The Prayer of Prayers

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 261, 31 July 1937, Page 1 (Supplement)

The Prayer of Prayers

“Exponents of other faiths have been moved mightily by the spirit and teaching of the Lord’s Prayer,” says the Rev. John Burr, M.A., in his book “The Prayer of Prayers.” “Dr. George Matheson, in ‘Messages of Hope,’ speaks of the ‘cosmopolitanism’ of the Lord’s Prayer, mentioning that the six petitions are each ‘the voice of an ancient philosophy or faith.’ “The Jews prayed, ‘Hollowed be Thy Name,’ because they ‘wanted a God Whom men’s souls could reverence for His holiness.’ “The Chinese and Roman Empires have prayed, ‘Thy Kingdom come,’ and have striven to see “heaven incarnated on a visible throne.’ The Brahmin has prayed, ‘Thy will be done,’ because he counts his own will a delusion, and wants ‘to lose himself in the Absolute Life.’ “The polytheist has prayed, ‘Give us this day 'our daily bread,’ because ‘his whole use of religion is for the needs of the hour.’ “The Buddhist has prayed, ‘Forgive us our debts,’ because he fears that ‘the consequences of sin may be to bring us back after death to lower forms of being.’ “The Stoic has prayed, ‘Lead us not into temptation,’ because ‘his whole desire is to be free from the vain seductions of life.’ “It is well that by careful and prolonged study we should arrive at some adequate conception of the commanding position in the religious life of men which this prayer holds, and shall continue to hold until, with the lapse of time into eternity, the aspirations and desires to which it gives utterance are fully and blessedly accomplished.”