Note 43 — VOL. XXVI., No. 152.—NOVEMBER, 1877. (continued 3)

It was one of Mr. Finney’s doctrines that whenever we pray with sufficient faith, God, so to speak, is bound not only to answer the prayer, but to give us the precise thing we ask for; in other words, that we know better than God what is good for us. “There are men and women still alive and among us,” says Dr. Spring, “who remember the circumstances of the death of Mrs. Pierson, around whose lifeless body her husband assembled a company of believers, with the assurance that if they prayed in faith she would be restored to life. Their feelings were greatly excited, their impressions of their success peculiar and strong. They prayed, and prayed again, and prayed in faith. But they were disappointed. There was none to answer, neither was there any that regarded.” The italics are Dr. Spring’s.