After this manner, therefore, pray ye— The Lord Jesus Christ gives his disciples a form of prayer, as was usually done by the Jewish masters; John the Baptist had taught his disciples to pray, Luke 11:1. It is to be observed, that this prayer is almost wholly taken out of the Jewish liturgies, and from them so well adapted by our Lord, as to contain all things which can be requested of God, with an acknowledgment of his divine Majesty, and of our dependence. The word ye here is emphatical; thus pray YE, in opposition to the heathen, who used vain repetitions in their prayers. He who best knew what we ought to pray for, and how we ought to pray, what matter of desire, what manner of address would most please himself, and would best become us, has here dictated to us a most perfect and universal form of prayer, comprehending all our real wants, expressing all our lawful desires; a complete directory, and full exercise of all our devotions. Yet it does not follow, that we are to use only the words of this prayer in our address to God; for in the Acts and Epistles, we find the Apostles praying in terms different from this form. But the meaning of these words, thus, or after this manner pray ye, is, that we are to frame our prayers according to this model, both with respect to matter, manner, and style; short, close, full. This prayer consists of three parts; the preface, the petition, and the conclusion. 1. The preface,—Our Father, which art in heaven,—lays a general foundation for prayer; comprising what we must first know of God, before we can pray in confidence of being heard. It likewise points out to us that faith and humility, and love of God and man, with which we are to approach God in prayer. 1. If they be called fathers, who beget children, and bring them up, the Almighty God has the best right to that title from every creature, and particularly from men, being the Father of their spirits (Hebrews 12:9.), the maker of their bodies, and the continual preserver of both. Nor is this all; he is our Father in a yet higher sense, as he regenerates and restores his image upon our minds; so that, partaking of his nature, we become his children, and can with holy boldness name him by the title of that relation. In the former sense, God is the father of all his creatures; but in the latter, he is the father only of such as are regenerated by his grace. Of all the magnificent titles invented by philosophers or poets in honour of their gods, there is none which conveys so grand and lovely an idea, as this simple name of father. Being used by mankind in general, it marks directly the essential character of the true God; namely, that he is the first cause of all things, or the Author of their being; and at the same time conveys a strong idea of the tender love which he bears tohis creatures, whom he nourishes with an affection, and protects with a watchfulness, infinitely superior to that of any earthly parent whatsoever. But the name father, besides teaching us that we owe our being to God, and pointing out his goodness and mercy in upholding us, expresses also his power to give us the things that we ask, none of which can be more difficult than creation. Farther, we are taught to give the great God the title of father, that our sense of the tender relation in which he stands to us through Jesus Christ may be confirmed; our faith in his power and goodness strengthened; our hope of obtaining what we ask in prayer cherished; and our desire of obeying and imitating him quickened; for even natural reason teaches, that it is disgraceful for children to degenerate from their parents, and that they cannot commit a greater crime, than to disobey the just commands of an indulgent father. 2. Again, we are directed to call him our Father, in the plural number, and that even in secret prayer; to put us in mind, that we are all brethren, the children of one common parent, and that we ought to love one another with pure hearts fervently; praying not for ourselves only, but for others; that God may give them likewise daily bread, the forgiveness of sins, and deliverance from temptation. 3. The words, which art in heaven, do not confine God's presence to heaven, for he exists everywhere; but they contain a comprehensive, though short, description of the divine greatness. They express God's majesty, dominion, and power; and distinguish him from those whom we call our fathers on earth, and from false gods, who are not in heaven, the region of bliss and happiness; where God, who is essentially present through all the universe, gives more especial manifestations of his presence to such of his creatures as he has exalted to share with him in his eternal felicity.
II. 1. Hallowed be thy name— This is commonly esteemed the first of the petitions in the Lord's prayer. Wetstein, however, and several others, are of opinion that these words, as well as those in the next verse, are not to be considered as petitions so much as acts of adoration, and acknowledgments of the power and majesty of God; and accordingly they begin the petitions at the 11th verse. But I apprehend, says Dr. Heylin, in nearly these words, (and with him the greater part agree,) that this passage directly tends to our sanctification, and that we are as much personally concerned in this, as in the following petitions; for, in order to our sanctification, our notions and opinions in respect to all essential doctrines and experimental truths must first be rectified by the divine light, because our notions are in a great measure the rule of our actions; we are solicitous or indifferent about things, not according to their intrinsic merit, but according to the notions or opinions which we have conceived of them, as desirable, or of no moment; so that a change of heart and manners must ever begin in change of opinions,—in a knowledge of our fallen state, of our great Remedy, and the manner of applying it through faith. Again, before a man is truly penitent, his notions of worldly goods are lively and animated, as of things highly desirable; but his notion of God is a faint and insipid idea, as of somewhat remote, and which he cares not to be concerned with. The thoughts of wealth and glory and pleasure move his heart strongly; but the thoughtof God lies dormant in him, as a barren or disagreeable speculation. What we want, therefore, is a due and worthy notion of God; I mean a high and lively and affecting sense of him; such as may have its proper ascendant in our minds; such as may rule in our hearts, and make us behave towards him in a manner suitable to his dignity: and this I take to be the drift of these words, hallowed be thy name; for the name of God signifies, that idea or notion whereby we conceive him in our minds (see Psalms 76:1.Proverbs 18:10.); and to hallow or sanctify a thing, signifies to give it that distinction and preference which religion confirms: for, as things excelling upon a worldly account are honourable, so things excelling upon a religious account are called holy; and therefore, in these words hallowed be thy name, we pray, that the conception or thought of God should be so exalted in us, that all our thoughts may fall down before it, and be brought in subjection to it; that the names of grandeur, and riches, and voluptuous joy, may sink beneath the name of the Lord our God; may fade, and lessen, and vanish in his presence. This is hallowing the name of God, and treating it with the reverence that it deserves: this is the end ofall religion, and therefore first proposed in this divine prayer: the following petitions relate to the means of attaining it. Such is Dr. Heylin's interpretation. It may be proper, however, for the satisfaction of the reader, to give that which is more generally received. Now the name of God is generally understood as a Hebraism for God himself, his attributes and works; and to sanctify a thing, is to entertain the highest notion of it, as true and great and good; and by our words and actions to testify that belief. See 1 Peter 3:15.Isaiah 8:13. In this view, the meaning of the petition is, "May thy existence be universally believed; thy perfections loved and imitated; thy works admired, thy providence reverenced and confided in: may we and all men so think of the Divine Majesty, and of his attributes and works, and may we and they so express our veneration of God, that his glory may be manifested everywhere, to the utter destructionoftheworship of idols and devils!" See Erasmus, Barrow, Macknight, &c.