Chapter III.

10. “And when ye pray,” says He, “ye shall not be as the hypocrites are; for they love to pray standing256    They love to stand praying, more than they love to pray. Like the Mohammedans of to-day, they took delight in airing their piety. Our Lord mentions the most conspicuous localities. The usual posture of the Jews in prayer was standing (1 Sam. i. 26, Luke xviii. 11, etc.). in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men.” And here also it is not the being seen of men that is wrong, but doing these things for the purpose of being seen of men; and it is superfluous to make the same remark so often, since there is just one rule to be kept, from which we learn that what we should dread and avoid is not that men know these things, but that they be done with this intent, that the fruit of pleasing men should be sought after in them. Our Lord Himself, too, preserves the same words, when He adds similarly, “Verily I say unto you, They have received their reward;” hereby showing that He forbids this,—the striving after that reward in which fools delight when they are praised by men.

11. “But when ye257    Vos; Vulgate, tu (Revised Version). pray,” says He, “enter into your bed-chambers.” What are those bed-chambers but just our hearts themselves, as is meant also in the Psalm, when it is said, “What ye say in your hearts, have remorse for even in your beds”?258    Ps. iv. 4. The English version renders, “Commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still.” “And when ye have shut259    Claudentes ostia; Vulgate, clauso ostio. the doors,” says He, “pray to your Father who is in secret.”260    Our Lord on occasion followed this habit (Matt. xiv. 23 and in Gethsemane). It is a small matter to enter into our bed-chambers if the door stand open to the unmannerly, through which the things that are outside profanely rush in and assail our inner man. Now we have said that outside are all temporal and visible things, which make their way through the door, i.e. through the fleshly sense into our thoughts, and clamorously interrupt those who are praying by a crowd of vain phantoms. Hence the door is to be shut, i.e. the fleshly sense is to be resisted, so that spiritual prayer may be directed to the Father, which is done in the inmost heart, where prayer is offered to the Father which is in secret. “And your Father,” says He, “who seeth in secret, shall reward you.” And this had to be wound up with a closing statement of such a kind; for here at the present stage the admonition is not that we should pray, but as to how we should pray. Nor is what goes before an admonition that we should give alms, but as to the spirit in which we should do so, inasmuch as He is giving instructions with regard to the cleansing of the heart, which nothing cleanses but the undivided and single-minded striving after eternal life from the pure love of wisdom alone.

12. “But when ye pray,” says He, “do not speak much,261    Greek, βατταλογεω “Use not vain repetitions,” Revised Version (or stammer). Some derive the word from Battus, king of Cyrene, who stuttered, or from Battus, author of wordy poems. The word is probably only an imitation of the sound of the stammerer (Thayer, Lexicon, who spells βαττολογεω). The Jews were only doing as well as the Gentiles when they placed virtue in the length of the prayer, and no better. “Who makes his prayer long, shall not return home empty” (Rabbi Chasima, quoted by Hausrath, 73). The Rabbins took up at great length the question how many and what kind of petitions should be offered up at the table spread on different occasions with different viands, whether salutations should be acknowledged in the course of prayer, etc. (see Schürer, pp. 498, 499). Examples of repetitious prayer in Scripture: 1 Kings xviii. 26, Acts xix. 34. The warning is not against frequent prayer (Luke xviii. 1). as the heathen do; for they think262    Arbitrantur; Vulgate, putant. that they shall be heard for their much speaking.” As it is characteristic of the hypocrites to exhibit themselves to be gazed at when praying, and their fruit is to please men, so it is characteristic of the heathen, i.e. of the Gentiles, to think they are heard for their much speaking. And in reality, every kind of much speaking comes from the Gentiles, who make it their endeavour to exercise the tongue rather than to cleanse the heart. And this kind of useless exertion they endeavour to transfer even to the influencing of God by prayer, supposing that the Judge, just like man, is brought over by words to a certain way of thinking. “Be not ye, therefore, like unto them,” says the only true Master. “For your Father knoweth what things are necessary263    Vobis necessarium; Vulgate, opus. for you, before ye ask Him.” For if many words are made use of with the intent that one who is ignorant may be instructed and taught, what need is there of them for Him who knows all things, to whom all things which exist, by the very fact of their existence, speak, and show themselves as having been brought into existence; and those things which are future do not remain concealed from His knowledge and wisdom, in which both those things which are past, and those things which will yet come to pass, are all present and cannot pass away?

13. But since, however few they may be, yet there are words which He Himself also is about to speak, by which He would teach us to pray; it may be asked why even these few words are necessary for Him who knows all things before they take place, and is acquainted, as has been said, with what is necessary for us before we ask Him? Here, in the first place, the answer is, that we ought to urge our case with God, in order to obtain what we wish, not by words, but by the ideas which we cherish in our mind, and by the direction of our thought, with pure love and sincere desire; but that our Lord has taught us the very ideas in words, that by committing them to memory we may recollect those ideas at the time we pray.

14. But again, it may be asked (whether we are to pray in ideas or in words) what need there is for prayer itself, if God already knows what is necessary for us; unless it be that the very effort involved in prayer calms and purifies our heart, and makes it more capacious for receiving the divine gifts, which are poured into us spiritually.264    The illustration is frequently used (M. Henry; after him F. W. Robertson), to represent the position of some, that prayer only has an influence on the petitioner, of a boatman in his boat, taking hold of the wharf with his grappling hook. While prayer does not “inform or persuade God,” it is the condition of receiving. The sanctifying influence is secondary and incidental. For it is not on account of the urgency of our prayers that God hears us, who is always ready to give us His light, not of a material kind, but that which is intellectual and spiritual: but we are not always ready to receive, since we are inclined towards other things, and are involved in darkness through our desire for temporal things. Hence there is brought about in prayer a turning of the heart to Him, who is ever ready to give, if we will but take what He has given; and in the very act of turning there is effected a purging of the inner eye, inasmuch as those things of a temporal kind which were desired are excluded, so that the vision of the pure heart may be able to bear the pure light, divinely shining, without any setting or change: and not only to bear it, but also to remain in it; not merely without annoyance, but also with ineffable joy, in which a life truly and sincerely blessed is perfected.

CAPUT III.---10. Et cum oratis, inquit, non eritis sicut hypocritae, qui amant in synagogis et in angulis platea rum stantes orare, ut videantur ab hominibus. Neque hic videri ab hominibus nefas est; sed ideo haec agere ut videaris ab hominibus: et superfluo toties eadem dicuntur, cum sit jam una regula custodienda, qua cognitum est, non si haec sciant homines, formidandum esse aut fugiendum; sed si hoc animo fiant, ut fructus in eis expetatur placendi hominibus. Servat etiam ipse Dominus eadem verba, cum adjungit similiter, Amen dico vobis, perceperunt mercedem suam; hinc ostendens id se prohibere, ne ea merces appetatur, qua stulti gaudent cum laudantur ab hominibus.

11. Vos autem cum oratis, inquit, introite in cubicula vestra. Quae sunt ista cubicula, nisi ipsa corda, quae in Psalmo etiam significantur, cum dicitur, Quae dicitis in cordibus vestris, et in cubilibus vestris compungimini (Psal. IV, 5)? Et claudentes ostia orate, ait, Patrem vestrum in abscondito. Parum est intrare in cubicula, si ostium pateat importunis, per quod ostium ea quae foris sunt improbe se immergunt, et interiora nostra appetunt. Foris autem diximus esse omnia temporalia et visibilia, quae per ostium, id est per carnalem sensum, in cogitationes nostras penetrant, et turba vanorum phantasmatum orantibus obstrepunt. Claudendum est ergo ostium, id est, carnali sensui resistendum est, ut oratio spiritualis dirigatur ad Patrem, quae fit in intimis cordis, ubi oratur Pater in abscondito. Et Pater, inquit, vester qui videt in abscondito, reddet vobis. Et hoc tali clausula terminandum fuit: non enim hoc monet nunc ut oremus, sed quomodo oremus; neque superius, ut faciamus eleemosynam, sed quo animo faciamus: quoniam de corde mundando, praecipit, quod non mundat, nisi una et simplex intentio in aeternam vitam solo et puro amore sapientiae.

12. Orantes autem nolite, ait, multum loqui, sicut Ethnici: arbitrantur enim quod in multiloquio suo exaudiantur. Sicut hypocritarum est praebere se spectandos in oratione, quorum fructus est placere hominibus; ita Ethnicorum, id est Gentilium, in multiloquio se putare exaudiri. Et revera omne multiloquium a Gentilibus venit, qui exercendae linguae potius quam mundando animo dant operam. Et hoc nugatorii studii genus etiam ad Deum prece flectendum transferre conantur, arbitrantes sicut hominem judicem verbis adduci in sententiam. Nolite itaque similes illis esse, dicit unus et verus magister. Scit enim Pater vester quid vobis necessarium sit, antequam petati, 1275 ab eo. Si enim verba multa ad id proferuntur, ut instruatur et doceatur ignarus, quid eis opus est ad rerum omnium cognitorem, cui omnia quae sunt, eo ipso quo sunt, loquuntur, seseque indicant facta; et ea quae futura sunt ejus artem sapientiamque non latent, in qua sunt et quae transierunt, et quae transitura sunt, omnia praesentia, et non transeuntia?

13. Sed quoniam, quamvis pauca, tamen verba et ipse dicturus est quibus nos doceat orare; quaeri potest cur vel his verbis paucis opus sit ad eum qui scit omnia antequam fiant, et novit, ut dictum est, quid nobis sit necessarium, antequam petamus ab eo? Hic primo respondetur, non verbis nos agere debere apud Deum, ut impetremus quod volumus, sed rebus quas animo gerimus, et intentione cogitationis, cum dilectione pura et simplici affectu: sed res ipsas verbis nos docuisse Dominum nostrum, quibus memoriae mandatis eos ad tempus orandi recordemur.

14. Sed rursus quaeri potest, sive rebus, sive verbis orandum sit, quid opus sit ipsa oratione, si Deus jam novit quid nobis necessarium sit: nisi quia ipsa orationis intentio cor nostrum serenat et purgat, capaciusque efficit ad excipienda divina munera, quae spiritualiter nobis infunduntur. Non enim ambitione precum nos exaudit Deus, qui semper paratus est dare suam lucem nobis, non visibilem, sed intelligibilem et spiritualem: sed nos non semper parati sumus accipere, eum inclinamur in alia, et rerum temporalium cupiditate tenebramur. Fit ergo in oratione conversio cordis ad eum, qui semper dare paratus est, si nos capiamus quod dederit; et in ipsa conversione purgatio interioris oculi, cum excluduntur ea quae temporaliter cupiebantur, ut acies cordis simplicis ferre possit simplicem lucem, divinitus sine ullo occasu aut immutatione fulgentem: nec solum ferre, sed etiam manere in illa; non tantum sine molestia, sed etiam cum ineffabili gaudio, quo vere ac sinceriter beata vita perficitur.