PRAYER. 66 65 In general, according to a custom that already prevailed among the Jews, nine, twelve, and three o'clock were regarded by Christians as special times of prayer, though not to be observed in a manner inconsistent with Christian freedom; "for respecting the hours of prayer," says Tertullian,* "nothing is prescribed, excepting that we should pray at all times and in every place." Moreover, Christians began the day with prayer, and with prayer they closed it. Cyprian says, "We must pray early in the morning, in order that by our morning prayer the Lord's resurrection may be celebrated;, and when the sun and the daylight depart from us, and we pray that the light may again dawn upon us, so we pray for the return of Christ, who will grant us the grace of everlasting light." They prayed before they took food, or bathed; for, as Tertullian says, The refreshing and nourishing of the soul should precede the refreshing and nourishing of the body; the heavenly should go before the earthly." When a Christian from a foreign land, after being hospitably entertained as a brother, was about to take leave, he was dismissed with prayer; for it was a common expression among them in reference to such guests, "In thy brother thou hast seen thy Lord." They prepared for all social deliberations by prayer. On all important occasions which awakened general sympathy, such as impending persecutions, or when an individual whose life was of value for the whole church was in danger of death, it was customary to hold meetings for social prayer, and examples are recorded of special answers to prayer in such cases. Often," says Irenæus, when the whole church in one place has called upon God with fasting on account of some pressing necessity, life has been restored to the dead, and he has been granted to the prayer of Christians." 66 66 The Christian church, as we have already remarked, was very far from wishing to confine prayer, in a carnal Jewish sense, to certain times, as if a peculiar sanctity was attached to them. They regarded prayer as the breathing of the innermost Christian life, drawing down the enlivening Spirit from above. By prayer the whole life of a Christian was sanctified, and his whole life was to be one continual prayer, * De temporibus orationis nihil omnino præscriptum est, nisi plane omni in tempore et loco orare.-Tertull. de Orat. § 18. F thanks for the grace of redemption, and petition for further grace in order to sanctify. “The whole life of a saint," says Origen,* ,"should be one great continuous prayer, and what is commonly called prayer is only a part of it." And Clement of Alexandria says, "Prayer is intercourse with God, even if we do but lisp; if we only silently address God without opening our lips, yet cry to him with our inmost hearts, God hears without intermission whatever is thus said to him. If some persons appoint certain hours for prayer, yet the mature Christian prays through his whole life, since by prayer he strives to connect himself with God." Cyprian says, "We who live in Christ the true sun, and therefore in the true daylight, must surround the whole day with prayer; and when night succeeds to day, this also must not interrupt our prayers, for to the children of the light there is day even at night. For when is he without light who has light in his heart? Or when are the sun and day wanting to him, to whom Christ is sun and day? Renewed in spirit, and regenerated by God's grace, let us strive to be here what we shall be hereafter! Since in the kingdom of heaven we shall have pure day without the interruption of night, let us be awake for prayer by night as well as by day! Since there we shall pray and praise God without cessation, let us here also not cease to pray and to praise."‡ * Οὕτω γὰρ μόνως τὸ ̓Αδιαλείπτως προσεύχεσθε ἐκδέξασθαι δυνάμεθα ὡς δυνατὸν ἂν εἰρημένον, εἰ πάντα τὸν βίον τοῦ ἁγίου, μίαν συναπτομένην μεγάλην εἴποιμεν εὐχήν· ἧς εὐχῆς μέρος ἐστί καὶ ἡ συνήθως ὀνομαζομένη εὐχὴ, οὐκ ἔλαττον τοῦ τρὶς ἑκάστης ἡμέρας ἐπιτελεῖσθαι ὀφειλουσα.—Origenes περὶ εὐχῆς, § 12. † Εστιν οὖν, ὡς εἰπεῖν τολμηρότερον, ὁμιλία πρὸς θεὸν ἡ εὐχή. Καν ψιθυρίζοντες ἄρα, μηδὲ τὰ χείλη ἀνοίγοντες μετὰ σιγῆς προσλαλῶμεν, ἔνδοθεν κεκράγαμεν. Πᾶσαν γὰρ τὴν ἐνδιάθετον ὁμιλίαν ὁ θεὸς ἀδιαλείπτως ἐπαΐει.... Εἰ δέ τινες καὶ ὥρας τακτὰς ἀπονέμουσιν εὐχῆ, ὡς τρίτην φέρε καὶ ἕκτην καὶ ἐννάτην, ἀλλ ̓ οὖν γε ὁ γνωστικὸς παρὰ ὅλον εὔχεται τὸν βίον, δι ̓ εὐχῆς συνεῖναι μὲν σπεύδων θεῷ. Clem. Strom. § 7, 722. (Pott. 854.) Nos, fratres dilectissimi, qui in Domine luce semper sumus, qui meminimus et tenemus quid esse accepta gratias coeperimus, computemus noctem pro die. Ambulare nos credamus semper in lumine, non impediamur a tenebris quas evasimus. Nulla sint horis nocturnis precum damna, nulla orationum pegra et ignava dispendia. Per Dei indulgentiam recreati et renati imitemur quod futuri sumus. Habituri in regno sine interventu noctis solum diem sic nocte quasi in lumine vigilemus. Oraturi semper et acturi gratias Deo, hic quoque orare et gratias agere non desinamus.-Cyprian. de Orat. Dom. § 36. The Christian fathers combated a superstitious notion which attached great importance to a certain bodily posture and certain outward ceremonies in prayer; they endeavoured to show, as Cyprian in the passage above, that everything in prayer depended not on a certain posture of the body, but a certain posture of the heart. Thus Origen says, 66 It appears to me that whoever wishes to pray, should first retire into. himself and collect his thoughts, and then surrender himself with so much greater ardour to prayer. He must, as much as possible, be impressed with the greatness of that Being to whom he draws nigh; that it is an insult to come to him negligently, as if we despised him: a man should come to prayer, dismissing from his mind all foreign matters; he raises his soul before his hands; he raises his spirit to God before his eyes; he should banish from his soul all desire of revenge, if there is any one from whom he has suffered wrong, when he is seeking that his own offences may not be punished by God. It cannot be doubted that among the various postures of the body that is preferable to others in which man stretches forth his hands and raises his eyes, as an image of that state of the disposition in which the soul should be found when praying. But we only think that this posture is to be preferred when no circumstances prevent it; for under certain circumstances a man may pray in a becoming manner sitting or even lying, as in case of illness. And under certain circumstances, as, for example, on shipboard, or when our employments do not permit us to retire and offer up our wonted prayer, a man may pray without appearing to pray. The apostle seems to refer, in Phil. ii. 10, to the spiritual bowing of the knee, since the heart throws itself down before God in the name of Jesus, and humbles itself in his presence.' "God," Tertullian says, reproving those who uttered too loudly their prayers in public,* "hears not the voice but the heart, even as he looks into the heart." And against those who believed that they ought to wash before every prayer, he says, "What can prayer effect with washed hands but with an impure mind? Purity of mind is necessary even for the hands, that before they are raised to God they should be pure from deceit, bloodshed, cruelty, sorcery, idolatry, * Deus non vocis, sed cordis auditor est, sicut conspector.-Tertull. de Orat. § 13. and other evils which proceed from the mind, but are accomplished by the labour of the hands. This is true purity, not merely what is external, about which many are careful, who have brought Jewish or heathenish superstition with them into Christianity. Our hands are pure enough, which we washed with our bodies once for all in Christ. (An allusion to baptism, which at time was performed by the immersion of the whole body. Probably Tertullian thought of John xiii. 10. His meaning is: since we are once for all purified through regeneration by faith in the Redeemer, nothing can defile us, if we only faithfully guard the purification we have received.) Of all such vain usages, which were not learnt from the teaching of the Lord and his apostles, he says: "Such affected practices belong not to religion, but to superstition; they are the signs rather of a barren service taken up with outward things, than of a rational devotion. We ought to stand aloof from such things, for they make us like the heathen." Elsewhere he says: The faithful observance of the teachings of Christ paves the way to heaven for our prayers, and it is most important that if we have been at variance with our brethren, or injured them, we should not approach God's altar before we are reconciled to them. For what can that mean, to come to the peace of God without peace? To seek forgiveness of sins when we withhold it from others? How can he be reconciled to his Father who is angry with his brother? And the posture of prayer must be free, not only from wrath, but from all perturbation of mind, so that it may come from a spirit that resembles the Spirit to whom it is offered. The Holy Spirit cannot recognize an impure spirit, nor the spirit of joy a melancholy spirit, nor the free spirit a spirit entangled with worldly cares; no one receives into his society one who is hostile to him; every one admits only persons with friendly feelings to his communion.” Cyprian says: "The Lord teaches us to pray in quiet, in our chamber, for we know that God is omnipresent; he sees and hears all things; he penetrates the most obscure corner with the fulness of his majesty; God hears not the voice, but the heart. When we pray, our whole heart must be directed to the prayer. It should be closed to the adversary, and open to God alone; for the former frequently creeps in, and by his deceptions draws FASTING JOINED WITH PRAYER. 69 away our prayer from God, so that we have one thing in our hearts, and another in our mouths; for we must pray to the Lord with an upright disposition, not with the sound of the voice, but with the soul and the feelings. Christ teaches us to pray, 'Our Father,' not 'my Father.' Each Christian must not pray for himself alone. Ours is a common prayer. We pray not merely for individuals, but for the whole church; because, as the church is one, we are one with it. It is God's will that one should pray for all, even as he permitted one to bear the sins of all." Especially were Christians convinced that prayer should be connected with the reading of the Scriptures, in order to enter rightly into its meaning. When Origen was exhorting one of his disciples, afterwards known as the illustrious Gregory 'Thaumaturgus, to the diligent study of the Scriptures, he added, It is not enough for thee to seek and knock; prayer is most necessary in order to understand divine things. When our Lord excited us to this, he said not only, Knock and it shall be opened to you, seek and ye shall find,' but also, ‘Ask and it shall be given you.' 66 CHAPTER IX. FASTING JOINED WITH PRAYER. It was certainly the aim of the Christian development, that the whole life should be one continuous prayer,that it should commence with a surrender of the heart to God, and that every action should be only an illustration of this grand fundamental principle. But though the entrance into the manifold engagements of life, into the variety of worldly things, as might be required by the activity of an ardent love for the kingdom of God, was not inconsistent with the tendency of the soul towards the one great object, yet human infirmity occasioned the entrance of contrarieties, interruptions, and fluctuations. The soul, in its occupation with the things of the world, cannot always persist in the |