Eph 6'*. — The univensality of the duty as to mode, times, and persons is enforced by the words ' all [)rayer,' ' at all seasons,' ' in all perseverance,' ' for all the saints.'
Ro 1'"'-. — As elsewhere, Paul begins with thank- fulness, offering all prayer through the one Medi- ator, to whom he commends ,all tlie service of the Roman Chri-stians, remembering them, no doubt by name, and desiring to see them both to impart and to receive grace.
Eph iis-is 3""i». — Again, beginning mth thanks- giving, he asks that his friends may have the spirit of etticiency, growth in knowledge, eidightenment, issuing in power. Knowledge and power are the keynotes in the second prayer, in whiidi there is remarkable social teaching. As each individual is strengthened, the life of the whole cominunity will be uplifted by the Spirit of the Father from whom every fatherhood is named, and who has sent the Christ to teach love as ' the characteristic virtue both of the historic Person and of the ideal State' (Chadwick, Pastoral Teaching of St. Paul, p. '2112).
In Col P"'- the same keynotes — knowledge, strength, thankfulness — recur. Knowledge of God's will affects conduct ; under the guidance of the Spirit we are led to new forms of service, are enabled to bear with cheerfulness our difficulties and disappointments, assured that the lot of the saints is a privilege ' in the [Divine] light.'
In Ph P'" Paul prays that love may abound in knowledge and in all perception. All the faculties of reason and emotion wdl be cultivated in the well-balanced life, in which enthusiasm does not overpower intelligence and tact, but in the long series of moral choices, by which character is built up, the presence and power of Christ will determine the goal which is ' the fruit of righteousness ' in a life lived in union with Him. ' Gloria Dei vivens homo.'
These prayers of Paul throw a bright light on the meaning of the ditterent words for prayer which are often discussed from a philological rather than from a religious point of view. The most import- ant are united in the explicit charge given to Timothy (1 Ti 2"-) : ' I exhort therefore, first of all, that supplications (Sevjerfis), prayers (rpoaevxal), intercessions (evrei'^eis), thanksgivings (ei;xap'<'''''cO> be made for all men ; for kings and all that are in high place ; that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and gravity.' Here Trpoaevxii means prayer in general, always as addressed to God, whereas evxq means more often a vow than prayer ; Sir^ais is prayer for particular benefits ; ('I'Teuiis (lit. 'a pleading for or against others') includes the idea of approach (ivTiryx^"'^) which in Ro 8-" emphasizes its meaning of the intercession of the Spirit, and in Ro 8^^, He 7^ of the Son. Other words are aiTri/ia, a petition of man to God (Ph 4°, 1 Jn 5'*) ; and Uerrjpla, an adjective used at first with such a w(nd as pdjjSos or t'Xaia, picturing the symbol of supplication, an olive branch bound round with wool carried by the suppliant.
While all Christians are exhorted to pray with- out ceasing (1 Th 5") it was regarded as a special priviletje of those who had leisure, such as ' widows indeed (1 Ti 5^), to continue in supplications and prayers night and day. Thus the apostles enlisteil the help of the Seven in order to give themselves
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to prayer and to the ministry of the Word (Ac 6^)'
There is a deep meditation on the hearing of prayer in He 5', witli reference to our Lord's prayers. ' True jnayer — the prayer Avhich must he answered — is the personal recognition and ac- ceptance of tlie divine will (John xiv. 7 : comp. Mark xi. 24 iXdjieTe). It follows that the hearing of prayer, which teaches ohedience, is not so mucli the granting of a specific petition, which is assumed by the petitioner to be the way to the end desired, but the assurance that what is granted does most etleetively lead to the end. Tlius we are taught that Christ learned that every detail of His Life and Passion contributed to the accomplishment of the work which He came to fulfil, and so He was most perfectly " heard." In this sense He was "heard for His godly fear"' (Westcott). These pregnant sentences go to the very root of the problem of prayer. We learn its meaning as the Apostolic Church learnt it only by following our Lord to Gethsemane and the Cross. The ordinary posture of prayer was standing with arms out- stretched, like the Pharisee of our Lord's parable (Lk 18"), and the earliest paintings of Orantes in the Homan Catacombs. The well-known words of Tertullian may be quoted (Apol. 30) : ' Gazing up heavenward we Christians pray with hands ex- tended because they are innocent, with the head uncovered because we are not ashamed ; finally, without a guide because we pray from the heart.'
Following the example of our Lord, both kneel- ing and prostration were also adopted ; Stephen (Ac 7«°), Peter (9"), Paul (SO'" 2P), all knelt. Clement of Kome associated prostration with penitence (Ep. ad Cor. i. 48) : ' Let us there- fore root this out quickly, and let us fall down before the Master, and entreat Him with tears.' The value attached by Ignatius to the influence of prayer is expressed in the words (Eph. 5) : ' For if the prayer of one and another hath so great force, how much more that of the bishop and of the whole Church.'