Devotional Verses Founded on and Illustrative of select Texts of Scripture [by Bernard Barton] |
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VOICELESS PRAYER. |
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44
VOICELESS PRAYER.
“Now Hannah, she spake in her heart, only her lips moved,
but her voice was not heard: therefore Eli thought she had been
drunken.”
—1 Samuel, i. 13.
Behold how few brief words set forth
Of voiceless prayer the happy lot;
God who inspires it owns its worth,
Though mortal man discern it not:
That prayer which reach'd not Eli's ear,
The Lord stoop'd down from heaven to hear.
Of voiceless prayer the happy lot;
God who inspires it owns its worth,
Though mortal man discern it not:
That prayer which reach'd not Eli's ear,
The Lord stoop'd down from heaven to hear.
And many a prayer from lips that move
In silence now, ascends on high;
By Him who dwells and reigns above
Beheld with no averted eye,
Aye, plum'd with wings, endow'd with sense
Beyond all verbal eloquence.
In silence now, ascends on high;
By Him who dwells and reigns above
Beheld with no averted eye,
Aye, plum'd with wings, endow'd with sense
Beyond all verbal eloquence.
Then fear not thou, whose faultering tongue
Seems powerless still, when bent the knee,
Though songs of praise by angels sung
In heaven for ever vocal be,
True prayer, though pour'd in sigh and groan,
Soars not unnotic'd, nor unknown.
Seems powerless still, when bent the knee,
Though songs of praise by angels sung
In heaven for ever vocal be,
True prayer, though pour'd in sigh and groan,
Soars not unnotic'd, nor unknown.
45
If grace divine the heart prepare,
A sigh, a groan in Jesu's name
May prove a more availing prayer
Than art's elaborate power can frame;
Nor need our silence be deplored
While hearts are vocal to the Lord.
A sigh, a groan in Jesu's name
May prove a more availing prayer
Than art's elaborate power can frame;
Nor need our silence be deplored
While hearts are vocal to the Lord.
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