| Show prayer from the weeley enquirer grayer Pray eris is the eonis sincere desire uttered or unexpressed ali alia oa ca Aio totoa nAan if bidden fire i ehst trembles iri iii Wel breast Monts omery it seems quite natural to use a homely phrase to witness and hear people pray in the hornes homes of the lavter day saints it is customary to bear prayer offered both morning aind night and the children of such jimmea become accustomed to kneeling with the family group in in reverential p rayer prayer and supplication to almighty god to pray in one sense is to ask abraham used the word in this sense when a personage called the lord and two companions visited him in the plains of mamre said abraham my lord if now I 1 have found favor in thy sight pass not away I 1 pray thee from thy servant to pray in the common acceptation of the term is to implore or supplicate in reverence the blessings blessin gs and protective care of god in which is included an acknowledgment of aft all blessings received from him for the earth is his and he made it pray and has been since the dayson days of seth up to the present time it is yet worthy a consideration as to its utility we find all nations no mattey matter how debased pray to some un unseen seen power and while they may pray or perform rites to propitiate the an anger ger of their idols by the minds of their worshipers are invested with more than human power therefore their offerings gs to p propitiate their anger or to gain their favor if therefore it is the impression of the minds of df all hum human an beings beinars rs no matter how debased or cultured they may berthat there is an unseen power that through rey reverential prayer or other rites may grant them favors javors is not this fact sufficient to prove this thought or accepted theory so universal in the she minds of men a fact and that a supreme being does exist therefore if the unseen power does exist that can hear and answer prayer it is well that we seek to put in practice that course of life that 1 will win the approbation of 0 that power since we lisped our earliest prayer at our mothers knee the custom of prayer has grown on us and it has become incorporated in our lives and has had such a stronghold upon us that we feel a certain amount of condemnation dem nation it if we fail in iii its its observe ane throughout this great nation lation millions of its inhabitants boothe bow the knee in in prayer and throughout all the christian nations of the earth millions more petition the throne of grace for blessings in the name of jesus through whom the god of heaven can be approached and what comes 0 of it but a few years ago this great nation was divided and one of the most sanguinary wars of ef modem times ensued in which brother fought against brother and the prayers of the chaplain of both armies supplicated sup he god goa of heaven for his r is help po 0 a successful issue of their respective sides sida but napoleon settled this question for himself when he said god is on the side of the largest guns if history bow however is searched the saying of that man of destiny will be found false in these contra petitions of great powers one or the other of them is at variance with his predetermined program regarding the effects of their petitions if granted upon this earths history and more particularly the inhabitants the thereof reef for the lord does not always bear off the cause that has the element of right with it but he ultimately will righteous abel was slain and the words of jesus tell teli in an able manner that the program of trial and probation here her e must of nei e cassity be brought about by the commission of sin sam said he it is necessary that offenses must come but woe unto them by whom they come of course iise we would not pray if we did not believe that there is a god that hears and answers prayer h ane of bf the most remar kals answers of the lord to prayer as recorded in ancient history happened about nine hundred yeara before the tian cra when Eliiah said hear me 0 lord hear me that this people may know that thou art the lord god and ada the lord sent afire fire from heaven and consumed alie sacrifice on the altar at mt carmel to the discomfiture of the priests prie its of the nonentity called baal and in our times but recently on a beautiful spring morning in the year one thousand eight hundred and twenty the boy joseph smith L kneeled down in prayer to the almighty almighty and received a direct answer to his p petition edition eti tion from the mouth of god himself prest woodruff in a short autobiography of his life gives us ma many ny examples of direct answers to his prayers but elijah joseph smith and prest woodruff being priests are interested parties in this thia mat matter ter all 11 the stronger 1 proof is their testimony mou y for their lives were sought for the testimony they bore joseph lost his for in a worldly point of view there ther ewas was no particular gain to either of these men their lives were anything any thins but enjoyable our venerable presidents dents early life spent in the work was a d i succession of exposures and hardships some of the most noted infidels said or claimed to be of the age acknowledge knowledge P that the world is the better for the restraining influence that exists ests in the belief of a hereafter and in a god that has power to punish or reward mankind for the deeds committed in bitted while living here in mortality these men effect a higher plane of thought than to arif drink ik in the idea of a god and a life beyond the grave for their restraint but they only effect this for many of them have died with the dread name of deity on their lips with the poet I 1 claim there is ia no nu unbelief bellef whoever a seed aseel beneath the therod sod and waits to see it push away the clod he trusts in god there is a no noun unbelief b elief and day br day and night naci beci i bously the heart aves by that fach the 1 lips deny god kno why I 1 let us pass on accepting prayer as matue a true theory and practice who is thereof there of us that after engage engaging ng in in prayer either privately or in the family il ci circle r le has not felt the r st Bf conger blessings have been risked asked for increasing our qui faith falth petitions for his pre serving power over us have made us feela fe feel el a degree degreeff of safe sale tyas we have gone jorth forth to td our toil W we e thank him aim for our daily bread and in this ac of a gift from his hand our less lees prosperous neighbors neigh should be more charit charitably atly considered deliver us from evil should prepare us i to f make every exertion to resist evil sin on 1 1 fluentes fluen ces ourselves and hypocritical indeed are we if during the day aay we do not strive with all our native strength to live in accord with that which we lea fur aai t tuc lids lauds ot of the great father of us all the promises we sometimes make in our prayers are resolutions to alo do our duty and increase pur our anxiety anale ty to do the right thus we are made nia de stronger and cannot but acan acknowledge owl edge e that there is a strength derived from the holy influx influence ca of prayer and there is a strengthening of the love for each other of those who are in the habit of brayl praying ing to together gether inthe in the family circle or otherwise there is a point worthy of our con and possibly indicates the advance of the lords lorda work hereon earth for while jesus jeans taught hi hie e adis disciples to p pray ray our father fa ther wl who 0 art in in heaven j hallowed be thy naine the latter day saints are permitted to say fo 0 god the external JE father bather at the commencement of their prayers and yet the beloved son of god jesus 0 in his instructions on prayer to his followers did not use thie the name and the second sentence of the prayer he has taught hallowed be thy name slows shows the great reverence for the dread namer name of the deity that he hi himself po possessed s hessed and which I 1 he sought sough tto to impress upon the disciples with all a 11 due reverence and not boastfully boa ily T do 0 we make this allusion trusting that the work of god asit as it roll forth in th the e earth in our day will bring the people nearer him Sot notwithstanding withstanding this it must be carefully remembered that the too frequent repetition of the name odthe of the deity even in prayer is to be avoided shakespeare in his play of hamlet his bastl best and grandest inspiration shows up the virtue and power of prayer in the utter inability of the mar derer king claudius to pray he puts these words in his bis mouth my words fly up my thoughts re knain betow i words voids w without aitho t thought never to heaven go while this shows the great gulf existing exi stint between the heavens Hea and a depraved nature such as depicted in this character the creation of shakespeare pearean pea rein in saul of tarsus the once persecutor of the early day saints we have the tha opposite ananias a disciple of damascus wa was commanded atthe of the lord in a vision to visit him behold he pra yeth was the recommends tion lion and although in the past this saul had bad been a bitter persecutor of those who believed ou on the lord jesus now converted and truly repentant he prayed p his heart in ia accord with the words be uttered and they reached the ears of the lord who told tola ananias how he would show saul what wha grgat treat things hf he must suffer for ris bis names sake and in aea paul A d buffer and no doubt paid the penalty for his pepe persecution cution of the santa saints thrice was he whipped several times fought with wira wild baarts in the arena at F Ephe aos then stoned tou i ea aird and left left for dead it is is recorded in the gospel by st maga RM M luke laike that the apostles of jesus on one oc oe cassion asked him aim to teach them how to pray H he gave them what is known as the loris lords prayer for an example and then explained to them the manner and utility of pray erin a most beautiful but plain ma mannor manner n said he if a eon con stall ask bread of of you yon that is a father will he give him a stone 41 continuing he said if ye then being evil know hofto how to give good gifts unto your children how much more shall your heavenly father give the holy I spirit dispirit to them that ask him s our oar prayers should be equal to the occasion of burneed our needs need a our thanks for foe alkhis mercies loius toi us ever in our hearts and in this we may iray pray without with ceasing peters cry or petition ni though ehor when at the bid jesus he essayed to walk to bim him on the water his faith faili nghe pa commenced 9 M fenced to sinks sink and aad he cried lord iford save eave me josas heard the prayer and caught peter by the hand this prayer was effective and the occasion 0 ceas ion and a n d s so 0 as also 1 0 was the longer and more elaborate prayer of hing kin solomon at the dedication of the temple at jerusalem and also president woodruffs at the dedication of our temple at salt lake city from this we may learn the maew lantri r M in which we should pray we have no form of prayer ant it il is supposed that the needs of the hour and the occasion will be theme of the supplicant whether he stands in the pulpit atthe opening of a meeting or kneels in the family circle his utterances and supplications ions should be pertinent to the conditions and needs of the oc cassion oar uttered from the knowledge 0 cledge that tho the pathre path we tread is ia beset with temptation and sin sin at least places us aa in a position described in the old adage forewarned forearmed ALBIRT A JONES JONE S |
