THOUGHTS FOR MEN AND WOMEN. THE LORD'S PRAYER. I. "OUR FATHER WHICH ART IN HEAVEN." "LIKE as a Father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him.". Psalm ciii. 13. "Doubtless Thou art our Father, Thou, O Lord, art our Father, our Redeemer, Thy Name is from everlasting."-Isaiah lxiii. 16. "Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask Him."-St. Matt. vi. 8. "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows."-St. Matt. x. 29-32. "I will arise, and go to my Father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son, make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose and came to his father. And when he was yet a great way off, 'his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck, and kissed him.”—St. Luke xv. 18, 19. "Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit."-St. Luke xxiii. 46. "No man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand."-St. John x. 29. The Father Himself loveth you."-St. John xvi. 27. "Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it you."—St. John xvi. 23. "I am not alone, because the Father is with Me."-St. John xvi. 32. "I ascend unto My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.”—St. John XX. 17. "I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord God Almighty.—2 Corinthians vi. 17, 18. When we begin the Lord's Prayer, we first repeat these two simple and beautiful words, "Our Father." Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who taught His disciples to pray, did not tell them to address God as the Almighty, the Maker of Heaven and earth, the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. He did not speak to them of God's awful power and majesty, nor remind them that they were speaking to One before Whose Presence even the Angels veil their faces. Had He only told us of "the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the majesty" of God, we should never venture to come before such a great Being with all our sins and shortcomings, all our burdens and fears, all our sorrows, and troubles, and daily cares. We should have looked upon God as too great, too far away, to care for us sinful men and women. Just as we say of people that we know on earth, "That person is far too great, and too much occupied to attend to me and my affairs. He has so many important things to do that I cannot expect him to be interested in my concerns." Therefore, lest we should think that God was too far off to care for us, our dear Lord, Who came from God, and went to God, has told us to address Him in these simple and childlike words "Our Father." Many of us know well what these words mean, recalling as they do, the tender watchful love of many an earthly parent. To many of us the name of Father is one of the dearest on earth. It reminds us of one who loved us from childhood, who watched over us, worked for us, cared for us tenderly, when we were too young to do anything for ourselves. As we grew older how he tried to help us by every means in his power, forgiving us when we had done wrong, welcoming us back when we were penitent, rejoicing in our success, grieving at our failure, ever ready to help, to cheer, and to sympathise. We know all this, and so we can well enter into the meaning of the words, "Like as a Father pitieth his children, even so is the Lord merciful unto them that fear Him." Alas! however, all do not know of such a parent's love. Every day we hear or read of parents who care but little for their children, who often neglect or ill-use them, who sometimes even turn them out of doors, "to shift for themselves" as the saying is, caring little whether they live or die. The name of Father is in the mind of many a child associated only with thoughts of unkindness or neglect. Mother," said a little child to a poor woman who was crying bitterly, "why should you cry because Father's dead? I am very glad he is dead, for now he cannot come back and ill-treat us any more." What a sad picture of a Father's memory, cherished by a little child! Try by every means in your power to make your children both love and respect you. Let your love for them lead them on to believe yet more in the love and care of a Heavenly Parent, who is far more loving, far more forbearing than even the tenderest earthly Parent could ever be. No earthly Father loves like Thee, Bears, and forbears as Thou hast done, |