2. Again, in the Early Church it was the only set form of Liturgy. It was, so to speak, the whole Liturgy; it was the only set form of prayer then used in the celebration of the Holy Communion. Whatever other prayers were used were offered up according to the capacity and choice of the minister.1 But there was one prayer fixed and universal, and that was the Lord's Prayer. The Clementine Liturgy alone omits it. From that unique position it has been gradually pushed aside by more modern prayers. But the recollection of its ancient preeminent dignity is still retained in the older liturgies by its following immediately after the consecration prayer; and in the modern English Liturgy, although it has been yet further removed, yet its high importance in the service is indicated by its being used twice - once at the commencement and immediately after the administration. Whenever we so hear it read we are reminded of its original grandeur as the root of all liturgical eucharistic services everywhere. It is an indication partly of the immense change which has taken place in all liturgies : it shows how far even the most ancient that exist have departed from their original form. But it reminds us also what is the substance of the whole Communion service; what is the spirit by which and in which alone the blessings of that service can be received.

3. And now let us look at its outward shape. What do we learn from this? We may infer from the occurrence of any form at all in the teaching of Christ that set forms of prayer are not in themselves wrong. He, when He was asked by His disciples, "Teach us to pray," did not say, as He might have done, "Never use any form of words wait till the Spirit moves you take no thought how you shall speak, for it shall be given you in the same hour what you should speak – 1 See Chapter III.

'out of the abundance of your heart your mouth shall speak.'" There are times when He did so speak. But at any rate on two occasions He is reported to have given a fixed form of words. But as He gave a fixed form, so neither did He bind His disciples to every word of it always and exclusively. He did not say, "In these words pray ye," but on one occasion, "After this manner pray ye." And as if to bring out still more distinctly that even in this most sacred of all prayers it is the spirit and not the letter that is of any avail, there are two separate forms of it given in the Gospels according to St. Matthew and St. Luke, which, though the same in substance, differ much in detail. "Give us this day our daily bread" it is in St. Matthew; "Give us day by day our daily bread" it is in St Luke. "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors," it is in St. Matthew; "Forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us," it is in St. Luke. And yet, besides, it may be observed that there is a still further variation in the Lord's Prayer as we read it in the English Liturgy from the form in which we read it in the Authorized Version of the Bible"Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us," is a petition that is the same in sense but different in words from what it is either in St. Matthew or St. Luke. And again, what we call the doxology at the end, "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory," is not found at all in St. Luke, nor in the oldest manuscripts of St. Matthew, and is never used at all in the oldest Churches of Europe. The Roman Catholic Church absolutely rejects it. The Greek reads it but not as part of the Lord's Prayer. Pope, the Roman Catholic poet, imagined that it was written by Luther. All these variations show the difference between the spirit and the substance, between the form and the

letter. The Lord's Prayer is often repeated merely by rote, and has often been used superstitiously as a charm. These slight variations are the best proofs that this formal repetition is not the use for which it was intended. In order to pray as Jesus Christ taught us to pray we must pray with the understanding as well as with the spirit with the spirit and heart as well as with the lips. Prayer in its inferior form becomes merely mechanical; but in its most perfect form it requires the exercise of the reason and understanding. This distinction is the salt which saves all prayers and all religions whatever from corruption.

4. There is yet a further lesson to be learned from the general form and substance of the Lord's Prayer. Whence did it come? What, so to speak, was the quarry out of which it was hewn? It might have been entirely fresh and new. It might have been brought out for the first time by "Him who spake as never man spake." And in a certain sense this was so. As a whole it is entirely new. It is, taking it from first to last, what it is truly called, "the Lord's Prayer” — the Prayer of our Lord, and of no one else. But if we take each clause and word by itself it has often been observed by scholars that they are in part taken from the writings of the Jewish Rabbis. It was an exaggeration of Wetstein when he said, " Tota hæc oratio ex formulis Hebræorum concinnata est." But certainly in the first two petitions there are strong resemblances. Every scribe," said our Lord, "bringeth forth out of his treasury things new and old." And that is exactly what He did Himself in this famous prayer. Something like at least to those familiar petitions exists in some hole or corner of Jewish liturgies. It was reserved for the Divine Master to draw them forth from darkness into light, and speak out on the housetop what was formerly

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whispered in the scholar's closet-to string together in one continuous garland the pearls of great price that had been scattered here and there, disjointed and divided. We learn from this the value of selection, discrimination of study, in the choice of our materials of knowledge, whether divine or human, and especially of our devotion. We are not to think that a saying, or truth, or prayer is less divine because it is found outside the Bible. We are not to think that anything good in itself is less good because it comes from a rabbinical or heathen source.

"They think speaking. Be

5. Observe its brevity. It is indeed a comment upon the saying, "God is in heaven, and thou upon earth; therefore let thy words be few." No doubt very often we pray in forms much longer than this; but the shortness of the Lord's Prayer is compatible with its being the most excellent of all prayers, and with compressing our devotion into the briefest compass. In fact the occasion on which it is introduced lays the chief stress on its shortness. It was first taught in express contrast to the long repetitions of the heathen religions. that they shall be heard for their much not ye therefore like unto them, for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask Him. After this manner therefore pray ye." Every one, however difficult he may find it to make long prayers, however pressing his business may be, morning, noon, and night, may have time for this very short prayer. How long does it take? One minute. How many sentences does it contain? Seven. The youngest as well as the oldest -the busiest as well as the idlest-the most sceptical as well as the most devout can at least in the day once or twice, if not in the early morning or the late evening, use this short prayer. There is nothing in it to offend. They who scruple or who throw aside the

Prayer Book, or the Directory, or the Catechism, or the Creed, at least may say the Lord's Prayer. They cannot be the worse for it. They may be the better.

6. And now let us look upon the substance of the sentences as they follow one another. We have said that a nation's religious life may be judged by its chief prayers. For example, the Mohammedan religion may fairly claim to be represented by the one prayer that every Mussulman offers to God morning and evening. It is in the first chapter of the Koran, and it is this:

"Praise be to God, Master of the Universe,

The Merciful, the Compassionate,

Lord of the day of Judgment.
To Thee we give our worship,
From Thee we have our help.
Guide us in the right way,

In the way of those whom Thou hast loaded with Thy blessing,

Not in the way of those who have encountered Thy wrath, or who have gone astray."

Let us not despise that prayer-so humble, so simple, so true. Let us rather be thankful that from so many devout hearts throughout the Eastern world there ascends so pure an offering to the Most High God. Yet surely we may say in no proud or Pharisaic spirit that, compared even with this exalted prayer of the Arabian Prophet, there is a richness, a fulness, a height of hope, a depth of humility, a breadth of meaning in the prayer of the Lord Jesus which we find nowhere else, which stamps it with a divinity all its own.

"OUR FATHER WHICH ART IN HEAVEN.” OUR Father, not my Father. He is the God not of one man, or one church, or one nation, or one race only — but of all who can raise their thoughts towards Him. FATHER. That is the most human, most personal, most loving thought which we can frame in speaking of the Supreme Being. And yet He is IN HEAVEN. That is the most remote, the most spiritual, the most impersonal