/> produce results totally different from those which would have taken

place if some free will had not intervened to use them.



We must assume that God, who is the Author of all natural laws, can with

infinite ease manipulate them so as to produce any desired result,

without in the least degree altering their character or interfering with

the universal reign of Law.



However, what you want is not theory but actual experience. I will not

refer, therefore, to the stupendous proofs that God does answer prayer,

presented by Mr. Mueller of Bristol in his immense orphanages, or to

similar unmistakable results in the various philanthropic institutions

of Dr. Cullis of Boston. I will go at once to my own personal

experiences, and mention one or two facts that have come under my own

observation. There are a great many, but I will simply give a few

typical cases.



A good many years ago I was conducting a special mission in the

neighbourhood of Chelsea. It is my custom on these occasions to invite

members of the congregation to send me in writing special requests for

the conversion of unsaved relatives or friends. On the Tuesday night,

among many other requests for prayer, was one from a daughter for the

conversion of her father. It was presented in due course with the rest,

but no one at that moment knew the special circumstances of the case,

except the writer. On the following Friday I received another request

from the same woman; but now it was a request for praise, describing the

circumstances under which the prayer had been answered, and I read the

wonderful story to the congregation.



It appeared that this girl's father was an avowed infidel who had not

been to any place of worship for many years, and he disliked the subject

of religion so intensely that he ultimately forbade his Christian

daughter in London to write to him, as she was continually bringing in

references to Christ. On the particular Tuesday evening in question,

that infidel father was on his way to a theatre in some provincial town,

more than a hundred miles from London. As he was walking to the

theatre, there was a sudden shower of rain which drove him for shelter

into the vestibule of a chapel where a week-night service was being

held. The preacher in the pulpit was a Boanerges, whose loud voice

penetrated into the lobby, and there was something in what he said that

attracted the attention of the infidel and induced him to enter the

chapel. He became more and more interested as the sermon proceeded, and

before its close he was deeply convinced of sin, and in true penitence

sought mercy from Jesus Christ. I need scarcely say to any one who knows

anything of the love of God, that this prayer was speedily answered, and

he went home rejoicing in divine forgiveness. The next day he wrote to

his daughter in London telling her that he had set out on the previous

evening intending to visit the theatre, but had actually found his way

into a chapel, where his sins had been forgiven and his heart changed.

He wrote at once to tell her the good news, and he assured her that he

would now be only too glad to hear from her as often as she could write

to him. These facts were communicated through me to the congregation,

and we all gave thanks to God.



Of course it may be said that the conversion of this man, who had not

been into a place of worship for more than a dozen years, was a mere

accident, and that its coming at the very time we were praying for him

was a mere coincidence. But we need not quarrel about words. All we need

to establish is, that such delightful accidents and such blessed

coincidences are continually occurring in the experience of all real

Christians. I may add generally, that it is our custom to present

written requests for prayer and written requests for praise at the

devotional meetings of the West London Mission every Friday night. This

has now gone on without interruption for more than nine years, and I

scarcely remember a prayer-meeting at which we have not had some request

for praise on account of prayer answered.



It may be argued, however, that all such cases are purely subjective,

and that they take place in the mysterious darkness and silence of the

human heart Let my next illustration, then, be of a much more tangible

character. Let it refer to pounds, shillings, and pence.



Not long ago the West London Mission was greatly in want of money, as

has generally been its experience since it began. It would seem as

though God could not trust us with any margin. Perhaps if we had a

considerable balance in the bank we should put our trust in that,

instead of realising every moment our absolute dependence on God. Like

the Children of Israel in the Wilderness, we have had supplies of manna

just sufficient for immediate need. Always in want, always tempted to be

anxious, it has always happened at the last moment, when the case seemed

absolutely desperate, that help has been forthcoming, sometimes from the

most unexpected quarter. But a short time ago the situation appeared to

be unusually alarming, and I invited my principal colleague to meet me

near midnight--the only time when we could secure freedom from

interruption and rest from our own incessant work.



We spent some time, in the quietness of that late hour, imploring God to

send us one thousand pounds for His work by a particular day. In the

course of the meeting one of our number burst forth into rapturous

expressions of gratitude, as he was irresistibly convinced that our

prayer was heard and would be answered. I confess I did not share his

absolute confidence, and the absolute confidence of my wife and some

others. I believed with trembling. I am afraid I could say nothing more

than "Lord, I believe, help Thou my unbelief." The appointed day came. I

went to the meeting at which the sum total would be announced. It

appeared that in a very short time and in very extraordinary ways nine

hundred and ninety pounds had been sent to the West London Mission. I

confess that, as a theologian I was perplexed. We had asked for a

thousand pounds--there was a deficiency of ten. I could not understand

it. I went home, trying to explain the discrepancy. As I entered my

house and was engaged in taking off my hat and coat, I noticed a letter

on the table in the hall. I remembered that it had been lying there when

I went out, but I was in a great hurry and did not stop to open it. I

took it up, opened it, and discovered that it contained a cheque for ten

pounds for the West London Mission, bringing up the amount needed for

that day to the exact sum which we had named in our midnight

prayer-meeting. Of course this also may be described as a mere

coincidence, but all we want is coincidences of this sort. The name is

nothing, the fact is everything, and there have been many such facts.



Let me give one other in reference to money, as this kind of

illustration will perhaps, more than any other, impress those who are

disposed to be cynical and to scoff. I was engaged in an effort to build

Sunday schools in the south of London. A benevolent friend promised a

hundred pounds if I could get nine hundred pounds more, within a week. I

did my utmost, and by desperate efforts, with the assistance of friends,

did get eight hundred pounds, but not one penny more. We reached

Saturday, and the terms of all the promises were that unless we

obtained a thousand pounds that week we could not proceed with the

building scheme, and the entire enterprise might have been postponed for

years, and, indeed, never accomplished on the large scale we desired. On

the Saturday morning one of my principal church officers called, and

said he had come upon an extraordinary business: that a Christian woman

in that neighbourhood whom I did not know, of whom I had never heard,

who had no connection whatever with my church, had that morning been

lying awake in bed, and an extraordinary impression had come in to her

that she was at once to give me one hundred pounds! She naturally

resisted so extraordinary an impression as a caprice or a delusion. But

it refused to leave her; it became stronger and stronger, until at last

she was deeply convinced that it was the will of God. What made it more

extraordinary was the fact that she had never before had, and would, in

all probability, never again have one hundred pounds at her disposal

for any such purpose. But that morning she sent me the money through my

friend, who produced it in the form of crisp Bank of England notes. From

that day to this I have no idea whatever who she was, as she wished to

conceal her name from me. Whether she is alive or in heaven I cannot

say; but what I do know is that this extraordinary answer to our prayers

secured the rest of the money, and led to the erection of one of the

finest schools in London, in which there are more than a thousand

scholars to-day.



Let me give one other illustration in a different sphere. God has

answered our prayers again and again by saving those in whom we are

interested, and by sending us money. He has also answered prayer for

suitable agents to do His work.



Twelve months ago I was sitting in my study at a very late hour; the

rest of the household had gone to bed. I was particularly conscious at

that time that I greatly needed a lay agent, who could help me in work

among the thousands of young men from business houses who throng St.

James's Hall. Several of our staff who could render efficient service in

that direction were fully occupied in other parts of the Mission. I

prayed very earnestly to God, in my loneliness and helplessness; and

whilst I was praying, an assurance was given me that God had heard my

prayer. By the first post on the next morning I received a letter from a

man whom I had never met, requesting an interview. I saw him. It turned

out that he was a staff officer in the Salvation Army, and formerly a

Methodist; and that for two years he had been longing for a sphere of

work among young men. He had been himself in a Manchester business

house, and he was extremely anxious for work among young fellows in the

great business establishments. For various reasons a development of work

in that direction, although it commanded the sympathy of the heads of

the Salvation Army, could not be undertaken just then; and while he was

praying upon the subject, it seemed to him as though a definite voice

said, "Offer yourself to Mr. Hugh Price Hughes." In obedience to that

voice he came, and he is with us now. He has already gathered round him

a large number of young men; and at our last Public Reception of new

members I received into the mission church forty-two young men of this

class, who had been brought to Christ, or to active association with His

Church, through the agency of the man whom God so promptly sent me in

the hour of my need.



Nothing that I have said will in the least degree surprise earnest

Christians and Christian ministers. Such experiences as these are the

commonplace of real and active Christianity.