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ON PUBLIC PRAYER.
BY
SAML t:L MILLER, D.D., LL.D.
PHILADELPHIA:
PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION.
Chestnut Street.
Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in tlie year 1849, by
A. W. MITCHELL, M. D.
In the OflBce of the Clerk of the District Court for the Eastern
District of Pennsylvania
STEREOTYPED BY J. FAQAN.
DEDICATION.
to the younger ministers, and candidates for the
ministry, in the presbyterian church in the
united states.
Brethren beloved in the Lord:
Many of you have been my pupils, whom I
have followed ever since you left the Seminary with
which it is my privilege to be connected, with my
best washes, and fervent prayers ; and all of you,
I doubt not, arc willing kindly to receive from an
aged servant of the Church, who is soon to " put
off this tabernacle," any intimations which he may
deem adapted to promote your acceptance and use-
fulness.
Unless I mistake, I have observed, from time to
time, facts in regard to public prayer which satisfied
me that there Avas a call for special counsel on the
subject. It has even occurred to me to doubt whe-
ther the well-known doctrine of our beloved Church,
with regard to Liturgies, may not have been so
rigidly interpreted, and so unskilfully applied, as to
lead to practical misapprehension and mischief in
regard to the devotional part of the service of our
sanctuaries.
It will not surprise me if some of the suggestions
found in the following pages, especially in the last
4 DEDICATION.
chapter, should be considered by some as unex-
pected, if not as questionable in their character.
All I can say concerning them is, that they have
not been hastily or inconsiderately made, nor with-
out a sacred regard to those great principles which
our venerated fathers regarded as precious, and
which were exemplified and recommended by the
apostolic Church.
If I had known of any work adapted to occupy
the ground and fulfil the purpose contemplated in
the present volume, I should have forborne to trouble
the religious community with its publication. But
as I am not aware that any such work exists, I am
impelled to attempt the service here respectfully
offered, which I humbly commend to the patronage
and blessing of Him who alone can make it useful.
To the younger Ministers of our beloved Church,
and to the Candidates for the sacred office, alone, do
I venture to present this volume. With regard to
the more advanced in life, and the aged, I should
be glad, old as I am, to sit at their feet as a learner;
and can only beg their candid examination and
indulgent estimate of the following attempt to bene-
fit their younger brethren.
I am, my beloved young friends, your afiectionate
brother in Christian bonds,
SAMUEL MILLER.
Princeton Theological Seminary,
October 31st, 1848.
CONTENTS,
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
Introductory Remarks 7
CHArTER II.
History of Public Prayer 33
Praying toward the East 08
Prayers for the Dead 73
Prayers to the Saints, and to the Virgin Mary. . 78
Prayers in an Unknown Tongue 82
Responses in Public Prayer 91
Posture in Public Prayer 92
CHAPTER III.
The claims of Liturgies 105
CHAPTER IV.
Frequent faults of Public Prayer 142
1* (5)
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER V.
PAGE
Characteristics of a good Public Prater 173
CHAPTER VI.
The best means of attaining excellence in conducting
Public Prayer 207
THOUGHTS ON PUBLIC PRAYER.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
The pulpit work of a gospel minister is his great
work. True, there are other departments of his
labour, the importance of which can hardly be
overrated. Family visitation ; the catechetical in-
struction of children and young people ; the ap-
propriate instruction and consolation of the sick
and dying ; the supervision of schools, whether
sabbatical or secular, of every kind ; and, in short,
every thing that can be brought to bear on Chris-
tian education, and on the moral or religious inter-
ests of the souls committed to his care, or placed
within his reach â” all, all demand his constant and
prayerful attention, and none can be neglected
without sin, and without the danger of serious in-
jury to the best interests of the flock committed to
his charge. Indeed it may be sajd, with perfect
truth, that no one of these departments of labour
(7)
8 T H U G H T S N
can be neglected without injury to the minister
himself, as "well as to those to whom he ministers.
These labours out of the pulpit, if faithfully per-
formed, are admirably adapted to prepare and
qualify him to fill the pulpit with more skill and
more efficiency. How can a pastor preach intelli-
gently and appropriately to his people, without
knowing their state ? And how is he to know their
real state but by more or less intercourse with them
in private ? And how can he expect to render this
intercourse subservient to the great object of his
ministry, if it be not essentially and habitually of
a religious character ? Every time that the pastor
goes forth from his study to visit the families of his
flock, it ought to be performed for the double pur-
pose of conferring spiritual benefit on them, and
receiving a benefit himself. If, for the attainment
of the former purpose, he carry the gospel with
affection and tenderness on his lips wherever he
goes, his own knowledge of the real condition and
wants of his people will be greatly enlarged, and
his heart warmed with increasing love to the Sa-
viour, and love and zeal for the salvation of souls,
and the enlargement of that kingdom which is not
meat and drink, but righteousness and peace, and
joy in the Holy Ghost. ! that ministers could
be persuaded to realize that the best part of their
preparation for the pulpit, that which is best adapted
to impart the richest instructiveness, and the most
PUBLICPRAYER. 9
touching unction to all its teacliings, is, not to
seclude themselves perpetually in their studies â”
not to be for ever trimming the midnight lamp ; but
to go forth and put themselves often in contact with
the cavils and the objections of the enemies of the
gospel, as well as with the anxieties, the conflicts,
the consolations, the joys, and the triumphs of
Christian believers.
Still the pulpit work of the minister of Christ is
his great work. This view of the subject ought
never to be abandoned or forgotten. And to this
the ambassador of Christ ought to address himself
with all the prayerful diligence, with all the powers
of mind, and body, and heart with which his Master
has endowed him ; and Avith all those improvements
of them severally, which the providence of God
places within his reach. And 0, if preachers were
as earnestly desirous and as faithfully laborious, day
and night, to improve every power, intellectual,
moral, and physical for this purpose, as the miser is
to save and accumulate money, as the ambitious
man is to gather and display Avorldly honours, what
progress might we not expect to mark in the char-
acter and results of the labours of gospel ministers !
But what department of pulpit work is the most
vitally important ? and to which ought our main
efforts and prayers to be directed ? Poor fallible
mortals are ever prone to extremes, and, in balanc-
ing between attainments and duties, they make sad
10 T H U a II T S N
mistakes in their estimates. The Romanists, over-
rating the importance of external rites and ceremo-
nies, and laying undue stress on their Missals and
Breviaries, have confidently taught that their litur-
gical performances were far more important than
public preaching ; and, of course, that the latter
might be much more safely dispensed with than the
former. And, accordingly, about the time of the
rise of the " Man of Sin," public preaching was
thrust into a corner, and treated as an inferior con-
cern ; and, indeed, as to any suitable character of
preaching, as an exercise adapted to bring the minds
of men into contact with the Holy Scriptures, it
was, during the dark ages, in a great measure laid
aside. For those, whose policy it was to lock up
the Scriptures from the common people, could not,
of course, be expected to do anything but discour-
age scriptural preaching. With a view to justify
this estimate, it has been said, by those who take
this ground, that in prayer we speak directly to
God, and implore his blessing ; whereas in preach-
ing we listen to the speculations of men exhibiting
to us their own opinions of truth and duty. They
judge, therefore, that if it be necessary or conveni-
ent to discontinue either, it is much the less evil to
discontinue preaching. And in this judgment some
who call themselves Protestants, but who too much
resemble Romanists, seem disposed to concur. They
deem and pronounce the service of the "reading
PUBLIC PRAYER. 11
desk" of far more value, as a means of grace, than
the discourses which proceed from the pulpit.
This is, doubtless, a deeply erroneous judgment.
Nothing can be more evident than that, in the New
Testament history, public preaching makes a much
more prominent and important figure as an instru-
mentality for converting the world, and edifying the
Church, than public prayer ; for it has pleased God,
in all ages, eminently " by the foolishness of preach-
ing" to save them that believe. Nay, more than
this, the very statement of our opponents in this
argument may be turned against themselves ; for if,
in prayer, we always speak to Crod, in the way of
his own appointment ; in preaching, Crod speaks to
us by his commissioned servant, if that servant
preaches the preaching which the Master bids him.
And which is the more serious and solemn employ-
ment, our speaking to God, and imploring his fa-
vour, or God speaking to us, and communicating his
will, either in the language of instruction, of threat-
ening, or of promise ? It is not wise, however, to
exalt either of these exercises at the expense of the
other. Both are required in the New Testament
Church ; and both have a value beyond our power
to estimate.
Yet, while we censure Romanists and others, for
undervaluing preaching, we must not excuse Pres-
byterians if they sometimes appear to undervalue
public prayer ; and to be less concerned than they
12 THOUGHTS ON
ought to be, to secure its rightful and edifying per-
formance. Nothing is more certain than that there
is sometimes an appearance of this. It woukl be
difficult to estimate the amount that has been writ-
ten, by Presbyterians as well as others, concerning
the composition and delivery of sermons. Lectures
and volumes almost innumerable have been lavished
on this subject ; and, in pursuance of their instruc-
tion, nothing is more common than to bestow un-
wearied labour on the preparation of discourses for
the pulpit. But how much less of the nature of
counsel seems to have been given to candidates for
the holy ministry, to aid them in the acceptable
performance of public prayer ! And how much less
attention seems to be bestowed, on the part of those
candidates, on this whole subject ! Books, indeed,
in almost countless number, containing forms of
prayer, have been given to the public ; but books
adapted to aflford real aid to those who are in a
course of preparation for the sacred office, in con-
ducting extemporaneous public prayer in an accept-
able and edifying manner, have been few and inade-
quate. Whether this has arisen from an impression
that public prayer was a matter of comparatively
small importance ; or from a notion that it may be
safely left, from its nature, to take care of itself; or
from a morbid desire to recede as far as possible
from giving any countenance to prescribed forms,
it is not necessary at present to decide. Whatever
PUBLIC PRAYER. 13
may have been the reason, it is, doubtless, an errone-
ous one. For whatever comparative estimate we
may form, in our wisdom or our folly, concerning
two acknowledged ordinances of God, I hope, in the
following pages, to satisfy every impartial reader,
that public prayer is not only a divinely prescribed,
but an unspeakably important ordinance ; and that
both the nature and the means of excellence in the
dispensation of this ordinance, are such as not only
to admit, but to demand appropriate study, and
careful moral and mental culture.
We are, no doubt, warranted in imploring and
expecting the aid of the Holy Spirit in every de-
partment of our spiritual services. Hence, he who
has "the residue of the Spirit," speaks of pouring
out upon his people " the spirit of grace and of suppli-
cations."* And again, it is said, "the Spirit help-
eth our infirmities ; for we know not what to pray
for as we ought ; but the Spirit itself maketh inter-
cession for us with groanings which cannot be ut-
tered. "f Yet neither in prayer, nor in any other
exercise of religion, are we to suppose that the Holy
Spirit's influence is intended to supersede the exer-
cise of our own faculties ; but rather to stimulate,
to strengthen, and to purify them. Of course, our
petitions for that influence, and our confidence in its
aid, so far from forbidding or discouraging efforts to
* Zech. xii. 10. t Rom. viii. 27.
2
14 T II U G H T S N .
cultivate our minds, and to enrich tlieni witli appro-
priate furniture for leading the devotioii- of our
fellow "worshippers, ought rather to excite to un-
wearied diligence in making the best preparation in
our power for discharging in the best manner, this
as well as every other duty of the sanctuary. We
ought to desire, to ask, and to expect the aid of the
Holy Spirit in preaching, and in the prosecution of
all our studies and duties. But would any man in
his senses imagine that the expectation of such aid
was adapted to discourage the use of appropriate
means for enlarging and invigorating the mind, and
filling it with useful knowledge, and with the ma-
terials for the best judgment and taste in divine
things ? In all spiritual influence, God deals with
us as rational creatures ; not by superseding or
suspending the use of our natural faculties ; but by
so quickening, elevating, enriching and strengthen-
ing them, as to make them capable of greatly
improved exercise. I hope, therefore, that every
candidate for the holy ministry will bear in mind
that as his pulpit work is his great work, so every
part of that work is vitally important, and ought to
be studied and prepared for, with unceasing dili-
gence. Instead of stopping to balance whether the
instruction or devotion of the sacred desk is the
more important, or the more worthy of his regard,
let him resolve to prepare for both, and to discharge
both in the best possible manner. This is the only
P U B L I C P R A Y E R . 15
resolution worthy of him who desires to make the
most of every talent he possesses, and of every
opportunity he enjoys, for the glory of his Master
in heaven.
In regard to the best preparation for leading in
social, and especially in public prayer, there are two
things worthy of particular notice ; the one is what
has been called the spirit or grace of prayer ; the
other is what has been denominated the gift of
prayer.
1. By the spirit or grace of prayer, is to be
understood that truly devout state of mind which
corresponds with the nature and design of the exer-
cise. He has the spirit of prayer who engages in
that duty with serious, enligbtened, cordial sin-
cerity ; Avith that penitence, faith, love, and holy
veneration which become a renewed sinner, in draw-
ing near to God to ask for things agreeable to his
will. Even if he have weak intellects, but little
knowledge of theological truth, and very imperfect
command of appropriate language, yet if he have a
heart filled with love to God, with confidence in the
Saviour, and with ardent desires to be conformed to
his image, a heart broken and contrite for sin,
breathing after holiness, and earnestly desiring the
enjoyment of covenant blessings â” in a word, a
heart in which the Holy Spirit dwells and reigns,
that man has the spirit of prayer, the grace of
prayer. Though his words be few, tliongh his utter-
16 THOUGHTSON
ance be feeble and embarrassed, though his feelings
be poured out in sighs and groans, rather than in
appropriate language, he may be said to "pray in
the spirit" â” to pray in such a manner as will never
fail to enter into the ears of "the Lord of Sabaoth."
Hence we read of the prayer of faith (James v. 15) ;
of the eflfectual fervent prayer of the righteous man
which availeth much (James v. 16); of the spirit of
grace and supplications (Zech. xii. 10) ; of the Holy
Spirit helping our infirmities in prayer, and making
intercession for us with groanings whioh cannot be
uttered (Rom. viii. 26) ; and of God sending forth
the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, enabling us tÂ
cry, Abba, Father (Gal. iv. 6).
2. By the gift of prayer is to be understood that
combination of natural and spiritual qualities which
enables any one to lead in prayer in a ready, ac-
ceptable, impressive, and edifying manner ; that
suitableness and scriptural propriety of matter, and
that ardour, fluency, and felicity of expression
which enable any one so to conduct the devotions
of others, as to carry with him the judgment, tht^
hearts, and the feelings of all whose mouth he is tc
the throne of grace.
These qualities are not alwjiys united in those who
lead in public prayer. On the one hand, there may
be much of the spirit of prayer, that is, much of o-
spiritual and devout frame of mind ; much sincerity
and even ardour of devotion, where the topics of
PUBLICPRAYER. it
prayer are not happily selected or arranged ; where
the language is not well chosen ; where the utter-
ance is embarrassed ; and where the voice is grat-
ing, ill-managed, and unpleasant. So that, while
we have no doubt of the sincerity, and even ardent
piety of him who leads us to the throne of grace,
our pleasure in uniting with him is not a little
diminished by the infelicity of his diction and
manner. It cannot be doubted, however, that
where there is a large measure of the spirit of
prayer, there we are most apt to find, and com-
monly do find, a corresponding measure of the gift
of prayer. On the other hand, there may be much
of the gift of prayer, where there is, so far as we
can judge by appearances, but Httle of the spirit.
That is, there may be much skill in the selection of
topics, in oifering up the prayers of the public
assembly ; much happiness of expression ; much
fluency of utterance ; and much sweetness and
solemnity of voice, where we have reason to believe
there is but little of the spirit of fervent and ele-
vated devotion. I have known a few instances of
this kind so remarkable, as to excite universal obser-
vation. Nay, I can call to mind one example of
the gift of prayer being possessed in a pre-eminent
degree, where there was every reason to believe,
from subsequent events, that there was no Chris-
tian sincerity at all ; while I have sometimes seen
men of decided and even eminent piety, who did
2*
18 THOUGHTS ON
not appear to as much advantage in the devotional
exercises, as in the expository and instructive parts
of their pulpit work. Even where a liturgy is used,
there has often heen observed a striking inferiority
in the reading of the prayers to the preaching of
the officiating minister. The reverence, the solemn-
ity, the touching tones which abounded in the
latter, were in a great measure wanting in the
former. The happy union of the spirit and the
gift of prayer is the great object to be desired, and
the attainment of which is so truly important to the
acceptance, and especially to the usefulness of every
minister of the gospel.
There are men in the ministry, as well as out of
it â” men no way remarkable either for the vigour
of their talents or the extent of their learning, who,
nevertheless, whenever they engage in social prayer,
seem to be eminently in their element, and we may
almost say inspired. So near and intimate are their
approaches to the throne of grace ; they are so
obviously and immediately looking into heaven ; so
simply filial and tenderly reverential are their ap-
peals to their heavenly Father ; so humble and en-
dearing their importunity ; so full of confidence and
joy in a reconciled God, and of love to an en-
throned Saviour ; that it is really adapted to awaken
and solemnize the worldly, and to animate believers
to listen to them. ! if our public prayers were
generally and habitually of this character, what
PUBLICPRAYER. 19
impressive and heart-affecting results might be ex-
pected !
Now, if this be so, is there not in many who bear
the sacred office, a painful evidence that they have
never paid adequate attention to this important part
of the service of the sanctuary ? Are there not
found those from whom something better might be
expected, who habitually perform this portion of
their pulpit work in a common-place, slovenly, and
unedifying manner ? Is it not supposable, nay, is it
not manifest, that public prayer might be made a
far more instructive, impressive, and elevating exer-
cise than it is commonly found to be ? Who that
has been an intelligent and watchful observer of
such things, has not known instances in which the
spirit and the gift of prayer have been so remark-
ably united and exemplified, as to captivate all
hearts, and melt a whole assembly, and to leave an
impression more deep and lasting than the most
eloquent discourse ? If this be so, and if ministers
are commonly found to be interesting and useful in
proportion to the degree in which they attain ex-
cellence in public prayer, then how powerful and
solemn are the motives which ought to impel every
candidate for the sacred office, to aim at a high
measure of this excellence, and to employ all the
means in his power for attaining it !
The more my attention is directed to this subject,
the deeper is my persuasion that a large amount of
20 THOUGHTSON
the defects observable in the performance of public
prayer, is to be referred, not altogether or mainly,
to the want of piety, nor to the want of rich and
varied talents, but to the want of an appropriate
and adequate estimate being made of the importance
of this part of the public service, and of suitable
pains being taken to prepare for its happy discharge.
So many examples in proof of this crowd upon my
mind, that I cannot help referring to a few of them
in confirmation of my statement.
Few divines of the seventeenth century were fa-
voured with higher endowments than the Rev. Wil-
liam Twisse, the first Prolocutor of the Westminster
Assembly of Divines. He was fervently pious, pro-
foundly learned, and one of the most acute in-
quirers and powerful reasoners of his day. In fact,
he has been called the Bradwardine of his age.
His works, in three volumes folio, form a lasting
monument of his vast erudition, and of his uncom-
monly diversified and vigorous powers of mind.
But we could hardly have a stronger proof of the
high estimation in which he was held, than the fact
that he was selected by the same Parliament which
chose and called together the Westminster Assembly
of Divines, to preside over the deliberations of that
far-famed body, in which he officiated as the presid-
ing ofiicer for about three years.
Such a man might be expected to be gifted and
ready in public prayer, as he undoubtedly was in
PUBLICPRAYER. 21
preaching, and in every other part of tlie duties
connected with his profession. But it is plain, from
the representation of Baillie, one of the Scottish
delegates to the Assembly, that Dr. Twisse, with all
his accomplishments, was greatly lacking in some
of the qualities which are eminently desirable in a
good presiding officer, and in none more remarkably
than in respect to extempore prayer.* In that
exercise he would seem, from Baillie's representa-
tion, to have been peculiarly deficient. " The man,"
says Baillie, " as all the world knows, is very learn-
ed, very good, beloved of all, and highly esteemed ;
but merely bookish, and not much, as it seems, ac-
quaint with conceived prayer, and among the un-
fittest of all the company for an action. So after
the prayer he sits mute." To account for this, all
that is necessary is to advert to the fact, that Dr.
Twisse was bred and ordained in the Church of Eng-
land ; that he had been accustomed, during the
greater part of the former period of his life, to the
use of the liturgy in public worship ; and of course,
had been but little in the habit of extemporary
prayer. f And although it is perfectly evident,
* Baillie's Letters, Vol. ii. p. 108.
t It has been supposed and alleged by many, that the mem-
bers of the Westminster Assembly of Divines were Presby-
terians by prejudice and by long habit, anterior to their delib-
erations and decisions in that body. It was, however, by no
means so. All the English divines, without a single excep-
22 THOU G II T S ON
from the proceedings of the venerable body over
â which he presided, that his judgment was on the
side of free, instead of prescribed prayer ; yet it is
probable that, from want of use, the method of con-
ducting public prayer extemporaneously was less
easy and natural to him than the use of a form.
We have only to suppose this, in order to account
for the fact that, with all his other pre-eminent
accomplishments, he often appeared to a disadvan-
tage in conducting the devotions of a public assembly
without a form.
I have heard of a similar defect in the public
prayers of the Rev. President Davies, of our own
country, the author of several volumes of sermons
of first-rate excellence. It would be difficult to
name a collection of published sermons more rich
in thought, more sound in evangelical doctrine, and,
at the same time, more fervent, animated, and so-
lemn in their whole structure and style. In a word,
when I have been called upon by theological stu-
tion, who sat in that Assembly, and two of the Scotch, had
been episcopally ordained ; and their early prejudices and
habits were in favour of the prelatical system of government
and worship, and not against them. Some of them, we
know, had been long convinced of the unscriptural character
of that system ; but others, and not a few, were brought to
the same conviction by thorough and careful examination.
They were evidently led to the views in which they ultimately
rested, by matui-e discussion and a deli^'f^r^ito pxsiminatinn of
God's word.
PUBLICPRAYER. 23
dents to specify those sermons which I deemed best
adapted to popular use, I have felt doubtful whether
those of Davies ought not to occupy the very first
place in the list. The reader of those sermons
would be ready to anticipate for their author not
only real but very high excellence in every other
part of the public service, as well as in preaching.
Yet I have understood that, with all the acknow-
ledged ardour of his piety, and all the rich exube-
rance of his genius, so apparent in every thing that
he penned, he was by no means either ready or
fluent in public prayer ; but was, at least often, hesi-
tating, apparently embarrassed, and far from mani-
festing that peculiar felicity of thought or expres-
sion for which he is so remarkable in his sermons.
The probability, indeed, is that President Davies
was not a good extemporiser in any thing. The
tradition is, that he always read his sermons, which,
though the universal practice of the established
clergy in Virginia, in his day, had been seldom or
never allowed among Presbyterian ministers, espe-
cially in the middle and southern colonies. Yet
still, though he always carried his manuscripts into
the pulpit and read his discourses, he read them
with a degree of freedom, animation, and fervour
which led many good judges to say that they would
almost as soon hear him at any time as George
Whitefield. The probability, then, is that, never
having cultivated his extemporaneous powers, and
24 THOUGHTSON
having never paid particular attention to prepara-
tion for public prayer, his literary sensibility and
taste led him often to hesitate in prayer for the se
lection of appropriate thoughts and expressions, and
thus gave rise to the impression, which was undoubt-
edly made on some minds, that he was less ready,
less gifted, and less excellent in public prayer than
in preaching. Such a fertile mind and warm heart
as his, could not have manifested a want of prompt
and appropriate furniture for any part of the public
service, if he had been induced early to pay the
same degree of attention to it that he evidently had
paid to his preaching.
The biography of the late Rev. Robert Hall, of
the Baptist denomination in England, records the
existence of the same remarkable defect in the pub-
lic prayers of that eminent man. Few, it is pre-
sumed, will hesitate to place Mr. Hall very high, if
not absolutely at the head of the eloquent preachers
of his day. In some respects, he was considered
as superior in genius and in taste to Dr. Chal-
mers ; and beyond all doubt, in his resources as an
extemporaneous speaker, he had greatly the advan-
tage of his illustrious Scottish contemporary. Yet
of this wonderful preacher, his friend and admirer,
John Foster, thus speaks in regard to the subject
under consideration.*
* Hall's Works, Vol. iii. p. 98.
PUBUCPRAYER. 25
" His manner of public prayer, considered as an
exercise of thought, was not exactly what would
liave been expected from a mind constituted like his,
A manner so different in that exercise from its ope-
ration in all other employments, could hardly have
been unintentional ; but on Avhat principle it was
preferred, cannot be known or conjectured. But it
is to the intellectual consistency and order of his
thoughts in public prayer that I am adverting ; as
to the devotional spirit, there could be but one im-
pression. There was the greatest seriousness and
simplicity, the plainest character of genuine piety,
humble and prostrate before the Almighty. Both
solemnity and good taste forbade indulgence in any
thing showy, or elaborately ingenious, in such an
employment. But there might have been, without
an approach to any such impropriety, and as it
always appeared to me, with great advantage, what
I will venture to call a more thinking performance
of this exercise ; a series of ideas more reflectively
conceived, and more connected and classed, if I may
express it so, in their order." The writer then goes
on to point out, in a diffuse and circuitous manner,
what he deems to have been the faults of Mr. Hall's
public prayers. He supposes their principal faults
to have been that they did not abound in connected
thought ; that they were not adapted to arrest and
fix the attention of a worshipping assembly; that
they seldom had any sensible connection with his
3
26 T H U G H T S N
discourse ; and that in intercession, especially for
those who might be supposed to be present in the
assembly, he was apt to dwell too long, and by ex-
cess of personality to encroach on the province of
appropriate reserve, and sometimes of strict deli-
cacy. In short, it may be gathered from Foster's
statement, that while Mr. Hall poured his whole
soul, with all its learning, logic, exquisite taste, and
fervid feelings, into his sermons, he left his prayers
to take care of themselves, and bestowed upon them
but little thought and no preparation.
I have only to add to this list of illustrious de-
linquents, the late Dr. Chalmers, of Scotland. Per-
haps it is not too much to say, that this wonderful
man, at the time of his decease, and for twenty
years before, had been, in some respects, the great-
est preacher in the world. In grasp and compre-
hension of mind ; in large, practical, statesmanlike
views on all subjects of ecclesiastical policy ; in a
capacity for profound investigation ; in fervid, over-
powering eloquence ; and all this united with a
simple, child-like piety, it would not be easy to
name an equal, or even a second.
And yet with all this transcendent excellence as
a preacher, felt by all, and acknowledged by all
who ever heard him, this extraordinary individual,
in public prayer, was but a common man ; nay,
scarcely equal to multitudes of inferior men, toward
whom but little expectation was directed. One of
P IT B L I C P R A Y E R . 27
the most enlightened ami anlt-iit admiiers of that
great man, with whom I have conversed, acknow-
ledged that " he had not Avhat is commonly called
the gift of prayer:" insomuch that many strangers
who went to hear him, expecting to find him great
in every thing, and, from his first utterance, deeply
interesting, have been ready to doubt whether it
was the same man who made the first prayer who
afterwards preached, or at least to mark a wonder-
ful disparity between the prayer and the sermon.
It is difficult to account for facts of this sort,
without referring them simply to the want of that
attention to the subject of public prayer, which is
ordinarily necessary to the attainment of excellence
in that or in any other department of the public
service- True, it may be said, Dr. Chalmers seldom
allowed himself to utter in public a sentence which
he had not written, and was universally known never
to excel in extempore speaking. But can it be
doubted that the same pre-eminent intellectual
vigour, the same ardent piety, and the same peculiar
warmth of utterance which gave such a deeply
impressive character to all his other pulpit perform-
ances, would have been equally effectual in impart-
ing the richest character to all the devotional exer-
cises of the sanctuary over which he was called to
preside, if they had been with equal diligence
directed to the object ?
Nothing can be furihcr from my aim in referring
28 TnOUGIITSOKT
to the cases of these truly great and good men, than
to detract in the least degree from their exalted
reputation. This would be as unwise, as unjust.
My sole object is to impress on the mind of every
reader, what I wish to be considered as the leading
principle of this volume, viz. : that, even in the
hands of the most able and pious men, high excel-
lence in public prayer is not, ordinarily, to be
attained without much enlightened attention being
directed to the acquirement.
There are certain views of public prayer which,
however obvious, and however interesting, must be
forgotten or overlooked, before slight impressions of
its importance, or a materially incorrect estimate
of its appropriate characteristics can be admitted.
This prayer is, of course, to be considered as the
united act of him who leads, and of all who join
him in the exercise. Were it to be regarded as
merely the vocal utterance of the wants and desires
of the individual who presides and leads, it would
be by no means invested with the responsible and
touching character which really belongs to it. But,
when regarded as the joint and humble supplication
of hundreds of penitent and believing souls, all
engaged in pouring out their hearts to the God of
salvation, it assumes an aspect, not only deeply
interesting, but eminently adapted to enlist and ele-
vate all the most devout feelings of the worshippers.
What an important office does he occupy, who un-
PUBLICPRAYER. 29
dertakes to be the leader in such an exercise ! How
full, at once, of responsibility and of interest!
What presence of mind, what self-possession, what
enlightened and ardent piety, what judgment, what
taste, what a delicate perception of the wants and
the privileges of the people of God, and what power
to express them aright, are indispensable to the
appropriate and the suitable discharge of this high
duty !
In order to bring to a simple and practical test,
what we ought to expect, and what ought to be
aimed at in such an exercise, let us imagine that we
were listening to an humble, penitent, fervently pious
Christian, pouring out his soul to God, in his retired
closet, and when he supposed that no other ear than
that of his Father in heaven heard his voice. What
should we expect to overhear as the utterance of
such a heart ? Surely we should expect to hear
him pouring forth his desires in simple, humble,
unaffected terms. We should, of course, expect
every thing like the glitter of rhetoric, every thing
like philosophical refinement, or laboured logical
distinction, every thing approaching the didactic
delineation of doctrine, every thing, in short, adapted
to meet any other ear than that of the God of mercy,
or to answer any other purpose than to express
repentance toward God, faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ, and simple, humble desire for the blessings
asked for, to be far away. The moment any thing
3*
30 THOUGHTS ON
of this kind should be detected in the language, the
tones, or the topics of the bending Christian, pro-
fessing to be engaged in his secret devotion, that
moment a chilling doubt would come over us, whe-
ther he could be more than half in earnest.
When we apply the same test to a considerable
portion of the public prayer in which we are called
to unite, can we avoid being driven to the same con-
clusion ? How often, instead of the language of
cordial desire, the tones of deep feeling, and the
whole manner of importunate suppliants, filled with
awe before the majesty of God, and pleading for
mercy with all the earnestness of broken and con-
trite hearts, are we compelled to hear either, on the
one hand, effusions in which the invention of the
leader is more prominent than his devotion, and
sometimes in which the skill of the theologian, and
even the taste of the rhetorician are more conspicu-
ous than the mourning for sin, the deep humility and
the aifectionate confidence of the believer pleading
for his life ; or, on the other hand, effusions marked
by cold and careless indifference, and in which words
of course appear to flow from the lips without feel-
ing, and scarcely with conscious purpose !
The model here to be aimed at, and the best
means of attaining some degree of conformity to it,
will be considered in a subsequent chapter. In the
mean time I may be permitted to express deep regret
that this subject has not engaged more of the atten-
tion of ministers of the gospel, and that there are
PUBLICPRAYER. 31
SO many examples of deplorable delinquency in
regard to this part of the public service. If it were
not so, we should not so frequently find the mem-
bers of our congregations satisfied if they reach the
house of God in time to hear our sermons, after all
the preceding prayers are over. If it were not so,
we should much more seldom find those who do
attend in time to unite in our prayers, gazing about
as if they felt no interest in the exercise, or sitting
with as much indolence as if they considered what
was passing as nothing to them. It will, perhaps,
be said that the same gazing about, the same appa-
rent want of interest are often manifested by multi-
tudes, while the best composed liturgy is read. This
is, no doubt, true. But the reason of this is, that
the formula read lacks that life and power which are
adapted to take hold of the minds of men, equally
with the extemporaneous prayer. We hold the latter
to be inferior to what it might and ought to be, if
it be not far more adapted to arrest the attention
and impress the mind than any recited form can be.
Nothing can be more certain than that appropri-
ate and adequate attention to this subject would be
rewarded with very different results. It may be
said, without fear of contradiction, that there is no
part of the service of the sanctuary more capable
of being moulded to any thing that an intelligent
and pious heart can desire, or of having stamped
upon it a richness and variety, a solemnity, and
tenderness ; a force of appeal, and a melting pathos
f^2 THOUGHTS ON PUBLIC PRAYER.
which scarcely any other mode of presenting the
great principles of intercourse between God and the
redeemed soul are capable of having conferred upon
them.
The ministers and members of the Presbyterian
Church have reason to be thankful that they belong
to a body, which is not restrained by any secular
power from making such improvements in their
system of worship, as the word of God and more
ample experience may dictate ; and that they are
not tied down by ecclesiastical authority to the
rigorous use of forms, which some may find a pain-
ful burden to conscience. Whatever is most agree-
able to the word of God, and most edifying to the
body of Christ, we are, happily, at full liberty to
introduce, and pn gressively to modify. Happy
will it be for us if Ave shall be wise enough to make
a constant and faithful improvement of this privi-
lege !
If the following pages shall be made by the great
Head of the Church, in the least degree to promote
an increased attention to this part of the service
of the sanctuary ; to correct, in a single individual,
that negligence which has too often obscured the
excellence of public prayer ; and especially if they
shall stimulate any of those who may peruse them,
to aim at that elevated character with which the
devotions of the sanctuary ought to be, and might
be invested, the writer will deem himself richly
rewarded for his labour.
CHAPTER II.
HISTORY OF PUBLIC PRAYER.
As PRAYER is .1 dictate of nature, as well as a duty
required by the express command of our Master in
heaven, we may take for granted that it has early
and always made a part of the services of public as
well as of private religion. Some, indeed, have
supposed that social prayer was unknown until the
time of Enos, as recorded in Gen, iv. 26. But this
is by no means probable. As the visible Church
was constituted in the family of Adam, we must
suppose that social prayer in some form was habit-
ually performed. That it entered into the worship
of the ceremonial economy of the Old Testament,
is abundantly evident, as well from the book of
Psalms, as from the historical records of important
events during that economy. In the temple service,
indeed, there seems to have been no system of com-
mon prayer. There were, it is true, "hours of
prayer," and many and "long prayers" were there
offered up ; but these seem to have been by individ-
uals, each one praying for himself, and by himself,
and in all manner of words and ways. Of two men
who "went up to the temple to pray," each one by
(33)
34 T II U U II T S ON
himself, we have a very graphic account in Luke
xviii. 10. They had in the temple service, sacred
music, and sacerdotal benedictions ; but never any
system of prescribed joint prayer. The ceremonial
of the temple was made up of sacrifices, ablutions,
burning incense, and minutely enjoined rites of
various kinds; but there is not a shadow of evidence
that it included a prescribed liturgy, or a system
of prepared and commanded devotional exercises.
There were, indeed, solemn prayers on special and
extraordinary occasions in which multitudes joined ;
such as those uttered by Solomon (1 Kings viii. 22);
by king Asa (2 Chron. xiv. 11); by Hezekiah (Isa.
xxxvii. 15) ; by Ezra (Ezra ix. 5, 6) ; and by Jeho-
shaphat (2 Chron. xx. 5.) But neither in the daily
or the sabbatical service of the temple, as commonly
conducted, does there appear to have been any
regular or established provision for public or joint
prayer ; and with respect to the prayers offered on
the special occasions above referred to, no one can
read them without perceiving that they were extem-
poraneous effusions, growing out of the occasions
which led to their utterance, and which precluded
the possibility of their being governed by a pre-
viously adapted form.
Public prayer also formed an important part of
the service of the Jewish synagogue, that moral
institution, which from an early period, certainly
from the time of Ezra, constituted the regular sab-
PUBLICPRAYER. 35
batical worship of the Jewish people. In what rnan-
ner the prayers of the synagogue were conducted
before the coming of Christ, has been the subject
of no small controversy. The learned Bingham, in
his "Antiquities of the Christian Church," and Dr.
Prideaux, in his " Connections,"* assure us that it
was by a regular liturgy. The latter professes,
with great confidence, to give us, at large, " eighteen
prayers," which he alleges were in constant use in
the synagogue service, long before the incarnation
of the Saviour. But if this were so, or if the
synagogue worship were conducted by the use of
these prayers, or by any prescribed liturgy, it is
wonderful that no hint of this alleged fact should be
found in the Old Testament history, or in Josephus,
or Philo. And, indeed, in the estimation of good
judges, these prayers were evidently composed " at
a period Avhen the service of God was no longer kept
up in the temple ; when the daily sacrifice had
ceased ; when Jerusalem was no longer their quiet
abode ; and when the Jews were scattered out of
their own land, to the four quarters of the earth.
They, consequently, prove the prayers to be poste-
rior to the destruction of Jerusalem. "f
The synagogue service was, in substance, the
model of the early Christian Church. The titles
* Connections, Part i. Book vi.
t Whitaker's Origin of Arianisra, pp. 301, 302.
36 THOUQHTSON
and functions of tlie officers, and the form of wor-
ship were the same. The Jews, indeed, before the
advent of the Saviour, had become deeply supersti-
tious, and sunk in heartless formality. They "loved
to pray standing at the corners of the streets," and
"for a pretence made long prayers;" but the wor-
ship of the synagogue seems to have been retained,
when our Lord came in the flesh, not, indeed, in
absolute purity, but in something of its original
character. Accordingly, the Master himself and
his inspired Apostles were in the habit of attending
on its services, and sometimes of taking a leading
part in them. In all the accounts which are given
in the New Testament history of the synagogue
worship, and of the participation in them of the
Saviour and his Apostles, we do not find the remotest
hint of a liturgy, or a prescribed form of prayer.
Nor, from any other source have we the least evi-
dence to that amount.
In all the examples of prayer recorded in the Old
Testament Scripture, whether public and social, or
strictly private and personal, we find nothing like a
prescribed form, but in every case the topics pre-
sented and the language employed were evidently
dictated by the occasion, and flowed spontaneously
from the present feelings of the heart. When So-
lomon, at the dedication of the Temple, in the midst
of the congregated thousands of Israel, and on an
occasion of transcendent national interest, prayed
PUBLICPRATER. 37
for the blessing of God on the newly erected edifice,
and all who should worship in it, every thing that
the sacred historian represents him as uttering,
seems to have come warm from the heart, and the
expressions to have been all dictated by the desires
and feelings of the moment (1 Kings viii). In like
manner, when king Jehoshaphat feared the invasion
of a destroying army, he stood in the midst of the
congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house
of the Lord, before the new court, and implored the
protection of Jehovah, in a manner which, no reader
can doubt, was not the recitation of a form, but the
unstudied utterance of the heart (2 Chron. xx).
And so, likewise, when Ezra, in a day of rebuke
and of spiritual adversity, gathered around him the
multitudes of God's professing people, and lifted up
his hands, and poured out his soul, as the mouth of
the people, both the matter and manner of his
prayer plainly evince that every thing about it was
poured forth extemporaneously, as an expression of
the desires and feelings prompted by the solemn
circumstances in which he and the people wei-e
placed, without being governed by any form or
monitor (Ezra ix). The same remarks may be made
respecting the prayer of the Levites, who, in the
days of Nehemiah, after reading in the book of the
law of the Lord their God, confessed their sins, and
worshipped the Lord their God. All is apparently
unstudied, and prompted by the desires and feelings
4
38 T H n G n T s N
of the moment. Tlieir prayer was long, minute,
entering into a variety of particulars of tlieir his-
tory ; but throughout bearing the stamp of spon-
taneous and feeling earnestness (Nehemiah ix).
The aspect of prayer, under the New Testament
dispensation, is marked with greatly increased light,
elevation, and enlargement. We find the glorious
truths and hopes of the gospel exhibited no longer
"through a glass darkly," but with "open face."
Instead of teaching by types, and shadows, and
carnal ordinances, every thing, under this economy,
appears more simple, more spiritual, and more
divested of external formality. Surely nothing less
and nothing different from this could have been
expected under a dispensation in which life and
immortality were brought into full light, and in
which the infancy of the Church had given place to
perfect manhood in Christ Jesus. Under this dis-
pensation, of course, we find prayer assuming a
language and a tone of more light, enlargement,
liberty, and filial confidence.
Who can forbear to marvel then, when the light,
the freedom, and the spirituality of prayer have
received such manifest and rich improvement under
the New Testament dispensation, that there should
be any, who, in regard to forms of praise, should
insist that we are bound still to adhere to the Psalm-
ody of the old economy? What would be thought
of any one who, in preaching and in prayer, should
P U B L I C P K A Y E 11 . 39
contend that we are not warranted to advance beyond
the restricted limits of the ceremonial economy ?
Why is it not equally wonderful that any, claiming
to be eminently evangelical, should occupy this
ground with regard to praise ?
But, while prayer under the New Testament
dispensation has received large accessions of light,
spirituality, and the spirit of adoption, it is quite as
remarkably divested of all restraint and formality.
We see a still more marked absence of all confine-
ment to servile forms.
Much use, indeed, in relation to this subject, has
been made of the form of prayer which Christ
taught his disciples, commonly called the Lord's
Prayer. But every circumstance connected with
the delivery of that prayer, will convince all en-
lightened and impartial minds, that it furnishes no
proof Avhatever of either the necessity or the duty
of prescribing set forms of devotion. That it was
never designed by our Lord to be adopted as a
permanent and precise form of prayer, but only as
a general directory, intended to set forth the proper
topics, or appropriate matter for prayer, will appear
evident from the following considerations.
1. It was delivered by him on two different occa-
sions and for two different purposes. The first time
it made a part of the " Sermon on the Mount," and
was introduced thus â” " When ye pray, use not vain
repetitions, as the heathen do, for they think that
40 T 11 U G II T S N
they shall be lieard for tlieir mucli speaking. Be
not ye, therefore, like unto them ; for your Father
knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask
him. After this manner, therefore, pray ye. Our
Father, &c." Here he merely intended to teach
them how their petitions ought to be so simply and
briefly expressed as to avoid " vain repetitions."
The next occasion on which this prayer was de-
livered, was when one of his disciples said to him,
"Lord, teach us to pray." Luke xi. 1. They sug-
gested that this favour had been done by John to
his disciples, and desired him to do the same for
them. The Saviour then gave, a second time, the
substance of what he had given in the Sermon on
the Mount, intimating that, in its topics and its
simplicity, it was adapted to their then situation.
Nothing like rigorous confinement to a verbal form
is intimated on either occasion ; but the most un-
limited freedom and enlargement of diction. For,
2. Though delivered by the Saviour on two occa-
sions, it is not given in the same words by any tAvo
of the evangelists. Of course it was not intended
to be prescribed as a rigid form.
3. As this prayer was given before the New Tes-
tament church was set up, so it is strictly adapted
to the old, rather than the new economy. The
kingdom of Christ which had long been an object
of intense desire to the pious, had not yet been set
up. And, therefore, the first petition in this prayer
PUBLICPRAYER. 41
is â” Thy kingdom come! It is therefore, strictly
speaking, not a prayer entirely appropriate to the
New Testament Church.
4. There is in this prayer an entire want of what
was afterwards prescribed by express precept from
the same divine Master, viz. : asking for all bless-
ings in the name of Christ. Long after ho delivered
this prayer he said to his disciples, " Hitherto ye
have asked nothing in my name." He had not yet
ascended into the holiest of all, as our Intercessor.
But a short time before he ascended to appear in the
<