THE KING’S BUSINESS 189 that a Day of Humiliation and Prayer be appointed. But those in authority thinking that the word “humiliation” would look badly in the eyes of their enemies, changed the suggested “Day of Humiliation and Prayer” to a “Day of Humble Prayer.” It seems to us that this was most unfortunate. It was not at all a question of how it would seem to their enemies; it was simply a question of the nation’s path of wisdom in the sight of God. It was God’s help they sought, not any man’s. The right thing for any individual or any nation to do when visited by calamities or when facing great difficulties is to go to God and earnestly seek and find in God’s presence if there is anything in its conduct that is displeasing in His sight and to humble themselves before God in definite confession and renunciation of their sins, making restitution as far as is in their power, and then, and then only, have they the right to seek God’s help and expect it. This is set forth very clearly in Solomon s prayer at the dedication of the Temple (1 Kings 8:33, 34), “When thy people Israel be smitten down before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee, and shall turn again to thee, and confess thy name, and pray, and make supplication unto thee in this house; Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which thou gavest unto their fathers.” That England as a nation has sinned there can be no question; in their religious life, and their social life they have departed from God, and there should be humiliation of themselves before God for that fact before they can approach God in acceptable prayer and expect His help; and there have been very definite national sins, for example, in their conduct toward China in the matter of the opium traffic, and even in their present conduct. There should be confession of this sin and there should be restitu tion to China for the wrongs done. This is not at all to say that England is wrong in the present war, but God judges nations, just as He does indi viduals for past sins, and they must confess and make restitution before God can come to the help of the individual or the nation. A Day of Humiliation and Prayer was exactly what England needed, it is exactly what Germany needs, and it is exactly what America needs. Americans have a way of taking great glory to themselves because they are not in the war, but while we may rejoice and do rejoice that we are not in the war, nevertheless, we are not without sin, and as a nation we have ignored God, followed after idols and also the devices and desires of our ownhearts. Nothing would do more to straighten out the present awful calamities that are devastating the earth, not merely the nations that are at war but other nations that are affected by the war, than an International Day of Humiliation before the true God, the God and Father of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, and of prayer. Such a day, if carried out in all sincerity, would bring this war and all wars speedily to an end. I x f { i i H UMBLE yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time. IPeter 5:6. Ì. f I 1 Ì
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