Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1873-02-12
Romantic Illustration of the Efficacy of q
Woman's Supplications.

Mrs. Nottingham, respectable wild
owed gentlewoman Of Sheffield, England
while recently upon visit to some friends
| near Durham, in q northern county, was
taken to hear the eloquent defamation o.
q noted dissecting eXhorter, who had be-
come particularly celebrated for his eXalta.
ton of the efficacy of prayer. This favoritt
! topic of his was the one he had chosen on
| the occasion in question; and his earnest
vivid manner OF explaining that, in addi-
ton to its supernatural value, devout invo-
cation was a benCiicent magnetic energy,
capable of the most wonderful natural eff
fects, induced the Sheffield lady to seek an
introduction TO him after the meeting
for the especial purpose of relating q striI-
ing illustration from her own experience.
The preacher, a man of refined and intel
lectual appearance, and with n curious III
Nudity in his manner, heard the anecdote
with an interest nervously disproportion-
ate to its apparent consequence, and then
after an awkward pause begged that its
narrator would not again narrate it in that
place until he should first have had an OPP
portunity to use it i'll the pulpit. In some
surprise Mrs. Nottingham acceded to the
request, ultimately attributing it to the
good mans eccentricity, .and the two did
not meet again until they were once more
speaker and nearer in the sanctuary.
Upon the latter occasion the subject of ex-
hortation was again 1.-The SOULS sincere de-
sire, uttered or uneXpressed," and the prin-
cipal illustration was as follows: "Four or
five years ago. said the preacher, with
marked intensity of manner, "a lady liv-
ing in an old-fashioned house in one of
our suburban counties, discovered, upon
retiring to her room at about midnight,
that there was man concealed under her
bed. Almost alone in the house, and quite
alone in that wing of it, the lady knew not
what to do. She feared to 90 to TIE door
and unlock it lest the burglar should sus-
pect that she was about TO summon help,
and should intercept her. To gain time
she sat down and took her Bible from her
dressing-table. Opening the sacred book
at random, itso happened that the chapter
lighted on was that containing the parable
of the prodigal son. Kneeling down when
the chapter was ended, she prayed aloud
prayed earnestly and tervently. She be-
sought safety for herself during the perils
of the night, and cast herself in supreme
on the Divine protection. Then
prayed for others who might have been
tempted into ill-doing; that they might be
led.from evil, and brought into the fold of
Christ; that to such might be vouchsafed
the tender mercy and kindness promised
to all who truly repent their sins. Lastly
she prayed that, If He willed it, even to-
night some such sinner might be saved
from the wrath to come, might, like the
prodigal be made to see that he had Sim
ed, and might be welcomed back with the
Joy that awaits even one penitent. The
lady rose from her knees and went to bed.
The man got up as noiselessly as he could
and said: Il mean you no harm, ma'am
L am going to leave the house and thank
you for your prayers With difficulty he
opened the bedroom-door and presently
she heard him open window in another
part of the house and drop down into the
garden" Upon reaching the apparent
ton, and then added, in broken voice:
1.-The good woman of whom 1 have told
you is with us now, and the sinner to.
whom her simple womanly prayer was
shame, remorse, penitence and future of
eXpiation, is he who here con
fesses himself to you and to his Maker.n