The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-05-25
% could 1 tell. you surely would believe it;


How. TIL he bringeth you where have been?
Whose hath felt the spirit of the highest.
G n not confound. nor doubt him. nor deny;
Yea, with one voice. world IL thou deniest,-
Stand thou on that side; for on this am IL
III. And now for our third ques-
ton: "WHAT IS THE VALUE OF PRAYERT
To be sure, have already answered
this question in part, in defining the
nature of prayer; but there are still
some things to be said.
1. Prayer is the souls aspiration
for q higher and better li(e,-its striu-
ing for the ideal that, IN ats best mo
ments, CLEANS star like before at.
Prayer is torch that kindles our
best emotions, our highest aspirations,
our most beautiful sentiments, our
noblest desires, and bids them leap
upward, as flames from the altar
toward the Lord of the temple.
When do we really and truly pray9
There are experiences that we all
have in greater or lesser degree.
There are times when we feel that our
lives are not what we would have
J them be; that they are meagre and
wretched and shabby. We see our
faults and failings, as if some ray
from heaven had suddenly flashed
into our hearts. Who has not, in
such moments, cried cut: "How I
wish that 1 were better how | wish
that I could rise superior to the low
and sordid ambitions of life! how /
wish that could rid myself of the
weights that hang heavy upon the
wings of my spirit! want to BE the
thing l know and see!"
That is prayer. Aye, but is it an
swered9 Truly. How7 Where!
What is the answer? The desire it.
self is both prayer and answer. The
very fact of these experiences is
sign that God is urging the soul on
ward. When I look out upon the
tossings and agitations of the mighty
deep,-the waves lifting themselves
toward the sky, and anon falling
back broken and Defeated know
that the winds of heaven are abroad
upon the ocean. So by the perturba-
tions of the human spirit, know
that the spirit of God is moving up
on the face of the great deep.
Poor Hartley Coleridge,who sleeps,
"after life's fitful fever" in the quiet
churchyard at Grassmere, wrote:
so have dreamed; Oh may the dream come
true
That praying souls are purged from mortal hue,
And grow as pure as He to whom they pray"
There is an Eastern story of sick
man racked with pain, calling, through
the live-long night, upon Allah; but
to no purpose. The Tempter came
and said, "Child of pain, Allah hath
forsaken thee; see if he ever hear or
answer thee again" Elias comes
down to comfort him. "Why art thou
dismayed, my child?" 81 have called
so often and have never heard God
say, "Here am l."
Then the gave Elias answered, "God said,
Rise Elias. GO
Speak to him. the sorely tempted; lift him from
his gulf of woe.
TELL him that his very longing is itself an IN
swerng cry;
That his prayer Come gracious Allah. is my
answer Here am L.
Every inmost aspiration is Gods angel unde-
filed,
And in every, Come, my father" sumbers
deep Here my child"
2. Prayer IS the souls pledge to
striue for the ideal after (Which 1t as
pires,-to acatch and look for the neaU
life thot thrills aoithin.
One can not go forth from such an
experience to the old carelessness
and thoughtlessness. He is under
bonds to the Almighty Power from
whose presence he comes, to do bet
ter,-to be better. A gentleman one
day met one of the rich men of the
nation and was soon talking with him
about some serious trouble through
which he himself was passing. The
talk took a religious turn, for the
great man was professor of religion.
But good as he was he ended with a
very commonplace and misleading
conclusion: eff we all do only half as
well as we know, it will be all right
in the end. The friend who had re-
ceived this consolation went on his
way and called the porter to black
his shoes. The porter was bright
Irishman, and had overheard the lat
ter part of the conversation. "And
what do you think of that, Mikes"
Think of it, sir; we'll, l think, if l
only cleaned your shoes half as we'll
as know, you would not want to
pay me my dime; and if l kept on,
the landlord would turn me out of
the house. And / don't quite like to
II~l Oh