The Portland daily press., 1881-06-24
Spurgeon.
His Attitude Towards Written Prayers.

ISpectator.l
Thirdly" said Paley, in giving his reasons
for shifting from Dalston to Stanwix, 81 begin
to find my stock of sermons coming over again
too fast" Mr.. Spurgeon, at conference at
his Pastors College, has been taking his
friends, and through them the rest Of us, into
his confidence on the subject of his difficulties
with regard to praise. prayer and preaching.
As to the last, he had nothing more to say
than is familiar. she often walked mp and
down, anxious to find something to say to the
people on Sunday. He would sometimes
get the outline OF a sermon In his mind, with
good text, and, after saying to himself, That
will do he would find in his well-marked
Bible how 1t had been preached before while
what he had thought out closely resembled tho
printed copy. Time had been when at 10
o'clock on Saturday evening or even on SUM-
day morning he had found himself without
text; but sometimes, when thus driven In
corner, with nothing to say, he did best"
What contrast to the practice of Sir Roger
de Coverly's chaplain, or the frankness with
whibh the author of the "Hore Pauline" in
forms us that he changed his quarters because
the change added fifty pounds year to his in
come, saved him double housekeeping, AMI On.
abled him to dispense with the task Of writing
fresh sermons. To be sure, Mr.. Spurgeon does
not write books like Paley's, nor are his ser.
mons so full of sober thought. But many .
preacher will feel for him. There was clergy
man who, on being complained of to his Bish-
op for delivering the same sermon over and
again, declared that he intended to 90 on
preaching 1t till his congregation had appro-
priated all the teaching it contained. Is some
not wholly dissimilar resource beyond the
reach of humorist like the Pontiff of the Sur.
rey Tabernacle?
Ma. Spurgeon was exceedingly frank upon
the subject of praise and prayer. The report
says that he advocated praise meetings
Prayer did not always come from his pump
when wanted, and 1t was good to pour little
water down." This, from man with SO great
a gift OF improvisation, is interesting. 1t hits,
almost bluntly, one source of the pain which
some devout people who value the prayer
and praise little more than the sermon, per-
haps-would feel in listening to anything like
"the long prayer" It is Only too plain that
to use Mr.. Surgeons own words, the "prayer
does not always come from the pump when
wanted; may we complete the image by
saying, when the handle is worked up and
down? Hear a few words from living divine:
''The thoughts and aspirations which look
direct to God, and the kindling of which
among fraternity of men constitutes social
worship, are natives of solitude; the spec
tacle OF an assembly is q hindrance to their
occurrence; and though. where they have
they may be reassumed under such OBJ
stacies, they would not spontaneously rise, till
the presence of multitude was forgotten, and
by rare effort of abstraction the loneliness of
the spirit was restored" Such testimony
might be multiplied indefinitely but there is
evidently very great difference between the
spirit in which the subject-or the fact--of
prayer is approached. Some look upon prayer
as prostration Of the soul in waiting commun-
ion; seeking and asking it may be, but not
er seems to be more of an active exercise; or .
regulated sort of oatpouring well thick
enc d with doctrine. OF course prayer
may be an active exercise with us
all; but it was little surprising to find
John Wilson, in defending certain services, lay
it down, or at least accept the proposition, that
"prayer must be unwritren, unpremeditated,
else it is not prayer. Can the heart ever want
fitting words?" concludes Wilson. We should
say-Yes, very often indeed, and that in fact,
half the prayer Of pious souls goes up unword-
ed Here is short one which is five hundred
years old, and it is well seasoned by use: "Oh,
God, who art the truth, make me one with
Thee in everlasting love. ] am weary
of readings 1 am weary. of hear-
Let all teachers be silent, let the whole crea-
tion be dumb before Thee. and do Thou only
speak to my SOUL" How is the truthfulnass OF
this prayer of a medieval monk affected by its
beingias familiar as the Prayer Of st. Chrysoa-
tom" at the end Of the Morning and Evening
Service?
The general question of the use of fixed
forms we should, of course, not dream of ar
guing here, but do not our hearts toll us that
one great-often overwhelming Of
form which is known by rots, and, so to
speak, saturated with emotion by frequent
use, is that the mere words pass uncriticised,
and that the thought of the soul is led upward
ward without any struggle? OF course. if no
prayer is genuine-in public at all events-uu-
less it is pumped up" more or less 1--WE do not
quote the phrase Extensively cddtt Qu0stio till
Il. ere is water enough. But why should not
prea, cher like Mr.. Spurgeon have full liberty
to use written or printed prayers when he
pleases? DIR. Chalmer used to hide his writ
ten praye, in his Moderator's cooked hat; but
why should not the minister be at liberty to
use, in pub Vic, utterances Of other devout
souls which h. we received the hall mark Of
universal accen, >pce? To collect q goodly
volume of such ,,rayer would be about one
days work, and why should not any minister
who needep it, or likeu IL, be at liberty to use
this collection, interpo. Nhg OF or not, az ne
pleased? Why should not nis De as iaw1ni as
pouring water into the pump oy singing hymns
which are not only forms,bL livery elsoorote
forms indaad?