Pray For Us by J. Clarke

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 2, 1858

Pray For Us.

By J. Clarke

WHAT should we think of a pirate who as he started on his expedition of plunder, should say, Pray for me? or of the murderer, who as he loaded his revolvers, should ask the prayers of the good? This would evidently savor of blasphemy. Not less absurd however is the conduct of those who scoff at the law of God, trample it under foot, and set up human inventions in its stead, and then to cap the climax, wonder why Sabbath-keepers do not unite with, pray with and for them with true fellowship.

First we entreat and beseech the criminal to quit his career of crime; then we will haste to speed him on in the path of holiness; but while he remains indifferent to his guilt, so long the man of God can only labor and pray for the conviction of the offender, his conversion and healing. While his heart is hard and indifferent to sin, so long he is out of the pale of christian fellowship.

When a person truly desires the prayers of God's people; when such a person feels a sense of the value of God's favor and of his smile of approval, he is then ready to take up his cross daily and to follow Christ through evil and good report. Such a temper of mind will not only ensure to itself the prayers of the godly, but the intercession of the Holy Ghost, the fellowship of the saints, and the heirship to immortality. J. CLARKE.