DECEMBER 15, 1914 



1001 



OUE HOME 



Editor 



Tho effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man 

 iivailetli much. — James 5:16. 



His delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his 

 law doeth he meditate day and night. . . . His leaf 

 also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall 

 prosper. — P.<.\i.jr 1:2, 3. 



In our recent talks about answers to 

 prayer there is one point upon which I did 

 not touch; and I think it is a point where 

 skeptics and infidels and everybody else will 

 agree, or pretty nearly so. I can illustrate 

 it by two incidents that happened years ago. 



About twelve miles north of Medina, on 

 the road to Cleveland, there used to be a 

 fruit-grower and market-gardener. He was 

 quite successful when he could keep away 

 from the saloons of the great city of Cleve- 

 land; but whenever he took a load of fruit 

 or 23roduce to the city, some one would ask 

 him to have a drink; and too often his 

 money from the crop that his busy wife and 

 children had heliDed to produce and gather 

 went into the till of the saloon-keepers. 

 Finally one fall, when he had some extra- 

 fine grapes, bis wife, fearing to trust him 

 in the city, persuaded him to take his load 

 to Medina. In order to hold it all in good 

 shape he put on a big hay-rack which was 

 covered with baskets of nice grapes with 

 other produce in the middle of his load. 

 There happened to be a scarcity of fruit 

 and vegetables at that time, and in a little 

 time he sold out for something like $40.00 

 in cash. At this point his duty was to go 

 straight home. His wife and children need- 

 ed the money for clothes, shoes, etc., for the 

 coming winter. But some evil genius who 

 knew his weakness asked him to have a 

 glass of beer. At that time there were four 

 saloons running in full blast in our little 

 town of Medina. There was a saloon close 

 by each one of our three churches, and a, 

 saloon down by the railway. After Mr. B, 

 had taken "one drink "(?) he proposed to 

 go straight home; but I am sorry to say 

 that at that time in our history, some thirty 

 years ago, there was almost always a crowd 

 of loafers waiting for such a victim. They 

 gathered around Mr. B. and asked him to 

 '' treat." Under the influence of the one 

 drink he " mellowed up," as we might say, 

 and, as a matter of course, decided he could 

 afford to celebrate his good luck in selling 

 out by giving the crowd a little treat. After 

 they had had a drink all around, the whole 

 tribe marched over to another saloon and 

 then to another; and by the middle of the 

 afternoon somebody told me that he was not 

 only treating the whole crowd in every 

 saloon in tow:!, but some of the crowd fol- 



lowing liini, who had been careful not to 

 drink too much, asked him for the loan of a 

 dollar ; and then some one else of the crowd 

 said that he needed to borrow a dollar. Be- 

 fore night his money was all gone. He had 

 made the rounds of the saloons, even the 

 one down by the railroad, half a mile away. 

 His last copper was gone. His good friends 

 loaded him on his wagon and started him 

 home. I went to an attorney and asked him 

 what could be done about it. He said noth- 

 ing could be done unless Mr. B. would con- 

 sent to testify against his chum friends. 



Now, here is the point I wish to make to 

 you concerning the j^ower of prayer. I was 

 indignant to think that our town should be 

 so cursed by these " enemies of all right- 

 eousness," and i^rayed that God would di- 

 rect me. At that time I was conducting a 

 Sunday-school in Abbeyville, where there 

 was a saloon and also a brewery. This after- 

 noon Sunday-school was on the road to Mr. 

 B.'s place; but he lived about seven miles 

 further on. After Sunday-school I drove 

 out to his house. 1 reached there toward 

 nightfall. I do not think I had ever talked 

 with him, although I knew him by sight. 

 You may be sure I prayed over the matter 

 more or less during that twelve-mile trip 

 with horse and buggy. I knew it was a 

 delicate matter to go into an intemperate 

 man's home, and to attempt to talk with 

 him; and I was a good deal discouraged 

 when I found myself a very unwelcome 

 visitor. The good wife esjoeeially almost 

 resented interference from, a stranger, and 

 Mr. B. would not talk at all. They evident- 

 ly were anxious to get rid of me The sight 

 of the poorly dressed wife and children, 

 and the scanty furnishing of the humble 

 farmhouse all together, made me feel that 

 my visit was an intrusion, and that I had 

 made a mistake, even though I had prayed 

 to be guided. With a sad heart and a dis- 

 couraged feeling that none of you can un- 

 derstand unless you have " been there," I 

 ap]3roached the door. In almost complete 

 desperation that little prayer came once 

 more, " Lord, help ! " I do not know but it 

 is a good thinf/ for us, dear brother and 

 sister, to become discouraged once in a 

 while. As a rule our prayers are only half 

 jirayers unless we are in a tight place some- 

 where. Well, just after that brief mental 

 prayer it occurred to me there could be no 

 harm in asking them to kneel with me while 

 I prayed for the father and mother, and for 

 the cjiildren huddled together in silence in 

 that little home. They consented to kneel 



