Poems (Hoffman)/Behold He Prayeth
BEHOLD HE PRAYETH
No mind so lost in error's rayless mightThat fervent prayer will failTo reach by Faith's strong arm beyond the veilOf reason's doubt,And to the stars gone outTurn on God's light.
And shall prayer not avail for you—for meIn all things—at all times? I Look back and seeThe power of evil in one life defied.The prosecutor of God's saints prevailAnd rise to preach the Christ he crucified.
Wanderers in error, false belief and doubt,The light of truth from Heaven Shines 'round about.No seeker for Truth's pure and priceless gem Shall be denied,No traveler to a new Jerusalem Need want a guide.No heavy load too great for Him to bear,No burden borne, too little for His care;And oh, to live above the crush of doubt,To walk with God among those higher lights,Where when the flickering lamps of earth go outHeaven's beacon fires illume the darkest nights!
No more a slave to fear, and doubt, and dread,Earth 'neath my feet, Heaven opened overhead;From Faith's low altar, where in prayer it bendsThis, the first heaven to which the soul ascends.Ascends to learn that many things but seem,That Heaven is real and only earth a dream;
Then tell me not that anything shall standBefore God's will, His child's divine desire,God, who could lift the ocean in His handTo quench the violence of consuming fire.By human reasoning wrong shall win the fight,In utter darkness go out star and sun—The Christian waits the triumph of the right—Behold he prayeth and it shall be done.