THE KING’S BUSINESS 597 land boasts that it has gone to war to maintain its honor in the defense of its pledged word. To both sides, the other side is entirely devilish, and its own side entirely honorable. All the nations at war, and this nation too , . must humble themselves under the mighty hand of God and we must con fess oUr own sins rather than the sins of others before we may expect deliv erance. We must search our own hearts and conduct carefully, to see if there is not at least some wrong on our side. One of the best of the English religious periodicals in its issue of September 16th says, "During the last month two great nations have been on their trial, England and Germany. The one has emerged triumphantly, calmly, spiritually; the other has emerged aggressively, boastingly, callously.” This lacks the note of humility that must accompany prevailing prayer. As far as we can judge, the sympathies of the great majority of people in this country are on the side of. England, and few can see how England could very well have kept from going to war; but to speak of the nation as a whole emerging “ triumphantly, calmly, spiritually,’' and the other whole nation emerging “ aggressively, boastingly, callously,” smacks of the Pharisaism that makes it impossible for God to answer prayer. England as a nation has not emerged “ spiritually.” England as a nation has departed from God (this same periodical points this fact out in numer ous places elsewhere) and if peace is to be granted, or victory is to be granted, there needs to be first o f all a return of the nation to God. However just their cause may be, the nation as a nation has not returned to God. Though America has thus far kept out of the war, the nation as a nation has departed from God, and instead of glorying over the other nations now suffering all the horrors of war we ought rather to repent lest we “ all likewise perish.” In the second place, if a Day of Prayer is to accomplish the desired results, it must be observed, and observed as a Day o f Prayer. As far as we can judge from personal observation and the perusal of daily papers, the 4th of October was not observed as a Day of Prayer. Mention was made of the President’s Call to Prayer in many pulpits, probably in most pulpits, and many ministers preached sermons—at least at one of the services—on subjects connected with the war, but we do not know of a single church in which the day was observed as a Day of Prayer. In not a few churches, the day was seized upon as a means of advertising the individual church and minister and as a means of getting people out to church who were not in the habit of going and then making such use of them as was possible for the advan tage of the local church. It was not in any sense a real Day of Prayer. There was an almost infinitesimal amount of prayer.' Some seized upon the day as an opportunity for raising money for the Red Cross Society and other commendable objects. The raising of money for these objects is all right in its place, but this was supposed to be a Day of Prayer, a day in which we should express our sense of dependence upon God, our utter helplessness in which we should confess our sins and seek God’s foregiveness and cry to Him for His deliverance, a day in which we should humble ourselves before Him. To turn it in any other direction, no matter how good, was in the highest degree unfortunate. Some years ago, the State of Minnesota was in great distress. Grasshopper plague after grasshopper plague had destroyed the crops; ruin and starvation were staring the people in the face. There were unmistakable signs that that year was to have the most awful grasshopper plague yet experienced. Governor John S. Pillsbury sent out a Call to Prayer
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