Building Faith & Motivation

​I run across scriptures and faith building stories that are so pertinent to our day. I'm going to start posting them in this thread.

Nephi predicted the outcome of these mighty struggles, saying, “I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles that had gone out of captivity [from Europe] were delivered by the power of God out of the hands of all other nations.” The determination of the early American settlers to live the lives of practicing Christians brought some rather amazing blessings. Here is but one historical example.

In October of 1746, the French assembled the largest fleet ever to be sighted from American soil and headed for Boston to avenge their defeat at Louisburg. Because there was no hope of matching the fleet either in cannon fire or manpower, the governor assembled what men and resources he could and called for a day of universal fasting and prayer.

The late biographer Catherine Drinker Bowen related what happened thus: “Everywhere men observed it, thronging to the churches. In Boston the Reverend Thomas Prince, from the high pulpit of the Old South Meeting-house, prayed before hundreds. The morning was clear and calm, people had walked to church through sunshine. `Deliver us from our enemy!’ the minister implored. `Send Thy tempest, Lord, upon the waters to the eastward! Raise Thy {p. 84} right hand. Scatter the ships of our tormentors and drive them hence. Sink their proud frigates beneath the power of Thy winds!’

“He had scarcely pronounced the words when the sun was gone and the morning darkened. All the church was in a shadow. A wind shrieked round the walls, sudden, violent, hammering at the windows with a giant hand. No man was in the steeple—afterward the sexton swore it—yet the great bell struck twice, a wild, uneven sound. Thomas Prince paused in his prayer, both arms raised. `We hear Thy voice, O Lord!’ he thundered triumphantly. `We hear it! Thy breath is upon the waters to the eastward, even upon the deep. Thy bell tolls for the death of our enemies!’ He bowed his head; when he looked up, tears streamed down his face. `Thine be the glory, Lord. Amen and amen!’... “All the Province heard of this prayer and this answering tempest. Governor [William] Shirley sent a sloop, the Rising Sun, northward for news.... But she brought news so good it was miraculous—if one could believe it.... The whole fleet was nearly lost, the men very sick with scurvy or some pestilential fever. Their great admiral, the Duc d’Anville, was dead.

“A week later the news was confirmed by other vessels entering Boston from the northeastward. D’Anville was indeed dead; it was said he had poisoned himself in grief and despair when he saw his men dying round him. Two thousand were already buried, four thousand were sick, and not above a thousand of the land forces remained on their fleet. Vice-Admiral d’Estournelle had run himself through the heart with his sword. The few remaining ships, half-manned, were limping off to the southwestward, headed it was thought for the West Indies. “Pestilence, storm and sudden death—how directly and with what extraordinary vigor the Lord had answered New England prayers! “The country fell on its knees.... A paper with d’Anville’s orders had been found, instructing him to take Cape Breton Island, then proceed to Boston—`lay that Town in Ashes and destroy all he could {p. 85} upon the Coast of North America; then proceed to the West Indies and distress the Islands.’”21 Had the French armada succeeded in burning Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston, the history of early America might have been changed completely.

Skousen, W. Cleon. Isaiah Speak to Modern Times . Verity Publishing, Inc.. Kindle Edition.