The Sunday Sermon

The Magnificence of Prayer Part 1

by Alexander Whyte (1836-1921)

The Gospel of Luke Chapter 11 Verse 1

And so it was, that as he was praying in a certain

place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto

him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his

disciples.

The First Epistle General of Peter Chapter 2 Verse 9

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal Priesthood,

an holy nation, a people set at liberty, that ye

should show forth the virtues of him that hath called

you out of darkness into his marvelous light,

I. The magnificence of God is the source and the measure of the magnificence of prayer. "Think magnificently of God," ( See note [a] below )said Paternus to his son. Now that counsel is the sum and substance of this whole matter. For the heaven and the earth ; the sun and the moon and the stars ; the whole opening universe of our day ; the Scriptures of truth, with all that they contain ; the Church of Christ, with all her services and all her saints all are set before us to teach us and to compel us indeed to "think magnificently of God." And they have all fulfilled the office of their creation when they have all combined to make us think magnificently of their Maker. Consider the heavens, the work of His fingers, the moon and the stars, which He hath ordained: consider the intellectual heavens also, angels and archangels, cherubim and seraphim: consider man kind also, made in the image of God : consider Jesus Christ, the express image of His person : consider a past eternity and a coming eternity, and the revelation thereof that is made to us in the Word of God, and in the hearts of His people and I defy you to think otherwise than magnificently of God. (Psalm 63:1; Isaiah 29:6;) And, then, after all that, I equally defy you to forget, or neglect, or restrain prayer. Once you begin to think aright of Him Who is the Hearer of prayer ;(Job 22:7; Psalm 5:3; 1 Kings 9:3; 2 Kings 20:5; Psalm 6:9; Psalm 66:19;) and Who waits, in all His magnificence, to be gracious to you I absolutely defy you to live any longer the life you now live. " First of all, my child, said Paternus to his son, "think magnificently of God. Magnify His providence: adore His power: (Job 26:7-14; Jeremiah 10:12;) frequent His service; and pray to Him frequently and instantly. (James 5:16; 1 Kings 8:33, 38; Job 8:5;) Bear Him always in your mind: teach your thoughts to reverence Him in every place, ( Psalm 89:7; Hebrews 12:28;)for there is no place where He is not. (Job 42:2; )Therefore, my child, fear and worship, and love God ; first, and last, think magnificently of God." (Psalm 111:10; Proverbs 1:7;)

" Why has God established prayer ? " asks Pascal. And Pascal s first answer to his own great question is this. God has established prayer in the moral world in order " to communicate to His creatures the dignity of causality." That is to say, to give us a touch and a taste of what it is to be a Creator. But then, " there are some things ultimate and incausable," says Bacon, that interpreter of nature. And whatever things are indeed ultimate to us, and incausable by us, them God "hath put in His own power. But there are many other things, and things that far more concern us, that He communicates to us to have a hand of cause and creation in. Not immediately, and at our own rash and hot hand, and at our precipitate and importunate will, but always under His Holy Hand, and under the tranquillity of His Holy Will. We hold our office and dignity of causality and creation under the Son, just as He holds His again under the Father. But instead of that lessening our dignity, to us, it rather ennobles and endears our dignity. All believers are agreed that they would rather hold their righteousness of Christ than of themselves; (Psalm 35:28; Psalm 71:15; Isaiah 58:8;)and so would all praying men: they would rather that all things had their spring and rise and rule in the wisdom and the love and the power of God, than in their own wisdom and love and power, even if they had the wisdom and the love and the power for such an office. But then, again, just as all believing men put on Jesus Christ to justification of life, so do they all put on, under Him, their royal robe and their priestly diadem and breastplate. And that, not as so many beautiful ornaments, beautiful as they are, but as instruments and engines of divine power. " Thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel," as He clothes His priests with salvation, " Ask Me of things to come concerning My sons, and concerning the work of My hands command ye Me. (Isaiah 45:11;)What a thing for God to say to man! What a magnificent office! What a more than royal dignity! What a gracious command, and what a sure encouragement is that to pray! For ourselves, first, as His sons, if His prodigal and dishonorable sons, and then for our fellows, even if they are as prodigal and as undeserving as we are. Ask of Me! Even when a father is wounded and offended by his son, even then, you feel sure that you have his heart strings in your hand when you go to ask him for things that concern his son ; and that even though he is a bad son: even when he sends you away in anger, his fatherly bowels move over you as you depart: and he looks out at his door to see if you are coming back to ask him again concerning his son. And when you take boldness and venture back, he falls on your neck and says, Command me all that is in your heart concerning my son. Now, that is the " dignity of causality," that in which you are the cause of a father taking home again his son: and the cause of a son saying, I will arise and go to my father. (Luke 15:18;) That is your "magnificent office." That is your "royal priesthood."

[a] First of all, my child, think magnificently of God. Magnify His providence; adore His power, pray to Him frequently and incessantly. Bear Him always in your mind. Teach your thoughts to reverence Him in every place for there is no place where he is not. Therefore, my child, fear and worship and love God; first and last, think magnificently of Him! (Paternus, Advice to a Son)