"The service proceeded; a war chapter from the Old Testament was
read; the first prayer was said; it was followed by an organ burst that shook the building, and with one impulse the house
rose, with glowing eyes and beating hearts, and poured out that tremendous invocation:
God the all-terrible! Thou who ordainest! Thunder thy clarion and lightning
thy sword!
Then came the "long" prayer. None could remember the like of it for passionate
pleading and moving and beautiful language. The burden of its supplication was, that an ever-merciful and benignant Father
of us all would watch over our noble young soldiers, and aid, comfort, and encourage them in their patriotic work; bless them,
shield them in the day of battle and the hour of peril, bear them in His mighty hand, make them strong and confident, invincible
in the bloody onset; help them to crush the foe, grant to them and to their flag and country imperishable honor and glory
--
An aged stranger entered and moved with slow and noiseless step up the main
aisle, his eyes fixed upon the minister, his long body clothed in a robe that reached to his feet, his head bare, his white
hair descending in a frothy cataract to his shoulders, his seamy face unnaturally pale, pale even to ghastliness. With all
eyes following him and wondering, he made his silent way; without pausing, he ascended to the preacher's side and stood there
waiting. With shut lids the preacher, unconscious of his presence, continued with his moving prayer, and at last finished
it with the words, uttered in fervent appeal,
"Bless our arms, grant us the victory, O Lord our
God, Father and Protector of our land and flag!"
The stranger touched his arm, motioned him to step aside -- which the startled
minister did -- and took his place. During some moments he surveyed the spellbound audience with solemn eyes, in which burned
an uncanny light; then in a deep voice he said:
"I come from the Throne -- bearing a message from
Almighty God!"
The words smote the house with a shock; if the stranger perceived it he gave
no attention.
"He has heard the prayer of His servant your shepherd,
and will grant it if such shall be your desire after I, His messenger, shall have explained to you its import -- that is to
say, its full import. For it is like unto many of the prayers of men, in that it asks for more than he who utters it is aware
of -- except he pause and think.
"God's servant and yours has prayed his prayer. Has he
paused and taken thought? Is it one prayer? No, it is two -- one uttered, the other not. Both have reached the ear of Him
Who heareth all supplications, the spoken and the unspoken.
Ponder this -- keep it in mind. If you would beseech a
blessing upon yourself, beware! lest without intent you invoke a curse upon a neighbor at the same time. If you pray for the
blessing of rain upon your crop which needs it, by that act you are possibly praying for a curse upon some neighbor's crop
which may not need rain and can be injured by it.
"You have heard your servant's prayer -- the uttered part
of it. I am commissioned of God to put into words the other part of it -- that part which the pastor -- and also you in your
hearts -- fervently prayed silently. And ignorantly and unthinkingly? God grant that it was so!
You heard these words: 'Grant us the victory, O Lord our
God!' That is sufficient. the whole of the uttered prayer is compact into those pregnant words. Elaborations were not necessary.
When you have prayed for victory you have prayed for many unmentioned results which follow victory -- must follow it, cannot
help but follow it.
Upon the listening spirit of God fell also the unspoken
part of the prayer. He commandeth me to put it into words. Listen! "O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts,
go forth to battle -- be Thou near them! With them -- in spirit -- we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides
to smite the foe.
O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody
shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown
the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with
a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out
roofless with little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports
of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge
of the grave and denied it -- for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter
pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded
feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of
all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen. (After a pause.)
"Ye have prayed it; if ye still desire it, speak! The messenger
of the Most High waits!"
