| The Hidden Life |
Chapter 9 |
Page 4 |
Why is it so important that we should pray for others? Why is it a sin to cease to pray for any? Why is prayer so important a duty? Have we a real obligation to pray for others? Friendship without prayer lacks a vital quality. There is no other duty of friendship which rests upon us with deeper obligation than this of intercession. We know that we sin both against God and against our friend when we cease to show him kindness in word and deed. No kindnesses shown in act are so important and so essential a part of friendship as prayer for our friend.
“Yes, pray for whom thou lovest; if uncounted wealth were thine,
The treasures of the boundless deep, the riches of the mine,
Thou couldst not to thy cherished friends a gift so dear impart,
As the earnest benediction of s deeply prayerful heart.
Seek not the worldling’s friendship; it shall droop and wane ere long
In the cold and heartless glitter of the pleasure-loving throng;
But seek the friend who, when thy prayer for him shall murmured be,
Breathes forth in faithful sympathy a fervent prayer for thee.”
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