The War Prayer by Mark Twain

It was a time of great and exalting excitement. Thecountry was up in arms, the war was on, in every breast burnedthe holy fire of patriotism; the drums were beating, the bandsplaying, the toy pistols popping, the bunched firecrackers hissingand spluttering; on every hand and far down the receding andfading spread of roofs and balconies a fluttering wilderness offlags flashed in the sun; daily the young volunteers marcheddown the wide avenue gay and fine in their new uniforms, theproud fathers and mothers and sisters and sweethearts cheeringthem with voices choked with happy emotion as they swung by;nightly the packed mass meetings listened, panting, to patriotoratory which stirred the deepest deeps of their hearts, andwhich they interrupted at briefest intervals with cyclones ofapplause, the tears running down their cheeks the while; in thechurches the pastors preached devotion to flag and country, andinvoked the God of Battles beseeching His aid in our good causein outpourings of fervid eloquence which moved every listener. It was indeed a glad and gracious time, and the half dozen rashspirits that ventured to disapprove of the war and cast a doubtupon its righteousness straightway got such a stern and angrywarning that for their personal safety's sake they quickly shrankout of sight and offended no more in that way.

Sunday morning came--next day the battalions wouldleave for the front; the church was filled; the volunteers werethere, their young faces alight with martial dreams--visions of thestern advance, the gathering momentum, the rushing charge, theflashing sabers, the flight of the foe, the tumult, the envelopingsmoke, the fierce pursuit, the surrender! Then home from thewar, bronzed heroes, welcomed, adored, submerged in goldenseas of glory! With the volunteers sat their dear ones, proud,happy, and envied by the neighbors and fiends who had no sonsand brothers to send forth to the field of honor, there to win forthe flag, or , failing, die the noblest of noble deaths. Theservice proceeded; a war chapter from the Old Testament wasread; the first prayer was said; it was followed by an organ burstthat shook the building, and with one impulse the house rose,with glowing eyes and beating hearts, and poured out thattremendous invocation

*God the all-terrible! Thou who ordainest! Thunder thy clarion and lightning thy sword!*
Then came the "long" prayer. None could remember the like ofit for passionate pleading and moving and beautiful language. The burden of its supplication was, that an ever-merciful andbenignant Father of us all would watch over our noble youngsoldiers, and aid, comfort, and encourage them in their patrioticwork; bless them, shield them in the day of battle and the hourof peril, bear them in His mighty hand, make them strong andconfident, invincible in the bloody onset; help them to crush thefoe, grant to them and to their flag and country imperishablehonor and glory--

An aged stranger entered and moved with slow andnoiseless step up the main aisle, his eyes fixed upon the minister,his long body clothed in a robe that reached to his feet, his headbare, his white hair descending in a frothy cataract to hisshoulders, his seamy face unnaturally pale, pale even toghastliness. With all eyes following him and wondering, hemade his silent way; without pausing, he ascended to thepreacher's side and stood there waiting. With shut lids thepreacher, unconscious of his presence, continued with hismoving prayer, and at last finished it with the words, uttered infervent appeal, "Bless our arms, grant us the victory, O Lordour God, Father and Protector of our land and flag!"

The stranger touched his arm, motioned him to stepaside--which the startled minister did--and took his place. During some moments he surveyed the spellbound audience withsolemn eyes, in which burned an uncanny light; then in a deepvoice he said:

"I come from the Throne--bearing a message fromAlmighty God!" The words smote the house with a shock; if thestranger perceived it he gave no attention. "He has heard theprayer of His servant your shepherd, and will grant it if suchshall be your desire after I, His messenger, shall have explainedto you its import--that is to say, its full import. For it is likeunto many of the prayers of men, in that it asks for more thanhe who utters it is aware of--except he pause and think.

"God's servant and yours has prayed his prayer. Has hepaused and taken thought? Is it one prayer? No, it is two--oneuttered, the other not. Both have reached the ear of Him Whoheareth all supplications, the spoken and the unspoken. Ponderthis--keep it in mind. If you would beseech a blessing uponyourself, beware! lest without intent you invoke a curse upon aneighbor at the same time. If you pray for the blessing of rainupon your crop which needs it, by that act you are possiblypraying for a curse upon some neighbor's crop which may notneed rain and can be injured by it.

"You have heard your servant's prayer--the uttered partof it. I am commissioned of God to put into words the otherpart of it--that part which the pastor--and also you in your hearts--fervently prayed silently. And ignorantly and unthinkingly? God grant that it was so! You heard these words: 'Grant us thevictory, O Lord our God!' That is sufficient. the *whole* ofthe uttered prayer is compact into those pregnant words. Elaborations were not necessary. When you have prayed forvictory you have prayed for many unmentioned results whichfollow victory--*must* follow it, cannot help but follow it. Upon the listening spirit of God fell also the unspoken part ofthe prayer. He commandeth me to put it into words. Listen!

"O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of ourhearts, go forth to battle--be Thou near them! With them--inspirit--we also go forth from the sweet peace of our belovedfiresides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear theirsoldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover theirsmiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help usto drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of theirwounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humblehomes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts oftheir unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turnthem out roofless with little children to wander unfriended thewastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst,sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter,broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refugeof the grave and denied it--for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord,blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitterpilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with theirtears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source ofLove, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all thatare sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.

(*After a pause.*) "Ye have prayed it; if ye still desireit, speak! The messenger of the Most High waits!"

It was believed afterward that the man was a lunatic,because there was no sense in what he said.