Grand Rapids herald. [volume] (Grand Rapids, Mich.) 1892-1959, 1892-05-30

tn1sr hiz fsrneir end mother had "a
nothing 70 him skoas his souls welfare.
On another aisle Of the szme church
81 al cid ulser, He paid his pew rent.
bat vas hard ca tho poor, and had no IN
seress IA any phiiznshropy. Piles Of
money! And people SAID. sWhak Rrug-
gle hs viii hsvs vhsa ~ qni1D this lafs
10 part with his bonds and nortgsxss.'
One day he wross 70 hi ninisesr:
'sPisass 10 can irnsdissely. Ihavs .
matter Of great inportanes ahost which
l want 70 - yoss Win IL pastor
came IN the man coalA no< spsak for
emotion, bat after awhile ~ gathered
self control enough 70 ssy; II have lived
for this world TOO long. Iwant to know
II you think can - saved. and. If %,
l wish yoa vonld tali ne how Upon
his soal de hight soon dAwned. and the
aid miser, not only revolutionized in
heart bat IN life, began to scatter bsne-
factions, and toward al The great chair
ties Of tbs day he became cheerful and
hoontiful slmoner. Whas We the cause
Of this ehansss everybody asksd. end no
one was capable Of giving n Intelligent
answer
In another part Of ne church at. Sab
bath by Sabbath. . bsautiful and talented
woman. who Wa . great socieey leader.
She went 70 church because that IVES Q
respectable thing TO do. and In the neigh
borho0d where she hved h was hardly
respectable not to go. Worldly YVES abe
to the last degree. and I'll her family
worldly. She hsd q her house the finest
germans that were ever dancsd, and tho
costliest fnvors that were ever given,
and thoagh she steonded church she
never liked 70 hear any STORY Of psthos,
and a. TO religious emotion Of any kind,
she thought il positively Vulgar. Wines,
cards, theaters, rounds of costly gsyety
were to her the highest satisfaction.
One day q neighbor ssnt in visiting
card. and this lady came down the stairs
in tears and told the whole story u how
she had not slept for several nights, and
she feared she was going to lose hsr soul.
and she wondered II some one would
not come around and pray viii her.
From that time her entire demeanor was
changed, and though che ives not called
upon to sacrifice any Of har amenities Of
hfe, she consecrsted her beauty. her
social position. her family. her N to
God and the church and usefulness-
Everybody said in regard to her, Have
You noticed the change, and what IN the
world caused itr and no one could mako
sakisfao4ory explanAti0n-
T. L. - 49,
there was no general swakening In that
church. many such isolated casesof s1ch
unexpected and unaccountab2e CONVEX
sions took paace. The very people whom
no ono thought would Be Affected BY
such considerations were converted. Tho
pastor and the officers Of the church
were on the lookout for the solution Of
this religious phenomenon. Where u
it, they sid. land who b Il and what
il it, AZ last the discovery was made
and all was explained. A poor old
Christian woman standing in Tho vesti-
bule Of the church ono Sunday morning,
trying to get her breath agsan before she
went mp stairs to the gallery, bard the
| inquiry end told the secret
For years she had bcen in The habit
Of concentrating all her prayers for par
ticular persons in that church. She
would sec some man q some woman
present, and. though she might not
know the psrsuufs name, she would pray
for that person until he o. she was con-
verted to God. All her prayers were
| for that one psgson-just thst ono. She
waited and waited for oomnnnion days
| 70 80 when the candidates. tor member
ship stood up whether her prayers had
been eRectuM. It turned ont that these
marvellous instaAcss e couvsrsipa were
| the result of that old womAnS peoyegs
- she sat IN the gaIlery Sabbath BY
| Sabbath, bent and wi1eaed and poor
and unnoticed.
A lissle cloud Of consecfsted humani-
| u lowering In tho galleries. That was
tho secret place Of the thunder. There
| h some hidden, unknown, mysterious
source Of almost all tho moral and rei-
| gious power demonstrated. Not one
out Of million-not one ont of ten mil
hon-prayers over strikes . human ear.
| On public occasions minister Of reli-
gion voices the suppliostions Of IN -
semblage, but the prayers Of all the
congregation are In silence. There II
not . second In . century when prayers
are not ascending. bat nyriads Of them
arc not even - loud % . whisper, Ton
God hears thought - plainly - . vo-
! calization. That silence Of supphcation
-hemispheric snd pcrpotual--is the So
er<sx uIara NJ thunder
TIE SECRET PLACE or rfUypER.
In the winter Of 1878 we were worship
ing IN the Brooklyn Academy Of Music
IN the interycgnum Of churches. We
had thu usual great aadieuoss, but Iwaa
oppressed beyond measure By the fsct
that conversions wore not moro numer-
osn. One Tuesday invited 10 my house
Eve old. consecrsted Christian men-all
of them gone now, except Father Pear.
son, and be, In blindness and old ago,
waiting for the Masters call 10 como up
higher.
These old men came. not moving
why had invited them. took them
30 the top room of my house. I said b
them: II have called you hare for spe.
cial prayer. I am in an agony for q
great turning to God Of the people. We
have vast multitndes In attendance and
they are attentive and respectful. but
cannot see that they sre saved Let as
kneel down and each one pray and moi
leave this room until We ere al assured
that the blessing win come and be-
come" II vas most intenee crying
unto God. said. "Brethren. let this
meeting he a secret and they said II
/ --..sa ~ Tk,f Tu~~~3~w xs~k< sx~o<-sa]