evils which threaten the sons of men. Man, in passing through the world, may be compared to a traveller in a wilderness, in which all manner of noxious and destroying animals abound; and to a traveller, moreover, who is totally unarmed for his defence. What, then, can be more proper, than that one in such circumstances should, day by day, lift up his prayer to GoD, and say, "Oh LORD, deliver me from evil."

save and

Let us, then, each ask ourselves, first, whether we are aware of all these evils? whether we feel any lively sense of the peril, in which we continually stand; whether, especially, we know any thing of the evil of sin, and of our own danger from it? and, secondly, let us ask ourselves, whether we are sensible, that GoD alone can deliver us? It seems to be a great object of the LORD'S prayer to inculcate upon us our weakness and sinfulness and danger, on the one hand; and our dependence on GOD for grace and strength, on the other. To this end it is, that we are taught to call daily on God for all things which we need; for the possession of all things which are desirable; and for deliverance from all things which are hurtful. GOD is stronger than our enemies: He can, and He will, deliver as many as pray to Him for deliverance; but He will leave those, to the power of their adversaries, who seek not their help from Him. Let us, then, daily implore His aid. Let us not go forth from our chamber in the morning, without first asking His protection and blessing.

Let us fall down on our knees every morning; and say, "Oh LORD, deliver me this day from evil.”

23*

XXIX.

ST. MATTHEW, VI. 13.

For thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amer.

OUR LORD closes that prayer which he teaches to His disciples, by thus ascribing dominion and power and glory to God. To praise and magnify GoD, is no unimportant part both of public and of private worship. Why is it, indeed, that we pray to GoD? It is because He is able to fulfil the requests which we make unto Him. There is, therefore, a connection between that part of our prayer, in which we supplicate, and that part in which we adore God, and acknowledge His divine perfection. It is the acknowledgment of God's greatness, which suggests to us our own littleness. It is the belief of His power, which encourages us to plead our own weakness; and it is the view of His exceeding glory, which disposes us to self-abasement and humility.

But let us proceed, more particularly, to explain the expressions which close the prayer taught us by our LORD. "Thine is the kingdom." GOD is the true and rightful sovereign of this lower world: the various powers and authorities, which exist in it, are all derived from GoD:for all power is of GOD;—and he who resisteth the power, "resisteth the ordinance of GOD." Kings are subject to GOD. They are accountable to Him for all their actions; though we should suppose them accountable to no one else As all the inferior authorities of the kingdoms of this world are derived from the supreme authority of kings; their authority is derived from GoD, and centres in His authority. His, therefore, is the kingdom. He is the true king over all; and earthly kings are but the subjects of this one great eternal King," who is the King of kings, and Lord of lords."

But God also is the true and rightful sovereign of the whole universe. The angels, principalities, and powers, which are in heaven, are subject to Him. Their power is entirely subject to His power; and their authority, to His authority.

CHRIST, indeed, is also declared in Scripture to be our Lord and King. He is the "King of Zion." "Behold I have set my King upon my holy hill of Zion."* "All kings," it is also said, "shall be made subject unto Him; for He must reign till He hath put all enemies under His feet." Nevertheless, we are taught to expect that a time shall come, when the mediatorial throne shall be removed away; and that the Son Himself, when all things shall have been subdued unto Him, shall himself also be subject to the Father, "that God may be all in all."†

Again, THINE ALSO IS THE POWer. As we have shown that there is no true dominion but that of God; so, also, there is no true power but that of GOD. All the power of men and of angels is as nothing before Him; such power as they have, He gives them; theirs is only an inferior and delegated power: they have no power of their own. Kings, indeed, may boast of their power. They may send forth their armies into the field: they may command; and the thing commanded shall be done: but it is done, only so far, as GoD permits it to be done. It is the power of GOD which sustains all the inferior powers in the universe; and when He pleases, all the strength of his creatures utterly fails. It is He who setteth up kings at His pleasure. It is He also, who putteth them down. "He lifteth up the poor man out of the mire, that he may set him among the princes, even among the princes of the people:" for all power is of GOD and there is not a thing which any individual does, but God gives him the power to do it. His, is the power; and His, therefore, we should, in our prayer, acknowledge it to be.

:

Again, lastly, THINE IS THE GLORY. If indeed, His be the kingdom, and His the power, it follows that His also ought to be the glory. There can be no true glory but that of GOD. All the beings who are in heaven, and all the creatures which are on earth, all the things which exist, whether animate or inanimate, in all the regions of infinite space, were created by GoD. TO GOD, therefore, belongs the glory of what they are, and of all that they do: for on Him do they depend; and His was the glory of creating them.

Let us now consider, whether there be any thing which we have, of which we have a right to glory. Shall we glory in our wisdom? But who gave us that wisdom? Was it not GOD, who put into our minds whatever powers of understanding we possess; and not we ourselves, who placed them there? We have no more right, therefore, to glory in any natural faculties of the mind, than we should have to glory in having ourselves put the sun into the firmament. All our exercise, also, of these natural faculties, is through the power of GoD enabling us to exercise them. Again, all virtue and goodness are from GoD: they are, indeed, the immediate effect of His grace working in us. "What hast thou, that thou didst not receive? Now, if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it ?"* We see then, that all glory belongs to GOD. His is the glory. The expression 66 THINE IS THE GLORY" implies, then, that we renounce the glory that we pretend not to it: that we ascribe it all to Him. May we, indeed, thus reject it-may our ideas of God be such as to raise Him in our eyes and to make us sink in our own esteem. May we exalt Him; and annihilate ourselves: and in this spirit of self-annihilation, may we address our prayers unto Him.

The term "6 FOR EVER" signifies, that the kingdom and power and glory not only belong to GoD now; but shall

*1 Cor. iv. 7.

belong to him for ever and ever. Thy kingdom, says the Prophet, is an everlasting kingdom; and Thy dominion endureth throughout all generations:* or, as our own Church expresses it; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end."

66

The word AMEN, which closes the prayer, signifies "so be it." It is a fresh affirmation of what had before been said. It is like declaring the same thing a second time, for the sake of confirmation.

We have now gone through our explanation of the LORD'S Prayer. Let us learn in future, when we use this prayer, to say it, not with our lips only. Let us beware, lest we fall into that very sin of the heathen, against which our SAVIOUR meant, by this prayer, to provide the sin of using vain repetitions as the heathen did. This prayer itself is turned, as we fear, into a mere vain repetition, by thousands; for they repeat it over and over, without sense or meaning. Let us turn it to the chief uses for which it was intended. Let us take a lesson from it, as to the manner in which we are to shape our prayers in general. Let us learn from it to avoid all mere service of the lips, and multiplication of words, which are without meaning: and, whenever we use this prayer itself, let us bear in mind the interpretation which has now been given of every sentence of it and thus let us learn to "pray with the spirit, and with the understanding also."†