A T the western extremity of the City of Naples, where the beautiful road known as the Riviera di Chiaja terminates, is the famous Grotta di Pozzuoli,' a tunnel of great antiquity excavated through the hill of Posilippo, and supposed to date from the time of the Emperor Tiberius. This wonderful roadway, which is about 2300 feet in length, and of variable height, is a means of direct communication between Naples and Pozzuoli, about seven miles distant. Above the castern archway of the Grotta' is the supposed tomb of Virgil, and at the base of the hill it is understood that the poet's villa stood. Here also stands the Palazza di Remo, begun in 1600, and partly destroyed by fire in 1837. This is an enormous building, commanding a lovely view of the Bay, the Apennines, and Mount Vesuvius. After its partial destruction this palace was repaired and greatly enlarged. The reception apartments contain a fine collection of pictures by the best Italian masters, and in the chapel attached to the palace are many precious marbles. D. B. MCKEAN. Short Sermon. BY J. FOXLEY, M.A., VICAR OF MARKET WEIGHTON, AND RURAL DEAN. HOW TO PRAY. St. Luke, xi. 1.-'Lord, teach us to pray. OES prayer need to be taught? Our Lord's disciples thought so; and so did our Lord Himself, for when the disciples asked Him to teach them, He taught them. First He taught them a form of words to use when they prayed. He said unto them, 'When ye pray, say, Father, Hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we ourselves also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And bring us not into temptation.' I have purposely read this from the Revised Version. The difference between this and what we read in the same passage in the Old Version is very considerable. And there are yet other differences between the Lord's Prayer in St. Luke and in St. Matthew. Nay, there are some uncertainties as to the exact words which our Lord used in the prayer, and other uncertainties as to what two of those words mean. may we learn from this? Why, plainly that a form of prayer is very useful, but that we ought to use the form in the freedom of the spirit, not in the slavery of the letter. It is well that we should learn a form of prayer, and have it always ready whenever we pray; but it is not well so to tie ourselves to the form that we cannot speak freely to our Father, and tell Him our minds in our own words. I am speaking, in this sermon, of private prayer. United prayer must be according to a form. It is not united prayer if one man prays What and other people listen. Such prayer may be public prayer, but it is not united or common' prayer; that is, prayer in which all who are present may take an equal share. Besides teaching a form of prayer, our Lord taught His disciples the right faith for prayer. Heathen people have seldom any notion of God, except that He is very strong, and very likely to hurt them. Prayer, with them, is mostly trying to persuade God not to hurt them. Our Lord says that God is our Father. You bad men, He says, do the best you can for your children; do you not think that God, who is good as well as wise and strong, will do the best He can for you? Let us, then, according to our Saviour's teaching, not be too proud to use forms of prayer; but let us vary them according to our needs. And whenever we pray, let us pray to One who loves us and cares for us far better than any earthly father can. Let us pray as loving and trustful children, believing that our prayers will be answered as far as may be good for us. And now let me say a few things to help those who wish to improve in their prayers. 1. It is sometimes difficult to think of God. If we could see Him standing before us, as Abraham seems to have seen Him when he prayed for Sodom, we think it would be easy to pray. This is why men have made images to pray to. It is why many, even among Christians, pray to a consecrated wafer in their churches. But such worship is mistaken. The second commandment forbids it. It gives case, no doubt; but ease is not always right. The right way to think of God is to think first of Jesus Christ. At the end of many of our prayers we say, 'through Jesus Christ our Lord.' Do we always mean what we say? God is what Christ is. Christ and the Father are one. Think again of the Holy Spirit. We say we believe in the Holy Ghost. Do we believe in Him? Then we should believe that, when we pray, the Holy Ghost prays with us. Think again of the holy angels. They see God, and they see us. They are ministering spirits, sent forth to do service for the sake of them that shall inherit salvation. Before you begin your prayers stand still for a moment or two, and then think of God. 2. There are several parts of prayer. The Morning and Evening Prayer of the Church consists of four or five parts: confession of sin, praise, thanksgiving, Scripture reading, and asking for what we want. Strictly speaking, prayer is asking only. But we shall ask all the better if we confess our sins, praise God for what He is, thank Him for what He has done, and study the Scriptures. If you find your prayer drags heavily, turn at once to thanksgiving or to praise, or to both; or read slowly and thoughtfully a few lines in your Bible. It is not necessary for all people to arrange their prayers in the same order, nor for the same person to keep to the same order at all times. 3. What should be the posture of prayer? We may pray in any posture,-standing behind the counter, walking behind the plough, sitting on the shoemaker's bench, crouching in the coal-mine, lying weary on the ground. But as there should be special times of prayer, so there should be special postures. Is it best to kneel at a low chair or bed, with our head buried in our hands? Does not this tend to sleepiness, and do we not need all our faculties at their best for our best prayers? In church, which do we find best-to sit on a seat and lean forward, or to kneel on the floor or a low hassock, rest our hands or arms on the back of the next seat, and keep our bodies nearly upright? In our homes I think it is best to kneel at a table, or something high enough to hinder us from anything that may help to make us drowsy. 4. I have said we should have special times for prayer. Every Christian will endeavour to have two such times at least every day -morning and evening. With many the morning prayers must be very short. But there must be few or none who cannot if they will find some few words in the morning; and in the evening most of us might do more than that. Sometimes it might be well to have our evening prayers an hour or two before bed-time; and when opportunities come in our way, why should we not use them for prayer at any hour of the day? How much time now wasted in waitingrooms at railway stations might be utilised for prayer. There, of course, we could not kneel, or give other outward sign of prayer ; but God will hear the humble soul although the humble posture be impossible. 5. The place of prayer should be where we can be alone, if we can choose the place. Much has been said about churches as places for private prayer; and if we can guard against 'praying in the synagogues to be seen of men,' a church may often be the best place. But churches could not be open for private prayer after dusk without risk of great mischief; and those who cannot find a place to pray in by themselves must even have courage to pray amongst others, and sometimes to show that they are praying. Courage of this sort has been richly rewarded. Some who began by scoffing have ended by praying. 6. I would lay special stress on praying for others. Do not let us be selfish in our prayers. Let our minds pass in review before God every member of our own families, our chief friends one by one, some of our neighbours and fellow-townsmen, parishes, societies, colleges, schools, in which we are interested, our god-children, and any whom we have promised to pray for, some of them, maybe, in foreign lands. Indeed, there is no limit to prayer so long as one soul whom Jesus died for has not been prayed for; nor even then, for we must pray again and again, and often, not stopping like the half-hearted king who smote thrice and stayed (2 Kings, xiii. 14-19). No one who has not tried such intercession can know how sweet it is. How useful it is we sometimes discover after many days. Its full use we may know beyond the grave. 7. Books of prayer are often helpful. They contain forms, not better than the Lord's own form, but with a useful variety; and when our own thoughts are poor and slow, we may often be helped by the printed prayers of wiser and better Christians. 8. Lastly, there must be practice and perseverance. Prayer is not a luxury which anybody may fly to when he has nothing more interesting at hand. Like many other good gifts of God, we only find how good it is by using it often and well. |