The Wonders of Prayer by Various

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PLEASE GOD, GIVE US A HOME.

Mr. Moody tells of a beautiful answer to the faith of a little child.

"I remember a child that lived with her parents in a small village. One
day the news came that her father had joined the army (it was the
beginning of our war), and a few days after, the landlord came to demand
the rent. The mother told him she hadn't got it, and that her husband
had gone into the army. He was a hard-hearted wretch, and he stormed,
and said that they must leave the house; he wasn't going to have people
who couldn't pay the rent.

"After he was gone, the mother threw herself into the armchair, and
began to weep bitterly. Her little girl, whom she taught to pray in
faith, (but it is more difficult to practice than to preach,) came up to
her, and said, '_What makes you cry, mamma, I will pray to God to give
us a little home, and won't He_?' What could the mother say? So the
little child went into the next room and began to pray. The door was
open, and the mother could hear every word.

_"'O, God, you have come and taken away father, and mamma has got no
money, and the landlord will turn us out because we can't pay, and we
will have to sit on the door-step, and mamma will catch cold. Give us a
little home_.' Then she waited as if for an answer, and then added,
'_Won't you, please, God_?'

"She came out of that room quite happy, expecting a home to be given
them. The mother felt reproved. God heard the prayer of that little one,
for he touched the heart of the cruel landlord, and she has never paid
any rent since."

God give us the faith of that little child, that we may likewise expect
an answer, "_nothing wavering_."

"OF COURSE HE WILL."

Mr. Moody also gives the story of a little child whose father and mother
had died, and she was taken into another family. The first night she
asked if she could pray, as she used to do.

They said, Oh, yes! So she knelt down, and prayed as her mother taught
her, and when that was ended she added a little prayer of her own: "_Oh,
God, make these people as kind to me as father and mother were_." Then
she paused, and looked up, as if expecting an answer, and added, "_Of
course he will_."

How sweetly simple was that little one's faith; she expected God to
"do," and she got her request.

STRIKING ANSWER.

The following incidents are specially contributed to these pages by Rev.
J.S. Bass, a Home Missionary of Brooklyn, N.Y.:

"While living in Canada, my eldest daughter, then a girl of ten years of
age, rather delicate and of feeble health, had a severe attack of
chorea, "St. Vitus's dance." To those who have had any experience in
this distressing complaint, nothing need be said of the deep affliction
of the household at the sight of our loved one, as all her muscles
appeared to be affected, the face distorted with protrusion of the
tongue, and the continuous involuntary motions by jerks of her limbs.
The ablest medical advice and assistance were employed, and all that the
sympathy of friends and the skill of physicians could do were of no
avail. She grew worse rather than better, and death was looked to as a
happy release to the sufferings of the child, and the anguish of the
parents; as the medical men had given as their opinion that the mind of
the child would become diseased, and if her life were lengthened, it
would be an enfeebled body united to an idiotic mind.

"But God was better to us than our most sanguine hopes far better to us
than our fears.

"In our trouble we thought on God, and asked his help. We knew we had
the prayers of some of God's chosen ones. On a certain Sunday morning I
left my home to fill an appointment in the Wesleyan chapel in the
village of Cooksville, two miles distant. I left with a heavy heart. My
child was distressing to look upon, my wife and her sister were worn out
with watching and fatigue. It was only from a sense of duty that I left
my home that morning. During the sermon God refreshed and encouraged my
heart still to trust in him. After the service, many of the congregation
tarried to inquire of my daughter's condition, among them an aged saint,
Sister Wilson, widow of a Wesleyan preacher, and Sister Galbraith, wife
of the class-leader. Mother Wilson encouraged me to 'hope in God,'
saying 'the sisters of the church have decided to spend to-morrow
morning together in supplication and prayer for you and your family, and
that God would cure Ruth.'

"Monday morning came. Ruth had passed a restless night. Weak and
emaciated, her head was held that a tea-spoonful of water should be
given her. My duties called me away (immediately after breakfast) to a
neighbor's; about noon, a messenger came, in great haste, to call me
home. On entering the sick-chamber, I noticed the trundle-bed empty, and
my little girl, with smiling face, sitting in a chair at the window,
(say eight feet from the bed.) I learned from the child that, while on
the bed, the thought came to her that, if she could only get her feet on
the floor, the Lord would help her to sit up. By an effort, she
succeeded, moving herself to the edge of the bed, put her legs over the
side until her feet touched the floor, and sat up. She then thought, if
she tried, the Lord would help her to stand up, and then to walk; all of
which she accomplished, without any human aid, she being left in the
room alone. The same afternoon she was in the yard playing with her
brothers, quickly gained flesh, recovered strength, with intellect clear
and bright; she lived to the age of twenty-two, never again afflicted
with this disease, or anything like it. At the age of twenty-two, ripe
for heaven, it pleased God to take her to himself.

"The sisters, led by Mother Wilson, waited on God in prayer, and God
fulfilled that day the promise--Isaiah 65:24: 'And it shall come to
pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet
speaking, I will hear.'"

A REMARKABLE CASE.

On the afternoon of Monday, August 20, 1869, I was sent for to visit
Mrs. M., who was reported to be very sick. Arriving at the house, I was
told that "Mrs. M., after a hard day's work, had retired to rest
Saturday night in her usual state of health, that immediately after
getting in bed she had fallen asleep and had not awoke up to this time,
(6 o'clock Monday evening,) that three physicians had been in attendance
for 30 hours, that all their efforts to arouse her were without avail."

In the chamber, Mrs. M. lay in the bed apparently in a troubled sleep,
she was a woman of medium size, about 50 years of age, the mother of a
large family; around her bed stood her husband, four sons and a
daughter, and relatives, about twelve persons in all. The husband and
sons were irreligious, but awed in the presence of this affliction.

I felt, as perhaps I never felt before, my ignorance, my helplessness,
and the necessity of entire dependence on God for guidance and
inspiration, that prayer should be made in accordance with his will.

I knelt at the bedside and held the woman's hand in mine, lifted up my
heart to God and prayed, "If it be thy will and for thy glory, and for
the good of this family, grant that this woman may once more open her
eyes to look upon her children, once more open her lips in counsel and
holy admonition." While thus praying, as I believe, inspired by the
Spirit of God, and with faith in Jesus Christ, I was conscious of a
movement around me, and opening my eyes, I saw Mrs. M. sitting up in
bed. Some of the persons in the room were weeping, others laughing; the
sons came nearer the bed, and asked, "Mother, do you know me? do you
know me?" She called each by name, and beckoned to her daughter, held
her by the hand. I, poor faithless one, was wondering what does this
mean? One of the sons took me by the hand saying, "Oh! Mr. Bass, God
heard and answered that prayer." I sung the hymn, "There is a fountain
filled with blood," Mrs. M. singing to the close, and then, apparently
exhausted, sank back on the pillow, speechless and unconscious. The
physicians were sent for, came, wondered, speculated, administered
medicine, blistered the calves of the legs, and cupped the back of the
neck, but to no purpose. She remained in speechless unconsciousness till
the next afternoon, when, while prayer was being made, she again opened
her eyes, sat up and conversed with her children and friends. In a few
days she resumed her household duties, enjoying a good degree of health
and strength, and faithfully serving God and her generation until it
pleased God to call her home to the rest prepared for the people of God,
three years after the incident, the subject of this paper.

A LITTLE GIRL'S BEAUTIFUL FAITH.

A little German girl, who had never hitherto known the name of the Lord
Jesus, was led to attend a Mission school. It was the custom at the
school, before the little ones received their dinner, to lift their
hands and thank God for their food.

When in course of time she spent her days at home, and her father's
family were gathered around their own table, this little girl said:

"_Pa, we must hold up our hand's and thank God before we eat._ That's
the way we do at the Mission."

So winning was the little one in her ways, the parents yielded at once.

At another time her father was sick and unable to work, and the little
girl said, "_Pa, I'm going to pray that you may get well and go to work
to-morrow morning_."

At four o'clock in the morning she awoke and called out, "_Pa, don't you
feel better_." The father said, "Yes, I am better," and he went to his
work in the morning, although weak and obliged to rest by the way.

There came a time once when he could not get work, and there was no food
in the house for dinner.

This little girl knelt down and asked God to send them their dinner, and
when she rose from her knees, she said, "Now we must wait till the
whistle blows, till 12 o'clock."

At twelve o'clock the whistle blew, and the little girl said, "Get the
table ready, it is coming," and just then in came a neighbor with soup
for their dinner.

THE LORD HELPS TO PAY DEBTS.

The author of this incident is known to the editor of "Remarkable
Providences," and speaking of it says: "_God never gave me exactly what
I wanted. He always gave me more."_

"When I married I was a working man; I had not much money to spare. In
about three months after my marriage, I fell ill, and my illness
continued for more than nine months. At that period I was in great
distress. I owed a sum of money and had no means to pay it. It must be
paid on a certain day, or I must go to jail. I had no food for myself or
wife; and in this distress I went up to my room, and took my Bible. I
got down on my knees and opened it, laid my fingers on several of the
promises, and claimed them as mine. I said, 'Lord, this is thine own
word of promise; I claim thy promises.' I endeavored to lay hold of them
by faith. I wrestled with God for sometime in this way. I got up off my
knees, and walked about some time. I then went to bed, and took my
Bible, and opened it on these words: '_Call upon me in the day of
trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me_.'

"I said, 'it is enough, Lord.' I knew deliverance would come, and I
praised God with my whole heart. Whilst in this frame of mind I heard a
knock at the door. I went and opened it and a man handed me a letter. I
turned to look at the letter, and when I looked up again, the man was
gone.

"The letter contained the sum I wanted, and five shillings over. It is
now eighteen years ago. I never knew who sent it. God only knows. Thus
God delivered me out of all my distress. To Him be all the praise."

PRAYING FOR A LOST POCKET-BOOK.

A contributor to _The Christian_ writes as follows:

"A few months since I lost my pocket-book, containing money and papers
of a large amount--more than I felt able to lose--and which I should
feel the loss of, as I was owing at that time about the same amount.

"On the day of my loss, I had been from home about a mile and a half,
and it was about 9 o'clock _in the evening_, when I returned. And it was
not till then that I ascertained my loss.

"My health was very poor, and the prospect of regaining the lost
pocket-book was quite uncertain; it was so dark that I thought it would
be impossible for me to find it. Consequently I determined to remain
awake during the night, and at 3 o'clock in the morning search for it,
and if possible, find it before any one should pass over the road.

"The seeming impossibility of finding it, and the reflections consequent
upon the loss of the money were so unpleasant to me that I was led to
make it a subject of prayer, fully trusting that in some way God would
so direct that I should come in possession of it. If so, I determined to
give him $25 of it.

"As soon as I had formed this purpose, all that unpleasant feeling left
me, and I did not admit a single doubt but I should get it.

"Accordingly, _at 3 o'clock in the morning_ I made a thorough search,
but could not find it. Yet my faith in God's guiding hand did not fail
me, and I believed that my trust would be realized.

"While I was thus thinking of the certainty of the fulfillment of the
promises of the Gospel to the believer, I was called on by a gentleman,
a leading business man of the place, who came to know if _I had lost
anything_.

"I told him I had lost my pocket-book. He wanted to know how much it
contained. I told him. He said his son had occasion to pass early on
that morning, and had found it in the road, and that in all probability
I should otherwise have lost it, as two men passed by immediately after
it was found.

"Thus God found it and returned it to me."

* * * * *

LIVES OF FAITH AND TRUST

AN EXTRAORDINARY LIFE OF FAITH AND TRUST.

For many centimes there has not been a more remarkable testimony of
unfaltering trust in the faithfulness of God in supplying human wants,
than is found in the life and labor of George Muller and his Orphan
Home, in Bristol, England. His record is one of humility, yet one of
daily dependence upon the providence and the knowledge of God to supply
his daily wants. It has been one of extraordinary trial; yet never, for
a single hour, has God forsaken him. Beginning, in 1834, with absolutely
nothing; giving himself, his earthly all and his family to the Lord, and
asking the Lord's pleasure and blessing upon his work of philanthropy,
he has never, for once, appealed to any individual for aid, for
assistance, for loans; but has relied wholly in prayer to the
Lord--coming with each day's cares and necessities--and the Lord has
ever supplied. He has never borrowed, never been in debt; living only
upon what the Lord has sent--yet in the forty-third year of his life of
faith and trust--he has been able, through the voluntary contributions
which the Lord has prompted the hearts of the people to give, to
accomplish these wonderful results: _Over half a million dollars_ have
been spent in the construction of buildings--_over fifteen thousand
orphans have been cared for and supported--and over one million dollars_
have been received for their support. _Every dollar of which has been
asked for in believing prayer from the Lord_. The record is the most
astounding in the faith of the Christian religion, and the power and
providence of God to answer prayer, that modern times can show.

The orphans' homes have been visited again and again by Christian
clergymen of all denominations, to feel the positive satisfaction and
certainty that all this were indeed the work of prayer, and they have
been abundantly convinced.

The spectacle is indeed a _standing miracle. "A man sheltering, feeding,
clothing, educating, and mailing comfortable and happy, hundreds of poor
orphan children, with no funds of his own, and no possible means of
sustenance, save that which God sent him in answer to prayer_."

An eminent clergyman who for five years had been constantly hearing of
this work of faith, and could hardly believe in its possibility, at last
visited Mr. Muller's home for the purpose of thorough investigation,
exposing it, if it were under false pretenses or mistaken ways of
securing public sympathy, or else with utmost critical search, desired
to become convinced it was indeed supported only by true prayer. He had
reserved for himself, as he says, a wide margin for deductions and
disappointment, but after his search, as "_I left Bristol, I exclaimed
with the queen of Sheba, 'The half had not been told me.' Here I saw,
indeed, seven hundred orphan children fed and provided for, by the hand
of God, in answer to prayer, as literally and truly as Elijah was fed by
ravens with meat which the Lord provided_."

Mr. Muller himself has said in regard to their manner of living:
"_Greater and more manifest nearness of the Lord's presence I have never
had, than when after breakfast, there were no means for dinner, and then
the Lord provided the dinner for more than one hundred persons; and when
after dinner, there were no means for the tea; and yet the Lord provided
the tea; and all this without one single human being having been
informed about our need_."

Thus it will be seen his life is one of daily trial and trust, and he
says, "Our desire therefore, is, not that we may be without trials of
faith, but that the Lord graciously would be pleased to support us in
the trial, that we may not dishonor him by distrust."

The question having been asked of him, "Such a way of living must lead
the mind continually to think whence food, clothes, etc., are to come,
with no benefit for spiritual exercise," he replies: "Our minds are very
little tried about the necessaries of life; just because the care
respecting them is laid upon our Father, who, because we are his
children, not _only allows_ us to do so, _but will have us to do so_.

"It must also be remembered that even if our minds _were_ much tried
about our supplies, yet because we look to the _Lord alone_ for all
these things, we should be brought by our sense of need, into the
presence of our Father for the supply of it, _and that is a blessing_,
and satisfying to the soul."

This humble statement from the experience of one who has tried and
proven the Lord in little things, as well as large, conveys to the
Christian that world of practical instruction which is contained in the
precepts of the Bible, viz: to _encourage all to cast their cares on
God_; and teaches them the lessons of their dependence upon Him for
their daily supplies.

The meaning of the Lord's blessing upon the work of Mr. Muller, is to
make it a standing example and illustration to be adopted in every
Christian home. "_How God supplies our needs, how he rewards faith, how
he cares for those who trust in Him. How he can as well take care of his
children to-day as he did in the days of the Prophets, and how surely he
fulfills his promise, even when the trial brings us to the extremities
of circumstances seemingly impossible_."

Mr. Muller's experience is remarkable, not because the Lord has made his
an exceptional case for the bestowal of blessings, but because of the
_remarkable, unwavering and persevering application of his faith_, by
the man himself.

His faith began with small degrees, and small hopes. It was painfully
tried. But it clung hopefully, and never failed to gain a triumph. Each
trial only increased its tenacity, and brought him greater humility, for
it opened his own heart to a sense of his own powerlessness, and this
faith has grown with work and trial, till its strength is beyond all
precedent.

The lessons which the Lord wishes each one to take from it, is this:
"_Be your faith little or weak, never give it up; apply my promises to
all your needs, and expect their fulfillment. Little things are as
sacred as great things_."

In the journal kept by Mr. Muller during his many years of experience,
he has preserved many incidents of answer to prayer in small matters, of
which we quote the following from his book. "_The Power of Faith and
Prayer_."

1. "One of the orphan boys needed to be apprenticed. I knew of no
suitable believing master who would take an indoor apprentice. I gave
myself to prayer, and brought the matter daily before the Lord. At last,
though I had to pray about the matter from May 21 to September, the Lord
granted my request, and I found a suitable place for him.

2. I asked the Lord that he would be pleased to deliver a certain sister
in the Lord from the great spiritual depression under which she was
suffering, and after three days the Lord granted my request.

3. I asked the Lord daily in his mercy to keep a sister in the Lord from
insanity, who was then apparently on the border of it. I have now to
record his praise, after nearly four years have passed away, that the
Lord has kept her from it.

4. During this year has occurred the conversion of one of the greatest
sinners that I had ever heard of in all my service for the Lord.
Repeatedly I fell on my knees with his wife, and asked the Lord for his
conversion, when she came to me in the deepest distress of soul, on
account of the most barbarous and cruel treatment that she had received
from him in his bitter enmity against her for the Lord's sake. And now
the awful persecutor is converted.

5. It pleased the Lord to try my faith in a way in which before, it had
not been tried. My beloved daughter was taken ill on June 20. This
illness, at first a low fever, turned to typhus, _and July 3 there
seemed no hope of her recovery_.

Now was the trial of faith, but faith triumphed. My wife and I were
enabled to give her up into the hands of the Lord. He sustained us both
exceedingly.

She continued very ill till about July 20, when restoration began. On
August 18, she was so far restored that she could be removed to Clevedon
for change of air. It was then 59 days since she was taken ill.

6. The heating apparatus of our Orphan Home unexpectedly gave out. It
was the commencement of Winter. To repair the leak was a questionable
matter. To put in a new boiler would in all probability take many weeks.
Workmen were sent for to make repairs. But on the day fixed for repairs
a _bleak north wind set in_."

Now came cold weather, the fire must be put out, the repairs could not
be put off. Gladly would I have paid one hundred pounds if thereby the
difficulty could have been overcome, and the children not be exposed to
suffer for many days from living in cold rooms.

At last I determined on falling entirely into the hands of God, who is
very merciful and of tender compassion. I now asked the Lord for two
things, viz.: "That He would be pleased to change the _north wind into a
south wind_, and that he would give the workmen a mind to work.

Well, the memorable day came. The evening before, the bleak north wind
blew still; but on the Wednesday the south wind blew _exactly as I had
prayed_. The weather was so mild that no fire was needed.

About half-past eight in the evening, the principal of the firm whence
the boiler-makers came, arrived to see how the work was going on, and
whether he could in any way speed the matter.

The principal went with me to see his men; to the foreman of whom he
said: "The men will work late this evening, and come very early again
to-morrow."

"_We would rather_," said the leader, "_work all night_."

Then remembered I the second part of my prayer, that God would give the
men a mind to work. By morning the repair was accomplished, the leak was
stopped, and in thirty hours the fire was again in the boiler; _and all
the time the south wind blew so mildly that there was not the least need
of a fire_.

7. In the year 1865, the scarlet fever broke out in several of the
Orphan Homes. In one of which were four hundred girls, and in the other
four hundred and fifty. It appeared among the infants. The cases
increased more and more. But we betook ourselves to God in prayer. Day
by day we called upon Him regarding this trial, and generally two or
three times a day. At last, when the infirmary rooms were filled, and
some other rooms that could be spared for the occasion, to keep the sick
children from the rest, and when we had no other rooms to spare, at
least not without inconvenience, it pleased the Lord to answer our
prayers, and in mercy stay the disease. The disease was very general in
the town of Bristol, and many children died in consequence. _But not one
in the Orphan Home died. All recovered_.

At another date, the whooping-cough also broke out among the four
hundred and fifty girls of our Home, and though many were dying in the
towns of the same disease, yet all in the Orphan Home recovered except
one little girl who had very weak lungs, a constitutional tendency to
consumption.

8. In the early part of one Summer, it was found that we had several
boys ready to be apprenticed, but there were no applications made by
masters for apprentices. This was no small difficulty, as the master
must be also willing to receive the apprentice into his own family. We
again gave ourselves to _prayer_, instead of _advertising_. Some weeks
passed, but the difficulty remained. We continued in prayer, and then
one application was made for an apprentice, and from the time we first
began, we have been able to find places for eighteen boys."

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