{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_36891/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_36891","id":"gutenberg_36891","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36891","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Health & Medicine","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Prayer","Spiritual healing"],"text":"</pre>\n\n\n\n              Health,\n        Healing, _and_ Faith\n\n\n         Effect of Environment\n   How a Church Was Built by Prayer\n           Healing the Sick\n         Prayer for the Home\n         Prayer and the Bible\n\n\n               _By_\n        RUSSELL H. CONWELL\n\n\n             VOLUME 8\n\n             NATIONAL\n       EXTENSION UNIVERSITY\n\n     597 Fifth Avenue, New York\n\n\n\n\n           EFFECTIVE PRAYER\n                        ----\n  Copyright, 1921, by Harper & Brothers\n  Printed in the United States of America\n\n\n\n\nFOREWORD\n\n\nThat prayers are answered nearly all the human race believe. But the\nsubject has been beclouded and often made ridiculous by inconsistent\nsuperstitions.\n\nThis book is a modest attempt to clear up some of the errors. Its record\nis as accurate as impartial observation can make it. God is not bribed.\nLaziness cannot bargain with him. But the prayers of the righteous and\nof repentant sinners availeth much.\n\nDesired ends are gained by prayer which cannot be gained by any other\nmethod. The daily experiences of devout persons establish that fact\nconclusively. The reasons and the methods which produce the results seem\nhidden, and they often bewilder the investigator. God's thoughts are far\nabove our thoughts. But we can trust our daily experience far enough to\nretain our confidence in the potency of prayer. It is, therefore, a\nprofitable and comforting study.\n\n     RUSSELL H. CONWELL.\n\n\n\n\nEFFECTIVE PRAYER\n\nChapter I\n\nEffect of Environment\n\n\nThe fascinating history of events connected with the Baptist Temple,\nPhiladelphia, through thirty-nine years must be recorded carefully to\nobtain the credence of those readers who live out of the locality. It\nmay or may not be that the unusual demonstrations of power, seemingly\ndivine, were not incited or influenced by the special environment. Yet\nthe critical reader may reasonably inquire where these things occurred\nin order to determine the power of association on the form and effect of\nprayer.\n\nThe Baptist Temple is a somewhat imposing building on the corner of\nNorth Broad and Berks streets in Philadelphia. It is located almost at\nthe geographical center of Philadelphia, and eighteen squares north of\nthe City Hall. The Temple is architecturally very plain, and the\nbeautiful stained-glass windows are about the only ornaments in the\ngreat hall save, of course, the pipes of the great organ. The church is\none hundred and seven feet front, and is one hundred and fifty feet in\nlength. There is a deep gallery occupying three sides, with a chorus\ngallery, back of the pulpit, seating one hundred and fifty singers.\nThere are three thousand and thirty-four opera chairs arranged in a\nsemicircle, and every person in the congregation can see clearly the\nplatform and chorus, and each normal worshiper can be heard from the\npulpit.\n\nThe building itself is a testimonial to the effectiveness of sincere\nprayer. The Temple and the halls in the lower story, as it now stands,\nare far beyond the dreams of that little company of earnest worshipers\nwho, in 1880, hesitatingly and embarrassed, began to build the small\nchurch at the corner of Berks and Mervine streets. They had no wealthy\nor influential friends. They had but little money or property; they\ncould pray, and that they did do unceasingly. Any man who tries to\ndescribe or explain fully how it came about that the Temple was built\nbecomes bewildered in the complications, unless he covers the whole\nquestion by saying, \"The Lord did it.\" In six years after the small\nchurch was completed the Temple was begun on Broad Street.\n\nFor seven or eight years after its construction the Temple was a\nChristian Mecca to which pilgrims seemed to come from all parts of the\nearth to kneel there in prayer. One Good Friday night, which was\nobserved quite generally as a season of fasting and prayer, the writer\nentered by the side door the Temple at two o'clock in the morning, and\nin the dim light of two small gas jets, always left burning, he saw\nscores of people scattered through the church. Why that church had such\na fascination for or preference with earnest seekers for the\nprayer-answering God none may explain. All were kneeling separately in\nsilent prayer. As they passed in and out there were in the line, going\nand coming, Chinamen, Europeans, Orientals, and Americans from distant\nstates. Different denominations, Protestant, Catholic, Jew, colored and\nwhite, were often represented among the individual worshipers. They also\ncame any night in the week at any hour and prayed silently for a while\nand then went silently out. The church was not locked, night or day, for\nfifteen years. People sought the place when they sought to find a\nlocality which was especially near to the Lord. It may be that any place\nis as near to God as any other; and many think it only a sentiment,\nsuperstitious and foolish, to esteem one place above another in matters\nof effective prayer. But there does stand out the fact that, for some\ngood reason, our Saviour did choose to pray in special localities, and\nhis devout followers do now feel more deeply the soul's communion with\nGod in certain favorable places. Why the Baptist Temple had such\nworship as a sentimental matter brings forward the facts that the graves\nof the loved, the home of childhood, the trysting places, the old\nfireplace, or the churches where sainted parents worshiped are\ninfluential because of the suggestions which come with sacred memories.\nThat fact is a strong agency in the awakening of tender and sacred\nemotions. But the Baptist Temple was new and could lay claim to none of\nthose associations. Men and women with no religious habits, and some\nseemingly without devout inclinations, testified decidedly that whenever\nthey visited the building they felt that they had entered into an\natmosphere of special spiritual and sacred power. One soldier of the\nEnglish army wrote an interesting letter in 1897, saying: \"I do not\nrecall any such impression before. I went into the church alone out of\ncuriosity to look at its architectural design. But the moment I entered\nthe side aisle I felt an indescribable pressure which made me desire to\npray. I hurried out to the street to escape the solemn impression. But\ntwice since then I have been in the auditorium and each time some power\nseemed pressing me down to my knees.\" Whether that influence was the act\nof the Holy Ghost or not cannot be proven by any known formula of human\nreasoning, and hence it remains, as most of such questions do, a matter\nof faith. Some believe it was a divine presence which made itself felt\nthere, and other good men do not believe the conditions were in any way\nunusual or unnatural. So many persons with uncontrolled imaginations,\nand others with their mental faculties weakened or distorted, often\nreported the most improbable visions and absurd revelations. Such\ncharacters, half insane or wholly deranged, testified in favor of Jesus\nto his face, and such have ever been present since in every genuinely\nspiritual movement. They would do less harm, of course, if they should\ndeclaim against him. So it was, and is, at the Baptist Temple. Those\ninconsistent, deranged advocates of religion did often drive away\npermanently into the ranks of unbelievers the most sincere\ninvestigators. But a calm review of the testimonies concerning the\noccurrences which followed so clearly the petitions they offered in the\nTemple seems overwhelmingly to establish the claim, now held by so many\nthousand people, that the results of the prayers were but a cause and\nnatural effect, as the prayers and results were infallibly related.\n\nIt is not claimed here, however, that the place had more influence with\nman or Christ than other places have had, or that any church or\ncathedral may be as sacred as Gethsemane or as the Mount of\nTransfiguration. The plain facts are recorded here with great caution\nand with a determination to keep conservatively within the truth and\ndraw no unreasonable conclusions. It is a true statement, known to all\nthe community, that many thousands of people have sought to pray in the\nTemple, believing that the boon their hearts desired would be more sure\nto be sent if they asked for it within the Temple walls. Many persons\nhave attended the church services on the Sabbath who have been so deep\nin prayer that they were unconscious of the music or the preaching. We\nmust reassert that this fact is not recorded here to sustain any idea\nthat the Temple is a sacred place above many other churches, cathedrals,\nand holy places, but to sustain the opinion that there are places more\nsacred than others to certain people, and that burdened hearts and minds\nwould act wisely if they sought some such place when the answer to their\nprayer seems especially vital.\n\n\n\n\nChapter II\n\nHow a Church Was Built by Prayer\n\n\nIn 1886 the small church at Mervine and Berks streets in the northern\nsection of Philadelphia was crowded at every service. Children were\nturned away from every session of the Bible school, and tickets were\nissued a week in advance for the preaching services. The idea of moving\nto some larger place was discussed, as it was impossible to enlarge the\nbuilding where it stood, because of the streets on three sides. Under\nthose circumstances the people began to pray. A voluntary committee\ncanvassed the small band of church members, asking each to pray for an\nopening to a larger work. It is often thought to be an easy thing to\npromise to pray for a person or for a cause. The promise to pray is too\noften made carelessly, and disinterested auditors often feel relieved of\nall responsibility when, instead of a collection, they are let off with\na request to pray for the advocated cause. But a sincere promise to pray\nfor a cause carries with it the sincere purpose to work and to give\nself-sacrificingly. To say, \"We do not ask for your money, but only that\nyou pray for us,\" is a half-hypocritical request, because a real prayer\ncan ascend only from a soul intent on doing. To agree to pray is a\nhearty promise also to do all in one's power to work with the Lord. Only\nthe hearty worker can really pray. \"The people had a mind to work,\" said\nNehemiah, and God, seeing their zeal, responded to their appeal. The\nLord answered in a way absolutely unforeseen. The salvation of the world\ncost a great sacrifice, and everywhere we see the results of a\nmysterious law that some must die that others may live, and that real\nhappiness is ever gained at the cost of suffering.\n\nA little child in Philadelphia opened the gates of the Temple by going\ndown through death. She had been unable to get into the overcrowded\nBible school one Sunday, and she began to save her pennies to help\nsecure some larger place. Little Hattie May Wyatt, living in a home near\nthe church, was chosen of God to convey his answer to the pleadings of\nthat church. How little could the afflicted parents realize what a great\nwork their sweet, prattling Hattie was to do in her short life. When the\nsweet, pale face lay in the coffin amid the flowers and tears, her\npocketbook, containing fifty-seven cents which she had saved, was handed\nto the minister. She was the messenger of Christ on earth before she\nbecame one in heaven! That fifty-seven cents was a sacred treasure, and\nat the next church meeting prayers went up to God, asking direction how\nto invest the first gift toward the larger accommodations.\nProvidentially, the subject of the Scripture text was the narrative of\nthe little child with his five barley loaves and two little fishes (John\nvi). What can Christ do with the gift of a little child? What can the\nspirit of God do with the seed of an oak? One patriarch led in prayer\nand earnestly asked the Lord to \"take these few pennies and build for\nus a temple.\" There were some in the assembly who, like the disciples at\nGalilee, said, \"What can this little supply do among so many?\" But the\nmost part seemed inspired by the Holy Spirit with a faith that was\nimmovable. The Lord then put a thought into the mind of Mr. John Baer,\nwho owned a lot of land on the corner of Broad and Berks streets, to\nsuggest to a member of the church that, as the people needed larger\nquarters, they ought to buy his lot and erect there a larger church. Mr.\nBaer did not know then that the church had only fifty-seven cents and\nthat the church building they then occupied was still heavily mortgaged.\nAnother church member heard of Mr. Baer's remark and, with the assurance\nof a faith unshakable, told Mr. Baer that if he would take fifty-seven\ncents as the first payment he felt sure the church would purchase it.\nMr. Baer (a devout man) said that he would cheerfully accept the terms\nand that he would also not only give back the fifty-seven cents, but\nwould contribute one thousand dollars toward the first payment on the\nlot.\n\nThe church then purchased the lot and held another prayer meeting to\ndetermine the second time what to do with the Wyatt fifty-seven cents.\nIt was unanimously decided to organize a \"Wyatt Mite Society\" to invest\nthe money. There were to be fifty-seven children in the society, and\neach was to invest one of the pennies so as to secure the largest\npossible amount for the new church. It seems almost miraculous that\nwherever a child tried to sell the penny not one would buy it after\nhearing the story, but nearly all did give a liberal donation. One lady\ngave fifteen hundred dollars. Finally, the pennies all came back, were\nput in a coin frame, and kept as a sacred souvenir. Then joyful\nenthusiasm seized upon the people and hurried them along in many\ndifferent enterprises for raising money. One Sabbath the pastor was\noverpersuaded to exchange with Doctor Pierce of Mount Holly, and the\njoyful people presented the pastor, on his return, with a subscription\nlist of ten thousand dollars. But to that account the practical and\ncritical business man can answer that in any enterprise enthusiasm, hard\nwork, and economy secure success almost invariably. So that even the\nmatter of raising one hundred and nine thousand dollars by a people, all\npoor, industrious persons, may not be absolutely convincing to the\nskeptic who questions the personal interference of God in answer to the\ncall of his children. But there was another phase of the history of that\ncampaign which seems to be absolutely unaccountable on any other\nhypothesis but the direct and special interference of superhuman\nintelligence.\n\nThe number seven! It is called \"a sacred number\"; but why it has been\ncredited with its peculiar significance is, perhaps, the effect of its\nmention so often in the Bible. The various theories, reasonable and\nfanciful, for the sacredness of the number seven need not be rehearsed\nin a record of simple facts like these which this account preserves. But\nthe daily appearance of the number seven in the evangelistic history of\nthe Grace Church through the five years and two months before the large\nTemple was completed has never been explained by any solution other than\nby accrediting it to some power or law above the normal. The \"five\nyears' meetings\" were only the usual meetings of the small church and no\nevangelistic or unusual endeavors were used, nor were any special\nmethods tried. Evangelists of noted power sometimes addressed the church\nor gave sermons at the church in connection with some convention or\nassociation, but none of those instrumentalities seemed to affect the\nanswers to the prayers of the people. The church sessions were simple,\npractical, social, and fully democratic. But the prayers were full of\nfaith and feeling and were brief and direct. One evening, in a meeting\nheld in a small basement room, there were seven young people, strangers\nto one another, who stood up at the invitation to confess Christ. Each\none stated that he had come under a strange and irresistible impulse\nunaccountable to him. Each asked the people to pray for his soul. That\nwas the opening of the continuous stream of seven new converts each week\nfor five years. That repetition of the number seven was not especially\nnoticed until it had been repeated through several weeks. Then the\npeople began to expect it, and during the active enterprises connected\nwith the building of the new Temple it had a powerful effect on the\ncourage and faith of that small company. As the years came and went with\nno change in that weekly number of fresh seekers after God, a feeling of\nawe held the worshipers to such an extent that when the seventh man or\nwoman arose to come forward a deep sigh passed through the congregation.\nSometimes the leader of the meeting paused or asked for \"the hesitating\none\" if the full number did not at first appear. But there was no\nprearrangement and no attempt or purpose to cease giving the invitation\nto confess Christ after the number seven had been reached. The church\nwas too deeply impressed with the seeming miracle to undertake any\nexperiments with it. Continual prayer was all that was attempted. People\nceased to ask their acquaintances to come to the meetings, and the usual\nrevival methods were omitted. Real prayer, sincere singing, and a short\ncomment on some verse of Scripture made up the usual order of services,\naside from the regular preaching on Sunday.\n\nVarious explanations of this mysterious and systematic manifestation of\nsome hidden spiritual force have been advanced by students of the\nunusual occurrence. Some undevout friends have rested satisfied with the\nbelief that it was only a coincidence or an accidental repetition of a\nnatural phenomenon. The skeptic said that there was no mystery about it,\nas it merely \"happened so.\" Others, more devout, declared that the\npeople must have habitually \"let go of their faith\" when seven appeared,\nand that according to their faith \"was the limitation of the numbers.\"\nOthers believed that it must have been, consciously or unconsciously,\narranged by persons managing the meeting, and not a few outsiders\nregarded the statement of the facts as a clear falsehood. They said it\ncould not have been possible, and that there was surely some deception\nin the arrangements or reports. But the hundreds of intelligent and\nconscientious people who were present week after week became fully\nsatisfied that it was the work of the Divine Spirit sent in answer to\ntheir prayers. Some of the circumstances connected with that large\naccession to the church will be of interest to the student.\n\nDuring the years when the building was being constructed many simple\nschemes were devised by the people to raise money for the work. But\nprayer was a part of every endeavor. Fairs, suppers, and concerts were\noften used to raise funds, and, although a worldly spirit often creeps\ninto church entertainments, there came there a devotional spirit which\nseemed to transfigure every work. The devotional meetings held in a side\nhall when the church fairs were going on at the Academy of Music in\nPhiladelphia ever had the same startling result--the unchangeable\nnumber, seven, came out for Christ. One evening a specially large number\nof citizens were at a dinner given to arrange plans for securing the\nmoney for the first payment to the contractor who was laying the\nfoundation for the Temple. A visitor, in his speech, said that he had\nbeen more interested in the \"steady revival,\" of which he had heard,\nthan in the feast, and that he was quite disappointed to learn that for\nthe first time in three years the church had omitted its weekly prayer\nmeeting to give place to a dinner. Thereupon, Deacon Stoddard, a devout\nman and full of the Holy Ghost, arose and suggested that before the\nguests left the table the presiding officer should give the usual\ninvitation for anyone to arise and declare his decision to follow\nChrist. After several eloquent and entertaining speeches on general\ntopics the invitation was given for the religious confession, and, to\nthe amazement of many, just seven young men arose. A deep, spiritual\nemotion filled the hearts of all present. In two or three instances the\nnumber was less than seven who responded before the benediction was\npronounced, and some said, \"The spell is broken.\" But in all cases\nanother seeker after God appeared before the people left the room. Men,\nin those cases, rushed to the platform and called for the attention of\nthe company to say that they dared not go home without openly confessing\nbefore the people their need of the Saviour. In several instances\npersons were too much overcome or too timid to stand out before a public\nmeeting, and they persuaded some one sitting near them to get up and ask\nprayers for them. But there was no prolongation of any service and no\noutlay of money for exhorters or singers. Naturally that remarkable\ncondition attracted a throng of people, and before the Temple was opened\nthe church and Sunday-school rooms at Mervine and Berks streets were\ncrowded beyond endurance.\n\nAt the first great prayer meeting held in the Temple when the call was\nmade for converts the number who came forward was seventy-seven. From\nthat time (1892) there has been no resumption of a regular number of\nseekers. Often the number seven, seventy-seven, forty-nine, and seventy\nappear in the number of those who arose for prayer or in the list of\nthose who were received at the same time into the church. At one Easter\nservice two hundred and seventy-seven were baptized. But those \"five\nyears' revivals\" stand out as five most beautiful years in the memory of\nthe thousands still living who recall them. All of that company of\nbelievers prayed, and on those stormy days when the curious crowd were\nkept away the people drew together in sincere devotion, and the most\ndreary days without were the most happy within. God seemed more\nreachable and the domestic sweetness of the church home was much more\nfully appreciated when the snow shadowed the panes, when the wild storms\nbeat on the doors, and when only earnest worshipers ventured out to\nchurch. For more than fifteen years three thousand tickets of admission\nto the regular church services were taken up several days in advance,\nand when a very stormy day kept many ticket holders away special and\nrepeated prayer was made especially for them. The effect of those stormy\ndays of special prayer was one of the most remarkable experiences of the\nchurch life. Letters came in great numbers from different parts of the\nworld, saying that they missed the services, but felt decidedly\nimpressed to send for some needed information or for special religious\nadvice.\n\nMany cathedrals, churches, homes, and charity halls have been built on\nprayer and faith, so that the construction of the Baptist Temple, on a\nprominent corner of Philadelphia's widest street, in the heart of the\ncity, by a few poor people, may not seem strange. Yet the fact that God\nhas prospered other enterprises is only a confirmation of the theory\nthat God answered the prayers of Grace Church in giving providential\nassistance in the construction of the Temple. When the church voted to\ngo on and pay for the lot and build a church to seat over three thousand\nin the upper auditorium and two thousand in the lower hall, there was no\nmoney in hand or pledged. Yet there was no recklessness, no tempting God\nin their faith. When the contracts were entered into with the builder,\nor the furniture manufacturer, provision was made carefully for any\ncontingency. If for any unforeseen reason the great building had been\nunfinished at any stage of construction all bills would have been paid.\nBut each advance in the work was made after special prayer over each\ndivision of the building enterprise. The foundation was constructed\nafter special prayer, then came the walls, the roof, the carpenter's\ninside work, the painting, the furniture, and the organ--each being the\nobject of prayerful consideration. There were a few instances, however,\nwhich are worthy of special mention. There was a point when the contract\nfor the stone for the walls was held up by the quarry proprietors, as\nthey feared to venture on so large a job with no guaranty but a\nmechanic's right of lien. At that time a new savings bank was opened at\nColumbia Avenue, two squares from the Temple, and President Cummings,\nhead of the bank, offered to assist the church in any safe way. How he\ncame to know of the proposed work, or what special reason he had for\nhelping a people with whom he was not personally acquainted, was never\nexplained. But he was a noble citizen. His influence was itself a\npowerful aid in all the business of the church. One day a stranger\n(General Wagner, president of the Third National Bank) was driving by\nthe half-constructed church when an \"impulse\" seized him to go into the\nbuilding under construction. He was a Presbyterian elder and a stranger\nto all the members of Grace Church. He was a great man of business, a\nperson of unflinching integrity whose coolness in emergencies and whose\nconservative management of financial institutions made him a trusted\nauthority for private, for city, or for national finances. In a few\nwords of conversation with the contractor in the building General Wagner\nwas told that the church was being built \"by faith in prayer.\" He told\nGeneral Wagner that thus far \"every payment had been made promptly, with\nnothing left over.\" From that hour the general was a strong, unmovable\nfriend and backer of the Temple enterprise. The Tenth National Bank and\nits offspring, the Columbia Trust Company, and the Third National Bank,\nof which General Wagner was president, were ever safely used as a\nreference, and often tens of thousands of dollars were loaned by them\nto the church for short periods. The trustees and the deacons of the\nchurch were prayerful men of stable common sense and successful in their\nown labor or business. There was no foolish overpiousness, no loud\nprofessions of religious fervor, but a determined trust in God's promise\nto heed the call of those who loved him.\n\nMr. John Little, a Quaker by inheritance and training, was a leading\nmind in the affairs of the church and was for many years the treasurer\nof the Temple University. He was a quiet, keenly modest man, but living\na transparent truthfulness and honesty which commanded the confidence of\nall who knew him and secured for him a love that can never die. He said\nthat he had two special places for prayer, one being in the Temple and\nthe other on the street. Mr. Charles F. Stone (whose wife, Mrs. Maria L.\nStone, continued his work after he died) was the treasurer of the church\nat the critical period and was a man endowed with excellent business\nability and a devout man full of good works. He, too, had a \"good name\"\nwhich was rather to be chosen as a financial recommendation than great\nriches. These men are not mentioned because of their special claim to\nattention above the others associated with them, but simply as two\nspecimens of the prayer-making company who moved on unhesitatingly, yet\ncarefully, in doing the thing which many declared could not be done. The\nweekly reports from the committees and individuals showing how God had\nraised up, unexpectedly or strangely, friends of the undertaking, often\ncaused a deep feeling of awe and sent the people out with fresh\ndetermination to work cheerfully on.\n\nA single instance of the many hundreds reported will probably answer the\ninquiries of others now engaged in some like work. Looking back upon the\nincident after thirty years the plan or the purpose of the divine\nleadership, so hidden then, becomes reasonable and clear. Why the Lord\nwished to use only three hundred men out of Gideon's great army was not\nunderstood at the time, but all can see now that the purpose was to\nbring the Lord's hand into vision and win for him the recognition which\nwould have gone to the human army.\n\nOnly once did the people of the Temple falter and their prayers seem\nineffective. Only once did those Philadelphia worshipers limit their\nfaith. But that one period of doubt came when the question was suddenly\nthrust before the church whether they would try to put in a suitable\nchurch organ. Many claimed that they had reached the utmost limit of\nsacrifice. Some said that the church ought to be fully satisfied if they\ncould buy seats for the first services. Others strongly declared that\nafter all the asking of God and man for aid to build the Temple they\ncould not expect either God or man to help them to buy an unnecessary\norgan. Through thirty-eight years the church has never had any quarrel\nto settle in all its history, and that division of opinion did not\nassume an angry or excited phase. It was simply a feeling in some of the\npeople that the Lord had done wonders and that, now that the church was\nout of the wilderness, it was full time to let the people and God's\nprovidence rest. When the question arose whether the church should\nventure to purchase a suitable church organ it was decided by a large\nmajority that it could not be undertaken. The small minority were\nGideon's three hundred. One member of that small body asked the church\nfor the privilege of putting in the organ, \"if he could raise all of the\nten thousand dollars needed without asking a contribution from anyone\nwho had already given or subscribed toward the building.\" Even that\nconservative offer was accepted by a reluctant and small majority.\n\nThen that member began a downright, heart-stretching wrestle with the\nAngel of God. He spent two successive nights in the Temple in hard and\ntearful prayer. He had nothing to give. He must secure the whole from\nothers. He pleaded with God to let him work with Him in awakening the\nhearts of possible givers. But the Lord was not willing to give to man\nthe major part of the glory of success. The murmuring people must be\nmade ashamed of their lack of faith in the Lord who had safely led them\nthus far. The contract for the organ was made with a company whose agent\nsaid they usually sold their organs on faith, but that churches always\npaid the cost and often paid in advance of the date when the notes\nmatured. The purchaser of the Temple organ did not feel authorized to\nput in the organ with no money in hand, at least for the first\ninstallment on the price to be paid. But all the men he approached\nrefused to give because it was \"overdoing it,\" and was \"too improbable\"\nfor credence or assistance. But the purchaser did not waver. The time\nset for the payment of the first fifteen hundred dollars came. The note\nthe purchaser gave was due on Monday. The debtor had asked the\nSunday-morning prayer meeting to remember him especially \"on the\nmorrow.\" He had until three o'clock Monday to raise the money to save\nhis note from protest. He had written to a relative to ask for a loan of\nfifteen hundred dollars, but the letter had not been sent to the mail\nbox. When he entered his room just before church services a working girl\nwho was a member of the church came quietly to his door and handed him a\nletter in which, when he opened it, he found a check for fifteen hundred\ndollars. The letter and check were signed by a laboring man in Massilon,\nOhio, who wrote that he had not been asked to give anything, but he had\nheard that the church \"hoped soon to get an organ.\" He felt impressed to\nsend this check and to ask the church to accept it on the condition\nthat, should he ever be reduced to actual need, the church should\nendeavor to aid him in some way. The second payment due came as an\nunexpected draft from Boston for five hundred dollars, which must be\nhonored or refused within three days. But in the same mail with the\nnotice of the draft came two money orders from the executor of an estate\nin California, saying that the deceased testator had left the\ndistribution of certain sums to the discretion of the executor and he\nhad decided to send five hundred dollars toward \"the music in the new\nTemple.\"\n\nThe third payment was met by funds raised by solicitation, about which\nthere seemed to be nothing remarkable. Other payments were made by gifts\nclearly sent in connection with the appeal of the believer, but the last\npayment was the most unaccountable of all. Three one-hundred-dollar\nbills were pushed under the door of the church study by some one never\ndiscovered, and a certificate of mining stock worth seven hundred\ndollars was sent from Butte, Montana, without other signature except\nthat on the face of the certificate. The blank for the purchaser of the\nstock was blank. Public efforts were made to find the givers, but\nwithout success. Well might the people feel that the voice of the organ\nwas the voice of the Saviour.\n\nWhen the organ was dedicated and Dr. D. D. Wood led the devotion with\ninspired fingers and sightless eyes the church's congregation was a\nbeautiful sight--like a sea sparkling with tears. When the great chorus\nwas singing the hymn, \"God moves in a mysterious way his wonders to\nperform,\" a large number of the singers were so choked with emotion that\nthey ceased to sing and Doctor Wood said the event was one of the most\nthrilling in all his experiences with choirs.\n\nThese are \"the simple annals of the poor,\" but they illustrate and\ninculcate great principles which are applicable to any work for the\nLord.\n\n\n\n\nChapter III\n\nHealing the Sick\n\n\nThe health and happiness of mankind depend in a great degree on faith.\nEvery emotion of the body and every action of the mind is an exhibition\nof faith. Persons who believe they are well, even if they are ill, will\nsoon recover, and persons who believe that they will not be sick are\nseldom ill. There is no department of human life so dependent on belief\nas that connected with health. Millions would arise, take up their\ncouches and walk, if they could be made to believe that they could do\nso. To believe a falsehood has cured many people, and consciences waver\nbetween the duty to tell a patient the clear truth when he is very ill\nand to make him believe a lie in order that he may get well.\n\nIt must also be stated, in fidelity to the truth, that the subject of\nhealing by faith has called out a host of the half-insane classes who\nproclaim with trumpet tones some cases of divine healing which are\nunworthy of a moment's consideration. Hence, out of a collection of\npossibly sincere letters, many have been rejected altogether as foolish\nor misleading. Eleven hundred written testimonies to cases of healing in\ndirect answer to prayer at the Baptist Temple have been carefully\nexamined and the trustworthy testimonies tabulated. Those \"years of\nhealing\" to which reference is so often made were years of prayer and\nyears of faith. After deducting all the questionable cases, and after a\nwide allowance for the naturally health-giving and health-preserving\npower, the normal human belief is that there remains an overwhelmingly\nconvincing amount of evidence that healing is directly brought about by\nsincere prayer.\n\nThrough several years cases were reported to the church or pastors which\nconvinced all who knew the people and the circumstances that some\nintelligent power, higher than human knowledge, had interfered to heal\nthe sick. But when the knowledge of those trustworthy cases came to be\nknown, and especially when they had awakened much excited comment, then\nthe \"cranks\" and monomaniacs crowded to the front and vociferously\nproclaimed the most absurd miracles, to the disgust of reasonable men\nand women and greatly to the damage of the beneficent work.\n\nSometimes all references to healing were omitted in the pulpit and shut\nout from the meetings for prayer until the wild advocates of divine\nhealing settled down and dispassionate views could be taken. Many\nintelligent devout men repudiated the whole experiment, believing that\nthe excitement over it was doing much more harm than good. But the\nlarger part who saw the people who had been cured by the unexplainable\nmeans were steadfast and went on sincerely thanking God for his\nwonderful works among the children of men.\n\nA digest of the written testimonies showed that cataracts had unrolled\nwithout the touch of a surgeon's knife, although the greatest number of\nthe restoration of sight to the blind were with the aid of apparent\nmeans. The methods by which the Lord restored their sight did not make\ntheir gratitude to him for restoration any the less commendable.\nMysterious and evidently dangerous internal tumors disappeared slowly or\nsuddenly in a manner unexplainable by the most learned physicians.\n\nBy far the greatest number of the eleven hundred cases selected for\nconsideration out of the multitude of testimonies were cases in some way\ndirectly connected with the nervous system. Patients long confined in an\ninsane asylum were brought home and cured of what had been considered\nhopeless insanity. There were many cases of various forms of brain\ndiseases, while in all these cases a specially conservative examiner\ncould declare that they might have been cured by the special or wise\ntreatment.\n\nYet, even if such were the case, the devout man who prayed may claim\nthat the treatment was only a part of God's healing plan. It was often\ndeclared publicly and without any contradiction that for long seasons\nthere was not one person ill in bed in the more than one thousand homes\nrepresented in the membership of the church worshiping in the Temple.\nUsually health reigned in the entire church, and it was reasonably\nclaimed that in five years more than six hundred cases of lung and\nthroat trouble were permanently healed. Epidemics afflicted the city,\nand, quoting Doctor Haehnlen, it was declared that \"the Angel of Death\nhad passed over the congregation, taking none.\" Of course the people\nbelieved that if they went to the Temple to pray for the recovery of\ntheir friends they would surely be favorably answered. Many have,\nhowever, written that if that condition of faith could be secured in the\ndoctor, nurse, and family, that spirit of hope would be naturally\naroused in the patient and aid greatly in the recovery. But the men who\npray can say with greater confidence that in every case it was, at\nleast, God working with man. At all events, the general health of the\ncongregation must be far better than would have been the case with the\nsame people if they had not gone to church and prayed.\n\nHundreds of men and women live on in health and vigor who were in that\ncongregation at middle age thirty-five years ago. Their strength \"is not\nabated,\" although some of them were invalids thirty years ago. The\nhealing force of a cheerful faith is everywhere acknowledged to be a\nhealth-preserving agency of vital importance in the establishment of\npublic health. It is a vital necessity in thousands of individual cases.\nSuch a condition is probably often a gift of God--through the influence\nof his suggesting and soothing spirit. Jesus healed many without\nresorting to miracles and seems to have resorted to the miraculous only\nto convince his hearers of his authority in divine matters. In some\ncases, as the woman who touched his garment, he claimed nothing for\nhimself, but told her that her own faith had served her.\n\nEven the most ultra-conservative critic at the Temple who tried hard to\nsee in these many cases of restoration only the \"working out of some\nnatural law\" confessed that if his child was sick he \"would not dare to\nomit praying\" for its recovery. The conclusion of the whole matter is in\nthe settled conviction in the minds of nearly all the worshipers at the\nTemple that God does answer prayer for the sick.\n\n\n\n\nChapter IV\n\nPrayer for the Home\n\n\nOne Sunday evening at the usual services the invitation was given, as is\ncustomary, for such persons who especially desired to be mentioned in\nthe daily prayers of the people to rise for a moment before the singing\nof the last hymn. The sermon had not mentioned the need of prayer and\ncontained no special evangelistic appeal. The invitation was the\ncustomary proceeding throughout the year. The three thousand seats were\nall filled. The audience was composed, as usual, largely of men, and\nthey were men of middle age. There were young people, representing both\nsexes, scattered through the audience, and lines of them along the back\nrows of seats in the distant gallery. No attempt was made to emphasize\nthe ordinary invitation in any special manner. But when the solemn\nmoment came for the prayer-seekers to rise the response was so general\nthat the preacher asked those who had risen to remain standing until the\npastors could see them and count them. There were over five hundred, and\nfor a few weeks that was about the usual number of those who arose.\n\nBut the preacher was especially startled by the fact which he had not\nespecially noted on previous occasions, that the majority of those who\nasked for prayer were young people. The scene, when those youthful faces\nappeared on every side and in so large a congregation, filled the soul\nof the beholder with almost painful awe. It led the preacher to meditate\na moment to ask Christ and himself why so many young people took such a\nsolemn, sincere interest in prayer at that time. The thought led him,\nbefore the benediction, to request all who had stood forth for prayer to\nwrite to him a personal and confidential letter explaining why they\ndesired to be mentioned in the prayers of the Christian people. The\nletters came the next week by the hundred. It was an astonishing\nrevelation. The letters from unmarried people were culled out of the\ncollection and reread at leisure. Some of them were in need of higher\nwages; some were seeking for a personal religious awakening; some asked\nprayers for friends, for business, for safe journey, for health, or for\nother protection and relief. But out of two hundred and eighty-seven\nletters from those young people over two hundred mentioned, directly or\nindirectly, their strong desire for a husband, a wife, or a home. The\ndetails of lovers' quarrels were opened up, the anguish of broken\nengagements expressed on tear-stained sheets of note paper, and many\ndoubtful lovers wished the Lord would reveal to them whether their\nchoice had been a wise one or whether their love was deep enough for\nsuch an extremely important matter as marriage. The letters revealed\nsuch a general longing for a home that one seldom realizes is really\nexistent. There were a few letters from young college women and\nuniversity men. But the greater portion were from working girls. They\nwere the most touchingly sacred records of the everyday thoughts of\nyoung women, all sincerely and modestly expressed. When those young\nwomen saw some handsomely gowned wife pass her desk, her counter, her\nbench, or loom, leading a bright-faced little son, the working girl's\nsoul uttered an unvoiced shriek for a home, for a noble husband's\nprotection, and for children of her own. Women waiters who daily fed the\nwives of wealthy merchants or of prosperous manufacturers wrote how\nterrible was the thought that they were going to be homeless and\npenniless in their old age--one great prayer going up to high heaven for\nholy domestic love and a place they could call \"home.\"\n\nAfter that evening's call upon the seekers after God to rise the request\nfor letters was repeated. The answers which came even into thousands\nrevealed the general request for the leadership of the Spirit of the\nall-wise God in directing the all-important affairs of the heart. Some\nletters detailed the horrors of broken hearts; some revealed dark sins;\nand some told of betrayal or of base and traitorous ingratitude. But the\nmajority were letters from lonely but upright women of high ideals and\nof noble, Christian life. Some of the communications were from\nconscientious young men asking God's help in deciding their choice or\nfor the influence of God in their favor when their chosen one should\nmake up her hesitating mind. Some were calls for Christ's forgiveness\nand for human advice in most complicated cases where the writer had been\nmisunderstood or where he had thoughtlessly made a promise he must\nrecall. All wanted a home. The honest souls standing out in the open\nbefore God, where the restraints of human custom and the reluctance of a\npure modesty were, for the moment, overcome, wrote out the sincerest\nprayer of all. Their soul's need was a home.\n\nOf all the holy ambitions of a normal man or woman the purpose to have a\nhome is the highest. A home on earth and a home in heaven constitute the\nsoul's chiefest need. Around that transfigured word gather all that is\nhighest and purest in human thinking and all that is most sacred and\nheavenly in human feeling. In the beginning the Almighty created\nman--\"Male and female created he them.\" The first home was in Paradise.\nThe last home will be there. He who has an income to maintain a house,\nwho has an intelligent, unselfish wife, who can look about his table and\nsee children with clear intellects and loving hearts, is conspicuously\nfoolish if he does not see that he already has the best the world can\ngive. She who can cast off all anxiety for maintenance and can devote\nherself to the care and training of her own little ones, and who can\nrespect and deeply love her chosen mate, has God's best gifts already in\nher possession. Gratitude to the heavenly Father will lead such\nrecipients of his richest bounty to forget not to aid those who have\nless. Nothing on earth of wealth, applause, or mundane wisdom can equal,\nin the least measure, the temporal and eternal values of a real home.\nTherefore it is wise and the mark of a godly character to pray heartily\nfor a husband, or for a wife, or for children.\n\nA reasonable valuation of such domestic treasures makes a hideous crime\nof every violation of the laws and customs which make a loving home\npossible. Profanity of speech, theft of money, or traitorous breaking of\nany other contract is a light sin compared with the brutal sins of the\nlibertine or the unchastity of the woman who sells herself, or who, with\nevil intent, entices a man to home-breaking crime. So important is this\nmatter that it is the fit subject for constant prayer for those who have\nnot chosen to be a martyr or decided to give up all on earth for a home\nin heaven. And, even in the latter case, the call to take up any work\ninconsistent with the maintenance of a home should be overwhelmingly\nemphatic to command obedience.\n\nHence, those appeals to Heaven for domestic rest of soul were all normal\nand all of supreme importance. When that great collection of letters\nwere each answered the reply contained a counter-request for a report in\ndue season which should state when and how the prayer for a home had\nbeen answered. Those reports have also been carefully tabulated. But\nhere again the critical adherent to the theory concerning the\nunchangeable laws of nature tries to escape any committal to religious\ndogmas by claiming that the mating instinct is an inborn sentiment\ncommon to fishes, beasts, and birds, and that mankind mates by\naccidental acquaintanceship or by the pressure of necessity or\nungoverned passion. Such arguments convince many people who deride the\nclaim that \"marriages are made in heaven.\" But after every such theory\nis suggested and analyzed, after every allowance for the outworking of\n\"natural selection,\" there is left an important place for the intrusion\nor domination of a superhuman power. To that fact, the simple,\nunvarnished tale of the experience of the years at the Temple bear\neloquent testimony. A book of this character requires that out of the\nmany reports only the most representative cases should be selected, and\nthat the mention should be as brief as is consistent with clearness. The\nnumber of marriages which every church, small or great, brings about is\never the astonishment of any preacher who goes back over the history of\nforty years of church life. The church in any community is a center of\nmore or less of social life and furnishes an opportunity for the best\nyoung people to meet on a plane of safe association. The married\nChristian people, and especially the owners of homes, are the very best\npeople in any town or city. As a rule, all people possessed of Christian\ncharacter marry. The unmarried masses of the people, or those who are\nmost often unhappily mated, are often the unstable classes who are not\nclosely bound to moral principles. Religious life and home life are twin\nsisters. They belong to the same family and have the same likes,\ndislikes, and motives. They are congenial and necessary companions\nalmost everywhere.\n\nLet us examine the leading events wherein we seem to recognize the\ndivine hand and which led directly to the setting up of Christian homes.\nOne lady clerk in a department store, in her first letter asking for\nprayer, said that she was forty-one years of age and that she had been\ntwenty years in the store. She said that she had hoped for a home all\nher adult life, but had abandoned the hope and wished only to die soon.\nShe asked if suicide would be wrong under such sad circumstances. The\nfollowing Sabbath morning, after the service, the pastor of her church\nincidentally introduced her to a widower of her age who had a\ncomfortable house, but who had rented it because he had no children. The\nwidower asked the pastor a few days later to pray for him as he had a\n\"very important matter\" on his mind. Several days later he came to the\nminister and said that he had dreamed three times and in each dream he\nhad precisely the same experience. He dreamed that he was climbing a\nsteep hill in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and he had called for help to a\nlady standing above him near the path, and when he took her hand he\nrecognized her as the lady to whom the minister had introduced him. He\ndeclared that he really wished to set up a home again, but his first\nimpression of that lady was decidedly unfavorable. The minister\nunreservedly advised the widower never to let a mere dream influence him\nto overcome his calm judgment. The minister said that dreams were often\ncontrary to fair reasoning and should not be consulted in such important\nmatters. A few days later the lady called on the minister to ask him if\nthere was \"any truth in dreams.\" Then she greatly surprised the minister\nby saying that she dreamed several times that she was on a steep bank\nnear a cousin's home in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and as the earth began\ndangerously to break beneath her feet a man caught her and supported her\nto the safe path. The mysterious thing in her story was that she\nrecognized the man as the gentleman to whom she had been introduced that\nSunday morning, but whose name she had forgotten. She said that the\nrepetition of the dream \"set her to thinking,\" and she had called to\ninquire who the gentleman was and what trust could be placed in dreams.\nThe minister was too surprised to declare again that no faith could be\nput in any dreams. The minister said nothing to her about his previous\ninterview with the widower and let her depart with the remark that if\nthe Lord intended she should marry that man the Lord would also speak to\nthe man about it in some clear manner. The Lord never advises one party\nto enter into such a contract when he knows the other party is\nunwilling. In every holy marriage both parties are equally inspired\nwith the spirit of God and are both absolutely convinced that the Lord\nhad brought them together. The minister soon wrote to the widower,\nadvising him to call on the lady and tell her frankly that he desired to\nmake her acquaintance with a view to a marriage, if both should be\nsatisfied that it would be right. Every reader of this incident\nrecognizes or feels the impression of the universal law of nature and\ncan prophesy safely that they would marry. The minister was not present\nat the wedding, but he was informed by those who did attend the ceremony\nthat the bridegroom told the guests the history of their dreams and\nclaimed that they were \"obeying the voice of God\" when they arranged for\nthat marriage.\n\nThe doubting persons who claim that the repetition of the dreams and the\naccidental meetings were singular coincidences that were in no way\ninfluenced by angel spirits, do have enough support to make the angel\ntheory one of faith and remove the claim from the class of \"scientific\ndemonstrations.\" The facts related cannot be questioned. But the\nconclusions from those facts may differ widely and still be more or less\nreasonable.\n\nThe mysterious attraction which leads the bird and the beast to choose\ntheir mates is of the same nature as that mating instinct which prevails\nuniversally among mankind. But man's reasoning power and his\nself-control make his choice of a wife a far more complicated matter.\nThe healthiest, strongest, and most intellectual races are ever those\nwhose laws and customs allow the greatest opportunity for unprejudiced\nchoice in the selection of life mates. Intermarriage of family\nrelations, or the marriages within a narrow circle of the same race,\never produce weaklings and often idiots. In the lands where the parents\narrange all the marriages there is but little progress and but few real\nhomes. Wherever the parties refuse to be guided by the higher law of\naffinity, or by a recognition of Divine Providence, there will seldom be\nfound a real home. \"Affinity\" is an abused word, and is often used to\nbolster up a bad cause or to excuse a cruel crime. But the close student\nof anthropology ever finds that the known natural laws do not account\nfor every case, nor can a satisfactory solution of sex attraction in\nhuman affairs be found without admitting the mysterious and potent force\nthat is only spiritual.\n\nLooking back over the marriage records of the Baptist Temple for thirty\nyears, there appear some significant facts concerning home-making by\nprayer. Through those thirty years of the record-keeping there was an\naverage of sixteen marriages a month, or five thousand and one hundred\nin thirty years. The same pastor who officiated at the marriage of the\nparents also, in many cases, officiated at the weddings of the children.\nNot one case of divorce can be discovered and only two cases of\nestrangement. The records of many praying churches probably show the\nsame conditions.\n\nBut it is a sublime, soul-satisfying thing to meditate on such a great\nlist of happy Christian homes. The searcher, when he notes the\nbirthplaces of bride and groom, finds that they often come from the most\ndistant places and represent nearly all the races of the world. Calcutta\nunited with New York, Iceland with New Orleans, Philadelphia with\nChicago, Quebec with Quakertown, Worcester (Massachusetts) with Camden\n(New Jersey), Japan with Chester (Pennsylvania), Alaska with Columbia\n(South Carolina), country villages with cities, obscure daughters of\nprairie farmers with sailors on the Atlantic, millionaires' sons with\nworking girls, and thousands of members of the church of all adult ages\nuniting with other members of whom they knew nothing in childhood.\n\nFrom the atheist's point of view he can see nothing in that history but\na jumble of accidents or a snarl of events which cannot be untangled.\nBut to the devout believer in the theory that God sends his angels to\narrange the home-making as he did in the case of Rebecca and Isaac, that\nlist of homes presents a sublime view of a system for the kind\ndistribution of Heaven's chiefest blessings. Out of the seventy-two\nhundred who united with Grace Church and its missions in the thirty\nyears mentioned above all but twenty-nine have been married. As a\nhome-making agency in the history of our nation the churches must hold\nthe leading place.\n\nWhen the remarkable series of reported dreams became known and was being\ndiscussed by the people, there arose many men and women with unbalanced\nminds who testified to the most inconsistent miracles in connection with\ntheir dreams. Among the letters which they sent in when testimonials\nwere called for there were nearly one hundred which related foolish and\nimpossible experiences and which made the whole debate ridiculous. But\nthat uprising of those who were \"possessed of evil spirits\" did not\nprove that the one case so well established was not the work of an angel\nof God.\n\nThere may be ten thousand dreams which are of no special value and which\nare caused by natural law. But God seems to use only one here and there\nfor his special purposes. Thousands of seeds fall on the earth, but only\none may be selected to grow. There were cases related where dreams were\nspecially potent to the dreamers because of the suggestions made by the\ndreams to the waking minds. A dream is often very potent as a reminder,\nor as a caution, and is often a providential event used in God's plan,\nalthough the dreams in themselves may have nothing unusual about them.\nThere could be no clearly remembered dream which did not have some\neffect on the thought and later actions of the dreamer. With that view\nmany dreams need not have their origin in a special visit of an angel of\nGod. But again we must believe that there are dreams in which the angel\nof God appears to man directly, and that such dreams are possible in any\nage of the human world. Each claim, therefore, to a revelation of God in\na dream should stand alone and be accepted or rejected after a careful\nstudy of all the causes and effects.\n\nThe experiences with the Holy Spirit during those years of constant\nprayer should find a special place in this record. For there were devout\nsouls who seemed to be constantly filled with the divine afflatus, and\nthey surely enjoyed the peace of God which passeth all understanding.\nHere, again, we walk near a line that cannot exactly be located and\nenjoy emotions or inspirations which cannot be described. An\nall-pervading joy illumined every part of the human soul. \"Where are you\ngoing so early this Sunday morning?\" was often asked of the hastening\npedestrian, and it was a common experience to hear him reply, \"I am\ngoing to the morning prayer meeting in the Temple to meet the Holy\nSpirit.\" The Holy Spirit was there awaiting him. There were Pentecostal\ndays--supreme hours of strange elation, seasons of heavenly bliss which\ncannot be accounted for on any psychological basis. A holy brooding of a\nsin-expelling spiritual atmosphere permeated by a power like a perfume.\nIt was an indwelling of the Spirit which carried a purifying fumigation\nwherein the worshiper simply let go of himself and rested in the arms of\nhis heavenly Father. Many felt that sacred presence and could only\nexpress themselves in tears. Such Pentecostal visitations of the Spirit\nhave doubtless come to thousands of churches and to millions of\nworshipers in other places, and this experience at the Temple is not\nmentioned as if it were an unusual thing where prayer is the habit of\nall the people. But it confirms the history of the visits of the Holy\nSpirit related in the Bible, and must be accepted as a proof of the fact\nthat there is communication between the spirit world and the world in\nwhich we live in the flesh. But these spiritual conditions are so\nsubtle, so elusive, so delicate, that it is easy to imagine that one is\nin that condition when perhaps he is not. It was so disappointing and\nperplexing to the sincere and reasonable Christian to have his\ncommunication with the Holy Spirit disturbed by a wild-eyed and\nloud-mouthed \"Holy Roller\" or an advocate of \"The Holy Ghost and Us\nSociety\" proclaim his wild theories and tell of the silly revelations\nwhich he claimed the Spirit had made to him. Some of those disturbers\nare now in the insane asylum, where they should have been before.\n\n    Wherever God erects a house of prayer\n    The devil builds a chapel there.\n    And 'twill be found on examination\n    The latter has the largest congregation.\n\nIt is a marvel that the gospel of Christ has outlived its own advocates.\nThe \"cranks\" who testified for Christ in his day were more harmful than\nwere the same number of his open enemies. Because of them the people\nbelieved that Christ himself was a wild fanatic. The believer in Christ\nmust try prayerfully and carefully to distinguish between the devils and\nthe angels of light, and determine by their fruits which claimant is\npossessed by the Spirit of God and which is controlled by the spirit of\nevil.\n\n\n\n\nChapter V\n\nPrayer and the Bible\n\n\nThere are three methods used distinctively in the study of the Bible and\nupon each of them prayer has a clear effect. This fact comes out fully\nin the written testimonials received from the members of the church\nworshiping in the Baptist Temple. One individual may read the Bible as\nhe would read any other book, and, consequently, finds it dull reading.\nAnother studies the historical references as an arch\u00e6ologist or as the\nscientific specialists examine a rare specimen. To them it is a curious\nand strange collection of ancient manuscripts, and such a student finds\namusement in the research. Another regards the Book as a miraculous\nrevelation from God, and he handles the volume with reverent care and\nreads the statements it contains as he would a letter sent from heaven\ndirect to him. Those three classes are found in almost every religious\ngathering, and it is an intensely interesting thing to observe at close\nrange the various effects of prayer on such a congregation. When the\nleader of the prayer service approaches the Bible with the manner of a\ndelighted seeker after truth, and, before opening the Book, leads the\npeople in a direct appeal to the Divine Spirit for instruction and\ninspiration, the interest of the worshipers in the Book is especially\nawakened. When the leader prays fervently and with frank sincerity that\nthe passages of the Bible to be read shall be illumined or be made alive\nwith special meaning and new emphasis, then the Book will be an\ninteresting volume to nearly all of the gathering. And when the leader\nis himself expecting a special revelation from that Book at that time\nhis personal magnetism combines with his manner to help the worshiper\ninto a receptive, expectant state of mind. The people then expect to\nhear \"an important message from a most important person.\" The\nhelpfulness of those conditions anyone would understand, as they are in\naccord with human experience in other gatherings. But the effect of the\nprayer in bringing to each person present a different message from the\nsame verse puts the matter over into the realm of the supernatural.\n\nAt one prayer meeting at the Temple, when a severe storm had cut down\nthe attendance to a number under twenty, the prayerful attitude of all\npresent made the session one of special spiritual illumination. The\nScriptures were read with accuracy and natural emphasis, and then each\nlistener was requested to state informally what was the chief lesson\nwhich the reading brought to him. Each person present received a\ndistinct and helpful suggestion differing from the suggestions made to\nany of the others. It is that well-established fact, so often\nexperienced, that makes the Bible a book unlike any other. In this, too,\nis shown the importance of persuading everyone to read the Bible for\nand by himself. It seems, however, to be universally true that when the\nBible is prayerfully, intelligently read aloud each praying listener\nreceives some message of special importance to himself. While all that\nevening heard the same words from the same mouth, yet the circumstances\nof each life were different from every other; the experiences had been\nunlike, the inherited dispositions were different, the meaning of the\nwords was shaded by the variation in their home use, and a full\nallowance was freely made for those differing effects. But those\nconsiderations cannot, to the calm, critical student of the inspiration\nof the Bible, account for the special and mysterious messages which come\nto each participant in the meeting. The suggestions are often beyond the\napplication of the law of \"the association of ideas.\" They cannot be\nexplained by any of the known psychological laws which seem generally to\ngovern the human mind. This experience with the Bible is the best\nevidence of its divine inspiration. Arch\u00e6ological, psychological,\netymological, or historical analysis cannot establish the accuracy of\nthe Bible so surely as that actual experience. The best proof is\nsubjective. The secular argument that the Bible carries on its face the\nevidence that the writers were all inspired by a \"good motive\" is surely\nan excellent reason for believing the Bible to be \"inspired.\" A holy\nmotive, apparent in its wise communications, is clearly shown in the\nBible. The etymologist who rests his case on the conclusion that the\nwords \"inspired by God\" were formerly written \"inspired by the Good,\"\nand that the \"All Good\" being is the ideal God, is not far from the safe\ndefinition. That does not in any way conflict with the theory that \"all\nScripture, inspired by the 'All Good,' is profitable for doctrine, for\nreproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.\" The\ncomplications into which the narrow theologian or technical philosopher\nfalls when attempting to reason about the Almighty often makes the\nstudy bewildering and unprofitable. The testimony of the good and great\nthrough all the ages that every line of the Book is written with the\nunselfish purpose to do good is sufficient warrant for the common reader\nin concluding that it has some unusual inspiration.\n\nThe question was often discussed at the Temple whether it was safe after\nprayer to open the Bible at random and be guided by the first verse on\nwhich the eye rested. Some claimed that it was always safe to trust it.\nOthers said that it was only occasionally that they found it to be\nreasonably instructive. Still others believed that the ascribing of such\nmagic, or miraculous, power to the Book was clearly a form of forbidden\nidolatry. But the majority of the praying Bible readers felt convinced\nthat the selection of texts at random could not be trusted. Yet here\nagain we find strong evidence that sometimes the worshiper is directed\nto a particular record which seems to be selected by a divine mind.\nAgain, it is wholly a matter of faith. The boy who asked his father for\na silver dollar and found one in the road which some traveler had\naccidentally dropped, concluded that there was no design on the part of\nhis father to give him the dollar. But when he found a dollar there the\nthird time his conclusion that his father had placed all three of the\ndollars there for him was not unreasonable, but, nevertheless,\nerroneous. So while the Lord surely has established certain laws or\ncustoms which seem permanent, yet he has the power and may change the\nlaws or allow exceptions, and one cannot believe in prayer without\nbelieving that such changes are sometimes made. It is a far greater\nstrain upon human credulity not to believe it than it is to believe it.\nThe careful use of common sense in the interpretation of Biblical or\nunusual events, examples, and records of wisdom is ever the safe and\nsane proceeding. If one should pray for divine direction and opened the\nBible at random to find the Lord's advice he should always examine the\nverse to see if its teaching or direction accorded with his petition. In\na \"call\" to the ministry there must be a conviction of duty in the soul\nand also a road providentially opened to the would-be laborer. So in all\nthe thousands of answers to prayer at the Temple there was found a\nconjunction of circumstances which showed that the worker was called by\nthe same Lord who had a work to be done.\n\nThe will of man is a strong force and is in itself an effectual, fervent\nprayer. The Lord prospers the person whose righteous will is decided,\npersistent, and uncompromising. The too-frequent consultation of Bible\ntexts for hints or for direction shows a habit of doubt which is often a\nclear evidence of weakness. But in this, as in almost every other\nexperiment, it is the consensus of opinion that the Lord does often\ninspire the Bible, especially for certain devout seekers, and that he\ninspires the soul with a keen, sensitive apprehension and appreciation\nof the special revelation. The spiritually minded man or woman is the\nonly one who can interpret a spiritual book. The chief value of the\nBible is as a spiritual guide. It is the only book which explains the\nCreator's revelation to this world, and is the only one which gives a\ntrustworthy description of the spiritual world. What a shadow would pass\nover the earth, and what destruction, devastation, and misery would be\nexperienced, if, in one moment, all knowledge of the Bible were crossed\nout! Sane men who reverently pray for the inspiration when they read the\nScriptures are the only safe guides to its sacred meaning. All who came\nto the Temple to pray seem to have been lead to the Bible at once, and\nthousands have learned to love it. To those who have prayed long over it\nit has become a continual feast.\n\n\n\n\n<pre id=\"pg-footer\">","title":"Health, Healing, and Faith","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":11871}