PLAIN WORDS FOURTH SERIES ON PRAYER tihvavy of t:he l:heolo0ical ^tminavy PRINCETON . NEW JERSEY FROM THE LIBRARY OF ROBERT ELLIOTT SPEER BV 210 .H79 1888 How, William Walsham, 1823 1897. Plain words, fourth series PLAIN WORDS. FOURTH SERIES. ON PRAYER. 13 1959 PLAIN WORDS. FOURTH SERIES. ON PRAYER, FORTY READINGS FOR SUCH AS DESIRE TO PRAY BETTER. BY THE RIGHT REV. W. WALSHAM HOW. D,D. BISHOP OF WAKEFIELD. ^entT) <£titttoii. LONDON: WELLS GARDNER, DARTON & CO. PATERNOSTER BUILDINGS. m . .illllliiinniHlIP^ CONTENTS. NO. 1. PRAYER : ITS NATURE, II, THE SPIRITUAL ATTITUDE OF PRAYER, III. PRAYER : TO WHOM ADDRESSED, IV. PRAYER : ITS DIVISIONS, , V. EXAMPLES OF PRAYER, , VI. DEGREES OF PRAYER, . VII. PRIVATE PRAYER : THE SOUL AND GOD, VIII. PUBLIC PRAYER, • . IX. FAMILY PRAYER, . , S. CEASELESS PRAYER, XL PRAYER : ITS FORM, XII. DIFFICULTIES OF PRAYER, Xin. LOVE OF GOD THE SECRET OF POWER IN PRAYER, XIV. WANDERING THOUGHTS IN PRAYER, i IS V, 2j 2.5 30 35 39 44 49 53 57 CONTENTS. NO. XV. XVI. XVII. XVIII. XIX. ES. XXI. XXII. SXIII. XXIV. XXV. XXVI. SXVII. 5XVIII. XXIX. XXX. XXXI. XXXII. DRYNESS IN PRATER AS A TRIAL, AND HOW TO DEAL WITH IT, . . . .GO CAUSES OF COLDNESS IN PRATER, . . 64 HABITS OF LIFE WHICH HINDER PRAYER, . .69 PERSEVERANCE IN PRAYER, . . . . li THE ACCEPTANCE OF PRAYER FOR CHRIST'S SAKE, 79 THE ONE PLEA, AS SET FORTH IN HOLY COM- MUNION, . . . . .83 HELPS TO PRAYER, . . . , ,87 ORDINARY SUBJECTS OF PRAYER, , . .91 INTERCESSION, . . . . ,95 INFLUENCE OF PRAYER ON THE DAILY LIFK, , 99 MEDITATION AS A HELP TO PRAYER, . .103 A SCHEME OR PLAN OF DEVOTION, . . . 108 PRAYER OF THE UNSEEN WORLD, . . . 112 PRAYER IN CONNECTION WITH SICKNESS, , .116 BODILY INFIRMITY AS A HINDRANCE TO PRATER, . 120 THE lord's prayer, .... 124 FREQUENT USE OF THE LORD'S PRAYER, , .129 THE lord's PRATER — " Our Father, which art in Heaven" . . 133 '' UalloiLxd he Thy Narae," . . . .137 CONTENTS, VU KO. FAGt THE lord's pkayer, continued — XXXIV. '^ Thy Hngdom come, ^^ . . . .141 XXXV. " Thy Will he done in earth as it is in Heaven," . lit XXXVI. " Give us this day our daily bread," . .149 XXXVII. '• Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them " that trespass against us," , . .153 »r\xviii. " Lead us 7iot into temptation," . , . 157 sxxix. ^' Deliver us from evil," .... 161 XL. " Fo^)' Thine is the Mngdom, the pou-.r, and t! e " glory, for ever and ever. Amen,''' . 155 Prayer: its nature. God has created two great worlds — the world oi matter, and the world of spirit. We often speak of these two great worlds as the things which are seen, and the things which are not seen — the visible, and the invisible ; but, when we so speak, we put sight for all the senses, because it is the chief of the senses. In reality, by the world of matter we mean all things which our senses can make known to us, — the air which we breathe, the sounds which we hear, no less than the things which we see : while by the world of spirit we mean all those things which our bodily senses cannot make known to us, or tell us anything about. Now, as our senses put us into connection with the world of matter, so does Faith with the world of spirit. Faith is to the spiritual world what sense is to the material. Thus Faith is often called the eye of the soul. But, in truth, Faith is not o-nly the eye of the soul, which sees that which the bodily eye cannot see • it is also the ear of the soul, which hears that which the bodily ear cannot hear; the hand of the soul, which touches that which the bodily hand cannot touch. Our senses realise the world of matter — make it real, substantial, evident, to us. The work of Faith is to realise the world of spirit — to make that real, A 2 PR A YER : ITS NA TURE. substantial, e\'ident to us. This "v^-ork of Faith is plainly described in the words, " While we look, not "at the things which are seen, but at the things which "are not seen." Its task is to draw aside the curtain of the visible and material, and to j^lace us in the presence of the invisible and spiritual. The invisible world is infinitely greater and more momentous than the visible. Yet the visible, by its presence and closeness to our senses, is always shutting out from us the invisible ; just as the little breadth of a man's hand, if held close enough to the eye, will shut out from his sight the mighty sun itself. Faith has to conquer this tremendous power of the visible. The world subdues, not alone by its attrac- tions and allurements, but also by its simple, inevitaljle presence. It forces itself upon us all day long. The senses are ever active, and never cease to make \U presence known to us. It will be seen, and heard, and felt. And so the world gets the victory. But " this is the victory that overcometh the world, even " our Faith." Faith overcometh the world by making the unseen as consciously present to us as our senses make the seen. He that lives in the abiding con- sciousness of the tremendous and eternal realities \/ehind the veil is not dazzled and distracted by the poor gaudy figures painted upon it. Faith is the one true conqueror of Sense. / Among the realities of the unseen world the one great object which stands out in overwhelming majesty is God. Faith beholds God. But God is in Three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Faith there- fore contemplates in adoring love and awe this Divine Trinity, j The Love, the Power, the Glory of the Father;, the Merits, the Atonement, the Example, PKA y£K : ITS XA TUKE. 3 the Intercession of the Son ;3>the Life, the sanctif}'- ing Power of the Holy Spirit : these occupy and , rivet the eye of Faith. But Faith has a voice. THEy VOICE OF Faith is Prayer. Prayer is here used in its widest and fullest sense, as equivalent to worship, and as thus including every act by which the spirit of man goes forth consciously towards, and holds communion with, God, who is Spirit. Prayer is spirit communing with Spirit. It is the voice which goes forth from the soul of man into the world behind the veil. Faith beholds ; Prayer speaks. Faith without Prayer is a wild and empty inflation of the human imagination, or the horrible vision of devils. Prayer without Faith is the clattering of a tinkling cymbal. If Faith is real, it must worship. If worship is real, it must behold. Neither is the eye anything without the voice, nor the voice without the eye. It follows that Prayer is the greatest reality of our lives. It is the truest spiritual act of our being — the one act which puts our spirits in direct intercourse with the spiritual world behind the veil. Prayer is Faith speaking to God. Our subject to-day is not a very easy one, especially to such as are not accustomed to think of such things as we are dealing with. Let me try to put it as simply as I can in other words. God is a Spirit, whom we cannot see, nor hear, nor feel. But things which we cannot see, nor hear, nor feel, may be quite as real and true as things which we can. And there is a world of such things all around us. But that might very well be true, and yet we might be quite unable to know anything about these things, or to have anything to do with them. It 4 PR A YER : ITS NA TV RE. might be that we were obliged to live our lives entirely among the things which we can see, and hear, and feel, and that the other world, even if true, were quite out of our reach — a world we had no way of approaching. But this is not so. AVe have in us a power, called Faith, which makes us feel the reality and the presence of the unseen world, so that we are sure God is with us, and that we ourselves have in us a spirit which belongs to that world of spirit, and not to this outer world which we see, and hear, and feel. Moreover, we have in us a power of speaking to God, ■ — a power which takes us (so to speak) into that spirit-world, so that we converse with it. And that power is Prayer. So we see again that Prayer is Faith speaking to God. Oh wondrous awful mystery and blessedness oi Prayer ! It is hardly conceivable that a being so poor, so weak, so fallen, so sinful, so earthh'-, should be able, or should be allowed, to speak to God ! Yet it is true. God is the God that heareth Prayer, He despiseth not the prayer of the poor. Is not this most wonderful kindness and condescension? Yes, but '' God is Love" ; and the Son of God has died for man; and through Him we have ''access by one ^ Spirit unto the Father." 11. The Spiritual Attitude of Prayer. Prayer, as we have seen, is the voice of Faith speaking to God. Now it is the work of Faith to set us, as it were, in the very presence of God, to make us realise and feel that presence. The attitude of Faith is that of looking away from self to God. Therefore this tools the attitude of Prayer. True worship is the homage of the creature to the Creator, the bowing down of the soul in lowly adoration before its God. This is not sufficiently remembered. There is often far too much of self in our prayers. When people speak of their prayers, how common is it to hear them say they do not find much benefit from them; their prayers do not seem to do them much good. Such persons are thinking only of self, and of the fruits of prayer in self, and this is a very narrow and shallow view to take of prayer. If they came before God with their ofi'ering of worship, as weak and sinful creatures pay- ing their homage to Him, laying before Him the adoration of their being, might they not find more to eatisfy them 1 The true nature and the true blessedness of worship can never be realised so long as the attitude of the soul is that of looking within instead of looking with- out — self-contemplation instead of the contemplation 6 THE SPIRITUAL A TTITUDE OF PR A YER. of God. It is the fixing the soul's gaze upon God— the clear, vivid contemplation of His infinite goodness and mercy and holiness — which must give to worship its rightful brightness and happiness. How many are cast down, and miserable, and desponding, just because tliey are always looking in upon self instead of look- ing out upon God ! Now it is quite true that it is necessary to look in upon self at times. This attitude of the soul is required in self-examination and con- fession. But it is equally true that this inward look alone can never make a man happy in his devotions. As long as we keep looking within, we are not likely to see much to cheer and comfort us. The sight of our own hearts, however wholesome and necessary for us, is not a sight to bring us much satisfaction. And a great many fail in their prayers, simply because they will persist in poring over their own heart's miseries. They are like one who might go into some dark and unclean chamber, and there sit down, utterly wretche(i at the sight of its bare, dirty, comfortless aspect. What he wants is to rise up, and go to the window, and look out. There he will see God's sunshine bathing all the world in its beautiful light, and he will not then feel so forlorn and miserable. Well, what we often want in our prayers is to go to the window, and look out — to gaze with the eye of Faith upon the bright sunshine of God's love pouring all around us in its bountiful wealth of blessing. The counsel which many a poor trembling child of God needs to listen to is simply this : ' You must turn your eyes away from self. * You must believe in, and look to, and realise, your 'heavenly Father's love, and the merits of your Saviour. * You are looking too much within. You must look * up and away from self to heaven. You are weighing THE SPIRITUAL ATTITUDE OF PRAYER. 7 * and measuring your own poor pitiful feelings. You ' must lean on the promises of God.' It is clear from these thoughts that it is of the first importance that we hold fast by a belief in \X\q personal nature of God. Eeligion, if it be anything at all, binds us to a God, who is a distinct, self-existing Being. Christianity, if it be any better than a fable, is the system which centres round a Person, even the ever-blessed Son of God. Its relations, its duties, its feelings, are all distinctly personal. Love is a per- sonal affection. Trust is a personal affection. Obedi- ence is a personal duty. And worship is a personal act. It is the going forth of the soul to a Person whom it contemplates and adores. Behold, then, how needful for true worship is the setting forth, and the holding in all its fulness, of the true Faith concerning the nature and attributes of God. The more we know and understand a person, the more vivid and definite and real will our feelings be towards him. A firm faith in the great outward truths which God has been pleased to make known to us concerning Himself ia an essential condition of true worship. " We know " what we worship " is a truth lying at the very root of the matter. Worship must pine and fail where the ideas of the object to which it is addressed are confused and misty, or clouded over with doubts. Worship hangs upon definiteness of belief in its Divine Object. Now definiteness of belief does not mean a con- troversial spirit. There is such a thing as extreme jealousy of what is supposed to be the truth, extreme fondness for an intellectual system of belief, which is injurious, instead of helpful, to the spirit of worship. A controversial spirit may imply belief in a system. It is a reverential spirit which implies belief in a Person, is THE SPIRITUAL A TTITUDE OF PR A YER. It is not definite belief alone which is so essential to worship : it is definite belief in a Person. We may trace out the connection between Faith and Worship in the history of the Church itself. Those ages in which the great truths concerning the nature of God were grasped with a firmness and vivid- ness and joyousness, which in these days of dimnesd and doubting we can hardly understand, were also ages of the purest and noblest worship. See how the ancient hymns of the Church are full of worship — hymns of glorious praise, like the Te Deum. Now our hymns are full of self-communings, and of the feeble emotions and often unhealthy experiences of our own souls. Thank God, in these later years there has been a marvellous and most blessed growth in our land of the setting forth of the Person of our Divine Lord, so that I suppose modern times have never witnessed more earnest preaching of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. This could not be without a corresponding outgrowth of worship. We read of the great gathering of the disciples to meet the risen Lord on the mountain in Galilee, that *' when they saw *^ Him, they worshipped Him." It is so now. Let men only see Jesus — let Him be only faithfully and clearly held up to their gaze, and they will learn new lessons of holy worship. As Faith beholds with more earnest intensity the Lamb that was slain, worshipped and glorified by the Angels and Arch- angels and all the host of heaven, it will bow the head in reverent adoration and worship. The fire will kindle, and Faith will speak. And the voice of Faith is worship. But if such is the worship of Faith, what will be the worship of sight ? III. Prayer: to whom addressed. It is scarcely necessary to say that there is no Prayer at all without a conscious speaking to God. The act of saying words of Prayer without this con- scious speaking to God is simply the shell without the kernel. AVho would not tremble to offer to God such a hollow mockery ] God forgive us the many, many times we have thus dishonoured Him ! But while that is no Prayer at all which is not spoken to God, it is plainly of vast importance to our Prayers to have true and clear notions of that God to whom we speak. The character of our Prayers will be greatly affected by the way in which we think of God. When we kneel down to pray, and try to put our- selves by an act of the mind in the presence of God, how shall we think of Him 1 1. As a Spirit. "God is a Spirit, and they that *' worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in *' truth." There must be no picturing of God to our- selves in any form or likeness. There must be no thinking of Him as in one particular place. It is true we look up to heaven, and often address our prayers to God as dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto. This is perfe<:tly lawful and right, for there is a place where God displays His glorious lo prayer: to whom addressed. majesty, and to Avhich our hopes and aims, as well as our prayers, are pointed. Yet we must never forget that God is not far from every one of us; that He is not such a God as the ignorant heathen pictured of old — a God far withdrawn from all earthly cares and interests into the serene heights of His unapproachable dwelling-place; but a God pres- ent, in all the intensity of His omnipotence and omni- science, in every spot -and with every one of us — a God as profoundly interested in the state — the hopes and fears, the sins and successes, the joys and the sorrows — of each single soul as if there were no other in existence. Thus, when we are about to pray, we should try to bring before our minds the sense of God's presence, as well as of His listening ear. Perhaps this sense of God's presence is sometimes injured and weakened by the language so constantly used as to prayers ascending up to His throne in the highest heavens. For instance, how often have we^ heard such a sentence as this : — ' The prayer that ' starts from alowly heart stops not till it reaches the ear ' of God.' Is there not something misleading in this idea of a long journey which prayer has to make in passing from earth to heaven ? Is it not more true to think of God as quite close to us when we pray — to try to realise and feel His presence as surrounding us, enclosing us] Nay, is even this enough? Or must we not rather believe this presence to be not only around us, but witldn us, so that God is closer to us than the very air we breathe, and that in speaking to Him we are holding commune with One who in His wonderful loving- kindness makes His very abode with us? If we sometimes think of God in His dwelling-place of heavenly glory, yet let us often try prayer: to whom addressed. ii to feel the awful closeness of His presence, and speak to Him as we might to a friend at our side. 2. Prayer may rightly be addressed to each Person of the Divine Trinity separately. No doubt most prayer should be addressed to God the Father, as the fountain and source of all things. And perhaps there is some need of a caution in these days lest this be lost sight of. There has been a great leaning on the part of some towards addressing prayer mainly to God the Son. Of the lawfulness and fitness of Buch prayer we may not doubt. It is God's will " that all men should honour the Son even as they " honour the Father." And if we believe, with the Church universal, that Jesus Christ is " equal to the *' Father as touching His Godhead," plainly worship is His right. We dare worship none but God. But «'e worship Jesus, because we believe Him to be God. Yet it is no less true that to address our prayers mainly to Him may be a dishonouring of the Father, even as it is contrary to the spirit of the Bible and the usage of the Church. Tlie number of prayers in our Prayer-book addressed directly to the Son is small by comparison, while of prayers addressed directly to the Holy Ghost we have but the third Invocation in the Litany, and the Hymn, "Come, " Holy Ghost," in the Ordination Service. We doubt- less may pray to each Person, but it is wise in doing so to follow the guidance of the Church, and to address most of our prayers to God the Father, through the merits and mediation of His Son Jesus Christ. 3. When we pray directly to Jesus Christ, the rule as to not conceiving of God under any form or like- ness cannot hold good. For He has taken our nature, 12 prayer: to whom addressed. and been "made in the likeness of men." So that there can be nothing wrong in imagining Him to ourselves in His human form, which we know He still wears in His glory. It is not that we worship His Manhood apart from His Godhead. But His Godhead and Manhood have been so joined together, " never to be divided," that in order to think of Him rightly, we must think of Him in His human nature no less than in His divine. And indeed it is that human nature of Jesus which so draws us to Him, for it is there that we find that true human heart which ever beats in tenderest sympathy with His people. We are sure of a welcome when we come to Him who lived and suffered and died for us. Nay, we are sure of a welcome when, poor trembling helpless sinners as we are, we come to the Father through Hioi. IV. Prayer: its divisions. Prayer in its widest sense, as equivalent to worship, embraces various acts. The voice of the soul does not always speak in the same tones. It is a grand chord made up of many notes, some higher and some lower. AVorship, whether private or public, should aim at completeness. It should embrace the several great leading acts of devotion. There should be Confession, Praise, Thanksgiving, and Petition. In our public worship we begin with Confession. This surely seems right and natural. A child who has offended its father would naturally go and ask forgiveness before seeking new favours. Our Ee- formers, acting upon this view, and going back to the very earliest accounts we have of Christian worship,"^ added the penitential portion (that is, all preceding the Lord's Prayer) at the beginning of our Daily ^Morning and Evening Prayer j and for this we owe * St Basil, a Christian Father, who wrote about a.d, 370, speaks of the customs which then prevailed as similar in all the churches, and describes them thus : " The people, rising early '•' while it is yet night, come to the house of prayer, and there, " having with contrition and affliction and many tears confessed " their sins to God, they at length rise from their prayers, and '' dispose themselves to psalmody, sometimes dividing themselvea "into two parts, and singing alternately." 14 PRAYER : ITS DIVISIONS. them a deep debt of gratitude. It seems well that our private prayer should follow the same order, and begin with Confession. This is especially needful at night, when we pass in review the day which is over, with all its sins and infirmities. Surely we should never be content to lie down at night without a humble and penitent confession of the sins of the day past. Let this be the first act of our evening de- votion, and all the rest will be far more blessed. We shall feel we are speaking to a Father from whom we have sought and won pardon and acceptance. Praise follows next in our public worship. Praise is the setting forth of God's glory. In other acts of worship we speak of self—oi the sins we have com- mitted, of the needs we desire to have supplied, of the mercies for which we would express our thank- fulness. Thus our attitude in Confession, in Prayer, in Thanksgiving, is the humblest. We fall down on our knees, as utterly unworthy to bring ourselves into the presence of the All-holy One. But in Praise it is otherwise. Then no thought of self remains ; our spirits soar up to God himself; we adore His Divine perfections ; we set forth His glorious attri- butes. Thus in Praise we rise to our noblest attitude; we lift up head and heart and voice to heaven. We are caught away from all that is earthly and imperfect to the contemplation of the DivinL. We join with Ano^els and Archanfrels in their noblest and most blessed work. Such is true Praise. It is plain from its ver}^ nature that Praise has a peculiar fitness for public worship. However individual sins and wants and mercies may differ, all can utter the same voice of Praise. Thus the most ancient forms of worship we possess, namely the Psalms, are in a great measure prayer: its divisions, 15 the utterance of Praise. Still, surely Praise is not unsuitable for private worship. And may it not be that it is too much lost sight of there ? In old times it was the custom of many habitually to read the Psalms of the day, thus supplying the element of Praise to their devotions. Might not many be the better for reviving this dying custom 1 Thanksgiving is very frequently mingled with Praise, yet they are distinct acts, and should be kept dis- tinct, or at least should be distinctly borne in mind, that, even if intermingled, neither should be omitted. Thanksgiving differs from Praise in that, while the latter contemplates God's glory and God's good- ness in themselves, the former regards these as dis- played in His mercies to its. Praise is the homage of the creature to the Creator ; thanksgiving of the benefited to the Benefactor. Let there be then in our devotions a distinct act of grateful recollection of mercies received, both ordinary and special. Prayer proper, in the narrow sense of petition, divides itself into petition for self and petition for y others, the latter being generally known as Inter- •■ cession. Plainly a large part of our worship must consist of these. The first and simplest idea of worship is asking God for what we need. Therefore it is unnecessary to dwell farther upon this. It is probable that all who pray at all do make request both for themselves and for others. Our object to-day is to show that in worship, whetiier public or private, there is variety and order. It is found to be a great help to keep the several acts of worship as distinct as possible. It gives to them clearness and definiteness. At the same time, when the heart is very full of some one thing ; or when some 1 6 prayer: its divisions. one feeling, such as tlie sense of sin, or gratitude for some special mercy, predominates ; it is surely well to allow great freedom in following the impulse of the hour, and not to cramp the natural movements of the soul by the bonds of set rules and order. When the soul can pour itself out freely in any one channel, we may be very thankful that it can do so, and we need not fear that God will blame such un- restrained fervour. Would that it were commoner ! Yet for ordinary use it is none the less well to aim at the distinct acts of worship we have spoken of. Let us, before we end, think of our Avorship as like some beautiful garden, in which are many varied flowers. Confession is like some lowly- creeping herb, lying close to the ground, and smelling sweetest when bruised and broken. Prayer is like some delicate but lovely flower, opening wide to the sunshine of heaven, and with a very sweet scent before God, for Prayer is like incense. Intercession (itself a branch of prayer) is like some fair climbing-plant, clinging to others, for it is full of love. Thanksgiving is a very l^Ieasant and fragrant flower, holding in its centre a dewdrop of blessing from God himself. But state- liest and loveliest of all is Praise, like tall white lilies in their purity and grace ; for Praise has in it no earthly admixture, and lifts us nearest to heaven. Oh that we loved better to walk in this garden of sweet flowers ! V. Examples of Prayer, No one ever attained to real holiness without much Prayer. God's saints in old times prayed much. David says, "In the evening, and morning, and at " noonday, will I pray, and that instantly, and He shall "hear my voice"; while the author of the 119th Psalm, who has been supposed by some to be Daniel, says, " Seven times a day do I praise Thee, because of " Thy righteous judgments." We are told of Daniel that at least he " kneeled upon his knees three times " a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God " ; but this is said of the special times of prayer which he was in the habit of observing most strictly, and the observance of which he would not be induced by the fear of consequences to conceal from his enemies. There is nothing to show that Daniel prayed and gave praise to God only three times a day. Indeed, nothing is more remarkable in the history of all who have attained to more than common holiness, than the large space which Prayer has occupied in their daily lives. It would be very easy to give a long list of honoured names from the records of all ages, and of all branches of the Church, to prove the truth of this. I have before me at the present moment such a list ; but the mere reciting of a number of names would scarcely be profitable, and it would be impossible tc B 1 8 EXAMPLES OF PRAYER. give tlie many interesting particulars of tlieir several cases. The general result of contemplating such evi- dence is the conviction that all very good men have been men of much prayer. It is almost perplexing to find that those who seem to have had time to effect most good, and whose names are known as those of men full of active labours and success in good works, are exactly those who have given liours — and in not a few cases the lest hours — of the day to devotion. It is no uncommon thing to read of great and good men devoting two or three hours to private devotion daily ; while it is no less striking to find many gathering up strength and wisdom for a laborious life of public use- fulness in the daily attendance of the Church's Morn- ing and Evening Prayer. If any one is ever tempted to look upon such an observance as a waste of time which might be more profitably employed otherwise, it would be easy to show the falseness of such an objection from the lives of good men, who have been full of active and successful labours. It is quite untrue that only those who retire from active life can find time for much prayer. Of course there is the s'pirit of prayer, which we may take with us into our daily labours ; hut, beyond that, we have abundant proof that even much time may be given to devotion in a very active life. Certain it is that saintliness is im- possible without much prayer. Activity, usefulness, exemplary conduct, — these are possible, but not saint- liness. This is a busy age, and much prayer is not the fashion. Perhaps the world scarcely believes in much prayer. Yet even in these busy, hurrying days there are those who pray much. In a journal kept by the late devoted Bishop Gray (of Cape Town), not intended for publication, there is the record of a long EXAMPLES OF PRAYER. 1 9 weary stage during a visitation tour, for the whole of which, the Bishop records with thankfuhiess, he was able to hold uninterrupted communion with God. The writer of these words is well acquainted with one person, a widow, who for many years has spent five hours daily, two in the morning and three at night, in prayer. It is well to know of such instances, though the knowledge puts one to shame. After all, whatever may be learned from the example of holy men as recorded in the Bible, or from the practice of holy men in later times, there is one example of Prayer which must ever stand out from all others in its power and influence. Jesus Cliristi /prayed in the midst of the busiest, the most laborious/ / life that ever was lived on earth. He sought retire- ment for prayer; He continued whole nights in prayer. This is very wonderful. We might have thought that He needed not prayer. Certainly He had no sins to confess, no infirmities or weaknesses to commit to His Father's mercy, no graces or virtues to ask for. Therefore He needed not prayer as we do. Yet He prayed, and prayed as none other ever prayed. His prayers were, we doubt not, in a great part intercession. He prayed for others — for us. This we can see from the marvellous prayer recorded for us in the 1 7th chapter of St John's Gospel. Even here He began the great work which, as our great High Priest, He ever liveth to do for us in heaven. Yet not this alone. Behold Him bowed down on His face on the ground in Gethsemane. For whom prays He now % This is no intercession for His beloved. It is for Himself He is pleading in such an agony of earnestness. It is the exceeding bitterness of the cup of sufi'ering put to His iips that forces from Hira the 20 EXAMPLES OF PRAYER. cry for escape. Oh marvellous sight ! The Son of God prays 1 He who could say of Himself that " what things soever the Father doth, these also doeth " the Son likewise," — He prays ! Oh wonderful power and blessedness of Prayer ! The weapon is wielded by the Son of God himself! And shall He, who needed it so little, pray so much ; and shall we, who need it so much, pray so little % True, we have not the power to pray as He did. But if our power is less, how much greater is our need ! If His Divine nature enabled Him to hold such blessed and intimate communion with His heavenly Father, while our fallen humanity makes our prayers poor, and weak, and faltering, shall we not seek that our necessities may do for us what His Divine freedom from all necessitier did for Him — bring us more and more in deep, earnest continuous prayer before the throne of our Father in heaven ? Another thought floAvs from the prayer of Christ He is the Son. But we also are sons. Baptized into Him, we partake of His Sonship. If we realised this, should we not pray better? Our great Example prayed, holding blessed communion with His Father. Would not our prayers be far more blessed than they are if they were like His in this — if they were the communing of loving children with a loving Father^ YL Degrees of Prayer. \Yhat is the worship of Angels like ? "VVe can faintly and dimly picture to ourselves its intense and glorious ecstasy. The whole spirit is filled with adoring love. There is no such thing as efi'ort or constraint. It is the irresistible, spontaneous out- pouring of a love which cannot and will not be denied expression. If we think, we shall easily see that love is the true source of power in prayer. Where love is perfected, there Prayer must be rapture. Xo doubt we fail, in our poverty-stricken hearts here below, to conceive or realise the bliss of angelic worship. We can talk about it in words ; we can see how gloriously happy and jubilant it must be ; but we cannot feel it yet. We hope to know M^hat it means hereafter ; but now we only feebly trace a dim outline of its glory. What we chiefly feel is how very un- like our worship is to what we conceive the worship of Heaven to be. Contrast with this the other extreme. Think of the prayer of some poor ignorant labour- ing man, utterly unused, and therefore unable, to grasp spiritual truths, and to realise things which we cannot gee. He knows he ought to say his prayers, and he kneels down and repeats his Lord's Prayer, with a most imperfect sense of the act he is performing, and 2 2 DEGREES OF PRAYER. with a most imperfect idea of the meaning of the words he is saying. Yet he means to pray ; he does it as well as he knows how to do it ; and God forbid we should say that even such a prayer as his is no prayer in God's sight. I have tried to describe tlie highest and the lowest degrees of prayer which I can imagine. Of course no one could count as Prayer at all a bare, thoughtless, meaningless saying over of a more form of words, bo it longer or shorter. But take the thrilling and glorious worship of an Angel on the one hand, and the lowest and most ignorant prayer that has in it a single spark of life on the other, and what a marvellous interval lies between ! Within this interval are many degrees of Prayer, each more blessed as it ap- proaches nearer the highest. We may roughly sketch some of the rounds in tliis ladder of Prayer. Let the reader only remember tliat we are not now tracing the degrees of Prayer in the order in which they will of necessity be gained by the Christian as he learns to pray better, but only following them up in the order of their blessedness. It is very frequently the case that a high and very blessed stage of Prayer is arrived at almost at once ; yes, and alas ! how often lost again afterwards ! Few can be ignorant of the fact that even young children can often pray with much fervency and happiness ; while a new convert has frequently great power of prayer granted him to support him in his new trials. -^Attentive Prayer is the first upward step in the ladder. This is simply the uttering of our prayers with a thoughtful attention to the meaning of what we say. We may have little fervour and joy in prayer, and yet we may pray attentively. So long aa DEGJ?^J=:S OF PRAYER. 23 we are cousciously speaking to God, saying the words of prayer with a sense that we are God's creatures settmg forth our needs before Him, trying to be real and true, and not going through a mere hollow out- side form, so long we are really praying. Any- thing short of this cannot be counted prayer at all. And beyond this many a poor lowly soul finds itself unable to go. It has no wings to rise above tliis low level of prayer. Well ; let it not be grieved over- much. All prayer is blessed. And God asks not more than He gives power to do. Nor does He measure His gifts by the warmth of our entreaties. — -The next step is the Prayer of desire. By this w^ mean a praj^er accompanied by a true and earnest longing for that which we pray for. It is said, *' They "that desire nothing pray for nothing," and it is certainly a poor sort of prayer which has in it no earnest wish for its own success. A beggar, who showed by his manner that he did not care to have his petition granted, would be little likely to gain it. This desire for that which we pray for is not to be won in a moment, or excited in the soul at will It is a part of a much wider thing — a part of the very life of God in the soul. When the heart is given to > God, and the affections are set on things above, then this desire will come simply and naturally, and our prayers will be not alone carefully uttered requests, but holy longings and heartfelt desires. — -We may next pass upwards to Fervent Prayer. This means not only attentive prayer accompanied by a true desire for the granting of the request, but prayer prayed with real warmth and eagerness — such a prayer, for instance, as a mother will pray for her dy- ing child. This only comes when the emotions are 2 4 DEGREES OF PR A YER. really stirred, and the lie^irt is full. It would be foolish to expect our prayers to be always accom- panied by this warmth and fervour. Let those thank God who can at least sometimes pray thus. It is a sign of God's grace, and of the presence of that Divine Comforter, who " helpeth our infirmities." Beyond this we may rise to something even yet nearer to the Prayer of Angels. For there is a power of blissful rapt adoration granted to some here below, which is a true foretaste of the worship of heaven. Of this sort of prayer we would speak very humbly and distrustfully, as of a land all but unknown to most of us. And yet there have been travellers through the wilderness who have entered into this fair region, and have told us of its beauty and its blessedness. These degrees of Prayer are named for two reasons ^(1) In order to stir the Christian to earnest striving after higher stages of prayer than he has yet reached \ but (2) still more in order to speak a word of comfort to those who feel too sadly how low down they still are on the ladder of prayer. All are not gifted with Ithe same power of prayer. Many are by natural constitution colder and less easily moved ; but all can attain to attentive prayer, and all, by practice, to prayer of desire. Fervent prayer; blissful adora- tion ; — these are perhaps unattainable by some. Let each do what he can. Above all, let no one be content with the stage which he has already reached, but strive upward, hoping, however little he can worship here like Angels, hereafter to worship with the Angels, where all these sad infirmities of our poor fallec nature will have for ever passed away. VII. Private Prayer: the soul AND GOD. There is something very full of a\^^e in the thought of the soul alone face to face with God. It is this which gives to private prayer its peculiar character and blessedness. It is an intensely personal and indivi- dual act. There are none others to kindle the soul's fervour with the fire of sympathy : but there are also none others to withdraw its thoughts from the one awe-inspiring consciousness of being in the very presence of God. Private Prayer has the seal of the special commen- dation of our Lord Jesus Christ. " But thou, when " thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and, when thou " hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in " secret." See how the secrecy of the act is enforced. ; See how every least possibility of the hypocrite's [^ display is shut out. Even God Himself is spoken of as "in secret," as though in the privacy of the shut chamber God drew nigh to the praying soul. There can be nothing there done to be seen, or spoken to be heard, of men. So the private prayer has more than other prayers a character and sense of deep living reality. It may be formal. It may be dull and cold and lifeless. But it cannot well be hypo- crisy. Think of the soul, and think of God. The soul ! 2 6 PRIVATE PRAYER: THE SOUL AND GOD. — God hath made it, and hath endowed it with death- less Hfe. It is as immortal as God. It must live for ever. It cannot perish and come to an end. Strangely, mysteriously linked with this perishable frame, it is nevertheless created for eternity. And it meets its God in the secret place of prayer. We do not, of course, mean that God is really more truly present there than He is everywhere. But we must speak as men speak ; as the Bible, for the sake of man's infirmity and ignorance, is pleased to speak. There God is pleased to listen to the soul that prays. There He will have His creature realise His presence and His listening ear. And God ! — what can we, what dare we, say of God % We can but say a few foolish ignorant words ; we can but bow before such glimpses of His majesty as He has been pleased to grant us. We feel that silence is better than words. Yet we know He is the Eternal, " from everlasting to " everlasting " ; the Almighty, in whose hands we are as nought ; the Omniscient, " who telleth the num- " ber of the stars, and calleth them all by their name," and yet He " unto whom all hearts be open, all desires " known, and from whom no secrets are hid " ; the All-good, whose " mercy is over all His works." Such is He whom we seek in the secret closet, before whom this soul He hath made lieth naked. God, who that knoweth what it is he doeth, can come lightly and carelessly into Thy presence, as I have so often done % Can it really have been that I have gone apart to speak to Thee who seest in secret, and yet have been lacking in reverence and awe 1 Yea, Lord, I confess it w^itli shame. Yet pardon Thy poor sinful child, and teach me how solemn and how wonderful a thing it is to speak face to face in secret PRIVATE PRAYER: THE SOUL AND GOD. 27 with Tliee. Let me never dare again to speak to Thee lightly or carelessly or irreverently. Besides the sense of awe and reality which belongs to the thought of a soul alone with God, it is plain that the life of private prayer will be in its utterance of m(i^y^c/Ma^ confessions, needs, petitions, intercessions. I There are many things that we can speak to God ) only in private. When even two or three are gathered together in Christ's Name, their prayers must be such as to suit all, and cannot express the private needs and separate feelings of each. So that if private prayer ranks lower than public in jubilance and grandeur and power, it ranks higher in tenderness and emotion and spirituality. It is, 1 suppose, cer- tain that those prayers which touch ourselves — our own needs and our own feelings — most closely ; which either enter into the depths of the soul's experience, and have to do with its secret struggles and trials, or else plead for those who are near and dear to us \ will have the greatest warmth and intensity. It may be that this arises from a sort of selfishness, which puts our own needs before those of others. But we are so constituted, or so changed by the fall, that we cannot help thus feeling for ourselves first. The most unselfish will pray more longingly for what they feel they want for themselves, than for things apart from themselves. Prayers for pardon, for mercy, for grace ; intercession for those we dearly love ; touch us all, I suppose, somewhat more closely than prayers for the Sovereign, or the Church, or the Land. But, whatever be the cause, the fact remains. Private prayer is more personal, and therefore generally more awakening to some of the deeper and tenderer feelings, than public. Only let us see that, when thus brought 2S PRIVATE PRAYER: THE SOUL AXD GOD. face to face with our God, we miss not the blessing • that the soul lias its sins, and its weaknesses, and its wants, and its longings, to lay before Him ; that we know something of that simple and unaffected, yet at the sam.e time sublime and reverential, communing with God, which is the reality of worship. Closely connected with the thought of the personal and individual nature of private prayer is that of its - ^efimtenesf,. The things we speak of to God must not only be the wants and longings of our soul but they must be clear, distinct, defmite things. It is easy to be hazy and vague and general in our prayers ; confess- ing ourselves miserable sinners, but confessing no miserable sins ; thanking God for His goodness, but remembering with gratitude no special mercies; asking for grace and holiness, but bent upon no par- ticular virtues ; praying for relations and friends, but making no earnest intercession for separate persons. I am sure we lose greatly in point and reality and force, by making our prayers so vague and general. " ^ye use words often and often that would suit *• ten thousand others as well as ourselves ; whereas '•' a crowd of suitors who stand with their petitions '•' ready written, when the King comes forth on some " festal day to grant favours and largesses, have each *' their own peculiar distresses set forth, and their " own special pleas, couched in the best words, and " backed with the strongest arguments they can "find."* But in order to be thus clear and definite in our prayers, we need to watch unto prayer. " ^Vatching * J. Hampden Gumey. PRIVATE PRAYER: THE SCUL AND GOD. 29 " unto prayer implies tliat we are storing up matter " for our prayers j so watching our steps and words " and thoughts, so taking account of our hours as " they pass, so marking the defects and failures of our " common life, as to know what to pray about, and " what to pray for, and what to pray against, when " the time comes." " Our confessions and our suppli- *' cations, depend upon it, are all too vague. We do " not draw enough on the day's experience for the *' night's devotions."* Oh ! may God's Holy Spirit so help our infirmities, and so teach us to pray to our Father which is in Becret, that our Father which seeth in secret may, of His infinite mercy, at last reward us openly, for Jesus Christ's sake. • J. Hampden Qume)^ VIII. Public Prayer. Public Prayer to a very great extent follows, RTid depends upon, private. We leaiii to pray in the closet — seldom, perhaps, in church. And yet, when we have once learnt the lesson of prayer, no time of prayer is more blessed than the time of public praj'er. ^Ye ought to be able to say, " I was *'glad when they said unto me, We will go into " the house of the Lord." If we cannot, it is pro- bably either because we have never learnt the lesson of prayer at all, or because we have never learnt the true nature and special power of public prayer. The very life and power of public worship lie in its sense of union and fellowship. It is the united prayer of many hearts which makes it so blessed. Have we never felt the kindling of fervour, and the access of the spirit of devotion, stirred within us hy the consciousness that others are praying earnestly by our side 1 Have we never felt the fire of sympathy, the lighting up of soul after soul in the glow of holy adoration, as we have worshipped the Lord in tlie beauty of holiness ? I suppose that even Angels can praise God better in companies than one by one. It is this fellowship in worship that ought to give our Church services their true blessedness. In our common worship we may surely, if we will, teach and admonish one another, as we join in our prayers PUBLIC PRAYER. 3^ and praises, our " psalms and hymns and spiritual " songs." It is a thought to be remembered when we enter God's House, that we can, if we will, not only pray fervently ourselves, but help others to pray also. From this thought follows another, namely, that of the duty of setting an example of outward reverence. \Ye must not shrink from being seen to pray. Hateful and contemptible as is the hypocrisy of pre- tending to pray when we are not praying at all, there is, be it remembered, a danger on the other side. Not a few, from the very dread of this hypocrisy, as well as from our English reserve and dislike of any outward show of feeling, do really pretend not to pray when they are praying. They dread lest an attitude of too great devoutness, lest the uttering of the words with their lips, lest any outward act of worship, should be construed into a display and a boast, should seem to say to others, ' See how I am 'praying.' It has its good side — this sensitiveness and dread of display. But the Christian man should never forget the influence he has over others in his conduct in God's House. He should recollect that, if he really does pray, or if he honestly tries to pray, the knowledge of this has a strange power over others. The sight of his attitude of prayer — of his reverence and devoutness of manner, — will many and many a time wake up the spirit of prayer in his neighbour also ; and who can tell how far this influence may spread % It is certain that one truly devout wor- shipper may affect by his example a whole congre- gation, and be the means of stirring up in many souls a sense of the power and blessedness of united wor- ship. We want more and more, when we go up into the House of the Lord, to realise our unity in Christy 32 PUBLIC PRAYER. and brotlierliood as children of God. We want to lose the memory of all narrower ties. We want to put away all distinctions, all separations, and rich and poor, old and young, one with another, to do all we can to realise and feel and show that we are one great family bowing down in reverent worship before our one common Father. There is another feature in public worship which adds to its blessedness : it is marked by a larger pro- portion of Praise than are our private prayers. It may indeed be that we too often fall short in praise when alone with God ; but it is plain that the uttering of God's praises is an act of homage peculiarly fitted for public worship ; for there is in it no mention of our own private needs or feelings, in which each must have many things to speak which would not suit his neigh- bour's state of soul, but only the setting forth of the glory and greatness of God — an act in which all God's rational creatures may well unite, lifting up one heaH and one voice to the everlasting throne. And not only so, but also we are so constituted that our praises are especially quickened and aided by the voice of song. What is the invitation of the Psalmist of old, with /which our Church stirs up her children to the work of Praise? " come, let us sing unto the Lord" ; and again, "0 sing praises, sing praises unto our God; O " sing praises, sing praises unto our King." The singing of God's praises has been ever the joy of His people. It is Angel's work. When we set forth God's praises, we join with "Angels and Archangels, and "^ *' with all the company of heaven." Nay more, we for- % I get not that ere Jesus himself passed from the upper 7 jl chamber to the scenes of His Passion, the little band ^ !\ lifted up their voices together, and sang a hymn. PUBLIC PRAYER, 33 It is not within my purpose to say much concerning the blessed Sacrament which is the crown and summit of our public worship — to which indeed all its other acts would lead us on. But it is impossible to speak of the special power and blessedness of public worship without reminding ourselves that here we find the truest deepest bond of Christian unity and fellowship, and that, if all public worship should teach us to realise our brotherhood in Christ, and make us feel that we are " members one of another," much more should this most holy Feast of love knit us together, and fill our souls with the spirit of brotherly kindness and charity, as we recollect, kneeling to receive the Bread of life, that we are all " one bread and one '' body." I am sure it would often help us to enter better into the public worship of our Church, if we tried to realise more clearly the different acts of worship we are called upon to take part in in their turn. Possibly we do not keep these separate acts sufficiently apart in our minds. They might be more real, if kept more dis- tinct. AVe want to make our Confession, our Praise, our Thanksgiving, our Prayers, our Intercessions, our Creeds, our hearing of God's Word, each a distinct and separate act. This would help us to escape from the vagueness and mistiness which so often beset our prayers. I know how weak we are. I know how little will distract, and chill, and unhinge the mind. I know how hard it is to realise, even very imper- fectly, the true spirit and meaning of our beautiful worship. Perhaps not once in twenty times do we enter with real earnestness into each act of our pub- lic service. AYe will thank God if even now and then we are able to make some portion true and real to c 34 PUBLIC PRAYER our souls ; if one day we can confess humbly, and another day praise joyfully, and another day inter- cede fervently. Let me tell a little story which may serve well to illustrate the way in which even very ignorant and imperfect worshippers may enter into the mean- ing of the different acts of public worship. A clergyman, coming to a parish, met with an old woman who was very deaf, and who told him she could not read. He, however, noticed the same woman apparently using a book in Church. So, calling again, he asked her if it were so. She told him. Yes, she had a book given her by a former clergyman, which she used, but she was not sure whether he could read it. When she brought it to liim he found it was a book of only four leaves, of which the first was black, the second red, the third white, and the fourth golden. He confessed his ignorance of how to read it ; so she explained that her former pastor had taught her thus : We begin our service, you knov.^, with confession, so open your book then at the black page, and tell God of the blackness of your sins. Then we tell you of God's pardon through Jesus Christ, so turn next to the red page, and thank God for the Blood of Jesus Christ, which cleanseth from all sin. Then, as we go on with the service, we pray for many graces and virtues, so turn to the white page and pray God for purity and holiness and grace to keep from every stain ot sin. And lastly, while we are praising God, you can turn to the golden page, and think of Jerusalem the golden, and the crown of glory which is in store for you in heaven. IX. Family Prayer. The blessedness of Public Worship is in its sense of union and fellowship, opening the soul to wider rela- tions and sympathies than those of home and daily Ufe. The blessedness of Private Prayer is in its personal and individual character, in the sense of the soul alone, face to face, with God. The blessedness of Family Prayer is in its consecra- tion of the Christian household to the daily service of God. It is a continual repetition of the resolve, " As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Surely it is a good thing thus to link together in a spiritual act those whom God's Providence has most closely linked together in the relationships of daily life. These relationships have their duties, and among these may we not reckon that of a care for each other's souls 1 Surely the heads of households will have an account to give of the way in which they have shown their care for the souls of those dwellins: under their roof. It is not much they can do perhaps. But they can do this. At least most can. Of course there is no rule to be laid down for all. There may be households where Family Prayer is really impossible. But where there are children, and still more where tliere are servants, it is not much to ask on their 36 FAMILY PRAYER. behalf that they be gatliered together tmce if possil*!©, but at least once, in the day, for family worship. I have often heard those who have lived in service speak with thankfulness of the privilege of daily family prayer, and I have heard others speak with sorrow and surprise of its neglect in houses in which they have lived. Surely the practice does wonderfully sanctify and hallow the daily family life. Where family prayer might be, but is not, there is truly nothing to mark the household as a Christian one at all. It might be heathen for all that appears. Why is it not more universal ] There is plenty to be said for it, and nothing against it — at least nothing that, I think, you would not be ashamed to say. Let me just touch once more on that reason (if we can call it reason) which, as we saw, sometimes prevails to hinder reverence of demeanour in Church, and which not unfrequently prevails to hinder the practice of family prayer, — I mean that love of honesty and truth, that hatred of the least approach to hypocrisy and unreality, which so marks the English character. This, together with natural reserve and shyness, really hinders many from adopting a practice which in theii' hearts they approve of. It would not be difficult to carry on the practice if it had once been established ; but to begin — this is so like making a profession, so like saying, ' I mean to be more religious.' Now I do not want people to w^ear their hearts outside. I do not blame this natural reluctance to take such a step. But, oh ! surely it is no great profession to make. The question is a very simple one. Is it right 1 Then, in God's Name, do it. Let all consideration be given to modesty and humility — but none to cowardice. "Only fear the Lord, and serve Him in truth with FAMILY PRAYER. 37 " all your heart." Is it much to ask of those on whom this command is laid that they should just conquer their shyness for once, and begin a habit for which iliey will be very thankful as soon as it has become familiar to them ? In most households, family prayer is the only possible substitute for the Church's daily service Of course, where the whole household can enjoy the great privilege of a daily Church service, this is a higher and better thing than family prayer. But even where some of the family can attend the Church's daily prayer, it is very rarely the case that many can do so, so that even this does not render family prayer needless. But this thought of the Church's daily service naturally leads to the question of the form which family prayer should take. Let us consider, in the first place, the case of ordinary households unable to avail themselves of the Church's daily service. We venture to think in this case it is very desir- able that there should be some approach to the Church's system. For instance, it would be well to read a portion of the Psalms, or one of the Lessons of the day, or both, before kneeling down to pray. Then the prayers may very fitly be selected from the Prayer-book, and should consist of Confession, Prayer for pardon, the Lord's Prayer, the Collect for \he Day, any other Collects (especially, the 3rd for Morning or Evening, as the case may be). Interces- sion, Thanksgiving, and Concluding Collect Avith the Benedictory Prayer. In the morning it may sufiice to say the " Lord, have mercy upon us. Christ, have ■/: 38 FAMILY PRAYER. " mercy upon us. Lord, have mercy upon us," instead of the Confession and Prayer for j^ardon. In one respect only it would seem that the Prayer-book will hardly supply all we need, namely in the matter of Intercession. The "Prayer for all conditions of men," will require some clauses added, or a separate form of Intercession may be used, in order to lay before the throne of grace the relatives and friends of the family, the parish and its ministers, and such other persons as it may be desired specially to mention. The habitual use of the Prayer-book in the family will help to make it familiar in Church, and its pure and chastened language will become dearer the more it becomes familiar. Many prefer forms of prayer not taken from the Prayer-book, and, where some members of the family attend Church daily, such will be best. But we believe that prayers divided into the several acts of worship, as in many books they are, will always be found more instructive and helpful than those which provide one long unbroken prayer for each occasion. It is, we believe, a truth which cannot be denied that , the healthiness and purity of a country depends upon the healthiness and purity of its domestic life. Oh ! that the domestic life of our land were more hallowed and ennobled by the blessed influence of religion ! Oh ! that more of our people would honestly and manfully resolve, " As for me and my house, we will serve the "Lord." X. Ceaseless Prayer. * The command, " Pray without ceasing," cannot be * taken literally,' you will say : 'it is so impossible, that * common sense will no doubt give it a very qualified ' meaning.' Well ; but it is not so very different from, or so very much more impossible than, some other sajdngs about Prayer. Think of these words : " Con- " tinning instant in prayer " : " Labouring fervently in " prayer " : " Kight and day praying exceedingly " : ^' Praying always with all prayer and supplication " : "Striving in prayer," literally ^agonizing' — a very strong word. Are all these expressions to be pared down to fit the supposed necessities of common sense ? Are we to say that "without ceasing" means 'very 'frequently,' that "praying always," means 'praying * at regular times,' that " night and day," means at ' night and in the morning ' ? It is dangerous work — this paring down. Is it not at least possible that St Paul meant what he said, and that, had he meant something else, he would have said something else ? And may we not, by thus looking out for an easier meaning to his words, miss their very point and lesson ? Now we must not be so foolish as to deny that common sense may have something true to say about it. Only we want common sense to try to understand, and not to try to explain away, words that seem to 40 CEASELESS PRaYER. US hard. It is at any rate quite certain that St Paul did not mean that Christians were to spend their Uves in formal acts of devotion — that they were to be all day long upon their knees. Our great Example Himself was not always praying, nay, He interrupted His prayers to attend to the wants of the poor who followed Him to His place of retirement. Again, it is quite as certain that the Apostle did not mean that Christians were to retire from active life, and withdraw into 'religious houses,' where they could enjoy very frequent services, and spend a great deal more time in prayer than other people, with their ordinary business and work, could do. St Paul was a thoroughly practical man, always enforcing the simple duties of common everyday life. He would have been the last man to give a command which could only be fulfilled by monks in a monastery. What then does he mean by this " Pray without " ceasing " % Perhaps the best way to understand the words is to think of some parallel expressions. Supposing a boy were placed under the care of some tutor, and were told to converse with him constantly and freely, we should have no difficulty in understanding the command, however hard the boy might find it to obey. And perhaps this example may give us a fair idea of what is meant by "Pray without ceasing." It is surely to be very frequently addressing ourselves to God — to be continually turning to Him, as a child would be continually turning to some grown-up cempanion whom it loved and trusted. Ceaseless Prayer, in this sense, depends for its whole meaning and existence on faith. It is simply un- intelligible apart from the idea of faith. Unless faith CEASELESS PRAYER. 4I keeps us consciously in the presence of God, making us realise His presence, it is impossible that ^Ye should be constantly or frequently turning to Him. Un- ceasing Prayer is the natural communing of a vivid faith with God whose presence it ceaselessly realises. No doubt this is a state of very high grace — a state that very few attain to, yet it is the standard at which we must aim, if we desire to go on unto per- fection ; and it is the perfect state of that which many do imperfectly attain to. It is what one of tiie earliest Christian writers meant when he said life should be one "great continuous prayer." Now the name by which this constant turning to God in prayer is generally known is Ejaculatory Prayer. This means literally prayer darted forth quickly, as oj^posed to our regular and longer prayers. The habit of ejaculatory prayer is a most blessed one. If Prayer is tlie voice of faith, Ejaculatory Prayer is the voice of steadfast, abiding faith. Certainly the true Christian will not content himself with his stated prayers. They may be morning and evening and noon- day, or even oftener; and yet he will not be content to allow long prayerless spaces between. It is not so much that he w^ill make an effort to break these spaces M'ith brief prayers as that it will be natural to him to do so. The simple consciousness of God's presence will make such prayerless spaces impossible. I do not say that this will be the case with most of us. Would that it were ! But as faith grows so will ejacu- latory prayer grow. *' He every moment waits to give: Watch thou uuv/earied to receive." — Keble. I must here guard myself against being supposed to mean that there can be no prayer without the ex* 4i. CEASELESS PRAYER. pression of the words of prayer. The essence of prayer is rather in the longing than in the words. There is truth in the well-known words of Mont- gomery's hymn : ** Prayer is the breathing of a sigh, The falling of a tear, The upward glancing of an eye When none but God is near." It has been well said that a soul, always turning to God as a flower to the sun, often prays when it does not know it prays. And we learn from the story of the poor woman who touched the hem of our Lord's garment that Prayer may be by act as well as by word. Nevertheless the voice of the soul will gener- ally seek to express itself in words. Let us now consider the actual utterance of this sort of prayer. Perhaps the first instances that should be named are the lifting up of the soul to God as the first act on awaking in the morning and the last before closing the eyes in sleep at night. We could hardly find better words for this purpose than those supplied in the Psalms : " I laid me down and slept '^ and rose up again, for the Lord sustained me," and " I will lay me down in peace, and take my rest ; for "it is Thou, Lord, only that makest me dwell in *' safety." One good man I have known always made it his practice to say aloud ' Praise the Lord,' on first awaking. Then during the day there will be many opportunities of offering a brief prayer in silence to God. Whether alone, or in com.pany, we may equally do this. For example, when temptation assaults us, we may exclaim in our hearts, "Lord save me, I perish," or ' Lord, deliver me from this temptation,' or the like. Again, it will be a very useful ejaculation to CEASELESS PRAYER. 43 Eay frequently some such brief sentences as these : — ' Father, help me to live as in Thy presence,' or ' Thou God seest me.' Then, when we are happy, rejoicing in the blessings God has given us, or moved to gladness by the beauty of God's creation, how well to lift up our thankful hearts to Him whose love has go blessed us, and to cry ' Thanks be to God for His * goodness,' or " Praise the Lord, my soul, and all " that is within me praise His holy Name." These are but a few simple examples. Any one will easily multiply them for himself. Let the Sjnrit of Prayer only be with us all day long, so that we are, so to speak, never out of tune for it, and the voice of Prayer will never be long quite silent. "■ Out of the abundance "of the heart the mouth speaketh." ^ye will end with the beautiful words of St Augus- tine on this subject : — "Longing desire prayeth always, " though the tongue be silent. If thou art ever long- "ing, thou art ever praying. AYhen doth Prayer ** sleep ? When desire groweth cold." * * It is well to mention that a number of ejaculations will bo found in Mr Jackson's admirable little "Penny Pocket-book of "Prayers and Hymns" (Warne & Co.) — a little work which can- not be too highly recommended, from which also ia taken th« tbove quotation from St Augastiuo. XL Prayer: its form. The forin in which Prayer should be offered is a very important consideration. Many, who wish to pray, complain that they do not know what words to use. They ask, Ought Ave to pray in our own words, or should we use books of devotion 1 The only general answer to such an inquiry is, Use both, use everything you can that helps you. Do not be too scrupulous and particular about the form, so long as it expresses what you want, but use whatever you find is most helpful to your devotion. But beginners do not know what helps them most They have made very few attempts to find out. They want teaching, and ask to be guided by the experience of others. Let me try to write down the advice which I should give to any young Confirmation candidate who might desire help in this matter. In the first place those prayers which are of daily recurrence should be offered in some simple well- chosen form. It would be very foolish to try to vary the form of words day by day in expressing the same thing. Our Lord Himself, in providing for us the Lord's Prayer, teaches us very plainly that our regular daily petitions should be offered in a regular daily form. I need not say that the Lord's Prayer PRAYER: ITS FORM. 45 itself will always form a part of every Chiistian's daily prayers. That I take for granted. But, besides that, the daily morning thanksgiving for preservation, the daily prayer for grace, the daily intercession for relatives and friends, and indeed whatever parts of our worship have in them no element of change, will be best offered in such a form as you may easily find in any simple book of devotion, or as any clergyman would gladly provide for you. But then there are other parts of your prayers which do admit of, and even require, change of expression. Far the most important of these is your daily evening confession. You ought not to be content that this should be merely a general expression of sinfulness. You should be particular in confessing the actual sins of the day past. Here then it will be most desirable that you should not adhere to the same form of words day by day, but try to lay before the throne of grace your special sins, and failings, and difficulties, in your own words, as best you can, not varying the words for the sake of variety, but because your sins vary. The same, though in a less degree, applies to thanksgiv- ing, since any special mercy should plainly call forth its own special thanksgiving. And, again, it is obvi- ous that there will frequently be opportunity of variety in your intercessions, arising from the chang- ing circumstances of those for whom you pray. Thus I should advise that ordinarily you should use set forms of prayer, varied only when the matters you lay before God themselves vary. But to this I must add farther that one who learns to pray thus far well, will often find his stated prayers insufficient ; and will thankfully add to them, either by enlarging upon the petitions he already uses, or by introducing other 46 PKAVER : ITS FORM. subjects of prayer, which rise to his mind at the time^ In private, extempore prayer is of great value. That soul must be but in the infancy of prayer, that has no special failings and weaknesses and needs and perplexities and longings and hopes to utter from time to time in its intercourse with its God. Books of devotion are of the greatest possible ser- vice to most persons in their prayers. Those who wish to prolong their prayers beyond the barest and briefest fulfilment of the duty, will constantly be thankful for the help of books. All have the Prayer- book in their hands, and no one who has, need be at a loss for devout and beautiful forms of prayer. Bu j there are numberless Manuals of Devotion, for any desiring still farther help. Let us never forget that our blessed Lord Himself appears to have made the Book of Psalms His Handbook of Devotion, if wg may venture so to speak, employing its holy words even in the agonies of the Crucifixion. It is not well to seek for constant variety in the books you use. Those who flit about from book to book seldom learn true habits of devotion. One book thoroughly used until all its thoughts and emotions have been worked into our own soul, and have thus become our own, is worth a whole library. A certain holy man once wrote of a certain little book of devotion,* " I have sought rest everywhere, " and have found it nowhere, save in a little corner *' with a little book." St Francis de Sales used to discourage variety in prayer, and to say that a single aspiration or ejaculatory prayer, repeated a hundred times, was more valuable than a hundred different prayers each used once ; and in witness to this * Thomas a Kempis of the " Spiritual Combat." PRAYER: ITS FORM. 47 opinion lie related that the ejaculation, "My God is " my all," was the constant secret heart-prayer of one saint, and " All that is not God is naught " of another. There is one point worth pausing upon for a few moments, in speaking of Books of Devotion. Those who make use of them often feel that the language of the prayers they find in them is beyond their own experience, and therefore to some extent unreal and untrue wdien used by themselves. There is no commoner instance of this than the Confession in the Communion Service, in which, speaking of our sins, we say, " The remembrance of them is grievous unto us, " the burden of them is intolerable." Many a one has said, ' I cannot use this language j it is not true ; ' the remembrance of my sins is not grievous to me, ' nor the burden of them intolerable.' But think how it would be if all the prayers we use were carefully adjusted to the low level of our own spiritual experi- ence. Should we not at once lose a great help in rising to higher things % It is good for us surely to have a high standard in prayer as in other things, and the humbling sense of failure to reach the standard we aim at is a wholesome thing. We would not use untrue and unreal language in speaking to God, but the language, which seems to us so much above our own feelings and experience, need not be unreal and untrue, if we use it with a silent confession of our weakness and shortcoming, and as rather that which we long to be able to say than that which we can say. Thus, in the instance quoted, it is not hard, as we say the words, to give to them the sense of a deeper con- fession, as though they were : ' Oh, may the remem- ' brance of them be more grievous to me ; the burden * of them more intolerable 1 ' In this way even 4$ prayer: its form. language we cannot yet reach may be used without presumption, and to our soul's good. But do not let us forget that neither extempore prayer, nor prayers from books will avail anything without the spirit of prayer, and that with that spirit both, or either, will be blest. After all, is it not true that most people fail much in prayer, because they will not take the trouble to 'prepare for prayer ? With a written list of the sub- jects we select for our prayers, a few collects or prayers from books of devotion carefully selected and marked, and a fixed time allotted to our prayers, we shall find we can do much better than we gener- ally do now. Is it not worth the trouble ? Or is there anything else so well worth it I XII. Difficulties of Prayer, There are two great difficulties which stand in the way of Prayer — wandering thoughts, and coldness of heart. I suppose scarcely any single person who has striven to learn the lesson of true prayer has been wholly free from these two difficulties. They beset us all. They are the universal subject of complaint and sorrow to all God's children. ' Oh ! if I could only ' keep my mind from straying ! Oh ! if I could only * feel less cold and dead and lifeless in my prayers ! ' , So we cry. And so has every saint of God cried in I his day. AYe think no one has so great difficulties as / we have. It is a comfort to know that at least ours/ is no singular trouble, but that thousands upon/ thousands have felt, and are feeling, the same. Observe, these two difficulties belong (mainly, though not entirely,) to the two great divisions of our spiritual nature — the intellectual and the moral, the mind and the heart. The former has to do with the regulation of the thoughts ; the latter with the state of the affections. Now, neither of these are what may be called 'primary difficulties. That is, they do not belong to the very root of the matter, but are rather signs and symptoms of something else amiss within us, off- D 50 DIFFICULTIES OF PRAYER. slioots of something deeper rooted in our souls. If we trace them out, we shall find perhaps that they have one common source and origin, that they are but two branches of one stem. Take first wandering thoughts. Very likely our thoughts wander at other times besides during our prayers. Very likely we find it difficult to fix them steadily upon anything we want to study or think about attentively. We have suffered our- selves to fall into a bad intellectual habit of in- attention, and so have lost in a great measure the power of fixing the mind upon any subject. Wo are not likely to be able to fix the mind upon our prayers, if our ordinary habit of mind is thoughtless, vague, indolent, indifferent. " Whatsoever thy hand " findeth to do, do it with thy might," is a rule which may be applied with equal force to the mind, and that which it " findeth to do." Those who can fix the mind upon that which they are doing at all times have a great advantage in their prayers. But, besides this vague idle habit of mind, there is another habit even more destructive of the power to pray attentively — the habit of giving the reins to the imagination, and letting it carry us where it will. I do not now speak of the indulgence of positively sin- ful thoughts — such as those of unkindness or im- purity. These of course are fatal to prayer. I am however writing now for those who would not willingly allow such thoughts even a moment's rest- ing-place in their souls. But the habit of idle dream- ing is one which (even if otherwise innocent) is sure to encourage wandering thoughts in prayer. Yet, even though we may have fallen into these faults, and may see in them a way to account, in part DIFFICULTIES OF PRAYER. 5 1 at least, for our sad wandering of thought in prayer, is it not true, after all, that we can fix our thoughts on some subjects? Are there none, who complain bitterly of wandering thoughts in prayer, who are wholly free from them when they are reading some amusing book % Why is this % Simply because the one j / subject interests them, and the other does not. Now * we are getting nearer to the root of the matter. We can attend to what interests us — that is, to what we like and take pleasure in. Is not then the true secret of our wandering thoughts simply this — that we have little pleasure in prayer? AVe can go deeper yet, but, to do so, let us pass to the second difiiculty. Coldness of heart afflicts even those who can pray more attentively. There is nothing so miserable a? t>his deadness and dryness of spirit when we try to pray. We want to rise on the wings of devotion to the Throne of God, and instead we are grovelling in the dust. We want to pour out a stream of blessed adoration, but we smite our stony hearts in vain ; the waters will not flow. But it is not always so in other things. Our hearts are not always so dead and dry and unmoved. We are not naturally very hard- hearted, or very callous. We do not consider our- selves heartless and without feeling. What is the secret then of this wretched prayerless frame of soul ? Nay, it is even nearer to seek than that of wandering, thoughts. Is not the following a true account of it I We take delight in the company of those we loveJ ; An hour spent with some dear friend is no burden to! \ us. W^e do not complain of dulness or coldness then.! ^j The time passes quickly enough. We are warm-hearte