“When thou dost talk with God–by prayer, I mean–
Lift up pure hands; lay down all lusts’ desires;
Fix thoughts on heaven; present a conscience clean;
Since holy blame to mercy’s throne aspires,
Confess fault’s guilt; crave pardon for thy sin,
Tread holy paths, call grace to guide therein.”
“Even as Elias, mounting to the sky,
Did cast his mantle to the earth behind,
So, when the heart presents the prayer on high,
Exclude the world from traffic with the mind;
Lips near to God, and raging heart within,
Is but vain babbling and converts to sin.”
But how can we pray without ceasing? Are we to spend all our time on our knees? This certainly is not the meaning. We have our work to do. We are set in our places in this world to toil. A little bit of garden is given every one of us to tend and keep. Our duties fill our hands every hour. We sin when we neglect any allotted task. We can conceive of praying that would be wrong – praying when some imperative duty is calling us out, kneeling in our closet in devotion when some distress needs our help outside. When a sick child requires a mother’s care and devotion some Sunday morning, she would not please God if she left her child and went to a church service. When a physician is needed at a sufferer’s bedside, he would not please God by leaving his place to attend a communion service.
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