The great masters and teachers in Christian doctrine have
always found in prayer their highest source of illumination. Not to go
beyond the limits of the English Church, it is recorded of Bishop Andrews
that he spent five hours daily on his knees. The greatest practical resolves
that have enriched and beautified human life in Christian times have been
arrived at in prayer. -- Canon Liddon
WHILE many private prayers, in the nature of things, must be short; while
public prayers, as a rule, ought to be short and condensed; while there
is ample room for and value put on ejaculatory prayer -- yet in our private
communions with God time is a feature essential to its value. Much time
spent with God is the secret of all successful praying. Prayer which is
felt as a mighty force is the mediate or immediate product of much time
spent with God. Our short prayers owe their point and efficiency to the
long ones that have preceded them. The short prevailing prayer cannot be
prayed by one who has not prevailed with God in a mightier struggle of long
continuance. Jacob's victory of faith could not have been gained without
that all-night wrestling. God's acquaintance is not made by pop calls. God
does not bestow his gifts on the casual or hasty comers and goers. Much
with God alone is the secret of knowing him and of influence with him. He
yields to the persistency of a faith that knows him. He bestows his richest
gifts upon those who declare their desire for and appreciation of those
gifts by the constancy as well as earnestness of their importunity. Christ,
who in this as well as other things is our Example, spent many whole nights
in prayer. His custom was to pray much. He had his habitual place to pray.
Many long seasons of praying make up his history and character. Paul prayed
day and night. It took time from very important interests for Daniel to
pray three times a day. David's morning, noon, and night praying were doubtless
on many occasions very protracted. While we have no specific account of
the time these Bible saints spent in prayer, yet the indications are that
they consumed much time in prayer, and on some occasions long seasons of
praying was their custom.
We would not have any think that the value of their prayers is to be measured
by the clock, but our purpose is to impress on our minds the necessity of
being much alone with God; and that if this feature has not been produced
by our faith, then our faith is of a feeble and surface type.
The men who have most fully illustrated Christ in their character, and have
most powerfully affected the world for him, have been men who spent so much
time with God as to make it a notable feature of their lives. Charles Simeon
devoted the hours from four till eight in the morning to God. Mr. Wesley
spent two hours daily in prayer. He began at four in the morning. Of him,
one who knew him well wrote: "He thought prayer to be more his business
than anything else, and I have seen him come out of his closet with a serenity
of face next to shining." John Fletcher stained the walls of his room
by the breath of his prayers. Sometimes he would pray all night; always,
frequently, and with great earnestness. His whole life was a life of prayer.
"I would not rise from my seat," he said, "without lifting
my heart to God." His greeting to a friend was always: "Do I meet
you praying?" Luther said: "If I fail to spend two hours in prayer
each morning, the devil gets the victory through the day. I have so much
business I cannot get on without spending three hours daily in prayer."
He had a motto: "He that has prayed well has studied well."
Archbishop Leighton was so much alone with God that he seemed to be in a
perpetual meditation. "Prayer and praise were his business and his
pleasure," says his biographer. Bishop Ken was so much with God that
his soul was said to be God-enamored. He was with God before the clock struck
three every morning. Bishop Asbury said: "I propose to rise at four
o'clock as often as I can and spend two hours in prayer and meditation."
Samuel Rutherford, the fragrance of whose piety is still rich, rose at three
in the morning to meet God in prayer. Joseph Alleine arose at four o'clock
for his business of praying till eight. If he heard other tradesmen plying
their business before he was up, he would exclaim: "O how this shames
me! Doth not my Master deserve more than theirs?" He who has learned
this trade well draws at will, on sight, and with acceptance of heaven's
unfailing bank.
One of the holiest and among the most gifted of Scotch preachers says: "I
ought to spend the best hours in communion with God. It is my noblest and
most fruitful employment, and is not to be thrust into a corner. The morning
hours, from six to eight, are the most uninterrupted and should be thus
employed. After tea is my best hour, and that should be solemnly dedicated
to God. I ought not to give up the good old habit of prayer before going
to bed; but guard must be kept against sleep. When I awake in the night,
I ought to rise and pray. A little time after breakfast might be given to
intercession." This was the praying plan of Robert McCheyne. The memorable
Methodist band in their praying shame us. "From four to five in the
morning, private prayer; from five to six in the evening, private prayer."
John Welch, the holy and wonderful Scotch preacher, thought the day ill
spent if he did not spend eight or ten hours in prayer. He kept a plaid
that he might wrap himself when he arose to pray at night. His wife would
complain when she found him lying on the ground weeping. He would reply:
"O woman, I have the souls of three thousand to answer for, and I know
not how it is with many of them!" |