It was a time of great and exalting excitement. The final ultimatum had passed, the war was on, in every breast burned the holy fire of pacifism; the speakers were blaring, the bands playing, the massed commentariat hissing and spluttering; on every telephone pole and far down the receding and fading spread of roofs and balconies a fluttering wilderness of anti-war posters flashed in the sun; daily the young volunteers marched in the wide avenue in t-shirts blazoned with new anti-war slogans, the proud fathers and mothers and sisters and sweethearts cheering them with voices choked with emotion as they swung by; nightly the packed mass meetings listened, panting, to pacifist oratory which stirred the deepest deeps 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 civil disobedience, and invoked the God of Peace beseeching His aid in our good cause in outpourings of fervid eloquence which moved every listener. It was indeed a fine and furious time, and the half dozen rash spirits that ventured to approve of the war and cast a doubt upon its unrighteousness straightway 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 – that afternoon was the greatest protest march yet; the church was filled; the volunteers were there, their young faces alight with activist dreams – visions of the implacable advance, the gathering momentum, the locked arms, the slogans of chanted in unison, the tumult, the enveloping smoke, the thunderous expression of the people’s will for peace! Then home from the protest, 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 for whatever reason could not make it to Hyde Park, there to win for the cause of peace, or, failing, demonstrate the noblest of noble principles. The service proceeded; the Beatitudes were 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, Lord of Sabaoth, Thou who ordainest
Thunder Thy clarion and lightning Thy sword,
Show forth Thy pity on high where Thou reignest;
Give to us peace in our time, O Lord.

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 bring an end to the criminal warmongering of our leaders, make war a forgotten memory, so that no nation might take up arms against another, and aid, comfort, and encourage all those who sought peace anywhere in the world in this difficult time; bless them, shield them in this time of senseless war, bear them in His mighty hand, make them strong and confident in their righteousness; help them to bring down the governments that sought this bloodshed, grant to them and to their selfless cause –

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 tattered blue singlet and shorts, his head bare, his white hair shorn close to his head, his seamy face flushed and speckled with cancers from working out of doors. With all eyes following him 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 with his moving prayer, and at last finished it with the words, uttered in fervent appeal,

“Help all of us: individuals, nations, governments and world leaders to remember -
the unnecessary loss of life for millions of innocent people,
the scale of human suffering that war brings,
the gross violations of human rights and crimes against humanity
that are committed in the name of war,
nobody has total power over any country or its people but God alone.
Let us be open to God's words in our forthcoming decisions and try not to be God ourselves."

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 shall 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: 'Give to us peace in our time, O Lord!' That is sufficient. the whole of the uttered prayer is compact into those pregnant words. Elaborations were not necessary. When you have prayed for peace you have prayed for many unmentioned results which accompany peace – must accompany it, cannot help but accompany it, so long as man remains a fallen being. Upon the listening spirit of God fell also the unspoken part of the prayer. He commandeth me to put it into words. Listen!

"O Lord our Father, be with us at the sweet peace of our beloved firesides as we rest secure from fear, knowing that no secret police will knock on our doors in the still hours of the night. O Lord our God, turn your face from those who spend their nights in fear; let others weep and mourn for their children who have disappeared, let others be broken and maimed in the torture chambers of the tyrant; let others spend ever moment knowing that they hold nothing except on sufferance of their master, who has total power over their country even as God. Let us sleep easy while their women and children are gassed and die in horrors; while their smiling fields are covered with the pale forms of their innocent dead; let us be deaf to their cries for justice, as we pray you will ignore the prayers for justice of their unoffending widows; let those who offend the tyrant be turned out roofless with 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 their 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.