One Who Refused The Holy Spirit.
The following incident is related by D.L. Moody, the Evangelist, which
contains a warning, how the Holy Spirit avenges itself to those who
refuse its admonitions. It is a remarkable instance of the control of an
overruling God, who alone knew that man's mind, and which alone could
bring that text so often to his memory:
"There was a young man in my native village--he was not a young man when
I was talking
he was weeping; I asked him what he was weeping about, and he told me a
very strange story. When he left home his mother gave him the text:
'_Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these
things will be added unto you_.' He was ambitious to get rich, and
thought when he had got comfortable, that was the time to give his
attention to religion. He went from village to village, and got nothing
to do. Sunday came, and he went into the village church. _What was his
great surprise to hear the minister preach from that text_. It went down
into his heart--he thought that it was his mother's prayers that were
following him--he thought the whole sermon was for himself, and thought
he would like to get out. For days be could not get that text and sermon
out of his mind. He went on still, from village to village, and at last
he went into another church after weeks had rolled away. He went for
some Sundays to the church, and it wasn't a great while before the
minister _gave out this very text_. He thought surely it was God calling
him then, and he said, coolly and deliberately, _he would not seek the
Kingdom of God_. He went on in this way, and in the course of a few
months, to his great surprise, he heard the _third sermon from the third
minister on the same text_. He tried to stifle it, but it followed him.
At last he made up his mind he would not go to church any more. When he
came back to Northfield, after years, his mother had died, but the text
kept coming to him over and over, and he said, 'I will not become a
Christian;' and said he to me, 'Moody, my heart is as hard as that
stone.' It was all Greek to me, because I was not a Christian myself at
the time. After my conversion, in Boston, he was about the first man I
thought of. When I got back and asked my mother about him, she told me
he was gone out of his mind, and to every one who went to the asylum to
see him he pointed his finger and said: '_Seek ye first the Kingdom, of
God and His Righteousness_.' When I went back to my native village,
after that, I was told he was still out of his mind, but at home. I went
to see him, and asked him did he know me. He was rocking backwards and
forwards in his rocking chair, and he gave me that vacant stare and
pointed to me as he said, '_Young man, seek first the Kingdom of God and
His Righteousness_.' When, last month, I laid down my younger brother in
his grave, I could not help but think of that man lying but a few yards
away. May every man and woman here be wise for eternity and seek now the
Kingdom of God and His Righteousness, is my prayer."
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One of the most beautiful incidents ever known relating to the faith of children, and the reward of their trust, is contained in the following circumstance, personally known to the editor of this book, who was a participant in the facts. The on... Life Spared For Two Weeks.
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A clergyman writes us these incidents: "I knew a poor family whose son George, four or five years old, was accustomed to pray. They lived five or six miles from neighbors, and, at times, were quite destitute. One day, as little George observed h... Luther's Mighty Prayer And Prophecy.
At one time in the life of Luther, there was a critical moment in the affairs of the Reformation. Bitter persecution prevailed with extraordinary power, and threatened every one. They were the dark days when faith could only cling. There were but ... Melancthon's Life Saved From Death In Answer To Luther's Prayer.
The most powerful tribute to the efficacy of prayer, was the answer to Luther's prayer which the Lord sent. A messenger was sent to Luther that Melancthon was dying. He found him presenting the usual premonitory symptoms of death. Melancthon rouse... Money For Postage.
"One day I opened my port-monnaie to get change for some little needful, when I found I had but ten cents. I used five of it. As visions of six or seven letters and many little things I needed came up before me, I said aloud: 'The Lord will have t... Money Wanted To Pay Railroad Fare.
"Once, on a visit, I left the company below, and went up stairs for an hour's quiet and prayer. I was to return the coming week and I had only just enough to pay my fare. For several days I had been anxious how I was to get some money. This aftern... Mr. Moody's Answers To Prayers.
Mr. D.L. Moody, the Evangelist, when a boy, was possessed of an unusual amount of muscular strength and animal spirits, and a strong will that knew little of impossibility or submission. When only six years old, being wistful to do something to he... Mr. Moody's Faith, In Prayer. A Remarkable Answer.
Mr. Moody, on his return from England, while conducting a prayer-meeting in Northfield, Mass., gave this illustration of the power of prayer to subdue the most unlikely cases of sin and unbelief: "There is not a heart so hard that God cannot tou... Mr. Spurgeon's Cow.
"My grandfather was a very poor minister, and kept a cow, which was a very great help in the support of his children--he had ten of them;--and the cow took the "staggers" and died. 'What will you do now?' said my grandmother. 'I cannot tell what w... Mrs. Whitney's Cure In Answer To Prayer.
Mrs. C.S. Whitney of Hartford, Conn., a lady well known for her Christian work among the poor, thus gives in a letter to Dr. Patton, her personal testimony of the efficacy of prayer: "Three years ago, I was healed of a bodily disease. I had been... My Heart Talked.
A child six years old, in a Sunday school, said: "When we kneel down in the school-room to pray, it seems as if my heart talked." ... Nettie's Daily Bread.
A little girl in a wretched attic, whose sick mother had no bread, knelt down by the bedside, and said slowly: "Give us this day our daily bread." Then she went into the street and began to wonder where God kept his bread. She turned around the co... No "ifs."
"A number of years ago I went West to better my condition.... After a little time I went into business of my own, had but little capital, and my good name to be punctual in paying for what I bought on credit was of great importance to me. I had prom... No Fear Of Thunder.
Some years ago a camp-meeting was held in Southern Indiana. It rained nearly all the time of the meeting. Father Haven, a man mighty in prayer, rose to preach. Just as he announced his text it thundered, and the congregation seemed to be restless ... No Flour In The House--in The Days Of Famine, His Soul Shall Be Satisfied.
Mr. Moody's domestic life has always been a happy one, but in the early days of his marriage, he was very poor, and his faith was often put to the severest tests. One day, on leaving home in his missionary work and labors of love, he remarked t... Noah's Prayer.--he Did Not Get Discouraged.
The life of faith and the necessity of uncompromising hold on the promise's, expecting their fulfillment, is admirably explained in the illustration of Noah's prayer. One day Mr. Moody was much discouraged, and it was as dark a Sabbath as ever he ... Not Your Own Strength Can Break The Habit.
"I smoked tobacco excessively for fifteen years, commencing when I was about twenty years old. I often strove to break off from the use of it; indeed I determined time and again to desist from it, sometimes abstaining for a few months or weeks, on... Oh, How Precious.
"I wrote five months since for prayers for myself, and I now write to say that I have found my Savior very precious to my soul." ... One Who Refused The Holy Spirit.
The following incident is related by D.L. Moody, the Evangelist, which contains a warning, how the Holy Spirit avenges itself to those who refuse its admonitions. It is a remarkable instance of the control of an overruling God, who alone knew that... Persevering Prayer.
At one of the prayer-meetings at the Brooklyn tabernacle, Mr. Moody closed by narrating an instance of persevering prayer by a Christian wife for an infidel husband. She resolved to pray for him at noon for eighteen months, and at the expiration o... Please God, Give Us A Home.
Mr. Moody tells of a beautiful answer to the faith of a little child. "I remember a child that lived with her parents in a small village. One day the news came that her father had joined the army (it was the beginning of our war), and a few days... Prayer Answered For Employment.
"A foreigner without means and friendless tried in vain for ten months to succeed in finding some employment. He requested your prayers to God, and _God answered_. In less than eighteen hours a splendid position was offered to him. He and his wife... Prayer For A Pair Of Boots.
In the Fall of 1858, H----, a student in the Theological Seminary at Princeton, N.J., was in great need of a new pair of boots. His toes were sticking out of his old ones, and he had no money to purchase new ones. All the money he could command wa... Prayer For Purchasers.
When removal to the new Home was determined upon, there still remained five of the old buildings on hand to be disposed of. This too was taken to the Lord in prayer that he might send purchasers. One building was sold in October, and the remaini... Prayer Found The Remedy For The Disease.
"A correspondent of _The Illustrated Christian Weekly_, states that a mother of her acquaintance had a child taken alarmingly ill. She sent for the physician. The child was in convulsions. The doctor began at once vigorously to apply the customary... Prayer Instantaneously Answered For Conversion.
On the evening of the fifty-first daily prayer-meeting in Augusta, Ga., a large gathering assembled in the St. John's M.E. Church, at which Dr. Irvine presided, and some very touching communications were read. One was from a widowed mother, asking... Prayer Saves The Life Of A Little Child.
"A year ago this Summer, my sister's little baby, only five months old, was taken very ill with that distressing complaint which often proves so fatal, and takes so many sweet little ones out of loving hearts and homes. I loved baby Ernest, but ne... Prayer, Not Mesmerism.
"Several people have maintained that her work was one of mesmerism; and when once she was asked to visit an out patient, she earnestly implored the Lord _not_ to heal this invalid through her means if she employed mesmerism; but if not, to permit ... Prayer.
An exact parallel instance to the foregoing is given in the experience of a correspondent of _The Christian_, which occurred in the latter part of November, 1864, while traveling with her aged father and two small girls: "We started from New Ha... Praying For A Bible.
"For a long while it has been my habit to be entirely guided for the day by the first verse in the Bible on which my eyes rested. While dressing for the day, I glance at the open page, or sometimes turning over the leaves. But my old Bible was poo... Praying For A Furnace.
"I am earnestly praying for the means to purchase a furnace, for we cannot receive patients into the new Home until it can be warmed. I am looking to the Lord, and He will help." _Seven days later_. "A gentleman has this day ordered a furnace to... Praying For A Home.
A young Southern girl, who had lost a position through five months' sickness, and found herself, at last, in the street and penniless, turned her steps to a daily prayer-meeting. She said her earliest impressions from her mother were, that the Lor... Praying For A Lost Pocket-book.
A contributor to _The Christian_ writes as follows: "A few months since I lost my pocket-book, containing money and papers of a large amount--more than I felt able to lose--and which I should feel the loss of, as I was owing at that time about t... Praying For A New Hat.
"Whatsoever thing ye ask in _My_ name"-- "For a long while I had been without money, and my need was very great. I wanted a new hat so much; and the question arose in my mind, 'What am I going to do about it?' As I had no human arm to depend... Praying For A Pastor.
"Several months ago I wrote asking you to pray for a feeble church in need of a pastor. Since then I am happy to say that this church has been blessed and we now have a pastor." ... Praying For A Sewing Machine.
"One day a lady friend said to me: 'Would you like some nice sewing, easy to do?' I answered, 'Yes.' 'Have you a sewing machine?' 'I have not, but am praying for one.' 'That is right; so you believe you will have it by praying for it?' I replied: ... Praying For Money For A Journey.
A lady, Miss E., residing in New Bedford, received a letter telling of the serious illness of her mother, in New York. Sick herself, from unremitted care of an invalid during eight years, poor as Elijah when his only grocers were the ravens, too o... Praying For Others.
"My sister's husband wished to raise a certain sum of interest money by a given time, but could see no way; was very much troubled about it; said he knew no one to whom he could apply. I told him to pray for it. He answered, 'God won't hear the pr... Praying For Stoves.
"This afternoon, knowing the necessity of stoves for some of the upper rooms, as the weather is quite cool, I went to the Lord, in prayer, and told him of our need, praying Him in one way to supply us. "I then went down town to a friend, to look... Praying For Tea.
On a top floor in a street of tenements lives a colored woman one hundred and ten years old! Her son, a man over seventy, lost his wife, a neat, active Christian woman, very suddenly, and his aged mother was plunged in despairing grief. "Why, why ... Praying For Tea.
"As the life of faith consists in bearing the cross of Christ, we must not expect to be long without trials. Providence soon frowned on me again, and I got behindhand, as usual. "This happened at a time when my wife was about delivery of child, ... Praying For The Wind To Come.
A remarkable incident, showing how God makes the winds to obey him in obedience to the prayer of his righteous ones, and the expectations of their faith, occurred also in Samuel Hick's life, which is really an astonishing proof of God's supernatur... Praying In Fair Weather.
The ways in which God saves those whom he wishes to deliver from death, are sometimes too wonderful for our understanding. A certain ship was overtaken in a severe and prolonged storm at sea. She had a noble Christian man for a captain, and as goo... Praying To Stop The Wind And The Sailing Of A Vessel.
The late aged and venerable Rev. Dr. Cleaveland, of Boston, relates the following incident: "In a revival of religion in the church of which he was pastor, he was visited one morning by a member of his church, a widow, whose only son was a sail... President Finney's Prayer For Rain.
The following incident of the prayer of President Finney for rain, and its immediate answer, is furnished by Professor Cowles, the intimate friend of President Finney: "Somewhat more than twenty years ago, the village of Oberlin and its adjacen... Prosperity And Liberality.
A London correspondent of the _Western Christian Advocate_, writing some years ago of raising a fund for the extinction of debts on chapels, gives the following incident: "A gentleman named Wilkes, who was promised a subscription of one thousan... Raised Up From Death's Door.
"Our former pastor was raised up from death's door, in answer to your prayer. _The doctor gave him up_. He says the Lord alone saved him, in answer to prayer. Praise His name." ... Reason Restored.
"Last March, I requested you to pray for a dear friend in Massachusetts, who was deprived of her reason through sickness and great trouble. _Give thanks unto God, she is fully restored."_ "Arise And Walk." "It will be just one year since ... Reclaimed.
"I must ask you to return thanks with me that your prayers have been answered. An intemperate brother has been reclaimed." ... Recovery From Dangerous Illness.
Dr. Newman Hall was once visiting, on his dying bed, John Cranfield, son of the great originator of ragged schools, under the ministry of Rowland Hill. "We were conversing on prayer. He said, 'A remarkable instance occurred in connection with m... Recovery From Insanity.
A most remarkable case of recovery from insanity is given by President William M. Brooks, of Tabor College, Iowa. "A young lady of my acquaintance, of a finished education, lost her reason in the Winter of 1871-2, and in August, 1872, was placed... Recovery From Paralysis.
"Between two and three years ago, the writer was struck down by paralysis, disabling entirely the limbs of the left side. In this apparently helpless state, I employed a man to take care of me, and felt that unless God should interpose, I must be ... Recovery From Spinal Disease.
"Miss M---- is the daughter of a respectable farmer, an elder in a Presbyterian church in Western Pennsylvania. When a young girl her spine was injured while nursing her aged and helpless grandmother, and she has been a great sufferer for many yea... Recovery Of An Invalid.
"One year ago, the prayers of this meeting were asked for an invalid who had years of intense suffering before her, unless soon relieved. Prayers were offered for her. Now we would like to acknowledge the loving-kindness and tender mercy of our Go...