strangers-we are in stages and steam-boats, and how can we find such places of retirement? The desire to pray, and the love of prayer, will create such places in abundance. There never was a prayerful heart, but it easily found a place for secret prayer.

Every season is a proper one for communing with God. It is always with us a time of need. "Watch and pray." "Pray without ceasing." "The following times and occasions may be specified as peculiarly proper for prayer:-1. In the morning. 2. In the evening. 3. Times of embarrassment and perplexity. Such times occur in every man's life, and it is then a privilege and a duty to go to God and seek his direction. 4. We should pray when we are beset with strong temptation. 5. We should pray when the Spirit prompts us to pray-when we feel just like praying-when nothing can satisfy the soul but prayer. Who seeth in secret. Who sees what the human eye cannot see; who sees the secret real designs and desires of the heart. In engaging in prayer we should always remember that God is acquainted with our real desires; and that it is those real desires, and not the words of prayer, that he will answer.

7 But when ye pray, "use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. 8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things need of, before ye ask him. 9 After this manner therefore pray ye: 'Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

d Eccles. v. 2. e 1 Kings xviii. 26, 29. ƒ Luke xi. 2.

ye have

9. This passage contains the Lord's prayer. This prayer is given as a model. It is designed to express the manner in which we are to pray. The substance of the prayer is recorded by Luke, chap. xi. 2-4. It, however, varies from the form given in Matthew, showing that our Saviour intended not to prescribe this as a form of prayer to be used always, but to express the substance of our petitions to specify to his disciples what petitions it would be proper to present to God. That he did not intend to prescribe this as a form to be invariably used, is farther evident from the fact, that there is no proof that either he or his disciples ever used exactly this form of prayer, but clear evidence that they prayed often in other language. See Matt. xxvi. 39-42, 44; Luke xxii. 42; John xvii.; Acts i. 24. Our Father. God is called Father, 1st, as he is the Creator and the great Parent of all; 2d, the Preserver of the human family, and the Provider for their wants (chap. v. 45); 3d, in a peculiar sense the Father of those who are adopted into his family, who put confidence in him, who are true followers of Christ, and made heirs of life. Rom. viii. 14-17. Hallowed be thy name. The word hallow means to render or pronounce holy. God's name is essentially holy; and the meaning of this petition is, "Let thy name be celebrated, and venerated, and esteemed as holy every where, and receive of all men honour." It is thus the expression of a wish or desire, on the part of the worshipper, that the name of God, or God himself, should be held every where in veneration.

10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, "as it is in heaven.

g Chap. xxvi. 39, 42; Acts xxi. 14. h Ps. ciii. 20, 21.

10. Thy kingdom come. The word kingdom here means reign. Note, Matt. iii. 2. The petition is the expression of a wish that God may reign every where; that his laws may be obeyed; and especially, that the Gospel of Christ may be advanced every where, till the world shall be filled with his glory. Thy will be done. The will of God is, that men should accept of the overtures of salvation freely offered to them in the Gospel, and so have the love of God shed abroad in their hearts through the Holy Spirit given unto them, be created anew after the image of Christ, and have their hearts and actions conformed to the divine law. To pray that God's will may be done on earth as in heaven, is to pray that his law, his revealed will, may be obeyed and loved. His law is perfectly obeyed in heaven, and his true children most ardently desire and pray that it may also be obeyed on the earth.

11. Give us this day, &c. The word bread here denotes, doubtless, every thing necessary to sustain life. Matt. iv. 4; Deut. viii. 3. This petition implies our dependence on God for the supply of our wants. As we are dependent on him one day as much as another, it was evidently the intention of our Saviour that prayer should be offered every day. This is, moreover, expressed in the plural number-give us, It is evidently, therefore, intended to be used by more than one, or

म

by some community of people. It is not convenient for large communities and congregations to meet every day for the purposes of public prayer and worship; but families ought to do so. It is, therefore, evident that this prayer is a strong-implied command for daily family prayer. It can no where else be used so as fully to come up to the meaning of the original intention, and no where else can it be breathed forth with so much propriety and beauty, as from the lips of a father, presiding over the church which ought to be in his house, and pleading with God for those rich blessings which a parental bosom desires on his beloved offspring. Our souls stand as much in need of continual supplies of the bread of life, as our bodies do of the bread which perishes.

12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

us.

k Chap. xviii. 21.

12. And forgive us our debts, &c. We have not met the claims of the Divine law. We have violated its obligations, we are exposed to its penalty,-we are guilty; and God alone can forgive Debts here mean sins, or offences against God. He that comes before Him, unwilling to forgive his fellow-creatures, harbouring dark and revengeful thoughts, cannot expect that God will show him that mercy which he is unwilling to show to others. It is not, however, required that we should forgive debts in a pecuniary sense. To them we have a right, though they should not be pushed with an overbearing and oppressive spirit; not so as to sacrifice the feelings of mercy, in order to secure the claims of right. No man has a right to oppress; and when a debt cannot be paid, or when it would greatly distress a wife and children, a widow and an orphan; or when calamity has put it out of the power of an honest man to pay the debt, the spirit of Christianity requires that it should be forgiven. To such cases this petition in the Lord's prayer doubtless extends. But it probably refers principally to injuries of character or person, which we have received from others. If we do not from the heart forgive them, we have the assurance that God will not forgive us.

13 'And lead us not into temptation, but "deliver us from evil: "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

7 Chap. xxvi. 41; Luke xxii. 40, 46; 1 Cor. x. 13; 2 Pet. ii. 9: Rev. iii. 10. m John xvii. 15. n 1 Chron. xxix. 11.

13. And lead us not into temptation. A petition similar to this is offered by David (Ps. cxli. 4), "Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise wicked works with the men that work iniquity." God tempts no man. See James i. 13. This phrase, then, must be used in the sense of permitting. Do not suffer us, or permit us, to be tempted to sin. In this petition we are comfortably assured, that God has such control over us and the tempter, as to save us from it if we call upon him. Deliver us from evil. The original, in this place, has the article, deliver us from THE evil, that is, as has been supposed, the Evil One, or Satan. He is elsewhere called, by way of eminence, the Evil One. Matt. xiii. 19; 1 John ii. 13, 14; iii. 12. Deliver us from his power, his snares, his arts, his temptations. He is the great parent of evil, and to be delivered from him is to be safe. Or it may mean, deliver us from the various evils and trials which beset us-the heavy and oppressive calamities into which we are continually liable to fall. Thine is the kingdom. That is, thine is the reign or dominion. Thou hast control over all these things, and canst so order them as to answer these petitions. Thine is the power. Thou hast power to accomplish what we ask. We are weak, and cannot do it; but thou art almighty, and all things are possible with thee. Thine is the glory. That is, thine is the honour or praise. Not our honour; but thy glory, thy goodness, will be displayed in providing for our temporal and spiritual wants; thy power, in defending us; thy praise, in causing thy kingdom to spread through the earth.

This doxology, or ascription of praise, is connected with the prayer by the word "for," to signify that all these things-the reign, power, and glory of God-will be manifested by granting these petitions. It is not because we are to benefited, but that God's name and perfections may be manifested. His glory is, then, the first and principal thing which we are to seek when we approach him. We are to suffer our concerns to be sunk and lost sight of in the superior glory and honour of his name and dominion. We are to seek temporal and eternal life, chiefly because the honour of our Maker will be promoted, and his name be more illustriously displayed to his creatures. He is to be "first, last, supremest, best," in our view; and all selfish and worldly views are to be absorbed in that great desire of the soul, that God may be "all in all." Approaching him with these feelings, our prayers will be answered, our devotions will rise like incense, and the lifting up our hands will be like the evening sacrifice. Amen. This is a word of Hebrew origin, from a verb signifying to be firm, secure, to be true and faithful. It is a word expressing consent or strong approbation a word of strong asseveration. It means verily, certainly, so be it.

14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

o Mark xi. 25, 26; Eph. iv. 32; Col. iii. 13. p Chap. xviii. 35; James ii. 13.

14, 15. If ye forgive. If ye pardon. Trespasses. Offences, faults. If ye forgive others when they offend or injure you. The duty of forgiving the offences and faults of our brethren, by which we may have been aggrieved or injured, is every where inculcated in Scripture. Many of these have been committed in ignorance, and by persons who, had they known the circumstances, would have been little disposed to act as they have done; and who, when the circumstances are explained, will be ready to confess they have erred, and to retract what they may have spoken to our prejudice. But even when such offences have proceeded from malignant motives, the Christian is not to revenge them. Instead of returning evil for evil, he is to imitate the example of his divine Master, who, when he was reviled, reviled not again. Our Saviour teaches that we are to forgive, even if the offence be committed seventy times seven. Matt. xviii. 22. When one who has injured us asks our forgiveness, we are cordially to grant it-to forget the injury, and act towards him as if it had never been committed. If he does not ask forgiveness, yet we are still to treat him kindly; not to harbour malice; not to speak ill of him; to be ready to do him good; and be always prepared to declare him forgiven when he asks it.

16 Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; 18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

16-18. Moreover when ye fast, &c. The word fast literally signifies to abstain from food whether from necessity or as a religious observance. It is, however, commonly applied in the Bible to the latter. It is an expression of grief and humility on account of sin. Such is the constitution of the body, that in a time of grief or sorrow we are not disposed to eat. The grief of the soul is so absorbing, as to suspend the natural appetites of the body. Men in deep affliction eat little, and often pine away and fall into sickness. Fasting is a natural expression of grief. The soul, when oppressed and burdened by a sense of sin, is so filled with grief, that the body refuses food. The term "fasting," is appropriated to scenes of penitence, of godly sorrow, of suffering, and to those facts connected with religion that are fitted to produce grief, as the prevalence of iniquity, or some dark impending calamity, or tempest, pestilence, plague, or famine. It is in connection with sin, and because of it, that the judgments of the Lord are abroad upon the face of the earth. Sin is the cause of all the suffering and calamity with which the children of men are exercised. National calamities accompany, or come in the train of, national backsliding and guilt. It well becomes us at all times, and especially when iniquity abounds in an extraordinary degree-when the Gospel is set at nought by those in influential stations-when no reference is made to the hand of God in public affairs when his holy superintending providence is not only not recognised, but even denied-to humble our souls before God, to mourn over our own sins, which have helped to swell the national guilt, and to bring things to so fearful a crisis of ungodliness, to confess, and be in bitterness on account of, the sins of the community, which rise up to heaven in so dark a cloud, and to pray fervently unto our heavenly Father, that he would send deliverance, arise for the vindication of his cause upon earth, and manifest his glory in the eyes of all flesh. The Scriptures abound in encouragements to this duty-in precious promises that, in answer to the prayers of his people, in times of public calamity, as at all times, he will send deliverance and in notable examples of his faithfulness to his promises, as experienced by his servants of old. Or, if the judgments of God be not withdrawn, his people have yet the comfortable assurance that, cleaving unto him, and "flying like doves to their windows," they shall not be unvisited with grace suited to their necessities, but shall be brought into a sweet frame of resignation and cheerful submission to the will of their heavenly Father, their reconciled God, obtain the sanctified use of affliction, and be made greatly to rejoice in the Rock of their salvation, having his presence and company with them in the midst of the furnace. Of a sad countenance. That is, sour, morose, assumed expressions of unfelt sorrow. ¶ They disfigure their faces. That is, they do not anoint and wash themselves as usual; they are uncombed, squalid,

and haggard. They were often in the habit of throwing ashes on their heads and faces; and this, mixing with their tears, still farther disfigured their faces. So much pains will men take, and so much will they undergo, for the sake of external appearance, whilst yet their hearts may be very far from God-wholly untouched by a true sense of sin-altogether unhumbled-full of the spirit of self-righteousness. Men should exhibit outwardly no more than they feel inwardly. What goes beyond this lies on the side of hypocrisy. As in their prayers, so in their fastings, the Pharisees were self-seekers and men-pleasers. They did all ostentatiously, to be seen of men, that they might gain their applause; and in this applause they had their reward.

"We are here cautioned against hypocrisy in fasting, as before in alms-giving and in prayer. Religious fasting is a duty required of the disciples of Christ, when God in his providence calls to it, and the case of their own souls require it. But it is not so much a duty itself, as a means to dispose us for other duties. Christ here speaks especially of private fasts, such as particular persons prescribe to themselves, commonly used among the pious Jews. It was not the Pharisee's fasting twice in the week, but his boasting of it, that Christ condemned. Luke xviii. 12. It is a laudable practice, and we have reason to lament that it is so generally neglected among Christians. The primitive Christians often fasted. See Acts xiii. 3, xiv. 23. Private fasting is supposed. 1 Cor. vii. 5. It is an act of self-denial, and mortification of the flesh, and humiliation under the hand of God. It is a means to curb the flesh and the desires of it, and to make us more lively in religious exercises, as fulness of bread is apt to make us drowsy. Paul was in fastings often, and so he kept under his body, and brought it into subjection. Christ's disciple is to avoid all ostentation, His fast is to be in private. In his family, or when from home, he is to be cheerful, and attired as at other times."

19 'Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

s Prov. xxiii. 4; 1 Tim. vi. 17; Heb. xiii. 5; James v. 1.

19. Lay not up for yourselves treasures, &c. Treasures or wealth, among the ancients, consisted in clothes, or changes of raiment, as well as in gold, silver, gems, wine, lands, and oil. It meant an abundance of any thing that was held to be conducive to the ornament or comfort of life. As the Orientalists delighted much in display, in splendid equipage, and costly garments, their treasures, in fact, consisted much in beautiful and richly ornamented articles of apparel. See Gen. xlv. 22, where Joseph gave to his brethren changes of ruiment; Josh. vii. 21, where Achan coveted and secreted a goodly Babylonish garment. See also Judges xiv. 12. This fact will account for the use of the word moth. When we speak of wealth, we think at once of gold, and silver, and lands, and houses. When a Hebrew or an Orientalist spoke of wealth, he thought first of what would make display, and included, as an essential part, splendid articles of dress. The moth is a small insect that finds its way to clothes and garments, and destroys them. The moth would destroy their apparel, the rust their silver and gold; and thus all their treasure would waste away.

20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

t Chap. xix. 21; Luke xii. 33, 34; xviii. 22; 1 Tim. vi. 19; 1 Pet. i. 4.

20, 21. Lay up treasures in heaven. "Christ counsels to make the joys and glories of the other world, those things not seen that are eternal, our best things, and to place our happiness in them. Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. There are treasures in heaven, as sure as there are on this earth, which those that are truly sanctified arrive at. It is our wisdom to give all diligence to make sure our title to eternal life through Jesus Christ, and to depend upon that as our happiness, and look upon all things here below as not worthy to be compared with it, and to be content with nothing short of it. If we thus make those treasures ours, they are laid up, and we may trust God to keep them safe for us; thither let us then refer all our designs, and extend all our desires. There it is safe; it will not decay, nor can we be by force or fraud deprived of it. It is a happiness above and beyond the changes and chances of time, an inheritance incorruptible. Where your treasure is, on earth or in heaven, there will your heart be. That way the desires and pursuits go, thitherward the aims and intents are levelled, and all is done with that in view."

22 "The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy

whole body shall be full of light. 23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

u Luke xi. 34, 36.

22, 23. The light of the body, &c. The duty of fixing the affections on heavenly things, Jesus proceeds to illustrate by a reference to the eye. When the eye is directed singly and steadily towards an object, and is in health, or is single, every thing is clear and plain. If it vibrates, flies to different objects, is fixed on no one singly, or is diseased, nothing is seen clearly. Every thing is dim and confused. The eye regulates the motion of the body. A man crossing a stream on a log, if he will look across at some object steadily, will be in little danger. If he looks down on the dashing and rolling waters, he will become dizzy and fall. Our Saviour teaches that, in order to walk as becometh his disciples, there must be a stedfast looking to himself; the eye of the soul must be set upon heavenly things. If we get entangled with the cares of this world, and set our hearts eagerly upon its objects, we shall stumble and fall, like one walking in darkness over a rugged path. "Blessed is the man that maketh the Lord his trust." "O fear the Lord, ye his saints; for there is no want to them that fear him." "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" ¶ If therefore the light that is in thee, &c. The light of the body, the guide and director, is the eye. All know how calamitous it is when that light is irregular, or extinguished, as when the eye is diseased or lost. The soul is the organ of spiritual light and vision. The believer fixes the eye of the soul upon Christ, the glorious object of his faith, and by looking unto him is enlightened. But if the soul be sunk in ignorance, worldly-mindedness, sin-if it be rivetted to earth, and look not heavenward-how fearful and deep must that darkness be in which it is involved! In such a state are all unconverted men; and they prefer the darkness to the light, their deeds being evil.

24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Luke xvi. 13. y Gal. i. 10: 1 Tim. vi. 17; James iv. 4; 1 John ii. 15.

24. No man can serve two masters, &c. Christ proceeds to illustrate the necessity of laying up treasures in heaven, from a well-known fact, that a servant cannot serve two masters at the same time. His affections and obedience would be divided, and he would fail altogether in his duty to one or the other. One he would love, and the other hate. To the interests of one he would adhere, the other he would neglect. The affections can be supremely fixed on only one object. So the servant of God cannot at the same time obey him and be avaricious, or seek treasures supremely on earth. One interferes with the other, and one will be, and must be surrendered. ¶ Mammon. Mammon is a Syriac word—a name given to an idol worshipped as the god of riches. It is not known that the Jews ever formally worshipped this idol, but they used the word to denote wealth. The meaning is, ye cannot serve the true God, and at the same time be wholly engaged in obtaining the riches of this world. One must interfere with the other. See Luke xvi. 9-11.

25 Therefore I say unto you, "Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? 26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? 27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? 28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all hist glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the

z Ps. lv. 22; Luke xil. 22, 23; Phil. iv. 6; 1 Pet. v. 7. a Job xxxviii. 41; Ps cxlvii. 9; Luke xii. 24.