Whatever justice there may be (and no doubt there is much) in Mr.
Ruskin's accusations against us clergy, he is surely under an entire
misapprehension in the charge which he here makes against our Liturgy.
Our Prayer Book is doubtless constructed for the use of believing
Christians, and is not fitted for the impenitent; but its adaptation to
the needs of the repentant publican and of the advanced Christian is
most wonderful. And that a form of prayer may be so adapted is surely
proved by the Lord's Prayer itself, which Mr. Ruskin says is the _first_
thing to be taught to all, and which, with all his practice in thinking,
he feels that he cannot adequately expound.
Surely the repetition of a confession of unholiness casts no slur upon
the efficacy of our prayers for holiness when we recognize that holiness
is progressive, and that spiritual growth may express itself not merely
in new words, but in a heartier utterance of the old ones. As to the
particular expression, "there is no health in us," it needs either the
explanation of St. Paul--"I know that in me, _that is, in my flesh_,
dwelleth no good thing,"--or else to be understood according to the old
meaning of "health," viz., "_saving health_," _salvation_, _deliverance_
(Psalm cxix. 123, Prayer Book; Isa. lviii. 8; Jer. viii. 15).
It needs further to be remarked that repentance is not only a single
definite act, but a state of mind.
I think that underlying all these comments of Mr. Ruskin on the Lord's
Prayer is a failure to recognize the truth of man's fall.
Human nature is a ruin, not to be restored by a rearrangement of its
fragments. God has provided a remedy, by sending His Son to be the
foundation of a new spiritual building; and every man who is to be built
upon that foundation must himself become a new creature by the
operation of the Holy Ghost. All efforts to improve humanity in the
mass, without the renewal of each separate soul, must fail; and no doubt
the clergy often fall into this mistake.
The Lord's Prayer is not the prayer of all mankind as they are by
nature. It is a prayer to the possession of which they are brought by
regeneration, and to the enjoyment by conversion.