The Penn's Grove record., 1892-06-03

"Where is it" they said. ''and who is il AM
what is i'll" 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 particular
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 converted to God. All her PRAYERS were
for that one person-just that one. Hhe
waited and waited for communion days to
see when the candidates for membership
stood up whether her prayers had been effect
ual. 1t turned out that these marvellous in
stances of conversion were the result of that
old woman's prayers as she sat in the gallery
Sabbath by Sabbath, bent and wizened and
poor and unnoticed.
A little cloud of consacrated 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 aud religious power
demonstrated Not one out Of a MILTON
not one out of ten million-prayers ever
strikes a human ear. On public occasions a
minister of religion voices the supplications
OF an assemblage, but the prayers of all the
congregation are in silence. There is not a
second in a century when prayers are not
ascending, but myriads of them are not even
as loud asa whisper, for God hears a thought
as plainly as "A vocalization. That silence of
Observation-Disclosures and perpetual
is the secret place of thunder.
In the winter of 1873 we were worshiping
in the Brooklin Academy OF Music in the in
terregnum of churches. We had the usual
great audiences, but | was oppressed beyond
measure by the fact that conversions wese
not more numerous. One Tuesday I invited
to my house five old, consecrated Christian
nlen-all of them gone now, except Father
Pearson, and he. in blindness and old age,
waiting for the Masters call to come up
higher.
These old men came, not knowing why l
had invited them. l took them to the top
room of my house. l said to them; 81 have
called you here for special prayer. l am in
an agony for a great turning to GOD o. the
people. We have vast multitudes in atten-
dance end they are attentive and respectful.
but l 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"
1t was a most intense crying unto God. /
said, Brethren, let this meeting be a secret"
and they said it would be. That Tuesday
night special service ended.
On the following Friday night occurred
the usual prayer meeting. No one knew of
what had occurred on Tuesday night, but
the meeting was unusually thronged. Men
accustomed to pray in public in great conf
posture broke down under emotion. The
people were in tears. There were sobs
and silences and solemnitiss of such unusual
power that the worshipers looked into each
others faces, as much as to say, "What
does all this mesnS' And when the follow
ing Sabbath came, although we were in a
secular place, over four hundred arose for
prayers, and a religious awakening took
place that made that winter memorable for
time and for eternity. There may be in
this building many who were brought to
God during that great ingathering, but few
Of them know that the upper room in my
house on Quincy street, where those five old
Christian men poured out their souls before
God, was the secret place of thunder.
The day will come-God hasten it-when
people will find out the velocity, the ma
jesty, the multipotence of prayer. Webrag
about our limited express trains which put
US down a thousand miles away in twenty
four hours, but here is something by which
in a moment we may confront people five
thousand miles away. We brag about our
telephones, but here is something that beats
the telephone in utteranoe and reply, for
God says, Before they call, l will hear
We brag about the monograph, in which a
man can speak,, and his words and the tones
of his voice can be kept for ages, and by the
turning of a crank the words may come
forth upon the ears of another century, but
prayer allows US to speak words into the ears
of everlasting remembrance, and on the
other side of all eternities they will bs heard.
Oh. ye who are wasting your breath, and
wasting your brains, and wasting your
nerves, and wasting your lungs wishing for
this good and that cool for the church and
the world, why do you not go into the secret
place of thunder.
But" says soma one, ''that is a beautiful
theory, yet it does not work in my case, for
] am in a cloud of trouble, or a cloud OF
sickness or a clond of persecution, or q
cloud of poverty, or a cloud of bereavement,
OF a cloud of porpiexity." How glad an
that YOU told me that. That is exactly the
place to which my text refers, 1t was from
a cloud that God answered Israel-the cloud
over the chasm cut through the Red Sea
the cloud that was light to the Israelites anG
darkness to the Egyptians. Ii was from &
cloud, a tremendous cloud, that God made
reply, 1t was a cloud that was the secret
place of thunder. So you cannot get away
from the consolation of my text by talking
that way. Let all the people under a clouC
hear it. 81 answered thee in the secret place
of thunder"
This subject helps me to explain SOM
things you nave not understood about mel
and wemen, and there are multitutes oil
them, and the multitude is multiplying by
the minute. Many of them have not Q
s~uperabundancs of education. If o had
their brain in a post-mortem examination
and you could weigh it, it would not weigh
any heavier than the average. They hav'
not ANYTHING especially impressive IN per
of tongue. They pretend to nothing unusua
in mental hscuity or social influence, bu
YOU feel their power; you are elevated IL
their presence; you are a better man or {
better woman, having confronted them
You know that in Intellectual endowmen
you are their superior, while in the mattel
of moral and religious influence they ar
vastly your superior. Why is thiss
To find the revelation of this secret yoI
rAust go back thirty or forty or perhaps SIKH
years to the homestead where this man wa
brought up. 1t is a winter morning, ana tn
tailow scandle is lighted, and the fires ar
kindled, sometimes the shavings hardl,
enouayh to start the wood. The mother i
preparing the breakfast, the blu edge
dishes are on the table, and the lid OF IN
kettle on the hearth begins to rattle with tn
steam, N the shadow of the industriou
woman by the Pickering flame on thesleartl
is moved up and down the wall. Inc fatne
is at the barn feeding the stock-the oat
thrown into the horses bin and the cattl
cr%aunching the corn. The children, earle
than they would like and after being Gale
twice. are gathered at the table.
The blessing of God is asked on tne 1000
nd. the meal over, the family Bible IS pu
rpon the white tablecloth and a chapter
read and a prayer made. which includes a
the interests for this world and the mex
The children pay not much atsntion to tn
prayer, for it is about the same thing ds
after day, but it puts upon them an impre
sion that ten thousand years will only mai
more vivid and tremendous. As long as u
old folks live their prayer is for their chi
|, dren and their children's children. Day
and day out month in and month out yea
in and year out, decade in and decade OF
: the sons and daughters OF that family a.
, remembered in earnest prayer, INT
know it, aud they feel it, and they cam
get ava from it..
E Two funerals after awhile-not more this
two years apart. for it is seldom that the
is more than that lapse of time betwe,
5 fathers going and mothers going-tv
funerals put out of sight the old folSs b
e where are the children? The daughters a
1 in homes where they are atoms
y good sense, industry aud piety. The son
perhaps one a farmer, another a merchan
s another a mechanic, another a minister
the Gospel, useful, consistent, admire
II honored. What a power for good tho
4 l.