which is perfect, converting the soul, enlightening the eyes, a lamp unto the feet, and a light unto the path1 (Ps. xix. 7, 8; cxix. 105), through the steady use of the appointed means of grace2, public and private prayer, and especially the reception of the Eucharist, wherein we "spiritually eat the flesh of Christ, and drink His Blood; we dwell in Christ, and Christ in us; we are one with Christ, and Christ with us3,"

CHAPTER VII.

THE SECOND PETITION FOR OUR OWN NEEDS.

THE LORD'S PRAYER.

And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive them that trespass against us.

THE EXPLANATION.

I pray unto God...that He will be merciful unto us, and forgive us our sins.

1. Connection. Having prayed unto God to give us the food necessary for this life, we supplicate Him that with this He will bestow upon us this greater mercy, and forgive us our trespasses against Himself, the bountiful Giver of all good gifts.

2. Trespasses. A great variety of words, as we have already seen1, are employed in Scripture to describe

1 Man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God doth man live. (Deut. viii. 3). The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life (Jn. vi. 63). Compare the Collect for the Second Sunday in Advent, “read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them."

2 "Quod vobis tracto, panis quotidianus est: et quod in Ecclesia lectiones quotidie auditis, panis quotidianus est: et quod hymnos auditis et dicitis, panis quotidianus est.' August. de Serm. Dom. LVII. 7.

3 Jn. vi. 47-65. See the Exhortation in the AnteCommunion Service, and the Second Prayer in the PostCommunion Service; and see Alford's note on Mtt. vi. 11, 4 See above, pp. 61, 62, and the notes.

the state of sinfulness we inherit from our birth, and the offences we daily commit. Two of these occur in the Lord's Prayer. Forgive us our debts, we read in St Matthew1; forgive us our sins, we read in St Luke2; and when our Lord in the Sermon on the Mount repeats His precepts respecting forgiveness, He uses the word trespasses3. By the use of these words we confess not only that our nature is sinful, and that we come very far short of the obedience God expects of us, but that by our sins we have contracted debts which we are not able to pay, and by wandering from the narrow road, which leadeth unto life (Mtt. vii. 14), have trespassed into forbidden paths.

3. Forgiveness. But with this confession we join the prayer that God will be merciful unto us, and forgive us our sins, debts, and trespassés. The promise1 of this forgiveness is, as we have seen, signed and sealed to us in Baptism, and God is ever ready to fulfil it, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 Jn. i. 9) for

1 Mtt. vi. 12: Αφες ἡμῖν τὰ ὀφειλήματα ἡμῶν; see above, p. 62, n. 4; comp. I Cor. vi. 19 20; Rom. vi. 23.

2 Lk. xi. 4 : ἄφες ἡμῖν τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν, the figure being taken from missing a mark or aim; see above, p. 61, n. 3.

3 Ἐὰν ἀφῆτε τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τὰ παραπτώματα αὐτῶν, ἀφήσει καὶ ὑμῖν ὁ Πατὴρ ὑμῶν ὁ οὐράνιος, Mtt. vi. 14. The word πарáπтwμa should have been added to those cited above, pp. 62, 63. It denotes (1) a falling beside, falling from the right way. Polybius, IX. 10. 6, uses it for a blunder, a mistake in judgment; and our translators have rendered it by (1) fault in Gal. vi. 1; Jas. v. 16; (2) offence in Rom. iv. 25; v. 15, 17, 18, 20; (3) fall in Rom. xi. II, 12; (4) trespass in Mtt vi. 14, 15; Mk. xi. 25, 26; 2 Cor. v. 19; Eph. ii. 1; Col. ii. 13; (5) sins in Eph. ii. 5; Col. ii. 13.

4 "Remissio peccatorum una est, quæ semel datur; alia, quæ quotidie datur. Remissio peccatorum una est, quæ semel datur in sancto Baptismate; alia, quæ quamdiu vivimus hic, datur in Dominicâ oratione." S. Aug. de Serm. Dom. LVIII. 6.

the sake of Jesus Christ our only Mediator and Inter

cessor.

4. As we forgive. But while our Lord teaches us to ask for forgiveness of our sins with as little doubt as for our daily bread, He adds to it a condition and proviso1, of which we should never lose sight. Forgive us our trespasses, He teaches us to say, As we forgive3 them that trespass against us. This condition He solemnly enforced, saying, If ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive you your trespasses1 (Mtt. vi. 14, 15). The stress which the Saviour lays upon it, ought to remind us of the supreme importance of cultivating a forgiving disposition, of being kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another5, if we hope that God, for Christ's sake, will forgive us (Eph. iv. 31, 32).

1 "Sponsionem facimus cum Deo, pactum et placitum. Hoc tibi dicit Dominus Deus tuus: Dimitte, et dimitto-non dimisisti; tu contra te tenes, non ego." S. Aug. de Serm. Dom.

LVI. 13.

2 'as kal = like as we also, implying in the two actions a similarity of kind, not a comparison of degree. We may forgive each other a hundred pence, but God forgives us ten thousand talents, Mtt. xviii. 23-34. See Trench On the Parables, p. 147, and the notes.

3 Or rather have forgiven, åøýkaμev, according to the better reading. Comp. Mtt. v. 23, 24. The forgiveness is supposed to be completed before we approach the throne of grace. Alford in loc.

4 Compare also Mk. xi. 25, 26. And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses: but if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses. The same truth is set forth in the Parable of the "Unmerciful Servant," Mt. xviii. 23-35.

5 And that from our hearts, ånd тŵv kapdiŵv, Mtt. xviii. 35. Comp. Col. iii. 12, 13.

"A forgiving spirit is absolutely necessary, if we hope for pardon of our own sins, if ever we hope for peace of mind in our dying moments, or for the Divine Mercy in that Day when we shall most stand in need for it1"

CHAPTER VIII.

THE THIRD PETITION FOR OUR OWN NEEDS.

THE LORD'S PRAYER. And lead us not into temptation.

THE EXPLANATION.

I pray unto God that...it will please Him to save and defend us in all dangers ghostly and bodily.

1. Connection. Having prayed for present support, and for the forgiveness of past transgressions and of daily shortcomings, we proceed in the next petition to pray for future protection from the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil, the enemies, against which we have promised to fight manfully2, but which are ever assailing us.

2. Temptation. The word temptation is used in Scripture in two senses, to denote (i) trial or probation, (ii) seduction or ruin3. In the first sense God is said to tempt, that is, to prove His children, either for the purpose of making trial of their faith, as in the case of Abraham (Gen. xxii. 1, 2); or of testing their patience, as in that of Job (Job i. 11, 12); or of humbling them, and of discovering what is in their hearts, as in the case

1 Butler's Sermon Upon forgiveness of Injuries. Comp. Ecclus. xxviii. 1-4.

2 See the Vow of Renunciation, above, pp. 10-12.

3 Nicholson On the Catechism, p. 172. "Intelligimus duas esse tentationes, unam quæ decipit, alteram quæ probat: secundum eam quæ decipit, Deus neminem tentat : secundum eam quæ probat, tentat vos Dominus Deus vester, ut sciat si diligitis eum,' St Augustine in Evang. Joh. Tract. XLIII.

of the Israelites (Deut. viii. 2; xiii. 3); or of checking self-conceit and showing the perfection of His grace, as in the case of St Paul (2 Cor. xii. 7, 9). In the second sense the word is specially applicable to the wiles and snares which the Devil' employs to pervert to evil what in itself is designed for good, and to draw men on to their destruction. Hence he is emphatically termed the Tempter2 (1 Thess. iii. 5), and we read of his tempting Eve (Gen. iii. 1—5), David (1 Chr. xxi. 1), the Apostle Peter (Lk. xxii. 31), and especially our Lord Himself (Mtt. iv. I-II).

3. Lead us not into temptation. In the Petition, therefore, lead us not into temptation3, we do not simply and absolutely ask of God that we may be freed from temptation, for St James bids those, to whom he wrote, count it all joy when they fell into divers temptations, knowing that the trying of their faith worked patience (Jas. i. 2, 3). But we pray out of a deep sense of our own infirmity that we may not be brought into their power, as to be overcome by them. We pray that even

1 But he cannot tempt us without the permission of God, and then only through our own corrupted nature.

2 See above, p. II, and note.

3 In Cranmer's Catechism the Petition runs, and suffer us not to be led into temptation; and in the French version of De Saci, Et ne nous abandonnez point à la tentation, or, as he renders it at the foot of the page, Et ne nous laissez point succomber à la tentation. See Cranmer's Catechism, p. 167; Denton On the Lord's Prayer, p. 162, n. St Augustine alludes to this reading of the Petition in numerous Latin MSS. De Dono Persev. c. VI. 12; Opp. Tom. x. p. 1401.

4 Καὶ μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασμόν, Mtt. vi. 13. Comp. Mtt. xxvi. 41; where, "Intrare in tentationem, significat ita involvi illecebris aut periculis ut non extriceris." Grotius. "Temptatio semper est in medio: unde rogamus, non ut ne sit, sed ut ne nos ea tangat aut vincat." Bengel. Thus our Lord said to St Peter that Satan had desired to sift him and his fellow Apostles (vuâs, Lk. xxii. 31) as wheat, but that He had prayed for him, that his faith might