died around that bed, and the neighbors came, unasked, with tender love. It was a heart in which a 'sword was beaten into a ploughshare.' It even embarrassed the Yorktown jubilee. The tears of Albion yet shone on her face in the presence of Columbia, and she could not say an unseemly word where Washington first took her general's sword one hundred years before.

"These are some of the more direct blessings given by the eighty days' suspension by prayer."

The Scriptures very plainly teach that it is our duty and privilege to pray for the things which we need, expecting to receive them. "He shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper." (Ps. lxxii. 12.) "And it shall come to pass before they call I will answer; and while they are yet speaking I will hear." (Isa. lxv. 24.) "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." (Matt. vii. 7.) "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us; and if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.” (1 John v. 14, 15.) "In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. Trust in him at all times, ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah." (Ps. Ixii. 7, 8.) "For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." (Heb. iv. 15, 16.) "If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it." (John xiv. 14.)

The Scriptures also clearly teach that the promises above quoted have actually been realized by those who, in a right spirit, have availed themselves of them. David said, "I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears." "This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles." (Ps. xxxiv. 4, 6.) "Jabez called upon the God of Israel, saying, O that thou wouldst bless me indeed, and enlarge my coasts, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldst keep me from evil that it may not grieve me. And God granted him that

which he requested.” (1 Chron. iv. 10.) Jacob wrestled with the angel, and prayed, and obtained the blessing. Moses prayed and averted the plagues from Egypt, saved Israel from threatened punishment, and secured for them the continuance of the divine favor. Isaiah and Hezekiah prayed, and one hundred and eighty-five thousand Assyrians fell under the stroke of the death-angel's wing:

"For the angel of death spread his wings on the blast,
And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed;
And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heaved, and forever grew still."

Daniel and his companions, threatened with death unless both the lost dream of Nebuchadnezzar and its interpretation were discovered, prayed and were heard.

Elijah prayed-for three years the windows of heaven were closed so that it rained not upon the earth; he prayed again—the showers fell upon the thirsty soil. Elisha prayed-Jordan was divided; he prayed again-a child's spirit returned to its lifeless body. Peter was in prison; the church prayed--Peter was delivered by an angel. Paul and Silas were imprisoned at Philippi. They prayed an earthquake shook the prison to its foundations and every one's bands were loosed.

These are but few of the almost countless instances of prevailing prayer recorded in Scripture. But we are not confined to the sacred writings for the verification of these promises. From age to age God's people have offered up their petitions, and received positive unmistakable answers. This assertion may serve to obviate any controversy we might institute whether prayer is now designed to secure exclusively spiritual blessings, or whether it include also the temporal. What are the facts? There is no arguing against facts, whatever the theories may be. We shall aim to subjoin only such instances as are well authenticated, or at least rest upon the testimonies of credible persons. Many a Christian has known and felt that his prayers for particular blessings have been heard and answered. While a few such cases may be explained by coincidences, others cannot be. They cover long periods of time, or occur under circumstances which admit of no explanation save that of