anything to the vast and varied literature of the Lord's Prayer already extant; and the more so as little that is original will be found in these pages, unless the mode of treatment of the second petition may be so called, in which the kingdoms of the Holy Ghost, of the Son, and of the Father are brought forward more prominently than I have found elsewhere. But for those engaged in the business of life, in this most busy age, it may be not without use to have in a condensed form the thoughts of many minds and many ages on this pattern prayer; and the labour bestowed on this book will not have been in vain if it enables any, in their private and public devotions, while they "pray with the spirit," to "pray" more perfectly than hitherto "with the understanding also" (1 Cor. xiv. 18). QUATFORD VICARAGE, Easter, 1881. THOUGHTS ON THE LORD'S PRAYER. "FATHER." To "walk with God," and hold communion with Him, was the noblest and the most blessed privilege which man possessed "in the time of his innocency." And the most deplorable and disastrous of all the sad consequences of the Fall was the suspension of that happy intercourse. Sin, by its very nature, at once "separated between man and his God" (Is. lix. 2); and not only that, but it made him, from very shame and fear, seek to widen and perpetuate the separation (Job xxi. 14; S. Luke xv. 12, 13). To "hear the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day" had hitherto been the most valued of all Eden's privileges; but after their act of disobedience, that voice made our first parents instinctively quail with terror, and "hide themselves from the Presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden" (Gen. iii. 8). since that day fallen man has feared to face his Maker. traitor and a rebel to venture into the presence of his king is to court the death he deserves; and so, however pressing might be our necessities, we should, as sinners, naturally shrink from obtruding them or ourselves on the notice of Him Whose Law we had broken, and Whose wrath we had incurred (Prov. xvi. B Ever For a 14; xix. 12). The knowledge that "our God is a consuming Fire” (Heb. xii. 29), and that “God is angry with the wicked every day" (Ps. ix. 11), 'would seem to preclude the very possibility of Prayer. And yet our Lord not only takes it for granted that we shall pray ("when ye pray," S. Matt. vi. 7), but He also gives us "words" which we may "take with us" ("Take with you words, and turn unto the Lord," Hos. xiv. 2; "When ye And the very first word pray, say," S. Luke xi. 2). (IIάτeρ nμwv, Gr., Pater noster, Vulg.) which He puts into our mouth is one which is designed to rid us of all such fears as would keep us at a distance. He assures us that, many as our sins may be in number, heinous in aggravation, or inveterate in continuance, we may still venture into the Presence of God; and that in coming we may regard Him, not as an angry tyrant whose fury we must first appease, and to whom we may only dare to offer the worship of a slavish fear, but as a Father, more loving2 (S. Luke xv. 20), more pitiful (Ps. ciii. 13), more ready to spare us3 (Mal. iii. 17), more unable to withhold any good thing from us (Ps. lxxxiv. 11; S. Matt. vii. 1 "Plutarch (de superstitione, c. 6) says that the superstitious man recognises only the Tupavvikóv in the Deity, and not the TатρIKÓν- two ideas which he opposes to one another" (Tholuck).-"In exordio datur petenti fiducia, cui dicitur Pater noster, non, Domine: domino servitur timore, Patri vero amore (Bonavent. de orat. Dom.). 2 "Nullus pater tam pater" (Tertullian).—"Patrium habet Deus adversus bonos viros animum, et illos fortiter amat" (Sen. de provid., 2). C. Αὐτὸς φείδεταί σου μάλιστα πάντων, καὶ αὐτοῦ σοῦ μᾶλλόν σε ἀγαπᾶ (S. Chrys. in Ep. 1 ad Cor., Hom. 12). "Est placidus facilisque pater, veniæque paratus, (Ovid, Pont. 2, 2.) "Est piger ad poenas Deus, est ad præmia velox, (Id., ibid., 1, 3.) 9-11) than earthly father ever was or could be; to Whom therefore we may draw near "with boldness and confidence " (Eph. iii. 12; Heb. iv. 16) and filial love1 (Gal. iv. 7). Our Lord says, "If ye, being evil, know how to give good things unto your children, how much more shall your Father Which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?" (S. Matt. vii. 11). If earthly parents are so kind and compassionate and indulgent to their children, "how much more" shall He, from Whom all paternity has its name, its origin, and its power?? So that, instead of keeping aloof from God, we may have access with boldness; for God seems to say to us by His Spirit, as Laban did to Eliezer, "Come in, thou blessed of the Lord; wherefore standest thou without?" (Gen. xxiv. 31). The word "Father," as applied to God, is sometimes used personally, to denote the First Person of the Godhead, as our Lord says, "My Father is greater than I" (S. John xiv. 28); sometimes essentially, to denote the Godhead generally. And though this prayer is probably to be addressed chiefly to God the Father, there seems no reason why it should not be equally addressed to the Son and to the Holy Ghost: for the Son is called in Scripture "the everlasting Father" (Is. ix. 6), and the Church is called His son (Ps. lxxii. 1);3 and we are also said to be "born of the Spirit" (S. John iii. 8). And certainly, as Dr. King says, “In the beginning it was the Trinity which fathered all mankind," ""Faciamus hominem" (Gen. i. 26). And, therefore, though at the time our Lord dictated 1 "Oratio quæ paterno dulcescit nomine, omnium petitionum mearum impetrandarum mihi fiduciam præstat (Beda in Luc.). 72 Eis & Пaтhр, § оù пâσα патριá (S. Hippolyt. contr. Hæres. Noet.). "Dieu, de qui toute paternité au ciel et sur la terre tire son nom (Eph. 3, 15), "c'est-à-dire, son autorité" (Le Mennais, quoted by Denton).— On the same words, Aquinas says, "Ostendit quod generatio et per consequens paternitas per prius sit in Deo quam in creaturis" (Summ. Theol., prima pars, quæst. 33, art. 2). "et 3 Deus, judicium Tuum Regi da," i.e., Christo regnaturo; justitiam Tuam filio Regis," i.e., populo Christi. Filii enim Ejus sunt qui in Ipso renascuntur" Tertull. adv. Marcion., lib. 5). this prayer, the disciples would probably understand and use it as directed to the First Person of the Godhead, because the doctrine of the Trinity had been as yet only obscurely revealed to them; yet inasmuch as that doctrine is now declared, and we are taught in Scripture that the Three Persons are One God, and that "all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father" (S. John v. 23), and the Holy Ghost equally with either, because He is One with Them, and we are equally baptized into His Name (S. Matt. xxviii. 19), therefore we may reasonably conclude, with many of the Patristic and more recent commentators, that this Prayer is to be offered not to the Father alone, but also to the Son and to the Holy Ghost.1 Tertullian says, "In the Father the Son is worshipped, for He says, 'I and the Father are one; and Bellarmine: "In the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost are invoked." 113 "2 It has been said by some that while the whole of this prayer may be offered to all the Three Persons of the Trinity, there is yet a more distinct reference in the several petitions which may lead us to apply some more especially to each of the Three Persons, and that the same order is observed in both the divisions of this Prayer, the first petition in each part referring more especially to God the Father, the second in each to God the Son, and the third to the Holy Ghost. S. Maximus says that by the Name of God, of which we pray that it may be hallowed, we should understand the Only Begotten Son of the Father, and by the kingdom of God, the Holy Spirit; and he 1 "Ad totam tamen Trinitatem orationis hujus verba dirigimus (S. Hildefonsus, lib. de cog. Bapt.). -"Notandum vere hoc loco, cum dicitur, Pater, non unam tantum Trinitatis Personam intelligi, sed indifferenter ad Deum orationem dirigi, cui communiter a fidelibus per amorem deservitur" (Pet. Abelard. opp., pars. 2, serm. 14).-"Tota enim Trinitas, Pater, Filius, Spiritus Sanctus, unus Pater est, et singula Persona Pater est, sicut singula Deus" (Biel., Lec. 64 in Miss.). 2 "In Patre Filius adoratur: 'Ego' enim, inquit, et Pater unum sumus (de orat., 2). "In Patre invocantur Filius et Spiritus Sanctus." |