O God within, so close to me That every thought is plain, Be judge, be friend, be Father still, Thy heaven is mine,-my very soul! With music and with song. [W. C. Gannett.] Great Father of spirits, who alone madest the heart, and who only canst persuade it, do thou draw me unto thee. Lead me often to the faithful mirror of thy word, that I may dress myself thereby, and daily put on more of the ornaments and beauties of holiness; even that I may frame all my ways and words and very thoughts upon that model, the mind of Christ. Surely, good Lord, in thus preparing myself to meet thee, I have by far the sweetest life the world can give !-[Leighton.] There is a sentiment of the eventide; when the sun slowly sinks from our sight; when the shadows steal over the earth; when the shining hosts of the stars come forth; when other worlds and other regions of the universe are unveiled in the infinitude of heaven. Then to meditate, how reasonable, I had almost said how inevitable, is it! How meet were it then that in every house there should be a vesper hymn !-[Dewey.] * * * We need something that shall make our prayerful hours support each other, the morning tributary to the evening, and the evening to the morning. Nothing else can do this so naturally as the habit of ejaculatory prayer. The spirit of prayer may run along the line of such a habit through a lifetime. So, one may live in a state of prayer! Life is a succession of temptations; temptations are emergencies; and for the emergencies we need the preparation and the safeguard of prayer. We have duties which are perilous. We meet surprises of evil. We feel perplexities of conscience, in which holy decision depends on the mind we bring to them. We encounter disappointments which throw us back from our hopes rudely. We have an unknown experience opening upon us every hour. Providence is thus continually calling for the aids of prayer.-[A. Phelps.] Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses, for they have been ever of old. Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness' sake, O Lord. SPIRITUAL NEEDS AND AIMS. What have I yet to do? Day weareth on,— Smiled through the morning dew, Droop in the sun. Yet must I labor still All the day through,— Striving with earnest will, Up, then, to work again! God's word is given, That none shall sow in vain, [Anonymous.] The most truly religious thing that a man can do is to fight his way through habits and deficiencies, and back to pure, manlike elements of his nature, which are the ineffaceable traces of the divine workmanship, and alone really worth fighting for.-[Weiss.] A PRAYER FROM DR. DEWEY. O Thou Infinite Being, of whom and in whom is all being; by whose power all is done that is done in heaven and earth; who hast appointed our lot and determined the bounds of our habitation; whose wisdom is unerring, whose goodness is unbounded, whose ways are past finding out; we bow before thee, weak, erring and blind, and know but to say, Our Father. O Thou who doest thy pleasure in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, God, Father; Thou who causest thy sun to rise on the evil and the good, and makest affliction thy strange work, God, Father; Thou who from the beginning hast led thy children in ways of holy living and dying, and chastenest every soul that thou lovest, God, Father; we believe in thee; we believe in thine almighty power, in thine all-comprehending providence, and thy tender mercy. Thou hast given us being. Thou hast made us in thine image. Thou hast sent something from thyself,—that in us which aspires to Thee,-to dwell in these forms of frail mortality. May we not believe that thou hast regard for it; yea, infinite consideration and compassion? O Father-Spirit! thy child-spirit cries to thee. In thee is light and no darkness at all. But we are in darkness. Thee no error, no evil can approach; look in pity upon our erring and wandering. To thee no infirmity, no pain nor sorrow nor peril can come nigh; but we are weak and oftentimes weary and sorrowful, subject to sickness and pain and death; subject to fear and doubt and trouble, and struggling with thoughts of life and death, of time and eternity, beyond the reach of our souls to bear alone. Oh! come to our help, Almighty, All-Wise, All-Perfect One; send us light, send us peace, give strength, give patience and humility. We know that all is right, that all is well. We know that thou hast given us our life and nature, and this world to dwell in, and we believe that thou hast put no more darkness nor difficulty nor pain into our lot than is expedient for us; and that as we do not love them, so dost not thou for themselves alone; and that thou dost not send them for thy pleasure, but for our profit. And we believe in thine infinite love for us, in all the trials and sorrows of our mortal lot. Oh! strengthen in us that great and comforting faith; take part with the light in us, against the darkness; give victory to the good in us over the evil, to faith over doubt, to life immortal over death. Give us to partake of the victory of the dying and the living Christ-to be conquerors and more than conquerors through him that hath loved us; and to thy name be adoration, praise and glory, evermore. Amen. There is a wide distinction between having a religious nature and being in a religious life; between feeling after God and finding him. * * * Religious character is more than mere natural character, and different from it. * * * It is that which lies in choice, and for which we are thus responsible. It is made by what the soul's liberty goes after with a reigning devotion; what it chooses and lives for as its end. * * * Let it never be disguised from us that our salvation lies in finding God, and that we may know our salvation only as we know that we have found him as the graciously felt preserver, the conductor, guide, peace, joy of our hearts.-[Dr. Bushnell.] |