Part 4 (1/2)
A MINISTER'S SUPPLIES FALL SHORT.
”When very much in need of funds to procure supplies for a coming Winter, all expedients failed; then I asked G.o.d for a.s.sistance, when, unexpectedly, a friend in California sent me a little package of gold dust, which I sold, at once, for $130. This came when it was needed, and it did us good.”
A PRAYER FOR A SERVANT.
”Some time after, we failed to find anything like suitable help in the house, which we greatly needed. Before starting out one morning, in secret I prayed to G.o.d to direct me as I went on my uncertain business, and prayed as I called at different places, and soon found a colored girl sixteen years old wanting a place, who came and proved to be the best help we ever had, before or since. For seven years and a half she lived in the family, taught two of our children to read; was glad, from choice, to move with us to different places, till she left to be married, fell sick and pa.s.sed away. A dozen other times when driven in straits, _in answer to prayer_ G.o.d has enabled us to procure necessary help, which was difficult to obtain.
”In 1874, while on my way to see my mother in Pennsylvania--who had just been paralyzed, and died the next week--I was suddenly paralyzed in my left arm, by which, I have since been helpless and useless. After coming here to live, being in want of a man to lift me in and out of bed, dress me, etc., for which we inquired of people, and prayed to G.o.d to send us the needed help. We had not means to hire and pay any person to do such work, even if he could be found. Soon the right one came, in the person of a young German, who was tramping through the country in search of employment and food; was ready and glad to do any work for a living. For pay that satisfied him and us, he staid in the family over a year, working out doors and in; could be trusted to do business with money, and return every cent correctly. After being with us over a year, when we needed him no longer, he obtained a situation in a good family, where he is now living. In many instances, I have prayed to be healed of special sickness, always using what remedies I thought best, yet asking the divine blessing on their use.”
HEALING.
”For over three years, I was troubled with frequent raising of blood from my right lung, which physicians failed to cure. Of this I prayed to be relieved; after which, the soreness healed, and for several years it has ceased to trouble me.”
THAT $18.75.
A man who had led a very wicked life, was converted and hopefully saved.
Previous to this time, a debt of $18.75 had not given him the slightest thought. After receiving a new heart, he distinctly heard G.o.d's command, ”Pay what thou owest;” so called on his creditor, and urged him to send to his house and get a bureau, table and looking-gla.s.s, which he desired him to sell and pay himself the sum due him; but, not wis.h.i.+ng to deprive his debtor of such necessary articles, refused, saying he would wait till he could pay. The 18th of November was set, and, as the day approached, the prospect was no brighter; and when the night of the 17th came around, he spent it in prayer that G.o.d would deliver him, and rose from his knees at daybreak, with the full a.s.surance that ”He knoweth how to deliver.”
On pa.s.sing down a street the next morning, on his way to business, a man who kept a large store was standing in the door-way, and called to him to stop a minute. Wondering what could be the nature of the call, he retraced his steps, to hear this astonis.h.i.+ng news: ”_For three days I have been impressed with the idea that I must give you_ $18.75, _and for three days have been trying to ascertain why I must give you this amount, for I do not owe any man a penny_. I cannot get rid of the thought, and if you value my peace of mind, I beg you take the money!”
Seeing, instantly, the hand of G.o.d in it, he told the story to the astonished storekeeper, then left to pay his debt with the money so strangely given. His creditor, surprised to see him so promptly on time, questioned him as to the manner of obtaining it, thinking, perhaps, he had made a great sacrifice to do so. On being told just how it was given him, said, ”_I won't take it; keep it. If G.o.d is as near to people as that, I don't want it; it seems as if it had come directly from his Almighty hand_.” The result was the conversion of both the storekeeper and creditor, to whom the incident came as the undoubted evidence of G.o.d's presence among them.
G.o.d SENT THE BAG OF FLOUR.
In about the year 1830, in Central New York, there was a time of great scarcity of provisions. Grain was very high, and difficult to be obtained at any price; and, of course, families of limited means were very much straitened. In one family, the wife and mother of six children, a G.o.dly woman, worked at her trade (tailoress) to the extent of her ability, and prayed earnestly that G.o.d would deliver them from pressing want. Husband and children all knew of their need, and of the fervent prayers of the wife and mother for their supply; but no one knew by what means the supply was to come. Every day, as their scanty means were being consumed, the prospect grew darker. On the farm was a large quant.i.ty of pine timber. Four miles from there, in the next town, lived a man who needed some s.h.i.+ngles; and, casting about him to see where he should obtain a supply, thought he would go and purchase a pine tree, and himself and man go into the woods and work it up into s.h.i.+ngles. As he was about starting, the thought occurred to him, ”Perhaps they may be in want of wheat flour--a bag cannot come amiss in this time of scarcity.” So, putting two bushels in a bag, he proceeded to the next town, entered the house, and made known his errand, saying, ”I have brought along two bushels of flour towards paying for the tree, thinking you might be in want of it in this time of scarcity, and I knew you live six or seven miles from the mill, and have no horse.” ”That is in answer to prayer,” said the n.o.ble woman; and the husband believed it, though not a praying man. When, at night, the oldest son came in, the mother said to him, ”G.o.d has answered our prayers, and sent a bag of flour.” It is believed that, while this was not miraculous, it was as directly the interposition of G.o.d, as feeding Elijah by the ravens; and it was in direct answer to prayer for that special blessing.”
INCIDENTS FROM THE EXPERIENCE OF A CITY MISSIONARY.--A PRAYER FOR SUPPER ANSWERED.
An educated, accomplished lady, reduced to the very lowest round of poverty's ladder, whom we shall call Mrs. X----, bears unfailing testimony to G.o.d's hearing and answering the prayer of faith. The daughter came up-stairs one day to announce the utter emptiness of the larder. There was not even a piece of dry bread, nor a drawing of tea; not a potato, nor a bean; and ”Charles, poor fellow, will come home from his work at six, tired and so hungry; what _shall_ we do, mother?”
”The Lord will send us something, before he comes,” said Mrs. X----. So, for three hours more the daughter waited. ”Mother, it is five o'clock, and the Lord has not sent us anything.” ”He will, my dear, before half-past six;” and the widow went in an adjoining room, to ask that her daughter might not feel it vain to call upon G.o.d. In fifteen minutes, the door-bell rang violently, and a gentleman, valise in hand, said, ”Mrs. X----, I left the room which I hired of you one year ago, in a great hurry, you will remember; and I owed you five dollars. I have not been in the city since, and am rus.h.i.+ng out of it again--jumped off the car just to give you this money. Good-bye.”
RELIEF FROM A CREDITOR'S DEMANDS.
”At another time, being sorely pressed by a heartless creditor, and almost beside herself, she concluded to walk out and get free from the insupportable burden, by change of air and scene for two or three hours.
Pa.s.sing the house of a friend, just returned from Europe, she called for a few moments, and was presented with a small and peculiar plant, brought from Wales. All the way home she was asking the Lord to release her from this relentless creditor, and all the way home a man, without her knowledge, was following her. Arrived at her own stoop, he suddenly confronted her, bowed, apologized for the liberty, but said he had not had a sight of that dear old plant since he left home; and if she would sell it to him, he would gladly give her ten dollars for it. As that was half the sum for which she was persecuted, and would probably relieve her from annoyance until she could raise the balance, she accepted the offer.”
TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS NEEDED AND GIVEN AT THE LAST MOMENT.