Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1897-10-22

would see some man or woman present,
and. though she might not know the per
sons name. she would pray for that person
until he or she was converted 70 God. All
her prayers were for that one person-lust
that one. She waited and waited for con-
munion DAYS 20 see when the candidates
for memberfhip stood up whether her pray
ers had been efectual. IL turned out that
these marvellous instances Of conversion
were the result Of that old wOman's pray
ers as sat in the gallery Sabbath by sabbath,
bent and wizened and poor aud unnotieed.
A little cloud Of cOnsecrated humanity now
ering in Ihe galleries. That was the secret
place Of the thunder. There Is some MD
den. unknown, mysterious source Tor al
most all the moral and religious power de-
monstrated. Not one out Of ten million
prayers ever strikes a human ear. On pub
lie occasions a minister Of religion voices
the supplicatiOns Of an assemblage, but the
prayers Of all the congregation are In
silence. There Is not a second in century
when prayers are not ascending, but my
RAIDS OF them are not even rs loud az a
whisper. for God hears a thought as plainly
as a vocalization. That silence OF suppli-
cation-hemispheri and perpetual-is the
secret place OF thunder.
The dav will come-God hasten it-when
people will find out the velocity, the ma
jesty the multipOtence Of prayer. We brag
about our limited express trains which put
Us down a thousand mile. away in twenty
four hours, but here Is something by which
in a moment We may confront people 5000
milesaw We brag about our telephones,
but here is something that beats the tele-
phone In utterance and reply, for God says,
Before they call, 7 will hear We brag
about the photograph, In which q man can
speak, and his words and the tones Of his
voice can be kept for ages. and by the turn
ing 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 remembrance and on
the other side of eternities they will be
heard. Oh. ya who are wasting your breath
and wasting your nerves and wasting your
lungs wishing for this good and that good
for the church and the world, why do you
not 90 into tine secret place OF thunder
But, " says some one. that is a beauti-
full theory, vet IT does not work in my case.
for | am In a cloud Of trouble or cloud
Of persecution or a cloud Of poverty or
cloud OF perpleXity.' How glad | am
that you told me that. That is exactly the
place To which my text refers II was from
cloud that God answered Israel-the
cloud over the chasm cut through the Red
Seattle cloud that was light to the Israo-
lites and darkness to the Egyptians. II
was lItIN flbh'l, u iEtlltuhhA7 'lbhA
that God made reply. II was a cloud that
was secret place Of thunder. SO you
cannot get away from the consolation Of
my text by talking that way. Let all the
people under cloud hear 1t. 81 answered
thee in the secret place Of thunder
This subject helps me to explain some
things YOU have not understood about GER
tain useful men and women. Many Of them
have not a superabundance Of education.
II you had their brain in post norton eN-
animation aud you could weigh it it would
not weigh any heavier than the average.
They have not anything especially impress
sve in personal appearance. They are not
very fluent Of tongue. They pretend to
nothing unusual in mental faculty or So
cial influence, hut YOU feel their power.
you are elevated in their presence. you are
q better man or q better woman having
confronted them. You know that in in
telleetual endowment you are their SUI
periOr, while in the matter of moral and
religious influence they are vastly your SUI
perior Why is this2 To find the reye-
lation Of this secret you must 90 back
thirty or forty or perhaps sixty years to
the homestead where this man was
brought up. 1t is winter morning, and
the taliOw candle j. lighted and the
fires kindled, sometimes the shavncs
hardly enough to start the wood. The
mother Is preparing the breakfast the blue
edged dishes are on the table, and the lid of
the kettle on the hearth rattIes with the
steam. The father is at the barn feeding
the stock the oats thrown into the horses
bin and the cattle crunching the corn. The
children, earlier than they would like and
after being called twice, are gathered at
the table The blessing of God is asked on
the food. and, the meal over, the family BIZ
bic is put upon the white table cloth and a
/ chapter is read and prayer made, which
includes all the interests for this world and
the next. The children pay not much at
tention to the prayer. for 1t is about the
same thing day after day, but it puts upon
them an impression that ten thousand
wears will only make more vivid and ire
mcndous. As long As the Old folks live
their prayer Is for their children and their
childrens children.
Day in and day out, month in and month
out. year in and year cut, decade In and
( decade out the sons and daughters of that
/ family are remembered in earnest prayer,
/ and they know it and feel it and they eau
/ not get away from it. Two funerals after
! awhile-nOt more than two years apart, fol
| it is seldom that there is more than that
! lapse Of time between fathers going and
/ mothers going-two funerals put out OF
( sight the old folks. The daughters are il
/ homes where they are incarnations OF good
/ sense, industry and piety. The sons, per
! hans one farmer another a merchant
/ another mechanic, another physician
/ another a minister Of the Gospel useful
| consistent admired, honored. What {
| power for good those seven sons anC
! daughters Where did they get the power
| From the schools and the seminaries ant
| the colleges; Oh no, those these may have
! helped. From their superior mental en-
! a ., ty,ly ba l., I
usual mental caliber. From accidental cir
| cumstances? No, they had nothing of what
! is called good luck.
think we will take n train and ri lie t
| the depot nearest to the homestead from
which those men and women started. TIL,
train halts Let US stop a few minutes a
| the village graveyard and see the tomb
stones Of the parents. Yes. the one wa
seyenty-four years Of age and the othe
seventy-two, and the epitaph says tina
after a useful life they died a Christian
death" On over the country road we rid
the road little rough, and once down il
a rut it is hard to get the wheels out agail
| without breaking the shafts But at las
| we come to the lane in front of the farm
house.
Let me get out Of the wagon and ope
the gate while you drive through. Her
is the arbor under which those boys an
girls many years ago used to play, but 1t |
| quite out of order now, for the property
in other hands. YOuder is the orchard
where they used to thrash the trees 70
apples, sometimes before they were quit
ripe. There is the mob, where they hunte
for eggs before Easter. There is the dooI
sill upon which they used to sit. There
the room in which they had family pray
I ers. and where they all knelt-the fathe
there. the mother there, and the boys an
girls there We have got to the fountai
of pious aud gracious influences at las
There is the place that decided those sever
earthly and immortal destinles. Behold
Behold! That is the secret place Of thunder
The reason we ministers do not accom-
plish more is because others do not pra,
Tor us enough, and we do not pray for our
selves enough. Every minister could tel
you thrilling story Of sermons, sermon
hasty and impromptu, because Of funeral
and sick beds. annoyances in the parish
yet those sermons directing man
-, And than pf cor