and glory, to check that too great familiarity which the word Father by itself might possibly encourage, to teach us that reverence as well as confidence should enter into the spirit of prayer; to remind us also that our Father, unlike all earthly parents, is infinite in his wisdom and his power; when we think of him as our Father, we know that he is willing to help us; when we think of him as our Father in heaven, we know that he is able to help And further, these words, "Our Father who art in Heaven," are suggestive of our future home, reminding us in our prosperity that this world is not our rest, assuring us in our adversity that "there remaineth a rest for the people of God."

us.

The first petition which we are taught to offer to our Father in Heaven is, "Hallowed be thy name." The first petition which we in our selfishness would be likely to offer would be a prayer for some personal benefit, but our Great Instructor teaches us to seek first the glory of our God; Hallowed be thy name"-thy name of God, thy name of Creator, King, Judge, but above all thy name of Father; let all men know and feel that thou art their Father. Somewhat similar to this is the next twofold petition, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven;" still, you see, prayer for ourselves is kept back, and we are taught first to desire the welfare of the whole world. It is a mistake to suppose that the words, "Thy will be done," have special reference to a spirit of resignation in times of distress. They have this meaning, no doubt; and to utter these words sincerely, when we are in the midst of trouble, is one of the sublimest conquests that man can possibly

achieve. "Thy will be done" is a prayer for all the afflicted in mind, body, or estate. May they be enabled thus to pray, to feel that those troubles, which they have not brought upon themselves by their own misconduct, are the expression of their Father's will, are wisely ordained as a necessary part of their education, and will be overruled for their highest good. But these words, "Thy will be done," stand not by themselves; they form part of a sentence, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." And when we speak thus, we utter our desire that God may reign in all men's hearts, and that the whole world may know and do his will; and I think that we must be convinced that it never will be right with the world until this prayer is fully answered, until we have heaven, and not hell, upon earth. If there is ever to be universal freedom, universal justice, universal purity, universal civilization, universal peace, amongst the peoples of the world, to what are we to look for the production of such a change? I know of but one instrumentality by which it can ever be accomplished. If the work is done at all, it must be done by Christianity; it must be done through the universal dissemination, and universal acceptance, of those principles which are delivered to us in the Gospel; and we pray for the world's highest good, we pray for that which alone can deliver it from its ignorance, its miseries, and its wrongs, when we pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

Thus far, then, we have prayed, not for ourselves, not for our own special advantage, but for the glory of our God, and the benefit of mankind at large; and the pre

cedence given to this class of petitions is a stern rebuke to that selfishness which is apt to creep even into our religion. He who gave himself for the world's redemption teaches us first to pray for the world's enlightenment, conversion, improvement, and perfection; and then, having first learned to pray for all mankind, we are at liberty to ask blessings for ourselves, and to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread." There is deep significance in this prayer. It teaches us to be moderate in our desires, to ask for bread, in which word are of course included all things necessary for our comfort-food, raiment, lodging, firing; but I should say that this word certainly excludes luxuries, excludes the desire for great wealth. And it is worthy of notice that the most covetous man does not venture to pray that God would render him rich. Men will pray for wisdom, for health, for the lives of those whom they love, for resignation, for patience, for deliverance from danger; but who ever heard of a man asking God for a fortune, praying that he might be worth £50,000? No! every one feels that such a prayer would be foolish and wrong, every one feels that daily bread is all that he has a right to ask for at the hands of God. But the prayer must not be so misunderstood as to be regarded in the light of a supplication which gives encouragement to idleness. An idler may pray his prayer from morning to night, and pray in vain. When we offer this prayer aright, we ask God for that bodily strength, that manual skill, that intellectual power, and that condition of trade and commerce, which shall enable us to earn our daily bread. This is not a prayer to be set free from the necessity of working, but a prayer

to be constantly enabled to work, and to have the constant opportunity of working. You see that this prayer is one especially adapted to the poor, at all events to the working-people; and from this we learn how much Christ considered the lot of the sons of toil. There are some, there are many, who you may say have no need to offer such a petition as this. Their daily bread has been provided, and, humanly speaking, it is safe. They have money that is well invested, so well that nothing short of national bankruptcy can ever reduce them to want; and is it not something rather absurd for a man worth £5000 a year, on the very best securities in land or in the funds, to ask day by day that God would give him his daily bread, seeing that God has given it him already? If the prayer were, Give me this day my daily bread, it would be scarcely the prayer for a rich man, although still it is not impossible for a rich man to come to poverty, and more wisdom is often required to keep money than to make it. But the rich man is taught that if his bread is safe he is to remember others. "Give us this day our daily bread." And though you may be in very good circumstances, well employed, in possession of money that you have saved, prepared for rainy days, yet if you have a heart at all you will pray this prayer, for there are thousands who are unable to procure their daily bread, who are struggling desperately for a bare subsistence; and there are not a few who until recently were surrounded by all the comforts of life, whose all has been suddenly swept away by the desolating tempest of commercial failure, and they have to consider how they are now to earn their daily bread; how now, no longer

young, no longer strong, they must nevertheless enter into competition with a more active generation, prepared to fight its way, and ready to encounter every difficulty. For all such distressed ones let us pray that God would, in the dispensations of his providence, open their way, and arrange for their subsistence and comfort. And therefore this is a prayer for the rich as well as for the poor-a prayer which the rich man can offer for others, if not for himself-a prayer which teaches us to think of the helpless, the unemployed, the distressed, and not only think of them, but to pity them, and help them according to our power. Thus the prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread," is a very great and comprehensive petition. It teaches us that for all things we are dependent upon the bounty of our Heavenly Father; it teaches us to moderate our desires, and not to be in that haste to be rich which is the ruin of so many; it teaches us industriously to labor for our daily bread; and it teaches us to have compassion on all our penniless and starving brothers and sisters. The plural pronoun brings all such within the compass of this petition, "Give us this day our daily bread"-Give bread to-day, not to me only, but to all that are in want-to the widow, to the orphan, to the man who is willing to work, but can get nothing to do; Lord, have mercy upon them all, and make me to

be merciful to them.

We are in the next place directed to pray for forgiveness-"Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us." You see that our Saviour takes it for granted that every man will be ready to admit that he has trespassed, that he has done wrong, that