Poems (Hoffman)/Behold He Prayeth

by Martha Lavinia Hoffman

BEHOLD HE PRAYETH

No mind so lost in error's rayless might
That fervent prayer will fail
To reach by Faith's strong arm beyond the veil
Of reason's doubt,
And to the stars gone out
Turn on God's light.

And shall prayer not avail for you—for me
In all things—at all times? I Look back and see
The power of evil in one life defied.
The prosecutor of God's saints prevail
And rise to preach the Christ he crucified.

Wanderers in error, false belief and doubt,
The light of truth from Heaven
 Shines 'round about.
No seeker for Truth's pure and priceless gem
 Shall be denied,
No traveler to a new Jerusalem
 Need want a guide.
No heavy load too great for Him to bear,
No burden borne, too little for His care;
And oh, to live above the crush of doubt,
To walk with God among those higher lights,
Where when the flickering lamps of earth go out
Heaven's beacon fires illume the darkest nights!

No more a slave to fear, and doubt, and dread,
Earth 'neath my feet, Heaven opened overhead;
From Faith's low altar, where in prayer it bends
This, the first heaven to which the soul ascends.
Ascends to learn that many things but seem,
That Heaven is real and only earth a dream;

Then tell me not that anything shall stand
Before God's will, His child's divine desire,
God, who could lift the ocean in His hand
To quench the violence of consuming fire.
By human reasoning wrong shall win the fight,
In utter darkness go out star and sun—
The Christian waits the triumph of the right—
Behold he prayeth and it shall be done.