The Lord's Prayer is elementary teaching for Christians, but it is not
the first thing to be taught to those outside the family of God. The
truth that we have a Father in heaven is a fundamental part of the
Gospel. It is assumed in the Lord's Prayer; and so is the further truth
that our Father of His tender love towards us has given His Son to die
for us, that we may be delivered from the "consuming fire" which sin,
not God, has kindled; and thus we have indeed a blessed scheme of pardon
for which we are to be thankful to _both_ the Father and the Son. This
makes _all_ the clauses of the apostolic blessing intelligible and
living.