Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1875-08-24
THE PRAYER TE II.
What Correspondents Have to Say
Touching the Appeals Bdit9rIAl on
Prayer 20 Abate the Fi0Od.
Christians Of Various Denominations
Express Their Views and Quote
Scripture-And Yet the
Flood Game!
Prayers and the Mississippi River.

I
indiscTeet christians often foster infide
I sentiments in others. Nothing is more
; rational than prayer, yet the proposals
! OF deVout minds sometimes shock the
sensibilities of Others, and really seem
to them secrilegiOus and absurd. This
doubtless arises from misspprehension
OF the subject. Prayer is a moral priDci-
. pie OF sct that is as uniform in its results
, as any natural principle in philosophy or
science. 1t is not designed to interfere
: with any of Gods plans In the govern
: ment Of the universe, but to harmOniZs
with them, 1t is great privilege to ask
Gods help in the hour of distress, and
most men do it, "The fervent, eff ctual
prayer Of a righteous man availeth
much"-slways does in every extremity
to which men are reduced. "If you ask
and receive not, it is because you ask
smiss" Debating to the Almighty is
certainly presumptuous and amiss. The
editorial In the DAILY APPEAL of Au.
gust 15tn on "Prsyer and the Mississippi
Rivei" has called forth these reflec-
tiODs. The remarks are judiciOus
aud the conclusions correct. But We
except 10 the ignoring of the interposi-
ton OF heaven in answer to prayer in
any calamitous event produced by nat
uTal causes. In storms, floods, pesti-
leuce, and every disaster, we may call
upon God, and confidently rely upon an
answer If We pray Alright. Relief will
surely come (but we are not to dictate
the means). This may be without dis
tutbing one of his immutable laws, and
the divinely Illuminated mind will as
clearly recognize the hand of God in it
az he behOlds His glory and power and
goodness in the light OF day and uni-
form motions of the planetary worlds.
He can Danish the clouds, dry up the
floods of waters, arrest the pestilence,
without the violation of any of His es-
tablished laws. Capricious changing of
| these laws, according to peculiar no.
ti0ns or conflicting interest, might pro-
duce jsrrinQ and discord." Mau, in his
fOrgetfulBess, neglects to acknowledge
heavens benefits when his requests are
| granted in Gods ordinary way Of send
| ing relief. He may well inquire, "Where
are the nine?n Frem whence the illumi-
nation to detect the cause of yelIow-fe-
yer, and who prompted to sanitary reg
ulations? Were not the pious praying
| for the removal Of the sc0uTge; and if
| He chooses to employ human agency
| and ordinary means to answer their re-
| quest, is He less to be honored than if it
was done by miraculous Interference?
! We are not taught to expect such re-
suits any more than resping a rich bar
vest without using the means He
| has supplied. If we mend the
| flue and save our house from the con-
| suming fame, hss He not answered our
| prayer when We prayed "save US from
| fire?u etc. Certainly there is no devout
| christian so enthused as to suppose that
| he can stay the rising tide OF the mighty
Mississippi by ridiculous" or any other
| kind of pray ers; but in the hour OF peril
! ne may pray for and expect deliverance
! in Gods appointed way. "The dozen
able-bodied men with spades, levees for
protection" may all be put there in an
swer to prayer. Why were net these
things done and many others that make
the ''wilderness rejoice and the desert
blossom" before this was q christian na-
tion? II is the divine light shed under
the influence of prayer that advances ali
great enterprises aud gives progress and
improvement ip all branches of human
society. 1t is the only safety and bul-
wark Of the nation. One good man
saved S0dom as long as he prayed for it.
The little prayer and piety that remains
is the great conservative element that
saves the country in these perverse
times. Were it not for this how soon
ruption that is sweeping over the land
drive US to destruction? Read the evil.
Psalms for the best illucidation of our
subject. t.
Prayer Test.
EDITORS APPEAL - Memphis may
we'll fear the wrath of God after your
blasphemOus declaration that "twelve
men with spades can do more to confine
Ill
the prayers of Christendom." After
this, no one need be surprised or have
any right to complain, if Memphis
should be swallowed up by an earth
quake, or depopulated by the black |
plague. What but the stiff-necked de- |
fiance of the people, provoking the wrath |
OF God, caused the recent earthquake by |
by which the city of Cuenca, in Ecua- |
dor, was totally destroyed aud ten thou |
sand people men, women and children, |
we're swallowed up in the ruins? Can |
any one doubt that the fearful yellow |
fever plague of 1878 was a manifestation |
Of the wrath of God at the wickedn=ss |
of the people in selling peanuts on Sun
dsy and Sabbath-breaking in other |
weys? And after fifteen hundred vic |
Tins had been sacrificed to appease the |
wrath Of God, does not every one re- |
member how rapidly the plague abated |
when the pastors of Memphis in general |
meeting humbly thanked God on bend |
ed knees for the repeated biting frOsts |
which he was pleased to send? Behold |
the efficacy Of prayer and hard frosts in |
this case, when your legion of doctors |
and tons OF drugs and disinfectants failed |
to arrest the plague. Who does not |
know that when few months |
ago, Kansas and Missouri were threat |
ened with wholesale destruction by the |
rrasshoppers, Governor WoodsOL's |
proclamation of fasting and prayer |
caused them to fly back to the Rocky |
mountains, and saved the people and |
the cattle OF those States from famine? |
la the suburbs of London is a large |
building, to which desperate cases of |
sickness, pronounced incurable by the |
doctors, are transferred, and the suppli- |
cations of the righteous are offered up |
to God for the delivery OF the patients, |
and who doubts a favorable answer to |
the prayer, where the patient is deserv- |
ing OF it? And yet in the face Of ali |
these astounding evidences OF special |
Providence, you advise people to put |
their tIu in spades, instead Of prayers,
to save themselves from overflow; and |
following the train Of your advice, Doc |
tors Rice, Avent and Taylor, of the board |
of health, are busy with the spade, re-
moving the filth and garbage from the |
streets of the city, as il such puny efforts |
could avert the wrath Of God and pre-
vent yellow-fever. / tremble lest such |
ignoring of Gods power provokes His
wrath and brings upon us another |
plague. II none but the wicked suffered |
it would not make much difference, but |
the great misery is, that hundreds of |
our most devout, holy and pious broth
ers and sisters fall victims to the plague,
and the righteous are made to suffer
feaIfully for the acts of the wicked.
ECCLEsIAsTICUS.
From q Catholic Layman.
EDITORS APPEAL-I was so full of |
indignation with your anti prayer arti-
Gle that could not find suitable words
in which to express it, and tore up a
dozen sheets, one after another, written |
to refute your disbolical theory about |
the inutility of prayer. Our churches,
of which we have thirty in Memphis, /
built at cost of several hundred thou
sand dollars, are there for purposes of