Page:Robert Carter- his life and work. 1807-1889 (IA robertcarterhis00coch).pdf/208

192 nine o’clock, and at ten o’clock a general prayer meeting presided over by the Rev. B. W. Chidlaw, of Ohio, another loved and honored friend of Mr. Carter’s. Mr. Chidlaw has authorized the following quotation from his book, “The Story of my Life.”

“At the expiration of the half-hour, I received a note from the chairman of the committee to nominate permanent officers, asking the continuance of the prayer meeting for fifteen minutes, when they would be ready to report. After reading the note, I requested some brother to lead in prayer. The response lingered. Just then I caught the eye of Robert Carter, of New York, and asked him to pray. He stood up before the Lord, and in Scriptural language bewailed and confessed the sin of division, his voice tremulous and penetrating, and full of pathos; then, as if relieved of a heavy burden, he pleaded earnestly for the fulfilment of the Saviour’s prayer for the unity of his people and the spread of the Gospel at home and abroad.

“This prayer was a wonderful outpouring of a soul endowed with an unction from the Holy One, and its effect on the audience was marvellous, melted into tears and awestruck in the presence of our prayer-hearing and prayer-answering God. The unbroken silence that followed told the impression produced. We were dumb before the Lord, whose presence we so fully realized.

“The committee reported, and their nominations were unanimously confirmed. They had failed to agree, and wanted further time. At the last moment, and in a way that they knew not, they harmonized during the time when Robert Carter was in prayer, became of one mind, and united in presenting their report. It was said that Rev. Dr. Musgrave, a leader in the Old School, rather indifferent, if not opposed, to Reunion, was so impressed with the prayer of Robert Carter that he became one of its strongest friends and ablest advocates.”