Truth. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1901-1908, 1905-11-25

we all want to hear chanted in the
dark hour when we pass the portals
of the purple sunset and enter into
the chill shadows and cold mists that
hover over the rushing river of death.
When the timid soul forsakes its
earthly habitation and wends its way |
to the border line which divides this |
from the other; which separates the |
known from the great unknown; when |
the sable night of transition envelops |
the frightened spirit, how sweet 1t
would be to hear an angelic voice
sing in the distance
Lead, Kindly Light, amid the encir-
cling gloom;
Lead Thou me on"
Lead Kindly Light" is more than
a hymn; 1t is prayer. And 1t Is quite
as good as any prayer established by
canonical rule, for it is one of those
prayers that seem to have birth
place in the heart. There is some
difference of opinion as to what consti-
tutes prayer, but it may be set down
that the unuttered wish of a good
man or a good woman, or one in dis
tress who is seeking divine guidance,
is just as good prayer as any, ana
that it will be heard as quickly as
the loudest bit of memory committed
cant ever shouted at the Infinite.
All mankind carries the image of
God. The savage Indian breathes
prayer to the Great Spirit; the Bud
dhist invokes God in the person of
his deities; the Shintoist sees Him in
the religious rites he performs; the
Christian invokes His help by asking
for guidance and assistance. In the
spirit of every created being that is
endowed with intelligence there lives
the spark of immortality and each and
all of them believe in some form of fu-
ture existence. We are all striving to
attain that felicity after death that
has been taught to us since the groves
were the first temples of God, and
while we may have different roads
and various paths, still the end of the
journey is at the same place, where
the highways come together.
Admit that the hymn is alike con-
ISOLATION to all the various sects and
religions; what of it? Who would
deprive the humblest of Gods created
beings of the consolation he might get
in his dying hour that would come
from breathing
Lead, Kindly Light, amid the encir-
cling gloom;
Lead Thou me on"
BY what right does this man, reared
in faith that was for so many years
celebrated for its sternness. intimate
that only they who believe in the doc
trines of Christianity have good rea-
son for indulging in the sweet dreams
of everlasting Hope? Who gave to
him the authority to say the Infinite
thinks more of the Christian than the
non-Christian? Does not the sun shine
with equal warmth on the Buddhist
and the believer in the story of the
Star of Bethlehem? Does not the rain
fall as gently on the rice field of the
Shintoist as on the wheat field of the
follower of the Man of Sorrows? And
has not Divinity recently looked down
in passive silence while pagan Japan
"walloped the eternal stuffing" out of
Christian Russia?
Surely there is enough in history to
enable all of us to see that creations
Lord is not much of a respecter OF
persons. And as his falherly kindness
extends to all lands and to all peoples,
why should there be objections to one
hymn that can be sung by all alike;
each endowed with the same idea that
the great light asked for is that which