worshippers who equally with ourselves give God this title.

Then it is added, "which art in heaven." And that not only distinguishes God, as a particular sort of Father, from our natural father, but also ascribes to Him a particular place. And I scarcely know any thing more material than a correct understanding of that which I have so often set before you, that heaven is the correlative of earth, the correlative of the world or universe and that therefore by this title of God, that He has his place in heaven, we declare Him in effect to be a substance out of, outside of, the creature. It is a distinct attestation to the being of a Person who is apart from the world of creatures. You remember, I dare say, that in this interpretation I rest particularly upon an expression in the 17th chapter of the gospel of St. John, where the Lord Jesus Christ says, "And now I am no more in the world; but these are in the world, and I come to thee." That distinctly expresses that the Person to whom He is going is out of the world. And that is the real meaning of our ascribing to God a residence in heaven. For I suppose you must be well aware that God has not in reality one place more than another. To ascribe place to God would be to give Him circumscription, would be to deny his immensity. But as we are taught to regard Him as especially present in some places rather than in others, as for example in his temple, and as for example in heaven; so the real and important meaning

couched under those expressions is a testimony that He is separate from, and altogether outside of, the creature. And, beloved, if your minds have been at all directed to this great subject, you must have perceived the importance of being distinctly led into right notions upon it, in order to avoid a wide and subtle error, that of pantheism, the mixing of God with the creature, which is a much more subtle and dangerous error than that of polytheism; for the error of polytheism declares its own fallacy; but pantheism requires a very clear and discriminating judgment to discern its fallacy. Thus observe, in this very expression, "Which art in heaven," we rid ourselves of that error; for we distinctly declare the separateness of the substance of God from the creature.

Then, "Hallowed be thy name." It is not said, "Hallowed be thou;" but, "Hallowed be thy name." Now first of all," Hallowed." I am reminded especially of the expression, "Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts (1 Pet. iii. 15); “Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself; and let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread" (Is. viii. 13). But I would take the expression rather more distinctly and particularly. It implies the desire that God may be considered as that Person worthy to be worshipped which He is. Now understand," hallowed" means, "be thou made holy." And to be made holy is, to be accounted worthy to be worshipped. Then I say, the expression "thy name' as distinct from "thou," means that it is not any sort

of God which a person may choose to set up, but that God who has the distinguishing properties of Jehovah,— that that God be accounted worthy of worship. It is a prayer that all creature may come to the apprehension of the being of this Person; for if the creature, the moral creature, comes to the apprehension of the being of this Person, such as He is, he cannot deny his claim and right to be worshipped. No one can really conceive of God as that which He is, without having his heart overflowing with the desire to pay Him homage, -the adoration which is due to the self-existent One.

Now observe, the first three petitions respect God. And what is the fair inference from that? Why, that our zeal is for God. And that we have a greater concern for God than we have for ourselves. Plainly that is the inference. Why does the prayer begin with. asking something about God, and then we come with something for ourselves? It plainly intimates that our zeal and the boiling up of our spirit is on the behalf of God, that He may be owned as existent according to the reality of his nature.

"Thy kingdom come." This is the state which God is preparing to introduce. The kingdom of God is that state of rule in which God himself is acknowledged as the great King. And such a state of rule God has promised that He will introduce. And in that state of rule the people of God will have the full enjoyment of God, their form and substance as spiritual persons completed, and all their relations and all the

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consequences of those relations brought into possession. We have then an interest in this prayer; but stated in its connection, plainly the desire of it is on the behalf of God, that He who is at present disowned in his own world may be recognized as the possessor of that dignity and authority of which He is the source, and which alone belongs to Him. And therefore, as I have said, these petitions do in fact imply the doxology. For if God is to be hallowed, why then, the glory belongs to Him; and if God's kingdom is to come, why then, the kingdom, and the power of the kingdom, belong to Him. And power again is implied distinctly in all the petitions which follow. Well then, our second petition is, that the state which God has announced as assuredly to come in due time,—a state in which, according to those emphatic words in 1 Cor. xv, "God shall be all in all," that state we pray for, we pray that it may come. And then the reason, in fact, is added, why we pray that it may come. "Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth." And plainly we are hereby taught to consider God as peculiarly present out of this world, surrounded, as you are taught to consider Him to be, by his holy angels, where only his will is done by all that are present there. It is a prayer therefore that this kingdom may come, in order that both we ourselves and all other creatures may render to God the subjection which is his due. It is the desire that that kingdom may come, and its consequences, namely, the great consequence which may

be said to imply and comprehend all the other consequences, that the creature has no will but that of God, that, instead of having a will contradictory to God's and negligent of God's, that state may arrive in which only his will shall be done by all that exists, when there shall no longer be an adverse power at work in his creation, but He shall rule all subjects unto the doing of his mind. Now I suppose you will have no difficulty in understanding the distinction as to the will of God. In fact, as you have been continually told, God's will is done every where. But we here speak of that voluntary subjection to his authority, which makes a perfect unity between the creature and its God. We, for our own sake, and for the sake of others, but especially for the sake of God,-that He may not only have his worship, but may also have all that homage which is his due,―we pray that that kingdom may come, in which that will of his alone will be the desire and the operation of all that exists.

Well then, you perceive, these three petitions have God especially for their object: that He may be duly accounted of; that He may have his proper acknowledgment as the universal ruler; and that every mind, -that is, the spirit of every person possessing the Spirit, may be directed according to his own mind.

Then we come to the prayer concerning ourselves. "Give us day by day our daily bread." This is asking for all that we really need of sustenance for soul and body. And see how simple, yet comprehensive, the