An Exposition of the Lords Prayer, Commentary 2
There now remains only the Conſideration of our Lord's Manner of Summing up of this Prayer, which is ſo done, that it Appears with a Threefold Aſpect.
1. It looks back upon the whole Prayer, by way of Recollective Argument, and Enforcement of it in every part, as it is the Prayer of the Kingdom.
2. It particularly indents and entwines it ſelf with the Laſt Petition, Deliver us from Evil, as the moſt ſenſible, to us now, Character of the Kingdom.
3. Under the cloſe Conveyance of the Argument, enforcing to the hearing of the whole, and every part, and Petition of this Prayer; it falls into the Great Doxology of the Kingdom; which however it is always due to God, yet is in its higheſt Senſe, and Elevation the Doxology proper to the Kingdom, and which argues this Prayer to be the Prayer of the Kingdom.
The Argument looking back upon the whole Prayer may be underſtood theſe Three ways:
1. All theſe Petitions are thus Argued to be well Founded upon greateſt Equity, Truth, and Righteouſneſs, in Two Regards.
1. Such High Deſires, and Petitions were moſt Abominable and Sacrilegious, if They were not Offered and Addreſſed to Him, whoſe is the Power, and the Kingdom, and the Glory. For All the Things deſired in this Prayer, He Alone is worthy to be prayed unto for them, whoſe is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, even for ever and ever. And it were to make a God of him, who is no God, to offer them by way of Prayer to Any other; to Make a Falſe God, and to cloath him with the Majeſty and Greatneſs that is None of His, but is peculiar to Him, who is God Alone, and there is None beſides Him; There is not any Other; and ſo it is a ſtrong Bar to Invocation of Angels and Saints, for any of the Things laid up in this Prayer, which are indeed All things, that according to the Word of God fall into Prayer. To offer them to any other, is both Sacriledge and Idolatry; and therefore it is ſo to pray Religiouſly to Any other, becauſe all Holy Prayer is Treaſur'd in them. And they were alſo moſt Fooliſh, Vain, and to no purpoſe, to be offer'd to any other, even as if they were offered to a Fly, or a Glod of Earth, in compariſon; who are ſo far from being Able to Grant ſuch Things, that they cannot in the leaſt underſtand Them. No more in the main, is any Power Able, below His, whoſe is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory, to bring forth theſe Petitions in their Complement.
2. In regard, that He, whoſe is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory, will Take to Himſelf his Great Power, and Reign; Theſe Petitions are well Grounded, and well Addreſs'd to him. For ſeeing the Things are ſo high, that though the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, are always God's, yet Theſe Petitions have not yet been Anſwered, nor theſe Great Things come into Effect: The Petitions would not be well Grounded, if there were not a Time, He would thus Take to himſelf his Great Power, and Reign. For if the World continued never ſo long, and that the Kingdom, and Power, and Glory, were in all the Right of them, Gods; yet theſe Things Pray'd for, would, for all that, never be fullfill'd. So that they muſt have been either laid lower, or have been in vain.
As therefore (as Scripture hath fully declar'd) there is a Time God will Take to Himſelf his Great Power, and Reign; ſo theſe very Petitions are fram'd to ſuch an Altitude, to ſuch a Supreme Pitch; And becauſe they cloſe with this as an Argument, That God's is the Kingdom, and the Power, and Glory, and that for Ever and Ever; They become a certain Aſſurance, That theſe Petitions are well Grounded, and well Addreſs'd; and that though they do not Appear ſo yet, in Regard of their being Fullfill'd; yet that they ſhall Appear ſo at the Time of the Kingdom, and of God's taking to Himſelf the Power, and the Glory; And that certainly there ſhall be ſuch a Time, wherein the Kingdom of God ſhall be, and All Theſe Things Fullfill'd in it.
2. As Theſe Things cannot be, till the Kingdom be; ſo on the other ſide, the Kingdom cannot be, till theſe Things are. A Kingdom, and a Power, and a Glory, God always hath. But this Kingdom cannot Appear, nor the Power, and the Glory be ſeen to be God's, till his Name be Sanctified, his Will done, as in Heaven, and upon Earth; Till he ſhews his Grace to his Servants, in giving them the Superſubſtantial Bread, according to the Day, or in a Perpetuity: Till he Reconciles All to Himſelf, in Heaven and Earth, by Him, even by Him; and till he ſets wholly free from Temptation, and Delivers from Evil all the Subjects of his Kingdom. And All theſe are the Coming of his Kingdom.
3. Therefore by the way of ſo Cloſe a Conjunction, and Union of theſe Two, our Saviour declares this Prayer to be the Prayer of the Kingdom; And that as the Kingdom is the Great Senſe, Mind and Spirit of this Prayer; ſo that it can never be aright prayed, nor is heard, ſo as to be Anſwer'd. till this Kingdom come: So that the Kingdom ſhall certainly come, in Anſwer to this Prayer, and in Anſwer to every Petition of it: Every Thing in it ſhall be done, becauſe God's is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, for Ever and Ever.
2. This Doxology is moſt immediately Linck'd with that Laſt Petition, Deliverance from Evil; to ſhew both the Inconſiſtency of the Divine Kingdom, in its Glory and Coming with a State of Evil, even of the Evil of Affliction, Pain, and Miſery: So that it is the Laſt Enemy ſubdued, by the Divine Kingdom; that is, the Divine Kingdom Alone can ſubdue it, and only when it Appears, and not before. But when it Appears, it ſhall be perfectly remov'd. And our Lord takes the Advantage at that very Time, and in that Order, to preſs and follow home the whole by the Argumentative Doxology, For thine is the Kingdom: And therefore Thou art Able, and wilt Deliver from Evil, by that Kingdom and Power, which is thy own, and at the Appearance of thy own Glory.
3. Under the Doxology conveyed by way of Argument, This is to be Acknowledg'd; That a conſtant Offering up to God in a way of Praiſe, and Adoration this Confeſſion; That, His is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory; is moſt due to Him from us, in all our Prayers and Supplications to him. But yet the higheſt Senſe of this Doxology is proper to the Kingdom, and Argues the Prayer to be the Prayer of the Kingdom. For ſeeing our Lord hath put this Doxology into our Mouths, That His is the Kingdom; and yet at the ſame Time Teaches us to pray, Thy Kingdom come; It ſignifies plainly and neceſſarily, That it hath not yet ſo come, as to Appear to be His: And that His is the Power; and yet at the ſame Time Taught us to pray, Thy Will be done, as in Heaven, and upon Earth; in the ſame plain manner he ſignifies, The Power does not yet Appear to be his; For wherein is Power ſeen, but in the having the Will of Him done, who hath that Power? And that his is the Glory, and yet at the ſame Time Teaches us to pray; Sanctified, or Glorified by Thy Name; This ſhews very manifeſtly, the Glory is not His, as it ſhall be. By All This it Ariſes clearly to our Notice, That Our Lord hath, in putting this Doxology into our Mouths, put a Prophecy into our Mouths; That the Time is coming, according to the Meaſures Given us in his Word of Prophecy; when the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, ſhall in full and higheſt Senſe be Aſcrib'd to God; and as at a very preſent Time in that fulleſt Senſe; So that this Doxology of the Prayer Leads us to that, Revel. 4. 11. Thou art worthy, Oh Lord, to Receive Glory, and Honour, and Power; For thou haſt created All Things; and for thy pleaſure they are and were created. And c. 5. 13. And every Creature, which is in Heaven, and on the Earth, and under the Earth, and ſuch as are in the Sea, heard I, ſaying, Bleſſing, and Honour, and Glory, and Power be unto him that ſitteth upon the Throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever: c. 11. 17. We give Thee Thanks, Oh Lord God Almighty, which art, and waſt, and art to come; becauſe thou haſt taken to thee thy Great Power, and haſt Reigned; and the Nations were Angry, as at a thing not done before. c. 15. 3. Great and marvellous are thy Works, Lord God Almighty; Juſt and True are thy ways, Oh King of Saints; Who ſhall not Fear thee, Oh Lord, and Glorifie thy Name? For thou only art Holy; For All Nations ſhall come, and Worſhip before thee; For thy Judgments are made manifeſt. c. 19. 5. Hallelujah, Salvation, and Glory, and Honour, and Power unto the Lord our God; For True and Righteous are his Judgments: And a Voice came out of the Throne, Praiſe Our God, All ye his Servants, and ye that Fear Him, both Small and Great. And I heard, as it were, the Voice of a Great Multitude, and as the Voice of many Waters, and as the Voice of mighty Thunderings; ſaying, Hallelujah; For the Lord God Omnipotent Reigneth. When theſe Great Doxologies come into their High, and Lofty, and Solemn Sounds, then ſhall this Doxology be both fully underſtood and fullfill'd, and not before; And therefore it ſhews this Prayer to be the Prayer of the Kingdom.
The Seal of this Prayer, both as to the Sincerity and Reality of our own Deſires, and of our Faith and Hope in God's Gracious Anſwer, and Giving Effect to our Prayers, is common to All Prayers, and yet moſt peculiar to this Prayer, as the Comprehenſionary Prayer of all Prayers: And it is Amen; which hath the Force not only of So be It, as in other Prayers: but of So It is, or So It ſhall be; even in this Prayer, Taught by an Infallible Maſter of Prayer, who calls himſelf the Amen: And ſo was, and is Able to ſet with higheſt Efficacy the Amen to his own Prayer. And he will moſt certainly bring All Things to paſs, according to it, even as he is the Amen, the Faithful Witneſs, the Beginning, or mighty Principle, as of the Firſt, ſo of the New Creation of God. And therefore every Petition of it ſhall be Anſwer'd to even every Iota; Heaven and Earth ſhall paſs, but not one Iota of this Prayer ſhall paſs away, till All be fullfilled.
And as it thus looks back to the whole Prayer, and every Iota of it; ſo it particularly reſpects the Doxology. We therefore find, as in Harmony with it, in Two Great Doxologies, this Word, Amen, ſet as in Capital Letters, and in moſt exalted Accents, Revel. 5. 14. When Every Creature in Heaven and Earth had ſaid, Bleſſing, and Honour, and Glory, and Power, be to Him that ſits on the Throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever: The Four Living Creatures in the moſt ſolemn manner, ſaid Amen. And c. 19. 4. Where there had been a Voice of much People in Heaven; Saying Allelujah, &c. The Four and Twenty Elders, and the Four Living Creature, Pronounced again in moſt Sollemn manner, Amen, Allelujah.
And indeed Amen is a Word moſt Proper, and Peculiar to the Kingdom of Jeſus Chriſt; when All Prophecy, even the whole Myſtery of God, as He hath Spoken by all the Prophets, ſhall be Finiſhed; and when All Prayers of Saints Comprehended in this Prayer; which is beyond what we can Aske, or Think; (but as the Spirit helping our Infirmities with Groans, that are not to be Ʋttered, makes Interceſſion for us,) ſhall be Fully Anſwered, and Fulfilled. So that though Amen be a Common Obſignation of all Prayer; yet it hath a much higher Sence in this Prayer, which Communicates it to All Prayer Flowing from, and Returning into it ſelf; and even the higheſt Sence of the Amen to this Prayer is, as it is the Prayer of the Kingdom, and is Fulfilled in the Doxologies of the Kingdom, and of the Power, and of the Glory, which that Kingdom ſhall Produce: So that even this, however Common Amen of All Prayer, Expounded into its Full Sence, as ſet to this Prayer is alſo a Proof to us; This Prayer is the Prayer of the Kingdom, a Prayer with a Supream Amen, Peculiar to it.
Object. If any ſhould ſay, why is it then together with the Doxology wholy Omitted in the Goſpel of St. Luke? and then Eſpecially, when Jeſus Chriſt, the Meſſiah, the Prince, Taught His Diſciples to Pray, as John the Fore-Runner, Taught his Diſciples; and where alſo, if any where, He Commands the uſe of it, as a Form?
Anſw. I can underſtand no Reaſon, but according to what hath been already Intimated; That Our Lord might ſhew, He did in neither Place Intend a Rigid Form; and leaſt of All, where it might be moſt Collected from His Words, He did Intend a Form as in the Evangeliſt Luke; yet here the Prayer Ariſes leaſt to a Form, being without the Doxology or the Amen: And that therefore we might be engaged upon that Rule of Praying after the manner of this Prayer, as it is Expounded to us in the whole Word of God; And Eſpecially in the Word, as it is moſt peculiarly the Word of the Kingdom; And particularly according to the manner of this Prayer, as given before by our Lord, according to the Evangeliſt Matthew; where we have the Doxology, and the Amen. And therefore to make Formal Repetition of the Prayer, as in Luke; without the Doxology, and Amen, as in Matthew, is a Groſs Offence againſt that Precept of our Lords in Matthew; Pray after this manner, Extending to the Doxology, and Concluſion, as much as to any part of the Prayer; and is by Conſequence to be joyned to it in Luke, where the Repetition of it is ſo Given as to make both One.