{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_36899/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_36899","id":"gutenberg_36899","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36899","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Religion/Spirituality","Prayer"],"text":"</pre>\n\n\n\nProduced by Karina Aleksandrova, Juliet Sutherland and the\nOnline Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n       Praying for Money\n\n\n      Spiritual Telepathy\n       Day of Pentecost\n           Axioms\n      Praying for Money\n      Unanswered Prayers\n      Prayer for Others\n       Forms of Prayer\n\n\n             _By_\n      RUSSELL H. CONWELL\n\n\n           VOLUME 9\n\n           NATIONAL\n     EXTENSION UNIVERSITY\n\n  597 Fifth Avenue, New York\n\n\nEFFECTIVE PRAYER\n\nCopyright, 1921, by Harper & Brothers\nPrinted in the United States of America\n\n\n\n\nChapter I\n\nSpiritual Telepathy\n\n\nIt would be no more surprising for the discovery of a means of direct\nspirit communication with the spiritual life than it was to be convinced\nthat Marconi had discovered a sure method of telegraphing and\ntelephoning without wires. The discovery of the laws which made\nelectricity a servant of mankind was an astonishing revelation which was\nas unbelievable as is the law of spiritual telepathy. Human telepathy,\nwhich is a mysterious means of communication between persons without the\nuse of known material agency, is in the initial and experimental stage.\nBut the possibility of such thought transference is generally admitted.\nThe psychical researchers into that science should be encouraged in\nevery way. On the eve of every such advance in human achievement there\nalways appear a host of superstitious dreamers and wild prophets, even\nin the study of science, who hinder the sane searcher and often becloud\nthe mind of the student who is on the direct road to the needed\ndiscovery.\n\nSpiritualism, which is here used as a comprehensive term, frequently\nconfuses the deliberations of honest truth-seekers with the advertised\nworks of deceivers, but it includes much in its curriculum that is worth\ncareful study. Among the host of disordered or weak minds who claim so\nmuch that is foolish in connection with spiritual revelations there are\na respectable number of thoughtful, conservative searchers who cannot be\neasily deceived. In all the successful \"isms\" in a Christian\ncivilization, and in all the popular religious sects, there is ever some\nbasic truth. Some one idea is so true and so strongly emphasized that it\noften carries along a back-breaking load of absurd theories. The\nthoughtless throng hears of several well-authenticated cases of fraud,\nor of absurd teaching, in connection with spiritual meetings, or\nmessages, and leaps to the conviction that all claims of so-called\nspiritualists are not worthy of consideration. So many thousands have\ntried so sincerely to recall their dead without the least sign of an\nanswer that they refuse to examine the testimony of great men, like Sir\nOliver Lodge, whose belief differs from their belief. They will not read\nwhat great minds have expressed on the subject. But the great\ndiscoveries recently made in materialistic sciences have led thoughtful\nmen to hope for great discoveries in the relation of this existence to\nanother life. This expectation, or strong hope, made the study of the\nspiritual revelations and conditions at the Temple a most thrilling\noccupation.\n\nThe reports of the answers to prayer so often use the words \"happened to\nthink\" that the observer cannot escape the conviction that either the\nliving human mind does send spirit messages or that some mysterious\npower acts for it in forwarding messages. The great list of mysterious\nimpulses and intuitions which were noticed in those interesting seasons\nof prayer could not have been all accidental nor could they be classed\nunder the natural laws of cause and effect. The connection between the\ncause as seen in the prayer and the effect as related in the\n\"happened-to-think\" result is often wholly hidden.\n\nA mother in Philadelphia prayed for her prodigal son and at that exact\ntime the son, alone in a Chicago hotel, felt an uncontrollable influence\nto turn back to his home. A father prayed that his son might decide to\nbe a missionary, and the son, a sailor off the coast of South America,\nat that same moment made the decision. A wife prayed that her husband\nmight be sent home sober. At the time she was kneeling by the kitchen\ntable he was waiting at the saloon to be served with brandy, but he\n\"happened to think\" that his mother had prayed for him on her deathbed\nand he could not take the liquor.\n\nA doctor, sadly defeated in his fight for the life of his patient, went\nto his bedroom and prayed for light, and he \"happened to think\" that the\npatient might have swallowed some piece of metal. There was no report of\nthe like symptoms in any case he could find in the medical books. But so\ndeep was the impression that he secured a powerful magnet and drew forth\nthe death-dealing needle. A merchant had an offer for his entire stock\nwhich seemed favorable, and, as he was in need, the offer seemed\nprovidential. But while the suggestion from the pulpit that each\nworshiper pray for success in his occupation was being adopted he prayed\nfor his business. At that hour his son in Denver was also praying in\nchurch. When he there thought of his father he decided fully to go home\nand enter business with him. So completely did he decide that the next\nmorning he telegraphed to his surprised and delighted father that he\nwould come home if his father needed his assistance. The joy of having\nhis son at home again overcame his determination to complete a\nfavorable bargain, and he declined the offer promptly. Before the son\nreached Philadelphia a sudden change in the paper market doubled the\nsale value of the father's stock.\n\nOne writer for a daily newspaper was meditating on some object of prayer\nin the silence of the praying congregation when the idea of a textbook\non journalism for college use came to his mind for the first time. It\nled directly to a series of syndicate articles which enabled him to\npurchase the home for which he had been praying. A mechanic who had been\nout of work, owing to a fire, prayed for a job. At the same time a\nbuilder who was a stranger in the church was praying for a competent\npartner. When the prayers were finished they \"happened\" to look at each\nother across the church and each wondered why the other looked at him so\nintently. The pews in which they sat were at right angles and it was a\nnatural thing for the occupant of one pew to glance at the inmate of\nthe other pew. After church each approached the other with the\nsimultaneous expression, \"It seems to me that we have met before.\" But\nthat was their first meeting. Their firm is now engaged in large\nconstruction work in concrete houses and factories. A servant girl in a\nsmall home prayed for a dress suitable for church and at that hour her\nmistress was visiting a friend who remarked that the photograph of a\ndeceased daughter greatly resembled the visitor's servant girl. A few\nminutes later the friend of the mistress said: \"I wonder if my\ndaughter's dresses would fit your servant? If they will fit her, there\nare here two new gowns that the dressmaker sent home after my daughter's\ndeath.\"\n\nSo a young man, without advanced education, prayed hard for an\nopportunity to get mental training to fit him for the ministry. At the\nsame moment a principal of a New Jersey academy was in the gallery far\nremoved from the young man and he prayed for direction in finding a\nsuitable janitor. The academy principal mentioned his need to one of the\nchurch members who \"happened\" to know the young man. It was arranged\nthat the young man should work for his board and tuition and have five\nhours a day for study. The worshiper described himself in his sketch of\nthe answer to his prayers as one whom \"God has led into the fulfillment\nof all his highest ambitions.\" He is pastor of a strong church in\nCleveland. A little tot prayed for a \"singing doll,\" and her mother told\nher that a doll was too small a matter to pray for. But the father\noverheard the conversation, and, after purchasing the most costly one he\ncould find at his noon hour, he left it on the little one's bed in the\nnight when everyone else was supposed to be asleep.\n\nA widow prayed for some leadership in the sale of some wild land in\nLouisiana. Her relatives urged her to let it go, as the \"taxes will soon\neat it all.\" But the unexpected payment of a debt due her led her to\nfeel that, as she had been temporarily provided for, she would wait. In\nabout seven weeks she read in a paper that a company had struck oil on\nthe next section to her estate. She consequently leased the mineral\nprivileges of her land at a high price.\n\nA minister prayed for a sermon text and found that the Sunday-school\nsuperintendent had thoughtlessly left in the Bible the Sabbath before a\nslip of paper on which was written the title which Mary Magdalene used\nwhen addressing Jesus in the Garden near his tomb: \"Rabboni.\" The\nminister now remembers that sermon when nearly all others are forgotten.\nA student whose mental faculties were unusually dull for his age prayed\nthat he might pass his examination in mathematics. That night in his\ndreams his subconscious self worked out plainly on a blackboard the two\nhardest problems. A farmer prayed for some deciding hint in his choice\nof seed for his land. On his way home he held a bundle in his lap which\nwas in a newspaper wrapper. In one column on the wrapper directly under\nhis eyes was an article on the soils and products of his country which\nopened his vision and made his farming safe and profitable. An Alsatian\ngirl prayed that her father and mother might come to America. They knew\nnothing of her petition, but on that same day and hour, allowing for the\ndifference in the reckoning of time, the parents resolved to come to\nAmerica, and financial aid was promised them. A lawyer was asking the\nLord for some clew to lost evidence, so necessary to his case to be\ntried the next day, when the name of a witness whose relation to the\ncase he had not before thought of, and whose name had been long\nforgotten, was suggested to him. While doubtful of the value of the\nwitness, he sought his name in the directory and found that the lost\nwitness was all-sufficient for the case. A dealer in real estate asked\nthe Lord to prosper a proposed transaction, if it were for the best, and\nto hinder it if it would be injurious. He unintentionally omitted the\nword \"not\" from the draft of a contract which he drew the next day and\nthe \"accidental\" omission brought him to unexpected possession of a\nprofitable block of houses.\n\nTo the unbeliever all these testimonials prove but little. But to the\nexperienced observer of repeated answers to prayer they are conclusive\nproofs of God's disposition to answer the \"effectual, fervent prayer of\nthe righteous man.\" As a woman may feel when she puts her weary life\ninto the care of a strong and affectionate husband, the trusting\nbeliever in prayer rests in God in a peaceful condition of soul, which\npasseth all understanding.\n\n\n\n\nChapter II\n\nDay of Pentecost\n\n\nThat great day at the Baptist Temple stands out in the history of the\nlocal church there even as the greater Pentecost must have been first in\nthe memory of the disciples at Jerusalem. No one who entered personally,\nbody and soul, into the services of that Easter in Philadelphia can\npossibly forget the overpowering impressions of the Divine Spirit.\n\"Tongues of fire\" seemed to the spectator no longer an extravagant\nmetaphor to use. For the sake of a careful examination of the question\nwhether the baptism of the spirit is of God or men, the plain facts are\nhere stated.\n\nIt was Easter morning, 1893, when the sun began to gild the City Hall\ntower. People flocked to the lower hall of the Temple from all\ndirections. Each greeted the other with the words, \"He is risen,\" and\nfaces glowed as they assembled. There was no prearranged program and no\nannouncements. The people began to sing with enthusiasm before the\nleader ascended the platform. Then came the moment of silent prayer. It\nseemed as if \"the place was shaken.\" The whole company trembled as if\nthey realized they were in the visible presence of the Almighty. The\nmost conservative shed tears. There were many brief expressions from the\naudience, and often three were speaking at the same time. There was no\nshouting, no riotous disorder, no wild movements of uncontrolled\nemotion. Excited crowds at political gatherings, angry mobs, and\npanic-stricken crowds seem to have a form of that emotional common\npressure. But that Easter gathering was a surrender of soul to the\ntelepathic influence of a common spirit. One elderly Quaker shouted at\nthe close of the meeting, \"I would like to stay here forever,\" reminding\nall of Peter's call for three tabernacles on the Mount of\nTransfiguration. There was an intermission of an hour before the\nmorning preaching service in the auditorium. But the people would not go\nout for breakfast. Some fasted all day. They talked about Christ and of\ntheir home in Glory and exchanged promises to pray for friends, for\nmissions, and for churches. Before the hour of the established morning\nservice the large upper Temple had overflowed. There had been no\nadvertisement of the services. There were no unusual decorations of the\nauditorium and no special music provided. The preacher had not prepared\na sermon, nor had he read over that morning a selected chapter. He had\nbeen too much crowded with visitors and pressing calls of the needy and\ndying to devote even a half an hour to mental preparation. But no\nfeeling of doubt or of weakness entered his heart. He felt a strange\nsupport and uplift of soul which kept away all fears. He had not decided\nto preach at all, and hesitated whether he had not best venture on an\n\"experience meeting\" in the time usually allowed for the Easter sermon.\nBut the choir was inspired; they, too, felt the impression of a solemn\nconvocation. They never sang like that before, and the old tunes were\nvibrant with a resurrection life. The people sang and wept. City\nofficials, principals of the schools, court judges, and merchants, let\nthe tears fall. There seemed to be an absolute surrender of all classes\nto a common pressure toward God. The preacher arose with a most powerful\nimpulse to kneel and weep. He forgot to announce a text, but he began to\ntalk brokenly on the appearance of Christ to Mary Magdalene in the\nGarden near the tomb. His vision of the scene was so real to him that he\nhas never through the years lost that clear view of it. The preacher\nseemed to be there in the Garden. He saw the Lord; he heard that divine\nvoice; he saw that lovely face, the smile which greeted Mary. The\npreacher heard the conversation, saw the excited woman fall at her\nSaviour's feet, and heard him say, \"I am not yet ascended unto my\nFather!\"\n\nOh, where is there a language to describe to mortal men the\nall-pervading glory and the thrills of angelic joy which the preacher\nexperienced under those circumstances? To himself he seemed to be taken\nout of his physical limitations. He was not himself. He was a higher\npersonality. He saw visions of beauty and heard the harps of Glory. He\nlacks no words nor thoughts. He speaks the ideas which are given him.\nThere is no other joy on earth with which to compare that. It is so\nunlike the richest or sweetest emotions which other forms of happiness\nawaken. It is supreme! Unaccountable things occurred that morning which\nno prolonged or hard study has explained. The preacher cannot feel sure\nthat he was inspired, and hesitates to mention the facts lest men should\ndoubt their truth or ascribe to him an egotistical claim to sanctity.\nBut the experience with that sermon, and sometimes with other addresses,\npresents a psychological study which none of the authorities on mental\nlaw have yet explained. The stenographic report of the sermon showed\nthat the speaker quoted from Homer, Justinian, Macaulay, Shakespeare,\nLongfellow, and Moliere accurately, without hesitation, in the onrush of\nhis excited speech. But when he read them in the shorthand report he\ncould not remember that he ever had read those quotations and was\nabsolutely unable to recall that he used such words. The interpretation\nwhich he unhesitatingly gave of the scene in the Garden and of the words\nof Jesus were also new to him and caused him anxious hours of research\nafterward to learn whether his views could have been correct. But no\nsermon in his forty years of work in the pulpit has proven so reasonable\nor so generally acceptable to the devout critics of Scriptural exegesis.\nHe has tried to account for the quotations by accrediting them to the\ntelepathic influence of stronger minds in the audience who were familiar\nwith them. But that, too, can be only a guess. The mystery is not\ncleared up by such speculation. Perhaps the preacher should have called\nin some one else to write this chapter; but that \"some one else\" is not\non call. Hence, these incidents are set down without a claim to uncommon\ninspiration.\n\nProbably thousands of priests and preachers have felt a like exaltation.\nBut the closing hymn which began with general participation by all the\npeople was so broken before its close that the last verse was carried\nonly by a few. The people wept for joy. The preacher knelt at his chair\nand prayed for aid to lead in the prayer and benediction. But the\nbenediction was not heard, and the audience was slowly convinced that\nthe benediction had been pronounced by the observation that the minister\ndropped his hands and walked away.\n\nThe Bible-school service in the afternoon was as solemn and impressive\nas the morning. Many of the hundreds baptized that day expressed\nthemselves as having felt the dovelike Spirit of Peace descending on\nthem, too. Nearly, if not all, the scholars and visitors turned\nsincerely and permanently to the Lord.\n\nThe evening services were given up wholly to praise. The rejoicing was\ndeep and strong. The crowd standing in the aisles and on the steps did\nnot move until after the benediction. The number of those in the\nsittings was three thousand one hundred and thirty-four, and of those\nstanding who got inside the doors was seven hundred and eighty-three.\nOut of that number over three hundred decided openly to confess their\nbelief in the Christ. These numbers are not especially great when\ncompared with those of the great revivals, and are only mentioned here\nfor the purpose of study. Over seven thousand converts have been taken\ninto the membership of the Temple in thirty-nine years, but they have\nnot been the direct results of seasons of special revival.\n\nGreat were the expectations of the church at that Easter as they\nprepared for a great immediate harvest. But it was not gathered then.\nThe personal, individual gathering of converts continued as usual. The\ngreat Pentecostal visitation seemed to have had another purpose. Each\ncandidate for baptism as usual required individual instruction and often\ncontinued prayer before he or she could be thoroughly convinced of the\nnecessity of a public confession of our Lord.\n\nBut the members of the church had in the Pentecost received a new\nbaptism of spiritual fire, and the interest in missions and in the Bible\nwas greatly increased. Five missions were established which soon became\nstrong churches. Young men arose by the score to study for the ministry,\nand large gifts were made to the Temple University. Many kinds of local\nenterprises for the poor, the drunken, the foreigners, and the aged were\nopened by them in the city and suburbs.\n\n\n\n\nChapter III\n\nAxioms\n\n\nThe prayerful soul must be sure that \"God is,\" and that he heeds the\ncall of his children. The religious soul must believe in a real Divine\nBeing. One condition necessary to successful prayer is a fixed belief in\nthe Maker of all things. The Christian should keep his brain supplied\nwith \"axioms.\" An axiom is a self-evident truth, an immovable,\nunchangeable fact. It is a fundamental principle of which all sane men\nare cognizant. It is a statement of truth which is below and above all\nargument--a truth which all men recognize as a part of their mental\nexistence. An axiom is simply a reference to a necessary condition in\nthe framework of the human constitution. Every living man acts on those\nconditions, whether he recognizes them or not. The man whose common\nsense recognizes those immovable principles builds his belief and\naction on them safely. Prayer, like all other religious things or\nconditions, needs to have a sure foundation. Therefore, axioms which are\nused as the basis of mathematical science are true everywhere, and the\nworshiper needs to recognize them as fully as the civil engineer. Here\nare presented some of the axioms on which the believer safely rests his\nfaith. They cannot be proven, because they are vitally and essentially\ntrue. Their nonexistence is positively unthinkable. If these axioms are\nnot essential to all mental action, then the world is a dreamy\nunreality.\n\n\"Two parallel lines will never run together or cross each other.\" All\nrecognize the absolute truth of the statement, and yet no one ever went\nto the end of the lines to get local evidence of the fact. \"Two halves\nare equal to the whole,\" states the college professor before his class.\nHe would be an idiot if he tried to \"prove it.\" He may illustrate the\nidea by cutting an apple into halves and putting them together again.\nBut the essential truth of the proposition every mind had accepted\nbefore he mentioned it. \"Two quantities or objects which are equal to a\nthird quantity or object are equal to each other.\" A boy smiles at the\nwaste of time in telling him such an axiomatic or self-evident fact. But\nthe instructor is not attempting to inculcate a new principle, but\nrather to call attention emphatically to an immovable fact woven into\nthe vital fabric of all human minds. The thinker who stands squarely on\nthose fundamental facts can trust himself and can be trusted by all. A\ncareful review of one thousand and twenty letters relating to\nestablished cases of successful prayer showed that the believer accepted\nas fundamentally true axiomatic facts of which the following is a\npartial list. We know only because the mental knowledge is an essential\npart of our intellectual existence. We therefore know:\n\n     That two and two make four.\n\n     That we exist.\n\n     That we are independent, thinking beings.\n\n     That there is moral obligation to do right.\n\n     That there is good and evil.\n\n     That our essential self is not the body.\n\n     That every effect has an adequate cause.\n\n     That all things made had a Maker.\n\n     That there must have been a First Cause.\n\n     That all things change.\n\n     That nothing can be annihilated.\n\n     That wickedness should be punished.\n\n     That goodness should be rewarded.\n\n     That all happiness depends on the state of mind.\n\n     That there is a permeating spirit moving on all the events about\n     mankind.\n\n     That man must eat to live.\n\n     That when man has done his best, yet his success still depends on\n     Providence--often called Good Fortune or Good Luck.\n\n     That prayer can influence external conditions.\n\n     That light is not darkness.\n\n     That love is not hate.\n\n     That up is not down.\n\n     That the future is not the past.\n\n     That all men must leave the body.\n\n     That mankind is sinful.\n\n     That somewhere justice must be done to clear up the inequalities of\n     this life.\n\n     That men essentially evil would not be at home or welcomed in a\n     heaven occupied only by the good.\n\n     That worshiping an ideal of perfect righteousness makes the\n     worshiper like the ideal, as a perfect model makes a more perfect\n     statue.\n\n     That some things have more intrinsic value than others.\n\n     That the highest satisfaction of soul is in the communion with God.\n\n     That the soul is indestructible and must live forever.\n\nThese axioms are unchangeably true, and all doubts or attempts to\n\"prove\" them bring only confusion and partial insanity. To doubt\ngenerally that we see or feel or smell or think is to undermine all\nknowledge and to make life a crazy jumble. Some things we do know; it is\nsuicidal to doubt them. These are mankind's chief good. They constitute\nthe world's greatest treasure, which is \"everyday common sense.\" If\ncommon sense, unadulterated, be given any man he will worship God. The\nkeenest scientist cannot safely leap off that one ship.\n\nOne of the testimonials wherein the author, who was never a student in\nthe \"school of doubt,\" tells why he came to feel the necessity of\nprayer relates to one day's experience. He had decided, after much\nthought, just how he would use his time before he left his little home\nin the morning. He had made up his mind to take a trolley car, but a\nheavy truck had fallen on the track, so he was compelled to change his\nplan and walk. He reached his small store one half hour late, and a\ncustomer that he had arranged to meet had called and gone. He intended\nto call on a salesman, of whom he was to purchase a new stock of goods,\nand the telephone was out of order, owing to the effects of the\nelectricity of a distant thunderstorm. He sent for a cab for the purpose\nof visiting the salesman at the hotel in another part of the city, but\nthe horse attached to the cab fell at the store door and broke necessary\nparts of the harness. The accident made his proposed trip useless,\nbecause of the delay. He ordered his lunch which he usually ate in the\nback store, but he did not get time to eat it, owing to a visit from a\nsalesman from New York, who wished him to take a large bankrupt stock\nof a new line of goods. The coming profits seemed large and sure. He\nwould have missed that trade had the car been on time or the telephone\nin order or had the horse not fallen. Even the lunch he had so\nconfidently expected to eat was thrown away. He went home at night with\nan entire change in his plans, and entered on a new line of trade. His\nwife was absent, attending on a sick neighbor, and his evening paper was\ntoo torn to read. When he knelt at his bedside that night to pray the\nfeeling of utter dependence on God's providence made him throw himself\non the Lord as he had never done before. And after he was in bed he\ncould hear his daughter entertaining her company in the parlor by\nsinging, \"I'll go where He wants me to go.\" That merchant was a man of\ngreat discernment and honest daily piety, and is said to have acted as\nagent for the government in the war time in the purchase of ninety\nmillions' worth of his line of goods.\n\nAnother writer told of a young student for the ministry who came home on\na visit to his village church and tried to prove that the world was not\ncreated by a personal God, that \"evil and sickness are only delusions,\"\nand that \"we do not exist.\" But an old farmer, noted for honesty, and\nwhose common sense had caused the people to insist on his holding for\nyears the office of mayor, arose after that leader of the meeting sat\ndown, and remarked, \"I still believe that, after all that has been said,\nmy cows are real cows, and my wife is real, Christ is real, and my tax\nbills are real; and I believe that that young man will some day come to\nhimself, and admit that he was a theological idiot.\" But that old farmer\nalso testified that he did not feel the need of asking Christ for\ndefinite things, but declared that prayer was his daily recreation, and\nall things worked together for good.\n\n\n\n\nChapter IV\n\nPraying for Money\n\n\nIn all the forty years of praying, of which only a partial record could\nbe kept, there was no topic more satisfactory than the experience of\nsuch a large company in praying for money. There was no prearranged plan\nof procedure and no speculative purpose to obtain the help of God in the\naccumulation of property. But for some reason, which is not now\nrecalled, there was given out for an evening's meditation the topic,\n\"Shall we pray for money?\" There was a strong division of opinion, some\nasserting that we are not authorized to pray for anything but for the\nHoly Spirit. Others asserted with complete confidence that prayer should\nbe made for anything which we felt we needed. The majority appeared to\nbe assured that men must work and seek only \"the kingdom of God,\" and\nthat they should believe that all other things would be given from God\nas we should have need. Fortunately or providentially the men and women\nwho held to the theory that God commands his disciples to pray for money\ndetermined to put the matter to a fair test. They were led by a\nconsecrated deacon, at whose house they held the weekly meetings. They\ndid not ask the Lord for money at first, but prayed daily for\ninstruction on the important question whether it was a duty, or was\npermissible, for men to pray for success in their secular business.\nThere were four men and several business women whose experience was\nespecially valuable. One of them was the owner or partner in a\nbookbindery. The company of believers devoted an entire evening to\nprayer for the prosperity of his business. They agreed, further, to pray\nfor that one thing in unison at twelve o'clock each day for one week.\nThe conditions were especially for observation, as the owner of the\nbusiness was a devout, unselfish Christian who had determined, years\nbefore, to give a tenth of all his income to the Lord's work, and he\nstood willing to give his all if any good cause demanded such a\nsacrifice.\n\nThe first week was without visible result, and some who were weak in\nfaith abandoned the attempt to test the matter in that way. But the\nsmall number left began to study the conditions to which the Lord had\nrequired obedience in order to be certain of a favorable answer. Their\nfirst conclusion was that it is right to ask the Lord for the\nnecessities of life, which always included food, clothing, shelter,\nhealth, and worship. The good deacon stated that he had all of those\nthings. He, however, stated that he owed quite a large sum in his\nbusiness obligations, and he had prayed to the Lord to aid him in paying\nhis debts. Then with one accord that company decided to pray for that\none thing.\n\nThe amount of the debts cannot now be recalled, but it was several\nthousand dollars, contracted for business furniture and machinery.\nAlthough there are several witnesses living, it is difficult to state\nwith assured accuracy the amounts involved. But to those who shared in\nthe experiment the principal facts stand out clearly in the memory. The\nfirst noon prayer was on Wednesday, which was the day following the\nprayer meeting. The deacon, after his noon lunch, went into a publishing\nhouse on Chestnut Street, as was his custom almost daily. There he was\nintroduced to a gentleman from Washington, D. C., who told the deacon\nthat \"for the first time in life\" he had forgotten his train. He did not\nknow the deacon's business when he told the deacon that he must return\nto Washington without visiting New York, as his business in Washington\ncould not be left longer without immediate attention. But in his\nexplanation he mentioned that he intended to give out a contract in New\nYork for the binding of blank books for the government. When the deacon\nmentioned the fact that he was a bookbinder, and doing the same kind of\nwork, immediately the gentleman became interested, and remarked that he\ndid not know before that such work could be done in Philadelphia. He\nmade some inquiry in the store and, finding the deacon's reputation for\nintegrity and honesty was very high, he arranged with the deacon to put\nin new machinery, to hire another floor in the building, and agreed that\nthe government should make an advance payment on the first order.\n\nThe deacon hurried to another member of the prayer circle who was a\njeweler also on Chestnut Street and, with a tear, declared that the Lord\nhad already shown his hand in his business. The third day, as the deacon\nwas looking at some machinery, the salesman told the deacon that he had\nheard that a New York bindery was going out of business on account of a\nlarger opportunity for the firm in another line of work, and the\nsalesman advised the deacon to go over and see it. When the next weekly\nmeeting of the prayer circle was held the deacon had bought in New York\nall the machinery that he needed, all in good condition, and at an\nastonishingly low price. Ever after that the deacon, when he entered his\noffice in the morning, shut himself in for ten minutes and prayed for\nthe Lord's direction in his business.\n\nAnother prayer test followed by the agreement of that prayer circle to\npray for the jeweler, who was one of the circle and whose business was\nin a most deplorable condition. The jeweler was old and forgetful, and\nhis son had moved out of the city rather than stay among his\nacquaintances when the inevitable financial wreck should come. The\njeweler stated his condition fully to the meeting, and even declared his\nintention of calling a meeting of his creditors as a preliminary to\nbankruptcy proceedings. He said that the condition was so manifestly his\nown fault that all he dared ask of the Lord was that the creditors would\nbe lenient toward him.\n\nTwo or three days after that meeting the jeweler's son was called to\nPhiladelphia to attend the funeral of a member of his wife's family.\nAfter the funeral, while talking with a manufacturer from Baltimore, who\nwas one of the mourners, the son said that his father was a first-class\nclock maker of forty years' experience, but that he was unfitted for the\nmanagement of finances. The manufacturer said that he needed an\nexperienced man to superintend a new factory in Baltimore, then under\nconstruction. The son advised his father to write to the manufacturer\nfor the job to begin work when he should close his Chestnut Street\nstore. The jeweler wrote a long description of his troubles, and asked\nfor employment. The manufacturer, after receiving it, took a train to\nPhiladelphia and then spent the afternoon and the greater part of the\nnight in trying to make a reasonable estimation of the value of the\nChestnut Street business. The outcome of that examination was that the\nmanufacturer took over the whole business, paid off the debts, and\nformed partnership with the jeweler which opened into a prosperous\ntrade.\n\nAn old lady who must have been one of that prayer circle wrote that she\nrecalled the fact that the circle agreed to pray for her business, which\nwas then a \"notion store\" on Columbia Avenue, Philadelphia. She writes\nthat soon after the united prayer for her business began there was a\nfire which destroyed the store next to her lot. In the reconstruction of\nthe next store the owner was anxious to build larger and offered her an\nunexpectedly large sum as a bonus and also desired to combine in a\npartnership with her to put both stores into one general store. The\nbonus she invested in an annuity, and the business afterward paid her\nenough to live in all the comforts of a cultured life.\n\nIt is said that everyone of that prayer circle became prosperous, but it\nmay be helpful to mention one more of the most remarkable cases. A young\nclerk in a great national bank, who came from a farm to learn what he\ncould there of finances, stated freely that he was getting all that he\nwas worth to the bank, and that he was contented with his financial\ncondition. He told the circle that he did not wish to be included in\ntheir prayer list. But when the reports began to come in of the\nsuccessful prayers and the circle grew in numbers and in interest he\nbegan to consider how much more good he could do if he had a larger\nincome. He handled thousands of dollars daily, and checked up often the\naccounts of prosperous and generous business men of the city. At last\nthe desire to be of more use to the Lord led him to begin to pray for\nmoney. Finally, he confessed his changed attitude and asked the circle\nto give one week of prayer for him. A few days later an epidemic of the\ngrippe laid in bed all but three of the bank's employees. One day the\nassistant cashier and the clerk were the only persons on time at the\nopening of the bank. They persuaded a vice president of another bank to\ncome to their assistance, and he was so impressed with the young\nclerk's efficiency and coolness that he offered him the place of\nassistant cashier in his own bank. The position was finally accepted,\nand led to his promotion, a few years after, to the presidency of the\nbank.\n\nThe experience of that prayer circle was more or less the general\nexperience of the church members. The suggestions of a church service,\nthe aid to an honest and industrious life, and the greater health of\nchurch members, generally confirm everywhere the fact that the Christian\nfaith and habits are surely the most favorable for \"the life that now\nis, as well as for the life which is to come.\"\n\nIn connection with this phase of our narrative there should be written a\nbrief account of an experience which surprised even the most\nconservative minds. Appeals for subscriptions have been made rarely in\nthe Temple. Such appeals have accomplished but little. The regular gifts\nof the many persons have steadily paid all expenses and provided enough\nover to finally pay off all debts.\n\nBut there were seasons when unusual sums were needed and when the money\nwas furnished from some unexpected sources seemingly in direct answers\nto special prayer. On one occasion there was an especially large sum\ngiven into the treasury when it was imperatively needed and when no\nnotice of the need had been given from the pulpit. On one Sunday morning\nthe preacher could find no other satisfactory subject on which to build\na sermon, and he talked with the people about the Bible-school lesson\nfor that day. The subject included a description of how the Jews were\nrequired to select the best lamb of the flock for an offering to God.\nThey did not hope that God would hear their prayers unless they gave\ntheir best to the Lord. The sermon closed with a sentence or two of\napplication to our own times. The emphatic exhortation stated that\nofferings and prayers should go together, but the offering should\nprecede the prayer. At the evening service some person sent to the\npulpit a note, asking that the printed order of services \"be changed so\nas, thereafter, to substitute the word 'offering' for the word\n'collection.'\" The minister, acting on the impulse of the moment,\nannounced a change in the order of the services, and said that as the\nancient custom of making an offering before asking the Lord for a gift\nor blessing was surely acceptable to God, an \"offering\" would be taken\nbefore the prayer, instead of after the prayer. No unusual sum came in\nthat evening. The notes of the church were coming due ten days later.\nBut those debts were not thought of by minister or ushers in any\nrelation to that offering, though prayers were often made for the help\nof the Lord in the payment of the debt.\n\nThe following Sunday morning the collection was said to be the largest\never received by the ushers; while the fact was not mentioned from the\npulpit, it was the subject of general comment among the people after\nservice. At the evening service the offering was so great that one of\nthe ushers related how he had to go out and empty the basket he was\npassing and come back to finish taking the offering. Nothing else had\nbeen done or said, and the church notes were paid as a matter of course.\nBut the prayers made that day were made immediately before the offering\nwas taken. The question was put to the audience twice to ascertain if\nanyone who made a special offering on that particular day had not been\nanswered, and there was no exception in the mass of testimony to the\nefficiency of each prayer that day. The recitals of the marvels which\nfollowed that prayerful offering were too startling for general belief.\nThe reports may have been exaggerated in the time of such general\nexcitement, but the people had complied with the conditions, and God had\nanswered clearly according to his promise. They had \"brought the tithes\ninto the storehouse,\" and the Lord had poured out the blessings as an\ninfallible result. The letters which came to the officials of the church\nrelating incidents concerning the effects of the prayers made that day\nwere not filed then as they have been in later years, and the record\nhere must depend wholly on the memory of two or three witnesses.\n\nThe following partial list of cases is very nearly correct. The cases of\nsudden and in some cases instantaneous recovery of the sick were related\nby hundreds of people. In one case a poor man whose only living child\nwas insane put his money into the basket that morning and prayed for his\nchild's recovery. Both he and she often declared that while being\nforcibly given a cold bath at the time that offering was made she felt\n\"a loud report in her head like the report of a pistol,\" and her mind\nwas found to be normal in all respects from that instant. The father\nwent to the sanitarium that afternoon, as was his custom on the Sabbath,\nand his daughter met him at the door in her right mind.\n\nA lady sold her best clothes and all her jewelry on Saturday and brought\nthe whole of the proceeds and gave all as an offering as she prayed for\nher own healing. She suffered greatly from sciatic rheumatism, inherited\nfrom several generations. She fell on the front steps of the church, as\nthey were helping her to the carriage, and arose to find the pain had\npermanently disappeared.\n\nOne old gentleman who was involved in a ruinous lawsuit over a lease of\nhis little shop brought all the profits of the previous week and\ndeposited them as he prayed for a legal and just victory. The next day\nor on the second day his goods were so badly damaged by the smoke and\nwater, caused by a fire in the store next door, that the insurance\ncompany took the stock at his valuation and the landlord withdrew his\nsuit.\n\nAnother case generally believed, but not fully confirmed, was of an\nEnglishman who, not having money enough to pay his fare to Australia,\ndeposited all that he did have into the offering and prayed for his\npassage. It was asserted and not contradicted that he found a\none-hundred-dollar bill the next day in his wallet or in his bureau\ndrawer, placed there by some friend whom he could not discover. Another\nrelated how she determined to risk all on one prayer, and gave all as\nshe prayed. When the plumbers came to repair a leak the next week after\nthe prayer they discovered a loose board in the floor under which her\nfather had secretly hidden his money. The sum she found was much more\nthan enough to pay off the overdue mortgage on her cottage.\n\nThere were probably fifty such cases reported in detail at the time. But\na solemn sense of sacredness connected with those experiences pervaded\nthe assemblies, and no notice of the cases was given from the pulpit.\nAnd yet a calm and careful examination of the results of that exercise\nof faith has often suggested a strong doubt whether that experience did\nnot do more harm than good.\n\nThe direct and immediate results convinced the devout believers that\nwhen a true servant of God makes a sincere offering God will invariably\naccept the offering and answer in some manner his petition fully. But it\nseems impossible to find the line between the motives which may make an\noffering acceptable or unacceptable to God. The remarkable success of\nthat day of offering led many to believe that they could drive a bargain\nwith the Lord. Absurd as it seems, there were many earnest Christians\nwho believed that they could invest a small sum in an offering and by\nasking for a large sum would make an immense profit in the transaction.\nA dangerous spirit of gambling arose. Noble men and women were caught in\na theological net spread by the spirit of evil. The heavens soon became\nbrass and no offering seemed acceptable. It was a dangerous period in\nthe history of the church. Some gave up all faith in prayer. The\nspeculative spirit led some to give largely with a hope of a\nhundredfold return. The treasury of the church was being filled rapidly,\nbut there were divisions over the investment of the money. Some strong\nmembers left the church, while several counted their offerings as a dead\nloss and went back \"into the world\" altogether.\n\nBut there is left a good foundation for a consistent belief in the power\nof consistent prayer in producing objective results. While it may be\ndifficult for a human father to discern between the motives of his child\nwho brings him a gift so as to be sure that the gift is the exhibition\nof a pure affection, yet the Lord has no such limitation. He knows\nwhether the offering is a gambling venture or a lovely deed inspired by\na pure, unselfish love. God does love and does answer a cheerful giver.\nThe loving son remembers the unselfish devotion of his mother and the\nofferings she gave him without thought of any return or reward and his\ndelight to have her ask him to do for her. God is love, and he loves the\nlover. His intrinsic nature compels him to answer the call of his\nbeloved. But he cannot be driven or tricked into granting the prayer of\na greedy deceiver whose whole motive is selfish. The idea is foolishly\nunrighteous which looks upon the arrangement of Providence as a slot\nmachine into which the pretended worshiper may put a copper penny and\ndraw out a gold dollar. As gold must be given for gold, so love must be\ngiven for love.\n\n\n\n\nChapter V\n\nUnanswered Prayers\n\n\nThe many letters which report that prayers have not been answered made\nthe examination into that department of the investigation to be most\ndiscouraging until the testimonies were read the second or third time.\nSlowly it dawned on the reader that the writers did not know, after all,\nwhether their prayers were answered or not. A bright light was let in on\nthe subject by the expression of one who stated that he had prayed for\nthe means to pay off a mortgage on his home until he had abandoned all\nhope and had decided to sell his house to the railroad company for a\nsiding. In answer to a later inquiry the discouraged petitioner stated\nthat the jury, to which by contract both parties agreed to leave the\nassessment of the \"land damages,\" had given him money enough to buy a\nmuch finer home away from the continual annoyance of passing trains.\n\nMany of the wholly disappointed petitioners closed their complaints or\ndoleful faultfinding outbursts with the stereotyped quotation,\n\"nevertheless, not my will, but Thine be done!\" To some \"the heavens are\nas brass\"; to others, their prayers did not go \"higher than their\nheads,\" and to still others their prayers became meaningless and like\n\"words called into the thin air.\" This phase of our topic could not be\nfollowed up as far as a careful investigator could wish, because it\ninvolved so much correspondence and so much delay. But a general\nstatement of the conclusions reached by those whose prayers had,\nseemingly, not been answered can be safely made. They all naturally and\nnecessarily formed a concept of God by imagining him to be an all-mighty\nand all-good man. The human mind seems incapable of forming any other\nidea of God than can be obtained from a human model, greatly enlarged.\nJesus knew what was in man when he taught his disciples to say, \"Our\nFather.\" Human kings, human fathers, human saints human sinners are\nreally pictured in the minds of all who strive to visualize the\nAlmighty, or his Son, or the angels. No Hindu can even think Nirvana. No\nmind can meditate on nothing. Everything conceived in the mind must be\nlike something else. Reasoning from \"the known to the unknown,\" or \"the\nlesser to the greater,\" is the only possible process by which man can\nknow God. So all those seemingly defeated ones had looked up to God as\nto a great man, and when he seemed to do nothing in answer to their\nrequests they concluded that he either did not hear or that he would not\neven reply. They did not think, however, of their heavenly Father as\nthey would of an earthly father who was perfectly good. A good and wise\nfather must often deny his child the article for which he asks, but he\nwill not dismiss the matter with a curt denial. He will try to find\nsomething else for his child, as has been already stated in a previous\nchapter. The testimonies which asserted that the all-good God had denied\nor ignored the requests of his followers were the strongest proofs of\nthe fact that God had granted their requests. The father who would not\ngive a stone to his child who asked for bread would not give a stone to\nhis starving child who asked for a stone. In those seasons when the\nattention of the people was centered specially on the results of prayer\nthere was often heard the expression, \"Perhaps He sees that it is best\nfor me that I should not get the blessing for which I asked.\" But a\nconsensus of opinion taken from the mass of correspondence showed a\ngeneral belief that there are no unanswered prayers. They believed that\nin some other way which was better and wiser God sent his child a more\nvaluable token of his love.\n\nThose reports gave the student an insight into the popular religious\nbeliefs of the common people. The theological creeds and formulas which\nare found in the libraries are written by talented, studious scholars\nwho put their own conclusion into print and do not attempt to set out\nthe opinions retained by the masses. Often a silent congregation retains\na strong belief in some theological idea which the preacher does not\nrecognize. Often the minister of a church, having the reputation of\nbeing firmly orthodox, teaches theories which are not accepted by his\nhearers. Hence, the scrutiny of all that correspondence covering so many\nyears gave an insight into the faith of the everyday Christian which was\nenlightening and helpful.\n\nThe testimony came from a much wider circle than the actual membership\nof that church, as visitors at the Temple from other quarters of the\nearth sent in their accounts of the way the Lord had answered their\nprayers. In those letters some remark or some statement often\nunconsciously disclosed this belief relating to prayer. Their beliefs\nconcerning death, the Judgment, the future life, the methods used by\nthe Lord in his administration, and the occupations of the saints in\nheaven most strangely harmonized when a careful digest was made. The\ndivine plan of salvation and the Creator's purpose revealed in natural\nlaw were sometimes quite at variance with the dogmas of the pulpit. But\nthe common theories came out so distinctly that a statement of them is a\nmatter of no difficulty.\n\nThe common people connected directly or indirectly with the Christian\nchurches believe:\n\n     That every person lives on as an individual after the body dies.\n\n     That the life on earth determines the state of happiness or misery\n     in the spiritual existence.\n\n     That the soul is of the same substance as that of the angels.\n\n     That the occupation of the redeemed in the spirit world is the same\n     as that of the angels.\n\n     That the departed persons know one another and keep company with\n     those they have loved and known on earth.\n\n     That they serve God as his messengers to the inhabitants of the\n     earth.\n\n     That they cannot be called nor can they visit the earth unless\n     especially sent by the Almighty.\n\n     That the condition of the wicked or of those unfit for God's\n     service in heaven is unknown.\n\n     That after the Judgment there may come the annihilation of the\n     wicked.\n\n     That heaven is a condition of everlasting progress in knowledge.\n\n     That salvation depends on the intrinsic character, and that a\n     conversion to Christ is a conversion to a godly character.\n\n     That many of the ceremonies of the churches are useless, and that\n     the various denominations should endeavor to unite in some one\n     federation.\n\n     That God is gradually building up a perfect human race on earth.\n\n     That he commands his servants to come to his aid in securing that\n     end.\n\n     That the best or only way to fit ourselves for heaven is in the\n     practice and discipline of helping humanity in the development of a\n     higher race.\n\n     That Christ is a divine Spirit, existing from everlasting to\n     everlasting, and that his atonement for sinners is a part of God's\n     great purpose to people earth and heaven with perfect beings.\n\nBut the consensus of the opinion which related to prayer and the methods\nthe Lord adopts to convey his answers should have special notice here.\nThere was a decided agreement in their imaginative conception of the\nway the Lord arranged for the conveyance of his decisions to those who\ncall upon him.\n\nThey hold in common that God is \"immanent\" in nature, and his replies to\nour requests may come as quietly and mysteriously as God's answer to the\nfarmer who, in an act which is a prayer, places a seed in the ground.\n\nMany testified to their belief that \"all things work together\" in\nproducing the effects of prayer on those who love God. Nearly all, also,\nbelieved that God often called an angel to him when the prayer of faith\ncame to him from the earth, and that he gave the angel personal\ninstructions to visit the petitioner and aid him or her. The views of\nthe Bible and its doctrines, according to the general opinion, appear to\nbe that it is the best book ever written, and that it was inspired by a\npurpose so pure and unselfish as to be divine. One old lady expressed\nthe general sentiment of the entire body when she wrote that, \"the\nBible is the best book I know of, and it is the only one which tells me\nabout heaven, and I don't let any fool of a scholar argue it out of my\nlife.\"\n\nThe feeling of the average reader of the Bible is decidedly in favor of\nthe King James translation of the Bible, with the introductive address\nto the king omitted. The division of that old translation into short\nverses was of great assistance to the memory, and was generally quoted\nby all classes. But when the new translation was set solidly in type it\ndecidedly changed the appearance of the book and added emphasis to an\nimpression that a new and different book had taken the place of the\nBible. The Bible was largely discarded by the common people wherever the\nnew version was forcibly introduced. The old translation, with\nexplanatory notes in the margin, was the ideal Bible for the masses, and\nhad it been retained the general disappearance of the Bible from the\nhomes and libraries would have been avoided. The so-called authorized\nversion was followed by many versions privately translated to emphasize\nsome creed or belief and added much to the confusion of the common\npeople. The changes in the wording of the new translation were\nsufficient also to make those who had quoted the old version with\nconfidence doubt the correctness of their previous knowledge, and led,\nnaturally, to the discontinuance of Bible quotations by those who knew\nthe Bible best. The popular opinion appears to be that the new\ntranslation was a great hindrance to the use of the English Bible.\n\nThe number of readers of the Bible, however, is much larger than the\nestimate which many modern writers give. The Sabbath school and\nhaphazard pulpit essays have not so completely supplanted the home study\nof the Scriptures, as has been so often stated. The use of the Bible as\nthe standard of moral character continues to be the practice of millions\nwho may not study it closely or may not read it at all. That\nmiracle-working Book is still a most powerful moral force in all\ndepartments of our civilized life. No patriot or respectable scholar can\nignore the value of the Bible as the highest literature or as the\nfoundation for all just human laws. The people do believe in it.\n\n\n\n\nChapter VI\n\nPrayer for Others\n\n\nAlthough it is difficult to divide the subject of prayer into clearly\nseparate departments, yet, for the purpose of concentrating the thought\nof the reader, and with the idea of emphasizing the importance of the\nevents selected, this chapter has been set apart for special discussion.\nThe possible relation of the law of mental telepathy to this experience\nhas already been suggested and need not be repeated here. But the recent\ngeneral sympathy with the parents of a child which was stolen led many\nChristians to pray for the recovery of the precious little one. At the\nTemple in 1889 such a case was presented at the church services and an\nappeal made to the people to ask the Lord to influence the kidnapers to\nbring back the child. That led to the discussion of many previous cases\nwhere the parents believed that their lost child was returned to them\nin answer to prayer. In two cases each child was carefully deposited at\nthe door of its parents. In both cases they had held special meetings of\ntheir neighbors to pray for the return of their child, and in one case\nthey had appealed to the priest for his intercession. If the Lord used\nhis direct power to bring the child home it must have been used through\nsome event or some direct suggestion having an influence on the minds of\nthe captors, because in the cases here mentioned there was no clew\nrevealed which could lead to the abductors.\n\nBut an older case may illustrate what most probably did occur in other\ninstances. In 1889 a child two years of age was stolen from the front\nyard of a home in Charlestown, Massachusetts (now a part of Boston). A\nlarge ransom was demanded which was far beyond the reach of the parents.\nAfter several weeks of excited search by all the police organizations of\nthe nation the child was secretly returned, without ransom, and left\ncheerfully rapping on its parents' door. One of the robber gang who had\nconspired to steal children for ransoms, and who had laid the successful\nplan to capture that child, was arrested several days after the return\nof the child and confessed his share in the crime. His account of the\ninfluences and events which led to the restoration of the child was a\nmost impressive and convincing illustration of the spiritual forces God\nmay use in such cases.\n\nThe band of four robbers could not quiet the child when they carried him\naway, and they resorted to a gag which nearly killed the child. But the\nfrightened little fellow screamed whenever the gag was taken from his\nmouth and would not eat or drink. The child was evidently near to death.\nThen one of the robbers carried the child to a woman who occupied a room\nover a saloon in Brooklyn, New York. The woman was able to pacify the\nchild, and explained to acquaintances that the child was an orphan\nwhose mother, a near relation, had just died. The woman knew that the\nchild was being held for a ransom, of which she was promised a large\nshare. But she did not know from what part of the country the child\ncame. She was an irreligious, coarse, profane woman, and cared only for\nmoney and drink. But one day she sent a letter to the resort of the gang\nand told them that she had a clear presentiment that something dreadful\nwould happen to them if they did not hurry up the business of returning\nthe child. As they paid no attention to her warnings she wrote again,\nsaying that she would keep the child but ten days longer. They then\nvisited her or wrote to her to care for the child three weeks longer, as\nthey were sure of the \"swag\" by that time.\n\nIn the following week one of the gang was caught by the foot in a\nfalling window sash as he tried to leap to a fire escape and he was\nburned to death while he hung there. The hotel was in full blaze when he\nawoke and his only possible escape was by that window. Another one of\nthe gang swallowed a broken glass button when hastily eating a piece of\nbiscuit at a railroad restaurant. He was taken to a hospital or\nsanitarium in Montreal, where after long agony he died, and his body was\nburied in the public ground.\n\nWhen the woman who held the child heard of that she took the child\nboldly to the house where the other three or four abductors met and\nflatly told them that all of them would come under a curse if they did\nnot return that child to his parents. But they made a joke of their\ncomrades' death, and gave her brandy until she wandered home drunk. The\nchild was then placed in charge of a poor widow in Hoboken, who was told\nthat the mother was dead and the father was at sea, but would soon\nreturn. They paid liberally in advance for the child's board, and none\nof the circumstances awakened the least suspicion in the widow's mind.\nOne night she slept with the child's arm across her neck. She awoke\nwith a dreadful feeling of being choked to death by a strong man who\nexclaimed, \"That child is stolen, and you must appear before God at once\nto give an account.\" The details of her experiences are here quoted from\nthe New York _Herald_.\n\n     The widow called it \"a waking dream.\" She was so shocked by the\n     experience that she would not keep the child and sent for the man\n     who had brought the child and demanded that the child be at once\n     taken away. She did not believe that her warning was a premonition\n     of any crime nor that the child had been stolen, but she was in a\n     state of strange terror and told the man who came for the child\n     that she was too nervous to board so young a child.\n\n     It appears that when the robber returned to the usual rendezvous,\n     after leaving the child at an orphan asylum and agreeing to pay for\n     the board of \"his child,\" he found another member of the party down\n     with a sudden and dangerous fever. Then he, too, was struck with an\n     impression of coming doom. It remained upon him night and day. He\n     became so intoxicated that he was locked in the jail. In the\n     depression of his recovery from the drink he determined to kill\n     himself. Then the idea that he might escape from his horror by\n     taking the child back to its home became so insistent that as soon\n     as he was released he went after the child and took it back on the\n     night train. He told the lisping child to rap on his father's door\n     and \"call for papa.\" Then he hastened away and did not return to\n     his former gang.\n\nThis authentic incident may or may not prove that prayer was answered,\nas it is not known what prayers were offered for that child's recovery.\nBut it does show how the Lord may work in other cases where prayers are\nopenly made. The angels of God are sent to pronounce curses on the\ndisobedient sometimes, and terrible plagues are sent on men by them.\nHence, the Lord does use various curses to work out his will and it\nseems reasonable to believe that he does warn men and women by terrible\nmental impressions.\n\nThis theory is strongly confirmed by the testimonies found in this large\ncorrespondence. Lost children were restored after prayers were made for\nthem in startlingly impressive manners. At Cape May a fisherman obeyed\na wholly unexplainable impulse and put back to the marshes, feeling that\nhe had \"left something,\" but unable to remember what it was. There he\nheard the cry of the lost child, wading waist deep in the incoming tide.\nA merchant of Wilmington, Delaware, wrote that his child was taken by\nthe grandparents when his wife died, and after the grandparents died the\nchild was hidden by the relatives. The reason for the action was because\nof a difference of religious faith. He began one day a regular system of\nprayer for the recovery of his child. He went to a fishing camp in the\nwoods of Maine in August and his child came into his log hut for a drink\nof water. She was with a party who camped near by in tents. Another\nstolen child was the little son of a doctor who prayed long and hard for\nthe return of his little son. The sudden attack of chills felt by a\npassenger on a Hudson River boat at the pier caused the officers to call\nhim on board from the wharf. The afflicted matron and his own child\nwere in the same stateroom together.\n\nOne trustworthy officer of the church testified that his child had\nwandered away from the railroad station while he was asleep on the\nbench, and that he could not find her after an all-night search. He\nprayed at his family prayers, asking the Lord in sobs to protect and\nreturn his child. He said that an impression as strong as a voice\ninsisted in his mind that he ought to search in some freight yards\nacross the river. The yards were one mile from the station. He told his\nfriends how he felt and insisted that he would go to the yards and\nsearch. There he found his starving child under an old fallen fence. He\nnever could discover any satisfactory solution of the mystery of her\npresence in the railroad yards. She must have toddled the whole mile\namong vehicles in the night. He has firmly believed in guardian angels\never since that day.\n\nThere were numerous cases told of mental impressions made upon children\naway from home by the influence of a mother's prayer. To all of these\nincidents the skeptic will assert that, though there be millions of\ncases where men and women \"happened to think\" of the person praying at\nthe moment the prayer was offered, it would not be conclusive proof that\nthe thought was suggested by the prayer or in answer to it. But this\nsuggestion presents other cases wherein it is far more difficult to\ndisbelieve than it is to believe. The weight of evidence is almost\noverwhelmingly on the side of the Christian believer.\n\nThe belief that God will so adjust his providences as to bring to a\nperson friends, weather, business, health, and domestic peace in answer\nto the prayer of some insistent friend is almost universal. General\nGaribaldi stated that he found that his belief in the efficacy of his\nmother's prayers in securing protection of his life when in danger was\naccepted by all his friends as a statement which at least might be\nrealized. The common-sense view that where a theory cannot be subjected\nto proof either way it surely is wisest to believe in that view which\nhas the strongest influence for good on the life and usefulness of the\nbeliever. What a man believeth, as well as what he thinketh, determines\nwhat he is. He who believes in the efficacy of his father's or mother's\nprayers lives a nobler life than the skeptic. The sincere trusting heart\nwhich believes that the Christ is the Son of God, and that man is under\nthe oversight of a loving heavenly Father, is nearer the highest\nstandard of human perfection than is the unstable and reckless man who\nclaims that all things exist by chance.\n\nThe friend who sincerely prays for you is a friend who would sacrifice\nmost for you in case of need. Two lovers, separated far and praying long\nfor each other, is an exhibition of the truest, sweetest love. It is,\nalso, the best test of God's disposition to heed the requests of his\nchildren. No prayer for another can be felt to be effective which is not\ninspired more or less by real love. The loving heart is a large part of\na great previous character. He or she has an intercessory\ndisposition--an intrinsic tendency toward doing good, and that, with a\nstrong, clean mind, makes a true Christian. Such men are grateful to\nthose who pray for them, and are impelled to pray for others. These are\nsome of the reasons given by Christians why people ought always to\npray.\n\n\n\n\nChapter VII\n\nForms of Prayer\n\n\nIt appears that the extremest ritualist does not feel wholly bound to\nhis prayer book. The people exercise great liberty in the choice of\nwords or postures when they go to Christ in anxious prayer. Appropriate\nforms are reasonably sought for varying occasions, and some of the forms\nof prayer which are venerable for age and sublimity are reverenced and\nadopted because so often they best express the heart's sincere desire.\nThe Lord's Prayer is recited with profit in a formal church service, but\nis seldom recited in time of extreme need. During the earthquake at San\nFrancisco no one was known to have repeated the Lord's Prayer. Christ\ndirected his disciples to pray \"after that manner,\" and the spirit of\nthat prayer, as well as the divine ideas or principles it contains, are\napplicable everywhere.\n\nBut the exact words in English are not adjustable to every occasion. Men\nin earnest ask for what they need in their own words and in their own\nway. The effectual and fervent prayer of the righteous man availeth much\nbecause it is fervent and righteous. To be in every way right, and then\nto add the inspiration or fire or fervency, are conditions which only\nthe righteous can fill. But, happily, the sinner is not required to be\nright in all things before his prayer is heard. The stately dignity and\nbeautiful phraseology of the Catholic churches, the impressive forms of\nthe old English ritual, or the simple appeal of the mission worker are\nall alike acceptable to God when they are the expression of real heart\nworship or of a call for relief in some actual need.\n\nIn the worship at the Baptist Temple there has been no form of prayer in\nwhich the people so sincerely and so generally joined as in the prayers\nfound in some of the hymns. A study of the human or apparent agencies\nwhich may have had some influence does not fully account for the spirit\nof prayer which some hymns awaken. A cool and analytical examination of\nthis subject was made by the preacher one Sabbath morning for the\npurpose of recording it here. A relation of the plain facts, without\nusing the circumstances to establish any sectarian theory, will most\nclearly set out the case before the impartial critic. The hymn chosen\nthat morning for the opening of the service was selected chiefly because\nit is a prayer. The three verses are as follows:\n\n    FATHER, WHATE'ER OF EARTHLY BLISS\n\n    Father, whate'er of earthly bliss\n      Thy sovereign will denies,\n    Accepted at thy throne of grace,\n      Let this petition rise:\n\n    Give me a calm, a thankful heart,\n      From every murmur free;\n    The blessings of thy grace impart,\n      And make me live to thee.\n\n    Let the sweet hope that thou art mine\n      My life and death attend,\n    Thy presence through my journey shine,\n      And crown my journey's end.\n\nThe people were everywhere in motion. Some were coming in, some were\nstanding near the doors, some were talking in low voices in the rear of\nthe deep gallery, and many were arranging for their wraps or hats, while\nall, in the freedom of the social atmosphere ever prevailing there, were\nsmilingly nodding to acquaintances or searching for hymn books. The\nopening chorus of the Children's Church, at their regular service, in\nthe lower hall, could be indistinctly heard. The painful and awkward\nsilence which embarrasses and chills the incoming worshiper in some\nchurches was altogether absent that morning. The preacher began to read\nthe hymn without waiting for silence or attention. He simply remarked,\n\"Let us sincerely and intelligently use this old hymn for our opening\nprayer.\" The congregation arose while the organist played a sweet,\ntender prelude, giving the impression that the organ itself was praying.\nA fair-haired child, kneeling in a snow-white night robe, lisping its\nevening prayer, was suggested to hundreds by the worshipful music. The\nwell-trained religious chorus began to sing with devotion and unity and\nopened the prayer with the harmonious call, \"Father!\" The congregation\ninstinctively raised their eyes toward heaven. Then all came strongly\ninto the hymn with the petition:\n\n    \"Father, whate'er of earthly bliss\n      Thy sovereign will denies,\n    Accepted at thy throne of grace,\n      Let this petition rise:\n\n    \"Give me a calm, a thankful heart,\n      From every murmur free;\n    The blessings of thy grace impart,\n      And make me live to thee.\"\n\nThere was a single strain of an interlude and then the solemn prayer was\nentered upon with an unction and appreciation that thrilled every soul\nin the great audience:\n\n    \"Let the sweet hope that thou art mine\n      My life and death attend,\n    Thy presence through my journey shine,\n      _And crown my journey's end_.\"\n\nThen came a pause, and with a magnificent volume of sound the emphatic\n\"Amen!\" confirmed the earnestness of the prayer. That was a real prayer!\nThe holiness of the spirit of worship had taken possession of the whole\ncongregation. All were interested in the reading of the Bible, and when\nthe notices were being read a most saintly old deacon sent up a slip of\npaper to the preacher on which were written these words--\"Pastor, please\ngive us another prayer for the next hymn!\" The pastor read the note to\nthe people without comment, and looked over the hymn book for another\nprayer, when his eyes fell on the following hymn:\n\n    JESUS, I MY CROSS HAVE TAKEN\n\n    Jesus, I my cross have taken,\n      All to leave and follow thee;\n    Naked, poor, despised, forsaken,\n      Thou, from hence, my all shalt be:\n    Perish every fond ambition,\n      All I've sought, and hop'd, and known;\n    Yet how rich is my condition,\n      God and heav'n are still my own!\n\n    Let the world despise and leave me,\n      They have left my Saviour, too;\n    Human hearts and looks deceive me;\n      Thou art not, like man, untrue;\n    And, while thou shalt smile upon me,\n      God of wisdom, love, and might,\n    Foes may hate and friends may shun me;\n      Show thy face, and all is bright.\n\n    Go, then, earthly fame and treasure!\n      Come, disaster, scorn, and pain!\n    In thy service, pain is pleasure;\n      With thy favor, loss is gain.\n    I have called thee, \"Abba, Father\";\n      I have stayed my heart on thee,\n    Storms may howl, and clouds may gather,\n      All must work for good to me.\n\n    Man and trouble may distress me,\n      'Twill but drive me to thy breast;\n    Life with trials hard may press me,\n      Heaven will bring me sweeter rest.\n    Oh, 'tis not in grief to harm me\n      While thy love is left to me;\n    Oh, 'twere not in joy to charm me\n      Were that joy unmixed with thee.\n\n    Know, my soul, thy full salvation;\n      Rise o'er sin, and fear, and care;\n    Joy to find in every station\n      Something still to do or bear.\n    Think what Spirit dwells within thee;\n      What a Father's smile is thine;\n    What a Saviour died to win thee:\n      Child of heaven, shouldst thou repine?\n\n    Haste thee on from grace to glory,\n      Armed by faith and winged by prayer;\n    Heaven's eternal day's before thee,\n      God's own hand shall guide thee there.\n    Soon shall close thy earthly mission,\n      Swift shall pass thy pilgrim days,\n    Hope shall change to glad fruition,\n      Faith to sight and prayer to praise.\n\nOh, pity the seekers after God who go to a house of prayer to be\nprovoked and harassed by the performance of some gymnastic performance\nin acoustics, by some professional entertainer of theatrical audiences.\nPity, indeed, the devout soul pleading for comfort in some deep sorrow\nwhose sore heart is wrenched and bruised by the discordant attempts to\nleap, catlike, from shelf to shelf, up and down the musical scale. Pity\nthe overtempted contrite sinner who enters to pray for the strength to\nkeep his resolution to reform and finds himself in a sham ceremonial\nwhich introduces the inartistic performers who almost force him to do\nworse.\n\nThe extremely cultivated voice which seeks a prize exhibition of varied\ntones, or the extremely crude egotism of the community singer who ties\nhimself in squirming knots as he yells the sacred and pathetic hymns\nwhich were written for the deep devotions of a broken heart are both\nsacrilegious and disgraceful. Pity the congregation who, after wasting a\nmost precious hour inside, hasten out, discussing along the street the\nwonders of the wild musical exhibition, and forgetting that they went in\nto worship.\n\nWhen the hymn we mentioned above was announced and read deliberately the\npreacher said, feelingly, \"Let us pray!\" The prayer in that hymn was\nused by all. As they sang, their faces flushed. Old men shed tears, and\nthe preacher decided, before the last verse was sung, to take for his\ntheme the last two lines:\n\n    Hope shall change to glad fruition,\n      Faith to sight and _prayer to praise_.\n\nOne could almost catch the gleam of the glories that John saw at Patmos.\nThe place was a Bethel to all the assembly. All were glad they were\nmarching on to Zion, and praised God with all their hearts for his\npromise of a home in that land where there is no night. The deep,\nsoul-filled joy of the morning worship carried good cheer, hope, and\ncourage into a thousand homes and made the week's labors enjoyable and\nprosperous.\n\nIn choosing the form of prayer the temperament and state of health of\nthe worshiper may be an important consideration. But whether in hymns or\npsalms or gestures, the call must be earnestly sincere. When the formal,\nmonotonous recitations of the customary Church rituals are recalled it\nbecomes a marvel that the Church survives the pious hypocrisy and\nsacrilegious indifference of the Church pulpits and altars. The pulpit\nis seen by all and the words and tones of the preacher are heard by all;\nthe place is the most conspicuous in the church life; and if the action\nor the ceremony is hypocritical or careless there, then the whole\nchurch is permeated by the same spirit. The form of expression must be a\nsecondary consideration in all prayer, while appropriateness and custom\nhave rightfully an influence on the petition. Yet the essential thing is\nin the natural cry of a needy soul. Prayer, as a public function, should\nbe a stimulant or an instructor leading the individuals in the\ncongregation to pray by and for themselves. The people must pray. The\nneed of this was apparent in many of the requests made for prayer at the\nTemple in Philadelphia. \"Lord, teach us to pray,\" is ever the appeal of\nthe religious masses. The union of two or three in concerted prayer for\na definite thing was very effective. The observation of the same hour by\nmany people has often developed a deep religious life and secured\npractical results. The testimony of one active business man exhibited\ntriumphantly the use of continuous prayer and may serve as a\ncomprehensive illustration. He wrote:\n\n     I fought it out with myself, knowing the Lord Christ would work\n     with me. When I awoke in the morning I thanked God for shelter and\n     sleep. Then I began to pray for the least things of my morning\n     preparations--my clothes, my bath, my comb and brush, my articles\n     used in any way. I thanked God for, and prayed for, the continuance\n     of his kindness. I managed to keep in a state of prayer at the\n     breakfast table. I prayed for instruction in purchasing the\n     necessities of the home. I prayed as I left my door. I prayed along\n     the street for wisdom to transact business. I prayed for the\n     persons I met on my way. I prayed for the clerks, for the\n     customers, for thoughts, for words, for farsightedness, for a\n     contented disposition consistent with activity. If I wrote a letter\n     I asked the Lord to aid me in the writing and to protect the letter\n     on to its delivery. I did not speak aloud or tell people I was\n     praying. I kept the Lord constantly in mind. I had some\n     discouraging experiences with myself, but I kept pursuing the idea.\n     At last it grew easy and enjoyable. It was in every way a success.\n     I did not waste my money. I did not carelessly destroy articles I\n     used. I did not overeat. I did not get angry with my employees. I\n     felt a real interest in the welfare of others. I did my best and\n     left all to God. It is now a settled habit. My health is almost\n     perfect. Before I began to pray I was asthmatic and gouty. If this\n     has anything boastful about it, the Lord forgive me. But in the\n     request for my experience you insisted on \"frankness in all\n     accounts.\"\n\nWhether it be possible for all to reach that prayerful condition and\nretain it permanently cannot be denied or asserted infallibly. But it is\nevident that but few reach it. The exhortation that is appropriate here\nappears to be to urge an honest effort to get as near to that devotional\ncondition as possible and to hold all the ground we do gain.\n\n\n\n\n\n<pre id=\"pg-footer\">","title":"Praying for Money","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":14037}