In July, 1913, we printed in the Remembrancer an incident showing how the late Rev. J. N. Hyde gave him self to prayer, and with what result. We quoted also a letter from an evangelist who described the impres sion that “ Dear Hyde’s prayer life,” as he termed it, had made upon him. The lady missionary read this account. Through it, the Holy Spirit spoke so clearly to her that she resolved to carry out a plan which she felt God had been prompt' ing her to follow for some time, that is, to make inter cession her chief business as a missionary. After she had made the decision, she wrote to us. “The incident about ‘Dear Hyde’s prayer life’ has been a great help to me,” she said. “ And I believe it will be used to help others. For a long time the Lord has been calling me to a deeper work o f intercession, and of late I have felt the call increasingly to give my life to prayer. It has not been easy to yield to this call, for it may mean misunderstanding on the part of fellow workers as it did with Mr. Hyde. But since reading the incident which you published, I feel that at any cost I must know and live this prayer life. Thus at last the battle that has gone on in my heart for many months is ended. I feel that from this time forth my life work is to be the ministry of intercession. I do not mean to exclude active service; that will come in as I have time for it. But I am sure this other ministry is to be my real life work. “ And how much India needs prayer! The thought came to me yesterday of what a great service even the humblest of us can perform by prayer. In our mission ary labors, even the strongest and most talented indi viduals can touch only a comparatively small number of people, but with our prayers we may each one girdle not
T he current view that is held in most circles is that the real work of the church of Jesus Christ is done in the pulpit and on the platform, in the classroom and by personal dealing of one individual with another. In other words, this is the fundamental work, and prayer is supplemental to it. Much the same attitude is taken by many Christians. The work is so pressing, they say, that there is little time for prayer. All readily admit the value of time spent with God. They agree that it is well, as Flem ming says, “ to have an introduction of prayer, and that all work should be wound up by prayer.” But it is sup posed that it must not encroach upon what is regarded as the major effort. This is putting the emphasis in the wrong place, making prayer a secondary matter when, according to the Word of God, it is the primary issue. If we would only give to prayer its rightful place, what a change would come over all labor in the Saviour’s name! The following account of a lady missionary, a faith ful member of our Prayer Union for many years, will show how a new evaluation of intercession led to un- dreamed-of successes. We firmly believe that similarly glorious results would follow in every instance where proper stress is placed on communion with God. This worker often sent requests for prayer to us for insertion in our circular. She always deplored the sad state of her district—the hardness of the soil, the lack of fruit, the indifference of the Indian helpers as well as her own lack of passion for souls. She considered her field the hardest one in India. At times she was almost in despair. Her requests were scattered over a period of years.
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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