Pray on in hope. Many a one has had his prayer for others answered after he had been dead. There was a father who had prayed for many years for his sons and daughters, and yet they were not converted but became exceedingly worldly. His time came to die. He gathered his children around his bed, hoping to bear such a witness for Christ at the end that it might be blessed to their conversion. But, unhappy for him, he was in deep distress of soul; he had doubts about his own interest in Christ. He was one of God's children who are put to bed in the dark. This was, above all, the worse fear of his mind, that his dear children would see his distress and be prejudiced against religion. The good man was buried, his sons came to his funeral, and God heard the man's prayer that very day. For as they went away from the grave, one of them said to the other, "Brother, our father died a most unhappy death."
"He did, brother. I was very astonished at it, for I never knew a better man than our father."
"Ah," said the first brother, "if a holy man such as our father found it a hard thing to die, it will be a dreadful thing for us who have no faith when our time comes." That same thought had struck them all and drove them to the cross, and so the good man's prayer was heard in a mysterious way.
From The Power in Prayer by Charles H. Spurgeon 1834-1892
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