Handbook, or Short Instruction

Chapter IV.

That it is just as great a sin to wish to be heard in prayer for the sake of one's own piety, as to omit prayer entirely on account of past sins.

In the fourth week, before you begin to speak your Lord’s Prayer The "Our Father" or Pater Noster, always repeat what you have heard before in this way:

Oh Lord, I know now through Your grace that You see and hear everything before I pray, and also that You drive, entice, and admonish us toward prayer and promise that it will certainly be heard. I also know that You love everyone equally and are no respecter of persons no respecter of persons: a biblical concept (Acts 10:34) meaning that God does not show favoritism based on social status, wealth, or even perceived religious merit. But now, such hindrances to prayer occur to me that I think: "Yes, You are indeed a lover of all humanity and show no partiality; however, I am unworthy and have been a great sinner. If only I were as holy and pious as Abraham, David, Paul, and Peter, then I would surely be heard in my prayer." Therefore, to drive away such hindrances to the right and to the left Referencing the spiritual "pincers" of pride/presumption and despair/guilt mentioned on the previous page from yourself, speak with David from the 130th Psalm on one side:

With You, nothing counts but grace and favor to forgive sin; it is in vain with our own deeds, even in the best of lives. original: "Bey dir gilt nichts denn Gnad und Gunst..." This is a quote from Martin Luther’s famous hymn "Aus tiefer Not," a poetic paraphrase of Psalm 130

Lord, do not enter into ju- The sentence is interrupted by the page break; the catchword "richt" indicates the word is "judgment" (Gericht), continuing the quote from Psalm 143:2