The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1897-10-21
she was not called upon to sac, Ace any Of

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 wears, though there was 40 general
awakening in that church, many such iso'
lated eases OF unexpected and unac-
countable conversions took place. Inc
very people whom no one thought would
be affected by such considerations were
converted. The pastor and the officers OF
the church were on the lookout for the
solution of this religious phenomenon.
"Where Is it," they said, "and who is it,
and what is it?" :,
At last the discovery was made and all
was explained. poor old Christian wo-
nan 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
particular persons in that church. She
would see some man or woman present,
and. though she might not know the per-
son's 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 COM
munion DAYS to see when the candidates
for memberfhip stood up whether her pray
ers had been effectual. 1t 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 and urnoticed.
A little cloud Of consecrated humanity hov-
ering in the galleries. That was the secret
place Of the thunder. There is some hid
l.
most all the moral and religious power de-
monstrated. Not one out Of ten million
prayers ever strikes human ear. npub-
lie occasions minister OF religion voices
the supplications OF an assemblage, but the
prayers of all the congregation are In
silence There is not q second In century
when prayers are not ascending, but my
riads Of them are not even as loud as a
whisper, forced hears thought as plainly
as vocalization. That silence Of suppli-
cation-hemispheric and perpetual-is the
secret place OF thunder.
The dav will come-God hasten it-when
people will find out the velocity, the ma
iesty, the multipotence Of prayer. We brag
about our limited express trains which put
us down thousand miles away in twenty
four hours, but here Is something by which
In moment We may confront people 5000
miles away. Webrag about our telephones,
but here Is something that beats the tele-
phone in utterance and reply, for God says,
'Before they call, will hear" We brag
about the phonograph, 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 a 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, ye 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 60 into the secret place Of thunder?
"But," says some one, "that Is beauti-
full theory, yet 1t does not work in my case,
for am in q cloud OF trouble or cloud
of persecution or a cloud OF poverty or
cloud of perplexity." How glad I am
that you told me that. That Is exactly the
place to which my text refers. 1t was from
q cloud that God answered Israel-the
cloud over the chasn cut through the Red
Seattle cloud that was light to the Israe.
lites and darkness to the Egyptians. 1t
was from a cloud, tremendous cloud,
that God made reply. It was 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 a cloud hear it. 81 answered
thee in the secret place OF thunder"
This subject helps me to explain some
things you have not understood about cer-
tain useful men and women. Many OF them
have not q superabundance OF education.
II you had their brain In post mortem ex-
animation and you could weigh it 1t would
not weigh any heavier than the average.
They have not anything especially impress
II, al a
very fluent Of tongue. They pretend to
nothing unusual in mental faculty or So
cial influence, but you feel their power,
YOU are elevated in their presence, you are
4 better man or O better woman having
confronted them. You know that in fn-
tellectual endowment you are their su-
perior, while in the matter OF moral and
religious influence they are vastly your su-
perior. Why Is this? To find the reye-
iation Of this secret you must go back
thirty or forty or perhaps sixty years to
the homestead where this man was
brought up. 1t IL a winter morning, and
the tallow candle Is lighted and the
fires kindled, sometimes the shavings
hardly enough to start the wood. The
mother is preparing the breakfast, the blue
edged dishes are on the table, aud the lid OF
the kettle on the hearth rattles 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 maal over, the family Bi-
BILE Is put upon. the white table cloth and
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 tre-
mendous. As long as 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, wear in and year out, 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, for
it is seldom that there is more than that
lapse OF time between fathers going and
mothers goiug--two funerals put out OF
sight the old folks. The daughters are in
homes where they are incarnations OF good
sense, industry and piety. The sons, per-
haps one o farmer, another merchant,
another a mechanic, another physician
another q minister Of the Gospel, useful.
consistent, admired, honored. What a
power for good those seven sons and
daughters! Where did they get the power!