Chapter 65
Lord, till I reach that blissful sh.o.r.e, No privilege so dear shall be As thus my inmost soul to pour In prayer to thee.
--Charlotte Elliott.
PEt.i.tION
Be not afraid to pray--to pray is right.
Pray, if thou canst, with hope; but ever pray, Though hope be weak or sick with long delay; Pray in the darkness if there be no light.
Far is the time, remote from human sight, When war and discord on the earth shall cease; Yet every prayer for universal peace Avails the blessed time to expedite.
Whate'er is good to wish, ask that of heaven, Though it be what thou canst not hope to see.
Pray to be perfect, though material leaven Forbid the spirit so on earth to be; But if for any wish thou darest not pray, Then pray to G.o.d to cast that wish away.
--Hartley Coleridge.
SOMETIME, SOMEWHERE
Unanswered yet the prayer your lips have pleaded In agony of heart these many years?
Does faith begin to fail? Is hope departing?
And think you all in vain those falling tears?
Say not the Father hath not heard your prayer; You shall have your desire sometime, somewhere.
Unanswered yet?--though when you first presented This one pet.i.tion at the Father's throne It seemed you could not wait the time of asking, So urgent was your heart to make it known!
Though years have pa.s.sed since then, do not despair; The Lord will answer you sometime, somewhere.
Unanswered yet? Nay, do not say ungranted; Perhaps your work is not yet wholly done.
The work began when first your prayer was uttered, And G.o.d will finish what he has begun.
If you will keep the incense burning there His glory you shall see sometime, somewhere.
Unanswered yet? Faith cannot be unanswered, Her feet were firmly planted on the Rock; Amid the wildest storms she stands undaunted, Nor quails before the loudest thunder shock.
She knows Omnipotence has heard her prayer, And cries, "It shall be done"--sometime, somewhere.
--Miss Ophelia G. Browning.
SECRET PRAYER
Lord, I have shut my door-- Shut out life's busy cares and fretting noise, Here in this silence they intrude no more.
Speak thou, and heavenly joys Shall fill my heart with music sweet and calm-- A holy psalm.
Yes, I have shut my door, Even on all the beauty of thine earth-- To its blue
And I have shut my door On earthly pa.s.sion--all its yearning love, Its tender friends.h.i.+ps, all the priceless store Of human ties. Above All these my heart aspires, O Heart divine!
Stoop thou to mine.
Lord, I have shut my door!
Come thou and visit me: I am alone!
Come as when doors were shut thou cam'st of yore And visited thine own.
My Lord, I kneel with reverence, love, and fear, For thou art here.
--Mary Ellen Atkinson.
WHAT MAN IS THERE OF YOU?
The homely words--how often read!
How seldom fully known: "Which father of you, asked for bread, Would give his son a stone?"
How oft has bitter tear been shed, And heaved how many a groan, Because thou wouldst not give for bread The thing that was a stone!
How oft the child thou wouldst have fed Thy gift away has thrown; He prayed, thou heardst, and gavest bread-- He cried, "It is a stone!"
Lord, if I ask in doubt and dread, Lest I be left to moan, Am I not he, who, asked for bread, Would give his son a stone?
--George Macdonald.
DENIAL
I want so many, many things, My wishes on my prayers take wings, And heavenward fly to sue for grace Before the loving Father's face.
But He, well knowing all my need, Kindly rebukes my foolish greed, And, granting not the gift I ask, Sets me instead to do some task--
Some lowly task--for love of him, So lowly, and in light so dim, My sorrowing soul must cease to sing, And only sigh, "'Tis for the King."
And scarcely can my faith repeat Her sad pet.i.tion at his feet: "These daily tasks Thou giv'st to me, Help, Lord, to do as unto thee!"
Yet while his bidding thus I do-- I know not how, or why, 'tis true-- My thoughts to sweet contentment glide, And I forget the wish denied.
And so my prayers he hears and heeds, Mindful of all my daily needs; Gracious, most gracious, too, in this-- Denying, when I ask amiss.
--Luella Clark.
A BLESSING IN PRAYER
If when I kneel to pray, With eager lips I say: "Lord, give me all the things that I desire-- Health, wealth, fame, friends, brave heart, religious fire, The power to sway my fellow men at will, And strength for mighty works to banish ill"-- In such a prayer as this The blessing I must miss.
Or if I only dare To raise this fainting prayer: "Thou seest, Lord, that I am poor and weak, And cannot tell what things I ought to seek; I therefore do not ask at all, but still I trust thy bounty all my wants to fill"-- My lips shall thus grow dumb, The blessing shall not come.
But if I lowly fall, And thus in faith I call: "Through Christ, O Lord, I pray thee give to me Not what I would, but what seems best to thee Of life, of health, of service, and of strength, Until to thy full joy I come at length"-- My prayer shall then avail; The blessing shall not fail.
--Charles F. Richardson.
Teach me, dear Lord, what thou wouldst have me know; Guide me, dear Lord, where thou wouldst have me go; Help me, dear Lord, the precious seed to sow; Bless thou the seed that it may surely grow.