,health1 ,healing1 and ,faith ,effect of ,environment ,how a ,church ,was ,built by ,prayer ,healing the ,sick ,prayer for the ,home ,prayer and the ,bible ,by ,,russell ,h4 ,,conwell ,,volume #h ,,national ,,extension ,,university #eig ,fifth ,avenue1 ,new ,york ,,effective ,,prayer ---- ,copyright1 #aiba1 by ,harper ,brothers ,printed in the ,united ,states of ,america ,,foreword ,that prayers are answered nearly all the human race believe4 ,but the subject has been beclouded and often made ridiculous by inconsistent superstitions4 ,this book is a modest attempt to clear up some of the errors4 ,its record is as accurate as impartial observation can make it4 ,god is not bribed4 ,laziness cannot bargain with him4 ,but the prayers of the righteous and of repentant sinners availeth much4 ,desired ends are gained by prayer which cannot be gained by any other method4 ,the daily experiences of devout persons establish that fact conclusively4 ,the reasons and the methods which produce the results seem hidden1 and they often bewilder the investigator4 ,god's thoughts are far above our thoughts4 ,but we can trust our daily experience far enough to retain our confidence in the potency of prayer4 ,it is1 therefore1 a profitable and comforting study4 ,,russell ,h4 ,,conwell4 ,,effective ,,prayer ,chapter ,i ,effect of ,environment ,the fascinating history of events connected with the ,baptist ,temple1 ,philadelphia1 through thirty-nine years must be recorded carefully to obtain the credence of those readers who live out of the locality4 ,it may or may not be that the unusual demonstrations of power1 seemingly divine1 were not incited or influenced by the special environment4 ,yet the critical reader may reasonably inquire where these things occurred in order to determine the power of association on the form and effect of prayer4 ,the ,baptist ,temple is a somewhat imposing building on the corner of ,north ,broad and ,berks streets in ,philadelphia4 ,it is located almost at the geographical center of ,philadelphia1 and eighteen squares north of the ,city ,hall4 ,the ,temple is architecturally very plain1 and the beautiful stained-glass windows are about the only ornaments in the great hall save1 of course1 the pipes of the great organ4 ,the church is one hundred and seven feet front1 and is one hundred and fifty feet in length4 ,there is a deep gallery occupying three sides1 with a chorus gallery1 back of the pulpit1 seating one hundred and fifty singers4 ,there are three thousand and thirty-four opera chairs arranged in a semicircle1 and every person in the congregation can see clearly the platform and chorus1 and each normal worshiper can be heard from the pulpit4 ,the building itself is a testimonial to the effectiveness of sincere prayer4 ,the ,temple and the halls in the lower story1 as it now stands1 are far beyond the dreams of that little company of earnest worshipers who1 in #ahhj1 hesitatingly and embarrassed1 began to build the small church at the corner of ,berks and ,mervine streets4 ,they had no wealthy or influential friends4 ,they had but little money or property2 they could pray1 and that they did do unceasingly4 ,any man who tries to describe or explain fully how it came about that the ,temple was built becomes bewildered in the complications1 unless he covers the whole question by saying1 ,the ,lord did it4 ,in six years after the small church was completed the ,temple was begun on ,broad ,street4 ,for seven or eight years after its construction the ,temple was a ,christian ,mecca to which pilgrims seemed to come from all parts of the earth to kneel there in prayer4 ,one ,good ,friday night1 which was observed quite generally as a season of fasting and prayer1 the writer entered by the side door the ,temple at two o'clock in the morning1 and in the dim light of two small gas jets1 always left burning1 he saw scores of people scattered through the church4 ,why that church had such a fascination for or preference with earnest seekers for the prayer-answering ,god none may explain4 ,all were kneeling separately in silent prayer4 ,as they passed in and out there were in the line1 going and coming1 ,chinamen1 ,europeans1 ,orientals1 and ,americans from distant states4 ,different denominations1 ,protestant1 ,catholic1 ,jew1 colored and white1 were often represented among the individual worshipers4 ,they also came any night in the week at any hour and prayed silently for a while and then went silently out4 ,the church was not locked1 night or day1 for fifteen years4 ,people sought the place when they sought to find a locality which was especially near to the ,lord4 ,it may be that any place is as near to ,god as any other2 and many think it only a sentiment1 superstitious and foolish1 to esteem one place above another in matters of effective prayer4 ,but there does stand out the fact that1 for some good reason1 our ,saviour did choose to pray in special localities1 and his devout followers do now feel more deeply the soul's communion with ,god in certain favorable places4 ,why the ,baptist ,temple had such worship as a sentimental matter brings forward the facts that the graves of the loved1 the home of childhood1 the trysting places1 the old fireplace1 or the churches where sainted parents worshiped are influential because of the suggestions which come with sacred memories4 ,that fact is a strong agency in the awakening of tender and sacred emotions4 ,but the ,baptist ,temple was new and could lay claim to none of those associations4 ,men and women with no religious habits1 and some seemingly without devout inclinations1 testified decidedly that whenever they visited the building they felt that they had entered into an atmosphere of special spiritual and sacred power4 ,one soldier of the ,english army wrote an interesting letter in #ahig1 saying3 ,i do not recall any such impression before4 ,i went into the church alone out of curiosity to look at its architectural design4 ,but the moment ,i entered the side aisle ,i felt an indescribable pressure which made me desire to pray4 ,i hurried out to the street to escape the solemn impression4 ,but twice since then ,i have been in the auditorium and each time some power seemed pressing me down to my knees4 ,whether that influence was the act of the ,holy ,ghost or not cannot be proven by any known formula of human reasoning1 and hence it remains1 as most of such questions do1 a matter of faith4 ,some believe it was a divine presence which made itself felt there1 and other good men do not believe the conditions were in any way unusual or unnatural4 ,so many persons with uncontrolled imaginations1 and others with their mental faculties weakened or distorted1 often reported the most improbable visions and absurd revelations4 ,such characters1 half insane or wholly deranged1 testified in favor of ,jesus to his face1 and such have ever been present since in every genuinely spiritual movement4 ,they would do less harm1 of course1 if they should declaim against him4 ,so it was1 and is1 at the ,baptist ,temple4 ,those inconsistent1 deranged advocates of religion did often drive away permanently into the ranks of unbelievers the most sincere investigators4 ,but a calm review of the testimonies concerning the occurrences which followed so clearly the petitions they offered in the ,temple seems overwhelmingly to establish the claim1 now held by so many thousand people1 that the results of the prayers were but a cause and natural effect1 as the prayers and results were infallibly related4 ,it is not claimed here1 however1 that the place had more influence with man or ,christ than other places have had1 or that any church or cathedral may be as sacred as ,gethsemane or as the ,mount of ,transfiguration4 ,the plain facts are recorded here with great caution and with a determination to keep conservatively within the truth and draw no unreasonable conclusions4 ,it is a true statement1 known to all the community1 that many thousands of people have sought to pray in the ,temple1 believing that the boon their hearts desired would be more sure to be sent if they asked for it within the ,temple walls4 ,many persons have attended the church services on the ,sabbath who have been so deep in prayer that they were unconscious of the music or the preaching4 ,we must reassert that this fact is not recorded here to sustain any idea that the ,temple is a sacred place above many other churches1 cathedrals1 and holy places1 but to sustain the opinion that there are places more sacred than others to certain people1 and that burdened hearts and minds would act wisely if they sought some such place when the answer to their prayer seems especially vital4 ,chapter ,,ii ,how a ,church ,was ,built by ,prayer ,in #ahhf the small church at ,mervine and ,berks streets in the northern section of ,philadelphia was crowded at every service4 ,children were turned away from every session of the ,bible school1 and tickets were issued a week in advance for the preaching services4 ,the idea of moving to some larger place was discussed1 as it was impossible to enlarge the building where it stood1 because of the streets on three sides4 ,under those circumstances the people began to pray4 ,a voluntary committee canvassed the small band of church members1 asking each to pray for an opening to a larger work4 ,it is often thought to be an easy thing to promise to pray for a person or for a cause4 ,the promise to pray is too often made carelessly1 and disinterested auditors often feel relieved of all responsibility when1 instead of a collection1 they are let off with a request to pray for the advocated cause4 ,but a sincere promise to pray for a cause carries with it the sincere purpose to work and to give self-sacrificingly4 ,to say1 ,we do not ask for your money1 but only that you pray for us1 is a half-hypocritical request1 because a real prayer can ascend only from a soul intent on doing4 ,to agree to pray is a hearty promise also to do all in one's power to work with the ,lord4 ,only the hearty worker can really pray4 ,the people had a mind to work1 said ,nehemiah1 and ,god1 seeing their zeal1 responded to their appeal4 ,the ,lord answered in a way absolutely unforeseen4 ,the salvation of the world cost a great sacrifice1 and everywhere we see the results of a mysterious law that some must die that others may live1 and that real happiness is ever gained at the cost of suffering4 ,a little child in ,philadelphia opened the gates of the ,temple by going down through death4 ,she had been unable to get into the overcrowded ,bible school one ,sunday1 and she began to save her pennies to help secure some larger place4 ,little ,hattie ,may ,wyatt1 living in a home near the church1 was chosen of ,god to convey his answer to the pleadings of that church4 ,how little could the afflicted parents realize what a great work their sweet1 prattling ,hattie was to do in her short life4 ,when the sweet1 pale face lay in the coffin amid the flowers and tears1 her pocketbook1 containing fifty-seven cents which she had saved1 was handed to the minister4 ,she was the messenger of ,christ on earth before she became one in heaven6 ,that fifty-seven cents was a sacred treasure1 and at the next church meeting prayers went up to ,god1 asking direction how to invest the first gift toward the larger accommodations4 ,providentially1 the subject of the ,scripture text was the narrative of the little child with his five barley loaves and two little fishes 7,john vi74 ,what can ,christ do with the gift of a little child8 ,what can the spirit of ,god do with the seed of an oak8 ,one patriarch led in prayer and earnestly asked the ,lord to take these few pennies and build for us a temple4 ,there were some in the assembly who1 like the disciples at ,galilee1 said1 ,what can this little supply do among so many8 ,but the most part seemed inspired by the ,holy ,spirit with a faith that was immovable4 ,the ,lord then put a thought into the mind of ,mr4 ,john ,baer1 who owned a lot of land on the corner of ,broad and ,berks streets1 to suggest to a member of the church that1 as the people needed larger quarters1 they ought to buy his lot and erect there a larger church4 ,mr4 ,baer did not know then that the church had only fifty-seven cents and that the church building they then occupied was still heavily mortgaged4 ,another church member heard of ,mr4 ,baer's remark and1 with the assurance of a faith unshakable1 told ,mr4 ,baer that if he would take fifty-seven cents as the first payment he felt sure the church would purchase it4 ,mr4 ,baer 7a devout man7 said that he would cheerfully accept the terms and that he would also not only give back the fifty-seven cents1 but would contribute one thousand dollars toward the first payment on the lot4 ,the church then purchased the lot and held another prayer meeting to determine the second time what to do with the ,wyatt fifty-seven cents4 ,it was unanimously decided to organize a ,wyatt ,mite ,society to invest the money4 ,there were to be fifty-seven children in the society1 and each was to invest one of the pennies so as to secure the largest possible amount for the new church4 ,it seems almost miraculous that wherever a child tried to sell the penny not one would buy it after hearing the story1 but nearly all did give a liberal donation4 ,one lady gave fifteen hundred dollars4 ,finally1 the pennies all came back1 were put in a coin frame1 and kept as a sacred souvenir4 ,then joyful enthusiasm seized upon the people and hurried them along in many different enterprises for raising money4 ,one ,sabbath the pastor was overpersuaded to exchange with ,doctor ,pierce of ,mount ,holly1 and the joyful people presented the pastor1 on his return1 with a subscription list of ten thousand dollars4 ,but to that account the practical and critical business man can answer that in any enterprise enthusiasm1 hard work1 and economy secure success almost invariably4 ,so that even the matter of raising one hundred and nine thousand dollars by a people1 all poor1 industrious persons1 may not be absolutely convincing to the skeptic who questions the personal interference of ,god in answer to the call of his children4 ,but there was another phase of the history of that campaign which seems to be absolutely unaccountable on any other hypothesis but the direct and special interference of superhuman intelligence4 ,the number seven6 ,it is called a sacred number2 but why it has been credited with its peculiar significance is1 perhaps1 the effect of its mention so often in the ,bible4 ,the various theories1 reasonable and fanciful1 for the sacredness of the number seven need not be rehearsed in a record of simple facts like these which this account preserves4 ,but the daily appearance of the number seven in the evangelistic history of the ,grace ,church through the five years and two months before the large ,temple was completed has never been explained by any solution other than by accrediting it to some power or law above the normal4 ,the five years' meetings were only the usual meetings of the small church and no evangelistic or unusual endeavors were used1 nor were any special methods tried4 ,evangelists of noted power sometimes addressed the church or gave sermons at the church in connection with some convention or association1 but none of those instrumentalities seemed to affect the answers to the prayers of the people4 ,the church sessions were simple1 practical1 social1 and fully democratic4 ,but the prayers were full of faith and feeling and were brief and direct4 ,one evening1 in a meeting held in a small basement room1 there were seven young people1 strangers to one another1 who stood up at the invitation to confess ,christ4 ,each one stated that he had come under a strange and irresistible impulse unaccountable to him4 ,each asked the people to pray for his soul4 ,that was the opening of the continuous stream of seven new converts each week for five years4 ,that repetition of the number seven was not especially noticed until it had been repeated through several weeks4 ,then the people began to expect it1 and during the active enterprises connected with the building of the new ,temple it had a powerful effect on the courage and faith of that small company4 ,as the years came and went with no change in that weekly number of fresh seekers after ,god1 a feeling of awe held the worshipers to such an extent that when the seventh man or woman arose to come forward a deep sigh passed through the congregation4 ,sometimes the leader of the meeting paused or asked for the hesitating one if the full number did not at first appear4 ,but there was no prearrangement and no attempt or purpose to cease giving the invitation to confess ,christ after the number seven had been reached4 ,the church was too deeply impressed with the seeming miracle to undertake any experiments with it4 ,continual prayer was all that was attempted4 ,people ceased to ask their acquaintances to come to the meetings1 and the usual revival methods were omitted4 ,real prayer1 sincere singing1 and a short comment on some verse of ,scripture made up the usual order of services1 aside from the regular preaching on ,sunday4 ,various explanations of this mysterious and systematic manifestation of some hidden spiritual force have been advanced by students of the unusual occurrence4 ,some undevout friends have rested satisfied with the belief that it was only a coincidence or an accidental repetition of a natural phenomenon4 ,the skeptic said that there was no mystery about it1 as it merely happened so4 ,others1 more devout1 declared that the people must have habitually let go of their faith when seven appeared1 and that according to their faith was the limitation of the numbers4 ,others believed that it must have been1 consciously or unconsciously1 arranged by persons managing the meeting1 and not a few outsiders regarded the statement of the facts as a clear falsehood4 ,they said it could not have been possible1 and that there was surely some deception in the arrangements or reports4 ,but the hundreds of intelligent and conscientious people who were present week after week became fully satisfied that it was the work of the ,divine ,spirit sent in answer to their prayers4 ,some of the circumstances connected with that large accession to the church will be of interest to the student4 ,during the years when the building was being constructed many simple schemes were devised by the people to raise money for the work4 ,but prayer was a part of every endeavor4 ,fairs1 suppers1 and concerts were often used to raise funds1 and1 although a worldly spirit often creeps into church entertainments1 there came there a devotional spirit which seemed to transfigure every work4 ,the devotional meetings held in a side hall when the church fairs were going on at the ,academy of ,music in ,philadelphia ever had the same startling result--the unchangeable number1 seven1 came out for ,christ4 ,one evening a specially large number of citizens were at a dinner given to arrange plans for securing the money for the first payment to the contractor who was laying the foundation for the ,temple4 ,a visitor1 in his speech1 said that he had been more interested in the steady revival1 of which he had heard1 than in the feast1 and that he was quite disappointed to learn that for the first time in three years the church had omitted its weekly prayer meeting to give place to a dinner4 ,thereupon1 ,deacon ,stoddard1 a devout man and full of the ,holy ,ghost1 arose and suggested that before the guests left the table the presiding officer should give the usual invitation for anyone to arise and declare his decision to follow ,christ4 ,after several eloquent and entertaining speeches on general topics the invitation was given for the religious confession1 and1 to the amazement of many1 just seven young men arose4 ,a deep1 spiritual emotion filled the hearts of all present4 ,in two or three instances the number was less than seven who responded before the benediction was pronounced1 and some said1 ,the spell is broken4 ,but in all cases another seeker after ,god appeared before the people left the room4 ,men1 in those cases1 rushed to the platform and called for the attention of the company to say that they dared not go home without openly confessing before the people their need of the ,saviour4 ,in several instances persons were too much overcome or too timid to stand out before a public meeting1 and they persuaded some one sitting near them to get up and ask prayers for them4 ,but there was no prolongation of any service and no outlay of money for exhorters or singers4 ,naturally that remarkable condition attracted a throng of people1 and before the ,temple was opened the church and ,sunday-school rooms at ,mervine and ,berks streets were crowded beyond endurance4 ,at the first great prayer meeting held in the ,temple when the call was made for converts the number who came forward was seventy-seven4 ,from that time 7#ahib7 there has been no resumption of a regular number of seekers4 ,often the number seven1 seventy-seven1 forty-nine1 and seventy appear in the number of those who arose for prayer or in the list of those who were received at the same time into the church4 ,at one ,easter service two hundred and seventy-seven were baptized4 ,but those five years' revivals stand out as five most beautiful years in the memory of the thousands still living who recall them4 ,all of that company of believers prayed1 and on those stormy days when the curious crowd were kept away the people drew together in sincere devotion1 and the most dreary days without were the most happy within4 ,god seemed more reachable and the domestic sweetness of the church home was much more fully appreciated when the snow shadowed the panes1 when the wild storms beat on the doors1 and when only earnest worshipers ventured out to church4 ,for more than fifteen years three thousand tickets of admission to the regular church services were taken up several days in advance1 and when a very stormy day kept many ticket holders away special and repeated prayer was made especially for them4 ,the effect of those stormy days of special prayer was one of the most remarkable experiences of the church life4 ,letters came in great numbers from different parts of the world1 saying that they missed the services1 but felt decidedly impressed to send for some needed information or for special religious advice4 ,many cathedrals1 churches1 homes1 and charity halls have been built on prayer and faith1 so that the construction of the ,baptist ,temple1 on a prominent corner of ,philadelphia's widest street1 in the heart of the city1 by a few poor people1 may not seem strange4 ,yet the fact that ,god has prospered other enterprises is only a confirmation of the theory that ,god answered the prayers of ,grace ,church in giving providential assistance in the construction of the ,temple4 ,when the church voted to go on and pay for the lot and build a church to seat over three thousand in the upper auditorium and two thousand in the lower hall1 there was no money in hand or pledged4 ,yet there was no recklessness1 no tempting ,god in their faith4 ,when the contracts were entered into with the builder1 or the furniture manufacturer1 provision was made carefully for any contingency4 ,if for any unforeseen reason the great building had been unfinished at any stage of construction all bills would have been paid4 ,but each advance in the work was made after special prayer over each division of the building enterprise4 ,the foundation was constructed after special prayer1 then came the walls1 the roof1 the carpenter's inside work1 the painting1 the furniture1 and the organ--each being the object of prayerful consideration4 ,there were a few instances1 however1 which are worthy of special mention4 ,there was a point when the contract for the stone for the walls was held up by the quarry proprietors1 as they feared to venture on so large a job with no guaranty but a mechanic's right of lien4 ,at that time a new savings bank was opened at ,columbia ,avenue1 two squares from the ,temple1 and ,president ,cummings1 head of the bank1 offered to assist the church in any safe way4 ,how he came to know of the proposed work1 or what special reason he had for helping a people with whom he was not personally acquainted1 was never explained4 ,but he was a noble citizen4 ,his influence was itself a powerful aid in all the business of the church4 ,one day a stranger 7,general ,wagner1 president of the ,third ,national ,bank7 was driving by the half-constructed church when an impulse seized him to go into the building under construction4 ,he was a ,presbyterian elder and a stranger to all the members of ,grace ,church4 ,he was a great man of business1 a person of unflinching integrity whose coolness in emergencies and whose conservative management of financial institutions made him a trusted authority for private1 for city1 or for national finances4 ,in a few words of conversation with the contractor in the building ,general ,wagner was told that the church was being built by faith in prayer4 ,he told ,general ,wagner that thus far every payment had been made promptly1 with nothing left over4 ,from that hour the general was a strong1 unmovable friend and backer of the ,temple enterprise4 ,the ,tenth ,national ,bank and its offspring1 the ,columbia ,trust ,company1 and the ,third ,national ,bank1 of which ,general ,wagner was president1 were ever safely used as a reference1 and often tens of thousands of dollars were loaned by them to the church for short periods4 ,the trustees and the deacons of the church were prayerful men of stable common sense and successful in their own labor or business4 ,there was no foolish overpiousness1 no loud professions of religious fervor1 but a determined trust in ,god's promise to heed the call of those who loved him4 ,mr4 ,john ,little1 a ,quaker by inheritance and training1 was a leading mind in the affairs of the church and was for many years the treasurer of the ,temple ,university4 ,he was a quiet1 keenly modest man1 but living a transparent truthfulness and honesty which commanded the confidence of all who knew him and secured for him a love that can never die4 ,he said that he had two special places for prayer1 one being in the ,temple and the other on the street4 ,mr4 ,charles ,f4 ,stone 7whose wife1 ,mrs4 ,maria ,l4 ,stone1 continued his work after he died7 was the treasurer of the church at the critical period and was a man endowed with excellent business ability and a devout man full of good works4 ,he1 too1 had a good name which was rather to be chosen as a financial recommendation than great riches4 ,these men are not mentioned because of their special claim to attention above the others associated with them1 but simply as two specimens of the prayer-making company who moved on unhesitatingly1 yet carefully1 in doing the thing which many declared could not be done4 ,the weekly reports from the committees and individuals showing how ,god had raised up1 unexpectedly or strangely1 friends of the undertaking1 often caused a deep feeling of awe and sent the people out with fresh determination to work cheerfully on4 ,a single instance of the many hundreds reported will probably answer the inquiries of others now engaged in some like work4 ,looking back upon the incident after thirty years the plan or the purpose of the divine leadership1 so hidden then1 becomes reasonable and clear4 ,why the ,lord wished to use only three hundred men out of ,gideon's great army was not understood at the time1 but all can see now that the purpose was to bring the ,lord's hand into vision and win for him the recognition which would have gone to the human army4 ,only once did the people of the ,temple falter and their prayers seem ineffective4 ,only once did those ,philadelphia worshipers limit their faith4 ,but that one period of doubt came when the question was suddenly thrust before the church whether they would try to put in a suitable church organ4 ,many claimed that they had reached the utmost limit of sacrifice4 ,some said that the church ought to be fully satisfied if they could buy seats for the first services4 ,others strongly declared that after all the asking of ,god and man for aid to build the ,temple they could not expect either ,god or man to help them to buy an unnecessary organ4 ,through thirty-eight years the church has never had any quarrel to settle in all its history1 and that division of opinion did not assume an angry or excited phase4 ,it was simply a feeling in some of the people that the ,lord had done wonders and that1 now that the church was out of the wilderness1 it was full time to let the people and ,god's providence rest4 ,when the question arose whether the church should venture to purchase a suitable church organ it was decided by a large majority that it could not be undertaken4 ,the small minority were ,gideon's three hundred4 ,one member of that small body asked the church for the privilege of putting in the organ1 if he could raise all of the ten thousand dollars needed without asking a contribution from anyone who had already given or subscribed toward the building4 ,even that conservative offer was accepted by a reluctant and small majority4 ,then that member began a downright1 heart-stretching wrestle with the ,angel of ,god4 ,he spent two successive nights in the ,temple in hard and tearful prayer4 ,he had nothing to give4 ,he must secure the whole from others4 ,he pleaded with ,god to let him work with ,him in awakening the hearts of possible givers4 ,but the ,lord was not willing to give to man the major part of the glory of success4 ,the murmuring people must be made ashamed of their lack of faith in the ,lord who had safely led them thus far4 ,the contract for the organ was made with a company whose agent said they usually sold their organs on faith1 but that churches always paid the cost and often paid in advance of the date when the notes matured4 ,the purchaser of the ,temple organ did not feel authorized to put in the organ with no money in hand1 at least for the first installment on the price to be paid4 ,but all the men he approached refused to give because it was overdoing it1 and was too improbable for credence or assistance4 ,but the purchaser did not waver4 ,the time set for the payment of the first fifteen hundred dollars came4 ,the note the purchaser gave was due on ,monday4 ,the debtor had asked the ,sunday-morning prayer meeting to remember him especially on the morrow4 ,he had until three o'clock ,monday to raise the money to save his note from protest4 ,he had written to a relative to ask for a loan of fifteen hundred dollars1 but the letter had not been sent to the mail box4 ,when he entered his room just before church services a working girl who was a member of the church came quietly to his door and handed him a letter in which1 when he opened it1 he found a check for fifteen hundred dollars4 ,the letter and check were signed by a laboring man in ,massilon1 ,ohio1 who wrote that he had not been asked to give anything1 but he had heard that the church hoped soon to get an organ4 ,he felt impressed to send this check and to ask the church to accept it on the condition that1 should he ever be reduced to actual need1 the church should endeavor to aid him in some way4 ,the second payment due came as an unexpected draft from ,boston for five hundred dollars1 which must be honored or refused within three days4 ,but in the same mail with the notice of the draft came two money orders from the executor of an estate in ,california1 saying that the deceased testator had left the distribution of certain sums to the discretion of the executor and he had decided to send five hundred dollars toward the music in the new ,temple4 ,the third payment was met by funds raised by solicitation1 about which there seemed to be nothing remarkable4 ,other payments were made by gifts clearly sent in connection with the appeal of the believer1 but the last payment was the most unaccountable of all4 ,three one-hundred-dollar bills were pushed under the door of the church study by some one never discovered1 and a certificate of mining stock worth seven hundred dollars was sent from ,butte1 ,montana1 without other signature except that on the face of the certificate4 ,the blank for the purchaser of the stock was blank4 ,public efforts were made to find the givers1 but without success4 ,well might the people feel that the voice of the organ was the voice of the ,saviour4 ,when the organ was dedicated and ,dr4 ,d4 ,d4 ,wood led the devotion with inspired fingers and sightless eyes the church's congregation was a beautiful sight--like a sea sparkling with tears4 ,when the great chorus was singing the hymn1 ,god moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform1 a large number of the singers were so choked with emotion that they ceased to sing and ,doctor ,wood said the event was one of the most thrilling in all his experiences with choirs4 ,these are the simple annals of the poor1 but they illustrate and inculcate great principles which are applicable to any work for the ,lord4 ,chapter ,,iii ,healing the ,sick ,the health and happiness of mankind depend in a great degree on faith4 ,every emotion of the body and every action of the mind is an exhibition of faith4 ,persons who believe they are well1 even if they are ill1 will soon recover1 and persons who believe that they will not be sick are seldom ill4 ,there is no department of human life so dependent on belief as that connected with health4 ,millions would arise1 take up their couches and walk1 if they could be made to believe that they could do so4 ,to believe a falsehood has cured many people1 and consciences waver between the duty to tell a patient the clear truth when he is very ill and to make him believe a lie in order that he may get well4 ,it must also be stated1 in fidelity to the truth1 that the subject of healing by faith has called out a host of the half-insane classes who proclaim with trumpet tones some cases of divine healing which are unworthy of a moment's consideration4 ,hence1 out of a collection of possibly sincere letters1 many have been rejected altogether as foolish or misleading4 ,eleven hundred written testimonies to cases of healing in direct answer to prayer at the ,baptist ,temple have been carefully examined and the trustworthy testimonies tabulated4 ,those years of healing to which reference is so often made were years of prayer and years of faith4 ,after deducting all the questionable cases1 and after a wide allowance for the naturally health-giving and health-preserving power1 the normal human belief is that there remains an overwhelmingly convincing amount of evidence that healing is directly brought about by sincere prayer4 ,through several years cases were reported to the church or pastors which convinced all who knew the people and the circumstances that some intelligent power1 higher than human knowledge1 had interfered to heal the sick4 ,but when the knowledge of those trustworthy cases came to be known1 and especially when they had awakened much excited comment1 then the cranks and monomaniacs crowded to the front and vociferously proclaimed the most absurd miracles1 to the disgust of reasonable men and women and greatly to the damage of the beneficent work4 ,sometimes all references to healing were omitted in the pulpit and shut out from the meetings for prayer until the wild advocates of divine healing settled down and dispassionate views could be taken4 ,many intelligent devout men repudiated the whole experiment1 believing that the excitement over it was doing much more harm than good4 ,but the larger part who saw the people who had been cured by the unexplainable means were steadfast and went on sincerely thanking ,god for his wonderful works among the children of men4 ,a digest of the written testimonies showed that cataracts had unrolled without the touch of a surgeon's knife1 although the greatest number of the restoration of sight to the blind were with the aid of apparent means4 ,the methods by which the ,lord restored their sight did not make their gratitude to him for restoration any the less commendable4 ,mysterious and evidently dangerous internal tumors disappeared slowly or suddenly in a manner unexplainable by the most learned physicians4 ,by far the greatest number of the eleven hundred cases selected for consideration out of the multitude of testimonies were cases in some way directly connected with the nervous system4 ,patients long confined in an insane asylum were brought home and cured of what had been considered hopeless insanity4 ,there were many cases of various forms of brain diseases1 while in all these cases a specially conservative examiner could declare that they might have been cured by the special or wise treatment4 ,yet1 even if such were the case1 the devout man who prayed may claim that the treatment was only a part of ,god's healing plan4 ,it was often declared publicly and without any contradiction that for long seasons there was not one person ill in bed in the more than one thousand homes represented in the membership of the church worshiping in the ,temple4 ,usually health reigned in the entire church1 and it was reasonably claimed that in five years more than six hundred cases of lung and throat trouble were permanently healed4 ,epidemics afflicted the city1 and1 quoting ,doctor ,haehnlen1 it was declared that the ,angel of ,death had passed over the congregation1 taking none4 ,of course the people believed that if they went to the ,temple to pray for the recovery of their friends they would surely be favorably answered4 ,many have1 however1 written that if that condition of faith could be secured in the doctor1 nurse1 and family1 that spirit of hope would be naturally aroused in the patient and aid greatly in the recovery4 ,but the men who pray can say with greater confidence that in every case it was1 at least1 ,god working with man4 ,at all events1 the general health of the congregation must be far better than would have been the case with the same people if they had not gone to church and prayed4 ,hundreds of men and women live on in health and vigor who were in that congregation at middle age thirty-five years ago4 ,their strength is not abated1 although some of them were invalids thirty years ago4 ,the healing force of a cheerful faith is everywhere acknowledged to be a health-preserving agency of vital importance in the establishment of public health4 ,it is a vital necessity in thousands of individual cases4 ,such a condition is probably often a gift of ,god--through the influence of his suggesting and soothing spirit4 ,jesus healed many without resorting to miracles and seems to have resorted to the miraculous only to convince his hearers of his authority in divine matters4 ,in some cases1 as the woman who touched his garment1 he claimed nothing for himself1 but told her that her own faith had served her4 ,even the most ultra-conservative critic at the ,temple who tried hard to see in these many cases of restoration only the working out of some natural law confessed that if his child was sick he would not dare to omit praying for its recovery4 ,the conclusion of the whole matter is in the settled conviction in the minds of nearly all the worshipers at the ,temple that ,god does answer prayer for the sick4 ,chapter ,,iv ,prayer for the ,home ,one ,sunday evening at the usual services the invitation was given1 as is customary1 for such persons who especially desired to be mentioned in the daily prayers of the people to rise for a moment before the singing of the last hymn4 ,the sermon had not mentioned the need of prayer and contained no special evangelistic appeal4 ,the invitation was the customary proceeding throughout the year4 ,the three thousand seats were all filled4 ,the audience was composed1 as usual1 largely of men1 and they were men of middle age4 ,there were young people1 representing both sexes1 scattered through the audience1 and lines of them along the back rows of seats in the distant gallery4 ,no attempt was made to emphasize the ordinary invitation in any special manner4 ,but when the solemn moment came for the prayer-seekers to rise the response was so general that the preacher asked those who had risen to remain standing until the pastors could see them and count them4 ,there were over five hundred1 and for a few weeks that was about the usual number of those who arose4 ,but the preacher was especially startled by the fact which he had not especially noted on previous occasions1 that the majority of those who asked for prayer were young people4 ,the scene1 when those youthful faces appeared on every side and in so large a congregation1 filled the soul of the beholder with almost painful awe4 ,it led the preacher to meditate a moment to ask ,christ and himself why so many young people took such a solemn1 sincere interest in prayer at that time4 ,the thought led him1 before the benediction1 to request all who had stood forth for prayer to write to him a personal and confidential letter explaining why they desired to be mentioned in the prayers of the ,christian people4 ,the letters came the next week by the hundred4 ,it was an astonishing revelation4 ,the letters from unmarried people were culled out of the collection and reread at leisure4 ,some of them were in need of higher wages2 some were seeking for a personal religious awakening2 some asked prayers for friends1 for business1 for safe journey1 for health1 or for other protection and relief4 ,but out of two hundred and eighty-seven letters from those young people over two hundred mentioned1 directly or indirectly1 their strong desire for a husband1 a wife1 or a home4 ,the details of lovers' quarrels were opened up1 the anguish of broken engagements expressed on tear-stained sheets of note paper1 and many doubtful lovers wished the ,lord would reveal to them whether their choice had been a wise one or whether their love was deep enough for such an extremely important matter as marriage4 ,the letters revealed such a general longing for a home that one seldom realizes is really existent4 ,there were a few letters from young college women and university men4 ,but the greater portion were from working girls4 ,they were the most touchingly sacred records of the everyday thoughts of young women1 all sincerely and modestly expressed4 ,when those young women saw some handsomely gowned wife pass her desk1 her counter1 her bench1 or loom1 leading a bright-faced little son1 the working girl's soul uttered an unvoiced shriek for a home1 for a noble husband's protection1 and for children of her own4 ,women waiters who daily fed the wives of wealthy merchants or of prosperous manufacturers wrote how terrible was the thought that they were going to be homeless and penniless in their old age--one great prayer going up to high heaven for holy domestic love and a place they could call home4 ,after that evening's call upon the seekers after ,god to rise the request for letters was repeated4 ,the answers which came even into thousands revealed the general request for the leadership of the ,spirit of the all-wise ,god in directing the all-important affairs of the heart4 ,some letters detailed the horrors of broken hearts2 some revealed dark sins2 and some told of betrayal or of base and traitorous ingratitude4 ,but the majority were letters from lonely but upright women of high ideals and of noble1 ,christian life4 ,some of the communications were from conscientious young men asking ,god's help in deciding their choice or for the influence of ,god in their favor when their chosen one should make up her hesitating mind4 ,some were calls for ,christ's forgiveness and for human advice in most complicated cases where the writer had been misunderstood or where he had thoughtlessly made a promise he must recall4 ,all wanted a home4 ,the honest souls standing out in the open before ,god1 where the restraints of human custom and the reluctance of a pure modesty were1 for the moment1 overcome1 wrote out the sincerest prayer of all4 ,their soul's need was a home4 ,of all the holy ambitions of a normal man or woman the purpose to have a home is the highest4 ,a home on earth and a home in heaven constitute the soul's chiefest need4 ,around that transfigured word gather all that is highest and purest in human thinking and all that is most sacred and heavenly in human feeling4 ,in the beginning the ,almighty created man--,male and female created he them4 ,the first home was in ,paradise4 ,the last home will be there4 ,he who has an income to maintain a house1 who has an intelligent1 unselfish wife1 who can look about his table and see children with clear intellects and loving hearts1 is conspicuously foolish if he does not see that he already has the best the world can give4 ,she who can cast off all anxiety for maintenance and can devote herself to the care and training of her own little ones1 and who can respect and deeply love her chosen mate1 has ,god's best gifts already in her possession4 ,gratitude to the heavenly ,father will lead such recipients of his richest bounty to forget not to aid those who have less4 ,nothing on earth of wealth1 applause1 or mundane wisdom can equal1 in the least measure1 the temporal and eternal values of a real home4 ,therefore it is wise and the mark of a godly character to pray heartily for a husband1 or for a wife1 or for children4 ,a reasonable valuation of such domestic treasures makes a hideous crime of every violation of the laws and customs which make a loving home possible4 ,profanity of speech1 theft of money1 or traitorous breaking of any other contract is a light sin compared with the brutal sins of the libertine or the unchastity of the woman who sells herself1 or who1 with evil intent1 entices a man to home-breaking crime4 ,so important is this matter that it is the fit subject for constant prayer for those who have not chosen to be a martyr or decided to give up all on earth for a home in heaven4 ,and1 even in the latter case1 the call to take up any work inconsistent with the maintenance of a home should be overwhelmingly emphatic to command obedience4 ,hence1 those appeals to ,heaven for domestic rest of soul were all normal and all of supreme importance4 ,when that great collection of letters were each answered the reply contained a counter-request for a report in due season which should state when and how the prayer for a home had been answered4 ,those reports have also been carefully tabulated4 ,but here again the critical adherent to the theory concerning the unchangeable laws of nature tries to escape any committal to religious dogmas by claiming that the mating instinct is an inborn sentiment common to fishes1 beasts1 and birds1 and that mankind mates by accidental acquaintanceship or by the pressure of necessity or ungoverned passion4 ,such arguments convince many people who deride the claim that marriages are made in heaven4 ,but after every such theory is suggested and analyzed1 after every allowance for the outworking of natural selection1 there is left an important place for the intrusion or domination of a superhuman power4 ,to that fact1 the simple1 unvarnished tale of the experience of the years at the ,temple bear eloquent testimony4 ,a book of this character requires that out of the many reports only the most representative cases should be selected1 and that the mention should be as brief as is consistent with clearness4 ,the number of marriages which every church1 small or great1 brings about is ever the astonishment of any preacher who goes back over the history of forty years of church life4 ,the church in any community is a center of more or less of social life and furnishes an opportunity for the best young people to meet on a plane of safe association4 ,the married ,christian people1 and especially the owners of homes1 are the very best people in any town or city4 ,as a rule1 all people possessed of ,christian character marry4 ,the unmarried masses of the people1 or those who are most often unhappily mated1 are often the unstable classes who are not closely bound to moral principles4 ,religious life and home life are twin sisters4 ,they belong to the same family and have the same likes1 dislikes1 and motives4 ,they are congenial and necessary companions almost everywhere4 ,let us examine the leading events wherein we seem to recognize the divine hand and which led directly to the setting up of ,christian homes4 ,one lady clerk in a department store1 in her first letter asking for prayer1 said that she was forty-one years of age and that she had been twenty years in the store4 ,she said that she had hoped for a home all her adult life1 but had abandoned the hope and wished only to die soon4 ,she asked if suicide would be wrong under such sad circumstances4 ,the following ,sabbath morning1 after the service1 the pastor of her church incidentally introduced her to a widower of her age who had a comfortable house1 but who had rented it because he had no children4 ,the widower asked the pastor a few days later to pray for him as he had a very important matter on his mind4 ,several days later he came to the minister and said that he had dreamed three times and in each dream he had precisely the same experience4 ,he dreamed that he was climbing a steep hill in ,bethlehem1 ,pennsylvania1 and he had called for help to a lady standing above him near the path1 and when he took her hand he recognized her as the lady to whom the minister had introduced him4 ,he declared that he really wished to set up a home again1 but his first impression of that lady was decidedly unfavorable4 ,the minister unreservedly advised the widower never to let a mere dream influence him to overcome his calm judgment4 ,the minister said that dreams were often contrary to fair reasoning and should not be consulted in such important matters4 ,a few days later the lady called on the minister to ask him if there was any truth in dreams4 ,then she greatly surprised the minister by saying that she dreamed several times that she was on a steep bank near a cousin's home in ,bethlehem1 ,pennsylvania1 and as the earth began dangerously to break beneath her feet a man caught her and supported her to the safe path4 ,the mysterious thing in her story was that she recognized the man as the gentleman to whom she had been introduced that ,sunday morning1 but whose name she had forgotten4 ,she said that the repetition of the dream set her to thinking1 and she had called to inquire who the gentleman was and what trust could be placed in dreams4 ,the minister was too surprised to declare again that no faith could be put in any dreams4 ,the minister said nothing to her about his previous interview with the widower and let her depart with the remark that if the ,lord intended she should marry that man the ,lord would also speak to the man about it in some clear manner4 ,the ,lord never advises one party to enter into such a contract when he knows the other party is unwilling4 ,in every holy marriage both parties are equally inspired with the spirit of ,god and are both absolutely convinced that the ,lord had brought them together4 ,the minister soon wrote to the widower1 advising him to call on the lady and tell her frankly that he desired to make her acquaintance with a view to a marriage1 if both should be satisfied that it would be right4 ,every reader of this incident recognizes or feels the impression of the universal law of nature and can prophesy safely that they would marry4 ,the minister was not present at the wedding1 but he was informed by those who did attend the ceremony that the bridegroom told the guests the history of their dreams and claimed that they were obeying the voice of ,god when they arranged for that marriage4 ,the doubting persons who claim that the repetition of the dreams and the accidental meetings were singular coincidences that were in no way influenced by angel spirits1 do have enough support to make the angel theory one of faith and remove the claim from the class of scientific demonstrations4 ,the facts related cannot be questioned4 ,but the conclusions from those facts may differ widely and still be more or less reasonable4 ,the mysterious attraction which leads the bird and the beast to choose their mates is of the same nature as that mating instinct which prevails universally among mankind4 ,but man's reasoning power and his self-control make his choice of a wife a far more complicated matter4 ,the healthiest1 strongest1 and most intellectual races are ever those whose laws and customs allow the greatest opportunity for unprejudiced choice in the selection of life mates4 ,intermarriage of family relations1 or the marriages within a narrow circle of the same race1 ever produce weaklings and often idiots4 ,in the lands where the parents arrange all the marriages there is but little progress and but few real homes4 ,wherever the parties refuse to be guided by the higher law of affinity1 or by a recognition of ,divine ,providence1 there will seldom be found a real home4 ,affinity is an abused word1 and is often used to bolster up a bad cause or to excuse a cruel crime4 ,but the close student of anthropology ever finds that the known natural laws do not account for every case1 nor can a satisfactory solution of sex attraction in human affairs be found without admitting the mysterious and potent force that is only spiritual4 ,looking back over the marriage records of the ,baptist ,temple for thirty years1 there appear some significant facts concerning home-making by prayer4 ,through those thirty years of the record-keeping there was an average of sixteen marriages a month1 or five thousand and one hundred in thirty years4 ,the same pastor who officiated at the marriage of the parents also1 in many cases1 officiated at the weddings of the children4 ,not one case of divorce can be discovered and only two cases of estrangement4 ,the records of many praying churches probably show the same conditions4 ,but it is a sublime1 soul-satisfying thing to meditate on such a great list of happy ,christian homes4 ,the searcher1 when he notes the birthplaces of bride and groom1 finds that they often come from the most distant places and represent nearly all the races of the world4 ,calcutta united with ,new ,york1 ,iceland with ,new ,orleans1 ,philadelphia with ,chicago1 ,quebec with ,quakertown1 ,worcester 7,massachusetts7 with ,camden 7,new ,jersey71 ,japan with ,chester 7,pennsylvania71 ,alaska with ,columbia 7,south ,carolina71 country villages with cities1 obscure daughters of prairie farmers with sailors on the ,atlantic1 millionaires' sons with working girls1 and thousands of members of the church of all adult ages uniting with other members of whom they knew nothing in childhood4 ,from the atheist's point of view he can see nothing in that history but a jumble of accidents or a snarl of events which cannot be untangled4 ,but to the devout believer in the theory that ,god sends his angels to arrange the home-making as he did in the case of ,rebecca and ,isaac1 that list of homes presents a sublime view of a system for the kind distribution of ,heaven's chiefest blessings4 ,out of the seventy-two hundred who united with ,grace ,church and its missions in the thirty years mentioned above all but twenty-nine have been married4 ,as a home-making agency in the history of our nation the churches must hold the leading place4 ,when the remarkable series of reported dreams became known and was being discussed by the people1 there arose many men and women with unbalanced minds who testified to the most inconsistent miracles in connection with their dreams4 ,among the letters which they sent in when testimonials were called for there were nearly one hundred which related foolish and impossible experiences and which made the whole debate ridiculous4 ,but that uprising of those who were possessed of evil spirits did not prove that the one case so well established was not the work of an angel of ,god4 ,there may be ten thousand dreams which are of no special value and which are caused by natural law4 ,but ,god seems to use only one here and there for his special purposes4 ,thousands of seeds fall on the earth1 but only one may be selected to grow4 ,there were cases related where dreams were specially potent to the dreamers because of the suggestions made by the dreams to the waking minds4 ,a dream is often very potent as a reminder1 or as a caution1 and is often a providential event used in ,god's plan1 although the dreams in themselves may have nothing unusual about them4 ,there could be no clearly remembered dream which did not have some effect on the thought and later actions of the dreamer4 ,with that view many dreams need not have their origin in a special visit of an angel of ,god4 ,but again we must believe that there are dreams in which the angel of ,god appears to man directly1 and that such dreams are possible in any age of the human world4 ,each claim1 therefore1 to a revelation of ,god in a dream should stand alone and be accepted or rejected after a careful study of all the causes and effects4 ,the experiences with the ,holy ,spirit during those years of constant prayer should find a special place in this record4 ,for there were devout souls who seemed to be constantly filled with the divine afflatus1 and they surely enjoyed the peace of ,god which passeth all understanding4 ,here1 again1 we walk near a line that cannot exactly be located and enjoy emotions or inspirations which cannot be described4 ,an all-pervading joy illumined every part of the human soul4 ,where are you going so early this ,sunday morning8 was often asked of the hastening pedestrian1 and it was a common experience to hear him reply1 ,i am going to the morning prayer meeting in the ,temple to meet the ,holy ,spirit4 ,the ,holy ,spirit was there awaiting him4 ,there were ,pentecostal days--supreme hours of strange elation1 seasons of heavenly bliss which cannot be accounted for on any psychological basis4 ,a holy brooding of a sin-expelling spiritual atmosphere permeated by a power like a perfume4 ,it was an indwelling of the ,spirit which carried a purifying fumigation wherein the worshiper simply let go of himself and rested in the arms of his heavenly ,father4 ,many felt that sacred presence and could only express themselves in tears4 ,such ,pentecostal visitations of the ,spirit have doubtless come to thousands of churches and to millions of worshipers in other places1 and this experience at the ,temple is not mentioned as if it were an unusual thing where prayer is the habit of all the people4 ,but it confirms the history of the visits of the ,holy ,spirit related in the ,bible1 and must be accepted as a proof of the fact that there is communication between the spirit world and the world in which we live in the flesh4 ,but these spiritual conditions are so subtle1 so elusive1 so delicate1 that it is easy to imagine that one is in that condition when perhaps he is not4 ,it was so disappointing and perplexing to the sincere and reasonable ,christian to have his communication with the ,holy ,spirit disturbed by a wild-eyed and loud-mouthed ,holy ,roller or an advocate of ,the ,holy ,ghost and ,us ,society proclaim his wild theories and tell of the silly revelations which he claimed the ,spirit had made to him4 ,some of those disturbers are now in the insane asylum1 where they should have been before4 ,wherever ,god erects a house of prayer ,the devil builds a chapel there4 ,and 'twill be found on examination ,the latter has the largest congregation4 ,it is a marvel that the gospel of ,christ has outlived its own advocates4 ,the cranks who testified for ,christ in his day were more harmful than were the same number of his open enemies4 ,because of them the people believed that ,christ himself was a wild fanatic4 ,the believer in ,christ must try prayerfully and carefully to distinguish between the devils and the angels of light1 and determine by their fruits which claimant is possessed by the ,spirit of ,god and which is controlled by the spirit of evil4 ,chapter ,v ,prayer and the ,bible ,there are three methods used distinctively in the study of the ,bible and upon each of them prayer has a clear effect4 ,this fact comes out fully in the written testimonials received from the members of the church worshiping in the ,baptist ,temple4 ,one individual may read the ,bible as he would read any other book1 and1 consequently1 finds it dull reading4 ,another studies the historical references as an archologist or as the scientific specialists examine a rare specimen4 ,to them it is a curious and strange collection of ancient manuscripts1 and such a student finds amusement in the research4 ,another regards the ,book as a miraculous revelation from ,god1 and he handles the volume with reverent care and reads the statements it contains as he would a letter sent from heaven direct to him4 ,those three classes are found in almost every religious gathering1 and it is an intensely interesting thing to observe at close range the various effects of prayer on such a congregation4 ,when the leader of the prayer service approaches the ,bible with the manner of a delighted seeker after truth1 and1 before opening the ,book1 leads the people in a direct appeal to the ,divine ,spirit for instruction and inspiration1 the interest of the worshipers in the ,book is especially awakened4 ,when the leader prays fervently and with frank sincerity that the passages of the ,bible to be read shall be illumined or be made alive with special meaning and new emphasis1 then the ,book will be an interesting volume to nearly all of the gathering4 ,and when the leader is himself expecting a special revelation from that ,book at that time his personal magnetism combines with his manner to help the worshiper into a receptive1 expectant state of mind4 ,the people then expect to hear an important message from a most important person4 ,the helpfulness of those conditions anyone would understand1 as they are in accord with human experience in other gatherings4 ,but the effect of the prayer in bringing to each person present a different message from the same verse puts the matter over into the realm of the supernatural4 ,at one prayer meeting at the ,temple1 when a severe storm had cut down the attendance to a number under twenty1 the prayerful attitude of all present made the session one of special spiritual illumination4 ,the ,scriptures were read with accuracy and natural emphasis1 and then each listener was requested to state informally what was the chief lesson which the reading brought to him4 ,each person present received a distinct and helpful suggestion differing from the suggestions made to any of the others4 ,it is that well-established fact1 so often experienced1 that makes the ,bible a book unlike any other4 ,in this1 too1 is shown the importance of persuading everyone to read the ,bible for and by himself4 ,it seems1 however1 to be universally true that when the ,bible is prayerfully1 intelligently read aloud each praying listener receives some message of special importance to himself4 ,while all that evening heard the same words from the same mouth1 yet the circumstances of each life were different from every other2 the experiences had been unlike1 the inherited dispositions were different1 the meaning of the words was shaded by the variation in their home use1 and a full allowance was freely made for those differing effects4 ,but those considerations cannot1 to the calm1 critical student of the inspiration of the ,bible1 account for the special and mysterious messages which come to each participant in the meeting4 ,the suggestions are often beyond the application of the law of the association of ideas4 ,they cannot be explained by any of the known psychological laws which seem generally to govern the human mind4 ,this experience with the ,bible is the best evidence of its divine inspiration4 ,archological1 psychological1 etymological1 or historical analysis cannot establish the accuracy of the ,bible so surely as that actual experience4 ,the best proof is subjective4 ,the secular argument that the ,bible carries on its face the evidence that the writers were all inspired by a good motive is surely an excellent reason for believing the ,bible to be inspired4 ,a holy motive1 apparent in its wise communications1 is clearly shown in the ,bible4 ,the etymologist who rests his case on the conclusion that the words inspired by ,god were formerly written inspired by the ,good1 and that the ,all ,good being is the ideal ,god1 is not far from the safe definition4 ,that does not in any way conflict with the theory that all ,scripture1 inspired by the ',all ,good1' is profitable for doctrine1 for reproof1 for correction1 for instruction in righteousness4 ,the complications into which the narrow theologian or technical philosopher falls when attempting to reason about the ,almighty often makes the study bewildering and unprofitable4 ,the testimony of the good and great through all the ages that every line of the ,book is written with the unselfish purpose to do good is sufficient warrant for the common reader in concluding that it has some unusual inspiration4 ,the question was often discussed at the ,temple whether it was safe after prayer to open the ,bible at random and be guided by the first verse on which the eye rested4 ,some claimed that it was always safe to trust it4 ,others said that it was only occasionally that they found it to be reasonably instructive4 ,still others believed that the ascribing of such magic1 or miraculous1 power to the ,book was clearly a form of forbidden idolatry4 ,but the majority of the praying ,bible readers felt convinced that the selection of texts at random could not be trusted4 ,yet here again we find strong evidence that sometimes the worshiper is directed to a particular record which seems to be selected by a divine mind4 ,again1 it is wholly a matter of faith4 ,the boy who asked his father for a silver dollar and found one in the road which some traveler had accidentally dropped1 concluded that there was no design on the part of his father to give him the dollar4 ,but when he found a dollar there the third time his conclusion that his father had placed all three of the dollars there for him was not unreasonable1 but1 nevertheless1 erroneous4 ,so while the ,lord surely has established certain laws or customs which seem permanent1 yet he has the power and may change the laws or allow exceptions1 and one cannot believe in prayer without believing that such changes are sometimes made4 ,it is a far greater strain upon human credulity not to believe it than it is to believe it4 ,the careful use of common sense in the interpretation of ,biblical or unusual events1 examples1 and records of wisdom is ever the safe and sane proceeding4 ,if one should pray for divine direction and opened the ,bible at random to find the ,lord's advice he should always examine the verse to see if its teaching or direction accorded with his petition4 ,in a call to the ministry there must be a conviction of duty in the soul and also a road providentially opened to the would-be laborer4 ,so in all the thousands of answers to prayer at the ,temple there was found a conjunction of circumstances which showed that the worker was called by the same ,lord who had a work to be done4 ,the will of man is a strong force and is in itself an effectual1 fervent prayer4 ,the ,lord prospers the person whose righteous will is decided1 persistent1 and uncompromising4 ,the too-frequent consultation of ,bible texts for hints or for direction shows a habit of doubt which is often a clear evidence of weakness4 ,but in this1 as in almost every other experiment1 it is the consensus of opinion that the ,lord does often inspire the ,bible1 especially for certain devout seekers1 and that he inspires the soul with a keen1 sensitive apprehension and appreciation of the special revelation4 ,the spiritually minded man or woman is the only one who can interpret a spiritual book4 ,the chief value of the ,bible is as a spiritual guide4 ,it is the only book which explains the ,creator's revelation to this world1 and is the only one which gives a trustworthy description of the spiritual world4 ,what a shadow would pass over the earth1 and what destruction1 devastation1 and misery would be experienced1 if1 in one moment1 all knowledge of the ,bible were crossed out6 ,sane men who reverently pray for the inspiration when they read the ,scriptures are the only safe guides to its sacred meaning4 ,all who came to the ,temple to pray seem to have been lead to the ,bible at once1 and thousands have learned to love it4 ,to those who have prayed long over it it has become a continual feast4