[[1]] In further token that it is so we find, apart from Christian Revelation and experience, an instinct to prayer practically universal among men. This natural capacity to pray is one of the greatest attributes of human nature. Man has ever felt the desire to confer with the unseen.
[[2]] Prayer, therefore, if it is to follow the teaching and example of Christ must rise above the thought of making a bargain with God. (E.g. "If this petition is granted then I will do this or that"). Christian petitions are offered in absolute trust, "Nevertheless not as I will but as Thou wilt."
[[3]] God knows what is best for us and wills the best for us. We do not pray "Thy will be changed," but "Thy will be done." Our Lord Christ, Who had perfect knowledge of God, used prayer as one of the greatest forces to accomplish God's purpose. If we withhold prayer we leave unused a force God Himself calls for in carrying out His purposes among men.
VI.
THE HOLY COMMUNION
The Rt. Rev. A. J. Doull, D.D., Bishop of Kootenay.
This volume of theology is written for laymen of the Anglican Church, and it is to them that I address myself primarily in this chapter. There can be no question in our minds regarding the importance of this subject which we are now about to consider; nor yet of the necessity of arriving at a clear understanding concerning the truth. We are about to tread holy ground, therefore a reverent spirit is needful above all things else. We are about to investigate, albeit in the briefest manner, the nature and character of that Sacrament which our dying Saviour left as the bond of comradeship between His followers and Himself, and between His followers with one another, but which historically has been the occasion of more strife and discord betwixt Christian people than any other institution or fact of our holy faith; therefore we must cast aside all prejudice and preconceived opinions, and placing ourselves at the feet of Jesus seek to learn from Him the real truth which He alone can impart.
I believe that Christ is especially anxious to teach us the truth to-day after all these centuries of strife, and I am convinced that so far as the Anglican Church is concerned that there is a wonderful measure of agreement between all her members concerning the doctrine of the Holy Communion when they heed the advice of our great theologian, the judicious Hooker, and "the more give themselves to meditate with silence what we have by the Sacrament and less to dispute of the manner how."
Let us try and consider in simple faith and simple language what is revealed to us in Holy Scripture concerning this Sacrament, what truths about it are therefore enshrined in the Book of Common Prayer, and what it is accordingly that all Anglicans really believe though their mode of expressing their common faith, and though their phraseology, may somewhat differ.