Page:The Message and Ministrations of Dewan Bahadur R. Venkata Ratnam, volume 2.djvu/221

 lines"? Worship is the very life-blood of our religious constitution, it is the very foundation of the whole edifice of human faith. Prayer is the royal road to heaven; it is the cypher-key for opening the gates of the City of God; it is the passport for prompt admission into the abodes of Immortality. Prayer is a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire to guide us across the wilderness of this world; it is the unerring clue to the perplexing labyrinth of this life. Divine worship enables us to present an invincible front to all the temptations of the flesh, to overcome with an irresistible force all the allurements of the world, and to face unflinchingly all the threats of ungodly power. In the religious life of man prayer is a nurse in infancy, a comrade in manhood, a consoler in sorrow, a healer in ailment, a companion in adversity. Dashed about by the merciless waves of worldliness, we find in prayer the sole plank of safety and escape. Given up by helpless physicians, wept over by sorrowing relations, we find in