“PRAY WITHOUT CEASING.”
During a great outpouring of God’s Spirit at —— college, my attention was called to the case of a young man of the most wicked and immoral character. It is true, he was the son of a godly father and a praying mother; but this, rather than softening, seemed to harden his heart. It was one of the most copious outpourings of God’s Spirit I ever witnessed. The windows of heaven were indeed opened, and God was pouring out such a blessing that it seemed there could not be room to contain it. The dry bones of the valley had been breathed upon by His Spirit, and hearts once dead in trespasses and sins were awakened to a new life, and rejoicing in the blessed hope of salvation through Jesus Christ.
Nearly every student seemed to feel the need of a Saviour. Every countenance was marked with concern; every heart lifted to God in prayer for mercy and forgiveness. Rooms which once resounded with drunken revellings, were now Bethels of the living God. Lips which once profaned Jehovah’s name, and joined in singing lewd and vulgar songs, now trembled with the accents of prayer, and sung the songs of Zion. It was a delightful season—I shall never forget it.
Amid such scenes as these, there was one whose hard heart was steeled against the influence of God’s awakening Spirit. It was A. M——, the son of pious parents. Many and fervent were the prayers which ascended in his behalf, but they seemingly were of no avail. The more Christians prayed for him, the more hardened he became. The campus, time and again, resounded with his awful profanity; and even the most obdurate would stop and wonder that man, “whose breath was in his nostrils,” could call upon God so frequently and earnestly to damn rather than save his soul.
Such was the extent to which his God-defying; wickedness went, that frequently, when the Christian students were engaged in the exercises of a prayer-meeting, he gathered together a few of his sinful comrades and held a mock prayer-meeting in an adjoining room. Is it not wonderful that God did not cut him down in the midst of such heaven-daring presumption? But, like Paul, he was a chosen vessel. God had yet a great and glorious work for him to perform.
During one of those meetings which he was in the habit of holding, the arrow of conviction pierced his flinty heart, and laid him low and bleeding at the foot of the cross.
Great was the joy among the students, when the glad tidings flew from lip to lip that A. M—— had come to Jesus and fallen at His feet. Old men wept with delight, and yearning hearts throbbed with inexpressible pleasure.
The “tidings of great joy” soon winged their way to the ear of the young man’s mother. Her heart overflowed with rejoicing, and tears of exultation flowed in quick succession down her furrowed cheek. Said she to a friend, “I have never bowed my knee without beseeching God to convert my poor wayward boy; and now my prayer is answered. Joy, joy, joy! Now let thy servant depart in peace. My son is a Christian.”
This wayward boy is now a devoted minister of Christ, and has gone far hence to proclaim the glad tidings of salvation to the hundreds of settlers scattered along our western territories. Christian fathers, Christian mothers, Christian brothers, Christian sisters, pray without ceasing for those who are near and dear to you. Your prayers will be answered.