PRAYER
AND PRAYING MEN
REV. EDWARD M. BOUNDS
PRAYER
AND PRAYING MEN
BY
REV. EDWARD M. BOUNDS
AUTHOR OF “THE INEFFABLE GLORY,” “PREACHER
AND PRAYER,” “PURPOSE IN PRAYER,” ETC.
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
REV. HOMER W. HODGE
HODDER & STOUGHTON
LIMITED : : LONDON
COPYRIGHT, 1921,
BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
INTRODUCTION
Rev. Edward McKendrie Bounds was passionatelydevoted to his beloved Lord and SaviourJesus Christ. His devotion was extraordinary inthat he was praying and writing about Him allthe time, except during the hours of sleeping.
God gave Bounds an enlargedness of heart andan insatiable desire to do service for Him. Tothis end he enjoyed what I am pleased to term atranscendent inspiration, else he could never havebrought out of his treasury things new and old farexceeding anything we have known or read in thelast half century.
Bounds is easily the Betelguese of the devotionalsky. There is no man that has lived sincethe days of the apostles that has surpassed himin the depths of his marvelous research into theLife of Prayer.
He was busily engaged in writing on hismanuscripts when the Lord said unto him, “Welldone, thou good and faithful servant, enter thouinto the joys of thy Lord.” His letters wouldoften come to me in Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1911,1912 and 1913, saying, “Pray for me that God[vi]will give me new nerves and new visions to finishthe manuscripts.”
Wesley was of the sweetest and most forgivingdisposition, but when aroused he was a man ofthe “keenest penetration with a gift of speech thatbit like the stroke of a whip.” Bounds was meekand humble, and never did we know him toretaliate upon any of his enemies. He cried overthem and wept praying for them early and late.
Wesley was easily gulled. “My brother,” saidCharles, on one occasion in disgusting accents,“was, I believe, born for the benefit of knaves.”No man could impose on Bounds’ credulity. Hewas a diagnostician of rare ability. Bounds shiedaway from all frauds in profession, and wouldwaste no time upon them.
Wesley was preaching and riding all day.Bounds was praying and writing day and night.
Wesley would not allow any misrepresentationof his doctrinal positions in his late years. Boundsin this respect was very much like him.
Wesley came to his fame while yet alive. Hewas always in the public eye. Bounds, whileediting a Christian Advocate for twelve years, waslittle known out of his church.
Wesley at eighty-six could still preach on thestreets for thirty minutes. Bounds was able atseventy-five in the first hour of the fourth watchto pray for three hours upon his knees.
Wesley, at the time of his death, had enjoyed[vii]fifty-six years of preferment. His name was onevery tongue. Christianity was born again inEngland under his mighty preaching and o