The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1880-05-26
Miscellaneous.
90
HOW NOT TO PRAY.
A Curious Example Cited by the Congrega'
tionalist.

tionalist
The Congregationalist, in an ar
ticle beaded Poor Preaching in
Public Prayer wonders if some
Of the ministers Of the gospel have
any idea how much and how
poorly they preach when they
think they pray in public The
writer says: God is omniscient.
Why, then, should He be dis
coursed to, and this and that be
doctrinally or practically explain
cd to Him?' The editor eontin.
ues as follows:
If We were not afraid of the
perilous edge Of ridicule Of sacred
things, we should be tempted TO
illustrate what we mean by what
! We can recall Of the manifestation
Of the fault to which we refer in
a late example. We will tone it
down as much as may be, pre-
ferring to risk fatness in place Of
something worse.
The speaker informed the Lord
that it was singular|y beautiful
morning, and that after the storm
the ocean was very quiet that
caln,s after storms are exceeding
ly pleasant, and indeed useful; that
after man has been very angry,
and gets over it, he has chance
to be ashamed of himself; that
storms themselves are salutary,
and do. things good in a general
way; that the SUN never seems so
bright, and earth such an agree
able residence as after a few days
Of cloudy weather and the gloom
of storms that it is blessed
thing to have sunshine in our
hearts, and we all may have it if
we will but remember that God is
the great Sun who shines for all,
and open those hearts to His gra-
cious shining; that our tears OF
penitence may be considered rain
drops which will fertilize the dry
and thirsty earth Of our good res
olutions, desiccated by procrasti-
nation, which is the thief of time
that the brightness of morning, it
behooves US to remember, how
ever, introduces quite often the
fervors of the midday Of toll, and
the lepgthening shadows Of SEN
ility; that we all must die, and
that some die in the morning
of life, while others last till the
sere and yellow leaf of a
tremulous old age futters to the
ground, and leaves them-to die
at last that many OF US are now
in the midday of the worlds
anxieties and sublunary concerns
that each morning sees some task
begin, each evening sees it close.
O may something attempted,
something done, have earned q
nights repose that the past week
has been one Of good health gen
rally in tits congregation for
which we hope we are duly thank
full; that the fields seem to prom
lse to be fertile, and the husband
man may reasonably anticipate a
prosperous season, provided in the
morning be SOW his seed, and in
the evening withhold not his
hand from the (why didn't he say
potato bugs and be done with it?,
protection of bis nascent crops
from those mysterious marauders
which seem to have been per-
mitted by an infinitely wise Prov
idenoe to remind US once more
that the price OF liberty is eternal
vigilance; that-we stopped, re-
membering just then, and our
mind wandered.
He kept on about ten minutes
longer.
And a happy looking gentleman:
seeing we were a stranger, asked
in pleasant way as we came out
if we didn't think that was
great prayer-such as them Epis'
copalian fellows don't get out Of
their book you know p And we
said we thought it was-quite so.
TCourier. Journal.
-~Gpe-