The Nature And Efficacy Of Prayer A Sermon

Author : Chauncey Giles
Publisher : CreateSpace
ISBN 13 : 9781512292077
Total Pages : 234 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (92 download)

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Download or read book Perfect Prayer written by Chauncey Giles and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2015-05-19 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The purpose of the author in this volume is to set forth the "New Church," or Swedenborgian view of the nature and efficacy of prayer. The teaching is given in the form of sermons, and the texts are nearly all from Christ's Sermon on the Mount. The clauses of the Lord's Prayer are explained each one forming the subject of a separate discourse. We shall not attempt to point out the particulars in which the preacher is in agreement with the mind of the Old Church, nor those in which the "New" differs from the Old. With much that the author says we can heartily sympathize; and so far as he tries to restore a popular faith in prayer without destroying confidence in the practical efficacy of it, we commend his efforts. -The Churchman, Volume 47 [1883]* * * * * From the Introduction. The use of Prayer and the manner in which it operates to produce its effects is a subject which has awakened unusual interest in the Christian world in the last few years. As men become better acquainted with the substances and forces of the material world they see more clearly that all things proceed according to immutable laws. Storms, droughts, wars, famines, and pestilences, which it was formerly believed were sent upon men by an angry God to punish them for their sins, are now seen to be the effects of natural causes which are constant in their operation, and which in a great degree are under human control. Why, then, should we ask the Lord to interpose and prevent effects which His own forces acting according to His own laws produce? Why should we ask the Lord to save us from the consequences of our own wicked actions, when it can only be done by a change in ourselves? The more clearly men see that human suffering is due to their own ignorance of the laws of life, or to their willful disobedience to them, the more they will be disposed to doubt the propriety of asking the Lord to avert a calamity which is caused by a violation of the laws and order of infinite wisdom. All the happiness and blessings we enjoy are also the effect of immutable causes. Man was made for happiness. All his faculties of body and spirit are organized to be the subjects of pleasurable sensations and the most exquisite joys, and all the forms and forces of the material and spiritual worlds are adjusted to this infinitely complex organization with the most delicate and the most exact precision for the purpose of ministering to human happiness, the essential purpose for which the Lord works. Why, then, should we ask the Lord to do that for ourselves or others which He is in the constant effort to do? He regards of with infinite love now; can any appeal from human lips move Him to an intenser love? He is employing all the means in His infinite power directed by His infinite wisdom for our highest good now; can He be persuaded to do more or better by our importunities? It is impossible in the nature of things. Why, then, should we pray? The answer evidently must be that our asking is one of the means, one link in the chain of causes and effects by which the evil is averted or the good bestowed.