“General Charles James Gordon,
the hero of Khartum, was a truly Christian soldier. Shut up in the Sudanese
town he gallantly held out for one year, but, finally, was overcome and slain.
On his memorial in Westminster Abbey are these words, ‘He gave his money to
the poor; his sympathy to the sorrowing; his life to his country and his soul
to God.’” — HOMER W. HODGE.
PRAYER governs
conduct and conduct makes character. Conduct, is what we do; character, is what
we are. Conduct is the outward life. Character is the life unseen, hidden
within, yet evidenced by that which is seen. Conduct is external, seen
from without; character is internal — operating within. In the economy of grace
conduct is the offspring of character. Character is the state of the heart, conduct
its outward expression. Character is the root of the tree, conduct, the fruit
it bears.
Prayer is related to all the gifts of grace. To character and conduct
its relation is that of a helper. Prayer helps to establish character and
fashion conduct, and both for their successful continuance depend on prayer.
There may be a certain degree of moral character and conduct independent of
prayer, but there cannot be anything like distinctive religious character and
Christian conduct without it. Prayer helps, where all other aids fail. The more
we pray, the better we are, the purer and better our lives.
The very end
and purpose of the atoning work of Christ is to create religious character and
to make Christian conduct.
“Who gave Himself for us, that
He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar
people, zealous of good works.”
In Christ’s teaching, it is not simply works of charity and deeds of
mercy upon which He insists, but inward spiritual character. This much is
demanded, and nothing short of it, will suffice.
In the study of Paul’s Epistles, there is one thing which stands out,
clearly and unmistakably — the insistence on holiness of heart, and
righteousness of life. Paul does not seek, so much, to promote what is termed “personal
work,” nor is the leading theme of his letters deeds of charity. It is the
condition of the human heart and the blamelessness of the personal life, which
form the burden of the writings of St. Paul.
Elsewhere in the Scriptures, too, it is character and conduct which are
made preeminent. The Christian religion deals with men who are devoid of
spiritual character, and unholy in life, and aims so to change them, that they
become holy in heart and righteous in life. It aims to change bad men into good
men; it deals with inward badness, and works to change it into inward goodness.
And it is just here where prayer enters and demonstrates its wonderful efficacy
and fruit. Prayer drives toward this specific end. In fact, without prayer, no
such supernatural change in moral character, can ever be effected. For the
change from badness to goodness is not wrought “by works of righteousness
which we have done,” but according to God’s mercy, which saves us “by the
washing of regeneration.” And this marvellous change is brought to pass
through earnest, persistent, faithful prayer. Any alleged form of Christianity,
which does not effect this change in the hearts of men, is a delusion and a
snare.
The office of prayer is to change the character and conduct of men, and
in countless instances, has been wrought by prayer. At this point, prayer, by
its credentials, has proved its divinity. And just as it is the office of
prayer to effect this, so it is the prime work of the Church to take hold of
evil men and make them good. Its mission is to change human nature, to change
character, influence behaviour, to revolutionize conduct. The Church is
presumed to be righteous, and should be engaged in turning men to
righteousness. The Church is God’s manufactory on earth, and its primary duty
is to create and foster righteousness of character. This is its very first
business. Primarily, its work is not to acquire members, nor amass numbers, nor
aim at money-getting, nor engage in deeds of charity and works of mercy, but to
produce righteousness of character, and purity of the outward life.
A product reflects and partakes of the character of the manufactory
which makes it. A righteous Church with a righteous purpose makes righteous
men. Prayer produces cleanliness of heart and purity of life. It can produce
nothing else. Unrighteous conduct is born of prayerlessness; the two go
hand-in-hand. Prayer and sinning cannot keep company with each other. One, or
the other, must, of necessity, stop. Get men to pray, and they will quit sinning,
because prayer creates a distaste for sinning, and so works upon the heart,
that evil-doing becomes repugnant, and the entire nature lifted to a reverent
contemplation of high and holy things.
Prayer is based on character. What we are with God gauges our influence
with Him. It was the inner character, not the outward seeming, of such men as
Abraham, Job, David, Moses and all others, who had such great influence with
God in the days of old. And, today, it is not so much our words, as what we
really are, which weighs with God. Conduct affects character, of course, and
counts for much in our praying. At the same time, character affects conduct to
a far greater extent, and has a superior influence over prayer. Our inner life
not only gives colour to our praying, but body, as well. Bad living means bad
praying and, in the end, no praying at all. We pray feebly because we live
feebly. The stream of prayer cannot rise higher than the fountain of living.
The force of the inner chamber is made up of the energy which flows from the
confluent streams of living. And the weakness of living grows out of the
shallowness and shoddiness of character.
Feebleness of
living reflects its debility and langour in the praying hours. We simply cannot
talk to God, strongly, intimately, and confidently unless we are living for
Him, faithfully and truly. The prayer-closet cannot become sanctified unto God,
when the life is alien to His precepts and purpose. We must learn this lesson
well — that righteous character and Christlike conduct give us a peculiar and
preferential standing in prayer before God. His holy Word gives special
emphasis to the part conduct has in imparting value to our praying when it
declares:
“Then shalt thou call and the
Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and He shall say, Here I am; if thou take
away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth the finger, and
speaking vanity.”
The wickedness
of Israel and their heinous practices were definitely cited by Isaiah, as the
reason why God would turn His ears away from their prayers:
“And when ye spread forth your
hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will
not hear: your hands are full of blood.”
The same sad
truth was declared by the Lord through the mouth of Jeremiah:
“Therefore, pray not thou for
this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them; for I will not hear them
in the time that they cry unto Me for their trouble.”
Here, it is plainly stated, that unholy conduct is a bar to successful
praying, just as it is clearly intimated that, in order to have full access to
God in prayer, there must be a total abandonment of conscious and premeditated
sin.
We are enjoined
to pray, “lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting,” and must pass
the time of our sojourning here, in a rigorous abstaining from evil if we are
to retain our privilege of calling upon the Father. We cannot, by any process,
divorce praying from conduct.
“Whatsoever we ask, we receive
of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things which are
pleasing in His sight.”
And James declares roundly that men ask and receive not, because they
ask amiss, and seek only the gratification of selfish desires.
Our Lord’s
injunction, “Watch ye, and pray always,” is to cover and guard all our
conduct, so that we may come to our inner chamber with all its force secured by
a vigilant guard kept over our lives.
“And take heed to yourselves,
lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness,
and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.”
Quite often, Christian experience founders on the rock of conduct.
Beautiful theories are marred by ugly lives. The most difficult thing about
piety, as it is the most impressive, is to be able to live it. It is the life
which counts, and our praying suffers, as do other phases of our religious
experience, from bad living.
In primitive times preachers were charged to preach by their lives, or
not to preach at all. So, today, Christians, everywhere, ought to be charged to
pray by their lives, or not to pray at all. The most effective preaching, is
not that which is heard from the pulpit, but that which is proclaimed quietly,
humbly and consistently; which exhibits its excellencies in the home, and in
the community. Example preaches a far more effective sermon than precept. The
best preaching, even in the pulpit, is that which is fortified by godly living,
in the preacher, himself. The most effective work done by the pew is preceded
by, and accompanied with, holiness of life, separation from the world,
severance from sin. Some of the strongest appeals are made with mute lips — by
godly fathers and saintly mothers who, around the fireside, feared God, loved
His cause, and daily exhibited to their children and others about them, the
beauties and excellencies of Christian life and conduct.
The best-prepared, most eloquent sermon can be marred and rendered
ineffective, by questionable practices in the preacher. The most active church
worker can have the labour of his hands vitiated by worldliness of spirit and
inconsistency of life. Men preach by their lives, not by their words, and
sermons are delivered, not so much in, and from a pulpit, as in tempers,
actions, and the thousand and one incidents which crowd the pathway of daily
life.
Of course, the prayer of repentance is acceptable to God. He delights
in hearing the cries of penitent sinners. But repentance involves not only
sorrow for sin, but the turning away from wrong-doing, and the learning to do
well. A repentance which does not produce a change in character and conduct, is
a mere sham, which should deceive nobody. Old things must pass away, all
things must become new.
Praying, which does not result in right thinking and right living, is a
farce. We have missed the whole office of prayer if it fail to purge character
and rectify conduct. We have failed entirely to apprehend the virtue of prayer,
if it bring not about the revolutionizing of the life. In the very nature of
things, we must quit praying, or our bad conduct. Cold, formal praying may
exist side by side, with bad conduct, but such praying, in the estimation of
God, is no praying at all. Our praying advances in power, just in so far as it
rectifies the life. Growing in purity and devotion to God will be a more
prayerful life.
The character of the inner life is a condition of effectual praying. As
is the life, so will the praying be. An inconsistent life obstructs praying and
neutralizes what little praying we may do. Always, it is “the prayer of the
righteous man which availeth much.” Indeed, one may go further and assert,
that it is only the prayer of the righteous which avails anything at all — at
any time. To have an eye to God’s glory; to be possessed by an earnest desire
to please Him in all our ways; to possess hands busy in His service; to have
feet swift to run in the way of His commandments — these give weight and
influence and power to prayer, and secure an audience with God. The incubus of
our lives often breaks the force of our praying, and, not unfrequently, are as
doors of brass, in the face of prayer.
Praying must come out of a cleansed heart and be presented and urged
with the “lifting up of holy hands.” It must be fortified by a life aiming,
unceasingly, to obey God, to attain conformity to the Divine law, and to come
into submission to the Divine will.
Let it not be forgotten, that, while life is a condition of prayer,
prayer is also the condition of righteous living. Prayer promotes righteous
living, and is the one great aid to uprightness of heart and life. The fruit of
real praying is right living. Praying sets him who prays to the great business
of “working out his salvation with fear and trembling;” puts him to watching
his temper, conversation and conduct; causes him to “walk circumspectly,
redeeming the time;” enables him to “walk worthy of the vocation wherewith he
is called, with all lowliness and meekness;” gives him a high incentive to
pursue his pilgrimage consistently by “shunning every evil way, and walking in
the good.”
