i92o3 Meaning of Prayer 



of Nature" is swept away. The student finds that 

 much he has revered as faith is only the debris of his 

 grandfather's science. 



First of many problems is that of the meaning of 

 prayer. Is it true that by faith he can move moun- 

 tains, wring rain from the steel-blue sky, or make one 

 hair black or white? Or are its functions that of a 

 boat at its moorings, in which he may draw himself 

 to the shore, the shore remaining immovable? Or 

 must he merely turn away as from another of the 

 "faded fancies of an elder world"? 



In this condition of bewilderment our poet, while 

 attending Stanford University, met a young man 

 — old in the path of wisdom — Dr. Wilbur Wilson 

 Thoburn, a professor of Zoology. Whether prayer 

 would or would not change one atom in the physical 

 universe did not concern Thoburn. His conception, 

 like that of Jesus, was that prayer is an individual 

 act, to be performed in one's own closet, for the time 

 being his temple. Prayer he interpreted in terms of 

 life, the expression of some noble purpose. If our 

 prayer aims to realize hope in action, it will be 

 answered. Prayer is not a plea to change the world 

 about us, but our own resolve to consecrate our- 

 selves to our loftiest duty in the affairs of life. 



Wisdom is knowing what one ought to do next; Prayer the 

 virtue, doing it; religion, our conception of the ^'"■j"/ 

 reason why right action is better than wrong; and 

 prayer, the core of our endeavor. 



On the 4th day of June, 1820, was made the first 

 move toward the establishment of a university in 



c 773 :] 



