home I called my husband, and together we had committed
our child into the Lord's hands. I felt perfectly sure the child would
get well, so I did not take more care of him than of a well child. In
about two weeks he seemed so perfectly well that I took him to the
doctor again, and the doctor said that he could discover nothing the
matter with him."

That Chinese child is now a grown-up, healthy man. And _our child
died_. Yet we had prayed for her as few, perhaps, have prayed for any
child. Why, then, was she not spared? I do not know. But I do know that
there was in my life, at that time, the sin of bitterness toward
another, and an unwillingness to forgive a wrong. This was quite
sufficient to hinder any prayer, and did hinder for years, until it was
set right.

Does this case of unanswered prayer shake my faith in God's willingness
and power to answer prayer? No, no! My own child might just as
reasonably decide never again to come to me with a request because I
have, in my superior wisdom, denied a petition. Is it not true, in our
human relationships with our children, that we see best to grant at one
time what we withhold at another? "What I do thou knowest not now, but
thou shalt know hereafter."

And one of the most precious experiences of God's loving mercy came to
me in connection with our little Gracie's death. We had been warned that
the end would probably come in convulsions; two of our dear children had
been so taken. Only a mother who has gone through such an experience can
fully understand the horror of the possibility that such might come
again at any time.

One evening I was watching beside our little one, Miss P---- being with
me, when suddenly the child said very decidedly: "Call Papa; I want to
see Papa." I hesitated to rouse her father, as it was his time to rest;
so I tried to put her off with some excuse; but again she repeated her
request, and so I called her father, asking him to walk up and down with
her until I returned.

Going into the next room I cried in an agony to the Lord not to let
Gracie suffer; but, if it was indeed his will to take the child, then to
do so without her suffering. As I prayed a wonderful peace came over me,
and the promise came so clearly it was as if spoken: "Before they call I
will answer; and while they are yet speaking I will hear." Rising, I was
met at the door by Miss P----who said: "Gracie is with Jesus." While I
was on my knees our beloved child, after res