of doubt
and fear, of chance and change, of space and time, and all which space
and time bring forth, and then destroy. Death is not death; for Christ
has conquered death for Himself, and for those who trust in Him.

_Water of Life_--_Sermons_.

Out of God's boundless bosom, the fount of life, we came; through
selfish, stormy youth and contrite tears--just not too late; through
manhood not altogether useless; through slow and chill old age, we return
from Whence we came; to the Bosom of God once more--to go forth again, it
may be, with fresh knowledge, and fresh powers, to nobler work. Amen.

_Essays_.

VII. PRAYER OUT OF THE DEEP.

Hear my prayer, O God; and hide not Thyself from my petition. Take
heed unto me and hear me; how I mourn in my prayer and am vexed.--Psalm
iv. 1, 2.

In my trouble I will call upon the Lord, and complain unto my God; so
shall He hear my voice out of His holy temple, and my complaint shall
come before Him; it shall enter even into His ears.--Ps. xviii. 5, 6.

The Lord is nigh unto them that call upon Him; He also will hear their
cry, and will help them.--Psalm cxlv. 18, 19.

In the day when I cried Thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with
strength in my soul.--Psalm cxxxviii. 3.

The older I grow, and the more I see of the chances and changes of this
mortal life, and of the needs and longings of the human heart, the more
important seems this question: Is there anywhere in the universe any
being who can hear our prayers? Is prayer a superfluous folly, or the
highest prudence? I say: Is there a being who can ever hear our prayers?
I do not say a being who will always answer them, and give us all we ask;
but one who will at least hear, who will listen consider what is fit to
be granted or not, and grant or refuse accordingly?

Is that strange instinct of worship which rises in the heart of man as
soon as he begins to think, to become a civilized being and not a savage,
to be disregarded as a childish dream when he rises to a higher
civilization still? Is the experience of men, heathen as well as
Christian, for all these ages to go for nought? Has every utterance that
has ever gone up from suffering and doubting humanity gone up in vain?
Have the prayers of saints, the hymns of psalmists, the agonies of
martyrs, the aspirations of poets, the thoughts of sages, the cries of
the oppressed, the pleadings of the mother for her child, the