2. There is, however, an immediate and pressing necessity for this prayer, but it is rather implied than expressed. When he wrote this letter and offered this prayer, Paul was a prisoner in Eome, a circumstance which appears to have had a very depressing, if not a staggering effect on the newly-converted brethren at Ephesus. Eetaining some of the follies of their former heathen- ism, they looked upon this calamity as an evil omen, and drew from it strange inferences. A prisoner in Kome, and an am- bassador of the King of kings ! A favourite of heaven and shut up in gaol ! Can it be ? Is Christianity of God ? Is Paul true ? So thought and so reasoned these novices in the Christian faith, as is evidently implied in the words immediately preceding our text — " Wherefore I ask that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which are your glory." To save them from " fainting," and to keep them steadfast in the faith, notwithstanding his imprison- ment, he prayed for them. It is occasions that make prayer. We never pray as we ought without having definite cases before our minds, and seeking the Divine help, either for ourselves or others, according to the actual circumstances and the special needs of the time.
EPHESIANS III. 14, 15 95
^ These Ephesian Christians have passed away, their city lies in ruins; the heron and the stork wander where once the multitude stood. The hand that wrote these lines has long since mouldered into dust ; and yet to-day these words are as fresh and appropriate as when first penned. For the fundamental facts of human need and Divine grace remain through all generations, and are true of all nations. To the English Christians of the twentieth century, who represent the same Gentile Church as the Ephesians of the first, the message of the Apostle is suitable : " I bow my knees unto the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, that ye may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inward man." ^
II.
The Apostle's Attitude in Pkayer. " I bow my knees."
1. " I bow my knees." Why is that mentioned ? Is not posture a small thing compared with spirit ? Why does the Apostle refer to the attitude ? It is because of what that attitude meant to him and means to every sincere worshipper. Kneeling is the attitude of humility, of confession, of entreaty, of worship. Some have gone further, and thought that kneeling in prayer is a symbol of man's fallen state, that he can no longer stand erect before God, but is broken and crushed in the presence of Jehovah. Certainly, kneeling is the natural position of man before the Almighty and All-Holy Creator. The holiest and highest of men have approached God thus. Solomon, the greatest, except David, of all Jewish kings, upon the day of the dedication of the Temple, knelt down before all his people and presented his prayer to God. Ezra, the priest, on receiving news of the people's sin tells us : " I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the Lord my God." Daniel, the prophet, when, in the city of idolatry, he heard of the decree forbidding prayer, except to the king, for thirty days, went into his house and " kneeled upon his knees " as before.
But we have still higher authority ; for did not Jesus, in the
1 J. W. Ewing, The Undying Christ, 69.
96 THE FATHER AND THE FAMILIES
Garden of Gethsemane, withdraw Himself from His disciples a stone's throw and kneel down and pray ? And, after Jesus, what a line of men — the greatest, the purest, the tenderest — we see kneeling in prayer. Stephen, with that stony rain beating out his life, kneels down and cries with a loud voice : " Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." Peter, when Dorcas is dead, kneels down and prays for her restoration. And Paul, when bidding farewell to the elders of this very Church, knelt down on the seashore and poured out his heart to God for those he was leaving. Evidently it was the habit of his life.
^ I was touched by reading yesterday morning of Bishop Latimer, the martyr, that towards the end of his life he used to spend so much time kneeling in prayer that he had to be assisted to rise. He forgot his troubles when pouring out his soul before God. Eobert McCheyne spent a large part of his time in prayer. As he said: "Prayer is the link between earth and Heaven." These men stooped to conquer, knelt to prevail, humbled them- selves that Christ might be exalted. I pity the man or the nation that knows not how to kneel in prayer to God.^
2. Yet no one could be less inclined than Paul to place any emphasis on any possible amount or variety of genuflexion. He knelt, but in assuming that attitude, and in mentioning it, he only gave expression to the humility, the reverence, the earnestness, the concentration of his spirit in devotion. Prayer lies in the heart only, but the words, the attitude, the place, the time, have all their influences directly or indirectly on our heart. We all kneel in private, and no doubt find the attitude helpful, at least to the fixedness of our attention on the work professedly in hand. Would not kneeling in public be equally helpful, and would not its general practice be as seemly as it would be helpful ? But, whatever the attitude, let us not forget that the spirit fairly indicated by the Apostle's expression, "I bow my knees," is essential to the validity of prayer.