Neil R. Coulter's Reviews > A Diary of Private Prayer

As an admitted logophile, I have long been assisted in my prayers by reading beautifully written prayers. The Episcopal Book of Common Prayer is, of course, one favorite. But recently I found John Baillie's magnificent A Diary of Private Prayer (first published in 1936). I first learned of it from Richard J. Foster's edited collection, Devotional Classics. Soon after this first discovery, I ordered a copy for myself, and soon after reading it myself I ordered more copies to give away to friends.

Baillie provides a morning and evening prayer for each day of the month, with an extra morning and evening pair for Sundays. The prayers are written in a somewhat archaic style--"Thee" and "Thou" are the most obvious signs of this (and the easiest to mentally translate to modern equivalents), but other verbiage also shows this.

What I love about these eloquent prayers is that they are at once "classical" and also thoroughly relevant, inspiring, challenging. Baillie's personality shines through these prayers: he is a lover of books and music, appreciative of the pleasures of introversion combined with a desire to improve the world for everyone around him, and steeped in scripture, so that scripture references flow naturally all throughout the prayers. Much in the prayers speak to my own personality and faith. Here is an excerpt from the prayer for the morning of Day 5:

   O Thou who wast, and art, and art to come, I thank Thee that this Christian way whereon I walk is no untried or uncharted road, but a road beaten hard by the footsteps of saints, apostles, prophets, and martyrs. I thank Thee for the finger-posts and danger-signals with which it is marked at every turning and which may be known to me through the study of the Bible, and of all history, and of all the great literature of the world.

I love that affirmation of historical tradition and literature. Elsewhere (in Morning, Day 7) he prays "I praise Thee for music and books and good company and all pure pleasures."

The evening prayers are often challenging reflections on the day just ended. They are a turning away from the failures of the day, and a hoping that the next day will not see a repetition of the same; all of this is in the context of affirmation of God's love for us.

I'm thoroughly enjoying incorporating Baillie's prayers into my own daily prayers, and I recommend this book to anyone else who appreciates written prayers.