A War Prayer

Ah, a smartass prayer written by a bitter old atheist for the Spanish-American War.

You're a moron.

If you're going to post this, you should at least post the whole thing. Your excerpt is rather taken out of context.

The War Prayer

by Mark Twain

It was a time of great exulting and excitement. The country was up in arms, the war was on, in every breast burned the holy fire of patriotism; the drums were beating, the bands playing, the toy pistols popping, the bunched firecrackers hissing and sputtering; on every hand and far down the receding and fading spread of roofs and balconies a fluttering wilderness of flags flashed in the sun; daily the young volunteers marched down the wide avenue gay and fine in their new uniforms, the proud fathers and mothers and sisters and sweethearts cheering them with voices choked with happy emotion as they swung by; nightly the packed mass meetings listened, panting, to patriot oratory which stirred the deepest depths of their hearts, and which they interrupted at briefest intervals with cyclones of applause, the tears running down their cheeks the while; in the churches the pastors preached devotion to flag and country, and invoked the God of Battles, beseeching His aid in our good cause in outpourings of fervid eloquence which moved every listener. It was indeed a glad and gracious time, and the half dozen rash spirits that ventured to disapprove of the war and cast doubt upon its righteousness straight way got such a stern and angry warning that for their personal safety's sake they quickly shrank out of sight and offended no more in that way.

Sunday morning came – next day the battalions would leave for the front; the church was filled; the volunteers were there, their young faces alight with martial dreams – visions of the stern advance, the gathering momentum, the rushing charge, the flashing sabers, the flight of the foe, the tumult, the enveloping smoke, the fierce pursuit, the surrender! – then home from the war, bronzed heroes, welcomed, adored, submerged in golden seas of glory! With the volunteers sat their dear ones, proud, happy, and envied by the neighbors and friends who had no sons and brothers to send forth to the field of honor, there to win for the flag, or failing, die the noblest of noble deaths. The service proceeded; a war chapter from the Old Testament was read; the first prayer was said; it was followed by an organ burst that shook the building, and with one impulse the house rose, with glowing eyes and beating hearts, and poured out that tremendous 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 of it for passionate pleading and moving and beautiful language. The burden of its supplication was, that an ever-merciful and benignant Father of us all would watch over our noble young soldiers, and aid, comfort, and encourage them in their patriotic work; bless them, shield them in the day of battle and the hour of peril, bear them in His mighty hand, make them strong and confident, invincible in the bloody onset; help them to crush the foe, grant to them and to their flag and country imperishable honor and glory – An aged stranger entered and moved with slow and noiseless step up the main aisle, his eyes fixed upon the minister, his long body clothed in a robe that reached to his feet, his head bare, his white hair descending in a frothy cataract to his shoulders, his seamy face unnaturally pale, pale even to ghastliness. With all eyes following and wondering, he made his silent way; without pausing, he ascended to the preacher's side and stood there, waiting. With shut lids the preacher, unconscious of his presence, continued his moving prayer, and at last finished it with the words, uttered in fervent appeal, "Bless our arms, grant us victory, O Lord our God, Father and Protector of our land and flag!"

The stranger touched his arm, motioned him to step aside – which the startled minister did – and took his place. During some moments he surveyed the spellbound audience with solemn eyes, in which burned an uncanny light; then in a deep voice he said:

"I come from the Throne – bearing a message from Almighty God!" The words smote the house with a shock; if the stranger perceived it he gave no attention. "He has heard the prayer of His servant your shepherd, and will grant it if such be your desire after I, His messenger, shall have explained to you its import – that is to say, its full import. For it is like unto many of the prayers of men, in that it asks for more than he who utters it is aware of – except he pause and think.

"God's servant and yours has prayed his prayer. Has he paused and taken thought? Is it one prayer? No, it is two – one uttered, the other not. Both have reached the ear of Him Who heareth all supplications, the spoken and the unspoken. Ponder this – keep it in mind. If you would beseech a blessing upon yourself, beware! lest without intent you invoke a curse upon a neighbor at the same time. If you pray for the blessing of rain upon your crop which needs it, by that act you are possibly praying for a curse upon some neighbor's crop which may not need rain and can be injured by it.

"You have heard your servant's prayer – the uttered part of it. I am commissioned of God to put into words the other part 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 victory, O Lord our God!' That is sufficient. The whole of the uttered prayer is compact into those pregnant words. Elaborations were not necessary. When you have prayed for victory you have prayed for many unmentioned results which follow victory – must follow it, cannot help but follow it. Upon the listening spirit of God the Father fell also the unspoken part of the prayer. He commandeth me to put it into words. Listen!

"O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle – be Thou near them! With them – in spirit – we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with hurricanes of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with their little children to wander unfriended the wastes 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 refuge of the grave and denied it – for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with tears, 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 of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen."

[After a pause.] "Ye have prayed it; if ye still desire it, 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.

Just the response I was hoping for. Thank you.

Just the response I was hoping for.

Really? How so? Do you mean my posting the whole piece, or my saying that your excerpt was out of context?

Twain was right on the mark when it came to the Spanish American War in the Philippines. Circumstances now are different since we have been subject to an attack, which requires a response in kind.

Ultimately I had hoped that the context of Twain's prayer would be clear after a spirited debate.

The anti-war crowd trots this simple minded canard out whether we're attacked or not, whether we're defending ourselves directly, or indirectly by helping an ally who has been attacked. It represents a secular mis-interpretation of Christian belief with respect to war (and one not in accord with Catholic teaching, to be sure).

During the Viet Nam war, its "sound-bite" expression took the form of "Kill a Commie for Christ". In my unit, we all wrote it on our helmet covers with a magic marker (along with the peace symbol).

"Response in kind"? What might that be?

Armed attack.

On whom?

"Lord, make me an instrument of your wrath. Give me the strength to crush the insolent bastards who make war on my country. Allow me to grind the bones of my enemy and drive his line to extinction. All this I ask without remorse. Amen."
--US Army Special Forces SgtMaj Rick Lamb, speaking at a church service at Fort Bragg, NC on 16 September, 2001

Eternal Father, grant , we pray,
To all Marines, both night and day,
The courage, honor, strength and skill
Their land to serve, Thy law fulfill;
Be Thou the Shield forevermore
From ev'ry peril to the Corps. Amen.

Freedom isn't free
Semper Fidelis

Those responsible.

Well, before you start dropping planeloads of bombs on innocent civilians, some of whom can't run very fast because their legs have already been blown off by land mines, look up the article about how we paid for the WTC attack, at www.michaelbunker.com

Bunker tells about Osama bin Laden's involvement with the CIA, among other things.

Well, I went to MichaelBunker and I didn't find anything. Perhaps you could explain, assuming it has something to do with a recent transfer of money (i.e., not something to do with helping ol' bin fight the Russians); otherwise, never mind.....

You're arguing with the wrong person. You'll note I said nothing about bombing civilians.

I generally argee with Chomsky, Cockburn, Zinn, et al. in matters of US use of force abroad. This however is radically different. It requires the concentrated use of force on those responsible, which does not include defenseless civilians in Afghanistan who have certainly already been through enough.

MichaelBunker is bonkers.

Bin Laden is a very rich Saudi (who once was known as Harry Laden during his playboy days in London) who didn't need US money - he has his own. No doubt that's why the CIA recruited him in the early 80's to lead ultra radical Muslims in fighting the Russians in Afghanistan. He is a classic megalomaniac. He has his money - now he's fightng for political power against the most powerful institution on earth. Nothing more needs to be understood at this point.

It's right there filling up the homepage; I don't know how you could miss it. Hope you'll try again.

If you had read the Bunker article you would know that bin Laden was recruited because of his family ties AND his personal involvement with dissidents.

Wish I could stay online and dig up some more stuff, but I must disconnect and do some storm-watching instead.