The Wonders of Prayer Part 13

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 G.o.d had sent him to her in the hour of extremity. At length, pressure of business kept him away for some time, until, one evening, he started out to look up a few dollars owing him, in order to procure some delicacies for a sick wife. One dollar was all he could procure, and with that in his pocket he was returning homeward, when he became so impressed with the idea that he should visit the Englishwoman that he turned aside and did so. He found her in tears, and asking the cause, heard the sorrowful tale of no work, no food in the house for to-morrow, which was Sunday. He was in doubt whether to give her the dollar and suffer his sick wife to go without something palatable, but in a moment, "Blessed is he that considereth the poor; the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble," presented itself to his mind, and--the dollar dried the widow's tears.

Upon reaching his home he found a lady had called on his wife and brought with her three or four kinds of jellies, fruit, home-made biscuit, various relis.h.i.+ng 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 pa.s.sage, "Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, He will give it you." She said, "Please tell me if any one sent you here?" "No." "Did you ever hear that I lived here?" "I did not." "Then the Lord sent you in answer to my prayer this morning. For the first time in my life, I am without food. My sister was to have come home yesterday, but has not. I was just asking the Lord to provide for me when you knocked at the door."

Such scenes as these amply repay our missionaries for all the toils and weariness, all the anxieties and perplexities of the work.

A PRAYER FOR BREAD.

"Was.h.i.+ngton Allston, who stood at the head of American artists a half century ago, was, at one time, so reduced by poverty, that he locked his studio, in London, one day, threw himself on his knees and prayed for a loaf of bread for himself and wife. While thus engaged, a knock was heard at the door, which the artist hastened to open. A stranger inquired for Mr. Allston, and was anxious to know who was the fortunate purchaser of the painting of the 'Angel Uriel,' which had won the prize at the exhibition of the Royal Academy. He was told that it was not sold. 'Where is it to be found?' 'In this very room,' said Allston, producing a painting from a corner and wiping off the dust. 'It is for sale, but its value has not been adequately appreciated, and I would not part with it.' 'What is its price?' 'I have done affixing any nominal sum. I have always so far exceeded any offers, I leave it to you to name the price.' 'Will four hundred pounds be an adequate recompense?' 'It is more than I ever asked for it.' 'Then the painting is mine,' said the stranger, who introduced himself as the Marquis of Stafford, and, from that time, became one of Mr. Allston's warmest friends and patrons."

THE DAUGHTER'S PRAYER.

The late Doctor Krummacher, chaplain to the king of Prussia, in referring to faith and prayer, writes as follows:

"A little incident occurs to me which I can hardly withhold, on account of its simplicity and beauty. The mother of a little girl, only four years of age, had been, for some time, most dangerously ill. The physician had given her up. When the little girl heard this, she went into an adjoining room, knelt down, and said: 'Dear Lord Jesus, O make my mother well again.'

"After she had thus prayed, she said, as though in G.o.d'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 G.o.d'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; G.o.d will accept thee."

THE LORD WILL PROVIDE.

"A city missionary, one Sat.u.r.day night, was going home with a basket of provisions on his arm. Meeting a policeman, he asked him if there had any families moved in the bounds of his beat during the week. He answered, 'Yes,' and, pointing to a building up an alley, said, 'a woman and some children are living there now.'

"The missionary went to the house, rapped at the door, and was admitted.

The woman was sitting by a small light, sewing. In the corner of the room, were two little girls, apparently from nine to twelve years of age, playing.

"The missionary said, 'Madam, I am here to see if you will allow your girls to attend Sunday-school to-morrow morning.' 'I would, sir; but what you see on them is all the clothing they have, and you would not wish them to go as they are now.' 'The Lord will provide, madam. Have you no money?' 'Not yet, but I have committed my case into the hands of the Lord.' 'Have you anything to eat?' 'Nothing, sir!' 'What will you do for breakfast?' 'O, sir, I once had a husband; he provided when he could. These children had a father; he supplied their wants; but he is dead now. Yet my Maker, even G.o.d, is my husband, and He has promised to be a father to the fatherless. We have committed all to Him, have called upon Him in this our day of trouble. I am trusting in G.o.d to take care of a poor widow and her children in a strange place, and I know He will provide.' 'Thank G.o.d for such faith,' said the missionary; and, handing her the basket, said 'here is your breakfast, and you shall have the clothing for your children.' With tears streaming down her face, she replied: 'Oh, thank G.o.d for his faithfulness! He heareth and answereth prayer. May He bless you!' And, said our dear brother to us, 'I felt the promise was sure, for she was blessed in receiving, I was more so in giving.'"

A PRAYER FOR A LOAD OF WOOD.

Here is an ill.u.s.tration of the way in which G.o.d sends relief in trouble.

The story is told by the Christian woman to whom it happened, in her own language:

"About the month of January, 1863, I was living in Connecticut, alone with two little boys, one of them four years old, and the other about a year and a half old. My husband was away in the service of his country.

When the coldest weather came, I was nearly out of wood. I went down into the village, one day, to try and get some, but tried in vain; so many men were away in the army that help was scarce. Very little wood was brought into market, and those living on the main street, got all that came, while those who lived outside the village could get none. I tried to buy a quarter of a cord from two or three merchants, but could not get any. One of them told me he could not get what he wanted for his own family. Another said he wasn't willing to yoke up his team for so small a quant.i.ty; but, as I only had a dollar and seventy-five cents, I could not buy any more, and so I was obliged to go home without any. I went back to my little ones, feeling very sad. But while I sat there, almost ready to cry, the words of Abraham came into my mind, 'Jehovah- Jireh, the Lord will provide.' Then I went up to my chamber. There I knelt down and told G.o.d of my trouble, and asked him to help me and send the relief that we needed. Then I went to the window and waited, looking down the street, expecting to see the wood coming. After waiting a while, without seeing any come, my faith began to fail. I said to myself, 'The Lord did provide for Abraham, but He won't provide for me.'

Our last stick of wood was put in the stove. It was too cold to keep the children in the house without fire. I got the children's clothes out, and thought I would take them to the house of a kind neighbor, where I knew they could stay till we got some wood. But, just as I was going out with the children, in pa.s.sing by the window, I saw the top of a great load of wood coming up the road towards our little house. Can that be for us? I asked myself. Presently I saw the wagon turn off the road and come up towards our door. Then I was puzzled to know how to pay for it.

A dollar and seventy-five cents I knew would only go a little way towards paying for all that wood. The oxen came slowly on, dragging the load to our door. I asked the man if there wasn't same mistake about it.

'No, ma'am,' said he, 'there's no mistake.' 'I did not order it, and I cannot pay for it,' was my reply. 'Never mind, ma'am,' said he, 'a friend ordered it, and it is all paid for.' Then he unhitched the oxen from the wagon, and gave them some hay to eat. When this was done, he asked for a saw and ax, and never stopped till the whole load was cut and split and piled away in the woodshed.

"This was more than I could stand. My feelings overcame me, and I sat down and cried like a child. But these were not bitter tears of sorrow.

They were tears of joy and gladness, of grat.i.tude and thankfulness. I felt ashamed of myself for doubting G.o.d's word, and I prayed that I might never do so again. What pleasure I had in using that wood! Every stick of it, as I took it up, seemed to have a voice with which to say 'Jehovah-Jireh.' As Abraham stood on the top of Mount Moriah he could say, 'The Lord _will_ provide.' But every day, as I went into our woodshed, I could point to that blessed pile of wood sent from heaven, and say, 'The Lord _does_ provide.'"

A REFRACTORY MAN COMPELLED TO PAY A DEBT.

A refractory man who owed a small debt of about $43, refused to pay it all, but offered to do so if ten dollars was taken off. His creditor, feeling that it was just, declined to abate the amount.

For more than a year the creditor waited, after having no attention paid to his correspondence or, claim by the debtor, who exhibited unmistakable obstinacy and want of courtesy. At last it was put into the hands of a lawyer. The lawyer, too, was fairly provoked at the faithlessness of the debtor in his promises or his attention to the subject; thus matters dragged wearily for months, yet exercised leniency in pressing the claim.

The creditor, whose forbearance had now reached the extremity of endurance, at last was led to take it to the Lord in prayer; saying he would "willingly forgive the whole debt if in anything he was wrong, but if the Lord thought it was right, hoped that his debtor _might be compelled to pay the amount he so obstinately withheld_."

To the astonishment of all, a letter received from the lawyer four days after, informed him _that his debtor had called and paid the claim in full_ with interest to date. "In doing so, he said he paid it _under protest_," thus showing he was _compelled by something he could not resist to pay it all_.

A HURRICANE Pa.s.sES AROUND A s.h.i.+P.

A Sea Captain relates to the editor of the _Christian_, a remarkable incident, whereby in one of his voyages his s.h.i.+p was unaccountably held still, and thereby saved from sailing directly into the midst of a terrible hurricane:--"We sailed from the Kennebec on the first of October, 1876. There had been several severe gales, and some of my friends thought it hardly safe to go, but after considerable prayer I concluded it was right to undertake the voyage. On the 19th of October we were about one hundred and fifty miles west of the Bahamas, and we encountered very disagreeable weather. _For five or six days we seemed held by s.h.i.+fting currents, or some unknown power, in about the same place. We would think we had sailed thirty or forty miles_, when on taking our observations we would find we _were within three or four miles of our position the day before_. This circ.u.mstance occurring repeatedly proved a trial to my faith, and I said within my heart, '_Lord, why are we so hindered, and kept in this position_?' Day after day we were held as if by an unseen force, until at length a change took place, and we went on our way. Reaching our port they inquired, 'Where have you been through the gale?' '_What gale_?' we asked. '_We have seen no gale_.' We then learned that a terrible hurricane had swept through that region, and that all was desolation. We afterwards learned that _this hurricane had swept around us, and had almost formed a circle around the place occupied by us during the storm. A hundred miles in one direction all was wreck and ruin, fifty miles in the opposite direction all was desolation; and while that storm was raging in all its fury, we were held in perfect safety, in quiet waters_, and in continual anxiety to change our position and pursue our voyage _One day of ordinary sailing would have brought us into the track of the storm, and sent us to the bottom of the sea._ We were anxious to sail on, but some unseen power held us where we were, and we escaped."

The Captain was a prayerful man, trusting in his Lord, though his faith was tried, and he thought the Lord was not helping him. Yet the Lord was keeping his promise to him, "_The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by him, and the Lord shall cover him all the day long_."

RECOVERY FROM SPINAL DISEASE.

"Miss M---- is the daughter of a respectable farmer, an elder in a Presbyterian church in Western Pennsylvania. When a young girl her spine was injured while nursing her aged and helpless grandmother, and she has been a great sufferer for many years. For eleven years she has not been able to attend church nor to go from home, and for a long time was unable to leave her chamber or her bed. Two years ago she was so ill that hopes of her recovery were abandoned, her mind was thought to be seriously, even hopelessly impaired. Her physician acknowledged that her disease baffled his skill.

"A few months ago, being near her residence and hearing that her health was better, I called on her, and to my surprise, found her able to sew, walk about, and even go down stairs. She informed me that she suffered so intensely from the remedies used for her cure, and constantly grew worse, that she determined to do nothing more; it seemed like fighting against G.o.d; she would put herself into His hands to do with her as He pleased. Then it seemed to her that the Saviour came to her and said, 'M----, what aileth thee?' She told Him all her case, and He soothed and comforted her. From that time she began to improve; the paroxysms of pain grew less, and disappeared; her nervousness was relieved, she could sleep, her mind was full of peace. She said, 'I am not cured, and do not expect to be well, but I can bear what I have to suffer, and am willing to depart whenever it is the Lord's will to take me away to himself.'"

PRAYER FOR A PAIR OF BOOTS.

In the Fall of 1858, H----, a student in the Theological Seminary at Princeton, N.J., was in great need of a new pair of boots. His toes were sticking out of his old ones, and he had no money to purchase new ones.

All the money he could command was barely enough to pay his fare to his home, where be had promised a dear friend to be present on the approaching communion Sabbath.

H---- was a man of great faith, and was accustomed to carry all his wants to G.o.d in prayer. To G.o.d 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 G.o.d heard, and would answer his pet.i.tion, yet his faith was sorely tried. Sat.u.r.day morning came and still there was no answer; he resolved, however, to go to his home, fully persuaded that G.o.d would in good time grant his request. He took the morning train at the Princeton depot, and reached home about eleven o'clock. It was a hard trial for him to go to "Preparatory Lecture" with his boots in the condition they were in; yet at two o'clock he went, still praying that G.o.d would send him a new pair of boots. During the service, a merchant in the town took a seat in the same pew with him, and at the close of the service, without a word being spoken on the subject, the merchant, after shaking hands with H---- and inquiring of his welfare, asked him if he would do him the favor of going down town to a certain boot and shoe store and select from the stock as good a pair of boots as he could find, and, said the merchant, "have them charged to me." It was, as, H---- said to me on his return to the seminary, a direct answer to prayer. Indeed, it might be said of H---- that he went through college and seminary _on prayer_. He laid all his plans before G.o.d, pleaded his promises, and never was disappointed.

UNDER GARMENTS IN ANSWER TO PRAYER.