A Present-day
Challenge to Prayer

Edited by
CAPT. E. G. CARRE

S.P.C.K. Depository, Post Box 455,
Vepery, Madras
1923

This book may be had at One Rupee {Is. 4<t.) per copy.
Post Free, from—

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he Rev. .1. Penc-an Joins, Hiatvl Bazaar. .Soulh Sylhct. vin a.B.
Railway.

or in America from

REMINISCENCES

OF

The Late Rev. J. N. HYT)E

—Known as Praying Hydb as India—

Bring a personal tribute by two of /lis intimate friends

An Indian Supplement to the Lite ot the. Rev. J. N. Hyde
published in the Unite,/ States el America

FOREWORD

Thk readers of these memoirs o£ the lite of
the saintly character known as ' Praying
Hyde', one of God's choicest gifts to His
Church in India, will naturally be interested
to learn the reason for their publication in their
present form.

These reasons are not far to seek, they are
threefold ; firstly, that God may be magnified
in these fresh testimonies to His faithfulness,
as the Prayer-answering God ; secondly, that
His people may be edified thereby, and encou-
raged lo enter into a fuller and more expectant
Prayer-life ; and lastly, as a loving tribute and
memorial to one who was greatly beloved in
the land of his adoption, for whose people he
lived and laboured on behalf of his Master,
and for whom he literally laid down his life.
Truly may it be said of him that ' He being
dead yet speaketh ', for his Christ-like life is
still revered by the many whose lives he
touched in India, and especially in the Punjab,
the scene of most of his labours, where his

vi FOREWORD

name is treasured not as a memory only, but
much more as an influence.

These Reminiscences are written by two of
the late Mr. Hyde's intimate friends, the first
series by the Rev. J. 1'engwern Jones of the
Welsh Presbyterian Mission, the second and
shorter series by the Rev. R. McCheyne
Paterson of the Punjab. They were first
month by month in the Remem-
brancer, the prayer circular of the Bengal and
Assam Prayer Union, of which Mr. 1'engwern
Jones is the editor.

From their first appearance these memoirs
acted an ever-deepening interest, both
from the regular readers of the Remem-
brancer, and also from those Christian friends
to whom the issues containing them have been
passed on.

The results of their perusal have been so
marked, so fraught with definite blessing and
spiritual uplift, in convicting God's people of
the sin of Prayerlessness, in stimulating them
to lay hold of His Prayer-promises with
renewed faith and persevering courage, and in
revealing to them the inmost secrets of intimate
communion to which our Heavenly Father
invites the fully-surrendered intercessor, that

FOREWORD

it was felt that such fruitful treasures were
well worthy of a wider field, and that God
would have them spread abroad for the benefit
of I lis whole Church.

With this purpose in view and in response
to the many appeals which have reached him,
Mr. Pengwern Jones has been led to decide
upon the publication of the Reminiscences in
a small volume, and to the writer was delegated
their arrangement into a continuous and com-
pact whole. Our chief merit for the task lay
mainly in the fact that we had the necessary
leisure to devote to it, which others more
fitted for it lacked. Our duties have not
proved onerous so far as the actual editing
was concerned. No attempt has been made to
rewrite the articles, they are given practically
word for word as they originally appeared, in
the form in which it has pleased God to bless
them, and in which we believe He will continue
to use them for His glory. The only work has
been the arranging of the articles in chapters
with such headings as seemed useful and suit-
able. We felt that we were treading on holy
ground, and that he of whom these pages speak
lived upon a spiritual plane, to which few in
this or indeed any generation have attained.

*

viii FOREWORD

To our own soul there has come — consequent
upon the necessary reading and re-reading of
these precious records in their arrangement for
the Press — many valued thoughts and searching
lessons, but, from among them all, one out-
standing feature predominates and remains,
please God never to depart, and probably it
will be shared by all who read these pages.
It is this : — that such a life with such results
emanating from it, such effects due to so
clearly set forth a cause, comes as a definite
challenge, convincing and convicting, each of
us, to pray more, yea to ' pray without ceasing ' ;
for truly herein is God's law of exchange shown
to be effectual to the uttermost, ' give and it
shall be given unto you '.

Then how comforting it is ever to remember,
that He who in His wondrous loving kindness
designed that we should be the objects upon
which He should lavish His love, also designed
prayer as the means by which He could con-
tinually have us in the attitude and the place
for the reception of that love ; hath He not
said, ' the prayer of the upright is His delight?
How blessed it is to feel that each time we
come to Him whether in the sanctuary or in
the street, that we are giving joy to our Father

FOREWORD 1*

which is in Heaven, and are treading in the
path of Him who ' suffered for us, leaving us
an example that we should follow His steps '.
With the prayer that God may abundantly
own this inspiring testimony to a fully-surren-
dered life, it is sent forth upon what we trust
will prove a true mission of Blessing and
Spiritual Refreshment to all who read these

pages.

The Iiditor.

xii CONTENTS

PART II

A MASTER FISHER FOR SOULS

CHAP.

PAGE

r. PLEADING WITH TEARS ...
II. GRACE ABOUNDING !

97

103

INTRODUCTION

III. TIIE SACRIFICE 01- THANKSGIVING ...

111

IV. THH SACRIFICE OF PRAISE

IIS

I have been asked by the Editor to write a

V. ONE CAUSE OF IMS SICCBSS— ' THE

few lines of Introduction to this long-expected

JOT OK THH LORD'

123

little book and I gladly comply with his request,

VI. A SECOND CADSE OF HIS SUCCESS — HIS

for, as I have said in the Reminiscences, dear

LOVE FOR SOULS
VII. HIS CHILD-LIKE OBEDIBNCF.
VIII. HONOURING THH HOLY SPIRIT

129

137
143

Hyde was made a great blessing to me. I
had read that precious book of Andrew

IX, RECOLLECTIONS

149

Murray— 'With Christ in the School of Prayer,'
and in Mr. Hyde I saw a living example of
one who actually lived with Christ in the
School of Prayer, and his example gave me a
deep longing and even an inspiration to be a
pupil in this school also.

I was asked by many to write a few Remini-
scences of Hyde and over and over again I
purposed doing it, but I believe the time had
not come, the Church was not ready for such a
record, and probably the Spirit of God saw-
that I was not ready to write sympathetically
such incidents that I wanted to write; but
when the Lord began to pour His Spirit upon
the Eastern Coast of England and the North

xiv INTRODUCTION

of Scotland, and the people of God began to
pray more earnestly for a general Revival all
over the world, I found no difficulty in writing
about dear Hyde's prayer life, and the account
written by his beloved friend, the Rev.
McCheyne Paterson, was kindly placed at my
disposal at that lime and became a further
inspiration to inc.

The last month or so 1 have heard that
others have valuable information aboul I lyde
during his college days, probably these
incidents in his life will be published as a
supplement.

1 am anxiously waiting too for the American
edition, which is, I hear, a stirring account of
this great intercessor.

I hope that these booklets will lead many to
become ' companions ' of our Greal I ligh
I'riest. He wants '< ompanions,' 'fellows,' ' par-
takers ' to enter with I Mm into the sanctuary
as intercessors. Tin- High Priest of old had
to enter into the Holy of Holies alone, but our
High Priest begs for partners to I* with Him.
This is what Hyde really was, and it is strange
that we should lie so reluctant to take up this
great privilege of being fellow-intercessor-, with
Him.

INTRODUCTION XV

I trust that one of the results of reading
these booklets will be the enlistment ol many
and better intercessors.

I feel grateful to the Editor for undertaking
this work and for the sympathetic and efficient
way he has done the work.

May all the glory be unto Him.

May, ig>;

J. Pencwern Jones.

PART I

A VESSEL UNTO HONOUR

r

chapter r

Bpafihrus, who is one of you, a servant of Can's/
salule/h yen, always labouring fervently for you in
prayers. Ilia' y - vid complete in all the

will of God.

— Colossians iv. 12.

No one ran amiitttee long and earnestly in prayer
without beginning t? perceive that the Spirit is gently
leading toon entirely new consecration, of which pre-
viously lie knew nothing..

\ . Andrew Murray.

in the very presence of god

Our First Mbbxcno and Pravrr-pellowshh'

at the ludhiana convention and

Its Results

By one of the last mails we had a letter from a
dear sister who was a missionary in India for
years and who still longs to be back if only
the state of her health and home-ties would
allow her to come.

She says also that she is deeply touched by
the account of Mr. Hyde's wonderful prayer-
lile, and then she gives a few words of her own
reminiscences of him. ' I remember, 1 she said,
1 during one of the Jubblepore Conventions,
at the noon-tide prayer meeting, 1 was kneeling
near to him and can never forget how I was
thrilled with a feeling I cannot describe as he
pleaded in prayer, " Jesus, Jesus, Jesus 1 " It
seemed as if a baptism of love and power came
over me and my soul was humbled in the dust
before the Lord. I had the privilege of meet-
ing Mr. Hyde again in England when on his

M

4 PKKSKNT-DAY CHALLENGE TO FKAVKK

way home to America. How his influence
still lives.'

Mr. McCheyne Paterson describes Mr.
Hyde as ' A great fisher for souk' and that is
very true, for he not only prayed for men but
was a real angler. He would be just for a
minute in a room with perhaps a perfect
stranger, but it would be quite a sufficient time
to open the Bible and show some wonderful
passage from the Word, and quietly he would
lead the person to the Saviour. We heard of
a worldly lady once who thought she would
have a little fun at Mr. Hyde's expense, so
she asked, • Don't you think Mr. Hyde that a
lady who dances can go to Heaven ? ' He
looked at her with a smile and quietly said, ' 1
do not see how a lady can go to Heaven unless
she dances,' and then he dwelt on the joy of
sin forgiven — the overwhelming joy, especially
for one who had been living for the world
and for self, and he gently appealed to her, as
to whether she had experienced this joy, and
went quoting the Word of God and begging
of her not to be satisfied until this wonder-
ful experience would compel her ' to dance for
joy.' We feel sure that she never tried to get
any more fun at his expense. Truly Hyde

"

IN THE VKKY PRESENCE OF COD 5

was a fisher for souls, and we know that our
members will be grateful to Mr. McCheyne
Paterson for his articles.

Dr. Chapman, the great evangelist, said,
after being round the world on an evangelistic
tour, that it was during a season of prayer
with Mr. Hyde that he realized what real
prayer was. I believe that hundreds in India
can say the same. I owe to him more than I
owe to any man, for showing me what a
' prayer-life is,' and what a real consecrated life
is. I shall ever praise God for bringing me into
contact with him ; even now I have not been
able to take in all that was lived before me by
him. Jesus Christ became a new ideal to me,
and I had a glimpse of His Prayer-life, and I
had a longing which has remained to this day
to be a real praying man.

But let me give a few reminiscences which
have been indelibly impressed on my mind.
The first time I met him was at Ludhiana in the
Punjab where he lived at the time. I had been
invited to speak a few words on the Revival in
the Khassia Hills to the Conference of the
United States Presbyterian Mission, who had
their annual session at the time there. I had
travelled by night from Allahabad to Ludhiana

CHALLEN'OE TO PRAYER

ami reached there early in the morning. 1 was
taken to have a cup of tea with the Delegates
and others, and I was introduced across the
table to Mr. Hyde, all that he said to me was,
' I want to see you, 1 shall wait for you at the
door.' There he was waiting and his first
word was, ' Come with me to the Prayer
Room, wc want you there.' I do not know
whether it was a command or request, I felt I
had to go. I told him that i had travelled all
night, and that I was tired, and had to speak at
4 o'clock but I went with him. Wc found
half-a-dozen persons there and Hyde went
down on his face before the Lord. I knelt
down and a strange feeling crept over me.
Several prayed, and then Hyde began, and 1
remember very little more, 1 knew that I was
in the presence of God Himself and had
n»i desire to leave the place, in fact I do not
think that f thought of myself or of my
surroundings, for I had entered a new world
and I wanted to remain there.

We had entered the room about 8 o'clock in
the morning, several had gone out, others had
come in, but Hyde was on his face on the floor,
and had led us in prayer several times. Meals
had been forgotten, and my tired feeling had

IN THK VERY PRESENCE OF (it)l>

gone, and the revival account and message
that I was to deliver and concerning which I had
been very anxious had gone out of my mind,
until about 3.30 when Hyde got up, and I
found we were the only two present, and he
said to me, ' You are to speak at 4 o'clock, I
shall take you to have a cup of tea.' I replied
that he must need a little refreshment too, but
he said, ' No, I do not want any but you must
have some' We called in my room and
washed hurriedly and then we had a cup of
tea, each of us, and it was full time for the
service. He took me right to the door, then
look my hand and said, ' Go in and speak, that
is your work, I shall go back to the Prayer
Room to pray for you, that is my work. When
the service is over, come into the Prayer Room
again and we shall praise God together.'
What a thrill, like an electric shock, passed
through me as we parted. It was easy to
speak, though I was speaking through an
Interpreter. What I said, I do not know.
Before the meeting was through, the Indian
translator overcome by his feelings and over-
powered by the Spirit of God failed to go on
and another had to take his place. 1 know
ihc Lord spoke that night, He spoke to me,

8 PRESENT-DAY CHALLENGE TO PRAYER

and spoke to many. I realized then the
Power of Prayer ; how often I had read of
blessing in answer to prayer, but it was brought
home to me that evening with such force that
ever since, I try to enlist prayer warriors to
pray for me whenever I stand up to deliver
His messages, ft was one of the most wonder-
ful services I ever attended, and I know thai
it was the Praying Saint behind the scenes
that brought the blessing down on me.

I went back after the service to him, to
praise the Lord. There was no question asked
by him, whether it was a good service or not,
whether men had received a blessing or not ;
nor did I think of telling him what blessing I
had personally received and how his prayers
had been answered. He seemed to know it all
and how he praised the Lord, and how easy it
was for me to praise the Lord and speak to
Him of the blessing He had given. I had
very little talk with him at that Conference.
1 knew very little about him and somehow I
had no desire to ask him any questions ; but a
new [lower had come into my life which humbl-
ed me, and gave me a new idea altogether of
a missionary's life and even a Christian life and
the ideal revealed to me then has never been

IN THE VERY PRESENCE Oh GOD 9

lost, but, with the years as they pass, there is a
deeper longing to live up to the ideal.

1 had a talk with several of the missionaries
about him, and I found that he had been
misunderstood by them, but their eyes were
being opened to the fact that he was not an
ordinary worker, but specially endowed with
the Spirit of Prayer and given to India to teach
men how to pray. Years afterwards 1 askeri
him whether he had realized in his early years
that the missionaries were not in favour of the
way he spent so much of his time in prayer,
and he smiled, that sweet smile which one can
never forget, and said, ' Oh, yes, I knew it, i
but they did not understand me that was all,
they never intended to be unkind.' There
was not one atom of bitterness as far as 1 could
see. At the time that I came into contact with
him, they spoke approvingly of his long vigils.
The probability is that he was not in bed one
night during that Conference, and the Lord
honoured him. He was out of sight, but, in
answer to his prayers, many were blessed, and
I believe a new era in the history of the Mission
and in the history of the Punjab was commenc-
ed at that time.

And Jacob was left alone ; arid there wrestled a man
Willi him until Ike breaking of lie day . . . and lie
mid, I mill ml lei Ihee go, except thou bless me . . .
and he blessed him there.

— Genesis xxxii. 24, 26, 29.

To one who asked Aim the secret oi his service he
Then was a day when Idled, utterly died ; '
and., as lie spoke, he bent lower and lower until lie almost
touched the floor—' died to George Mailer, his opinions.
Preferences, tastes and will-lied to Ike world, its approval
or censure— died to the approval or blame even of my
brethren and friends— and since then I have studied only
"lyseli approved unto Cod.

— From George MBixsb ..( Bristol,

CHAPTER II

HOW THE INNERMOST SECRET OF THE
PRAYER-LWB WAS REVEALED

Mb, Hydb tells His Tale as Conviction,
Rebellion, Stkugglb and or Final Victory

THROUGH AFUI.I- Sl'RKF.NDFR

I SAID in the last memoir that my contact with
Mr. I Ivde was one of the greatest blessings of
my life ; perhaps I should put it in the present
tense and say that it is the greatest blessing, for
I feci that the blessing lasts, which shows that
it was the Holy Spirit that used His beloved
servant and made him a blessing not only to
me but to hundreds of others, men and women,
Indians, Europeans, Americans, Christians
and non-Christians. The Spirit made him an
object-lesson to us, so that we might have a
better idea of what was Christ's prayer life. 1
hope and pray that these few imperfect remi-
niscences may be used of the Holy Spirit to
reveal to others what is the ' life of prayer '
that we are called upon to enter into these
days.

1

12 PRESENT-DAY CHALLENGE TO PRAYER

SECRET OF PRAYER-UKE REVEALED 13

Naturally, I was interested and desired to

Him well, but " self " was at the foundation of

know how Brother Hyde had entered into this

my ambition.

life, what had led him to consecrate his life so

' My father had a dear friend — a brother

absolutely to the Lord, and how he had been

minister — who had a deep desire to become a

taught the secret of this prayer-life. It was

missionary, but his desire was not fulfilled.

very difficult to get him to speak about himself,

He was greatly interested in me, and was

but I think he understood, that it was not mere

delighted that the son of his great friend was

curiosity that prompted the enquiry, so he told

going out as a missionary. He loved me and

me. How I wish I could describe this as he

I loved him and greatly admired him. (May

told me. Can I give it in his own words ? ft

I mention here in brackets, that 1 understand

was something like this —

that this friend is the one who is preparing a

' My father was a minister— a Presbyterian

short account of Hyde and especially of his

minister— and my mother a very devoted

prayer-life. J. P. J.).

Christian with a beautiful voice which had been

' When I got on board the steamer at New

consecrated to the Lord. I determined when

York, bound for India for my life-work, I found

I was a youth to be a missionary and a " good

in my cabin a letter addressed to me. It was

missionary." I wanted to shine as a great

in the handwriting of my father's friend, 1

missionary. I passed through College and did

opened it and read it. The words were not

very well. 1 graduated and was a little proud

many, but the purport of them was this — " 1

of the " B. A." after my name. I was deter-

shall not cease praying for you, Dear John,

mined to master the Indian languages that I

until you are filled with the Holy Spirit." My

would have to learn, and I resolved" not to let

pride was touched and I felt exceedingly angry

anything stand in the way that would hinder

and crushed the letter and threw it into a

my becoming a great missionary. That was

corner of the cabin and went up on deck in a

my ambition. This was not altogether perhaps

very angry spirit. The idea of implying that

of the flesh, but most of it was so. I loved

I was not filled with the Spirit ! I was going

the Lord and I wanted to serve Him, and serve

out as a missionary, and 1 was determined to lie

14 PRESENT-DA? CHALLENGE TO PRAYER

SECRET OF PRAYER-LIFE REVEALED 15

a good missionary, and yet this man implied

to fail in my language examinations in India,

that I was not fitted and equipped for the work !

and lie a missionary working quietly out of.

I paced up and down that deck, a battle raging

sight that 1 would do anything and be anything

within. I felt very uncomfortable, I loved the

but the Holy Spirit I would have at any cost.

writer, 1 knew the holy life he led, and down

' On one of the first few days spent in India,

in my heart there was a conviction that he was

while I was staying with another missionary,

right and that I was not fit to be a missionary.

a brother of some experience, I went out with

I went back after some time to my cabin and

him to an open air service. The missionary

down on my knees to hunt for the crushed letter.

spoke, and I was told that he was speaking

finding it I smoothed it out, and read it again

about Jesus Christ as the real Saviour from sin.

and again. I still felt annoyed but the convic-

When he had finished his address, a respectable

tion was gaining on me that my father's friend

looking man, speaking good Hnglish, asked the

was right and I was wrong.

missionary whether he himself had been thus

This went on for two or three days until I

saved. The question went home to my heart ;

felt perfectly miserable. This was the goodness

for if the question had been asked me, I would

o£ the Lord answering the prayers of my father's

have had to confess that Christ had not fully

friend, who must have claimed a victory for me.

saved me because I knew that there was a sin in

At last in a kind of despair 1 asked the Lord to

my life, which had not been taken away. I real-

fill me with the Holy Spirit, and the moment 1

ized what a dishonour it would be on the Name

did this the whole atmosphere seemed to clear

of Christ to have to confess that I was preaching

up, I began to see myself, and what a selfish

a Christ that had not delivered me from sin

ambition I had. It was a struggle almost to the

though T would be proclaiming to others that

end of the voyage, but I was determined long

IK- was a perfect Saviour.

before the port was reached, that whatever

' I went back to my room and shut myself

would be the cost, that I would be really filled

in, and told the Lord that it must be one of two

with the Spirit. The second climax came when

things ; either He must give me victory over

1 was led to tell the Lord that 1 was willing even

all my sins and especially over the sin that so-

PRESENT-DAS CHALLENGE TO I'KAYEK

easily beset me, or I must return to America
and seek there for some other work. I said
ihat I could not stand up to preach the Gospel
until I could testify of its power in my own
life. T was there for some time, facing the
question, and realized how reasonable it was,
and the Lord assured me that He was able and
willing to deliver me from all sin, that He had
planned work for me in India. He did deliver
me and I have not had a doubt of this since.
I can now stand up without hesitation to testify
lliat He has given me victory, and 1 love to
witness to this and to tell all of the wonderful
faithfulness of Christ my Lord, my Saviour.'

As far as I can remember, it was in some
such words that Hyde gave me his ex-
perience. Can 1 ever forget his face as he
told me these things, that inexpressibly sad
look when he spoke of his sin, and that
wonderful smile .of his when he referred to the
faithfulness of Christ.

And it cam to fiass '" those days, that He went out
into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer

to Cod.

—Luke vi. 12.

it came to pass at/out eighi days alter these

saying!. Be ■ ■ ■ meat up into a mountain to pray, and

a< He prayed the fashion it His ctnmtaunee ma altered.

—Luke is. 28, 29.

Who is sufficient ; The more roe

' try !o practise this grace el intercession, the

i.wre we become overwhelmed by its greatness and our

inch impression lead us to listen :

'lire,' and te

lully: ' Our sufficiency is ot dad.' Take courage , it
is in the intercession of Christ l/rat you are called to take
pari. The burden and the agony, the triumph and the
victory, are all His. Learn Iran,- Him, yield to Hit
Spirit in you, lo knmv horn to pray. He gave Hi
sacrifice lo Cod for men, that He might have the right
and power ot intercession. ■ He bore the sin of many,
andinadt pressors' Lei your faith

•My on His finished -.cork. Let your hear! wholly
identify itseli - His death and in L/is life.

Like Him, give yourself to Cod a sacrifice far men: it is
your highest nobility, it is your true and lull union
la Him ; it ivi/l be la you, as to Him, your /.v
intercession.

— From The Ministry op Inti

CHAPTER HI

IN THE SCHOOL OF PRAYER— ANOTHER
LESSON LEARNT AND MASTERED

A Wholh Day spknt bbfors the Thrqnb

and its Outcome

At the Sialkot Conventions there are two
Prayer Rooms, one (or men and one for women,
and prayer is constantly going on there, day
and night, without intermission. Men and
women separately meet there and two or three
experienced Christians are always present to
help those who need help. At times persons
lead in prayer jus; as in ordinary prayer meet-
ings ; at other times silent prayer goes on or
little groups form, and have prayer for some
object that presses upon their heart. Mission-
aries and others bring anxious souls into the
Prayer Room, and they are prayed for and
dealt with by men who know how to lead souls
into the light. The power that is felt at the
Sialkot Convention is the result of the Prayer
Room. I remember one year a missionary full
of work, attending the Convention for the first

•

20 PRESENT-DAY CHALLENGE TO PRAYER

time, and it was very evident that !ic did not
Icel at home at the services, and he came to
me about the third day and said that the Con-
vention was on wrong lines altogether, that the
leaders and speakers should be on the platform
■ to show themselves and encourage others '
instead o£ hiding themselves in the Prayer
Room all day. I told him that I did not agree
with him and asked whether he had been into
the Prayer Room, and he said that he had
turned in several times. Two days afterwards
he came to me with a beaming face and said,
' Do you know, I have found out the secret of
this Convention—f/ is that Prayer Room, I
never saw anything like it.' I told him that I
quite agreed with him, and we had a chat over
the blessings thai he had received and the new
visions o£ Christ that he had had.

This Prayer Room, if I am not mistaken,
was the work o£ the Holy Spirit through Hyde,
it was he that spent the first nights on the
watch-tower, but joined almost from the very
first by his beloved friend and brother —
McCheyne Paterson. I asked Hyde once how
the Lord had taught him this lesson, and he said
that some time before he was to speak at a Bible
School one morning, and he had had no time

IN THE -SCHOOL OF PRAYER 21

or insufficient time for the preparation of the
Bible reading, so he remained up all night to
prepare the message. The next day, he
thought that as he had spent a night in getting
the message ready, was there need of getting
kimsclf ready also, and would not a night of
prayer and praise be a good preparation for a
real blessing the following day? It was the
Holy Spirit's suggestion undoubtedly, lor that
night he remained in prayer the whole night,
and enjoyed it so much that he repeated it the
following night. Others joined him, some for
a part of the time and some for the whole night.
He was always careful in his preparation for
his Bible readings, sermons or Convention
addresses, but he often said that the prepara-
tion of the Messenger was quite as important
as the preparation of the message. What if we
also realized this !

Al the Sialkot Convention referred to, the
Europeans were accommodated in the dormi-
tory of the Mission Boarding School, a long
narrow building, and our beds were placed so
near each other that we had very little room to
move about, the room was crowded between
the sendees ; my bed had been placed between
Mr. Hyde and Dr. Griswald's beds, but I

m

22 PRESENT-DAY CHALLENGE TO PRAYER

noticed that Hyde's bed had not been occu-
pied at all. Hyde spent his time in the Prayer
Room; but one morning he rushed in and
went down on his knees by his bed-side.
This was in the early morning soon after dawn ;
I went to have chota-luzsri (early breakfast)
and came back, and found him still praying.
Then I went out to the prayer meeting and
morning service, and came back at n o'clock
and found him still praying. 1 went in to
breakfast and returned about 12.30, and lay-
down on my cot to rest and to watch him.
i to the afternoon service, then to tea,
then to the 5 o'clock service, coming into the
dormitory each time before going to a fresh
service. At 6 o'clock, he was still cm his
knees, and had been all d ly. \s I had an
hour to wait until dinner, 1 determined to
1 him and, if he rose from his knees, f
would ask him how it was possible for him to
remain quiet the whole day and to pray while
there was so much noise around, for people
were coming in and going out the whole time
and there was a great deal of talking going on.
In half an hour or so he looked up and
smiled. 1 sat on his bed, and asked him what
was the secret of all this. I also asked him to

IN THE SCHOOL 111- PRAYER 23

allow me to fetch him a cup of tea, but he
refused tea and asked for a glass of water only.
Then he said, ' Let me tell you, what a vision
I had — a new vision of Christ ! ' His face as
he spoke seemed to be illuminated, he had
come truly from the secret of His Presence, and
f shall never forget his words, they gave me
a new vision of Christ, and as he spoke to me
I could not keep the tears back ; at times I
felt that it could not he true — that Jesus had
never suffered so much for me, but as Hyde
lifted Him up before me, 1 had to believe, and
my heart went out to Christ in love and grati-
tude such as I had never felt before and also
in shame and sorrow that sin — my sin — had
brought Jesus so low, into such suffering, and
that vision of my dear Saviour is still before
me. How I wish I could repeat it as Hyde
brought me step by step to see Christ that
evening.

And being found in fashion as. a man, he humbled
himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death
of the •■■

— Fliilijipians ii. 8.

And Jesus saith unto him, The taxes have holes,
and the birds of tlte air have nests: but the Son of man
hath not where to lay his head.

—Matthew viii. 20.

How marred must have been Ike face- of the Holy One
of God from His erown of thorns I How lacerated the
form of His sacred body from the scourging of the soldiers

. . Look at yonder pillar, black with the blood of
murderers and. rebels. . . . Look at the rude and bar-
barous beings who busily surround their victim, See
them ' tear oil His clothes, bind those hands . . . press
His fnutota irmly against the shameful

pillar,' binding Him ' with rofles in such a ,,.
that he cannot move or stir.' See ' The scourging lasts a
full quarter of an hour! The uourges cut ever
into the. -.rounds alre.'idy mad . and itenetraU almost to
the 'narrow until ' His whole bach appears an enor-
mous won.: ? . . Purple robe is then thrown over ihe
form of the agonised Sufferer, and the twigs of a long -
spiked thorn bush arc twisted into a circle, and pressed
upon His brow.

— From 'I'm Cfioss Of Calvary .

CHAPTER IV

A NEW VISION OF THE MASTER

HE showed first of all what a condescension it
was for (i) Christ to become a man. I saw
something quite new in Christ ' emptying
Himself,' leaving His glory and entering our
world, our sinful world ; what it must have
cost Him to live in the atmosphere of sin ; it
was no wonder that He often escaped from the
haunts of men, from the depressing, suffocat-
ing odour of sin to the mountains, to h
breath of the fresh air of Heaven. How Hyde
described the environments of sin and the Holy
Person living in the midst of it. I felt that
even the Incarnation was an Infinite Sacrifice,
even if the Death on Calvary had never taken
place.

Then he stopped, and said ' and lie took
this place — became man — forme.' I saw the
vicarious sufferings of Christ then, in a new
light. After a little time he began again and
said (2) Christ became a slave for me. He
washed His disciples' feet this was the work

i(i PRESENT-DAY CHALLENGE TO PRAYER

of a slave. He stooped and became a slave
for me. Then lie described the life of a slave,
and how Christ in ever) he word had

voluntarily become a slave — not like one — but
lly He became a bond-servant, a slave, He
who was King 'ii Kings, who had the worship
and adoration of the hosts of Heaven, a real
slave on earth. 'And Hyde,' for

me, for

For some time he wept, we both wept, f
wept at the thought of the sufferings of Christ
for me, and how unfaithful I had been to
Him; but Hyde was thinking of what he was
going to say next, and what he said gave me
such a shock that 1 hardly know how to repeat
the words lest they should be misunderstood.
Hyde continued speaking and weeping, ' I saw
more, 1 saw that my Jesus, became a dog, a
Is it blasphemy to use
words ? (3) for

Hyde said that he was thinking of the
Syrophenccian woman, and how Jesus applied
the contemptible word — ' dog' — to her and
the Gentiles, and then he said, the Holy Spirit
led my thoughts to the truth that Jesus had
died for the Gentiles, for these clot's — then it
must be that Jesus had taken the dog's place.

\ NEW VISION OK THK MASTER

=7

' At first,' he said, ' this was too awful to think
of, but when I thought of His life, I had to
come to the conclusion that the life of Christ
had more of the characteristics of a dog's life,
than anything else, and that is what I have
been doing," he said, ' worshipping Him and
praising Him lor this.' lie explained that it
must have been the intention of Christ to teach
this truth by this miracle : Christ would never
have used the epithet ' dog ' of a human being
without a great purpose in view, and it was
this, He wanted men to realize that He had
gone down, even below men for the purpose of
lifting them up.

Then Hyde showed the similarity between
Christ's iile and the pariah dog of the East.

A. Christ had ' nowhere to lay fli> hcai/.'
That is how the dogs of the Hast live, they
have no place which they can call ' home,' and
Christ was homeless, and ' to think of I
suffering all for me,' said Hyde.

B. The dogs "f the East have constant hicks
and blows from men, and that is how men
treated our beloved Saviour, driven away from
men, receiving oftentimes great unkindness at
the hands of men, cruel words, scoffs, blows,
and at last cruelly killed. Shall I ever forget

28 PRESENT-DAY CHALLENGE TO PRAYER

the tenderness of Hyde as he spoke of the
sufferings of Christ.

I remember nothing of dinner that night, my
impression is that we both sat on that bed for
hours speaking of Christ. I shall never forget
it and never forget the vision I had of the love
of Christ going lower and lower, suffering
more and more and all for nw..

If we could only spend time alone with
Christ, what visions we would get, how we
also could speak of Him to others until they
had visions of Him. The distractions of our
worldly affairs, the attractions of the world
would cease to influence us as they do now, we
need our quiet times with Him and to take
time, and make time to be with Him, to see
Hi in face to [ace.

Call upon Me, and I will answer this, and shmu thee
great ami mighty tklags, whieh thou knottiest not.

— Jeremiah xxxiii. 3.

- therefore was kept in prison : but prayer was
I < rasing ot the church unto God for him.

— Acts xii. 5.

■ lay unto you. Though he mill mi rise and give him,

because lie is his friend, yel because of his importunity
he will rise tout %ivt aim a: nmuy as he n,

— Luke xi. b.

Mr. Mailer's see. ' under'

stand his great v a Hit and sneh a work are

the result of one habit more than all else, — daily and
iietfuenl communion with (rod. He first satisfied him-
self that he was \y of duty ; then he fixed his
mind upon the nucha., then, in
the botilness of who eomes to the throne oi

■ the name of Jesus Christ and pleads th,

aiicc ol the immutai: . he presented every

petition. He was a,.' intercessor. No delay

discouraged him. This is seen particularly in the ease

Hviduals for whose conversion he prayed. The

lie told the writer of t:vo

- '■"" • • ■''■•■'■■ " ' /'rayed,

day by da • . - ' wgo /,,„/ m j ,„ yc ;

:.-.- turned unto God : and he significantly
added, ■ loubt l/ial I shall meet them both

in heaven : for my Heavenly Father would not lay upon
my heart a burden el prayer tar them lor a: er threescore
years, it He had not concerning them purposes ol mercy. '
—From Oborgk MOlABH of B

CHAPTER V

THE BURDEN OF PRAYER— AN1I ITS
' SURE' RESULT

The most wonderful week ol my Hie wa
one spent in Murree with Mr. Hyde and
several others of like spirit.

Murree is a hill station on the way to
Cashmere. In the year 1907 several mission-
aries arranged to spend three or four weeks of
the hot weather in this place, anil tin- Spirit
moved them to arrange for a week or ten days
of waiting on the Lord while there. Others
heard of this and joined them and I had the
great privilege of being with them. When I
say that several of the leaders (or a better word
would be, the intercessors) from the Sialkot
Convention were there one can understand
the privilege. I had the joy of sharing a
tiny room with Hyde, and that room was a
little Heaven to me, and the memories of it
will never be effaced. We were entertained
by the Rev. and Mrs. McChcyne Paterson,
and all the other guests in the same house
were of kindred spirit, so that the fellowship

32 PRESENT-DAY CHALLENGE TO PRAYER

was almost perfect. Mr. Hyde was very full
of humour which was under perfect control.
The sad burdened features relaxed when he
was in the company of those that shared his
prayer life, and his face was lit up with joy — a
Heavenly joy. The conversation at the table
was most uplifting, and Hyde and others led
us ' into green pastures ' and some of us who
were only beginning to understand this life
feasted on the thoughts that passed through
the lips of those dear saints who lived in the
secret of His Presence. But Hyde's place
was often vacant ; we knew where he was, no
one enjoyed the company of men and women
more than he did, but Jesus came iirst, He
was afraid lest the fellowship of the saints
should come between him and his Saviour.

He was always on his knees clothed in a
heavy overcoat when I went to bed, and on
his knees long before I was up in the morning,
though I was up with the dawn, lie would
also light the lamp several times in the night
and feast on some passage of the word and
then have a little talk with the Master. He
sometimes remained on his knees the whole
day. At other times, he would come with
us to the services and spend the time in

THE BURDEN OF PRAYER

33

prayer in the vestry adjoining the church.
The services were full of power, every word
seemed to reach the hearts of men. It was
not the power of the messages but the power
of prayer that did it all. How easy it was
to speak, there was an atmosphere of prayer,
I would be in the vestry with him and a
few others until the service commenced, and
back to the vestry for prayer as soon as the
service was over.

One day the burden of prayer for the Europ-
eans of the station had fallen on Hyde ; for
two or three days he never went to bed nor
did he go down to meals, and the food sent up
to his room was generally carried down again
untouched. How often he came and knelt by
my bed that 1 might try to help him to bear
the burden. On the Saturday night he was in
great agony, McCheyne Paterson and myself
remained with him, oh how he prayed and
pleaded for the Europeans of the station. It
was a vision to me of real agonizing inter-
cession ; he seemed to say like Jacob of old, ' I
will not let thee go, ' and yet in the determina-
tion there was such deep humility, such loving
pleading. At 2 o'clock in the morning there
was a knock at the door, and Mr. McCheyne
3

34 PRESENT-DAY CHALLENGE TO PRAYER

Paterson quietly whispered to me, ' I am sure
that is my wife reminding mc that we ought to
go to bed,' but it was not so, it was a letter
from a lady staying at the largest hotel in the
place, asking us to have a service for Europ-
eans in the drawing room o£ the hotel.
Hyde heard us reading the letter and he
jumped up from his knees and said, ' That is
the answer to my prayers, I know now that the
Lord has heard me.' The servant who was
entrusted with the message had gone miles in
another direction, and had to come back, and
found it very difficult at night to get any one
to direct him to us, hence his appearance at
2 o'clock in the morning. He had been told that
the message was urgent and a reply absolutely
necessary. Hyde's face was just full of peace
and joy, and he almost commanded us to accept
the invitation and arrange for the service,
which we did. It was not a large gathering at
the hotel, and the service was not a success
from a human standpoint, and yet I felt
perfectly confident that the Lord was carrying
out His plans and purposes, and that He was
answering the prayers of His dear servant.
Hyde, of course, remained in his room to pray,
or rather to praise, for he was full of joy, and

THE BURDEN OF PRAYER

35

was not at all disappointed when wc told him
that not many of the hotel visitors had
attended the service. He said that it was all
in the Lord's Hand and He knew how to
carry on His work. One at least that was at
the service came to the evening service which
was held by us in the Scotch church, and
Mr. Hyde was present that night with such
heavenly joy in his features, that it was
contagious.

What a privilege it was to be with him for
that week I What lessons I learnt I His Bible
was always in his hand, even when we had our
morning cup of tea, he regaled me with manna
from the Word. When he knelt to pray, the
dear old Book was always open before him and
his hands rested on it. Face to face with the
Lord and resting on the promises. He had
always some dainty morsel or other to give me
from the Word, he always led me right to His
Presence when we prayed together. How is it
that we have so few who live thus at all times
' in the secret of His Presence? ' Why do we
not yield ourselves to the Lord and let our
life be one of prayer and communion with
Him ? Then we could lead others to a higher
life.

PRESENT-DAY CHALLENGE TO PRAYKR

From Murree we all went together to the
Sialkot Convention and probably that was one
of the most wonderful Conventions ever held —
Mr. Hyde took some of the morning Bible
readings, which: proved so helpful to those
present.

Praying always with all prayer and supplication in
the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all Perseverence
and supplication for all saints,

— Ephe.sians vi. IS.

Be careful tor nothing ; but in everything by prayer
and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be
made known unto Cod.

— Philippians Iv. IS.

Pray without ceasing '

— 1 ThessaJoniaus v. 17.

Prayer 'is to the spiritual life what air is to the
physical. Make it a rule never ia see the face of man
until you have seen the face of God. Each day is a new
life ; make sure of a good beginning. The devil may
be so thoroughly beaten in the morning, that his assault
will be feeble all the rest of the day. . . . The spirit of
prayer should also be cultivated until see form the habit
of associating prayer with all we do. Our petitions need
not always be uttered in words. Prayer in the form of a
silent aspiration of the soul should be continually breathed
out to Giut, whether we are in solitude or surrounded by
the busy crowd. . . . We should finish each day as we
begin it on our knees. Before retiring to rest
always review the day, and ask pardon for the wrong you
have done. ... fie men and women of prayer. None
arc eminent for piety and usefulness who neglect this
duty. All who would win great victories for God in
Public must first prevail in. the solitude of their own
chambers.

—Thomas Cook.

CHAPTER VI

intercession— a continuous ministry

The Prominent Flack ijivbn to Prayer at the

Sialkot Convention both Before and After

XBB MiiKTij-GS: The Spirit of Love and

Harmony Manifested

THERE is no doubt that the Sialkot Conven-
tion at one time, whatever it may be now, was
the most wonderful gathering of the Lord's
children that ever took place ; and Hyde had
a great deal to do with the form it took. He
was not conscious of this, but the atmosphere
lie brought with him seemed to affect the
whole place. One felt a change coming over
one as one entered the compound of the
Convention, — it was a Spirit of Praj'er, and
when wc entered into the ' Prayer Room '
we understood the cause of the change of
atmosphere.

Perhaps I should explain what this ' Prayer
Room ' really is. Mr. Hyde and a few others
realized the necessity of preparation for the
Convention, and he felt that his work was to
wait on God and plead for those who would

40 PRESENT-DAY CHALLENGE TO PRAYER

attend. There arc men in the Punjab who are
specially endowed of the Spirit to organize
such gatherings. Dr. Gordon, on whom in
the old days the great burden of organizing all
the departments of work fell, was so guided
and helped by the Spirit that everything went
like clockwork. To cater for 2,000 people is
not an easy task, but the arrangements were
so perfect that Dr. Gordon and all his willing
assistants, including the missionary ladies
that superintended the commissariat, were all
able to attend the services. I remember Dr.
Gordon telling me that he had really nothing
to do except to enjoy the Convention. He
spent much time in the Prayer Room, and one
day he took me into his little tent and he showed
me his account books, beautifully written, and
everything noted down. The previous year's
account had balanced to a pice, and all the
work was carried on without any bustle or
worry. Why do I mention these things in
writing about ' Dear Praying Hyde ' ? Because
prayer had so much to do with it. Hyde and
his companions were in a room on the ground
praying when Dr. Gordon and his companions
were on the ground putting up the scores of
tents, arranging the cooking apparatus, the

INTERCESSION-A CONTINUOUS MINISTRY 41

supply of water and the one hundred and one
little details necessary. Hyde felt and caused
others to feel that it was necessary to prepare
the messages and the tents and the food and
the sleeping accommodation, and, when others
reached the ground to arrange the external
necessities, he was on the ground to enter the
Prayer Room, and for two or three days and
nights, Hyde and a few others were on their
faces praying, pleading, praising, and claiming
a blessing. Has the marquee been erected ?
Hyde and his party enter in at once to dedicate
it to the Lord and to make the spot a real
Bethel where God would meet with His people.
Is the dining tent in position ? The praying
party must be there at once so that the Spirit
of God can use the meal-times to bring blessing
to His people. Sometimes the conversation in
the dining tent destroys the effect of the
messages given in the preaching tent ; but in
Sialkot we never heard any gossip during meal
times. Men and women formed parties,
Indians and Europeans together, sitting at
tables or in small groups on the floor eating
their meal, and feasting on the fellowship in
the Lord. Was there any one in spiritual
difficulties ? Some brother or sister would say,

42 PRESENT-DAV CHALLENGE TO PRAYER

' Let us go together to have a little food and
talk over this great matter,' and there, while
eating they realized that Jesus was with them,
the meal was sanctified by His Presence, and
everything appeared in a new light. Some one
has found the Saviour and the Lord must be
praised arid a Hymn or a Bhajan is started and
in an instant the whole place is full of praise.
The ladies giving out the food, the Christian
waiters, as well as those who arc eating, all
unite in praising God. The Panjabis can sing
and the missionaries can sing too. It was in
the dining tent I heard the * Glory Song '
sung in such a way that I shall never forget,
and I longed to go to ' Glory ' there and then
to begin this glory life. The food was left and
got cold before we could eat it, but our hearts
had been wanned up with the fire of I lis love
burning within. I lad Hyde's prayer anything
to do with this ? I do not know, but I do know
that this is what he and his companions prayed
for.

The first day of the Convention and often on
the previous night, two Prayer Rooms were
open, one for men and one for women, and
prayer and praise went on continually until
two or three days after the Convention. It is

INTERCESSION — A CONTINUOUS MINISTRY 43

immediately after the seed is sown that the
birds come and devour the seed. McCheyne
Paterson always says that the time for very
earnest definite prayer is immediately after the
service or a Convention is over, and Hyde
believed in this, and so when others remained
on the ground after the Convention was over
to pull down the tents, etc., the Prayer Room
parties remained to plead that the results of the
Convention might be permanent.

If we had more prayer in the very place at
our Conferences, and assemblies, before they
commence ; during the sessions ; and when
they are over, how different the atmosphere
would be ! If we only realized that there is as
much need for heart-preparation as there is for
comfort-preparation ; if we could feel that this
is the absolute necessity, and for some to take
this burden upon them as Hyde did, what
a blessing wc would have ! Can we not take
this lesson to heart ? It was Hyde's desire that
this should be introduced at Keswick. In the
Rev. Evan Hopkins' days, he was accustomed
to invite the Keswick speakers and a few
friends to meet at his home for two days about
a month before the Keswick Convention.
Mr. Hyde and myself had the privilege of being

PRESENT-DAY CHALLENGE TO PRAYER

with them in the year 1911, but I never heard
of any praying band meeting at Keswick for
some days before and after the Convention.
Hyde prayed for this, and longed to see the
Keswick Room, which I think is called the
' Committee Room,' being turned into a
* Prayer Room.' The speakers, I believe,
meet there for a few minutes for prayer before
going on the platform to speak, but would it
not be possible to have prayer and intercession
constantly going on in that room ? There are
intercessors who could take up this work, why
not do so ?

And as He prayed. . .

—Luke ix. 29.
Jesus sailh unto them. My meat is to do the will of
Him that sent Me, and to finish His work.

John iv. 34.

And when He was come into the liot/se. His disciples
asked Him privately. Why could twl we cast him cid f
And He saiih unto them, This kind can come forth by
nothing, lint by prayer and fasting.

— Luke ix. 28-29.

In doing the will of llu> Father in respect of a single,
sinful soul. He had teen renewed. And herein He seeks
to train His disciples in the same method of life by
imparling the secret of His strength. There is an inter-
action oi spiritual strength and service, which means that
entitlement is actually increased by expenditure, when
the direction of the effort is the Will of God. His is the
Gospel of action, both in exhortation and example.
Work is really the staff of lite. It is senice for Coil and
souls which alone makes the servant strong in patient
eninrance and knowledge. Asa matter oi fact, strength
is acquired, not in view of each task but as the result of
doing it. In the same house of active obedience His
disciples likewise eat of tlie Hidden Manna.

—Rev. J. SruABi- Hoj.den, D. D.

/ btess God, He has for some years given me an abid-
ing conviction that it is impossible lor any rational
creature to enjoy true happiness without being entirely
devoted to Him. Oh, my brother, pursue alter personal
holiness ; press towards that blessed mark. Be as
much in lasting and prayer as your health will allow,
and live above the rate of common Christians.

Your affectionate dying brother,
David Braixard.

CHAPTER VII

WITHIN THE VEIL

Let us look at Hyde in the Prayer Room,
say in Sialkot Convention. The Prayer
Room is in the Scotch church. Some of the
seats have been moved aside and a carpet
covers this open space. Sometimes there are
hundreds of people there, at other times only
two or three. Right on his face on the ground
is Praying Hyde — this was his favourite atti-
tude for prayer. Listen I he is praying, he
utters a petition, and then waits, in a little
time, he repeats it, and then waits, and this
many times until we all feel that that petition
has penetrated into every fibre of our nature,
and we feel assured that God has heard and
without a doubt He will answer. How well 1
remember him praying that we might ' open
our mouth wide that lie might fill it ' (Psalms
lxxxi. to). I think he repeated the word 'wide'
scores of times with long pauses between,
1 Wide, Lord,' ' Wide,' ' Open wide,' ' Wide'.
How effectual it was to hear him address God,
' Oh, Father 1 Father II" liven before he

48 PRESENT-DAY CHALLENGE TO PRAYER

asked anything I always felt that the Father
knew what he was going to ask for.

When he finishes his prayer, perhaps half-
a-dozen are sobbing, Hyde goes to one of them,
and others who are present go to the others.
Hyde's arm is round the neck of the one that
he is going to deal with ; he speaks but little
but his well-worn Bible is used and before long
he stands up with a smile and the man with
him, and he begins to sing, ' 'Tis done, the
great transaction's done,' and he is so full -of
joy that his whole body begins to move, he
claps his hands and then his feet begin to
move, and look, he begins to dance for joy and
others join him until the whole place rings
with God's praises.

Sometimes he wants lo be alone and I heard
of him climbing into the belfry ; there, in the
dark, high above the others, he pours out his
soul to God, men hear the echo of his voice
and realize that he must not be disturbed for
he is wrestling with God.

What about his meals ? and his bed ? The
Convention lasted for ten days in those early
days, and his ' boy,' a lad about sixteen that
he had taken to his home and his heart, had
brought Hyde's bedding and had carefully

WITHIN THE VEIL

49

made his bed, but it was never used during
the Convention. I saw him more than once,
when the Prayer Room was full, going aside
into one of the corners and throw himself on
the floor to sleep, but if the Room began to get
empty and prayer to flag, he somehow seemed
to know it and was up immediately and took
his place with the other intercessors. Did he
go to his meals ? I think it was only once or
twice that I saw him with us at table. Some-
times his ' boy,' or Gulla, the sweeper, or one
of his friends would take a plate of curry and rice
or something else to him to the Prayer Room
and if convenient he would go to a corner and
eat it. How his ' boy ' used to cry because he
would not eat properly and would not go to
bed to sleep. Hyde was not the only one that
did this, there were other missionaries who did
the same and fndian workers also, but it was
Hyde's spirit and example that first of all
led them into this ' Prayer Life.' How often
Hyde told me that he was afraid of following
the example of men, and he dreaded lest any one
should try to follow his example or McCheyne
Paterson's example, and so I wish to close this
chapter of Reminiscences by begging of our
members to follow Hyde in his Prayer-life

4

SO i'KESENT-DAY CHA1AENGK TO I'RAVER

and Prayer-spirit, but not necessarily in the
' form ' that he manifested it. There are
thousands of God's children who cannot spend
weeks in prayer and fasting as he did, they are
physically unfit for it, but every one can have
this Prayer-life making prayer their very
breath. We need to be in the line of God's
will in this as in every other duty. Hyde
realized that in his case God demanded it of
him. We all feel our need of more prayer and
to be more persistent in prayer and intercession,
whether we spend a night or a month on our
knees. Realizing my own need, may I ask my
fellow-workers, Indians and Europeans, espe-
cially at this time, shall we not give more of
our time to prayer? Can we not have an
occasional day of prayer and fasting ? Let us
go to the Lord and settle it with him. Let
us be willing to sacrifice our own comforts in
order to have more time for prayer.

And when they had prayed, the place was shaken
where they were assembled together ; and they were ail
HUed with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word
of God with boldness.

-Acts iv. 31.

Bui we will give ourselves cimtinuaUy to prayer, and
to the ministry ol the word.

—Acts vi. 4.

I am the door : by Mc it any man enter in, he shall
be saved, ami shall go in and out, and find pasture.

—John x. 9.

The secret lite of prayer alone prepares and qualifies
tor the ministry. And each of these is cjualty necessary
in order to aceomplish the a lory of God. For while work
without prayer is slteer presumption, prayer wilhonl
work is mere fanaticism . , . To understand rightly Ike
• a f this preparation puts new emphasis on the
giving of ourselves to prayer. For it is in prayer thai
motives are tested, ideals examined, plans adjudged, and
relative worth revealed. Ministry, which is the ex-
pression and outcome of life thus lived before Cod, may
be of infinite variety, but is always a mediation of
His Word to others. For this the world hungers, and
without this it perishes.

— RKV. J. STCTAKT IiOLDKN. D.D.

CHAPTER VI11

a living message from the
empowered messenger

Rhminiscbncps op Drab Praying Hydb.

In the last chapter I wrote about Hyde
at the Conventions and promised to give one
or two other incidents which I observed at
the Conventions. He felt that his place
was in the Prayer Room, but he had to
enter the platform at times, and his messages
were delivered with tremendous power, as we
would naturally expect when he came straight
from the Prayer Room to deliver his message.
I shall never forget the effect of one of his Bible
readings on the congregation and on the
whole Convention. He spoke in Urdu and
those who know Urdu say that he spoke the
language well, if anything a little highflown,
using the book-language more than the collo-
quial. 1 could not follow him, for my know-
ledge of Urdu is very meagre, so i had an
opportunity of watching him and the congrega-
tion. I realized very soon that he was delivering

54 I'UKSKNT-DAY CHALLENGE TO PRAYER

a solemn message, for there was a solemnity
in the congregation that was almost oppressive.
He spoke quietly, but all could hear him, and
I felt that his life was in the Word. He once
told me that one had to give himself if he
wanted to serve God and help men, that it was
not enough to give our time and our talents,
that our ' life ' must be given. This was true,
he said, both in praying and in preaching.
Alas ! how few of us give of our life ; when
wc think that our life is touched, we feel it is
time to draw back. How often we have heard
it said, ' You will kill yourself if you work as
you do, take it easy.' But Hyde used to say,
' give your life for God and men,' let that vital
energy, that living power within, be poured out
for men. Who is right f . . . Hyde or the
modern man ? Hyde gave himself as he preach-
ed — he poured out his life as he prayed . . .
that morning in Sialkot he did this, and men
realized the power. I heard that immediately
after the service, the Committee was called
together to consider God's challenge to them,
and for prayer that the message might influence
men. At breakfast, men were in groups asking
what should be done, and 1 know that many

MESSAGE FROM EMPOWERED MESSENGER 55

went away alone to have their lives re-adjusted
by the Holy Spirit.

At one of the Conventions he spoke to the
Europeans, most of them were missionaries.
He spoke on ' The Cross.' I think that the
Spirit used him to give us all an entirely new
vision of the Cross. That was one of the
most inspiring messages I ever heard. He
began the address by saying, that from what-
ever side or direction we look at Christ on the
Cross, we see wounds, we see signs of suffer-
ing — from above we see the marks of the
Crown of Thorns, from behind the Cross we
see the furrows caused by the scourging, etc.,
and he dwelt on the Cross with such illu-
mination that we forgot Hyde and every one
else, the ' Dying, yet living Christ' was before
us. Then step by step we were led to see in
the crucified Christ a sufficiency for every need
of ours, and as he dwelt on the fitness of
Christ for every emergency I felt that I had
sufficient for time and for eternity. But the
climax of all to me was the way he emphasized
the truth that Christ on the Cross cried out
triumphantly 'It IS FINISHED,' when all around
thought that His Life had ended. It seemed
to His disciples that He had failed to carry

$6 PRESENT-DAY CHALLENGE TO PRAYER

out His purposes, it appeared to His enemies
that at last their dangerous Enemy had been
overcome. To all appearance the struggle
was over and His Life had come to a tragic
end. Then the triumphant cry of victor)' was
sounded out ' It is finished.' A cry of
triumph in the darkest hour. Then Hyde
showed us that if united to Christ we can also
shout triumphantly even when everything
points to despair. Though our work may
appear to have failed, and the enemy to have
gained the ascendancy, and we are blamed by
all our friends and pitied by all our fellow-
workers, evsu then we can take our stand with
Christ on the Cross and shout out ' Victory,
Victory, Victory ! ' From that day I have
never been in despair about our work. When-
ever I feel despondent 1 think I hear Hyde's
voice shouting Victory, and that immediately
takes my thought to Calvary and 1 hear my
Saviour in His dying hour, crying out with
joy 'IT IS FINISHED.' As Hyde said, ' This
is real Victory ' to shout triumphantly though
all around is dense darkness.

I remember that the Hon'ble M. Waldegrave
(the late Lord Kadstock's son) was in the
service, and in leaving at the close, he said

MESSAGE FROM EMPOWERED MESSENGER 57

to me, ' I generally go to my tent after
every service and write the message that I have
heard to my wife, but Mr. Hyde's message
just delivered seems so sacred and appealing
that I dare not try to write it.'

I had a long talk with Hyde afterwards
about the Cross and the message, and he told
me that for a whole year he had been fascinated
by the Cross. ' I cannot speak on any other
subject now,' he said. I heard him speak on
the Cross at another Convention some weeks
afterwards and that was accompanied by the
Holy Spirit's power in a similar way.

•

And when they had played . . . the multitude of
them thai believed were of one keart and of ont •sad . . .
and great grace was upon them all.

-Acts iv. 31-33.

For God is not theaullwr of confusion, but of peace,
as in all the churches of the saints.

— 1 Corinthians xiv. 33.

fs there not an experience lor us, similar i?t kind and
degree to that experienced by llie apostles f We say
similar in. kind, because the real secret ol the change in
the character and conduct of the apostles was not in the
Power ol speaking wilh tongues, nor in the power to
work miracles, but in the possession of the Holy Spirit
Himself. Power dwells in a person, and tfial person is
God the Holy Ghost . . . He comes to our hearts
Himseli. His gifts vary with the ages, sometimes
bestowed, and sometimes withheld. His administrations
differ according to the needs of the Church and the limes,
but He Himielf remains the same. ' I will pray the
Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He
may abide wilh you lor ever.' The same power must,
therefore, be possible to us which was received by Ike
apostles on and after the day ol Pentecost. We are still
in the dispensation of the Spirit. The might of God was
not exhausted at Pentecost. . . . The promise still stands,
• I Kill pour out My Spirit upon all flesh.'

— Thomas Cook.

CHAPTER IX

THE WAY OF PEACE— CHURCH

DIFFICULTIES OVERCOME IN THE

SPIRIT'S POWER

How thr Spirit of Dissension was quenched

AT SlAUCOT

At the first Convention that i attended at
Sialkot, the Evil One made a desperate attempt
to destroy the whole work. At the previous
Convention some terrible confessions had been
made both by missionaries and Indian workers
and at the Convention that I attended, sins were
revealed that shocked all persons present.
Some few that attended were exceedingly
annoyed and wanted the Committee to con-
sider the question and decide either that
there should be no public confession or else
that men and women should be separated and
men should confess at the men's meetings, and
women at the women's meetings. These people
wanted the Committee to meet them to discuss
the whole matter, the reply of the Committee
was ' Let us meet together to pray over the
matter.' These men would not, and said that

6o PRESENT-DAY CHALLENGE TO PRATES

it was useless to pray until the question had
been decided, as I was an outsider I heard the
arguments on both sides. I did not like to
hear open confession o£ the sins of immorality,
but 1 deplored the spirit manifested by some of
the people who were against confessions. One
young fellow thumping the table with rage said,
' I'll smash the whole Convention.' I had a
quiet talk on the subject with Hyde, he was
one of the Committee and manifested such a
tender, loving spirit, and was so sane through
it all that I was greatly impressed. He said that
the Committee had never called for confessions,
/hat it was the Spirit of God that had moved
men to confess. He said that he felt that legis-
lation on the question and setting apart special
meetings for confessions would be like taking
the matter out of the Holy Spirit's hand, and
it would in one way give sanction to open
confession. \ well remember how earnestly
he said that the sin of immorality was more
prevalent among the Christians than any one
dreamt, and that the Holy Spirit saw that
exlrem . were needed to get men to real-

ize the sin. • Some men, I fear,' said Hyde,
• are guilty and are afraid that the Holy Spirit
will compel them to confess.' How tenderly

THE WAV or PEACE 61

he spoke of these men, how confident he was
that the Lord at the right moment would reveal
clearly His Will in the matter ; it was one of
the darkest hours of the Sialkot Convention and
yet Hyde's face was full of joy for he knew that
victory was assured.

Victory came ; those who opposed confession
went together to the Prayer Room hoping to
discuss the question. Hyde was praying,
several others of the Committee were praying,
and they gave such a hearty welcome to those
men to pray with them that they did so, and
after some time, McCheyne Paterson, one of the
members of the Committee, spoke, and spoke
with such power that the discussion dropped.
He showed that no member of the Committee
had ever urged public confession. All that the
Committee desired was implicit obedience to
the Holy Spirit. These men said that they too
desired that all men should obey the Spirit, and
then some one began to praise God and all
joined in singing and the Prayer Room became
once more a Praise Room.

1 realized then in a new way how much better
it would be to settle our differences by meeting
together to pray, by allowing the Holy Spirit

62 PRESENT-DAY CHALLENGE TO PRAYER

to have His way with us. Since then I have
pot this matter more than once to the test.
When at Committee meetings or Conferences
disputes arose and feelings ran high, when men
began to get excited and fight for their own
opinions, the best way to meet all this was to
keep quiet in a corner, praying that the Holy
Spirit might come and reveal His Will and
direct men's thoughts in the right path, how
wonderfully He has led us out of the mazes and
brought peace and happiness to men's minds.

This was Hyde's way of meeting difficulties
and this was the way of the Master. Shall this
be our way f Whatever may be the trouble,
let us put ourselves in the right attitude towards
God and then wait for the Holy Spirit to work
in us to do what is right.

This tlien is Ike message wkich we have heard ol Him,
ant/ declare unto you, thai Gad is light, and in Him is no
darkness at all . . . if we walk in the light, as He is in
the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the
blood ol Jesus Christ His son eleanseth us irons all sin.

— 1 John i. 5, 7.

We know that we have passed Irom death unto lite,
beeause we love the brethren.

— 1 John iii. 14.

' He was in our hearts, ' observed one of his friends in
India, ' we honoured him :— we loved him ;~we thanked
Cod lor kim ; — we prayed tor his longer continuance
amongst us ;—we rejoiced in the good he was doing ;—
we are sadly bereaved. . . . ' He was one ol those • little
ones ' ol -whom Christ affirms that whosoever reeeivelh
them, reeeivelh Him. To no one, indeed, would he give
occasion to despise him ; but all the dignity to which he
aspired was to be their servant, among whom he laboured
lor Jesus sake. • A more perfect character, ' says one who
bore the burden and heal ol the day with him in India,
' I never met with, nor expect to see on earth. During the
lour years we were Icllow-labourers in Ibis country, I had
no less than six opportunities ol enjoying his company ;
and even, opportunity only increased my Imc and
veneration lor him.'

—Life of Rev. H. Martyn.

CHAPTER X

A RESTING-TIME IN WALES

Blest Memories of a Fragrant Fellowship

I LEFT for Wales in December, 1910. I saw
Mr. Hyde the previous October and knew that
he intended taking his furlough early in 191 1.
I asked him to take a run across to see me when
passing through England, and he replied, as
he generally did, that he would call if the Lord
would open the way. f gave him my address
but he lost it. The day before his steamer
was due to arrive in Liverpool he asked a
C.M.S. missionary who was on board whether
he had any idea what part of Wales I came from.
I had only a casual acquaintance with this
missionary and had never seen his wife, but
he immediately told Hyde that his wife had my
address and he went down to her cabin and
brought it up. To this day I have no idea
where she obtained my address.

The steamer arrived in Liverpool on Good
Friday and he crossed over to Birkenhead to
get a train for my home (Llangollen). When
he reached the station he was told that only
one train ran on Good Friday and that had
S

66 PRESENT-DAY CHALLENGE TO PRAYER

gone. Some one overheard the question and
answer, and told him that there was a cheap
excursion train going direct to the place and
told him to book an excursion ticket which he
did, but, when he reached the train, he was told
that he could take no luggage with him and he
had all his belongings in a big American trunk.
He waited a moment and prayed I am sure,
when the guard came to him and said, ' Go
and secure your seat and leave j'our trunk with
me, I shall bring it in my van ' and he did so.
All these incidents I have mentioned were
clear indications to him tltat he was m the line
of God's Will. He lived so near the Lord that
he was sensitive to the slightest promptings o£
His Will, and he seemed to know at once when
the Lord was not with him. How everything
fitted together because all was under the direct
control o£ God for the good of His servant.

But this was not all. It had been arranged
by the mission that I should be on deputation
work for some time in Carnarvonshire just
those days, but at the last moment the tour was
cancelled because the people were too busy in
arranging for the installation o£ the Prince of
Wales as Prince in Carnarvon, for arrangements
to be made for missionary meetings, and so, I

A RESTING-TIME IN WALES

67

had a fortnight's rest in my old home, and I
wondered what was behind all this. I was
glad of the quiet time, but I felt there was
some other reason.

On Good Friday morning 1 went round the
little town just as 1 used to go when I was a
boy, and told my wife that I would be back in
less than an hour, but when I arrived back my
wife rushed to the door and said, ' Guess who
has come. Of all your numerous friends which
one would you like to see and have his company
on Good Friday ?' I could not mention any
one but I felt that there was some joy in store
for me, and 1 saw that my wife was greatly
excited for she had longed for years to meet
Hyde. Then, she said, ' go to the bed-
room and see who is there having a wash.'
1 rushed upstairs, and there was Hyde with
his face beaming with joy, and that was
the beginning of a month or two of a little
Heaven on earth for me. It was not difficult
for me to persuade him to make his home with
me for some weeks. A dearly beloved doctor
and his wife who lived near begged that they
should entertain him, and as I knew that he
would be far more comfortable there than in the
little house where we stayed, and I knew that

I'KESENT-DAY CHALLENGE TO PRAYER

he needed the care of a doctor, we gladly
allowed them to have him there to sleep, and
he came for most of his meals to us. What a
time that was ! He and my wife seemed to
understand each other from the very first hour
and no brother and sister in the Lord ever loved
each other, and understood each other, better
than they did. What time we spent around
that little table where we had our meals !
The fellowship was so sweet, the blessing asked
for before the meal commenced, often turned
into a lengthy prayer, and the food becamr
cold, but our hearts were warmed up, and
every morsel we ate seemed to be tasty and to-
have an additional relish. What a privilege
it is to have one of the Children of God who
lives in His Very Presence with us at the table.
It became the Lord's banqueting house and we
freely drank of His Spirit. What would I
not give to have one of these days back again.
Will the members forgive me for dwelling so
long on this, I had.such a blessing I can never
forget it.

We went round to visit some of the old saints.
and, among others, we called on a dear aged
child of God who was very deaf. Mr. Hyde
himself was deaf. This dear old lady shouted

A RESTING- TIME IN WALES

69

to him, that she missed the services very much,
' for I cannot hear anything when I go,' she
said, and to her surprise he said, ' you ought
to praise God for that.' She thought that he
had misunderstood her, and she said again,
' I cannot hear, I tell you,' and he answered
' That is why I tell you that you should praise
the Lord.' Then he explained to her what he
meant. He said that it was rarely that
he could hear anything when he went to the
services but that it was a fine opportunity to
pray, everything was so quiet and the whole
environment seemed to help him to pray and
worship. He said that he looked at the
preacher and prayed for him, then at the
different people and prayed for them as he
looked at them, until he began to praise God
for being deaf as it gave him such a glorious
opportunity for prayer and adoration. The
dear old lady laughed heartily and entered into
the spirit of his remarks and said quite cheer-
fully, ' I think I shall try that way too.' And
some two or three years afterwards she wrote
to me and said that she praised God for what
Hyde had said, and that it had made a wonder-
ful difference in her life. She has gone Home
and no doubt they have been drawn together

70 PRESENT-BAY CHALLENGE TO PRAYER

on the other side and praise God together for
all the way that He led them.

What walks we had together on the moun-
tain side, and we would sit down together on
one ol the rustic seats provided (or visitors, and
have a time of prayer together, or throw our-
selves down under some of those shady trees,
and have fellowship with the Master. How
one longs for him !

It was during some of these walks that he
gave me some of his early history. He spoke
a great deal about his mother, what an earnest
Christian she was, and what careful training
she had given him. He often spoke of her
singing ; and over and over again he said that
she was the best singer he had ever heard, and
such a holy woman. I felt at the time that he
just longed to go home to her.

When he was staying with me, he often
spoke of Keswick and his one desire then was
to remain in England over Keswick Week.
He wanted to attend the Convention and to
have McCheyne Paterson with him there and
he was giving me the privilege of being with
them so as to make a Trio and we were to
have a Prayer Room in Keswici during the
Convention, and to continue in prayer day and

A RESTINfi-TIME IN WALES

71

night. He and McCheyne Paterson were ill
during the Convention and failed to attend.
The Lord allowed me to go there, but we did
not have the Prayer Room, though I did sug-
gest it. I often think what would have been
the result if they had come there. Mr. Walker
of Tinnevelly was present and would certainly
have joined us. To this day the ' Prayer
Room ' has not had its place at Keswick, but
there has been so much prayer for this, that it
may yet come, and then Keswick will be as
near perfection as we can imagine any holy
gathering this side of Paradise.

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but
against principalities, against powers, against t/ie world-
riders of this darkness, against spiritual wickedness in
high plaecs.

— Ephesians vi. 12.

For though ue walk in the flesh, we do not rear after
the flesh : (for the weapons of our warfare are not
carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of
strong-holds),

—2 Corinthians s. 3-4.

God can work wonders if He can get a suitable man.
Men can work wonders if they can gel God io lead them.
The full endowment ol Hie spirit that turned the world
upside down would be eminently nselul in these latter
days. Men who can stir things mightily tor God, whose
spiritual revolutions change the whole aspect of things,
are the universal 'need of the Church.

God wants eleel men— men ml of whom sett and the
world have gone by a severe crucifixion, by a bank-
ruptcy which has so totally ruined self and the world
that there is neither hope nor desire of recovery ; men
who by this insolvency and crucilixion have turned
.'award God perfect hearts.

— E. M. Boraus in ' Powkb Throci;ii Phayer.'

CHAPTER XI

VICTORY OVER THE POWERS OF
DARKNESS

An Incident with the Chapman-Alexander

Mission. Dr. Chapman's Testimony op his

solemn audibnce with the klng op

Kings, and Its Effect dpon his own

Prayhk-I,ife and Faith

One of the red-letter days in my history in
connection with Hyde was in connection
with one of the missions which Chapman and
Alexander conducted in one of the towns in
Western England. Mr. Hyde was staying
with us in my home and we happened to be
without deputation work for some days, and
we heard that a mission was to be conducted
by .Messrs. Chapman and Alexander, and I
suggested that we should attend tin's mission
for three days. We engaged small rooms in a
quiet hotel. For the first afternoon we had
two of the Lord's Children with us, a man and
wife who had been greatly blessed in the
1904-5 Revival, and Mr. Hyde's company was
made a great blessing to them.

74 PRESENT-DAY CHALLENGE TO PRAYER

Mr. Hyde had never met Mr. Chapman, but,
as (hey both belonged to the same Church,
Mr. Hyde was anxious to meet him, we
reached the town about mid-day on a Thurs-
day, the first service was to be held at 2
o'clock. After a little food we made our way
towards the service, so as to secure a good
seat, as we expected a great throng. It was
some little disappointment to me personally to
find the street comparatively empty. When
in sight o£ the Hall we saw Mr. Chapman and
party coming and we waited for them and
Mr. Hyde immediately went and introduced
himself to Mr. Chapman. Possibly Mr. Chap-
man had heard his name as a missionary of his
own Church but little did he guess the help
that this missionary was to render him in his
mission and in his life. Very few people were
in the Hall, but a few more came by 2 o'clock.

There was nothing very remarkable in the
service, it was good and I enjoyed it, but we
were all so disappointed at the congregation,
that we all felt more or less depressed. I met
one of the ministers and expressed my dis-
appointment, and he said that such missions
were not popular in their town, and evidently
he was very well satisfied. At night we had a

VICTORY OVER POWERS OF DARKNESS 75

larger congregation, but there was no enthu-
siasm. We thoroughly enjoyed the service
but were surprised at the lack of zeal and
response at the meeting. It was very evident
that Mr. Chapman, and the others who were
helping him were also disappointed. Hyde
said very little. That night one of the leading
elders of one of the Churches, an old friend of
mine, joined us at supper and he was surprised
that we had come all the way to attend a
mission ! ! ! He had heard of it but had not
attended the meetings. We persuaded him
to interest himself in the work and he promised
to attend if lie could.

It was suggested by Mr. Chapman that the
ministers and leaders should meet together
the next day for a quiet talk and prayer to see
whether anything could be done to rouse the
people to attend the sendees. Mr. Hyde and
myself were asked to be present and it was
at this meeting that we realized the great
need of prayer. The ministers present, and
they were a good number, seemed to treat
the whole mission as some little side-show.
Mr. Chapman's address was intense, but the
remarks made by some of the ministers revealed
a state of appalling indifference, so that even

?6 PRESENT-DAY CHALLENGE TO PRAYER

Dr. Chapman with a sad countenance said that
if that was the spirit in which the leaders faced
the mission that he had nothing more to say,
and asked the people to excuse him, and went
out. That to some extent sobered the most
frivolous, and the few earnest souls had their
way. I noticed Hyde's head getting lower
and lower, and his face wore that burdened
look he always had when the burden of prayer
was coming on him. He spoke but little to
any one that night and the next afternoon
we had to leave, for wc both had preaching
engagements on the Sunday ; but he came
to me and asked me to engage his room for him
for the following week that he intended coming
back on Monday morning.

' I cannot leave a brother minister to bear this
burden alone,' he said. I secured (he room for
him, he spoke with power at two or three
services on the Sunday and returned by train
early on Monday. Knowing the weak state of
his health, and fearing lest the burden should be
too much for him, I wrote (unknown to Hyde)
a line to Dr. Chapman asking him, if possible,
to arrange for some one to be with Hyde
so as to help him in his work of inter-
cession. Mr. Chapman very kindly arranged

VICTORY OVER POWERS OF DARKNESS J7

for a worthy, sympathetic helper in the person
of Mr. Davis of the Pocket Testament League,
and the two being kindred spirits became very
friendly.

What was the result of this intercession ?
Let Mr. Chapman's letter tell —

' At one of our missions in England the
audience was extremely small, results seemed
impossible, but I received a letter from a
missionary that an American missionary, known
as Praying Hyde, would be in the place to pray
God's blessing down upon our work. Almost
instantly the tide changed — the Hall was
packed and my first invitation meant fifty men
for Jesus Christ. As we were leaving I said,
' Mr. Hyde I want you to pray for me.' He came
to my room, turned the key in the door, dropped
on his knee?, waited live minutes without a
single syllable coming from his lips. I could
hear my own heart thumping and his beating.
I felt the hot tears running down my face. 1
knew 1 was with God. Then with upturned
face, down which tears streamed he said ' Oh !
God / ' Then for five minutes at least he was
still again, and then when he knew that he was
talking to God, his arm went round my
shoulder, and then came up from the depth of

78 PRESENT-DAY CHALLENGE TO PRAYER

his heart such petitions for men as I have never
heard before, and I rose from my knees to know
what real prayer was. We have gone round
the world and back again, believing that prayer
is mighty, and we believe it as never before.'

Mr. Hyde remained in the place for a whole
week and then crawled back to us. I saw at
once that he had been wrestling with the Lord
and had gained the victory, but it had almost
been too much for his physical strength. The
following day he could scarcely speak, he was so
weak ! but he smiled and whispered to me as 1
bent over him, ' The burden was very heavy,
but my dear Saviour's burden for me took Him
down to the grave.'

From other sources we heard what a great
success the mission had been, how the churches
were revived and many were brought to the
Light. I was specially interested to read o£ a
stirring address given at a Presbytery a few
weeks afterwards by the very elder who had
joined us at supper and was scarcely interested
enough to attend the mission ; but he did
attend and was gloriously blessed and his
account o£ the mission and the blessing which
accompanied it stirred the whole Presbytery.
How much had Hyde's prayer to do with this ?

VICTORY OVER POWERS OF DARKNESS 79

Thinking over Hyde's share in the work,
I could not help comparing his devotion and
my lack of responsibility. He realized the
need in a way that I did not. He was willing
to sacrifice everything so that Christ's Name
should be honoured in that town. How willing
he was to work out of sight, he never thought
of himself ; he just saw the town, the condition
of the churches, the indifference of the
ministers as Christ Himself saw these things,
and instead of criticizing and blaming the men
he took their burden and carried it to the
Lord. Not one word of criticism did I hear,
not one word of what he had done, but he did
speak of the glory of Christ manifested, of the
powerful messages delivered by Messrs. Chap-
man and Alexander and especially of the
power of intercession which his companion
Mr. Davies had received. Oh for that absence
of self in me I For the power of prayer, and
the Spirit's insight to see the need all around.

Let this mind be in you, -which was also in Christ
Jesus : Who . . . humbled Himself, and became obedient
imto death, even the death of the Cross.

— Philippians ii. 8.

And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, shelving
Grace lo one another, cteti as God for Christ's sake hath
shewn Grace jinto yon,

— Ephesians to. 32. Darby's Translation.

Sell is the whole evil of fallen nature : self-denial is
our capacity of being saved ; humility 'is our saviour . . .
Self is the root, the branches, the tree, of all the evil of
our fallen stale. All the evils of fallen angels and men
have their birth in the pride til self. On the other hand,
all the virtues of the heavenly lite are the virtues of
humility. It is humility alone that makes the im-
passable grdf behveen heaven and hell. What is then,
hat lies, the great struggle for eternal lite ' II
all lies in the strife between pride and humility : pride
and humility are the two master powers, tin two
kingdoms in strife for the eternal possession of man.
Then never was, nor ever wUl in-, bill one humility, md
that is the one humility of Christ . . . He therefore
only tights the good fight whose strife is that the sell-
idolatrous nature which he hath from Adam may be
brought to death by the supernatural humility of Christ
brought to life in him.

—William Law.

CHAPTER XII

THE SPIRIT OF MEEKNESS— TRIUMPHING
UNDER TESTINGS

TWO incidents which occurred when Mr. Hyde
was in England gave me great pain, but they
did not sppear to affect him in any way ; and
to watch him at that time made me realize how
very Christ- like he was, and brought home
many lessons to me.

Hyde and myself were invited to join the
Keswick speakers and promoters in a two days'
Prayer-Meeting at the residence of the late
Rev. Kvan Hopkins. We were glad of the
invitation and had two days of very precious
fellowship with the Lord and the dear saints
assembled (about forty or more). The time
was spent in prayer, it was an ideal time of
intercession. I could see that the burden of
prayer had come upon Hyde, for his very
countenance proved it. He was in his element
with so many experienced intercessors around
him. But I saw that he longed that they
should be led into a still deeper life of inter-
cession. He did not say so, for criticism was

6

82 PRESENT-DAY CHALLENGE TO PRAYER

not in his line at all. I do not think that I
ever heard him criticizing any persons, though
he could vehemently denounce sin. It was by
his prayers, when we were praying together
that I was led to realize this. Towards the
middle of the second day, one or two spoke,
and there was a kind of discussion over the
question of a Prayer-Room for Keswick, and
we were asked to state our experience of this
in Indian Conventions. I stated very briefly
my thoughts on the subject, I wanted Hyde to
have as much time as possible for I felt that
he would raise the question to a much higher
level than the setting apart of a Prayer-Room,
where continued prayer could be made.

He began, and spoke more slowly, if any-
thing, than usual. I happened to be the only
one that knew him, and knew by his manner
that he was heavily burdened with his message.
He spoke very quietly for three or four
minutes, then one of the ladies present began
to sing a popular hymn and it was taken up
by several others, and the message was never
delivered. Mr. Hyde just closed his eyes and
prayed. I was afraid that his feelings would
have been hurt, but there was not a word of
resentment or even displeasure. How many

^

THE .SFIKIT (>y MEEKNESS

83

of us would have borne it as he did ? The
burden weighed so heavily upon him that he
was prostrated, and had a violent headache and
became so weak that he could not leave with
the rest of us that evening, so he stayed on as
the guest of the Rev. Evan Hopkins, and he
told me afterwards that he had such blessed
fellowship with him. Not one word did he
utter about the meeting having sung him down,
but spoke with love and tenderness of all.
How many of us would have stood it in the
same way ? I am afraid f would have keenly
felt it even if I had not resented it; but
Hyde's constant fellowship with Christ in
prayer had made him impervious even to such
subtle attacks of the Evil One.

A similar incident took place at a Presbytcrj
in North Wales. Mr. Hyde had been speaking
with great power at many of the churches
belonging to that Presbytery, and many were
the invitations that he had to be present at the
following Presbytery and deliver a message to-
the Ministers and Elders. He was not officially
asked by the Moderator, but the leaders in the
church where the Presbytery was held had
pressed him to be present. Being a Presby-
terian himself he told me that he looked forward

84 PRESENT-DAY CnAI.LENCK TO PRAYER

with joy to the gathering. It was at a great
sacrifice that he attended, he had to leave very
early in the morning and take a long railway
journey so as to be in time. He was suffering
too at the time from a severe headache and from
the malady which carried him away in less than
twelve months. The Presbytery was a large
one for it was rumoured that Hyde would be
present. Word was sent up to the Moderator
and to the Secretary more than once, but the
meeting closed without even welcoming a
brother Presbyterian Minister, who had been
a missionary for years, to their midst. A
visitor is usually welcomed, especially if his
name be known, but Mr. Hyde sat out through-
out the whole meeting. Being deaf he could
not hear, and the proceedings being carried on
in Welsh he would not have understood had he
been able to hear. His eyes were closed, and
I knew he was praying for all present. When
the meeting closed and many rushed up to him
to shake hands with him and to express their
disappointment that he had not been asked to
speak, he smiled on all, and spoke quite cheer-
fully and when I expressed my sorrow and my
indignation to him when we were alone, he
gently rebuked me and said that the Lord knew

THE SPIRIT OF MEEKNESS

85

everything, and it was not our place to criticize
the Lord's people.

Scores of times since then have I thought of
him when the Lord's children were inclined to
act unkindly towards me, or appeared to me
to misunderstand my attitude wilfully, and
been compelled to check myself and not to
criticize them, but to praise the Lord that He
knew all and to pray for the very friends that
acted so.

How often Mr. Hyde excused men who had
been unkind to him; ' They do not understand,'
he said, ' I know they do not want to be un
kind,' he once replied when he was urged to
defend himself against a bitter and unjust
attack. A friend even offered to write and to
explain, but he quietly said, ' This is my cross
which He wants me to take up and carry for
Him.'

Wiiat if we all had this spirit — misunder-
standings in mission stations, etc., would cease.
How the work in many stations in India is
marred and hindered by these trivial misunder-
standings. The part ies themselves grieve over
this and wish it could be removed. How often
the work of the Holy Spirit has been hindered
and even stopped by petty jealousies ; some

But none of these things move me, neither count I my
life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course
with toy, and Ike ministry, which / have received of the
Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of ike grace of Cod.

—Acts its. 24.

In the evening God was pleased to help me in prayer,
beyond what f have experienced for some lime ; especially
my soul was drawn out for the enlargement of Christ's
kingdom, and for the conversion of my poor people : aruf
my soul relied upon God for the accomplishment of that
great work. Oh, how sweet were the thoughts of death
to me at fkfs time .' Oh, how / longed to be with Chris/,
to be employed in the glorious work of angels, and with
a-t angel's freedom, vigour, and delight t And yet how
willing was I to stay awhile on earth that I might do
something, if Itie f.ord pleased, lor His interest in the
world .' My soul, my very soul, longed lor the ingather-
ing ot the poo> heathen; and I cried to God for them
most willingly and heartily ; f could not hut cry. This
was a sweet season ; for I had some lively taste of heaven,
and a temper of mind suited in some measure to the
employments and entertainments of it. My soul was
grieved to leave the place ; but my body was weak and
worn out, and it was near nine o'clock . . . Oh, tlie
inward peace, composure, and God-like serenity ot such a
frame ! heaven must needs differ from this only in degree
not in kind. F^ord, ever give me this bread of life.

— Davii> Brainard.

CHAPTER XIII

HIS THREE OUTSTANDING CHARACTER-
ISTICS, AND THEIR UNDYING
INFLUENCE

Thinking over Mr. Hyde's life as a whole I
find some special features in him which account
for his influence over men.

I. His ardent love for the Saviour. I asked
Hyde one day, how it was that he was not
married, that a wife would be able to look after
his comforts. He smiled and, after a little time,
he said just as if he were betraying a secret.

' Years ago," he said, ' I felt that I wanted to
give something to Jesus Christ who loved me
so, and I gave myself to Him absolutely and
promised Him that no one should come into
my life and share my affection for Him, I told
the Lord that I would not marry but be His
altogether." What a devotion ! and how loyally
he kept his promise. Christ was all in all to
him, he was constantly talking to Him ; this
accounted for the atmosphere of prayer that
Hyde lived in. This love was a gift, and we
can have the same gift ; Hyde went down.

90 PRESENT-DAY CHALLENGE TO PRAYER

lower and lower, so that the love of God could
be poured into his life ; he opened his life for
God's love to flow in. Oh that we could do
this, then prayer would naturally flow into our
lives also.

2. Arising out of this, all knew that he had
a passionate love for the people among whom he
worked, so that he practically sacrificed every-
thing for them. He lived with them, he ate
and slept with them. I repeatedly heard that
some took advantage of his kindness and
imposed upon him. He knew this, but would
say nothing to them even though they stole his
goods, he saw men wearing his clothes, he would
not call them to account lest the men should be
driven further away from Christ. He so loved
men's souls that worldly goods were of no
account when a soul was in danger. He was
often blamed for this by some of his fellow-
missionaries, but it had no effect upon him.
An Indian doctor in the Punjab told me soon
after Mr. Hyde's ' Home-Call ' that some time
before, the Arya Samaj was troubled because
of his influence over men and the number of
men that were converted under his preaching.
The members of the Samaj determined to send
a man to find out all about Mr. Hyde's life, to

HIS THREE CHARACTERISTICS 91

watch for his faults and then they would publish
these abroad and so break his influence over
the people. One of their number went to Mr.
Hyde and pretended that he was an enquirer,
and wanted to know all about the Christian
religion. Mr. Hyde received him kindly and
invited him to stay with him. This was just
what the man wanted and he remained with
Mr. Hyde for three or four days and then ran
away, and went to the men that had sent him
and said, ' He has no fault, the man has no
fault, he is a God I lie is a God! I and not man.'
This was the verdict of a man who lived with
him day and night for three or four days — no
fault. How many of us would have stood the
test? He so loved men, and men realized it,
that they could see no fault in him. This again
accounted for his prayer-life. Hyde must have
seen much fault in the men, but to see a fault
was only an excuse for prayer for those men.
He always found some excuse for those who
deceived and robbed him, it was so like the
Master, ' They know not what they do.'

]f we loved men more and sacrificed more for
them, we would pray more for them.

3. His genuine regard and affection for his
fellow-missionaries, and yet he dared to go

92 PRBSENT-DAV CHALLENGE TO PRAYER

against their opinions when he felt that the
Lord was guiding him in that direction. We
have heard some of the members of his own
mission say, that for years they did not under-
stand him, but once they did they were the first
to acknowledge his power. Some hard things
were said to him and of him, but I do not think
that any one ever heard him speak an unkind
word to any missionary or of a missionary. He
said more than once to me, that some of the
missionaries did not understand him. Many
thought that he was a morose, melancholy
person, but he was not, though he looked like
that at times. When he was in the company
of those that understood him, how bright and
cheerful he was, he had what some have called
' Sanctified humour," he was very humorous,
but he had it under perfect control and he
seemed to keep the company that he was in, in
the same spirit.

His influence over missionaries the last few
years of his life was wonderful, I think that it
would not be wrong to say that he created a
new era of prayer in the Punjab among some of
the old prayer warriors that knew and felt
India's needs, they prayed much for the
country, and loved to be with Mr. Hyde for he

HIS THREE CHARACTERISTICS

93

gave them a new conception of prayer ; the
dear Indian Christians flocked around him, and
he always gave them some dainty morsel from
the Word. He was as faithful in leading men
to Christ ; if he thought that men were looking
up to him and not to the Master, he would run
away and remain away in some hiding place
praying for them.

' He being dead yet speaketh ' is true of
him. It is now ten years since he was called
Home, but he is not forgotten, he is speaking
to us to-day, and throwing light on the Prayer-
Life of Christ. Whenever 1 spent a few days
in his company, I always vowed that I would
pray more than I had ever done and Christ
always seemed more real to me, it seemed easy
to pray, for Jesus had become more precious
than ever to me. And if these reminiscences
of him will lead us nearer to Christ and give
us a new conception of prayer, then they will
not have been written in vain.

PART II

A MASTER FISHER FOR SOULS

Jesus wept I

That said the Jews, Beheld haw He loved him.

—John xi. 35, 36.

They thai sow in tears shall reap in joy I

— Psalms cxxvi. 5.

Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of

three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day

Kith tears.

— Actsxis. 31.

Oh! people say, you must be very careful, very
judicious. You must ml thrust religion dorm people's
throats. Then I say, you wiU never gel it down. What J
Am I lo wait till an unconverted, godless man wants
lobe saved before I try to save himf He will never
want to be saved till I he death rattle in his throat.
What I Am t lo lei my unconverted friends and 'acquaint-
ances drill down quietly to damnation, and never tell
them of their souls, until I hey say, • II you please, Iwanl
yo" lo preach lo me.' Is this anything like the spirit of
early Christianity t . . ■ We talk o! Old Testament
saints, but I would we were all like David. Rivers ol
water ran down his eyes because men kepi net the tew
of his Cod. tint you say, ' We cannot all hold services.
Perhaps net. Co as you like. Co as quietly and softly
as the morning dew. Have meetings like the friends
if you like. Only <lo it. Don't lei your relatives, and
friends, and acquaintances die, and their blood be fowut

en your skirts t

— Catherine Booth.

CHAPTER I
PLEADING WITH TEARS

J. N. WAS a Brahman attending our Mission
School. As he grew up, the teaching of
Christ attracted him and he was the faithful
scholar of one of our lady missionaries at
Sunday School as well. When he left school
and was beginning to earn his own living he
was drawn to confess publicly that Christ was
his Saviour. He did this in the face of the
bitterest opposition of a widowed mother and
relations. Then they tried a more subtle
plan : they began to please him. Their kind-
ness won his heart — he went back home and
he was surrounded by young men who led him
into drink. It must have been an inherited
weakness with him. He fell and denied his
Lord. But thank God he was miserable and
went to see Mr. Hyde, who received him as
did the father his prodigal son. The lad
living with Mr. Hyde was won from his evil
ways and once again confessed faith in his
Saviour : but what a trial he was when the
drink-demon would possess him I Again and
7

<j8 PRESENT-DAY CHALLENGE TO PRAYER

again he stole Mr. Hyde's clothes, and sold
them to satisfy his mad craving. I met Mr.
Hyde about that time, and he said to me with
a smile, ' I may not get up to you to the hills
this summer, the Father evidently desires me
to spend my hot weather in the plains for " 1
have no warm clothes left ! " ' He took the
• spoiling of his goods ' cheerfully and thought
they were a small price to pay in exchange for
an immortal soul. He would point out how
our Lord bore with Judas and others, how He
never sent any away who were anxious to
remain in His company, and so Hyde bore
with this demon-possessed youth. In his sane
moments the lad realized what a privilege was
his to live with such a saint.

* * * *

1 was travelling in the train and a Christian

lady ticket collector met me at W ■. She

was full of a wonderful man she had seen. He
was speaking to a lad seated in a train going
to Lahore. The boy was loud and almost
abusive, ' 1 am tired of this sort of thing — I am
going to my boon companions and shall have a
good time,' he said. Then the gentleman he
was speaking to leant forward and in a low
tone begged him not to go away from him.

PLEADING WITH TEARS

99

He got back only a rude answer, and she feel-
ing angry and disgusted left them. When she
came back she saw the missionary leaning into
the carriage window, and she heard him be-
seeching the lad not to leave him. He was
imploring him in Christ's name, and she saw
tears flowing down his cheeks as he reasoned
with the head-strong lad. ' Ah ! ' 1 exclaimed,
' he knew the value of an immortal soul I ' In
spite of all entreaties the lad took his own way
but to the very end that missionary was seen
in deadly earnest trying to win that soul from
the way of sin.

She lost sight of the missionary when the
down train steamed out. (He went sadly to
some dear friends in Gujerat alone.)

Next day she saw the same lad coming
back from Lahore. She said to him, 'You
have come back very soon again.' He looked
up with a pale face, ■ I am going back to him,'
he replied, ' I have not been able to sleep all
night— I could not forget his tears.' And he
came back a penitent. That missionary was
John Hyde and that lad J. N.

I often feel that if souls could say the same
of us, that we wept over them— our tears
would bring them to a proper frame of mind.

PRESENT-DAY CHALLENGE TO PRAVKK

Oui- Lord's whole body shed tears — when ' his
sweat became as it were great drops of blood
falling down upon the ground.'

' Jesus wept.' The Jews therefore said,
• Behold how He loved him

Soul winners ! Can this be said of each one
of. us?

l-'or ye know the grace of our Lord Jesm Christ, that,
though He was rich, yet lor your sakes He became pom,
that ye through His poverty might be rich.

— II Corinthians viii. 9.

And God is able to make all grace abound toward
you ; that ye, always having alt sufficiency in all things,
may abound to eery good work.

— II Corinthians is. 8.

God is love.' His children please Him only so far as
they are tike Him, and l walk in love.* True lieavcnly
lave has its life and root in the cross of Christ ; it fuzs the
single eye, and is its own recompense ; endures ingrati-
tude, and survives indifference and eontempt ; has quick
sense of wrongs, but is ready to forgive ; and covers a
multitude of sins. The love we speak of is meek and
lowly ; behaves itself wisely and edifies ; bearing with
the foolish and self -conceited, while it shuns their folly.
This holy love is the durable work of the Spirit of God :
ft proves faithful in wintry days ; and, ever ready to
' rejoice with them that do rejoice, adds gladness to tlteir
days of 'suns h.irw.

If we woidd so love alt saints as to please God, we
must bear in mind that their names are written in
heaven and on Christ's heart ; otherwise we shall love
some became they are lovely, and dislike others because of
their blemishes.

—Choice Sayings of Rohkht Chapman.

CHAPTER II

GRACE ABOUNDING!

THOSK interested in the case of the Brahman
lad mentioned in the previous memoir will be
glad to hear that he afterwards paid me a
visit. He seemed much chastened and never
before had been so like his former self. He
spoke of his aged mother as one who had
to be considered, and the old narrow-minded
Brahman friend accompanying him said to
me in a kind of stage whisper: ■ He will be
with you again whenever his mother dies.'
The lad heard it and smiled up assent with
the old love in his eyes.

We talked long of John Hyde — -whom he
referred to as ' Up there ' pointing heavenward,
and when I besought him once again to give
up drink and become a teetotaller, he owned
that he had not kept his promise. * With
God's help you can." He agreed to that.
Praise and pray on !

The same lad has visited me a second time
and we had a heart-to-heart talk about

104 PRESENT-DAY CHALLENGE TO PRAYER

Mr. Hyde. He tells me that when he return-
ed miserable from Lahore after running away
from Mr. Hyde, he met me near the Mission
School in the city and I told him Mr. Hyde
was at our Mission House.

He went there and going to his room found
him praying. Mr. Hyde opened his eyes, saw
him, took him into his arms and said, * I have
just been praying that God would send you
back to me and see, He has answered me I '

When I asked him how he got to know
Mr. Hyde so well, he told me a long story,
the gist of which 1 set down just to show how
this man of God used to win hearts for his
Master. He saw Mr. Hyde at Moga Kail-
way Station, went up to him, mentioned a
fellow-missionary's name and said that he had
been baptized but had fallen back. ' Why did
you deny Christ?' Mr. Hyde asked. The
lad began to make excuses but Mr. Hyde took
him with him, went into the third class
waiting shed and with two other Christians,
the three knelt down and prayed with this lad
— he kneeling among them even though a
crowd gathered, and his relations came and
saw him praying with the others. The lad
says he does not remember exactly what he

CRACK. ABOUNDING!

'°5

said in prayer but he prayed for him. Then
the train came in and he said good-bye to the
lad, adding, ' We will meet again in a week's
time or so, God will arrange it'

All this made such an impression on the
lad's heart that he took leave and set out to
find Mr. Hyde. He at length heard that he
was away inland at a Christian Colony hold-
ing meetings. A Christian lad and he set
out on foot for it and after two days' travel
arrived tired out. They were told that
Mr. Hyde was in his room praying. He
looked up and seeing the Brahman lad took
him in his arms in good Punjabi style, and
then finding he was tired out made him lie
down and began to rub and press his swollen
feet. The lad objected, but Mr. Hyde insist-
ed upon waiting on him and ministering
to his wants with his own hands. He
has told me of this with tears in his
eyes adding, ' I often see him in my dreams
before me as of old.' ' Remember he is praying
for you,' I have reminded him.

Then the lad told me of another instance
that occurred in that Colony. One day he
missed Mr. Hyde and following him saw him
on an island in a poo! surrounded by a number

io6 PRESENT-DAY CHALLENGE TO PRAYER

of Christian children all engaged in prayer.
The lad joined them after wading through the
water as the others had done. He found that
Mr. Hyde was praying aloud and the children
were repeating what he said. They were pray-
ing that God's Holy Spirit might fill ali their
hearts. After prayer Mr. Hyde crossed the
water again with them all and said to the lad
* God told me from His Word to go into the
valley and pray. 1 saw that this place was the
valley and while f was coming here the children
followed me and joined me in prayer.'

That night while they were all eating dinner
news came that the Indian Pastor was taken
suddenly ill and at the same time his house had
caught fire. Mr. Hyde ran with the others to
help. While they fought the flames, he went
to the Pastor and found him crying out in
agony, and, for fear of death, some unconfessed
sin was evidently weighing on his conscience.
Mr. Hyde talked and prayed with him and
then said, ' 1 think it is God's will that you
confess your sin in church before your congre-
gation.' The Pastor agreed and he was carried
to church on his bed. Lying on it, with tears,
he declared that he had committed a great sin
against God in thai very church and prayed for

GRACE AUOUNIHNG

lo 7

forgiveness. Then a great peace fell upon him
and all pain and sickness at once left him.
Upon this some twenty members of the church
were conscience-stricken, and confessed their
sins finding pardon and peace. They wen-
joined by the others who had put out the fire,
and the service lasted for an hour and a half, a
great work for God beginning. Afterwards
they all returned to their half-finished dinner.
The next day they left for a hill station where
Mr. Hyde had received an urgent call to con-
duct evangelistic services. They travelled in
the third class in the hot weather to the foot of
the hills. They had only money for one pony
and a coolie between them so they got on the
pony turn about. One night the Indian
preacher was riding on ahead when suddenly
his pony stopped short, trembled in every limb
and advanced towards a great big cat, that
seemed to fascinate the poor beast with its eyes.
Then the preacher felt a big body whiz through
the air and land just behind him, the pony
recovering itself dashed away up the road and
leaped a ditch at the side in its terror, leaving
the baffled tiger standing on the roadside. It
must have slunk away, for when Mr. Hyde
passed, there was no sign of the animal. When

108 PRESENT-DAY CHALLENGE TO PRAYER

they came near the bungalow they were met by
the preacher in a great panic along with a
number of men who had gone back with sticks
to see what had happened to Mr. Hyde. He
made them go back to the place where the
tiger had made his spring, in the moonlight
they saw the marks of its paws on the dust
of the roadside ; but the animal had gone.
They heard that it had killed people and
many bullocks. They remained a week in
that hill station and held daily services for
Christians. A real work of grace began there
and this lad too was convicted of the sin of
denying his Lord, and, making confession,
was again received into fellowship. On their
return journey they each had a pony, • So
they went like beggars and returned like
kings f the lad laughed and said, ' Yes and a
missionary lent me his own pony to ride back
•on because one of the Christian workers had
said to me, " Why did you come and increase
the expenses? " and I had burst into tears at
this rebuke.' The lad is working for himself

in with a barrister there. I hate this work ;

but as he has not passed his Entrance Exami-
nation, it is difficult to find him good honest
work in Christian surroundings.

GRACE ABOUNDING !

log

Perhaps friends will join me in prayer about
this also. It is not for nothing that God has
sent the lad back to me and he is sitting by
my side as I write.

Giving thanks always for all things unto God and
the leather hi the name of our fjnd lata Christ.

— Ephesians v. 20.

/'( everything gii'c thanks . tor this is the will ol
God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

1 Thessalonians v. 18.

Find something to thank Gcd for in alt things ; for
tits is the purpose of God with respect to you. . .

—Way's Translation.

/ never believed till now that there was so much to he
found in Christ on this side of death and of Heaven
. .. Our sufferings ure washed in Christ's blood as well as
our souls, for Christ's merits brought a blessing to the
crosses of the sons of God. . . I bless the fj>rd that all our
troubles come through Christ's fingers, and that He casteth
sugar among litem, and casteth in some ounce-weights of
Heaven, and of the Spirit of glory that reslelk on suffer-
ing believers, into our cup, in which there is no taste of
hell. My dear brother, ye know all these things better
than 1. 1 send water to the sex to speak of these things
to you ; but it cascth me to desire you to help me to pay my
tribute of praise to Jesus. . . f entreat for your prayers
and praises.

Your brother and fellow-sufferer in and for Christ

— SAMUKL RUTHBRFORn.

CHAPTER III

THE SACRIFICE OF THANKSGIVING.

•Giving thanks always ton all things'

' This is God's command to those who would
be full of the Holy Spirit, and no one, I have
ever known, obeyed this command more faith-
fully than John Hyde. It was one great source
of his joy and therefore of his attractive power.
Again and again he would declare that if we
want to know why trials are sent us, let us
begin by thanking God for them and we will
doubtless soon see why they have been sent.
We had among ourselves a phrase ' Praising
God through shut teeth,' that meant praising
God in the face of the greatest troubles and
darkest hours of life. This we can always do
for we can never doubt that He is our Father
in Heaven, and so all must be well for us at all
times and in all circumstances.

He used to tell of a remarkable experience
he had. He and his catechists were al: itinerat-
ing together in his district. They had arrived
at a village, and as it was the hot weather :he>

112 PRESENT-DAY CHALLENGE TO PRAYER

had to rise early to go out preaching, This
morning John awoke with one of his worst
headaches ; it was so painful that he could not
lift his head from his pillow. Yet he could
look up to his Heavenly Father and thank Him
for the love that had permitted that headache !
His evangelists carried his bed out to a shady
place and then went away to preach at his
express desire. Now in that village, work
among the womenfolk was at a standstill.
Some of the men had learnt of Christ and con-
fessed Him in baptism ; but their wives had
never come forward. When spoken to they
would always make the excuse that they had
never consulted each other, so that all of them
might be baptized together. These women
heard that the Padri Sahib was not well and
in a body went to commiserate with him. He
spoke to them of the claims of Christ, which
they at once admitted. Yes, they believed He
had died for them, sinners. John asked them
why they had not confessed Him before men.
They said they had not talked the matter over
among themselves. He said there was no time
like the present, let them do so now. To this
they agreed, and after some discussion they all
declared that it was plain to them that they

THE SACRIFICE OF THANKSGIVING II J

ought to be baptized. To the great joy of their
husbands and the evangelists this was done,
and John Hyde saw why the headache had been
sent. He was enabled to thank God then with
understanding. He always declared this ex-
perience was a valuable lesson to him and en-
abled him to thank God ' for all things ' ' at all
times.'

Now this became no mechanical habit on his
part ; but a deep-rooted principle of his life
founded on experience of God's marvellous
love. The deeper our sense of that love, the
more we will be able to praise and thank Him.
How John Hyde used to agonise in prayer for
believers that they might know the love of
God ! In this matter he was strictly in the
Apostolic Succession — a Succession for all
missionaries both men and women !

Whoso ollereth praisr glorilielh Me .- and to kirn thai
ordereth his eonvtrsation aright mill I shew the salvation
olGod.

— Pslams 1. 23.

By Hint there/ore let us oiler the sacrifice oi praise
to God continually, thai is, the irnil ol our lips giving
thanks to His name.

—Hebrews xiii. 15.

CHAPTER IV

THE SACRIFICE OF PRAISE

The Secret of His Power with God AWT
with Man

Mr. HYDE had a wonderful experience to
which he owed, I believe, his power with God,
and therefore with man. He used to speak o£
it as one ot the most direct and solemn lessons
God had ever taught him. He was up in the
hills resting for a short time. He had been
burdened about the spiritual condition of a
certain Pastor, and he resolved to spend time
in definite intercession for him. Entering into
his ' inner chamber ' he began pouring out his
heart to his Heavenly Father concerning that
brother somewhat as follows : —

' O God ! Thou lmowest that brother how '
— (' cold ' he was going to say) when suddenly
a Hand seemed to be laid on his lips, and a
voice said to him in stern reproach. ' He that
toucheth him, toucheth the apple of mine eye.'
A great horror came over him. He had been
guilty before God of ' accusing the brethren.'

[['> PRESENT-DAY CHALLENGE TO PRAYEB

He had been ' judging ' his brother. He felt
rebuked and humbled before God. ft was he
himself who first needed putting right. He
confessed this sin. He claimed the precious
blood of Christ that cleanseth from all .sin !
' Whatsoever things are lovely ... if there be
any virtue, if there be any praise, think on
44 these things." ' Then he cried out, ' Father,
show me what things are lovely and of good
report in my brother's life.' Like a flash he
remembered how that brother had given up all
for Christ, enduring much suffering from
relations whom he had given up ! He was
reminded of his years of hard work, of (he tact
with which he managed his difficult congrega-
tion, of the many quarrels he had healed, of
what a model husband he was. One thing
after another rose up before him and so all his
prayer season was spent in praise for his
brother instead of in prayer.

He could not recall a single petition, nothing
but thanksgiving ! God was opening his
servant's eyes to the highest of ministries, that
of praise.

Mark the result also on that brother's life !
When Mr. Hyde went down to the plains, he
found that just then the brother had received a

THE SACRIFICE OF PRAISE

117

great spiritual uplift. While he was praising,
God was blessing. A wonderful Divine Law,
the law of a Father's Love. While we bless
God for any child of His, He delights to bless
that one 1

This was the secret of John Hyde's power
with God. He saw ike good in God's little
ones, and so was able to appreciate God's work
of grace in that heart. Hence he supplied the
heavenly atmosphere of praise in which God's
love was free to work in all its fulness.

This too was what gave him power with
men. We arc attracted to those who appre-
ciate us. All our powers expand in their
presence and we are with them at our best.
Hence they call out all that is good in us and
we feel uplifted when with them.

To such souls we turn as naturally as the
flowers to the sun and our hearts expand and
bloom out with a fragrance that surprises even
ourselves.

Now this is a law that holds good especially
with children, and with those who are yet
young in the Christian life. The more mature
God's people are the less they depend on man's
approbation or censure, but not so when they
are children. Remember, too, our Lord's

Il8 PRESENT-DAY CHALLENGE TO I'RAYKI'.

solemn warning against casting a stumbling-
block in the way of any of His little ones !
When we look at their faults, we shrivel up
their energies, they are at their worst. In a
word, we encourage their faults by thinking
about them.

Let us remember above all else that God's
people on this earth arc in the making. This
is His workshop and souls are being fashioned
and formed in it. The final polishing touches
we will not receive in the present lite, but when
this body of our humiliation has been trans-
formed. Suppose you go into a carpenter's
shop and begin to find fault with his unfinished
chairs and tables ! You say, ' How rough this
is ! What an ugly corner that is I ' The
carpenter will doubtless get angry and say,
' Bear in mind that I am still making these
things. They are not yet finished. Come
and see the Pattern after which they are being
fashioned. See this is what they will yet be
like when I have done with them.' He shows
you beautiful chairs and tables — shining,
perfectly formed, polished to perfection ! Is
the carpenter not right ? Is the critic not
in the wrong ? The one looks at the things
that are lovely and eternal. The other at

THE SACRIFICE OF PRAISE

those which are unlovely and, thank God,
fleeting.

Would you have power with God and man
for the upbuilding of the Indian Church — of
any Church f Follow the method of the
Carpenter of Nazareth who never broke the
bruised reed, who never quenched the smoking
wick, no matter how much smoke it was giving
out. He turned His eyes to the light of God,
there burning dimly, and by so doing blew it
into a flame till erring disciples became the
Light of the World. This is the way of Love
and of Eternal Hope. The other is the way
of sense and of present fact and failure — all of
which are fleeting — -none of which is the
Eternal Truth in Eternal Love.

I never met any man, whose very presence
seemed to help the weak to become strong,
the sinful to repent, the erring to walk aright
so much as John Hyde. The secret of his
success in building up the people of God lay
in this method of looking for all the good in
men and making it so to expand that the evil
was driven out for want of room I Then
should we shut our eyes to the faults of all P
Should we never reprove sin ? Turn to our
Lord. Did He not do so at times f Yes to

Ta appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give
unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning,
the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness ; that
they might be called trees of righteousness, Ike planting of
the Lord, that He might be glorified !

— Isaiah lxi. 3.

Then he said unto them, ' Co your way, eat the fat,
and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for
whom nothing is prepared : for this day is holy unto our
Lord : neither be ye sorry ; for the Joy of the Cord is
your stir

— Nehemiah viii. 10.

Perfect obedience -would be Perfect happiness, if only we
had Perfect confidence in the power we were obeying.

— Anon.

Spiritual joy is not a thing, not a lump of joy, so to
speak, stored away in one's heart to be looked at and
rejoiced over. Joy is only the gladness that comes from
the possession of something good, or Hie knowledge of
something pleasant. And the Christian's joy is simply
his gladness in knowing Christ, and in his possession of
such a God and Saviour. We do not on. an earthly plane
rejoice in our joy, but in the thing thai causes our joy.
And on the heavenly plane it is the same. We are to
' rejoice,' not in our joy, but ' in the Lord, and joy in the
God of our salvation ; ' and this joy no man nor devil
can take from us, a?td no earthly sorroros can louek.

—Mrs. Pearsall Sanru.

CHAPTER V

ONE CAUSE OF HIS SUCCESS—' THE JOY
OF THE LORD'

IT will be a comfort to many when they hear
that Mr. John Hyde was not naturally a bright
and happy man. On the contrary he was in
himself inclined to be morose, retiring, shy and
silent. Yet he became one of the most joyous
souls I have ever met.

He was very fond of Isaiah lxi, p. 3, where
that wonderful exchange is effected by our
Lord. He will give us His own ' Beauty,' His
own ' Oil of Joy' and His own ■ Garment of
Praise,' if we hand over to Him our ashes
(what is our past life but l ashes '), our mourn-
ing and our spirit of heaviness. So he received
our Lord's Double Gift of Joy (John xv, v. n)
freely from his Master's Hand, and then would
burst out into joyful praise. For no one can
be filled with the Divine Joy and not sing His
Praise ! As we joy tn God we soar up into
His immediate presence and it is only in Song
that our joy finds vent. As well expect the
soaring lark to keep silent, as expect the joyous
saint not to sing God's praise.

124 PRESENT-DAY CHALLENGE TO PRAYER

In this matter o£ praise Mr. Hyde used to
tell how ' a little child shall lead them.' He
was taught again and again that joyful praise
is the Divine Method for catching men alive.

One day he was in a country-cart travelling
to a distant village. His faithful Punjabi
evangelist was with him— one who was trans-
formed through contact with John Hyde. Two
of the evangelist's little children were in the
cart. The elders were speaking sadly about
the village— how long the Gospel had been
preached there and how little interest had been
aroused among its people ! The children had
no such sad thoughts, they were so happy that
they sang and went on singing Psalms and
Hymns one after the other. This was infec-
tious and the two men were constrained to join
them and they too were so carried away with
the spirit of praise that they all continued
singing till they came to that village. Imagine
their amazement when they found the people
full of real interest and zealous to confess
Christ and follow Him. before they left, over
a dozen showed such a living faith in their
Lord and Saviour that Mr. Hyde felt he dared
not refuse them baptism then and there.
This was the first Gospel triumph in that

ONE CAUSE OF HIS SUCCESS

'25

village, heralded and brought about, he was
confident, by the spirit of praise which the
children had evinced.

Another time they had a more marked ex-
perience. He, with a party of his evangelists,
was encamped in a certain village where the
work had been earned on for thirty years.
The farm-servants had for years been putting
off the question of deciding for Christ, they
were now in the habit of saying, ' Not now
during the harvest, but afterwards when it is
over.' So alas ! every year it had ended
with —

The harvest is past, the summer ended,
And we arc Dot saved.

— Jeremiah viii. 20.

This mission party were so disheartened by
their previous experiences that on this occa-
sion they had made up their minds to leave
early next morning. That night some one
suggested they should all go into the village
and sing the Gospel in it. This they did and
they were so carried away that they sang on
and on till after midnight. Next morning they
were preparing to leave when a young man
came running from the village. He begged
them not to go away, for the Panchayat (coun-
cil) had been called and was meeting even now.

126 PRESENT-DAY CHALLENGE TO PRAYER

No one had gone to work that morning, they
were considering whether they should not at
once decide for Christ and confess Him before
all men. They gladly waited and presently
the same young man came running back with
the welcome news that they had all decided to
serve Christ. Mr. Hyde found some fifteen
men— mostly the heads of families— quite pre-
pared for baptism and with an overflowing
heart he baptized them before all. After the
service that same young man who had brought
the message — a new convert — said to Mr.
Hyde, ' This is the result of your singing last
night.'

You remember how we sang —

Lift up your heads, O ya gales,
And lei the Ki3g ol Ulorv enter in I

' Has he not entered in this morning?' No
one had noticed till then the connection be-
tween the song of triumph of the night before
and the reality of that triumph of the next
morning until they learnt it from this babe in
Christ. Yes verily —

Out ol the mouth of babes aud sucklings
Thou hast perfected prfldM,

In fact, Mr. Hyde used to say that at any-
time when he noticed few souls being led by

ONE CAUSE OF HIS SUCCESS 137

him to Christ he invariably found it was all clue
to h>s lack of the spirit of praise. He would
then confess his sin, ask pardon and take the
Garment of Praise for the spirit of heaviness.
His experience then invariably was that Christ
would again draw souls to Himself through
him. Now the reason for this is plain. No
fisher can possibly throw his line lightly when
he is dull and sad. It is only the bright and
joyous soul that can win souls to Christ.
Notice how St. Paul connects these two in
Phil. 4. He is speaking of his fellow-
labourers or fellow-fishers and of their success
m the work. Then he goes on as if to give
the reason for this success and how it may be
continued —

Rejoice in the lx>rd always,

And again I say unto yon, Rejoice.

This is My commandment, ' Thai ye ttr.e one another,
as I have loved you. Greater love halh no man than
this, thai a man lay down his tile lor his friends. Ye
are My friends, it ye do whatsoever I command you.'

—John xv. 12-14.

Weare touts tor Christ's sate . . ■ even nnlo this present
hour we both lumper, and thirst, and are naked, and arc
buffeted, and have no certain dwelling-place. . . being
defamed, we entreat : we are made as the filth of the
world, and are the offscoming of all things unto this day.
—I Corinthians iv. 10-13.

And thus I spent the evening praying incessantly for
divine assistance, and that 1 might not he self-dependent,
hit still have my whole dependence -upon God. What I
passed through was remarkable and indeed inexpressible.
All things here below vanished : and there appeared to be
nothing of any considerable importance to me, but holi-
ness of heart and Hie, and the conversion of the heathen
to God. . . I exceedingly longed that God would get to
Himself a. name among the heathen, and I appealed to
Him with the greatest freedom, that lie knew I 'prelerred
Him above my chief toy.' Indeed I had no iwlion ol toy
'ram this world : I cared not where or hare I lived, at
whal hardships I went through, so that I could but gain
souls to Christ. I continued in this frame all the evening
and night. While I was asleep, I dreamed ol these
things; and when / waked (as I frequently did) the
lirsl thing I thought ol was this great work ol pleading
lor God against Satan.

— David Brai.nard.

CHAPTER VI

A SECOND CAUSE OF HIS SUCCESS-HIS
LOVE FOR SOULS

THIS was his wonderful love lor souls. It
overpowered all else, making him forget every-
thing but that soul with whom God had
brought him into contact. He would go on
past his railway station as far as the man with
whom he was in touch who was travelling in
order to talk to him the ' Words of Life.'
This was irritating at times, especially once
when he was almost ordered to attend an
important business meeting of his Mission.
He met an Indian in the train (when travelling
to that same meeting), fell into conversation
with him about Christ, and continued the train
journey with him that he might tell him more
of the Saviour of the World. This made him
late for that meeting, no doubt to the annoyance
of even his best friends, but John Hyde's mind
was at peace. He had bought up his oppor-
tunity, Eph. vi. 1 6, paying a heavy price for
it, perhaps, and had faithfully held Christ up
to a soul that had need of Him. That was

130 PRESENT-DA V CHALLENGE TO PRAYER

sufficient motive and reward for John Hyde.
It must be said his mission at last saw his gifts,
and this special work to which he seemed more
and more drawn as he grew older, and set him
free for it. One of his old evangelists, who
shared his village mud house with John Hyde
for some time, once told me with tears of regret
in his eyes of his great love for souls. He
said Mr. Hyde was always giving away his
clothes, anything he had, to those who came to
see him about the things of God. ' If by
any means I may win some ' seems to have
been his life's aim.

One cold winter night Mr. Hyde tapped at
the door of this evangelist's room. It was late
and he did not want to open. So Mr. Hyde
called out his name and said, 'Can you lend me
a sheet for the night ? ' ' Where are your own
blankets ? ' was the angry retort through the
stilled closed door. ' Oh yes I that drunken sot
that was with you has gone off with them.
He will sell them, get drink and make a beast
of himself. Do you know that you put us
all about by doing things like this and then
shivering yourself in the cold ? ' He owned
with remorse how impertinent he had been and
the tears came to his big black eyes as he asked

A SECOND CAUSE OF HIS SUCCESS 131

me if I could imagine all the answer Mr. Hyde
gave him. He called him by his name and
said, 'Ah J— I J— ! ! If the prodigal had come
back to you, you would have taken a stick to
him I '

This same evangelist told of another ex-
perience. It was in the days when souls were
being gathered in. They were at times assured
how many would be granted them. That morn-
ing after prayer it was ten souls. They then
set out away among the Punjab villages in a
country cart, the road lay along a river-bank,
dangerous at night. They reached that village.
They sang, they preached, then sang again and
preached. The day wore on. Not a sign even
of one soul being interested. They became
hungry and thirsty. No man gave unto them.
Then the two Indian evangelists became im-
patient to get home to food and rest. But
John Hyde would not move. He was waiting
for those ten I At last near a common cottage
they asked for a drink. The man offered them
milk and water. They went into his humble
house and were refreshed. Then as they talked
he showed most intelligent knowledge of Jesus
Christ. Yes he had entertained them in His
name. Would the family not allow Jesus to

132 PRESENT-DAY CHALLENGE TO PRAYER

enter and take possession of their home ? The
father replied they had been thinking of this.
Then why not now ? He agreed and called his
wife and children. They certainly realized
what they were doing, and there and then made
up their minds to take their stand at once on
the Lord's side. One can picture how tenderly
John Hyde received them into God's family in
the name of the Father and the Son and the
Holy Spirit. Yes, all were baptized, nine
altogether. It was now getting dark, the short
cold-weather day was wearing to an end rapidly.
Now at any rate they could depart, so thought
the two evangelists, before the darkness made
their return journey dangerous. The father
began to urge it too. Unwillingly John Hyde
left that home. The cart was sent for by one,
the other hastened John Hyde's steps towards
it. When it came they tried to get him to
climb in. But no, his eyes were fixed plead-
ingly on this evangelist : — ' What about that
one ? ' he asked longingly. Surely that cry
from a true shepherd's heart found a response !
He hardened his face and said something about
their wives and children being anxious for them
at home. But John Hyde stood there waiting,
waiting for that tenth soul. He knew that the

A SECOND CAUSE OK HtS SUCCESS 133

good Shepherd was Himself searching for that
one still outside the Fold. The two evangelists
told me afterwards with shame how they urged
John Hyde to come away from that village, and
how the same cry always broke from his lips.
' What about that one ? ' By and by the father
of the family came up wondering about this
delay — why had the Padri Sahib waited so long?
John Hyde told him about the one sheep still
wanting. ' Why there he is,' cried the father,
' my nephew whom I have adopted. He has
been living with the rest of us : but has been
out playing.' He brought the lad forward, a
bright intelligent boy. Mr. Hyde asked him of
his faith. The boy answered very clearly and
intelligently. There could be no doubt about
him. So he too was brought into the fold.
' That is the ten,' said John Hyde with a weary
sigh of heart's ease as he climbed up to his
scat. They were kept safe along that danger-
ous road in the darkness and arrived home
tired but content. That is the ' rest of soul '
our Lord Jesus gives to His faithful earnest
under-shepherds. Yes, and that is the rest
of soul they give Him too, for in their passion
and longing for the lost He sees of the travail
of His soul and is satisfied.

~1

134 PRESENT-DAY CHALLENCE TO I'KAYEK

Lord teach us at whatever cost to satisfy
Thy great heart of love, broken over wandering
sheep. So shall we apply balm and healing
to that Heart. So shall we bind up Thy
vounds and give Thee the joy that was set
before Thee. May we realize that the angels
envy us such service ! They cannot render it
unto Thee. Only pardoned sinners can, by
bringing other sinners into the circle of Thy
pardoning Love.

Lord show us too that this passion for souls
cannot be worked up by any efforts of our
own. It comes forth from Thy bleeding heart,
O Thou Lamb upon the Throne, Who art
still giving forth Thy glorified Life for us.
' He ever liveth to make intercession for us.'
We praise Thee O Lamb of God that Thou
madest known Thy Father's name and wilt
make it known, ' That the love, wherewith
Thou, O Father, lovedst me may be in them
and I in them.'

// ye abide in Me, and My Words abide in yen, ye
sltall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

If ye beep My commandments, ye sltall abide in My
love : even as I have kept My /•other's commandments,
and abide in His love.

Yc ore My friends, if yc do whatsoeixr I command
you.

—John xv. 7, 10, 14.

// zoo* because Christ humbled Himself and became
obedient unto death, yea, the death of the Cross, Ilia!
God so highly exalted. Him, And Paul, in this connec-
tion, exhorts us . ' Let this mind be in you which teas
also in Chris! Jesus.' Wc see, above everything else,
that the obedier/cr of Christ, which zv as so pleasing to
Cod, must become really the characteristic of our disposi-
tion and of our entire walk. Just as a. servant knows
that he must first obey his master in alt things, so the
surrender of an implicit and unquestioning obedience
must become the essential characteristic of our lives.
Christ holds Himself responsible to work this mil in me
every womcnl if I only trust Him for it. ' Unto Him
that is able to keep you from falling . . . be glory and
majesty. — Judc 24, 25.

— Rkv. Aniwku- Hurray.

CHAPTER VII

HIS CHILD-LIKE OBEDIENCE

NOT a day did 1 pass in John Hyde's company
but his simple obedience surprised one and
led me to see what a real son he was and how
much his Heavenly Father's Will guided his
life. Let me mention one such instance.
Once at the Sialkot Convention, which was so
inspired by his prayers in those old days, the
Committee, in order to lay stress on the message
instead of on its messengers, did not announce
the names of the speakers. John Hyde was
suddenly asked to speak at the evening meet-
ing. Somehow it got noised abroad and many
were saying ' Mr. Hyde will speak to-night ! '
The meeting was very full and expectant,
especially as a great friend of his was in the
chair in place of the usual Chairman. Just
before the speaker's prayer-meeting this friend
was asked what Psalm should be sung. The
subject of our Lord's sufferings being much
on his heart, he suggested the 22nd Psalm.
Imagine his surprise when the leader of
song announced that they would sing the

138 PRESENT-DAY CHALLENGE TO PRAYER

22nd Psalm at Mr. Hyde's request. It was
supposed they had talked it over together.
There was mucli prayer, the praise was fervent ;
but Mr. Hyde was sitting down on the platform
behind the pulpit deep in prayer. As he did
not move, the Chairman read Zechariah xiii,
commenting at some length on that question
and answer, ' What are those wounds between
thine hands?' Then he shall answer, ' Those
with which 1 was wounded in the house of my
friends.' He spoke of the loneliness of Christ
in His sufferings, no one knowing about His
sorrows and pointed out that only three disci-
ples even entered Gethsemane with our Lord ;
the cither eight were left outside ; those three,
alas, were full of sleep, so much so that Peter
referring to this with a certain guilty conscience
speaks of himself as only a ' witness of the
sufferings of Christ, who am also a partaker
of the glory that shall be revealed.' He was
not yet a partaker of these sufferings. So is
it to-day ; the majority of Christians know
nothing of Gethsemane. At the best a few
are ' witnesses ' only of I lis sufferings. Hence
the world is not won for Christ, nor will it be
until His people as a whole become fellow-
partakers of His sufferings.

1

HIS CH1LU-L1K.K OBEDIENCE

'39

All this time John Hyde was lost in prayer.
After this the Chairman during another singing
laid his hands on his shoulder and said with a
friendly squeeze, ' If God has a message, for
you to give, will you give it now ? '

As John did not move, the late Rev. John
Forman, then Chairman of the Convention,
said to his brother in the chair, ' Is he going
to speak ? ' 'I have asked him,' was the
reply, ' You ask him too if you are led to do
it' Presently as the singing stopped he said,
• May I give two messages God has laid on
my heart ? ' He did so and the meeting
proceeded to its close after which, there was a
very earnest after-meeting and much prayer by
those present. During that time John Hyde
went away to the Prayer- Room without address-
ing a word to the meeting. The people were
thus taught to attend to God's Message and
not to the messenger.

Some time afterwards 1 usked him about
that matter. He told me that he felt full of a
subject ' The Glory of Christ's Kingdom.'
When, however, the Chairman laid his hand on
his shoulder, he seemed as if he pressed John
down. This thought was enforced by his
words ' If you have a message from God.'

PRESENT-DAY CHALLENGE TO PKAVER

John began to doubt if God wanted him to give
this message then and so of course, waited on
God in prayer and never had His direct leading
to speak to that meeting !

Only a man very closely in touch with His
Heavenly Father would have been quick
enough to follow this leading and only one
whose supreme wish was to please God and
not his fellow-men would have been brave
enough to keep silence in the circumstances.

A friend, afterwards speaking of the Revival,
said to me : ' We ought to have emphasized
the lesson of absolute obedience more than we
did. I believe it was want of obedience that
grieved the Holy Spirit and stopped that
Revival.'

I could not but agree with him at the same
time telling him this incident to show that one
of the leaders in that Revival at least could not
be accused of the sin of disobedience.

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy
Ghost is come upon you : and ye shall he witnesses unto
me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria,
and unto the uttermost pari of the earth.

—Acts i. 8.

And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess ; but
he filled with the Spirit.

— Ephesians v. 18.

And when they had prayed . . . they were all tilled
with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word ot God
with boldness.

-Acts \v. 31.

We are often asked, ' Have not all Christians the
Spirit ? ' Certainly. • II any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, he is none ot His. ' Sal alt are ml • filled
with the Spirit ' ; and having the Spirit, and being
filled with the Spirit, are different things in degree, . .
This equipment is ml eloquence, nor is it intellectual
force, or keenness. It is not any human gift, power, or
qualification whatever. . . It is a power altogether
distinct from all gifts of mind and speech, and the penoer
which alone can vitaiise them and make them effective in
the work of God. It is this marvellous something, this
Italy unci ion pervading what we do and say, which tells
those to whom we appeal that we are sent oi God. It is
this which converts a look into a saving message, and
which touches into mighty effectiveness the simplest word
we stxak, or the tecbtest effort we put forth. To this
full equipment for Christian life and service every
believer in Jesus is called of God ana called now 1

— Rkv. Thomas Waugb.

CHAPTER VIII
HONOURING THE HOLY SPIRIT

All know how loyally John Hyde supported
the Sialkot Convention. It was really his
addresses that led to the great blessing in that
first Convention of 1904. This Convention
was attended largely by missionaries especially
those in the vicinity : and it was a time when
God met His own people : when ' self ' was
unveiled : when God called His own to a
deeper consecration : when the Holy Spirit
convicted of sin and led to many changed lives.
In fact, it was there that the heart-surrender of
the leaders took place which led to the Revival
of 1905. Mr. Hyde's addresses on the Holy
Spirit were much used of God to this great
end.

This Convention in the summer of 1904
owed much also to the Punjab Prayer Union,
begun by a few souls (about April, 1904) on
whom the burden of united prayer for Revival
had been heavily laid. Needless to say,
one of the moving spirits of this Union was

144 PRESENT-DAY CHALLENGE TO PRAYER

John Hyde. All its members were greatly in-
spired by his habits of prayer — and by his whole
life of intercession. Most particularly did they
value and benefit by his presence at the annual
meetings of the Union. His addresses there
appealed to many hearts, and the conversation
he had with them led to lives of joy and service
such as had never been dreamt of before.

Who can forget that memorable annual
.Meeting of the Punjab Prayer Union in the
spring of 1905 ? It was a time when all felt
the great burden of the Indian Church, and her
need of Revival, so very keenly as to be in-
expressible in words. This was mainly due to
the teaching of John Hyde and those like him
in regard to ' the fellowship of Christ's suffer-
ings.' There was a general break down of all
hearts when this subject was talked and prayed
about. To many the Lamb of God appeared
with ilis wounded bands and side, and showed
them how His heart was still being made to
bleed by His children when they were not fully
consecrated to Him, and when they were not
filled to overflowing with His Spirit. Little
wonder that the Convention of 1905 touched so
deeply the life of the Punjab Church I Here
again John Hyde was the moving spirit of the

HONOURING THE HOLY SPIRIT 145

whole Convention. It seemed as if the mantle
of his second great spiritual teacher (the first
was the Rev. Mr. Ullmann) — the Rev. D.
Lytic of the American United Presbyterian
Mission — had descended upon him. The
burden of Mr. Lytle's later teaching had been
that self-support could only be looked for on
the old Apostolic lines — when the Baptism of
the Holy Spirit and then the constant infilling
of the Holy Spirit, received its true place in the
heart and life of the Christian community.
Then self-supporting congregations would
spring up every where as a natural consequence.
Mr. Lytle loved to point out that almost all
the Apostolic congregations over forty in
number were self-supporting and also self-
propagating simply because they put first
things first and never rested till they had
received the Baptism, and then the infilling
of the Holy Spirit for every new service.

This was the burden of John Hyde's
addresses at the Sialkot Convention of 1905.
What a thrilling message he delivered I How
plainly he showed that the Holy Spirit was the
One True witness — to be put first and foremost
by all Christians — so that they might also give
their witness in His strength and by His help.
10

146 PRESENT- DAY CHALLENGE TO PRAYER

HONOURING THE HOLY SPIRIT 147

When he addressed Pastors asking them who

In the Convention of 1904, missionaries

was first and foremost in their pulpits — they

were much blessed. Il was then that one

themselves, or the Divine Teacher and Guide leader brought things to a crisis by saying:

into all the truth — I don't think there was a

' Either we missionaries receive Power from on

single preacher who was not convicted of this

high now, or let us all take the first steamer

sin.

home for we are otherwise unfit for this task.'

Then he went right through the Life of

In the 1905 Convention our Pastors and elders

Christ — showing how all the mysterious events

were laid hold of largely through Mr. Hyde's

of that Life were performed by means of the

teaching and perfect obedience. In the Con-

Holy Spirit— Our Lord's Birth : His Baptism :

vention of 1906 the blessing extended to

His Preaching : His Miracles : His Sacrifice :

Christians generally and reached outside

His Resurrection, the Holy Spirit was witness

congregations all over Northern India.

of each event, so He alone is the true witness.

When John Hyde called upon all to see to it

that this Divine Witness was depended on

to teach all enquiring souls the meaning and

the mystery of each event, few hearts were un-

moved. And then afterwards when John

Hyde intimated that he had no other message

to give, the Chairman was led to leave each

meeting to the guidance of the Holy Spirit —

surely that was the direct result of this teach-

ing ! What else could result but that the

Divine Spirit, given His true place, should

move all hearts, break them down, melt them

into confession and tears, so began the first

Great Revival in the Punjab ?

But they that wait upon the Lord shall return their
strength ; they shall mount nfl with wings as eagles ;
i/iey shall run, and not be weary ; and they shall walk
and not taint.

—Isaiah xl. 31.

Yt have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and
how / bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto
Myself.

—Exodus xix. 4.

CHAPTER VIII

RECOLLECTIONS

An Addkhss to Students : ' The Life
on Wings '

ONE oi our Indian workers and a faithful
member of our Prayer Union recently found
a small volume in one of the second-hand book
shops in Calcutta entitled

' A Spiritual Awakening Among
Indian Students '
Addresses of six Student Conferences by
the Student Volunteer Movement held at
Jaffna, Bombay, Lahore, Lucknow, Calcutta
and Madras. Published by Messrs. Addison
& Co., Madras, in 1896.

This Indian worker turning over its pages
found that one of the Addresses was by the
late Mr. Hyde. He immediately decided to
purchase it, the marked price was two annas,
but the man would take no payment for it, as
it was stained and spoilt. It was immediately

ISO PRE8ENT-DAY CHALLENGE TO PRAYK.R

carried to one of our members, who has kindly
sent it on to me with these words : —

' Twenty-six years ago ! and he who spoke
on The Life on Wmgi in Lahore during
this Conference when Dr. Mott was present,
still speaketh to us and to the body of Christ.
I know you will rejoice with me at the
discovery of this volume.'

—F. K.

FROM 'THE LIFE ON WINGS'
By The Late Rev. J. N. Hyde

At another time Satan seems to have struck
a hard blow at the work, and one is fighting
against discouragement. Then a passage like
that in II Chronicles xv. infuses strength, ' The
Lord is with you while ye be with him.' One
knows that he has not forsaken the Lord and
that iherefore the Lord has not forsaken him
and with this promise that he can say to Satan :
' Wait and see who will have the victory.'
And he leels. that he can go out alone even
into the battle. His prayer may be like that
of Asa, who cried unto the Lord his God and
said, ' Lord, it is nothing with thee to help,
whether with many, or with them that have no
power ; help us, O Lord our God ; for we rest

KF.COI.I.KCTIONS

'5'

on thee, and in thy name we go against this
multitude. O Lord thou art our God ; let not
man prevail against thee.' (II Chron. XJY. 1 1 .)
After such a prayer as this the Lord could do
nothing else than smite the Ethiopians before
Asa.

At some such times of discouraging circum-
stances and trial, when strength comes and one
rests in the word ■ Father,' there comes to one
an experience in which he feels as it were on
wings. It is an actual experience and there is
no verse that so well describes it as that in
Isaiah, ' They shall mount up with wings as
eagles.' My friend, can you say that word
' Father ' ?

It happens also, at times, that we do not see
the fruit of our labours, and the heart longs to
see the harvest. I have read a story of a
Scottish minister to whom, one Sabbath morn-
ing, some of his elders or deacons came and
said they felt they must speak to him about
the small results of the past year. The
minister replied that he had tried to be faithful
and to do his duty. But again they told him
they felt it laid upon them to speak to him ;
that there had been only one communicant
received in the whole year, and he was a boy.

152 PRESENT-DAY CHALLENGE TO PRAYER

The minister went through with the service
that morning with a heavy heart, and at its
close lingered in the Kirk made dear to him by
so many memories. He felt as though he
could die, and while thus cast down one came
up to him. It was the boy, before mentioned,
and he said, ' Pastor, do you think if 1 worked
hard 1 could be a minister, and a missionary
perhaps ? ' ' Robert,' the minister said, ' you
have healed the wound in my heart. Yes, 1
think you will be a minister.'

Years passed away, the story says, and the
old minister was laid in his grave, when one
day a missionary returned from a foreign land.
His name was mentioned with reverence.
The great received him into their homes.
Audiences rose to greet him, and nobles stood
uncovered in his presence. It was Robert
Moffat, the boy of the old Kirk. He had
added a country to civilization, a province to
the church, and savages through his work had
become obedient to Christ.

The harvest of faithful work is sure. It
may be, however, we have wanted results
instead of wishing that needy souls might have-
life, and that Christ might see of the travail of
His soul and lje satisfied. Have we ever wept

RECOLLECTIONS

for souls ? Have you ? Have I ? 'He that
goeth forth and wcepeth, bearing precious seed,
shall doubtless come again with rejoicing,
bringing his sheaves with him.'

Let us go out looking to the need about us
and to our Saviour, trusting him to use us for
His glory.