6 god’s VIEW OF EEBELLION. cause Christians are praying against one another ! Is there not a right and a wrong, and am I to doubt the efficacy of prayer for the right, because prayer is also offered for the wrong ? Will God hear prayer for the wrong, and will he not hear prayer for the right ? “ Yes,” says Little Faith, “ but how do you know you are praying for the right ? Perhaps the rebellion is right and we are wrong.” Well, perhaps the burglar is right, and I am wrong to defend my house against him—perhaps murder is right, and our laws against murder are wrong— perhaps the devil is all right, and we are very wrong to resist him. “ Ah 1 these are clearly revealed to us as wrong (you say), and we cannot be mistaken in dealing with them? Just as clearly (I reply) is rebellion declared to be sin, as are robbery and murder, and just as obligatory is it upon the Christian citizen to resist rebellion as to resist the devil. God has not left us in the dark—nor- is His government all at sixes and sevens ; and yet how many, by the want of faith, look upon all God’s movements as erratic and arbitrary ! Of course, such a view makes prayer a vain thing, and saps the very foundation of praise. It is to rebuke such weakness—to show that Christian duty is clearly defined in this civil war—to invite hearty, faithful prayer for the cause of truth and justice, and so to supply the fountains of praise, that I have selected the text of Scripture, and urge its consideration upon every doubtful soul. Let me
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