Democratic messenger., 1892-06-04

MS soul the hight soon dawncd, ana the
old miser. not only revolutiOnized in
heart but i'll life. began to scatter bene-
factions, and toward all the great chari-
ties of the day he became "A 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 by Sabbath. IA beautiful and talented
woman, who was great society leader.
She went 10 church because that was n
respectable thing 10 do. and il 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 We're 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 rs 10 religious emotion of any kind,
she thought it positively vulgar. Wines.
cards. theaters, rounds of costly gaycty
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 consccrated her beauty. her
social position. her family. her all TO
God and the church and usefulness.
Everybody said i'll regard to her. Have
you noticed the change. and what in the
world caused it:" and no one could make
satisfactory explanation.
In the course of two years. though
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 We're 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, "and who is it and what
Is IL. AZ ltSt AIit OlSNONGlN WIS
and all was explained. 4 poor old
Christian woman standing in the vesti-
bule of the church one Sunday morning,
trying to get her breath again before She
went up stairs to the gallery. heard the
inquiry and told the secret.
For years 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 the persons name she would pray
for that person until he or she was con-
verted To God. All her prayers were
for that one person-just that one. She
waited and waited for communion days
to see when the candidates for member
ship stood up whether her prayers had
been effectual. II turned out that these
marvellous instances of conversion were
the result Of that oil womans prayers
as she sat in the gallery Sabbath by
Sabbath. bent and wizened and poor
and unnoticed.
\ little cloud of consecratcd humani-
ty lowering in the galleries. That was
the secret place of the thunder There
is some hidden. unknown. mysterious
source of almost all the moral and rcli-
gious power demonstrated. Not one
ont of a million-not one out of ten mil
ion-prayers ever strikes "A human ear.
On pu llic occasions Il minister of reli-
gion voices the supplications of an as
semblage, but the prayers Of all the
congregation are in silence. There is
not second in century when prayers
are not ascending, bat myriads Of them
are not even rs loud as whisper. for
God hears thought rs plainly aS "a vo-
calization. That silence of supplicatiun
hemisphere and perpctual-is the Sc
crct place Of thunder
THE SECRET PLACE oF THUNDER.
In the winter Of 1870 we We're Worship
ing in the Brooklyn Academy of Music
in the interregnum of churches. We
had the usual great audiences. but was
oppressed beyond measure by the fact
that conversions were not more numer-
Gus. One Tuesday invited To my house
five old. consecrated Christian men-all
OF them gone now. except Father Pear
SUI. stilt anu piai d-t,
waiting for the Masters call to come up
higher.
These old men came, not knowing
why had invited them. took them
b the top room of my house. said to
them: Il have called you here for spe-
cial PRAYER. am i'll an agony for u
great turning to God of the people. We
have vast multitudes in attendance and
they are attentive and respectful, but
cannot see that they are saved. Let us
kneel down and each one pray and not
leave this room until we are all assured
that the blessing will come and has
come" Ii was IL most intense CRYING
INTO God. said, Brethren. let this
meeting be IA secret" and they said it
would be. That Tuesday night special
service ended.
CURED the usual prayer meeting. No
one knew of what had occurred on Tues
day night but the meeting was unusu-
ally throngcd. Men accustomed to pray
in public in great composure broke
'ryn under emotion. The people were
b ears Thcye were sobs and silences
>,d solemniiies of such unusual power
lat the worshipers looked into each
,ther's faces. as much as 10 say, What
| loes all this mean" And when the fol-
lowing Sabbath came. although we were
in secular place. over four hundred
Irose for prayers. and religions awaken
| Ing took place that made that winter
memorable for time and for eternity.
There may be in this building many who
were brought to God duriis; that great
ingathering. but few of them know that
the upper room in my house ON Quincy
4 street, where those five old Christian
men poured out their souls before God,
was the secret place Of thunder.
The day will comc-God hasten it
when people will find out the velocity,
the majesty. the multipotoncc Of prayer
We brag about our limited express
trains which put us down thousand
miles away i'll twenty-four hours. but
here is something by which in mo