Mr. Moody, on his return from England, while conducting a prayer-meeting in Northfield, Ma.s.s., gave this ill.u.s.tration of the power of prayer to subdue the most unlikely cases of sin and unbelief:
"There is not a heart so hard that G.o.d cannot touch it. While in Edinburgh, a man was pointed out to me by a friend who said, "Moody, that man is chairman of the Edinburgh infidel club." So I went and sat down beside him, and said, "Well, my friend, I am glad to see you at this meeting. Are you not concerned about your welfare?" He said that he did not believe in a hereafter. I said, "Well, you just get down on your knees and let me pray for you."
""_I don"t believe in prayer_."
"I tried unsuccessfully to get the man down on his knees, and finally knelt down beside him and prayed for him. Well, he made a good deal of sport over it, and I met him again many times in Edinburgh after that. A year ago last month, while in the north of Scotland, I met the man again. Placing my hand on his shoulder, I asked, "_Hasn"t G.o.d answered the prayer_?"
"He replied, "There is no G.o.d. I am just the same as I always have been.
If you believe in a G.o.d, and in answer to prayer, do as I told you. Try your hand on me."
""Well," I said, "G.o.d"s time will come; there are a great many praying for you; and I have faith to believe you are going to be blessed."
"Six months ago I was in Liverpool; and there I got a letter from the leading barrister of Edinburgh, telling me that my friend, the infidel, had come to Christ, and that of his club of thirty men _seventeen_ had followed his example.
"How it happened he could not say, but whereas he was once blind, now he could see. G.o.d has answered the prayer. "_I didn"t know how it was to be answered_," said Mr. Moody, "_but I believed it would be and it was done. What we want to do is to come boldly to G.o.d_.""
THE WONDERS OF A SINGLE PRAYER.
The Rev. Dr. Edwin F. Hatfield, of New York City, well known and eminent among the clergymen of the Presbyterian church, is personally acquainted with the following instance of a remarkable case in answer to prayer.
From the mother of the daughter he obtained this statement, which has been published by Dr. Patton, of Chicago, in his volume, "On Prayer."
"My daughter was for fourteen months afflicted with hip disease. It was brought on by a fall, and a consequent dislocation, when she was eight years of age.
"Her right side was paralyzed, and she had an abscess. I placed her in a hospital, under the care of good nurses, and the very best medical advice.
"Everything possible was done for her, but all to no avail; she grew worse instead of better, and the doctors directed me, as there was no hope for her, to take her home to die.
"But I did not cease to hope. I did as the doctors directed, but continued to pray the prayer of faith for her recovery for two weeks.
One morning, at the end of this period, we were conversing together about the wonderful cures wrought by the Savior, when on earth, and particularly that of the man at the pool of Bethesda.
"In the midst of our conversation, my daughter rose to obtain a drink of water, when she exclaimed, "_Mother, I can walk."_ "Thanks be to G.o.d!"
said I, "Come, and let me see you!"
"Her crutches, the only means by which she could move about, before, were now useless. Upon examination, I found that the abscess had entirely disappeared, and that the paralyzed limb was restored whole, like the other.
"She was again dangerously ill, five months afterward. I prayed for her recovery one night, before retiring, and the next morning she arose, perfectly cured."
She is now twenty-one years of age, and during all this intervening time has been free from any trouble of this kind. To-day she is as well as any one, working and running about without the slightest trouble."
THE TAVERN KEEPER OVERCOME.
Rev. Charles G. Finney relates, in his "Spirit of Prayer," of an acquaintance of his whose faith and importunity in prayer and the answer were very remarkable:
"In a town in the northern part of the State of New York, where there was a revival, there was a certain individual, who was a most violent and outrageous opposer. He kept a tavern, and used to delight in swearing at a desperate rate, whenever there were Christians within hearing, on purpose to hurt their feelings. He was so bad, that one man said he believed he should have to sell his place or give it away, and move out of town, for he could not live near a man that swore so.
"This good man of faith and prayer that I have spoken of, was pa.s.sing through the town and heard the case, and was very much grieved and distressed for the individual. He took him on his praying list. The case weighed on his mind when he was asleep, and when he was awake. He kept thinking about him, and praying for him, for days; and the first we knew of it, this unG.o.dly man came into a meeting, and got up and confessed his sins, and poured out his soul. His barroom immediately became the place where they held prayer-meetings."
VICTORIES OVER BAD HABITS, TOBACCO, OPIUM, ETC.
The Rev. W.H. Boole, a city missionary in New York City, has been witness in his ministries, of many cases of complete deliverance from bad habits, and appet.i.tes, solely by believing prayer. Many are contained in a little tract written by him, "The Wonder of Grace." He gives a few of these incidents:
"One is an officer in a church in New York, who had used tobacco for forty years, making during that time many efforts to abandon the practice, but always failing because of the resultant inward growing.
But he was brought to an act of specific faith in Jesus, to save him from the appet.i.te, and now, after several years, he testifies, "From that hour all desire left me, and I have ever since hated, what I once so fondly loved.""
"Another is of a prominent church member in Brooklyn, N.Y., who had used tobacco for thirty years, and could not endure to be without a cigar in his mouth, and sometimes even rose and smoked in the night; after many failures to overcome the habit, one night when alone, he cast himself on his Savior for just this victory; and from that hour was delivered from the desire as well as from the outward act, and now wonders that he ever loved the filthy practice."
"A certain old lady, who lived near Westbrook, Conn., aged seventy, was a confirmed opium eater, and used daily, an amount sufficient to kill twenty persons. She was led to see that the habit was a _sin_; and as such, she abandoned it, with specific application to Christ to save her from it. She was heard, and lived for two years afterward, free from any desire for that drug."
"A similar case was that of a carpenter, in Brooklyn, N.Y., who, from taking morphine to allay the pain of a fractured leg, fell into its habitual use, till he almost lived upon it for several years after his recovery. He once swallowed, in the presence of several physicians, a dose which it was calculated would destroy the lives of two hundred ordinary men. Not long since, he was made to look at this as a sin, and tried to break off the habit, abstaining, with an alarming reaction, till five physicians declared that death would ensue, if he did not resume it. This he did for a year; but then on a certain Sunday evening, broke off again, casting himself by faith on Christ, from which moment the desire left him, and has never returned, and he has experienced no reaction or other ill effect, but has greatly improved in health."
MRS. WHITNEY"S CURE IN ANSWER TO PRAYER.
Mrs. C.S. Whitney of Hartford, Conn., a lady well known for her Christian work among the poor, thus gives in a letter to Dr. Patton, her personal testimony of the efficacy of prayer:
"Three years ago, I was healed of a bodily disease. I had been troubled from my birth with canker, and at times suffered greatly. I had consulted some of the best physicians in the land, and had been treated by the most skillful. My case was said to be incurable. When I learned to trust Christ for everything, I applied to Him for healing. My husband joined with me in this prayer for three weeks; but all the time I was growing worse. I then prayed for entire submission. About the first of October, 1872, my stomach, throat and mouth were so cankered, I could scarcely eat anything. One day, I took up the little book ent.i.tled, "Dorothea Trudel;" and while reading, I seemed to hear a voice saying unto me, _"All things are possible unto him that believeth." "According to thy faith be it unto thee."_ I claimed the faith, and immediately asked G.o.d to heal me, and in His own way. While yet on my knees, it seemed very clear to me that I should go to Boston, and ask Doctor Cullis to pray with me. I obeyed that leading, and made preparations to go the day following. Just as I was ready to start for the depot, I realized that I was cured. An entire change was wrought in my system, and my soul was filled with joy and grat.i.tude."
PRESIDENT FINNEY"S PRAYER FOR RAIN.
The following incident of the prayer of President Finney for rain, and its immediate answer, is furnished by Professor Cowles, the intimate friend of President Finney:
"Somewhat more than twenty years ago, the village of Oberlin and its adjacent country along the lake sh.o.r.e, suffered severely through the hot season from a total failure of rain, for nearly three months. Clouds that seemed to promise rain were repelled from the heated dry atmosphere over the land, and attracted by the more moist atmosphere over the lake, to pour out their waters there. On one such occasion, the clouds had gathered dark, low, and heavy over the lakes, and lay there with no particular indication of rising. President Finney walked out with his eye on these clouds. I give the sequel in his own words, as they fell from his lips, less than three months since:
""In this walk I met Ralph, who turned sharply upon me. "Mr. Finney, I should like to know what you mean in preaching that G.o.d is always wise and always good, when you see him pouring out that great rain upon the lake, where it can do no good, and leaving us to suffer so terribly for the want of that wasted water?"
""His words cut me to the heart; I turned, and ran home to my closet, fell on my knees, and told the Lord what Ralph had been saying about Him; and besought Him, for the honor of His great name, to confound this caviler, and show forth the glory of His power and the greatness of His love. I pleaded with Him that He had encouraged His people to pray for rain, and that now the time seemed to have come for Him to show His power in this thing, and His faithfulness as a hearer of prayer.
""Before I rose from my knees, there was a sound of a rushing, mighty wind. I looked out, and lo! the heavens were black; that cloud was rolling up, and soon the rain fell in torrents, two full hours."
"The writer, (Professor Cowles,) himself remembers how that cloud lay over the lake; how it drove him, also, to his closet; and that soon and signally the prayers of that hour came back to us in mighty rain."
LUTHER"S MIGHTY PRAYER AND PROPHECY.
At one time in the life of Luther, there was a critical moment in the affairs of the Reformation. Bitter persecution prevailed with extraordinary power, and threatened every one. They were the dark days when faith could only cling. There were but few friends to the reformers, and these were of little strength. Their enemies were every where strong, proud, arrogant. But Luther relied on his G.o.d, and at this moment, with his favorite hymn in his heart, "_A strong fortress is our G.o.d,_" he went to the Lord in prayer, and prayed that omnipotence would come to the help of their weakness. Long he wrestled alone with G.o.d in his closet, till like Jacob he prevailed. Then he went into the room, where his family had a.s.sembled, with joyous heart and shining face, and raising both hands, and lifting his eyes heavenward, exclaimed, "_We have overcome, we have overcome_."
This was astonishing, as there was not the slightest of news which had yet been heard to give them hope of relief. But immediately after that, the welcome tidings came that _the Emperor, Charles V., had issued his Proclamation of "Religious Toleration in Germany_." In Luther"s prayer was fulfilled the remarkable promise of Proverbs, 21: I. "_The king"s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water; he turneth it whithersoever he will_."