throne of the living God, in which they may pour forth their tears and supplications before Him, let me, in the third place, remind you of the form in which these supplications are to be addressed. While we are emboldened to approach him as "a "father," let it be remembered, that it is as "our "Father ;"—not as the father of the individual petitioner, but as the Father of the race of man ;-not as the father of any particular sect or communion in religion, but as the great Parent of Life and Happiness throughout the universe.

It is the first law of our faith, that we should love the Lord our God, with all our heart and all our soul. It is the second, that we should love our neighbours as ourselves. Let me entreat you to observe, my brethren, how beautifully both these precepts are illustrated in the form of the words we are considering, and how powerfully they blend in the same moment, benevolence to Man, with devotion towards God. Even in the act of secret and solitary prayer, they remind us of our relation to each other. While we are presenting our private supplications, it is yet to the common Father of Mankind they are presented; and while our hearts are full of our own interests, the very words we use, recall to us the interests of our brethren. They remind us, that "the eyes "of all wait upon him ;"-that "it is he," and he alone, "who openeth his hand, and filleth all things

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living with plenteousness." They remind us, that wherever creation extends, there his Providence is exerted; and while we thus see, as it were, the

whole animated universe prostrated with us before his throne, we learn to look upon the race of men around us, as children of the same family with ourselves, and to mingle a prayer also for their happiness and salvation.

4. There is yet a fourth reflection to which the words we are considering naturally lead us. They reveal to us the God of Nature as "our Father," and as the common Father of Mankind;-but there is yet a sublimer aspect in which they present him to us, "as our Father which is in Hea66 ven." How many are the reflections, my brethren, which this expression is fitted to summon up in our minds!

It tells us, in the first place, that this is a lower world; that we see now only "darkly” the traces of Almighty wisdom;-and that, in this infancy of our being, we are unable to comprehend the majesty of his whole administration.

It tells us, in the second place, that, amid all our doubts or darkness, there is yet One who presides over us; and that the whole system, as it is constructed by his wisdom, is finally to be accomplished by his care. It tells us, that the power which governs us, is the same which has launched the planets in their course; and that the day will come, when the moral system of nature will assume the same order and beauty which now reigns in the system of the Heavens.

It tells us, lastly, that there is a "Heaven" where our Father dwells;-a state of unclouded

light and sinless love; a state where tears and sorrows are no more, and where there reigneth "knowledge, and wisdom, and joy." While we utter the words, "Our Father which is in Heaven," we learn to leave the concerns of earth;—a mightier prospect opens upon our view;-the ties of mortality dissolve; and we submit ourselves, in humble resignation, to that Father who dwelleth above, and who alone can conduct us to our proper home.

Such, my brethren, are the views of the nature and government of God, which seem to be involved in the opening of this memorable prayer; and I have dwelt so long upon it, because it seems, better than any human commentary, to explain the preparatory dispositions which are requisite for prayer:those dispositions of heart and mind which are more valuable than the act of prayer itself, and without which all our prayers and all our ceremonies are in vain.

If I have rightly interpreted the words of our Lord, the feelings and dispositions that become us in this first and fundamental exercise of religion are these:

1. The most profound consciousness of the majesty of the Great Being whom we approach, and of the exalted nature of the service we perform:

2. That humble love and confidence in Him, which arises, from the consideration of his deigning to reveal himself to us as "our Father:"

3. That love of our brethren, and of every thing that he hath made, which arises from the conside

ration of his being the equal Friend and Father of all existence:

And, lastly, That trust in his wisdom, and that hope in his goodness, which spring from the belief, that the great scene of divine administration is as yet only opened, and that there is a Heaven where our Father dwells, and where the "

"shall yet see Him."

pure in heart

If such, my younger brethren, be the views and the hopes which the words of your Saviour involve, and which he therefore empowers you to form, is there any school in which life can so nobly begin? If it were with such feelings and convictions, that you were accustomed to come to the service of prayer, whether in your own closets, or in the more solemn assemblies of the church, how simple and how easy would be the course of goodness and of piety! and if it were in such meditations that the day began, what else would be necessary to render it holy and happy!

In such a frame of mind, " to ask," would indeed be "to receive." It would be to receive the spirit from on high, to animate, and to guide you. It would be to receive that spirit which would make you superiour to the world, to all its temptations, and all its sorrows. It would be to receive, in the last place, that spirit which is alone the spirit of the pel, which, while it gives glory to God, seeks also by "good works" to testify its "good will towards "men."

gos

SERMON IV.

ON THE LORD'S PRAYER.

LUKE xi. 2.

"And he said unto them, When ye pray, say thus :"

-IN the preceding discourse from these words, I submitted to the young of our people, some observations on the spirit and character of our Lord's celebrated prayer, and on the dispositions of mind which it supposes in the worshipper.

The part of it I then considered was only its opening or commencement;-that simple but sublime form of address with which it teaches us to approach the throne of God, and in which are involved all the mightiest conceptions we can form of the Divine Nature.

After this majestick opening, and all the high convictions it involves, our Saviour proceeds to prescribe the model of the petitions which it becomes us to present to that Mighty Father. We have prostrated ourselves before the Throne of Eternity, and we are now to be taught what are the wishes, the supplications, or the prayers which we are to offer to "Him that inhabiteth it." In this respect, my brethren, or, at least, in the arrangement of these petitions, there is something very remarkable 6

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