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 good a sailor as ever trod the
quarter-deck, and he had under him a good and obedient crew. But they
could not save the ship; she was too badly strained, her leaks were too
great
them all to the care of the God in whom he put his trust, and made ready
to take to their boats. Just then a sail was descried, and, by signals
of distress, drawn to their relief. All on board were taken off safely
and put on the ship, soon after which they saw their own ship go down.
Now comes the peculiar part. The ship was soon overtaken in a dreadful
storm, was cast on her beam ends, and everything seemed to be lost. The
passengers were praying, and many of the old seamen were calling on God
to save them from the great deep. The captain of the ship had done his
best, but could not right the vessel, and all was given up to go down.
The captain, whose ship was lost, then asked if he might take his crew
and try to right the vessel.
"Take them, and do what you can," was the reply. He called to his men
and told them they must save that ship; he inspired them with
confidence, for they knew he was a true man of God. They executed his
orders with alacrity and care. They cut away the masts, and cleared away
the rigging, and brought all the force they could to right the vessel.
God prospered the efforts--the ship righted; they got the pumps at work,
rigged a sail, and were finally all saved. It seemed as if it was
necessary to put the captain of the first ship and his crew on the
second ship, that they might save it and those on board when the
terrible storm came.
Now it was particularly noticed in connection with this deliverance,
that the captain of the lost vessel did not make any ado in prayer, or
in calling on God, while the storm was raging; and knowing that he was a
Christian man, they asked him the reason of this. He answered them,
_that he did his praying in fair weather; "and then_" said he, _"when
the storm comes, I work_." He did not distrust God then, any more than
in fair weather; but he knew that God requires man to do all he can to
save himself, and praying might lose him his ship, when his own efforts
must save it.
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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... Relief From A Creditor's Demands.
"At another time, being sorely pressed by a heartless creditor, and almost beside herself, she concluded to walk out and get free from the insupportable burden, by change of air and scene for two or three hours. Passing the house of a friend, just... Relief In Business.
"_None of those who trust in Him shall be made desolate_." "Some three weeks ago, I wrote you, stating that _my business had been a failure_, and asked your prayers that God, in His mercy, would point out a way for me to _provide for my family._... Religion Lost, Religion Regained.
"I wrote you two months since, asking an interest in your prayers for a young man that experienced religion a year ago, but failed to confess Christ by uniting with the church. Your prayers have been answered. Last night my heart was made to rejoi... Remarkable Cures.
There have been gathered together in her biography, well authenticated cases of answer to prayer, when the patient was considered wholly incapable of help from medical skill. "There was one of a stiff knee, that had been, treated in vain by the ... Remarkable Healing Of A Child.
A clergyman writes that during the ministration of his labors at Battle Greek, Mich., there were several remarkable manifestations of divine power--especially in the case of a little girl, the daughter of a Mr. Smith, a child of about six years. ... Remarkable Preservation From Brain Difficulties.
"A few weeks ago, a man who had once been a member of my church, but had fallen from his steadfastness through strong drink, fell from a ladder, striking his head on the corner of a stone, which made a dent in the skull of over two and one-half in... Remarkable Preservation Of Life From Lightning In Answer To Prayer.
I was riding on top of the Boulder Pass of the Rocky Mountains, in the summer of 1876, when a sudden storm of rain, wind, and furious tempest came up. There was no shelter from rocks, no trees or buildings to be seen--a lonely, wind-swept summit. ... Rescued In Peril.
"With my brother I was once climbing the _Cirrha di Jazze_, one of the mountains in the chain of _Mount Rosa_. When nearly at the top, we entered a dense fog. Presently our guides faced right about and grounded their axes on the frozen snowed slop... Restoration From Death.
"My father, the author of the _Sinner's Friend_, narrates in his autobiography a circumstance which he often used to speak of with great emotion. "My mother was very ill, and apparently dying. The Doctor said that now, if at all, the children m... Restored To Health.
"One month since, I requested prayer specially for my own family. My oldest son, who was then sick, has been restored to his usual health. '_The prayer of faith hath indeed saved the sick_.'" ... Samuel Harris's Lawsuit, And How The Lord Settled It For Him.
"When Samuel Harris, of Virginia, began to preach, his soul was so absorbed in the work, that he neglected to attend to the duties of this life. Finding, upon a time, that it was absolutely necessary that he should provide more grain for his famil... Samuel Hick's Prayer For Rain.
Samuel Hick was one of the men of "_mighty faith_" in the Lord, and as a preacher among the Methodists of England. He was of great eminence for his happy spirit, remarkable trust, powerful and practical preaching, and unbounded liberality. Among t... Saved And Honored.
"Almost three years ago I asked you to pray for a young man that was wandering from God. Thank God, your and my prayers were answered. He is now an active Christian, a superintendent of the Sabbath school, and a most zealous member of the Young Me... Saved From A Life Of Degradation.
"Your prayers for my husband have been answered; _on the very day_ I wished your prayers for him, and _before the hour of prayer had expired_" he came into the house, and said, '_I am going to do better_.' He had not been home before for _several ... Saved From Cholera.
The Rev. J.B. Waterbury relates several incidents which prove the power of Prayer. "In the year 1832 he was compelled by pulmonary symptoms, to leave his field of ministerial labor in one of the eastern cities, and travel south, hoping that a m... Saved From Death.
"My brother, that lay apparently at the point of death, has been restored to comparative health." ... Saved From Drowning.
A poor German woman rushed frantically through the street and into the house of a countrywoman, very little better off than herself, declaring she would drown herself that very night if _no_ one would give her work. A family on the same floor gave... Saved From Starvation.
On the second floor of a rear house lived a lady well known once as among the foremost members of a wealthy church. The first blow of adversity opened a wide passage for a succession of disasters. She passed through the whole sliding scale, until ... Saved From The Company Of A Bad Lover.
"A week ago I begged you to pray for my daughter, who had given her heart to an unworthy man, praying that God might guide her to see him as he is, and turn her love from him. She is a child of God. In answer, God has caused a rupture between them... Saved From The Hands Of A Desperado.
The following circumstance is communicated to us by a United States Surgeon: "After the close of the Mexican war, and in the year 1849, a train was sent out from San Antonio to establish military posts on the upper Rio Grande, particularly at E... Seeking Direction In Business.
A lady clerk employed in an apparently successful business was offered an opportunity in a new business, which, though much smaller and less successful than the first, yet had rich promise in it for the future. The salary promised was the same in ... Seeking Guidance Of The Lord.
A school teacher, without family or a special home, in New York City, asked the Lord for direction in finding a home, and prayed often that the way might be made so plain, she might acknowledge His hand, and understand His direction. Soon it tr... Shall Save The Sick.
"I was desperately ill. My physicians had done all in their power, without success--and yet I lived! For my father's sake, the hearts of hundreds waited the issue, and prayed for me! For his sake, the bells in the neighborhood were tied--the crier...