466 THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE
to see some old guild in curious and ancient form. Let us look at them at work. And it is a testimony to the antiquity of this wonderful guild, with its strange power coming down from the distant past, that we must begin with Abraham. A guilty city is lying beneath the ban of God ; but one of the Lord's remem- brancers comes forward, and he says, " If fifty righteous be found here ; if forty righteous — if thirty righteous — if twenty — if ten ? " " I will not destroy it for ten's sake." Or, again, a battle is raging in the plain ; but above the battle on the hill another of the Lord's remembrancers holds up his hands — " and when Moses held up his hand Israel prevailed, and when he let down his hand Amalek prevailed." Or there is a plague among the people ; they are dying by thousands. Another of the Lord's remembrancers puts on incense, and runs in between — exactly what the word intercede means — runs in between the living and the dead ; and the plague is stayed. I ask you, as thinking men and women, would it be possible to explain these passages in any other way than this, that the Lord's remembrancers have power put into their hands to move the hands which move the universe ? ^
IF Jacob prayed in that way, when he trembled at the thought of his brother's possible rage, pleading God's actual words of promise : " 0 God of my fathers, the Lord which saidst unto me, Eeturn unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee . . . Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother ... for (again) thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea." Two remembrancings, and between them a little prayer ; and of course the result was that, when Esau came, instead of pouring his rough followers upon the struggling and indefensible caravan, he " fell on his brother's neck and kissed him." David was surprised and almost staggered in unbelief at the prospect of greatness and renown which the prophet Nathan opened up to him, but he recovered and fed his faith by reminding himself and his God of the promise, and prayed, " Now, 0 Lord God, the word that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant, and concerning his house, establish it for ever, and do as thou hast said." In this very prophecy Israel first of all reminds Jehovah of what He has been v/ont to do, and what needs to be done now : " Awake, awake, put on strength, 0 arm of the Lord ; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations
^ A. F. W. Ingram, Batmers of the Christian Faith, p. 82,
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of old." The result is seen in vision at once : " Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion " ; and so all the watchmen lift up their voices : " Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem, for the Lord hath comforted His people, He hath redeemed Jerusalem : the Lord hath made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God." 1
3. Is this some privilege which men used to have, but which they have now lost ? Eead the New Testament and see. " We are become kings and priests to God," or, as it should be, " a kingdom of priests." " If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and God shall give him life for them that sin not unto death." Do we look out upon the harvest of the world and see very few labourers going into the harvest ? What are we to do ? " Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send forth labourers into his harvest." Is it not certain that if those words have any meaning, quite apart from the help we give others by speaking to them, by giving them help in their hour of need, there is a Divine power put into our hands to bring to them help by our interces- sion ? Did the early Christians believe this ? Were they the Lord's remembrancers ? Peter is in prison, and the Christian cause has thus received a terrible blow. What do they do ? The Lord's remembrancers get together, and prayer is made continually in the Church unto God for him. Peter is free. Paul is in prison. To what does he look ? He says, " I beseech you that ye strive continuously in your prayers for me." And from that day to this mothers plead for their sons, priests plead for their people, and people plead for their priests. The Lord's re- membrancers have given Him no rest, and taken no rest until He establish, until He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.2
Does not the efficacy of intercessory prayer rest on the same principle of moral government as the efficacy of vicarious suffering ? Does it not assume that, in dealing with one moral being, God may properly take into account the action of other