PRAYER PREACHING
Although we grope with little faith,
Give me the heart to fight—and lose.
Prayer is
The world in tune,
A spirit-voyce,
And vocall jpyes,
Whose Eccho is heaven's blisse.
Henry Vaughan—The Morning Watch.
Desine fata deum flecti sperare preoando.
Cease to think that the decrees of the gods
can be changed by prayers.
Vergil—Æneid. VI. 376.
Audiit, et voti Phoebus succedere partem
Mente didit, partem volucres dispersit in auras.
Ae half the prayer wi' Phoebus grace did find
The t'other half he whistled down the wind.
Vergil—Æneid. XL 794. Trans, by Scott
—Waverley. Ch. XLIII. Same idea in Homer—Iliad. XVI. 250.
Prayer moves the Hand which moves the world.
John Aikman Wallace—There is an Eye
that Never Sleeps. L. 19.
| seealso = (See also W. R. Wallace under Motherhood)
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{{Hoyt quote
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| text = <poem>Who is this before whose presence idols tumble
to the sod?
While he cries out—"Allah Akbar! and there is
no god but God!"
Wm. Ross Wallace—El Amin. The Faithful.
Making their lives a prayer.
WHrrnER—To A.K. on Receiving a Basket of
Sea.Mosses.
Though smooth be the heartless prayer, no ear
in heaven will mind it;
And the finest phrase falls dead, if there is no
feeling behind it.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox—Art and Heart. St.
.
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{{Hoyt quote
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| text = The imperfect offices of prayer and praise.
Wordsworth—Excursion. Bk. I.
"What is good for a bootless bene?"
With these dark words begins my Tale;
And their meaning is, whence can comfort spring
When Prayer is of no avail?
Wordsworth—Force of Prayer.
The bells of Ryleston seemed to say,
While she sat listening in the shade,
With vocal music, "God us ayde!"
And all the hills were glad to bear
Their part in this effectual prayer.
Wordsworth—White Doe of Rylstone. Canto
VII. St. 11.
Prayer ardent opens heaven.
YoxjNQ—NightThmights. Night VIII. L. 721.
Doubt not but God who sits on high,
Thy secret prayers can hear;
When a dead wall thus cunningly
Conveys soft whispers to the ear.
Verse inscribed in the Whispering Gallery of
Gloucester Cathedral.
PREACHING
Of right and wrong he taught
Truths as refined as ever Athens heard;
And (strange to tell) he practis'd what he
preach'd.
John Armstrong—The Art of Preserving
Health. Bk. IV. L. 301.
I met a preacher there I knew, and said,
111 and overworked, how fare you in this scene?
Bravely! said he; for I of late have been
Much cheered with thoughts of Christ, the living bread.
Matthew Arnold—East London.
I preached as never sure to preach again,
And as a dying man to dying men.
Richard Baxter—Love Breathing Thanks
and Praise. Pt. 2. St. 29.
Paites ce que nous disons, et ne faites pas ce
que nous faisons.
Do as we say, and not as we do.
Boccaccio—Decameron. From the French of
Sabatter de Castres—Troisieme Journee.
Novelle VII.
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{{Hoyt quote
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| text = <poem>For the preacher's merit or demerit,
It were to be wished that the flaws were fewer
In the earthen vessel, holding treasure,
But the main thing is, does it hold good measure?
Heaven soon sets right all other matters!
Robert Browning—Christmas Eve. Canto
XXIL
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{{Hoyt quote
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| text = <poem>Hear how he clears the points o' Faith
Wi' rattlin' ah' thumpin'!
Now meekly calm, now wild in wrath,
He's stampin', an' he's jumpin'!
Burns—Holy Fair. St. 13.
And pulpit, drum ecclesiastic,
Was beat with fist instead of a stick.
Btttler—Hudibras. Pt. I. Canto I. L. 11.
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{{Hoyt quote
| num =
| text = <poem>Take time enough: all other graces
Will soon fill up their proper places.
John Byrom—Advice to Preach Slow.
| seealso = (See also Walker under Reading)
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{{Hoyt quote
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| text = <poem>Oh, for a, forty-^parson power to chant
Thy praise, Hypocrisy!
| author = Byron
| work = Don Jvan. Canto X. St. 34. Sydney Smith quotes this as "a twelve-parson
power of conversation."
But Cristes loore, and his Apostles twelve,
He taughte, but first he folowed it hymselfe.
Chaucer—Canterbury Tales. Prologve. L.
527.
