05.00. The Meaning of Prayer
The Meaning of Prayer
By Harry Emerson Fosdick
Copyright: 1915 In this 10 chapter work, Fosdick examines prayer in general and in specific. His chapters run: the Naturalness of Prayer, Prayer as communion with God, God’s care for the individual, prayer and the goodness of God, hindrances and difficulties, pray and the reign of Law, Unanswered Prayer, Prayer as a dominant desire, prayer as a battlefield, and unselfishness in pray.
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PREFACE
I. The Naturalness of Prayer
II. Prayer as Communion with God
III. God’s Care for the Individual
IV. Prayer and the Goodness of God
V. Hindrances and Difficulties
VI. Prayer and the Reign of Law
VII. Unanswered Prayer
VIII. Prayer as Dominant Desire
IX. Prayer as a Battlefield
X. Unselfishness in Prayer
Selected Bibliography Author of "The Manhood of the Master," "The Assurance of Immortality," "The Second Mile" With Introduction by JOHN R. MOTT Association
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1915.
COPYRIGHT 1915, BY INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF MEN’S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS taken from the American Standard. 1901, by Thomas Nelson & Sons, and is used by To FLORENCE WHITNEY FOSDICK
INTRODUCTION
These meditations and studies on prayer are most timely. Never have there been such extensive and such convincing evidences of the poverty and inadequacy of human means and agencies for furthering the welfare of humanity; never has there been such a widespread sense of the need of super human help ; never have there been such challenges to Chris tians to undertake deeds requiring Divine cooperation; never has there been such a manifest desire to discover the secret of the hiding and of the releasing of God s power. Interest in prayer is world-wide. This is shown in the prominence of this subject in addresses and sermons in all lands, as well as by the growing volume of books and pamphlet literature in different languages. The multiplication of Calls to Prayer and of Prayer Cycles, and the formation of Prayer Bands and of Leagues of Intercession, constitute similar testimony. Among Christians everywhere, and even among many who would not call themselves believing Christians, there is being manifested an earnest desire to understand what prayer is and to engage more fully in its exercise.
Among many recent writings on prayer possibly none does more to show its reasonableness than the following chapters. They will answer the unanswered questions of many an honest doubter. The daily arrangement of the material will serve to make the following of this course of studies a valuable school of prayer. This suggests one of the principal merits of Professor Fosdick s treatment of the subject. It shows clear recognition of the simple and central fact a fact apparently unrecognized by so many that prayer is something the reality and power of which can be verified only by pray ing. An alarming weakness among Christians is that we are producing Christian activities faster than we are producing Christian experience and Christian faith; that the discipline of our souls and the deepening of our acquaintance with God are not proving sufficiently thorough to enable us to meet the unprecedented expansion of opportunity and responsibility of our generation. These studies and spiritual exercises in helping men and women to form that most transforming, most energizing, and most highly productive habit the habit of Christlike prayer will do much to overcome this danger.
JOHN R. MOTT.
PREFACE This little book has been written in the hope that it may help to clarify a subject which is puzzling many minds. Prayer is the soul of religion, and failure there is not a super ficial lack for the supply of which the spiritual life leisurely can wait. Failure in prayer is the loss of religion itself in its inward and dynamic aspect of fellowship with the Eternal. Only a theoretical deity is left to any man who has ceased to commune with God, and a theoretical deity saves no man from sin and disheartenment and fills no life with a sense of divine commission. Such vital consequences require a living God who actually deals with men. In endeavoring to clear away the difficulties that hamper fellowship with this living God, the book has used the Scrip ture as the basis of its thought. But the passages of Scrip ture quoted are not employed as proof texts to establish an opinion; they are uniformly used as descriptions of an experi ence which men have actually had with God. In a study such as this, the Bible is the invaluable laboratory manual which records all phases of man s life with God and God s dealing with man. A debt of gratitude is due to many books and many friends consulted by the author. In particular, Professor George Albert Coe, Ph. D., of the Union Theological Seminary, New York City, and Mr. Frederick M. Harris, of Association Press, have given generously of their time and counsel.
Each chapter is divided into three sections : Daily Readings, Comment for the Week, and Suggestions for Thought and Discussion. This arrangement for daily devotional reading "The Morning Watch," for intensive study, and for study group discussion, has met such wide acceptance in my pre vious book that it has been continued here.
Special acknowledgment is gladly made to the following: to the Pilgrim Press for permission to use selections from Dr. Rauschenbusch s "Prayers of the Social Awakening"; to E. P. Dutton & Company for permission to use prayers from "A Chain of Prayers Across the Ages"; to the Rev. Samuel McComb and the publishers for permission to draw upon "A Book of Prayer," Copyright 1912, Dodd, Mead & Com pany ; to George W. Jacobs & Company for permission to make quotations from "The Communion of Prayer"; to Mrs. Mary W. Tileston for the use of "Prayers Ancient and Modern"; to Fleming H. Revell for permission to quote from Henry Ward Beecher s "Book of Public Prayer"; and to the author and publishers of W. E. Orchards "The Temple," E. P. Dutton & Company.