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“IN one shape or another,” says Bishop Phillips Brooks, “the religious question which gives thoughtful religious people the most trouble is probably the question of prayer.
菲利普斯·布鲁克斯主教说：”无论以何种形式，给深思熟虑的宗教人士带来最大困扰的宗教问题，很可能就是祷告的问题。
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We cannot doubt that it has always been so.
我们不能怀疑这一直都是如此。
We feel sure that in every condition of religion, down to the lowest, in which men are moved to supplicate God at all, the struggle between the two feelings, between the instinct that God must hear and answer and the doubt whether God can hear and answer, has been always going on.
我们确信，在宗教的每一种状况中，甚至是最低层次的，只要人们被感动要向神祈求，这两种感受之间的挣扎——相信神必定垂听和应答的本能与怀疑神是否能够垂听和应答的疑虑之间的挣扎——一直在持续进行。
It is not a struggle of our days alone; it is not a question which certain peculiar tendencies of our time have brought out.
这不是仅属于我们这个时代的挣扎；这不是我们这个时代某些特殊倾向所带来的问题。
It is as old as David; nay, as old as Job, as old as all religion.”
它与大卫一样古老；不，与约伯一样古老，与一切宗教一样古老。”
Here we have at once the two great primary facts about prayer.
在这里我们立即看到关于祷告的两个重大基本事实。
There is an instinct in men to seek fellowship with God in prayer, and yet it demands an effort of the will to pray.
人里面有一种本能要在祷告中寻求与神的团契，然而祷告却需要意志的努力。
Round these two facts all the difficulties of prayer as well as all its advantages may be said to gather.
可以说，祷告的所有困难以及所有益处都围绕着这两个事实而聚集。
Let us glance at them separately before we begin the proper subject of this Introduction, which is the Proof and the Practice of Prayer.
在我们开始这篇引言的正题——祷告的证据和实践——之前，让我们分别审视这两个事实。
- The instinct of prayer is to us like the wing of a bird to a bird and the fin of a fish to a fish.
- 祷告的本能对我们来说，就像鸟的翅膀对鸟，鱼的鳍对鱼一样。
The wing of the bird demands the air, the fin of the fish demands the water, the instinct of prayer demands God.
鸟的翅膀需要空气，鱼的鳍需要水，祷告的本能需要神。
Therefore the only monstrosity of nature, just as much a monstrosity as a wingless bird or a finless fish, is the prayerless man or woman, because the deepest and most real instinct they have is not satisfied.
因此，大自然唯一的畸形现象，就像无翅的鸟或无鳍的鱼一样畸形的，就是不祷告的男人或女人，因为他们最深刻、最真实的本能没有得到满足。
Strong as may be my admiration for the beautiful, deeply as I may be stirred by the strains of melody, there is yet another emotion more powerful and more lasting than either of these, and that is my desire for communion with God in the form of prayer.
尽管我对美的赞赏可能很强烈，尽管我可能被旋律的音符深深感动，但还有另一种情感比这些都更强大、更持久，那就是我渴望以祷告的形式与神交通。
The love of the beautiful may lessen with the decrease of my powers, the desire for music may wane as I grow decrepit, but the wish to pray grows stronger as the years are added to my life.
对美的爱可能随着我能力的衰退而减少，对音乐的渴望可能随着我年老体衰而减弱，但祷告的愿望却随着我生命年岁的增长而变得更强烈。
(1) This instinct is far older than Christianity itself, for it is the expression of a dependence upon God which in every age has been prominent in the consciousness and conduct of men.
(1) 这种本能远比基督教本身更古老，因为它是对神依赖的表达，这种依赖在每个时代都在人的意识和行为中占突出地位。
Jesus Christ did not create it.
耶稣基督并没有创造它。
He found it already highly developed; and, by His revelation of the Fatherhood of God, He directed and guided it towards Him.
祂发现它已经高度发展；并且，通过祂对神父性的启示，祂引导并指引它朝向祂。
This, indeed, was the entire aim of His redeeming life and death—so to capture and control this common instinct of dependence in men that they should become worshipping children and so partake of all the soul-renewing results of that worship.
这确实是祂救赎生命和死亡的全部目标——如此捕获和掌控人类这种共同的依赖本能，使他们成为敬拜的儿女，从而分享那敬拜所带来的一切更新灵魂的果效。
¶ Dr. Knox, Bishop of Manchester, preaching on the sands at Blackpool, told a story of a miner who called himself an infidel.
¶ 曼彻斯特主教诺克斯博士在布莱克浦的沙滩上讲道时，讲了一个称自己为不信者的矿工的故事。
One day in the mine some coal began to fall, and the man cried out, “Lord, save me”.
有一天在矿井里一些煤开始掉落，那个人大声呼喊：”主啊，救我”。
Then a fellow-miner turned to him and said, “Ay, there’s nowt like cobs o’ coal to knock th’ infidelity out o’ a man”.
然后一个同伴矿工转向他说：”是啊，没有什么能像煤块一样把人的不信打掉”。
Yes, men may try to keep down the instinct of prayer, but there are times in every life when it will be heard.
是的，人们可能试图压制祷告的本能，但在每个人的生命中都有时候它会被听见。
(2) Therefore let us recognize the fact that we are never so natural as when we pray.
(2) 因此让我们认识这个事实：我们从未像祷告时那样自然。
Over and over again we find that people in the workshops and in the great houses of business in cities will almost flout the man or woman who goes regularly to church or who says his or her prayers.
我们一再发现，工作坊里的人和城市里大商行里的人几乎会嘲弄那些定期去教会或做祷告的男男女女。
They point out, as they imagine, that it is an unnatural thing to do—an unnatural thing on a beautiful Sunday afternoon to spend an hour in a house of prayer.
他们指出，正如他们所想象的，这是一件不自然的事——在一个美丽的周日下午花一个小时在祷告所里是不自然的事。
What we must recognize, in the first place, is this: that we are most natural when we pray, for if there is one thing certain about human nature, it is that man is a praying animal, and is born to pray.
我们首先必须认识的是这一点：我们在祷告时最为自然，因为如果说人性有一件确定的事，那就是人是祷告的动物，生来就要祷告。
In our present order, there is no voice so sweet, so powerful, so essentially human, as that of prayer, none other so natural to a being like man, at once rational, fallen, and redeemed.
在我们目前的秩序中，没有声音像祷告的声音那样甜美、那样有力、那样本质上属于人性，没有其他声音对像人这样既理性、又堕落、又蒙救赎的存在如此自然。
It is possible, without any great strain upon imagination, to conceive of inanimate creation as filled with praise.
不需要想象力的太大努力，就可以设想无生命的受造物充满赞美。
It is easy to think of the winds and waves in their restless movement, the birds in their song, the stars in their silence, the very grass and flowers, as worshipping God in their beauty and their gladness.
很容易想到风和浪在它们不安的运动中，鸟儿在它们的歌声中，星星在它们的静默中，甚至草和花，都在它们的美丽和喜乐中敬拜神。
Often the air around us seems full of thanksgiving, breathless with adoration; but who, even in poetry, ever dreamt that nature prayed?
我们周围的空气常常似乎充满感恩，因敬拜而屏息；但谁，即使在诗歌中，曾经梦想过大自然祷告呢？
Prayer is the voice of one who errs and loves; of one who sins, and suffers, and aspires; it is the voice of a child to its father, the voice of man to his God.
祷告是犯错又有爱之人的声音；是犯罪、受苦、渴慕之人的声音；它是孩子对父亲的声音，是人对他的神的声音。
- But the instinct to pray no more indicates the prayerful life than the musical ear denotes the accomplished musician.
- 但祷告的本能并不比音乐的耳朵表明有成就的音乐家更能表明祷告的生活。
Both are but the foundations on which unremitting endeavour erects mastery.
两者都只是不懈努力建立熟练技艺的基础。
As the pianist day after day sounds forth upon his instrument the changes of his scales and finger exercises, so the master Christian breathes his daily petitions and thanksgivings, not as constituting in themselves the prayer which God enjoins, but as the ceaseless exercise which enables the soul to sound celestial harmonies.
正如钢琴家日复一日在他的乐器上奏出音阶变化和手指练习，照样，成熟的基督徒呼出他每日的祈求和感恩，不是作为本身构成神所要求的祷告，而是作为使灵魂能够奏出天上和声的不停操练。
Why should we pray?
我们为什么要祷告？
And, as we ask ourselves the question, I suppose that the first answer must be, “Because of a deep inherited instinct which has been trained and fostered from our childhood by those we love”.
当我们向自己提出这个问题时，我想第一个答案必须是：”因为一种深层的遗传本能，这本能从我们童年时就被我们所爱的人训练和培养。”
Notice, we must have the whole answer.
注意，我们必须有完整的答案。
Whether a child would pray if it was never taught may fairly be questioned; but certainly there would always be in it that deep instinct for prayer—a deep instinct which still remains, too, in the minds and hearts of men who have ceased to believe in a God; for a man once told me most pathetically that, though all his faith had gone, every morning regularly he practised what he called self-reflection to satisfy that instinct of prayer which he could satisfy in no other way.
一个孩子如果从未被教导是否会祷告，这可以公正地质疑；但在他里面肯定总会有那种祷告的深层本能——这种深层本能也仍然存在于那些已经不再相信神的人的思想和心中；因为一个人曾经很悲伤地告诉我，虽然他所有的信心都消失了，但每天早上他都定期练习他所称的自我反思，来满足那种他无法以其他方式满足的祷告本能。
TABLE OF CONTENTS
目录
PREFACE
序言
I. INTRODUCTION
I. 引言
— 1. THE PROOF OF PRAYER
— 1. 祷告的证据
— 2. THE PRACTICE OF PRAYER
— 2. 祷告的实践
II. THE NATURE OF PRAYER
II. 祷告的本质
— 1. PRAYER IS DESIRE
— 1. 祷告是渴慕
— 2. PRAYER IS COMMUNION
— 2. 祷告是交通
— 3. PRAYER IS PETITION
— 3. 祷告是祈求
III. ADDRESS AND ADORATION
III. 称呼与敬拜
— 1. THE ADDRESS
— 1. 称呼
— 2. ADORATION
— 2. 敬拜
IV. CONFESSION
IV. 认罪
— 1. GENERAL AND PARTICULAR
— 1. 一般性和具体性
— 2. HOPEFUL
— 2. 满有盼望
— 3. HEARTFELT
— 3. 发自内心
— 4. DESIRE FOR HOLINESS
— 4. 对圣洁的渴慕
— 5. ENDEAVOUR AFTER NEW OBEDIENCE
— 5. 追求新的顺服
V. PETITION
V. 祈求
VI. INTERCESSION
VI. 代祷
VII. THANKSGIVING
VII. 感恩
VIII. THE FIRST PRINCIPLES OF PRAYER
VIII. 祷告的首要原则
— 1. ACCORDING TO THE WILL OF GOD
— 1. 按照神的旨意
— 2. IN THE NAME OF CHRIST
— 2. 奉基督的名
— 3. IN THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT
— 3. 靠圣灵的能力
IX. PERSONAL DEMANDS OF PRAYER
IX. 祷告的个人要求
— 1. KNOWLEDGE
— 1. 知识
— 2. REPENTANCE
— 2. 悔改
— 3. FAITH, HOPE, AND LOVE
— 3. 信心、盼望和爱
— 4. IMPORTUNITY
— 4. 恳切
X. MINOR AIDS TO PRAYER
X. 祷告的辅助要素
— 1. PREPARATION
— 1. 预备
— 2. PRACTICE
— 2. 操练
— 3. DEFINITENESS
— 3. 明确性
— 4. HUMILITY
— 4. 谦卑
— 5. ENERGY
— 5. 活力
— 6. PATIENCE
— 6. 忍耐
— 7. SERVICE
— 7. 服事
XI. SCIENTIFIC OBJECTIONS TO PRAYER
XI. 对祷告的科学反对意见
–1. THE PHYSICAL AND THE SPIRITUAL
–1. 物质与属灵
— 2. THE MEANING OF LAW
— 2. 律法的意义
— 3. MIND AND WILL IN NATURAL LAW
— 3. 自然律中的心智与意志
XII. PHILOSOPHICAL OBJECTIONS TO PRAYER
XII. 对祷告的哲学反对意见
— 1. OUR SELF-SUFFICIENCY
— 1. 我们的自足
— 2. THE WAR OF INTERESTS
— 2. 利益的争战
— 3. WHAT IS MAN?
— 3. 人是什么？
— 4. A PERFECT PROVIDENCE
— 4. 完美的护理
— 5. THE UNCHANGEABLE WILL
— 5. 不变的旨意
XIII. THE VALUE OF PRAYER
XIII. 祷告的价值
— 1. DELIVERANCE
— 1. 拯救
— 2. CHARACTER
— 2. 品格
— 3. POWER
— 3. 能力
XIV. HINDRANCES TO PRAYER
XIV. 祷告的阻碍
— 1. INATTENTIVENESS
— 1. 不专心
— 2. PREOCCUPATION
— 2. 心有旁骛
— 3. DOUBT
— 3. 怀疑
— 4. PRIDE
— 4. 骄傲
— 5. SELFISHNESS
— 5. 自私
XV. ENCOURAGEMENTS TO PRAYER
XV. 祷告的鼓励
— 1. THE NAME OF GOD
— 1. 神的名
— 2. THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL
— 2. 以色列的历史
— 3. THE LIFE OF CHRIST
— 3. 基督的生平
— 4. THE PROMISES
— 4. 应许
XVI. THE PERPLEXITIES OF PRAYER
XVI. 祷告的困惑
— 1. NO ANSWER
— 1. 没有应答
— 2. DEFERRED ANSWER
— 2. 延迟的应答
— 3. DIFFERENT ANSWER
— 3. 不同的应答
XVII. ANSWERS TO PRAYER
XVII. 祷告的应答
— 1. EXPECT ANSWERS
— 1. 期待应答
— 2. ANSWERS DO COME
— 2. 应答确实会来
— 3. SPECIAL PROVIDENCES
— 3. 特殊的护理
— 4. SOME EXAMPLES
— 4. 一些例子
—- (1) PETITION
—- (1) 祈求
—- (2) INTERCESSION
—- (2) 代祷
- SPIRITUAL COMMUNICATIONS
- 属灵的交通
XVIII. PRAYERS TO THE TRINITY
XVIII. 向三位一体的祷告
— 1. PRAYER TO GOD
— 1. 向神祷告
— 2. PRAYER TO GOD THE SON
— 2. 向神的儿子祷告
— 3. PRAYER TO GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT
— 3. 向神圣灵祷告
XIX. THE FIT TIMES FOR PRAYER
XIX. 祷告的合宜时间
— 1. FIXED TIMES
— 1. 固定时间
— 2. FREQUENT OCCASIONS
— 2. 频繁场合
— 3. MUCH TIME
— 3. 大量时间
— 4. ALWAYS
— 4. 时时刻刻
XX. THE MANNER OF PRAYER
XX. 祷告的方式
— 1. THE POSTURE
— 1. 姿态
— 2. FORM OR FREEDOM
— 2. 形式或自由
—- (1) EXTEMPORE PRAYER
—- (1) 即兴祷告
—- (2) LITURGICAL PRAYER
—- (2) 礼仪祷告
— 3. THE LENGTH
— 3. 长度
— 4. THE VOICE
— 4. 声音