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turned round from His original purpose by human wills and much
speaking, I hardly think He would be worth believing in.
You are taking the lowest view of prayer mere petition; but even
that, I think, is set on its right footing as soon as we grasp the
true conception of the ideal father. Do you mean to say that,
because your father's rules were unwavering and his day's work
marked out beforehand, he did not like you to come to him when you
were a little child, with all your wishes and longings and
requests, even though they were sometimes childish and often
impossible to gratify? Would he have been better pleased if you had
shut up everything in your own heart, and never of your own accord
told him anything about your babyish plans and wants?
Still, prayer seems to me a waste of time, said Erica.
What! If it brings you a talk with your Father? If it is a
relief to you and a pleasure because a sign of trust and love to
Him? But in one way I entirely agree with you, unless it is
spontaneous it is not only useless but harmful. Imagine a child
forced to talk to its father. And this seems to me the truest
defense of prayer; to the 'natural man' it always will seem
foolishness, to the 'spiritual man' to one who has recognized the
AllFather it is the absolute necessity of life. And I think by
degrees one passes from eager petition for personal and physical
good things into the truer and more Christlike spirit of prayer.
'These are my fears, these are my wishes, but not my will but Thine
be done.' Shakespeare had got hold of a grand truth, it seems to
me, when he said:
'So find we profit by losing of our prayers.'
And yet your ideal man distinctly said: 'Ask and ye shall
receive' said Erica. There are no limitations. For aught we
know, some pigheaded fanatic may be at this moment praying that
God in His mercy would rid the earth of that most dangerous man,
Luke Raeburn; while I might be of course I am not, but it is
conceivable that I might be praying for his safety. Both of us
might claim the same promise, 'Ask and ye shall receive.'
You forget one thing, said Charles Osmond. You would both pray
to the Father, and His answer which you, by the way, might consider
no answer would be the answer of a father. Do you not think the
fanatic would certainly find profit in having his most unbrotherly
request disregarded? And the true loss or gain of prayer would
surely be in this: The fanatic would, by his unChristlike request,

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