The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1907-02-12
twelve join THE CHURCH
Or. Breeders Hoquence IS too
luCh for His Hearers
PRAYER IS INSTRUCTIVE IN NAN
EVEN PAGANS OF OLD HAD TO
HAVE SOMETHING TO OFFER
UP PRAYERS TO.
PRAYER IS INSTRUCTIVE IN NAN

Members of the congregation to the
number of IL made confession OF
foith at the close of the union revival
service at the Cristian church last
night. Many others who live outside of
the city were influenced by the elO-
quence of DR.. H. o. Breeder to bring
their membership here and do what
| they could for the spiritual good of this
| city.
! Prayer was the subject on which the
pastor talked last night. He said in
part:
Prayer has it's foundation in the
nature of things; it is instructive; it is
one of the great impulses of the human
heart; it has the same basis as relig-
| ion and cannot be dispensed with by
mankind.
"Ethnologists say that no race ever
existed that did not pray, that did not
invoke the assistance of some higher
power than man. even though their
understanding of that higher power may
| be of the haziest kind. This cannot be
4
man has tried to show that a remote
race of savages seemed never to pray
or to have any faith in anything be-
You'd the things of this world.
| Some Believe Not In God.
| "Some tribes do not believe in a per-
| sonal God, but whether polytheists,
monotheists or idolaters, all believe in
prayer. Everything animated that eX-
lists is correlated with other powers and
other forces the fish seeks the water,
the bird appeals to the air and the
! soul of man tries to enter into cores
pondence with God. The very desire
for prayer presupposes the existence
of being capable of hearing and an
swering our humble petitions. Prayer
is universal, the longings of the soul
are expressed in petitions to the Diety.
Even men who do not believe in
God pray, for you remember the pro-
| fessed atheist, who found himself
among the monks of France, 20 God,
if there be a God, save my soul. if I
have a SOUL he prayed. And prayer
| is not confined to the lOwly. Look at
| the great agnostic Ii Hung Chang.
When the Yalu river overflOwed it's
banks and the people of the country
were perishing in thousands the great
| statesman went with his retinue of
servants into the temple to invoke the
aid of his gods. In times Of extremity
/ all men pray. But Jesus prayed more
than anybody: he prayed at Caper
mum; he prayed as barefooted ana
hungry he climbed the mountain top;
he prayed when he sent his apostles
abroad to spread the holy gospel
among benighted souls; he prayed at
Gethsemane, and he prayed under the
dark cloud at Calvary. His whole life
! in fact was suffused with prayer: it
i was one long, earnest, persistent.
faithful and loving petition to the
| great Jehovah. And he taught his
apostles to pray and they disseminated
his teachings throughout the world.
| ut were better that the ancient
Greeks should have their thirty thou
sand gods than that they should have
no idea Of the necessity for prayer.
| They obeyed a human desire that had
been prompted by divine being, and
| with all their faults they We're a thou
sand times better for it, Prayer en-
mobiles man; it is the grand ladder by
which he reaches the throne of Jeho-
yah and nobody can tell me that man
| does not improve after conversing with
God. Close association with God made
the face of Moses shine with such
| splendor that his people had to shade
their eyes on his approach as if looking
upon the MONDAY sum-