08. CHAPTER III - IN THE SCHOOL OF PRAYER

CHAPTER III IN THE SCHOOL OF PRAYER ANOTHER LESSON LEARNT AND MASTERED A WHOLE DAY SPENT BEFORE THE THRONE AND ITS OUTCOME. AT the Sialkot Conventions there are two Prayer Rooms, one for 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 just as in ordinary prayer meet­ings ; at other times silent prayer goes on or little groups form, and have prayer for some object that presses upon their heart. Mission­aries 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 time, and it was very evident that he did not feel at home at the services, and he came to me about the third day and said that the Con­vention was on wrong lines altogether, that the leaders and speakers should be on the platform to show themselves and encourage others ’ instead of 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—it 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 that he had received and the new visions of Christ that he had had. This Prayer Room, if I am not mistaken, was the work of 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 brother­McCheyne 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 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 himself 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, for 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 prepara­tion of the Messenger was quite as important as the preparation of the message. What if we also realized this ! At 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 services ; my bed had been placed between Mr. Hyde and Dr. Griswald’s beds, but I noticed that Hyde’s bed had not been occu­pied 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-hazri (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 it o’clock and found him still praying. I went in to breakfast and returned about 12.30, and lay down on my cot to rest and to watch him. I went 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 on his knees, and had been all day. As I had an hour to wait until dinner, I determined to watch him and, if he rose from his knees, I 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. I sat on his bed, and asked him what was the secret of all this. I also asked him to 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 I 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 be true—that Jesus had never suffered so mach for me, but as Hyde lifted Him up before me, I had to believe, and my heart went out to Christ in love and grati­tude 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 uno death, even the death of the cross.