The Chautauquan, Vol. 04, January 1884: A Monthly Magazine Devoted to the Promotion of True Culture.; Organ of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle.Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle
History
The Chautauquan, Vol. 04, January 1884: A Monthly Magazine Devoted to the Promotion of True Culture.; Organ of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle.
Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle
Chautauqua Institution -- Periodicals; Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle -- Periodicals
The other tells, about as forcibly as
words can, of the unrest and disappointment that were afterward felt.
Sabbath Morning.
God of truth, Father of light, I look to thee with
the first rays of the morning sun, and I bow before
thee. Thou seest me, O God! Thou seest from afar every
pulsation of my praying heart. Thou knowest well my
earnest desire for truth. Heavy doubt often veils my
soul in night; but thou knowest how anxious my heart
is within me, and how it goes out for heavenly light.
Oh yes! A friendly ray has often fallen from thee upon
my shadowed soul. I saw the awful abyss on whose brink
I was trembling, and I have thanked the kind hand that
drew me back in safety. Still be with me, my God and
Father, for there are days when fools stalk about and
say, “there is no God.” Thou hast given me my birth, O
my Creator, in these days when superstition rages at
my right hand, and skepticism scoffs at my left. So I
often stand and quake in the storm; and oh, how often
would the bending reed break if thou didst not prevent
it; thou, the mighty Preserver of all thy creatures and
Father of all who seek thee. What am I without truth,
without her leadership through life’s labyrinth? A
wanderer through the wilderness overtaken by the night,
with no friendly hand to lead me, and no guiding star
to show me the path. Doubt, uncertainty, skepticism!
You begin with anguish, and you end with despair. But
Truth, thou leadest us safely through life, bearest the
torch before us in the dark vale of death, and bringest
us home to heaven, where thou wast born. O my God,
keep my heart in peace, in that holy rest during which
Truth loves best to visit us. If I have truth then I
have Christ; If I have Christ then have I God; and if
I have God, then I have everything. And could I ever
permit myself to be robbed of this precious gem, this
heaven-reaching blessing by the wisdom of this world,
which is foolishness in thy sight? No. He who hates
truth will I call my enemy, but he who seeks it with
simple heart I will embrace as my brother and my friend.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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