Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1900-02-03
THE PATTERN PRAYER.
IL Really Summed Up and Concen-
trated I'm the Petition "Thy
VIII BE Done"

The purpose of Christian as distinct
from heather prayer, to aid us to the
doing Of Gods will rather than per-
suade God to the doing of our will, is
strikingly shown in the pattern prayer
prescribed by Jesus. Apparently dis
tributed into number of petitions, the
aspirations of the Lords Prayer are
really summed up and concentrated
in one ''Thy VIII be done" To this
the preceding sentences lead up in their
triple confession of love-"Our Father"
of reverence 'Hallowed be Thy
NAME" OF loyalty-"Thy Kingdom
come" From this focal point, ''Thy
Will be DONE" the following sentences
expand its contents into a triple speci-
fieation Of the prime particulars of the
Divine VIII concerning us, as we should
contemplate II and seek to realize It,
viz, in the sustentation of our being
"Give us our daily bread" in the cor
rection of our faults-"Forgive us our
debts" in the redemption of our life
Deliver us from the evil"
In true prayer of every type the focal
point is the same. In thanksgiving for
benefits, in confession of sins, in adora-
ton of divine grace and glory, in aspira-
ton toward divine ideals, in petition for
whatever we desire for the lettering of
our life and it's opportunities, the inner
most and universal implication of the
Christian spirit is "Thy viii be done"
the sum and substance of the Lords
prayer. In our various petitions for
this or that we are initiating the ex-
ample of that pattern prayer in trans
planting its comprehensive word, "Thy
WILL" in its particulars as we conceive
them. Our translation is sometimes fall
lacious. So was ST. Paul's, when he
prayed for relief from his "thorn in
the flesh" We may fail 20 under
stand what the viii of the Lord is" and
experience must reveal it. Our transla-
ton fails; our prayer does not, for the
viii of the Lord is fulfilled otherwise.
Even the agnostic, who recognizes in
the evolution OF the universe a certain
purposiveness, an intelligent advance
toward ends, and who is hidden even
by Mr.. Spencer not to rely passively on
this, but to do his best ''to hasten the
evolution" must see the reasonableness
of prayer in this point of view, as the
natural effort of the finite will to CO
operate with the infinite. ''Thy Will be
done" is at least the implication of
every effort, whether scientific, philan-
thropic, or religious, to discover the di-
vine line of advance and on it to move
forward. None who has, however dim
ly, glimpsed an Executive Mind within
the universal evolutionary process can
consistently abjure the thought, "Thy
Will be DONE" or decline to adopt it,
with its natural implications, as the fit
and universal prayer of man.
Origen, in the third century, re-
marked that the Christian life, in an
ideal view, is simply the outward ex-
preston in conduct of the Lords
Prayer. In the point of view here taken
of the Lords Prayer Jesus seems
therein to have pictured His own life.
Whatever various purposes His mis-
sion involved, he summed them all in
saying that ne had come to do the will
of God. Whatever His various activi.
ties, He affirmed that it was His meat
to do the will of Him that sent Him
Whatever Ills ties to others, He de-
clared that the doer of the will of God
was his brother, sister, mother. BY
such sayings He irradiates the central
significance of the prayer He pbrased
as the leader of mankind in prayer
In it we see the reflection of His will
1t is the true type of all petitionary
prayer, because it is conferred in the
great desire which constitutes man q
citizen, and not an alien or a rebel, in
the kingdom of God.-N. Y. Outlook.