PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY •(i^i> PRESENTED BY The Estate of Rockwell S, Brank .z.y 220 .W65 1885 The Wonders of prayer K FACTS STRANGER THANi m ^3 1948 ■| A Eecokd of Well Authenticated and Wondekful Answees to Peayee. AS nakrated by GEORGE MULLER, D. L. MOODY, C. H. SPURGEON, BISHOP SIMPSON. NEWMAN HALL, D. D. BISHOP T. BOWMAN, CHAS. G. FINNEY, W. W. PATTEN, D. D., CHAS. CULLIS, S. I. PRIME, D. D., p- KRUMMACHER, MARTIN LUTHER, JOHN KNOX, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, AND HOSTS OF OTHERS. NEW EDITION. Revised by D. W. WHITTLE. FLEMING H. REVELL, CHICAGO: 148 and 150 Madison St. NEW YORK: .2 Bible Housi Publisher of Evangelical Literature. COPTEIGHT, 1885, BY xi. :E^ IB "v^ E Ij Xj Introduction to First Edition. The incidents which are published in this volume, are rouched for upon the strongest proofs of authenticity possible to obtain, and are either of circumstances known amid my own experience, or connected with the lives of my corre- spondents and their friends. They are the thankful record and tribute to the power of persevering faith. Nothing has been published concerning which there is the least shadow of doubt. All have been carefully investigated. Every case has been one of real prayer, and the results that have come, came only in answer to the prayer of faith, and were not possible to obtain without it. They demonstrate to a wonderful degree, the immediate practical ways of the Lord with his children in this world, that He is far nearer and more intimate with their plans and pursuits than it is possible for them to realize. Neither have we depended upon the relation of facts of a few, to convince the world of the real power of faith, but have added concurrent testimony of incidents actually known in the experience of such eminent clergymen as Charles Spur- geon, Newman Hall, Martin Luther, W. Huntington, Dr. Waterbury, George Muller, Dr. Cullis, Dr. Patton, Dr. Ad- ams, Dr. Prime, Bishop Simpson, and many others. Also we have added some incidents known and investigated and found absolutely true, by the editors of the following journals, who add their unquestioning belief in the power of prayer : The Christian, The Evangelist, The Observer, The Congregationalist, The Advance, The Illustrated Christian Weekly, The American Messenger, The Witness. Likewise we have been greatly assisted by some of our Home Mission- aries, who, from their daily experiences with the poor and suf- 4 editor's introduction. fering, have been eye-witnesses to remarkable experiences and the wonderful help of the Lord in answering their prayers. These testimonies here recorded must be accepted as true. They demonstrate that answers to prayer are not occasional, and therefore remarkable that they do occur, but are of con- stant occurrence. There may be many minds who, having carried no trial to the Lord, have never been brought into intimate acquaint- ances of the ways in which the Lord tries the faith of his children, nor led to see and observe his wonderful control over human wills and circumstances. The power of the Lord is learned only by those who in deep trouble have faithfully sought Him and seen His ways of deliverance. None can ever understand the full power of prayer until they have learned the lesson of trust. It is only when for the first time in the Christian's own life of faith, it realizes the hand of God in his personal dealings with him, how near He is, or how clearly he feels the presence of that tremen- dous over-ruling Spirit which " Turneth the heart whithersoever He loiliy The actual existence of our God is therefore proved, not alone from History^ nor from the Bible alone, nor from cur- rent natural or religious feeling and beliefs, nor from the tes- timony of old witnesses several thousand years old, hut from the actual incidents of present prayer^ and the literal ansv^er. Daily faith and trust and prayer have made the Christian deeply acquainted with Him and His ways, and humbly de- pendent upon His care and love and help, in the events of life. No one ever faithfully trusted the Lord i7i vain. Circumstances so clouded that it has been impossible for men to control, have, through believing prayer, been so made to change, that through them have been revealed liv- ing evidences of the presence of The Ever Living God., Biscernittg i^rager. INTRODUCTORY. BY D. W. WHITTLE. To recognize God's existence is to necessitate prayer to Him, by all intelligent creatures, or, a consciously living in sin and under condemnation of conscience, because they do not pray to Him. It would be horrible to admit the existence of a Supreme Being, with power and wisdom to create, and believe that the creatures he thought of consequence and im- portance enough to bring into existence, are not of enough consequence for him to pay any attention to in the troubles and trials consequent upon that existence. Surely such a statement is an impeachment of both the wisdom and goodness of God. It were far more sensible for those who deny the fitness and necessity of prayer to take the ground of the atheist and say plainly " "We do not pray, for there is no God to pray to," for to deny prayer, is practical atheism. So in the very constitution of man's being there is the high- est reasonableness in prayer. And, if the position of man in his relation to the earth he inhabits is recognized and under- stood, there is no unreasonableness in a God-fearing man looking to God for help and deliverance under any and all circumstances, in all the vicissitudes of life. The earth was made for man. One has said " there is nothing great in the world but man ; and there is nothing great in man but his soul." With this in view, how absurd to talk about *' fixed laws " and " unchangeable order," in a way to keep man in his trouble from God. It is all the twaddle of the conceit of man setting himself up to judge and limit his maker. ** To 8 DISCERNING PRAYER. whom then will ye liken Me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One." The Creator is greater than his creation; the law giver is supreme over all law. He created the earth that it might be inhabited by man, and He governs the earth in subordination to the interests, the eternal and spiritual wel- fare of the race of immortal beings that are here being pre- pared for glory and immortality. Laws, indeed, are fixed in their operation and results as subserving the highest good in the training and the disciplin- ing of the race, giving them hope in their labor and sure ex- pectation of fruit from their toil. But as set in operation for mans good, so, in an exigency that may make necessary their suspension, to secure his deliverance from peril and bring man back to the recognition of the personal God, as above law, is it unreasonable to believe that God has power thus to suspend or over-rule his own arrangements? A wise father will gov- ern his children by rules as securing their best good. But he will retain in his power the suspending of those rules when special occasions arise, when the object for which they exist can be better secured by their suspension. Shall not the liv- ing God have the same right? So much as to the reflections suggested by the dogmas of natural religion. They sustain in reason our faith in prayer. The basis, however, of our faith rests upon the unchanging and unchangeable revelation of God, and not upon man's philosophy. Jesus taught his disciples to pray, saying, *' Our Father which art in Heaven." As Christians, this is our authority for prayer. In the words, ** Our Father," our Blessed Lord has given us the substance of all that can be said, as to the privilege of prayer, what to prat/ for, and how to pray. There can be no loftier exercise of soul ever given to created intelligence than to come into conscious contact with the living God, and be able to say " My Father." And surely, as my Father, with a loving father's heart, it must be his desire that I should tell him all my needs, all my sorrows, all my desires. And, so his word commands, " Be DISCERNING PRAYER. 7 careful for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplica- tion, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God." (Phil, iv., 6.) Under this verse there is positively no exception of any request that may not be made known unto God. So there is true faith and right Christian philosophy in the remark, "if o, pin was needful to my happiness and I could not find one I would pray to God for it." The mistake of Christians is in 7iot praying over little things. " The hairs of your head are all numbered." Consult God about everything. Expect His counsel, His guidance, His care, His provision. His deliverance, His blessing, in every- thing. Does not the expression, '' Our daily bread," mean just this? Can there be any true life of faith that does not include this? Whatever will serve to help God's children to a better understanding of the blessed privileges of prayer, and prove to them the reahty of God's answering prayer in the cares, trials and troubles of daily life, will approve itself to all thoughtful minds as a blessing to them and an honor to God. It is the purpose of this volume to do this. We are more helped by testimony to facts than by theories and doctrines. When we have illustrations before our eyes of God's care for his children, and His response to their faith, even in the minutest things, we understand the meaning of His promises and the reality of His providences. The writer had many thoughts in this line suggested to him by an incident, with which he was connected, in the life of George Muller. It was my happiness to cross the Atlantic in the company of this dear brother on the steamship Sardinian, from Quebec to Liverpool, in June, 1880. I met Mr. Muller in the express office the morning of sail- ing, about half an hour before the tender was to take the passengers to the ship. He asked of the agent if a deck chair had arrived for him from New York. He was answered. No, and told that it could not possibly come in time for the steamer. I had with me a chair I had just purchased and told Mr. Muller of the place near by, where I had obtained it, 8 DISCERNING PRAYER. and suggested that as but a few moments remained he had better buy one at once. His reply was, *' No, my brother, Our Heavenly Father will send the chair from New York. It is one used by Mrs. Mnller, as we came over, and left in New York when we landed. I wrote ten days ago to a brother who promised to see it forwarded here last week. He has not been prompt as I would have desired, but I am sure Our Heavenly Father will send the chair. Mrs. Muller is very sick upon the sea, and has particularly desired to have this same chair, and not finding it here yesterday when we arrived, as we expected, we have made special prayer that Our Hea- venly Father wouftd be pleased to provide it for us, and we will trust Him to do so." As this dear man of God went peace- fully on board the tender, running the risk of Mrs. Muller making the voyage without a chair, when for a couple of dol- lars she could have been provided for, I confess I feared Mr. Muller was carrying his faith principles too far and not acting wisely. I was kept at the express office ten minutes after Mr. Mul- ler left. Just as I started to hurry to the wharf a team drove up the street, and on top of a load just arrived from New York, was Mr. Muller s chair ! It was sent at once to the ten- der and placed in my hands to take to Mr. Muller (the Lord having a lesson for me) just as the boat was leaving the dock. I found Mr. and Mrs. Muller in a retired spot on one side of the tender and handed him the chair. He took it with the happy, pleased expression of a child who has just received a kindness deeply appreciated, and reverently removing his hat and folding his hands over it, he thanked his Heavenly Father for sending the chair. *' In evenjthing by prayer and supplication let your requests be made known unto God/* *• Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you." So the word of God teaches us as His children {inviting us to pray, commanding us to pray, and teaching us how to pray), that there is a divine reality in prayer. Experience abun- dantly corroborates the teaching. DISCERNING PRAYES. 9 Every truly converted man knows from this experience that God answers prayer. He has verified the promise. " Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not." (Jer. xxxiii., 3.) His life is a life of prayer, and grows more and more to be a life of almost unconscious dependence upon God, as he be- comes fixed in the habit of prayer. This, and it is the purpose of God, is the result secured by prayer. With this in view, it will not be so much what we expect to get by praying, as a consciousness of coming into closer relations to God, the giver of all, in our prayers, that will give us true joy. Often God's children are driven to the throne of grace by some desperate need of help and definite supply of an abso- lute want, and, as they cry to God and plead their case with tears before him, he so manifests his presence to them and so fills them with a consciousness of his love and power, that the burden is gone and without the want being supplied that drove them to God, they rejoice in God himself and care not for the deprivation. This was Paul's experience when he went thus to God about the thorn, and came away without the specific relief he had prayed for, but with such a bless- ing as a result of his drawing near to God, that he little cared whether the thorn remained or not — or, rather, rejoiced that it was not removed ; that it might be used to keep him near to God, whose love so filled his soul. A widow once told the writer of the turning point in her Chris- tian life, when God's love was so shed abroad in her heart that she had been enabled to go on through all her trials rejoicingly conscious of God's presence, and casting all her burdens upon Him. She was driven to seek God by great need. Her husband's death left her destitute, with httle children to provide for, and few friends from whom to look for continuous aid. Winter drew on, and, one day, her little boy came in shivering with cold and asked if he could not have a fur cap, as his straw hat was very cold and none of the boys at school wore straw hats. She was without a cent in the world. She gave a 10 DISCERNING PRAYER. hopeful answer to the boy and sent him out to plaV, and then went to her bedroom and knelt and wept in utter desola- tion of heart before God, praying most earnestly that God would give her a token that He was her God and was caring for her by sending her a cap for her boy. While she prayed the peace of God filled her soul. She was made to feel the presence of her Saviour in such a way that all doubts as to his love for her and his fulfillment of all his promises to care for her vanished away, and she went out of her room, rejoic- ing in the Lord and singing his praise. She had no burden about the cap, and was quite content for God to send it or not as it pleased Him; and, in the afternoon, when a neighbor called, occupied with the Lord and his wonderful love, the thought of the cap had gone from her mind. When the neigh- bor rose to depart, she said, " You know my little boy died last fall. Just before he died I bought him a fur cap : he only wore it two or three times. After his death I put away all his things and thought I could never part with any of them. But, this morning, as I went to the drawer to look them over, I felt that I should give you this cap for your little boy. Will you take it of me? As she took the cap and told her neighbor of the morning trial, prayer and blessing, two souls were filled with the sense of the reality of prayer and the love of God for his children. "My little boy," said the widow, "wore that cap for three winters. And often, when sorely tried by my circumstances, has God lifted the burden from my heart, by my just looking at it, and remembering the blessing that came with it." Experiences like this God gives to all his children, not for the purpose of leading them to look to Him for supplying their physical necessities, as an end, but to make Himself known to them, and to secure their confidence and love, for "this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." (Jno. xvii, 3.) The use of prayer is to bring us into communion with God, hi the growth of the spiritual life, that is ours by faith in DISCERNING PRAYER. 11 Christ Jesus. To leave it upon any lower plane than this, is to rob it of its highest functions and to paralyze it of lasting power for good in any direction. The promises of God are conditioned upon our being in this state of heart toward God. "If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. (Jno. xv., 7.) Abiding in Christ, our will will be His will, as to desiring that which will most advance the divine life and promote confid- ence in God, and all our desires for material blessings will be subordinated to this motive. Right here must come in a line of truth that will lead us from the spirit of dictation in our prayers to God in all matters pertaining to our worldly con- cerns. We cannot tell what is for our highest spiritual good. The saving of our property or the taking it away. The re- covery from sickness or the continuance of it ; the restoration of the health of our loved one, or his departing to be with Christ; the removing the thorn or the permitting it to remain, "/^i evenjthituf it is indeed our blessed privilege to let our re- quests be make known unto God, but, praise his name, he has Hot passed over to us the awful responsibility of the assurance that in everything the requests we make known will be granted. He has reserved the decision, where we should rejoice to leave it, to his infinite wisdom and his infinite love. There is a danger to be carefully guarded against in the reading of this book and in the consideration of the precious truth. The incidents it relates bring before the mind, of the unlimited resources and the unquenchable love of God, that are made available to believing prayer. That danger has been suggested by what has been said, that the highest use of prayer is to bring the soul nearer to God, and 7iot the ynakiyig oj it a mere matter of convenience to escape physical ills or supply phy- sical necessities. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh" and continues flesh until the end. "Have no confidence tn the flesh" is al- ways a much needed exhortation. Now, unquestionably, the desires of the natural heart may and do deceive us, and often 1^ DISCERNING^ PEAYER. lead us to believe that our fervent earnest prayer for temporal blessing is led of the Spirit, when the mind of the Spirit is, that we will be made more humble, more Christ-like and more useful by being denied than by being granted. Again, we are in danger of disobeying the plain commands of God's word in allowing prayer ever to take the place of anything in our power to do, and that ive are commanded to do as a means to secure needed good. He who has said " pray always," has also said, " Be ambitious to be quiet and to do your own business, and to work with your hands, even as we charged you; that ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and may have need of nothing." (1 Thess., iv., 11, 12; R. V.) How often the Jlesh has led men to read (Phil, iv., 19): "My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus," in a spirit entirely opposed to this ex- hortation. They have ceased to labor with their hands, and, without warrant in the providences of God and the judgment of brethren, have turned from doing their own business, ex- pecting the Lord to pay their debts and provide for their ne- cessities. The quotations of Scripture made by our Lord to Satan, "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord, thy God," is surely applicable in all such cases. The spirit of a "sound mind" (see 2 Tim. i., 7) will surely recognize this. So in all things, that which God has given me intelligence and power to do, in avoiding evil or securing good, I am under direct command from him to do, always depending upon His blessing to secure the needed result. A true faith in God will be made manifest by careful obedience to known commands. An intelligent faith can never allow dependence upon means used to take the place of dependence upon the living God, who alone makes them efficacious. It must result in preswnptious faith, if obedience is neglected, and the results only promised to obedience are expected. That God can give blessing, without the use of the ordinary means, on man's part, there is no question. That he has done so is a matter of record. Yet we should remember that there were DISCERNING PRAYER. 13 but tivG miraculous draughts of fishes, and ofihj twice did our Lord make bread without the use of seed-time, harvest, grind- ing and baking. The rule of Christ in his earthly ministry was, most certainly, to receive the supply of his physical wants from His Heavenly Father, in the use of means to se- cure the results offered in the ordinary operation of the laws of God. He went into the corn-field at autumn and visited the olive tree for sustenance as did other men. And the ques- tion for his disciples is not what God can do, and not what he has done (that he may be known as God over all creation, blessed for evermore) in the suspension of natural laws, but what has he revealed to us as his will during the time of the present dispensation of the church on this earth, as to his children using means for the avoidance of evil and securing of good, or depending entirely upon miraculous interference in answer to the prayer of faith for all need without reference to use of means. Does the prayer, *' Give us this day our daily bread," mean that we are to do nothing to secure our bread, lest we show no faith in God, and simply wait in idleness for God to repeat the the miracle of sending it by a raven ? or, does it mean that with thankful hearts to God for the ability he has given us to w&rk, that we go forth diligently fulfilling our task in the use of all appropriate means to secure that which his loving bounty has made possible for us in the fruitful seasons of the earth, and return with devout recognition that He is the Crea- tor, Upholder and Giver of all, bringing our sheaves with us. When seed-time and harvest fail and death is on the land, when corn fails in Egypt and there is no bread, when ive have obeyed Jiim and sought to toil with our hands and no man has given unto us, then we will expect his interposition and will have faith that he who has fed us by use of means, will supply us without means, and that He alone is the living God. It is noticeable that the prophet Elisha, whose prayers God heard in the multiplication of the twenty loaves during the dearth at Gilgal, was made Ehjah's successor when following 14 DISCEBNING PBAYER. his twelve yoke of oxen at the plough in the field, diligently using means to obtain bread, and undoubtedly communing with God all the while and recognizing the evidences of his love and power in every upturned daisy as he ploughed the sod, and in every seed that he dropped into the fertile earth, and thought it grand to be a fellow worker with God in the husbandry of the earth and not one to be fed in idleness, neglecting the toil appointed to man, and losing the blessing that is promised in the word of God, in the discipline and the knowledge of God in the operations of His laws, that comes in a greater or less degree to all of earth's honest toilers. It is the opinion of many of God's children that as the present dispensation draws to its close, there will be among the spiritually minded and consecrated ones of the church, a reproduction of the gifts of Pentecost for a last testimony to the world before Christ comes in glory. There is much Scrip- ture that might be quoted to sustain this opinion. God grant in His grace and mercy that it may be so. But neither the church or the world have any claim upon God for it. The church has abused grace and the world has despised mercy. All the promises as to miracles wrought for a testimony as to the truth of Christ's resurrection, have been fulfilled. If Christ were to come to-day, the world would be without excuse in having rejected him, and could not plead that signs and wonders had been abundantly wrought in His name in the establishing of His church upon the earth The question of our Lord in Luke xviii., 8, " When the son of man cometh shall he find faith on the earth? " suggests to many minds that there may not be vouchsafed during the time immediately preceding his manifestations, any marked inter- ference by God in the way of miracles or signs among his children, but that their faith in Him as the unseen God, and their trust in the truth and verity of His word, will be brought forth to the praise and glory of God and their joy, by their being left to the word alone and the operations of the Holy DISCERNING PRAYER. 15 Ghost by and through the word for their corafort and sfcabiHty in the faith. Coupled with this thought let it ever be borne in mind by the believer that the testimony of God's word as to miracles, signs and wonders wrought by Satanic agency in the church, during the last day, is clear and unmistakable, and warnings abound as to our danger from them. *' The Spirit saith expressly that in later times some shall fall away from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils." 1 Tim. iv., 1. " But know this, that in the last days grievous times shall come." '* Evil men and imposters shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived." 2 Tim. iii., 1 and 13. " Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers be transformed as the ministers of righteousness. 2 Cor. xi., 14. *' And then shall that wicked be revealed. Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders ; and with all deceivableness of unrighteous- ness in them that perish, because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved." 2 Thess. ii., 8 to 10. By these passages it is plain that a sign or a wonder does not establish a doctrine or endorse a man as certainly being from God. The doctrine and the man must be judged by the written word of God. If there is ought in the doctrine that denies that Jesus is the Son of God, that derogates in the slightest degree from the merit of His atonement on the cross for our sins, or that takes the eye off from Him as the risen and coming Lord, the alone object of our faith and hope, or that dishonors in any way God's holy word, taking from or adding to it, then the more signs and wonders and manifestations of mysterious power that there may be connected with it, then the more cer- tainly we may know that it is of Satan and not of God. And if, in the man who exhibits signs and wonders, there is a spirit contrary to the spirit of Christ, in his seeking honor 16 DISCERNING PRAYER. from man, and using his power to establish a claim to such honor, " speaking of himself as some great one," and not walking in humility as a sinner saved from hell and kept day by day by the power of God through faith in Christ, And if the purpose of his signs be to establish revelations he is receiving in any form apart from the written word, then, though his signs be as marvellous as those of the magicians in Egypt, or Simon Magnus in Samaria, he is, like them, a minister of Satan and not a minister of Jesus Christ. The age abounds in doctrines and men of this kind. The life of faith lays the soul open to assaults of the Devil by their agency. *♦ Beloved try the spirits whether they be of God." Let us not waver in our faith in God's overruhng provi- dence, and in the reality of His interposition in answer to prayer for the deliverance and help of his people under any and all circumstances. " In everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let our requests be made known unto God," but let our first request be • that we be kept in a sound mind obedient to the word, and let all of our requests close with the utterance, from a sincere heart, of the words, ** Thy will be done." If this be the attitude of our hearts our prayers shall be abundantly and graciously answered, and God shall guide us from the wiles of the Evil One for the sake of His dear Son Jesus Christ our Lord, through whose precious blood we have all grace and all blessing. Amen. Lake View, July 24th, 1885. i^ Paw ^m §mm potMttg ^xup it hi ^ivm pirn Svom uvm. i^lttt 3 : 2?. i^ ®0irmiattt. *' ^non^, t?iat the Zot^d, thy God he is God, the /aith/ut God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with than that love him, a7id keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,'* ''My Covenant will I not break, nor alte?' the t?iing that is gone out of my lips," " I will not suffer my faithfulness to fail," ** I have spoken it, I will also b7i,7ig it to pass j I ha%'e purposed it, I will also do it," "Me is faithful that promised." *' Iwill make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure 77iercies of ^avid," *' Once have I swor7i by my holiness that I will not lie unto 2)avid," " God is not a 7nan, that he should lie ; hath he said a7id shall ?ie 7iot do it ? hath he spoken a7id shall lie not make it good? " " J^orever, O Jjord, thy word is settled in S^eaven; thy faithfulness is U7ito all ge7ie7^atio7is, thy 7t^07'd is tmie from the beginning," *' Thy faithfulness is ten to all ge7ierations." *' The word of our God shall stand forever," '' So shall my jt^ord be that goeth fo7'th out of my 7nouth; it shall not return U7ito 77ie void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper i7i the thi77gs whereto I sent it," ^nmtt$ io Iprapij. A Wonderful Answer to Prayer and Proof of the Existence of the Holy Spirit. A trustful Christian, whose heart had been deeply touched with thoughts of religion, was one day thinking and ponder- ing and wishing that he might be more truly convinced of the actual existence of the Holy Spirit. '• If," thought he, *' there is a Holy Spirit, a Superior Mind and Will, I rever- ently and sincerely wish that I may be convinced of it beyond all doubt ; that I may indeed know God is a living reality and daily guide and mighty among the plans and ways of men." Though having all the needed mental, his- toric and heart belief and trust in God — still there was de- sired that special satisfaction which can only come by per- sonal evidence. With reverent feeling one morning, he asked the Lord humbly, in Prayer, " What can thy servant do for thee this day ? Teach hiniy that he may gladly minister to any one in thy name.'''' In the course of the day there came to him the thought of the revival services then proceeding in Brooklyn, and feeling a cordial sympathy, he sat down and wrote a letter to Mr. Moody, with these words : " / kriow not how you are supported, or anything of your needs ; but I feel like helpirig you in your good work. Enclosed firid check for $25 ; take 20 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. it and use it if you need it for yourself; if not, then do some good with it.^' The circumstance was almost forgotten, when the day after there came this wonderful reply from Mr. Moody : " Your letter came to hand in the same mail, at the same INSTANT of TIME, with a letter from a brother in distress WANTING THE SAME AMOUNT. And now youJiavemade him happy, and my heart glad, and the Lord will bless you foi itJ^ D. L. Moody. Had there been a direct revelation from heaven, it could not have been more astounding than this, to the heart of that Christian. His own prayer was answered, as to his search for the evidences of the Holy Spirit, but oh, how wonderfully ! None but a Superior, Higher, Overruling Spirit, could have known the thoughts and desires of each heart. Nothing but an Omnipotent hand of Power and Wisdom could have brought these two letters together at that identical instant of time. None but an All-knowing Father could have fixed the amount of money which the one was to give and the other was to pray for. This was a wonderful conjuncture of time, desire and amount, and could never have happened by any chance opera- tion of Nature or the natural heart and will. Strangest of all, neither of the parties had ever met, known or corresponded with each other before. Neither did Mr. Moody know of the desire of the one, nor the necessity of the other, until in the act of opening the two letters side by side. In the one envel- ope was the prayer; in the other the answer. That check, those letters, with all signatures and endorse- ments and those persons are this day living and can testify to the authenticity of the circumstance. ANSWERS TO PRAYE3. 21 The Prayer of Faith. The family of Mr. James E. Jordan has resided in Lake View, Chicago, since the spring of 1871, They are members of Lincoln Park Congregational Church. The father, Mr. James Re Jordan, died in October, 1882, aged eighty-four years. . Through a long series of financial trials, sorrows, afflictions by death and pressing cares, this family learned to depend on God for their daily prosperity; and the cures wrought in them, according to God's Word, are only a small portion of the remarkable answers to prayer with which their history is filled. It is an instructive fact for Christian meditation, that when the exercise of intelligent faith was necessary to their cures, the faith was there ready for exercise. They had not to begin, as, alas ! so many do, at the very foundation, and find out first, what faith is, and next, how to exercise it. They had learned long before what faith is and what faith is not; that faith is trustful obedience to the Word of God ; that it is not a determination to have one's own way, nor to expect the imme- diate gratification of a desire, simply because the desire has been made known to God. They knew that faith obediently accepts God's commands and promises, expects to comply with the conditions of those commands and promises, and, so complying, expects to receive the results of such obedience at such times and in such ways as God appoints ; all of which truths they found, and all of which may be found in the Holy Scriptures. Thus living in the hopes of the Gospel, reahzing as muca that their "home is in heaven" as that their "rest is not here," they have, through the years, performed the daily duties of their pilgrimage. The writer has known them for thirteen years, and grate- fully testifies that their faith has strengthened her's, and that their cheerful hope in the Lord has been a strong consolation to many who were in trouble. 22 ANSWERS TO PRAYEB. After the sudden death of the youngest son of the family, in 1880, the care of the family devolved entirely upon the two daughters, Mrs. H. J. Furlong and Miss Addie S. Jordan, In April, 1876, Mrs. Jordan fell and badly fractured her hip. She was then seventy-seven years old. On account of her age she could not well be etherized, nor endure the repeated necessary resetting of the bones, and consequently they grew together irregularly. Her hip-joint was stifif, so that she was never able to walk without the support of a cane or crutch. For eight years she could not leave her own little yard, nor climb into a carriage, nor walk without support. Through this misfortune her afflictions grew worse. In January, 1884, she fell and broke one bone and dislocated another in the left wrist. Notwithstanding all that medical help could do, the shock brought on a severe sickness, and when, after eight weeks, she left her bed to move around feebly, she had almost lost her sight and hearing, her hand was useless, and her mind greatly impaired. On her birthday, June 10, 1884, when she was eighty-five years old, she greatly mourned that she had outlived her use- fulness ; that she could no longer feed herself, nor read her Bible, nor remember the desirable subjects for her prayers, and she hoped that she should not linger here long in such a helpless and useless condition. During the latter part of this time the two daughters were • sick, Mrs. Furlong with paralysis and Miss Jordan with con- sumption. In the latter part of 1882 Miss Jordan, then in feeble health, was needed at home to attend the father's last sick- ness, and Mrs. Furlong was left to conduct their business alone. The extraordinary exertion brought on paralysis. It began in her right arm, which became so insensible that the strongest ammonia produced no sensation or apparent effect. Gradually her whole right side lost power, her foot dragged, and though she did manage to move about, she was compar- atively helpless. Physicians spoke not hopefully; and pro- ANSWERS TO PRAYEEo 23 tracted rest was recommended as a possible reliefo She planned to take electric treatment, though not very hopeful about the result. She failed once to meet her physician, and while planning the second time to take the treatment, and consid- ering Christ's miracles of healing, and the Bible's promises to the sick, and having a feeling that possibly she might be doing wrong in not relying entirely on the Lord, who had hitherto so much helped them, she delayed a little, and failed again to meet the appointment. It was a Saturday evening in January, 1883. She went home and sat down that evening alone, in the dining-room, depressed. The enfeebled family — the aged crippled mother, the sick sister and her own young son — had retired. As she thought the subject through, she became convinced that it was not good to spend time and money in the way proposed. Instantly the words The Saviour filled her soul with indescribable hope, and as she thought of His miracles, and how the same Jesus^ on earth, healed paralyzed ones, the hope grew that He would heal her. With the well hand she stretched out her paralyzed hand on the table and said: "Dear Lord, will you heal me?" Like an electric shock the life began to move in her arm, and the continued sensation was as though something that, previ- ously, had not moved was set in motion. The feehng passed up to the head, and down the body to the foot. She was healed! and she was grateful! She did not speak of her experience to the family, but retired. She rose early the next morning, and awoke her son, — a prayerful, dutiful young man, — and said to him, "I'm going to church, to-day." He replied, "Then I'll get up and go with you," expecting that she must ride. Her soul was solemnly full that day of the felt presence of the Holy Spirit, and she did not like to talk. Her son watched her movements, astonished. She went to the church, took a class again in Sunday School, and, in going back and forth to church that day and evening, walked about sixty blocks without weariness. 24 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. We are not permitted, here, to draw aside the curtain, to dwell upon the surprises and the grateful joy of that ever-to° be-remembered, sacred day. A few days after this healing, she, with a consciousness that she was running a risk, lifted a heavy weight, and a numbness returned. She confessed the sin to the Lord, and asked Him that, when she had been sufficiently chastened, He would take the trouble away. Gradually, within two days, it disappeared, and has never returned. At the time when Mrs. Furlong was healed, in answer to prayer. Miss Jordan's case was considered hopeless. Her lungs had been diseased since 1876. In November, 1879, her physician had decided that tubercles had formed in the left lung, and that the right lung was much congested and hardened. In 1882 she had many hemorrhages, and gradually grew worse, so that she could not use her left arm or shoulder without producing hemorrhage. Mrs. Furlong, soon after her own healing, received a corn- forting assurance from the Lord that her sister would be healed; but Miss Jordan, herself, had not that assurance. At this time she took little or no medicines, the physicians and the family having no confidence in their curative effect; but, on the 1st of January, 1884, she had so many chills and hemorrhages, that they sent for the family physician to aid in checking, if possible, the severe attack. During this apparently rapid descent deathward, Mrs. Fur- long continued to repeat to the family and to the physicians that the Lord would heal her sister. Miss Jordan was one day so low that she could just be aroused to take her medicine. As Mrs. Furlong went to give it, Miss Jordan said to her, " Do you want to throw that medicine away?" Mrs. Furlong said "Yes," and threw it away. Six hours of united waiting upon the Lord followed. They were hours of pain. From nine in the morning till three in the afternoon she suffered indescribable pain, A few ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 25 minutes after three, the pain left her, and with a bright look she said, "I believe I'm better." She wanted to rise and dress, but Mrs. Furlong advised her to rest through the night. She said she had not, in five years, been so free from weari- ness and pain» The aged mother was sick in bed with that broken wrist, and Mrs. Furlong feared that her sister's improved condition would shock and perplex her. Miss Jordan lay on the lounge the most of the time for two days. One of her expressions was, "It's perfect bliss to lie here free from pain." Her breathing became perfectly nat- ural, and very soon the great hollow place in the upper part of the chest, over the left lung, filled out. Shortly before her healing she only weighed eighty pounds ; but a few months after her weight had increased to one hundred and twenty pounds. She progressed in health rapidly, and on the second Sun- day after the healing came she attended church. The feeble mother was most sensitively anxious lest her daughter should pursue some unwarrantable course which should lead to relapse. Miss Jordan's health steadily improved, but it was several months before a cough entirely left her. You may be sure that doubters made the most of that cough! But it left her! At one time she brought on a slight relapse by giving lessons m crayon drawing. She came to the conclusion that the Lord had other work for her to do: and at this writing, September, 1885, having prayerfully and watchfully followed the leadings of the Lord, is a missionary among the freedmen of the South, and is strong in health and in faith, "giving glory to God." One of the aged mother's perplexities was that the Lord should want her to live on in such a helpless and useless con- dition, while her daughters, who might be so useful, must die; but oh, how successful she had by precept and example taught tnose daughters that "He hath done all things well i " How W Ai«SWEKS TO PRAYERo patiently she suffered whatever she thought was the Lord';i will! How sweet was her constant thanksgiving! Said a pious Christian neighbor, whose poor health restricted her attendance at church, "When I'm hungry for a blessing I go down to see old lady Jordan," After eight painful weeks, she so far recovered from the sickness consequent on the broken and dislocated wrist as to move around feebly, but sight and hearing were almost gone. Her leg was stiff, her hand stiff, her wrist deformed, and her mind greatly impaired. Miss Jordan became very hopeful, and received strong assurance, in answer to prayer, that her mother might be healed. Mrs. Furlong received no assurance whatever in her mother's case. There was a great deal of talking and pray- mg about it, in the family, and finally Mrs. Jordan humbly claimed the Lord's help, beseeching Him that since He had recorded that He would make the blind to see, the lame to walk, and the deaf to hear, if it was His will He would heal her. This was the night of June 16th, 1884. In the morning Miss Jordan was so hopeful that she rose early, and attentively listened to the movements in her mother's room. She called the little family's attention to them, saying, "Just listen to her;" and as, holding on by the banister, the aged mother came with her accustomed slow movements down to the dining room, Miss Jordan said to them, "Now, watch her." According to the long habit of eight years, she began to reach out for her cane, unconscious that she had been walk- ing around her room with new freedom. Miss Jordan went toward her and said, "Mother, do you want your cane?" and, wondering, the old lady walked freely into the dining room. They gathered around her, and said, "Are you not healed, mother?" and she began to think she tras, and sat down in her chair by the table. Could she move her hand? The doubled - up thumb, and straight, stiff finger, were j)erfectly free and as limber as ever^ and the stiff wrist joint moved ivith perfect free- AlSfSWERS ^5^ PRAYEE. 27 dom! Bhe heard as well as anijhodijl Could she see? She went up-stairs to her Bible, whose blurred, dim pages she had thought closed to her forever, aod she coidd read as well as tveVf and without glasses! She could thread the finest needle. Could she kneel and thank the Lord? She had not knelt for eight years. Yes, she could kneel as well as when she served the Lord in her youth ! Christian reader, stop here and think what a joyful family that was that June morning. That aged saint, of a little more than 85 years, was in good health again ! And her two daughters had been snatched from the jaws of death I What a triumph of blessed memories to leave in legacy to that young, hopeful, Christian son, who, in childhood, had himself repeatedly proved that the Lord hears and answers prayer! Mrs. Jordan has never used cane or crutch since that morning. She has frequently walked five blocks, to go to her church; and, a few weeks after her heahng, she one day walked the distance of about fifteen blocks. She has walked for hours in Lincoln Park, among the plants and flowers, and she goes up and down stairs, and wherever she likes, as well as anyone. She has the use of her faculties, and an altogether com- fortable use of her sight, though that is not so acute as at first. Her earliest joy was that she was permitted to see that the Lord had some purpose in sparing her so long. Dear Christian reader, shall the wonderful manifestation of that "purpose" strengthen your faith? It helps me, "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" "No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly." "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him," "If we hve by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit." In the hopes of the Gospel, Miss E, Dktee. 150 Madison St., Chicago, 2§ ANSWERS TO PRAYER. Almost a Bankrupt. A prominent Christian had just entered a merchant's counting-room, when the head man of the place said to him, "Let us kneel and ask God to help me through, for without his help, I shall be a bankrupt before the setting of the sun." So they knelt and prayed. That man went through the press, ure, and did not become a bankrupt. '' He Could Not Flee from the Power of the Holy Spirit." A clergyman of distinction gives this instance of the worth lessness of all attempts to flee from the Power of the Spirit. " I looked out of my window one morning, while it was yet dark, and saw a lady standing at my gate, leaning against a post, and evidently weeping bitterly. I knew her. She was a member of the church; and was an earnest, consistent Christian. She was married to one of the most bitter Uni- versalists I ever knew. I stepped down the steps to her, and asked, ' What is the matter ? ' She replied, ' Oh, my poor hus- band ! I had so hoped and prayed that he might be converted in this revival ! and now he has rode away, and says that he wlll not come hack till this religious flurry is over. What shall I do to bear up under this ? ' " I said, ' It is near the time for prayer. We will go and lay his case before the Lord, and make special request that God will bring him back again under the power of the Spirit. The Lord can bring him home, and I believe He will do it. We must pray for him.' ''She dried her tears in a moment, and seemed to seize hold of this ' strong hope,' as we walked to the place of prayer. We found the room crowded. It fell to my lot to lead the meeting. "At the opening, I stated the case of this Universalist husband, who had undertaken to run away from the influence ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 2^ of the Spirit, by fleeing into the country. I said that we must all pray that the Holy Spirit miay follow him, overtake him, and bring him hack again, show him his sins, and lead him to Jesus. " The meeting took up the case with great earnestness, and I could not but feel that prayer would in some way be an- swered. . " But can you imagine our surprise when, at our evening 'prayer meeting, this same Universalist came in ? " After standing a few minutes, till the opportunity offered,, he said : " ^ I went away on horseback this morning, and told my wife I was going into the country to stay till this flurry was- over. I rode right over the hills, back from the river, into the country, till I had got eighteen miles away. There, 07i the top of a hill, I teas stopped as Paul was, and just as sud- denly, and made to feel what a horrible sinner I am. I am one of the worst sinners that ever lived. I have lost my Uni^ versalism, and I know I must be born again, or I can never see the kingdom of Heaven. Oh, pray for me that I may be converted ; nothing else will do for me.^ *' He took his seat amid the tears and sobs of the whole as- sembly. The hour was full of prayer for that man's conver- sion. " This strong and intelligent man, once one of the bitterest Universalists I ever knew, is now an elder in a Presbyterian church, and one of the most joyous, happy, energetic men of God you will meet in many a day. He believes he was ' con- verted on the spot in that prayer meeting.' " Life Brought Back Again in the Midst of Death. The following instance, when death itself was made to give back the life it claimed, is personally known to us to be true : A mother, in this city, sent a request for prayer to the FuU 30 ANSWERS TO PRATER. ton street prayer-meeting, asking the Lord for the recovery of her daughter, who was sinking rapidly, and who she felt was almost dying. Her husband, an eminent physician, and others, also, the most skilled physicians of the city, gave up the case as hope- less. The mother felt that now none but God could or would help ; that in the Fulton street prayer-meeting were sympa- thizing friends, and to it sent her request. She came to the meeting herself, to join in their prayers and testify her faith. The moments of the meeting passed on. One request after another was read, but hers was not touched. She was sadly dis- appointed. Her child was so weak and almost dying, it could not live the day through, perhaps. The time was within a few minutes, less than three, of the close of the meeting. She, at last, with faltering steps and palpitating heart, pressed her way to the desk and asked if her request was there. Upon search, it was found that it had been overlooked. Too late, said the leader, to read it to-day. See, the clock is at its last moment ; but it shall be read first thing at 12 o'clock, to- morrow, and special prayer shall be offered immediately. With what heavy heart the mother went away, back to the chamber of the dying one, none can ever know. ^11 night the waiting ones watched, with their ceaseless attentions and silent prayers. A few minutes before 12 o'clock the body sank, the eyes closed, pallor came over the features, the spirit seemed gone, ^nd all luas still ; not a breath, not a motio7i — death bad come. The mother had taken her watch, hung it on the pillow of the bed, and with streaming eyes, yet ceaseless prayer, they watched the slow finger move to 12 o'clock. At precisely twelve, all joined in prayer, lifting their hearts to God. At fifteen minutes past twelve, the daughter opened her eyes, saj-- ing, "Mother, I feel better^'' then sank into sleep, breathing steadily ; after three hours awoke to consciousness and sat up in bed, and before night was able to walk the floor of her ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 31 c-h amber. Prayer brought that life back, even when death had taken it. At the ver'i/ moment when that precious jprayer was offered in the meeting, the Lord came and touched the dying onCj and gave it new life. The mother's faith and prayer was honored, and the Lord remembered his promise, " If ye be- lieve, ye shall see the glory of GodP The same Lord who raised Lazarus and bade him come forth, also came and bade this precious life come back again to earth. Saved from the Hands of a Desperado. ^^ The following circumstance is communicated to us by a United States Surgeon : ^'After the close of the Mexican war, and in the year 1849, a train was sent out from San Antonio to establish military posts on the upper E.io Grande, particularly at El Paso. I was surgeon of the quartermaster's department, numbering about four hundred men. While the train was making up, the cholera prevailed in camp, for about six weeks, at first with terrible severity. On the 1st of June it had so far sub- sided that we took up the line of march. After about four days out from San Antonio, the health of the men became very good, and continued so through the whole route, with the exception of occasional cases of prostration from heat, and slight fevers, the Summer being unusually hot. One even- ing in July, after coming into camp, I received a call to see a man who had been taken sick on the march. I found him lying under his wagon. The wagon was loaded with bacon, in bulk about two tons. The heat with the pressure had caused it to drip freely. I asked him to come from under the wagon, that I might examine his case and prescribe for him. This he refused to do; but demanded that I should crawl under the wagon to him, which I, of course, would not consent to do. No persuasion could induce him to change his position in the least. Becoming satisfied that he was not much, if at all sick, I left him. His profanity, threats and 32 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. imprecations were fearful. Perhaps it would be well to give a short sketch of his life for the three years previous, as I learned it from men who knew him, and had been with him for considerable portion of that period. He went to Mexico, at the beginning of the war, a soldier in the regular army. When his term of service expired, he was discharged, and sought employment in the quartermaster's department, as a teamster. He had the reputation of being a thief, a robber and an assassin. In a few months he was ignominiously dis- charged from the service, and, at the close of the war, he came to Texas, and sought and obtained employment as teamster in the train then organizing for El Paso. But, to return to my narrative. On the morning after the occurrence at the wagon, a teamster came to me and said, in a hasty and abrupt manner, ^Doctor, Mc will kill you to-day or to-night. He is full of rage, and muttering terrible threats. He was out very early this morning and emptied his six-shooter, and came in and reloaded it and put it in first-rate order.' I said, 'Mc, what's up now ? ' He replied, ' I will kill that d — d old doctor to-day or to-night ; ' and he will do it. I have known him make threats before, and have never known him fail to execute them. But I must go ; he must not know that I have seen you.' Knowing the man, I realized the danger, and felt that I was powerless, either to resist or avoid it, I retired within my tent and closed it up. I prostrated myself before Him who is able to save. I prayed for deliverance from the hands of the cruel and blood-thirsty man, and that I might not be left in the power of him who was my enemy without cause. I submitted my cause into the hands of Him who doeth all things well, and prayed for entire submission to his will. My anxiety subsided ; my fear was removed, and I com- menced the duties of the day with usual cheerfulness. "Soon after this, the camp broke and we were on the march. I fell back with the officers of the rear guard, and the excite- ment of the morning was- soon forgotten. About 10 o'clock, a courier came back in haste, for me to see a man who had ANSWERS TO PRAYER. S3 been thrown from his mule and crushed under the wheels of his wagon. He did not know who the man was — he was about half or three-quarters of a mile ahead. The thought then occurred to me, I shall probably have to pass Mc's team. I will ride square up with the courier, and keep him between myself and the train. When we came to the spot I inquired who the man was, for he was so mutilated I could not recog- nize him. It was Mc. God teas there. Awe and terror took hold upon me. I was dumb with amazement. , " Mc had dismounted and walked some fifty rods by the side of his team. Attempting to remount, his mule whirled and pitched, and he was thrown upon his back, and his team with fourteen others instantly stampeded. Both the fore and hind wheels on the near side of his wagon, passed directly over his face, and crushed every bone in his head. It was a fearful sight ; not a feature of the human face could be discerned. "The stampeded teams were flying wildly over the prairie, in spite of every effort of the teamsters to control them. " I directed the head of the corpse to be inserted in some new, thick sacks, in such a way as to prevent the oozing of blood, and that it be wrapped in his blanket and taken to the next camp for burial. When the stampeded teams came in, it was found that no other person was injured, nor any dam- age done. " The philosopher may tell us of the reign of law ; of the ^oincidence of circumstances ; of the action of natural causes 9 but, to the Christian, the fact still remains — prayer was aii- fewered. God heareth his people when they cry unto Him.'* The Prayer of a Missionary in Mexico Answered.— Saved from Banditti. "In the Spring of 1872, I was, with my wi^fe and child, in the city of Cadereita, Mexico, where we had been laboring as missionaries, but felt it was our duty to return to the States /or a little season, and had been asking God to open up the 3 34 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. way for us. At length, about the middle of March, the oppor- tunit}^ appeared to be given, the means being provided ; but the country was in a state of revolution (a no uncommon thing there), and, consequently, there were no stages run- ning out of the country, so we had to take conveyance in Mexican carts. Therefore, we engaged two men, with their carts ; one in which we might ride and carry a mattress, which should serve as a bed at night, and the other, to carry the baggage and provisions for ourselves and the horses, as our way was mostly through an uncultivated country. ''We knew that General Cortinas, with his troops, was some- where between us and Texas, as the State we were in was one of those in rebellion. The blood-thirsty character of General Cortinas is well known on the frontier, there being no less than seventeen indictments against him for murder in the State of Texas. He is regarded as having a special hatred against Americans, and the Mexicans, themselves, stand in terror of him. ''Our friends and brethren in Cadereita tried hard to deter us from going, as most likely we would fall into the hands of General Cortinas; in which event, they said, the very utmost we could expect would be to escape with our lives, being left destitute of everything, in a wilderness road ; but, as God had seemed to open up the way, providing the means, we deter- mined to go forward, trusting that He also would protect us in the way. Therefore, having completed our arrangements, we started for Matamoras, some three hundred miles distant, on the 19th of March, the wives of the two men accompanying their husbands, making our party six adults and one child ; ^he brethren, in Cadereita promising to pray daily for our safety. The third morning, after commending ourselves, as usual, into the care of our covenant-keeping God, we started on our journey. Some two hours later, we espied the troops of General Cortinas, about two miles distant, marching toward us. We again all looked to God for protection, and prayed that, as he shut the mouths of the lions, that they should not ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 35 hurt his servant Daniel, so He would now restrain the evil passions of men, that they might not hurt nor injure us — then we went on till we met the advance guard, who commanded us to halt and wait till the General came up. After nearly half an hour, General Cortinas, with his escort, rode up to where we were waiting for him. After the ordinary saluta- tion, he asked: {l,de adonde vienen y adonde van?) ^From whence have you come, and where are you going ? ' — to which we replied properly ; then he asked : ' What is the news from Nueva Leon ? ' (the State we left) — to which we replied as faithfully as we could. Then I asked him, ' Is the road safe between us and Matamoras ? ' He replied : ' Perfectly ; you can go on without any fear, and as safely as you would in your own country.' Then, bidding us ' good morning,' he rode on, not even inquiring about or examining any of our ''When we arrived in Brownsville, Texas, and told of how gentlemanly General Cortinas had treated us, all pronounced it wonderful, and said, ' We could not have believed General Cortinas capable of such kindness to Americans so in his power. It was truly a miracle.' We believed that it was God who restrained the naturally vicious passions of the man, in direct answer to prayer." An Infidel's Life Spared a Few Days. "During the Summer of 1862, I became acquainted with a Mr. A , who professed infidelity, and who was, I think, as near an atheist as any I ever met. I held several conversa- tions with him on the subject of religion, but could not seem to make any impression on his mind, and, when a point was pressed strongly, he would become angry. "In the Fall, he was taken ill, and seemed to go into a rapid decline. I, with others, sought kindly and prayerfully to turn his mind to his need of a Saviour, but only met with rebuffs. As I saw that his end was drawing near, one day I pressed the 36 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. importance of preparing to meet God, when he became angry and said I need not trouble myself any more about his soul, as there was no God, the Bible was a fable, and when we die that is the last of us, and was unwilling that I should pray with him. I left him, feeling very sad. *' Some four weeks after, on New Year's morning, I awoke with the impression that I should go and see Mr. A , and I could not get rid of that impression ; so, about nine o'clock, I went to see him, and, as I approached the house, I saw the two doctors, who had been holding a consultation, leaving. When I rang the bell, his sister-in-law opened the door for me, and exclaimed, ' Oh ! I am so glad you have come ; John is dying. The doctors say he cannot possibly live above two hours, and probably not one.' When I went up to his room, he sat bolstered up in a chair, and appeared to have fallen into a doze. I sat down, about five feet from him, and when, in about two minutes, he opened his eyes and saw me, he started up, with agony pictured on his face and in the tones of his voice, exclaimed, ' ! Mr. P , I am not prepared to die ; there is a God ; the Bible is true ! 0, pray for me ! pray God to spare me a few days, till I shall know I am saved.^ , " These words were uttered with the intensest emotion, while his whole physical frame quivered through the intense agony of his soul. I replied in effect, that Jesus was a great Sav- iour, able and willing to save all who would come unto Him, even at the eleventh hour, as He did the thief on the cross. "When I was about to pray with him, he again entreated me to pray especially that God would spare him a few days, till he might have the evidences of his salvation. In prayer, I seemed to have great assurance of his salvation, and asked God to give us the evidence of his salvation, by granting him a few days more in this world. Several others joined in pray- ing God to spare him a few days, till he should give evidence of being saved. "I called again in the evening; he seemed even stronger than in the morning, and his mind was seeking the truth. ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 37 The next day, as I entered, lis face expressed the fact that peace and joy had taken the jilace of fear and anxiety. He was spared some five days, giving very clear evidence that he had passed from death to life. His case was a great mystery to the doctors. They could not understand how he lived so long ; but his friends, who had been praying for him, all Relieved it was in direct answer to prayer." Remarkable Preservation from Brain Difficulties. ^^ A few weeks ago, a man who had once been a member of my church, but had fallen from his steadfastness through strong drink, fell from a ladder, striking his head on the corner of a stone, which made a dent in the skull of over two and one-half inches in length, and three-fourths of an inch in width, and half an inch in depth. This happened on Friday afternoon. At our prayer-meeting, in the evening, most earn- -est prayers were offered in his behalf ; the brethren prayed that God would restore him his senses and spare him a few days, that he might repent of his back-sliding and be saved. " The surgeons raised the skull, and his senses were restored j his mind seemed clear. This continued over a week, when at was evident that there was still some pressure on the brain. The surgeons removed the skull, and found three pieces driven down into the brain. They expressed, from the first, no hope of his recovery ; but wondered much at the clearness of his mind, which continued for over two weeks. We believed that it was in answer to the prayers of the church that he might have time and opportunity to repent and prepare to meet God, which we trust he did." Little George's Prayer. A clergyman writes us these incidents : " I knew a poor family whose son George, four or five years old, was accustomed to pray. They lived five or six miles 38 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. from neighbors, and, at times, were quite destitute. One day^ as little George observed his mother weeping over their desti- tution, he said, '' Why, mother, don't cry any ; we shall not starve ; God will send us something to eat, I know He will. I've just been praying, and asked Him to." The little fellow just as much believed God would send them food, as if he had asked a reliable neighbor and obtained his promise to supply their wants. In a day or two after this, some friends living at a distance and knowing they were poor, took them the wel- come surprise of a wagon-load of substantial material for food and other comforts. The little boy grew up to be a Christian minister, and, about a year ago, on inquiry, his uncle told me he had been at the head of an institution of learning in the South-west." A Prayer for a Horse. ^' My horse died, and, after traveling through the snow-drifts to my appointments, till I was lame, half sick, and unfit for service — as I had not means to purchase a horse, I thought of quitting the work and going to teaching, and laid the matter before God, in prayer; soon after which, some person at a distance, who heard that I had lost my horse, without my say- ing a word about it, raised the means by which I procured another." A Prayer for a 'Wife. " When I believed it would be well for me to seek a compan- ion for life, I asked of God direction in making a wise choice, and that, in a matter of so much importance to me and others, I might meet with success or hindrance^ as my heavenly Father knew best. He led me to a choice and marriage, which I have not since regretted." CliTircli Troubles Qnelled. *^ I might mention a dozen instances in which church troubles were gathering, and trials between members appeared certain,. ANSWERS TO PRATER. 39 when all my tactics failed, and the wisdom of brethren was of no avail ; my last resort was to ask God to send help and deliver from the threatened evil — and in ways that no one could fore- see, complete deliverance came.'' A Minister's Supplies Fall Short. ''When very much in need of funds to procure supplies for a coming Winter, all expedients failed; then I asked God for assistance, when, unexpectedly, a friend in California sent me a little package of gold dust, which I sold, at once, for $130. This came when it was needed, and it did us good." A Prayer for a Servant. " Some time after, we failed to find anything like suitable help in the house, which we greatly needed. Before starting out one morning, in secret I prayed to God to direct me as I went on my uncertain business, and prayed as I called at dif- ferent places, and soon found a colored girl sixteen years old wanting a place, who came and proved to be the best help we ever had, before or since. For seven years and a half she lived in the family, taught two of our children to read; was glad, from choice, to move with us to different places, till she left to be married, fell sick and passed away. A dozen other times when driven in straits, in answer to prai/er God has enabled us to i:)rocure necessary help, which was difficult to obtain. '' In 1874, while on my way to see my mother in Pennsylva- nia — who had just been paralyzed, and died the next week — I was suddenly paralyzed in my left arm, by which, I have since been helpless and useless. After coming here to live, being in want of a man to lift me in and out of bed, dress me, etc., for which we inquired of people, and prayed to God to send us the needed help. We had not means to hire and pay any person to do such work, even if he could be found. 40 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. Soon the right one came, in the person of a young German, who was tramping through the country in search of employ- ment and food ; was ready and glad to do any work for a liv- ing. For pay that satisfied him and us, he staid in the fam- ily over a year, working out doors and in ; could be trusted to do business with money, and return every cent correctly. After being with us over a year, when we needed him no longer, he obtained a situation in a good family, where he is now liv- ing. In many instances, I have prayed to be healed of spe- cial sickness, always using what remedies I thought best, yet asking the divine blessing on their use." Healing. " For over three years, I was troubled with frequent raising of blood from my right lung, which physicians failed to cure. Of this I prayed to be relieved ; after which, the soreness healed, and for several years it has ceased to trouble me.'^ That $18.75. A man who had led a very wicked life, was converted and hopefully saved. Previous to this time, a debt of $18.75 had not given him the slightest thought. After receiving a new heart, he distinctly heard God's command, "Pay what thou owest ; " so called on his creditor, and urged him to send to his house and get a bureau, table and looking-glass, which he desired him to sell and pay himself the sum due him ; but, not wishing to deprive his debtor of such necessary articles, refused, saying he would wait till he could pay. The 18th of November was set, and, as the day approached, the prospect was no brighter ; and when the night of the 17th came around, he spent it in prayer that God would deliver him, and rose from his knees at daybreak, with the full assurance that " He knoweth how to deliver." On passing down a street the next morning, on his way to ANSWERS rc PRAYER. 41 business, a man who kept a large store was standing in the dering who could want me and what he could want me for. In the front yard was a man on a restless horse, ^vho at onca said : ^ We want you to teach our school for a month. The boys have driven out the female teacher. We want you tc take them in hand, and we'll give you fifteen dollars and your board.^ I said, ^ All right, I'll be down there to-morrow morn- ing.' And then I went back to my room to thank God for hearing my prayer.'^ " I Can't Stop to Pray." "A deacon living in a Berkshire town was requested to give his prayers in behalf of a poor man with n large family who had broken his leg. ^I can't stop now to pray,^ said the deacon (who was picking and barreling his early apples for ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 57 the city market). ^' but joii can go down into the cellar and get some corned beef, salt pork, potatoes, and butter — that's the best I can do,^ " Remarkable Healing of a Child. A clergyman writes that during the ministration of his labors at Battle Creek, Mich., there were several remark- able manifestations of divine power — especially in the case of a little girl, the daughter of a Mr. Smith, a child of about six years. ''In September last, she was taken very sick with spinal fever. She became much reduced, extremely nervous and helpless, excepting to move her hands. Physicians gave up the case as a hopeless one, deciding that should she live, her condition would be that of helplessness, a burden to herself and to her parents, "But our graciouc God had better things in ctore for that afflicted family. It was on a Sabbath afternoon, at the very hour when the crowded congregation in our house of worship Mere in prayer for the influences of the divine Spirit, that a Iioly, solemn influence came into the dwelling of Brother Smith, as if an angel had come to touch tho child with healing power. The mother could not leavo the bedside of her suffering child to attend the meeting, and she says that a sudden change came over her feelings, and it appeared to her that an angel had come into tho house, and had shed a lioly influence in every part of it. It was at that moment that the hitherto helpless child drew herself up in a sitting posture, and next rose upon her feet. She rapidly recovered to her usual habits of taking food and sleeping, and now takes the exercise of the mopt robust children of her age.^' God Paid the Rent —Answer to Prayer. A poor Christian family were in distress. The husband, during a long and painful sickness, had borne his trials for 58 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. months with cheerful Christian resignation ; " but, on this day," said a City Missionary, " I found them, for the first time, in tears. The cause I soon learned was the want of means to pay the rent of their little home, which would come due on the following Monday, and must be paid then, or they would have to leave and go they knew not where. The amount needed, fifteen dollars, and the amount in hand hnt fifty cents; the future all dark, and no hope of recovery from sickness, and no hope of being able to meet their expenses — it might be of a long sickness and want — what could I do for them ? If theirs had been the only case of like wants that day, I no doubt could have gone to a few friends and have collected the amount. But that would not do them the good I felt they needed. But I felt sure of a better way to get it, and lead them to trust in the Lord, and glorify God and not man. " On the wall, at the foot of the sick man's bed, I had hung, but a short time previous, one of those precious silent comfort- ers, a scroll of Scripture texts, printed in large type, and a dif- ferent prayer for every day in the month. On the page before us for that day, after calling their attention to it, I read the following words : ^ And all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer believing, ye shall receive.'^ Matt. 21 : 22. ^ Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touch- ing anything that they shall ask, it shall he done for them.^ Matt. 18 : 9 J remarking, ' Are not those precious promises ? Your fears, dear brother and sister, are that you will not be able to pay the rent on Monday, and may be turned out into the street, unless you get the means to pay the rent ; are they not ? ' ^ That is so,' said they. ' There are two ways : one, to try to get some one to lend you the amount until you can pay, if the landlord will not wait ; another, to go and beg for it.' I have learned a better way, and wish I could lead you to do the same. Do as David did. Have you ever gone ta the Lord as directed above, and found in Him, as David did, a very present help in time of trouble ? Would not your faith and confidence in God's word and in his kind, overruling ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 59» providence be more strengthened, if, in going to Him now and making known your present troubles and wants, He should in. a way, without your making known your wants to any other person, on Monday enable you to pay all ? ' The answer was^ ' We should.' " After prayer and encouragement to do so, I left them, with the promise to call the following Tuesday. Doing so, I was met at the door by the wife with a countenance full of joy. ' Ohf brother, we could not wait until you came, to tell you the wonderful answer to our prayer. On Monday, the very day that we had to pay the rent, one gentleman came and handed my husband five dollars, and early in the morning Mrs. F called and handed me ten dollars, making in all just fifteen dollars, the amount we needed; was it not won- derful ? Oh, how good the Lord is ! ' The same week another called and gave them an order for fifty dollars more, so that they were able to pay up all their debts, and the sudden joy soon led to a speedy restoration to health, and the husband is iiow one of the most active Christian workers and teachers; in a mission school, and the wife and daughter are also try- ing to do all they can to lead others to trust in Jesus." He Forgetteth. Not the Cry of the Humble. A City home missionary has told us of the case of a poor colored family, the husband nearly one hundred years old, totally incapacitated for work, and confined to his room by sickness nearly twelve years. Although very often in straitened circumstances, the Lord has never left them to want for any good they needed, having,, in a truly wonderful manner supplied their wants, in answer to prayer. The wife, having for a long time been kept from the enjoyment of church privileges by close confinement, she- had been sorely tempted to doubt her acceptance in Christ,. and was in great darkness for days ; but one day, in reading the following words, found in the fifteenth chapter of John^ 60 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. ^' If ye abide in 7ne, and my words abide in yon, ye shall ash what ye ivill and it shall be done unto you,''^ she was led to go to God in prayer, and to ask, if not wrong in his sight, to grant her a request, that she might know that her prayer was answered, and that she was abiding in Him. The request was that, as they were in trouble for the rent coming due the next day, and still in need of three dollars, that the Lord would send them a friend in a stranger, some one that they had never seen before, and that he would put it into the heart of that stranger to give them three dollars, and then they would not be tempt- ed to believe, as they had sometimes before, that it would have been sent by a friend even if they had not prayed. "But," said she, "I knows if a stranger comes, none but the Lord could send, then I would know the Lord heard my prayer, and I was truly the Lord's. So I watch for the answer for you knows, brother, when we prays, the Lord says we must believe we shall receive what we ask of Him, and then He will give it. So I watch and listen for the knock at the door, and do you believe me, brother, about three o'clock in the after- noon, I hears a knock and opens the door, and a strange lady was there, one I never saw before, and asked me if Mrs. H lived here ; and said she had been looking for us before, but could not find us ; ^ when, to-day I felt I must try again, anc I am so glad I have found you. I heard of you through a friend who has known you a long time.' She spoke many kind words, and when she took my hand to say good-by, she left a little roll of notes, and when she is gone I count it, and it was just three dollars. I is been so happy ever since. I loves to tell how good the Lord has been to us ; every time I does so I feels so happy." Incidents in the Life of an Invalid.— How G-od cares and comforts in small things. The following incidents are from the life of an invalid, per- sonally known to the editor of this book, and can be depend- ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 61 ed upon as authentic in every particular. They illustrate most beautifully the blessed way in which the Savior's ever- lasting arms are around, strengthening, and His presence comforting His weak and helpless ones, in all their little as well as great trials of life. The ways in which he sent relief, and the many hundred promises which he has given, will encourage other Christian hearts to trust the same Omiiijjo- te?it, ever Helping Friend. G-iving her Last Money to the Lord. " ' The first money the Lord gives me I will send to you,' were the last words I said to my old father, as I stood waiting for the train to bear me to distant friends. So thj weeks passed on, but I remembered my promise and waited patiently for the Lord to enable me to fulfill that promise. I had two dollars, but thought I must not give it away until more came. But this feeling did not last long ; something seemed to tell me the Lord would not send me any until that was gone. One day I received a letter from a friend contain- ing this sentence : ' I have not had three cents in five weeks.' My whole nature responded in a moment. I put part of my money into a letter for him, the rest into a letter for my father. Now I felt clear. Then I told the Lord all about it. A week passed, and $5 came to me from my mother to pay my return fare. A few days longer, and another $5 came from a lady friend, so I was provided for. I needed a certain article of clothing, and one night made all arrange- ments to get it next day. Morning came, and I went to the Bible for my orders for the day ; my eyes rested on these words : ^Be content with what ye have.' This seemed so strange, because the Lord knew I needed the dress ; I was obliged to stay out of society on this account. ' But the Lord knows best,' I thought, and gave up all idea of getting it. Nor did it trouble me further. I gave it all into his hands, feeling He knew best. And afterwards it was made clear to my own 62 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. -heart I had not trusted in vain. ^ Commit all thy ways unto the Lord, for He careth for thee.'' ^' Money Wanted to Pay Railroad Fare. "Once, on a visit, I left the company below, and went up stairs for an hour's quiet and prayer. I was to return the coming week and I had only just enough to pay my fare. For several days I had been anxious how I was to get some money. This afternoon I had to pray very earnestly, because the need was great. An hour passed ; I felt weary •and unrefreshed, when a voice clear and near said unto me : ^ Trust in the Lord and do good, and verily thou shalt be fed.' It was not a human voice, for no one was near me, but I started and looked around, almost expecting to see an angel visitant. I saw nothing, but the sun shone brighter outside, ^nd the room seemed brighter than before. And why should it not ? The Lord had been there with words of cheer and comfort for his little child. I arose and went below, where I found other company had called, and I was introduced to the lady and her husband, whom I had met five years before. A pleasant chat and they left, after giving me an invitation to visit them. At the door, as I learned from my friend who attended them, Mrs. N said : ' I should like to give Miss B something,' and handed my friend a five dollar hill for me. I was more than surprised. I cannot tell you the emo- tions of my heart. While I was yet asking, even, the messen- ger had brought my answer. I could yet hear the soft sound of the voice up-stairs, and the soothing influence of the unseen presence still lingered round me. How quickly our needs flow on the wings of prayer into the very presence of our Friend and Master." Prayer Saves the Life of a Little Child. " A year ago this Summer, my sister's little baby, only five months old, was taken very ill with that distressing complaint ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 63 which often proves so fatal, and takes so many sweet lit' tie ones out of loving hearts and homes. I loved baby Ernest, but never so M^ell as when he lay so sick he could not know it. We all loved him, and everything was done that could be thought of to ease the little sufferer all those long, close, hot days. Day after day, for four long weeks, we tenderly cared for him. Sometimes his mother would watch his every breath, fearing each would be the last. One Sun- day he lay just where we put him, so quiet and still, with the sweet baby face so white and calm, we thought we should lose him soon, the little hands and feet were so cold. All through his illness, I kept asking the Lord to let his parents Iveep the tender bud he had sent them. We could not let him die, and to-day I prayed very earnestly all the time — «ven when we could not warm the little body at all — we could not let him go. Well, Ernnie passed over the fearful day :and became a happy, well boy. He was saved. No physician saved him. Our tender care did not save him. Prayer saved our Ernnie. Precious baby ! He is such a jolly, happy boy now, filling every heart and the whole house with his sun- shine. How I love the little fellow. When I am here at his home, he always comes to Auntie for love and tenderness. When I am resting on the lounge, he comes every few mo- ments to kiss me, giving and receiving real heart-love. We know God only lends these little treasures to their human friends. But oh, they bring so much love with them, it is hard to give them up." The Lost Thimble. " One day I lost my silver thimble, a gift from my mother when I was a young girl. I prized it very highly. I looked everywhere, long and faithfully. The tears would come, at the best, it had been so long a constant companion. I gave np the search after a while, thinking some one had taken it, -or a child had lost it — any way, it was gone. Feeling sad over 64 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. it, I sat down to console myself, and the thought came — pray about it ; so I did, and while I knelt there something whis- pered, ' Look on the bed/ so plainly that I arose and went into my sister's sleeping-room where I had turned the spread aside, and there nestled, in a fold of the quilt, my thimble. I involuntarily said, ' Thank God ! ' out of the depths of my glad heart. I had lain down a moment on this bed with baby Ernest, early in the morning, and the thimble had fallen out of my pocket." A Prayer for $25. " God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform." " I had a present of twenty-five dollars once, which r/as a direct answer to earnest, pleading prayer. I was entirely out of money for months — I could not earn a dollar. I had those who might have assisted me, but they did not. I could have borrowed, but I might never be able to return it ; I knew not what to do. One evening, thinking it all over, scanning the dark cloud with anxious ej^es, I said, ^If the Lord cannot help me, no one else can; I will ask Him.' And so I did» bringing all the previous promises before Him, pleading my un worthiness, but my great need ; asking first for ten dvllars; then, as I grew more earnest, I asked for twenty-five, feeling almost frightened as the words came from my lips. Some- times the thought would intrude, ' How can you ask fo-r any given sum — how do you expect it will come ? ' so I said, one day, to the Lord, ' Any sum you choose ; you know best ; I will be content.' Several weeks passed, and a sweet feeling of rest and assurance came, that, whatever came of it, would be all for the best. But, by-and-by, when the anxious plead- ing feeling was all gone, one morning came a letter from one I had never seen, with $25 — just what I had asked for. I cannot tell you just how I felt ; I only know I held the check long in my hand, scarcely realizing it could be for me." ANSWERS TO PRAYER. Q5 Praying for Others. " My sister's husband wished to raise a certain sum of inter- est money by a given time, but could see no way ; was very much troubled about it ; said he knew no one to whom he could apply. I told him to pray for it. He answered, ' God won't hear the prayer of the wicked ; suppose you ask him yourself.' I did ask Him, earnestly and faithfully, and it was even given me the idea who my brother could ask to loan it him. I spoke of the man to him — said I thought he might get it ; so he called on him one evening, and the way was made plain for my brother to introduce the subject ; and when he came home that night, he brought with him the three hundred dollars." A Visit to Friends. " I will hold thee by thy right hand, saying unto thee, fear not, I will help thee." " Once I held in my hand an open letter, containing an invi- tation to visit friends I had never seen. My heart bounded with pleasure at thought of the journey, and the pleasant visit to follow ; but, on second thought, it almost stood still — where could I get money and proper clothing ? Several weeks passed in thought. I could see no way, and so I wrote my friends I could not come at present ; but, in my heart, I could not give it up. My parents were visiting in the far West, and I had no one to advise me ; so, up in my little room, night after night, I made it a point to tell the Lord about it 5 and soon it seemed as easy and right as though I were talk- ing to a friend. One day, my brother-in-law said he would pay my expenses to and fro. I thanked him, and took fresh courage, and still kept on praying. Then the same good brother gave me money for a dress ; then a friend furnished other articles, and soon, I was en route for the quaint old city by the sea. Every step was accomplished by the simple way of prayer ; and, when I slept, late that night, in a cosy room 5 66 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. at the Methodist parsonage in N. B., I could look back over the last few weeks, and thank God for the 2^ower of jpvayer. But the best of it all was the lesson I had learned — one which I shall never forget, while memory holds her magic power — to carry everything to God in prayer ; to trust him in every matter, however small ; and this is the whole secret of tlie power that lies in prayer." " I found another lady visitor at my friend's and we were to share the same bed. This was a little trial ; I had to ask the Lord to give me patience — and He did. One night, I was very restless and nervous ; I could not sleep. I knew I was disturbing my friend — soon she said, '■ Annie, I am going to ask the Lord to come and put you to sleep. Now, lay still, and in five minutes you will be all right ' I did so, also breathing the words, 'Give me sleep, dear Saviour.' The room seemed to be full of a soft, soothing influence, and I fell asleep. Once only in the night I awoke, but soon went asleep. When I awoke in the morning, rested and refreshed, Tillie, who was dressing near me, looked up with her pleasant smile and said, ' Annie, how wonderful it was. You were asleep in less than five minutes. It seemed as though Jesus stood close by your side ; I could almost see Him, I felt so clearly His presence. He is here now, Annie; can't j^ou feel Him near ? He was very good to you last night.' Yes, indeed, I felt the influence of His presence, and, all da}', whenever I en- tered the room, I felt it, and it seemed as though I must tread softly, it was so like holy ground. This feeling lasted through my stay, and, last Winter, while again visiting the home of my friends, it all came back to me again. This beautiful influence has ever kept with me, and I never close my eyes in sleep until I say, ' Oh, Lord, breathe upon me the sweet spirit of sleep.' However weary, sick or nervous I may be, I feel that the soothing power will come; and, with mj^ hand in His, I rest j^eacefully, at last." ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 67 Praying for a New Hat. " Whatsoever thing ye ask in My name " *Tor a long while I had been without money, and my need was very great. I wanted a new hat so much ; and the ques- tion arose in my mind, 'What am I going to do about it ?' As I had no human arm to depend on for anything, of course there was only one way for me to do — ask the Lord for money to get me a hat. With me, to think is to act, and so I told the Lord all about it, asking, if it was His will, to send me, in His own way, money for the article I needed. Day after day passed, and I felt almost discouraged. One day, a letter came from a lady friend I had never seen, enclosing one dol- lar. I bought my hat — neither could I have used that dollar for another purpose. Soon after this, my physician ordered something for me. I had no money to get it, but said I would get it soon as I could. Three weeks passed, and no money came. Then I asked the Lord for enough to get my medicine. Another letter came from an old nurse, with a gift of one dollar. I had my medicine. Time after time, I have not had wherewith to send my letters, and, as I have a large correspondence, it often is a real trouble. The only way I have to do is to ^^rcty for it, and always, in some way, it comes ; not in my way — not just as soon as I ask for it — but in His own way. He always provides. I have learned to trust and not be afraid, even though the clouds hang heavy, and I see no ray of light, the promise is there, and for me, -I will up.i^er leave thee, or forsake thee.' I am so entirely depend- ent on Him for everything that sometimes, in little matters, vay faith will, for a brief season, droop. Sometimes I have to plead and plead over again some particular promises ; but these times of waiting on Him only strengthen me for future conflicts. 'Wait on the Lord, and he shall renew thy strength,' comes in beautifully on such occasions. No human being to help me ; no one but God. Sometimes, when I sit alone, such a flood of feelings come over me, I well nigh sink. Loneliness, 68 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. homesicknesSj and the great want in every human heart of sym- pathy and love, leave me, for a moment, without hope or faith ; but, when the heart is weakest, and the need greatest, the lov- ing Saviour is nearest. ' Like as a mother comf orteth her child, so does He comfort me ; ^ and then, soothed by his power and love, how the aching heart rests ' by the still waters, and in the green pastures.' There is nothing but prayer for the helpless sinner ; nothing else will bring us into loving com- panionship with the Lord. We may go to Him always, with every trial, need or sorrow. He is ever waiting — ever ready to hear and answer." Praying for a Sewing Machine. ^' One day a lady friend said to me : ' Would you like some nice sewing, easy to do?' I answered, 'Yes.' 'Have you a sewing machine ? ' 'I have not, but am praj^ng for one.' 'That is right; so you believe you will have it by praying for it ? ' I replied : ' If the Lord thinks I need it. He will send it.' I had learned to use my sister's, but I wanted one of my own, to use just when I felt like it. So the thought kept in my heart, ' Why can't I pray for one ? ' And yet it seemed foolish to go in prayer to God for such a simple thing, but I had not then learned that all things, with Him, meant every wish and want of the human heart. But there was no other way. He must send my machine, or I could have none. I prayed very earnestly. After a few weeks of waiting, one golden winter morning it came — my beautiful machine — • just what I wanted. This seemed so wonderful to me, that it seemed to bring me into nearer companionship with the Lord, and ever after, whatever I needed, I went directly to Him for. A ministerial friend once asked me what it was I had covered up on the stand. I told him it was my piano, taking the cover aside and showing him at once how my beau- tiful sewing machine worked. ' What tune do you play oftenest ? ' he asked. ' Rock of Ages is its favorite one, and I never sew without singing it.' " ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 69 Money for Postage. "One day I opened my port-monnaie to get change for some little needful, when I found I had but ten cents. I used five of it. As visions of six or seven letters and many little things I needed came up before me, I said aloud: 'The Lord will have to send me some money pretty soon.' I think once through the day I prayed for some money, but felt no uneasi- ness about it. That evening a lady friend called to say good- by for the winter, and as she left gave me fifty cents for postage. While I was calling He answered me. About a week before this, I thought I would ask the Lord for $5 for my physician. He had come so faithfully, day after day, without ever expecting one dollar, because I had told him freely my circumstances. But I felt I must give him some- thing for a gift at least. So I asked for five dollars. Day after day passed away, and I thought perhaps the Lord did not want me to have it. But still I prayed, asking it for His will, not mine. One morning a letter came from a very dear friend, containing a check for the amount for which I had prayed, and a little beside. It seemed such a signal answer to my prayer, that I could scarcely speak, and in my heart a glad prayer of thanksgiving went up to Him, who had told me to ask and I should receive. A friend, to whom I told this, said: 'Now you need this money yourself; I would not give it to the doctor now — wait awhile.' ' But,^ I replied, ' T dare not do it. I need it, I know, but I asked God for it for my doctor, and I must give it.' And here let me say, when we ask God for money, it is sacred, and must be spent only to please Him." Praying for a Bible. "For a long while it has been my habit to be entirely guided for the day by the first verse in the Bible on which my eyes rested. While dressing for the day, I glance at the 70 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. open page, or sometimes turning over the leaves. But my old Bible was poor print and small, and it troubled me for a long while. So I thought I would ask the Lord to send me a new one. I told Him all about it. One day, this Summer, the postman brought me a package of magazines and a letter. I began to undo the package, eager to scan their welcome pages. My sister laughingly said she would read my letter, and suiting the action to the word, opened the envelope. I really did not mind what she Avas doing, until she said: 'Why there is some money here, but no letter.' So she handed me the half sheet of paper, with the money folded inside. I looked it over, and there were only these words in pencil : ' For a Bible, and three dollars.' We looked at each other ; I could not say a word, until she said, ' What does it all mean ? ' I answered, ' The Lord sent it, I know ; whei*e could it come from ? ' It was wonderful — wonderful because I could not remember .as I ever told any one that I was pray- ing for a Bible." A Spring Mattress. "Last Summer, when I bought my bedstead, I did not have money to get either springs or a mattress, so I fixed up a clean, straw bed, and covered it nicely with a thick comfortable. It was pretty hard — I did not rest well. So, one sleepless night, I said aloud, ' I will just ask the Lord to send me a set of springs.' I kept on day by day. When I felt the severe pain which denoted illness, I thought of my hard bed and prayed more earnest. One day my physician spoke of my hard bed. I told him I was going to have a better one ; I was praying for some springs. And so I kept on. One day, a lady friend said something about my bed. I did not say much. Somehow I felt I must not ; I wanted to have it all the Lord's doings, if I ever had any. One day my sister said a man was at the door, who wanted to fit a set of springs to my bed. Why, I can't tell how I felt ; even ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 71 after God had answered my simple prayers, and honored my faith so many times, I was astonished at this. But she helped me up, and the bed was fitted with nice, new springs. And they were mine. The man could not tell anything about them. My sister says, ' Annie, did you order them ? ' I said, 'No.' 'Don't you know who sent them ? ' I said, ' No.' ' Did you ask Mrs. W to order them ? ' I said, ' I did not ; I would lay here six years before I would do it. No, somebody had a hand in it, but the Lord sent them, be- cause I prayed for them all the time.' A friend .was present when my physician called. I told him about the new springs. His kind face lit up grandly at this new evidence that God did answer humble, faithful prayer, and he turned to my friend with the words: 'I am glad they were just what she has been praying for.' I do not think he had anything to do about them. But these springs are only another proof of his love and power, in touching the hearts of his children to help others. And they have their reward. Soon after this, a lady sent me a white spread for my bed. Surely, God is good to his little ones." The Healing of Mary Theobald. The following incident is related by her pastor, at Woburn, Mass., who, for three and a half years, was well acquainted with her ph^^sical condition, and who testified, in The Congre- gationallst, that no medicine, or physician's aid or advice, was of any avail : " From the first of my acquaintance to the last, she had an unswerving confidence in her recover}^ Many times has she said to me : ' I believe that I shall be well. Jesus will raise me up. I shall hear you preach some day.' "But, in common with the friends who were watching her case, and with the physicians who had exhausted their skill upon her in vain, I had little or no hope for her. It seemed to me that her life was to be one of suffering ; that God was 72 ANSWERS TO PRAYER keeping lier with us that we might have a heroic example of what His grace could enable one to hear and to become. " A few days ago, I received from her lips the following statement of the origin and progress of her sickness : ' My tirst sickness occurred when I was about sixteen 3'ears old. This illness lasted for a year. Indeed, I was never well again. That sickness left me with a bad humor, which, for two 3^ears, kept me covered with boils. When the boils dis- appeared, the trouble was internal. Physicians feared a can- cer. For ten years, I was sick, more or less — sometimes able to work, sometimes utterly prostrate. " ^ My second severe illness began in the Autumn of 1871. I had been failing for two years. Then I was obliged to give up. I was on the bed five months. From this illness I never recovered so as to labor or walk abroad. When not confined to my bed, I have been on the lounge, as you have known me. No one can ever know the suffering which these years have brought me.' " My acquaintance with her began in the Spring of 1873. Several times since I have known her, she has been carried so low that we have thought her release near at hand; and, indeed, the general tendency has been downwards. I recently asked an intelligent physician, who had attended her for a year or more, to give me the facts in her case. He replied ; ' She is diseased throughout. Her system is thoroughly soured. It responds to nothing. Almost every function is abnormal. There is no help for her in medicine.' Other physicians had tried their skill with the same result. It was generally admitted by doctors, friends and family, that noth- ing more could be done for her. While all saw only suffer-t ing and an early death in store for her, yet she confidently expected to be well, and her faith never waned. " It was her custom to spend a few weeks each year in the family of one of the sisters in the church. At her last visit, it was evident to this lady that Mary was not so well as in former years. One day, when conversation turned upon this ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 73 topic, she felt constrained to express her fears. But Mary was hopefuL A proposition was made, and arrangements were perfected to visit Doctor CuUis, to secure the henefit of his prayers. But her feebleness was so great that the plan was abandoned. ' If,' said Mrs. F., ' faith is to cure you, why go to Doctor Cullis, or to any one T Let us go to God our- selves ; and, Mary, if you have faith that God can and will cure you sometime, why not believe that He will cure you now?' "She felt herself cast on God alone. All hope of human help was at an end. She had thought it, hitherto, enough patiently to wait His time. She saw that, after all, she must not dishonor God by limiting His power. Again her Bible opened to the familiar passages, Hhe prayer of faith shall save the sick;' ' according to your faith be it unto 3'ou.' She felt that the time for testing her faith had come. She would dishonor the Lord no longer. Eequesting the prayers of the family that God would now grant healing and restoration, she tottered to her couch, and, asking that in the morning she might be well, calmly closed her eyes in the assurance that it would be so. And according to her faith, so it was. She came forth in the morning without a remnant of the pain which had filled a decade of years ivith agony. That Sab- bath was to her, indeed, ' a high day.' A week later the fre- quent prophecy that she should hear me preach was ful- lilled. '^ Not a vestige of suffering remained. So far as that is concerned, there was not a hint left that she had been an invalid for almost a score of years. " She immediately took her place in the family as a well person. Two days after, I saw her. She came to meet me with a step light and strong, and with a face written all over with thankfulness and joy. Since that time all the aban- doned duties of active life have been resumed. When last I saw her, she was in bounding health and spirits, declaring that she could not remember when slie had felt so happy and 74 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. well. That night — one of the coldest of the winter, the roads at their iciest — she walked more than half a mile to and from the prayer-meeting. It is difficult for those who are not conversant with the case to believe it, yet there is no illusion in it. That she went to sleejy a suffering, feeble, shattered woman, and aivoke free from ^^am, and that she lias been gaining in strength ever since, are facts that cannot be doubted.^^ How Prayer Helped him to Keep the Pledge. In a rural district, in the North of England, lived a shoe- maker who had signed the temperance pledge often, but never had strength to keep it. After a while, he was able to keep it, and reformed entirely. A friend was curious to learn how he had been able, at last, to win the victory, and went to see him. " Well, William, how are you ? '' " Oh, pretty well. I had only eighteen pence and an old hen when I signed, and a few old scores ; but now I have about ten pounds in the bank, and my wife and I have lived through the summer without getting into debt. But as I am only thirty weeks old yet (so he styled himself), I cannot be so strong yet, my friend." " How is it you never signed before ? " "I did sign; but I k&ep it different now to what I did before, friend." ^^ How is this?" ''Why, I gae doon on my knees and pray." Here was the real strength of prayer. His own resolves were of no value ; but when he called on God to help, then came new strength, and he was kept by restraining grace. The bitter experience of those who pledge and pledge over and over again, and never gain the victory, at last must come to either of two ends — their utter destruction, or else to call ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 75 on God in prayer, to help them keep the pledge manfully, and make them steadfast in their resolutions. One who Refused the Holy Spirit. The following incident is related by D. L. Mood}^, the Evangelist, which contains a warning, how the Holy Spirit avenges itself to those who refuse its admonitions. It is a remarkable instance of the control of an over-ruling God, who alone knew that man's mind, and which alone could bring that text so often to his memory : " There was a young man in my native village — he was not a young man when I was talking to him — we were working on the farm together one day and he was weeping ; I asked him what he was weeping about, and he told me a very strange story. When he left home his mother gave him the text : ' Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteous- ness, and all these things tvill he added unto you!' He was ambitious to get rich, and thought when he had got comforta- ble, that was the time to give his attention to religion. He went from village to village, and got nothing to do. Sunday came, and he went into the village church. What icas his great surprise to hear the minister preach from that text. It went down into his heart — he thought that it was his mother's prayers that were following him — he thought the whole sermon was for himself, and thought he would like to get out. For days he could not get that text and sermon out of his mind. He went on still, from village to village, and at last he went into another church after weeks had rolled away. He went for some Sundays to the church, and it wasn't a great while before the minister gave out this very text. He thought surely it was God calling him then, and he said, cool- ly and deliberately, he would not seek the Kingdom of God. He went on in this way, and in the course of a few months, to his great surprise, he heard the third sermon from the third minister on the same text. He tried to stifle it, but it followed 4 b ANSWERS TO PRAYER. him. At last he made up his mind he would not go to church any more. When he came back to ISTorthfield, after years, his mother had died, but the text kept coming to him over and over, and he said, ' I will not become a Christian ; ' and said he to me, 'Mood}", my heart is as hard as that stone.' It was all Greek to me, because I was not a Christian myself at the time. After my conversion, in Boston, he was about the first man I thought of. When I got back and asked my mother about him, she told me he was gone out of his mind, and to every one who went to the asylum to see him he pointed his finger and said : ' Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness.'' When I went back to my native village, after that, I was told he was still out of his mind, but at home. I went to see him, and asked him did he know me. He was rocking backwards and forwards in his rocking chair, and he gave me that vacant stare and pointed to me as he said, ^ Young man, seek first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness.' When, last month, I laid down my younger brother in his grave, I could not help but think of that man lying but a few j^ards away. May every man and woman here be wise for eternity and seek now the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness, is my prayer." The Praying Shoe-maker. A correspondent of The American Messenger relates this instance of a poor man in the village where he lived, who, with a family of young children and a wife in very feeble health, found it extremely difficult to obtain a livelihood. He was at length compelled to work by the week for a shoe- dealer in the city, four miles from the village, returning to his family every Saturda}^ evening, and leaving home early on Monday morning. He usually brought home the avails of his week's labor in provisions for the use of his family during the following week ; but on one cold and stormy night, in the depth of win- ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 7? ter, he went towards his humble dwelling with empty hands^ but a full heart. His employer had declared himself unable^ to pay him a penny that night, and the shoemaker, too honest to incur a debt without knowing that he should be able to cancel it, bent his weary steps homeward, trusting that He who hears the ravens when they cry, would fill the mouths of his little family. He knew that he should find a warm house and loving hearts to receive him, but he knew, too, that a disappointment awaited them which would make lit least one heart ache. When he entered his cottage, cold and wet with the rain, he saw a bright fire, brighter faces, and a table neatly spread for the anticipated repast. The tea-kettle was sending forth its cloud of steam, all ready for "the cup which cheers, but not inebriates," and a pitcher of milk, which had been sent in by a kind neighbor, was waiting for the bread so anx- iously expected by the children. The sad father confessed his poverty, and his wife in tears begged him to make so7ne effort to procure food for them before the Sabbath. He replied, " Let us ask God to give us our daily bread. Prayer avails with God when we ask for temporal good, as well as when we implore spiritual blessings." The sorrowing group knelt around the family altar, and while the father was entreating fervently for the mercies they so much needed, a gentle knocking at the door was heard. When the prayer was ended the door was opened, and there stood a woman in the "peltings of the storm," who had never been at that door before, though she lived only a short distance from it. She had a napkin in her hand, which contained a large loaf of bread ; and half apologizing for offering it, said she had unintentionally made "a larger batch of bread" than usual that day, and though she hardly knew why, she thought it might be acceptable there. After expressing their sincere gratitude to the woman, the devout shoe-maker and his wife gave thanks to God with overflowing hearts. While the little flock were appeasing 78 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. their hunger with the nice new bread and milk, the father repaired to the house where I was an inmate, and told his artless tale with streaming eyes, and it is unnecessary to say, that he returned to his home that night with a bas- ket heavily laden, and a heart full of gratitude to a prayer- answering God. How the Lord Controls even the Locomo- tive and the Railroad Train. A remarkable instance of how the Lord controlled cir- cumstances for the detention of one train, and speeded the arrival of the other, in answer to the prayer of a poor widow, who was in anxiety and distress, is thus known to the ■editor of The WatcJiman and Reflector: " Not long ago an engineer brought his train to a stand at a little Massachusetts village, where the passengers have five minutes for lunch. A lady came along the platform and said : ' The conductor tells me the train at the junction in P leaves fifteen minutes before our arrival. It is Sat- urday night, that is the last train. I have a very sick child in the car, and no money for a hotel, and none for a pri- vate conveyance for the long, long journey into the country. What shall I do ? ' ' Well,' said the engineer, ' I wish I could tell you.' ^ Would it be possible for j^ou to hurry a little ?' said the anxious, tearful mother. 'No, madam, I have the time-table, and the rules say I must run by it.' She turned sorrowfully away, leaving the bronzed face of the engineer wet with tears. Presently she returned and said, 'Are you a Christian ? ' 'I trust I am,' was the reply. 'Will you pray with me that the Lord may, in some way, delay the train at the junction?' 'Why, yes, I will pray with you, but I have not much faith.' Just then, the con- ductor cried, 'All aboard.' The poor woman hurried back to her deformed and sick child, and away went the train, climb- ing the grade. 'Somehow,' says the engineer, 'everything ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 79 worked to a charm. As 1 2^>(^!/ed, I coiddnH help letting my engine out just a little. We hardly stopped at the first sta- tion, people got on and off with wonderful alacrity, the conductor's lantern was in the air in half a minute, and then away again. Once over the summit, it was dreadful easy to give her a little more, and then a little more, as I prayed, till she seemed to shoot through the air like an arrow. Some- how I couldn't hold her, knowing I had the road, and so we dashed up to the junction six minutes ahead of time.' There stood the train, and the conductor with his lantern on his arm. * Well,' said he, ^luill you tell me ivh'it I am ivait- ing here for? Somehow I felt I must wait your coming to^ night, hut I clonH knoiv ivhy.'' 'I guess,' said the brother conductor, ' it is for this woman, with her sick and deformed child, dreadfully anxious to get home this Saturday night.' But the man on the engine and the grateful mother think they can tell why the train waited. God held it to answer their prayers." Think of this wonderful improbability according to natural circumstances. These trains never connected with each other, nor were intended to. There was no message sent ahead to stop. There was not the slightest business reason for wait- ing, yet the second conductor, on arrival of the first, asks this question, "What am I tvaiting for/^ and the answer of the first is more singular, "I don't know." Anotlier Instance of Superhuman Con- trol of the Locomotive, in Answer to Prayer. An exact parallel instance to the foregoing is given in the experience of a correspondent of The Christia?i, which occurred in the latter part of November, 1864, while travel- ing with her aged father and two small girls : " We started from New Hampshire on Thursday morning, expecting to have ample time to get through to Indiana 80 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. before Saturday night ; but, after we crossed the St. Law- rence Eiver, the next day, I think, there was a smash-up on a freight train, which hindered our train about two hours. I began to feel anxious, as I knew our limited means would not permit us to stop long on the way. After the cars had started again, I inquired of the conductor what time we should get to Toledo, fearing we should not reach there in time for the down train. He said it ivould he impossible to gain the time. Soon they changed conductors, and I made a similar inquiry, getting about the same answer. Still I hoped, till we reached the Detroit Eiver. Here I found that, though they had put on all the steam they dared to, they were almost an hour behind time, so I should have to stay over till Sunday night. '' After getting seated in the cars on the other side, I ven- tured to ask the conductor if we should get to Toledo in time for the down train. He readily said, ' No, madam,, impossi- ble ! If we put on all the steam we dare to, we shall be more than half an hour behind time. If we were on some trains we might hope they would wait ; but on this, never ! He is the most exact conductor you ever saiv. He was never known to wait a second, say nothing about a minute, beyond the time.^ I then inquired if we could not staj^ at the depot. He said, No ; we should all freeze to death, for the fire is out till Sun- day evening. ^' A gentleman sitting in front of us said he would show us a good hotel near by, as he was acquainted there. I thanked him, but sunk back on my seat. Covering my ej^es with my hand, and raising my heart to God, I said, ^ 0, God, if thou art my Father, and I am thy child, put it into the heart of that conductor to wait till we get there.' "Soon I became calm, and fell asleep, not realizing that God would answer my poor prayer ; but, when we reached Toledo, to the astonishment of us all, there stood the conduct- or, luanting to know the reason why he had to ivait, when our conductor told him there was a lady with her crippled ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 81 father and two little daughters, who were going down on that train. '' Soon as all were out of the car, both conductors -came with their lanterns and gave their aid in helping my father to the other train, where they had reserved seats by keeping the door locked. All was hurry and confusion to me, as I had m\' eye on father, fearing he might fall, it being very slippery, when the baggage-master said, 'Your checks, madam!' I handed them to him, and rushed into the car ; but, before I got seated, the car started, and I had no checks for my bag- gage. Again my heart cried out, ' 0, Thou that hearest prayer, take care of my baggage ! ' believing He could do that as well as make the conductor wait. In a few moments the con- ductor came to me with a face radiant with smiles, saying, '3fadam, I tvaited a ivhole half hour for you, — a thing I never did before since I was a conductor, so much as to wait one tninute after viy time J He said, ' I know it was your father that I was waiting for, because there w^as nothing else on the train for which I could have waited.' I exclaimed, in a half suppressed tone, ' Praise the Lord ! ' I could not help it ; it gushed out. Then he said, ^At the very moment all. were on hoard, and I was ready to start, such a feeling came over me as I never had in my life before. I could not start. Something kept saying to me, you must tvait, for there is something pending on that train you must wait for. I waited, and here you are, all safe.' Again my heart said, Praise the Lord ! and he started to leave me, when I said, ' But there is one thing.' 'What is it ?' was his quick reply. 'I gave the baggage-master my checks, and have none in return.' 'What were the numbers ? ' I told him. ' I have them,' he said, handing them to me, ' but your baggage will not be there till Monday morning. We had no time to put it on, we had waited so long.' " 6 82 ANSWERS TO PRAYER, Another Wonderful Record of $25. A Christian minister^ living in Northern Indiana, was in want, and knelt in prayer again and again before his Father in heaven. His quarterly allowance had been withheld, and want stared him in the face. Constrained by urgent need, and shut up to God for help, he pleaded repeatedly for a sup- ply of his temporal wants. Now see how extraordinary was the plan of the Lord to send relief. " In one of the lovely homes of Massachusetts, while the snow was falling and the winds were howling without, a lady sat on one side of the cheerful fire, knitting a little stocking for her oldest grandson, and her husband, opposite to her, was reading aloud a missionary paper, when the following passage arrested the attention of the lady and fastened itself in her memory. " 'In consequence c£ failure to obtain my salary when due^ I have been so oppressed with care and want, as to make it painfully difficult to perform my duties as a minister. There is very little prospect, seemingly, of improvement in this re- spect for some time to come. What I say of my own pain- fully inadequate support, is substantially true of nearly all your missionaries in this State. You, of course, cannot be blamed for this. You are but the almoners of the churches, and can be expected to appropriate only what they furnish. This, hoiaever, the Master will cliarge to somebody as a griev- ous fault ; for it is not His will that his ministers should labor unrequited.' '' This extract was without name or date. It was simply headed 'from a missionary iA Northern Indiana.' Scores of readers probably gave it only a passing glance. Not so the lady who sat knitting by the fire and heard her husband read it. The words sank into her mind, and dwelt in her thoughts. The clause, ' This, however, the Master ivill charge to some- body as a grievous fault,'' especially seemed to follow her wherever sh3 went. The case, sha said, haunted her. She ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 83 seemed to be herself tl-iat very ^ somebody^ who was to answer at the bar of God for the curtailed supplies and straitened means of this humble minister. '' Impelled by an unseen, but, as she believes, a divine pres- ence and power, after asking counsel and guidance of the Lord, she took twenty-five dollars which were at her own disposal, and requested her husband to give it to the Eev. Dr. H for the writer of the above communication, if he could devise any w^ay to obtain the writer's address. *' Doctor H is a prompt man, who does not let gold destined to such an end rest in his pocket. Familiar with the various organizations of the benevolent societies, and only too happy to have an agency in supplying the wants of a laborer in Christ's vineyard, he soon started the money on its appointed errand. Early in April, the lady in her rural home had the happiness of receiving the following note, of which we omit nothing, save the names of persons and places : " ^ Dear Madam. — I have just received a draft for twenty- five dollars, as a special donation from you. This I do with profound gratitude to you for this unselfish and Christ-like deed, and to Him who put it into your heart to do it. How you, a lady a thousand miles away, could know that I was, U7id had been for some time, urged by unusual weed to i:)ray for succor and worldly support with unwonted fervency, is a matter of more than curious inquiry. It is an answer to my prayer, for the Lord employs the instrumentality of his chiU dren to ansiver prayer, and^ when it is necessary, he moves them to it. This is not the first nor second time that I have been laid under special obligation by Christian sympathy and timely aid. May He who said, He that giveth a cup of cold water to a disciple, in the name of a disciple, shall not lose his reward, repay you a thousand-fold for this favor.' " Does not this little incident illustra-te the power of prayer? The man of God, weary and heavy-laden, in his closet in Indi- ana, sr>rer.d his case before the Lcid. A disciple in Eastern 84 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. Massachusetts, a thousand miles away from the spot where the prayer was offered, who did not know anything about him or his need, is touched with his wants, and moved to send him immediate aid.'' Mr. Spnrgeon's Cow. " My grandfather was a very poor minister, and kept a cow,, which was a very great help in the support of his children — he had ten of them ; — and the cow took the " staggers " and died. ^ What will you do now ? ' said my grandmother. ' I cannot tell what we shall do now,' said he, ' but I know what God will do : God will provide for us. We must have milk for the children.' " The next morning, there came £20 to him. He had never- made application to the fund for the relief of ministers ; but^ on that day, there were £6 left when they had divided the- money, and one said, ' There is poor Mr. Spurgeon down in Essex, suppose we send it to him.' The chairman — a Mr. Morle}^ of his day — said, ' We had better make it £10, and I'll give £5.' Another £5 was offered by another member, if a like amount could be raised, to make it up to £20 ; which was done. They knew nothing about my grandfather's cow;: but God did, you see ; and there was the new cow for him. And those gentlemen in London were not aware of the impor- tance of the service which they had rendered. Charles Spurgeon. "^ "' Trust in the Lord." " A poor negro woman, after the death of her husband, had no means of support for herself and two little children, except the labor of her own hands ; yet she found means out of her deep poverty to give something for the promotion of the cause of her Redeemer, and would never fail to pay, on the very day it became due, her regular subscription to the church of which ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 85 sTie was a member. In a hard Winter she had found great difficulty in supplying the pressing needs of her little family ; yet the few pence for religious purposes had been regularly put by. " As one season for the contribution came round, she had only a little corn, a single salt herring, and a five-cent piece remaining of her little store. Yet she did not waver ; she ground the corn, prepared her children's supper, and then, with a light heart and cheerful countenance, set out to meet- ing, where she gave joyfully the five cents, the last she had in the ivorld. *' Returning from the church, she passed the house of a lady to whom, a long time before, she had sold a piece of pork, so long indeed that she had entirely forgotten the circum- stance. But, seeing her this morning, the lady called her in, apologized for having been so tardy in the settlement, and then inquired how much it was. Old Sukey did not know, and the lady, determined to be on the safe side, gave her two dollars, besides directing her housekeeper to put up a basket of flour, sugar, coffee, and other luxuries for her use. Poor Sukey returned home with a joyful heart, saying, as she dis- played her treasures, " See, my children, the Lord is a good paymaster, giving us ' a hundred-fold even in this present life, and in the world to come life everlasting.' " Exactly Eighty Dollars.— " They are Safe that Trust in Thee." A clergyman somewhat advanced in years recently related to a correspondent of The Messenger an incident in his own life, which well illustrates the provident care of our heavenly Father over his children. " His first church was at V , and, though he labored diligently, working with his own hands for his support, he became eighty dollars in debt. It was a grievous burden, and all his efforts to remove it proved unavailing. One day, when 86 ANSWERS TO PKAYEB. he felt especially cast down, he retired to pray over the mat ter, and on his knees he besought the Lord to aid, as he des- paired of help from any other source. He felt strengthened and hopeful when he left his closet, and entered his church on Sabbath morning with a lighter heart than usual. As he passed the door a young lady met him, and placed in his hand fifUj dollars, saying that twenty was to go for the Sab- bath-school library, and the remaining thirti/ was for himself. He was so surprised that he scarcely trusted his senses, and asked her not less than three times, that he might not be mistaken. As he preached that day, God seemed ^a very present help.' At the close of the service, a young man, noted for his free-hearted, impulsive character, stepped up and requested that he would perform a marriage ceremony for him the next week. He did so, and received for his services a bill, which he placed in his pocket, and, on looking at it afterwards, found it fifty dollars, thus making up exactly the eighty he had prayed the Lord to send him." We too often forget that God is as willing to listen to our temporal wants as to our spiritual, and that " no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly." A Prayer for Four Dollars. A Home Missionary from Brooklyn called one day upon an editor to gather some tracts for distribution which he liad published. The editor became interested in the story of his visits aimong the poor, and though at first not specially moved to give money at that time, yet toward the last, putting his hand into his pocket he pulled out all the bills there were there, $4, and gave them to the missionary with these words : '^ There is something which may come useful." The gift was all forgotten until a few days afterward the missionary re- turned and said to the editor, " After I left you I received a letter from a poor lady who had been owing money for rent for several months, which she could not possibly pay. That ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 87 very morning the landlord came and said that if she could only raise $4 he would excuse the rest ; but she did not have the $4. I did not know where to get it. I happened to drop in to see you; did not tell you anything of the need, and asked for nothing ; yet you gave me the exact $4 to answer that poor woman's prayer." An infinite 'Creator and God had brought these circum- stances together in this exact way. Neither the editor nor missionary had ever met before. The missionary did not know that the lady was in distress. Who was it that sent the landlord to the lady and fixed that amount of $4 in his mind ? Who was it that sent the home missionary to the office of a person he had never seen or known ? Who was it that knew of the $4 waiting in that pocket and prompted that hand to take it out and give it away? Who was it that led that missionary to obtain and send relief just as she was praying for that special amount ? JVas it ehaiice or science ? No, No. It ivas tJie ivill of a loving God, "Aunt Sally's" Faith. "^Aunt Sally,' says the American Messenger, was a de- vout, working, trustful Christian. Her husband was a crip- ple, almost helpless, an unbeliever, and to some extent an opposer of religion. They lived alone. The severity of a northern winter Was upon them, and in spite of her best exer- tions their stock of fuel was scarcely a day's supply. " ' What can be done ? ' was the anxious inquiry of the un- believing husband as they were rising from their bed. ' The Lord will provide,' was 'Aunt Sally's ' cheerful reply. ' I know you always say so, and so it has always proved/ was the answer of her unbelieving companion ; 'but I see no way in which w^e can be provided for now.' 'Nor do I,' said 'Aunt Sally.' 'But help will come. God will not desert us.' " That w^inter's morning had not passed when their son, 88 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. Avho had been a soldier in the Mexican war, entered the door. It had been long since they had heard from him, and they feared he was not alive. The sun went down upon an abun- dant supply of fuel, cut in the forest by the strong arms of the soldier-boy, and drawn to the door by means of his procuring. The unbelieving husband and father declared he would never be distrustful again. God Careth for You. *' Nearly forty years ago I was given up by the doctors for a dying man from consummation. I had a wife and five chil- dren dependent on me, and for many months was unable to provide for them by my own labors. All our eai»thly resources were gone, and one Sabbath morning, when breakfast was over, we were entirely destitute; there was no meal in the barrel nor oil in the cruse. In family worship I read the fortieth chapter of Isaiah. I think up to that time I had never found the word of God so sweet and precious. I had very near access in prayer, and was enabled to lay my burden at the Saviour's feet. I closed with the Lord's Prayer ; it seemed made on purpose for me. I think the petition, ' Give us this day our daily bread,' was offered in faith. " Within an hour there ivas a rap at the door. When I opened it a young man stood there who had come three miles to bring us bread, sugar, and money. He apologized for coming on the Sabbath morning, but said an aunt of his was at their house the evening before, and felt so anxious about us she could not go away till he promised her he would come and bring us those things." A Prayer Not Answered. "Many years ago, a man then recently married, settled in my native town. It was then quite new, destitute of re- ligious privileges, and given to all manner of wickedness. ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 89 There was no Sabbath, and no sanctuary. The man was pious. The thought of bringing up a family in such a place distressed him. He wished to remove ; and he used to retire daily to a little grove, and jpray that God would send some one to buy Ills farm. This prayer was not answered. Better things were in store. A neighbor was taken sick. He visit- <^d and conversed with him. In the midst of the conversation, one sitting by interrupted him and said, ' Sir, if what you isay is true, I am lost.' This gave new interest to the occasion. Prayer was offered, the Spirit was found out, and many were converted. A prayer-meeting was started ; other revivals followed ; in due time a church was organized, a house of worship built, and a pastor settled, mainly through the in- strumentality of that one man ; and he trained up his family there, and lived to see most of them members of the church of Christ. Do not despair, God will either ansiver your exact prayer, or do something better for you ; He knows what is for your best good." Trust in the Lord. *'A pious woman, who was reduced to extreme poverty and deserted by her intemperate husband, was taken sick, and lay several da3's without physical power to provide food for her two little children. She had directed them where to find the little that was remaining in the house, and they had eaten it all. Still she lay sick, with no means of obtaining more, as night closed upon the hungry household. The children soon forgot their hunger in sleep ; but not so the mother. She saw no helj) for them but in God, and she spent the night-watches in spreading before him their necessities. As the morning approached her confidence in God increased, and that passage from his word rested with peculiar sweetness upon her mind, * Trust in the Lord and do good ; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. ^ ^' Morning came. The starving children managed by her 90 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. direction to build them a little fire, and almost before tliey had commenced telling their mother of their hunger, a stran- ger came in. She introduced herself as Mrs. J., saying she had known for some time that there was a new family in the neighborhood, and intended to call and make their acquaint- ance, but had been prevented. During the last night she had been so troubled and distiu^bed about it, that she thought she would run in early, lest she should again be prevented;, and see if there was any way in which she could be of service to them. The mother in bed, with her head bound to mitigate its pain, revealed the story of her sufferings, and the good lady soon learned their entire destitution. They were im- mediately made comfortable ; and all will be glad to know that it was the beginning of better days to that deserted wife and mother." The Necessity of Asking God's Blessing Every Day, upon Your Daily Work. Every Work, however G-ood, Needs Special, Specific, Daily Prayer for its Prosperity. " A colporteur in the Wabash valley became quite discour- aged and was almost ready to give up his work, on account of the smallness of his sales. On every side, his ears were filled with complaints of 'hard times;' the wheat crop had par- tially failed two years in succession — the California emigra- tion, and railroad and plank-road speculations had almost drained the country of money. Frequently he would be told, that if he could come after harvest they would buy his books, but that it was impossible to do so then. His sales v\^ere daily decreasing, and he became more and more disheart- ened, until one night, after a laborious day's effort, he found that he had only sold ticenty-five eents^ worth I He felt that he could not go on in this way any longer. He was wasting his strength and time, and the money of the Society. On ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 91 examination of the state of his heart, he found that it had^ gradually and almost unconsciously, grown cold and departed far from Christ. He felt that he had not prayed as he ought to have done, especially he had neglected each morning, and on his approach to each dwelliiig, to pray that then and there God would guide him, and own and bless his efforts to sell boohs. He saw that probably here was at least a part of the cause why his sales had become so small. Early the next morning, before any of the family were up, he arose and retired to the adjoining woods, where he had a long and pre- cious season of communion with God. There he anew dedi« cated himself and his all to the service of Christ. There, as under the eye of the Master, he reviewed the time he had labored as a colporteur, and prayed for forgiveness for the past and grace for the future. There he told the Saviour all about his work, and asked him to go with him that day, preparing the way and enabling him to succeed in the work on which he had entered. The result was what might have been expected. He went forth a new man ; his heart was interested more deeply in the truths which he was circulating — they were more precious than ever to his own soul, and he could recom- mend his books, as he failed to do when his heart was cold and prayerless. That first day he sold more books than during the whole iveek before. In one instance, he sold several dol- lars' worth in a family where, as he was afterwards told by pious men in the neighborhood, the father was most bitterly opposed to everything connected with true religion. God had prepared that man's heart, so that he was ready to purchase quite a library for his family. And in many families that met him that day with the usual salutation, ' no mone}',' he succeeded in disposing of more than one volume by sale. As he went from family to family, lifting up his heart in prayer to God for success in the particular object of his visit, God heard his prayers and owned his efforts. And so, he assured me, it had been since ; whenever he had been prayerful — prayerful for this particular object, and then had diligently 32 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. and faithfully done his best, he had invariably succeeded in •doing even more than he expected." Prayer found the Remedy for tlie Disease. " A correspondent of The Illustrated Christian Weekly^ states that a mother of her acquaintance had a child taken alarmingly ill. She sent for the physician. The child was in convulsions. The doctor began at once vigorously to apply the customary remedies — cold water to the head, warm appli- cations to the feet, chafing of the hands and limbs. All was in vain. The body lost nothing of its dreadful rigidity. Death seemed close at hand, and absolutely inevitable. At length he left the child, and sat down by the window, looking •out. He seemed, to the agonized mother, to have abandoned her darling. For herself, she could do nothing but pray ; and •even her praj^er was but an inarticulate and unvoiced cry for help. Suddenly the physician started from his seat. 'Send and see if there be any jimson tveed in the yard^ he cried. His order was obeyed ; the poisonous weed was found. The remedies were instantly changed. Enough of the seeds of this deadly weed were brought away by the medicine to have killed a man. The physician subsequently said that he thought that in that five minutes every kindred case he had €ver known in a quarter century's practice passed before his mind. Among them was the one case which suggested the real, but before hidden, cause of the protracted and dreadful convulsions. And the child was saved. '•' Now, is there anything inconsistent or unphilosophical in the belief that, at that critical moment, a loving God, answer- ing the mother's helpless cry, flashed on the mind of the phy- sician the thought that saved the child ? Is it any objection to that faith to say, the age of miracles is past? If the mother may call in a second physician, to suggest the cause and the cure, may she not call on God ? What the doctor Lord has opened the way ; here is five dollars. It is the best way to go to the Lord, and trust Him to open the way. Go. and use the money.' I thanked him, and I thanked the Lord, and went on my way rejoicing in Him whose promise is, ' My God shall supply all your needs/ and who himself had heard and answered my request." The Lord Can Do It. " In one of the mountainous towns — says The Christian — ► in the north-western part of Connecticut, there lived, some time since, an aged couple who had seen some eighty years of earthly pilgrimage, and who, in their declining days, enjoyed the care of a son and daughter, who resided with them at their home. " In process of time, the son became sick, and drew nigh the gates of death. The doctor pronounced him incurable, saying that one lung was consumed, and that he could live but a short time. "The fear of her brother's death, and the thoughts of being left alone to bear the responsibility of the aged parents' care, burdened the sister's heart exceedingly, and led her to cry mightily to the Lord to interpose for his recovery, and spare him still to them ; and her importunate supplicationa ascended to God, until the answer came to her heart as a sacred whisper, — ' I have heard thy cry, and have come down to deliver thee.' " Comforted by this sweet assurance, she rejoiced exceed- ingly, knowing that what our Heavenly Father promises he is abundantly able to perform, and that He will fulfill his word, though heaven and earth shall pass away. But her faith was destined to be tried, and, on the very day after she had obtained the assurance of her brother's recovery, in came some one, saying, 'The doctor says S can live but a little time.' For an instant, these words were like a dagger to the sister's heart, but she still held fast her. 110 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. confidence, and replied : ' If men can't cure him, the Lord can.' "From that very moment, the brother began to amend. On the next day, when the physician came, he looked at him, commenced examining his symptoms, and exclaimed in astonishment: ^What have you been doing? You are evi- dently better, and I don't know but you will get up, after all.' ''His recovery was so rapid, that in two weeks' time he was out about his customary duties on the farm^ and that in v^eather so damp and foggy that it would have kept some stronger men in-doors. But he was well ; the prayer of faith was answered, and it had saved the sick." Answer to Prayer in all the Little Tem- poral Anxieties of Life The question having been asked, '^ Does God answer Prayer, in even all the little anxieties and cares of daily life." The Illustrated Christian Weekly, called in 1876, for testimo- nies of the surety of God in fulfilling his promise, and giving answer in little things as well as great things. Many, even good Christians have believed that they should not pray for anything for themselves, but only for those things which were to be used for God's work. The following instances show that those who are devoted to God's good work and helping in his service can ask for anything needed for their personal comfort, and expect the Lord to grant them. In truth the Lord has commanded all his disciples, ^Ask and receive, that your joy may he full.''^ ^^ Anything that ye shall ask in my name, I will do itJ^ BREAD TO THE HUNGRY. " God was pleased to deprive me totally of my hearing in early boyhood. B}^ the late war I lost all of my earthly possessions. I have a wife and family totally dependent ou ANSWERS TO PRAYER. HI me for a support. A man employed to attend to my little manufacturing business as manager, by imprudent manage- ment, deprived me of every earthly dependence for a sup. port. I had no refuge but God. This feeling was intense beyond expression — God was my only hope. I laid my case before him. Then this came to me, ' Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.' ' Now,' I said, ^ I am deeply conscious that I and my wife seek and desire the kingdom of God above all things ; God then will give us temporal help.' Then a feel- ing came over me, a feeling of waiting upon God. It was sweet waiting. I was at rest. I had thought frequently if I €Ould get two hundred dollars I could start my little business again. While thus trusting, and waiting, and praying, a package was handed to me by the express-agent containing $200 from a stranger in a distant county, against whom I held an old note dated 1856 ; and for many years I had for- gotten the note, and would have taken twenty-five cents for it any time. The man was bankrupt, and did not fear the Lord, nor know anything of my situation in life. He was under no legal obligation to pay the note." NO '^FS." "A number of years ago I went West to better my condi- tion. . . . After a little time I went into business of my •own, had but little capital, and my good name to be punctual in paying for what I bought on credit was of great impor- tance to me. I had promised to pay on a certain day a note of about $60. I thought I was sure to get the money, but was disappointed ; I went to the Lord for help, not knowing how he could send me the money, but convinced that he was able to do it. At about noon the same day a man inquired for me. I knew him by sight ; he had the name of being a hard man, took all the interest he could get, and never put any money out without security. He had not the note, but he asked me if I w^anted to hire any money; if so he had 112 ANSWERS TO PRAYEK. sixty dollars he would like to let me have. The man tool* my note and never did ask for any security. ^^ At another time, being away from home some 2,000 miles, was at the house of an uncle ; same evening I received a letter from my wife that the children were very sick and but little hope of recovery. The letter had been written for over a week. I communicated the contents of the letter to my aunt ; went up in my room and prayed the Lord to be their physician. I felt so sure that my prayer would be answered that I could not help singing ; when they heard me they thought what a cold-hearted man I must be to sing if the children were dying at home. But from that day the chil- dren did get better, and in a short time were out of danger. " In my younger years I had a good many ifs, but those are all gone; I know that the Lord has the means at his com- mand to answer all my prayers if I come believing, asking in the name of Christ." THE HOESE IS HIS. " The writer was preaching Sundays at a little country church, about 70 miles by rail from the institution where he attended. He went Saturday, returning on Monday. One Saturday the train ran off the track. All day long they worked at the wreck. At last, finding it too late to make connection witli the other railroad, he took the down train back to the institution. What should be done ? A promise to preach forty miles across tlie country had been made. There was also an appointment six miles beyond for an after- noon service. It was now night. To drive across the country was the only way open or stay at home. Two disappointed congregations the result in the latter case. But the roads were heavy from recent rains. 'Twill be so late that none can direct. Friends said, ' Stay ; you can't go forty miles across, to you, an unknown country.' But the writer felt it duty to go. Hiring a horse noted for endurance, at nine o'clock at night — dark, threatening-^he set out. As he headed the ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 113 horse in the direction of the village — for he could find none who could tell him the exact road — he prayed: '0 God, starting out to preach thy word to-morrow, direct the way — guide this horse.' The night wore on ; as cross-roads came, dropping the lines over the dashboard, the same pra3'er was offered. When the horse chose a road, the driver urged him on. As day began to break, emerging from some wood in an unfrequented road, they entered the village they sought. The sermon that morning was from the text, ^ Son, go work fco-day in my vineyard.' The largest congregation of the Summer had gathered. It will not do to say that the horse knew the road. Returning in broad da3dight the next day, though directed and directed again, we lost the way and went seven miles out of our course. A scientist might laugh at this way of driving, or at asking God to guide in such trival matters. But we shall still believe that God led the horse and blessed us in our attempt to serve him." ALL OUR NEEDS. '^About eight years ago, while a student in college, I be- came embarrassed for want of funds. Debts began to accu- mulate. Anticipating money from usual sources, promises had been made to pay at a certain date. " The time to make these payments approached. The an- ticipated money did not come, A student in debt is most dependent and hopeless. In great distress, locking the study- door, I sat down to think. First came visions of an auction sale of a few books and scanty furniture ; then of notes and protests ; finally the promises of God came into mind. I knew he had promised to supply my wants. 'AH things whatsoever ye have need of,' came home in great power. I am needy, I have given up business, all, to preach the gospel. I remember as 'twere yesterday the feelings, the struggles, of that hour. With all earnestness I asked for help in my hour of distress. At last I felt confident that the aid needed would come in time, Saturday ; this was Monday. I thanked God 8 114 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. for the answer — and being questioned by a needy creditor of that afternoon, assured him that his money would be ready. " Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday passed — no sign, but faith said God will not fail. Friday morning — heart beat fast as I went to the post-office — it seemed as if through its agency the help would come. Nothing. But it must be here to-day. Returning from the office Friday evening, M^ondering how God would send deliverance, I saw on my table a long official envelope. A classmate preceding me at the office had brought it. A letter from a gentleman in Wall street whom I have never seen. On Monday, he casually asked of a tea-broker, an acquaintance, if he knew of any one in H . The broker mentioned, after a little thought, my name. " The letter contained a request for service of a peculiar sort, connected with some legal matters, contained money and promise of more. Over three times the sum I asked God for was finally given. More than enough for a ternv's expenses. "I never mentioned the matter of my need at that time to a human being, nor spoke of the prayer. I have always thanked God for that, and am sure he provides for me in ac- cordance with his promise." HE HEALETH THE SICK. " The wife of Deacon W. was sinking rapidly with pneu- taonia. Friends gave up all hope of her recovery, and even the hopeful physician felt that he was hoping against hope. In his despair the husband bore the case directly to God ; he sought the prayers of his minister and of the church ; and he asked all Christians to pray that the mother of his little children might be spared. She lingered between life and death for several days, when unexpectedly to many, she began to gain strength, and in due season was about again. This was several years ago, and she has been an active work- er in the church and Sunday-school ever since." ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 115 A POWERFUL DREAM. *' My father, a minister of the gospel, was prostrated by sickness. A large family of little ones was dependent upon him for support. Funds ran low. One evening my mother remarked that she had broken the last dollar. My father lay awake most of the night, praying to his God for help in this emergency. That same night a man in a parish not many miles distant was much impressed by a dream. He dreamed that a minister who preached in his church not long before, was sick and in want. He knew neither his name nor his place of residence. He arose at the first dawn of day, and go- ing to his own pastor inquired the name and address of the stranger who had recently preached for them. These obtain- ed, he mounted his horse, and knocked at our door just as my mother drew up the window-shades. She answered the knock, when, without a word, a stranger placed an envelope in her h*ind and immediately rode away. The envelope con- tained a ten-dollar bill, which we all believed was the Lord's answer t j our father's prayer. Afterwards these facts were disclosed by the pastor to him whom the Lord chose to dis- perse his bounty." ASK AND YE SHALL RECEIVE. " In 1874, through Providence, I became sore pressed to provide for myself and family ; two of my children had just begun to learn to read. I was desirous to procure for them the 'N. — ,' (a children's journal,) but I could not see how I was to pay for it and meet other obligations. So I carried it to our Father in heaven, asking if it was best and according to his will my children should get the ' N. — .' In about ten days afterward I received a note from a lady friend, with whom I or none of our family had had any communication for weeks, and in that note she advised us that her little daughter, the same age as our second, had sent as a Christ- mas gift a subscription for the ' JS". — / to be sent to our 116 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. Mary's address. ' If ye abide in me, and my words in you, ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you. ' " CASTING ALL YOUE CARE ON HIM. " Once, soon after the death of my husband and the loss of all his large property, I had a bill of fifty dollars to pay, and was notified two weeks beforehand that not a day's grace would be given. Besides what I was earning by my pen, I had due me, in a neighboring city, just the amount I should need — the income on my only remaining piece of real estate ; and, as my tenant was always prompt, I wrote to him where to send me the money, and gave the subject no farther thought. But, when the time for his response was already past, and I heard nothing from my debts, and but a few days to the time of my own need yet remained, I felt anxious and sought divine direction as to the course I ought to pursue. Kising from my knees, I took up my Bible, and the very first words my eyes rested upon, were these : 'Casting alLyour care upon Him, for he careth for you.' All anxiety from that hour left me ; but I felt impelled to apply to a certain editor for the payment of tiventy dollars he owed me, and I felt sure the other thirty would come from somewhere. " So the days passed until the morning of the day upon which I should be called on for the fifty dollars, and still I had not a single dollar on hand to meet the claim. At ten o'clock my creditor came, but half an hour before him the postman had put into my hand a letter containing a check for fifty dollars, the exact amount I needed. It had come from the editor to whom I had applied for twenty dollars, and lo I he had sent me fifty. The thirty advanced he said I could give him credit for on my next MS. He did not know my need, but God did, and thus He had answered my prayer." IN EVEEYTHING MAKE KNOWN YOUR WANTS. "Six years ago, on the low country of South Carolina, a friend asked me to go with him to a camp-meeting. I was ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 117 delighted with the idea, for, in my estimation, a good camp- meeting comes nearer heaven than any other place on earth. "Just three da_ys before we were to go, an unexpected cir- cumstance connected with his business, made it impossible for him to leave. It was with real heartfelt sorrow I heard of it. The day before we were to have started, as I saw another mem- ber of the family, who was going with a friend, packing her trunk, it seemed to me I could not bear it. I carried my trouble to my dear heavenly Father, begging him to send me a way to go. "I rose from my knees with the sweet assurance in my heart my prayer was heard — packed my trunk and waited patiently. When night came and the men came home, in the place of the expected buggy came a small spring-wagon, and a seat for me. What may seem more remarkable, the change between buggy and spring-wagon was made ten miles away, while I was praying. " I believe I enjoyed the meeting more for the feeling of thankfulness that pervaded my whole being while there." THE GREAT PHYSICIAN. " Nearly five years ago, after a decline of almost two years, I was brought very near to the grave. Medical aid availed nothing. I was fearfully emaciated, and my death was daily expected. A devoted mother and a sister, who had watched over me tenderly during ni}^ long illness, were completely exhausted. " I determined to apply to the Great Physician, as directed in James 5 : 14. As I united with others in prayer, uncon- sciously I uttered these words, ' I shall yet praise Thee in the great congregation.' All present felt assured that it was the will of God to restore me to health. Appearances were against me ; for some time I could sleep but very little, and there was no perceptible gain. But trusting in the sure promise, the next Sabbath I rode a short distance to church, and, as I thus ven- tured out little by little, my strength gradually returned. A 118 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. few months later, my mother, who through disease had been in a state of despair for some years, was enabled again to hope in God's mercy." SHALL SAVE THE SICK. " I was desperately ill. My physicians had done all in their power, without success — and yet I lived ! For my father's sake, the hearts of hundreds waited the issue, and prayed for me ! For his sake, the bells in the neighborhood were tied — the criers did not come within sound of J:he house — nor was the sound of wheels heard upon the street. There was a death-like stillness without and within. *'The phj^sicians sat with folded hands and wept, because the blow seemed too heavy for my father to bear — the thought that I was going to die without any assurance that I trusted in my Saviour ! " ' It cannot be,' he said, ' I will wrestle with my God until He hears me ! ' Sunday came. In almost every church a special prayer was offered for my recovery. After morning service, a band of devoted women met, and offered fervent prayers that God would spare my life. Evening came — the weary doctors went home, leaving the last sacred moments to my parents. Early next morning they came again, and exclaimed, as they entered the room, ' She is better ! Prayer has saved her ! ' I still live, ' a spared monument of God's mercy.' " ALL-SUFFICIENT FOR ALL NEED. *'l am a mother of seven children. By the help of our Father in heaven, we have all of us gone regularly to church and Sunday-school. We are poor; and at length the time came we were not clothed so we could comfortably go to church. I earnestly asked our Father to show me, within a week, which was right for us to do : to go in debt for clothes, or stay at home. Within that week, I received a large pack- age of ready-made clothing. The clothing came from a source I never thought of receiving anything from." ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 119 A VERY PRESENT HELP IN TROUBLE. *'At one time, during a season of adversity, there was urgent occasion for a certain sum beyond the income of the family, and there was no way of borrowing it. I took the matter to the Lord in prayer, asking Him, if the money were really needed, as it appeared to be, to send it, and, if it were not, to remove the distressing circumstances. The answer came in a sum five times the amount asked for, and In a manner totally unexpected." " At another time, the mother of the family was very ill, aTid, when apparently near death, the physicians had ordered a remedy which was to be constantly employed, as her life, so far as they could judge, depended on its use. ' One night, her symptoms became so alarming as to compel the writer (who had charge of the nursing) to use this remedy more freely than ever, and, about midnight the supply was exhausted. There was no possibility of obtaining any more before morning, and the rest of that night, while attending to the other directions of the doctors, I spent in one earnest, agonizing prayer that God would so overrule natural causes that death would not occur in consequence of what I felt to be my own culpable carelessness in not having provided a larger quantity of an article so necessary. In His great mercy. He granted the prayer, the dangerous symptoms did not increase during the seven or eight hours that intervened before the remedy could be procured. One proof that it was a special mercy, is found in the fact that there was no other such standing still of the disease, either before this or afterward. And the doctors were astonished when they saw that the disease had made no prog- ress, under conditions that rendered that progress inevitable in the usual law of cause and effect. And when, on her final recovery. Doctor Parker told her that she owed her life to the good care I had taken of her, my thoughts went back to the 120 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. long hours of that night of anguish, and I said, ' It was the Lord that took care of her.' ' I meant your care, under Prov- idence/ was the reply." HE SHALL DIEECT THY PATHS. "I am a teacher by profession, and, a few years ago, I found myself placed in a school whose every surrounding was utterly repugnant to my tastes, and to all my ideas of right and wrong and what good teaching should be. At first, I kept hoping that things would grow better, and that I should, at least, be able to have some influence on the modes of teaching; but I soon found that everything connected with the establishment was directed by the iron will of an unscrupulous and tyran- nical woman, whose laws were as irrevocable as those of the Medes and Persians. I at once decided I could not stay there long, but I had no other position in view, and it was not easy to secure one in the middle of the term. As usual, I made it a subject of praj-er, and the result was that, in a short time, I was most unexpectedly, and without the least solicitation on my part, offered a much better position, in every respect, which, of course, I was only too thankful to accept. That is only one instance, out of thousands I could name, where God has heard and answered my prayers, and I believe He will do so to the end." How the Lord is Constantly Caring for His Trusting Poor. A city missionary recently found, in this city on the streets, a refined Englishwoman with her children, who had been turned out of her home for non-payment of rent. With the aid of a few friends he installed her in a new domicile, and procured work for her. From time to time he visited her, and rejoiced with her that God had sent him to her in the hour of extremity. At length, pressure of business kept him away for some time, until^ one evening, he started out to look up a ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 121 few dollars owing him, in order to procure some delicacies for a sick wife. One dollar was all he could procure, and with that in his pocket he was returning homeward, when he became so impressed with the idea that he should visit the English- woman that he turned aside and did so. He found her in tears, and asking the cause, heard the sorrowful tale of no work, no food in the house for to-morrow, which was Sunday. He was in doubt whether to give her the dollar and suffer his sick wife to go without something palatable, but in a moment, " Blessed is he that considereth the poor ; the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble," presented itself to his mind, and — tl^e dollar dried the widow's tears. Upon reaching his home he found a lady had called on his wife and brought with her three or four kinds of jellies, fruit, home-made biscuit, various relishing things ; three times more than the dollar would have purchased. The same gentleman, while calling on a poor family one day, discovered a little house in the rear, which he visited, finding a neat, cleanly room, occupied by an old lady, crippled with rheumatism. He found she had no one in the world but a sister, a monthly nurse, to care for her. When first setting out on his tour that morning, the missionary had fifty cents given him by a gentleman, who expressed the hope that "it might do some good during the day." Although a number of visits had been made, he had not felt called upon to bestow it until then, nor could he tell why he should want to put it in the old lady's hand at parting, but he did so. She was too much overcome by her emotions to speak, but she took his hand and led him to a little table, on which lay a Bible, opened at the passage, " Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, He will give it you." She said, "Please tell me if any one sent you here ?" "No." "Did jou ever hear that I lived here ? " "I did not." " Then the Lord sent you in answer to my prayer this morning. For the first time in my life, I am without food. My sister was to have come 122 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. home yesterday, but has not. I was just asking the Lord to provide for me when you knocked at the door." Such scenes as these amply repay our missionaries for all the toils and weariness, all the anxieties and perplexities of the work. A Prayer for Bread. " Washington Allston, who stood at the head of American artists a half century ago, was, at one time, so reduced by pov- erty, that he locked his studio, in London, one day, threw himself on his knees and prayed for a loaf of bread for him- self and wife. While thus engaged, a knock was heard at the door, which the artist hastened to open. A stranger inquired for Mr. Allston, and was anxious to know who was the fortunate purchaser of the painting of the 'Angel Uriel,^ which had won the prize at the exhibition of the Royal Acad- emy. He was told that it was not sold. ' Where is it to be found ? ' 'In this very room,' said Allston, producing a paint- ing from a corner and wiping off the dust. ' It is for sale, but its value has not been adequately appreciated, and I would not part with it.' ' What is its price ? ' 'I have done affix- ing any nominal sum. I have always so far exceeded any offers, I leave it to you to name the price.' ' Will four hun- dred pounds be an adequate recompense ?' 'It is more than I ever asked for it.' ' Then the painting is mine,' said the stranger, who introduced himself as the Marquis of Stafford, and, from that time, became one of Mr. Allston's warmest friends and patrons." The Danghter's Prayer. The late Doctor Krummacher, chaplain to the king of Prus- sia, in referring to faith and prayer, writes as follows : ''A little incident occurs to me which I can hardly with- hold, on account of its simplicity and beauty. The mother of a little girl, only four years of age, had been, for some ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 123 time, most dangerously ill. The physician had given her up. When the little girl heard this, she went into an adjoining room, knelt down, and said : ' Dear Lord Jesus, make my mother well again.' " After she had thus prayed, she said, as though in God's name, with as deep a voice as she could : ^ Yes, my dear child, I will do it gladly ! ' This was the little girl's amen. She rose up, joyfully ran to her mother's bed, and said : ' Mother, you will get well ! ' " And she recovered, and is in health to this day. Is it, then, always permitted for me to pray thus unconditionally respecting temporal concerns ? No ; thou must not venture to do so, if, whilst you ask, you doubt. But shouldst thou ever be inclined by God's Spirit to pray thus, without doubt or scruple, in a filial temper, and with simplicity of heart, resting on the true foundation, and in genuine faith, then pray thus by all means ! None dare censure thee ; God will accept thee." The Lord Will Provide. "A city missionary, one Saturday night, was going home w-ith a basket of provisions on his arm. Meeting a police- man, he asked him if there had any families moved in the bounds of his beat during the week. He answered, ' Yes,' and, pointing to a building up an alley, said, ^a woman and some children are living there now.' " The missionary w-ent to the house, rapped at the door, and was admitted. The woman was sitting by a small light, sew- ing. In the corner of the room, were two little girls, appar- ently from nine to twelve years of age, playing. " The missionary said, ' Madam, I am here to see if you will allow your girls to attend Sunday-school to-morrow morn- ing.' 'I would, sir; but what you see on them is all the clothing they have, and you would not wish them to go as they are now.' ' The Lord will provide, madam. Have you 124 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. no money ? ' ' Not yet, but I have committed my ease into the hands of the Lord.' ' Have you anything to eat ? ' ^Nothing, sir!' 'What will you do for breakfast?' ^ 0, sir, 1 once had a husband; he provided when he could. These children had a father ; he supplied their wants ; but he is dead now. Yet my Maker, even God, is my husband, and He has promised to be a father to the fatherless. We have com- mitted all to Him, have called upon Him in this our day of trouble. I am trusting in God to take care of a poor widow and her children in a strange place, and I know He will pro- vide.' 'Thank God for such faith,' said the missionary; and, handing her the basket, said ' here is your breakfast, and you shall have the clothing for your children.' With tears stream- ing down her face, she replied : ' Oh, thank God for his faith- fulness ! He heareth and answereth prayer. May He bless you ! ' And, said our dear brother to us, ' I felt the promise was sure, for she was blessed in receiving, I was more so in giving.' " A Prayer for a Load of Wood. Here is an illustration of the way in which God sends relief in trouble. The story is told by the Christian woman to whom it happened, in her own language : " About the month of January, 1863, I was living in Con- necticut, alone with two little boys, one of them four years old, and the other about a year and a half old. M}^ husband was away in the service of his countr}-. When the coldest weather came, I was nearly out of wood. I went down into tlie village, one day, to try and get some, but tried in vain ; so many men were away in the army that help was scarce. Very little wood was brought into market, and those living on the main street, got all that came, while those who lived out- side the village could get none. I tried to buy a quarter of a cord from two or three merchants, but could not get any. One of them told me he could not get what he wanted for his ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 125 own family. Another said he wasn't willing to yoke up his team for so small a quantity ; but, as I only had a dollar and seventy-five cents, I could not buy any more, and so I was obliged to go home without any. I went back to my little ones, feeling very sad. But while I sat there, almost ready to cry, the words of Abraham came into my mind, 'Jehovah- Jireh, the Lord will provide.' Then I went up to my cham- ber. There I knelt down and told God of my trouble, and asked him to help me and send the relief that we needed.. Then I went to the window and waited, looking down the street, expecting to see the wood coming. After waiting a while, without seeing any come, my faith began to fail. I said to myself, ' The Lord did provide for Abraham, but He won't provide for me.' Our last stick of wood was put in the stove. It was too cold to keep the children in the house with' out fire. I got the children's clothes out, and thought I would take them to the house of a kind neighbor, where I knew they could stay till we got some wood. But, just as I was going out with the children, in passing by the window, I saw the top of a great load of wood coming up the road towards our little house. Can that be for us ? I asked myself. Presently I saw the wagon turn off the road and come up towards our door. Then I was puzzled to know how to pay for it. A dol- lar and seventy-five cents I knew would only go a little way towards paying for all that wood. The oxen came slowly on, dragging the load to our door. I asked the man if there wasn't some mistake about it. 'No, ma'am,' said he, ' there's no mistake.' ' I did not order it, and I cannot pay for it,' was my reply. 'Never mind, ma'am,' said he, 'a friend ordered it, and it is all paid for.' Then he unhitched the oxen from the wagon, and gave them some hay to eat. When this was done, he asked for a saw and ax, and never stopped till tlie whole load was cut and split and piled away in the woodshed. " This was more than I could stand. My feelings overcame me, and I sat down and cried like a child. But these were not bitter tears of sorrow. They were tears of joy and glad* 126 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. ness, of gratitude and thankfulness. I felt ashamed of my- self for doubting God's word, and I prayed that I might never do so again. What pleasure I had in using that wood ! Every stick of it, as I took it up, seemed to have a voice with which to say ' Jehovah-Jireh.' As Abraham stood on the top of Mount Moriah he could say, ' The Lord ivill provide.' But every day, as I went into our woodshed, I could point to that blessed pile of wood sent from heaven, and saj^, 'The Lord does provide.' " A Refractory Man Compelled to Pay a Debt. A refractory man who owed a small debt of about $43, re- fused to pay it all, but offered to do so if ten dollars was taken off. His creditor, feeling that it was just, declined to abate the amount. For more than a year the creditor waited, after having no attention paid to his correspondence or claim by the debtor, who exhibited unmistakable obstinacy and want of courtesy. At last it was put into the hands of a lawyer. The lawyer, too, was fairly provoked at the faithlessness of the debtor in his promises or his attention to the subject ; thus matters dragged wearily for months, yet exercised leniency in press- ing the claim. The creditor, whose forbearance had now reached the ex- tremity of endurance, at last was led to take it to the Lord in prayer; saying he would "willingly forgive the whole debt if in anything he was wrong, but if the Lord thought it was right, hoped that his debtor might he coyyipelled to i)ay the amount he so obstinately withheld^' To the astonishment of all, a letter received from the lawyer four days after, informed him that his debtor had called and paid the claim in full with interest to date. " In doing so, he said he paid it under protest,^^ thus showing he was com- pelled by something he could not resist to pay it all. ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 127 A Hurricane Passes Around a Ship. A Sea Captain relates to the editor of the Christian, a re- markable incident, whereby in one of his voyages his ship was unaccountably held still, and thereby saved from sailing •directly into the midst of a terrible hurricane : — " We sailed from the Kennebec on the first of October, 1876. There had been several severe gales, and some of my friends thought it hardly safe to go, but after considerable prayer I concluded it was right to undertake the voyage. On the 19tli of Octo- ber we were about one hundred and fifty miles west of the Bahamas, and we encountered very disagreeable weather. For five or six days ive seemed held by shifting currents, or some unknoivn fower, in about the same 'place. We would think we had sailed thirty or forty miles, when on taking our •observations we would fi.nd we were ivithin three ov four miles of our position the day before. This circumstance occurring repeatedly proved a trial to my faith, and I said within my heart, ^ Lord, why are we so hindered, and kept in this posi- tion ?^ Day after day we were held as if by an unseen force, until at length a change took place, and we went on our way. Reaching our port they inquired, ^ Where have you been through the gale ? ' ^ What gale ? ' we asked. ' We have seen no gale.'' We then learned that a terrible hurricane had swept through that region, and that all was desolation. We afterwards learned that this hurricane had swept around us, and had almost formed a circle around the place occupied by us during the storm. A hundred miles in one direction all was wreck and ruin, fifty miles in the opposite direction all zvas desolation ; and while that storm was 7'aging in all its fury, we luere held in perfect safety, in quiet waters, and in continual anxiety to change our position and pursue our voy- age. One day of ordinary sailing would have brought us into the track of the storm, and sent us to the bottom of the sea. We were anxious to sail on, but some unseen power held us where we were, and we escarped." ANSWERS TO PRAYER. The Captain was a prayerful man, trusting in his Lord, though his faith was tried, and he thought the Lord was not helping him. Yet the Lord was keeping his promise to him^ " The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by him, and the Lord shall cover him all the day longP Recovery from Spinal Disease. " Miss M is the daughter of a respectable farmer, an elder in a Presbyterian church in Western Pennsylvania. When a young girl her spine was injured while nursing her aged and helpless grandmother, and she has been a great sufferer for many years. For eleven years she has not been able to attend church nor to go from home, and for a long time was unable to leave her chamber or her bed. Two years ago she was so ill that hopes of her recovery were abandoned, her mind was thought to be seriously, even hopelessly im- paired. Her physician acknowledged that her disease baffled his skill. "A few months ago, being near her residence and hearing that her health was better, I called on her, and to my sur- prise, found her able to sew, walk about, and even go down stairs. She informed me that she suffered so intensely from the remedies used for her cure, and constantly grew worse, that she determined to do nothing more; it seemed like fight- ing against God ; she would put herself into His hands to do with her as He pleased. Then it seemed to her that the Saviour came to her and said, 'M , what aileth thee?'_ She told Him all her case, and He soothed and comforted her. From that time she began to improve ; the paroxysms of pain grew less, and disappeared ; her nervousness was relieved, she could sleep, her mind was full of peace. She said, ' I am not cured, and do not expect to be well, but I can bear what I have to suffer, and am willing to depart whenever it is the Lord's will to take me away to himself.' " ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 129 Prayer for a Pair of Boots. Tn the Fall of 1858, H , a student in the Theological Seminary at Princeton, N. J., was in great need of a new pair of boots. His toes were sticking out of his old ones, and he had no money to purchase new ones. All the money he could command was barely enough to pay his fare to his home, where he had promised a dear friend to be present on the approach- ing communion Sabbath. H was a man of great faith, and was accustomed to carry all his wants to God in prayer. To God he carried the present emergency, and earnestly importuned Him, that He would send him a pair of boots, and that He would do it before, the approaching Sabbath. He was persuaded that God hearc!, and would answer his petition, yet his faith was sorely tried. Saturday morning came and still there was no answer ; \\k resolved, however, to go to his home, fully persuaded that God! would in good time grant his request. He took the morning train at the Princeton depot, and resiched home about eleven o'clock. It was a hard trial for him to go to " Preparatory Lecture " with his boots in the condition they were in ; yet at two o'clock he went, still prajdng that God would send him a new pair of boots. During the service, a merchant in the town took a seat in the ssame pew with him, and at the close of the service, without a word being spoken on the subject, the merchant, after shaking hands with H and inquiring of his welfare, asked him if he would do him the favor of going down town to a certain boot and shoe store and select from the stock as good a pair of boots as he could find, and, said the merchant, " have them charged to me." It was, as H said to me on his return to the seminary, a direct an- swer to prayer. Indeed, it might be said of H that he went through college and seminary on prayer. He laid all his plans before God, pleaded his promises, and never was disappointed. 130 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. Under Garments in Answer to Prayer. Among the students in the Theological Seminary at Prince- ton, N. J., in 1860, was my intimate friend L . He was at the time poorly clad, but was a devoted Christian, and is at present a successful foreign missionary. One day when on the Seminary campus, I heard two of the students very thoughtlessly criticising the exceeding shabbi- ness of L 's wearing apparel, his short pants, old shoes, and socks with no heels in them. At almost every step L took when playing ball, his bare heels could be seen. That day, after evening prayers, I took L by the arm, for a walk to ''Orthodox point," a tree about a mile distant from the Seminary. During our walk, T gently told him of the criticisms I had heard, and learned more fully than I had ever done of his destitution of wearing apparel, especially of under garments. I offered him a share of mine, or the loan of money, so as to meet his present wants, but this he declined to receive, saying, that he '' would take it to the Lord in prayer," and that God would in good time supply all his wants. I, too, bore his case to the throne of grace. The next day after this, on going into his room, he laid before me an empty en- velope, and a five dollar bill, and asked me the question, *' Did you throw that envelope with that bill in it, through that ventilator ?" I assured him that I did not. " Well," said he, " when I came in from recitation a short time ago, I found this envelope on the floor and that five dollar bill in it. It has evidently been thrown in through the ventilator." We both recognized God's hand in the provision made and men- tally gave thanks to our Heavenly Father. Soon after this, '•' a missionary box " was sent to the Seminary, and my friend was therefrom well supplied with under garments. Fre- quently afterward did he say to me, in substance, " Prayer is the key to God's treasury. Trust in Him and the Lord will provide." ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 131 Unexpected Relief. Henry Badgerow was a man about seventy years of age at the time of the incident, and a resident of Steuben county. State of New York. This was in the year about A. D. 1830- 31. He had been for many years an invalid — so much so that he couldn't walk — the result of a horse running away with him. In a forest, isolated from neighbors, the old man resided alone with an aged wife. They were quite poor, and wholly dependent upon the labor of a son who worked away from home for others. This son was at length taken sick with a fever, and unable to minister to his parents' wants. This was in mid-winter, when storms were frequent and the snows deep and lasting. One evening when the storm was at its highest, this old couple found themselves without a particle of food in the house. Matters were desperate with them. They could see but starvation staring them in the face. They resolved upon prayer, having a firm trust in their Heavenly Father, whom for many years they had been humbly serving. They did not retire, but continued in fer- vent prayer that God would send them food. About two and a half miles distant lived a young married man in comforta- ble circumstances, by the name of Joseph Clason (the author of the story). He was not at this time a Christian, although it M as not long after this he was converted, and has since lived an eminently active and godly life. About 12 o'clock on the night of the snow storm above mentioned, young Clason awoke. His first thoughts were of old Mr. Badgerow and his condi- tion in that storm. His mind became so impressed with the thought of him, and so wrought upon that he could not again go to sleep, although trying so to do. At length he awak- ened his wife, told her that he was in trouble about Mr. B., for fear he and his wife were starving. She replied that if he would get right up and make a light, she would prepare something, and that he had better take it right down. Young C. did so, taking with him a pail of provisions. After a 132 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. jaunt through the storm and snow in the dead hour of night, he reached the old man's cabin. There he found a light burning. He knocked ; the door was opened by the wife. The old man was fervently praying; but when he saw young C. with the pail of provisions, he held up both hands and said, " Now I know that God heareth prayer. Not one- mouthful have we in the house to eat. I know that God sent you here." Young C. staid with the old couple until day- light. The conversation revealed that about midnight the old man perceiving that a storm had arisen, and that unless relief came, which was not likely, they would starve, resolved to appeal to his Heavenly Father, saying that God who sent the ravens to feed Elijah would feed him if he went to him in faith, and now God had heard his prayer, and he blessed God that he could do so in all trouble and trial. The old man having asked C. how he came to visit them, he replied he didn't know, but supposed God had sent him, as he had awoke and couldn't again sleep on account of thought of him. The incident made a serious and lasting impression on young C.'s mind. In the morning, as C. was returning home, he came by his father's house ; his mother, espying his pail, wished to know where he had been. He replied, "To feed the hungry." His father spreading the incident, the neighbors all turned out and brought in enough provision to last them during several weeks, the old man being greatly loved and respected by his commu* nity on account of his sterling Christian life and character. Mr. Joseph Clason is still living, now seventy-five years of age, in Bazine, Ness county, Kansas. That Beautiful Cliristiiias G-ift. Hew the Lord Used it. A lady and gentleman were walking up Madison avenue, New York City, from church, when incidentally tlie lady said. ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 133 *'We are trying to get up Christmas decorations and enter- tainment for our Mission School." '^ Well, put my name down for anything you likey'' and then came into his mind a certain sum to give. A day passed on, it seemed forgotten ; but a note from the lady reminded him of his promise, and he responded, giving the exact sum originally thought of, ^25. Notice, now, the most singular disposition of it, which, by the hand of Provi- dence, was made to go on its circuitous way to meet those who needed it most. The next Sabbath, the lady and gentleman again meeting each other, she said, "Your gift was too large. I cannot take so much from 3^ou. I shall give you back part." "But I won't take it." " Well, 3^ou must. I can't keep it." It resulted in the lady taking $15 from her muff and forc- ing it back into the gentleman's hand. The gentleman felt badly. " I intended this for the Lord, and 7101V it is refused. It is the first time I ever heard that money ever given to a Sunday school ivas not luanted. I meant the whole for the Lord. If she don't want it and wont keep it, I will give the rest away. It does not belong to me.^^ Before night he had enclosed it in a letter and sent it out of the city to an invalid as a Christmas j^resent. He had occasion not long after to visit the invalid, and was fairly as- tonished at the extraordinary circumstances connected with its use ; and this is his story, told in his letter to the lady who returned the $15. "The sequel to the $15 is far more beautiful and wonder- ful than anything I have ever known. This invalid had been praying for some money for a needed article of dress to pro- tect her from cold. The $15 ca77ie the very next morning in ansiver to her prayer. But it vms more than enough. As a consistent Christian, having asked the Lord only for enough to meet but one need, she felt as if the rest belonged to the Lord and must be used for Him. So in wondering how to use 134 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. it, she thought of a poor woman who needed a new calico dress, and at once bought it and gave it to her. She had but $5 left. A dear friend was in distress; his horse and carriage bad been seized for failure to pay the livery bill of their keep- ing ; he could not collect any money of the debts due him, to pay his bill, and had nothing. His wife and children were in New Britain, and here he was, no means to get there. The little Christian invalid sent him her $5, the last money she had, not knowing where her next was to come from, with these words : '* TJte Lord has sent you this,'' and though he offered to return, or use only part, she said, " Ko, the Lord meant this for you. You must keep it, I will not take it back." Now see how beautifully all these incidents have been made to work for the good of many, by the managing hand of Providence. '• My original gift of $25 to you was more than enough. You did not need it all for your Sunday-school, and the Lord made you force back the ^15 upon me. I could not keep it, because I felt it belonged to the Lord. So I sent it to the little invalid. " She, too, had only needed a part, and used only what she asked the Lord for, and then she, in her turn, gave the rest away. The most Monderful part of it is, that the money you gave back to me, and I gave to the Lord, was three-fifths of the amount you received, and the money the little invalid gave away ifo ^/^e iortZ was also tlireefiftlis the amount shereceived. The money xvhich you kejyt for your use was just twofifthsy and the unoney that the invalid kept for her own use was just tivo fifths also. The very next day after she had given her money away, a lady called and gave her some mone}", which was precisely the same amount which tjie poor woman's cal- ico dress had cost, (though she knew nothing of the circum- stances), and in return for the $5 which she gave her friend in distress, and refused to take back, the Lord remembered her and gave her a eood home. ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 135 The Widow's 'Wood and Flour.— The Un- believing Ones Made Speechless. The following instance is known to The Christian as true, and to a remarkable degree indicates how thoroughly God knows our minutest needs, and how effectively He makes those who ever reproach his name ashamed of their unbelief. " A friend and relative of the one who was 'a widow in- deed/ one who trusted in God, and continued in supplications and prayers day and night, was once brought into circum- stances of peculiar straitness and trial. She had two daugh- ters who exerted themselves with their needles to earn a live- lihood ; and at that time they were so busily engaged in try- ing to finish some work that had long been on their hands, they had neglected to make provision for their ordinary wants until they found themselves one Winter's day in the midst of a New England snow storm, with food and fuel almost ex- hausted, at a distance from neighbors, and without any means of procuring needful sustenance. " The daughters began to be alarmed, and were full of anx- iety at the dismal prospect, but the good old mother said, 'Don't worry, girls, the Lord will provide; we have enough for to-day, and to-morrow may be pleasant,' and in this hope the girls settled down again to their labor. "Another morning came, and with it no sunshine, but wind and snow in abundance. The storm still raged, but no one came near the house, and all was dark and dismal without. " Noon came, and the last morsel of food was eaten, the wind was almost gone, and there were no tokens of any relief for their necessities. " The girls became much distressed, and talked anxiously of their condition, but the good mother said, ^ Don't worry, the Lord will provide.' ''But they had heard that story the day before, and they knew not the strong foundation upon which that mother's trust was builded, and could not share the confidence she felt. 136 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. " 'If we get anything to-day the Lord will have to bring it himself, for nobody else can get here if they try/ said one of the daughters, impatiently, but the mother said, 'Don't worry/ And so they sat down again to their sewing, the daughters to muse upon their necessitous condition, and the mother to roll her burden on the Everlasting Arms." Now mark the way in which the Lord came to their rescue, and just at this moment of extremity, put it into the heart of one of his children to go and carry relief. Human Nature at such a time would never have ventured out in such a storm, but waited for a pleasant day. But Divine Wisdom and power made him carry just what was needed^ in the face of adverse circiunstances, a7id just at the time it was needed. " Mr. M. sat at his fireside, about a mile away, surrounded by every bounty and comfort needed to cheer his heart, with his only daughter sitting by his side. " For a long time not a word had been spoken, and he had seemed lost in silent meditation, till at length he said, 'Mary, I want you to go and order the cattle yoked, and then get me a bag. I must go and carry some wood and flour to sister C " ' Why, Father, it is impossible for you to go. There is no track, and it is all of a mile up there. You would almost perish.' " The old man sat in silence a few moments and said, ' Mary, I must go.' She knew her father too well to suppose that words would detain him, and so complied with his wishes. While she held the bag for him, she felt perhaps a little un- easiness to see the flour so liberally disposed of, and said, ' I wish you would remember that I want to give a poor woman some flour, if it ever clears off.' The old man understood the intimation and said, ' Mary, give all you feel it duty to, and when the Lord says stop, I will do so.' " Soon all things were ready, and the patient oxen took their way to the widow's home, wallowing through the drifted snow, and dragging the sled with its load of wood and flour. About four o'clock in the afternoon, the mother had arisen from her ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 137 work to fix the fire, and, looking out of the window, she saw the oxen at the door, and she knew that the Lord had heard her cry. " She said not a word — why should she ? She was not sur- prised ! — but, presently, a heavy step at the threshold caused the daughters to look up with astonishment, as Mr. M. strode unceremoniously into the room, saying, ^The Lord told me, Sister C, that you wanted some wood and flour.'' '' ^He told you the truth,'' said the widow, ' and I will praise Him forever.' *^ ' What think you now girls ? ' she continued, as she turned in solemn joy to her unbelieving daughters. '^They luere speechless ; not a word escaped their lips ; but they pondered that new revelation of the providential mercy of the Lord, until it made upon their minds an impression never to be effaced. '' From that hour they learned to trust in Him who cares for His needy in the hour of distress, and who, from His bound- less stores, supplies the wants of those who trust in Him." A Pair of Shoes.— The Lord's Rebuke to those who '' Didn't Believe." The following incident occurred in Connecticut : In an humble cottage two sisters were watching over and caring for a much-loved brother, who, for many long months had been upon a bed of sickness. At length, the younger oi them began to be discouraged. She was dependent, for her clothing, upon her labor ; her shoes were worn out, and how should she get another pair, unless she could leave the sick bed and go away from home and work and earn some money. " Well," said the mother, " I know you need a pair of shoes, but don't worry, the Lord will provide." "Z>o you think that the Lord tvill come doion from heaven and buy me a pair of shoes ? " said the younger sis- 138 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. ter, with an expression of discouragement and vexation ors her countenance. '^ No," said the mother, ^' but perhaps he will put it into somebody's heart to buy you a pair." " Perhaps He will, hut I don't believe it/' said the discour- aged girl. " Well," said the other sister, who was a little more hope- ful, " you won't get them any quicker by fretting, so you might as well be quiet." Then the subject dropped and the day passed as usual. As the shades of evening were gathering, a brother who lived at some distance, and who knew nothing of their pre- vious conversation, called to inquire after their prosperity. After the customary salutations, he said, " You have been sick here a long time, and I thought I would come round and see if I could not do something for you ; thought perhaps by this time the girls needed something." Then turning to the younger sister, he said, " How is it, aren't your shoes tcorn out?" She dropped her eyes, blushed deeply, and, perhaps, a little conscience-smitten, answered not a word. Nothing was said of the previous conversation, though it was not forgotten by those who heard it. The brother soon saw for himself enough to satisfy him, and said no more, but went away. The next day tivo pairs of shoes were sent around to her, and with them came to her heart a lesson which she never forgot. She lived many years after that, but was never heard to murmur in that way again, and often said that the two pairs of shoes taught her to ivait, hope and trust, and thereby learn implicit confidence in Him who sendeth all blessings. The last time she alluded to the occurrence, she said, " Iivas speech- less then, hut J by the grace of God, I will not he in the world to comey ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 139 The Lame Healed. Rev. Charles G. Finney, during his life-time, was familiar with the circumstances connected with the remarkable heal- ing of a sick lady in Oberlin, 0., the wife of Rev. R. D. Mil- ler, and these facts were vouched for as unquestionably au- thentic. Mr. Finney says : " Mrs. Miller is the wife of a Congregational minister, and a lady of unquestionably veracity. However the fact of her healing is to be accounted for, her story is no doubt worthy of §ntire confidence, as we have known her for years as a lame, suffering invalid, and now see her in our midst in sound health. This instantaneous restoration will be accounted for by different persons in different ways. Mrs. Miller and those who were present regard the healing as supernatural and a direct answer to prayer. The facts must speak for them- selves. Why should not the sick be healed in answer to the prayer of faith ? Unbelief can discredit them, but faith sees nothing incredible in such facts as are stated by Mrs. Miller. Mrs, Miller's own statement is as follows, and it is fully endorsed by the most reliable citizens and members of the First church at Oberlin : " From my parents I inherited a constitution subject to a chronic form of rheumatism. In early life I was attacked with rheumatic weaknesses and pains, which affected my whole system. For nearly forty years I was subject to more or less suffering from this cause, sometimes unable to attend meeting for months at a time. For seven years, until the last three months, I have been unable to get about without the aid of crutch or staff, generally both. I have used many lin- iments and remedies, but with no permanently good result. I have been a Christian from early life, but last Spring, in our revival, I received a spiritual refreshing from the Lord, which gave a new impulse to my faith. Since then my relig- ion has been a new life to me. "Last Summer, several of us Christian sisters were in the 140 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. habit of spending short seasons of prayer together, that the Lord would send us a pastor. Some of our number had read the narrative of Dorothea Trudel, and had spoken to me on the subject of healing in answer to prayer. My faith had not then risen to this elevation. I had in fact accepted what I supposed to be the will of God, and made up my mind to be a lame and suffering invalid the rest of my life. I had long since ceased to use remedies for the restoration of my health, and had not even thought of praying in regard to it, for I regarded it as the will of God that I should suffer in silent submission. "Notwithstanding what had been said to me, I remained in this opinion and in this attitude until the 26th of September, 1872, when several ladies met at our house, by appointment, for a prayer-meeting. I had been growing worse for some time, and was at that time unable to get out to attend a meeting. I was suffering much pain that afternoon ; indeed, I was hardly able to be out of my bed. Up to this time none of the sisters who had conversed with me about the subject of healing by faith, had been able to tell me anything from their own experience. That afternoon, one lady was present who could speak to me from her own experience of being healed in answer to the prayer of faith. She related several striking instances in which her prayers had been answered in the removal of divers forms of disease to which she was subject. She also repeated a number of passages of Scripture, which clearly justified the expectation of being healed in answer to the prayer of faith. She also said that Jesus had shown her that he was just as ready to heal diseases now as he was when on earth ; that such healing was expressly promised in Scripture, in answer to the prayer of faith, and that it was nowhere taken back. These facts, reasonings, and passages of Scripture, made a deep impression on my mind, and, for the first time, I found myself able to believe tliat Jesus would heal me in answer to prayer. She asked me if I could join my faith with hers and ask for present ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 141 healing. I told her I felt that I could. We then knelt, and called upon the Lord. She offered a mighty prayer to God^ and I followed. While she was leading in prayer I felt a quickening in my whole being, whereupon my pain subsided, and when we rose from prayer I felt that a great change had come over me, that I was cured. I found that I could walk- without my staff or crutch, or any assistance from any one. Since then my pains have never returned ; I have more than my youthful vigor ; I walk with more ease and rapidity than I ever did in my life, and I never felt so fresh and young as I now do, at the age of fifty-two. "Now, the hundred and third psalm is my psalm, and my youth is more than renewed, like the eagle's. I cannot ex- press the constant joy of my heart for the wonderful healing of my soul and body. I feel as if I was every whit made whole." The testimony of eye-witnesses to this healing is as follows : " We were all present at the time of the healing, and know the facts to be true. We are all Christians, and have no interest in deceiving anybody, and would by no means dis- honor God by stating more than the exact truth. Since the healing, Mrs. Miller is still with us, and in excellent healthy Neither the severe cold of last Winter, nor the extreme heat of this Summer, has at all injured her health. From our first acquaintance with her, she has been so lame as to be unable to walk, except by the aid of crutches. Since which time she has been able to walk without help, and appears perfectly well." Her husband, also adding his testimony, says : " She has been unable to walk without crutches for a series of years. A long time ago, we tried many remedies and phy- sicians, with no lasting good results, and were expecting she would remain an invalid. Of late, she had applied no remedy, nor taken any medicine. At the time of her cure, she was much worse than for a long while before, being in great pain continually, until the moment she fully believed, and, m an 142 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. instant, she was restored to perfect soundness. From that moment to this she has not felt a particle of her former com- plaint. " She can now walk for miles as fast as I wish to, without feeling very much fatigue, does all her own housework, and attends seven meetings during the week. In short, she is stronger, and seems as young and spry, as when we were married, thirty-two years ago. The work of the dear Savior in her curr seems to be perfect, and she is an astonishment to all who knew her before and see her now. To His name be all the praise. '^Another lady, the same week my wife was healed, a mem- ber of the First Congregational Church, confined to her bed with a complicated disease, was prayed for, and restored at once to soundness." The Wonderful Cure of Mrs. Sherman. Although there are so many cases of healing in answer to prayer, yet the incident of the healing of Mrs. Sherman is so minute, and resulted in such a radical change of the phys- ical constitution, that it is necessary to relate it in full detail. It is too well proven to admit the possibility of a doubt. " Mrs. Ellen Sherman is the wife of Rev. Moses Sherman, •and, at the time of this occurrence, in 1873, they were resi- dents of Piermont, N. H. She had been an invalid for many years. In the Winter after she was fifteen, she fell on the ice and hurt her left knee, so that it became weak and easy to slip out of joint. Six years after, she fell again on the same knee, so twisting it and injuring the ligaments that it became partially stiff, and, the physician said, incurable. "The next Summer, by very fast walking, one day, she brought on special weakness, which no physician was able to cure. From that moment she was subject to severe neural- gia, sick-headaches, at least monthly, and sometimes even weekly. ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 143 ''In December, 1859, while stepping out of doors, she slipped, by reason of her stiff joint, and fell, striking near the base of the spine, directly across the sharp edge of the stone step. This caused such a sickness that she was obliged to leave the school she was attending. '' Three years after (in January, 1862), she fell at the top of a stairway, striking just as before, and sliding all the way down to the foot. This nearly paralyzed the spinal cord, and -caused deep and permanent spinal disease. After this she was up and down for many years, attended by various physi- cians, yet nothing bettered, but, rather, growing worse. It may be said, for short, that every organ of the lower body became chronically diseased, and that the headaches increased in violence. " In September, 1872, through a severe cold, she took her bed, where she lay, except when lifted from it, till the night of August 27, 1873. She was unable to walk a step, or even stand. She could sit up only a short time without great distress. The best medical skill that could be procured gave only temporary relief. The spine grew worse in spite of every appliance, and the nervous sensitiveness and prostration were increasing. During the two or three weeks immediately pre- ceding her cure she was especially helpless, two persons being required to lift her off and on the bed. On the Monday before, one of her severest neuralgia sick-headaches came on. During Wednesday she began to be relieved, but was still so sick that when, in the evening, she tried to have her clothes changed, she could only endure the change of her night-dress." It will be seen from this her utter physical helplessness, and not the slightest hope of any amelioration. During the night of August 27th, she enjoyed a blessed time of communion with her Lord, giving herself, in all her helplessness, wholly to Him to do as he wills. With feelings beyond all expression, she felt the nearness of her mighty Savior, and the sense of receiving a new and most delicious pulsation of new life. At last, though she had 144 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. been bed-ridden for twelve months, and incapable of any bod- ily assistance, she felt an uncontrollable impulse to throw off the clothes of the bed with her left arm, and sprang out of bed upon her feet, and started to walk across the room. "Her husband's first thought was that she was crazed, and would fall to the floor, and he sprang towards her to help her. But she put up her hands against him, saying with great energy, ' Don't you touch me ! Don't you touch me ! ' and went walking back and forth across the room speaking rap- idly, and declaring the work which Jesus had been working upon her. " Her husband quickly saw that she w^as in her right mind^ and had been healed by the Lord, and his soul was filled with unutterable emotion. '' One of the women of the household was called, also their son, twelve years old, and together they thanked God for the great and blessed wonder he had wrought. '^In the morning, after a sleep of several hours, she further examined herself to see if entirely healed, and found both knees perfectlj^ well ; and though for sixteen jesirs she had not been able to use either, now she lifted the leitfoot and ^9w^ if upon the right knee, thus proving the completeness of her res- toration. "At the end of two years from her healing, inquir}^ having been made as to how thorough had been the work, Mrs. Sher- man gave full and abundant evidence. ' I cannot remember a Summer when I have been so healthy and strong, and able to work hard. I am a constant wonder to myself, and to oth- ers, and have been for the two years past. The cure exceeded my highest expectations at the time I was cured. I did not look forward to such a state of vigor and strength. No words can express my joy and gratitude for all this.' "The parents of Mrs. Sherman also testify of the wonderful change physically which occurred with the cure. "Before, her appetite was always disordered, but on the very morning of the healing it was wholly changed, and her ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 145 food, which distressed her formerly, she ate with a relish and without any pain following ; and she so continues. For years before a natural action of the bowels was rare. From that day since, an unnatural one is equally rare. "For fifteen years, with few exceptions, she had had severe neuralgic sick headaches monthly or oftener. From that time she has been natural and without pain, with no return of the headaches, except a comparatively slight one once, from overdoing and a cold taken through carelessness. "There was also at that time an immediate and radical change in the action of the kidneys, which had become a source of great trouble before. Moreover the knee which had been partially stiff for so many years was made entirely well. In fine, her body, which had been so full of pain, be- came at once free from pain, and full of health. " The week after she was healed she went fifty miles to attend a camp. meeting, riding five miles in a carriage, the rest by cars. A near neighbor said, ' She will come back worse than ever.' Though the weather was especially bad, she came back better than when she went." These are but few out of many expressions respecting her extraordinary recover}^, which fully satisfy the believing Christian that tlie Great Physician is with us now, " heaUnrj the lame,^'' and curing the sick. It is faith only, unyielding, which the Lord requires ere he gives his richest blessing. The unbelieving one simply sees in it ^'something strange.,'^ which he can not understand, but the faith-keeping Chxis- tian knows it is the sign of his Precious Lord, in whom he trusts and abides forever. Dr. Newman Hall's Testimonies to tlio Value of Prayer. Dr. Newman Hall, of London, in his wide expexience has met with many incidents of answered prayer, and thus relates several : 10 14G ANSWERS TO PRAYER. A Prayer for Thirty Pounds. "On a recent evangelizing visit to Newport, one of its cit- izens said to me, ' In yonder house dwell a man and wife, who recently needed a sum of £30 to meet some payment the next morning. Having failed in their efforts to collect it, they earnestly prayed God to provide it. The store was being closed for the night when a sea-captain knocked at the door and asked for some seamen's clothes. The gas was relighted, and various articles were selected ; the purchaser then asked for the account, and the money was paid — a little more than £30. The man and his wife thanked their Heavenly Father for sending it in this way in answer to prayer.' " Recovery from Dangerous Illness. Br. Newman Hall was once visiting, on his dying bed, John Cranfield, son of the great originator of ragged schools, under the ministry of Rowland Hill. " We were conversing on prayer. He said, ' A remarkable instance occurred in connection with my father. The former organist of Surry Chapel, Mr. Howard, was dangerously ill. He was greatly beloved, and his friends met for special prayer that God would spare his life. My father on that occasion was remarkably earnest in asking that the life of his friend might be lengthened, as in the case of Hezekiah. The next day he began to recover ; and during fifteen years was a bless- ing to his friends and the church.' " A Sunday School Teacher in Distress. " My brother," says Dr. Hall, " told me that when super- intendent of a Sunday school he felt a strong impulse, one Saturday evening, to call at the home of one of his teachers whom he had never visited before. He found his mother and sisters in such evident distress that he inquired the cause. ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 147 With much reluctance they explained that, being unable to pay their taxes, their goods were to be taken on the coming Monday, and they had been asking special help from God to save them from a disaster which they felt would be a dis- honor to religion. By the aid of a few friends the difficulty was at once met, but the timely succor was regarded as the divine answer to their prayer." Kescued in Peril. " With my brother I was once climbing the Cirrha diJazze^ one of the mountains in the chain of Mount Rosa. When nearly at the top, we entered a dense fog. Presently our guides faced right about and grounded their axes on the frozen snowed slope. My brother, seeing the slope still beyond, and not knowing it was merely the cornice overhang- ing a precipice of several thousand feet, rushed onward. I shall never forget their cry of agonized warning. He stood ti moment on the very summit, and then, the snow yielding, he began to fall through. One of the guides, at great risk, had rushed after him, and seizing him by the coat, drew him down to a place of safety. " No one could be nearer death and yet escape. On Ws return home, an invalid member of his congregation told him that she had been much in prayer for his safety, and men- tioned a special time when she was particularly earnest, as if imploring deliverance from some great peril. The times corre- sponded. His life was saved in answer to her prayer." A Physical Impediment Removed. *^ A clergyman, of great scholarship and genius, has told me of a remarkable answer to prayer, authenticated by three missionaries known to himself, who are personally acquainted with the facts. '' A Prussian, the master of a hotel in India, was anxious 148 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. to relinquish his large income, and labor as a missionary among the Santil tribes. Objection was made to him on account of an impediment in his speech which would render him, in speaking a foreign language, incapable of being under- stood. Believing in the efficacy of prayer, he called together his friends, specially to ask that his impediment might be removed. The next morning, he presented himself again at the Mission House — the impediment had gone ! He was ac- cepted, relinquished his business, and is now preaching the gospel to the Santils in their own tongue." Restoration from Death. ^^ My father, the author of the Sinner'' s Friend, narrates in his autobiography a circumstance which he often used to speak of with great emotion. "My mother was very ill, and apparently dying. The Doctor said that now, if at all, the children might be brought for her to look at them once more. One by one we were brought to the bedside, and her hand was placed on our heads. " Then my father bade her farewell, and she lay motionless as if soon to breathe her last. " He then said to himself, ' There is yet one promise I have not pleaded, " If ye ask anything in my name I will do it.'' He stepped aside, and in an agony of soul exclamed, ^0, Lord, for the honor of thy dear Son, give me the life of my wife ! ' " He could say no more, and sank down exhausted. Just then the nurse called him to the bedside saying, ^She has opened her mouth again as if for food.' Nourishment was given, and from that time she began to recover. The doctor said it was miraculous. My father said it was God, who had heard his prayer." ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 149 The Help of the Lord in Little Things. The Rev. Dr. Patton, of Chicago, in receiving many letters from clergymen, received one from Mr. F., a pastor in Mas- sachusetts. In it he speaks of his unsuccessful search for a valuable knife, prized as a present from a friend, which he had lost on a hillside covered with laurels. He paused in prayer, asked to be guided, commenced his search, and was almost imme- diately successful thereafter. The same letter also mentions the case of a friend in a re- sponsible position under the government, whose accounts failed to balance by reason of an error, which, after long search, he could not detect. In great distress he betook himself to prayer, and then opening his books, on the verij first page, which he happened to glance at, and at the top of the column, he saw instantly the looked for error, standing out so plainly that he won- dered he had not seen it before. The writer also speaks of a rubber shoe being lost and promptly found after mention in prayer. These may seem little matters, but they are the privileges of the righteous to ask ^'anything" of " Him who careth for them." A Boy's Faith in Prayer- In a letter to Dr. W. W. Patton, by Mr. T. I. Goodwin, M. D., of Staten Island, he describes a little incident which happened to him Avhen only thirteen years old. ^' He lost a choice penknife while collecting and driving several cows from a pasture covered with grass two inches high. Having read Huntington's Book of Faith, he thought of prayer, and in child-like trust he knelt under a tree, out- side the bars, and prayed for his lost treasure ; for he was a farmer's boy, and his spending mon^y amounted to only about fifty cents a year, ^ I rose up, cast my eyes down on the 150 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. ground, and without planning my course or making any esti* mate of probabilities, walked across the meadow centrally to near its farther edge, saw the penknife down in the grass directly before me, and picked it up all as readily as I could have done had any one stood there pointing to the exact place. Had I gone ten feet to the right or left I could not have seen the knife, for the grass was too high.' '' A Prayer for Five Dollars. One of the City Home missionaries in New York city re- ceived on a certain day five dollars with special directions that it be given to a certain poor minister in Amos street. In the evening the missionary called and gave him the mone3^ For a moment the good man stood amazed and speechless. Then taking down a little journal he turned to the record made in his diary of that morning, and showed it to the mis- sionary. " Spent two and a half hours in earnest prayer far five doUarsJ^ " And now here it is," said the man, with a heart overflow- ing with gratitude. "The Lord has sent it." Both giver and receiver had their faith strengthened by the incident. Go to the Post-Office. A correspondent of " The Guiding Hand " relates this in- cident : " In the year 18 — , having a brother living in the city of H., I went to see him. Going to the store where he had been at work, I found that the firm had suspended, and that he was thrown out of employment, and had broken up housekeeping, but could not ascertain where he was, only that he was board- ing somewhere out in the suburbs of the city. I searched for him all day, but in vain. " It was absolutely necessary that I should find him. What more to do I knew not, except to pray. Finally, I was im- ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 151 pressed to write a line and drop it into the post-office, and I obeyed the impression, telling him, if he got it, to meet me at a stated place, the next morning, at ten o'clock. 1 prayed earnestly that the Lord would cause him to go to the post- office, so that he might get my letter. I felt full of peace, and at rest about the matter. The next morning, at ten o'clock, I went to the place appointed for him to meet me, and he soon came m,^' This incident might seem one of ordinary or chance occur- rence, but for the following unusual circumstances : " As they were returning to their home, his brother said : ' There is something very strange about my going to the post- office this morning — / Jiad my arrangements all made to go with a party, this morning early, to the hay, fishing ; hut, when I awoke, I had such an impression to go down to the post-office, that I had to forego the pleasure of going to the hay, and ivent to the post-office and found your letter.' " I replied, ' It was the Lord that impressed you in answer to my prayer, for I have prayed earnestly for the Lord to send you to the office this morning,' and, although but young in years and religion, I gave God the praise for his guidance and His grace." The Widow's Tree. Not many years ago a violent storm, with wind and thun- der, spread devastation all through the valley of Yellow Creek, Georgia. For a mile in width, trees were uprooted, barns and fences were prostrated, and all the lands were desolated. Eight in the center of the tornado stood a small cabin. Its sole occupants were an aged widow and her only son. The terrible wind struck a large tree in front of her humble dwell- ing, twisting and dashing it about. If it fell it would lay her home in ruins. Desolation, death itself, might follow. The storm howled and raged. The great trees fell in all direc- tions. When it seemed her tree must also fall and there was no remedy, she knelt in fervent supplication to Him who 152 ANSWERS TO PKAYEll. gathereth the wind in his fists, that he would spare that tree. Her prayer was heard. The tree was spared, and was the only one left within a considerable distance of the widow's cabin. Tlie Lord Paid His Interest. A most curious answer to prayer occurred in the experience of a home missionary in Brooklyn. It illustrates how God, in his trials of faith to see if His people do really cling to the promises, compels them to march right into the scene of danger, and into the mouth of the cannon, that apparently is open specially to shoot them down. The interest on the mortgage of his property was due in a few days. Its amount was $300. He did not have the money — did not know where to obtain it. With anxious heart during the day, he kept up his faith and courage by thinking of the Lord's promises, and, the last night before the eventful day, was spent in prayer, until the assurance came that all was well. Often he pleaded, often he reminded the Lord that, as his life was His, to save him from reproach, and not let his trust in the Lord suffer dishonor before others. The last moment came — no money — no relief. With sink- ing heart he went to the holder of the mortgage to announce his utter inability to meet his demand. While there, just at the last moment, when he was about to leave, the gentleman said, ^^ Bij the way, here is an envelope I ivas told to give you.'''' The missionary opened it, and out came six fifty dollar hills, just the three hundred dollars prayed for. The Lord met and delivered him in the very jaws of the enemy. Will the Lord Deliver from Bad Habits of Tobacco, Kum, Liquor, Licentionsness, etc., in Answer to Prayer. This question having been asked by a clergyman of Brook- lyn, Rev. S. H. Piatt, he received a large number of commu- ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 153 iiications, wliich evidently prove that the Lord is willing and ilocsy either instantaneously or gradually in answer to prayer, deliver and take away wholly the bad habits and appetites of those who are willing to forsake their sinful ways and cleave only to Him. The Lord^s salvation cleanses and delivers the hody as well as the soul. We quote a few extracts from his correspondence, which is but a small portion out of many published in his volume, '' The Power of Graced Cured of Tobacco Appetite. *'• A little more than a year has elapsed since I left off the use of tobacco. This further time has more fully developed the thoroughness of the case spoken of and the completeness of the victory over an evil habit. I am filled with wonder, for I expected a terrible fight with an appetite, strengthened by an indulgence of about thirty-five years, but the enemy has not shown his head. Not only has the desire for smok- iuy been effectually squelched, but a perfect hatred of smok- ing has been developed on account of the offensiveness of the odor of tobacco. I frequently cross the street, or change my seat in a car to escape the puff of smoke, or the fetid breath of a smoker. 'Thanks be unto God who giveth us the victory.' " Bad Habits Wholly Overcome. "A physician of extended practice was converted and reclaimed while I had charge of the place in which he lived. He had acquired the habit of using large quantities of whisky and brandy, and withal more or less given to licentiousness. Since that time he has been steadily advancing in morals and moral power, till he now preaches the gospel as a local preacher, side by side with the best of the district/^ 154 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. Was it Instantaneous? " Yes, as respects tobacco ; he became convicted of its sin- fulness by a voice saying, * That is not the way to glorify God; stop, and sto^D now. ' And from that moment he says he has never used it, neither does he in any way like the smell, or even the sight of tobacco." The Lord Delivers from Bodily Sins. '^I had used tobacco from my childhood, and the love and use thereof grew upon me. I became convicted of its sinful- ness, went to God and said, ^Destroy the appetite, mid girr vie power over it. Save me that I may glorify thee as a God of power for our present sins, and I will glorify thee ever more.' I wrote out the contract and signed it, and from that blessed afternoon have no recollection of ever desiring it even.'^ Another Deliverance. " Tobacco was a great trouble to me ; and I had tried a number of times to leave it off, but could not do so. One night as I was retiring to rest, I thought I would kneel by my bed and ask Him, who never refuses to answer prayer, to take from me the desire for tobacco, and from that moment it has been impossible for me to use it. Not Yonr Own Strength Can Break the Habit. " I smoked tobacco excessively for fifteen years, commenc- ing when I was about twenty years old. I often strove to break off from the use of it ; indeed I determined time and again to desist from it, sometimes abstaining for a few months or weeks, once for twelve months, hut the desire never left vip, and w^henever I tasted it I was sure to take to it again. 1 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 155 sometimes vowed whilst upon my knees in prayer, to abstain from it and never touch it again, but I always attempted to do this in my own strength ; hence I failed, being overcome by the almost irresistible influences it had upon my appetite, so long accustomed to the use. " One Sunday morning, I retired to a secluded place, got down upon my knees, and asked the Lord to help me quit it, determining then and there that I would, God being mj- helper, never touch the accursed thing again by any kind of use in the way of consumption, and from that day to this, I have never had any desire to smoke or chew tobacco, or to use it in any way ; I lifted my heart to God, imploring his assistance in abstaining from it. I have now been clear of the desire of it for nearly twenty-three years." A Double Cure. " At the age of twelve years I commenced to use tobacco, ^nd continued to use it, both smoking and chewing, till five years ago, when in answer to prayer the appetite was instantly removed. "The circumstances were as follows: I had tried many ways to l^ave off the use of tobacco, but the appetite was so strong that I could not withstand it. At one time I left it off for a month, but not a day passed but I craved it, and when I did begin again it tasted as good as ever. I found that tobacco was injuring my health. My nervous sj'stem was much deranged. "For more than a year before I left it off there was scarcely a night but I lay for two or three hours, before I could go to sleep. I resolved a great many times I would leave off, but always failed. I had also acquired the habit of drinking, and became a confirmed drunkard. " I knew the habits were killing me, but I was powerless to stop. One evening a prayer-meeting was appointed at my house. The minister in his remarks spoke about habits, and 156 ANSWERS TO PKAYEK. said that religion would €ure all bad habits, such as tobacco, &c., and that by prayer God would remove all evil appetites. ^'l thought but little about it that night ; was very careless and trifling about it. The next morning I took out my to- bacco to take a chew, and thought of what the minister had said the night before. It was a new idea to me. I put the tobacco in my pocket again, and said, ^I'll try it.' "/ tvas alone in my ham ; I kneeled down aiid asked God to remove the appetite from me. It ivas done. I tvas cured. I felt it. I knew it then. I have never had a desire for it since. There has been no hankering for it or for strong ■drink since. My sins were all forgiven, and I was made a iiew man all over, inside and outside. " When I go into company where they are smoking, I have no desire for it at all, neither have I for drinking, any more than if I had never had those habits. My nervous difficulty was also instantly cured. No more trouble about sleeping, and I know that Jesus can heal and remove and destroy all evil habits." A Special Word to all Seeking to Escape Evil Ways. Should these words meet the eye of any one so troubled over any evil way or bad habit from whose bondage he would gladly escape, let me say to you these words of good cheer : " The Lord can save you, the Lord can deliver you, the Lord can ivholly heal you. He can take away your appetite and cleanse you thoroucjhly. He has done it for many others. He can do it for you. Kealize that your own strength can not do it. Forget not that it is only in answer to your own prayer. Those who want this good gift must pjray for it. Deliverance may be instantaneous or gradual, but do not cease your prayer. Seek in the Bible for those promises which show that he can deliver from all evil, and plead them and then trust in Him and his strength to fulfill them. ANSWERS TO PRAYER. L5* " Forget not also to ask others to pray for you, and remem- ber that the answer is sure to come if you add to your prayer these true thoughts of your heart, ' Deliver me and I give tnyself to thee forever:' "If you expect so great a gift from the Lord, he asks of you, ' What are you ivilling to do for me ? ' '^ Help at the Very Last Moment. Faith Rewarded. A clergyman in the State of New York, through the influ^ ence of a disaffected member, was unfairly and precipitately deprived of his pulpit, which involved a large family in neces- sity. At supper the good man had the pain of beholding the last morsel of bread placed upon the table without the least means or prospect of a supply for his children's breakfast. His wife, full of grief with her children, retired to her bed. The minister chose to sit up and employ his dark hours in prayer, and reading the promises of God. Some secret hope of supply pervaded his breast, but when, whence^ or by whom, he knew not. He retired to rest, and in the morning appeared with his family, and offered familj^ prayer. It being the depth of Winter, and a little fire on the hearth^ he desired his wife to hang on the kettle, and spread the cloth upon the table. The kettle boiled, the children cried for bread; the aiilicted father, standing before the fire, felt those deep emotions of heart over his helplessness and im- pending starvation which those reared in affluence never know. While in this painful state some one knocked at the door, entered, and delivered a letter into the minister's hand. When the gentleman was gone the letter was opened, and to the minister's astonishment it contained a few bank bills, with a desire for acceptance. So manifest an answer to prayer from Divine Goodness could not but be received with gratitude and joy, and fulfills to the very letter these prom.^ 158 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. ises: "Verily thou slialt be fed." Psalm 37:3. "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." Heb. 13 : 5. To ascertain how this occurrence came to take place, this remarkable coincidence of relief at the identical moment of time when there was the last appeal to God, the incident was communicated to the editor of a religious journal. Having an intimacy with the gentleman said to be the one whose hand had offered the seasonable relief, he determined the next time he made him a visit to introduce the subject, and, if possible, to know the reason that induced the generous action. The story was told with a modest blush which evinced the tenderness of his heart. On interrogation, he said " he had frequently heard that minister. On a certain morning he was disposed for a walk ; thought in the severity of the win- ter season a trifle might be of service, as fuel was high ; felt a kind of necessity to enclose the money in a letter ; went to the house, found the family, delivered the paper and retired, but knew not the extreme necessity of the minister and his family, either at that time nor till this very moment when his friend introduced the subject. Thus it is seen none but God knew the want or moved the hand that gave the supply, and brought them to meet at the right time. Spinal Disease Cured. " There was a little girl in this place that had the cerebro- spinal-meningitis ; several had died with this disease, and the physician had given her up to die. The weekly prayer-meet- ing met in town that night, and her parents wrote a note and sent it by their little son, requesting prayer that their little daughter might live and not die, signed with the names of both parents. From that time she began to recover, and to- day she is a bright little girl, with full use of every faculty, and not deformed as most persons are from this terrible disease. I cannot view it in any other light than a direct answer to prayer." ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 159 An Old Man's Prayer. ^' I feel also like mentioning another instance. I knew an old father in Israel, a minister of the gospel, who once in speaking with a brother minister, after a revival of religion in which five of his grandchildren had professed their faith in Christ, among others with whom he had labored; said if he €Oiild only live to see his one remaining granddaughter brought into the fold, and the two Presbyterian churches, then called the Old and New school, united, he could say, like Simeon of old, ^Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.' About three years after, the two Presbyteries met near this place in Oermantown, Mo., and he seemed as if he could not contain himself till the time came for the meeting, so anxious was he for this great desire of his heart to be fulfilled. On the day of meeting he took sick and could not be present at any of the sessions, but many of his brethren were with him, among whom was this one he had been conversing with. The ses> sions lasted three days, and upon the last evening his wishes were gratified, the two Presbyteries merged into one, singing ^ Blest be the tie that binds ; ' and his youngest granddaughter united with the church, and after the meeting adjourned this brother came to watch with the aged servant of God. He was permitted to convey the glad news to him, and see a heavenly smile light up his countenance as he passed away with his earnest prayer gratified." The Mysterious Leadings of Providence. T*he following incidents are contributed to the book by a prominent clergyman : ''A period, ever memorable in the life of the writer, occur- red in the Autumn of 1832, while attending a protracted meeting of more than ordinary interest and power, held un- der the auspices of the Baptist church in the city of Scheneo- 160 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. tady, under the then pastoral charge of E,ev. Abraham D. Gillette, this being his first settlement. It was in one of the meetings that the Holy Spirit impressed my mind of its sinfulness and the need of a Savior, not only to cleanse my soul of sin and sinful stains, but to save me. These impres- sions caused me to humble myself at the feet of sovereign mercy ; and in the midst of my pleadings, God answered my prayer, and opened to me new views, views of the heavenly kingdom, which so electrified my soul, that with a full heart I could sa}^, ' Blessed be the Lord who has shown me marvel- ous works in this lonely place beneath the star-lit sky.' " This great change was, and is, to me the most wonderful interposition of God in my behalf in answer to prayer. This answer to prayer the promised result of faith in Him." *' Again, in the year 1836, the writer in the year mentioned was employed by a transportation company, in the city of Troy, in the character of an employe having direction of a portion of the business of the company which brought me in- to close relation with the many boatmen connected with the company. Association with the boatmen was painful to my religious nature, compelled, as I was, to hear all manner of offensive talk. The latter led me to indulge a wish that I might free myself from such company, in order to form asso- ciations with persons of my own religious turn of mind. But God willed otherwise, as will be learned from the recital of God's dealings with me on an occasion of a journey alone in a carriage from Troy to Schenectady. It was on the occasion alluded to that most of the time was occupied in prayer, and the burden of my prayer was ' that God would open up a way for me wherein I could find more congenial company, where in fact my religious feelings would not meet with the trials incident to my present associations/ But He who knew my needs better, came to my relief in words seemingly distinct enough to be heard. This was the answer : ' I have placed 3^ou just where I want 3'ou.' Instantly my prayer for a change of location or separation from my business and its ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 161 connections ceased, and since, instead of looking for easy po- sitions, wherein the principles of the faith which is in me may be undisturbed, I deem it suited to my growth in grace and increase in devotion to my Master's cause, to covet the association of men whose only tendency is to evil continually. I have found by experience in the latter direction, that although many tongues are loose in the habit of profanity, I am roused more and more by grace to impart words of coun- sel. I know that efforts at consistency in Christian conduct and converse will stop the mouth of profaners of the name of our Redeemer, God." Another instance of the presence of God with his chil- dren is clearly manifest in the following sketch of a meeting of two brethren, of whom the writer was one, held in the conference room of the First Baptist church in Troy, N. Y., of which church he was a member. The meeting alluded to occurred in the early spring of 1840 or '41. We were accustomed to meet almost every day for the purpose of arranging the Sunday school library, but would occupy a portion of the time, usually at noon, in prayer for such persons or objects as were presented to the mind. On the particular occasion we propose to mention, it was mutually agreed that we pray for one of the brethren, whose gifts were of a high order, and his usefulness hindered by a lack of spirit- uality. We mutually bowed in prayer for this brother, and while thus engaged the door of the room was opened, and a person entered and knelt between us, but who he was, or the purpose of his visit we knew not until we had ended our prayer, at which time the person spoke and requested us to continue praying for him. At the conclusion of the service, the question -was mooted how he came there. His reply was in substance as follows : " When standing on a stoop on the corner of Fourth and Con- gress streets, cogitating which way I should go, I was im- pressed by a voice within which directed my course to the Conference Room. I debated with the impression, taking the 11 162 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. position that it being noon no meeting was then in progress. Still the impression remained, and could not be removed. No- ticing this, I gave way to the voice and here I am." Neither of the three thus brought together could doubt for a moment that our prayer for this brother was answered. His joy was great in view of being thus called from his delinquency to share in the fullness of his Savior's love. "Another instance in the experience of the writer very clearly shows the power and worth of prayer. About the year 1840, in the Autumn thereof, he experienced a lack of vital, spiritual energy. This had been of months' continu- ance, but to his joy, culminated after retiring to rest. After this manner, before sleep overcame him, he was impressed to present his case before the mercy-seat. To do so he arose from his bed, retired to a quiet part of his home and bowed in prayer, seeking to occupy the entire night if need be in prayer for the bestowal of the Holy Spirit, and the consequent revival influences of other days. This season of prayer was of short continuance ; but not by reason of disrelish for the exercise, but because my prayer was answered and a complete breaking away of the previous hindrances to my spiritual enjoyment. Since the event alluded to, now more than thirty-six years, I have not been afflicted by doubts, and counsel brethren and sisters not to allow themselves to be made unhappy by this evil to our spiritual progress." Life Spared for Two "Weeks. " On the 8th of January, last, I was called upon to visit a dying man in Jersey City, whom the doctors had said could not live but a few hours. I found him in severe bodily suffer- ings and a terrible agony of mind. He had lived a moral and upright life in the eyes of the world, but careless and neglect- ful of all religious duties, and now with eternity before him he felt his life a failure and his imperative need of help. " In his agony he would cry out, ' Lord, help me,' and ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 163 perhaps the next moment blaspheme the name of God. I sought to show him his great sin in having so long neglected God and his salvation, and at the same time assured him that Jesus was a great Savior, ' able to save to the uttermost all who would come unto Him.' I went from his bedside to the union prayer-meeting, held in our city during the week of prayer, where I presented his case and asked the brethren to pray that God would save this poor man even at the eleventh hour, and spare him to give good evidence of his conversion. His case seemed to reach the hearts of all present, and most earnest prayers were offered in his behalf ; so strong was the faith that many came to me at the close of the meeting and said that j^oung man will certainly be saved before he is taken from this world. " In answer to prayer he was spared nearly two weeks, and for some six or seven days before his death, gave much clearer evidence of being trul}^ converted than could have been ex- pected of one in his condition." A Missionary's Experience in Mexico. -■^ While laboring with my wife as a missionary in Northern Mexico, we supported ourselves for nearly four years by teach- ing and such other ways as the Lord opened up to us. " But our schools being decidedly Protestant, and I preach- ing regularly, the opposition from Eomanists was very strong; this, together with the extreme poverty of the people, made our income very small. Frequently the opposition would rise to that pitch that only the children of the poorest would be permitted to come, but we never turned these away, though they could pay no tuition, trusting that God would provide for us in some other way. ''Early in the year 1869, we were much exercised to know the will of the Lord concerning us, whether he would have us continue or not. We brought our case before the Lord and prayed him to make known his will and provide for our neces- 164 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. sary wants. In about three weeks we received a check for eighty dollars, sent us, as we felt, truly by the Lord in answer to our prayer through a friend in New York, who knew noth- ing of our circumstances or prayer. " In August the same year, our condition became such that it seemed as if in a few days we would be wholly without the necessaries of life. We laid our case before the Lord, and as he did not appear to open up any way for us to leave the field, we went forward with our work as faithfully as we knew how, believing that the Lord would provide in his own time and way, when one evening, just after family worship, a rap cam^ to the door. I opened it, there came in quite a company of persons, all bearing something, and just exactly the thing -^ we needed most, and to the amount of over fifty dollars' worth, and about a sixth of it was, as we learned, given bj; Romanists who had opposed us very strongly all the time we had been there. Truly the Lord answers prayer and turn' the hearts of men to do his will.'' The Greatest of Physicians. Miss X. of Brooklyn, had suffered long and severely froO 9- distressing tumor. One physician after another had plied hi^ skill, but to no purpose ; even the celebrated Doctor Simms of New York, corroborated their verdict, that there was na help for her but in the knife. She finary consented to tha* terrific method, but was in no condition of strength to bea' the operation. It was decided to postpone it till the 22d c;' June. Twelve doctors were invited to be present. Mean' while a diet nurse sent from New York, remained with he»^ to prepare her system for the ordeal. Three days preceding the one appointed for the operatiop- she was attacked by severe nausea, which lasted two days, and so weakened her that again the doctors were all notified by the attending one, that a further postponement was im- perative, and a certain date fixed in November. ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 165 All this time her own prayers were unceasing, those of her friends added to her own ; and many a remembrance in the Fulton Street meeting, cheered and encouraged her. By November, the tumor had totally disappeared ! That was two years ago. She is still well, strong ; able to walk three miles any time. She is as certain that the whole cure was performed by the Lord in answer to all those fervent prayers, as she is certain she lives and moves. How the Lord Paid Back the $5. Mr. H., missionary, was appealed to by a poor man who seemed almost distracted. He had a wife and five children ; one of them ill ; had been sick himself for three months, and owed rent for the whole of that time. The landlord had served him with a writ of ejectment, and he could get no other tenement, unless he could pay five dollars on the rent. He had applied to a well-known society in Brooklyn ; but they were entirely out of funds and gave him a note to the mis- sionary, hoping he might have or find the desired help. But missionaries' pockets are more often depleted, than those of benevolent organizations, and the one in question was fain to take the applicant to a friend, whom we shall call Q. The poor man told his story, asked the five dollars only as a loan, and, having an order for the painting of two signs, said he should be paid for them when done, and could return the loan the next Saturday, one week from that time. Mr. Q. saw, at once, that the utter destitution of the fam- ily, and the need of everything, would prevent the man return- ing the money, however much he might wish to, and so refused to lend it. The case was urged, but without avail ; and the missionary sent the man away, promising to see him again that night or on Monday. After his departure, the following conversation passed between the gentlemen : Q. — " Now, H., I don't take any stock in that man. Can 1G6 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. you not see that his paying that money back, is a simple impossibility ? " H. — "Well, perhaps so ; but the question with me in such cases, is this : What is duty ? Admit that he cannot pay it, or even that he will not try ; is it not better to relieve his desperate need, than to have him perhaps turn criminal and prey upon society ? He viust leave the house he is in ; he cannot get another without the money, and he is desperate ; feels that five dollars he must have, by fair means or fouL Moreover, think of his wife and children, leaving him out of the question. Now let us open this little Bible, and see what meets our eye first." Q. — " Oh, pshaw ! You know I do not believe in that kind of thing ! Do you go to the Bible for everything ? " H. — " Why not ? Can we have any better guide ? " Q. — "Oh ! well, I don't work that way. Now about that man and his money. I will toss up a penny with you^ whether I lend or not." H. — "No you won't ! You know I don't believe in chance^ but in the Lord. And would you sooner rest youv decision on a gambler's test, than on God's promise ? Now just let us open the book." Q._" Well ; what do you see ? " H. — " ' The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again ; but the righteous sheweth mercy, and lendeth.' " 37th Psalm,. 21st verse. As there was no hunting up of passages, nor leaves turned down to open easily, the coincidence was impressive, as well as amusing, and H., following it up, said, " Lend him the money, and if he does not pay you next Saturday night, I will." It was so agreed upon, and, when the man called on the missionary on Monday morning, he was sent to Q. for the relief. The week passed on, as they all pass, weighted and freighted with human ills ; some capable of alleviation, some not ; but ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 167 of the former, a full share had come under the notice and care of the missionary, and Saturday found him stepping into the Fulton street prayer-meeting, N. Y., for fresh encouragement and benediction on his labors. At its close, a gentleman said to him, " Mr. H., I have known you by sight for years ; know your work ; but have never given you anything ; and I promised myself the next time I saw you, I would do so. Have you any special need of five dollars now ? If so, and you will step to the bank with me, you shall have it." Instantly it flashed through the mind of H. that this was the day when, either the borrower or he, must pay his friend. It may be supposed that he went to the bank with alacrity. Going back to B. and meeting the friend, he learned that neither man nor money had appeared, and at once tendered the five dollars, telling the story of the Lord's care in the matter. Q. was so interested in this manner of obtaining supplies, that he refused to take the money, and instructed H. to use it in the Lord's work. Praying for Money for a Journey. A lady. Miss E., residing in New Bedford, received a letter telling of the serious illness of her mother, in New York. Sick herself, from unremitted care of an invalid during eight years, poor as Elijah when his only grocers were the ravens, too old for new ambitions, too well acquainted with the gray mists of life to hope for many rifts through which the sun- shine might enter, she had no sum of money at all approach- ing the cost of the trip between the two places. '' He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust," is a text bound over her daily life, as a phylactery was bound between the eyes of an ancient Hebrew. She lives literally, only one day at a timx, and walks literally by faith and not by sight. So then as ever, the Lord was her committee of ways and means ; but for three days the 168 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. answer was delayed. Then, an old lady called to express her indebtedness for Miss E.'s services three years before, and ask her acceptance of ten dollars therefor, " no sort of equivalent for days and days of writing and searching law papers, but only a little token that the service was not forgotten." There was the answer to her prayer ; there the redemption of the pledge : " As the mountains are round about Jerusa- lem, so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth, even forever." Employment Found. A man and wife were out of employment, and in very great trouble. Mr. H. (missionary) had added his efforts to theirs, and sedulously sought among the families he knew, for posi- tions for them. After two weeks' fruitless endeavor, he said to the man, " Well, John, let us go into the Fulton street meeting and leave it with the Lord." They did so ; the request was read and remembered. The very next day, Mr. H. received a note from one of the families to whom he had already applied, and without success, requesting him to send the man and wife of w^hom he had spoken. Very joyfully he did so, and they were both engaged ! Mr. H. considered it a very marked answer to prayer, inas- much as it was quite difficult to find a family who wanted a man as well as woman servant ; and that particular family was, of all others, the least likely to make such an arrange- ment! A Barrel of Flour. For the "Faith Home for Incurables " Mr. H. received, one day, five dollars. A barrel of flour was terribly needed. He went to a large house in New York, hoping the Lord would jMcline the proprietor to sell him a barrel for that sum. He felt too poor, was not willing ; and with a heavy heart, Mr. H. returned, asking the Lord what next he should do. He ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 169 called at the store of a friend, where the following conversa- tion took place. " Well, did you get the flour ? " "I did not ; they feel too poor, and I am terribly disappointed. It is almost dark now ; I have lost my time going over there, and at this hour, the flour merchants here are closed." " Well, ^^^- called here, and I told him you were in, and oii what errand you had gone to New York. He said he would ^end a barrel to my store if I would send it up to the Home ; and I did so, about an hour ago." Wonderful Ways of the Lord in Quiding His People. Our missionaries move amidst the reality of scenes which religious fiction vainly strives to equal. Remarkable proofs of genuine and vivid piety, triumphs of patience and grace, lift- ing their possessors above the most painful and distressing circumstances, are met with in all their explorations, and more than repay them for toil or privation. Wonderful Conversion of a Roman Cath- olic. A frame dwelling in an alley, two rooms on the first floor, in the smaller one a bed-ridden old colored man, who had fought the battle of life for ninety years, fifteen of them on his bed, with eyes so dimmed by age that he could not even read ; and a wife who was eye, ear and solace to him, are the salient points of our first picture. They were both earnest, exultant Christians, around whom the angels of God encamped day and night. The wife wao brought up in the West Indies, as a Catholic, but her ideas of religion consisted mostly in counting beads on a rosary. After coming to Brooklyn, she became a servant in the family of a well-known naval officer, and was always a favorite on account of her vivacity. One day, a young painter who was 170 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. working there, and proved to be one of the Christians whose light shines for all in the house, spoke to her, and invited her to a prayer-meeting in a Protestant chapel. She refused, laughing ; but the painter's assurance next day, that she had been prayed for in that meeting, made her restless, uneasy and sick. In a few days, she was confined to her bed and pronounced by some doctors, a victim to consumption. One, more sagacious than the rest, said her trouble was of the mind, not the body, and a minister would be better than a doctor. It proved to be the case ; she was soon led into a glimmer- ing hope, though feeling that she literally carried a burden on her back. Starting out, one night, to look for a place of worship, she turned her feet to a Methodist meeting from whence the sound of singing had reached her. In the prayer and exhortation, however, there were words which revealed to her the secret of faith and salvation. She felt the burden loosen and fall from her shoulders, so sensibly, that involun- tarily, she turned and looked for it on the floor. In a few moments she began to realize the freedom she had gained, and started to her feet in joy and wonder. Her work then began in her own home, and through her prayers of faith, five members of the Commodore's own family and an Irish Catholic servant girl, were brought to " Christ, the living way." For years her faith was proved by her works ; her daily example in the household, her watching.s and waitings by the bedside of her helpless husband — poverty, sickness, perplexities of every sort, but made her hope the brighter, her hold the firmer. With no dependence for their daily bread but the benefactions of one and another person, sometimes entire strangers, they never knew what it was to snffer actual want, nor did Frances ever believe that her fj iend would forget her. ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 171 Remarkable Preservation of Life from LigMning in Answer to Prayer. I was riding on top of the Boulder Pass of the Rocky Mountains, in the summer of 1876, when a sudden storm of rain, wind, and furious tempest came up. There was no shelter from rocks, no trees or buildings to be seen — a lonely, wind-swept summit. I knew that the lightning on those high elevations was fearful in intensity. I was appalled at the prospect before me, but feeling that God had promised to care for his children — ''No evil shall befall thee or come nigh thy dwelling" — I composed myself, and though on horseback^ with the rain beating in torrents, I offered simple prayer to God that he would save me from the rain and stop it. But No, it came harder than ever; then I prayed that I might be protected from all danger, ''for I trusted in Himf I rode on and on for miles, chilly, cold, wet through, the clouds hanging low and the lightning flashing above me> around me, striking near me, constant' flashes, peals of thun- der; but I was not terrified. " God must keep me." Twice I was distinctly struck with the electric flash, detached portions or sparks from the electric cloud, directly in the center of the forehead, but it had no more force than just to close my eyes> shake my head a little, obscure my sight a moment, and then it was all over, and I was clearer, cooler, calmer, happier, and more self-possessed than ever before. I attribute my protec- tion from peril entirely to prayer, and the fierceness of the tempest and the proximity of danger were permitted by the Lord to try my trust. Those portions which struck me, if in ordinary times had been given me from an electric battery in a school-room, a shock with sparks only one-hundredth the size, would have killed me. I can thus say with thanks, faith was then 'made perfect in danger, and the Lord was faithful in hearing his child's cry^ and delivered him. 172 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. God Never Failed Her. An aged colored woman, lived that life of faith which shines brighter and brighter unto the perfect day. Born a slave, on Long Island, she was never taught to read, never enjoyed any social privileges ; but the God of the widow of Sarepta, who bad neither "store-house nor barn," was her God, and brought her out of the house of spiritual bondage. She outlived all her early associations; all her children and grandchildren, husband and brother passed on before, leav- ing her alone in poverty and sickness. Yet she sat in her little hut, a cheerful, happy Christian ; a living witness for God as a oo^'enant-keeper. Doubting, despondent souls were 3,lways glad to visit her, to listen to her simj^le words of wis- dom and gather strength from her invincible trust. Koman Catholic neighbors persecuted and even threatened her ; but in reply to a missionary who remarked that it must be very trying and somewhat dangerous, she said, " Don't you know the Lord has a hook in the jaws of the wicked, so they shan't hurt us if we belong to him ? Jesus is always with me; so I'm never alone and never afraid." His Mother's Prayer. A. poor sailor, kading a most profligate and abandoned life, whose praying mother followed him like a shadow into •and out of his drinking saloons and gambling houses, at last ■absented himself from home, whenever he was in port. Her burden, finally, seemed too great to bear, and she resolved to Snake a stronger effoit than ever before, to cast it upon the t/ord. As she knelt, with her heart well-nigh bursting with this desire, she felt a powerful conviction that, at last, she was answered. For sev^^ral years the son went on in his wicked "Career, and the mother sorrowed that it was so, but her soul was no longer laden with fear ; she felt the assurance of his conversion, sooner or later. Again, for several years, she ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 173 never heard of him, and thought him dead ; then she ceased praying for him, and was steadfast in the faith of meeting him in heaven. But sight was to be given her, as a reward for faith. He returned, afr last, only thirty years of age, but broken down in health, and worn out by dissipation and hard- ship. Still unconverted, but, to satisfy his mother, he con- sented to remain in the room during a visit of the missionary of that district ; a man with sufficient tact not to make his efforts obnoxious. He did not tell the young man he was a sinner and must flee from the wrath to come ; he merely pre- sented the love of Jesus ; the love that saved to the very utter-^ 'most ; that waited more patiently than any earthly friend, and forgave more royally. At first, be listened indifferently, but, at last, burst into tears, saying, " I thought I was so bad He- didn't want anything to do with me." A long conversation,. and others at intervals followed, and, before his death, which occurred several months after, his mother's heart was glad- dened by the account of his change, and the knowledge that, in farthest lands, his thoughts were back with her. The deeper he went in sin, the more unsatisfactory and abhorrent it became, and he would have turned, long before, to the Lord,, had he believed there was the least hope for him. When he closed his eyes to earth, a few friends enabled his mother to. give him respectable burial, in the same grave where, years, before, his father was laid. The Heart of Stone Relents. Another consumptive in the neighborhood, was thoroughly an infidel. Mr. A. visited the house three times a week, and,, at last, succeeded in overcoming his objections to a weekly prayer-meeting in his house. In his hearing, earnest sup- plication was always made for him, and, at the end of four months, the heart of stone relented. He had not, at first, the courage to appropriate the promises to himself ; but one morning very early he sent for the missionary to reveal th& 174 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. news that he felt all his sins forgiven, and had " Christ t7i him, the hope of glory." Four months more he lived to bear witness continually to God's amazing mercy, and then joyfully expired, declaring himself saved by grace alone. A Discouraged One Revived. Mr. C , walking home one Saturday afternoon, fell into a discouraged train of thought because he appeared to have done so little for the Master that whole week. At that moment a young man took him by the hand saying — " You do not know me, but I know you. A few weeks ago I was on the high road to destruction, but now through your instrumentality I am in the narrow path which leads to everlasting life. I at- tended your prayer-meeting one evening in company with a friend of mine. You spoke with great earnestness, and after we sang the last hymn you remarked, ' How can I bless whom God has cursed ? For he declares, If any man love not the Lord, he shall be accursed.' I cannot describe my sensations. For several days I could find no peace, but when at last my faith rested on Jesus, I found that peace which flows like a river; and now, like Moses, I have chosen rather to suffer affliction with the children of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin, for I know if I have to face any trouble on account of my religion, I can look forward to a glorious reward." The Prisoner Loosed. On the third floor of a tenement house, a missionary, Mr. B., found a comely, intelligent young English woman in great distress. Her heart seemed wrung by grief. A few kind words of sympathy drew from her the story of her woe. She came to this country with her husband and three young~ chil- dren. He was employed as book-keeper in a large mercan- tile house ; but soon became addicted to drink, and the story is ever the same ; loss of position, poverty, disgrace, suffering ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 175 and recklessness. On the day of the missionary's visit, he was in a prison cell, committed as a vagrant and common drunkard. The wife was bitterly weeping in her cheerless home, and the children around her fretting with hunger. Mr. B. was so touched he could scarcely find words with which to console her, but turned to Isaiah and read, "■ For thy maker is thy husband ; the Lord of Hosts is his name." " For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee." After his prayer, she felt calmer, and entreated him to come the next week, on the day her husband would be released. He complied; found a prepossessing and cultivated man ; and upon telling him how earnestly his wife and himself had prayed for him, was rejoiced to learn that in that lonesome cell the Spirit of God had visited him, filled him with a sincere wish to reform the future and redeem the past. The missionar}^ called again and again, and witnessed the strong determination of the young man to fight against his pernicious habit. He was soon employed again in a large bouse, became a regular attendant at the Lord's house, and began to pray both publicly and privately for help from on high. Only a few months, and both husband and wife united with a church and became teachers in the Sabbath school. Their own home, once laid waste, again blossomed like the rose. Praying for Tea. On a top floor in a street of tenements lives a colored woman one hundred and ten years old ! Her son, a man over seventy, lost his wife, a neat, active Christian woman, very suddenly, and his aged mother was plunged in despairing grief. " Why, why was I left, old and rheumatic and useless, and Mary, a smart, busy, capable woman taken away without a minute's warning ? " was her continual cry. But the son was left desolate, and the two rooms were to be kept clean, the meals provided before he left for his work in the morning, and after his work at night; there was no one else to do it, and love for 176 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. him called out new effort. With cane in one hand she treads the rooms back and forth, performing the household duties. E3^es undinimed, faculties unimpaired, she does what she can. Upon receiving a call a few months after the death of her daughter-in-law, she said — "You've brought me a whole pound of that nice tea ! Well, honey, / asked the Lord for s nne good tea last night, and I knowed well enough it would he along some time to-day, cos He never keeps me luaitlng long. I found out why he took Mar}^ instead of me ; old as I was, I wasn't half so fit to go, and he was so full of mercy he let me stay long enough to see it! You know, honey, I've got no one to talk over old times with. There ain't none of 'em left that I was young with, and not many I was old with ; but I'm never lonesome, for I'm too busy thinking of all the Lord's watching and waiting for me. I'm dreadful little use, but my son couldn't get along very well without me, and then I tell you I'm so busy thinking, I ain't got any time to be lazy or lonesome. Good many little things we want, too, and I have to be runnin' to the Lord for 'em." "Do they come every time, auntie?" *' Every single time, honey ! He never fails, no matter who else does. He knows I don't ask for no nonsense ; only for the things we really need, and he has promised them all the time." "But, are there not times, auntie, for instance, when j'our son is sick, when you cannot see where rent and food is coming from?" *' Don't want to see, honey! What's the use seein' ? Believin's the thing ! Believin's better than money." And so, all the revolving months, this relic of the last century walks by faith in the unseen. Giving Her Last Dollar to the Lord. A poor woman, sitting in a little church, heard the minis- ter make an urgent appeal for money enough to pay a debt of two hundred dollars, contracted by the church the previous Winter. She had one dollar in her pocket j half drew it ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 177 out; thought of the improbability of having any more for several days ; put it back. Thought again, " Trust in the Lord for more; " drew it wholly out, and deposited it in the basket. The next morning, a lady called to settle a bill of two dollars, so long unpaid that it was, long before, set dowji among the losses. The Danish Girl's Blessing. A very poor Danish girl, broken down in health, utterly unable longer to labor for her own support, was provided with the means, and urged to go to Denmark, as her friend felt sure there was some good in store for her there, meaning, more definitely, the restoration of her health. She could not be induced until, thoroughly satisfied by several tokens that it was the Lord's will, and then she consented. A devout, humble Christian missionary became acquainted with her soon after her arrival, and, being struck with the beauty of holiness in every action and conversation of her life, asked her to marry him, that he might have the constant satisfaction of rendering her life comfortable, and finding his own encouragement in her unfailing faith. His letters are full of his saintly wife, and her signally blessed efforts in winning people to put their trust where it need fear no betrayal. The Swedish G-irl Blessed. A Christian Swedish girl, who had, for three years, don0 the washing of a certain family, had so interested them by her care of an aged father, and gained their esteem by hef humble piety, that, wishing to go to Europe for six months, they offered her two rooms in their house for that time, that she might not only save the labor necessary to pay her rent, l>ut, also, take charge of their effects. The offer was gladly accepted, and recognized as a token especially from the Lord. 12 178 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. In times when the father was yet ahle <.o work a little, they had economized to a degree that resulted in saving twenty dol- lars. It was laid by for three moriths' rent, when he should he no longer able to earn it. That time had come ; as yet the money had not been touched ; but Satan sent a wicked woman to hire the next room, and, while the father was asleep, and his poor daughter at church, she stole it. Their grief was great, but they reminded the Lord how hardly it was earned, and how faithful he had alwaj^s been to His promises. R can be easily understood with what emphasis this unexpected offer came to them. Saved from Drowning. A pow German woman rushed frantically through the street and into the house of a countrywoman, very little better off than herself, declaring she would drown herself that very night if no one would give her work. A family on the same floor gave her the use of a very small, bare room for one week, free of charge ; after that, it would be eighty cents per week rent. Her countrywoman shared with her, such as she had for the evening and the morning, and after the breakfast, sent for a good, ever-ready missionary to talk and pray her into a better frame of mind. He did so, but confirmed and rested her faith on substantial works. He procured employment for her before the sun set ; enough to pay the rent and get a I'ittle common food. Then obtained coal sufficient to last a couple of months ; and so, leading her little by little into light and hope, drew her into regular attendance at the Mis- sion chapel in her neighborhood. The Widow in Want. A home missionary in Brooklyn, who has an enviable rep- utation for his entire consecration to the work of helping the poor, one day when engaged in his benevolent works, en- ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 179^ tered a restaurant, kept by a Christian friend, a man of like spirit with himself, who, m the course of conversation, related to him the following circumstances, illustrative of the power of prayer. He had, on a certain day, cleared a large sum, part of which consisted of Mexican dollars. Returning home in high spirits, he felt as if he could go to sleep sweetly on thi» silver pillow. But a thought suddenly intruded, which gave a new turn to his feelings. It related to a poor woman in his neighborhood, the widow of a very dear friend of his, whom he knew to be in want. " Shall I take all this money to myself?" thought he. "Does not the Providence who gave it to me say. No! Give some of it to the ividow of your friend:' AVith this impression he retired, as was his habit, quite early, but he could not sleep. The thought of the needy widow haunted him. "I will go to-morrow," said he to him- self, "and see what I can do for her." But this good inten- tion proved no opiate to his disturbed mind. "Possibly she or I may not live to see to-morrow." Something seemed to gay go now. He tossed from side to side, but could not sleep. Go 710W kept ringing in his ear. So at length the restless man had to dress himself and go. At this late hour, not far from eleven, he sallied forth to fiad the widow. Seeing a dim light in the upper story where she resided, and following its lead, he crept softly along on the stairway, until he reached the room from which a low sound issued. The door was slightly ajar ; through which he could hear the voice of prayer, scarcely audible, but deeply earnest. He dared hardly stir, lest he should disturb the praying widow. But he came on an errand, and he must ac- complish it. But how ? Recollecting at the moment, that he had in his pocket a few of the Mexican dollars, he gently pushed at the door, and it opened just wide enough for his purpose. So taking encli piece of money between his fingers, be rolled it in along the carpet, and withdrew as noiselessly 180 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. as he had ascended. Returning to his home, he fell asleep and slept soundly, as well he might, after this act. The widow at length arose from her knees, and was struck on seeing the shining money lying about her floor. Where had these pieces of silver come from ? Here was a mystery she could not solve. But she knew it was from the Lord, and that he had answered her prayer. So with tears of gratitude,, she gave thanks to Him, "whose is the silver and the gold." Shortly after this event, she attended prayer-meeting, where she felt constrained to make known this wonderful interposi- tion in answer to prayer. The Christians present were as much astonished as herself. The silence which ensued was broken by a brother of that church, who rose and said, "What this good woman has told you, is strictly true. These dollars came from the Lord. They came in answer to her prayer.'^ He then detailed the circumstances before related. "God deputed me to carry this money, and providentially I am here to night to testify to the fact that God hears and an- swers prayer." It seems, from a subsequent statement, that this widow owed a certain sum, that she was obliged to pay immediately, and having nothing in hand, she was pleading, that night, that her Heavenly Father would send her the needed amount. The Sewing G-irl Relieved Just in Time. A sick Scotch girl was found lying on a narrow bed in a close, uncomfortable room, her sobs audible to the missionary-, when half-way up the stairs. Her story was short. When about, she earned three dollars and a half a week, at a busi- ness that was killing her. Of that, she paid three dollars for her board ; leaving but the half-dollar for clothing or incident- als. But now — she had been Ijnng there two weeks ; six dollars were due for board, and still she was unable to rise, and, when she did, how could she ever pay the back indebted- ness ? ANSWERS TO PRATER. 181 The woman with whom she lived, was too poor herself to give her the lost time, and, moreover, was one of the class whom struggle and battle hardens. The missionary came just in time to quell the poor girl's fears, and paid her debts ; mind and body were set at rest, and, one or two Chris- tian ladies being made acquainted with the case, attended to the comforts which hastened her recovery ; and, when once more pursuing her avocation, her " mither's God " seemed very near, not as one afar off. Praying for a Home. A young Southern girl, who had lost a position through five months' sickness, and found herself, at last, in the street and penniless, turned her steps to a daily prayer-meeting. She said her earliest impressions from her mother were, that the Lord never failed those who really put their trust in Him. She had sought work for food and shelter, though destitute of sufficient covering to keep her from trembling with cold, and, so far, sought in vain ; but she was sure it was waiting for her somewhere, and she thought perhaps God's people could t-ell her where. She was right. A sweet-faced lady, who had listened, said she wanted some young girl who might help her a little wdien she left for her summer residence, and she had been waiting to find a child of pious parents. Bessie went home with her from that very meeting, and, in two wrecks, - came back, with bright eyes and warm, good clothing, to say good-by to the ladies who had spoken to her so kindly, and, in whose midst, she had found a second mother. They were to leave town the next day, and she asked permission to come to the meeting once more and tell what the Lord had done for her. How Much Good Two Dollars Did. A lady sent two dollars to a brave-hearted sister — who, by faith alone, and not by money, had gathered some sick and 182 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. poor about her, and lived only by prayer — and a note of apol- ogy and half-contempt that it was such a miserable pittance. She received, in reply, the following little financial statement : *' My Dear Friend : — Kemember the five loaves and two fishes, and listen to the message of your two dollars. This is the way I expended it : Corned beef. $0 80 Chop and egg for sick aunty, IS Sweet potatoes, 25 White potatoes, 10 Cabbage and bread, 30 Tea, milk and sugar, 30 $1 88 The balance bought the coal with which it was cooked, and fifteen people were fed ! " Saved from Starvation. On the second floor of a rear house lived a lady well known once as among the foremost members of a wealthy church. The first blow of adversity opened a wide passage for a suc- cession of disasters. She passed through the whole sliding scale, until the missionary found her in the poor, dilapidated tenement where, for two days and nights, she had lain in bed to keep warm ; or as nearly so as her scanty covering would admit. It was Saturday, and the only food she had to keep her alive until Monday, was two soda biscuits ! She had sold every- thing comfortable in the way of furniture ; all her clothing but one respectable suit for the street, and the only thing re- maining, that pointed to the history of better days, was a pair of gold eye-glasses, given her by her dying mother. AVithin a few months her dire necessity had often pointed to the glasses ; but she could not see without them, nor could she sell the gold frames unless she had means to have the glass set in commoner ones. Moreover, the harpies who feed and ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 183 thrive on the miseries of the poor, would in no case have given her more than twenty-five cents for them ; and the short res- pite derived from that amount would not have compensated for the sacrifice. She had looked at them that morning; felt that starve she must and would, but that souvenir of her mother should never leave her. She went back to bed and prayed fervently that the Lord would show her some way of escape, or take her that day to himself. She slept an hour or two, and then awakened, strong in the conviction that he would show her some way before night, and though it was six o'clock p. M., before the missionary called, no doubt had arisen to trouble her mind; and as soon as he entered and introduced himelf, she said—" You are a messenger from the Lord, sir ; I have been expecting you." God With Us. An old woman was taking home some sewing the night before, and passing through a narrow and dark street, was knocked down by a runaway horse. Taken up senseless and unknown, she was carried into the house of a kind family who sent for a physician. It was not till next morning that she recovered consciousness, and was able to give her address. A messenger was at once despatched to her husband, who was supposed to be wild with terror. He was truly thankful to hear from human lips of her whereabouts ; but said he knew she was not dead, and he would see her in the morning; for the Lord had been with him all night and assured him of it. He had also kept the fire from going out; and now that she would be brought home in a few hours, he was ready to trust his Father, as he had been through the night. His hourly friend was Immanuel, God ivith us ; not God somewhere ox other in infinite space. 184 ANSWERS TO PKAYER. A Vessel Saved. A vessel was six months making the passage from Liver- pool to Bermuda Island. Fogs enveloped it ; winds sent it hither and thither ; captain and mate lost their reckoning, lost their senses ; and when, added to the rest, the vessel sprung a leak, gave up in despair. Crew and passengers were finally reduced to a few drops of water and one potato a day, and they merely waited death from starvation or drown- ing. All but one ! One man ; a minister, whose faith and belief in their final escape burned but brighter and brighter, as the others sank in the gloom of silent despair. A few days before they made the land, the leakage suddenly ceased ; no one could account for it ; but a week after their arrival, when the vessel had been condemned by the authorities as unsea- worthy, it was proposed to turn it bottom upward and see what stopped the leak. God seemed to have performed a miracle for them, when it was discovered that that end of the vessel was entirely covered with barnacles ! A Remarkable Prayer Concerning a Re- markable Text. A clergyman, accustomed to preach regularly in his journey through Fleming Circuit, Kentucky, was preparing on one Saturday for the labors of the next day. He was then stay- ing at the residence of a family named Bowers, from which he was to journey the next day five miles to preach at 11 A. m., at a church called Mt. Olivet. On this Saturday, as he relates the incident, as soon and as privately as practicable, I pored over the Bible in quest of a suitable subject for the next day at Mount Olivet, and strange to tell ! not one passage in the whole Book, that afternoon and night, could I fix upon, as, in my estimation, suitable for the next day. There was one passage, (two or three clauses of which I had by some means got fixed in my memory), that early that afternoon appeared ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 185 in my mind as though each word was written in capital LETTERS. I turned to the whole passage as soon as I could find it; Heb. 6:4-6; and read, "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened," etc., etc. I had previously studied that whole subject, as recorded in the original, and as disposed of by learned Commentators of different creeds. I had settled in my own mind the import of the passage. But it seemed unsuitable for me, not then three years old in the ministry, to attempt the settlement of a theological question, about which the best and most learned of modern days had differed. I therefore tried to dismiss it from my mind, and to find some passage more suitable for the coming morrow. But my constant effort proved unsuccessful ; and the said passage in Hebrews often recurred to my mind. Thus passed my time till I had to go to bed, resolving to attempt an early settlement of the growing difficulty next morning. But the morning studies produced no change in the unsettled state of the question, what shall I preach from to-day ? Thus mat- ters remained until I reached Mount Olivet, and had to begin service without a text. But I concluded if a suitable text did not occur while singing, praying and reading some Scripture lesson, rather than have no text, I would take Heb. 6: 4-6. And, cornered in this dilemma, so I did, and used it as well as I could. I then passed around the circuit as usual, and the fourth Saturday thereafter, I arrived again at Brother Bowers', l)reached, met the class, etc. Then, when all the class had left the room except their own family. Brother and Sister Bowers said to me, each manifesting intense feeling and interest, "Have you heard of the strange thing that happened when you were here four weeks ago ? " Said I, "No ! whr.t was it?" They said, "Did you see a man sitting in the house while you was preaching to-day ? " describing his dress, looks, etc. I answered, " Yes." Said they, " Did j'ou see a woman sitting over there," describing her ? I said, " Yes." Said they, " They are husband and wife — their name is — (I 186 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. have long since forgotten the name) — they are good members of the Presbyterian church, their children are members of our class, as you have called their names every time you have examined us. The man and his wife were here and heard you four weeks ago — they know our rules, and when those not of our church were dismissed, they left their children with us, as usual, and their parents started home. And, as they themselves tell us and others, as they went along, said the woman to her husband, ^ Does not Mr. Akers preach to- morrow at Mount Olivet ? ' And he answered, 'I believe he does.' Said she, ' Well, if I thought he would take a certain text I would like very much to go and hear him.' Said her husband, ' What text ? ' And she repeated the whole passage in Hebrews 6:4-6. Said her husband, 'Well, I reckon he will take some subject that will be interesting, and if you say so we will not go to our own church to-morrow, we will go to Mount Olivet.' She answered, ^Agreed, and I do pray the Lord that he may take that text.' And she says, she con- tinued to pray all that evening and next morning, until sitting in the church at Mount Olivet, she heard i/ou read out the said text, 2vhenshe kneiv the Lord had answered her prayer^ and she could scarcely help from loud crying of thanks to God." I then told Brother and Sister Bowsers my troubles about that text, as above stated. The Lord answers prayer. How She Learned to Love the Bible. The Bev. Frederick G. Clark thus writes of an answer to prayer, from one who wanted to love the Bible more : '' Twenty-seven years ago, in the congregation of my first charge, was a lady whose love for the Bible was something remarkable. In the confidence of a pastoral visit, she told me of her joy in the divine word, and also recited the inci- dents of her experience in this regard. She had formerly read her Bible as so many do — a chapter now, and a half- ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 18T chapter then, without much interest or profit. She was, even then, most interested in religious things. But her chief sources of spiritual strength were in such writings as those of Baxter, Payson and Kobert Phillips. It was her custom to read the Bible from duty, and then turn to these uninspired volumes for the kindling of a higher devotion. For a good while this satisfied her ; but, at length, she came to feel grieved about it. She thought it a dishonor to God's word that any book should be as interesting to her as the Bible. She tried to change this, but, at first, w^th little success. The Bible was still duty — Baxter was pleasure and spiritual elevation. ^^ At length, she could hear it no longer; so she took the case to Gody with strong crying. She told her Heavenly Father how grieved she was that any hook should rival the Bible in her affections. She asked this one thing — and she renewed her prayer every day — that her first delight might he in read- ing the word of God. I think it was some time before she felt that her request was granted. But, at length, the answer to her prayer was complete and marvelous. A strange light came over the sacred page. A fascination held her to her Bible. She discovered a depth, a meaning, a curiosity, a charm, which were all new and most wonderful. Sometimes, when she had finished reading her Bible for the night, and had closed the book and had moved towards her bed, she would go back again and enjoy the luxury of a few more- Verses. The Blind Restored to Sight. At the age of twenty years, a lady in Winchester, Iowa, began to lose her health, and in a short time was confined to her bed. And she writes : — " In addition to this I lost the use of my eyes, and was blind and helpless, a greater portion of my time for five years. " I enjoyed the blessing of prayer and trust some six months before feeling a liberty to, pray for the healing of my body ; 188 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. fearing I should desire it without due submission to God'a win. It was with fear and tremhJiiuj that I first made known this request. Though my pleadings in this direction were earnest, and often agonizing, yet I could say with a fervor iis never before, *Not my will, but thine be done.' " About the end of November, or early in December, 1873, I realized that my faith was perfect, that I was ready noiv to be healed, that my faith was momentarily waiting on God, rest- ing without a doubt on the promises. From this time for- ward my faith remained fixed with but one exception. During the time between December, 1873, and July, 1874, I was healed to such an extent that I could walk some, and see more or less every day, though sometimes with only one of my eyes. A portion of this time I felt as though in a furnace of fire; but amid the flames I realized the presence of the Son of God, who said, ' / Jiave chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.^ This for a time seemed an answer to my petition, and so thought it my life-work to suffer ; for a while my faith became inactive, and I almost ceased praying for my health. Though I felt submissive, yet somehow I was soon crying, and that most instinctively, ^ Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.' After this, my faith did not waver. Oh, the lesson of pa- tience I learned in thus vmiting on God's good time. And with what comfort could I present my body an offering to Him, realizing that as soon as at all possible with His will, I should be healed ; I had an assurance of this, but did not know whether it would be during life, or accomplished only at death. " In this manner I waited before God until the morning of tlie 29th of July, when, without ecstacy of joy, or extra illumi- nation, came a sense of the presence of Jesus, and a presenta- tion of this gift, accompanied with these words: ^Here is the gift for which you have been praying ; are you willing to re- ceive it ? ' " I at first felt the incoming of the Divine power at the parts diseased, steadily driving out the same, until lea,th was swal- ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 189 lowed up in victory. I at once arose from my bed, and pro- ceeded to work about the house, to the great astonishment of my friends, some of whom thought me wild ; but I continued my work, assuring them that Jesus had healed me. Kealiz- ing the scrutiny and doubt with which I was observed, I said to my father, ^What do you think?' He replied, at is supernatural power ; no one can deny it.' '^ My healing took place on Wednesday ; on Saturday was persuaded to lie down, which I did, but found the bed was no place for me; thought of Peter's wife's mother, who ^ arose and ministered to them ; ' knew that to her, strength, as well as health, was instantly given, as in the case of the palsied man, who rose, took up his bed, and departed. I returned to my work, backing my experience with those in God's word, and since then have not lain down during the day time. " My friends could not realize the completeness of the cure, until I read a full hour, and that by lamp-light, and until asked to desist, the first opportunity after being healed. " A week from this time, I discharged the hired girl, taking charge of the household work, which I have continued with perfect ease. About four weeks after my healing, had occasion to walk four miles, which I did with little or no weariness. Let me add to the praise of God, that I have no disease what- ever. Am able to do more hard work with less weariness, than at any other period in my life, and faith in the Lord is. the balm that made me whole." The Widow's Shoes. A poor woman. — a widow with an invalid son — a member of the church, could not attend church, or the neighborhood prayer-meetings, for the want of shoes. She asked the Lord for the shoes. That very day the village school-master called in to see her son. Meanwhile he noticed that the boy's mother had very poor shoes. He said nothing, but felt impressed, and inwardly resolved to purchase the poor woman 190 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. a pair of shoes forthwith. He accordingly hired a horse, rode two miles on horseback to a shoe-store, bought the shoes, and requested them sent to the widow's cottage without delay. They proved a perfect fit; and that very night the overjoyed woman hurried to the prayer-meeting to announce that in answer to prayer the Lord had sent her the shoes. The young school-master, who, I suspect, was my inform- ant himself, now a venerable, white-haired man, heard the poor woman's testimony; and his pillow that night was wet with tears of gratitude and joy because God had used him ihus to bless the poor widow, and to answer her prayers. A Remarkable Dream. The late Dr. Whitehead was accustomed to repeat with pleasure the following fact : In the year 1764, he was sta- tioned as an itinerant preacher in Cornwall. He had to preach one evening in a little village where there was a small Methodist Society, "The friend/' said he, "at whose house we preached, had at that time a daughter, who lived with one of our people about ten miles off. His wife was gone to attend her daughter, who was dangerously ill of a fever ; and her husband had that day received a message from her, inform- ing him that his child's life was despaired of. He earnes^Jy and with tears desired Mr. Whitehead to recommend his daughter to God in prayer, both before and after preaching. He did so in the most warm and affectionate manner. Late that evening, or very early next morning, while the young woman's mother was sitting by her daughter's bedside (wlio had been in a strong delirium for several days), she opened her eyes and hastily addressed her mother thus : ' mother ! I have been dreaming that I saw a man lifting up his eyes and hands to heaven, and fervently praying to God for my recovery! The Lord has heard his prayers, and my fever is gone ; and what is far better, the Lord has spoken peace to my soul, and sealed His pardoning love on my heart. I know it, I feel it, my dear mother ; and His Spirit bears witness ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 191 with my spirit, that I am a child of God, and an heir of glory.' Her mother, thinking that she was still in delirium, desired her to compose herself, and remain quiet. The •daughter replied, ' My dear mother, I am in no delirium now ; I am perfectly in my senses ; do help me to rise, that upon my bended knees I may praise God.' Her mother did so, and they both praised God with joyful hearts, and from that hour the young woman recovered so fast, that she was soon able to attend to the affairs of the family where she lived. She had never seen Mr. Whitehead, previous to this remark- able time ; but some weeks after, she saw him, and the moment she beheld his face, she fainted away. As soon as she came to herself, she said, ^ Sir, you are the person I saw in my dream, when I was ill in a violent fever; and I beheld you lift up your hands and eyes to heaven, and most fervently pray for my recovery and conversion to God. The Lord, in mercy, heard your prayers, and answered them to the healing -of my wounded spirit, and to the restoration of ray body. I have walked in the light of His countenance from that time to the present, and I trust I shall do so as long as I live.' How remarkably does this circumstance illustrate the words of St. James, ' The prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him ! ' " "You Must Not Go." A remarkable instance of deep impression occasionally made by the Holy Spirit on the mind of the Rev. William Bramwell during prayer, occurred in Liverpool. A pious young woman, a member of Society, wished to go to her friends, then living in Jamaica. She took her passage, had her luggage taken on board, and expected to sail on the fol- lowing day. Having the greatest respect for Mr. Bramwell, she waited upon him, to take leave and request an interest in his prayers. Before parting, they knelt down, and he recom- 192 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. mended her to the care of God. After he had been engaged in prayer some time, he suddenly paused, and thus addressed her, " My dear sister, you must not go to-morrow. God has just told me you must not go.'.' She was surprised, but he was positive, and prevailed upon her to postpone her voyage, and assisted her to remove her luggage out of the vessel. The ship sailed, and in about six weeks intelligence arrived that the vessel was lost, and all on board had perished. Evil Averted. A correspondent of the Guide to Holiness says : " We remember a poor woman who had had a life of sore vicissitude which she bore with remarkable Christian cheer- fulness ; and after a time of the suspension of trial, a bad prospect came in sight. She resorted to a friend to whom she confidingly related the threatening evil, and at parting said, ' Oh pray for us.' The case as it was known was taken immediately that early morning to the throne of grace and laid out in all its circumstances with a deeply sympathizing heart, and a consciousness of the past sufferings of that woman — and as the friend rose from prayer, the answer was given that the evil was averted, and a new change would come to that afflicted one. " That very day a strange deliverance and opening appeared which set that family at rest from their peculiar trials for the rest of life." How a Poor Little Cripple Converted a Village. Mr. D. L. Moody relates the instance of a poor little crip- ple, whose prayers were answered to the conversion of fifty' six people. "1 once knew a little cripple who lay upon her deathbed. She had given herself to God, and was distressed only because ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 193 she could not labor for Him actively among the lost. Her clergyman visited her, and hearing her complaint, told her from her sick bed she could pray ; to pray for those she wished to see turning to God. He told her to write the names down, and then to pray earnestly ; he went away and thought of the subject no more. " Soon a feeling of religious interest sprang up in the village, and the churches were crowded nightly. The little cripple heard of the progress of the revival, and inquired anxiously for the names of the saved. A few weeks later she died, and among a roll of papers that was found under her little pillow, was one bearing the names of fifty-six persons, every one of whom had in the revival been converted. By each name was a little cross by which the poor crippled saint had checked off the names of the converts as they had been reported to her." Please God, Give Us a Home. Mr. Moody tells of a beautiful answer to the faith of a little child. " I remember a child that lived with her parents in a small village. One day the news came that her father had joined the army (it was the beginning of our war), and a few days after, the landlord came to demand the rent. The mother told him she hadn't got it, and that her husband had gone into the army. He was a hard-hearted wretch, and he stormed, and said that they must leave the house.; he wasn't going to have people who couldn't pay the rent. "After he was gone, the mother threw herself into the arm- chair, and began to weep bitterly. Her little girl, whom she taught to pray in faith, (but it is more difficult to practice than to preach,) came up to her, and said, ' What makes yon cry, mamma, I unll pray to God to give us a little Jiome, and wo7iH He ? ' What could the mother say ? So the little child went into the next room and began to pray. The door was open, and the mother could hear every word. 13 194 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. ^^ ' 0, God, you have come and ' taken away father, and mamma has got no money, and the landlord will turn us out because we can't pay, and we will have to sit on the door-step, and mamma ivill catch cold. Give us a little home.^ Then she waited as if for an answer, and then added, ^ WonH you, please, God ? ' " She came out of that room quite happy, expecting a home to be given them. The mother felt reproved. God heard the prayer of that little one, for he touched the heart of the cruel landlord, and she has never paid any rent since." God give us the faith of that little child, that we may likewise expect an answer, " nothing wavering J^ "Of Course He Will." Mr. Moody also gives the story of a little child whose father and mother had died, and she was taken into another family. The first night she asked if she could pray, as she used to do. They said. Oh, yes ! So she knelt down, and prayed as her mother taught her, and when that was ended she added a little prayer of her own: "O/i, God, make these people as kind to me as father and another were.'^ Then she paused, and looked up, as if expecting an answer, and added, " Of course he willJ' How sweetly simple was that little one's faith; she ex- pected God to " do," and she got her request. Striking Answer. The following incidents are specially contributed to these pages by Eev. J. S. Bass, a Home Missionary of Brooklyn, N. Y. : " " While living in Canada, my eldest daughter, then a girl of ten years of age, rather delicate and of feeble health, had a se- vere attack of chorea, " St. Vitus's dance." To those who have had any experience in this distressing complaint, nothing need ANSWERS TO PKAYER. 195 be said of the deep affliction of the household at the sight of our loved one, as all her muscles appeared to be affected, the face distorted with protrusion of the tongue, and the continuous involuntary motions by jerks of her limbs. The ablest med- ical advice and assistance were employed, and all that the sympathy of friends and the skill of physicians could do were of no avail. She grew worse rather than better, and death w^as looked to as a happy release to the sufferings of the child, and the anguish of the parents ; as the medical men had giv- en as their opinion that the mind of the child would become diseased, and if her life were lengthened, it would be an en- feebled body united to an idiotic mind. " But God was better to us than our most sanguine hopes far better to us than our fears. " In our trouble we thought on God, and asked his help. We knew we had the prayers of some of God's chosen ones. On a certain Sunday morning I left my home to fill an ap- pointment in the Wesleyan chapel in the village of Cooks- ville, two miles distant. I left with a heavy heart. My child was distressing to look upon, my wife and her sister were worn out with watching and fatigue. It was only from a sense of duty that I left my home that morning. During the sermon God refreshed and encouraged my heart still to trust in him. After the service, many of the congregation tarried to inquire of my daughter's condition, among them an aged saint, Sister Wilson, widow of a Wesleyan preacher, and Sister Galbraith, wife of the class-leader. Mother Wil- son encouraged me to 'hope in God,' saying Hhe sisters of the church have decided to spend to-morrow morning together in supplication and prayer for you and your family, and that God would cure Ruth.' " Monday morning came. Ruth had passed a restless night. Weak and emaciated, her head was held that a tea-spoonful of water should be given her. My duties called me away (immediately after breakfast) to a neighbor's ; about noon, a messenger came, in great haste, to call me home. On enter- 196 ■ ANSWERS TO PRAYER. ing the sick-chamber, I noticed the trundle-bed empty, and my little girl, with smiling face, sitting in a chair at the win- dow, (say eight feet from the bed.) I learned from the child that, while on the bed, the thought came to her that, if she could only get her feet on the floor, the Lord would help her to sit up. By an effort, she succeeded, moving herself to the edge of the bed, put her legs over the side until her feet touched the floor, and sat up. She then thought, if she tried, the Lord would help her to stand up, and then to walk ; all of which she accomplished, without any human aid, she being left in the room alone. The same afternoon she was in the yard playing with her brothers, quickly gained flesh, recov- ered strength, with intellect clear and bright; she lived to the age of twenty-two, never again afflicted with this dis- ease, or anything like it. At the age of twenty-two, lii^e for heaven, it pleased God to take her to himself. "The sisters, led by Mother Wilson, waited on God in prayer, and God fulfilled that day the promise — Isaiah 65 : 24 : 'And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will an- swer J and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.' '^ A Remarkable Case. On the afternoon of Monday, August 20, 1869, I was sent for to visit Mrs. M., who was reported to be very sick. Arriv- ing at the house, I was told that " Mrs. M., after a hard day's work, had retired to rest Saturday night in her usual state of health, that immediately after getting in bed she had fallen asleep and had not awoke up to this time, (6 o'clock Monday evening,) that three physicians had been in attendance for 30 hours, that all their efforts to arouse her were without avail." In the chamber, Mrs. M. lay in the bed apparently in a troubled sleep, she was a woman of medium size, about 50 years of age, the mother of a large, family ; around her bed stood her husband, four sons and a daughter, and relatives. ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 197 about twelve persons in all. The husband and sons were irreligious, but awed in the presence of this affliction. I felt, as perhaps I never felt before, my ignorance, my helplessness, and the necessity of entire dependence on God for guidance and inspiration, that prayer should be made in accordance with his will. I knelt at the bedside and held the woman's hand in mine, lifted up my heart to God and prayed, " If it be thy will and for thy glory, and for the good of this family, grant that this woman may once more open her eyes to look upon her chil- ome time : and for all that time, I watched and observed narrowly. "At this time there was a special debt due of twenty pounds. This sum hung long. I looked different ways, ana chalked out different roads for the Almighty to walk in ; but his paths ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 241 were in the deep waters, and his footsteps were not known ; no raven came, neither in the morning, nor in the evening. '•There was a gentlewoman at mj house on a visit, and I asked her if she had got the sum of twenty pounds in her pocket, telling her at the same time how much I wanted it. She told me she had not ; if she had, I should have it. A few hours after, the same woman was coming into my study, but she found it locked, and knocked at the door; I let her in, and she said, ' I am sorry I disturbed you.' I replied, ' You do not disturb me ; I have been begging a favor of God, and I had just done when you knocked ; and that favor I have now got in faith, and shall shortly have in hand, and you will see it.' " " The afternoon of the same day, two gentlemen out of the city came to see me ; and after a few hours of conversation, they left me, and to my great surprise, each of them at part- ing put a letter into my hand, which, when they were gone, I opened, and found a ten p)ound note in each. I immediately sent for the woman up-stairs, and let her read the letters, and then sent the money to pay the debt." It is impossible to give in this page any large portion of the life of Mr. Huntington, who was rich in faith, and upon whom God showered abundant answers to prayer. But, like all of us, he, too, suffered extremely in all the necessities of life, yet ever looked to God above for help. Of his experience, he says in his own words, after having for years thoroughly tested the promises and faithfulness of God : " A succession of crosses was always followed with per- petual blessings, for as sure as adversity led the va7i, so sure prosperity brought up the rear. ^^Never, no never, did the Holy Spirit withhold his preva- lent intercession from me in tiines of trouble, nor did my God ever turn a deaf ear to my prayer, or fail to deliver me." ^^ Many are the afflictions of the righteous^ but the Lord delivereth him out of them all." 16 HOW GOD HONORS THEIR TRUST, AND ANSWERS THEIR PRAYERS. God Keeps Hold of the Other Hand. A little boy with his mother was returning from a visit; the night was very dark, and little could be seen ahead. She led her little boy, by the hand, who trustingly walked b}^ her side. He had only just begun to learn and remember the stories of the Bible, and he believed and trusted everything he heard. After walking for sometime in the darkness, very silently, he burst out with, ^' Mamma, I'm not afraid." " Why, what makes you feel so." " Because, mammay God keeps hold of the other handP This is the beautiful lesson older ones, too, must learn, the simple, childlike confidence in God, which gives no fear, no alarm. The skeptic can never accuse little children of the same theories, philosophies, imaginations and beliefs which are characteristic of older heads. The child knows nothing of such books of reason, science or religion. Many a child who could not read has asked of God and his prayer has been answered ; and when the whole world witnesses a little child, wno in its innocence has been told that God lives, that God loves him, that God can do everything and will surely hear ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 243 his prayer, and then in its care and grief, kneels before the God it trusts, offers its little prayer, and the prayer is an- swelled, let none of maturer minds ever presume to doubt. The faith of little children is typical of the very simplest faith wherewith any human being must approach its Creator. The child never questions, never doubts ; but in its simplicity asks, and God honors the trust. The following incident illus- trates the point, tliat not one thing is ere too small for God to consider, or a soul to hi'ing to him in prayer. A Child whose Life was Saved in Answer to Prayer— by his own Prayer the Life of his Sister is Saved. One of the most beautiful incidents ever known relating to the faith of children, and the reward of their trust, is con- tained in the following circumstance, personally known to the editor of this book, who was a participant in the facts. The only child of a young married couple, living in this city, their pride, their hope and joy, and the darling of the whole family, was seized with severe sickness, grew rapidly worse. The grandfather, who was a skilled physician, was ■constantly present, ministering in every way, by every means, but nothing was of any avail. No medicine could cure, and the child seemed ready to die. No one could think of relief or knew where to find it. The grandfather, at last, proposed to lay the case before God, and ask the prayers of His people in the child's behalf. The mother was only too glad to ask other prayers with her own, to bring relief. The father, who had hitherto never seriously thought of religion, was in in- tense anxiety and despair. Here was his first, his only child about to be taken away from him, and then came the thought, is it possible his family life was not to be blessed ; his child was in distress, no human effort was available. At last, he too joined in the prayer of his wife and father, and bowing 244 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. before the Great Unknown, unseen God, he poured out his heart in prayer, saying, ^^ Lord, if thou ivllt spare my child, wilt give him life, and thus show to me thy power and will to save, I will never doubt again, and will give thee my heart'' A request for prayer was written and sent to the pastor. Dr. William Adams, of the Madison Square Church. It arrived after church service had begun ; the sexton was un- >villing to carry it to the pulpit, as it was against the rule, but when told he must, as a life was in great danger, he con- sented, and delivered it to the pastor. The messenger waited breathlessly, and when in silence the doctor specifically mentioned the case before him, and asked the Lord to heal and spare the little one, and comfort the hearts of all, and make it a witness of his love and power, the messenger accidently looked at the clock, and it marked just quarter to eleven, A. m. When prayer was finished he returned home. Arriving at home, he w^as astonished to find the child better, its whole condition had changed, the medicine had taken hold, and the doctor now said everything was so hopeful the child would surely recover, and it did. But mark the unparalleled singu- larity of the scene. The father asked the messenger the time when the prayer was offered. He replied, "At a quarter to eleven^ The father in astonishment said, " At that very moment the disease changed, and the doctor said he was bet- ter." The father, who had thus been proving the Lord with this test of prayer and its identity of time in his answer, was so overwhelmingly convinced of the real power of prayer, and thereby of the real existence of God, and that a Christian life was one of facts as well as beliefs, now finding that the Lord had indeed kept His own promise, he, too, kept his promise and gave his heart to the Lord, and became henceforth, a pro- fessing Christian. But there were more wonderful things yet to happen — a ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 245 period of five years passed. Other children were added to the family, and one day, the youngest, a sweet, beautiful girl, was taken suddenly ill with convulsions. The sickness for days tasked the strength of the mother, and the skill of the doctor, but no care, ingenuity, or knowledge could overcome the disease or subdue the pain. The little girl's fits were severe and dis- tressing, and there were but short intervals between, just time to come out of one and with a gasp, pass into another still more terrible. In its occasional moments of reason, it would look piteously as if mutely appealing, and then the next convulsion would take it and seem to leave it just at death's door. All attendants were worn with care, the doctor fairly lived in the house and forsook all his other business. The clergy- man came and comforted the anxious hearts with words of sympathy and prayer; but her little brother Merrill, (whose own life we have just related,) tender-hearted, a mere child, scarce seven years of age, who had known of the L'ord, and who believed that He was everywhere and could do every- thing, was intensely grieved at ''Mamie's " distress, and came at last to his mother and asked if he could go and ^^ make a prayer to God for Sissy ^ The mother said, " Go," The little boy went back into his room, and kneeling humbly by the side of his bed, as he did at his night and morning prayers, uttered this request : " God, please to bless little sister, she is very sick. Please stop her Jits so she wonH have any more. For Jesus' sake, aiyien.''^ He came back, told his mamma what he said, and added : ^^ Mamma, I donH think she will have any more." Now mark how the Lord honored this simple faith of the little child. From, that very moment the fits left her. They never returned ; and the child soon entirely recovered. Notice the full beauty and instruction of these two inci- dents : Little MerrilVs life luas saved in answer to prayer ; was the means of his father'' s salvation, and when he in turn 246 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. had grown to an age when he could learn of God, his own prayer was the means of saving his own sister'^ s life. Notice, too, that all earthly available means were used to save each child, but to no effect. Physicians and parents con- sidered the case hopeless, and then committed it to the decis- ion of God. Notice, too, that when little Merrill was so sick, that the mother and doctor both pra^^ed, yet it was not until his father had also prayed that the answer came. God meant to honor the faith of the first two, but was lualting for the praijer of the third ere he granted the request. That child's sickness was one of the purposes of God. Notice in the second case, that while father, mother, doctor, the clergyman, and others of the house were all trusting in prayer, yet the Lord was waiting for the prayer of the little brother, ere he sent the blessing of relief. Such an incident draws its own conclusion. Never cease in prayer for anything which is to God^s honor and glory. Use all the possible means to help God. Where human means are of no avail, commit it to God and wait in humble resignation. Ask others to pray, too, for the same object, that when the answer comes, God may be glorified before the sight of others as well as your own. When so many are waiting to see if God will honor his promises, depend upon it, God tuill be found faithful to all his ivord. Trusting in G-od's Promises. '^ It was a fierce, wild night in March, and the blustering wind was blowing, accompanied by the sharp, sleety snow. It was very desolate without, but still more desolate within the home I am going to describe to you. The room was large and almost bare, and the wind whistled through the cracks in the most dismal manner. In one corner of the room stood an old-fashioned bedstead upon which a woman lay, her ema- ciated form showing her to be in the last stage of consump- tioii. A low fire burned in the large fire-place, and before it ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 247 a little girl was kneeling. She had a small testament, and was trying by the dim fire-light to read a chapter, as was her custom, before going to bed. A faint voice called to her from the bed, ' Nellie, my daughter, read the 14th chapter of St John for your Mother.' ' Yes, Mother,' was the reply, and after turning the leaves a few moments, the child began. All that long Winter day that poor mother had been tortured with pain and remorse. She was poor, very poor, and she knew she must die and leave her child to the mercies of the world. Her husband had died several years before. Since then she had struggled on, as best she could, till now she had almost grown to doubt God's promises to the helpless. '■ In my Father's house are many mansions.' 'I go to prepare a place for you.' Here the little reader paused, and crept to her mother's side. She lay motionless, with closed eyes, while great hot tears were stealing down her wasted cheeks. ' Mother, He has a place almost ready for you, hasn't He.' ^Yes, my child, and I am going very soon, but He will watch over you, Nellie, when Mother has gone to her last home.' "The weeks went slowly by to the suffering invalid; but when the violets were blooming, they made a grave upon the hillside, and laid the weary body down to rest, but the spirit had gone to the home which Christ himself had gone to prepare. "Years passed away. It was sunny May. The little church of Grenville was crowded. I noticed in one of the seats a lady plainly but neatly attired. There was nothing remark^ able in the face with its mournful brown eyes, and decided looking mouth and chin. I ransacked my memory to find who the lady was. Suddenly a vision of the poor widow came. This, then, was the little girl, little Nellie Mason. 'We will read a part of the 14th chapter of St. John,' the minister said. 'In my Father's house are many mansions; I go to prepare a place for you.' The slow, deliberate tones recalled me from my reverie, and I looked at Nellie. Her head was bowed, but I could see the tears flowing like rain." 248 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. The Faith of a Little Child. An incident most beautiful was told in the Fulton Street prayer meeting by a converted Jew. "Journeying in the cars, I was attracted by two little girls, Jewesses. I asked them if they loved Jesus. To my sur- prise, they said they did. I found that their mother was in a seat near by. She had attended some of the gospel meet- ings for Jews, and was interested in them. She said her husband had not been to church or synagogue for eleven years, and she did not know his views on religion. Her two little girls had attended a Methodist Sunday school, and there learned of Jesus. A day or so after, the mother was taken very sick, and remedies failing, the eldest child, a little over eight years old, said : ' Mamma, if you will let me pray to Jesus for you. He can take away your pains and give j^ou sleep.' She knelt with her sister and praj^ed in simple words to Jesus to heal her mother, telling Him that He had so promised to hear prayer. Shortly after, the mother, after long hours of restlessness and suffering, fell into a deep sleep and awoke relieved of pain and much refreshed. She heard from her daughter's lips the story of her faith in Jesus and love for Him, and then sent for me, begging me to pray for her. I am glad to tell you that she is now a converted woman, a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.'* The Wanderer Found. A mother sent a request for prayer to the Fulton Street prayer- meeting, that she might hear from him who had long ago left home, and wandered far away. She had been pray- ing very earnestly for him, and soon she WTote that she had just heard from him, and heard too that he had become a Christian and learned to trust in Him. ANSWEKS TO PRAYER. 249 Are You There. A mother, one morning, gave her two little ones books and toys to amuse them while she went up-stairs to attend to some- thing. A half hour passed quietly away, and then one of the little ones went to the foot of the stairs, and in a timid voice called out, '^ Mamma, are you there ? ^' " Yes, darling."' '' All right," said the little one, and went on with her play. By-and-by the question was repeated, ''Mamma, are vou there ? '^ "Yes, darling." ^' All right," said the child again, and once more went on with her play. And this is just the way we should feel towards Jesus. He has gone up-stairs, to the right hand of God, to attend to some things for us. He has left us down in this lower room of this world to be occupied here for a while. But to keep us from being worried by fear or care. He speaks to us from His word, as that mother spoke to her little ones. He says to us, " Fear not ; I am with thee. I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." " The Lord will provide." And so we see how certain it is that God does provide relief in trouble for those who love, and serve Him. God Knows the Bottom of the Barrel. '' Mother, I think God always hears when we scrape the bottom of the barrel," said a little boy to his mother one day. His mother was poor. They often used up their last stick of wood and their last bit of bread before they could tell where the next supply was to come from. But they had so often been provided for in unexpected ways, just when they were most in need, that the little boy thought God always heard when they scraped the bottom of the barrel. This was only that little fellow's way of saying what Abraham said when he called the name of the place where God had delivered him, " Jehovah-Jireh." 250 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. G-od's Care for Little Children in Little Wants. ^' I was early taught that God cares for His children, even to regard their little daily wants. An illustration of my implicit confidence, which I do not remember ever to have been betrayed, occurred when I was about ten years of age. I was accustomed to give five cents each Sabbath at the Sun- day School collection for foreign missions. This money was not given me directly by my parents ; but I was allowed to go on an errand, or to do some little piece of work for a neigh- bor and thus earn it, outside of the performance of the duties that naturally fell to my»lot at home. At one time, when I was attending scliool about a mile from home, my time out of school was taken up by my walk to and from it and the chores which necessarily fall to a farmer's boy, so that for some months I had no opportunity of earning anything. One Sab- bath morning, I dropped my last silver piece into the collec- tion, with a prayer — which I always offered at such a time — that God would bless it to the heathen, that some one might be led to Him by it. " I went home that day with a child's anxiety, feeling that I could not bear the thought of giving nothing for the heathen on next Sabbath, and yet not seeing how I could possibly ob- tain it. That night I asked my Heavenly Father to provide the money for me. The anxiety was all gone ; for I felt that God would answer. Next morning, when almost at the school-house, I found a handkerchief in the road, in the corner of which was securely tied a silver quarter and a silver dime. Instantly my thoughts flew to the next Sabbath, and to the prayer I had offered. 0, yes ! I thought, God has more than answered my prayer; instead of giving me just enough for next Sabbath, He has given me enough for seven Sabbaths. Then the thought came, somebody lost it ; yes, it was my duty to find the owner, which I did not expect would be diffi- culty although it was in town. So I cheerfully gave it up, ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 251 thinking that ^ the Lord will provide ' in some other way. I took it directly to my teacher, and asked her to find the owner. She made faithful inquiry, but no one was found to claim it. Who can question this being an answer to prayer, when we think of the numerous cliances against its occurring just as it did." A Cliild's Prayer for Papa. A drunkard, who had run through his property, returned one night to his unfurnished house. He entered his empty hall. Anguish was gnawing at his heart-strings, and lan- guage was inadequate to express his agony as he entered his wife's apartment, and there beheld the victims of his ajipe- tite, his loving wife and a darling child. Morose and sullen, he seated himself without saying a word ; he could not speak ; he could not look up then. The mother said to the little angel at her side, "Come, m}^ child, it is time to go to bed;'" and that little baby, as she was wont, knelt by her mother's lap and gazing wistfully into the face of her suffering parent, like a piece of chiseled statuary, slowly repeated her nightly orison. When she had finished, the child (but four years of age) said to her mother, " Dear Mother, may I not offer up one more prayer ? " " Yes, yes, my sweet pet, pray ; " and she lifted up her tiny hands, closed her eyes, and prayed : " God ! spare, oh ! spare my dear papa ! " That prayer was lifted with electric rapidity to the throne of God. It was heard on high — it was heard on earth. The responsive " Amen ! " burst from the father's lips, and his heart of stone became a heart of flesh. Wife and child were both clasped to his bosom, and in penitence he said : " My child, you have saved your father from the grave of a drunkard. I'll sign the pledge !" 252 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. A Little Quaker Boy's Prayer right out in Meeting. A little Quaker boy, about six years old, after sitting, like the rest of the congregation, in silence, all being afraid to speak first, as he thought, got up on the seat, and, folding his arms over his breast, murmured in a clear, sweet voice, just loud enough to be distinctly heard on the front seat, " I do wish the Lord would make us all gooder, and gooder, and gooder, till there is no bad left." What the Little Children may Do. At family prayer, little Mary, one evening when all was silent, looked anxiously in the face of her backsliding father, who had ceased to pray in his family, and said to him with quivering lips, " Pa, is God dead ? " " No, my child — why do you ask that ? " '' Why, Pa, you never talk to him now as you used to do," she replied. These words haunted the father until he was mercifully reclaimed. The Unbelieving Father led to go to Church. An unbelieving father came home one evening and asked where his little girl was. " She has gone to bed," said his wife. '' I'll just go and give her one kiss," said the father, for he loved his little daughter dearly. As he stood at the door of her bedroom, he heard some one praying. It was his little Jane, and he heard her say, " Do, God Almighty, please lead daddy to hear Mr. Stowell preach." She had often asked him to go, and he had always said, " No, no, my child." After listening to her prayer, he de- termined, the next time she asked him, to accompany her, ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 253 which he did, and heard a sermon which took his attention and pricked his conscience. On leaving the church, he clasped the hand of his little girl in his, and said, " Jane, thy God shall be my God, and thy minister shall be my minister." And the man became a true follower of the Lord. A Child's Prayer for Relief An interesting little daughter of a professor in Danville, Kentucky, in the Summer of 1876, in eating a watermelon, got one of the seeds lodged in her windpipe. The effort was made to remove it, but proved ineffectual, and it was thought that the child would have to be taken to one of the large cities to have an operation performed by a skillful surgeon. To this she was decidedly opposed, and pleaded with her mamma to tell her if there was no other way of relief. Fi- nally, in order to quiet her childish fears, her Christian mother told her to ask God to help her. The little one went into an adjoining room and offered her prayer to God to help her. Shortly thereafter she came run- ning to her mamma with the seed in her hand, and her beau- tiful and intelligent face lighted up with joy. In response to the eager inquiry of the mother, the little one said that she had asked God to help her, and while she was praying she was taken with a severe cough, in which she threw up the seed. God's Care over His People— The Praying Widow- A young widow with two children was living in the city of Berlin. She was a Christian woman, and trusted in Jehovah- Jireh to take care of her. One evening she had to be away for a while. During her absence a man entered her house for the purpose of robbing her. But "the Lord who pro- vides " protected her from this danger in a very singular way. 254 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. On returning to her home she found a note lying on her table, which read as follows : "Madam, I came here with the intention of robbing you, but the sight of this little room, with the religious pictures hanging around in it, and those two sweet-looking children quietly sleeping in their little bed, have touched ray heart. I cannot take anything of yours. The small amount of money lying on your desk I leave untouched, and I take the liberty of adding fifty dollars besides." The Bible tells us that "the hearts of men are in the hands of God, and he turneth them as the rivers of waters are turned." He turned the heart of this robber from his wicked purpose, and in this way he pro- tected the widow who trusted in him. G-od Saved a Family Mercifally. One morning a Christian farmer, in Khode Island, put two bushels of rye in his wagon and started to the mill to get it ground. On his way to the mill he had to drive over a bridge that had no railings to the sides of it. When he reached the middle of this bridge his horse, a quiet, gentle creature, began all at once to back. In spite of all the farmer could do, he kept on backing till the hinder wheels went over the side of the bridge, and the bag of grain was tipped out and fell into the stream. Then the horse stood still. Some men came to help the farmer. The wagon was lifted back and the bag of grain was fished up from the water. Of course it could not be taken to the mill in that state. So the farmer had to take it home and dry it. He had prayed that morning that God would protect and help him through the day, and he wondered what this accident had happened for. He found out, how- ever, before long. On spreading out the grain to dry he no- ticed a great many small pieces of glass mixed up with it. If this had been ground up with the grain into the flour it would have caused the death of himself and his family. But Jehovah-Jireh was on that bridge. He made the horse back ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 255 and throw the grain into the water to save the family from the danger that threatened them. A Child's Faith, in the Lord's Prayer. About the 30th of July, 1864, the beautiful village of Cham- bersburgh was invaded and pillaged by the Confederate army. A superintendent of a Sabbath school, formerly resident in the South, but who had been obliged to flee to the North because of his known faithfulness to the national government, was residing there, knowing that if discovered by the Confed- erate soldiers, he would be in great peril of life, property and every indignity, — in the gray dawn of that memorable day, with his wife and two little girls, again on foot, he fled to the chain of mountains lying north-west of the doomed village. After remaining out for some days and nights, with no shelter but such as was afforded by the friendly boughs of large forest trees, and without food, they became nearly fam- ished. At last, the head of the family, unable to endure the agony of beholding his wife and children starving to death before his face, and he not able to render the needed relief, withdrew to a place by himself, that he might not witness the sad death of his loved ones. With his back against a large oak, he had been seated only a short time, when his eldest little daughter, not quite ten years old, came to him and exclaimed : " Father, father, I have found such a precious text in my little Testament, which I brought to the, mountain with me, for very joy I could not stop to read it to mother, but hastened to you with it. Please listen while I readP To which he said : " Yes, my child, read it. There is comfort to be found in the Scriptures. We will not long be together on earth, and there could be no better way of spending our last mortal hours." To which she replied : "0, father, I believe that we will not die at this timej that 256 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. we will not be permitted to starve ; that God will surely send us relief ; but do let me read." Then opening her dear little volume, at the ninth verse of the sixth chapter of Matthew, she read as follows : ^' '■ Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed he Thy name ; Thy kingdom come ; Thy ivill be done on earth as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily bread.' 0, father, to think that our dear Saviour Himself taught Mis disciples to pray for their daily bread. These are His own words. It is not possible, therefore, that He luill allow any person to starve, v^ho, in His own appointed language, asks Him for food. Will He not, dear father, hear our pjrayers for bread?'' At once and forever the scales fell from the eyes of that parent. With tears streaming down his cheeks, he clasped his child to his bosom, and earnestly repeated the Lord's Prayer. He had scarcely finished it when a small dog ran to where he and his daughter were upon their knees, and barked so fiercely as to attract to the spot its oivner, a luealthy Penn- sylvania farmer, who was upon the mountain in search of cattle that he had lost for several days. The kind-hearted tiller of the soil immediately piloted the suffering family to his own comfortable home, and properly provided for their wants. A Child Preserved from Wolves. A little girl only nine years old, named Sutherland, living at Platteville, Col., was recently saved from death by fero- cious forest wolves as follows : The child went with her father on a cold afternoon to the woods to find the cattle, and was told to follow the calves home, while the father continued his search for the cows. She did so, but the calves misled her, and very soon she became conscious that she was lost. Night came on, and with it the cold of November and the dreaded wolves. With a strange calmness she continued on her un- certain way. The next day, Sunday, at 10 A. M., she reached, in her wanderings, the house of John Beebe, near a place ANSWERS TO PRAYER. ' 257 called Evans, having traveled constantly eighteen hours, and a distance of not less than twenty-five miles. All night the wolves growled around her, but harmed her not; neither was she in the least frightened by them. All know that in ordi- nary cases fierce packs of bloodthirsty wolves would devour a man, and even a horse. But this little one was invincible in her trusting, simple faith. The narrative states : " She said that the wolves kept close to her heels and snapped at her feet ; but her mother told her that if she was good the Lord would always take care of her ; so she asked the Lord to take care of her, and she knew the wolves would not hurt her, because God wouldnH let them ! " The child was hunted for by a great number of people, and being found was restored shortly to her parents in perfect health and soundness. Jesus Cnred Me. In the family of a missionary pastor in Kansas, was a daughter of twelve years of age, seriously afilicted with chronic rheumatism. For three years she suffered, until the leg was shrunken, stiff at the knee, shorter by some two inches than the other, and the hip joint was being gradually drawn from its socket. The child read of Mrs. Miller's cure by prayer, originally published in The Advance, and won- dered why she could not also be cured by the same means. She repeated to her mother some of the promised answers to prayer, and asked : " Don't Jesus mean what he says, and isn't it just as true now as then ? " The mother endeavored to divert her attention by representing the afiliction as a blessing. The physician also called and left another prescrip- tion, and encouraged the child to hope for benefit from it. The child could not, however, be diverted from the thought that Jesus could and would heal her. After the doctor's de- parture she said : " Mamma, I cannot have that plaster put on:' "Why, dear." 17 258 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. " Because, Tnother, Jesus is going to cure me, and he Tnust have all the glory. Dr. doesn't believe in God ; if we put the plaster on, he ivill say it was that which helped me ; and it must be all JesusJ' So earnest was she, that her mother at length placed the package, just as she had received it, on a shelf, and said no more about it. The little girl and her mother were alone that day, the father being absent from home. When the household duties were done she called her mother to her. " Mother, will you pray now to Jesus to cure me ? I have got the faith ; .1 know he will if you ivill ask him J' ^The mother, overcome, yielded to her daughter's request, and com^ menced praying. She was blest with unusual consciousness of the presence of God, and became insensible of all outward surroundings, pleading for the child. She remained in this state of intercession for more than an hour, when she was aroused by her daughter, who with her hand on the mother's shoulder was joyfully exclaiming, ^^ Mother, dear mother, ivake up! DoiiH you see Jesus has cured me? 0, I am well ! I am all well ! '^ and she danced about the room, lit- erally healed. One week from that day, the girl was seen by the writer in the '•'■ Advance^^ who says she was out sliding on the ice with her companions. From that day to this she has had no further trouble ; the limb is full, round and perfect ; there is no dijference between it and the other. To every question asked she replies, with the overflowing gratitude of a loving heart, " Jesus cured me ! " The Little Boy who Wanted His Sister to Read the Bible. Kev. Mr. Spurgeon, of London, tells of the excellent faith of a little boy in one of the schools of Edinburgh, who had attended a prayer-meeting, and at the lust said to his teacher who conducted it ; ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 259 ^^ Teacher, I wish my sister could be got to read the Bible; she never reads it." ^^ Why, Johnny, should your sister read the Bible ? " "Because if she once read it I am sure it would do htr good, and she would be converted and saved." "Do you think so, Johnny ? " "Yes, I do, sir; and I wish the next time there was a prayer-meeting you would ask the people to pray for my sis- ter, that she may begin to read the Bible." " Well, well, it shall be done, John." So the teacher gave out that a little boy was anxious that prayer should be offered that his sister might read the Bible. John was observed to get up and go out. The teacher thought it very rude of the boy to disturb the people in a crowded room, and so the next day, when the lad came, he said : "John, I thought it very rude of you to get up in the prayer-meeting and go out. You ought not to have done so." "0, sir," said the boy, "I did not mean to be rude ; hut I thought I should like to go home and see Tny sister reading her Bible for the first time."' True to his faith, when he reached his home, he found the little girl reading her Bible. Nettie's Daily Bread. A little girl in a wretched attic, whose sick mother had no bread, knelt down by the bedside, and said slowly : " Give us this day our daily bread." Then she went into the street and began to wonder where God kept his bread. She turned around the corner and saw a large, well-filled baker's shop. "This," thought Nettie, "is the place." So she entered confidently, and said to the big baker, " I've come for it." " Come for what ? " "My daily bread," she said, pointing to the tempting 260 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. loaves. "I'll take two, if you please — one for mother and one for me." ^' All right/' said the baker, putting them into a bag, and giving them to his' little customer, who started at once into the street. "Stop, you little rogue!" he said, roughly; "where is your money ? " " I haven't any," she said simply. "Haven't any !" he repeated, angrily; "you little thief, what brought you here, then ? " The hard words frightened the little girl, who, bursting into tears, said : " Mother is sick, and I am so hungry. In my prayers I said, 'Give us this day our daily bread,' and then I thought God meant me to fetch it, and so I ca?ne.^' The rough, but kind-hearted baker was softened by the child's simple tale, and instead of chiding her or visiting threats of punishment, as is usually the case, he said : " Yoic poor, dear girl ; here, take this to your mother,^^ and he filled a large basketful and gave it to her. The Brother's Prayer. A physician, who for many years practiced his profession in the State of California, was called once to see the child of Mr. Doak, of Calveras County, living on the road between San Andreas and Stockton, and not far from the mining town of Campo Seco, or Dry Camp. He says : The patient was a little girl about ten years of age, bright and intelligent and one of twins, the other being a boy, equally bright and well- disposed. The primary symptoms had indicated inflammation of the stomach, which the attending physician had hopelessly combated, and finally, when by metastasis it attacked the brain, with other unfavorable symptoms, he was inclined to abandon the case in despair. It was at this juncture I was called in. The symptoms were exceedingly unfavorable, and my own opinion coincided ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 261 with my professional brother's. However, we determined to go to work. A day and night of incessant watching, and the state of the patient caused us both to feel the case hopeless, and we only continued our attendance at the earnest solicita- tion of the child's mother. The anxious, care-worn and rest- less sorrow of the little brother, his deep grief as he saw his sister given over to the power of the King of Terrors, had attracted our attention. He would creep up to the bedside of his sister silently, with pale and tearful face, controlling his emotion with great effort, and then steal away again and weep bitterly. With a vague, indefinite idea of comforting the little fellow, I took him to my knee, and was about to utter some platitude, when the little fellow, looking me in the face, his own the very picture of grief, burst out with — " Oh, Doctor, must sister die ?" "Yes," I replied, "but,"— Before I could go farther he again interrupted me : " Oh, Doctor, is there nothing, nothing that will save her ? Can nobody, nobody save my sister ?" For an instant the teachings of a tender and pious mother flashed over my mind. They had been long neglected, were almost forgotten. California, in those days, was not well cal- culated to fasten more deeply on the mind home teachings. There were very few whose religious training survived the ordeal, and for a long time I had hardly thought of prayer. But the question brought out with the vividness of a flash of lightning, and as suddenly, all that had been obscured by my course of life, and, hardly knowing what I did, I spoke to him of the power that might reside in prayer. I said, God had promised to answer prayer. I dared not allow the skep- tical doubt, that came to my own mind, meet the ear of that innocent boy, and told him, more as my mother had often told me than with any thought of impressing a serious sub- ject on his mind, " That the prayers of little boys, even, God would hear:' I left that night with some simple directions, that were given more to satisfy the mother than from having 262 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. the slightest hope of eventual recovery, promising to return next day. In the morning, as I rode to the door, the little boy was playing round with a bright and cheerful countenance, and looked so happy that involuntarily I asked : " Is your sister better ? " " Oh, no, Doctor," he replied, " but she is going to get well." " How do you know," I asked. " Because I prayed to God,^ said he, " and he told me she wouldP " How did he tell you ?" The little fellow looked at me for an instant, and reverently placing his hand on the region of his heart, said : " He told me in my heart J^ Going to the room where my patient was lying, I found no change whatever, but in spite of my own convictions there had sprung up a hope within me. The medical gentleman with whom I was in consultation came to the room, and as he did, a thought of a very simple remedy I had seen used by an old negro woman, in a very dissimilar case, occurred to my mind. It became so persistently present that I mentioned it to my brother practitioner. He looked surprised, but merely remarked, " It can do no harm." I applied it. In two hours we both felt the case was out of danger. The second day after that, as we rode from the house, my friend asked me how I came to think of so simple a remedy. " / think it tvas that hoy^s prayer ^^ I replied. " Why, Doctor ! you are not so superstitious as to connect that boy's prayers with his sister's recovery," said he. "Yes, I do," I replied; for the life of me I cannot help thinking his prayers were more powerful than our reme- dies." ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 263 Light G-iven to a Blind Child. "A missionary visiting one of the mission schools of Brook- lyn, was introduced to a remarkable child. He was brought into the school from the highways and hedges, and young as he was, he had been taught of God. One day he was playing with powder, and putting his mouth to the match to blow it, it exploded, and the whole charge went into his face and eyes. He became totally blind, and the physician gave but little hope of recovery. But the little sufferer was patient and calm, and even hopeful ; sitting through the dark days meditating on what he had learned at the mission Sabbath-school, and re- peating passages of Scripture and many a beautiful hymn. '' One evening after the physician had spoken discourag- ingly, and his parents, as he perceived, were in deep distress, he was absorbed on his knees in a corner of the room in ear- nest prayer. His voice, though subdued almost to a whisper, was indicative of intense feeling. His parents inquired what he had been praying so earnestly for. Why, said he, that Jesus Christ ivould open my eyes. The doctor says he caii't, and so I thought I ivould ask the Savior to do it for me. God honored his faith. In a few days his sight came to him; and the prayer was ansivered. He can noiv see clearly. ^^ Asking The Lord to Help Him in his Lessons. "A little boy was at school, he was diligent, and deter- mined to succeed, but found that parsing was rather hard. " One day he went to his mamma for a little help in ana- lyzing some sentences. She told him the proper manner of doing it, and he followed her directions; but he was much troubled that he could not understand the whys and where- fores himself. " His mamma told him it was rather hard for him then, but that after he had studied a little longer^ it would be quite easy, 264 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. " Johnnie went into another room to study alone, but after a little came back, his face perfectly radiant with joy. He said : ^ mamma, I want to begin again. I asked Jesus to help me, and now I think I see just how it is. He always helps us when we ask him ; ^ and with unspeakable delight he with his mamma went over his lesson again.'' Give us this day our Daily Bread. ''The American Messenger tells the story of Johnny Hall, a poor boy. His mother worked hard for their daily bread. ' Please give me something to eat ; I am very hungry,' he said one evening. His mother let the work upon which she was sewing fall from her knee, and drew Johnny toward her. Her tears fell fast as she said : ' Mamma is very poor, and cannot give you any supper to-night.' 'Never mind, mamma; I shall soon be asleep, and then I sha'n't feel hungry. But you will sit and sew, and be so hungry and cold. Poor mamma,' he said, and kissed her many times to comfort her. " ' Now, Johnny, you may say your prayers ; ' for dearly as his mother loved him, she could ill afford to lose a moment from her work. He repeated ' Our Father ' with her until they came to the petition, ' Give us this day our daily bread.' The earnestness, almost agony, with which the mother uttered these words, impressed Johnny strongly. He said them over again : ' Give us this day our dailij bread.'' Then opening his blue eyes, he fixed them on his mother, and said : * We shall never be hungry any more. God is our Father, and he ivill hear us.' The prayer was finished and Johnny laid to rest. The mother sewed with renewed energy. Her heart was sustained by the simple faith of her child. Many were the gracious promises which came to her remembrance. Al- though tired and hungry, still it was with a light heart she sank to rest. " Early in the morning a gentleman called on his way to ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 265 business. He wished Johnny's mother to come to his home to take charge of his two motherless boys. She immediately accepted the offer. They were thus provided with all the comforts of a good home. Johnny is a man now, but he has never forgotten the time when he prayed so earnestly for his daily bread. '^ God tvill hear prayer is his firm belief. In many ways has he had the faith of his childhood confirmed. He looks to God as his Father with the same trust now as then. God will Take Care of Me. " When the yellow fever raged in New Orleans, the pesti- lence visited a Christian household, and the father died. Then the mother was suddenly seized, and knowing that she must die, she gathered the four children around her bed, the oldest being only about ten years of age, and said to them that God was about to take her home to heaven. She urged them to have no fears, and assured them that the kind, heavenly Father who had so long provided for them would surely come and take care of them. The children, with almost breaking hearts, believed what the dying mother had told them. " She was buried. The three youngest soon followed her, although they received every necessary attention from friends during their sickness. The oldest, a boy, was also seized by the pestilence, and in an unguarded moment, under the influ- ence of delirium, wandered from his sick-bed out into the suburbs of the city, and lying down in the tall grass by the roadside, looked steadfastly up, murmuring, incoherently at times, * Mother said God would come and take care of me — would come and take care of me ! ' A gentleman happening to pass at the time, and hearing the unusual sounds, went where the lad was lying, and rousing him, asked him what he was doing there. Said the little fellow in reply : ' Father died; mother died ; little brother and sisters died. But just before mother went away into heaven, she told us to have no 266 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. feoit', for God would come and take care of us, and I am now waiting for him to come down and take me. I knotv he will come, for mother said so, and she always told us the truth.' "'Well/ said the gentleman, whose kindliest sympathies were stirred by the little fellow's sad condition and his im- plicit confidence in his sainted mother's pious instructions, 'God has sent me, my son, to take care of you.'' So he had him carried to his home, and kindly nursed and cared for by his own family. He recovered, and to-day is one of the most useful Christian young men in the far West, where he has fixed his home." Lanra Healed. "A Christian teacher, connected with a Southern Orphan Asylum, writes The Christian, that often when the children were sick, and most of them came to me more or less diseased, I cried to the Lord for helj), and He who ' bore our infirmi- ties, and carried our sicknesses,' healed them. Oh it is so good to trust in the Lord ! How much better to rely on Him ^in whom we live, and move, and have our being,' than to put confidence in man, even in the most skillful physician. To confirm and strengthen the faith of the doubting, I send you the following account of the healing of one of our or- phans. " Laura was one of a large orphan family, living on Port E/oyal Island, S. C. When her mother died, she went to live with a colored woman who made her work very hard, ^tote' wood and water, hoe cotton and corn, do all manner of drudgery, rise at daybreak, and live on scanty food. Laura suffered from want, exposure and abuse. The freed-women of the plantation looked with pity into her eyes, and desired her to run away. But she replied, 'Aunt Dora will run after me,' and when she done cotch me, she'll stripe me well with the lash ; she done tell so already.' "One morning, however, when Laura went to the creek for crabs, a good aunty followed her, and throwing a shawl over ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 267 the poor child's rags, said, 'Now, Laura, put foot for Beau- fort fast as ever you can, and when you get there, inquire where Mrs. Mather lives : go straight to her ; she has a good home for jes sich poor creeters as you be.' Laura obeyed, hastened to Beaufort, seven miles distant, found my home, was made welcome, and her miserable rags exchanged for good clean clothes. In the morning, I said, ' Laura, did you sleep well last night?' She replied, '0, missis, my heart too full of joy to sleep. Me lay awake all night, thinking how happy me is in dis nice, clean bed, all to myself. Me never sleep in a bed before, missis.' " Laura, then about thirteen years old, came to me with a hard cough, and pain in her side. I put on flannels, gave her a generous diet, and hoped, that with rest and cheerful surroundings, she would soon rally as other children had, who came to me in a similar broken-down condition. Still the cough and pain continued. I dosed her with various re- storatives, such as flax-seed, and slippery elm, etc., but all were of no avail. She steadily grew worse. Every week I could see she declined. Her appetite failed ; night sweats came on ; and she was so weak that most of the day she lay in bed. The children, all of whom loved Laura, she was so patient and gentle, whispered one to another, 'Laura is gwine to die ; dere is def in her eye." "One evening in midwinter, the poor child's short breath, fluttering pulse, and cold, clammy sweat alarmed me, and I felt sure that unless the dear Lord interposed in her behalf, h^r time with us was very short. I lingered by her bed till near midnight in prayer for her recovery. I could not give her up. Again in my own room I poured out my soul in prayer for the child, and then slept. About two o'clock, I suddenly awoke, and heard what seemed a voice saying to me, •' Go to Laura ; I can heal her noio ; the conditions are right ; you are both calm and trustful.'' " I arose quickly, hastened to her room and said to her, ' Laura, do you want to get well ? ' '0, yes, missis, me 268 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. wants to get well.' ^ Do jou believe Jesus can cure you ? ' She replied, " I know he can if he will.' ' Well, Laura/ I said, ^ Jesus has just waked me out of a sound sleep, and told me to go and tell you that he will cure you now. Do you believe he will, Laura ? ' * Yes, missis, me do believe,'' she replied earnestly. She then repeated this prayer. ' 0, Jesus, do please to make me well ; let me live a long time, and be a good and useful woman.' " The burden had rolled off my heart ; I returned to my room and slept sweetly. In the morning, Tamar, Laura's attendant, met me at the door, exclaiming joyfully, ' 0, I'se so glad ! Laura is a heap better. Missis. She wake me up long time before day and begged me to get her something to eat, she so hungry.' ''From that night Laura rapidly recovered. Her cough abated, her appetite was restored, her night sweats ceased, and in less than a month she was strong and well." A Little Slave's Faith. A missionary in India, passing one day through the school room, observed a little boy engaged in prayer, and overheard him say, " 0, Lord Jesus, I thank thee for sending big ship into my country and wicked men to steal me and bring me here, that I might hear about Thee and love Thee. And now, Lord Jesus, I have one great favor to ask Thee. Please to send wicked men with another big ship, and let them catch my father and my mother, and bring them to this coun- try, that they may hear the missionaries preach and love Thee." The missionary in a few days after saw him standing on the sea-shore, looking very intently as the ships came- in. " What are you looking at, Tom ? " "I am looking to see if Jesus Christ answers prayer." For two years he was to be seen day after day watching the arrival of every ship. One day, as the missionary was ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 269 viewing him, he observed him capering about and exhibiting the liveliest joy. " Well, Tom, what gives you so much joy ? " " 0, Jesus Christ answer prayer. Father and mother come in that shipj'^ which was actually the case. A Good Reason for Praying. A little girl about four years of age being asked, " Why do you pray to God ? " replied : " Because I know He hears me, and I love to pray to Him." " But how do you know He hears you ? " Putting her little hand to her heart, she said, " I know He does, because there is something here that tells me so.'' My Heart Talked. A child six years old, in a Sunday school, said : " When we kneel down in the school-room to pray, it seems as if my heart talked." Why, Sir, I Begged. A little boy, one of the Sunday school children in Jamaica, called upon the missionary and stated that he had lately been very ill, and in his sickness often wished his minister had been present to pray with him. " But, Thomas," said the missionary, " I hope you prayed." "Oh, yes, sir." "Did you repeat the collect I taught you?" "I prayed." "Well, but how did you pray ?" "Why, sir, I begged." A Little Child's Prayer for Healing. A very little child, who had but recently learned to talk, and the daughter of a Home missionary, had been for weeks troubled with a severe cough, which was very severe in its 270 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. weakness upon her. At last her father said to her, " Daugh- ter, ask Jesus, the good Lord, to heal you." Putting up her little hands as she lay in bed, she said, ^^ Dear Jesus, will oo 'please to cure me, and do please tell papa luhat to give me." The father, who was listening, thought several times of *^ syrup of ipecac^'' hut did not connect it immediately with the prayer. At last the thought came so often before him, that he felt, " Well, it will do no harm, perhaps this is what the Lord wants me to give her." He procured it, admin- istered it, and in three hours the little child's cough had wholly ceased, and she was playing on the floor M^th the other children. A most singular feature is the fact that the same medicine was administered at other times and had no effect in relief. ^t "^Imthm of §km. ** 'Blessed is he that considereth the poor; the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.'' *^ Monor t?ie Lord with thy substa7ice, and with the first fruits of all thine increase, so shall thy bar?is be filled with plenty." *' The?^e is that sea tie re th and yet increaseth ; and t?iere is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tend- eth to poverty." *^ 2he liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth shall be watered also himself." ''He that hath pity upo7i the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and that 7i^hich he hath given will He pay him again." *' Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall ?iot be heard." ''Me that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed, for he giveth of his bread to the poor." "He that putteth his trust in the Lord shall be made fat." "He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack; but he that hideth his eye shall have many a curse." " Cast thy bread upo7i the waters, for thou shall find it aftermatiy days." " Jf thou draw out thy soul to the hu7igry, and satisfy the afflicted soul, the Lord shall guide thee continually, a?id satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones. And thou Shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not." " He which soweth bountifully, shall reap also bounti- fully." " Hvery man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give ; not grudgingly, nor of 7iecessity, for 272 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. How the Lord Blesses Those Who Give Liberally to His Cause. A disciple of the Lord Jesus, poor in this world's goods, but rich in faith, became greatly perplexed in regard to the meaning of the forty-second verse of the fifth chapter of Mat- thew. The words are : " Give to him that asketh thee ; and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away." After a season of prolonged mental inquiry, as to whether the language was to be regarded as literal or not, she sud- denly paused and exclaimed : " It is easy enough to find out ; test it and see." It was Saturday. Her money, all but two dollars, had been expended in providing for the Sabbath. The amount left, which was absolutely needed for the following Monday, she put in her pocket, and went out. On the street, a friend, whose husband had been for some time out of business, met her and stated their distresses, and asked if she could lend them tivo dollars to last over the Sab- bath. She was surprised. The test had come sooner than she expected, but, without hesitation, the money was " lent to the Lord,''^ and the now penniless believer went home to wait and see. Now mark the result. Monday came, and with it the needs to be supplied. While pondering what course to pursue, a knock was heard, and, on opening the door, a lady, with a bundle in her hand, inquired if she could do a little work for her. Eeplying in the affirmative, and naming the price, the lady took from her pocket-book two dollars, and handed it to her, saying : " It is more than you ask, but you might as well have it." *'I was never more astonished," said this true dis- ciple, " and literally shouted for joy. I had tested and proved that the promises of God are yea and amen in Christ Jesus. Glory to God. I have never doubted since; and though often in straits, I have always been delivered." ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 273 Would it not be well for Christians to "test" where they cannot understand ? " Ye are my friends/' said the blessed Lord, "if ye do whatsoever I command you." Obedience will solve difficulties that reasoning cannot unravel. Try and see. Dividing: with God. A merchant, in answer to inquiries, refers back to a period when, he says, "In consecrating my life anew to God, aware of the ensnaring influences of riches, and the necessity of de- ciding on a plan of charity before wealth should bias my judgment, I adopted the following system : " I decided to balance my accounts as nearly as I could, every month ; and reserving such a portion of profits as might appear adequate to cover probable losses, to lay aside, by entry on a benevolent account, one-tenth of the remaining profits, great or small, as a fund for benevolent expenditure, supporting myself and family on the remaining nine-tenths. I further determined, that when at any time my net profits, that is, profits from which clerk-hire and store expenses had been deducted, should exceed ^500 in a month, I would give twelve and a half per cent.; if over $700, fifteen per cent. ; if over f 900, seventeen and a half per cent. ; if over $1,100, twenty per cent. ; if over $1,300, twenty-two and a half per cent. ; thus increasing the proportion of the whole as God should prosper, until at $1,500, I should give twenty-five per cent., or $375 a month. As capital was of the utmost importance to my success in business, I decided not to increase the foregoing scale until I had acquired a cer- tain capital, after which I would give one-quarter of all net profits, great or small ; and on the acquisition of another cer- tain amount of capital, I decided to give half ; and on acquir- ing what I determined would be a full sufficiency of capital, then to give the whole of my net profits. " It is now several years since I adopted this plan, and under it I have acquired a handsome capital, and have been pros- 18 274 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. pered beyond my most sanguine expectations. Although constantly giving, I have never yet touched the bottom of my fund, and have been repeatedly astonished to find what large drafts it would bear. True, during some months I have encountered a salutary trial of faith, when this rule has led me to lay by the tenth, while the remainder proved inadequate to my support ; but the tide has soon turned, and w4th grati- tude I have recognized a heavenly hand more than making good all past deficiencies." Prosperity and Liberality. A London correspondent of the Westeim Christian Advo- cate, writing some years ago of raising a fund for the extinc- tion of debts on chapels, gives the following incident : " A gentleman named Wilkes, who was promised a sub- scription of one thousand guineas to this fund, has a history so remarkable as to be worth relating across the Atlantic. Seven years ago he was a journeyman mecbanic. Having in- vented and patented some kind of a crank or spindle used in the cotton manufacture, and needing capital to start himself in the business of making them, he made it a matter of earnest prayer that he might be directed to some one able and willing to assist him. In a singular and unexpected manner he fell in with an elderly Quaker, a perfect stranger, who accosted him with the strange inquiry : ^ Friend, I should like to know if a little money would be of any service to thee.' Having satisfied himself as to Wilkes' genius and honesty, the Quaker at once advanced him the required amount. The praying mechanic started in business on his own account, and everything he has touched of late appeared to prosper. " Hearing of a field in Ireland offered for sale, in which was a deserted mine, he went over to see it ; bought the field for a small sum, recommenced working the mine, and it now turns out to yield abundance of excellent copper. For the year 1852, he promised to give the Missionary Society a ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 275 guinea a day ; but such abundance has poured in upon him during the year, that he felt that to be below his duty, and has, therefore, enlarged his subscription for the present year seven-fold. He is actually giving to that noble cause seven guineas daily, or upwards of $10,500 a year, during this year, 1853 ; in addition to which he has just given one thousand guineas to the fund above referred to." " It is pleasing to add," says the writer, "that this remarkable man retains the utmost simplicity." Would that liberality and prosperity might ever go hand in hand. Often, as wealth increases liberality is starved out, and the rich give far less than the poor in proportion to their means and ability. The Deacon's Singing; School. " I am going out to see if I can start a singing school," said a good man, as he stood buttoning up his overcoat, and muffling up his ears, one bitterly cold Winter night. "A singing school," said his wife, "how will you do that ? " " I have heard of a widow around the corner a block or two who is in suffering circumstances. She has five little chil- dren, and two of them down sick, and has neither fire nor food. So Bennie Hope, the office boy tells me. I thought I would just step around and look into the case." " Go, by all means," said his wife, " and lose no time. \i they are in such need we can give some relief. But I cannot see what all this has to do with starting a singing school. But never mind, you need not stop to tell me now; go quickly and do all you can for the poor woman." So out into the piercing cold of the wintry night went the husband, while the wife turned to the fireside and her sleep- ing babes, who, in their warm cribs, with the glow of health upon their cheeks, showed that they knew nothing of cold or pinching want. With a thankful spirit she thought of her blessings, as she sat down to her little pile of mending. Very 276 ANSWERS TO PRAYER, busily and quietly she worked, puzzling all the time over what her husband could have meant by starting a singing school. A singing school and the widow — how queer ! What possible connection could they have ? At last she grew tired of the puzzling thought, and said to herself, " I won't bother myself thinking about it any more. He will tell me all about it when he comes home. I only hope we may be able to help the poor widow and make hei' 'poor heart sing for joy.' There," she exclaimed, "can that be what he meant ? The widow's heart singing for joy ! Wouldn't that be a singing school ? It must be ; it is just like John. How funny that I should find it out ! " and she laughed merrily at her lucky guess. Taking up her work again, she stitched away with a happy smile on her face, as she thought over again her husband's words, and followed him in imagination in his kind ministrations. By-and-by two shining tears dropped down, tears of pure joj^, drawn from the deep wells of her love for her husband, of whom she thought she never felt so fond before. At the first sound of footsteps she sprang to open the door. " Oh, John ! did you start the singing school ? " " I reckon I did," said the husband, as soon as he could loose his wrappings; "but I want you to hunt up some flan- nels and things to help to keep it up." " Oh, yes ! I will ; I know now what j'ou mean. I have thought it all out. Making the widow's 'heart sing for joy' is your singing school. (Job. xxix : 13.) What a precious work, John ! ' Pure religion and undefiled is to visit the fatherless and widows in their affiiction.' My own heart has been singing for joy all the evening because of your work, and I do not mean to let you do it alone. I want to draw out some of this wonderful music." ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 277 It Pays to Grive to The Lord. "A clergyman states, that soon after lie dedicated himself to the service of Christ, he resolved, as Jacob did, ' Of all that thou shalt give me, I will surely give a tenth unto thee.' Of the first $500 he earned, he gave $130, and in such a way that it incited a wealthy friend to give several hundreds more, including a donation of $100 to this clergyman himself. For four years, the clergyman says, ' My expenses were small, my habits economical, and the only luxury in wliich I in- dulged was the luxury of giving. In the two first of these years I was permitted to give $500.' ' On a review of my min- istry of about sixteen years,' he adds, '• I find God has gra- ciously permitted me to give to the cause of my Redeemer nearly $1,200, by which amount about forty life memberships have been created in various evangelical societies. During all these years God has prospered me ; has given me almost uninterrupted health ; has surrounded me with sweet domes- tic ties ; and my congregation, by means in part perhaps of a steady example, have given viore in these sixteen years than in all their long previous history." Another Example of Beneficence. ^^ A liberal donor, in enclosing $100 to a sister institution, but strictly withholding his name, says, ' When I began business, it was with the intention and hope to become rich. A year afterward I became, as I trust, a Christian, and about the same time met with ' Cobb's Eesolutions,' which I adopted. Some four or five years later, I read ^Normand Smith's Memoir,' and also Wesley's ^ Sermon on the use of Money,' which led me to devote all my gains to benevolent uses, reserving to myself $5,000 while I remained unmarried, part of which I have bequeathed to relatives, and the re- mainder to benevolent societies. Up to this time — about six- teen years — by the grace of God — nothing else — I have given 278 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. about $24,500 to benevolent purposes, and lent about $500 to those in need, which has not been returned j making in all about $25,000.'^ Commendable Exam.ples. The Methodist Missionary Society mention one of their donors who, for twenty years, has used the power given him of getting wealth, for his Lord, in which time he has been en- abled to appropriate to benevolent purposes more than thirty thousand dollars, while operating with a capital of but five thousand dollars. Another business man of that denomina- tion in Boston, during fifteen years, has appropriated thirty- nine thousand dollars. System in G-iving. A correspondent of the American Tract Society says, *' It was their publications which induced me to appropriate stat- edly one-tenth of my income to the cause of the Lord. After acting upon that scale nearly two years, and finding that al- though my donations greatly exceeded those of former years, my affairs were not thereby involved in any embarrassment ; but that, on the contrary, with increasing contributions to the leading objects of Christian benevolence and to general char- ity, came an increased store and enlarging resources, I con- cluded, with a heart throbbing with grateful emotions to my Creator, in view of his great love and kindness toward me, that I would increase the proportion." Lending to The Lord. "A poor man, some of whose family were sick, lived near Deacon Murray, (referred to in the tract, 'Worth of a Dollar,') and occasionally called at his house for a supply of milk. One morning he came while the family were at breakfast. ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 279 Mrs. Murray rose to wait upon him, but tlie deacon said to her, ' Wait till after breakfast.' She did so, and meanwhile the deacon made some inquiries of the man about his family and circumstances. "After family worship the deacon invited him to go out to the barn with him. When they got into the yard, the dea- con, pointing to one of the cows, exclaimed, ' There, take that cow, and drive her home.' The man thanked him heartily for the cow, and started for home ; but the deacon was ob- served to stand in the attitude of deep thought until the man had gone some rods. He then looked up, and called out, ' Hey, bring that cow back.' The man looked around, and the deacon added, ' Let that cow come back, and you come back too.' He did so ; and when he came into the yard again, the deacon said, ' There, now, take your pick out of the cows ; I a^nH going to lend to the Lord the poorest cow Vve got.'' " A Steward of Ms Lord's Bonnty. An aged benevolent friend in a western city, states some interesting facts respecting his own experience in giving sys- tematically as the Lord prospered him. He says, " Our country and professors of religion in it have become ^ rich and increased in goods,' but I fear that a due proportion is not re- turned to the Giver of every good. "I commenced business in 1809 with $600, and united with the 'Northern Missionary Society No. 2,' which met monthly for prayer, and required the payment of two dollars a year from each member. That year I married, and the next united with the Christian church. No definite system of giving ' as the Lord had prospered ' me, w^as fully made until the close of the year 1841. The previous fourteen years had been assiduously devoted to the interests of Sabbath- schools and the temperance enterprise, when I found both my physical and pecuniary energies diminished, the latter being less than $30,000. 280 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. "After days and nights of close examination into my affairs, with meditation and prayer, I promised the Lord of all, I would try at the close of every year to see what was the value of my property, and the one-quarter of the increase I would return to him in such way as my judgment, aided by his word and providence, might direct. "For more than fifteen years I have lived up to this re- solve, and though most of the time I have been unable to at- tend to active business, the investments I have made have more than quadrupled the value of my propert}^, and in that time enabled me to return to Him ^ from whom all blessing? flow,' $11,739.61." The Five-Dollar Gold Piece. 'A friend,' says a venerable clergyman, Kev. Mr. H- ' at a time when gold was scarce, made me a present of a five-dollar gold piece. I resolved not to spend it, and for a long time carried it in my pocket as a token of friendship. In riding about the country, I one day fell in with an ac- quaintance, who presented a subscription-book for the erec- tion of a church in a destitute place. " ' I can do nothing for j^ou, Mr. B ,' said I ; ^ my heart is in this good undertaking, but my pocket is ^^ntirely empty ; having no money, j^ou must excuse me.' "'Oh, certainly,' said he; 'all right, sir. We know you alwaj^s give when it is in your power.' " We parted ; and after I had proceeded some distance, I be- thought me of the piece of gold in my vest pocket. ' What,' said I to myself, ' I told that man I had no money, when I had by me all the time this gold pocket-piece. This was an untruth, and I have done wrong.' I kept reproaching- myself in this way until I stoj^ped, and took from my pock'^t the five-dollar piece. " ' Of what use,' said I, ' is this piece of money, st<>wed away so nicely in my pocket ?' I made up my mind to turn ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 281 back, and rode as fast as I could until I overtook Mr. B , to whom I gave the coin, and resumed my journey. "A few days after, I stopped at the house of a lady, who treated me very hospitably, for which I could make no return, except in thanks and Christian counsel. When I took leave, she slipped into my vest pocket a little folded j)a23er, which she told me to give to my wife. I supposed it was some trifle for the children, and thought no more of it until I reached home. I handed it to my wife,, who opened it, and to my as- tonishment it was a five-dollar gold piece, the identical pocket-piece I had parted with hut a feiv days before. I knew it was the same, for I had made a mark upon it ; how this had been brought about was a mystery, but that the hand of the Lord was in it I could not doubt. ^ See,' said I to my wife; 'I thought I gave that money, but I only lent it; how soon has the Lord returned it ! Never again will I doubt his word.' " I afterward learned that Mr. B had paid over the coin to the husband of the lady at whose house I staid, along with some other mone}^, in payment for lumber, and he had given it to his wife. ^^ Take my advice, and when appealed to for aid, fear not to give of your poverty ; depend upon it the Lord will not let you lose by it, if you wish to do good. If you wish to ])yo^- per, ' Give, and it shall be given unto 3^ou ; for with the same measure that ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.' ' Trust in the Lord, and do good ; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.' " A New Year's Incident. ^* One New Year's day I was going out to visit some of my poorer neighbors, and thought I would take a sovereign to a certain widow who had seen days of competence and comfort. I went to look in my drawer, and was so sorry to find I had but one sovereign left in my bank for the poor, and my allowance 282 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. would not be due for two or three weeks. I had nearly closed the drawer upon the solitary sovereign, when this passage of Scripture flashed so vividly into my mind, ' The Lord is able to give thee much more than this/ (2 Chron. xxv : 9,) that I again opened the drawer, took the money, and entered the carriage which was waiting for me. When I arrived at Mrs. A.'s, and with many good wishes for the New Year, offered her the sovereign, I shall never forget her face of sur- prised joy. The tears ran down her cheeks while she took my hands and said, ' May the God of the widow and father- less bless you ; we had not one penny in the house, nor a morsel of bread ; it is he who has heard my prayers, and sent you again and again to supply my need.' You who pray for and visit the poor, and enjoy the blessedness of relieving their temporal wants and of speaking to them of Jesus, you will understand the gladness of heart with which I returned home. " In the country we had only one post daily ; so when even- ing came on, and it was nearly ten o'clock, I was not a little surprised at receiving a letter. When I opened it, how my heart beat for joy when I read these words from a compara- tive stranger: ^You will have many poor just now to claim your pity and your help, may I beg you to dispense the en- closed five pounds as you see fit ? and I have ordered a box of soap to be sent to you for the same purpose.' These boxes of soap are worth four pounds. Thus did- our gracious God send nine times as much as I gave for his sake, before that day had closed." Feneberg's Loan to the Lord. '^A poor man with an empty purse came one day to Michael Feneberg, the godly pastor of Seeg, in Bavaria, and begged three crowns, that he might finish his journey. It was all the money Feneberg had, but as he besought him so earnest- ly in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus he gave it. ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 283 Immediately after, he found himself in great outward need, and seeing no way of relief he jn-ayed, saying, ' Lord, I lent Thee three crowns ; Thou hast not yet returned them, and Thou knowest how I need them. Lord, I pray Thee, give them back.' The same day a messenger brought a money- letter, which Gossner, his assistant, reached over to Feneberg, saying, ^ Here, father, is what you expended.' The letter contained two hundred thalers, or about one hundred and fifty dollars, which the poor traveler had begged from a rich man for the vicar ; and the childlike old man, in joyful amazement, cried out, ^Ah, dear Lord, one dare ask nothing of Thee, for straightw^ay Thou makest one feel so much ashamed ! ' " Compound Interest. The Christian tells of a minister in Ohio, who in 1860 was engaged to statedly supply a congregation who were in arrears for a whole year's salary to their former pastor, and were only able to promise their ^supply' five dollars a Sun- day till the old debt should be paid. At the close of the year, only about two-thirds of this amount had been paid. So it was not strange that their ' supply ' soon found himself in arrears for many things. That year the cost of his peri- odicals alone had amounted to sixteen dollars. This he could not pay, and as none of them could be stopped without pay- ment of arrearages, the debt must continue to increase. On New Year's day the minister was called to marry a couple, and gave the fee, five dollars, to his wife saying, " I want you to get yourself a dress with this." There was a kind of material much worn then, which she had very much admired, a dress of which would cost four dollars. So she went to the Mission periodical to find the address of the Mis- sion Secretary, thinking to send the extra dollar there. But as she glanced over its pages and noticed the trials and straits of the missionaries, and the embarrassment of the Board that year, her heart was touched and she felt that they 284 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. needed the money more than she did the dress, and instead of the one she concluded to send the live dollars. She went to her husband and read her letter to him. " O," said he, "I'm afraid we are too poor to give so much." With a little feeling of disappointment she said, " Well, give me the change and I will send what I had intended at first." "No," said he, ^you have given it, and I dare not take it back." And so with a prayer that God would accept and bless the gift she signed her letter, " A Friend of Missions," thinking, as no one would know the author, that was the last she would hear about it in this world. The ladies of that congregation were accustomed to meet weekly at the parsonage to sew for those in need. The next week a \ady who was visiting in the place came with her friends, and as she entered the parlor she tossed a bundle in- to the lap of the minister's wife, saying, " Mrs. , here is a present for you." The present was a dress pattern of the same kind of mate- rial she had intended to purchase. And as she thought to her- self, " God has given me this in place of what I have given," she was reminded of the words, " Give, and it shall be given to you." But that was not the end. A short time afterwards she received a letter from the Secretary of the Board of Missions, enclosing a printed copy of her own letter, and asking if she were the author of it ; and added, " If so, a large-hearted man in New York has authorized me to send you twenty-five dollars, with a special request that you purchase a dress worth five dollars, and give the rest to your husband and children." There was her five dollars back, with four times as much more added to it. The Brown Towel. The editor of The Christian Woman tells the story of a poor woman who, in her anxiety to give to the Lord, oould find nothing but a poor brown towel. ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 285 " They must be very poor who have nothing to give," said Mrs. Jarvis, as she deposited a pair of beautiful English blankets in a box that was being filled by the ladies of the church to be sent to the poor. " And now, ladies, as you are nearly through, I would like to tell you an incident in my history ; I was once very poor." " You once very poor ? " said a lady. " Yes ; I was once very poor. There came to our village a missionary to deliver a lecture. I felt very desirous to go; but having no decent apparel to wear, I was often deprived of going to church, although I was a member. '' I waited dntil it was late, and then slipped in and took a seat behind the door. ''I listened with streaming eyes to the missionary's acount of the destitution and darkness in heathen lands. Poor as I was, I felt it to be a great privilege to live in a Christian land and to be able to read my Bible. "It was proposed by our pastor that the congregation should fill a box and send it out with the missionary on his return. "0," thought I, "how I would like to send something." "When I returned home my poor children were still sleeping soundly, and my disconsolate husband waiting my return, for he had been out of employment some time. After he had gone to bed I went to looking over my clothes, but I could find nothing that was suitable that I could possibly spare ; then I began looking over the children's things, but could find nothing that the poor dears could be deprived of ; sol went to bed with a heavy heart, and lay a long time thinking of the destitution of the poor heathen, and how much better off I was. " I got to thinking over my little stock again. There was nothing I could put into the box except two brown towels. " Next day I got my towels, pieced out the best one, and when it was almost dark, put on my bonnet, went to the 286 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. church, slipped my towel into the box, and came away think- ing that the Lord knew I had done what I could. "And now, ladies, let me tell you it was not long after that till my husband got into a good situation j and prosperity has followed us ever since. So I date back my prosperity to this incident of the brown towel." Her story was done, and, as her carriage was waiting at the door, she took her departure, leaving us all mute with sur- prise that one so rich and generous had been trained to giv» amid poverty. Giving Blessed. A merchant of St. Petersburg, at his own cost, supported several native missionaries in India, and gave liberally to the cause of Christ at home. On being asked how he could afford to do it, he replied : " Before my conversion, when I served the world and self, I did it on a grand scale, and at the most lavish expense. And when God by his grace called me out of darkness, 1 resolved that Christ and his cause should have more than I had ever spent for the world. And as to giving so much, it is God who enables me to do it ; for, at my conversion, I sol- emnly promised that I would give to his cause a fixed propor- tion of all that my business brought in to me ; and every year since I made that promise, it has brought me in about double what it did the year before, so that I easily can, as I do, double my gifts for his service." And so good old John Bunyan tells us, " A man there was, some called him mad, The more he gave, the more he had." And there are truth and instruction in the inscription on the Italian tombstone, "What I gave away, I saved; what I spent, I used ; what I kept, I lost." " Giving to the Lord," says another, " is but transporting our goods to a higher floor." And, says Dr. Barrow, " In defiance of all the torture and ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 287 malice and might of the world, the liberal man will ever be rich ; for God's providence is his estate ; God's wisdom and power, his defence ; God's love and favor, his reward ; and God's word, his security." Richard Baxter says, " I never prospered more in my small estate than when I gave most. My rule has been, first, to contrive to need, myself, as little as may be, to lay out none on need-nots, but to live frugally on a little ; second, to serve God in any place, upon that competency which he allowed me to myself, that what I had myself might be as good a work for common good, as that which I gave to others ; and tldrd, to do all the good I could with all the rest, preferring the most public and durable object, and the nearest. And the more I have practiced this, the more I have had to do it with ; and when I gave almost all, more came in, I scarce knew how, at least unexpected. But when by improvidence I have cast myself into necessities of using more upon myself or upon things in themselves of less importance, I have prospered much less than when I did otherwise. And when I had con- tented myself to devote a stock I had gotten to charitable uses after my death, instead of laying it out at present, in all probability, that is like to be lost ; whereas, when I took the present opportunity, and trusted God for the time to come, I wanted nothing and lost nothing." These are a few of many evidences, that where we give from right motives, we are never the poorer, but the richer for doing it. '• The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth, shall be watered also, himself." Lending to the Lord. As a series of religious meetings was held in a Baptist church in , and the hearts of God's people were greatly encouraged, the church was consumed by fire. It was pro- posed to continue the meetings in the Congregational church, but the workmen were coming the next morning to demolish 288 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. and rebuild it. It was then proposed to hire the workmen to dela}'^, that the people might assemble for three days more, but nothing was done ; when the Congregational pastor walk- ing his study, and thinking that some souls might be gathered in, went to the workmen, and handed them $10 from his own pocket, which he could ill afford ; the meetings were con- tinued, and a number of souls hopefully converted to God. The day following, as he parsed the house, the man to whom he paid the $ 10 called to him, and constrained him to receive back the whole amount, saying it was of no value compared with the saving of a soul. The Liberal Farmer. A farmer in one of the retired mountain towns of Massa- chusetts, began business in 1818, with six hundred dollars in debt. He began with the determination to pay the debt in six years, in equal installments, and to give all his net income if any remained above those installments. The income of the first year, however, was expended in purchasing stock and other necessaries for his farm. In the six next years he paid off the debt, and having aban- doned the intention of ever being any richer, he has ever since given his entire income, after supporting his family and thoroughly educating his six children. During all this period he has lived with the strictest econ- omy, and everything pertaining to his house, table, dress and equipage has been in the most simple style ; and though he has twice been a member of the State Senate, he conscien- tiously retains this simplicity in his mode of life. The farm is rocky and remote from the village, and his whole prop- erty, real and personal, would not exceed in value three thou- sand dollars. Yet sometimes he has been enabled to give from $200 to $300 a year. ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 289 Experience of a Saddler. Kormand Smith, a saddler of Hartford, Conn., after prac- ticing for years an elevated system of benevolence, bequeathed in charity the sum of $30,000. An anonymous writer says of himself, that he commenced business and prosecuted it in the usual way till he lost $900, which was all he was worth, and found himself in debt $1,100. Being led by his trials to take God's word as his guide in business as well as in heart and religion, he determined to give his earnings liberally unto the Lord. The first year he gave $12. For eighteen years the amount increased by about 25 per cent., and the last year he gave $850, and he says he did it easier than during the first year he paid the $12. Besides, though with nothing but his hands to depend on when he began this course, he paid the whole debt of $1,100 with interest, though it took him nine years to do it. Jacob not Blessed until He Became a Lib- eral Giver. Jacob went out from his father's house *^ with his staff," a poor man. But at Bethel he vowed to give to God the tenth of all that God should bestow on him. Commencing thus, God blessed him, and in twenty years he returned with great riches. The Lord's Insurance Money. A tradesman in New York had pledged to give to the Lord a certain portion of his business receipts as fast as the}^ were collected. He called this The LorcVs insurance moneij, for, said he, " so long as I give so long will the Lord help me and bless me, and in some way he will give me the means to give, so it is no money lost. Rather it is a blessing to my heart to keep it open in gratitude, a blessing to dispose of it to 19 290 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. gladden other hearts, and the surest way to keep the Lord's favor with me." The results of his experience were blessed indeed, as he said, "I never realized before how closely the Lord is con- nected with all my interests, and how he helps me in all my business plans. Things happen constantly which show me constantly that some one who knows more than I is benefit- ing me — protecting me. Bad debts have been paid which I did not expect. Errand boys, just getting into sly and bad habits, have been discovered ere their thefts had proceeded far. As I needed competent help in my business, it has come just as it was wanted. When customers were failing, somehow their debts to me were paid, although they failed to pay others. A severe fire came to my ofiice and apparently seemed to have swept all my valuables away. But it was stopped at just the right moment, and not one thing valuable was lost. The insurance companies paid me enough to re- place every damage, and the office was renewed better than before. The Lord sends me business enough to pay for my debts, yet others are dull. / cannot tell why it is, except that I always pray for my business, and ask the Lord to bless it for the good of others, and that the means which come from it may be used for his cause. When I stop giving, business stops coming. When I stop praying specially for it, perplex- ities arise. As long as I pray for it, it all moves easily, and I have no care or trouble. The Lord is my Banker, my Helper, my Insurer, my Deliverer, my Patron, and my Blessed Savior of temporal things as well as spiritual." Give and it Shall "be Given. " ' Cheerful giving,' writes an aged minister, ^ is what enriches the giver and brings down a blessing from above. A poor clergyman attended one of Zion's festivals in a dis- tant city. The railroad company supplied him with a return ticket, and though many of his brethren would secure treas- ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 291 ures from the book-stores, but a solitary twenty-five cent scrip was in his possession, and he would need that to pay for refresh- ment on his way home. It was the last day of the feast. Men- tion, again and again, was made of the widow's mite, or poor men's gifts, and, as the boxes were passed, he felt sad that, in his deep poverty, he could not cast in a single penny. As the assembly was dismissed, it was announced that collectors would stand at the door to gather up the fragments which ought to be in the Lord's treasury. With slow steps this good man passed down and put that last money he possessed into the waiting box. "In a few moments, a gentleman of the city invited him to his table to dine, with quite a number of the dignitaries of the church. During the repast, the host was called from the table for a little time. At the conclusion of a pleasant enter- tainment, the poor minister was taken one side and an envel- ope put into his hands, with this remark : ' I was called from the table by a man who has long owed me a small debt, which I thought was lost a long time since, and I cannot think what it was paid to-day for, except that I might give it to you.' The envelope contained twenty-five dollars. When the books are opened, that rich steward will see how his money was used, and thank God, who put it into his heart to dispose of it thus." " Lending to the Lord." " A physician who is not a professor of religion, in a neigh- boring city, has for many years exhibited an unshaken faith in that declaration. He told me that he has made many experiments on it, and the Lord has fulfilled his words, ' That which he hath given will He pay him again,' in every case. One of his ^experiments' came under my observation. "It was a bleak and chilling day in the Winter of 1847-8. The doctor was going his rounds and met a poor colored boy in the street. He was nearly frozen to death. He accosted the doctor, and asked him most pit6ously for a little money, 292 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. stating, at the same time, that his master, an old Quaker, had excluded him from the house, and compelled him to remain in the barn ; he could stand it no longer, and desired to go home — twenty miles up the river. The doctor now had tlie materials for another test of the promise. 'You shall not suffer if I can help you,' was his cheering reply to the boy. He requested him to call at his office, and went to a neighbor- ing hotel and told the landlord to keep the boy until farther orders. Late in the evening the boy again appeared at the office, and stated that the landlord had said, ' We don't keep darkies over night.' The doctor immediately started out in search of new quarters, and, after some difficulty, found a col- ored woman who was willing to keep the boy for a few days. In a short time the river, which had been closed with ice, was open. The doctor paid the bills, gave the boy a dollar, and bade him God speed. That is what he calls lending to the Lord. Now for the payment. When he called at the house of the colored person to pay the bill, he ' accidentally ' met an old lad}'^, who scrutinized him closel}'^, and at length said, ' A'n't you Doctor B ? ' ' Yes,' was the reply ; ' but who are you ? ' ' No matter about my name ; I owe you four dol- lars, which you have long sijice forgotten, and which I did not intend to pay you till I saw what you have done to that poor boy. The Lord bless you for your kindness. Next week you shall have your money.' She came according to her promise and offered the money, but the doctor was unwil- ling to take it, as he had no charge on his books. She forced it on him. He afterwards simply remarked, ' My meeting that woman was not a mere accident ; the Lord always fulfills his promise. I generally get my capital back, with compound interest.' " The Praying Shoe-maker. A shoe-maker being asked how he contrived to give so much, replied that it was easily done by obeying St. Paul's precept in 1 Cor. 16:2: "Upon the first day of the week let every ANSWERS TO PEAVEK. 293 one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him " da.Id'r" ;/'"'" '''^"''' another, about a dollar a day and I can without inconvenience to myself or family lav .» thirty cents a week. My wife takes in sewing and wash- ing, and earns something like two dollars a week, and she lays by ten cents of that. My children each of them earn a hn 1 ng or two, and are glad to contribute their penny; so th t altogether we fay i>,j us in store forty cents a leek And we have been unusually pro.spered, we contribute something more. The weekly amount is deposited every Sunday morn use. Thus, by these small earnings, we have learned that it .s more blessed to give than to receive. The yearly amoun s ved in this way is about tu-enty-fi.e ioUars ; 'and I distrib- tt bt: r/^iXr:-^ '^-^^"^^ ^°^'^"- --^-^ - The History and Business Successes of Liberal Givers. Mr. Nathaniel R. Cobb, a merchant connected with the Baptist church in Boston, in 1821, at the age of twenty-three drew up and subscribed the following covenant, to which he' faithfully adhered till on his death-bed he praised God that $40'000.^ '""'''°^ *" '' ^" ^"^ ^""'^ '" '^''"'y "'*''- 'h'"' $50,000."" ^'■''' "^ ^'"^' ^ "'" "'"'' ^' '">''^' "'""-^ "-" Jn^/ T ^T"- "* ^"^' • ""' S'™ one.fourth of the net profits of my business to charitable and religious uses. nef Ir "T./;--"' «20,000, I will give one-half of my net profits ; and if I am ever worth $30,000, 1 will give three- fourths ; and the whole, after $50,000. So help me God or give to a more faithful steward, and set me aside. "N. E. COBB." 294 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. Faith in G-od's Liberality. A clergyman, himself an exponent of God's bountiful deal- ings with men, was called upon in test of his own principles of giving to the Lord. Preaching, in the morning, a sermon on Foreign Missions, an unusually large contribution was taken up. In the after- noon, he listened to another sermon, by a brother, on Home Missions, and the subject became so important that he was led closely to agitate the question how much he should himself give to the cause. " I was, indeed, in a great strait between charity and necessity. I felt desirous to contribute ; but, there I was, on a journey, and I had given so much in the morning that I really feared I had no more money than would bear my expenses. ^' The collection was taken ; I gave my last dollar, and trusted in the Lord to provide. I proceeded on my journey, stopping to see a friend for whom I had collected forty dollars. I was now one hundred and forty miles from home, and how my expenses were to be met, I could not imagine. But, judge my surprise, when, on presenting the money to my friend, he took a hundred dollars, and, adding it to the forty, placed the whole of it in my hand, saying he would make me a present of it. " Gratitude and joy swelled my bosom ; my mind at once remembered my sacrifice of the day before, and now I had realized the literal fulfillment of the promise, ^Give, and it shall be given unto you ; good measure, pressed down and running over, shall men give into your bosom.' " He Gave His Last $5 to the Lord. A missionary agent thus relates this incident in the life of a poor physician : ^' I preached a missionary sermon in the town of , and a physician subscribed and paid five dollars. A gentleman ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 295 standing by told me that the five dollars was all he had, or was worth ; that he had lost his property and paid up his debts, and moved into town to commence j^racticing, with no other resources than that five-dollar bill. He and his wife were obliged to board out, as he was not able to keep house. " I resolved, at once, that I would keep watch of that man, and see what the Lord would do with him. About a year after this interview, I visited the place again, and found the physician keeping house in good style. ^^ During the Summer, while the cholera raged in the country, by a series of events, guided, as he believes, by the providence of God, most of the practice was thrown into his hands, and he had taken more than $2,500." §mn% of f ouv #0^ §ut what i^ grams of. PRAYERS ANSWERED Help In Paying a Mortgage. A BUSINESS man in New York had several large amounts Jue for payment. An unprecedented series of calls from tradesmen wishing their bills paid sooner than customary, drained his means, and he was satisfied from the situation that his means would not be sufficient to pay them all. His business receipts, at this juncture, fell to one-half what they had usually been. A loan was due at the bank ; a mortgage on his property, as well as large notes. He could do no more than ask the Lord constantly in prayer, to either send supplies of business, or open ways of relief. Commit- ting his cares all to the Lord, he endeavored to throw off his burden and with diligence in trade do what was possible for protection. He was greatly surprised when the bank loan fell due to learn that a trifling payment would be acceptable, and the rest extended at his convenience. This was remarkable, as the security had depreciated somewhat, and the loan had been then extended longer than usual. The holder of the mortgage did not call as usual for his interest. In great surprise the tradesman dropped a note, saying he would meet his demand, but if not all the mortgage was needed, its extension would benefit the use of the capital 298 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. in his business. To his surprise, he received a reply that the mortgage would be extended one-half until the next interest day, and the rest might be paid now if it could be spared. This was just the money which the tradesman could spare, and was intending to propose, but refrained from mentioning it. A sudden opportunity in business arose which enabled him to see how to use the rest of the money he had on hand, as capital, whereby he could clear within three months the remainder of the mortgage before it became due. Thus the Lord in answer to prayer, relieved his necessities, eased his creditors, gave him knowledge and intelligence of profitable ways of trade, and helped him freely according to his faith. Thus business needs prayer, as well as the interests of the home, the church and the soul. When the means derived in business is used to bless the Lord's poor, " The Lord will deliver him in time of trouhW^ A Remarkable Prayer and Its Answer. A lady, who had led for many years a life of faith, caring for orphans and invalids, was led one day in thought to wish that she might devote all her money to the work of the Lord, and use it specially for one branch of his service which few had ever entered. She possessed only a thousand dollars ; and not knowing whether the thought was her own and therefore rash, or whether it came from the Lord, she asked the Lord in prayer, that if the thought was from Him " it might be con- tinually before me ; if it were not, that I might cease to think of the matter." ''■ It was kept before me as a privilege, to help me realize a greater personal nearness to God as my Father. It was a very important matter, and fearing a mistake, I requested a sign. I asked God, if he wished me to give the money, (which we held at His disposal,) that He would send me one dollar, (no more, no less,) from some individual with whom I ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 299 had no acquaintance. About three M^eeks after my request, I attended a prayer-meeting, where about a dozen ladies were ' gathered. After the meeting, an elderly lady I had never seen before, put something in my hand saying, ' You will not he offended, dear, ivill you ? ' When I looked at the money, I found that it tv as just one dollar, my token. I exclaimed, mentally, dear Lord, do not let me ever doubt thee again. I afterwards asked the lady why she gave me the dollar. She said, 'Before I went to the prayer-meeting, I felt that I ought to take a dollar with me, and when I saw you, I felt that you were the one I should give it to.' " " Nearly five years have passed since then, when I gave all, and my purse has never been empty. I have been constantly occupied in work of love, and my Father has sweetly cared for me in every respect." This lady in her faith work has had under her constant care as many as twenty-two helpless invalids, of utter poverty, yet prayer has always brought them needed supplies, and the Lord has kept them. Recovery from Insanity. A most remarkable case of recovery from insanitv is given by President William M. Brooks, of Tabor Coiiege, iowa. '^ A young lady of my acquaintance, of a finished education, lost her reason in the Winter of 1871-2, and in August, 1872, was placed in the institution for the insane, at Mt. Pleasant, la. No encouragement was given of her recovery, and a year later, when her father visited her, in June, 1873, she appeared so badly, that he said it would be a relief to know that she was dead. Soon after, Mrs. H., the wife of a Baptist minis- ter, who had long known and loved her, being shut up for days in a dark room, because of inflamed eyes, felt drawn out in special prayer in her behalf, and finally sent for the father and told him of her exercises, and of the assurance gained that his daughter would be fully restored. 300 ~ AIJSWERS TO PRAYER. " In a few days, came news of a sudden change for the bet- ter, and in a little over two months she returned home well, and is now teaching with all her powers in full vigor. " The acting supe*rintendent of the hospital, who is not a professed Christian, and who knew nothing of the prayers referred to, said that when the change occurred there was not a case among the five hundred inmates of which he had less hope, and that it was the most remarkable case of recovery which he had known during the eight years of his connection with the hospital." Seeking Direction in Business. A lady clerk employed in an apparently successful business was offered an opportunity in a new business, which, though much smaller and less successful than the first, yet had rich promise in it for the future. The salary promised was the same in either case. In doubt, she often waited upon the Lord, and asked to be guided, — a whisper in her heart kept saying, " Go," " Go." Constant praying kept it growing stronger and stronger, — at last she decided to go, feeling it was the decision of the Lord. She accepted the new position, was pleased, and often declared she never desired to return. The old business in less than three years decreased so that half of the employes were discharged ; the rest had their sal- aries reduced. The new business doubled in its extent, and her salary was increased one-fifth. Seeking Guidance of the Lord. A school teacher, without family or a special home, in New York City, asked the Lord for direction in finding a home, and prayed often that the way might be made so plain, she might acknowledge His hand, and understand His direction. Soon it transpired, in taking lunch at a restaurant kept by a man and his wife, that they advised her to choose a certain ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 301 family hotel. She did so, and found in time more friends and acquaintances, and a pleasanter home than she ever possessed before. She also gained new scholars to her school. Sufficient to pay for her living. Was she not fully answered ? " They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing J^ Saved from Cholera. The Rev. J. B. Waterbury relates several incidents which prove the power of Prayer. " In the year 1832 he was compelled by pulmonar}^ symp- toms, to leave his field of ministerial labor in one of the east- ern cities, and travel south, hoping that a milder climate might be favorable. " He had not proceeded far, before the cholera, that fearful scourge, made its appearance in the States, and obliged him to rejoin his family in the city of Brooklyn. '' Whilst many were dying around him, his health continued to improve ; so that with the disappearance of the epidemic he found himself sufficiently restored to venture, if Provi- dence should open the door, to resume his ministerial work. " But where should he go ? The future, to human view, was shrouded in uncertainty. In so important a matter, af- fecting his usefulness and happiness, there was nothing left, but to give himself to prayer. His faith in that promise, ' In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct thy Paths,' led him to pray without ceasing, ' Lord, what wilt thou have me to do.' " On a certain day, when the burden lay heavily upon his heart, he retired as usual, to implore light and guidance. He read on that occasion, the chapter of Acts where, by divine direction, Cornelius the Centurion sent messengers to Peter at Joppa, to come to him with the Gospel. The apostle, meanwhile, is instructed by a vision to go to Cornelius. 302 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. The case was so applicable to the circumstances that the writer was led to cry mightily to God for light to be shed also upon his path. While thus praying the door-bell rang, and the servant an- nounced two men who wished to see me. This was somewhat startling. After introducing them- selves, they remarked that they had come on a very important errand, viz: to ask my services for a vacant church in which they were officers. ^'But how is this," I inquired, "How did you know of me?'' They did not until that very day. But inquiring at the Bible House in Nassau street if any of the officers of that Society knew of a minister who could be recommended to fill their pulpit, now vacant for some months. Dr. B., the Secretary, answered, "Yes, I know a young minister in Brooklyn, whom I can recommend, provided his health, which has been delicate, is adequate." So the messenger came inadvertently over to B , and I was called from my knees to receive their invitation. I promptly responded, "Yes, I will go? for what was I that I could withstand God. A successful and happy ministry of fourteen years, attests the good results of that decision. The Aid of the Lord in Business and So- cial Prosperity. The Wonderful Deliver- ance of Daniel Loest. John Daniel Loest, a celebrated German tradesman of Ber- lin, Germany, was, by the aid of the Lord, so prospered in his worldly circumstances, that by steady industry, he raised him- self to rank with the most respectable tradesmen of Berlin, where he kept a well-frequented fringe and trimming shop. He was always benevolent, willing to help others, and both fervent in spirit and constant in prayer, asking the help of the Lord in the minutest details of his business. ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 303 Yet there once occurred in his experience a season of severest trial, which demanded his utmost trust and unflinch- ing confidence in God. He seemed almost forsaken, and cir- cumstances almost impossible to overcome. But his deliver- ance so astonished him that he was lost in wonder at the mysterious way in which the Lord helped his business and sent him all that he needed. By means of acquaintances of high social character, whom he fully trusted as good Christians, never supposing there could be any degree of hypocrisy, he became security for a Christian lady of good property to the amount of six hun- dred thalers. The attorney assured him that there was not a shadow of a risk in going security for her, as her property would be more than ample to cover any claim. Months elapsed, and the circumstance forgotten, when Mr. Loest was most unpleasantly reminded by receiving an order from the Court to pay in on the following Tuesday the six hundred thalers for which he had become security, under the penalty of execution. He now discovered that he had been designedly mystified, and there was no escape. The six hundred thalers must be paid before the next Tuesday. He had just accepted a bill for three hundred thalers j to be paid for on the ensuing Saturday. And in his first thoughts of his perplexity, he hoped to get out of his dilemma by hurrying to a rich friend to obtain a loan. On his way to his friend's home, he stum- bled on another acquaintance who had lent him four hundred thalers on a mere note of hand, and he saluted him with the news that he must try for repayment of that sum on the fol- lowing Friday, as he required it to pay for a parcel of goods which would arrive that day. " You shall have it," said Loest, as he hurried on to his friend. The friend was at home, but before Loest could speak his errand, he is addressed thus: "It is lucky you came, my friend, for I was just going to send for you, to request you to make provision to pay me back the five hwi' 304 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. dred thalers you owe me, for I must needs have it on Wed- nesday to pay off a mortgage on my house, which has just been called up." "Yoio shall have it,^^ replied Loest, calmly, yet his heart became heavier every moment. Suddenly it occurred to him that the widow of a friend just dead was possessed of large means, and she might be inclined to help him. But alas, disappointment thickened fast upon him. Loest owed the deceased friend five hundred thalers for note, and three hundred thalers for goods just delivered. As he entered the room of the widow, she handed him an order from the court of trustees, under which he was bound to pay up the jive hundred thalers on Thursday, and, con- tinued the lady, before the poor man had time to utter a word, ^' I would earnestly entreat you to pay the other three hun- dred thalers early on Saturday to me, for there are accounts constantly pouring in on me, and the funeral expenses," here her voice faltered. " It shall be cared for," said Loest, and he withdrew, not having had opportunity to utter one word as to the business that took him thither. He had failed at every turn; not one thing was for him, all seemed against him. But though the waves surged, and rose, and oppressed, yet they did not overwhelm his hope ; the more the discour- agements, the greater became his faith that all things were appointed for his good, and thought he could not guess, yet even the trial would result by God's own working hand, to the honor and glory of his great name. Yet here was his situation. Six hundred thalers to he paid on Tuesday, five hundred on Wednesday, five hundred on Thursday, four hundred on Friday, three hundred Saturday morning, and three hundred on Saturday afternoon ; in all, two thousand six hundred thalers. It was already the Satur- day just previous, and his purse contained orAj four thalers. There was only one prospect left, and he went to a rich money lender, and in response to his request for relief in money diffi- culties, was met with this reply of irony and sarcasm from one who loved to indulge his enmity to the Christian faith. ^^You ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 305 in money difficulties, or any difficulties, Mr. Loest ! I cannot believe it; it is altogether impossible/ you are at all times and in all places boasting that you have such a rich and lov- i7ig Master ! Why donH you apply to him now.^^ And the unseen face could not conceal his pleasure at this opportunity of testing a Christian. Loest turned away ; hard as the random taunt and remark of his opponent was, yet it recalled him to a sense of his duty, and his forgetfulness of the fact that he had not hitherto asked of God for special help in this circumstance. With cheerful steps he hurried home, and in long and imploring prayer, asked for help and forgiveness in this, his neglect of trust in one so rich and generous. He was refreshed and comforted, and the Sunday was one of peace and sweet- ness. He knew and felt assured, ^^That the Lord ivould pro- vided The eventful week opened, and on Monday he arose with a cheerful thought in his heart; ere he had had full time to dress, he noticed with great surprise, that both his sister and the assistant in the store, seemed, notwithstanding the earli- ness of the hour, to have full as much as they could do in serving customers and making up parcels, and he at once hastened into the shop to give them assistance, and thus it continued all day. Never, in all his experience, could Loest remember such a ceaseless stream of customers as poured, on that memorable Monday, into his rather out-of-the-way shop. Cooking dinner was out of the question ; neither masters nor maid had time for that ; coffee and bread, taken by each in turn, served instead of the accustomed meal, and still the customers came and went ; still three pairs of hands were in requisition to satisfy their wants. Nor was it for new purchasers alone, that money came in. More than one long outstanding account, accompanied by excuses for delayed payment, and assurances that it had not been possible to settle it sooner, enlarged the contents of the till ; and the honest-hearted debtor, on whom this unwonted 20 306 ANSWEKS TO PRAYER. stream of money flowed in, was tempted every minute to call out, ^^ It is the Lordy At length night came, when Loest and his literally worn out assistants, after having poured out their hearts in thank- ful adoration in family prayer, sat down to the first meal they had that day enjoyed in common. When it was over, the brother and sister set themselves to count over the money which had that day been taken. Each hundred thalers was set by itself, and the result showed six hundred and three thalers^ fourteen silver groschen. This was sufficient to pay the first debt due the next day, and leave but ten shillings and eight pence over, a trifle less than they commenced the day with. Loest was lost in won- der and grateful emotion at this gracious testimony of how faithfully his Lord could minister to him in his earthly necessities. " How countless must be the host of his ministering ser- vants, seen or unseen, since He can employ some hundreds of them, and send them to buy of Daniel Loest to-day, or pay him that bill which thou owest. What a wondrous God is ours, who in the government of this great universe, does not overlook my mean affairs, nor forget His gracious promise, • Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee.' " Tuesday was a repetition of Monday's splendid business, and brought in the five hundred thalers which he needed the next morning to pay off the mortgage of his friend's house, due that day. Wednesday's sales gave him five hundred more thalers, which he was obliged to have ready to pay on Thursday morn- ing into the court of trustees. Thursday's sales brought him four hundred thalers, just the amount he had given promise to pay the next day for goods delivered. And Friday's sales gave him just three hundred thalers with which to honor the widow's demand on Saturday, to pay funeral and contingent expenses. ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 307 During these days of wonderful business and deliverances, after each indebtedness was discharged, there still was not left cash in hand a sum exceeding three to five dollars. On Saturday morning, after he had sent the three hundred thalers to the widow, he had left precisely two thalers and twenty silver groschen (six shillings eight pence sterling), the smallest balance he had yet had ; and what seemed most alarming, the rush to the shop seemed to be entirely over ; for while during the five days past, he had had scarcely time to draw his breath from hurry and bustle, he was now left in undisturbed possession of his place. Not a single cus- tomer appeared. The wants of the vicinit}'" seemed to have come to an end, for not a child even entered to fetch a penny- worth of thread, or a few ells of tape. This utter cessation of trade was as unusual and out of the accustomed shop busi- ness, as the extra rush had been. At five o'clock on Saturday, was due the debt of three hun- dred thalers to his scoffing and tantalizing money lender. Three o'clock came, and still there was but six shillings eight pence in the till. Where was his money to come from ? But Loest sat still, and "possessed his soul in patience^'' for he knew the Lord would choose the best time, and he desired to be found waiting and watching for the Lord's coming. The trial was severe. It seemed hopeless, and if it should happen that the creditor came and went away unsatisfied, his com- mercial character would be injured, his credit shaken, and his reputation severely suffer. That last hour ran slowly on. At a quarter to four ^ almost the last few moments of painful suspense, a little old woman came in, and asking for Mr. Loest, said to him half in a whisper, " I live here close by, quite alone, in a cellar, and I have had a few thalers paid me, and now I want to beg of you to be so good as to keep them for me. I have not slept over night since I had them ; it is a great charge for a lone woman like me." Loest was only too glad to accept the money, and offered interest, which she declined. She hurried back, brought in 308 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. her money, counted it out on his table, and there were just three hunderd thaler s, six rouleaux of fifty thalers each. She had scarcely left the house, ivith her receij^t in her pocket, ere the clerk of the creditor with his demaiid in his hand, rushed into Loesfs presence. He received his three hundred thalers, and both parted speechless with amazement. Loest was lost in wonder at the marvellous way and exact- ness of time in which the Lord delivered him, while the cred- itor was astonished thus to find Loest's Mighty Friend had not failed him in his hour of need. Thus in one short week, from a beginning of less than five thalers, God had so exactly supplied his business needs that he had paid all his obligations of two thousand six hundred thalers, saved him from failure, saved his honor and good name, and now all was peace. The history of Loest and other providences which helped him in his business, are still further given more at length in a little book, " The Believivg Tradesman,''^ from the records of the Religious Tract Society of Berlin. This sketch illustrates the necessity of looking to God daily for help, and strength, and success, and deliverance in our business occupations as well as the concerns of our soul, and must effectively prove that those who use their business and the means from it to honor the good works of the Lord on earth, will be blessed on earth with the favor of the Lord. It teaches the sublime lesson that money and prosperity are gifts from the Lord, and must be considered as such, acknowl- edged with thankfulness, and used to please the Giver. Whenever the Christian learns to love the gift more than the Giver, the Lord takes it often away to remind him of his need of dependence upon Him. But whenever the Christian loves the Giver because of His gifts, and spends his means again to please his Heavenly Father, he becomes the Father's steward, and his lap is filled with bountiful blessings, such as one finds by true experience, " The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not wantJ^ ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 309 Spurgeon's Prayer for Money. Charles Spurgeon relates this incident connected with his ministry : " When the college, of which I am President, had been commenced, for a year or so all my means stayed; my purse was dried up, and I had no other means of carrying it on. In this very house, one Sunday evening, I had paid away all I had for the support of my young men for the ministry. There is a dear friend now sitting behind me who knows the truth of what I am saying. I said to him, ''There is nothing left, whatever.' He said, ' You have a good banker, sir.^ 'Yes,' I said, 'and I should like to draw upon him now, for I have nothing.' ' Well,' said he, ' how do you know, have you prayed about it ? ' 'Yes, I have.' 'Well, then leave it with Him; have you opened your letters?' 'No, I do not open my letters on Sundays.' ' Well,' said he, ' open them for once.' I did so, and in the first one I opened there was a banker's letter to this effect : ' Dear Sir, we beg to inform you that a lady, totally unknown to us, has left with us two hun- dred pounds for you to use in the education of young men.' Such a sum has never come since, and it never came before ; and I have no more idea than the dead in their graves how it came then, nor from whom it came, but to me it seemed that it came directly from God." The Prayer of Latimer. The praj^ers of the martyr, Latimer, were very remarkable for their faith. There were three principal matters for which he prayed : 1. That God would give him grace to stand to his doctrine until death. 2. That God would of His mercy restore His gospel to England once again, repeating and insisting on these words "once again," as though he had seen God before him, and spoke-n to Him face to face. 310 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 3. That God would preserve Elizabeth ; with many tears, desiring God to make her a comfort to this comfortless realm of England. All these requests were most fully and gra- ciously answered. A Mother's Prayers Answered. A Christian evangelist, whose work has been most singu- larly blessed, related this incident, how once in the days of his folly and sin, while as yet his course of life ran counter to the fondest wishes and prayers of his mother's heart, he one day asked her the strange question, whether she really believed that he ever would be converted to God. And her answer, inexpressibly touching and instructive, as being the answer of ass2ired faith, which could see as yet no signs of the com- ing of what it so anxiously sought, was, " Yes, I believe that you will one day be as eminent as a Christian, and an instrument for good, as you have been emi- nent in sin, and an instrument for evil." In later years the evangelist looked back with admiration to the faith of his mother, and thanked the Lord for His gracious answer to her prayers. How the Lord Rescued Him. A wonderful incident is told by Dr. S. I. Prime among his many facts relating to prayer, as published in The Observer and " The Poiuer of FroAjer.^^ " A young man held a good position in a large publishing house in this city. He was about thirty years old, a married man, and happy in all the relations of life. The missionary of the church knew him through years of comfort and pros- perity. Years passed away, and there came a dark place in his life. Intemperance, of the most depraved kind, made his career most dreadful. He disappeared, and was not heard from for some time. He separated himself from his family, and from all good. ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 311 " He was met in Boston one day by an old friend, after long years, who noticed a marked difference in his appearance. He approached him, grasped him by the hand and said : " * I am a changed man. I one day got up in the morning, after a night of wakefulness, and thinking over what a wretch I had become, and how wretched I had made my poor wife and children, I resolved to go to the barn, and there all alone, to pray that God would take away utterly forever my accursed thirst for rum, and to pray till I felt answered that my prayer was heard. I went down on my knees, and on them I stayed until I had asked God many times to take away all my appe- tite for rum and tobacco, and everything else which was dis- pleasing to Him, and make me a new creature in Christ Jesus — a holy, devoted Christian man, for the sake of Him who died for sinners. I told God that I could not be denied; I could not get up from my knees till I was forgiven and the curse was forever removed. I was in earnest in my prayer. '^ ^ I was on my knees two hours, short hours, as they seemed to me ; two blessed hours, for I arose from my knees assured that all of the dreadful past was forgiven, and my sins blotted out forever. Oh ! I tell jon, God hears prayer. God has made me a happy man. I left all my appetite in the old barn. In that old barn, I was born again. Not one twinge of the old appetite has ever been felt since then.' '' Jesus Keeps Me from Drinking. A young man arose in the Fulton Street prayer-meeting one day, and detailed his struggles and triumphs with his appetites. He was a perfect drunkard, helpless, poor; his friends' best efforts to reclaim him were of no avail. The most solemn vows that he had ever taken, still were unable to hold him up. At last he gave himself up for lost. There seemed no hope for him, and in his despair he wandered away to the ocean shore. He met a young man who showed 312 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. him a good many favors, and to whom he offered a drink from his flask of liquor. " ' No,' said he, ' I never drink intoxicating drink, and I ask the Lord Jesus to help me never to touch it/ " I looked at him with surprise, and inquired, 'Are you a Christian ? ' . ** ' Yes, I trust I am,' he answered. " ' Knd does Jesus keep you from drinking intoxicating liquor ? ' " ^ He doeSf and I never wish to touch it.' " That short answer set me to thinking. In it was re- vealed a new power. I went home that night and said to myself, as I went, 'How do 1 know but Christ would keep me from drinking if I would ask him ? ' " When I got to my room, I thought over my whole case, and then I knelt down and told Jesus what a poor, miserable wretch I was ; how I had struggled against my appetite, and had always been overcome by it. I told Him if he would take the appetite away I would give myself up to Him to be his forever, and I would forever love and serve Him. I told Him that I felt assured that He could help me, and that He would. "Now I stand here, and I tell you all most solemnly, that Jesus took me at my ivord. He did take away my appetite then and there, so that, from that sacred moment of casting myself on his help, I have not tasted a drop of liquor, nor desired to taste it. The old appetite is gone. '' The last two weeks have been rich experience of Divine goodness and grace." Mr. Moody's Faith in Prayer. A Remark- able Answer. Mr. Moody, on his return from England, while conducting a prayer-meeting in Northfield, Mass., gave this illustration of the power of prayer to subdue the most unlikely cases of sin and unbelief : ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 313 " There is not a heart so hard that God cannot touch it. While in Edinburgh, a man was pointed out to me by a friend who said, ' Moody, that man is chairman of the Edinburgh infidel club.' So I went and sat down beside him, and said, ' Well, my friend, I am glad to see you at this meeting. Are you not concerned about your welfare ? ' He said that he did not believe in a hereafter. I said, 'Well, you just get down on your knees and let me pray for you.' " 'I don't believe in prayei\'' "I tried unsuccessfully to get the man down on his knees, and finally knelt down beside him and prayed for him. Well, he made a good deal of sport over it, and I met him again many times in Edinburgh after that. A year ago last month, while in the north of Scotland, I met the man again. Plac- ing my hand on his shoulder, I asked, 'Hasn't God answered the prayer ? ' *' He replied, ' There is no God. I am just the same as I always have been. If you believe in a God, and in answei to prayer, do as I told you. Try your hand on me.' '' ^Well,' I said, 'God's time will come; there are a great many praying for you ; and I have faith to believe you are going to be blessed.' " Six months ago I was in Liverpool, and there I got a letter from the leading barrister of Edinburgh, telling me that my friend, the infidel, had come to Christ, and that of his club of thirty men seventeen had followed his example. " How it happened he could not say, but whereas he was once blind, now he could see. God has answered the prayer. */ didnH know hoiv it was to he answered,' said Mr. Moody, ^but I believed it would be and it was done. What we want to do is to come boldly to God' ". 314 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. The Wonders of a Single Prayer. The Kev. Dr. Edwin F. Hatfield, of New York City, well known and eminent among the clergymen of the Presbyterian church, is personally acquainted with the following instance of a remarkable case in answer to prayer. From the mother of the daughter he obtained this statement, which has been published by Dr. Patton, of Chicago, in his volume, ^'On Prayer." "My daughter was for fourteen months afflicted with hip disease. It was brought on by a fall, and a consequent dislo- cation, when she was eight years of age. " Her right side was paralyzed, and she had an abscess. I placed her in a hospital, under the care of good nurses, and the very best medical advice. "Everything possible was done for her, but all to no avail; she grew worse instead of better, and the doctors directed me, as there was no hope for her, to take her home to die. "But I did not cease to hope. I did as the doctors direct- ed, but continued to pray the prayer of faith for her recovery for two weeks. One morning, at the end of this period, we were conversing together about the wonderful cures wrought by the Savior, when on earth, and particularly that of the man at the pool of Bethesda. "In the midst of our conversation, my daughter rose to ob- tain a drink of water, when she exclaimed, ^ Mother^ I can tvalk.^ 'Thanks be to God!' said I, 'Gome, and let me see you!' " Her crutches, the only means by w^hicli she could move about, before, were now useless. Upon examination, I found that the abscess had entirely disappeared, and that the para- lyzed limb was restored whole, like the other. "She was again dangerously ill, five months afterward. I prayed for her recovery one night, before retiring, and the next morning she arose, perfectly cured." She is now twenty-one years of age, and during all this ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 315 intervening time has been free from any trouble of this kind. To-day she is as well as any one, working and running about' without the slightest trouble." The Tavern Keeper Overcome. Rev. Charles G. Finney relates, in his " Spirit of Prayer," of an acquaintance of his whose faith and importunity in prayer and the answer were very remarkable : '' In a town in the northern part of the State of New York, where there was a revival, there was a certain individual, who was a most violent and outrageous opposer. He kept a tavern, and used to delight in swearing at a desperate rate, whenever there were Christians within hearing, on purpose to hurt their feelings. He was so bad, that one man said he believed he should have to sell his place or give it away, and move out of town, for he could not live near a man that swore so. ^' This good man of faith and prayer that I have spoken of, was passing through the town and heard the case, and was very much grieved and distressed for the individual. He took him on his praying list. The case weighed on his mind when he was asleep, and when he was awake. He kept think- ing about him, and praying for him, for days ; and the first we knew of it, this ungodly man came into a meeting, and got up and confessed his sins, and poured out his soul. His bar- room immediately became the place where they held prayer- meetings." Victories over Bad Habits, Tobacco, Opium, etc. The Rev. W. H. Boole, a city missionary in New York City, has been witness in his ministries, of many cases of complete deliverance from bad habits, and aj^petites, solely by believing prayer. Many are contained in a little tract 316 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. written by him, " The Wonder of Grace." He gives a few of these incidents : " One is an officer in a church in New York, who had used tobacco for forty years, making during that time many efforts to abandon the practice, but always failing because of the resultant inward growing. But he was brought to an act of specific faith in Jesus, to save him from the appetite, and now, after several years, he testifies, ' From that hour all desire left me, and I have ever since hated, what I once so fondly loved.' " '' Another is of a prominent church member in Brooklyn, N. Y., who had used tobacco for thirty years, and could not endure to be without a cigar in his mouth, and sometimes even rose and smoked in the night ; after many failures to overcome the habit, one night when alone, he cast himself on his Savior for just this victory ; and from that hour was delivered from the desire as w^ell as from the outward act, and now wonders that he ever loved the filthy practice." " A certain old lady, who lived near Westbrook, Conn., aged seventy, was a confirmed opium eater, and used daily, an amount sufficient to kill twenty persons. She was led to see that the habit was a sin ; and as such, she abandoned it, with specific application to Christ to save her from it. She w^as heard, and lived for two years afterward, free from any desire for that drug." " A similar case was that of a carpenter, in Brooklyn, N. Y., who, from taking morphine to allay the pain of a frac- tured leg, fell into its habitual use, till he almost lived upon it for several years after his recovery. He once swallowed, in the presence of several physicians, a dose which it was calcu- lated would destroy the lives of two hundred ordinary men. Not long since, he was made to look at this as a sin, and tried to break off the habit, abstaining, with an alarming reaction, till five physicians declared that death would ensue, if he did not resume it. This he did for a year ; but then on a certain Sunday evening, broke off again, casting himself by faith on ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 31J Christ, from which moment the desire left him, and has never returned, and he has experienced no reaction or other ill effect, but has greatly improved in health." Mrs. Whitney's Cnre in Answer to Prayer. Mrs. C. S. Whitney of Hartford, Conn., a lady well known for her Christian work among the poor, thus gives in a letter to Dr. Patton, her personal testimony of the efficacy of prayer: " Three years ago, I was healed of a bodily disease. I had been troubled from my birth with canker, and at times suffered greatly. I had consulted some of the best physicians in the land, and had been treated by the most skillful. My case was said to be incurable. When I learned to trust Christ for everything, I applied to Him for healing. My husband joined with me in this prayer for three weeks ; but all the time I was growing worse. I then prayed for entire submis- sion. About the first of October, 1872, my stomach, throat and mouth were so cankered, I could scarcely eat anything. One day, I took up the little book entitled, 'Dorothea Tru- del ; ' and while reading, I seemed to hear a voice saying unto me, 'All things are possible unto him that helieveth.^ 'According to thy faith be it unto thee.' I claimed the faith, and immediately asked God to heal me, and in His own way. While yet on my knees, it seemed very clear to me that I should go to Boston, and ask Doctor Cullis to pray with me. I obeyed that leading, and made preparations to go the day following. Just as I was ready to start for the depot, I realized that I was cured. An entire change was wrought in my system, and my soul was filled with joy and gratitude." President Finney's Prayer for Rain. The following incident of the prayer of President Pinney for rain, and its immediate answer, is furnished by Professor Cowles, the intimate friend of President Pinney : 318 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. "Somewhat more than twenty years ago, the village of Oberlin and its adjacent country along the lake shore, suffered severely through the hot season from a total failure of rain, for nearly three months. Clouds that seemed to promise rain were repelled from the heated dry atmosphere over the land, and attracted by the more moist atmosphere over the lake, to pour out their waters there. On one such occasion, the clouds had gathered dark, low, and heavy over the lakes, and lay there wdth no particular indication of rising. Presi- dent Finney walked out with his eye on these clouds. I give the sequel in his own words, as they fell from his lips, less than three months since : " ^ In this walk I met Ralph, who turned sharply upon me. ' Mr. Finney, I should like to know what you mean in preaching that God is always wise and alwa3^g good, when you see him pouring out that great rain upon the lake, where it can do no good, and leaving us to suffer so terribly for the want of that wasted water ? ' " ' His words cut me to the heart ; I turned, and ran home to my closet, fell on my knees, and told the Lord what Kalph had been saying about Him ; and besought Him, for the honor of His great name, to confound this caviler, and show forth the glory of His power and the greatness of His love. I pleaded with Him that He had encouraged His people to pray for rain, and that now the time seemed to have come for Him to show His power in this thing, and His faithfulness as a hearer of prayer. " ' Before I rose from my knees, there was a sound of a rushing, mighty wind. I looked out, and lo ! the heavens were black ; that cloud was rolling up, and soon the rain fell in torrents, two full hours.' " The writer, (Professor Cowles,) himself remembers how that cloud lay over the lake ; how it drove him, also, to his closet ; and that soon and signally the prayers of that hour came back to us in mighty rain." ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 319 Luther's Mighty Prayer and Prophecy. At one time in the life of Luther, there was a critical moment in the affairs of the K-eformation. Bitter persecution prevailed with extraordinary power, and threatened every one. They were the dark days when faith could only cling. There were but few friends to the reformers, and these were of little strength. Their enemies were every where strong, proud, arrogant. But Luther relied on his God, and at this moment, with his favorite hymn in his heart, 'L4. stronr/ for- tress is our God,^^ he went to the Lord in prayer, and prayed that omnipotence would come to the help of their weakness. Long he wrestled alone with God in his closet, till like Jacob he prevailed. Then he went into the room, where his family had assembled, with joyous heart and shining face, and rais- ing both hands, and lifting his eyes heavenward, exclaimed, " We have overcome, we have overcome.''^ This was astonishing, as there was not the slightest of news which had yet been heard to give them hope of relief. But immediately after that, the welcome tidings came that the Emperor, Charles V., had issued his Proclamation of "Heligious Toleration in Germany.^^ In Luther's prayer was fulfilled the remarkable promise of Proverbs, 21 : 1. "TAe king^s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water ; he turneth it whithersoever he will^ John Knox and his Prophetical Prayer. "John Knox was famous for his earnest prayers. Queen Mary said that she feared his prayers more than she did all the armies of Europe. One night, in the days of his bitterest persecution, while he and his friends were praying together, Knox spoke out, and declared that deliverance has conic. He could not tell how. Immediately the news came tk'*'l' Q%{f^n Mary was deadP 320 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. Melancthon's Life saved from Death, in Answer to Luther's Prayer. The most powerful tribute to the efficacy of prayer, was the answer to Luther's prayer which the Lord sent. A mes- senger was sent to Luther that Melancthon was dying. He found him presenting the usual premonitory symptoms of death. Melancthon roused, looked in the face of Luther, and said, " Luther, is this you ? Why don't you let me depart in peace." ''We canH spare you yet, Philip,^^ was the reply, and turning around, he threw himself upon his knees, and wrestled with God for his recovery for upwards of an hour. He went from his knees to the bed, and took his friend by the hand ; again he said, '' Dear Luther, why don't you let me depart in peace ? " " No, no, Philip ; we can not spare you yet," was the reply. He then ordered some soup, and when pressed to take it, Melancthon declined, again saying, '' Dear Luther, why will you not let me go home and be at rest." '' We can not spare you yet, Philip," was the reply. He then added, " Philip, take this soup, or I will excommunicate you." He took the soup, regained his wonted health, and labored for years afterwards in the cause of the Peformation ; and when Luther returned home he said to his wife with joy, " God gave me my brother Melancthon back in direct answer to prayer." In this incident is given this extraordinary statement that while death has really seized a man, who too wished to die, and did not want to live longer on the earth, yet his life was given back to him again in answer to the prayer of faith of another. ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 321 The Wonderful Power of Faith, and Trust in the Lord to deliver wholly from Bad Habits. A victim of licentiousness and sensuousness, who often, amid his sinful pleasures, had the memory of Christian parents before him, felt his was indeed a life of shame. But the downward steps had destroyed his will, his self-con- trol, his manliness, his virtue. He had no power to resist, all was wickedness, irresolution, constant yielding. In vain he hung back, and tried to save himself from the cursed appe- tite ; at last he realized that in a few weeks' time he must go to the grave; strength could not stand such a waste of life. "What a miserable life. What wicked ways, what wicked thoughts ; how I wish I was pure ; 0, that I might get free ; I do not love this sin any more, T don't want it, but I can't stop it. 0, I wish I could be a Christian, and wholly free." Such were his constant thoughts. In mercy, the Lord who had been reading his thoughts, sent him a great reverse in business, and in agony of heart, he knew not where to turn but to the Lord, and pray for relief. His prayer, too, asked to be emancipated from his wickedness, and his strength and health restored. ^^Lord, save me and I iv'ill be thine forever. I am lost unless thou wilt come and save." By gradual degrees, in the absorption of his thoughts over other distresses, his mind was diverted from his usual ways and thoughts of sinful living ; gradually the habits of lust grew less and less strong, and finally ceased altogether. But the body still remained under excessive weakness. But faith that the Lord who had saved others, could save him too, led him to pray, not only for the destruction of the habit, but entire recovery from its evil effects. His perseverance was persistent, and met with a triumphant reward. After a long time, he felt himself wholly healed. New strength, new life, came back to him. " It seems as if my life had been pu<; back again ten years, and I was young again." " I nev*w 21 322 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. have any more wicked thoughts or imaginations, while I was once full of them. Since 1 learned to seek the Lord and love his Bible, I have never had such peace, or purity. I love the name and tender mercies of my God." If in a few months, prayer saved that man's life, and so wholly changed it from a foul blot to a thing of purity, what can it not do again. No 8171 can ever he conquered until in liuniility either saint or sinner gets down upon his knees, and implores the love and power of the Lord in never ceasiiig prayer, to wholly emanci- pate him from the control of the evil habit. The Lord trill surely hear it. He can as truly deliver the body from the most persistent and enchaining habit, as he can wholly con- vert the mind and heart. The result is not always instanta- neous ; more often gradual, but always sure if the sufferer always prays. It is simple enough for the sinning one to believe that the Lo7xl can, and seeking the Bible for the Lord^s oivn promis that he will ; to cling to it and never suri^ender. The sin may be repeated when you can not resist it, ar '' do not desire for it, but take all pains to avoid ; still pray though you often fail ; still try, still trust the Lord to loose your chains and remove your desire, and deliverance is sure to come at last. Recovery from Paralysis. "Between two and three years ago, the writer was struck down by paralysis, disabling entirely the limbs of the left side. In this apparently helpless state, I employed a man to take care of me, and felt that unless God should interpose, I must be a continuous burden on my friends. My kind physi- cian gave me no hope of entire recovery. " In this state I made my prayer to God continually, that he would so far restore my strength as to enable me to take care of myself. ** This prayer he was pleased to answer, for in eight weeks ANSWERS TO PRAYEK. 323 I dismissed my attendant, finding myself able to take care of myself. I now walk more than half a mile each day, and attend to all the associations of home life. I record with thankfulness this restoration of my disabled frame in an- swer to prayer.'^ The Stolen Bonds Returned. The New York Observer relates a remarkable instance of the return of stolen property, which in its extraordinary way can be accounted for only by the control of a Supreme Will, and all in answer to prayer. "On February 16, 1877, United States and railroad bonds and mortgages to the amount of $160,000, belonging to Edgar H. Richards, were stolen from the banking house of James Cr. King's Sons, of this city. Ko clue whatever to the rob- bers could be obtained. Several parties were arrested on sus- picion, but nothing could be proved, and the mystery remained unsolved. ^ "Mr. Richards, being a member of one of our most prom- inent churches, made it a subject of constant prayer, that the Lord would wholly prevent the thieves from any use of the property and cause it to be returned to him. When asked If he was ever incredulous, he said, ' No, I have never lost my faith m recovering this property. I believe in prayer, and I have made it from the first a subject of prayer, and it will be answered.' " Meanwhile some curious influences must have been at work among the thieves, for they acted in an extraordinary manner as lollows : _ "One day last week a stranger, well dressed, modest look- mg, gentlemanly, walked into the office of Elliott F. Shepard Esq one of Messrs. King's counsel, and tendered his services for the recovery of the property, asserting he knew nothin. about the robbery, nor the thieves, but that he could get the treasure. He was told that a reward would be paid for the 324 ANSWERS TO I>RAYER. capture of the thieves, but he earnestly protested that it was entirely out of his power to obtain any clue to the person or whereabouts of the thief ; and no inquiries ever disclosed that this was not a perfectly true statement. Indeed, it proved that he had been selected as an agent to do this work, and that there were at least five or six connecting intermediaries between him and the robbers, each exercising that virtue which is called honer among thieves, and which on this occa- sion proved a wall of adamant to every attempt to pierce it or break it down. " True to his word the stranger caused the delivery at Mr. Shepard's office, at the appointed hour to a second, of an ordi- nary pasteboard bandbox, wrapped in newspaper, by the hands of a little boy. He had come in a pelting rain-storm, and part of the newspaper had become torn, and disclosed the blue, unsuspected hat box. The boy knew nothing about it, except that a gentleman had given him a dime in the street to bring the box. " Mr. Kichards being present, opened the bandbox, exam- ined and checked off the contents with one of Messrs. King's head clerks, and found every single item of his missing secu- rities, stocks, bonds, mortgages, accounts, bank books, wills, everything. A most remarkable thing ! The parties could hardly believe their eyes." Mr. Moody's Answers to Prayers. Mr. D. L. Moody, the Evangelist, when a boy, was pos- sessed of an unusual amount of muscular strength and ani- mal spirits, and a strong will that knew little of impossibilit}' or submission. When only six years old, being wistful to do something to help his mother, he was set to drive the cows of a neighboring farmer to and from their mountain pasture. On one occasion, a heavy fence fell upon him from which he could not extricate himself. After trying his utmost and crying as loud as he could for help, but in vain, the thought ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 325 struck him that God would help him if he asked him. In his own simple language he prayed to his mother's God for help, and made another effort, and succeeded in getting free. This, his first answer to prayer, made a vivid impression on his heart, which gave a decided turn to his opening life. No Flour in the House— In the days of Famine, his Soul shall be Satisfied. Mr. Moody's domestic life has always been a happy one, but in the early days of his marriage, he was very poor, and his faith was often put to the severest tests. One day, on leaving home in his missionary work and labors of love, he remarked to his wife, " I have no money, and the house is without supplies. It looks dark ; is it pos- sible that the Lord has had enough of me in this mission work, and is going to send me back again to sell boots and shoes." But he prayed. In a day or two, a stranger sent him two checks of $50 each — one for himself, and one for his school. On another occasion his wife informed him that they had no flour for the day's use, and asked him to order some on his way. Having no money in his possession, he was perplexed how to proceed to raise the required amount; but meeting a person in whose spiritual welfare he was concerned, he forgot all about such sublunary considerations as money and flour, and went heart and soul into the Lord's work before him. On his return home at night, he felt somewhat nervous about his reception on account of his not having sent the flour, but to his joyful surprise, he found that on his arrival the table was spread with a bountiful repast. It seems that a friend of his was powerfully impressed that morning, and without seeing the family or knowing anything about their need, had packed up a barrel of flour and sent it. Others of his friends, who were interested in his work, and felt confidence in his work, unknown to liim^ selected a jiew 326 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. house, and furnished it throughout with every facility for convenience and comfort, and when all was completed invited him and his family to it, and made him a present of the loan of his house, and all its contents. Thus the Great Helper lemembered him and answered his daily prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread." Persevering Prayer. At one of the prayer-meetings at the Brooklyn tabernacle, Mr. Moody closed by narrating an instance of persevering prayer by a Christian wife for an infidel husband. She re- solved to pray for him at noon for eighteen months, and at the expiration of that time, her knocking not having been re- sponded to, she exclaimed, ^^ Lord, I will iiray for him every day, and at all hours, as long as life lasts.'' That day the Lord heard her knock, and gave her the de- sire of her heart, in the conversion of her husband. When the Lord saw her faith would not give up, he sent the answer immediately. Noah's Prayer.— He Did not get Discour- aged. The life of faith and the necessity of uncompromising hold on the promises, expecting their fulfillment, is admirably ex- plained in the illustration of Noah's prayer. One day Mr. Moody was much discouraged, and it was as dark a Sabbath as ever he had, and a friend suggested to him to study the life of Noah. "I got out my Bible, and the thought came over me, ^Here is a man who labored and talked a hundred years, and didn't succeed ; didn't get a convert notwithstanding all his efforts, all his prayers, but he didn't get discouraged.' "But he took God at his word; he worked right on; he prayed right on j and he waited God's time. And, my friends, ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 327 from that time, I have never been discouraged. Whenever I think of him, it lifts me up out of the darkness into the light. Don't get discouraged." The lesson of Noah's life is briefly this : He never con- verted a soul outside of his own family. That was the work God gave him to do, and he prayed and waited and worked, and never gave up, and he was saved and all his family with him. So every Christian must recognize that his field is not far off, but right around him, in his house, among his friends, working, praying, waiting, but never getting discouraged! The Lord will never fail those who "abide in Him:' Samuel Hick's Prayer for Rain. Samuel Hick was one of the men of '' mighty faith'' in the Lord, and as a preacher among the Methodists of England. He was of great eminence for his happy spirit, remarkable trust, powerful and practical preaching, and unbounded liber- ality. Among the many incidents connected with his life of faith, we quote a few to illustrate with what simplicity he ex- pected always an answer to his prayer, and was not satisfied until he got it : In the course of a Summer of excessive drought a few years back, when the grain suffered greatly, and many of the cattle, especially in Lincolnshire, died. Samuel Hick was much affected. He visited Knaresborough, at which place he preached on the Lord's day. Kemaining in the town and neighborhood over the Sabbath, he appeared extremely restless in the house in which he resided, during the whole of Monday. He spoke but little- was full of thought, now praying, now walking about the room, next sitting in a crouching posture— then suddenly starting up and going to the door, turning his eyes toward heaven, as if looking for some celestial phenomenon, when he would return again, groan in spirit, and resume his seat. The 328 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. family^ being impressed with his movements, asked him whether there was anything the matter with him or whether he expected any person, as the occasion of his going to the door so frequently. "Bless you Bairns/' was his reply, "do you not recollect that I was praying for rain last night in the pulpit, and what will the infidel at Knaresborough think if it do not come ; if my Lord should fail me, and not stand by me." But it must have time ; it can not be here yet ; it has to come from the sea. Neither can it be seen at first. The prophet only saw a bit of cloud like a man's hand. By and by it spread along the sky. I am looking for an answer to my prayer, but it must have time. He continued in the same unsettled state, occasionally going out, and looking with intensity on the pure azure over his head; for a more unclouded ski/ was rarely ever seen. Contrary to all external signs of rain, and contrary to the expectations of all, except himself, the sky became overcast toward evening, and the clouds dropped the fullness of a shower upon the earth. His very soul seemed to drink in the falling drops. The family grouped around him, like children around their father, while he gave out his favorite hymn, "I'll praise my Maker tvhile Tve breath \^^ "and after singing it with a countenance all a-glow, through the sunshine of heaven upon his soul, he knelt down and prayed. All were overpowered ; it was a season of refreshing from the presence of the Lord. His biographer says of him : " Samuel had no weather- glass upon which to look except the Bible, in which he was taught to believe, and expect that for which he prayed ; noth- ing on which he could depend but God, and his faith was set in God for 7'ainJ' ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 329 Praying for the Wind to Come. A remarkable incident, showing how God makes the winds to obey him in obedience to the prayer of his righteous ones, and the expectations of their faith, occurred also in Samuel Hick's life, which is really an astonishing proof of God's supernatural power. A church gathering was to take place at Micklefield, and Samuel had promised two loads of corn for their use. " The day fixed drew near, but there was no flour in the house, and the wind-mills, in consequence of a long calm, stretched out their arms in vain to catch the rising breezes. In the midst of this death-like quiet, Samuel carried his corn to the mill nearest his own residence, and requested the miller to unfurl his sails. The miller objected, stating that there was "no wind." Samuel, on the other hand, continued to urge his request, saying, ^^ I ivlll go and pray while you spread the cloth.^'' More with a view of gratifying the applicant than of any faith he had, the man stretched his canvas. No sooner had he done this than, to his utter astonishment, a fine breeze sprung up, the fans whirled around, the corn was con- verted into meal, and Samuel returned luith his burden rejoicing, and had everything in readiness for the festival. In the mean time, a neighbor who had seen the fan in vigorous motion, took also some corn to be ground ; but the wind had dropped, and the miller remarked to him, " You must send for Sammy Hick to pray for the wind to blow again." Snails in the Ark. To many who with despondency protest that they have not faith enough, get along so slow, are too weak, &c., the follow- ing sharp retort of Hick will prove a bright lining to their dark cloud of failing, aftd lead them to plod on in prayer. "To a gentleman laboring under great nervous depression, 330 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. whom he had visited, and who was moving along the streets as though he was apprehensive that every step would shake his system in pieces, he was rendered singularly useful. They met, and Samuel, having a deeper interest in the soul than the body, asked : ' Well, how are you getting on your way to Heaven.' '' The poor invalid, in a dejected, half desponding tone, re- plied, "But slowly I fear," intimating that he was creeping along only at a poor pace. "Why bless you Bairn," returned Samuel, ^^ there were snails in the arhP The reply was so earnest, so unexpected, and met the dis- pirited man so immediately on his own ground, that the temptation broke away, and he was out of his depression. It was a resurrection to his feelings, inferring that if the snail reached the ark and was saved, he too, "faint yet pur- suing," might gain admission into heaven. "He Gave All the Money He Had. At one time he attended a missionary meeting near Har- rowgate. "We had a blessed meeting," said Samuel, "I was very happy and gave all the money I had in my pocket." After the meeting was concluded, he mounted his horse to return home. No one had offered to pay his expenses — he had not a farthing in his pocket. Advanced in life — a slow rider, and not a very sprightly horse — in the night — alone — twenty miles from home. Think of the lonesomeness ; the time for the tempter to come and lead him to distrust in his Lord. But he struggled; the trial was short and the victory complete, for, said he, "Devil, I never stuck fast yet." Just as he entered Harewood, a gentleman took his horse by the bridle, asked him where he had been, talked with him long, and to whom Samuel's talk was a wonderful consola- tion. Said Sammy: " I have not wanted for any good thing, and could always ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 331 pray with Job, 'The Lord gave and the Lord taketh away, hlessed be the name of the Lord.' " The gentleman asked, "Can you read ?" "Yes," returned SamueL "Then," replied the gentleman, holding a piece of paper in his hand, which was rendered visible by the glimmering light of the stars, " There is a five pound note for you. You love God and his cause, and I believe you will never want." And Sammy said, " I cried for joy. This was a fair salva- tion from the Lord. When I got home, I told my w^ife. She burst into tears, and we praised the Lord together," and he added: "You see, we never give to the Lord but He gives in return." "The Lord "Will Provide." A poor but pious widow in Boston, in her eighty-seventh year, said to a friend, ''When I was left a widow with three little children, I was brought into such extremity that they were crying for bread, and I had nothing for them to eat. As I arose on a Sabbath morning, I knew not what to do but to ask my heavenly Father to feed my little ones, and com- mit myself and them to his care. " I then went out to the well to get a pail of w^ater, and saw on the ground a six cent piece, which I took up ; and learning that it did not belong to any of those who lived in the same house with me, I thought I might take it to feed my famishing children. Though it w^as a Sabbath morning, I felt that it would be right to go to a baker who lived in the neighborhood, tell him our circumstances, and buy bread with the money Providence had thus cast in my way. The baker not only did this, but the Lord opened his heart to add a bountiful supply ; and from that hour to the present, which is nearly fifty years, I have never doubted that God would tak^ care of his childrenJ' 332 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. Abraham Lincoln's Faith in Prayer. When President Lincoln left his home in Springfield, 111., February 11, 1861, on his way to Washington, he made the following farewell address to his friends and neighbors : ^' My friends, no one not in my position can appreciate the sadness I feel at this parting. To this people I owe all I am. Here I have lived more than a quarter of a century ; here my children were born, and here one of them lies buried. I know not how soon I shall see you again. A duty devolves upon me which is perhaps greater than that which has de- volved upon any other man since the days of Washington. He would never have succeeded except for the aid of Divine Providence, upon which he at all times relied. I feel that I cannot succeed without the same Divine aid which sustained him, and on the same Almighty Being I place my reliance for support ; and I hope you, my friends, will all pray that I may receive that Divine assistance, without which I cannot suc- ceed, but with which success is certain. Again, I bid you all an affectionate farewell." That simple but earnest request sent an electric thrill through every Christian heart, and without doubt, in response to it, more prayer was offered for him throughout his administration, than for any one who ever before occupied the Presidential chair. At a Sabbath-school convention in Massachusetts, a speaker stated that a friend of his, duiing an interview with Mr. Lincoln, asked him if he loved Jesus. The President buried his face in his handkerchief and wept. He then said, " When I left home to take this chair of state, I requested my country- men to pray for me. I was not then a Christian. When my son died — the severest trial of my life — I was not a Christian. But when I went to Gettysburg, and looked upon the graves of our dead heroes who had fallen in defence of their country, I then and there consecrated myself to Christ. / do love Jesus.'^ Rev. Mr. Adams, of Philadelphia, stated in his Thanksgiving sermon that, having an appointment to meet ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 333 the President at 5 o'clock in the morning, he went a quarter of an hour before the time. While waiting for the hour, he heard a voice in the next room as if in grave conversation, and asked the servant, " Who is talking in the next room ? '' " It is the President, sir." " Is anybody with him ? " " No, sir; he is reading the Bible." "Is that his habit so early in the morning ? " " Yes, sir. He spends every morning, from 4 o'clock to 5, in reading the Scriptures and praying." It was the Lord who Guided the 'mind of Mr. Lincoln in his extraordinary act of the Emancipatio7i of the Slaves of Ajnerica. The Lord had prepared it, and chose him as the means whereby to accomplish it. Were not his Trayers and efforts specially Messed by the Lord in wisdoni, for the guidance of our Nation ? Extraordinary Care of the Lord in An- swer to Prayer. " The scenes of the riots in New York, at the time of our civil war, are of national celebrity ; but few, however, know that one of the most atrocious acts of cruelty attempted to be perpetrated by the malefactors, and which utterly failed of its purpose, came solely in ansiver to prayer. On the first day of the mob, however, several thousand men, women and chil- dren, armed with clubs and brickbats, suddenly appeared at £he door of the Colored Orphan Asylum, and effected an en- trance by breaking down the front door with an axe. The building was soon fired in ten or fifteen places, and the work of destruction was accomplished in twenty minutes. " There were at the time two hundred and twenty-three children in the building with their attendants and teachers. The matron having assembled all the children after the first alarm, one of the teachers thus addressed them : ^ Children, do you believe that Almighty God can deliver you from a mob ? ' The reply was promptly made in the affirmative. ' Then,' said she, ^ I wish you now to pray silently to God to protect 334 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. you from this mob. I believe that he is able and will do it. Pray earnestly to him, and when I give the signal, go in order, without noise, to the dining-room.' At this every head was instantly bowed in prayer, such prayer as is not fre- quently offered, the silent, earnest supplication of terrified and persecuted little children. When, at the sound of the bell, their heads were raised, the teacher said the tears were streaming, but not a sound, not even a sob, was to be heard. They then quietly went down stairs and through the halls, and she remarked that ^to her dying day she should never forget the scene ; ' the few moments of eloquent silence, the stream- ing noiseless tears, the funereal march through the halls, the yells and the horrible sounds which were nearer and nearer approaching. Not one of these helpless innocents ivas in- jured in the least ; but in spite of the threats and the blood- thirstiness of the rioters, through whom they were obliged to pass, all were removed unmolested to a place of safety." A Remarkable Decision by a Jnry. "In one of our northern cities, a trial at law took place be- tween a Christian and an infidel. The latter had sued the former for a heavy sum, falsely alleging his promise to pay it for some stocks which he claimed to have sold him. The Christian admitted an offer of the stock, but protested that so far from promising the sum demanded, he had steadily re- fused to make any trade whatever with the plaintiff. Each of the parties to the suit had a friend who fully corroborated their assertions. Thus the case went before the jury for decision. " The charge of the judg« was stern and significant. 'It was a grave and most painful task which devolved upon him to instruct the jurors that one of the parties before them must be guilty of deliberate and willful perjury. Their statements were wholly irreconcilable with each other ; nay more, were diametrically opposite ; and that either were innocently mis- taken in their assertions was impossible. AKSWERS TO PRAYER. 335 " '■ Your verdict, gentlemen/ he said in conclusion, ' must decide upon which side this awful and heaven-daring iniquity belongs. The God of truth help you to find the truth, that the innocent suffer not.' " It was late in the day when the judge's charge was given, and the finding of the jury was to be rendered in the morn- ing. The plaintiff went carelessly from the court arm in arm with the wicked associate whom he had bribed to swear falsely on his behalf. The defendant and his friend walked away to- gether in painful silence. When the Christian reached his home, he told his family of the judge's solemn charge and of the grave responsibility which rested upon the jurors. ' They are to decide which of us has perjured ourselves on this trial,' he said; 'and how terrible a thing for me if thoy should be mistaken in their judgment. There is so little of any thing tangible for their decision to rest upon, that it seems to me as if a breath might blow it either way. They cannot see our hearts, and I feel as if only God could enable them to discern the truth. Let us spend the evening in prayer that he may give them a clear vision.' " The twelve jurymen ate their supper in perplexed silence, and were shut in their room for deliberation and consultation. ''I never sat in such a case before," said the foreman. "The plaintiff and defendant have sworn point-blank against each other ; and how wc arc to tell which speaks the truth, I can not see. I should not like to make a mistake in the matter ; it would be a sad affair to convict an innocent man of per- jury." Again there was silence among them, as if each were weighing the case in his own mind. ''For myself I feel as if the truth must be with the defendant ; I am constrained to think that he is an honest man. What say you, gentlemen ? " Every hand was raised in affirmation of this opinio7i. They were fully persuaded of its truth, and gave a unanimous ver- dict accordingly. Thus the Christian man was rightfully acquitted, and gave thanks to God, with a new and stronger confidence in the 330 AltSWERS TO PHAYER. power of prayer. " Call upon me in the day of trouble ; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me," saith the Lord. That Wonderful $25. Anotlier Evidence of tlie Ever-Present Spirit of God. The following incident is marvelous, as at the time of its occurrence neither party had ever been known to each other : lia New Haven, Conn., lives a little invalid widow, almost helpless, with no one upon whom to rely for support, acd only indebted to friendly acquaintances for a temporary home. With no money, no acquaintances, she had nowhere else to turn to but to the Father of all good. She had prayed often, and often had answers, but this time, though needing money, still she received none. The answer was long delayed; she was almost discouraged. " Was God at last to fail and forget her? No, it could not be. Let God be true even if I perish, I shall still cling to Him. I can not give Him up.'' Just at that time a business man in New York, who had been absent on a long journey for the Summer and had just returned, happened to pick up a note among many hundred lying on his desk, and noticed that the writer asked for some trifling favor, saying she was poor, had no means. Her circumstances were unknown ; he knew nothing but her name. He was eager to 7ninister to the little ones of the Lord, and felt deeply impressed in prayer that morning, in asking a blessing on his day's labors, that he might be able to help the need of some of ^' his children " who might then be in want. In his business hours the thought came over him with the depth of emotion, " what can i do ? Lord, thy SERVANT IS READY." Just at that moment he picked up this note of the little invalidj who asked the trivial favor, saying it would be such a comfort. {No money whatever was asked for in this note.) ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 337 Suddenly the thought came to him, ^[Perhaps this is my very opportunity. This may he the Lord's little one in needJ^ But there was nothing in the letter to indicate she was a Christian. She solicited no money or pecuniary help. Immediately there came to his mind, amid floods of tears, " Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these, my children, ye have done it unto mc.^^ Instantly he understood it as a message from the Lord, and the intimation of the Holy Spirit. He immediately sat down and wrote a check for $25, and enclosed it to her, saying, ^^ I know not your need ; you liave not asked me for help, hut I send you something which may he useful. I t?ncst you are a Christian. I shall he happy to learn if it has done good, and made you happy. Give line no thanks. The Lords hlessing is enough for me.^^ The letter was sent and forgotten, but a strange presenti- ment came over the mind of the writer. " / am afraid I did not direct that letter right. ^^ He sent a second postal card, asking if a letter had been received at her home ; if not, to go to her post office and inquire. Now notice the wonderful singularity of incident. Here is a man sending money, never asked for, to an unknown per- son, about ivhom he knew nothing ; then misdirecting his let- ter, and then remembering and sending another Tnessage to go and find ivhere the first had gone to. But notice the mar- velous result. The little invalid received the postal card, but not the letter. She sent to the post office, and sure enough there was the first letter with its misdirection. She was just in time to save it from being sent to another woman of the same name living in another 'part of the same city. She opened her letter, and with tears of thankfulness pe- rused this wonderful reply, a marvelous witness to the power of an overruling Spirit, who had directed everything. "My heart is full, that God should so answer my simple prayer. I first asked him for $10, then $15, and then for $25. I asked him for $25 several times, and was a^onished at my boldness, but the amount was so fixed in my mind, I 22 338 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. could not ask for anything else, and then I Immbly trusted it > Him, and from that time I thought, I will not name any sum ; let it he as He knows my need. And how He has hon- ored my simple faith and trust in these dark days. Your let- ter continued exactly the %2'^ I prayed for. I have not had $1.50 to spend this Summer. I have suffered for everything. But through it all I have felt such perfect faith in the Lord, that his hand was leading me, even when I could not see a step before me ; and that He should move your heart to help me seems so wonderful, so good. I am so glad I can thank you now, hut ah, so much " over there,''^ Avhere words will ex- press so much more in the beautiful atmosphere of heaven. Your letter and kind gift was mailed the very same day that I was praying in great distress and trial. I knew not but that I should be without even a home. My verse was Psalms 50 : 15. 0, how I had to pray that day. So day by day I was comforted, and now to-day the answer has come." Here, then, is a portion of the story of a sweet life who trusted God, not as a God of the past, nor far off, but ever living, ever present, ever faithful, and believed Him ah^c, ivill- ing, and that He woidd help her in her daily life. She tried her Lord, to prove if his promises were indeed true, and she clung to them to the very last. No one knew her need. No one knew what she was praying for. The stranger did not know anything of her. She had asked money of no one but the Lord. Hesitant ever, she dared not name any amount of the Lord, but that ever present Spirit of God guided her heart, made her fix the amount, and then touched the heart of the stranger and fixed the amount also in his mind, and then, by his own guidance saved the letter from being lost, and behold ! when opened the prayer of the one and the gift of the other was the same. What a comfort, what a privilege, then, it is for the true- hearted Christian thus to feel, " There is one who careth for ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 339 Why He Failed. A prominent business man failed in the Spring of 1877. He had been for years a prominent and consistent member of a Christian church. He* had even supported a church once almost entirely. Nothing was known against his character, but he failed ; he failed in business. No one knew the reason why, but there it wds, failure. At last, in moments of bitter repentance before God, he unbosomed himself to his pastor, and said, " Lo7ig ago 1 jproiuised to give the Lord one-tenth of all the profits I gained from my business, and while I did so, I was im7nensely pros- perous and successful; never did any one have any such splendid success, — but I forgot my promise, stopped giving, thought that I did 7iot need to spend so much, and I began to invest my means in real estate. When I stopped giving I stopped getting. Now all is gone. 1 lost my all because I did not keep) m.y promise to the Lord?^ This incident is a practical one, telling how utter is the impossibility of true success, without the aid of the Lord, and how absolutely necessary it is to our own peace and comfort of mind to religiously observe one's promises made to God. The Bible only too truly tells of the end of those who forget Him. '^But Jeshurun waxed fat, then he forsook God which made him; and when the Lord saw it, he abhorred them, and said, ^L IV ill hide my face from them.'' " " Ye can not prosper; because ye have forsaken the Lord, He hath also forsaken you.''^ " There shall be desolation ; because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength?^ HOW THE LORD John Easter's Prayer. In his " Memorials of Methodism in Virginia," Dr. W. W. Bennet relates the following incidents in the life of John Easter, one of the pioneer ministers who labored there nearly one hundred years ago : He is represented as being the most powerful exhortatory preacher of his day. His faith was transcendent, his appeals irresistible, his prayers like talking with God face to face. Perhaps no man has ever been more signally honored of God as an instrument in the conversion of souls. On one of his circuits eighteen hundred members were added to the church in a single year. Many thrilling scenes under his preaching yet linger among the people in those counties where he principally labored. A most extraordinary display of his faith was wit- nessed in Brunswick. At Merritt's meeting-house a quar- terly meeting was in progress, and so vast was the concourse of people from many miles around, that the services were con- ducted in a beautiful grove near the church. In the midst of the exercises, a heavy cloud arose, and swept rapidly towards the place of worship. From the skirts of the grove the rain could be seen coming on across the fields. The people were in consternation ; no house could hold one-third of the multi- tude, and they were about to scatter in all directions. Easter ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 341 rose in the midst of the confusion — "Brethren," cried he at the top of his voice, " be still while I call upon God to slay the cloud:*, till His word can be preached to perishing sinners." Arrested by his voice and manner, they stood between hope and fear. He kneeled down and offered a fervent prayer that God would then stay the rain, that the preaching of His word might go on, and afterwards send refreshing showers. While he luas i^raying^ the angry cloud, as it swiftly rolled up to them, was seen to part asunder in the midst, pass on either side of them, and close again beyond, leaving a space several hundred yards in circumference perfectly dry. The next morning a copious rain fell again, and the fields that had heen left dry were well watered.''^ The Hushed Tempest. The following circumstance is communicated to The Chris- tian by a minister of the editor's acquaintance, as a memorial of God's care for the poor and needy who trust in him : It was about the year 1853, and near the middle of a Cana- dian Winter we had a succession of snowfalls, followed by high winds and severe cold. I was getting ready to haul my Winter's stock of wood, for which I had to go two miles over a road running north and south, entirely unprotected from the keen cold west winds that prevail the most of the time in that part of Canada during the Winter months. The procuring of my Winter's supply of wood was no small task for me, for I had very little to do with, and was unable to endure much fatigue, or bear the severe cold. I had, how- ever, succeeded in securing the services of an excellent hand to chop, and help me load, and had also engaged a horse of one neighbor, and a horse and sled of another, and was ready on Monday morning to commence my job. Monday morning the roads were fair, the day promised well, and my man was off at daybreak to the woods to have a load ready for me. There had been quite a fall of snow during the night j not 342 ~ ANSWERS TO PRAYER. enough to do any harm if it only lay still, hut should the wind rise, as it had after every snow-fall hefore, it w-ould make it dreadful for me. Soon as possible I harnessed my team, and started. I had not gone a quarter of a mile before it became painfully evident that a repetition of our previous " blows " was impending. The sky was dark and stormj^, tbe wind rose rapidly, and in every direction clouds of the newly fallen snow were beginning to ride on the "wings of the wind," pouring over the fences, and filling the road full ! My heart sank within me. AVhat could I do ? At this rate, by next morning the roads would be impassable, and it was so cold ! Besides, if I failed to go on now, it would be very difficult to get my borrowed team together again, and impos- sible to get my man again ; and we could as well live without bread as without wood in a Canadian Winter. Every moment the wind increased. In deep distress, I looked upon the threatening elements, exclaiming over and over, " What shall I do ? " I felt then that there was but one thing that I could do, and that was just what poor sinking Peter did ; and with feelings I imagine something like his, I looked up to God, and cried out, " 0, my God, this is more than I am able to bear. Lord, help me ! Tbe elements are subject to thee ; thou boldest the winds in thy fist. If thou wilt speak the word, there will be a great calm. 0, for Jesus' sake, and for the sake of my little helpless family, let this snow lie still and give me an opportunity of accomplishing this necessary labor comfortably!" I do not think it was above fifteen minutes after I began to call upon the Lord before there was a visible change. The wind began to sub- side, the sky grew calm, and in less than half an hour all was still, and a more pleasant time for wood-hauling than I had that day, I never saw nor desire to see. Many others beside me enjoyed the benefit of that " sudden change " of weather, but to them it was only a " nice spell of weather," a " lucky thing;" while to me it was full of sweet and encouraging tokens of the " loving-kindness of the Lord," And now, after ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 343 SO many years, I feel impelled to give this imperfect narrative, to encourage others in the day of trouble to call upon the Lord ; and also, as a tribute of gratitude to Him who has " never said to the house of Jacob, seek ye my face in vain.'^ Praying in Fair Weather. The ways in which God saves those whom he wishes to de- liver from death, are sometimes too wonderful for our under- standing. A certain ship was overtaken in a severe and pro- longed storm at sea. She had a noble Christian man for a captain, and as good a sailor as ever trod the quarter-deck, and he had under him a good and obedient crew. But tliey could not save the ship ; she was too badly strained, her leaks were too great for the pumps, she must go to the bot- tom. The captain committed them all to the care of the God in whom he put his trust, and made ready to take to their boats. Just then a sail was descried, and, by signals of dis- tress, drawn to their relief. All on board were taken off safely and put on the ship, soon after which they saw their own ship go down. Now comes the peculiar part. The ship was soon over- taken in a dreadful storm, was cast on her beam ends, and everything seemed to be lost. The passengers were praying, and many of the old seamen were calling on God to save them from the great deep. The captain of the ship had done his best, but could not right the vessel, and all was given up to go down. The captain, whose ship was lost, then asked if be might take his crew and try to right the vessel. " Take them, and do what you can," was the reply. He called to his men and told them they must save that ship; he inspired them with confidence, for they knew he was a true man of God. They executed his orders with alacrity and care. They cut away the masts, and cleared away the rig- ging, and brought all the force they could to right the ves- sel. God prospered the effort — the ship righted ; they got 344 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. the pumps at work, rigged a sail, and were finally all saved. It seemed as if it was necessary to put the captain of the first ship and his crew on the second ship, that they might save it and those on board when the terrible storm came. Now it was particularly noticed in connection with this de- liverance, that the captain of the lost vessel did not make any ado in prayer, or in calling on God, while the storm was raging ; and knowing that he was a Christian man, they asked him the reason of this. He answered them, that he did his praying in fair weather; ^' and then/' said he, ^'when the storm comes, I ivorkJ' He did not distrust God then, any more than in fair weather; but he knew that God re- quires man to do all he can to save himself, and praying might lose him his ship, when his own efforts must save it. The Rescue from the Ville du Havre, and the Loch Earn. A remarkable illustration of God's mysterious way is found in connection with the rescue of some of the passengers of the ill-fated French steam-ship, Ville du Havre, which was sunk by a collision with the Loch Earn, November 22, 1873, on her voyage from New York to France. After the sinking of the Ville du Havre, with some two hundred of her passen- gers, the rest were taken up by the Loch Earn, from which most of them were afterwards transferred to the Trimountain. Others remained on board the Loch Earn, where in conse- quence of its disabled condition they seemed again in immi- nent danger of being lost. On the 11th of December, while Mr. D. L. Moody was conducting a noonday prayer-meeting in the city of Edin- burgh, Eev. Dr. Andrew Thompson read a letter from a Chris- tian lad}'^, the mother of one of these imperiled passengers, which contained the following account : "After the Trimountain left them, and they had examined their ship, many a heart failed, and they feared they would ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 345 never see land again. They could not navigate the vessel, and were left to the mercy of the winds and waves, or rather to the care of Him who ruleth wind and waves. Vain was the help of man. The wind drove them out of the course of ships, northward. You are aware that two ministers were left on board the Loch Earn. One, Mr. Cook, a truly godly man, did all he could to encourage their hearts. Every day, at noon, he gathered them together, and earnestly, by prayer, strove to lead them to the Savior ; and this he continued to do till they reached England. The day before they were res- cued they knew that very shortly the ship must go down. The wind had changed, bringing them nearer the track of ships, but they had little hope of being saved. Mr. Cook told them of his own hope, that death to him would be eternal life, and he urgently entreated them to put their trust in ' Him who was mighty to save.' At the same time he told them he had no doubt they would be rescued, that even then a vessel was speeding to save them, that God had answered their prayers, that next day as morning dawned they would see her. That night was one of great anxiety. "As morning dawned every eye was strained to see the promised ship. There truly she was, and the British Queen bore down upon them. You may think that with thankful hearts they left the Loch Earn. One thing is remarkable — the officer in charge on hoard the British Queen had a most unaccountable feeling that there was something for him to do, and three times during the night he changed the course of t fie vessel, bearing northward. He told the watch to keep a sharp lookout for a ship, and immediately on sighting the Loch Earn bore down upon her. At first he thought she had been abandoned, as she lay helpless in the trough of the sea, but soon they saw her signal of distress. It seems to me a remarkable instance of faith on the one side and a guiding Providence on the other. After they were taken on board the pilot-boat that brought them into Plymouth, at noon, when they for the last time joined together in prayer, Mr, 346 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. Cook read to them the account of Paul's shipwreck, showing the similarity of their experience. ' What made that captain change his course against his will ? ' but the ever present Spirit of God.'' The Storm Made Calm. At a Sunday morning meeting at Repository Hall, Janua- ry 25, 1874, a Christian brother, in illustration of the power and faithfulness of God, and his willingness to hear and an- swer prayer, related these facts in his own experience. An account of them was subsequently published in the Chrlstia7i: ^' In 1839 I was a sailor on board the brig Pandora, Cap- tain G , bound from Savannah to Boston, with a cargo of cotton. When off the coast of Virginia, some twenty-five miles distant from Chesapeake Baj^, we encountered a heavy gale. Saturday evening, December 21st, the wind blew gently from the south. On sounding, we found ourselves in thirty fathoms of water. At midnight the wind veered to the east- ward, gradually increasing until four o'clock Sunday morning, by which time the brig was under close-reefed topsails and foresail. The wind still increasing, every stitch of canvas was taken in, and now the vessel lay helpless and unman- ageable in the trough of the sea, not minding her helm at all, while the wind blew a perfect hurricane. The vessel being very light, loaded with cotton, made much leeway, and though we had worn ship four times during the preceding night, hoping, if possible, to weather some shoals which the captain judged were near, and to make Chesapeake Bay, where we might have a clear beach before us in case the ves- sel should strand, yet at eight o'clock Sunday morning we were in but seventeen fathoms of water. " The gale now increased with fearful violence, waves ris- ing like mountains, and rain and sleet pouring from the dis- mal clouds. At ten, a. m., being then in fifteen fathoms of water, and drifting rapidl}^ towards the shore, the captain ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 347 summoned all hands into the cabin to consult about throwing our deck-load overboard, in order to leave us a better chance to secure ourselves to the rigging, and thus save our lives when the vessel should strike, which he judged would be in about half an hour. Not a gleam of hope appeared, and here our distress was increased by observing that the captain seemed under the influence of liquor, to which he had prob- ably resorted in order to stifle his fears of aj^proaching death. ''The order was given, and we went to work to throw the cotton over, while the captain, frightened and despairing, went into the cabin to drown his fears in drink. Seeing the state of things, and believing that shipwreck was imminent, I found two of my shipmates who were Christians, and who had prayed daily with me in the forecastle, and I asked them if they had any faith in God now, that he would hear our prayers and deliver us? They both said they had ; and I told them to pray, then, that the Lord might rebuke the winds and calm the waves. ''With an unspeakable mingling of fear and hope we applied ourselves to the task of casting the cotton into the sea, at the same time lifting up earnest and united prayers to God for deliverance from the threatened destruction, occasionally glid- ing in close contact with each other, and speaking words of hope in each other's ears, and feeling, as we toiled, a blessed confidence that our prayers were not in vain. " It did not seem more than five minutes from the time we commenced to throw the cotton overboard, for we had scarcely tumbled twenty bales into the sea, when we heard a shout from the quarter deck : '' ^Avast heaving cotton overboard ! The ivincl is coming out from our lee! Avast there!' " It was the captain's voice, bidding us stay our hands ; we obeyed, and looking up we saw him clinging to the rig- ging, apparently so drunk that he could hardly stand, while away over our lee-hoiu we could see blue sky and fair weather , and it seemed that in less than ten tninutes fom the time the 348 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. hurricane was at its height, the wind had chopped around in shore, and was gently wafting us away from danger, and out into deep water again. ^^ There were glad souls on board the Pandora that day, as she swung around in obedience to the helm, and we laid her course again for our destined port. And some who before had mocked at prayers and blasphemed the God we loved, admitted then that God had answered prayer, and that he had delivered us from death. "And I love to repeat the story to the praise of the Lord, who yet lives to hear, and bless, and save his trusting chil- dren." No Fear of Thunder. Some years ago a camp-meeting was held in Southern In- diana. It rained nearly all the time of the meeting. Father Haven, a man mighty in prayer, rose to preach. Just as he announced his text it thundered, and the congregation seemed to be restless and alarmed. The old hero instantly said, "Let us engage a moment in prayer." He ^^rayed that God would allow the storm to pass by and not disturb them. After having plead for a Itew moments he said, " Friends, keep your seats ; it will not rain one drop here to-day." He commenced to preach, and it thundered again. He repeated his assurance, and thus it continued until the storm-cloud was almost over the encampment. It divided north and south, and passed about a quarter of a mile on either side of them, reunited again and passed on, and not one solitary drop of rain fell on that encampment. The Prayer of the Pilgrims for Rain Answered. It is well known that many of the good men who were driven from England to America by persecution in the seven- teenth century, had to endure great privations. In the Spring ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 349 of 1623 they planted more corn than ever before ; but by the time they had done planting, their food was spent. They daily prayed, "Give us this day our daily bread; " and in some way or other the prayer was always answered. With a single boat and a net they caught some fish, and when these failed, they dug in the sand for shell-fish. In the month of June their hopes of a harvest were nearly blasted by a drought which withered up their corn and made the grass look like hay. All expected to perish with hunger. In their distress the pilgrims set apart a day of humiliation and praj^er, and continued their worship for eight or nine hours. God heard their prayers, and answered them in a way which excited universal admiration. Although the morn- ing of that day was clear, and the weather very hot and dry during the whole forenoon, yet before night it began to rain, and gentle showers continued to fall for many days, so that the ground became thoroughly soaked, and the drooping corn revived. The Enemies of a G-od Fearing Nation. "An answer to prayer," says Le Clerc, "may be seen by what happened on the coast of Holland in the year 1672. The Dutch expected an attack from their enemies by sea, and public prayers w^ere ordered for their deliverance. It came to pass that when their enemies waited only for the tide, in order to land, the tide ivas retarded, contrary to its usual course, for twelve hours, so their enemies were obliged to de- fer the attempt to another opportunity; which they never found, because a storm arose afterwards, and drove them from the coast." Changing the Course one Point. Walking across Palace Square in Eio de Janeiro, Brazil, with an American ship-master, (says a correspondent of the Watchman,) he invited me to accompany him to his hotel, 350 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. While there he showed me a very large gold medal he had received from the British government for saving a ship's company at sea. The circumstances were these : One night at sea, when it was the captain's ''mid-watch/^ — the watch from twelve, midnight, till four o'clock in the morning — just before turning in, he gave the officer of the watch the ship's course ; the direction in which she was to be steered. While undressing, it was impressed on his mind that he ought to change the course a point; but he could see no reason for the change, as the ship was on the right course for the port of her destination. He turned in and tried to fall asleep, as it was only four hours to his watch ; but the impression that he ought to change the ship's course kept him awake. In vain he tried to throw off that impression ; and yielding to it, he went on deck and gave the order for the change. On returning to his berth, he was asleep as soon as his head was on the pillow. The next day he sighted a ship in distress, and made sail for her. The ship was in a sinking condition, and he rescued the whole ship's company. Shortly after, a gale of wind arose and carried the sinking ship to complete destruction. Had not the American captain changed the course of his ship that evening, he would not have come in sight of the ship in distress, and all of the company would have perished. Query — What viade that Captain arise in the middle of the night and, contrary to all science, reason and his own will, change the course of his vessel, but a Supreme Being, whose power he could not resist, and what made him exactly reach that sinking ship just in time. fj^ miu\{ $t. 3mm lf^^JWjj> ANSWERS TO PRAYER FROM ITS HISTORY, RECORDS AND CORRESPONDENCE. The following Incidents of Prayer and the remarkable Answers, have been obtained from the records of the Fulton Street Praj'^er Meeting in New York City. They include both facts which have been related by speakers in their daily meetings, or furnished from the letters of those who have solicited Prayer and received the Answer to their Faith. They are of the utmost diversity of subjects, literally in- cluding the " all things " of the Bible, and temporal as well as spiritual interests. Numerous as the incidents are, which we here give, still they cover only one-sixtieth part of the whole Record of the Blessed Meeting. History can never tell of the wonders done in Answer to the Prayers of these trusting ones ; but Faith can rejoice, for here is fulfilled daily those cheerful Promises of the Lord : " If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall he done unto yonP "Ask and re- ceive, that your joy may be fulV^ Saved from a Life of Degradation. " Your prayers for my husband have been answered ; on the very day I wished your prayers for him, and before the hour of prayer had expired^ he came into the house, and said, 'i 352 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. am going to do better.'' He had not been home before for several weeks. He was a profane, hard-drinking man. He has since joined the church. ' All hail the power of Jesus' Recovery of an Invalid. "One year ago, the prayers of this meeting were asked for an invalid who had years of intense suffering before her, unless soon relieved. Prayers were offered for her. Now we would like to acknowledge the loving-kindness and tender mercy of our God, for, since that time, she has slowly but steadily improved, even under most trying and unfavorable circumstances, and has now recovered comparative strength.^' Relief in Business. " None of those who trust in Him shall he made desolated " Some three weeks ago, I wrote you, stating that my busi- ness had been a failure, and asked your prayers that God, in His mercy, would point out a way for me to provide for my family. The clouds grew thicker and blacker, but the more earnest were my prayers. Last Saturday the Lord came to my rescue, and provided me with the necessities of life, and to-day T wish you to join with me in thanksgiving to Almighty God for these favors — * For He is good ; His mercy endureth forever.' " A Daughter Saved from Marriage with, a Corrupt Man. '^ I pray you give God praise and thanks for His merciful deliverance of my dear daughter from the evil influence of the man to whom she had given her love and promise of marriage. The Lord gave her strength and courage to break her engage- ment, in answer to our earnest prayers. Oh, implore Him to keep that man out of her path, for he is constantly lying in ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 353 wait to meet her when she goes out. He wanted her to read bad books, but told her that the}' were not wrong. He con- stantly laid temptation in alluring forms before her. To Him alone be the thanks for this step she has taken." A Skeptic Overpowered. " More and more God is pouring out His Spirit, gloriously- answering your prayers and ours. I have been constantly asking your prayers, and though, for a while, the vision tar- ried, yeo it has come. The young man, from a neighborhood where there was not one Christian, and he himself scarcely less than a skeptic, is now sitting, in his right mind, at Jesus' feet:' Saved from Death, " My brother, that lay apparently at the point of death, has been restored to comparative health." An Intemperate Young Man Reclaimed. "Kejoice with me, and thank God for his gracious answer to prayer. The intemperate young man for whom I requested prayer some months ago, has turned away from his cups, and is earnestly striving to overcome his appetite for strong drink. He is competent to be the means of doing so much good." The Conversion of Intimate Friends. " Some time since, I sent request for prayer for the con- version of friends. Since then three have united with the church." Raised np from Death's Door. ^' Our former pastor was raised up from death's door, in answer to your prayer. The doctor gave him up. He says the Lord alone saved him, in answer to prayer. Praise His name." 23 354 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. The Desire of the Heart Fulfilled. " A few weeks since I sent a request for prayer in my behalf, asking you to pray God very earnestly that He would grant me the desire of my heart, for which I was praying almost unceasingly. On the evening of the same day on which I supposed you would receive my request, the ansiuer came, lifting a great burden from my heart. I send this in acknowledgment of God's loving-kindness to me, and to encourage every burdened, praying one, to trust Sim more.''^ A Poor Old Sick Lady Restored. " The poor, sick old lady for whom I requested your prayers some time since, wishes to return thanks to Almighty God, for restoring her health, and sending friends. It is wonderful how your and our requests are answered." A New Birth. " Give thanks with me. Since I wrote you last, our son has given himself to Jesus." A Chiirch Saved from Strife. ^^ It is with heartfelt gratitude to God that I write you of answer to your prayer. Last Spring, I asked your prayers in behalf of our church. It was almost destroyed by a man trying to get into our Conference without proper papers, and could not. He then broke up a Presbyterian church, and formed another. He gathered a number of our members with him, and tried hard to take our parsonage, but did not succeed. Thank God ! though we are few, and have had a hard struggle, we still hold our property, our circuit has doubled, God is reviving His work, and is now answering your prayers." ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 355 Reason Restored. "Last March, I requested you to pray for a dear friend in Massachusetts, who was deprived of her reason through sick- ness and great trouble. Give thanks unto Godj she is fully 7'estored.^' "Arise and Walk." " It will be just one year since Jesus came and took me by the hand, and I arose from what teas supposed to be my death- bed^ and tvalked to the astonishment of all. I have not claimed the fullness of the promise, but feel that I may. I prayed God not to heal my body wholly, until I was more patient under my cross." The Appetite for Strong Drink Taken Away. " Sometime ago I wrote to you for my husband. He was a victim to strong drink at that time, but blessed be God) he has not drank one drop for five ^nonthsP Spiritual Strength. " I feel your prayers ; I think I know the day and the hour, for I felt strengthened with strength in my soul." Healing of Soul and Body. " I have reason to rejoice that I have been greatly blessed in answer to your prayers. Two young lady friends of mine have been enabled to claim the blessed promise of full salva- tion, not only to the healing of the soul, but the body also. My own experience helped them. On the 16th of January, last, in answer to constant prayer offered by myself and friends, I arose from what all thought to be my death-bed, 356 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. and walked all over the house ; also many miles on the streets during the next few months. I did not claim the full extent of the promise as I craved only relief from such terribie pain, as was then my portion to bear. I think God in his goodness would have granted full restoration to health, as I was so anxious to work for Him, hut I pleaded with Him not to heal my body until my mind had had the discipline I felt it needed." An Intemperate Husband Saved by- Prayer. '^ Some three weeks since, I asked you for my intemperate husband, that you would pray that he might be willing to he saved. He has been made willing to give up the intoxicating cup, and says he has not any desire for it. To God be all the praise." Religion Lost, Religion Regained. " I wrote you two months since, asking an interest in your prayers for a young man that experienced religion a year ago, but failed to confess Christ by uniting with the church. Your prayers have been answered. Last night my heart was made to rejoice by seeing him confess Christ, before the world. He is now happy in the love of Jesus, and will be useful and active in the church." Drunkards Reformed. "Return thanks to God for two men signing the pledge, about one month ago, who have been enabled to keep it through great temptation. They ivere drunkards for over twenty years. Their reformation was in answer to a praying mother's prayers, and to the prayers for them at your meet- ing." ANSWERS TO PRAYER. ^^J A Hopeless Case. " A little less than a year ago, prayers were desired at the Fulton street prayer-meeting for a man whose case seemed wholly hopeless. Shortly after he gave up drink, and be- came a Christian; is now a happy man, and has a happy family. "Please carry this thank offering to God, that he has given us such a Savior, and such a way to escape from temptation.^^ A Harvest of Conversions. " Last Fall, I wrote you to pray for us. You did pray. The result was a wonderful increase of spiritual liie—fifty A Family Made Happy. ^ "Two years ago, I wrote asking your prayers for a dear sister, brothers and nieces. Since then, one brother, about sixty, and my two nieces have been converted, and are now rejoicing in a Savior's love." The Power of the Holy Spirit "About two years ago we requested your prayers for the Holy Spirit upon a revival work then in progress in our church." The Lord answered us by giving us over four score soulsJ^ Hearts Made Glad. " We return most hearty thanks for the answer to prayer given. I wrote more than a year ago last August of our low state. Last Winter twenty young persons were converted, and continue to work faithfully." 358 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. Given Up by Man, but Rescued by the G-reat Physician. "The writer was himself raised up by prayer, from the gates of death, offered by the heart and lips of one who is now a sufferer. Two of the most skillful physicians in the land had given me uyP The Story of a Wayward Life, Saved by Prayer. " In the last fourteen years I have stood beside the death- beds of eight who were near and dear to me, and the last words that each spoke to me as they were leaving the world were, " Will you not meet me in Heaven ? ^' I have been a wayward child. Eight years ago I became addicted to strong drink. I became a drunkard, which brought my dear old father down to an untimely grave. I made a promise on his death-bed that I would not drink any more, and for six long years I kept that promise, but at last I broke it. I again became a drunkard, which began to tell on my wife. I promised her that I would not drink, but that promise was broken time after time. Within this year, in the week of prayer, I attended the prayer-meetings, asked prayers for me, and on the night following, I erected the family altar, which had for four years been neglected, and, thank God, it is there yet. I am now trusting in the promise that He will not let his children he tempted beyond what they are able to endure.''^ A Wonderful Cure. An earnest Christian woman who believed the Lord greater than any earthly physician, cries, " 0, praise the Lord. He hath delivered me in six troubles, and in the seventh he hath not forsaken me." ^' And the seventh was the worst. By the help of eiglit physicians, and in answer to prayer, partly ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 359 of this meeting, a fearful tumor has been taken from me weighing twelve pounds^ with three gallons of water in the sack. 0, praise the Lord, for He is good, and his mercy en- dureth forever." This case was one of extraordinary risk and apparently im- possible achievement ; but the Lord gave faith to try, and skill to win the victory. 'No earthly power could have dared the venture. Given Up. "Our pastor, after four months' sickness, preached to us last evening the most solemn sermon I ever heard, and says he was raised up in answer to prayer. The physicians gave him up several times, and say they have never known such an instance of recovery." Chains Broken at Last. " Long months, week by week, I have asked you to pray that my husband might be saved from the eternal doom of a drunkard. God has mercifully given him strength to break the fetters that bound him fast." Better than We Expected. " We asked your prayers ; they have been answered. They were answered more and better than we had hoped or dreamed they could be." Prayer Answered for Employment. " A foreigner without means and friendless tried in vain for ten months to succeed in finding some employment. He requested your prayers to God, and God answered. In less than eighteen hours a splendid position was offered to him. He and his wife give thanks, and pray that they may devote their lives usefully to the cause of God who has been so good to them." 360 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. Found Employment. " God has answered our united prayers, and given employ- ment to his child." An Old Lady Saved from Little Annoy- ances. "Your prayers have been heard and answered in mercy. The old lady has not been quite so much annoyed. Thank God for some peace for the aged one, not able to bear what younger people can, that go out into the world and can find relief. I thank my heavenly Father for his loving-kindness and tender mercy for those that cry to him in trouble." Insanity Dispelled. "I sent a petition months ago, for prayers for an insane husband. Your prayers have been answered. He has rap- idly recovered." Reclaimed. '^ I must ask you to return thanks with me that your prayers have been answered. An intemperate brother has been reclaimed." Restored to Health. " One month since, I requested prayer specially for my own family. My oldest son, who was then sick, has been restored to his usual health. ^ The prayer of faith hath indeed saved the sick.^ " Temptations Removed. " Some months ago I asked your prayers for a son in col- lege, amid great temptations. I desire to give thanks that those temptations have been removed." ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 361 The Heart of a Clergyman Turned from Thoughts of Ambition. ''I sent a request to you for a young man, who was called, and eminently fitted for the ministry, but was tempted, by ambition, not to listen to the divine call, and obstacles had hedged his way somewhat. After I requested your prayers m his behalf, this temptation was removed, and nearly one hundred persons were converted in the church which was under his care." A Grateful Tribute. ^•For a long time I have been the subject of personal afflic- tion, caused by two internal tumors of the tvorst type. Speedy death seemed inevitable; yet there was a little hope that a surgical operation might possibly remove the difficulty and prolong my day. To this hope I clung, submitted to the operation, and it was a success To the earnest prayers of Christian people is due this grateful acknowledgment." Was a Perfect Slave to Liquor. *^ Please return thanks to our kind Heavenly Father for this answer to prayer. All last Winter requests were sent in for a gentleman, a perfect slave to liquor. Those prayers were answered, and he is attending church regularly, striving to do what is right to please his Heavenly Master." Always Answered. "Several times in years past I have asked for the prayers of this meeting, and always found them answered." Cured of Epilepsy. "I wrote you to aid me by your prayers, that my afflicted son, who was troubled with epilepsy, might be cured. Thanks be to the Heavenly Father, he is better." 362 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. Almost Lost. "Your prayers and mine for my son have been answered. He was almost lost, on the downward road of intemperance. He has now reformed." A Situation Obtained by Prayer. " Yesterday I sent a request that God would give me sus- taining grace and abiding faith, and in his own good time give me a situation where I might be able to support my family. In that very afternoon, I made a contract of $1,200 a year. Praise the Lord." A Bountiful Blessing. " Some time ago I solicited your prayers for a blessing on my services, and never, in all my life before have I been blessed as since that time. 'Tis truly wonderful; it has seemed as if I must have become some one else, and that it could not longer be me speaking with such boldness, and apparent success. Bless the Lord, my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name." Saved from the Company of a Bad Lover. " A week ago I begged you to pray for my daughter, who had given her heart to an unworthy man, praying that God might guide her to see him as he is, and turn her love from him. She is a child of God. In answer, God has caused a rupture between them." Away from Home, but not away from God. *' Some weeks since I sent in a request for prayer for my sons who had fallen victims to intemperance and vice. My heart rejoices to-day in the hope that it has. ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 363 "Two who left home, and had gone to distant cities to seek employment, have written me to pray that they may be able to forsake sin in all its forms, and come to Christ and be Christians. One of them was skeptical when he left home. The one remaining at home has resolved to quit drinking." Grod Always Answers Believing Prayer. " Your prayers asked on several occasions have all been graciously answered. Eeturn thanks unto the Lord that sendeth mercy." The Hardest Heart Yields at Last. "Several years since your prayers were solicited in behalf of one who seemed given over to hardness of heart and repro- bacy of mind. Since that time there has been some reform in his life. God only knows how far those prayers have been answered in restraining grace. Last week he said to the friend who had solicited your prayers for him, 'I wish you would ask Fulton Street prayer-meeting to pray again for me. I believe it did me good.' ^^ Up from the Lowest Depths. ^' One year ago I wrote you respecting prayer for my hus- band. He has since been reclaimed from the lowest depths of a drunkard's life, and is now a member of the Christian church. Thanks be to God, the giver of all good." Saved and Honored. " Almost three years ago I asked you to pray for a young man that was wandering from God. Thank God, your and my prayers were answered. He is now an active Christian, 364 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. a superintendent of the Sabbath school, and a most zealous member of the Young Men's Christian Association of this place." Almost Persuaded. " Some weeks since I requested prayer for a member o{ this Institution who was ^ almost persuaded ' to be a Chris- tian. Thanks to our Father, and to those who have offered prayer in her behalf, she has been altogether persuaded, and has united with the Lord's people." Answered the Same Day. " You received a letter yesterday. My husband rose for prayers the same night." Oh, How Precious. " I wrote five months since for prayers for myself, and I now write to say that I have found my Savior very precious to my soul." Praying for a Pastor. "Several months ago I wrote asking 3'ou to pray for a fee- ble church in need of a pastor. Since then I am happy to say that this church has been blessed and we now have a pas- tor." A Telegram of Prayer. An incident was related at one of the meetings by a clergy- man who had written a telegram asking for prayers. God heard it before it was sent. "When we were in Switzerland, my daughter was taken very ill, so that the doctor despaired of her life. I felt the need of sympathy and help and prayer, and I made up my mind that I would send a telegraphic dispatch to this meet- ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 365 ing, where I had so often united with you in prayer. I wrote the dispatch and was, prepared to send it, when all at once there was poured out such a joyful faith and confidence in God on me as I never felt before in all my life, and I fell on my knees in devout thanksgiving for the assurance that God gave me that he had heard and answered our prayers, for we had prayed for that dear daughter's life. There lay the tele- gram ready to be sent. There I was waiting and praying. In less than half an hour my wife came into the room and said, /There is a change for the better in our daughter,' and the telegram was never sent, tliough I believe the writing of it was the prayer that God answered." He Did not Keep His Promise, but God Did. A remarkable instance of how God keeps his promises and is faithful, and how man often forgets to keep his, and at last receives deserved punishment for his thanklessness to God, was recently related in the Fulton Street prayer-meeting. A very urgent case was presented by a friend. He said : "A friend of mine is seeking Jesus. A little while ago his only child lay near death. He prayed God to restore her to health, promising to serve the Lord for the rest of his life if the child's life was spared. His daughter recovered, but the man forgot the promise he had made and sought not after God. In a very little while the child was suddenly taken sick again, and almost as suddenly died. The father remem- bered his vows, and feels that this is God's solemn warning to him to seek the Savior." A Double Prayer Answered. At the Fulton Street prayer-meeting a number of remark- able cases were related of real answers to prayer for recovery to health, and obtaining of positions. 366 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. '^ I must tell you how God has been answering prayer, for his glory and for your encouragement. Your prayers were asked for a sick wife. She was thought by the doctors to be beyond recovery, but in response to prayer God spared her life, and she and her husband returned their heartfelt thanks to Him. But there was another trouble. The husband had long needed employment, and was in great pecuniary distress. He had been praying for help, beseeching the Lord to open up a way for him. But help did not come, and the cloud seemed darker, and the poor man got discouraged. Friends begged him to hope on, and not to give up his trust in that God who, in answer to prayer, had raised his sick wife to health. He continued to pray, and on the long, dark night, morning at last dawned. He is now in a good position, and sends a request to friends to thank God with him for this two-fold goodness of the Lord. How the Lord Blessed an old Advertise- ment. "I had another acquaintance who was also greatly distressed. With a wife and family to care for, and all his means gone, and no prospect of employment, he was in trouble indeed. We induced him to present his case for prayer here, as it would encourage him to have others pray for him. Then we inserted an advertisement in one of the daily papers, offering his services, hoping the Lord would bless the means used and answer prayer. Day by day passed, but no response came. Some two weeks after the advertisement was inserted, a mer- chant picked up an old paper, and noticing the advertisement, showed it to his partner, remarking, ^ Why, this is just the man we need.' Observing the old date on the paper, his partner said he thought it would be too late to respond ; but the trial was made. The man was requested to call, and proved to be just what these merchants had been wishing for, and was very quickly engaged. He feels that the Heav- ANSWERS TO PRAYER. 367 enly Father who cares for the sparrows, undoubtedly met his need, and that all the circumstances connected with the case were providential.'' Hating the Accursed Drink. A brother rose in the meeting and said, ^^ I believe it is God's will that I should tell you how He saved me, about two years since. I came into the meeting when it was held in the old church, and was at the time under the influence of liquor. The missionary took me into the gallery and talked with me, and prayed with me, and God heard prayer and saved me. I became a new man in Christ, and have lost all appetite for drink j I hate the accursed stuff." A Drunkard for Thirty Years. Another told a remarkable story of his life : " I was a drunkard for thirty years, and I tried all kinds of means to get free, but all failed. I pledged myself over and over again, and swore off many a time. At last, Jesus met me at the mission meeting, and he saved me. He took away the appe- tite for drink from me. I am a different man ; I am tempted in various ways at times, but when tempted I think of Jesus and look to Him, and He saves me." The Hopeless One Brought Home. " A pastor related the incident of the conversion of a man who had disgraced his family, and all through drink. All the people in the village where he lived regarded him as a hope- less case. But he was prayed for, and one night in answer to an appeal to those desiring Christ to rise, he rose. He soon became a new man, and a steadfast soldier of the Cross, completely delivered from his hopeless situation, and all his appetites taken away." 368 ANSWERS TO PRAYER. "No Man can pluck them out of my Father's Hand." A brother says, "Jesus says this, and I rest just there." "A year ago I was in Philadelphia. I had resolved not to drink any liquor that day, but my resolution was soon broken. In the evening as I wandered the streets, that voice of God, ''Turn ye, turn ye,^ gave me great uneasiness. Although I tried hard not to go, yet the Spirit was at work within me, and against my will led me to the meetings of the Young Men's Christian Association. When the call came for those desiring prayers, I felt that it was my last call, and I pushed forward and rose. Friends prayed with me, and that night, as I pleaded for mercy, the burden of my sin was lifted and I was free. Christ took the appetite for drink away, and He has kept me ever since, and will keep me to the end, for He says, ^Fear not, for I have redeemed thee; I have called thee hy thy name ; thou art mine.'' Oh ! I know He won't let me go." Answer to Prayer in Temporal Matters. A speaker said at one meeting, '^God answers prayer in temporal matters. In a Western college, at a time when the last morsels of food had been eaten, and some had to go away from the table empty, four of the number retired to pray, and before they had ceased praying relief came. Provisions in large quantities were received, thus verifying the old prom- ise, ' Before they call I will answer.' " The Lord proved True. "The Lord reigns," another exclaimed, "I have proved that during my long life ! It has looked dark very often, and I have been in difficult places, but again and ap^ain the Lord has brought me through triumphantly. I have found tlie ANSWERS TO PKAYEK. 369 promise true.'' " Trust in the Lord, and do good, so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed." A Little Boy's Qnestion. A brother related a touching incident which occured in Brooklyn. "A little boy asked his father at the dinner table, * Papa, ivhy doriH you read the Bible? ^ The father was a passionate man, and was about driving the boy out of his presence, but his anger made the little fellow weep. That brought tears to the mother's eyes, and then the father fol- lowed suit. The boy's tears moved him, and the question struck his heart 5 and father and mother, up to that hour unconverted, were soon on their way to the prayer-meeting, where they found Jesus." A Little G-irl's Qnestion. A touching little story, with eternal results in it, was told at one of the meetings, illustrating that word of God's book, " A little child shall lead them." " A dress-maker called on a very wealthy lady in a city not far from New York, and took with her her little girl, five years old. The lady took a fancy to the child, and showed her over the house. She expressed great admiration at all she saw, and, particularly attracted by the carpet, said to the lady : ' Why, I should think Jesus must come here very often, it is such a nice house, and such a beautiful carpet — He must come here very often. He comes to our house, and we have no car- pet ; I am sure He must come here very often, doesn't He ? ' The lady not answering, the child repeated the question, when the reply came, with deep emotion, " I am afraid not." The child left, but God's message was delivered. The lady related the incident to her husband in the evening, and both were led to seek the Savior. 24 370 ANSWERS TO PRAYEK. God Cared for Me. At a meeting a young man in broken English, said : " If any man ought to believe in prayer, I ought to. My friends turned me out of my home, because I was seeking for Christ. I was too much Christian my landlady said. I told her I wished I was all Christian. It was seven o'clock in the evening when she refused to let me come into the house. I went then to the prayer-meeting in Water Street; we had such a good meeting, that I quite forgot that I had no place to sleep. The services over, I found it was raining fast, and I had no place to which to go. I went back into the room, and kneel- ing at one of the benches, I begged God to give me a place to rest. I did not go home my usual way that night, but on the way I took I met an old friend, and walking with him to his house he begged me to stay the night, as he did not like to be alone. I staid there that night, though I had never told him of my condition. What was it but an answer to prayer. Many a time since has God thus provided for my wants. friends, let your heart go out for Him, then He will never let you want." The Blind Can See. Said another, " I came here yesterday to ask you to pray for my sister. She has been sick some time, and then she lost her sight. I did not get an of)portunity to present my request because so many took part ; but I thought I would just take my sister's case to Jesus, remembering that Hhe prayer of faith shall save the sick.' In the afternoon I found her in sad need of sleep. I told her just to look to Jesus, because it was written of Him, ^ So He giveth His beloved sleep.' We prayed together, and I left her in a profound slumber. ' This morning when I called on her she could see me.' Friends, the Lord does answer prayer." RBI^BRBNCB BOOKS FOR BIBLB S"I^UDBNTS. JAMIESON, FAUSSET & BROWN'S Popular Portable Com- mentary. Critical, Practical, Explanatory. Four volumns in neat box, fine cloth, f 8.00; half bound, $10.00. A new edition, containing the complete unabridged notes in clear type on good paper, in four handsome 12 mo. volumes of about 1.000 pages each, with copious index, numerous illustrations and maps, and a Bible Dictionary compiled from Dr. Wm. Smith's standard work. 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Moody, Major Whittle, J. H. Brookes, D. D., Prof. W. G. Moorehead, Rev. E. P. Marvin, Jno. Carrie, Rev. W. J. Erdman, Rev. F. E. Marsh, Dr. L. W. Munhall, etc. NOTES AND SUGGESTIONS FOR BIBLE READINGS. By S. R. Briggs and J. H. Elliott. Containing, in addition to twelve introductory chapters on plans and method of Bible study and Bible readings, over six hundred outlines of Bible readings, by many of th« most eminent Bible students of the day. Crown 8vo, 262 pp. Cloth, library style, $1.00 ; flexible cloth, .75; paper covers, .50. THE OPEN SECRET ; or, The Bible Explaining Itself. A series of intensely practical Bible readings. By HANNAH Whitall Smith. 320 pp. Fine cloth, $1.00. That the author of this work has a faculty of presenting the " Secret Things " that are revealed in the Word of God is apparent to all who have read the exceedingly popular work, "The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life." BIBLE BRIEFS ; or, Outline Themes for Scripture Students. By G. C. & E. A. 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A series by one pre-eminently the man of one book, an incessant, intense, prayerful Student of the Bible. SYMBOLS AND SYSTEMS IN BIBLE READINGS. Rev. W. F. Crafts. 64 pages and cover, 25 cents. Giving a plan of Bible reading, with fifty verses definitely assigned for each day, the Bible being arranged in the order of its events. The entire symbolism of the Bible ex* plained concisely and cleanly. ,„S.IX;,«. F>emii?^|l.I^euell CHICAGO; 749^150 Madison St- oo THE LIFE OF CHRIST. Rev. Jas. Stalker, M. A, A new edition, with introduction by Rev. Geo. C. Lorimer, D. D. i2mo. cloth, i66 pages, 60 cents. This work is in truth '"'■ Miiltuin in Parvo^'' containing within small compass a vast amount of most helpful teaching, so admirably arranged that the reader gathers with re- markable definiteness the whole revealed record of the life work of our Lord in a nutshel' of space and with a minimum of study, THE LIFE OF ST. PAUL. By Rev. Jas. Stalker, M. A. 12m cloth, 184 pages, 60 cents. As admirable a work as the exceedingly popular volume by this author on " The ;ife of Christ." "An exceedingly compact life of the Apostle to the Gentiles. It is bristlinf , with information, and is brief, yet clear. As an outline of Paul's life it cannot be surpas'^ed." — N. V, Christian Inquirer. THE BIBLE STUDENTS' HANDBOOK. i2mo cloth, 288 pages 50 cents. One of those helpful works, worth its price, multiplied by several scores. It cca tains an introduction to the study of the Scriptures, with a brief account of the books of the Bible, their writers, etc., also a synopsis of the life and work of our Lord, and complete history of the manners and customs of the times, etc. THE TOPICAL TEXT BOOK. i6mo. cloth, 292 pages, 60 cents. A remarkably complete and helpful Scripture text book for the topical study of the Bible. Useful in preparing Bible readings, addresses, etc. THE BIBLE REMEMBRANCER. 24mo. cloth, 198 pages, 50 cts. A complete analyses of the Bible is here given, in small compass, in addition to a large amount of valuable Biblical information, and twelve colored maps. BIBLE LESSONS ON JOSHUA AND JUDGES. By Rev. J. GuRNEY Hoare, M. A. i6mo cloth, 124 pages, 50 cents. FIFTY-TWO LESSONS ON (i) The Works of Our Lord ; (2) Claims of Our Lord. Forming a year's course of instruction for Bible classes, Sunday schools and lectures. By Flavel S. Cook, M. A., D. D. i6mo. cloth, 104 pages, 50 cents. FIFTY-TWO LESSONS ON (i) The Names and Titles of Our Lord ; (2) Prophesies Concerning Our Lord and their Fulfillment. By Flavel S. Cook, M. A., D. D. i6mo. cloth, 104 pages, 50 cents. Extremely full in the matter of reference and explanation, and likely to make the user "search the Scriptures." OUTLINE OF THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE. By Rev. J. H. Brookes, D. D. Invaluable to the young student of the Bible as a " First Lesson '' in the study of the Book. 180 pages. Cloth, 50 cents; paper covers, 25 cents. CHRIST AND THE SCRIPTURES. By Rev. Adolph Sapher. i6mo. cloth, 160 pages, 75 cents. To all disciples of Christ this work commends itself at once by its grasp of truth, its insight, the life in it, and its spiritual fore;. — Christian Work. NEW YORK: C|emin6 H PgUgll CHICAGO: tdBibli House, AstorPl. f * '^" * » »/ V /* • M '^ v 'Ci H U8d150 Madison St New Books for -* — Thinking IVIinds. »» ♦ •» WHAT ARE WE TO BELIEVE ? or, The Testimony of Ful- filled Prophecy By Rev. John Urquhart. i6mo., 230 pages. cloth, 75 cents, " This book, so small in bulk but so large in thought, sets forth a great mass of such tes- timony in lines so clear and powerful that we pity the man who could read it without amazement and awe. It is the very book to put into the hands of an intelligent Agnostic." — The Christian^ London. MANY INFALLIBLE PROOFS. By Rev. Arthur T. Pierson, D. D. 317 pp. i2mo. Cloth, $1.00, paper, 35 cents. " It is not an exercise in mental gymnastics, but an earnest inquiry after the truth." — Daily Telegram^ Troy, N. Y. " He does not believe that the primary end of the Bible is to teach science ; but he argues with force and full conviction that nothing in the Bible has been shaken by scientific research." — Independent. HOW I REACHED THE MASSES; Together with twenty-two lectures delivered in the Birmingham Town Hall on Sunday after- noons. By Rev. Charles Leach, F. G. S. i6mo., cloth, $1.00. There is much of very welcome good sense and practical illustration in these addresses. Pithy and pointed in admonishment, and wholesome in their didactic tone, they ought to exercise a good influence. ENDLESS BEING; or, Man Made for Eternity. By Rev. J. L. Barlow. Introduction by the Rev. P. S. Henson, D. D. Cloth, i6mo., 165 pages, 75 cents. An unanswerable work ; meeting the so-called annihilation and kindred theories most satisfactorily. The author held for years these errors, and writes as one fully conversant with the ground he covers. It is a work which should be widely circulated. PAPERS ON PREACHING. By the Right Rev. Bishop Baldwin, Rev. Principal Rainy, D. D., Rev. J. R. Vernon, M. A., and others. Crown, 8vo, cloth, 75 cents. " Preachers of all denominations will do well to read these practical and instructive disquisitions. The essay on " Expression in Preachmg " is especially ^ooA.— Christian. THE SABBATH; its Permanence, Promise, and Defence. By Rev. W. W. Everts, D. D. i2mo., 278 pages, cloth, $1.00. No phase of the Sabbath question is left undiscussed, while every topic is treated in the briefest manner, and every touch of light shows the hand of a master. "An incisive and effective discussion of the subject." — N. Y. Observer. " A thoughtful Christian defence of that divine institution." — Christian Advocate. QUESTIONS OF THE AGES. By Rev. Moses Smith. Cloth i2mo, 132 pages, 75 cents. What is the Almighty? I Is there Common Sense in Religion? What is man ? \ What is Faith ? What is the Trinity ? Is there a Larger Hope f Which ts the Great Commandment . | Is Li/e Worth Living? What Mean these Stones? " Discusses certain of the deep things of the Gospel in such a wise and suggestive fashion that they are helpful. One, answers negatively and conclusively the question, Is there a larger hope ? ' — The Congregationafist. NEW YORK Cl^minrt U D^ir^ll Chicago \2 Bibia HQuse, Astot PL f "&'»»« l/\^ Jl . l^Ki\JK^ II j^^ ^ jqq H-jiison H TEXT BOOKS FOB Theological and other Bible Students, TRJUNING CL,ASSBS, ^c, «»c. Published by FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY. WORKS OF PROF. REVERE FRANKLIN WEIDNER, D. D. Biblical Tlieology of the Old Testament. Based on Oehler . . $1.25. "The author has done well in his effort to recast Oehler's work, and put it into a form more apprehensible to American students. . . . We congratulate Prof. Weid- ner on its accorsplishment. We shall hope to hear from him again." — TAe Advance. "Oehler's famous work is bulky, as the products of German scholarship are apt to be. This reproduction of it gives its distilled essence in a form well adapted alike to the needs of the class-room in the theological seminary, and to the wants of the pastor actively engaged. Nor would it be amiss for teachers of Bible classes to give the work careful study."— TA^ Moravian. Biblical Tlieology of New Testament.— Vols, i and 2, each $1.50. "The great merit of his work is the method of original and independent investiga- tion conducted without reference to any previously formed system of theology. When united to Prof. Weidner's laborious investigation and devout spirit, this method pro- duces results that are exceedingly suggestive." — Advance. "All in all, this is a book that Theologians, Bible Students, and Sunday School Teachers will want and cannot do \v\iho\xt.'" —Religious Telescope. Exeg'etical Tlieology. Based on Hagenbach arwd Krauth $1.25. " Prof. Weidner's method is the sound and the fruitful one pursued by all the best writers on the subject, but it is in no sense a translation. . . . His statements of a subject and of a line of argument are made with neatness, precision, and in that sug- gestive manner which is a prime merit in work of this sort." — The Independent. " In his selection of literature Prof. Weidner has shown great care and skill. Only that which is of practical value is mentioned. The book is just what it purports to be, a textbook; it is arranged for the wants of the student. But its use is not coiihned to the theological class room. Ministers w/io study (alas that the number of those who do not study is so great!) will find in it valuable and helpful material."— jP/-*?/". Harper. Historical and Systematic Tlieolo^y $1.50. The science of Theological Encyclopaedia is one of the most important branches taught in a Theological Seminary. Its aim is to present a summary view of what is embraced in theological knowledge. It explains the inner organization of Theology, maps out its divisions, and shows them in their relation to one another. Methodology- is the practical application of Theological Encyclopaedia. It shows the order in which the various topics are begt taken up, indicates the best methods, and points out the most useful books. In this work a full and clear presentation of the various disciplines be longing to each department is given, together with valuable lists of books. The sciences of Symbolics and Dogmatics are treated with special fulness, and the literature under Dogmatics is given according to the various denominations and according to subjects. This second volume is as compact and thorough in its treatment as the first on Exeget- tea I Theology. The latter part of the work contains an Appendix on the "History of Dogmatics," covering 120 pages, reprinted from the author's Introduction to Dogmatic 'Theology. An Introduction to Dogmatic Tlieology. Based on Luthardt. $2.00. "The German method of study, as outlined in this book, is what our divines some- times lack. In this brief volume we have a treasury of information ; we have a succinct account of the dogmatic teachers of the Ancient Church, of the Middle Ages, of the Reformation age and so on — with terse biographies. We are thus enabled to glance over the whole field. . . . The book is well worth the reading of our clergy."— 27** Churchman (Episcopal). "The work is made one of great practical value for the student, presenting within moderate compass what one would be obliged to seek for otherwise through whol* libraries. It is clear, comprehensive, condensed, with admirable analysis of the sub- ject, yet with enough of the synthetical element to secure unity in the result."— /^ro«» The Standard. Practical Theology— $i.oo. Studies in the Book. For training classes. Vol. I. Studies on the historical books of the New Testament, Seven General Epistles and Revelation. 16mo., cloth interleaved for notes. .. $1.00 Vol. II.— Studies on I Thes.,II Thes,, Gal., I Cor., II Cor and Romans.. 1.00 Vol. III.— Studies on Col., Eph., Philemon, Phil., Heb., I Tim., II Tim., and Titus 1.00 "Prof. Weidner has here given us the fruit of years of study and instruction. His notes are just shrewd and discriminating and no one can faithfully peruse them with- out gaining an enlarged and moving conception of the contents of tne Bible." — Standi ard. ••We have for these books only commendation."— ^iiJ/r Teacher, Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. (Bagsters.) Consisting of five hundred thousand Scripture references and parallel pas- sages, numerous illustrative notes, 8vo., cloth, 700 pages $2.00 "You have conferred a favor on the Bible students of America by issuing your edition of Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. Bible students who desire to compare Scripture with Scripture will find the ' Treasury ' to be of better help than Any other book of which I have any knowledge."— i?. R. McBurney, Gen. Sec, T M. C. A., Nevf Tork. " These works will be a valuable aid to the pastor, to students in theological seminaries and to those who may be prosecuting the study of Tneoiojfy wiUiout the living teacher." — National Baptist. Inglis' Bible Text Cyclopedia. By Rev. Jas. Inglis. A complete classification of Scripture Texts in the form of an alphabetical list of subjects. Large 8vo., 524 pages, cloth.. $1.75 " "We know of no other work comparable with it in this department of study."— Sunday Scnool Times. "The aim of this volume is to place every text of Scripture under its appropriate topic and names and subjects are taken up which do not appear in any other Cyclo- pedia. "—.S/o«lete unabridged notes in clean type, on good paper, in four handsome vols., with copious index, numerous illus. and maps, and dictionary compiled from Dr. Smith's standard works. Four vols., in neat box, fine cloth $8.00 Half morocco „ , 10.00 "The best condensed Commentary on the whole Bible is the Commentary on the Old and New Testaments by Jamieson, Faussett and Brown. It contains notes of the choicest and richest character on all parts of the Holy Bible. It is the cream of the Commentaries carefully collected by three eminent scholars. Its critical introduction to each book of Scripture, its eminently practical notes, its numerous pictorial illus- trations, commend it strongly to the Sunday-school worker and to the clergyman. Then it is such a marvel of cheapness."— Rt. Rev. J. H. Vincent, D. D., in **Aids to Bible Study." The leading clergymen and college professors of the country unite with Bishop Vincent in placing this Commentary in the first rank of all Biblical aids. Stalker's Life of St. Paul. 12mo., cloth 60 Bristling with information. As an outline of Paul's life, it cannot be surpassed. — New Tork Ckristiati Enquirer, Stalker's Life of Christ. 12mo., cloth O...C..O. .60 Multum in Parvo is the apt description of these life studies. Especially valuable as text-books for reading circles. "It is a remarkably lucid, accurate and suggestive analysis of the Christ Life which is presented in this book. We value it as a rare manual for the study of the divine man." — Illustrated Christian Weekly. Robinson's Harmony of the Four Gospels in the Words of the Au- thorized Version. Edited by Dr. B. Davies. 16mo „... .60 Handbook to Grammar of the Greek Testament. By Rev. S. G. Green, D. D. Together with a complete vocabiilary, and an examination of the chief New Testament Synonyms. Illustrated by Examples and Comments. New and Revised Edition. Bvo •.«• $2.0(f Constant reference is made to the revised New Testament of 1881, and more espe- cially to the Greek text of Drs. Westcott and Hort. The Vocabulary has been entirely remodeled, and the work in its new form is offered to tutors, classes and private stu- dents, in the confidence that it will be found more than ever adapted to their needs. A Syllabus of the Outlines and Literature of Old Testament History By Prof. IraM. Price, Ph. D., Leipsic $1.50 This work is a systematic and chronological analysis of the history found in the OJd Testament, with copious references to the latest and best literature on each topic, especially such as are corroborated by the newest discoveries in the East. The work is for the use of students, pastors and other christian workers. 148-1^0 Madison Street, f IBnillJJ M. KGUBll uOi 30 Union Square Eas(- By-Paths of Bible Knowledge. •'The volumes issuing under the above general title fully deserve suc- cess. They have been entrusted to scholars who have a special acquaint- ance with the subjects about which they severally treat. " — Aihencrum. These books are written by specialists, and their aim is to give the results of the latest and best scholarships on questions of Biblical history, science and archaeology. The volumes contain much informa- tion that is not easily accessible, even to those who have a large acquaintance with the higher literature on these subjects. IS. Early Bible Song:s. With introduction on the Nature and Spirit of Hebrew Song, by A. H. DrysdaleM. A $100 14. modern Discoveries on tlie Site of Ancient Epliesus. By J . T. Wood, F. S. A. lUustrated $100 1 3. Tlie Times of Isaiali. As illustrated from Con temporary Monuments. By A. H. Sayce, LL. D. .80 1*. The Hittites; or tlie Story of a Forgotten Empire. By A. H. Sayce, LL. D. Illustrated, Crown, 8vo $120 1 1. Animals of tlie Bible. Bv H. Chichester Hart, Naturalist to Sir G. Nares' Arctic Expedition and Professor Hull's Palestine Expedition. Illustrated, Crown, 8vo $1 20 10, Tlie Trees and Plants Mentioned in tlie Bible. By W. H. Groser, B. Sc. Illustrated $1 00 9. The Diseases of the Bible. By Sir J. Risdon Bennett $100 8. The Dwellers on the Nile. Chapters on the Life, Literature, History and Customs of Ancient Egjpt. By E. A. Wailis Budge, M. A., Assistant in Department of Oriental Antiquities, British Museum. Illustrated $1 20 T. Assyria; Its Princes, Priests and People. By A. H. Sayce, M. A., LL. D., author of "Fresh Light from Ancient Monuments," "Introduction to Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther," etc. Illustrated $130 jypt and Syria. ["heir Physical Features in Relation to Bible History. By Sir J. W. Dawson, Principal of McGill College, Montreal, F. G. S., F. R. S., author of "The Chain of Life in Geological Time," etc. Second edition, revised and enlarged. With many illustrations $120 5. Galilee in the time of Christ. By Selah Merrill, D.D.. author of "Eastof the Jordan, "etc. WithMap $100 4. Babylonian Life and History. By E. A. Willis Budge, M. A., Cambridge, Assistant in the Depart- ment of Oriental Antiquities, British Museum, illustrated $120 8. Recent DiseoTcries on the Temple Hill at Jerusalem. By the Rev. J. King, M. A., Authorized Lecturer for the Palestine Exploration Fund. With Maps, Plans and Illustrations $1 00 2. Fresh Liig:lits From the Ancient Monuments. A Sketch of the most striking Confirmations of the Bible from recent discoveries in Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, Palestine and Asia Minor. By A. H. Sayce, LL. D., Deputy Professor of Comparative Philology, Oxford, etc. With facsimiles from photographs $1 20 1. Cleopatra's Needle. History of the London Obelisk, with an Exposition of the Hiero- glyphics. By the Rev. J. King, Lecturer for the Palestine Explora- tion Fond. With Illustrations $10i Th 948-130 Madison Strut, T iBIIlilJJ H, RBVBII GO. 30 Union Square' Etni, J[?e "flortt^field BooKs 9f -♦- fi COLLEGE OF COLLEGES— 89. (Third vol. of this series). Uni- form with former volumes, and containing studies and talks by Bishops Baldwin and Foss, Prof. Harper, Rev. Drs. Hodge, Driver, Pearson, Mr. Moody and others. 288 pp., $1.00. COLLEGE: STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD; or, A College of Colleges, No. 2. Conducted during July, 1888: Containing addresses by Mr. D. L. Moody, Rev. J. Hudson Taylor, M. D., Bishop Hendrix, Rev. Alex. McKenzie, D.D., Rev. Henry Clay Trumbull, D. D., Prof. W. B. Harper, and oth-ers. i2mo, 296 pp., cloth, $1.00 net. The " Practical Talks " as given in report of last year's gathering, the demand fof which has called for a seventh edition, has induced us to publish an account of this year s proceedings, none the less " practical," and we feel sure will be as fully appreciated. Dr. A . T. Pierson writes : " Admirable book. I deem it one of the best of all the practical helps issued by the press." Dr. Joseph Cook.— '' It is well edited, well printed, and well inspired from on High. Is full of a Holy Fire of spiritual zeal, which I hope to see spread far and wide. President M. E. Gates, of Rutgers College, writes: "The influence which has ^one out on the College Life of this country, from the summer meetings at Northfield, is so potent for good, that 1 welcome the extension and perpetuation of that influence througlx this book." SEVENTH THOUSAND. A COLLEGE OF COLLEGES; or, Practical Talks to College Students. Given in July, 1887, by Prof. Henry Drummond, F.R.S.S., Rev. J. A. Broadus, D.D., Prof. Townsend, Rev. A. T. Pierson.D.D., |Ir. D. L. Moody, and others. i2mo, 288 pp., cloth, $1.00 net. '■'■0[s\zr\2\vz}i\x&.''''— Chautauqua Herald. ^ , ^ . „_.^ "We commend this volume very coxd:xa\\y .'' -Presbyterian Witness. " The volume closes with a chapter of ' nuggets ' from Northfield, which is no excep- tion, however, as the other chapters are equally rich in ' nuggets. — The Independent. D. L. MOODY AT HOME. His Home and Home Work. Embracing a description of the educational institutions established at Northfield, Mass., together v;ith an account of the various noted gath- erings of Christian workers at the place, and the most helpful and sug- gestive lectures, and the best thoughts there exchanged ; adding, also, many helpful and practical results. 288 pp., clo., 8 Illustrations, $1.00. The New York Independent says: " There is nothing in the career of this remark- able man more striking than his work at Northfield." _ • , -. rr., ui- • The New York Evangelist spoke most truly when it said : " 1 he public is unaware of Mr. Moody's enormous investments at Northfield, that will pay him abundant intarest long after he reaches heaven." ..sJ^^^fZstr.,,. Fleniing H. ReVeII Co. so uZIZ'^:e.,. Writings of Rev. F. B. MEYER, B. A. Mr. Meyer always writes to edification.— C. H. SPURGEON. ^ e :p I) , Beloved— Hated— Exalted. Cloth, i6 mo., $i.oo. (±5 In the present volume Mr. Meyer retells vfith skill and pathos thf old-world story of the Israelitish youth who rose through pit and prison to the post of Premier of Egypt; a story of undying interest and worth, not only as a true tale of Eastern romance, but as a unique example of the value of piety, purity of life and fidelity in service. 3^ lOTH THOUSAND. b r CI ll CI tit : or, The Obedience of Faith. Cloih, i6 mo., $i.oo. A book we would very heartily commend to those who desire to make progress in Christian life and experience; each will find it helpful and sug- gestive, sending new light upon many a well-known narrative. — Christian Progress. The contents of the book before us are such that no one can rise from its perusal without feeling consciously strengthened in God and inspired afresh for the Godly life. — Sunday-School Chronicle. Really a very beautiful work, which will be read with delight by many a fireside. After all, this home-like treatment of Scripture biography, with the object of bringing out the spiritual lessons, is amongst the highest and most profitable studies. — The Freeman. I3TH THOUSAND. i^ r a e I : a Prince with God. Cloth, 16 mo., $1.00. Mr. Meyer has great descriptive power. He can tell a narrative well. This subject in his hand glows with life, and the scenes and events in the history of his hero pass vividly before you, and are ever being used to force home some important principle. — British Messenger. With a keen moral insight, and a deep spiritual sympathy, he de- scribes the piety and weakness of the best beloved of the Patriarchs. — Christian Leader. Exceedingly good, not only spiritual, but also thoughtful, fresh, sug- gestive and thoroughly practical. — C. H. Spurgeon, in Sword and Trowel, From first to last the book is richly suggestive and spiritually ix\x\\.- iM\.— Word and Work. I5TH THOUSAND, ^jjy 1 i I g I) : and the Secret of his Power. Cloth, ib mo., $1.00. The leading object of this volume is to show that Elijah's God is ou:< God; and how a like dependence may be ours if our dependence is in the living God. It is encouraging and stimulating; yet full of solemn warnings. Some parts are grandly written and of thrilling interest. — Footsteps 0/ Truth. Good, exceedingly good I Mr. Meyer is a great gain to the armies of Eyangelical truth; for his tone, spirit and aspirations are all of a fine Gospel sort. — Sword and Trowel. NiwYQRK :: Fleming H. Revell Co. ;; Chicago. WRITINGS OF REV. F. W. MEYER, B. A. 44^J^*^i^\ U^ Xli'^i>,^^ Expositions of the First Epistle of Peter. C/oiA, jj^ nco OP 4rvrg- ^5 ,^^.^ $1.00. We doubt whether any work has appeared since the time of Leighton, on the same subject, which equals the one before us. These expositions of one of the richest of the Epistles are brightly and beautifully written, and infused by a lofty and evangelical Christian spirit— Frimittve Methodist. i 2IST THOUSAND. lie IJresent gTcnses of tiie Bleseeb Cifc cioth, 32 mo., 50c. We -ommend the book as one that cannot fail to be read with profit. — Evangelical Christendom. A gem and brimful of spiritual life. — Methodist New Connexion Magazine. 2OTH THOUSAND. fll^ liristian £it)ing» cioth, 32 mo., 50c. Full of sweetness and light. No Christian can read it and fail to receive stimulus in the direction whither the true-hearted would go.— C^«- gregational Magazine. Special stress is made in this little volume on the practical side of the Christian life. Thoughts calculated to strengthen and inspire in the per- formance of every-day duties, are put in clear and simple ioxvc^.— Advance.^ Tbey prove most refreshing reading; and for the culture of the relig- ous life we can recommend nothing better. — Standard. I9TH THOUSAND. q^ he Sjietlhetb Psalm. MedUaUons^on the .3d Psalm. Cloth, 3^ We have never read anything so charming on the Twenty- third Psalm. It is full of beauty and poetry. Anything that this gifted and spiritual author writes requires no recommendation, as he is well known to the Christian public— /r/j/^ Congregational Magazine. Mr. Meyer has given us a devotional work on this inspired Psalm which every Christian man and woman should not only read but carry about in his pocket in order to snatch even amid the busy employment of life an upHfting and elevating thought. This little book is worth its weight m go\^,— Central Baptist. Envelope Series of Booklets, by Rev. B. F. Meyer. The Chambers of the King. Words of Help for Christian The Lost Chord Found. With Christ in Separation. Girls. „.,.. Why Sign the Pledge ? Seven Rules for Daiy Living, The Filling of the Holy Spirit. The Secret of Power. The Secret of Victory over Sin. The Stewardship of Money. Our Bible Reading The First Step into the Blessed Where am I Wrong? Ihe Secret of Guidance. Life^ ^ Young Man, Don't Drift! Peace, Perfect Peace. 20c. per dozen, or $1.50 per 100. CHOICE EXTRACTS from writings of F. B. Meyer, 48 p ages, 5c. per copy; 35c. dozen. NItWYORK. :: FlCITling H. ReVell Co. :: CHICAGO. Popular Missionary Biographies. i2mo, i6o pages. Fully illustrated; cloth extra, 75 cents each Rev. C. H. Spurgeon, writes : " Crowded with facts that both interest and in- spire, we can conceive of no better plan to spread the Missionary spirit than the multiplying of such biographies; and we ■would specially commend this series to those who have the management of libraries and selection of prizes in our Sunday Schools." From The Missionary Herald : .0? > "We commended this ^ Ar series in our last issue, and a further examma- tion leads us to renew our commendation, and to ur£-e the placing of this series of missionary books in ail our Sabbath-school libraries. These books are hand- somely printed and bound and are beautifully illus- trated, and we are confi- dent that they will prove attractive to all young people." SAMUEL CROWTHER, the Slave Boy who became Bishop of the Niger. By Jesse Page, author of " Bishop Patterson." THOMAS J. COMBER, Missionary Pioneer to the Congo. By Rev. J. B. Myers, Association Secretary Baptist Missionary Society, BISHOP PATTESON, the Martyr of Melanesia. By Jesse Page. GRIFFITH JOHN, Founder of the Hankow Mission, Central China. By Wm. Robson, of the -London Missionary Society. ROBERT MORRISON, the Pioneer of Chinese Missions. By Wm. J. ToWNSEND, Sec. Methodist New Connexion Missionary Soc'y. ROBERT MOFFAT, the Missionary Hero of Kuruman. By David J. Deane, author of " Martin Luther, the Reformer," etc. WILLIAM CAREY, the Shoemaker who became a Missionary. By Rev. J. B. Myers, Association Secretary Baptist Missionary Society. JAMES CHALMERS, Missionary and Explorer of Rarotonga and New Guinea. By Wm. Robson, of the London Missionary Soc'y. MISSIONARY LADIES IN FOREIGN LANDS. By Mrs. E. R. PiLMAN, author of " Heroines of the Mission Fields," etc. JAMES CALVERT ; or, From Dark to Dawn in Fiji. JOHN WILLIAMS, the Martyr of Erromanga. By Rev. James J. Ellis. UNIFORM WITH THE ABOVE. JOHN BRIGHT, the Man of the People. By Jesse Page, author of " Bishop Patteson," " Samuel Crowther," etc. HENRY M. STANLEY, the African Explorer. By Arthur Monte- fiore, F.R.G.S. Brought down to 1889. DAVID LIVINGSTON, his Labors and his Legacy. CHICAGO: 148-130 Madison Street. Flemiiig H. I^eVell Co. NEW YORK: JO Union Square East' Date Due • >■ -f. i 4. ^^ \ - ' ■ . FEB 2 8 ' Si7 . jyM ?,a.?^ j«^- ^m. 1 re 9 ■ t^BB-Bwa^'^^^ jMHBil^ ■fiih'Miii^MjtiMmHI^a ' %saiM«^(^ *^ '^i^M^''"^ ili*V MAY 5nn7 ^uu/ f