Part 8 (1/2)
HOW THE LORD CONTROLS EVEN THE LOCOMOTIVE AND THE RAILROAD TRAIN.
A remarkable instance of how the Lord controlled circ.u.mstances 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 Ma.s.sachusetts village, where the pa.s.sengers 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 Sat.u.r.day 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 Sat.u.r.day night.' But the man on the engine and the grateful mother think they can tell why the train waited. G.o.d held it to answer their prayers.”
Think of this wonderful improbability according to natural circ.u.mstances. 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 Hamps.h.i.+re on Thursday morning, expecting to have ample time to get through to Indiana before Sat.u.r.day 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 G.o.d, I said, 'O, G.o.d, 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d 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 Ma.s.sachusetts, 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 pa.s.sage 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 pa.s.sing 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 G.o.d 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 grat.i.tude 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.'