Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 82, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 April 1910 — RELIGIOUS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

RELIGIOUS

The Aaxwered Prayer. On Carmel's height, a strong man bowed In prayer; Helpless apart from God, In prayer he bowed— To plead that rain might cool the stifling air, And moistening mists the parched land enshroud. He once before had prayed—for this same drought, -\ And God had heard! Three years and more nor rain Nor dew had fallen—so, unvexed by doubt, And earnestly, Elijah prays again! Strong In his faith, expectant, oft he sent ’His servant seaward, for some wel- ==*=-- come sign; Nothing he saw, and yet again he went— Nothing, ah! nothing from the Hand Divine. God’s hour had struck—at last was something found. A little something, just a fleecy cloud; But faith, beholding, hears again the sound Of rain abundant and of tempest loud. God serves us even so—each one who prays: Nothing, ah, nothing!” is our weary cry. ,bNo answer to our prayer for nights and days, .... In vain we scan the still unchanging sky. Then suddenly appears a sign from God; Something is given which may be only small, Tet this should send us running on the road To do our part—God's cloud enfolds it all! ; —Winifred A. Iverson

Only a Nickel. Sunday, he wore a rose on the lapel of his coat, and when the plate was passed he gave a nickel to the Lord He had several bills in his pocket and sundry change, perhaps a dollar’s worth; but he hunted about, and, finding the poor little nickel, he laid It on the plate to aid the church militant in its fight against the world, the flesh and the devil. •o His silk hat was beneath the seat, and the gloves and cane were beside it, and the nickel was on the plate's Whole nickel, Saturday afternoon he had a gin rlckey at the hotel, and his friend had a fancy drink, and the cash register stamped twenty-five cents on a slip the boy presented to him. Peeling off a bill, he handed it to the lad, and give him a nickel tip when he brought back the change. A nickel for the Lord and a nickel for the waiter!

And the man had his shoes polished on Saturday afternoon and handed out a dime without a murmur. He had a shave, and paid fifteen cents with equal alacrity. He took a box of candles home to his wife, and paid forty cents for them, and the box waarTtled with a dainty bit of ribbon. Yes, he gave a nickel to the Lord! Who is the Lord? Who Is He? Why the man worships Him as Creator of the qniverse, the one who puts the stars In order and by whose Immutable decree the heavens stand. Yes, he does and he dropped a nickel In to support the church militant And what Is the church militant?^ The ehuroh militant is the body that represents upon the earth the great God the man gave the nickel to. And the man knew that he was but •n atom in space, and that the Almighty was without limitations, yet, knowing this, he put his hand In his pocket and picked out a nickel and gave it to the Lord.

And the Lord being gracious and slow to anger, and knowing our frame did not slay the man for the meanness of his offering, but gives him this day his daily bread. But the nickel was ashamed. If the man wasn’t. The nickel hid beneath a quarter that was given by a poor woman who washed for a living.—Stanford Herald.

Strength Through Prayer. A tree without roots, and a Christian who never prays In secret, are flttiri? types of each other. Prayer is the most wonderful fact In the universe. It Is the highest and supremest privilege of a human being. As our view of the Almighty is enlarged by new discoveries of the marvels of physical science, this privilege of vital relation between our helplessness and His might should become more and more dear to us. In ourselves we are Infinitely little, hut as we take hold upon God, Infinite love, strength and joy are ours through believing prayer.

In Bla Leading. God’s leading is not intended to exempt us from the duty of Initiation. Paul did not wait to be shown, in some miraculous way, what his duty was. He went straight forward in the line of the great purpose of his life, trusting God to arrest him or to divert him. Such indications of duty as the vision of the man of Macedonia were exceptional. The normal courSe of the apostle’s life shows us a man moving forward steadily along the line which his judgment and conscience approve, believing, with all his soul, that he was going In God’s way for him, and confident that God would check him or make his way plain If In aught he erred. To all who do this, God plainly ~r..\ i *. ** r

speaks, "I am hit Lord thy God which . . . . leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go." -- - . - 1 ——-—_—~ - Helpful Living. A Christian life cannot be lived In a corner. If Christ is in us. He cannot be hid. The world must see and know that we are Christ’s. Our light must shine, and our power be felt. And we must make it dear that our religion is one of helpfulness. Help was laid on One Who was mighty to save when our salvation was laid on Christ; and the pitiful cry of the heavy-laden to Him was "Lord, help us.” Men need help now. Involved In sin, tangled in the meshes of worldliness, taken captive by Satan at his will, they want the helping hand of a brother for their rescue. It Is our great privilege_to "bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”