Introductory

OUR LORD’S OWN WORDS ON
PRAYER.

When thou prayest,

Thou shalt not be

As the hypocrites are;

For they love to pray,

Standing in the synagogues,

And in the corners of the streets;

That they may be seen of men:

Verily I say unto you,

They have their reward.

But thou,

When thou prayest,

Enter into thy closet;

And, when thou hast shut thy door, Pray to thy Father,

Who is in Secret;

And thy Father,

Who seeth in secret.

Shall reward thee openly

II.

But, when ye pray,

Use not vain repetitions.

As the heathen do;

For they think

That they shall be heard,

For their much speaking:

Be not ye, therefore, like unto them;

For your Father knoweth

What things ye have need of,

Before ye ask Him.

III.

After this manner.
Therefore, Pray Ye:

Our Father,

Who art in Heaven,

Hallowed be Thy name, ) On Earth

Thy Kingdom come, [• As it is in

Thy Will be done, ) Heaven.

INTRODUCTORY.

Give us, this day,

Our daily bread;

And forgive us our debts,

As we forgive our debtors;

And lead us,

Not into Temptation;

But deliver us

From evil;

/ The Kingdom,
For Thine is -] And the Power,
( And the Glory,
Forever.
Amen.

IV.

And, when ye stand praying.

Forgive,

If ye have aught against any;

That your Father also.

Which is in Heaven,

May forgive you your trespasses.

Love your enemies;

Bless them

That curse you;

Do good to them

INTRODUCTORY.

That hate you;

And. pray for them

That despitefully use you,

And persecute you.

V.

Have faith in God.

Verily I say unto you:

If ye have faith y

As a grain of mustard-seed,

Ye might say unto this sycamine-tree

Be thou plucked up by the roots,

And be thou planted in the sea,

And it should obey you.

If ye have faith,

And doubt not,

Ye shall not only do this.

Which is done to the fig-tree,

But, also,

Whosoever shall say to this mountain

Be thou removed.

And be thou cast into the sea;

And shall not doubt in his heart.

But shall believe

That those things which he saith

Shall come to pass.

INTRODUCTORY.

He shall have whatsoever he saith.

And nothing shall be impossible unto you.

Therefore, I say unto you,

Whatsoever things ye desire,

When ye pray.

Believe that ye receive them

And ye shall have them.

And all things,

Whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer,

Believing,

Ye shall receive.

VI.

And He spake a parable unto them,

To this end.

That men ought always to pray

and not to faint,

Saying:

There was, in a city, a Judge

Which feared not God,

Neither regarded man;

And there was a widow in that city,

And she came unto him, saying,

Avenge me of mine adversary!

And he would not, for awhile;

But, afterward, he said, within himself,

Though I fear not God,

Nor regard man;

Yet, because this widow troubleth me,

I will avenge her;

Lest, by her continual coming.

She weary me.

And the Lord said:

Hear what the unjust Judge saith:

And shall not God avenge

His own elect.

Which cry day and night unto Him;

Though He bear long with them?

I tell you, that He will avenge them

speedily.

Nevertheless,

When the Son of man cometh.

Shall He find faith on the earth?

And He said unto them:

Which of you shall have a friend,

And shall go unto him, at midnight.

And say unto him,

Friend, lend me three loaves.

For a friend of mine, in his journey,

Is come to me, And I have nothing to set before him;

And he, from within shall answer and say,

Trouble me not;

The door is now shut.

And my children are with me in bed;

I cannot rise and give thee:

I say unto you.

Though he will not rise and give him,

Because he is his friend;

Yet, because of his importunity

He will rise, and give him

As many as he needeth.

And I say unto you:

Ask,

And it shall be given you;

Seek,

And ye shall find;

Knock,

And it shall be opened unto you.

VII.

If A SON shall ask bread

Of any of you that is a father,

Will he give him a stone;

Or, if he ask a fish, Will he, for a fish, give him a serpent;

Or, if he shall ask an egg,

Will he offer him a scorpion?

If ye then, being evil,

Know how to give good gifts

Unto your childreny

How much more

Shall your heavenly father

Give the Holy Spirit

To them that ask Him!

vni.

And He spake this parable.

Unto certain which trusted in themselves

That they were righteous,

And despised others.

Two men went up into the Temple,

To pray:

The one, a Pharisee,

And the other, a Publican.

The Pharisee stood.

And prayed thus with himself:

God, I thank Thee

That I am not
As other men are:

Extortioners, unjust, adulterers,

Or even as this Publican:

I fast twice in the week;

I give tithes of all that I possess.

And the publican, standing afar off,

Would not lift so much as his eyes unto

heaven.

But smote upon his breast, saying:

God, be merciful unto me,

A sinner.

I tell you, this man went down to his

house justified.

Rather than the other;

For every one that exalteth himself

Shall be abased j

But HE THAT HUMBLETH HIMSELF

Shall be exalted.

IX.

Again, I say unto you,

If two of you shall agree, on earth.

As touching anything that they shall ask.

It shall be done for them,

Of my Father which is in Heaven;

For where two or three are gathered

together,
In my name,

There am I,

In the midst of them.

The Harvest is great,
And the laborers are few;

Pray ye therefore

The Lord of the Harvest,

That He would send forth laborers,

Into His Harvest.

X.

Whatsoever ye shall ask

In my name

That will i do,

That the Father may be glorified

In the Son.

If ye shall ask anything.

In my name,

I will do it.

If ye abide in Me

And my words abide in you,

Ye shall ask what ye will,

And it shall be done unto you.

Ye have not chosen me,
But I have chosen you;
And ordained you;
That ye should go and bring forth fruit,

And that your fruit should remain:

That whatsoever ye shall ask the Father,

In my name,

He may give it you.

Verily, verily, I say unto you,

Whatsoever 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;

And I say not unto you

That I will pray the Father for you;

For the Father Himself loveth you.

Because ye have loved Me,

And have believed
That I came out from God.

II.

THE PROGRESS OF DOCTRINE.

The combined Testimony of the Four Gospel narratives is thus first presented, arranged as nearly as may be ascertained, in the order of utterance.

For the sake of exhibiting the mutual relations of all the members in this body of doctrine, regard is had to an obvious law of parallelis7ti which pervades it, and which helps to the apprehension of the minute beauty and symmetry of Christ’s words; and hence the arrangement of parallel clauses as into the lines and stanzas of a poem, for there is a rhyme and rhythm of thought, as well as of words. That which appears to be the central lessofi of each group is put in small capitals, to aid in fixing it in the mind; while words or phrases plainly intended to be in juxtaposition, as apposite or opposite to each other, are indicated by italics.

Thus, combining and arranging our Lord’s own utterances and teachings on the subject of prayer, and, for the most part, in the actual order of their utterance so far as we can approximate to that order, we find that there is here a system of teaching: these scattered fragments, put together as they belong, form a mosaic. Moreover, they fall easily and naturally into ten groups, and a distinct process and progress of doctrine is perceptible, which will be the more apparent as these utterances are studied more closely.

We have sought to ascertain and exhibit their chronological order, because, so arranged, they reveal also a logical order, representing regular stages of advance, each lesson preparing the way for those which follow.

The central and controlling thought or theme in each of these ten groups, about which all the rest in that group crystallizes, may be expressed somewhat as follows:

Group I. — Secrecy with god, versus display BEFORE MEN.

II. — Quality versus quantity, as a

standard of value.
III. — Matter and manner in

PRAYER.

IV. — Forgivenessz’^/’^zjvindictive-NESS TOWARD MAN.

V. — Faith versus unbelief toward

GOD.

VI. — Importunity versus fainting,

as to object sought.
VII. — Filial spirit and divine

FATHERHOOD.

VIII. — Humility: self-abasement versus self-righteousness. IX. — Unity in the spirit: agreement in prayer. X. — In the name of christ: identity with him.

There is thus one initial fundamental lesson on Secret Communion with God; then, two lessons on language one cautioning against vain words, and the other, enjoining well-ordered words; then, three lessons on conditions of acceptable approach such as a forgiving temper, faith in God’s promise, and persistence in pleading; and, then, follow four lessons, on the higher secrets of prevailing power, such as a filial spirit toward the Father in Heaven, a seJf-abasing sense of sin, and dependence on grace, and identity with the Son of God, such as makes possible both individual and united prayer in His name.

In what follows, — remembering the importance of studying each group in its relations to what is manifestly its center of unity, namely, the thought which is meant to be controlling, — we shall seek simply to examine each word of our Lord, and discover its exact purport and purpose, as bearing upon the highest of all the arts of holy living, power to prevail in prayer. And, at the outset, let the reader join the writer, in supplicating the God of Prayer to illumine the mind for such devout and reverent study as shall disclose the hidden things of the Inspired Word: