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"Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help us in time of need."*

LECTURE XCV.

ON PRAYER.

The Lord's Prayer.-Its Use as a Form and as a Pattern.-Is it a Compilation?—Its Parts.Commentary upon it.-Dispute Respecting the Genuineness of the Doxology.

In the course of his sermon on the mount, our Saviour said to his disciples, "After this manner, pray ye. Our Father which art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen."t The same prayer in substance occurs in the gospel of Luke, but there are some verbal differences, and the doxology is omitted. On this account, and because it was pronounced by our Lord the second time, in answer to the request of one of his disciples, who said, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples," Origen, in his treatise, яɛρɩ euxns, thinks that they should be considered as different prayers. This, however, is too nice a distinction; and it is not easy to see on what it is founded, as with the alteration of a word or two, all the petitions are exactly the same. If you should inquire how this disciple came to ask Christ to teach them to pray, although he had taught them already, the same Father will tell you, that perhaps he was not present when it was first delivered, or he had forgotten what was said.

It has been asked, whether this prayer was intended to be a form, or a pattern; and the question has given rise to various opinions, and to arguments for and against. Those who maintain that it is only a pattern, besides other reasons, allege the words in Matthew, "After this manner, pray ye;" but their criticism is founded on the English version. The original word ours, may be rendered," after this manner," but also more simply, "thus," and is used in Scripture, in reference to the identical words which were spoken. They also forget that in Luke, our Lord said without any qualifying term, “When ye pray, say." If it were only meant, that our Lord did not intend to confine them to this prayer, to enjoin the constant unaltered use of it, to prohibit prayer. in any other terms, we should certainly concur with them; but it is not a little surprising to find some persons discovering an anxiety to prove, that we should cautiously avoid the words which were dictated by the Son of God himself, and should apply them to no other purpose, but as a guide in prayers of our own composition. It has the appearance of impiety, or, to use a softer term, of very great folly; and it can be accounted for only on the principle which directs the conduct of weak-minded men, that of guarding against one extreme by running into another. They imagine that they cannot remove to too great a distance from any thing which they conceive to be wrong, and if their antagonist should go to the east, they know of no better way of testifying their disapprobation than by walking in all haste to the west. There is no doubt * Heb. iv. 16 Matth. vi. 9-13. + Luke xi. 2-4.

that in some churches, and particularly the Church of England, the Lord's prayer is improperly used, being introduced into the service unseasonably, and repeated over and over, as if there were supposed to be some magical virtue in the words. But this is no reason why others should treat it, as Hezekiah did the brazen serpent, which he broke in pieces, because it had been made the object of idolatrous worship. It is not profaned by man's abuse; it is still the best and most comprehensive of all prayers; and when offered up with suitable sentiments and affections, is acceptable to our Father in heaven. Who is the presumptuous man who dares to think, that he can find more proper words to express the desires of his heart? I acknowledge, at the same time, that it was chiefly intended to be a pattern; that it is only a summary of the blessings for which we should pray; and that the Scriptures show, and our own hearts dictate, that in our addresses to God, it is necessary to be more full and particular. But this concession does not in any degree derogate from its excellence. As a pattern it is unavoidably concise; and its design was not to enter into a minute detail, but to furnish us with hints which we might improve, with the assistance of the other parts of the word of God. Thus we unite the two contending opinions, which never would have been disjoined had it not been for ignorant zeal. The Lord's prayer is both a form and a pattern.

It is the opinion of many learned men, that this prayer is not an original composition, but a compilation. They affirm that it was not dictated by our Saviour in the exercise of his own wisdom, and that he only displayed judgment in selecting it from the prayers which were then current among the Jews. Accordingly, quotations have been given from their different books, in which we find the same or nearly the same expressions, which are here brought together.* It has been said, that it is contrary to all probability, that such a correspondence of words and phrases should have happened by chance; and hence either of these suppositions must be made, that the Jews have transferred those things from the gospel to the use of the Synagogue, or that Christ borrowed them from the Jews, and consecrated them for the use of his disciples. Either supposition, it is added, will redound to the honour of our Saviour. If the Jews, the avowed enemies of the Gospel, have adopted this prayer from it, they show their high opinion of its wisdom and piety, which has led them to receive it into their liturgy, notwithstanding their violent prejudices against its Author But it is incredible that they would have yielded so far, and it is more reasona ble to believe that our Lord, in accommodation to them, converted to his own purpose these scattered fragments of devotion, these golden remains of ancient piety. There is one point, however, which it is necessary previously to ascertain, whether the books in which the component parts of this prayer are found, are more ancient than the days of our Saviour. If, as I presume, they are all of a posterior date, the idea that our Saviour borrowed from the Jews, rests on slender grounds, as we have no certainty that the expressions which we now find in their books were then known to them. In estimating probabilities, men are often influenced by prior associations which have a powerful effect upon their judgment; and hence what seems probable to one person, may appear in a different light to another. I confess that I cannot reconcile the supposition, that our Lord was indebted to any human help in instructing his disciples, with the idea which I entertain of the dignity of his character, as the great Prophet, whose doctrine was from heaven, and not from men; and nothing should induce me to assent to it, but evidence much stronger than has yet been produced. In this as in similar cases, the claim of originality should be decided by the question of priority. We know when our Lord delivered this prayer to his disciples; but we have no certain information respecting the time when the corresponding expressions were adopted by the Jews. It is a con • * Vide Witsii Exercit. in Orat. Dom. vi. § 32-38.

jecture of a learned man, that they came into use among them, by means of such of the Judaizing Christians as apostatized, who having been taught this prayer, communicated it to their brethren. As it contains no reference to Jesus as the Messiah, and there is no part of it which does not accord with their own Scriptures, as understood by themselves, it would the more readily meet with a favourable reception. If it should still seem incredible, that the Jews should have ever been persuaded to give the sanction of their approbation to any thing, of which a person so obnoxious as Jesus of Nazareth was the Author, I would remind you that the case is not without a parallel, for never was man more hated by Papists than Calvin, and the object of more violent abuse, and yet it is known that some of their writers have made free use of his works in the composition of their own.

The Lord's prayer consists of three parts, an address to God in the character of our Father, a number of petitions, and a doxology. I intend to give you a short commentary upon it in the subsequent part of this lecture.

Our Saviour directs us to begin with addressing God in the character of our Father: "Our Father which art in heaven." Now, God may be called our Father on two accounts; first, because he is the Author of our being; and, secondly, because by his grace he has adopted us into his family. In the first respect, he is the Father of the whole human race; and hence the Prophet asks, "Have we not all one Father, and hath not one God created us?"* Creation and generation are indeed two things totally different, and it is upon the latter that the paternal relation is founded; but they agree in the general idea of the communication of life, and hence God is called our Father, although he did not beget, but created us. In the second respect, he is the Father of believers alone, or of those who have been made his children by faith in Christ Jesus; and it is primarily, although not exclusively, in this relation that we should contemplate him when we offer up our prayers. His greatness would overawe us, and the reflection that he gave us existence, would not relieve us from our fears, conscious as we are that we have been ungrateful for the gift, and have degraded our nature, which was originally adorned with his image; but the grace, and condescension, and tender pity, which the new character of Father implies, inspire us with hope, and embolden us to approach to his throne, and to present our requests.-The words, "in heaven," do not refer to the local residence of the Deity. If he were in heaven as created beings are in a place, the heavens would be greater in extent than he, and consequently he would be limited. Against the mistake into which the sound of the words might lead an ignorant person, it is not necessary to put those on their guard who have read in the Scriptures the sublime descriptions of the immensity of the Divine essence; and all that is incumbent upon us is, to inquire for what reason the infinite Creator is represented as in heaven. The common answer is the just one; that, as there must be a region of the universe in which he confers their full, reward upon his holy creatures, he is said to be in it, because he there gives the highest manifestations of his goodness and glory. As it is a natural thought that this place is elevated above this terrestrial and the visible creation, we point upwards when we are speaking of the habitation of the Divinity, as our Saviour lifted up his eyes when he prayed, acting on that occasion under the influence of the ideas and feelings of a man.-This prelimi nary address is an appropriate introduction to the prayer which follows; for the contemplation of God as our Father, will give us an interest in his glory, which is the subject of the first petition, and will encourage us to ask the blessings which are mentioned in the other petitions.

The first petition is, "Hallowed," or sanctified, " be thy name;" in which the meaning of the two words, name and sanctify, must be ascertained. A

* Mal. ii. 10.

name properly signifies the discriminative appellation of an individual; and in this sense our Father in heaven has different names, as Jehovah, God, Lord, &c. But the term is used in other significations, and particularly, I apprehend, denotes on some occasions God himself. As the Jews were wont to call him the Name of the heavens, and the Name, absolutely; so, when the Scripture calls us to give thanks to his name, it evidently calls us to give thanks to himself. In the present case, it is frequently explained to be, every thing whereby God makes himself known; but then the prayer, that every thing whereby he makes himself known may be sanctified or glorified, is not very intelligible. I think it therefore preferable, to consider the name of God in this place as signifying God himself, the idea of his being manifested to his creatures being necessarily implied in the petition. The word ayalew, signifies to make holy; but this cannot be its meaning here; for we should either utter words to which we attached no idea, or express a sentiment full of impiety and blasphemy, if we prayed that God might be made holy. 'Ayalew, signifies also to separate from a common to a peculiar use, and hence, also, to treat any thing with reverence as sacred. Now, as a person who is honoured is distinguished or separated from other persons, is the object of respect and homage, to sanetify, comes to be equivalent to glorify. The true sense, therefore, of the petition before us is, let God be glorified. The two words evidently convey the same meaning in the following passage: "I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified." The petition, therefore, may be understood as a prayer that God would glorify himself, and that he would enable us and others to glorify him.

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God has already glorified himself in the works of creation; and he continues to glorify himself in his dispensations of providence and grace. He glorifies himself when he performs such works as afford bright and impressive manifestations of his power, wisdom, goodness, justice, and holiness. To mention only, one instance, he is said to honour himself by executing vengeance upon sinners, whose daring crimes seemed to call for his interposition. The words lately quoted were spoken immediately after the death of Nadab and Abihu, who were destroyed by lightning from the oracle, because, in a state of intoxication as it would seem, they had offered strange fire in the sanctuary. In reference to the doom of Pharaoh and his army, who were drowned in the Red Sea, he said, "I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen." We therefore pray that God would give such manifestations of his glory in the course of events, as shall make man know that "he whose name alone is JEHOVAH, is the Most High God over all the earth."

If it is our duty to pray that God would glorify himself, it is undoubtedly incumbent upon us to pray also that we may be disposed and enabled to concur in this design, which is the ultimate end of our creation and redemption. We hallow his name, when we observe, and admire, and acknowledge the displays of his perfections in nature, and providence, and grace; when we elevate our minds and hearts to him, as the greatest, the holiest, the wisest, the best of all beings; when we worship him according to his own institution; when we speak to the honour of his character and dispensations, and vindicate them from the accusations of impiety, and when we cheerfully obey the precepts which prescribe the objects and the extent of our duty. "Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit." The Greek commentator Theophylact, thus briefly explains the petition: "Let thy name be sanctified; that is, make us holy, that thou mayest be glorified on our account. For as God is blasphemed, so he is sanctified, on my account; that is, is glorified as holy." "Thy kingdom come." God, who is the Creator, is also the Lord of the

• Lev. x. 3.

† Exod. xiv. 17.

+ John xv. 8.

universe, and his kingdom of providence rules over all, and admits of no increase of power and dominion. The petition has no reference to it, because it would be absurd to pray that that may come, which is come already. But there is a kingdom which was announced in the Old Testament as future, and concerning which we have the following prophecy of Daniel: "In the days of these kings," that is, before the four great monarchies were ended, “the God of heaven shall set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever."* In the New Testament it is called the kingdom of heaven, and the kingdom of God; and this name is given to the dispensation of grace under the Messiah, which is carried on by the gospel and the institutions of our Saviour, and by the operations of the Holy Ghost. It also is already come. It commenced on the day of Pentecost. and has continued, amidst various vicissitudes, to the present hour; but, in its most prosperous state, it never was established except over a small portion of the earth. Besides, almost from the beginning, its strength has been impaired by internal divisions, and its glory obscured by manifold corruptions; and in not a few places it subsists only in name, and what is called the kingdom of Christ, should rather be considered as a province of the kingdom of darkness.

At the time when our Lord taught this prayer to his disciples, their notions of his kingdom were very imperfect; but he called upon them to pray for the propagation of his religion in the world, the conversion of Jews and Gentiles, and the universal reign of righteousness and truth. There are still valid reasons for continuing to present this petition. We do not yet see all things put under Christ. A great part of the world is subject to the dominion of his adversary, whom he was manifested to destroy. Heathenism spreads its deepest shades over many a wide and populous region; Mahometanism tramples on the cross in countries where his religion once flourished; Popery has degraded it into a profligate and contemptible superstition; and among those who profess a purer faith, there are comparatively few who honour him with the homage of their hearts. Ought we not, then, to pray that his kingdom may come? We are authorized by prophecy to look for a more glorious dispensation, when “the Spirit shall be poured out from on high, and the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose;" for a time when the knowledge of the Lord-shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea." As the bold and magnificent language of prophecy may require a cautious and sober interpretation, it is uncertain whether the true religion will ever be strictly universal; and some obscure hints render it doubtful: but if the whole human race should, at a future period, be the faithful subjects of Christ, it would then be their duty, not to pray for the coming of his kingdom, but to rejoice because it had come. It should be remembered, that the event to which we should look forward, is not the general prevalence of a profession of his religion, but a cordial acceptance of it, accompanied with subjection to his laws and institutions; and consequently, that we ought to pray for the exertion of Divine power, by which only this great spiritual revolution will be effected. The kingdom of God comes when it is established in the heart.

Some have understood the kingdom to mean the second coming of Christ. "He who has a bold or assured conscience," says Theophylact," will wish the resurrection and judgment to come." It is the character of believers, that they are looking for and hastening to the coming of the Lord; and when their faith is strong, they will say with the beloved disciple, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." I presume, however, that we have given the true sense of the pe

* Dan. ii. 44.

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