Should these words meet the eye of any one so troubled over any evil way or bad habit from whose bondage he would gladly escape, let me say to you these words of good cheer:  “The Lord can save you, the Lord can deliver you, the Lord can wholly heal you.  He can take away your appetite and cleanse you thoroughly.  He has done it for many others.  He can do it for you.  Realize that your own strength can not do it.  Forget not that it is only in answer to your own prayer.  Those who want this good gift must pray for it.  Deliverance may be instantaneous or gradual, but do not cease your prayer.  Seek in the Bible for those promises which show that he can deliver from all evil, and plead them and then trust in Him and his strength to fulfill them.

“Forget not also to ask others to pray for you, and remember that the answer is sure to come if you add to your prayer these true thoughts of your heart, ‘Deliver me and I give myself to thee forever.’

“If you expect so great a gift from the Lord, he asks of you, ’What are you willing to do for me?’”

HELP AT THE VERY LAST MOMENT.  FAITH REWARDED.

A clergyman in the State of New York, through the influence of a disaffected member, was unfairly and precipitately deprived of his pulpit, which involved a large family in necessity.  At supper the good man had the pain of beholding the last morsel of bread placed upon the table without the least means or prospect of a supply for his children’s breakfast.  His wife, full of grief with her children, retired to her bed.  The minister chose to sit up and employ his dark hours in prayer, and reading the promises of God.  Some secret hope of supply pervaded his breast, but when, whence, or by whom, he knew not.  He retired to rest, and in the morning appeared with his family, and offered family prayer.  It being the depth of Winter, and a little fire on the hearth, he desired his wife to hang on the kettle, and spread the cloth upon the table.  The kettle boiled, the children cried for bread; the afflicted father, standing before the fire, felt those deep emotions of heart over his helplessness and impending starvation which those reared in affluence never know.

While in this painful state some one knocked at the door, entered, and delivered a letter into the minister’s hand.  When the gentleman was gone the letter was opened, and to the minister’s astonishment it contained a few bank bills, with a desire for acceptance.  So manifest an answer to prayer from Divine Goodness could not but be received with gratitude and joy, and fulfills to the very letter these promises:  “Verily thou shalt be fed.”  Psalm 37:3.  “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.”  Heb. 13:5.