Grant folly's prayers that hinder folly's wish,
And serve the ends of wisdom.
Almighty Father! let thy lowly child,
Strong in his love of truth, be wisely bold,—
A patriot bard, by sycophants reviled.
Let him live usefully, and not die old!
Though I am weak, yet God, when prayed,
Cannot withhold his conquering aid.
Emerson—The Nun's Aspiration.
To pray, * * * is to desire; but it is to
desire what God would have us desire.
He who desires not from the bottom of his
heart, offers a deceitful prayer.
Fenelon—Pious Thoughts. Advice Concerning Prayer. Mrs. Mant's trans.
Ejaculations are short prayers darted up to
God on emergent occasions.
Fuller—Good Thoughts in Bad Times. Meditations on all Kinds of Prayers. Ejaculations,
their Use. V.
So a good prayer, though often used, is still
fresh and fair in the ears and eyes of Heaven.
Fuller—Good Thoughts in Bad Times. Meditations on all Kinds of Prayers. XII.
O Lord of Courage grave,
O Master of this night of Spring!
Make firm in me a heart too brave
To ask Thee anything.
,1ohn Galsworthy.
At church, with meek and unaffected grace,
His looks adorn'd the venerable place;
Truth from his lips prevailed with double sway,
And fools, who ctime to scoff, remain'd to pray.
| author = Goldsmith
| work = The Deserted Village. L. 177.
| seealso = (See also Dryden)
| topic = Prayer
| page = 626
}}
{{Hoyt quote
| num =
| text = <poem>He that will learn to pray, let him go to Sea.
| author = Herbert
| work = Jacula Prudentum. No. 89.
Who goes to bed, and doth not pray,
Maketh two nights to every day!
Resort to sermons, but to prayers most:
Praying's the end of preaching.
| author = Herbert
| work = Temple. The Church Porch. St.
69.
In prayer the lips ne'er act the winning part
Without the sweet concurrence of the heart.
| author = Herrick
| work = Hesperides. The Heart.
The prayer of Noah,
He cried out in the darkness. Hear, O God,
Hear Him: hear this one; through the gates of
death.
If life be all past praying for, O give
To Thy great multitude a way to peace;
Give them to Him.
Jean Ingelow—A Story of Doom. Bk. LX.
St. 6.
Is there never a chink in the world above
Where they listen for words from below?
Jean Ingelow—Supper at the Mill.
O God, if in the day of battle I forget Thee,
do not Thou forget me.
William King attributes the prayer to a soldier, in his Anecdotes of his own time. P 7.
(Ed. 1818)
| topic = Prayer
| page = 626
}}
{{Hoyt quote
| num =
| text = <poem>My brother kneels, so saith Kabir,
To stone and brass in heathen-wise,
But in my brother's voice I hear
My own unanswered agonies.
His God is as his fates assign
His prayer is all the world's—and mine.
Kipling—Song of Kabir.
| seealso = (See also Don Marquis under Worship)
| topic = Prayer
| page = 626
}}
{{Hoyt quote
| num =
| text = <poem>I ask and wish not to appear
More beauteous, rich or gay:
Lord, make me wiser every year,
And better every day.
Lamb—A Birthday Thought.
You know I say
Just what I think, and nothing more nor less,
And, when I pray, my heart is in my prayer.
I cannot say one thing and mean another:
If I can't pray, I will not make believe!
| author = Longfellow
| work = Christus. Pt. III. Giles
Act II. Sc. 3.
Let one unceasing, earnest prayer
Be, too, for light,—for strength to bear
Our portion of the weight of care,
That crushes into dumb despair
One half the human race.
| author = Longfellow
| work = Goblet of Life. St. 10.
Like one in prayer I stood.
| author = Longfellow
| work = Voices of the Night. Prelude.
St. 11.
Vigilate et orate.
Watch and pray.
Mark. XIII. 33. (From the Vulgate.}})
| topic = Prayer
| page = 626
}}
{{Hoyt quote
| num =
| text = <poem>O Domine Deus! speravi in te;
care mi Jesu! nunc libera me.
In dura catena, in misera poena,
Disidero te.
Languendo, jemendo, et genuflectendo,
Adoro, imploro, ut liberes me!
O Iiord, my God,
I have trusted in Thee;
Jesu, my dearest One,
Now set me free.
In prison's oppression,
In sorrow's obsession,
I weary for Thee.
With sighing and crying,
Bowed down in dying,
adore Thee, I implore Thee, set me free.
Mary, Queen of Scots. Written in her Book
of Devotion before her execution. Trans,
by Swinburne, in Mary Stuart.
