quote · Legacy record
Arrested suns and tranquill’d seas declare To heav’n and earth th’ omnipotence of prayer, That gives the hopeless hope, the feeble might, Outruns the swift, and puts the strong to flight, The noontide arrow foils, and plague that stalks by night; Unmatch’d in power, unbounded in extent, As omnipresent as omnipotent, To no meridian nor clime confined, Man with his fellow-man, and mind to mind, ’Tis hers, in links of love and charity to bind. But farther still extends her awful reign: To her indeed belongs that golden chain From fabled God and their Olympus riven; But, since to truth and her adorers given, E’en with his Maker man to join, and earth with heaven. Then let those lips that never pray’d, begin: We must or cease to pray, or cease to sin; Each earth-born want and wish, a grov’ling brood, Are oft mistaken, or misunderstood; But who would dare to pray for aught that is not good? Nor that our prayers make Heav’n more prompt to give, But they make us more worthy to receive: There is in that celestial treasury Wealth inexhaustible, admission free; But he that never prays, rejects the golden key.
Arrested suns and tranquill’d seas declare To heav’n and earth th’ omnipotence of prayer, That gives the hopeless hope, the feeble might, Outruns the swift, and puts the strong to flight, The noontide arrow foils, and plague that stalks by night; Unmatch’d in power, unbounded in extent, As omnipresent as omnipotent, To no meridian nor clime confined, Man with his fellow-man, and mind to mind, ’Tis hers, in links of love and charity to bind. But farther still extends her awful reign: To her indeed belongs that golden chain From fabled God and their Olympus riven; But, since to truth and her adorers given, E’en with his Maker man to join, and earth with heaven. Then let those lips that never pray’d, begin: We must or cease to pray, or cease to sin; Each earth-born want and wish, a grov’ling brood, Are oft mistaken, or misunderstood; But who would dare to pray for aught that is not good? Nor that our prayers make Heav’n more prompt to give, But they make us more worthy to receive: There is in that celestial treasury Wealth inexhaustible, admission free; But he that never prays, rejects the golden key.
In print by 1888 AD · industrial
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- Author or tradition
- Colton (identity unresolved)
Attribution: unknown - Country attributed
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- In print by 1888 AD · industrial
In print by 1888: recorded in A Cyclopædia of Sacred Poetical Quotations (catalogued1888). Collection publication is an upper bound for this wording, not its earliest origin, composition date or the author's lifetime.
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken. - Recorded source
- A Cyclopædia of Sacred Poetical Quotations (catalogued1888) (1888 AD)
Page 458 · printed citation: Colton · subject: PRAYER
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.