Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1892-06-03

ascending, but myriads of them arsnot even
as loud as whisper. for God hears thought
as plainly as vocalization. That silence Of
Observation-Disclosures and perpetual
is the secret place of thunder.
In the winter of 1915 we were wor5biplug
in the BROOKLYN Academy OF Music in the in.
terregnum of churches We hal the usual
great audiences, but was oppressed beyond
measure by the fact that conversions were
not more numerous. One Tuesday, 10 vited
70 my house five old, consecratsd Christian
men-all of them gone now, except Father
Pearson, and he, in blindness and oil age
waiting for the Masters call to come up
higher
These old men came, not knowing why
had invited them. | took them to the too
room OF my house. / said to them: II have
called you here for special prayer. am IN
an agony for a great turning TO God OF the
people. We have vast multituies in atten-
dance end they are attentive an respectful
but cannot see that they are saved. Leu
us kneel down and each one pray and not
leave this room until we ara all assured
that the blessing will come and has come.
1t was a most intense crying unto Col l
said Brethren, let this meeting be secret,
and they said it would be. That Tuesday
night special service ended.
On the following Friday night occurrei
the usual prayer meeting. NO one Knew Oh
what had occurred on Tuesday nignr ou'
the meeting was unusually thronged. Men
accustomed to pray in public in great COM
posture broke down under emotion. Inc
oeople were in tears. There were soos
and silencss and solemnities of such unusual
power that the worshipers looked into eaca
others faces as much as to say, what
does all this mesnY And when the follow
ing Sabbath came although we were IN
secular place, over four hundred arose Tor
prayers, and a religious awakening took
place that made that winter memorable lot
time and for eternity. There may be IN
this building many who were brought 70
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 1t-when
people will find out the velocity, the ma
iesty. 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 moment we may confront people hve
thousand miles away. We brag about our
telephones, but here is something that beats
the telephone in utterancs and reply, for
God says, before they call, l will hear
We brag about the photograph, in which
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 coma
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 be heard.
Oh We who are wasting your breath, ana
wasting your brains, and wasting your
nerves and wasting your lungs wishing for
this good and that goo for the church and
the world, why do you not gointo the secret
place of thunder. -,
"But." saws some one "that is beautiful
theory. vet it does not work in my case, for
/ am in a cloud of trouble, or a cloud oil
! sickness. or a cloud of persecution, or
cloud of poverty, or cloud OF bereavement
or cloud of perplexity." How glad am
that you told me that That is exactly tne
place to which my text refers. IL 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 lsraelites and
darkness to the Egyptians. 1t was from a
/ cloud. a tremendous cloud, that God made
replv. 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 clou
hear it. II answered thee in the secret place
/ Of thunder"
This subject helps me to explain soma
thinOs Won nave not understood about men
and women, and there are nIultituteS OF
them. and the multitude is multiplying by
the minute Many of them have not
superabundauce of education. Ii you ha1
their brain in a post-mortem examination,
and YOU could weigh it, it would not weigh
any heavier than the average. They nave
not ANYTHING especially impressive IN per-
sonal appearance They are not very nuent
Of tongue. They pretend to nothing unusual
in mental faculty or social influence, out
YOU feel their power; you are elevated IN
/ their presence: you are a better man or a
better woman, having confronted them'
You know that in intellectual endowment
YOU are their superior, while in the matter
of moral and religious influence they are
vastly your superior. Why is this?
To ind the revelation OF this secSet you
must 60 back thirty or forty or perhaps slxtY
wears TO the homestead where this IN IN W y
brought uD Ii is a winter morning, and tn9
tailow candle is lighted, aud the fires are
kindled, sometimes the shavingS nardly
enough to start the wood. The mother Is
preparing the breakfast, the blue edge1
dishes are on the table, and the lid OF tue
kettle on the hearth begins 10 rattle with tne
steam and the shadow of the in iuStrious
woman by the Pickering fame on the hearth
is moved up and down the wall. The father
is at the barn feeding the stock-the oat'
thrown into the horses bin AMI the cattle
craunching the corn. The children, earlier
than they would like aud after being calle'
twi-e, are gathere at the table
The blessing of God is asked on the food
and. the meal over, the family Bible Is pu
upon the white tablecloth and chapter !
read and prayer made which includes a,
the interests for this world and the next
The children pay not much attention to the
PRAYER, for it is about the same thing dal
after day, but it puts upon them an impres
sion that ten thousand years Will only max
more vivid and tremendous. AS long as tn
Old folks live their prayer is for their chi
dren and their childran's children. Day ]
and day out, month IN and month out yea
in and year out decade in and decade GU
the sons and daughters OF that family ar
remembered in earnest prayer, ana the
know it, and they feel it, and they canno
get away from it.
Two funerals after awhile-not more thai
two years apart. for it is seldom that Their
is more than thu lapse of time between
fathers going and mothers going-tw'
funerals put out of sight the old folks. Blu
where are the children? The daughters ar
in homes where they are incarnations o
good sense, industry and piety. The sons
perhaps one 4 lhTuST, duObueI HleICudut
another mechanic, another minister o
the Gospel, u,e'ul, consistent, admired
Lonorej. What a power for good thos
seven sons and daughtersl Where did the!
get the power? From the schools, and th'
seminaries, and the colleges2 Oh no, thougl
these may have helped. From their superior
mental endowment? No, | do not thin
they had unusual mental caliber. From &C
cidental circumstances No, they had moth
ing of what is calle1 astounding COOL luck
think we will take train and ride to tn
} depot nearest 70 the homestead from whcl
those men and women started. The trai
halts. Let US stop few minutes at the vi
lage graveyard andsee the tombstones OF tn
parents. Yes the one was seventy-fou
: years Of age and the other was seventy-two
, and the epitaph says that after useful III
? they died Christian death" How appro
priately the Scripture passage cut on tn
, mothers tombstone 'She hath done wha
she could" And how beautiful the passag
cut on the fathers tombstone. BLESSED ar
= the dead who die in the Lord, for they re;
from their labors and their works do follo'
them"
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