Some Essentials of Religion Part 5

In the first place let us set before us quite clearly this great fact.

G.o.d, as He has been revealed to us by His Son, wishes us to pray to Him. Prayer--the privilege, the duty and the value of prayer--is part of the revelation of G.o.d. It goes with His nature, as that nature has been revealed to us. He is the G.o.d Who wishes us to speak to Him, and to take Him into our confidence,--in a word He is the G.o.d Who wishes us to treat Him as Father. What is prayer? There is G.o.d ready to hear us, ready to heal and guide, to give rest and peace, to give light and strength, to help carry our cares, to direct our feet into straight paths. And here are we with our great needs, our cares and perplexities. Prayer is the point of contact between ourselves and that great G.o.d. Indeed, we can say more than that, for when we pray we become our true selves. We are spirits of Eternity. For a time we live upon this earth having many duties to perform, and many important offices to fulfil,--but when we pray, when we praise G.o.d, we are performing our essential work as spirits. We have dropped for the moment the outer covering of our lives, and stand forth as being what we really are,--spirits who came from G.o.d, who are doing a certain work for G.o.d here, and are to return to G.o.d. The moment of prayer is a great moment, for then it is that "deep calleth to deep", and spirit calleth to the Father and Source of all spirits. And so it comes to pa.s.s that in the moment of prayer it is not merely that this man or woman, called by this name or that here on earth,--a workman, a business man, a housekeeper,--but an eternal spirit of G.o.d is calling upon the Author of all Spirits. Such is prayer. "Prayer is that act by which man, conscious alike of his weakness and his immortality, puts himself into real and effective communication with the Eternal, the Self-Existent and the Uplifted G.o.d."[1]

WHY SHOULD WE PRAY.

In trying to answer the question, "What is prayer?" we have, in part, answered this question also, but it is so important that it must have a section to itself.

In the first place, we should pray in order to make acknowledgment of the glory and the power of G.o.d. It is because of what G.o.d is Himself that we have need to fall down before Him in adoration and praise. We are inclined to think too much of our own needs in relation to prayer.

Indeed when we mention the word prayer, we begin at once to think of our needs, of what we want, and of what other people want. These are important, but these are not first; and until we understand that they take the second place in prayer, and do not const.i.tute its chief argument, we cannot realize the real reason for Christian Prayer. The real, the first reason for prayer from the Christian point of view is to glorify G.o.d,--to praise Him for what He is, and to fall down before the greatness of His power. We have a model prayer which teaches us about this. Among many other things it teaches us the chief reasons for prayer. It comes to us full of answers to our question, Why should we pray? "When ye pray, say, Our Father, Which art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven." This surely means that G.o.d must be first in our prayers.[2]

We are half way through the Lord's Prayer, we are more than half way through, before we begin to talk about our needs. Our Lord Jesus Christ has taught us that in prayer we are to think first of such things as the Father, Heaven, His Name, His Kingdom and His Will, before we say anything of the bread and our other needs. Yes, surely the great reason for praying is to honour G.o.d, to unite ourselves with His great purposes in heaven and earth.

Again, I would ask you to think of this from another point of view.

One of the great objects of life is to know G.o.d. To know G.o.d! This sometimes seems a very mystical, far away subject, does it not? It belongs, surely, to those who have been specially endowed, or to those who have the mystical temperament! I do not think this is true. I think we grow to know G.o.d as we grow to know our friends. And how do we grow to know our friends? We speak to them, we take them into our confidence, we tell them of the things that make up our lives, and by so doing we grow into friends.h.i.+p. If we neglect this for long our friends.h.i.+p begins to wane. Now I think it is very much the same with our relations to our great Friend. We grow in our knowledge of Him and His ways, and in our understanding of His mind, just in proportion as it is our habit to go into His Presence and to take Him into our confidence about our lives. And this is what prayer is. By prayer we grow to know G.o.d. The highest prayer is "Thy Will be done", and we can only come to those heights of prayer by praying,--for it is by talking to G.o.d, looking at Him, taking Him into our confidence that we come to understand some of His ways and purposes, enter into the secret places of His dwelling, and thus learn to say, "Thy will be done!" Only they who have learnt in the School of Prayer to say, "Father ... Hallowed be Thy name" can go on to truly say, "Thy will be done". The object of prayer is not to bend His Will to ours but to so learn of him, and to so enter into His Friends.h.i.+p day by day that we can say, "Thy will be done".

But, of course, in prayer we are meant to ask for things for ourselves and for others. What has been said above by no means indicates the complete reason for praying. No, the Christian prays for things for himself and others. It cannot be too strongly stated "that prayer gets things done". "Ye have not," says St. James, "because ye ask not". It is the Will of the Father to give us things in response to prayer. Our Lord in the model prayer taught us to pray definitely for certain things in human life. His Father, so He teaches us, is interested in the whole of human life, all its needs, its cares, its joys, its perplexities, its strain,--all these can be made the subject of intercourse between the Father and the child. The Father cares about them so much that they must find their place in our prayers. Indeed, they are so important that they must have _their own place_. And their own place is second. So in all our praying let us remember it is G.o.d first, ourselves second. But we go further than that. It would seem as if we were not in a position to know our real needs sufficiently well to pray about them with intelligence, unless first of all we have allowed the light that comes from thinking about G.o.d, adoring His Name, and falling down before the majesty of His purpose and His will, to s.h.i.+ne upon our life's needs. Yes, we are indeed to pray for our varied needs and those of others, but we cannot know our real needs unless G.o.d is first in our prayer, and we have prayed, "Our Father, Hallowed be Thy name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done".[3]

HOW SHOULD WE PRAY?

It would seem to be perfectly clear from the teaching of the Bible and the Church, and from the experience of those who really pray, that men and women can live lives of power, peace, and usefulness, whatever their lot may be, if they would but pray. There it is before us. It is the challenge of prayer. If you pray, you can do great things for G.o.d and man.

There the challenge stands. "But", someone says, "I personally have found it very difficult to pray, possibly my gifts lie in other directions." This is often said as if the speaker thought he were unique. He is quite right about one thing,--it is difficult to pray,--but he is wrong in thinking he is unique. Prayer is one of the hardest things to do. This is one of the reasons we s.h.i.+rk it. Do not be surprised if you find it hard. "It is hard," someone has said, "because it is high". Most things that are very well worth doing are things we find hard, especially at first, to learn to do.

Now let these facts stand very clear before us. G.o.d asks us to pray to Him. Of all the things we do, there is nothing that can be more worth while doing. If we will do it, we most certainly will grow into better and n.o.bler and more useful men and women. But we shall find it hard to do. Now let us be quite clear about the problem of the hardness of prayer; there is only one thing to do about this subject of prayer, and that is to pray. The only way to solve the problem of praying is by praying. Nothing will do instead. In spite of the difficulties, in spite of distractions, of weariness, of failure, of moods, of coldness,--we pray. Nothing will do instead. Nothing else will solve the problem. Reading books and listening to sermons on prayer will not do instead. The only way to learn to pray is to pray. The people who get things done are the people who, not having the time or the inclination often, in spite of these things,--pray.

In a word, we have to treat prayer as work, as part of our definite work as Christians. We know how it is with our work. We do it every day. We do it whether we feel like doing it or not. We keep on doing it day after day, month after month, year after year. Prayer is work.

We must treat it with the respect we give to our work. Again, what a mistake it is to wait on the mood. What a mistake to say, "I do not feel like praying to-day--perhaps to-morrow!" Our moods come and go.

They are very fragile things, rooted sometimes in trifling causes. One of the greatest mistakes in this connection is to think that the effectiveness of our prayers depends upon the particular state of our feelings at the time. It often happens to people who pray that they have found the greatest blessings they have won for themselves or for others have been in times when "the heavens were bra.s.s", and they had little or no sense of reality or warmth in prayer. It is said that the difference between the professional and the amateur is that the amateur depends on the mood, but the professional goes on with his work day after day, paying no attention to a mood here and there. We must be, in this sense, professionals. Prayer is part of our work as Christians. Let moods come or go, the work must go on,--the great work of Praise, Pet.i.tion, Intercession, Thanksgiving.

Again, if there is one thing more than another that Our Lord was clear about in His teaching concerning prayer, it is that we must be persistent in our prayers. We must pray for an answer. This is not to say that we are to pray until we receive the answer we wish, but until we receive some light and leading in relation to the subject of our prayers. It will not be necessary to do more than remind you of the two parables on this subject in St. Luke's Gospel. There was once a man upon whom there came an unexpected traveller one night, and he had "nothing to set before him". He went to a friend at midnight and said, "Friend, lend me three loaves," and would not go away until he had received the loaves, but kept on asking and seeking and knocking. "I say unto you", said Our Lord, "that though he will not rise because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will arise and give him as many as he needeth. And I say unto you, ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." And again, there was in a certain city a judge, "which feared not G.o.d, and regarded not man", and to him came a widow with the persistent plea, "Avenge me of mine adversary." And he would not for a while, but afterward he said within himself, "Though I fear not G.o.d, nor regard man; yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me". These two parables, taken with Christ's own example in Gethsemane when He prayed three times concerning "the cup", make it very clear that His followers, when they decide this or that is a matter for definite prayer, must not leave that pet.i.tion or intercession out of their prayers until they have received some answer, some light or leading from the G.o.d Who always hears, and always answers earnest prayer.

And last of all, in answer to our question, How should we pray? we should pray in that name which is above every name--the name of "the one Mediator between G.o.d and man, the Man Christ Jesus." We have this great name to plead. Though in our weakness we feel unworthy to pray, though in our ignorance we know not how to pray, and though with the best of our prayers there is so much that is imperfect, we have in that One Who ever lives to make intercession for us, One Who takes our poor and imperfect acts of devotion and makes them to be heard in the Presence of the Divine Majesty. It is "through Jesus Christ our Lord"

we pray. Here is our confidence. In this realization we find fresh strength and hope for the whole work of prayer. His perfect knowledge of our lives and of our temptations, coupled with His place of Honour at the right hand of the Father, gives us great re-a.s.surance that our prayers come before that Throne with power. "Having then a great high priest, Who hath pa.s.sed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of G.o.d, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but one that hath been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us, therefore, draw near with boldness unto the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find grace to help us in time of need."

FINDING TIME FOR PRAYER.

We are anxious that these articles should be very practical, and that our readers may be helped to practise their religion more definitely from reading them. Most of us are very busy people, and often it will seem as if there was no time for prayer. But we always make time to do things we consider absolutely essential. Prayer is one of the absolute essentials of the Christian life. You will notice that it was during times of unusual pressure of duties that we are told that Our Lord found time to pray. It was when the people thronged Him to listen to His words, and to receive healing and comfort for body and soul, that we read, "And it came to pa.s.s in those days, that He went out into the mountain to pray; and He continued all night in prayer to G.o.d". And again it was while "all the city was gathered at the door" that "in the morning, a great while before day, He rose up and went out, and departed into a desert place, and there prayed". He always found time in the midst of His thronged ministry, when "many were coming and going", and He had "no leisure so much as to eat", to go apart to enter into communion with His Father. We, too, must find time to pray.

The important thing is not how long our prayers are or how short, but that our spirits have come, if only for a moment, into contact with Him, Who is Himself Spirit. This is the vital thing. This is that which brings rest and refreshment to the soul and strengthens it in its life on earth. Let me repeat, the great essential is to get into touch with G.o.d, and to get into touch every day. Now it would seem as if the morning, first thing in the morning, is the time especially to do this?

Before the distractions of the day have dulled the delicate perceptions of the spirit, before the noonday sun has absorbed the early dew of morning, is the time to open the door of the heart to G.o.d, and to lift up the hands to Him. It was in the morning, "rising up a great while before day", that the Son of Man prayed. So it should be the first thing in the day with us. It need not be anything complicated or involved. Indeed, it can be quite simple. Perhaps this simple suggestion may be found helpful. When we get up in the morning, we remember that it is G.o.d first. We must let the thought of the glory, the power and the goodness of G.o.d take possession of our hearts. We bow before Him, from Whom we came and to Whom we go, and say, "Glory be to the Father, and to the Son; and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen." Then a word of thanksgiving for sleep and rest, one or both of the Collects for Morning Prayer, a little prayer for others, and special needs of the day, and the Lord's Prayer to end with, and to sum up the whole act. Such is the barest outline, but it is something that everyone could do, and could do every day. Why not? And why not forthwith?

If we are to know G.o.d, we must pray. If we are to become our true selves, we must pray. If we are to walk bravely and honestly through this life, we must pray. If we are to be useful to others, we must pray. And what is prayer? It is getting into touch with G.o.d, and getting into touch every day.

[1] In further token that it is so we find, apart from Christian Revelation and experience, an instinct to prayer practically universal among men. This natural capacity to pray is one of the greatest attributes of human nature. Man has ever felt the desire to confer with the unseen.

[2] Prayer, therefore, if it is to follow the teaching and example of Christ must rise above the thought of making a bargain with G.o.d. (E.g.

"If this pet.i.tion is granted then I will do this or that"). Christian pet.i.tions are offered in absolute trust, "Nevertheless not as I will but as Thou wilt."

[3] G.o.d knows what is best for us and wills the best for us. We do not pray "Thy will be changed," but "Thy will be done." Our Lord Christ, Who had perfect knowledge of G.o.d, used prayer as one of the greatest forces to accomplish G.o.d's purpose. If we withhold prayer we leave unused a force G.o.d Himself calls for in carrying out His purposes among men.

VI.

THE HOLY COMMUNION

The Rt. Rev. A. J. Doull, D.D., Bishop of Kootenay.

This volume of theology is written for laymen of the Anglican Church, and it is to them that I address myself primarily in this chapter.

There can be no question in our minds regarding the importance of this subject which we are now about to consider; nor yet of the necessity of arriving at a clear understanding concerning the truth. We are about to tread holy ground, therefore a reverent spirit is needful above all things else. We are about to investigate, albeit in the briefest manner, the nature and character of that Sacrament which our dying Saviour left as the bond of comrades.h.i.+p between His followers and Himself, and between His followers with one another, but which historically has been the occasion of more strife and discord betwixt Christian people than any other inst.i.tution or fact of our holy faith; therefore we must cast aside all prejudice and preconceived opinions, and placing ourselves at the feet of Jesus seek to learn from Him the real truth which He alone can impart.

I believe that Christ is especially anxious to teach us the truth to-day after all these centuries of strife, and I am convinced that so far as the Anglican Church is concerned that there is a wonderful measure of agreement between all her members concerning the doctrine of the Holy Communion when they heed the advice of our great theologian, the judicious Hooker, and "the more give themselves to meditate with silence what we have by the Sacrament and less to dispute of the manner how."

Let us try and consider in simple faith and simple language what is revealed to us in Holy Scripture concerning this Sacrament, what truths about it are therefore enshrined in the Book of Common Prayer, and what it is accordingly that all Anglicans really believe though their mode of expressing their common faith, and though their phraseology, may somewhat differ.

INSt.i.tUTED BY CHRIST.

Firstly, we believe that this Sacrament is of Supreme importance because it was inst.i.tuted by Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and by Him commanded to be observed and celebrated by His Church until His coming again. The writers of the first three Gospels give us substantially identical accounts of what our Lord said and did in the same night that he was betrayed. St. Mark, whose narrative is probably the oldest, tells us that on the first day of unleavened bread when they sacrificed the Pa.s.sover, in the evening Jesus and the twelve kept this distinctive feast of the Old Testament dispensation according to the accustomed manner.

"And as they were eating, he took bread, and when he had blessed, he brake it, and gave to them and said, Take ye; this is my body. And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave to them and they all drank of it. And he said unto them: This is my blood of the Covenant which is shed for many." (St. Mark XIV. 22-24 R.V.) St. Matthew's account and that of St. Luke are practically identical.

St. John, whose gospel was written at a much later date than those of the synoptists, does not record the inst.i.tution of the Holy Communion, but does preserve for us Our Blessed Lord's wonderful teaching regarding Himself as the Bread of Life, which has such an important bearing upon a clear understanding of the true and proper place of this Sacrament in the Spiritual life of Christians. (V. St. John VI.).

St. Paul, in the eleventh chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians, writes: "For I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you how that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took bread; and when he had given thanks, he brake it and said, This is my body which is for you; this do in remembrance of me.

In like manner also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the New Covenant in my blood; this do as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me." The only other occasions upon which St. Paul uses similar language to "For I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you," is with reference to the Resurrection of Our Blessed Lord (1 Cor. XV. 3) and to the essence of the Gospel Message taught him by the revelation of Jesus Christ, (Galatians 1. 12). We may believe therefore that St. Paul in emphasizing the sacred importance of the Holy Communion knew himself to be under the special guidance of Christ Himself.

THE CENTRAL RITE OF DISCIPLEs.h.i.+P.

Secondly, we believe that from the days of the Apostles down to the present time the Holy Communion has ever been regarded as the distinctive act of Christian Wors.h.i.+p and the highest means of Christian grace. It is impossible to go into the proof of this statement here but it can easily be verified by those ready and desirous to investigate. From the very earliest times of the Apostles, when on the first day of the week the disciples met together for the breaking of the bread, down to the present time Christians have ever regarded the Holy Communion as the Central rite of disciples.h.i.+p, the Sacrament or bond of comrades.h.i.+p between Jesus and His people, between Christ the Lord and those who are members of the Church which is His Body.

THE REAL SPIRITUAL PRESENCE.

Thirdly, we believe in the fact of Christ's presence with us in the Holy Communion. Regarding the fact there is unity of belief amongst all Anglicans, I might go further and say amongst all Christian people.

It is only when men proceed to define the mode that differences arise.

Some would regard his presence as due to a Sacramental change in the elements, or to a new relations.h.i.+p established between the elements and the Body and Blood of Christ. Others prefer to connect it with His promise, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them," and to lay stress upon the fact that if ever there be an occasion when two or three are gathered together in Christ's name it is when in obedience to His Command they a.s.semble to break the bread and bless the cup.

This fact of the real spiritual presence of Christ in the Holy Communion has ever been the belief of the Church Catholic and of the Anglican Church as a part thereof. Bishop Andrewes in the seventeenth century, writing in reply to Roman Controversalists, at a time when the Church in England had at length settled down after the upheaval and conflict of the Reformation period, a.s.serted the belief of the Anglican Church as to the fact but also her refusal to dogmatize as to the mode of the Saviour's presence. "The Presence we believe no less truly than you to be real. Concerning the mode of the Presence, we define nothing rashly, nor, I add, do we curiously enquire."

True to the teaching and to the Spirit of the early Church the Church of England devoutly accepts her Lord's words, neither attempting to explain them or to explain them away, but leaving them where He has left them a holy mystery not requiring and therefore not receiving definition. Not as attempting to define, but as a safeguard against errors which have at various times been prominent in the Church, representative writers of the Anglican Communion have been accustomed to speak of Our Lord's presence as being at once real and spiritual.

To understand the full significance of this language it is necessary that we dismiss forever from our minds the idea that there is any opposition between that which is real and that which is spiritual. On the contrary, we must grasp the fact, which all are coming to recognize more and more, that the spiritual is the real, and the real is the spiritual. I do not think that it would be possible to have this truth concerning the Sacramental Presence of Our Lord expressed more clearly, more beautifully, or more truly than it has been by Dr. Hall, the present Bishop of Vermont, who says that "Christ's presence in the Baptized is as real as His presence in the Eucharist, His presence in the Eucharist as spiritual as His presence in the Baptized". Moreover, the presence of Christ in the Eucharist cannot be said to differ in kind or in degree from His presence in and with His people at other times and in other Sacramental ordinances, but it does differ in purpose.