Worship 'With My Whole Heart Have I Sought Thee.' J. H. S.
Ps. 119:10.
V INET defines true worship as " t he assemblage of all the elements of our being in an act of pure religion." Gladstone embodies the same idea when he says: "If a man knows any- thing of himself, he will know t h at the work of divine worship is one of the most arduous which the h uman spirit can possibly set about." President Mark Hopkins pronounces worship to be " t he highest act a man can p e r f o rm—an act in which every- thing t h at is truly man, his whole in- tellectual, moral and spiritual n a t u re are brought to their highest activity." Agassiz compared the heads of those who, among the scientists at his scien- tific conference, bowed their heads dur- ing divine worship to full heads of wheat, those t h at were held erect to the empty ears, or heads. Yet it does not t a ke a brilliant in- tellect to pray. The soul t h at does not pray is mentally deficient, but he t h at has the h e a rt to pray has the mind to do it. Leighton beautifully says: " It is not the gilded paper and good writing of a petition that prevails with a King, but the moving sense of it. And to that King who discerns the heart, heart sense is the sense of all, and that which He only regards. He listens to hear what t h at speaks, and takes all as nothing where t h a t . is silent. All other excel- lence in prayer is but the outside and fashion of it; this the life of it." The distress which we feel over the distractions of which we are conscious
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is always the sign t h at the heart wor- ships even when the brain fags. "He has compassion on our infirmities" and no doubt our Lord very tenderly pitied His weary friends who slept when they might have been watching and praying. It is not the momentary passion that goes with God but the habitual persua- sion of the soul. " Th at soul t h at is ac- customed to direct herself to God on every occasion; that as a flower at sur- rising, conceives a sense of God in every beam of His, and dilates itself towards Him, in a thankfulness, in every small blessing t h at He sheds upon h e r—who whatsoever string be stricken in her, bass or treble, her high or her low es- tate, is ever turned toward Go d ;—t h at soul prays sometimes when it does not know that it prays." "Distractions," r ema r ks Goulbourn, " a re no sin: nay, if struggled against patiently and cheerfully, they shall be a jewel in thy crown. Did you go through with the religious exercise as well as you could, not willingly harboring the distraction or consenting to it? In this case t he prayer was quite as acceptable as if it had been accompanied with those high flown feelings of fervor and sen- sible delight which God sometimes gives and sometimes, for our better discipline, withholds." Guthrie tells us of a godly man who on one occasions-most r a re achievement —offered up a,prayer without one wan- dering thought, and' who described it as t he worst which he had ever offered, be- cause, as he said, the devil made him proud of it.
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Distraction In Prayer F. W. Faber
Yet Thou a rt oft most present Lord, In weak distracted prayer; A sinner out of heart with self, Most often finds Thee there. And prayer that humbles, sets the soul F r om all illusions free, And teaches it how utterly, Dear Lord, it hangs on Thee.
I cannot pray! yet Lord thou knowest The pain it is to me To have my vainly struggling thoughts Thus t u rn away f r om Thee. Prayer was not meant for luxury Or selfish pastime sweet; It is the prostrate creature's face At his Creator's.feet.
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