Leonard Shaw Of Manchester

The work for homeless children in Manchester was cradled in prayer.

Every step in preparation was laid before God. But what I want specially

to insist upon is the real connection there is between prayer and work.

From the first my practice has been to lay our wants before God in

prayer, and at the same time to use every means within our reach to

obtain what we desired. I well remember in the early days of the work

how nxiously we discussed whether it was to be conducted on the

"faith" principle, as it is called, or on the "work" principle. Looking

back on the way by which we have come, it seems to me now that faith and

work necessarily go together. Earnest believing prayer is not less

earnest and believing because you use the means God has put within your

reach. Your dependence upon God is just the same. You send out an

appeal, but it is God who disposes the hearts of the people to

subscribe. So I say the connection between praying and working, though

not always seen, is very real. Day by day the special needs of the work

are laid before God, and day by day they are supplied.



Of direct answers to prayer I have had many sweet and encouraging

assurances, particularly in connection with our orphan homes. In the

first five years of the work, we only took in boys between the ages of

ten and sixteen. At that time of life, boys who have been brought up on

the street are not easy to manage, and a friend to whom I was telling

some of our difficulties, suggested that we should take the boys in

younger. To do so meant a new departure, and on going into the matter I

found that a sum of about L600 would be needed to start such an orphan

home as was suggested. I said to my wife, "Let us pray about this; if it

is God's will that we should enter upon this new branch of work, He will

send the money." We resolved that should be the test; if the money came

we would start the home, otherwise we would not. Our annual meeting came

round soon after, and in the report I made an appeal on behalf of the

new scheme. The report was sent out with much prayer, but no individual

person was asked to contribute. In a few days I received a letter from a

gentleman residing in Southport, enclosing a cheque for L600. The house

for the first of our orphan homes was bought for L500, and the balance

of the cheque enabled us to furnish it.



At the end of the following year, the home was full of fatherless and

motherless little ones, and others were seeking admission for whom there

was no room. I sent out a second appeal, asking God to put it into the

heart of someone to provide a second home. A few weeks afterwards a lady

well known in Manchester paid us a visit at the home and two days later

I received from her a cheque for L1000. In this way we got our second

home. Another year and this second home was also full. Again I prayed

God to dispose the heart of some one to help us, and I sent out another

appeal. One day, perhaps two or three weeks later, a gentleman stopped

me in the street and said he had been wanting to see me for some days,

as he had a cheque for L700 waiting for me at his office. At the moment

the orphan home was not in my mind, and I asked what the cheque was for.

Why, he said, I understand your two orphan homes are full and that you

want another. And so we got our third home. Another year and it too was

full. Again after earnest prayer I received a cheque for L1000 from

another Manchester gentleman, who in some way had come to know that a

fourth home was needed.



In these four cases you have, I think, remarkable instances of direct

answer to prayer. So, at any rate, I must always regard them. I need not

say how encouraged we were, year after year, to go on with the work,

though each additional home meant a large increase in our annual

expenditure.



The money with which the fifth orphanage house was bought was not given

in one sum nor specially for the purpose, and the circumstances would

not warrant me in saying that it came in direct answer to prayer. When a

sixth home became necessary an appeal was made to the schoolgirls of

Lancashire and Cheshire, and they found the L500 for the purchase money.

This house is called "The School Girls' Home." The inscription on the

memorial stone, "His children shall have a place of refuge," was

suggested by the late Bishop of Manchester.



In smaller, but perhaps not less important matters, we have had

unmistakable proofs that God answers prayer. One case which occurred in

the early days of the work greatly impressed me. A letter came one

morning from Stalybridge asking us to take in five little children who

had been left destitute and without a friend in the world. I went over

to make inquiries, and found the children in the same room with the dead

body of their mother, which had little more to cover it than an old

sack. Our means at that time were very small, and I thought we could

hardly venture to take in all the children. The clergyman of the parish

pleaded with me to take at least two or three. I asked what was to

become of the others, and the answer was that there was nothing for them

but the workhouse. What to do I did not know. I made it a matter of

prayer, but all that night it lay upon my heart a great burden. Next

morning I came downstairs still wondering what to do. Amongst the

letters on my table was one from a gentleman at Bowdon, enclosing,

unasked, a cheque for L50. In those days L50 was an exceptionally large

sum for us to receive, and I took the letter as a direct word from God

that we should accept the care of the children. We did so, and I am glad

to say every one of them turned out well.



But direct answers to prayer are not confined to mere gifts of money.

Over and over again during these twenty-seven years of rescue work I

have put individual cases before God and asked Him to deal with them,

and it is just wonderful how He has subdued stubborn wills and changed

hearts and lives.



Years ago there came to the Refuges the son of a man known to the

Manchester police as "Mike the devil." Tom was as rough a customer as

ever I saw, and for a time we had some trouble with him. But a great

change came over him, and I have myself no doubt it was the result of

personal pleading with God on his behalf. Tom is now an ordained

minister of the Gospel in America. There is no end to the cases I could

give of that kind. They all point to the same conclusion, that God does

answer definite prayer. And to-day, after twenty-seven years of work, I

praise Him for it.