and trustworthiness of God. Presently, a rustling sound, like a sudden puff of wind was heard. I rushed up and out. IT RAINED! Thanksgiving on the spot. The crops in a large surrounding territory were saved. GOD had vindicated Himself as usual. GOD'S trusting children's faith was verified and established. Insistency and Impetuousness. What a loss to the members of this church and community, not only in the crops but even more to the development and stability of their faith, if this great opportunity for a grand demonstration of the effectiveness and efficiency of prevailing prayer had been neglected! An opportunity for GOD to demonstrate His willingness and readiness to direct even the forces of nature and to make them subservient to His children, to their benefit and delight, upon their petition and assiduous prayers, would also have been lost. O, how many opportunities of this kind have been lost by reason of a lack of faith in GOD'S promises and a childish unfaltering trust in GOD! And the opportunities and demonstrations here related would have been lost also, were it not for the persistency and the impetuousness of saintly Sister Hedberg. I acknowledge this to my own humiliation and shame. And I remember the words of Jesus Christ: "SO MANY THAT ARE FIRST SHALL BE LAST; AND THE LAST SHALL BE FIRST." Mark 10:31; Matt. 19:31; 20:16. CHAPTER XXIII. EFFICACY OF PRAYER (Continued). Prayer and Answer to Prayer-Personal Experience. II. Christian Consistency. "YE SHALL KNOW THEM BY THEIR FRUIT. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs or thistles?" Matt. 7:16. "HE THAT IS NOT WITH ME IS AGAINST ME; AND HE THAT GATHERETH NOT WITH ME SCATTERETH ABROAD." Matt. 12:30; Luk. 11:23. "THY KINGDOM COME, THY WILL BE DONE, ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN— "LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION, BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL.” No Middle or Neutral Ground. In November, 1885, I was appointed co-editor of the Swedish Weekly Missions-Vannen, Chicago, Illinois, and the religious department was allotted to me. Politically, the whole staff was Republican with one exception-the new editor. But he had nothing to do with the politics of the publication, his function being church activities and foreign missions. All went well and harmoniously with us until August, 1888, when the editorial chair for the political department became vacant and the editor for the religious department was placed in it; no one else at the time being available. But the new editor for the political department was a conscientious prohibition party prohibitionist. How could he support the republican candidates? He was expected to, and being engaged, he should follow instructions of his employer. He need have no scruples, for his employer, here a board of directors, determined the policy of the paper, and the editors as well as the other employes, had only faithfully and loyally to carry out the established policies. That principle is easy enough to realize for a bookkeeper and a compositor, but applied to a teacher, a preacher and an editor it is altogether a different proposition. For, in this case, it is not only the doing, but rather the effects or results attained, that count. And we are responsible and will be called to render account before another Tribunal from which there is no appeal. "Vote as You Pray." The new political editor almost idolized James G. Blaine, and when this distinguished statesman and national favorite was nominated for the Presidency in 1884 by the Republican party, he was elated, and started to do his part for Mr. Blaine's election. But somehow from somewhere a small pamphlet slipped into his hands, purporting to be the acceptance speech of the nomination for the Presidency by the Prohibition party, by ex-Governor John P. St. John, of Kansas. In that remarkable speech Mr. St. John said in effect: "If the church membership and the confessing Christians would only VOTE AS THEY PRAY this liquor curse and abominable traffic would soon disappear from our beloved country." This "VOTE AS YOU PRAY"-opened the door to an entirely new world and a new line of thinking and investigation to the new political editor. There was never any question about it in his mind before. That the Republican party was right and the Democratic party was wrong, was a foregone conclusion. He arrived in America with his parents in May, 1863, went to the State of Iowa, where nearly everything was Republican, and from that time beheld. with admiration the wonderful deeds of that party. The Republican party was the progressive party, having THREE great achievements to its credit: The liberation of the slaves, the saving of the Union and the high tariff protection for American industries, thereby securing good wages for labor. But the Republican party refused to step squarely on the side of PROHIBITION of the liquor traffic. It advocated high license; and license meant LEGAL SANCTION, LEGAL PROTECTION to the saloon iniquity, just as much and just the same as to any and every legitimate industry and business. Having done so much so nobly for the welfare and the uplift of the race, and at such great sacrifice, why not deserve the crowning glory of utterly routing this more terrible enemy, which degraded manhood and lured and defiled womanhood in almost every city, town and community of our splendid country? These and similar questions became paramount, as drunkenness and brawls were in evidence everywhere. Therefore, the slogan: "VOTE AS YOU PRAY," had a special force. How do I pray? "THY KINGDOM COME." Does the saloon and the liquor traffic promote GOD'S kingdom? No; it opposes it; it retards. "THY WILL BE DONE, ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN." Would any party, having for its policy to license saloons or the liquor traffic, have any show of support in heaven? No; for "there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie; but they that are written in the Lambs Book of Life." Rev. 21:27. "LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION." Do the saloons and the liquor traffic tempt to wrong doing and to evil? Yes, always and everywhere. Then it is of the devil; and my vote would be assisting the devil to tempt to evil. "DELIVER US FROM EVIL." Are the saloons and the liquor traffic an evil? Yes, it is everywhere so acknowledged from their effects. The liquor traffic is all evil from any and every angle it may be considered. No one dares to step forward in defence of the saloon as a beneficient institution in any particular or in any sense. How inconsistent, then, to pray GOD to deliver us from an evil of our own making, an institution, which we legalize and sanction and protect and the blood money of which we divide for national and municipal benefits. What a mocker, then, to pray for deliverance from an evil which we ourselves legalized, protected and derived pecuniary benefits from? On investigation it was found that the two great parties were dominated by the liquor interests: In the Republican party the brewers dominated and in the Democratic party the distillers dominated. The Parting of the Road. Thus I was placed at the parting of the road, I must either quit praying the way I had been doing or quit supporting an evil which bears the stamp of hell and is under the guidance and control of satan. I could not turn my back on my LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST, so I had to change my politics. I voted for John P. St. John for President, and in so doing I voted for my GOD, for my home and for my adopted country. This happened nearly 34 years ago, and I have never had occasion to retreat or to retract. A Puzzling Situation. Considering the foregoing, it may be easily and readily seen. and understood how delicate a position I was accepting; and I accepted it because no one else was available at the time. I did not wish to disappoint or hurt my friends in any way; and yet, I could NOT, no, I COULD NOT disobey my GOD. Rather, therefore, than consult my friends, I submitted my perplexity to GOD in prayer. GOD has promised: "I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way thou shalt go; I will guide thee with mine eyes." Ps. 32:8. "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." John 15:7. And again: "Verily, verily, I say unto you: Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it you. Hitherto ye have asked nothing in My name; ask and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full." John 16:23, 24. And again: "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of GOD, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and IT SHALL BE GIVEN HIM. But let him ASK IN FAITH, NOTHING WAVERING. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. "For let not that man (that wavereth) think that he shall receive anything from GOD." James 1:5-7. Notice in these verses the importance of PRAYING IN FAITH, NOT WAVERING; and that the waverer or doubter need not expect any answer to his prayers. GOD'S Answer. God's answer came to me in two parts: 1. To present the matter in reporting style, selecting three characters, one to represent each party, and coming together regularly in a most friendly and cordial way to discuss the burning questions of the day. 2. In a vision, wherein three groups of people became visible, each group distinct from the other, except in certain places the two large groups seemed to run together as they started in procession in the same direction. Participants in the two large pro cessions were all men, mostly black, only a few appearing like a faint moonlight. Both processions were beset with an immense flock of black rats, black as Beelzebub himself, eyes sparking like molten iron and fiery tongues like flames. These awfully ugly things, of different sizes from a mouse to a cat, crawled all over the men, into their pockets and inside their vests and coats. What an awful sight! It made one shudder to look at it. And these things were evil spirits, genuine devils, exhaling hellish fumes and prodding the procession along to maintain, protect and condone the saloon and the liquor traffic by their votes. At the rear of the procession followed a mixed crowd, drunken, reeling, staggering, filthy, bleeding, fussing, cussing, cursing. quarreling, fighting, dying. Then followed a group of women and children, ragged, feeble, pallid, frenzied, weeping, wailing, crying; some wounded, some praying, raging, some sick, some dying in dispair. Who allows this misery to go on? The VOTER. Who could save the drunkard from a drunkard's grave? The VOTER. Who can change the TWO THOUSAND MILLION DOLLARS, now flowing into the channel of BOOZE, into channels of legitimate trade, furnishing bread for the hungry, clothes for the naked, homes for the homeless, and increased prosperity and happiness in our land? The VOTER. Who then, is responsible for prevailing conditions and the loss of souls, so far as BOOZE AND THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC IS CONCERNED? The VOTER. If the VOTER is responsible, then when, how and by whom must he render an account for his VOTING? Who shall or will grant rewards to the obedient and to inflict punishment to delinquents, who acted contrary to divine will and ordinances? Let every VOTER fill in the blank space. And again: Who does the voter look to for information concerning political affairs and conditions? Answer: The press generally. Who is it that shapes and fashions public opinion? Answer: The pulpit and the press. What agency is it that has divine direction and spiritual guidance to discern GOD'S will in all things, both temporal and spirit |