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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/37501-8.txt b/37501-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f2c0474 --- /dev/null +++ b/37501-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2303 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of In Answer to Prayer, by +W. Boyd Carpenter and Theodore L. Cuyler and John Watson and Knox Little and William Quarrier + +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: In Answer to Prayer + The Touch of the Unseen + +Author: W. Boyd Carpenter + Theodore L. Cuyler + John Watson + Knox Little + William Quarrier + +Release Date: September 21, 2011 [EBook #37501] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN ANSWER TO PRAYER *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, David E. Brown and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + In Answer to Prayer + + By + + THE RIGHT REV. THE BISHOP OF + RIPON, THE REV. DR. CUYLER, + THE REV. DR. JOHN WATSON + ("IAN MACLAREN"), THE REV. + CANON KNOX LITTLE, MR. + WILLIAM QUARRIER, MR. L. K. + SHAW, THE REV. DR. HORTON, + THE REV. H. PRICE HUGHES, THE + REV. DR. CLIFFORD, AND + THE DEAN OF SALISBURY + + NEW YORK + + DODD, MEAD & COMPANY + + 1899 + + + + +_PREFATORY NOTE_ + + +_The following pages were originally written for the SUNDAY MAGAZINE. +In their present form it is hoped that they will reach another and not +less appreciative public._ + +_Although Dr. Watson's contribution is of a character quite distinct +from the other papers, it treats of a phase of religious experience so +closely allied to that of answered prayer that it seems in the present +collection to serve as a stage of transition from the sphere of the +unseen and spiritual to that of the visible and tangible._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + +IN ANSWER TO PRAYER + + PAGE + + By the Right Rev. W. BOYD CARPENTER, Lord Bishop of Ripon 11 + + By the Rev. THEODORE L. CUYLER, D.D., of New York 19 + + By the Rev. JOHN WATSON, M.A., D.D. ("Ian Maclaren") 27 + + By the Rev. Canon KNOX LITTLE, M.A. 39 + + By Mr. WILLIAM QUARRIER, of Glasgow 49 + + By Mr. LEONARD K. SHAW, of Manchester 67 + + By the Rev. R. F. HORTON, M.A., D.D. 75 + + By the Rev. H. PRICE HUGHES, M.A. 89 + + By the Rev. J. CLIFFORD, M.A., D.D. 101 + + By the Very Rev. G. D. BOYLE, M.A., Dean of Salisbury 119 + + + + +I + +BY THE RIGHT REV. +W. BOYD CARPENTER, D.D. +LORD BISHOP OF RIPON + + +I have been asked to write some thoughts on answers to prayer. I am +afraid that I cannot give from personal experience vivid and striking +anecdotes such as others have chronicled. God does not deal with all +alike, either in His gifts of faith or in those of experience. We differ +also in the use we make of His gifts. But if I mistake not the object of +these papers is not merely to gather together an array of startling +experiences, but rather to unite in conference on the great subject of +prayer and the answers to prayer. + +No doubt every Christian spirit holds within his memory many cherished +experiences of God's dealings with him, and these must touch the +question of prayer. But the greater part of these experiences belong to +that sanctuary life of the soul which, rightly or wrongly, we keep +veiled from the world. There are some matters which would lose their +charm if they were made public property. There is a reticence which is +of faith, just as there may be a reticence which is of cowardice or +unfaith. But like the little home treasures, which we only open to look +upon when we are alone, so are some of the secret treasures of inward +experiences. Nevertheless, none of us can have lived and thought without +meeting with a sort of general confirmation or otherwise of the efficacy +of prayer; and though I cannot chronicle positive and striking examples, +I can say what I have known. + +I have known men of a naturally timid and sensitive disposition who have +grown at moments lion-like in courage, and they would tell you that +courage came to them in prayer. I have known one man, who found himself +face to face with a duty which was unexpected and from which he shrank +with all his soul. I have known that such a one has prayed that the duty +might not be pressed upon him, and yet that, if it were, he might be +given strength to fulfil it. The duty still confronted him. In trembling +and in much dismay he undertook it; and when the hour came, it found him +calm and equable in spirit, neither dismayed nor demoralised by fears. +Such a one might not tell of great outward answers to prayer; but inward +answers are not less real. At any rate, the Psalmist chronicled an +answer such as this when he wrote: "In the day when I cried Thou +answeredst me and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul" (Psalm +cxxxviii. 3). + +There is, further, a paradox of Christian experience which may be noted. +The soul which waits upon God finds out sooner or later that the prayers +which seem to be unanswered are those which may be most truly answered. +For what is the answer to prayer which the praying heart looks for? +There is no true prayer without the proviso--Nevertheless not what I +will, but what Thou wilt. In other words, there is no true prayer +without reliance upon the greater wisdom and greater love of Him to whom +we pray. Thus it is that God's answer may not be the answer as we looked +for it. We form our expectations: they take shape from our poor little +limited surroundings; but the prayer in its spirit may be wider than we +imagine. To answer it according to our expectations might be not to +answer it truly. To answer it according to our real meaning--_i.e._, +according to our spiritual desire--must be the true answer to prayer. + +One illustration will suffice. A man, pressed by difficulty and +straitness, may pray that he may be moved to some place of greater +freedom and ease. He thinks that he ought to move elsewhere. He prays +for guidance and the openings of God's providence. In a short time a +vacant post presents itself: he applies for it, it is just the thing he +wished for. He continues his prayers. The post is given to another. His +prayers have not been answered: such is his conclusion; but is not the +answer really--"Not yet--not yet--wait awhile. My grace is sufficient +for thee"? He waits; he leaves his life in God's hands. After an +interval another opening occurs, and almost without an effort he is +moved to the vacant place. It is this time, perhaps, not the kind of +place he thought of; it is less interesting, it is more onerous, it +fills him with fear as he undertakes its duties. He has prayed, but the +answer came not as he wished or thought or hoped. The years go by. He +looks back from the vantage-ground of distance. He can measure his life +in better proportions. He sees now that the movements of his life have a +deep meaning. He perceives that to have gone where he wished to have +gone, and even where he prayed to be placed, would have been to miss +some of the best experiences and highest trainings of this life. He +begins to realise that there is not a spot which he has visited, not a +place where he has toiled, which has not brought to him lessons that +have been most helpful, nay, even needful, in his later life. He sees +that God has sent him here or there to fit him for work which, unknown +and unexpected in his earlier days, the future was to bring. + +The least-answered prayer may be the most-answered. It is the +realisation that experiences fit us for the duties of later life which +yields to us the assurance that in the deepest sense our seemingly +disregarded prayers have been most abundantly remembered before God. +Thus, indeed, we can enter into the spirit of familiar words and +acknowledge concerning each prayer that it is + + "Goodness still, + Which grants it or denies." + +And so it may come to pass in later life that our specific petitions for +this or that thing may grow fewer. We may realise more and more our own +ignorance in asking. We may rely more and more on the divine wisdom in +giving. Even in the case of others we may recognise the unwisdom of +asking many things on their behalf. Our love would tenderly shield them +from rough winds and bitter hours. We pray that the divine love would +spare them dark days; and yet, are the prayers well prayed? Does God not +lead souls through darkness into light? Is not the Valley of the Shadow +the precursor of the table of love which God spreads? Can the head be +anointed with God's kingly oil which has not been bowed down in the +darkness? Ah! how little we know! how short-sighted we are! And how +great and full and strong God's love is! And, this being so, may not +experience bring us larger trust and lesser prayers--not less, indeed, +in intensity, not less in the wrestling of spirit; not less in the +striving to reach nearer to God's will, but less in the number and +specific character of our petitions? To put it another way--the +petitions are fewer because the prayer is deeper and truer. + + "Not my weak longings, Lord, fulfil, + But rather do Thy perfect will, + For I am blind and wish for things + Which granted bring heart-festerings. + Let me but know that I am blind, + Let me but trust Thee wondrous kind." + + + + +II + +BY THE REV. +THEODORE L. CUYLER, D.D. +OF NEW YORK + + +All of God's mighty men and women have been mighty in prayer. When +Martin Luther was in the mid-valley of his conflict with the man of sin +he used to say that he could not get on without three hours a day in +prayer. Charles G. Finney's grip on God gave him a tremendous grip on +sinners' hearts. The greatest preacher of our times--Spurgeon--had +pre-eminently the "gift of the knees;" the last prayer I ever heard him +utter (at his own family worship) was one of the most wonderful that I +ever listened to; it revealed the hiding of his power. Abraham Lincoln +once said: "I have been driven many times to my knees by the +overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go; my own wisdom and +that of all around me seemed insufficient for the day." + +But what is prayer? Has every prayer power with God? Let us endeavour to +get some clear ideas on that point. Some people seem to regard prayer as +the rehearsal of a set form of solemn words, learned largely from the +Bible or a liturgy; and when uttered they are only from the throat +outward. Genuine prayer is a believing soul's _direct converse with_ +God. Phillips Brooks has condensed it into four words--a "true wish sent +Godward." By it, adoration, thanksgiving, confession of sin, and +petition for mercies and gifts ascend to the throne, and by means of it +infinite blessings are brought down from heaven. The pull of our prayer +may not move the everlasting throne, but--like the pull on a line from +the bow of a boat--it may draw us into closer fellowship with God, and +fuller harmony with His wise and holy will. + +1. This is the first characteristic of the prayer that has power: +"Delight thyself in the Lord and He shall give thee the desires of thy +heart." A great many prayers are born of selfishness and are too much +like dictation or command. None of God's promises are unconditional; and +we have no such assets to our credit that we have a right to draw our +cheques and demand that God shall pay them. The indispensable quality of +all right asking is a _right spirit toward our heavenly Father_. When a +soul feels such an entire submissiveness towards God that it delights in +seeing Him reign, and His glory advanced, it may fearlessly pour out its +desires; for then the desires of God and the desires of that sincere +submissive soul will _agree_. God loves to give to them who love to let +Him have His way; they find their happiness in the chime of their own +desires with the will of God. + +James and John once came to Jesus and made to Him the amazing request +that He would place one of them on His right hand and the other on His +left hand when He set up His imperial government at Jerusalem! As long +as these self-seeking disciples sought only their own glory, Christ +could not give them the askings of their ambitious hearts. By-and-by, +when their hearts had been renewed by the Holy Spirit, and they had +become so consecrated to Christ that they were in complete chime with +Him, they were not afraid to pour out their deepest desires. James +declares that, if we do not "ask _amiss_," God will "give liberally." +John declares that "whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we +keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His +sight." Just as soon as those two Christians found their supreme +happiness in Christ and His cause they received the desires of their +hearts. + +2. The second trait of prevailing prayer is that it aims at a mark, and +knows what it is after. When we enter a store or shop we ask the +salesman to hand us the particular article we want. There is an +enormous amount of pointless, prayerless praying done in our devotional +meetings; it begins with nothing and ends nowhere. The model prayers +mentioned in the Bible were short and right to the mark. "God be +merciful to me a sinner!" "Lord, save me!" cries sinking Peter. "Come +down, ere my child die!" exclaims the heart-stricken nobleman. Old +Rowland Hill used to say, "I like short, ejaculatory prayer; it reaches +heaven before the devil can get a shot at it." + +3. In the next place, the prayer that has power with God must be a +_prepaid_ prayer. If we expect a letter to reach its destination we put +a stamp on it; otherwise it goes to the Dead-letter Office. There is +what may be called a Dead-prayer Office, and thousands of well-worded +petitions get buried up there. All of God's promises have their +conditions; we must comply with those conditions, or we cannot expect +the blessings coupled with the promises. No farmer is such an idiot as +to look for a crop of wheat unless he has ploughed and sowed his fields. +In prayer, we must first be sure that we are doing our part if we +expect God to do His part. There is a legitimate sense in which every +Christian should do his utmost for the answering of his own prayers. +When a certain venerable minister was called on to pray in a missionary +convention he first fumbled in his pocket, and when he had tossed the +coin into the plate he said, "I cannot pray until I have given +something." He prepaid his prayer. For the Churches in these days to +pray, "Thy kingdom come," and then spend more money on jewellery and +cigars than in the enterprise of Foreign Missions, looks almost like a +solemn farce. God has no blessings for stingy pockets. When I hear +requests for prayer for the conversion of a son or daughter, I say to +myself, How much is that parent doing to win that child for Christ? The +godly wife who makes her daily life attractive to her husband has a +right to ask God for the conversion of that husband; she is co-operating +with the Holy Spirit, and prepaying her heart's request. God never +defaults; but He requires that we prove our faith by our works, and that +we never ask for a blessing that we are not ready to labour for, and to +make any sacrifice to secure the blessing which our souls desire. + +4. Another essential of the prayer that has power with God is that it be +the prayer of faith, and be offered in the name of Jesus Christ. +"Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may +be glorified in the Son." The chief "wrestling" that we are to do is not +with any reluctance on God's part; it is with the obstacles which sin +and unbelief put in our pathway. What God orders we must submit to +uncomplainingly; but we must never submit to what God can better. Never +submit to be blocked in any pious purpose or holy undertaking if, with +God's help, you can roll the blocks out of your pathway. The faith that +works while it prays commonly conquers; for such faith creates such a +condition of things that our heavenly Father can wisely hear and help +us. Oh, what a magnificent epic the triumphs of striving, toiling, +victorious faith make! The firmament of Bible story blazes with answers +to prayer, from the days when Elijah unlocked the heavens on to the days +when the petitions in the house of John Mark unlocked the dungeon, and +brought liberated Peter into their presence. The whole field of +providential history is covered with answered prayers as thickly as +bright-eyed daisies cover our Western prairies. Find thy happiness in +pleasing God, and sooner or later He will surely grant thee the desires +of thy heart. + + + + +III + +BY THE REV. +JOHN WATSON, M.A., D.D. +("IAN MACLAREN") + + +During the course of my ministry, and especially of recent years, I have +been moved to certain actions for which there seemed no reason, and +which I only performed under the influence of a sudden impulse. As often +as I yielded to this inward guidance, and before the issue was +determined, my mind had a sense of relief and satisfaction, and in all +distinct and important cases my course was in the end most fully +justified. With the afterlook one is most thankful that on certain +occasions he was not disobedient to the touch of the unseen, and only +bitterly regrets that on other occasions he was callous and wilful or +was overcome by shame and timidity. What seem just and temperate +inferences from such experiences will be indicated after they have been +described, and it only remains for me to assure my readers that they are +selected from carefully treasured memories, and will be given in as full +and accurate detail as may be possible in circumstances which involve +other people and one's own private life. + +It was my privilege, before I came to Sefton Park Church, to serve as +colleague with a venerable minister to whom I was sincerely attached and +who showed me much kindness. We both felt the separation keenly and kept +up a constant correspondence, while this good and affectionate man +followed my work with spiritual interest and constant prayer. When news +came one day that he was dangerously ill it was natural that his friend +should be gravely concerned, and as the days of anxiety grew, that the +matter should take firm hold of the mind. It was a great relief to +learn, towards the end of a week, that the sickness had abated, and +when, on Sunday morning, a letter came with strong and final assurance +of recovery the strain was quite relaxed, and I did my duty at morning +service with a light heart. During the afternoon my satisfaction began +to fail, and I grew uneasy till, by evening service, the letter of the +morning counted for nothing. + +After returning home my mind was torn with anxiety and became most +miserable, fearing that this good man was still in danger and, it might +be, near unto death. Gradually the conviction deepened and took hold of +me that he was dying and that I would never see him again, till at last +it was laid on me that if I hoped to receive his blessing I must make +haste, and by-and-by that I had better go at once. It did not seem as if +I had now any choice, and I certainly had no longer any doubt; so, +having written to break two engagements for Monday, I left at midnight +for Glasgow. As I whirled through the darkness it certainly did occur +to me that I had done an unusual thing, for here was a fairly busy man +leaving his work and going a long night's journey to visit a sick +friend, of whose well-being he had been assured on good authority. By +every evidence which could tell on another person he was acting +foolishly, and yet he was obeying an almost irresistible impulse. + +The day broke as we climbed the ascent beyond Moffat, and I was now only +concerned lest time should be lost on the way. On arrival I drove +rapidly to the well-known house, and was in no way astonished that the +servant who opened the door should be weeping bitterly, for the fact +that word had come from that very house that all was going well did not +now weigh one grain against my own inward knowledge. + +"He had a relapse yesterday afternoon, and he is ... dying now." No one +in the room seemed surprised that I should have come, although they had +not sent for me, and I held my reverend father's hand till he fell +asleep in about twenty minutes. He was beyond speech when I came, but, +as we believed, recognised me and was content. My night's journey was a +pious act, for which I thanked God, and my absolute conviction is that I +was guided to its performance by spiritual influence. + +Some years ago I was at work one forenoon in my study, and very busy, +when my mind became distracted and I could not think out my sermon. It +was as if a side stream had rushed into a river, confusing and +discolouring the water; and at last, when the confusion was over and the +water was clear, I was conscious of a new subject. Some short time +before, a brother minister, whom I knew well and greatly respected, had +suffered from dissension in his congregation and had received our +sincere sympathy. He had not, however, been in my mind that day, but now +I found myself unable to think of anything else. My imagination began to +work in the case till I seemed, in the midst of the circumstances, as if +I were the sufferer. Very soon a suggestion arose and grew into a +commandment, that I should offer to take a day's duty for my brother. +At this point I pulled myself together and resisted what seemed a +vagrant notion. "Was such a thing ever heard of,--that for no reason +save a vague sympathy one should leave one's own pulpit and undertake +the work of another, who had not asked him and might not want him?" So I +turned to my manuscript to complete a broken sentence, but could only +write "Dear A. B." Nothing remained but to submit to this mysterious +dictation and compose a letter as best one could, till the question of +date arose. There I paused and waited, when an exact day came up before +my mind, and so I concluded the letter. It was, however, too absurd to +send; and so, having rid myself of this irrelevancy, I threw the letter +into the fire and set to work again; but all day I was haunted by the +idea that my brother needed my help. In the evening a letter came from +him, written that very forenoon, explaining that it would be a great +service to him and his people if I could preach some Sunday soon in his +church, and that, owing to certain circumstances, the service would be +doubled if I could come on such and such a day; and it was my date! My +course was perfectly plain, and I at once accepted his invitation under +a distinct sense of a special call, and my only regret was that I had +not posted my first letter. + +One afternoon, to take my third instance, I made up my list of sick +visits and started to overtake them. After completing the first, and +while going along a main road, I felt a strong impulse to turn down a +side street and call on a family living in it. The impulse grew so +urgent that it could not be resisted, and I rang the bell, considering +on the doorstep what reason I should give for an unexpected call. When +the door opened it turned out that strangers now occupied the house, and +that my family had gone to another address, which was in the same street +but could not be given. This was enough, it might appear, to turn me +from aimless visiting, but still the pressure continued as if a hand +were drawing me, and I set out to discover their new house, till I had +disturbed four families with vain inquiries. Then the remembrance of my +unmade and imperative calls came upon me, and I abandoned my fruitless +quest with some sense of shame. Had a busy clergyman not enough to do +without such a wild-goose chase?--and one grudged the time one had lost. + +Next morning the head of that household I had yesterday sought in vain +came into my study with such evident sorrow on his face that one +hastened to meet him with anxious inquiries. "Yes, we are in great +trouble; yesterday our little one (a young baby) took very ill and died +in the afternoon. My wife was utterly overcome by the shock and we would +have sent for you at the time but had no messenger. I wish you had been +there--if you had only known!" + +"And the time?" + +"About half-past three." + +So I had known, but had been too impatient. + +Many other cases have occurred when it has been laid on me to call at a +certain house, where there seemed so little reason that I used to invent +excuses, and where I found some one especially needing advice or +comfort; or I called and had not courage to lead up to the matter, so +that the call was of no avail, and afterwards some one has asked whether +I knew, for she had waited for a word. Nor do I remember any case where, +being inwardly moved to go after this fashion, it appeared in the end +that I had been befooled. And so, having stated these facts out of many, +I offer three inferences. + +(1) That people may live in an atmosphere of sympathy which will be a +communicating medium. When some one appears to read another's thoughts, +as we have all seen done at public exhibitions, it was evidently by +physical signs, and it served no good purpose. It was a mechanical gift +and was used for an amusement. _This_ is knowledge of another kind, +whose conditions are spiritual and whose ends are ethical. Between you +and the person there must be some common feeling; it rises to a height +in the hour of trouble; and its call is for help. The correspondence +here is between heart and heart, and the medium through which the +message passes is love. + +(2) That this love is but another name for Christ, who is the head of +the body; and here one falls back on St. Paul's profound and +illuminating illustration. It is Christ who unites the whole race, and +especially all Christian folk, by His incarnation. Into Him are gathered +all the fears, sorrows, pains, troubles of each member, so that He feels +with all, and from him flows the same feeling to other members of the +body. He is the common spring of sensitiveness and sympathy, who +connects each man with his neighbour and makes of thousands a living +organic spiritual unity. + +(3) That in proportion as one abides in Christ he will be in touch with +his brethren. If it seem to one marvellous and almost incredible that +any person should be affected by another's sorrow whom he does not at +the moment see, is it not marvellous, although quite credible, that we +are so often indifferent to sorrow which we do see? Is it not the case +that one of a delicate soul will detect secret trouble in the failure +of a smile, in a sub-tone of voice, in a fleeting shadow on the face? +"How did he know?" we duller people say. "By his fellowship with Christ" +is the only answer. "Why did we not know?" On account of our hardness +and selfishness. If one live self-centred--ever concerned about his own +affairs, there is no callousness to which he may not yet descend; if one +live the selfless life, there is no mysterious secret of sympathy which +may not be his. Wherefore if any one desire to live in nervous touch +with his fellows, so that their sorrows be his own and he be their quick +helper, if he desire to share with Christ the world burden, let him open +his heart to the Spirit of the Lord. In proportion as we live for +ourselves are we separated from our families, our friends, our +neighbours; in proportion as we enter into the life of the Cross we are +one with them all, being one with Christ, who is one with God. + + + + +IV + +BY THE REV. +W. KNOX LITTLE, M. A. +CANON OF WORCESTER + + +Prayer is a comprehensive word and includes, in fact, all communion +between the soul and God. It is, however, commonly used to mean the +asking for benefits from God. Christians believe that prayer _is_ a +power, that it does act in the fulfilment of God's purposes, and that +the results of prayer are real results, not only in the spiritual, but +also in the physical world. This is no mere matter of opinion, it is +part of the Christian faith. For better, for worse, however difficult +the doctrine may appear, the Church is committed to it. As in the case +of other difficult doctrines, such as the resurrection of the body for +instance, she, so to speak, "stakes her reputation" on loyalty to this +truth. + +The power of prayer is, of course, a mystery, _i.e._, a truth, but a +truth partly concealed, partly plain. To deal with it, therefore, in a +mathematical temper rather than a moral temper is absurd if not wrong. +Mathematical demonstration cannot be given for moral truth, and is in +fact out of court. The bent of mind formed by constant scientific +research--good as it is in its own province--sometimes unfits men for +moral and theological research. In this way the "difficulties of prayer" +are often exaggerated. (1) It is said God knows already; why tell Him? +The same objection would apply to many a request on earth. (2) It is +said God fore-sees; why try to influence what He knows is sure to be? +This objection applies to all our actions; to follow out this we should +not only not pray, but also never do anything. We are in face of a +mystery. A little humility and obedience to revelation helps us out. It +has been truly said that when a practical and a speculative truth are in +apparent collision, we must remember our ignorance of a good many +things, and act with the knowledge which is given us, on the practical +truth. + +Prayer, we may remember, is not to change the holy counsels of the +Eternal, but to accomplish those ends for which it is an appointed +instrument. Anyhow, this is certain, the abundant promises to faithful +and persevering prayer are kept, and--where God sees it to be good for +us--they are kept to the letter. The following are examples which come +within the knowledge of the writer of this paper. + +A family, consisting of a number of children, had been brought up by +parents who had very "free" ideas as to the divine revelation and the +teaching of the Church. The children, varying in age from seven or +eight, to one or two and twenty years, had, one way or another, been +aroused to the teaching of Scripture and desired to be baptised. The +father point-blank refused to permit it. The older members of the family +consulted a clergyman. He felt strongly the force of the fifth +commandment and advised them not to act in haste, to realise that +difficulties do frequently arise from conflicting duties, and above all +to pray. The clergyman asked a number of devout Christians to make the +matter a subject of prayer. They did. In about three weeks the father +called upon this very clergyman and asked him to baptise his children. +The clergyman expressed his astonishment, believing that he was opposed +to it. The father answered that that was true, but he had changed his +mind. He could not say precisely why, but he thought his children ought +to be baptised. They were; and he, by his own wish, was present and most +devout at the administration of the sacrament of baptism. + +A few years ago, a clergyman in London had been invited to visit a +friend for one night in the country in order to meet an old friend whom +he had not seen for long. It was bitter winter weather and he decided +not to go. Walking his parish in the afternoon, he believed that a voice +three times urged him to go. He hurriedly changed his arrangements and +went. The snow was tremendously deep, and the house of his friend, some +miles from the railway station, was reached with difficulty. In the +course of the night the clergyman was roused from sleep by the butler, +who begged him to go and visit a groom in the service of the family, who +was ill and "like to die." Crossing a field path with difficulty, as the +snow was very deep, they reached the poor man's house. He had been in +agony of mind and longed to see a clergyman. When it was found +impossible to fetch the nearest clergyman, owing to the impassable state +of the roads, he had prayed earnestly that one might be sent to him. The +poor fellow died in the clergyman's arms in the early morning, much +comforted and in great peace. + +A strangely similar case happened more recently. An American gentleman +travelling in Europe was taken suddenly and seriously ill in one of our +northern towns. The day before this happened, a clergyman, who was at a +distance in the country, was seized with a sudden and unaccountable +desire to visit this very town. He had no idea why, but prayed for +guidance in the matter, and finally felt convinced that he must go. +Having stayed the night there he was about to return home, rather +inclined to think himself a very foolish person, when a waiter in the +hotel brought him an American lady's card and said that the lady wished +to see him. He was the only English clergyman of whom she and her +husband had any knowledge. They had happened to hear him preach in +America. She had no idea where he lived, but when her husband was taken +ill she and her daughter had prayed that _he_ might be sent to them. On +inquiry, strange to say, he was found to be in the hotel, and was able +to render some assistance to the poor sufferer, who died in a few hours, +and to his surviving and mourning relatives. + +A still more striking instance, perhaps, is as follows: Some years ago +in London a clergyman had succeeded, with the help of some friends, in +opening a "home" in the suburbs to meet some special mission needs. It +was necessary to support it by charity. For some time all went well. The +home at last, however, became even more necessary and more filled with +inmates, whilst subscriptions did not increase but rather slackened. The +lady in charge wrote to the clergyman as to her needs, and especially +drew his attention to the fact that £40 was required immediately to meet +the pressing demand of a tradesman. The clergyman himself was +excessively poor, and he knew not to whom to turn in the emergency. He +at once went and spent an hour in prayer. He then left his house and +walked slowly along the streets thinking with himself how he should act. +Passing up Regent Street, a carriage drew up in front of Madame Élise's +shop, just as he was passing. Out of the carriage stepped a handsomely +dressed lady. "Mr. So-and-so, I think," she said when she saw him. "Yes, +madam," he answered, raising his hat. She drew an envelope from her +pocket and handed it to him, saying: "You have many calls upon your +charity, you will know what to do with that." The envelope contained a +Bank of England note for £50. The whole thing happened in a much shorter +time than it can be related; he passed on up the street, she passed into +the shop. Who she was he did not know, and never since has he learnt. +The threatening creditor was paid. The "home" received further help and +did its work well. + +Another example is of a different kind. A person of real earnestness in +religious questions, and one who gave time and strength for advancing +the kingdom of God, some years ago became restless and unsatisfied in +spiritual matters, failing to enjoy peaceful communion with God, and +generally upset and uneasy. The advice of a clergyman was asked, and +after many conversations on the subject, he urged steady earnest prayer +for light, and agreed himself to make the matter a subject of prayer. +Within a fortnight, after an earnest midday prayer, it was declared by +this troubled soul that it had been clearly borne in upon the mind that +the sacrament of baptism had never been received. Enquiry was made, and +after much careful investigation it was found that, while every other +member of a large family had been baptised, in this case the sacrament +had been neglected owing to the death of the mother and the child being +committed to the care of a somewhat prejudiced relative. The person in +question was forthwith baptised, and immediately there was peace and +calmness of mind and a sense of quiet communion with God. + +Instances of this kind might be multiplied, but these are, perhaps, +sufficient. "In everything," says the Apostle, "by prayer and +supplication with thanksgiving (the Eucharist) let your requests be made +known unto God." "Cast all your care upon Him, for He careth for you." +The power of the "prayer of faith" is astonishing in its efficacy, if +souls will only put forth that power. I am able to guarantee, from +personal knowledge, the truth and accuracy of the above instances. + + + + +V + +BY MR. +WILLIAM QUARRIER +OF GLASGOW + + +For twenty-five years it has been with me a continual answer to prayer. +The first seven of my service were spent in caring for the rough boys of +the streets of Glasgow, but having made a vow, when I was very young, +that if God prospered me I should build houses for orphans, I was not +satisfied with that work among the bigger boys. Being in business, +however, and having a family to maintain, the question of whether I +could do more was a difficult one. I was giving eight hours a day to the +work, and in the Shoe-black Brigade, the Parcels Brigade, and the +Newspaper Brigade had probably about three hundred boys to care for. + +While I considered what could be done, a lady from London--Miss +Macpherson--called, and in the course of our talk about the little ones, +she urged that I should attempt something more than I was doing. For +three months I prayed to God for guidance, and in the end resolved that +if He sent me £2000, I should embark in the greater work. Nobody knew of +that resolution; it was a matter between God and myself. If God wanted +me to do more work than I was doing, I felt that He would send me the +£2000, not in portions, but in a solid sum. I was then before the +public, and I wrote a letter to the newspapers pleading that something +more should be done for street children, pointing out that the Poorhouse +and the Reformatory were not the best means of helping child-life, and +urging that something on the Home or Family system was desirable. There +was a strong conviction that God would answer the prayer, and, the +terms of the prayer being explicit, I believed the answer would be as +unmistakable. After waiting thirteen days the answer came. Amongst my +other letters was one from a Scotch friend in London, to the effect that +the writer would, to the extent of £2000, provide me with money to buy +or rent a house for orphan children. When I received that call I felt +that my family interests and my business interests should be second, and +that God's work among the children should be first. + +To a business man, it was a call to surrender what you would call +business tact. I had to rise up there and then, and proclaim in the +midst of the commercial city of Glasgow, that from that moment I was to +live by faith, and depend on God for money, wisdom and strength. From +that time forward I would ask no man for money, but trust God for +everything. That £2000 was the first direct answer to prayer for money. +He gave me the utmost of my asking, and I felt that I would need to give +Him the utmost of the power I pledged. + +We rented a common workshop in Renfrew Lane--it was very difficult to +get a suitable place--to lodge the children in, and that little place +was the first National Home for Orphans in Scotland, and from it has +sprung what the visitor may see to-day amongst the Renfrewshire hills. +One day, I remember, two boys came in, and we had everything to clothe +them with except a jacket for one of them. The matron, a very godly +woman, said, "We must just pray that God will send what is needed," and +we prayed that He would. That night a large parcel of clothing came from +Dumbarton, and in it was a jacket that fitted the boy as if it had been +made for him. That was a small thing, of course, but if you don't see +God in the gift of a pair of stockings you won't see Him in a gift of +£10,000. + +We had thirty children in that Home, and we kept praying that the Lord +would open a place for us somewhere in the country. A friend called on +me and offered to sub-let Cessnock House, with three acres of ground +about it. Cessnock Dock has now absorbed the place, and as it was just +the very spot we wanted, we accepted. We had room for a hundred boys, +and with the help of God we prospered. We had resolved formerly that we +would send children to Canada, but it took £10 per head to send them, +and we were determined not to get into debt. We had only a few pounds in +hand when we took the house in Govan Road, and it took £200 to alter it. +But every night we prayed that the Lord would send money to pay for the +alterations. Sums varying from 5s. to £5 came in, but when the bills +came to be paid we were short £100. A friend not far from one of my +places of business sent for me, and when I called, he said, "How are you +getting on at Cessnock?" I said we were getting on nicely, and that we +had got £100 towards the alterations. He gave me £100, to my +astonishment, for I knew that he could not afford so much, but he said a +relative who died in England had left him a fortune, and the money was +to help me in the work God had given me to do. In that answer you see +how God works mysteriously to accomplish His purpose and help those who +put their trust in Him. + +God gives us great help in dealing with the wayward, wilful boys of the +Home. They are generally lads who have known no control; but we are +able, with God's blessing on our efforts, to get them to do almost +anything that is wanted, without strap or confinement or threat. To hear +boys who used to curse and swear praying to God, and to see them helping +other boys in the Home, is to me the most encouraging feature of the +work God has given me to do. Whilst I sought to clothe and educate them, +I left God to deal with them in their spirits; and to-day the result of +the spiritual work amongst the boys and girls of Glasgow exceeds +anything I ever expected. + +I still thought of the emigration scheme, and in 1872 we had sixty +children that were able to go to Canada. Of course it meant £600 to send +them, and we had the necessary money except £70 in the end of June. We +prayed on that God would send the balance before the day of sailing, 2nd +July. A friend called at one of my places of business to see me, and +subsequently I had an interview with him. He gave me £50, and said it +was from one who did not wish the name mentioned. "What shall I put it +to?" I asked. "Anything you like," he said. "We are short of £70 for the +emigration of our first band of children to Canada, and if you like I +shall put it to that." "Do so," he said; and as the man left I saw God's +hand in the gift that had been made. When I went home that night I found +amongst my letters one in which was enclosed £10 "to take a child to +Canada," and the post on the following morning brought two five-pound +notes from other friends, making up exactly at the moment it was needed +the sum I had asked God to give. + +In addition to the Homes, we carried on mission work amongst the lapsed +masses, and, as in the case of the Homes, we were firmly resolved to do +everything by prayer and supplication. I rented an old church at the +head of the Little Dovehill, just where the Board school stands now, as +a hall, but we did not have the whole of it. At the level of the gallery +another floor had been introduced, and while we occupied the upper flat, +a soap manufacturer occupied the lower. In a way it was a trial of faith +to go up those stairs past the soap work into our hall. We wanted to +open the place free of debt, and the money for the alterations came in +gradually. I remember putting it to the Lord to send a suitable +evangelist if He wished the work to go on. At that time--twenty-four +years ago--we heard a lot of Joshua Poole and his wife, who were having +great blessing in London, and I thought that they were just the people +to reach the working classes. But as I had convictions about women +preaching,--which, by the way, I have not now,--I asked the Lord to send +£50 to cover the expense for a month if it were His will that these +friends should come to Glasgow and preach nightly during that period. I +left it to God to decide whether we should ask these friends or not, and +I had the assurance--the assurance of faith,--that the money would +come. When I went home that night I found that a friend had called at +one of my places of business and left fifty one-pound notes without +knowing my mind and without knowing I needed it. + +After that I felt that God was going to work a great work amongst the +lapsed masses of Glasgow, and He did so. For six months we rented the +Scotia Music Hall on Sabbath evenings, and instead of a month the +evangelists were six in the city conducting services every night. When +they left, ten thousand people gathered on the Green to bid them +farewell. Hundreds were led to the Saviour. + +After a number of years' work in Glasgow with the Girls' Home, in Govan +with the Boys' Home, and with the Mission premises, the need of a farm +became great. I prayed for money to purchase a farm of about fifty +acres, three miles or so from Glasgow. It was to have a burn running +through it, good drainage, and everything necessary. I was anxious to +get this burn for the children to paddle in and fish in; but I feel now +that at the time I was rebellious against God in fixing the site so +near Glasgow. We visited a dozen places, but the cost was so great that +I was fairly beaten. God had shut up every door. + +A friend met me on the street, and asked if I had seen the farm in +Kilmalcolm Parish that was to be sold. I replied that I had not, and +that I considered the place too far away. In talking over the matter, he +persuaded me to go and see the farm, and when I did go, and, standing +where our big central building is now, saw that it had everything I +prayed for,--perfect drainage, and not only the burn, but a river and a +large flat field for a recreation ground,--I said in my heart to the +Lord: "This will do." Ever since I have blessed the Lord for that; my +way was not God's way, and so He shut us in amongst these Renfrewshire +hills, away from the ways of men. + +After paying £3,560 for the farm, we had about £1,500 left, and in 1887 +we began to build a church and school, to cost £5,000. I told the +contractor that we should stop if the money did not come in; but it +kept coming in, and the work went on. In 1888 I had resolved to go to +Canada with the party of children going out that year, and I saw clearly +that I would need to stop the contractors if I got no more money in the +interval, for I was still £1400 short. Yet I believed the Lord would +send the money before I left in the latter end of May, though the time I +write of was as far on as the middle of the month. I kept praying, and +the assurance was strong that the money would come. Just three days +before the date on which I was to sail, a friend came to me, and said it +had been laid upon his heart to build one of the cottages at +Bridge-of-Weir, but the Lord, he thought, would accept the money for the +central building just as much as though it were put into houses, and he +handed me £1300. + +All the money belonging to the Homes and all my own was in the City of +Glasgow Bank when it failed, and hundreds of the givers were involved as +well. On my way up from the Homes on the day of the disaster, a +gentleman met me, and told me the sad news. At the moment I realised +what the news meant for me--my own personal loss and the needs of the +Homes--for that was in September, and our financial year closed in +October. With all our money locked up, to clear the year without debt +would be difficult, but then the promise of God came: "Although the +fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the +labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the +flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the +stalls; yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will joy in the God of my +salvation." + +There and then I prayed that God would help me through, and that during +the course of the following year, which I saw would be one of financial +distress all over Scotland, He would double the gifts to us. The result +was that we were able to clear our financial accounts with ease at the +end of October, and in the year following, when every church in +Scotland, and every philanthropic work had less money than they needed, +the Orphan Homes had double what they required. In that God honoured my +trust. + +Our first church at Bridge-of-Weir only held four hundred, and by-and-by +it was too small for us. I prayed that the Lord would give us a new +church to hold one thousand people, and to cost something like £5000. We +felt that we would get that money, and that we would get it in one sum +because we had asked God to lay it on the heart of somebody to build the +church. After a year of waiting and praying, a friend came to me in the +street one day, and said, "I'm going to build you that church you want. +Do you know what it will cost?" "Yes," I replied. "£5000" "Well," said +my friend, "you shall get the money when you want it." + +It was a new song of praise to God that day, I can tell you, and we went +on to build our church. Now, even it we find too small, and we are +praying to the Lord for £2500 to enlarge the building, and enable us to +accommodate five hundred more worshippers. + +I thought that, having got the church, we might, as we were building a +tower to hold the tank for our water supply, also get a clock and chimes +to enliven the village. So we prayed that the Lord would send money for +that purpose. I thought that about £500 or £600 would be sufficient. +While the building was going on, we prayed for the money, and I was +certain it would come. The architect was hurrying me and pointing out +that if the clock and bells were really to go into the tower, the work +must be done at once. I told him there was no fear that the money would +not come. If the money had not come, and the tower was completed, the +placing of the clock and bells at a later period would have mean +practically taking down and rebuilding, because with our water tank in +position, the work would have been impossible. My architect kept +bothering me, but I was sure the money would come, and one night I went +home and found a cheque for £200--£1500 to build a house, and £500 for +the clock and bells. The clock and bells cost £800, and the lady who +sent the money paid the additional £300. + +A village like our Homes, with 1200 of a population, needed a good water +supply for sanitary purposes. For a very long time we depended on a +well, and stored the water in tanks, but frequently the supply fell +short, and we felt that if we could get the proprietors in the upper +district--none of the surrounding proprietors, by the way, had ever +taken much interest in the work of the Homes--to give us the privilege +of bringing water into the grounds, we should be able to do much to +improve that state of matters. Sir Michael Shaw Stewart gave us the +right to use our own burn higher up for the purpose, and gave us a piece +of ground at a nominal rent of 12s. a year, for a reservoir and filter, +but the money to carry out the work was not in hand, and we prayed to +the Lord to send us from £1200 to £1400, which we anticipated would be +the cost of the undertaking. + +Some time later a lady called at James Morrison Street (Glasgow), and +left word that an old woman who lived in Main Street, Gorbals, wished to +see me. On the following day I called at the address given, and found +the person who had sent for me. She was an old woman living in a single +apartment, and she was very ill and weak. "Are you Mr. Quarrier?" she +asked. I said I was. "Ye were once puir yersel'," she went on; "I was +once a puir girl with naebody to care for me, and was in service when I +was eleven years old. I have been thankful for a' the kindness that has +been shown me in my life." + +She went to a chest of drawers in the corner of the apartment, and after +a little came and gave me two deposit receipts on the Savings Bank, each +for £200 and on neither of which any interest had been drawn for twenty +years. When I cashed them I received £627. + +I said "Janet"--Janet Stewart was her name--"are you not giving me too +much?" "Na, na, I've plenty mair, an' ye'll get it a' when I dee." + +We did the best we could for Janet, but she did not live much longer. +Within a week I received a telegram that Janet was dead, and she had +died, I was told, singing "Just as I am without one plea." + +In her will she left several sums to neighbours who had been kind to her +in life, and to our Homes was bequeathed the balance. Altogether the +Orphans' share was £1400. The money defrayed the cost of our water +scheme, and I always think how appropriate the gift was, for nearly all +her life Janet had been a washerwoman and had earned her bread over the +wash-tub. + +The direct answers to prayers of which I could tell you would fill a +volume, and what I have mentioned are only those fixed in my memory. I +have always asked God for a definite gift for a definite purpose, and +God has always given it to me. The value of the buildings at +Bridge-of-Weir is £200,000, and since we started, the cost of their +"upkeep" has been £150,000. And we are still building as busily as in +the beginning. + + + + +VI + +BY MR. +LEONARD K. SHAW +OF MANCHESTER + + +The work for homeless children in Manchester was cradled in prayer. +Every step in preparation was laid before God. But what I want specially +to insist upon is the real connection there is between prayer and work. +From the first my practice has been to lay our wants before God in +prayer, and at the same time to use every means within our reach to +obtain what we desired. I well remember in the early days of the work +how anxiously we discussed whether it was to be conducted on the +"faith" principle, as it is called, or on the "work" principle. Looking +back on the way by which we have come, it seems to me now that faith and +work necessarily go together. Earnest believing prayer is not less +earnest and believing because you use the means God has put within your +reach. Your dependence upon God is just the same. You send out an +appeal, but it is God who disposes the hearts of the people to +subscribe. So I say the connection between praying and working, though +not always seen, is very real. Day by day the special needs of the work +are laid before God, and day by day they are supplied. + +Of direct answers to prayer I have had many sweet and encouraging +assurances, particularly in connection with our orphan homes. In the +first five years of the work, we only took in boys between the ages of +ten and sixteen. At that time of life, boys who have been brought up on +the street are not easy to manage, and a friend to whom I was telling +some of our difficulties, suggested that we should take the boys in +younger. To do so meant a new departure, and on going into the matter I +found that a sum of about £600 would be needed to start such an orphan +home as was suggested. I said to my wife, "Let us pray about this; if it +is God's will that we should enter upon this new branch of work, He will +send the money." We resolved that should be the test; if the money came +we would start the home, otherwise we would not. Our annual meeting came +round soon after, and in the report I made an appeal on behalf of the +new scheme. The report was sent out with much prayer, but no individual +person was asked to contribute. In a few days I received a letter from a +gentleman residing in Southport, enclosing a cheque for £600. The house +for the first of our orphan homes was bought for £500, and the balance +of the cheque enabled us to furnish it. + +At the end of the following year, the home was full of fatherless and +motherless little ones, and others were seeking admission for whom there +was no room. I sent out a second appeal, asking God to put it into the +heart of someone to provide a second home. A few weeks afterwards a lady +well known in Manchester paid us a visit at the home and two days later +I received from her a cheque for £1000. In this way we got our second +home. Another year and this second home was also full. Again I prayed +God to dispose the heart of some one to help us, and I sent out another +appeal. One day, perhaps two or three weeks later, a gentleman stopped +me in the street and said he had been wanting to see me for some days, +as he had a cheque for £700 waiting for me at his office. At the moment +the orphan home was not in my mind, and I asked what the cheque was for. +Why, he said, I understand your two orphan homes are full and that you +want another. And so we got our third home. Another year and it too was +full. Again after earnest prayer I received a cheque for £1000 from +another Manchester gentleman, who in some way had come to know that a +fourth home was needed. + +In these four cases you have, I think, remarkable instances of direct +answer to prayer. So, at any rate, I must always regard them. I need not +say how encouraged we were, year after year, to go on with the work, +though each additional home meant a large increase in our annual +expenditure. + +The money with which the fifth orphanage house was bought was not given +in one sum nor specially for the purpose, and the circumstances would +not warrant me in saying that it came in direct answer to prayer. When a +sixth home became necessary an appeal was made to the schoolgirls of +Lancashire and Cheshire, and they found the £500 for the purchase money. +This house is called "The School Girls' Home." The inscription on the +memorial stone, "His children shall have a place of refuge," was +suggested by the late Bishop of Manchester. + +In smaller, but perhaps not less important matters, we have had +unmistakable proofs that God answers prayer. One case which occurred in +the early days of the work greatly impressed me. A letter came one +morning from Stalybridge asking us to take in five little children who +had been left destitute and without a friend in the world. I went over +to make inquiries, and found the children in the same room with the dead +body of their mother, which had little more to cover it than an old +sack. Our means at that time were very small, and I thought we could +hardly venture to take in all the children. The clergyman of the parish +pleaded with me to take at least two or three. I asked what was to +become of the others, and the answer was that there was nothing for them +but the workhouse. What to do I did not know. I made it a matter of +prayer, but all that night it lay upon my heart a great burden. Next +morning I came downstairs still wondering what to do. Amongst the +letters on my table was one from a gentleman at Bowdon, enclosing, +unasked, a cheque for £50. In those days £50 was an exceptionally large +sum for us to receive, and I took the letter as a direct word from God +that we should accept the care of the children. We did so, and I am glad +to say every one of them turned out well. + +But direct answers to prayer are not confined to mere gifts of money. +Over and over again during these twenty-seven years of rescue work I +have put individual cases before God and asked Him to deal with them, +and it is just wonderful how He has subdued stubborn wills and changed +hearts and lives. + +Years ago there came to the Refuges the son of a man known to the +Manchester police as "Mike the devil." Tom was as rough a customer as +ever I saw, and for a time we had some trouble with him. But a great +change came over him, and I have myself no doubt it was the result of +personal pleading with God on his behalf. Tom is now an ordained +minister of the Gospel in America. There is no end to the cases I could +give of that kind. They all point to the same conclusion, that God does +answer definite prayer. And to-day, after twenty-seven years of work, I +praise Him for it. + + + + +VII + +BY THE REV. +R. F. HORTON, M.A., D.D. + + +It has sometimes seemed to me that God does not intend the faith in +prayer to rest upon an induction of instances. The answers, however +explicit, are not of the kind to bear down an aggressive criticism. Your +Christian lives a life which is an unbroken chain of prayers offered and +prayers answered; from his inward view the demonstration is +overwhelming. But do you ask for the evidences, and do you propose to +begin to pray if the facts are convincing, and to refuse the practice if +they are not? Then you may find the evidences evanescent as an evening +cloud, and the facts all susceptible of a simple rationalistic +explanation. "Prayer," says an old Jewish mystic, "is the moment when +heaven and earth kiss each other." It is futile as well as indelicate to +disturb that rapturous meeting; and nothing can be brought away from +such an intrusion, nothing of any value except the resolve to make trial +for oneself of the "mystic sweet communion." + +I confess, therefore, that I read examples of answers to prayer without +any great interest, and refer to those I have experienced myself with +the utmost diffidence. Nay, I say frankly beforehand, "If you are +concerned to disprove my statement, and to show that what I take for the +hand of God is merely the cold operation of natural law, I shall only +smile. My own conviction will be unchanged. I do not make that great +distinction between the hand of God and natural law, and I have no wish +to induce you to pray by an accumulation of facts--to commend to you the +mighty secret by showing that it would be profitable to you, a kind of +Aladdin's lamp for fulfilling wayward desires. Natural law, the hand of +God! Yes! I unquestioningly admit that the answers to prayer come +generally along lines which we recognise as natural law, and would +perhaps always be found along those lines if our knowledge of natural +law were complete. Prayer is to me the quick and instant recognition +that all law is God's will, and all nature is in God's hand, and that +all our welfare lies in linking ourselves with His will and placing +ourselves in His hand through all the operations of the world and life +and time." + +Yet I will mention a few "answers to prayer," striking enough to me. One +Sunday morning a message came to me before the service from an agonised +mother: "Pray for my child: the doctor has been and gives no hope." We +prayed, the church prayed, with the mother's agony, and with the faith +in a present Christ, mighty to save. Next day, I learned that the doctor +who had given the message of despair in the morning had returned, after +the service, and said at once, "A remarkable change has taken place." +The child recovered and still lives. + +On another occasion, I was summoned from my study to see a girl who was +dying of acute peritonitis. I hurried away to the chamber of death. The +doctor said that he could do nothing more. The mother stood there +weeping. The girl had passed beyond the point of recognition. But as I +entered the room, a conviction seized me that the sentence of death had +not gone out against her. I proposed that we should kneel down and pray. +I asked definitely that she should be restored. I left the home, and +learned afterwards that she began to amend almost, at once, and entirely +recovered; she is now quite strong and well, and doing her share of +service for our Lord. + +And on yet another occasion I was hastily called from my study to see an +elderly man, who had always been delicate since I knew him; now he was +prostrated with bronchitis, and the doctor did not think that he could +live. It chanced that I had just been studying the passage which +contains the prayer of Hezekiah and the promise made to him of fourteen +additional years of life. I went to the sick man and told him that I had +just been reading this, and asked if it might not be a ground for +definite prayer. He assented, and we entreated our God for His mercy in +the matter. The man was restored and is living still. + +These are only typical instances of what I have frequently seen. Many +times, no doubt, I have prayed for the recovery of the sick and the +prayer has not been answered. And you, dear and skeptical reader, may +say if you will that this is proof positive that the instances of +answered prayers are mere coincidences. You may say it and, if you will, +prove it, but you will not in the least alter my quiet conviction; for +the answers were given to _me_. I do not know that even the subjects of +these recoveries recognise the agency which was at work. To me all this +is immaterial. The subjective evidence is all that was designed, and +that is sufficient, and to the writer conclusive. + +With reference to money for Christian work, I have laboured to induce my +own church to adopt the simple view that we should ask not men, but in +the first instance God, the owner of it all, for what we want. I am +thankful to say that some of them now believe this, and bring our needs +to Him very simply and trustfully. I could name many instances of the +following kind: there is a threatened deficit in the funds of the +mission, or an extension is needed and we have not the money. The sound +of misgiving is heard; we have not the givers; the givers have given all +they can. "Why not trust God?" I have urged. "Why not pray openly and +unitedly--and believe?" The black cloud of debt has been dissipated, or +the necessary extension has been made. + +Oddly enough, some people have said to me, "Ah, yours is a rich church," +as if to imply one can very safely ask God for money when one has the +people at hand who can give it. But surely this is a question of degree. +My church is not rich enough to give one-tenth of what it gives, _if we +did not first ask God for it_. And there are churches which could give +ten times what they do give, if only the plan were adopted of first +asking God instead of going to the few wealthy people and trusting to +them. + +But this is a matter of statistics and a little wearisome. I confess I +am unsatisfied with answers to prayer when the prayer is only for these +carnal and visible things, which are often, in boundless love and pity, +_withheld_. The constant and proper things to pray for are precisely +those the advent of which cannot be observed or tabulated; that the +kingdom may come, that they who have sinned, not unto death, may be +forgiven, that the eyes of Christian men may be enlightened, and their +hearts expanded to the measure of the love of Christ. Such prayers are +answered, but the answers are not unveiled. I remember a strange +instance of this. I was staying with a gentleman in a great town, where +the town council, of which he was a member, had just decided to close a +music-hall which was exercising a pernicious influence. The decision +was most unexpected, because a strong party in the council were directly +interested in the hall. But to my friend's amazement the men who had +threatened opposition came in and quietly voted for withdrawing the +licence. Next day we were speaking about modern miracles; he, the best +of men, expressed the opinion that miracles were confined to Bible +times. His wife then happened to mention how, on the day of that council +meeting, she and some other good women of the city had met and continued +in prayer that the licence might be withdrawn. I ventured to ask my +friend whether this was not the explanation of what he had confessed to +be an amazing change of front on the part of the opposition. And, +strange to say, it had not occurred to him--though an avowed believer in +prayer--to connect the praying women and that beneficent vote. + +The truth is, all the threads of good which run across our chequered +society, all the impulses upward and onward, all the invisible growths +in goodness and grace, are answered prayers. For our prayers for the +kingdom are not uttered on the housetops; and the kingdom itself cometh +not with observation. + +But if it were not too delicate a subject I could recite instances, to +me the most remarkable answers to prayer in my experience, of changed +character and enlarged Christian life, resulting from definite +intercession. It is an experiment which any loving and humble soul can +easily make. Take your friends, or better still the members of the +church to which you belong, and set yourself systematically to pray for +them. Leave alone those futile and often misguided petitions for +temporal blessings, or even for success in their work, and plead with +your God in the terms of that prayer with which Saint Paul bowed his +knees for the Ephesians. Ask that this person, or these persons, known +to you, may have the enlightenment and expansion of the Spirit, the +quickened love and zeal, the vision of God, the profound sympathy with +Christ, which form the true Christian life. Pray and watch, and as you +watch, still pray. And you will see a miracle, marvellous as the +springing of the flowers in April, or the far-off regular rise and +setting of the planets,--a miracle proceeding before your eyes, a plain +answer to your prayer, and yet without any intervention of your voice or +hand. You will see the mysterious power of God at work upon these souls +for which you pray. And by the subtle movements of the Spirit it is as +likely as not that they will come to tell you of the divine blessings +which have come to them in reply to your unknown prayers. + +But there are some whose eyes are not yet open to these invisible things +of the Spirit, which are indeed the real things. The measure of faith is +not yet given them, and they do not recognise that web,--the only web +which will last when the loom of the world is broken,--the web of which +the warp is the will of God, and the woof the prayers of men. For these, +to speak of the whole as answered prayer is as good as to say that no +prayer is answered at all. If they are to recognise an answer it must be +some tiny pattern, a sprig of flower, or an ammonite figure on the +fabric. Let me close, therefore, by recounting a very simple answer to +prayer,--simple, and yet, I think I can show, significant. + +Last summer I was in Norway, and one of the party was a lady who was too +delicate to attempt great mountain excursions, but found an infinite +compensation in rowing along those fringed shores of the fjord, and +exploring those interminable brakes, which escape the notice of the +passengers on board the steamer. One day we had followed a narrow fjord, +which winds into the folds of the mountains, to its head. There we had +landed and pushed our way through the brush of birch and alder, lost in +the mimic glades, emerging to climb miniature mountains, and fording +innumerable small rivers, which rushed down from the perpetual snows. +Moving slowly over the ground--veritable explorers of a virgin +forest--plucking the ruby bunches of wild raspberry, or the bilberries +and whortleberries, delicate in bloom, we made a devious track which it +was hard or impossible to retrace. Suddenly my companion found that her +golosh was gone. That might seem a slight loss and easily replaced; not +at all. It was as vital to her as his snowshoes were to Nansen on the +Polar drift; for it could not be replaced until we were back in Bergen +at the end of our tour. And to be without it meant an end of all the +delightful rambles in the spongy mosses and across the lilliputian +streams, which for one at least meant half the charm and the benefit of +the holiday. With the utmost diligence, therefore, we searched the +brake, retraced our steps, recalled each precipitous descent of +heather-covered rock, and every sapling of silver birch by which we had +steadied our steps. We plunged deep into all the apparently bottomless +crannies, and beat the brushwood along all our course. But neither the +owner's eyes, which are keen as needles, nor mine, which are not, could +discover any sign of the missing shoe. With woeful countenances we had +to give it up and start on our three miles' row along the fjord to the +hotel. But in the afternoon the idea came to me, "And why not ask our +gracious Father for guidance in this trifle as well as for all the +weightier things which we are constantly committing to His care? If the +hairs of our head are all numbered, why not also the shoes of our feet?" +I therefore asked Him that we might recover this lost golosh. And then I +proposed that we should row back to the place. How magnificent the +precipitous mountains and the far snow-fields looked that afternoon! How +insignificant our shallop, and our own imperceptible selves in that +majestic amphitheatre, and how trifling the whole episode might seem to +God! But the place was one where we had enjoyed many singular proofs of +the divine love which shaped the mountains but has also a particular +care for the emmets which nestle at their feet. And I was ashamed of +myself for ever doubting the particular care of an infinite love. When +we reached the end of the fjord and had lashed the boat to the shore, I +sprang on the rocks and went, I know not how or why, to one spot, not +far from the water, a spot which I should have said we had searched +again and again in the morning, and there lay the shoe before my eyes, +obvious, as if it had fallen from heaven! + +I think I hear the cold laugh of prayerless men: "And that is the kind +of thing on which you rest your belief in prayer; a happy accident. +Well, if you are superstitious enough to attach any importance to that, +you would swallow anything!" And with a smile, not, I trust, scornful or +impatient, but full of quiet joy, I would reply: "Yes, if you will, that +is the kind of thing; a trifle rising to the surface from the depths of +a Father's love and compassion--those depths of God which you will not +sound contain marvels greater it is true; they are, however, ineffable, +for the things of the Spirit will only be known to men of the Spirit. +These trifles are all that can be uttered to those who will not search +and see; trifles indeed, for no sign shall be given to this generation; +which, if it will not prove the power of prayer by praying, shall not be +convinced by marshalled instances of the answers of prayer." + + + + +VIII + +BY THE REV. +HUGH PRICE HUGHES, M.A. + + +You ask me to give my experience of answers to prayer. I have never had +any doubt that Dean Milman was right when he said that personal religion +becomes impossible if prayer is not answered. Neither have I ever been +able to appreciate the so-called scientific objection to prayer, as we +have ample experience in the activity of our own will to illustrate the +fact that invariable laws may be so manipulated and utilised as to +produce results totally different from those which would have taken +place if some free will had not intervened to use them. + +We must assume that God, who is the Author of all natural laws, can with +infinite ease manipulate them so as to produce any desired result, +without in the least degree altering their character or interfering with +the universal reign of Law. + +However, what you want is not theory but actual experience. I will not +refer, therefore, to the stupendous proofs that God does answer prayer, +presented by Mr. Müller of Bristol in his immense orphanages, or to +similar unmistakable results in the various philanthropic institutions +of Dr. Cullis of Boston. I will go at once to my own personal +experiences, and mention one or two facts that have come under my own +observation. There are a great many, but I will simply give a few +typical cases. + +A good many years ago I was conducting a special mission in the +neighbourhood of Chelsea. It is my custom on these occasions to invite +members of the congregation to send me in writing special requests for +the conversion of unsaved relatives or friends. On the Tuesday night, +among many other requests for prayer, was one from a daughter for the +conversion of her father. It was presented in due course with the rest, +but no one at that moment knew the special circumstances of the case, +except the writer. On the following Friday I received another request +from the same woman; but now it was a request for praise, describing the +circumstances under which the prayer had been answered, and I read the +wonderful story to the congregation. + +It appeared that this girl's father was an avowed infidel who had not +been to any place of worship for many years, and he disliked the subject +of religion so intensely that he ultimately forbade his Christian +daughter in London to write to him, as she was continually bringing in +references to Christ. On the particular Tuesday evening in question, +that infidel father was on his way to a theatre in some provincial town, +more than a hundred miles from London. As he was walking to the +theatre, there was a sudden shower of rain which drove him for shelter +into the vestibule of a chapel where a week-night service was being +held. The preacher in the pulpit was a Boanerges, whose loud voice +penetrated into the lobby, and there was something in what he said that +attracted the attention of the infidel and induced him to enter the +chapel. He became more and more interested as the sermon proceeded, and +before its close he was deeply convinced of sin, and in true penitence +sought mercy from Jesus Christ. I need scarcely say to any one who knows +anything of the love of God, that this prayer was speedily answered, and +he went home rejoicing in divine forgiveness. The next day he wrote to +his daughter in London telling her that he had set out on the previous +evening intending to visit the theatre, but had actually found his way +into a chapel, where his sins had been forgiven and his heart changed. +He wrote at once to tell her the good news, and he assured her that he +would now be only too glad to hear from her as often as she could write +to him. These facts were communicated through me to the congregation, +and we all gave thanks to God. + +Of course it may be said that the conversion of this man, who had not +been into a place of worship for more than a dozen years, was a mere +accident, and that its coming at the very time we were praying for him +was a mere coincidence. But we need not quarrel about words. All we need +to establish is, that such delightful accidents and such blessed +coincidences are continually occurring in the experience of all real +Christians. I may add generally, that it is our custom to present +written requests for prayer and written requests for praise at the +devotional meetings of the West London Mission every Friday night. This +has now gone on without interruption for more than nine years, and I +scarcely remember a prayer-meeting at which we have not had some request +for praise on account of prayer answered. + +It may be argued, however, that all such cases are purely subjective, +and that they take place in the mysterious darkness and silence of the +human heart Let my next illustration, then, be of a much more tangible +character. Let it refer to pounds, shillings, and pence. + +Not long ago the West London Mission was greatly in want of money, as +has generally been its experience since it began. It would seem as +though God could not trust us with any margin. Perhaps if we had a +considerable balance in the bank we should put our trust in that, +instead of realising every moment our absolute dependence on God. Like +the Children of Israel in the Wilderness, we have had supplies of manna +just sufficient for immediate need. Always in want, always tempted to be +anxious, it has always happened at the last moment, when the case seemed +absolutely desperate, that help has been forthcoming, sometimes from the +most unexpected quarter. But a short time ago the situation appeared to +be unusually alarming, and I invited my principal colleague to meet me +near midnight--the only time when we could secure freedom from +interruption and rest from our own incessant work. + +We spent some time, in the quietness of that late hour, imploring God to +send us one thousand pounds for His work by a particular day. In the +course of the meeting one of our number burst forth into rapturous +expressions of gratitude, as he was irresistibly convinced that our +prayer was heard and would be answered. I confess I did not share his +absolute confidence, and the absolute confidence of my wife and some +others. I believed with trembling. I am afraid I could say nothing more +than "Lord, I believe, help Thou my unbelief." The appointed day came. I +went to the meeting at which the sum total would be announced. It +appeared that in a very short time and in very extraordinary ways nine +hundred and ninety pounds had been sent to the West London Mission. I +confess that, as a theologian I was perplexed. We had asked for a +thousand pounds--there was a deficiency of ten. I could not understand +it. I went home, trying to explain the discrepancy. As I entered my +house and was engaged in taking off my hat and coat, I noticed a letter +on the table in the hall. I remembered that it had been lying there when +I went out, but I was in a great hurry and did not stop to open it. I +took it up, opened it, and discovered that it contained a cheque for ten +pounds for the West London Mission, bringing up the amount needed for +that day to the exact sum which we had named in our midnight +prayer-meeting. Of course this also may be described as a mere +coincidence, but all we want is coincidences of this sort. The name is +nothing, the fact is everything, and there have been many such facts. + +Let me give one other in reference to money, as this kind of +illustration will perhaps, more than any other, impress those who are +disposed to be cynical and to scoff. I was engaged in an effort to build +Sunday schools in the south of London. A benevolent friend promised a +hundred pounds if I could get nine hundred pounds more, within a week. I +did my utmost, and by desperate efforts, with the assistance of friends, +did get eight hundred pounds, but not one penny more. We reached +Saturday, and the terms of all the promises were that unless we +obtained a thousand pounds that week we could not proceed with the +building scheme, and the entire enterprise might have been postponed for +years, and, indeed, never accomplished on the large scale we desired. On +the Saturday morning one of my principal church officers called, and +said he had come upon an extraordinary business: that a Christian woman +in that neighbourhood whom I did not know, of whom I had never heard, +who had no connection whatever with my church, had that morning been +lying awake in bed, and an extraordinary impression had come in to her +that she was at once to give me one hundred pounds! She naturally +resisted so extraordinary an impression as a caprice or a delusion. But +it refused to leave her; it became stronger and stronger, until at last +she was deeply convinced that it was the will of God. What made it more +extraordinary was the fact that she had never before had, and would, in +all probability, never again have one hundred pounds at her disposal +for any such purpose. But that morning she sent me the money through my +friend, who produced it in the form of crisp Bank of England notes. From +that day to this I have no idea whatever who she was, as she wished to +conceal her name from me. Whether she is alive or in heaven I cannot +say; but what I do know is that this extraordinary answer to our prayers +secured the rest of the money, and led to the erection of one of the +finest schools in London, in which there are more than a thousand +scholars to-day. + +Let me give one other illustration in a different sphere. God has +answered our prayers again and again by saving those in whom we are +interested, and by sending us money. He has also answered prayer for +suitable agents to do His work. + +Twelve months ago I was sitting in my study at a very late hour; the +rest of the household had gone to bed. I was particularly conscious at +that time that I greatly needed a lay agent, who could help me in work +among the thousands of young men from business houses who throng St. +James's Hall. Several of our staff who could render efficient service in +that direction were fully occupied in other parts of the Mission. I +prayed very earnestly to God, in my loneliness and helplessness; and +whilst I was praying, an assurance was given me that God had heard my +prayer. By the first post on the next morning I received a letter from a +man whom I had never met, requesting an interview. I saw him. It turned +out that he was a staff officer in the Salvation Army, and formerly a +Methodist; and that for two years he had been longing for a sphere of +work among young men. He had been himself in a Manchester business +house, and he was extremely anxious for work among young fellows in the +great business establishments. For various reasons a development of work +in that direction, although it commanded the sympathy of the heads of +the Salvation Army, could not be undertaken just then; and while he was +praying upon the subject, it seemed to him as though a definite voice +said, "Offer yourself to Mr. Hugh Price Hughes." In obedience to that +voice he came, and he is with us now. He has already gathered round him +a large number of young men; and at our last Public Reception of new +members I received into the mission church forty-two young men of this +class, who had been brought to Christ, or to active association with His +Church, through the agency of the man whom God so promptly sent me in +the hour of my need. + +Nothing that I have said will in the least degree surprise earnest +Christians and Christian ministers. Such experiences as these are the +commonplace of real and active Christianity. + + + + +IX + +BY THE REV. +J. CLIFFORD, M.A., D.D. + + +Immediately after my acceptance of the pastorate of the church to which +I still minister, I arranged to continue and broaden my training by +attending Science Classes at University College, London. It was in the +year 1858. The day of science was in its brilliant and arresting dawn. +Professor Huxley had been lecturing on biology at the Royal School of +Mines for nearly four years, and his bold and masterly descriptions of +"Man's Place in Nature," given to working men, had stirred many minds. +Darwin's "Origin of Species" appeared in the following year. The young +scientific spirit was daring and aggressive; and scientific methods, +though feared in most quarters, were demanding and winning confidence. I +was sure science was one of the formative forces of the future, and +therefore it seemed to me the teachers of Christianity of the next +half-century would do well to make themselves practically acquainted +with the methods pursued by scientific men, as well as conversant with +the results of scientific work. + +One of Huxley's maxims was "The man of science has learnt to believe in +justification by verification." Certainly! and why not? The Christian is +bidden by the teacher who ranks next to Jesus Christ, our one and only +Master, to "prove all things, and hold fast that which is good." Human +experience is always verifying truth and exposing falsehood. New forces +are set to work in the lives of men, and offer us their effects for +examination. New acts repeated lead to new habits, and new habits make a +new character. If the gardener inserts a "bud" in the branch of a +growing brier, and after a while beholds the beauty and inhales the +fragrance of the "Gloire de Dijon" rose; if the surgeon "operates" one +day, and a little while afterwards sees that the forces he has freed +from the disabilities of disease are moving forward on their healing +mission; so the Christian pastor may suggest a truth, inspire a new +habit, direct to a new attitude of spirit, secure an uplift of soul, and +afterwards trace the effect of these acts on the growth and development +of character, and on the quantity and quality of the service given to +the kingdom of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. +"Experiments" in the field of human nature yield as really verifiable +results as those that are given in the nursery of the gardener or the +laboratory of the chemist. + +But contact with scientific methods not only suggested that the +pastorate would afford abundant opportunities for verifying the features +and characteristics of the spirit of life in Jesus Christ, by a direct +appeal to facts in the manifold experiences of Christian men; it also +changed the point of view, so that, instead of giving the first place +amongst "answers to prayer" to detached and easily reported incidents, +that rank was assigned to experiences showing that prayer is one of the +chief of the unseen forces in character-building, in deepening humility, +in broadening sympathy, in preserving the heart tender and sensitive to +human suffering, in quickening aspiration, and giving the note of _soul_ +to a man's work and influence. + +The materials sustaining that conclusion were abundant in the early +years of my ministry; notably in one case I can never forget. On the +first Sabbath evening of my ministry I was preaching on the words "Be ye +reconciled to God." Amongst the listeners was one who had entered the +house of prayer without any sense of alienation from God or hunger for +His revelation, and, as she afterwards confessed, merely to please her +sister. But "the Lord opened her heart to give heed to the things that +were spoken," so that she forthwith sought and found peace with God +through our Lord Jesus Christ. + +Nor did she only obtain peace. With Wordsworth she could say: + + "I bent before Thy gracious throne + And asked for peace with suppliant knee, + And peace was given, nor peace alone, + But faith and hope and ecstasy." + +Faith and hope, ecstasy and prayer, were the outstanding features of her +new life. She had little time for special acts of Christian service, and +scant means wherewith to enrich the Church; but, according to the +witness of those who had known her longest, her character was clad in +entirely new charms, and her spirit was fired and filled with new +energies. She grew in experience of the grace and love of God, and +became at home with God in the deepest sense, and seemed rarely, if +ever, absent from her chosen dwelling-place. Her strongest feeling was +for God, all investing, all encircling; and with reverent freedom and +sweet security she lived and moved and had her being in communion with +the eternal Father. Prayer was not a task for specific occasions; it was +the breath of her life. It was not a wrestle or a struggle; it was an +uplifting of her being into a fellowship with God. It did not shrivel +into a litany of petitions; it was sustained aspiration; and aspiration +is a large part of achievement; it was deepest satisfaction with God, +and His will and His work: and such satisfaction is itself a source of +patient strength and a preparation for victory. + +Nor was the effect limited. Her nature received a refinement, an +elevation, a beauty that triumphed over the physical features, and shone +out with a glory that is not seen on sea or shore. The expression of her +face seemed to be from God. A transfiguring radiance came from within as +she thought on the wonders and delighted in the treasures of the gospel +of God. Hers was a noble life. Like Martha, she was engaged in "much +serving;" but yet was never cumbered and worn with it, because, like +Mary, she sat daily at the Master's feet, and listened to His words, +and received His sustaining strength. She was as sweetly unselfish as +the flowers, and gave herself and her "all" to Christ, like the widow of +the gospels. Meekness and humility clothed her with their loveliest +robes. I never knew a purer spirit. She always breathed the softness and +gentleness of the Saviour, and yet I have seen her weak body quiver and +throb with its anguish of desire for the salvation of the lost. Faithful +unto death, she realised the support and joy of the Christian's hope, +and gently as leaves are shed by the flower that has finished its +course, she fell into the arms of Jesus; and as Deborah, Rebekah's +nurse, was buried under the "oak of weeping" amid affectionate regrets +and sweet memories, so this Christian servant was laid in the grave with +tears of real sorrow from those whom she had served so faithfully and +long, as well as from friends who had been gladdened and fortified in +the faith of Christ by her sweet, earnest, and beautiful Christian life. +That day is now far off, but the influence of her prayer-filled life +still feeds faith in God as the Hearer and the Answerer of Prayer. + +About the same time and in the same spiritual laboratory I was called to +observe the following processes. A woman, the wife of a blacksmith, was +led by the gospel of Christ into the joy of salvation. Her experience of +the grace of God in Christ was vivid and full. She knew little of doubt +concerning herself, but she was full of solicitude for her husband and +children; for she had a very heavy burden to carry, and her heart was +sore stricken. Her husband was a drunkard. When sober he was true, +devoted, and loving; but when he fell into intemperance he became hard, +harsh, and even violent. But never did the brave and trustful wife cease +to hope or cease to pray. In the darkest hours she begged for the +conversion of her husband, and felt sure that God would respond to her +supplications. That was her habitual mood, her supreme desire, her +living prayer; and I could see that this very disposition developed her +saintliness, deepened her affection for her husband, and gave increased +beauty to her family life, as well as added to her usefulness in the +Church. + +One day, in the course of my pastoral visits, I called at the +blacksmith's home. Scarcely was the threshold crossed when the husband +rushed in, wild, angry, and violent, the prey of intoxicants. But before +he had proceeded far the wife approached him, flung her arms around him, +called him by name, and said: "Ah, God will give you to me yet." Saint +Ambrose told Monica, when she went to him, sad and desponding about her +son, "God would not forget the prayers of such a mother," and Augustine +came, though late in his young manhood, into the kingdom and patience of +Jesus Christ. So I felt the earnest pleadings of this true wife and +mother would not be forgotten of God, but that, according to her own +beautiful saying, God would "give her husband to her;" for she did not +think he was completely hers whilst he was under the dominion of +intoxicants,--give him to her freed from that depraving and desolating +slavery. And it was so. For he, too, became a Christian, and they +together effectively served their generation according to the will of +God, "turning men from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan +unto God." + +There recurs to me the image of a visitor who called one Sunday evening +in 1862, and who wished to know what he was to do in order to control +and suppress an ungovernable temper. For years it had tortured him past +all bearing, and, what was worse, for years it had been a source of pain +and discomfort in his home. When his anger was kindled he was by his own +confession a terror to wife and children, and, seeing that he had +recently become a Christian, he felt acutely the stain such actions +fixed on garments that should have been unspotted by the world. "What +must I do? I can't go on in this way, and yet though I feel it is wrong +I can't help myself." + +The first suggestion I ventured was based on the regard he had expressed +for his pastor. "What would be the effect," said I, "on you, if I were +to appear at the moment the storm was about to burst? Think!" + +He thought, and then said, "It wouldn't burst I should stop it." + +"Well, then, try this plan. Force yourself at the moment of peril into +the conscious presence of God, and say, as you feel the uprising +passion, 'O God, make me master of myself.' Pray that prayer; and pray, +morning by morning, that you may so pray in your time of need; and in +due season you will obtain the perfect mastery of yourself you seek." He +promised. I watched. He prayed. He conquered; once, twice, thrice, and +then failed; but he renewed the attempt, and triumphed again, and years +afterwards I knew him as one of the most serene of men; and when he +died, no phase of his character stood out more distinctively than his +perfect self-control, and no fact in his life was remembered with deeper +gratitude by his bereaved wife than that memorable victory won by prayer +in the early days of his discipleship to the Lord Jesus. + +From the beginning of my ministry I have made it my business to offer +advice and aid to young men and maidens assailed with doubts and fears +concerning the revelation of God in Christ, hindered at the outset by +misconceptions of the "way of salvation," and perplexed by confused and +contradictory teaching. Hundreds of young men (and within the last ten +years especially, many young women) have described to me their +difficulties as they have reached the stage described by Roscoe in the +words, "There are times when faith is weak and the heart yearns for +knowledge." + +Here is a "case" chosen from a large number of similar facts. A young +man came to tell me the somewhat familiar story, that the first fervours +of his religious life had cooled down, his early raptures were gone, and +the sense of peace and bounding freedom, and of all-sufficing strength +in God, had departed with them. The certainties of the opening months or +years of the Christian pilgrimage had given place to torturing +questions, such as, "Am I not deceived? After all, is Christianity true? +What are its real contents? What is inspiration? Did miracles happen?" +etc., etc. Week after week we reasoned and argued, and months passed in +a struggle whose usefulness no one could register, and whose issue no +one could forecast. + +But it "happened," as these conversations were going on, that he was +"drawn" into what I may call a "prayer circle," privately carried on by +a small group of young men who were not unacquainted with such conflicts +as those which then engaged his powers. He joined it, and by-and-by felt +its influence. He was lifted into another atmosphere, and breathed a +clearer, sunnier air. His misgivings were slowly displaced by missionary +enthusiasm, and his fears by a stronger faith; and yet he had not solved +the problems suggested by the person of Christ, or found the secret of +the Incarnation, or explained the mystery of the Atonement. But he had +been led to set the full force of his nature on communion with God; and +prayer had quickened the sense for spiritual realities, for the +recognition of the infinite value of the human soul, and for the wonder +and splendour of God's salvation. In that realm of prayer, character was +altered, the aim of life was altered, the will had a new goal, and so +the questions of the intellect fell into their true place in reference +to the whole of the questions of life. Emerson writes, "When all is said +and done, the rapt saint is found the only logician." It is he who +thinks the most sanely and dwells nearest the central truths of life and +being. It is he who becomes serenely acquiescent in the agnosticism of +the Bible, and realises that revelation must contain many things past +finding out, whilst the Spirit, who is the revealer, gives us the best +assurances of the certitude and clearness of what it is most important +for us to know. + +So often have I seen this rest-giving effect on the intellect, of the +lifting of the life into communion with God, that I cannot hesitate to +regard it as a law of the life of man, and yet I must add that I do not +think it wise to meet those who ask our aid in the treatment of their +mental perplexities merely, or at _first_, with the counsel to pray. +Most likely they will misunderstand it, and it will become to them a +stone of stumbling and a rock of offence. We had better, if we are able, +meet them first on their own ground, that of the intellect, and meet +them with frankness and sympathy, with knowledge and tact; and yet seek +by the spirit we breathe, and the associations into which we introduce +them, to raise them where the Saviour's beatitude shall become an +experience: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." + +Prayer has often proved itself an infallible recipe for dejection. A man +of culture and wealth was for a long time pursued by what seemed to him +an intolerable and invariable melancholy. He sought relief near and far, +and sought in vain. He became a source of anxiety to his friends. He +went away to Bellagio, goaded by the same restlessness, but its lovely +surroundings did not heal, its soft airs did not soothe. No! All was +dark and repellent. Even prayer seemed of no use. God had forgotten +him. He was cast off as reprobate. His soul was disquieted within him. +The burden of his misery was more than he could carry. He threatened to +take away his life. But in his despair he still clung to his God; and at +last, as in this desperate, and yet not altogether hopeless or +prayerless mood, he read a sermon on "Elijah as a brave prophet tired of +life;" hope was reborn and joy restored, and as Bunyan's pilgrim lost +his burden at the cross, so this Elijah escaped from his tormentors, and +came forth and dwelt in the light of God's countenance. It was the +prayer of a weak and struggling faith; but God did not turn it away, nor +reject the voice of his supplication. + +What abundant witness that + + "More things are wrought by prayer + Than this world dreams of" + +could be supplied by pastors and elders who have visited the widow and +the fatherless, the sick and suffering in their afflictions. One picture +comes to me from the crowded past, of a strong and victorious, though +much enduring saint. Crippled by disease, she did not rise from her bed +unaided for more than seven years. She was always in pain, sometimes +heavy and dull, but not infrequently keen and sharp. Yet through all +these years, she not only did not complain, but she had such an overflow +of quiet cheerfulness and of deep interest in life that she distributed +her gladness to others and made them partakers of her serenity. You +could not detain her in talk about herself, her ailments, her broken +plans, her manifold disappointments. No! she would compel you to talk of +the Church, its schools, its missions, its various activities; of +societies and movements for getting rid of social evils, such as +intemperance and impurity. Sometimes the theme was last Sunday's +sermons, or those in preparation for the next; but rarely herself. There +she lay with a patience that was never ruffled, a serenity rarely if +ever disturbed, a forgetfulness of self bright and fresh, a solicitude +for others deep and full, and a fellowship with God not only unbroken, +but so inspiring as to make the sick-room a sanctuary radiant with His +presence. Prayer led her to the fountains of divine joy, daily she drank +and was refreshed. + +So I set down a few tested, verified facts from the early part of a +ministry of over thirty-eight years; facts chosen from amongst many, and +in substance repeated again and again during recent, but not yet +reportable years. + + + + +X + +BY THE VERY REV. +G. D. BOYLE, M.A. +DEAN OF SALISBURY + + +"What was it that struck you most in that sermon on the character of St. +Paul?" said Bishop Patteson to a friend at Oxford, who had been with him +listening to a sermon preached before the University by a very +remarkable man, who has now passed away. "Those two sentences," said his +friend, "in which he said there were two great powers in the world, the +power of personal religion, and the power of prayer." When I told this +many years afterwards to one of the best parish priests I have ever +known, he gave me, from his own experience, some instances of answers to +prayer which are certainly worth reading. + +Shortly after he had entered Holy Orders, he joined a clerical society. +He was greatly pleased with three of the younger members, but thought +from their conversation after the meeting that they were too fond of +amusements. As he walked home he spoke of this to an elderly clergyman, +who said, "Let you and me make for them special prayer, that they may +take a more serious view of their calling." Some time afterwards my +friend happened to see one of these three brother clergymen at a time of +great sorrow. He told him that he had resolved to give up certain +amusements, which he thought at one time harmless. Some time afterwards +the other two openly declared that they had taken a similar course, and +my friend did not scruple to avow his belief that the after lives of +these three men, all of high family, and all remarkable for their zeal +as clergymen, was a direct answer to special intercession. + +He told me of a still more striking instance. Two men, who had been +friends at college, met after many years abroad. The one said to the +other, "When you were at Oxford, you told me you were very indifferent +as to religion, so I suppose you will not go with me this morning to the +English service." "But I certainly will," said his friend. "I have given +up all that sort of thing; I left off praying for years, in the belief +that as God knows everything it was needless to pray, but an impulse +came upon me after hearing Baron Parke's account of a sermon he heard +Shergold Boone preach, and I am now a communicant." "Then, dear----," +said his friend, "I think my prayer is answered, for I have never ceased +since Oxford days to ask that you might have the happiness I enjoy." + +These two are surely remarkable instances of answers to special prayer +for spiritual benefit. + +What shall be said of the faithful man who, through his own effort, +maintained a small but efficient orphanage? From no fault of his own his +supplies ceased. There came into his mind some words of Edward Irving's +about the Fatherhood of God. He made a special petition for the relief +of his poor children. On his return home he found a letter containing a +request that the future welfare of his home should be ensured by a +permanent endowment. + +"How could you keep your temper through all the vexatious dispute of +to-night's debate?" was the question asked of Lord Althorpe by his most +intimate friend, after a fierce discussion on the Reform Bill. "I always +ask for strength before going to the House," was the answer; "and to-day +I asked for special strength, for I knew that party spirit ran high." + +Many years ago I worked as a curate in the district which had seen the +first labours of the excellent Bishop of Wakefield, whose sudden removal +from active work will long be deeply mourned by the Church of England. +When he left Kidderminster for a country parish, he gave a New Testament +to a young man who had at one time promised well, but who fell into bad +company. "I shall make you the subject of special prayer," said the +Bishop, on wishing him good-bye. Some years afterwards I told the Bishop +that his advice had not been thrown away, and his words were, "I humbly +hope my prayer was heard." + +Bishop Mackenzie told a friend of mine that he had asked for some change +in the life of two favourite pupils at Cambridge. They were not in the +habit of going to University sermons, but they went to hear one of +Bishop Selwyn's famous series in 1854. One of them became an eminent +clergyman, and the other died a missionary in India. + +One more instance will suffice. An attack upon the divinity of Christ +was published some years ago by one who had been trained in a very +different way. His former tutor, who had a very great love for him, +asked a few friends not to forget him. As the tutor was dying, he had +the satisfaction of hearing that the man he had known and loved from +childhood had returned to the faith of a child. + +I believe that all who have had considerable experience in parochial +work could give many instances of special answers to prayer. In recent +years many have come forward to offer themselves for labor at home and +abroad. The present occupation of many minds with the difficulties of +belief, the revelations made by earnest thinkers like Romanes, the +questions raised in such lives as the late Master of Balliol's, the +earnest longings for some reconciliation between the men of science and +the men of faith, may all surely be accepted as in some degree answers +to the prayers and aspirations of all who hope that in the Church of the +future there may be found a simple faith, an enduring charity, and a +belief in the unchangeable strength of an unchangeable Saviour. + + + + +A word to the reader. + + +Do you know what "Sabbath Reading" is? It is a 16-page weekly paper, +devoted exclusively to the best class of religious matter. 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Boyd Carpenter, et al. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + +p {margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: .75em;} + +hr {width: 33%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; clear: both;} + +table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + +a {text-decoration: none;} + +p.cap:first-letter { float: left; clear: left; + margin: 0 0.1em 0 0; + padding:0; + line-height: .9em; font-size: 250%; } + +.pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.big {font-size: 125%;} +.huge {font-size: 150%;} +.giant {font-size: 200%;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of In Answer to Prayer, by +W. Boyd Carpenter and Theodore L. Cuyler and John Watson and Knox Little and William Quarrier + +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: In Answer to Prayer + The Touch of the Unseen + +Author: W. Boyd Carpenter + Theodore L. Cuyler + John Watson + Knox Little + William Quarrier + +Release Date: September 21, 2011 [EBook #37501] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN ANSWER TO PRAYER *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, David E. Brown and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="" /></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p class="center"><span class="giant">In Answer to Prayer</span></p> +<p> </p> +<p class="center">By</p> +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="big"><span class="smcap">The Right Rev. the BISHOP OF<br/> +RIPON, The Rev. Dr. CUYLER,<br/> +The Rev. Dr. JOHN WATSON<br/> +("Ian Maclaren"), The Rev.<br/> +Canon KNOX LITTLE, Mr.<br/> +WILLIAM QUARRIER, Mr. L. K.<br/> +SHAW, The Rev. Dr. HORTON,<br/> +The Rev. H. PRICE HUGHES, The<br/> +Rev. Dr. CLIFFORD, and<br/> +The DEAN OF SALISBURY</span></span></p> +<p> </p> +<p class="center">NEW YORK<br/> +<span class="big">DODD, MEAD & COMPANY</span><br/> +1899</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p class="center"><span class="huge"><i>PREFATORY NOTE</i></span></p> +<p> </p> + +<p><i>The following pages were originally written for the</i> <span class="smcap">Sunday Magazine</span>. +<i>In their present form it is hoped that they will reach another and not +less appreciative public.</i></p> + +<p><i>Although Dr. Watson's contribution is of a character quite distinct +from the other papers, it treats of a phase of religious experience so +closely allied to that of answered prayer that it seems in the present +collection to serve as a stage of transition from the sphere of the +unseen and spiritual to that of the visible and tangible.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">CONTENTS</span></p> +<p> </p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="5" summary="table"> + +<tr><td>IN ANSWER TO PRAYER</td><td> </td></tr> + +<tr><td> </td><td align="right"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> + +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 2em;">By the Right Rev. <span class="smcap">W. Boyd Carpenter</span>, Lord Bishop of Ripon</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_11">11</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 2em;">By the Rev. <span class="smcap">Theodore L. Cuyler</span>, D.D., of New York</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_19">19</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 2em;">By the Rev. <span class="smcap">John Watson</span>, M.A., D.D. ("Ian Maclaren")</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_27">27</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 2em;">By the Rev. Canon <span class="smcap">Knox Little</span>, M.A.</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_39">39</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 2em;">By Mr. <span class="smcap">William Quarrier</span>, of Glasgow</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_49">49</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 2em;">By Mr. <span class="smcap">Leonard K. Shaw</span>, of Manchester</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_67">67</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 2em;">By the Rev. <span class="smcap">R. F. Horton</span>, M.A., D.D.</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_75">75</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 2em;">By the Rev. <span class="smcap">H. Price Hughes</span>, M.A.</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_89">89</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 2em;">By the Rev. <span class="smcap">J. Clifford</span>, M.A., D.D.</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_101">101</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td><span style="margin-left: 2em;">By the Very Rev. <span class="smcap">G. D. Boyle</span>, M.A., Dean of Salisbury</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_119">119</a></td></tr></table> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="huge">I</span></p> +<p> </p> +<p><span class="smcap">By the Right Rev.</span><br/> +<span class="big">W. BOYD CARPENTER, D.D.</span><br/> +<span class="smcap">Lord Bishop of Ripon</span></p> + +<p> </p> + +<p class="cap">I HAVE been asked to write some thoughts on answers to prayer. I am +afraid that I cannot give from personal experience vivid and striking +anecdotes such as others have chronicled. God does not deal with all +alike, either in His gifts of faith or in those of experience. We differ +also in the use we make of His gifts. But if I mistake not the object of +these papers is not merely to gather together an array of startling +experiences, but rather to unite in conference on the great subject of +prayer and the answers to prayer.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>No doubt every Christian spirit holds within his memory many cherished +experiences of God's dealings with him, and these must touch the +question of prayer. But the greater part of these experiences belong to +that sanctuary life of the soul which, rightly or wrongly, we keep +veiled from the world. There are some matters which would lose their +charm if they were made public property. There is a reticence which is +of faith, just as there may be a reticence which is of cowardice or +unfaith. But like the little home treasures, which we only open to look +upon when we are alone, so are some of the secret treasures of inward +experiences. Nevertheless, none of us can have lived and thought without +meeting with a sort of general confirmation or otherwise of the efficacy +of prayer; and though I cannot chronicle positive and striking examples, +I can say what I have known.</p> + +<p>I have known men of a naturally timid and sensitive disposition who have +grown at moments lion-like in courage, and they would tell you that +courage came to them in prayer.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> I have known one man, who found himself +face to face with a duty which was unexpected and from which he shrank +with all his soul. I have known that such a one has prayed that the duty +might not be pressed upon him, and yet that, if it were, he might be +given strength to fulfil it. The duty still confronted him. In trembling +and in much dismay he undertook it; and when the hour came, it found him +calm and equable in spirit, neither dismayed nor demoralised by fears. +Such a one might not tell of great outward answers to prayer; but inward +answers are not less real. At any rate, the Psalmist chronicled an +answer such as this when he wrote: "In the day when I cried Thou +answeredst me and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul" (Psalm +cxxxviii. 3).</p> + +<p>There is, further, a paradox of Christian experience which may be noted. +The soul which waits upon God finds out sooner or later that the prayers +which seem to be unanswered are those which may be most truly answered. +For what is the answer to prayer which the praying heart looks for? +There<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> is no true prayer without the proviso—Nevertheless not what I +will, but what Thou wilt. In other words, there is no true prayer +without reliance upon the greater wisdom and greater love of Him to whom +we pray. Thus it is that God's answer may not be the answer as we looked +for it. We form our expectations: they take shape from our poor little +limited surroundings; but the prayer in its spirit may be wider than we +imagine. To answer it according to our expectations might be not to +answer it truly. To answer it according to our real meaning—<i>i.e.</i>, +according to our spiritual desire—must be the true answer to prayer.</p> + +<p>One illustration will suffice. A man, pressed by difficulty and +straitness, may pray that he may be moved to some place of greater +freedom and ease. He thinks that he ought to move elsewhere. He prays +for guidance and the openings of God's providence. In a short time a +vacant post presents itself: he applies for it, it is just the thing he +wished for. He continues his prayers. The post is given to another. His<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> +prayers have not been answered: such is his conclusion; but is not the +answer really—"Not yet—not yet—wait awhile. My grace is sufficient +for thee"? He waits; he leaves his life in God's hands. After an +interval another opening occurs, and almost without an effort he is +moved to the vacant place. It is this time, perhaps, not the kind of +place he thought of; it is less interesting, it is more onerous, it +fills him with fear as he undertakes its duties. He has prayed, but the +answer came not as he wished or thought or hoped. The years go by. He +looks back from the vantage-ground of distance. He can measure his life +in better proportions. He sees now that the movements of his life have a +deep meaning. He perceives that to have gone where he wished to have +gone, and even where he prayed to be placed, would have been to miss +some of the best experiences and highest trainings of this life. He +begins to realise that there is not a spot which he has visited, not a +place where he has toiled, which has not brought to him lessons that +have been most helpful, nay,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> even needful, in his later life. He sees +that God has sent him here or there to fit him for work which, unknown +and unexpected in his earlier days, the future was to bring.</p> + +<p>The least-answered prayer may be the most-answered. It is the +realisation that experiences fit us for the duties of later life which +yields to us the assurance that in the deepest sense our seemingly +disregarded prayers have been most abundantly remembered before God. +Thus, indeed, we can enter into the spirit of familiar words and +acknowledge concerning each prayer that it is</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 9em;">"Goodness still,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">Which grants it or denies."</span></p> + +<p>And so it may come to pass in later life that our specific petitions for +this or that thing may grow fewer. We may realise more and more our own +ignorance in asking. We may rely more and more on the divine wisdom in +giving. Even in the case of others we may recognise the unwisdom of +asking many things on their behalf. Our love would tenderly shield them +from rough winds and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> bitter hours. We pray that the divine love would +spare them dark days; and yet, are the prayers well prayed? Does God not +lead souls through darkness into light? Is not the Valley of the Shadow +the precursor of the table of love which God spreads? Can the head be +anointed with God's kingly oil which has not been bowed down in the +darkness? Ah! how little we know! how short-sighted we are! And how +great and full and strong God's love is! And, this being so, may not +experience bring us larger trust and lesser prayers—not less, indeed, +in intensity, not less in the wrestling of spirit; not less in the +striving to reach nearer to God's will, but less in the number and +specific character of our petitions? To put it another way—the +petitions are fewer because the prayer is deeper and truer.</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 5em;">"Not my weak longings, Lord, fulfil,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">But rather do Thy perfect will,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">For I am blind and wish for things</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">Which granted bring heart-festerings.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">Let me but know that I am blind,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">Let me but trust Thee wondrous kind."</span></p> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">II</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">By the Rev.</span><br /> +<span class="big">THEODORE L. CUYLER, D.D.</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">of New York</span></p> +<p> </p> + +<p class="cap">ALL of God's mighty men and women have been mighty in prayer. When +Martin Luther was in the mid-valley of his conflict with the man of sin +he used to say that he could not get on without three hours a day in +prayer. Charles G. Finney's grip on God gave him a tremendous grip on +sinners' hearts. The greatest preacher of our times—Spurgeon—had +pre-eminently the "gift of the knees;" the last prayer I ever heard him +utter (at his own family worship) was one of the most wonderful<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> that I +ever listened to; it revealed the hiding of his power. Abraham Lincoln +once said: "I have been driven many times to my knees by the +overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go; my own wisdom and +that of all around me seemed insufficient for the day."</p> + +<p>But what is prayer? Has every prayer power with God? Let us endeavour to +get some clear ideas on that point. Some people seem to regard prayer as +the rehearsal of a set form of solemn words, learned largely from the +Bible or a liturgy; and when uttered they are only from the throat +outward. Genuine prayer is a believing soul's <i>direct converse with</i> +God. Phillips Brooks has condensed it into four words—a "true wish sent +Godward." By it, adoration, thanksgiving, confession of sin, and +petition for mercies and gifts ascend to the throne, and by means of it +infinite blessings are brought down from heaven. The pull of our prayer +may not move the everlasting throne, but—like the pull on a line from +the bow of a boat—it may draw us into closer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> fellowship with God, and +fuller harmony with His wise and holy will.</p> + +<p>1. This is the first characteristic of the prayer that has power: +"Delight thyself in the Lord and He shall give thee the desires of thy +heart." A great many prayers are born of selfishness and are too much +like dictation or command. None of God's promises are unconditional; and +we have no such assets to our credit that we have a right to draw our +cheques and demand that God shall pay them. The indispensable quality of +all right asking is a <i>right spirit toward our heavenly Father</i>. When a +soul feels such an entire submissiveness towards God that it delights in +seeing Him reign, and His glory advanced, it may fearlessly pour out its +desires; for then the desires of God and the desires of that sincere +submissive soul will <i>agree</i>. God loves to give to them who love to let +Him have His way; they find their happiness in the chime of their own +desires with the will of God.</p> + +<p>James and John once came to Jesus and made to Him the amazing request +that He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> would place one of them on His right hand and the other on His +left hand when He set up His imperial government at Jerusalem! As long +as these self-seeking disciples sought only their own glory, Christ +could not give them the askings of their ambitious hearts. By-and-by, +when their hearts had been renewed by the Holy Spirit, and they had +become so consecrated to Christ that they were in complete chime with +Him, they were not afraid to pour out their deepest desires. James +declares that, if we do not "ask <i>amiss</i>," God will "give liberally." +John declares that "whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we +keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His +sight." Just as soon as those two Christians found their supreme +happiness in Christ and His cause they received the desires of their +hearts.</p> + +<p>2. The second trait of prevailing prayer is that it aims at a mark, and +knows what it is after. When we enter a store or shop we ask the +salesman to hand us the particular article we want. There is an +enormous<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> amount of pointless, prayerless praying done in our devotional +meetings; it begins with nothing and ends nowhere. The model prayers +mentioned in the Bible were short and right to the mark. "God be +merciful to me a sinner!" "Lord, save me!" cries sinking Peter. "Come +down, ere my child die!" exclaims the heart-stricken nobleman. Old +Rowland Hill used to say, "I like short, ejaculatory prayer; it reaches +heaven before the devil can get a shot at it."</p> + +<p>3. In the next place, the prayer that has power with God must be a +<i>prepaid</i> prayer. If we expect a letter to reach its destination we put +a stamp on it; otherwise it goes to the Dead-letter Office. There is +what may be called a Dead-prayer Office, and thousands of well-worded +petitions get buried up there. All of God's promises have their +conditions; we must comply with those conditions, or we cannot expect +the blessings coupled with the promises. No farmer is such an idiot as +to look for a crop of wheat unless he has ploughed and sowed his fields. +In prayer, we must first be sure that we are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> doing our part if we +expect God to do His part. There is a legitimate sense in which every +Christian should do his utmost for the answering of his own prayers. +When a certain venerable minister was called on to pray in a missionary +convention he first fumbled in his pocket, and when he had tossed the +coin into the plate he said, "I cannot pray until I have given +something." He prepaid his prayer. For the Churches in these days to +pray, "Thy kingdom come," and then spend more money on jewellery and +cigars than in the enterprise of Foreign Missions, looks almost like a +solemn farce. God has no blessings for stingy pockets. When I hear +requests for prayer for the conversion of a son or daughter, I say to +myself, How much is that parent doing to win that child for Christ? The +godly wife who makes her daily life attractive to her husband has a +right to ask God for the conversion of that husband; she is co-operating +with the Holy Spirit, and prepaying her heart's request. God never +defaults; but He requires that we prove our faith by our works, and that +we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> never ask for a blessing that we are not ready to labour for, and to +make any sacrifice to secure the blessing which our souls desire.</p> + +<p>4. Another essential of the prayer that has power with God is that it be +the prayer of faith, and be offered in the name of Jesus Christ. +"Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may +be glorified in the Son." The chief "wrestling" that we are to do is not +with any reluctance on God's part; it is with the obstacles which sin +and unbelief put in our pathway. What God orders we must submit to +uncomplainingly; but we must never submit to what God can better. Never +submit to be blocked in any pious purpose or holy undertaking if, with +God's help, you can roll the blocks out of your pathway. The faith that +works while it prays commonly conquers; for such faith creates such a +condition of things that our heavenly Father can wisely hear and help +us. Oh, what a magnificent epic the triumphs of striving, toiling, +victorious faith make! The firmament of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> Bible story blazes with answers +to prayer, from the days when Elijah unlocked the heavens on to the days +when the petitions in the house of John Mark unlocked the dungeon, and +brought liberated Peter into their presence. The whole field of +providential history is covered with answered prayers as thickly as +bright-eyed daisies cover our Western prairies. Find thy happiness in +pleasing God, and sooner or later He will surely grant thee the desires +of thy heart.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">III</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">By the Rev.</span><br /> +<span class="big">JOHN WATSON, M.A., D.D.</span><br /> +("<span class="smcap">Ian Maclaren</span>")</p> +<p> </p> + +<p class="cap">DURING the course of my ministry, and especially of recent years, I have +been moved to certain actions for which there seemed no reason, and +which I only performed under the influence of a sudden impulse. As often +as I yielded to this inward guidance, and before the issue was +determined, my mind had a sense of relief and satisfaction, and in all +distinct and important cases my course was in the end most fully +justified. With the afterlook one is most thankful that on certain +occasions he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> was not disobedient to the touch of the unseen, and only +bitterly regrets that on other occasions he was callous and wilful or +was overcome by shame and timidity. What seem just and temperate +inferences from such experiences will be indicated after they have been +described, and it only remains for me to assure my readers that they are +selected from carefully treasured memories, and will be given in as full +and accurate detail as may be possible in circumstances which involve +other people and one's own private life.</p> + +<p>It was my privilege, before I came to Sefton Park Church, to serve as +colleague with a venerable minister to whom I was sincerely attached and +who showed me much kindness. We both felt the separation keenly and kept +up a constant correspondence, while this good and affectionate man +followed my work with spiritual interest and constant prayer. When news +came one day that he was dangerously ill it was natural that his friend +should be gravely concerned, and as the days of anxiety grew, that the +matter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> should take firm hold of the mind. It was a great relief to +learn, towards the end of a week, that the sickness had abated, and +when, on Sunday morning, a letter came with strong and final assurance +of recovery the strain was quite relaxed, and I did my duty at morning +service with a light heart. During the afternoon my satisfaction began +to fail, and I grew uneasy till, by evening service, the letter of the +morning counted for nothing.</p> + +<p>After returning home my mind was torn with anxiety and became most +miserable, fearing that this good man was still in danger and, it might +be, near unto death. Gradually the conviction deepened and took hold of +me that he was dying and that I would never see him again, till at last +it was laid on me that if I hoped to receive his blessing I must make +haste, and by-and-by that I had better go at once. It did not seem as if +I had now any choice, and I certainly had no longer any doubt; so, +having written to break two engagements for Monday, I left at midnight +for Glasgow. As I whirled through the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> darkness it certainly did occur +to me that I had done an unusual thing, for here was a fairly busy man +leaving his work and going a long night's journey to visit a sick +friend, of whose well-being he had been assured on good authority. By +every evidence which could tell on another person he was acting +foolishly, and yet he was obeying an almost irresistible impulse.</p> + +<p>The day broke as we climbed the ascent beyond Moffat, and I was now only +concerned lest time should be lost on the way. On arrival I drove +rapidly to the well-known house, and was in no way astonished that the +servant who opened the door should be weeping bitterly, for the fact +that word had come from that very house that all was going well did not +now weigh one grain against my own inward knowledge.</p> + +<p>"He had a relapse yesterday afternoon, and he is ... dying now." No one +in the room seemed surprised that I should have come, although they had +not sent for me, and I held my reverend father's hand till he fell +asleep in about twenty minutes. He was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> beyond speech when I came, but, +as we believed, recognised me and was content. My night's journey was a +pious act, for which I thanked God, and my absolute conviction is that I +was guided to its performance by spiritual influence.</p> + +<p>Some years ago I was at work one forenoon in my study, and very busy, +when my mind became distracted and I could not think out my sermon. It +was as if a side stream had rushed into a river, confusing and +discolouring the water; and at last, when the confusion was over and the +water was clear, I was conscious of a new subject. Some short time +before, a brother minister, whom I knew well and greatly respected, had +suffered from dissension in his congregation and had received our +sincere sympathy. He had not, however, been in my mind that day, but now +I found myself unable to think of anything else. My imagination began to +work in the case till I seemed, in the midst of the circumstances, as if +I were the sufferer. Very soon a suggestion arose and grew into a +commandment, that I should offer to take<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> a day's duty for my brother. +At this point I pulled myself together and resisted what seemed a +vagrant notion. "Was such a thing ever heard of,—that for no reason +save a vague sympathy one should leave one's own pulpit and undertake +the work of another, who had not asked him and might not want him?" So I +turned to my manuscript to complete a broken sentence, but could only +write "Dear A. B." Nothing remained but to submit to this mysterious +dictation and compose a letter as best one could, till the question of +date arose. There I paused and waited, when an exact day came up before +my mind, and so I concluded the letter. It was, however, too absurd to +send; and so, having rid myself of this irrelevancy, I threw the letter +into the fire and set to work again; but all day I was haunted by the +idea that my brother needed my help. In the evening a letter came from +him, written that very forenoon, explaining that it would be a great +service to him and his people if I could preach some Sunday soon in his +church, and that, owing to certain circumstances, the service<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> would be +doubled if I could come on such and such a day; and it was my date! My +course was perfectly plain, and I at once accepted his invitation under +a distinct sense of a special call, and my only regret was that I had +not posted my first letter.</p> + +<p>One afternoon, to take my third instance, I made up my list of sick +visits and started to overtake them. After completing the first, and +while going along a main road, I felt a strong impulse to turn down a +side street and call on a family living in it. The impulse grew so +urgent that it could not be resisted, and I rang the bell, considering +on the doorstep what reason I should give for an unexpected call. When +the door opened it turned out that strangers now occupied the house, and +that my family had gone to another address, which was in the same street +but could not be given. This was enough, it might appear, to turn me +from aimless visiting, but still the pressure continued as if a hand +were drawing me, and I set out to discover their new house, till I had +disturbed four families with vain inquiries. Then the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> remembrance of my +unmade and imperative calls came upon me, and I abandoned my fruitless +quest with some sense of shame. Had a busy clergyman not enough to do +without such a wild-goose chase?—and one grudged the time one had lost.</p> + +<p>Next morning the head of that household I had yesterday sought in vain +came into my study with such evident sorrow on his face that one +hastened to meet him with anxious inquiries. "Yes, we are in great +trouble; yesterday our little one (a young baby) took very ill and died +in the afternoon. My wife was utterly overcome by the shock and we would +have sent for you at the time but had no messenger. I wish you had been +there—if you had only known!"</p> + +<p>"And the time?"</p> + +<p>"About half-past three."</p> + +<p>So I had known, but had been too impatient.</p> + +<p>Many other cases have occurred when it has been laid on me to call at a +certain house, where there seemed so little reason that I used to invent +excuses, and where I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> found some one especially needing advice or +comfort; or I called and had not courage to lead up to the matter, so +that the call was of no avail, and afterwards some one has asked whether +I knew, for she had waited for a word. Nor do I remember any case where, +being inwardly moved to go after this fashion, it appeared in the end +that I had been befooled. And so, having stated these facts out of many, +I offer three inferences.</p> + +<p>(1) That people may live in an atmosphere of sympathy which will be a +communicating medium. When some one appears to read another's thoughts, +as we have all seen done at public exhibitions, it was evidently by +physical signs, and it served no good purpose. It was a mechanical gift +and was used for an amusement. <i>This</i> is knowledge of another kind, +whose conditions are spiritual and whose ends are ethical. Between you +and the person there must be some common feeling; it rises to a height +in the hour of trouble; and its call is for help. The correspondence +here is between heart and heart,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> and the medium through which the +message passes is love.</p> + +<p>(2) That this love is but another name for Christ, who is the head of +the body; and here one falls back on St. Paul's profound and +illuminating illustration. It is Christ who unites the whole race, and +especially all Christian folk, by His incarnation. Into Him are gathered +all the fears, sorrows, pains, troubles of each member, so that He feels +with all, and from him flows the same feeling to other members of the +body. He is the common spring of sensitiveness and sympathy, who +connects each man with his neighbour and makes of thousands a living +organic spiritual unity.</p> + +<p>(3) That in proportion as one abides in Christ he will be in touch with +his brethren. If it seem to one marvellous and almost incredible that +any person should be affected by another's sorrow whom he does not at +the moment see, is it not marvellous, although quite credible, that we +are so often indifferent to sorrow which we do see? Is it not the case +that one of a delicate soul will detect<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> secret trouble in the failure +of a smile, in a sub-tone of voice, in a fleeting shadow on the face? +"How did he know?" we duller people say. "By his fellowship with Christ" +is the only answer. "Why did we not know?" On account of our hardness +and selfishness. If one live self-centred—ever concerned about his own +affairs, there is no callousness to which he may not yet descend; if one +live the selfless life, there is no mysterious secret of sympathy which +may not be his. Wherefore if any one desire to live in nervous touch +with his fellows, so that their sorrows be his own and he be their quick +helper, if he desire to share with Christ the world burden, let him open +his heart to the Spirit of the Lord. In proportion as we live for +ourselves are we separated from our families, our friends, our +neighbours; in proportion as we enter into the life of the Cross we are +one with them all, being one with Christ, who is one with God.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">IV</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">By the Rev.<br /> +<span class="big">W. KNOX LITTLE, M. A.</span><br /> +Canon of Worcester</span></p> +<p> </p> + +<p class="cap">PRAYER is a comprehensive word and includes, in fact, all communion +between the soul and God. It is, however, commonly used to mean the +asking for benefits from God. Christians believe that prayer <i>is</i> a +power, that it does act in the fulfilment of God's purposes, and that +the results of prayer are real results, not only in the spiritual, but +also in the physical world. This is no mere matter of opinion, it is +part of the Christian faith. For better, for worse, however difficult +the doctrine may appear,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> the Church is committed to it. As in the case +of other difficult doctrines, such as the resurrection of the body for +instance, she, so to speak, "stakes her reputation" on loyalty to this +truth.</p> + +<p>The power of prayer is, of course, a mystery, <i>i.e.</i>, a truth, but a +truth partly concealed, partly plain. To deal with it, therefore, in a +mathematical temper rather than a moral temper is absurd if not wrong. +Mathematical demonstration cannot be given for moral truth, and is in +fact out of court. The bent of mind formed by constant scientific +research—good as it is in its own province—sometimes unfits men for +moral and theological research. In this way the "difficulties of prayer" +are often exaggerated. (1) It is said God knows already; why tell Him? +The same objection would apply to many a request on earth. (2) It is +said God fore-sees; why try to influence what He knows is sure to be? +This objection applies to all our actions; to follow out this we should +not only not pray, but also never do anything. We are in face of a +mystery. A little<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> humility and obedience to revelation helps us out. It +has been truly said that when a practical and a speculative truth are in +apparent collision, we must remember our ignorance of a good many +things, and act with the knowledge which is given us, on the practical +truth.</p> + +<p>Prayer, we may remember, is not to change the holy counsels of the +Eternal, but to accomplish those ends for which it is an appointed +instrument. Anyhow, this is certain, the abundant promises to faithful +and persevering prayer are kept, and—where God sees it to be good for +us—they are kept to the letter. The following are examples which come +within the knowledge of the writer of this paper.</p> + +<p>A family, consisting of a number of children, had been brought up by +parents who had very "free" ideas as to the divine revelation and the +teaching of the Church. The children, varying in age from seven or +eight, to one or two and twenty years, had, one way or another, been +aroused to the teaching of Scripture and desired to be baptised.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> The +father point-blank refused to permit it. The older members of the family +consulted a clergyman. He felt strongly the force of the fifth +commandment and advised them not to act in haste, to realise that +difficulties do frequently arise from conflicting duties, and above all +to pray. The clergyman asked a number of devout Christians to make the +matter a subject of prayer. They did. In about three weeks the father +called upon this very clergyman and asked him to baptise his children. +The clergyman expressed his astonishment, believing that he was opposed +to it. The father answered that that was true, but he had changed his +mind. He could not say precisely why, but he thought his children ought +to be baptised. They were; and he, by his own wish, was present and most +devout at the administration of the sacrament of baptism.</p> + +<p>A few years ago, a clergyman in London had been invited to visit a +friend for one night in the country in order to meet an old friend whom +he had not seen for long. It<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> was bitter winter weather and he decided +not to go. Walking his parish in the afternoon, he believed that a voice +three times urged him to go. He hurriedly changed his arrangements and +went. The snow was tremendously deep, and the house of his friend, some +miles from the railway station, was reached with difficulty. In the +course of the night the clergyman was roused from sleep by the butler, +who begged him to go and visit a groom in the service of the family, who +was ill and "like to die." Crossing a field path with difficulty, as the +snow was very deep, they reached the poor man's house. He had been in +agony of mind and longed to see a clergyman. When it was found +impossible to fetch the nearest clergyman, owing to the impassable state +of the roads, he had prayed earnestly that one might be sent to him. The +poor fellow died in the clergyman's arms in the early morning, much +comforted and in great peace.</p> + +<p>A strangely similar case happened more recently. An American gentleman +travelling in Europe was taken suddenly and seriously<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> ill in one of our +northern towns. The day before this happened, a clergyman, who was at a +distance in the country, was seized with a sudden and unaccountable +desire to visit this very town. He had no idea why, but prayed for +guidance in the matter, and finally felt convinced that he must go. +Having stayed the night there he was about to return home, rather +inclined to think himself a very foolish person, when a waiter in the +hotel brought him an American lady's card and said that the lady wished +to see him. He was the only English clergyman of whom she and her +husband had any knowledge. They had happened to hear him preach in +America. She had no idea where he lived, but when her husband was taken +ill she and her daughter had prayed that <i>he</i> might be sent to them. On +inquiry, strange to say, he was found to be in the hotel, and was able +to render some assistance to the poor sufferer, who died in a few hours, +and to his surviving and mourning relatives.</p> + +<p>A still more striking instance, perhaps, is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> as follows: Some years ago +in London a clergyman had succeeded, with the help of some friends, in +opening a "home" in the suburbs to meet some special mission needs. It +was necessary to support it by charity. For some time all went well. The +home at last, however, became even more necessary and more filled with +inmates, whilst subscriptions did not increase but rather slackened. The +lady in charge wrote to the clergyman as to her needs, and especially +drew his attention to the fact that £40 was required immediately to meet +the pressing demand of a tradesman. The clergyman himself was +excessively poor, and he knew not to whom to turn in the emergency. He +at once went and spent an hour in prayer. He then left his house and +walked slowly along the streets thinking with himself how he should act. +Passing up Regent Street, a carriage drew up in front of Madame Élise's +shop, just as he was passing. Out of the carriage stepped a handsomely +dressed lady. "Mr. So-and-so, I think," she said when she saw him. "Yes, +madam," he answered, raising his hat.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> She drew an envelope from her +pocket and handed it to him, saying: "You have many calls upon your +charity, you will know what to do with that." The envelope contained a +Bank of England note for £50. The whole thing happened in a much shorter +time than it can be related; he passed on up the street, she passed into +the shop. Who she was he did not know, and never since has he learnt. +The threatening creditor was paid. The "home" received further help and +did its work well.</p> + +<p>Another example is of a different kind. A person of real earnestness in +religious questions, and one who gave time and strength for advancing +the kingdom of God, some years ago became restless and unsatisfied in +spiritual matters, failing to enjoy peaceful communion with God, and +generally upset and uneasy. The advice of a clergyman was asked, and +after many conversations on the subject, he urged steady earnest prayer +for light, and agreed himself to make the matter a subject of prayer. +Within a fortnight, after an earnest midday prayer, it was declared by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> +this troubled soul that it had been clearly borne in upon the mind that +the sacrament of baptism had never been received. Enquiry was made, and +after much careful investigation it was found that, while every other +member of a large family had been baptised, in this case the sacrament +had been neglected owing to the death of the mother and the child being +committed to the care of a somewhat prejudiced relative. The person in +question was forthwith baptised, and immediately there was peace and +calmness of mind and a sense of quiet communion with God.</p> + +<p>Instances of this kind might be multiplied, but these are, perhaps, +sufficient. "In everything," says the Apostle, "by prayer and +supplication with thanksgiving (the Eucharist) let your requests be made +known unto God." "Cast all your care upon Him, for He careth for you." +The power of the "prayer of faith" is astonishing in its efficacy, if +souls will only put forth that power. I am able to guarantee, from +personal knowledge, the truth and accuracy of the above instances.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">V</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">By Mr.<br /> +<span class="big">WILLIAM QUARRIER</span><br /> +of Glasgow</span></p> +<p> </p> + +<p class="cap">FOR twenty-five years it has been with me a continual answer to prayer. +The first seven of my service were spent in caring for the rough boys of +the streets of Glasgow, but having made a vow, when I was very young, +that if God prospered me I should build houses for orphans, I was not +satisfied with that work among the bigger boys. Being in business, +however, and having a family to maintain, the question of whether I +could do more was a difficult one. I was giving eight hours a day to the +work, and in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> the Shoe-black Brigade, the Parcels Brigade, and the +Newspaper Brigade had probably about three hundred boys to care for.</p> + +<p>While I considered what could be done, a lady from London—Miss +Macpherson—called, and in the course of our talk about the little ones, +she urged that I should attempt something more than I was doing. For +three months I prayed to God for guidance, and in the end resolved that +if He sent me £2000, I should embark in the greater work. Nobody knew of +that resolution; it was a matter between God and myself. If God wanted +me to do more work than I was doing, I felt that He would send me the +£2000, not in portions, but in a solid sum. I was then before the +public, and I wrote a letter to the newspapers pleading that something +more should be done for street children, pointing out that the Poorhouse +and the Reformatory were not the best means of helping child-life, and +urging that something on the Home or Family system was desirable. There +was a strong conviction that God would answer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> the prayer, and, the +terms of the prayer being explicit, I believed the answer would be as +unmistakable. After waiting thirteen days the answer came. Amongst my +other letters was one from a Scotch friend in London, to the effect that +the writer would, to the extent of £2000, provide me with money to buy +or rent a house for orphan children. When I received that call I felt +that my family interests and my business interests should be second, and +that God's work among the children should be first.</p> + +<p>To a business man, it was a call to surrender what you would call +business tact. I had to rise up there and then, and proclaim in the +midst of the commercial city of Glasgow, that from that moment I was to +live by faith, and depend on God for money, wisdom and strength. From +that time forward I would ask no man for money, but trust God for +everything. That £2000 was the first direct answer to prayer for money. +He gave me the utmost of my asking, and I felt that I would need to give +Him the utmost of the power I pledged.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>We rented a common workshop in Renfrew Lane—it was very difficult to +get a suitable place—to lodge the children in, and that little place +was the first National Home for Orphans in Scotland, and from it has +sprung what the visitor may see to-day amongst the Renfrewshire hills. +One day, I remember, two boys came in, and we had everything to clothe +them with except a jacket for one of them. The matron, a very godly +woman, said, "We must just pray that God will send what is needed," and +we prayed that He would. That night a large parcel of clothing came from +Dumbarton, and in it was a jacket that fitted the boy as if it had been +made for him. That was a small thing, of course, but if you don't see +God in the gift of a pair of stockings you won't see Him in a gift of +£10,000.</p> + +<p>We had thirty children in that Home, and we kept praying that the Lord +would open a place for us somewhere in the country. A friend called on +me and offered to sub-let Cessnock House, with three acres of ground +about it. Cessnock Dock has now absorbed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> the place, and as it was just +the very spot we wanted, we accepted. We had room for a hundred boys, +and with the help of God we prospered. We had resolved formerly that we +would send children to Canada, but it took £10 per head to send them, +and we were determined not to get into debt. We had only a few pounds in +hand when we took the house in Govan Road, and it took £200 to alter it. +But every night we prayed that the Lord would send money to pay for the +alterations. Sums varying from 5s. to £5 came in, but when the bills +came to be paid we were short £100. A friend not far from one of my +places of business sent for me, and when I called, he said, "How are you +getting on at Cessnock?" I said we were getting on nicely, and that we +had got £100 towards the alterations. He gave me £100, to my +astonishment, for I knew that he could not afford so much, but he said a +relative who died in England had left him a fortune, and the money was +to help me in the work God had given me to do. In that answer you see +how God works mysteriously<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> to accomplish His purpose and help those who +put their trust in Him.</p> + +<p>God gives us great help in dealing with the wayward, wilful boys of the +Home. They are generally lads who have known no control; but we are +able, with God's blessing on our efforts, to get them to do almost +anything that is wanted, without strap or confinement or threat. To hear +boys who used to curse and swear praying to God, and to see them helping +other boys in the Home, is to me the most encouraging feature of the +work God has given me to do. Whilst I sought to clothe and educate them, +I left God to deal with them in their spirits; and to-day the result of +the spiritual work amongst the boys and girls of Glasgow exceeds +anything I ever expected.</p> + +<p>I still thought of the emigration scheme, and in 1872 we had sixty +children that were able to go to Canada. Of course it meant £600 to send +them, and we had the necessary money except £70 in the end of June. We +prayed on that God would send the balance before the day of sailing, 2nd +July.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> A friend called at one of my places of business to see me, and +subsequently I had an interview with him. He gave me £50, and said it +was from one who did not wish the name mentioned. "What shall I put it +to?" I asked. "Anything you like," he said. "We are short of £70 for the +emigration of our first band of children to Canada, and if you like I +shall put it to that." "Do so," he said; and as the man left I saw God's +hand in the gift that had been made. When I went home that night I found +amongst my letters one in which was enclosed £10 "to take a child to +Canada," and the post on the following morning brought two five-pound +notes from other friends, making up exactly at the moment it was needed +the sum I had asked God to give.</p> + +<p>In addition to the Homes, we carried on mission work amongst the lapsed +masses, and, as in the case of the Homes, we were firmly resolved to do +everything by prayer and supplication. I rented an old church at the +head of the Little Dovehill, just where<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> the Board school stands now, as +a hall, but we did not have the whole of it. At the level of the gallery +another floor had been introduced, and while we occupied the upper flat, +a soap manufacturer occupied the lower. In a way it was a trial of faith +to go up those stairs past the soap work into our hall. We wanted to +open the place free of debt, and the money for the alterations came in +gradually. I remember putting it to the Lord to send a suitable +evangelist if He wished the work to go on. At that time—twenty-four +years ago—we heard a lot of Joshua Poole and his wife, who were having +great blessing in London, and I thought that they were just the people +to reach the working classes. But as I had convictions about women +preaching,—which, by the way, I have not now,—I asked the Lord to send +£50 to cover the expense for a month if it were His will that these +friends should come to Glasgow and preach nightly during that period. I +left it to God to decide whether we should ask these friends or not, and +I had the assurance—the assurance of faith,—that the money<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> would +come. When I went home that night I found that a friend had called at +one of my places of business and left fifty one-pound notes without +knowing my mind and without knowing I needed it.</p> + +<p>After that I felt that God was going to work a great work amongst the +lapsed masses of Glasgow, and He did so. For six months we rented the +Scotia Music Hall on Sabbath evenings, and instead of a month the +evangelists were six in the city conducting services every night. When +they left, ten thousand people gathered on the Green to bid them +farewell. Hundreds were led to the Saviour.</p> + +<p>After a number of years' work in Glasgow with the Girls' Home, in Govan +with the Boys' Home, and with the Mission premises, the need of a farm +became great. I prayed for money to purchase a farm of about fifty +acres, three miles or so from Glasgow. It was to have a burn running +through it, good drainage, and everything necessary. I was anxious to +get this burn for the children to paddle in and fish in; but I feel now +that at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> the time I was rebellious against God in fixing the site so +near Glasgow. We visited a dozen places, but the cost was so great that +I was fairly beaten. God had shut up every door.</p> + +<p>A friend met me on the street, and asked if I had seen the farm in +Kilmalcolm Parish that was to be sold. I replied that I had not, and +that I considered the place too far away. In talking over the matter, he +persuaded me to go and see the farm, and when I did go, and, standing +where our big central building is now, saw that it had everything I +prayed for,—perfect drainage, and not only the burn, but a river and a +large flat field for a recreation ground,—I said in my heart to the +Lord: "This will do." Ever since I have blessed the Lord for that; my +way was not God's way, and so He shut us in amongst these Renfrewshire +hills, away from the ways of men.</p> + +<p>After paying £3,560 for the farm, we had about £1,500 left, and in 1887 +we began to build a church and school, to cost £5,000. I told the +contractor that we should stop if<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> the money did not come in; but it +kept coming in, and the work went on. In 1888 I had resolved to go to +Canada with the party of children going out that year, and I saw clearly +that I would need to stop the contractors if I got no more money in the +interval, for I was still £1400 short. Yet I believed the Lord would +send the money before I left in the latter end of May, though the time I +write of was as far on as the middle of the month. I kept praying, and +the assurance was strong that the money would come. Just three days +before the date on which I was to sail, a friend came to me, and said it +had been laid upon his heart to build one of the cottages at +Bridge-of-Weir, but the Lord, he thought, would accept the money for the +central building just as much as though it were put into houses, and he +handed me £1300.</p> + +<p>All the money belonging to the Homes and all my own was in the City of +Glasgow Bank when it failed, and hundreds of the givers were involved as +well. On my way up from the Homes on the day of the disaster,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> a +gentleman met me, and told me the sad news. At the moment I realised +what the news meant for me—my own personal loss and the needs of the +Homes—for that was in September, and our financial year closed in +October. With all our money locked up, to clear the year without debt +would be difficult, but then the promise of God came: "Although the +fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the +labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the +flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the +stalls; yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will joy in the God of my +salvation."</p> + +<p>There and then I prayed that God would help me through, and that during +the course of the following year, which I saw would be one of financial +distress all over Scotland, He would double the gifts to us. The result +was that we were able to clear our financial accounts with ease at the +end of October, and in the year following, when every church in +Scotland, and every philanthropic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> work had less money than they needed, +the Orphan Homes had double what they required. In that God honoured my +trust.</p> + +<p>Our first church at Bridge-of-Weir only held four hundred, and by-and-by +it was too small for us. I prayed that the Lord would give us a new +church to hold one thousand people, and to cost something like £5000. We +felt that we would get that money, and that we would get it in one sum +because we had asked God to lay it on the heart of somebody to build the +church. After a year of waiting and praying, a friend came to me in the +street one day, and said, "I'm going to build you that church you want. +Do you know what it will cost?" "Yes," I replied. "£5000" "Well," said +my friend, "you shall get the money when you want it."</p> + +<p>It was a new song of praise to God that day, I can tell you, and we went +on to build our church. Now, even it we find too small, and we are +praying to the Lord for £2500 to enlarge the building, and enable<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> us to +accommodate five hundred more worshippers.</p> + +<p>I thought that, having got the church, we might, as we were building a +tower to hold the tank for our water supply, also get a clock and chimes +to enliven the village. So we prayed that the Lord would send money for +that purpose. I thought that about £500 or £600 would be sufficient. +While the building was going on, we prayed for the money, and I was +certain it would come. The architect was hurrying me and pointing out +that if the clock and bells were really to go into the tower, the work +must be done at once. I told him there was no fear that the money would +not come. If the money had not come, and the tower was completed, the +placing of the clock and bells at a later period would have mean +practically taking down and rebuilding, because with our water tank in +position, the work would have been impossible. My architect kept +bothering me, but I was sure the money would come, and one night I went +home and found a cheque for £200<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>—£1500 to build a house, and £500 for +the clock and bells. The clock and bells cost £800, and the lady who +sent the money paid the additional £300.</p> + +<p>A village like our Homes, with 1200 of a population, needed a good water +supply for sanitary purposes. For a very long time we depended on a +well, and stored the water in tanks, but frequently the supply fell +short, and we felt that if we could get the proprietors in the upper +district—none of the surrounding proprietors, by the way, had ever +taken much interest in the work of the Homes—to give us the privilege +of bringing water into the grounds, we should be able to do much to +improve that state of matters. Sir Michael Shaw Stewart gave us the +right to use our own burn higher up for the purpose, and gave us a piece +of ground at a nominal rent of 12s. a year, for a reservoir and filter, +but the money to carry out the work was not in hand, and we prayed to +the Lord to send us from £1200 to £1400, which we anticipated would be +the cost of the undertaking.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>Some time later a lady called at James Morrison Street (Glasgow), and +left word that an old woman who lived in Main Street, Gorbals, wished to +see me. On the following day I called at the address given, and found +the person who had sent for me. She was an old woman living in a single +apartment, and she was very ill and weak. "Are you Mr. Quarrier?" she +asked. I said I was. "Ye were once puir yersel'," she went on; "I was +once a puir girl with naebody to care for me, and was in service when I +was eleven years old. I have been thankful for a' the kindness that has +been shown me in my life."</p> + +<p>She went to a chest of drawers in the corner of the apartment, and after +a little came and gave me two deposit receipts on the Savings Bank, each +for £200 and on neither of which any interest had been drawn for twenty +years. When I cashed them I received £627.</p> + +<p>I said "Janet"—Janet Stewart was her name—"are you not giving me too +much?" "Na, na, I've plenty mair, an' ye'll get it a' when I dee."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>We did the best we could for Janet, but she did not live much longer. +Within a week I received a telegram that Janet was dead, and she had +died, I was told, singing "Just as I am without one plea."</p> + +<p>In her will she left several sums to neighbours who had been kind to her +in life, and to our Homes was bequeathed the balance. Altogether the +Orphans' share was £1400. The money defrayed the cost of our water +scheme, and I always think how appropriate the gift was, for nearly all +her life Janet had been a washerwoman and had earned her bread over the +wash-tub.</p> + +<p>The direct answers to prayers of which I could tell you would fill a +volume, and what I have mentioned are only those fixed in my memory. I +have always asked God for a definite gift for a definite purpose, and +God has always given it to me. The value of the buildings at +Bridge-of-Weir is £200,000, and since we started, the cost of their +"upkeep" has been £150,000. And we are still building as busily as in +the beginning.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">VI</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">By Mr.<br /> +<span class="big">LEONARD K. SHAW</span><br /> +of Manchester</span></p> +<p> </p> + +<p class="cap">THE work for homeless children in Manchester was cradled in prayer. +Every step in preparation was laid before God. But what I want specially +to insist upon is the real connection there is between prayer and work. +From the first my practice has been to lay our wants before God in +prayer, and at the same time to use every means within our reach to +obtain what we desired. I well remember in the early days of the work +how anxiously we discussed whether it was to be conducted on the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> +"faith" principle, as it is called, or on the "work" principle. Looking +back on the way by which we have come, it seems to me now that faith and +work necessarily go together. Earnest believing prayer is not less +earnest and believing because you use the means God has put within your +reach. Your dependence upon God is just the same. You send out an +appeal, but it is God who disposes the hearts of the people to +subscribe. So I say the connection between praying and working, though +not always seen, is very real. Day by day the special needs of the work +are laid before God, and day by day they are supplied.</p> + +<p>Of direct answers to prayer I have had many sweet and encouraging +assurances, particularly in connection with our orphan homes. In the +first five years of the work, we only took in boys between the ages of +ten and sixteen. At that time of life, boys who have been brought up on +the street are not easy to manage, and a friend to whom I was telling +some of our difficulties, suggested that we should take the boys in +younger.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> To do so meant a new departure, and on going into the matter I +found that a sum of about £600 would be needed to start such an orphan +home as was suggested. I said to my wife, "Let us pray about this; if it +is God's will that we should enter upon this new branch of work, He will +send the money." We resolved that should be the test; if the money came +we would start the home, otherwise we would not. Our annual meeting came +round soon after, and in the report I made an appeal on behalf of the +new scheme. The report was sent out with much prayer, but no individual +person was asked to contribute. In a few days I received a letter from a +gentleman residing in Southport, enclosing a cheque for £600. The house +for the first of our orphan homes was bought for £500, and the balance +of the cheque enabled us to furnish it.</p> + +<p>At the end of the following year, the home was full of fatherless and +motherless little ones, and others were seeking admission for whom there +was no room. I sent out a second appeal, asking God to put it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> into the +heart of someone to provide a second home. A few weeks afterwards a lady +well known in Manchester paid us a visit at the home and two days later +I received from her a cheque for £1000. In this way we got our second +home. Another year and this second home was also full. Again I prayed +God to dispose the heart of some one to help us, and I sent out another +appeal. One day, perhaps two or three weeks later, a gentleman stopped +me in the street and said he had been wanting to see me for some days, +as he had a cheque for £700 waiting for me at his office. At the moment +the orphan home was not in my mind, and I asked what the cheque was for. +Why, he said, I understand your two orphan homes are full and that you +want another. And so we got our third home. Another year and it too was +full. Again after earnest prayer I received a cheque for £1000 from +another Manchester gentleman, who in some way had come to know that a +fourth home was needed.</p> + +<p>In these four cases you have, I think,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> remarkable instances of direct +answer to prayer. So, at any rate, I must always regard them. I need not +say how encouraged we were, year after year, to go on with the work, +though each additional home meant a large increase in our annual +expenditure.</p> + +<p>The money with which the fifth orphanage house was bought was not given +in one sum nor specially for the purpose, and the circumstances would +not warrant me in saying that it came in direct answer to prayer. When a +sixth home became necessary an appeal was made to the schoolgirls of +Lancashire and Cheshire, and they found the £500 for the purchase money. +This house is called "The School Girls' Home." The inscription on the +memorial stone, "His children shall have a place of refuge," was +suggested by the late Bishop of Manchester.</p> + +<p>In smaller, but perhaps not less important matters, we have had +unmistakable proofs that God answers prayer. One case which occurred in +the early days of the work greatly impressed me. A letter came one +morning from Stalybridge asking us to take in five<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> little children who +had been left destitute and without a friend in the world. I went over +to make inquiries, and found the children in the same room with the dead +body of their mother, which had little more to cover it than an old +sack. Our means at that time were very small, and I thought we could +hardly venture to take in all the children. The clergyman of the parish +pleaded with me to take at least two or three. I asked what was to +become of the others, and the answer was that there was nothing for them +but the workhouse. What to do I did not know. I made it a matter of +prayer, but all that night it lay upon my heart a great burden. Next +morning I came downstairs still wondering what to do. Amongst the +letters on my table was one from a gentleman at Bowdon, enclosing, +unasked, a cheque for £50. In those days £50 was an exceptionally large +sum for us to receive, and I took the letter as a direct word from God +that we should accept the care of the children. We did so, and I am glad +to say every one of them turned out well.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span>But direct answers to prayer are not confined to mere gifts of money. +Over and over again during these twenty-seven years of rescue work I +have put individual cases before God and asked Him to deal with them, +and it is just wonderful how He has subdued stubborn wills and changed +hearts and lives.</p> + +<p>Years ago there came to the Refuges the son of a man known to the +Manchester police as "Mike the devil." Tom was as rough a customer as +ever I saw, and for a time we had some trouble with him. But a great +change came over him, and I have myself no doubt it was the result of +personal pleading with God on his behalf. Tom is now an ordained +minister of the Gospel in America. There is no end to the cases I could +give of that kind. They all point to the same conclusion, that God does +answer definite prayer. And to-day, after twenty-seven years of work, I +praise Him for it.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">VII</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">By the Rev.</span><br /> +<span class="big">R. F. HORTON, M.A., D.D.</span></p> +<p> </p> + +<p class="cap">IT has sometimes seemed to me that God does not intend the faith in +prayer to rest upon an induction of instances. The answers, however +explicit, are not of the kind to bear down an aggressive criticism. Your +Christian lives a life which is an unbroken chain of prayers offered and +prayers answered; from his inward view the demonstration is +overwhelming. But do you ask for the evidences, and do you propose to +begin to pray if the facts are convincing, and to refuse the practice if +they are not? Then<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> you may find the evidences evanescent as an evening +cloud, and the facts all susceptible of a simple rationalistic +explanation. "Prayer," says an old Jewish mystic, "is the moment when +heaven and earth kiss each other." It is futile as well as indelicate to +disturb that rapturous meeting; and nothing can be brought away from +such an intrusion, nothing of any value except the resolve to make trial +for oneself of the "mystic sweet communion."</p> + +<p>I confess, therefore, that I read examples of answers to prayer without +any great interest, and refer to those I have experienced myself with +the utmost diffidence. Nay, I say frankly beforehand, "If you are +concerned to disprove my statement, and to show that what I take for the +hand of God is merely the cold operation of natural law, I shall only +smile. My own conviction will be unchanged. I do not make that great +distinction between the hand of God and natural law, and I have no wish +to induce you to pray by an accumulation of facts—to commend to you the +mighty secret by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> showing that it would be profitable to you, a kind of +Aladdin's lamp for fulfilling wayward desires. Natural law, the hand of +God! Yes! I unquestioningly admit that the answers to prayer come +generally along lines which we recognise as natural law, and would +perhaps always be found along those lines if our knowledge of natural +law were complete. Prayer is to me the quick and instant recognition +that all law is God's will, and all nature is in God's hand, and that +all our welfare lies in linking ourselves with His will and placing +ourselves in His hand through all the operations of the world and life +and time."</p> + +<p>Yet I will mention a few "answers to prayer," striking enough to me. One +Sunday morning a message came to me before the service from an agonised +mother: "Pray for my child: the doctor has been and gives no hope." We +prayed, the church prayed, with the mother's agony, and with the faith +in a present Christ, mighty to save. Next day, I learned that the doctor +who had given the message of despair in the morning had returned,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> after +the service, and said at once, "A remarkable change has taken place." +The child recovered and still lives.</p> + +<p>On another occasion, I was summoned from my study to see a girl who was +dying of acute peritonitis. I hurried away to the chamber of death. The +doctor said that he could do nothing more. The mother stood there +weeping. The girl had passed beyond the point of recognition. But as I +entered the room, a conviction seized me that the sentence of death had +not gone out against her. I proposed that we should kneel down and pray. +I asked definitely that she should be restored. I left the home, and +learned afterwards that she began to amend almost, at once, and entirely +recovered; she is now quite strong and well, and doing her share of +service for our Lord.</p> + +<p>And on yet another occasion I was hastily called from my study to see an +elderly man, who had always been delicate since I knew him; now he was +prostrated with bronchitis, and the doctor did not think that he could +live. It chanced that I had just been studying<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> the passage which +contains the prayer of Hezekiah and the promise made to him of fourteen +additional years of life. I went to the sick man and told him that I had +just been reading this, and asked if it might not be a ground for +definite prayer. He assented, and we entreated our God for His mercy in +the matter. The man was restored and is living still.</p> + +<p>These are only typical instances of what I have frequently seen. Many +times, no doubt, I have prayed for the recovery of the sick and the +prayer has not been answered. And you, dear and skeptical reader, may +say if you will that this is proof positive that the instances of +answered prayers are mere coincidences. You may say it and, if you will, +prove it, but you will not in the least alter my quiet conviction; for +the answers were given to <i>me</i>. I do not know that even the subjects of +these recoveries recognise the agency which was at work. To me all this +is immaterial. The subjective evidence is all that was designed, and +that is sufficient, and to the writer conclusive.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>With reference to money for Christian work, I have laboured to induce my +own church to adopt the simple view that we should ask not men, but in +the first instance God, the owner of it all, for what we want. I am +thankful to say that some of them now believe this, and bring our needs +to Him very simply and trustfully. I could name many instances of the +following kind: there is a threatened deficit in the funds of the +mission, or an extension is needed and we have not the money. The sound +of misgiving is heard; we have not the givers; the givers have given all +they can. "Why not trust God?" I have urged. "Why not pray openly and +unitedly—and believe?" The black cloud of debt has been dissipated, or +the necessary extension has been made.</p> + +<p>Oddly enough, some people have said to me, "Ah, yours is a rich church," +as if to imply one can very safely ask God for money when one has the +people at hand who can give it. But surely this is a question of degree. +My church is not rich enough to give one-tenth of what it gives, <i>if we +did</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> <i>not first ask God for it</i>. And there are churches which could give +ten times what they do give, if only the plan were adopted of first +asking God instead of going to the few wealthy people and trusting to +them.</p> + +<p>But this is a matter of statistics and a little wearisome. I confess I +am unsatisfied with answers to prayer when the prayer is only for these +carnal and visible things, which are often, in boundless love and pity, +<i>withheld</i>. The constant and proper things to pray for are precisely +those the advent of which cannot be observed or tabulated; that the +kingdom may come, that they who have sinned, not unto death, may be +forgiven, that the eyes of Christian men may be enlightened, and their +hearts expanded to the measure of the love of Christ. Such prayers are +answered, but the answers are not unveiled. I remember a strange +instance of this. I was staying with a gentleman in a great town, where +the town council, of which he was a member, had just decided to close a +music-hall which was exercising a pernicious influence.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> The decision +was most unexpected, because a strong party in the council were directly +interested in the hall. But to my friend's amazement the men who had +threatened opposition came in and quietly voted for withdrawing the +licence. Next day we were speaking about modern miracles; he, the best +of men, expressed the opinion that miracles were confined to Bible +times. His wife then happened to mention how, on the day of that council +meeting, she and some other good women of the city had met and continued +in prayer that the licence might be withdrawn. I ventured to ask my +friend whether this was not the explanation of what he had confessed to +be an amazing change of front on the part of the opposition. And, +strange to say, it had not occurred to him—though an avowed believer in +prayer—to connect the praying women and that beneficent vote.</p> + +<p>The truth is, all the threads of good which run across our chequered +society, all the impulses upward and onward, all the invisible growths +in goodness and grace, are answered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> prayers. For our prayers for the +kingdom are not uttered on the housetops; and the kingdom itself cometh +not with observation.</p> + +<p>But if it were not too delicate a subject I could recite instances, to +me the most remarkable answers to prayer in my experience, of changed +character and enlarged Christian life, resulting from definite +intercession. It is an experiment which any loving and humble soul can +easily make. Take your friends, or better still the members of the +church to which you belong, and set yourself systematically to pray for +them. Leave alone those futile and often misguided petitions for +temporal blessings, or even for success in their work, and plead with +your God in the terms of that prayer with which Saint Paul bowed his +knees for the Ephesians. Ask that this person, or these persons, known +to you, may have the enlightenment and expansion of the Spirit, the +quickened love and zeal, the vision of God, the profound sympathy with +Christ, which form the true Christian life. Pray and watch, and as you +watch, still pray. And you will see a miracle, marvellous<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> as the +springing of the flowers in April, or the far-off regular rise and +setting of the planets,—a miracle proceeding before your eyes, a plain +answer to your prayer, and yet without any intervention of your voice or +hand. You will see the mysterious power of God at work upon these souls +for which you pray. And by the subtle movements of the Spirit it is as +likely as not that they will come to tell you of the divine blessings +which have come to them in reply to your unknown prayers.</p> + +<p>But there are some whose eyes are not yet open to these invisible things +of the Spirit, which are indeed the real things. The measure of faith is +not yet given them, and they do not recognise that web,—the only web +which will last when the loom of the world is broken,—the web of which +the warp is the will of God, and the woof the prayers of men. For these, +to speak of the whole as answered prayer is as good as to say that no +prayer is answered at all. If they are to recognise an answer it must be +some tiny pattern, a sprig of flower, or an ammonite<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> figure on the +fabric. Let me close, therefore, by recounting a very simple answer to +prayer,—simple, and yet, I think I can show, significant.</p> + +<p>Last summer I was in Norway, and one of the party was a lady who was too +delicate to attempt great mountain excursions, but found an infinite +compensation in rowing along those fringed shores of the fjord, and +exploring those interminable brakes, which escape the notice of the +passengers on board the steamer. One day we had followed a narrow fjord, +which winds into the folds of the mountains, to its head. There we had +landed and pushed our way through the brush of birch and alder, lost in +the mimic glades, emerging to climb miniature mountains, and fording +innumerable small rivers, which rushed down from the perpetual snows. +Moving slowly over the ground—veritable explorers of a virgin +forest—plucking the ruby bunches of wild raspberry, or the bilberries +and whortleberries, delicate in bloom, we made a devious track which it +was hard or impossible to retrace. Suddenly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> my companion found that her +golosh was gone. That might seem a slight loss and easily replaced; not +at all. It was as vital to her as his snowshoes were to Nansen on the +Polar drift; for it could not be replaced until we were back in Bergen +at the end of our tour. And to be without it meant an end of all the +delightful rambles in the spongy mosses and across the lilliputian +streams, which for one at least meant half the charm and the benefit of +the holiday. With the utmost diligence, therefore, we searched the +brake, retraced our steps, recalled each precipitous descent of +heather-covered rock, and every sapling of silver birch by which we had +steadied our steps. We plunged deep into all the apparently bottomless +crannies, and beat the brushwood along all our course. But neither the +owner's eyes, which are keen as needles, nor mine, which are not, could +discover any sign of the missing shoe. With woeful countenances we had +to give it up and start on our three miles' row along the fjord to the +hotel. But in the afternoon the idea came to me, "And<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> why not ask our +gracious Father for guidance in this trifle as well as for all the +weightier things which we are constantly committing to His care? If the +hairs of our head are all numbered, why not also the shoes of our feet?" +I therefore asked Him that we might recover this lost golosh. And then I +proposed that we should row back to the place. How magnificent the +precipitous mountains and the far snow-fields looked that afternoon! How +insignificant our shallop, and our own imperceptible selves in that +majestic amphitheatre, and how trifling the whole episode might seem to +God! But the place was one where we had enjoyed many singular proofs of +the divine love which shaped the mountains but has also a particular +care for the emmets which nestle at their feet. And I was ashamed of +myself for ever doubting the particular care of an infinite love. When +we reached the end of the fjord and had lashed the boat to the shore, I +sprang on the rocks and went, I know not how or why, to one spot, not +far from the water, a spot which I should have said we had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> searched +again and again in the morning, and there lay the shoe before my eyes, +obvious, as if it had fallen from heaven!</p> + +<p>I think I hear the cold laugh of prayerless men: "And that is the kind +of thing on which you rest your belief in prayer; a happy accident. +Well, if you are superstitious enough to attach any importance to that, +you would swallow anything!" And with a smile, not, I trust, scornful or +impatient, but full of quiet joy, I would reply: "Yes, if you will, that +is the kind of thing; a trifle rising to the surface from the depths of +a Father's love and compassion—those depths of God which you will not +sound contain marvels greater it is true; they are, however, ineffable, +for the things of the Spirit will only be known to men of the Spirit. +These trifles are all that can be uttered to those who will not search +and see; trifles indeed, for no sign shall be given to this generation; +which, if it will not prove the power of prayer by praying, shall not be +convinced by marshalled instances of the answers of prayer."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">VIII</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">By the Rev.</span><br /> +<span class="big">HUGH PRICE HUGHES, M.A.</span></p> +<p> </p> + +<p class="cap">YOU ask me to give my experience of answers to prayer. I have never had +any doubt that Dean Milman was right when he said that personal religion +becomes impossible if prayer is not answered. Neither have I ever been +able to appreciate the so-called scientific objection to prayer, as we +have ample experience in the activity of our own will to illustrate the +fact that invariable laws may be so manipulated and utilised as to +produce results totally different from those which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> would have taken +place if some free will had not intervened to use them.</p> + +<p>We must assume that God, who is the Author of all natural laws, can with +infinite ease manipulate them so as to produce any desired result, +without in the least degree altering their character or interfering with +the universal reign of Law.</p> + +<p>However, what you want is not theory but actual experience. I will not +refer, therefore, to the stupendous proofs that God does answer prayer, +presented by Mr. Müller of Bristol in his immense orphanages, or to +similar unmistakable results in the various philanthropic institutions +of Dr. Cullis of Boston. I will go at once to my own personal +experiences, and mention one or two facts that have come under my own +observation. There are a great many, but I will simply give a few +typical cases.</p> + +<p>A good many years ago I was conducting a special mission in the +neighbourhood of Chelsea. It is my custom on these occasions to invite +members of the congregation to send me in writing special requests<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> for +the conversion of unsaved relatives or friends. On the Tuesday night, +among many other requests for prayer, was one from a daughter for the +conversion of her father. It was presented in due course with the rest, +but no one at that moment knew the special circumstances of the case, +except the writer. On the following Friday I received another request +from the same woman; but now it was a request for praise, describing the +circumstances under which the prayer had been answered, and I read the +wonderful story to the congregation.</p> + +<p>It appeared that this girl's father was an avowed infidel who had not +been to any place of worship for many years, and he disliked the subject +of religion so intensely that he ultimately forbade his Christian +daughter in London to write to him, as she was continually bringing in +references to Christ. On the particular Tuesday evening in question, +that infidel father was on his way to a theatre in some provincial town, +more than a hundred miles from London. As he was walking to the +theatre,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> there was a sudden shower of rain which drove him for shelter +into the vestibule of a chapel where a week-night service was being +held. The preacher in the pulpit was a Boanerges, whose loud voice +penetrated into the lobby, and there was something in what he said that +attracted the attention of the infidel and induced him to enter the +chapel. He became more and more interested as the sermon proceeded, and +before its close he was deeply convinced of sin, and in true penitence +sought mercy from Jesus Christ. I need scarcely say to any one who knows +anything of the love of God, that this prayer was speedily answered, and +he went home rejoicing in divine forgiveness. The next day he wrote to +his daughter in London telling her that he had set out on the previous +evening intending to visit the theatre, but had actually found his way +into a chapel, where his sins had been forgiven and his heart changed. +He wrote at once to tell her the good news, and he assured her that he +would now be only too glad to hear from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> her as often as she could write +to him. These facts were communicated through me to the congregation, +and we all gave thanks to God.</p> + +<p>Of course it may be said that the conversion of this man, who had not +been into a place of worship for more than a dozen years, was a mere +accident, and that its coming at the very time we were praying for him +was a mere coincidence. But we need not quarrel about words. All we need +to establish is, that such delightful accidents and such blessed +coincidences are continually occurring in the experience of all real +Christians. I may add generally, that it is our custom to present +written requests for prayer and written requests for praise at the +devotional meetings of the West London Mission every Friday night. This +has now gone on without interruption for more than nine years, and I +scarcely remember a prayer-meeting at which we have not had some request +for praise on account of prayer answered.</p> + +<p>It may be argued, however, that all such cases are purely subjective, +and that they take place in the mysterious darkness and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> silence of the +human heart Let my next illustration, then, be of a much more tangible +character. Let it refer to pounds, shillings, and pence.</p> + +<p>Not long ago the West London Mission was greatly in want of money, as +has generally been its experience since it began. It would seem as +though God could not trust us with any margin. Perhaps if we had a +considerable balance in the bank we should put our trust in that, +instead of realising every moment our absolute dependence on God. Like +the Children of Israel in the Wilderness, we have had supplies of manna +just sufficient for immediate need. Always in want, always tempted to be +anxious, it has always happened at the last moment, when the case seemed +absolutely desperate, that help has been forthcoming, sometimes from the +most unexpected quarter. But a short time ago the situation appeared to +be unusually alarming, and I invited my principal colleague to meet me +near midnight—the only time when we could secure freedom from +interruption and rest from our own incessant work.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span>We spent some time, in the quietness of that late hour, imploring God to +send us one thousand pounds for His work by a particular day. In the +course of the meeting one of our number burst forth into rapturous +expressions of gratitude, as he was irresistibly convinced that our +prayer was heard and would be answered. I confess I did not share his +absolute confidence, and the absolute confidence of my wife and some +others. I believed with trembling. I am afraid I could say nothing more +than "Lord, I believe, help Thou my unbelief." The appointed day came. I +went to the meeting at which the sum total would be announced. It +appeared that in a very short time and in very extraordinary ways nine +hundred and ninety pounds had been sent to the West London Mission. I +confess that, as a theologian I was perplexed. We had asked for a +thousand pounds—there was a deficiency of ten. I could not understand +it. I went home, trying to explain the discrepancy. As I entered my +house and was engaged in taking off my hat and coat, I noticed a letter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> +on the table in the hall. I remembered that it had been lying there when +I went out, but I was in a great hurry and did not stop to open it. I +took it up, opened it, and discovered that it contained a cheque for ten +pounds for the West London Mission, bringing up the amount needed for +that day to the exact sum which we had named in our midnight +prayer-meeting. Of course this also may be described as a mere +coincidence, but all we want is coincidences of this sort. The name is +nothing, the fact is everything, and there have been many such facts.</p> + +<p>Let me give one other in reference to money, as this kind of +illustration will perhaps, more than any other, impress those who are +disposed to be cynical and to scoff. I was engaged in an effort to build +Sunday schools in the south of London. A benevolent friend promised a +hundred pounds if I could get nine hundred pounds more, within a week. I +did my utmost, and by desperate efforts, with the assistance of friends, +did get eight hundred pounds, but not one penny more. We reached +Saturday,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> and the terms of all the promises were that unless we +obtained a thousand pounds that week we could not proceed with the +building scheme, and the entire enterprise might have been postponed for +years, and, indeed, never accomplished on the large scale we desired. On +the Saturday morning one of my principal church officers called, and +said he had come upon an extraordinary business: that a Christian woman +in that neighbourhood whom I did not know, of whom I had never heard, +who had no connection whatever with my church, had that morning been +lying awake in bed, and an extraordinary impression had come in to her +that she was at once to give me one hundred pounds! She naturally +resisted so extraordinary an impression as a caprice or a delusion. But +it refused to leave her; it became stronger and stronger, until at last +she was deeply convinced that it was the will of God. What made it more +extraordinary was the fact that she had never before had, and would, in +all probability, never again have one hundred pounds at her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> disposal +for any such purpose. But that morning she sent me the money through my +friend, who produced it in the form of crisp Bank of England notes. From +that day to this I have no idea whatever who she was, as she wished to +conceal her name from me. Whether she is alive or in heaven I cannot +say; but what I do know is that this extraordinary answer to our prayers +secured the rest of the money, and led to the erection of one of the +finest schools in London, in which there are more than a thousand +scholars to-day.</p> + +<p>Let me give one other illustration in a different sphere. God has +answered our prayers again and again by saving those in whom we are +interested, and by sending us money. He has also answered prayer for +suitable agents to do His work.</p> + +<p>Twelve months ago I was sitting in my study at a very late hour; the +rest of the household had gone to bed. I was particularly conscious at +that time that I greatly needed a lay agent, who could help me in work +among the thousands of young<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> men from business houses who throng St. +James's Hall. Several of our staff who could render efficient service in +that direction were fully occupied in other parts of the Mission. I +prayed very earnestly to God, in my loneliness and helplessness; and +whilst I was praying, an assurance was given me that God had heard my +prayer. By the first post on the next morning I received a letter from a +man whom I had never met, requesting an interview. I saw him. It turned +out that he was a staff officer in the Salvation Army, and formerly a +Methodist; and that for two years he had been longing for a sphere of +work among young men. He had been himself in a Manchester business +house, and he was extremely anxious for work among young fellows in the +great business establishments. For various reasons a development of work +in that direction, although it commanded the sympathy of the heads of +the Salvation Army, could not be undertaken just then; and while he was +praying upon the subject, it seemed to him as though a definite voice<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> +said, "Offer yourself to Mr. Hugh Price Hughes." In obedience to that +voice he came, and he is with us now. He has already gathered round him +a large number of young men; and at our last Public Reception of new +members I received into the mission church forty-two young men of this +class, who had been brought to Christ, or to active association with His +Church, through the agency of the man whom God so promptly sent me in +the hour of my need.</p> + +<p>Nothing that I have said will in the least degree surprise earnest +Christians and Christian ministers. Such experiences as these are the +commonplace of real and active Christianity.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">IX</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">By the Rev.</span><br /> +<span class="big">J. CLIFFORD, M.A., D.D.</span></p> +<p> </p> + +<p class="cap">IMMEDIATELY after my acceptance of the pastorate of the church to which +I still minister, I arranged to continue and broaden my training by +attending Science Classes at University College, London. It was in the +year 1858. The day of science was in its brilliant and arresting dawn. +Professor Huxley had been lecturing on biology at the Royal School of +Mines for nearly four years, and his bold and masterly descriptions of +"Man's Place in Nature," given to working men, had stirred many<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> minds. +Darwin's "Origin of Species" appeared in the following year. The young +scientific spirit was daring and aggressive; and scientific methods, +though feared in most quarters, were demanding and winning confidence. I +was sure science was one of the formative forces of the future, and +therefore it seemed to me the teachers of Christianity of the next +half-century would do well to make themselves practically acquainted +with the methods pursued by scientific men, as well as conversant with +the results of scientific work.</p> + +<p>One of Huxley's maxims was "The man of science has learnt to believe in +justification by verification." Certainly! and why not? The Christian is +bidden by the teacher who ranks next to Jesus Christ, our one and only +Master, to "prove all things, and hold fast that which is good." Human +experience is always verifying truth and exposing falsehood. New forces +are set to work in the lives of men, and offer us their effects for +examination. New acts repeated lead to new habits, and new habits make a +new character.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> If the gardener inserts a "bud" in the branch of a +growing brier, and after a while beholds the beauty and inhales the +fragrance of the "Gloire de Dijon" rose; if the surgeon "operates" one +day, and a little while afterwards sees that the forces he has freed +from the disabilities of disease are moving forward on their healing +mission; so the Christian pastor may suggest a truth, inspire a new +habit, direct to a new attitude of spirit, secure an uplift of soul, and +afterwards trace the effect of these acts on the growth and development +of character, and on the quantity and quality of the service given to +the kingdom of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. +"Experiments" in the field of human nature yield as really verifiable +results as those that are given in the nursery of the gardener or the +laboratory of the chemist.</p> + +<p>But contact with scientific methods not only suggested that the +pastorate would afford abundant opportunities for verifying the features +and characteristics of the spirit of life in Jesus Christ, by a direct +appeal to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> facts in the manifold experiences of Christian men; it also +changed the point of view, so that, instead of giving the first place +amongst "answers to prayer" to detached and easily reported incidents, +that rank was assigned to experiences showing that prayer is one of the +chief of the unseen forces in character-building, in deepening humility, +in broadening sympathy, in preserving the heart tender and sensitive to +human suffering, in quickening aspiration, and giving the note of <i>soul</i> +to a man's work and influence.</p> + +<p>The materials sustaining that conclusion were abundant in the early +years of my ministry; notably in one case I can never forget. On the +first Sabbath evening of my ministry I was preaching on the words "Be ye +reconciled to God." Amongst the listeners was one who had entered the +house of prayer without any sense of alienation from God or hunger for +His revelation, and, as she afterwards confessed, merely to please her +sister. But "the Lord opened her heart to give heed to the things that +were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> spoken," so that she forthwith sought and found peace with God +through our Lord Jesus Christ.</p> + +<p>Nor did she only obtain peace. With Wordsworth she could say:</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 5em;">"I bent before Thy gracious throne</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;">And asked for peace with suppliant knee,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">And peace was given, nor peace alone,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;">But faith and hope and ecstasy."</span></p> + +<p>Faith and hope, ecstasy and prayer, were the outstanding features of her +new life. She had little time for special acts of Christian service, and +scant means wherewith to enrich the Church; but, according to the +witness of those who had known her longest, her character was clad in +entirely new charms, and her spirit was fired and filled with new +energies. She grew in experience of the grace and love of God, and +became at home with God in the deepest sense, and seemed rarely, if +ever, absent from her chosen dwelling-place. Her strongest feeling was +for God, all investing, all encircling; and with reverent freedom and +sweet security she lived and moved and had her being in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> communion with +the eternal Father. Prayer was not a task for specific occasions; it was +the breath of her life. It was not a wrestle or a struggle; it was an +uplifting of her being into a fellowship with God. It did not shrivel +into a litany of petitions; it was sustained aspiration; and aspiration +is a large part of achievement; it was deepest satisfaction with God, +and His will and His work: and such satisfaction is itself a source of +patient strength and a preparation for victory.</p> + +<p>Nor was the effect limited. Her nature received a refinement, an +elevation, a beauty that triumphed over the physical features, and shone +out with a glory that is not seen on sea or shore. The expression of her +face seemed to be from God. A transfiguring radiance came from within as +she thought on the wonders and delighted in the treasures of the gospel +of God. Hers was a noble life. Like Martha, she was engaged in "much +serving;" but yet was never cumbered and worn with it, because, like +Mary, she sat daily at the Master's feet,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> and listened to His words, +and received His sustaining strength. She was as sweetly unselfish as +the flowers, and gave herself and her "all" to Christ, like the widow of +the gospels. Meekness and humility clothed her with their loveliest +robes. I never knew a purer spirit. She always breathed the softness and +gentleness of the Saviour, and yet I have seen her weak body quiver and +throb with its anguish of desire for the salvation of the lost. Faithful +unto death, she realised the support and joy of the Christian's hope, +and gently as leaves are shed by the flower that has finished its +course, she fell into the arms of Jesus; and as Deborah, Rebekah's +nurse, was buried under the "oak of weeping" amid affectionate regrets +and sweet memories, so this Christian servant was laid in the grave with +tears of real sorrow from those whom she had served so faithfully and +long, as well as from friends who had been gladdened and fortified in +the faith of Christ by her sweet, earnest, and beautiful Christian life. +That day is now far off, but the influence of her prayer-filled life +still feeds faith<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> in God as the Hearer and the Answerer of Prayer.</p> + +<p>About the same time and in the same spiritual laboratory I was called to +observe the following processes. A woman, the wife of a blacksmith, was +led by the gospel of Christ into the joy of salvation. Her experience of +the grace of God in Christ was vivid and full. She knew little of doubt +concerning herself, but she was full of solicitude for her husband and +children; for she had a very heavy burden to carry, and her heart was +sore stricken. Her husband was a drunkard. When sober he was true, +devoted, and loving; but when he fell into intemperance he became hard, +harsh, and even violent. But never did the brave and trustful wife cease +to hope or cease to pray. In the darkest hours she begged for the +conversion of her husband, and felt sure that God would respond to her +supplications. That was her habitual mood, her supreme desire, her +living prayer; and I could see that this very disposition developed her +saintliness, deepened her affection for her husband,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> and gave increased +beauty to her family life, as well as added to her usefulness in the +Church.</p> + +<p>One day, in the course of my pastoral visits, I called at the +blacksmith's home. Scarcely was the threshold crossed when the husband +rushed in, wild, angry, and violent, the prey of intoxicants. But before +he had proceeded far the wife approached him, flung her arms around him, +called him by name, and said: "Ah, God will give you to me yet." Saint +Ambrose told Monica, when she went to him, sad and desponding about her +son, "God would not forget the prayers of such a mother," and Augustine +came, though late in his young manhood, into the kingdom and patience of +Jesus Christ. So I felt the earnest pleadings of this true wife and +mother would not be forgotten of God, but that, according to her own +beautiful saying, God would "give her husband to her;" for she did not +think he was completely hers whilst he was under the dominion of +intoxicants,—give him to her freed from that depraving and desolating<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> +slavery. And it was so. For he, too, became a Christian, and they +together effectively served their generation according to the will of +God, "turning men from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan +unto God."</p> + +<p>There recurs to me the image of a visitor who called one Sunday evening +in 1862, and who wished to know what he was to do in order to control +and suppress an ungovernable temper. For years it had tortured him past +all bearing, and, what was worse, for years it had been a source of pain +and discomfort in his home. When his anger was kindled he was by his own +confession a terror to wife and children, and, seeing that he had +recently become a Christian, he felt acutely the stain such actions +fixed on garments that should have been unspotted by the world. "What +must I do? I can't go on in this way, and yet though I feel it is wrong +I can't help myself."</p> + +<p>The first suggestion I ventured was based on the regard he had expressed +for his pastor. "What would be the effect," said I,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> "on you, if I were +to appear at the moment the storm was about to burst? Think!"</p> + +<p>He thought, and then said, "It wouldn't burst I should stop it."</p> + +<p>"Well, then, try this plan. Force yourself at the moment of peril into +the conscious presence of God, and say, as you feel the uprising +passion, 'O God, make me master of myself.' Pray that prayer; and pray, +morning by morning, that you may so pray in your time of need; and in +due season you will obtain the perfect mastery of yourself you seek." He +promised. I watched. He prayed. He conquered; once, twice, thrice, and +then failed; but he renewed the attempt, and triumphed again, and years +afterwards I knew him as one of the most serene of men; and when he +died, no phase of his character stood out more distinctively than his +perfect self-control, and no fact in his life was remembered with deeper +gratitude by his bereaved wife than that memorable victory won by prayer +in the early days of his discipleship to the Lord Jesus.</p> + +<p>From the beginning of my ministry I have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> made it my business to offer +advice and aid to young men and maidens assailed with doubts and fears +concerning the revelation of God in Christ, hindered at the outset by +misconceptions of the "way of salvation," and perplexed by confused and +contradictory teaching. Hundreds of young men (and within the last ten +years especially, many young women) have described to me their +difficulties as they have reached the stage described by Roscoe in the +words, "There are times when faith is weak and the heart yearns for +knowledge."</p> + +<p>Here is a "case" chosen from a large number of similar facts. A young +man came to tell me the somewhat familiar story, that the first fervours +of his religious life had cooled down, his early raptures were gone, and +the sense of peace and bounding freedom, and of all-sufficing strength +in God, had departed with them. The certainties of the opening months or +years of the Christian pilgrimage had given place to torturing +questions, such as, "Am I not deceived? After all, is Christianity true? +What are its real<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> contents? What is inspiration? Did miracles happen?" +etc., etc. Week after week we reasoned and argued, and months passed in +a struggle whose usefulness no one could register, and whose issue no +one could forecast.</p> + +<p>But it "happened," as these conversations were going on, that he was +"drawn" into what I may call a "prayer circle," privately carried on by +a small group of young men who were not unacquainted with such conflicts +as those which then engaged his powers. He joined it, and by-and-by felt +its influence. He was lifted into another atmosphere, and breathed a +clearer, sunnier air. His misgivings were slowly displaced by missionary +enthusiasm, and his fears by a stronger faith; and yet he had not solved +the problems suggested by the person of Christ, or found the secret of +the Incarnation, or explained the mystery of the Atonement. But he had +been led to set the full force of his nature on communion with God; and +prayer had quickened the sense for spiritual realities, for the +recognition<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> of the infinite value of the human soul, and for the wonder +and splendour of God's salvation. In that realm of prayer, character was +altered, the aim of life was altered, the will had a new goal, and so +the questions of the intellect fell into their true place in reference +to the whole of the questions of life. Emerson writes, "When all is said +and done, the rapt saint is found the only logician." It is he who +thinks the most sanely and dwells nearest the central truths of life and +being. It is he who becomes serenely acquiescent in the agnosticism of +the Bible, and realises that revelation must contain many things past +finding out, whilst the Spirit, who is the revealer, gives us the best +assurances of the certitude and clearness of what it is most important +for us to know.</p> + +<p>So often have I seen this rest-giving effect on the intellect, of the +lifting of the life into communion with God, that I cannot hesitate to +regard it as a law of the life of man, and yet I must add that I do not +think it wise to meet those who ask our aid in the treatment<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> of their +mental perplexities merely, or at <i>first</i>, with the counsel to pray. +Most likely they will misunderstand it, and it will become to them a +stone of stumbling and a rock of offence. We had better, if we are able, +meet them first on their own ground, that of the intellect, and meet +them with frankness and sympathy, with knowledge and tact; and yet seek +by the spirit we breathe, and the associations into which we introduce +them, to raise them where the Saviour's beatitude shall become an +experience: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."</p> + +<p>Prayer has often proved itself an infallible recipe for dejection. A man +of culture and wealth was for a long time pursued by what seemed to him +an intolerable and invariable melancholy. He sought relief near and far, +and sought in vain. He became a source of anxiety to his friends. He +went away to Bellagio, goaded by the same restlessness, but its lovely +surroundings did not heal, its soft airs did not soothe. No! All was +dark and repellent. Even prayer seemed of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> no use. God had forgotten +him. He was cast off as reprobate. His soul was disquieted within him. +The burden of his misery was more than he could carry. He threatened to +take away his life. But in his despair he still clung to his God; and at +last, as in this desperate, and yet not altogether hopeless or +prayerless mood, he read a sermon on "Elijah as a brave prophet tired of +life;" hope was reborn and joy restored, and as Bunyan's pilgrim lost +his burden at the cross, so this Elijah escaped from his tormentors, and +came forth and dwelt in the light of God's countenance. It was the +prayer of a weak and struggling faith; but God did not turn it away, nor +reject the voice of his supplication.</p> + +<p>What abundant witness that</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 7em;">"More things are wrought by prayer</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">Than this world dreams of"</span></p> + +<p>could be supplied by pastors and elders who have visited the widow and +the fatherless, the sick and suffering in their afflictions. One picture +comes to me from the crowded past, of a strong and victorious, though<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> +much enduring saint. Crippled by disease, she did not rise from her bed +unaided for more than seven years. She was always in pain, sometimes +heavy and dull, but not infrequently keen and sharp. Yet through all +these years, she not only did not complain, but she had such an overflow +of quiet cheerfulness and of deep interest in life that she distributed +her gladness to others and made them partakers of her serenity. You +could not detain her in talk about herself, her ailments, her broken +plans, her manifold disappointments. No! she would compel you to talk of +the Church, its schools, its missions, its various activities; of +societies and movements for getting rid of social evils, such as +intemperance and impurity. Sometimes the theme was last Sunday's +sermons, or those in preparation for the next; but rarely herself. There +she lay with a patience that was never ruffled, a serenity rarely if +ever disturbed, a forgetfulness of self bright and fresh, a solicitude +for others deep and full, and a fellowship with God not only unbroken,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> +but so inspiring as to make the sick-room a sanctuary radiant with His +presence. Prayer led her to the fountains of divine joy, daily she drank +and was refreshed.</p> + +<p>So I set down a few tested, verified facts from the early part of a +ministry of over thirty-eight years; facts chosen from amongst many, and +in substance repeated again and again during recent, but not yet +reportable years.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">X</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">By the Very Rev.<br /> +<span class="big">G. D. BOYLE, M.A.</span><br /> +Dean of Salisbury</span></p> + +<p> </p> +<p class="cap">"WHAT was it that struck you most in that sermon on the character of St. +Paul?" said Bishop Patteson to a friend at Oxford, who had been with him +listening to a sermon preached before the University by a very +remarkable man, who has now passed away. "Those two sentences," said his +friend, "in which he said there were two great powers in the world, the +power of personal religion, and the power of prayer." When I told this +many years afterwards to one of the best parish priests I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> have ever +known, he gave me, from his own experience, some instances of answers to +prayer which are certainly worth reading.</p> + +<p>Shortly after he had entered Holy Orders, he joined a clerical society. +He was greatly pleased with three of the younger members, but thought +from their conversation after the meeting that they were too fond of +amusements. As he walked home he spoke of this to an elderly clergyman, +who said, "Let you and me make for them special prayer, that they may +take a more serious view of their calling." Some time afterwards my +friend happened to see one of these three brother clergymen at a time of +great sorrow. He told him that he had resolved to give up certain +amusements, which he thought at one time harmless. Some time afterwards +the other two openly declared that they had taken a similar course, and +my friend did not scruple to avow his belief that the after lives of +these three men, all of high family, and all remarkable for their zeal +as clergymen, was a direct answer to special intercession.</p> + +<p>He told me of a still more striking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> instance. Two men, who had been +friends at college, met after many years abroad. The one said to the +other, "When you were at Oxford, you told me you were very indifferent +as to religion, so I suppose you will not go with me this morning to the +English service." "But I certainly will," said his friend. "I have given +up all that sort of thing; I left off praying for years, in the belief +that as God knows everything it was needless to pray, but an impulse +came upon me after hearing Baron Parke's account of a sermon he heard +Shergold Boone preach, and I am now a communicant." "Then, dear——," +said his friend, "I think my prayer is answered, for I have never ceased +since Oxford days to ask that you might have the happiness I enjoy."</p> + +<p>These two are surely remarkable instances of answers to special prayer +for spiritual benefit.</p> + +<p>What shall be said of the faithful man who, through his own effort, +maintained a small but efficient orphanage? From no fault of his own his +supplies ceased. There came<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> into his mind some words of Edward Irving's +about the Fatherhood of God. He made a special petition for the relief +of his poor children. On his return home he found a letter containing a +request that the future welfare of his home should be ensured by a +permanent endowment.</p> + +<p>"How could you keep your temper through all the vexatious dispute of +to-night's debate?" was the question asked of Lord Althorpe by his most +intimate friend, after a fierce discussion on the Reform Bill. "I always +ask for strength before going to the House," was the answer; "and to-day +I asked for special strength, for I knew that party spirit ran high."</p> + +<p>Many years ago I worked as a curate in the district which had seen the +first labours of the excellent Bishop of Wakefield, whose sudden removal +from active work will long be deeply mourned by the Church of England. +When he left Kidderminster for a country parish, he gave a New Testament +to a young man who had at one time promised well, but who fell into bad +company.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> "I shall make you the subject of special prayer," said the Bishop, on +wishing him good-bye. Some years afterwards I told the Bishop that his +advice had not been thrown away, and his words were, "I humbly hope my +prayer was heard."</p> + +<p>Bishop Mackenzie told a friend of mine that he had asked for some change +in the life of two favourite pupils at Cambridge. They were not in the +habit of going to University sermons, but they went to hear one of +Bishop Selwyn's famous series in 1854. One of them became an eminent +clergyman, and the other died a missionary in India.</p> + +<p>One more instance will suffice. An attack upon the divinity of Christ +was published some years ago by one who had been trained in a very +different way. His former tutor, who had a very great love for him, +asked a few friends not to forget him. As the tutor was dying, he had +the satisfaction of hearing that the man he had known and loved from +childhood had returned to the faith of a child.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span>I believe that all who have had considerable experience in parochial +work could give many instances of special answers to prayer. In recent +years many have come forward to offer themselves for labor at home and +abroad. The present occupation of many minds with the difficulties of +belief, the revelations made by earnest thinkers like Romanes, the +questions raised in such lives as the late Master of Balliol's, the +earnest longings for some reconciliation between the men of science and +the men of faith, may all surely be accepted as in some degree answers +to the prayers and aspirations of all who hope that in the Church of the +future there may be found a simple faith, an enduring charity, and a +belief in the unchangeable strength of an unchangeable Saviour.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">A word to the reader.</span></p> + + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/121a.png" alt="" /></div> + +<p>Do you know what "Sabbath Reading" is? It is a 16-page weekly paper, +devoted exclusively to the best class of religious matter. No word of +Secular News, Politics, Sectarianism, or wearying disputations on the +"letter" which killeth, but much of the best teaching on the "spirit" +which giveth life.</p> + +<p>A special feature consists of brief talks on meditative and devotional +themes for the family and the fireside. These talks are contributed by +Dr. <span class="smcap">Theo. L. Cuyler</span>, D.D., Rev. <span class="smcap">Newman Hall</span>, D.D., Rev. <span class="smcap">J. R. Miller</span>, +D.D., Rev. <span class="smcap">W. Garden Blaikie</span>, D.D., <span class="smcap">Mary Lowe Dickenson</span>, Bishop <span class="smcap">E. R. +Hendrix</span>, Count <span class="smcap">A. Bernstorf</span>, Rt. Rev. <span class="smcap">Fred. D. Huntington</span>, D.D., <span class="smcap">George +Dana Boardman</span>, D.D., <span class="smcap">Louis Albert Banks</span>, D.D., Bishop <span class="smcap">Henry W. Warren</span>, +Rev. <span class="smcap">Wayland Hoyt</span>, D.D. It has an exposition of the current +Sabbath-School Lesson, of the Christian Endeavor Topic, and of the +Epworth League Topic; Choice Poetry; Good Stories; Missionary News and +Views; <i>no essays</i>. <span class="smcap">Its subscription price is only fifty cents a year.</span></p> + +<p><i>A sample copy cheerfully sent free.</i></p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/121a.png" alt="" /></div> + +<p class="center"><span class="big">JOHN DOUGALL & CO.,</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">150 Nassau Street, New York.</span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">Transcriber's Notes:</span></p> +<p> </p> + +<p>Obvious typographical errors have been corrected as follows:<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Page 86: <i>liliputian</i> changed to <i>lilliputian</i></span></p> + +<p>Errors in punctuation have been corrected without note.</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of In Answer to Prayer, by +W. 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Boyd Carpenter and Theodore L. Cuyler and John Watson and Knox Little and William Quarrier + +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: In Answer to Prayer + The Touch of the Unseen + +Author: W. Boyd Carpenter + Theodore L. Cuyler + John Watson + Knox Little + William Quarrier + +Release Date: September 21, 2011 [EBook #37501] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN ANSWER TO PRAYER *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, David E. Brown and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + In Answer to Prayer + + By + + THE RIGHT REV. THE BISHOP OF + RIPON, THE REV. DR. CUYLER, + THE REV. DR. JOHN WATSON + ("IAN MACLAREN"), THE REV. + CANON KNOX LITTLE, MR. + WILLIAM QUARRIER, MR. L. K. + SHAW, THE REV. DR. HORTON, + THE REV. H. PRICE HUGHES, THE + REV. DR. CLIFFORD, AND + THE DEAN OF SALISBURY + + NEW YORK + + DODD, MEAD & COMPANY + + 1899 + + + + +_PREFATORY NOTE_ + + +_The following pages were originally written for the SUNDAY MAGAZINE. +In their present form it is hoped that they will reach another and not +less appreciative public._ + +_Although Dr. Watson's contribution is of a character quite distinct +from the other papers, it treats of a phase of religious experience so +closely allied to that of answered prayer that it seems in the present +collection to serve as a stage of transition from the sphere of the +unseen and spiritual to that of the visible and tangible._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + +IN ANSWER TO PRAYER + + PAGE + + By the Right Rev. W. BOYD CARPENTER, Lord Bishop of Ripon 11 + + By the Rev. THEODORE L. CUYLER, D.D., of New York 19 + + By the Rev. JOHN WATSON, M.A., D.D. ("Ian Maclaren") 27 + + By the Rev. Canon KNOX LITTLE, M.A. 39 + + By Mr. WILLIAM QUARRIER, of Glasgow 49 + + By Mr. LEONARD K. SHAW, of Manchester 67 + + By the Rev. R. F. HORTON, M.A., D.D. 75 + + By the Rev. H. PRICE HUGHES, M.A. 89 + + By the Rev. J. CLIFFORD, M.A., D.D. 101 + + By the Very Rev. G. D. BOYLE, M.A., Dean of Salisbury 119 + + + + +I + +BY THE RIGHT REV. +W. BOYD CARPENTER, D.D. +LORD BISHOP OF RIPON + + +I have been asked to write some thoughts on answers to prayer. I am +afraid that I cannot give from personal experience vivid and striking +anecdotes such as others have chronicled. God does not deal with all +alike, either in His gifts of faith or in those of experience. We differ +also in the use we make of His gifts. But if I mistake not the object of +these papers is not merely to gather together an array of startling +experiences, but rather to unite in conference on the great subject of +prayer and the answers to prayer. + +No doubt every Christian spirit holds within his memory many cherished +experiences of God's dealings with him, and these must touch the +question of prayer. But the greater part of these experiences belong to +that sanctuary life of the soul which, rightly or wrongly, we keep +veiled from the world. There are some matters which would lose their +charm if they were made public property. There is a reticence which is +of faith, just as there may be a reticence which is of cowardice or +unfaith. But like the little home treasures, which we only open to look +upon when we are alone, so are some of the secret treasures of inward +experiences. Nevertheless, none of us can have lived and thought without +meeting with a sort of general confirmation or otherwise of the efficacy +of prayer; and though I cannot chronicle positive and striking examples, +I can say what I have known. + +I have known men of a naturally timid and sensitive disposition who have +grown at moments lion-like in courage, and they would tell you that +courage came to them in prayer. I have known one man, who found himself +face to face with a duty which was unexpected and from which he shrank +with all his soul. I have known that such a one has prayed that the duty +might not be pressed upon him, and yet that, if it were, he might be +given strength to fulfil it. The duty still confronted him. In trembling +and in much dismay he undertook it; and when the hour came, it found him +calm and equable in spirit, neither dismayed nor demoralised by fears. +Such a one might not tell of great outward answers to prayer; but inward +answers are not less real. At any rate, the Psalmist chronicled an +answer such as this when he wrote: "In the day when I cried Thou +answeredst me and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul" (Psalm +cxxxviii. 3). + +There is, further, a paradox of Christian experience which may be noted. +The soul which waits upon God finds out sooner or later that the prayers +which seem to be unanswered are those which may be most truly answered. +For what is the answer to prayer which the praying heart looks for? +There is no true prayer without the proviso--Nevertheless not what I +will, but what Thou wilt. In other words, there is no true prayer +without reliance upon the greater wisdom and greater love of Him to whom +we pray. Thus it is that God's answer may not be the answer as we looked +for it. We form our expectations: they take shape from our poor little +limited surroundings; but the prayer in its spirit may be wider than we +imagine. To answer it according to our expectations might be not to +answer it truly. To answer it according to our real meaning--_i.e._, +according to our spiritual desire--must be the true answer to prayer. + +One illustration will suffice. A man, pressed by difficulty and +straitness, may pray that he may be moved to some place of greater +freedom and ease. He thinks that he ought to move elsewhere. He prays +for guidance and the openings of God's providence. In a short time a +vacant post presents itself: he applies for it, it is just the thing he +wished for. He continues his prayers. The post is given to another. His +prayers have not been answered: such is his conclusion; but is not the +answer really--"Not yet--not yet--wait awhile. My grace is sufficient +for thee"? He waits; he leaves his life in God's hands. After an +interval another opening occurs, and almost without an effort he is +moved to the vacant place. It is this time, perhaps, not the kind of +place he thought of; it is less interesting, it is more onerous, it +fills him with fear as he undertakes its duties. He has prayed, but the +answer came not as he wished or thought or hoped. The years go by. He +looks back from the vantage-ground of distance. He can measure his life +in better proportions. He sees now that the movements of his life have a +deep meaning. He perceives that to have gone where he wished to have +gone, and even where he prayed to be placed, would have been to miss +some of the best experiences and highest trainings of this life. He +begins to realise that there is not a spot which he has visited, not a +place where he has toiled, which has not brought to him lessons that +have been most helpful, nay, even needful, in his later life. He sees +that God has sent him here or there to fit him for work which, unknown +and unexpected in his earlier days, the future was to bring. + +The least-answered prayer may be the most-answered. It is the +realisation that experiences fit us for the duties of later life which +yields to us the assurance that in the deepest sense our seemingly +disregarded prayers have been most abundantly remembered before God. +Thus, indeed, we can enter into the spirit of familiar words and +acknowledge concerning each prayer that it is + + "Goodness still, + Which grants it or denies." + +And so it may come to pass in later life that our specific petitions for +this or that thing may grow fewer. We may realise more and more our own +ignorance in asking. We may rely more and more on the divine wisdom in +giving. Even in the case of others we may recognise the unwisdom of +asking many things on their behalf. Our love would tenderly shield them +from rough winds and bitter hours. We pray that the divine love would +spare them dark days; and yet, are the prayers well prayed? Does God not +lead souls through darkness into light? Is not the Valley of the Shadow +the precursor of the table of love which God spreads? Can the head be +anointed with God's kingly oil which has not been bowed down in the +darkness? Ah! how little we know! how short-sighted we are! And how +great and full and strong God's love is! And, this being so, may not +experience bring us larger trust and lesser prayers--not less, indeed, +in intensity, not less in the wrestling of spirit; not less in the +striving to reach nearer to God's will, but less in the number and +specific character of our petitions? To put it another way--the +petitions are fewer because the prayer is deeper and truer. + + "Not my weak longings, Lord, fulfil, + But rather do Thy perfect will, + For I am blind and wish for things + Which granted bring heart-festerings. + Let me but know that I am blind, + Let me but trust Thee wondrous kind." + + + + +II + +BY THE REV. +THEODORE L. CUYLER, D.D. +OF NEW YORK + + +All of God's mighty men and women have been mighty in prayer. When +Martin Luther was in the mid-valley of his conflict with the man of sin +he used to say that he could not get on without three hours a day in +prayer. Charles G. Finney's grip on God gave him a tremendous grip on +sinners' hearts. The greatest preacher of our times--Spurgeon--had +pre-eminently the "gift of the knees;" the last prayer I ever heard him +utter (at his own family worship) was one of the most wonderful that I +ever listened to; it revealed the hiding of his power. Abraham Lincoln +once said: "I have been driven many times to my knees by the +overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go; my own wisdom and +that of all around me seemed insufficient for the day." + +But what is prayer? Has every prayer power with God? Let us endeavour to +get some clear ideas on that point. Some people seem to regard prayer as +the rehearsal of a set form of solemn words, learned largely from the +Bible or a liturgy; and when uttered they are only from the throat +outward. Genuine prayer is a believing soul's _direct converse with_ +God. Phillips Brooks has condensed it into four words--a "true wish sent +Godward." By it, adoration, thanksgiving, confession of sin, and +petition for mercies and gifts ascend to the throne, and by means of it +infinite blessings are brought down from heaven. The pull of our prayer +may not move the everlasting throne, but--like the pull on a line from +the bow of a boat--it may draw us into closer fellowship with God, and +fuller harmony with His wise and holy will. + +1. This is the first characteristic of the prayer that has power: +"Delight thyself in the Lord and He shall give thee the desires of thy +heart." A great many prayers are born of selfishness and are too much +like dictation or command. None of God's promises are unconditional; and +we have no such assets to our credit that we have a right to draw our +cheques and demand that God shall pay them. The indispensable quality of +all right asking is a _right spirit toward our heavenly Father_. When a +soul feels such an entire submissiveness towards God that it delights in +seeing Him reign, and His glory advanced, it may fearlessly pour out its +desires; for then the desires of God and the desires of that sincere +submissive soul will _agree_. God loves to give to them who love to let +Him have His way; they find their happiness in the chime of their own +desires with the will of God. + +James and John once came to Jesus and made to Him the amazing request +that He would place one of them on His right hand and the other on His +left hand when He set up His imperial government at Jerusalem! As long +as these self-seeking disciples sought only their own glory, Christ +could not give them the askings of their ambitious hearts. By-and-by, +when their hearts had been renewed by the Holy Spirit, and they had +become so consecrated to Christ that they were in complete chime with +Him, they were not afraid to pour out their deepest desires. James +declares that, if we do not "ask _amiss_," God will "give liberally." +John declares that "whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we +keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His +sight." Just as soon as those two Christians found their supreme +happiness in Christ and His cause they received the desires of their +hearts. + +2. The second trait of prevailing prayer is that it aims at a mark, and +knows what it is after. When we enter a store or shop we ask the +salesman to hand us the particular article we want. There is an +enormous amount of pointless, prayerless praying done in our devotional +meetings; it begins with nothing and ends nowhere. The model prayers +mentioned in the Bible were short and right to the mark. "God be +merciful to me a sinner!" "Lord, save me!" cries sinking Peter. "Come +down, ere my child die!" exclaims the heart-stricken nobleman. Old +Rowland Hill used to say, "I like short, ejaculatory prayer; it reaches +heaven before the devil can get a shot at it." + +3. In the next place, the prayer that has power with God must be a +_prepaid_ prayer. If we expect a letter to reach its destination we put +a stamp on it; otherwise it goes to the Dead-letter Office. There is +what may be called a Dead-prayer Office, and thousands of well-worded +petitions get buried up there. All of God's promises have their +conditions; we must comply with those conditions, or we cannot expect +the blessings coupled with the promises. No farmer is such an idiot as +to look for a crop of wheat unless he has ploughed and sowed his fields. +In prayer, we must first be sure that we are doing our part if we +expect God to do His part. There is a legitimate sense in which every +Christian should do his utmost for the answering of his own prayers. +When a certain venerable minister was called on to pray in a missionary +convention he first fumbled in his pocket, and when he had tossed the +coin into the plate he said, "I cannot pray until I have given +something." He prepaid his prayer. For the Churches in these days to +pray, "Thy kingdom come," and then spend more money on jewellery and +cigars than in the enterprise of Foreign Missions, looks almost like a +solemn farce. God has no blessings for stingy pockets. When I hear +requests for prayer for the conversion of a son or daughter, I say to +myself, How much is that parent doing to win that child for Christ? The +godly wife who makes her daily life attractive to her husband has a +right to ask God for the conversion of that husband; she is co-operating +with the Holy Spirit, and prepaying her heart's request. God never +defaults; but He requires that we prove our faith by our works, and that +we never ask for a blessing that we are not ready to labour for, and to +make any sacrifice to secure the blessing which our souls desire. + +4. Another essential of the prayer that has power with God is that it be +the prayer of faith, and be offered in the name of Jesus Christ. +"Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may +be glorified in the Son." The chief "wrestling" that we are to do is not +with any reluctance on God's part; it is with the obstacles which sin +and unbelief put in our pathway. What God orders we must submit to +uncomplainingly; but we must never submit to what God can better. Never +submit to be blocked in any pious purpose or holy undertaking if, with +God's help, you can roll the blocks out of your pathway. The faith that +works while it prays commonly conquers; for such faith creates such a +condition of things that our heavenly Father can wisely hear and help +us. Oh, what a magnificent epic the triumphs of striving, toiling, +victorious faith make! The firmament of Bible story blazes with answers +to prayer, from the days when Elijah unlocked the heavens on to the days +when the petitions in the house of John Mark unlocked the dungeon, and +brought liberated Peter into their presence. The whole field of +providential history is covered with answered prayers as thickly as +bright-eyed daisies cover our Western prairies. Find thy happiness in +pleasing God, and sooner or later He will surely grant thee the desires +of thy heart. + + + + +III + +BY THE REV. +JOHN WATSON, M.A., D.D. +("IAN MACLAREN") + + +During the course of my ministry, and especially of recent years, I have +been moved to certain actions for which there seemed no reason, and +which I only performed under the influence of a sudden impulse. As often +as I yielded to this inward guidance, and before the issue was +determined, my mind had a sense of relief and satisfaction, and in all +distinct and important cases my course was in the end most fully +justified. With the afterlook one is most thankful that on certain +occasions he was not disobedient to the touch of the unseen, and only +bitterly regrets that on other occasions he was callous and wilful or +was overcome by shame and timidity. What seem just and temperate +inferences from such experiences will be indicated after they have been +described, and it only remains for me to assure my readers that they are +selected from carefully treasured memories, and will be given in as full +and accurate detail as may be possible in circumstances which involve +other people and one's own private life. + +It was my privilege, before I came to Sefton Park Church, to serve as +colleague with a venerable minister to whom I was sincerely attached and +who showed me much kindness. We both felt the separation keenly and kept +up a constant correspondence, while this good and affectionate man +followed my work with spiritual interest and constant prayer. When news +came one day that he was dangerously ill it was natural that his friend +should be gravely concerned, and as the days of anxiety grew, that the +matter should take firm hold of the mind. It was a great relief to +learn, towards the end of a week, that the sickness had abated, and +when, on Sunday morning, a letter came with strong and final assurance +of recovery the strain was quite relaxed, and I did my duty at morning +service with a light heart. During the afternoon my satisfaction began +to fail, and I grew uneasy till, by evening service, the letter of the +morning counted for nothing. + +After returning home my mind was torn with anxiety and became most +miserable, fearing that this good man was still in danger and, it might +be, near unto death. Gradually the conviction deepened and took hold of +me that he was dying and that I would never see him again, till at last +it was laid on me that if I hoped to receive his blessing I must make +haste, and by-and-by that I had better go at once. It did not seem as if +I had now any choice, and I certainly had no longer any doubt; so, +having written to break two engagements for Monday, I left at midnight +for Glasgow. As I whirled through the darkness it certainly did occur +to me that I had done an unusual thing, for here was a fairly busy man +leaving his work and going a long night's journey to visit a sick +friend, of whose well-being he had been assured on good authority. By +every evidence which could tell on another person he was acting +foolishly, and yet he was obeying an almost irresistible impulse. + +The day broke as we climbed the ascent beyond Moffat, and I was now only +concerned lest time should be lost on the way. On arrival I drove +rapidly to the well-known house, and was in no way astonished that the +servant who opened the door should be weeping bitterly, for the fact +that word had come from that very house that all was going well did not +now weigh one grain against my own inward knowledge. + +"He had a relapse yesterday afternoon, and he is ... dying now." No one +in the room seemed surprised that I should have come, although they had +not sent for me, and I held my reverend father's hand till he fell +asleep in about twenty minutes. He was beyond speech when I came, but, +as we believed, recognised me and was content. My night's journey was a +pious act, for which I thanked God, and my absolute conviction is that I +was guided to its performance by spiritual influence. + +Some years ago I was at work one forenoon in my study, and very busy, +when my mind became distracted and I could not think out my sermon. It +was as if a side stream had rushed into a river, confusing and +discolouring the water; and at last, when the confusion was over and the +water was clear, I was conscious of a new subject. Some short time +before, a brother minister, whom I knew well and greatly respected, had +suffered from dissension in his congregation and had received our +sincere sympathy. He had not, however, been in my mind that day, but now +I found myself unable to think of anything else. My imagination began to +work in the case till I seemed, in the midst of the circumstances, as if +I were the sufferer. Very soon a suggestion arose and grew into a +commandment, that I should offer to take a day's duty for my brother. +At this point I pulled myself together and resisted what seemed a +vagrant notion. "Was such a thing ever heard of,--that for no reason +save a vague sympathy one should leave one's own pulpit and undertake +the work of another, who had not asked him and might not want him?" So I +turned to my manuscript to complete a broken sentence, but could only +write "Dear A. B." Nothing remained but to submit to this mysterious +dictation and compose a letter as best one could, till the question of +date arose. There I paused and waited, when an exact day came up before +my mind, and so I concluded the letter. It was, however, too absurd to +send; and so, having rid myself of this irrelevancy, I threw the letter +into the fire and set to work again; but all day I was haunted by the +idea that my brother needed my help. In the evening a letter came from +him, written that very forenoon, explaining that it would be a great +service to him and his people if I could preach some Sunday soon in his +church, and that, owing to certain circumstances, the service would be +doubled if I could come on such and such a day; and it was my date! My +course was perfectly plain, and I at once accepted his invitation under +a distinct sense of a special call, and my only regret was that I had +not posted my first letter. + +One afternoon, to take my third instance, I made up my list of sick +visits and started to overtake them. After completing the first, and +while going along a main road, I felt a strong impulse to turn down a +side street and call on a family living in it. The impulse grew so +urgent that it could not be resisted, and I rang the bell, considering +on the doorstep what reason I should give for an unexpected call. When +the door opened it turned out that strangers now occupied the house, and +that my family had gone to another address, which was in the same street +but could not be given. This was enough, it might appear, to turn me +from aimless visiting, but still the pressure continued as if a hand +were drawing me, and I set out to discover their new house, till I had +disturbed four families with vain inquiries. Then the remembrance of my +unmade and imperative calls came upon me, and I abandoned my fruitless +quest with some sense of shame. Had a busy clergyman not enough to do +without such a wild-goose chase?--and one grudged the time one had lost. + +Next morning the head of that household I had yesterday sought in vain +came into my study with such evident sorrow on his face that one +hastened to meet him with anxious inquiries. "Yes, we are in great +trouble; yesterday our little one (a young baby) took very ill and died +in the afternoon. My wife was utterly overcome by the shock and we would +have sent for you at the time but had no messenger. I wish you had been +there--if you had only known!" + +"And the time?" + +"About half-past three." + +So I had known, but had been too impatient. + +Many other cases have occurred when it has been laid on me to call at a +certain house, where there seemed so little reason that I used to invent +excuses, and where I found some one especially needing advice or +comfort; or I called and had not courage to lead up to the matter, so +that the call was of no avail, and afterwards some one has asked whether +I knew, for she had waited for a word. Nor do I remember any case where, +being inwardly moved to go after this fashion, it appeared in the end +that I had been befooled. And so, having stated these facts out of many, +I offer three inferences. + +(1) That people may live in an atmosphere of sympathy which will be a +communicating medium. When some one appears to read another's thoughts, +as we have all seen done at public exhibitions, it was evidently by +physical signs, and it served no good purpose. It was a mechanical gift +and was used for an amusement. _This_ is knowledge of another kind, +whose conditions are spiritual and whose ends are ethical. Between you +and the person there must be some common feeling; it rises to a height +in the hour of trouble; and its call is for help. The correspondence +here is between heart and heart, and the medium through which the +message passes is love. + +(2) That this love is but another name for Christ, who is the head of +the body; and here one falls back on St. Paul's profound and +illuminating illustration. It is Christ who unites the whole race, and +especially all Christian folk, by His incarnation. Into Him are gathered +all the fears, sorrows, pains, troubles of each member, so that He feels +with all, and from him flows the same feeling to other members of the +body. He is the common spring of sensitiveness and sympathy, who +connects each man with his neighbour and makes of thousands a living +organic spiritual unity. + +(3) That in proportion as one abides in Christ he will be in touch with +his brethren. If it seem to one marvellous and almost incredible that +any person should be affected by another's sorrow whom he does not at +the moment see, is it not marvellous, although quite credible, that we +are so often indifferent to sorrow which we do see? Is it not the case +that one of a delicate soul will detect secret trouble in the failure +of a smile, in a sub-tone of voice, in a fleeting shadow on the face? +"How did he know?" we duller people say. "By his fellowship with Christ" +is the only answer. "Why did we not know?" On account of our hardness +and selfishness. If one live self-centred--ever concerned about his own +affairs, there is no callousness to which he may not yet descend; if one +live the selfless life, there is no mysterious secret of sympathy which +may not be his. Wherefore if any one desire to live in nervous touch +with his fellows, so that their sorrows be his own and he be their quick +helper, if he desire to share with Christ the world burden, let him open +his heart to the Spirit of the Lord. In proportion as we live for +ourselves are we separated from our families, our friends, our +neighbours; in proportion as we enter into the life of the Cross we are +one with them all, being one with Christ, who is one with God. + + + + +IV + +BY THE REV. +W. KNOX LITTLE, M. A. +CANON OF WORCESTER + + +Prayer is a comprehensive word and includes, in fact, all communion +between the soul and God. It is, however, commonly used to mean the +asking for benefits from God. Christians believe that prayer _is_ a +power, that it does act in the fulfilment of God's purposes, and that +the results of prayer are real results, not only in the spiritual, but +also in the physical world. This is no mere matter of opinion, it is +part of the Christian faith. For better, for worse, however difficult +the doctrine may appear, the Church is committed to it. As in the case +of other difficult doctrines, such as the resurrection of the body for +instance, she, so to speak, "stakes her reputation" on loyalty to this +truth. + +The power of prayer is, of course, a mystery, _i.e._, a truth, but a +truth partly concealed, partly plain. To deal with it, therefore, in a +mathematical temper rather than a moral temper is absurd if not wrong. +Mathematical demonstration cannot be given for moral truth, and is in +fact out of court. The bent of mind formed by constant scientific +research--good as it is in its own province--sometimes unfits men for +moral and theological research. In this way the "difficulties of prayer" +are often exaggerated. (1) It is said God knows already; why tell Him? +The same objection would apply to many a request on earth. (2) It is +said God fore-sees; why try to influence what He knows is sure to be? +This objection applies to all our actions; to follow out this we should +not only not pray, but also never do anything. We are in face of a +mystery. A little humility and obedience to revelation helps us out. It +has been truly said that when a practical and a speculative truth are in +apparent collision, we must remember our ignorance of a good many +things, and act with the knowledge which is given us, on the practical +truth. + +Prayer, we may remember, is not to change the holy counsels of the +Eternal, but to accomplish those ends for which it is an appointed +instrument. Anyhow, this is certain, the abundant promises to faithful +and persevering prayer are kept, and--where God sees it to be good for +us--they are kept to the letter. The following are examples which come +within the knowledge of the writer of this paper. + +A family, consisting of a number of children, had been brought up by +parents who had very "free" ideas as to the divine revelation and the +teaching of the Church. The children, varying in age from seven or +eight, to one or two and twenty years, had, one way or another, been +aroused to the teaching of Scripture and desired to be baptised. The +father point-blank refused to permit it. The older members of the family +consulted a clergyman. He felt strongly the force of the fifth +commandment and advised them not to act in haste, to realise that +difficulties do frequently arise from conflicting duties, and above all +to pray. The clergyman asked a number of devout Christians to make the +matter a subject of prayer. They did. In about three weeks the father +called upon this very clergyman and asked him to baptise his children. +The clergyman expressed his astonishment, believing that he was opposed +to it. The father answered that that was true, but he had changed his +mind. He could not say precisely why, but he thought his children ought +to be baptised. They were; and he, by his own wish, was present and most +devout at the administration of the sacrament of baptism. + +A few years ago, a clergyman in London had been invited to visit a +friend for one night in the country in order to meet an old friend whom +he had not seen for long. It was bitter winter weather and he decided +not to go. Walking his parish in the afternoon, he believed that a voice +three times urged him to go. He hurriedly changed his arrangements and +went. The snow was tremendously deep, and the house of his friend, some +miles from the railway station, was reached with difficulty. In the +course of the night the clergyman was roused from sleep by the butler, +who begged him to go and visit a groom in the service of the family, who +was ill and "like to die." Crossing a field path with difficulty, as the +snow was very deep, they reached the poor man's house. He had been in +agony of mind and longed to see a clergyman. When it was found +impossible to fetch the nearest clergyman, owing to the impassable state +of the roads, he had prayed earnestly that one might be sent to him. The +poor fellow died in the clergyman's arms in the early morning, much +comforted and in great peace. + +A strangely similar case happened more recently. An American gentleman +travelling in Europe was taken suddenly and seriously ill in one of our +northern towns. The day before this happened, a clergyman, who was at a +distance in the country, was seized with a sudden and unaccountable +desire to visit this very town. He had no idea why, but prayed for +guidance in the matter, and finally felt convinced that he must go. +Having stayed the night there he was about to return home, rather +inclined to think himself a very foolish person, when a waiter in the +hotel brought him an American lady's card and said that the lady wished +to see him. He was the only English clergyman of whom she and her +husband had any knowledge. They had happened to hear him preach in +America. She had no idea where he lived, but when her husband was taken +ill she and her daughter had prayed that _he_ might be sent to them. On +inquiry, strange to say, he was found to be in the hotel, and was able +to render some assistance to the poor sufferer, who died in a few hours, +and to his surviving and mourning relatives. + +A still more striking instance, perhaps, is as follows: Some years ago +in London a clergyman had succeeded, with the help of some friends, in +opening a "home" in the suburbs to meet some special mission needs. It +was necessary to support it by charity. For some time all went well. The +home at last, however, became even more necessary and more filled with +inmates, whilst subscriptions did not increase but rather slackened. The +lady in charge wrote to the clergyman as to her needs, and especially +drew his attention to the fact that L40 was required immediately to meet +the pressing demand of a tradesman. The clergyman himself was +excessively poor, and he knew not to whom to turn in the emergency. He +at once went and spent an hour in prayer. He then left his house and +walked slowly along the streets thinking with himself how he should act. +Passing up Regent Street, a carriage drew up in front of Madame Elise's +shop, just as he was passing. Out of the carriage stepped a handsomely +dressed lady. "Mr. So-and-so, I think," she said when she saw him. "Yes, +madam," he answered, raising his hat. She drew an envelope from her +pocket and handed it to him, saying: "You have many calls upon your +charity, you will know what to do with that." The envelope contained a +Bank of England note for L50. The whole thing happened in a much shorter +time than it can be related; he passed on up the street, she passed into +the shop. Who she was he did not know, and never since has he learnt. +The threatening creditor was paid. The "home" received further help and +did its work well. + +Another example is of a different kind. A person of real earnestness in +religious questions, and one who gave time and strength for advancing +the kingdom of God, some years ago became restless and unsatisfied in +spiritual matters, failing to enjoy peaceful communion with God, and +generally upset and uneasy. The advice of a clergyman was asked, and +after many conversations on the subject, he urged steady earnest prayer +for light, and agreed himself to make the matter a subject of prayer. +Within a fortnight, after an earnest midday prayer, it was declared by +this troubled soul that it had been clearly borne in upon the mind that +the sacrament of baptism had never been received. Enquiry was made, and +after much careful investigation it was found that, while every other +member of a large family had been baptised, in this case the sacrament +had been neglected owing to the death of the mother and the child being +committed to the care of a somewhat prejudiced relative. The person in +question was forthwith baptised, and immediately there was peace and +calmness of mind and a sense of quiet communion with God. + +Instances of this kind might be multiplied, but these are, perhaps, +sufficient. "In everything," says the Apostle, "by prayer and +supplication with thanksgiving (the Eucharist) let your requests be made +known unto God." "Cast all your care upon Him, for He careth for you." +The power of the "prayer of faith" is astonishing in its efficacy, if +souls will only put forth that power. I am able to guarantee, from +personal knowledge, the truth and accuracy of the above instances. + + + + +V + +BY MR. +WILLIAM QUARRIER +OF GLASGOW + + +For twenty-five years it has been with me a continual answer to prayer. +The first seven of my service were spent in caring for the rough boys of +the streets of Glasgow, but having made a vow, when I was very young, +that if God prospered me I should build houses for orphans, I was not +satisfied with that work among the bigger boys. Being in business, +however, and having a family to maintain, the question of whether I +could do more was a difficult one. I was giving eight hours a day to the +work, and in the Shoe-black Brigade, the Parcels Brigade, and the +Newspaper Brigade had probably about three hundred boys to care for. + +While I considered what could be done, a lady from London--Miss +Macpherson--called, and in the course of our talk about the little ones, +she urged that I should attempt something more than I was doing. For +three months I prayed to God for guidance, and in the end resolved that +if He sent me L2000, I should embark in the greater work. Nobody knew of +that resolution; it was a matter between God and myself. If God wanted +me to do more work than I was doing, I felt that He would send me the +L2000, not in portions, but in a solid sum. I was then before the +public, and I wrote a letter to the newspapers pleading that something +more should be done for street children, pointing out that the Poorhouse +and the Reformatory were not the best means of helping child-life, and +urging that something on the Home or Family system was desirable. There +was a strong conviction that God would answer the prayer, and, the +terms of the prayer being explicit, I believed the answer would be as +unmistakable. After waiting thirteen days the answer came. Amongst my +other letters was one from a Scotch friend in London, to the effect that +the writer would, to the extent of L2000, provide me with money to buy +or rent a house for orphan children. When I received that call I felt +that my family interests and my business interests should be second, and +that God's work among the children should be first. + +To a business man, it was a call to surrender what you would call +business tact. I had to rise up there and then, and proclaim in the +midst of the commercial city of Glasgow, that from that moment I was to +live by faith, and depend on God for money, wisdom and strength. From +that time forward I would ask no man for money, but trust God for +everything. That L2000 was the first direct answer to prayer for money. +He gave me the utmost of my asking, and I felt that I would need to give +Him the utmost of the power I pledged. + +We rented a common workshop in Renfrew Lane--it was very difficult to +get a suitable place--to lodge the children in, and that little place +was the first National Home for Orphans in Scotland, and from it has +sprung what the visitor may see to-day amongst the Renfrewshire hills. +One day, I remember, two boys came in, and we had everything to clothe +them with except a jacket for one of them. The matron, a very godly +woman, said, "We must just pray that God will send what is needed," and +we prayed that He would. That night a large parcel of clothing came from +Dumbarton, and in it was a jacket that fitted the boy as if it had been +made for him. That was a small thing, of course, but if you don't see +God in the gift of a pair of stockings you won't see Him in a gift of +L10,000. + +We had thirty children in that Home, and we kept praying that the Lord +would open a place for us somewhere in the country. A friend called on +me and offered to sub-let Cessnock House, with three acres of ground +about it. Cessnock Dock has now absorbed the place, and as it was just +the very spot we wanted, we accepted. We had room for a hundred boys, +and with the help of God we prospered. We had resolved formerly that we +would send children to Canada, but it took L10 per head to send them, +and we were determined not to get into debt. We had only a few pounds in +hand when we took the house in Govan Road, and it took L200 to alter it. +But every night we prayed that the Lord would send money to pay for the +alterations. Sums varying from 5s. to L5 came in, but when the bills +came to be paid we were short L100. A friend not far from one of my +places of business sent for me, and when I called, he said, "How are you +getting on at Cessnock?" I said we were getting on nicely, and that we +had got L100 towards the alterations. He gave me L100, to my +astonishment, for I knew that he could not afford so much, but he said a +relative who died in England had left him a fortune, and the money was +to help me in the work God had given me to do. In that answer you see +how God works mysteriously to accomplish His purpose and help those who +put their trust in Him. + +God gives us great help in dealing with the wayward, wilful boys of the +Home. They are generally lads who have known no control; but we are +able, with God's blessing on our efforts, to get them to do almost +anything that is wanted, without strap or confinement or threat. To hear +boys who used to curse and swear praying to God, and to see them helping +other boys in the Home, is to me the most encouraging feature of the +work God has given me to do. Whilst I sought to clothe and educate them, +I left God to deal with them in their spirits; and to-day the result of +the spiritual work amongst the boys and girls of Glasgow exceeds +anything I ever expected. + +I still thought of the emigration scheme, and in 1872 we had sixty +children that were able to go to Canada. Of course it meant L600 to send +them, and we had the necessary money except L70 in the end of June. We +prayed on that God would send the balance before the day of sailing, 2nd +July. A friend called at one of my places of business to see me, and +subsequently I had an interview with him. He gave me L50, and said it +was from one who did not wish the name mentioned. "What shall I put it +to?" I asked. "Anything you like," he said. "We are short of L70 for the +emigration of our first band of children to Canada, and if you like I +shall put it to that." "Do so," he said; and as the man left I saw God's +hand in the gift that had been made. When I went home that night I found +amongst my letters one in which was enclosed L10 "to take a child to +Canada," and the post on the following morning brought two five-pound +notes from other friends, making up exactly at the moment it was needed +the sum I had asked God to give. + +In addition to the Homes, we carried on mission work amongst the lapsed +masses, and, as in the case of the Homes, we were firmly resolved to do +everything by prayer and supplication. I rented an old church at the +head of the Little Dovehill, just where the Board school stands now, as +a hall, but we did not have the whole of it. At the level of the gallery +another floor had been introduced, and while we occupied the upper flat, +a soap manufacturer occupied the lower. In a way it was a trial of faith +to go up those stairs past the soap work into our hall. We wanted to +open the place free of debt, and the money for the alterations came in +gradually. I remember putting it to the Lord to send a suitable +evangelist if He wished the work to go on. At that time--twenty-four +years ago--we heard a lot of Joshua Poole and his wife, who were having +great blessing in London, and I thought that they were just the people +to reach the working classes. But as I had convictions about women +preaching,--which, by the way, I have not now,--I asked the Lord to send +L50 to cover the expense for a month if it were His will that these +friends should come to Glasgow and preach nightly during that period. I +left it to God to decide whether we should ask these friends or not, and +I had the assurance--the assurance of faith,--that the money would +come. When I went home that night I found that a friend had called at +one of my places of business and left fifty one-pound notes without +knowing my mind and without knowing I needed it. + +After that I felt that God was going to work a great work amongst the +lapsed masses of Glasgow, and He did so. For six months we rented the +Scotia Music Hall on Sabbath evenings, and instead of a month the +evangelists were six in the city conducting services every night. When +they left, ten thousand people gathered on the Green to bid them +farewell. Hundreds were led to the Saviour. + +After a number of years' work in Glasgow with the Girls' Home, in Govan +with the Boys' Home, and with the Mission premises, the need of a farm +became great. I prayed for money to purchase a farm of about fifty +acres, three miles or so from Glasgow. It was to have a burn running +through it, good drainage, and everything necessary. I was anxious to +get this burn for the children to paddle in and fish in; but I feel now +that at the time I was rebellious against God in fixing the site so +near Glasgow. We visited a dozen places, but the cost was so great that +I was fairly beaten. God had shut up every door. + +A friend met me on the street, and asked if I had seen the farm in +Kilmalcolm Parish that was to be sold. I replied that I had not, and +that I considered the place too far away. In talking over the matter, he +persuaded me to go and see the farm, and when I did go, and, standing +where our big central building is now, saw that it had everything I +prayed for,--perfect drainage, and not only the burn, but a river and a +large flat field for a recreation ground,--I said in my heart to the +Lord: "This will do." Ever since I have blessed the Lord for that; my +way was not God's way, and so He shut us in amongst these Renfrewshire +hills, away from the ways of men. + +After paying L3,560 for the farm, we had about L1,500 left, and in 1887 +we began to build a church and school, to cost L5,000. I told the +contractor that we should stop if the money did not come in; but it +kept coming in, and the work went on. In 1888 I had resolved to go to +Canada with the party of children going out that year, and I saw clearly +that I would need to stop the contractors if I got no more money in the +interval, for I was still L1400 short. Yet I believed the Lord would +send the money before I left in the latter end of May, though the time I +write of was as far on as the middle of the month. I kept praying, and +the assurance was strong that the money would come. Just three days +before the date on which I was to sail, a friend came to me, and said it +had been laid upon his heart to build one of the cottages at +Bridge-of-Weir, but the Lord, he thought, would accept the money for the +central building just as much as though it were put into houses, and he +handed me L1300. + +All the money belonging to the Homes and all my own was in the City of +Glasgow Bank when it failed, and hundreds of the givers were involved as +well. On my way up from the Homes on the day of the disaster, a +gentleman met me, and told me the sad news. At the moment I realised +what the news meant for me--my own personal loss and the needs of the +Homes--for that was in September, and our financial year closed in +October. With all our money locked up, to clear the year without debt +would be difficult, but then the promise of God came: "Although the +fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the +labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the +flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the +stalls; yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will joy in the God of my +salvation." + +There and then I prayed that God would help me through, and that during +the course of the following year, which I saw would be one of financial +distress all over Scotland, He would double the gifts to us. The result +was that we were able to clear our financial accounts with ease at the +end of October, and in the year following, when every church in +Scotland, and every philanthropic work had less money than they needed, +the Orphan Homes had double what they required. In that God honoured my +trust. + +Our first church at Bridge-of-Weir only held four hundred, and by-and-by +it was too small for us. I prayed that the Lord would give us a new +church to hold one thousand people, and to cost something like L5000. We +felt that we would get that money, and that we would get it in one sum +because we had asked God to lay it on the heart of somebody to build the +church. After a year of waiting and praying, a friend came to me in the +street one day, and said, "I'm going to build you that church you want. +Do you know what it will cost?" "Yes," I replied. "L5000" "Well," said +my friend, "you shall get the money when you want it." + +It was a new song of praise to God that day, I can tell you, and we went +on to build our church. Now, even it we find too small, and we are +praying to the Lord for L2500 to enlarge the building, and enable us to +accommodate five hundred more worshippers. + +I thought that, having got the church, we might, as we were building a +tower to hold the tank for our water supply, also get a clock and chimes +to enliven the village. So we prayed that the Lord would send money for +that purpose. I thought that about L500 or L600 would be sufficient. +While the building was going on, we prayed for the money, and I was +certain it would come. The architect was hurrying me and pointing out +that if the clock and bells were really to go into the tower, the work +must be done at once. I told him there was no fear that the money would +not come. If the money had not come, and the tower was completed, the +placing of the clock and bells at a later period would have mean +practically taking down and rebuilding, because with our water tank in +position, the work would have been impossible. My architect kept +bothering me, but I was sure the money would come, and one night I went +home and found a cheque for L200--L1500 to build a house, and L500 for +the clock and bells. The clock and bells cost L800, and the lady who +sent the money paid the additional L300. + +A village like our Homes, with 1200 of a population, needed a good water +supply for sanitary purposes. For a very long time we depended on a +well, and stored the water in tanks, but frequently the supply fell +short, and we felt that if we could get the proprietors in the upper +district--none of the surrounding proprietors, by the way, had ever +taken much interest in the work of the Homes--to give us the privilege +of bringing water into the grounds, we should be able to do much to +improve that state of matters. Sir Michael Shaw Stewart gave us the +right to use our own burn higher up for the purpose, and gave us a piece +of ground at a nominal rent of 12s. a year, for a reservoir and filter, +but the money to carry out the work was not in hand, and we prayed to +the Lord to send us from L1200 to L1400, which we anticipated would be +the cost of the undertaking. + +Some time later a lady called at James Morrison Street (Glasgow), and +left word that an old woman who lived in Main Street, Gorbals, wished to +see me. On the following day I called at the address given, and found +the person who had sent for me. She was an old woman living in a single +apartment, and she was very ill and weak. "Are you Mr. Quarrier?" she +asked. I said I was. "Ye were once puir yersel'," she went on; "I was +once a puir girl with naebody to care for me, and was in service when I +was eleven years old. I have been thankful for a' the kindness that has +been shown me in my life." + +She went to a chest of drawers in the corner of the apartment, and after +a little came and gave me two deposit receipts on the Savings Bank, each +for L200 and on neither of which any interest had been drawn for twenty +years. When I cashed them I received L627. + +I said "Janet"--Janet Stewart was her name--"are you not giving me too +much?" "Na, na, I've plenty mair, an' ye'll get it a' when I dee." + +We did the best we could for Janet, but she did not live much longer. +Within a week I received a telegram that Janet was dead, and she had +died, I was told, singing "Just as I am without one plea." + +In her will she left several sums to neighbours who had been kind to her +in life, and to our Homes was bequeathed the balance. Altogether the +Orphans' share was L1400. The money defrayed the cost of our water +scheme, and I always think how appropriate the gift was, for nearly all +her life Janet had been a washerwoman and had earned her bread over the +wash-tub. + +The direct answers to prayers of which I could tell you would fill a +volume, and what I have mentioned are only those fixed in my memory. I +have always asked God for a definite gift for a definite purpose, and +God has always given it to me. The value of the buildings at +Bridge-of-Weir is L200,000, and since we started, the cost of their +"upkeep" has been L150,000. And we are still building as busily as in +the beginning. + + + + +VI + +BY MR. +LEONARD K. SHAW +OF MANCHESTER + + +The work for homeless children in Manchester was cradled in prayer. +Every step in preparation was laid before God. But what I want specially +to insist upon is the real connection there is between prayer and work. +From the first my practice has been to lay our wants before God in +prayer, and at the same time to use every means within our reach to +obtain what we desired. I well remember in the early days of the work +how anxiously we discussed whether it was to be conducted on the +"faith" principle, as it is called, or on the "work" principle. Looking +back on the way by which we have come, it seems to me now that faith and +work necessarily go together. Earnest believing prayer is not less +earnest and believing because you use the means God has put within your +reach. Your dependence upon God is just the same. You send out an +appeal, but it is God who disposes the hearts of the people to +subscribe. So I say the connection between praying and working, though +not always seen, is very real. Day by day the special needs of the work +are laid before God, and day by day they are supplied. + +Of direct answers to prayer I have had many sweet and encouraging +assurances, particularly in connection with our orphan homes. In the +first five years of the work, we only took in boys between the ages of +ten and sixteen. At that time of life, boys who have been brought up on +the street are not easy to manage, and a friend to whom I was telling +some of our difficulties, suggested that we should take the boys in +younger. To do so meant a new departure, and on going into the matter I +found that a sum of about L600 would be needed to start such an orphan +home as was suggested. I said to my wife, "Let us pray about this; if it +is God's will that we should enter upon this new branch of work, He will +send the money." We resolved that should be the test; if the money came +we would start the home, otherwise we would not. Our annual meeting came +round soon after, and in the report I made an appeal on behalf of the +new scheme. The report was sent out with much prayer, but no individual +person was asked to contribute. In a few days I received a letter from a +gentleman residing in Southport, enclosing a cheque for L600. The house +for the first of our orphan homes was bought for L500, and the balance +of the cheque enabled us to furnish it. + +At the end of the following year, the home was full of fatherless and +motherless little ones, and others were seeking admission for whom there +was no room. I sent out a second appeal, asking God to put it into the +heart of someone to provide a second home. A few weeks afterwards a lady +well known in Manchester paid us a visit at the home and two days later +I received from her a cheque for L1000. In this way we got our second +home. Another year and this second home was also full. Again I prayed +God to dispose the heart of some one to help us, and I sent out another +appeal. One day, perhaps two or three weeks later, a gentleman stopped +me in the street and said he had been wanting to see me for some days, +as he had a cheque for L700 waiting for me at his office. At the moment +the orphan home was not in my mind, and I asked what the cheque was for. +Why, he said, I understand your two orphan homes are full and that you +want another. And so we got our third home. Another year and it too was +full. Again after earnest prayer I received a cheque for L1000 from +another Manchester gentleman, who in some way had come to know that a +fourth home was needed. + +In these four cases you have, I think, remarkable instances of direct +answer to prayer. So, at any rate, I must always regard them. I need not +say how encouraged we were, year after year, to go on with the work, +though each additional home meant a large increase in our annual +expenditure. + +The money with which the fifth orphanage house was bought was not given +in one sum nor specially for the purpose, and the circumstances would +not warrant me in saying that it came in direct answer to prayer. When a +sixth home became necessary an appeal was made to the schoolgirls of +Lancashire and Cheshire, and they found the L500 for the purchase money. +This house is called "The School Girls' Home." The inscription on the +memorial stone, "His children shall have a place of refuge," was +suggested by the late Bishop of Manchester. + +In smaller, but perhaps not less important matters, we have had +unmistakable proofs that God answers prayer. One case which occurred in +the early days of the work greatly impressed me. A letter came one +morning from Stalybridge asking us to take in five little children who +had been left destitute and without a friend in the world. I went over +to make inquiries, and found the children in the same room with the dead +body of their mother, which had little more to cover it than an old +sack. Our means at that time were very small, and I thought we could +hardly venture to take in all the children. The clergyman of the parish +pleaded with me to take at least two or three. I asked what was to +become of the others, and the answer was that there was nothing for them +but the workhouse. What to do I did not know. I made it a matter of +prayer, but all that night it lay upon my heart a great burden. Next +morning I came downstairs still wondering what to do. Amongst the +letters on my table was one from a gentleman at Bowdon, enclosing, +unasked, a cheque for L50. In those days L50 was an exceptionally large +sum for us to receive, and I took the letter as a direct word from God +that we should accept the care of the children. We did so, and I am glad +to say every one of them turned out well. + +But direct answers to prayer are not confined to mere gifts of money. +Over and over again during these twenty-seven years of rescue work I +have put individual cases before God and asked Him to deal with them, +and it is just wonderful how He has subdued stubborn wills and changed +hearts and lives. + +Years ago there came to the Refuges the son of a man known to the +Manchester police as "Mike the devil." Tom was as rough a customer as +ever I saw, and for a time we had some trouble with him. But a great +change came over him, and I have myself no doubt it was the result of +personal pleading with God on his behalf. Tom is now an ordained +minister of the Gospel in America. There is no end to the cases I could +give of that kind. They all point to the same conclusion, that God does +answer definite prayer. And to-day, after twenty-seven years of work, I +praise Him for it. + + + + +VII + +BY THE REV. +R. F. HORTON, M.A., D.D. + + +It has sometimes seemed to me that God does not intend the faith in +prayer to rest upon an induction of instances. The answers, however +explicit, are not of the kind to bear down an aggressive criticism. Your +Christian lives a life which is an unbroken chain of prayers offered and +prayers answered; from his inward view the demonstration is +overwhelming. But do you ask for the evidences, and do you propose to +begin to pray if the facts are convincing, and to refuse the practice if +they are not? Then you may find the evidences evanescent as an evening +cloud, and the facts all susceptible of a simple rationalistic +explanation. "Prayer," says an old Jewish mystic, "is the moment when +heaven and earth kiss each other." It is futile as well as indelicate to +disturb that rapturous meeting; and nothing can be brought away from +such an intrusion, nothing of any value except the resolve to make trial +for oneself of the "mystic sweet communion." + +I confess, therefore, that I read examples of answers to prayer without +any great interest, and refer to those I have experienced myself with +the utmost diffidence. Nay, I say frankly beforehand, "If you are +concerned to disprove my statement, and to show that what I take for the +hand of God is merely the cold operation of natural law, I shall only +smile. My own conviction will be unchanged. I do not make that great +distinction between the hand of God and natural law, and I have no wish +to induce you to pray by an accumulation of facts--to commend to you the +mighty secret by showing that it would be profitable to you, a kind of +Aladdin's lamp for fulfilling wayward desires. Natural law, the hand of +God! Yes! I unquestioningly admit that the answers to prayer come +generally along lines which we recognise as natural law, and would +perhaps always be found along those lines if our knowledge of natural +law were complete. Prayer is to me the quick and instant recognition +that all law is God's will, and all nature is in God's hand, and that +all our welfare lies in linking ourselves with His will and placing +ourselves in His hand through all the operations of the world and life +and time." + +Yet I will mention a few "answers to prayer," striking enough to me. One +Sunday morning a message came to me before the service from an agonised +mother: "Pray for my child: the doctor has been and gives no hope." We +prayed, the church prayed, with the mother's agony, and with the faith +in a present Christ, mighty to save. Next day, I learned that the doctor +who had given the message of despair in the morning had returned, after +the service, and said at once, "A remarkable change has taken place." +The child recovered and still lives. + +On another occasion, I was summoned from my study to see a girl who was +dying of acute peritonitis. I hurried away to the chamber of death. The +doctor said that he could do nothing more. The mother stood there +weeping. The girl had passed beyond the point of recognition. But as I +entered the room, a conviction seized me that the sentence of death had +not gone out against her. I proposed that we should kneel down and pray. +I asked definitely that she should be restored. I left the home, and +learned afterwards that she began to amend almost, at once, and entirely +recovered; she is now quite strong and well, and doing her share of +service for our Lord. + +And on yet another occasion I was hastily called from my study to see an +elderly man, who had always been delicate since I knew him; now he was +prostrated with bronchitis, and the doctor did not think that he could +live. It chanced that I had just been studying the passage which +contains the prayer of Hezekiah and the promise made to him of fourteen +additional years of life. I went to the sick man and told him that I had +just been reading this, and asked if it might not be a ground for +definite prayer. He assented, and we entreated our God for His mercy in +the matter. The man was restored and is living still. + +These are only typical instances of what I have frequently seen. Many +times, no doubt, I have prayed for the recovery of the sick and the +prayer has not been answered. And you, dear and skeptical reader, may +say if you will that this is proof positive that the instances of +answered prayers are mere coincidences. You may say it and, if you will, +prove it, but you will not in the least alter my quiet conviction; for +the answers were given to _me_. I do not know that even the subjects of +these recoveries recognise the agency which was at work. To me all this +is immaterial. The subjective evidence is all that was designed, and +that is sufficient, and to the writer conclusive. + +With reference to money for Christian work, I have laboured to induce my +own church to adopt the simple view that we should ask not men, but in +the first instance God, the owner of it all, for what we want. I am +thankful to say that some of them now believe this, and bring our needs +to Him very simply and trustfully. I could name many instances of the +following kind: there is a threatened deficit in the funds of the +mission, or an extension is needed and we have not the money. The sound +of misgiving is heard; we have not the givers; the givers have given all +they can. "Why not trust God?" I have urged. "Why not pray openly and +unitedly--and believe?" The black cloud of debt has been dissipated, or +the necessary extension has been made. + +Oddly enough, some people have said to me, "Ah, yours is a rich church," +as if to imply one can very safely ask God for money when one has the +people at hand who can give it. But surely this is a question of degree. +My church is not rich enough to give one-tenth of what it gives, _if we +did not first ask God for it_. And there are churches which could give +ten times what they do give, if only the plan were adopted of first +asking God instead of going to the few wealthy people and trusting to +them. + +But this is a matter of statistics and a little wearisome. I confess I +am unsatisfied with answers to prayer when the prayer is only for these +carnal and visible things, which are often, in boundless love and pity, +_withheld_. The constant and proper things to pray for are precisely +those the advent of which cannot be observed or tabulated; that the +kingdom may come, that they who have sinned, not unto death, may be +forgiven, that the eyes of Christian men may be enlightened, and their +hearts expanded to the measure of the love of Christ. Such prayers are +answered, but the answers are not unveiled. I remember a strange +instance of this. I was staying with a gentleman in a great town, where +the town council, of which he was a member, had just decided to close a +music-hall which was exercising a pernicious influence. The decision +was most unexpected, because a strong party in the council were directly +interested in the hall. But to my friend's amazement the men who had +threatened opposition came in and quietly voted for withdrawing the +licence. Next day we were speaking about modern miracles; he, the best +of men, expressed the opinion that miracles were confined to Bible +times. His wife then happened to mention how, on the day of that council +meeting, she and some other good women of the city had met and continued +in prayer that the licence might be withdrawn. I ventured to ask my +friend whether this was not the explanation of what he had confessed to +be an amazing change of front on the part of the opposition. And, +strange to say, it had not occurred to him--though an avowed believer in +prayer--to connect the praying women and that beneficent vote. + +The truth is, all the threads of good which run across our chequered +society, all the impulses upward and onward, all the invisible growths +in goodness and grace, are answered prayers. For our prayers for the +kingdom are not uttered on the housetops; and the kingdom itself cometh +not with observation. + +But if it were not too delicate a subject I could recite instances, to +me the most remarkable answers to prayer in my experience, of changed +character and enlarged Christian life, resulting from definite +intercession. It is an experiment which any loving and humble soul can +easily make. Take your friends, or better still the members of the +church to which you belong, and set yourself systematically to pray for +them. Leave alone those futile and often misguided petitions for +temporal blessings, or even for success in their work, and plead with +your God in the terms of that prayer with which Saint Paul bowed his +knees for the Ephesians. Ask that this person, or these persons, known +to you, may have the enlightenment and expansion of the Spirit, the +quickened love and zeal, the vision of God, the profound sympathy with +Christ, which form the true Christian life. Pray and watch, and as you +watch, still pray. And you will see a miracle, marvellous as the +springing of the flowers in April, or the far-off regular rise and +setting of the planets,--a miracle proceeding before your eyes, a plain +answer to your prayer, and yet without any intervention of your voice or +hand. You will see the mysterious power of God at work upon these souls +for which you pray. And by the subtle movements of the Spirit it is as +likely as not that they will come to tell you of the divine blessings +which have come to them in reply to your unknown prayers. + +But there are some whose eyes are not yet open to these invisible things +of the Spirit, which are indeed the real things. The measure of faith is +not yet given them, and they do not recognise that web,--the only web +which will last when the loom of the world is broken,--the web of which +the warp is the will of God, and the woof the prayers of men. For these, +to speak of the whole as answered prayer is as good as to say that no +prayer is answered at all. If they are to recognise an answer it must be +some tiny pattern, a sprig of flower, or an ammonite figure on the +fabric. Let me close, therefore, by recounting a very simple answer to +prayer,--simple, and yet, I think I can show, significant. + +Last summer I was in Norway, and one of the party was a lady who was too +delicate to attempt great mountain excursions, but found an infinite +compensation in rowing along those fringed shores of the fjord, and +exploring those interminable brakes, which escape the notice of the +passengers on board the steamer. One day we had followed a narrow fjord, +which winds into the folds of the mountains, to its head. There we had +landed and pushed our way through the brush of birch and alder, lost in +the mimic glades, emerging to climb miniature mountains, and fording +innumerable small rivers, which rushed down from the perpetual snows. +Moving slowly over the ground--veritable explorers of a virgin +forest--plucking the ruby bunches of wild raspberry, or the bilberries +and whortleberries, delicate in bloom, we made a devious track which it +was hard or impossible to retrace. Suddenly my companion found that her +golosh was gone. That might seem a slight loss and easily replaced; not +at all. It was as vital to her as his snowshoes were to Nansen on the +Polar drift; for it could not be replaced until we were back in Bergen +at the end of our tour. And to be without it meant an end of all the +delightful rambles in the spongy mosses and across the lilliputian +streams, which for one at least meant half the charm and the benefit of +the holiday. With the utmost diligence, therefore, we searched the +brake, retraced our steps, recalled each precipitous descent of +heather-covered rock, and every sapling of silver birch by which we had +steadied our steps. We plunged deep into all the apparently bottomless +crannies, and beat the brushwood along all our course. But neither the +owner's eyes, which are keen as needles, nor mine, which are not, could +discover any sign of the missing shoe. With woeful countenances we had +to give it up and start on our three miles' row along the fjord to the +hotel. But in the afternoon the idea came to me, "And why not ask our +gracious Father for guidance in this trifle as well as for all the +weightier things which we are constantly committing to His care? If the +hairs of our head are all numbered, why not also the shoes of our feet?" +I therefore asked Him that we might recover this lost golosh. And then I +proposed that we should row back to the place. How magnificent the +precipitous mountains and the far snow-fields looked that afternoon! How +insignificant our shallop, and our own imperceptible selves in that +majestic amphitheatre, and how trifling the whole episode might seem to +God! But the place was one where we had enjoyed many singular proofs of +the divine love which shaped the mountains but has also a particular +care for the emmets which nestle at their feet. And I was ashamed of +myself for ever doubting the particular care of an infinite love. When +we reached the end of the fjord and had lashed the boat to the shore, I +sprang on the rocks and went, I know not how or why, to one spot, not +far from the water, a spot which I should have said we had searched +again and again in the morning, and there lay the shoe before my eyes, +obvious, as if it had fallen from heaven! + +I think I hear the cold laugh of prayerless men: "And that is the kind +of thing on which you rest your belief in prayer; a happy accident. +Well, if you are superstitious enough to attach any importance to that, +you would swallow anything!" And with a smile, not, I trust, scornful or +impatient, but full of quiet joy, I would reply: "Yes, if you will, that +is the kind of thing; a trifle rising to the surface from the depths of +a Father's love and compassion--those depths of God which you will not +sound contain marvels greater it is true; they are, however, ineffable, +for the things of the Spirit will only be known to men of the Spirit. +These trifles are all that can be uttered to those who will not search +and see; trifles indeed, for no sign shall be given to this generation; +which, if it will not prove the power of prayer by praying, shall not be +convinced by marshalled instances of the answers of prayer." + + + + +VIII + +BY THE REV. +HUGH PRICE HUGHES, M.A. + + +You ask me to give my experience of answers to prayer. I have never had +any doubt that Dean Milman was right when he said that personal religion +becomes impossible if prayer is not answered. Neither have I ever been +able to appreciate the so-called scientific objection to prayer, as we +have ample experience in the activity of our own will to illustrate the +fact that invariable laws may be so manipulated and utilised as to +produce results totally different from those which would have taken +place if some free will had not intervened to use them. + +We must assume that God, who is the Author of all natural laws, can with +infinite ease manipulate them so as to produce any desired result, +without in the least degree altering their character or interfering with +the universal reign of Law. + +However, what you want is not theory but actual experience. I will not +refer, therefore, to the stupendous proofs that God does answer prayer, +presented by Mr. Mueller of Bristol in his immense orphanages, or to +similar unmistakable results in the various philanthropic institutions +of Dr. Cullis of Boston. I will go at once to my own personal +experiences, and mention one or two facts that have come under my own +observation. There are a great many, but I will simply give a few +typical cases. + +A good many years ago I was conducting a special mission in the +neighbourhood of Chelsea. It is my custom on these occasions to invite +members of the congregation to send me in writing special requests for +the conversion of unsaved relatives or friends. On the Tuesday night, +among many other requests for prayer, was one from a daughter for the +conversion of her father. It was presented in due course with the rest, +but no one at that moment knew the special circumstances of the case, +except the writer. On the following Friday I received another request +from the same woman; but now it was a request for praise, describing the +circumstances under which the prayer had been answered, and I read the +wonderful story to the congregation. + +It appeared that this girl's father was an avowed infidel who had not +been to any place of worship for many years, and he disliked the subject +of religion so intensely that he ultimately forbade his Christian +daughter in London to write to him, as she was continually bringing in +references to Christ. On the particular Tuesday evening in question, +that infidel father was on his way to a theatre in some provincial town, +more than a hundred miles from London. As he was walking to the +theatre, there was a sudden shower of rain which drove him for shelter +into the vestibule of a chapel where a week-night service was being +held. The preacher in the pulpit was a Boanerges, whose loud voice +penetrated into the lobby, and there was something in what he said that +attracted the attention of the infidel and induced him to enter the +chapel. He became more and more interested as the sermon proceeded, and +before its close he was deeply convinced of sin, and in true penitence +sought mercy from Jesus Christ. I need scarcely say to any one who knows +anything of the love of God, that this prayer was speedily answered, and +he went home rejoicing in divine forgiveness. The next day he wrote to +his daughter in London telling her that he had set out on the previous +evening intending to visit the theatre, but had actually found his way +into a chapel, where his sins had been forgiven and his heart changed. +He wrote at once to tell her the good news, and he assured her that he +would now be only too glad to hear from her as often as she could write +to him. These facts were communicated through me to the congregation, +and we all gave thanks to God. + +Of course it may be said that the conversion of this man, who had not +been into a place of worship for more than a dozen years, was a mere +accident, and that its coming at the very time we were praying for him +was a mere coincidence. But we need not quarrel about words. All we need +to establish is, that such delightful accidents and such blessed +coincidences are continually occurring in the experience of all real +Christians. I may add generally, that it is our custom to present +written requests for prayer and written requests for praise at the +devotional meetings of the West London Mission every Friday night. This +has now gone on without interruption for more than nine years, and I +scarcely remember a prayer-meeting at which we have not had some request +for praise on account of prayer answered. + +It may be argued, however, that all such cases are purely subjective, +and that they take place in the mysterious darkness and silence of the +human heart Let my next illustration, then, be of a much more tangible +character. Let it refer to pounds, shillings, and pence. + +Not long ago the West London Mission was greatly in want of money, as +has generally been its experience since it began. It would seem as +though God could not trust us with any margin. Perhaps if we had a +considerable balance in the bank we should put our trust in that, +instead of realising every moment our absolute dependence on God. Like +the Children of Israel in the Wilderness, we have had supplies of manna +just sufficient for immediate need. Always in want, always tempted to be +anxious, it has always happened at the last moment, when the case seemed +absolutely desperate, that help has been forthcoming, sometimes from the +most unexpected quarter. But a short time ago the situation appeared to +be unusually alarming, and I invited my principal colleague to meet me +near midnight--the only time when we could secure freedom from +interruption and rest from our own incessant work. + +We spent some time, in the quietness of that late hour, imploring God to +send us one thousand pounds for His work by a particular day. In the +course of the meeting one of our number burst forth into rapturous +expressions of gratitude, as he was irresistibly convinced that our +prayer was heard and would be answered. I confess I did not share his +absolute confidence, and the absolute confidence of my wife and some +others. I believed with trembling. I am afraid I could say nothing more +than "Lord, I believe, help Thou my unbelief." The appointed day came. I +went to the meeting at which the sum total would be announced. It +appeared that in a very short time and in very extraordinary ways nine +hundred and ninety pounds had been sent to the West London Mission. I +confess that, as a theologian I was perplexed. We had asked for a +thousand pounds--there was a deficiency of ten. I could not understand +it. I went home, trying to explain the discrepancy. As I entered my +house and was engaged in taking off my hat and coat, I noticed a letter +on the table in the hall. I remembered that it had been lying there when +I went out, but I was in a great hurry and did not stop to open it. I +took it up, opened it, and discovered that it contained a cheque for ten +pounds for the West London Mission, bringing up the amount needed for +that day to the exact sum which we had named in our midnight +prayer-meeting. Of course this also may be described as a mere +coincidence, but all we want is coincidences of this sort. The name is +nothing, the fact is everything, and there have been many such facts. + +Let me give one other in reference to money, as this kind of +illustration will perhaps, more than any other, impress those who are +disposed to be cynical and to scoff. I was engaged in an effort to build +Sunday schools in the south of London. A benevolent friend promised a +hundred pounds if I could get nine hundred pounds more, within a week. I +did my utmost, and by desperate efforts, with the assistance of friends, +did get eight hundred pounds, but not one penny more. We reached +Saturday, and the terms of all the promises were that unless we +obtained a thousand pounds that week we could not proceed with the +building scheme, and the entire enterprise might have been postponed for +years, and, indeed, never accomplished on the large scale we desired. On +the Saturday morning one of my principal church officers called, and +said he had come upon an extraordinary business: that a Christian woman +in that neighbourhood whom I did not know, of whom I had never heard, +who had no connection whatever with my church, had that morning been +lying awake in bed, and an extraordinary impression had come in to her +that she was at once to give me one hundred pounds! She naturally +resisted so extraordinary an impression as a caprice or a delusion. But +it refused to leave her; it became stronger and stronger, until at last +she was deeply convinced that it was the will of God. What made it more +extraordinary was the fact that she had never before had, and would, in +all probability, never again have one hundred pounds at her disposal +for any such purpose. But that morning she sent me the money through my +friend, who produced it in the form of crisp Bank of England notes. From +that day to this I have no idea whatever who she was, as she wished to +conceal her name from me. Whether she is alive or in heaven I cannot +say; but what I do know is that this extraordinary answer to our prayers +secured the rest of the money, and led to the erection of one of the +finest schools in London, in which there are more than a thousand +scholars to-day. + +Let me give one other illustration in a different sphere. God has +answered our prayers again and again by saving those in whom we are +interested, and by sending us money. He has also answered prayer for +suitable agents to do His work. + +Twelve months ago I was sitting in my study at a very late hour; the +rest of the household had gone to bed. I was particularly conscious at +that time that I greatly needed a lay agent, who could help me in work +among the thousands of young men from business houses who throng St. +James's Hall. Several of our staff who could render efficient service in +that direction were fully occupied in other parts of the Mission. I +prayed very earnestly to God, in my loneliness and helplessness; and +whilst I was praying, an assurance was given me that God had heard my +prayer. By the first post on the next morning I received a letter from a +man whom I had never met, requesting an interview. I saw him. It turned +out that he was a staff officer in the Salvation Army, and formerly a +Methodist; and that for two years he had been longing for a sphere of +work among young men. He had been himself in a Manchester business +house, and he was extremely anxious for work among young fellows in the +great business establishments. For various reasons a development of work +in that direction, although it commanded the sympathy of the heads of +the Salvation Army, could not be undertaken just then; and while he was +praying upon the subject, it seemed to him as though a definite voice +said, "Offer yourself to Mr. Hugh Price Hughes." In obedience to that +voice he came, and he is with us now. He has already gathered round him +a large number of young men; and at our last Public Reception of new +members I received into the mission church forty-two young men of this +class, who had been brought to Christ, or to active association with His +Church, through the agency of the man whom God so promptly sent me in +the hour of my need. + +Nothing that I have said will in the least degree surprise earnest +Christians and Christian ministers. Such experiences as these are the +commonplace of real and active Christianity. + + + + +IX + +BY THE REV. +J. CLIFFORD, M.A., D.D. + + +Immediately after my acceptance of the pastorate of the church to which +I still minister, I arranged to continue and broaden my training by +attending Science Classes at University College, London. It was in the +year 1858. The day of science was in its brilliant and arresting dawn. +Professor Huxley had been lecturing on biology at the Royal School of +Mines for nearly four years, and his bold and masterly descriptions of +"Man's Place in Nature," given to working men, had stirred many minds. +Darwin's "Origin of Species" appeared in the following year. The young +scientific spirit was daring and aggressive; and scientific methods, +though feared in most quarters, were demanding and winning confidence. I +was sure science was one of the formative forces of the future, and +therefore it seemed to me the teachers of Christianity of the next +half-century would do well to make themselves practically acquainted +with the methods pursued by scientific men, as well as conversant with +the results of scientific work. + +One of Huxley's maxims was "The man of science has learnt to believe in +justification by verification." Certainly! and why not? The Christian is +bidden by the teacher who ranks next to Jesus Christ, our one and only +Master, to "prove all things, and hold fast that which is good." Human +experience is always verifying truth and exposing falsehood. New forces +are set to work in the lives of men, and offer us their effects for +examination. New acts repeated lead to new habits, and new habits make a +new character. If the gardener inserts a "bud" in the branch of a +growing brier, and after a while beholds the beauty and inhales the +fragrance of the "Gloire de Dijon" rose; if the surgeon "operates" one +day, and a little while afterwards sees that the forces he has freed +from the disabilities of disease are moving forward on their healing +mission; so the Christian pastor may suggest a truth, inspire a new +habit, direct to a new attitude of spirit, secure an uplift of soul, and +afterwards trace the effect of these acts on the growth and development +of character, and on the quantity and quality of the service given to +the kingdom of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. +"Experiments" in the field of human nature yield as really verifiable +results as those that are given in the nursery of the gardener or the +laboratory of the chemist. + +But contact with scientific methods not only suggested that the +pastorate would afford abundant opportunities for verifying the features +and characteristics of the spirit of life in Jesus Christ, by a direct +appeal to facts in the manifold experiences of Christian men; it also +changed the point of view, so that, instead of giving the first place +amongst "answers to prayer" to detached and easily reported incidents, +that rank was assigned to experiences showing that prayer is one of the +chief of the unseen forces in character-building, in deepening humility, +in broadening sympathy, in preserving the heart tender and sensitive to +human suffering, in quickening aspiration, and giving the note of _soul_ +to a man's work and influence. + +The materials sustaining that conclusion were abundant in the early +years of my ministry; notably in one case I can never forget. On the +first Sabbath evening of my ministry I was preaching on the words "Be ye +reconciled to God." Amongst the listeners was one who had entered the +house of prayer without any sense of alienation from God or hunger for +His revelation, and, as she afterwards confessed, merely to please her +sister. But "the Lord opened her heart to give heed to the things that +were spoken," so that she forthwith sought and found peace with God +through our Lord Jesus Christ. + +Nor did she only obtain peace. With Wordsworth she could say: + + "I bent before Thy gracious throne + And asked for peace with suppliant knee, + And peace was given, nor peace alone, + But faith and hope and ecstasy." + +Faith and hope, ecstasy and prayer, were the outstanding features of her +new life. She had little time for special acts of Christian service, and +scant means wherewith to enrich the Church; but, according to the +witness of those who had known her longest, her character was clad in +entirely new charms, and her spirit was fired and filled with new +energies. She grew in experience of the grace and love of God, and +became at home with God in the deepest sense, and seemed rarely, if +ever, absent from her chosen dwelling-place. Her strongest feeling was +for God, all investing, all encircling; and with reverent freedom and +sweet security she lived and moved and had her being in communion with +the eternal Father. Prayer was not a task for specific occasions; it was +the breath of her life. It was not a wrestle or a struggle; it was an +uplifting of her being into a fellowship with God. It did not shrivel +into a litany of petitions; it was sustained aspiration; and aspiration +is a large part of achievement; it was deepest satisfaction with God, +and His will and His work: and such satisfaction is itself a source of +patient strength and a preparation for victory. + +Nor was the effect limited. Her nature received a refinement, an +elevation, a beauty that triumphed over the physical features, and shone +out with a glory that is not seen on sea or shore. The expression of her +face seemed to be from God. A transfiguring radiance came from within as +she thought on the wonders and delighted in the treasures of the gospel +of God. Hers was a noble life. Like Martha, she was engaged in "much +serving;" but yet was never cumbered and worn with it, because, like +Mary, she sat daily at the Master's feet, and listened to His words, +and received His sustaining strength. She was as sweetly unselfish as +the flowers, and gave herself and her "all" to Christ, like the widow of +the gospels. Meekness and humility clothed her with their loveliest +robes. I never knew a purer spirit. She always breathed the softness and +gentleness of the Saviour, and yet I have seen her weak body quiver and +throb with its anguish of desire for the salvation of the lost. Faithful +unto death, she realised the support and joy of the Christian's hope, +and gently as leaves are shed by the flower that has finished its +course, she fell into the arms of Jesus; and as Deborah, Rebekah's +nurse, was buried under the "oak of weeping" amid affectionate regrets +and sweet memories, so this Christian servant was laid in the grave with +tears of real sorrow from those whom she had served so faithfully and +long, as well as from friends who had been gladdened and fortified in +the faith of Christ by her sweet, earnest, and beautiful Christian life. +That day is now far off, but the influence of her prayer-filled life +still feeds faith in God as the Hearer and the Answerer of Prayer. + +About the same time and in the same spiritual laboratory I was called to +observe the following processes. A woman, the wife of a blacksmith, was +led by the gospel of Christ into the joy of salvation. Her experience of +the grace of God in Christ was vivid and full. She knew little of doubt +concerning herself, but she was full of solicitude for her husband and +children; for she had a very heavy burden to carry, and her heart was +sore stricken. Her husband was a drunkard. When sober he was true, +devoted, and loving; but when he fell into intemperance he became hard, +harsh, and even violent. But never did the brave and trustful wife cease +to hope or cease to pray. In the darkest hours she begged for the +conversion of her husband, and felt sure that God would respond to her +supplications. That was her habitual mood, her supreme desire, her +living prayer; and I could see that this very disposition developed her +saintliness, deepened her affection for her husband, and gave increased +beauty to her family life, as well as added to her usefulness in the +Church. + +One day, in the course of my pastoral visits, I called at the +blacksmith's home. Scarcely was the threshold crossed when the husband +rushed in, wild, angry, and violent, the prey of intoxicants. But before +he had proceeded far the wife approached him, flung her arms around him, +called him by name, and said: "Ah, God will give you to me yet." Saint +Ambrose told Monica, when she went to him, sad and desponding about her +son, "God would not forget the prayers of such a mother," and Augustine +came, though late in his young manhood, into the kingdom and patience of +Jesus Christ. So I felt the earnest pleadings of this true wife and +mother would not be forgotten of God, but that, according to her own +beautiful saying, God would "give her husband to her;" for she did not +think he was completely hers whilst he was under the dominion of +intoxicants,--give him to her freed from that depraving and desolating +slavery. And it was so. For he, too, became a Christian, and they +together effectively served their generation according to the will of +God, "turning men from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan +unto God." + +There recurs to me the image of a visitor who called one Sunday evening +in 1862, and who wished to know what he was to do in order to control +and suppress an ungovernable temper. For years it had tortured him past +all bearing, and, what was worse, for years it had been a source of pain +and discomfort in his home. When his anger was kindled he was by his own +confession a terror to wife and children, and, seeing that he had +recently become a Christian, he felt acutely the stain such actions +fixed on garments that should have been unspotted by the world. "What +must I do? I can't go on in this way, and yet though I feel it is wrong +I can't help myself." + +The first suggestion I ventured was based on the regard he had expressed +for his pastor. "What would be the effect," said I, "on you, if I were +to appear at the moment the storm was about to burst? Think!" + +He thought, and then said, "It wouldn't burst I should stop it." + +"Well, then, try this plan. Force yourself at the moment of peril into +the conscious presence of God, and say, as you feel the uprising +passion, 'O God, make me master of myself.' Pray that prayer; and pray, +morning by morning, that you may so pray in your time of need; and in +due season you will obtain the perfect mastery of yourself you seek." He +promised. I watched. He prayed. He conquered; once, twice, thrice, and +then failed; but he renewed the attempt, and triumphed again, and years +afterwards I knew him as one of the most serene of men; and when he +died, no phase of his character stood out more distinctively than his +perfect self-control, and no fact in his life was remembered with deeper +gratitude by his bereaved wife than that memorable victory won by prayer +in the early days of his discipleship to the Lord Jesus. + +From the beginning of my ministry I have made it my business to offer +advice and aid to young men and maidens assailed with doubts and fears +concerning the revelation of God in Christ, hindered at the outset by +misconceptions of the "way of salvation," and perplexed by confused and +contradictory teaching. Hundreds of young men (and within the last ten +years especially, many young women) have described to me their +difficulties as they have reached the stage described by Roscoe in the +words, "There are times when faith is weak and the heart yearns for +knowledge." + +Here is a "case" chosen from a large number of similar facts. A young +man came to tell me the somewhat familiar story, that the first fervours +of his religious life had cooled down, his early raptures were gone, and +the sense of peace and bounding freedom, and of all-sufficing strength +in God, had departed with them. The certainties of the opening months or +years of the Christian pilgrimage had given place to torturing +questions, such as, "Am I not deceived? After all, is Christianity true? +What are its real contents? What is inspiration? Did miracles happen?" +etc., etc. Week after week we reasoned and argued, and months passed in +a struggle whose usefulness no one could register, and whose issue no +one could forecast. + +But it "happened," as these conversations were going on, that he was +"drawn" into what I may call a "prayer circle," privately carried on by +a small group of young men who were not unacquainted with such conflicts +as those which then engaged his powers. He joined it, and by-and-by felt +its influence. He was lifted into another atmosphere, and breathed a +clearer, sunnier air. His misgivings were slowly displaced by missionary +enthusiasm, and his fears by a stronger faith; and yet he had not solved +the problems suggested by the person of Christ, or found the secret of +the Incarnation, or explained the mystery of the Atonement. But he had +been led to set the full force of his nature on communion with God; and +prayer had quickened the sense for spiritual realities, for the +recognition of the infinite value of the human soul, and for the wonder +and splendour of God's salvation. In that realm of prayer, character was +altered, the aim of life was altered, the will had a new goal, and so +the questions of the intellect fell into their true place in reference +to the whole of the questions of life. Emerson writes, "When all is said +and done, the rapt saint is found the only logician." It is he who +thinks the most sanely and dwells nearest the central truths of life and +being. It is he who becomes serenely acquiescent in the agnosticism of +the Bible, and realises that revelation must contain many things past +finding out, whilst the Spirit, who is the revealer, gives us the best +assurances of the certitude and clearness of what it is most important +for us to know. + +So often have I seen this rest-giving effect on the intellect, of the +lifting of the life into communion with God, that I cannot hesitate to +regard it as a law of the life of man, and yet I must add that I do not +think it wise to meet those who ask our aid in the treatment of their +mental perplexities merely, or at _first_, with the counsel to pray. +Most likely they will misunderstand it, and it will become to them a +stone of stumbling and a rock of offence. We had better, if we are able, +meet them first on their own ground, that of the intellect, and meet +them with frankness and sympathy, with knowledge and tact; and yet seek +by the spirit we breathe, and the associations into which we introduce +them, to raise them where the Saviour's beatitude shall become an +experience: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." + +Prayer has often proved itself an infallible recipe for dejection. A man +of culture and wealth was for a long time pursued by what seemed to him +an intolerable and invariable melancholy. He sought relief near and far, +and sought in vain. He became a source of anxiety to his friends. He +went away to Bellagio, goaded by the same restlessness, but its lovely +surroundings did not heal, its soft airs did not soothe. No! All was +dark and repellent. Even prayer seemed of no use. God had forgotten +him. He was cast off as reprobate. His soul was disquieted within him. +The burden of his misery was more than he could carry. He threatened to +take away his life. But in his despair he still clung to his God; and at +last, as in this desperate, and yet not altogether hopeless or +prayerless mood, he read a sermon on "Elijah as a brave prophet tired of +life;" hope was reborn and joy restored, and as Bunyan's pilgrim lost +his burden at the cross, so this Elijah escaped from his tormentors, and +came forth and dwelt in the light of God's countenance. It was the +prayer of a weak and struggling faith; but God did not turn it away, nor +reject the voice of his supplication. + +What abundant witness that + + "More things are wrought by prayer + Than this world dreams of" + +could be supplied by pastors and elders who have visited the widow and +the fatherless, the sick and suffering in their afflictions. One picture +comes to me from the crowded past, of a strong and victorious, though +much enduring saint. Crippled by disease, she did not rise from her bed +unaided for more than seven years. She was always in pain, sometimes +heavy and dull, but not infrequently keen and sharp. Yet through all +these years, she not only did not complain, but she had such an overflow +of quiet cheerfulness and of deep interest in life that she distributed +her gladness to others and made them partakers of her serenity. You +could not detain her in talk about herself, her ailments, her broken +plans, her manifold disappointments. No! she would compel you to talk of +the Church, its schools, its missions, its various activities; of +societies and movements for getting rid of social evils, such as +intemperance and impurity. Sometimes the theme was last Sunday's +sermons, or those in preparation for the next; but rarely herself. There +she lay with a patience that was never ruffled, a serenity rarely if +ever disturbed, a forgetfulness of self bright and fresh, a solicitude +for others deep and full, and a fellowship with God not only unbroken, +but so inspiring as to make the sick-room a sanctuary radiant with His +presence. Prayer led her to the fountains of divine joy, daily she drank +and was refreshed. + +So I set down a few tested, verified facts from the early part of a +ministry of over thirty-eight years; facts chosen from amongst many, and +in substance repeated again and again during recent, but not yet +reportable years. + + + + +X + +BY THE VERY REV. +G. D. BOYLE, M.A. +DEAN OF SALISBURY + + +"What was it that struck you most in that sermon on the character of St. +Paul?" said Bishop Patteson to a friend at Oxford, who had been with him +listening to a sermon preached before the University by a very +remarkable man, who has now passed away. "Those two sentences," said his +friend, "in which he said there were two great powers in the world, the +power of personal religion, and the power of prayer." When I told this +many years afterwards to one of the best parish priests I have ever +known, he gave me, from his own experience, some instances of answers to +prayer which are certainly worth reading. + +Shortly after he had entered Holy Orders, he joined a clerical society. +He was greatly pleased with three of the younger members, but thought +from their conversation after the meeting that they were too fond of +amusements. As he walked home he spoke of this to an elderly clergyman, +who said, "Let you and me make for them special prayer, that they may +take a more serious view of their calling." Some time afterwards my +friend happened to see one of these three brother clergymen at a time of +great sorrow. He told him that he had resolved to give up certain +amusements, which he thought at one time harmless. Some time afterwards +the other two openly declared that they had taken a similar course, and +my friend did not scruple to avow his belief that the after lives of +these three men, all of high family, and all remarkable for their zeal +as clergymen, was a direct answer to special intercession. + +He told me of a still more striking instance. Two men, who had been +friends at college, met after many years abroad. The one said to the +other, "When you were at Oxford, you told me you were very indifferent +as to religion, so I suppose you will not go with me this morning to the +English service." "But I certainly will," said his friend. "I have given +up all that sort of thing; I left off praying for years, in the belief +that as God knows everything it was needless to pray, but an impulse +came upon me after hearing Baron Parke's account of a sermon he heard +Shergold Boone preach, and I am now a communicant." "Then, dear----," +said his friend, "I think my prayer is answered, for I have never ceased +since Oxford days to ask that you might have the happiness I enjoy." + +These two are surely remarkable instances of answers to special prayer +for spiritual benefit. + +What shall be said of the faithful man who, through his own effort, +maintained a small but efficient orphanage? From no fault of his own his +supplies ceased. There came into his mind some words of Edward Irving's +about the Fatherhood of God. He made a special petition for the relief +of his poor children. On his return home he found a letter containing a +request that the future welfare of his home should be ensured by a +permanent endowment. + +"How could you keep your temper through all the vexatious dispute of +to-night's debate?" was the question asked of Lord Althorpe by his most +intimate friend, after a fierce discussion on the Reform Bill. "I always +ask for strength before going to the House," was the answer; "and to-day +I asked for special strength, for I knew that party spirit ran high." + +Many years ago I worked as a curate in the district which had seen the +first labours of the excellent Bishop of Wakefield, whose sudden removal +from active work will long be deeply mourned by the Church of England. +When he left Kidderminster for a country parish, he gave a New Testament +to a young man who had at one time promised well, but who fell into bad +company. "I shall make you the subject of special prayer," said the +Bishop, on wishing him good-bye. Some years afterwards I told the Bishop +that his advice had not been thrown away, and his words were, "I humbly +hope my prayer was heard." + +Bishop Mackenzie told a friend of mine that he had asked for some change +in the life of two favourite pupils at Cambridge. They were not in the +habit of going to University sermons, but they went to hear one of +Bishop Selwyn's famous series in 1854. One of them became an eminent +clergyman, and the other died a missionary in India. + +One more instance will suffice. An attack upon the divinity of Christ +was published some years ago by one who had been trained in a very +different way. His former tutor, who had a very great love for him, +asked a few friends not to forget him. As the tutor was dying, he had +the satisfaction of hearing that the man he had known and loved from +childhood had returned to the faith of a child. + +I believe that all who have had considerable experience in parochial +work could give many instances of special answers to prayer. In recent +years many have come forward to offer themselves for labor at home and +abroad. The present occupation of many minds with the difficulties of +belief, the revelations made by earnest thinkers like Romanes, the +questions raised in such lives as the late Master of Balliol's, the +earnest longings for some reconciliation between the men of science and +the men of faith, may all surely be accepted as in some degree answers +to the prayers and aspirations of all who hope that in the Church of the +future there may be found a simple faith, an enduring charity, and a +belief in the unchangeable strength of an unchangeable Saviour. + + + + +A word to the reader. + + +Do you know what "Sabbath Reading" is? It is a 16-page weekly paper, +devoted exclusively to the best class of religious matter. 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