Prisons and Prayer; Or, a Labor of LoveWheaton, Elizabeth Ryder
Religion
Prisons and Prayer; Or, a Labor of Love
Wheaton, Elizabeth Ryder
Evangelistic work; Prisons
At one time I had been in old Mexico and changing cars at El Paso,
Texas, I found a heavy trainload of passengers on the way east. I was
impressed all night of impending peril. I could not sleep, and walked
the floor of the car in silent prayer. I went to the young sister with
me and said, "The train is in great danger, and something will happen
unless the Lord delivers us. The text comes to me so forcibly, 'What,
could ye not watch with me one hour?' Watch and pray!" That night six
train-robbers had determined to wreck and rob the train. They had
stolen six horses and gone to a lonely place uninhabited for miles
about. They bound and gagged the section foreman and his men, then
took the switch-key and threw the switch to wreck the train. When they
saw the train passing on they tried to hail it with their lanterns,
but by some mysterious power of God their lights were put out, so that
the engineer did not see them. Then they tried to board the train but
were unable to succeed. It was a most remarkable occurrence. They
either did not open the switch properly and the train set it back to
its place, or the hand of God closed the switch. The newspapers
published quite an account of this incident, from which source the
above concerning the robbers was obtained, as they were caught and
made confession.
A TRAIN IN DANGER.
In July, 1889, I was on my way from St. Joseph, Missouri, to St.
Louis, having with me a man and his wife. About 1 o'clock in the
morning I awoke with awful fear upon me of some impending danger. I
told my friends that we must pray for God to save the train, and that
no power but God's could avert the coming disaster, whatever it might
be. Still the horror as of death was upon me, and later in the night
the train suddenly stopped. The train men ran out with their lanterns
and found that the engine had become uncoupled from the cars and just
in front of the engine was a pile of iron. The iron rails of the track
were set so that a wreck would have been the result if God had not
interposed. God thwarted the well-laid plans that had been made to
wreck and rob the train. This was in a lonely place where no help was
near, and the robbers would have the best of chances to rob the train.
On our return west a similar terror came upon me and I said, "Pray for
this train, or something will happen to it before we reach St. Joe." I
was terrified all day. Just as the train stopped at the depot our car
was wrecked. The front wheels of the car were turned around crosswise
of the track, tearing up the planks, rails and earth. Such a queer
looking wreck, and apparently no reason for it! Yet we had been
brought in safety to our journey's end and no one was injured.
IMPRESSED TO LEAVE THE TRAIN.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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