John Baillie, a Scottish theologian, was born on March 26, 1886. I am still learning about his life and ministry, but in the meantime I have been waiting for an opportunity to introduce to you his little book titled A Diary of Private Prayer (1936). It is regarded as a devotional classic and has been a tremendous blessing to me as I have used it over the past year.Many of you are familiar with The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions which is also an excellent devotional tool. I have turned to Baillie's book far more often for its readability, adaptability to your own praying, and clarity. I have found three or four copies at yard sales and flea markets for very cheap. You can also purchase and inexpensive paperback edition online.
This book is designed to guide the worshiper in developing a regular pattern of offering morning and evening prayers. Here is this morning's prayer:
O Thou to whom I owe the gift of this day's life, give to me also, I beseech Thee, the spirit to use it as I ought. Forbid that I should stain the brightness of the morning with any evil thought or darken the noontide with any shameful deed. Let Thy Holy Spirit breathe into my heart to-day all pure and heavenly desires. Let Thy truth inform my mind. Let Thy justice and righteousness make a throne within me and rule my errant will. Let Christ be formed in me, and let me learn of Him all lowliness of heart, all gentleness of bearing, all modesty of speech, all helpfulness of action, and promptness in the doing of my Father's will.For more biographical information about Baillie, I would direct you to begin with The Baillie Project.
O Thou who compassest the whole earth with Thy most merciful favour and willest not that any of Thy children should perish, I would call down Thy blessing to-day upon all who are striving towards the making of a better world. I pray, O God, especially--for all who are working for purer and juster laws:Cast down, O Lord, all the forces of cruelty and wrong. Defeat all selfish and worldly-minded schemes, and prosper all that is conceived among us in the spirit of Christ and carried out to the honour of His blessed name.
for all who are working for peace between the nations:
for all who are engaged in healing disease:
for all who are engaged in the relief of poverty:
for all who are engaged in the rescue of the fallen:
for all who are working towards the restoration of the broken unity of the Holy Church:
for all who preach the gospel:
for all who bear witness to Christ in foreign lands.
Amen.
Friends (and friends of John Baillie):
ReplyDeleteplease keep as a matter of prayer over the next two or three months, an initiative to arrange with John Baillie's heirs (and now Ian F. Baillie's [son, and dedicatee] for a version of ADOPP in slightly more current English! For as Ian wrote me two years before he passed away in November 2008, the thoughts are great, but "the language is a wee bit dated."
(That's as we'd expect, it being in print unchanged since 1949, and very little change from the original 1936 version. It was written then by Dr John Baillie for his son Ian, then a lad of 15!!
So many people love this little book, from UK to USA and Canada to Australia and New Zealand --it was once translated into 14 languages -- that we well would want it available to the new generation of readers!!! (Who are, alas, used to more concise writing, shorter sentences, less time and patience with Victorian or Tudor English, for that matter.)
I've located a skilled and experienced writer who may give it a similar careful treatment as James Reiman did for Chambers' My Utmost for His Highest, and Cowan's Streams in the Desert. Those were both Scots too! Hmmm. Perhaps there's something to Benjamin Franklin's claim, All Scotsmen are theologians.
All kidding aside, let's pray for God's will, and a good result, to benefit many (and overcome a few hard-nosed publishers: Ian had to sharply negotiate with the one with some rights to the current paperback, agreeing that the updated edition will be only hardback, at a considerably higher price than paperback's $8.)
Loving thrifty Scots and all people whom God loves (for He is the only true Friend and Lover of mankind),
John R. Rafferty (also a son of the Celts who kept in their heart Heb 13:14.)
Mr. Rafferty, thank you for posting this note. I'm very glad to hear that an updated edition is in the works. I'm equally glad to hear that the plans are to publish it in hardback!
ReplyDeleteWe'll keep this matter in prayer. I'll even make a new note about this on the blog. Thanks!
Please keep me updated on your progress.
I found this amazing book in my father's collection after he died. It has become my favorite book - so beautiful and relevant.
ReplyDeleteI'm very glad that you found this little book. It is a favorite of mine, too.
ReplyDeleteI've been using John Baillie's Daily Prayer almost daily for 13 years. Each reading I translate it into contemporary English for myself and have even attempted to write out the translation for a handful of days. So I'm delighted to see this year-old posting that it might be updated sometime soon!
ReplyDeleteCould you please let us know how that is coming?
Thanks.
I have respectfully updated it also. But Ian Baillie, son, did not select my version before he died. I am looking forward to seeing what he has chosen.
ReplyDeleteMark, thank you for the note. I'm glad to learn all I can about this little devotional volume. It has been a great help to me.
ReplyDeleteI've had John Baillie's Diary of Private Prayer for over 30 years and wouldn't change a *word* of it! Baillie's Diary is an example of the kind of teaching the Bible refers to as "meat" and "meat" is what needs to be taught in today's world. You can't have Godly people if you keep teaching what the Bible refers to as "milk". My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers is another example of "meat" showing the need for teaching all of God's Word, not just the touchy-feely kind of instruction. It's always been my belief that one really needs to pay attention, reflect upon and puzzle-out meaning from words written by Christians from the past - to glean the urgency - that our very soul is in the balance, so to speak. It is the very words that Baillie wrote that *drew me in* to the essence of his life's work. If we write in such a manner to always reach the least common denominator, we will dilute meaning to the point where no one will pay attention to meaning behind the words. This is not to say I don't understand why you'd want to "modernize" these writings, but the Word longs to grip you by the heart, the throat, the mind and soul. (I apologize for intruding on your discussion. I was merely trying to find the 1949 version (which I adhere to) of this classic to buy and send to 2 more people I know who are hungry for the Word.) May His peace enfold you.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your experience with Baillie's Diary of Private Prayer. Although I don't think that a modernized version is necessary at this point, I'm not opposed to it. There is nothing inherently less "meaty" about a contextualized, or modernized, edition of an older classic, especially in the case where the general readership is unduly limited on account of the difficulty of an older style of language. The meatiness would have to be judged on a case-by-case basis. (Again, I am convinced that Baillie's work is very readable.) We learn about contextualization, incarnation, and condescension in communication preeminently from God! Don't we? And in His condescension He has given us His Word, Jesus, and His Words in a language that was able to communicate "to the least common denominator." Praise God.
ReplyDeleteThanks again!
Blessings,
Jason