Bishop Simpson's Recovery.
Bishop Bowman gives the following instance from his own experience:
"In the Fall of 1858, whilst visiting Indiana, I was at an annual
conference where Bishop Janes presided. We received a telegram that
Bishop Simpson was dying. Said Bishop Janes, 'Let us spend a few
moment's in earnest prayer for the recovery of Bishop Simpson.' We
kneeled to pray. William Taylor, the great California street preacher,
was
called to pray, and such a prayer I never heard since. The
impression seized upon me irresistibly, _Bishop Simpson will not die_. I
rose from my knees perfectly quiet. Said I, 'Bishop Simpson will not
die.' 'Why do you think so?' Because I have had an _irresistible
impression_ made upon my mind during this prayer.' Another said, '_I
have the same impression_.' We passed it along from bench to bench,
until we found that a very large proportion of the conference had the
same impression. I made a minute of the time of day, and when I next saw
Simpson, he was attending to his daily labor. I inquired of the Bishop,
'How did you recover from your sickness?' He replied, '_I cannot tell_.'
'What did your physician say?' '_He said it was a miracle_.' I then said
to the Bishop, 'Give me the time and circumstances under which the
change occurred.' He fixed upon the day, and _the very hour_, making
allowance for the distance--a thousand miles away--that the preachers
were engaged in prayer at this conference. The physician left his room
and said to his wife, '_It is useless to do anything further; the Bishop
must die_.' In about an hour, he returned and started back, inquiring,
'_What have you done?' 'Nothing,'_ was the reply. 'He is recovering
rapidly,' said the physician; '_a change has occurred in the disease
within the last hour beyond anything I have ever seen; the crisis is
past, and the Bishop will recover_.' And he did."
The doctor was puzzled; it was beyond all the course and probabilities
of nature and the laws of science. What was it that made those ministers
so sure--what was it that made the patient recover, at the exact hour
that they prayed? There is only one answer, "_The ever living Power of a
Superior Spirit which rules the world_."