Chapter 5
"The writer was once in great trouble to know what was duty. Urged by ministers and laymen in high standing to undertake a work not exactly in the line of the ministry, he hesitated. God's displeasure was feared, lest in doing what was desired 'sin might lie at his door.' To refuse the wish of good and wise men might be resisting God's call. In this trial of conscience he sought in fasting and special prayer the guidance of his Heavenly Father. While so doing the above promise came very distinctly to his mind. He brought it to God as his own promise, and pleaded, if it could be graciously done, that He would literally fulfill it to the suppliant. In the very act of thus pleading, he heard a rap on the door. Opening it, there stood his mother-in-law. She said, 'Two gentlemen are in the parlor waiting for you.' I went down, and the interview revealed the exact fulfillment both of the promise and the prophecy. The Lord answered my prayer two days before I called on Him. One of the two came from New York to my home in a Western city to inquire about _the very thing which was troubling me. He was to me an entire stranger_, never having heard of him until I saw him. Having consulted his friend, the Rev. M.W. Jacobus, D.D., they together came to call on me about the matter at the very moment I was pleading with God that He would mercifully, 'while yet speaking, hear me.' Now could Tyndall and his followers desire a more literal, a more exact fulfillment of this prophecy and promise as proof of its inspiration, and of prayer as God's ordinance than that prayer for such fulfillment of these words actually before the prayer was made, and while the petitioner was 'yet speaking?'"
It will be noticed that the best judgment of good men advise one course, but trust in God for superior wisdom brought the case to answer in a totally different manner, by means of an unknown person, a total stranger, who neither knew him nor his desire. The circumstance should convince the world.
A FAMILY PRAY FOR A GOOD SERVANT.
"About three years since my family comfort was very much disturbed by failure to obtain a good housemaid. And, having been accustomed to wait upon God for right direction in my _temporal_ as well as spiritual affairs, in simple faith I asked Him to direct me on reaching New York City to where I would find a girl of good character that would appreciate a Christian home. My steps were led to a boarding-house on Greenwich street, and on inquiring for a German or Swede girl I was told they had a nice Swede just landed. I talked to her through an interpreter and was satisfied from what she said, as well as from her countenance, that she was the one I was searching for. She came to my home and proved, in two years' service, almost faultless. In conversation one day, a short time after she came to our home, she said she had had several places offered her that morning before I came, but she did not like them; but as soon as she saw me, felt that she could go with me--she was a Christian, member of the Lutheran church and wanted a Christian home. Her desire was granted and my prayer was answered."
A RECOVERY FROM A DEATH-BED.
"Some forty years ago, in a rural parish in New England, a young man lay apparently on his death-bed with a putrid fever. His aunt, in whose family he was staying, was a woman who had long lived in habitual intercourse with the unseen world through prayer. One afternoon, when it seemed to those around him that the sick one must die, she went away alone to speak with God. With intense earnestness she pleaded for the young man's life. And, being deeply interested in the portion of our country then beginning to be settled, she asked also that he might become a home missionary at the West. There were various circumstances which made this latter request, as well as the other, seem very unlikely to be fulfilled. And yet it was. The young man recovered, pursued a collegiate and theological course, and still lives and labors as a most devoted and useful Christian pioneer. More than once he has been a member of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, and his name is familiar to many."
A POOR STUDENT PRAYS FOR MONEY.
"I was a poor student in a Manual Labor Institute at the West. The month of February was our regular Winter vacation. We were privileged to keep our rooms and have board at one dollar a week. But I had absolutely no money. I was six hundred miles from my friends, and they were unable to furnish me with funds. I had no books for the new term, though these were a necessity if I went on with my class, and there was no work about the Institution, nor that I know of in the neighborhood at that season. My case seemed an exceedingly bad one; and I had no idea from where any help could come. So I went to my room in the third story, locked my door and carried my case to the Lord. It was a long, earnest, tearful cry for help from Him who alone seemed able to give it. My prayer was answered. When I had been there I do not know how long, I heard footsteps in the empty hall, and in a moment a knock at my door. I wiped my eyes, and put myself into presentable shape as soon as I could, and opened the door. A lad stood there who said: 'A man wants to see you at the front door.' Down the stairs I went, wondering who could want me and what he could want me for. In the front yard was a man on a restless horse, who at once said: 'We want you to teach our school for a month. The boys have driven out the female teacher. We want you to 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 morning.' 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 a 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 the city market), 'but you 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 Greek, Mich., there were several remarkable 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 gracious God had better things in store for that afflicted family. It was on a Sabbath afternoon, at the very hour when the crowded congregation in our house of worship were in prayer for the influences of the divine Spirit, that a holy, solemn influence came into the dwelling of Brother Smith, as if an angel had come to touch the child with healing power. The mother could not leave 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 the house, and had shed a holy 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 most 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 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 but _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 comforters, a scroll of Scripture texts, printed in large type, and a different 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 touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them_. Matt. 18:9; 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 to 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 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. '_Oh, 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 wonderful? 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 now one of the most active Christian workers and teachers in a mission school, and the wife and daughter are also trying 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, _"If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will 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 tempted 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 afternoon, 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, and 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 GOD CARES AND COMFORTS IN SMALL THINGS.
The following incidents are from the life of an invalid, personally known to the editor of this book, and can be depended upon as authentic in every particular. They illustrate most beautifully the blessed way in which the Savior's everlasting 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 _Omnipotent, ever Helping Friend._
GIVING 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 the 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 containing 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 arrangements 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 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, and 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 bill for me_. I was more than surprised. I cannot tell you the emotions of my heart. While I was yet asking, even, the messenger 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 which often proves so fatal, and takes so many sweet little ones out of loving hearts and homes. I loved baby Ernest, but never so well 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 Sunday 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 keep the tender bud he had sent them. We could not let him die, and to-day I prayed very earnestly all the time--even 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 sunshine. 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 moments 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 up 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 it, I sat down to console myself, and the thought came--pray about it; so I did, and while I knelt there something whispered, '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 was 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 eyes, 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 unworthiness, but my great need; asking first for _ten dollars_; then, as I grew more earnest, I asked for _twenty-five,_ feeling almost frightened as the words came from my lips. Sometimes the thought would intrude, 'How can you ask for 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 pleading 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."
PRAYING FOR OTHERS.
"My sister's husband wished to raise a certain sum of interest 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 invitation 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; and soon it seemed as easy and right as though I were talking 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 at the Methodist parsonage in N.B., I could look back over the last few weeks, and thank God for the _power of prayer_. 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 the power that lies in prayer."