THE ' KING’ S BUSINESS 189 to the support and comfort of those who can and do. Why should those who/ are drafted bear all the sacrifices ? Does the drafted man owe anything to the country that we do not? Does a man between twenty-one and thirty-one owe any mpre to his country than a man between thirty-one and fifty-one or even older ?' There may be sufficient reasons why we should not go, but there are no reasons why we should not make sacrifices as well as they. Many of us can contribute by promptly paying our Federal Taxes. Any one who attempts to evade or diminish his rightful proportion of the taxes, or who fails to1pay his taxes promptly is as much a slacker as the one who is o f the proper age who refuses to register for the draft. We can contribute money for the comfort of those who have gone by giving to the Red Cross or the Y. M. C. A., but above all we can help by our prayers. O f course, our prayers will not count much' if we have not helped in these other ways, and if we make our prayers simply an excuse for neglect of the performance of duty, but we can do more by prayer than we can in any other one way. Prayer has won many battles and conquered many apparently unconquerable despots and nations. The United States at the time of the Revolution wommore by the prayers of the godly people in the land than by the wisdom or the bravery of its Washingtons. Our first obligation to our country at the present time is .prayer. Furthermore, in order that we may pray effectively, in order that we may pray so that our prayers will count, in order that we may pray so that our prayers will bring things to pass, we must in our own lives meet the conditions of prevailing prayer. A good deal of praying has been done already that we might win the war, but little seems to have comer of the praying. Why ha£, not God answered the prayers of England? Why has not God answered the prayers, of America more largely than He has? Because neither England nor America has met the conditions of prevailing prayer. God told His people that He would answer their prayers in, the hour of their defeat and bondage if they would repent of and confess their sins and get right with Him, and observe His will as revealed in His Word. He said: “ And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come, upon thee, the bless ing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD the God hath driven thee, and shalt return unto the,LORD thy God, and shalt obey His voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul; that THEN the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the peoples, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee” (Deut. 30:1-3). England has not repented of its sins, America has not repented of its sins. Have \ye as indi viduals repented of our sins ? Much prayer to God.is simply attempting to make . a convenience of God, asking God to be “mit uns” when we are ignoring God, when we are neglecting God’s holy Word, rejecting God’s holy Son, and using God’s holy day for our own convenience and.pleasure. True patriotism demands that we repent of our sins, that we get right with God, that we accept the Lord Jesus as our Saviour, and surrender absolutely to Him as our Lord and Saviour, and that we confess Him publicly as such before the world, and live to please Him day by day. When we are thus right with God, then we can pray and God will answer, The one who refuses in this time of crisis to get right with God in order that he may pray in power, is a traitor to his country. He is a worse slacker than the one who refuses to register for the draft, or to answer the draft when he is called.
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