day of trouble
and fear they should call upon him. But when in the more sober moments of
life man's heart feels the influence of the Holy Spirit inclining his
desires toward a better life, arousing the nobler aspirations of his soul,
enkindling to a brighter flame the spark of humanity; when, though he be
not in possession of God's saving grace, under such an influence he, in
sincerity of heart, calls upon God, he will hear and answer his call as
far as consistent with the divine mind, and thus encourage his soul on to
the Christian goal.

Our boyhood days and the early days of our manhood were spent amid the gay
scenes and pleasures of life. When in the whirl of society-life we had no
serious thoughts. There would, however, in our more secluded hours, when
naught stood between us and the whisperings of our soul, arise thoughts of
futurity. The Holy Spirit would speak to our heart of God, of heaven, of
Christ and the blood; he would hold before us in a beautiful picture the
life of a Christian journeying onward to a glory world. He would also
disclose to our view the hideousness and awfulness of sin, and the
uneasiness, discontentments, trouble and fear attending the wicked as they
journey onward to the eternal region of woe.

In these more sober hours we would seek God for his protection with
sincere, heartfelt pledges that some day we would serve him. God heard
these prayers and gave his protection. We now in reviewing the scenes of
those early days see the many snares and dangers Satan had arranged for
our destruction, but out of them all the Lord delivered us. Bless his
name! There was one instance of God hearing our prayer, though in what may
be considered a trivial matter, yet made a deep impression upon us and
went far to enforce upon us the reality of God and his Word.

One night we had a journey of several miles to make on horseback. It was
nine o'clock when we started. After traveling about two miles our horse
became very lame. In our pity for him we dismounted and throwing the reins
over the saddle started the horse on before us. After some two or three
miles of traveling thus, our horse seemed much improved. For the purpose
of faster travel, we concluded to again ride. Our attempts to catch the
horse seemed in vain. Repeatedly we tried to come up with him, but when we
had come near he would trot on before. After many unsuccessful trials it
occurred to our mind that we should ask God to aid us. Accordingly t