Prayer and action
Subtitle: Law and Love
By: by E. E. Holmes ;with an introd. by the Bishop of London.
Publisher: Longmans, Green
Published: 1911
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 175
Copyright date: 1911
Table of contents: title: .CD; title: 'CO; title: FRQM-THE- LIBRARYOF; title: TRINITYCOLLEGETORQNTO; title: S.THOMAS'; title: OXFORD.; title: SPECIAL BOOKS; title: FOR LENTEN READING.; title: With Introductions by the BISHOP OF; title: LONDON.; title: THE HEALTHFUL SPIRIT.; title: BY THE REV. H. N. BATE, M.A.,; title: Vicar of St. Stephen's, Hampstead.; title: Crown 8vo, zs. 6d. net.; title: LAW AND LOVE :; title: A Study of Quomodo Dilexi; title: (Psalm cxix., 97-104).; title: BY FRANCIS LEITH BOYD,; title: Vicar of St. Paul's, Knightsbridge.; title: Crown 8vo, zs. 6d. net.; title: THE HOLY GHOST; title: THE COMFORTER.; title: BY THE REV. G. F. HOLDEN, M.A.,; title: Late Vicar of All Saints', Margaret Street, W.; title: Crown 8vo, as. 6d. net.; title: LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO.,; title: LONDON, NEW YORK, BOMBAY; title: AND CALCUTTA.; title: PRAYER AND ACTION; title: BY THE SAME AUTHOR.; title: THE CHURCH : HER BOOKS AND HER SACRA; title: MENTS. A Course of Instructions given at All; title: Saints, Margaret Street, in Lent, 1910. Crown; title: 8vo, 2J. 6d. net.; title: IN WATCHINGS OFTEN : Addresses to Nurses and; title: Others. With a Preface by the Right Rev.; title: EDWARD KING, D.D., late Lord Bishop of; title: Lincoln. With a Frontispiece (the Crucifixion, by; title: PERUGINO). Crown 8vo, sewed, zs. 6d. ; cloth,; title: y. 6d.; title: IMMORTALITY. Crown 8vo, 5*.; title: (The Oxford Library.}; title: RESPONSIBILITY; an Address to Girls. Fcp. 8vo,; title: paper covers, id. net ; bound in rexine, is. net.; title: LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.,; title: LONDON, NEW YORK, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA.; title: PRAYER AND ACTION; title: OR; title: Â« THE THREE NOTABLE DUTIES "; title: BY; title: E. E. HOLMES; title: HON. CANON OF CHRIST CHURCH; title: AUTHOR OF "IMMORTALITY," "IN WATCHINGS OFTEN," "THE CHURCH, HER BOOKS; title: AND HER SACRAMENTS," " THE MEANING OF THF. MONTHS," ETC.; title: WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY; title: THE BISHOP OF LONDON; title: REISSUE; title: LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO,; title: 39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON; title: NEW YORK, BOMBAY AND CALCUTTA; title: TAÂ»s book was originally issued under the title " Prayer and; title: Practice," but as that title had already been used, it is now reissued; title: as "Prayer and Action ".; title: 102267; title: MAR 28 1678; title: TO GOD; title: So to THY Heart my heart would sing,; title: Though worthless be the best I bring,; title: Thy dear acceptance gives a worth; title: To it, to me, to everything.; title: vii; title: INTRODUCTION.; title: THIS is a truly delightful book from beginning to end.; title: I hope that as many as possible will read it during; title: the coming Lent.; title: (i) In the first place it is interesting, which cannot; title: be said of all religious books. It holds the attention; title: throughout. Illustrations, quotations from the poets,; title: apt sayings, come in just where you want them to; title: make the points clear, and carry the reader along. I; title: think many a mother who has prayed in vain (as she; title: thinks) for the life of her child, will be grateful for the; title: quotation from Browning's " Isobel's Child " : â€”; title: " O Mother, Mother, loose thy prayer !; title: Christ 's name hath made it strong,; title: It bindeth me, it holdeth me,; title: With its most loving cruelty,; title: For floating my new soul along; title: The happy heavenly air" x; title: She will see that the answer has really come in the; title: best way.; title: 1 P. 14.; title: x INTRODUCTION; title: So again the illustration of the deputation to the; title: Prime Minister will help many : â€”; title: " The petitioners submit their requests, based upon; title: the knowledge at their disposal. But the minister has; title: in his possession information which renders the grant; title: ing of their requests positively hurtful to the petitioners.; title: Acting upon his more perfect knowledge, he refuses; title: their demands. Time passes. The information is; title: made public, and the petitioners, knowing now all that; title: the minister knew before, gratefully accept the refusal; title: which at first seemed so unreasonable. Nay ! they; title: themselves would have wished for exactly what the; title: minister wished for them, had they then known what; title: he knew. Common knowledge would have involved; title: a common will." l; title: And you can hardly sum up the conclusion in; title: better words : " If 'we knew what God knows we should; title: wish what God wills ". 2; title: (2) But not only is the teaching well illustrated,; title: but in my opinion it is sound and healthy throughout.; title: It is so truly pointed out that we often miss the; title: answer to prayer because it comes in some regular; title: and orderly way, forgetting that God is the God of; title: the orderly.; title: This is the thing we are constantly forgetting. It; title: is because the lepers were cleansed "as they went"; title: i P. 4 . 2 P. 4-; title: INTRODUCTION xi; title: that they thought that nothing special had happened.; title: The real miracles which are happening every day; title: are hidden from us because we are so " slow of; title: heart ". But how can God interfere with His laws ?; title: You have an unanswerable answer in this book from; title: the man catching the cricket ball. " We are watching; title: a cricket match, and a ball is skied to the boundary :; title: we see it flying through the air, impelled by the laws; title: of nature, and we know perfectly well that, left to; title: itself, the law of gravitation will, at a given moment,; title: draw it to the ground. But the crowd shout ' catch; title: it,' and in answer to their cry another law inter; title: venes ; a hand comes in between the ball and the; title: earth ; and in spite of the law of gravitation, and by; title: means of another law equally natural, its flight is; title: stopped." 1 It is not really any more difficult to believe; title: that the Law-maker should intervene, and balance His; title: own laws, than that man should do the same.; title: (3) Another "note" of this book which captivates; title: me is the joy in religion underlying what is written; title: in it. Undoubtedly what we most need to-day is the; title: infectious "joy" of the first Christians. It seems; title: to have died out in the light of common day.; title: But it must be revived, if we are to win the world.; title: Men and women must feel that we have something; title: which they have not got, and that this something is; title: the secret of our own happiness.; title: xii INTRODUCTION; title: This book will not be read aright unless it is felt; title: after reading it that it is a joy to pray, to fast â€” to; title: give â€” 'yes, even to fast, for the self-restraint, the self-; title: discipline comprised in the Scriptural term " fasting "; title: is only the path to a greater power in usefulness and; title: freedom. " I will give him the Valley of Achor (i.e.; title: Troubling) for a door of Hope " is a promise in the; title: Old Testament, and, if that is so, even the Valley of; title: Achor is suffused with joy.; title: I commend then this book to my people for their; title: Lenten reading with a good conscience. It is a; title: man's book as well as a woman's book, and I hope; title: that the result of reading it will be to make us all pray; title: with more patience and hope, fast with more regularity; title: and intelligence, and give with more generosity and; title: delight.; title: A. F. LONDON:; title: CONTENTS.; title: PAGE; title: INTRODUCTION BY THE BISHOP OF LONDON . . . . ix; title: THREE NOTABLE DUTIES. Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving . xv; title: CHAPTER; title: I. PRAYER. What is Prayer ? â€” Inter alia (i) Petition â€”; title: (2) Praise i; title: II. ANSWERS TO PRAYER 8; title: III. ANSWERS TO PRAYER. Negative answers . . . ir; title: IV. ANSWERS TO PRAYER. Affirmative answers . . 16; title: V. ANSWERS TO PRAYER. Delayed answers ... 21; title: VI. FORMAL AND INFORMAL PRAYER. Extempore Prayer â€”; title: Liturgical Prayer â€” Books of Devotion ... 26; title: VII. POSTURE IN PRAYER 34; title: VIII. THE RANGE OF PRAYER, (i) Limitedâ€” (2) Limitless . 40; title: IX. INTERCESSORY PRAYER 48; title: X. RISKS IN PRAYER, (i) Right Prayers â€” (2) Wrong; title: Prayers â€” (3) Doubtful Prayers .... 52; title: XI. REPETITION IN PRAYER. Its value and danger, in; title: public and private 62; title: XII. BALANCE IN PRAYER, (i) The Unbalanced Prayerâ€”; title: (2) The Balanced Prayer ..... 72; title: XIII. (3) WANDERING THOUGHTS IN PRAYER. Not neces; title: sarily Wrong â€” When Wrong ..... 77; title: XIV. PRAISE, (i) Adoration 82; title: XV. PRAISE. (2) Thanksgiving . ... 88; title: xiv CONTENTS; title: CHAPTER PAGE; title: XVI. PRAISE. (3) Worship 99; title: XVII. FASTING, (i) To Control the Spirit â€” Ecstasy . . 109; title: XVIII. (2) To Subdue the Fleshâ€” The Appetites . . .118; title: XIX. FASTING AS AN ACT OF REVERENCE .... 123; title: XX. FASTING FOR THE SAKE OF OTHERS .... 127; title: XXI. MORTIFICATION. Voluntary and Involuntary . . 132; title: XXII. ALMSGIVING 140; title: The Power of Money â€” Three propositions, viz. : â€”; title: XXIII. ALMSGIVING, (i) My Money Belongs to God . . 145; title: XXIV. ALMSGIVING. (2) My Money Belongs to Me . . 150; title: XXV. ALMSGIVING. (3) My Money Belongs to My Neighbour 156; title: XXVI. ALMSGIVING AND REPARATION. Man's longing to make; title: Reparation â€” Our Lord and Reparation â€” The Law; title: of Reparation â€” St. Paul and Reparation â€” The; title: Church and Reparation 162; title: THREE NOTABLE DUTIES.; title: LENT calls us to the practice of " three notable duties,"; title: which are specially emphasized by our Blessed Lord,; title: as part of the life of the ordinary Christian : Prayer,; title: Fasting, and Almsgiving. In popular language,; title: Prayer is asking for something (though it is a great; title: deal more) ; Fasting is going without something ;; title: Almsgiving is giving up something. Each plays its; title: part in the life of surrender. Prayer is the surrender; title: of the will ; Fasting is the surrender of the inclina; title: tions ; Almsgiving is the surrender of possessions.; title: Each helps the other, and the duly-proportioned ex; title: ercise of all together is the soul's ordained safeguard.; title: Some will need to practise one more than the others,; title: but none will attain the goal without the exercise of; title: all three. They cannot healthily be separated, but; title: we may speak of each separately in one, or more, of; title: its many aspects.; title: For 'tis essential to this state of bliss; title: To keep our wills within the Will Divine,; title: That ours may be identified with His . . .; title: Our Peace is in His Will.; title: â€” DANTE, Paradiso, Canto III.; title: CHAPTER I.; title: PRAYER.; title: THERE are in the Hebrew, two, among many, words; title: for prayer, one signifying Petition, the other. Praise.; title: PETITION.; title: Prayer, as petition, is asking for something : some; title: thing which we have no authorized right to expect in; title: any other way.; title: But what happens when we pray ? What effect does; title: prayer have upon God? In a word, what is prayer?; title: " Prayer," says the old definition, " is the will of man; title: moving the Will of God " ; and the old definition is; title: still, perhaps, the best.; title: I.; title: Two modern writers, each with a differing claim to; title: be heard, have criticized the definition, with curiously; title: opposite results. Canon Carter of Clewer, in his Lent; title: Lectures at All Saints, Margaret Street, 1 quotes, and; title: adopts it as the very essence of prayer. Mr. Temple,; title: 1 " The Imitation of Our Lord Jesus Christ," p. 54.; title: I; title: 2 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: the head master of Repton, in his " Faith and Modern; title: Thought," quotes, and discards it, as a " blasphemous; title: and wholly ludicrous conception ". l Probably the two; title: writers have read different meanings into, or out of, the; title: same words. If, by " moving the Will of God," we; title: mean changing the Divine purpose, then the definition; title: is both " blasphemous " and "ludicrous". If, 'by the; title: same words, we mean stirring the Divine Will into; title: action, then it is neither one, nor the other. As Dr.; title: Moberly puts it: "God will have us (in prayer) by; title: entering into, move, and wield the Almightiness of His; title: Will ". 2; title: Prayer cannot possibly change God's purpose â€” a; title: purpose which is fixed and immutable (Heb. VI. 17).; title: But that purpose may be moved from quiescence into; title: activity. There is a force which God permits, and; title: has ordained, to stir it into movement â€” a force by; title: which, indeed, He has conditioned His own action.; title: This force is prayer.; title: Imagine this prayer-force at work, in the case of an; title: earthly father and child. The father predetermines; title: that he will give his son a fixed, though unstated, allow; title: ance ; but he makes the bestowal of the gift subject; title: to the son's request. His purpose is there, fixed and; title: determinate; but, until the conditions are fulfilled, and; title: the petition is made, the father deliberately precludes; title: himself from action. His purpose is unchanged, but; title: 1 " The Faith and Modern Thought," p. 54.; title: 2 " Christ our Life," p. 160.; title: PRAYER 3; title: it is quiescent. Some force is required to move it into; title: action, and this force is the son's prayer. Thus, prayer,; title: which satisfies the ordained conditions (conditions as; title: fixed as the purpose), is the force which moves the; title: father's will.; title: The son may exercise his free will and reject the; title: conditions : he may refuse to ask ; or he may ask amiss ;; title: or may ask for too much, or too little; or may fail; title: to comply with the spirit of the conditions â€” and, as long; title: as he does so, the father's purpose is quiescent, though un; title: changed. Or, on the other hand, he may " make his; title: request known unto" the father, and, by so doing, move; title: the father's will from quiescence into action. It is, in; title: either case, the will of the son which moves, or fails to; title: move, the will of the father.; title: It may be so with God. Man's prayer moves God's; title: purpose into activity. It is the ordained force which; title: enables God to act within the sphere of His own con; title: ditions (i S. John III. 22). It unlocks the door of His; title: self-imposed limitations, and frees Him for unlimited; title: action. It does not change, but it does release His; title: purpose; and, in this sense, it is true that "the will of; title: man moves the Will of God ".; title: II.; title: In prayer, then, we see two wills at work : the Will; title: of God and the will of man â€” one acting from perfect; title: knowledge, the other limited by partial ignorance.; title: Prayer is the perfect union between these two wills.; title: 4 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: Perfect prayer is the reasonable surrender of partial; title: ignorance to perfect omniscience. Otherwise, "our; title: ignorance in asking " would make prayer far too peril; title: ous a weapon to be used. It would be the lute of; title: Linus in the hand of Hercules. But God's knowledge; title: is man's security. Hence, His Will becomes our will.; title: If we knew what God knows, we should wish what; title: God wills.; title: " God nothing does, nor suffers to be done,; title: But what thou would 'st thyself, didst thou but see; title: The end of all He does as well as He"; title: Imagine a deputation, presenting a petition to the; title: Prime Minister. The petitioners submit their requests,; title: based upon the knowledge at their disposal. But the; title: minister has in his possession information which ren; title: ders the granting of their requests positively hurtful to; title: the petitioners. Acting upon his more perfect know; title: ledge, he refuses their demands. Time passes. The; title: information is made public, and the petitioners, know; title: ing now all that the minister knew before, gratefully; title: accept the refusal which at first seemed so unreason; title: able. Nay! they themselves would have wished for; title: exactly what the minister wished for them, had they; title: then known what he knew. Common knowledge would; title: have involved a common will.; title: So it is with God and man. Prayer, to be reason; title: able, must be a union of wills, based upon " our ignor; title: ance in asking," and God's knowledge in answering.; title: PRAYER 5; title: God and man are not two hostile forces for ever; title: clashing in perpetual antagonism. Rather, they are; title: two friendly powers, moving in a unity of purpose to; title: wards one common end â€” the glory of God, and the; title: good of man. The highest form of prayer does not; title: always consist in saying "Thy way, O God, not mine"; title: (though that must often be said), but in saying " my; title: way, O God, is Thine ".; title: God is not always (though again He often is) calling; title: upon man to say : â€”; title: " If Thou should 'st call me to resign; title: What most I prize, it ne'er was mine " â€”; title: as if He took some positive pleasure in thwarting man>; title: and cheating him out of everything he most wanted.; title: The best prayer pleads : â€”; title: " Reveal the mighty love; title: Which binds my heart to Thine ;; title: And Thy wishes and my will; title: Shall intertwine"; title: Prayer is this intertwining of the will of man with; title: the Will of God (S. John v. 30).; title: Thus, we do not pray "Thy Will be changed/'; title: but, "Thy Will be done". In prayer, man chooses; title: God's Will as his wish.; title: III.; title: Further, prayer postulates man's belief in the unity; title: of God. It is based upon our belief in the perfect; title: 6 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: balance of the Divine attributes â€” Wisdom, Love, Just; title: ice, and so forth. We should not pray to God as to; title: the God of one attribute, such as Omnipotence, but; title: rather base our prayer upon the oneness of all His at; title: tributes. God is not, like man, unbalanced in His vari; title: ous attributes. Man seems to be all in pieces. His; title: sense of love is constantly outweighing his sense of; title: justice, or his sense of pity overriding his sense of law.; title: His attributes are all out of proportion. It is not so; title: with God. His perfect justice is balanced by perfect; title: love : His perfect power is seen " most chiefly in show; title: ing mercy and pity ". He is All-wise, as well as Al; title: mighty. We so often begin our prayers to Him as; title: " Almighty God," that we are apt to lose sight of His; title: other attributes. Hence, we wonder why He does not; title: use His Omnipotence, and with one touch of His wand; title: right all wrongs, and make our earth a heaven below.; title: In other words, we pray to Him as a God of one attri; title: bute. We forget that His Omnipotence is conditioned; title: by His Omniscience, and that He is the All-wise, as; title: well as the Almighty.; title: Again, just as we sometimes pray to God as if He; title: had but one single attribute, so we often pray as if; title: we were dealing with one single incident in our lives.; title: We take one need, or one wish, or one petition to God,; title: without any reference to the general well-being of our; title: selves or others. We separate it off from its connec; title: tion with other events, known or unknown, and pray; title: for that one thing which, if granted, might spoil the; title: harmony of the whole.; title: PRAYER 7; title: All answers to prayer are rooted in, and are the; title: result of, the harmony of God's attributes and the; title: good of our manifold needs. It is not until we have; title: grasped their oneness that His dealings with us become; title: intelligible. Then, and not till then, can we with con; title: fidence consider our next thought : Answers to Prayer.; title: CHAPTER II.; title: ANSWERS TO PRAYER.; title: ONE of the Bible names for God is "The Prayer-; title: hearer ". Literally rendered, Psalm LXV. 2 runs,; title: " Hearer of Prayer ! to Thee shall all flesh come ".; title: It is a grand Old Testament conception. God re; title: veals Himself as a "Prayer-hearing" God, and the; title: Psalmist pictures the Temple as a Home of Prayer; title: into which " all flesh " is crowding â€” all with one com; title: mon need, each with his own personal petition. "All; title: flesh ! " Men with their burdens, bearing them like; title: men ! Women with their sufferings, enduring them; title: as only women can ! Children with their mystic child-; title: crowns, half flower, half thorn ! â€” all are there ; all; title: have been drawn by the magic name of the " Prayer-; title: hearer ". It is a type of humanity pushing its way; title: into the sacred precincts of the Heart of God, the real; title: resting-place of the unsatisfied.; title: And we, too, are there ; we are part of " all flesh " ;; title: we have gone up with the multitude ; we have cried; title: to the far-off God, " Bow down Thine ear to me " ; *; title: 1 Ps. XXXI. 2.; title: ANSWERS TO PRAYER 9; title: we have whispered our story into His ear; and lo ! as; title: we told our tale, He, the Prayer-hearing God, "stooped; title: down and wrote upon the ground " of our heart the; title: answer to our petition.; title: Or, there is the New Testament picture. "Two; title: men went up into the Temple to pray." ' Up the hill; title: they went, as we might climb our way to church, in; title: Normandy, or Cornwall, or in many a hill-side village.; title: Up they toil, with one common object in view â€”; title: the church on the top of the hill. And now they; title: have reached their goal ; they enter the church ; and; title: each, with more or less sincerity, begins to say his; title: prayers.; title: It is what we ourselves have done hundreds of; title: times, sometimes as a matter of habit, sometimes in; title: deep need. Suddenly, for one reason or another, the; title: question flashes before us, Cut bono ? " to whom is it; title: any good ". We have prayed, perhaps, with the; title: Psalmist, " Hear my prayer, O God ; " 2 but it has not; title: really meant much more to us than " a very pleas; title: ant song," set by some Mendelssohn to soothing music,; title: or listened to in the musical rendering of some; title: favourite chant. Then, something happens ; something; title: which demands an answer to the old, old question,; title: Does God hear prayer ?; title: Some, of course, have no difficulty in answering the; title: question off-hand. Answers to prayer are writ so; title: large in their experience, that their only puzzle is that; title: 1 S. Luke xvin. 10. 2 Ps. LIV. 2.; title: io PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: there should be any puzzle to solve. God multiply; title: their number exceedingly.; title: Others again, weak in head and heart, sneer at the; title: whole subject. God mend their manners, and bring; title: them to their knees.; title: But others, very real, very sincere, cannot rule the; title: question out of court in either of these two ways.; title: Most of us are in touch with them, for we, too, have; title: felt the difficulty. We have prayed, and prayed, and; title: the great " Prayer-hearer " has " made as though He; title: heareth not". 1; title: At such moments it is well to fall back on some; title: dogmatic Scripture, and to affirm, with our Blessed Lord,; title: that there is no such thing as an unanswered prayer â€”; title: that the Christian has a right to say with the Christ,; title: I know that Thou hearest me always. 2; title: But is not this begging the whole question ? Is it; title: not the very thing which is denied ? If so, is not our; title: denial very largely based upon the assumption, that all; title: answers to prayer must be in the affirmative ? Do we; title: not assume that a negative answer is no answer at all ?; title: God answers prayer, if it fulfils His conditions, 3 in; title: three ways : (i) By a direct negative: No. (2) By; title: a direct affirmative : Yes. (3) By neither one nor; title: the other, but by his favourite word : " Wait ". Each; title: answer is as real a reply as the other. And, first, He; title: may say " No ".; title: 1 Ps. xxvin. i. 2 S. John xi. 42.; title: 3 S. Matt. xxi. 22 ; S. John xvi. 23.; title: CHAPTER III.; title: NEGATIVE ANSWERS.; title: ANSWERS to prayer may be in a direct negative.; title: Obviously, some answers must be refusals. Two; title: men pray about the weather â€” one asks for sunshine,; title: the other for rain. It would be playing with God, if; title: we expected both answers to be in the affirmative. It; title: would be an entire misapprehension of the attribute of; title: Omnipotence, if we asked God to make it both rain; title: and not rain, in the same place, at the same time;; title: as foolish as if we asked Him to make two contrary; title: propositions identical, or to make the same thing to; title: be, and not to be. One of the two prayers must; title: be answered in the negative. But both answers are; title: equally " answers to prayer ".; title: Such opposite prayers were actually used by the; title: Rabbis, in our Lord's time. Those moving from place; title: to place would pray for fine weather for their journey,; title: while those remaining at home would pray for rain for; title: their crops. Indeed, a prayer has come down to us; title: which pleads, " Listen not to the prayers of those who; title: 12 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: are about to set on a journey," that is who are praying; title: for fine weather. If real, both prayers would be; title: answered ; one in the negative, the other in the affirma; title: tive.; title: Speaking generally, the answer to prayer is " No,"; title: when " Yes " would be bad, either for ourselves or for; title: others.; title: I.; title: " Yes " may be bad for ourselves. Such was the; title: case when God said " No " to S. Paul's threefold; title: prayer that He would pluck out the thorn in his flesh; title: â€” whatever it was. God saw that the Apostle was a; title: better man with the thorn than he would have been; title: without it. The prayer was heard, and the answer; title: was " No ". Who knows what sins and failures S.; title: Paul was saved from, by the constant pricking of the; title: warning thorn ? Was it not, indeed, a fairy-thorn in; title: his flesh touching him at risky moments, as though; title: endued with some warning power, a mystic spike; title: plucked from the very Crown of Thorns itself? Who; title: knows?; title: Or there is the familiar story from the Myths of; title: Ovid. Midas, King of Phrygia, renders a service to; title: the gods, who reward him with the grant of any; title: request he may make. The prayer is soon made :; title: " Cause," he prays, " whatever I touch, with any part; title: of my body, to turn into gold ". The petition is heard,; title: and answered in the affirmative. Full of joy, Midas; title: NEGATIVE ANSWERS 13; title: makes trial of the gods' great gift. He touches the; title: twig of an oak ; it becomes solid gold : he touches a; title: stone ; it is a lump of gold : he plucks an apple ; it is a; title: golden apple : he picks some ears of corn, and reaps; title: a golden harvest : every door-handle that he grasps is; title: turned to solid gold. At length it is the hour for food.; title: Alas ! every mouthful becomes as golden granite ; every; title: drop of drink as frozen liquid. In the midst of satiety; title: he is starving ; and, as he realizes the poverty of posses; title: sion, he cries to the god, " Father Bacchus, forgive, and; title: deliver me from this magnificent evil ". Some myths; title: are very true to life, and this is one of them.; title: God's normal custom is to say " No," when we ask; title: for what is bad for us. Here, again, reason bids us; title: intertwine our will with His Will, and to say with Mr.; title: Keble :-; title: " In very love refuse,; title: Whatever Thou see'st; title: Our weakness would abuse."; title: Many a negative reply, too, is a direct answer to the; title: petition, " Lead us not into temptation ".; title: II.; title: Again the answer is " No," when " Yes " might be; title: bad for others. It would have been so, if we may; title: speak without irreverence, in the case of the ideal; title: prayer in Gethsemane : " O My Father, if it be pos; title: sible " â€” if it is inside Thy unchanging purpose ; if it; title: i 4 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: is not bad for others â€” "let this cup pass from Me".; title: And, as we know, it was not possible ; it would have; title: been bad for others, even for man's salvation. Hence; title: an affirmative answer was impossible â€” possible, in; title: deed, to the " Almighty," to the single attribute of; title: Omnipotence ; but not possible to Almighty Wisdom; title: and Almighty Love combined.; title: There is a striking parable to this effect in Mrs. E. B.; title: Browning's poem, " Isobel's Child ". The dramatis; title: persona are, a mother, her babe, and the old nurse.; title: The first scene shows us the mother playing with the; title: child, and prophesying various successes for its future; title: â€” just as S. Timothy's mother may have prophesied; title: over him when he was a babe (i S. Tim. I. 18). In; title: the next scene, the child falls ill, and is dying. The; title: mother prays over and over again for its recovery,; title: till, at length, it is revealed to her that an affirmative; title: answer would be the worst thing possible for the child; title: â€” the very thing which she herself would have been; title: the last to pray for if she knew all. So the child; title: pleads in illuminating pathos: â€”; title: " O Mother, Mother, loose thy prayer ! +; title: Chrisfs name hath made it strong.; title: It bindeth me, it holdeth me,; title: With its most loving cruelty,; title: For floating my new soul along; title: The happy heavenly air.; title: NEGATIVE ANSWERS 15; title: " It bindeth me, it holdeth me; title: In all this dark, upon this dull; title: Low earth, by only weepers trod ;; title: It bindeth me, it holdeth me,; title: Mine angel looketh sorrowful; title: Upon the face of God."; title: and the explanation follows : â€”; title: " Thy prayers do keep me out of bliss''; title: That would have been the result of an affirmative; title: answer, " thy prayers do keep me out of bliss ". And; title: so the mother learns what true prayer means !; title: If our prayers are bad for ourselves, or bad for others,; title: God grant them a negative reply !; title: CHAPTER IV.; title: AFFIRMATIVE ANSWERS.; title: AFFIRMATIVE answers are so common, and often; title: come so indirectly, that we hardly notice them. For; title: example, a parent prays for a child's moral safety.; title: Without noise or miracle, without "wind or earth; title: quake," the prayer is answered in the affirmative. But; title: the answer comes in the natural order of events. The; title: " Prayer-hearer " regulates the child's life, and possibly; title: scores of other lives, in order to bring about the result.; title: But it is no less an answer to prayer than if the child; title: had gone wrong, and some " miraculous conversion"; title: had been recorded. It is a direct answer in the form; title: of indirect action.; title: There is the case of S. Peter. Peter is in prison,; title: but prayer is made for him in the Church in Mary's; title: house. Intercession goes up that he may be released.; title: God saw that it would be good for Peter, good for the; title: Church, good for his friends, that he should be set; title: free. What happens ? A direct answer comes in an; title: indirect way. God sends the soldiers to sleep; the; title: chains snap off; the prison gate, as though endued; title: 16; title: AFFIRMATIVE ANSWERS 17; title: with personality, swings open "of his own accord,"; title: and the prisoner is a free man. The conditions of; title: prayer have been fulfilled, the will of the Church has; title: moved the Will of God, and the prayer has been; title: answered in the affirmative.; title: It is a common experience with many of us ; so; title: common, that Dr. Sanday, in his " Life of Christ in; title: Recent Research," is very bold, and writes : " There is; title: no Christian whose experience does not tell him that; title: prayers are answered (in the affirmative) on a very large; title: scale indeed ". But we ourselves, perhaps, have had no; title: such ready-made experience, no such satisfying proofs.; title: How is this? It may be that, caught by the un; title: scientific treatment of theology by scientific men, we; title: have looked for physical proof outside the range of; title: physical phenomena ; or, that we have sought it in the; title: violation, rather than the regulation, of natural law.; title: We have, perhaps, missed the answer, because it came; title: in some regular, orderly way, forgetting that God is; title: the God of the orderly, as well as of the miraculous â€”; title: if, indeed, the miraculous is not the orderly.; title: As a rule prayer is, as we should expect, answered; title: through natural laws. For example : A patient has; title: to undergo an operation. He prays, or others pray; title: for him, that the operation may be painless ; that; title: when the severing knife cuts its way into the flesh; title: he may feel nothing. The operation takes place, and,; title: apparently, without hurting. No special miracle is; title: wrought. In a regular and orderly way, God has in-; title: 2; title: 1 8 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: spired the brain of a Lister to discover the use of; title: anaesthetics, and the brain of an anaesthetist to apply; title: the discovery to the particular case. The orderly ap; title: plication of known laws has been as much the work; title: of God as the miraculous raising of Lazarus, and as; title: much an answer to prayer as " the first miracle at Cana; title: of Galilee ".; title: Or, to take the familiar instance of prayer for rain,; title: or fine weather ! We are told it is absurd. But why?; title: It is not absurd for man to produce either the one or; title: the other in answer to another's prayer ; it is not; title: absurd for him to intervene in, and to balance, the; title: various laws of nature, so as to produce a given result; title: â€” to plant or uproot trees, and so gradually to affect; title: the climate of a whole district. We are only asking; title: that God will do what we are constantly seeing that; title: man is doing. 1 We are asking Him to balance, not; title: to break His laws â€” to balance one law against an; title: other so as to produce a given result. We hear so; title: much about answers to prayer, and "the fixity of; title: the laws of nature," that it is helpful to remember; title: that such answers demand no break in the fixity of; title: law.; title: Take a simple illustration. We are watching a; title: cricket match, and a ball is skied to the boundary : we; title: see it flying through the air, impelled by the laws of; title: nature, and we know perfectly well that, left to itself,; title: the law of gravitation will, at a given moment, draw; title: 1 Cf. Jellett's " Donnellan Lectures ".; title: AFFIRMATIVE ANSWERS 19; title: it to the ground. But the crowd shout " catch it," and; title: in answer to their cry another law intervenes ; a hand; title: comes in between the ball and the earth ; and in spite; title: of the law of gravitation, and by means of another law; title: equally natural, its flight is stopped. It is not really; title: any more difficult to believe that the Law-maker should; title: intervene, and balance His own laws, than that man; title: should do the same.; title: Again, an indirect affirmative is often a very practi; title: cal answer to prayer. Prayer is made that a church; title: may be built, or some work continued. The money; title: does not drop down from the clouds, but the answer; title: comes in the form of a gift from a wholly unexpected; title: quarter. Father Dolling tells us how, once, he was; title: reduced to almost his last penny, and daily expected; title: to close one of his Working-men's Clubs. United prayer; title: was made, and, at the critical moment, an unexpected; title: cheque arrived from an " old boy who had done well; title: abroad ". It is easy enough to sneer, and to say that; title: he could not prove that the cheque was an answer to; title: prayer ; but the evidence â€” if evidence is needed â€” in; title: such a case, is not law-court evidence, or the evidence; title: of the laboratory, " neither indeed can be " ; but it is; title: none the less real " for a' that ".; title: Or, again, we pray in the Litany that it may please; title: God " to provide for the fatherless children and widows ".; title: We do not expect Him to rain down bank-notes; title: from the clouds, but we do expect Him to inspire; title: others to care for their less fortunate brethren, and; title: 2*; title: 20 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: the answer is, again and again, seen in orphanages and; title: offerings for the poor.; title: Affirmative answers may be, and constantly are,; title: more direct ; but more often than not, an indirect; title: affirmative is God's way of granting our requests.; title: CHAPTER V.; title: DELAYED ANSWERS TO PRAYER.; title: ANSWERS to prayer may come in neither a direct affir; title: mative, nor in a direct negative : they may be neither; title: an instantaneous "Yes," or "No," but "Not yet";; title: " Wait ".; title: Some such answer came to Hannah in Old Testa; title: ment days. Year by year, we are told, Hannah " went; title: up to the House of the Lord," and "prayed unto the; title: Lord" for a child. Year by year, she "continued; title: praying before the Lord " â€” and year by year the an; title: swer was " Wait ". Then the appointed time came ;; title: and as she prayed, " Eli answered and said, Go in; title: peace, and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition; title: that thou hast asked of Him ". 1; title: So with S. Peter. " Lord, it is good for us to be; title: here ; if Thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles,; title: one for Thee, one for Moses, and one for Elias." 2 Yes,; title: it was good to be there, but not good to stay there.; title: Peter wanted something before the time â€” " not know; title: ing what he asked," or how unready he was to receive; title: 1 Sam. i. 7 seq. 2 S. Matt, xvn. 4.; title: 21; title: 22 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: it. Let Peter wait, and, some day, he shall make an; title: other kind of tabernacle, a home in his heart, for Jesus; title: and the Saints â€” but not for many a long day yet ;; title: and then it shall be, not among the tent-like trees on; title: Tabor, but on the hard stone blocks of the Appian Way.; title: God's answer to S. Peter was " Wait ".; title: And has not "Wait" been, for many a long year,; title: the answer to the Master's prayer for unity in the; title: Church â€” "that they all may be one?" 1 It cannot; title: be that His prayer was unheard, or that it was un; title: answered. As men waited for the coming of Christ; title: in the flesh, so must they wait for the full results of that; title: coming â€” " the unity of the faith in the Son of God ".; title: " When," and only when, " the fullness of time is come,"; title: will God grant us visible unity. For the present, He; title: answers our prayers by saying " Wait ". Like Hannah,; title: we must continue year by year praying unto the Lord,; title: till at length some Eli will be sent to say : " The; title: Lord God of Israel grant thee thy petition".; title: Meanwhile, we must ask ourselves what we mean; title: by Church unity. There is a danger lest we mean; title: one thing, and God means another. By unity, God; title: always means the unity of truth, not unity of opinions; title: â€” a wholly different, and unscriptural conception.; title: Unity of sentiment, unity of opinion, unity of expres; title: sion â€” none of these are promised, or anticipated, in; title: the Bible, and nowhere are we told to pray for them.; title: Rather, it is through diversity of opinion that we come; title: 1 S. John xvn. 21.; title: DELAYED ANSWERS TO PRAYER 23; title: to the unity of the Faith. It is, indeed, the work of; title: one special Gift, the Gift of Charity, to harmonize the; title: oneness of truth, and the multiplicity of opinions.; title: Again, " Wait " was the answer given to the Apostles; title: when they asked, " Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore; title: again the kingdom to Israel ? " l The date is fixed ;; title: the time is coming, says the Master, but you are not; title: ready for it. " It is not for you to know," at the present; title: stage of your spiritual capacity, "the times or the; title: seasons ".; title: " Wait " was the answer given at Pentecost. " Wait; title: for the promise of the Father, which, saith He, ye have; title: heard of Me." The promise, and all that it means, is; title: there ; it will be fulfilled ; but you are not ripe for it !; title: Wait.; title: " Wait," too, is the answer to many a prayer of our; title: own which seems still to be unanswered â€” and, indeed,; title: may seem so until the end. Affirmative answers to; title: prayer are not limited to this life, or bounded by the; title: barrier of the earthly. Many a prayer, which has,; title: apparently, been unanswered on earth, will be seen; title: to have been answered for the first time in Paradise.; title: II.; title: To many of us, " Wait " seems to be the most com; title: mon answer of all. If so, we are safe. All God's; title: people have had to wait. S. Augustine tells us, from; title: the depths of his own experience, that " God's blessings,; title: though they come infallibly, come not speedily," and; title: 1 Acts i. 6.; title: 24 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: he gives the reason â€” " that we may increase our desire,; title: and renew our desires, and do acts of confidence and; title: patience ". And, again, he says : " God looks through; title: the clouds with delight to see us on our knees, and; title: when He sees His time, His light breaks through and; title: shines upon us". And, once again, "God's delays; title: are not denials". How true it was in his own case!; title: Did not Monica pray for him nine long years before his; title: conversion ?; title: We, too, must often listen, in loving confidence, to; title: God's " Not yet ". Prayer is not necessarily answered; title: with Arabian night rapidity, as though some genie; title: should appear at our hand-clapping and immediately; title: fulfil our orders. It is not the rubbing of some; title: Aladdin's lamp, in expectation of an immediate re; title: sponse. It has been said by a business man, that; title: some answers to prayer are like goods " consigned, but; title: not delivered ". The answers are sent but not re; title: ceived â€” just as thousands of South American slaves; title: were really freed long before the news of their freedom; title: reached them. Intercessions for Peter in prison were; title: answered, and, indeed, the prisoner was at liberty long; title: before the Church in S. Mark's household received the; title: news. Barabbas was pardoned in answer to the; title: people's cry, long before he knew that Pilate had re; title: leased him ; it was not until the accredited messenger; title: arrived at the prison with Pilate's pardon that Barabbas; title: realized his freedom. So, many an answer to prayer; title: is, as it were, on its way while we are waiting.; title: DELAYED ANSWERS TO PRAYER 25; title: And when the answer is " Wait," prayer and practice; title: must correspond. Are we quite straight in this matter ?; title: Church work often fails ; religion gets a bad name ;; title: real progress is retarded ; and all because we have not; title: made our actions square with our prayers. For in; title: stance, a church is sorely wanted in a new district.; title: There is no money. We pray for it, we work for it ;; title: but no money comes in. May not this be God's way; title: of saying " Wait " ? But we get impatient, honestly; title: impatient, for God's glory. The temptation to proceed; title: is overwhelming, and we build our church " on credit "; title: â€” only, because the object is a good one, we call it; title: building " on Faith ". Thus we begin our work in debt,; title: and then, as soon as the church is finished, we use it; title: to preach against the sin of buying what we cannot; title: afford. Is not this open to question ? There may, of; title: course, be exceptional cases â€” cases when a reasonable,; title: and businesslike expectation of getting the money; title: might possibly justify the action ; but is it not safer,; title: as a rule, to make our practice correspond with our; title: prayers, and not build until we get a more direct affirma; title: tive to our petition ? Speaking generally, we may say; title: â€” first get your money, then build your church. The; title: question is, no doubt, open to argument ; but each must; title: teach as he has been taught of God.; title: However this may be, " Yes ," " No ," " Not yet "â€”; title: all these answers are equally answers to prayer.; title: " Thy prayer cannot fail, if thou, through thine own; title: will, fail not thy prayer."; title: CHAPTER VI.; title: FORMAL AND INFORMAL PRAYER.; title: THE "Te Deum" reveals God in a two-fold aspect â€”; title: as "The Father," and as "The Father of an Infinite; title: Majesty ". These two aspects suggest two methods by; title: which we may approach Him in prayer.; title: We may address Him informally, as a child talking; title: to a father ; or formally, as subjects presenting them; title: selves to " His Majesty". In other words, there are; title: two kinds of prayer, the informal and the formal.; title: Both were used by the Rabbis of old, one being called; title: " Free Prayer," and the other " Liturgical Prayer ".; title: .1. INFORMAL PRAYER.; title: Informal, or "Free Prayer" is the soul's right of; title: approach to God at any time, in any posture, in any; title: place â€” in the street, at the theatre, in the office, in the; title: saddle, on the links, at a dance, at a dinner, anywhere; title: and everywhere. In it, the subject approaches the; title: King as the Father of His people. As the child in; title: the story pressed through the soldiers guarding their; title: Emperor, saying " he may be your Emperor, but he is; title: 26; title: FORMAL AND INFORMAL PRAYER 27; title: my father" so the soul presses through the ranks of; title: formal worshippers to " Our Father which art in; title: heaven". It goes to God, as the subjects of the; title: Emperor Joseph are said to have gone to him at; title: Vienna, when, from time to time, without ceremony or; title: formal presentation, they made their informal petitions; title: to him as the father of his country.; title: " Free prayer ! " Prayer is intercourse â€” free inter; title: course between two persons, God and man. And this; title: is what we want more of. We want to break through; title: the barriers of books, and to " take with us words " 1 of; title: our own, as well as the words of other people. We want; title: to be less afraid of extempore prayer, without interfer; title: ing with liturgical prayer. Extempore prayer is said; title: to be un-English. This is quaint, but true. From; title: our dislike to it in public, we have neglected it in; title: private. It reminds us of a scene at Oxford, not more; title: than a century ago, when six undergraduates were ex; title: pelled from the University, solely because they met; title: for extempore prayer in each other's rooms â€” and when; title: a member of University College, George Whitfield,; title: wrote to the Vice-Chancel lor : " It is to be hoped that,; title: as some have been expelled for extempore praying, we; title: shall hear of some few others of a contrary stamp being; title: expelled for extempore swearing".; title: "As friend talketh with friend," so should man talk; title: with God.; title: It is, of course, quite possible to make Church; title: 1 Hos. xiv. 2.; title: 28 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: prayers, or prayers from books of devotion, so; title: thoroughly our own, that they become to us " Free; title: Prayer " ; it is, thank God, very possible to pray from; title: the heart from a book of prayers. But there come; title: times in the soul's history when we want to do without; title: them all â€” save, indeed, the "Our 'Father," which is; title: the free love-prayer of every soul. These are times; title: such as the Psalmist experienced when he said, " I pour; title: out my heart by myself" 1 â€” poured it out with all its; title: sorrows and its joys, its belief and its doubts ; poured; title: it out in his own way, and in his own words, as the; title: outcome of his own personal individuality.; title: Such informal prayer â€” essentially the prayer of; title: intercourse â€” is suggested in S. John XII. 27, where; title: prayer is simply "sweet talk" between. the Father; title: and the Son. " Father," prays our Lord, in that; title: supreme moment â€” " Father, save me from this hour " ;; title: "but," he adds, as though in simplest talk, "for this; title: cause came I unto this hour". Here we listen to God; title: the Son talking to God the Father in the perfect; title: liberty of sonship. Here we find the basis of that; title: "Free Prayer" in which we, too, may approach Him; title: as sons â€” " Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth; title: the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, ' Abba,; title: Father'". 2; title: II. FORMAL PRAYER.; title: But informal prayer does not exclude formal prayer.; title: The mistake we make is to pit one against the; title: 1 Ps. XLII, 4. a Gal. iv, 6.; title: FORMAL AND INFORMAL PRAYER 29; title: other, whereas each has its own place in the spiritual; title: life.; title: There is another aspect to the Fatherhood of God â€”; title: that in which He is revealed as the Father, but as the; title: Father of an infinite Majesty ; the aspect in which; title: we ask Him, in the words of the liturgy, " to receive; title: these our prayers which we offer unto Thy Divine; title: Majesty". It is an aspect which cries loudly for re; title: cognition in these days, when reverence even to earthly; title: parents is (not infrequently from their own fault), a; title: vanishing quantity. "If," says the Almighty â€” "if,; title: then, I be a Father, where is mine honour ? " l Where; title: indeed ? There is a false freedom which takes liberties; title: with God, and which needs the corrective discipline of; title: a more formal mode of approach.; title: Hence the use of liturgical formulas. They bring; title: before us the majestic side of the Deity, the glory of; title: His being, the awe which belongs to His Person.; title: They tell of the formal ceremonial used at what S.; title: Chrysostom calls "The Court of King Jesus," and; title: say, in the familiar words of the " Venite," " O come let; title: us worship and fall down, and kneel before the Lord; title: our Maker".; title: And so, not in opposition to informal prayer, but in; title: addition to it (or, if you will, the other way about),; title: comes formal prayer.; title: This will be chiefly found in the liturgies of the; title: Christian Church. These liturgies are priceless heir-; title: 1 Mai. i. 6.; title: 3 o PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: looms, which have come down to us from an historic; title: past, and are entrusted to our most loving care. They; title: are not ours to do as we like with, to barter away, or; title: to leave unused. Liturgies are legacies. They are; title: entailed property, and belong to our successors as much; title: as to ourselves.; title: It is the same with the formal ceremonial which; title: accompanies their use. We sometimes hear of the; title: simplicity of Christian worship being contrasted with; title: its gorgeous ceremonial â€” and often to the disparage; title: ment of the latter, just as if the two things clashed; title: with, or mutually excluded, one another. Obviously,; title: each has its appointed place in the life of worship,; title: each reveals a different mode of approach to the Father; title: of an infinite Majesty.; title: BOOKS OF DEVOTION.; title: Then, again, there are books of devotion. How; title: much we owe to them ! â€” so much, that Satan has; title: thought it worth his while to turn them into hind; title: rances. They are real helps, but everything depends; title: upon the individual selection for personal use.; title: We are sometimes inclined to use devotional books; title: as the unwary will use patent medicines, and to expect; title: like effects, and with like results. There is no such thing; title: as a patent book of devotions. There is only one; title: prayer which is universal â€” the Lord's Prayer. No one; title: book will suit everybody. What suits one will be; title: wholly unsuitable for another. At the most, there; title: FORMAL AND INFORMAL PRAYER 31; title: will be some few prayers in each which will suit the; title: needs of all.; title: And not only the choice of books, but the selection; title: of prayers in the books chosen must be made with the; title: greatest discrimination. When private prayer is abso; title: lutely sincere, and is based upon something like real; title: self-knowledge, each soul will, as Dr. Liddon reminds; title: us, 1 pray some prayers which no other soul needs, and; title: will omit some prayers with which others could not; title: safely dispense. The accuracy with which a collection; title: of devotions is adapted to the case of a single soul may; title: thus be the measure of its unsuitableness for any other; title: soul, and therefore a book of private prayers written; title: by a master of spiritual wisdom must be used with; title: discretion and freedom. There must be both omis; title: sions and additions. Certainly, there can be no pos; title: sible merit in getting through a certain number of; title: prayers in a certain number of minutes ; and the per; title: sistent attempt to do so not infrequently produces a; title: distaste for prayer difficult to overcome.; title: There are, of course, some books of devotion which; title: seem to be the common property of the Church and; title: universal helps ; others seem to meet the special needs; title: of special souls, at special times ; others, again, are; title: distinctly unhealthy. "While I am grateful on the; title: whole," writes the late Bishop of Lincoln, "for a; title: number of modern books, both English and adapted; title: from foreign sources, I think the time has come when; title: 1 Preface to Dr. Pusey's "Private Prayers".; title: 32 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: it would be most beneficial if all who were able would; title: turn their attention to the earlier English books, and; title: see if there are not treasures for the spiritual life which; title: have of late been too much neglected." The Bishop; title: himself frequently used, and recommended, such a book; title: of devotions, as Jeremy Taylor's " Golden Grove ".; title: " If," he writes, " we take the familiar work of Jeremy; title: Taylor, ' The Golden Grove,' in the three-fold division; title: of this little treatise â€” Credenda, Agenda, Postulanda â€”; title: an instructed soul might indeed find all that he would; title: desire. And the same," he adds, "is true of that valu; title: able book of the more retired, but none the less truly; title: holy Sherlock. Richard Sherlock's ' Self-examination; title: and Holy Communion ' is a rich heritage of spiritual; title: and Catholic teaching, binding us together with the; title: prayers of S. Ambrose, S. Augustine, S. Thomas; title: Aquinas, S. Thomas a Kempis, and the old liturgies of; title: the East and West. Would that we could reach to; title: the height of this devotion."; title: There are two opposite dangers in using books of; title: devotion â€” the danger of flying too high, and the danger; title: of not flying high enough. If the use of high-flown; title: language, of empty aspirations, of unmeaning expres; title: sions, makes us unreal, or sentimental, we must come; title: down to the ground and be more practical. Better; title: be commonplace and real than ecstatic and unreal.; title: But, if we never rise above the commonplace, if we; title: have no ideal, no aspiration, we must fly higher. It is; title: the low flying kite which is caught in the bushes.; title: FORMAL AND INFORMAL PRAYER 33; title: And, after all, most of us fly too low, and not high; title: enough. As Bishop Forbes reminds us, such flights as; title: we find in the prayers of Bishop Andrews, or in medi; title: tations of Richard Hooker on "the number and nature; title: of the angels," are almost as unreal to this age as the; title: rapture of Ignatius in the cave at Manresa, or the; title: mystic manifestation of Divine love which visited S.; title: Francis of Assisi on the Mountain of Alvernia.; title: III.; title: Prayer, then, may be both formal and informal, and; title: each kind has its own dangers.; title: We may become too formal. If so, we should throw; title: away, for the moment, all books of devotion, and use; title: " Free Prayer ". As a gardener may cripple the growth; title: of a tree by nailing it too closely to the wall, so we; title: may hinder our spiritual progress by nailing our; title: prayers too tightly to books.; title: Or we may become too informal â€” too rambling, too; title: familiar, too casual. If so, we should use books of de; title: votion. Such books have been called " crutches help; title: ing the lame man to walk ". Are they not rather oars; title: helping the strong man to row? Without them, we; title: may drift down the stream ; with them, we may make; title: good way against both wind and tide.; title: The best way of avoiding either danger is to use; title: both methods.; title: So may we, both as sons and subjects, approach and; title: address "Our Father," as " The Father of an infinite; title: Majesty ".; title: 3; title: CHAPTER VII.; title: POSTURE IN PRAYER.; title: THE subjective has its own place in prayer, and it is very; title: possible either to overrate, or to underrate, the part that; title: it plays both in our public and private devotions. We; title: may overrate it when we take it out of its proper; title: sphere, and substitute it for the objective ; or we may; title: underrate it, when we regard it as a wholly unimpor; title: tant element in the devotional life. In importance,; title: the subjective is, it is true, entirely secondary to the; title: objective ; but it is only secondary, and it is quite as; title: possible to under-estimate as to over-estimate its real; title: value.; title: There be many that say, " prayer is good for char; title: acter, the very posture in which we place ourselves; title: has an effect upon character, which is, on the whole,; title: good for us â€” but it is nothing more ". While remem; title: bering that it is a very great deal more, we need not; title: forget that its subjective effect upon the soul is all that is; title: here claimed for it. From the lowest possible view,; title: " to kneel down and say our prayers " has, apart from; title: any ulterior purpose, a place in the 'life of prayer.; title: 34; title: POSTURE IN PRAYER 35; title: This has been recognized, in the attention which all; title: religious systems have paid to prayer and posture.; title: Even Comte, in his atheistic system of religion, pre; title: scribed for his disciples two hours of prayer a day, for; title: the disciplinary effect which the mere act of kneeling; title: down and praying had upon them. Attitude, as at; title: titude, has its place in the subjective side of the; title: spiritual life.; title: Nor is this confined to religion. We see from time; title: to time, scathing criticisms on the characteristic atti; title: tude of this, or that, public schoolboy. Now it is; title: the " Eton slouch," now it is the " Harrow swagger,"; title: that comes under the lash. And there is something in it.; title: Apart from the humour of the complaint, there is a real; title: truth in the criticism, and the critics are partly in the; title: right, even if the boys are not wholly in the wrong.; title: Slouch, or swagger, or whatever it may be, is an index; title: to character, as may not infrequently be seen in the; title: attitude of those who swagger about some continental; title: church or cathedral, while the real worshippers are on; title: their knees in prayer.; title: Postures ! bodily attitudes ! â€” these are the outward; title: and visible sign of an inward and spiritual tone. They; title: indicate a man's attitude of mind. It is told of Con-; title: stantine the Great that, looking at some noted statues; title: represented in a standing posture, he said, "I shall; title: have mine taken kneeling, for that is how I have risen; title: to eminence ". Constantine had grasped a real truth.; title: It was not without a reason that, in ancient days,; title: 3*; title: 36 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: minute directions were given as to posture in prayer.; title: The Jews commonly prayed standing â€” as in the case; title: of the Pharisee and publican, 1 and in accordance with; title: the custom approved by our Lord in S. Mark XL 25; title: â€” "When ye stand praying, forgive". The primitive; title: Christians generally stood in prayer. The monks sat; title: during the singing of the Psalter. Each nation had its; title: symbol of reverence, and translated its prayers into; title: postures. Some prostrated themselves ; others knelt ;; title: all alike bowed the head as subjects to a monarch.; title: We English have a posture specially our own.; title: Whether standing or kneeling, we naturally fold the; title: hands in prayer â€” a custom purely Saxon in its origin,; title: dating as far back as the fifth century, and as natural; title: to us as the ancient lifting up the hands 2 is to the; title: Oriental.; title: The eyes, too, play their part in prayer. The look; title: ing up and the looking down suggest something more; title: than mere attention, or than trust and humility.; title: The "gazing up" into heaven naturally predisposes; title: the Apostles to see the angels of the Ascension. 3; title: The looking down upon the ground is â€” we instinc; title: tively feel it â€” the natural posture of the publican, who; title: "would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven ".; title: So, too, there is a real correspondence between the; title: ritual act of " breast-beating," and the prayer " God; title: be merciful to me the sinner". The publican's moral; title: 1 S. Luke xvin. 11-13.; title: 2 Ps. cxxxiv. 2. 3 Acts i. ii.; title: POSTURE IN PRAYER 37; title: inability to look God in the face has its symbolism,; title: and perhaps more than mere symbolism, in his pos; title: ture.; title: The influence of posture is at the root of half of the; title: Prayer Book rubrics, which direct the worshipper now; title: to stand, now to kneel, and constantly to vary his; title: position. It is at the root, too, of the more minute; title: directions in the ancient Office Books, which provided; title: for posture in such close detail, as a necessary part of; title: devotion.; title: So it is in the ritual of heaven as revealed in the; title: Revelation of S. John. Here we see posture and prayer; title: united in the symbolism which describes God as the; title: " God which sitteth upon the Throne," l and the four-; title: and-twenty elders prostrating themselves before Him.; title: They " fell down and worshipped Him that liveth for; title: ever and ever ". 2 Again, the beloved disciple himself; title: tells us how, mistaking the messenger for the Master,; title: his " outward gesture and deed " correspond with his; title: interior act of worship : " And when I had heard and; title: seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the; title: Angel which showed me these things " ; 3 and, because; title: prostration is the ritual posture of the creature at the; title: feet of the Creator, " then saith he unto me, see thou; title: do it not, for I am thy fellow-servant ".; title: In the life of worship, bodily posture is the sign; title: of the soul's attitude towards God, and, as such, it sym; title: bolizes the reverence, or the irreverence, with which we; title: 1 Rev. vii. 10. 2 Rev. v. 14. 3 Rev. xxn. 8, 9.; title: 38 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: approach the Divine Majesty â€” just as standing, or re; title: fusing to stand, at the National Anthem expresses our; title: loyalty, or want of loyalty, to the king. Christ Him; title: self did not disdain to conform to the ritual practice of; title: the Church in which He worshipped. " He stood up; title: for to read " ; l and He gave the book to the minister,; title: and sat down. 2 Nor did S. Paul think posture; title: unimportant when he gave ritual directions to S.; title: Timothy ; " I will, therefore, that men pray everywhere,; title: lifting up holy hands" 3 â€” that is in the Oriental pos; title: ture.; title: Posture has its place, too, in private as well as in; title: public devotion. Jesus, when alone with the Father,; title: "kneeled down and prayed," 4 "and He went a little; title: further and fell on His face and prayed". 5; title: Posture may frequently be a ritual help, both in; title: public and private devotions, in preventing or reclaim; title: ing wandering thoughts. Reverence when no one; title: is looking is no slight indication of our spiritual at; title: titude to God Who is surely looking. And as such,; title: it acts and reacts upon ourselves. We are learning in; title: other departments of thought the effect of bodily; title: posture upon mind, and we certainly need not exclude; title: its effect upon spirit. An attitude of reverence (while; title: it may quite easily slip into " posing," and lend itself; title: not unwholesomely to caricature) may induce a state; title: 1 S. Luke iv. 16. 2 S. Luke iv. 20.; title: 3 Ps. cxxxiv. 2 ; i Tim. n. 8.; title: 4 S. Luke xxn. 41. B S. Matt. xxvi. 39.; title: POSTURE IN PRAYER 39; title: of devotion, as an attitude of irreverence most certainly; title: induces a state of indevotion.; title: Thus, posture in prayer has a subjective influence; title: upon personal character, as well as being an objective; title: act of homage towards a personal God.; title: CHAPTER VIII.; title: THE RANGE OF PRAYER.; title: THE range of prayer is both limited and limitless. It; title: is limited, for it is conditioned by the terms, "What; title: soever ye ask in My Name" l " believing? ye shall; title: receive." It is limitless; for, within the imposed; title: conditions, the "whatsoever" is without limit.; title: I. LIMITED PRAYER.; title: Prayer, for the sake of the petitioner, is roped round; title: with conditions. These conditions are mainly three :; title: union with Christ, faith in Christ, and fidelity to; title: Christ.; title: First : union with Christ â€” " In My Name ". Prayer; title: must, as we have seen, be in union with the Will of; title: God. We must, as it were, say our prayers after Jesus,; title: or rather with Jesus. As a child is taught to pray by; title: repeating the words of the parent, so we are taught to; title: pray by repeating the words of Jesus, and using them; title: "in His Name". He says to us as to His disciples,; title: 1 S. John xv. 16. 2 S. Matt. xxi. 22.; title: 40; title: THE RANGE OF PRAYER 41; title: "When ye pray, say" â€” "saying after me," as the; title: priest bids the people when they recite the General; title: Confession. " Make My words your words ; use words; title: which I should use in your place ; pray as I should; title: pray in your circumstances ". John Stuart Mill, when; title: asked how a man should live, replied, " Live such a; title: life as Christ would approve ". So we may reply to; title: the question, How should a man pray ? â€” Pray such a; title: prayer as Christ would approve.; title: So He taught His disciples to pray His prayer-; title: How, they ask, can they pray as He prays ? How can; title: they join His wondrous school of prayer? They see; title: Him praying. They see the look on His face, as the; title: "fashion of His countenance " catches the glow of His; title: prayer. They see the effect of His prayer upon His; title: practice. They say, "Ah ! we cannot pray like that ;; title: ' Lord, teach us to pray ' ". And straight and true; title: comes the teaching : " When ye pray, say " : say after; title: me, say in My Name â€” " Our Father, which art in; title: heaven."; title: And we must remember that this "Lord's Prayer"; title: means far more to us than it meant for them. For; title: three whole years after the pattern prayer was given,; title: they did not pray it " in His Name ". " Hitherto "-; title: for the last three years â€” " ye have asked nothing in; title: My Name" * Then, His Name is imported into it, and; title: a new power is given to it, a power which would grow; title: more and more until the day of which it is said, " In; title: 1 S. John xvu 24.; title: 42 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: that day ye shall ask Me nothing " â€” for petition will; title: be lost in praise. First, then, prayer must be made; title: "in His Name ".; title: Next, it must be made in faith, " believing " â€” not; title: faith that the prayer will be answered in the affirmative,; title: but faith that the answer will be for our own true weal.; title: And this faith must be whole-hearted. There must be; title: " nothing wavering " about prayer â€” no half wishing for; title: God's way, and half for our own. It is this which is; title: so difficult : â€”; title: " / wish to have no wishes left; title: But to leave all to Thee :; title: And yet I wish that Thou shouldst will; title: The things I wish to be."; title: It is so fatally easy to answer to Fenelon's descrip; title: tion of the prayer, which wishes " God to will what; title: it wishes, so that, accepting His Will, it may have its; title: own way ". But this is not the prayer of faith.; title: Then, again, it must be made with fidelity. We; title: must practice what we pray, as well as what we; title: preach. To deliberately pray one thing, and wilfully; title: to practise another, is, as King David discovered, fatal; title: to the efficacy of prayer : " If I regard iniquity in; title: my heart, the Lord will not hear me". 1 To pray; title: for purity, and wilfully to indulge in impurity ; to; title: pray for the vision of God, and deliberately to fix our; title: 1 Pa. LXVI. 18.; title: THE RANGE OF PRAYER 43; title: thoughts on the vision of sin â€” such incongruity will; title: surely nullify the power of prayer. "We know that; title: God heareth not sinners " â€” winners, that is, who de; title: liberately, and of set purpose, go on sinning while; title: they pray, who persistently pray one thing and inten; title: tionally do another. Practice should follow prayer as; title: echo follows sound, or the prayer dies away in the; title: emptiness of vain repetition. " But if any man be a; title: worshipper of God (prayer), and doeth His will; title: (practice), him He heareth." 1; title: II. LIMITLESS PRAYER.; title: But within the circle of ordained conditions, the; title: range of prayer is limitless.; title: It is strange how we narrow this range by exclud; title: ing the commonplace ; by praying about big things,; title: but not about small, about great events, but not about; title: ordinary details. We pray at crises, but not at other; title: times. This is why prayer so often becomes unreal.; title: Like the child in the story, we must "pray for the; title: little boats, as well as for the big ships " ; for the; title: apparently unimportant as well as for the seemingly; title: important. Jonah prays to God at a crisis â€” after he; title: has gone down to Tarshish, and when a great storm; title: has arisen and the ship is going down ; but he has; title: omitted to ask for previous guidance about going; title: down to Tarshish at all â€” or, rather, he runs away; title: from the guidance, which would have prevented the; title: 1 S. John ix. 31.; title: 44 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: crisis. It is a common enough story. If we go down; title: to Tarshish without God's guidance, we are pretty; title: sure to find a ship waiting, ready to carry us into the; title: storm.; title: We limit prayer to crises, and so we come to think; title: of God as the God of a crisis, and not of the common; title: place ; we think of Him as the God of Calvary, not of; title: the carpenter's shop ; as the God of Gethsemane, not of; title: Cana ; as the God of the miraculous, not of the ordinary.; title: We shut up God in our churches, and exclude Him; title: from our business. Hence, we think it almost ir; title: reverent to pray about our simplest interests, as the; title: Saints did about theirs. We repeat, half mechanic; title: ally, "Give us this day our daily bread," but we forget; title: the many steps it takes, from seed to oven, from; title: oven to shop, from shop to table, before that prayer; title: is answered, and our daily bread prepared. And; title: yet that prayer gives its imprimatur to all common; title: place prayers.; title: Why not pray about our ordinary interests? For; title: instance : how few boys or girls are taught to pray; title: about marriage. And yet what a big place it has,; title: and ought to have, in every young life ! How much; title: it enters into the talk which they must, nolens, volens,; title: listen to, or join in, and into the chaff, harmless or; title: harmful, to which they are exposed. Why are they not; title: taught to pray about their vocation before they have,; title: quite suddenly perhaps, to face it? Why are they; title: not taught to ask, day by day, whether or no they are; title: THE RANGE OF PRAYER 45; title: called to the married life ; and if so, whether they are; title: called to marry this or that man or woman ; and if not,; title: whether they are called to the unmarried life in com; title: munity (" the Religious life ") ; or to the single life in; title: the world; or to the single, or married life, in the; title: Mission Field, at home, in business, as a nurse, in any; title: state or circumstance to which the "finger of God"; title: may beckon them ?; title: God has placed us in this world before the next, and; title: it is in this world that our preparation for the next is; title: to be worked out. How, then, can He fail to be in; title: terested in our earthly interests? Why do we keep; title: Him out of our mundane affairs, our business, our; title: finance, our trade, our homes ? Often, no doubt,; title: because God is nothing whatever to us, and does not; title: come within the scope of our daily plans, and often; title: because, though God is much to us, we do not regard; title: such matters as having any place in our prayers.; title: This, certainly, was not the view of some of; title: England's greatest statesmen and men of business.; title: Read the life of the late Mr. W. H. Smith. When; title: Leader of the House of Commons, First Lord of the; title: Treasury, and in the full swing of work and success,; title: he finds time to write to his wife from the House of; title: Commons, during an anxious and irritating debate :; title: " Pray for me every day, that I may have wisdom and; title: strength to do what is right. It is a hard and difficult; title: task ". And, again, we find him bringing his common; title: routine life under the spell of prayer in a letter to an; title: 46 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: intimate friend, in 'which he describes a birthday dinner; title: given the night before to Prince Albert Victor, and a; title: number of Peers and Privy Councillors â€” " Help us,; title: dear friend, by prayer. But two or three should ask.; title: The work is heavy and the burden great, and you; title: and others, who are far off, can ask and believe that; title: you have the petitions which you ask. . . .All I; title: say is, God help me to do my work, and take me out; title: of it when I am no longer fit for it."; title: Men such as Lord Chancellor Cairns, Lord Chan; title: cellor Hatherly, and many of our greatest would have; title: said the same. One of our leading judges, Sir; title: Matthew Hale, writes, " If I omit my early devotions; title: nothing goes well with me all day". Havelock; title: rises at four in the morning for prayer, if marching; title: orders are at six ; at three, if they are at five. Sir; title: Thomas Browne, the well-known physician, records in; title: his private papers : ' I have resolved to pray more,; title: and pray always ; to pray in all places â€” in the house,; title: on the highway, and on the street ; and to know no; title: street or passage in this city that may not witness; title: that I have not forgotten God ". The late Lord; title: Addington once said to one of his daughters : " When; title: I look back, I cannot remember any moment at which; title: I have been consciously oblivious of the presence of; title: God". Nothing was too insignificant, or common; title: place, for such men of the world to bring inside their; title: prayers. To them, prayer and practice were twin; title: forces, and nothing which affected the one was kept; title: outside the other.; title: THE RANGE OF PRAYER 47; title: We must not, of course, underrate the " Divine; title: romance " in prayer. Aspiration is the very atmo; title: sphere of prayer ; it is the Highland air for us Low-; title: landers. But we may, and must, remember that there; title: is another side to prayer, which brings every detail of; title: the life into the sphere of the spiritual.; title: If in our daily prayers we hesitate to take God into; title: our confidence over our ordinary interests ; if we keep; title: Him outside the trivial " dots and crosses " of the day ;; title: and, above all, if we exclude from our prayers the; title: things which take the firmest hold of our lives â€” love,; title: money-making, amusements, and suchlike â€” then we; title: lose much of the very purpose and meaning of prayer.; title: It is just these things which make or mar life, and; title: which we are too shy to speak of in our prayers, or too; title: great strangers to God to bring before Him. And yet,; title: they form integral parts of that life of perfection at; title: which our Lord bids us aim when He, Who never gives; title: an impossible order, says : " Be ye therefore perfect,; title: even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect " l â€”; title: not as perfect as your Father, but perfect as your; title: Father â€” perfect, not in measure, but in manner.; title: Prayer, too, is limitless in its expansion. It; title: lengthens its cords as it strengthens its stakes. We; title: shall see this as we consider our next thought â€” inter; title: cessory prayer.; title: 1 S. Matt. v. 48.; title: CHAPTER IX.; title: INTERCESSORY PRAYER.; title: NOTICE how, in the seventeenth chapter of S. John,; title: our Blessed Lord's prayers expand in intention, until; title: they embrace the whole world. First He prays for; title: Himself â€” that as He has glorified the Father in His; title: life, so He may glorify Him in His death. 1 Then He; title: prays for His own ; " the men which Thou gavest me; title: out of the world". 2 " I pray for them," He says, with; title: Divine simplicity â€” "I pray not (now) for the world,; title: but for them which Thou hast given me " ; 3 and again,; title: "Keep through Thine own Name those whom Thou; title: hast given Me". 4 And then He expands His prayer; title: into intercession for the whole Church in all ages â€”; title: "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also; title: which shall believe on me through their word".*; title: Here is our model for intercessory prayer. First,; title: indeed, we pray for ourselves ; but we may not stop; title: here. We must expand our prayers into intercession; title: for others, in ever-widening circles.; title: 1 S. John XVH. i. 2 Ibid. XVH. 6. 3 Ibid. xvn. 9.; title: 4 Ibid. xvn. n. ''Ibid. xvn. 20.; title: 48; title: INTERCESSORY PRAYER 49; title: Consanguinity ! Affinity ! Propinquity ! How we; title: weary of the words as we read them in the lowering; title: surroundings of the Divorce Court and the daily press.; title: But they are great words in intercessory prayer.; title: First, there is Consanguinity. First, we pray for our; title: own, our " blood relations," such as parents, brothers,; title: and sisters. Then, Consanguinity expands into Affin; title: ity, and we extend our prayer for all connected with; title: us by marriage â€” those "near to us," as the word; title: "Affinity" means, through blood relationship. And; title: then affinity expands into Propinquity, and we pray for; title: all those near to us by circumstances â€” at home, in work,; title: or in society; for we have been brought near each; title: other with a purpose â€” a purpose charged with the re; title: sponsibility which belongs to propinquity. And from; title: propinquity we spread out our prayers for those that; title: are afar off, till they cover all for whom we are bound; title: in love and in duty to intercede.; title: Many find it a help towards orderly intercession, to; title: have a carefully prepared list of persons and objects; title: to pray for on each separate day in the week â€” thus; title: making their own book of intercession, praying for; title: this person or that thing, and saying, perhaps, the; title: Lesser Litany and an Our Father after each petition.; title: But, however used, intercessory prayer is an essential; title: part of petition.; title: Again, intercession includes prayer for special ob; title: jects. Some will feel impelled to take special burdens; title: on their shoulders, and to lift them, as with a lever,; title: 4; title: 50 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: by prayer. Thus, some will feel a call to pray for one; title: special soul. They place themselves in union with; title: Jesus, and, while praying for the masses, pick out one; title: soul for special intercession, as our Lord did for; title: Simon Peter â€” "And the Lord said, 'Simon, Simon,; title: behold Satan hath desired to have you (all) that he; title: may sift you as wheat ; but I have prayed for thee; title: (individually) that thy faith fail not ' ". l As Satan; title: shakes the great sieve which is to sift them all as; title: wheat, Jesus sees one soul, Simon, in special danger of; title: falling to the ground, and so, knowing Simon, with; title: just his character, his temperament, his circumstances,; title: He prays more for Simon, without praying less for the; title: others.; title: Some, again, will take upon themselves the burden,; title: the beautiful burden, of prayer for the fallen, and will; title: test the limitless power of prayer in seeking and serv; title: ing the lost. Dr. Pusey says, in his " Companions of; title: the Love of Jesus" (a book which Bishop Selwyn; title: advised his candidates for ordination to read every; title: year) : " A simple form of prayer for others is to pray; title: that God would, for our prayers, and for the love of; title: Jesus, stop one sin that day or that night. As every; title: sin is the parent of other sins, and as every sin resisted; title: may be the turning-point of a man's life, who can say; title: that there may not have been as many souls saved as; title: there were sins checked ? "; title: Others will feel specially called to intercede for; title: J S. Luke xxn. 31, 32.; title: INTERCESSORY PRAYER 51; title: Foreign Missions, and the extension of Christ's king; title: dom. They have learnt, as the Rabbis used to say,; title: that, " any prayer which makes not mention of the; title: kingdom is no prayer at all," and they will Christian; title: ize the saying, and make it their own by intercession; title: for the heathen in union with Him to whom it was; title: promised : " Desire of me and I will give thee the; title: heathen for thine inheritance, and the utmost parts of; title: the earth for thy possession."; title: Some, again, ask leave to take upon themselves the; title: burden of praying for those who never pray for them; title: selves, and win unknown blessings for them â€” often; title: the best of all blessings, that they may learn to pray; title: for themselves.; title: Others feel called to a life of perpetual reparation; title: for the dishonour done to Jesus and His cause by re; title: ligious people, by infidels and the like, and will; title: humbly seek to console Him for the injuries and out; title: rages thus done to His love. Such souls already; title: know something of the limitless power of prayer.; title: And the blessed dead ! â€” those happy souls " who; title: have departed hence in the Lord " ! They, too, come; title: within the limitless range of intercessory prayer. May; title: we pray for them ? Three words will help us to answer; title: the question : law, love, and liberty. Law allows it ;; title: love demands it ; liberty embraces it.; title: For the living and departed, within the implied con; title: ditions, the range of our prayer is only limited by the; title: measure of our love ; it is as limitless as love itself.; title: 4*; title: CHAPTER X.; title: RISKS IN PRAYER.; title: PRAYER, like every other power, has its own peculiar; title: dangers. Some prayers run no risks, while others are; title: full of risks. We may, indeed, divide prayers into; title: three classes : right prayers, wrong prayers, doubt; title: ful prayers.; title: I. RIGHT PRAYERS.; title: Some prayers, of course, run no risks at all. Any; title: petition, for instance, which can be found within the; title: range of the Lord's Prayer is a right one. Church; title: prayers ; prayers for the spread of the Gospel ;; title: prayers for another's spiritual progress, or for one's; title: own personal holiness ; prayers for greater knowledge; title: of the faith, and greater love to the Blessed Sacra; title: ment ; prayers for the rest and peace of the faithful; title: departed â€” such prayers must be right. So, too, must; title: prayers for self-recovery after a fall, moral or intel; title: lectual. We have lost, perhaps, our old childhood's; title: faith, and have banished it as intellectually childish.; title: It may have been so; but we were better with it; title: 52; title: RISKS IN PRAYER 53; title: than we are without it, and with nothing substituted; title: for it :â€”; title: " 'Twas only a childish ignorance,; title: But to me 'tis little joy,; title: To know that I'm farther off from God; title: Than I was when I was a boy."; title: Self-recovery is what we must pray for, and what; title: we can get. We run no risk here.; title: And there are Bible prayers â€” such as the prayer; title: of Manasses in the Apocrypha. No prayer could, at; title: times, help us more, sounding, as it does, to the very; title: bottom, the deepest depths of penitence and peace.; title: And best of all are those New Testament prayers; title: which, if gathered together, would form an inspired; title: book of devotions in a single volume. 1 He who uses; title: such petitions is on sure ground.; title: II. WRONG PRAYERS.; title: But some prayers are downright wrong.; title: Three such examples are given in the New Testa; title: ment : a mother's prayer, a brother's prayer, and a; title: sister's prayer.; title: A Mother's Prayer. â€” Such was the prayer of; title: Salome, the mother of Zebedee's children. " Grant; title: that these my two sons may sit, the one on Thy right; title: hand, the other on Thy left in Thy kingdom." 2 It; title: 1 Cf. "The Prayers of the Bible," by J. A. McFadyen,; title: 2 S. Matt. xx. 21.; title: 54 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: seemed so right, so natural, so mother-like. " These; title: two boys of mine," she seems to say, " how I love them !; title: Are they not mine, my very own, bone of my bone,; title: flesh of my flesh? Have I not brought them up,; title: watched over them as they grew, listened to their; title: secrets, shared their confidences? and as they grew; title: older, did I not merge the mother in the friend ; and; title: then, in later life, once more merge the friend in the; title: mother? Grant, Lord, that these my two sons may; title: have honour, place, and power ; may be among earth's; title: great ones, and be first, first in things temporal and; title: spiritual â€” and then ! ah, then, our cup of happiness shall; title: be full." How beautiful, how natural it all is ! And; title: yet she was wrong â€” wrong, not because she asked for; title: too much, but because she asked for too little ; wrong; title: in asking for passing honours, instead of pleading for; title: permanent glories. Truly, Salome " knew not what; title: she asked " in praying for so little, when she might; title: have had so much.; title: A Brother's Prayer. â€” Another example of wrong; title: prayer is found in the prayer for money by the brother; title: in the Gospel. " Master, speak to my brother, that; title: he divide the inheritance with me." l It is as though; title: he would say : " This property ! It is as much mine as; title: his ; it is unjust that he should have all, and I should; title: have none ; it hurts and stings me every time I think; title: of it ; I dream of it by night, and dwell on it by; title: day : Master, speak to my brother, and bid him; title: 1 s. Luke xii. 13.; title: RISKS IN PRAYER 55; title: be more brotherly, and let us share and share alike".; title: It seemed a right request, and yet it was all wrong ;; title: for it was outside the range of prayers given to Jesus to; title: grant â€” and He, Who saw that the brother would be; title: a worse brother with the money than without it,; title: refused the request.; title: A Sister's Prayer. â€” Martha's petition, again, sug; title: gests a wrong prayer, or a wrong element in praying,; title: " Lord, dost Thou not care that my sister hath left me; title: to serve alone ? l : she is my sister, and it is as much; title: her duty as mine to get things ready, and there she sits,; title: saying her prayers, and leaving all the drudgery to; title: me ". And, at first sight, it seems so sound and right.; title: But it was wrong ; wrong all over ; wrong because it; title: was full of the very fault of which she accused her; title: sister â€” selfishness. The context suggests that if Mary; title: had shared the work, and Martha had shared the; title: prayer, Martha would have been equally discontented.; title: Some are called to work with folded hands ; others; title: to pray with busy feet ; and some are honoured in; title: the call to both. Martha's prayer was a grumble,; title: not a prayer ; and grumbling is not praying ; it is; title: scolding.; title: And we, too, sometimes indulge in wrong prayers,; title: and for far worse things than that mother, brother, or; title: sister, in the New Testament.; title: For instance, there is the prayer for vengeance â€”; title: not probably in so many words, but there is the under-; title: 1 S. Luke x. 40.; title: 56 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: lying, unspoken thought. We may even seem to desire; title: vengeance from the highest motive, and Elijah-like,; title: " call down fire from heaven " to consume, instead of; title: to convert. Or we pray in thought, if not in word,; title: for the death of another. We want such a one out of; title: the way ; our own peace, or our prosperity, or good; title: name, depends upon his silence. We do not put the; title: wish into words, but it is there.; title: Or there is the prayer of attrition, rather than of; title: contrition. We pray, that is, that we may escape the; title: consequences of sin, rather than be forgiven the sin; title: itself. We pray that we may avoid detection and; title: punishment, whereas the normal path of repentance; title: must be trodden, not by escaping from but by accept; title: ing consequences.; title: And there is the prayer of experiment â€” the prayer; title: of the man who read that faith could remove moun; title: tains, and, as a test case, prayed that a certain; title: mountain might be removed. That was not the; title: prayer of faith but of experiment, or rather of imperti; title: nence. That, too, was a wrong prayer, if indeed a; title: prayer at all. Test cases are not prayers.; title: Or there are terrible prayers ; right-down wicked; title: prayers ; blasphemous prayers ; prayers which are not; title: merely impertinent but immoral. Such was the incon; title: ceivable prayer reported in the papers, not long since,; title: in connexion with a prize fight degrading even to the; title: lowest form of animalism. "Throughout the South,"; title: says a New York correspondent, " the negro churches; title: RISKS IN PRAYER 57; title: to-day are offering prayers for the success of Johnson,"; title: the black combatant ; and, he adds, " One Kansas; title: negro church has arranged a special religious service; title: to-morrow at which the contest will be described,; title: round by round, by means of special telegraph wires ".; title: Could the wit of man invent a more blasphemous; title: parody of prayer ?; title: From such, and all such, wrong prayers, "Good; title: Lord, deliver us ".; title: III. DOUBTFUL PRAYERS.; title: There are some prayers which we, as it were, " leave; title: open ". They are " precarious," a word which comes; title: from precare^ to pray, and which expresses the very; title: thought of doubt and uncertainty. Humanly speak; title: ing, our Lord willed, for a time, to be in doubt whether; title: the prayer for the removal of the cup was a right or; title: a wrong prayer. It was not until " He went away; title: the third time and used the same words," that certainty; title: seems to have assured Him that He was to drink it to; title: the very dregs.; title: To doubtful prayers, belong such petitions as those; title: for temporal prosperity, either for ourselves or others.; title: Perhaps more arresting, and still more doubtful, are; title: unconditional prayers for the recovery of the sick â€”; title: prayers used without the saving Deo volente which; title: safeguards the petitions. It is a commonplace now; title: to assume that all sickness is an evil, that it cannot; title: 1 precare, from prex = a prayer.; title: 58 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: possibly be God's Will for anyone to suffer, and that all; title: pain and suffering must be instantaneously removed,; title: in any way and by any means. Suffering which is not; title: remedial, suffering unconnected with sin â€” the sin of; title: self, or of others, inherited or actual â€” is, assuredly,; title: not God's Will, collectively or individually. But, alas !; title: we cannot, as things are, exclude sin, original or actual,; title: as an existing factor in dealing with suffering. It is; title: not necessary to trace the connecting link between the; title: suffering and the sin, and to say " this suffering comes; title: from that sin " (though this may often be possible) ;; title: but sin in the aggregate must affect suffering in the; title: individual, and, as members one of another, sin in the; title: unit must affect suffering in the aggregate. The fact; title: of sin, then, cannot be eliminated in considering; title: suffering, and it is for the removal of the sin, rather; title: than the suffering, that we should pray. The suffering; title: may be the very remedy by which the soul is to ad; title: vance in the Purgative Way. Certainly, sickness is; title: not, as some teach, outside the realm of Divine Love.; title: " Lord, behold he whom Thou lovest is sick " â€” and so; title: bound up is the sick man with others, that Lazarus's; title: sickness was not described as the result of his own sin,; title: but for the sake of others, and so " for the glory of; title: God". 1; title: Prayers for restoration to health are, of course, not; title: wrong in themselves, as we may see from the answered; title: prayers of blind Bartimaeus, and of the man with the; title: 1 S. John xi. 3, 4.; title: RISKS IN PRAYER 59; title: withered hand. Our Blessed Lord asks, " What wilt; title: thou that I should do unto thee? " in full expectation; title: of a request for bodily healing, and in each case He; title: grants the request.; title: We pray for the sick, and give thanks for their con; title: valescence ; it would sometimes be safer to give thanks; title: for the sick, and to pray for the convalescent. Times; title: of sickness are not always times of danger ; times of; title: health may be â€” until we, like the Christ, are "made; title: perfect through suffering ".; title: The ideal to which we aspire is that we may ulti; title: mately, and when we are ripe for it, possess such a; title: mastery over preventible diseases that, God willing,; title: neither sickness, nor death, need ever occur except; title: from accidents, or our own fault, or from the natural; title: decay of the human organism, or as remedial steps in; title: the life of perfection.; title: It is related that S. Gertrude once had a vision of; title: our Blessed Lord in which He came to her and said :; title: "In this hand I carry health, in the other sickness;; title: choose, my daughter, which you like best ". And; title: surely the Saint's answer was the safe answer : "I am; title: ready to receive either ; neither do I choose " â€” a safer; title: choice, perhaps, this choice of not choosing, than even; title: that of S. Catherine of Siena, who, in a like vision,; title: was offered a crown of gold and a crown of thorns, and; title: chose the thorns.; title: In doubtful matters we may use two methods of; title: prayer; (i) state facts, (2) make special intentions.; title: 6o PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: State Facts. â€” So prayed the Blessed Virgin, when; title: wine fell short at the marriage feast at Cana of Galilee.; title: It was a temporal want, a want which it might, or; title: might not, be for the guests' advantage to have sup; title: plied. How does S. Mary pray? "The mother of; title: Jesus saith unto Him : They have no wine." l She; title: simply states the case and leaves results. So, too, the; title: sisters at Bethany pray, " Lord, he whom Thou lovest; title: is sick " ; they state the fact, and there they leave it.; title: We sometimes find ourselves in company with the; title: Blessed Mother and Mary of Bethany. We are not; title: sure of our ground ; we are bewildered with un; title: certainty ; we are without something which seems so; title: necessary for God's glory, or our needs ; we have no; title: money for our needs, no health for our work, no power; title: or position with which it seems so much might be done.; title: Our plan is to go straight to Jesus and simply state; title: the case, leaving the results to Him. " They have no; title: wine."; title: Use Special Intentions â€” and, above all, the special; title: intention of surrender, saying, Deo volente, " God; title: willing." Some of us can remember when the letters,; title: "D.V." really meant what they stand for. Then they; title: became commonplace, and familiarity bred contempt.; title: Letters were dotted with them ; concerts were ad; title: vertised with them ; they were dragged in here, there,; title: and everywhere â€” till at last they meant no more than; title: " weather permitting," or any other off-hand phrase.; title: 1 S. John ii. 3.; title: RISKS IN PRAYER 61; title: Hence they dropped out of use â€” and " out of sight,; title: out of mind " was the closing chapter in their history.; title: But we cannot do without " D.V." in prayer or in; title: practice, and never less so than in doubtful prayer.; title: Drexelius, in his " Heliotropium," tells of a certain; title: Bishop who was surnamed "What God wills," so com; title: pletely had he made God's Will his will in things great; title: and small. That is it ! " What God wills " will stay; title: the wrong prayer, will certify the doubtful, and will; title: confirm the right.; title: CHAPTER XI.; title: REPETITION IN PRAYER.; title: IN the early part of Gounod's " Redemption," there is; title: a melody which, like some recurring "Kyrie," is re; title: peated no fewer than nine times in ever-varying suc; title: cession. Each repetition has its own meaning, and; title: all express variety rather than monotony. The whole; title: melody suggests the use and power of repetition â€” that; title: repetition which plays so large a part in thought, word,; title: and deed, in the lives of the majority.; title: I.; title: Most of us think the same thoughts, speak the same; title: words, do the same things, over and over again ; and; title: for good or for ill the mere fact of repetition influences; title: character. Satan knows it well, and tempts the soul; title: to sins which spring from sameness ; and when,; title: like our Saviour, we pray " saying the same words,"; title: he so dreads their force that he tries to turn our peti; title: tions into " vain repetitions," empty and devoid of all; title: meaning and sincerity.; title: But God, as well as Satan, has a use for repetition.; title: 62; title: REPETITION IN PRAYER 63; title: God Himself constantly makes use of it to enforce; title: some truth or to teach some lesson. " Comfort ye,; title: comfort ye My people," He tells Isaiah, as though; title: there lurked a double blessing in the double " Comfort " ;; title: as if the second " Comfort " had a message which the; title: first one lacked. Again, " Simon, Simon, Satan hath; title: desired to have you " l â€” as if there were two Simons,; title: or one Simon with two personalities, each contending; title: for the mastery ; as if each Simon was appealed to in; title: turn, and as though the repeated sound of the personal; title: name would have an enforcing tenderness which a; title: single " Simon " might lack.; title: Again, God sometimes uses repetition to drive home; title: some truth which He wishes His children to grasp.; title: " God spake once ; and twice I have also heard the; title: same, that power belongeth unto God ". 2 And there; title: is the repeated dream in Genesis XLI. 32, " For that the; title: dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice, it is because; title: the thing is established by God, and God will shortly; title: bring it to pass ". Each repetition seems to add some; title: thing to the assurance â€” just as in Handel's " Messiah "; title: the repetition of the words " For the mouth of the; title: Lord hath spoken it " grows and grows in force, until; title: we are certified of its truth.; title: The Master Himself constantly uses repetition both; title: in preaching and in praying.; title: In preaching He repeats this or that parable,; title: illustration, or simile, as though to drive home His; title: 1 S. Luke xxn. 31. 2 Ps. LXII. n.; title: 64 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: words by repetition, and to make it more easy for the; title: hearers to record, and hand them down to us. And; title: something like it may, though very rarely, be seen in; title: the methods of exceptional, and wholly sincere,; title: preachers â€” such for instance as the Cur6 d'Ars. With; title: him repetition convinced the hearers as no new words; title: could have done. His repetitions, it is said, were full; title: of inspiration. A hundred times he uttered the same; title: things, and a hundred times he gave them a different; title: meaning. On one occasion, preaching on the Trans; title: figuration, he cries in a transport of delight, "We; title: shall see Him; we shall see Him; we shall see Him.; title: Oh! brethren, have you ever thought of that? We; title: shall see Him." And for a quarter of an hour he did; title: not cease to repeat the same words, "we shall see; title: Him." Few, if any, could exercise the power to-day,; title: but it is there as an illustration of what might be.; title: And, as in preaching, so in prayer. Two typical; title: illustrations of repeated prayers will be found in our; title: Lord's threefold prayer in Gethsemane, and His twice-; title: repeated utterance of the Father's Name in the " Abba,; title: Father " of the Agony. Thrice, as He kneels in the; title: Chapel of the Olive Trees He repeats the same words ;; title: thrice, as if too tired for fresh utterance, He prays the; title: same prayer l â€” that living, loving clause from the oft-; title: repeated "Pater Noster ". And again: "Father,; title: Father," He cries in the Garden, as He lingers lovingly; title: on the twice-repeated Name ; and who shall tell the; title: 1 S. Luke xxn. 42.; title: REPETITION IN PRAYER 65; title: power and pathos of that second "Father" which; title: precedes the " if it be possible " l of the wondrous; title: midnight prayer.; title: So He repeats His prayers ; and then, calm in the; title: strength of repeated utterance, quietly meets the; title: future with the ringing word of command, " Rise, let; title: us be going : behold, he is at hand that doth betray; title: Me." 2; title: We, too, at a long distance, know something of this; title: power. We have been stunned by some sudden shock.; title: We are too dazed, too tired, too worn out for fresh; title: prayers. Instinctively we fall back upon the old, old; title: words, and repeat them over and over again â€” a Collect,; title: a " Gloria Patri," a prayer we have used all our lives,; title: an " Our Father " which comes to us with new meaning,; title: or a repeated use of the Holy Name.; title: II.; title: Repetition is a power frequently made use of both in; title: Scripture and by the Church. The Bible is full of it.; title: Thus, in the parallelism of Hebrew poetry the repeti; title: tion of the same sentiments is constantly found in the; title: first and second lines of a couplet â€” as, for instance, in; title: verse after verse of Psalm CXIX.; title: And it is this power which the Church makes use of; title: in the constant repetitions in her liturgies. Our own; title: Prayer Book is full of them. The Psalter, for instance,; title: 1 S. Mark xiv. 36 ; S. Matt. xxvi. 39.; title: 2 S. Matt. xxvi. 46.; title: 66 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: with its "Amen, Amen" at the end of the first four; title: books leads the way for the Amens at the end of every; title: petition, when each " Amen " is the people's signature; title: to the prayer in which, silently or audibly, they have; title: taken their part â€” as it is written, " and all the people; title: shall answer and say Amen "- 1; title: Some of us have learnt to love these repeated; title: utterances in our Prayer Book. There is, for instance,; title: the Lesser Litany! "Lord, have mercy upon us,; title: Christ, have mercy upon us, Lord, have mercy upon us."; title: How much the repeated utterance means to us ! It; title: has taught us to cry to each Person in the Blessed; title: Trinity, as each petition, echoing the old, old cry of; title: David and blind Bartimaeus, rises with fresh power to; title: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Or, there is the Litany; title: itself! What added pleading there is in the repeated; title: cry : "Graciously hear us, O Christ ; graciously hear us,; title: O Lord Christ ". We never tire of some repetitions.; title: Who ever tires of the repeated " Agnus Dei " in Litany; title: or in Eucharist? Who ever tires of the repeated; title: "Our Fathers," in service after service? Who ever; title: tires of " Te Deum," or of " Ter Sanctus," as they re; title: peat the "Holy, Holy, Holy," and in each "Holy"; title: find a new thought and fresh meaning. Who can tire; title: of the repeated " have mercy upon us," in the Con; title: fession before Communion? Who can tire of the; title: Easter "Alleluia," as it echoes the heavenly Alleluia; title: of the celestial citizens: "And again they said Alleluia". 2; title: 1 Deut. xxvu. 15. a Rev. xix. 3.; title: REPETITION IN PRAYER 67; title: What depths of meaning there are in that one word,; title: " again " !; title: And all through the Prayer Book, the same idea is; title: repeated in different words with practically the same; title: meaning. We "acknowledge and confess" ; we "as; title: semble and meet together " ; we are " humble and; title: lowly"; we speak of God's "goodness and mercy". 1; title: Each repetition, with varying shades of meaning, throws; title: some new light on the thought involved.; title: Repetition has, no doubt, its danger-side. As we; title: have seen, Satan uses all the wealth of his age-long; title: experience to wield it as a weapon against its votaries.; title: Our Lord Himself bears witness to the value of right; title: repetition, by warning us against the danger of its; title: fatal misuse. 2; title: For, repetition is a real force in the spiritual life.; title: By making repeated acts of faith, hope, and love,; title: when faithless, hopeless, loveless, we may get more; title: faith, more hope, more love. Thus, it is not neces; title: sarily unreal to repeat the Creed when we find it; title: difficult to assent intellectually to every clause which it; title: contains. Nay ! by saying it over and over again, by; title: making acts of belief, we may get the " joy and peace; title: of believing ". Nor is it necessarily unreal repeatedly to; title: 1 Dean Stanley points out that these ^Masi-synonyms are the result; title: of the intermingling the French and Norman languages. Thus " ac; title: knowledge" is Saxon, "confess" is French; "assemble " is French ;; title: and "meet together" is Saxon; "humble" is French, "lowly" is; title: Saxon ; " goodness " is Saxon, " mercy " is French.; title: 2 S. Matt. vi. 7.; title: 68 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: sing certain Psalms ; to say " My soul is athirst for God,; title: yea, even for the Living God," or " Like as the hart; title: desireth the waterbrooks, so longeth my soul after; title: Thee, O God," when we feel at the moment no thirst,; title: no longing whatever for God. Nay ! by saying it re; title: peatedly, by making acts of love, love steals into our; title: hearts. Nor is it necessarily hypocritical daily to sing; title: the " Te Deum," and to say " O Lord, in Thee have; title: I trusted," when at the moment all trust and confi; title: dence seem dry and dead. Nay ! by its daily recitation,; title: by making acts of trust, trust creeps back again into; title: our lives. It is perfectly possible to turn the oft-re; title: peated recitation of Creed, Psalm, or Canticle into; title: "vain repetition," into mere unthinking, mechanical; title: words ; but that is the abuse, not the use, of repeti; title: tion.; title: III.; title: Still, the danger is a real one, and two safeguards; title: may be suggested for our use : intention and attention.; title: Intention. â€” In music, a succession of notes diversely; title: used will produce wholly different effects. All depends; title: upon the intention with which the composer combines; title: them. So with the Church. She constantly pre; title: fixes different intentions to repeated prayers â€” as, for; title: example, in the Litany and the Ten Commandments.; title: In the Litany, she bids us, eight times, repeat " Good; title: Lord, deliver us " ; but before each petition she gives; title: us a different intention with which to say it, ever; title: REPETITION IN PRAYER 69; title: placing a fresh object before each repeated prayer.; title: Again, she prefixes a different intention to each of the; title: twenty-one times she prays â€” " We beseech Thee to hear; title: us, Good Lord ". Intention helps repetition ; repetition; title: demands intention. Each keeps the other fresh and; title: meaningful, each minimizes the risk of emptiness and; title: " vain repetition ".; title: It is the same with the Ten Commandments. Each; title: of the nine " Kyries " has a different intention assigned; title: to it. Each is stayed from being a "vain repetition/'; title: by the intention which precedes it. Again and again; title: we ask God to bend our inclination " to keep this law,"; title: and each time a fresh law is set before us.; title: And we may well follow the practice of the Church; title: in our private prayers. We may avoid the danger of; title: " vain repetition " in some oft-said prayers, by privately; title: assigning to them some different intention. Just as; title: we might go to some place with the " special intention "; title: of doing this, or that ; or as we might go to some; title: person with the " special intention " of making this or; title: that petition ; so may we " let our requests be made; title: known unto God " by going to Him with some special; title: intention, both for ourselves and for others.; title: In public prayer we might with advantage employ; title: some such method during the frequent repetition of; title: words, or phrases, or during the repeatedly repeated; title: "Amen" at the end of some chant or anthem. In; title: private devotion we might choose beforehand some; title: special object with which to say the well-known; title: 70 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: prayers, and so minimize the danger of becoming; title: mechanical or unreal.; title: For intention rivets the attention.; title: Attention. â€” A second check to the danger of " vain; title: repetition " is to be found in attention. We may say; title: the Psalter, or join in the prayers, in three ways. We; title: may attend to the actual words, and so keep our; title: thoughts from wandering ; or we may attend to the; title: meaning of the words, and try to import fresh reality; title: into their repetition, or we may fix our thoughts on; title: God, and make an offering of the services as a whole.; title: Some will use one way, some another, and we shall; title: do well to vary our method, and to use all three from; title: time to time.; title: The main point is to use some method. The question; title: is, with what intention do we repeat the Church's; title: offices? If with no intention at all, it is not difficult to; title: find a reason why many people do not go to church.; title: Why should they? If they go, as it is said, just to; title: say or to hear the same thing over and over again,; title: they may well get tired during the service, and sleepy; title: during the sermon. But the blame must not always; title: be placed upon the wrong shoulders.; title: One help, embracing both intention and attention,; title: will be found in giving more reality to the silent prayer; title: which most of us appear to use upon entering church.; title: What happens when we kneel down, or bend forward,; title: as the manner of some is ? The whole meaning of the; title: act is lost, unless we then collect our thoughts and; title: REPETITION IN PRAYER 71; title: aim our motive for the coming service. It is well to; title: have some definite prayer, long or short, to say. An; title: ancient "prayer before service " runs as follows : â€”; title: " Open, O Lord, our mouths to bless Thy Holy Name.; title: Cleanse our hearts from all vain, perverse, and foreign; title: thoughts ; enlighten our understandings, and inflame; title: our affections that we may recite this office worthily,; title: devotedly, and attentively, and may be heard before the; title: presence of Thy Divine Majesty through Christ our Lord,; title: Amen." Other prayers may help in other ways.; title: Some will find a short form, such as a simple invocation; title: of the name of the Blessed Trinity, useful. Others,; title: again, will use the time before service as a quiet time; title: for silence, and for gathering up their distracted; title: thoughts, and so preparing both heart and head for; title: worship. Anything is better than , the " vain repeti; title: tion " of an empty act, the unmeaning ritualism of a; title: mere form and ceremony.; title: There is, then, a force behind repetition. If there; title: is the danger of wrong repetition, that very danger is; title: a witness to the power of right repetition. As repeated; title: acts form habits, good no less than bad, so do repeated; title: prayers. Such prayers grow in intensity, and may,; title: perchance, reach home at last.; title: CHAPTER XII.; title: BALANCE IN PRAYER.; title: BALANCE ! That is what S. Paul pleads for. " I will; title: pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the under; title: standing also : I will sing with the spirit, and I will; title: sing with the understanding also ". 1; title: " Also ! " It is a word which connects and balances; title: the emotions and the reason. And this is what we; title: lack â€” balance in praying, balance in singing.; title: It is just this want of balance in religious people; title: which leads to so much misunderstanding. We need; title: balance in things sacred as well as in things secular â€”; title: in praying and singing, no less than in buying and; title: selling. It is the unbalanced Christian who frightens; title: non-Christians ; it is the unbalanced Churchman who; title: scares the non-Churchman ; it is the unbalanced; title: devotee who alienates the indevout. This is what S.; title: Paul's calm common-sense tells him, when he gives his; title: converts a practical standard to aim at. " I will pray; title: with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding; title: also." "Don't," he says, " be one-sided in your re-; title: 1 i Cor. xiv. 15.; title: 72; title: BALANCE IN PRAYER 73; title: ligion. You are emotional ! Very well. Train your; title: emotions for their highest use ; pray with the spirit ;; title: only don't stop there, or your emotions will become; title: unduly developed, and do you a mischief; pray with; title: your understanding ' also '. Rapture is very beautiful,; title: but unbalanced rapture is very dangerous. Rapture; title: and reason must counterbalance each other."; title: Or, you are unemotional ! Very well ! Train your; title: reason for its highest use ; pray with the understand; title: ing ; only don't stop there, or your intellect will be; title: come unduly developed, and lead you into hopeless; title: confusion ; pray with the spirit "also ".; title: Both sets of faculties must be used, or we become; title: one-sided ; the emotional, or we get dry as dogma,; title: cold as an iceberg ; the reasoning, or we get silly and; title: sentimental, soft and plastic as a cushion.; title: Want of balance ! It is this which makes good; title: people such puzzles to each other. Spirit-prayer,; title: spirit-singing appeal to one temperament ; intellectual; title: prayer, intellectual singing to another. To one class,; title: set prayers seem unreal and formal, books of devotion; title: cold and stilted. They pray "with the spirit ". Their; title: feelings are real, and can be no more analyzed by the; title: understanding than the sunshine can be dissected in; title: the laboratory : but they are full of " ups and downs,"; title: one-sided, unbalanced. So with their singing. A cer; title: tain type, and only a certain type of hymn appeals to; title: the emotionalist, and he will have nothing to do with; title: the Apostolic " also " ; hence, he overfeeds one side; title: 74 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: of his spiritual nature, often becomes a sentimentalist,; title: and possibly develops into a religious dyspeptic. Lit; title: urgies, precomposed prayers, objective hymns, do not; title: touch him in the very least, and he is puzzled beyond; title: measure at the calm, dignified worship of his un; title: emotional opposite.; title: But he himself is just as great a puzzle to that op; title: posite, who probably looks down upon him, irritated; title: at his subjective way of praying and singing â€” oblivious; title: of the fact that he, too, with all his powers of reason; title: ing, lacks something which the emotionalist could give; title: him. To him all enthusiasm is nothing but spiritual; title: hysteria, and he shudders at his neighbour's show of; title: religious feelings as only an Englishman can. Both; title: men may be equally real, but neither can understand; title: the other. Each is an enigma, because each is un; title: balanced. Both lack S. Paul's " also ".; title: We may take the various collections of hymns in; title: use as an illustration of our point. Every few years; title: hymn-books of different types are put forth, for the; title: most part based on the principle of elimination. One; title: side would eliminate all subjective hymns, the other; title: all objective, each forgetting that man is made of; title: "spirit and understanding also," and that the whole; title: man can never rest satisfied by an exclusive appeal to; title: the partial. It is in this double appeal that the power; title: of the Church's authorized hymn-book, the Psalter,; title: consists. The Psalms appeal to both sides of charac; title: ter as no other "Collection" ever can, for they are; title: BALANCE IN PRAYER 75; title: based upon the principle of inclusion, not of ex; title: clusion.; title: Perfect balance in prayer is, of course, found only; title: in the Pattern Man. In Him we see intense emotion; title: alism â€” " O, my Father, let this cup pass from me " :; title: and in Him we see calm reasoning â€” " Father, the; title: hour is come ". He is our pattern in this as in every; title: other aspiration. In its degree, too, we may see it in; title: S. Paul. There is the strong emotional element in; title: the story of his conversion, and there is the calm; title: reasoning element in his quiet prayer for his converts.; title: So with other Saints, according to their degree of; title: saintliness and the roundness of their character.; title: Balance, then, is the thing to aim at. If you seem; title: to be all " understanding," say : " I will pray, I will; title: sing with the spirit also ". Emotionalism has some; title: thing to teach you ; aspirations, such as " My soul is; title: athirst for God, yea, even for the living God," have; title: much to tell you to which you are as yet a stranger.; title: Like the North Country cynic who went to criticize a; title: Yorkshire Mission, you may find, as he did, a strange,; title: unknown power in some such hymn as â€”; title: " Let me come closer to Thee, Jesus,; title: Oh, closer every day ;; title: Let me lean harder on Thee, Jesus,; title: Yes, harder all the way ".; title: The emotions â€” God-given emotions â€” have much to; title: teach you.; title: 76 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: If you seem to be all emotions, say : " I will pray,; title: I will sing, with the understanding also ". You can; title: never live upon subjectivity, you will never be content; title: with singing about yourself. As Richard Baxter says,; title: "Take nine looks at Jesus, for one at self". Combine; title: prayer and practice. It is of no use singing emotionally; title: about "Jerusalem above," unless you are uplifting; title: Jerusalem below. It is easy enough to sing about; title: " Jerusalem the golden, with milk and honey blest,"; title: but it comes to very little unless you take your " milk; title: and honey," and all that they stand for, to feed those; title: who hunger and thirst in Jerusalem on earth. It is; title: beautiful, it is right, to sing " O sweet and blessed; title: country, the home of God's elect," but only if it; title: teaches us to try and make our own country, our own; title: home, our own surroundings more sweet and blessed; title: than they are. Balance is what we need ; balance is; title: what we must pray for.; title: We may expand the thought by next considering; title: want of balance as the primary course of wandering; title: thoughts in prayer.; title: CHAPTER XIII.; title: WANDERING THOUGHTS.; title: THERE is nothing to be surprised at in wandering; title: thoughts, nothing to be depressed at, nothing neces; title: sarily wrong.; title: Wandering thoughts are not wrong in themselves,; title: but only become so when unbalanced and out of order.; title: They are right thoughts in wrong places. In them; title: selves, they are part of the constitution of our being.; title: We cannot stop them, though we can direct them ;; title: and we must treat them in prayer exactly as we should; title: in connexion with any other subject. It is only; title: when we separate wandering thoughts in things sacred; title: from things secular that we miss their real meaning,; title: and regard them as a sign of disease rather than as an; title: indication of health. Wandering thoughts are really; title: the natural result of the manifold unity of our nature.; title: We shall see this if we think of them from a purely; title: secular standpoint. We will imagine ourselves engaged; title: in conversation with a friend. At such a moment,; title: most of us will be conscious of carrying on two or more; title: lines of simultaneous thought Nor need this neces-; title: 77; title: 78 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: sarily mean that we are saying one thing and thinking; title: of another; rather, it suggests the possibility, and; title: indeed the necessity, of thinking of fifty things, but of; title: saying one thing at one and the same time.; title: For example, I am sitting at a window talking; title: with a friend, discussing a subject of absorbing interest,; title: of profound importance. On it my mind is fixed,; title: riveted, concentrated, as the main line of thought.; title: Suddenly I look up. There, outside the window,; title: I see a carriage and pair, driving along the street. In; title: a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, off flies my; title: mind, and through it flash a dozen branch lines of; title: thought â€” thoughts about the style and make of the; title: carriage, the occupants therein, the colour of the horses,; title: the relative value of motor-cars and carriages, and; title: half a hundred other things. My thoughts have,; title: indeed, wandered. It is inevitable : it is right : it is; title: because I am made as I am made : it is a sign of; title: health, not an indication of disease. The sense of; title: sight has been fulfilling its own true mission, and has; title: flashed thought after thought before my mental vision.; title: But my main line of thought has not been suspended; title: for one single instance ; my conversation has not been; title: interrupted for a second ; nor, indeed, need be, unless; title: I wilfully or carelessly permit my thoughts to become; title: unbalanced, and allow secondary thoughts to expel the; title: primary theme from its rightful position.; title: But that is not all. At the very same moment, in; title: the very same flash, another vision presents itself to; title: WANDERING THOUGHTS 79; title: me. There, on the pavement below, goes a child with; title: its nurse. Off again fly my thoughts ; and, without for; title: an instant interfering with the carriage, or the conversa; title: tion, bear me on their wings into the fairy-land of; title: childhood, which the sight of the little one has sug; title: gested. And there, too, at the very same moment, is; title: a man crossing the road, and caught in a gust of wind; title: which switches off his hat, and in sheer fun and frolic; title: tosses it about in elfish and impish delight. I see it; title: all â€” the man, the hat, the chase, and so on â€” and yet,; title: though simultaneous with my other thoughts, never; title: for an instant has it, with all its distracting amusement,; title: diverted my mind from the carriage, or the child, or; title: still less from the main line of thought, or stopped the; title: conversation which is the expression of that thought.; title: And there, at the same moment, is the sharp sound of; title: a policeman's whistle, the cry of the street-hawker, the; title: rattle of the cabs, and so on â€” all tending to make my; title: thoughts wander. But that is what they are for ; it is; title: a sign of sound, sight, and hearing, of health rather than; title: of disease, and unless I allow them to infringe upon my; title: main line of thought, they fall into their natural places; title: and do no harm. They cannot be helped : they ought; title: not to be helped : they are only wrong when want of; title: balance distracts my attention from what my friend is; title: saying, and with " a strange discourtesy " interrupts; title: the intercourse between us.; title: It is so with " wandering thoughts in prayer," in the; title: intercourse between God and the soul. Sight and; title: 8o PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: sound seem interfering distractions. I am kneeling in; title: church saying my prayers, fixing my thoughts, perhaps,; title: on the Blessed Sacrament. Suddenly I look up and; title: catch sight of some painted window above the altar.; title: In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, off fly my; title: thoughts. The design, the figures, the colour, the; title: tracery, dozens of thoughts flash through my mind.; title: It is inevitable : it is right : it cannot be helped : it is; title: what the eye and the window are, for, and never for one; title: moment need they interrupt my main line of thought,; title: or the intercourse which I am having with my Divine; title: Friend. It is only when I allow them to usurp the; title: rightful place of meditation, and turn branch trains on; title: to the main line, that they become unbalanced and; title: hurtful. And scores of other thoughts intrude them; title: selves through the ear â€” the rustle of a dress, the; title: shuffling of feet, the giving out of a hymn, the choir,; title: and so forth. All make their inevitable, their natural,; title: their lawful suggestions ; all are so many branch lines; title: of thought, each moving along the path of their destined; title: direction, but none necessarily affecting the deep-down; title: connexion between God and the soul.; title: It is, as we know, fatally easy to let them assume; title: unbalanced proportions, to use them so as to treat God; title: with the "strange discourtesy" of inattention, but in; title: themselves they are right, not wrong.; title: What, then, is the remedy for wandering thoughts ?; title: Chief among a thousand, is concentration. " Concen; title: trate " is the first word, " concentrate " the second, and; title: WANDERING THOUGHTS 81; title: "concentrate" the final. There is no other known; title: remedy. We may try to banish such thoughts, but it; title: is of no use. We have tried it over and over again; title: with disquieting failure. And naturally â€” for we are; title: fighting against nature, instead of trying to control; title: nature. It is useless to try and extradite wandering; title: thoughts as aliens, for they belong to our constitution.; title: They are not to be banished the kingdom, but con; title: verted into loyal subjects of the reigning monarch â€” the; title: will.; title: If we would control wandering thoughts in prayer,; title: and keep them duly balanced, we must daily and; title: hourly practise concentration at other times. It is of; title: no use complaining that we cannot concentrate our; title: thoughts in church and at prayer, if we take no trouble to; title: concentrate them in the world and at other times. It; title: is of very little use trying, as many really do try, to; title: keep recollected before an early celebration on Sunday,; title: unless we go into practice on Monday, Tuesday, and; title: Wednesday, and the other days of the week. We; title: should constantly go into training for mental concen; title: tration at prayer.; title: So we should look upon wandering thoughts, not as; title: enemies to be conquered, but as friends to be used â€”; title: as one might have fifty friends of varying degrees of; title: intimacy, without allowing any of them to come be; title: tween our friendship with the best Friend of all.; title: CHAFTER XIV.; title: PRAISE.; title: THE first of our two selected words for prayer suggests; title: Petition. We now come to the second word, which; title: tells of Praise. Praise is the permanent part of prayer :; title: petition is the transient. 1 Both are essential for com; title: plete prayer.; title: There was once a musical instrument known to the; title: Psalmist as the Decachord, possibly the " ten-stringed; title: instrument" of the thirty-third Psalm. Each of the; title: ten strings had its special use, and it was only when; title: all the strings were in perfect tune that the instrument; title: fulfilled its purpose. Man is a decachord. Each; title: string, each power, plays sweet music for the Great; title: Musician â€” and one of these strings is praise.; title: Notice first, that praise has its own place in the; title: spiritual life. Before conversion, petition precedes; title: praise ; after conversion, praise precedes petition. We; title: cannot primarily praise God until we have acknow; title: ledged Him to be the Lord ; we cannot persistently; title: acknowledge Him to be the Lord â€” facts often seem so; title: 1 S. John xvi. 23.; title: 82; title: PRAISE 83; title: much against it â€” until we have praised Him for being; title: God. After the act of surrender has been made, the; title: life of surrender begins. So in the "Te Deum," praise; title: comes first and acknowledgment second. " We praise; title: Thee, O God, we acknowledge Thee to be the Lord."; title: Daily praise helps daily acknowledgment.; title: For many a dark moment of doubt comes in the; title: lives of the best. The Saints spent much of their lives; title: in tunnels, groping their way towards the spark of; title: light which shone at the end of the archway â€” and all; title: the Saints were men of praise. They had their times; title: of doubt, as we have ours â€” times when only their " Te; title: Deum Laudamus " made the rest of the verse possible.; title: So, in some Eucharistic Thanksgiving we say, " Let; title: us sing the song of the Three Children which they; title: sang as they blest the Lord in the furnace of fire".; title: They had their furnace â€” and praise was their safe; title: guard. Praise scattered their doubt as the sun scatters; title: gloom.; title: " Praise Him with the sound of the trumpets,"; title: sings the Psalmist x â€” and we can hear the responding; title: trumpets of the Levites as they burst into music, and; title: lift the hearts of the earthly worshippers into the; title: Heavenly Temple itself. Many a soul must have gone; title: into that Temple weighed down with the heavy burden; title: of life, and have been uplifted by the burst of those; title: trumpets â€” as we, perhaps, have been uplifted by the; title: " sound of the trumpets," on organ or in orchestra, which; title: 1 PS. CL. 3.; title: 6*; title: 84 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: introduces the theme of the " Gloria " in Bach's " Mass; title: in B Minor ". We have gone away different, somehow,; title: after hearing, and joining in, that celestial theme.; title: Praise is the soul's " Sursum corda" â€” it is the spirit's; title: " Te Deum," its celestial " Alleluia," its " Gloria Patri,"; title: its " Gloria in excelsis " ; it is Mary's " Magnificat," S.; title: Francis' " Canticle to the Sun ".; title: We may think of praise in three parts â€” Adoration.; title: Thanksgiving, Worship.; title: Thus, we adore God for what He is ; we thank Him; title: for what He does ; we worship Him for what He wills.; title: Or, we adore Him in His Person ; we thank Him for; title: His gifts ; we worship Him in His ways. Or, we adore; title: Him as our Beloved ; we thank Him as our Benefactor ;; title: we worship Him as our Overlord. And first, Adora; title: tion.; title: ADORATION.; title: We adore Him for what He is â€” for the beauty of; title: His being, and for being so beautiful. "We thank; title: Thee for Thy great glory." " What is thy Beloved; title: more than another beloved?" 1 ask the bridesmaids in; title: the Canticles. And the bride's reply is a poem of; title: adoration as she sings of the bridegroom's beauty.; title: It is His Person that she finds so adorable ; it is what; title: He is that she adores.; title: We are not, speaking with the deepest reverence,; title: half proud enough of God â€” and more especially of God; title: 1 Cant. v. 9.; title: PRAISE 85; title: in Christ. We have lost much of the spirit of the; title: ancient Jews and early Christians who could so proudly; title: say, " We make our boast of God all day long ". : We; title: modern Christians adore our country's heroes, in war,; title: in letters, in painting, in discovery, in invention ; these; title: are our gods, and we " make our boast of them all day; title: long ". But who boasts of Jesus ? " We adore Thee,; title: O Christ, and we bless Thee," we sing in some special; title: Lenten service ; but we are too shy to " make our; title: boast" of Him out of Church, or to defend His honour; title: when He is slighted in business or in society. It is in; title: this sense that Christians themselves are, in these days,; title: the supreme puzzle to non-Christians. It is not so; title: much their creed as their coldness. " What is thy; title: Beloved more than another beloved ? " asks the world,; title: as it sees our outside callousness and indifference.; title: And what is the average Englishman's reply?; title: Dean Church, in his " Essay on Brittany," relates; title: how proud the Bretons are of being called Christians.; title: " The feeling that they are Christians is ever present; title: with them ; they delight in the title. The Cross is; title: everywhere, on all things animate and inanimate â€” at; title: the cross-roads, on the moor, on the sands." Alas !; title: the Briton is not like the Breton. How much we; title: miss ! Other beloveds, however adorable, have some; title: moral defect which lessens their worth. Our Beloved; title: is " altogether lovely," 2 the alone " worthy to be; title: praised and had in honour ".; title: 1 Ps. XLIV. 9. 2 Cant. v. 16.; title: 86 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: To live in the spirit of adoration is the best " ad; title: vertisement for Christianity ". There are few greater; title: forces for attracting others to our secret, than to wear; title: the external look of interior praise. " Give us to; title: go blithely about our business," wrote Robert Louis; title: Stevenson for his morning prayer ; " help us to perform; title: the petty round of irritating concerns and duties with; title: laughter and kind faces ". " Call us up with morning; title: faces, and with morning hearts," he writes on the; title: evening before his death, "eager to be happy, if happi; title: ness shall be our portion ; and if the day be marked; title: for sorrow, strong to endure it" â€” ever praising the; title: prayer-hearing God.; title: It is in adoration that we are united to the lives of; title: the holy angels : â€”; title: "Angels, in the heights adore Him,; title: Ye behold Him face to face?; title: As they see Him face to face, as they know more and; title: more of Him, the angels find Him more and more; title: adorable : hence the reality of their life of perpetual; title: adoration. The more we see His face, the better we; title: know Him, the more we dwell upon His perfections,; title: the more shall we enter into the angelic life of endless; title: Alleluia.; title: Again, in adoration we link ourselves on to the lives; title: of the Saints : â€”; title: "Holy, Holy, Holy, all Thy Saints adore Thee" â€”; title: Thee in Thine uncreated beauty ; Thee, as the " fairest; title: PRAISE 87; title: among the children of men " ; Thee, in Thy Triune; title: Personality. " There is one person of the Father,; title: another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost,"; title: and it is "every Person by Himself," and the "whole; title: Three Persons together," to whom we bend the knee in; title: adoration. We cannot understand, but we can adore : â€”; title: " O Blessed Trinity !; title: In our astonished reverence, we confess; title: Thine uncreated Loveliness :; title: Holy Trinity,; title: Blessed co-equal Three,; title: One God, we praise Thee."; title: CHAPTER XV.; title: THANKSGIVING.; title: " THINK " and " Thank ". Both words come from the; title: same root ; and the more we think, the more we shall; title: thank. To think is to thank. If we adore God for; title: what He is, we thank Him for what He does; if we; title: adore Him as our Beloved, we thank Him as our; title: Benefactor.; title: In human affairs nothing shocks us more than in; title: gratitude towards a benefactor. Few stories in history; title: are more pathetic than that in which Belisarius com; title: plains of Justinian's neglect, and want of gratitude : â€”; title: " / am poor, and old, and blind:; title: The sun burns me, and the wind; title: Blows through the city gate; title: And covers me with dust; title: From the wheels of the unjust; title: Justinian the Great.; title: " It was for him I chased; title: The Persians o'er wild and waste,; title: As General of the East ;; title: THANKSGIVING 89; title: Night after night I lay; title: In their camps of yesterday; title: Their forage was my feast.; title: " For him., in my feeble age,; title: I dared the battles rage; title: To save Byzantium's State; title: When the tents of Zabergan; title: Like snow-drifts over-ran; title: The road to the Golden Gate.; title: " And for this, for this, behold!; title: Infirm and blind and old,; title: With grey, uncovered head,; title: Beneath this very arch; title: Of my triumphal march; title: I stand and beg my bread ! "; title: How often we so treat God â€” God to Whom we owe; title: our atonement, redemption, salvation, and all the; title: Sacraments which flow from the Wounded Side.; title: Thanksgiving is an essential part of praise, itself an; title: essential element in prayer.; title: And, first, we should thank Him for Himself. We; title: take God for granted. We always assume that He; title: is ours, ours to be had just when and where He is; title: needed ; always at our disposal ; always at our beck; title: and call, in spite of all our neglect and ill-treatment.; title: It is right, splendidly right â€” but we must thank Him; title: for it. It is the same with the Sacraments. We; title: assume them ; we take them for granted ; we expect; title: 9 o PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: them to be ready waiting for us, wherever and when; title: ever it suits us to use them. It is right, wholly right â€”; title: but we must be grateful for them.; title: Again, we should thank Him for the normal ; for; title: the hidden, almost unnoticed benefits He confers upon; title: us â€” benefits such as sleep, or appetite, which we so often; title: take for granted until they are withdrawn. As the; title: most Christlike character is ever doing good by stealth,; title: undiscovered by the recipient, and unknown to the; title: world, so it is with God. " Thy way is in the sea, and; title: Thy paths in the great waters, and Thy footsteps are; title: not known " : * they make no dint in the waves, no vis; title: ible impression on the waters ; they leave no sign of; title: their pressure, but there they are, and we must thank; title: Him for them. No other footstep means what God's; title: footstep means to us.; title: And we must thank Him for our five senses, our; title: limbs, and heart, and lungs, our soundness, and our; title: sanity. It is related of " General " Booth, that he was; title: walking one day down a street, when a wild-eyed man; title: seized his coat and said, "Sir, did you ever realize; title: what a blessing you have in a well-balanced intellect ? "; title: "Well," replied the 'General,' "I do not know that I; title: ever stopped to think of it." " Then get down on your; title: knees and thank God for it now," replied the poor; title: fellow, who was enjoying a rational moment.; title: Next, we must thank Him for " extras" â€” for things; title: not "requisite and necessary," but largesses of His; title: 1 Ps. LXXVII. ig.; title: THANKSGIVING 91; title: love ; things which, perhaps, could be done without ;; title: things such as music, and painting, and flowers. That; title: was a pretty prayer of the child, who prayed : " Give; title: us this day our daily flowers " â€” as well as our daily; title: bread.; title: We may well thank God, too, for friendship â€” for; title: being friends as well as for having friends. It is a; title: fine thing to have so lived that others will miss us; title: when we are gone, to be able to thank God for the; title: privilege of being friends to others, as well as for find; title: ing friends in others. Is there a truer page in all the; title: writings of Charles Dickens than the chapter in "A; title: Tale of Two Cities," in which he describes the talk; title: between Sidney Carton, the ne'er-do-well Barrister,; title: and Mr. Lorry, the Banker? They are looking, each; title: of them, at the future in the light of the present, and; title: in the shadow of the past, and are talking of Lucie; title: Mannette, the wife of Citizen Everemonde.; title: " Yours is a long life to look back upon, sir," said; title: Sidney Carton wistfully.; title: " I am in my seventy-eighth year."; title: " You have been useful all your life 1 Steadily and; title: constantly occupied ; trusted, respected, looked up; title: to. See what a place you fill at seventy-eight. How; title: many people will miss you when you leave it empty 1 "; title: " A solitary old bachelor," answered Mr. Lorry.; title: " There is nobody to weep for me."; title: " How can you say that ? Wouldn't she weep for; title: you ? Wouldn't her child ? "; title: 92 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: "Yes, yes ! thank God! I didn't quite mean what; title: I said."; title: " It is a thing to thank God for, is it not ? "; title: "Surely, surely!"; title: To be allowed to befriend another is a thing to be; title: buoyantly thankful for.; title: Then, we thank Him for our work â€” active and; title: passive. There is the Active Life. We must thank; title: Him for our working lives ; for work to do, and for; title: power to do it. There are few things for which we; title: should thank God more, than for having to get our own; title: living. The weariness of work is not to be compared; title: with the lassitude of indolence. For hundreds who are; title: mad enough to grumble at having to work, there are; title: thousands who are begging for work to do. Who; title: knows what sin and misery, what depression and; title: perhaps despair, work â€” having to work â€” has saved; title: us from ? Many fits of " the blues," and of still; title: darker hues, are dissipated by the necessity of work; title: ing for daily bread. If the poorest people in the; title: world are those who have no work to do, the richest; title: are those who have work to do, and strength to do it.; title: Verdi tells us of a crushing two months in his; title: life, in which he lost his wife and three children,; title: and relates how that, as his last child lay dying,; title: and his heart was breaking, he had to complete a; title: composition for his musical publisher. " I had," he; title: writes, "to fulfil my engagement and write a comic; title: opera. Fancy writing a comic opera under such; title: THANKSGIVING 93; title: conditions ! " And yet, he explains, it was the best; title: thing in the world for him. The very necessity was; title: the blessing which kept him from breaking down ; if; title: not from something worse. " Thank God," he says,; title: "for the work I had to do." Grumblers at the grind; title: of work little realize what far worse misfortunes the; title: very grind has saved them from. The old law is the; title: best. " Six: days shalt thou labour and do all that; title: thou hast to do," â€” not overlapping, and doing what; title: others have to do, or what thou hast not to do, but; title: just what thou hast to do. Six days' work, and; title: strength to do it ! â€” that is the happiest life which any; title: one can lead.; title: Or we may have to thank Him for the Passive Life.; title: Work is not confined to activity. Passive work is; title: real work. Half the work of the world is done by; title: passive workers. We may feel to be growing old,; title: but no one is ever really too old to work for Christ.; title: There is no age limit in work for God. " Love lacks; title: the time for growing old." Our work still goes on,; title: when we are put upon the shelf â€” even if it is ours; title: only, like the clock on the shelf, to tick the time for; title: others to go by. Do we say, with Longfellow :â€¢ â€”; title: " Whatever poet, orator, or sage; title: May say of it, old age is still old age ;; title: It is the waning, not the crescent moon,; title: The dusk of evening, not the blaze of noon â€” "; title: with Longfellow we reply : â€”; title: 94 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: " What then ? Shall we sit idly down, and say; title: The night hath come ; it is no longer day ?; title: The night hath not yet come ; we are not quite; title: Cut off from labour by the failing light ;; title: Something remains for us to do and dare ;; title: Even the oldest tree some fruit may bear.; title: For age is opportunity, no less; title: Than youth itself, though in another dress,; title: And as the evening twilight fades away; title: The sky is filled with stars, invisible by day."; title: It may seem at times as if the passive life was; title: without its uses ; but it is not so. It is a distinct work; title: on our part to enable others to show us kindnesses,; title: and to spend themselves upon us in loving self-sacrifice.; title: We may be the means whereby they may win their; title: crown â€” though ours may be the harder task of being; title: helped, rather than of helping.; title: There is something to thank God for even in being; title: taken off the list of active workers. Passive work; title: may be a higher form of work than mere activity.; title: The surrender may often be far greater in being used,; title: than in using ourselves. It may be with us as with the; title: bamboo tree in the old Indian fable â€” the bamboo; title: which, being cut down and shorn of all its beauty, is; title: fitted into other tubes like itself and used to convey; title: water from the mountain springs to the villagers be; title: neath. Active workers become passive workers after; title: their activity is over. Cut down like the bamboo;; title: thrust to the very heart with axe and knife ; shorn of; title: THANKSGIVING 95; title: much that is beautiful, God can join them to others; title: like them, and use them to convey living waters to; title: parched souls, to be channels of refreshment to those; title: who are still in the thick of the fight â€” in a word to be; title: used rather than to use themselves.; title: Again, we may thank God for our circumstances â€”; title: often the hardest thanksgiving of all. But whatever; title: they are, we are debtors to our circumstances. It is; title: in our varying circumstances and surroundings of life; title: that we see our same selves in varied aspects, and un; title: til we know ourselves under different conditions we; title: are only in the outer court of self-knowledge. Who; title: does not remember the change wrought by circum; title: stances in the kindly character of Colonel Newcome,; title: and the faults and latent qualities they brought out in; title: him ? " Do we know ourselves," asks the great novel; title: ist, or what good or evil circumstances may bring; title: out in us? "Did Cain know, as he and his younger; title: brother played round their mother's knee, that that; title: little hand that caressed Abel should one day grow; title: larger and seize a brand to slay him ? "; title: Man may not always be the maker of his circum; title: stances, but he is always their trustee. His surround; title: ings are, even when self-induced, " an heritage and; title: gift that cometh of the Lord," and he is as much respon; title: sible for the stewardship of circumstances as for any; title: other gift. They, at least, supply him with opportuni; title: ties of rising above himself, which he might otherwise; title: lack. " O God," prayed one, in sad and narrowing; title: 96 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: surroundings â€” " O God, lead me out of these circum; title: stances into a larger, fuller life ". Then, struck by; title: his selfishness, he said : " I must reverse that prayer "; title: â€” and he prayed, " Help me so to live in these sur; title: roundings that I may lift them up to a higher level; title: instead of descending to their level ".; title: Unselected circumstances are often the very cords; title: which bind us to the life of service, active or passive â€”; title: the only true life known to the Christian. It is safer; title: to shine where we are placed than to choose our place; title: for shining. We may drive through the streets of; title: London on some dark night, and see the different; title: lights shining each in its given area. Each is needed; title: just where it is placed, or that particular area would; title: be exposed to darkness with its dangers and tempta; title: tions. If only the lamp-posts could talk in fairy-; title: language! Would they complain of the dullness of; title: always shining in one place ? Would some lamp in; title: the East, tired of its drab surroundings, long to be; title: moved out West ? Or would one in the West, sick of; title: its veneered environment, long to go down and shine; title: in the East ? Yet, each, in its place, contributes to the; title: whole lighting of London.; title: And, too, thanksgiving is the proved antidote to; title: depression. We must thank God for the bright times; title: we have had, especially in the dark times we are having.; title: The heroine of Schiller's " Wallenstein " sang: " Ich; title: habe gelebt und geliebet" . " I have lived and loved "; title: â€” and 1 thank God for it. Thanksgiving for past; title: THANKSGIVING 97; title: joys is far more helpful than depression at present; title: sorrows. " Black Mondays " come and go, and the; title: thankful soul passes them by. We have all had such; title: times, and we shall all have them again. " Watchman,; title: what of the night ? The watchman said, the morning; title: cometh and also the night" x " And also the night ! "; title: The night, as well as the morning, is within the circle; title: of ordained circumstances, and will be â€” " until the; title: day break and the shadows flee away". There is; title: something (certainly not good poetry!) in the lines; title: which tell of the husband's cheer-word to his wife, at; title: a black moment in their lives : â€”; title: " O, don't be sorrowful, darling !; title: Now, don't be sorrowful pray ;; title: For taking the year together ; dear,; title: There isn't more night than day.; title: It's rainy weather, my loved one,; title: Time's wheels, they heavily run,; title: But taking the year together, my dear,; title: There isn't more rain than sun.; title: " We're old folks now, companion â€”; title: Our heads are getting grey ;; title: But taking the year all round, my dear,; title: You will always find the May.; title: We had our May, my good wife,; title: And our roses, long ago,; title: And the time of the year is come, my dear,; title: For the long dark nights, and the snow.; title: 1 Is. XXI. II, 12.; title: 98 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: " But God is God, my dear one,; title: Of night as well as day,; title: And we feel and know, that we can go; title: Wherever he leads the way.; title: Ah! God of the night, my faithful,; title: Of the night of death, if grim !; title: And the gate that from life leads out, good wife,; title: Is the gate that leads to Him?; title: CHAPTER XVI.; title: WORSHIP.; title: THERE is yet a third part in the life of praise â€” wor; title: ship ; or, as the word literally means, "worth-ship,"; title: that which is worthy of honour. 1; title: We may think of it under three heads : Divine; title: Worship ; Sunday Worship ; Eucharistic Worship.; title: DIVINE WORSHIP.; title: By Divine Worship we mean, of course, worship of; title: the Divine. Man must worship something â€” or, rather; title: someone ; for even if he seems to worship the inani; title: mate, he endues it with personality. In worshipping; title: sun, moon, and stars, or stone, stick, and wood, man; title: mostly worshipped the spirit which they symbolized; title: or were said to embody. The thing itself soon ceased; title: to satisfy. Even if the golden calf temporarily satis; title: fied the people as an object of worship, it neither; title: satisfied Aaron, nor was meant by him to satisfy; title: the worshippers. It was to Jehovah and not to; title: 1 Cf. Ps. xviii. 2 : "I will call upon the Lord which is worthy to be; title: praised ".; title: 99 7 *; title: too PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: the symbolical image itself that Aaron proclaimed; title: the feast. 1; title: It is the same with nature-worship 2 â€” in which the; title: powers of nature are personified and worshipped. A; title: belief in nature-spirits, however childish, alone makes; title: the worship of nature intelligible. Poor nature! we; title: may deify her, but she is, in spite of all her charms, a; title: "sad goddess"; in spite of all her beauty a "pock; title: marked goddess " ; in spite of all her fascination a; title: " cruel goddess ". If, indeed, she be a goddess, she is; title: a hard, relentless deity who demands her pound of; title: flesh with all a Shylock's pertinacity, and exacts; title: eternal retribution for the smallest breach in any one; title: of her laws. Poor goddess ! so metallic ! so ruthless !; title: so law-bound ! What does she know of the Divine; title: law of forgiveness, as she takes her clients by the; title: throat and hisses out at them, as the first and last; title: article of her belief, "Pay me that thou owest" : â€”; title: "/'// have my bond ; speak not against my bond"; title: Nature a goddess ! Well, if she be, her devotees; title: have endued even her with personality. Did not; title: Macaulay's ancient Roman endue the Tiber with; title: fatherhood ?; title: But looking through the created to the Creator,; title: from the thing made to Him that made it, we find; title: man's highest object of worship is a Personal God, and; title: that the highest part of his being instinctively responds; title: 1 Exod. xxxn. 4, 5, 8.; title: 8 Cf. Sir John Lubbock's " Origin of Civilization," 1882, p. 206 sq.; title: WORSHIP 101; title: to the Psalmist's "Venite": " O come let us worship; title: and fall down, and kneel before the Lord our Maker".; title: God has presented Himself before man as a Personal; title: God, as the one object finally worthy to satisfy man's; title: craving for worship.; title: Not, of course, that all other objects of love and; title: worship are to be crushed out and annihilated. 1; title: Divine Worship does not demand that we should; title: wrench from the heart all other loves, but it does; title: demand that these lesser loves should themselves bow; title: down before, and worship, the one True Love. " Wor; title: ship Him all ye gods." It is not that we are to have; title: no human heroes, no earthly hero-worship ; but that; title: these heroes themselves shall do homage to the Ideal; title: Hero, the Man, Christ Jesus. God spake these; title: words and said ; " thou shalt have none other gods; title: before me" â€” coram Me, in My presence, before My; title: face. All other loves, that is, must fade into the; title: secondary in the presence of the "altogether lovely".; title: And is there not here a partial reply to the ever-; title: recurring question, How can we know whether we love; title: God ? The answer is, where, and upon what level, do; title: we place other loves in the presence of the love that; title: is chiefest among ten thousand ? A man may rightly; title: love a woman, or a woman a man ; or a woman may; title: (though not without some risk) worship another woman,; title: or a man (with less risk) another man â€” and it may be; title: as pure and as true as the hero-worship of the school-; title: 1 Cf. i Chron. xxix. 20 ; i S. John iv. 7.; title: loz PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: boy or the schoolgirl. The question is one of level,; title: of proportion, of comparison. Comparison ! That is; title: the illuminating word.; title: Comparison was the Psalmist's test-word. " Who,"; title: he asks, "is he among the clouds that shall be com; title: pared unto the Lord," l and, he adds, " there is none; title: upon earth that I desire in comparison of Thee. " 2 Com; title: parison was the Master's test-word : " Simon, son of; title: Jonas, lovest thou Me more than these ? " 3 â€” " compared; title: with the love of others who have not sinned as thou; title: hast ; in proportion to thy fall, thy boastings, thy sin,; title: how does thy love compare with their love, with James's; title: love, with John's love, with Matthew's love?" 4 Or,; title: " lovest thou Me more than thou lovest these thy com; title: rades? " 5 He does not ask, "hast thou quenched all; title: love for James, or John, or wife, or mother ? hast thou; title: steeled thy heart against a special love for ' the disciple; title: whom Jesus loved ' ? hast thou become cold and dead; title: to men and women, created in God's own image and; title: similitude?" â€” but, "loving these with all the wealth; title: of the Divine love within thee, ' lovest thou Me more? ' '; title: That is the test.; title: It is often through human love that we come to; title: know the Divine ; it is always through the Divine love; title: that we come to know the human. Ideally, they are; title: inseparable â€” the love of the brother whom we have; title: 1 Ps. LXXXIX. 6. a Ps. LXXIII. 24.; title: 3 S. John xxi. 15. 4 Cf. Bishop Westcott in loc.; title: 6 Cf. "The Gospel of S. John," F. D. Maurice, in loc.; title: WORSHIP 103; title: seen, and the love of Him Whom we have not seen ;; title: but the ideal love passes on through the human to the; title: Divine, and stretches out its heart to see in Christ the; title: true end of all hero-worship : â€”; title: " O Christ our King : the King and Son of Mary,; title: Our Champion, Saviour, Brother, Priest and; title: Friend,; title: Teach Thou each yearning throb of hero-worship,; title: How to pass on to Thee, as its true end."; title: Or we may answer our question more fully, perhaps,; title: by taking a concrete example from the setting of our; title: will. We have said that we worship God for what He; title: wills ; that in prayer we deliberately, and of set pur; title: pose, choose the Will of God before the will of man, if; title: the two wills clash.; title: Here, again, is our test. If, for example, the will of; title: another is antagonistic to the known Will of God, and; title: we deliberately choose the higher and reject the lower,; title: then we do know that we do love God best ; if we wil; title: fully reject the higher and embrace the lower, then; title: we do know, by the law of comparison, that we do not; title: love God as we hope to love Him some day. In the; title: act of choice, by the yielding of the will, we discover; title: the tell-tale token.; title: SUNDAY WORSHIP.; title: But "Divine Worship," in its technical sense, is; title: by the average Englishman more generally associated; title: 104 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: with a set form of worship, and is more especially con; title: nected with one day of the week â€” Sunday.; title: The primary object of Sunday is worship â€” and if it; title: be said that " rest " is of prior obligation, then it is; title: " rest " for the purpose of " worship ". Sunday rest is; title: for Sunday worship.; title: Here, Church and State go, or should go, hand in; title: hand. The State makes, or should make, it possible; title: for the Church to devote one day in seven to definite; title: and external acts of worship. By securing a universal; title: cessation from business, it protects the Christian as he; title: formally consecrates his six days of work on his seventh; title: day of worship. A State-guarded Sunday is a necessity.; title: But Sunday is something more than " one day in seven "; title: for bodily rest, though that it certainly is. It is much; title: more than a good investment for health, though, for six-; title: day workers, it is practically essential. Ideally, the break; title: in the week-day work still is, as it originally was, for; title: the sake of Sunday worship.; title: To the Churchman, of course, the central service of; title: Christian worship is the Eucharist â€” the only Christian; title: service instituted by our Lord, or mentioned in the; title: New Testament. From it, as from Rome's " Golden; title: Milestone," is measured the length and breadth, the; title: right and wrong, the wisdom and unwisdom, the sel; title: fishness and unselfishness of Sunday occupations, and; title: of Sunday amusements. Measured by this standard,; title: the modern idea of many good people that one hour's; title: devotion at a Sunday's Eucharist, followed by eleven; title: WORSHIP 105; title: hours' devotion to " week-day amusements," is pitifully; title: inadequate. There is something inconceivably mean; title: in drugging the conscience with a minimum of religion; title: and a maximum of amusement. Obviously, cases; title: differ. There are cases where such a measurement; title: might, for the worn week-day worker, be wholly legi; title: timate ; but such cases do not, of course, include those; title: whose ordinary Sunday is but a seventh day's rest added; title: to their six days' leisure.; title: " Worship " is the golden milestone from which the; title: question of this or that Sunday amusement must be; title: measured. If the amusement results in dissipating; title: the spirit of Eucharistic worship ; if it damages the; title: bloom of an early Communion ; if it deadens the soul's; title: sensitiveness to sacred things ; then it is surely wrong â€”; title: wrong not necessarily in itself, but for the individual.; title: Measured from the Sunday Eucharist, the whole; title: subject of Sunday recreation must (like week-day; title: devotions) be approached and settled by one main; title: principle â€” the principle of selection. Where the Church; title: has issued no definite direction, each worshipper must; title: select the form of recreation which is, to him, most; title: consistent with the spirit of recollection. To most of; title: us, the rough-and-tumble of a football match, with its; title: inevitable accompaniments, the crowd, the gate-money,; title: the excitement, would probably be more inconsistent; title: with Sunday worship than, say, golf, though, perhaps,; title: equally harmless in itself. But it is in these days im; title: possible to generalize for the individual. Forms of; title: 106 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: amusement may be equally innocent in themselves,; title: but not equally harmless to every one. Each must; title: fall back upon the principle of selection.; title: It was this principle which underlay the much mis; title: understood "Declaration of Sports" published by; title: James I, and republished by Charles I. First, it asserts; title: a standard of worship ; then it, rightly or wrongly,; title: selects certain special amusements as not inconsistent; title: with that worship. "And as," runs the Declaration,; title: " for our good people's lawful Recreation, our pleasure; title: is, that after the end of Divine Service, our good people; title: be not disturbed, letted, or discouraged, for any lawful; title: recreation, Such as dauncing . . . Archery ... or; title: any such harmless recreation ... so as the same be; title: had in due and convenient time, without impediment or; title: neglect of Divine Service. . . . But with all we doe; title: here account still as prohibited all unlawful games to; title: bee used upon Sundayes onely, as Beare and Bull-bait; title: ings, Interludes, and at all times in the meaner sort of; title: people by Law prohibited, Bowling." Here is the; title: principle of selection. We are not concerned to defend; title: " lawful dauncing " as against the prohibited " Bowl; title: ing " ; but to show the underlying principle â€” just as,; title: in earlier days, the Christian Emperors allowed certain; title: amusements on Sundays, but disallowed others ; such; title: as the circus. The principle is of personal application.; title: Where authority is silent, each must decide what is; title: right â€” so that it be " after the end of and not to the; title: neglect of Divine Service" ,; title: WORSHIP 107; title: EUCHARISTIC WORSHIP.; title: Eucharistic worship has, indeed, a yet deeper mean; title: ing for Churchmen. The actual " Communion of the; title: Body and Blood of Christ " (that is, union with Jesus); title: is the highest form of worship known on earth.; title: That needs no argument. A secondary form 'of; title: worship will be found in the adoration of the Deity; title: hidden in the Holy Mysteries. It is the worship of; title: which S. Thomas speaks : â€”; title: " Devoutly I adore Thee, hidden Deity unseen; title: Who Thyself concealeth 'neath these shadows mean"; title: In the Blessed Sacrament we worship Christ â€”; title: "Him," not "it".; title: This, as Dr. Pusey says, is " the natural result of; title: that Presence," though " not the object of the institu; title: tion ". It is with the supernatural as with the natural.; title: Secondary uses may, and often must, be involved in; title: primary objects. For instance, telegraph wires exist; title: for one special, primary, purpose â€” to convey messages; title: from one given point to another. But, as a sweet; title: singer of to-day has reminded us, they have a second; title: ary use â€” to provide a resting-place for the tired birds : â€”; title: " Little birds sit on the telegraph wires; title: And chitter, and flitter, and fold their wings ;; title: Maybe they think that for them and their sires; title: Stretched always on purpose, those wonderful strings.; title: And perhaps the thought that the world inspires,; title: Did plan for the birds, among other things."; title: io8 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: Primary intentions do not necessarily exclude sec; title: ondary objects. This is supremely true of the Eucha; title: rist. It has its primary and its secondary purpose,; title: and it is as foolish to pit communion against worship; title: as it is disastrous to substitute worship for communion.; title: Both are forms of worship ; both are beautifully blended; title: in the great hymn of S. Thomas translated by the late; title: Bishop Woodford of Ely, in " Hymns Ancient and; title: Modern," uniting, as it does, both the adoration and; title: reception of the " hidden Deity unseen ".; title: " Thee we adore, O hidden Saviour, Thee; title: Who in this Sacrament dost deign to be ; "; title: and then,; title: " may our souls for ever feed on Thee; title: And Thou, O Christ, for ever precious be"; title: Such worship is, it is true, specially and Divinely; title: connected with the first day of the week ; but it is; title: not limited to Sunday. It is a growing practice with; title: some to begin their week-day work with week-day; title: worship; to start the day, when possible, with the; title: daily prayer which leads to daily practice. For this; title: we say our "Deo Gratias ".; title: CHAPTER XVII.; title: FASTING.; title: THE second of the " Three Notable Duties" is Fasting.; title: Fasting is, as we have seen, 1 going without some; title: thing : primarily food. It includes, of course, fasting; title: from sin ; but this is to think of it as an end rather; title: than as a means, and it is as a means to an end that; title: we shall now consider it.; title: When we fast, whether physically or spiritually, we; title: have an end in view ; and, speaking generally, this end; title: is self-control. We take this or that pleasure, or this; title: or that desire, this smoking, this drink, this comfort,; title: this luxury, this excitement, this habit, and say, can; title: we go without it? â€” not necessarily because it is wrong; title: in itself, but to test whether it is riding us or we are; title: riding it.; title: Fasting, then, is a branch of mortification which; title: aims at self-control. To fast so as to lose self-control; title: is to miss the very object for which fasting was de; title: signed. It is to allow a means to an end to defeat; title: the end in view ; and in such cases, fasting from fast; title: ing, mortifying the desire for mortification, is necessary,; title: 1 See Introduction.; title: 109; title: no PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: though this is, indeed, rarely needed in these days.; title: Thus, physical fasting is not meant to weaken the; title: body, but to strengthen the will. Spiritual fasting is; title: not meant to crush out the aspirations, but to dis; title: cipline the emotions â€” to be, as S. Thomas Aquinas; title: would put it, "a perfect quieting of all our impulses,; title: fleshly and spiritual ".; title: It is in its fleshly and spiritual aspects that Scrip; title: ture deals with the whole question of mortification.; title: According to the Scriptures, mortification has a two; title: fold purpose â€” to restrain the spirit, and to subdue the; title: flesh.; title: To RESTRAIN THE SPIRIT.; title: This is the highest plane upon which mortification is; title: placed in the New Testament, and our forgetfulness; title: of this shows how far we have travelled from the ideal.; title: S. Paul's idea of mortification was not merely to mortify; title: his animal passions, but to restrain his spiritual impulses; title: â€” lest he should uplift himself above himself, as well; title: as lest he degrade himself below himself. The words; title: seem to indicate something higher and nobler than a; title: mere antidote to pride, though that no doubt they; title: express. Mortification was, in his view, to discipline; title: spiritual rapture, 1 no less than scourge carnal animalism; title: â€” though that, too, was necessary. 2 It was to subdue; title: the flames of a heart on fire with love to God, and to; title: 1 2 Cor. xii. 2. 2 i Cor. ix. 27.; title: FASTING in; title: control the rapture of spirit " Lest I should be exalted; title: above measure" he writes, " there was given unto me a; title: thorn in the flesh, lest (he repeats) I should be exalted; title: above measure " * â€” and because of the intimate union; title: between body and spirit, spiritual transport, and all too; title: often spiritual pride, must be balanced by bodily morti; title: fication, ecstasy by discipline.; title: Ecstasy ! The Saints' experience has been shared by; title: every sane ecstatic. For there is such a thing as sane; title: ecstasy. There is a condition in which the spirit-part; title: of man can be best described in Bible language, as; title: " whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot; title: tell, God knoweth. 2 " Unmortified, it may, and often; title: does, border on hysteria, and msiy even develop into; title: insanity ; unbalanced, it may and often does lower,; title: rather than elevate, both the spiritual and the material; title: life.; title: All ecstatics are not saints ; all saints are not; title: ecstatics. There is the false ecstatic and the true; title: ecstatic, just as there is the false mystic and the true; title: mystic. The false mystic lets his imagination run; title: wild, lacks a right motive in his excessive austerities,; title: is undisciplined in prayer, and self-centred in his; title: spiritual exercises. The true mystic is balanced and; title: self-emptying, and has as his prime motive the vision,; title: not of self, but of God : " He," as S. Teresa says,; title: " devotes himself to the service of God with manly; title: courage ".; title: 1 2 Cor. xii. 7. 2 2 Cor. xn. 3.; title: ii2 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: It is the same with ecstasy. Ecstasy has its own; title: place in the saintly life. It is largely a question of; title: balance. Balanced rapture is not hysteria. Men may; title: be duly balanced and yet be under such spiritual and; title: physical conditions that they may, like S. Paul, see; title: what to others is invisible, and hear l what to others is; title: inaudible ; women may be under such conditions that; title: they may, like S. Teresa, (that sanest of saints,) enjoy; title: what Professor Caird calls " the most exalted experi; title: ences " which are a sealed book to others. Both men; title: and women may, like S. Francis and S. Gertrude, see; title: visions on the mountains unseen by us on the plain.; title: Who can doubt that the S. Bernard of Perugino's; title: " Crucifixion " sees more than we see ? S. Peter and S.; title: Paul are both conscious of being in a state in which; title: they see visions which shape their future lives. Such; title: a state is described in Scripture as being in a trance,; title: being in an ecstasy, being spiritually inebriated. 2 It; title: is a condition which S. Ambrose tells us " infuseth joy; title: and bringeth not confusion," and when rightly balanced; title: enables a S. Teresa to write such common-sense advice; title: to the Pope and magistrates, and to extricate her Church; title: and country from so many political difficulties : â€”; title: " Ecstatic is the worship of the Saints,; title: For, out of self , in Christ they take their stand ;; title: The soul self-centred, baffled falls and faints ;; title: Christ-centred, we are sheltered by the Hand; title: 1 Acts ix. 7.; title: 2 CÂ£ Dr. Pusey's " Letter to the Bishop of London ".; title: FASTING 113; title: That lifts the golden censer ; and presents; title: The sure oblation at that Altar high; title: That loftiest throng, whereto His Sacraments; title: Uplift the vassals of Loves sovereignty"; title: But such a state is, alas ! at present for the most; title: part abnormal, and is, without much self-discipline, full; title: of reactionary dangers. It needs some "thorn in the; title: flesh," some mortification, voluntary or involuntary, to; title: restrain the spirit's rapture, and to nail it to the normal ;; title: " lest," as the Apostle found, the spirit "should be; title: exalted above measure " ; " lest " unbalanced ecstasy; title: should develop into settled melancholia or nervous dis; title: order ; " lest " it open the door to a host of demons trans; title: figured into angels of light ; " lest " the ecstatic merge; title: into a chronic visionary. In such cases, mortification; title: of the body has its place in subduing the spirit, "lest''; title: it obtain an unbridled mastery, and get out of hand.; title: II.; title: And this reminds us that there is a sense in which; title: even the devotional life needs self-discipline. There; title: must, at times, be fasting from spiritual enjoyments,; title: from getting rather than giving. It is, of course, quite; title: possible to overdo the teaching that we go to church; title: to give, and not to get ; we do go to get as well as to; title: give. For many a soul, " going to church " is the one; title: main channel through which sorely-needed help often; title: comes â€” help often sought for and found quite healthily; title: and happily in the Church's services and sermons.; title: 8; title: ii 4 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: But there is a type of service which appeals, and ap; title: peals only, to the sensuous part of certain tempera; title: ments, and which, while absolutely right in itself, is; title: made an end and not a means to an end. Apart from; title: the motive of the worshipper, it has little or nothing to; title: do with true worship. Its very fascination is its snare.; title: " I like it," " it appeals to me," " it makes me feel good,"; title: " it seems to take me out of myself," and so on. It is,; title: nothing but "me," " me," "me" all the way through.; title: How often "self" is sole reason for going to this or; title: that service, irrespective of dull duties or others' needs.; title: There are times when it may be well to restrain our; title: selves from overfeeding in things "spiritual" as well; title: as in things natural ; times when it is safer to dwell; title: upon that which appeals less to our emotions, and; title: more to our intelligence. There are times when a; title: certain class of temperament needs to realize more; title: fully the responsibility of going to service after service,; title: and listening to sermon after sermon, meditation after; title: meditation (during, we will say, some Festal Octave,; title: or the forty days of Lent) and to ask what is the out; title: come of it all. It is quite possible to get into a vision; title: ary, dreamy, state which needs some sharp thorn to; title: prick us out of. Even our devotions must be signed; title: with the sign of the Cross.; title: This devotional danger is, indeed, common to; title: every part of the Catholic Churchâ€” the danger is of; title: substituting satisfaction for aspiration. This world; title: is not the sphere for satisfaction, but for struggle â€” for; title: FASTING 115; title: attaining, not for obtaining. Any branch of the; title: Church which dangles earthly satisfaction before us,; title: as a bait for our allegiance, stands self-condemned.; title: " Blessed are ye that hunger now" This is the beati; title: tude of aspiration, not of satiety â€” whether in things; title: physical, moral, or spiritual. There is always a risk; title: in clutching at some fancied Paradise before the time,; title: and the consequent reaction drives not a few souls into; title: the desert of atheism, or the drier desert of don't-care.; title: Satisfaction is one of the gifts reserved for the New; title: Life. " Blessed are ye that hunger now, for ye shall be; title: filled." l; title: Another devotional tendency which may need morti; title: fying is an unrestrained craving for " extras " â€” often; title: leading us to under-estimate the value of what we; title: already have, but fail to realize. This craving may; title: easily develop into a desire for something fresh for its; title: own sake, or into pure self-pleasing and nothing more,; title: and is frequently the cause why poor restless souls; title: " change their religion ". Here again there need not; title: necessarily be anything wrong, but it needs watching; title: lest it lead to an unholy discontent, and to the substi; title: tution of pleasure for devotion. Enjoyment and de; title: votion may, of course, rightly co-exist â€” and, indeed, a; title: religion devoid of enjoyment would be like a gospel; title: without good news ; but even when they do go hand in; title: hand, mortification is from time to time necessary to; title: keep the balance true. It is for this purpose that God; title: 1 S. Luke vi. 21.; title: 8*; title: n6 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: sometimes lets us go without "extras," lest they lead; title: us into the temptation of mere excitement.; title: He may, indeed, place us where we cannot get even; title: the ordinary means of grace. This, too, may be the; title: opening of a gate to spiritual mortification. There is; title: a well-known sentence in the " Eikon Basilike," which; title: is not unneeded now. In it, the royal writer consoles; title: himself, during his enforced residence at Holdenby,; title: with the thought that God will make up to him the; title: means of grace which he cannot obtain. " My comfort; title: is," he writes, " that in the enforced, not neglected,; title: want of ordinary means, God is wont to afford extra; title: ordinary supplies of His gifts and graces. If His; title: spirit will teach me, and help my infirmities in prayer,; title: reading and meditation, as I hope He will, I shall need; title: no other, either orator or instructor."; title: Or God may so order our health that we have to go; title: without what seem, not " extras," but the bare necessi; title: ties of spiritual nourishment. There is a useful letter in; title: the life of James Skinner, which tells of one deprived; title: through ill-health of her Communions. " I have now; title: been deprived ten days," she writes from a Religious; title: house, " without even going down to chapel for Holy; title: Communion. The Pere M won't even let me speak; title: of it as a privation. ' Le bon Dieu peut bien Se communi-; title: quer autrement que par le Sacrentent, quand il en prive; title: une ame. La souffrance est en elle-meme un moyen; title: dunion a Dieu ' â€” and I feel every day the truth of what; title: the Pere says, for I have never been more completely; title: FASTING 1 1 7; title: shut out from everything, even from reading. So if; title: ill-health is a means to the end, one prefers it, or as; title: the P&re Provincial once said to me, ' if it seems God's; title: Will to draw you close to Himself/ar la voie des priva; title: tions dans les choses spirituelles', even the privation be; title: comes, in a way, sweeter than the abundance." How; title: ever this may be for us, spiritual mortification has its; title: own part to play in the devotional life.; title: CHAPTER XVIII.; title: TO SUBDUE THE FLESH.; title: BUT there is another use for which fasting is designed.; title: We pray in the Collect for the first Sunday in Lent,; title: that " we may use such abstinence that our flesh being; title: subdued to the spirit, we may ever obey Thy godly; title: motions ". So, again, we pray for the newly-baptized; title: child that his " carnal affections may die in him, and; title: all things belonging to the spirit may live and grow in; title: him " 1; title: If the spirit needs restraint, so does the flesh. We; title: can never float high enough to see " the Heavenly; title: vision " while we are weighed down by an unmortified; title: body. " Mortify, therefore, your members which are; title: upon the earth," 2 that you may see the things which; title: are not upon the earth. A luxurious diet, habitual; title: overfeeding, "a full body" â€” such unbalanced animal; title: ism induces a spirit-blindness which can see nothing; title: beyond the material. Even the old Latin satirist dis; title: covered this, and tells how the body loaded with yester-; title: 1 Service for the Public Baptism of Infants.; title: a Col. in. 5.; title: 118; title: TO SUBDUE THE FLESH 119; title: day's excess, weighs down the mind, and pins to ground; title: a part of breath Divine. 1 If the flesh pins the spirit to; title: the ground, it needs mortifying. The worst woe pro; title: nounced by the Saviour was " woe unto you that are; title: full," for such body-fullness is soul-grossness. A body; title: sluggish with eating and drinking, chains the spirit; title: within its own carnal grossness, and keeps it from; title: rising above the earthly. It " pins it to the ground ".; title: Men of old fasted ere they saw visions. " Four; title: days ago I was fasting," said Cornelius, "until this; title: hour ; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house,; title: and, behold, a man stood before me in bright cloth; title: ing.'' 2 If we would see the " man with bright cloth; title: ing," it will not be by pandering to a self-indulgent; title: appetite. So with S. Peter : " And he became very; title: hungry, and would have eaten : but while they made; title: ready, he fell into a trance, and saw heaven opened " 3; title: â€” and there, in that wonderful trance, in which two of; title: the man's ruling passions â€” the exclusiveness of the; title: Jewish race, and the selectness of Jewish food â€” domin; title: ated his ecstasy, he saw, like his brother Apostle,; title: things which he had otherwise not seen. "The flesh; title: being subdued to the spirit," he could obey those; title: " godly motions," and make the response which was to; title: move so large a part of the human race.; title: There is no other way in which we can see the; title: Vision-Beautiful. If we would see with the eyes of; title: 1 Hor., " Sat." n. 2, 7, 8. a Acts x. 30.; title: 3 Acts x. 10, ii.; title: 120 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: the spirit, we must mortify the deeds of the body. It; title: is strange how much we miss by the wilful neglect of; title: such a power as fasting â€” a power entrusted to us by; title: our Lord Himself, and handed down to us through a; title: long line of Saints from the earliest days of the Christian; title: faith.; title: For the flesh is an upstart, ever trying to drag the; title: spirit down to its own fallen level, and fasting, as a; title: means to self-control, has two offices to fulfil â€” to pre; title: vent, and to punish. It prevents that which may be; title: harmful ; it punishes that which has done the harm.; title: I. PREVENTIVE.; title: Here, fasting is going without something harmless; title: in order to avoid something harmful. Thus we may; title: at times fast from certain stimulants or food in order; title: to avoid the deadly sin of intoxication, or the less; title: recognized, but not less deadly sin of gluttony. In; title: such cases fasting is the self-deprivation of that which; title: is lawful, lest we lust after that which is unlawful.; title: The end in view is self-control ; the "means whereby "; title: is self-discipline.; title: It is for this purpose, among others, that the Church; title: appoints certain definite days of fasting or of abstin; title: ence, such as those ordered at the beginning of our; title: Prayer Book. Why should we fast on Fridays ? It; title: is that we may not exceed on Saturdays, or on any; title: other day in the week. Why should we fast in Lent?; title: It is that we may not exceed at Easter, or at any; title: TO SUBDUE THE FLESH 121; title: other season in the year. It is the Epistle for Easter; title: Day which bids us, immediately after the Lenten Fast,; title: "mortify therefore your members which are upon the; title: earth ". There may be no special temptation on any; title: one particular day, but who knows when the tempta; title: tion will come? We must be ready â€” and readiness; title: presupposes practice. The fire-brigade practises when; title: there is no fire, in order that it may be ready when; title: there is a fire.; title: Again, fasting, going without something, will often; title: prevent self-indulgence in its grossest forms â€” not by; title: crushing out God-given desires, but by preventing; title: them from being used in God-forbidden ways, by; title: keeping them within the barriers of God-imposed; title: limits. Fasting is the sworn foe of sensuality. If we; title: moderate our eating and drinking, the demon of wrong; title: desire will often beat a hasty retreat. More especially; title: is this true at the end of the day.; title: II. PUNITIVE.; title: This aspect, too, is Scriptural. Whole nations have; title: fasted as part of their penance. " I proclaimed a fast; title: . . . that we might afHict ourselves before our God," 1; title: writes Ezra of the whole Jewish nation. The fast of the; title: Ninevites, and the fast which the prophet Joel ordered,; title: were regarded as necessary elements in national; title: repentance. So with the individual. S. Paul, after; title: his conversion, fasted for three days in self-surrender-; title: 1 Ezra vin. 21.; title: 122 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: ing penitence, and the life of saint after saint tells; title: the same story. " And indeed," says Jeremy Taylor,; title: " it were a strange repentance that had no sorrow in it,; title: but it were the strangest scene in the world when the; title: sad and afflicted person shall eat freely and delight; title: himself, and at the banquets of a full table serve up; title: no chalice of tears and sorrow, and no bread of afflic; title: tion." " It is," he adds, " but a gentle revenge when; title: the sad sinnner shall do penance in good meals, and; title: expiate his sin with sensual satisfaction."; title: Self-punishment for sin can often be practised by; title: fasting privately, especially by those to whom food; title: means much and to whom the palate is a temptation.; title: Such a suggestion might seem almost childish, if it; title: were not so fatally true that the weak-willed cannot; title: compass it, cannot resist a tempting dish, cannot; title: refuse a dangerous drink â€” and that, in spite of known; title: consequences, and repeated resolutions, to say nothing; title: of doctor's orders. To such, fasting or abstinence; title: may be a very efficacious penance.; title: CHAPTER XIX.; title: FASTING AND REVERENCE.; title: THERE is yet another office which fasting fulfils,; title: which is neither preventive nor punitive, but rever; title: ential â€” an aspect in which we think more directly of; title: God than of ourselves. Such, for instance, is the fast; title: before receiving the Blessed Sacrament. It may,; title: indeed, be a very real act of bodily mortification to; title: some to whom fasting is a physical difficulty ; but the; title: primary motive of fasting Communion is that of; title: reverence. 1; title: " Fasting before Communion," writes Jeremy Taylor,; title: " is a custom of the Church and derived to us from; title: great antiquity, and the use of it is that we might; title: express honour to the Mystery. Fasting for this; title: purpose is not as an act of mortification but of rever; title: ence." Then he enlarges the thought and applies; title: it to our morning devotions, though of course on a; title: different plane of obedience. "Not to eat or drink; title: before we have said our morning devotions is esteemed; title: 1 This is not the place in which to discuss the history of fasting; title: Communion, but see F. Puller's " Fast before Communion ".; title: 123; title: 124 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: to be a religious decency, and preference of prayer and; title: God's honour before our temporal satisfaction."; title: It was as an act of reverence that the Jews did not; title: break their fast on festivals before the sixth hour â€” that; title: is, that they might do their devotions before eating; title: and drinking. In this sense, it was used as a con; title: vincing plea of " not guilty," when at Pentecost the; title: Apostles were charged with being " full of new wine ".; title: " These are not drunken," runs the argument, " seeing; title: it is but the third hour of the day," l that is of a day; title: on which no Jew would break his fast before the sixth; title: hour. It will be remembered, too, how it scandalized; title: the Jews when the disciples rubbed the ears of corn; title: early on the Sabbath day â€” a day on which no Jew; title: might break his fast until his public devotions were; title: duly performed.; title: This is the principle which our Lord came, not to; title: destroy, but to fulfil. Like any other principle, it may; title: be misapplied ; like any other rule it may be run to; title: death ; but it is as necessary for Christian as for Jew â€”; title: and possibly more so. To fast as an act of reverence; title: may be as acceptable to God as to fast as an act of; title: mortification may be useful to man.; title: Yet again, we fast, we learn self-restraint, we practise; title: bodily mortification, as an act of reverence towards our; title: bodies â€” bodies made pure, clean, and white in the; title: bright waters of baptism ; bodies cleansed again and; title: again in the Absolving Blood ; bodies again and; title: 1 Acts ii. 15.; title: FASTING AND REVERENCE 125; title: again "made clean by His Body" in the Sacramental; title: stream.; title: We remember Schiller's " Ballad of the Count of; title: Hapsburg ". Hunting one day, and in full swing of the; title: chase, the count hears the sound of the bell which; title: warns him that the last Sacrament is being carried to; title: the dying : â€”; title: " He heard in the distance a bell tinkling clear,; title: And a Priest with the Host he saw soon drawing near."; title: Then as the priest approaches, the count notes that a; title: swollen stream " barred his steps with its current,"; title: and, dismounting from his horse, he places the priest,; title: with the sacred gift, on the saddle, enables him to cross; title: the stream, and take the "provision for the way" to; title: the dying man.; title: " Then the Count made him mount his stately steed,; title: And the reins in his hands he confided,; title: That he duly might comfort the sick in his need,; title: And that each holy rite be provided. "; title: And when,; title: " On the following morning with grateful look; title: To the Count once again his charger he took"; title: the priest finds the count determined not to take back; title: for common use that which had "borne a burden so; title: holy," but to devote the horse and its trappings as a; title: gift to God in the service of the monastery.; title: 126 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: " ' God forbid that in chase or in battle' then cried; title: The Count with humility lowly,; title: 1 The steed I henceforth should dare to bestride; title: That hath borne my Creator so holy.; title: And if as a guerdon he may not be thine,; title: He devoted shall be to the service Divine' "; title: The poem is a parable. My body, made a member; title: of Christ in baptism, a shrine for the Beloved in Com; title: munion â€” my body may be treated as no common; title: thing, used for no unholy purpose. My body must; title: be devoted to the service of Him who endued it with; title: so great dignity in making it the temple-home of the; title: Holy Ghost. Very reverently should men treat their; title: bodies, very reverently should they treat the bodies of; title: others ; not as illusions (that masterpiece of pagan; title: nonsense) but as " very members incorporate with; title: Him " of whom it is said, " The Word was made; title: flesh, and dwelt among us," and of whom we can still; title: sing in the " Ave Verum " : â€”; title: " Hail ! Christ's Body, true and real, of the Virgin Mary; title: born !; title: Truly suffering, truly offered, on the Cross and hill of; title: scorn ! "; title: CHAPTER XX.; title: FASTING FOR THE SAKE OF OTHERS.; title: WE may fast for the sake of others. This is, indeed,; title: one of the highest forms of self-mortification. We; title: pray in the Lenten Collect, " O Lord, who for our sakes; title: did fast forty days and forty nights," as indicating the; title: reason for fasting on the part of One who needed not; title: to fast for His own sake. And what He did for us, we; title: may do for others. In no single act of his life can; title: any man live or die unto himself alone. Others must,; title: whether they will or not, be co-sharers in his deeds.; title: Our Lord's Lenten Fast was essentially individual,; title: but it was also, and for this very reason, social.; title: This, perhaps, may answer the question : "Is; title: not all this mortification and self-concentration too; title: individualistic to be healthy? Does it not lend a; title: certain truth to the cheap sneer that we make our; title: own souls the primary end of our religious exer; title: cises ? " There is something in both the charge and; title: the sneer. We may quite easily get self-concentrated,; title: morbid, narrow. There is a sense in which "Whoso; title: ever shall seek to gain his life shall lose it". 1 Self-; title: 1 S. Luke xvn. 33 (R.V.).; title: 127; title: 128 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: seeking may inject itself into soul-saving, especially; title: when the soul to be saved is our own.; title: " Not in mine own, but in my neighbour s face; title: Must I Thine image trace ;; title: Nor he in his, but in the light of mine,; title: Behold Thy Face Divine"; title: But there is a sense in which exactly the opposite; title: is true. We cannot separate our own souls from; title: others, and live in the island home of an isolated in; title: dividuality. Every "x" is related to some "y," and; title: indeed all " x's " to all " y's ". Thus, there is nothing; title: selfish in trying to save our own souls if we do it as; title: a means of saving the souls of others. There is an; title: altruism which, as the word is used by M. Comte; title: and Mr. Herbert Spencer, is the exact antithesis to; title: such egoism, and which is the true child of the; title: Christian religion. In this sense, we cannot save our; title: selves without serving our neighbour. We remove; title: the mote from our own eye in order to take; title: the beam out of our brother's eye â€” which is the; title: very end and object placed before us in the parable.; title: " The best way to keep the city clean is for every one; title: to sweep before his own door." It is not selfish to; title: sprinkle sawdust on one's own doorstep, if it saves; title: one's neighbour from slipping : it is not selfish to; title: cultivate one's own mind, if that self-cultivation results; title: in the better education of another : it is not selfish to; title: save one's own soul, if it leads to the salvation of; title: others.; title: FASTING FOR THE SAKE OF OTHERS 129; title: There is, on the other hand, the privilege of losing; title: our own life for the sake of saving others, and of saving; title: it by losing it. " Whosoever shall lose his life, shall; title: preserve it." l Few can reach the spiritual height at; title: tained by the Apostle who was willing to be accursed; title: if his brethren could be saved ; but some, at rare; title: moments, have experienced the all but Divine desire; title: in a far-off degree.; title: Transformation of self precedes the transformation; title: of society, just because self is part of that society which; title: needs the transformation. So teaches our inimitable; title: Church Catechism in another sphere of thought :; title: " My duty to my neighbour is to get mine own living ".; title: It is my neighbour's due; it is one of the reasons; title: why I get my own living, and if acted up to all round; title: would prevent the misery of both overwork and un; title: employment. So, again, the Catechism places the; title: duty of keeping our bodies in temperance, soberness,; title: and chastity in " My duty towards my neighbour ".; title: It is for his sake, as well as for my own. My own; title: life and my neighbour's are so closely interlaced that,; title: twin-like, each feels what affects the other. May not; title: this suggest that, in taking the pledge, as many do for; title: the sake of others, there is something a great deal; title: more than setting a good example, something far; title: deeper and more subtle, something on a far higher; title: plane, high as even that plane is ?; title: And the opposite is, of course, equally true. Serv-; title: 1 S. Luke xvn. 33 (R.V.).; title: 9; title: 1 30 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: ing others is one of the best ways of saving self. " He; title: that willeth to lose his life shall save it." As Mrs.; title: Browning in her " Drama of Exile " makes Adam say; title: to Eve : â€”; title: " A poor man served by thee shall make thee rich ;; title: A sick man helped by thee shall make thee strong ;; title: Thou shalt be saved thyself by every sense; title: Of service which thou render est"; title: Once again : Our psychical power over evil in others; title: may partly depend upon our own fasting. There is,; title: our Lord says, a kind of demon, a type of evil, physical; title: and spiritual, which " goeth not out but by prayer and; title: fasting ".* Fasting will predispose the healer to that; title: intensity of prayer and faith which he would lack in; title: a state of repletion. More especially is this so in the; title: case of dealing with children ; and indeed was actually; title: so in the case of the child which the disciples failed to; title: cure without it. For a child's mind is more open to; title: the reception of another's mental influence than an; title: adult's, and the power of the healer in exercising his; title: gift will, according to the Scriptures, be affected by; title: his physical and psychical as well as by his spiritual; title: state. For such cases, says the Great Healer, prayer; title: and fasting are both essential.; title: Nor is it only for the sake of the living that we; title: keep our bodies under, and bring them into subjection.; title: There are the children yet unborn to be considered.; title: 1 S. Matt. xvn. 21.; title: FASTING FOR THE SAKE OF OTHERS 131; title: Want of self-control, excess in food or drink, de; title: moralizing self-indulgence, unmortified desire, may be; title: doing a most grievous injustice to " generations yet; title: for to come ". Ask a doctor, consult a nurse in some; title: children's hospital or in the district, and you may,; title: perhaps, be startled into discipline by revelations to; title: which thoughtlessness has closed your eyes. An; title: ounce of real self-control is better than tons of theoriz; title: ing about heredity. If only men and women could; title: have before them photographs of all the little ones; title: who are born wrecks through their sins, self-discipline; title: for the sake of others would be the very passion of; title: their lives.; title: 9*; title: CHAPTER XXI.; title: MORTIFICATION.; title: MORTIFICATION may be of two kinds, involuntary or; title: voluntary.; title: I. INVOLUNTARY MORTIFICATION.; title: Of these, involuntary mortification is, perhaps, on; title: the higher plane, and is not infrequently the harder of; title: the two.; title: Mortifications which come to us in the course of; title: the daily life ; thorns which we cannot prevent prick; title: ing; frets which come through surrounding circum; title: stances, are often far harder to bear than self-chosen; title: acts of voluntary mortification. S. Paul's thorn in; title: the flesh was chosen for him. Had it been self-chosen,; title: it might, perhaps, have been plucked from a different; title: tree. "There was given unto me," he writes, " a thorn; title: in the flesh." One God-given thorn probably helps,; title: even if it hurts, more than a bush-load of self-selected; title: prickles. The " fastings oft " which necessity imposed; title: upon him, were not less means of grace than his; title: voluntary three days' fast in Damascus. In each; title: case it was the willing acceptance of sent suffering; title: 132; title: MORTIFICATION 133; title: that turned the thorn into a flower â€” the brightest; title: flower, maybe, in what Saint Francis de Sales would; title: call the Apostle's "spiritual nosegay".; title: Again, speaking with lowly reverence, our Saviour's; title: cup was no self-chosen chalice, but was, as He says,; title: "the cup which My Father hath given Me". True,; title: it was the Father Who gave the cup, and so touched; title: its contents with the wand of love ; but it was none; title: the less imposed upon Him from without. The value; title: of the mortification was in the voluntary acceptance; title: of the involuntary suffering. So with His other; title: sufferings. The binding, the blinding, the buffeting ;; title: the desertion, the denudation, the dereliction â€” all were; title: involuntary. Humanly speaking, He could not escape; title: them, and it was the willing acceptance of the obli; title: gatory which turned the bitter into the sweet, and; title: made it " as honey for sweetness ".*; title: It is constantly so with us. It is in the involuntary; title: mortifications and fastings which are sent us ; in the; title: going without things because we cannot afford to buy; title: them ; in the willing acceptance of circumstances which; title: it is out of our power to alter, that surrender is often most; title: real. For instance, to accept poverty or comparative; title: poverty, when it is out of our power to be rich, and to; title: embrace it as a willing act of union with Him Who; title: though He was rich yet for our sakes became poor, is,; title: surely, quite as acceptable to God as voluntarily to; title: "sell all that we have and give to the poor". It is; title: 1 Ezek. in. 3.; title: 134 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: by bravely " taking up " the cross (which we must,; title: in any case, bear) that we turn the involuntary; title: into the voluntary, and change servitude into son-; title: ship.; title: II. VOLUNTARY MORTIFICATION.; title: But there is such a thing as voluntary mortification.; title: It is a thing of great beauty, and is pictured, in all its; title: rarity, in the Ideal Man.; title: What was it in the Master's life that impressed the; title: writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews so deeply ? It; title: was His voluntary mortification. Looking back over; title: the record of the Pattern Life, he seems to sum it all; title: up in the one transcendent fact â€” " Who for the joy; title: that was set before Him, endured the cross V Here,; title: two kinds of life are " set before Him ". He is free to; title: choose either. Free, and yet not free ; for one is ex; title: cluded by the law of voluntary mortification in which; title: the joy outweighs the pain â€” and the one dearest to the; title: flesh was the one He deliberately gave up for the joy; title: produced by the other. The preposition " for " 2 may,; title: indeed, suggest a yet stronger idea of choice. It may; title: be translated "instead of," "in exchange for," "in; title: place of," and may contrast two opposite courses set; title: before our Lord. On the one side there is the path of; title: joy, on the other the way of the Cross. Voluntarily,; title: and deliberately, He chooses the latter as the road to; title: 1 Heb. xii. 2.; title: 2 &vrl. Cf. Epistle to the Hebrews, C. J. Vaughan, in loc.; title: MORTIFICATION 135; title: the former, enduring, or rather embracing * the cross; title: and waiting for the joy until He has won it at the point; title: of the soldier's spear.; title: Or, there is the taunt at the cross, " He saved others,; title: Himself He cannot save". He can, but he cannot.; title: He cannot, because He must not. Here, again, in this; title: great " cannot " of Calvary we see the law of voluntary; title: mortification.; title: For what is this strange cannot? The cannot of; title: Calvary is the cannot of conscience. It is not the can; title: not of the criminal, who cannot come down from his; title: gibbet from physical impotence ; it is not the cannot; title: of the dog, who cannot bite because it is muzzled ; it; title: is not the cannot of the cripple, who cannot move be; title: cause he is paralysed. It is not the cannot of inability,; title: but of disability. It is the "cannot " of voluntary; title: mortification.; title: And as with the Christ, so with the Christian. There; title: comes a time in every life when the cannot of Calvary; title: must be voluntarily said. It may be said with Joseph; title: in private, or with Jesus in public ; but sooner or later; title: it â€” the cannot of moral obligation â€” presents itself to; title: all. We, too, cannot, because we must not. There; title: comes a moment when the choice between two courses; title: set before us must be voluntarily made â€” a moment; title: when upon the power to pronounce our " cannot " the; title: happiness of a lifetime will depend. There comes a; title: moment when men must say it to men, and women; title: : abiding under ; bearing in a spirit of submissive waiting.; title: 136 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: to women ; when men must say it to women, and; title: women to men. Choose well ; your choice is brief and; title: yet endless. *; title: But in the light of voluntary mortification, tempta; title: tions are opportunities. To each of them we say,; title: " How, then, can I do this great wickedness and sin; title: against God ? " 2 I cannot. I cannot cheat at cards ;; title: cannot gamble ; cannot indulge my flesh ; cannot lie ;; title: cannot ruin my health or wreck another's life ; cannot; title: drink or drug myself into animalism. Voluntarily, I; title: mortify my love of display, my wish for self-aggrandize; title: ment, my levity of purpose. Voluntarily, I mortify; title: my reckless speech, my doubtful conversation. I can; title: not talk bad talk, cannot lower the tone of a room by; title: telling a shady story, or by laughing at it when told; title: by another. Yes ! I can ; I am free : No ! I cannot ! â€”; title: and my cannot is, like the Master's, the triumphant; title: cannot of free will, the voluntary cannot of moral; title: obligation.; title: Voluntary mortification, then, is at the root of all; title: real freedom. The restraint of self-discipline is needed; title: to enable us to live in the full freedom of the moral; title: life.; title: And this is why, at seasons such as Lent, or Ember; title: Seasons, on Fridays, or Vigils, we go into training.; title: In the Lenten Fast, we voluntarily discipline ourselves; title: in things that do not matter, in order to resist things; title: that do matter. But this fast must not be confined; title: 1 Goethe. 8 Gen. xxxix. 9.; title: MORTIFICATION 137; title: to any one special season, though special seasons are; title: set aside to emphasize it. All His life long the Master; title: was fasting, physically or spiritually. There was the; title: physical fast in the wilderness when He disciplined; title: Himself to face the temptation of the flesh â€” "And; title: when He was an-hungered," then (when He was at; title: His weakest, when every nerve was strained to its ut; title: most tension ; when every roar of the " wild beasts " l; title: must have gone through and through His exhausted; title: system), "when the forty days were ended," then at; title: the psychological moment the devil came to Him and; title: said : " Command that these stones be made bread ". 2; title: He can. No ! He cannot. He cannot, because He; title: must not.; title: So it was all through His life. " Foxes have holes,; title: and the birds of the air have nests ; but the Son of Man; title: hath not where to lay His head." 3 It was the volun; title: tary endurance of hardness, night after night, as though; title: in preparation for the hard bed of the cross ; it was; title: the free-will crucifixion of legitimate " affections and; title: lusts," which forestalled the dreariness and blank,; title: when " all the disciples forsook Him, and fled ".; title: Again, He voluntarily puts Himself in the power; title: of the enemy on the night of the Betrayal. It is the; title: voluntary surrendering of Himself to be insulted by; title: others. He can escape if He chooses : " Thinkest thou; title: that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He shall pre-; title: 1 S. Mark i. 13. a S. Matt. iv. 3. 3 S. Matt. vm. 20.; title: 138 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: sently give me more than twelve legions of angels," l; title: any one of whom could disperse the impotent rabble; title: with a " single blast of his breath ". He can. No ! He; title: cannot! for "how then shall the Scriptures be ful; title: filled ? " For thirty years He has been preparing for this; title: " cannot " of Quarantania, has been training for this su; title: preme moment in the fight. So it is that at last, when; title: the taunt, "Himself He cannot save," is levelled at Him,; title: with all the tingling insult of a challenge, a long life; title: of self-control, a constant habit of self-discipline, carries; title: Him over the current of the crisis. Thus it is that the; title: cannot of Calvary is spoken in passive action, and,; title: thanks be to God, Jesus stays where He is. If only; title: He had " come down from the cross ! " Who can; title: face the thought? Who can gauge the result?; title: Mortification, then, is both involuntary and volun; title: tary. On the one hand, there is always a tendency to; title: under-estimate the value of the involuntary, to under; title: rate the worth of the inevitable. And yet, every; title: loving embrace of the inevitable, every willing accept; title: ance of the unavoidable, is charged with grace.; title: On the other hand, every voluntary act of self-dis; title: cipline ; every voluntary choice of the right ; every; title: spoken or acted "cannot" â€” all are shadows thrown; title: by the Holy Rood, all are echoes of the cannot of; title: Calvary. Each, and all, make ready the soul to meet; title: some supreme crisis which must inevitably come, and,; title: at length, to face the last great crisis of all â€” death.; title: 1 S. Matt. xxvi. 53.; title: MORTIFICATION 139; title: But all this implies daily and hourly crucifixion of; title: self â€” in a word, mortification. There must be either; title: self-crucifixion, or Christ-crucifixion. We must either; title: crucify ourselves continually, or " crucify the Son of; title: God afresh ". No other way was known to the Saints,; title: none is set before aspirants to saintship.; title: CHAPTER XXII.; title: ALMSGIVING.; title: THE POWER OF MONEY.; title: WE come now to the third "notable duty," which our; title: Blessed Lord inculcated as one of the three marks of a; title: Christian man â€” Almsgiving. We have thought of; title: prayer as asking for something ; of fasting as going; title: without something ; and we now think of almsgiving; title: as giving up something â€” primarily money. Like; title: fasting, it includes, of course, other things ; but in its; title: technical sense, the word is chiefly connected with; title: money-making and money-giving. We think now,; title: then, of the power of money.; title: Dombey and Son are sitting before the fire, in a; title: house somewhere between Portland Place and Bryan-; title: ston Square. Suddenly, son springs upon the rich; title: City merchant the question, " ' What is money ? ' '; title: " ' What is money, Paul ? ' he answered. ' Money ? '; title: Mr. Dombey was in a difficulty. He would like to; title: have given him some explanation involving the terms; title: of currency, bullion, etc., but all he answered was,; title: 'Gold, silver, and copper ; guineas, shillings, half-pence.; title: You know what they are ? '; title: 140; title: ALMSGIVING 141; title: " ' Oh, yes, I know what they are,' said Paul. ' I; title: don't mean that. I mean what's money after all ? I; title: mean what can it do ? '; title: Mr. Dombey patted him on the head and said,; title: "'Money, Paul, can do anything.'; title: " ' Anything, Papa ? '; title: "' Yes, anything â€” almost,' said Mr. Dombey.; title: " ' Then, why didn't money save me my Mamma ? '; title: returned the child.; title: And Mr. Dombey, having recovered from his sur; title: prise, expounded to him how that money, " though a; title: very potent spirit, never to be disparaged on any account; title: whatever, could not keep people alive whose time was; title: come to die, unfortunately, even in the City, though; title: we were never so rich."; title: The story is full of meaning, for it sums up, in half; title: a page, the power and the impotence of money.; title: Surely, Mr. Dombey's answer, in spite of its paralysing; title: " almost," is not wholly untrue. Money, so impotent; title: in face of death as to make us echo Paul Dombey's; title: question, " What is money after all ? " ,is, in its own; title: sphere, a tremendous power â€” a splendid good, or a; title: terrible evil.; title: Money ! No three letters in the alphabet sway the; title: policy, if not the fate, of an empire, like " Â£,. s. d." â€”; title: those three mighty symbols, which stand for Libra, a; title: pound ; Solidus, a shilling ; and Denarius, a penny.; title: No one element in the policy of a party outweighs the; title: power of the purse.; title: 142 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: Money ! No one word has embedded itself more; title: deeply in the language of the country. We English; title: people ring the changes upon it in synonym after; title: synonym, and express its meaning in derivatives; title: formed out of world-wide languages. From " funds " l; title: to " finance " 2 we speak of money as if it were the be; title: ginning and end of all things. It is strange to see how; title: it has drawn into its coils words coined for far wider; title: use, and, spider-like, has caught them in its contracting; title: web. " Miser," for instance, which means "wretched,"; title: or "miserable," has been contracted until it refers almost; title: exclusively to the money-hoarder. " Budget," a word; title: of wide and general meaning, has been narrowed down; title: to one special signification â€” money. " Socialism " is; title: spoken of as if money were the only thing involved in; title: the whole question of related rights. Words, such as; title: " wealth," or weal ; " charity," or love ; " credit," or; title: belief; " dole," or division ; 3 "debt," or that which is; title: due, all tell the same tale. One word, indeed, seems to; title: stand apart from its companions in the sadness of its; title: downfall. The word " worth " is practically shorn of; title: its highest meaning, and limited to what a man owns,; title: rather than what he is ; to what he makes in life, rather; title: than what he makes of life â€” and that, wholly irrespec; title: tive of the way in which he has made his money.; title: 1 Fromfundus a foundation.; title: 2 Fromjinis an end.; title: 3 Dole = deal = split timber.; title: ALMSGIVING 143; title: And as if this were not bad enough, we prefix another; title: good word, "sterling," or " esterling," l to "worth,"; title: and make a man worth so many thousands sterling,; title: instead of appraising him at his sterling good quali; title: ties. We have, indeed, in the phrase " a sterling good; title: man," a relic of the higher meaning â€” the meaning; title: which places the man above his money, and his worth; title: above his fortune : as saith the Prophet Isaiah, " I; title: will make a man more precious than fine gold ; even a; title: man than the golden wedge of Ophir ", 2; title: Other words have fared almost as badly. Our very; title: word " alms " 3 has escaped from its wide Greek mean; title: ing of compassion, and become associated almost en; title: tirely with money.; title: And so we come to the word " money " itself. It; title: has a semi-religious origin, being derived from moneta,; title: the surname of Juno, in whose Temple at Rome money; title: was first coined. The meaning suggests a line of; title: thought, in answer to little Dombey's question :; title: " What is money, after all ? " â€” and what is it, more; title: especially in connexion with almsgiving.; title: 1 The word " sterling " is a contraction of" esterling ". The " pound; title: sterling " was a certain weight of bullion, according to the standard of; title: the Esterlings, or Eastern merchants, from the Hanse towns on the; title: Baltic, to whom our Hen. III. granted Freedoms and Liberties through; title: out the English realm.; title: 2 Is. xin. 12.; title: 3 "Alms" is a singular word: hence the expression "asked an; title: alms," in Acts in. 3.; title: 144 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: We may start our inquiry, perhaps, by three pro; title: positions : â€”; title: 1. My money belongs to God.; title: 2. My money belongs to me.; title: 3. My money belongs to my neighbour.; title: CHAPTER XXIII.; title: MY MONEY BELONGS TO GOD.; title: I.; title: THE MINISTRY OF MONEY.; title: De Tuts Tibi : " Of Thine own do we give Thee".; title: This is the root of all almsgiving. As of old, money; title: was coined in the Temple of Juno Moneta, so now it; title: has a religious connexion with the Christian Church.; title: Money has a special meaning when offered as alms; title: in the sanctuary â€” a meaning so marked, indeed, that; title: we have come, quite wrongly, to limit " The Offertory "; title: in the Eucharistic Office to the act of money-giving,; title: or the "collection," instead of applying it to that part; title: of the service during which the offerings l are collected.; title: What is this special meaning ? Money is taken into; title: the Christian Temple as specimen money, as a sign; title: that all money belongs to God, as " a part for the; title: whole " â€” as a kind of " peppercorn rent," when the; title: 1 The offertorium is that part of the Eucharistic service in which; title: the people, by virtue of the priesthood of the faithful, make their offer; title: ings to God.; title: 145 10; title: 146 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: money which we offer in the sanctuary bears witness; title: to the fact that all money is God's property.; title: And not only our money. In the same way, we; title: take our needlework, or embroidery, into Church as; title: almsgiving. It is specimen needlework, testifying that; title: all needlework, in home or in shop, belongs to God.; title: Or we take our fruit into church at a Harvest Festival; title: as specimen fruit, or place flowers on the altar as; title: specimen flowers, offering " a part for the whole," as a; title: sign that all fruits, all flowers grow for, and belong to,; title: God. Or we take our music into church as specimen; title: music, testifying that all music, in hall, in home, in; title: street, or in theatre, belongs to God, and must be dedi; title: cated to Him. As of old, the Earls of Lincoln used; title: to present a white rose to the King, as a part for the; title: whole, showing that they held all their estates from; title: the throne, and for the throne, and that all belonged; title: to the King, so it is with our possessions. We " hold "; title: all that we have as God's " tenants," l and restore it to; title: Him as " rent " 2 for the " loan," or " lending " thereof.; title: Again, the connexion between money and the; title: Church is seen, perhaps, in the familiar expression; title: " The Parson's Glebe ". " Glebe " (that is, a part of the; title: soil) is a wo$d closely allied to "globe," and refers to; title: the plot of land assigned to the Persona, person, or; title: parson, not for himself, or merely for his own use, but; title: as one who represents God, and God's interests in the; title: 1 From tenere, " to hold ".; title: 2 Rent is that which is " rendered ".; title: MY MONEY BELONGS TO GOD 147; title: parish. The same thought is embodied in the word; title: " tithe " which charges our possessions with a tenth 1; title: for God, before we begin our voluntary almsgiving, or; title: indulge in the personal use of our own money.; title: We might trace the thought in many other ways; title: and let it remind us that money, like any other gift,; title: must be used for, and dedicated to its rightful Owner.; title: And, too, we may remember that it is part of the; title: privilege of the laity, as members of the royal priest; title: hood, to have "somewhat to offer". At the "Offer; title: tory" they make their offerings in money, as their; title: forefathers did both in money and in kind, and thus; title: unite themselves with Him, Who offered Himself and; title: His all for them and for theirs.; title: II.; title: ALMSGIVING AND THE INCARNATION.; title: For it is in this connexion that our Blessed Lord; title: enforces the duty of giving, and unites Himself to us; title: in almsgiving, as well as in prayer. Almsgiving and; title: the Incarnation are linked together in at least one; title: historic scene 2 in the Three Years' Public Ministry.; title: 1 A tithe, tenth, or some settled proportion. A tenth of an income of; title: Â£100 a year would, of course, be out of all proportion To the tenth of; title: one of ;Â£iooo a year. Duties, and various God-sent claims, too, may; title: make an actual tenth impossible, and to consider the exact tenth; title: as a duty would suggest a slavish obedience to the letter, rather than; title: a free obedience to the spirit. There is, of course, no danger of too; title: literal an obedience in our days.; title: 2 S. Matt. xvii. 27.; title: 10*; title: 148 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: There had been a warm debate in the Sanhedrm on; title: the subject of tribute money, or what we should call; title: Church expenses. A question had arisen as to how; title: the Temple services were to be provided for, and after; title: a week's discussion a compulsory Church rate, a Temple; title: tax of is. 4d., was agreed upon. It was concerning this; title: Temple tax, called tribute money, that the collectors; title: went to S. Peter's house, and complained that the; title: money had not been paid. " Doth not your Master; title: pay tribute ? " And it was in order to enforce the duty; title: of contributing to the sanctuary, that our Lord (Who,; title: being God's Son, need have paid no tax for the use of; title: God's House) bade the penniless Apostles seek the; title: needed money in the fish's mouth. " Lest we should; title: offend them" and become stumbling blocks, " go thou; title: to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that; title: first cometh up, and when thou hast opened his mouth,; title: thou shalt find a piece of money : that take, and give; title: unto them for Me and thee". Scripture assumes; title: that S. Peter did as he was told, hooked the fish,; title: found the money, and paid the tax.; title: However we may interpret the miracle, its teaching; title: is clear. The Incarnate is scrupulously careful to make; title: the Temple tax, and all that it stood for, a first claim; title: on almsgiving. This is a moral law which has never; title: been rescinded. We, indeed, have no compulsory; title: Church rate in these days, save the moral compulsion; title: which belongs to the command " freely ye have re; title: ceived, freely give" ; but the principle still stands.; title: MY MONEY BELONGS TO GOD 149; title: Again, it teaches religious people to be scrupulously; title: careful about money matters. There is such a thing,; title: however rare, as irreligious almsgiving. Scandal is; title: sometimes given to religion by those who buy for good; title: purposes what they cannot honestly afford. Some; title: will even give to a church, or to some other religious; title: interest, money which should really be spent on a more; title: humdrum necessity. It is not an unknown thing to; title: find otherwise good people getting money wrongly, in; title: order to spend every penny of it, not on themselves,; title: but on some church or charity to which they are; title: devoted, or on some friend to whom they are attached.; title: It is a strange state of mind and soul which produces; title: such a complex act ; but there it is.; title: To be associated with Christ in the giving of " tribute; title: money" lifts all our money matters up to the lofty; title: plane of union with Him. In almsgiving, He unites; title: Himself with His disciples: "This give for Me and; title: thee " : for Me the Sinless, for thee the sinner ; for Me; title: the Master, for thee the servant ; for Me the Christ, for; title: thee the Christian.; title: First, then, my money belongs to God. Next, my; title: money belongs to me.; title: CHAPTER XXIV.; title: MY MONEY BELONGS TO ME.; title: I. .; title: MY money is my own property ; it is proprius, " my; title: own ". Hence, and for no other reason, my responsi; title: bility for its use.; title: In money, as in other things, there is a popular; title: fallacy which underlies the tendency to ignore all dis; title: tinction between meunt and tuum. It is just because; title: my money is mine that I have a duty in connexion; title: with it. Possessive pronouns are pronouns of responsi; title: bility. The moment I call a thing " mine," I assume; title: relationship towards it. The doctor when he speaks of; title: " my " patient has a responsibility towards that patient,; title: simply because it is his patient. The Sovereign who; title: speaks of " my " people ; the Bishop who speaks of; title: " my " diocese ; the priest who speaks of " my " parish ;; title: the parent who speaks of " my " child ; the householder; title: who speaks of" my " servants ; the servant who speaks; title: of " my " master or mistress â€” all express a responsi; title: bility towards them simply because they are theirs.; title: It is the responsibility of ownership.; title: 150; title: MY MONEY BELONGS TO ME 151; title: It was just because the colt was the owner's colt, and; title: did belong to him, that he could put it to the highest; title: conceivable use on the first Palm Sunday. It was just; title: because their money was their own that Ananias; title: and Sapphira were enabled to keep back part of; title: the price which might have been wholly dedi; title: cated in almsgiving. " Whiles it remained, was it not; title: thine own?" 1 It is so with my money. It is my; title: own ; and because it is mine, I am responsible for its; title: use.; title: And I may go a step farther. My money is my; title: own to do as I like with. The worth of a gift lies in the; title: will of the giver. If my will is right with God's Will,; title: I shall love to do as God does. God gives because He; title: has. The mere fact of having, necessitates giving. So; title: S. Paul bids us labour that we may " have to give, " 2; title: as if giving was the one object of our having. Again,; title: loving presupposes giving. " God so loved . . . that; title: He gave." 3 Loving is worthless without giving ;; title: giving is worthless without loving.; title: It is all a matter of motive. " Give for alms those; title: things which are within!' * Apart from motive there; title: is no particular merit in almsgiving. The mere drop; title: ping of a coin into the bag on Sunday irrespective of; title: intention, either from a habit of giving or from shame; title: in not giving, does not amount to very much â€” though; title: even shame shows a living conscience. It is, indeed,; title: 1 Acts v. 4. 3 Eph. iv. 28.; title: 3 S. John in. 16. 4 S. Luke xi. 41 (R.V.).; title: 152 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: one of the drawbacks to the many advantages of our; title: frequent collections in church, that they predispose us; title: to give without motive, or without any solid calcula; title: tion of what we ought to give, or indeed without duly; title: considering why we should give at all. The practice; title: is, of course, both Scriptural and convenient ; but to; title: finish a solemn service with the inevitable collecting-; title: bag, handed round during the singing of a hymn to; title: God, must have a questionable effect upon a congrega; title: tion unless they have been taught that all their money; title: belongs to God, and that " the collection " is part of; title: Divine worship.; title: II.; title: Yet, again, almsgiving may be used as a preventive; title: against, or a corrective for avarice â€” that vice which; title: has been called "the insatiable sin." My money is; title: mine ; and herein lies the danger. There is no more; title: insidious vice than the well-known amor habendi. It; title: may be " the love of having " books, or jewellery, or; title: power, or praise, or a hundred and one things â€” but; title: money stands apart by itself. Not, of course, that; title: the danger lies in the habendi, but in the amor. It is; title: the love of it, the passion for it, the greed for, and the; title: clutching at it that must be carefully watched and; title: disciplined.; title: Robert Browning has painted a picture for us, in; title: his Pornic story " Gold Hair," which describes the; title: danger in glaring colours. A young girl : â€”; title: MY MONEY BELONGS TO ME 153; title: "Oh! the beautiful girt ', too white,; title: Who lived at Pornic, down by the sea â€”; title: is noted for the rare beauty of "her great gold; title: hair ".; title: Not less noted is she for her beauty of soul. All; title: counted her a saint. Then she dies, her last wish; title: being respected that her hair should be left untouched.; title: Time passes, and at the restoration of the little Pornic; title: Church, the workmen must needs turn up the floor and; title: break the coffin, only to find heaps of gold in the golden; title: hair : â€”; title: " They grubbed with a will: and at length â€” ' Cor; title: Humanum pectora caeca' and the rest !; title: They found â€” no gaud they were prying for,; title: No ring, no rose, but â€” who would have guessed? â€”; title: A double Louis-dor !; title: " And lo ! when they came to the coffin-lid; title: Or rotten planks which composed it once,; title: Why, there lay the girl's skull wedged amid; title: A mint of money, it served for the nonce; title: To hold in its hair-heaps hid.; title: " Hid there ? Why ? Could the girl be wont; title: (She, the stainless souf) to treasure up; title: Money, earths trash and heaven's affront ?; title: Had a spider found out the communion-cup,; title: Was a toad in the christening-font ?; title: 154 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: " Truth is truth ; too true it was.; title: Gold ! She hoarded, and hugged it first,; title: Longed for it, leaned der it, loved it â€” Alas ! â€”; title: Till the humour grew to a head and burst"; title: Browning's story is repeated in many strange forms; title: in real life.; title: III.; title: Almsgiving, too, prevents us from gripping our pos; title: sessions with too tight a grasp. It reminds us that we; title: may be called on at any moment to give up part of,; title: or all that we possess. Money comes, and money goes.; title: Almsgiving is the practice of giving up voluntarily that; title: which we may be obliged to give up involuntarily. It; title: prepares us for the poverty which may come from loss; title: of money â€” comes, it may be, through our own or; title: others' fault or mismanagement, or as a call to that; title: " Poverty " which is the first of the three great " Coun; title: sels of Perfection," Poverty, Chastity, and Obedi; title: ence.; title: To some, the loss of money comes through no fault; title: of their own ; to others, it comes from " selling all; title: that they have and giving to the poor ". To each it; title: may become genuine almsgiving. The poverty which; title: follows the loss of money may be as truly almsgiving; title: as the poverty which is embraced in the Religious life; title: â€” and the reverse is equally true. Some, again, never; title: had any money to lose ; they are kept poor all their; title: lives, simply because God sees that in them is a root; title: MY MONEY BELONGS TO ME 155; title: of that amor habendi which would be hurtful to their; title: souls. Others are called on voluntarily to give up all; title: that they have, because God sees that it is only by; title: "having nothing" that they can "possess all things". 1; title: First, then, my money is God's to do as He likes; title: with â€” to leave it with me or to " call it in " ; to say, " Is; title: it not lawful for Me to do what I will with Mine own ? " 2; title: Next, my money is my own to do as I like with â€”; title: that is, to spend it as God would like me to spend it.; title: And there is, as we shall see, a third thought : my; title: money is my neighbour's? It is mine to share with; title: him, just because he is my neighbour, just because we; title: are " members one of another ".; title: 1 2 Cor. vi. TO. 2 S. Matt. xx. 15.; title: CHAPTER XXV.; title: MY MONEY BELONGS TO MY NEIGHBOUR.; title: To live within the circle of one's own self-interest is; title: not the life of a man, but of a grub. If we are leading; title: the Christ life, we shall like to do as Christ did : we; title: shall like to share all that we have with others for; title: Christ's sake : we shall like to act in union with Him; title: Who though He was rich (and thus sanctified all riches),; title: yet for our sakes He became poor.; title: I.; title: Giving is sharing. No one loses that which he gives.; title: This, at least, is the teaching of the New Testament.; title: The father, in the Parable of the Prodigal, retains what; title: he shares with the elder son. Nay, he shares it because; title: he retains it. " Son, thou art ever with me, and all; title: that I have is thine" It is a principle which has its; title: roots in the very Being of God.; title: Thus, the Father is the Eternal Source of life : " The; title: Father hath life in Himself". 1 But He does not retain; title: that life in His own Person. " There is another Person; title: 1 S. John v. 26.; title: 156; title: MY MONEY BELONGS TO MY NEIGHBOUR 157; title: of the Son," and upon that Son the Father pours out; title: the whole wealth of His self-derived life : " As the; title: Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the; title: Son to have life in Himself." l But neither does the; title: Son retain this life in Himself; it is a personal posses; title: sion, not to be kept but shared. There is "another; title: Person of the Holy Ghost," the eternal " giver of life ".; title: He it is who takes of the life which the " Father hath; title: in Himself," proceeds with it to the Son, and, in double; title: procession, proceeds back again with it from the Son; title: to the Father, in ever self-emptying sacrifice and eternal; title: equality.; title: So with God's gifts. My money is mine â€” not to; title: retain in my own possession, not to lay up for myself, 2; title: but to " keep moving," so that it proceeds from me to; title: others, and through others back again to me. It is; title: still mine ; but it is my neighbour's. Sharing is not; title: losing. The more we give the more we have ; the; title: more we have, the more we give. This is real alms; title: giving, the child of love, human and Divine : â€”; title: " Of love, that says not mine and thine,; title: But ours, for ours is thine and mine."; title: II.; title: Again, almsgiving is the antidote to money-hoarding.; title: It is money-hoarding, not money-making, that Christ; title: so strongly condemns : it is the miserly spirit, not the; title: thrifty spirit, which he so scathingly rebukes. 3 " Lay; title: 1 S. John v. 26. 2 S. Matt. vi. 19. 3 S. Matt. vi. 19.; title: i S 8 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth; title: and dust doth corrupt." This selfish " laying up "; title: will, He warns us, be our loss, not our gain ; and He; title: enforces his warning by two familiar illustrations taken; title: from the " clothes-store " and the " grain-store " of an; title: Eastern storehouse.; title: Look, He seems to say, at your Oriental treasure; title: chamber. It is full of clothes, packed with changes of; title: raiment for honoured guests. What are they there; title: for? Not for hoarding, but for use. Hoard them,; title: and you will lose them. The hungry little clothes-; title: moth which never eats anything in use, will very soon; title: spoil the unused garments. Use them, and the moth; title: will not touch or corrupt them any more than it will; title: destroy the wool on the sheep's back, or " corrupt "; title: the clothes on human beings. It is the hoarded,; title: useless clothes which spoil, and thus defeat the very; title: object which the hoarder has in view.; title: Or go into a grain store, and see the same law at; title: work. What is the grain for ? Not for hoarding but; title: for use. There is " the rust," or grain-moth. 1 Hoard; title: the wheat unduly, and that dread destroyer of unused; title: grain will make its way into the granary and spoil the; title: whole store. Use the grain, and you will keep it in; title: the using.; title: The lesson from each illustration is the same.; title: 1 " Translated ' rust ' in the A.V., but probably the grain-moth.; title: When once the grain is stored, it is safe from ordinary rust." The; title: Rev. T. G. Wood, F.L.S.; title: MY MONEY BELONGS TO MY NEIGHBOUR 159; title: Keeping is wasting. Real wealth is limited to wealth; title: that is in use. Unused wealth is real poverty. The; title: hoarded talent in Scripture, the talent buried in earth's; title: strong box, is no good to anyone â€” not even to its; title: owner. Like the fishes' eyes in the Mammoth Cave; title: in Kentucky, that which is not used is taken away.; title: " Much does he gain who much dispenses ; want; title: Shall reach him not, a constant stream of wealth; title: Is round him drawn. From him who meanly hoards; title: His own, is true wealth taken. What in one; title: Centres alone is lost, and every gift â€”; title: Not in the man inherent â€” Whether sent; title: From God directly, or from Nature, shared,; title: Returns to the dispenser ; we attain; title: All things in giving and renouncing them." x; title: Against riches in themselves, against thrift and fore; title: sight, our Lord has nothing to say : quite the reverse.; title: It is against the non-use or misuse of money (and,; title: indeed, of all possessions) that He flings His shafts.; title: It is written of Israel that " The house of Jacob shall; title: possess their possessions ", 2 That is it. We must; title: possess our possessions ; not be possessed by our; title: possessions. As the Americans would say, " we must; title: run our business ; not let our business run us ".; title: III.; title: Our money then, is given us for others. And this; title: is the principle written on the whole universe. It is; title: 1 " Strange Houses of Sleep," by A. E. Waite. 2 Obad. 17.; title: 160 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: written on the sun which shines, not for itself but for; title: others ; it is written on the flowers which are scented,; title: not for themselves but for those who smell them ; it is; title: written on the vapour which is caught up by the sun,; title: and returned to earth as " soft refreshing rain " â€” and; title: it is written on man, man who possesses not for him; title: self, but for his neighbour.; title: But because my money is mine, I am responsible; title: for the objects on which 1 spend it : because it is my; title: neighbour's, my duty is to spend it upon him.; title: If we think, for example, of the money lavished by; title: some, in sheer self-pleasing, upon pet dogs, and com; title: pare it with the miserable sums dragged out of the; title: very same persons for a Creche, or for the better teach; title: ing of mothers, or for a district nurse, or to assist in; title: the sacred mystery of childbirth, or for improving the; title: human surroundings of little children, the result is; title: startling. East End infants are left to starve, or to be; title: brought up in scenes of filth, drink, and poverty, while; title: the West has its " Beauty Parlour," with perfumes and; title: marble baths, not for little children but for dogs.; title: One such home, a Salon de Eeaut^ a " Health and; title: Toilet Saloon for Dogs and Cats," is described in a; title: daily paper as a place where dogs are pitifully spoilt; title: and pampered, instead of being trained and developed.; title: "A trained nurse is always in attendance; the walls; title: are covered with artistic paper ; the chairs have soft and; title: luxurious cushions ; a marble bath with various kinds; title: of sprays and douches is provided ; perfumed lotions; title: MY MONEY BELONGS TO MY NEIGHBOUR 16 1; title: are awaiting the shampoo, and hair tonics and beauty; title: creams abound." Contrast this with the miserable; title: homes or hovels of hundreds of the poor, and the care; title: bestowed upon their children. And yet, to corkscrew; title: half a crown out of the dog's owner for a wasting; title: infant, or a rickety child, or a girl ignorant of the very; title: meaning of motherhood, will sometimes take the best; title: part of an hour, including an argument as to whether,; title: in spite of the decrease in population, and far deeper; title: reasons, "the little wretch is wanted," and "hadn't; title: better be left to die ". If it can be argued that there; title: is no harm in doing the one, it can convincingly be; title: shown that there is much harm in leaving the other; title: undone. " Know thou, that for all these things, God; title: will bring thee into judgment." 1; title: â€¢; title: 1 Eccles. xi. 9.; title: II; title: CHAPTER XXVI.; title: ALMSGIVING AND REPARATION.; title: REPARATION is one â€” though only one â€” part of the; title: life of Almsgiving. It is one of the privileges of; title: penance, that the penitent may make amends in one; title: special way, and so lift the weight of the irreparable; title: into the higher atmosphere of hope. For, few weights; title: are heavier than the inability to repair wrongdoing,; title: either to God, one's neighbour, or oneself. Often,; title: indeed, this very inability to undo what has been done; title: is the sharpest part of the punishment for the sin of; title: wrongdoing. The irreparable is in itself the hardest; title: part of penance.; title: I.; title: THE LAW OF REPARATION.; title: Reparation ! Satisfaction ! Amendment ! These,; title: and cognate words, are part of our human birthright.; title: The longing to make satisfaction is inherent in man.; title: Ability to make satisfaction is the happiness of man.; title: We see this, in its perfection, in the Ideal Man.; title: 162; title: ALMSGIVING AND REPARATION 163; title: It was part of His joy, as perfect Man, to make; title: satisfaction for the sins of the whole world. Every; title: longing common to man was in Him â€” the longing to; title: make reparation, among others. Because He is " very; title: God," and " very Man," and one with God and man,; title: He offers Himself to God for man. As an act of effi; title: cacious reparation, He " makes His soul an offering; title: for sin ".; title: It is sometimes asked how our Blessed Lord could; title: make reparation for sins which He Himself, being with; title: out sin, did not commit. The question should be; title: rather the other way. How could He, being man, do; title: otherwise? His perfect oneness with man made it not; title: only possible, but imperative. Dr. Moberly, in his; title: "Atonement and Personality," supposes the case of a; title: mother longing to make satisfaction for the sins of a; title: child. None else can long as she longs, none else can; title: feel as she feels â€” for the simple reason that the child is; title: " bone of her bone, flesh of her flesh ". It is because of; title: their oneness that she feels his sin as no stranger could; title: feel it. Sin is a family affair. It is because the child's; title: misdoing is a stain on the whole family that she, the; title: mother, feels it as no one outside the family could do.; title: So it is in the human family. " This is all women's; title: grief," writes Tennyson : â€”; title: " This is all womeris grief; title: That she is woman, whose disloyal life; title: Hath wrought confusion in the Table Round."; title: 1 64 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: And in some dim way we can see how He, who is; title: the Head of the whole human family, of all men, of; title: all women, feels the sins of each member of the family,; title: just because of His oneness with us all. The Elder; title: Brother can do something to make reparation for His; title: brethren's sins, just because they are His brethren â€”; title: for in spite of their sin, " He is not ashamed," but loves; title: " to call them brethren ". He can, as it were, place; title: Himself in each soul, and by offering Himself in that; title: soul can â€” not instead of, but in union with, that soul; title: â€” make satisfaction for it as part of the human; title: race.; title: This longing to make reparation is implanted in; title: each of us. We may crowd it out with other interests ;; title: we may harden ourselves till we think we do not care ;; title: but there it is â€” embodied in law, as well as in longing.; title: It was a law as old as the Exodus, 1 that " if a fire; title: break out ... he that kindled the fire shall surely; title: make restitution" â€” and that law has never been abro; title: gated. It appealed to man as man, and still appeals; title: to him. We think of some such fire as the Fire of; title: London, of which Evelyn, the Chronicler, has written :; title: " God grant that my eyes may never see the like; title: again". Who started it? Was it by accident or de; title: sign ? Opinions differ. But one thing all are agreed; title: upon, that whoever caused it should be brought to; title: book. " If a fire break out, he that kindled the fire; title: 1 Exod. xxn. 6.; title: ALMSGIVING AND REPARATION 165; title: shall surely make restitution." Every law of arson,; title: which has been passed since the days of the Exodus,; title: expresses the same principle. Its permanence proves; title: its worth, and exhibits it as a law inherent in the code; title: of conscience.; title: And this law of reparation still appeals to all that is; title: best in public opinion. " The defence admit that the; title: matters complained of are libels," said Sir Edward; title: Carson, in a great libel case a short time since, " and; title: it desires to offer plaintiff the fullest and frankest; title: apology in reparation thereof" â€” an apology accepted; title: by Sir Rufus Isaacs, on behalf of his client, " as the; title: speediest and best reparation for the harm that has been; title: done 1 '. It satisfied, as far as it could, both sides, and; title: appealed to a public which expected, and demanded,; title: that Counsel should thus make what satisfaction he; title: could on his client's behalf.; title: Or we take up some popular novel â€” such as Grant; title: Allen's story of " Michael's Crag ". How cleverly he; title: illustrates the point! Walter Tyrrel, in boyish dis; title: obedience, kicks a stone over a lofty crag. The stone; title: strikes a father and his child on the road beneath,; title: kills the child, and permanently injures the father's; title: brain. From that moment the man, Michael Treven-; title: nack, is an unsuspected lunatic. In graphic story, the; title: author tells how the wrongdoing haunts its perpetrator; title: through life, and paints in brilliant colouring the tor; title: ture of his unsatisfied longing to make reparation â€” a; title: longing which eventually finds its partial satisfaction; title: 1 66 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: in sacrificing over half his fortune to enable Cleer; title: Trevennack to marry Eustace Le Neve.; title: It is but another form of the old Bible stories which; title: tell the same tale. It is not enough for Zacchaeus to; title: break with his past, to make his confession, and to; title: receive absolution ; he craves to make satisfaction,; title: reparation, restitution â€” " If I have wrongfully exacted; title: aught of any man ... I restore fourfold ", 1; title: And what is that great longing of Dives, in the In; title: termediate State ? It is to make reparation to his family; title: for his own life of self-indulgence. " I have five; title: brethren." What purgatory could be worse than his; title: inability to repair the injury he had done to them, and; title: to warn them from "this place of torment?"; title: What of our own lives ? Have we ever done an; title: injury to others, injured their reputation, lost them a; title: position, cheated them, lowered them in another's esti; title: mation, hurt them in any way ? We may have lost sight; title: of them, may have forgotten all about the sin until some; title: hand was, as it were, placed upon our shoulder, and; title: reminded us of the well-worn truism, that forgotten sin; title: is not forgiven sin. What can we do? Thank God,; title: we can â€” directly or indirectly â€” make reparation. Have; title: we ever spoilt another's life â€” man's or woman's, boy's; title: or girl's? Have we ever been like those sirens on the; title: coast of Italy, who enticed the seamen by the magic; title: sweetness of their voices, and then turned on them and; title: slew them ? It is terrible. We have " kindled a fire "; title: 1 S. Luke xix. 8 (R.V.).; title: ALMSGIVING AND REPARATION 167; title: which has burnt the beauty out of some soul-face.; title: What is done cannot be undone. What, then, can be; title: done? Thank God, we can make reparation. We; title: can take such an one, body, soul, and spirit, as a life; title: long burden on our shoulders ; and morning, noon,; title: and night, pray that he, or she, may not finally suffer; title: loss through our ill-doing.; title: And we may, at least, forsake the sin which un; title: frocked us of our manhood or womanhood :â€”; title: " And save to mourn, is there nought left to do,; title: Nought ye can do ? Yes !; title: Ye can arise, reclaim your manliness,; title: And flee the things that are unmaking you? :; title: Ye can "reclaim your manliness" by acting as; title: men, and not as serfs. Ye can " reclaim your womanli; title: ness " by acting as women, and not as sirens. Ye can; title: so far reclaim the past as to recover the present, and; title: to possess the future. Ye can try to do good where; title: ye have done evil ; to give joy where ye have given; title: sorrow ; to honour manhood or womanhood, where ye; title: have dishonoured the sacred gift of sex.; title: "And the tongue is a fire." Have we used our; title: tongue to hurt another ? What of those false words ?; title: "Thou hast loved to speak all words that may do; title: hurt ; O thou false tongue ". 2 Does the Psalmist hit; title: us here ? What of those lying words ? " With lies; title: 1 William Watson. 2 Ps. LIT. 5.; title: 1 68 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: thou cuttest like a sharp razor." 1 Is it true of us?; title: What of those snake-like words ! " The words of his; title: mouth were softer than butter, having war in his; title: heart ; his words were smoother than oil, and yet they; title: be very swords ". 2 Is this a photograph of our own; title: words? And those foul words! "Their throat is an; title: open sepulchre," 3 exuding words which rise to God as; title: the foul vapour from an open grave in a hot climate.; title: What is our record ? What can we do ? There is no; title: recalling them. There is only one thing to be done â€”; title: that one thing which, thank God, we can do. We can; title: make reparation. If we can not unsay what we have; title: said ; if we cannot confess it to the one we have injured,; title: without doing fresh injury, we can at least punish; title: ourselves, and, as an act of reparation, cheat ourselves; title: out of the pleasures of some praise-winning speech, and; title: warn others against the pit into which we ourselves; title: have fallen.; title: II.; title: MONEY AND REPARATION.-; title: We come now more directly to almsgiving, in its; title: technical sense, as reparation for wrongdoing. What; title: about money ? Have we cheated another â€” in business,; title: at cards, in games of any sort ? Did we make the; title: money we are living on dishonestly, or by sinning; title: with, or against, another? Have we made ourselves; title: "receivers of stolen goods," by sharing in ill-gotten; title: 1 PS. L1I. 3- S PS. LV. 22. 3 PS. V. 9.; title: ALMSGIVING AND REPARATION 169; title: gains? Have we, actively or passively, connived at,; title: or gained from, the savagery of sweating ? Have we; title: comfortably banked our dividends gained from sources; title: which we have never examined ourselves, or from; title: investments we have never taken the trouble to con; title: sult some straight friend or business man about?; title: It is so easy to lead two lives, and even to combine; title: great religious activity with dishonest business habits.; title: No novelist has described the danger better than; title: George Eliot in " Middlemarch " where she depict? Mr.; title: Bulstrode as a business man whom the world would; title: call, and rightly call, " the religious humbug". "The; title: business," he argues (a dishonourable one, from which; title: he derives his income), " was already established, and; title: had old roots ; is it not one thing to set up a new gin; title: palace, and another to accept an investment in an old; title: one ? " and so on ; and he even prays : " Thou knowest; title: how loose my soul sits to these things, how I view; title: them all as an implement for Thy glory " â€” as if spend; title: ing a portion of ill-gotten gains on charitable objects; title: would sanctify the remaining portion spent upon his; title: own comfort and luxury. The story is worth re-read; title: ing if only to see in it something which applies to; title: hundreds round about us, and, not impossibly, to our; title: selves.; title: But, when the conscience once wakes up to what it; title: has done, then comes the longing to make reparation.; title: Men who have made money wrongly will even long to; title: get rid of it, long to spend it in making amends, but; title: 170 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: again and again will find themselves powerless to do; title: so. That is the punitive side of their reparation.; title: They cannot discover those whom they have injured; title: morally or pecuniarily ; they cannot make amends to; title: them for their wrecked lives, or their damaged reputa; title: tions ; they can no more restore what they have so; title: cruelly destroyed, than all the hoards of all the; title: millionaires can restore a defaced Rembrandt to its; title: former value.; title: What ought they to do ? What can they do ?; title: Almsgiving, in one way or another, forms one part of; title: the answer. Not, of course, that they can buy their; title: pardon. That is impossible : that they must " let; title: alone for ever "- 1 No money can buy that which cost; title: God Calvary. Pardon for sin can only be bought; title: " without money and without price," for it is priceless.; title: There is always the danger, in such cases, of striving; title: to stifle conscience by money-giving, and of trying to; title: buy peace with pounds, shillings, and pence. Such; title: bargaining would be essentially "trusting in riches,"; title: rather than trusting in the Precious Blood.; title: But almsgiving may have its part to play in the ex; title: pression of real penitence. S. Paul, at least, indicates; title: some such line of thought when writing to the Ephes-; title: ians. He is dealing with a typical case. His advice; title: seems to have been asked in the case of a thief who; title: wishes to become a Christian, but is unable to restore; title: what he has stolen to the one from whom he has; title: 1 Ps. XLIX. 8.; title: ALMSGIVING AND REPARATION 171; title: taken it. It is impossible to make satisfaction to the; title: one injured. That is the penance. Can nothing be; title: done? Yes! three things. First, negatively; the; title: thief must give up the wrongdoing â€” " Let him that; title: stole, steal no more ". Then, positively; he must work,; title: and it must be honest work â€” " Rather let him labour,; title: working with his hands, the thing which is good ".; title: Thirdly, he must give alms â€” " That he may have to; title: give to him that needeth ", 1 Here in the last clause is; title: the secret. What he makes must be spent, and spent,; title: not on himself, but on the brotherhood. If the thief; title: cannot find those from whom he stole, he is to make; title: reparation to the family â€” the brotherhood, the house; title: hold, the Church ; if not to this one, then to that one ;; title: if not on the one actually robbed, then " to him that; title: needeth ". The thief is not to be let off, and allowed; title: to forget all about it because he cannot find the one; title: from whom he stole ; he is not to go unpunished, and; title: forget all about it, because he is forgiven. It is; title: quite the other way about. " My sin is ever before; title: me," either as forgiven, or unforgiven sin â€” never as; title: forgotten sin. Indeed, it is not until he is forgiven that; title: the sinner can really realize his sin. " Father, forgive; title: them, they know not what they do " â€” and it is not until; title: they are forgiven that they ever can know ; it is only; title: in the sunlight of forgiveness that sin is seen in its true; title: colours. It is far higher to forgive and remember, than; title: it is to " forgive and forget ". The longing to make; title: 1 Eph. iv. 28.; title: 1 72 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: satisfaction â€” that third part of penitence â€” is never so; title: aching as it is after absolution. And, thank God,; title: reparation is the blessed antidote to the despair; title: which the glare of full knowledge might well bring; title: with it.; title: III.; title: REPARATION AND REINSTATEMENT.; title: Nor is this thought of reparation confined to the; title: Church, or exclusively Christian. It is embodied in; title: the law of the land â€” law, based, no doubt, upon; title: Christian ethics. Take the case of a solicitor who; title: has been struck off the rolls. Once struck off, re; title: instatement is no easy matter. Cases of restoration; title: do occur, but they are few ; and the difficulties in the; title: way of legal re-instatement are enormously greater; title: than in the case of moral restoration. In any event; title: one preliminary is essential â€” reparation. The Court; title: will not even entertain the idea of reinstating a solicitor; title: until he has made satisfaction in the form of restitution.; title: And in this case reparation is not an end, but a starting; title: point " Unless," said Mr. Justice Willes, in a case; title: for a solicitor's re-instatement, " unless he has confessed,; title: expressed contrition, and made satisfaction, he is not; title: in a condition to ask for absolution." That is the point :; title: " he is not in a condition " to be forgiven. Here are; title: the same three requirements for legal restoration, as; title: the Church demands for spiritual restoration â€” and one; title: of them is reparation.; title: ALMSGIVING AND REPARATION 173; title: Thus it is that the Church makes reparation an; title: integral part of penitence. She tells us that, if we have; title: made satisfaction ; if we have done our part, and have; title: not limited our penitence to feeling sorry for sin, or; title: shame at having been detected ; if we have exchanged; title: mere attrition for contrition, confession, and satisfac; title: tion ; if our will is to do what we can â€” then we have; title: good cause to claim the promise of forgiveness, and; title: the cleansing from all sin.; title: For it is the will to make reparation, rather than; title: the ability to do so, that God looks for and accepts.; title: There are cases in which God accepts the will for the; title: deed, if the deed cannot correspond with the will.; title: It is related that a Brahmin householder once com; title: mitted a deadly sin, and his spiritual adviser ordered; title: him to spend the rest of his life in bathing in the; title: Ganges, as the only possible atonement for what he; title: had done. The Brahmin leaves all that he has, and; title: starts upon his search for the Ganges. First he comes; title: to a mountain stream, and thinking it the sacred; title: Ganges, settles on its banks, and bathes in its waters.; title: Then, when disillusioned by a passer-by, he comes to; title: an exceeding broad river, and, saying " surely this must; title: be the Ganges," once more settles down, and bathes; title: in the river. Again disillusioned, he moves on and; title: on, first to one river and then another, till, at length; title: being old and feeble, he can go no farther, but lays; title: him down to die. At length, with one supreme effort,; title: he drags himself up a low hill, and there, before him; title: 174 PRAYER AND PRACTICE; title: in the distance, rolls the real, the mighty Ganges.; title: Then in his agony he cries : " O mother Ganges ! alas !; title: alas ! I have pursued you all my life, and now I die; title: helpless here in sight of you ". So his heart broke, and; title: he never reached the river. But, when he got to the; title: other world, Yama, the Judge of all the dead, asked,; title: " What is there against him ? " And Chitragupta, the; title: Recorder, replied, " I find against him a terrible sin,; title: but he has expiated by fifteen years' penance on the; title: banks of the Ganges ' '. Then the Brahmin was amazed,; title: and said : " Lord, you are mistaken. I never reached; title: the banks of the Ganges." And Yama smiled, and re; title: vealed to the sinner that, just as penance performed in; title: an improper spirit, even on the actual banks of the; title: Ganges, would be no true penance, so the wish trans; title: lated into effort to reach the river was counted by; title: the Holy One as performed in will though not in; title: deed.; title: That which is told of the Brahmin is true of the; title: Christian. Penitence lies in the will.; title: God and our guardian angels are waiting for; title: this : â€”; title: " There are two angels that attend unseen; title: Each one of us, and in great books record; title: Our good and evil deeds. He who writes down; title: The good ones, after every action closes; title: His volume, and ascends with it to God.; title: ALMSGIVING AND REPARATION 175; title: The other keeps his dreadful day-book open; title: Till Sunset, that we may repent, which doing,; title: The record of the action fades away,; title: And leaves a line of white across the page!'; title: "And now, O Lord God, if in this work I have said; title: anything which is Thine, Thine own will recognize it ;; title: and if I have said anything which is mine, do Thou and; title: Thine forgive it. What I have said of Thee, receive ;; title: what I have ignorant 'ly uttered as my own, pardon ; and; title: bring us to that Vision where we can no longer err."; title: ABERDEEN: THE UNIVERSITY PRESS; title: BV; title: Holmes, Ernest Edward; title: 215; title: .H65; title: Prayer and action; title: 1911; title: 102267