Chapter 66
THE TIME FOR PRAYER
When is the time for prayer?
With the first beams that light the morning sky, Ere for the toils of day thou dost prepare, Lift up thy thoughts on high; Commend thy loved ones to his watchful care: Morn is the time for prayer!
And in the noontide hour, If worn by toil or by sad care oppressed, Then unto G.o.d thy spirit's sorrows pour, And he will give thee rest: Thy voice shall reach him through the fields of air: Noon is the time for prayer!
When the bright sun hath set, Whilst yet eve's glowing colors deck the skies, When with the loved, at home, again thou'st met, Then let thy prayers arise For those who in thy joys and sorrows share: Eve is the time for prayer!
And when the stars come forth-- When to the trusting heart sweet hopes are given And the deep stillness of the hour gives birth To pure bright dreams of heaven-- Kneel to thy G.o.d; ask strength life's ills to bear: Night is the time for prayer.
When is the time for prayer?
In every hour, while life is spared to thee-- In crowds or solitude--in joy or care-- Thy thoughts should heavenward flee.
At home--at morn and eve--with loved ones there, Bend thou the knee in prayer!
NOT A SOUND INVADES THE STILLNESS
Not a sound invades the stillness, Not a form invades the scene, Save the voice of my Beloved, And the person of my King.
And within those heavenly places, Calmly hushed in sweet repose, There I drink, with joy absorbing, All the love thou wouldst disclose.
Wrapt in deep adoring silence, Jesus, Lord, I dare not move, Lest I lose the smallest saying Meant to catch the ear of love.
Rest, then, O my soul, contented: Thou hast reached thy happy place In the bosom of thy Saviour, Gazing up in his dear face.
FORMAL PRAYER
I often say my prayers, But do I ever pray; And do the wishes of my heart Go with the words I say?
I may as well kneel down And wors.h.i.+p G.o.ds of stone, As offer to the living
For words without the heart The Lord will never hear: Nor will he to those lips attend Whose prayers are not sincere.
--John Burton.
BLESSINGS OF PRAYER
What various hindrances we meet In coming to a mercy-seat!
Yet who that knows the worth of prayer But wishes to be often there!
Prayer makes the darkened cloud withdraw; Prayer climbs the ladder Jacob saw; Gives exercise to faith and love; Brings every blessing from above.
Restraining prayer, we cease to fight; Prayer keeps the Christian's armor bright; And Satan trembles when he sees The weakest saint upon his knees.
Were half the breath that's vainly spent To heaven in supplication sent, Our cheerful song would oftener be "Hear what the Lord has done for me."
--William Cowper.
WHAT IS PRAYER?
Prayer is the soul's sincere desire, Uttered or unexpressed; The motion of a hidden fire That trembles in the breast.
Prayer is the burden of a sigh, The falling of a tear, The upward glancing of an eye, When none but G.o.d is near.
Prayer is the simplest form of speech That infant lips can try; Prayer the sublimest strains that reach The Majesty on high.
Prayer is the contrite sinner's voice, Returning from his ways; While angels in their songs rejoice And cry, "Behold, he prays!"
Prayer is the Christian's vital breath, The Christian's native air, His watchword at the gates of death; He enters heaven with prayer.
O Thou, by whom we come to G.o.d, The Life, the Truth, the Way; The path of prayer thyself hast trod: Lord, teach us how to pray!
--James Montgomery.
SPIRITUAL DEVOTION
The woman singeth at her spinning wheel A pleasant chant, ballad, or baracolle; She thinketh of her song, upon the whole, Far more than of her flax; and yet the reel Is full, and artfully her fingers feel, With quick adjustment, provident control, The lines, too subtly twisted to unroll, Out to a perfect thread. I hence appeal To the dear Christian Church, that we may do Our Father's business in these temples mirk Thus, swift and steadfast; thus, intent and strong; While, thus, apart from toil, our souls pursue Some high, calm, spheric tune and prove our work The better for the sweetness of our song.
--Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
PRAYER OF DEEDS
The deed ye do is the prayer ye pray; "Lead us into temptation, Lord; Withhold the bread from our babes this day; To evil we turn us, give evil's reward!"
Over to-day the to-morrow bends With an answer for each acted prayer; And woe to him who makes not friends With the pale hereafter hovering there.
--George S. Burleigh.
SUNDAY
Not a dread cavern, h.o.a.r with damp and mould, Where I must creep and in the dark and cold Offer some awful incense at a shrine That hath no more divine Than that 'tis far from life, and stern, and old;
But a bright hilltop, in the breezy air Full of the morning freshness, high and clear, Where I may climb and drink the pure new day And see where winds away The path that G.o.d would send me, s.h.i.+ning fair.
--Edward Rowland Sill.
PRAYER
When prayer delights thee least, then learn to say, Soul, now is greatest need that thou should'st pray:
Crooked and warped I am, and I would fain Straighten myself by thy right line again.