AND FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES, AS WE FORGIVE THEM THAT TRESPASS AGAINST US.

EAR friends, it seems to me that there is much sadness here in that common little word 'and,' as it joins this petition with the prayer for daily bread, which comes just before it. It reminds you and me, that just as we need bread day by day, to be given to us, for our wants return with each morning's light, so do our sins need daily sorrowing, daily repentance, daily forgiveOne petition reminds us that we are the creatures of our Father,' the next, that we are sinners. In praying for bread, we are reminded of our weakness, and of our poverty; but when we pray 'forgive us our debts,' or our 'trespasses,' we call to mind our sorrow, our shame, our

ness.

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sins. Many ask, and receive from their Father their daily bread, who never seek, who never ask, never desire even, pardon for their daily sins. But what are all the blessings of this life, health, strength, food and clothing, unless we receive with these mercies the pardon of our sins? Our gracious God is not only a bounteous Giver, but He has been rightly named also a Forgiver. His most precious gift to us is 'forgiveness.' David in the 103rd Psalm, when counting up Divine blessings, places the pardon of sin as the first and best gift of his God; 'Who forgiveth all thine iniquities.' As daily bread, then, is most needful for our bodies to keep them alive and in health, so for our souls, is daily forgiveness and cleansing of our sins most necessary. We must fly daily to the fountain opened for sin and for all uncleanness, even the precious blood shed for the remission of sins, by Jesus our Redeemer, open to all of us, of every age, in every clime. Thither we must all fly, and wash and be clean day by day. For,

it is as true, as it is sad, dear sisters, that we are, one and all, constantly sinning again and again. Though Jesus died to deliver us from the power of sin, and sent to us His Holy Spirit to help us, to lead and guide us into the path of holiness and righteousness, yet we constantly fall into sin, and must never cease to pray, and that most earnestly, 'Forgive us our trespasses.'

Jesus loves confession to be made to Him. He knows all the sinful thoughts of our hearts, as well as all our sinful words and deeds, yet He has taught us in this pattern prayer, to confess to Him all that we have done amiss, on each and every day of our lives, and to cry out to Him, 'Forgive us our trespasses.' We have a Great High Priest, who has offered Himself for our salvation, one sacrifice on Calvary, once offered for the sins of the whole world. Every pardoned sinner, from Abel down to the very last saint of God, who shall be gathered into heaven, has been pardoned only by the blood of that one great sacrifice in the death

of Jesus Christ. No sin can be forgiven but by blood-shedding. This is a Divine command. As, under the law, God ordered animals to be ever offered in sacrifice as types of Christ the Lamb of God, which should hereafter be slain. Now there is no more need of sacrifices, Jesus having become an atonement by shedding His own blood for us, His sinful children, and through Him we have the forgiveness of our sins, and are pardoned and reconciled to God, 'accepted in the Beloved.'

We must then daily mourn over, daily confess our sins, daily wash off from our feet the dust which clings to them in walking through the paths of this world. For 'in many things we offend all.'

Jesus our Lord teaches us, further, a spirit of true charity in this petition. We come to Him our Father as one family, and are taught to pray 'forgive us our trespasses,' to intercede for others, beside ourselves, not forgive me, but 'forgive us our trespasses.' The Christian must

never be selfish, or forget, that he is but onc member of the family, and household, and body; one branch of the true vine, one sheep of the Saviour's flock and fold. So while his chief duty is to pray for forgiveness for himself, he must also pray for others: for the whole body of Christ's Church, that all may be forgiven. For our loved husbands, dear children, sisters, brothers, ministers, friends, yea, and for our enemies also, if we have any, that all their sins may be washed away in Jesus' blood, and blotted out of God's holy book of remembrance. How much is meant when the word 'forgive ' is used, my friends! Sin is a sad debt.

What do we all owe to our God? Everything belongs to Him as our Maker, and tenfold more as our Redeemer, who hath bought us with the price of His own precious blood. Our time, our powers of mind and of body, our energies, our money, be it much or little, everything we have belongs to God. Whenever, therefore, what we possess is not employed for