The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-03-28
War and Prayer.


r come down from colonial times,
the governor of Connecticut has
issued a proclamation setting aside
Good Friday as a day of fasting n
prayer. The governor recommends
that the day be employed in earnestly
beseeching God to avert war IF IL may
be consistent with humanity and ma
tional honor" This is a particular rec
o~mmendation and thereby hangs a on
troversy. The New Haven Journal
and Courier is of the opinion that God
might attach a different meaning to
the words humanity and national
honor" when viewing the rights of
both Spain and the United States. 1t
says: Perhaps good Spaniards are
even now praying to God to look out
for their national honor. and their idea
of their national homo may be very
different from what our idea of 1t or
of our own national honor Is. On the
whole we think it pious and wise for
the people of this state not to try
in prayer on Fast Day to put bounds to
God by the words humanity and ma
tional honor"
The Hartford Courant. IN the other
hand. says: Governor Cooke Fast Day
proclamation is a model in its brevity.
simplicity and right feeling. Notice the
wording of his counsel to the people to
pray for deliverance from war. He
recognizes the distinction-never to be
o,,arIaoLad bv discarpjng map-betweep
needless. wicked war and war enforced
by considerations of true patriotism
and humanity"
The New Haven Register joins in the
controversy i'm this style: There can
be no doubt raised as to the presidents
particularly upon the especial needs Of
our people in invoking the aid of the
Creator. For years 1t has been the
practice of good people in our neigh
borhood to pray for rain or for the
cessation of rain. while the people of
another neighborhod are praying for
| exactly the opposite blessings. This
practice has come down to us from our
pious ancestors. who besought the
counsel of God upon every matter.
whereby they un~questionably gained
strength of purpose and nobility of
soul" But after further consideration
of the subject. historically and theo-
logically. the Register reaches the con-
clusion that 1.-The inability of the hu-
man Judgment to encompass the design
and purpose of Almighty Providence
has seemed to us reason enough to linn
IL our demonstrations to expressions of
faith in His wisdom. whatever occurs"
1t will be remembered hat during the
civil war both Northerners n South
erners ''wrestled' with God very long
and earnestly i'm prayer. During
Grants siege of Richmond, the con-
federates held daily and nightly prayer
meetings. and the length To which they
extended their hopeless resistance no
doubt is largely attributable to their
conviction that God was IN their side.
jefferson Davis was an exceptionally
religious man. and so. too. was General
Lee. one Of the confederate generals
was a bishop In the Episcopal church.
and IL Is a matter of history that a
reverent and religious feeling ~pervaded
the rebel army generally. Yet the Lord
was on the other side. II has irrever-
emily been said that God is always on
the sid Of the heaviest artillery. but
that doesn't necessarily follow.
The fact of the matter is that a per-
son of deep religious faith can hardly
help praying for direct and concrete re-
suits; and the good people of Connecti-
cut. like good people elsewhere through
out the country, doubtless will heartily
beseech the Lord to call of the Span
iards from cuba, or, II that be not con-
sistent with His scheme of the uni
verse. TO help US lick the life out of
them at His earliest convenience.