The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-12-10

"A petition is for the purpose of showing the wish and the need of the petitioner. 1 It is not likely that the law will be en- ] acted if your will is not revealed in a
 petition. Your prayers will show to
 God what you feel you ought to have.
 God is seeking that. And the devil is
 happy if he can keep Gods children off
 their knees. Persist then in praying
 for your own veal, and not to appease
 an angry God. That is a pagan ideas But that every child of God might
 have an example of prayer Jesus taught us the Lords Prayer" For beauty
 and comprehensiveness it is thing of ] art; for spirit it touches the vital needs
 of man, and reveals the infinite majesty
 and mercy of God. Let us look briefly
 at it's import. The first petition, Our
 Father which art in heaven" recogni-
 zes the fatherhood of God and the place i of His abode. God is a spirit, and wherever God is there is heaven. And we are not permitted to limit such
 abode by unhallowed touch of our hu-
 manity. We are simply asked to &C.,
 cept boundary line.
 'Hallowed by Thy name," bespeaks | reverence, and the sanctity of the di- vine spirit. This is to be the craving
 of the redeemed. Here is loyalty. In the next petition, "Thy Kingdom
 come" we see how that loyalty becomes
 active and aspiring. This is a mission
 ary prayer Here is exposed the wish
 that the same spirit of peace and obe-
 dience as is practiced in heaven may be
 practiced in earth.
 In the next petition the word daily"
 has caused much discussion. It proba-
 ply means "needful." So pray we,
 Give us this day our needful bread.
 Not for tomorrow and it's need are we
 to be anxious, but simply for the needs
 of to-day. One day at time.
 Forgive us our debts;" that Is our
 "sins." When we sin we become liable for damage before the court of divine justice, just as we become liable to the civil courts if we will not pay our debts. As we have forgiving spirit, so may we expect to be forgiven. The spirit of forgiveness is one of the signs of true discipleship. The unforgiving heart knows not how to ask truly for his own forgiveness. .,....
 Lead us not into temptation, but de- liver us from the evil" We must bear in mind that formerly the word temp tation" had two meanings. It was used in a good sense meaning to test, as when God is said to have tempted Abraham. This was test of faith that was to bring good result. Paul writes to the Corinthians to examine them- selves or tempt themselves, whether they be in the faith. Jesus prayed the same petition in the garden, "Let this cup pass from Me" It is the shrinking from trial which comes to us all The word has come to be used largely in the sense of turing to evil. The last part of the petition is what Jesus prayed, Nevertheless, not as I will, but as 1 Thou wilt So would we all pray that | if we are to be tested we may be deliv- cred from the evil outcome of the trial | in accordance with the divine will,
 It seems a shock to omit the remain ing of the prayer. It is pretty certain | that it is an addition made by some an- cient copyiet. But doubtless we shall always pray as we have been taught from our cradle For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever Amen"
 7 As Jesus continued to teach concern ing worship, He refers again to for giyeness As a fundamental of truhe He seems to have desired spe- ,ially to emphasize it's importance. When we come close to the sweet spirit ,f the gospel we shall be impressed with the folly of trying to worship and ,f getting any good therefrom without ! heart at peace with all the world. Worship helps to bring that tranquility if soul. The reward of true worship IS peace. We are coming to the season when we desire peace. We celebrate he advent of the Prince of Peace. Such a state was prefigured in the an ,ient days by the sacrifice of blood Now in the reign of Messiah we would in the sacrifice of a loving and bedient heart Learn we then the les on that true worship is of the spirit. Tor they that worship Him must wor- hip Him in spirit and in truth. Know ye then that the reward of such wor- hip is the perfection of spirit, of which he inherent desire to worship some ,ody or sonnet hing is the beginning. irateful would we be that God has pro- ided the way to such joy in Jesus ,hrist, by Whom we may be perfected n worship So may we enter into that eace which reward of the worshipping pirit is the loving gift of the Prince of 'eace, whose reign upon earth we jray ' -