XX.

ST. MATTHEW, VI. 5-8.

And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.

But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father

which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

RELIGION in one view of it, is a secret thing. It consists in a secret converse between the invisible GOD and the soul. Our SAVIOUR taught that it consisted not in the parading prayer of the Pharisees, in the magnificence of the worship of the temple, or in the vain repetitions of the heathen. Our pious reformers, in like manner, affirmed that it consisted not in the solemnities of the mass; in the grandeur of churches; or in the vain repetition of the Latin prayers of the papists. Again, religion at this day, consists not in the mere forms, however decent, of our established worship; in the regularity of our attendance at church; in the careful articulation of our responses; nor in any outward forms of religion. And I will add, that Christianity consists not in the mere extemporaneousness of prayer, ncr in modes of worship peculiar to any dissenting congregation. Religion consists not in being frequent at public worship, and seldom engaged in secret prayer at home CHRIST warns us agains. such suppositions as this. "But thou," says He, "when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray unto thy Father

which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly."

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The religion of many persons is merely outward. They do almost every thing, even in religion, to be seen of men They suit their religious conduct to the religious taste of the present time, just as the Pharisecs accommodated their conduct to the more devout taste of the people of their day Secret prayer is the great test of a Christian. There is something in public prayer, as well as in social prayer, which may serve to amuse the mind, to gratify the ear, and to draw the attendance even of an irreligious person; but in secret prayer, when no eye is upon us, but that of Gon, we have a far better proof of the internal piety of the heart. Verily," says our SAVIOUR, in reference to the Pharisees, they have their reward." As the Pharisee had his reward for the ostentatious prayers which he put up,-in the estimation which he obtained; so now, the decent attender on the public worship of God has some temporal recompense for his attendance. He is rewarded, if he be a servant, for the regularity of his church-going, by his master's approbation of this act of obedience. He is rewarded, if a master, by the respect and good opinion of his graver acquaintance; he is rewarded, if a father, by the more decent and dutiful behaviour of the children who accompany him to the place of his customary worship. Perhaps, he is also paid by the self-complacency which he feels in having performed, as he conceives, his religious duty; he is paid by the thought, that, because he has rendered to GOD the homage of his public prayers, he shall be received into heaven. “ Verily," however, says our SAVIOUR, "they have their reward." Such persons have their reward in this world; they shall not have it in the world to come. They have their whole recompense now; there remains no further blessing for them from GoD in a future life. They were decent at public worship; and they have had the temporal advantages of this their decency. They mean: to set an example to children and servants; and those

children and servants may have derived some benefit from the example. Their own souls they did not regard, as is evident from their neglect of secret prayer at home; and their own souls, therefore, shall receive no benefit on that day which shall determine the eternal state of the soul.

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But it is time to turn from such characters to the serious Christian. He fulfils that precept of our SAVIOUR which we are considering. He "en'ers into his closet and shuts his door:" that is, he takes the best opportunity of being private, which is afforded to him; though he will rather pray in a low voice, in the presence of others, than not pray at all. He prays unto his Father which is in secret;" that is, he pours out his heart in prayer, and he prays for every blessing which he needs: for pardon of sin, for strength against temptation, for deliverance from his corruptions, for victory over the world, for direction in difficulties, for consolation under afflictions, for submission under pains and losses; for the increase, in short, of faith, of hope, and of charity; and for all the graces of God's Holy Spirit. And leading this life of fervent and secret prayer, that "GOD who seeth him in secret rewards him openly." He is rewarded by his obtaining evidently the very things which he asks. By the means of secret prayer put up in his closet, strength, to fulfil openly in the sight of men all the various duties of life, is imparted to him. He is raised above the power of those temptations by which the merely formal worshippers are overcome. You see this man conquer his passions, and sustain his trials, and suffer little (compared with the worldly man) under afflictions. You behold him upright and faithful to his GoD in all companies; daring to be religious in the midst of the profane world; and reproving that vice which the formal worshipper is too timid to contradict or to resist. He, who prays earnestly to GOD in secret, will generally be a decided character in public; aud surely there is more comfort, as well as more respectability, in being thus consistent, than in being a saint with saints, and a worldly man with the worldly. In

this sense, then, we may probably interpret and apply the passage. That peculiar strength of character, which the world admires in some religious persons, may be referred to the efficacy of those secret prayers, of which the world takes no cognizance. They bow their knees before the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; and "He strengthens them with might by His Spirit in the inner man." Day by day they implore His grace; and, day by day, in answer to their prayers, He pours down upon them a portion of His own Spirit: and thus they are made strong to fulfil every task which is required of them; and to endure whatever trials may befal them: they are made happy in themselves, and often honourable in the sight of men; and thus they are rewarded openly.

XXI.

ST. MATTHEW, VI. 9.

After this manner therefore prav ye: Our Father which art in heaven.

THE LORD's prayer is often in the mouths of many by whom it is ill understood. We shall endeavour to afford a clear and just interpretation of it. We must, however, premise, that it was given by our SAVIOUR to His disciples, for the purpose, not only of explaining the general object and nature of prayer; but, also, of pointing out the manner in which they were to pray, in order to avoid those "vain" or useless "repetitions," and that "much speaking," which He had been blaming in the heathen.

The LORD's prayer is, therefore, extremely short, much shorter than we know some prayers to have been, which were put up by our SAVIOUR himself. We doubtless ought to imitate the general matter of this prayer, rather than the length of it.

"OUR FATHER WHICH ART IN HEAVEN :" we are thus taught to begin, by addressing GOD as "our Father." We all have earthly parents, to whom we are accustomed to look up. We know, that we have been depending on them; that we have received from them many good things; and that we owe them, in return, our reverence, affection, and submission. By means, therefore, of this relation to our earthly parents, an intimation is given us of the nature of our relation to GoD: which is a very easy and simple mode of being instructed in it, and the best, undoubtedly, of which we are capable. Have we fathers after the flesh? GOD also is our Father. To Him we owe all, and indeed more than all, that as children we ever owed to our natural parents. But GoD, also, is our Father which is in Heaven; our parents dwell with us on earth:-they are seen among us from day to day;-GOD is that parent who can be seen only by the eye of faith so long as we live in this world; for His dwelling place is in heaven. The first sentence in the LORD's prayer implies, therefore, a profession of our faith in Him who is invisible; as well as an acknowledgment of our being related to Him, as a child is to its parent. Let us not attempt too much refinement in explaining the LORD'S prayer.

Nothing can be more simple, nothing more easy to understand, than this opening of it is. There is, however, a more peculiar sense in which some men are called in Scripture the children of GoD. Believers are said to be adopted into His family. We are all, says the Apostle, "the children of God by faith in CHRIST JESUS”*_" and if children, then heirs, heirs of GOD, and joint heirs with CHRIST." May we be enabled to put up this prayer in the spirit of adoption; and thus to add a further meaning to the more obvious one-may we do this, through the help of that SPIRIT, which, as the Scripture expresses it, enables us to say Abba, Father."

* Gal. iii. 26

+ Rom. viii. 17.