Concord Hymn

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Photo: Kirk Heflin BY the rude bridge that arched the flood,  Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,  Here once the embattled farmers stood  And fired the shot heard round the world.  The foe long since in silence slept;  Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;  And Time the ruined bridge has swept  Down the dark stream which seaward creeps. On this green bank, by this soft stream,  We set to-day a votive stone;  That memory may their deed redeem,  When, like our sires, our sons are gone.  Spirit, that made those heroes dare  To die, and leave their children free,  Bid Time and Nature gently spare  The shaft we raise to them and thee. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) (The Battle of Concord was fought on April 19, 1775, the start of the American Revolutionary War)

Conflict of Prayer

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“Our spiritual cravings are not strong enough to give life to the mighty conflicts of prayer. They are not absorbing enough to stop business, arrest worldly pursuits, awaken us before day, and send us to the closet, to solitude, and to God; to conquer every opposing force and win our victories from the very jaws of hell.”

E.M. Bounds on “Hezekiah, the Praying King,” in Prayer and Praying Men.

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