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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 26
[Melbourne, August 1875]
Oh! Merciful Father, Thou Infinite Spirit of Life, Source of all Love—all Wisdom—all Light, Who hast, in Thy goodness graciously as with a dew drop from Thy great exhaustless Fountain of intelligence, endowed mankind with reason, grant that we may be enabled at all times to utilize that Divine Gift, so that every thing we think, say, and do, may be in accordance therewith, and let us not bury that precious talent which Thou hast entrusted us with, but let it shine forth in every action of our lives, and thereby induce others to follow in the grand and eternal pathway of progression, so strengthen us that we may understand the necessities of our nature, and by the knowledge of them, live in harmony with Thy laws, and so come nearer to Thee. Help us through the ministry of Thy servants our Brothers and Sisters, that we may do our duty to ourselves and to our fellows. We would aspire to knowledge and wisdom not for our own sakes only, but for the good of all. Teach us the knowledge of ourselves and thereby shall we gain wisdom. Enable us to pass through this mundane existence unmoved by the vicissitudes and trials of life, let us not be cast down in adversity, nor yet elated in prosperity, let us not be indolent in the calm of life, nor yet perplexed nor dismayed when the storm and tempest of death and trouble assail us or those dear to us. Strengthen us under every trial and disappointment, enabling us at all times to say "Thy will be done" giving to the needy the help our means allow, doing unto others as we would be done by, and may we abide in the Truth for ever, casting its shining beams around us, as Thou hast with liberal hand scattered Thy Fatherly blessings universally upon all Thy creatures. We ask Thee not for special blessings for ourselves, nor that Thou shouldst alter Thine unerring laws to suit our conceptions of what is right, as do those who know not Thee, nor that Thy laws are as fixed and as unalterable as Thou art—the same yesterday, to-day, and forever, but we pray that they who are still blinded by superstition, and whose conceptions of Thee and of Thy great laws have been so perverted by their early teachings, may be released from the mental slavery in which they are still unconsciously enthralled and be brought to the fullness of the light of Thy eternal Love, so that they also may with us be participaters of that joy which the knowledge of the Holy Truth brings with it.
August 1875.
