Year: 1860

| The PrOfanities Of Prayer.


| We copied the other day from Western paper
an account Of a piOus gentleman, lame from his
birth, or from very early years, who was restored
to full sOundness of limb in answer to prayer. His
sufferings from his nirmity had grown so great
that he had consulted an eminent surgeon, and
made up his mind to submit to painful operation,
when 1t occurred to him to try first the efficacy of
prayer for the cure aleviation of his distress.
And so successful was his application that in the
deep sleep which fell upon him immediat tely there
after, he saw the eminent surgeon aforesaid enter,
accompanied by the Savior of Mankind, who pro-
! ceeded to operate his diseased limb and with
such effect that he found himself the next morning
entirely restored to its wholesome use. The legs
of the lame were no more unequal, but he could
walk and run and leap, after a very brief exercise
| of his long unpractieed muscles. The story
told with entire gravity, and without any apparent
sense of absurdity or indecorum, or of the ridi-
cule which was likely to attach because of it, in
unthinking minds, to an office held in such pro-


found veneration by universal Christendom.


| Whatever may be thought of the absurdty or
! the blasphemy of this story, the purpose of the
miracle of healing which it relates was at least
humane and benetcient, and in accordance with
the benignity of the wonderful works recorded in
the Gospels. Not so, however, with the marvel
which wrought in Boston, according to the
authentic assurance of The Congregational Herald,
in answer to devOut supplicatiOn. 1t seems that
the late lamented Theodore Parker did not die
natural death through the ordinary processes of
disease, as has generally been supposed, but that
he was prayed TO death by Z" praying circle of Ia


dies, held in the parlor of prominent citizen Of
Boston" These gOdly DANES made the case of
this celebrated heresiarch the subject Of special
prayer. " They prayed earnestly that he might
be stopped IN his preaching of ruinous errors"
At one OF their meetings, the glad tidings were
announced to them that on the previous Sabbath
Mr.. Parker had been prevented from preaching
because Frustrated by sickness. They recognized
the hand of the Lord in this dispensaton, and per-
| ceived that s. He was about to answer their pray
ers, though In different way from what they had
expected" And The Congregational Herald goes
on to recite, " as facts worthy of notice and re-
cord that Mr.. Parker's voice was virtually 81
fenced from that time forward that he preached
| only once or twice afterward and that disease
seized upon him I" which took him from his con-
gregation and his country, and into eternity"
Upon which state OF facts, this orthodox organ OF
the Congregationalists exelaims with holy fervor
" Was not this one among the numerous answers
| which God gives to secret prayer ~


| We think, if we are to take this oracle as
thentic expounder of the ways of God to man, that
it becomes matter of very general interest to
know whether these honorable and deyout women
of Boston have been encouraged by this signal sue
to continue their operations for the rdding of
the world of persons whom they may esteem mis-
chievous to it. The knowledge of the existence Of
such secret society of Destroying Angels, one
| would think, must excite small uneasiness In
| the Athens of our country. For though, as In
Athens of old, the inhabitants fond of hearing
and telling Of some new thing, we cannot conceive
that it could be agreeable novelty to learn that
such practices may be going on privily against
mems lives. Indeed, who of us all is safel How
| do we know that praying circle of ladies is not
OF this moment wearying Heaven for the destruC.
| tion of The Tribune, and an epidemic extirpation
of all the persons whom it employs In the public
service 1t is dreadful to think of. We know
| that certain women in Massachusetts, in former
times, were accused of practicing against mems
lives by secret arts. These sorceresses would make
waxen images of such as they wished to remove
from the world, and, by sticking pins into these,
would torment the flesh of those they stood for,
and by slowly melting them before the fire would
cause their eO-relatives.. to pine away and die.
But these adopts were branded as the worst of
criminals, and were hanged or burned without
mercy whereas the moro fatal sisterhoOd of our
later days exalted above all other women
excelling in Christian graees and in the favor of
| Almighty God.


The extent to which the dangers of such Holy
Alliance this might reach is something alarm
ing If it should be a settled thing that these
Fatal Sisters can indeed doom any one to death by
the cruel might of their simple intercession, who
can say that they would stay their avenging hands
| when they had freed the world from the theologic-
al monsters that lay it wastei Disagreeable hus-
bands, unpleasant fathers, superannuated uncles
and bedridden aunts might be disposed of by the
easy and editying process OF prayer meeting.
The vulgar appliances Of the dagger and the bowl,
| by which afflicted ladies have sometimes disposed
of the burdens of their lives, would be utterly su-
! perseded. A mere note asking an interest in the
prayers of these devOut ladies that such or such
an impentent sinner might be stopped in the
of his wickedness would probably be all that would
be necessary to secure his being removed out Of
the way. Strychnine, arsenic and prussic acid
would become drugs in the market as well as in
the apothecaries' shops. Such coarse and Vulgar
vehicles with which to convey marital, parental or
avuncuiar incOnvenieDces to another world, would
become obsolete. Lucretia Borgia, Maria Brinvil
| iers, Madame La Voisin, Miss Blandy, the Yelled
Murderess, and all the rest of that sisterhood,
would be looked upon as bungling noviees belong
| ing to period of low Art. 1t has been suggested
that these ladies should be induced to use their
| powerful interest for some end of more obvious
mercy such as the abolition Of slavery. But such
a suggestion could only proceed from an under
standing darkened by sin and heresy. 1t would
be an afront to these excellent women to ask them
to offer up their petitions for an object which an
eminent divine has publicly declared he should not
dare to pray for lest God should grant bis prayers


But We must leave the topic in spite of its tempta-
| tions. We would merely say, In conclusion, that
we have treated this subject with ridicule because
that is the weapon appointed for the chastisement
of grotesque basphemies like this. We marvel
that any man of sufficient intelligence to be set
over even a religious newspaper, can fail to per-
ceiye in how low and degraded light such simple
tons place the Supreme Being. when they thus
make Him the accOmpliee and the tool of their own
folly, stupidity or malignity.- N. Y. Tribune.


VA girl at seventeen years of age is in q state
of fascination at eighteen she is In q state of con-