Chap. Ix.—Recapitulation.[14]
CHAP. IX.—RECAPITULATION.[14]
In summaries of so few words, how many utterances of the
prophets, the Gospels, the apostles—how many discourses, examples,
parables of the Lord, are touched on! How many duties are
simultaneously discharged! The honour of God in the "Father;" the
testimony of faith in the "Name;" the offering of obedience in the
"Will;" the commemoration of hope in the "Kingdom;" the petition for
life in the "Bread;" the full acknowledgment of debts in the prayer for
their "Forgiveness;" the anxious dread of temptation in the request for
"Protection." What wonder? God alone could teach how he wished Himself
prayed to. The religious rite of prayer therefore, ordained by Himself,
and animated, even at the moment when it was issuing out of the Divine
mouth, by His own Spirit, ascends, by its own prerogative, into heaven,
commending to the Father what the Son has taught.