SERMON XVII.

THE LORD'S PRAYER.

LUKE Xi. 1.

"And it came to pass, that, as he was 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 our duty to pray, because God has especially required that we should apply to him; it is necessary to pray, because he alone is able to protect us from evil, and to give what we want. The prayer then of a reasonable man must be founded on just notions of the great Being to whom our petitions are addressed; we must understand what kind of prayers he approves, be assured of his ability and willingness to grant them, and earnestly strive to conform to them our own hearts and lives; otherwise our prayers will be but an unmeaning lipservice; they will not be the voice of faith; they will return into our bosom void and fruitless. It appears to me that our blessed Lord has so constructed the perfect form which we call the Lord's

Prayer, and which he commanded his disciples to use, in compliance with the humble and judicious request of my text, as to convey to us all those notions of God which we must possess in order to pray aright. At the same time that he teaches us what things we ought to seek in our prayers, and what things are most necessary for body and soul, he has admirably contrived that this short form should also teach us the knowledge of the true God, should be a manual of religion which the most uninstructed can easily retain in memory, and by so retaining it, have ever at hand treasures of wisdom, which the most learned heathen vainly inquired for. It is in this peculiar light that I now wish to consider the Lord's Prayer: to bring together in one discourse those declarations concerning him, with whom we have to do through eternity, which are obviously set forth in it, or at least may be easily drawn from it after serious consideration. And may the Holy Spirit, the great Author of light and wisdom, so bring these truths home to us, that we may pray with an enlightened understanding and a willing heart; may never mock God by irreverently rushing into his presence; without solemn consideration of the holy and perfect character of him whom we address!

We are taught to call God "our Father;" and by the selection of this title we are reminded that we are indebted to him for life, and for all the innumerable satisfactions which the gift of life renders us capable of. This at once binds all possible obligation

to adore, and love, and serve him on our reason and conscience. Because he has pleased to create us, we trace up, or rather we are most bound to trace up, every blessing to him as the real author of it. Earthly parents, though the best emblems which this world supplies of our relation to God, poorly exemplify it; they are but the instruments which his providence uses to call us into being. The more we contemplate the stupendous fact, that but a very few years ago we were as unconscious as the clod we tread upon, and that he, who from stones could raise up children to Abraham, has done an equal wonder in our own case; the more is our reason bewildered in attempting to penetrate into the marvel. We see no approaches towards a creative power in the united wisdom of the whole human race. The meanest insect, which sports its little day in the sunbeams, is as impossible to the skill of our hand, as the glorious sun himself, whose warmth is the means ordained for giving it life. Not a blade of grass is cropped by the herds and flocks on a thousand hills, which does not involve mysteries in its growth unfathomable by the philosopher, who points out to us their existence. With awe and reverence then should we ever turn our thoughts on Majesty, which, although it shows to us only the skirts of its glory, is still unapproachable by our intensest gaze. But, further, the loftier the heights of adoration to which we thus ascend, the more powerful are the motives for loving him whom we adore.

"Though he dwelleth on high, he humbleth himself to behold the things on earth':" "to behold," nay, much more, to watch with never ceasing care for our welfare, to manifest the most amiable part of a Father's character in giving all things needful for the present, and thus pledging his truth that through eternity we shall never lack one thing which he sees good for us. And if we thus feel our duty to honour and to love him, we shall equally acknowledge our duty to serve him. If you eat the food of an earthly master, if you are clothed and lodged by his wealth, are you not bound to employ your time and your thoughts in the work that he requires of you? How much more then is every faculty of the soul, every power of the body rightfully his, to whom alone you are thus taught to trace them! He has been graciously pleased to make our worldly labours a part of the duty we owe to him. But still God has the first, the clear, the undoubted claim to the whole of us; and wherever his will and our worldly duties or interests clash, it is abundantly plain that he must be followed and obeyed, even should it cost us, as it did the martyrs of old, our heart's blood to satisfy the claim.

But we must not expatiate on this inviting topic. We style God," our Father:" and hence we extend our view from his creation of ourselves, and see something of the vastness of his nature. Every man

addresses him as the author of his being as well as ourselves and since we are masters of this fair earth, and all its beauties and treasures, and since all the inferior animals which people it subserve directly or indirectly our benefit, and all the heavenly bodies around us harmoniously tend to the order and perfection of the whole, we feel assured that they proceed from one master-mind; that he is the common Father of all being, and must on this account be pronounced the Almighty. Neither do we stop here. If God be the common parent of all, he must love all and seek the welfare of all; there can be no defect or partialities in him. Whatever differences he makes among his creatures must be grounded only on the wisest reasons. Therefore in the sublime language of Scripture, "God is Love1;" he embraces all that he has made with such portions of his love, as he sees to be fit for them. But when we learn any part of God's character as it shines in him, we at the same time learn what sort of character he requires in us. It must be his will that we should be like him, should love as he loves, and hate as he hates. loves all his creatures, and with parental affection seeks their good, we are sure it is his will that we also love one another, and pray for one another: as we actually do, whenever we use the Lord's Prayer aright. But a title of additional honour is given to God, for

Therefore, if he

1 1 John iv. 16.