--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Dougall, W. B., Jr. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 9 number: 12 published: 1906-10 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'W. B., Jr. Dougall, "Prayer," *Improvement Era* 9, no. 12 (October 1906): 966–968.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0912unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera0912unse start_page: 966 end_page: 968 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1906-10) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0912unse publication_year: 1906 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1906, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Prayer Prayer, which is the intercourse that takes place between the soul and the great searcher of hearts— the act of asking for anything needed, with earnestness or zeal, does not consist of mere uttering of words, or any outward form; it is an act of spiritua PRAYER. 967 devotion in which the soul is borne away for a time from all the objects of sense to appear before the Creator, there to learn what the profane, light-minded, and thoughtless can never appreciate. It is a remarkable fact that God has always permitted his children freely to hold communication with himself. From Adam to Enoch; from Enoch to Nehemiah; from Nehemiah to John, the Revelator; it is met with under every variety of circumstances; the poor and needy were listened to, while the proud and disobedient cried in vain for help; but no instances are recorded where anyone was forbidden to pray. It is an unspeakable consolation to every reflective and feeling mind, that amidst all the changes, dissappointments, and vanities around us, there is One who is All-wise and perfect. The contemplation of that divine being, who is the Father of all, the centre of all excellence, is so congenial to the human mind, that even if it were impossible to prove his existence by reasonable inferences, man would be constrained to believe it from a necessity of finding something to sustain him under the sense of his weakness. Take God away and the great vision around us is only a dream. The world in which we live is so constituted that everything seems to proclaim aloud the perpetual existence of the Almighty. It is a significant fact that there is not a single phenomenon of thought or perception, respecting which, when correctly analyzed, we are not compelled to confess that we can render no account of it, except that such is the will of our Creator; thus confessing our dependence upon him. The history of all science corroborates this statement. One may study with the naturalist, experiment with the physicist, and watch the chemist in his unfolding of the marvelous properties of matter, ponder over the intricate mechanism of the human body, soar with the philosopher in the realm of metaphysics, yet, after all, it is difficult to conceive how life can be sustained for a single hour without the preserving power of an allwise Creator unceasingly exercised upon us. And is not the ordinary course of our conduct and experience but one continual testimony to the watchful providence of God? We retire to rest at night without the slightest solicitude, well assured that we shall awake on the morrow with every function of life restored and refreshed. The seed is committed to the earth D68 IMPROVEMENT ERA. in full assurance that, after a few weeks, it will exhibit signs of life, atid subsequently yield abundantly. Day by day we are clothed and fed; yet there is not a person in the universe who can say for a surety that the sun will rise on the morrow. It is diffi- cult to conceive a spectacle more striking than that which is ex- hibited every day in a great nation, where ten, twenty, or sixty millions of beings — none of whom can support without a regu- life lar supply of food — retire calmly to rest at night, a perfect con- in fidence that they shall find a supply for their wants on the follow- ing day. God has revealed himself not merely as the maker and judge of the whole creation, not simply as its guardian and benefactor, but he has taught us to regard him as a father — a watchful teacher, and an unfailing friend. He calls to us to come to him with ?thankful hearts; to place our whole confidence in him, to accept* .as freely as he offers it, the gift of eternal life, and, casting away isin, to walk henceforth as children of a parent who can never fail 'them, and who by his mercy causes to exist a relation of unrivalled dignity, of incomparable security, and of ineffable happiness. Consider, for a moment, who is it that asks us to put our trust in him? ''God who made the earth and all things that are therein." In what language should we presume to speak to him! The most extraordinary genius of modern times never pronounced the awful name of Deity without a pause. It is an idea which fills the mind at once, and which the highest natures will always contemplate, with the profoundest reverence. He formed all things. Nothing is too vast for his control; nothing too little for the vigilance of his inspection. God invites us to pray to him, and to put our trust in his word, and is he not trustworthy? The ordinary blessings of life are apt to escape our notice; but our heavenly father undoubtedly intended them as assurances of his unfailing providence. What words can more beautifully describe the blessedness of prayer than those of the twenty-third Psalm, "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul; he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of