but I was allowed to go on an errand,
+or to do some little piece of work for a neighbor and thus earn it,
+outside of the performance of the duties that naturally fell to my lot
+at home. At one time, when I was attending school about a mile from
+home, my time out of school was taken up by my walk to and from it and
+the chores which necessarily fall to a farmer's boy, so that for some
+months I had no opportunity of earning anything. One Sabbath morning, I
+dropped my last silver piece into the collection, with a prayer--which I
+always offered at such a time--that God would bless it to the heathen,
+that some one might be led to Him by it.
+
+"I went home that day with a child's anxiety, feeling that I could not
+bear the thought of giving nothing for the heathen on next Sabbath, and
+yet not seeing how I could possibly obtain it. That night I asked my
+Heavenly Father to provide the money for me. The anxiety was all gone;
+for I felt that God would answer. Next morning, when almost at the
+school-house, I found a handkerchief in the road, in the corner of which
+was securely tied a silver quarter and a silver dime. Instantly my
+thoughts flew to the next Sabbath, and to the prayer I had offered. O,
+yes! I thought, God has more than answered my prayer; instead of giving
+me just enough for next Sabbath, He has given me enough, for seven
+Sabbaths.
+
+Then the thought came, somebody lost it; yes, it was my duty to find the
+owner, which I did not expect would be difficult, although it was in
+town. So I cheerfully gave it up, thinking that 'the Lord will provide'
+in some other way. I took it directly to my teacher, and asked her to
+find the owner. She made faithful inquiry, but no one was found to claim
+it. Who can question this being an answer to prayer, when we think of
+the numerous _chances_ against its occurring just as it did."
+
+
+A CHILD'S PRAYER FOR PAPA.
+
+
+A drunkard, who had run through his property, returned one night to his
+unfurnished house. He entered his empty hall. Anguish was gnawing at his
+heart-strings, and language was inadequate to express his agony as he
+entered his wife's apartment, and there beheld the victims of his
+appetite, his loving wife and a darling child. Morose and sullen, he
+seated himself without saying a word; he could not speak; he could not
+look up then. The mother said to the little angel at her side, "Come, my
+child, it is time to go to bed;" and that little baby, as she was wont,
+knelt by her mother's lap and gazing wistfully into the face of her
+suffering parent, like a piece of chiseled statuary, slowly repeated her
+nightly orison. When she had finished, the child (but four years of age)
+said to her mother, "Dear Mother, may I not offer up one more prayer?"
+"Yes, yes, my sweet pet, pray;" and she lifted up her tiny hands, closed
+her eyes, and prayed: "O God! spare, oh! spare my dear papa!" That
+prayer was lifted with electric rapidity to the throne of God. It was
+heard on high--it was heard on earth. The responsive "Amen!" burst from
+the father's lips, and his heart of stone became a heart of flesh. Wife
+and child were both clasped to his bosom, and in penitence he said: "My
+child, you have saved your father from the grave of a drunkard. I'll
+sign the pledge!"
+
+
+A LITTLE QUAKER BOY'S PRAYER RIGHT OUT IN MEETING.
+
+
+A little Quaker boy, about six years old, after sitting, like the rest
+of the congregation, in silence, all being afraid to speak first, as he
+thought, got up on the seat, and, folding his arms over his breast,
+murmured in a clear, sweet voice, just loud enough to be distinctly
+heard on the front seat, "I do wish the Lord would make us all gooder,
+and gooder, and gooder, till there is no bad left."
+
+
+WHAT THE LITTLE CHILDREN MAY DO.
+
+
+At family prayer, little Mary, one evening when all was silent, looked
+anxiously in the face of her back-sliding father, who had ceased to pray
+in his family, and said to him with quivering lips, "Pa, is God dead?"
+
+"No, my child--why do you ask that?"
+
+"Why, Pa, you never talk to him now as you used to do," she replied.
+
+These words haunted the father until he was mercifully reclaimed.
+
+
+THE UNBELIEVING FATHER LED TO GO TO CHURCH.
+
+
+An unbelieving father came home one evening and asked where his little
+girl was. "She has gone to bed," said his wife. "I'll just go and give
+her one kiss," said the father, for he loved his little daughter dearly.
+As he stood at the door of her bedroom, he heard some one praying. It
+was his little Jane, and he heard her say, "Do, God Almighty, please
+lead daddy to hear Mr. Stowell preach."
+
+She had often asked him to go, and he had always said, "No, no, my
+child." After listening to her prayer, he determined, the next time she
+asked him, to accompany her, which he did, and heard a sermon which took
+his attention and pricked his conscience. On leaving the church, he
+clasped the hand of his little girl in his, and said, "Jane, thy God
+shall be my God, and thy minister shall be my minister." And the man
+became a true follower of the Lord.
+
+
+A CHILD'S PRAYER FOR RELIEF
+
+
+An interesting little daughter of a professor in Danville, Kentucky, in
+the Summer of 1876, in eating a watermelon, got one of the seeds lodged
+in her windpipe. The effort was made to remove it, but proved
+ineffectual, and it was thought that the child would have to be taken to
+one of the large cities to have an operation performed by a skillful
+surgeon. To this she was decidedly opposed, and pleaded with her mamma
+to tell her if there was no other way of relief. Finally, in order to
+quiet her childish fears, her Christian mother told her to ask God to
+help her.
+
+The little one went into an adjoining room and offered her prayer to God
+to help her. Shortly thereafter she came running to her mamma with the
+seed in her hand, and her beautiful and intelligent face lighted up with
+joy. In response to the eager inquiry of the mother, the little one said
+that she had asked God to help her, and while she was praying she was
+taken with a severe cough, in which she threw up the seed.
+
+
+GOD'S CARE OVER HIS PEOPLE--THE PRAYING WIDOW
+
+
+A young widow with two children was living in the city of Berlin. She
+was a Christian woman, and trusted in Jehovah-Jireh to take care of her.
+One evening she had to be away for a while. During her absence a man
+entered her house for the purpose of robbing her. But "the Lord who
+provides" protected her from this danger in a very singular way. On
+returning to her home she found a note lying on her table, which read as
+follows:
+
+"Madam, I came here with the intention of robbing you, but the sight of
+this little room, with the religious pictures hanging around in it, and
+those two sweet-looking children quietly sleeping in their little bed,
+have touched my heart. I cannot take anything of yours. The small amount
+of money lying on your desk I leave untouched, and I take the liberty of
+adding fifty dollars besides." The Bible tells us that "the hearts of
+men are in the hands of God. and he turneth them as the rivers of waters
+are turned." He turned the heart of this robber from his wicked purpose,
+and in this way he protected the widow who trusted in him.
+
+
+GOD SAVED A FAMILY MERCIFULLY.
+
+
+One morning a Christian farmer, in Rhode Island, put two bushels of rye
+in his wagon and started to the mill to get it ground. On his way to the
+mill he had to drive over a bridge that had no railings to the sides of
+it. When he reached the middle of this bridge his horse, a quiet, gentle
+creature, began all at once to back. In spite of all the farmer could
+do, he kept on backing till the hinder wheels went over the side of the
+bridge, and the bag of grain was tipped out and fell into the stream.
+Then the horse stood still. Some men came to help the farmer. The wagon
+was lifted back and the bag of grain was fished up from the water. Of
+course it could not be taken to the mill in that state. So the farmer
+had to take it home and dry it. He had prayed that morning that God
+would protect and help him through the day, and he wondered what this
+accident had happened for. He found out, however, before long. On
+spreading out the grain to dry he noticed a great many small pieces of
+glass mixed up with it. If this had been ground up with the grain into
+the flour it would have caused the death of himself and his family. But
+Jehovah-Jireh was on that bridge. He made the horse back and throw the
+grain into the water to save the family from the danger that threatened
+them.
+
+
+A CHILD'S FAITH IN THE LORD'S PRAYER.
+
+
+About the 30th of July, 1864, the beautiful village of Chambersburgh was
+invaded and pillaged by the Confederate army. A superintendent of a
+Sabbath school, formerly resident in the South, but who had been obliged
+to flee to the North because of his known faithfulness to the national
+government, was residing there, knowing that if discovered by the
+Confederate soldiers, he would be in great peril of life, property and
+every indignity,--in the gray dawn of that memorable day, with his wife
+and two little girls, again on foot, he fled to the chain of mountains
+lying north-west of the doomed village.
+
+After remaining out for some days and nights, with no shelter but such
+as was afforded by the friendly boughs of large forest trees, and
+without food, they became nearly famished. At last, the head of the
+family, unable to endure the agony of beholding his wife and children
+starving to death before his face, and he not able to render the needed
+relief, withdrew to a place by himself, that he might not witness the
+sad death of his loved ones. With his back against a large oak, he had
+been seated only a short time, when his eldest little daughter, not
+quite ten years old, came to him and exclaimed:
+
+"_Father, father, I have found such a precious text in my little
+Testament, which I brought to the mountain with me, for very joy I could
+not stop to read it to mother, but hastened to you with it. Please
+listen while I read_." To which he said:
+
+"Yes, my child, read it. There is comfort to be found in the Scriptures.
+We will not long be together on earth, and there could be no better way
+of spending our last mortal hours." To which she replied:
+
+"O, father, I believe that we will not die at this time; that we will
+not be permitted to starve; that God will surely send us relief; but do
+let me read." Then opening her dear little volume, at the ninth verse of
+the sixth chapter of Matthew, she read as follows:
+
+"'_Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom
+come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; give us this day our
+daily bread.' O, father, to think that our dear Saviour Himself taught
+His disciples to pray for their daily bread. These are His own words. It
+is not possible, therefore, that He will allow any person to starve,
+who, in His own appointed language, asks Him for food. Will He not, dear
+father, hear our prayers for bread_?"
+
+At once and forever the scales fell from the eyes of that parent. With
+tears streaming down his cheeks, he clasped his child to his bosom, and
+earnestly repeated the Lord's Prayer. _He had scarcely finished it when
+a small dog ran to where he and his daughter were upon their knees, and
+barked so fiercely as to attract to the spot its owner, a wealthy
+Pennsylvania farmer,_ who was upon the mountain in search of cattle that
+he had lost for several days. The kind-hearted tiller of the soil
+immediately piloted the suffering family to his own comfortable home,
+and properly provided for their wants.
+
+
+A CHILD PRESERVED FROM WOLVES.
+
+
+A little girl only nine years old, named Sutherland, living at
+Platteville, Col., was recently saved from death by ferocious forest
+wolves as follows: The child went with her father on a cold afternoon to
+the woods to find the cattle, and was told to follow the calves home,
+while the father continued his search for the cows. She did so, but the
+calves misled her, and very soon she became conscious that she was lost.
+Night came on, and with it the cold of November and the dreaded wolves.
+With a strange calmness she continued on her uncertain way. The next
+day, Sunday, at 10 A.M., she reached, in her wanderings, the house of
+John Beebe, near a place called Evans, having traveled constantly
+eighteen hours, and a distance of not less than twenty-five miles. _All
+night the wolves growled around her, but harmed her not_; neither was
+she in the least frightened by them. All know that in ordinary cases
+fierce packs of blood-thirsty wolves would devour a man, and even a
+horse. But this little one was invincible in her trusting, simple faith.
+The narrative states: "She said that the wolves kept close to her heels
+and snapped at her feet; but her mother told her that if she was _good_
+the Lord would _always_ take care of her; so she asked the Lord to take
+care of her, and she knew the wolves would not hurt her, _because God
+wouldn't let them_!" The child was hunted for by a great number of
+people, and being found was restored shortly to her parents in perfect
+health and soundness.
+
+
+JESUS CURED ME.
+
+
+In the family of a missionary pastor in Kansas, was a daughter of twelve
+years of age, seriously afflicted with chronic rheumatism. For three
+years she suffered, until the leg was shrunken, stiff at the knee,
+shorter by some two inches than, the other, and the hip joint was being
+gradually drawn from its socket. The child read of Mrs. Miller's cure by
+prayer, originally published in _The Advance_, and wondered why she
+could not also be cured by the same means. She repeated to her mother
+some of the promised answers to prayer, and asked: "Don't Jesus mean
+what he says, and isn't it just as true now as then?" The mother
+endeavored to divert her attention by representing the affliction as a
+blessing. The physician also called and left another prescription, and
+encouraged the child to hope for benefit from it. The child could not,
+however, be diverted from the thought that Jesus could and would heal
+her. After the doctor's departure she said: "_Mamma, I cannot have that
+plaster put on."_
+
+"Why, dear."
+
+"_Because, mother, Jesus is going to cure me, and he must have all the
+glory. Dr. ---- doesn't believe in God; if we put the plaster on, he
+will say it was that which helped me; and it must be all Jesus_." So
+earnest was she, that her mother at length placed the package, just as
+she had received it, on a shelf, and said no more about it.
+
+The little girl and her mother were alone that day, the father being
+absent from home. When the household duties were done she called her
+mother to her.
+
+"Mother, will you pray now to Jesus to cure me_? I have got the faith; I
+know he will if you will ask him_." The mother, overcome, yielded to her
+daughter's request, and commenced praying. She was blest with unusual
+consciousness of the presence of God, and became insensible of all
+outward surroundings, pleading for the child. She remained in this state
+of intercession for more than an hour, when she was aroused by her
+daughter, who with her hand on the mother's shoulder was joyfully
+exclaiming, "_Mother, dear mother, wake up! Don't you see Jesus has
+cured me? O, I am well! I am all well!" and she danced about the room,
+literally healed._
+
+One week from that day, the girl was seen by the writer in the
+"_Advance,"_ who says she was _out sliding on the ice with her
+companions_. From that day to this she has had no further trouble; _the
+limb is full, round and perfect_; there is _no difference between it and
+the other_.
+
+To every question asked she replies, with the overflowing gratitude of a
+loving heart, "Jesus cured me!"
+
+
+THE LITTLE BOY WHO WANTED HIS SISTER TO READ THE BIBLE.
+
+
+Rev. Mr. Spurgeon, of London, tells of the excellent faith of a little
+boy in one of the schools of Edinburgh, who had attended a
+prayer-meeting, and at the last said to his teacher who conducted it:
+
+"Teacher, I wish my sister could be got to read the Bible; she never
+reads it."
+
+"Why, Johnny, should your sister read the Bible?"
+
+"Because if she once read it I am sure it would do her good, and she
+would he converted and saved."
+
+"Do you think so, Johnny?"
+
+"Yes, I do, sir; and I wish the next time there was a prayer-meeting you
+would ask the people to pray for my sister, that she may begin to read
+the Bible."
+
+"Well, well, it shall be done, John."
+
+So the teacher gave out that a little boy was anxious that prayer should
+be offered that his sister might read the Bible. John was observed to
+get up and go out. The teacher thought it very rude of the boy to
+disturb the people in a crowded room, and so the next day, when the lad
+came, he said:
+
+"John, I thought it very rude of you to get up in the prayer-meeting and
+go out. You ought not to have done so."
+
+"O, sir," said the boy, "I did not mean to be rude; _but I thought I
+should like to go home and see my sister reading her Bible for the first
+time_."
+
+_True to his faith, when he reached his home, he found the little girl
+reading her Bible_.
+
+
+NETTIE'S DAILY BREAD.
+
+
+A little girl in a wretched attic, whose sick mother had no bread, knelt
+down by the bedside, and said slowly: "Give us this day our daily
+bread." Then she went into the street and began to wonder where God kept
+his bread. She turned around the corner and saw a large, well-filled
+baker's shop.
+
+"This," thought Nettie, "is the place." So she entered confidently, and
+said to the big baker, "I've come for it."
+
+"Come for what?"
+
+"My daily bread," she said, pointing to the tempting loaves. "I'll take
+two, if you please--one for mother and one for me."
+
+"All right," said the baker, putting them into a bag, and giving them to
+his little customer, who started at once into the street.
+
+"Stop, you little rogue!" he said, roughly; "where is your money?"
+
+"I haven't any," she said simply.
+
+"Haven't any!" he repeated, angrily; "you little thief, what brought you
+here, then?"
+
+The hard words frightened the little girl, who, bursting into tears,
+said: "Mother is sick, and I am so hungry. In my prayers I said, 'Give
+us this day our daily bread,' and then I thought _God meant me to fetch
+it, and so I came_."
+
+The rough, but kind-hearted baker was softened by the child's simple
+tale, and instead of chiding her or visiting threats of punishment, as
+is usually the case, he said: "_You poor, dear girl; here, take this to
+your mother_," and he filled a large basketful and gave it to her.
+
+
+THE BROTHER'S PRAYER.
+
+
+A physician, who for many years practiced his profession in the State of
+California, was called once to see the child of Mr. Doak, of Calveras
+County, living on the road between San Andreas and Stockton, and not far
+from the mining town of Campo Seco, or Dry Camp. He says: The patient
+was a little girl about ten years of age, bright and intelligent and one
+of twins, the other being a boy, equally bright and well-disposed. The
+primary symptoms had indicated inflammation of the stomach, which the
+attending physician had hopelessly combated, and finally, when by
+metastasis it attacked the brain, with other unfavorable symptoms, he
+was inclined to abandon the case in despair.
+
+It was at this juncture I was called in. The symptoms were exceedingly
+unfavorable, and my own opinion coincided with my professional
+brother's. However, we determined to go to work. A day and night of
+incessant watching, and the state of the patient caused us both to feel
+the case hopeless, and we only continued our attendance at the earnest
+solicitation of the child's mother. The anxious, care-worn and restless
+sorrow of the little brother, his deep grief as he saw his sister given
+over to the power of the King of Terrors, had attracted our attention.
+He would creep up to the bedside of his sister silently, with pale and
+tearful face, controlling his emotion with great effort, and then steal
+away again and weep bitterly. With a vague, indefinite idea of
+comforting the little fellow, I took him to my knee, and was about to
+utter some platitude, when the little fellow, looking me in the face,
+his own the very picture of grief, burst out with--
+
+"Oh, Doctor, must sister die?"
+
+"Yes," I replied, "but,"--
+
+Before I could go farther he again interrupted me: "Oh, Doctor, is there
+nothing, nothing that will save her? Can nobody, nobody save my sister?"
+
+For an instant the teachings of a tender and pious mother flashed over
+my mind. They had been long neglected, were almost forgotten.
+California, in those days, was not well calculated to fasten more deeply
+on the mind home teachings. There were very few whose religious training
+survived the ordeal, and for a long time I had hardly thought of prayer.
+But the question brought out with the vividness of a flash of lightning,
+and as suddenly, all that had been obscured by my course of life, and,
+hardly knowing what I did, I spoke to him of the power that might reside
+in prayer. I said, God had promised to answer prayer. I dared not allow
+the skeptical doubt, that came to my own mind, meet the ear of that
+innocent boy, and told him, more as my mother had often told me than
+with any thought of impressing a serious subject on his mind, "_That the
+prayers of little boys, even, God would hear_." I left that night with
+some simple directions, that were given more to satisfy the mother than
+from having the slightest hope of eventual recovery, promising to return
+next day.
+
+In the morning, as I rode to the door, the little boy was playing round
+with a bright and cheerful countenance, and looked so happy that
+involuntarily I asked:
+
+"Is your sister better?"
+
+"Oh, no, Doctor," he replied, "but she is going to get well."
+
+"How do you know," I asked.
+
+"_Because I prayed to God_" said he, "and _he told me she would."_
+
+"How did he tell you?"
+
+The little fellow looked at me for an instant, and reverently placing
+his hand on the region of his heart, said:
+
+"_He told me in my heart_."
+
+Going to the room where my patient was lying, I found no change
+whatever, but in spite of my own convictions there had sprung up a hope
+within me. The medical gentleman with whom I was in consultation came to
+the room, and as he did, _a thought of a very simple remedy_ I had seen
+used by an old negro woman, in a very dissimilar case, _occurred to my
+mind._ It became so _persistently present_ that I mentioned it to my
+brother practitioner. He looked surprised, but merely remarked. "It can
+do no harm." I applied it. In two hours we both felt the case was out of
+danger.
+
+The second day after that, as we rode from the house, my friend asked me
+how I came to think, of so simple a remedy.
+
+"_I think it was that boy's prayer_," I replied.
+
+"Why, Doctor! you are not so superstitious as to connect that boy's
+prayers with his sister's recovery," said he.
+
+"Yes, I do," I replied; "for the life of me I cannot help thinking his
+prayers were more powerful than our remedies."
+
+
+LIGHT GIVEN TO A BLIND CHILD.
+
+
+"A missionary visiting one of the mission schools of Brooklyn, was
+introduced to a remarkable child. He was brought into the school from
+the highways and hedges, and young as he was, he had been taught of God.
+One day he was playing with powder, and putting his mouth to the match
+to blow it, it exploded, and the whole charge went into his face and
+eyes. He became totally blind, and the physician gave but little hope of
+recovery. But the little sufferer was patient and calm, and even
+hopeful; sitting through the dark days meditating on what he had learned
+at the mission Sabbath-school, and repeating passages of Scripture and
+many a beautiful hymn.
+
+"One evening after the physician had spoken discouragingly, and his
+parents, as he perceived, were in deep distress, he was absorbed on his
+knees in a corner of the room in earnest prayer. His voice, though
+subdued almost to a whisper, was indicative of intense feeling. His
+parents inquired what he had been praying so earnestly for. Why, said
+he, that _Jesus Christ would open my eyes. The doctor says he can't, and
+so I thought I would ask the Savior to do it for me. God honored his
+faith. In a few days his sight came to him; and the prayer was answered.
+He can now see clearly_."
+
+
+ASKING THE LORD TO HELP HIM IN HIS LESSONS.
+
+
+"A little boy was at school, he was diligent, and determined to succeed,
+but found that parsing was rather hard.
+
+"One day he went to his mamma for a little help in analyzing some
+sentences. She told him the proper manner of doing it, and he followed
+her directions; but he was much troubled that he could not understand
+the whys and wherefores himself.
+
+"His mamma told him it was rather hard for him then, but that after he
+had studied a little longer, it would be quite easy.
+
+"Johnnie went into another room to study alone, but after a little came
+back, his face perfectly radiant with joy. He said: 'O mamma, I want to
+begin again. I asked Jesus to help me, and now I think I see just how it
+is. He always helps us when we ask him;' and with unspeakable delight he
+with his mamma went over his lesson again."
+
+
+GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD.
+
+
+"The _American Messenger_ tells the story of Johnny Hall, a poor boy.
+His mother worked hard for their daily bread. 'Please give me something
+to eat; I am very hungry,' he said one evening. His mother let the work
+upon which she was sewing fall from her knee, and drew Johnny toward
+her. Her tears fell fast as she said: 'Mamma is very poor, and cannot
+give you any supper to-night.' 'Never mind, mamma; I shall soon be
+asleep, and then I sha'n't feel hungry. But you will sit and sew, and be
+so hungry and cold. Poor mamma,' he said, and kissed her many times to
+comfort her.
+
+"'Now, Johnny, you may say your prayers;' for dearly as his mother loved
+him, she could ill afford to lose a moment from her work. He repeated
+'Our Father' with her until they came to the petition, 'Give us this day
+our daily bread.' The earnestness, almost agony, with which the mother
+uttered these words, impressed Johnny strongly. He said them over again:
+'_Give us this day our daily bread_.' Then opening his blue eyes, he
+fixed them on his mother, and said: 'We shall never be hungry any more.
+God is _our Father_, and he _will_ hear us.' The prayer was finished and
+Johnny laid to rest. The mother sewed with renewed energy. Her heart was
+sustained by the simple faith of her child. Many were the gracious
+promises which came to her remembrance. Although tired and hungry, still
+it was with a light heart she sank to rest.
+
+"Early in the morning a gentleman called on his way to business. He
+wished Johnny's mother to come to his home to take charge of his two
+motherless boys. She immediately accepted the offer. They were thus
+provided with all the comforts of a good home. Johnny is a man now, but
+he has never forgotten the time when he prayed so earnestly for his
+daily bread.
+
+"_God will hear prayer_ is his firm belief. In many ways has he had the
+faith of his childhood confirmed. He looks to God as his Father with the
+same trust now as then.
+
+
+GOD WILL TAKE CARE OF ME.
+
+
+"When the yellow fever raged in New Orleans, the pestilence visited a
+Christian household, and the father died. Then the mother was suddenly
+seized, and knowing that she must die, she gathered the four children
+around her bed, the oldest being only about ten years of age, and said
+to them that God was about to take her home to heaven. She urged them to
+have no fears, and assured them that the kind, heavenly Father who had
+so long provided for them would surely come and take care of them. The
+children, with almost breaking hearts, believed what the dying mother
+had told them.
+
+"She was buried. The three youngest soon followed her, although they
+received every necessary attention from friends during their sickness.
+The oldest, a boy, was also seized by the pestilence, and in an
+unguarded moment, under the influence of delirium, wandered from his
+sick-bed out into the suburbs of the city, and lying down in the tall
+grass by the roadside, looked steadfastly up, murmuring, incoherently at
+times, 'Mother said God would come and take care of me--would come and
+take care of me!' A gentleman happening to pass at the time, and hearing
+the unusual sounds, went where the lad was lying, and rousing him, asked
+him what he was doing there. Said the little fellow in reply: '_Father
+died; mother died; little brother and sisters died. But just before
+mother went away into heaven, she told us to have no fear, for God would
+come and take care of us, and I am now waiting for him to come down and
+take me. I know he will come, for mother said so, and she always told us
+the truth_.'
+
+"'Well,' said the gentleman, whose kindliest sympathies were stirred by
+the little fellow's sad condition and his implicit confidence in his
+sainted mother's pious instructions, '_God has sent me, my son, to take
+care of you_.' So he had him carried to his home, and kindly nursed and
+cared for by his own family. He recovered, and to-day is one of the most
+useful Christian young men in the far West, where he has fixed his
+home."
+
+
+LAURA HEALED.
+
+
+"A Christian teacher, connected with a Southern Orphan Asylum, writes
+_The Christian_, that often when the children were sick, and most of
+them came to me more or less diseased, I cried to the Lord for help, and
+He who 'bore our infirmities, and carried our sicknesses,' healed them.
+Oh it is so good to trust in the Lord! How much better to rely on Him
+'in whom we live, and move, and have our being,' than to put confidence
+in man, even in the most skillful physician. To confirm and strengthen
+the faith of the doubting, I send you the following account of the
+healing of one of our orphans.
+
+"Laura was one of a large orphan family, living on Port Royal Island,
+S.C. When her mother died, she went to live with a colored woman who
+made her work very hard, 'tote' wood and water, hoe cotton and corn, do
+all manner of drudgery, rise at daybreak, and live on scanty food. Laura
+suffered from want, exposure and abuse. The freed-women of the
+plantation looked with pity into her eyes, and desired her to run away.
+But she replied, 'Aunt Dora will run after me, and when she done cotch
+me, she'll stripe me well with the lash; she done tell so already.'
+
+"One morning, however, when Laura went to the creek for crabs, a good
+aunty followed her, and throwing a shawl over the poor child's rags,
+said, 'Now, Laura, put foot for Beaufort fast as ever you can, and when
+you get there, inquire where Mrs. Mather lives: go straight to her; she
+has a good home for jes sich poor creeters as you be.' Laura obeyed,
+hastened to Beaufort, seven miles distant, found my home, was made
+welcome, and her miserable rags exchanged for good clean clothes. In the
+morning, I said, 'Laura, did you sleep well last night?' She replied,
+'O, missis, my heart too full of joy to sleep. Me lay awake all night,
+thinking how happy me is in dis nice, clean bed, all to myself. Me never
+sleep in a bed before, missis.'
+
+"Laura, then about thirteen years old, came to me with a hard cough, and
+pain in her side. I put on flannels, gave her a generous diet, and
+hoped, that with rest and cheerful surroundings, she would soon rally as
+other children had, who came to me in a similar broken-down condition.
+Still the cough and pain continued. I dosed her with various
+restoratives, such as flax-seed, and slippery elm, etc., but all were of
+no avail. She steadily grew worse. Every week I could see she declined.
+Her appetite failed; night sweats came on; and she was so weak that most
+of the day she lay in bed. The children, all of whom loved Laura, she
+was so patient and gentle, whispered one to another, 'Laura is gwine to
+die; dere is def in her eye."
+
+"One evening in mid-winter, the poor child's short breath, fluttering
+pulse, and cold, clammy sweat alarmed me, and I felt sure that unless
+the dear Lord interposed in her behalf, her time with us was very short.
+I lingered by her bed till near midnight in prayer for her recovery. I
+could not give her up. Again in my own room I poured out my soul in
+prayer for the child, and then slept. About two o'clock, I suddenly
+awoke, and heard what seemed a voice saying to me, '_Go to Laura; I can
+heal her now; the conditions are right; you are both calm and
+trustful_.'
+
+"I arose quickly, hastened to her room and said to her, 'Laura, do you
+want to get well?' 'O, yes, missis, me wants to get well.' 'Do you
+believe Jesus can cure you?' She replied, 'I know he can if he will.'
+'Well, Laura,' I said, 'Jesus has just waked me out of a sound sleep,
+and told me to go and tell you that he _will cure you now_. Do you
+believe he will, Laura?' 'Yes, missis, me _do believe_,' she replied
+earnestly. She then repeated this prayer. 'O, Jesus, do please to make
+me well; let me live a long time, and be a good and useful woman.'
+
+"The burden had rolled off my heart; I returned to my room and slept
+sweetly. In the morning, Tamar, Laura's attendant, met me at the door,
+exclaiming joyfully, 'O, I'se so glad! Laura is a heap better, Missis.
+She wake me up long time before day and begged me to get her something
+to eat, she so hungry.'
+
+"From that night Laura rapidly recovered. Her cough abated, her appetite
+was restored, her night sweats ceased, and in less than a month she was
+strong and well."
+
+
+A LITTLE SLAVE'S FAITH.
+
+
+A missionary in India, passing one day through the school room, observed
+a little boy engaged in prayer, and overheard him say, "O, Lord Jesus, I
+thank thee for sending big ship into my country and wicked men to steal
+me and bring me here, that I might hear about Thee and love Thee. And
+now, Lord Jesus, I have one great favor to ask Thee. Please to send
+wicked men with another big ship, and let them catch my father and my
+mother, and bring them to this country, that they may hear the
+missionaries preach and love Thee."
+
+The missionary in a few days after saw him standing on the sea-shore,
+looking very intently as the ships came in. "What are you looking at,
+Tom?" "I am looking to see if Jesus Christ answers prayer."
+
+For two years he was to be seen day after day watching the arrival of
+every ship. One day, as the missionary was viewing him, he observed him
+capering about and exhibiting the liveliest joy.
+
+"Well, Tom, what gives you so much joy?" "_O, Jesus Christ answer
+prayer. Father and mother come in that ship_," which was actually the
+case.
+
+
+A GOOD REASON FOR PRAYING.
+
+
+A little girl about four years of age being asked, "Why do you pray to
+God?" replied: "Because I know He hears me, and I love to pray to Him."
+
+"But how do you know He hears you?"
+
+Putting her little hand to her heart, she said, "I know He does, because
+there is something _here_ that tells me so."
+
+
+MY HEART TALKED.
+
+
+A child six years old, in a Sunday school, said: "When we kneel down in
+the school-room to pray, it seems as if my heart talked."
+
+
+WHY, SIR, I BEGGED.
+
+
+A little boy, one of the Sunday school children in Jamaica, called upon
+the missionary and stated that he had lately been very ill, and in his
+sickness often wished his minister had been present to pray with him.
+
+"But, Thomas," said the missionary, "I hope you prayed." "Oh, yes, sir."
+"Did you repeat the collect I taught you?" "I prayed." "Well, but how
+did you pray?" "Why, sir, I begged."
+
+
+A LITTLE CHILD'S PRAYER FOR HEALING.
+
+
+A very little child, who had but recently learned to talk, and the
+daughter of a Home missionary, had been for weeks troubled with a severe
+cough, which was very severe in its weakness upon her. At last her
+father said to her, "Daughter, ask Jesus, the good Lord, to heal you."
+
+Putting up her little hands as she lay in bed, she said, "_Dear Jesus,
+will oo please to cure me, and do please tell papa what to give me_."
+
+The father, who was listening, thought several times of "_syrup of
+ipecac_" but did not connect it immediately with the prayer. At last the
+thought came so often before him, that he felt, "Well, it will do no
+harm, perhaps this is what the Lord wants me to give her." He procured
+it, administered it, and in three hours the little child's cough had
+wholly ceased, and she was playing on the floor with the other children.
+A most singular feature is the fact that the same medicine was
+administered at other times and had no effect in relief.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+THE BLESSEDNESS OF GIVING
+
+
+"_Blessed is he that considereth the poor; the Lord will deliver him in
+time of trouble_."
+
+"_Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all
+thine increase, so shalt thy barns be filled with plenty_."
+
+"_There is that scattereth and yet increaseth; and there is that
+withholdeth more than is meet, but it lendeth to poverty_."
+
+"_The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth shall be
+watered also himself_."
+
+"_He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and that which
+he hath given will He pay him again."_
+
+"_Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry
+himself, but shall not be heard_."
+
+"_He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed, for he giveth of his
+bread to the poor_."
+
+"_He that putteth his trust in the Lord shall be made fat_."
+
+"_He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack; but he that hideth his
+eye shall have many a curse_."
+
+"_Cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou shall find it after many
+days_."
+
+"_If thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted
+soul, the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in
+drought, and make fat thy bones. And thou shall be like a watered
+garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not_."
+
+"_He which soweth bountifully, shall reap also bountifully_."
+
+"_Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not
+grudgingly, nor of necessity, for_
+
+GOD LOVETH A CHEERFUL GIVER.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+HOW THE LORD BLESSES THOSE "WHO GIVE LIBERALLY TO HIS CAUSE.
+
+
+A disciple of the Lord Jesus, poor in this world's goods, but rich in
+faith, became greatly perplexed in regard to the meaning of the
+forty-second verse of the fifth chapter of Matthew. The words are: "Give
+to him that asketh thee; and from him that would borrow of thee turn not
+thou away." After a season of prolonged mental inquiry, as to whether
+the language was to be regarded as literal or not, she suddenly paused
+and exclaimed: "It is easy enough to find out; test it and see."
+
+It was Saturday. Her money, all but two dollars, had been expended in
+providing for the Sabbath. The amount left, which was absolutely needed
+for the following Monday, she put in her pocket, and went out.
+
+On the street, a friend, whose husband had been for some time out of
+business, met her and stated their distresses, and asked if she could
+lend them _two dollars to last over the Sabbath_.
+
+She was surprised. The test had come sooner than she expected, but,
+without hesitation, the money was "_lent to the Lord,"_ and the now
+penniless believer went home to wait and see.
+
+Now mark the result. Monday came, and with it the needs to be supplied.
+While pondering what course to pursue, a knock was heard, and, on
+opening the door, a lady, with a bundle in her hand, inquired if she
+could do a little work for her. Replying in the affirmative, and naming
+the price, the lady took from her pocket-book two dollars, and handed it
+to her, saying: "It is more than you ask, but you might as well have
+it." "I was never more astonished," said this true disciple, "and
+literally shouted for joy. I had tested and proved that the promises of
+God are yea and amen in Christ Jesus. Glory to God. I have never doubted
+since; and though often in straits, I have always been delivered."
+
+Would it not be well for Christians to "test" where they cannot
+understand? "Ye are my friends," said the blessed Lord, "if ye do
+whatsoever I command you." Obedience will solve difficulties that
+reasoning cannot unravel. Try and see.
+
+
+DIVIDING WITH GOD.
+
+
+A merchant, in answer to inquiries, refers back to a period when, he
+says, "In consecrating my life anew to God, aware of the ensnaring
+influences of riches, and the necessity of deciding on a plan of charity
+before wealth should bias my judgment, I adopted the following system:
+
+"I decided to balance my accounts as nearly as I could, every month; and
+reserving such a portion of profits as might appear adequate to cover
+probable losses, to lay aside, by entry on a benevolent account,
+one-tenth of the remaining profits, great or small, as a fund for
+benevolent expenditure, supporting myself and family on the remaining
+nine-tenths. I further determined, that when at any time my net profits,
+that is, profits from which clerk-hire and store expenses had been
+deducted, should exceed $500 in a month, I would give twelve and a half
+per cent.; if over $700, fifteen per cent.; if over $900, seventeen and
+a half per cent.; if over $1,100, twenty per cent.; if over $1,300,
+twenty-two and a half per cent.; thus increasing the proportion of the
+whole as God should prosper, until at $1,500, I should give twenty-five
+per cent., or $375 a month. As capital was of the utmost importance to
+my success in business, I decided not to increase the foregoing scale
+until I had acquired a certain capital, after which I would give
+one-quarter of all net profits, great or small; and on the acquisition
+of another certain amount of capital, I decided to give half; and on
+acquiring what I determined would be a full sufficiency of capital, then
+to give the whole of my net profits.
+
+"It is now several years since I adopted this plan, and under it I have
+acquired a handsome capital, and have been prospered beyond my most
+sanguine expectations. Although constantly giving, I have never yet
+touched the bottom of my fund, and have been repeatedly astonished to
+find what large drafts it would bear. True, during some months I have
+encountered a salutary trial of faith, when this rule has led me to lay
+by the tenth, while the remainder proved inadequate to my support; but
+the tide has soon turned, and with gratitude I have recognized a
+heavenly hand more than making good all past deficiencies."
+
+
+PROSPERITY AND LIBERALITY.
+
+
+A London correspondent of the _Western Christian Advocate_, writing some
+years ago of raising a fund for the extinction of debts on chapels,
+gives the following incident:
+
+"A gentleman named Wilkes, who was promised a subscription of one
+thousand guineas to this fund, has a history so remarkable as to be
+worth relating across the Atlantic. Seven years ago he was a journeyman
+mechanic. Having invented and patented some kind of a crank or spindle
+used in the cotton manufacture, and needing capital to start himself in
+the business of making them, he made it a matter of earnest prayer that
+he might be directed to some one able and willing to assist him. In a
+singular and unexpected manner he fell in with an elderly Quaker, a
+perfect stranger, who accosted him with the strange inquiry: 'Friend, I
+should like to know if a little money would be of any service to thee.'
+Having satisfied himself as to Wilkes' genius and honesty, the Quaker at
+once advanced him the required amount. The praying mechanic started in
+business on his own account, and everything he has touched of late
+appeared to prosper.
+
+"Hearing of a field in Ireland offered for sale, in which was a deserted
+mine, he went over to see it; bought the field for a small sum,
+recommenced working the mine, and it now turns out to yield abundance of
+excellent copper. For the year 1852, he promised to give the Missionary
+Society a _guinea a day_; but such abundance has poured in upon him
+during the year, that he felt that to be below his duty, and has,
+therefore, enlarged his subscription for the present year seven-fold. He
+is actually giving to that noble cause seven guineas daily, or upwards
+of $10,500 a year, during this year, 1853; in addition to which he has
+just given one thousand guineas to the fund above referred to." "It is
+pleasing to add," says the writer, "that this remarkable man retains the
+utmost simplicity."
+
+Would that liberality and prosperity might ever go hand in hand. Often,
+as wealth increases liberality is starved out, and the rich give far
+less than the poor in proportion to their means and ability.
+
+
+THE DEACON'S SINGING SCHOOL.
+
+
+"I am going out to see if I can start a singing school," said a good
+man, as he stood buttoning up his overcoat, and muffling up his ears,
+one bitterly cold Winter night.
+
+"A singing school," said his wife, "how will you do that?"
+
+"I have heard of a widow around the corner a block or two who is in
+suffering circumstances. She has five little children, and two of them
+down sick, and has neither fire nor food. So Bennie Hope, the office boy
+tells me. I thought I would just step around and look into the case."
+
+"Go, by all means," said his wife, "and lose no time. If they are in
+such need we can give some relief. But I cannot see what all this has to
+do with starting a singing school. But never mind, you need not stop to
+tell me now; go quickly and do all you can for the poor woman."
+
+So out into the piercing cold of the wintry night went the husband,
+while the wife turned to the fireside and her sleeping babes, who, in
+their warm cribs, with the glow of health upon their cheeks, showed that
+they knew nothing of cold or pinching want. With a thankful spirit she
+thought of her blessings, as she sat down to her little pile of mending.
+Very busily and quietly she worked, puzzling all the time over what her
+husband could have meant by starting a singing school. A singing school
+and the widow--how queer! What possible connection could they have?
+
+At last she grew tired of the puzzling thought, and said to herself, "I
+won't bother myself thinking about it any more. He will tell me all
+about it when he comes home. I only hope we may be able to help the poor
+widow and make her 'poor heart sing for joy.' There," she exclaimed,
+"can that be what he meant? The widow's heart singing for joy! Wouldn't
+that be a singing school? It must be; it is just like John. How funny
+that I should find it out!" and she laughed merrily at her lucky guess.
+Taking up her work again, she stitched away with a happy smile on her
+face, as she thought over again her husband's words, and followed him in
+imagination in his kind ministrations. By-and-by two shining tears
+dropped down, tears of pure joy, drawn from the deep wells of her love
+for her husband, of whom she thought she never felt so fond before. At
+the first sound of footsteps she sprang to open the door.
+
+"Oh, John! did you start the singing school?"
+
+"I reckon I did," said the husband, as soon as he could loose his
+wrappings; "but I want you to hunt up some flannels and things to help
+to keep it up."
+
+"Oh, yes! I will; I know now what you mean. I have thought it all out.
+Making the widow's 'heart sing for joy' is your singing school. (Job.
+xxix:13.) What a precious work, John! 'Pure religion and undefiled is to
+visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction.' My own heart has
+been singing for joy all the evening because of your work, and I do not
+mean to let you do it alone. I want to draw out some of this wonderful
+music."
+
+
+IT PAYS TO GIVE TO THE LORD.
+
+
+"A clergyman states, that soon after he dedicated himself to the service
+of Christ, he resolved, as Jacob did, 'Of all that thou shalt give me, I
+will surely give a tenth unto thee.' Of the first $500 he earned, he
+gave $130, and in such a way that it incited a wealthy friend to give
+several hundreds more, including a donation of $100 to this clergyman
+himself. For four years, the clergyman says, 'My expenses were small, my
+habits economical, and the only _luxury_ in which I indulged was the
+luxury of giving. In the two first of these years I was permitted to
+give $500.' 'On a review of my ministry of about sixteen years,' he
+adds, 'I find God has graciously permitted me to give to the cause of my
+Redeemer nearly $1,200, by which amount about forty life memberships
+have been created in various evangelical societies. During all these
+years God has prospered me; has given me almost uninterrupted health;
+has surrounded me with sweet domestic ties; and my congregation, by
+means in part perhaps of a steady example, have given _more in these
+sixteen years_ than in all their long previous history."
+
+
+ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF BENEFICENCE.
+
+
+"A liberal donor, in enclosing $100 to a sister institution, but
+strictly withholding his name, says, 'When I began business, it was with
+the intention and hope to become rich. A year afterward I became, as I
+trust, a Christian, and about the same time met with 'Cobb's
+Resolutions,' which I adopted. Some four or five years later, I read
+'Normand Smith's Memoir,' and also Wesley's 'Sermon on the use of
+Money,' which led me to devote all my gains to benevolent uses,
+reserving to myself $5,000 while I remained unmarried, part of which I
+have bequeathed to relatives, and the remainder to benevolent societies.
+Up to this time--about sixteen years--by the grace of God--nothing
+else--I have given about $24,500 to benevolent purposes, and lent about
+$500 to those in need, which has not been returned; making in all about
+$25,000."
+
+
+COMMENDABLE EXAMPLES.
+
+
+The Methodist Missionary Society mention one of their donors who, for
+twenty years, has used the power given him of getting wealth, for his
+Lord, in which time he has been enabled to appropriate to benevolent
+purposes _more than thirty thousand dollars_, while operating with a
+capital of but five thousand dollars. Another business man of that
+denomination in Boston, during fifteen years, has appropriated
+_thirty-nine thousand dollars_.
+
+
+SYSTEM IN GIVING.
+
+
+A correspondent of the American Tract Society says, "It was their
+publications which induced me to appropriate statedly one-tenth of my
+income to the cause of the Lord. After acting upon that scale nearly two
+years, and finding that although _my donations greatly exceeded those of
+former years_, my affairs were not thereby involved in any
+embarrassment; but that, on the contrary, with increasing contributions
+to the leading objects of Christian benevolence and to general charity,
+came an _increased store and enlarging resources_, I concluded, with a
+heart throbbing with grateful emotions to my Creator, in view of his
+great love and kindness toward me, that I would increase the
+proportion."
+
+
+LENDING TO THE LORD.
+
+
+"A poor man, some of whose family were sick, lived near Deacon Murray,
+(referred to in the tract, 'Worth of a Dollar,') and occasionally called
+at his house for a supply of milk. One morning he came while the family
+were at breakfast. Mrs. Murray rose to wait upon him, but the deacon
+said to her, 'Wait till after breakfast.' She did so, and meanwhile the
+deacon made some inquiries of the man about his family and
+circumstances.
+
+"After family worship the deacon invited him to go out to the barn with
+him. When they got into the yard, the deacon, pointing to one of the
+cows, exclaimed, 'There, take that cow, and drive her home.' The man
+thanked him heartily for the cow, and started for home; but the deacon
+was observed to stand in the attitude of deep thought until the man had
+gone some rods. He then looked up, and called out, 'Hey, bring that cow
+back.' The man looked around, and the deacon added, 'Let that cow come
+back, and you come back too.' He did so; and when he came into the yard
+again, the deacon said, 'There, now, take your pick out of the cows; _I
+a'n't going to lend to the Lord the poorest cow I've got_.'"
+
+
+A STEWARD OF HIS LORD'S BOUNTY.
+
+
+An aged benevolent friend in a western city, states some interesting
+facts respecting his own experience in giving systematically as the Lord
+prospered him. He says, "Our country and professors of religion in it
+have become 'rich and increased in goods,' but I fear that a due
+proportion is not returned to the Giver of every good.
+
+"I commenced business in 1809 with $600, and united with the 'Northern
+Missionary Society No. 2,' which met monthly for prayer, and required
+the payment of two dollars a year from each member. That year I married,
+and the next united with the Christian church. No definite system of
+giving 'as the Lord had prospered' me, was fully made until the close of
+the year 1841. The previous fourteen years had been assiduously devoted
+to the interests of Sabbath-schools and the temperance enterprise, when
+I found both my physical and pecuniary energies diminished, the latter
+being less than $30,000.
+
+"After days and nights of close examination into my affairs, with
+meditation and prayer, I promised the Lord of all, I would try at the
+close of every year to see what was the value of my property, and the
+one-quarter of the increase I would return to him in such way as my
+judgment, aided by his word and providence, might direct.
+
+"For more than fifteen years I have lived up to this resolve, and though
+most of the time I have been unable to attend to active business, the
+investments I have made have more than quadrupled the value of my
+property, and in that time enabled me to return to Him 'from whom all
+blessings flow,' $11,739.61."
+
+
+THE FIVE-DOLLAR GOLD PIECE.
+
+
+"'A friend,' says a venerable clergyman, Rev. Mr. H----, 'at a time when
+gold was scarce, made me a present of a five-dollar gold piece. I
+resolved not to spend it, and for a long time carried it in my pocket as
+a token of friendship. In riding about the country, I one day fell in
+with an acquaintance, who presented a subscription-book for the erection
+of a church in a destitute place.
+
+"'I can do nothing for you, Mr. B----,' said I; 'my heart is in this
+good undertaking, but my pocket is entirely empty; having no money, you
+must excuse me.'
+
+"'Oh, certainly,' said he; 'all right, sir. We know you always give when
+it is in your power.'
+
+"We parted; and after I had proceeded some distance, I bethought me of
+the piece of gold in my vest pocket. 'What,' said I to myself, 'I told
+that man I had no money, when I had by me all the time this gold
+pocket-piece. This was an untruth, and I have done wrong.' I kept
+reproaching myself in this way until I stopped, and took from my pocket
+the five-dollar piece.
+
+"'Of what use,' said I, 'is this piece of money, stowed away so nicely
+in my pocket?' I made up my mind to turn back, and rode as fast as I
+could until I overtook Mr. B----, to whom I gave the coin, and resumed
+my journey.
+
+"A few days after, I stopped at the house of a lady, who treated me very
+hospitably, for which I could make no return, except in thanks and
+Christian counsel. When I took leave, she slipped into my vest pocket a
+little folded paper, which she told me to give to my wife. I supposed it
+was some trifle for the children, and thought no more of it until I
+reached home. I handed it to my wife, who opened it, and to my
+astonishment _it was a five-dollar gold piece, the identical
+pocket-piece I had parted with but a few days before_. I knew it was the
+same, for I had made a mark upon it; how this had been brought about was
+a mystery, but that the hand of the Lord was in it I could not doubt.
+'See,' said I to my wife; 'I thought I _gave_ that money, but I only
+_lent_ it; how soon has the Lord returned it! Never again will I doubt
+his word.'
+
+"I afterward learned that Mr. B---- had paid over the coin to the
+husband of the lady at whose house I staid, along with some other money,
+in payment for lumber, and he had given it to his wife.
+
+"Take my advice, and when appealed to for aid, fear not to give of your
+poverty; depend upon it the Lord will not let you lose by it, if you
+wish to do good. If you wish to prosper, 'Give, and it shall be given
+unto you; for with the same measure that ye mete, it shall be measured
+to you again.' 'Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in
+the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.'"
+
+
+A NEW YEAR'S INCIDENT.
+
+
+"One New Year's day I was going out to visit some of my poorer
+neighbors, and thought I would take a sovereign to a certain widow who
+had seen days of competence and comfort. I went to look in my drawer,
+and was so sorry to find I had but one sovereign left in my bank for the
+poor, and my allowance would not be due for two or three weeks. I had
+nearly closed the drawer upon the solitary sovereign, when this passage
+of Scripture flashed so vividly into my mind, 'The Lord is able to give
+thee much more than this,' (2 Chron. xxv: 9.) that I again opened the
+drawer, took the money, and entered the carriage which was waiting for
+me. When I arrived at Mrs. A.'s, and with many good wishes for the New
+Year, offered her the sovereign, I shall never forget her face of
+surprised joy. The tears ran down her cheeks while she took my hands and
+said, 'May the God of the widow and fatherless bless you; we had not one
+penny in the house, nor a morsel of bread; it is he who has heard my
+prayers, and sent you again and again to supply my need.' You who pray
+for and visit the poor, and enjoy the blessedness of relieving their
+temporal wants and of speaking to them of Jesus, you will understand the
+gladness of heart with which I returned home.
+
+"In the country we had only one post daily; so when evening came on, and
+it was nearly ten o'clock, I was not a little surprised at receiving a
+letter. When I opened it, how my heart beat for joy when I read these
+words from a comparative stranger: 'You will have many poor just now to
+claim your pity and your help, may I beg you to dispense the enclosed
+five pounds as you see fit? and I have ordered a box of soap to be sent
+to you for the same purpose.' These boxes of soap are worth four pounds.
+Thus did our gracious God send nine times as much as I gave for his
+sake, before that day had closed."
+
+
+FENEBERG'S LOAN TO THE LORD.
+
+
+"A poor man with an empty purse came one day to Michael Feneberg, the
+godly pastor of Seeg, in Bavaria, and begged three crowns, that he might
+finish his journey. It was all the money Feneberg had, but as he
+besought him so earnestly in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus he
+gave it. Immediately after, he found himself in great outward need, and
+seeing no way of relief he prayed, saying, 'Lord, I lent Thee three
+crowns; Thou hast not yet returned them, and Thou knowest how I need
+them. Lord, I pray Thee, give them back.' The same day a messenger
+brought a money-letter, which Gossner, his assistant, reached over to
+Feneberg, saying, 'Here, father, is what you expended.' The letter
+contained two hundred thalers, or about one hundred and fifty dollars,
+which the poor traveler had begged from a rich man for the vicar; and
+the childlike old man, in joyful amazement, cried out, 'Ah, dear Lord,
+one dare ask nothing of Thee, for straightway Thou makest one feel so
+much ashamed!'"
+
+
+COMPOUND INTEREST.
+
+
+_The Christian_ tells of a minister in Ohio, who in 1860 was engaged to
+statedly supply a congregation who were in arrears for a whole year's
+salary to their former pastor, and were only able to promise their
+'supply' five dollars a Sunday till the old debt should be paid. At the
+close of the year, only about two-thirds of this amount had been paid.
+So it was not strange that their 'supply' soon found himself in arrears
+for many things. That year the cost of his periodicals alone had
+amounted to sixteen dollars. This he could not pay, and as none of them
+could be stopped without payment of arrearages; the debt must continue
+to increase.
+
+On New Year's day the minister was called to marry a couple, and gave
+the fee, five dollars, to his wife saying, "I want you to get yourself a
+dress with this." There was a kind of material much worn then, which she
+had very much admired, a dress of which would cost four dollars. So she
+went to the Mission periodical to find the address of the Mission
+Secretary, thinking to send the extra dollar there. But as she glanced
+over its pages and noticed the trials and straits of the missionaries,
+and the embarrassment of the Board that year, her heart was touched and
+she felt that they needed the money more than she did the dress, and
+instead of the one she concluded to send the five dollars.
+
+She went to her husband and read her letter to him. "O," said he, "I'm
+afraid we are too poor to give so much." With a little feeling of
+disappointment she said, "Well, give me the change and I will send what
+I had intended at first." "No," said he, "you have given it, and I dare
+not take it back."
+
+And so with a prayer that God would accept and bless the gift she signed
+her letter, "A Friend of Missions," thinking, as no one would know the
+author, that was the last she would hear about it in this world.
+
+The ladies of that congregation were accustomed to meet weekly at the
+parsonage to sew for those in need. The next week a lady who was
+visiting in the place came with her friends, and as she entered the
+parlor she tossed a bundle into the lap of the minister's wife, saying,
+"Mrs. ----, here is a present for you."
+
+The present was a dress pattern of the same kind of material she had
+intended to purchase. And as she thought to herself, "God has given me
+this in place of what I have given," she was reminded of the words,
+"Give, and it shall be given to you." But that was not the end.
+
+A short time afterwards she received a letter from the Secretary of the
+Board of Missions, enclosing a printed copy of her own letter, and
+asking if she were the author of it; and added, "If so, a large-hearted
+man in New York has authorized me to send you twenty-five dollars, with
+a special request that you purchase a dress worth five dollars, and give
+the rest to your husband and children." There was her five dollars back,
+with four times as much more added to it.
+
+
+THE BROWN TOWEL.
+
+
+The editor of _The Christian Woman_ tells the story of a poor woman who,
+in her anxiety to give to the Lord, could find nothing but a poor brown
+towel.
+
+"They must be very poor who have _nothing_ to give," said Mrs. Jarvis,
+as she deposited a pair of beautiful English blankets in a box that was
+being filled by the ladies of the church to be sent to the poor.
+
+"And now, ladies, as you are nearly through, I would like to tell you an
+incident in my history; I was once very poor."
+
+"You once very poor?" said a lady.
+
+"Yes; I was once _very poor_. There came to our village a missionary to
+deliver a lecture. I felt very desirous to go; but having no decent
+apparel to wear, I was often deprived of going to church, although I was
+a member.
+
+"I waited until it was late, and then slipped in and took a seat behind
+the door.
+
+"I listened with streaming eyes to the missionary's account of the
+destitution and darkness in heathen lands. Poor as I was, I felt it to
+be a great privilege to live in a Christian land and to be able to read
+my Bible.
+
+"It was proposed by our pastor that the congregation should fill a box
+and send it out with the missionary on his return.
+
+"O," thought I, "how I would like to send something." "When I returned
+home my poor children were still sleeping soundly, and my disconsolate
+husband waiting my return, for he had been out of employment some time.
+After he had gone to bed I went to looking over my clothes, but I could
+find nothing that was suitable that I could possibly spare; then I began
+looking over the children's things, but could find nothing that the poor
+dears could be deprived of; so I went to bed with a heavy heart, and lay
+a long time thinking of the destitution of the poor heathen, and how
+much better off I was.
+
+"I got to thinking over my little stock again. There was nothing I could
+put into the box except two brown towels.
+
+"Next day I got my towels, pieced out the best one, and when it was
+almost dark, put on my bonnet, went to the church, slipped my towel into
+the box, and came away thinking that the Lord knew I had done what I
+could.
+
+"And now, ladies, let me tell you it was not long after that till my
+husband got into a good situation; and prosperity has followed us ever
+since. So I date back my prosperity to this incident of the brown
+towel."
+
+Her story was done, and, as her carriage was waiting at the door, she
+took her departure, leaving us all mute with surprise that one so rich
+and generous had been trained to give amid poverty.
+
+
+GIVING BLESSED.
+
+
+A merchant of St. Petersburg, at his own cost, supported several native
+missionaries in India, and gave liberally to the cause of Christ at
+home. On being asked how he could afford to do it, he replied:
+
+"Before my conversion, when I served the world and self, I did it on a
+grand scale, and at the most lavish expense. And when God by his grace
+called me out of darkness, I resolved that Christ and his cause should
+have more than I had ever spent for the world. And as to giving _so
+much_, it is God who enables me to do it; for, at my conversion, I
+solemnly promised that I would give to his cause a fixed proportion of
+all that my business brought in to me; and every year since I made that
+promise, it has brought me in about double what it did the year before,
+so that I easily can, as I do, double my gifts for his service."
+
+And so good old John Bunyan tells us,
+
+    "A man there was, some called him mad,
+     The more he gave, the more he had."
+
+And there are truth and instruction in the inscription on the Italian
+tombstone, "What I gave away, I saved; what I spent, I used; what I
+kept, I lost." "Giving to the Lord," says another, "is but transporting
+our goods to a higher floor." And, says Dr. Barrow, "In defiance of all
+the torture and malice and might of the world, the _liberal_ man will
+ever be rich; for God's providence is his estate; God's wisdom and
+power, his defense; God's love and favor, his reward; and God's word,
+his security."
+
+Richard Baxter says, "I never prospered more in my small estate than
+when I gave most. My rule has been, _first_, to contrive to need,
+myself, as little as may be, to lay out none on _need-nots,_ but to live
+frugally on a little; _second_, to serve God in any place, upon that
+competency which he allowed me: to myself, that what I had myself might
+be as good a work for common good, as that which I gave to others; and
+_third_, to do all the good I could with all the rest, preferring the:
+most public and durable object, and the nearest. And the more I have
+practiced this, the more I have had to do it with; and when I gave
+almost all, more came in, I scarce knew how, at least unexpected. But
+when by improvidence I have cast myself into necessities of using more
+upon myself or upon things in themselves of less importance, I have
+prospered much less than when I did otherwise. And when I had contented
+myself to devote a stock I had gotten to charitable uses _after my
+death_, instead of laying it out at present, in all probability, _that_
+is like to be lost; whereas, when I took the present opportunity, and
+trusted God for the time to come, I wanted nothing and lost nothing."
+
+These are a few of many evidences, that where we give from right
+motives, we are never the poorer, but the richer for doing it. "The
+liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth, shall be watered
+also, himself."
+
+
+LENDING TO THE LORD.
+
+
+As a series of religious meetings was held in a Baptist church in ----,
+and the hearts of God's people were greatly encouraged, the church was
+consumed by fire. It was proposed to continue the meetings in the
+Congregational church, but the workmen were coming the next morning to
+demolish and rebuild it. It was then proposed to hire the workmen to
+delay, that the people might assemble for three days more, but nothing
+was done; when the Congregational pastor walking his study, and thinking
+that some souls might be gathered in, went to the workmen, and handed
+them $10 from his own pocket, which he could ill afford; the meetings
+were continued, and a number of souls hopefully converted to God. The
+day following, as he passed the house, the man to whom he paid the $10
+called to him, and constrained him to receive back the whole amount,
+saying it was of no value compared with the saving of a soul.
+
+
+THE LIBERAL FARMER.
+
+
+A farmer in one of the retired mountain towns of Massachusetts, began
+business in 1818, with six hundred dollars in debt. He began with the
+determination to pay the debt in six years, in equal installments, and
+to give all his net income if any remained above those installments. The
+income of the first year, however, was expended in purchasing stock and
+other necessaries for his farm.
+
+In the six next years he paid off the debt, and having abandoned the
+intention of ever being any richer, he has ever since given his entire
+income, after supporting his family and thoroughly educating his six
+children.
+
+During all this period he has lived with the strictest economy, and
+everything pertaining to his house, table, dress and equipage has been
+in the most simple style; and though he has twice been a member of the
+State Senate, he conscientiously retains this simplicity in his mode of
+life. The farm is rocky and remote from the village, and his whole
+property, real and personal, would not exceed in value three thousand
+dollars. Yet sometimes he has been enabled to give from $200 to $300 a
+year.
+
+
+EXPERIENCE OF A SADDLER.
+
+
+Normand Smith, a saddler of Hartford, Conn., after practicing for years
+an elevated system of benevolence, bequeathed in charity the sum of
+$30,000.
+
+An anonymous writer says of himself, that he commenced business and
+prosecuted it in the usual way till he lost $900, which was all he was
+worth, and found himself in debt $1,100.
+
+Being led by his trials to take God's word as his guide in business as
+well as in heart and religion, he determined to give his earnings
+liberally unto the Lord.
+
+The first year he gave $12. For eighteen years the amount increased by
+about 25 per cent., and the last year he gave $850, and he says he did
+it easier than during the first year he paid the $12. Besides, though
+with nothing but his hands to depend on when he began this course, he
+paid the whole debt of $1,100 with interest, though it took him nine
+years to do it.
+
+
+JACOB NOT BLESSED UNTIL HE BECAME A LIBERAL GIVER.
+
+
+Jacob went out from his father's house "with his staff," a poor man. But
+at Bethel he vowed to give to God the _tenth_ of all that God should
+bestow on him. Commencing thus, God blessed him, and in twenty years he
+returned with great riches.
+
+
+THE LORD'S INSURANCE MONEY.
+
+
+A tradesman in New York had pledged to give to the Lord a certain
+portion of his business receipts as fast as they were collected. He
+called this _The Lord's insurance money_, for, said he, "so long as I
+give so long will the Lord help me and bless me, and in some way he will
+give me the means to give, so it is no money lost. Rather it is a
+blessing to my heart to keep it open in gratitude, a blessing to dispose
+of it to gladden other hearts, and the surest way to keep the Lord's
+favor with me."
+
+The results of his experience were blessed indeed, as he said, "I never
+realized before how closely the Lord is connected with all my interests,
+and how he helps me in all my business plans. Things happen constantly
+which show me constantly that some one who knows more than I is
+benefiting me--protecting me. Bad debts have been paid which I did not
+expect. Errand boys, just getting into sly and bad habits, have been
+discovered ere their thefts had proceeded far. As I needed competent
+help in my business, it has come just as it was wanted. When customers
+were failing, somehow their debts to me were paid, although they failed
+to pay others. A severe fire came to my office and apparently seemed to
+have swept all my valuables away. But it was stopped at just the right
+moment, and not one thing valuable was lost. The insurance companies
+paid me enough to replace every damage, and the office was renewed
+better than before. The Lord sends me business enough to pay for my
+debts, yet others are dull. _I cannot tell why it is, except that I
+always pray for my business, and ask the Lord to bless it for the good
+of others_, and that the means which come from it may be used for his
+cause. When I stop giving, business stops coming. When I stop praying
+specially for it, perplexities arise. As long as I pray for it, it all
+moves easily, and I have no care or trouble. The Lord is my Banker, my
+Helper, my Insurer, my Deliverer, my Patron, and my Blessed Savior of
+temporal things as well as spiritual."
+
+
+GIVE AND IT SHALL BE GIVEN.
+
+
+"'Cheerful giving,' writes an aged minister, 'is what enriches the giver
+and brings down a blessing from above. A poor clergyman attended one of
+Zion's festivals in a distant city. The railroad company supplied him
+with a return ticket, and though many of his brethren would secure
+treasures from the book-stores, but a solitary twenty-five cent scrip
+was in his possession, and he would need that to pay for refreshment on
+his way home. It was the last day of the feast. Mention, again and
+again, was made of the widow's mite, or poor men's gifts, and, as the
+boxes were passed, he felt sad that, in his deep poverty, he could not
+cast in a single penny. As the assembly was dismissed, it was announced
+that collectors would stand at the door to gather up the _fragments_
+which ought to be in the Lord's treasury. With slow steps this good man
+passed down and put that last money he possessed into the waiting box.
+
+"In a few moments, a gentleman of the city invited him to his, table to
+dine, with quite a number of the dignitaries of the church. During the
+repast, the host was called from the table for a little time. At the
+conclusion of a pleasant entertainment, the poor minister was taken one
+side and an envelope put into his hands, with this remark: 'I was called
+from the table by a man who has long owed me a small debt, which I
+thought was lost a long time since, and I cannot think what it was paid
+to-day for, except that I might give it to you.' The envelope contained
+twenty-five dollars. When the books are opened, that rich steward will
+see how his money was used, and thank God, who put it into his heart to
+dispose of it thus."
+
+
+"LENDING TO THE LORD."
+
+
+"A physician who is not a professor of religion, in a neighboring city,
+has for many years exhibited an unshaken faith in that declaration. He
+told me that he has made many experiments on it, and the Lord has
+fulfilled his words, 'That which he hath given will He pay him again,'
+in every case. One of his 'experiments' came under my observation.
+
+"It was a bleak and chilling day in the Winter of 1847-8. The doctor was
+going his rounds and met a poor colored boy in the street. He was nearly
+frozen to death. He accosted the doctor, and asked him most piteously
+for a little money, stating, at the same time, that his master, an old
+Quaker, had excluded him from the house, and compelled him to remain in
+the barn; he could stand it no longer, and desired to go home--twenty
+miles up the river. The doctor now had the materials for another test of
+the promise. 'You shall not suffer if I can help you,' was his cheering
+reply to the boy. He requested him to call at his office, and went to a
+neighboring hotel and told the landlord to keep the boy until farther
+orders. Late in the evening the boy again appeared at the office, and
+stated that the landlord had said, 'We don't keep darkies over night.'
+The doctor immediately started out in search of new quarters, and, after
+some difficulty, found a colored woman who was willing to keep the boy
+for a few days. In a short time the river, which had been closed with
+ice, was open. The doctor paid the bills, gave the boy a dollar, and
+bade him God speed. That is what he calls lending to the Lord. Now for
+the payment. When he called at the house of the colored person to pay
+the bill, he 'accidentally' met an old lady, who scrutinized him
+closely, and at length said, 'A'n't you Doctor B----?' 'Yes,' was the
+reply; 'but who are you?' 'No matter about my name; I owe you four
+dollars, which you have long since forgotten, and which I did not intend
+to pay you till I saw what you have done to that poor boy. The Lord
+bless you for your kindness. Next week you shall have your money.' She
+came according to her promise and offered the money, but the doctor was
+unwilling to take it, as he had no charge on his books. She forced it on
+him. He afterwards simply remarked, 'My meeting that woman was not a
+mere _accident_; the Lord always fulfills his promise. I generally get
+my capital back, with compound interest.'"
+
+
+THE PRAYING SHOE-MAKER.
+
+
+A shoe-maker being asked how he contrived to give so much, replied that
+it was easily done by obeying St. Paul's precept in I Cor. 16: 2: "Upon
+the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as
+God hath prospered him." "I earn," said he, "one day with another, about
+a dollar a day, and I can without inconvenience to myself or family lay
+by five cents of this sum for charitable purposes; the amount is thirty
+cents a week. My wife takes in sewing and washing, and earns something
+like two dollars a week, and she lays by ten cents of that. My children
+each of them earn a shilling or two, and are glad to contribute their
+penny; so that altogether we _lay by us in store_ forty cents a week.
+And if we have been unusually prospered, we contribute something more.
+The weekly amount is deposited every Sunday morning in a box kept for
+that purpose, and reserved for future use. Thus, by these small
+earnings, we have learned that it is more blessed to give than to
+receive. The yearly amount saved in this way is about _twenty-five
+dollars_; and I distribute this among the various benevolent societies,
+according to the best of my judgment."
+
+
+THE HISTORY AND BUSINESS SUCCESSES OF LIBERAL GIVERS.
+
+
+Mr. Nathaniel R. Cobb, a merchant connected with the Baptist church in
+Boston, in 1821, at the age of twenty-three, drew up and subscribed the
+following covenant, to which he faithfully adhered till on his death-bed
+he praised God that by acting according to it he had given in charity
+more than $40,000.
+
+"By the grace of God, I will never be worth more than $50,000.
+
+"By the grace of God, I will give one fourth of the net profits of my
+business to charitable and religious uses.
+
+"If I am ever worth $20,000, I will give one-half of my net profits; and
+if I am ever worth $30,000, I will give three-fourths; and the whole,
+after $50,000. So help me God, or give to a more faithful steward, and
+set me aside.
+
+                                                          "N.R. COBB."
+
+
+FAITH IN GOD'S LIBERALITY.
+
+
+A clergyman, himself an exponent of God's bountiful dealings with men,
+was called upon in test of his own principles of giving to the Lord.
+
+Preaching, in the morning, a sermon on Foreign Missions, an unusually
+large contribution was taken up. In the afternoon, he listened to
+another sermon, by a brother, on Home Missions, and the subject became
+so important that he was led closely to agitate the question how much he
+should himself give to the cause. "I was, indeed, in a great strait
+between charity and necessity. I felt desirous to contribute; but, there
+I was, on a journey, and I had given so much in the morning that I
+really feared I had no more money than would bear my expenses.
+
+"The collection was taken; I gave my last dollar, and trusted in the
+Lord to provide. I proceeded on my journey, stopping to see a friend for
+whom I had collected forty dollars. I was now one hundred and forty
+miles from home, and how my expenses were to be met, I could not
+imagine. But, judge my surprise, when, on presenting the money to my
+friend, he took a hundred dollars, and, adding it to the forty, placed
+the whole of it in my hand, saying he would make me a present of it.
+
+"Gratitude and joy swelled my bosom; my mind at once remembered my
+sacrifice of the day before, and now I had realized the literal
+fulfillment of the promise, 'Give, and it shall be given unto you; good
+measure, pressed down and running over, shall men give into your
+bosom.'"
+
+
+HE GAVE HIS LAST $5 TO THE LORD.
+
+
+A missionary agent thus relates this incident in the life of a poor
+physician:
+
+"I preached a missionary sermon in the town of -----, and a physician
+subscribed and paid five dollars. A gentleman standing by told me that
+the five dollars was all he had, or was worth; that he had lost his
+property and paid up his debts, and moved into town to commence
+practicing, with no other resources than that five-dollar bill. He and
+his wife were obliged to board out, as he was not able to keep house.
+
+"I resolved, at once, that I would keep watch of that man, and see what
+the Lord would do with him. About a year after this interview, I visited
+the place again, and found the physician keeping house in good style.
+
+"During the Summer, while the cholera raged in the country, by a series
+of events, guided, as he believes, by the providence of God, most of the
+practice was thrown into his hands, and he had taken more than $2,500."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+BELIEVE NOTHING OF YOUR GOD BUT WHAT IS MOST NOBLE AND GENEROUS.--PRES.
+EDWARDS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+MORE THINGS ARE WROUGHT BY PRAYER THAN THE WORLD DREAMS OF.--TENNYSON.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+PRAYERS ANSWERED
+
+
+IN BUSINESS AND SOCIAL ANXIETIES.
+
+
+HELP IN PAYING A MORTGAGE.
+
+
+A business man in New York had several large amounts due for payment. An
+unprecedented series of calls from tradesmen wishing their bills paid
+sooner than customary, drained his means, and he was satisfied from the
+situation that his means would not be sufficient to pay them all. His
+business receipts, at this juncture, fell to one-half what they had
+usually been. A loan was due at the bank; a mortgage on his property, as
+well as large notes. He could do no more than ask the Lord constantly in
+prayer, to either send supplies of business, or open ways of relief.
+Committing his cares all to the Lord, he endeavored to throw off his
+burden and with diligence in trade do what was possible for protection.
+
+He was greatly surprised when the bank loan fell due to learn that a
+trifling payment would be acceptable, and the rest extended at his
+convenience. This was remarkable, as the security had depreciated
+somewhat, and the loan had been then extended longer than usual.
+
+The holder of the mortgage did not call as usual for his interest. In
+great surprise the tradesman dropped a note, saying he would meet his
+demand, but if not all the mortgage was needed, its extension would
+benefit the use of the capital in his business. To his surprise, he
+received a reply that the mortgage would be extended one-half until the
+next interest day, and the rest might be paid now if it could be spared.
+_This was just the money which the tradesman could spare_, and was
+intending to propose, but refrained from mentioning it.
+
+A sudden opportunity in business arose which enabled him to see how to
+use the rest of the money he had on hand, as capital, whereby he could
+clear within three months the remainder of the mortgage before it became
+due.
+
+Thus the Lord in answer to prayer, relieved his necessities, eased his
+creditors, gave him knowledge and intelligence of profitable ways of
+trade, and helped him freely according to his faith.
+
+Thus business needs prayer, as well as the interests of the home, the
+church and the soul. When the means derived in business is used to bless
+the Lord's poor, "_The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble_."
+
+
+A REMARKABLE PRAYER AND ITS ANSWER.
+
+
+A lady, who had led for many years a life of faith, caring for orphans
+and invalids, was led one day in thought to wish that she might devote
+all her money to the work of the Lord, and use it specially for one
+branch of his service which few had ever entered. She possessed only a
+thousand dollars; and not knowing whether the thought was her own and
+therefore rash, or whether it came from the Lord, she asked the Lord in
+prayer, that if the thought was from _Him_ "it might be continually
+before me; if it were not, that I might cease to think of the matter."
+
+"It was kept before me as a privilege, to help me realize a greater
+personal nearness to God as my Father. It was a very important matter,
+and fearing a mistake, I requested a sign. I asked God, if he wished me
+to give the money, (which we held at His disposal,) that _He_ would send
+me _one dollar,_ (no more, no less,) from some individual with whom I
+had no acquaintance. About three weeks after my request, I attended a
+prayer-meeting, where about a dozen ladies were gathered. After the
+meeting, an elderly lady I had never seen before, put something in my
+hand saying, '_You will not be offended, dear, will you?_' When I looked
+at the money, I found that it _was just one dollar_, my token. I
+exclaimed, mentally, dear Lord, do not let me ever doubt thee again. I
+afterwards asked the lady why she gave me the dollar. She said, 'Before
+I went to the prayer-meeting, I felt that I ought to take a dollar with
+me, and when I saw you, I felt that you were the one I should give it
+to.'"
+
+"Nearly five years have passed since then, when I gave all, and my purse
+has never been empty. I have been constantly occupied in work of love,
+and my Father has sweetly cared for me in every respect."
+
+This lady in her faith work has had under her constant care as many as
+twenty-two helpless invalids, of utter poverty, yet prayer has always
+brought them needed supplies, and the Lord has kept them.
+
+
+RECOVERY FROM INSANITY.
+
+
+A most remarkable case of recovery from insanity is given by President
+William M. Brooks, of Tabor College, Iowa.
+
+"A young lady of my acquaintance, of a finished education, lost her
+reason in the Winter of 1871-2, and in August, 1872, was placed in the
+institution for the insane, at Mt. Pleasant, Ia. No encouragement was
+given of her recovery, and a year later, when her father visited her, in
+June, 1873, she appeared so badly, that he said it would be a relief to
+know that she was dead. Soon after, Mrs. H., the wife of a Baptist
+minister, who had long known and loved her, being shut up for days in a
+dark room, because of inflamed eyes, felt drawn out in special prayer in
+her behalf, and finally sent for the father and told him of her
+exercises, and of the assurance gained that his daughter would be fully
+restored.
+
+"In a few days, came news of a sudden change for the better, and in a
+little over two months she returned home well, and is now teaching with
+all her powers in full vigor.
+
+"The acting superintendent of the hospital, who is not a professed
+Christian, and who knew nothing of the prayers referred to, said that
+when the change occurred there was not a case among the five hundred
+inmates of which he had less hope, and that it was the most remarkable
+case of recovery which he had known during the eight years of his
+connection with the hospital."
+
+
+SEEKING DIRECTION IN BUSINESS.
+
+
+A lady clerk employed in an apparently successful business was offered
+an opportunity in a new business, which, though much smaller and less
+successful than the first, yet had rich promise in it for the future.
+The salary promised was the same in either case. In doubt, she often
+waited upon the Lord, and asked to be guided,--a whisper in her heart
+kept saying, "Go," "Go." Constant praying kept it growing stronger and
+stronger,--at last she decided to go, feeling it was the decision of the
+Lord. She accepted the new position, was pleased, and often declared she
+never desired to return. The old business in less than three years
+decreased so that half of the employees were discharged; the rest had
+their salaries reduced. The new business doubled in its extent, and her
+salary was increased one-fifth.
+
+
+SEEKING GUIDANCE OF THE LORD.
+
+
+A school teacher, without family or a special home, in New York City,
+asked the Lord for direction in finding a home, and prayed often that
+the way might be made so plain, she might acknowledge His hand, and
+understand His direction.
+
+Soon it transpired, in taking lunch at a restaurant kept by a man and
+his wife, that they advised her to choose a certain family hotel. She
+did so, and found in time more friends and acquaintances, and a
+pleasanter home than she ever possessed before.
+
+She also gained new scholars to her school. Sufficient to pay for her
+living.
+
+Was she not fully answered? "_They that seek the Lord shall not want any
+good thing_."
+
+
+SAVED FROM CHOLERA.
+
+
+The Rev. J.B. Waterbury relates several incidents which prove the power
+of Prayer.
+
+"In the year 1832 he was compelled by pulmonary symptoms, to leave his
+field of ministerial labor in one of the eastern cities, and travel
+south, hoping that a milder climate might be favorable.
+
+"He had not proceeded far, before the cholera, that fearful scourge,
+made its appearance in the States, and obliged him to rejoin his family
+in the city of Brooklyn.
+
+"Whilst many were dying around him, _his health_ continued to improve;
+so that with the disappearance of the epidemic he found himself
+sufficiently restored to venture, if Providence should open the door, to
+resume his ministerial work.
+
+"But where should he go? The future, to human view, was shrouded in
+uncertainty. In so important a matter, affecting his usefulness and
+happiness, there was nothing left, but to give himself to prayer. His
+faith in that promise, 'In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He will
+direct thy Paths,' led him to pray without ceasing, 'Lord, what wilt
+thou have me to do.'"
+
+On a certain day, when the burden lay heavily upon his heart, he retired
+as usual, to implore light and guidance. He read on that occasion, the
+chapter of Acts where, by divine direction, Cornelius the Centurion sent
+messengers to Peter at Joppa, to come to him with the Gospel. The
+apostle, meanwhile; is instructed by a vision to go to Cornelius.
+
+The case was so applicable to the circumstances that the writer was led
+to cry mightily to God for light to be shed also upon _his_ path.
+
+While thus praying the door-bell rang, and the servant announced two men
+who wished to see me.
+
+This was somewhat startling. After introducing themselves, they remarked
+that they had come on a very important errand, viz: to ask my services
+for a vacant church in which they were officers.
+
+"But how is this," I inquired, "How did you know of _me_?"
+
+They did not until that very day. But inquiring at the Bible House in
+Nassau street if any of the officers of that Society knew of a minister
+who could be recommended to fill their pulpit, now vacant for some
+months.
+
+Dr. B., the Secretary, answered, "Yes, I know a young minister in
+Brooklyn, whom I can recommend, provided his health, which has been
+delicate, is adequate."
+
+So the messenger came inadvertently over to B----, and I was called from
+my knees to receive their invitation. I promptly responded, "Yes, I will
+go?" for what was I that I could withstand God. A successful and happy
+ministry of fourteen years, attests the good results of that decision.
+
+
+THE AID OF THE LORD IN BUSINESS AND SOCIAL PROSPERITY. THE WONDERFUL
+DELIVERANCE OF DANIEL LOEST.
+
+
+John Daniel Loest, a celebrated German tradesman of Berlin, Germany,
+was, by the aid of the Lord, so prospered in his worldly circumstances,
+that by steady industry, he raised himself to rank with the most
+respectable tradesmen of Berlin, where he kept a well-frequented fringe
+and trimming shop.
+
+He was always benevolent, willing to help others, and both fervent in
+spirit and constant in prayer, asking the help of the Lord in the
+minutest details of his business.
+
+Yet there once occurred in his experience a season of severest trial,
+which demanded his utmost trust and unflinching confidence in God. He
+seemed almost forsaken, and circumstances almost impossible to overcome.
+But his deliverance so astonished him that he was lost in wonder at the
+mysterious way in which the Lord helped his business and sent him all
+that he needed.
+
+By means of acquaintances of high social character, whom he fully
+trusted as good Christians, never supposing there could be any degree of
+hypocrisy, he became security for a Christian lady of good property to
+the amount of _six hundred thalers_. The attorney assured him that there
+was not a shadow of a risk in going security for her, as her property
+would be more than ample to cover any claim.
+
+Months elapsed, and the circumstance forgotten, when Mr. Loest was most
+unpleasantly reminded by receiving an order from the Court to pay in on
+the following Tuesday the _six hundred thalers_ for which he had become
+security, under the penalty of execution.
+
+He now discovered that he had been designedly mystified, and there was
+no escape. The six hundred thalers must be paid before the next Tuesday.
+He had just accepted a bill for _three hundred thalers_, to be paid for
+on the ensuing Saturday. And in his first thoughts of his perplexity, he
+hoped to get out of his dilemma by hurrying to a rich friend to obtain a
+loan. On his way to his friend's home, he stumbled on another
+acquaintance who had lent him _four hundred_ thalers on a mere note of
+hand, and he saluted him with the news that he must try for repayment of
+that sum on the following Friday, as he required it to pay for a parcel
+of goods which would arrive that day.
+
+"You shall have it," said Loest, as he hurried on to his friend. The
+friend was at home, but before Loest could speak his errand, he is
+addressed thus: "It is lucky you came, my friend, for I was just going
+to send for you, to request you to make provision to pay me back the
+_five hundred thalers you owe me_, for I must needs have it on Wednesday
+to pay off a mortgage on my house, which has just been called up." "_You
+shall have it_," replied Loest, calmly, yet his heart became heavier
+every moment.
+
+Suddenly it occurred to him that the widow of a friend just dead was
+possessed of large means, and she might be inclined to help him. But
+alas, disappointment thickened fast upon him. Loest owed the deceased
+friend five hundred thalers for note, and three hundred thalers for
+goods just delivered. As he entered the room of the widow, she handed
+him an order from the court of trustees, under which he was bound to pay
+up _the five hundred thalers on Thursday_, and, continued the lady,
+before the poor man had time to utter a word, "I would earnestly entreat
+you to pay the other three hundred thalers early on Saturday to me, for
+there are accounts constantly pouring in on me, and the funeral
+expenses," here her voice faltered. "It shall be cared for," said Loest,
+and he withdrew, not having had opportunity to utter one word as to the
+business that took him thither. He had failed at every turn; not one
+thing was for him, all seemed against him. But though the waves surged,
+and rose, and oppressed, yet they did not overwhelm his hope; the more
+the discouragements, the greater became his faith that all things were
+appointed for his good, and thought he could not guess, yet even the
+trial would result by God's own working hand, to the honor and glory of
+his great name.
+
+Yet here was his situation. _Six hundred thalers to be paid on Tuesday,
+five hundred on Wednesday, five hundred on Thursday, four hundred on
+Friday, three hundred Saturday morning, and three hundred on Saturday
+afternoon; in all, two thousand six hundred thalers_. It was already the
+Saturday just previous, and his purse contained _only four thalers_.
+There was only one prospect left, and he went to a rich money lender,
+and in response to his request for relief in money difficulties, was met
+with this reply of irony and sarcasm from one who loved to indulge his
+enmity to the Christian faith. "_You in money difficulties, or any
+difficulties, Mr. Loest! I cannot believe it; it is altogether
+impossible! you are at all times and in all places boasting that you
+have such a rich and loving Master! Why don't you apply to him now_."
+And the unseen face could not conceal his pleasure at this opportunity
+of testing a Christian.
+
+Loest turned away; hard as the random taunt and remark of his opponent
+was, yet it recalled him to a sense of his duty, and his forgetfulness
+of the fact that he had not hitherto asked of God for special help in
+this circumstance. With cheerful steps he hurried home, and in long and
+imploring prayer, asked for help and forgiveness in this, his neglect of
+trust in one so rich and generous. He was refreshed and comforted, and
+the Sunday was one of peace and sweetness. He knew and felt assured,
+"_That the Lord would provide_."
+
+The eventful week opened, and on Monday he arose with a cheerful thought
+in his heart; ere he had had full time to dress, he noticed with great
+surprise, that both his sister and the assistant in the store, seemed,
+notwithstanding the earliness of the hour, to have full as much as they
+could do in serving customers and making up parcels, and he at once
+hastened into the shop to give them assistance, and thus it continued
+all day. _Never, in all his experience_, could Loest remember such a
+ceaseless stream of customers as poured, on that memorable Monday, into
+his rather out-of-the-way shop. Cooking dinner was out of the question;
+neither masters nor maid had time for that; coffee and bread, taken by
+each in turn, served instead of the accustomed meal, and still the
+customers came and went; still three pairs of hands were in requisition
+to satisfy their wants.
+
+Nor was it for new purchasers alone, that money came in. More than one
+long outstanding account, accompanied by excuses for delayed payment,
+and assurances that it had not been possible to settle it sooner,
+enlarged the contents of the till; and the honest-hearted debtor, on
+whom this unwonted stream of money flowed in, was tempted every minute
+to call out, "_It is the Lord_."
+
+At length night came, when Loest and his literally worn out assistants,
+after having poured out their hearts in thankful adoration in family
+prayer, sat down to the first meal they had that day enjoyed in common.
+When it was over, the brother and sister set themselves to count over
+the money which had that day been taken. Each hundred thalers was set by
+itself, and the result showed _six hundred and three thalers, fourteen
+silver groschen_.
+
+This was sufficient to pay the first debt due the next day, and leave
+but ten shillings and eight pence over, a trifle less than they
+commenced the day with. Loest was lost in wonder and grateful emotion at
+this gracious testimony of how faithfully his Lord could minister to him
+in his earthly necessities.
+
+"How countless must be the host of his ministering servants, seen or
+unseen, since He can employ some hundreds of them, and send them to buy
+of Daniel Loest to-day, or pay him that bill which thou owest. What a
+wondrous God is ours, who in the government of this great universe, does
+not overlook my mean affairs, nor forget His gracious promise, 'Call
+upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee.'"
+
+Tuesday was a repetition of Monday's splendid business, and brought in
+the five hundred thalers which he needed the next morning to pay off the
+mortgage of his friend's house, due that day.
+
+Wednesday's sales gave him five hundred more thalers, which he was
+obliged to have ready to pay on Thursday morning into the court of
+trustees.
+
+Thursday's sales brought him four hundred thalers, just the amount he
+had given promise to pay the next day for goods delivered.
+
+And Friday's sales gave him just three hundred thalers with which to
+honor the widow's demand on Saturday, to pay funeral and contingent
+expenses.
+
+During these days of wonderful business and deliverances, after each
+indebtedness was discharged, there still was not left cash in hand a sum
+exceeding three to five dollars.
+
+On Saturday morning, after he had sent the three hundred thalers to the
+widow, he had left precisely two thalers and twenty silver groschen (six
+shillings eight pence sterling), the smallest balance he had yet had;
+and what seemed most alarming, the rush to the shop seemed to be
+entirely over; for while during the five days past, he had had scarcely
+time to draw his breath from hurry and bustle, he was now left in
+undisturbed possession of his place. Not a single customer appeared. The
+wants of the vicinity seemed to have come to an end, for not a child
+even entered to fetch a pennyworth of thread, or a few ells of tape.
+This utter cessation of trade was as unusual and out of the accustomed
+shop business, as the extra rush had been.
+
+At five o'clock on Saturday, was due the debt of three hundred thalers
+to his scoffing and tantalizing money lender. Three o'clock came, and
+still there was but six shillings eight pence in the till. Where was his
+money to come from? But Loest sat still, and "_possessed his soul in
+patience_" for he knew the Lord would choose the best time, and he
+desired to be found waiting and watching for the Lord's coming. The
+trial was severe. It seemed hopeless, and if it should happen that, the
+creditor came and went away unsatisfied, his commercial character would
+be injured, his credit shaken, and his reputation severely suffer. That
+last hour ran slowly on. At a _quarter to four_, almost the last few
+moments of painful suspense, a little old woman came in, and asking for
+Mr. Loest, said to him half in a whisper, "I live here close by, quite
+alone, in a cellar, and I have had a few thalers paid me, and now I want
+to beg of you to be so good as to keep them for me. I have not slept
+over night since I had them; it is a great charge for a lone woman like
+me."
+
+Loest was only too glad to accept the money, and offered interest, which
+she declined. She hurried back, brought in her money, counted it out on
+his table, and there _were just three hundred thalers_, six rouleaux of
+fifty thalers each.
+
+_She had scarcely left the house, with her receipt in her pocket, ere
+the clerk of the creditor with his demand in his hand, rushed into
+Loest's presence. He received his three hundred thalers, and both parted
+speechless with amazement_.
+
+Loest was lost in wonder at the marvelous way and exactness of time in
+which the Lord delivered him, while the creditor was astonished thus to
+find Loest's Mighty Friend had not failed him in his hour of need.
+
+Thus in one short week, from a beginning of less than five thalers, God
+had so exactly supplied his business needs that he had paid all his
+obligations of two thousand six hundred thalers, saved him from failure,
+saved his honor and good name, and now all was peace.
+
+The history of Loest and other providences which helped him in his
+business, are still further given more at length in a little book, "_The
+Believing Tradesman_," from the records of the Religious Tract Society
+of Berlin.
+
+This sketch illustrates the necessity of looking to God daily for help,
+and strength, and success, and deliverance in our business occupations
+as well as the concerns of our soul, and must effectively prove that
+those who use their business and the means from it to honor the good
+works of the Lord on earth, will be blessed on earth with the favor of
+the Lord. It teaches the sublime lesson that _money and prosperity are
+gifts from the Lord_, and must be considered as such, acknowledged with
+thankfulness, and used to please the Giver.
+
+Whenever the Christian learns to love the gift more than the Giver, the
+Lord takes it often away to remind him of his need of dependence upon
+_Him_. But whenever the Christian loves the _Giver_ because of His
+gifts, and spends his means again to please his Heavenly Father, he
+becomes the Father's steward, and his lap is filled with bountiful
+blessings, such as one finds by true experience, "_The Lord is my
+Shepherd, I shall not want_."
+
+
+SPURGEON'S PRAYER FOR MONEY.
+
+
+Charles Spurgeon relates this incident connected with his ministry:
+"When the college, of which I am President, had been commenced, for a
+year or so all my means stayed; my purse was dried up, and I had no
+other means of carrying it on. In this very house, one Sunday evening, I
+had paid away all I had for the support of my young men for the
+ministry. There is a dear friend now sitting behind me who knows the
+truth of what I am saying. I said to him, '_There is nothing left,
+whatever_.' He said, 'You _have a good banker, sir_.' 'Yes,' I said,
+'and I should like to draw upon him now, for I have nothing.' 'Well,'
+said he, 'how do you know, have you prayed about it?' 'Yes, I have.'
+'Well, then leave it with Him; have you opened your letters?' 'No, I do
+not open my letters on Sundays.' 'Well,' said he, 'open them for once.'
+I did so, and in the first one I opened there was a banker's letter to
+this effect: 'Dear Sir, we beg to inform you that a lady, totally
+unknown to us, has left with us two hundred pounds for you to use in the
+education of young men.' Such a sum has never come since, and it never
+came before; and I have no more idea than the dead in their graves how
+it came then, nor from whom it came, but to me it seemed that it came
+directly from God."
+
+
+THE PRAYER OF LATIMER.
+
+
+The prayers of the martyr, Latimer, were very remarkable for their
+faith. There were three principal matters for which he prayed:
+
+1. That God would give him grace to stand to his doctrine until death.
+
+2. That God would of His mercy restore His gospel to England once again,
+repeating and insisting on these words "once again," as though he had
+seen God before him, and spoken to Him face to face.
+
+3. That God would preserve Elizabeth; with many tears, desiring God to
+make her a comfort to this comfortless realm of England. All these
+requests were most fully and graciously answered.
+
+
+A MOTHER'S PRAYERS ANSWERED.
+
+
+A Christian evangelist, whose work has been most singularly blessed,
+related this incident, how once in the days of his folly and sin, while
+as yet his course of life ran counter to the fondest wishes and prayers
+of his mother's heart, he one day asked her the strange question,
+whether she really believed that he ever would be converted to God. And
+her answer, inexpressibly touching and instructive, as being the answer
+of _assured faith_, which could see as yet no signs of the coming of
+what it so anxiously sought, was,
+
+"Yes, I believe that you will one day be as eminent as a Christian, and
+an instrument for good, as you have been eminent in sin, and an
+instrument for evil."
+
+In later years the evangelist looked back with admiration to the faith
+of his mother, and thanked the Lord for His gracious answer to her
+prayers.
+
+
+HOW THE LORD RESCUED HIM.
+
+
+A wonderful incident is told by Dr. S.I. Prime among his many facts
+relating to prayer, as published in _The Observer_ and "_The Power of
+Prayer_."
+
+"A young man held a good position in a large publishing house in this
+city. He was about thirty years old, a married man, and happy in all the
+relations of life. The missionary of the church knew him through years
+of comfort and prosperity. Years passed away, and there came a dark
+place in his life. Intemperance, of the most depraved kind, made his
+career most dreadful. He disappeared, and was not heard from for some
+time. He separated himself from his family, and from all good.
+
+"He was met in Boston one day by an old friend, after long years, who
+noticed a marked difference in his appearance. He approached him,
+grasped him by the hand and said:
+
+"'I am a changed man. I one day got up in the morning, after a night of
+wakefulness, and thinking over what a wretch I had become, and how
+wretched I had made my poor wife and children, I resolved to go to the
+barn, and there all alone, to pray that God would take away utterly
+forever my accursed thirst for rum, and to pray till I felt answered
+that my prayer was heard. I went down on my knees, and on them I stayed
+until I had asked God many times to take away all my appetite for rum
+and tobacco, and everything else which was displeasing to Him, and make
+me a new creature in Christ Jesus--a holy, devoted Christian man, for
+the sake of Him who died for sinners. I told God that I could not be
+denied; I could not get up from my knees till I was forgiven and the
+curse was forever removed. I was in earnest in my prayer.
+
+"'I was on my knees two hours, short hours, as they seemed to me; two
+blessed hours, for I arose from my knees assured that all of the
+dreadful past was forgiven, and my sins blotted out forever. Oh! I tell
+you, God hears prayer. God has made me a happy man. I left all my
+appetite in the old barn. In that old barn, I was born again. Not one
+twinge of the old appetite has ever been felt since then.'"
+
+
+JESUS KEEPS ME FROM DRINKING.
+
+
+A young man arose in the Fulton Street prayer-meeting one day, and
+detailed his struggles and triumphs with his appetites. He was a perfect
+drunkard, helpless, poor; his friends' best efforts to reclaim' him were
+of no avail. The most solemn vows that he had ever taken, still were
+unable to hold him up. At last he gave himself up for lost. There seemed
+no hope for him, and in his despair he wandered away to the ocean shore.
+He met a young man who showed him a good many favors, and to whom he
+offered a drink from his flask of liquor.
+
+"'No,' said he, 'I never drink intoxicating drink, and I ask the Lord
+Jesus to help me never to touch it.'
+
+"I looked at him with surprise, and inquired, 'Are you a Christian?'
+
+"'Yes, I trust I am,' he answered.
+
+"'_And does Jesus keep you from drinking intoxicating liquor?'_
+
+"'_He does, and I never wish to touch it_.'
+
+"That short answer set me to thinking. In it was revealed a new power. I
+went home that night and said to myself, as I went, '_How do I know but
+Christ would keep one from drinking if I would ask him_?'
+
+"When I got to my room, I thought over my whole case, and then I knelt
+down and told Jesus what a poor, miserable wretch I was; how I had
+struggled against my appetite, and had always been overcome by it. I
+told Him if he would take the appetite away I would give myself up to
+Him to be his forever, and I would forever love and serve Him. I told
+Him that I felt assured that He could help me, and that He would.
+
+"Now I stand here, and I tell you all most solemnly, _that Jesus took me
+at my word_. He did take away my appetite then and there, so that, from
+that sacred moment of casting myself on his help, I have not tasted a
+drop of liquor, nor _desired_ to taste it. _The old appetite is gone_.
+
+"The last two weeks have been rich experience of Divine goodness and
+grace."
+
+
+MR. MOODY'S FAITH, IN PRAYER. A REMARKABLE ANSWER.
+
+
+Mr. Moody, on his return from England, while conducting a prayer-meeting
+in Northfield, Mass., gave this illustration of the power of prayer to
+subdue the most unlikely cases of sin and unbelief:
+
+"There is not a heart so hard that God cannot touch it. While in
+Edinburgh, a man was pointed out to me by a friend who said, 'Moody,
+that man is chairman of the Edinburgh infidel club.' So I went and sat
+down beside him, and said, 'Well, my friend, I am glad to see you at
+this meeting. Are you not concerned about your welfare?' He said that he
+did not believe in a hereafter. I said, 'Well, you just get down on your
+knees and let me pray for you.'
+
+"'_I don't believe in prayer_.'
+
+"I tried unsuccessfully to get the man down on his knees, and finally
+knelt down beside him and prayed for him. Well, he made a good deal of
+sport over it, and I met him again many times in Edinburgh after that. A
+year ago last month, while in the north of Scotland, I met the man
+again. Placing my hand on his shoulder, I asked, '_Hasn't God answered
+the prayer_?'
+
+"He replied, 'There is no God. I am just the same as I always have been.
+If you believe in a God, and in answer to prayer, do as I told you. Try
+your hand on me.'
+
+"'Well,' I said, 'God's time will come; there are a great many praying
+for you; and I have faith to believe you are going to be blessed.'
+
+"Six months ago I was in Liverpool; and there I got a letter from the
+leading barrister of Edinburgh, telling me that my friend, the infidel,
+had come to Christ, and that of his club of thirty men _seventeen_ had
+followed his example.
+
+"How it happened he could not say, but whereas he was once blind, now he
+could see. God has answered the prayer. '_I didn't know how it was to be
+answered_,' said Mr. Moody, '_but I believed it would be and it was
+done. What we want to do is to come boldly to God_.'"
+
+
+THE WONDERS OF A SINGLE PRAYER.
+
+
+The Rev. Dr. Edwin F. Hatfield, of New York City, well known and eminent
+among the clergymen of the Presbyterian church, is personally acquainted
+with the following instance of a remarkable case in answer to prayer.
+From the mother of the daughter he obtained this statement, which has
+been published by Dr. Patton, of Chicago, in his volume, "On Prayer."
+
+"My daughter was for fourteen months afflicted with hip disease. It was
+brought on by a fall, and a consequent dislocation, when she was eight
+years of age.
+
+"Her right side was paralyzed, and she had an abscess. I placed her in a
+hospital, under the care of good nurses, and the very best medical
+advice.
+
+"Everything possible was done for her, but all to no avail; she grew
+worse instead of better, and the doctors directed me, as there was no
+hope for her, to take her home to die.
+
+"But I did not cease to hope. I did as the doctors directed, but
+continued to pray the prayer of faith for her recovery for two weeks.
+One morning, at the end of this period, we were conversing together
+about the wonderful cures wrought by the Savior, when on earth, and
+particularly that of the man at the pool of Bethesda.
+
+"In the midst of our conversation, my daughter rose to obtain a drink of
+water, when she exclaimed, '_Mother, I can walk.'_ 'Thanks be to God!'
+said I, 'Come, and let me see you!'
+
+"Her crutches, the only means by which she could move about, before,
+were now useless. Upon examination, I found that the abscess had
+entirely disappeared, and that the paralyzed limb was restored whole,
+like the other.
+
+"She was again dangerously ill, five months afterward. I prayed for her
+recovery one night, before retiring, and the next morning she arose,
+perfectly cured."
+
+She is now twenty-one years of age, and during all this intervening time
+has been free from any trouble of this kind. To-day she is as well as
+any one, working and running about without the slightest trouble."
+
+
+THE TAVERN KEEPER OVERCOME.
+
+
+Rev. Charles G. Finney relates, in his "Spirit of Prayer," of an
+acquaintance of his whose faith and importunity in prayer and the answer
+were very remarkable:
+
+"In a town in the northern part of the State of New York, where there
+was a revival, there was a certain individual, who was a most violent
+and outrageous opposer. He kept a tavern, and used to delight in
+swearing at a desperate rate, whenever there were Christians within
+hearing, on purpose to hurt their feelings. He was so bad, that one man
+said he believed he should have to sell his place or give it away, and
+move out of town, for he could not live near a man that swore so.
+
+"This good man of faith and prayer that I have spoken of, was passing
+through the town and heard the case, and was very much grieved and
+distressed for the individual. He took him on his praying list. The case
+weighed on his mind when he was asleep, and when he was awake. He kept
+thinking about him, and praying for him, for days; and the first we knew
+of it, this ungodly man came into a meeting, and got up and confessed
+his sins, and poured out his soul. His barroom immediately became the
+place where they held prayer-meetings."
+
+
+VICTORIES OVER BAD HABITS, TOBACCO, OPIUM, ETC.
+
+
+The Rev. W.H. Boole, a city missionary in New York City, has been
+witness in his ministries, of many cases of complete deliverance from
+bad habits, and appetites, solely by believing prayer. Many are
+contained in a little tract written by him, "The Wonder of Grace." He
+gives a few of these incidents:
+
+"One is an officer in a church in New York, who had used tobacco for
+forty years, making during that time many efforts to abandon the
+practice, but always failing because of the resultant inward growing.
+But he was brought to an act of specific faith in Jesus, to save him
+from the appetite, and now, after several years, he testifies, 'From
+that hour all desire left me, and I have ever since hated, what I once
+so fondly loved.'"
+
+"Another is of a prominent church member in Brooklyn, N.Y., who had used
+tobacco for thirty years, and could not endure to be without a cigar in
+his mouth, and sometimes even rose and smoked in the night; after many
+failures to overcome the habit, one night when alone, he cast himself on
+his Savior for just this victory; and from that hour was delivered from
+the desire as well as from the outward act, and now wonders that he ever
+loved the filthy practice."
+
+"A certain old lady, who lived near Westbrook, Conn., aged seventy, was
+a confirmed opium eater, and used daily, an amount sufficient to kill
+twenty persons. She was led to see that the habit was a _sin_; and as
+such, she abandoned it, with specific application to Christ to save her
+from it. She was heard, and lived for two years afterward, free from any
+desire for that drug."
+
+"A similar case was that of a carpenter, in Brooklyn, N.Y., who, from
+taking morphine to allay the pain of a fractured leg, fell into its
+habitual use, till he almost lived upon it for several years after his
+recovery. He once swallowed, in the presence of several physicians, a
+dose which it was calculated would destroy the lives of two hundred
+ordinary men. Not long since, he was made to look at this as a sin, and
+tried to break off the habit, abstaining, with an alarming reaction,
+till five physicians declared that death would ensue, if he did not
+resume it. This he did for a year; but then on a certain Sunday evening,
+broke off again, casting himself by faith on Christ, from which moment
+the desire left him, and has never returned, and he has experienced no
+reaction or other ill effect, but has greatly improved in health."
+
+
+MRS. WHITNEY'S CURE IN ANSWER TO PRAYER.
+
+
+Mrs. C.S. Whitney of Hartford, Conn., a lady well known for her
+Christian work among the poor, thus gives in a letter to Dr. Patton, her
+personal testimony of the efficacy of prayer:
+
+"Three years ago, I was healed of a bodily disease. I had been troubled
+from my birth with canker, and at times suffered greatly. I had
+consulted some of the best physicians in the land, and had been treated
+by the most skillful. My case was said to be incurable. When I learned
+to trust Christ for everything, I applied to Him for healing. My husband
+joined with me in this prayer for three weeks; but all the time I was
+growing worse. I then prayed for entire submission. About the first of
+October, 1872, my stomach, throat and mouth were so cankered, I could
+scarcely eat anything. One day, I took up the little book entitled,
+'Dorothea Trudel;' and while reading, I seemed to hear a voice saying
+unto me, _'All things are possible unto him that believeth.' 'According
+to thy faith be it unto thee.'_ I claimed the faith, and immediately
+asked God to heal me, and in His own way. While yet on my knees, it
+seemed very clear to me that I should go to Boston, and ask Doctor
+Cullis to pray with me. I obeyed that leading, and made preparations to
+go the day following. Just as I was ready to start for the depot, I
+realized that I was cured. An entire change was wrought in my system,
+and my soul was filled with joy and gratitude."
+
+
+PRESIDENT FINNEY'S PRAYER FOR RAIN.
+
+
+The following incident of the prayer of President Finney for rain, and
+its immediate answer, is furnished by Professor Cowles, the intimate
+friend of President Finney:
+
+"Somewhat more than twenty years ago, the village of Oberlin and its
+adjacent country along the lake shore, suffered severely through the hot
+season from a total failure of rain, for nearly three months. Clouds
+that seemed to promise rain were repelled from the heated dry atmosphere
+over the land, and attracted by the more moist atmosphere over the lake,
+to pour out their waters there. On one such occasion, the clouds had
+gathered dark, low, and heavy over the lakes, and lay there with no
+particular indication of rising. President Finney walked out with his
+eye on these clouds. I give the sequel in his own words, as they fell
+from his lips, less than three months since:
+
+"'In this walk I met Ralph, who turned sharply upon me. 'Mr. Finney, I
+should like to know what you mean in preaching that God is always wise
+and always good, when you see him pouring out that great rain upon the
+lake, where it can do no good, and leaving us to suffer so terribly for
+the want of that wasted water?'
+
+"'His words cut me to the heart; I turned, and ran home to my closet,
+fell on my knees, and told the Lord what Ralph had been saying about
+Him; and besought Him, for the honor of His great name, to confound this
+caviler, and show forth the glory of His power and the greatness of His
+love. I pleaded with Him that He had encouraged His people to pray for
+rain, and that now the time seemed to have come for Him to show His
+power in this thing, and His faithfulness as a hearer of prayer.
+
+"'Before I rose from my knees, there was a sound of a rushing, mighty
+wind. I looked out, and lo! the heavens were black; that cloud was
+rolling up, and soon the rain fell in torrents, two full hours.'
+
+"The writer, (Professor Cowles,) himself remembers how that cloud lay
+over the lake; how it drove him, also, to his closet; and that soon and
+signally the prayers of that hour came back to us in mighty rain."
+
+
+LUTHER'S MIGHTY PRAYER AND PROPHECY.
+
+
+At one time in the life of Luther, there was a critical moment in the
+affairs of the Reformation. Bitter persecution prevailed with
+extraordinary power, and threatened every one. They were the dark days
+when faith could only cling. There were but few friends to the
+reformers, and these were of little strength. Their enemies were every
+where strong, proud, arrogant. But Luther relied on his God, and at this
+moment, with his favorite hymn in his heart, "_A strong fortress is our
+God,_" he went to the Lord in prayer, and prayed that omnipotence would
+come to the help of their weakness. Long he wrestled alone with God in
+his closet, till like Jacob he prevailed. Then he went into the room,
+where his family had assembled, with joyous heart and shining face, and
+raising both hands, and lifting his eyes heavenward, exclaimed, "_We
+have overcome, we have overcome_."
+
+This was astonishing, as there was not the slightest of news which had
+yet been heard to give them hope of relief. But immediately after that,
+the welcome tidings came that _the Emperor, Charles V., had issued his
+Proclamation of "Religious Toleration in Germany_." In Luther's prayer
+was fulfilled the remarkable promise of Proverbs, 21: I. "_The king's
+heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water; he turneth it
+whithersoever he will_."
+
+
+JOHN KNOX AND HIS PROPHETICAL PRAYER.
+
+
+"John Knox was famous for his earnest prayers. Queen Mary said that she
+feared his prayers more than she did all the armies of Europe. One
+night, in the days of his bitterest persecution, while he and his
+friends were praying together, Knox spoke out, and declared _that
+deliverance has come_. He could not tell how. _Immediately the_ news
+came that _Queen Mary was dead_."
+
+
+MELANCTHON'S LIFE SAVED FROM DEATH IN ANSWER TO LUTHER'S PRAYER.
+
+
+The most powerful tribute to the efficacy of prayer, was the answer to
+Luther's prayer which the Lord sent. A messenger was sent to Luther that
+Melancthon was dying. He found him presenting the usual premonitory
+symptoms of death. Melancthon roused, looked in the face of Luther, and
+said, "O Luther, is this you? Why don't you let me depart in peace."
+"_We can't spare you yet, Philip_," was the reply, and turning around,
+he threw himself upon his knees, and wrestled with God for his recovery
+for upwards of an hour. He went from his knees to the bed, and took his
+friend by the hand; again he said, "Dear Luther, why don't you let me
+depart in peace?" "No, no, Philip; we can not spare you yet," was the
+reply. He then ordered some soup, and when pressed to take it,
+Melancthon declined, again saying, "Dear Luther, why will you not let me
+go home and be at rest." "We can not spare you yet, Philip," was the
+reply. He then added, "Philip, take this soup, or I will excommunicate
+you." He took the soup, regained his wonted health, and labored for
+years afterwards in the cause of the Reformation; and when Luther
+returned home he said to his wife with joy, "God gave me my brother
+Melancthon back in direct answer to prayer."
+
+In this incident is given this extraordinary statement that while death
+has really seized a man, who too wished to die, and did not want to live
+longer on the earth, yet his life was given back to him again in answer
+to the prayer of faith of another.
+
+
+THE WONDERFUL POWER OF FAITH AND TRUST IN THE LORD TO DELIVER WHOLLY
+FROM BAD HABITS.
+
+
+A victim of licentiousness and sensuousness, who often, amid his sinful
+pleasures, had the memory of Christian parents before him, felt his was
+indeed a life of shame. But the downward steps had destroyed his will,
+his self-control, his manliness, his virtue. He had no power to resist,
+all was wickedness, irresolution, constant yielding. In vain he hung
+back, and tried to save himself from the cursed appetite; at last he
+realized that in a few weeks' time he must go to the grave; strength
+could not stand such a waste of life. "What a miserable life. What
+wicked ways, what wicked thoughts; how I wish I was pure; O, that I
+might get free; I do not love this sin any more, I don't want it, but I
+can't stop it. O, I wish I could be a Christian, and wholly free."
+
+Such were his constant thoughts. In mercy, the Lord who had been reading
+his thoughts, sent him a great reverse in business, and in agony of
+heart, he knew not where to turn but to the Lord, and pray for relief.
+His prayer, too, asked to be emancipated from his wickedness, and his
+strength and health restored. "_Lord, save me and I will_ be thine
+forever. I am lost unless thou wilt come and save."
+
+By gradual degrees, in the absorption of his thoughts over other
+distresses, his mind was diverted from his usual ways and thoughts of
+sinful living; gradually the habits of lust grew less and less strong,
+and finally ceased altogether. But the body still remained under
+excessive weakness. But faith that the Lord who had saved others, could
+save him too, led him to pray, not only for the destruction of the
+habit, but entire recovery from its evil effects. His perseverance was
+persistent, and met with a _triumphant reward_. After a long; time, he
+felt himself wholly healed. New strength, new life, came back to him.
+"It seems as if my life had been put back again ten years, and I was
+young again." "I never have any more wicked thoughts or imaginations,
+while I was once full of them. Since I learned to seek the Lord and love
+his Bible, I have never had such peace, or purity. I love the name and
+tender mercies of my God." If in a few months, prayer saved that man's
+life, and so wholly changed it from a foul blot to a thing of purity,
+what can it not do again. _No sin can ever be conquered until in
+humility either saint or sinner_ gets down upon his knees, and implores
+the love and power of the Lord in _never ceasing prayer_, to wholly
+emancipate him from the control of the evil habit. _The Lord will surely
+hear it_. He can as truly deliver the body from the most persistent and
+enchaining habit, as he can wholly convert the mind and heart. The
+result is not always instantaneous; more often gradual, but _always
+sure_ if the sufferer _always prays_.
+
+It is simple enough for the sinning one to believe that the _Lord can_,
+and seeking the Bible _for the Lord's own promise that he, will; to
+cling to it and never surrender_.
+
+The sin may be repeated when you can not resist it, and do not desire
+for it, but take all pains to avoid; still pray though you often fail;
+still try, still trust the Lord to loose your chains and remove your
+desire, and deliverance is sure to come at last.
+
+
+RECOVERY FROM PARALYSIS.
+
+
+"Between two and three years ago, the writer was struck down by
+paralysis, disabling entirely the limbs of the left side. In this
+apparently helpless state, I employed a man to take care of me, and felt
+that unless God should interpose, I must be a continuous burden on my
+friends. My kind physician gave me no hope of _entire recovery_.
+
+"In this state I made my prayer to God continually, that he would so far
+restore my strength as to enable me to take care of myself.
+
+"This prayer he was pleased to answer, for in eight weeks I dismissed my
+attendant, finding myself able to take care of myself. I now walk more
+than half a mile each day, and attend to all the associations of home
+life. I record with thankfulness this restoration of my disabled frame
+in answer to prayer."
+
+
+THE STOLEN BONDS RETURNED.
+
+
+The _New York Observer_ relates a remarkable instance of the return of
+stolen property, which in its extraordinary way can be accounted for
+only by the control of a Supreme Will, and all in answer to prayer.
+
+"On February 16, 1877, United States and railroad bonds and mortgages to
+the amount of $160,000, belonging to Edgar H. Richards, were stolen from
+the banking house of James G. King's Sons, of this city. No clue
+whatever to the robbers could be obtained. Several parties were arrested
+on suspicion, but nothing could be proved, and the mystery remained
+unsolved.
+
+"Mr. Richards, being a member of one of our most prominent churches,
+made it a subject of constant prayer, that the Lord would wholly prevent
+the thieves from any use of the property and cause it to be returned to
+him. When asked if he was ever incredulous, he said, 'No, I have never
+lost my faith in recovering this property. I believe in prayer, and I
+have made it from the first a subject of prayer, and it will be
+answered.'
+
+"Meanwhile some curious influences must have been at work among the
+thieves, for they acted in an extraordinary manner as follows:
+
+"One day last week a stranger, well dressed, modest looking,
+gentlemanly, walked into the office of Elliott F. Shepard, Esq., one of
+Messrs. King's counsel, and tendered his services for the recovery of
+the property, asserting he knew nothing about the robbery, nor the
+thieves, but that he could get the treasure. He was told that a reward
+would be paid for the capture of the thieves, but he earnestly protested
+that it was entirely out of his power to obtain any clue to the person
+or whereabouts of the thief; and no inquiries ever disclosed that this
+was not a perfectly true statement. Indeed, it proved that he had been
+selected as an agent to do this work, and that there were at least five
+or six connecting intermediaries between him and the robbers, each
+exercising that virtue which is called honor among thieves, and which on
+this occasion proved a wall of adamant to every attempt to pierce it or
+break it down.
+
+"True to his word the stranger caused the delivery at Mr. Shepard's
+office, at the appointed hour to a second, of an ordinary pasteboard
+bandbox, wrapped in newspaper, by the hands of a little boy. He had come
+in a pelting rain-storm, and part of the newspaper had become torn, and
+disclosed the blue, unsuspected hat box. The boy knew nothing about it,
+except that a gentleman had given him a dime in the street to bring the
+box.
+
+"Mr. Richards being present, opened the bandbox, examined and checked
+off the contents with one of Messrs. King's head clerks, and found every
+single item of his missing securities, stocks, bonds, mortgages,
+accounts, bank books, wills, everything. A most remarkable thing! The
+parties could hardly believe their eyes."
+
+
+MR. MOODY'S ANSWERS TO PRAYERS.
+
+
+Mr. D.L. Moody, the Evangelist, when a boy, was possessed of an unusual
+amount of muscular strength and animal spirits, and a strong will that
+knew little of impossibility or submission. When only six years old,
+being wistful to do something to help his mother, he was set to drive
+the cows of a neighboring farmer to and from their mountain pasture. On
+one occasion, a heavy fence fell upon him from which he could not
+extricate himself. After trying his utmost and crying as loud as he
+could for help, but in vain, the thought struck him that God would help
+him if he asked him. In his own simple language he prayed to his
+mother's God for help, and made another effort, and succeeded in getting
+free. This, his first answer to prayer, made a vivid impression on his
+heart, which gave a decided turn to his opening life.
+
+
+NO FLOUR IN THE HOUSE--IN THE DAYS OF FAMINE, HIS SOUL SHALL BE
+SATISFIED.
+
+
+Mr. Moody's domestic life has always been a happy one, but in the early
+days of his marriage, he was very poor, and his faith was often put to
+the severest tests.
+
+One day, on leaving home in his missionary work and labors of love, he
+remarked to his wife, "I have no money, and the house is without
+supplies. It looks dark; is it possible that the Lord has had enough of
+me in this mission work, and is going to send me back again to sell
+boots and shoes." But he prayed. In a day or two, a Stranger sent him
+two checks of $50 each--one for himself, and one for his school.
+
+On another occasion his wife informed him that they had no flour for the
+day's use, and asked him to order some on his way. Having no money in
+his possession, he was perplexed how to proceed to raise the required
+amount; but meeting a person in whose spiritual welfare he was
+concerned, he forgot all about such sublunary considerations as money
+and flour, and went heart and soul into the Lord's work before him.
+
+On his return home at night, he felt somewhat nervous about his
+reception on account of his not having sent the flour, but to his joyful
+surprise, he found that on his arrival the table was spread with a
+bountiful repast.
+
+It seems that a friend of his was powerfully impressed that morning, and
+without seeing the family or knowing anything about their need, had
+packed up a barrel of flour and sent it.
+
+Others of his friends, who were interested in his work, and felt
+confidence in his work, _unknown to him_, selected a new house, and
+furnished it throughout with every facility for convenience and comfort,
+and when all was completed invited him and his family to it, and made
+him a present of the loan of his house, and all its contents.
+
+Thus the _Great Helper_ remembered him and answered his daily prayer,
+"Give us this day our daily bread."
+
+
+PERSEVERING PRAYER.
+
+
+At one of the prayer-meetings at the Brooklyn tabernacle, Mr. Moody
+closed by narrating an instance of persevering prayer by a Christian
+wife for an infidel husband. She resolved to pray for him at noon for
+eighteen months, and at the expiration of that time, her knocking not
+having been responded to, she exclaimed, "_Lord, I will pray for him,
+every day, and at all hours, as long as life lasts_."
+
+That day the Lord heard her knock, and gave her the desire of her heart,
+in the conversion of her husband. When the Lord saw her faith would not
+give up, he sent the answer immediately.
+
+
+NOAH'S PRAYER.--HE DID NOT GET DISCOURAGED.
+
+
+The life of faith and the necessity of uncompromising hold on the
+promise's, expecting their fulfillment, is admirably explained in the
+illustration of Noah's prayer. One day Mr. Moody was much discouraged,
+and it was as dark a Sabbath as ever he had, and a friend suggested to
+him to study the life of Noah.
+
+"I got out my Bible, and the thought came over me, 'Here is a man who
+labored and talked a hundred years, and didn't succeed; didn't get a
+convert notwithstanding all his efforts, all his prayers, but he didn't
+get discouraged.'
+
+"But he took God at his word; he worked right on; he prayed right on;
+and he waited God's time. And, my friends, from that time, I have never
+been discouraged. Whenever I think of him, it lifts me up out of the
+darkness into the light. Don't get discouraged."
+
+The lesson of Noah's life is briefly this: He never converted a soul
+outside of his own family. That was the work God gave him to do, and he
+prayed and waited and worked, and never gave up, and he was saved and
+all his family with him.
+
+So every Christian must recognize that his field is not far off, but
+right around him, in his house, among his friends, working, praying,
+waiting, but never getting discouraged. The Lord will never fail those
+who "_abide in Him_."
+
+
+SAMUEL HICK'S PRAYER FOR RAIN.
+
+
+Samuel Hick was one of the men of "_mighty faith_" in the Lord, and as a
+preacher among the Methodists of England. He was of great eminence for
+his happy spirit, remarkable trust, powerful and practical preaching,
+and unbounded liberality. Among the many incidents connected with his
+life of faith, we quote a few to illustrate with what simplicity he
+expected always an answer to his prayer, and was not satisfied until he
+got it:
+
+In the course of a Summer of excessive drought a few years back, when
+the grain suffered greatly, and many of the cattle, especially in
+Lincolnshire, died. Samuel Hick was much affected. He visited
+Knaresborough, at which place he preached on the Lord's day.
+
+Remaining in the town and neighborhood over the Sabbath, he appeared
+extremely restless in the house in which he resided, during the whole of
+Monday. He spoke but little--was full of thought, now praying, now
+walking about the room, next sitting in a crouching posture--then
+suddenly starting up and going to the door, turning his eyes toward
+heaven, as if looking for some celestial phenomenon, when he would
+return again, groan in spirit, and resume his seat. The family, being
+impressed with his movements, asked him whether there was anything the
+matter with him or whether he expected any person, as the occasion of
+his going to the door so frequently.
+
+"Bless you Bairns," was his reply, "do you not recollect that I was
+praying for rain last night in the pulpit, and what will the infidel at
+Knaresborough think if it do not come; if my Lord should fail me, and
+not stand by me." But it must have time; it can not be here yet; it has
+to come from the sea. Neither can it be seen at first. The prophet only
+saw a bit of cloud like a man's hand. By and by it spread along the sky.
+I am looking for an answer to my prayer, but it must have time.
+
+He continued in the same unsettled state, occasionally going out, and
+looking with intensity on the pure azure over his head; for _a more
+unclouded sky was rarely ever seen_. Contrary to all external signs of
+rain, and contrary to the expectations of all, except himself, the sky
+became overcast toward evening, and the clouds dropped the fullness of a
+shower upon the earth. His very soul seemed to drink in the falling
+drops. The family grouped around him, like children around their father,
+while he gave out his favorite hymn, "_I'll praise my Maker while I've
+breath_;" "and after singing it with a countenance all a-glow, through
+the sunshine of heaven upon his soul, he knelt down and prayed. All were
+overpowered; it was a season of refreshing from the presence of the
+Lord.
+
+His biographer says of him: "Samuel had no weather glass upon which to
+look except the Bible, in which he was taught to believe, and expect
+_that_ for which he prayed; nothing on which he could depend but God,
+and _his faith_ was set in God for _rain_."
+
+
+PRAYING FOR THE WIND TO COME.
+
+
+A remarkable incident, showing how God makes the winds to obey him in
+obedience to the prayer of his righteous ones, and the expectations of
+their faith, occurred also in Samuel Hick's life, which is really an
+astonishing proof of God's supernatural power.
+
+A church gathering was to take place at Micklefleld, and Samuel had
+promised two loads of corn for their use. The day fixed drew near, but
+there was no flour in the house, and the wind-mills, in consequence of a
+long calm, stretched out their arms in vain to catch the rising breezes.
+In the midst of this death-like quiet, Samuel carried his corn to the
+mill nearest his own residence, and requested the miller to unfurl his
+sails. The miller objected, stating that there was "no wind." Samuel, on
+the other hand, continued to urge his request, saying, "_I will go and
+pray while you spread the cloth._" More with a view of gratifying the
+applicant than of any faith he had, the man stretched his canvas. _No
+sooner had he done this than, to his utter astonishment, a fine breeze
+sprung up, the fans whirled around, the corn was converted into meal,
+and Samuel returned with his burden rejoicing,_ and had everything in
+readiness for the festival.
+
+In the mean time, a neighbor who had seen the fan in vigorous motion,
+took also some corn to be ground; but the wind had dropped, and the
+miller remarked to him, "You must send for Sammy Hick to pray for the
+wind to blow again."
+
+
+SNAILS IN THE ARK.
+
+
+To many who with despondency protest that they have not faith enough,
+get along so slow, are too weak, &c, the following sharp retort of Hick
+will prove a bright lining to their dark cloud of failing, and lead them
+to plod on in prayer.
+
+"To a gentleman laboring under great nervous depression, whom he had
+visited, and who was moving along the streets as though he was
+apprehensive that every step would shake his system in pieces, he was
+rendered singularly useful. They met, and Samuel, having a deeper
+interest in the soul than the body, asked: 'Well, how are you getting on
+your way to Heaven.'"
+
+The poor invalid, in a dejected, half desponding tone, replied, "But
+slowly I fear," intimating that he was creeping along only at a poor
+pace.
+
+"Why bless you Bairn," returned Samuel, "_there were snails in the
+ark_."
+
+The reply was so earnest, so unexpected, and met the dispirited man so
+immediately on his own ground, that the temptation broke away, and he
+was out of his depression.
+
+It was a resurrection to his feelings, inferring that if the snail
+reached the ark and was saved, he too, "faint yet pursuing," might gain
+admission into heaven.
+
+
+HE GAVE ALL THE MONEY HE HAD.
+
+
+At one time he attended a missionary meeting near Harrowgate. "We had a
+blessed meeting," said Samuel, "I was very happy and gave all the money
+I had in my pocket." After the meeting was concluded, he mounted his
+horse to return home. No one had offered to pay his expenses--he had not
+a farthing in his pocket. Advanced in life--a slow rider, and not a very
+sprightly horse--in the night--alone--twenty miles from home. Think of
+the lonesomeness; the time for the tempter to come and lead him to
+distrust in his Lord. But he struggled; the trial was short and the
+victory complete, for, said he, "Devil, I never stuck fast yet."
+
+Just as he entered Harewood, a gentleman took his horse by the bridle,
+asked him where he had been, talked with him long, and to whom Samuel's
+talk was a wonderful consolation. Said Sammy:
+
+"I have not wanted for any good thing, and could always pray with Job,
+'The Lord gave and the Lord taketh away, blessed be the name of the
+Lord.'"
+
+The gentleman asked, "Can you read?"
+
+"Yes," returned Samuel.
+
+"Then," replied the gentleman, holding a piece of paper in his hand,
+which was rendered visible by the glimmering light of the stars,
+
+"There is a five pound note for you. You love God and his cause, and I
+believe you will never want."
+
+And Sammy said, "I cried for joy. This was a fair salvation from the
+Lord. When I got home, I told my wife. She burst into tears, and we
+praised the Lord together," and he added: "You see, we never give to the
+Lord but He gives in return."
+
+
+"THE LORD WILL PROVIDE."
+
+
+A poor but pious widow in Boston, in her eighty-seventh year, said to a
+friend, "When I was left a widow with three little children, I was
+brought into such extremity that they were crying for bread, and I had
+nothing for them to eat. As I arose on a Sabbath morning, I knew not
+what to do but to ask my heavenly Father to feed my little ones, and
+commit myself and them to his care.
+
+"I then went out to the well to get a pail of water, and saw on the
+ground a six cent piece, which I took up; and learning that it did not
+belong to any of those who lived in the same house with me, I thought I
+might take it to feed my famishing children. Though it was a Sabbath
+morning, I felt that it would be right to go to a baker who lived in the
+neighborhood, tell him our circumstances, and buy bread with the money
+Providence had thus cast in my way. The baker not only did this, but the
+Lord opened his heart to add a bountiful supply; and from that hour to
+the present, which is nearly fifty years, I have never doubted that _God
+would take care of his children_."
+
+
+ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S FAITH IN PRAYER.
+
+
+When President Lincoln left his home in Springfield, Ill., February 11,
+1861, on his way to Washington, he made the following farewell address
+to his friends and neighbors: "My friends, no one not in my position can
+appreciate the sadness I feel at this parting. To this people I owe all
+I am. Here I have lived more than a quarter of a century; here my
+children were born, and here one of them lies buried. I know not how
+soon I shall see you again. A duty devolves upon me which is perhaps
+greater than that which has devolved upon any other man since the days
+of Washington. He would never have succeeded except for the aid of
+Divine Providence, upon which he at all times relied. I feel that I
+cannot succeed without the same Divine aid which sustained him, and on
+the same Almighty Being I place my reliance for support; and I hope you,
+my friends, will all pray that I may receive that Divine assistance,
+without which I cannot succeed, but with which success is certain.
+Again, I bid you all an affectionate farewell." That simple but earnest
+request sent an electric thrill through every Christian heart, and
+without doubt, in response to it, more prayer was offered for him
+throughout his administration, than for any one who ever before occupied
+the Presidential chair.
+
+At a Sabbath-school convention in Massachusetts, a speaker stated that a
+friend of his, during an interview with Mr. Lincoln, asked him if he
+loved Jesus. The President buried his face in his handkerchief and wept.
+He then said, "When I left home to take this chair of state, I requested
+my countrymen to pray for me. I was not then a Christian. When my son
+died--the severest trial of my life--I was not a Christian. But when I
+went to Gettysburg, and looked upon the graves of our dead heroes who
+had fallen in defense, of their country, I then and there consecrated
+myself to Christ. _I do love Jesus."_ Rev. Mr. Adams, of Philadelphia,
+stated in his Thanksgiving sermon that, having an appointment to meet
+the President at 5 o'clock in the morning, he went a quarter of an hour
+before the time. While waiting for the hour, he heard a voice in the
+next room as if in grave conversation, and asked the servant, "Who is
+talking in the next room?" "It is the President, sir." "Is anybody with
+him?" "No, sir; he is reading the Bible." "Is that his habit so early in
+the morning?" "Yes, sir. He spends every morning, from 4 o'clock to 5,
+in reading the Scriptures and praying."
+
+_It was the Lord who Guided the mind of Mr. Lincoln in his extraordinary
+act of the Emancipation of the Slaves of America._ The Lord had prepared
+it, and chose him as the means whereby to accomplish it.
+
+_Were not his Prayers and efforts specially blessed by the Lord in
+wisdom, for the guidance of our Nation_?
+
+
+EXTRAORDINARY CARE OF THE LORD IN ANSWER TO PRAYER.
+
+
+"The scenes of the riots in New York, at the time of our civil war, are
+of national celebrity; but few, however, know that one of the most
+atrocious acts of cruelty attempted to be perpetrated by the
+malefactors, and which utterly failed of its purpose, _came solely in
+answer to prayer_. On the first day of the mob, however, several
+thousand men, _women and children_, armed with clubs and brickbats,
+suddenly appeared at the door of the Colored Orphan Asylum, and effected
+an entrance by breaking down the front door with an axe. The building
+was soon fired in ten or fifteen places, and the work of destruction was
+accomplished in twenty minutes.
+
+"There were at the time two hundred and twenty-three children in the
+building with their attendants and teachers. The matron having assembled
+all the children after the first alarm, one of the teachers thus
+addressed them: 'Children, do you believe that Almighty God can deliver
+you from a mob?' The reply was promptly made in the affirmative. 'Then,'
+said she, 'I wish you now to pray silently to God to protect you from
+this mob. I believe that he is able and will do it. Pray earnestly to
+him, and when I give the signal, go in order, without noise, to the
+dining-room.' At this every head was instantly bowed in prayer, such
+prayer as is not frequently offered, the silent, earnest supplication of
+terrified and persecuted little children. When, at the sound of the
+bell, their heads were raised, the teacher said the tears were
+streaming, but not a sound, not even a sob, was to be heard. They then
+quietly went down stairs and through the halls, and she remarked that
+'to her dying day she should never forget the scene;' the few moments of
+eloquent silence, the streaming noiseless tears, the funereal march
+through the halls, the yells and the horrible sounds which were nearer
+and nearer approaching. _Not one of these helpless innocents was injured
+in the least_; but in spite of the threats and the blood-thirstiness of
+the rioters, through whom they were obliged to pass, all were removed
+unmolested to a place of safety."
+
+
+A REMARKABLE DECISION BY A JURY.
+
+
+"In one of our northern cities, a trial at law took place between a
+Christian and an infidel. The latter had sued the former for a heavy
+sum, falsely alleging his promise to pay it for some stocks which he
+claimed to have sold him. The Christian admitted AN OFFER of the stock,
+but protested that so far from promising the sum demanded, he had
+steadily refused to make any trade whatever with the plaintiff. Each of
+the parties to the suit had a friend who fully corroborated their
+assertions. Thus the case went before the jury for decision.
+
+"The charge of the judge was stern and significant. 'It was a grave and
+most painful task which devolved upon him to instruct the jurors that
+one of the parties before them must be guilty of deliberate and willful
+perjury. Their statements were wholly irreconcilable with each other;
+nay more, were diametrically opposite; and that either were innocently
+mistaken in their assertions was impossible.
+
+"'Your verdict, gentlemen,' he said in conclusion, 'must decide upon
+which side this awful and heaven-daring iniquity belongs. The God of
+truth help you to find the truth, that the innocent suffer not.'
+
+"It was late in the day when the judge's charge was given, and the
+finding of the jury was to be rendered in the morning. The plaintiff
+went carelessly from the court arm in arm with the wicked associate whom
+he had bribed to swear falsely on his behalf. The defendant and his
+friend walked away together in painful silence. When the Christian
+reached his home, he told his family of the judge's solemn charge and of
+the grave responsibility which rested upon the jurors. 'They are to
+decide which of us has perjured ourselves on this trial,' he said; 'and
+how terrible a thing for me if they should be mistaken in their
+judgment. There is so little of any thing tangible for their decision to
+rest upon, that it seems to me as if a breath might blow it either way.
+They cannot see our hearts, and I feel as if, only God could enable them
+to discern the truth. Let us spend the evening in prayer that he may
+give them a clear vision.'"
+
+The twelve jurymen ate their supper in perplexed silence, and were shut
+in their room for deliberation and consultation. "I never sat in such a
+case before," said the foreman. "The plaintiff and defendant have sworn
+point-blank against each other; and how we are to tell which speaks the
+truth, I can not see. I should not like to make a mistake in the matter;
+it would be a sad affair to convict an innocent man of perjury." Again
+there was silence among them, as if each were weighing the case in his
+own mind. "_For myself_ I feel as if the truth must be with the
+defendant; I am constrained to think that he is an honest man. What say
+you, gentlemen?" _Every hand was raised in affirmation of this opinion_.
+They were fully persuaded of its truth, and _gave a unanimous verdict
+accordingly._
+
+Thus the Christian man was rightfully acquitted, and gave thanks to God,
+with a new and stronger confidence in the power of prayer. "Call upon me
+in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me,"
+saith the Lord.
+
+
+THAT WONDERFUL $25. ANOTHER EVIDENCE OF THE EVER-PRESENT SPIRIT OF GOD.
+
+
+The following incident is marvelous, as at the time of its occurrence
+neither party had ever been known to each other:
+
+In _New Haven, Conn._, lives a little invalid widow, almost helpless,
+with no one upon whom to rely for support, and only indebted to friendly
+acquaintances for a temporary home. With no money, no acquaintances, she
+had nowhere else to turn to but to the Father of all good. She had
+prayed often, and often had answers, but this time, though needing
+money, still she received none. The answer was long delayed; she was
+almost discouraged. "_Was God at last to fail and forget her? No, it
+could not be. Let God be true even if I perish, I shall still cling to
+Him. I can not give Him up."_
+
+Just at that time a business man in New York, who had been absent on a
+long journey for the Summer and had just returned, happened to pick up a
+note among many hundred lying on his desk, and noticed that the writer
+asked for some trifling favor, saying she was poor, had no means.
+
+Her circumstances were unknown: he knew nothing but her name. He was
+eager to _minister to the little ones of the Lord,_ and felt deeply
+impressed in prayer that morning, in asking a blessing on his day's
+labors, that he might be able to help the need of some of "his children"
+who might then be in want. In his business hours the thought came over
+him with the depth of emotion, "WHAT CAN I DO? LORD, THY SERVANT IS
+READY." Just at that moment he picked up this note of the little
+invalid, who asked the trivial favor, saying it would be such a comfort.
+_(No money whatever was asked for in this note_.)
+
+Suddenly the thought came to him, "_Perhaps this is my very opportunity.
+This may be the Lord's little one in need_." But there was nothing in
+the letter to indicate she was a Christian. She solicited no money or
+pecuniary help.
+
+Immediately there came to his mind, amid floods of tears, "_Inasmuch as
+ye have done it unto the least of these, my children, ye have done it
+unto me_." Instantly he understood it as a message from the Lord, and
+the intimation of the Holy Spirit. He immediately sat down and wrote a
+check for $25, and enclosed it to her, saying, "_I know not your need;
+you have not asked me for help, but I send you something which may be
+useful. I trust you are a Christian. I shall be happy to learn if it has
+done good, and made you happy. Give me no thanks. The Lord's blessing is
+enough for me_."
+
+The letter was sent and forgotten, but a strange presentiment came over
+the mind of the writer. "_I am afraid I did not direct that letter
+right_." He sent a second postal card, asking if a letter had been
+received at her home; if not, to go to her post office and inquire.
+
+Now notice the wonderful singularity of incident. Here is a man sending
+money, _never asked for, to an unknown person, about whom he knew
+nothing; then misdirecting his letter_, and then remembering and
+_sending another message to go and find where the first had gone to. But
+notice the marvelous result_. The little invalid received the postal
+card, but not the letter. She sent to the post office, and sure enough
+there was the first letter with its misdirection. She was _just in time_
+to save it from being sent to _another woman of the same name living in
+another part of the same city_.
+
+She opened her letter, and with tears of thankfulness perused this
+wonderful reply, a marvelous witness to the power of an overruling
+Spirit, who had directed everything.
+
+"My heart is full, that God should so answer my simple prayer. I first
+asked him for $10, then $15, _and then for_ $25. I asked him for $25
+several times, and was astonished at my boldness, but the amount was so
+fixed in my mind, _I could not ask for anything else_, and then I humbly
+trusted it to Him, and from that time I thought, I will not name any
+sum; let it be as He knows my need. And how He has honored my simple
+faith and trust in these dark days. _Your letter contained exactly the
+$25 I prayed for_. I have not had $1.50 to spend this Summer. I have
+suffered for everything. But through it all I have felt such perfect
+faith in the Lord, that his hand was leading me, even when I could not
+see a step before me; and that He should move your heart to help me
+seems so wonderful, so good. I am so glad I can thank you now, but ah,
+so much "_over there_" where words will express so much more in the
+beautiful atmosphere of heaven. Your letter and kind gift was mailed
+_the very same day_ that I was praying in great distress and trial. I
+knew not but that I should be without even a home. My verse was Psalms
+50: 15. O, how I had to pray that day. So day by day I was comforted,
+and now to-day the answer has come."
+
+Here, then, is a portion of the story of a sweet life who trusted God,
+not as a God of the past, nor far off, but ever living, ever present,
+ever faithful, and believed Him _able, willing_, and that He _would
+help_ her in her daily life. She tried her Lord, to prove if his
+promises were indeed true, and she clung to them to the very last. No
+one knew her need. No one knew what she was praying for. The stranger
+did not know anything of her. She had asked money of no one but the
+Lord. Hesitant ever, she dared not name any amount of the Lord, but that
+ever present Spirit of God guided her heart, made her _fix the amount_,
+and then touched the heart of the stranger and fixed the amount also in
+his mind, and then, by his own guidance saved the letter from being
+lost, and behold! when opened the _prayer of the one and the gift of the
+other was the same_.
+
+What a comfort, what a privilege, then, it is for the true-hearted
+Christian thus to feel, "_There is one who careth for us_."
+
+
+WHY HE FAILED.
+
+
+A prominent business man failed in the Spring of 1877. He had been for
+years a prominent and consistent member of a Christian church. He had
+even supported a church once almost entirely. Nothing was known against
+his character, _but he failed; he failed in business_. No one knew the
+reason why, but there it was, _failure_.
+
+At last, in moments of bitter repentance before God, he unbosomed
+himself to his pastor, and said, "_Long ago I promised to give the Lord
+one-tenth of all the profits I gained from my business, and while I did
+so, I was immensely prosperous and successful; never did any one have
+any such splendid success,--but I forgot my promise, stopped giving,
+thought that I did not need to spend so much, and I began to invest my
+means in real estate. When I stopped giving I stopped getting. Now all
+is gone. I lost my all because I did not keep my promise to the Lord_."
+
+This incident is a practical one, telling how utter is the impossibility
+of true success, without the aid of the Lord, and how absolutely
+necessary it is to our own peace and comfort of mind to religiously
+observe one's promises made to God. The Bible only too truly tells of
+the end of those who forget Him.
+
+"_But Jeshurun waxed fat, then he forsook God which made him; and when
+the Lord saw it, he abhorred them, and said, 'I will hide my face from
+them_.'"
+
+"_Ye can not prosper; because ye have forsaken the Lord_, He _hath also
+forsaken you." "There shall be desolation; because thou hast forgotten
+the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy
+strength_."
+
+       *       *       *       *       * HOW THE LORD
+
+
+CONTROLS THE WINDS AND THE WAVES
+
+
+JOHN EASTER'S PRAYER.
+
+
+In his "Memorials of Methodism in Virginia," Dr. W.W. Bennet relates the
+following incidents in the life of John Easter, one of the pioneer
+ministers who labored there nearly one hundred years ago: He is
+represented as being the most powerful exhortatory preacher of his day.
+His faith was transcendent, his appeals irresistible, his prayers like
+talking with God face to face. Perhaps no man has ever been more
+signally honored of God as an instrument in the conversion of souls. On
+one of his circuits eighteen hundred members were added to the church in
+a single year.
+
+Many thrilling scenes under his preaching yet linger among the people in
+those counties where he principally labored. A most extraordinary
+display of his faith was witnessed in Brunswick. At Merritt's meeting-
+house a quarterly meeting was in progress, and so vast was the concourse
+of people from many miles around, that the services were conducted in a
+beautiful grove near the church. In the midst of the exercises, a heavy
+cloud arose, and swept rapidly towards the place of worship. From the
+skirts of the grove the rain could be seen coming on across the fields.
+The people were in consternation; no house could hold one-third of the
+multitude, and they were about to scatter in all directions. Easter rose
+in the midst of the confusion--"Brethren," cried he at the top of his
+voice, "be still while I call upon God to stay the clouds, till His word
+can be preached to perishing sinners." Arrested by his voice and manner,
+they stood between hope and fear. He kneeled down and offered a fervent
+prayer that God would then stay the rain, that the preaching of His word
+might go on, and afterwards send refreshing showers. _While he was
+praying, the angry cloud, as it swiftly rolled up to them, was seen to
+part asunder in the midst, pass on either side of them, and close again
+beyond, leaving a space several hundred yards in circumference perfectly
+dry. The next morning a copious rain fell again, and the fields that had
+been left dry were well watered_."
+
+
+THE HUSHED TEMPEST.
+
+
+The following circumstance is communicated to _The Christian_ by a
+minister of the editor's acquaintance, as a memorial of God's care for
+the poor and needy who trust in him:
+
+It was about the year 1853, and near the middle of a Canadian Winter, we
+had a succession of snowfalls, followed by high winds and severe cold. I
+was getting ready to haul my Winter's stock of wood, for which I had to
+go two miles over a road running north and south, entirely unprotected
+from the keen cold west winds that prevail the most of the time in that
+part of Canada during the Winter months.
+
+The procuring of my Winter's supply of wood was no small task for me,
+for I had very little to do with, and was unable to endure much fatigue,
+or bear the severe cold. I had, however, succeeded in securing the
+services of an excellent hand to chop, and help me load, and had also
+engaged a horse of one neighbor, and a horse and sled of another, and
+was ready on Monday morning to commence my job. Monday morning the roads
+were fair, the day promised well, and my man was off at daybreak to the
+woods to, have a load ready for me. There had been quite a fall of snow
+during the night; not enough to do any harm if it only lay still, but
+should the wind rise, as it had after every snow-fall before, it would
+make it dreadful for me. Soon as possible I harnessed my team, and
+started. I had not gone a quarter of a mile before it became painfully
+evident that a repetition of our previous "blows" was impending. The sky
+was dark and stormy, the wind rose rapidly, and in every direction
+clouds of the newly fallen snow were beginning to ride on the "wings of
+the wind," pouring over the fences, and filling the road full! My heart
+sank within me. What could I do? At this rate, by next morning the roads
+would be impassable, and it was so cold! Besides, if I failed to go on
+now, it would be very difficult to get my borrowed team together again,
+and impossible to get my man again; and we could as well live without
+bread as without wood in a Canadian Winter.
+
+Every moment the wind increased. In deep distress, I looked upon the
+threatening elements, exclaiming over and over, "What shall I do?" I
+felt then that there was but one thing that I could do, and that was
+just what poor sinking Peter did; and with feelings I imagine something
+like his, I looked up to God, and cried out, "O, my God, this is more
+than I am able to bear. Lord, help me! The elements are subject to thee;
+thou boldest the winds in thy fist. If thou wilt speak the word, there
+will be a great calm. O, for Jesus' sake, and for the sake of my little
+helpless family, let this snow lie still and give me an opportunity of
+accomplishing this necessary labor comfortably!" I do not think it was
+above fifteen minutes after I began to call upon the Lord before there
+was a visible change. The wind began to subside, the sky grew calm, and
+in less than half an hour all was still, and a more pleasant time for
+wood-hauling than I had that day, I never saw nor desire to see. Many
+others beside me enjoyed the benefit of that "sudden change" of weather,
+but to them it was only a "nice spell of weather," a "lucky thing;"
+while to me it was full of sweet and encouraging tokens of the
+"loving-kindness of the Lord." And now, after so many years, I feel
+impelled to give this imperfect narrative, to encourage others in the
+day of trouble to call upon the Lord; and also, as a tribute of
+gratitude to Him who has "never said to the house of Jacob, seek ye my
+face in vain."
+
+
+PRAYING IN FAIR WEATHER.
+
+
+The ways in which God saves those whom he wishes to deliver from death,
+are sometimes too wonderful for our understanding. A certain ship was
+overtaken in a severe and prolonged storm at sea. She had a noble
+Christian man for a captain, and as good a sailor as ever trod the
+quarter-deck, and he had under him a good and obedient crew. But they
+could not save the ship; she was too badly strained, her leaks were too
+great for the pumps, she must go to the bottom. The captain committed
+them all to the care of the God in whom he put his trust, and made ready
+to take to their boats. Just then a sail was descried, and, by signals
+of distress, drawn to their relief. All on board were taken off safely
+and put on the ship, soon after which they saw their own ship go down.
+
+Now comes the peculiar part. The ship was soon overtaken in a dreadful
+storm, was cast on her beam ends, and everything seemed to be lost. The
+passengers were praying, and many of the old seamen were calling on God
+to save them from the great deep. The captain of the ship had done his
+best, but could not right the vessel, and all was given up to go down.
+The captain, whose ship was lost, then asked if he might take his crew
+and try to right the vessel.
+
+"Take them, and do what you can," was the reply. He called to his men
+and told them they must save that ship; he inspired them with
+confidence, for they knew he was a true man of God. They executed his
+orders with alacrity and care. They cut away the masts, and cleared away
+the rigging, and brought all the force they could to right the vessel.
+God prospered the efforts--the ship righted; they got the pumps at work,
+rigged a sail, and were finally all saved. It seemed as if it was
+necessary to put the captain of the first ship and his crew on the
+second ship, that they might save it and those on board when the
+terrible storm came.
+
+Now it was particularly noticed in connection with this deliverance,
+that the captain of the lost vessel did not make any ado in prayer, or
+in calling on God, while the storm was raging; and knowing that he was a
+Christian man, they asked him the reason of this. He answered them,
+_that he did his praying in fair weather; "and then_" said he, _"when
+the storm comes, I work_." He did not distrust God then, any more than
+in fair weather; but he knew that God requires man to do all he can to
+save himself, and praying might lose him his ship, when his own efforts
+must save it.
+
+
+THE RESCUE FROM THE VILLE DU HAVRE, AND THE LOCH EARN.
+
+
+A remarkable illustration of God's mysterious way is found in connection
+with the rescue of some of the passengers of the ill-fated French
+steamship, Ville du Havre, which was sunk by a collision with the Loch
+Earn, November 22, 1873, on her voyage from New York to France. After
+the sinking of the Ville du Havre, with some two hundred of her
+passengers, the rest were taken up by the Loch Earn, from which most of
+them were afterwards transferred to the Trimountain. Others remained on
+board the Loch Earn, where in consequence of its disabled condition they
+seemed again in imminent danger of being lost.
+
+On the 11th of December, while Mr. D.L. Moody was conducting a noonday
+prayer-meeting in the city of Edinburgh, Rev. Dr. Andrew Thompson read a
+letter from a Christian lady, the mother of one of these imperiled
+passengers, which contained the following account:
+
+"After the Trimountain left them, and they had examined their ship, many
+a heart failed, and they feared they would never see land again. They
+could not navigate the vessel, and were left to the mercy of the winds
+and waves, or rather to the care of Him who ruleth wind and waves. Vain
+was the help of man. The wind drove them out of the course of ships,
+northward. You are aware that two ministers were left on board the Loch
+Earn. One, Mr. Cook, a truly godly man, did all he could to encourage
+their hearts. Every day, at noon, he gathered them together, and
+earnestly, by prayer, strove to lead them to the Savior; and this he
+continued to do till they reached England. The day before they were
+rescued they knew that very shortly the ship must go down. The wind had
+changed, bringing them nearer the track of ships, but they had little
+hope of being saved. Mr. Cook told them of his own hope, that death to
+him would be eternal life, and he urgently entreated them to put their
+trust in 'Him who was mighty to save.' At the same time he told them he
+had no doubt they would be rescued, that even then a vessel was speeding
+to save them, that God had answered their prayers, that next day as
+morning dawned they would see her. That night was one of great anxiety.
+
+"As morning dawned every eye was strained to see the promised ship.
+There truly she was, and the British Queen bore down upon them. You may
+think that with thankful hearts they left the Loch Earn. One thing is
+remarkable--_the officer in charge on board the British Queen had a most
+unaccountable feeling that there was something for him to do,_ and
+_three times during the night he changed the course of the vessel,
+bearing northward_. He told the watch to keep a sharp lookout for a
+ship, and immediately on sighting the Loch Earn bore down upon her. At
+first he thought she had been abandoned, as she lay helpless in the
+trough of the sea, but soon they saw her signal of distress. It seems to
+me a remarkable instance of faith on the one side and a guiding
+Providence on the other. After they were taken on board the pilot-boat
+that brought them into Plymouth, at noon, when they for the last time
+joined together in prayer, Mr. Cook read to them the account of Paul's
+shipwreck, showing the similarity of their experience. _'What made that
+captain change his course against his will?' but the ever present Spirit
+of God"_.
+
+
+THE STORM MADE CALM.
+
+
+At a Sunday morning meeting at Repository Hall, January 25, 1874, a
+Christian brother, in illustration of the power and faithfulness of God,
+and his willingness to hear and answer prayer, related these facts in
+his own experience. An account of them was subsequently published in the
+_Christian_:
+
+"In 1839 I was a sailor on board the brig Pandora, Captain G----, bound
+from Savannah to Boston, with a cargo of cotton. When off the coast of
+Virginia, some twenty-five miles distant from Chesapeake Bay, we
+encountered a heavy gale. Saturday evening, December 21st, the wind blew
+gently from the south. On sounding, we found ourselves in thirty fathoms
+of water. At midnight the wind veered to the eastward, gradually
+increasing until four o'clock Sunday morning, by which time the brig was
+under close-reefed topsails and foresail. The wind still increasing,
+every stitch of canvas was taken in, and now the vessel lay helpless and
+unmanageable in the trough of the sea, not minding her helm at all,
+while the wind blew a perfect hurricane. The vessel being very light,
+loaded with cotton, made much leeway, and though we had worn ship four
+times during the preceding night, hoping, if possible, to weather some
+shoals which the captain judged were near, and to make Chesapeake Bay,
+where we might have a clear beach before us in case the vessel should
+strand, yet at eight o'clock Sunday morning we were in but seventeen
+fathoms of water.
+
+"The gale now increased with fearful violence, waves rising like
+mountains, and rain and sleet pouring from the dismal clouds. At ten,
+A.M., being then in fifteen fathoms of water, and drifting rapidly
+towards the shore, the captain summoned all hands into the cabin to
+consult about throwing our deck-load overboard, in order to leave us a
+better chance to secure ourselves to the rigging, and thus save our
+lives when the vessel should strike, which he judged would be in about
+half an hour. Not a gleam of hope appeared, and here our distress was
+increased by observing that the captain seemed under the influence of
+liquor, to which he had probably resorted in order to stifle his fears
+of approaching death.
+
+"The order was given, and we went to work to throw the cotton over,
+while the captain, frightened and despairing, went into the cabin to
+drown his fears in drink. Seeing the state of things, and believing that
+shipwreck was imminent, I found two of my shipmates who were Christians,
+and who had prayed daily with me in the forecastle, and I asked them if
+they had any faith in God now, that he would hear our prayers and
+deliver us? They both said they had; and I told them to pray, then, that
+the Lord might rebuke the winds and calm the waves.
+
+"With an unspeakable mingling of fear and hope we applied ourselves to
+the task of casting the cotton into the sea, at the same time lifting up
+earnest and united prayers to God for deliverance from the threatened
+destruction, occasionally gliding in close contact with each other, and
+speaking words of hope in each other's ears, and feeling, as we toiled,
+a blessed confidence that our prayers were not in vain.
+
+"It did not seem more than five minutes from the time we commenced to
+throw the cotton overboard, for we had scarcely tumbled twenty bales
+into the sea, when we heard a shout from the quarter deck:
+
+"'Avast heaving cotton overboard! _The wind is coming out from our lee!_
+Avast there!'
+
+"It was the captain's voice, bidding us stay our hands; we obeyed, and
+looking up we saw him clinging to the rigging, apparently so drunk that
+he could hardly stand, _while away over our lee-bow we could see blue
+sky and fair weather_, and _it seemed that in less than ten minutes from
+the time the hurricane was at its height, the wind had chopped around in
+shore, and was gently wafting us away from danger, and out into deep
+water again_.
+
+"There were glad souls on board the Pandora that day, as she swung
+around in obedience to the helm, and we laid her course again for our
+destined port. And some who before had mocked at prayers and blasphemed
+the God we loved, admitted then that God had answered prayer, and that
+he had delivered us from death.
+
+"And I love to repeat the story to the praise of the Lord, who yet lives
+to hear, and bless, and save his trusting children."
+
+
+NO FEAR OF THUNDER.
+
+
+Some years ago a camp-meeting was held in Southern Indiana. It rained
+nearly all the time of the meeting. Father Haven, a man mighty in
+prayer, rose to preach. Just as he announced his text it thundered, and
+the congregation seemed to be restless and alarmed. The old hero
+instantly said, "Let us engage a moment in prayer." He prayed that God
+would allow the storm to pass by and not disturb them.
+
+After having plead for a few moments he said, "Friends, keep your seats;
+it will not rain one drop here to-day." He commenced to preach, and it
+thundered again. He repeated his assurance, and thus it continued until
+the storm-cloud was almost over the encampment. It divided north and
+south, and passed about a quarter of a mile on either side of them,
+reunited again and passed on, and not one solitary drop of rain fell on
+that encampment.
+
+
+THE PRAYER OF THE PILGRIMS FOR RAIN ANSWERED.
+
+
+It is well known that many of the good men who were driven from England
+to America by persecution in the seventeenth century, had to endure
+great privations. In the Spring of 1623 they planted more corn than ever
+before; but by the time they had done planting, their food was spent.
+They daily prayed, "Give us this day our daily bread;" and in some way
+or other the prayer was always answered. With a single boat and a net
+they caught some fish, and when these failed, they dug in the sand for
+shell-fish. In the month of June their hopes of a harvest were nearly
+blasted by a drought which withered up their corn and made the grass
+look like hay. All expected to perish with hunger.
+
+In their distress the pilgrims set apart a day of humiliation and
+prayer, and continued their worship for eight or nine hours. God heard
+their prayers, and answered them in a way which excited universal
+admiration. Although the morning of that day was clear, and the weather
+very hot and dry during the whole forenoon, yet before night it began to
+rain, and gentle showers continued to fall for many days, so that the
+ground became thoroughly soaked, and the drooping corn revived.
+
+
+THE ENEMIES OF A GOD FEARING NATION.
+
+
+"An answer to prayer," says Le Clerc, "may be seen by what happened on
+the coast of Holland in the year 1672. The Dutch expected an attack from
+their enemies by sea, and public prayers were ordered for their
+deliverance. It came to pass that when their enemies waited only for the
+tide, in order to land, _the tide was retarded, contrary to its usual
+course, for twelve hours_, so their enemies were obliged to defer the
+attempt to another opportunity; which they never found, _because a
+storm, arose afterwards_, and drove them from the coast."
+
+
+CHANGING THE COURSE ONE POINT.
+
+
+Walking across Palace Square in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with an American
+ship-master, (says a correspondent of the _Watchman_) he invited me to
+accompany him to his hotel. While there he showed me a very large gold
+medal he had received from the British government for saving a ship's
+company at sea. The circumstances were these: One night at sea, when it
+was the captain's "mid-watch,"--the watch from twelve, midnight, till
+four o'clock in the morning--just before turning in, he gave the officer
+of the watch the ship's course; the direction in which she was to be
+steered. While undressing, it was impressed on his mind that he ought to
+change the course a point; but he could see no reason for the change, as
+the ship was on the right course for the port of her destination. He
+turned in and tried to fall asleep, as it was only four hours to his
+watch; but the impression that he ought to change the ship's course kept
+him awake. In vain he tried to throw off that impression; and yielding
+to it, he went on deck and gave the order for the change. On returning
+to his berth, he was asleep as soon as his head was on the pillow. The
+next day he sighted a ship in distress, and made sail for her. The ship
+was in a sinking condition, and he rescued the whole ship's company.
+Shortly after, a gale of wind arose and carried the sinking ship to
+complete destruction. Had not the American captain changed the course of
+his ship that evening, he would not have come in sight of the ship in
+distress, and all of the company would have perished.
+
+_Query_--_What made that Captain arise in the middle of the night and,
+contrary to all science, reason and his own will, change the course of
+his vessel_, but a _Supreme Being, whose power he could not resist_, and
+what made him _exactly_ reach that sinking _ship just in time_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+THE FULTON ST. PRAYER MEETING.
+
+
+ANSWERS TO PRAYER FROM ITS HISTORY, RECORDS AND CORRESPONDENCE.
+
+
+The following Incidents of Prayer and the remarkable Answers, have been
+obtained from the records of the Fulton Street Prayer Meeting in New
+York City. They include both facts which have been related by speakers
+in their daily meetings, or furnished from the letters of those who have
+solicited Prayer and received the Answer to their Faith.
+
+They are of the utmost diversity of subjects, literally including the
+"all things" of the Bible, and temporal as well as spiritual interests.
+
+Numerous as the incidents are, which we here give, still they cover only
+_one-sixtieth_ part of the whole Record of the Blessed Meeting.
+
+History can never tell of the wonders done in Answer to the Prayers of
+these trusting ones; but Faith can rejoice, for here is fulfilled daily
+those cheerful Promises of the Lord: "_If ye abide in me and my words
+abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you."
+"Ask and receive, that your joy may be full_."
+
+
+SAVED FROM A LIFE OF DEGRADATION.
+
+
+"Your prayers for my husband have been answered; _on the very day_ I
+wished your prayers for him, and _before the hour of prayer had
+expired_" he came into the house, and said, '_I am going to do better_.'
+He had not been home before for _several weeks_. He was a profane,
+hard-drinking man. He has since joined the church. 'All hail the power
+of Jesus' name.'"
+
+
+RECOVERY OF AN INVALID.
+
+
+"One year ago, the prayers of this meeting were asked for an invalid who
+had years of intense suffering before her, unless soon relieved. Prayers
+were offered for her. Now we would like to acknowledge the
+loving-kindness and tender mercy of our God, for, since that time, she
+has slowly but steadily improved, even under most trying and unfavorable
+circumstances, and-has now recovered comparative strength."
+
+
+RELIEF IN BUSINESS.
+
+
+"_None of those who trust in Him shall be made desolate_."
+
+"Some three weeks ago, I wrote you, stating that _my business had been a
+failure_, and asked your prayers that God, in His mercy, would point out
+a way for me to _provide for my family._ The clouds grew thicker and
+blacker, but the more earnest were my prayers. _Last Saturday the Lord
+came to my rescue_, and provided me with the necessities of life, and
+to-day I wish you to join with me in thanksgiving to Almighty God for
+these favors;--'For He is good; His mercy endureth forever.'"
+
+
+A DAUGHTER SAVED FROM MARRIAGE WITH A CORRUPT MAN.
+
+
+"I pray you give God praise and thanks for His merciful deliverance of
+my dear daughter from the _evil influence_ of the man to whom she had
+given her love and promise of marriage. THE LORD gave her strength and
+courage to break her engagement, in answer to our earnest prayers. Oh,
+implore _Him_ to keep that man out of her path, for he is constantly
+lying in wait to meet her when she goes out. He wanted her to read bad
+books, but told her that they were not wrong. He constantly laid
+temptation in alluring forms before her. To HIM alone be the thanks for
+this step she has taken."
+
+
+A SKEPTIC OVERPOWERED.
+
+
+"More and more God is pouring out His Spirit, gloriously answering your
+prayers and ours. I have been constantly asking your prayers, and
+though, for a while, the vision tarried, _yet it has come. The young
+man_, from a neighborhood where there was _not one Christian_, and _he
+himself scarcely less than a skeptic, is now sitting, in his right mind,
+at Jesus' feet."_
+
+
+SAVED FROM DEATH.
+
+
+"My brother, that lay apparently at the point of death, has been
+restored to comparative health."
+
+
+AN INTEMPERATE YOUNG MAN RECLAIMED.
+
+
+"Rejoice with me, and thank God for his gracious answer to prayer. The
+intemperate young man for whom I requested prayer some months ago, has
+turned away from his cups, and is earnestly striving to overcome his
+appetite for strong drink. He is competent to be the means of doing so
+much good."
+
+
+THE CONVERSION OF INTIMATE FRIENDS.
+
+
+"Some time since, I sent request for prayer for the conversion of
+friends. Since then _three_ have united with the church."
+
+
+RAISED UP FROM DEATH'S DOOR.
+
+
+"Our former pastor was raised up from death's door, in answer to your
+prayer. _The doctor gave him up_. He says the Lord alone saved him, in
+answer to prayer. Praise His name."
+
+
+THE DESIRE OF THE HEART FULFILLED.
+
+
+"A few weeks since I sent a request for prayer in my behalf, asking you
+to pray God very earnestly that He would grant me the desire of my
+heart, for which I was praying almost unceasingly. _On the evening of
+the same day_ on which I supposed you would receive my request, _the
+answer came,_ lifting a great burden from my heart. I send this in
+acknowledgment of God's loving-kindness to me, and to encourage' every
+burdened, praying one, to _trust Him more_."
+
+
+A POOR OLD SICK LADY RESTORED.
+
+
+"The poor, sick old lady for whom I requested your prayers some time
+since, wishes to return thanks to Almighty God, for _restoring her
+health_, and _sending friends_. It is wonderful how your and our
+requests are answered."
+
+
+A NEW BIRTH.
+
+
+"Give thanks with me. Since I wrote you last, our son has given himself
+to Jesus."
+
+
+A CHURCH SAVED FROM STRIFE.
+
+
+"It is with heartfelt gratitude to God that I write you of answer to
+your prayer. Last Spring, I asked your prayers in behalf of our church.
+It was almost destroyed by a man trying to get into our Conference
+without proper papers, and could not. He then broke up a Presbyterian
+church, and formed another. He gathered a number of our members with
+him, and tried hard to take our parsonage, but did not succeed. Thank
+God! though we are few, and have had a hard struggle, we still hold our
+property, our circuit has doubled, God is reviving His work, and is now
+answering your prayers"
+
+
+REASON RESTORED.
+
+
+"Last March, I requested you to pray for a dear friend in Massachusetts,
+who was deprived of her reason through sickness and great trouble. _Give
+thanks unto God, she is fully restored."_
+
+
+"Arise And Walk."
+
+
+"It will be just one year since Jesus came and took me by the hand, and
+_I arose from what was supposed to be my death-bed_, and _walked to the
+astonishment of all_. I have not claimed the fullness of the promise,
+but feel that I may. I prayed God not to heal my body wholly, until I
+was more patient under my cross."
+
+
+THE APPETITE FOR STRONG DRINK TAKEN AWAY.
+
+
+"Sometime ago I wrote to you for my husband. He was _a victim to strong
+drink_ at that time, but _blessed be God, he has not drank one drop for
+five months_."
+
+
+SPIRITUAL STRENGTH.
+
+
+"I feel your prayers; I think I know the day and the hour, for I felt
+strengthened with strength in my soul."
+
+
+HEALING OF SOUL AND BODY.
+
+
+"I have reason to rejoice that I have been greatly blessed in answer to
+your prayers. Two young lady friends of mine have been enabled to claim
+the blessed promise of full salvation, not only to the healing of the
+soul, _but the body also_.
+
+My own experience helped them: On the 16th of January, last, in answer
+to constant prayer offered by myself and friends, I arose from what all
+thought to be my death-bed, and walked all over the house; also many
+miles on the streets during the next few months. I did not claim the
+full extent of the promise as I craved only relief from such terrible
+pain, as was then my portion to bear. I think God in his goodness would
+have granted full restoration to health, as I was so anxious to work for
+Him, but I pleaded with Him _not to heal my body_ until my mind had had
+the discipline I felt it needed."
+
+
+AN INTEMPERATE HUSBAND SAVED BY PRAYER.
+
+
+"Some three weeks since, I asked you for my intemperate husband, that
+you would pray that he might be _willing to be saved. He has been made
+willing to give up the intoxicating cup,_ and says he has _not any
+desire_ for it. To God be all the praise."
+
+
+RELIGION LOST, RELIGION REGAINED.
+
+
+"I wrote you two months since, asking an interest in your prayers for a
+young man that experienced religion a year ago, but failed to confess
+Christ by uniting with the church. Your prayers have been answered. Last
+night my heart was made to rejoice by seeing him confess Christ, before
+the world. He is now happy in the love of Jesus, and will he useful and
+active in the church."
+
+
+DRUNKARDS REFORMED.
+
+
+"Return thanks to God for two men signing the pledge, about one month
+ago, who have been enabled to keep it through great temptation. _They
+were drunkards for over twenty years_. Their reformation was in answer
+to a praying mother's prayers, and to the prayers for them at your
+meeting."
+
+
+A HOPELESS CASE.
+
+
+"A little less than a year ago, prayers were desired at the Fulton
+street prayer-meeting for a man whose case seemed wholly hopeless.
+Shortly after he gave up drink, and became a Christian; is now a happy
+man, and has a happy family.
+
+"Please carry this thank offering to God, that he has given us such a
+Savior, and such a way to escape from temptation."
+
+
+A HARVEST OF CONVERSIONS.
+
+
+"Last Fall, I wrote you to pray for us. You did pray. The result was a
+wonderful increase of spiritual life--_fifty conversions."_
+
+
+A FAMILY MADE HAPPY.
+
+
+"Two years ago, I wrote asking your prayers for a dear sister, brothers
+and nieces. Since then, one brother, about sixty, and my two nieces have
+been converted, and are now rejoicing in a Savior's love."
+
+
+THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
+
+
+"About two years ago we requested your prayers for the Holy Spirit upon
+a revival work then in progress in our church." _The Lord answered us_
+by giving us _over four score souls."_
+
+
+HEARTS MADE GLAD.
+
+
+"We return most hearty thanks for the answer to prayer given. I wrote
+more than a year ago last August of our low state. Last Winter twenty
+young persons were converted, and continue to work faithfully."
+
+
+GIVEN UP BY MAN, BUT RESCUED BY THE GREAT PHYSICIAN.
+
+
+"The writer was himself raised up by prayer, from the gates of death,
+offered by the heart and lips of one who is now a sufferer. _Two of the
+most skillful physicians in the land had given me up_."
+
+
+THE STORY OF A WAYWARD LIFE, SAVED BY PRAYER.
+
+
+"In the last fourteen years I have stood beside the deathbeds of eight
+who were near and dear to me, and the last words that each spoke to me
+as they were leaving the world were, "_Will you not meet me in Heaven_?"
+I have been a wayward child. Eight years ago I became addicted to strong
+drink. I became a drunkard, which brought my dear old father down to an
+untimely grave. I made a promise on his death-bed that I would not drink
+any more, and for six long years I kept that promise, but at last I
+broke it. I again became a drunkard, which began to tell on my wife. I
+promised her that I would not drink, but that promise was broken time
+after time. Within this year, in the week of prayer, I attended the
+prayer-meetings, asked prayers for me, and on the night following, I
+erected the family altar, which had for four years been neglected, and,
+thank God, it is there yet. I am now trusting in the promise that _He
+will not let his children be tempted beyond what they are able to
+endure_."
+
+
+A WONDERFUL CURE.
+
+
+An earnest Christian woman who believed the Lord greater than any
+earthly physician, cries, "_O, praise the Lord. He hath delivered me in
+six troubles, and in the seventh he hath not forsaken me_." "And the
+seventh was the worst. By the help of _eight physicians_, and in answer
+to prayer, partly of this meeting, a fearful tumor has been taken from
+me weighing twelve pounds, with three gallons of water in the sack. O,
+praise the Lord, for He is good, and his mercy endureth forever."
+
+This case was one of extraordinary risk and apparently impossible
+achievement; but the Lord gave faith to try, and skill to win the
+victory. No earthly power could have dared the venture.
+
+
+GIVEN UP.
+
+
+"Our pastor, after four months' sickness, preached to us last evening
+the most solemn sermon I ever heard, and says he was raised up in answer
+to prayer. The physicians gave him up several times, and say they have
+never known such an instance of recovery."
+
+
+CHAINS BROKEN AT LAST.
+
+
+"Long months, week by week, I have asked you to pray that my husband
+might be saved from the eternal doom of a drunkard. God has mercifully
+given him strength to break the fetters that bound him fast."
+
+
+BETTER THAN WE EXPECTED.
+
+
+"We asked your prayers; they have been answered. They were answered more
+and better than we had hoped or dreamed they could be."
+
+
+PRAYER ANSWERED FOR EMPLOYMENT.
+
+
+"A foreigner without means and friendless tried in vain for ten months
+to succeed in finding some employment. He requested your prayers to God,
+and _God answered_. In less than eighteen hours a splendid position was
+offered to him. He and his wife give thanks, and pray that they may
+devote their lives usefully to the cause of God who has been so good to
+them."
+
+
+FOUND EMPLOYMENT.
+
+
+"God has answered our united prayers, and given employment to his
+child."
+
+
+AN OLD LADY SAVED FROM LITTLE ANNOYANCES.
+
+
+"Your prayers have been heard and answered in mercy. The old lady has
+not been quite so much annoyed. Thank God for some peace for the aged
+one, not able to bear what younger people can, that go out into the
+world and can find relief. I thank my heavenly Father for his loving-
+kindness and tender mercy for those that cry to him in trouble."
+
+
+INSANITY DISPELLED.
+
+
+"I sent a petition months ago, for prayers for an insane husband. Your
+prayers have been answered. He has rapidly recovered."
+
+
+RECLAIMED.
+
+
+"I must ask you to return thanks with me that your prayers have been
+answered. An intemperate brother has been reclaimed."
+
+
+RESTORED TO HEALTH.
+
+
+"One month since, I requested prayer specially for my own family. My
+oldest son, who was then sick, has been restored to his usual health.
+'_The prayer of faith hath indeed saved the sick_.'"
+
+
+TEMPTATIONS REMOVED.
+
+
+"Some months ago I asked your prayers for a son in college, amid great
+temptations. I desire to give thanks that those temptations have been
+removed."
+
+THE HEART OF A CLERGYMAN TURNED FROM THOUGHTS OF AMBITION.
+
+
+"I sent a request to you for a young man, who was called, and eminently
+fitted for the ministry, but was tempted, by ambition, not to listen to
+the divine call, and obstacles had hedged his way somewhat. After I
+requested your prayers in his behalf, this temptation was removed, and
+nearly one hundred persons were converted in the church which was under
+his care."
+
+
+A GRATEFUL TRIBUTE.
+
+
+"For a long time I have been the subject of personal affliction, caused
+by _two internal tumors_ of the _worst type_. Speedy death seemed
+inevitable; yet there was a little hope that a surgical operation might
+possibly remove the difficulty and prolong my day. To this hope I clung,
+submitted to the operation, and it was a success. To the earnest prayers
+of Christian people is due this grateful acknowledgment."
+
+
+WAS A PERFECT SLAVE TO LIQUOR.
+
+
+"Please return _thanks_ to our kind Heavenly Father for this answer to
+prayer. All last Winter requests were sent in for a gentleman, a perfect
+slave to liquor. Those prayers were answered, and he is attending church
+regularly, striving to do what is right to please his Heavenly Master."
+
+
+ALWAYS ANSWERED.
+
+
+"Several times in years past I have asked for the prayers of this
+meeting, and always found them answered."
+
+
+CURED OF EPILEPSY.
+
+
+"I wrote you to aid me by your prayers, that my afflicted son, who was
+troubled with epilepsy, might be cured. Thanks be to the Heavenly
+Father, he is better."
+
+
+ALMOST LOST.
+
+
+"Your prayers and mine for my son have been answered. He was almost
+lost, on the downward road of intemperance. He has now reformed."
+
+
+A SITUATION OBTAINED BY PRAYER.
+
+
+"Yesterday I sent a request that God would give me sustaining grace and
+abiding faith, and in his own good time give me a situation where I
+might be able to support my family. In that very afternoon, I made a
+contract of $1,200 a year. Praise the Lord."
+
+
+A BOUNTIFUL BLESSING.
+
+
+"Some time ago I solicited your prayers for a blessing on my services,
+and _never, in all my life_ before have I been blessed as since that
+time. 'Tis truly wonderful; it has seemed as if I must have become some
+one else, and that it could not longer be me speaking with such
+boldness, and apparent success. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that
+is within me, bless his holy name."
+
+
+SAVED FROM THE COMPANY OF A BAD LOVER.
+
+
+"A week ago I begged you to pray for my daughter, who had given her
+heart to an unworthy man, praying that God might guide her to see him as
+he is, and turn her love from him. She is a child of God. In answer, God
+has caused a rupture between them."
+
+
+AWAY FROM HOME, BUT NOT AWAY FROM GOD.
+
+
+"Some weeks since I sent in a request for prayer for my sons who had
+fallen victims to intemperance and vice. My heart rejoices to-day in the
+hope that it has.
+
+
+"Two who left home, and had gone to distant cities to seek employment,
+have written me to pray that they may be able to forsake sin in all its
+forms, and come to Christ and be Christians. One of them was skeptical
+when he left home. The one remaining at home has resolved to quit
+drinking."
+
+
+GOD ALWAYS ANSWERS BELIEVING PRAYER.
+
+
+"Your prayers asked on several occasions have all been graciously
+answered. Return thanks unto the Lord that sendeth mercy."
+
+
+THE HARDEST HEART YIELDS AT LAST.
+
+
+"Several years since your prayers were solicited in behalf of one who
+seemed given over to hardness of heart and reprobacy of mind. Since that
+time there has been some reform in his life. God only knows how far
+those prayers have been answered in restraining grace. Last week he said
+to the friend who had solicited your prayers for him, 'I wish you would
+ask Fulton Street prayer-meeting to pray again for me. _I believe it did
+me good._'"
+
+
+UP FROM THE LOWEST DEPTHS.
+
+
+"One year ago I wrote you respecting prayer for my husband. He has since
+been reclaimed from the lowest depths of a drunkard's life, and is now a
+member of the Christian church. Thanks be to God, the giver of all
+good."
+
+
+SAVED AND HONORED.
+
+
+"Almost three years ago I asked you to pray for a young man that was
+wandering from God. Thank God, your and my prayers were answered. He is
+now an active Christian, a superintendent of the Sabbath school, and a
+most zealous member of the Young Men's Christian Association of this
+place."
+
+
+ALMOST PERSUADED.
+
+
+"Some weeks since I requested prayer for a member of this Institution
+who was 'almost persuaded' to be a Christian. Thanks to our Father, and
+to those who have offered prayer in her behalf, she has been _altogether
+persuaded_, and has united with the Lord's people."
+
+
+ANSWERED THE SAME DAY.
+
+
+"You received a letter yesterday. My husband rose for prayers the same
+night."
+
+
+OH, HOW PRECIOUS.
+
+
+"I wrote five months since for prayers for myself, and I now write to
+say that I have found my Savior very precious to my soul."
+
+
+PRAYING FOR A PASTOR.
+
+
+"Several months ago I wrote asking you to pray for a feeble church in
+need of a pastor. Since then I am happy to say that this church has been
+blessed and we now have a pastor."
+
+
+A TELEGRAM OF PRAYER.
+
+
+An incident was related at one of the meetings by a clergyman who had
+written a telegram asking for prayers. God heard it before it was sent.
+
+"When we were in Switzerland, my daughter was taken very ill, so that
+the doctor despaired of her life. I felt the need of sympathy and help
+and prayer, and I made up my mind that I would send a telegraphic
+dispatch to this meeting, where I had so often united with you in
+prayer. I wrote the dispatch and was prepared to send it, when all at
+once there was poured out such a joyful faith and confidence in God on
+me as I never felt before in all my life, and I fell on my knees in
+devout thanksgiving for the assurance that God gave me that he had heard
+and answered our prayers, for we had prayed for that dear daughter's
+life. There lay the telegram ready to be sent. There I was waiting and
+praying. In less than half an hour my wife came into the room and said,
+'There is a change for the better in our daughter,' and the telegram was
+never sent, though I believe the writing of it was the prayer that God
+answered."
+
+
+HE DID NOT KEEP HIS PROMISE, BUT GOD DID.
+
+
+A remarkable instance of how God keeps his promises and is faithful, and
+how man often forgets to keep his, and at last receives deserved
+punishment for his thanklessness to God, was recently related in the
+Fulton Street prayer-meeting.
+
+A very urgent case was presented by a friend. He said: "A friend of mine
+is seeking Jesus. A little while ago his only child lay near death. He
+prayed God to restore her to health, promising to serve the Lord for the
+rest of his life if the child's life was spared. His daughter recovered,
+but _the man forgot the promise he had made and sought not after God._
+In a very little while the child was suddenly taken sick again, and
+almost as suddenly died. The father remembered his vows, and feels that
+this is God's solemn warning to him to seek the Savior."
+
+
+A DOUBLE PRAYER ANSWERED.
+
+
+At the Fulton Street prayer-meeting a number of remarkable cases were
+related of real answers to prayer for recovery to health, and obtaining
+of positions.
+
+"I must tell you how God has been answering prayer, for his glory and
+for your encouragement. Your prayers were asked for a sick wife. She was
+thought by the doctors to be beyond recovery, but in response to prayer
+God spared her life, and she and her husband returned their heartfelt
+thanks to Him. But there was another trouble. The husband had long
+needed employment, and was in great pecuniary distress. He had been
+praying for help, beseeching the Lord to open up a way for him. But help
+did not come, and the cloud seemed darker, and the poor man got
+discouraged. Friends begged him to hope on, and not to give up his trust
+in that God who, in answer to prayer, had raised his sick wife to
+health. He continued to pray, and on the long, dark night, morning at
+last dawned. He is now in a good position, and sends a request to
+friends to thank God with him for this two-fold goodness of the Lord.
+
+
+HOW THE LORD BLESSED AN OLD ADVERTISEMENT.
+
+
+"I had another acquaintance who was also greatly distressed. With a wife
+and family to care for, and all his means gone, and no prospect of
+employment, he was in trouble indeed. We induced him to present his case
+for prayer here, as it would encourage him to have others pray for him.
+Then we inserted an advertisement in one of the daily papers, offering
+his services, hoping the Lord would bless the means used and answer
+prayer. Day by day passed, but no response came. Some two weeks after
+the advertisement was inserted, a merchant picked up _an old paper_, and
+noticing the advertisement, showed it to his partner, remarking, 'Why,
+this is just the man we need.' Observing the _old date_ on the paper,
+his partner said he thought it would be too late to respond; but the
+trial was made. The man was requested to call, and proved to be just
+what these merchants had been wishing for, and was very quickly engaged.
+He feels that the Heavenly Father who cares for the sparrows,
+undoubtedly met his need, and that all the circumstances connected with
+the case were providential."
+
+
+HATING THE ACCURSED DRINK.
+
+
+A brother rose in the meeting and said, "I believe it is God's will that
+I should tell you how He saved me, about two years since. I came into
+the meeting when it was held in the old church, and was at the time
+under the influence of liquor. The missionary took me into the gallery
+and talked with me, and prayed with me, and God heard prayer and saved
+me. I became a new man in Christ, and have lost all appetite for drink;
+I hate the accursed stuff."
+
+
+A DRUNKARD FOR THIRTY YEARS.
+
+
+Another told a remarkable story of his life: "I was a drunkard for
+thirty years, and I tried all kinds of means to get free, but all
+failed. I pledged myself over and over again, and swore off many a time.
+At last, Jesus met me at the mission meeting, and he saved me. He took
+away the appetite for drink from me. I am a different man; I am tempted
+in various ways at times, but when tempted I think of Jesus and look to
+Him, and He saves me."
+
+
+THE HOPELESS ONE BROUGHT HOME.
+
+
+"A pastor related the incident of the conversion of a man who had
+disgraced his family, and all through drink. All the people in the
+village where he lived regarded him as a hopeless case. But he was
+prayed for, and one night in answer to an appeal to those desiring
+Christ to rise, he rose. He soon became a new man, and a steadfast
+soldier of the Cross, completely delivered from his hopeless situation,
+and all his appetites taken away."
+
+
+"NO MAN CAN PLUCK THEM OUT OF MY FATHER'S HAND."
+
+
+A brother says, "Jesus says this, and I rest just there." "A year ago I
+was in Philadelphia. I had resolved not to drink any liquor that day,
+but my resolution was soon broken. In the evening as I wandered the
+streets, that voice of God, '_Turn ye, turn ye_,' gave me great
+uneasiness. Although I tried hard not to go, yet the Spirit was at work
+within me, and against my will led me to the meetings of the Young Men's
+Christian Association. When the call came for those desiring prayers, I
+felt that it was my last call, and I pushed forward and rose. Friends
+prayed with me, and that night, as I pleaded for mercy, the burden of my
+sin was lifted and I was free. Christ took the appetite for drink away,
+and He has kept me ever since, and will keep me to the end, for He says,
+'_Fear not, for I have redeemed thee; I have called thee by thy name;
+thou art mine_.' Oh! I know He won't let me go."
+
+
+ANSWER TO PRAYER IN TEMPORAL MATTERS.
+
+
+A speaker said at one meeting, "God answers prayer in temporal matters.
+In a Western college, at a time when the last morsels of food had been
+eaten, and some had to go away from the table empty, four of the number
+retired to pray, and before they had ceased praying relief came.
+Provisions in large quantities were received, thus verifying the old
+promise, 'Before they call I will answer.'"
+
+
+THE LORD PROVED TRUE.
+
+
+"The Lord reigns," another exclaimed, "I have proved that during my long
+life! It has looked dark very often, and I have been in difficult
+places, but again and again the Lord has brought me through
+triumphantly. I have found the promise true." "Trust in the Lord, and do
+good, so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed."
+
+
+A LITTLE BOY'S QUESTION.
+
+
+A brother related a touching incident which occurred in Brooklyn. "A
+little boy asked his father at the dinner table, '_Papa, why don't you
+read the Bible_?' The father was a passionate man, and was about driving
+the boy out of his presence, but his anger made the little fellow weep.
+That brought tears to the mother's eyes, and then the father followed
+suit. The boy's tears moved him, and the question struck his heart; and
+father and mother, up to that hour unconverted, were soon on their way
+to the prayer-meeting, where they found Jesus."
+
+
+A LITTLE GIRL'S QUESTION.
+
+
+A touching little story, with eternal results in it, was told at one of
+the meetings, illustrating that word of God's book, "A little child
+shall lead them." "A dress-maker called on a very wealthy lady in a city
+not far from New York, and took with her her little girl, five years
+old. The lady took a fancy to the child, and showed her over the house.
+She expressed great admiration at all she saw, and, particularly
+attracted by the carpet, said to the lady: 'Why, I should think Jesus
+must come here very often, it is such a nice house, and such a beautiful
+carpet--He must come here very often. He comes to our house, and we have
+no carpet; I am sure He must come here very often, doesn't He?' The lady
+not answering, the child repeated the question, when the reply came,
+with deep emotion, "I am afraid not." The child left, but God's message
+was delivered. The lady related the incident to her husband in the
+evening, and both were led to seek the Savior.
+
+
+GOD CARED FOR ME.
+
+
+At a meeting a young man in broken English, said: "If any man ought to
+believe in prayer, I ought to. My friends turned me out of my home,
+because I was seeking for Christ. I was too much Christian my landlady
+said. I told her I wished I was all Christian. It was seven o'clock in
+the evening when she refused to let me come into the house. I went then
+to the prayer-meeting in Water Street; we had such a good meeting, that
+I quite forgot that I had no place to sleep. The services over, I found
+it was raining fast, and I had no place to which to go. I went back into
+the room, and kneeling at one of the benches, I begged God to give me a
+place to rest. I did not go home my usual way that night, but on the way
+I took I met an old friend, and walking with him to his house he begged
+me to stay the night, as he did not like to be alone. I staid there that
+night, though I had never told him of my condition. What was it but an
+answer to prayer. Many a time since has God thus provided for my wants.
+O friends, let your heart go out, for Him, then He will never let you
+want."
+
+
+THE BLIND CAN SEE.
+
+
+Said another, "I came here yesterday to ask you to pray for my sister.
+She has been sick some time, and then she lost her _sight_. I did not
+get an opportunity to present my request because so many took part; but
+I thought I would just take my sister's case to Jesus, remembering that
+'the prayer of faith shall save the sick.' In the afternoon I found her
+in sad need of sleep. I told her just to look to Jesus, because it was
+written of Him, 'So He giveth His beloved sleep.' We prayed together,
+and I left her in a _profound slumber_, 'This morning when I called on
+her she could _see me.' Friends, the Lord does answer prayer."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Wonders of Prayer, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WONDERS OF PRAYER ***
+
+***** This file should be named 11553.txt or 11553.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        https://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/5/5/11553/
+
+Produced by John Hagerson, Kevin Handy and PG Distributed Proofreaders
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+https://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+https://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at https://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit https://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations.  To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's
+eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII,
+compressed (zipped), HTML and others.
+
+Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over
+the old filename and etext number.  The replaced older file is renamed.
+VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving
+new filenames and etext numbers.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000,
+are filed in directories based on their release date.  If you want to
+download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular
+search system you may utilize the following addresses and just
+download by the etext year. For example:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org/etext06
+
+    (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99,
+     98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90)
+
+EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are
+filed in a different way.  The year of a release date is no longer part
+of the directory path.  The path is based on the etext number (which is
+identical to the filename).  The path to the file is made up of single
+digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename.  For
+example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234
+
+or filename 24689 would be found at:
+     https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689
+
+An alternative method of locating eBooks:
+     https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL
+
+
diff --git a/old/11553.zip b/old/11553.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d3d41cf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/11553.zip