صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني
[ocr errors]

emotions which constitute the character of a good man. It will soothe every tumult of your bosoms, allay your fears, comfort your sorrows, invigorate your hopes, give you peace in hand, and anticipate glory to come. It will restrain you

from sin, strengthen you against temptation, recal you from wandering, give life and serenity to your consciences, furnish you with clearer views concerning your duty, alarm you concerning your danger, and inspire you with ardour, confidence, and delight in the Christian course.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

In prayer God will meet you, and commune with you face to face, as a man with his friend. He will lift upon you the light of his reconciled countenance;' will put joy and gladness in your hearts;' and will awaken in you the spirit of thanksgiving and the voice of melody.' When you pass through the waters he will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you; when you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle on you: for he is the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour.'' In an acceptable time he will hear you, and in a day of salvation will he help you.'' The mountains will indeed depart, and the hills be removed; but' (if you seek him faithfully) his kindness shall not depart from you, nor his covenant of peace be removed.'- Seek, then, the Lord, while he may be found: call ye upon him, while he is near.'

[ocr errors]

When you call, he will answer; and when you cry unto him, he will say, Here I am.'

SERMON CXLIV.

THE MEANS OF GRACE.

ORDINARY MEANS OF GRACE.

FORMS OF PRAYER.

AFTER THIS MANNER, THEREFORE, PRAY YE.

OUR FATHER WHICH
THY KINGDOM COME,

ART IN HEAVEN HALLOWED BE THY NAME.
THY WILL BE DONE IN 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 TEMPTA-
TION; BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL. FOR THINE IS THE KINGDOM,
AND THE POWER, AND THE GLORY, FOR EVER. AMEN.

MATTHEW VI. 9-13.

IN the preceding Discourse I finished the observations which I thought it necessary to make concerning the nature and seasons of prayer; the obligations to pray; the usefulness of prayer; the encouragements to it; and the objections against it.

The next subject, which claims our attention in a System of Theology, is forms of prayer.

In the first verse of the text, our Saviour directs us to pray ' after the manner' begun in that verse, and continued through those which follow. There are two modes in which this direction may be understood. The first is, that this is a form of prayer prescribed to us; a form which therefore we are required to use, when we approach to God in this solemn ser

vice. Hence it has been considered as a strong proof that we are required to use a form of prayer, at least in the public worship of God, if not in that which is private. Even the candid and enlightened Paley says, "The Lord's prayer is a precedent, as well as a pattern, for forms of prayer. Our Lord appears, if not to have prescribed, at least to have authorized, the use of fixed forms, when he complied with the request of a disciple, who said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples." Luke xi. 1.

[ocr errors]

The other mode of construing this direction is this: Christ is supposed to have taught here those subjects of prayer which on all occasions are its proper subjects; the spirit with which we are to pray, and the simplicity of style and manner with which our thoughts are to be clothed, when we are employed in this duty.

6

That our Saviour is not here to be considered as prescribing a form of prayer to his followers, seems not improbable from a comparison of the text with the context. In the context he directs us not to do our alms before men, but in secret; when we pray, to enter into our closets; when we fast, not to be of a sad countenance, that we may not appear unto men to fast; and not to lay up for ourselves treasures upon earth.' None of these passages is, I apprehend, to be understood in the absolute, or literal sense. We may give alms before others. It is our duty to give bread to a starving man in the sight of our families. Nay, it is often our duty to contribute publicly to public charities. We are warranted and required to pray and to fast before others; and commanded to 'provide for our own, especially for those of our own households.' As none of these assertions will be disputed, they demand no proof. I shall only observe therefore, that the object of our Saviour in these precepts was to forbid ostentation, and covetousness; and to establish a sincere, humble, self-denying temper in our minds.

As these directions, which are unambiguously expressed, are evidently not to be construed in the literal sense; there is no small reason from analogy to believe, that the direction in the text, which is plainly ambiguous and indefinite, ought also not to be construed in this manner. There is, to say the least, as little reason to suppose, that our Saviour has here directed us to use this form of prayer, as that he has required

us to do alms, pray, and fast, only in secret; and not to lay up property for the exigences of a future day.

This presumption is, I think, changed into a certainty by the following arguments :

1. According to this scheme, we are required always to use this form, and no other.

The words, After this manner pray ye,' if understood literally, plainly require, that we always pray in this manner; and therefore in no other. If they require us to use this form, they require us always to use it. But this will not be admitted by those who hold the opinion against which I contend.

2. When our Saviour gives directions to his disciples, at another time, to pray after this manner, he uses several variations from the form which is here given.

In Luke xi. 2, &c., our Saviour recites, in substance, the form of prayer which is contained in the text, and adopts no less than ten variations. These he, who is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever,' adopted unquestionably with design. Of this design it was not improbably a part to teach us, that mere words are matters of such indifference, as at any time to be altered, with propriety, in whatever manner the occasion may require.

One of the variations used by our Saviour in this place is the omission of the doxology. 1 am aware, that this is also omitted by a considerable number of manuscripts in the text. But the authority for the admission of it is such, as to have determined in its favour almost all critics, and given it a place, so far as I know, in almost every Bible. It is therefore to be considered as a genuine part of this prayer of our Saviour. This shows that the substance even of this prayer may without impropriety be varied, in one part or another, as the particular occasion may demand, or allow.

3. The petitions here recited are not presented in the name of Christ.

[ocr errors]

But our Saviour says, John xvi. 23, 24, 26, Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name. Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. At that day ye shall ask in my name. St. Paul also, in Col. iii. 17, says, Whatsoever ye do in word, or deed, do all

[ocr errors]

in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God, even the Father, by him.' This prayer therefore is defective in one particular, which Christ and St. Paul have in these passages made essential to the acceptableness of our prayers.

4. Christ himself does not appear to have used this prayer. We have several prayers of Christ recorded. All of these are such as plainly arose out of the occasion on which they were offered up. They were, in the strictest sense, extemporaneous: the mere effusions of his heart concerning the subjects by which they were prompted. So far then as the example of Christ may be supposed to bear upon this question, it is unfavourable to the supposition, that we are obliged to use this form; and favourable to the use of extemporaneous prayer.

5. The apostles do not appear ever to nave used this prayer. There are many prayers of the apostles recorded. All these were extemporaneous, like those of Christ, and the prophets who went before him, and sprang out of the occasion. If it be admitted, that the apostles are here an example to us, it will follow, that our own prayers may, to say the least, be with the strictest propriety, extemporaneous, and grow out of that state of facts by which we have been induced to pray. A full proof is also furnished here, that the apostles did not consider this form as obligatory on themselves.

[ocr errors]

6. This prayer contains no expressions of thanksgiving. St. Paul, in Phil. iv. 6, says, Be careful for nothing; but in every thing, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.' A similar injunction is recorded 1 Tim. ii. 1. From both these it is evident, that St. Paul considered thanksgiving as universally and essentially a part of prayer. Had he considered this form as obligatory on himself, or upon Christians in general, or had Christians in general so considered the subject at that time, he must I think have added a form of thanksgiving, as a supplement to this prayer; and not left them to express their thanksgivings extemporaneously in their own words. There is no perceptible reason why Christians should utter thanksgivings extemporaneously, in words of their own, rather than adorations, petitions, or confessions for sin. If the Spirit of inspiration thought proper to prescribe a form to us, in which we were required to present our petitions, it is reasonably be

« السابقةمتابعة »