Watson The Lord's Prayer

1. Auflage 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5183-8199-7
Verlag: Charles River Editors
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, 709 Seiten

Thomas Watson was an English Puritan preacher in the 17th century.  Watson was also a prolific writer and his devotionals are still well read today.  This edition of The Lord's Prayer includes a table of contents.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Watson, Thomas

Leseproben

THE FIRST PETITION IN THE LORD’S PRAYER
.................. ‘Hallowed be thy name.’ Matt 6: 9 Having spoken of the introduction to the Lord’s prayer, ‘After this manner therefore pray ye,’ and the preface, ‘Our Father which art in heaven;’ I come, thirdly, to the prayer itself, which consists of seven petitions. The first petition is: ‘Hallowed be thy name.’ In the Latin it is, sanctificetur nomen tuum, ‘Sanctified be thy name.’ In this petition, we pray that God’s name may shine forth gloriously, and that it may be honoured and sanctified by us, in the whole course and tenor of our lives. It was the angels’ song, ‘Glory be to God in the highest;’ that is, let his name be glorified and hallowed. This petition is set in the forefront, to show that the hallowing of God’s name is to be preferred before all things. It is to be preferred before life. We pray, ‘Hallowed be thy name,’ before we pray, ‘Give us this day our daily bread.’ It is to be preferred before salvation. Rom 9: 23. God’s glory is more worth than the salvation of all men’s souls. As Christ said of love in Matt 22: 38, ‘This is the first and great commandment;’ so I may say of this petition, ‘Hallowed be thy name:’ it is the first and great petition; it contains the most weighty thing in religion, which is God’s glory. When some of the other petitions shall be useless and out of date, as we shall not need to pray in heaven, ‘Give us our daily bread,’ because there shall be no hunger; nor, ‘Forgive us our trespasses,’ because there shall be no sin; nor, ‘Lead us not into temptation,’ because the old serpent is not there to tempt: yet the hallowing of God’s name will be of great use and request in heaven; we shall be ever singing hallelujahs, which is nothing else but the hallowing of God’s name. Every Person in the blessed Trinity, God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, must have this honour, to be hallowed; their glory being equal, and their majesty co-eternal. ‘Hallowed be thy name.’ To admire God’s name is not enough; we may admire a conqueror; but when we say, ‘Hallowed be thy name,’ we set God’s name above every name, and not only admire him, but adore him; and this is proper to the Deity only. For the further explanation, I shall propound three questions. I. What is meant by God’s name? [1] His essence. ‘The name of the God of Jacob defend thee’ (Psa 20: 1); that is, the God of Jacob defend thee. [2] Anything by which he may be known. As a man is known by his name; so by his attributes of wisdom, power, holiness, and goodness, God is known as by his name. II. What is meant by hallowing God’s name? To hallow, is a communi separare, to set apart a thing from the common use, to some sacred end. As the vessels of the sanctuary were said to be hallowed, so, to hallow God’s name, is to set it apart from all abuses, and to use it homily and reverently. In particular, hallowing God’s name is to give him high honour and veneration, and render his name sacred. We can add nothing to his essential glory; but we are said to honour and sanctify his name when we lift him up in the world, and make him appear greater in the eyes of others. When a prince is crowned, there is something added really to his honour; but when we crown God with our triumphs and hallelujahs there is nothing added to his essential glory. He cannot be greater than he is, only we may make him appear greater in the eyes of others. III. When may we be said to hallow and sanctify God’s name? [1] When we profess his name. Our meeting in his holy assembly is an honour done to his name. This is good, but it is not enough. All that wear God’s livery by profession are not true servants; there are some professors against whom Christ will profess at the last day. ‘I will profess I never knew you.’ Matt 7: 23. Therefore, to go a little further: [2] We hallow and sanctify God’s name when we have a high appreciation and esteem of him, and set him highest in our thoughts. The Hebrew word to honour, signifies to esteem precious: we conceive of God in our minds as the most super excellent and infinite good; we see in him a constellation of all beauties and delights; we adore him in his glorious attributes, which are the several beams by which his divine nature shines forth; we adore him in his works, which are bound up in three great volumes - creation, redemption, and providence. We hallow and sanctify his name when we lift him highest in our souls; we esteem him a supereminent and incomprehensible God. [3] We hallow and sanctify his name when we trust in it. ‘We have trusted in his holy name.’ Psa 33: 21. No way can we bring more revenues of honour to God, or make his crown shine brighter, than by confiding in him. Abraham ‘was strong in faith, giving glory to God.’ Rom 4: 20. Here was hallowing God’s name. Unbelief stains God’s honour and eclipses his name. ‘He that believeth not God has made him a liar’ (1 John 5: 10); So faith glorifies and hallows his name. The believer trusts his best jewels in God’s hands. ‘Into thine hand I commit my spirit.’ Psa 31: 5. Faith in a Mediator does more honour, and sanctifies God’s name more, than martyrdom or the most sublime acts of obedience. [4] We hallow and sanctify God’s name when we never make mention of it but with the highest reverence. His name is sacred, and it must not be spoken of but with veneration. When the Scripture speaks of God, it gives him his titles of honour. ‘Blessed be the most high God.’ Gen 14: 20. ‘Blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all praise.’ Neh 9: 5. To speak vainly or slightly of God is profaning his name, and is taking his name in vain. By giving God his venerable titles, we hang his jewels on his crown. [5] We hallow and sanctify God’s name when we love his name. ‘Let them that love thy name be joyful.’ Psa 5: 11. The love which honours God’s name must be special and discriminating love - the cream and flower of our love; such as we give to none besides; as the wife honours her husband by giving him such love as she gives to none else - a conjugal love. Thus we hallow God’s name by giving him such love as we give to none else - a love joined with worship. ‘He is thy Lord; and worship thou him.’ Psa 45: 2: [6] We hallow and sanctify God’s name when we give him a holy and spiritual worship. (1) When we give him the same kind of worship that he has appointed. ‘I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me:’ that is, I will be sanctified with that very worship I have appointed. Lev 10: 3. It is the purity of worship that God loves better than the pomp. It dishonours his name to bring anything into his worship which he has not instituted; as if he were not wise enough to appoint the manner in which he will be served. Men prescribe to him and super add their inventions; which he looks upon as offering strange fire, and as a high provocation. (2) When we give to God the same heart devotion in worship that he has appointed. ‘Fervent in spirit; serving the Lord.’ Rom 12: 11. The word for fervent is a metaphor, which alludes to water that seethes and boils over; to signify that our affections should boil over in holy duties. To give God outside worship, and not the devotion of the heart, instead of hallowing and sanctifying him in an ordinance, is to abuse him; as if one calls for wine and you give him an empty glass. It is to deal with God as Prometheus did with Jupiter, who did eat the flesh and present Jupiter with nothing but bones covered over with skin. We hallow God’s name and sanctify him in an ordinance when we give him the vitals of religion, and a heart flaming with zeal. [7] We hallow and sanctify God’s name when we hallow his day. ‘Hallow ye the sabbath day.’ Jer 17: 22. Our Christian Sabbath, which comes in the room of the Jews’ Sabbath, is called the Lord’s day. Rev 1: 10. It was anciently called dies lucis, a day of light, wherein Christ the Sun of Righteousness shines in an extraordinary manner. It is an honour done to God to hallow his Sabbath. (1) We must rest on this day from all secular works. ‘Bring in no burden on the sabbath day.’ Jer 17: 24. As when Joseph would speak with his brethren he thrust out the Egyptians; so when we would converse with God on this day, we must thrust out all earthly employments. Mary Magdalene refused to anoint Christ’s dead body on the sabbath day. Luke 23: 56. She had before prepared her ointment and spices, but came not to the sepulchre till the Sabbath was past; she rested on that day from civil work, even the commendable and glorious work of anointing Christ’s dead body. (2) We must in a solemn manner devote ourselves to God on this day; we must spend the whole day with God. Some will hear the word, but leave all their religion at church; they do nothing at home, they do not pray or repeat the word in their houses, and so rob God of a part of his day. It is lamentable to see how God’s day is profaned. Let no man think God’s name is hallowed while his Sabbath is broken. [8] We hallow and sanctify God’s name when we ascribe the honour of all we do to him. ‘Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his...