(1) The Lord’s Prayer is commonly regarded a- consisting of seven petitions.* The frequent oceur- rence of the number seven in the Apoc. and else- where renders this arrangement attractive. But there are really only six; for ‘Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one,’ should be regarded as the negative and positive expression of one and the same petition.t These six are found to correspond to the Decalogue and the Two Great Commandments (Mt 22*°, Mk 1931), in that the first half has reference to God, the second half to man. In the first three petitions we seek the glory of our heavenly Father; in the last three the advantage of ourselves and our fellow-men. But these two are closely connected. What is to God’s glory benefits His children ; and what is to the advantage of men glorifies their heavenl Father. Thus the first half shows the end whic man must have in view—the accomplishment of God’s glory, kingdom, and will; the second half shows the means—daily provision, forgiveness, and protection. And the parts correspond with one another in each triplet. The first petition is addressed to God as our Father, the second as our King, the third as our Master. It is to our Father that we look for sustenance ; to our King for par- don ; to our Master for guidance and guardianship, Moreover, the transition from heaven to earth is beautifully made in the third petition, which raises earth to heaven. And in each of the triplets we can observe progression. The hallowing of God’s name leads to the coming of the kingdom ; and when the kingdom is come God’s will shall be ful- filled on earth as in heaven. In the second half we have first the obtaining of good, and then the removal of evil, past, present, and future. Or, if we take the six petitions consecutively, we shall find that they begin with the pica of heaven, pass on to life on earth, and end with the powers of hell.t Such exquisite proportion and develop- ment (of which only specimens have been given) are strong evidence that, if this marvellous prayer was constructed out of fragments of other prayers, it was composed in the spirit and power of Him who said, ‘ Behold, I make all things new’ (Rev 915).
(2) We are not to suppose that the disciple who asked Christ to teach him and his fellows to pray had never prayed, and did not know how to do so. He had no doubt often periorned this duty. But he had just witnessed Christ’s devotions ; and His manner showed him the difference between Christ’s prayers and hisown. There was a more excellent way than he knew, and he desired to learn it. Moreover, the Baptist had taught his disciples a distinctive form of prayer; and this suppliant thought that Jesus also should give a similar dis- tinctive mark to His followers. As so often, Christ grants the substance rather than the letter of the request. Just as a Christian mystery is a divine secret revealed to all the world, so the distinctive
*So Augustine, Luther, Tholuck, Bleek, Hilgenfeld, Keil, K6stlin, Nosgen, Wordsworth, etc.
1 This is Tertullian’s view (de Orat. viii.). In his form of the prayer fiat voluntas tua in celis et in terra preceded veniat regnum tuum. Origen, Chrysostom, Calvin, Keim, Weiss, and others, make six petitions. But an allusion to the Trinity is very doubtful. To make the second petition refer to the Son, and the third to the Spirit, is very forced and fanciful.
? All this is lost in Lk; and this is strong evidence that, Μ΄ only one form is original, his form is not the original one.
LORD’S PRAYER
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pevet of a Christian is one which every human ing who believes in God can use. There are no other limits to its unique adaptability. Any one, of any race or age or condition, who believes in God, can use the Lord’s Prayer, and use it just in pro- portion to his belief. peasant child can under- stand enough of it to make it the expression of his daily needs. The ripest scholar, ea! her, and saint cannot exhaust all its possibilities of meaning. In a few minutes it may be committed to memory ; but it is the work of a lifetime to learn it by heart. A Christian’s knowledge of the import of it grows with his spiritual experience.
The prayer is at once a form, a summary, and a pattern.
It is a form which every one can use, and be certain that in using it he is expressing his needs ina becoming manner. This advantage is possessed by forms of prayer which have been composed by saintly men, and which have been tested in use by
enerations of Christians. How much more, then, oes it belong to a form prescribed by Christ Him- self. Que enim potest esse spiritalis oratio quam a Christo pe data est . . . agnoscat pater {ἰὴ sui verba, cum precem facimus (Cypr. de Not that one form of words affects God more than another, so long as the language of the heart is according to His will; but that the form of words that we use reacts on our hearts, and if the words are unseemly our hearts may become less subdued. And in prayers that are to be used in common, the effect of the words upon others must be considered. In giving this prayer, Christ has both sanctioned the principle of orms of prayer and has also provided us with a form which is always safe. The Lord’s Prayer is also a summary of all other rayers. As Latimer says, ‘Like as the law of ove is the sum and abridgment of the other laws,