PUBLIC PRAYER | AdventAI

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Nov 24, 1881

PUBLIC PRAYER.

A CORRESPONDENT calls for an article on Public Prayer. He desires, we suppose, some of the evidence that the custom of offering vocal prayer in the public congregation is in itself proper, and that it is sustained by the example and precepts of the sacred writers; for there are some who do not believe in the practice, and hence who offer no prayer to God in their public assemblies.

On the subject of public prayer we think it can be maintained, 1. That there is no testimony in the word of God against the practice. 2. That we have in its favor the example of those whom we can safely follow. 3. That it is enjoined in the Scriptures.

1. There is nothing in the Bible against the practice. How can you say that, says one, when the Saviour says, "But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret"? Does the Saviour mean to tell his disciples that every time they prayed they should enter into their closets? Let us look at the context that we may understand the subject of his remarks. Matt. 6:1-6. He is warning his disciples against falling into the vainglorious spirit of the Pharisees. They did their alms before men to be seen of them. The disciples were to do theirs in secret. The Pharisees loved to pray standing in the corners of the streets, that they might be observed by passers by, and gain the applause of the multitude for their great piety. What kind of prayers were these which they offered thus in the streets and market places? Did they pertain to the public worship of God? Not at all. They were their own private devotions. Spiritual pride had led the Pharisees to obtrude upon the public gaze, those acts of religious worship which should have been performed by them in secret before God alone. This was one of their sins; and Christ said they should have no other reward for their flaunting devotions, than the empty applause of their fellow-men, which they so eagerly sought.

Were Christians also to have their private duties? By all means. Alms they were to give; but Christ told them to let it be in a quiet and unostentatious manner. Secret prayer they were to offer to God; but they were to offer it in the privacy of their own closets. The Pharisees had certain hours for their devotions; and they managed, as far as possible, that these hours should find them in some place of public resort, in the synagogue, the thoroughfare, or the market-place; and then they would immediately commence their devotions, apparently all to themselves, but really to be seen of men. Be ye not like these hypocrites, said Christ to his disciples. When you do your alms, don't sound a trumpet before you; when you engage in your private devotions, don't do it in the streets, but in the closet.

The subject then upon which Christ is here speaking is the private worship of God. But God has also instituted public worship; and this is another thing altogether. Now to take the directions which Christ here gives us respecting our private religious duties, and apply them to public worship, of which he was not speaking, is altogether illogical and wrong. And as this is the only passage which can by any one be supposed to forbid public prayer, we consider our first proposition established, that there is nothing in the Scriptures against the practice.

2. We have in its favor the practice of those whose example it is safe for us to follow. On one of the most important and imposing public occasions the world has ever seen, public prayer was offered. When the first temple, the place which God had caused to be prepared to place his name there, was dedicated to its holy use, Solomon, then standing in the counsel of the Most High, and filled with heavenly wisdom, came forth before the assembled hosts of Israel, kneeled down upon his knees, spread forth his hands toward Heaven, and offered unto God a prayer replete with the most beautiful and sublime sentiments. 1 Kings 8:22-54; 2 Chron. 6:12-42. The prayer is recorded in these Scriptures; and it is stated to be what Solomon said, not what he thought. The prayer was an audible one, spoken in the ears of all the people.

Again we have an instance of prayer publicly offered when a company of disciples were together. Acts 4:24-30. That the words recorded in the Scripture here referred to, were uttered as a prayer, is evident from the next verse which says, "And when they had prayed," or, they having prayed, referring evidently to the preceding record of what they had said.

In Acts 20, we have the example of Paul. Having called for the elders of the church of Ephesus to meet him at Miletus, after a solemn interview, as he was about to depart on his way to Jerusalem, to see them no more, he "kneeled down, and prayed with them all." Verse 36.

These instances are sufficient to prove our second proposition, that we have the example of the sacred writers in favor of public prayer.

3. It is enjoined in the Scriptures. Whenever any of the inspired writers give directions how certain acts of public worship shall be performed, it is good evidence that they understood that such acts were to constitute a part of public worship. But Paul does give directions in regard to praying in the public congregation, 1 Cor. 11:4: "Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoreth his head." The prophesying here mentioned, whether it be taken strictly as speaking with the spirit of prophecy, or in the accommodated sense of explaining the prophecies, that is, preaching, was a public act; for Paul further says, 1 Cor. 14:3, "He that prophesieth, speaketh unto men to edification." But the praying was just as public as the prophesying, and was to be done in a similar manner, with the head uncovered; and both were exercises to take place when the disciples were "come together in the church." 1 Cor. 11:18.

Paul further speaks against talking or praying in an unknown tongue, unless there should be one to interpret, 1 Cor. 14; because in that case, the listeners, understanding not what was said, would not be edified. But if all praying is to be done in secret, and consist simply of the silent communing of one's own spirit with God, it might just as well be in an unknown tongue as any other. And the fact that Paul did not desire that prayers should be made in an unknown tongue, because he would have all things done to edification, verse 26, is proof that he speaks of prayers to be made in the place of public meeting where believers and unbelievers come to listen and learn. Verses 22-25.

Again, in 1 Tim. 2:8, we read: "I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting." As Paul spoke by direct inspiration, his "will" (boulomai) is equivalent to a command. The force of the word everywhere, will be seen when it is considered that the language is probably spoken in opposition to a superstition of the Jews, who held that public prayer could only be offered, properly, in certain places. At first they considered that prayer to be acceptable must be offered in the temple at Jerusalem. This was afterward extended to the whole land of Judea. And after they were scattered among all nations, they built oratories or places of prayer, at which alone they held that public prayer could consistently be made. But Paul sends forth to all his gentile converts, directions that prayers be made everywhere; that the prayers which the Jews thought could be made only in certain places (and these, be it remembered, were public prayers), should be offered up in all places wherever occasion might require.

Prayer is an expression of our dependence upon God. To live without it, is to show that we are trying to live independent of him. It was this spirit which caused the fall of man; it is this which keeps him from returning to God. And where can we more appropriately express our dependence upon God by humble supplication, than when we have come together publicly to worship him? To hold religious meetings without prayer, as some do, is it to give them an air of irreligion and impiety, which is nothing less than painful to every truly humble and devout heart. U. S.