That conception pervades all the prayers of the apostolic Church; in all of them man comes to God as one person to another. God is free; God can do what he will; through Christ he is our Father. He is not bound by his own works; he is independent of nature; he will overrule all things for the good of his children. Such is the God that can answer prayer.
(2) God Is an Infinite and Holy Person.—If, however, the prayers of the apostolic age conceive of God as a Person, they also conceive of him as very different from men. Here, also, they provide a salutary example for the modern Church. Many devout Christians of to-day, in avoiding the error which has just been described, in thinking of God plainly as a person, are inclined to fall into the opposite mistake. In their clear realization of God as a person they think of him as a person exactly like ourselves. They regard the difference between God and man as a difference of degree rather than a difference of kind; they think of God as merely a greater man in the sky. The result of such thinking is disastrous for prayer. Prayer, to be sure, is here not absolutely destroyed; communion with God remains possible; but such communion is degraded. Communion loses that sense of mystery and awe which properly belongs to it. Man becomes too familiar with God; God takes merely the leading place in a circle of friends; religion descends to the plane of other relationships. Prayer to such a God is apt to become irreverent. If our prayers are to lift us fully into the presence of God they must never lie on the same plane with the communion that we enjoy with our fellow men, but must be filled with a profound sense of God's majesty and power.
The danger of permitting prayer, on account of its very privilege, to become a commonplace thing is one that threatens us all. It may be overcome, however, in the first place, by the contemplation of nature. "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork"—and it is a terrible, mysterious God that they reveal. The stupendous vastness of the universe and the baffling mystery of the surrounding infinity oppress the thoughtful mind with a profound sense of insignificance. And God is the Maker and Ruler of it all, the One in whom all the mystery finds its explanation! Such is the employment of nature in the prayer of the Jerusalem church. Acts 4:24.
All the prayers of the apostolic Church illustrate the principle which is now being emphasized. There is never anything trite or vulgar about the prayers that are contained in the New Testament; they are all characterized by a wonderful dignity and reverence.
If the infinity and omnipotence of God should prevent any irreverence in our prayers, the thought of his holiness is perhaps even more overwhelming. We are full of impurity. Who can stand before the white light of God's awful judgment throne?
(3) God Is a Gracious Person.—Nevertheless, despite the majesty and holiness of God, he invites us into his presence. It is a stupendous wonder. No reasoning could have shown it to be probable; only ignorance can regard it as a matter of course. If God were only a somewhat greater man, there would have been comparatively little mystery in prayer; but communion with the infinite and eternal and holy One, the unfathomed cause of all things, is the wonder of wonders. It is a wonder of God's grace. It is too wonderful to be true; yet it has become true in Christ. True prayer brings us not before some God of our own devising, before whom we could stand in our own merit without fear, but into the dread presence of Jehovah. Let us not hesitate to go; God has called us; he loves us as a Father, far more than we can ever love him. Prayer is full of joy; the joy is so great that it is akin to fear.
2. THE INFLUENCE OF JESUS' TEACHING UPON THE PRAYERS OF THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH
In studying the prayers of the apostolic age, it must always be remembered that they stood upon the foundation of Jesus' example and precept.
(1) The Example of Jesus.—With all his power and holiness Jesus was not above asking for strength to perform his gracious work; after that long, wearying day in Capernaum he "departed into a desert place, and there prayed." Mark 1:35. In the hour of agony in Gethsemane, he prayed a truly human, though holy, prayer: "Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; remove this cup from me: howbeit not what I will, but what thou wilt." Ch. 14:36. Prayer, moreover, was not something which Jesus reserved for himself; clearly it was a privilege which he extended to all his disciples. In the prayer that he taught his disciples, he summed up all that our prayer should be. Matt. 6:9-15.
(2) God as Father.—One thing in particular was derived by the apostolic Church from Jesus—the conception of God as Father. This conception appears in the epistles of Paul as a matter of course; evidently it was firmly established among the readers; it no longer required defense or explanation. Yet it had not lost, through long repetition, one whit of its freshness; in Paul it is never a mere phrase, but always a profound spiritual fact.