II. At Noonday
III. In the Evening
This book is not designed by the author to be a manual of prayers. Its purpose is to suggest prayer-thoughts and to promote the prayerful spirit. Hence it would be contrary to the object of the book to use all the prayers under a given heading as a complete service, e.g., those under the caption, In the Morning. A single paragraph will probably be sufficient at a time. Those into whose possession the little volume may come will find that they will soon be able to cull from it all that it is capable of giving, when it will be well to pass it on to a friend, or to destroy it.
There are those who toil through the whole of their life of prayer leaning upon the prayers of others. They maintain they cannot compose prayers of their own. This is not so. Anyone of average intelligence, if he chooses to take time and pains, has ample capacity for the purpose. Let him use his pen and write down his aspirations for himself and others as concisely as he can, and he will be surprised to find not only how much he has to say to God, but how easy it is to express what is in his heart. Such a practice greatly helps his speech. Furthermore, it is an act of reverence to present to God the best expression of our thought that we can. An artistic prayer, a prayer carefully prepared, so far from being less is more spiritual by virtue of its literary finish.
C.H.B.
House of the Resurrection,
Baguio, P.I.,
Tuesday in Holy Week, 1906.
Project Canterbury