The Preface to the Lord's Prayer
'Our Father which art in Heaven '
Having gone over the chief grounds and fundamentals of religion, and
enlarged upon the decalogue, or ten commandments, I shall speak now upon
the Lord's Prayer.
"After this manner therefore pray ye, Our Father who is in heaven . . ." Matt. 6: 9.
In this Scripture are two things observable: the introduction to the prayer, and the prayer itself.
The introduction to the Lord's prayer is, 'After this manner pray
ye.' Our Lord Jesus, in these words, gave to his disciples and to us a
directory for prayer. The ten commandments are the rule of our life, the
creed is the sum of our faith, and the Lord's prayer is the pattern of
our prayer.
As God prescribed Moses a pattern of the tabernacle (Exodus
25: 9), so Christ has here prescribed us a pattern of prayer. 'After
this manner pray ye,' &c. The meaning is, let this be the rule and
model according to which you frame your prayers. [We ought to examine our prayers by this
rule]. John Calvin. Not that we are tied to the words of the Lord's prayer.
Christ says not, 'After these words, pray ye;' but 'After this manner:'
that is, let all your petitions agree and symbolize with the things
contained in the Lord's prayer; and well may we make all our prayers
consonant and agreeable to this prayer . . . . it is like a
heap of massive gold.
The exactness of this prayer appears in the
dignity of the Author. A piece of work has commendation from its
artifices, and this prayer has commendation from its Author; it is the
Lord's prayer. As the moral law was written with the finger of God, so
this prayer was dropped from the lips of the Son of God . . . . The
exactness of the prayer appears in the excellence of the matter. It is
'as silver tried in a furnace, purified seven times.' Psalm 12: 6. Never
was prayer so admirably and curiously composed as this. As Solomon's
Song, for its excellence is called the 'Song of songs,' so may this be
well called the 'Prayer of prayers'. The matter of it is admirable, 1.
For its comprehensiveness. It is short and pithy . . . a
great deal said in a few words. It requires most art to draw the two
globes curiously in a little map. This short prayer is a system or body
of divinity. 2. For its clearness. It is plain and intelligible to every
capacity. Clearness is the grace of speech. 3. For its completeness. It
contains the chief things that we have to ask, or God has to bestow.
Use.* Let us have a great esteem of the Lord's prayer;
let it be the model and pattern of all our prayers.
There is a double
benefit arising from framing our petitions suitably to this prayer.
Hereby error in prayer is prevented. It is not easy to write wrong after
this copy; we cannot easily err when we have our pattern before us.
Hereby mercies requested are obtained; for the apostle assures us that
God will hear us when we pray 'according to his will.' 1 John 5: 14. And (we are)
sure we pray according to his will when we pray according to the
pattern He has set us. So much for the introduction to the Lord's
prayer, 'After this manner pray ye.'
Thomas Watson, The Lord's Prayer
* Note: When a Puritan preacher put the term Use into his sermon, he was saying, "Pay attention. Here is the practical meaning of these verses from God's Holy Word. This is how our lives must change. This is the practical application." Barnabas
Our Father
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