“True prayer,” says St. Gregory the Great, “is not to be found in the words of the mouth, but in the thoughts of the heart. The voices that reach the ears of God are not words but desires.” [Note: St. Gregory, Moral., XXII. xvil. 43.]
1. Prayer, then, is not an affair of words, but an action of the internal spirit. Words are but an imperfect instrument for the manifestation of the deeper movements of the soul. There is in the action of true prayer a great deal which words are incapable of expressing. The truest word of prayer is the interior and spiritual word, that word of the spirit which consists in the silent movements of the soul’s desires towards God. The posture of the body, again, should be a kind of silent word expressive of the interior posture of the soul. Of the prayer of words without the prayer of the heart the Almighty speaks with indignation. “This people draw nigh unto me, and with their mouth and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment of men which hath been taught them” (Isa_29:13).
Essential prayer is the desire and effort of the soul to relate itself and all its interests to God and His will. It may find expression in petition or in worship or in obedience or in work of various kinds. Now, from the Divine side, this attitude of the soul is the only thing considered. This is the “effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man” which “availeth much”. To it verbal petition adds no effectiveness, and the lack of such petition is no loss. In public prayer verbal petition is necessary to guide the thought of the people and to express their desires and sense of dependence. In private prayer it may often be necessary to fix and intensify the desire. But, in both cases, the essential thing is the attitude and desire of the spirit. The real prayer, the effective prayer, lies in the latter solely and alone.
My view of prayer seems to be fundamentally different from that of many others, for I never have considered it actually necessary to find any words at all in which to clothe my petitions. I have lived a life so irregular, so wandering and so physically exacting, that I have been unable in any way to follow the example of most men and lay aside certain fixed times and seasons for prayer at all. A doctor’s life involves irregular day and night work, a sailor’s life, as master of a ship, does the same, a travelling lecturer’s even more so. Thus I have never settled down in a home of my own, and therefore it may be that my attitude to prayer is necessarily unusual and unconventional. [Note: W. T. Grenfell, Immortality, 63.]
The value of silent prayer, even in the assembly, is coming more and more to be recognized. Somewhat after the style of the “bidding prayer” employed in the universities, the leader asks for prayer on behalf of specific persons or objects, and each in turn is commended to God in silence, or gathered up in the Lord’s Prayer simultaneously repeated. This method has been adopted with excellent results at the Free Church Council Conference at Swanwick recently. It has the merit of focussing and riveting the attention of the whole assembly in one intense moment or two upon the one object, and it breaks through the stereotyped methods of the ordinary prayer-meeting. A community in silent prayer experiences a great influence, and we may indulge the hope that the Spirit of God is given thereby an opportunity to work upon the hearts of those so engaged. [Note: J. G. James, The Prayer Life, 177.]
Silent prayer is far more sure than vocal prayer. Prayer uttered is only valuable as it is the outcome of prayer unexpressed. What every one hears is sadly apt to be lost to God. [Note: R. W. Barbour, Thoughts,108.]
How it profits me to confess unto Thee, I have just said. And I do it, not with audible words but with the words of the soul, and with the cry of my thought, which Thine ear heareth. [Note: St. Augustine.]
He who prays must address God as though he were in His presence; inasmuch as the Lord is everywhere, in every place, in every man, and especially in the soul of the just. Therefore let us not seek God on earth, nor in heaven, nor elsewhere; rather let us seek Him in our own heart, like unto the prophet that sayeth, “I will hearken unto that which the Lord shall say in me”. In prayer a man may take heed to his words, and this is a wholly material thing; he may take heed to the sense of his words, and this is rather study than prayer; finally, he may fix his thoughts on God, and this is the only true prayer. We must consider neither the words nor the sentences, but lift our soul above our self, and almost lose self in the thought of God. This state once attained, the believer forgets the world and worldly desires, and has, as it were, a foreshadowing of heavenly bliss. To this height it is as easy for the ignorant as for the learned to rise; indeed, it often comes about that one repeating the Psalms without understanding them makes a more acceptable prayer than the wise man who can interpret them. Words, in fact, are not essential to prayer; on the contrary, when man is truly rapt in the spirit of devotion, speech is an impediment, and should be replaced by mental prayer. Thus it is seen how great is the error of those that prescribe a fixed number of orations. The Lord taketh not joy in a multitude of words, but rather in a fervent spirit. [Note: Savonarola, in Savonarola, by P. Villari, 112.]
2. But if the Father seeks the true adorers to adore Him in spirit and in truth, why do we use vocal prayer? First, because Christ has taught us to use vocal prayer, and has given us a perfect form of it by way of example. Secondly, because as members of the Church we owe to God and to each other the public communion of prayer, as well as mutual edification. Thirdly, because vocal prayer is designed for the outward expression of internal prayer, the prayer in spirit and truth. Fourthly, because the words and signs of prayer, especially those provided by the Church, awaken the inward mind and heart to apprehend the light and sense of prayer, and move the affections to lift up the soul in prayer. As St. Augustine says: “By words and signs we are more keenly wakened up to holy desires”.
The united supplication of heart and voice especially becomes those who pray for the remission of their sins. The prophet Hosea says to sinful Israel: “Take with you words, and turn to the Lord; say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously; so will we render the calves of our lips”. The calves of the lips is a figurative expression for the sacrificial offerings of the voice. The tongue is a great offender; it should therefore be a great expiator.
“Take with you words,” says the Bible (Hos_14:2), when you come to pray. The words of the mouth, as well as the meditation of the heart, are acceptable to God. Our Lord Himself used words, many times “the same words,” when He prayed to His Father. He also taught His disciples to pray, and to pray in words, words repeated in a stated form. Repetitions are never vain so long as they are sincere. It is the insincerity of repetitions that makes them vain, and insincerity renders all prayers alike equally vain, whether those prayers be forms of repeated words or not. There are, indeed, occasions when prayer in words is impossible. In the street, in the market-place, on an unexpected emergency, whenever the spirit flies suddenly to God for counsel and support—on all such occasions words are impossible. There is no time, no opportunity, for words. And, therefore, without words, the unsyllabled prayer is darted up to the throne of God. But on all ordinary occasions of public, domestic, and private devotions, words, even though they be but whispered words, are an important element in earnest and effectual prayer. Thinking over our prayers, without actually saying them, is generally nothing better than a kind of spiritual indolence.
I rarely allow myself to pray quite silently in secret. For myself, I find the wanderings of the mind very much limited and controlled by even the faintest audible utterance of thought. [Note: Bishop Moule.]
Dr. Worcester tells of a very characteristic instance of the necessity some men feel to clothe their petitions with words. He was far away in the wilds of North Newfoundland, alone with a guide who to him was a stranger. It suddenly occurred to Dr. Worcester that the man was a giant in strength and obviously poor enough in circumstances to make the acquisition of a kit like his own very, very desirable. After lights were out and darkness reigned complete, Dr. Worcester was stunned to hear some one cautiously moving around outside his tent. Crawling to the entrance and raising the flap, he was able to make out the figure of his guide, which, as he watched him, disappeared behind a bush. To his no small alarm he soon heard a conversation being carried on. There could be no one in these woods but some companion of the guide’s. There was no time to be lost. Seizing his revolver he crept out to watch what would develop. Almost immediately the figure of the guide loomed into view against the light of the last embers of the camp fire. He was kneeling on the ground, his hands lifted up in petition to God, to whom he was pouring out his soul in prayer, exactly as if carrying on a conversation with a friend alongside him. [Note: W. T. Grenfell, Immortality, 68.]
3. The prayers of the Bible are nearly all spoken in a loud voice. Nehemiah offers a silent prayer on an occasion when a spoken prayer was impossible, and in Hannah’s prayer for a child “only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard”. As a rule, however, the worshipper “cries with a loud voice”. Often this is explained by the nature of the situation. It is thoroughly in keeping that the Baal priests, who gashed themselves till the blood spurted, should cry aloud. Oaths made or praises offered by a crowd are naturally spoken in a loud voice, and a speaker who is praying before a large assembly also has to exert his voice. But even private prayers seem, as a rule, to have been spoken loudly. This would be no surprise in the case of so rugged a figure as Elijah, or in the first fresh enthusiasm of conscious sonship; but even Ezekiel prays thus, as he lies upon his face, and briefly pleads for “the remnant of Israel”. The leper whom Jesus healed glorified God with a loud voice; and with a loud voice Jesus and Stephen uttered their dying prayer. [Note: W. T. Grenfell, Immortality, 67.]
When deeply in earnest about some part of their own daily employment, it is a sailor’s custom to emphasize his diction rather by the loudness of his voice than by the multiplication of words, or special selection of language. This, too, is very noticeable in their prayers. The majority of praying men get louder and louder as they proceed with their prayer, and eventually shout at the very top of their voices, so that one can even tell before entering the meeting where the crew hail from by the intensity of their petitions.’
At the close of prayer, end it with silence. “It is in that lingering moment that my Lord comes to me.” [Note: J. A. Clapperton, Culture of the Christian. Heart, 20.]
