Part 72 (1/2)
1. Heavenly Father,
2. May all revere thee,
3. And become thy dutiful Children and faithful Subjects.
4. May thy Laws be obeyed on Earth as perfectly as they are in Heaven.
5. Provide for us this Day as thou hast hitherto daily done.
6. Forgive us our Trespa.s.ses and enable us likewise to forgive those that offend us.
7. Keep us out of Temptation, and deliver us from Evil.--
_Reasons for the Change of Expression_
Old Version. _Our Father which art in Heaven._
New V.--_Heavenly Father_, is more concise, equally expressive, and better modern English.--
Old V.--_Hallowed be thy Name._ This seems to relate to an Observance among the Jews not to p.r.o.nounce the proper or peculiar Name of G.o.d, they deeming it a Profanation so to do. We have in our Language no _proper Name_ for G.o.d; the Word _G.o.d_ being a common or general Name, expressing all chief Objects of Wors.h.i.+p, true or false. The Word _hallowed_ is almost obsolete. People now have but an imperfect Conception of the Meaning of the Pet.i.tion. It is therefore proposed to change the expression into
New V.--_May all revere thee._
Old V.--_Thy Kingdom come._ This Pet.i.tion seems suited to the then Condition of the Jewish Nation. Originally their State was a Theocracy. G.o.d was their King. Dissatisfied with that kind of Government, they desired a visible earthly King in the manner of the Nations round them. They had such Kings accordingly; but their Offerings were _due_ to G.o.d on many Occasions by the Jewish Law, which when People could not pay, or had forgotten as Debtors are apt to do, it was proper to pray that those Debts might be forgiven. Our Liturgy uses neither the _Debtors_ of Matthew, nor the _indebted_ of Luke, but instead of them speaks of _those that trespa.s.s against us_.
Perhaps the Considering it as a Christian Duty to forgive Debtors, was by the Compilers thought an inconvenient Idea in a trading Nation.--There seems however something presumptuous in this Mode of Expression, which has the Air of proposing ourselves as an Example of Goodness fit for G.o.d to imitate. _We hope you will at least be as good as we are_; you see we forgive one another, and therefore we pray that you would forgive us. Some have considered it in another sense, _Forgive us as we forgive others_; i.e. If we do not forgive others we pray that thou wouldst not forgive us. But this being a kind of conditional _Imprecation_ against ourselves, seems improper in such a Prayer; and therefore it may be better to say humbly & modestly
New V.--_Forgive us our Trespa.s.ses, and enable us likewise to forgive those that offend us._ This instead of a.s.suming that we have already in & of ourselves the Grace of Forgiveness, acknowledges our Dependance on G.o.d, the Fountain of Mercy for any Share we may have in it, praying that he would communicate of it to us.--
Old V.--_And lead us not into Temptation._ The Jews had a Notion, that G.o.d sometimes tempted, or directed or permitted the Tempting of People. Thus it was said he tempted Pharaoh; directed Satan to tempt Job; and a false Prophet to tempt Ahab, &c. Under this Persuasion it was natural for them to pray that he would not put them to such severe Trials. We now suppose that Temptation, so far as it is supernatural, comes from the Devil only, and this Pet.i.tion continued conveys a Suspicion which in our present Conception seems unworthy of G.o.d, therefore might be altered to
New V.--_Keep us out of Temptation._ Happiness was not increas'd by the Change, and they had reason to wish and pray for a Return of the Theocracy, or Government of G.o.d. Christians in these Times have other Ideas when they speak of the Kingdom of G.o.d, such as are perhaps more adequately express'd by
New V.--_And become thy dutiful Children & faithful Subjects._
Old V.--_Thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven._
New V.--_May thy Laws be obeyed on Earth as perfectly as they are in Heaven._
Old V.--_Give us this Day our daily Bread._ Give us what is _ours_, seems to put us in a Claim of Right, and to contain too little of the grateful Acknowledgment and Sense of Dependance that becomes Creatures who live on the daily Bounty of their Creator. Therefore it is changed to
New V.--_Provide for us this Day, as thou hast hitherto daily done._
Old V.--_Forgive us our Debts as we forgive our Debtors._ Matthew.
_Forgive us our Sins, for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us._ Luke.
THE LEVeE