Chapter 5 — Prayer — Scripture-View — Different Kinds of Prayer.
CHAPTER 5 — PRAYER — SCRIPTURE-VIEW —
DIFFERENT KINDS OF PRAYER.
NO Christian duty is more explicitly and more fully enjoined in Scripture than that of prayer. On this subject, we here present a few passages from both the Old and the New Testaments.
In the patriarchal age, it is recorded that “Abraham prayed unto God” (Genesis 20:17), and his prayer was heard. The Prophet Samuel said: “Gather all Israel to Mizpeh, and I will pray for you unto the Lord.” “And Samuel cried unto the Lord for Israel, and the Lord heard him.” 1 Samuel 7:5, 9. Solomon “kneeled down upon his knees,” and called upon God in prayer, when he dedicated the temple. “And the Lord appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have heard, thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for a house of sacrifice.” 2 Chronicles 7:12. Elijah prayed, and God answered his prayer by fire from heaven. Ezra “fell upon his knees” in prayer before God; and Nehemiah also prayed; and their prayers were answered. David says: “Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud; and he shall hear my voice.” Psalm 55:17. Daniel “went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God.” Daniel 6:10. That this duty is expressly enjoined in the New Testament appears from the following passages: “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened.” Matthew 7:7. “Watch ye therefore, and pray always.” Luke 21:36. “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.” Philippians 4:6. “Pray without ceasing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:17. “Men ought always to pray, and not to faint.” Luke 18:1. St. Paul says: “I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting. 1 Timothy 2:8. Prayer is a part of sacred worship common to all dispensations, and which was not only hallowed by the example of “prophets and righteous men,” but also by that of Christ and his apostles.
In farther discussion of this subject, we will consider, first, the nature of prayer; secondly, the different kinds of prayer.
I. THE NATURE OF PRAYER.
According to Webster, “prayer,” in a general sense, is the act of asking for a favor, and particularly with earnestness. But “in worship,” he defines it “as a solemn address to the Supreme Being, consisting of adoration, or all expression of our sense of God’s glorious perfections, confession of our sins, supplication for mercy and forgiveness, intercession for blessings on others, and thanksgiving, or an expression of gratitude, to God for his mercies and benefits.”
With this general definition before us, which we deem accurate and explicit, we proceed to inquire for the elements of acceptable prayer according to the Scriptures.
1. Prayer should be offered in humility. This is an essential branch of Christian virtue, which was so foreign from the minds of heathen philosophers that they had no word which to their minds expressed the idea. The word we use for this virtue, to their minds, implied meanness and baseness of mind.
But the Bible is very full upon this subject. It is written: “Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord.” Proverbs 16:5. God saith: “Him that hath a high look and a proud heart will not I suffer.” Psalm 101:5. St. Peter says: “Be clothed with humility; for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.” 1 Peter 5:5. Our Saviour furnished a beautiful illustration of the grace of humility, when he set a little child in the midst of his disciples, saying: “Whosoever, therefore, shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Again, we have another illustration of this subject in the commendation of the prayer of the publican, who “smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you,” said Jesus, “this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”
From all these scriptures, it appears that an humble spirit is essential to acceptable prayer. And as prayer is the language of dependence and helplessness, crying for mercy in the midst of destitution, want, affliction, or danger, how incongruous must be a proud or haughty spirit in connection with this duty, and how appropriate the fading of deepest humility!
2. Another element of acceptable prayer is submission, or resignation to the divine will, and a cheerful acquiescence in God’s plan of imparting his blessings.
In all our prayers, it is either expressed or implied that we ask for things according to the will of God, otherwise our petitions will not be regarded. A beggar at the feet of his sovereign should not assume the attitude of a dictator. In regard to the spiritual blessings of salvation, the provisions and promises of the gospel are unrestricted and universal. “All men everywhere” may pray for “all spiritual benediction and grace.” And, in this sense, we may intercede “for all men.”
St. Paul has very forcibly portrayed this fullness of spiritual grace. “For this cause,” he says, “I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.” What stronger language can be used to express the largest possible communication of heavenly grace! But lest something beyond what is here expressed might be attainable, and to show that there should be no limit to the aspiration of the Christian for spiritual blessings, the apostle adds: “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world without end.” Here, to the extent of the grace for which the apostle prays, there is no limit, not even the power of words to express, nor of thought to conceive, can bound his capacious desire. And if the apostle would pray for these unutterable blessings upon his brethren, it is plainly inferable that they should pray for the same things in their own behalf.
Of similar import are our Saviour’s encouraging words to his disciples: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name; ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.” John 16:23, 24. Other scriptures, to the same effect, might be adduced, but these are sufficient to show that there should be no limit to the extent of our petitions for spiritual blessings. Yet we should ever remember that we are to ask for all these things only in consistency with God’s prescribed method of bestowing them — that is, we may not ask God to change his plan, devised in infinite wisdom and goodness, for our individual accommodation. And he has promised these blessings only to him who seeks them aright.
The case is different when we pray for temporal mercies. Here God has made no unrestricted promise to grant as whatever we may think we need. And we have authority for praying for such blessings only in submission to the divine will. It is true, God has promised that “no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly,” and the apostle assures us that “all things work together for good to them that love God.” But it must not be forgotten that the divine will, and not our own short-sighted wisdom, is to be the judge in the case. God only (and not we ourselves) knows what is really “good” for us. We may ask for riches, health, prosperity, and peace, but God may see that poverty, affliction, adversity, and persecution, would be really better for us. Therefore, in all our petitions for temporal benefits, our prayers should be conditioned and circumscribed by calm and implicit submission to the will of God.
3. Faith is an important element of acceptable prayer. St. Paul has declared: “Whatsover is not of faith is sin.” Romans 14:23. Our Saviour has promised, saying: “All things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” Matthew 21:22. St. James says: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering; for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.” James 1:5, 6. Again, St Paul says: “But without faith it is impossible to please him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Hebrews 11:6. These scriptures abundantly establish the position that faith is an essential element of acceptable prayer. Indeed, this is a point so fully set forth in the word of God that no man, acknowledging the truth of revelation, can for a moment dispute it. To exhibit all the proof upon the subject would be to transcribe a large portion of the Bible. It may be necessary, however, that we examine more particularly the elements of that faith which is thus essential to acceptable prayer. What kind and what degree of faith does acceptable prayer require?
(1) It must be, to a certain extent, orthodox in theory.
This does not imply that our views concerning God and religious doctrine must be correct in every minutia. We may embrace many errors in our system of religious belief, and yet hold the essential truths; yet there are some truths radical in their nature, without a belief in which we cannot consistently pray for either temporal or spiritual mercies either for ourselves or in the behalf of others.
Among the most important of this class of truths is the doctrine of divine influence. If this be either discarded or explained away, there can be no more sense or propriety in offering prayer to God than if no such being existed. A semi-infidel doctrine has long had place in the world, the tendency of which is to put God, as it were, out of the world which his hand has created, and leave it to its own government and control. Like a vessel on the ocean, cut loose from her moorings, and without a master, “driven by the winds and tossed,” so some would persuade us that God created the world, and cast it forth from his hand upon the ocean of time to govern and control itself solely by the agency of secondary causes. This pernicious theory has infused its poison into some of our schools of divinity as well as philosophy.
The position to which we refer is this: that God, when he created the material universe, impressed matter with certain properties and powers called “the laws of nature;” and that these laws, operating as secondary causes, govern the material world without any direct or immediate power of the Almighty being exerted or required. This is the philosophical phase of the system. When it enters the arena of theology, it takes the following shape: It assumes that God miraculously inspired the sacred penmen to write the Scriptures; but that, since the apostolic age, there is no direct or immediate influence of the Holy Spirit on the hearts and minds of men, but that the conversion of men, if effected at all, must be accomplished by the written word, the Spirit of God exercising no agency in the matter whatever, except what arises solely from the fact that the Spirit originally dictated that written word. Thus it is that this system, or rather these twin sisters of semi-infidel philosophy and pseudo-Christianity, would join hands in putting God both out of the natural and of the moral and religious world, leaving the government of the natural world to secondary causes through the laws of nature, and the government of the moral or spiritual world to secondary causes through the written word.
According to the theory just explained, we can conceive no propriety whatever in prayer. The sole utility of prayer arises from the fact that God is supposed to hear and answer our petitions by exerting an influence in bestowing blessings upon us, which he would not bestow without prayer. Deny that he exerts any such influence, admit that all things, both material and immaterial — that is, that the natural things pertaining to this world, and the spiritual things pertaining to religion — are controlled solely by secondary causes, and in what shape can we look for an answer to our prayers? If God exercises no direct influence over the affairs of this world, either natural or spiritual, how can we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” with any more confidence that we shall obtain that bread than if we were not to pray at all? And if nothing can be gained by prayer, wherein consists its propriety? We call only ask God for temporal mercies on the supposition that he exercises a particular providence over the affairs of this world. Deny this, and there would still be reason in our using diligence and industry to secure those blessings, but there could be no reason in our praying for them.
Deny that God by his Holy Spirit operates upon our hearts, except indirectly through the word, and how can we pray to him for any spiritual blessing whatever? If there is no direct influence of the Spirit on the heart, how can we pray to God for the fruit of the Spirit? We pray to God to impart unto us, or to increase within us, “love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance.” Now these graces, St. Paul tells us, are “the fruit of the Spirit;” but if the Spirit only operates through the written word, how do we expect it to impart or increase the graces in question? Can there be given, upon this hypothesis, any sensible meaning to our prayer? Do we expect the Spirit miraculously to multiply Bibles? Even that, according to the theory, it could only do by causing one Bible to produce another. If it be said that these fruits of the Spirit are only produced by the reading and studying of the Bible, then, we demand, in what way does prayer facilitate this process? We pray to God in language as though God were listening, and we expected him to answer our prayers by a direct influence; but if no such influence is to be realized, then the exercise of prayer is worse than silly — it is solemn mockery! But we demand: What sober-minded man can open his Bible, and read the history of the many prayers of God’s people, and the direct answers to them therein recorded, and reconcile the theory we here oppose with the Scripture presentation of the subject? Take but one illustration among hundreds that might be adduced. Our Saviour, in answer to his disciples, who had requested him, saying, “Lord, teach us to pray,” among other things, said: “If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” Luke 11:11-13. Now, we undertake to say that if our blessed Lord did not intend to teach his disciples that their heavenly Father would as really hear, and as directly answer, their prayer, as they would the request of their child asking for bread, then he intentionally deceived them. The language is too pointed and unambiguous to admit of any but one construction. Let it be distinctly noted that the Holy Spirit is not here promised to those who shall read, believe, and obey the Scriptures, however important these duties are admitted to be, but “to them that ask him” — that is, the Holy Spirit is here promised as a gift in direct answer to prayer. To construe the passage otherwise, is not to interpret, but to pervert the inspired word. And to reconcile with this plain construction of our Saviour’s teachings, the doctrine which denies the direct influence of the Spirit of God upon the human heart, is simply an impossibility; hence we conclude that acceptable prayer must be so far orthodox in theory as to recognize the direct influence of the Holy Spirit on the human heart.
(2) This faith also implies a firm trust and reliance upon God, that through the mediation of Christ he will, according to his promises, bestow upon us the blessings for which we pray. This is implied in the passages already presented; and is so abundantly taught in all those scriptures which exhibit faith as the condition of justification, and of salvation in all its stages, that we deem it useless to dwell upon this point, except to present two or three Scripture-testimonies. When the two blind men came to Jesus, crying, “Thou Son of David have mercy on us,” he “touched their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you.” Matthew 9:29. Again, Jesus said to one who brought unto him his son who had a dumb spirit: “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.” Mark 9:23. These passages plainly teach that the answer to prayer is suspended upon the condition of implicit faith. When the Ethiopian eunuch demanded baptism of Philip, the apostle replied: “If thou believest with all thy heart, thou mayest.” Acts 8:37. And St. Paul says: “With the heart man believeth unto righteousness.” Romans 10:10. Thus it appears that the faith which justifies and saves the soul, and which is necessary to render our prayer acceptable to God, implies the full trust and confidence of the heart.
II. We now call attention to the DIFFERENT KINDS OF PRAYER. The most common division of prayer is into ejaculatory, private, family, and public. We propose a few remarks upon each separately.
1. Ejaculatory Prayer. — This is the impromptu aspiration of the heart, whether silent or expressed, rising to God in emotions of grateful acknowledgment for mercies received, or petitions for blessings needed. In other words, it denotes that fixed devotional frame by which a constant spirit of prayer is maintained, and an abiding sense of the divine presence and protection preserved. This kind of prayer is clearly enjoined by the apostle in his exhortation to “pray without ceasing, and in every thing give thanks.”
As this abiding spirit of prayer is evidence of genuine piety in the heart, so it conduces largely to the enjoyment of those who maintain it. By habitually staying the soul upon God, it produces a fixed sense of his ever-abiding presence and all-sustaining grace; and thus a calm composure of spirit and a comfortable assurance of the divine protection are secured, and the heart is kept in “perfect peace,” being “stayed on the Lord.”
2. Private or Secret Prayer. — This duty is not only sanctioned by the example of prophets and apostles, and the most pious in all ages, and of Christ himself, but by express precept. Our Lord says, “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” Matthew 6:6.
Perhaps there is no Christian duty the strict and habitual performance of which is a surer test of genuine and sincere piety than this. Other religious exercises, even family and public prayer, may be attended to through motives of policy, for the sake of respectability, or to promote the comfort of those about us; but he who habitually bows his knees in secret devotion before God must be sincere. And how sublime the spectacle of a poor dependent worm of earth, shut out from the view of every eye but that of God, kneeling in humble pleadings for mercy before the great I Am! Upon such a scene angels must gaze with delight, and God himself looks down from heaven well pleased.
3. Family Prayer. — An objection has been made to this duty, simply on the ground that it is not expressly enjoined in Scripture. But every honest-minded Christian must admit that what is clearly implied in a great Bible-principle, necessarily growing out of it, is possessed of equal authority with that which is embodied in express precept. To deny this position would introduce fearful confusion and havoc into the system of Christian morals.
Where is the express precept commanding you to clothe your children, to give them as good educational advantages as you can, or to qualify them for some special calling or profession? If it be replied that nature, reason, and the general obligation to “provide for our own household,” imply all these duties, may we not, with even more propriety, affirm that nature, reason, and the general obligation to “rule our own house well,” and “bring up our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord,” require us to set before them the example, and favor them with the advantages of family worship?
It is certain that several of the patriarchs, and probable that all of them, adopted household worship. Abraham, Jacob, and Job, offered sacrificial worship in their families; and this is one of the most sacred forms of ancient worship, deriving its obligation doubtless from the appointment of God. Moreover, this duty necessarily grows out of the general injunction on parents to attend strictly to the religious instruction of their children. If a thorough religious instruction necessarily embraces the duty of prayer, which all must admit, if example be an important element of successful instruction, and if precept accompanied by example be more efficient than precept alone, then it follows that the obligation of family prayer is a plain, necessary inference.
That the careful religious training of children was strictly enjoined under both the Mosaic and Christian dispensations, is a position not to be doubted. This is manifest from the divine commendation expressed of Abraham’s character in this particular. “I know him,” said God, “that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment.” Genesis 18:19. It was explicitly enjoined on the people of Israel by Moses that they should instruct their children in the precepts of religion. “These words,” said he, “which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart; and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.” Deuteronomy 6:6, 7.
The duty of family prayer not only arises as a necessary inference from the general precepts enjoining the religious instruction of children, but it is clearly inferable from the character of the Christian and the constitution of the family. As a Christian, and as the head of a household, every man is under obligations to do good to the utmost extent of his ability; hence, that we may feel the force of this obligation, it is only necessary that we consider its beneficial tendency. It cannot be denied that family worship tends not only to preserve in the hearts of parents a sense of their obligation to God, and to keep alive the flame of devotion, but it contributes greatly to imbue the minds and hearts of children with religious knowledge and a reverence for holy things. Besides, this constant acknowledgment of God, and our obligations to serve him, secures by promise his gracious regard and peculiar favor: “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
Again, the general promise that “where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them,” will apply with peculiar fitness to family devotion. From all these considerations, we conclude that family prayer, though not directly enjoined by express precept, is yet a duty so manifest from the general principles of the gospel, the character of the Christian, the constitution of the family, the benefits it imparts, and the general promises of God, that it must be of binding obligation on every Christian who is the head of a household.
4. We now call attention to the subject of public prayer.
(1) This duty is founded on express precept. Its scriptural obligation is most ample and complete. Our Saviour taught “that men ought always to pray.” St. Paul says: “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men.” 1 Timothy 2:1. That the apostle was here speaking of the public services in the Church the context clearly evinces. He adds: “I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.” 1 Timothy ii, 8. He proceeds immediately to give instruction concerning the behavior and privileges of women in the Church, which abundantly shows that public, and not private, devotion was the subject of discourse.
(2) This duty is taught by plain and necessary inference. St. Paul says: “Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoreth his head. But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered, dishonoreth her head,” etc. 1 Corinthians 11:4, 5. Now, the context makes it manifest that the apostle was here speaking of “praying and prophesying” as a public religious exercise; hence it follows, as a necessary inference, that this duty is obligatory on Christians of both sexes, for the apostle gives directions as to the proper manner of its performance.
(3) Again, this duty is plainly manifest from the Scripture examples on the subject. Public prayer was a part of the Jewish service, under the Mosaic economy. That it was regularly performed in the synagogues, at least from the time of Ezra, is unquestionable. And it was sanctioned by our Saviour and his apostles by their frequent attendance upon the synagogue, and participation in the services. And it is undeniable that an important part of this service consisted in public prayer.
(4) The gracious design and benefits of public worship are obvious and important. It calls the people together, and engages the mind and heart so as to free them from many snares and temptations to evil to which they would otherwise be exposed. It tends to cultivate a more intimate acquaintance with each other among the members of any given community, and greatly promotes the social virtues. It brings before the mind the contemplation of the sublime themes of pure religion, and elevates the thoughts above the perishing things of earth. It promotes throughout society good order and morality, refinement and virtue.
This public religious worship adapts its benefits to every conceivable case of each individual. It is calculated to impart strength to the weak, light to those who are in darkness, consolation to all who are in distress, and encouragement to those who are dejected; in a word, it preserves a sense of our dependence upon God, and a grateful remembrance of our constant indebtedness to his goodness.
It tends greatly to promote that kindly emotion and fraternal fellowship which are characteristic fruits of the gospel. Here, in the assembly for public prayer, the rich and the poor, the learned and the uncultivated, all classes in society and all conditions in life, may meet together and share the common blessing; here united supplications are offered up to the God and Father of all for national and individual benefits, and many hearts may unite in the undivided strain of thanksgiving and praise to their common Parent