it is to be done-as it is done in heaven. How do you think the angels and happy spirits do the will of God in heaven, as they are to be our pattern?" The first child replied, “They do it immediately." The second, “They do it diligently." The third, "They do it always." The fourth, “They do it with all their hearts." The fifth, "They do it altogether." Here a pause ensued, and no child appeared to have an answer; but after some time a little girl arose and said, "They do it without asking any questions.”

"I am waiting for my dismission. I desire to leave the how and the when and the where to Him who does all things well.”—Rev. John Newton. I have heard of a lady who, on being visited by a friend, said, "I was just trying to learn the Lord's Prayer as you came in." "What!" said her friend, "have you never learned the Lord's Prayer?" "No," was the reply; "I have just got the length of the third petition, and I find it hard to learn. I cannot yet say, 'Thy will be done!'"

"My God and Father, while I stray,

Far from my home, in life's rough way,
O teach me from my heart to say,

'Thy will be done.'

"Renew my will from day to day;
Blend it with thine; and take away
All that now makes it hard to say,
'Thy will be done.""

C. Elliott.

QUEST. 104. What do we pray for in the fourth petition? ANS. In the fourth petition (which is, Give us this day our daily bread) we pray, That of God's free gift we may receive a competent portion of the good things of this life, and enjoy his blessing with them.

PROV. XXX. 8. Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: Ver. 9. Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.

MATT. vi. 25. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet Is for your body, what ye shall put on. not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

GEN. xxviii. 20. And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, Ver. 21. So that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God.

PROV. X. 22. The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.

1 TIM. vi. 6. But godliness with contentment is great gain.

This petition is for our daily bread, and refers to our welfare in a temporal

sense.

It teaches us-

I. That temporal things are God's gifts: 1 Chron. xxix. 14, 16.

II. That they may be sought in prayer: Gen. xxviii. 20.

III. That we may pray for a competent portion of the good things of this life. -This implies all that is necessary to provide for our wants. He has promised this in his Word: Isa. xxxiii. 15, 16.

IV. That we may daily pray for this.-We are daily dependent on God's We are not to be over anxious of the future. We may not boast of to-morrow: Prov. xxvii. 1.

care.

V. That we should seek God's blessing on temporal gifts: Prov. x. 22.—God's blessing can elevate and sanctify the least temporal benefit.

LESSONS.

1. Temporal wants should lead us to God.

2. The bread of life is God's gift for our souls.

ANECDOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

"God has so constituted his providence that man is at all times dependent on his Maker for the comforts and the very necessaries of life. God could no doubt have placed mankind in a different constitution of things, where praise, and not prayer, would have been the befitting exercise. Situated as he is, he is constrained to feel a sense of dependence; and of that feeling prayer is the suitable expression."-Dr. M'Cosh.

Prayer is by some restricted to spiritual things; but Christ in his direction teaches us to seek daily bread for food. He does not teach that men should ask for it without industry or the use of means. The ordinary providence of God shows that our daily bread comes to us by toil and the proper use of means. Yet the Saviour linked us to God in this by a feeling of dependence. "This is apparently one of the smallest yet one of the greatest petitions. 1. Smallness of the petition. We ask what most men already possess; we ask it only for the small circle of those around our table; we ask only daily bread; we ask it only for to-day. 2. Greatness of the petition. We ask that earthly bread should be converted into heavenly manna; we ask that He would feed all those who are in want; we ask that he would meet the daily requirements of a waiting world; we ask it to-day, and ever again to-day."-Dr. Lange.

Lange also says this is a grace before meat in its widest sense; a prayer of the husbandman; a prayer for our ordinary calling; a prayer for our daily work; a prayer in our distress; and a prayer in all our earthly wants. It is also a grace before meat in its most restricted sense.

Matthew Henry says every word here has a lesson in it :-1. We ask for bread-that teaches us sobriety and temperance. We ask for bread, not dainties or superfluities-that which is wholesome though it be not nice. 2. We ask for our bread-that teaches us honesty and industry. We do not ask the bread out of other people's mouths; not the bread of deceit, but the bread honestly gotten. 3. We ask for our daily bread-which teaches us not to take thought for the morrow, but constantly to depend on Divine Providence, as those that live from hand to mouth. 4. We beg of God to give to us, not sell it or lend it us, but give it. The greatest of men must be

5.

beholden to God for their daily bread. We pray, Give it to us—not to me only, but to others in common with me. This teaches us charity and a passionate concern for the poor and needy. It intimates, also, that we ought to pray with our families. We and our households eat together, and therefore ought to pray together. 6. We pray that God would give it us this day— which teaches us to renew the desire of our souls towards God as the wants of our bodies are renewed. As duly as the day comes we must pray to our heavenly Father, and reckon we could as well go a day without meat as without prayer.

A traveller, overtaken in a storm, sought shelter in a dilapidated and lonely dwelling. Before entering, however, he looked through one of the gaping crevices, and saw a woman seated at a table on which was placed a coarse and scanty meal. Her hands and eyes were uplifted. Her lips moved; and as he listened he heard her say, "All this, and Jesus Christ too!"

QUEST. 105. What do we pray for in the fifth petition? ANS. In the fifth petition (which is, And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors) we pray, That God, for Christ's sake, would freely pardon all our sins; which we are the rather encouraged to ask, because by his grace we are enabled from the heart to forgive others.

Ps. li. 1. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.

HOSEA xiv. 2. Take with you words, and turn to the Lord: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously.

through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.

MATT. vi. 14. For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

MATT. xviii. 35. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his EPH. i. 7. In whom we have redemption brother their trespasses.

I. Sin is a debt to the law of God.-It is one which we cannot pay. We are dependent on God's mercy for our forgiveness. God has revealed his mercy: Ex. xxxiv. 6, 7; Isa. lv. 6, 7; Micah vii. 18.

II. This petition seeks forgiveness.

1. We may pray for the pardon of sin, since God has offered to forgive us. He only can forgive: Luke v. 21; Rom. viii. 33.

2. We can pray for it only for Christ's sake. He is the mediator: Eph. i. 7. 3. We may pray in faith. God has pledged his word. He has sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins: 1 John iv. 10.

4. We may pray for a free pardon. Such God gives: Rom. iii. 24.

5. We may ask a full pardon: Ps. ciii. 1-3; 1 John i. 7.

III. This petition asserts our willingness to forgive others.—It is a duty to forgive those who sin against us.

We need grace to enable us to forgive others.

IV. Our forgiveness of others is our encouragement to ask forgiveness for ourselves from God.

1. God has connected these: Matt. vi. 14, 15.

2. The example of Christ enforces it: Luke xxiii. 34; Peter ii. 23.

3. We cannot expect forgiveness from God if we have an unforgiving spirit to others: Matt. xviii. 24-35.

LESSONS.

1. Forgiveness of sins is essential to peace with God.

2. Let us cultivate a forgiving spirit.

ANECDOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

"This is the prayer of penitence, 'Forgive us our debts.' 1. It realizes sin, and realizes it as a debt. 2. It realizes the burden of sin resting on mankind generally. 3. It realizes forgiveness as a free grace and a free gift. True penitence appears in the prayer of faith. Assurances of forgiveness call forth the prayer, 'Forgive us.' Forgiveness and readiness to forgive cannot be separated. There is a connection between the two: 1. Forgiveness makes us ready to forgive; 2. Readiness to forgive inspires us with courage to seek forgiveness; 3. The spirit of forgiveness ever joins the two more closely together. He who cannot forgive man cannot find forgiveness with God;-(1) because he will not believe in forgiving love; (2) because he will not act upon its directions."-Dr. Lange.

The Marquis of Argyle, who suffered death in the reign of Charles II., on whose head he had put the crown of Scotland at Scone, was employed on the morning of the day of his execution in settling his worldly affairs. Under the influence of a sensible effusion of spiritual joy, he said to those about him, "I am now ordering my affairs, and God is sealing my charter to a better inheritance, and just now saying to me, 'Son, be of good cheer; thy sins are forgiven thee.'" Having with great cheerfulness dined with his Upon his opening the door, the Rev. Mr. Hutchison said, "What cheer, my lord?" He replied, "Good cheer. The Lord has again confirmed, and said to me from heaven, 'Thy sins be forgiven thee.'

friends, he retired a little.

Dr. Cotton Mather was remarkable for the sweetness of his temper. He took some interest in the political concerns of his country, and on this account, as well as because he faithfully reproved iniquity, he had many enemies. Many abusive letters were sent, all of which he tied up in a packet, and wrote upon the cover, "Libels: Father forgive them.”

A gentleman once asked Sir Eardley Wilmot, Lord Chief-Justice of the Court of Common Pleas in England, if he did not think it manly to resent an injury which he had received from a person in a high political position.

"Yes," said the judge, "it will be manly to resent it, but it will be Godlike to forgive it." The gentleman felt the observation, and went home in a different temper from that in which he came.

"How shalt thou hope for mercy, rendering none?"-Shakespeare.

QUES. 106. What do we pray for in the sixth petition? ANS. In the sixth petition (which is, And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil) we pray, That God would either keep us from being tempted to sin, or support and deliver us when we are tempted.

Ps. cxix. 117. Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe: and I will have respect unto thy statutes continually.

MATT. xxvi. 41. Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation.

Ps. xix. 13. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me.

1 COR. x. 13. God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

2 COR. xii. 8. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.

| Ver. 9. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.

LUKE Xxii. 31. And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: Ver. 32. But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

JAMES i. 13. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: Ver. 14. But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

This petition recognizes the fact that the soul, while in this world, is in danger of sin, and needs always to be watchful, and dependent on divine grace.

I. We are taught here to pray that God would keep us from being tempted to sin.

1. God cannot tempt us to sin (James i. 13), but he may permit us to be tempted, to try our faith and obedience.