Prayer (Hello, Boys!)

by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Lord, let us pray.

Give us the open mind, O God,
   The mind that dares believe
In paths of thought as yet untrod;
   The mind that can conceive
Large visions of a wider way
Than circumscribes our world to-day.

May tolerance temper our own faith,
   However great our zeal;
When others speak of life and death,
   Let us not plunge a steel
Into the heart of one who talks
In terms we deem unorthodox.

Help us to send our thoughts through space,
   Where worlds in trillions roll,
Each fashioned for its time and place,
   Each portion of the whole;
Till our weak minds may feel a sense
Of Thy Supreme Omnipotence.

Let us not shame Thee with a creed
   That builds a costly church,
But blinds us to a brother's need
   Because he dares to search
For truth in his own soul and heart
And finds his church in home and mart.

Give us the faith that makes us kind,
Give us the open sight and mind -
   O God, the often mind
That lifts itself to meet the Ray
Of the New Dawning Day:
      Lord, let us pray.

from Hello, Boys! by Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1919)
One by one	Be not Dismayed

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