Chapter 12 - Prayer

Summary

This chapter deals with the Laudian vision of the church not only as the house of God but as a house of prayer. Viewing the church as God’s presence chamber, prayer is presented as the medium through which the Christian’s audience with God was to be conducted. Prayer was also the practice which rendered the militant church closest to the church triumphant. Since the angels and souls in heaven now enjoyed the divine presence, they had no need of preaching or the sacraments, but were continually praising God through prayer. While private prayer had its place, the Laudians put particular emphasis on the collective prayers of the church, offered by the priest as a spiritual sacrifice to God. Set prayer was elevated above extempore prayer, and the set prayers of the church of England praised as the best form of public prayer currently available in the Christian world.