The Wonders of Prayer by Various (page 2)

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.”

“I found another lady visitor at my friend’s and we were to share the same bed. This was a little trial; I had to ask the Lord to give me patience–and He did. One night, I was very restless and nervous; I could not sleep. I knew I was disturbing my friend–soon she said, ‘Annie, I am going to ask the Lord to come and put you to sleep. Now, lay still, and in five minutes you will be all right’. I did so, also breathing the words, ‘Give me sleep, dear Saviour.’ The room seemed to be full of a soft, soothing influence, and I fell asleep. Once only in the night I awoke, but soon went asleep. When I awoke in the morning, rested and refreshed, Tillie, who was dressing near me, looked up with her pleasant smile and said, ‘Annie, how wonderful it was. You were asleep in less than five minutes. It seemed as though Jesus stood close by your side; I could _almost see_ Him, I felt so clearly His presence. He is here now, Annie; can’t you feel Him near? He was very good to you last night.’ Yes, indeed, I felt the influence of His presence, and, all day, whenever I entered the room, I felt it, and it seemed as though I must tread softly, it was so like holy ground. This feeling lasted through my stay, and, last Winter, while again visiting the home of my friends, it all came back to me again. This beautiful influence has ever kept with me, and I never close my eyes in sleep until I say, ‘Oh, Lord, breathe upon me the sweet spirit of sleep.’ However weary, sick or nervous I may be, I feel that the soothing power will come; and, with my hand in His, I rest peacefully, at last.”

PRAYING FOR A NEW HAT.

“Whatsoever thing ye ask in _My_ name”–

“For a long while I had been without money, and my need was very great. I wanted a new hat so much; and the question arose in my mind, ‘What am I going to do about it?’ As I had no human arm to depend on for anything, of course there was only one way for me to do–ask the Lord for money to get me a hat. With me, to think is to act, and so I told the Lord all about it, asking, if it was His will, to send me, in His own way, money for the article I needed. Day after day passed, and I felt almost discouraged. One day, a letter came from a lady friend I had never seen, enclosing one dollar. I bought my hat–neither could I have used that dollar for another purpose. Soon after this, my physician ordered something for me. I had no money to get it, but said I would get it soon as I could. Three weeks passed, and no money came. Then I asked the Lord for enough to get my medicine. Another letter came from an old nurse, with a gift of one dollar. I had my medicine. Time after time, I have not had wherewith to send my letters, and, as I have a large correspondence, it often is a real trouble. The only way I have to do is to _pray for it,_ and always, in some way, it comes; not in _my way_–not just as soon as I ask for it–but in His own way, He always provides. I have learned to trust and not be afraid, even though the clouds hang heavy, and I see no ray of light, the promise is there, and for me, ‘I will _never_ leave thee, or forsake thee.’ I am so entirely dependent on Him for everything that sometimes, in little matters, my faith will, for a brief season, droop. Sometimes I have to plead and plead over again some particular promises; but these times of waiting on Him only strengthen me for future conflicts. ‘Wait on the Lord, and he shall renew thy strength,’ comes in beautifully on such occasions. No human being to help me; no one but God. Sometimes, when I sit alone, such a flood of feelings come over me, I well nigh sink. Loneliness, homesickness, and the great want in every human heart of sympathy and love, leave me, for a moment, without hope or faith; but, when the heart is weakest, and the need greatest, the loving Saviour is nearest. ‘Like as a mother comforteth her child, so does He comfort me;’ and then, soothed by his power and love, how the aching heart rests ‘by the still waters, and in the green pastures.’ There is nothing but prayer for the helpless sinner; nothing else will bring us into loving companionship with the Lord. We may go to Him always, with every trial, need or sorrow. He is ever waiting–ever ready to hear and answer.”

PRAYING FOR A SEWING MACHINE.

“One day a lady friend said to me: ‘Would you like some nice sewing, easy to do?’ I answered, ‘Yes.’ ‘Have you a sewing machine?’ ‘I have not, but am praying for one.’ ‘That is right; so you believe you will have it by praying for it?’ I replied: ‘If the Lord thinks I need it, He will send it.’ I had learned to use my sister’s, but I wanted one of my own, to use just when I felt like it. So the thought kept in my heart, ‘Why can’t I pray for one?’ And yet it seemed foolish to go in prayer to God for such a simple thing, but I had not then learned that _all things,_ with Him, meant every wish and want of the human heart. But there was no other way. He must send my machine, or I could have none. I prayed very earnestly. After a few weeks of waiting, one golden winter morning it came–my beautiful machine–just what I wanted. This seemed so wonderful to me, that it seemed to bring me into nearer companionship with the Lord, and ever after, whatever I needed, I went directly to Him for. A ministerial friend once asked me what it was I had covered up on the stand. I told him it was my piano, taking the cover aside and showing him at once how my beautiful sewing machine worked. _’What tune do you play oftenest?’_ he asked. _’Rock of Ages_ is its favorite one, and I never sew without singing it.'”

MONEY FOR POSTAGE.

“One day I opened my port-monnaie to get change for some little needful, when I found I had but ten cents. I used five of it. As visions of six or seven letters and many little things I needed came up before me, I said aloud: ‘The Lord will have to send me some money pretty soon.’ I think once through the day I prayed for some money, but felt no uneasiness about it. That evening a lady friend called to say good-by for the winter, and as she left gave me _fifty cents for postage._ While I was calling He answered me. About a week before this, I thought I would ask the Lord for $5 for my physician. He had come so faithfully, day after day, without ever expecting one dollar, because I had told him freely my circumstances. But I felt I must give him something for a gift at least. So I asked for five dollars. Day after day passed away, and I thought perhaps the Lord did not want me to have it. But still I prayed, asking it for His will, not mine. One morning a letter came from a very dear friend, containing a check for the amount for which I had prayed, and a little beside. It seemed such a signal answer to my prayer, that I could scarcely speak, and in my heart a glad prayer of thanksgiving went up to Him, who had told me _to ask and I should receive._ A friend, to whom I told this, said: ‘Now you need this money yourself; I would not give it to the doctor now–wait awhile.’ ‘But,’ I replied, ‘I dare not do it. I need it, I know, but I asked God for it for my doctor, and I must give it.’ And here let me say, when we ask God for money, it is sacred, and must be spent only to please Him.”

PRAYING FOR A BIBLE.

“For a long while it has been my habit to be entirely guided for the day by the first verse in the Bible on which my eyes rested. While dressing for the day, I glance at the open page, or sometimes turning over the leaves. But my old Bible was poor print and small, and it troubled me for a long while. So I thought I would ask the Lord to send me a new one. I told Him all about it. One day, this Summer, the postman brought me a package of magazines and a letter. I began to undo the package, eager to scan their welcome pages. My sister laughingly said she would read my letter, and suiting the action to the word, opened the envelope. I really did not mind what she was doing, until she said: ‘Why there is some money here, but no letter.’ So she handed me the half sheet of paper, with the money folded inside. I looked it over, and there were only these words in pencil: ‘For a Bible, and three dollars.’ We looked at each other; I could not say a word, until she said, ‘What does it all mean? ‘I answered, ‘The Lord sent it, I know; where could it come from?’ It was wonderful–wonderful because I could not remember as I ever told any one that I was praying for a Bible.”

A SPRING MATTRESS.

“Last Summer, when I bought my bedstead, I did not have money to get either springs or a mattress, so I fixed up a clean, straw bed, and covered it nicely with a thick comfortable. It was pretty hard–I did not rest well. So, one sleepless night, I said aloud, ‘I will just ask the Lord to send me a set of springs.’ I kept on day by day. When I felt the severe pain which denoted illness, I thought of my hard bed and prayed more earnest. One day my physician spoke of my hard bed. I told him I was going to have a better one; I was praying for some springs. And so I kept on. One day, a lady friend said something about my bed. I did not say much. Somehow I felt I must not; I wanted to have it all the Lord’s doings, if I ever had any. One day my sister said a man was at the door, who wanted to fit a set of springs to my bed. Why, I can’t tell how I felt; even after God had answered my simple prayers, and honored my faith so many times, I was astonished at this. But she helped me up, and the bed was fitted with nice, new springs. And they were mine. The man could not tell anything about them. My sister says, ‘Annie, did you order them?’ I said, ‘No.’ ‘Don’t you know who sent them?’ I said, ‘No.’ ‘Did you ask Mrs. W—- to order them?’ I said, ‘I did not; I would lay here six years before I would do it. No, somebody had a hand in it, but the Lord sent them, because I prayed for them all the time.’ A friend was present when my physician called. I told him about the new springs. His kind face lit up grandly at this new evidence that God did answer humble, faithful prayer, and he turned to my friend with the words: ‘I am glad they were just what she has been praying for.’ I do not think he had anything to do about them. But these springs are only another proof of his love and power, in touching the hearts of his children to help others. And they have their reward. Soon after this, a lady sent me a white spread for my bed. Surely, God is good to his little ones.”

THE HEALING OF MARY THEOBALD.

The following incident is related by her pastor, at Woburn, Mass., who, for three and a half years, was well acquainted with her physical condition, and who testified, in _The Congregationalist_, that no medicine, or physician’s aid or advice, was of any avail:

“From the first of my acquaintance to the last, she had an unswerving confidence in her recovery. Many times has she said to me: ‘I believe that I shall be well. Jesus will raise me up. I shall hear you preach some day.’

“But, in common with the friends who were watching her case, and with the physicians who had exhausted their skill upon her in vain, I had little or no hope for her. It seemed to me that her life was to be one of suffering; that God was keeping her with us that we might have a heroic example of what His grace could enable one to bear and to become.

“A few days ago, I received from her lips the following statement of the origin and progress of her sickness: ‘My first sickness occurred when I was about sixteen years old. This illness lasted for a year. Indeed, I was never well again. That sickness left me with a bad humor, which, for two years, kept me covered with boils. When the boils disappeared, the trouble was internal. Physicians feared a cancer. For ten years, I was sick, more or less–sometimes able to work, sometimes utterly prostrate.

“‘My second severe illness began in the Autumn of 1871. I had been failing for two years. Then I was obliged to give up. I was on the bed five months. From this illness I never recovered so as to labor or walk abroad. When not confined to my bed, I have been on the lounge, as you have known me. No one can ever know the suffering which these years have brought me.’

“My acquaintance with her began in the Spring of 1873. Several times since I have known her, she has been carried so low that we have thought her release near at hand; and, indeed, the general tendency has been downwards. I recently asked an intelligent physician, who had attended her for a year or more, to give me the facts in her case. He replied: ‘She is diseased throughout. Her system is thoroughly soured. It responds to nothing. Almost every function is abnormal. There is no help for her in medicine.’ Other physicians had tried their skill with the same result. It was generally admitted by doctors, friends and family, that nothing more could be done for her. While all saw only suffering and an early death in store for her, yet she confidently expected to be well, and her faith never waned.

“It was her custom to spend a few weeks each year in the family of one of the sisters in the church. At her last visit, it was evident to this lady that Mary was not so well as in former years. One day, when conversation turned upon this topic, she felt constrained to express her fears. But Mary was hopeful. A proposition was made, and arrangements were perfected to visit Doctor Cullis, to secure the benefit of his prayers. But her feebleness was so great that the plan was abandoned. ‘If,’ said Mrs. F., ‘faith is to cure you, why go to Doctor Cullis, or to any one? Let us go to God ourselves; and, Mary, if you have faith that God can and will cure you sometime, why not believe that He will _cure you now?_’

“She felt herself cast on God alone. All hope of human help was at an end. She had thought it, hitherto, enough patiently to wait His time. She saw that, after all, she must not dishonor God by limiting His power. Again her Bible opened to the familiar passages, ‘_the prayer of faith shall save the sick_;’ ‘according to your faith be it unto you.’ She felt that the time for testing her faith had come. She would dishonor the Lord no longer. Requesting the prayers of the family that God would now grant healing and restoration, she tottered to her couch, and, asking that in the morning she might be well, calmly closed her eyes in the assurance that it would be so. _And according to her faith, so it was. She came forth in the morning without a remnant of the pain which had filled a decade of years with agony_. That Sabbath was to her, indeed, ‘a high day.’ A week later the frequent prophecy that she should hear me preach was fulfilled.

“_Not a vestige of suffering remained_. So far as that is concerned, there was not a hint left that she had been an invalid for almost a score of years.

“_She immediately took her place in the family as a well person._ Two days after, I saw her. She came to meet me with a step light and strong, and with a face written all over with thankfulness and joy. Since that time all the abandoned duties of active life have been resumed. When last I saw her, she was in bounding health and spirits, declaring that she could not remember when she had felt so happy and well. That night–one of the coldest of the winter, the roads at their iciest–she walked more than half a mile to and from the prayer-meeting.

It is difficult for those who are not conversant with the case to believe it, yet there is no illusion in it. _That she went to sleep a suffering, feeble, shattered woman, and, awoke free from pain, and that she has been gaining in strength ever since, are facts that cannot be doubted_.”

HOW PRAYER HELPED HIM TO KEEP THE PLEDGE.

In a rural district, in the North of England, lived a shoe-maker who had signed the temperance pledge often, but never had strength to keep it. After a while, he was able to keep it, and reformed entirely. A friend was curious to learn how he had been able, at last, to win the victory, and went to see him.

“Well, William, how are you?”

“Oh, pretty well. I had only eighteen pence and an old hen when I signed, and a few old scores; but now I have about ten pounds in the bank, and my wife and I have lived through the summer without getting into debt. But as I am only thirty weeks old yet (so he styled himself), I cannot be so strong yet, my friend.”

“How is it you never signed before?”

“I did sign; but I keep it different now to what I did before, friend.”

“How is this?”

“Why, I _gae doon_ on my knees and pray.”

Here was the _real strength of prayer_. His own resolves were of no value; but when he called on God to help, then came new strength, and he was kept by restraining grace. The bitter experience of those who pledge and pledge over and over again, and never gain the victory, at last must come to either of two ends–their utter destruction, or else to call on God in prayer, to help them keep the pledge manfully, and make them steadfast in their resolutions.

ONE WHO REFUSED THE HOLY SPIRIT.

The following incident is related by D.L. Moody, the Evangelist, which contains a warning, how the Holy Spirit avenges itself to those who refuse its admonitions. It is a remarkable instance of the control of an overruling God, who alone knew that man’s mind, and which alone could bring that text so often to his memory:

“There was a young man in my native village–he was not a young man when I was talking to him–we were working on the farm together one day and he was weeping; I asked him what he was weeping about, and he told me a very strange story. When he left home his mother gave him the text: ‘_Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you_.’ He was ambitious to get rich, and thought when he had got comfortable, that was the time to give his attention to religion. He went from village to village, and got nothing to do. Sunday came, and he went into the village church. _What was his great surprise to hear the minister preach from that text_. It went down into his heart–he thought that it was his mother’s prayers that were following him–he thought the whole sermon was for himself, and thought he would like to get out. For days be could not get that text and sermon out of his mind. He went on still, from village to village, and at last he went into another church after weeks had rolled away. He went for some Sundays to the church, and it wasn’t a great while before the minister _gave out this very text_. He thought surely it was God calling him then, and he said, coolly and deliberately, _he would not seek the Kingdom of God_. He went on in this way, and in the course of a few months, to his great surprise, he heard the _third sermon from the third minister on the same text_. He tried to stifle it, but it followed him. At last he made up his mind he would not go to church any more. When he came back to Northfield, after years, his mother had died, but the text kept coming to him over and over, and he said, ‘I will not become a Christian;’ and said he to me, ‘Moody, my heart is as hard as that stone.’ It was all Greek to me, because I was not a Christian myself at the time. After my conversion, in Boston, he was about the first man I thought of. When I got back and asked my mother about him, she told me he was gone out of his mind, and to every one who went to the asylum to see him he pointed his finger and said: ‘_Seek ye first the Kingdom, of God and His Righteousness_.’ When I went back to my native village, after that, I was told he was still out of his mind, but at home. I went to see him, and asked him did he know me. He was rocking backwards and forwards in his rocking chair, and he gave me that vacant stare and pointed to me as he said, ‘_Young man, seek first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness_.’ When, last month, I laid down my younger brother in his grave, I could not help but think of that man lying but a few yards away. May every man and woman here be wise for eternity and seek now the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness, is my prayer.”

THE PRAYING SHOE-MAKER.

A correspondent of _The American Messenger_ relates this instance of a poor man in the village where he lived, who, with a family of young children and a wife in very feeble health, found it extremely difficult to obtain a livelihood. He was at length compelled to work by the week for a shoe-dealer in the city, four miles from the village, returning to his family every Saturday evening, and leaving home early on Monday morning.

He usually brought home the avails of his week’s labor in provisions for the use of his family during the following week; but on one cold and stormy night, in the depth of winter, he went towards his humble dwelling with empty hands, but a full heart. His employer had declared himself unable to pay him a penny that night, and the shoe-maker, too honest to incur a debt without knowing that he should be able to cancel it, bent his weary steps homeward, trusting that He who hears the ravens when they cry, would fill the mouths of his little family. He knew that he should find a warm house and loving hearts to receive him, but he knew, too, that a disappointment awaited them which would make at least _one_ heart ache.

When he entered his cottage, cold and wet with the rain, he saw a bright fire, brighter faces, and a table neatly spread for the anticipated repast. The tea-kettle was sending forth its cloud of steam, all ready for “the cup which cheers, but not inebriates,” and a pitcher of milk, which had been sent in by a kind neighbor, was waiting for the bread so anxiously expected by the children. The sad father confessed his poverty, and his wife in tears begged him to make _some_ effort to procure food for them before the Sabbath. He replied, “Let us ask God to give us our daily bread. Prayer avails with God when we ask for temporal good, as well as when we implore spiritual blessings.” The sorrowing group knelt around the family altar, and while the father was entreating fervently for the mercies they so much needed, a gentle knocking at the door was heard. When the prayer was ended the door was opened, and there stood a woman in the “peltings of the storm,” who had never been at that door before, though she lived only a short distance from it. She had a napkin in her hand, which contained a large loaf of bread; and half apologizing for offering it, said she had unintentionally made “a larger batch of bread” than usual that day, and though she hardly knew why, she thought it might be acceptable there.

After expressing their sincere gratitude to the woman, the devout shoe-maker and his wife gave thanks to God with overflowing hearts. While the little flock were appeasing their hunger with the nice new bread and milk, the father repaired to the house where I was an inmate, and told his artless tale with streaming eyes, and it is unnecessary to say, that he returned to his home that night with a basket heavily laden, and a heart full of gratitude to a prayer-answering God.

HOW THE LORD CONTROLS EVEN THE LOCOMOTIVE AND THE RAILROAD TRAIN.

A remarkable instance of how the Lord controlled circumstances for the detention of one train, and speeded the arrival of the other, in answer to the prayer of a poor widow, who was in anxiety and distress, is thus known to the editor of _The Watchman and Reflector_:

“Not long ago an engineer brought his train to a stand at a little Massachusetts village, where the passengers have five minutes for lunch. A lady came along the platform and said: ‘The conductor tells me the train at the junction in P—- leaves fifteen minutes before our arrival. It is Saturday night, that is the last train. I have a very sick child in the car, and no money for a hotel, and none for a private conveyance for the long, long journey into the country. What shall I do?’ ‘Well,’ said the engineer, ‘I wish I could tell you.’ ‘Would it be possible for you to hurry a little?’ said the anxious, tearful mother. ‘No, madam, I have the time-table, and the rules say I must run by it.’

She turned sorrowfully away, leaving the bronzed face of the engineer wet with tears. Presently she returned and said, ‘Are you a Christian?’ ‘I trust I am,’ was the reply. ‘Will you pray with me that the Lord may, in some way, delay the train at the junction?’ ‘Why, yes, I will pray with you, but I have not much faith.’ Just then, the conductor cried, ‘All aboard.’ The poor woman hurried back to her deformed and sick child, and away went the train, climbing the grade. ‘Somehow,’ says the engineer, ‘everything worked to a charm. _As I prayed, I couldn’t help letting my engine out just a little_. We hardly stopped at the first station, people got on and off with wonderful alacrity, the conductor’s lantern was in the air in half a minute, and then away again. Once over the summit, it was dreadful easy to give her a little more, and then a little more, as I prayed, till she seemed to shoot through the air like an arrow. Somehow I couldn’t hold her, knowing I had the road, and so we dashed up to the junction six minutes ahead of time.’ There stood the train, and the conductor with his lantern on his arm. ‘Well,’ said he, ‘_will you tell me what I am waiting here for? Somehow I felt I must wait your coming to-night, but I don’t know why_.’ ‘I guess,’ said the brother conductor, ‘it is for this woman, with her sick and deformed child, dreadfully anxious to get home this Saturday night.’ But the man on the engine and the grateful mother think they can tell why the train waited. God held it to answer their prayers.”

Think of this wonderful improbability according to natural circumstances. These trains never connected with each other, nor were intended to. There was no message sent ahead to stop. There was not the slightest business reason for waiting, yet the second conductor, on arrival of the first, asks this question, “_What am I waiting for_,” and the answer of the first is more singular, “I don’t know.”

ANOTHER INSTANCE OF SUPERHUMAN CONTROL OF THE LOCOMOTIVE, IN ANSWER TO PRAYER.

An exact parallel instance to the foregoing is given in the experience of a correspondent of _The Christian_, which occurred in the latter part of November, 1864, while traveling with her aged father and two small girls:

“We started from New Hampshire on Thursday morning, expecting to have ample time to get through to Indiana before Saturday night; but, after we crossed the St. Lawrence River, the next day, I think, there was a smash-up on a freight train, which hindered our train about two hours. I began to feel anxious, as I knew our limited means would not permit us to stop long on the way. After the cars had started again, I inquired of the conductor what time we should get to Toledo, fearing we should not reach there in time for the down train. _He said it would be impossible to gain the time._ Soon they changed conductors, and I made a similar inquiry, getting about the same answer. Still I hoped, till we reached the Detroit River. Here I found that, though they had put on all the steam they dared to, they were _almost an hour behind time_, so I should have to stay over till Sunday night.

“After getting seated in the cars on the other side, I ventured to ask the conductor if we should get to Toledo in time for the down train. He readily said, ‘_No, madam, impossible! If we put on all the steam, we dare to, we shall be more than half an hour behind time._ If we were on some trains we might hope they would wait; but on this, _never! He is the most exact conductor you ever saw. He was never known to wait a second, say nothing about a minute, beyond the time._’ I then inquired if we could not stay at the depot. He said, No; we should all freeze to death, for the fire is out till Sunday evening.

“A gentleman sitting in front of us said he would show us a good hotel near by, as he was acquainted there. I thanked him, but sunk back on my seat. Covering my eyes with my hand, and raising my heart to God, I said, ‘O, God, if thou art my Father, and I am thy child, put it into the heart of that conductor to wait till we get there.’

“Soon I became calm, and fell asleep, not realizing that God would answer my poor prayer; but, when we reached Toledo, to the astonishment of us all, there stood the conductor, _wanting to know the reason why he had to wait_, when our conductor told him there was a lady with her crippled father and two little daughters, who were going down on that train.

“Soon as all were out of the car, both conductors came with their lanterns and gave their aid in helping my father to the other train, where they had reserved seats by keeping the door locked. All was hurry and confusion to me, as I had my eye on father, fearing he might fall, it being very slippery, when the baggage-master said, ‘Your checks, madam!’ I handed them to him, and rushed into the car; but, before I got seated, the car started, and I had no checks for my baggage. Again my heart cried out, ‘O, Thou that hearest prayer, take care of my baggage!’ believing He could do that as well as make the conductor wait. In a few moments the conductor came to me with a face radiant with smiles, saying, ‘_Madam, I waited a whole half hour for you_,–_a thing I never did before since I was a conductor, so much as to wait one minute after my time_.’ He said, ‘I know it was your father that I was waiting for, because there was nothing else on the train for which I could have waited.’ I exclaimed, in a half suppressed tone, ‘Praise the Lord!’ I could not help it; it gushed out. Then he said, ‘_At the very moment all were on board, and I was ready to start, such a feeling came over me as I never had in my life before. I could not start_. Something kept saying to me, _you must wait_, for there is something pending on that train you must wait for. I waited, and here you are, all safe.’ Again my heart said, Praise the Lord! and he started to leave me, when I said, ‘But there is one thing.’ ‘What is it?’ was his quick reply. ‘I gave the baggage-master my checks, and have none in return.’ ‘What were the numbers?’ I told him. ‘I have them,’ he said, handing them to me, ‘but your baggage will not be there till Monday morning. We had no time to put it on, we had waited so long.'”

ANOTHER WONDERFUL RECORD OF $25.

_A Christian minister_, living in Northern Indiana, was in want, and knelt in prayer again and again before his Father in heaven. His quarterly allowance had been withheld, and want stared him in the face. Constrained by urgent need, and shut up to God for help, he pleaded repeatedly for a supply of his temporal wants. Now see how extraordinary was the plan of the Lord to send relief.

“In one of the lovely homes of Massachusetts, while the snow was falling and the winds were howling without, a lady sat on one side of the cheerful fire, knitting a little stocking for her oldest grandson, and her husband, opposite to her, was reading aloud a missionary paper, when the following passage arrested the attention of the lady and fastened itself in her memory.

“‘In consequence of failure to obtain my salary when due, I have been so oppressed with care and want, as to make it painfully difficult to perform my duties as a minister. There is very little prospect, seemingly, of improvement in this respect for some time to come. What I say of my own painfully inadequate support, is substantially true of nearly all your missionaries in this State. You, of course, cannot be blamed for this. You are but the almoners of the churches, and can be expected to appropriate only what they furnish. _This, however, the Master will charge to somebody as a grievous fault;_ for it is not His will that his ministers should labor unrequited.’

“This extract was without name or date. It was simply headed ‘from a missionary in Northern Indiana.’ Scores of readers probably gave it only a passing glance. Not so the lady who sat knitting by the fire and heard her husband read it. The words sank into her mind, and dwelt in her thoughts. The clause, ‘_This, however, the Master will charge to somebody as a grievous fault_,’ especially seemed to follow her wherever she went. The case, she said, haunted her. She seemed to be herself that very ‘_somebody_’ who was to answer at the bar of God for the curtailed supplies and straitened means of this humble minister.

“Impelled by an unseen, but, as she believes, a divine presence and power, after asking counsel and guidance of the Lord, she took twenty- five dollars which were at her own disposal, and requested her husband to give it to the Rev. Dr. H—— for the writer of the above communication, if he could devise any way to obtain the writer’s address.

“Doctor H—— is a prompt man, who does not let gold destined to such an end rest in his pocket. Familiar with the various organizations of the benevolent societies, and only too happy to have an agency in supplying the wants of a laborer in Christ’s vineyard, he soon started the money on its appointed errand. Early in April, the lady in her rural home had the happiness of receiving the following note, of which we omit nothing, save the names of persons and places:

“‘DEAR MADAM.–I have just received a draft for twenty-five dollars, as a special donation from you. This I do with profound gratitude to you for this unselfish and Christ-like deed, and to Him who put it into your heart to do it. How you, _a lady a thousand miles away, could know that I was, and had been for some time, urged by unusual need to pray for succor and worldly support with unwonted fervency, is a matter of more than curious inquiry. It is an answer to my prayer, for the Lord employs the instrumentality of his children to answer prayer, and, when it is necessary, he moves them to it. This is not the first nor second time that I have been laid under special obligation by Christian sympathy and timely aid_. May He who said, He that giveth a cup of cold water to a disciple, in the name of a disciple, shall not lose his reward, repay you a thousand-fold for this favor.’

“Does not this little incident illustrate the power of prayer? The man of God, weary and heavy-laden, in his closet in Indiana, spread his case before the Lord. A disciple in Eastern Massachusetts, _a thousand miles away_ from the spot where the prayer was offered, who did not know anything about him or his need, is touched with his wants, and moved to send him immediate aid.”

MR. SPURGEON’S COW.

“My grandfather was a very poor minister, and kept a cow, which was a very great help in the support of his children–he had ten of them;–and the cow took the “staggers” and died. ‘What will you do now?’ said my grandmother. ‘I cannot tell what we shall do now,’ said he, ‘but I know what God will do: God will provide for us. We must have milk for the children.’

“The next morning, there came L20 to him. He had never made application to the fund for the relief of ministers; but, on that day, there were L5 left when they had divided the money, and one said, ‘There is poor Mr. Spurgeon down in Essex, suppose we send it to him.’ The chairman–a Mr. Morley of his day–said, ‘We had better make it L10, and I’ll give L5.’ Another L5 was offered by another member, if a like amount could be raised, to make it up to L20; which was done. They knew nothing about my grandfather’s cow; but God did, you see; and there was the new cow for him. And those gentlemen in London were not aware of the importance of the service which they had rendered.

CHARLES SPURGEON.”

“TRUST IN THE LORD.”

“A poor negro woman, after the death of her husband, had no means of support for herself and two little children, except the labor of her own hands; yet she found means out of her deep poverty to give something for the promotion of the cause of her Redeemer, and would never fail to pay, on the very day it became due, her regular subscription to the church of which she was a member. In a hard Winter she had found great difficulty in supplying the pressing needs of her little family; yet the few pence for religious purposes had been regularly put by.

“As one season for the contribution came round, she had only a little corn, a single salt herring, and a five-cent piece remaining of her little store. Yet she did not waver; she ground the corn, prepared her children’s supper, and then, with a light heart and cheerful countenance, set out to meeting, where she gave joyfully the five cents, _the last she had in the world_.

“Returning from the church, she passed the house of a lady to whom, a long time before, she had sold a piece of pork, so long indeed that she had entirely forgotten the circumstance. But, seeing her this morning, the lady called her in, apologized for having been so tardy in the settlement, and then inquired how much it was. Old Sukey did not know, and the lady, determined to be on the safe side, gave her two dollars, besides directing her housekeeper to put up a basket of flour, sugar, coffee, and other luxuries for her use. Poor Sukey returned home with a joyful heart, saying, as she displayed her treasures, “See, my children, the Lord is a good paymaster, giving us ‘a hundred-fold even in this present life, and in the world to come life everlasting.'”

EXACTLY EIGHTY DOLLARS.–“THEY ARE SAFE THAT TRUST IN THEE.”

A clergyman somewhat advanced in years recently related to a correspondent of _The Messenger_ an incident in his own life, which well illustrates the provident care of our heavenly Father over his children.

“His first church was at V—-, and, though he labored diligently, working with his own hands for his support, he became eighty dollars in debt. It was a grievous burden, and all his efforts to remove it proved unavailing. One day, when he felt especially cast down, he retired to pray over the matter, and on his knees he besought the Lord to aid, as he despaired of help from any other source. He felt strengthened and hopeful when he left his closet, and entered his church on Sabbath morning with a lighter heart than usual. As he passed the door a young lady met him, and placed in his hand _fifty dollars_, saying that _twenty_ was to go for the Sabbath-school library, and the remaining _thirty_ was for himself. He was so surprised that he scarcely trusted his senses, and asked her not less than three times, that he might not be mistaken. As he preached that day, God seemed ‘a very present help.’ At the close of the service, a young man, noted for his free-hearted, impulsive character, stepped up and requested that he would perform a marriage ceremony for him the next week. He did so, and received for his services a bill, which he placed in his pocket, and, on looking at it afterwards, found it _fifty dollars_, thus making up _exactly the eighty_ he had prayed the Lord to send him.”

We too often forget that God is as willing to listen to our temporal wants as to our spiritual, and that “no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.”

A PRAYER FOR FOUR DOLLARS.

A Home Missionary from Brooklyn called one day upon an editor to gather some tracts for distribution which he had published. The editor became interested in the story of his visits among the poor, and though at first not specially moved to give money at that time, yet toward the last, putting his hand into his pocket he pulled out all the bills there were there, $4, and gave them to the missionary with these words: “There is something which may come useful.” The gift was all forgotten until a few days afterward the missionary returned and said to the editor, “After I left you I received a letter from a poor lady who had been owing money for rent for several months, which she could not possibly pay. That very morning the landlord came and said that if she could only raise $4 he would excuse the rest; but she did not have the $4. I did not know where to get it. I happened to drop in to see you; did not tell you anything of the need, and asked for nothing; yet you gave me the exact $4 to answer that poor woman’s prayer.”

An infinite Creator and God had brought these circumstances together in this exact way. Neither the editor nor missionary had ever met before. The missionary did not know that the lady was in distress. Who was it that sent the landlord to the lady and fixed that amount of $4 in his mind? Who was it that sent the home missionary to the office of a person he had never seen or known? Who was it that knew of the $4 waiting in that pocket and prompted that hand to take it out and give it away? Who was it that led that missionary to obtain and send relief just as she was praying for that special amount?

_Was it chance or science? No, No. It was the will of a loving God_.

“AUNT SALLY’S” FAITH.

“‘Aunt Sally,’ says the _American Messenger_, was a devout, working, trustful Christian. Her husband was a cripple, almost helpless, an unbeliever, and to some extent an opposer of religion. They lived alone. The severity of a northern winter was upon them, and in spite of her best exertions their stock of fuel was scarcely a day’s supply.

“‘What can be done?’ was the anxious inquiry of the unbelieving husband as they were rising from their bed. ‘The Lord will provide,’ was ‘Aunt Sally’s’ cheerful reply. ‘I know you always say so, and so it has always proved,’ was the answer of her unbelieving companion; ‘but I see no way in which we can be provided for now.’ ‘Nor do I,’ said ‘Aunt Sally.’ ‘But help will come. God will not desert us.’

“That winter’s morning had not passed when their son, who had been a soldier in the Mexican war, entered the door. It had been long since they had heard from him, and they feared he was not alive. The sun went down upon an abundant supply of fuel, cut in the forest by the strong arms of the soldier-boy, and drawn to the door by means of his procuring. The unbelieving husband and father declared he would never be distrustful again.

GOD CARETH FOR YOU.

“Nearly forty years ago I was given up by the doctors for a dying man from consumption. I had a wife and five children dependent on me, and for many months was unable to provide for them by my own labors. All our earthly resources were gone, and one Sabbath morning, when breakfast was over, we were entirely destitute; there was no meal in the barrel nor oil in the cruse. In family worship I read the fortieth chapter of Isaiah. I think up to that time I had never found the word of God so sweet and precious. I had very near access in prayer, and was enabled to lay my burden at the Saviour’s feet. I closed with the Lord’s Prayer; it seemed made on purpose for me. I think the petition, ‘Give us this day our daily bread,’ was offered in faith.

“_Within an hour there was a rap at the door_. When I opened it a young man stood there who had come three miles to bring us bread, sugar, and money. He apologized for coming on the Sabbath morning, but said an aunt of his was at their house the evening before, and felt so anxious about us she could not go away till he promised her he would come and bring us those things.”

A PRAYER NOT ANSWERED.

“Many years ago, a man then recently married, settled in my native town. It was then quite new, destitute of religious privileges, and given to all manner of wickedness. There was no Sabbath, and no sanctuary. The man was pious. The thought of bringing up a family in such a place distressed him. He wished to remove; and he used to retire daily to a little grove, and _pray that God would send some one to buy his farm_. This prayer was not answered. Better things were in store. A neighbor was taken sick. He visited and conversed with him. In the midst of the conversation, one sitting by interrupted him and said, ‘Sir, if what you say is true, I am lost.’ This gave new interest to the occasion. Prayer was offered, the Spirit was found out, and many were converted. A prayer-meeting was started; other revivals followed; in due time a church was organized, a house of worship built, and a pastor settled, mainly through the instrumentality of that one man; and he trained up his family there, and lived to see most of them members of the church of Christ. Do not despair, God will _either answer your exact prayer,_ or _do something better for you_; He knows what is for your best good.”

TRUST IN THE LORD.

“A pious woman, who was reduced to extreme poverty and deserted by her intemperate husband, was taken sick, and lay several days without physical power to provide food for her two little children. She had directed them where to find the little that was remaining in the house, and they had eaten it all. Still she lay sick, with no means of obtaining more, as night closed upon the hungry household. The children soon forgot their hunger in sleep; but not so the mother. She saw no help for them but in God, and she spent the night-watches in spreading before him their necessities. As the morning approached her confidence in God increased, and that passage from his word rested with peculiar sweetness upon her mind, ‘Trust in the Lord and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and _verily thou shalt be fed_.’

“Morning came. The starving children managed by her direction to build them a little fire, and almost before they had commenced telling their mother of their hunger, a stranger came in. She introduced herself as Mrs. J., saying she had known for some time that there was a new family in the neighborhood, and intended to call and make their acquaintance, but had been prevented. _During the last night she had been so troubled and disturbed about it_, that she thought she would run in early, lest she should again be prevented, and see if there was any way in which she could be of service to them. The mother in bed, with her head bound to mitigate its pain, revealed the story of her sufferings, and the good lady soon learned their entire destitution. They were immediately made comfortable; and all will be glad to know that it was the beginning of better days to that deserted wife and mother.”

THE NECESSITY OF ASKING GOD’S BLESSING EVERY DAY, UPON YOUR DAILY WORK. EVERY WORK, HOWEVER GOOD, NEEDS SPECIAL, SPECIFIC, DAILY PRAYER FOR ITS PROSPERITY.

“A colporteur in the Wabash valley became quite discouraged and was almost ready to give up his work, on account of the smallness of his sales. On every side, his ears were filled with complaints of ‘hard times;’ the wheat crop had partially failed two years in succession–the California emigration, and railroad and plank-road speculations had almost drained the country of money. Frequently he would be told, that if he could come after harvest they would buy his books, but that it was impossible to do so then. His sales were daily decreasing, and he became more and more disheartened, until one night, after a laborious day’s effort, he found that he had _only sold twenty-five cents’ worth_! He felt that he could not go on in this way any longer. He was wasting his strength and time, and the money of the Society. On examination of the state of his heart, he found that it had, gradually and almost unconsciously, grown cold and departed far from Christ. He felt that he had not prayed as he ought to have done, especially _he had neglected each morning, and on his approach to each dwelling, to pray that then and there God would guide him, and own and bless his efforts to sell books._ He saw that probably here was at least a part of the cause why his sales had become so small. Early the next morning, before any of the family were up, he arose and retired to the adjoining woods, where he had a long and precious season of communion with God. There he anew dedicated himself and his all to the service of Christ. There, as under the eye of the Master, he reviewed the time he had labored as a colporteur, and prayed for forgiveness for the past and grace for the future. There he told the Saviour all about his work, and asked him to go with him that day, preparing the way and enabling him to succeed in the work on which he had entered. The result was what might have been expected. He went forth a new man; his heart was interested more deeply in the truths which he was circulating–they were more precious than ever to his own soul, and he could recommend his books, as he failed to do when his heart was cold and prayerless. _That first day he sold more books than during the whole week before._ In one instance, he sold several dollars’ worth in a family where, as he was afterwards told by pious men in the neighborhood, the father was most bitterly opposed to everything connected with true religion. God had prepared that man’s heart, so that he was ready to purchase quite a library for his family. And in many families that met him that day with the usual salutation, ‘no money,’ he succeeded in disposing of more than one volume by sale. As he went from family to family, lifting up his heart in prayer to God for success in the particular object of his visit, God heard his prayers and owned his efforts. And so, he assured me, it had been since; whenever he had been _prayerful_–_prayerful for this particular object_, and then had diligently and faithfully done his best, he had invariably succeeded in doing even more than he expected.”

PRAYER FOUND THE REMEDY FOR THE DISEASE.

“A correspondent of _The Illustrated Christian Weekly_, states that a mother of her acquaintance had a child taken alarmingly ill. She sent for the physician. The child was in convulsions. The doctor began at once vigorously to apply the customary remedies–cold water to the head, warm applications to the feet, chafing of the hands and limbs. All was in vain. The body lost nothing of its dreadful rigidity. Death seemed close at hand, and absolutely inevitable. At length he left the child, and sat down by the window, looking out. He seemed, to the agonized mother, to have abandoned her darling. For herself, she could do nothing but pray; and even her prayer was but an inarticulate and unvoiced cry for help. _Suddenly the physician started from his seat. ‘Send and see if there be any jimson weed in the yard_,’ he cried. His order was obeyed; the poisonous weed was found. The remedies were instantly changed. Enough of the seeds of this deadly weed were brought away by the medicine to have killed a man. The physician subsequently said that he thought that in that five minutes every kindred case he had ever known in a quarter century’s practice passed before his mind. Among them was the one case which suggested the real, but before hidden, cause of the protracted and dreadful convulsions. And the child was saved.

“Now, is there anything inconsistent or unphilosophical in the belief that, at that critical moment, a loving God, answering the mother’s Helpless cry, flashed on the mind of the physician the thought that saved the child? Is it any objection to that faith to say, the age of miracles is past? If the mother, may call in a second physician, to suggest the cause and the cure, may she not call on God? What the doctor can do for a fellow-practitioner, cannot the Great Physician do? Though the doctor had often tried and thought, yet it was not till the last prayer and call on God, brought the remedy to his mind.”

PRAYER INSTANTANEOUSLY ANSWERED FOR CONVERSION.

On the evening of the fifty-first daily prayer-meeting in Augusta, Ga., a large gathering assembled in the St. John’s M.E. Church, at which Dr. Irvine presided, and some very touching communications were read. One was from a widowed mother, asking thanksgiving for the salvation of her youngest daughter, recently from a boarding-school in New York city, where she had finished her education. Some weeks ago she had sought the prayers of the daily prayer-meeting for the conversion of her precious child, who was spending a few weeks with some friends seventy miles from Augusta. Prayers were offered accordingly, but without intimation of any change. The loving mother sent in a second application or prayer to Dr. Irvine, to be read on a recent Monday morning; all this without her daughter’s knowledge. On Tuesday the mother received a letter from her daughter, dated two o’clock on Sabbath, informing her that on that day, and at that hour, she had resolved to give her heart to Christ, intending to ask admission to the church at the next communion. Strange to say, at the very moment when the faithful mother was writing her application for prayers for that child, she was announcing her own conversion.

What a verification of the blessed promise: “Before they call I will answer; and while they are yet speaking I will hear.”

HELP FOR THE SHIPWRECKED.

Admiral Sir Thomas Williams, a straight-forward and excellent man, was in command of a ship crossing the Atlantic Ocean. His course brought him in sight of the Island of Ascension, at that time uninhabited, and _never visited by any ship_, except for the purpose of collecting turtles, which abound on the coast. The island was barely descried on the horizon, and was not to be noticed at all; but as Sir Thomas looked at it, he was _seized by an unaccountable desire to steer toward it_.

He felt how strange such a wish would appear to his crew, and _tried to disregard it; but in vain_. His desire became more and more urgent and distressing, and foreseeing that it would soon be more difficult to gratify it, he told his lieutenant to prepare to “_put about ship_” and steer for Ascension. _The officer to whom he spoke ventured to respectfully represent that changing their course would greatly delay them_–that just at that moment the men were going to their dinner–that at least some delay might be allowed.

But these arguments seemed, to increase Captain Williams’ anxiety, and the ship was steered toward the uninteresting little island. All eyes and spy-glasses were now fixed upon it, and soon something was perceived on the shore. “It is white–it is a flag–it must be a signal!” And when they neared the shore, it was ascertained that sixteen men, wrecked on the coast many days before, and suffering the extremity of hunger, had set up a signal, though almost without hope of relief. What made the captain steer his ship in the very opposite direction to what he and his crew wanted to go, but the _superhuman Spirit of God_.

SAMUEL HARRIS’S LAWSUIT, AND HOW THE LORD SETTLED IT FOR HIM.

“When Samuel Harris, of Virginia, began to preach, his soul was so absorbed in the work, that he neglected to attend to the duties of this life. Finding, upon a time, that it was absolutely necessary that he should provide more grain for his family than he had raised upon his own farm, he called upon a man who owed him a debt, and told him he would be glad to receive the money.

“The man replied: ‘I have no money by me, and cannot oblige you.’

“Harris said; ‘I want the money to purchase wheat for my family; and as you have raised a good crop of wheat, I will take that of you instead of money, at a current price.’

“The man answered: ‘I have other uses for my wheat, and cannot let you have it.’

“‘How then,’ said Harris, ‘do you intend to pay me?’

“‘I never intend to pay you until you sue me,’ replied the debtor, ‘and therefore you may begin your suit as soon as you please.’

“Mr. Harris left him, meditating. Said he to himself, ‘What shall I do? Must I leave preaching, and attend to a vexatious lawsuit? Perhaps a thousand souls may perish in the meantime, for want of hearing of Jesus! No; I will not. Well, what will you do for yourself? Why, this will I do; I will sue him at the Court of Heaven.’ Having resolved what he would do, he turned aside into a wood, and on his knees laid the matter before the Lord. Mr. Harris felt such an evidence of Divine favor,–he felt, to use his own expressive language, that Jesus would become bondsman for the man, and see that he was paid if he went on preaching. Mr. Harris arose from prayer, resolved to hold the man no longer a debtor, since Jesus had assumed the payment. He therefore wrote a receipt in full of all accounts against the man, and dating it in the woods, where he had prayed, signed it with his own name. Going the next day by the man’s house, on his way to meeting, he gave the receipt to a servant, directing him to give it to his master. On his return from meeting, the man hailed him, and demanded what he meant by the receipt he had sent him in the morning.

“Mr. Harris replied: ‘I mean just as I wrote.’

“‘But you know, sir,’ answered the debtor, ‘I have never paid you.’

“‘True,’ said Mr. Harris, ‘and I know you said that you never would unless I sued you. But, sir, I sued you at the Court of Heaven, and Jesus entered bail for you, and has agreed to pay me; I have therefore given you a discharge!’

“‘But I insist upon it,’ said the man; ‘matters shall not be left so.’

“‘I am well satisfied,’ answered Harris. ‘Jesus will not fail me. I leave you to settle the account with him at another day. Farewell.’

“This operated so effectually on the man’s conscience, that in a few days he _came and paid the debt_.”

A WAGON-LOAD OF FOOD.

“A young minister and his wife were sent on to their first charge in Vermont about the year 1846. On the circuit were few members, and most of these were in poor circumstances. After a few months the minister and his wife found themselves getting short of provisions. Finally their last food had been cooked, and where to look for a new supply was a question which demanded immediate attention.

“The morning meal was eaten, not without anxious feelings; but this young servant of the Most High had laid his all upon the altar, and his wife also possessed much of the spirit of self-sacrifice; and they could not think the Saviour who had said to those he had called and sent out to preach in his name: ‘Lo! I am with you always,’ would desert them among strangers. After uniting in family prayer he sought a sanctuary in an old barn, and there committed their case to God;–his wife met her Savior in her closet and poured out her heart before him there.

“That morning a young married farmer, a mile or two away, was going with a number of hands to his mowing-field. But as he afterward told the minister, he was obliged to stop short. He told his hired help to go on, but he _must go back_–_he must go and carry provisions to the minister’s house_. He returned to the house, and telling his wife how he felt, asked her help in putting up the things he must carry. He harnessed his horse into his wagon; put up a bushel of potatoes, meat, flour, sugar, butter, etc. He was not a professor of religion. The minister’s wife told me there was a good wagon-load. He drove it to the house, and found that his gifts were most thankfully received. This account was received from the minister himself,–David P.–, who died in Chelsea, Mass., in Dec. 1875, and subsequently from his wife,–and communicated to a correspondent of ‘_The Christian_.'”

“GOD’S RAVEN.”

“A lady who lived on the north side of London, set out one day to see a poor sick friend, living in Drury Lane, and took with her a basket provided with tea, butter, and food. The day was fine and clear when she started; but as she drew near Islington a thick fog came on, and somewhat frightened her, as she was deaf, and feared it might be dangerous in the streets if she could not see. Thicker and darker the fog became; they lighted the lamps, and the omnibus went at a walking pace. She might have got into another omnibus and returned; but a strong feeling which she could not explain made her go on. When they reached the Strand they could see nothing. At last the omnibus stopped, and the conductor guided her to the foot-path. As she was groping her way along, the fog cleared up, just at the entrance to Drury Lane, and even the blue sky was seen. She now easily found the narrow court, rang the number 5 bell, and climbed to the fifth story. She knocked at the door, and a little girl opened it.

“‘How is grandmother?’

“‘Come in, Mrs. A—-,’ answered the grandmother. ‘How did you get here? We have been in thick darkness all day.’

“The room was exceedingly neat, and the kettle stood boiling on a small clear fire. Everything was in perfect order; on the table stood a little tea-tray ready for use. The sick woman was in bed, and her daughter sat working in a corner of the room.

“‘I see you are ready for tea,’ said the lady; ‘I have brought something more to place upon the table.’

“With clasped hands the woman breathed a few words of thanksgiving first, and then said, ‘O, Mrs. A—-, you are indeed God’s raven, sent by him to bring us food to-day, for we have not tasted any yet. I felt sure he would care for us.’

“‘But you have the kettle ready for tea?’

“‘Yes, ma’am,’ said the daughter; ‘mother would have me set it on the fire; and when I said, ‘What is the use of doing so? you know we have nothing in the house,’ she still would have it, and said, ‘My child, God will provide. Thirty years he has already provided for me, through all my pain and helplessness, and he will not leave me to starve at last: he will send us help, though we do not yet see how.’ In this expectation mother has been waiting all day, quite sure that some one would come and supply our need. But we did not think of the possibility of your coming from such a distance on such a day. Indeed, it must be God who sent you to us.’

“‘The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.'”

HOW THE STOLEN SLEIGH WAS RETURNED BY A THIEF.

The widow of a minister of the Gospel sends to “_The Christian_” the following instance illustrating God’s faithfulness in hearing and answering prayer:

“About the year 1829, my husband, who died January 2d, 1854, lent his sleigh and harness to a man calling himself John Cotton, to go some twenty miles and be gone three days. Cotton was quite a stranger among us, having been in our place but six weeks. During that time he had boarded with my husband’s brother, working for him a part of the time, and the rest of the time selling wooden clocks, of which he had bought a number. Three days passed, but he did not return. The fourth went by, and we began to think he had absconded. On inquiry, Mr. P. found that the clocks had been purchased on credit, and all sold for watches or money; that Cotton owed sixty dollars toward his horse, and had borrowed of the brother with whom he boarded, horse-blanket, whip, and mittens. Now it seemed sure that he was a rogue, but what could be done? Pursuit was useless after such a lapse of time.

“My husband felt his loss severely, for we had little property then, and what we had was the product of hard labor. But he was a Christian, and, I believe, always made his business a subject of prayer.

“About three weeks passed away. One evening, having been out longer than usual, he came in, and, with his characteristic calmness, said: ‘I shall not worry any more about my sleigh and harness, I think I shall get them again.’ ‘Why do you think so?’ His answer was: ‘I have been praying to God to arrest Cotton’s conscience, so that he will be obliged to _leave them where I can get them_, and I believe he will do it.’

“From this time, which was Wednesday evening, he seemed at rest on the subject. The next Tuesday morning, as he stepped into the post-office, a letter was handed him from Littleton, N.H. It was written by the keeper of a public house, and read thus:

“‘_Mr. P.–Sir, Mr. John Cotton has left your sleigh and harness here, and you can have them by calling for them_.

Yours, etc., J–N N—-N.’

“He returned home with the letter, and started for L—-; went there the same day, some forty miles; found sleigh and harness safe, with no encumbrance. The landlord informed him that, a few nights before, at twelve o’clock, a man calling himself John Cotton came to his house, calling for horse-baiting and supper; would not stay till morning, but wished to leave the sleigh and harness for Mr. S.— P.— of Marshfield, Vt. He said he could not write himself; and requested the landlord to write for him, saying he took them on a poor debt for Mr. P., in one of the towns below! He started off at two o’clock at night, on horseback, with an old pair of saddle-bags and a horse blanket, on a saddle with one stirrup and no crupper, on one of the coldest nights of that or any other year. He took the road leading through the Notch in the mountains, left nothing for either of those he owed, and we have never since heard from him.”

“NONE OF THE LORD’S CHILDREN LEFT DESOLATE.”

“_The Christian Era_ tells of a Dutch preacher who held a meeting one evening in a strange city. While he was preaching, and enforcing upon the hearts of his hearers the doctrine of the Cross, a police officer came into the room and forbade him to go on. He even commanded him to leave the city. As he was a stranger in the place, and the night was dark, he wandered around the city gates. He was not, however, without consolation; for he remembered Him who had said, ‘Lo, I am with you always. I will fear no evil, for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.’

“He had long been in the school of Christ, and had learned to watch for the slightest intimations of His will. While he was thus wandering around, suddenly he saw a light in the distance. ‘See,’ he said to himself, ‘perhaps the Lord has provided me a shelter there,’ and, in the simplicity of faith, he directed his steps thither. On arriving, he heard a voice in the house; and, as he drew nearer, he discovered that a man was praying. Joyful, he hoped, that he had found here the home of a brother. He stood still for a moment, and heard these words, poured forth from an earnest heart: ‘Lord Jesus, one of thy persecuted servants may, perhaps, be wandering, at this moment, in a strange place of which he knows nothing. O, may he find my home, that he may receive here food and lodging.’

“The preacher, having heard these words, glided into the house, as soon as the speaker said, ‘Amen.’ Both fell on their knees, and together thanked the Lord, who is a hearer of prayer, and who never leaves nor forsakes His servants.”

THE NEW COAT THAT FITTED EXACTLY.

“A few years since, a young preacher in the State of Massachusetts, who was laboring in a field which yielded no great pecuniary returns, had laid aside the sum of fifteen dollars from his scanty income, with which to purchase himself a coat, of which he stood in need. Before he had time to obtain it, there was presented to him a certain charitable object which seemed to demand a portion of his little store. After some consideration as to whether it was his duty to give as much as the ten dollars, which first presented itself to his mind as the proper sum to bestow, he concluded to follow his convictions, and thus assist one who was more needy than himself, and trust in the Lord to provide the coat.

“Within two or three days afterwards, he was visiting at the house of his mother, in another town, and she, as mothers will, noticed that his coat had arrived at that condition which usually affords the preacher of the Gospel evidence that he is shortly to have a new one, and she made some remarks about its worn appearance, saying, ‘It seems to me you need a new coat.’ ‘I know it,’ he replied, ‘and I shall get me one as soon as I get the means.’ She said, ‘There is a coat up stairs which your brother had made for him not over two weeks ago, which he never has worn but once, because it was _made too small_, and he said that you might have it, if you wanted it.’

“The coat was accordingly brought down and tried on, and it fitted exactly. The young man gladly accepted the coat, wondering a little at the wisdom of the Lord in clothing him at the expense of his brother, who was not particularly interested in the Lord’s work, and who was so much larger than he was, that nothing short of the wisdom of Providence could have made a coat that was measured for one of them ever to fit the other.”

This was the return that God made to him for his sacrifice to the Lord. _Never withhold from the Lord_.

PRAYING TO STOP THE WIND AND THE SAILING OF A VESSEL.

The late aged and venerable Rev. Dr. Cleaveland, of Boston, relates the following incident:

“In a revival of religion in the church of which he was pastor, he was visited one morning by a member of his church, a widow, whose only son was a sailor. With a voice trembling with emotion, she said, ‘Doctor Cleaveland, I have called to entreat you to join me in praying _that the wind may change_.’ He looked at her in silent amazement. ‘Yes,’ she exclaimed, earnestly, ‘my son has gone on board his vessel; they sail to-night, unless the wind changes.’ ‘Well, madam,’ replied the doctor, ‘I will pray that your son may be converted on this voyage; but to pray that God would alter the laws of His universe on his account, I fear is presumptuous.’ ‘Doctor,’ she replied, ‘my heart tells me differently. God’s Spirit is _here_. Souls are being converted here. You have a meeting this evening, and, if the wind would change, John would stay and go to it; and, I believe, if he went he would be converted. Now, if you cannot join me, I must pray alone, for he must stay.’ ‘I will pray for his conversion,’ said the doctor.

“On his way to the meeting, he glanced at the weather-vane, and, to his surprise, _the wind had changed_, and it was blowing landward. On entering his crowded vestry, he soon observed John, sitting upon the front seat. The young man seemed to drink in every word, rose to be prayed for, and attended the inquiry meeting. When he sailed from port, the mother’s prayers had been answered; he went a Christian. The pastor had learned a lesson he never forgot. The Lord had said, ‘O, woman, great is thy faith; be it unto thee, even as thou wilt.’ God answered that prayer because the mother was seeking to advance His own kingdom. God always hears a prayer that will in any way bring a soul to the Lord.”

INSANITY CURED AND SUICIDE PREVENTED.

“_Augusta Moore_, writes _The Christian_, of a young lady called home by the illness of her widowed mother, who died before she could reach her. This alone was a terrible shock to the delicate daughter, who, having been reared in luxury, was ill-fitted for firm endurance of calamity. But, when it became known that a relative, in whom she had placed confidence, had managed, in ways that need not be explained, to defraud her out of her inheritance, her mind gave way and _she became insane_.

“For years, her distressed husband strove in every way to restore her reason, but she seemed rather to become worse, and showed signs of intentions to commit suicide; and her family and friends lived in a wretched state of apprehension. In spite of the most faithful watchfulness, she twice succeeded in securing the means for self-destruction, but something prevented her from accomplishing her design. At last, it occurred to a friend to present this woman’s case in the prayer-meeting, to the Lord, and earnest prayer was offered for her restoration.

“No immediate result appeared; but the friends _persevered_. During the Winter, a revival of religion occurred in the town where she dwelt, and, with much difficulty, the insane woman, who declared that she was utterly and finally forsaken by God, was prevailed upon to attend the meetings. They began immediately to have a good effect upon her. She could sleep better; she grew more cheerful, and, in a short time, her reason returned to her. A happier, or more grateful woman than she now is, no mortal eyes ever beheld, and she affords one more instance of the Lord’s willingness to hear and answer fervent prayer.”

ANSWERS TO PRAYER.

Dr. Newman Hall, minister of Surrey Chapel, London, gives the following instances of answers to prayer from his own experience:

“The writer’s brother, when superintendent of a Sunday School, felt a strong impulse, one Saturday evening, to call on a member of his Bible-class, whom he had never visited before, and to inquire if he was in any need. He found him very ill. Though the mother and sister seemed in comfortable circumstances, he felt constrained to inquire if he could aid them in any way. They burst into tears, and said that the young man had been asking for food which they had no power to supply, and that, on Monday, some of their goods were to be taken in default of the payment of rates. When he knocked at the door _they were on their knees in prayer for help to be sent them_. By the aid of a few friends, the difficulty was at once met–but the timely succor was felt to be the divine response to prayer.

“With that brother, the writer was once climbing the Cima di Jazzi, one of the mountains in the chain of Monte Rosa. When nearly at the top, they entered a dense fog. Presently, the guides faced right about, and grounded their axes on the frozen snow-slope. The brother–seeing the slope still beyond, and not knowing it was merely the cornice, overhanging a precipice of several thousand feet–rushed onward. The writer will never forget their cry of agonized warning. His brother stood a moment on the very summit, and then, the snow yielding, began to fall through. One of the guides, at great risk, rushed after him and seized him by the coat. This tore away, leaving only three inches of cloth, by which he was dragged back. It seemed impossible to 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 particularly was earnest, as if imploring deliverance from some great peril. _The times corresponded!_ Was not that prayer instrumental in preserving that life?”

BISHOP SIMPSON’S RECOVERY.

Bishop Bowman gives the following instance from his own experience:

“In the Fall of 1858, whilst visiting Indiana, I was at an annual conference where Bishop Janes presided. We received a telegram that Bishop Simpson was dying. Said Bishop Janes, ‘Let us spend a few moment’s in earnest prayer for the recovery of Bishop Simpson.’ We kneeled to pray. William Taylor, the great California street preacher, was called to pray, and such a prayer I never heard since. The impression seized upon me irresistibly, _Bishop Simpson will not die_. I rose from my knees perfectly quiet. Said I, ‘Bishop Simpson will not die.’ ‘Why do you think so?’ Because I have had an _irresistible impression_ made upon my mind during this prayer.’ Another said, ‘_I have the same impression_.’ We passed it along from bench to bench, until we found that a very large proportion of the conference had the same impression. I made a minute of the time of day, and when I next saw Simpson, he was attending to his daily labor. I inquired of the Bishop, ‘How did you recover from your sickness?’ He replied, ‘_I cannot tell_.’ ‘What did your physician say?’ ‘_He said it was a miracle_.’ I then said to the Bishop, ‘Give me the time and circumstances under which the change occurred.’ He fixed upon the day, and _the very hour_, making allowance for the distance–a thousand miles away–that the preachers were engaged in prayer at this conference. The physician left his room and said to his wife, ‘_It is useless to do anything further; the Bishop must die_.’ In about an hour, he returned and started back, inquiring, ‘_What have you done?’ ‘Nothing,’_ was the reply. ‘He is recovering rapidly,’ said the physician; ‘_a change has occurred in the disease within the last hour beyond anything I have ever seen; the crisis is past, and the Bishop will recover_.’ And he did.”

The doctor was puzzled; it was beyond all the course and probabilities of nature and the laws of science. What was it that made those ministers so sure–what was it that made the patient recover, at the exact hour that they prayed? There is only one answer, “_The ever living Power of a Superior Spirit which rules the world_.”

THE SEVEN LETTERS.

The following incident is given by “_The Presbyterian_,” on the authority of a private letter from Paris:

“At a Bible reunion, held at the house of an English Congregationalist minister, where several colporteurs, teachers and others meet for devotional reading and conversation, a brief anecdote was related by a clergyman living in La Force, who established there an institution for epileptics, where he has now three hundred, supported entirely on the principle of faith, like Muller’s orphanage.

“At one time, he found himself in debt to the amount of five hundred pounds. After a sleepless, anxious night, he found, on his table, seven letters. Opening five, he found them to be all applications, some of them most painful in their details, for the admission of new inmates. His excited mind could not bear it. Without opening the other two letters he threw them to his wife. ‘Put them into the fire,’ he said, and turned to seek relief in the open air. ‘John,’ said a sweet voice, ‘this won’t do. Come back.’ So he did, taking up the sixth letter, which proved to be from a stranger, enclosing a check for three hundred pounds. The other envelope gave him just what was needed, just that and no more. He thanked God, and took courage. Will he ever again hear the sweet, sad voice, ‘Wherefore didst thou doubt?'”

THE LORD DID NOT FORGET THE POTATOES.

“A correspondent of _Arthur’s Magazine_ tells of a poor woman who had been washing for us, who said: ‘Seems as if the Lord took very direct ways to reach people’s feelings sometimes. Now, I was astonished once in my life. I lived away out West, on the prairie, I and my four children, and I couldn’t get much work to do, and our little stock of provisions kept getting lower and lower. One night, we sat hovering over our fire, and I was gloomy enough. There was about a pint of corn-meal in the house, and that was all. I said, ‘Well, children, may be the Lord will provide something.’ ‘_I do hope it will be a good mess of potatoes_,’ said cheery little Nell; ‘seems to me _I never was so hungry for taters before_.’ After they were all asleep, I lay there tossing over my hard bed, and wondering what I would do next. All at once, the sweetest peace and rest came over me, and I sank into such a good sleep. Next morning, I was planning that I would make the tinfull of meal into mush, and fry it in a greasy frying-pan, in which our last meat had been fried. As I opened the door to go down to the brook to wash, I saw something new. _There, on the bench, beside the door, stood two wooden pails and a sack. One pail was full of meat, the other full of potatoes, and the sack filled with flour_. I brought my hands together in my joy, and just hurrahed for the children to come. Little dears! They didn’t think of trousers and frocks then, but came out all of a flutter, like a flock of quails. Their joy was supreme. They knew the Lord had sent some, of his angels with the sack and pails. Oh, it was such a precious gift! _I washed the empty pails, and put the empty sack in one of them, and, at night, I stood them on the bench where I had found them, and, the next morning, they were gone_. I tried and tried to find out who had befriended us, but I never could. The Lord never seemed so far off after that time,’ said the poor woman, looking down with tearful eyes.”

THE PRAYER IN THE WOODS.

A friend relates the following incident, as received from the lips of a poor afflicted, crippled orphan boy, whose own experience is a practical illustration of the words: “When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.” Ps. xxvii 10.

“Out of many instances of answered prayer I will tell the following one: In August, 1874, I wished to go to Lowell, a distance of some thirty miles, or more. I had no money, and did not know how to get there. I asked the station-agent and the conductor, but each refused, saying it would not be consistent with their duty. Knowing of no human help, I left the depot and went into the woods, some ways from the station, where I could be alone, and tell that Friend who is able to provide, and who is rich unto all that call upon Him. I knelt down beside the stump of a tree and prayed, and told the Lord all about it, and asked Him either to give me money, or provide some way that I could go where I desired. I felt that the Lord heard and answered me, and filled my soul with praise and joy. The language of my heart was, ‘Bless the Lord.’

“As I turned and was going out of the woods, I heard a voice saying, ‘Halloo.’ As I had seen no one, and knew not that any human being was near, I was surprised at this greeting. ‘Halloo!’ said the stranger,’ I never heard such a prayer in my life. Why did you go and pray?’ I told him that I felt heavy, burdened, and I took the burden to the Lord. He said, ‘I heard you pray–you want money, do you? The Lord has opened the way; here is five dollars. It is the best way to go to the Lord, and trust Him to open the way. Go and use the money.’ I thanked him, and I thanked the Lord, and went oh my way rejoicing in Him whose promise is,’ My God shall supply all your needs,’ and who himself had heard and answered my request.”

THE LORD CAN DO IT.

“In one of the mountainous towns–says _The Christian_–in the north- western part of Connecticut, there lived, some time since, an aged couple who had seen some eighty years of earthly pilgrimage, and who, in their declining days, enjoyed the care of a son and daughter, who resided with them at their home.

“In process of time, the son became sick, and drew nigh the gates of death. The doctor pronounced him incurable, saying that one lung was consumed, and that he could live but a short time.

“The fear of her brother’s death, and the thoughts of being left alone to bear the responsibility of the aged parents’ care, burdened the sister’s heart exceedingly, and led her to cry mightily to the Lord, to interpose for his recovery, and spare him still to them; and her importunate supplications ascended to God, until the answer came to her heart as a sacred whisper,–‘I have heard thy cry, and have come down to deliver thee.’

“Comforted by this sweet assurance, she rejoiced exceedingly, knowing that what our Heavenly Father promises he is abundantly able to perform, and that He will fulfill his word, though heaven and earth shall pass away. But her faith was destined to be tried, and, on the very day after she had obtained the assurance of her brother’s recovery, in came some one, saying, ‘The doctor says S—- can live but a little time.’ For an instant, these words were like a dagger to the sister’s heart, but she still held fast her confidence, and replied: ‘If _men_ can’t cure him, the _Lord_ can.’

“From that very moment, the brother began to amend. On the next day, when the physician came, he looked at him, commenced examining his symptoms, and exclaimed in astonishment: ‘What have you been doing? You are evidently better, and I don’t know but you will get up, after all.’

“His recovery was so rapid, that in two weeks’ time he was out about his customary duties on the farm; and that in weather so damp and foggy that it would have kept some stronger men in-doors. But he was well; the prayer of faith was answered, and it had saved the sick.”

ANSWER TO PRAYER IN ALL THE LITTLE TEMPORAL ANXIETIES OF LIFE

The question having been asked, “Does God answer Prayer, in even all the little anxieties and cares of daily life.” _The Illustrated Christian Weekly_, called in 1876, for testimonies of the surety of God in fulfilling his promise, and giving answer in little things as well as great things. Many, even good Christians have believed that they should not pray for anything for themselves, but only for those things which were to be used for God’s work. The following instances show that those who are devoted to God’s good work and helping in his service can ask for anything needed for their personal comfort, and expect the Lord to grant them. In truth the Lord _has commanded_ all his disciples, “_Ask and receive, that your joy may be full.” “Anything that ye shall ask in my name, I will do it_.”

BREAD TO THE HUNGRY.

“God was pleased to deprive me totally of my hearing in early boyhood. By the late war I lost all of my earthly possessions. I have a wife and family totally dependent on me for a support. A man employed to attend to my little manufacturing business as manager, by imprudent management, deprived me of every earthly dependence for a support. I had no refuge but God. This feeling was intense beyond expression–God was my only hope. I laid my case before him. Then this came to me, ‘Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.’ ‘Now,’ I said, ‘I am deeply conscious that I and my wife seek and desire the kingdom of God above all things; God then will give us temporal help.’ Then a feeling came over me, a feeling of waiting upon God. It was sweet waiting. I was at rest. I had thought frequently if I could get _two hundred dollars_ I could start my little business again. While thus trusting, and waiting, and praying, a package was handed to me by the express-agent containing $200 from a stranger in a distant county, against whom I held an old note dated 1856; and for many years I had forgotten the note, and would have taken twenty-five cents for it any time. The man was bankrupt, and did not fear the Lord, nor know anything of my situation in life. He was under no legal obligation to pay the note.”

NO “IFS.”

“A number of years ago I went West to better my condition…. After a little time I went into business of my own, had but little capital, and my good name to be punctual in paying for what I bought on credit was of great importance to me. I had promised to pay on a certain day a note of about $60. I thought I was sure to get the money, but was disappointed; I went to the Lord for help, not knowing how he could send me the money, but convinced that he was able to do it. At about noon the same day a man inquired for me. I knew him by sight; he had the name of being a hard man, took all the interest he could get, and never put any money out without security. He had not the note, but he asked me if I wanted to hire any money; if so he had _sixty dollars_ he would like to let me have. The man took my note and never did ask for any security.

“At another time, being away from home some 2,000 miles, was at the house of an uncle; same evening I received a letter from my wife that the children were very sick and but little hope of recovery. The letter had been written for over a week. I communicated the contents of the letter to my aunt; went up in my room and prayed the Lord to be their physician. I felt so sure that my prayer would be answered that I could not help singing; when they heard me they thought what a cold-hearted man I must be to sing if the children were dying at home. _But from, that day the children did get better, and in a short time were out of danger_.

“In my younger years I had a good many ifs, but those are all gone; I know that the Lord has the means at his command to answer all my prayers if I come believing, asking in the name of Christ.”

THE HORSE IS HIS.

“The writer was preaching Sundays at a little country church, about 70 miles by rail from the institution where he attended. He went Saturday, returning on Monday. One Saturday the train ran off the track. All day long they worked at the wreck. At last, finding it too late to make connection with the other railroad, he took the down train back to the institution. What should be done? A promise to preach forty miles across the country had been made. There was also an appointment six miles beyond for an afternoon service. It was now night. To drive across the country was the only way open, or stay at home. Two disappointed congregations the result in the latter case. But the roads were heavy from recent rains. ‘Twill be so late that none can direct. Friends said, ‘Stay; you can’t go forty miles across, to you, an unknown country.’ But the writer felt it duty to go. Hiring a horse noted for endurance, at nine o’clock at night–dark, threatening–he set out. As he headed the horse in the direction of the village–for he could find none who could tell him the exact road–he prayed: ‘O God, starting out to preach thy word to-morrow, direct the way–guide this horse.’ The night wore on; as cross-roads came, dropping the lines over the dashboard, the same prayer was offered. When the horse chose a road, the driver urged him on. As day began to break, emerging from some wood in an unfrequented road, they entered the village they sought. The sermon that morning was from the text, ‘Son, go work to-day in my vineyard.’ The largest congregation of the Summer had gathered. It will not do to say that the horse knew the road. Returning in broad daylight the next day, though directed and directed again, we lost the way and went seven miles out of our course. A scientist might laugh at this way of driving, or at asking God to guide in such trivial matters. But we shall still believe that God led the horse and blessed us in our attempt to serve him.”

ALL OUR NEEDS.

“About eight years ago, while a Student in college, I became embarrassed for want of funds. Debts began to accumulate. Anticipating money from usual sources, promises had been made to pay at a certain date.

“The time to make these payments approached. The anticipated money did not come. A student in debt is most dependent and hopeless. In great distress, locking the study-door, I sat down to think. First came visions of an auction sale of a few books and scanty furniture; then of notes and protests; finally the promises of God came into mind. I knew he had promised to supply my wants. ‘All things whatsoever ye have need of,’ came home in great power. I am needy, I have given up business, all, to preach the gospel. I remember as ’twere yesterday the feelings, the struggles, of that hour. With all earnestness I asked for help in my hour of distress. At last I felt confident that the aid needed would come in time, Saturday; this was Monday. I thanked God for the answer– and being questioned by a needy creditor of that afternoon, assured him that his money would be ready.

“Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday passed–no sign, but faith said God will not fail. Friday morning–heart beat fast as I went to the post-office–it seemed as if through its agency the help would come. Nothing. But it must be here to-day. Returning from the office Friday evening, wondering how God would send deliverance, I saw on my table a long official envelope. A classmate preceding me at the office had brought it. A letter from a gentleman in Wall street whom I have never seen. On Monday, he casually asked of a tea-broker, an acquaintance, if he knew of any one in H—-. The broker mentioned, after a little thought, my name.

“The letter contained a request for service of a peculiar sort, connected with some legal matters, contained money and promise of more. _Over three times the sum I asked God for was finally given. More than enough for a term’s expenses_.

“I never mentioned the matter of my need at that time to a human being, nor spoke of the prayer. I have always thanked God for that, and am sure he provides for me in accordance with his promise.”

HE HEALETH THE SICK.

“The wife of Deacon W. was sinking rapidly with pneumonia. Friends gave up all hope of her recovery, and even the hopeful physician felt that he was hoping against hope. In his despair the husband bore the case directly to God; he sought the prayers of his minister and of the church; and he asked all Christians to pray that the mother of his little children might be spared. She lingered between life and death for several days, when unexpectedly to many, she began to gain strength, and in due season was about again. This was several years ago, and she has been an active worker in the church and Sunday-school ever since.”

A POWERFUL DREAM.

“My father, a minister of the gospel, was prostrated by sickness. A large family of little ones was dependent upon him for support. Funds ran low. One evening my mother remarked that she had broken the last dollar. My father lay awake most of the night, praying to his God for help in this emergency. That same night a man in a parish not many miles distant was much impressed by a dream. He dreamed that a minister who preached in his church not long before, was sick and in want. He knew neither his name nor his place of residence. He arose at the first dawn of day, and going to his own pastor inquired the name and address of the stranger who had recently preached for them. These obtained, he mounted his horse, and knocked at our door just as my mother drew up the window-shades. She answered the knock, when, without a word, a stranger placed an envelope in her hand and immediately rode away. The envelope contained a ten-dollar bill, which we all believed was the Lord’s answer to our father’s prayer. Afterwards these facts were disclosed by the pastor to him whom the Lord chose to disperse his bounty.”

ASK AND YE SHALL RECEIVE.

“In 1874, through Providence, I became sore pressed to provide for myself and family; two of my children had just begun to learn to read. I was desirous to procure for them the ‘N.—,’ (a children’s journal,) but I could not see how I was to pay for it and meet other obligations. So I carried it to our Father in heaven, asking if it was best and according to his will my children should get the ‘N.—.’ In about ten days afterward I received a note from a lady friend, with whom I or none of our family had had any communication for weeks, and in that note she advised us that her little daughter, the same age as our second, had sent as a Christmas gift a subscription for the ‘N.—,’ to be sent to our Mary’s address. ‘If ye abide in me, and my words in you, ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you.'”

CASTING ALL YOUR CARE ON HIM.

“Once, soon after the death of my husband and the loss of all his large property, I had a bill of _fifty dollars_ to pay, and was notified two weeks beforehand that not a day’s grace would be given. Besides what I was earning by my pen, I had due me, in a neighboring city, just the amount I should need–the income on my only remaining piece of real estate; and, as my tenant was always prompt, I wrote to him where to send me the money, and gave the subject no farther thought. But, when the time for his response was already past, and I heard nothing from my debts, and but a few days to the time of my own need yet remained, I felt anxious and sought divine direction as to the course I ought to pursue. Rising from my knees, I took up my Bible, and the very first words my eyes rested upon, were these: ‘Casting all your care upon Him, for he careth for you.’ All anxiety from that hour left me; but I felt impelled to apply to a certain editor for the payment of _twenty dollars_ he owed me, and I felt sure the other thirty would come from somewhere.

“So the days passed until the morning of the day upon which I should be called on for the fifty dollars, and _still I had not a single dollar_ on hand to meet the claim. At ten o’clock my creditor came, but half an hour before him the postman had put into my hand a letter containing a check for _fifty dollars_, the exact amount I needed. It had come from the editor to whom I had applied for twenty dollars, and lo! he had sent me fifty. The thirty advanced he said I could give him credit for on my next MS. He did not know my need, but God did, and thus He had answered my prayer.”

IN EVERYTHING MAKE KNOWN YOUR WANTS.

“Six years ago, on the low country of South Carolina, a friend asked me to go with him to a camp-meeting. I was delighted with the idea, for, in my estimation, a good camp-meeting comes nearer heaven than any other place on earth.

“Just three days before we were to go, an unexpected circumstance