But this prayer is much more than a form to be used—_it is also a model for all our prayers_. The disciples came to Jesus asking Him to teach them how to pray. This prayer is the answer to that request. Instead of giving the disciples a string of rules and principles, instead of delivering a long discourse on the _theory_ of prayer, Jesus did what was infinitely more helpful, He gave them a pattern prayer. He taught them this exquisite prayer of six petitions, and said to them, “After this manner, therefore, pray ye.” This prayer is a model prayer, both as to manner, and order, and spirit. (1) It is a model as to manner. I will note here only three characteristics of the prayer. First, will you notice its _brevity_! The prayer that teaches to pray contains only six short petitions. The measure of a prayer is not its length, but its sincerity and earnestness. One good friend reminded a minister who was accustomed to take full time in his preaching, that there was all the difference in the world between the _length_ of a sermon and the _strength_ of a sermon. So there is all the difference between the length of a prayer and the strength of a prayer. We are not heard for our much speaking. The priests of Baal cut themselves with knives and cried from morn until the dusk of evening, “Baal, hear us.” The mob at Ephesus shouted out for the space of two hours, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians.” But the command is laid upon us, “Be not ye like unto them.” We are to avoid all vain repetitions. If prayers were valued according to their length, then there would be no prayers to compete with the prayers of the Pharisee. But the publican, who could only stammer out that one heart-broken petition, “God be merciful to me a sinner,” went to his home justified rather than the Pharisee, in spite of his long prayers. We have not yet got rid of the notion that there is some kind of merit in “long prayers.” We need to learn the truth Augustine wishes to enforce when he says that much speaking is one thing and much praying quite another. There can be much prayer in very little speech. In fact, the shortest prayers are always the most eloquent. Need abbreviates prayer. Want will make prayer direct and pointed. Two of the most moving prayers I know of in the whole range of Bible literature are, the prayer of the poor Canaanitish woman who had a sick daughter, and whose prayer consisted of three simple words, “Lord, help me”; and the prayer of that dying thief on the cross, who, in the agony of mortal pain, cried, “Lord remember me when Thou comest in Thy kingdom.” Brethren, it does not require many words to pray. No one need restrain himself from prayer because, like Moses, he is slow of tongue. You can compress a great prayer into the compass of a brief sentence. As Thomas Binney used to say, “A little prayer may bring a large answer, and bring it soon, if sincerity and faith give it wings. A short word may be made long enough to span the