The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1892-05-31

L
and that Young man, whelmed with re-
peutance, implored prayer and advice,
and passed into complete reformation OF
heart and life All the neighborhood
was astonished and asked. why was
tlisY" His father and mother had said
nothing to him about his souls welfare.
On another aisle of the same church
sat an old miser. He paid his pew rent,
! but was hard on the poor. and had no IN
! terest in any philanthropy. Plles or
money! And people said, "What strug-
| gle he will have when he quits this life
/ to part with his bonds and mortgages.
! One day he wrote to his minister:
"Please to call Immediately. have
matter of great importance about which
| want to see you" When the pastor
| came in the man could not speak for
emotion. but after awhile he gathered
self control enough to say: Il have lived
| for this world too long. lwant to know
! if YOU think can be saved, and, If so,
wish you would tell me how" Upon
his soul the light soon dawned, and Che
old miser, not only revolutionized in
heart but in life, began to scatter bene-
factions. and toward all the great chart
ties of the day he became cheerful and
bountiful almoner. What was the cause
of this change? everybody asked, and no
one was capable of giving an intelligent
answer.
In another part of the church sat, Sab
bath bv Sabbath, beautiful and talented
woman. who was great society leader.
She went to church because that was a
respectable thing to do, and in the neigh
| borhood where she lived it was hardly
respectable not to go. Worldly was she
to the last degree, and all her family
worldly. She had at her house the finest
germans that were ever danced, and the
costliest favors that We're ever given,
and though she attended church she
never liked to hear any story of pathos,
and as to religious emotion of any kind,
she thought it positively vulgar. Wines,
cards, theaters, rounds of costly gayety
were to her the highest satisfaction.
One day neighbor sent in visiting
card. and this lady came down the stairs
in tears and told the whole story of how
she had not slept for several nights, and
she feared she was going to lose her soul,
and she wondered if some one would
not come around and pray with her.
From that time her entire demeanor was
changed, and though she was not called
upon to sacrifice any of her amenities of
life, she consecrated her beauty, her
social position, her family, her all to
God and the church and usefulness.
Everybody said in regard to her, Have
you noticed the change, and what In the
world caused it, and no one could make
satisfactory explanation.
IF tyyn th0nOb
there was no general awakening in that
church, many such isolated cases of such
unexpected and unaccountable CONVEX
sions took place. The very people whom
no one thought would be affected by
such considerations were converted. The
pastor and the officers of the church
were on the lookout for the solution of
this religious phenomenon. where is
it" they said, land who Is 1t and what
is it," At last the discovery was made
and all was explained. A poor old
Christian woman standing in the vesti-
bule Of the church one Sunday morning,
irving to get her breath again before she
Went up stairs to the gallery, heard the
inquiry and told the secret.
For wears she had been in the habit
of concentrating all her prayers for par
ticular persons in that church. She
would see some man or some woman
present, and. though she might not
know tho persons name, she would pray
for that person until he or she was con
yelted a. God. All her prayers were
for tl!.:c one person-just thut one. She
. TaiteI and waited for communion days
L TO soc when the candidates for member
. shin stood NJ whether her prayers hac
been effectual. 1t turned out that these
, marvellous Instances of conversion were
l tIie result OF that old wOman's prayer:
. A she sat in the gallery Sabbath by
Sabbath. bent and wizened and pool
! and unnOticed.
A little cloud of consecrated human
tv lowering in the galleries That wa.
, the secret place of the thunder. There
: is some hidden, unknown, myster1ou
. source of almost all the moral and reli
gious power demonstrated. Not on
l ont of a 1nillion-not one out of ten mil
iOn-prayers ever strikes a human ear
= On public occasions minister OF reil
zion voices Tue supphcations of an as
selnblage, but the prayers OF all tn
congregation are in silence. There
not a second in a century when prayer
> are not ascending. but myriads of then
are not even as loud as a whisper, TO
God hears a thought as plainly as VIC
{ calization. That silence of supplicatiol
hemisphere and perpetual-is the Sc
:. cret place of thunder. .. a.t .......
. THE SECRET PLACE OF THUNDER
In the winter of 1875 we We're worship
n ing in the Brooklyn Academy of Musi
# in the interregnum of churches. w
e had the usual great audiences, but wa
4 oppressed beyond measure by the fac
= that conversions were not more numel
! ous One Tuesday invited to my hous
, five old. consecrated Christian men-a
e of them gone now, except Father Pea
son. and he, in blindness and old ag'
waiting for the Masters call to come u
=, higher.
/" These old men came, not KNOWN
y why had invited them 1 took thel
- to the top room of my house. said