BAPTIST

MAGAZINE.

THIS prayer was given by our Lord, according to the best expositors, on two occasions. The disciples heard it first in the Sermon on the Mount, where it is blended with other sublime instructions. In the variety of the topics then treated, the disciples overlooked it, forgot it. Some time afterwards, when they had been listening to one of Christ's own prayers, they said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples." Jesus then repeated what He had previously taught them. The two forms of expression which precede the prayer differ so much, that they present it in two aspects, and confirm its delivery on separate occasions. In the one case, the words “After this manner, therefore, pray ye," make the prayer a model for the general character of our devotions. In the other case, the introduction, "When ye pray, say, Our Tather," &c., seems to make it a liturgic form. The prayer may be considered in both these views.

In

either aspect it is important, as none is so qualified to teach us "how to pray" as He who, as the great Teacher, can teach all we want to know; who, as the Mediator, is the "way" unto the Father; who, as the Head of the Church, is the hearer of prayer, the giver of the "spirit of grace and supplication," and our "advocate" in heaven; and who, as Man "in the days of His flesh, offered up supplication with strong crying and tears, and was heard in what he feared."

As a model for imitation, it is simple, comprehensive, brief; it exactly expresses our relation to God, and the blended awe and confidence with which we should approach Him. Prayer, according to it, is the communion of the human spirit with a personal Deity, on whom it is in every respect dependent; the living soul addressing the one "living and true God; man speaking to the Infinite intelligence that "knoweth Him altogether," and to the infinite