BOOK II. THE HEAVENWARD PATH. CHAPTER I. PRAYER. How true it is that God has at no time left Himself without a witness, and that those who have not a law revealed are yet a law unto themselves! In no land or age has supplication to God been wanting. Every where men have had the keen sense that a Sovereign Power has prepared this earth for them, and has placed them in this earth, and that they owe to Him the homage of reverence and worship. Every where there has been the keen sense of want, of unhappiness, of uncertainty; and men, from natural instinct, have breathed the sigh for relief, or have been clamorous and vehement in their urgent supplications. Even among men unenlightened by divine revelation, many have realised the necessity and the blessedness of prayer, and have even been awake to the difficulties which it involves. "I do not despise the Deity, Socrates," says Aristodemus, "but I consider Him far too great and glorious to 168 THE UNIVERSAL SENSE OF PRAYER. : require any worship from me."* How often has this thought been reproduced in a modern dress! Socrates answers: "If a Being so great and glorious deigns to care for you, by so much the more ought He to be honoured by you." By and by Aristodemus doubts the possibility of a Providence-that one and the same Deity can mind all things at once. "Learn, O my friend," answers Socrates, "thus much if your mind can direct the movement of your body, shall not the mind of the universe direct all things therein? If your eye can gather in objects at the distance of miles, is there any thing which the eye of God shall not be able to see? If your soul can speculate on objects here and in Egypt and in Sicily, why may not the great mind of God be able to take care of all things in all places?" Moreover, he argues that the invisibility of the Deity is, least of all, any proof of His non-existence. "The human soul,” he says, "which partaketh, most of all, of the divine nature, though it rules and reigns within us, is never seen. We ought not, then, to despise invisible things, but to honour God; from the effects which we do see, believing in Him whom we do not see. Let me take one more illustration from Socrates. It will help us to understand how he was called the John the Baptist of the ancient world, and how Erasmus would say, "Sancte Socrates, ora pro nobis." * Xenophon, Memorabilia, i. He prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me: nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt. And He cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." St. Matthew xxvi, 39, 40, 41. Raise thy repining eyes, and take true measure Of thine eternal treasure; And as this landscape broad-earth, sea, and sky- The Father of thy Lord can grudge thee nought- So all God does, if rightly understood, Shall work thy final good." |