Public Prayer.
The public services of the sanctuary are designed for worship and instruction. The former includes prayer and singing ; the latter, the reading the word of God and preaching. These ele- ments should be preserved in due proportion. In some churches, instruction is made entirely subordinate to worship; twice the time being devoted to the latter that is allotted to the former. This seems to be contrary to the Scriptural rule. Knowledge in the Bible is represented as the essential element of religion. There can be no true worship of God without adequate knowl- edge of God ; there can be no repentance, faith, or holy living unless the truths on which these exercises and this living are dependent are understood, and are present to the mind. Religion is a reasonable, that is (XoyiK-rj) a rational service, with which ignorance is incompatible. Christian ministers, therefore, are al- ways in the New Testament called SiSao-KaXoj, teachers. Their great commission received from Christ was " to teach all nations." The Apostles, therefore, went everywhere, preaching. Paul says Christ did not send him to baptize, or to perform mere religious services, but to preach the Gospel, which he declared to be the wisdom of God and the power of God unto salvation. No human authority could have tiansformed Paul from a preacher into an offerer of prayers. It was not until pagan ideas of worship be- gan to pervade the Church, and ministers were transmuted from teachers into priests, that the teaching element was made so en- tirely subordinate to that of worship, as it has been for ages in the Church of Rome.
While teaching should be, as it clearly was during the apos- tolic age, the prominent object in the services of the Lord's day, the importance of public prayer can hardly be overestimated. This, it is often said, is the weak point in the Presbyterian Sab- bath service. This is probably true. That is, it is probably true that there are more good preachers than good prayers. The main reason for this is, that the minister devotes a great part of the labour of the week to the preparation of his sermon, and not a thought to his prayers. It is no wonder, therefore, that the one should be better than the other.
In order that this part of divine service should be conducted to the edification of the people, it is necessary, (1.) That the of- ficiating minister should have a truly devout spirit ; that the feel- ings and desires, of which the prayers are the utterance, should
708 PART in. Ch. XX.— the means of grace.
be in exercise in his own heart. (2.) That his mind and memory should be well stored with the thoughts and language of Scrip- ture. Holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Their utterances, whether in adoration, thanksgiving, confession, or supplication, were controlled by the Spirit of God. Hence they express the mind of the Spirit ; they are the most ap- propriate vehicles for the expression of those feelings and desires which the Spirit awakens in the minds of God's people. No prayers, therefore, are more edifying, other things being equal, than those which abound in the appropriate use of Scriptural lan- guage. (3.) The prayer should be well ordered, so as to em- brace all the proper parts and topics of prayer in due proportion. This will prevent its being rambling, diffuse, or repetitious. (4.) It should also be suited to the occasion, whether that be the ordi- nary service on the Lord's day, or the administration of the sacra- ments, or the special service on days of thanksgiving or of fasting and humiliation. (5.) It is hardly necessary to say that the lan- guage employed should be simple, solemn, and correct. (6.) The prayers should be short. Undue length in this service is gener- ally owing, not more to diffuseness than to useless repetitions.
Prayer as a Means of Grace.
Means of grace, as before stated, are those means which God has ordained for the end of communicating the lif e-giving and sanctifying influences of the Spirit to the souls of men. Such are the word and sacraments, and such is prayer. It has not only the relation which any other cause has to the end for which it was appointed, and thus is the condition on which the blessings of God, providential or spiritual, are bestowed ; but it brings us near to God, who is the source of all good. Fellowship with Him, con- verse with Him, calls into exercise all gracious affections, rever- ence, love, gratitude, submission, faith, joy, and devotion. When the soul thus draws near to God, God draws near to it, mani- fests his glory, sheds abroad his love, and imparts that peace which passes all understanding. Our Lord says, " If a man love me, he will keep my words : and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." (John xiv. 23.) In such fellowship, the soul must be holy and must be blessed.
The Power of Prayer. The course of human events is not controlled by physical force alone. There are other powers at work in the government of the