Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1903-04-30

visible ROVER tllteG IlT-Ac us anu lDc WOiAu,
q pleading with that Power Invisible.
whose name we cannot then utter. whose
attributes we hesitate then to declare. that
again we may be privileged to pray, Our
Father" that again we may feel ourselves
His children; that real enough may be-
come His presence in our lives, to banlsli
from lis all doubt that the world intelligi-
His keeping: ali suspicion; that any goo!
dies, that any right fails, that any throned
and crowned power of iniquity can swing
this earth outside the circle of His Faith
er's purpose and His Fathers love.
But it is not only in times OF sorrow. sad
ness. perplexity that the request OF the
apostles should be our prayer, for that re-
quest OF theirs points to an eternal and
universal need of the human soul. the need
to-day, tomorrow and forever of 2 hrmer
grasp of God, a clearer vision of His pur-
poses. q deeper reading of His will, in Or
der that we may live and save ourselves in
the way divine Perhaps from the stand
point of the need Of some or us 1t is more
necessary for us to pray fervently that
prayer, Increase our faith,' in the sea-
sons of our greatest Joy than in the days OF
our deepest anguish: more necessary at
times when the world shines bright about
us and we are conscious of the burden of
no perplexity and no misgiving, and dis
posed to be thoroughly satisfied with our
selves, our performances and with things
as they are; for then, it may be, We are in
greatest danger of forgetting God, of grow
ing unmindful of our personal depe ndence
upon Him, OF crowding Him out Of our life,
Of skimming gayly the gay surface OF things
with eyes and ears blind and deaf to their
eternal aspect. their profound and supreme
appeal Perpiexed, bewildered, crushed,
under the stress of deep personal anguish,
we may think God far from us, all out of
touch with our lives and their needs. But
I'D ,11 foy v,,,<
Him from us, however grimly we deny our
selves all consoling faith in His wisdom
and goodness-to think God at all is inf.
nitely better than to forget, to ignore Him
utterly, as if our goodness and our happi
ness did not need Him; as if the world
about us were fair enough and bright
enough, and altogether satisfactory enough
with or without His presence!
Do you ask what sort of faith This is we
need to pray for to have increased? Is it
faith in some partic liar dogma-clearer
mental comprehension OF some series OF
metaphysical propositions faith in the in
fallibleness Of some verbal formula? Nay.
/ the faith Of our deeper need is that faith
which means steadyinr vision Of the dr.
| vine unseen and the divine eternal; pro.
| found consciousness from moment to mo-
1nent of what the poet has called 'the deep
| below the deep and the height beyond the
] height" nobler convection within us, be-
| coming ever more ineradicable and uncon-
; querab,e that the real value Of things is a
spiritual value. their real meaning spirit
ual meaning. their real end spiritual end.
This is the faith upon which depends u'ti-
| mately our strengthening and saving; the
+, faith which our Bibles. our churches. our
| creeds. onr dogmas. orr. devotons were
meant to inspire, and which. il they do NOT
insnire. they are but as sounding brass and
tinl1ling cylnba. This is the faith we
| need to pray for. kneeling IN our pews on
L., Ill. ,1~s.
days, increase of vision, Of faculty, to see
and feel below the earthly deeps and be-
yond the earthly heights. and when we
pray, God to increase for, us this funda-
mental faith. be tempted to dictate to
God how He shall answer when. We
may want one answer; He may know that
we need another. We may choose to have
our answer in full all at once: He NAV
choose to give US but the first syllable of it
to-day. and to prolong the giving of it
through the years OF lifetime, nerhaps
through the aeons of eternity. We NAV
undertake in our wisdom to impose condi-
tlons uOon God that we imagine He must
fulfill if He would answer our prayer. for
getting the one fundamental condition,
est eagerness to hear the higher voices that
may call to us from day to day. and to
obey them when they DO; honest struggle
| " OedG Ddtk tne unnOlV temptations Ln6J
beset us. darkening the way to our feet:
honest purpose to do the duties that
throng us hourly. momently. and in their
doing ultimately illumine any darkness the
sonl can enter!
The PRAYER of the apostles was answered
; hardly as they expected certainly it might
be, but answered nevertheless and to a de-
gree of richness that they were not able
: all al once to fathom: answered for them.
az it has been through the ages for all
their successors by right Of spiritual inner.
, ltancee; for them as for him. great and good
: apostle unto us of our modern time, whr
. !. walked through the fires of sacrifice and
!, came in and ont here among US for a score
, !, OF years, fighting his good frht, his fight
!, OF good, his fight for God and man whose
words are vital vet within these walls and
!, bevond them where men sneak the Eng
;. llsh tongue: answered. I say, that PRAYER
Il for them Of the earlier time. for him Of
/ this later. not by any flashing miracle O.
!, word or deed; not by any startling reve'a
II ton of new heavens and new earth
l. not by any suddenness of divine destruc
: ton and reconstruction; nav, but by ane
n through gradual growing sympa th,
II with the purposes Of the Redeeming Mas
T ter; bv and through the deepening, widen
y ing: atonement >of their souls and his: b,
l. and through their effort to live the lif
J. that worshiped His. and suffering and cr,,