The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1892-06-09

The whole story OF now she had not slept
for several nights, and she feared she
was going to lose her soul, and she won.
dered if some one would not come
around and pray with her.
From that time her entlre demeanOr
was changed, aud though she was not
called upon to sacrifice any OF her amen.
tiles Of life, she c0nsecra ted her beauty,
her social position, her family, 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 explanation. In the
course of two years, though there was
no general awakening in that church,
many such isolated cases of such uncX-
pc ;ted and unacc Ountable conversions
took place. The very people whom no
one thought would be affected by such
considerations were converted.
The pastor an d the officers of the
church were on the lookout for the solu-
S"n ..oo g g. phs t 'r9gin@ & h"nHn her
"Wherc is it," they sad, "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 vcstbuc of the church one Sunday
morning, trying to get her breath again
before she went upstairs to the gallery,
heard the inquiry and told the secret.
| For years she had been in the habit OF
| concentrating all her prayers for partlc-
ular 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 icr Eiat
pcr-o until he or she was converted to
| God. All her prayers were for that one
person just that one. She waited All
waited for communion days to sec when
| The candidates for members hip stood up
| whether her praycrs?ha been ctlieCiual.
1t turned out that these marvellous ill.,
stances of CONVERSION were the result of
that old woman's prayers as. she sat lnthe
gallery every Sabbath, bent and wizencd
and poor and unnotced. A little cloud
of consccratcd 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 religious power demon
stratcd. Not one out Of Il million-nOt
one out of ten million prayers ever
strikes II h'lman ear. On public occa-
sioDs n minlstcr OF religion voices the
supplicaLlons Of en- assemblagc, but the
prayers OF all the congregation are in
silence. There is not q second in a CEN
turY when prayers are not ascending, but
nyrads of them are not even az loud a3
Il whisper. for God hears thought as
plainly as a vOcaliZation. That silence
OF supphcatiOn--hcmisp and per-
pctual is the secret place OF thunder.
The day will come-God hasten it
when people will find out the velocity,
the majesty, the multipotence Of prayer.
| We brag about our limited express
trains, which put us down a thousand
miles away in twcnty-four hours, but
ere is something by which in a moment
we may confront people five thousand
miles away. We brag about our tclc-
phones, but here is something that beats
the telephone in uttcrancc an3 r",'ly, for
God says, "BciOre they call, will
hear" We brag about the phor ogrurh,
III which a man can speak ami his words
and the tones Of his voice can be kept
tor ages, and by the turning OF a crank
the words may come forth upon tho ears
OF another century, but prayer allows us
to speak words into the ears Of cVcrlast-
ing remembrance, and on the other side
Of all the etCrnities they will be heard.
OH, yc who arc wasting your breath,
and wasting your brains, aud wasting
your nerves, and wasting your lungs,
Wishing Tor this good and that GOOD for
the church and the world, why do you
not 90 into tho secret place OF thunder:
"But," says one, "that is q bcauti-
tul theory, yet it does not work in my
case, Tor | am in cloud Of trouble. or a
cloud OF slcknCss. or q cloud OF pCrSccl-
ton, or Il cloud OF poverty, or cloId o
bereavement, or a cloud of pcrplcNity.'
How glad | am that you told NE thai
That is exactly the place to winch my
text refers. IT. was from cloud that
God answered Israel, the cloud over the
chasm cut through the Red sea, the cloul
that was light to the Isracl!tics ant
darkness to the Egyptiaus. II was iron
a cloud, tremendous cloud, that Coo
made reply. 1t was a cloud that was
the secret place Of thunder. So you
cannot get away from the consolation oi
my text by talking thai way. Let ali
the people under a cloud hear it. 81
answered thee in tie secret place OF
thunder"
The blessing of God is asked on the
food, and the meal over the family I5iblC
Is put upon the white table cloth, aid q
chapter is read and prayer made, which
includes all the interests for this world
and the next. The children pay not 50
much attention to the prayer, for it Is
about the same thing day after day, but
1t puts upon them an impression that ten
thousand years will only make more viv-
id and tremendous. As long rs the old
folks live their prayer is for their children
and their children's children. Day in
and day out, month in and month out.
year in and year out, decade in and de-
cade out the sons and daughters of that
family are remembered in earnest
prayer, and they know it, and they feel
| IT, and they cannot get away from it.
Two funerals after awhllc-not more
than two years apart, tor it ls seldom
that there is moro than that lapse of
time between tather's going ana moth
er's goiug-two funerals put out Of sight
| the old folks. But where are the chill
dren? The daughters are in homes
where they are incarnations Of good
sense, industry and piety. The sons,
perhaps one farmer, another mer-