The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1892-06-15
~ heart and life All the ..,yhbor.


sat an old miser. He paid his pew rent,
but was hard on the poor, and had no
interest in any philanthropy. Piles of
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 a
matter of great Importance about which
l 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, 81 have lived
for this world too long. want to know
if you think can be saved, and, if so,
l wish you would tell me how" Upon
his soul the light soon dawned, and the
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,
Sabbath by Sabbath, beautiful and
talented woman, who was a great So
ciety leader. She went to church be-
cause that was respectable thing to
do, and in the neighborhood 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 were 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, thea
tiers, rounds of costly gayety were to
her the highest satisfaction.
One day a 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 p osition, her fam
lily, 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 expla-
nation.
In the course OF two years, though
there was no general awakening in that
church, many such isolated cases of
such unexpected and unaccountable
conversions took place. The very peo-
pie whom no one thought would be af-
fected by such Considerations were con-
verted. The pastor and the Off GERS 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 it?" At Last the discovery
was made and all was explained. A
poor old Christian woman standing in
the vestibule 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-
| +nl 30
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. 1t turned out that these
marvellous instances of conversion were
the result of that old womans prayers
as she sat in the gallery Sabbath by
Sabbath, bent and wizened and poor
and unnoticed.
A little cloud of consecrated humanity
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 reli-
gious power demonstrated. Not one
out of million-not one out of ten mil.
lion-prayers ever strike a human ear
On public occasions minister of reli.
gion voices the supplications of an as
semblage, but the prayers of all the
congregation are in silence. There il
not second in century when prayer:
are not ascending, but myriads of then
are not even as loud as whisper, fol
God hears thought as plainly as 6
vocalization. That silence of supplica
tion-hemispheric and perpetual-is the
secret place of thunder
In the winter of 1875 we were wor
Shipping in the Brooklyn Academy O
Music in the interregnum of churches
We had the usual great audiences, but
was oppressed beyond measure by tn,
fact that conversions were not more nu
merous, One Tuesday invited to m,
, house five old, consecrated Christian
men-all of them gone now, excep
| Father Pearson, and he, in blindnes
and old age, waiting for the Master
call to come up higher.
These old men came, not KNOWN,
: why l had invited them. l took then
5 to the top room of my house. / said t
: them: ~ have called you here for spe
| cial prayer, l am in an agony for
5 great turAing to god of the people. W
l have vast multitudes in attendance an,
, they are attentive and respectful, but
can not see that they are saved. Let u
= kneel down and each one pray and no
r leave this room until we are all assures
S that the blessing will come and ha
D come" Is was a most intense cryin
: INTO God. | said, Brethren, let thi