to utter anything before God; for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few." But the next clause of the prayer awakens reverence to mingle with our affection and gratitude, and reminds us that God is a holy Father. "Hallowed be thy name." He who sincerely offers this prayer, will wish and strive to hallow the name of God, not only by refraining from the profane use of it, not only with his lips, but in his life and with all the thoughts of his heart. He will strive never to murmur against God in his heart, as a hard master. He will seek to know that great and good Being so well, that his name, whenever it recurs, shall come with sacred and sweet and blessed associations, with a hallowing influence on his temper and his conduct. The next petition is, that God's "kingdom may come." That kingdom "cometh not with observation." It comes in the hearts of those who receive God for their King, and this request therefore leads, or should lead, the suppliant to search his own heart, and see whether every thought is yet brought into subjection to his Sovereign and his Saviour. The next is but a more definite statement of the preceding. "Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven." This prayer properly expresses not only a desire for resignation to the will of God, but a desire that he would give us strength to work with him in the fulfilment of his purposes. It is a desire to be delivered from all rebellious passions, that so we may do willingly and gladly what the heavens and all their hosts do, namely, fulfil the will and give back the glory of God. The next clause contains the nearest approach to a petition for temporal blessings that is found in the whole prayer. "Give us this day our daily bread." Interpreting it, however, according to the sentiments expressed by our Saviour on other occasions, we shall probably see reason to conclude that it is more a desire for gratitude and contentedness with what God is pleased to bestow, than a request for earthly gifts. Then follows an important clause. That the Saviour himself considered it important is evident from his remarking upon it separately at the conclusion of the prayer. We are directed to pray that God would "forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us." For, as Christ says afterward, "If ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your heavenly Father forgive your trespasses." Is not this inconsistent, it may be asked, with Christ's general representations of the mercy of his Father? Does it not imply, that the High and Holy One, the all-blessed Father, may be angry with the creatures of his hand and the children of his love? Does it not imply, that unless we love our brother, God will hate us? It does not imply this; does not imply any such changeableness in the disposition of God towards his children. God has so made us, that when we sin, we shut ourselves out from his presence, we hide ourselves from his face; and the idea of our hating our brethren and yet loving God and enjoying free communion with him, is impossible. A heart unreconciled to man and a heart reconciled to God are two hearts, and not one. If there remains in the bosom a lingering spark of anger towards a brother man, we cannot be forgiven of God; not because God hates us, but because we are not prepared to accept his forgiveness, because we will not be reconciled to God, who is already and always willing and desirous to receive us. And that we are not reconciled to God so long as we hate our brother, is evident. If we were reconciled to God, we should love the beings whom he loves and wishes us to love. It may truly be said, then, that unless we do his will towards our fellow-men, God will not admit us to his presence. He has written this law in our very natures. But it cannot be said that this indicates his anger; we cannot ascribe such a disposition to the Father of infinite love. The last petition is, that we may "not be led into temptation, but may be delivered from evil." If we offer this prayer sincerely, will not the desire which it implies naturally lead us to shun wanton exposure of ourselves to temptation? If we pray to God not to tempt us, we surely cannot be willing to tempt the Lord our God. And the prayer concludes with a general acknowledgment of the Divine greatness and majesty. It seems very appropriate that, when we have been making known our requests to such a Being, we should, after all, remind ourselves that it is our first duty to submit ourselves to his will, so far as it is from day to day revealed to us; to live such lives of holy effort, that prayer may become the spontaneous and necessary act of our souls, instead of what, there is reason to fear, it too often is meant to be, a substitute for active righteousness. The Lord's Prayer contains, and will reveal, when calmly and attentively studied, a sermon on Christian duty. To how many that simple prayer comes back, amid the recollections of childhood, as the embodiment of their Christian faith-as their creed and guide! If we could, all of us, live so as to be able to make this prayer in perfect sincerity, we should live far above the world. Let us be reminded of the close connection that God has established between holy living and prayer. A holy life makes men feel their need of prayer, and prayer, if rightly offered, re-acts upon the life, diffusing over it a prayerful and dependent as well as diligent spirit. Text-MATTHEW vi. 7—13. "THY WILL BE DONE." What though in lonely grief I sigh Then when on earth I breathe no more Thy will, my God, thy will be done! RIDE IN JUDEA. PART III. WHEN I was young, there was no part of the Bible history that I liked better than the account of John the Baptist before the open appearance of Jesus. Hermits are always an interesting kind of people,-living in caves, eating roots and herbs, and drinking only water, and spending their lives in thinking and praying, and giving the benefit of their meditations to those who come to gain wisdom from them. But, of all the hermits that ever lived, John the Baptist was the most interesting. He is supposed to have been brought up by some religious people, of the sect called Essenes, who disliked the pomp and pride of the Pharisees, and the hardness of the Sadducees; and who were as earnest as the Quakers of our day in advising plainness of dress and speech, and self-denial as to worldly pleasures, and the kindest care of the poor. These Essenes had a settlement near the Dead Sea, where they supported themselves by labour, and took in children to teach and train, and sent out missionaries to do good to the bodies and souls of men. If these messengers were kindly received in towns, it was very well. If not, they could rest and sleep in some cave of the many that are found among the rocks all through the hill country of Judea. If they were hungry, we know from what John did, how they might get food. When the locusts come over from the east or the south into Judea, in swarms which threaten the crops, the cultivator lights a fire of green wood, which causes a great deal of smoke, just in the way of their flight; and this smoke brings down the locusts by hundreds of thousands. The people think that these locusts, when grilled in the fire, make good food; so they pick off the legs and wings, and eat them, just as we eat shrimps. It is no more surprising to some people that the inhabitants of Judea should eat locusts, than that we should eat shrimps and prawns. Then, again, there are multitudes of bees in Judea; and they make their combs in very curious places; sometimes in clefts of the rock or under the roof of a cave, and very often in hollow trees. And thus, again, there was nourishing food in the woods and caves for those who travelled there. As for the dress of people who live in that region, it is to this day often made of camels' hair, as the covering for their tents is made of goats' hair. These make a coarse and rough sort of cloth, not so thick but that the air comes through, but fit to keep the wearer dry in heavy rain, and sufficiently warm when wrapped round him at night. Thus we are not to suppose that John had such strange ways of living as that he ate and wore what nobody else did. He lived as the inhabitants of that wild country were accustomed to do; and particularly according to the manner of the Essenes, who went about as missionaries. Though I was aware of this, I was eager to see the very country where John lived and baptized, and where he called upon everybody he saw to repent, and where he rebuked the tax-gatherers who were on their journey to collect the tribute from the people, and where Herod's soldiers, going to a fort on the Dead Sea, came and asked what he had to say to them. It was settled that we should go; and I do not believe there is a more interesting ride in the world than through the valley of the Jordan. One fine April morning, we met a large party on horseback-in the valley below the Mount of Olives. There were many servants and guards, who carried provisions for two days, and tents for us to sleep in; so that, with the laden horses, we made quite a troop. It was about nine o'clock when we began to ride up the slope of the Mount of Olives, on the road to Bethany. We rode through Bethany, which looks, I should think, much as it did when Martha and Mary and their brother Lazarus lived there. After leaving Bethany, the road from Jerusalem to Jericho becomes very dangerous, from the number of robbers that hide in the caves of the rocks, and pounce down upon travellers who are not strong enough to oppose them. Our party was so large that we were not attacked; but our guards and servants shouldered their guns, and let their spears be seen glittering in the sun, that any ill-disposed people, spying from the rocks, might see how well defended we were, and not fall upon us as thieves once did in this very place upon the traveller |