The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-02-05
Prayer Wheel Religion.

AT the gates of many temples in
Japan 1 have seen-and l confess have
| lnischievously turned in the wrong di-
rection-the prayer wheels meant for
the pilgrims Up in North India one
may occasionally see a BhuddiSt priest
| twirlfng the hand prayer wheel. In
Thibet, prayers are written thousands
and thousands of times and put in
barrels which are turned by water
power. This is the logical develop
ment of the idea of praying and of be-
ing religious for human observance. II
a mans religion is in order that he
may be seen Of men. then the bigger
and the noiser the display thereof, the
better flor him. The Hindu holy man,
with all his marks and ashes and filth
and other outward signs OF religion, is
then on the right track
That is not the Jesus way. His con-
ception of religion, fundamentally. was
of a secret between God and himself.
His real life was his prayer life, lived
apart from men in the times of COM
munion and meditation. Religion goes
down to the depths of ones being.
Not for ones much speaking is he
heard of God. nor for his well ordered
phrases. Prayer is more than form.
or literary production. The biting
sarcasm of the remark that a certain
preacher made the best prayer ever
addressed to a Boston audience" still
holds; but better prayer Is that
which cries. "God be merciful to me,
a sinner In truthfulness and conf
dence it looks only to 1.-The Father who
seeth in secret
The New World Speech.
The world is steadily getting bigger
ideas. Mems conceptions are grow
ing. Old notions of home missions and
of religion are passing away. Men
cannot be religious in the Chris
whole kingdom of God on earth.
The plans of God are for the en-
tire world and the plans of man
which are not for the whole
world are too small even for a man.
The present imperial conceptions which
are selling the church may be traced
back to the prayer of the Lord him
self. In that great petition there Is no
singular pronoun at all. 1t is all So
cial and uutreaching. The modern self
ish petition. "God bless me, my wife.
my son John, his wife. MS four. no
mere Amen has no echo in that
great prayer.
We often say that "self-preserva
ton IS the first law of nature;" SO it
is-of the lowest forms of nature.
The meanest expression OF religion
possible to man is that of sel6shness.
1t is essentially heather. The motto
Of heathendon is. look out for num-
Der one.' The motto of Christianity is,
| Look out for number two" Contrast
the selfishness of Cato's prayer with
that which Jesus taught. when he
| lifted men up from the mount of Wis
| ion to a glimpse OF Gods purpose in
the world: "Father Mars. I humbly
| implore and conjure you to be pro-
pitious to me, my family and all my
| domestics, in regard to the occasion
| of the present procession in my fields,
lands and estate: to prevent, avert and
remove from us all diseases. known
and unknown, desolations, storms, ca
| lamities and pestilential air; IT, make
| our plants. corn, vines and trees grow
and come to perfection: to preserve
our shepherds and fIocks; to grant thy
preservation of life and health to me,
| my family and all my domestics."