bread;" should we not forgive those who with ourselves are dependent on the same fatherly care? "Forgive us;" should not we forgive who require so much forgiveness ?

This petition passes a solemn condemnation on those who refuse to forgive. It almost amounts to asking God not to forgive them! Chrysostom says, "God appoints thee thyself the master of the verdict. The judgment thou passest upon thyself He will pass upon thee." And Luther says, "This prayer will, in the sight of God, be a sin; for when thou sayest, 'I will not forgive,' and standest before God with thy precious pater noster, and mumblest with thy mouth, Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, what is that but saying, O God, I am a debtor to Thee, and there is one who is the same to myself. Now, I will not forgive him, and so do not Thou forgive me. I will not obey Thy command, although Thou hast told me to forgive; I will rather renounce Thee and Thy heaven, and all, and go to the devil for evermore."

Let us then cultivate this grace of mercy. One means of conquering an unforgiving spirit is ceasing to look back on the injuries which provoked it. Memory is good, but sometimes forgetfulness is better. Let us treasure the records of kindnesses to stimulate gratitude, but erase those of injuries lest they continue to rouse ill-will. When Antony showed the dagger-rents in Cæsar's robe, the people were roused to fury as if they beheld the murder in the

very act. So imagination may brood over wrongs till they become a constant presence, rousing ever fresh indignation. Let us rather supplant such pictures by their opposites. Let us think of any good qualities in our enemies, any wrongs done by ourselves. Let us not only extinguish the spark, but bury the powder. Let us bear in mind our great debt to God and His great remission-that these injuries from men were permitted by God, and that in submission to Him we should cease to be angry with them and also that we possess in Himself infinitely more than will compensate for any injury from man. If every wrong which pains us becomes an occasion of renewed intercourse with God, we should feel that with such a refuge we ought not to be vexed with the storm which drives us into it; that with such an exhaustless treasury to supply the loss, we ought not to be reluctant to forgive the thief; and that God's love and Christ's example should have more effect in producing gentleness than any injuries from man in stirring up wrath.

Forgiveness produces in us real happiness, while an unforgiving spirit is ever a source of disquiet. We attain a higher dignity when we remit than when we resent. "Greater is he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city. It is the glory of a man to pass by a transgression." Does our foe raise clouds of anxiety, a tempest of passion? A forgiving spirit says to the troubled waters, "Peace, be still." Does he rob us of wealth or reputation? To forgive him

more than restores it; our treasury becomes richer by this seeming loss. Like those who fire in retreat, we conquer when we seem to yield. Our escutcheon is the brighter by the dishonour flung at it. "When I am weak, then am I strong." Anger may cast our foe prostrate, but forgiveness may raise him as a friend. Wrath can do no more than slay him, but love transforms and makes him an ally. I may conquer him by force, but to forgive is to conquer my own spirit by love, and so makes me more than a conqueror." "To render evil for good is devil-like; to render evil for evil is beast-like; to render good for good is man-like; to render good for evil is Godlike."

"The quality of mercy is not strained ;

It droppeth as the gentle dew from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blessed,
It blesses him that gives and him that takes."

Our Father, forgive us. We all have sinned against both Thee and one another. By Thy grace we have been enabled to forgive others. This is no proof of merit in us, but the result of mercy in Thee. Grant us more grace to forgive the small debts due to us from our brother, and grant us day by day forgiveness of the great debts due from us to Thee.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE SIXTH PETITION.

"AND LEAD [BRING] US NOT INTO TEMPTATION.'

ALVATION

SALVAT

TION is deliverance from sin; and therefore includes both pardon of its guilt and release from its power. A gospel would be unworthy of God which, encouraging the transgressor to ask forgiveness, promised no succour against sin itself. We come from the mercy-seat happy in the hope of absolution, but at once encounter temptations by yielding to which we needed that mercy. Must we again fall and come for repeated pardons? Is prayer merely a hospital for the wounded? Nay, it is also an arsenal to equip the soldier for the fight. He who, grieving for and hating sin, implores forgiveness, desires strength to resist temptation and is here encouraged to ask it. The confession of sin is an acknowledgment of frailty, and therefore of our need of Divine help. The more truly we pray, Forgive us our trespasses," the more earnestly we shall pray, "Lead us not into temptation."

The liberated slave who has tasted the bitterness of bondage, all the more strives to avoid recapture.

"A burnt child dreads the fire."

He who has been

bitten by a serpent will ask not to be led where serpents abound, and will himself avoid sitting on the bank where he felt the poisoned fang. On a winter morning when the ground was covered with snow, a robin, urged by hunger, entered an open window of the writer's house, to eat the crumbs spread for it inside. This visit he frequently repeated, flying away unmolested. But one day the servant closed the window, and the bird found its way of escape cut off. As there was no intention to imprison the trustful visitor, the window was soon reopened. But the robin never returned. For a brief moment it had been captured, and it would not again venture within the possible prison. "In vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird."

The more we have been forgiven, the more gratitude we feel. The prodigal son welcomed home, desires not again to grieve his father. The more hearty that forgiveness, the more earnest that desire. The greater the pardon, the greater the guilt if we repeat the offence. The pardon therefore is deterrent from the sin. The fuller our assurance of such pardon, the stronger will be our endeavour not to lose such assurance. We shall fear to defile the white raiment which has been given us; to obscure the writing on the roll of our acceptance with God. The sunshine will be so pleasant, that in proportion as we walk in it, we shall avoid the dark shadow into which renewed sin would bring us. The grace