The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1905-06-17
rhe Problem Of Prayer.

Pray without ceasing. '-lheSs.. DIT.
To many it is an open question
whether 1t is worth while or even pos
sible to pray at all, and therefore out
Of the question entirely to pray con-
tinually Pauls injunction appears
even to those who believe in prayer
applicable only to the monk and the
recluse. Even il it were possible to
obey the command in the ordinary
sense it is doubtful whether the world
would be any better If life were one
perpetual prayer meeting.
1t is not strange that many have
swung away from the practice of for
NAL prayer when the older conception
Of its meaning is contrasted with the
modern conception of life. Once
prayer meant the sealing of the eyes
and the ears to the scenes and the
sounds of this life that one might gaze
upon and hold communion with those
of another world. It meant, too, al
most exclusively the act of ardently
petitioning heaven for the things that
one could not and often would not
get for himself. But life to-day dare
not shut its eyes; it counts it sin to
ignore this world of need and sin even
for the sake of the bliss of world
where these things are not.
Then, men ask, If prayer is no more
than a getting of goods from God with
out labor or compensation, in what
way does it differ from begging? In
what way is the man who says "Hea-
ven owes me living" any better than
the one who says The world owes
me living? The product of such
prayer is pauperization. The logical
end of that theory is savagery; all
the inducements to toll as well as all
the restraints of life would be gone; /;
one might ask for calamities on others
as well as for blessings on ones self.
But practically all the difficulties
of prayer arise from the limitation Of
its meaning to petition. They come
from the point of view that thinks
only of answers, of gods sent in re-
sponse to prayer orders. The man
who says l win work for my bread in
stead of begging heaven for it may be,
still man of prayer. His work may
be the noblest prayer, while his heart
may go out to God in gratitude for
strength and opportunity to labor.
Work is prayer, love is prayer, graft
tude is prayer, education is prayer.
The world needs more men and women
who pray with their hands and help
fulness, their feet that speed on err
rands of kindness, their eyes that look
out in good cheer, their ears that
listen in sympathy.
Prayer is an attitude rather than an
act. 1t must be without ceasing. It is
| like love, not an act nor a series of
acts, but a relationship. 1t is as much
more than words as love is greater
than its deeds. Formal prayers are
to prayer itself as the letters Of a
friend are to the love of that friend.
The love goes on without ceasing
the prayer, the aspiration, the longing
after the presence of, the knowledge
of, the love of God goes on without
ceasing.
The prayer that is no more than
petition for provision must be as pain
full to God as it would be to us who
are parents if our children never ad-
dressed us save to beg for their meals
and their clothes. On The other hand,
the life of prayer that found no ex-
preston in words, that made no re-
quests and looked for no tangible
gifts, would be as strange as if our
children were dumb and we were pow
erless to love them in deed as well as
in feeling. The life of prayer is the
realization Of the perfect relations OF
the All Father with all his children
Chicago Tribune.