The Monitor-register., 1897-04-16

he does not MAKE reply. Every genuine
prayer is a child's letter to his Heaven
ly Father, and he will answer it, and
though you may get many letters from
your child before you respond some day
you say: ''There! I have received ten
letters from my daughter, and 1 will
answer them all now and at once, and
though not in just the way that she
hopes for I will do it in the best way,
and though she asked me for a sheet of
music I will not give it to her, for I do
not like the music spoken of, but I will
send her a deed to a house and lot, to
be hers forever" So God does not in
all cases answer in the way those who
sent the prayer hoped for, but he in all
cases gives what is asked for or some
thing better. So prayers went up from
the north and the south at the time of
our civil war, and they were all an
swered at Gettysburg. You cannot
make me believe that God answered on
ly the northern prayers, for there were
just as devout prayers answered south
of Mason and Dixon's line as north of
it, and God gave what was asked for,
or something as much more valuable,
as a house and lot are worth more than
a sheet of music. There is not a good
and intelligent man between the gulf
of Mexico and the st. Lawrence river
who does not believe that God did the
best thing possible when he stood this
nation down in 1866 a glorious unity,
never to be rent until the waters of the
Ohio and the Savannah, the Hudson
and the Alabama, are licked up by the
long, red tongues of a world on fire.
Yea, God sometimes answers prayers
on a large scale.
The Opened Sea.
In worse predicament nation never
was than the Israelitish nation on the
banks of the Red sea, the rattling
shields and the gathering hoofs of an
overwhelming host close after them.
An army could just as easily wade
through the Atlantic ocean from New
York to Liverpool as the Israelites
could have waded through the Red sea.
You need to sail ON its waters to real
ize how big it is. How was the crossing
effected? By prayer. Exodus xiv, Is:
"And the Lord said unto Moses: Where
fore criest thou unto me? Speak unto
the children of Israel, that they go for
ward"-that is, "Stop praying and
take the answer" And then the waters
began to be agitated and swung this
way and that way, and the ripple be-
came a billow, and the billow climbed
other pillows, and now they rise into
walls of sapphire, and invisible trowels
mason them into firmness, and the
walls become like mountains, topped
and turreted and domed with crags of
crystal, and God throws an invisible
chain around the feet of those noun
tains, so that they are obliged to stand
still, and there, right before the Israel
itish army, is a turnpike road, with all
the emerald gates swung wide open.
The passing host did not even get their
feet wet. They passed dry shod, the bot
tom of the sea as hard as the pavement
of Pennsylvania avenue or New York's
Broadway or London's Strand. Oh,
what a God they had! Or l think l will
change that and say, "What a God we
have!'
What power put its hands upon as
tronomy in Joshua's time and made the
fun and moon stand still? Joshua x, ~,
Then spoke Joshua unto the Lord"
Prayer! AS a giant will take two or
four great globes and in astounding
way swing them this way or that or
hold two Of them at arms length, go
the Omnipotent does as he will with
the great orbs of worlds, with wheeling
consultations and c%ircling galaxies,
swinging easily star around star, star
tossed after star or sun and moon held
out at arms length and perfectly still,
as in answer to Joshua's prayer. To
God the largest world is a pebble.
A Righteous Se1fshness.
Another reason why we should obey
the Pauline injunction of the text and
praV for all that are in authority is that