The Wonders of Prayer by Various

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"The Spirit saith expressly that in later times some shall fall away
from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of
devils." 1 Tim. iv., 1.

"But know this, that in the last days grievous times shall come." "Evil
men and impostors shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being
deceived." 2 Tim. iii., 1 and 13.

"Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no
great thing if his ministers be transformed as the ministers of
righteousness. 2 Cor. xi., 14.

"And then shall that wicked be revealed. Even him whose coming is after
the working of Satan, _with all power, and signs_, and _lying wonders_;
and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish,
because they received not the love of the truth that they might be
saved." 2 Thess. ii., 8 to 10.

By these passages it is plain that a sign or a wonder does not establish
a doctrine or endorse a man as certainly being _from God_. The doctrine
and the man must be judged by the written word of God.

If there is ought in the doctrine that denies that Jesus is the Son of
God, that derogates in the slightest degree from the merit of His
atonement on the cross for our sins, or that takes the eye off from Him
as the risen and coming Lord, the alone object of our faith and hope, or
that dishonors in any way God's holy word, taking from or adding to it,
_then_ the more signs and wonders and manifestations of mysterious power
that there may be connected with it, then the more certainly we may know
that it is of Satan and not of God.

And if, in the man who exhibits signs and wonders, there is a spirit
contrary to the spirit of Christ, in his seeking honor from man, and
using his power to establish a claim to such honor, "speaking of himself
as some great one," and not walking in humility as a sinner saved from
hell and kept day by day by the power of God through faith in Christ,
And if the purpose of his signs be to establish revelations he is
receiving in any form apart from the written word, then, though his
signs be as marvelous as those of the magicians in Egypt, or Simon
Magnus in Samaria, he is, like them, a minister of Satan and not a
minister of Jesus Christ.

The age abounds in doctrines and men of this kind. The life of faith
lays the soul open to assaults of the Devil by their agency.

"Beloved try the spirits whether they be of God."

Let us not waver in our faith in God's overruling providence, and in the
reality of His interposition in answer to prayer for the deliverance and
help of his people under any and all circumstances. "In _everything_, by
prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let our requests be made
known unto God," but let our first request be that we be kept in a sound
mind obedient to the word, and let _all of_ our requests close with the
utterance, from a sincere heart, of the words, "Thy will be done." If
this be the attitude of our hearts our prayers shall be abundantly and
graciously answered, and God shall guide us from the wiles of the Evil
One for the sake of His dear Son Jesus Christ our Lord, through whose
precious blood we have all grace and all blessing. Amen.

LAKE VIEW, July 24th, 1885.

* * * * *

A MAN CAN RECEIVE NOTHING EXCEPT IT BE GIVEN HIM FROM HEAVEN. JOHN 3:
27.

* * * * *

HIS COVENANT.

_"Know, that the Lord, thy God he is God, the faithful God, which
keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him, and keep his
commandments, to a thousand generations."_

_"My Covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of
my lips."_

_"I will not suffer my faithfulness to fail."_

_"I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I
will also do it."_

_"He is faithful that promised."_

_"I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of
David."_

_"Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David."_

_"God is not a man, that he should lie; hath he said and shall he not do
it? hath he spoken and shall he not make it good?"_

_"Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in Heaven; thy faithfulness is
unto all generations, thy word is true from the beginning."_

_"Thy faithfulness is unto all generations."_

_"The word of our God shall stand forever."_

_"So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth; it shall not
return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it
shall prosper in the things whereto I sent it."_

* * * * *

ANSWERS TO PRAYER

A WONDERFUL ANSWER TO PRAYER AND PROOF OF THE EXISTENCE OF THE HOLY
SPIRIT.

A trustful Christian, whose heart had been deeply touched with thoughts
of religion, was one day thinking and pondering and wishing that he
might be more truly convinced of the actual existence of the Holy
Spirit. "If," thought he, "there is a Holy Spirit, a Superior Mind and
Will, I reverently and sincerely wish that I may be convinced of it
beyond all doubt; that I may indeed know God is a living reality and
daily guide and mighty among the plans and ways of men." Though having
all the needed mental, historic and heart belief and trust in God--still
there was desired that special satisfaction which can only come by
_personal evidence._

With reverent feeling one morning, he asked the Lord humbly, in Prayer,
"_What can thy servant, do for thee this day? Teach him, that he may
gladly minister to any one in thy name_." In the course of the day there
came to him the thought of the revival services then proceeding in
Brooklyn, and feeling a cordial sympathy, he sat down and wrote a letter
to _Mr. Moody_, with these words: "_I know not how you are supported, or
anything of your needs; but I feel like helping you in your good work.
Enclosed find check for $25; take it and use it if you need it for
yourself; if not, then do some good with it_." The circumstance was
almost forgotten, when the day after there came this wonderful reply
from Mr. Moody:

"_Your letter came to hand in the_ SAME MAIL, _at the_ SAME
INSTANT _of_ TIME, _with a letter from a brother in distress_
WANTING THE SAME AMOUNT. _And now you have made him happy, and
my heart glad, and the Lord will bless you for it."_

D.L. MOODY.

Had there been a direct revelation from heaven, it could not have been
more astounding than this, to the heart of that Christian. His own
prayer was answered, as to his search for the evidences of the Holy
Spirit, but oh, how wonderfully!

None but a Superior, Higher, Overruling Spirit, could have known the
thoughts and desires of each heart. Nothing but an Omnipotent hand of
Power and Wisdom could have brought these two letters together at that
identical instant of time. None but an All-knowing Father could have
fixed the amount of money which the one was to give and the other was to
pray for.

This was a wonderful conjuncture of time, desire and amount, and could
never have happened by any chance operation of Nature or the natural
heart and will. Strangest of all, neither of the parties had ever met,
known or corresponded with each other before. Neither did Mr. Moody know
of the desire of the one, nor the necessity of the other, until in the
act of opening the two letters side by side. In the one envelope was the
prayer; in the other the answer.

That check, those letters, with all signatures and endorsements and
those persons are this day living and can testify to the authenticity of
the circumstance.

THE PRAYER OF FAITH.

The family of Mr. James R. Jordan has resided in Lake View, Chicago,
since the spring of 1871. They are members of Lincoln Park
Congregational Church. The father, Mr. James R. Jordan, died in October,
1882, aged eighty-four years. Through a long series of financial trials,
sorrows, afflictions by death and pressing cares, this family learned to
depend on God for their daily prosperity; and the cures wrought in them,
according to God's Word, are only a small portion of the remarkable
answers to prayer with which their history is filled.

It is an instructive fact for Christian meditation, that when the
exercise of intelligent faith was necessary to their cures, the faith
was there _ready for exercise._ They had not to begin, as, alas! so many
do, at the very foundation, and find out first, what faith is, and next,
how to exercise it. They had learned long before what faith is and what
faith is not; that _faith is trustful obedience to the Word of God;_
that it _is not_ a determination to have one's own way, nor to expect
the immediate gratification of a desire, simply because the desire has
been made known to God. They knew that faith obediently accepts God's
commands and promises, expects to comply with the conditions of those
commands and promises, and, so complying, expects to receive the results
of such obedience at such times and in such ways as God appoints; all of
which truths they found, and all of which may be found in the Holy
Scriptures.

Thus living in the hopes of the Gospel, realizing as much that their
"home is in heaven" as that their "rest is not here," they have, through
the years, performed the daily duties of their pilgrimage.

The writer has known them for thirteen years, and gratefully testifies
that their faith has strengthened her's, and that their cheerful hope in
the Lord has been a strong consolation to many who were in trouble.

After the sudden death of the youngest son of the family, in 1880, the
care of the family devolved entirely upon the two daughters, Mrs. H.J.
Furlong and Miss Addie S. Jordan.

In April, 1876, Mrs. Jordan fell and badly fractured her hip. She was
then seventy-seven years old. On account of her age she could not well
be etherized, nor endure the repeated necessary resetting of the bones,
and consequently they grew together irregularly. Her hip-joint was
stiff, so that she was never able to walk without the support of a cane
or crutch. For eight years she could not leave her own little yard, nor
climb into a carriage, nor walk without support.

Through this misfortune her afflictions grew worse. In January, 1884,
she fell and broke one bone and dislocated another in the left wrist.
Notwithstanding all that medical help could do, the shock brought on a
severe sickness, and when, after eight weeks, she left her bed to move
around feebly, she had almost lost her sight and hearing, her hand was
useless, and her mind greatly impaired.

On her birthday, June 10, 1884, when she was eighty-five years old, she
greatly mourned that she had outlived her usefulness; that she could no
longer feed herself, nor read her Bible, nor remember the desirable
subjects for her prayers, and she hoped that she should not linger here
long in such a helpless and useless condition.

During the latter part of this time the two daughters were sick, Mrs.
Furlong with paralysis and Miss Jordan with consumption.

In the latter part of 1882 Miss Jordan, then in feeble health, was
needed at home to attend the father's last sickness, and Mrs. Furlong
was left to conduct their business alone. 'The extraordinary exertion
brought on paralysis. It began in her right arm, which became so
insensible that the strongest ammonia produced no sensation or apparent
effect. Gradually her whole right side lost power, her foot dragged, and
though she did manage to move about, she was comparatively helpless.
Physicians spoke not hopefully; and protracted rest was recommended as a
_possible_ relief. She planned to take electric treatment, though not
very hopeful about the result. She failed once to meet her physician,
and while planning the second time to take the treatment, and
considering Christ's miracles of healing, and the Bible's promises to
the sick, and having a feeling that possibly she might be doing wrong in
not relying entirely on the Lord, who had hitherto so much helped them,
she delayed a little, and failed again to meet the appointment. It was a
Saturday evening in January, 1883.

She went home and sat down that evening alone, in the dining-room,
depressed. The enfeebled family--the aged crippled mother, the sick
sister and her own young son--had retired. As she thought the subject
through, she became convinced that it was not good to spend time and
money in the way proposed. Instantly the words THE SAVIOUR filled her
soul with indescribable hope, and as she thought of His miracles, and
how _the same Jesus_, on earth, healed paralyzed ones, the hope grew
that He would heal her.

With the well hand she stretched out her paralyzed hand on the table and
said: "Dear Lord, will you heal me?" Like an electric shock the life
began to move in her arm, and the continued sensation was as though
something that, previously, had not moved was set in motion. The feeling
passed up to the head, and down the body to the foot. _She was healed!
and she was grateful!_ She did not speak of her experience to the
family, but retired. She rose early the next morning, and awoke her
son,--a prayerful, dutiful young man,--and said to him, "I'm going to
church, to-day." He replied, "Then I'll get up and go with you,"
expecting that she must ride.

Her soul was solemnly full that day of the felt presence of the Holy
Spirit, and she did not like to talk. Her son watched her movements,
astonished.

She went to the church, took a class again in Sunday School, and; in
going back and forth to church that day and evening, walked about sixty
blocks without weariness.

We are not permitted, here, to draw aside the curtain, to dwell upon the
surprises and the grateful joy of that ever-to-be-remembered, sacred
day.

A few days after this healing, she, with a consciousness that she was
running a risk, lifted a heavy weight, and a numbness returned. She
confessed the sin to the Lord, and asked Him that, when she had been
sufficiently chastened, He would take the trouble away. Gradually,
within two days, it disappeared, and has never returned.

At the time when Mrs. Furlong was healed, in answer to prayer, Miss.
Jordan's case was considered hopeless. Her lungs had been diseased since
1876. In November, 1879, her physician had decided that tubercles had
formed in the left lung, and that the right lung was much congested and
hardened.

In 1882 she had many hemorrhages, and gradually grew worse, so that she
could not use her left arm or shoulder without producing hemorrhage.

Mrs. Furlong, soon after her own healing, received a comforting
assurance from the Lord that her sister would be healed; but Miss
Jordan, herself, had not that assurance. At this time she took little or
no medicines, the physicians and the family having no confidence in
their curative effect; but, on the 1st of January, 1884, she had so many
chills and hemorrhages, that they sent for the family physician to aid
in checking, if possible, the severe attack.

During this apparently rapid descent deathward, Mrs. Furlong continued
to repeat to the family and to the physicians that the Lord would heal
her sister.

Miss Jordan was one day so low that she could just be aroused to take
her medicine. As Mrs. Furlong went to give it, Miss Jordan said to her,
"Do you want to throw that medicine away?" Mrs. Furlong said "Yes," and
threw it away. Six hours of united waiting upon the Lord followed. They
were hours of pain. From nine in the morning till three in the afternoon
she suffered indescribable pain. A few minutes after three, the pain
left her, and with a bright look she said, "I believe I'm better." She
wanted to rise and dress, but Mrs. Furlong advised her to rest through
the night. She said she had not, in five years, been so free from
weariness and pain.

The aged mother was sick in bed with that broken wrist, and Mrs. Furlong
feared that her sister's improved condition would shock and perplex her.

Miss Jordan lay on the lounge the most of the time for two days. One of
her expressions was, "It's perfect bliss to lie here free from pain."
Her breathing became perfectly natural, and very soon the great hollow
place in the upper part of the chest, over the left lung, filled out.
Shortly before her healing she only weighed eighty pounds; but a few
months after her weight had increased to one hundred and twenty pounds.

She progressed in health rapidly, and on the second Sunday after the
healing came she attended church. The feeble mother was most sensitively
anxious lest her daughter should pursue some unwarrantable course which
should lead to relapse.

Miss Jordan's health steadily improved, but it was several months before
a cough entirely left her. You may be sure that doubters made the most
of that cough! _But it left her!_ At one time she brought on a slight
relapse by giving lessons in crayon drawing. She came to the conclusion
that the Lord had other work for her to do: and at this writing,
September, 1885, having prayerfully and watchfully followed the leadings
of the Lord, is a missionary among the freedmen of the South, and is
strong in health and in faith, "giving glory to God."

One of the aged mother's perplexities was that the Lord should want her
to live on in such a helpless and useless condition, while her
daughters, who might be so useful, must die; but oh, how successful she
had by precept and example taught those daughters that "He hath done all
things well!" How patiently she suffered whatever she thought was the
Lord's will! How sweet was her constant thanksgiving! Said a pious
Christian neighbor, whose poor health restricted her attendance at
church, "When I'm hungry for a blessing I go down to see old lady
Jordan."

After eight painful weeks, she so far recovered from the sickness
consequent on the broken and dislocated wrist as to move around feebly,
but sight and hearing were almost gone. Her leg was stiff, her hand
stiff, her wrist deformed, and her mind greatly impaired.

Miss Jordan became very hopeful, and received strong assurance, in
answer to prayer, that her mother might be healed. Mrs. Furlong received
no assurance whatever in her mother's case. There was a great deal of
talking and praying about it, in the family, and finally Mrs. Jordan
humbly claimed the Lord's help, beseeching Him that since He had
recorded that He would make the blind to see, the lame to walk, and the
deaf to hear, if it was His will He would heal her. This was the night
of June 16th, 1884.

In the morning Miss Jordan was so hopeful that she rose early, and
attentively listened to the movements in her mother's room. She called
the little family's attention to them, saying, "Just listen to her;" and
as, holding on by the banister, the aged mother came with her accustomed
slow movements down to the dining room, Miss Jordan said, to them, "Now,
watch her."

According to the long habit of eight years, she began to reach out for
her cane, unconscious that she had been walking around her room with new
freedom. Miss Jordan went toward her and said, "Mother, do you want your
cane?" and, wondering, the old lady walked freely into the dining room.
They gathered around her, and said, "Are you not healed, mother?" and
she began to think _she was_, and sat down in her chair by the table.
Could she move her hand? The doubled-up thumb, and straight, stiff
finger, were _perfectly free_ and as _limber as ever_, and the stiff
wrist joint _moved with perfect freedom!_ She _heard as well as
anybody!_ Could she see? She went up-stairs to her Bible, whose blurred,
dim pages she had thought closed to her forever, and _she could read as
well as ever_, and without glasses! She could thread the finest needle.
Could she kneel and thank the Lord? She had not knelt for eight years.
Yes, she could kneel as well as when she served the Lord in her youth!

Christian reader, stop here and think what a joyful family that was that
June morning. That aged saint, of a little more than 85 years, was in
good health again! And her two daughters had been snatched from the jaws
of death! What a triumph of blessed memories to leave in legacy to that
young, hopeful, Christian son, who, in childhood, had himself repeatedly
proved that the Lord hears and answers prayer!

Mrs. Jordan has never used cane or crutch since that morning. She has
frequently walked five blocks, to go to her church; and, a few weeks
after her healing, she one day walked the distance of about fifteen
blocks. She has walked for hours in Lincoln Park, among the plants and
flowers, and she goes up and down stairs, and wherever she likes, as
well as anyone.

She has the use of her faculties, and an altogether comfortable use of
her sight, though that is not so acute as at first. Her earliest joy was
that she was permitted to see that the Lord had some purpose in sparing
her so long.

Dear Christian reader, shall the wonderful manifestation of that
"purpose" strengthen your faith? It helps me.

"Is anything too hard for the Lord?" "No good thing will He withhold
from them that walk uprightly." "If ye then, being evil, know how to
give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father
which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him." "If we live
by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit."

In the hopes of the Gospel,

Miss E. Dryer.

150 Madison St., Chicago.

ALMOST A BANKRUPT.

A prominent Christian had just entered a merchant's counting-room, when
the head man of the place said to him, "Let us kneel and ask God to help
me through, for without his help, I shall be a bankrupt before the
setting of the sun." So they knelt and prayed. That man went through the
pressure, and did not become a bankrupt.

"HE COULD NOT FLEE FROM THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT."

A clergyman of distinction gives this instance of the worthlessness of
all attempts to flee from the Power of the Spirit.

"I looked out of my window one morning, while it was yet dark, and saw a
lady standing at my gate, leaning against a post, and evidently weeping
bitterly. I knew her. She was a member of the church, and was an
earnest, consistent Christian. She was married to one of the most bitter
Universalists I ever knew. I stepped down the steps to her, and asked,
'What is the matter?' She replied, 'Oh, my poor husband! I had so hoped
and prayed that he might be converted in this revival! and now he has
rode away, and says that _he will not come back till this religious
flurry is over_. What shall I do to bear up under this?'

"I said, 'It is near the time for prayer. We will go and lay his case
before the Lord, and make _special request_ that God will bring him back
again under the power of the Spirit. The Lord can bring him home, and I
believe He will do it. We must pray for him.'

"She dried her tears in a moment, and seemed to seize hold of this
'strong hope,' as we walked to the place of prayer. We found the room
crowded. It fell to my lot to lead the meeting.

"At the opening, I stated the case of this Universalist husband, who had
undertaken to run away from the influence of the Spirit, by fleeing into
the country. I said that we must all pray _that the Holy Spirit may
follow him, overtake him, and bring him back again_, show him his sins,
and lead him to Jesus.

"The meeting took up the case with great earnestness, and I could not
but feel that prayer would in some way be answered.

"_But can you imagine our surprise when, at our evening prayer meeting,
this same Universalist came in_?

"After standing a few minutes, till the opportunity offered, he said:

"'I went away on horseback this morning, and told my wife I was going
into the country to stay till this flurry was over. I rode right over
the hills, back from the river, into the country, till I had got
eighteen miles away. _There, on the top of a hill, I was stopped as Paul
was, and just as suddenly_, and made to feel what a horrible sinner I
am. I am one of the worst sinners that ever lived. _I have lost my
Universalism_, and I know I must be born again, or I can never see the
kingdom of Heaven. Oh, pray for me that I may be converted; nothing else
will do for me.'

"He took his seat amid the tears and sobs of the whole assembly. The
hour was full of prayer for that man's conversion.

"This strong and intelligent man, once one of the bitterest
Universalists I ever knew, is now an elder in a Presbyterian church, and
one of the most joyous, happy, energetic men of God you will meet in
many a day. He believes he was 'converted on the spot in that prayer
meeting.'"

LIFE BROUGHT BACK AGAIN IN THE MIDST OF DEATH.

The following instance, when _death itself was made to give back the
life it claimed_, is personally known to us to be true: A mother, in
this city, sent a request for prayer to the Fulton street
prayer-meeting, asking the Lord for the recovery of her daughter, who
was sinking rapidly, and who she felt was almost dying.

Her husband, an eminent physician, and others, also, the most skilled
physicians of the city, gave up the case as hopeless. The mother felt
that now none but God could or would help; that in the Fulton street
prayer-meeting were sympathizing friends, and to it sent her request.
She came to the meeting herself, to join in their prayers and testify
her faith. The moments of the meeting passed on. One request after
another was read, but hers was not touched. She was sadly disappointed.
Her child was so weak and almost dying, it could not live the day
through, perhaps. The time was within a few minutes, less than three, of
the close of the meeting. She, at last, with faltering steps and
palpitating heart, pressed her way to the desk and asked if her request
was there. Upon search, it was found that it had been overlooked. _Too
late_, said the leader, to _read it to-day_. See, the clock is at its
last moment; but it shall be read first thing at 12 o'clock, to-morrow,
and special prayer shall be offered immediately.

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