Chapter 12

"Notwithstanding what had been said to me, I remained in this opinion and in this attitude until the 26th of September, 1872, when several ladies met at our house, by appointment, for a prayer-meeting. I had been growing worse for some time, and was at that time unable to get out to attend a meeting. I was suffering much pain that afternoon; indeed, I was hardly able to be out of my bed. Up to this time none of the sisters who had conversed with me about the subject of healing by faith, had been able to tell me anything from their own experience. That afternoon, one lady was present who could speak to me from her own experience of being healed in answer to the prayer of faith. She related several striking instances in which her prayers had been answered in the removal of divers forms of disease to which she was subject. She also repeated a number of passages of Scripture, which clearly justified the expectation of being healed in answer to the prayer of faith. She also said that Jesus had shown her that he was just as ready to heal diseases now as he was when on earth; that such healing was expressly promised in Scripture, in answer to the prayer of faith, and that it was nowhere taken back. These facts, reasonings, and passages of Scripture, made a deep impression on my mind, and, for the first time, I found myself able to believe that Jesus would heal me in answer to prayer. She asked me if I could join my faith with hers and ask for present healing. I told her I felt that I could. We then knelt, and called upon the Lord. She offered a mighty prayer to God, and I followed. While she was leading in prayer I felt a quickening in my whole being, whereupon my pain subsided, and when we rose from prayer I felt that a great change had come over me, that I was cured. I found that I could walk without my staff or crutch, or any assistance from any one. Since then my pains have never returned; I have more than my youthful vigor; I walk with more ease and rapidity than I ever did in my life, and I never felt so fresh and young as I now do, at the age of fifty-two.

"Now, the hundred and third psalm is my psalm, and my youth is more than renewed, like the eagle's. I cannot express the constant joy of my heart for the wonderful healing of my soul and body. I feel as if I was every whit made whole."

The testimony of eye-witnesses to this healing is as follows:

"We were all present at the time of the healing, and know the facts to be true. We are all Christians, and have no interest in deceiving anybody, and would by no means dishonor God by stating more than the exact truth. Since the healing, Mrs. Miller is still with us, and in excellent health. Neither the severe cold of last Winter, nor the extreme heat of this Summer, has at all injured her health. From our first acquaintance with her, she has been so lame as to be unable to walk, except by the aid of crutches. Since which time she has been able to walk without help, and appears perfectly well."

Her husband, also adding his testimony, says:

"She has been unable to walk without crutches for a series of years. A long time ago, we tried many remedies and physicians, with no lasting good results, and were expecting she would remain an invalid. Of late, she had applied no remedy, nor taken any medicine. At the time of her cure, she was much worse than for a long while before, being in great pain continually, until the moment she fully believed, and, _in an instant_, she was restored to perfect soundness. From that moment to this she has not felt a particle of her former complaint.

"She can now walk for miles as fast as I wish to, without feeling very much fatigue, does all her own housework, and attends seven meetings during the week. In short, she is stronger, and seems as young and spry, as when we were married, thirty-two years ago. The work of the dear Savior in her cure seems to be perfect, and she is an astonishment to all who knew her before and see her now. To _His_ name be all the praise.

"Another lady, the same week my wife was healed, a member of the First Congregational Church, confined to her bed with a complicated disease, was prayed for, and restored at once to soundness."

THE WONDERFUL CURE OF MRS. SHERMAN.

Although there are so many cases of healing in answer to prayer, yet the incident of the healing of Mrs. Sherman is so minute, and resulted in such a radical change of the physical constitution, that it is necessary to relate it in full detail. It is too well proven to admit the possibility of a doubt.

"Mrs. Ellen Sherman is the wife of Rev. Moses Sherman, and, at the time of this occurrence, in 1873, they were residents of Piermont, N.H. She had been an invalid for many years. In the Winter after she was fifteen, she fell on the ice and hurt her left knee, so that it became weak and easy to slip out of joint. Six years after, she fell again on the same knee, so twisting it and injuring the ligaments that it became partially stiff, and, the physician said, incurable.

"The next Summer, by very fast walking, one day, she brought on special weakness, which no physician was able to cure. From that moment she was subject to severe neuralgia, sick-headaches, at least monthly, and sometimes even weekly.

"In December, 1859, while stepping out of doors, she slipped, by reason of her stiff joint, and fell, striking near the base of the spine, directly across the sharp edge of the stone step. This caused such a sickness that she was obliged to leave the school she was attending.

"Three years after (in January, 1862), she fell at the top of a stairway, striking just as before, and sliding all the way down to the foot. This nearly paralyzed the spinal cord, and caused deep and permanent spinal disease. After this she was up and down for many years, attended by various physicians, yet nothing bettered, but, rather, growing worse. It may be said, for short, that every organ of the lower body became chronically diseased, and that the headaches increased in violence.

"In September, 1872, through a severe cold, she took her bed, where she lay, except when lifted from it, till the night of August 27, 1873. She was unable to walk a step, or even stand. She could sit up only a short time without great distress. The best medical skill that could be procured gave only temporary relief. The spine grew worse in spite of every appliance, and the nervous sensitiveness and prostration were increasing. During the two or three weeks immediately preceding her cure she was especially helpless, two persons being required to lift her off and on the bed. On the Monday before, one of her severest neuralgia sick-headaches came on. During Wednesday she began to be relieved, but was still so sick that when, in the evening, she tried to have her clothes changed, she could only endure the change of her night-dress."

It will be seen from this her utter physical helplessness, and not the slightest hope of any amelioration. During the night of August 27th, she enjoyed a blessed time of communion with her Lord, giving herself, in all her helplessness, wholly to Him to do as he wills.

With feelings beyond all expression, she _felt_ the nearness of her mighty Savior, and the sense of receiving a new and most delicious pulsation of new life. At last, though she had been bed-ridden for twelve months, and incapable of any bodily assistance, she felt an uncontrollable impulse to throw off the clothes of the bed with her left arm, and sprang out of bed upon her feet, and started to walk across the room.

"Her husband's first thought was that she was crazed, and would fall to the floor, and he sprang towards her to help her. But she put up her hands against him, saying with great energy, 'Don't you touch me! Don't you touch me!' and went walking back and forth across the room speaking rapidly, and declaring the work which Jesus had been working upon her.

"Her husband, quickly saw that she was in her right mind, and had been healed by the Lord, and his soul was filled with unutterable emotion.

"One of the women of the household was called, also their son, twelve years old, and together they thanked God for the great and blessed wonder he had wrought.

"In the morning, after a sleep of several hours, she further examined herself to see if entirely healed, and found both knees perfectly well; and though for sixteen years she had not been able to use either, now she lifted the left _foot_ and _put it upon the right knee_, thus proving the completeness of her restoration.

"At the end of two years from her healing, inquiry having been made as to how thorough had been the work, Mrs. Sherman gave full and abundant evidence. 'I cannot remember a Summer when I have been so healthy and strong, and able to work hard. I am a constant wonder to myself, and to others, and have been for the two years past. The cure exceeded my highest expectations at the time I was cured. I did not look forward to such a state of vigor and strength. No words can express my joy and gratitude for all this.'

"The parents of Mrs. Sherman also testify of the wonderful change physically which occurred with the cure.

"Before, her appetite was always disordered, but on the very morning of the healing it was wholly changed, and her food, which distressed her formerly, she ate with a relish and without any pain following; and she so continues. For years before a natural action of the bowels was rare. From that day since, an unnatural one is equally rare.

"For fifteen years, with few exceptions, she had had severe neuralgic sick headaches monthly or oftener. From that time she has been natural and without pain, with no return of the headaches, except a comparatively slight one once, from overdoing and a cold taken through carelessness.

"There was also at that time an immediate and radical change in the action of the kidneys, which had become a source of great trouble before. Moreover the knee which had been partially stiff for so many years was made entirely well. In fine, her body, which had been so full of pain, became at once free from pain, and full of health.

"The week after she was healed she went fifty miles to attend a camp-meeting, riding five miles in a carriage, the rest by cars. A near neighbor said, 'She will come back worse than ever.' Though the weather was especially bad, she came back better than when she went."

These are but few out of many expressions respecting her extraordinary recovery, which fully satisfy the believing Christian that _the Great_ Physician is with us now, "_healing the lame_," and curing the sick. It is faith only, unyielding, which the Lord requires ere he gives his richest blessing.

The unbelieving one simply sees in it "_something strange_," which he can not understand, but the faith-keeping Christian knows it is the sign of his _Precious Lord_, in whom he trusts and abides forever.

DR. NEWMAN HALL'S TESTIMONIES TO THE VALUE OF PRAYER.

Dr. Newman Hall, of London, in his wide experience has met with many incidents of answered prayer, and thus relates several:

A PRAYER FOR THIRTY POUNDS.

"On a recent evangelizing visit to Newport, one of its citizens said to me, 'In yonder house dwell a man and wife, who recently needed a sum of £30 to meet some payment the next morning. Having failed in their efforts to collect it, they earnestly prayed God to provide it. The store was being closed for the night when a sea-captain knocked at the door and asked for some seamen's clothes. The gas was relighted, and various articles were selected; the purchaser then asked for the account, and the money was paid--_a little more than_ £30. The man and his wife thanked their Heavenly Father for sending it in this way in answer to prayer.'"

RECOVERY FROM DANGEROUS ILLNESS.

Dr. Newman Hall was once visiting, on his dying bed, John Cranfield, son of the great originator of ragged schools, under the ministry of Rowland Hill.

"We were conversing on prayer. He said, 'A remarkable instance occurred in connection with my father. The former organist of Surry Chapel, Mr. Howard, was dangerously ill. He was greatly beloved, and his friends met for special prayer that God would spare his life. My father on that occasion was remarkably earnest in asking that the life of his friend might be lengthened, as in the case of Hezekiah. The next day he began to recover; and during fifteen years was a blessing to his friends and the church.'"

A SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER IN DISTRESS.

"My brother," says Dr. Hall, "told me that when superintendent of a Sunday school he felt a strong impulse, one Saturday evening, to call at the home of one of his teachers whom he had never visited before. He found his mother and sisters in such evident distress that he inquired the cause. With much reluctance they explained that, being unable to pay their taxes, their goods were to be taken on the coming Monday, and they had been asking special help from God to save them from a disaster which they felt would be a dishonor to religion. By the aid of a few friends the difficulty was at once met, but the timely succor was regarded as the divine answer to their prayer."

RESCUED IN PERIL.

"With my brother I was once climbing the _Cirrha di Jazze_, one of the mountains in the chain of _Mount Rosa_. When nearly at the top, we entered a dense fog. Presently our guides faced right about and grounded their axes on the frozen snowed slope. My brother, seeing the slope still beyond, and not knowing it was merely the cornice overhanging a precipice of several thousand feet, rushed onward. I shall never forget their cry of agonized warning. He stood a moment on the very summit, and then, the snow yielding, he began to fall through. One of the guides, at great risk, had rushed after him, and seizing him by the coat, drew him down to a place of safety.

"No one could be nearer death and yet escape. On his return home, an invalid member of his congregation told him that she had been much in prayer for his safety, and mentioned a special time when she was particularly earnest, as if imploring deliverance from some great peril. _The times corresponded._ His life was saved in answer to her prayer."

A PHYSICAL IMPEDIMENT REMOVED.

"A clergyman, of great scholarship and genius, has told me of a remarkable answer to prayer, authenticated by three missionaries known to himself, who are personally acquainted with the facts.

"A Prussian, the master of a hotel in India, was anxious to relinquish his large income, and labor as a missionary among the Santil tribes. Objection was made to him on account of an impediment in his speech which would render him, in speaking a foreign language, incapable of being understood. Believing in the efficacy of prayer, he called together his friends, specially to ask that his impediment might be removed. The next morning, he presented himself again at the Mission House--_the impediment had gone_! He was accepted, relinquished his business, and is now preaching the gospel to the Santils in their own tongue."

RESTORATION FROM DEATH.

"My father, the author of the _Sinner's Friend_, narrates in his autobiography a circumstance which he often used to speak of with great emotion.

"My mother was very ill, and apparently dying. The Doctor said that now, if at all, the children might be brought for her to look at them once more. One by one we were brought to the bedside, and her hand was placed on our heads.

"Then my father bade her farewell, and she lay motionless as if soon to breathe her last.

"He then said to himself, 'There is yet one promise I have not pleaded, "If ye ask anything in my name I will do it." He stepped aside, and in an agony of soul exclaimed, '_O, Lord, for the honor of thy dear Son, give me the life of my wife!'_

"He could say no more, and sank down exhausted. Just then the nurse called him to the bedside saying, 'She has opened her mouth again as if for food.' Nourishment was given, and from that time she began to recover. The doctor said it was miraculous. My father said it was God, who had heard his prayer."

THE HELP OF THE LORD IN LITTLE THINGS.

The Rev. Dr. Patton, of Chicago, in receiving many letters from clergymen, received one from Mr. F., a pastor in Massachusetts.

In it he speaks of his unsuccessful search for a valuable knife, prized as a present from a friend, which he had lost on a hillside covered with laurels. He paused in prayer, asked to be guided, commenced his search, and was almost immediately successful thereafter.

The same letter also mentions the case of a friend in a responsible position under the government, whose accounts failed to balance by reason of an error, which, after long search, he could not detect.

In great distress he betook himself to prayer, and then opening his books, _on the very first page_, which he happened to glance at, and at the top of the column, he saw instantly the looked for error, standing out so plainly that he wondered he had not seen it before.

The writer also speaks of a rubber shoe being lost and promptly found after mention in prayer.

These may seem little matters, but they are the privileges of the righteous to ask "anything" of "Him who careth for them."

A BOY'S FAITH IN PRAYER

In a letter to Dr. W.W. Patton, by Mr. T.I. Goodwin, M.D., of Staten Island, he describes a little incident which happened to him when only thirteen years old.

"He lost a choice penknife while collecting and driving several cows from a pasture covered with grass two inches high. Having read Huntington's Book of Faith, he thought of prayer, and in childlike trust he knelt under a tree, outside the bars, and prayed for his lost treasure; for he was a farmer's boy, and his spending money amounted to only about fifty cents a year. 'I rose up, cast my eyes down on the ground, and without planning my course or making any estimate of probabilities, walked across the meadow centrally to near its farther edge, saw the penknife down in the grass directly before me, and picked it up all as readily as I could have done had any one stood there pointing to the exact place. _Had I gone ten feet to the right or left_ I could not have seen the knife, for the grass was too high.'"

A PRAYER FOR FIVE DOLLARS.

One of the City Home missionaries in New York city received on a certain day five dollars with special directions that it be given to a certain poor minister in Amos street. In the evening the missionary called and gave him the money.

For a moment the good man stood amazed and speechless. Then taking down a little journal he turned to the record made in his diary of that morning, and showed it to the missionary. "_Spent two and a half hours in earnest prayer for five dollars_."

"And now here it is," said the man, with a heart overflowing with gratitude. "The Lord has sent it." Both giver and receiver had their faith strengthened by the incident.

GO TO THE POST-OFFICE.

A correspondent of "_The Guiding Hand_" relates this incident:

"In the year 18--, having a brother living in the city of R., I went to see him. Going to the store where he had been at work, I found that the firm had suspended, and that he was thrown out of employment, and had broken up housekeeping, but could not ascertain where he was, only that he was boarding somewhere out in the suburbs of the city. I searched for him all day, but in vain.

"It was _absolutely necessary_ that I should find _him_. What MORE to do I knew not, except to _pray_. Finally, I was impressed to write a line and drop it into the post-office, and I obeyed the impression, telling him, if he got it, to meet me at a stated place, the next morning, at ten o'clock. _I prayed earnestly_ that the Lord would cause him _to go to the post-office,_ so that he might get my letter. I felt full of peace, and at rest about the matter. The next morning, at ten o'clock, I went to the place appointed for him to meet me, _and he soon came in_."

This incident might seem one of ordinary or chance occurrence, but for the following unusual circumstances:

"As they were returning to their home, his brother said: 'There is something _very strange_ about my going to the post-office this morning--_I had my arrangements all made to go with a party, this morning early, to the bay, fishing; but, when I awoke, I had such an impression to go down to the post-office, that I had to forgo the pleasure of going to the bay, and went to the post-office and found your letter_.'

"I replied, '_It was the Lord_ that impressed you in answer to my prayer, for I have prayed earnestly for the Lord to send you to the office this morning,' and, although but young in years and religion, I gave God the praise for his guidance and His grace."

THE WIDOW'S TREE

Not many years ago a violent storm, with wind and thunder, spread devastation all through the valley of Yellow Creek, Georgia. For a mile in width, trees were uprooted, barns and fences were prostrated, and all the lands were desolated.

Right in the center of the tornado stood a small cabin. Its sole occupants were an aged widow and her only son. The terrible wind struck a large tree in front of her humble dwelling, twisting and dashing it about. If it fell it would lay her home in ruins. Desolation, death itself, might follow. The storm howled and raged. The great trees fell in all directions. When it seemed her tree must also fall and there was no remedy, she knelt in fervent supplication to Him who gathereth the wind in his fists, that he would spare that tree. Her prayer was heard. The tree was spared, and was the _only one_ left within a considerable distance of the widow's cabin.

THE LORD PAID HIS INTEREST.

A most curious answer to prayer occurred in the experience of a home missionary in Brooklyn. It illustrates how God, in his trials of faith to see if His people do really cling to the promises, compels them to march right into the scene of danger, and into the mouth of the cannon, that apparently is open specially to shoot them down.

The interest on the mortgage of his property was due in a few days. Its amount was $300. He did not have the money--did not know where to obtain it. With anxious heart during the day, he kept up his faith and courage by thinking of the Lord's promises, and, the last night before the eventful day, was spent in prayer, until the assurance came that all was well. Often he pleaded, often he reminded the Lord that, as his life was _His_, to save him from reproach, and not let his trust in the Lord suffer dishonor before others.

The last moment came--no money--no relief. With sinking heart he went to the holder of the mortgage to announce his utter inability to meet his demand. While there, just at the last moment, when he was about to leave, the gentleman said, "_By the way, here is an envelope I was told to give you."_

The missionary opened it, _and out came six fifty dollar bills,_ just the _three hundred dollars prayed for_. The Lord met and delivered him in the very jaws of the enemy.

WILL THE LORD DELIVER FROM BAD HABITS OF TOBACCO, RUM, LIQUOR, LICENTIOUSNESS, ETC., IN ANSWER TO PRAYER.

This question having been asked by a clergyman of Brooklyn, Rev. S.H. Platt, he received a large number of communications, which evidently prove that the Lord is _willing_ and _does_, either _instantaneously_ or gradually in answer to prayer, deliver and take away wholly the bad _habits_ and _appetites_ of those who are willing to forsake their sinful ways and cleave only to Him. _The Lord's salvation cleanses and delivers the body as well as the soul_.

We quote a few extracts from his correspondence, which is but a small portion out of many published in his volume, "_The Power of Grace_."

CURED OF TOBACCO APPETITE.