Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-01-16
Effective Prayer.

Mrs. Nottingham, respectable wild
owed gentlewoman of Sheffield, England,
while recently upon visit to some friends
near Durham, in a northern county, was
taken to hear the eloquent defamation
Of a noted exhorter who had become par
ticularly celebrated for his exaltation of
the efficacy of prayer. This favorite 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 in
vocation was benefcent, magnetic ener-
gy, capable of the most wonderful effects,
induced the Sheffield lady to seek an in
PRODUCTION to him after the meeting" for
the especial purpose of relating striking
Illustration from her own experience.
The preacher, man or refined and intel
lectual appearance, and with a curious
timiGity in his manner, heard the anec-
dote with an interest nervously dispro-
portiOnate to its apparent consequence,
and then after an awkward pause begged
that its narrator would not again relate
it in that place until he should first have
had opportunity to use it in the pulpit.
In some surprise Mrs. Wintringham &C
coded to the request, ultimately at
tributing it to the good mans eccentric
ity, and the two did not meet again un-
til they were once more speaker and
nearer in the sanctuary. Upon the
latter occasion the subject of eXhortation
was again "the souls sincere desire, ut
tered or unexpressed," and the principal
illustration was as follows: "Four or five
years ago." said the preacher, with mark
ed intensity Of manner, "a lady living in
an old-fashioned house in one of our
suburban counties discovered, upon re-
firing to her room at about midnight, that
there was man concealed underher bed.
Almost alone in the house, and quite alone
in that wing of it, the lady knew not
what to do. She feared to go to the door
and unlock it lest the burglar should sus-
pect 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, it so happened that the chap
ter lighted on was that containing the par
able of the prodigal son. Kneeling down
when the chapter was ended, she prayed
She besought safety for herself during
the perils of the night, and cast herself
in supreme confidence on the Divine pro-
lection. Then prayed for others who
might have been tempted into i'll
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 kind
ness promised to all who truly repent
their sins. Lastly she prayed that if He
willed it, even tonight some such sinner
might be saved from the wrath to come,
might, like the prodigal, be made to see
that he had sinned, and might be welcom-
ed 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: 81
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 a window in another part of
the house and drop down into the garden.
Upon reaching the apparent end Of
the narrative, the speaker bowed his head
for moment, as if in silent supplication,
and then added, in broken voice, 1.-THE
good woman Of whom | have told you is
with US now, and the sinner to whom her
simple womanly prayer was shame, re:
morse, penitence, and future of repent
ant expiration is he who here confesses
himself to you and to his Makerr'