commanded in the Lord's Word to perform this duty—to pray for others, both for individuals, and for the world at large. Thus the Lord himself said, in his sermon on the mount, "Pray for them that despitefully use you, and persecute you."[1] And that we are commanded to pray for the coming and increase of the Lord's kingdom in the world, is manifest not only from the passage in the Lord's Prayer which we are now considering, but also from other passages in the Word. Thus, in the last chapter of the Apocalypse,[2] are these words: "And the Spirit and the bride say. Come: and let him that heareth say, Come," referring to the Lord's second coming. The Doctrine of the New Church, commenting on this passage, remarks: "These words signify that heaven and the church desire the Lord's coming, and that he who knows anything of the Lord's coming, and of the New Heaven and the New Church, should pray that it may come, and that he who desires truth should pray that the Lord may come with light."[3] In these and other places in the Divine Word, we are commanded to pray for others. And it being a Divine command, it becomes our duty to obey it, whether we fully understand or not the manner in which the performance of the duty will be effective. Of one thing we may be sure, that it is and will be in some way effective, for the Lord commands nothing which will not be of use, for the Lord's kingdom is a kingdom of uses: he does nothing, and directs us to do nothing, in vain. Perhaps, moreover,
- ↑ Matthew v. 44.
- ↑ ver. 17.
- ↑ Apocalypse Revealed, nn. 955, 956.
