The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-01-16

skepte. she prayed Tor twelve months
but no answer came. She said "Can
give him up?" No, will pray six months
longer" 30 she went on praying for that
time, and at the end OF the six months
not ray of hope, not change that she
could see. And she said again "Shali 1
give him upT She came to this conclusion,
that she would pray for him as long AZ he
lived. That very day when he
and when the time came for
the dinner to be put on the table he did
not come down. Finally he went up to the
room where she had been praying for
eighteen months that she might be saved
and she found him on his knees praying
to God to save him. When was over in
England the last time / found he had
built church ON his own land. ven
ture to say that there are good many Of
youwho can remember how you prayed for
long time without any answer. ! re-
member during the war at Nash
vile soldier came to me trembling
from head TO foot. thought perhaps he
had been drinking. lie took soiled
piece OF paper out OF his pocket and said,
III wish you would read that" 1t went
on TO tell that his sister had been praying
for him ever since he had been in the
army. Sometimes IL seemed as IL my
heart.would break to think that my broth
er was in the army and might be shot
down any time without hope" He said
II believe / am the worst man in the
army. / have had the shot and shell
whiz past me without turning pale, but j
got that letter last night and i have
not slept a wink since / got it,"
1t was all soied with tears.
talked to him and had the Joy OF leading
him into the light. That sister held right
ON and the Lord answered her prayer.
That Is perseverance. IL was hard case,
but the Lord answered her prayer. So
let us keep it,in pind, that il we aregoing
to have power with God, we have got to
persevere.
Then, another true element to prayer is
faith. We must believe that our prayers
are going TO be answered. If we have
complied with the conditions, then let us
look for fulfilment. But mark We, here is
a mistake that people make, and great
mistake, too; they have an idea that God
does not answer prayer II he doesn't say
"yes." Ihave three children, and want
them on such terms with me that
they will ask me for anything they want.
But / tell you they don't get
everything they want. Not by good
deal. We want to keep it in mind that
when we get an answer 1t may be in the
negative. Did you ever know the three
men that take up the most room in scrip
ture, prayed often? Take Moses, he prayed
earnestly, he prayed that the Lord would
let him go into the promised land. For
forty years that servant had been leading
the people through the wilderness, yet the
Lord would not let him go into
the promised land. Didn't the Lord love
him? He finally said, "Now, Moses, don't
you speak to me any more about that mat
ter, let it rest" He never mentioned it
after that, but tell you, / don't believe
there was man on the earth at that time
that God loved as he did Moses. Fifteen
years after he answered Moses prayer. He
did not get his prayers answered just when
he wanted them answered, but in Gods
own good time. He wouldn't let any
arch angel or even Gabriel bury him
when he died. And do you tell me God
didn't love Moses? Take Elijah! He knew
how to pray, When he got
under that juniper tree and prayed that
he might die, like coward, God didn't
let him die. The only man that didn't
pray he might die was the very man who
did die. God took him to heaven. Now,
you take Paul. Thrice Paul prayed that
the Lord might take the thorn out of his
flesh. We do not know what the thorn
was and perhaps it is a good thing we
don't. Lots OF people get good deal of
comfort out of that. The Lord did not
see fit to remove the thorn. Anything
that would bring Paul up nearer God was
Just the thing he wanted. And so he got
4. 4. hnf ,ot IN.
he wanted.
petition. You know a good many people
pray and don't make any petition. i
have heard men pray in this way: telling
God how great and good, and wonderful
he was, and not petition I'm the prayer
from beginning to end. There was a man
in England who got up in meeting and
made one of those wonderful prayers, but
there was no petition in IL. And there
was a poor, godly saint in the East who
could not stand it any longer, and she
cried out, "Ask Him for something" Now
that Is just 1t. "Ask, and We shall receive,
knock, and il shall be opened unto YOU"
That is promise, now let's lay hold of
it. You know there are people who will
tell you it doesn't do any good to pray
further than to teach us submission"
"You can ask, and you won't get any
thing, but it is healthy excuse. That is
a nice way to mock a poor heart broken
mother, isn't ii !? 1t teaches you submis-
sion. / am sorry to say, ! am almost
ashamed to say it., but that Is the argu-
ment of a great. many skeptcs. And a
good many ministers preach and teach
II. You cannot expect that the
laws which have been fixed will even be
changed" / tell you like to go right
straight to the fountain head and see
what he says: "Seek and you shall find"
/ believe he means it. / have asked,
haven't you? 1 have been answered,
haven't you? What can these skeptics
and infidels tell you about prayerr They
don't know anything about it themselves.
Supposing there came a snow storm, and
a man comes TO my house at midnight and
knocks at the door. I throw open the
window, put my head out and say, "What
do Won want?n ssThere has been n blockade