"On a recent evangelizing visit to Newport, one of its citizens said to me, "In yonder house dwell a man and wife, who recently needed a sum of 30 to meet some payment the next morning. Having failed in their efforts to collect it, they earnestly prayed G.o.d to provide it. The store was being closed for the night when a sea-captain knocked at the door and asked for some seamen"s clothes. The gas was relighted, and various articles were selected; the purchaser then asked for the account, and the money was paid--_a little more than_ 30. The man and his wife thanked their Heavenly Father for sending it in this way in answer to prayer.""
RECOVERY FROM DANGEROUS ILLNESS.
Dr. Newman Hall was once visiting, on his dying bed, John Cranfield, son of the great originator of ragged schools, under the ministry of Rowland Hill.
"We were conversing on prayer. He said, "A remarkable instance occurred in connection with my father. The former organist of Surry Chapel, Mr.
Howard, was dangerously ill. He was greatly beloved, and his friends met for special prayer that G.o.d would spare his life. My father on that occasion was remarkably earnest in asking that the life of his friend might be lengthened, as in the case of Hezekiah. The next day he began to recover; and during fifteen years was a blessing to his friends and the church.""
A SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER IN DISTRESS.
"My brother," says Dr. Hall, "told me that when superintendent of a Sunday school he felt a strong impulse, one Sat.u.r.day evening, to call at the home of one of his teachers whom he had never visited before. He found his mother and sisters in such evident distress that he inquired the cause. With much reluctance they explained that, being unable to pay their taxes, their goods were to be taken on the coming Monday, and they had been asking special help from G.o.d to save them from a disaster which they felt would be a dishonor to religion. By the aid of a few friends the difficulty was at once met, but the timely succor was regarded as the divine answer to their prayer."
RESCUED IN PERIL.
"With my brother I was once climbing the _Cirrha di Jazze_, one of the mountains in the chain of _Mount Rosa_. When nearly at the top, we entered a dense fog. Presently our guides faced right about and grounded their axes on the frozen snowed slope. My brother, seeing the slope still beyond, and not knowing it was merely the cornice overhanging a precipice of several thousand feet, rushed onward. I shall never forget their cry of agonized warning. He stood a moment on the very summit, and then, the snow yielding, he began to fall through. One of the guides, at great risk, had rushed after him, and seizing him by the coat, drew him down to a place of safety.
"No one could be nearer death and yet escape. On his return home, an invalid member of his congregation told him that she had been much in prayer for his safety, and mentioned a special time when she was particularly earnest, as if imploring deliverance from some great peril.
_The times corresponded._ His life was saved in answer to her prayer."
A PHYSICAL IMPEDIMENT REMOVED.
"A clergyman, of great scholarship and genius, has told me of a remarkable answer to prayer, authenticated by three missionaries known to himself, who are personally acquainted with the facts.
"A Prussian, the master of a hotel in India, was anxious to relinquish his large income, and labor as a missionary among the Santil tribes.
Objection was made to him on account of an impediment in his speech which would render him, in speaking a foreign language, incapable of being understood. Believing in the efficacy of prayer, he called together his friends, specially to ask that his impediment might be removed. The next morning, he presented himself again at the Mission House--_the impediment had gone_! He was accepted, relinquished his business, and is now preaching the gospel to the Santils in their own tongue."
RESTORATION FROM DEATH.
"My father, the author of the _Sinner"s Friend_, narrates in his autobiography a circ.u.mstance which he often used to speak of with great emotion.
"My mother was very ill, and apparently dying. The Doctor said that now, if at all, the children might be brought for her to look at them once more. One by one we were brought to the bedside, and her hand was placed on our heads.
"Then my father bade her farewell, and she lay motionless as if soon to breathe her last.
"He then said to himself, "There is yet one promise I have not pleaded, "If ye ask anything in my name I will do it." He stepped aside, and in an agony of soul exclaimed, "_O, Lord, for the honor of thy dear Son, give me the life of my wife!"_
"He could say no more, and sank down exhausted. Just then the nurse called him to the bedside saying, "She has opened her mouth again as if for food." Nourishment was given, and from that time she began to recover. The doctor said it was miraculous. My father said it was G.o.d, who had heard his prayer."
THE HELP OF THE LORD IN LITTLE THINGS.
The Rev. Dr. Patton, of Chicago, in receiving many letters from clergymen, received one from Mr. F., a pastor in Ma.s.sachusetts.
In it he speaks of his unsuccessful search for a valuable knife, prized as a present from a friend, which he had lost on a hillside covered with laurels. He paused in prayer, asked to be guided, commenced his search, and was almost immediately successful thereafter.
The same letter also mentions the case of a friend in a responsible position under the government, whose accounts failed to balance by reason of an error, which, after long search, he could not detect.
In great distress he betook himself to prayer, and then opening his books, _on the very first page_, which he happened to glance at, and at the top of the column, he saw instantly the looked for error, standing out so plainly that he wondered he had not seen it before.
The writer also speaks of a rubber shoe being lost and promptly found after mention in prayer.
These may seem little matters, but they are the privileges of the righteous to ask "anything" of "Him who careth for them."
A BOY"S FAITH IN PRAYER
In a letter to Dr. W.W. Patton, by Mr. T.I. Goodwin, M.D., of Staten Island, he describes a little incident which happened to him when only thirteen years old.
"He lost a choice penknife while collecting and driving several cows from a pasture covered with gra.s.s two inches high. Having read Huntington"s Book of Faith, he thought of prayer, and in childlike trust he knelt under a tree, outside the bars, and prayed for his lost treasure; for he was a farmer"s boy, and his spending money amounted to only about fifty cents a year. "I rose up, cast my eyes down on the ground, and without planning my course or making any estimate of probabilities, walked across the meadow centrally to near its farther edge, saw the penknife down in the gra.s.s directly before me, and picked it up all as readily as I could have done had any one stood there pointing to the exact place. _Had I gone ten feet to the right or left_ I could not have seen the knife, for the gra.s.s was too high.""
A PRAYER FOR FIVE DOLLARS.
One of the City Home missionaries in New York city received on a certain day five dollars with special directions that it be given to a certain poor minister in Amos street. In the evening the missionary called and gave him the money.
For a moment the good man stood amazed and speechless. Then taking down a little journal he turned to the record made in his diary of that morning, and showed it to the missionary. "_Spent two and a half hours in earnest prayer for five dollars_."
"And now here it is," said the man, with a heart overflowing with grat.i.tude. "The Lord has sent it." Both giver and receiver had their faith strengthened by the incident.
GO TO THE POST-OFFICE.
A correspondent of "_The Guiding Hand_" relates this incident:
"In the year 18--, having a brother living in the city of R., I went to see him. Going to the store where he had been at work, I found that the firm had suspended, and that he was thrown out of employment, and had broken up housekeeping, but could not ascertain where he was, only that he was boarding somewhere out in the suburbs of the city. I searched for him all day, but in vain.
"It was _absolutely necessary_ that I should find _him_. What MORE to do I knew not, except to _pray_. Finally, I was impressed to write a line and drop it into the post-office, and I obeyed the impression, telling him, if he got it, to meet me at a stated place, the next morning, at ten o"clock. _I prayed earnestly_ that the Lord would cause him _to go to the post-office,_ so that he might get my letter. I felt full of peace, and at rest about the matter. The next morning, at ten o"clock, I went to the place appointed for him to meet me, _and he soon came in_."
This incident might seem one of ordinary or chance occurrence, but for the following unusual circ.u.mstances:
"As they were returning to their home, his brother said: "There is something _very strange_ about my going to the post-office this morning--_I had my arrangements all made to go with a party, this morning early, to the bay, fishing; but, when I awoke, I had such an impression to go down to the post-office, that I had to forgo the pleasure of going to the bay, and went to the post-office and found your letter_."
"I replied, "_It was the Lord_ that impressed you in answer to my prayer, for I have prayed earnestly for the Lord to send you to the office this morning," and, although but young in years and religion, I gave G.o.d the praise for his guidance and His grace."