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THE NEW THEOLOGY AND PEA YER
Tabernacle Sermon by Reb. Len G Broughton, D. 2).
Stenographically reported for The Golden Age.—Copyright applied for.
Fourth of series of sermons dealing Ivifh different
phases of teaching of the Nclv Religion.
TEXT: “And this is the boldness which we have
toward him, that, if we ask anything according to
His will, he heareth us.” 1 Jno. 5: 14.
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ITH reference to prayer there are many
and varied opinions. For example, there
is the atheist, who says there is no God
and therefore there is no necessity for
prayer; that this world and all that there
is on it is the result of successive ages
of evolution, each age merging into the
age that follows it. Then there is an
other class who says that God answers
the prayers of some people; for example, that the
apostles got the eai’ of God; He answered their
prayers, and here and there during the ages that
have followed there have been men and women who
could get the ear of God and who did get it and
who got a blessing that they desired through prayer.
And then there are others still who say, “Yes, God
answers prayer, the prayer of his people, for some
things, but the things that one has a right to pray
for are very limited and very few in number”; for
instance they say that we have no right, for exam
ple, to go outside of the realm of w’hat is called
purely spiritual things in our praying, and hence
they never pray foi’ temporal blessings. Then there
are others still, who say, “Yes, prayer is answered,
but let me define what I mean by prayer.” They
then explain that prayer answers itself; that God
operates according to certain fixed law's and that
he never changes these law’s to suit any man’s
praying, and that prayer simply reacts upon the
one praying, placing him in the attitude of receiv
ing the benefits of God’s natural law.
Then there are others, and I thank God the num
ber is not so few, who believe that God answers
prayer, without qualifications or explanations; they
believe it so strongly that they profess it and pro
fessing it they do not find it in their hearts to
attempt to analyze it and philosophize about it.
Now, our friends of the new religion claim that
God never changes his natural law to suit any
man and that prayer is simply beneficial to the
one praying in the reflex sense, enabling him through
prayer and concentration upon the ideal desired, to
place himself in such an attitude as that he will be
the recipient of the natural forces that God has at
work in this w’orld.
WAS PRAYER EVER ANSWERED?
What I w’ant us to do is, if we can, to see the real
truth about this situation, whethei’ w r e w’ant to ally
ourselves with the new religion in this matter of
praying or w’hether we are perfectly satisfied to hold
on to that which we have and believe that God is
the God of the prayer world. In order that w’e
may get at the truth, I think we shall have to ask
another question. Did God ever answer prayer? Did
He ever do anything because of the prayer of one
of His servants that wouldn’t naturally have taken
place otherwise? If he did, then we may be sure
that he does so today, for even take their own
philosophic line of reasoning, God never changes;
certainly if God can not and will not change His
natural laws, as they claim, then he Himself will
not change. Did God ever answer anybody’s prayer?
If God ever answ’ered anybody’s prayer, then God
still holds Himself in readiness to answer some
body’s prayer. To get at the answer to this question
I think we will all agree that the Scriptures must
first be consulted for we have no argument for the
one who does not accept the Word of God as his
rule of faith.
The first prayer recorded in the Bible is the prayer
of Abraham at Bethel. He had gone into Egypt
and got rich and got in trouble. We make a great
mistake if we think that all rich people are happy
because of their riches. There is nothing in ma
terial things to make anybody happy; materials,
simply material things, never made anybody happy.
Wood and stone, and bricks and morter, and gold
and silver and velvets and satins, they are too
The Golden Age for November 18, 1909.
material to make happiness of themselves. They
will contribute under proper circumstances, but its
the circumstances not the riches that makes one
happy.
When Abraham got into Egypt, he found that
out; he had gone into a heathen country and he
had gotten rich and then he had gotten in trouble;
and he hurriedly left Egypt and came back to Bethel,
and there we find the first record of prayer making.
He builded an altar and prayed. I do not know
what he prayed for; I do not know the character of
his prayer, but God’s children may feel assured that
his prayer was answered from its resultant faith in
Abraham’s life; He quietly trusted God after that.
Abraham had his nephew, Lot, with him. Both Abra
ham and Lot had each possessions, and Abraham
had made Lot all that he was. There was a dis
turbance between Lot’s men and Abraham’s men,
and lest this disturbance should continue to the
extent that they themselves would become involved,
Abraham conies to Lot and makes him the generous
proposition “Look upon the field and choose that
which yoq will, and I will keep that which you leave.”
It takes much prayer to get a man in that frame of
mind. And we must believe that Abraham’s prayer
was for spiritual blessing, and that his meekness
and his generosity were the marks of the Holy Spirit
in his heart in answer to his prayer.
Another remarkable prayer recorded in the Old
Testament is the prayer of Moses for Israel. Israel
was in bondage. Pharaoh’s hard iron heel was upon
Israel’s neck; and Moses prayed, God promised to
answer and told him what to do; he went to Pharaoh
and asked for the deliverance of that people; Pha
raoh refused; many of us would have become dis
couraged and thought that God did not intend to
answer our prayer after all; but Moses simply
went back to prayer, and then back to Pharaoh
he still refused; then back to prayer and back to
Pharaoh, until finally God sent him to Pharaoh with
a threat; “If you do not let them go you are going
to be punished.” Pharaoh hardened his heart and
then there began that long seige of suffering and
plague that finally wound up in the sacrifice of the
first born of every Egyptian family; first was the
turning of the river into blood and the death of
the fish; then the plague of frogs and lice and flies,
and the locusts, finally winding up with the death
of the first born of the Egyptian families, and then
Pharaoh gave his consent for the departure of the
people of God. My brethren, here is a prayer for
a nation in the day of calamity; I honestly believe
that this praying is far more potent in winning for
the right than all the gun boats and armies of the
proudest nations on earth. The croaking of one
of those frogs, sent there by God, in the ear of
Pharaoh day and night, was far more effective than
the hurling of the balls from the cannons of the
greatest equipped nation on earth, when it is simply
planned by man.
Fancy the head of a great nation, day and night,
everywhere he turns, when he is awake, or if he
tries to sleep, forever being tormented by the croak
ing of those frogs. I could hardly stand that one
day, a frog in each ear, croaking, every minute; no
chance to get rid of them; run, but yonder he is;
kill him if you will and anothei’ takes his place.
Everywhere frogs leaping and jumping, hopping and
skipping and croaking. Frogs in the bed, frogs on
the floor; frogs in the bread, in the water; every
where you look, its frogs, frogs, frogs. Whence
came these plagues? They came through the prayer
of God’s servant. He never prayed for the frogs.
He prayed for Israel’s deliverance. The only way
to master Pharaoh is to beat him down by those
frogs. These people were too feeble for war. They
had no money to wage war upon the enemy; the
only method to pursue was the method such as
God Himself elected and after many attempts, suffi
cient to convince Pharaoh that it was a God he was
defying, this method won out.
Oh, my brethren, if today we relied more upon
the prayer of God’s people at a time when destiny
quivers in the balance, and less upon the thunder
ing of gun boats and the rattling of artillery, we
would be better off in the end. I wonder when God’s
people will learn that? In that great Boxer move
ment in China, there was held a meeting of the
various secretaries of the foreign mission boards,
and they sent out an appeal to our national execu
tive to send gunboats and armies of soldiers to
protect our missionaries. I believe in gunboats; I
believe in armies; I believe in war if it becomes nec
essary, but my brethren, I believe that those secre
taries, had they immediately called the church of God
to its knees in prayer, instead of sending gunboats,
we would have saved the life of many a man in
China by means of the speedy electric current of
prayer.
THE ASSURANCE OF FAITH.
I want you to see another prayer—a very re
markable prayer. They had got into a conflict, the
prophets of Baal were saying that Baal was God, and
Elijah was contending that Jehovah was God; and
the contest became very fierce and the prophets
came together on a giant proposition. It was this,
that we will build an altar, and we will each invoke
the power of our God. The true God will send down
fire from heaven and consume the altar and the
sacrifice thereon; if the prophets of Baal succeeded
in getting fire from heaven, then Baal was to be
proclaimed as God; if he failed and Elijah succeeded,
they were td proclaim Elijah’s God as the one true
God. And so Elijah and the prophets of Baal got
together and they began their prayer. They prayed
on and on and no fire comes; no sign of fire; the
altar is untouched. After a w’hile Elijah conies with
the shrewdest sarcasm that I have ever heard in
sacred or profane history; so conscious is he of his
God, so conscious of his position, he comes upon the
scene with those prophets, praying to their God, and
says: “Maybe your God is asleep; I would advise
you to pray a little louder,” and they lift their voices
louder. “Oh,” he says, “Perhaps he is away on a
visit; pray louder!” Elijah was having a little fun
at their expense feeling fully assured of his own
position. They yelled as loud as they could, but
he does not come. Then they give it up, and I have
no doubt these men say, “Well, Elijah, you just as
well not try, because if our god does not come and
answer, you know yours won’t.” But Elijah begins
to pray. I wish you would read his prayer. It is
one of the most marvelous prayers recorded in the
Bible. As he prays they look and the sky is getting
red; something strange is taking place in the sky;
finally the flames fell upon the altar, and, in spite
of the fact that he had poured water all over it
until he filled the trenches so as to make the test
thorough, the wood begins to crack; the fire begins to
feel its way through the cracks and crevices, until
after a while it is consumed. Did God ever answer
prayer?
May I take you into the New Testament? One of
the most remarkable incidents is that of Mary and
Martha, when Lazarus lay at home sick. They sent
a message to Jesus and that message was this, “Lord,
He whom thou lovest, is sick.” .Just six words, but
that is one of the mightiest prayers ever prayed.
Jesus heard it; but you say that Jesus did not answer
that prayer? Yes, He did. “But,” you say, “Laza
rus died.” Yes, but listen; what they were praying
for was that they might be able to have their brother
alive and in health; that was the thing that they
were after, and that is what Jesus answered; but He
waited until he died and was buried in answering
that prayer; he had to take them around through
the grave yard. And brethren, he has had to take
many of us through the same circuitous route to
answer our prayers. But it was answered as he
stood there with them. And the next thing we hear
of them is that they are a happy family, reunited,
sitting at the banquet table with Jesus as the chief
guest.
Another remarkable instance is that of Paul and
Silas in jail. They can not get out, but they can
pray, and about midnight lying flat of their backs
with their feet and hands in stocks, Paul and Silas
sang hymns and prayed, and while they sang and
prayed God moved, ond, oh, my brethren, it is a
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