Some time ago I remember reading of an incident that occurred between a
prince in a foreign land and one of his subjects. This man for rebellion
against the government was going to be executed. He was taken to the
guilotine block. When the poor fellow reached the place of execution he
was trembling with fear. The prince was present and asked him if he
wished anything before judgment was carded out. The culprit replied: "A
glass of water." It was brought to him, but he was so nervous he
couldn't drink it. "Do not fear," said the prince to him, "judgment will
not be carried out till you drink that water," and in an instant the
glass was dashed to the ground and broken into a thousand pieces. He
took that prince at his word.
A Wife's Faith.
In one of the towns in England there is a beautiful little chapel, and a
very touching story is told in connection with it. It was built by an
infidel. He had a praying wife, but he would not listen to her, would
not allow her pastor even to take dinner with them; would not look at
the Bible, would not allow religion even to be talked of. She made up
her mind, seeing she could not influence him by her voice, that every
day she would pray to God at twelve o'clock for his salvation. She said
nothing to him; but every day at that hour she told the Lord about her
husband. At the end of twelve months there was no change in him. But she
did not give up. Six months more went past. Her faith began to waver,
and she said, "Will I have to give him up at last? Perhaps when I am
dead He will answer my prayers." When she had got to that point, it
seemed just as if God had got her where he wanted her. The man came home
to dinner one day. His wife was in the dining-room waiting for him, but
he didn't come in. She waited some time, and finally looked for him, all
through the house. At last she thought of going into the little room
where she had prayed so often. There he was, praying at the same bed
with agony, where she had prayed for so many months, asking forgiveness
for his sins. And, this is a lesson to you wives who have infidel
husbands. The Lord saw that woman's faith and answered her prayers.
Mr. Morehouse's Illustration.
I remember Mr. Morehouse, while here four years ago, used an
illustration which has fastened itself on my mind. He said, suppose you
go up the street and meet a man whom you have known for the last ten
years to be a beggar, and you notice a change in his appearance, and you
say, "Halloo, beggar, what's come over you?" "I ain't no beggar. Don't
call me beggar." "Why," you say, "I saw you the other day begging in the
street." "Ah, but a change has taken place," he replies. "Is that so?
how did it come about?" you inquire. "Well," he says, "I came out this
morning and got down here intending to catch the business men and get
all the money out of them, when one of them came up to me and said there
was $10,000 deposited for me." "How do you know this is true?" you say.
"I went to the bank and they put the money in my hand." "Are you sure of
that?" you ask; "how do you know it was the right kind of a hand?" But
he says; "I don't care whether it was the right kind of a hand or not; I
got the money, and that's all I wanted." And so people are looking to
see if they've got the right kind of a hand before they accept God by
it. They have but to accept his testimony and they are saved, for, as
John says, "He that hath received His testimony hath set his seal that
God is true." Is there a man in this assemblage who will receive His
testimony and set his seal that God is true? Proclaim that God speaks
the truth. Make yourself a liar, but make God's testimony truthful. Take
Him at His word.
Faith More Powerful than Gunpowder.
I remember at one of the meetings at Nashville, during the war, a young
man came to me, trembling from head to foot. "What is the trouble?" I
asked. "There is a letter I got from my sister, and she tells me every
night as the sun goes down she goes down on her knees and prays for me."
This man was brave, had been in a number of battles; he could stand
before the cannon's mouth, but yet this letter completely upset him. "I
have been trembling ever since I received it." Six hundred miles away
the faith of this girl went to work, and its influence was felt by the
brother. He did not believe in prayer; he did not believe in
Christianity; he did not believe in his mother's Bible. This mother was
a praying woman, and when she died she left on earth a praying daughter.
And when God saw her faith and heard that prayer, he answered her. How
many sons and daughters could be saved if their mothers and fathers had
but faith.