Some years ago there was a small congregation of Wesleyan Methodists in a village in the County of Essex, in England. They used to worship m a little cottage. But after a while their number increased till that cottage was too small for them. They concluded to build a chapel; and a lot of ground was secured on which it was to be built. But some wicked men in the village didn’t want to have the chapel built. They resolved to oppose the building of it as much as they could. One of these men owned a lot of ground next to that on which the chapel was to stand. On this lot there was a fine large tree. One of the great branches of this tree grew over the chapel-lot. It was right in the way of the building. One of the members of the church went to the owner of the tree to ask him if he would allow them to cut off that limb. He said, “No, that I won’t; and if you attempt to do it I’ll sue you.”
Now what was to be done? The chapel must go up; and yet they could not afford to go to court over it. They resolved to hold a special meeting for prayer on the subject. They did so. They told the Lord of their trouble, and asked him to relieve them. That night there came up a violent storm, with thunder and lightning. The lightning struck that tree, and shivered the branch just where it was in the way of the chapel walls.
This made those wicked men afraid. They gave up their opposition to the chapel, and the building was finished without any further trouble. What a blessing prayer was in that case!
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