The Wonders of Prayer Part 44

The captain, whose s.h.i.+p was lost, then asked if he might take his crew and try to right the vessel.

"Take them, and do what you can," was the reply. He called to his men and told them they must save that s.h.i.+p; he inspired them with confidence, for they knew he was a true man of G.o.d. They executed his orders with alacrity and care. They cut away the masts, and cleared away the rigging, and brought all the force they could to right the vessel.

G.o.d prospered the efforts--the s.h.i.+p righted; they got the pumps at work, rigged a sail, and were finally all saved. It seemed as if it was necessary to put the captain of the first s.h.i.+p and his crew on the second s.h.i.+p, that they might save it and those on board when the terrible storm came.

Now it was particularly noticed in connection with this deliverance, that the captain of the lost vessel did not make any ado in prayer, or in calling on G.o.d, while the storm was raging; and knowing that he was a Christian man, they asked him the reason of this. He answered them, _that he did his praying in fair weather; "and then_" said he, _"when the storm comes, I work_." He did not distrust G.o.d then, any more than in fair weather; but he knew that G.o.d requires man to do all he can to save himself, and praying might lose him his s.h.i.+p, when his own efforts must save it.

THE RESCUE FROM THE VILLE DU HAVRE, AND THE LOCH EARN.

A remarkable ill.u.s.tration of G.o.d's mysterious way is found in connection with the rescue of some of the pa.s.sengers of the ill-fated French steams.h.i.+p, 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 pa.s.sengers, the rest were taken up by the Loch Earn, from which most of them were afterwards transferred to the Trimountain. Others remained on board the Loch Earn, where in consequence of its disabled condition they seemed again in imminent danger of being lost.

On the 11th of December, while Mr. D.L. Moody was conducting a noonday prayer-meeting in the city of Edinburgh, Rev. Dr. Andrew Thompson read a letter from a Christian lady, the mother of one of these imperiled pa.s.sengers, which contained the following account:

"After the Trimountain left them, and they had examined their s.h.i.+p, many a heart failed, and they feared they would never see land again. They could not navigate the vessel, and were left to the mercy of the winds and waves, or rather to the care of Him who ruleth wind and waves. Vain was the help of man. The wind drove them out of the course of s.h.i.+ps, northward. You are aware that two ministers were left on board the Loch Earn. One, Mr. Cook, a truly G.o.dly man, did all he could to encourage their hearts. Every day, at noon, he gathered them together, and earnestly, by prayer, strove to lead them to the Savior; and this he continued to do till they reached England. The day before they were rescued they knew that very shortly the s.h.i.+p must go down. The wind had changed, bringing them nearer the track of s.h.i.+ps, 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 G.o.d 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 s.h.i.+p.

There truly she was, and the British Queen bore down upon them. You may think that with thankful hearts they left the Loch Earn. One thing is remarkable--_the officer in charge on board the British Queen had a most unaccountable feeling that there was something for him to do,_ and _three times during the night he changed the course of the vessel, bearing northward_. He told the watch to keep a sharp lookout for a s.h.i.+p, and immediately on sighting the Loch Earn bore down upon her. At first he thought she had been abandoned, as she lay helpless in the trough of the sea, but soon they saw her signal of distress. It seems to me a remarkable instance of faith on the one side and a guiding Providence on the other. After they were taken on board the pilot-boat that brought them into Plymouth, at noon, when they for the last time joined together in prayer, Mr. Cook read to them the account of Paul's s.h.i.+pwreck, showing the similarity of their experience. _'What made that captain change his course against his will?' but the ever present Spirit of G.o.d"_.

THE STORM MADE CALM.

At a Sunday morning meeting at Repository Hall, January 25, 1874, a Christian brother, in ill.u.s.tration of the power and faithfulness of G.o.d, and his willingness to hear and answer prayer, related these facts in his own experience. An account of them was subsequently published in the _Christian_:

"In 1839 I was a sailor on board the brig Pandora, Captain G----, bound from Savannah to Boston, with a cargo of cotton. When off the coast of Virginia, some twenty-five miles distant from Chesapeake Bay, we encountered a heavy gale. Sat.u.r.day evening, December 21st, the wind blew gently from the south. On sounding, we found ourselves in thirty fathoms of water. At midnight the wind veered to the eastward, gradually increasing until four o'clock Sunday morning, by which time the brig was under close-reefed topsails and foresail. The wind still increasing, every st.i.tch of canvas was taken in, and now the vessel lay helpless and unmanageable in the trough of the sea, not minding her helm at all, while the wind blew a perfect hurricane. The vessel being very light, loaded with cotton, made much leeway, and though we had worn s.h.i.+p four times during the preceding night, hoping, if possible, to weather some shoals which the captain judged were near, and to make Chesapeake Bay, where we might have a clear beach before us in case the vessel should strand, yet at eight o'clock Sunday morning we were in but seventeen fathoms of water.

"The gale now increased with fearful violence, waves rising like mountains, and rain and sleet pouring from the dismal clouds. At ten, A.M., being then in fifteen fathoms of water, and drifting rapidly towards the sh.o.r.e, the captain summoned all hands into the cabin to consult about throwing our deck-load overboard, in order to leave us a better chance to secure ourselves to the rigging, and thus save our lives when the vessel should strike, which he judged would be in about half an hour. Not a gleam of hope appeared, and here our distress was increased by observing that the captain seemed under the influence of liquor, to which he had probably resorted in order to stifle his fears of approaching death.

"The order was given, and we went to work to throw the cotton over, while the captain, frightened and despairing, went into the cabin to drown his fears in drink. Seeing the state of things, and believing that s.h.i.+pwreck was imminent, I found two of my s.h.i.+pmates who were Christians, and who had prayed daily with me in the forecastle, and I asked them if they had any faith in G.o.d 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 G.o.d for deliverance from the threatened destruction, occasionally gliding in close contact with each other, and speaking words of hope in each other's ears, and feeling, as we toiled, a blessed confidence that our prayers were not in vain.

"It did not seem more than five minutes from the time we commenced to throw the cotton overboard, for we had scarcely tumbled twenty bales into the sea, when we heard a shout from the quarter deck:

"'Avast heaving cotton overboard! _The wind is coming out from our lee!_ Avast there!'

"It was the captain's voice, bidding us stay our hands; we obeyed, and looking up we saw him clinging to the rigging, apparently so drunk that he could hardly stand, _while away over our lee-bow we could see blue sky and fair weather_, and _it seemed that in less than ten minutes from the time the hurricane was at its height, the wind had chopped around in sh.o.r.e, 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 G.o.d we loved, admitted then that G.o.d had answered prayer, and that he had delivered us from death.

"And I love to repeat the story to the praise of the Lord, who yet lives to hear, and bless, and save his trusting children."

NO FEAR OF THUNDER.

Some years ago a camp-meeting was held in Southern Indiana. It rained nearly all the time of the meeting. Father Haven, a man mighty in prayer, rose to preach. Just as he announced his text it thundered, and the congregation seemed to be restless and alarmed. The old hero instantly said, "Let us engage a moment in prayer." He prayed that G.o.d would allow the storm to pa.s.s by and not disturb them.

After having plead for a few moments he said, "Friends, keep your seats; it will not rain one drop here to-day." He commenced to preach, and it thundered again. He repeated his a.s.surance, and thus it continued until the storm-cloud was almost over the encampment. It divided north and south, and pa.s.sed about a quarter of a mile on either side of them, reunited again and pa.s.sed on, and not one solitary drop of rain fell on that encampment.

THE PRAYER OF THE PILGRIMS FOR RAIN ANSWERED.

It is well known that many of the good men who were driven from England to America by persecution in the seventeenth century, had to endure great privations. In the Spring of 1623 they planted more corn than ever before; but by the time they had done planting, their food was spent.

They daily prayed, "Give us this day our daily bread;" and in some way or other the prayer was always answered. With a single boat and a net they caught some fish, and when these failed, they dug in the sand for sh.e.l.l-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 gra.s.s look like hay. All expected to perish with hunger.

In their distress the pilgrims set apart a day of humiliation and prayer, and continued their wors.h.i.+p for eight or nine hours. G.o.d heard their prayers, and answered them in a way which excited universal admiration. Although the morning of that day was clear, and the weather very hot and dry during the whole forenoon, yet before night it began to rain, and gentle showers continued to fall for many days, so that the ground became thoroughly soaked, and the drooping corn revived.

THE ENEMIES OF A G.o.d FEARING NATION.

"An answer to prayer," says Le Clerc, "may be seen by what happened on the coast of Holland in the year 1672. The Dutch expected an attack from their enemies by sea, and public prayers were ordered for their deliverance. It came to pa.s.s that when their enemies waited only for the tide, in order to land, _the tide was r.e.t.a.r.ded, contrary to its usual course, for twelve hours_, so their enemies were obliged to defer the attempt to another opportunity; which they never found, _because a storm, arose afterwards_, and drove them from the coast."

CHANGING THE COURSE ONE POINT.

Walking across Palace Square in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with an American s.h.i.+p-master, (says a correspondent of the _Watchman_) he invited me to accompany him to his hotel. While there he showed me a very large gold medal he had received from the British government for saving a s.h.i.+p's company at sea. The circ.u.mstances 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 s.h.i.+p'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 s.h.i.+p 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 s.h.i.+p'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 s.h.i.+p in distress, and made sail for her. The s.h.i.+p was in a sinking condition, and he rescued the whole s.h.i.+p's company.

Shortly after, a gale of wind arose and carried the sinking s.h.i.+p to complete destruction. Had not the American captain changed the course of his s.h.i.+p that evening, he would not have come in sight of the s.h.i.+p in distress, and all of the company would have perished.

_Query_--_What made that Captain arise in the middle of the night and, contrary to all science, reason and his own will, change the course of his vessel_, but a _Supreme Being, whose power he could not resist_, and what made him _exactly_ reach that sinking _s.h.i.+p just in time_.

THE FULTON ST. PRAYER MEETING.

ANSWERS TO PRAYER FROM ITS HISTORY, RECORDS AND CORRESPONDENCE.

The following Incidents of Prayer and the remarkable Answers, have been obtained from the records of the Fulton Street Prayer Meeting in New York City. They include both facts which have been related by speakers in their daily meetings, or furnished from the letters of those who have solicited Prayer and received the Answer to their Faith.

They are of the utmost diversity of subjects, literally including the "all things" of the Bible, and temporal as well as spiritual interests.

Numerous as the incidents are, which we here give, still they cover only _one-sixtieth_ part of the whole Record of the Blessed Meeting.

History can never tell of the wonders done in Answer to the Prayers of these trusting ones; but Faith can rejoice, for here is fulfilled daily those cheerful Promises of the Lord: "_If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you."

"Ask and receive, that your joy may be full_."

SAVED FROM A LIFE OF DEGRADATION.

"Your prayers for my husband have been answered; _on the very day_ I wished your prayers for him, and _before the hour of prayer had expired_" he came into the house, and said, '_I am going to do better_.'