Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1907-06-29

years have we Dr0adened the scope Oh
our spiritual horizon. Not for years
have we made one prayer big enough
to obliterate self and take in Gods
glory and honor. The way some of us
make poor, puny, silly, selfish prayers
Is enough to make the angels In heay-
EN- laugh were it not for the fact that
those prayers are so tragic.
Oh, that you and / could grow big
enough in divine grace to make the
prayer which Paul made when In the
epistle to the Romans he wrote, Il
have great heavness and continual sor-
row in my heart, for l could wish that
myself were accursed from Christ for
my brethren, my kinsmen, according
to the flesh" That means in plain
English: 80 God, save my people; save
the Jews, the men of my own race.
would die for them. | would even for
felt my own hope of salvation If by
that means they might be won for
Christ" Do we ever make such
prayer as that? Do we make our
prayers so big that in their desires
they will girdle the earth round and
round and embrace the salvation OF
the whole world? l tell you, If we are
going to make a full use Of the priv
ilege Of prayer, our prayers Will have
to be made bigger than the little. puny,
selfish desires Of our hearts.
Shall we ever grow bigger than self?
Are we living and praying for our own
personal ends? Thank God, all men are
not living for themselves. There are
thousands and tens Of thousands, some
of them far poorer than we, who are
living and praying for others. Listen
to this remarkable history During the
famous London dock strike OF a few
years ago a young man sitting at his
breakfast table and reading the story
Of suffering in the papers suddenly
said, II have no right to all this plenty
while so many are starving" So he
went and drew all his money out or
the bank. Then he bought lot Of food
and started out to find the homes or
the strikers. He went to a street near
the docks and stopped before one OF
the biggest tehements and asked the
landlady If there were any hungry
around. She answered, "Lots Of them"
Then she told the young man upon
what floors Of her own house he would
find those who were In the worst need.
He went from room to room. In some
Of those rooms the men and the women
who were starving would not touch his
food because their neighbors were
worse off than they. 'It amt that I'm
above being helped" said one gaunt,
haggard man, "but I've got enough
ahead to keep me and mine In bread
for one week more. If the strike ain't
off by then I'll take help and thank
you. But there's worse off than we
are now, and they must be helped
first" At last the young man returned
to the landlady who had directed him
among the starving and bluntly said,
"When did you eat anything last"
"Oh. I had something to eat day before
Yesterday. You know they cannot pay
their rents now, and l have to keep
them" "But you never asked me for
bread. Why notT Because" said
the brave woman, II know of some OF
them upstairs who have not had a
morsel Of food for three days, and l
wanted you to help them first" Wher-
ever that young man went during that
London dock strike he found starving
men and women, thinking not so much
for themselves as for others. Thus
may we breathe forth our prayers.
May we pray for others. May we
plead for others. Like Paul, may we
be able to say. 80 God, for thy honor
and glory may live and may | die"
Let us fill the six water pots to the
brim when we lift up our petitions to
God.
AmpIfy Your Prayers.
Amplify your prayers. Make them
big enough to take in the necessities
of the whole human race. But do more
than that. After you have prayed thus
90 forth with the confidence that God
will answer your prayers upon big
scale. The trouble with great many
Of us is that we pray big and then
plan small. We lay out our designs
for a st. Peters or Milan or Se-
vile cathedral. Then we materjalize
our designs into mortar and brick by
building a little meeting house or d
village church or a roOhess barn or q
hencOop.
One of the small cities of England
wished to build large cathedral. Ihe
citizens came to famous London
architect and asked him to design one
which would cost $1,000,000. After the
elaborate design had been completed
the committee came back and asked
the architect if he would cut down his
design and build instead a church
worth $4,000. With that the sarcas'
tic architect said, Gentlemen, cannot
you make it 80 shllings more so we
can throw in fine spireT Thus some
VI us Ill OuI DNSN fNNN
tioning God for st. Peters cathedral
We have laid out our prayers upon the
most elaborate scale. We have asked
for the conversion of the world. We
have pleaded for the emancipation OF
the human race from the tyranny Of
sin. We have asked for everything
we ought TO have asked for. Bu
when it comes to filling up the water
pots to the brlm we say: "What Is the
use? II we can get God to answer
our prayers thimbleful, that is all We
have a right to expect" We ask for
| fine cathedral; then we are satisfied t(
plan for a village meeting house or
! little mud hut. Now, my friends, yol
have no right to ask God for biz
things unless you at the same time g
forward in triumphant faith, planning
to work out your prayers, expecting
God to answer your petitions in du'
time.
| He Get tha Funds.