Chapter 25

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 spoken to Him face to face.

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 graciously answered.

A MOTHER'S PRAYERS ANSWERED.

A Christian evangelist, whose work has been most singularly 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 _assured faith_, which could see as yet no signs of the coming 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 eminent 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 Power of Prayer_."

"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 prosperity. 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.

"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 appetite for rum and tobacco, and everything else which was displeasing 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 you, 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 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.

"'_And does Jesus keep you from drinking intoxicating liquor?'_

"'_He does, and I never wish to touch it_.'

"That short answer set me to thinking. In it was revealed a new power. I went home that night and said to myself, as I went, '_How do I know but Christ would keep one 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 word_. 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 REMARKABLE 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:

"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 prayer_.'

"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. Placing 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 answer 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. '_I didn't know how it was to be 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_.'"

THE WONDERS OF A SINGLE PRAYER.

The Rev. 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 dislocation, 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 directed, 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 obtain a drink of water, when she exclaimed, '_Mother, I can walk.'_ 'Thanks be to God!' said I, 'Come, and let me see you!'

"Her crutches, the only means by which she could move about, before, were now useless. Upon examination, I found that the abscess had entirely disappeared, and that the paralyzed 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 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 thinking 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 barroom 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 appetites, solely by believing prayer. Many are contained in a little tract 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 well 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 was 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 fractured 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 calculated 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 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 CURE 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 submission. 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 Trudel;' and while reading, I seemed to hear a voice saying unto me, _'All things are possible unto him that believeth.' '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 Finney for rain, and its immediate answer, is furnished by Professor Cowles, the intimate friend of President Finney:

"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 with no particular indication of rising. President 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 always 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 Ralph 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."

LUTHER'S MIGHTY PRAYER AND PROPHECY.

At one time in the life of Luther, there was a critical moment in the affairs of the Reformation. 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, "_A strong fortress 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 raising 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 "Religious Toleration in Germany_." In Luther's prayer was fulfilled the remarkable promise of Proverbs, 21: I. "_The 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 come_. He could not tell how. _Immediately the_ news came that _Queen Mary was dead_."

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 messenger 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, "O Luther, is this you? Why don't you let me depart in peace." "_We can't 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 Reformation; 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.

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-control, 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 appetite; 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; O, that I might get free; I do not love this sin any more, I don't want it, but I can't stop it. O, 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 will_ 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 put back again ten years, and I was young again." "I never have any more wicked thoughts or imaginations, while I was once full of them. Since I 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 sin can ever be conquered until in humility either saint or sinner_ gets down upon his knees, and implores the love and power of the Lord in _never ceasing prayer_, to wholly emancipate him from the control of the evil habit. _The Lord will surely hear it_. He can as truly deliver the body from the most persistent and enchaining habit, as he can wholly convert the mind and heart. The result is not always instantaneous; more often gradual, but _always sure_ if the sufferer _always prays_.

It is simple enough for the sinning one to believe that the _Lord can_, and seeking the Bible _for the Lord's own promise that he, will; to cling to it and never surrender_.

The sin may be repeated when you can not resist it, and 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 physician 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 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 answer to prayer."

THE STOLEN BONDS RETURNED.