Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-07-06

present, 30 there is no chance Of dying for
the love OF the country, nor even Of spend
ing ones time scraping lint for the wound
ed soldiers. The country Is said to be ex-
ceeding prosperous. and what is there for
1t would seem as II our chapter this week
was just sent us to be IN answer to that
feeling: For lions sake will not hold my
peace and for Jerusalem's sake will not
rest" That is combining God and country
in one. Zion and Jerusalem, the church
and the city.
Now how are we to go about it to make
this dear land Of ours one with serving
God, and to make 1t q Grown OF glory"
God?" '"' ' 49, ''' '' - ''
given here as to what we may do, hints, II
you please to call them SO, how we may
use this time of peace and mot rest" nor
Hold my peace"
Gods children, are set as watchmen upon
the walls Of Jerusalem:" that Is. that every
child Of God is Waterman, responsible for
some portion Of his native land. I'VE that
make mention of the Lord keep not ST.
lence!" There We are. those of US who are
accustomed to go to the Lord in prayer
about everything, we are told not TO 1orgeI
to pray for our land, keep not silence!
Indeed, the direction to pray Is so siren
uous that 1t Is said: (which shall never
hold their peace day nor night That
makes living pretty serious ana our respon-
sibility for our country tremendous.
Moreover, there Is promise concerning
this prayer, as there always Is with God
commands-they are covenants. There Is
always some great consequence flowing
from them We find promise here in the
eighth and ninth verses, and in the eleventh
and twelfth again God has sworn to raise
up the desolate people, to redeem them
from any degradation.
How often have you wearied when the
noipictor praved for the country, and
thought how much like a farce 1t was. You
didn't put 1t in those words, put such q
feeling fioated slyly through your brain
as you heard the President and all the Of
GERS in authority prayed for" and you
did not echo that prayer one least little
bit in your heart, nor help 1t up to heaven
by SO much as one watt. But our text
distinctly says that we are to pray for e,,
our country, and "Give Him no rest, till
He establish, till He make it praise
in the earth" Did you ever think of
that. that you have no right 10 SIT down
and fold your hands in helpless despair
over the evils of politics, and the sins OF
the land, and think that Good men can do
nothing; it is all corrupt? You have not
done all your part till you have prayed: II
God wants prayer from you, you don't
need to sit down and think there Is nothing
to be done just because prayer seems 70
be such an utterly useless thing IN the
matter with all this whirl Of evil going on
about. You might as well sit down IN z
dark building where a great audience was
gathered and deplore the lack of light
when an electric switch was close beside
you, which you might turn on and SEND a
flood of light into every part of the build
ing at once.
'More things are wrought by prayer
Than this world dreams of. Wherefore let thy
Rise like fountain for me night and day:
For what are men better than sheep or goats
If, knowing God, they lift not those hands OF
rbn coll
For 50 the whole round earth is every way,
Bound by gold chains about the feet OF God"
But our responsibility Is not all done az
ter we have prayed day and night, either.
There Is one more verse here filled with dl-
rections. We cannot just live In the sub
urbs peacefully and pray, and then spend
the rest Of the time deploring the state OF
things in the city. the number of saloons
on every street corner, the number OF dens
Of iniquity in which the young people of the
land annually being dragged to the
bottomless pit, the number OF places where
opium can be obtained freely, and the ter
rible state Of public sentiment. We have
a clear work here to do. We are hidden to
go through, go through the gates
and 1t seems in that double exhortation as
II the God Of Heaven were urging us not
to lag back as we do, but to go bravely to
the front and do what we can. We must
go to the scene Of the evil and prepare the
way for the coming Of the Lord. When
your friends are coming to visit you, and
to be for several days or weeks in your
house, how you clean it from attic to cell
lar that 1t may be in the best Of order.
How much more when the Lord Of Heaven
Is coming shall we prepare the earth and
our particular corner of it, our native land
into beautiful place for His feet! Cast
the dirt and filth! Get out the rough
ness, Gather up the stones" If Jesus
Christ were to come again to the earth
as He came before what would be the
q CT In fha yrro1y 70
feet? Would it not be as before, the in
difference of His own, first, to the work
of His kingdom. How He would stand
and weep still over the modern "Jerusa-
lem. 1t is our business to go to work
and get those stones out Of the highway
for the feet Of the Lord; anything that
makes it hard for Christ to come to ma
ton, a home, individual. Sabbath
breaking, drunkenness, impurity, dis
honesty, all those things. 1t is as much a
shame upon you. a quiet member Of Gods
church and the Christian Endeavor So
ciety, that these things mar the land, as
1t would be shame to you, member of
your own family If garbage were al
lowed to lie about your own home door
way. If the other members of the family
di not care enough to pick it up, surely
you would feel the need of doing So You
cannot get out of it by saying 1t is not
your business, for it is your business; first
to pray with all your heart for your
country, and then to prepare the way"
for your Lord by gathering up the
stones" of sin that lie all about you. If
you have only strength to gather little
ones, very well, then gather little ones.
They all have to be gathered.
Applied Truth.
One of the greatest dangers that sea cap
tains fear is that of coming in contact with
a 'derelict," as an abandoned ship at sea
Is called There are now supposed to be
about thirty such vessels floating about at
the will of the currents in the Atlantic wa
ters.s They are without a pilot, crew or
rudder, and are bound nov here and carry
no one. One of nem has a cargo of ma
hogany on board, and is level with the
waters { lge. 1t has been drifting about
since March, 1891.
Since the steamship companies adopted
what is --nown as the lane routes, the peril
of collision at sea has been much reduced.
By that the route a steamer follows after
leaving ew York is fifty miles away from
the route taken by steamers bound west.
Therefore these steamers are not very
likely TO meet one another and come into
collision. But these abandoned ships not
being under control, and carrying no lights
continual source of danger. The gulf
stream carries them northward and then