{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_70953/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_70953","id":"gutenberg_70953","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/70953","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Religion/Spirituality","Lord's prayer"],"text":"The Model Prayer\n\n\n\n\n                            THE MODEL PRAYER\n\n                       A SERIES OF EXPOSITIONS ON\n\n                          \u201cTHE LORD\u2019S PRAYER\u201d\n\n                                   BY\n\n                        J. D. JONES, M.A., B.D.\n\n  AUTHOR OF \u201cTHINGS MOST SURELY BELIEVED,\u201d \u201cTHE GOSPEL OF GRACE,\u201d ETC.\n\n                            _THIRD EDITION_\n\n                                 LONDON\n\n            JAMES CLARKE & CO., 13 & 14, FLEET STREET, E.C.\n\n\n\n\n                             PREFATORY NOTE\n\n\nThe Expositions in this volume were originally given as Sunday morning\nlectures. They are printed in deference to the wishes of members of my\ncongregation, who, finding them helpful when first delivered, desire to\npossess them in more permanent form. They do not lay claim to any\noriginality. I have derived help from many quarters, especially from the\nexpositions of the Lord\u2019s Prayer written by Dr. Dods and Dr. Stanford\nrespectively. My thanks are also due to my friend Mr. E. Carr for many\nvaluable suggestions, and for kindly undertaking to see this little\nvolume through the press.\n\nJ. D. J.\n\n_Feb., 1899._\n\n\n\n\n                                CONTENTS\n\n\nI.\u2014The Disciples\u2019 Request 9\n\nII.\u2014\u201cOur Father\u201d 25\n\nIII.\u2014\u201cHallowed be Thy Name\u201d 44\n\nIV.\u2014The Second Petition 62\n\nV.\u2014The Third Petition 82\n\nVI.\u2014\u201cDaily Bread\u201d 100\n\nVII.\u2014\u201cForgiveness\u201d 117\n\nVIII.\u2014\u201cTemptation\u201d 137\n\nIX.\u2014The Model Prayer 157\n\n\n\n\n                                   I\n                        The Disciples\u2019 Request.\n\n\n    \u201cAnd it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, that\n    when He ceased, one of His disciples said unto Him, Lord, teach us\n    to pray, even as John also taught his disciples.\u201d\u2014LUKE xi. 1.\n\n\nIt is my purpose, God willing, to give at intervals, on Sabbath\nmornings, a series of expositions of that prayer which our Lord taught\nHis disciples to pray, which, because of its beauty, its spirituality,\nits broad, loving charity, has well deserved the names \u201cEpitome of the\nGospels\u201d and \u201cPearl of Prayers.\u201d But before I address myself to the\nconsideration of the prayer itself, I would like to clear the ground a\nlittle\u2014to explain its setting\u2014to consider the circumstances that called\nit forth, so that we may be able to appreciate and understand it the\nbetter.\n\nThis prayer\u2014the Lord\u2019s prayer as we commonly call it, though I often\nthink it might be more appropriately called \u201cThe Disciples\u2019 Prayer\u201d\u2014is a\nprayer we learned at our mother\u2019s knee; it is hallowed for many of us by\nthe fact that those who taught it to us at the first have exchanged\nprayer for praise: earth for heaven. Their lips have been silent for\nlong years, but the prayer they taught us in our childhood, we repeat\nmorning and evening still! Ah! how many times we have repeated it! From\nthe very dawn of life this has been our prayer! We repeated it as\nchildren! We are repeating it to-day, as grown up men! Some of us are\nrepeating it as old men! This prayer is one of the dear familiar things\nof life. But there is a danger in our very familiarity with this\nbeautiful prayer. The peril is that by using it so often, it may become\nto us a mere form of words; the danger is that when we repeat it, we may\ndo so mechanically\u2014that we may say the Lord\u2019s Prayer _without praying_.\n\u201cFamiliarity breeds contempt,\u201d we say. People who live in the Alps think\nnothing of the splendid scenery that we English people go hundreds of\nmiles to see. The dwellers in inland towns long for the time to come\nwhich will allow them to spend a brief holiday by the sea. They are\nfascinated, spell-bound by the changeful, mysterious, beautiful ocean.\nThere are on the other hand, those of us who live in towns like this,\nwho allow weeks and months to pass by without ever visiting the shore.\nThere is ever this danger, that through our familiarity with them, the\nbeautiful things around us should lose their beauty, and appear\ncommon-place in our eyes. That is the danger we are in with regard to\nthis \u201cPearl of Prayers.\u201d It is one of the familiar things of life, and\nour very familiarity with it may have dulled our sense of its beauty.\nFrequent usage may have dimmed our perception of its sweet simplicity,\nand its soaring spirituality. There is the danger of its becoming on our\nlips a mere form of words. There is the danger of its becoming, instead\nof a real, throbbing, living prayer, a cold, heartless, formal\nutterance.\n\nThe next best thing to saying a new thing, is to say an old thing in a\nnew way. Originality consists not so much in discovering new truth, as\nin making old truth real and vital. The painter does not invent the\nbeauty of nature which he depicts on his canvas, he simply brings it out\nand makes it visible. \u201cI never see the kind of things you paint in your\npictures,\u201d said a lady one day to Turner, the great artist. \u201cDon\u2019t you\nwish you did, madam?\u201d was the painter\u2019s reply, The fault was in the\nlady\u2019s vision. The artist saw beauties in nature which were missed and\nunheeded by the crowd, and painted them for us on his glowing canvases.\nThe preacher sees wonders and glories in old and familiar things\u2014glories\nmissed or unheeded perhaps by those who have less time to read and\nponder this grand old book. It is his business to bring them out, to\nshow to his people the peerless beauty there is even in the most common\nand familiar things. Buttercups and daisies are common little flowers.\nThey cover our fields. They carpet our meadows. We cannot take a walk in\nthe fields in summer without treading hundreds of them under foot. They\nare so cheap and common that no one ever thinks of making a posy of\ndaisies, unless it be our children, and they often enough fling the\nlittle flowers away before they reach their homes. Yet there is beauty\nin the daisy, and a glory in the buttercup. It is only familiarity that\nhas made us blind. We should think them beautiful perhaps if they were\nas rare as orchids. And even as it is, we need only listen to a lover of\nflowers as he describes to us the delicacy and beauty of the daisy and\nthe buttercup, to realise that even these\u2014the commonest flowers that\nbloom\u2014reveal something of the glory of God. Probably there is no form of\nwords so absolutely and universally familiar as the Lord\u2019s Prayer. I\nwould like, if I can, to reveal to you some of its wonder, and beauty,\nand glory. There are, in this old familiar prayer, heights we have never\nscaled, depths we have never sounded. I want, if I can, to help you to\nrealise its meaning, to feel its power, to grasp the sweep of its\ndemands, so that this\u2014the most familiar of all prayers\u2014may be on our\nlips, fresh, real, vital; so that we may pray, not with the lips only,\nbut with the understanding also, so that when we use these sacred words,\nwhether it be in public or in private, we may not simply repeat the\nLord\u2019s Prayer, but really and truly _pray_. To bring out the full\nmeaning of this familiar prayer, to illustrate its truths, to point out\nthe demands it makes\u2014that is the aim I have set before myself in this\nseries of expositions which I purpose to deliver.\n\nI would first of all call your attention to the circumstances of the\norigin of this prayer. My text sets these forth. Jesus Christ had been\npraying. He was a man of prayer. His favourite temple was the mountain\ntop. Away from the noise and bustle of the town, in the solitude of the\nmountain summit, in the solemn hush and silence of the night, Jesus\nChrist prayed. No one can talk much with God without bearing about with\nhim visible results of that high fellowship. Moses, after he had been on\nthe mount with God, came down with a countenance that had caught and\nretained some of the divine glory. His face shone. John G. Paton, the\nheroic missionary, tells in his autobiography how his saintly father\nwould withdraw every day to talk with God, and as children he and his\nbrother used to notice with wonder and awe the beautiful light upon\ntheir father\u2019s face when he came forth from that interview. Do not think\nme fanciful when I say that I believe that the Master\u2019s face in the\nmorning used to proclaim plainly in what sacred communion He had been\nspending the night. The halo of the old painters may be fancy, but I am\nsure that there would be a radiance about the Saviour\u2019s face, an aspect\nof such unruffled serenity and calm upon His countenance, as would\nproclaim to all that Jesus had been spending the night in holy\nfellowship with God. There were many things to try our Lord in life\u2014the\nmalignant hatred of the Pharisees, the persistent blundering of the\ndisciples; and often when Jesus left the mountain He was tired, worn,\nweary, but after His night of prayer Jesus always came down from the\nmountain peaceful, calm and strong. And I cannot help thinking that His\ndisciples must often have noticed that expression of calm and peace on\ntheir Master\u2019s face after His nights of prayer. It quickened within them\nthe desire to pray as their Master prayed, that they too might enjoy the\nlike peace and strength. And that leads me to remark in passing that\npeople are to be convinced of the supreme value of prayer\u2014not by tracts\nabout prayer, not by eloquent and clever sermons which profess to\nexplain away all the difficulties connected with prayer, _but by seeing\nin us the effects of prayer_. When they see us calm, happy, and strong\nin the midst of the difficulties and worries and cares of life, they\nwill want to know the secret, and so they too will be led to pray. Was\nit not so with these disciples? Jesus had gone apart to pray. And when\nHe ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, \u201cLord, teach us to pray,\neven as John also taught his disciples.\u201d They wanted to be in command of\nthe secret of peace. They wanted to be in possession of the key to God\u2019s\nstorehouse of power. \u201cTeach us to pray.\u201d And it was in answer to that\nrequest that Jesus gave to them the \u201cPearl of Prayers.\u201d\n\nNow, looking at this request of the disciples for a moment, will you\nnotice that it is:\n\nI. _A Confession of Need._ \u201cTeach us to pray.\u201d We ask the question\nsometimes, \u201cWhy do men pray?\u201d Why do men pray! We might just as well\nask, \u201cWhy does the nightingale sing? Why does the eagle soar into the\nboundless blue?\u201d The nightingale sings because it was made to sing; the\neagle soars away because its pinions were made for flight, and man prays\nbecause he was made for prayer. \u201cTeach us to pray.\u201d That is just the cry\nof men who must have their instincts satisfied. Man was made to pray.\nThis is the cry that gives expression to the necessity of his nature.\n\u201cLord, teach us to pray.\u201d Let me remind you that this is not a need\nwhich Christianity has created. Oh, no! the need is in the very make and\nconstitution of a man. Christ only satisfied the need. Prayer is as old\nas man himself. The first man is far removed from us; in outward\ncircumstances we are utterly unlike him, but we are like him in this\nrespect, in our need of prayer. Society to-day is very different from\nthe primitive simplicity of society in the time of the patriarchs; but\nwe are like Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in this respect\u2014we all pray. The\nBible is a book of prayers. It is the great prayer-book of the world.\nAll the prayers in it are not on the same spiritual level. In many you\nwill find much that is mistaken. But there they are\u2014the prayers of\nAbraham, Jacob, Moses, David, Solomon, Elijah, Hezekiah\u2014all bearing\nwitness to the same need, the same instinct. And I will not confine what\nI am saying to the men who are mentioned in the Bible. This sense of\nneed is universal. God made man for Himself, and wherever you find man\nyou find his heart and flesh cry out for the living God. The African who\nworships his fetish, the Hindoo who prostrates himself before his idol,\neven those poor, benighted people who do their praying by machinery\u2014all\nthese by their acts bear witness to the universal need. Indeed, it is\nthis sense of need that makes the wide world one. When an infant is in\nneed of anything it cries, and the cry of the little one is its prayer.\nWhen we men are in need of anything we _pray_; we may pray in a hundred\ndifferent ways; we may utter no spoken word, but pray we must. In this\nrespect, men the whole world over are the same. North and south, east\nand west, whereever you find man, you find him with this instinct for\nGod, under this necessity to pray. It was because these twelve disciples\nfelt that necessity that they made this request eighteen hundred years\nago to the Man who was best able to answer it, \u201cLord, teach us to pray.\u201d\n\nII. This request of the disciples is _a confession of ignorance_. \u201cTeach\nus to pray,\u201d said the disciples. Prayer was a necessity to them. But\n_how_ were they to pray? What were they to _pray for_? These disciples\nfelt that there might be a right and a wrong way of praying; that there\nmight be a right and a wrong in the things prayed for. And they judged\nrightly. Prayer is the key to the treasure house of God, but it will lie\nuseless in man\u2019s hand until he is shown how to use it. So here comes the\nConfession of Ignorance, \u201cLord, teach us to pray.\u201d \u201cWe know not how, nor\nwhat to pray for\u2014Thou must show.\u201d\n\n\u201cTeach us to pray!\u201d Teach us _how_! for there is a right and wrong of\npraying. Man _must_ pray\u2014he cannot help himself. But how he blunders in\nhis attempts at prayer sometimes. Look at the Hindoo cutting and maiming\nhimself! Look at the Mongol with his praying machine! Ah, yes, man needs\nto be taught _how_ to pray. I think the disciples wanted to know what I\nmay call without irreverence the \u201cetiquette\u201d of prayer. \u201cWherewithal\nshall I come before the Lord and bow myself before the High God?\u201d that\nwas their difficulty. They knew not how they were to enter into the\npresence of the great King. If a man wishes to be presented to the King,\nhe must obey all the formalities of Court etiquette, and to many that\nseems rather a formidable task. Perhaps these disciples thought there\nwere equal difficulties in the way of approach to the throne of the\nHeavenly grace. They wanted to know the etiquette of God\u2019s court. \u201cTeach\nus to pray. We know not how.\u201d Do we need an intermediary at the throne?\nDo we need to be introduced to Him that sits thereon? By what name shall\nwe address Him? \u201cLord, teach us to pray. We know not _how_.\u201d And here\nJesus instructs their ignorance. \u201cYou need no intermediary, go boldly to\nthat Throne yourselves; you need no introduction to Him that sits\nthereon\u2014He knows you, calls you by your name; address Him not as King,\nJudge, Lord\u2014call Him Father.\u201d It was in answer to their confession of\nignorance that Jesus taught His disciples _how_ to pray.\n\nBut further, these disciples knew not what to pray _for_. They did not\nknow what they were to ask for in their petitions! Nor do we! We are\n\u201cthe sons of ignorance and night.\u201d We do not know what is best for us! I\noften think that if God wished to be unkind to us, He has only to answer\nour prayers; for we ask Him for things that can only do us harm. The\nlittle child often begs for things that look nice, or are pleasant to\nthe taste, but the mother, who knows the harm that would result if these\nthings were given says \u201cNo.\u201d We are like little children in our\nignorance, and have often asked our Heavenly Father for things that\nwould only injure us. We have all of us to make this confession of\nignorance. We have all of us to acknowledge \u201cWe know not what to pray\nfor.\u201d We all need to go to Jesus with this request, \u201cLord, teach us to\npray.\u201d And He will teach us. He will tell us what to pray for. He will\ntell us what _He_ prayed for. He will tell us how He told out to His\nFather all His desires, but ended every prayer with these words,\n\u201cNevertheless, not my will but Thine be done,\u201d and He will give us the\nassurance that whatsoever we ask of the Father in His name after the\nSpirit of His prayers, the Father will give unto us.\n\nIII. This request of the disciples is a confession that _the old prayers\nare no longer good enough_. \u201cLord, teach us to pray,\u201d they said. Had,\nthen, these disciples never prayed before? Yes, many a time, every day\nof their lives, and probably several times each day. I imagine that\nbefore Jesus called the twelve, they had been what the world would call\n\u201creligious men.\u201d In fact, we need not imagine it, we know it. Several of\nthem had been disciples of John the Baptist before they became disciples\nof Jesus. The Jews were, we are told, particularly conscientious in the\nmatter of prayer. Three times a day they withdrew for devotion. And\nthese disciples were good Jews, strict Jews, punctilious in their regard\nfor all points of ritual. We are justified, therefore, in saying that\nthe disciples all through their lives had been attentive to the duty of\nprayer. What, then, is the explanation of this request \u201cLord teach us to\npray?\u201d Well, the explanation is simply this: _the old prayers no longer\nsatisfied them_; even the prayers John the Baptist had taught them\nseemed strangely deficient or inappropriate. After living with Jesus,\nafter hearing Him preach, after listening to His words about God, the\nold stereotyped prayers seemed to lose all their beauty and power. The\ndisciples felt they could not pray them any longer. They had received\nfrom Jesus a new revelation of God, and this new revelation of God\ncreated the need for a new prayer. There is a familiar ballad the first\nline of which runs, \u201cI cannot sing the old songs.\u201d Some change has taken\nplace in the singer\u2019s feelings which makes the old song inappropriate,\nimpossible. It was so with these disciples. They could not pray the old\nprayers, because their hearts were changed. We all know something of\nthis kind of feeling. Sometimes I look back over old sermons, and very\noften I have to say to myself, \u201cI could not preach that again.\u201d God has\nbeen teaching me during the years of my ministry, and leading me into a\nfuller knowledge of the truth. In sermons, as in wellnigh everything\nelse, \u201c_Time makes ancient good uncouth_.\u201d It was so with the twelve.\nThey had been to school to Christ; from their great Master they had\nlearned many a new and glorious lesson about God, and the result of\ntheir new knowledge of God, their larger, grander conceptions of His\ncharacter, was the absolute necessity for a new prayer. They had\noutgrown the old ones in which they had been brought up. They no longer\nexpressed their feelings or satisfied their needs. You have an\nillustration of what I am trying to point out in the history of Paul. He\nwas a prominent man in religious circles before he became a Christian.\nHe was scrupulous in his observance of religious duties. After the\nstraitest sect he lived a Pharisee, and if the Pharisees were\npunctilious about one thing more than another, it was their prayers. But\nyet, in the account of his conversion, Scripture, after describing Saul\nas alone and blind in the house in the street called Strait, adds this\nremark, as if recording a new fact in Saul\u2019s history, \u201cBehold he\nprayeth.\u201d Saul had said his prayers thousands of times before, but now,\nfor the first time, he was praying the new prayer, which a sense of his\nown sin and the gentleness of God had made necessary. Oh, yes, when\nreligion is a formality then a prayer which is also a formality will\nsuffice. But once we see the love of God, once we feel our own\nunworthiness, we shall find the old formal prayers will no longer\nsuffice. We shall need a new prayer then, and like these disciples we\nshall come to Christ with the request, \u201cLord, teach us to pray.\u201d\n\nNotice what the disciple adds, \u201cAs John also taught his disciples.\u201d\nChrist might imitate John in the act of teaching, but in the prayer\ntaught Jesus was no imitator. Here Jesus was grandly, supremely\noriginal. This was a new prayer He gave. John could not have given it.\nNo _man_, however saintly and good, could have given it. It surpasses\nthe best efforts of man as the sunlight surpasses the starlight. No one\nbut the Son, who lay in the bosom of the Father; no one but the Son, who\nhad intimate knowledge of the very heart of God, could have taught this\nprayer, for it opens with a New Name for God\u2014the name Father\u2014and no man\nknoweth the Father but the Son.\n\nThis short but perfect prayer is the Master\u2019s answer to the request of\nHis disciples. They say that prayer is never answered! This \u201cPearl of\nPrayers\u201d is the best refutation of that statement. It was given in\nanswer to prayer. \u201cLord, teach us to pray,\u201d said the disciple, and the\nanswer to his request was this prayer, which has met the needs and\nexpressed the desires of God\u2019s people throughout all generations. And so\nthis prayer itself becomes the best proof of the truth proclaimed in our\nhymn,\n\n                     Beyond our utmost wants\n                       His love and power can bless,\n                     To praying souls He always grants\n                       More than they can express.\n\n\n\n\n                                   II\n                              \u201cOur Father\u201d\n\n\n    \u201cAfter this manner therefore pray ye, Our Father which art in\n    heaven.\u201d\u2014MATT. vi. 9.\n\n    \u201cWhen ye pray, say Father.\u201d\u2014LUKE xi. 2.\n\n\nI said last Sunday morning that in the prayer He taught, Jesus was\ngrandly, supremely original. That originality appears in most striking\nfashion in the invocation with which the prayer opens. The prayer Jesus\ntaught His disciples to pray begins with a new name for God, \u201cWhen ye\npray, say _Father_.\u201d\n\nIn the Old Testament God is very seldom spoken of as Father, and when\nthe name _is_ used, it is always with reference to the _nation_ of\nIsrael and not to individuals\u2014that is to say, the name \u201cFather,\u201d the few\ntimes it occurs in the Old Testament, stands for a _national_ not a\n_personal_ relationship. The Old Testament has many names for God\u2014names\nthat tell of His might, His power, His majesty. It speaks of Him as\nJehovah; it speaks of Him as the great \u201cI am\u201d; it speaks of Him as\n\u201cKing\u201d and \u201cLord\u201d\u2014but from Genesis to Malachi you will not find a single\ninstance of an individual speaking of God as \u201cFather.\u201d Moses did not\ndare to use this name. David, the sweet singer of Israel, missed this\nnote of tenderness from his songs. Isaiah, in the sweep of his passion\nand genius, never took this name into his lips. It was left to Jesus\nChrist to tell us God\u2019s best and truest name. It was left to Him to say,\n\u201cWhen ye pray, say Father.\u201d\n\nI suppose no one can pass from the Old Testament to the New without\nbeing conscious of a change of atmosphere. Between the books there is a\ndifference of theological climate. It is the difference between\nstarlight, clear but cold, and the warm and gracious sunlight; it is the\ndifference between law and gospel; it is the difference between debt and\ngrace; it is the difference between fear and love; it is the difference\nbetween servitude and sonship; it is the difference between Sinai and\nCalvary. And the whole of this vast difference is made by this word\n\u201cFather.\u201d That name is written large upon every page of the New\nTestament, and that new name has brought with it a new joy and gladness\ninto the world.\n\nThis name \u201cFather\u201d is a new name. It is a name _no one but Jesus could\nhave revealed to men_. We could never have known God the Father save\nthrough the Incarnate Son. Men only saw God _from the outside_. They\nonly judged Him by His works. They were impressed by His greatness, His\nwisdom, His power, as revealed to them in the wonders of earth and sea\nand sky, and they named Him accordingly. But men felt that, after all,\nwisdom and power and might were only _parts_ of God\u2019s ways; they felt\nthere was a secret about God which they had not been told, and they had\nto confess that, strain as they would, there were clouds and thick\ndarkness about Him through which no eye could pierce. But here we get a\nview of God, if I may so speak, _from the inside_. Here you have God\u2019s\nheart laid bare. Here you have light thrown upon the inmost nature of\nGod. The secret hidden from prophet and psalmist and seer is here\ndeclared to the world in this name \u201cFather.\u201d Who could have given God\nthis name? Who could have discovered this grand secret? Who could have\nthrown this light upon the Divine nature? Only Jesus\u2014only the Son who\nfrom eternity had lain in the bosom of the Father. The knowledge of God,\n_the Father_, is only to be gained through the Incarnate Son. \u201cNo man\nknoweth the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son shall\nreveal Him.\u201d And it seems to me that one of the chief ends for which\nChrist came to earth was just to tell us this new name, and so to bring\nsunshine into our souls and hope into our lives. In Bethlehem, in\nNazareth, in Galilee, in the garden of Gethsemane, on the Cross of\nCalvary, Jesus was spelling out for us this new name, revealing to us\nthat God is more than wisdom, more than power, more than justice; that\nGod above and beyond everything else is Love. So the very opening phrase\nof this \u201cPearl of Prayers\u201d brings us the best news ever whispered into\nthe ears of men. It tells us that love is at the heart of all things. It\ntells us that God is our Father and we are His children.\n\nIs God Father to everybody? Yes, to everybody. He is Father to the\nhumblest, the poorest, the most degraded. God said, \u201cLet us make man in\nour likeness,\u201d and in the image of God created He him. All men belong to\nGod\u2019s family, and upon all some trace of the family likeness is to be\nseen. The old Greek poet, whose words Paul quoted in his memorable\nspeech at Athens, had a glimpse of this truth when he wrote, \u201cWe also\nare his offspring.\u201d Yes, God is the _Father_ of all men! That is the\ntruth that has been rediscovered within the last half century, the truth\nof the Universal Fatherhood of God, and a blessed and glorious truth it\nis. That many men have forgotten God and rebelled against Him does not\naffect the reality of His Fatherhood. Absalom turned out a wayward,\ndisobedient son. He brought trouble, shame, and distress upon his father\nDavid. But the son\u2019s wickedness could not destroy the father\u2019s love.\nWhen news came that Absalom was dead, David wept long and sore, and the\nagony of his broken heart found expression in that pathetic cry, \u201cO my\nson Absalom, my son, my son Absalom; would God I had died for thee, O\nAbsalom, my son, my son.\u201d And you can parallel that story of David and\nAbsalom from modern life. I read of a young man who had sunk into a life\nof excess and sin and shame. He brought disgrace upon all connected with\nhim, and one by one men turned their backs upon him. One only clung to\nhim\u2014his poor old father. The one who had suffered most at his hand was\nthe one who continued to bear with him. \u201cWhy don\u2019t you turn him out?\u201d\nsaid his friends to the long-suffering old man. \u201cI cannot,\u201d replied he;\n\u201cI am his father.\u201d Those are hints, suggestions of the truth about God.\nGod is the Father of men, and though men sin, the Father still loves.\nThat is what Jesus would teach us in that most precious of all the\nParables\u2014the Parable of the Prodigal Son. God is Father not only to the\nobedient son, but He is Father also to the son who has strayed into the\nfar country and is wasting his substance there with riotous living. The\nFather\u2019s heart yearns for that absent and wayward child; and when that\nson returns in his rags and with penitent heart, it is the dear word\n\u201cFather\u201d that leaps to the prodigal\u2019s lips, and it is with the word\n\u201cSon\u201d that the father welcomes him home again. Yes, God is the Father of\n_all_. His love embraces _all_\u2014the lost, the ruined, the undone. His\nfamily is co-extensive with the race. But let me go on to\nsay\u2014paradoxical as it may sound\u2014that though God is the Father of all\nmen, _all men are not sons_. Wendt, the great German scholar, puts it in\nthis way, \u201cGod always is the loving Father of all men; nevertheless, men\nmust _become_ sons of the Heavenly Father by attaining His spirit of\ngratuitous, forgiving love.\u201d That is the Bible teaching I myself firmly\nbelieve. This old book proclaims the Fatherhood of God, and yet talks\nabout men _becoming_ God\u2019s sons. It talks about _receiving_ the spirit\nof adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The right to become children\nof God, it says, is given to those who receive Christ and believe in His\nname. In a word, while God _is the_ Father of _all_, men become His sons\nonly through Jesus Christ. _Possible_ sons all men are; but sonship\nbecomes actual and real only in Jesus Christ. It is those who are in the\nhome, who experience the father\u2019s tenderness and care, who know what\nsonship means. The son who has wilfully left home, who has taken his\nlife into his own hands, who has wandered into the far country, he\ncannot know what a father\u2019s sympathy and love mean. He has deprived\nhimself of the privileges of sonship. It is only the child who has\nremained at home who is obedient to the father\u2019s commands\u2014it is only he\nwho can really be called a son at all. He alone knows the blessings of\nsonship. He alone knows the father\u2019s affection and love. Christ came\ninto the world to show us the Father, to seek lost children and bring\nthem back again home. Those who receive Him into their hearts receive\nthe spirit of adoption. They know what sonship means. They speak the\nname \u201cFather\u201d with a new accent. It becomes to them invested with a\nricher and fuller meaning. God is the Father of all men. Yes, but\nspecially of them that believe.\n\nNow this new name, \u201cFather,\u201d Christ places at the very commencement of\nthe model prayer. _This name is to be the very basis of our prayer._ To\npray aright, certain things are required in him who prays. The Psalmist\nasked himself this question one day, \u201cWho shall ascend into the hill of\nthe Lord and who shall stand in His holy place?\u201d Who has the right to\nworship God and pray to Him? That is the Psalmist\u2019s question translated\ninto present day speech. And he proceeds to answer the question he\nhimself asks. And this is the answer he gives, \u201cWho has the right to\nworship and pray? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart, who hath\nnot lifted up his soul unto vanity nor sworn deceitfully.\u201d But the\nPsalmist\u2019s answer is one of blank despair. For who is there whose hands\nare clean? Who is there whose heart is pure? Where is the man who has\nnot lifted up his soul unto vanity? Brethren, when we look upon\nourselves what do we see but sin! SIN! SIN! and the cry that breaks from\nour lips is the terrible cry of the leper of old\u2014Unclean, unclean. If we\nhave to wait till our hands are clean and our hearts pure we shall\n_never, never_ ascend unto the hill of the Lord or stand in His holy\nplace. But thank God there are no impossible conditions of that kind to\nbe fulfilled before you and I can pray. What right have I, sinful man,\nto pray? What warrant have I for coming boldly to the throne of grace?\nWell, brethren, I have no right but that which this name gives. I have\nno warrant save that which the name \u201cFather\u201d supplies. That is my\nright\u2014not that I have clean hands or a pure heart, but that I am a son,\nand He, the Almighty God, is _my Father_. I have read a story somewhere\nwhich says that when one of the Roman Emperors was entering Rome in\ntriumph, a little child darted through the ranks of the soldiers who\nlined the road and made for the gorgeous car in which the Emperor was\nseated. Some of the soldiers tried to restrain the little one and said\nto him, \u201cIt is the Emperor.\u201d \u201c_Your_ Emperor,\u201d said the little one, \u201cbut\n_my_ father.\u201d That was the little child\u2019s right to sit even in the\ntriumphal car. And so some would say, \u201cWhat right have you, a poor\nsinner, to approach the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, before whom\nCherubim and Seraphim veil their faces with their wings and continually\ndo cry?\u201d What right? Well, the right this word gives. Lord of the\nUniverse? Yes. Maker of the worlds? Yes. King of Kings? Yes. But _my\nFather_. Who shall dare keep child and parent apart? When ye pray, say\n\u201cFather,\u201d said our Lord. Let us preface every prayer with that blessed\nword. It is our claim upon God. No prayer can be too bold; no petition\ncan appear presumptuous when we have commenced by saying \u201cFather.\u201d\n\nBut this word not only supplies our _warrant for prayer_, it also\nsuggests to us the _spirit in which our prayers must be_ offered. We\nmust pray in the spirit of filial trust, in the spirit of _childlike\nconfidence_. \u201cHe that cometh to God,\u201d says the Apostle, \u201cmust believe\nthat HE IS.\u201d We must believe first of all in the _reality_ of God. To\nmany God is a name and nothing more. The world to them would be no\nemptier than it is if there were no God at all. We must first of all\nbelieve that God is. But that is not all. The Mongol, the Hindoo, the\nAfrican savage believe that God is; but no one would say that their\ndevotions illustrate the true spirit of prayer. No: we must not only\nbelieve that God is, we must also believe He is a REWARDER. We must\nbelieve He is eager to bless. Some would have you believe that God is\nthe helpless creature of His own laws, bound and held captive by them,\nand therefore unable to listen or to answer the cry of men\u2014like one of\nthose great stone impassive deities of Egypt, that sit there with\nstaring eyes, and hands on knees, the very picture of impotence and\nhelplessness. If God were no more than that, prayer would be a mockery,\na delusion, a sham. But the God we are asked to believe in is a\nREWARDER\u2014a FATHER more eager to bless us than any earthly parent is to\nanswer the request of his child. And Christ puts this word in the very\nfront, in order to help us to come with boldness, in order to beget\nwithin us a spirit of childlike expectancy and trust. I fancy when I\nhear some prayers, that we imagine God keeps His heart bolted and\nbarred, and that we have, by the importunity of our petitions, to force\nand batter our way through. That was the kind of notion Job had. You\nremember his cry, \u201cOh, that I knew where I might find Him.\u201d Well, what\nwould Job do if he did find Him? \u201cOh,\u201d says Job, \u201cI would order my cause\nbefore Him, and fill my mouth with arguments.\u201d Job thought that every\nblessing had to be wrung out of the hands of God. \u201cI would fill my mouth\nwith arguments,\u201d as if nothing were to be had from God except by hard\nand importunate pleading. \u201cFill your mouth with arguments?\u201d What need is\nthere for that? Go to Him and call Him \u201cFather\u201d\u2014that is all the argument\nyou need. Brethren, we receive not, because sometimes we ask amiss. The\nold book says that according to our faith it shall be done unto us. We\nhave received little, because our faith has been so little. We have\ntreated God as if He were close, economical, niggardly. This word\n\u201cFather\u201d is here to teach us confidence, trust, faith, holy boldness; to\ninspire us with that perfect love which casteth out all fear. Let us go\nto God in the childlike spirit of a simple trust; let us use this golden\nkey to His great treasure house, which He has placed in our hands; when\nwe pray, let us say \u201cFather,\u201d and we shall find that before we call He\nwill answer, and while we are yet speaking He will hear.\n\n\u201cFather,\u201d that is how the prayer begins in Luke\u2019s version. That glorious\nword stands alone in all its royal simplicity. Matthew in his version\nexpands that into \u201c_Our_ Father, which art in heaven.\u201d \u201c_Our_ Father!\u201d\nNo word in this old book is meaningless, and this little word \u201cour\u201d\ngives us a glimpse of the splendid truth. It is not the singular, but\nthe plural possessive pronoun that our Lord bids us use, not \u201c_my_\nFather,\u201d but \u201c_our_ Father.\u201d Of course it is legitimate to use the\nsingular pronoun \u201cmy,\u201d and say \u201cMY Father.\u201d There come times when, with\na great rush of feeling, we realise that God loves us as individuals,\nand then we take refuge in the first person singular, just as Paul did\nwhen he said \u201cThe Son of God loved ME, and gave Himself for ME.\u201d In\nfact, religion never becomes real and vital until it becomes individual\nand personal, until we can say like Thomas, \u201c_My_ Lord and _my_ God.\u201d\nBut in this prayer Christ would have us think not simply of ourselves,\nbut also of others\u2014not simply of blessings peculiar and personal, but of\nblessings shared. So we are to say, not \u201c_my_ Father,\u201d but \u201cOUR Father,\u201d\nand by doing so we have linked ourselves to all others who pray this\nprayer. \u201c_Our_,\u201d that is the pronoun of partnership. We have said \u201cOUR\nFather\u201d in this church this morning, we have confessed that we have the\n_same Father_. But people who are the sons and daughters of the one\nFather must be brothers and sisters the one to the other. So that when\nwe said \u201c_our_ Father,\u201d we did more than simply proclaim God\u2019s\nFatherhood\u2014we proclaimed our BROTHERHOOD. And I will not confine myself\nto this congregation. It is not simply the brotherhood of those of us\nwho meet week by week in this Congregational Church that we proclaimed\nwhen we said \u201cour Father,\u201d we proclaimed the _brotherhood of the race_.\nNot my Father simply, but OUR Father\u2014for He is the Father of all! The\ngreat truth of the Fatherhood of God implies the correspondingly great\ntruth of the _brotherhood of man_, and universal brotherhood depends\nupon the universal Fatherhood. You cannot have this brotherhood of man,\nexcept by getting them to kneel together and say \u201cour Father.\u201d The link\nthat binds men together is the possession of a common Father. When we\naddress God by that sweet name, we awake to the fact that we are all\nmembers of one great family, bound to one another by the strongest and\ndearest of ties. Oh! we pray for the time when jealousy, pride, hatred\nand war shall cease, when \u201cman to man the world o\u2019er shall brothers be\nfor a\u2019 that!\u201d I will tell you when that time shall come. It shall come\nwhen you can get all men everywhere to kneel down and begin their prayer\nwith these grand but simple words \u201cOur Father.\u201d\n\n               \u201cThen shall the whole round earth be every way\n               Bound by gold chains about the feet of God.\u201d\n\n\u201cOur Father, _who art in Heaven_,\u201d says Matthew. Our Father is high and\nlifted up, He is \u201cin Heaven.\u201d That does not mean that God is not with us\nhere on earth. He is the High and Holy One who inhabits eternity; but He\nis also the one who dwells in the lowly and the contrite heart. But as\nDr. Morison puts it, \u201cOn earth there are spots, hearts at least and many\nof them, where God is not. He is not admitted. He is shut out. But in\nheaven He is all in all. In a peculiar fulness of acceptation, then, God\nmay be said to be in Heaven.\u201d But this little phrase, \u201cwho art in\nHeaven,\u201d is something more than a topographical direction. It is more,\nshall I say, than God\u2019s postal address. This little phrase _tells us\nwhat kind of a Father we have_. I do not think it at all fanciful to say\nwith Dr. Stanford, that, as Heaven is the place of perfection, \u201cour\nFather, who art in Heaven\u201d may be interpreted to mean, \u201cour Father, who\nart the one perfect Father.\u201d But whether this interpretation is\nlegitimate or not, the idea is a true and Scriptural one. God is the\nmodel\u2014the pattern Father. Paul says that \u201cof Him every fatherhood in\nheaven and earth is named.\u201d You can look at the tender relations that\nbind the best of fathers to the best of sons here on earth, and I tell\nyou they but faintly illustrate the tender relations that bind God to\nyou. He is the one perfect Father. He is perfect in LOVE. \u201cNo earthly\nfather loves like Thee, no mother half so mild.\u201d Mothers may forget\ntheir children but God will never forget us. Parents may turn their\nbacks upon us, father and mother may forsake us, and even then God will\ntake us up. He is perfect _in wisdom_. Earthly parents are not always\nwise. They are sometimes unwise in severity; they are oftener, I think,\nunwise in their love; and many a child\u2019s character has been injured, if\nnot ruined, by the unwisdom of its parents. But God is all wise. He is\nalways thinking upon His children for their good. In perfect wisdom,\nperfect love, He is working for the best. He is perfect in\n_helpfulness_.\n\nHuman love can do much, but there are times when human love is helpless.\nHave you ever seen a mother watch by a sick child? I have seen a little\none lie in her cot with fevered brow, fighting for life. I have seen her\neyes make mute appeal to her mother, and I have seen the mother sitting\nthere in torment and agony, watching the death struggle going on and\npowerless to help, the very picture of impotent, defeated love. But God\nis perfect in _helpfulness_. There is no limit to HIS power. He will be\na refuge for us in trouble; He will make our bed in sickness; He will\nmake us conquerors over temptation; when we pass through the waters He\nwill not suffer them to overflow us; and when we enter the valley, into\nwhich no human friend can accompany us, God will be with us still, His\nrod and staff they will comfort us. \u201cOur Father, who art in Heaven,\u201d one\nother idea the words suggest to me. \u201cHeaven\u201d is spoken of in the Bible\nas the place of dominion and authority. \u201cThe Lord hath prepared his\nthrone in the heavens,\u201d says the Psalmist, \u201cand His kingdom ruleth over\nall.\u201d In another psalm we get the picture of kings and princes plotting\ntogether to destroy the kingdom of God. \u201cHe that sitteth in the\nheavens,\u201d in the place of supreme dominion, \u201cshall laugh.\u201d Your\ngovernors and kings are not the true rulers of the universe; they may\nfret and fume and bluster as they will, but they are only puppets in the\nhands of Him who sitteth in the heavens. When, then, our Lord teaches us\nto say, \u201cOur Father, who art in Heaven,\u201d the blessed truth conveyed by\nit is, that our Father is in the place of supreme dominion, that love\nrules the universe. It is the truth proclaimed by the little silk weaver\nas she passed through the streets of Asolo and sang, \u201cGod\u2019s in His\nheaven\u2014all\u2019s right with the world.\u201d What a blessed truth this is, and\nwhat peace and strength it brings into the soul when it is realised and\nfelt. Paul had realised it, so he could say, \u201cI know that all things\nwork together for good.\u201d That President of the Orange Free State had\nrealised it, whose favourite word was, \u201cAll will come right,\u201d which word\nstands engraved to-day on his tombstone! Yes! what peace will be ours\nwhen we remember our Father is in Heaven. I remember hearing my friend\nMr. Hopkin Rees, one of our devoted Chinese missionaries, telling about\none of his converts in that far-off land, who had to bear much from\nheathen relatives when she became a Christian. They beat her, locked her\nup in a room, and tried to starve her into surrender. How do you think\nthat poor woman sustained herself? I will tell you. By the thought that\nher Father was in Heaven, and that \u201call would come right.\u201d Mr. Rees had\ntranslated an old Welsh hymn into Chinese, the last line of every verse\nin which runs, \u201cFy nhad, sydd urth y lliw.\u201d It cannot sound as sweet in\nany other tongue, but this is a rough translation, \u201cMy Father\u2019s at the\nhelm.\u201d And that was the song that poor woman sang day after day, \u201cMy\nFather\u2019s at the helm.\u201d Yes! He\u2019s at the helm! Let not your heart be\ntroubled! \u201cYour Father\u2019s at the helm.\u201d\n\n\u201cOur Father, who art in Heaven.\u201d The gospel is in that phrase. I have\nnot been able to translate into language the half of the beauty and\nglory I myself have seen in it. You must find out for yourselves, by\nexperience, the joy and peace it can bring into life. This name is ours\nto use; the love implied in it is ours to enjoy. Not one of us need go\nthrough life alone; not one of us need be orphaned and poor; not one of\nus need carry a troubled anxious heart. For Christ has taught us to see\nlove on the Throne, and to call to the Almighty and Everlasting God who\nfainteth not, neither is weary, \u201cOur Father, who art in Heaven.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n                                  III\n                         \u201cHallowed be Thy Name\u201d\n\n\n\u201cHallowed be Thy Name.\u201d\u2014MATT. vi. 9; LUKE xi. 2.\n\n\nLast Sunday morning we talked together of the new and beautiful name by\nwhich Jesus taught us to address God when we draw near to Him in prayer.\n\u201cWhen we pray, say Father.\u201d This morning we pass on to the consideration\nof the first petition in the prayer itself. Between this first petition\nand the invocation there is the closest and most intimate connection. In\nthe invocation Jesus gave us a new name for God. In the first petition\nHe teaches us to pray for grace, to honour that new name of \u201cFather\u201d by\nthought and life.\n\nThis \u201cPearl of Prayer\u201d divides itself naturally into two parts, and it\nis a fact worth noticing that the petitions in the first half of the\nprayer are all concerned with God\u2019s honour and glory. Our first thoughts\nwhen we kneel in prayer must be of God. Our first petitions must concern\nthemselves not with our own personal advantage but with God\u2019s glory and\npraise. This petition, \u201cHallowed be Thy name,\u201d stands first, because it\nis the first in natural order. For there is an order, \u201can order of\nprecedence\u201d shall I say, in prayer. I have seen a volume of sermons by\nMr. Jackson, of Edinburgh, which bears the title \u201cFirst things first.\u201d\n\u201cFirst things first\u201d is a rule we may well remember in our prayers.\n\u201cSeek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness,\u201d said our Lord,\nand that precept is one for prayer as well as for life. Have you noticed\nhow faithfully Jesus Himself observed the rule He here laid down for\nothers? Examine His prayers, and you will find that with Him first\nthings always came first. The glory of God was always the master\npetition in the prayers of Christ. He had to pass through times of sore\ndistress and pain and agony\u2014and Christ was not above asking for relief,\ndeliverance, escape from the pain. But His own wishes were always kept\nin a subordinate place, it was ever \u201cGod first\u201d with Him. \u201cNevertheless,\nnot My will but Thine be done.\u201d \u201cFather, glorify Thy name.\u201d That is the\ntrue order in prayer\u2014God first. But we oftentimes reverse the order.\nInstead of \u201cfirst things being first,\u201d first things are often last and\nlast things often first. Our prayers are occupied mainly with our own\nwants and needs and desires. It is a case oftentimes of \u201cself first.\u201d\nWhen we pray even this prayer, the petitions that we utter with the\ndeepest fervour and earnestness are petitions for personal blessing.\n\u201cGive us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our trespasses. Deliver us\nfrom evil.\u201d But the true order is the one observed here, \u201cGod first.\u201d\nThe King of all the petitions is the one that stands in the forefront.\nThe Westminster Confession says that the chief end of man\u2019s life is \u201cto\nglorify God.\u201d The old divines who drew up that confession had gained a\nclear glimpse into the true relation of things. Above all personal\ninterest, above all selfish advantage, stands the glory of God. In the\nsoldier\u2019s thought, far above any consideration of personal comfort or\nsafety, or even of life, stands the thought of the honour of the flag\nand his country\u2019s weal. And so in the Christian\u2019s mind far above the\nthought of self must stand the thought of God. \u201cFirst things first.\u201d\nBefore the prayer for daily bread, for forgiveness, for deliverance,\ncomes the prayer that God may have the glory due unto His name. My\nobject this morning is to point out, if I can, the sweep and grandeur of\nthis petition, so that we may understand what it is we pray for when we\nsay, \u201cHallowed be Thy name.\u201d Let me first of all try to explain what is\nmeant by _the name of God_. As Bishop Westcott points out in his\n\u201cRevelation of the Father\u201d no thoughtful person can read the Bible\nwithout being struck by the importance which is attached to the Divine\nnames in the different books. And the _names_ of God are important\nbecause they are revelations of God\u2019s nature. You remember that when\nJacob wrestled with the angel till break of day by the side of the brook\nJabbok his last request to his antagonist was this, \u201cTell me I pray\nThee, Thy name.\u201d What was it Jacob really wanted to know? I will tell\nyou. He wanted to know the nature, the character of the mighty Wrestler.\nHe wanted to know whether it was love or wrath that had constrained him\nto pass through that terrible agony. \u201cTell me, I pray Thee, Thy name,\u201d\ntell me Thy character, reveal to me Thy heart, \u201cto me Thy name, Thy\nnature show,\u201d that was the real meaning of Jacob\u2019s cry. Well, the Bible\nis a great book of \u201cnames.\u201d If you will turn up your concordances, you\nwill find in them a long list of \u201cnames\u201d for God. And the point to\nnotice is that every name applied to God means something; every name\ntells us something about Him; every name is a light upon His nature.\nWhen you hear a man\u2019s name, it tells you nothing about his character.\nYou are not a whit nearer knowing what a man is really like for hearing\nthat his name is John, or David, or Thomas, or Joseph. The names of men\nmean nothing, or perhaps it would be truer to say, their meaning has\nabsolutely no relation to character. They are mere labels. But it is\ndifferent in the case of God. Every name applied to Him is significant.\nIt expresses some aspect of His character. Men caught fresh glimpses\ninto the depths of the Divine nature, and their new knowledge they\nexpressed by a new name. So that the names of God are all of them keys\nto God\u2019s character. They help us to spell out the secret of His nature.\nWhen then, you read of a man crying out, \u201cTell me Thy name,\u201d you\nunderstand that what Jacob really wanted to know was what God was. And\nwhen you read of the Psalmist saying, \u201cThey that know Thy name, will put\ntheir trust in Thee,\u201d you know that what the Psalmist means is this\u2014that\nthose who really _know_ God, who know His heart, _will_, cannot help\ntrusting Him. That, then, is the meaning of \u201cGod\u2019s name,\u201d it means the\ncharacter of God, as that character has been revealed to us.\n\nWhen, where and how has that name been revealed to us? Well, it has been\nrevealed, as the writer of the letter to the Hebrews puts it, \u201cby divers\nportions, and in divers manners.\u201d\n\n(1) It has been revealed to us in _Nature_. The Psalmist watching his\nsheep in the still and starry night saw God in the arching sky, and\nsang, \u201cThe heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth\nHis handiwork.\u201d And one of our own great poets, John Ruskin, has said,\n\u201cIt is but the outer hem of God\u2019s great mantle, our poor stars do gem.\u201d\nThe Arabs speak of tracing God\u2019s footsteps in the world; Kepler, in\nstudying the planets, said he was thinking God\u2019s thoughts after Him;\nMrs. Barrett-Browning cries, \u201cEarth\u2019s crammed with heaven, and every\ncommon bush afire with God.\u201d Yes! God reveals His name to us through\nnature. I have been shown rocks which bear upon them indentations that\nhave some resemblance to a cloven foot, and I have been told of legends\nthat connect those marks with the devil. The devil, so the legends say,\nmade those particular rocks a momentary resting-place, and in the cloven\nfoot he has left his mark upon them for ever. But, brethren, it is not\nthe devil\u2019s mark, but God\u2019s mark that the great world bears. I can see\nGod\u2019s mark on the sky and the sea, on mountain and flood, on flower and\ntree. When I look at the great mountains I cannot help remembering that\nit was God who planted them there. \u201cHe weighed the mountains in scales\nand the hills in a balance.\u201d When I look at the great and wide sea, at\nthe sunny, sleepy sea, at the angry, restless sea, I remember it was God\nwho placed it there. \u201cHe measured the waters in the hollow of His hand.\nHe has placed bounds for it which it cannot pass.\u201d When I see the\nlightning flash, I remember that the lightning is His messenger. When I\nhear the thunder roll, I remember that the thunder is His voice. When I\nsee the birds of the air, I remember that not one of them falls to the\nground without God. When I see the lilies of the field, I remember that\nGod clothes them. Oh, yes, the world speaks of God. It is true, as\nColeridge sings in his magnificent \u201cHymn before Sunrise in the Vale of\nChamouni\u201d\u2014\n\n               \u201cEarth with her thousand voices praises God.\u201d\n\nBut Nature does not tell all the secret. If we knew only what Nature\ntells we should be compelled to cry with the old Hebrew prophet,\n\u201cVerily, Thou art a God that hidest Thyself.\u201d After all Nature has to\nsay, our entreaty is still, \u201cTell me, I pray Thee, Thy name.\u201d\n\n(2) God\u2019s name has been revealed to us more plainly _in the Bible_. In\nthis book you have one name for God following another, and with every\nfresh name came new light. Westcott says that \u201cthe three chief stages in\nthe history of the Old Testament are characterised in broad outline by\nthe names under which God was pleased to make Himself known in each!\u201d\nFirst He is El-Shaddai, the God of might. Then He is Jehovah, the Great\nI AM, the God of the covenant. Then He is Lord of Hosts, the King of the\nUniverse, the Disposer of Events, the Ruler of the world. It was a great\nevent in the history of men when God announced by His servants and\nprophets a new name for Himself: We talk about great discoveries\u2014the\ndiscovery of a new mountain range, or river, or lake in the Dark\nContinent, the discovery of some new facts in the realm of science, the\ndiscovery of some new method of applying Nature\u2019s forces to do men\u2019s\nwork. I am not saying these are not great discoveries, but I do say the\ngreatest discovery that ever happens in this world of ours is the\ndiscovery of a new name for God. You have the history of those names,\nthose discoveries in the Bible. To trace the giving of these names is to\ntrace the history of men as they were being led out of darkness into His\nmost marvellous light.\n\nBut who would not feel that, if the Bible stopped short at the book of\nMalachi, the light at best was only the dim and uncertain twilight. If\nthe old book finished there, our cry would be still, \u201cTell me, I pray\nThee, Thy name.\u201d Well, thanks be to Him, He has told us His name. He has\nkept nothing from us.\n\n(3) God has revealed Himself fully to us _in Jesus Christ_. He had given\nglimpses of Himself to seers and prophets before. But God was greater\nand better than the best word even Isaiah had said about Him. And at\nlast, when the fulness of time was come, God told the final truth about\nHimself by sending Jesus Christ into the world. He is the effulgence of\nHis glory and the express image of His person. There are likenesses\nbetween human beings. We talk about \u201cfamily likenesses.\u201d There are\nstriking resemblances between father and son, mother and daughter,\nbrother and sister. But with the resemblances there are also\ndifferences. You can always distinguish between one and another. But\nbetween God and Jesus Christ the likeness is absolute. There are no\ndifferences. Jesus is the Word of God. He is what God is, expressed in\nterms of human thought and speech. God has kept nothing back from us. He\nhas reserved no secret. You may enter into the holiest place by the\nblood of Jesus. What is God\u2019s name? God\u2019s name is Jesus Christ. In Jesus\nyou get the full and final revelation of God\u2019s character. God could not\nfully reveal Himself through nature. He could not have been pictured for\nus in a book. It was only in a _life_ that God could fully reveal\nHimself, and that full revelation He gave in the life of His Son. When\nPhilip said to Jesus, \u201cShew us the Father,\u201d Jesus answered, \u201cI and my\nFather are one. He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.\u201d Jesus was\nGod\u2019s answer to the cry of man\u2014\u201cTell me, I pray Thee, Thy name.\u201d It is\nby looking at Jesus, then, that we discover the character of God. And if\nyou ask me, after studying Christ\u2019s life, what I find God\u2019s character to\nbe and what His best name is, I answer that His nature is love, and that\nthe best name that describes Him is the name \u201cFather.\u201d When, then, Jesus\ntells us to pray, \u201cHallowed be Thy name,\u201d He is telling us to honour\nGod\u2019s character as revealed in Himself. He is telling us to honour God\nas Father both in thought and life.\n\nNow let me pass on to ask, _How may we hallow God\u2019s name?_ You remember\nthe old commandment \u201cThou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in\nvain.\u201d Well, we must give a strict obedience to that old commandment if\nwe are to hallow God\u2019s name. There are men in our midst who can scarcely\nutter a sentence without dragging in the name of God. They interlard\ntheir speech with oaths, and blasphemously use the name of the sacred\nMajesty on High. Such men dishonour and degrade the Holy Name. But if we\nimagine that by abstaining from the vulgar and wicked habit of swearing\nwe have \u201challowed God\u2019s name,\u201d we are much mistaken. The Jews of old\ngave scrupulous obedience to the letter of the command, \u201cThou shalt not\ntake the name of the Lord thy God in vain,\u201d but they violated its\nspirit. They were so scrupulous that they would not even pronounce the\nsacred name. They passed it over in silence; they would never tread upon\na piece of paper lying on the ground for fear the sacred name might be\nwritten upon it. And yet the Jew, while giving this strict literal\nobedience to the command, was all the while violating its spirit, and by\nhis sin, his greed, his hypocrisy, was dishonouring that God whose name\nhe feared to pronounce.\n\nAnd for the matter of that, there are people amongst us who attach, as\nthe ancient Jews did, a superstitious reverence to the name, who treat\nit as if it were a charm; who pay an idolatrous worship to the mere\nword. I have been occasionally to services in the cathedrals and parish\nchurches of our land, and I have noticed that the men and women who\nattend them will bow at \u201cthe name.\u201d Now I am not prepared to say that\nact is wrong, but I am quite prepared to say that the tendency of all\nsuch practices is to make people imagine that God is to be honoured and\nworshipped by mere externalisms. The danger of such a practice is that\nof making people imagine they have \u201challowed God\u2019s name,\u201d by bowing in\nchurch. Brethren, it is all a very pitiful delusion. What is the use of\nbowing at the name, if people go home to be selfish and unkind, or to\ntheir business to be hard and over-reaching; or into society to be\ngossips and tale-bearers? In spite of the outward respect they pay, such\npeople dishonour God\u2019s name, drag it through the mire, and make it the\njest of blasphemers and fools. \u201cHallowing God\u2019s name\u201d does not mean\nbowing when that sacred name is pronounced: it means honouring the\ncharacter of God, as that character has been made known to us in Jesus\nChrist. This is a prayer not simply for the man to pray who is fighting\nagainst the blaspheming habit, it is a prayer that the best of\nChristians may well utter. Well, how shall we \u201challow God\u2019s name?\u201d\n\n(1) _By cherishing worthy ideas of God._ We are _dishallowing_ (if I may\nbe allowed to use the word) God\u2019s name when we have unworthy ideas of\nHis nature. We are sinning against this name \u201cFather\u201d when we think of\nGod as harsh, unkind, cruel. Our new theology may have its defects and\nits dangers, but at any rate it \u201chas hallowed God\u2019s name.\u201d It has made\nGod more beautiful, more tender, more loving and lovable. Do you know I\nam not surprised that men broke out into revolt against the stern, hard,\npitiless theology of a century ago. Theologians were attributing to God\nconduct that would be branded as hateful in men! Augustine and Calvin\nhave laid the Church under vast obligations, but when Augustine and\nCalvin talked about little infants being damned, they were dishonouring\nGod\u2019s name, casting a slur upon His character, and sinning against His\nFatherhood. There is an old painting in one of the Italian galleries\nwhich pictures God as shooting arrows at men, and Jesus catching them\nbefore they reached their mark. That picture represents the spirit of\nmuch of the old theology. Christ is represented as kind and pitiful, but\nGod is represented as cruel, vengeful, vindictive. Brethren, that is a\nlibel upon God. It is a cruel slander upon God\u2019s character. \u201cGod is\nlove.\u201d \u201cGod was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself.\u201d God so\nloved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. That is the true\npicture. Refuse to believe in anything that contradicts that. Refuse to\nbelieve that God can ever be guilty of what would be accounted base in\nman. Believe with Whittier, that\n\n             \u201cNothing can be good in Him, which evil is in me.\u201d\n\nSay with Browning, \u201cThou, God, art Love. I build my faith on that.\u201d You\nmust cherish lofty, beautiful, gracious thoughts of God if you are to\nhallow His name. And go on to know the Lord. There are depths of love in\nGod, unrealised as yet by the best of us. I know a valley in South\nWales, which outwardly is not much to look at, but in its bosom are\nburied vast treasures, and men who have digged beneath the surface have\nfound there boundless wealth. The deeper we penetrate into the nature of\nGod, the more loving, the more gracious we shall find Him to be.\nTherefore, press on to know Him, until you come to feel that God is your\npassion and your joy, that in earth, in heaven, you want none but Him.\nBy so doing, you will be hallowing God\u2019s name.\n\nBut God\u2019s name must be hallowed not only in thought, but in life. So I\npass on to say that not only can you hallow God\u2019s name by cherishing\nworthy thoughts of God, but you can hallow God\u2019s name also\u2014\n\n(2) By the _trustfulness of your life_. Jesus has told us God\u2019s name of\n\u201cFather\u201d by quietly trusting Him. You cannot dishonour a friend more\nthan by refusing to trust him, can you? Distrust, suspicion, is an\ninsult to friendship. A child cannot dishonour a father more than by\nfearing him, being suspicious about him, doubting his love. Fear,\nsuspicion, distrust\u2014these things are an insult to fatherhood. Are we\nnever guilty of insulting the Fatherhood of God? I have heard people\nsometimes complain of God, of God\u2019s dealing with them in Providence.\nThey have spoken as if God used them hardly. They have spoken as if God\nhad His favourites. They have spoken as if God had lost His love for\nthem. What were they doing? Dishonouring God\u2019s name, casting a slur upon\nHis character, forgetting that His nature is love and His name is\nFather. Men who, in spite of Calvary, think God can be unkind, are doing\ninsult to His love. If you want to hallow God\u2019s name, trust Him to the\nuttermost; \u201crest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.\u201d Job hallowed\nGod\u2019s name, when, amid the wreck of all his earthly fortunes, he said,\n\u201cEven though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.\u201d Paul hallowed God\u2019s name\nwhen, looking at the cross, he said, \u201cAll things work together for good\nto them that love God.\u201d Samuel Rutherford honoured God\u2019s name when,\nwriting from his prison in Aberdeen, he said, \u201cI have nothing to say of\nmy Lord\u2019s cross but much good.\u201d I have read of a child who in the midst\nof a storm at sea remained quiet, calm, and fearless, and who, on being\nasked how it was she was not afraid, answered, with the simplicity of\nchildhood, \u201cMy father is the captain.\u201d She honoured the name father by\nher perfect trustfulness. We find ourselves in storms sometimes\u2014storms\nof trouble, storms of doubt, storms of bereavement and grief. It is in\nsuch storms we have the most glorious opportunities of hallowing God\u2019s\nname. Let us ask Him for grace to honour His Fatherhood by trusting Him\nin the dark and cloudy day. Man, the child, cannot hallow God\u2019s name of\n\u201cFather\u201d better than by a quiet, simple trustfulness.\n\n(3) We can hallow God\u2019s name of \u201cFather\u201d by _our obedience_. The Italian\nbrigand will repeat the Pater Noster and then go on with his robbery.\nThe Mussulman will interlard his filthiest talk with appeals to Allah.\nBut nothing is so dishonouring to God as profession without practice.\nGod will have obedience and not sacrifice. God was weary of the outward\nmarks of respect the Jews paid Him, because all these outward marks of\nreverence were accompanied by gross and persistent disobedience of life.\nDoes a child want to honour his father? He cannot do it better than by\nbeing an obedient child, by giving prompt and willing obedience to his\nfather\u2019s commands. Do you want to honour your Father in heaven? Obey\nHim. Obey Him in the home; obey Him in society; obey Him in your\nbusiness; obey Him in your public and political life. Obey Him promptly,\nabsolutely, willingly. That was how Jesus hallowed His Father\u2019s name.\nFrom the earliest dawn of life He was about His Father\u2019s business. It\nwas His meat and drink to do God\u2019s will. He was born at Bethlehem, He\nlaboured in Galilee, He drank the bitter cup in the garden, He died upon\nthe Cross\u2014all because it was God\u2019s will. He gave to His Father full,\nabsolute, glad obedience, so that in His prayer He could say to God, \u201cI\nhave glorified Thy name,\u201d and God could look upon Him and say, \u201cThou art\nMy beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.\u201d If you want to honour your\nHeavenly Father, _obey Him_! We try to put God off with a little outward\nrespect, we bow at His name, we bend in prayer before Him, we sing hymns\nto His praise; but better than all your bowing and hymn singing and\nmultiplied prayers is the daily obedience of the life. \u201cIf ye love Me,\u201d\nsays God, \u201ckeep My commandments.\u201d To-morrow, in the shop and the office\nand the school and the home, make it your meat and drink to do the\nFather\u2019s will and to finish His work; so will you, too, like your great\nElder Brother, glorify God\u2019s name, and like Him you, too, will one day\nhear God say, \u201cThou art My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n                                   IV\n                          The Second Petition\n\n\n\u201cThy Kingdom come.\u201d\u2014MATT. vi. 10; LUKE xi. 2.\n\n\nThe Bible is a book of hope. It looks, not backward, but forward. It has\nits face turned towards the light. It always speaks of \u201ca best that is\nstill to be.\u201d We open its pages and we read of Eden; of a time when the\nworld was free from pain and sorrow and sadness, because man was free\nfrom sin. While man was innocent his home was a garden, all nature\nserved him, a sky that was always blue smiled down upon him, and God was\nhis familiar friend. But we read on a chapter or two and a change comes\nover the aspect of things. Eden disappears, and has never been found\nsince. Joy, harmony, peace vanish, and leave behind them discord,\nsorrow, hate. When man sinned, pain and grief and death entered the\nworld, man\u2019s sky grew black with clouds; God no longer spoke with him in\nthe cool of the evening, and he was driven out of the garden, at the\ngates of which the cherubim were posted with swords of flame which\npointed every way, as if to say, \u201cNo return, no return.\u201d\n\nBut even in the story of that bitter loss I detect the note of \u201chope.\u201d\nYou perhaps remember the old Greek legend which says that when Pandora\nwas married to Epimetheus the gods gave her a box, which was full of\nwinged blessings, as a wedding present. As long as Pandora kept the box\nlocked, so long life was like a summer\u2019s day. She and her husband\nenjoyed every blessing. But one day, tempted by curiosity, she opened\nthe box, and on the instant the little winged creatures who were locked\ninside took flight and left her for ever. All? did I say. No, not quite\nall. _Hope_ remained at the bottom of the box, the only blessing left to\nPandora and her husband! And so exactly man lost everything by sin\nexcept _hope_. When God made man He gave him every blessing. But when\nman unmade himself, these blessings took flight. He lost his innocence,\nhe lost his peace, he lost his happiness, he lost his home, he lost\neverything but _hope_. God left him _hope_ to comfort him in his bitter\ngrief. God left him _hope_ to save him from despair. When man\u2019s night\nwas blackest, God sent into his sky a star, a star that was the promise\nof a day to come. In pronouncing doom upon disobedient man, God also\ngave him a promise as if to say, \u201cIt shall not always be midnight and\ndeep despair with thee. Thy dayspring shall again arise.\u201d That note of\nhope, struck even in the story of the tragedy of the fall, is the\nkey-note of the Bible. The Bible is a book of the future, and the\nspring-time, and the dawn. You will not find its pages taken up with\nregrets for the Eden which has been lost; it looks forward to a better\nEden still to come. It does not spend its time in bewailing the sunshine\nthat has disappeared from the earth; it rather bids men wake and watch\nthat they may be ready to greet the still more glorious day which is\nabout to break. For as you read the Bible, what do you discover? You\ndiscover one glowing promise after another given by God; you find hope\never waxing stronger; you find the assurance that the night is\ndeparting, ever waxing more confident, until at last some prophet, of\nkeener vision than the rest, catches on the peaks of distant hills the\nforegleam of the dawn, beholds the vision of the light, not of moon or\nstars, but of the sun, and announces to a world sick with longing for\nthe day, that \u201cthe light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen\nupon thee.\u201d It is to the future the Bible looks. From its first page to\nthe last it preaches the glad gospel of _hope_. The old Eden which has\nbeen lost is a prophecy of the better Eden to be gained. The \u201cgolden\nage\u201d of the Bible is before, not behind. Paganism could only look back\nwistfully to the past and sigh for the reign of Saturn, when the earth\nhad peace and plenty and joy\u2014those glad days which had been, but could\nreturn no more. But the Bible teaches us to look forward. Our good time\nis still to come. Our golden age is still in the womb of the future. We\nare still looking for that glorious \u201clast for which the first was made.\u201d\nIt is of the golden age to which the Christian looks forward that this\nsecond petition speaks. \u201cThy Kingdom come\u201d is a prayer for the good time\ncoming, a prayer for the golden age, a prayer for the better Eden. For\nthe earth\u2019s golden age will come when God is King. I say the _earth\u2019s_\ngolden age advisedly. Let me emphasise it\u2014_the earth\u2019s_ golden age! For\nmany have misinterpreted the reference of this petition. Tertullian, the\nold Latin father, would have made this petition the third, not the\nsecond. He would have read the prayer thus, \u201cHallowed be Thy name, Thy\nwill be done, Thy Kingdom come,\u201d because he thought this prayer for\nGod\u2019s kingdom referred to the end of the world and the second advent.\nBut when Jesus teaches us to pray that God\u2019s kingdom may come, He means\nthat we are to pray that God may reign _here_ upon the earth, that men\n_here_ may acknowledge Him as King, that life _here_ may be regulated by\nHis commands. This is not a prayer that we may be taken out of earth\ninto heaven, but it is a prayer that heaven may come down to earth, so\nthat earth itself may become heavenly. It is a prayer for the \u201cnew earth\nwherein dwelleth righteousness.\u201d It is a prayer for the world\u2019s golden\nage\u2014a golden age which shall come when there is established here on\nearth that kingdom of God which is righteousness, peace, and joy in the\nHoly Ghost. Have you noticed how in most men\u2019s minds the idea of a\n\u201cgolden age\u201d is associated with the name of some king? The Israelites\nassociated it with the name of David; the Germans associated it with the\nname of Frederick Barbarossa; for us British folk a special halo of\nromance gathers round the time of Arthur and his Knights of the Round\nTable. And as a matter of fact, the world\u2019s good time is inseparably\nconnected with the coming of a King and the establishment of a kingdom.\nBut the kingdom is no earthly royalty, and the King is no David or\nBarbarossa or Arthur come back to life again. The kingdom is the kingdom\nof God, and the name of the King is Jesus. When that Kingdom is\nestablished, when that King is enthroned, a better Eden shall be here\nthan the Eden we have lost. It is the world\u2019s evil time just now. Earth\nis full of misery and grief and pain. Many are the schemes propounded\nfor mending matters, and God knows they need mending. Each man has his\nown nostrum, every quack his own panacea; but if we leave God and Christ\nout of account every plan is doomed to fail. We shall mend matters only\nby making God a reality, and the final establishment of right and\njustice, and joy will come only when _He_ is enthroned as King. But you\nmay say to me, \u201cIs not God King now? Is not the world His? Are not all\nmen in His hands?\u201d That is perfectly true! I do not forget that the\nearth is the Lord\u2019s, and the fulness thereof, the world and they that\ndwell therein. It is my joy and strength to remember that in spite of\nall the bluster and brave show made by the forces of evil, the Lord God\nomnipotent reigneth! But if you will examine the basis of _that_\nKingship you will find it rests on God\u2019s _Creatorship_. He is Lord of\nthe world and of men because He has created them\u2014because in Him they\nlive and move and have their being. But God wants to be King in Jesus\nChrist\u2014that is to say, He wants to be King in virtue not of His power,\nbut of His _love_. He wants men to obey Him not because they are afraid\nof Him, but because they love Him. Look at the prayer: \u201c_Thy_ kingdom\ncome.\u201d Whose kingdom is it? Well, it is \u201cour _Father\u2019s_\u201d kingdom. Oh,\nthis is a kingdom of love! God wants to be King not because He is\nCreator, but because He is _Father_. He wants men to be obedient to Him\nnot under the pressure of force, but under the sweet constraint of love.\nGod has been King by the title of Creator since the world began; but He\nis not even yet King by the title of \u201cFather.\u201d He is not even yet King\nin Jesus Christ. It is for _this_ kingdom we are to pray; for the time\nwhen men shall realise what God\u2019s Fatherhood means, for the time when\nmen\u2019s hearts shall be so touched by God\u2019s love to them in Jesus Christ,\nthat out of pure and grateful affection they will render Him a willing\nand glad obedience.\n\n\u201cThy kingdom come.\u201d The prayer, you will notice, regards the \u201ckingdom\u201d\nas something still to be realised. As yet it is in the future. In other\nplaces in the New Testament it is talked of as actually existent. Both\nviews are true\u2014the kingdom is both _present_ and _future_. You remember\nthat when the Pharisees asked Jesus when the kingdom of God should come,\nhe observed, \u201cThe kingdom of God cometh not with observation, for lo,\nthe kingdom of God _is in your midst_.\u201d The Pharisees were treating as\nfuture what was already present. The kingdom of God was already in their\nmidst. But it was not surprising that the Pharisees failed to discover\nthe presence of the kingdom. It was a very tiny affair at the time. Its\nsubjects were only a handful of Galilean peasants. Our Lord Himself,\nspeaking of the tiny, unnoticed beginning of the kingdom, said it was\nlike unto leaven which a woman took and _hid_ in three measures of meal!\nThe kingdom is not hidden to-day. The leaven has been working through\nthe centuries. The presence of the _kingdom_ is the most noticeable fact\nin the world\u2019s life to-day. We talk about the great empires of the\nworld! We talk about the British Empire embracing one-fifth part of the\nhabitable globe: and the great Russian Empire claiming a sixth part of\nthe world; and the German Empire and the French Empire, and the rest of\nthem. But there is one Empire greater, vaster than any other\u2014the Empire\nof King Jesus. It is _in our midst_, the mightiest kingdom, the most\npotent force on earth.\n\nAnd yet, while the kingdom of God is thus _present_ and potent, it is\nstill _future_. Its full realisation has yet to come. So long as there\nis in this world one man who has not yielded his heart to Christ, so\nlong as there is a single department of life which is not brought into\nsubjection to the law of Christ, so long will the kingdom be\n_unrealised_, so long shall we need to pray this prayer, \u201cThy kingdom\ncome.\u201d All the misery of this world is due to the fact that there are\nmultitudes of men still in rebellion, that there are whole departments\nof human activity which are not regulated by the spirit of Christ. The\nkingdom is still imperfect, incomplete. Its full establishment lies in\nthe future somewhere. Until that full establishment takes place, until\nGod is King everywhere and over everybody and everything, the world\u2019s\ngolden age will never come.\n\n_What kind of kingdom is this?_ It is worth while noticing that the\n\u201ckingdom\u201d occupied a large place in the thought and speech of Christ.\nHis gospel was a gospel of the kingdom. He announced that He had come to\nfound a kingdom; He claimed the title \u201cKing\u201d for Himself; and in what is\nknown as the Sermon on the Mount, He gave us, shall I say, the laws and\nrules of the kingdom. Christ was not the first to picture an \u201cIdeal\nState,\u201d Plato had already done it in his \u201cRepublic.\u201d But Plato\u2019s picture\nwould not satisfy you or me. It is an impossible, fantastic dream.\nPlato\u2019s state, with its philosopher king and its destruction of the\nfamily, repels instead of attracting us. But the kingdom of God which\nChrist has pictured for us, that gleaming vision of a new earth in which\nlove shall rule, fascinates and enthrals us, and the hope of its\nrealisation becomes the mainspring of all human progress and attainment.\nWell what kind of a kingdom is it? Let me answer in the words of the\ngreat Apostle Paul, and say, \u201cThe kingdom of God is righteousness and\npeace and joy in the Holy Ghost.\u201d There you have in one brief sentence\nthe characteristics of the kingdom. The kingdom of God is\n_righteousness_, or, in other words, the kingdom of God is _justice_.\nThere is cruel wrong in this world of ours, wrong that daily cries up to\nGod for vengeance. Man wrongs man, brother oppresses brother. The dark\nplaces of the earth are full of cruelty, and places that are usually\nsupposed to be \u201clight,\u201d like this favoured England of ours, are full of\ncruelty also. Oh, brethren, to see the wrong, the oppression, the\nwickedness of life, is a maddening sight! I can understand how men are\nsometimes driven by it into the blasphemy of despair! But the kingdom of\nGod is justice\u2014strict, level, even-handed justice. When _His_ kingdom\ncomes, tyranny, oppression, wrong shall cease; men shall do right out of\nlove for their righteous King.\n\nThe kingdom of God is _peace_. Peace between men, peace between nations.\nAll strife and mutual distrust shall be for ever buried, and the noise\nof war shall be heard no more, but men shall beat their swords into\nplough-shares and their spears into pruning hooks. Hate and enmity shall\ndie. \u201cThe wolf and the lamb shall lie down together, and the lion shall\neat straw like the ox. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy\nmountain,\u201d saith the Lord.\n\nThe kingdom of God is _joy_. We are in the winter of our discontent just\nnow. Life is full of tears and grief and pain. The tears and the grief\nand pain spring from the hate and the oppressions and the injustices of\nlife. But when God is King there shall be justice and peace, and joy\nwill follow as a natural consequence. Justice, peace, happiness those\nare the characteristics of the kingdom of God! Is not this a kingdom\nworth praying for?\n\nNow let me go on to ask the question, _What is the sphere of the\nkingdom?_ First let me say, the sphere of the kingdom is the _individual\nheart_. When I pray, \u201cThy kingdom come\u201d I do not feel that I am praying\nsolely for the work of foreign missions. I do not think only of the\nmillions of heathen in China or India or Africa. When I pray \u201cThy\nkingdom come,\u201d I am not satisfied with adding to the thought of the\nheathen abroad remembrance of the heathen at home. No! when I utter that\nprayer I feel I am praying for myself. I am praying that God\u2019s kingdom\nmay come in my own heart. Oh, yes, this prayer has reference to\nourselves. When we pray \u201cThy kingdom come,\u201d we pray \u201cLord, come into our\nown hearts; rule _there_; take the throne _there_: make us completely\nthine.\u201d \u201cThy kingdom come!\u201d Brethren, do we mean it? Do we honestly\ndesire it? For see what it means. It means that we are asking that every\ncherished sin and passion may be cast out of our hearts; it means that\nwe desire that neither money nor pleasure nor fame should have any power\nover us or draw away our love from God. It means that God\u2019s will and not\nour own may rule. Oh, that is a great prayer! Do we honestly and\nsincerely mean what we say? I have known men who loved their sins too\nmuch, their pleasures, their money, themselves too much, ever to be able\nto pray sincerely \u201cThy kingdom come!\u201d May God give us grace honestly to\npray this prayer! May He make us able and willing to give to His\ncommands a glad and complete obedience! God\u2019s kingdom must come in our\nown hearts before it can come in the world at large! It is only true and\nloyal subjects of the kingdom who can extend its boundaries and further\nits interests. Men will not enter the kingdom, though we preach to them\ntill Doomsday, if we ourselves remain without. But if God truly reigns\nin our hearts, and His kingdom begets in us righteousness, peace, and\njoy, we shall then be able to go forth and win others as loyal subjects\nto our King.\n\nBut in offering this prayer, we must not stop at ourselves. The prayer\nembraces _the wide world in its sweep_. Thy kingdom come! Where?\nEverywhere. All nations are to bow down before Him, all people are to\nserve Him. Men discuss the question sometimes as to which race is likely\nto become the dominant race in the earth. We people who live in this\nlittle island are inclined to believe that this splendid destiny is\nreserved for the Anglo-Saxon race. We stand among the nations for the\nprinciples of liberty and truth and justice; and as I heard Dr. Clifford\nsay some months ago, we believe that \u201cthe momentum of these ideas will\ncarry us to the government of the earth.\u201d And so far as England does\nstand for those great ideas, I am not ashamed to confess I am an English\nImperialist. But there is something I am more anxious about even than\nthe dominion of England, and that is the dominion of Christ. Above\neverything else I am a Christian Imperialist. I want to see the banner\nof the Cross floating over every land. I want to see every nation\nacknowledging one and the same King\u2014even Jesus. I want to see the crown\nof the world on the brow which bears still the scars of the crown of\nthorns! And, brethren, I know that all this shall come to pass! The\nplace of England in the future of the world is, after all, a matter of\nconjecture. But there is no conjecture, no doubt, no perhaps about the\nplace of Christ. He is destined for the throne! He shall reign till He\nhath put all enemies under His feet, \u201cThy kingdom come\u201d in my own heart,\nover all the world, and let me add _in every department of life_. When\nwe pray this prayer, we are praying that God may rule in our business\nlife, and our social life, and our political life. We are asking Him to\npreside in our Parliaments and our Council Chambers. We are asking Him\nto take the government of our markets and our offices and our exchanges.\nWe are asking Him to be Lord in the realms of art and literature. What\nan enormous sweep this prayer has! And we must not only pray this form\nof words, but if our prayer is not to be a sham and a pretence, we must\n_toil_ to realise the kingdom. \u201cLaborare est orare,\u201d says the old Latin\nproverb: \u201cTo labour is to pray.\u201d At any rate, no one has truly prayed\nthis prayer who does not bend all his energies to the task of seeking to\nestablish this kingdom on earth. England keeps in every important\nforeign town consuls to look after the interests of English people. Let\nme use that to illustrate the duties of Christian people. We are in this\nworld to look after the interests of God and of His kingdom. We are His\nconsuls. You business men, you are in business to look after God\u2019s\ninterests and to promote His kingdom! You professional men\u2014doctors,\nlawyers, schoolmasters\u2014you are in your professions to look after God\u2019s\ninterests and to promote His kingdom! You politicians, you are in\npolitics to look after God\u2019s interests and to promote His kingdom! You\nfathers and mothers in the homes, you are there to look after God\u2019s\ninterests and to promote His kingdom. You must be Christian business\nmen, Christian lawyers, Christian doctors, Christian teachers, Christian\npoliticians, Christian parents. Be faithful to your trust! _So_ live,\n_so_ labour, that God\u2019s kingdom may come! No wish or prayer of ours can\nmake the summer come an hour before its time, or stave off by one hour\nthe approach of grim winter, but it _does depend_ upon our prayers and\nlabours whether it shall be soon or late that summer gladness shall come\ninto the souls of men; whether it shall be soon or late that Christ\nshall see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied.\n\nLet me now proceed to the question, \u201c_How is this kingdom to be\nestablished?_\u201d Let me first say how it _cannot_. It cannot be\nestablished by force. Alexander, C\u00e6sar, Napoleon built up their empires\nwith the sword, and cemented them with blood, but not so is the kingdom\nof God to be established. Men have tried that method; they have used\nfire and sword to make God\u2019s kingdom come. Peter had that spirit when he\npointed to the two swords the disciples possessed. Mahomet followed this\nplan when he gave to men the alternative, either Islam or death. The\nCrusaders, spurred on by the burning eloquence of Peter the Hermit,\ncommitted the same blunder. The old Saxon and Gothic kings, who when\nthey accepted Christianity themselves compelled their people to be\nbaptised as well, followed the same mistaken method. But these people\ndid not advance the kingdom of God one whit. You do not make a man a\nmember of this kingdom by baptising him, or enrolling him among the\nadherents of a church, or by _calling_ him a Christian. Men must have\ntheir hearts changed, they must be born again. They must be willing to\nrender glad obedience to their _Father_ King before they become members\nof this kingdom. Force may increase the numbers of a sect, it cannot add\none to the membership of the kingdom. The sword may compel a man to\nchange his name; it can never compel him to change his heart! Oh no; it\nis not by the sword that God\u2019s kingdom will come. To all ecclesiastical\npersecutors Christ says, \u201cPut the sword up into its sheath.\u201d Not by the\nsword is the kingdom to come, but by the Cross! Constantine of old, when\non the eve of a critical battle, dreamed he saw a cross in the sky, and\naround it this legend, \u03a3\u1f51 \u03c4\u03bf\u03c5\u03c4\u1ff7 v\u1fd6\u03ba\u1fb3, \u201cby this conquer.\u201d That is the\nweapon we have to use in our warfare. That is the weapon whereby God\u2019s\nkingdom is to be established. We are to conquer \u201cby the Cross.\u201d We are\nto conquer by the power of love. For the Cross means love\u2014love at its\nbest, love in the glory of sacrifice. The Cross is the power of God. It\nis by the story of the Cross that men\u2019s hearts are to be broken, and\ntheir affection and allegiance won. \u201cBy this conquer\u201d is the charge\ngiven to us. Preach the Cross! Exalt the dying Redeemer of men! When we\nlift Him up He will draw all men unto Him.\n\n\u201cThy kingdom come.\u201d It is a prayer to-day; but the time will come when\nthe prayer shall be changed into praise, and we shall be able to say,\n\u201cThy kingdom has come!\u201d It has been coming for eighteen hundred years,\nand it is not here yet; but doubt not, despair not, faint not, it SHALL\ncome. Men have called the visions such men as Plato and Sir Thomas More\nhave given us of the \u201cIdeal State,\u201d \u201cUtopias,\u201d \u201cNowheres,\u201d to mark their\nidea of those visions as fantastic, impractical, impossible. But let no\none dare to call the kingdom of God a Utopia. Let no one dare to say of\nthe new earth which Christ foretold that it is a vain, an impossible\ndream. To say that is to deny the faith, and to be guilty of the great\nApostasy. Do you say that the establishment of a kingdom of justice and\npeace and joy is impossible? I will tell you nay. God is pledged to it,\nand He shall not fail nor be discouraged. The time is coming when our\nevil hearts shall be made pure and clean; the time is coming when our\nlife day by day shall be sweet and holy and happy; the time is coming\nwhen lying, deceit, and greed and strife, and distrust and shame shall\nbe banished from the earth; the time is coming when asylums and\npenitentiaries and gaols shall no longer openly proclaim our shame; the\ntime is coming when the drunkard and the profligate and the criminal and\nthe harlot shall be no more, but the people shall be all righteous\u2014a\nbranch of God\u2019s planting, that He may be glorified! The time is coming\nwhen trade and politics and pleasure shall be carried on to the glory of\nGod. The time is coming when literature and art shall be cleansed of all\nimpure taint, and shall speak of God as the Bible speaks of Him to-day.\nThe time is coming when China and India and the Dark Continent and the\nisles of the sea shall place their crowns on the head of Christ. The\ntime is coming when every idol shall be broken and every superstition\ndestroyed, and the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the\nwaters cover the sea. The time is coming when righteousness, peace, and\njoy shall everywhere prevail, and sin and wrong shall be words whose\nmeaning men no longer understand. _Sursum corda._ Lift up your hearts!\nThat glorious time is coming! That glorious day is about to break. \u201cThe\nworld is grey with morning light.\u201d Thy Kingdom come! It _must_ come; it\n_will_ come. Its coming does not depend upon you or me, but upon the\nrisen and exalted Christ. \u201cThe pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His\nhands.\u201d\n\n                   Break, triumphant day of God,\n                     Break at last, our hearts to cheer;\n                   Throbbing souls and holy songs\n                     Wait to hail thy dawning here.\n\n                   Empires, temples, sceptres, thrones,\n                     May they all for God be won;\n                   And, in every human heart,\n                     Father, let Thy kingdom come.\n\n\n\n\n                                   V\n                           The Third Petition\n\n\n\u201cThy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth.\u201d\u2014MATT. vi. 10\n\n\nThe third petition, which is omitted from Luke\u2019s version of the Prayer,\nsprings directly and naturally out of the second petition, and is really\nexplanatory of it. We have been taught to pray, \u201cThy kingdom come.\u201d\nGod\u2019s kingdom _will_ come, when His will is done on earth, as it is done\nin heaven.\n\nThe central idea of kingship is that of _rule_, _authority_, _power_.\nKingship is only real and effective when the King commands and the\npeople obey. In heaven God\u2019s kingship is a reality. The eyes of all the\ninhabitants of the better land wait upon God. Cherubim and Seraphim,\nsaints and angels, delight to do His will. In heaven, God speaks and it\nis done. This third petition is a prayer that men may learn to obey God\nas the angels do, so that His kingship may be as real and as effective\nhere on earth as it is now in heaven.\n\nJurists draw a distinction between kings _de jure_\u2014kings by legal right,\nand kings _de facto_\u2014in actual possession and exercise of the royal\npower. Now God, if I may be allowed to say so, is the world\u2019s King _de\njure_. He is the world\u2019s lawful Sovereign and rightful Lord. \u201cThe earth\nis the Lord\u2019s and the fulness thereof, the world and they that dwell\ntherein.\u201d But God is not King _de facto_. His kingship is not effective.\nHis people do not obey. There are large sections of the world, whole\ndepartments of human activity, where His rule is not recognised. Ireland\nis part of the Queen\u2019s dominions; but there have been times when the\nQueen could scarcely be said to _reign_ in Ireland. At the time when the\nIrish troubles were at their height, it was a common saying that in\ncertain districts of Ireland it was not the Queen who ruled, but the\nLand League. Cuba was until last year part of the dominions of the King\nof Spain. The Spanish flag floated over its arsenals and forts. It was\nwith the ministers of the King of Spain that all negotiations with\nreference to Cuba had to be carried on. Cuban coins and Cuban postage\nstamps bore the image and superscription of the Spanish sovereign. But\nfor all that, for the past ten years or so the kingship of Alphonso over\nCuba was merely nominal. Outside Havanna and Santiago Alphonso could not\nbe said to _reign_. Not all the armies of Spain could make his kingship\nreal and effective over the rebellious interior. In much the same way\nGod is the King of the world. He is its lawful Sovereign. No one else\nhas a shred of title or claim to an inch of its territory or to the\nallegiance of one of its inhabitants. \u201cThe kingdom is the Lord\u2019s, and He\nis Governor among the nations.\u201d But while God is King of the world _de\njure_, He is not King _de facto_. His kingship is nominal\u2014not real and\neffective; for there are parts of the world over which God cannot be\nsaid to _rule_. There are multitudes of men who are in rebellion against\nHim, and who refuse to acknowledge His authority. God\u2019s writs do not\nrun. His law is not obeyed. His will is not done.\n\nAnd here we come across that solemn and awful power which is the\nprerogative of manhood\u2014the _power of resisting the will of God_. Nature\nobeys God\u2019s will. The flower that blooms in hedge-side or meadow; the\nlark that sings its way up to heaven\u2019s gate in the spring sunshine; the\nrivers that roll towards the sea; the ocean with its regular ebb and\nflow; the sun and moon and stars observing their seasons and travelling\nalong their appointed orbits\u2014all these are what they are, and do what\nthey do in obedience to God\u2019s will. The wind is God\u2019s messenger; the\nthunder His voice; the lightning His sword. Nature obeys God. And above,\nin heaven, the angels and the blest do God\u2019s pleasure. \u201cThousands at His\nbidding speed, and post o\u2019er land and ocean without rest.\u201d Is there any\none then who resists God\u2019s will? Yes, there is one, just one, and that\none is _man_. In all God\u2019s universe he is the only one who is\ndisobedient. He is the only one who clenches his fist and says \u201cNo\u201d to\nGod. He is the only one invested with the terrible power of resisting,\nthwarting, opposing the will of God. And that awful power he possesses\nbecause he possesses a free and independent will of his own. God made\nman, we are told, in His own likeness. The special feature that marks\nman off from the brute creation and links him on to the Divine, is his\npossession of _moral freedom_. God is a moral Being. Man, too, is a\nmoral being. But in order to make man a moral being, God had to limit\nHimself and make man _free_. For there can be no moral quality where\nthere is no freedom. Nature is un-moral because nature acts under\nnecessity. Man is _not_ under necessity. He can either obey or disobey.\nHe is a moral being because he is _free_.\n\nNow all the misery of the world is due to the fact that man abused his\nfreedom, that he chose not to obey, but to _dis_-obey. What was the\nfirst sin? An act of disobedience; and that act of disobedience brought\nin its train a multitude of woes. I want you to remember that vice is\nnot here by God\u2019s will; lust is not here by God\u2019s will; strife and\nmalice and envy are not here by God\u2019s will; war and bloodshed and\nslaughter are not here by God\u2019s will; misery and poverty and shame are\nnot here by God\u2019s will. They are here by _man\u2019s_ will, because man set\nup his own will in opposition to that of God. The secret of the world\u2019s\nunhappiness and sorrow and pain you will find in these familiar words of\nthe General Confession, \u201cWe have followed too much the devices and\ndesires of our own hearts.\u201d \u201cSelfishness,\u201d as Bishop Westcott says,\n\u201clies at the root of all sin.\u201d Here is the fountain of the world\u2019s woe,\nthat man preferred his own will rather than the will of God. While man\nwas obedient there was happiness and joy, happiness that lasted. As John\nMilton says\u2014\n\n                              \u2014till disproportioned Sin\n            Jarr\u2019d against nature\u2019s chime, and with harsh din\n            Broke the fair music that all creatures made\n            To their great Lord, whose love their motion sway\u2019d\n            In perfect diapason, whilst they stood\n            In first obedience and their state of good.\n\nBut from that day, that day of disobedience, the whole creation has been\ngroaning and travailing together in pain until now. But to discover the\nfountain of the disease is also to discover the secret of the remedy. If\nthe world owes its present misery to the fact that man has followed his\nown will, the world will see its perfect day when man submits his own\nwill to the will of God. \u201cCome and let us _return_\u201d is the prophet\u2019s\ncry, \u201clet us get back to the old allegiance.\u201d \u201cCome and let us return\u201d\nis the preacher\u2019s call to-day. The way to the millennium is along the\npath of obedience. When God\u2019s kingship is real and effective, because\nmen everywhere are obedient, the Golden Age will have dawned. The new\nearth wherein dwelleth righteousness will be a blessed fact when\u2014\n\n                    We learn with God to will one will,\n                    To do and to endure.\n\n_Thy Will be done!_ This petition teaches us that it must be our supreme\ndesire that God may have His way with us. You will notice, as I pointed\nout a Saturday or two ago, that this petition comes before the petitions\nfor personal blessing. It is infinitely more important that God\u2019s will\nshould be done than that we should have the things upon which we have\nset our hearts. \u201c_Thy_ will be done!\u201d Do you not feel humbled and\nreproached by this petition? I will speak for myself, and say that this\npetition and its place in the prayer put me to utter shame. Why, our\nvery prayers are selfish! A secularist once said with a sneer that\n\u201cprayer was a machine warranted by theologians to make God do whatsoever\nHis clients want.\u201d Have not our prayers given some ground for the sneer?\nHave not our wants and interests occupied too large a place in our\npetition? This is the true order in prayer\u2014God first. This is the\npetition that must dominate every other, \u201cThy will be done.\u201d\n\nLet me not be misunderstood. I am far from saying it is wrong to tell\nGod about our personal wishes and desires. No! Tell Him everything.\nThere ought to be no reserve in the conversation between a child and his\nFather. I am not afraid or ashamed to tell God about my personal\naffairs. I ask Him to preserve me from trouble and loss. I ask Him to\nkeep me safe from harm and danger. I ask Him to ward off from me\nsickness and suffering. I ask Him to watch over those I love. But there\nis another prayer I must learn to pray, another prayer I must learn to\npray _first_\u2014and oh! what a lot of learning it takes\u2014and that prayer is\nthis, \u201cThy will be done.\u201d For it may be God\u2019s will to send me the very\nthings I shrink from. He may see that it is the discipline of trouble\nand loss and sickness that I need. I am but as a little child, blind and\nignorant as a little child, and when I pray for temporal gifts, I may be\nonly praying to my own hurt. This is the only prayer for me, for you,\nfor all men, \u201cFather, Thy will be done.\u201d We wish for success in life,\nbut because such a success might prove a curse and not a blessing, we\nmust add, \u201cNevertheless, not my will but Thine be done.\u201d We pray for\nfreedom from bereavement and sorrow, but because such discipline may\nresult in truest blessedness, we add, \u201cNevertheless, not my will but\nThine be done.\u201d We pray for peace and comfort and quietness, but because\nstruggle and conflict may be necessary, in order to make us strong, we\nadd, \u201cNevertheless, not my will but Thine be done.\u201d We have not learned\nto pray truly at all, until every petition in our prayers is made\nsubject to this one; until it becomes our chief and supreme desire that\nGod\u2019s will may be done.\n\n_Will it be hard?_ Hard? I know of nothing harder. This is the great\nfeat of life. You can only learn to say \u201cThy will be done\u201d through\nstruggle and agony and heartbreak. This old Book compares the agony\nthrough which men must pass before they learn sincerely to pray this\nprayer, to the agony inflicted by the plucking out of an eye or the\ncutting off of a limb. Obedience to God leads to the land of blessedness\nand peace, but the gate by which we enter\u2014the gate of self-denial\u2014is a\nnarrow gate, and we have to _agonise_ to enter in. God has a will for\neach of us, and His will concerning us often clashes with our own. The\ndesires of the flesh and of the mind hanker after earthly comfort and\nwealth and ease. God\u2019s will concerning us is, that whatever the cost and\nthe pain, we should be clean and honest and true. Scarcely a day passes\nbut our desires and the will of God for us come into violent conflict.\nTo surrender our own wills, to make God\u2019s will ours, means pain. It is a\ndying. It is a crucifixion. But there are one or two considerations of\nwhich I would like to remind you, which ought to make this surrender\neasier for us. This is the first:\u2014\n\n(1) The will we are asked to make our own is _our Father\u2019s_ will. \u201cThy\nwill be done!\u201d Whose will? _Our Father\u2019s will!_ After all, it ought not\nto be very difficult to obey a father\u2019s will, to fulfil a father\u2019s\ndesire, even when that will runs counter to our own, for we know there\nis _love_ in the case. Remember, you are not asked to obey a despot; you\nare not asked to obey a tyrant; you are not asked to obey a\nslave-driver; you are asked to do the will of _your Father_\u2014your Father,\nwhose love is only to be measured by the Cross of Jesus Christ. It was\nthe remembrance that the will He was called upon to obey was His\nFather\u2019s will, that helped Jesus in the Garden. It was a hard thing for\nour Lord to say \u201cThy will be done,\u201d when He knew that involved the Cross\nand the Grave; for Jesus, let me say it with all reverence, had all a\nman\u2019s feelings, and He shrank from the bitter agony and shame. He would\ngladly have escaped the Cross and the Tomb. \u201cIf it be possible, let this\ncup pass.\u201d Then he remembered it was His Father who was bidding Him\ndrink that bitter cup. That thought steadied Him, gave Him courage, made\nHim strong, He was ready for anything and everything that His Father\nappointed. \u201cThe cup which the Father hath given me to drink shall I not\ndrink it?\u201d We, too, shall be strong to make God\u2019s will our own, when we\nremember it is our _Father\u2019s_ will. For our Father is love\u2014love at its\nbest and highest. Mr. Spurgeon tells a story about a man who had in his\ngarden a weather-cock which had on it this inscription, \u201cGod is Love.\u201d A\nfriend seeing it asked if it was meant to imply that God\u2019s love was as\nfickle as the wind. \u201cNo,\u201d was the reply, \u201cI mean that from whatever\nquarter the wind may happen to blow, God is still love.\u201d Bear that in\nmind\u2014God is love; the will you are asked to obey is your Father\u2019s will.\nThen, though that will ordain for us sorrow, sickness, pain, loss, we\nshall have grace to say, \u201cThy will be done.\u201d\n\nThe second consideration which I would impress upon you is this:\u2014\n\n(2) God\u2019s will _ever seeks our highest good_. What else could any one\nexpect, seeing that it is _our Father\u2019s_ will? How we who are parents\nplan and scheme and contrive in order to secure a happy and prosperous\nfuture for our children! In exactly the same way God plans and purposes\nfor us. He is always thinking upon us for our good. His will, says the\nApostle, is our sanctification. It is a good and perfect and acceptable\nwill. The very discipline through which He sometimes calls upon us to\npass is meant to build us up in patience and purity and faith. The boy\nin school is apt to regard his lessons as a hardship. He would prefer\nthe field and the sunshine to the school-room and the desk. But in after\nyears he will be thankful he did not get his own way in the days of his\nyouth, for he will recognise _then_ that the hours he spent over his\nAlgebraic problems and his Latin declensions enriched his life by\ncontributing to the culture of his mind. We are scholars in God\u2019s\nschools. The discipline of the school is painful sometimes; but in later\nyears we shall be thankful even for our sorrows and losses and\nbereavements, when we see how they have enriched our lives by\ncontributing to the culture of our souls. Yes, it will be easier to\nembrace God\u2019s will when we realise with the Apostle that all things work\ntogether for good to them that love God.\n\n_Thy will be done!_ Notice, God\u2019s will is not simply to be endured or\nsuffered\u2014it is to be done. In our every-day speech we have unduly\nnarrowed the scope and meaning of this petition. We talk about this\npetition as if it were a prayer that God would give us the grace of\n_resignation_. It is in times of bereavement that this phrase leaps to\nthe lips of men. It is upon tombstones that it is inscribed by sorrowing\nrelatives. Again do not let me be misunderstood. Suffering God\u2019s will is\nembraced in the scope of this prayer. To many of us the hardest part of\nall is patient submission to the will of God. The man bereft of wealth,\nstripped of all his possessions, flung back again into the poverty from\nwhich by hard and persistent effort he had emerged, needs grace to say,\n\u201cThy will be done.\u201d The man who languishes upon a bed of sickness, who\nlies there helpless while perhaps wife and children look up to him for\nbread\u2014he needs grace to say, \u201cThy will be done.\u201d Those who have parted\nwith some loved one, who have seen father or mother, or husband or wife\nor child, hidden from them in the dark cold grave, and who come home\nagain to miss the well-loved face and familiar voice\u2014they need grace to\nsay, while their hearts are aching and their eyes are full of tears,\n\u201cThy will be done.\u201d Some of you know how hard it is. You find it\nimpossible almost to say, as Job said, \u201cThe Lord gave and the Lord hath\ntaken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.\u201d Yes, it is hard to be\nsubmissive and resigned, and it is out of a broken heart the prayer\noften ascends, \u201cThy will be done.\u201d\n\nBut this prayer is much more than a prayer for the grace of resignation\nand patient submission. The petition is not \u201cHelp us to _suffer_ thy\nwill,\u201d but \u201cHelp us to do it.\u201d This is not a prayer simply for the\ninvalid and the mourner and the bereaved; it is a prayer also for those\nwho are happy and well and strong. This is not a prayer simply for our\ntimes of trouble and our days of deep distress; it is a prayer for all\ntimes and every day. It is not every day, nor every month, nor even\nevery year, that we are called upon to _suffer_ God\u2019s will, but not a\nday, not an hour passes, but _we are_ called upon to do it. Do not\nnarrow the scope of this prayer. You prayed this morning, \u201cThy will be\ndone on earth as it is in heaven\u201d? What did you mean by it? I will tell\nyou what you ought to have meant by it: \u201cHelp me, O God, to do what Thou\nwouldest have me do, to be what Thou wouldest have me.\u201d That is what the\nprayer means. It means that we accept God\u2019s plans and purposes as our\nown, and resolve to realise them. You can pray no nobler prayer than\nthis, for in the doing of God\u2019s will lies the secret of the perfect\nlife. We look at the life of Jesus\u2014so beautiful, so pure, so perfect\u2014and\nwe are lost in wonder and rapture. But the secret of that life is here:\nJesus from the beginning to the close of life was intent on doing God\u2019s\nwill. He Himself let us into the secret. \u201cI am come,\u201d He said, \u201cnot to\ndo My own will, but the will of the Father who sent Me.\u201d \u201cMy meat and\ndrink,\u201d He said, on another occasion, \u201cis to do the will of Him that\nsent Me, and to accomplish His work.\u201d When a boy of twelve He had come\nto the sublime decision that every moment of His life should be spent in\ndoing His Father\u2019s business. Do not commit the mistake of thinking that\nit was only in Gethsemane and the Judgement Hall and on Calvary that\nChrist was doing the will of God. He was doing it during those silent\nyears at Nazareth. He was doing it when at school, He was doing it when\nHe was in the carpenter\u2019s shop, mending the tables and chairs and\nploughs of the dwellers in Nazareth. He was doing it when He preached\nthe Gospel of the Kingdom in Galilee. He was doing it when sharing in\nthe festivities at Cana, and taking part in Matthew\u2019s farewell dinner.\nHe was doing it when healing the sick and comforting the lonely and\nlifting up the outcast. In fact, He was never doing anything else. Every\nday, every moment, Jesus was doing the Father\u2019s will, and the result is\nthe only perfect life the world has ever seen. And so, in our case, the\ndoing of God\u2019s will is not something confined to our times of darkness\nand sorrow; the doing of God\u2019s will is a daily and hourly endeavour.\nGod\u2019s will is really _done_ by us only when, to use the Apostle\u2019s words,\n\u201cwhether we eat or drink, or whatsoever we do, we do all to the glory of\nGod.\u201d \u201cThy will be done on earth,\u201d so runs the petition; the sphere in\nwhich God\u2019s will is to be put into effect is this earth of ours\u2014its\nbusiness life, its public life, its social life, its family life. The\nemployer is doing God\u2019s will when He treats those in his employment\njustly and generously. The tradesman is doing God\u2019s will when he buys\nand sells honestly. The shop assistant is doing God\u2019s will by being\ndiligent and courteous, and yet withal scrupulously straightforward and\ntrue. The artizan is doing God\u2019s will when he respects his employer\u2019s\ntime, and does every bit of work as well as it can be done. Fathers and\nmothers, brothers and sisters in the home are doing God\u2019s will when they\nstrive to make home happy by their self-forgetfulness and ready\nhelpfulness. \u201cDoing God\u2019s will\u201d means doing everything as we know God\nwould have us do it, making God supreme over every detail of human life.\nIt means buying and selling, keeping ledgers, serving at the counter,\nteaching at the desk, toiling in the fields, sitting in the council\nchamber, casting a vote, taking our pleasure, sharing in social joys,\nand doing all this for God. This is what we pray for when we say, \u201cThy\nwill be done.\u201d\n\nLook at the qualifying words that follow: \u201cas in heaven so on earth.\u201d\nHeaven supplies the pattern for earth. I have just two words to say\nabout the way in which God\u2019s will is done in heaven\u2014(1) It is done\n_cheerfully_. Saints and angels find their highest joy in doing God\u2019s\nwill. If earth is to be like heaven in this respect, we must obey God\ncheerfully. God wants no grudging service. Our obedience must be glad,\nwilling, free. God\u2019s will can not be done by us as it is done in heaven,\nuntil we can say sincerely, \u201cI delight to do Thy will, O my God, yea,\nThy law is within my heart.\u201d (2) It is done by ALL. You will look in\nvain in the heavenly land for the disobedient and the refractory and the\nrebellious. Heaven is perfectly happy, because all its people are\nperfect in their obedience. Before earth can be like heaven, God\u2019s will\nmust be done by ALL. It is done to-day only by a FEW. There are\nmultitudes who rebel against Him. When these return to their allegiance,\nthe day of God will break.\n\n_Thy will be done!_ This petition calls our attention to the most crying\nand urgent need of our day, the need of a simpler and more implicit\nobedience. It is not more knowledge of God\u2019s will that we want, but\ngrace to put in practice what we know. What is the use of coming here\nto-day to hear God\u2019s will declared, if to-morrow in our business life,\nwe deliberately flout and reject it? I venture to say this, that if\nto-morrow and the following days we only did what we know our Lord\ndesires us to do, we should revolutionise the life of this town. And\nwill you suffer me to remind you that it is not to those who make a\nprofession and parade of religion that heaven is promised, but to those\nwho faithfully and loyally obey. \u201cNot every one that saith unto Me,\nLord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth\nthe will of My Father which is in heaven.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n                                   VI\n                             \u201cDaily Bread\u201d\n\n\n    \u201cGive us this day our daily bread.\u201d\u2014MATT. vi. 11\n\n    \u201cGive us day by day our daily bread.\u201d\u2014LUKE xi. 3.\n\n\nThe petition which we are to study together this morning opens the\nsecond part of the Lord\u2019s Prayer. Up to this point our petitions have\nall been concerned with God\u2019s glory and praise. We have prayed \u201cHallowed\nbe Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done.\u201d Having thus observed\nthe rule, \u201cfirst things first,\u201d having sought first the kingdom of God\nand His righteousness, we are now at liberty to pass on to secondary\nthings, and to offer up to God petitions for personal blessings. And the\nfirst petition we are taught to offer is this, \u201cGive us this day our\ndaily bread.\u201d We begin at the very bottom. We start the list of personal\npetitions with a prayer for \u201cdaily bread.\u201d\n\nWill you notice what a gracious light this petition throws upon the\n_condescension of God_? Our Lord is the high and Holy One, who inhabits\neternity, and yet He stoops to lowly folk and lowly things. \u201cThe Lord\nthinketh upon _me_.\u201d Whatsoever concerns me is of concern to Him. \u201cGive\nme bread\u201d is not too humble a petition to bring into the presence of the\ngreat White Throne. A one-sided notion of the majesty of God has led men\noftentimes to feel that the ordinary little cares of a human life are\nquite too insignificant and trifling for Him to notice. \u201cGod is so\nbusy,\u201d they say; \u201cHe has so many things to think about, that we ought\nnot to trouble Him with our little anxieties and worries. Such petty\nthings are quite beneath the dignity of His attention.\u201d That was exactly\nhow the disciples felt long ago, when they were for driving away those\nmothers who had brought their little children for Christ to bless. They\nfelt that the great Preacher, on whose lips vast crowds hung, ought not\nto be bothered about babies. They thought that Christ had so many things\nof importance to think about, that it was absurd to expect Him to take\nnotice of little children. The same kind of feeling has possessed many\nof the men who have commented on this petition. Many of the old church\nfathers, and indeed many modern commentators, refuse to believe that\nthis is a prayer for ordinary food, for mere bread. They cannot persuade\nthemselves that a petition for so commonplace a thing as _bread_ could\npossibly find a place for itself in the Model Prayer. This is too\ntrifling a request to trouble God about. So they cast about for some\nother than the obvious and literal meaning of the sentence, something\nwhich they imagine is more _dignified_, and satisfy themselves at last\nby saying that bread here means _spiritual bread_, food for the soul,\nthe Bread of Life. But the simple and obvious meaning of the phrase is,\nafter all, the true one. Erasmus, the great sixteenth century Grecian,\nthought a reference to physical food would be incongruous \u201cin so\nheavenly a prayer.\u201d But far from being incongruous, the prayer becomes\nmore gracious and beautiful because this petition for bread is in it!\nThe picture of Christ, which is given us in the Gospels, is all the more\nwinsome for the story which tells us that He took the little children in\nHis arms and blessed them; and the character of God becomes all the more\nbeautiful when we see His love stooping even to caring for our commonest\nwants. \u201cGive us bread.\u201d This petition asks God to supply our primary\nphysical wants. It is not an unworthy petition. It is not too trivial a\nrequest to bring to God; for God is not a God simply for great crises,\nsupreme emergencies, tremendous catastrophes: He is a God for every day,\nand for the common events of every day. Our God is, shall I say, a\nMaster of detail. He cares not simply for the movements of worlds and\nthe policies of nations. He notes the fall of a sparrow, and He counts\nthe very hairs of our head. Nothing is too small for God to notice; the\ncommonest affairs of the commonest life are matters of concern to Him.\n\n\u201cGive us this day our daily bread.\u201d Will you notice!\u2014\n\n(1) That this prayer proclaims the fact of _our dependence_ upon God\n_for the very simplest of boons_. \u201cGive us _bread_.\u201d At first glance\nwe might be tempted to think this was a poor man\u2019s prayer; a prayer for\nthe man who is face to face with hunger; a prayer for the man who does\nnot know to-day how he is going to live through to-morrow; a prayer for\nthe man whose balance at the bank has been exhausted, and whose last\nshilling has been spent; a prayer for the man whose cupboard is empty,\nand who has nothing in basket or store. \u201cBut,\u201d we say, \u201cthis is not a\nprayer for a rich man; this is not a prayer for a man whose barns and\nstorehouses are full; this is not a prayer for those who are nursed in\nthe lap of luxury\u2014the well-to-do, the affluent, the millionaire.\u201d This\nis a prayer for Lazarus, not for Dives. But, as a matter of fact, I do\nnot read that Jesus anywhere says that this is a petition the rich men\nneed not offer. In the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, you will find\nthat some of the prayers, _e.g._, the general thanksgiving and the\nprayer for all sorts and conditions of men\u2014contain petitions which may\nbe inserted or omitted according to the circumstances of the\ncongregation. Such petitions you will find printed in italics and\nenclosed in brackets, and the instruction is given at the side, that\nsuch a petition is only to be used when any members of the congregation\nspecially desire it. But this petition is not printed in italics. It is\nnot enclosed in brackets. There is no instruction at the side to say,\n\u201cThis petition is to be offered by a congregation of the poor, but may\nbe omitted by a congregation of the rich.\u201d Oh no! there it stands in the\nbody of the prayer. Before it you will find the command of Christ \u201cWhen\nye pray, say, Give us this day our daily bread.\u201d There are no exceptions\nmade. This is a prayer for all men, for the prince as well as the\npauper, for the rich as well as the poor\u2014\u201cGive us this day our daily\nbread.\u201d\n\nAnd it is thus a prayer for all, because all are absolutely _dependent_\nupon God. We have nothing which we have not received. Every good and\nperfect gift cometh from above from the Father of Light, with whom is no\nvariableness neither shadow cast by turning. In God we live and move and\nhave our being. All men depend upon God, and they depend upon him for\neverything. For life, for breath, for vigour of mind, for strength of\nbody, we all depend on Him. And nowhere is this utter dependence of man\nupon God more clearly seen than in the matter of DAILY BREAD. The\npossession of wealth is apt to blind us to the fact of our _dependence_.\nMen who are rich and increased with goods are always in danger of\nthinking they have need of nothing. Men whose affairs have prospered,\nlike the rich fool in the parable, are always prone to think themselves\nsecure and safe for future years, and say to their souls as he said,\n\u201cSoul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years, take thine ease,\neat, drink, and be merry.\u201d Why, we talk ourselves about a man who has\nprivate property which brings him in a few hundreds a year being\n\u201cindependent.\u201d Independent of what? Independent of whom? It is not\nsimply that wealth has a curious trick sometimes of taking to itself\nwings and flying away; it is not simply that life is full of instances\nof tragic vicissitudes of fortune; it is not simply that we see the\nsupposed possessor of millions the friend of titled lords one day,\nfiguring in the Bankruptcy Court the next. Even assuming that riches\nwhen made can be kept, of whom is a man \u201cindependent\u201d? Why, though you\nhad the wealth of the Rothschilds, you would still be as dependent upon\nGod for mere _bread_ as the meanest pauper in Christchurch workhouse.\nFor consider for a moment the facts of the case. All wealth in the last\nresort _depends upon the produce of the soil_. In these days, when\ncivilisation is so complicated, this is a fact we are always in danger\nof overlooking and forgetting; but it is a fact, nevertheless, all\nwealth in the last resort depends upon the produce of the soil\u2014the\nsimple necessaries of life. Gold is only valuable for what it can\nbuy\u2014its power of purchasing what is needful for the support of life. But\nsupposing for one moment that the earth did not yield her increase;\nsupposing a summer should pass without a crop; supposing there should be\nno harvest of corn or fruit; supposing the world suddenly found itself\nwithout food, of what use would your glittering sovereigns be to you? Of\nwhat use would your railway shares and bank shares be to you? Of what\nuse would your costly diamonds and precious stones be to you? You could\nnot live upon them! They would be as worthless as the very dust of the\nstreet if there was nothing to buy! Yes, that is the simple truth; if\nthe world should wake up in the morning to find itself absolutely\nwithout food, the man whose safe is stuffed with share scrip and whose\nplate-chest is crammed with gold and precious stones, would be in just\nas sad a plight as the poorest beggar in Bournemouth. In the last resort\nall men depend upon the produce of the fields; and the produce of the\nfields _is the gift of God_. Man cannot make food. He cannot create\nbread. With all his knowledge of chemistry he cannot command a harvest.\nGod must GIVE it. And He gives the harvest _year by year_. Some things,\nas Dr. Dods remarks, God gives us once for all\u2014our supply of coal and\nthe various minerals and metals. But corn, food, and bread He gives us\nyear by year, as if to emphasise the fact of our dependence upon him. I\nhave read somewhere that when the month of August comes round the world\nis each year within two months of famine. The world\u2019s granaries at that\ntime contain only eight weeks\u2019 supply of corn. How forcibly such a fact\npreaches the truth of our dependence upon God! Rich and poor alike\ndepend for very life upon the harvest God shall give. \u201cGive us this day\nour daily bread\u201d is a prayer for us all. It is a prayer for Job in his\nprosperity quite as much as for Job in his adversity. It is a prayer for\nJoseph amid the well-stocked granaries of Egypt quite as much as for\nJacob face to face with starvation in Caanan. It is a prayer for rich\nand poor, for the man who has his thousands as well as the man who has\nnot a shilling; for we are all pensioners upon the bounty of God; what\nHe gives us we gather, and it is only when He opens His hands that we\nare filled with good.\n\nNow, let me pass on to speak, in the second place, of:\n\n(2) The _modesty and simplicity_ of the request made in this prayer,\n\u201cGive us this day our daily BREAD.\u201d \u201cBread\u201d that is what is asked\nfor\u2014the bare necessities of life. As T. T. Lynch quaintly puts it, \u201cThis\nis a prayer for daily _bread_, not for daily cake.\u201d And as if to\nemphasise the modesty of the request, it is not for the necessities of a\nlifetime, but for the necessities of _to-day_ that we are to ask. \u201cGive\nus _this day_ our daily bread.\u201d The adjective which is translated\n\u201cdaily\u201d is a word that has caused scholars no end of trouble. It is\nfound nowhere else in literature, either sacred or profane, and there\nhave been at least thirty different meanings assigned to it. But only\ntwo interpretations need be considered. One is that which we have in our\nfamiliar version of the prayer, \u201cdaily bread\u201d; the other would make the\nword to mean \u201csufficient for my sustenance.\u201d The old Syriac version\ntranslates it \u201cbread for my need.\u201d So that you will notice that\nwhichever interpretation is adopted \u201chuman wants,\u201d as Godet says, \u201care\nhere reduced to the minimum.\u201d We are to pray for _bread;_ we are to pray\nfor only as much of that as will suffice for the day, or meet our\npresent needs. The spirit of this petition is that of the prayer of Agur\nof old, \u201cFeed me with food convenient for me.\u201d\n\nI cannot help feeling that our modern life, with its insatiable appetite\nfor wealth and its love of luxury, stands rebuked by this prayer. Men in\nthese days desire not simply enough for their wants; they desire more\nthan enough\u2014more even than they can use. They struggle and strain that\nthey may get a superfluity; and the result is poverty at one end of the\nsocial scale, and luxury, extravagance and waste at the other. Now, I am\nnot prepared to say that to acquire wealth is wrong. But I am prepared\nto say this, and in saying it I base myself on our Lord\u2019s own words,\nwealth and the luxury it buys are perilous to the best interests of the\nsoul. Rome was strong and vigorous and happy while her people lived\nsimply, and her noblest sons thought it no shame to share in humble\nmanual labour. But when wealth and luxury entered in, when her populace,\ndespising honest toil, lived on the doles of the Emperor, and her nobles\nwasted tens of thousands of pounds upon a single banquet, Rome became\nweak, rotten, wretched.\n\n                     On that hard, Roman world, disgust\n                       And secret loathing fell;\n                     Deep weariness and sated lust\n                       Made human life a hell.\n\nWealth is as perilous as ever it was. Luxury still corrupts the soul.\nPlain living is most conducive to high thinking. It is easier always to\nbe a Christian in a peasant\u2019s hut than in C\u00e6sar\u2019s household. For the\nChristian life is a simple, spare\u2014may I not say a severe life. Therefore\nChrist warned us against riches when he said, \u201cHow hardly shall they\nthat have riches enter into the kingdom of God.\u201d Therefore here He\nteaches us to ask for simplest, barest necessaries\u2014\u201cGive us this day our\ndaily bread.\u201d\n\nLet me go on to notice further that in offering this prayer:\u2014\n\n(3) _We pray for others as well as ourselves._ How does the petition\nread? \u201cGive us this day our daily bread.\u201d The prayer is in the plural,\nnot the singular. It is not \u201cGive ME,\u201d but \u201cGive us\u201d our daily bread.\nChrist will not let us forget the fact of brotherhood. He will not let\nus forget that we are members of a great family. He will not let us\nforget what moderns call \u201cthe solidarity of the race.\u201d We must pray _for\nothers_ as well as ourselves. Christ when He was on earth gave us an\nimproved edition of the commandments. Moses had ten commandments in his\ncode. Jesus reduced them to two. And the two commands in the code of\nChrist were\u2014\u201cThou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and\nwith all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength,\u201d\nand second, \u201cThou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.\u201d Now this\npetition illustrates that second commandment, and embodies its spirit.\nWe are \u201cloving our neighbours as ourselves\u201d when we say \u201cGive us!\u201d This\nis a prayer for our brother\u2019s need, for our brother\u2019s want. We are\nremembering him, bearing his burden when we pray, \u201cGive us this day our\ndaily bread.\u201d When we uttered that prayer this morning we were praying\nfor the poor and needy everywhere\u2014the poor in Bournemouth, the poor in\nvast London yonder, the poor the wide world over. But, do you not see,\nyou cannot pray for the poor and needy and then turn a deaf ear to their\ncry. The genuineness of this prayer must be proved in action. I often\nask God to bless the work of this Church, but I should simply be mocking\nGod if I left it there and did not at once proceed to put whatever power\nand energy I possess into the work for which I have been praying. And so\nI should consider I had prayed a sham prayer if, after saying \u201cGive us\nthis day our daily bread,\u201d I was not ready even at cost of sacrifice to\nhelp to provide bread for those who lack. The gospel of charity and\nmutual helpfulness is in the verse. At this blessed season appeals come\nto us from all quarters on behalf of the orphan, the widow, the\nfriendless, and the poor. There are multitudes of our brothers and\nsisters in bitter need. We have prayed \u201cGive us this day our daily\nbread,\u201d making their cause our own. May not the true answer to that\nprayer be, that God will bid us contribute to their need out of our\nabundance and plenty? The best proof of the sincerity of our prayer\nwould be that we should go forth during this week and carry into some\ndesolate homes a little Christmas gladness and joy.\n\nYet again notice that in offering this prayer we pray:\n\n(4) For what is _legitimately and honestly our own_. \u201cGive us,\u201d so runs\nthe petition, \u201cour daily bread.\u201d I do not think it is at all fanciful to\ninterpret this pronoun OUR, as Dr. Dods does, to mean that the bread we\npray for must be _our own_ and not another\u2019s; that is to say, it must be\nfairly earned and honestly come by. \u201cExcept a man work,\u201d so says the\nScripture, \u201cneither shall he eat.\u201d The divine law is that the bread a\nman eats should be bread won by his own labour. But there are plenty of\npeople in this world who try to live out of the labour of other people.\nThey are busy, as the saying is, \u201ctaking the bread out of other people\u2019s\nmouths.\u201d They do this not simply by deception and theft and robbery\u2014they\ndo it also by unfair competition, by false dealing, by bogus company\npromoting, by stock-exchange gambling, by oppression, injustice and\nwrong. There are those among us who devote their talents to the task of\ndrawing hard-earned money out of the pockets of English people without\ngiving value in return. They want to live and grow fat on the bread of\nothers, not on bread of their own earning. But what we have to pray for\nis _our own_ bread, bread honestly and fairly earned. That little word\n\u201cour\u201d stands there to warn us against all dishonesty, trickery, fraud,\ninjustice. The man of business must be able to say that every sovereign\nof his profits has been gained by fair and honest trading. The artisan\nmust be able to say that every penny in his week\u2019s wage has been earned\nby good and faithful labour. The master who pays his men less than their\ndue, the man who wastes his master\u2019s time, the shopkeeper who resorts to\nsharp practices\u2014in fact, any one who strives to get hold of money\notherwise than by fairly and squarely earning it, are all sinning\nagainst the spirit of this prayer which teaches us to say, \u201cGive us this\nday _our_ daily bread.\u201d\n\nJust one word more before I close. I have said that the primary and\nessential reference of this petition is to bread, this material bread\nthat nourishes the life of our bodies. But we need not exclude\naltogether from our thoughts that spiritual bread, that Bread of Life,\nto which the old Fathers saw reference here. Man does not live by bread\nalone. Man is not a mere animal. God breathed into man the breath of\nlife, and he became a living soul. And the soul needs fit nourishment\neven as the body does, and that fit nourishment the soul finds in Jesus\nChrist. He is the \u201cBread of Life.\u201d This petition is also the right\nprayer for the hungering soul, \u201cGive us this day our daily bread,\u201d for\nour souls need a daily supply. The supply of yesterday will not do for\nto-day, any more than yesterday\u2019s dinner will suffice us for to-day\u2019s\nwork. You cannot live on the memory of past spiritual experiences. You\ncannot live on the remembrance of blessed fellowship with your Lord held\nlong ago. You cannot live on the recollection of mercies received months\nor years back. For every day you need a fresh gift of grace. The manna\nof old only held good for one day. It had to be gathered fresh every\nmorning. The manna of one day grew corrupt and worthless before the\nnext. So it is with the bread of our souls. You must get it fresh every\nday. For every day you must get new stores of grace. This is the prayer\nfor you and me, \u201cGive us this day our daily bread.\u201d GIVE! yes, this also\nis a gift. You cannot buy \u201cthe Bread of Life.\u201d Its price has never been\nquoted in the markets. No money could purchase it. But what no money\ncould purchase is offered to you and me for nothing. God never sells.\nGod is a king, He gives. Buy? No, you cannot buy, Can you buy pardon?\nCan you buy peace? Can you buy redemption? Can you buy heaven? No, you\ncannot buy; but what you cannot buy God will _give_. Listen, \u201cHo, every\none that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money,\ncome ye, buy and eat, yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and\nwithout price.\u201d Listen again, \u201cEveryone that thirsteth let him come and\ntake of the water of life freely.\u201d Listen yet again, \u201cThe gift of God is\neternal life.\u201d Giving! This is royal giving. Hungering souls come to\nGod\u2014come to God for the Bread of Life. There is in the Father\u2019s house\nenough and to spare; why hunger ye any more? Why spend your money for\nthat which is not bread, and your labour for that which satisfieth not?\nYour father is waiting to give you all you need. He is only waiting to\nhear you say, \u201cEvermore give us this bread.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n                                  VII\n                             \u201cForgiveness\u201d\n\n\n    \u201cAnd forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our\n    debtors.\u201d\u2014MATT. vi. 12.\n\n    \u201cAnd forgive us our sins; for we ourselves also forgive every one\n    that is indebted to us.\u201d\u2014LUKE xi. 4.\n\n\nMy exposition of the Lord\u2019s Prayer brings me this morning to speak a few\nsimple words upon the two great fundamental facts of the Gospel\u2014man\u2019s\nneed of forgiveness, and God\u2019s willingness to bestow it.\n\nThe petition immediately preceding this one is the prayer for daily\nbread. We are absolutely dependent upon God for our very existence; so\nour Lord teaches us to ask God for the food\u2014the material bread that is\nto sustain our physical life from day to day. But \u201cman shall not live by\nbread alone.\u201d There is another hunger than hunger of the body\u2014there is a\nhunger of the soul; and what the soul hungers for is pardon,\nforgiveness, and the peace forgiveness always brings. So when we have\nprayed for bread we have not come to an end. We have another prayer to\noffer. We have a larger request to make. We have a greater boon to\nask\u2014\u201cGive us this day our daily bread, AND forgive us our sins.\u201d\n\nThe question has often been asked, \u201cIs life worth living?\u201d By some the\nquestion is answered without reservation in the affirmative, by others\nin the negative. For myself, I am not prepared to answer either \u201cYes\u201d or\n\u201cNo.\u201d My reply would be, \u201cIt all depends.\u201d Life, it seems to me, is not\nworth having if it be not lived in the sunshine of God\u2019s smile. Life is\nnot worth having if God\u2019s face is turned away from us. Life is not worth\nhaving if our sins interpose themselves like a black frowning cloud\nbetween us and the Eternal Light. To make life worth living, life must\nbe made happy and blessed and peaceful, and before life can be made\nhappy that barrier of sin must be removed, and we must walk in the light\nof God\u2019s countenance. The prayer for bread is a prayer for _life_\u2014for\nmere _existence_. But mere existence may be a doubtful boon. To some the\nprolongation of life simply means the prolongation of misery. Why should\nmen pray for the continuance of a life which is radically wretched?\nThere are multitudes in our world more inclined to pray for swift death\nthan for long life. They say, with Charles Kingsley, \u201cThe sooner it\u2019s\nover, the sooner to sleep.\u201d No, it is not mere life, it is not life at\nany price, but it is the blessed, the peaceful life we want. So we go on\nto pray for a gift greater far than the gift of bread; we go on to pray\nfor that which alone can make life tolerable, welcome, really worth\nliving; we go on to pray for mercy, pardon, reconciliation, peace.\n\u201cFather, forgive us our sins.\u201d\n\n\u201cSin\u201d is an ugly word, a word that stands for the ugliest, most terrible\nfact in the universe of God. The world was fair and bright till sin\nentered it; all its wretchedness is the result of sin. Man was pure and\nhappy till sin entered; his foulness and broken-heartedness are the\nresult of sin. The Bible looks at this terrible fact of sin, and fails\nto find a single word large enough to describe it in all its many\naspects of horror. It employs various words for this one terrible thing\naccording as it views it from different standpoints. Looking at it from\nthe standpoint of the true end of human life, sin is a \u201cmissing of the\nmark.\u201d The chief end of man is to glorify God. The sinner fails in that.\nHe misses the mark. Sin from this point of view means _failure_,\n_defeat_, _disaster_. The Bible looks at sin from the standpoint of Law,\nthe Divine Law written in the nature and on the conscience of man, and\nbrands sin as _lawlessness_. Every single sin is a _trespass_, a\ntransgression, and overstepping of the bounds. The Bible looks at sin\nfrom the standpoint of prudence, and stigmatises sin as _folly_\u2014the most\nstupendous and senseless of all follies. The sinner is a man who, for a\nfew moments of delirious excitement, barters away his immortal soul. The\nBible looks at sin from the standpoint of God, and sin then becomes\ndisobedience, or, as in the text quoted from Matthew, it becomes\n\u201c_debt_.\u201d\n\nPerhaps we are too apt to think of sin only in its effect upon\nourselves. We think of the blight it brings upon human character and the\nruin it makes in human lives. It is terrible to us because it always\nbrings a curse with it. We fear and dread sin, not always because of its\nown intrinsic horror, but because of the penalties it inevitably\nentails; so that all too often our very fear of sin has its roots in\nselfishness, and springs out of self-love. I want to say to you that we\nshall never see sin in its naked horror, we shall never see it in its\nawful hatefulness, until we look at it from another standpoint. We sin\nnot against ourselves alone, but _against_ God. David, in the great\ncrime of his life, had sinned against Uriah, whose blood he had caused\nto be shed, and against Bathsheba, the partner of his sin, and against\nhis own soul; but when under the faithful speech of Nathan he was\nbrought to see that awful sin of his in its true light, he lost sight of\nhimself, and Bathsheba and Uriah; he could only think of the God he had\nflouted and outraged and grieved, and this was the agonised cry that\nbroke from his lips, \u201cAgainst _Thee_, Thee only have I sinned and done\nthis evil in _Thy_ sight.\u201d Then comes in the enormity of sin. It is sin\n_against God_! Let me illustrate what I mean from our ordinary human\nlife. Say that a son who has been loved at home and has been the pride\nof his mother\u2019s heart, falls into disgrace and is brought up in the\npolice courts charged with some shameful deed. If such a son has any\nsensibility at all, his sin will appear hateful to him, not so much\nbecause it has brought disgrace and loss of liberty to himself, but\nbecause away at his home a mother\u2019s heart is well nigh broken with shame\nand grief. That will be the keenest stab of pain such a lad will suffer.\nIt is the picture of his heart-broken mother that will make him loathe\nand despise and hate his sin. It is then we shall see the hatefulness of\nsin, when we occupy David\u2019s standpoint, and say, \u201cAgainst Thee, Thee\nonly have I sinned.\u201d Even though sin entailed no loss to the sinner,\ninvolved no penalty, brought with it no curse, it would remain still\nutterly loathsome and hateful if we only realised that every sin of ours\ncaused grief and pain to the heart of the eternal God, our loving Father\nin heaven.\n\nNow that is the point of view from which sin is regarded in this prayer.\nIt is _against God_! Matthew uses the word \u201c_debt_.\u201d As Dr. Morison\nsays, \u201cWhen we sin there is something in our act for which we become\n_liable_ to God. Formerly He had a claim upon us; now He has a claim\n_against_ us.\u201d The sins of our past history are included in this word\n\u201cdebt.\u201d They have not done with us, though we try to persuade ourselves\nthat we have done with them! Ah! what a relief it would be if we could\nonly be sure that sin when once committed was over and done with for\never! But it is not so! These sins of ours enrol themselves in a great\nbook of accounts; not one is omitted; not one is overlooked; not one is\nforgotten. Do we try to persuade ourselves that somehow or other the\nsins of the past have been lost sight of? Do we try to flatter ourselves\nthat they have been buried in the dust of the years? That is a vain\nhope. There are no mistakes, no omissions in the eternal account books.\nThe ink of those books never fades. There every sin is enrolled. There\nyou see them\u2014a long, black, damning list. That is your DEBT. Sins of\ncommission\u2014the evil words we have spoken, the evil deeds we have done,\nthey are all there. Sins of _omission_ are there as well. In fact, I\nfancy that it is to sins of this class that the word \u201cdebt\u201d specially\npoints. \u201cDebt\u201d is something we OWE. In relation to God it is something\nwe owed to Him and failed to pay. So it stands here for the many things\nwe ought to have done, which we have left undone.\n\nThere are some of us who perhaps flatter ourselves that we have never\ncommitted any flagrant sin. We are not blasphemers; we are not\ndrunkards; we are not profligates; we have never committed theft or\nadultery or murder; we have never been guilty of any crime that has\nbrought us to public shame; and on the strength of that we are half\ninclined to think that the name \u201csinner\u201d is not applicable to us. But\nnotice how this word \u201cdebt\u201d lays hold of even the most respectable of\nus. There are certain things we _owe_ to God. We owe Him reverence. Have\nwe given it to Him? We owe Him obedience. Have we given it to Him? We\nowe Him service. Have we given it to Him? We owe Him our heart\u2019s best\nlove. Have we given it to Him? We owe Him the first place in our\nthoughts and affections. Have we given it to Him? We owe Him complete\nself-surrender. Have we given it to Him? Ask yourselves these questions.\nProbe your hearts with them. Face them frankly and honestly. Have you\ngiven God perfect obedience, the best love of your hearts, the first\nplace in your lives? Oh, how such questions humble us! How they cover us\nwith shame and confusion! Looking back over my own life, I can see how\nmy years have been marred and disfigured by my failure to give to God\nwhat He has a right to expect. I can see that I have not reverenced Him\nas I ought; that I have not obeyed Him as I ought; that I have not\nplaced Him first, as I ought. When I begin to ask myself if I have done\nwhat God expects from me, my pride all disappears, my heart is pierced\nas with sharp swords, my self-satisfaction is torn to shreds, and I am\nhumbled to the dust; for as I look back every day tells its tale of\nthings left undone which I ought to have done, and these sins of\nomission rise up before me\u2014a mountain load of debt which I owe to God.\n\nDEBT! what a terrible word that is to every true and honest man! There\nare multitudes who would prefer to bear privation and poverty rather\nthan run into debt. The workhouse is bad enough, but better the\nworkhouse than \u201cdebt.\u201d But will you suffer me to say that \u201cdebtors\u201d we\nall of us are? \u201cWe have all sinned, and come short of the glory of God.\u201d\nWe have come short\u2014we have given God less than His due; He has a claim\nagainst us; we are \u201cin debt\u201d to Him. And the debt is one that cannot be\nexpressed in the figures and coinage of earth. It is a debt that money\ncan never pay. I have heard sometimes of men who, when they have found\nthemselves in financial difficulties, have called their creditors\ntogether, and have said to them, \u201cIf you will but give me time, I will\npay you all in full\u201d; and from time to time we read in our newspapers of\nhonourable men discharging with interest debts they had incurred years\nbefore. Can we do something like that with this debt we owe to God? Can\nwe work it off in the days and years that are to come? I cannot hold out\nto you any hope of doing that. Work as hard as you like to please God\nto-day, when the day is done, what will you have to say? Just this, \u201cWe\nhave been unprofitable servants\u2014we have only done what we ought.\u201d Only\nwhat we ought\u2014there is no margin, nothing over, which you can apply to\nthe reduction of the old debt. The arrears of obligation are untouched.\nMay I venture to say that, before night comes, by some sin or other, you\nwill have added to the debt? It would be as easy to bale the ocean dry\nas to hope by your own efforts to pay this debt. It would be as\neasy\u2014nay, it would be infinitely easier\u2014to count the sands of the\nseashore than to remove this mountain load of obligation. Try your best,\nand you will fail as Paul failed, as Luther failed. Spite of your best\nefforts the debt\u2014that crushing debt\u2014goes on increasing. Well, what can\nyou do? _You_ can do nothing! _Sin_ past and present, _sin_ of\ncommission and omission, _sin_\u2014that long, black, damning record that\nstands against your name in the eternal account book\u2014what can you do\nwith it? How can you remove it? How can you blot it out? How can you\nbury it out of sight and mind? How can you erase out of the book that\nfatal story? You say you must have something done, or that debt will\nstrangle you. What can you do to be delivered from this body of death?\nMy brother, you can do nothing; you cannot pay the debt, you cannot blot\nout the sin, you cannot erase the record from the book. Do your best,\nand at the end you will be \u201cin debt.\u201d But you say, \u201cCan nothing be done?\nAm I, then, doomed to ruin and to death? Is there no way of paying this\ndebt?\u201d Here is the gospel in a nutshell. Here is the good news, old as\nthe centuries, but new in your ears and mine to-day. Something _can_ be\ndone! _You_ can do nothing, _I_ can do nothing, but God, the God against\nwhom we have sinned, He can do everything. He can remove that mountain\nload of debt. He can blot out that fatal record in the book. He can\nerase every entry. He can bury our sins out of sight for ever. We can\nnever pay that overwhelming debt; but HE, He can give us our account\nback with \u201cSettled\u201d written at the bottom of it. Oh yes, here is the\nGospel: Sin in man, but forgiveness in God; debt in man, but mercy in\nGod. \u201cWhere sin doth abound there grace doth much more abound.\u201d\n\nListen, as to what God will do with your sins and mine! He will cancel\nthe debt! He will blot out the handwriting that was against us and put\nit out of the way, nailing it to the Cross of Christ! He will erase that\nfatal record in the book! He will remember our sins against us no more.\nAs far as the east is from the west, so far will He remove our\ntransgressions from us. Listen to His invitation and His gracious\npromise, \u201cCome now and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though\nyour sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow, though they be\nred like crimson they shall be as wool.\u201d This is the Gospel\u2014this is the\ngood news. There is something greater, stronger even than the sin of\nman, and that is the grace of God. I can see a limit to human sin. I can\nsee no limit to the Divine mercy.\n\n                    Plenteous grace with Thee is found,\n                    Grace to pardon all my sin.\n\nYes, there is mercy with God! There is forgiveness with Him! The wonder\nof the world still is that the God against whom we have sinned is the\nOne who will take our sin away.\n\n                All souls that were, were forfeit once,\n                And He that might the vantage best have took\n                Found out the remedy.\n\nThat remedy was the Cross of Christ. It is He, the sinless Jesus, who\nhas cancelled the debt. \u201cHe died for us according to the Scriptures.\u201d It\nis His pierced hand that shall blot out the record of our sins. It is in\nHis life-blood that we are to be washed free from every stain. It is at\nthe foot of His Cross our sins are to be buried. Christ the sinless one\nis the Lamb of God. He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows,\nand the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. This is the\nGospel. There is a debt against us we can never hope to pay. But God for\nChrist\u2019s sake will cancel it. There are sins which crush us with their\nweight and burden, but God for Christ\u2019s sake will take them all away.\nThere are stains upon us\u2014black and deep and foul; but the blood of Jesus\nChrist His Son cleanseth us from all sin. Just as the snow descends from\nheaven and hides all the grime and filth of earth underneath its mantle\nuntil the whole surface is one pure glistening white, so God will let\nHis mercy cover us; He will clothe us in righteousness until every stain\nis covered and we stand forth whiter than snow. God was in Christ\nreconciling the world unto Himself, not reckoning unto them their\ntrespasses. The Cross proclaims that there is forgiveness with God. And\nI want to preach the free glad Gospel of the Cross to you this morning.\nI want to say to you sin-stricken, perishing, dying men and women, there\nis forgiveness with God. There is nothing which His mercy cannot do.\nThere is no sin too great, no guilt too black for Him to pardon. A poor\ncriminal in Scotland, as he went forth to his place of execution kept\ncrying out, \u201cHe is a great Forgiver. He is a great Forgiver.\u201d Yes, He is\na great Forgiver! Let us men and women, ruined and undone by sin, praise\nGod, for He is a great Forgiver. His tender mercy is ever upon us. In\nGod\u2019s mercy is our hope. And the Cross is the pledge of pardon which\nstoops to the lowest and most vile. The Cross, the Cross\u2014the bitter,\nshameful Cross; the glorious, radiant Cross; our most jubilant songs\narise from the Cross\u2014\n\n                    E\u2019er since by faith I saw the stream\n                      His flowing wounds supply,\n                    Redeeming love has been my theme,\n                      And shall be till I die.\n\nWell! and what was the _price of pardon_? I can tell you what it cost\nGod. It cost God the death of His own, His only Son. The Cross was\nnecessary to make pardon possible. \u201cWithout shedding of blood there is\nno remission.\u201d That is what your forgiveness and mine cost God, it cost\nHim the blood of His Son. But what will it cost us? What will it cost?\nIt will cost us _nothing_. As I said, when speaking of the previous\npetition, God does not sell, God _gives_. Some have tried to buy\nforgiveness by fasts and vigils and penances and rigid self-discipline.\nThat is how Luther, when he was a monk at Erfurt, and Thomas Bilney,\nwhen he was a student at Cambridge, tried to obtain pardon and peace.\nSome have even believed that pardon was to be bought with money, so the\nboxes of the Indulgence sellers in Germany were filled with the coins of\nmen and women who wanted forgiveness. But pardon is not to be bought,\nneither with money nor with penances nor vigils nor fasts. Forgiveness\nis to be had for nothing. Pardon is given without money and without\nprice. All that is required is that you should _ask_ for it. \u201cAsk and ye\nshall receive.\u201d Zacch\u00e6us asked, and he received it. Mary of Magdala\nasked, and she received it. The thief on the cross asked, and he\nreceived it. Come and ask, and you too shall receive it. Why will ye be\nstricken any more? Why will ye die, O house of Israel. Come and ask, and\nyou shall hear the answer fall on your ears like sweetest music, \u201cSon,\ndaughter, thy sins are forgiven thee, go in peace.\u201d That is what this\npetition teaches us to do. It bids us come and ask. For Jesus recognizes\nthat we are all of us \u201cdebtors.\u201d But the debt will be remitted for the\nasking. Therefore He teaches us to pray \u201cForgive us our trespasses.\u201d The\nground of forgiveness is not in ourselves. It is not because of our own\nmerit that the debt is cancelled. We are saved not by works, but by\ngrace. We are forgiven because of the boundless love that fills the\nheart of God, the love that found expression in the Cross of Christ. Our\nconfidence lies in the fact that God is our Father. Let us trust the\nFather! Let us believe the message of the Cross! Let us not hang back\nthrough doubt or fear! Let us go with boldness to the throne of grace\njust as we are\u2014guilty, sin-stained, and vile. He will cast none of us\nout, but He will forgive us freely; His anger will be turned away and He\nwill comfort us, and peace like a river shall flood our troubled souls!\n\nLet me now go on to ask you to notice for a moment the qualifying\nclause: \u201cAs we also have forgiven our debtors,\u201d says Matthew. \u201cFor we\nourselves also forgive every one that is indebted to us,\u201d says Luke. I\nthink these words are meant to be in the first place _words of\nencouragement_. If man can forgive, much more can God. They remind us of\nthat splendid verse, \u201cIf ye being evil know how to give good gifts unto\nyour children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give\ngood things unto them that ask Him.\u201d We have known men who have\ngenerously and freely forgiven great wrongs committed against them. We\nare here told to think of the way in which even men can forgive in order\nthat we may have faith to believe that God, who is infinitely more\nloving and pitiful than the best of men, can and will forgive to the\nuttermost. But these words are also words of _solemn warning_. Sometimes\nthey make the prayer die upon our lips, for they require the forgiving\nspirit to be in us before we ask forgiveness from God. Do you notice how\nthis prayer, which soars to the heights, enforces also the simple\neveryday moralities? Look at this petition, \u201cForgive us our sins, _for\nwe ourselves also forgive every one that is indebted to us_.\u201d \u201cFor we\nourselves also forgive every one.\u201d Is that true? Have you forgiven every\none? Are there no grudges that you cherish? Are there no enmities in\nyour heart? Is there no one against whom you cherish malice or ill-will?\nIf there is ill-will against anyone in your heart, can you pray this\nprayer? Can you say to God, \u201cForgive us our sins, for we also forgive\nevery one?\u201d You remember how, in the striking story of the two debtors,\nour Lord condemned the man who could ask God to forgive him that awful\ndebt of sin, and yet cherish an unforgiving spirit against his\nneighbour. Oh what a warning, a solemn warning, there is in this\npetition, \u201cIf ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your\nFather forgive your trespasses.\u201d Or look at the way Matthew puts it,\n\u201cForgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors.\u201d I want to ask you\na plain question: \u201cWould you really like God to forgive just in exactly\nthe same way as you forgive your enemies?\u201d Do you think you would? Why,\nis not our forgiveness all too often grudging and half-hearted? Do we\nnot often cherish the remembrance of the offences? Do we not say, \u201cI\nwill forgive, but I cannot forget?\u201d Would you like God to forgive you\nlike that? I can never forget the words which Augustus Hare writes on\nthis passage. He pictures an unforgiving man praying this prayer, and\nthis is what he says: \u201cO God, I have sinned against Thee many times from\nmy youth up till now. I have often been forgetful of Thy goodness. I\nhave neglected Thy service. I have broken Thy laws. I have done many\nthings utterly wrong against Thee. Such is my guiltiness, O Lord, in Thy\nsight; deal with me, I beseech Thee, even as I deal with my neighbour.\nHe has not offended me one-tenth, one-hundredth part as much as I have\noffended Thee. But I cannot forgive Him. Deal with me, I beseech Thee, O\nLord as I deal with him. He has been very ungrateful to me, though not a\ntenth, not a hundredth part as ungrateful as I have been to Thee. Yet I\ncannot overlook his ingratitude. Deal with me, O Lord, I beseech Thee,\nas I deal with him. I remember and treasure up every trifle which shows\nhow ill he has behaved to me. Deal with me, I beseech Thee, O Lord, as I\ndeal with him. I am determined to take the very first opportunity of\ndoing him an ill turn. Deal with me, I beseech Thee, O Lord, as I deal\nwith him.\u201d Oh, what a terrible curse such a prayer is! But, brethren,\nmay it not be that, if we cherish unkind feelings in our hearts, if we\nhug secret hates and enmities, when we ask God to forgive us, in exactly\nthe same way as we forgive others, we too may be invoking not blessing,\nbut doom upon our own heads. Before we can pray this prayer we need the\nspirit of forgiveness in our own hearts. Emerson says of Abraham\nLincoln, that \u201chis heart was as big as the world, but there was no room\nin it for the memory of a wrong.\u201d Such must be our spirit also, the\nspirit that Jesus showed when on the Cross he prayed, \u201cFather, forgive\nthem, for they know not what they do.\u201d May God help us even now to\nforgive from our hearts our brothers their trespasses, then can we draw\nnear with boldness to the throne of grace and pray, \u201cFather, forgive us\nour sins, for we ourselves also forgive every one that is indebted to\nus.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n                                  VIII\n                              \u201cTemptation\u201d\n\n\n    \u201cAnd bring us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil\n    one.\u201d\u2014MATT. vi. 13.\n\n    \u201cAnd bring us not into temptation.\u201d\u2014LUKE xi. 5.\n\n\nForgiveness is the beginning not the end, the first step not the last in\nthe Christian life. In the Gospel according to John, we read a story\nabout a poor woman who was dragged half dead with shame into the\npresence of Christ, and charged before Him with a nameless crime. Her\nenemies crowded round clamouring for her instant punishment. But Jesus,\njust because He was so pure and good, was infinitely tender and pitiful.\nHe had no harsh judgment to pronounce upon this poor, shame-stricken\nwoman.\n\nWhen her brutal accusers, made cowards by their own consciences, slunk\naway one by one, leaving the sinner alone with her Saviour, His word to\nher was one of pure compassion, \u201cNeither do I condemn thee.\u201d There was\npardon for her black sin, forgiveness for her shameful past. But having\nforgiven her, Christ did not let her go without laying a command upon\nher. This forgiven woman was not at liberty to return to her old life of\nfolly and shame. \u201cGo,\u201d said Jesus, dismissing her, \u201csin no more.\u201d That\nis an illustration of Christ\u2019s unvarying methods with sinners.\nForgiveness\u2014full, free forgiveness\u2014is to be had for the asking. Bring\nyour sinful, shameful past before Him; you will hear no bitter, angry\nwords of reproach from His lips. The words you will hear will be words\nof tenderest compassion. Bring your terrible debt before Him and tell\nHim of your dire, your abject, your utter poverty. Say to Him, \u201cLord, I\nhave nothing to pay,\u201d and He will say to you, \u201cAll this thy debt, I\nfreely forgive.\u201d Bring your burden of guilt and shame to Him. He will\nnot spurn you from Him though He is so pure and you so unclean, but with\nwords of pity and love He will welcome you, and take the burden of your\nguilt and shame clean away. Yes, Christ will freely forgive you. He will\nhave mercy upon you. He will abundantly pardon. But forgiveness of the\npast is not all. What of the future? Well, as to that future the Master\nwill lay upon you also the old injunction, \u201cGo, sin no more.\u201d For the\nforgiven man cannot return to his old life of sin. After forgiveness\ncomes the life of struggle and conflict against the world, the flesh and\nthe devil. After the blotting out of the shameful past comes the earnest\nstriving to keep the record of the future clean. Forgiveness is not the\nend, but the beginning. After forgiveness comes all that our fathers\nmeant by the old term, \u201csanctification.\u201d After forgiveness comes all\nthat John means when he tells us to purify ourselves even as He is pure;\nall that Paul means when he tells us \u201cto work out our own salvation.\u201d\nThe struggle, the conflict, the battle comes after pardon has been\nbestowed. For when Jesus whispers into our ears the gladsome message,\n\u201cThy sins are forgiven thee,\u201d He lays upon us also the command, \u201cGo, sin\nno more.\u201d\n\nWhat I have been saying up to this point illustrates the connection\nbetween this petition and the one we studied together last Sunday\nmorning. \u201cForgive us our debts\u201d is a prayer that God will blot out the\nrecord of _past_ sin. \u201cLead us not into temptation\u201d is a prayer for\nprotection in the _future_. For I want you to notice that the man who\nhas truly repented of his sin wants not simply the past to be blotted\nout, but he wants grace to shun sin in the days to come. He wants not\nonly to be delivered from the _penalty_ of sin, but he also longs to be\nemancipated from its _power_. Let not the freeness of forgiveness ever\nlead you to think lightly of sin. There were some in the very early days\nof the Church who interpreted this freeness of forgiveness as a licence\nto sin. They said, \u201cWhat matters it? God will forgive.\u201d Nay, they even\nthought, or at any rate they tried to persuade themselves, they were\ndoing a favour to God by continuing their old wicked practices, as the\ngreater their sin was, the finer the opportunity for the display of\nGod\u2019s forgiving love. They sinned, so they said, that grace might\nabound. The Church has been troubled and harassed by many a heresy in\nthe course of the centuries, but the most damnable, the most\nsoul-destroying that ever assailed it, was this Antinomian heresy, which\nbade men sin on because God was ready to forgive, which taught that sin\nwas light, trivial, cheap, because pardon was free. Sin light? Sin\ncheap? Sin trivial? Brethren, look at the Cross of Jesus Christ! Measure\nthe enormity of the sin by the sacrifice of the Cross! It cost God the\nlife of His own Son to deliver us from it.\n\n                       There was no other good enough\n                         To pay the price of sin,\n                       He only could unlock the gate\n                         Of heaven and let us in.\n\nShall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid! for by\nevery sin of ours we crucify the Lord afresh, and put Him to an open\nshame. The programme of the Christian life is not sin and pardon, sin\nand pardon, sin and pardon, day after day, month after month, year after\nyear. The programme of the Christian life is pardon, sanctification,\nholiness. After pardon comes the daily struggle with sin, until its\npower in our souls is broken, and we come off more than conquerors,\nthrough Him who loved us. Not that I would imply that any one on this\nside the grave attains to a state of sinless perfection, or that the\ntime will ever come on earth when the prayer, \u201cForgive us our sins,\u201d\nwill be out of place on our lips. But the goal set before us is the\nperfect life; towards that goal we must daily press, and though on earth\nwe may never attain to it, yet to-day ought to see us nearer to it than\nyesterday, and to-morrow ought to find us nearer than to-day. There is\nsomething radically wrong with us if sin has as great a power over us\nto-day as it had, say, ten years ago. Repentance is never genuine and\nsincere unless it creates within us a hatred and loathing of sin. We\nhave never been truly forgiven if we can go on sinning the old sins day\nafter day; for we never hear Christ say to us, \u201cThy sins are forgiven\nthee,\u201d without hearing Him add this charge, \u201cFrom henceforth sin no\nmore.\u201d\n\nBut the command _is a hard one to obey_. In a world so full of trial and\ntemptation, so full of seductions and enticements to evil, how hard it\nis for poor, weak, frail men to obey the command, \u201cGo, sin no more.\u201d In\na world that presses in upon us on every side, that spreads its\nglittering prizes before our eyes to tempt us, how hard it is to be\nunworldly, to hold earth\u2019s best gifts cheap, while we set our affections\non things above! In a world so full of uncleanness and impurity, how\nhard it is to keep one\u2019s garments clean and unspotted! Hard, did I say?\nNay, impossible. With the world as it is, and man as he is, the task is\nimpossible. To obey that command, we need help and strength. The task is\ntoo difficult for us. It is more than we can do in our own native\nstrength. So we cast the burden back again upon our Lord and say to Him,\n\u201cMaster we would fain obey Thee: we would fain live without sin; but we\nare weak, and the world is strong\u2014too strong for us. Lord, undertake\nThou for us. Have pity on our weakness, and bring us not into\ntemptation.\u201d There it stands, a prayer for the _future_; a cry to God\nthat He will not suffer the world to overcome us, and drag us down again\nto sin.\n\nNow you will notice that this prayer recognises the fact that\u2014\n\n(1) The _world is full of peril to the Christian, because it is full of\ntemptation_. The word translated \u201ctemptation\u201d in my text really means\n\u201ctesting, trial.\u201d Never a day passes but something happens which puts\nour moral strength to the test. God does not \u201ctempt\u201d in the sense of\ninciting to evil; God TESTS. The presence of evil in our world, the\nincitements to evil that abound, looked at from God\u2019s standpoint, are\ntests\u2014tests of character, tests of moral strength. But these incitements\nto evil appeal to weakness and evil in our own hearts, and so to us they\nbecome \u201ctemptations.\u201d And of such \u201ctemptations\u201d our world is full.\nBunyan described the Christian life as a journey, but it is a journey\nthrough a very dangerous country. There are snares and pit-falls around\nus on every side. The path leads between a ditch on one side and a\nquagmire on the other, and along the route are the Slough of Despond,\nand By-Path Meadow, and Doubting Castle, and the Mount of Error, Broad\nWay Gate, and Dead Man\u2019s Lane, and Vanity Fair. Yes, the path is one\nthat is surrounded with peril, and to stray from it is a very easy\nmatter. That path is the path of life, and these pitfalls and snares and\nby-paths that endanger the unwary traveller on every hand, are the\ntemptations that beset a man in life, and lure him to his ruin and\ndeath. The old story of the fight between the English and the Scotch at\nBannockburn says that Bruce, on the night before the battle, honeycombed\nthe ground in front of his army with pit-falls, each of which contained\na hidden stake, and then covered them up again with the green turf. In\nthe morning the English cavalry, when it charged upon the Scottish\ntroops, found that the ground, which looked so firm and solid was\ndeceitful and treacherous, and, falling into these hidden pitfalls,\nhorse and rider met their fate. Does life to you look in prospect like a\nfirm, safe, solid road? I tell you that at every step you take you need\nto beware of some secret pitfall. Does life appear in prospect to any of\nyou like the still, glassy sea of a summer\u2019s noon? I tell you that\nbeneath that shimmering, smiling surface lie hidden the dark and\ntreacherous rocks which have meant wreck and death to many a voyager.\nOh, yes, human life is beset with temptation. No one is exempt from it.\nNo moment of the day is free from it. Incitements to sin abound.\nInvitations to enter the broad way meet us at every turn. Why is it\nparents are so anxious, when their children are sent for the first time\nto fight life\u2019s battles for themselves in a large town? I will tell you.\nIt is because they know that temptations abound. There is temptation in\nthe glare and false gaiety of the public-house. There is temptation in\nevery painted shameless face seen upon our streets. There is temptation\nin the companionship of foolish and godless friends. There is temptation\nin the coarse and filthy speech of associates. There is temptation in\nunclean literature. There is temptation in business, in the home, at\nwork, at play. Nay, where is it temptation does not lurk? It penetrates\neverywhere. It found its way into Paradise of old, and Adam yielded to\nits power. Who is free from it? Not one. Wherever man is, there\ntemptation is. There is no escape from it. Men try to avoid infection,\nin case of an outbreak of disease, by removing from the infected\ndistrict. So men of old tried to escape the assaults of temptation by\nleaving the busy world and fleeing into solitude. But it was all in\nvain. Temptation followed them to their retreats, and many were the\nfierce struggles an old saint like St. Anthony had to wage in the secret\nof his cell. Oh, the world is full of temptation. Every lot has its own\nfierce tests for character. Business life has its temptations; home life\nhas its temptations. The life of hard grinding toil has its temptations;\nthe life of ease and leisure has its temptations also. Never a day\npasses but in some way or other an appeal is made to our lower, baser\nnature, and we are urged to yield. The old Greek legends speak of the\nsyrens\u2014creatures half women, half fish\u2014who lived upon the rocks and\ncould sing the most ravishing songs. So entrancing was the music that\nwho ever heard it was irresistibly drawn to the singers. But it was woe\nto them; for the rocks whereon the syrens lived were strewn with the\nbones of dead men who had listened to their song and yielded to its\nfascination. That syren\u2019s song is still being sung, and every mariner on\nlife\u2019s main hears it. The world, the flesh, and the devil are the syrens\nof to-day. Who has not heard their song? Wherever we are, whatever we\nare doing, we hear its luring, tempting strains. God grant, brethren, we\nmay not yield\u2014for yielding still means destruction and death.\n\n(2) This verse implies the WEAKNESS of man. \u201cBring us not into\ntemptation,\u201d into trial, into testing, because we are so prone to break\ndown under the trial. The fact that temptations abound would not matter\nvery much if we were proof against them. It is because we ourselves are\nso prone to yield that temptation is terrible. To take a spark to green\nwood would not do very much harm. But to bring temptation upon us is\nlike applying flame to dry shavings or a match to gunpowder. The attack\nof temptation from without is made formidable by the weakness and\ntreachery within. It is because we know our own weakness, it is because\nwe know how liable we are to break down under any severe test, that we\npray, \u201cBring us not into temptation.\u201d I am simply stating a matter of\nfact and observation when I say that there is in all of us a bias toward\nsin, an inclination toward evil. We talk lightly sometimes of the old\ndoctrine of \u201coriginal sin.\u201d But surely it expressed a truth that we dare\nnot ignore. There is a bias in the human heart toward sin. It is easier\nfor us to do wrong than to do right. That was the truth our Lord meant\nto convey when He said the path of evil was a broad way, while the road\nto life was a narrow path. To do evil is easy; you have only to shout\nwith the crowd and swim with the stream. But to do right is hard; you\nmust swim against the current, you must dare to stand alone. And it is\njust this that gives temptation its power and makes it terrible. It\naccords with our own inclinations. The passions and desires of the flesh\nsecond its efforts. The devil finds his best ally in the lusts and\nweaknesses of a man\u2019s own heart. There is no man safe from temptation.\nThere is no one who can boast that he is strong enough to resist every\nallurement. There is in all of us some weakness of the soul, and\ntemptation will assail us just at the weakest point; it will find the\nunfortified place and concentrate its attack upon that; it will find the\njoints in our harness and point the poisoned arrow there. The old Greek\nstory says that Achilles, the great hero of the Trojan war, was dipped\nwhile he was yet a child in the waters of the Styx by his mother,\nThetis, in order to make him invulnerable. And the result of that plunge\nwas that every part of Achilles\u2019 body was proof against wounds with the\nexception of the heel by which his mother held him, and which had not\nbeen submerged in the waters. For many years, as a result, Achilles\nescaped unhurt, but at last the poisoned arrow of the Trojan Paris found\nthe weak spot and inflicted the death wound there. So sin and temptation\nattack us where we are weakest. They appeal to our inclinations, our\npassions, our lusts; they find out the weak spot. I can only discover\nOne Man in the history of the whole world who was proof against\ntemptation, and that was the Perfect Man, Christ Jesus Himself. But as\nfor everyone else, the best, the bravest, the noblest, surprised by some\ntemptation, betrayed by some weakness, have fallen into sin. Do not say,\nbrethren, that this petition is a prayer for the weak! Do not say it is\na prayer for the timid and the cowardly! It is a prayer for us all.\nPeter very likely thought that there was no need for him to pray this\nprayer. Perhaps in his heart he longed for an opportunity to be given\nhim of showing how strong and brave he was. Deny his Lord? No! not\nthough all the world forsook Him! No! not though it meant death to be\nfaithful! Well, the night did not pass without bringing an opportunity\nof putting his boasted strength to the test. But how badly Peter came\nout of the trial! Would you recognise the proud boaster of a few hours\nbefore in the swearing, blaspheming denier at cock-crow? And we have\nmany an example in the old Book, beside that of Peter, to warn us\nagainst over-confidence. Abraham, whose faith is commended in Scripture,\nlost all his faith in Egypt. Moses, the man who was renowned for his\nmeekness, lost his temper when the children of Israel murmured. David,\nthe sweet singer of Israel, the man after God\u2019s own heart, was swept by\nhis lust into an act of foulest wickedness. And these examples are\nenshrined in the pages of this old Book, to bid us beware of\nover-confidence, and not to boast ourselves in our strength. Pride ever\ncometh before a fall. There is weakness in all of us. To the strongest\nof you here this morning, to you who perhaps think yourselves beyond the\nreach of temptation, let me repeat the old Bible warning, \u201cLet him that\nthinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.\u201d It is the knowledge of our\nown weakness that makes temptation terrible. We distrust ourselves. We\nlook back over past years and see the number of times we have fallen,\nthe number of times we have yielded to the fascination of the world\u2019s\nsyren song. We remember, too, that when we did escape it was so as by\nfire; it was through pain and agony. We remember how hard the struggle\nwas, and how near we were to yielding. And the remembrance both of our\nfalls and our escapes makes us afraid. We feel that our safety lies in\nnever hearing those fatal strains again. So, conscious of our own\nweakness, and yet desiring not to offend our heavenly Father again by\nour sin, we make this our prayer, \u201cBring us not into temptation.\u201d\n\n(3) Let me ask you to notice that this petition illustrates _the spirit\nof true Christian courage_. It is not courage, but foolhardiness that\ncourts danger. It is not courage that risks life and limb in an utterly\nstupid, needless, bootless task; it is folly. It was not courage that\nmade that mad youth climb the sheer face of the cliff at Folkestone the\nother day, it was mere senseless bravado. True courage will keep away\nfrom danger; true courage will only incur risk and peril when duty\ndemands. Let us learn this lesson. You young men learn this lesson. It\nis not courage to venture into doubtful places; it is not courage to\nunite with questionable companions; it is not courage to peer into\nunclean books; it is not courage to spend your evenings in the\npublic-house; it is not courage to dally with the intoxicating cup; it\nis not courage to frequent the theatre, with its evil associations, to\naccustom yourselves to gaze upon the indecencies and to listen to the\npruriencies too often heard upon the stage. It is not courage to court\ncompany where the filthy jest and the coarse laugh and the brutal\nblasphemy are common; it is not courage to see how near you can go to\nthe edge of the precipice without falling over. No, this is not courage,\nunless you are prepared to say that it is courage that makes the silly\nmoth flutter round the flame until at last it flutters into it. Courage?\nNo! it is not courage\u2014it is wicked, mad bravado! Your safety, brethren,\nagainst sin lies in being shocked at it. True courage looks at the\nincitements to evil with which life abounds and confesses, \u201cI am afraid\nof them,\u201d and then makes this petition its prayer, \u201cFather, bring us not\ninto temptation.\u201d\n\nBut it may be that in spite of our fears, and in spite of our prayers,\nGod may see fit to bring us into temptation, into some fierce trial that\nshall test our moral strength. \u201cGod,\u201d we read in Genesis, \u201cdid tempt,\n_i.e._ did test, Abraham.\u201d He put Abraham\u2019s faith and obedience to a\nsearching trial. Jesus, we read, was driven _by the Spirit_ into the\nwilderness, to undergo those forty days of fierce testing. We shrink\nfrom these fierce trials, but they are good for us, for if resisted they\nknit thews and sinews of strength in our souls. We are better for\ntemptation resisted and overcome than we should have been if we had\nnever been tempted at all. It is in conflict with temptation that God\u2019s\nVictoria Cross\u2014the Cross \u201cfor valour\u201d\u2014is to be won. Let us ever remember\nthis\u2014there is nothing sinful in being tempted. We sin only when _we\nyield to temptation_. Well, supposing that God does see fit to let us\nenter into temptation, to let our strength and courage be tested in\nfierce, grim, deadly conflict with sin and evil, what shall we pray for?\nWe will pray then, \u201cDeliver us from the evil one.\u201d We will pray to Him\nto help us, that we may not sin against Him by yielding. We will ask Him\nto clothe us with the whole armour of God, and to put in our hands the\nsword of the Spirit, and so enable us to withstand the assaults of the\nevil one, and having done all things to stand. There shall be on our\npart no foolish rushing into temptation; nay, remembering our own\nweakness we will pray, \u201cFather, lead us not into it.\u201d But if temptation\ncomes upon us when we are in the path of duty, then we can look up to\nhim, claim His presence with us in the battle, and say, \u201cDeliver us from\nthe evil one.\u201d We say \u201cLet us not be overcome in the struggle. Let us\nnot be beaten in the fight. Suffer us not to fall away from Thee.\nDeliver us, by Thy mercy deliver us, good Lord.\u201d And God will deliver\nus. I say nothing about the man who rushes into temptation of his own\nfree will; but of the man upon whom temptation comes when he is in the\nline of duty I am bold to say, \u201cGod will deliver him.\u201d His promises are\nhere in this book. Here they are\u2014\u201cGod is faithful, who will not suffer\nyou to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with the temptations\nmake also the way of escape, that ye may be able to endure it.\u201d \u201cThe\nLord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation.\u201d \u201cI will keep\nyou also in the hour of temptation.\u201d Christian had a fierce, long, and\nstubborn fight with Apollyon, but he won the victory at last, and was\nable to shout exultingly, \u201cNow, in all these things we are more than\nconquerors through Him that loved us.\u201d Oh, take comfort, you who feel\nthe force and keenness of temptation. No conflict need end in defeat. No\nstruggle need end in disaster. Pray to your Father, \u201cDeliver us from the\nevil one.\u201d By prayer link yourself to God\u2019s Almightiness, take Him with\nyou into the conflict, and every fight shall end in victory, and every\nstruggle in triumph, and these very temptations when vanquished and\novercome shall help to make you a strong man in Christ, and you will be\nable then to realise the truth of that word of the Apostle James,\n\u201cBlessed is the man that endureth temptation, for when he hath been\napproved he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord promised to\nthem that loved Him.\u201d\n\n\u201cDeliver us from the evil one,\u201d that must be our prayer. Do you remember\nthat sentence in Christ\u2019s great intercessory prayer? \u201cI pray, not that\nThou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep\nthem from the evil.\u201d We are in the world, and we have no right even to\nwish to leave it. It is the coward who runs away, locks himself up in\nsome monastic cell, and leaves the world to perish. Our place is IN the\nworld. But the world is full of evil, evil which presses itself, forces\nitself upon us at every turn. From that evil we must ask God to keep us.\n\u201cDeliver us from evil.\u201d We have been forgiven. We want now complete\ndeliverance from sin. We want to be emancipated from its power. We want\nto be rid of its foul stains. We want to grow in purity, truth and\ngrace, and to become daily more like our Lord. Oh, this is the prayer of\nthe Christian life \u201cDeliver us from evil!\u201d When shall this deliverance\ncome? Perhaps not completely here\u2014though the chains shall be loosened.\nBut absolute deliverance shall come in the beautiful homeland.\n\n                      Where we shall see His face,\n                        And never, never sin,\n                      And from the rivers of His grace\n                        Drink endless pleasures in.\n\n\n\n\n                                   IX\n                            THE MODEL PRAYER\n\n\n\u201cAfter this manner therefore pray ye.\u201d\u2014MATT. vi. 9.\n\n\nA fortnight ago we completed our study of the petitions that make up the\nLord\u2019s Prayer. For the prayer as it fell from the lips of Christ ended\nwith that petition, \u201cLead us not into temptation, but deliver us from\nevil.\u201d The great doxology, which in the Authorised Version you will find\nat the close of Matthew\u2019s account of the prayer, and which has become so\nfamiliar to us by its constant repetition in the public use of the\nprayer, formed no part of the original prayer at all, but must be\nregarded as a liturgical addition made by the Church in later years. It\nis wanting in the great Greek MSS., and in some important versions, and\nhas been quite properly omitted from our revised English Bible. The\nprobability is that the words \u201cFor Thine is the kingdom, the power, and\nthe glory, for ever, Amen,\u201d were added to the prayer in its public\nrecitations, much in the same way as we to-day sing, \u201cGlory be to the\nFather,\u201d at the end of the Psalms.\n\nIt is not my intention, therefore, to make any comment upon that\ndoxology with which, in our daily use, we end the prayer, but rather to\ncall your attention to some thoughts on prayer in general suggested by\nthe study of this prayer which Jesus gave to His disciples in answer to\ntheir request that He would teach them how to pray. First of all, let me\nsay that I believe Jesus gave this prayer to His disciples _for use_,\nthat is to say, He contemplated their using _this very form of words_.\nThe circumstances of its origin seem to place this beyond dispute. This\nis the record Luke gives, \u201cAnd it came to pass, as He was praying in a\ncertain place, that when He ceased, one of His disciples said unto Him,\n\u2018Lord, teach us to pray, even as John also taught his disciples.\u2019 And He\nsaid unto them, \u2018When ye pray, say Father.\u2019\u201d In face of those words,\n\u201cWhen ye pray, say,\u201d there is, as Dr. Dods puts it, \u201cno getting past the\nevident precept here delivered, that we ought habitually to use these\nwords.\u201d \u201cThen our Lord,\u201d some one will remark, \u201csanctions the use of\nforms of prayer.\u201d I am here, I know, on the very edge of a question\nwhich is one of the most difficult to deal with, and one on which Free\nChurchmen differ strongly among themselves. Discussions upon the use of\nliturgical forms in worship crop up periodically at various assemblies,\nbut my experience of them is, that they generate a good deal of heat\nwithout giving much light. In our Congregational Churches free prayer is\nthe general, almost the invariable practice. Our forefathers were so\nshocked at the formalism of the liturgical worship of the Established\nChurch, that in the interest of true spiritual worship they rejected\nforms altogether; some even going to the length of objecting to the use\nof the Lord\u2019s Prayer in the public services of the sanctuary. Their\ndislike and distrust of forms we have to a large extent inherited. But\nthe fact that many people are asking the question to-day whether our\nservices would not be all the more helpful if a little of the liturgical\nelement were imported into them, is proof that there are those amongst\nus who think that our fathers in their revolt against formalism went to\nthe opposite extreme, and by their complete rejection of forms injured\nthemselves and impoverished the public worship of the sanctuary. Of\ncourse formalism is fatal to true worship. But the use of forms is not\nformalism. Formalism is the abuse of forms. But the fact that forms get\nabused is no reason for discarding them altogether, any more than the\nfact that liberty sometimes, and with some people, degenerates into\nlicence is a reason why we should all abjure our freedom. In fact, a\ncertain amount of form is absolutely necessary. As some one has put it,\n\u201cthere may be occasionally form without life, but there can never be\nlife without form.\u201d No one, of course, proposes to do away with free\nprayer. The abolition of free prayer from our services would, I am\nconvinced, do irreparable injury to the spiritual life of our Free\nChurches. Our freedom in prayer has been our glory and our proud\nprivilege, and that freedom we must jealously guard. But there are in\nour congregations men and women of differing temperaments. There are\nthose amongst us\u2014and I am speaking now out of the experience I have\ngathered during my ten years\u2019 ministry\u2014who would find simple forms a\nhelp to them, and the question is whether the interests of a\ncongregation _as a whole_ would not be better met by an order of service\nwhich should combine free and liturgical prayer, rather than by an order\nwhich should confine itself rigidly to the one, to the utter exclusion\nof the other. Further into the question I do not mean to enter. I shall\nhave achieved my object if I have brought you to see that the question\nis really one of _Christian expediency_. There is no question here of\nright or wrong. About our perfect right to introduce forms if we choose\nthere can be no doubt. But a thing may be lawful and yet not expedient.\nAnd that is the point we have to settle with reference to liturgical\nforms. Is it expedient to introduce them? Would they enrich our worship.\nWould they edify the worshipper? Would they help us to come with\nboldness to the throne of grace? If they would, then adopt them. But if\nthey would tend to formalism, if their effect would be to make us _say\nour prayers_ instead of _praying_, or if their introduction would create\nbitterness or breed dissension in the Church, then better for ever\nremain without them.\n\nThis form of prayer, however, stands quite apart from every other. It\nhas a sacredness all its own. It is _the Lord\u2019s_ prayer. With perfect\nappropriateness this form finds a place in all our services. I welcome\nthe public use of the Lord\u2019s Prayer for various reasons. First of all,\nit is the _one perfect prayer_. In its six brief petitions it seems to\ninclude everybody and everything. Men are always partial and one-sided\nand our human prayers are partial and one-sided also. They express the\nneeds of some and not of others. But this brief prayer is like its\nAuthor, it is complete. Jesus was the Son of Man, the Universal Man.\nEverybody finds his counterpart in Jesus. And the prayer He gave is an\nuniversal prayer. It voices the cry of every heart, the need of every\nsoul. Then I welcome the use of this prayer _for its associations_. What\nsacred associations cluster around it! It is sacred to us because of Him\nwho first gave it. This is _our Lord\u2019s_ prayer, His gift to the world.\nThen it is sacred to us because of the Saints, Apostles, Prophets,\nMartyrs, who have used it. This prayer is a link that binds all the\nChristian centuries together. Peter and John and Paul and James used to\nkneel down and say, \u201cOur Father.\u201d Those early Christian assemblies in\nthe upper room in Jerusalem, Lydia\u2019s house in Philippi, and the\nCatacombs at Rome, used the very words we repeated together just now.\nThis prayer is an heirloom in the Christian family, handed down from one\ngeneration to another, and binding the \u201cwhole world by chains of gold\nabout the feet of God.\u201d\n\nThen for many of us it has associations of a still tenderer kind. It\ncomes to us burdened with memories of the past. Dr. Guthrie, when lying\non his dying bed, used often to ask the members of his family to sing\nhim a bairn\u2019s hymn. Those childish hymns used to carry him back to the\nold home and the long ago. Vanished days came back again as he listened\nto the songs he learned first at his mother\u2019s knee. What those \u201cbairn\u2019s\nhymns\u201d were to Dr. Guthrie, that, this prayer is to most of us. It is\nthe prayer in which we learned our first lessons of Christian truth. The\nfirst words we were taught to lisp were the words \u201cOur Father.\u201d When we\npray this prayer we are back again in the far-off days of childhood. We\nremember our fathers and mothers, some of them in glory now, who would\nhave given their lives for our souls. And as we think of those happy\ndays, we become children once again, and becoming children we become fit\nto receive the blessing; for except we turn and become as little\nchildren we shall in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven. So this form\nof prayer becomes a vehicle of grace. Tender, sacred, universal, it\nlifts us near to God and rightly finds a place in all the public\nservices of the sanctuary.\n\nBut this prayer is much more than a form to be used\u2014_it is also a model\nfor all our prayers_. The disciples came to Jesus asking Him to teach\nthem how to pray. This prayer is the answer to that request. Instead of\ngiving the disciples a string of rules and principles, instead of\ndelivering a long discourse on the _theory_ of prayer, Jesus did what\nwas infinitely more helpful, He gave them a pattern prayer. He taught\nthem this exquisite prayer of six petitions, and said to them, \u201cAfter\nthis manner, therefore, pray ye.\u201d This prayer is a model prayer, both as\nto manner, and order, and spirit.\n\n(1) It is a model as to manner. I will note here only three\ncharacteristics of the prayer. First, will you notice its _brevity_! The\nprayer that teaches to pray contains only six short petitions. The\nmeasure of a prayer is not its length, but its sincerity and\nearnestness. One good friend reminded a minister who was accustomed to\ntake full time in his preaching, that there was all the difference in\nthe world between the _length_ of a sermon and the _strength_ of a\nsermon. So there is all the difference between the length of a prayer\nand the strength of a prayer. We are not heard for our much speaking.\nThe priests of Baal cut themselves with knives and cried from morn until\nthe dusk of evening, \u201cBaal, hear us.\u201d The mob at Ephesus shouted out for\nthe space of two hours, \u201cGreat is Diana of the Ephesians.\u201d But the\ncommand is laid upon us, \u201cBe not ye like unto them.\u201d We are to avoid all\nvain repetitions. If prayers were valued according to their length, then\nthere would be no prayers to compete with the prayers of the Pharisee.\nBut the publican, who could only stammer out that one heart-broken\npetition, \u201cGod be merciful to me a sinner,\u201d went to his home justified\nrather than the Pharisee, in spite of his long prayers. We have not yet\ngot rid of the notion that there is some kind of merit in \u201clong\nprayers.\u201d We need to learn the truth Augustine wishes to enforce when he\nsays that much speaking is one thing and much praying quite another.\nThere can be much prayer in very little speech. In fact, the shortest\nprayers are always the most eloquent. Need abbreviates prayer. Want will\nmake prayer direct and pointed. Two of the most moving prayers I know of\nin the whole range of Bible literature are, the prayer of the poor\nCanaanitish woman who had a sick daughter, and whose prayer consisted of\nthree simple words, \u201cLord, help me\u201d; and the prayer of that dying thief\non the cross, who, in the agony of mortal pain, cried, \u201cLord remember me\nwhen Thou comest in Thy kingdom.\u201d Brethren, it does not require many\nwords to pray. No one need restrain himself from prayer because, like\nMoses, he is slow of tongue. You can compress a great prayer into the\ncompass of a brief sentence. As Thomas Binney used to say, \u201cA little\nprayer may bring a large answer, and bring it soon, if sincerity and\nfaith give it wings. A short word may be made long enough to span the\ndistance between earth and heaven if it be struck off from the living\nheart.\u201d\n\nSecondly, notice the _directness_ of the prayer. How pointed the\npetitions are! There are no waste words! Here are a number of distinct\nand definite requests, each of which is stated clearly and plainly in a\nfew simple words. There is no need for a cloud of words in prayer; there\nis no need of elaborate and highflown language; there is no need to beat\nabout the bush. Let us be direct in our prayers! I am afraid we have got\ninto the habit of using a kind of conventional language in prayer, as if\nGod did not understand our common talk! The ideal prayer, however, is\nthat which makes our request known to God with the same frankness and\ndirectness with which a child makes known his wants to his parents. Look\nat these petitions! Each of them is a prayer for a distinct and definite\nobject. We want the same directness in our prayers to-day. As Matthew\nHenry quaintly puts it, \u201cWe should always strike at the white.\u201d\n\nThen notice the _simplicity_ of the prayer. It is a prayer so simple\nthat a little child can understand it! This is not a prayer reserved for\nthe use of the learned, the cultured, the highly educated. This is a\nprayer everybody can understand. Wayfaring men, though fools, need not\nerr therein. But its simplicity is not shallowness. People are apt to\nmake mistakes. They think that profound which is simply turbid and\nmuddy. They think, on the other hand, that which is pellucid and clear\nmust of necessity be shallow. But the turbid pool is often very shallow,\nwhile those waters of crystal clearness contain depths no plummet can\nfathom. It is so with this prayer. It is simple, exquisitely simple, so\nsimple that even a child can grasp its meaning. But what depths these\nsimple sentences hide! Have we not been learning Sabbath by Sabbath\nsomething of the grandeur and sweep of the prayer? We have been trying\nduring these past Sabbaths to explore the length and breadth, the height\nand depth of this prayer, but have you not felt, as the preacher has\nfelt, that after all our exploring, there are yet undiscovered regions\nin this prayer?\n\n       There\u2019s a deep below the deep, and a height beyond the height,\n       And our hearing is not hearing, and our seeing is not sight.\n\nProfundity is always a matter of idea, not of language. A man is not\nprofound because he revels in polysyllables. The profoundest thought can\nbe clothed in the simplest language. Shall I tell you the profoundest\ntruth ever uttered by mortal man? Here it is, \u201cGod is love.\u201d Yet the\nwords are the simplest that language could afford. It is so exactly with\nthis prayer. Beneath these simple sentences there are depths we have\nnever fathomed. That is why this prayer will never be among the childish\nthings which we can put away. Added years will only increase our sense\nof its sweep and depth and beauty.\n\n(2) Now let me pass on to say that this prayer is a model _as to Order_.\nI need not dwell long upon this, for I have already drawn attention to\nit in the course of my exposition. But let me repeat again that this\nModel Prayer teaches us that in all true prayer God\u2019s glory will occupy\nthe first place. Before ever a word is said about personal needs our\nLord teaches His disciples to pray that God\u2019s name may be hallowed, that\nHis kingdom may come, and that His will may be done on earth as it is\ndone in heaven. It is \u201cafter this manner\u201d we are to pray always. That is\nthe order we must observe in all prayers, \u201cFirst things first.\u201d First\nGod\u2019s glory, then our personal wants. This is the hardest lesson of all\nto learn. The great feat of life is accomplished when we have learned to\nprefer God\u2019s will to our own, and when we honestly seek first His\nkingdom and His righteousness. And yet this hard lesson we must all\nlearn if we are to find strength and comfort in prayer. People talk\nabout \u201cunanswered prayers!\u201d There ought to be no unanswered prayers. I\nmake bold to say that to the man who has learned the true secret of\nprayer there are no unanswered prayers. It is the man who has forgotten\nthe true order who complains of unanswered prayers. It is the man who\nhas thought more of his own personal desires than of the glory of God\nwho complains that Heaven is deaf to his cry. The man who has learned to\nseek first the kingdom of God, who sincerely desires that God\u2019s will may\nbe done, that man never talks about unanswered prayers. All his prayers\nare richly and graciously answered. He asks and receives, he seeks and\nfinds, he knocks and the door is always opened. If you put the emphasis\nin the wrong place by laying stress on your own desires, you will be\ntroubled by \u201cunanswered prayers\u201d; but if you put God first, if you\ndesire His will may be done, what-e\u2019er betide, you will never miss the\nblessings, but you will find in your own experience the old promise\nstill true, \u201cIf we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us.\u201d\n\n(3) Let me ask you to notice that this prayer is a _model as to Spirit_.\nAfter all, the power of a prayer depends not upon the words we use, but\nupon the spirit in which we offer it. \u201cAccording to your faith it shall\nbe unto you.\u201d Our prayers may be beautiful in their language, correct in\ntheir theology, brief, simple, direct; and yet they may rise no higher\nthan the ceiling of the room in which they are uttered. Yes! even this\nPearl of Prayers, as uttered by some of us, may be nothing but a barren\nform. Before prayer becomes living, throbbing, vital, before it can take\nto itself wings, before it can reach the ear of God, we must pray in the\nspirit. And the spirit which alone gives prayer its efficacy and power,\nis the spirit of childlike confidence and trust. This Model Prayer is\nfull of that spirit. Notice how it begins, \u201c_Our Father_\u201d That implies\nthat we come to God as His children, believing He is readier to give\ngood things to us than we are to give good things to our children. It is\n\u201cafter that manner\u201d\u2014in childlike faith in God\u2019s love\u2014that we are always\nto pray. The measure of our trust in God will be the measure of our\npower in prayer. \u201cAccording to our faith it shall be unto us.\u201d Christ\u2019s\nprayers were prevailing prayers, because He had a perfect faith. He\ncalled God \u201cFather,\u201d and He honoured God\u2019s Fatherhood by placing an\nabsolute and utter trust in Him. We want the Christ spirit to make our\nprayers effectual. It is not the words that are wrong, it is not the\norder that is amiss, it is the faith that is lacking. If only Christ\u2019s\nspirit of loving confidence in God were breathed into our prayers, how\nirresistible they would be. Dr. Stanford, in his little volume on the\nLord\u2019s Prayer, quotes those exquisite lines, in which George Macdonald\napplies the legend of how the boy Jesus once made some clay birds fly to\nthe prayers men offer\u2014\n\n          My prayer-bird was cold\u2014would not away,\n          Although I set it on the edge of the nest,\n          Then I bethought me of the story old,\n          Love-fact, or loving fable, thou knowest best,\n          How, when the children had made sparrows of clay,\n          Thou mad\u2019st them birds, with wings to flutter and fold;\n          Take, Lord my prayer in Thy hand, and make it pray.\n\nOur prayers are often like those clay-birds. They do not rise. They are\nlifeless and dead. But how they would soar if only the spirit of Jesus,\nthe spirit of childlike faith in God, were breathed into them! \u201cOur\nFather,\u201d the first words of the prayer, teach us the spirit in which we\nshould pray. Is there anything we want more than faith, confidence,\ntrust in God? If we are straitened at all, we are straitened not in Him,\nbut in ourselves. If no mighty works are being done in our midst, it is\nnot because God\u2019s arm is shortened, it is because of our unbelief. We\nhave not yet realised the meaning and the power of that word \u201cFather.\u201d\nWe have not yet realised that He loves us with an everlasting love. We\nhave not yet realised that He is willing to do for us exceeding\nabundantly above all we can ask or think. So we are hungering when there\nis abundance within reach. We are weak when we might be strong. We are\nfeeble when we might be resistless. We live at a poor, dying rate, when\nthere is abundant life to be had for the asking. What do we need more\nthan faith? A simpler trust in the power and love of God would make us\nirresistible. If we had faith as a grain of mustard-seed, we might say\nto the greatest mountain of difficulty, \u201cRemove hence,\u201d and it should\nremove, and nothing would be impossible unto us.\n\nThis prayer is the Model Prayer. It is a pattern which we are to\nimitate. And the pattern Man of Prayer was Jesus Himself. Prayer was His\nvital breath. After the labours of the day were over, Jesus was\naccustomed to steal away to some lonely hill, where He would spend the\nnight in quiet, loving fellowship with God. Days of toil were followed\nby nights of communion, nights of communion prepared Him for days of\ntoil. The example of Jesus enforces the Apostolic precept, \u201cPray without\nceasing.\u201d And Jesus illustrates also the blessing of prayer. What great\nanswers were given to His petitions. As He was praying at His baptism,\nthe heavens opened. As He was praying on the Mount, His countenance was\naltered, and His raiment became white and glistening, and there came to\nHim Moses and Elijah, to converse with Him and speak of His departure,\nwhich He should accomplish at Jerusalem. As He was praying in the garden\nthat last bitter night, there came an angel from heaven, strengthening\nHim. Yes; Jesus knew the comfort, the strength, the calm that only\nprayer can give! We may know them too. Let us be instant in prayer, and\nwe, too, shall be brave and peaceful and strong, for it is as true\nto-day as it was when Isaiah penned the words, that they who wait upon\nthe Lord renew their strength; they mount up with wings, as eagles, they\nrun and are not weary, they walk and are not faint.\n\nHEADLEY BROTHERS, PRINTERS, LONDON; AND ASHFORD, KENT.\n\n\n\n\n                 Works by Rev. J. D. JONES, M.A., B.D.\n\n\nTHE GOSPEL OF GRACE.\n\n_Large crown 8vo. Cloth extra, 3s. 6d. net._\n\n\u201cThe man who gets a glimpse into the book will want to procure and\npreserve it.\u201d\u2014_The Dundee Advertiser._\n\n\u201cPlain and practical, full of apt illustration, and pervaded throughout\nby an earnest evangelical spirit.\u201d\u2014_Aberdeen Journal._\n\n\nTHINGS MOST SURELY BELIEVED.\n\n_Crown 8vo. Cloth boards, 2s. 6d. net._\n\n\u201cTo anyone who desires either edification or stimulus, the volume may be\nunhesitatingly commended.\u201d\u2014_Sheffield Independent._\n\n\u201cAnother volume of Mr. Jones\u2019s ever welcome, because ever suggestive,\ndiscourses.\u201d\u2014_Expository Times._\n\n\nTHE GLORIOUS COMPANY OF THE APOSTLES.\n\n_Crown 8vo. Cloth boards, 2s. net._\n\n\u201cThese studies show keen perception.\u201d\u2014_Record._\n\n\u201cThe treatises are masterly in conception and eloquent in\nlanguage.\u201d\u2014_Bristol Mercury._\n\n\nTHE MODEL PRAYER.\n\n_Crown 8vo. Cloth boards, 2s. net._\n\n\u201cMr. Jones brings a cultured mind, a well-stored memory, and a gift of\nspiritual insight to the illustration of the Lord\u2019s Prayer.\u201d\u2014_Sunday\nSchool Chronicle._\n\n\nCHRIST\u2019S PATHWAY TO THE CROSS.\n\n_Foolscap 8vo. Bound in green leather, 1s. 6d. net._\n\n\u201cA book to be read more than once.\u201d\u2014_Dundee Courier._\n\n\u201cMarked by deep insight into spiritual truth, and full of instruction\nfor those who would follow meditatively the steps of our Lord\u2019s life of\ncross-bearing. Such reading will assuredly be to great profit.\u201d\u2014_The\nChristian._\n\n\nLONDON: JAMES CLARKE & Co. 13 & 14, FLEET ST., E.C.\n\n\n\n\n            A CATALOGUE OF THEOLOGICAL,\n            ILLUSTRATED AND GENERAL BOOKS\n            PUBLISHED BY JAMES CLARKE & CO.,\n            13 & 14, FLEET STREET, LONDON, E.C.\n\n\n            CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO PRICES,\n            WITH INDEX OF TITLES AND AUTHORS AT THE END\n\n            NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS MARKED WITH AN ASTERISK.\n\n\n=10/6= Net\n\nTHE POLYCHROME BIBLE\n\nA New English Translation of the Books of the Bible. Printed in various\ncolours, showing at a glance the composite nature and the different\nsources of the Books. With many Notes and Illustrations from Ancient\nMonuments, &c. 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Crown 8vo, cloth,\ngilt top, 6s.\n\n    \u201cMr. Crockett has never given better evidence of originality and\n    dramatic power.... There is no doubt that \u2018Kit Kennedy\u2019 will add to\n    his reputation and popularity.\u201d\u2014_Manchester Guardian._\n\n\n=6/-=\n\nNew: =The Web of Circumstance.= A New Novel. By ISABEL BURGIN. Large\ncrown 8vo, cloth boards, illustrated, 6s.\n\nNew: =The Heart of Jessy Laurie.= By AMELIA E. BARR, Author of \u201cThe Bow\nof Orange Ribbon.\u201d Large crown 8vo, cloth boards. Illustrated. 6s.\n\n=A Lifted Veil.= A Novel. By J. G. STEVENSON. Large crown 8vo, 4\nIllustrations, cloth boards, 6s.\n\n=The Rise of Philip Barrett.= By DAVID LYALL, Author of \u201cThe Land o\u2019 the\nLeal,\u201d &c. Crown 8vo, bevelled boards, gilt top, 6s.\n\n    \u201cThe book is remarkable for the arresting interest of all, or nearly\n    all the characters. Altogether Mr. Lyall is to be congratulated on\n    an interesting story.\u201d\u2014_Aberdeen Free Press._\n\n=A Popular History of the Free Churches.= By C. SILVESTER HORNE, M.A.\nCrown 8vo, 464 pp. and 39 full-page Illustrations on art paper. Art\nvellum, gilt top, 6s.\n\n    \u201cA vigorous and interesting book by an enthusiastic believer in the\n    Puritan spirit and the need of religious equality.\u201d\u2014_The Times._\n\n=The Black Familiars.= By L. B. WALFORD, Author of \u201cStay-at-Homes,\u201d &c.\nLarge crown 8vo, cloth boards, 6s.\n\n    \u201c... \u2018Black Familiars\u2019 is among the most able and attractive books\n    of a very productive season.\u201d\u2014_St. James\u2019s Gazette._\n\n=Friend Olivia.= By AMELIA E. BARR. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 6s.\n\n=A Rose of a Hundred Leaves.= By AMELIA E. BARR. Crown 8vo, cloth\nboards, 6s.\n\n=Haromi:= A New Zealand Story. By BANNERMAN KAYE. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6s.\n\n    \u201cIn every sense it is admirably written, the charming description of\n    localities, none the less than the character-drawing and the\n    construction of the romance, being most engaging.\u201d\u2014_Western Daily\n    Mercury._\n\n=Through Science to Faith.= By Dr. NEWMAN SMYTH, Author of \u201cThe Place of\nDeath in Evolution,\u201d \u201cOld Faiths in New Lights,\u201d \u201cThe Reality of Faith,\u201d\n&c. Large crown 8vo, cloth, gilt top, 6s.\n\n    \u201cWe commend Dr. Smyth\u2019s work to the attention of all thoughtful\n    readers.\u201d\u2014_Liverpool Mercury._\n\n=The Rights of Man.= A Study in Twentieth Century Problems. By LYMAN\nABBOTT, D.D. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6s.\n\n    \u201cThis is one of his best books. It is good throughout.\u201d\u2014_Expository\n    Times._\n\n=America in the East.= By WILLIAM ELLIOT GRIFFIS, formerly of the\nImperial University of Japan, Author of \u201cThe Mikado\u2019s Empire,\u201d \u201cCorea,\nthe Hermit Nation,\u201d &c. Crown 8vo, cloth, gilt top, with 19\nIllustrations, 6s.\n\n    \u201cWe need hardly say that there is much that is interesting in the\n    book.\u201d\u2014_Spectator._\n\n=Rev. T. T. Lynch:= A Memoir. Edited by WILLIAM WHITE. With Portrait.\nCrown 8vo, cloth, 6s.\n\n\n=6/-=\n\n=Our City of God.= By J. BRIERLEY, B.A. Large crown 8vo, cloth boards,\ngilt top, 6s.\n\n    \u201cWe say without hesitation that this is a most inspiring\n    book.\u201d\u2014_Westminster Gazette._\n\n    _For other books by J. Brierley, see page 8._\n\n=Memorials of Theophilus Trinal.= By T. T. LYNCH. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6s.\n\n=The Mornington Lecture.= By T. T. LYNCH. Thursday Evening Addresses.\nSecond Edition. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6s.\n\n\n=5/-=\n\nNew: =The Making of Personality.= By BLISS CARMAN, Author of \u201cThe\nKinship of Nature,\u201d &c. Large crown 8vo, cloth boards, 5s.\n\n=Faith and Verification.= With Other Studies in Christian Thought and\nLife. By PRINCIPAL E. GRIFFITH-JONES. Large crown 8vo, with Photogravure\nPortrait, cloth boards, gilt top, 5s.\n\n=The Private Relationships of Christ.= By T. VINCENT TYMMS, D.D., Author\nof \u201cThe Mystery of God,\u201d \u201cThe Christian Idea of Atonement,\u201d &c. Large\ncrown 8vo, cloth boards, gilt top, 5s.\n\n    \u201cAltogether charming. To pass to it from musty problems of\n    metaphysics and the desperate conjectures of criticism is like\n    passing from the stuffy atmosphere of a sick-room to the breezy\n    freshness of a summer morning.\u201d\u2014_Westminster Gazette._\n\n=Theology and Truth.= By NEWTON H. MARSHALL, M.A., Ph.D. Large crown\n8vo, cloth boards, gilt top, 5s.\n\n    \u201cThe book is masterly both in constructive power and in\n    exposition.... It is a book which ought to be widely\n    read.\u201d\u2014_Aberdeen Free Press._\n\n    PROFESSOR GARVIE says: \u201c... Cordial congratulations to the author\n    for his valuable contribution to the solution of one of the most\n    important and urgent problems of the day.\u201d\n\n=Church, Ministry and Sacraments in the New Testament.= By W. T.\nWHITLEY, M.A., LL.D. Demy 8vo, cloth boards, 5s.\n\n=Cartoons of St. Mark.= By R. F. HORTON, M.A., D.D. Third Edition. Crown\n8vo, cloth, 5s.\n\n    \u201cCertainly reproduced to a degree attained by few preachers the\n    vivid picturesqueness of the Gospel.\u201d\u2014_The Manchester Guardian._\n\n    \u201cThis is, we think, the best book Dr. Horton has written.\u201d\u2014_The\n    British Weekly._\n\n=The Christ of the Heart, and Other Sermons.= By Z. MATHER. Crown 8vo,\ncloth, 5s.\n\n    \u201cOne of the most readable collections of sermons that we have seen\n    for a long time. The style is lucid, limpid, and attractive.\u201d\u2014_The\n    Independent._\n\n=Seven Puzzling Bible Books.= A Supplement to \u201cWho Wrote the Bible?\u201d By\nWASHINGTON GLADDEN. Crown 8vo, cloth, 5s.\n\n\n=5/-=\n\n=The Incarnation of the Lord.= A Series of Discourses tracing the\nunfolding of the Doctrine of the Incarnation in the New Testament. By\nCHARLES AUGUSTUS BRIGGS, D.D., D.Litt. Large crown 8vo, cloth extra,\ngilt top, 5s.\n\n    \u201cA scientific and stimulating examination of the New Testament data\n    on the Incarnation. It will fully sustain Dr. Briggs\u2019s reputation\n    with those English readers who know his previous works.\u201d\u2014_The\n    Christian World._\n\n=The Growing Revelation.= By AMORY H. BRADFORD, D.D. Crown 8vo, cloth,\n5s.\n\n=Christianity and Social Problems.= By LYMAN ABBOTT, D.D. Crown 8vo,\ncloth, 5s.\n\n    \u201cThey are very carefully worked out and supported by a mass of\n    argument which entitles them to the most respectful\n    attention.\u201d\u2014_Bristol Mercury._\n\n\n=4/6= Net\n\n=The Life and Letters of Alexander Mackennal, B.A., D.D.= By D.\nMACFADYEN. Large crown 8vo, Photogravure Portrait, and Illustrations on\nArt Paper. Bound in Art Vellum. 4s. 6d. net.\n\n\n=4/6=\n\n=The Christian World Pulpit.= Half-Yearly Volumes, cloth boards, 4s. 6d.\n\n    \u201cA notable collection of the utterances of Protestant preachers on a\n    wide variety of subjects which many people will rejoice to ponder at\n    leisure.\u201d\u2014_The Glasgow Herald._\n\n\n=4/-=\n\nNew: =The Rosebud Annual for 1909.= The Ideal Book for the Nursery. Four\ncoloured plates and one-half of the pages in colour. Handsome cloth\nboards, 4s. Coloured paper boards, varnished, 3s.\n\n    \u201cA veritable treasury of the best of good things.\u201d\u2014_Liverpool\n    Mercury._\n\n=Social Salvation.= By WASHINGTON GLADDEN. Crown 8vo, cloth, 4s.\n\n    \u201cDr. Gladden\u2019s book is eminently sane; his subjects are not treated\n    in any academic spirit, but are viewed in the light of a long and\n    close experience with the problems dealt with.\u201d\u2014_The Literary\n    World._\n\n=Tools and the Man.= Property and Industry under the Christian Law. By\nWASHINGTON GLADDEN. Crown 8vo, cloth, 4s.\n\n    \u201cA calmly written, closely reasoned, and trenchant indictment of the\n    still prevalent dogmas and assumptions of political economy.\u201d\u2014_The\n    Speaker._\n\n=Ruling Ideas of the Present Age.= By WASHINGTON GLADDEN. Crown 8vo,\ncloth, 4s.\n\n=Higher on the Hill.= A Series of Sacred Studies. By ANDREW BENVIE,\nD.D., Minister of St. Aidan\u2019s, Edinburgh. Crown 8vo, cloth, 4s.\n\n    \u201cA brilliant piece of writing.\u201d\u2014_Dundee Advertiser._\n\n\n=3/6= Net\n\nNew: =Sidelights on Religion.= By J. BRIERLEY, B.A., Author of \u201cOur City\nof God,\u201d \u201cOurselves and the Universe,\u201d &c. Large crown 8vo, cloth\nboards, gilt top, 3s. 6d. net.\n\nNew: =Messages of Hope.= By GEORGE MATHESON, D.D., LL.D., F.R.S.E.,\nAuthor of \u201cThoughts for Life\u2019s Journey,\u201d &c. Handsomely bound in cloth\nboards, gilt edges, 3s. 6d. net.\n\nNew: =Jesus: Seven Questions.= By J. WARSCHAUER, M.A., D.Phil., Author\nof \u201cThe New Evangel,\u201d &c. Large crown 8vo, cloth boards, gilt top, 3s.\n6d. net.\n\nNew: =The Evolution of Old Testament Religion.= By W. E. ORCHARD, B.D.\nLarge crown 8vo, cloth boards, gilt top, 3s. 6d. net.\n\nNew: =Church and Modern Life.= By WASHINGTON GLADDEN, D.D., Author of\n\u201cWho Wrote the Bible?\u201d &c. Cloth boards, gilt top, 3s. 6d. net.\n\nNew: =My Belief.= Answers to Certain Religious Difficulties. By R. F.\nHORTON, M.A., D.D., Author of \u201cCartoons of St. Mark,\u201d &c. Large crown\n8vo, cloth boards, 3s. 6d. net.\n\nNew: =The Story of Congregationalism in Surrey.= By E. E. CLEAL. Demy\n8vo, 464 pages, 46 Illustrations on art paper and Map, cloth, bevelled\nboards, 3s. 6d. net.\n\n=Thoughts for Life\u2019s Journey.= By GEORGE MATHESON, D.D., LL.D.,\nF.R.S.E., Author of \u201cLeaves for Quiet Hours.\u201d Handsomely bound in cloth\nboards, gilt edges, 3s. 6d. net.\n\n=A Working Woman\u2019s Life.= The Autobiography of MARIANNE FARNINGHAM.\nLarge crown 8vo, cloth boards, 3s. 6d. net.\n\n=The Gospel of Grace.= By J. D. JONES, M.A., B.D., Author of \u201cChrist\u2019s\nPathway to the Cross,\u201d &c. Large crown 8vo, cloth boards, gilt top, 3s.\n6d. net.\n\n=Jesus and His Teaching.= By ERICH VON SCHRENK, Mag. Theol. Translated\nby J. Warschauer, M.A., D.Phil. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 3s. 6d. net.\n\n=The Atonement in Modern Thought.= A Theological Symposium. By Professor\nAUGUSTE SABATIER, Professor HARNACK, Professor GODET, Dean FARRAR, Dr.\nP. T. FORSYTH, Dr. MARCUS DODS, Dr. LYMAN ABBOTT, Dr. JOHN HUNTER, Dr.\nWASHINGTON GLADDEN, Dean FREMANTLE, Dr. CAVE, Dr. R. F. HORTON, Rev. R.\nJ. CAMPBELL, Principal ADENEY, Rev. C. SILVESTER HORNE, Rev. BERNARD J.\nSNELL, and Dr. T. T. MUNGER. Cheap Edition. Large crown 8vo, cloth\nboards, 3s. 6d. net.\n\n    \u201cThis interesting work.... Among the writers are men of great\n    distinction.... Deserves careful attention.\u201d\u2014_The Spectator._\n\n\n=3/6= Net\n\n=Friars\u2019 Lantern.= By G. G. COULTON, Author of \u201cFrom St. Francis to\nDante,\u201d \u201cMedi\u00e6val Studies,\u201d &c. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 3s. 6d. net.\n\n=A Voice from China.= By GRIFFITH JOHN, D.D. Edin., Hankow. Large crown\n8vo, cloth boards, 3s. 6d. net.\n\n=The Inward Light.= By AMORY H. BRADFORD, D.D., Author of \u201cThe Growth of\nthe Soul,\u201d &c. Large crown 8vo, cloth boards, 3s. 6d. net.\n\n    \u201cA work of real spiritual and intellectual power.\u201d\u2014_Dundee\n    Advertiser._\n\n=The Story of the English Baptists.= By J. C. CARLILE. Large crown 8vo,\n320 pages, 8 Illustrations on art paper, 3s. 6d. net.\n\n    \u201cPossesses a freshness and vivacity not always present in\n    ecclesiastical histories.\u201d\u2014_Scotsman._\n\n=The Courage of the Coward.= By C. F. AKED, D.D., Author of \u201cChanging\nCreeds and Social Problems.\u201d Crown 8vo, cloth boards, with Photogravure\nPortrait, 3s. 6d. net.\n\n=The First Christians; or, Christian Life in New Testament Times.= By\nROBERT VEITCH, M.A. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, gilt top, 3s. 6d. net.\n\n    DR. FAIRBAIRN expresses himself as \u201ccharmed\u201d with the author\u2019s\n    \u201cknowledge of the world into which Christianity came; and his\n    appreciation of the Christianity that came into the world.\u201d\n\n\n3/6\n\n_By J. BRIERLEY, B.A. (\u201cJ. B.\u201d)_\n\nNew: =Religion and Experience.= By J. BRIERLEY, B.A., Author of \u201cThe\nEternal Religion,\u201d &c. Cheap Edition. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 3s. 6d.\n\n=The Eternal Religion.= By J. BRIERLEY, B.A., Author of \u201cOurselves and\nthe Universe,\u201d &c. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 3s. 6d.\n\n    \u201cWell written and helpful.\u201d\u2014_The Times._\n\n=The Common Life.= By J. BRIERLEY, B.A., Author of \u201cProblems of Living,\u201d\n&c. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 3s. 6d.\n\n    \u201cFluent, but thoughtful, essays on many aspects of life, written\n    from a Christian standpoint\u2014\u2018Life\u2019s Positives,\u2019 \u2018Summits,\u2019 \u2018Rest and\n    Unrest,\u2019 &c.\u201d\u2014_The Times._\n\n=Problems of Living.= By J. BRIERLEY, B.A., Author of \u201cOurselves and the\nUniverse.\u201d Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 3s. 6d.\n\n    \u201cIt is inspiring to come upon such a fresh and suggestive\n    re-statement of the old faiths as we find in \u2018Problems of\n    Living.\u2019\u201d\u2014_Echo._\n\n=Ourselves and the Universe: Studies in Life and Religion.= By J.\nBRIERLEY, B.A. Tenth Thousand. Crown 8vo, cloth, 3s. 6d.\n\n    \u201cWe have not for a long time read a brighter, cheerier, or wiser\n    book.\u201d\u2014_Daily News._\n\n=Studies of the Soul.= By J. BRIERLEY, B.A. Seventh Edition. Crown 8vo,\ncloth, 3s. 6d.\n\n    DR. HORTON says:\u2014\u201cI prefer this book to the best-written books I\n    have lighted on for a year past.\u201d\n\n\n_For other books by J. Brierley see page 5._\n\n\n3/6\n\nNew: =The Pearl Divers of Roncador Reef, and Other Stories.= By LOUIS\nBECKE, Author of \u201cTom Wallis,\u201d &c. Large crown 8vo, cloth boards.\nIllustrated. 3s. 6d.\n\nNew: =Fragments of Thought Gathered on Life\u2019s Journey.= By C. H. BETTS.\nLarge crown 8vo, cloth boards, 3s. 6d.\n\n=A Gamble with Life.= By SILAS K. HOCKING, Author of \u201cTo Pay the Price.\u201d\nLarge crown 8vo, bevelled boards, 3s. 6d.\n\n    One of the best stories written by this popular author.\n\n=Burning Questions.= By WASHINGTON GLADDEN. Fourth Edition. Crown 8vo,\ncloth, 3s. 6d.\n\n=Changing Creeds and Social Struggles.= By C. F. AKED. Crown 8vo, cloth,\n3s. 6d.\n\n    \u201cA brave book.\u201d\u2014_The Liverpool Mercury._\n\n=G. H. R. Garcia.= Memoir, Sermons and Addresses. By Rev. J. G.\nHENDERSON. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, with photogravure portrait, 3s. 6d.\nnet.\n\n    \u201cWe are grateful to Mr. Henderson for having prepared this memorial\n    of so daring and original a ministry.\u201d\u2014_Methodist Times._\n\n=Gloria Patri; or, Our Talks About the Trinity.= By J. M. WHITON. Cloth,\n3s. 6d.\n\n=God\u2019s Greater Britain.= With Two Portrait Groups, one showing Dr.\nClifford and party \u201cin miner\u2019s attire.\u201d Crown 8vo, cloth, 3s. 6d.\n\n    \u201cIt should be in the hands of all thinking men.\u201d\u2014_East Anglian Daily\n    Times._\n\n=The Christ that is To Be: A Latter-Day Romance.= By J. COMPTON RICKETT,\nM.P. New Edition. Demy 8vo, cloth, 3s. 6d.\n\n=His Rustic Wife.= By Mrs. HAYCRAFT, Author of \u201cA Lady\u2019s Nay,\u201d &c. Cloth\nboards, 3s. 6d.\n\n    \u201cA fresh and very capable story.\u201d\u2014_Newcastle Daily Leader._\n\n=Paxton Hood: Poet and Preacher.= With Photographic Portrait. Crown 8vo,\ncloth, 3s. 6d.\n\n=Family Prayers for Morning Use, and Prayers for Special Occasions.=\nCompiled and Edited by J. M. G. Cloth, pott quarto, 3s. 6d.\n\n    \u201cWe cordially recommend the volume to all who share our sense of the\n    value of family religion.\u201d\u2014_Willesden Presbyterian Monthly._\n\n=Industrial Explorings in and around London.= By R. ANDOM, Author of \u201cWe\nThree and Troddles.\u201d With nearly 100 Illustrations by T. M. R. WHITWELL.\nCrown 8vo, cloth, 3s. 6d.\n\n=Preaching to the Times.= By CANON HENSLEY HENSON. Crown 8vo, cloth\nextra, 3s. 6d.\n\n    \u201cSound sense and scholarly solidity.\u201d\u2014_Dundee Courier._\n\n    \u201cEarnest and eloquent discourses.\u201d\u2014_The Scotsman._\n\n=The Dutch in the Medway.= By CHARLES MACFARLANE, Author of \u201cThe Camp of\nRefuge,\u201d &c. With a Foreword by S. R. CROCKETT. Crown 8vo, cloth, 3s.\n6d.\n\n=The Quickening of Caliban.= A Modern Story of Evolution. By J. COMPTON\nRICKETT, Author of \u201cChristianity in Common Speech,\u201d &c. Large crown 8vo,\ncloth, 3s. 6d.\n\n=New Points to Old Texts.= By J. M. WHITON. Crown 8vo, cloth, 3s. 6d.\n\n    \u201cA volume of sermons to startle sleepy hearers.\u201d\u2014_Western Morning\n    News._\n\n=Nineteen Hundred? A Forecast and a Story.= By MARIANNE FARNINGHAM,\nAuthor of \u201cThe Clarence Family,\u201d &c. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 3s. 6d.\n\n    \u201cA pleasant and entertaining story and picture of life.\u201d\u2014_Methodist\n    Recorder._\n\n\n_EMMA JANE WORBOISE\u2019S NOVELS_\n\nCrown 8vo, uniformly bound in cloth, 3s. 6d. each.\n\n                        =St. Beetha\u2019s.=\n                        =Violet Vaughan.=\n                        =Singlehurst Manor.=\n                        =Overdale.=\n                        =Grey and Gold.=\n                        =Mr. Montmorency\u2019s Money.=\n                        =Nobly Born.=\n                        =Chrystabel.=\n                        =Millicent Kendrick.=\n                        =Robert Wreford\u2019s Daughter.=\n                        =Joan Carisbroke.=\n                        =Sissie.=\n                        =Esther Wynne.=\n                        =His Next of Kin.=\n\n\n_AMELIA E. BARR\u2019S NOVELS_\n\nCrown 8vo, cloth extra, 3s. 6d. each.\n\n                      =The Beads of Tasmar.=\n                      =A Sister to Esau.=\n                      =She Loved a Sailor.=\n                      =The Last of the MacAllisters.=\n                      =Woven of Love and Glory.=\n                      =Feet of Clay.=\n                      =The Household of McNeil.=\n                      =A Border Shepherdess.=\n                      =Paul and Christina.=\n                      =The Squire of Sandal Side.=\n                      =The Bow of Orange Ribbon.=\n                      =Between Two Loves.=\n                      =A Daughter of Fife.=\n\n\n_For other books by this Author see pages 4 and 17._\n\n\n3/6\n\nTHE MESSAGES OF THE BIBLE\n\nEdited by FRANK KNIGHT SANDERS, Ph.D., Woolsey Professor of Biblical\nLiterature in Yale University, and CHARLES FOSTER KENT, Ph.D., Professor\nof Biblical Literature and History in Brown University. Super royal\n16mo, cloth, red top, 3s. 6d. a vol. (To be completed in 12 Volumes.)\n\n          I. THE MESSAGES OF THE EARLIER PROPHETS.\n         II. THE MESSAGES OF THE LATER PROPHETS.\n        III. THE MESSAGES OF ISRAEL\u2019S LAW GIVERS.\n         IV. THE MESSAGES OF THE PROPHETICAL AND PRIESTLY HISTORIANS.\n          V. THE MESSAGES OF THE PSALMISTS.\n       VIII. THE MESSAGES OF THE APOCALYPTICAL WRITERS.\n         IX. THE MESSAGES OF JESUS ACCORDING TO THE SYNOPTISTS.\n          X. THE MESSAGES OF JESUS ACCORDING TO THE GOSPEL OF JOHN.\n         XI. THE MESSAGES OF PAUL.\n        XII. THE MESSAGES OF THE APOSTLES.\n\n\nVolumes VI. and VII. will appear at intervals.\n\n    \u201cA new series which promises to be of the greatest value to ordinary\n    readers of the Bible.\u201d\u2014_Primitive Methodist Quarterly._\n\n    \u201cSuch a work is of the utmost service to every student of the\n    Scriptures.\u201d\u2014_The Dundee Advertiser._\n\n    \u201cThe volumes in this series are singularly adapted for use in\n    Bible-classes and for the guidance of intelligent readers of the\n    Scriptures who have not been able to make themselves familiar with\n    modern \u2018Criticism.\u2019\u201d\u2014_The Examiner._\n\n\n=3/-= Net\n\n=The Personality of Jesus.= By CHARLES H. BARROWS. Large crown 8vo,\ncloth boards, 3s. net.\n\n=Poems.= By MADAME GUYON. Translated from the French by the late WILLIAM\nCOWPER, with a Prefatory Essay by D. MACFADYEN, M.A. Fcap. 8vo,\nhandsomely bound in leather, 3s. net.\n\n    The Rev. F. B. MEYER writes: \u201cThis singularly beautiful book, with\n    its attractive get-up and its valuable introduction and notes, ought\n    to prove a welcome gift-book, as it is certain to be the companion\n    of many lonely walks and distant journeys.\u201d\n\n=Quiet Hints to Growing Preachers in My Study.= By CHARLES EDWARD\nJEFFERSON, Pastor of Broadway Tabernacle Church, New York. Small crown\n8vo, cloth, 3s. net.\n\n    \u201cThe work is the outcome of common-sense, thought, and long\n    experience, and as such it ought to commend itself to all aspirants\n    to missionary work, whether in the pulpit or outside.\u201d\u2014_Bristol\n    Mercury._\n\n=Episcopacy.= Historically, Doctrinally, and Legally Considered. By J.\nFRASER. Cloth, crown 8vo, 3s. net.\n\n\n3/-\n\nNew: =The Rosebud Annual for 1909.= The Ideal Book for the Nursery. Four\nColoured Plates and one-half of the pages in colour. Coloured paper\nboards, varnished, 3s.; cloth boards, 4s.\n\n    \u201cAn old favourite, and anyone looking through its pages will see at\n    once why it is a favourite. Not a page opens without disclosing\n    pictures. A rich fund of enjoyment for the nursery.\u201d\u2014_Aberdeen Free\n    Press._\n\n=School Hymns, for Schools and Missions.= With Music. Compiled by E. H.\nMAYO GUNN. Harmonies Revised by ELLIOT BUTTON. Large Imp. 16mo, 3s.\n\n\n_EMMA JANE WORBOISE\u2019S NOVELS._\n\nCrown 8vo, cloth extra, 3s. each.\n\n                         =Heartsease in the Family=\n                         =Maud Bolingbroke=\n                         =Helen Bury=\n\n_For other books by this Author see pages 10 and 17._\n\n\n=2/6= Net\n\nNew: =Things Most Surely Believed.= By J. D. JONES, M.A., B.D., Author\nof \u201cThe Gospel of Grace,\u201d &c. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 2s. 6d. net.\n\nNew: =Lyrics of the Soul=: A Book of Poems. By MARIANNE FARNINGHAM,\nAuthor of \u201cHarvest Gleanings,\u201d &c. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, gilt edges,\n2s. 6d. net.\n\nNew: =Conquering Prayer, or the Power of Personality.= By L. SWETENHAM,\nAuthor of \u201cReligious Genius.\u201d Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 2s. 6d. net.\n\n=The Infinite Affection.= By CHARLES S. MACFARLAND, Author of \u201cThe\nSpirit Christlike,\u201d &c. Cloth boards, gilt top, 2s. 6d. net.\n\n=The Immanence of Christ in Modern Life.= By FREDERICK R. SWAN. With\nIntroduction by J. BRIERLEY, B.A. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 2s. 6d. net.\n\n    \u201cThis really beautiful and fervently Christian book.\u201d\u2014_Spectator._\n\n=The New Evangel=: Studies in the \u201cNew Theology.\u201d By Rev. J. WARSCHAUER,\nM.A., D.Phil. Second Edition. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 2s. 6d. net.\n\n    \u201cMay be studied with advantage.\u201d\u2014_Spectator._\n\n    \u201cDr. Warschauer\u2019s belief is not without foundation, and in his dozen\n    chapters he has clearly and devotionally stated that belief in a\n    manner which will appeal to a great crowd in all our churches\n    to-day.\u201d\u2014_Sheffield Daily Independent._\n\n=Health in the Home Life.= By HONNOR MORTEN, Author of \u201cA Complete Book\nof Nursing,\u201d \u201cHow to Treat Accidents and Illnesses,\u201d &c. Crown 8vo, art\nleather cloth, 2s. 6d. net.\n\n    \u201cThe young housewife and mother will find this book invaluable. Miss\n    Honnor Morten\u2019s large experience both as a nurse and as a health\n    lecturer under the London County Council enables her to make the\n    book thoroughly practical, very clear and full in its directions,\n    and wonderfully comprehensive.... A household fortified by the\n    knowledge Miss Morten gives should have few and small doctor\u2019s\n    bills.\u201d\u2014_Christian World._\n\n\n=2/6= Net\n\nNew: =Ungilded Gold; or, Nuggets from the King\u2019s Treasury.= Selected\nPassages from the Bible, arranged for Daily Devotional Reading (uniform\nwith \u201cThe Pilot\u201d). 384 pages, leather boxed, 2s. 6d. net; also silk\ngrain cloth, gilt lettering, red edges, 1s. 6d. net.\n\n    \u201cA book which ought to prove of considerable help ... the passages\n    have been selected with much care and spiritual insight.... The\n    book is thus one with a purpose, and it deserves a wide\n    circulation.\u201d\u2014_Life of Faith._\n\n=Stories of Old. Bible Stories Retold.= By C. D. MICHAEL, Author of\n\u201cNoble Deeds,\u201d \u201cDeeds of Daring,\u201d &c. 4to, 288 pp., cloth boards. Eight\nIllustrations. 2s. 6d. net.\n\n=Practical Lay-Preaching and Speaking to Men.= By H. JEFFS (Editor of\n\u201cThe Christian World Pulpit\u201d). Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 2s. 6d. net.\n\n=The Challenge, and Other Stories for Boys and Girls.= By Rev. J. G.\nSTEVENSON, Author of \u201cThe Christ of the Children.\u201d 4to, cloth boards,\n240 pp. Eight Illustrations. 2s. 6d. net.\n\n    \u201cA first-rate collection of stories and parables very suitable for\n    Sunday-school teachers in preparing their lessons.\u201d\u2014_British\n    Weekly._\n\n=Liberty and Religion.= By P. WHITWELL WILSON, M.P., Author of \u201cWhy We\nBelieve,\u201d &c. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 2s. 6d. net.\n\n=Leaves for Quiet Hours.= By GEORGE MATHESON, F.R.S.E., D.D., LL.D.,\nAuthor of \u201cWords by the Wayside,\u201d &c. New and cheap edition. Handsomely\nbound in cloth boards, with chaste design in gold, and gilt edges, 2s.\n6d. net. Leather, 4s. net.\n\n    \u201cThis is another of those unique productions for which Dr. Matheson\n    is famous. There are few modern teachers who possess the gift of\n    spiritual insight to the extent of the author of this book.\u201d\u2014_Daily\n    News._\n\n=The Christ of the Children.= A Life of Jesus for Little People. By Rev.\nJ. G. STEVENSON. 4to, cloth boards. Twelve Illustrations. 2s. 6d. net.\n\n    \u201cIt is the very loveliest life of Jesus for children ever written by\n    a long way.\u201d\u2014Rev. KINGSCOTE GREENLAND in _The Methodist Recorder_.\n\n=The Pilot.= A Book of Daily Guidance from Master Minds. Contains nearly\n2,000 of the choicest extracts systematically arranged for every day of\nthe year. Printed on India paper and handsomely bound in leather, with\nround corners and gilt edges, 2s. 6d. net.\n\n    \u201cI thank you for the service you have done the public in the issuing\n    of this little book. It is a splendid collection. Nothing could be\n    more admirably adapted to suit the spiritual wants of an age which\n    has little leisure for reflection and much ground for care.\u201d\u2014Rev.\n    GEORGE MATHESON, D.D.\n\n    _Her Majesty the Queen has graciously accepted a copy of this book._\n\n=My Neighbour and God.= A Reply to Robert Blatchford\u2019s \u201cGod and My\nNeighbour.\u201d By W. T. LEE. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 2s. 6d. net.\n\n    \u201cA more overwhelming exposure of Mr. Blatchford\u2019s untrustworthiness\n    as a critic of the Bible it would be difficult to imagine.\u201d\u2014_The\n    Wellingborough News._\n\n=Why We Believe.= Papers on Religion and Brotherhood. By PHILIP WHITWELL\nWILSON. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 2s. 6d. net.\n\n=Undertones of the Nineteenth Century.= A Prelude and a Prophecy. A\ncomparison of the Relations between certain Spiritual Movements of the\nlast Century, with Sketches of the lives of some of the Leaders. By Mrs.\nEDWARD TROTTER. Cloth boards, 2s. 6d. net.\n\n=A Popular History of the Free Churches.= By C. SILVESTER HORNE, M.A.\nCheap Edition. Crown 8vo, 464 pp. and 8 full-page illustrations on art\npaper. Cloth boards, 2s. 6d. net.\n\n    \u201cA vigorous and interesting book by an enthusiastic believer in the\n    Puritan spirit and the need of religious equality.\u201d\u2014_The Times._\n\n=The New Testament in Modern Speech.= An idiomatic translation into\neveryday English from the text of \u201cThe Resultant Greek Testament.\u201d By\nthe late RICHARD FRANCIS WEYMOUTH, M.A., D.Lit., Fellow of University\nCollege, London, and formerly Head Master of Mill Hill School, Editor of\n\u201cThe Resultant Greek Testament.\u201d Edited and partly revised by ERNEST\nHAMPDEN-COOK, M.A., formerly Exhibitioner and Prizeman of St. John\u2019s\nCollege, Cambridge. Cloth boards, 2s. 6d. net. Thumb Index, 3s. 6d.\nLeather, 4s. net. Also on Oxford India paper, 3s. 6d. net. Leather, 5s.\nnet.\n\n    \u201cEvery intelligent reader of the New Testament should profit by this\n    careful and correct translation. Indeed, none can afford to ignore\n    it unless he is able to read with ease the original Greek. It is\n    probably the best modern translation.\u201d\u2014_Examiner._\n\n=A Young Man\u2019s Religion and his Father\u2019s Faith.= By N. MCGHEE WATERS.\nSmall crown 8vo, cloth boards, gilt top, 2s. 6d. net.\n\n    \u201cIt is an earnestly religious and well-written work.\u201d\u2014_The\n    Scotsman._\n\n=The Resultant Greek Testament.= Exhibiting the Text in what the\nmajority of Modern Editors are agreed. By the late RICHARD FRANCIS\nWEYMOUTH, D.Lit. Cloth boards, 2s. 6d. net.\n\n=Harvest Gleanings.= A Book of Poems. By MARIANNE FARNINGHAM, Author of\n\u201cGirlhood,\u201d &c. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 2s. 6d. net.\n\n    \u201cA delightful sheaf of little poems. They are messages of love, of\n    comfort, of sympathy, of hope, and of encouragement.\u201d\u2014_Northampton\n    Herald._\n\n=Morning and Evening Cries.= A Book of Prayers for the Household. By\nRev. J. G. GREENHOUGH, M.A. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 2s. 6d. net.\n\n=Job and His Comforters.= By J. T. MARSHALL, M.A., B.D. Crown 8vo, cloth\nboards, 2s. 6d. net.\n\n=Sunday Morning Talks with Boys and Girls.= By Rev. F. H. ROBARTS. Crown\n8vo, cloth boards, 2s. 6d. net.\n\n    \u201cThey have the marks of simplicity, directness, and charm.\u201d\u2014_Baptist\n    Times._\n\n=The Baptist Handbook.= Published under the direction of the Council of\nthe Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland. Paper boards. 2s. 6d.\nnet; cloth boards, 3s. net.\n\nNew: =The Good New Times.= By H. JEFFS, Author of \u201cPractical Lay\nPreaching and Speaking to Men.\u201d Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 2s. 6d.\n\n=The Rise of Philip Barrett.= By DAVID LYALL, Author of \u201cThe Land o\u2019 the\nLeal,\u201d &c. Cheap Edition. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 2s. 6d.\n\n    \u201cThe book is remarkable for the arresting interest of all, or nearly\n    all, the characters. Altogether, Mr. Lyall is to be congratulated on\n    an interesting story.\u201d\u2014_Aberdeen Free Press._\n\n=What Shall this Child Be?= By WILLIAM BROCK. Crown 8vo, cloth boards,\n2s. 6d.\n\n=Practical Points in Popular Proverbs.= By F. A. REES, Author of \u201cPlain\nTalks on Plain Subjects.\u201d With an Introduction by the Rev. CHAS\nWILLIAMS, of Accrington. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 2s. 6d.\n\n=The Ten Commandments.= By G. CAMPBELL MORGAN. Pott 8vo, cloth, 2s. 6d.\n\n    \u201cA more readable, practical, and searching exposition of the\n    Decalogue it would be difficult to find.\u201d\u2014_Leeds Mercury._\n\n=A Popular Argument for the Unity of Isaiah.= By JOHN KENNEDY, D.D. With\nan Examination of the Opinions of Canons Cheyne and Driver, Dr.\nDelitzsch, the Rev. G. A. Smith, and others. Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d.\n\n    \u201cA book that will be eagerly welcomed by the thoughtful students of\n    the Scriptures.\u201d\u2014_Western Morning News._\n\n=The Epistle to the Galatians.= By J. MORGAN GIBBON. The Ancient\nMerchant Lecture for January, 1895. Fcap. 8vo, cloth elegant, gilt top,\n2s. 6d.\n\n    \u201cA clear, popular, and most effective analysis and application of\n    this great epistle, this magna charta of the free Christian\n    Church.\u201d\u2014C. SILVESTER HORNE.\n\n=The Ordeal of Faith.= By C. SILVESTER HORNE, M.A. Meditations on the\nBook of Job, designed as a \u201cministry of consolation to some who are\npierced with many sorrows.\u201d Fcap. 8vo, cloth, gilt top, 2s. 6d.\n\n    \u201cWe have read many productions on this wonderful Old Testament book,\n    but have met with nothing we would so gladly put into the hands of\n    the sorrowful and suffering as this little publication.\u201d\u2014_Methodist\n    Times._\n\n=The Earliest Christian Hymn.= By GEORGE S. BARRETT, D.D. Pott 8vo,\ncloth, gilt top, 2s. 6d.\n\n=Nonconformist Church Buildings.= By JAMES CUBITT. Cloth limp, 2s. 6d.\n\n    \u201cWill be useful to church-building committees of whatever\n    denomination.\u201d\u2014_Ardrossan Herald._\n\n\n=2/-= Net\n\nNew: =The Value of the Old Testament.= By BERNARD J. SNELL, M.A., Author\nof \u201cThe Value of the Apocrypha,\u201d \u201cGain or Loss?\u201d &c. Crown 8vo, cloth\nboards, 2s. net.\n\nNew: =The Purpose of the Cross.= By B. G. COLLINS. Crown 8vo, cloth\nboards, 2s. net.\n\n=Atonement and Progress.= By NEWTON H. MARSHALL, M.A., Ph.D., Author of\n\u201cTheology and Truth.\u201d Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 2s. net.\n\n=Authority and the Light Within.= By EDWARD GRUBB, M.A. Crown 8vo, cloth\nboards, 2s. net.\n\n=On Seeing Angels; and Other Papers.= By NICHOLAS NOTEWELL. Crown 8vo,\ncloth boards, 2s. net.\n\n=Ideals for Girls.= By the Rev. H. R. HAWEIS, M.A., Author of \u201cMusic and\nMorals.\u201d New Edition, crown 8vo, handsomely bound in bevelled boards,\ngilt edges, 2s. net.\n\n    A book that all parents should place in the hands of their\n    daughters.\n\n=The Glorious Company of the Apostles.= Being Studies in the Characters\nof the Twelve. By the Rev. J. D. JONES, M.A., B.D. Cloth boards, gilt\ntop, 2s. net.\n\n    \u201cMany think that a readable sermon is a contradiction in terms. Let\n    them read these pages and discover their mistake.\u201d\u2014_Examiner._\n\n=The Model Prayer.= A Series of Expositions on the Lord\u2019s Prayer. By\nRev. J. D. JONES, M.A., B.D. New Edition, cloth boards, gilt top, 2s.\nnet.\n\n    \u201cMr. Jones brings a cultured mind, a well-stored memory, and a gift\n    of spiritual insight to the illustration of the Lord\u2019s\n    Prayer.\u201d\u2014_Sunday School Chronicle._\n\n\n2/-\n\n=Simple Cookery.= Comprising \u201cTasty Dishes\u201d and \u201cMore Tasty Dishes.\u201d\nOver 500 Tested Receipts. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 2s.\n\n    A book that should be in every household.\n\n=My Baptism, and What Led to it.= By Rev. JAMES MOUNTAIN. Crown 8vo,\ncloth boards, 2s.\n\n=Adrift on the Black Wild Tide.= A Weird and Strange Experience in\nDreamland, and a Nautical Version of \u201cThe Pilgrim\u2019s Progress.\u201d By JAMES\nJ. KANE, G.T. Chaplain U.S. Navy. Cloth gilt, 2s.\n\n=Early Pupils of the Spirit, and What of Samuel?= By J. M. WHITON, Ph.D.\nNew Edition. Crown 8vo, cloth, 2s.\n\n=The Religion of Jesus.= By J. ALLANSON PICTON, M.A., J.P. Crown 8vo,\n2s.\n\n\n2/-\n\nCLARKE\u2019S COPYRIGHT LIBRARY\n\n_A New Series of Books by Leading Authors at a Popular Price_\n\nCrown 8vo, tastefully bound in cloth boards, =2s.=\n\n                =The Loves of Miss Anne.= By S. R. CROCKETT.\n                =Kit Kennedy.= By S. R. CROCKETT.\n                =Cinderella.= By S. R. CROCKETT.\n                =Flower-o\u2019-the-Corn.= By S. R. CROCKETT.\n                =The Black Familiars.= By L. B. WALFORD.\n\n\n_POPULAR EDITION OF EMMA JANE WORBOISE\u2019S NOVELS_\n\nCrown 8vo, cloth boards, =2s.=; bevelled boards, =2s. 6d=\n\n                      =Abbey Mill, The.=\n                      =Brudenells of Brude, The.=\n                      =Canonbury Holt.=\n                      =Chrystabel.=\n                      =Emilia\u2019s Inheritance.=\n                      =Esther Wynne.=\n                      =Father Fabian.=\n                      =Fortune\u2019s Favourite.=\n                      =Fortunes of Cyril Denham, The.=\n                      =Grey and Gold.=\n                      =Grey House at Endlestone, The.=\n                      =Heirs of Errington, The.=\n                      =His Next of Kin.=\n                      =House of Bondage.=\n                      =Husbands and Wives.=\n                      =Joan Carisbroke.=\n                      =Lady Clarissa.=\n                      =Margaret Torrington.=\n                      =Millicent Kendrick.=\n                      =Mr. Montmorency\u2019s Money.=\n                      =Nobly Born.=\n                      =Oliver Westwood.=\n                      =Overdale.=\n                      =St. Beetha\u2019s.=\n                      =Singlehurst Manor.=\n                      =Sissie.=\n                      =Story of Penelope, The.=\n                      =Thornycroft Hall.=\n                      =Violet Vaughan.=\n                      =Warleigh\u2019s Trust.=\n                      =A Woman\u2019s Patience.=\n\n\n_For other books by this Author see pages 12 and 10._\n\n\n_NEW SERIES OF COPYRIGHT BOOKS_\n\nCrown 8vo, cloth gilt, =2s.=\n\n         =A Morning Mist.= By SARAH TYTLER.\n         =A Sister to Esau.= By AMELIA E. BARR.\n         =The Debt of the Damerals.= By BESSIE MARCHANT.\n         =A Town Romance; or, On London Stones.= By C. C. ANDREWS.\n         =A Daughter of Fife.= By AMELIA E. BARR.\n         =The Pride of the Family.= By ETHEL F. HEDDLE.\n         =Unknown to Herself.= By LAURIE LANSFELDT.\n         =The Squire of Sandal Side.= By AMELIA E. BARR.\n         =The Bow of Orange Ribbon.= By AMELIA E. BARR.\n         =The Scourge of God.= By J. BLOUNDELLE-BURTON.\n         =The New Mrs. Lascelles.= By L. T. MEADE.\n         =Miss Devereux, Spinster.= By AGNES GIBERNE.\n         =Jan Vedder\u2019s Wife.= By AMELIA E. BARR.\n\n\n=1/6= Net\n\n_THE \u201cFREEDOM OF FAITH\u201d SERIES_\n\n    An entirely New Series of Small Fcap. 8vo Books, 128 pp., handsomely\n    bound in Green Leather, with chaste design in gold. Price =1s. 6d.=\n    net.\n\n=The Simple Things of the Christian Life.= By G. CAMPBELL MORGAN, D.D.\n\n=The Wideness of God\u2019s Mercy.= By F. B. MEYER, B.A.\n\n=The Letters of Christ.= By Rev. CHARLES BROWN.\n\n=Christ\u2019s Pathway to the Cross.= By J. D. JONES, M.A., B.D.\n\n=The Crucible of Experience.= By F. A. RUSSELL.\n\n=The Passion for Souls.= By J. H. JOWETT, M.A.\n\n=The Value of the Apocrypha.= By J. BERNARD SNELL, M.A.\n\n=Inspiration in Common Life.= By W. L. WATKINSON, M.A.\n\n=Prayer.= By WILLIAM WATSON, M.A.\n\n=A Reasonable View of Life.= By J. M. BLAKE, M.A.\n\n=Common-sense Christianity.= By C. SILVESTER HORNE, M.A.\n\n    \u201cThere are precious things in every volume, and the Series deserves\n    success.\u201d\u2014_Dundee Advertiser._\n\n\nNew: =Chats with Women on Everyday Subjects.= By EDITH C. KENYON, Author\nof \u201cA Queen of Nine Days,\u201d &c. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 1s. 6d. net.\n\nNew: =Faith and Form.= An Attempt at a Plain Re-statement of Christian\nBelief in the Light of To-Day. By HENRY VARLEY, B.A. Crown 8vo, cloth\nboards, 1s. 6d. net.\n\nNew: =The Invisible Companion, and Other Stories for Children.= By\nEDWARD W. LEWIS, M.A., B.D., Author of \u201cThe Unescapeable Christ,\u201d &c.\nCrown 8vo, cloth boards, 1s. 6d. net.\n\n=The Holy Spirit.= By R. F. HORTON, M.A., D.D. Cloth boards, 1s. 6d.\nnet.\n\n=Who Wrote the Bible?= By WASHINGTON GLADDEN, D.D., Author of \u201cThe\nGrowing Revelation,\u201d &c. New and cheap Edition, 256 pages, cloth boards,\n1s. 6d. net.\n\n    \u201cWell named \u2018A book for the people.\u2019 It fulfils its promise; it is\n    simple, untechnical, careful without being erudite. It is a reverent\n    book, too; a man who believes the Bible to be inspired and the Word\n    of God here explains how it has been handled by modern criticism,\n    and with what results. For the intelligent reader interested in\n    these questions, and wanting a survey of the whole field, it would\n    be hard to find a more suitable book.\u201d\u2014_The Speaker._\n\n=Reasons Why for Congregationalists.= By Rev. J. D. JONES, M.A., B.D.\nCrown 8vo, cloth boards, 1s. 6d. net.\n\nNew: =Ungilded Gold; or, Nuggets from the King\u2019s Treasury.= Selected\nPassages from the Bible, arranged for Daily Devotional Reading (uniform\nwith \u201cThe Pilot\u201d). 384 pages, silk grain cloth, gilt lettering, red\nedges, 1s. 6d. net; leather boxed, 2s. 6d. net.\n\n=Women and their Work.= By MARIANNE FARNINGHAM, Author of \u201cHarvest\nGleanings,\u201d \u201cWomen and their Saviour.\u201d Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 1s. 6d.\nnet.\n\n=Sunny Memories of Australasia.= By Rev. W. CUFF. Crown 8vo, cloth\nboards. Portraits and Illustrations. 1s. 6d. net.\n\n=Christian Baptism: Its Significance and its Subjects.= By J. E.\nROBERTS, M.A., B.D. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 1s. 6d. net.\n\n=William Jeffery, the Puritan Apostle of Kent.= A Message and an Appeal\nto Young Nonconformists. By CHAS. RUDGE, with an Introduction by Rev.\nDr. CLIFFORD. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 1s. 6d. net.\n\n=Britain\u2019s Hope, Concerning the Pressing Social Problems.= By JULIE\nSUTTER, Author of \u201cBritain\u2019s Next Campaign,\u201d &c. Cloth boards, 1s. 6d.\nnet.\n\n    The Rev. R. J. CAMPBELL, preaching at the City Temple, said:\u2014\u201cI have\n    been reading \u2018Britain\u2019s Hope,\u2019 the latest work by Miss Sutter, with\n    the blood tingling through my veins. If you have not read it, I\n    should advise you to get it and to do so.\u201d\n\n    \u201cAn admirable production, summarising in emphatic language the main\n    social problems of the day.\u201d\u2014_Sheffield Telegraph._\n\n=Seven Puzzling Bible Books.= A Supplement to \u201cWho Wrote the Bible?\u201d By\nWASHINGTON GLADDEN. Cheap Edition. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 1s. 6d. net.\n\n=Burning Questions.= By WASHINGTON GLADDEN. Cheap Edition. Crown 8vo,\ncloth, 1s. 6d. net.\n\n=Trial and Triumph.= By Rev. CHARLES BROWN. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 1s.\n6d. net.\n\n=Reform in Sunday School Teaching.= By Professor A. S. PEAKE. Crown 8vo,\ncloth boards, 1s. 6d. net.\n\n    \u201cThe volume is the best and ablest on the subject, and the Professor\n    writes as one who knows.... The book is timely and of utmost\n    importance.\u201d\u2014_Sunday-School Times._\n\n=The Forgotten Sheaf.= A Series of Addresses to Children. By Rev. D. J.\nLLEWELLYN. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 1s. 6d. net.\n\n=Let us Pray.= A Handbook of Selected Collects and forms of Prayer for\nthe Use of the Free Churches. By C. SILVESTER HORNE and F. HERBERT\nDARLOW, M.A. Crown 8vo, cloth, 1s. 6d. net.\n\n    \u201cAn interesting and fascinating volume.\u201d\u2014_London Quarterly Review._\n\n\n1/6\n\nSMALL BOOKS ON GREAT SUBJECTS\n\nPott 8vo, bound in buckram cloth, 1s. 6d. each.\n\n=The Christ Within.= By Rev. T. RHONDDA WILLIAMS.\n\n=Old Pictures in Modern Frames.= By J. G. GREENHOUGH, M.A.\n\n=The Taste of Death and the Life of Grace.= By P. T. FORSYTH, M.A., D.D.\n\n=The Conquered World.= By R. F. HORTON, M.A., D.D.\n\n=The Making of an Apostle.= By R. J. CAMPBELL, M.A.\n\n=The Angels of God.= By JOHN HUNTER, D.D.\n\n=Social Worship an Everlasting Necessity.= By JOHN CLIFFORD, D.D.\n\n=Types of Christian Life.= By E. GRIFFITH-JONES, B.A.\n\n=Faith the Beginning, Self-Surrender the Fulfilment, of the Spiritual\nLife.= By JAMES MARTINEAU, D.D., D.C.L., Second Edition. Sixth Thousand.\n\n=How to Become Like Christ.= By MARCUS DODS, D.D. Second Edition.\n\n=The Kingdom of the Lord Jesus.= By ALEXANDER MACKENNAL, D.D.\n\n=The Way of Life.= By H. ARNOLD THOMAS, M.A.\n\n=The Ship of the Soul.= By STOPFORD A. BROOKE, M.A.\n\n=The Christian Life.= By W. M. SINCLAIR, D.D., Archdeacon of London.\n\n=Character Through Inspiration.= By T. T. MUNGER, D.D.\n\n=Infoldings and Unfoldings of the Divine Genius, in Nature and Man.= By\nJOHN PULSFORD, D.D. New Edition.\n\n=The Jealousy of God.= By JOHN PULSFORD, D.D.\n\n=Martineau\u2019s Study of Religion.= By RICHARD A. ARMSTRONG.\n\n=The Art of Living Alone.= By AMORY H. BRADFORD.\n\n=The Supreme Argument for Christianity.= By W. GARRETT HORDER.\n\n=Reconsiderations and Reinforcements.= By J. M. WHITON, Ph.D., Author of\n\u201cBeyond the Shadow,\u201d &c.\n\n=Storehouse for Preachers and Teachers.= A Treasury of Outline Texts and\nSermons. By J. ELLIS, Author of \u201cThe Seed Basket,\u201d &c., &c. Cloth\nboards, 1s. 6d.\n\n    \u201cCannot fail to prove serviceable. Exceedingly suggestive, and such\n    as the busy worker will be able to utilise with ease and\n    profit.\u201d\u2014_The Christian._\n\n=Words by the Wayside.= By GEORGE MATHESON, D.D., LL.D., F.R.S.E.,\nAuthor of \u201cLeaves for Quiet Hours,\u201d \u201cThoughts for Life\u2019s Journey,\u201d &c.\nNew Edition. Oblong, cloth boards, gilt top, 1s. 6d.\n\n=The Comforts of God.= By RICHARD GLOVER, D.D. Fcap. 8vo, cloth boards,\n1s. 6d.\n\n    \u201cEvery paragraph is pregnant with helpful and comforting thought. We\n    cordially commend this book of consolation to all who are passing\n    through the cloud and the shadow.\u201d\u2014_Methodist Times._\n\n    \u201cWill doubtless find many appreciative readers.\u201d\u2014_Glasgow Herald._\n\n=Ancient Musical Instruments.= A popular Account of their Development,\nas illustrated by Typical Examples in the Galpin Collection at Hatfield\nBroad Oak, Essex. By WILLIAM LYND. Linen cover, 1s. 6d.; cloth, 2s.\n\n    \u201cThe book is unique, and lovers of orchestral music cannot fail to\n    be profited and interested by the material offered for\n    study.\u201d\u2014_Ardrossan Herald._\n\n=The Church and the Kingdom.= By WASHINGTON GLADDEN. Crown 8vo, cloth,\n1s. 6d.\n\n    \u201cThis most interesting little book is heartily welcome.\u201d\u2014_Morning\n    Leader._\n\n    \u201cA solid contribution to the literature of Christian\n    Science.\u201d\u2014_Western Daily Mercury._\n\n=Race and Religion.= Hellenistic Theology, its Place in Christian\nThought. By THOMAS ALLIN, D.D. Fcap. 8vo, 1s. 6d.\n\n    \u201cThe book is crammed with facts and ideas. It would be difficult to\n    find anywhere in the same compass a richer collection of living and\n    suggestive thought.\u201d\u2014\u201cJ. B.,\u201d in _The Christian World._\n\n=Short Devotional Services.= By GEORGE AITCHISON. Limp cloth, 1s. 6d.\n\n    Thirteen services, compiled chiefly from the Bible and the Book of\n    Common Prayer. Intended not to supersede but to supplement the usual\n    extempore prayer.\n\n=The Children\u2019s Pace=; and Other Addresses to Children. By Rev. J. S.\nMAVER, M.A., of Paisley. Fcap. 8vo, cloth, 1s. 6d.\n\n    \u201cMr. Maver has produced one of the best books of the kind published\n    for some time.\u201d\u2014_Banffshire Journal._\n\n\n=1/-= Net\n\n=The Garrisoned Soul.= Meditations on \u201cPeace, Perfect Peace,\u201d by C. E.\nP. ANTRAM. Fancy cloth, 1s. net.\n\n    \u201cA sweet little book, full of soothing comfort to the weary\n    wayfarer.\u201d\u2014_Western Daily Mercury._\n\n    \u201cIt is just the sort of book, chaste and beautiful, contents and\n    binding alike, that would make a pretty present on a birthday or a\n    Church festival. Its size and its type make it suitable also to send\n    to an invalid. Indeed, its cheering chapters would to many such, we\n    are sure, act like a tonic, and be an efficient co-worker with the\n    physician.\u201d\u2014_Sheffield Telegraph._\n\n=Do We Need a New Theology?= By HAROLD E. BRIERLEY. Fcap. 8vo, cloth\nboards, 1s. net.\n\n    \u201cWell adapted to arouse the attention and to guide the thought of\n    seekers after truth. The results of wide reading are used to good\n    purpose.\u201d\u2014_Methodist Recorder._\n\n=Women and their Saviour.= Thoughts of a Minute for a Month. By MARIANNE\nFARNINGHAM, Author of \u201cHarvest Gleanings,\u201d &c. Cloth, 1s. net.\n\n    \u201cThese \u2018thoughts of a minute for a month of mornings\u2019 are the\n    outpourings of an entirely unaffected piety.\u201d\u2014_Glasgow Herald._\n\n    \u201cA very touching little book of devotional reflections.\u201d\u2014_Christian\n    Life._\n\n=Reasons Why for Free Churchmen.= By Rev. J. D. JONES, M.A., B.D. Small\n8vo, cloth boards, 1s. net.\n\n=The Price of Priestcraft.= By HOWARD EVANS. Crown 8vo, paper covers,\n1s. net; cloth, 1s. 6d. net.\n\n    \u201cWe wish for it a very large circulation. No one has served the\n    cause of religious freedom better than Mr. Howard Evans by his\n    labours in the Press and elsewhere.\u201d\u2014_British Weekly._\n\n=Gain or Loss?= An Appreciation of the Results of Recent Biblical\nCriticism. Five Lectures delivered at Brixton Independent Church,\nLondon. By BERNARD J. SNELL, M.A., B.Sc. Cheap Edition. Fcap. 8vo,\ncloth, 1s. net.\n\n    \u201cMany students who are unable to follow all the lines and results of\n    Biblical criticism have desired precisely such a book.... The\n    treatment of the whole subject is most satisfactory, and appeals\n    throughout both to reason and religious sentiment.\u201d\u2014_Dundee\n    Advertiser._\n\n=A Manual for Free Church Ministers.= Cloth, 1s. net; leather, 2s. 6d.\n\n\n1/-\n\nNew: =Animal Playtime.= Pictures by J. A. SHEPHERD, LOUIS WAIN, HARRY B.\nNEILSON, &c., with Stories in Verse and Prose. Coloured paper boards,\nvarnished, 1s.\n\n=Animal Gambols.= Comical Pictures of Animals drawn by LOUIS WAIN, HARRY\nB. NEILSON, J. A. SHEPHERD and others, with Stories in Verse and Prose.\nCrown 4to, coloured, paper boards, varnished, 1s.\n\n=Fireside Fairy Tales.= Full of Appropriate Pictures. Crown 4to,\ncoloured paper boards, varnished, 1s.\n\n=Animal Fun.= Humorous Pictures of Animals drawn by LOUIS WAIN, HARRY B.\nNEILSON, J. A. SHEPHERD, and others. 4to, coloured paper boards,\nvarnished, 1s.\n\n    A delightful book for the young.\n\n=Louis Wain\u2019s Animal Show.= Full of Pictures specially drawn for the\nbook, with Stories in Prose and Verse. Coloured paper boards, varnished,\n1s.\n\n    \u201c\u2018Louis Wain\u2019s Animal Show\u2019 will cause endless amusement in the\n    nursery, and the difficulty will be to get the fortunate little ones\n    who receive the volume to put it down. There will be tears to get\n    it, and tears of happiness when it is obtained. The contents, like\n    the matter and illustrations, will fascinate all children, and they\n    blend the humorous and the instructive with undoubted\n    success.\u201d\u2014_Sunday School Chronicle._\n\n=Outline Text Lessons for Junior Classes.= By GLADYS DAVIDSON, Author of\n\u201cKindergarten Bible Stories,\u201d &c. Fcap. 8vo, cloth boards, 1s.\n\n    \u201cThe book is simple and practical, and will be found suggestive and\n    helpful by teachers.\u201d\u2014_Sunday School Chronicle._\n\n=Golden Truths for Young Folk.= By J. ELLIS, Author of \u201cThe Seed\nBasket,\u201d \u201cTool Basket,\u201d \u201cBy Way of Illustration,\u201d &c. Crown 8vo, cloth\nboards, 1s.\n\n    \u201cUseful, direct and easily understood set of talks to\n    children.\u201d\u2014_British Weekly._\n\n=How to Read the Bible.= Hints for Sunday-school Teachers and Other\nBible Students. By W. F. ADENEY, M.A., Principal of Lancashire College,\nManchester, Author of \u201cThe Bible Story Retold,\u201d &c. New and Revised\nEdition. Nineteenth Thousand. Cloth boards, 1s.\n\n    \u201cA most admirable little work. We know of no book which deals with\n    this subject so clearly and adequately within so small a compass. It\n    speaks of itself modestly as \u2018Hints for Sunday-school Teachers and\n    other Bible Students,\u2019 but it is one of the very few manuals which\n    are well worth the study of the clergy.\u201d\u2014_The Guardian._\n\n=Health and Home Nursing.= By Mrs. LESSELS MATHER, Health Lecturer to\nthe Northumberland County Council. Fcap. 8vo, cloth, 1s.\n\n    A book that should be in every household. Contains chapters on The\n    Care of the Invalid, Homely Local Applications, Feeding the Invalid,\n    Infection and Disinfection, Care of the Teeth, The Value of Foods,\n    Influenza, its Causes and Prevention, Consumption, its Causes and\n    Prevention, Digestion and Indigestion, Headaches, Home Nursing of\n    Sick Children, What to do till the Doctor Comes, Habits in Relation\n    to Health, The Health of the Town Dweller.\n\n=A Religion that will Wear.= A Layman\u2019s Confession of Faith. Addressed\nto Agnostics by a SCOTTISH PRESBYTERIAN. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, 1s.\n\n    \u201cIt is remarkable for its breadth of thought and catholicity of\n    quotation, and will be found helpful to many who are doubtful as to\n    the practical value of religion.\u201d\u2014_Church Gazette._\n\n=Helps to Health and Beauty.= Two Hundred Practical Prescriptions by a\nPharmaceutical Chemist.\n\n    \u201cThis little book contains two hundred practical prescriptions or\n    formul\u00e6 for preparations for the hair, hands, nails, feet, skin,\n    teeth, and bath, in addition to perfumes, insecticides, and\n    medicaments for various ailments. As far as possible technical\n    language is avoided, and the directions are clear and\n    concise.\u201d\u2014_Pharmaceutical Journal._\n\n=Morning, Noon and Night.= By R. F. HORTON, M.A., D.D. Fcap. 8vo,\nparchment cover with gold lettering, 1s.\n\n    \u201cDeeply suggestive, and as earnest as its fancies are pleasing and\n    quaint.\u201d\u2014_Dundee Advertiser._\n\n=Wayside Angels, and Other Sermons.= By W. K. BURFORD, Minister of the\nWicker Congregational Church, Sheffield. Pott 8vo, cloth, 1s.\n\n=Tasty Dishes.= A Choice Selection of Tested Recipes, showing what we\ncan have for Breakfast, Dinner, Tea and Supper. It is designed for\npeople of moderate means who desire to have pleasant and varied\nentertainment for themselves and their friends. It is a book of genuine\nand tested information. New Edition. Thoroughly revised and brought up\nto date. 130th Thousand. Crown 8vo, 1s.\n\n    \u201cNo home ought to be without this timely, useful, and practical\n    family friend.\u201d\u2014_Brighton Gazette._\n\n=More Tasty Dishes.= A Book of Tasty, Economical, and Tested Recipes.\nIncluding a Section on Invalid Cookery. A Supplement to \u201cTasty Dishes.\u201d\nNew Edition. Price 1s.\n\n    \u201cEvery recipe is so clearly stated that the most inexperienced cook\n    could follow them and make dainty dishes at a small\n    cost.\u201d\u2014_Pearson\u2019s Weekly._\n\n    \u201cThe recipes given have been carefully tried and not been found\n    wanting.\u201d\u2014_The Star._\n\n=Talks to Little Folks.= A Series of Short Addresses. By Rev. J. C.\nCARLILE. Crown 8vo, art vellum, 1s.\n\n    \u201cNo one who reads this book can reasonably doubt that Mr. Carlile is\n    master of the difficult art of catching and sustaining the interest\n    of young people. He is wise enough to dispense with the preacher\u2019s\n    framework, texts, introductions, &c., and at once he arrests\n    attention by a direct question or a brief story.\u201d\u2014_Literary World._\n\n=Oliver Cromwell.= By R. F. HORTON, D.D., Author of \u201cJohn Howe,\u201d \u201cThe\nTeaching of Jesus,\u201d &c., &c. Sixth Edition. Nineteenth Thousand. 1s.\n\n    \u201cWorthy a place in the library of every Christian\n    student.\u201d\u2014_Methodist Recorder._\n\n=Rome from the Inside; or, The Priests\u2019 Revolt.= Translated and Compiled\nby \u201cJ. B.\u201d of _The Christian World_. Third Thousand. Fcap. 8vo, price\n1s.\n\n    This pamphlet may be described in brief as a record of the new\n    revolt in the French priesthood. Its contents are chiefly letters\n    and addresses from priests and ex-priests. These, it will be\n    recognised at once, are a testimony of the very first order as to\n    what modern Rome really stands for in relation to spiritual life, to\n    morality, and to intellectual progress.\n\n=The Bible Definition of Religion.= By GEORGE MATHESON, M.A., D.D.\nPrinted on deckle-edged paper, with red border lines and decorated\nwrapper, in envelope. Price 1s.\n\n    \u201cEach of Dr. Matheson\u2019s chapters is a prose-poem, a sonata. This is\n    a book to be read and re-read. It is in every sense \u2018a thing of\n    beauty\u2019; it is a veritable \u2018necklace of pearls.\u2019\u201d\u2014_C. Silvester\n    Horne._\n\n=The Awe of the New Century.= By R. F. HORTON, M.A., D.D. Fcap. 8vo, 1s.\nDecorated parchment cover and decorated margins to each page printed in\ncolours. Gilt top. Each copy in envelope. Second Edition.\n\n    \u201cA most impressive and delightful little book, displaying all the\n    best qualities of the popular pastor of Hampstead.\u201d\u2014_The Western\n    Mercury._\n\n=The Sceptre Without a Sword.= By Dr. GEORGE MATHESON. In envelope. Pott\n8vo, 1s.\n\n    \u201c\u2018The Sceptre Without a Sword,\u2019 by Dr. George Matheson, is worth\n    reading, and that is more than one can say for the vast majority of\n    booklets now turned out to order. The subject is more important than\n    ever to-day, when it is the fashion to ignore the root principles of\n    Christianity.\u201d\u2014_The Echo._\n\n    \u201cThis is a very charming little book\u2014both externally and\n    internally.\u201d\u2014_Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald._\n\n=Our Girls\u2019 Cookery.= By the Author of \u201cTasty Dishes.\u201d Crown 8vo, linen,\n1s.\n\n    \u201cA most artistic-looking little volume, filled with excellent\n    recipes, that are given so clearly and sensibly that the veriest\n    tyro in the culinary art will be able to follow them as easily as\n    possible.\u201d\u2014_The Lady._\n\n    \u201cThe contents are varied and comprehensive.... The directions given\n    are clear and reliable, each recipe having been specially\n    tested.\u201d\u2014_Dundee Advertiser_.\n\n=The Divine Satisfaction.= A Review of what should and what should not\nbe thought about the Atonement. By J. M. WHITON. Crown 8vo, paper, 1s.\n\n\n_By MARY E. MANNERS_\n\nCrown 8vo, Linen Covers, 1s. each.\n\n=A Tale of a Telephone=, and Other Pieces.\n\n    \u201cNarrative pieces, suitable for recitation.\u201d\u2014_Outlook._\n\n    \u201cFacile and effective pieces in verse of the sort that tells well on\n    the recitation platform. They have a pleasant light humour and a\n    lilt often like that of the Ingoldsby Legends, and should not fail\n    to entertain any reader in a jocular mood.\u201d\u2014_Scotsman._\n\n=The Bishop and the Caterpillar= (as recited by the late Mr. Brandram),\nand Other Pieces. Dedicated by permission to Lewis Carroll. Fourth\nEdition.\n\n    \u201cThe first two pieces are quite worthy of Ingoldsby, and that\n    reverend gentleman would not have been ashamed to own them. The\n    pieces are admirably suited for recitation.\u201d\u2014_Dramatic Review._\n\n=Aunt Agatha Ann=; and Other Ballads. Illustrations by ERNOLD A. MASON\nand LOUIS WAIN.\n\n    \u201cExcellent pieces for recitation from a popular pen.\u201d\u2014_Lady\u2019s\n    Pictorial._\n\n=Sunday Afternoon Song Book, with Tunes.= Compiled by H. A. KENNEDY and\nR. D. METCALFE. 1s. net. Words only, 12s. 6d. per hundred net.\n\n    \u201cThe airs have been selected and arranged under the editorship of\n    Mr. R. D. Metcalfe, and add so much to the value of the collection\n    that this edition will easily supersede all others and give the work\n    a new popularity with choral societies and others interested in\n    church music.\u201d\u2014_The Scotsman._\n\n=Christianity in Common Speech=: Suggestions for an Everyday Belief. By\nJ. COMPTON RICKETT. Demy 8vo, 1s.\n\n\nSMALL BOOKS ON GREAT SUBJECTS\n\n(CHEAP EDITION)\n\nBound in red cloth, 1s. each.\n\n=Social Worship an Everlasting Necessity.= By JOHN CLIFFORD, D.D.\n\n=The Taste of Death and the Life of Grace.= By P. T. FORSYTH, M.A., D.D.\n\n=The Conquered World.= By R. F. HORTON, M.A., D.D.\n\n=The Christian Life.= By Archdeacon SINCLAIR.\n\n=The Ship of the Soul.= By STOPFORD A. BROOKE, M.A.\n\n=Faith and Self-Surrender.= By JAMES MARTINEAU, D.D., D.C.L.\n\n=Martineau\u2019s Study of Religion.= By RICHARD A. ARMSTRONG.\n\n=The Kingdom of the Lord Jesus.= By ALEXANDER A. MACKENNAL, D.D.\n\n\n6d.\n\n=England\u2019s Danger.= By R. F. HORTON, M.A., D.D. Price 6d. Contents:\nROMANISM AND NATIONAL DECAY; ST. PETER AND THE ROCK; TRUTH;\nPROTESTANTISM; HOLY SCRIPTURE; PURGATORY.\n\n    \u201cGood fighting discourses. They contend that Roman Catholicism has\n    ruined every country in which it prevails, and controvert the\n    leading positions taken by Roman theologians.\u201d\u2014_Scotsman._\n\n=The Ship\u2019s Engines. A Parable.= By the late T. CAMPBELL FINLAYSON, D.D.\nIn vellum cover, 6d. net.\n\n    REV. J. H. JOWETT says:\u2014\u201cI am so glad you are issuing the article in\n    the shape of the little booklet. I am sure it will be very helpful\n    to many people, and will bring light and leading to many bewildered\n    souls.\u201d\n\n\n6d.\n\n_CLARKE\u2019S SIXPENNY SERIES_\n\nDemy 8vo, Paper Covers.\n\n           =Violet Vaughan.= By EMMA JANE WORBOISE.\n           =The Bow of Orange Ribbon.= By AMELIA E. BARR.\n           =The Fortunes of Cyril Denham.= By EMMA JANE WORBOISE.\n           =Thornycroft Hall.= By EMMA JANE WORBOISE.\n           =Jan Vedder\u2019s Wife.= By AMELIA E. BARR.\n           =St. Beetha\u2019s.= By EMMA JANE WORBOISE.\n           =A Daughter of Fife.= By AMELIA E. BARR.\n           =Ourselves and the Universe.= By J. BRIERLEY.\n\n\n=4d.= Net\n\n=Holy Christian Empire.= By Rev. PRINCIPAL FORSYTH, M.A., D.D., of\nHackney College, Hampstead. Crown 8vo, paper cover, 4d. net.\n\n    \u201cRich in noble thought, in high purpose, in faith and in courage.\n    Every sentence tells, and the whole argument moves onward to its\n    great conclusion. Dr. Forsyth has put the argument for missions in a\n    way that will nerve and inspire the Church\u2019s workers at home and\n    abroad for fresh sacrifice.\u201d\u2014_London Quarterly Review._\n\n=The Unique Class Chart and Register.= By Rev. J. H. RIDETTE. Specially\narranged and absolutely indispensable for keeping a complete record of\nthe scholars according to the requirements of the Meggitt Scheme of\nSunday-school Reform. Linen cover, 4d. net.\n\n\n=3d.= Net\n\n=School Hymns, for Schools and Missions.= Words only. Compiled by E. H.\nMAYO GUNN. Cloth limp, 3d.; cloth boards, 6d.; music, 3s.\n\n\n=2d.= Net\n\n=The Sunday Afternoon Song Book.= Containing 137 Hymns. For use at\n\u201cPleasant Sunday Afternoons,\u201d and Other Gatherings. Compiled by H. A.\nKENNEDY, of the Men\u2019s Sunday Union, Stepney Meeting House. Twentieth\nThousand, 2d.; music, 1s.\n\n    \u201cContains 137 hymns, the catholic character of which, in the best\n    sense of the term, may be gathered from the names of the authors,\n    which include Tennyson, Ebenezer Elliott, Whittier, G. Herbert, C.\n    Wesley, Thomas Hughes, J. H. Newman, Longfellow, Bonar, and others.\n    While the purely dogmatic element is largely absent, the Christian\n    life, in its forms of aspiration, struggle against sin and love for\n    the true and the good, is well illustrated.\u201d\u2014_Literary World._\n\n\n\n\n \u25cf Transcriber\u2019s Notes:\n    \u25cb Text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).\n      Text that was in bold print is enclosed by equals signs (=bold=).","title":"The model prayer : $b A series of expositions on \"the Lord's prayer\"","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":46731}