mplications, so that the mind dwelling on it and invoking its presence
will naturally be enticed also into its background, and will wander
there, perhaps to come upon greater goods, or upon evils which the
coveted good would make inevitable. An earnest consideration, therefore,
of anything desired is apt to enlarge and generalise aspiration till it
embraces an ideal life; for from almost any starting-point the limits
and contours of mortal happiness are soon descried. Prayer, inspired by
a pressing need, already relieves its importunity by merging it in the
general need of the spirit and of mankind. It therefore calms the
passions in expressing them, like all idealisation, and tends to make
the will conformable with reason and justice.

[Sidenote: It reconciles to the inevitable.]

A comprehensive ideal, however, is harder to realise than a particular
one: the rain wished for may fall, the death feared may be averted, but
the kingdom of heaven does not come. It is in the very essence of prayer
to regard a denial as possible. There would be no sense in defining and
begging for the better thing if that better thing had at any rate to be.
The possibility of defeat is one of the circumstances with which
meditation must square the ideal; seeing that my prayer may not be
granted, what in that case should I pray for next? Now the order of
nature is in many respects well known, and it is clear that all
realisable ideals must not transgress certain bounds. The practical
ideal, that which under the circumstances it is best to aim at and pray
for, will not rebel against destiny. Conformity is an element in all
religion and submission in all prayer; not because what must be is
best, but because the best that may be pursued rationally lies within
the possible, and can be hatched only in the general womb of being. The
prayer, "Thy will be done," if it is to remain a prayer, must not be
degraded from its original meaning, which was that an unfulfilled ideal
should be fulfilled; it expressed aspiration after the best, not
willingness to be satisfied with, anything. Yet the inevitable must be
accepted, and it is easier to change the human will than the laws of
nature. To wean the mind from extravagant desires and teach it to find
excellence in what life affords, when life is made as worthy as
possible, is a part of wisdom and religion. Prayer, by confronting the
ideal with experience and fate, tends to render that ideal humble,
practic