Connecticut western news., 1900-11-15

crated her life. her classic attainments, her social position, her brilliant per sonality. Her whole life for others, and her face shows 1t. l think so much of heaven Is to be found in no other human countenance. Tennyson's Charge of the Light Brigade" Is not more thrilling to me than the womanly bravery and sacrifice that took care of those who were shot from the saddles of the immortal six hundred"
 The Emblem of Immortality.
 My text enthrones prayer and gives 1t a scepter to wave over our temporal and eternal life. Under God 1t cured Job and fixed up his finances and re- stored his home and made him so TO- bust of health that be lived IA decades. But" some one says, "I do not believe in prayer for friends and foes, because do not think that God Is going to change the laws of nature because we ask him so to do." Neither do think that God will change the law of nature at cur request, but l am sure that he answers prayer through natural law. Not physician of any skill, allopathic. or homeopathic, or hydropathic, or eclectic, but has some time been sur prised that what was thought to be fatal disease suddenly relaxes its grasp of the patient, and he recovers. Not one law of na ture has been fractured. Prayer may have given the sudden turn to that Illness. A business man may be in difficulty lnextricable-mort- gages against him foreclosing. goods to Fo able, new invention In machinery mak- ing the old machinery of his factory worthless, all kinds of commercial troubles bouncing upon him at once. Most business men have at least once In their lives been put in such agoniz- ing crisis, but the harried merchant or manufacturer gets out of 1t Creditors become lenient the wheels that were made useless for. making one kind of fabric turn out to be good for making another style of fabric, the stock of goods that could not be sold comes into unexpected demand, and whereas all things were against him all things are now for him. No law of nature is broken and no law of trade. Prayer may have given that extrication. God, by making law, does not tie his own hands with it. If you are free to do what you are asked to do, Is not God just as free, or are you mightier than your Maker?
 Prayers Answered..
 What a scene 1t was when that whal- ing ship, after cruise of three years, approached a New England harborl From the shore the mother knew that 1t was the ship in which her son was sailing, but hurricane struck the ship and destroyed 1t on the rocks, and the wreckage was strewn on the beach. But the mother continued all night in prayer for her sons safety, and in the morning a knock was heard at her door, and the door opened, and in came her long absent boy exclaiming. Moth | CT, knew you would pray me home" l But you need not go so far for illustra- l ton. have In my own life had an- | swers to prayer so pointed, so direct, | so startling, that dare not recfte them | lest be misunderstood. I could pick many startling instances right out of this audience. You dare not doubt the integrity of those who present such | witnesses In any court of law standing before judge and jury, and certainly you ought to believe them when they give solemn testimony as to what they have seen and felt in answer to pray CT, Silent prayer, audible prayer, ejac- ulatory prayer, microscopy prayer, ex- temporaneous prayer. liturgical pray CT. prayer in the morning to start the day right, prayer In the evening to cor rect the mistakes of the day, prayer at the beginning of the year as we launch | out upon its uncertainties, and prayer at the close of the year reviewing the vicissitudes of the 12 months, prayer for ourselves, prayer for others. not formal and heartless prayer, which is of no more use than the prayer of the heathen of Yimbuktu, who writes his petition on board and then washes it of and catches the water In a cup, giv- ing 1t to the sick to drink for recovery.
 Many of the prayers offered in Chris tian lands are as senseless as these artificial prayers of the pagans. What is needed is not only heartfelt prayer, but direct prayer. such as David men, tons. drawing his figure from archery, with It's bow and arrows. As the notch of the arrow Is put against the string of the bow and then the archer takes aim and in a flash the arrow strikes the mark. so David resolves that his prayers shall not be aimless. He aims his prayer at the heavens, 'To thee will I direct my prayer.", Have you said your prayersT is q misleading question. You may say your prayers 6 thousand times without praying. The Bible speaks of Elias, "who prayed in his prayer" implying that one can seem to pray when no prayer is of- fered. Prayer is the soul on the wing. It Is the private door into the Kings palace. It is the barometer showing what the spiritual weather will be. 1t Is stepping into the holy of holies. It Is telegraphy with the heavens. It Is the winding up of the clock of the im- mortal soul It is intercommunication between the finite and the infinite prayer suggested by circumstances.
 Breath of the Soul.
 Prayer Is what some one has called
 ''the slender nerve that moveth the
 muscles of omnipotence." Prayer is the healthful respiration of the soul. It
 is the whisper of helplessness into the
 ear of help. It is laying hold of al-
 mightiness, omniscience and omnipres-
 ence at one and the same time. Prayer
 enlists all divine and angelic re-enforce-
 ment. Prayer Is laying hold of .
 pulley fastened to the heavenly throne.
 Prayer Is the first breath of a new
 born soul. and 1t is heard In the last
 gasp of earthly Christian experiences.
 Prayer! In an instant It mounts the
 highest heavens. Neither seraph nor
 archangel ever flew swifter or higher
 than the infants petition at her
 mothers knee. What an opportunity Is
 prayerl Why not oftener use 1t pray
 Ing for ourselves and, like Job. praying for oth hot hot