Part 11 (1/2)
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 accomplis.h.i.+ng 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 G.o.d, 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 Sat.u.r.day evening, to call on a member of his Bible-cla.s.s, 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 circ.u.mstances, 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 pa.s.sed 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 circ.u.mstances 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 inst.i.tution 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 G.o.d, 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 was.h.i.+ng 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 ill.u.s.tration of the words: ”When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.” Ps. xxvii 10.