THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
the relation of other forms of prayer. It can then be understood how a petition for external things, permeated by full assurance of being heard, may harmonize with a willingness to renounce it.
In modern times the question has been raised whether God for the sake of prayer causes to occur what otherwise would not have come to pass. In the last three centuries a clearer consciousness of the demonstrable reality in which men exist has severely shaken faith in the possibility of such a prayer receiving its answer. The two men who in the nineteenth century in their sermons represented
Christian life in its fullest content, 4. Modern Schleiermacher and F. W. Robertson Difficulties, (qq.v.), always clung to the belief that
reality was conditioned by the laws of nature, and that the course of the world could not be changed simply because a man was not resigned to his lot. What they say concerning the possibility of answer to prayer shows how difficult it has become for Christian faith to hold its own in the spiritual conditions produced by the progress of science. If it is held that prayer might change the petitioner while all else continues its course, the energy of faith in prayer must necessarily be paralyzed. Faith has the power to elevate to a higher stage of life only when it develops the confidence that communication with the God of the other world is a power over against that reality which is to be experienced. If a personal life which has revealed itself has brought about a trust and confidence that it possesses power over all, there has been produced a personal conviction of a reality distinct from nature. Expectation is raised of finding an entrance to this reality. Access is had to it in a moral activity and a spirit of prayer which seeks God himself. But this very idea in which the life of faith progresses, the conception that God opens to those who knock, is destroyed if it is considered impossible for God to grant a prayer that will change a situation in order to remove a barrier between man and God; in that case God is no more the personal spirit who answers, but the unchangeable power of order. Many believe that God shows himself as personal life only in the inner development while the course of life is the unchangeable result of natural law. But it is not right to place psychical events in such contrast with nature, and that result of prayer which is limited to the inner fife will not appear as a work of God through which he answers supplication, but as the direct effect of prayer in connection with inner conditions.
The conception of nature will always be able to shake confidence in that petition which is a mere expression of human desires; but it can have no power over prayer which is the outgrowth of personal acquaintance with God and of longing for him.
For in such prayer there is always room 5. Solution, for the thought of cause and effect in
empirical nature. It must be emphasized that this thought does not represent the whole reality, but only that part of it grasped by the senses. Moreover, nature, as unlimited in space and time, is the creation of a God whose reality can not be proved but is experienced by those to whom he reveals himself. It need not be proved that he who stands
on such a basis can believe in answer to prayer and that in full recognition of the conception of nature Such faith is possible since man, on the basis of the revelation which he has personally experienced may be convinced that God is inclined toward him in fatherly love; for then he must say to himself that the environment in which he exists is for him a stepping-stone to a more intimate union with God, whom yet it lies within his power to deny. Then the thought becomes possible for him that events in the world of sense may happen in virtue of his supplication, as God's answer of his prayer. In this confidence disturbance need not follow the recollection of the limitless conditionality of all empirical events, since that points rather to the fact that God as the Almighty performs each of his miracles through the world which for him is a totality while to man it is a limitless entity. Science can therefore not restrain from prayer. Man can pray when the God of heaven has revealed himself in individual experience. He really prays who addresses God in order to come nearer to him. To this real prayer, in which is expressed the tendency of all moral striving, God has given the power to shape the future for man and the world. The prayer of power is never the desire to accomplish material changes, but is a longing after God. If such longing is sincere, supplications concerning earthly matters will always be interwoven with it; for the more man becomes self-conscious in the thought of God, the more evident will it be that many cares so claim him that he feels momentarily separated from God.
(W Herbmann.)
Bibliography: On prayer in the Bible consult: C. A. Goodrich, Bible History of Prayer, Andover, 1861; P. Watters, The Prayers of the Bible, New York, 1883; P. Christ, Die Lehre vom Gebet nach dem Neuen Testament, Leyden, 1886; R. Smend, Lehrbuch der alttestamentliche Religionsgeschichte, p. 351, Freiburg, 1893; A. Juncker, Das Gebet bei Paulus, Berlin, 1905; J. E. McFadyen, The Prayers of the Bible, London, 1906; M. Kegel, Das Gebet im Alten Testament, Gutersloh, 1908; Nowack, Archaologie, pp. ii., 259 sqq.; Benzinger, Archaologie, pp. 3S6 sqq.; DB, iv. 38-45; EB, iii. 3823-32; DCG, ii. 390-393; JE, x. 164-171.
On prayer in the Church consult: S. I. Prime, The Power of Prayer Illustrated . . at the Fulton Street , Meetings, New York, 1873; J. F. Clarke, The Christian Doctrine of Prayer, Boston, 1874; I. S. Hartley, Prayer and its Relation to Modern Thought and Criticism, New York, 1875; The Prayer-Gauge Debate, by Prof. Tyndal, Francis Galton, and others against Dr. Littledale, President McCosh, . , Boston, 1876; H. R. Reynolds, The Philosophy of Prayer, London, 1881; H. L. Hastings, Ebenezer; or, Records of prevailing Prayer, London, ISS'2; J. C. Ryle, Thoughts on Prayer, London, 1886; D; \V. Faunce, Prayer as a Theory and as a Fact, New York, 1890; H. C. G. Moule, Secret Prayer, London, 1890; R. Leroy, La Prikre chretienne, Lausanne, 1894; A. Murray, The Ministry of Intercession; a Plea for more Prayer, London, 1898; F. Cabrol, Le Lime de la priere antique, Paris, 1900; P. L. P. Gueranger, The Spiritual Life and Prayer according to Holy Scriptures and Monastic Tradition, London, 1900; R. A. Torrey, How to Pray, London, 1900; A. F. Douglas, Prayer. A practical Treatise, Edinburgh, 1901; E. F. von der Golst, Das Gebet der altesten Christenheit, Leipsic, 1901 (comprehensive; contains a collection of early Christian prayers); W. H. M. H. Aitken, The Divine Ordinance of Prayer, London, 1902; A. W. Robinson, Prayer in Relation to the Idea of Law, in H. B. Swete, Essays on Some Theological Questions, London, 1905; M. P Tailing, Extempore Prayer, Manchester, 1905; W. E. Biederwolf, How can God answer Prayer- . Ike Nature, Conditions and Difficulties of Prayer. Chicago, 1907; F. R. M. Hitchcock, The Present Controversy in