thoughts, a compendium of Christianity, a perfect expression of what is most essential in the life of a Christian man, an epitome of the highest sentiments and of the most important principles and objects of religion.

The disciples were deeply impressed with the devotional spirit of Jesus. One evangelist records his retiring into a mountain apart to pray, and was there alone; another mentions that before choosing the twelve apostles he continued all night in prayer to God. On one occasion his three bosom disciples saw him in transports of devotion, his countenance altered, and his face shining as the sun.

It is characteristic of the prayers of Jesus that they always address the Almighty by the name of "Father:" "I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent [that is, the wise in their own eyes], and hast revealed them unto babes [that is, to simple-hearted and guileless people]: even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight." In the prayer of Jesus for himself and his disciples (John 17), he addresses "the Father," "the Holy Father," "the Righteous Father." In the agony of Gethsemane his prayer was, "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me." John does not record that agony, but he speaks of the anxiety and distress of Jesus a few days earlier, when his prayers were substantially the same: "Father, save me from this hour;" "Father, glorify thy name." Of the seven words of Jesus from the cross, two have the same form of address. He prayed for his murderers, "Father, forgive them." With his latest breath he breathed the prayer, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit."

The power and greatness of God are honored in the Old Testament. "I am the Almighty God," was the divine revelation to Abraham. "I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty," was the word of the Lord

to Moses. "Who is the King of glory?" asks the royal psalmist, and the answer is,

"The Lord, strong and mighty.
The Lord, mighty in battle,

He is the King of glory."

But this representation does not appear in any word of Jesus. It is his supreme teaching that God is our Father. He used the name more than fifty times, as recorded in the Gospels, when speaking of God; for example, "I seek not my own will, but the will of the Father who sent me;" "The word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's;" "All men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father." And when he commanded his disciples to go forth and teach the nations, he told them to baptize "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."

Of the twenty-seven times in which God is mentioned in the Sermon on the Mount, in seventeen of them it is as "Father." "What gives that sermon its everlasting value," says a truly inspired preacher, Phillips Brooks, "is the passing out of kingdom into the fatherhood, which lies enfolded at the heart of it. This is the key to unlock the mystery of that sermon."

The epistles of Paul glow with this representation. In every one, God is spoken of as "Our Father." They usually begin with the salutation of "grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father." "To us," says Paul, "there is one God, the Father." "God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father."

The epistles of Peter speak of "God the Father," of "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," of Christians as those who "call on the Father, and they say that Jesus "received from God the Father honor and glory."

The epistles of John speak of Jesus Christ as "that eternal life,

which was with the Father." They say, "Truly, our fellowship is with the Father," and "We have an advocate with the Father," and they bid us, "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.” They say "that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world," and call him "anti-christ that denieth the Father and the Son," while "he that abideth in the teaching of Christ, hath both the Father and the Son."

And so it came to pass from the teaching of Jesus and of the apostles, that faith in God the Father was put first in the profession of Christianity, and that for centuries childhood and manhood and trembling age have joined in the same confession, "I believe in God the Father Almighty." The confession and the prayer are in perfect correspondence and make a perfect chime.

The Lord's Prayer stands midway at the heart of the Sermon on the Mount, from the fifty-fifth to the fifty-ninth of the one hundred and seven verses. It appears in Luke 11: 2-4, with slight variations.

The first words, "Our Father," unite the feeling of brotherhood and the feeling of sonship, and we acknowledge that others have an equal share with us in God, in the family of our heavenly parent. He is in heaven and we hallow his Name in praise, saying, "Holy! holy! holy!" and praying that reverence and worship may be rendered unto Him by all creatures.

In the petition, "Thy kingdom come," we ask that the righteousness, peace, and joy, of which that kingdom consists, may be established in our hearts and lives, and in all the world.

In "Thy will be done on earth," we profess submission to the divine will, and to the laws which are the expression of that will, and pray that all things may be done according to that will, "as it is in heaven;" these last words incidentally assuring us of another world, where the will of God is done. These words belong equally to the first and to the second petition, and confirm

the faith that there is a world, where God's name is hallowed and His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His will is done.

The prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread," acknowledges our dependence upon the divine care and bounty, and asks not for an over-abundance, but for a competent portion of the things of this life to maintain us in comfort and self-support. Any inordinate desire for earthly things violates this petition. Moderation in all earthly desires is a constituent of Christianity and essential to the Christian life.

The prayer, "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us" (the preferable form of the petition in Tyndale's translation of the New Testament, 1525) includes a confession of our sins, and a prayer for forgiveness, with an acknowledgment of our forgiving those who have injured us, and asking for mercy as we ourselves exercise it. The unforgiving shut the door of mercy upon themselves. They are unforgiven. The prayer, "Lead us not into temptation," recognizes God's universal domain, that he rules over all worlds, and we ask that nothing may be suffered to befall us which shall be too great for our virtue, but that we may govern ourselves, our tempers and appetites and desires, so that we shall not be tempted above what we are able to bear, and with every temptation may find a way to escape. The prayer, "But deliver us from evil," while including temporal ills, has much more respect to moral evil, the sins which waste and ruin the soul, and we pray for grace and strength to save us from them, and keep us in the way of life.

Having begun the prayer, looking up to our Father in heaven, hallowing his name, asking that his kingdom come and his will be done, on earth, we then come down to ourselves, asking forgiveness, daily bread, and deliverance from temptation and evil; in the doxology we return where we began: "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever." This doxology is not in the oldest manuscripts of the New Testament that are

now preserved, but may have been added later. It is fully inspired by the spirit of Jesus, and no words could be more worthy and proper. Our heavenly Father's perfections and resources give us encouragement to pray, and we give to him all honor and majesty, all reverence and praise, world without end. Amen.