Daniel Nash pastored a small church in the backwoods of New York for six
years, and traveled with and prayed for a traveling evangelist for seven more
years until his death. As far as we know, he never ministered outside the
region of upstate New York during days when much of it was frontier. His
tombstone is in a neglected cemetery along a dirt road behind a livestock
auction barn. His church no longer exists, its meetinghouse location marked by
a historical marker in a corn field; the building is gone, its timber used to
house grain at a feed mill four miles down the road. No books tell his life
story, no pictures or diaries can be found, his descendants (if any) cannot be
located, and his messages are forgotten. He wrote no books, started no schools,
led no movements, and generally, kept out of sight.
Yet this man saw revival twice in his pastorate, and then was a key
figure in one of the greatest revivals in the history of the United States. In
many ways he was to the U. S. what Praying Hyde was to India. He is known
almost exclusively for his powerful prayer ministry.
The great evangelist, Charles Finney, left his itinerant ministry for
the pastorate within three or four months after this man’s death. Finney never
counted on his theology, messages, preaching style, logic, or methods to save
souls. He looked rather to mighty prayer and the resulting powerful work of the
Holy Spirit to sweep in with great conviction on his audience, that his
conversions might be thorough. This may well explain why 80 per cent of those
converted in his meetings stood the test of time. Years later Moody followed a
similar pattern but without such a prayer warrior. He saw perhaps 50 per cent
of his converts last. Today, a well-known evangelist (well-financed and highly
organized) recently stated that he would be delighted if 20 per cent of his
converts were genuinely converted. In this day of apostasy with many decisions
but few true conversions, with many programs but little prayer, with much
organizing but little agonizing, we would be wise to learn lessons from the
past. One of our godly forefathers whose life can teach us such is Daniel Nash.
His early years seem mostly lost from the records. This much we do
know-he was born November 27, 1775, and by November 11, 1816, at the age of 40
he had accepted the pastorate of the Stow’s Square Congregational-Presbyterian
Church, Lowville Township. He had moved there from Onondaga County (the area
around Syracuse), and had a farm at least by 1825, the time of the first census
in the area.
During his first year of pastoring this union church, he saw Revival
with at least 70 being converted. One of the first he baptized was a Sally
Porter (December 18, 1816), to whom he was married by February of 1817. He
baptized five of her children before spring and possibly a sixth several years
later. Typical church problems were dealt with clearly by church
discipline--broken contracts between members, heresy regarding the Trinity,
etc.
A meetinghouse was built beginning June 7, 1819, and “dedicated to the
service of God” December 13, 1819.
There was a group who split from the main group during the period of the
building program or shortly thereafter. They located four miles south where the
village of Lowville was beginning to develop. Pastor Nash was able to peaceably
work with this group and establish it as a mission throughout the rest of his
pastorate.
Upon the completion of the meetinghouse and while working with the
mission work to the south, he was able to start a Sabbath School in the union
church.
Such a ministry would seem to be the basis for a long term relationship.
However, on September 25, 1822, a strange church meeting was called at an
unusual time and he was voted out by a vote of nine to three! The only reasons
surviving to this day in the records were that they wanted “a young man to
settle in”. At the age of 46 they felt him too old, and resented his traveling.
While his term as pastor was ended as of November 10, 1822, he often
came to preach, act as moderator, baptize converts, and hold communion over the
next several years!
During this ending of his pastoring and the ministry that followed,
there was a second move of revival (182223) where over 200 were converted. This
occurred in a township of only 308 homes with a population of approximately
2,000 people! Imagine God blessing a rejected pastor with such a revival, and
the church taking no steps to recall him! Through all of this God was breaking
and preparing the heart of His man to leave a public ministry of preaching for
a private one of prayer.
Such rejection by those he loved and had ministered to did its crushing
work, and by 1824 he was so damaged spiritually that any human hope of a prayer
ministry seemed impossible. At this time Charles Finney was to be examined for
a license to preach, and he records his first meeting with Daniel Nash as
follows:
“At this meeting of the presbytery I first saw Rev. Daniel Nash, who is
generally known as ‘Father Nash’. He was a member of the presbytery. A large
congregation was assembled to hear my examination. I got in a little late, and
saw a man standing in the pulpit speaking to the people, as I supposed. He
looked at me, I observed, as I came in; and was looking at others as they
passed up the aisles. As soon as I reached my seat and listened, I observed
that he was praying. I was surprised to see him looking all over the house, as
if he were talking to the people; while in fact he was praying to God. Of
course it did not sound to me much like prayer; and he was at that time indeed
in a very cold and back-slidden state”.
After this meeting Nash was struck with a serious case of inflamed eyes.
For several weeks he had to be kept in a dark room where he could neither read
nor write. During this time “he gave himself up almost entirely to prayer. He
had a terrible overhauling of his whole Christian experience; and as soon as he
was able to see, with a double black veil before his face, he sallied forth to
labor for souls”.
His labors did not take the form of personal evangelism or of
evangelistic preaching. Instead he began one of the greatest ministries of
prayer evangelism recorded in history. This rejected and broken former preacher
gave himself to a labor that would influence praying people to this day.
Charles Finney’s labors in evangelism began in the region of Evans
Mills, New York, and here Daniel Nash headed to start his special prayer
ministry. When he arrived, Finney stated, “He was full of the power of prayer”.
The two men were drawn into a partnership that was ended only by Daniel’s death
seven years later. Their goals were stated simply in a letter as follows:
“When Mr. Finney and I began our race, we had no thought of going
amongst ministers. Our highest ambition was to go where there was neither
minister or reformation and try to look up the lost sheep, for whom no man
cared. We began and the Lord prospered.... But we go into no man’s parish
unless called.... We have room enough to work and work enough to do”.
This evangelistic team operated on the basis of prayer being essential
for the preparation of an area for evangelism. This idea was so strong that
Finney often sent Nash to an area to prepare the place and people for his
coming. Often it would take 3 or 4 weeks of prayer to get the area ready. Let
us examine a little more closely just how such a thing was accomplished.
When God would direct where a meeting was to be held, Father Nash would
slip quietly into town and seek to get two or three people to enter into a
covenant of prayer with him. Sometimes he had with him a man of similar prayer
ministry, Abel Clary. Together they would begin to pray fervently for God to
move in the community. One record of such is told by Leonard Ravenhill:
“I met an old lady who told me a story about Charles Finney that has
challenged me over the years. Finney went to Bolton to minister, but before he
began, two men knocked on the door of her humble cottage, wanting lodging. The
poor woman looked amazed, for she had no extra accommodations. Finally, for
about twenty-five cents a week, the two men, none other than Fathers Nash and
Clary, rented a dark and damp cellar for the period of the Finney meetings (at
least two weeks), and there in that self-chosen cell, those prayer partners
battled the forces of darkness”.
Another record tells:
“On one occasion when I got to town to start a revival a lady contacted
me who ran a boarding house. She said, ‘Brother Finney, do you know a Father
Nash? He and two other men have been at my boarding house for the last three
days, but they haven’t eaten a bite of food. I opened the door and peeped in at
them because I could hear them groaning, and I saw them down on their faces.
They have been this way for three days, lying prostrate on the floor and
groaning. I thought something awful must have happened to them. I was afraid to
go in and I didn’t know what to do. Would you please come see about them?’
“‘No, it isn’t necessary,’ Finney replied. ‘They just have a spirit of
travail in prayer’.”
Another states:
“Charles Finney so realized the need of God’s working in all his service
that he was wont to send godly Father Nash on in advance to pray down the power
of God into the meetings which he was about to hold”.
Not only did Nash prepare the communities for preaching, but he also
continued in prayer during the meetings.
“Often Nash would not attend meetings, and while Finney was preaching
Nash was praying for the Spirit’s outpouring upon him. Finney stated, ‘I did
the preaching altogether, and brother Nash gave himself up almost continually
to prayer’. Often while the evangelist preached to the multitudes, Nash in some
adjoining house would be upon his face in an agony of prayer, and God answered
in the marvels of His grace. With all due credit to Mr. Finney for what was
done, it was the praying men who held the ropes. The tears they shed, the
groans they uttered are written in the book of the chronicles of the things of
God”.
It is said of Finney that “his evangelistic party consisted of prayer
partners, who went before him and sought the Lord in some secluded spot. And
when Finney was preaching Father Nash and Mr. Clary were hidden away somewhere
praying for him. No wonder cities were stirred and a vast harvest of souls
reaped”. This concept of an evangelistic party made up of praying men has
nearly been lost in these days of organizers, promoters, big names, etc. Such
praying men not only sustained Finney’s ministry, but explain the power in
preaching and long-lasting results.
Charles Finney could always go to Brother Nash when an obstacle arose in
the meetings. One such occasion occurred at Gouverneur where some “young men
seemed to stand like a bulwark in the way of the progress of the work”.
“In this state of things, Brother Nash and myself (Finney), after
consultation, made up our minds that that thing must be overcome by prayer, and
that it could not be reached in any other way. We therefore retired to a grove
and gave ourselves to prayer until we prevailed, and we felt confident that no
power which earth or Hell could interpose, would be allowed permanently to stop
the revival”.
Now there are times when confidence gained in prayer requires action,
and this was such a time. Brother Nash was by nature a quiet man, and by practice
stayed out of the limelight. Yet confidence in prayer may cause this to change
if God so leads. Here is Finney’s own account of what happened in a service
shortly after the victory was won in prayer:
“The meeting-house was filled. Near the close of the meeting, Brother
Nash arose, and addressed that company of young men who had joined hand in hand
to resist the revival. I believe they were all there, and they sat braced up
against the Spirit of God. It was too solemn for them really to make ridicule
of what they heard and saw; and yet their brazen-facedness and stiffneckedness
were apparent to everybody.
“Brother Nash addressed them very earnestly, and pointed out the guilt
and danger of the course they were taking. Toward the close of his address he
waxed exceeding warm, and said to them, ‘Now, mark me, young men! God will
break your ranks in less than one week, either by converting some of you, or by
sending some of you to Hell. He will do this as certainly as the Lord is my
God!’ He was standing where he brought his hand down on the top of the pew
before him, so as to make it thoroughly jar. He sat immediately down, dropped
his head, and groaned with pain.
“The house was as still as death, and most of the people held down their
heads. I could see that the young men were agitated. For myself, I regretted
that Brother Nash had gone so far. He had committed himself, that God would
either take the life of some of them, and send them to Hell, or convert some of
them, within a week. However, on Tuesday morning of the same week, the leader
of these young men came to me, in the greatest distress of mind. He was all
prepared to submit; and as soon as I came to press him he broke down like a
child, confessed, and manifestly gave himself to Christ. Then he said, ‘What
shall I do, Mr. Finney?’ I replied, ‘Go immediately to all your young
companions, and pray with them, and exhort them, at once to turn to the Lord’.
He did so; and before the week was out, nearly if not all of that class of
young men, were hoping in Christ”.
There is no doubt that Finney’s “over-wrought” concern “that his
co-worker had gone too far” in this bold handling of the problem was relieved
by such a speedy answer (from Sunday night to Tuesday morning). He never did
get to speak words of warning and correction to “this man of prayer”.
Nash’s prayer ministry made him “as remarkable a character in his way as
Finney himself”. The importance of such to Finney’s ministry and success cannot
be over estimated. “Finney depended more upon the prayers of Fathers Nash and
Clary to bring down Holy Ghost revival than upon his own resistless logic. So
accustomed are we to the Laodicean condition of the church that the
all-pervading influence of prayer in Finney’s time amazes us”. Of the great
revival in Rochester, “Finney said that the key which unlocked the Heavens in
this revival was the prayer of Clary, Father Nash, and other unnamed folk who
laid themselves prostrate before God’s throne and besought Him for a divine
out-pouring”.
Considering the souls being saved and the very culture of the area being
changed in such a thorough revival, it should be no surprise that persecution
came to these co-laborers. Some came from jealous ministers, some from those of
other doctrinal persuasions, and some from the lost. False statements were sent
to newspapers by his enemies. Nash wrote a letter May 11, 1826, telling of some
of the opposition. Part of it said,
“The work of God moves forward in power, in some places against dreadful
opposition. Mr. Finney and I have both been hanged and burned in effigy. We
have frequently been disturbed in our religious meetings. Sometimes the
opposers make a noise in the house of God; sometimes they gather round the
house and stone it, and discharge guns. There is almost as much writing,
intrigue, and lying, and reporting of lies, as there would be if we were on the
eve of a presidential election. Oh, what a world! How much it hates the truth!
How unwilling to be saved! But I think the work will go on”.
In this letter he refers to being hung and burned in effigy. Here is an
account of the event:
“Swinging above your heads are two distorted figures suspended on ropes.
At the touch of the torch they leap into flames and the crowd screams in sheer
delight. Sound like a scene from a lynching . . . a race riot? Not at all. It
is a religious gathering. The charred creatures smoldering in the air represent
the public’s expression of opposition to the preaching and praying of America’s
greatest evangelistic team. Charles Grandison Finney and his partner-in-prayer,
Father Nash, have just been burned in effigy. Preachers and pew-warmers alike
joined forces against the two men who did more to spearhead revival than any
other pair in American history”.
The enemies of revival counted Nash a full partner to Finney in the
work. They feared and hated his praying at least as much as they did Finney’s
preaching.
The best-known revival of this period in American history was that which
occurred in Rochester, New York. Over 100,000 were considered to have been
soundly converted during those meetings. Nash and Clary teamed up for the
praying with the assistance of others. These two men were so similar in their
praying that one is often described to explain the other. Such fervent praying
in agony of soul brought sights that may seem strange to our eyes today. Our
gentle prayers accomplish so little, but then they cost us so little. Finney
wrote:
“I have never known a person sweat blood; but I have known a person pray
till the blood started from his nose. And I have known persons pray till they
were all wet with perspiration, in the coldest weather in winter. I have known
persons pray for hours, till their strength was all exhausted with the agony of
their minds. Such prayers prevailed with God. This agony in prayer was
prevalent in Jonathan Edwards’ day, in the revivals which then took place”.
During the Rochester meetings there are several accounts of these two
men in deep agony of soul while praying day and night. Some accounts name Nash,
some Clary, others both. It seems they were together in fasting and prayer much
of the time, weeping and crying out to God. Sometimes they lay prostrate
without strength to stand up. Their concern over sinners being lost brought
great stress to their minds and souls. They groaned under the load, they risked
health and gave up comforts that the battle of the heavenlies might be won.
Sometimes they “would writhe and groan in agony” over souls. God honored their
burden-bearing and sent revival. Privately they prayed and publicly God
answered. “Practically everyone in the city was converted. The only theater in
the city was converted into a livery stable, the only circus into a soap and
candle factory, and the grog shops (bars and taverns) were closed”.
Oswald J. Smith explains the importance of such strivings in prayer
during Finney’s ministry:
“He always preached with the expectation of seeing the Holy Spirit
suddenly outpoured. Until this happened little or nothing was accomplished. But
the moment the Spirit fell upon the people, Finney had nothing else to do but
point them to the Lamb of God. Thus he lived and wrought for years in an
atmosphere of revival”.
We refuse to so strive and should not be surprised at the lack of God’s
mighty stirrings. Is it not amazing that we have no problem with people wearing
themselves out in sports for pleasure, work for money, politics for power, and
programs for charity, but think it fanatical to so pray for souls? We would die
for national freedom, but never for progress in the Kingdom of God. Is it any
wonder we see so little of God’s great working? Nash would pray until he had to
“go to bed absolutely sick, for weakness and faintness, under the pressure”.
The world would have no problem with such dedication except that it was due to
prayer for souls. Why should it be such a strange thing to the Church?
Finney told of this relationship of intense prayer and successful
preaching. Speaking of Nash he wrote:
“I have seen Christians who would be in an agony, when the minister was
going into the pulpit, for fear his mind should be in a cloud, or his heart
cold, or he should have no unction, and so a blessing should not come. I have
labored with a man of this sort. He would pray until he got an assurance in his
mind that God would be with me in preaching, and sometimes he would pray
himself ill. I have known the time when he has been in darkness for a season,
while the people were gathering, and his mind was full of anxiety, and he would
go again and again to pray, til finally he would come into the room with a
placid face, and say: ‘The Lord has come, and He will be with us’. And I do not
know that I ever found him mistaken”.
Nash had great confidence in a God who heard and answered prayer. He was
not satisfied to stop praying until God answered in mighty power. Praying day
and night, great strugglings and weakened health were but prices to be paid
that God might move in power. The results were opened heavens, glorious power,
souls saved, and God glorified. This may well explain why over 80 per cent of
Finney’s converts stood without ever backsliding. This may also explain why
less than 20 per cent of today’s converts last a couple of years.
We have seen some of the importance of Nash’s prayer life through
various events and results. Now let us look a little closer at its principles
and concepts.
PRIVATE PRAYER
“Someone asked Finney what kind of man this Father Nash was. ‘We never
see him,’ they said. ‘He doesn’t enter into any of the meetings’.
“Finney replied, ‘Like anybody who does a lot of praying, Father Nash is
a very quiet person’. Show me a person who is always talking and I’ll show you
a Christian who never does much praying”.
The majority of prayer for those who would be so used must be in
private. They do not seek either the eye nor ear of men, but rather the ear of
God. They seek a closet alone with God. Nash used a cellar, a room in a
boarding house, a nearby house, or a grove of trees where he could pour out his
heart to God alone or with just a few others of similar burden and heart. James
A. Stewart emphasizes this point, “As in the case of ‘Praying Hyde’ and Father
Nash, it may be a life of isolation from the Christian public for the ministry
of intercession”.
FERVENCY IN PRAYER
Though he prayed in private, yet he often prayed with such fervency that
others became aware of his praying. This was not intended, but simply was the
release of a deeply burdened soul. The lady at the boarding house became aware
of his groans as he prayed. His enemies claimed “that it was impossible for him
to pray in secret since, whether he went into his closet or the woods, he
prayed with such vehemence that he could be heard half a mile away”. While this
was likely an exaggeration of his normal practice, there is a record of a
single occurrence of note:
“In the revival at Gouverneur (in which the great majority of the
inhabitants, Finney believed, were converted), Nash rose very early and went
into a wood to pray. ‘It was one of those clear mornings,’ said Finney, ‘on which
it is possible to hear sounds at a great distance’. Three-quarters of a mile
away lived an unconverted man who was suddenly arrested by hearing the voice of
prayer. He could distinguish that it was Nash’s voice, and this brought to him
such a sense of the reality of religion as he had never before experienced; he
experienced no relief until he found it in Christ”.
PRAYER LIST
An organized and systematic list of people and matters to pray for is a
common tool of effective prayer warriors. Preparation of our case, listing our
requests, and thoroughness in prayer help establish a meaningful ministry. It
also helps us rejoice in written evidence of answers to prayer.
Nash used such a method:
“Nash had remarkable power in prayer and was in the habit of making a
‘praying list’ of persons for whose conversion he daily prayed in secret. . . .
The answers to his prayers sometimes seemed almost miraculous, for he did not
confine his ‘list’ to those whom he thought might be reached by the revival,
but the most obdurate and unlikely cases were made the subjects of prayer, with
results that were truly astounding”.
Finney said of Nash and his prayer list, “Praying with him and hearing
him pray in meetings, I found that his gift of prayer was wonderful and his
faith almost miraculous”. Nash would pray for these not only daily, but for
some many times a day.
Another issue of prayer lists is knowing the will of God as to who to
put on the prayer list. To go by appearances is to walk by sight and not by
faith. To be able to believe God for a person’s salvation requires some leading
of God as to who to put on the list. Nash seemed especially sensitive in this
area, as he put names on as he felt led, even if it seemed that they were the
most unlikely candidates for salvation. Finney in describing Nash and his list
said:
“The plain truth of the matter is that the Spirit leads a man to pray;
and if God leads a man to pray for an individual, the inference from the Bible
is, that God designs to save that individual. If we find, by comparing our
state of mind with the Bible, that we are led by the Spirit to pray for an
individual, we have good evidence to believe that God is prepared to bless him”.
One example of Nash praying for an unlikely person is often written in
various books as an example of the power of prayer. Here is the account in
Finney’s own words:
“In a town in a north part of this state, where there was revival, there
was a certain man by the name of D________ who was a most violent and
outrageous opposer. He kept a low tavern in a corner of the village and used to
delight in swearing at a desperate rate, whenever there were Christians within
hearing, on purpose to hurt their feelings. He went railing about the streets
respecting the revival, and his house was the resort of all opposers of the
revival. One of the young converts lived almost across the way from him; and he
told me that he meant to sell his place, or give it away, and move out of the
neighborhood, because every time he was out of doors and D________ saw him, he
would come out and swear, and curse, and say everything he could to wound his
feelings. He had not, I think, been at any of our meetings. Of course he was
ignorant of the great truths of religion and despised the whole Christian enterprise.
“brother Nash heard us speak of this Mr. D________ as ‘a hard case’, and
was very much grieved and distressed for the individual. He immediately put his
name upon his ‘praying list’. The case weighed on his mind when he was asleep
and when he was awake. He kept thinking about the ungodly man, and praying for
him for days. In this manner the Spirit of God leads individual Christians to
pray for things which they would not pray for, unless they were led by the
Spirit; and thus they pray for things ‘according to the will of God’.
“Not many days afterward, as we were holding an evening meeting with a
very crowded house, who should come in but this notorious D________? His
entrance created a considerable movement in the congregation. People feared that
he had come in to make a disturbance. The fear and abhorrence of him had become
very general among Christians, I believe; so that when he came in, some of the
people got up and retired. I knew his countenance, and kept my eye upon him. I
very soon became satisfied that he had not come in to oppose, and that he was
in great anguish of mind. He sat and writhed upon his seat, and was very
uneasy. He soon arose, and tremblingly asked me if he might say a few words. I
told him that he might. He then proceeded to make one of the most heart-broken
confessions that I almost ever heard. His confession seemed to cover the whole
ground of his treatment of God, of Christians, of the revival, and of
everything good.
“This thoroughly broke up the fallow ground in many hearts. It was the
most powerful means that could have been used, just then, to give impetus to
the work. D________ soon came out and professed a hope, abolished all the
revelry (including liquor) and profanity from his barroom; and from that time,
as long as I staid there, and I know not how much longer, a prayer meeting was
held in his bar-room nearly every night”.
Such is one evidence of Nash’s power in prayer in the use of his list.
PRAYING WITH OTHERS
As has been mentioned previously, Nash customarily sought for a few
others to help carry the load in each of the places he went to minister in
prayer. Many times he had as a partner Abel Clary who was gifted and exercised
in a similar fashion. This praying together multiplies prayerpower: “One [shall]
chase a thousand and two [shall] put ten thousand to flight”. The efforts of
several with such a burden for victory greatly increases the power of prayer.
FOCUSING IN PRAYER
Strong praying must be effectual praying. There must be a desired
effect. This effect must be definite and clear to the one praying. This effect
will fill the mind of the saint and be a focus of thought, concern, and prayer.
Scattered praying in general directions is of little value. A list is a
starting point in this matter, yet the items on the list must be focused on one
by one if we are to expect results. Hear Finney tell of Nash’s way in this
matter:
“I was acquainted with an individual who used to keep a list of persons
for whom he was especially concerned; and I have had the opportunity to know a
multitude of persons, for whom he became thus interested, who were immediately
converted. I have seen him pray for persons on his list when he was literally
in an agony for them; and have sometimes known him call on some other person to
help him pray for such-a-one. I have known his mind to fasten thus on an
individual of hardened, abandoned character, and who could not be reached in an
ordinary way”.
Such praying required mental effort to aim at the proper effect with
true soul struggle. To move from real burden to solid faith often requires the
path of soul agony. We are too committed to cop out with fatalism, unconcern,
or shifting the responsibility to the lost. It may require a wrestling in
prayer until we obtain the desired blessing. This is on a far higher plane than
the physical. These struggles of soul and spirit may produce more than
weariness in the physical realm. But the body agony is but a result of such
praying, and not an integral part. Some would counterfeit this soul struggle by
physical manifestations. This may fool man but such hypocrisy is of no help in
the courts of Heaven.
PRAYER
OF FAITH
Nash was convinced that we have a responsibility for the destiny of
souls. He felt that God has committed great tools to us, and the use or disuse
of them was a serious matter for which we would have to give an account to God.
His ministry of prayer had this as a basic premise. He was despised by those of
a more fatalistic position. He did write a letter on this subject shortly
before his death. The only part of the letter to survive, to our knowledge, is
a group of excerpts given in a book attacking his position. How fully they
represent his position is unknown, but they do give some glimpses and points to
ponder:
“Since you were here I have been thinking of prayer--particularly of
praying for the Holy Ghost and its descent. It seems to me I have always
limited God in this request.... I have never felt, till since you left us, that
I might rationally ask for the whole influence of the Spirit to come down; not
only on individuals, but on a whole people, region, country, and world. On
Saturday I set myself to do this, and the devil was very angry with me,
yesterday for it. I am now convinced, it is my duty and privilege, and the duty
of every other Christian, to pray for as much of the Holy Spirit as came down
on the day of Pentecost, and a great deal more. I know not why we may not ask
for the entire and utmost influence of the Spirit to come down, and, asking in
faith, see the full answer.... I think I never did so freely ask the Holy Ghost
for all mankind. My body is in pain, but I am happy in my God.... I have only
just begun to understand what Jesus meant when He said, ‘All things whatsoever
ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive’.
“I have felt a little like praying that I might be overwhelmed with the
Holy Ghost, die in the operation, and go to Heaven thus; but God knows”.
To our knowledge these are the last recorded words of Daniel Nash.
Notice his humility. Hear his burden. Consider whether the Fulton Street
Revival of the 1850’s was as spontaneous a revival of prayer as has often been
thought. The youth of Nash’s day were the leaders of perhaps the greatest
revival of prayer in history.
We now come to the scene of his death. In the small village of Vernon
during the cold winter of an upstate New York December, when temperatures often
run below zero, Daniel Nash continues this ministry of prayer. Charles Finney
gives the account of the homegoing of his co-worker:
“Said a good man to me: ‘Oh, I am dying for the want of strength to
pray! My body is crushed, the world is on me, and how can I forbear praying?’ I
have known that man go to bed absolutely sick, for weakness and faintness,
under the pressure. And I have known him pray as if he would do violence to
Heaven, and then have seen the blessing come as plainly in answer to his prayer
as if it were revealed, so that no person could doubt it any more than if God
had spoken from heaven. Shall I tell you how he died? He prayed more and more;
he used to take the map of the world before him, and pray, and look over the
different countries and pray for them, till he expired in his room, praying.
Blessed man! He was the reproach of the ungodly, and of carnal, unbelieving
professors; but he was the favorite of Heaven, and a prevailing prince of
prayer”.
Thus he entered glory on his knees December 20, 1831, at the age of 56.
His body is buried near where he pastored in that former church’s graveyard
with a small stone to mark the spot.
Perhaps God will see fit to raise up others to have a similar ministry
in these needy days. Dear reader, will you consider the cost, the need, and the
opportunity? Will you give yourself to a ministry of prayer as God leads you and
enables?
