Opening Court With Prayer

1895

One of the learned justices of the Maine supreme court, than whom no man better knows how to appreciate a really amusing thing, was holding court at Ellsworth, and, according to honored custom, called in a local clergyman to open the session with a supplication to heaven. This worthy gentleman came, and after a chat with the justice proceeded to address the giver of all good and perfect things thus:

"Almighty God, we beseech thee to bestow upon the presiding justice the wisdom which he so greatly needs!" It is said that the same judge once opened court after prayer which began this way: "O Lord, we pray thee to overrule the decisions of the court, to thine own honor and glory." — Bangor Commercial.

Men Try to Beat Devil Out of Boy

1914

Holy Roller Preacher and Two Illinoisans Accused of Assault

Lad Sustains Broken Arm

Cousin, With Club, Ends Attack After He Is Seriously Injured — Fanatics in Jail Try to Pray the Prison Doors Open

Murphysboro, Ill., Feb. 10. — Noah Hickman lies at the point of death at his home in the foothills of the Ozarks, in Jackson county, as the result of flogging and trampling he suffered when he refused to accept the Holy Roller faith. Dolph Hickman, young Hickman's father, Walter Ellis and Adam Cripps were arrested on the charge of assault. Cripps was released on $500 bond.

Friday night the Holy Rollers held an all-night meeting at the Hickman home. Young Hickman, who is an epileptic, was told that he was possessed of evil spirits, and the Holy Rollers said they would trample the demons out of him.

Cousin Halts Attack

Hickman's father, one of his sisters, Ellis and Cripps bore their victim to the floor after flogging him and trampled on him. He sustained a broken arm, a dislocated shoulder and several internal injuries. The arrival of Tom Hickman, the boy's cousin, with a club ended the attack.

The Holy Rollers have held all-night prayer services at Macedonia, Dutch Ridge, Poplar Ridge and other remote centers in the hills. Some of them have killed off swine and let them die in the woods as things unfit to touch. The district is aroused and will try to stamp out the faith.

The Holy Rollers in the Jonesboro jail are attempting to pray the prison doors open.

Brevity in Prayer

1895

"The late William Arnot tells us in his diary that, as he grew older, he grew more brief and simple in his closet devotions. He tersely says: 'I suppose there are two kinds of brevity in prayer — one, because you are far off, and one because you are far in.' This is pithily put, and contains a profound truth. No one can judge of another as to just how much time that other needs to spend on his knees. We cannot safely take the example of anybody else as an absolute guide in our own case. Many things need to be considered — our household duties, our business engagements, our special perplexities, our mastery of perpetual prayer. We must not, of course, let prayer be crowded out or crushed down through mere selfishness or worldly absorptions; but neither need we feel it always incumbent on us to spend just so much time in the exercise, or write ourselves down delinquent if we cannot pass whole hours in special supplication like some one we have read about. It is better certainly to be far in than far off, but the former must not despise the latter, nor the latter judge the former. Strength in prayer is better than length in prayer." — Zion's Herald.