{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_37501/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_37501","id":"gutenberg_37501","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37501","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Prayer"],"text":"</pre>\n\n\n\nProduced by Juliet Sutherland, David E. Brown and the\nOnline Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n  In Answer to Prayer\n\n  By\n\n  THE RIGHT REV. THE BISHOP OF\n  RIPON, THE REV. DR. CUYLER,\n  THE REV. DR. JOHN WATSON\n  (\"IAN MACLAREN\"), THE REV.\n  CANON KNOX LITTLE, MR.\n  WILLIAM QUARRIER, MR. L. K.\n  SHAW, THE REV. DR. HORTON,\n  THE REV. H. PRICE HUGHES, THE\n  REV. DR. CLIFFORD, AND\n  THE DEAN OF SALISBURY\n\n  NEW YORK\n\n  DODD, MEAD & COMPANY\n\n  1899\n\n\n\n\n_PREFATORY NOTE_\n\n\n_The following pages were originally written for the SUNDAY MAGAZINE.\nIn their present form it is hoped that they will reach another and not\nless appreciative public._\n\n_Although Dr. Watson's contribution is of a character quite distinct\nfrom the other papers, it treats of a phase of religious experience so\nclosely allied to that of answered prayer that it seems in the present\ncollection to serve as a stage of transition from the sphere of the\nunseen and spiritual to that of the visible and tangible._\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\nIN ANSWER TO PRAYER\n\n                                                               PAGE\n\n  By the Right Rev. W. BOYD CARPENTER, Lord Bishop of Ripon      11\n\n  By the Rev. THEODORE L. CUYLER, D.D., of New York              19\n\n  By the Rev. JOHN WATSON, M.A., D.D. (\"Ian Maclaren\")           27\n\n  By the Rev. Canon KNOX LITTLE, M.A.                            39\n\n  By Mr. WILLIAM QUARRIER, of Glasgow                            49\n\n  By Mr. LEONARD K. SHAW, of Manchester                          67\n\n  By the Rev. R. F. HORTON, M.A., D.D.                           75\n\n  By the Rev. H. PRICE HUGHES, M.A.                              89\n\n  By the Rev. J. CLIFFORD, M.A., D.D.                           101\n\n  By the Very Rev. G. D. BOYLE, M.A., Dean of Salisbury         119\n\n\n\n\nI\n\nBY THE RIGHT REV.\nW. BOYD CARPENTER, D.D.\nLORD BISHOP OF RIPON\n\n\nI have been asked to write some thoughts on answers to prayer. I am\nafraid that I cannot give from personal experience vivid and striking\nanecdotes such as others have chronicled. God does not deal with all\nalike, either in His gifts of faith or in those of experience. We differ\nalso in the use we make of His gifts. But if I mistake not the object of\nthese papers is not merely to gather together an array of startling\nexperiences, but rather to unite in conference on the great subject of\nprayer and the answers to prayer.\n\nNo doubt every Christian spirit holds within his memory many cherished\nexperiences of God's dealings with him, and these must touch the\nquestion of prayer. But the greater part of these experiences belong to\nthat sanctuary life of the soul which, rightly or wrongly, we keep\nveiled from the world. There are some matters which would lose their\ncharm if they were made public property. There is a reticence which is\nof faith, just as there may be a reticence which is of cowardice or\nunfaith. But like the little home treasures, which we only open to look\nupon when we are alone, so are some of the secret treasures of inward\nexperiences. Nevertheless, none of us can have lived and thought without\nmeeting with a sort of general confirmation or otherwise of the efficacy\nof prayer; and though I cannot chronicle positive and striking examples,\nI can say what I have known.\n\nI have known men of a naturally timid and sensitive disposition who have\ngrown at moments lion-like in courage, and they would tell you that\ncourage came to them in prayer. I have known one man, who found himself\nface to face with a duty which was unexpected and from which he shrank\nwith all his soul. I have known that such a one has prayed that the duty\nmight not be pressed upon him, and yet that, if it were, he might be\ngiven strength to fulfil it. The duty still confronted him. In trembling\nand in much dismay he undertook it; and when the hour came, it found him\ncalm and equable in spirit, neither dismayed nor demoralised by fears.\nSuch a one might not tell of great outward answers to prayer; but inward\nanswers are not less real. At any rate, the Psalmist chronicled an\nanswer such as this when he wrote: \"In the day when I cried Thou\nansweredst me and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul\" (Psalm\ncxxxviii. 3).\n\nThere is, further, a paradox of Christian experience which may be noted.\nThe soul which waits upon God finds out sooner or later that the prayers\nwhich seem to be unanswered are those which may be most truly answered.\nFor what is the answer to prayer which the praying heart looks for?\nThere is no true prayer without the proviso--Nevertheless not what I\nwill, but what Thou wilt. In other words, there is no true prayer\nwithout reliance upon the greater wisdom and greater love of Him to whom\nwe pray. Thus it is that God's answer may not be the answer as we looked\nfor it. We form our expectations: they take shape from our poor little\nlimited surroundings; but the prayer in its spirit may be wider than we\nimagine. To answer it according to our expectations might be not to\nanswer it truly. To answer it according to our real meaning--_i.e._,\naccording to our spiritual desire--must be the true answer to prayer.\n\nOne illustration will suffice. A man, pressed by difficulty and\nstraitness, may pray that he may be moved to some place of greater\nfreedom and ease. He thinks that he ought to move elsewhere. He prays\nfor guidance and the openings of God's providence. In a short time a\nvacant post presents itself: he applies for it, it is just the thing he\nwished for. He continues his prayers. The post is given to another. His\nprayers have not been answered: such is his conclusion; but is not the\nanswer really--\"Not yet--not yet--wait awhile. My grace is sufficient\nfor thee\"? He waits; he leaves his life in God's hands. After an\ninterval another opening occurs, and almost without an effort he is\nmoved to the vacant place. It is this time, perhaps, not the kind of\nplace he thought of; it is less interesting, it is more onerous, it\nfills him with fear as he undertakes its duties. He has prayed, but the\nanswer came not as he wished or thought or hoped. The years go by. He\nlooks back from the vantage-ground of distance. He can measure his life\nin better proportions. He sees now that the movements of his life have a\ndeep meaning. He perceives that to have gone where he wished to have\ngone, and even where he prayed to be placed, would have been to miss\nsome of the best experiences and highest trainings of this life. He\nbegins to realise that there is not a spot which he has visited, not a\nplace where he has toiled, which has not brought to him lessons that\nhave been most helpful, nay, even needful, in his later life. He sees\nthat God has sent him here or there to fit him for work which, unknown\nand unexpected in his earlier days, the future was to bring.\n\nThe least-answered prayer may be the most-answered. It is the\nrealisation that experiences fit us for the duties of later life which\nyields to us the assurance that in the deepest sense our seemingly\ndisregarded prayers have been most abundantly remembered before God.\nThus, indeed, we can enter into the spirit of familiar words and\nacknowledge concerning each prayer that it is\n\n              \"Goodness still,\n    Which grants it or denies.\"\n\nAnd so it may come to pass in later life that our specific petitions for\nthis or that thing may grow fewer. We may realise more and more our own\nignorance in asking. We may rely more and more on the divine wisdom in\ngiving. Even in the case of others we may recognise the unwisdom of\nasking many things on their behalf. Our love would tenderly shield them\nfrom rough winds and bitter hours. We pray that the divine love would\nspare them dark days; and yet, are the prayers well prayed? Does God not\nlead souls through darkness into light? Is not the Valley of the Shadow\nthe precursor of the table of love which God spreads? Can the head be\nanointed with God's kingly oil which has not been bowed down in the\ndarkness? Ah! how little we know! how short-sighted we are! And how\ngreat and full and strong God's love is! And, this being so, may not\nexperience bring us larger trust and lesser prayers--not less, indeed,\nin intensity, not less in the wrestling of spirit; not less in the\nstriving to reach nearer to God's will, but less in the number and\nspecific character of our petitions? To put it another way--the\npetitions are fewer because the prayer is deeper and truer.\n\n    \"Not my weak longings, Lord, fulfil,\n    But rather do Thy perfect will,\n    For I am blind and wish for things\n    Which granted bring heart-festerings.\n    Let me but know that I am blind,\n    Let me but trust Thee wondrous kind.\"\n\n\n\n\nII\n\nBY THE REV.\nTHEODORE L. CUYLER, D.D.\nOF NEW YORK\n\n\nAll of God's mighty men and women have been mighty in prayer. When\nMartin Luther was in the mid-valley of his conflict with the man of sin\nhe used to say that he could not get on without three hours a day in\nprayer. Charles G. Finney's grip on God gave him a tremendous grip on\nsinners' hearts. The greatest preacher of our times--Spurgeon--had\npre-eminently the \"gift of the knees;\" the last prayer I ever heard him\nutter (at his own family worship) was one of the most wonderful that I\never listened to; it revealed the hiding of his power. Abraham Lincoln\nonce said: \"I have been driven many times to my knees by the\noverwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go; my own wisdom and\nthat of all around me seemed insufficient for the day.\"\n\nBut what is prayer? Has every prayer power with God? Let us endeavour to\nget some clear ideas on that point. Some people seem to regard prayer as\nthe rehearsal of a set form of solemn words, learned largely from the\nBible or a liturgy; and when uttered they are only from the throat\noutward. Genuine prayer is a believing soul's _direct converse with_\nGod. Phillips Brooks has condensed it into four words--a \"true wish sent\nGodward.\" By it, adoration, thanksgiving, confession of sin, and\npetition for mercies and gifts ascend to the throne, and by means of it\ninfinite blessings are brought down from heaven. The pull of our prayer\nmay not move the everlasting throne, but--like the pull on a line from\nthe bow of a boat--it may draw us into closer fellowship with God, and\nfuller harmony with His wise and holy will.\n\n1. This is the first characteristic of the prayer that has power:\n\"Delight thyself in the Lord and He shall give thee the desires of thy\nheart.\" A great many prayers are born of selfishness and are too much\nlike dictation or command. None of God's promises are unconditional; and\nwe have no such assets to our credit that we have a right to draw our\ncheques and demand that God shall pay them. The indispensable quality of\nall right asking is a _right spirit toward our heavenly Father_. When a\nsoul feels such an entire submissiveness towards God that it delights in\nseeing Him reign, and His glory advanced, it may fearlessly pour out its\ndesires; for then the desires of God and the desires of that sincere\nsubmissive soul will _agree_. God loves to give to them who love to let\nHim have His way; they find their happiness in the chime of their own\ndesires with the will of God.\n\nJames and John once came to Jesus and made to Him the amazing request\nthat He would place one of them on His right hand and the other on His\nleft hand when He set up His imperial government at Jerusalem! As long\nas these self-seeking disciples sought only their own glory, Christ\ncould not give them the askings of their ambitious hearts. By-and-by,\nwhen their hearts had been renewed by the Holy Spirit, and they had\nbecome so consecrated to Christ that they were in complete chime with\nHim, they were not afraid to pour out their deepest desires. James\ndeclares that, if we do not \"ask _amiss_,\" God will \"give liberally.\"\nJohn declares that \"whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we\nkeep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His\nsight.\" Just as soon as those two Christians found their supreme\nhappiness in Christ and His cause they received the desires of their\nhearts.\n\n2. The second trait of prevailing prayer is that it aims at a mark, and\nknows what it is after. When we enter a store or shop we ask the\nsalesman to hand us the particular article we want. There is an\nenormous amount of pointless, prayerless praying done in our devotional\nmeetings; it begins with nothing and ends nowhere. The model prayers\nmentioned in the Bible were short and right to the mark. \"God be\nmerciful to me a sinner!\" \"Lord, save me!\" cries sinking Peter. \"Come\ndown, ere my child die!\" exclaims the heart-stricken nobleman. Old\nRowland Hill used to say, \"I like short, ejaculatory prayer; it reaches\nheaven before the devil can get a shot at it.\"\n\n3. In the next place, the prayer that has power with God must be a\n_prepaid_ prayer. If we expect a letter to reach its destination we put\na stamp on it; otherwise it goes to the Dead-letter Office. There is\nwhat may be called a Dead-prayer Office, and thousands of well-worded\npetitions get buried up there. All of God's promises have their\nconditions; we must comply with those conditions, or we cannot expect\nthe blessings coupled with the promises. No farmer is such an idiot as\nto look for a crop of wheat unless he has ploughed and sowed his fields.\nIn prayer, we must first be sure that we are doing our part if we\nexpect God to do His part. There is a legitimate sense in which every\nChristian should do his utmost for the answering of his own prayers.\nWhen a certain venerable minister was called on to pray in a missionary\nconvention he first fumbled in his pocket, and when he had tossed the\ncoin into the plate he said, \"I cannot pray until I have given\nsomething.\" He prepaid his prayer. For the Churches in these days to\npray, \"Thy kingdom come,\" and then spend more money on jewellery and\ncigars than in the enterprise of Foreign Missions, looks almost like a\nsolemn farce. God has no blessings for stingy pockets. When I hear\nrequests for prayer for the conversion of a son or daughter, I say to\nmyself, How much is that parent doing to win that child for Christ? The\ngodly wife who makes her daily life attractive to her husband has a\nright to ask God for the conversion of that husband; she is co-operating\nwith the Holy Spirit, and prepaying her heart's request. God never\ndefaults; but He requires that we prove our faith by our works, and that\nwe never ask for a blessing that we are not ready to labour for, and to\nmake any sacrifice to secure the blessing which our souls desire.\n\n4. Another essential of the prayer that has power with God is that it be\nthe prayer of faith, and be offered in the name of Jesus Christ.\n\"Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may\nbe glorified in the Son.\" The chief \"wrestling\" that we are to do is not\nwith any reluctance on God's part; it is with the obstacles which sin\nand unbelief put in our pathway. What God orders we must submit to\nuncomplainingly; but we must never submit to what God can better. Never\nsubmit to be blocked in any pious purpose or holy undertaking if, with\nGod's help, you can roll the blocks out of your pathway. The faith that\nworks while it prays commonly conquers; for such faith creates such a\ncondition of things that our heavenly Father can wisely hear and help\nus. Oh, what a magnificent epic the triumphs of striving, toiling,\nvictorious faith make! The firmament of Bible story blazes with answers\nto prayer, from the days when Elijah unlocked the heavens on to the days\nwhen the petitions in the house of John Mark unlocked the dungeon, and\nbrought liberated Peter into their presence. The whole field of\nprovidential history is covered with answered prayers as thickly as\nbright-eyed daisies cover our Western prairies. Find thy happiness in\npleasing God, and sooner or later He will surely grant thee the desires\nof thy heart.\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\nBY THE REV.\nJOHN WATSON, M.A., D.D.\n(\"IAN MACLAREN\")\n\n\nDuring the course of my ministry, and especially of recent years, I have\nbeen moved to certain actions for which there seemed no reason, and\nwhich I only performed under the influence of a sudden impulse. As often\nas I yielded to this inward guidance, and before the issue was\ndetermined, my mind had a sense of relief and satisfaction, and in all\ndistinct and important cases my course was in the end most fully\njustified. With the afterlook one is most thankful that on certain\noccasions he was not disobedient to the touch of the unseen, and only\nbitterly regrets that on other occasions he was callous and wilful or\nwas overcome by shame and timidity. What seem just and temperate\ninferences from such experiences will be indicated after they have been\ndescribed, and it only remains for me to assure my readers that they are\nselected from carefully treasured memories, and will be given in as full\nand accurate detail as may be possible in circumstances which involve\nother people and one's own private life.\n\nIt was my privilege, before I came to Sefton Park Church, to serve as\ncolleague with a venerable minister to whom I was sincerely attached and\nwho showed me much kindness. We both felt the separation keenly and kept\nup a constant correspondence, while this good and affectionate man\nfollowed my work with spiritual interest and constant prayer. When news\ncame one day that he was dangerously ill it was natural that his friend\nshould be gravely concerned, and as the days of anxiety grew, that the\nmatter should take firm hold of the mind. It was a great relief to\nlearn, towards the end of a week, that the sickness had abated, and\nwhen, on Sunday morning, a letter came with strong and final assurance\nof recovery the strain was quite relaxed, and I did my duty at morning\nservice with a light heart. During the afternoon my satisfaction began\nto fail, and I grew uneasy till, by evening service, the letter of the\nmorning counted for nothing.\n\nAfter returning home my mind was torn with anxiety and became most\nmiserable, fearing that this good man was still in danger and, it might\nbe, near unto death. Gradually the conviction deepened and took hold of\nme that he was dying and that I would never see him again, till at last\nit was laid on me that if I hoped to receive his blessing I must make\nhaste, and by-and-by that I had better go at once. It did not seem as if\nI had now any choice, and I certainly had no longer any doubt; so,\nhaving written to break two engagements for Monday, I left at midnight\nfor Glasgow. As I whirled through the darkness it certainly did occur\nto me that I had done an unusual thing, for here was a fairly busy man\nleaving his work and going a long night's journey to visit a sick\nfriend, of whose well-being he had been assured on good authority. By\nevery evidence which could tell on another person he was acting\nfoolishly, and yet he was obeying an almost irresistible impulse.\n\nThe day broke as we climbed the ascent beyond Moffat, and I was now only\nconcerned lest time should be lost on the way. On arrival I drove\nrapidly to the well-known house, and was in no way astonished that the\nservant who opened the door should be weeping bitterly, for the fact\nthat word had come from that very house that all was going well did not\nnow weigh one grain against my own inward knowledge.\n\n\"He had a relapse yesterday afternoon, and he is ... dying now.\" No one\nin the room seemed surprised that I should have come, although they had\nnot sent for me, and I held my reverend father's hand till he fell\nasleep in about twenty minutes. He was beyond speech when I came, but,\nas we believed, recognised me and was content. My night's journey was a\npious act, for which I thanked God, and my absolute conviction is that I\nwas guided to its performance by spiritual influence.\n\nSome years ago I was at work one forenoon in my study, and very busy,\nwhen my mind became distracted and I could not think out my sermon. It\nwas as if a side stream had rushed into a river, confusing and\ndiscolouring the water; and at last, when the confusion was over and the\nwater was clear, I was conscious of a new subject. Some short time\nbefore, a brother minister, whom I knew well and greatly respected, had\nsuffered from dissension in his congregation and had received our\nsincere sympathy. He had not, however, been in my mind that day, but now\nI found myself unable to think of anything else. My imagination began to\nwork in the case till I seemed, in the midst of the circumstances, as if\nI were the sufferer. Very soon a suggestion arose and grew into a\ncommandment, that I should offer to take a day's duty for my brother.\nAt this point I pulled myself together and resisted what seemed a\nvagrant notion. \"Was such a thing ever heard of,--that for no reason\nsave a vague sympathy one should leave one's own pulpit and undertake\nthe work of another, who had not asked him and might not want him?\" So I\nturned to my manuscript to complete a broken sentence, but could only\nwrite \"Dear A. B.\" Nothing remained but to submit to this mysterious\ndictation and compose a letter as best one could, till the question of\ndate arose. There I paused and waited, when an exact day came up before\nmy mind, and so I concluded the letter. It was, however, too absurd to\nsend; and so, having rid myself of this irrelevancy, I threw the letter\ninto the fire and set to work again; but all day I was haunted by the\nidea that my brother needed my help. In the evening a letter came from\nhim, written that very forenoon, explaining that it would be a great\nservice to him and his people if I could preach some Sunday soon in his\nchurch, and that, owing to certain circumstances, the service would be\ndoubled if I could come on such and such a day; and it was my date! My\ncourse was perfectly plain, and I at once accepted his invitation under\na distinct sense of a special call, and my only regret was that I had\nnot posted my first letter.\n\nOne afternoon, to take my third instance, I made up my list of sick\nvisits and started to overtake them. After completing the first, and\nwhile going along a main road, I felt a strong impulse to turn down a\nside street and call on a family living in it. The impulse grew so\nurgent that it could not be resisted, and I rang the bell, considering\non the doorstep what reason I should give for an unexpected call. When\nthe door opened it turned out that strangers now occupied the house, and\nthat my family had gone to another address, which was in the same street\nbut could not be given. This was enough, it might appear, to turn me\nfrom aimless visiting, but still the pressure continued as if a hand\nwere drawing me, and I set out to discover their new house, till I had\ndisturbed four families with vain inquiries. Then the remembrance of my\nunmade and imperative calls came upon me, and I abandoned my fruitless\nquest with some sense of shame. Had a busy clergyman not enough to do\nwithout such a wild-goose chase?--and one grudged the time one had lost.\n\nNext morning the head of that household I had yesterday sought in vain\ncame into my study with such evident sorrow on his face that one\nhastened to meet him with anxious inquiries. \"Yes, we are in great\ntrouble; yesterday our little one (a young baby) took very ill and died\nin the afternoon. My wife was utterly overcome by the shock and we would\nhave sent for you at the time but had no messenger. I wish you had been\nthere--if you had only known!\"\n\n\"And the time?\"\n\n\"About half-past three.\"\n\nSo I had known, but had been too impatient.\n\nMany other cases have occurred when it has been laid on me to call at a\ncertain house, where there seemed so little reason that I used to invent\nexcuses, and where I found some one especially needing advice or\ncomfort; or I called and had not courage to lead up to the matter, so\nthat the call was of no avail, and afterwards some one has asked whether\nI knew, for she had waited for a word. Nor do I remember any case where,\nbeing inwardly moved to go after this fashion, it appeared in the end\nthat I had been befooled. And so, having stated these facts out of many,\nI offer three inferences.\n\n(1) That people may live in an atmosphere of sympathy which will be a\ncommunicating medium. When some one appears to read another's thoughts,\nas we have all seen done at public exhibitions, it was evidently by\nphysical signs, and it served no good purpose. It was a mechanical gift\nand was used for an amusement. _This_ is knowledge of another kind,\nwhose conditions are spiritual and whose ends are ethical. Between you\nand the person there must be some common feeling; it rises to a height\nin the hour of trouble; and its call is for help. The correspondence\nhere is between heart and heart, and the medium through which the\nmessage passes is love.\n\n(2) That this love is but another name for Christ, who is the head of\nthe body; and here one falls back on St. Paul's profound and\nilluminating illustration. It is Christ who unites the whole race, and\nespecially all Christian folk, by His incarnation. Into Him are gathered\nall the fears, sorrows, pains, troubles of each member, so that He feels\nwith all, and from him flows the same feeling to other members of the\nbody. He is the common spring of sensitiveness and sympathy, who\nconnects each man with his neighbour and makes of thousands a living\norganic spiritual unity.\n\n(3) That in proportion as one abides in Christ he will be in touch with\nhis brethren. If it seem to one marvellous and almost incredible that\nany person should be affected by another's sorrow whom he does not at\nthe moment see, is it not marvellous, although quite credible, that we\nare so often indifferent to sorrow which we do see? Is it not the case\nthat one of a delicate soul will detect secret trouble in the failure\nof a smile, in a sub-tone of voice, in a fleeting shadow on the face?\n\"How did he know?\" we duller people say. \"By his fellowship with Christ\"\nis the only answer. \"Why did we not know?\" On account of our hardness\nand selfishness. If one live self-centred--ever concerned about his own\naffairs, there is no callousness to which he may not yet descend; if one\nlive the selfless life, there is no mysterious secret of sympathy which\nmay not be his. Wherefore if any one desire to live in nervous touch\nwith his fellows, so that their sorrows be his own and he be their quick\nhelper, if he desire to share with Christ the world burden, let him open\nhis heart to the Spirit of the Lord. In proportion as we live for\nourselves are we separated from our families, our friends, our\nneighbours; in proportion as we enter into the life of the Cross we are\none with them all, being one with Christ, who is one with God.\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\nBY THE REV.\nW. KNOX LITTLE, M. A.\nCANON OF WORCESTER\n\n\nPrayer is a comprehensive word and includes, in fact, all communion\nbetween the soul and God. It is, however, commonly used to mean the\nasking for benefits from God. Christians believe that prayer _is_ a\npower, that it does act in the fulfilment of God's purposes, and that\nthe results of prayer are real results, not only in the spiritual, but\nalso in the physical world. This is no mere matter of opinion, it is\npart of the Christian faith. For better, for worse, however difficult\nthe doctrine may appear, the Church is committed to it. As in the case\nof other difficult doctrines, such as the resurrection of the body for\ninstance, she, so to speak, \"stakes her reputation\" on loyalty to this\ntruth.\n\nThe power of prayer is, of course, a mystery, _i.e._, a truth, but a\ntruth partly concealed, partly plain. To deal with it, therefore, in a\nmathematical temper rather than a moral temper is absurd if not wrong.\nMathematical demonstration cannot be given for moral truth, and is in\nfact out of court. The bent of mind formed by constant scientific\nresearch--good as it is in its own province--sometimes unfits men for\nmoral and theological research. In this way the \"difficulties of prayer\"\nare often exaggerated. (1) It is said God knows already; why tell Him?\nThe same objection would apply to many a request on earth. (2) It is\nsaid God fore-sees; why try to influence what He knows is sure to be?\nThis objection applies to all our actions; to follow out this we should\nnot only not pray, but also never do anything. We are in face of a\nmystery. A little humility and obedience to revelation helps us out. It\nhas been truly said that when a practical and a speculative truth are in\napparent collision, we must remember our ignorance of a good many\nthings, and act with the knowledge which is given us, on the practical\ntruth.\n\nPrayer, we may remember, is not to change the holy counsels of the\nEternal, but to accomplish those ends for which it is an appointed\ninstrument. Anyhow, this is certain, the abundant promises to faithful\nand persevering prayer are kept, and--where God sees it to be good for\nus--they are kept to the letter. The following are examples which come\nwithin the knowledge of the writer of this paper.\n\nA family, consisting of a number of children, had been brought up by\nparents who had very \"free\" ideas as to the divine revelation and the\nteaching of the Church. The children, varying in age from seven or\neight, to one or two and twenty years, had, one way or another, been\naroused to the teaching of Scripture and desired to be baptised. The\nfather point-blank refused to permit it. The older members of the family\nconsulted a clergyman. He felt strongly the force of the fifth\ncommandment and advised them not to act in haste, to realise that\ndifficulties do frequently arise from conflicting duties, and above all\nto pray. The clergyman asked a number of devout Christians to make the\nmatter a subject of prayer. They did. In about three weeks the father\ncalled upon this very clergyman and asked him to baptise his children.\nThe clergyman expressed his astonishment, believing that he was opposed\nto it. The father answered that that was true, but he had changed his\nmind. He could not say precisely why, but he thought his children ought\nto be baptised. They were; and he, by his own wish, was present and most\ndevout at the administration of the sacrament of baptism.\n\nA few years ago, a clergyman in London had been invited to visit a\nfriend for one night in the country in order to meet an old friend whom\nhe had not seen for long. It was bitter winter weather and he decided\nnot to go. Walking his parish in the afternoon, he believed that a voice\nthree times urged him to go. He hurriedly changed his arrangements and\nwent. The snow was tremendously deep, and the house of his friend, some\nmiles from the railway station, was reached with difficulty. In the\ncourse of the night the clergyman was roused from sleep by the butler,\nwho begged him to go and visit a groom in the service of the family, who\nwas ill and \"like to die.\" Crossing a field path with difficulty, as the\nsnow was very deep, they reached the poor man's house. He had been in\nagony of mind and longed to see a clergyman. When it was found\nimpossible to fetch the nearest clergyman, owing to the impassable state\nof the roads, he had prayed earnestly that one might be sent to him. The\npoor fellow died in the clergyman's arms in the early morning, much\ncomforted and in great peace.\n\nA strangely similar case happened more recently. An American gentleman\ntravelling in Europe was taken suddenly and seriously ill in one of our\nnorthern towns. The day before this happened, a clergyman, who was at a\ndistance in the country, was seized with a sudden and unaccountable\ndesire to visit this very town. He had no idea why, but prayed for\nguidance in the matter, and finally felt convinced that he must go.\nHaving stayed the night there he was about to return home, rather\ninclined to think himself a very foolish person, when a waiter in the\nhotel brought him an American lady's card and said that the lady wished\nto see him. He was the only English clergyman of whom she and her\nhusband had any knowledge. They had happened to hear him preach in\nAmerica. She had no idea where he lived, but when her husband was taken\nill she and her daughter had prayed that _he_ might be sent to them. On\ninquiry, strange to say, he was found to be in the hotel, and was able\nto render some assistance to the poor sufferer, who died in a few hours,\nand to his surviving and mourning relatives.\n\nA still more striking instance, perhaps, is as follows: Some years ago\nin London a clergyman had succeeded, with the help of some friends, in\nopening a \"home\" in the suburbs to meet some special mission needs. It\nwas necessary to support it by charity. For some time all went well. The\nhome at last, however, became even more necessary and more filled with\ninmates, whilst subscriptions did not increase but rather slackened. The\nlady in charge wrote to the clergyman as to her needs, and especially\ndrew his attention to the fact that L40 was required immediately to meet\nthe pressing demand of a tradesman. The clergyman himself was\nexcessively poor, and he knew not to whom to turn in the emergency. He\nat once went and spent an hour in prayer. He then left his house and\nwalked slowly along the streets thinking with himself how he should act.\nPassing up Regent Street, a carriage drew up in front of Madame Elise's\nshop, just as he was passing. Out of the carriage stepped a handsomely\ndressed lady. \"Mr. So-and-so, I think,\" she said when she saw him. \"Yes,\nmadam,\" he answered, raising his hat. She drew an envelope from her\npocket and handed it to him, saying: \"You have many calls upon your\ncharity, you will know what to do with that.\" The envelope contained a\nBank of England note for L50. The whole thing happened in a much shorter\ntime than it can be related; he passed on up the street, she passed into\nthe shop. Who she was he did not know, and never since has he learnt.\nThe threatening creditor was paid. The \"home\" received further help and\ndid its work well.\n\nAnother example is of a different kind. A person of real earnestness in\nreligious questions, and one who gave time and strength for advancing\nthe kingdom of God, some years ago became restless and unsatisfied in\nspiritual matters, failing to enjoy peaceful communion with God, and\ngenerally upset and uneasy. The advice of a clergyman was asked, and\nafter many conversations on the subject, he urged steady earnest prayer\nfor light, and agreed himself to make the matter a subject of prayer.\nWithin a fortnight, after an earnest midday prayer, it was declared by\nthis troubled soul that it had been clearly borne in upon the mind that\nthe sacrament of baptism had never been received. Enquiry was made, and\nafter much careful investigation it was found that, while every other\nmember of a large family had been baptised, in this case the sacrament\nhad been neglected owing to the death of the mother and the child being\ncommitted to the care of a somewhat prejudiced relative. The person in\nquestion was forthwith baptised, and immediately there was peace and\ncalmness of mind and a sense of quiet communion with God.\n\nInstances of this kind might be multiplied, but these are, perhaps,\nsufficient. \"In everything,\" says the Apostle, \"by prayer and\nsupplication with thanksgiving (the Eucharist) let your requests be made\nknown unto God.\" \"Cast all your care upon Him, for He careth for you.\"\nThe power of the \"prayer of faith\" is astonishing in its efficacy, if\nsouls will only put forth that power. I am able to guarantee, from\npersonal knowledge, the truth and accuracy of the above instances.\n\n\n\n\nV\n\nBY MR.\nWILLIAM QUARRIER\nOF GLASGOW\n\n\nFor twenty-five years it has been with me a continual answer to prayer.\nThe first seven of my service were spent in caring for the rough boys of\nthe streets of Glasgow, but having made a vow, when I was very young,\nthat if God prospered me I should build houses for orphans, I was not\nsatisfied with that work among the bigger boys. Being in business,\nhowever, and having a family to maintain, the question of whether I\ncould do more was a difficult one. I was giving eight hours a day to the\nwork, and in the Shoe-black Brigade, the Parcels Brigade, and the\nNewspaper Brigade had probably about three hundred boys to care for.\n\nWhile I considered what could be done, a lady from London--Miss\nMacpherson--called, and in the course of our talk about the little ones,\nshe urged that I should attempt something more than I was doing. For\nthree months I prayed to God for guidance, and in the end resolved that\nif He sent me L2000, I should embark in the greater work. Nobody knew of\nthat resolution; it was a matter between God and myself. If God wanted\nme to do more work than I was doing, I felt that He would send me the\nL2000, not in portions, but in a solid sum. I was then before the\npublic, and I wrote a letter to the newspapers pleading that something\nmore should be done for street children, pointing out that the Poorhouse\nand the Reformatory were not the best means of helping child-life, and\nurging that something on the Home or Family system was desirable. There\nwas a strong conviction that God would answer the prayer, and, the\nterms of the prayer being explicit, I believed the answer would be as\nunmistakable. After waiting thirteen days the answer came. Amongst my\nother letters was one from a Scotch friend in London, to the effect that\nthe writer would, to the extent of L2000, provide me with money to buy\nor rent a house for orphan children. When I received that call I felt\nthat my family interests and my business interests should be second, and\nthat God's work among the children should be first.\n\nTo a business man, it was a call to surrender what you would call\nbusiness tact. I had to rise up there and then, and proclaim in the\nmidst of the commercial city of Glasgow, that from that moment I was to\nlive by faith, and depend on God for money, wisdom and strength. From\nthat time forward I would ask no man for money, but trust God for\neverything. That L2000 was the first direct answer to prayer for money.\nHe gave me the utmost of my asking, and I felt that I would need to give\nHim the utmost of the power I pledged.\n\nWe rented a common workshop in Renfrew Lane--it was very difficult to\nget a suitable place--to lodge the children in, and that little place\nwas the first National Home for Orphans in Scotland, and from it has\nsprung what the visitor may see to-day amongst the Renfrewshire hills.\nOne day, I remember, two boys came in, and we had everything to clothe\nthem with except a jacket for one of them. The matron, a very godly\nwoman, said, \"We must just pray that God will send what is needed,\" and\nwe prayed that He would. That night a large parcel of clothing came from\nDumbarton, and in it was a jacket that fitted the boy as if it had been\nmade for him. That was a small thing, of course, but if you don't see\nGod in the gift of a pair of stockings you won't see Him in a gift of\nL10,000.\n\nWe had thirty children in that Home, and we kept praying that the Lord\nwould open a place for us somewhere in the country. A friend called on\nme and offered to sub-let Cessnock House, with three acres of ground\nabout it. Cessnock Dock has now absorbed the place, and as it was just\nthe very spot we wanted, we accepted. We had room for a hundred boys,\nand with the help of God we prospered. We had resolved formerly that we\nwould send children to Canada, but it took L10 per head to send them,\nand we were determined not to get into debt. We had only a few pounds in\nhand when we took the house in Govan Road, and it took L200 to alter it.\nBut every night we prayed that the Lord would send money to pay for the\nalterations. Sums varying from 5s. to L5 came in, but when the bills\ncame to be paid we were short L100. A friend not far from one of my\nplaces of business sent for me, and when I called, he said, \"How are you\ngetting on at Cessnock?\" I said we were getting on nicely, and that we\nhad got L100 towards the alterations. He gave me L100, to my\nastonishment, for I knew that he could not afford so much, but he said a\nrelative who died in England had left him a fortune, and the money was\nto help me in the work God had given me to do. In that answer you see\nhow God works mysteriously to accomplish His purpose and help those who\nput their trust in Him.\n\nGod gives us great help in dealing with the wayward, wilful boys of the\nHome. They are generally lads who have known no control; but we are\nable, with God's blessing on our efforts, to get them to do almost\nanything that is wanted, without strap or confinement or threat. To hear\nboys who used to curse and swear praying to God, and to see them helping\nother boys in the Home, is to me the most encouraging feature of the\nwork God has given me to do. Whilst I sought to clothe and educate them,\nI left God to deal with them in their spirits; and to-day the result of\nthe spiritual work amongst the boys and girls of Glasgow exceeds\nanything I ever expected.\n\nI still thought of the emigration scheme, and in 1872 we had sixty\nchildren that were able to go to Canada. Of course it meant L600 to send\nthem, and we had the necessary money except L70 in the end of June. We\nprayed on that God would send the balance before the day of sailing, 2nd\nJuly. A friend called at one of my places of business to see me, and\nsubsequently I had an interview with him. He gave me L50, and said it\nwas from one who did not wish the name mentioned. \"What shall I put it\nto?\" I asked. \"Anything you like,\" he said. \"We are short of L70 for the\nemigration of our first band of children to Canada, and if you like I\nshall put it to that.\" \"Do so,\" he said; and as the man left I saw God's\nhand in the gift that had been made. When I went home that night I found\namongst my letters one in which was enclosed L10 \"to take a child to\nCanada,\" and the post on the following morning brought two five-pound\nnotes from other friends, making up exactly at the moment it was needed\nthe sum I had asked God to give.\n\nIn addition to the Homes, we carried on mission work amongst the lapsed\nmasses, and, as in the case of the Homes, we were firmly resolved to do\neverything by prayer and supplication. I rented an old church at the\nhead of the Little Dovehill, just where the Board school stands now, as\na hall, but we did not have the whole of it. At the level of the gallery\nanother floor had been introduced, and while we occupied the upper flat,\na soap manufacturer occupied the lower. In a way it was a trial of faith\nto go up those stairs past the soap work into our hall. We wanted to\nopen the place free of debt, and the money for the alterations came in\ngradually. I remember putting it to the Lord to send a suitable\nevangelist if He wished the work to go on. At that time--twenty-four\nyears ago--we heard a lot of Joshua Poole and his wife, who were having\ngreat blessing in London, and I thought that they were just the people\nto reach the working classes. But as I had convictions about women\npreaching,--which, by the way, I have not now,--I asked the Lord to send\nL50 to cover the expense for a month if it were His will that these\nfriends should come to Glasgow and preach nightly during that period. I\nleft it to God to decide whether we should ask these friends or not, and\nI had the assurance--the assurance of faith,--that the money would\ncome. When I went home that night I found that a friend had called at\none of my places of business and left fifty one-pound notes without\nknowing my mind and without knowing I needed it.\n\nAfter that I felt that God was going to work a great work amongst the\nlapsed masses of Glasgow, and He did so. For six months we rented the\nScotia Music Hall on Sabbath evenings, and instead of a month the\nevangelists were six in the city conducting services every night. When\nthey left, ten thousand people gathered on the Green to bid them\nfarewell. Hundreds were led to the Saviour.\n\nAfter a number of years' work in Glasgow with the Girls' Home, in Govan\nwith the Boys' Home, and with the Mission premises, the need of a farm\nbecame great. I prayed for money to purchase a farm of about fifty\nacres, three miles or so from Glasgow. It was to have a burn running\nthrough it, good drainage, and everything necessary. I was anxious to\nget this burn for the children to paddle in and fish in; but I feel now\nthat at the time I was rebellious against God in fixing the site so\nnear Glasgow. We visited a dozen places, but the cost was so great that\nI was fairly beaten. God had shut up every door.\n\nA friend met me on the street, and asked if I had seen the farm in\nKilmalcolm Parish that was to be sold. I replied that I had not, and\nthat I considered the place too far away. In talking over the matter, he\npersuaded me to go and see the farm, and when I did go, and, standing\nwhere our big central building is now, saw that it had everything I\nprayed for,--perfect drainage, and not only the burn, but a river and a\nlarge flat field for a recreation ground,--I said in my heart to the\nLord: \"This will do.\" Ever since I have blessed the Lord for that; my\nway was not God's way, and so He shut us in amongst these Renfrewshire\nhills, away from the ways of men.\n\nAfter paying L3,560 for the farm, we had about L1,500 left, and in 1887\nwe began to build a church and school, to cost L5,000. I told the\ncontractor that we should stop if the money did not come in; but it\nkept coming in, and the work went on. In 1888 I had resolved to go to\nCanada with the party of children going out that year, and I saw clearly\nthat I would need to stop the contractors if I got no more money in the\ninterval, for I was still L1400 short. Yet I believed the Lord would\nsend the money before I left in the latter end of May, though the time I\nwrite of was as far on as the middle of the month. I kept praying, and\nthe assurance was strong that the money would come. Just three days\nbefore the date on which I was to sail, a friend came to me, and said it\nhad been laid upon his heart to build one of the cottages at\nBridge-of-Weir, but the Lord, he thought, would accept the money for the\ncentral building just as much as though it were put into houses, and he\nhanded me L1300.\n\nAll the money belonging to the Homes and all my own was in the City of\nGlasgow Bank when it failed, and hundreds of the givers were involved as\nwell. On my way up from the Homes on the day of the disaster, a\ngentleman met me, and told me the sad news. At the moment I realised\nwhat the news meant for me--my own personal loss and the needs of the\nHomes--for that was in September, and our financial year closed in\nOctober. With all our money locked up, to clear the year without debt\nwould be difficult, but then the promise of God came: \"Although the\nfig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the\nlabour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the\nflock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the\nstalls; yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will joy in the God of my\nsalvation.\"\n\nThere and then I prayed that God would help me through, and that during\nthe course of the following year, which I saw would be one of financial\ndistress all over Scotland, He would double the gifts to us. The result\nwas that we were able to clear our financial accounts with ease at the\nend of October, and in the year following, when every church in\nScotland, and every philanthropic work had less money than they needed,\nthe Orphan Homes had double what they required. In that God honoured my\ntrust.\n\nOur first church at Bridge-of-Weir only held four hundred, and by-and-by\nit was too small for us. I prayed that the Lord would give us a new\nchurch to hold one thousand people, and to cost something like L5000. We\nfelt that we would get that money, and that we would get it in one sum\nbecause we had asked God to lay it on the heart of somebody to build the\nchurch. After a year of waiting and praying, a friend came to me in the\nstreet one day, and said, \"I'm going to build you that church you want.\nDo you know what it will cost?\" \"Yes,\" I replied. \"L5000\" \"Well,\" said\nmy friend, \"you shall get the money when you want it.\"\n\nIt was a new song of praise to God that day, I can tell you, and we went\non to build our church. Now, even it we find too small, and we are\npraying to the Lord for L2500 to enlarge the building, and enable us to\naccommodate five hundred more worshippers.\n\nI thought that, having got the church, we might, as we were building a\ntower to hold the tank for our water supply, also get a clock and chimes\nto enliven the village. So we prayed that the Lord would send money for\nthat purpose. I thought that about L500 or L600 would be sufficient.\nWhile the building was going on, we prayed for the money, and I was\ncertain it would come. The architect was hurrying me and pointing out\nthat if the clock and bells were really to go into the tower, the work\nmust be done at once. I told him there was no fear that the money would\nnot come. If the money had not come, and the tower was completed, the\nplacing of the clock and bells at a later period would have mean\npractically taking down and rebuilding, because with our water tank in\nposition, the work would have been impossible. My architect kept\nbothering me, but I was sure the money would come, and one night I went\nhome and found a cheque for L200--L1500 to build a house, and L500 for\nthe clock and bells. The clock and bells cost L800, and the lady who\nsent the money paid the additional L300.\n\nA village like our Homes, with 1200 of a population, needed a good water\nsupply for sanitary purposes. For a very long time we depended on a\nwell, and stored the water in tanks, but frequently the supply fell\nshort, and we felt that if we could get the proprietors in the upper\ndistrict--none of the surrounding proprietors, by the way, had ever\ntaken much interest in the work of the Homes--to give us the privilege\nof bringing water into the grounds, we should be able to do much to\nimprove that state of matters. Sir Michael Shaw Stewart gave us the\nright to use our own burn higher up for the purpose, and gave us a piece\nof ground at a nominal rent of 12s. a year, for a reservoir and filter,\nbut the money to carry out the work was not in hand, and we prayed to\nthe Lord to send us from L1200 to L1400, which we anticipated would be\nthe cost of the undertaking.\n\nSome time later a lady called at James Morrison Street (Glasgow), and\nleft word that an old woman who lived in Main Street, Gorbals, wished to\nsee me. On the following day I called at the address given, and found\nthe person who had sent for me. She was an old woman living in a single\napartment, and she was very ill and weak. \"Are you Mr. Quarrier?\" she\nasked. I said I was. \"Ye were once puir yersel',\" she went on; \"I was\nonce a puir girl with naebody to care for me, and was in service when I\nwas eleven years old. I have been thankful for a' the kindness that has\nbeen shown me in my life.\"\n\nShe went to a chest of drawers in the corner of the apartment, and after\na little came and gave me two deposit receipts on the Savings Bank, each\nfor L200 and on neither of which any interest had been drawn for twenty\nyears. When I cashed them I received L627.\n\nI said \"Janet\"--Janet Stewart was her name--\"are you not giving me too\nmuch?\" \"Na, na, I've plenty mair, an' ye'll get it a' when I dee.\"\n\nWe did the best we could for Janet, but she did not live much longer.\nWithin a week I received a telegram that Janet was dead, and she had\ndied, I was told, singing \"Just as I am without one plea.\"\n\nIn her will she left several sums to neighbours who had been kind to her\nin life, and to our Homes was bequeathed the balance. Altogether the\nOrphans' share was L1400. The money defrayed the cost of our water\nscheme, and I always think how appropriate the gift was, for nearly all\nher life Janet had been a washerwoman and had earned her bread over the\nwash-tub.\n\nThe direct answers to prayers of which I could tell you would fill a\nvolume, and what I have mentioned are only those fixed in my memory. I\nhave always asked God for a definite gift for a definite purpose, and\nGod has always given it to me. The value of the buildings at\nBridge-of-Weir is L200,000, and since we started, the cost of their\n\"upkeep\" has been L150,000. And we are still building as busily as in\nthe beginning.\n\n\n\n\nVI\n\nBY MR.\nLEONARD K. SHAW\nOF MANCHESTER\n\n\nThe work for homeless children in Manchester was cradled in prayer.\nEvery step in preparation was laid before God. But what I want specially\nto insist upon is the real connection there is between prayer and work.\nFrom the first my practice has been to lay our wants before God in\nprayer, and at the same time to use every means within our reach to\nobtain what we desired. I well remember in the early days of the work\nhow anxiously we discussed whether it was to be conducted on the\n\"faith\" principle, as it is called, or on the \"work\" principle. Looking\nback on the way by which we have come, it seems to me now that faith and\nwork necessarily go together. Earnest believing prayer is not less\nearnest and believing because you use the means God has put within your\nreach. Your dependence upon God is just the same. You send out an\nappeal, but it is God who disposes the hearts of the people to\nsubscribe. So I say the connection between praying and working, though\nnot always seen, is very real. Day by day the special needs of the work\nare laid before God, and day by day they are supplied.\n\nOf direct answers to prayer I have had many sweet and encouraging\nassurances, particularly in connection with our orphan homes. In the\nfirst five years of the work, we only took in boys between the ages of\nten and sixteen. At that time of life, boys who have been brought up on\nthe street are not easy to manage, and a friend to whom I was telling\nsome of our difficulties, suggested that we should take the boys in\nyounger. To do so meant a new departure, and on going into the matter I\nfound that a sum of about L600 would be needed to start such an orphan\nhome as was suggested. I said to my wife, \"Let us pray about this; if it\nis God's will that we should enter upon this new branch of work, He will\nsend the money.\" We resolved that should be the test; if the money came\nwe would start the home, otherwise we would not. Our annual meeting came\nround soon after, and in the report I made an appeal on behalf of the\nnew scheme. The report was sent out with much prayer, but no individual\nperson was asked to contribute. In a few days I received a letter from a\ngentleman residing in Southport, enclosing a cheque for L600. The house\nfor the first of our orphan homes was bought for L500, and the balance\nof the cheque enabled us to furnish it.\n\nAt the end of the following year, the home was full of fatherless and\nmotherless little ones, and others were seeking admission for whom there\nwas no room. I sent out a second appeal, asking God to put it into the\nheart of someone to provide a second home. A few weeks afterwards a lady\nwell known in Manchester paid us a visit at the home and two days later\nI received from her a cheque for L1000. In this way we got our second\nhome. Another year and this second home was also full. Again I prayed\nGod to dispose the heart of some one to help us, and I sent out another\nappeal. One day, perhaps two or three weeks later, a gentleman stopped\nme in the street and said he had been wanting to see me for some days,\nas he had a cheque for L700 waiting for me at his office. At the moment\nthe orphan home was not in my mind, and I asked what the cheque was for.\nWhy, he said, I understand your two orphan homes are full and that you\nwant another. And so we got our third home. Another year and it too was\nfull. Again after earnest prayer I received a cheque for L1000 from\nanother Manchester gentleman, who in some way had come to know that a\nfourth home was needed.\n\nIn these four cases you have, I think, remarkable instances of direct\nanswer to prayer. So, at any rate, I must always regard them. I need not\nsay how encouraged we were, year after year, to go on with the work,\nthough each additional home meant a large increase in our annual\nexpenditure.\n\nThe money with which the fifth orphanage house was bought was not given\nin one sum nor specially for the purpose, and the circumstances would\nnot warrant me in saying that it came in direct answer to prayer. When a\nsixth home became necessary an appeal was made to the schoolgirls of\nLancashire and Cheshire, and they found the L500 for the purchase money.\nThis house is called \"The School Girls' Home.\" The inscription on the\nmemorial stone, \"His children shall have a place of refuge,\" was\nsuggested by the late Bishop of Manchester.\n\nIn smaller, but perhaps not less important matters, we have had\nunmistakable proofs that God answers prayer. One case which occurred in\nthe early days of the work greatly impressed me. A letter came one\nmorning from Stalybridge asking us to take in five little children who\nhad been left destitute and without a friend in the world. I went over\nto make inquiries, and found the children in the same room with the dead\nbody of their mother, which had little more to cover it than an old\nsack. Our means at that time were very small, and I thought we could\nhardly venture to take in all the children. The clergyman of the parish\npleaded with me to take at least two or three. I asked what was to\nbecome of the others, and the answer was that there was nothing for them\nbut the workhouse. What to do I did not know. I made it a matter of\nprayer, but all that night it lay upon my heart a great burden. Next\nmorning I came downstairs still wondering what to do. Amongst the\nletters on my table was one from a gentleman at Bowdon, enclosing,\nunasked, a cheque for L50. In those days L50 was an exceptionally large\nsum for us to receive, and I took the letter as a direct word from God\nthat we should accept the care of the children. We did so, and I am glad\nto say every one of them turned out well.\n\nBut direct answers to prayer are not confined to mere gifts of money.\nOver and over again during these twenty-seven years of rescue work I\nhave put individual cases before God and asked Him to deal with them,\nand it is just wonderful how He has subdued stubborn wills and changed\nhearts and lives.\n\nYears ago there came to the Refuges the son of a man known to the\nManchester police as \"Mike the devil.\" Tom was as rough a customer as\never I saw, and for a time we had some trouble with him. But a great\nchange came over him, and I have myself no doubt it was the result of\npersonal pleading with God on his behalf. Tom is now an ordained\nminister of the Gospel in America. There is no end to the cases I could\ngive of that kind. They all point to the same conclusion, that God does\nanswer definite prayer. And to-day, after twenty-seven years of work, I\npraise Him for it.\n\n\n\n\nVII\n\nBY THE REV.\nR. F. HORTON, M.A., D.D.\n\n\nIt has sometimes seemed to me that God does not intend the faith in\nprayer to rest upon an induction of instances. The answers, however\nexplicit, are not of the kind to bear down an aggressive criticism. Your\nChristian lives a life which is an unbroken chain of prayers offered and\nprayers answered; from his inward view the demonstration is\noverwhelming. But do you ask for the evidences, and do you propose to\nbegin to pray if the facts are convincing, and to refuse the practice if\nthey are not? Then you may find the evidences evanescent as an evening\ncloud, and the facts all susceptible of a simple rationalistic\nexplanation. \"Prayer,\" says an old Jewish mystic, \"is the moment when\nheaven and earth kiss each other.\" It is futile as well as indelicate to\ndisturb that rapturous meeting; and nothing can be brought away from\nsuch an intrusion, nothing of any value except the resolve to make trial\nfor oneself of the \"mystic sweet communion.\"\n\nI confess, therefore, that I read examples of answers to prayer without\nany great interest, and refer to those I have experienced myself with\nthe utmost diffidence. Nay, I say frankly beforehand, \"If you are\nconcerned to disprove my statement, and to show that what I take for the\nhand of God is merely the cold operation of natural law, I shall only\nsmile. My own conviction will be unchanged. I do not make that great\ndistinction between the hand of God and natural law, and I have no wish\nto induce you to pray by an accumulation of facts--to commend to you the\nmighty secret by showing that it would be profitable to you, a kind of\nAladdin's lamp for fulfilling wayward desires. Natural law, the hand of\nGod! Yes! I unquestioningly admit that the answers to prayer come\ngenerally along lines which we recognise as natural law, and would\nperhaps always be found along those lines if our knowledge of natural\nlaw were complete. Prayer is to me the quick and instant recognition\nthat all law is God's will, and all nature is in God's hand, and that\nall our welfare lies in linking ourselves with His will and placing\nourselves in His hand through all the operations of the world and life\nand time.\"\n\nYet I will mention a few \"answers to prayer,\" striking enough to me. One\nSunday morning a message came to me before the service from an agonised\nmother: \"Pray for my child: the doctor has been and gives no hope.\" We\nprayed, the church prayed, with the mother's agony, and with the faith\nin a present Christ, mighty to save. Next day, I learned that the doctor\nwho had given the message of despair in the morning had returned, after\nthe service, and said at once, \"A remarkable change has taken place.\"\nThe child recovered and still lives.\n\nOn another occasion, I was summoned from my study to see a girl who was\ndying of acute peritonitis. I hurried away to the chamber of death. The\ndoctor said that he could do nothing more. The mother stood there\nweeping. The girl had passed beyond the point of recognition. But as I\nentered the room, a conviction seized me that the sentence of death had\nnot gone out against her. I proposed that we should kneel down and pray.\nI asked definitely that she should be restored. I left the home, and\nlearned afterwards that she began to amend almost, at once, and entirely\nrecovered; she is now quite strong and well, and doing her share of\nservice for our Lord.\n\nAnd on yet another occasion I was hastily called from my study to see an\nelderly man, who had always been delicate since I knew him; now he was\nprostrated with bronchitis, and the doctor did not think that he could\nlive. It chanced that I had just been studying the passage which\ncontains the prayer of Hezekiah and the promise made to him of fourteen\nadditional years of life. I went to the sick man and told him that I had\njust been reading this, and asked if it might not be a ground for\ndefinite prayer. He assented, and we entreated our God for His mercy in\nthe matter. The man was restored and is living still.\n\nThese are only typical instances of what I have frequently seen. Many\ntimes, no doubt, I have prayed for the recovery of the sick and the\nprayer has not been answered. And you, dear and skeptical reader, may\nsay if you will that this is proof positive that the instances of\nanswered prayers are mere coincidences. You may say it and, if you will,\nprove it, but you will not in the least alter my quiet conviction; for\nthe answers were given to _me_. I do not know that even the subjects of\nthese recoveries recognise the agency which was at work. To me all this\nis immaterial. The subjective evidence is all that was designed, and\nthat is sufficient, and to the writer conclusive.\n\nWith reference to money for Christian work, I have laboured to induce my\nown church to adopt the simple view that we should ask not men, but in\nthe first instance God, the owner of it all, for what we want. I am\nthankful to say that some of them now believe this, and bring our needs\nto Him very simply and trustfully. I could name many instances of the\nfollowing kind: there is a threatened deficit in the funds of the\nmission, or an extension is needed and we have not the money. The sound\nof misgiving is heard; we have not the givers; the givers have given all\nthey can. \"Why not trust God?\" I have urged. \"Why not pray openly and\nunitedly--and believe?\" The black cloud of debt has been dissipated, or\nthe necessary extension has been made.\n\nOddly enough, some people have said to me, \"Ah, yours is a rich church,\"\nas if to imply one can very safely ask God for money when one has the\npeople at hand who can give it. But surely this is a question of degree.\nMy church is not rich enough to give one-tenth of what it gives, _if we\ndid not first ask God for it_. And there are churches which could give\nten times what they do give, if only the plan were adopted of first\nasking God instead of going to the few wealthy people and trusting to\nthem.\n\nBut this is a matter of statistics and a little wearisome. I confess I\nam unsatisfied with answers to prayer when the prayer is only for these\ncarnal and visible things, which are often, in boundless love and pity,\n_withheld_. The constant and proper things to pray for are precisely\nthose the advent of which cannot be observed or tabulated; that the\nkingdom may come, that they who have sinned, not unto death, may be\nforgiven, that the eyes of Christian men may be enlightened, and their\nhearts expanded to the measure of the love of Christ. Such prayers are\nanswered, but the answers are not unveiled. I remember a strange\ninstance of this. I was staying with a gentleman in a great town, where\nthe town council, of which he was a member, had just decided to close a\nmusic-hall which was exercising a pernicious influence. The decision\nwas most unexpected, because a strong party in the council were directly\ninterested in the hall. But to my friend's amazement the men who had\nthreatened opposition came in and quietly voted for withdrawing the\nlicence. Next day we were speaking about modern miracles; he, the best\nof men, expressed the opinion that miracles were confined to Bible\ntimes. His wife then happened to mention how, on the day of that council\nmeeting, she and some other good women of the city had met and continued\nin prayer that the licence might be withdrawn. I ventured to ask my\nfriend whether this was not the explanation of what he had confessed to\nbe an amazing change of front on the part of the opposition. And,\nstrange to say, it had not occurred to him--though an avowed believer in\nprayer--to connect the praying women and that beneficent vote.\n\nThe truth is, all the threads of good which run across our chequered\nsociety, all the impulses upward and onward, all the invisible growths\nin goodness and grace, are answered prayers. For our prayers for the\nkingdom are not uttered on the housetops; and the kingdom itself cometh\nnot with observation.\n\nBut if it were not too delicate a subject I could recite instances, to\nme the most remarkable answers to prayer in my experience, of changed\ncharacter and enlarged Christian life, resulting from definite\nintercession. It is an experiment which any loving and humble soul can\neasily make. Take your friends, or better still the members of the\nchurch to which you belong, and set yourself systematically to pray for\nthem. Leave alone those futile and often misguided petitions for\ntemporal blessings, or even for success in their work, and plead with\nyour God in the terms of that prayer with which Saint Paul bowed his\nknees for the Ephesians. Ask that this person, or these persons, known\nto you, may have the enlightenment and expansion of the Spirit, the\nquickened love and zeal, the vision of God, the profound sympathy with\nChrist, which form the true Christian life. Pray and watch, and as you\nwatch, still pray. And you will see a miracle, marvellous as the\nspringing of the flowers in April, or the far-off regular rise and\nsetting of the planets,--a miracle proceeding before your eyes, a plain\nanswer to your prayer, and yet without any intervention of your voice or\nhand. You will see the mysterious power of God at work upon these souls\nfor which you pray. And by the subtle movements of the Spirit it is as\nlikely as not that they will come to tell you of the divine blessings\nwhich have come to them in reply to your unknown prayers.\n\nBut there are some whose eyes are not yet open to these invisible things\nof the Spirit, which are indeed the real things. The measure of faith is\nnot yet given them, and they do not recognise that web,--the only web\nwhich will last when the loom of the world is broken,--the web of which\nthe warp is the will of God, and the woof the prayers of men. For these,\nto speak of the whole as answered prayer is as good as to say that no\nprayer is answered at all. If they are to recognise an answer it must be\nsome tiny pattern, a sprig of flower, or an ammonite figure on the\nfabric. Let me close, therefore, by recounting a very simple answer to\nprayer,--simple, and yet, I think I can show, significant.\n\nLast summer I was in Norway, and one of the party was a lady who was too\ndelicate to attempt great mountain excursions, but found an infinite\ncompensation in rowing along those fringed shores of the fjord, and\nexploring those interminable brakes, which escape the notice of the\npassengers on board the steamer. One day we had followed a narrow fjord,\nwhich winds into the folds of the mountains, to its head. There we had\nlanded and pushed our way through the brush of birch and alder, lost in\nthe mimic glades, emerging to climb miniature mountains, and fording\ninnumerable small rivers, which rushed down from the perpetual snows.\nMoving slowly over the ground--veritable explorers of a virgin\nforest--plucking the ruby bunches of wild raspberry, or the bilberries\nand whortleberries, delicate in bloom, we made a devious track which it\nwas hard or impossible to retrace. Suddenly my companion found that her\ngolosh was gone. That might seem a slight loss and easily replaced; not\nat all. It was as vital to her as his snowshoes were to Nansen on the\nPolar drift; for it could not be replaced until we were back in Bergen\nat the end of our tour. And to be without it meant an end of all the\ndelightful rambles in the spongy mosses and across the lilliputian\nstreams, which for one at least meant half the charm and the benefit of\nthe holiday. With the utmost diligence, therefore, we searched the\nbrake, retraced our steps, recalled each precipitous descent of\nheather-covered rock, and every sapling of silver birch by which we had\nsteadied our steps. We plunged deep into all the apparently bottomless\ncrannies, and beat the brushwood along all our course. But neither the\nowner's eyes, which are keen as needles, nor mine, which are not, could\ndiscover any sign of the missing shoe. With woeful countenances we had\nto give it up and start on our three miles' row along the fjord to the\nhotel. But in the afternoon the idea came to me, \"And why not ask our\ngracious Father for guidance in this trifle as well as for all the\nweightier things which we are constantly committing to His care? If the\nhairs of our head are all numbered, why not also the shoes of our feet?\"\nI therefore asked Him that we might recover this lost golosh. And then I\nproposed that we should row back to the place. How magnificent the\nprecipitous mountains and the far snow-fields looked that afternoon! How\ninsignificant our shallop, and our own imperceptible selves in that\nmajestic amphitheatre, and how trifling the whole episode might seem to\nGod! But the place was one where we had enjoyed many singular proofs of\nthe divine love which shaped the mountains but has also a particular\ncare for the emmets which nestle at their feet. And I was ashamed of\nmyself for ever doubting the particular care of an infinite love. When\nwe reached the end of the fjord and had lashed the boat to the shore, I\nsprang on the rocks and went, I know not how or why, to one spot, not\nfar from the water, a spot which I should have said we had searched\nagain and again in the morning, and there lay the shoe before my eyes,\nobvious, as if it had fallen from heaven!\n\nI think I hear the cold laugh of prayerless men: \"And that is the kind\nof thing on which you rest your belief in prayer; a happy accident.\nWell, if you are superstitious enough to attach any importance to that,\nyou would swallow anything!\" And with a smile, not, I trust, scornful or\nimpatient, but full of quiet joy, I would reply: \"Yes, if you will, that\nis the kind of thing; a trifle rising to the surface from the depths of\na Father's love and compassion--those depths of God which you will not\nsound contain marvels greater it is true; they are, however, ineffable,\nfor the things of the Spirit will only be known to men of the Spirit.\nThese trifles are all that can be uttered to those who will not search\nand see; trifles indeed, for no sign shall be given to this generation;\nwhich, if it will not prove the power of prayer by praying, shall not be\nconvinced by marshalled instances of the answers of prayer.\"\n\n\n\n\nVIII\n\nBY THE REV.\nHUGH PRICE HUGHES, M.A.\n\n\nYou ask me to give my experience of answers to prayer. I have never had\nany doubt that Dean Milman was right when he said that personal religion\nbecomes impossible if prayer is not answered. Neither have I ever been\nable to appreciate the so-called scientific objection to prayer, as we\nhave ample experience in the activity of our own will to illustrate the\nfact that invariable laws may be so manipulated and utilised as to\nproduce results totally different from those which would have taken\nplace if some free will had not intervened to use them.\n\nWe must assume that God, who is the Author of all natural laws, can with\ninfinite ease manipulate them so as to produce any desired result,\nwithout in the least degree altering their character or interfering with\nthe universal reign of Law.\n\nHowever, what you want is not theory but actual experience. I will not\nrefer, therefore, to the stupendous proofs that God does answer prayer,\npresented by Mr. Mueller of Bristol in his immense orphanages, or to\nsimilar unmistakable results in the various philanthropic institutions\nof Dr. Cullis of Boston. I will go at once to my own personal\nexperiences, and mention one or two facts that have come under my own\nobservation. There are a great many, but I will simply give a few\ntypical cases.\n\nA good many years ago I was conducting a special mission in the\nneighbourhood of Chelsea. It is my custom on these occasions to invite\nmembers of the congregation to send me in writing special requests for\nthe conversion of unsaved relatives or friends. On the Tuesday night,\namong many other requests for prayer, was one from a daughter for the\nconversion of her father. It was presented in due course with the rest,\nbut no one at that moment knew the special circumstances of the case,\nexcept the writer. On the following Friday I received another request\nfrom the same woman; but now it was a request for praise, describing the\ncircumstances under which the prayer had been answered, and I read the\nwonderful story to the congregation.\n\nIt appeared that this girl's father was an avowed infidel who had not\nbeen to any place of worship for many years, and he disliked the subject\nof religion so intensely that he ultimately forbade his Christian\ndaughter in London to write to him, as she was continually bringing in\nreferences to Christ. On the particular Tuesday evening in question,\nthat infidel father was on his way to a theatre in some provincial town,\nmore than a hundred miles from London. As he was walking to the\ntheatre, there was a sudden shower of rain which drove him for shelter\ninto the vestibule of a chapel where a week-night service was being\nheld. The preacher in the pulpit was a Boanerges, whose loud voice\npenetrated into the lobby, and there was something in what he said that\nattracted the attention of the infidel and induced him to enter the\nchapel. He became more and more interested as the sermon proceeded, and\nbefore its close he was deeply convinced of sin, and in true penitence\nsought mercy from Jesus Christ. I need scarcely say to any one who knows\nanything of the love of God, that this prayer was speedily answered, and\nhe went home rejoicing in divine forgiveness. The next day he wrote to\nhis daughter in London telling her that he had set out on the previous\nevening intending to visit the theatre, but had actually found his way\ninto a chapel, where his sins had been forgiven and his heart changed.\nHe wrote at once to tell her the good news, and he assured her that he\nwould now be only too glad to hear from her as often as she could write\nto him. These facts were communicated through me to the congregation,\nand we all gave thanks to God.\n\nOf course it may be said that the conversion of this man, who had not\nbeen into a place of worship for more than a dozen years, was a mere\naccident, and that its coming at the very time we were praying for him\nwas a mere coincidence. But we need not quarrel about words. All we need\nto establish is, that such delightful accidents and such blessed\ncoincidences are continually occurring in the experience of all real\nChristians. I may add generally, that it is our custom to present\nwritten requests for prayer and written requests for praise at the\ndevotional meetings of the West London Mission every Friday night. This\nhas now gone on without interruption for more than nine years, and I\nscarcely remember a prayer-meeting at which we have not had some request\nfor praise on account of prayer answered.\n\nIt may be argued, however, that all such cases are purely subjective,\nand that they take place in the mysterious darkness and silence of the\nhuman heart Let my next illustration, then, be of a much more tangible\ncharacter. Let it refer to pounds, shillings, and pence.\n\nNot long ago the West London Mission was greatly in want of money, as\nhas generally been its experience since it began. It would seem as\nthough God could not trust us with any margin. Perhaps if we had a\nconsiderable balance in the bank we should put our trust in that,\ninstead of realising every moment our absolute dependence on God. Like\nthe Children of Israel in the Wilderness, we have had supplies of manna\njust sufficient for immediate need. Always in want, always tempted to be\nanxious, it has always happened at the last moment, when the case seemed\nabsolutely desperate, that help has been forthcoming, sometimes from the\nmost unexpected quarter. But a short time ago the situation appeared to\nbe unusually alarming, and I invited my principal colleague to meet me\nnear midnight--the only time when we could secure freedom from\ninterruption and rest from our own incessant work.\n\nWe spent some time, in the quietness of that late hour, imploring God to\nsend us one thousand pounds for His work by a particular day. In the\ncourse of the meeting one of our number burst forth into rapturous\nexpressions of gratitude, as he was irresistibly convinced that our\nprayer was heard and would be answered. I confess I did not share his\nabsolute confidence, and the absolute confidence of my wife and some\nothers. I believed with trembling. I am afraid I could say nothing more\nthan \"Lord, I believe, help Thou my unbelief.\" The appointed day came. I\nwent to the meeting at which the sum total would be announced. It\nappeared that in a very short time and in very extraordinary ways nine\nhundred and ninety pounds had been sent to the West London Mission. I\nconfess that, as a theologian I was perplexed. We had asked for a\nthousand pounds--there was a deficiency of ten. I could not understand\nit. I went home, trying to explain the discrepancy. As I entered my\nhouse and was engaged in taking off my hat and coat, I noticed a letter\non the table in the hall. I remembered that it had been lying there when\nI went out, but I was in a great hurry and did not stop to open it. I\ntook it up, opened it, and discovered that it contained a cheque for ten\npounds for the West London Mission, bringing up the amount needed for\nthat day to the exact sum which we had named in our midnight\nprayer-meeting. Of course this also may be described as a mere\ncoincidence, but all we want is coincidences of this sort. The name is\nnothing, the fact is everything, and there have been many such facts.\n\nLet me give one other in reference to money, as this kind of\nillustration will perhaps, more than any other, impress those who are\ndisposed to be cynical and to scoff. I was engaged in an effort to build\nSunday schools in the south of London. A benevolent friend promised a\nhundred pounds if I could get nine hundred pounds more, within a week. I\ndid my utmost, and by desperate efforts, with the assistance of friends,\ndid get eight hundred pounds, but not one penny more. We reached\nSaturday, and the terms of all the promises were that unless we\nobtained a thousand pounds that week we could not proceed with the\nbuilding scheme, and the entire enterprise might have been postponed for\nyears, and, indeed, never accomplished on the large scale we desired. On\nthe Saturday morning one of my principal church officers called, and\nsaid he had come upon an extraordinary business: that a Christian woman\nin that neighbourhood whom I did not know, of whom I had never heard,\nwho had no connection whatever with my church, had that morning been\nlying awake in bed, and an extraordinary impression had come in to her\nthat she was at once to give me one hundred pounds! She naturally\nresisted so extraordinary an impression as a caprice or a delusion. But\nit refused to leave her; it became stronger and stronger, until at last\nshe was deeply convinced that it was the will of God. What made it more\nextraordinary was the fact that she had never before had, and would, in\nall probability, never again have one hundred pounds at her disposal\nfor any such purpose. But that morning she sent me the money through my\nfriend, who produced it in the form of crisp Bank of England notes. From\nthat day to this I have no idea whatever who she was, as she wished to\nconceal her name from me. Whether she is alive or in heaven I cannot\nsay; but what I do know is that this extraordinary answer to our prayers\nsecured the rest of the money, and led to the erection of one of the\nfinest schools in London, in which there are more than a thousand\nscholars to-day.\n\nLet me give one other illustration in a different sphere. God has\nanswered our prayers again and again by saving those in whom we are\ninterested, and by sending us money. He has also answered prayer for\nsuitable agents to do His work.\n\nTwelve months ago I was sitting in my study at a very late hour; the\nrest of the household had gone to bed. I was particularly conscious at\nthat time that I greatly needed a lay agent, who could help me in work\namong the thousands of young men from business houses who throng St.\nJames's Hall. Several of our staff who could render efficient service in\nthat direction were fully occupied in other parts of the Mission. I\nprayed very earnestly to God, in my loneliness and helplessness; and\nwhilst I was praying, an assurance was given me that God had heard my\nprayer. By the first post on the next morning I received a letter from a\nman whom I had never met, requesting an interview. I saw him. It turned\nout that he was a staff officer in the Salvation Army, and formerly a\nMethodist; and that for two years he had been longing for a sphere of\nwork among young men. He had been himself in a Manchester business\nhouse, and he was extremely anxious for work among young fellows in the\ngreat business establishments. For various reasons a development of work\nin that direction, although it commanded the sympathy of the heads of\nthe Salvation Army, could not be undertaken just then; and while he was\npraying upon the subject, it seemed to him as though a definite voice\nsaid, \"Offer yourself to Mr. Hugh Price Hughes.\" In obedience to that\nvoice he came, and he is with us now. He has already gathered round him\na large number of young men; and at our last Public Reception of new\nmembers I received into the mission church forty-two young men of this\nclass, who had been brought to Christ, or to active association with His\nChurch, through the agency of the man whom God so promptly sent me in\nthe hour of my need.\n\nNothing that I have said will in the least degree surprise earnest\nChristians and Christian ministers. Such experiences as these are the\ncommonplace of real and active Christianity.\n\n\n\n\nIX\n\nBY THE REV.\nJ. CLIFFORD, M.A., D.D.\n\n\nImmediately after my acceptance of the pastorate of the church to which\nI still minister, I arranged to continue and broaden my training by\nattending Science Classes at University College, London. It was in the\nyear 1858. The day of science was in its brilliant and arresting dawn.\nProfessor Huxley had been lecturing on biology at the Royal School of\nMines for nearly four years, and his bold and masterly descriptions of\n\"Man's Place in Nature,\" given to working men, had stirred many minds.\nDarwin's \"Origin of Species\" appeared in the following year. The young\nscientific spirit was daring and aggressive; and scientific methods,\nthough feared in most quarters, were demanding and winning confidence. I\nwas sure science was one of the formative forces of the future, and\ntherefore it seemed to me the teachers of Christianity of the next\nhalf-century would do well to make themselves practically acquainted\nwith the methods pursued by scientific men, as well as conversant with\nthe results of scientific work.\n\nOne of Huxley's maxims was \"The man of science has learnt to believe in\njustification by verification.\" Certainly! and why not? The Christian is\nbidden by the teacher who ranks next to Jesus Christ, our one and only\nMaster, to \"prove all things, and hold fast that which is good.\" Human\nexperience is always verifying truth and exposing falsehood. New forces\nare set to work in the lives of men, and offer us their effects for\nexamination. New acts repeated lead to new habits, and new habits make a\nnew character. If the gardener inserts a \"bud\" in the branch of a\ngrowing brier, and after a while beholds the beauty and inhales the\nfragrance of the \"Gloire de Dijon\" rose; if the surgeon \"operates\" one\nday, and a little while afterwards sees that the forces he has freed\nfrom the disabilities of disease are moving forward on their healing\nmission; so the Christian pastor may suggest a truth, inspire a new\nhabit, direct to a new attitude of spirit, secure an uplift of soul, and\nafterwards trace the effect of these acts on the growth and development\nof character, and on the quantity and quality of the service given to\nthe kingdom of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.\n\"Experiments\" in the field of human nature yield as really verifiable\nresults as those that are given in the nursery of the gardener or the\nlaboratory of the chemist.\n\nBut contact with scientific methods not only suggested that the\npastorate would afford abundant opportunities for verifying the features\nand characteristics of the spirit of life in Jesus Christ, by a direct\nappeal to facts in the manifold experiences of Christian men; it also\nchanged the point of view, so that, instead of giving the first place\namongst \"answers to prayer\" to detached and easily reported incidents,\nthat rank was assigned to experiences showing that prayer is one of the\nchief of the unseen forces in character-building, in deepening humility,\nin broadening sympathy, in preserving the heart tender and sensitive to\nhuman suffering, in quickening aspiration, and giving the note of _soul_\nto a man's work and influence.\n\nThe materials sustaining that conclusion were abundant in the early\nyears of my ministry; notably in one case I can never forget. On the\nfirst Sabbath evening of my ministry I was preaching on the words \"Be ye\nreconciled to God.\" Amongst the listeners was one who had entered the\nhouse of prayer without any sense of alienation from God or hunger for\nHis revelation, and, as she afterwards confessed, merely to please her\nsister. But \"the Lord opened her heart to give heed to the things that\nwere spoken,\" so that she forthwith sought and found peace with God\nthrough our Lord Jesus Christ.\n\nNor did she only obtain peace. With Wordsworth she could say:\n\n    \"I bent before Thy gracious throne\n      And asked for peace with suppliant knee,\n    And peace was given, nor peace alone,\n      But faith and hope and ecstasy.\"\n\nFaith and hope, ecstasy and prayer, were the outstanding features of her\nnew life. She had little time for special acts of Christian service, and\nscant means wherewith to enrich the Church; but, according to the\nwitness of those who had known her longest, her character was clad in\nentirely new charms, and her spirit was fired and filled with new\nenergies. She grew in experience of the grace and love of God, and\nbecame at home with God in the deepest sense, and seemed rarely, if\never, absent from her chosen dwelling-place. Her strongest feeling was\nfor God, all investing, all encircling; and with reverent freedom and\nsweet security she lived and moved and had her being in communion with\nthe eternal Father. Prayer was not a task for specific occasions; it was\nthe breath of her life. It was not a wrestle or a struggle; it was an\nuplifting of her being into a fellowship with God. It did not shrivel\ninto a litany of petitions; it was sustained aspiration; and aspiration\nis a large part of achievement; it was deepest satisfaction with God,\nand His will and His work: and such satisfaction is itself a source of\npatient strength and a preparation for victory.\n\nNor was the effect limited. Her nature received a refinement, an\nelevation, a beauty that triumphed over the physical features, and shone\nout with a glory that is not seen on sea or shore. The expression of her\nface seemed to be from God. A transfiguring radiance came from within as\nshe thought on the wonders and delighted in the treasures of the gospel\nof God. Hers was a noble life. Like Martha, she was engaged in \"much\nserving;\" but yet was never cumbered and worn with it, because, like\nMary, she sat daily at the Master's feet, and listened to His words,\nand received His sustaining strength. She was as sweetly unselfish as\nthe flowers, and gave herself and her \"all\" to Christ, like the widow of\nthe gospels. Meekness and humility clothed her with their loveliest\nrobes. I never knew a purer spirit. She always breathed the softness and\ngentleness of the Saviour, and yet I have seen her weak body quiver and\nthrob with its anguish of desire for the salvation of the lost. Faithful\nunto death, she realised the support and joy of the Christian's hope,\nand gently as leaves are shed by the flower that has finished its\ncourse, she fell into the arms of Jesus; and as Deborah, Rebekah's\nnurse, was buried under the \"oak of weeping\" amid affectionate regrets\nand sweet memories, so this Christian servant was laid in the grave with\ntears of real sorrow from those whom she had served so faithfully and\nlong, as well as from friends who had been gladdened and fortified in\nthe faith of Christ by her sweet, earnest, and beautiful Christian life.\nThat day is now far off, but the influence of her prayer-filled life\nstill feeds faith in God as the Hearer and the Answerer of Prayer.\n\nAbout the same time and in the same spiritual laboratory I was called to\nobserve the following processes. A woman, the wife of a blacksmith, was\nled by the gospel of Christ into the joy of salvation. Her experience of\nthe grace of God in Christ was vivid and full. She knew little of doubt\nconcerning herself, but she was full of solicitude for her husband and\nchildren; for she had a very heavy burden to carry, and her heart was\nsore stricken. Her husband was a drunkard. When sober he was true,\ndevoted, and loving; but when he fell into intemperance he became hard,\nharsh, and even violent. But never did the brave and trustful wife cease\nto hope or cease to pray. In the darkest hours she begged for the\nconversion of her husband, and felt sure that God would respond to her\nsupplications. That was her habitual mood, her supreme desire, her\nliving prayer; and I could see that this very disposition developed her\nsaintliness, deepened her affection for her husband, and gave increased\nbeauty to her family life, as well as added to her usefulness in the\nChurch.\n\nOne day, in the course of my pastoral visits, I called at the\nblacksmith's home. Scarcely was the threshold crossed when the husband\nrushed in, wild, angry, and violent, the prey of intoxicants. But before\nhe had proceeded far the wife approached him, flung her arms around him,\ncalled him by name, and said: \"Ah, God will give you to me yet.\" Saint\nAmbrose told Monica, when she went to him, sad and desponding about her\nson, \"God would not forget the prayers of such a mother,\" and Augustine\ncame, though late in his young manhood, into the kingdom and patience of\nJesus Christ. So I felt the earnest pleadings of this true wife and\nmother would not be forgotten of God, but that, according to her own\nbeautiful saying, God would \"give her husband to her;\" for she did not\nthink he was completely hers whilst he was under the dominion of\nintoxicants,--give him to her freed from that depraving and desolating\nslavery. And it was so. For he, too, became a Christian, and they\ntogether effectively served their generation according to the will of\nGod, \"turning men from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan\nunto God.\"\n\nThere recurs to me the image of a visitor who called one Sunday evening\nin 1862, and who wished to know what he was to do in order to control\nand suppress an ungovernable temper. For years it had tortured him past\nall bearing, and, what was worse, for years it had been a source of pain\nand discomfort in his home. When his anger was kindled he was by his own\nconfession a terror to wife and children, and, seeing that he had\nrecently become a Christian, he felt acutely the stain such actions\nfixed on garments that should have been unspotted by the world. \"What\nmust I do? I can't go on in this way, and yet though I feel it is wrong\nI can't help myself.\"\n\nThe first suggestion I ventured was based on the regard he had expressed\nfor his pastor. \"What would be the effect,\" said I, \"on you, if I were\nto appear at the moment the storm was about to burst? Think!\"\n\nHe thought, and then said, \"It wouldn't burst I should stop it.\"\n\n\"Well, then, try this plan. Force yourself at the moment of peril into\nthe conscious presence of God, and say, as you feel the uprising\npassion, 'O God, make me master of myself.' Pray that prayer; and pray,\nmorning by morning, that you may so pray in your time of need; and in\ndue season you will obtain the perfect mastery of yourself you seek.\" He\npromised. I watched. He prayed. He conquered; once, twice, thrice, and\nthen failed; but he renewed the attempt, and triumphed again, and years\nafterwards I knew him as one of the most serene of men; and when he\ndied, no phase of his character stood out more distinctively than his\nperfect self-control, and no fact in his life was remembered with deeper\ngratitude by his bereaved wife than that memorable victory won by prayer\nin the early days of his discipleship to the Lord Jesus.\n\nFrom the beginning of my ministry I have made it my business to offer\nadvice and aid to young men and maidens assailed with doubts and fears\nconcerning the revelation of God in Christ, hindered at the outset by\nmisconceptions of the \"way of salvation,\" and perplexed by confused and\ncontradictory teaching. Hundreds of young men (and within the last ten\nyears especially, many young women) have described to me their\ndifficulties as they have reached the stage described by Roscoe in the\nwords, \"There are times when faith is weak and the heart yearns for\nknowledge.\"\n\nHere is a \"case\" chosen from a large number of similar facts. A young\nman came to tell me the somewhat familiar story, that the first fervours\nof his religious life had cooled down, his early raptures were gone, and\nthe sense of peace and bounding freedom, and of all-sufficing strength\nin God, had departed with them. The certainties of the opening months or\nyears of the Christian pilgrimage had given place to torturing\nquestions, such as, \"Am I not deceived? After all, is Christianity true?\nWhat are its real contents? What is inspiration? Did miracles happen?\"\netc., etc. Week after week we reasoned and argued, and months passed in\na struggle whose usefulness no one could register, and whose issue no\none could forecast.\n\nBut it \"happened,\" as these conversations were going on, that he was\n\"drawn\" into what I may call a \"prayer circle,\" privately carried on by\na small group of young men who were not unacquainted with such conflicts\nas those which then engaged his powers. He joined it, and by-and-by felt\nits influence. He was lifted into another atmosphere, and breathed a\nclearer, sunnier air. His misgivings were slowly displaced by missionary\nenthusiasm, and his fears by a stronger faith; and yet he had not solved\nthe problems suggested by the person of Christ, or found the secret of\nthe Incarnation, or explained the mystery of the Atonement. But he had\nbeen led to set the full force of his nature on communion with God; and\nprayer had quickened the sense for spiritual realities, for the\nrecognition of the infinite value of the human soul, and for the wonder\nand splendour of God's salvation. In that realm of prayer, character was\naltered, the aim of life was altered, the will had a new goal, and so\nthe questions of the intellect fell into their true place in reference\nto the whole of the questions of life. Emerson writes, \"When all is said\nand done, the rapt saint is found the only logician.\" It is he who\nthinks the most sanely and dwells nearest the central truths of life and\nbeing. It is he who becomes serenely acquiescent in the agnosticism of\nthe Bible, and realises that revelation must contain many things past\nfinding out, whilst the Spirit, who is the revealer, gives us the best\nassurances of the certitude and clearness of what it is most important\nfor us to know.\n\nSo often have I seen this rest-giving effect on the intellect, of the\nlifting of the life into communion with God, that I cannot hesitate to\nregard it as a law of the life of man, and yet I must add that I do not\nthink it wise to meet those who ask our aid in the treatment of their\nmental perplexities merely, or at _first_, with the counsel to pray.\nMost likely they will misunderstand it, and it will become to them a\nstone of stumbling and a rock of offence. We had better, if we are able,\nmeet them first on their own ground, that of the intellect, and meet\nthem with frankness and sympathy, with knowledge and tact; and yet seek\nby the spirit we breathe, and the associations into which we introduce\nthem, to raise them where the Saviour's beatitude shall become an\nexperience: \"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.\"\n\nPrayer has often proved itself an infallible recipe for dejection. A man\nof culture and wealth was for a long time pursued by what seemed to him\nan intolerable and invariable melancholy. He sought relief near and far,\nand sought in vain. He became a source of anxiety to his friends. He\nwent away to Bellagio, goaded by the same restlessness, but its lovely\nsurroundings did not heal, its soft airs did not soothe. No! All was\ndark and repellent. Even prayer seemed of no use. God had forgotten\nhim. He was cast off as reprobate. His soul was disquieted within him.\nThe burden of his misery was more than he could carry. He threatened to\ntake away his life. But in his despair he still clung to his God; and at\nlast, as in this desperate, and yet not altogether hopeless or\nprayerless mood, he read a sermon on \"Elijah as a brave prophet tired of\nlife;\" hope was reborn and joy restored, and as Bunyan's pilgrim lost\nhis burden at the cross, so this Elijah escaped from his tormentors, and\ncame forth and dwelt in the light of God's countenance. It was the\nprayer of a weak and struggling faith; but God did not turn it away, nor\nreject the voice of his supplication.\n\nWhat abundant witness that\n\n        \"More things are wrought by prayer\n    Than this world dreams of\"\n\ncould be supplied by pastors and elders who have visited the widow and\nthe fatherless, the sick and suffering in their afflictions. One picture\ncomes to me from the crowded past, of a strong and victorious, though\nmuch enduring saint. Crippled by disease, she did not rise from her bed\nunaided for more than seven years. She was always in pain, sometimes\nheavy and dull, but not infrequently keen and sharp. Yet through all\nthese years, she not only did not complain, but she had such an overflow\nof quiet cheerfulness and of deep interest in life that she distributed\nher gladness to others and made them partakers of her serenity. You\ncould not detain her in talk about herself, her ailments, her broken\nplans, her manifold disappointments. No! she would compel you to talk of\nthe Church, its schools, its missions, its various activities; of\nsocieties and movements for getting rid of social evils, such as\nintemperance and impurity. Sometimes the theme was last Sunday's\nsermons, or those in preparation for the next; but rarely herself. There\nshe lay with a patience that was never ruffled, a serenity rarely if\never disturbed, a forgetfulness of self bright and fresh, a solicitude\nfor others deep and full, and a fellowship with God not only unbroken,\nbut so inspiring as to make the sick-room a sanctuary radiant with His\npresence. Prayer led her to the fountains of divine joy, daily she drank\nand was refreshed.\n\nSo I set down a few tested, verified facts from the early part of a\nministry of over thirty-eight years; facts chosen from amongst many, and\nin substance repeated again and again during recent, but not yet\nreportable years.\n\n\n\n\nX\n\nBY THE VERY REV.\nG. D. BOYLE, M.A.\nDEAN OF SALISBURY\n\n\n\"What was it that struck you most in that sermon on the character of St.\nPaul?\" said Bishop Patteson to a friend at Oxford, who had been with him\nlistening to a sermon preached before the University by a very\nremarkable man, who has now passed away. \"Those two sentences,\" said his\nfriend, \"in which he said there were two great powers in the world, the\npower of personal religion, and the power of prayer.\" When I told this\nmany years afterwards to one of the best parish priests I have ever\nknown, he gave me, from his own experience, some instances of answers to\nprayer which are certainly worth reading.\n\nShortly after he had entered Holy Orders, he joined a clerical society.\nHe was greatly pleased with three of the younger members, but thought\nfrom their conversation after the meeting that they were too fond of\namusements. As he walked home he spoke of this to an elderly clergyman,\nwho said, \"Let you and me make for them special prayer, that they may\ntake a more serious view of their calling.\" Some time afterwards my\nfriend happened to see one of these three brother clergymen at a time of\ngreat sorrow. He told him that he had resolved to give up certain\namusements, which he thought at one time harmless. Some time afterwards\nthe other two openly declared that they had taken a similar course, and\nmy friend did not scruple to avow his belief that the after lives of\nthese three men, all of high family, and all remarkable for their zeal\nas clergymen, was a direct answer to special intercession.\n\nHe told me of a still more striking instance. Two men, who had been\nfriends at college, met after many years abroad. The one said to the\nother, \"When you were at Oxford, you told me you were very indifferent\nas to religion, so I suppose you will not go with me this morning to the\nEnglish service.\" \"But I certainly will,\" said his friend. \"I have given\nup all that sort of thing; I left off praying for years, in the belief\nthat as God knows everything it was needless to pray, but an impulse\ncame upon me after hearing Baron Parke's account of a sermon he heard\nShergold Boone preach, and I am now a communicant.\" \"Then, dear----,\"\nsaid his friend, \"I think my prayer is answered, for I have never ceased\nsince Oxford days to ask that you might have the happiness I enjoy.\"\n\nThese two are surely remarkable instances of answers to special prayer\nfor spiritual benefit.\n\nWhat shall be said of the faithful man who, through his own effort,\nmaintained a small but efficient orphanage? From no fault of his own his\nsupplies ceased. There came into his mind some words of Edward Irving's\nabout the Fatherhood of God. He made a special petition for the relief\nof his poor children. On his return home he found a letter containing a\nrequest that the future welfare of his home should be ensured by a\npermanent endowment.\n\n\"How could you keep your temper through all the vexatious dispute of\nto-night's debate?\" was the question asked of Lord Althorpe by his most\nintimate friend, after a fierce discussion on the Reform Bill. \"I always\nask for strength before going to the House,\" was the answer; \"and to-day\nI asked for special strength, for I knew that party spirit ran high.\"\n\nMany years ago I worked as a curate in the district which had seen the\nfirst labours of the excellent Bishop of Wakefield, whose sudden removal\nfrom active work will long be deeply mourned by the Church of England.\nWhen he left Kidderminster for a country parish, he gave a New Testament\nto a young man who had at one time promised well, but who fell into bad\ncompany. \"I shall make you the subject of special prayer,\" said the\nBishop, on wishing him good-bye. Some years afterwards I told the Bishop\nthat his advice had not been thrown away, and his words were, \"I humbly\nhope my prayer was heard.\"\n\nBishop Mackenzie told a friend of mine that he had asked for some change\nin the life of two favourite pupils at Cambridge. They were not in the\nhabit of going to University sermons, but they went to hear one of\nBishop Selwyn's famous series in 1854. One of them became an eminent\nclergyman, and the other died a missionary in India.\n\nOne more instance will suffice. An attack upon the divinity of Christ\nwas published some years ago by one who had been trained in a very\ndifferent way. His former tutor, who had a very great love for him,\nasked a few friends not to forget him. As the tutor was dying, he had\nthe satisfaction of hearing that the man he had known and loved from\nchildhood had returned to the faith of a child.\n\nI believe that all who have had considerable experience in parochial\nwork could give many instances of special answers to prayer. In recent\nyears many have come forward to offer themselves for labor at home and\nabroad. The present occupation of many minds with the difficulties of\nbelief, the revelations made by earnest thinkers like Romanes, the\nquestions raised in such lives as the late Master of Balliol's, the\nearnest longings for some reconciliation between the men of science and\nthe men of faith, may all surely be accepted as in some degree answers\nto the prayers and aspirations of all who hope that in the Church of the\nfuture there may be found a simple faith, an enduring charity, and a\nbelief in the unchangeable strength of an unchangeable Saviour.\n\n\n\n\nA word to the reader.\n\n\nDo you know what \"Sabbath Reading\" is? It is a 16-page weekly paper,\ndevoted exclusively to the best class of religious matter. No word of\nSecular News, Politics, Sectarianism, or wearying disputations on the\n\"letter\" which killeth, but much of the best teaching on the \"spirit\"\nwhich giveth life.\n\nA special feature consists of brief talks on meditative and devotional\nthemes for the family and the fireside. These talks are contributed by\nDr. THEO. L. CUYLER, D.D., Rev. NEWMAN HALL, D.D., Rev. J. R. MILLER,\nD.D., Rev. W. GARDEN BLAIKIE, D.D., MARY LOWE DICKENSON, Bishop E. R.\nHENDRIX, Count A. BERNSTORF, Rt. Rev. FRED. D. HUNTINGTON, D.D., GEORGE\nDANA BOARDMAN, D.D., LOUIS ALBERT BANKS, D.D., Bishop HENRY W. WARREN,\nRev. WAYLAND HOYT, D.D. It has an exposition of the current\nSabbath-School Lesson, of the Christian Endeavor Topic, and of the\nEpworth League Topic; Choice Poetry; Good Stories; Missionary News and\nViews; _no essays_. ITS SUBSCRIPTION PRICE IS ONLY FIFTY CENTS A YEAR.\n\n_A sample copy cheerfully sent free._\n\n\nJOHN DOUGALL & CO.,\n150 NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK.\n\n\n\n\nTRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:\n\n\n  Text in italics is surrounded with underscores: _italics_.\n\n  Obvious typographical errors have been corrected as follows:\n    Page 86: \"liliputian\" changed to \"lilliputian\"\n\n  Errors in punctuation have been corrected without note.\n\n\n\n\n\n<pre id=\"pg-footer\">","title":"In Answer to Prayer","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":19842}