Page:The Message and Ministrations of Dewan Bahadur R. Venkata Ratnam, volume 2.djvu/222

 prayer the only true friend that stands by and imparts hope and comfort. Prayer is the lovely angel that fetches the flowers of peace and hope and spreads them on the death-bed. It is prayer that inspires the trust and faith to depart "swan-like and sweet"; it is prayer that ferries the soul across the unknown main and lands it in the haven of the great Beyond; and it is prayer, again, that ushers the suppliant spirit into the august presence of Him who is Immortality itself. Therefore, gentle reader, pray incessantly and find your true happiness in the blessings that prayer brings. Take refuge in prayer, carry with you the companionship of prayer; and you will illustrate in yourself Bunyan's Pilgrim;s Progress. Find your prime duty, your chief occupation, your supreme joy in prayer; and you will be led, almost involuntarily, to exclaim,

"If there be an Elysium on earth, It is this ! It is this!"

For, when are we, when can we be, half so happy as at that blessed hour when our