Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-07-19
BY William T. Ellis

BY William Il. Eius
Swifter than the ships that sal
across the sea and the channel;
surer than the messages than flash
un6erseas and fly through the air, Is
the path of the prayers that talth
is hourly sending by way or the
throne of God. There is not minute
of the dag or night when loving
hearts in Canada and the United
States and in Great Britain and Aus
tralia and other lands are not brids-
ing the great spaces with yearnlng'
loving petitions for the soldiers IN
France Tennyson's figure of the
whole worlds being bound by golden
chains of prayer about the feet oi
God has been strangely fulnlled IN
these days. After love and loyalty
have made every gift and every sac
rince. there still remains for them,
in their sense of remoteness and
helplessneSS. only the power of pray
er. Mothers and fathers, wives
sweethearts. sisters. brothers, kim
dred, friends and fellow patriots, are
leagued in a great fellowship OF
prayer for our boys who have gone
10 war.
Somehow. we cannot think of the
subject of prayer at all without nrs'
dwelling upon the new world condl-
ton which has thrust it into the pun
lie thought as a present force and
necessity. In the United States II
has become almost a nationwide
usage to observe a noon-tde anselus'
BY official direction signals for pray
er are given so that entire cities may
hear and pause for a moment OF
prayer fo~ our soldiers and our
cause.
The nation, even the thoughtless
among US, are holding our armies IN
their highest and holiest aspirations,
directed toward the Supreme Ruler
of the universe. We are praying ne-
cause an instinct stronger than rea-
son is commanding us to turn TO the
only Power that can supplement our
helpfulness. We ourselves are I'M
tied and isolated and weak; all the
DEPTHS of our being affirm that there
is one who is almighty and every
where present: whose nature ana
power enfold our loved ones over
seas as we'll as ourselves at nome.
Since hunger is, bread needs must
be-" the very existence of the day
great yearning and travail of soul
convince us that there must be low
ing God TO satisfy us.
The New World Tic
Last night l heard little child
prayer, and her usual form, Now l
law me" was supplemented by Take
care of our soldiers, and give them
victory" That kneeling figure of
innocence calls up a picture OF
myriads and myriads of similar
scenes: what a new fellowship OF
childhood has been created in the
common daily prayer for our SOL
diers, many thousands of them being
the PRAYERS of little children for
their own fathers. And what a
school Of holy patriotism are these
prayers
Kneeling. mankind is coming clos
er together. With what a varied
company of people on their knees in
churches I have fellowshiped in the
past year-Russians high and low;
Armenians. AssyrianS. British,
French and Americans. All the
world in travail is finding itself knit
together in a new spirit of unity.
Praying people. whose numbers now
include multitudes who never used
to pray. find themselves invested
with a new sympathy for one an
other Tolerance and fortitude are
being learned in our war-created
school of prayer. France and Brit
ain turn brave faces to the world
and do not weep or vail over their
hereaven ents: but in secret they cry
aloud to the Lord God of Hosts for
strength. as we'll as for protection
for their loved ones.
Out of the depths Of experience
prayers arise. That rulers have OF
late so often. and so solemnly sum-
moned nations to their knees. is a
new testimony to the reality Of the
worlds sense of the necessity OF
prayer. Closer and holier, even. than
our national unity is this seldom -ex-
Dressed sentiment of our common
fellowship within the providence OF
God. Our deepest relationships are
in Him. Nothing can shatter the
sense that we meet our absent he
loved at Gods feet.
"Fhough sundered far, by faith we
meet
Around one common Mercy Seat"
Peasants by wayside crucifxes. be-
shawled old women before Russian
icons. statesmen bowed in formal re-
ligious services, little children
kneeling beside their cribs families
gathered by the freside altar
groups Of like-minded Christians
assembled for worship. all are pres
ent-day evidences that God has
deeply upon the human spirit that
in times Of stress we turn as in.
stinctively to Him as a bird to its
nest.
The Kaiser Before the Crib
Do our soldiers pray? Certainly
not as the pharisees of our Lords
time prayed. standing in public
places. to be seen of men. A shy
sensitive secret spirit of reverence
has been discovered in the breasts OF
the soldiers. Just as they have
sloughed of interest in the petty
considerations of sectarianism and OF
conventionality. so they have taken
on a new, deep sense of reality OF
God and of His providence. Their
very self-abGndonment TO all the
risks and tasks of war is a prayer
They feel that they are about a work
=, which God called them, and In
-hich He has great stake. and for
which they may count upon His CO.