Chapter I: The Prayer-Meetings

In reference to these I offer the following suggestions: 1. The pastor himself should ordinarily conduct them if they are general meetings of the church; no other can so fully understand the condition of those present, or so wisely adapt the exercise to their needs. Besides, the instruction and spirit of the prayer-meeting should be kept in harmony with the teaching of the pulpit, so as to supplement it and develop its results; one mind, therefore, should direct and inspire both. Where the meeting is intended for a special class, as for the young people or for the Sunday-school teachers, it may be proper, if there is a suitable leader, for the pastor to be relieved and the care of it to be entrusted to another.

Careful preparation of thought, but of especially of spirit should be made for the meeting. No man should trust to the inspiration of the occasion either for the thought which shall give the keynote to the meeting or for the quickened spiritual life which, existing in the leader, shall touch and quicken the life of the church. 2. Be punctual in opening and closing at the appointed time; nothing so effectually secures a prompt attendance, and the neglect of it will prevent many from coming, especially females, because they cannot know how late may be the hour of dismission. 3. Be brief in your own exercises, showing yourself a pattern, and insist on brevity in others, whether in prayer, remarks, or singing. Let your opening remarks be suggestive rather than exhaustive, so that when you sit down the people, instead of feeling that all has been said, will find the subject opening before them and be inspired to carry out the thought into other phases and applications. 4. Avoid uniformity and monotony. To secure natural variety, give each meeting its own keynote, now of thanksgiving and praise, now of confession and humiliation, now of Christian hope, and again of some great truth or some practical duty. If it becomes evident, as it sometimes will, that you have struck the wrong key and thought and feeling are running in another channel, throw yourself heartily into that and make the most of it. If a pause occurs, be ready with a passage of Scripture, a hymn or remark, or call on individuals either to pray or relate experience, or to state some interesting fact you may know they possess. A pastor in vital relations with the people, by his knowledge of the experiences and condition of the individuals before him, will be able to give perpetual variety to the meetings by evoking in various ways their experience and utilizing their power. 5. In regard to the presentation of special cases for prayer, my judgment is that this should be encouraged; since, even apart from the power of prayer with God in behalf of such cases and the answer of blessing it brings, the special presentation itself serves to give directness and fervency to supplication and adds freshness and power to the exercise. It is possible, however, to have too much machinery in a prayer-meeting, making its movement mechanical and destroying spontaneity. Expression of interest in the subject of personal religion by rising or other forms may be so often repeated as to be worse than useless and become justly offensive. In calling, therefore, for an expression, great care must be taken not to overdo, and not to do it at all unless there is good reason to expect a response. A failure usually chills the interest of a meeting. 6. Use all exertions to bring the gifts of the church into full exercise; there is always a large amount of latent power which it should be the special care of the pastor to develop and make effective for Christ. This will not be done by scolding and complaining, but rather by the diffusion of a spirit, an atmosphere, in the meeting--an all-pervasive, homelike feeling--which will banish embarrassment and draw them out. The timid and backward may also be helped by an occasional question, the answering of which will accustom them to their own voices and induce spontaneous expression. Something also maybe done in private personal words of encouragement. Above all, place distinctly before all minds the fact that in the prayer-meeting the main thing, next to prayer, is the interchange of Christian experience, and what is required, therefore, from each one is, not a homily, an exposition, or an exhortation, but a simple statement of what he has thought and felt amidst the experiences of life; and, as every soul has its own peculiar life, it has an experience of real value as helpful and comforting to other lives. 7. Make careful arrangements for good spirited singing, but usually not more than two or three verses at a time. To secure this, if you do not yourself sing, arrange with one or more good singers to lead whenever a pause occurs. Indeed, if you are a singer, it is often best not to take on yourself the responsibility of leading; the care is too much, and by distracting and exhausting your force it may diminish your power in the general guidance of the exercises. Do not fail to have good books, with hymns and tunes, in sufficient number to give all opportunity to join in the singing. 8. Great care should be taken, if the room is not full, to have people sit together and near the leader. No meeting will ordinarily be _social,_ in any proper sense, where a few people are scattered in a large room. Attention should also be given to the ventilation and temperature of the room; otherwise, the meeting may fail from purely physical causes, in spite of the best efforts of pastor and people. Right physical conditions are simply attempts to conform to God's physical laws, and are absolutely essential to the highest success in social religious meetings; no pastor, therefore, should deem them unworthy of careful and persistent attention. Finally, it should be remembered that it is a _social_ meeting. Divest it of all formality, stiffness, or sameness. Make it cheerful, familiar, homelike, as a gathering of God's children in their Father's family. If this is done, old and young will be attracted to it, and will alike feel free to share its services.