Connecticut western news., 1896-01-23

IlSIn nS lOOKSu C0aQGed ana was changed, and he cried out to the andi- ence: "I am Christian. will die as a Christian. Though he was dragged out and stoned to death, they could not drown the testimony made under such awful circumstances: "I am a Chris tian. l will die as Christian. |" Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.
 What confirmation would come if all who had answers to prayers would speak out; if all merchants ill tight places because of hard times would tell how i'll response to supplication they got s,e money to pay the note; if all farmers Ill time of drought would tell how in an swer to prayer the rain came just in time to save the crop; if all parents who prayed for wandering son to come home would tell how not long after they heard the boys hand on the latch of the font door!
 Samuel Kick, an English Methodist preacher, solicited aid for West India missions from a rich miser and failed. Then the minister dropped on his knees, and the miser said, 1T will give thee guinea if thou wilt give over" But the minister continued to pray, until the miser said|"I will give thee 3 guineas if thou wilt give over. " Then the mon- ey was taken to the missionary meeting. Oh, the power of prayer! Melanchthon, utterly discouraged, was passing along place where children were heard pray ing, and he came back, saying, "Breth- ren, take courage the children are pray ing for us. Nothing can stand before prayer. An infidel came into a Bible class to ask puzzling questions. Many of the neighbors came ill to hear the dis cussion. The infidel arose and said to | the leader of the Bible class, ''I hear you allow questions asked. " "Oh, yes," said the leader. "but at the start let us kneel down and ask God to guide us '' "Ob, mo- Said the infidel. II did not come to pray; I came to discuss. " But" said the leader, ''you will, of course. submit to our rule, and that is | always to begin with prayer. The lead or knelt in prayer, and then arose and | said to the infdel, "Now you pray" The infldel replied, 1T cannot pray. l have no God to pray to. Let me gol Let me gor' The spectators, who expected fun, found nothing but overpowering solemnity, and a revival started, and among the first who were brought in was the infidel That prayer did it. In all our lives there have been times when we felt that prayer was answered. Then let us say so.
 Outspokenness.
 l There fingers on this side of the river that divides earth and heaven, ready at any time to cross over, the apostle of prayer for this century, Jeremiah Calvin Lanphier, the founder of the Fulton street prayer meeting, and if he should put on his spectacles and read this | salute him as more qualified than any man since Bible times in demonstrating what prayer can do. Dear Brother Lan- | phier! The high heavens are full of his fame Having announced meeting for l2 o'clock, Sept 23, 1857, he sat in the upper room on Fulton street, New York, waiting for people to come He waited for half hour, and then footfall was heard on the steps, and after awhile in all six persons arrived, but the next day | 20. and the next day 40 and from that time to this, for over 38 years, every day, Sabbath excepted, that Fulton street prayer meeting has been place | where people have asked prayer and an Svers to prayer have beon announced, and the throb of that great heart of sup nlication has thrilled not only into the heavens, but clear around the world, more than any spot on earth. That has heen the place where the redeemed of lhe Lord said sol ---..
 Let the same outspokenness be em- nloyed toward those by whom we have been personally advantaged. We wait until they are dead before VIC say so. Your parents have planned for your best interests all these years. They may sometimes, their nervous system usod np by the cares, the losses, the disap- pointments, the worriments of life, be more irritable than they ought to be, and they probably have faults which have become oppressive as the years go by. Bpt those eyes, long before they took on spectacles, were watching for your welfare, and their hands, not as smooth and much more deeply lined than once, have done for you many a good day $ work. Life has been to them more of struggle than you will ever know about, and much of the struggle has been for you, and how much they are wrapped up in your welfare you will never appreciate.
 Have you by word or gift or behavior expressed your thanks2 Or if you cannot quite get up to say 1t face to face. have you written it i'll some holiday saluta- tion? Tho time will soon pass, and they | xryi11 ha Cfx iuh a r ears will not hear, and their eyes will not sec If you owe them any kindness of deed or any words of appreciation, why do you not say so? How much we
 might all Of us save ourselves in the matter of regrets if we did not delay un. til too late an expression of obligation
 that would have made the last years oi
 earthly life more attractive. The grave
 is deaf, and epitaphs on cold marble
 cannot make reparation.
 In conjugal life the honeymoon il
 soon past, and the twain take it fol
 granted that each is thoroughly under
 stood. How dependent on each othel
 they become, and the years go by, ant
 perhaps nothing is said to make tn,
 other fully understand that sense of de
 pendence Impatient words sometime
 come forth, and motives are misinter
 preted, and 1t is taken as a matter o course that the two will walk the patl of life'side by side until about the sam
 time their journey shall be ended, bu some sudden and appalling illness un loosens tho right hands that were claspe,
 years before at the altar of orange bios
 soms, the parting takes place, ant
 among the worst Of all the sorrows i
 that you did not oftener. if you ever di'
 at all, tell her or tell him how indis pensable she was or how indispensabl
 he was to your happiness, and that il
 some plain, square talk long ago you eli' not ask for forgiveness for infirmitie and neglects, and by some unlimited ut f taranca make if understood that vnI