No words can tell what sweet relief Here for my every want I find; What strength for warfare, balm for grief, What peace of mind. Hushed is each doubt, gone every fear; My spirit seems in heaven to stay; And e'en the penitential tear Is wiped away. Lord, till I reach that blissful shore, No privilege so dear shall be As thus my inmost soul to pour In prayer to thee. --Charlotte Elliott. PETITION Be not afraid to pray--to pray is right. Pray, if thou canst, with hope; but ever pray, Though hope be weak or sick with long delay; Pray in the darkness if there be no light. Far is the time, remote from human sight, When war and discord on the earth shall cease; Yet every prayer for universal peace Avails the blessed time to expedite. Whate'er is good to wish, ask that of heaven, Though it be what thou canst not hope to see. Pray to be perfect, though material leaven Forbid the spirit so on earth to be; But if for any wish thou darest not pray, Then pray to God to cast that wish away. --Hartley Coleridge. SOMETIME, SOMEWHERE Unanswered yet the prayer your lips have pleaded In agony of heart these many years? Does faith begin to fail? Is hope departing? And think you all in vain those falling tears? Say not the Father hath not heard your prayer; You shall have your desire sometime, somewhere. Unanswered yet?--though when you first presented This one petition at the Father's throne It seemed you could not wait the time of asking, So urgent was your heart to make it known! Though years have passed since then, do not despair; The Lord will answer you sometime, somewhere. Unanswered yet? Nay, do not say ungranted; Perhaps your work is not yet wholly done. The work began when first your prayer was uttered, And God will finish what he has begun. If you will keep the incense burning there His glory you shall see sometime, somewhere. Unanswered yet? Faith cannot be unanswered, Her feet were firmly planted on the Rock; Amid the wildest storms she stands undaunted, Nor quails before the loudest thunder shock. She knows Omnipotence has heard her prayer, And cries, "It shall be done"--sometime, somewhere. --Miss Ophelia G. Browning. SECRET PRAYER Lord, I have shut my door-- Shut out life's busy cares and fretting noise, Here in this silence they intrude no more. Speak thou, and heavenly joys Shall fill my heart with music sweet and calm-- A holy psalm. Yes, I have shut my door, Even on all the beauty of thine earth-- To its blue ceiling, from its emerald floor, Filled with spring's bloom and mirth; From these, thy works, I turn; thyself I seek; To thee I speak.