appears certainly to have been taught in
the primitive and Catholic Church, such
probability, so strengthened, carries Avith
it the force of demonstration."

"We may perceive from this, that our
practice of keeping holy the first day of
the Aveek is sanctioned by the apostles.
A\'liat is our authority, if Ave except the
high authority of the Church, for not ob-
serving the last day of the Aveek also, it
Avere hard to say. ISut if the authority of
the Church is to be received, Ave must
remember that what she teaches is, that
Ave are to dedicate at least a seventh por-
tion of our time to God. But this Ave do
not do, unless every moment of the Sun-
day is so devoted. And yet Avho can do
this ? Therefore the Church also requires
of us a portion of Friday, and a portion of
the saints' days.

LORD'S PRAYER. The prayer Avhich
our blessed Lord himself hath taught us.
It is to be used as a model for all our de-
A'otions, our blessed Lord saying, (Matt.
A'i. 9,) " After this manner pray ye;" and it
is to be used in express Avords ichencver
we pray, our Lord commanding us, (Luke
xi. 2,) "When ye pray, say. Our Father,"
&c. Therefore the Church of Christ hath
used from the first to begin and end her ser-
vices Avith the Lord's Prayer. This being
the foundation upon which all other prayers
should be built, therefore, saith Tertullian,
Ave begin Avitli it, that so, the right founda-
tion being laid, Ave may justly proceed to
our ensuing requests. And it being the
perfection of all prayer, therefore, saith
St. Augustine, Ave conclude our prayers
Avith it. Let no man, therefore, quarrel
AA'ith the Church's frequent use of the
Lord's Prayer, for the Catholic Church
ever did the same. Besides, as St. Cyprian
observes, if we Avould hope to have our
prayers accepted of the Father only for
his Son's sake, Avhy should Ave not hope to
have them most speedily accepted Avhen
they are offered up in his Son's OAvn Avords ?

It is objected by some persons in the
present day, (for the objection Avas unknoAvn
to the primitive Church,) that our Saviour
did not give this as an express form of
prayer, but only as a pattern, or direction.
In support of this they quote the passage,
Matt. vi. 9, &c., in Avhich it is introduced,
" After this manner pray ye ; " not laying
so much stress on the similar passage,
Luke xi. 2, &c., Avhere our Saviour ex-
pressly says, "When ye pray, say." On
this it may be remarked, that Avhere there
are tAvo texts on any particular doctrine,
or practice, the one Avorded ambiguously.



LORD'S PRAYER.



463



as in that of St. Matthew, " After tliis man-
ner," Szc, (or as the translation would more
properly be, "Pray thus,'' and the ambi-
guity would then almost vanish,) and the
other dearly expressed; as in that of St.
Luke, " AVhen ye pray, say," it is a settled
and a natural rule of interpretation, that
the doubtful words should be explained by
those which are clear. Now he who uses
. these very words as a form, acts in evident
obedience to both the letter and the spirit
of the one precept, and yet not in contra-
diction to the other. But he who rejects
this as a form, thouf^h he may act in obedi-
ence to the spirit of the one, certainly acts
in disobedience to the letter, if not to the
spirit of the other, " When ye pray, say," &c.

Had not our Loud given this as a settled
form of prayer, he would have been very
likely to have dilated somewhat on the
various subjects it embraces — of adoration,
prayer, and praise : and perhaps have in-
troduced illustrations according to his cus-
tom ; and would not improbably have said,
*' When ye pray, address yourselves in the
first place to God who is your heavenly
Father, but forget not his sovereignty,
and ask him to give you," &c. But instead
of this he dictates, in both cases, a few
comprehensive sentences, convenient for
all persons, and under all circumstances,
and of which the eloquent Tertullian thus
rapturously exclaims, " Li this compen-
dium of few words, how many declarations
of prophets, evangelists, and apostles are
contained ! How many discourses, para-
bles, examples, precepts of our Lord !
How many duties towards God are briefly
expressed ! Honour to the Fathp:r, faith,
profession in his name, offering of obedi-
ence injiis will, expression of hope in his
kingdom ; petition for the necessaries of
life in the bread, confession of sins in the
supplication, solicitation against tempta-
tions in the asking of protection. What
wonder ! GoD alone could teach how he
chose to be prayed to." St. Cyprian says,
that *' it is so copious in spiritual virtue,
that there is nothing omitted in all our
prayers and petitions which is not com-
j)rehended in this epitome of heavenly
doctrine."

It is necessary to be understood that
the transactions mentioned by St. Matthew
and St. Luke were not one and the same,
but occurred at different times, and on
different occasions. Our Lord first intro-
duced this form of prayer uncalled for,
in the sermon on the mount, at the com-
mencement of his commission, compre-
hending a doxology, or concluding tribute
of glory and praise. But he gave it for



the second time, after an interval of about
two years and a half, as is clear from the
various events that occurred, and that are
enumerated in the chapters (Luke vii. —
xi.) Avhich form the greater part of the
acts of his ministry.

It is not impossible that the disciples
themselves did, on the first occasion, re-
gard it as conveying a general idea only in
what terms God should be addressed, and
therefore not having used it as a common
prayer, the circumstance of our Lord's
" praying in a certain place" induced one
of his disciples, "when he ceased," to say,
" Lord, teach us to pray, as John also
taught his disciples ; " alluding to a well-
known custom of the Hebrew masters,
which it thus appears John had adopted, of
teaching their scholars a particular form of
words in their addresses to God, varying,
no doubt, according to their particular
sentiments. Our Lord's disciples here,
therefore, ask of him a precise form, and
that form he gives them in compliance
with their wishes, not only for their use,
but for the use of all who should embrace
the profession of Christianity — " AVhen ye
pray, say," &c.

It is supposed by some, and there seems
much reason for the idea, that the disciple
who thus asked was a new convert, and not
present at the delivery of the sermon on
the mount, and that our Lord repeated
the form which he had then before given.
Indeed, if that which was first given had
not been considered as a settled form, or a
groundwork for it, it would appear extra-
ordinary that it should be repeated in so
nearly the same words, and precisely in the
same order of sentences. Grotius remarks
on this subject, that so averse was our
Lord, the Lord of the Church, {fam longe
abfnit ipse Dominus ecclesice,) to unnecessary
innovation, and an affectation of novelty,
that he " Avho had not the Spirit by mea-
sure," but " in whom were all the hidden
treasures of wisdom and knowledge," se-
lected the words and phrases in a great
degree from forms of prayer then well
known among the Jew; as in his doc-
trines he also made use of proverbs and
sayings well understood in that age.

The difference between the form given in
the sermon on the mount and on that second
occasion is, that to the latter he does not
affix the doxology, which many indeed
suppose to be an interpolation ; leaving
this perhaps to be added according to the
occasion and to the zeal of the worshipper.
It cannot be imagined that either the
disciples of our Lord, or of John, had
hitherto neglected the duty of prayer, or



464



LORD'S PRAYER.



that they performed it in an uncertain or
disorderly manner, as they had set forms
and hours of prayer, -which all the devout
Jews observed; it seems therefore obvious
that a particular form is alluded to in the
case of both, and the request to our Lord
was made in pursuance of his encouraging
direction, " Ask, and ye shall have," and
â– was gratified by him in compliance with
the reasonable and well-known existing
custom. "Thus," as the learned Mede
says on this subject, (see his discourse on
Matt. vi. 9,) "their inadvertency" (in not
understanding it the first time as a form)
" becomes our confirmation. For, as Jo-
seph said to Pharaoh, ' the dream is doubled
unto Pharaoh, because the thing is estab-
lished by God,' (Gen. xli. 32,) so may we
say here, the delivery of this prayer was
doubled unto the disciples, that they pid
we might thereby know the more certainly
that our Sayioue, intended and com-
mended it unto his Church for a set form
of prayer."

Our blessed Lord appears afterwards
to refer to the custom now adopted by his
disciples, and the well-known forms used,
when he says, " And when ye stand pray-
ing, forgive, if ye have aught against any :
that your Father also Avhich is in heaven
may forgive you your trespasses " (Mark
xi. 2d) ; thus pointedly referring to two of
its principal features, couched too in the
same words. The apostle St. Peter seems
to make the same allusion when he says,
" If ye call on the Father," &c. (1 Pet.
i. 17.)

Some have argued that this prayer is
to be considered as temporary only, and
not of perpetual obligation, because we do
not in it ask in the name of Christ, ac-
cording to his direction ; but a transaction
may be opposed to this, recorded in the
Acts of the Apostles, (iv. 24,) in which it is
seen, unless the apostles and disciples had
so quickly forgotten the direction of their
Lord, that prayers may be considered as
ofiered up in the name of Christ, though
addressed to God ; for there the disciples,
on the liberation of Peter and John by the
Jewish council, lift up their voice and say,
" Lord, thou art God, which hast made
heaven and earth, and the sea, and all that
in them is ;" and they mention Christ as
his holy child Jesus. In our addresses to
God, our heavenly Father, we cannot
forget him through whom we have access
as to a father, being " joint-heirs with him."

Another objection is made, that it does
not appear in Scripture that the apostles
used this prayer ; but to this it may be
remarked, that neither does it a])pear they



used any other form, and yet some form of
words must have been generally known
and used by them, or how could " they
lift up their voice with one accord." (Acts
iv. 24 ; i. 14.)

Bishop Jeremy Taylor justly says, " That
the apostles did use the prayer their Lord
taught them, I think need not much to be
questioned ; they could have no other end
of their desire ; and it had been a strange .
boldness to ask for a form which they in-
tended not to use, or a strange levity not
to do what they intended."

The learned Bingham observes, that if
there were no other argument to prove the
lawfulness of set forms of prayer in the
judgment of the ancients, the opinion which
they had of the Lord's Prayer, and their
practice pursuant to this opinion, would
sufficiently do it; and he remarks that
they unequivocally looked upon it as a
settled form : for Tertullian says expressly
that " our Lord prescribed a new form of
prayer for the new disciples of the New
Testament, and that though John had
taught his disciples a form, yet that he did
this only as a forerunner of Christ, so that
when Christ was increased, (' he must in-
crease, but I must decrease,') then the
work of the servant passed over to the
Lord. Thus the prayer of John is lost,
while that of our Lord remains, that
earthly things may give way to hea-
venly."

In similar terms speaks Irenseus, (who
had himself heard Polycarp, the disciple of
St. John,) Origen, TertuUian, St. Cyprian,
St. Cyril, St. Jerome, St. Chrysostom, and
St. Augustine. The last says expressly,
that as the Church always used this prayer,
she did it at the commandment of Christ.
" He said to his disciples — he said to his
apostles and to us, pray thus." St. Chrysos-
tom refers continually to the Lord's Prayer,
as in common use among them by the
express commandment of Christ, and ob-
serves, " that the Father well knows the
words and meaning of his Son." St. Cy-
prian says, " Let the Father recognise in
your ])rayers the words of the Son ; " and
he considers it as a peculiar instance of
mercy, " that he who made us taught us
how to pray ; that whilst we speak unto
the Father in that prayer and address
which the SON taught us, we may the more
easily be heard." He adds, " Since we have
an Advocate with the Father for our sins,
we should, Avhenever we pray for pardon,
allege unto God the very words which
our Advocate has taught us. "We have his
promise, that whatever we shall ask in his
name we shall receive : and must we not



LOIID'S PllAYER.



465



more readily obtain our desires, when we
not only use his name in asking, but in his
very words, present our request unto God.
Our Advocate in heaven has tauo-ht us to
say this prayer upon earth, that between
his intercession and our supplications the
most perfect harmony may subsist." The
judicious Hooker observes, that " should
men speak with the tongues of angels, yet
words so pleasing to the ears of God, as
those which the Son of God himself has
composed, it were not possible for man to
frame."

There -was, indeed, hardly any office in
the primitive Church in which the celebra-
tion of this prayer did not make a solemn
part ; so that at length it was called the
Oratio quotidiana, the daily, the common
prayer ; the Oratio legitima^ the establish-
ed prayer, or the prayer of the Christian
law ; the " epitome of the gospel :" and St.
Augustine even terms it, '' the daily bap-
tism," and a " daily purification," " for,"
says he, " we are absolved once by baptism,
but by this prayer daily." "When in suc-
ceeding ages some of the clergy in Spain
occasionally omitted it in the daily service,
they were censured by a council, as " proud
contemners of the Lord's injunction ; and
it was enacted, that every clergyman omit-
ting it either in private or public prayer
should be degraded from the dignity of his
office." It is worthy of remark, that the
heathen writer Lvician, nearly contempo-
rary with the apostles, makes a Christian,
in one of his dialogues, speak of the prayer
which began, " Oiu* Father."

The early Fathers were even of opinion,
that the making use of this prayer was of
vast efficacy to incline God to pardon sins
of infirmity, especially those committed
through want of fervour and sufficient at-
tention in our other prayers. " As for our
daily and slight sins," says St. Augustine,
" without which no one can live, the daily
prayer will be accepted by GoD for pardon
of them ;" and the fourtli Council of Toledo
enjoins it for this among other reasons.
This doctrine the Papists afterAvards per-
verted, by their distinction of sins into
venial anil mortal, and by the pure opus
operatnm of repeating the I-ord's l*rayer.
Of this abuse there is happily no shadow
in the present service of our Church, our
reformers having wholly rejected and
abolished the technical repetition of it
(the Paterjwsfcr) with chaplcts and ro-
saries, to which truly '* vain repetitions "
the Church of Kome had annexed indul-
gences.

In conclusion, in whatever else the va-
rious liturgies differ, thev all agree in the
2 H '



constant and frequent use of this ])rayer.
])r. Featly says, "the reformed Churches
generally conclude their prayers before
sermon with the Lord's Prayer, partly in
opposition to the Papists, who close up
their devotions with an Ave Maria, partly
to supply all the defects and imperfections
of their own." And the learned Bingliam
pointedly declares, " I dare undertake to
prove, that ftn- 1500 years together, none
ever disliked the use of the Lord's Prayer,
but only the Pelagians ; and they did not
wholly reject the use of it neither, nor
dislike it because it was a form, but for
another reason, because it contradicted
one of theu' principal tenets, which was,
that some men were so perfect in this
world, that they needed not to pray to
God for the forgiveness of their own sins,
but only for those of others."

For these reasons we cannot but pro-
test against the conclusion of the following
])aragraph taken from the works of ]\Ir.
Boston, a man of exemplary ]Hety, but, as
it would seem, of strong prejudices : " From
the whole, I think it is evident, that a
prayer formed upon the model of this ex-
cellent pattern, having the substance of
the several petitions interspersed through
it, though ex])ressed in other words, is a
true Scriptural prayer " (granted, it must
be so) ; " and that there is no necessity to
conclude with the Lord's Prayer " (this is
less certain). " And, therefore, I cannot
but think that Papists, and many Protest-
ants who conclude their prayers with the
very words of the Lord's Prayer, make a
very superstitious use of it; causing people
to imagine that the bare recital of the
words of the Lord's Prayer sanctifies their
other prayers ; and that no prayer can be
accepted of God where this, I cannot but
call it vain, repetition is omitted." It is con-
fidently hoped that, if what is collected in
the present article be perused with atten-
tion, the members of the Church of Eng-
land Mill be led to exclaim, " We ' have not
so learned CiiRlsT.' "

The Lord's Prayer is to be said tvith an
audible voice. — It was an ancient custom
for the priest to say some parts of the li-
turgy internally, {secreto, tv lavTip, or fiva-
TiKw'g,) in an unintelligible whisper; and
in some instances the people joined in this
manner, as was the case with respect to
the Lord's Prayer and the creed. This
unreasonable practice was put an end to
at the Reformation, and the Lord's Prayer
in particular Avas directed to be said " with
an audible voice," " with a loud voice ; "
probably that the people might sooner
learn this most essential prayer; a prac-



4G6



LORD'S PIIAYER.



tice from which the ignorant may even
now find benefit.

The flaming ardency of the seven spirits,
and of all the heavenly choir, appears in the
intcnscness and loudness of their songs,
" To him all angels cry aloud ! " They do
not breathe out faint or forced hallelujahs ;
their songs resemble, as St. John describes
them, *' the voice of many waters," and
" the voice of mighty thunderings." (Rev.
xix. 6.) But Avhere are the least tokens of
this seraphic ardency in our worship here
on earth ? The sacrifice of this our public
service, like Elijah's, is put in excellent
order, but we ourselves " put no fire un-
der !" On the contrary, a voluntary cold-
ness runs through all the parts and offices
of it, like the Avater poured on by Elijah,
which "ran round the cJtar and filled all the
trenches." And it is next to a miracle if
God accepts such cold ofierings, or answers
us from heaven, unless with the fire, not of
acceptance, but of vengeance. — JBisse on
the LorcVs Prayer.

The i^eople are to repeat it with the p7-iest.
— "When the Lord's Prayer w^as directed
to be said with an audible voice, it was,
in the Komish Church, said by the priest
alone ; but in the Greek and ancient Gal-
ilean Churches, by the priest and people
together — a custom which the Church of
England has adopted in preference to the
Roman. Until the review of 1661, the min-
ister began the prayer, and went through
it alone to the conclusion of the last peti-
tion, "but deliver us from evil," which the
people said ; in order, as Bishop Sparrow
remarks, that they might not be inter-
rupted from bearing a part in so divine a
prayer. In a rubric in the Communion
Service, near the conclusion, the manner in
which the Lord's Prayer should be used is
clearly laid down. " Then shall the priest
say the Lord's Prayer, the people repeat-
ing after him every petition."

In none of the successive editions of the
Prayer Book till the last review, was there
any direction for the people prefixed to
the fu'st occurrence of the Lord's Prayer.
In King Edward's First Book at its se-
cond recurrence, after the creed, the latter
clause, " but deliver us from evil," was in-
serted. This was altered in the Second
Book of King Edv/ard ; and the direction,
"Then the minister, clerks, and people,"
6cc., inserted, as we have it now. In the
Litany, the two last clauses were marked
as verse and response, till the last review.
In the Communion no direction was given
for the people ; — at its second occurrence,
the verse and response were marked, as in
the Litany: but in the Second Book, the



l)eople were directed to repeat after him
every petition, as now. The Scotch Prayer
Book (temp. K. Chas. I.) first inserted the
doxology, at both its occurrence in j\Iorn-
ing and Evening Prayer, and at its last in
the Communion. At the last revicAV the
doxology was inserted at its first occurrence
in the Morning and Evening Prayer, and at
the end of the Communion ; and the ver-
sicular arrangement in the Litany was
altered. The notation of the vers'e and
response, Avith their })roper cadences, is re-
tained in the old choral manuals.

Wheatly remarks that " the doxology
was appointed by the last revicAv to be
used in this place, partly, he supposes, be-
cause many copies of St. Matthew have it,
and the Greek Fathers expound it ; and
partly because the office here is a matter
of praise, it being used immediately after
the absolution." And again, in the Post
Communion, " the doxology is here an-
nexed, because all these devotions are de-
signed for an act of praise, for the benefits
received in the holy sacrament." And in
the Churching of Women, " the doxology
was added to the Lord's Prayer at the
last revicAv, by reason of its being an office
of thanksgiving."

In the Romish service, except in the
Mass, the priest speaks the words, " Et tie
nos," &c., " Lead us not into temptation,"
in a peculiar tone of voice, by Avhich the
people are apprized of its being the time
for them to answer, "But deliver us from
evil." This also is a custom at the end of
every prayer, that the people may know
when to say " Amen." In the Mosarabic
liturgy the priest says the prayer by him-
self, and the people answer "Amen" to
each petition.

The catechumens and the energumens,
or those possessed with evil spirits, were
not suffered in the primitive Church to
join in the tremendous cry sent up by the
people, but only boAved their heads in token
of assent.

It may be observed that the several
paragraphs of the Lord's Prayer are made
to begin, in our Church Prayer Book, Avith
a capital letter, in order, most probably, to
mark accurately the places Avhere the peo-
ple should take up their parts ; and this
mctliod is adopted in the confession in the
daily service, in the creeds, the Gloria in
excclsis, in the Communion Service, and in
the confession and deprecation in the Com-
mination Service on Ash Wednesday.

But it must likeAA'ise be observed, that
this method does not seem to be so closely
foiloAved in the Cambridge as in the Oxford
books, the former combining the fourth



LORD'S PRAYER.



LOVE, THE FAMILY OF.



4G7



and fifth paragraphs, the seventh and
eighth, and the eleventh, twelftli, and thir-
teenth in the Loiiivs I'rayer ; and yet in
these copies the â– svord"and" is retained
before " the power," &c., but di'opped in
the latter.

To make this matter clear, however, we
subjoin the prayer as printed and ])ointcd
in the sealed books, at the beginnings of
Morning and Evening Prayer.

Our Father, which art in Heaven, Hal-
lowed be thy Name. Thy Kingdom come.
Thy will be done in Earth, As it is in
Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses. As we for-
give them, that trespass against us. And
lead us not into temptation ; But deliver us
from evil : For thine is the Kingdom, the
Power, And the Glory, For ever and ever.
Amen.

Here and before the Power is, in all the
collated copies of sealed books, crossed out
with a pen^ both in the Morning and Even-
ing Prayer.

In the Post Communion Service, there
is some difference of punctuation and of
t>T3e: e.g.

Our Father which art in heaven ; Hal-
lowed be thy Name. Thy Kingdom come.
Thy will be done in earth, As it is in
heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses, As we for-
give them that trespass against us. And
lead us not into temptation : But deliver
us from evil. For thine is the kingdom,
The power and the glory, For, ever and
ever. Amen.