Why has Christ commanded us to address God thus: "Our Father"? That immediately, in the very beginning of our prayer, he might excite in us a childlike reverence for, and confidence in God, which are the foundation of our prayer: namely, that God is become our Father in Christ, and will much less deny us what we ask of him in true faith, than our parents will refuse us earthly things. [354] Footnotes: [354] Matt. 7:9-11; Luke 11:11-13. |