The Globe-republican., 1892-06-13

pastor came in the old man could not
speak for emotion, but after Q while he
gathered self control enough to say, 81
have lived for this world too long.
want to know IL you think I can be
saved, and, IL so, 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 benefac.
tiOns, and to all the great charities OF
the dav he became q cheerful and boun-
tiful 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
hath by Sabbath. a beautiful and tai
ented woman, who was a great society
that was a respectable thing to
do. and 10 the neighborhood where she
lived it was hardly respectable not to
60 Worldly was she to the last de-
gree. 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 re-
iigious emotion OF any kind, she thought
it positively vulgar. Wines, cards, the
aters, rounds OF costly gayety were to
her the highest satisfaction. One day a
neighbor sent In a visiting card, and this
lady came down stairs in tears, and told
the whole story OF how she bad not slept
for several nights. and she feared she
was going to lose her soul, and she wOn-
dered il some one would not come around
and pray with her.
From that time her entire deme an or
was changed, and though she was not
called upon to sacrifice any Of her
amenities of life, she consecrated her
beauty, her social position, her family,
her all to God and the church and USE
tulness. Everybody said in regard to
her, "Have you noticed the change, and
what in the world caused it?" and no
one could make satisfactory explana-
ton. In the course Of two years. though
there was no general awakening in that
church, many such isolated cases of such
unexpected and unaccountabIe conver-
sions took place. The very people
whom no one thought would te affected
by such considerations were converted.
The pastor and the officers Of the
church were on the lookout for the So
luton OF this religious phenomenon.
''Where is it." they said, ''and who Is it
and what Is lt?" 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 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 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 converted
to God. All her prayers were for that
one person-just that one. She waited and
waited for communion days to see when
the candidate for membership stood up
whether her prayers had been effectual.
1t turned out that these marvellous in
stances for 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 consecrated humanity
lowering in the galleries. That was the
some hidden, unknown, mysterious
source Of almost all the moral and re-
ligious power demonstrated. Not one
out OF miIliOn-nOt one out OF ten mil
lion prayers ever strikes a human ear.
On public occasions a minister of re-
ligion voices the supplications of an as
semblage, but the prayers Of all the con-
gregation are in silence. There is not .
second in century when prayers are
not ascending, but myriads of them are
not even as loud as whisper, for God
hears thought as plainly as vocsliza.
tion. That silence Of supplicstion-
hemisphere and perpetual-ist the secert
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 MS down a thousand
miles away in twenty-fOur hours, but
here is something by which in q moment
We may confront people five thousand
miles away. We brag about our tele-
phones, but here is something that beats
the telephone in utterance and reply. for
God saws, Before they call. will hear"
We brag about the phonograph, 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 crank the words
may come forth upon the ears Of another
century, but prayer allows US to speak
words into the ears Of everlasting re-
membrance, and on the other side of all
the eternities they will be heard. Oh, ye
who are wasting your breath, and vast
ing your brains, and wasting your
nerves, and wasting your lungs, wish
ing for this good and that good for the
church and the world, why do you not
60 into the secret place of thunder?
This subject helps me to explain some
things you have not understood about
men and women, and there are multi
tudes of them. and the multitude Is mul.
tiplying by the minute. Many Of them
have not q supersbundauce Of education.
If you had their brain in q postmortcm
examination. and you could weigh it. it
would not weigh any heavier than the
average. They have not anything
especially impressive In personal ap-
pearsnce. They are not very fluent of
tongue. They pretend to nothing un-
usual in mental faculty or social in
N,aoco hut rou fool rhoip v>o-o.. ~or