Milford chronicle., 1907-06-28

never get beyond the mere animal petit
tions of the lower. grosser ideas of
prayer.
Foolish Prayers.
Instead Of starting with a great
sweep of holy desires to benefit all
mankind through prayer, instead of fill
ing up six great water pots with petit
tions for Gods honor and glory. we
come to God with a little thimBie filed
with our selfish desires. and we call
that prayer. Thus some of US go on
year in and year out making a lot Of
miserable little selfish petitions and
call those petitions prayer. Not for
years have we broadened the scope Of
our spiritual horizon. Not for years
have we made one prayer big enough
to Obliterate self and take in Gods
glory and honor. The way some of us
make poor, puny, silly, selfish prayers
Is enough to make the angels In heav-
en- laugh were it not for the fact that
those prayers are so tragic.
Oh, that you and / could grow big
enough in divine grace to make the
prayer which Paul made when in the
epistle to the Romans he wrote, Il
have great heaviness and continual sor-
row in my heart, for could wish that
myself were accursed from Christ for
my brethren, my kinsmen, according
to the flesh" That means in plain
English: 20 God, save my people; save
the Jews, the men of my own race. l
would die for them. would even for
felt my own hope of salvation if by
that means they might be won for
Christ" Do we ever make such a
prayer as that? Do we make our
prayers so big that in their desires
they will girdle the earth round and
round and embrace the salvation Of
the whole world? I tell you, II we are
going to make a full use Of the priv
ilege Of prayer, our prayers will have
to be made bigger than the little, puny,
selfish desires of our hearts.
Shall we ever grow bigger than self?
Are we living and praying for our own
personal ends? Thank God, all men are
not living for themselves. There are
thousands and tens of thousands, some
Of them far poorer than we, who are
living and praying for others. Listen
to this remarkable history: During the
famous London dock strike Of a few
years ago a young man sitting at his
breakfast table and reading the story
Of suffering in the papers suddenly
said. 81 have no right to all this plenty
while so many are starving" So he
went and drew all his money out OF
the bank. Then he bought lot OF food
and started out to find the homes of
the strikers. He went to a street near
the docks and stopped before one Of
the biggest tenements and asked the
landlady if there were any hungry
around. She answered, Lots Of them"
Then she told the young man upon
what floors Of her own house he would
find those who were in the worst need.
He went from room to room. In some
OF those rooms the men and the women
who were starving would not touch his
food because their neighbOrs were
worse of than they. 1T amt that I'm
above being helped" said one gaunt
haggard man, "but I've got enough
ahead to keep me and mine in bread
for one week more. If the strike amt
off by then I'll take help and thank
you. But there's worse off than we
are now, and they must be helped
first" At last the young man returned
to the landlady who had directed him
among the starving and bluntly said.
''When did you eat anything lastf'
ooh. I had something to eat day before
Yesterday. You know they cannot pay
their rents now, and l have to keep
them" "But you never asked me for
bread. Why notT' Because" said
the brave woman, 81 know of some of
them upstairs who have not had a
morseI Of food for three days, and 1
wanted you to help them first" Wher-
ever that young man went during that
London dock strike he found starving
men and women, thinking not so much
for themselves as for others. Thus
may we breathe forth our prayers.
May we pray for others. May we
plead for others. Like Paul, may we
be able to say, 90 God, for thy honor
and glory may I live and may 1 die"
Let us fill the six water pots to the
brim when we lift up our petitions to
God