praying in a certain place, when He ceased, one of His disciples said unto Him, 'Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples." It is not to be doubted that the disciples were already in the habit of prayer, but they probably wished for some words which should more peculiarly embody that new religious life to which their Master had introduced them. And they remind Him that John, probably when here among the scenes in which they were now dwelling, had furnished his pupils with some formula of devotion.

The Lord did not refuse their request, but instead of any fresh instructions, He simply repeated to them those words which, in His Sermon on the Mount, He had given as an example of true and acceptable prayer. We must reserve these for

another section.

THE

SECTION XIV.

LORD'S

PRAYER.

“A

LUKE Xi. 2-4; MATTHEW vi. 9-13.

ND He said unto them, 'When ye pray, say,

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.'"

As we do not find the apostles in the subsequent

history confining themselves to these words, or indeed making use of them as a set form at all, it is probable that they understood our Lord as suggesting to them by these weighty sentences, what should be their manner of addressing God, and what the subjects of their petitions. And the way in which our Lord first gave the prayer, would favour this view. "After this manner therefore pray ye,”* not at all precluding us from using the words themselves, but chiefly enforcing their spirit.

And first, they were to go to God as their Father -as One who knew them and cared for them, and needed not to be wrought upon by much speaking. It is of great importance that we should remember this, that He to whom we pray is our Father, that He is most willing to give us it is right and good for us. enlarged upon presently.

Then as to our petitions.

what we ask, if only We shall see this point

The first thing they

are taught to ask for, that which it is supposed would be deepest in their hearts, is that God should be everywhere known, reverenced, and obeyed; that His designs and purposes should be perfectly carried out. And if we truly love God, if we know any thing about him-if we know especially, and keep in mind that He is Love, we shall know that in asking that His kingdom may come, and His will be done, without any obstruction, we are asking for every possible blessing. What is the cause of all the unhappiness that there is in the world, but that

* Matthew vi. 9.

in some way or other the will of God is neglected and His rule disobeyed. All political tyranny, oppression, and cruelty, is a setting aside His kingdom, which is righteousness and peace. All selfishness, fraud, meanness, injustice, and unkindness in social and family life, is the result of forgetting and keeping out of sight His will. A great many of the natural evils which afflict the world, disease, accidents, poverty, and destitution, would disappear, if God's will in His physical laws were attended to, not by a few only, but by every one. And we must remember that if we really ask these things, knowing what we ask; if we really wish that God's will may be done, it is incumbent upon us to try and find out what is that contribution to His will which He has laid upon us, what is that little piece of His will for the good and happiness of all, which He has entrusted to us to do. Whatever is fairly in our power to do, whatever it is our duty to do, that is a part of the will of God which we pray may be done.

The next prescribed object of our prayers, as it will be of our desires, is Daily Bread, that is, as the Catechism expresses it, "All things that be needful both for our souls and bodies;" such necessaries and comforts as are required to keep our physical powers equal to their work, and our minds able to attend to it. The wise general takes care that his soldiers shall have their daily rations. The father of the family takes care of the comforts of his children, and we are taught to ask of our Heavenly Father, "Give us day by day our daily bread."

But in all our approaches to God we are liable to

have our mouths stopped by a feeling of unworthiness; not merely by that general conviction of our sinfulness which is an habitual part of our religion, but by the recollection of specific acts of wrongdoing. We are, or ought to be, ashamed to ask anything of God, when we recollect, perhaps, that only an hour before we gave way to some feeling, or utterance to some passion, which we know must have been hateful to Him. For this also, provision is made. We are taught to ask forgiveness, and to use the remarkable plea, that "we also forgive every one that is indebted to us." It is because forgiveness is a right thing; because we feel that it is becoming the character of Him who is "The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin"*-therefore it is that we are encouraged to say-" Forgive us our trespasses." But if we do not forgive the trespasses of others, we practically justify the character of the implacable and unmerciful; we make our own plea void, and with what measure we mete, we must expect that it shall be meted to us again.

Lastly, we are taught to seek protection from all dangers, from everything that God sees to be bad for us, whether we see it or not; as the Catechism says, "In all dangers, ghostly and bodily . . . . from all sin and wickedness, and from our ghostly enemy, and from everlasting death."

* Exod. xxxiv. 6,

St. John says, "This is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us."* Now, if we would know whether any prayer of ours be according to God's will, let us consider if it be after the manner of the Lord's Prayer. Not that we need always be thinking of it, and trying to frame our petitions after this model. That would be cold and formal praying. All the comfort of prayer lies in this, that in it we pour out our hearts to God. But if our hearts be in a right state, we shall find, when we call up to our minds what we have been asking, that our leading desire that which lies at the ground of all else, and by which all else is checked and modified-is the carrying out of God's work and will; that our desires for earthly things are limited to such things as are really needful, and that we dread and abhor, above all things else, that which is really evil.

When spoken in the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord added to the petitions these words, embodying the great thought which must ever underlie intelligent prayer-" For Thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory for ever. Amen."

"A

SECTION XV.

ENCOURAGEMENT TO PRAYER.

LUKE xi. 5-13.

ND He said unto them, 'Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three

I John v. 14.