A friend of mine had gone to call upon a physician who was a very noted man in his profession, but this physician—as my friend at the time was not aware—was one of the leaders of spiritism. My friend went to his house, and was shown into the waiting room. He told me afterward that when he got into that room he felt that he was in the presence of the devil—he did not know why. A horror of great darkness came upon him, and he felt that the only thing to do was to pray, and so he kept praying—praying—praying. Then a door opened, and somebody looked in—rather an evil-looking countenance peered round the door—but this only made him pray the harder, and he kept on praying after the door had closed again. Presently the door opened a second time, and this same person came back. “I wish you would go away,” he said to the praying man, “we can’t get on.” They were having a seance at the time in the next room, and here was prayer on the other side of the door, and the two things could not go on together. There is a power in prayer that is greater even than that of the devil. That old hymn is right when it says that
“Satan trembles when he sees
The weakest saint upon his knees.”