The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-01-09
is disordered, call in the Maker Of it. Is it

known people tc get well in rooms where the
windows had been six weeks down, tight
shut, and have known them to die right
under patent ventilators. l have known
children sickly who every day had tneir paCh'
and have known children robust, the wash
ing of whose faces would make their features
unrecognizable.
would have you also see-for it IS another
lesson of the subject-that our prayer must
also be accompanied by means. 1t is ON out.
rage to ask God to do thing while we slt
indolent. The prayer, to be acceptable, must
come not only from the heart, but from
the hands. We must work while we pray,
devotion and work going together. Luther
came to Melancthon's bedside and prayed for
his recovery, and insisted, at the same time,
that he should take some warm soup, tne
SOUP being Just as important as the prayer.
In the time Of the great plague that came 20
York, of England, the priests prayed all nlSn1
and all day for the removal Of the plague,
but did not think of clearing out the dead
dogs and cats that lay in the cutters, causing
the sickness. We must use means as wei
as supplications. If a man has evening
PRAYERS" asking for health, and then sits
down to a full supper of indigestibles
at II o'clock at night. his prayer
is mockery. A farmer has no right to
pray for the safety Of his family when ne
knows there is no cover on the cIStern. Inc
Christian man, reckless about his health,
ought not to expect the same answer TO MS
PRAYER as the Christian man expects VINO re,
tires regularly at ten o'clock at night, ana
taxes his morning bath with the appendix OF
q Turkish towel.
That God answers prayers offered in the
right spirit. seconded by our own effoD, IS
the first and the last lesson Of this text, and
it is lesson that this age needs to learn. II
all communication between earth and heaven
is cut off, let US know it If all the Chris
tian prayers that are going up toward God
never reach Him, then, say, let silence Smlte
the lips of the afflicted world, and the nations
smother their groans and die quietly. God
does answer prayer. The text shows it
You say: 81 don't believe the Bible: l think
that those things were merely condolences,
which are often brought as answers to
PRAYER" Do you say that9 Was it mere
happen so that Elijah prayed for rain Just
as the rain was gong to come anyhow. Did
Daniel pray in the wild beasts den just at the
time when all the lions happened to have
lockjaw' Did Jesus pray at the grave OF
Lazarus Just at the time when Lazarus was
going to dress himself and come out anyhow!
Did Jesus lose His place in His sermon, and
mako q mistake. when He said. "Ask.snd it
shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find:
knock, and it shall lie op ned unto you"
And, lest some were so stupid they could not
understand it, He goes on: "For every one
that asSeth receiveth; and he that seeketh
findeth: and to him that knocketh it shall be
opened"
To prove that God does hear prayer, put
on the witness stand Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
Ezekiel, jeremiah, Micah, John, Paul, Peter
and King Hezekiah. Tell ME, ye ancient
battle fields, We Oriental threshing floors, ye
Judean corn fields. ye Galilean fishing
smacks, is God deaf and dumb and blind
hot hn, OF nA on
prayer, I bring the ten millions facts Of
Christendom to prove. There has never,
paper enough come out of the paper mills to
write the story. Has not many mother
prayed back her bad boy from the ends Of
the earth-from Canton, from Madras, from
Constantinople-unth he knelt beside her III
the old homestead? Have there not been
desperadoes and renegades who have looked
into the door Of prayer meeting to laugh
and scof at it, who have been drawn by the
power of prayer, until they ran to the altar
crying out for mercy? Did not the black
smith in Lyons, n. Y. pray to God until
there came great awakening that shook
the community!
Ihave hadfn my own experience, and
have had in the history Of my own family,
the evidence that God answers prayer. My
with three Christian women: as
sembled week after week and prayed for
their children; they kept up that prayer
meeting of four persons year after year.
The world knew nothing OF It God an
swered all those prayers. All the group
came in: the eleven sons and daughters OF
my mother came in, myself the last.
Sickness came to my Observation-Disclosures
sickness, as it seemed to many. At t3 o'clock
on Saturday afternoon the invalid was car.
ried to the steamer for Sayannah. AT IL
o'clock the next day, being Sunday, standing
in this very place, q man Of God prayed for
the recovery of the sicl; one. At that time,
II O'clock she who had been Frustrated three
weeks, with some help walked up on deck.
The occurrence was as near to being mlracu-
lous as I can imagine. That she was hope
lessly sick, people who sat up with her night
after night, and are here, can testify. That
the prayer for her recovery was offered IN
this pulpit, thousands Of people could testify.
That at II o'clock on that Sunday morning
she walked up on deck, as by miraculous
recovery, I call the passengers on the San
Jacinto, commanded by Captain Atkins,
December 16, to testify. This is no second
hand story. ~
there was no force in prayer, methinss God; ',5s
strike me dead Prayer impotent! Why it
is the mightiest force in the universe. Light
ming has no speed, the Alpine avalanche has
no power, compared with it.
And now, in conclusion. have to present
YOU some checks. blank checks. on the bank
of heaven, written in blood, and signed by
the hand wounded on the cross. 1t is not
safe for YOU to give blank check with your
name to it. You do not know Nhat might
be written above. But here is blank check
which God says I can give you; it is signed
by the hand writing of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and you can fill it up with anything you want
to. "Ask, and it shall be given to you;
seek, and ye shall find" : do not say that
your prayer will be answered in lust the way
you expect, but do say it will be answered
in the best way. Oh! will you trust Him?
This is the outcome of all this subject.
If I should ask the men and women in this
audience who have found God a prayer
answering God to rise up, you would nearly
all rise up. In time of darkness and trouble
as in time of light and prosperity, He all
swered you. I commend you to that God to
whom your parents dedicated you in in
fancy. They believed so much in prayer that
their last word was a supplcation for you.
Having heard you in days Of prosperity, He
will not reject your last petition, when in
the darkened room, after they have wiped
the dew Of death from your brow, and the
whole group Of loved ones have kissed you
good-by, you have only strength enough left
to pray: Lord Jesus, receive my spirit"
49,, - J,Joa