Golden Rule. A stranger from another planet entering one of our churches would not be impressed with the thought that the average church regarded itself as a recruiting station, and that every minister and Sunday-school superintendent regarded himself as a recruiting agent. It is for this reason that the supply of men for the ministry at home and for the field abroad is so inadequate. The Lord will not raise up men in sufficient numbers so long as the church fails to realize the need to pray the Lord of the harvest to send forth labourers into His harvest. If He should send them the church would not employ and support them. The present dearth of men is the natural and direct result of a conspicuous lack of prayer. There is only one way in which this dearth can be overcome. Our Lord has pointed out that way. When the church heeds His command and asks in faith and in earnest the men needed for every field will be forthcoming.

V

THE MISSIONARY SIGNIFICANCE OF THE
LORD'S PRAYER

After this manner therefore pray ye: heaven, Hallowed be Thy name.

Our Father who art in

Thy kingdom come. Thy
Give us this day our

will be done, as in heaven, so on earth.
daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.-MATT. 6:9–13.

Ο

UR Lord had just referred to the way the Gentiles prayed. They used vain repetitions, thinking they would be heard for their much speaking. They believed that, by saying the same prayer a great many times, they would earn what they expected to receive. Our Lord said to His disciples, "Be not therefore like unto them; for your Father knoweth what things you have need of before you ask Him." The prayer He taught them is remarkable for its form and for its contents. It is brief and is expressed in words that a child can understand. At the same time it is so comprehensive that it is a summary of all the principal matters for which we should pray. Marcus Dods says it would take a lifetime to fill these words with all their meaning, and eternity to give them their answer. The Lord's Prayer has been spoken of as "this pearl of great price, this purest crystal of devotion, to be a possession of His people forever, never to lose its lustre through millenniums of daily use; its beauty and preciousness becoming more and more manifest to each successive generation."

In this model prayer there are six petitions. These are divided into two groups of three each. The first group refers to

God, to the hallowing of His name, the coming of His kingdom, the doing of His will. The second group refers to our own needs, daily bread, forgiveness, guidance and deliverance. Only one petition in this prayer has respect to any bodily need. The order of these petitions is significant; it doubtless was intended to guide us in our praying. We are half way to the end before we make any personal request. We are thus taught that, in praying, the things of God should come first, His honour, His glory, His supremacy. We see where He places the emphasis, and where we should place it. Our first concern should not be about food and raiment, but about the kingdom of God and His righteousness.

As Christians we are to pray for ourselves, but if we are content with that we shall fail of the grace of God. "Religion," it has been said, "is indeed a personal thing, but it is not therefore a principle of social isolation. We must visit the closet; but into the closet we must carry the sympathies of the race, and bare before God a heart that can take in the whole world in its wide reach of intercession and fraternal regard." The first words of this prayer, "Our Father," show this. same thing appears in the petitions, "Give us this day our daily bread"; "Forgive us our debts"; "Bring us not into temptation"; "Deliver us from the evil one." At the throne of grace selfishness is out of place. A Christian seeks for blessing that he may be a channel of blessing.

"Who seeks for heaven alone to save his soul

May keep the path, but will not reach the goal;
While he who walks in love may wander far,

Yet God will bring him where the blessed are."

The

The missionary significance of this prayer is on the surface and is evident to all who have eyes to see.

The first three petitions

are clearly and unmistakably missionary in their character; the second three are scarcely less so.

When the disciples prayed they were to say :

No Old Testament Abraham was a friend of

I. "Our Father who art in heaven." saint addressed God in this fashion. God; Moses knew God face to face; David was a man after God's own heart; but no one of these said, "Our Father." No pagan addressed his god so. The gods of the heathen were capricious, unjust, unloving; they had no deep and abiding interest in the welfare of mankind. It was not with such gods that the disciples had to do; but with a Father who knew their needs before they expressed them, and who was both able and willing to supply every need according to His own riches in glory. In this same sermon Jesus said, "Or what man is there of you, who, if his son shall ask him for a loaf, will give him a stone; or if he shall ask for a fish, will give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?" Because God is our Father He will withhold no good thing from us; He will turn every event to our advantage; He will do for us far exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think. Our Lord addressed God as "My Father"; He taught us to address Him as "Our Father." Love is the essence of fatherhood, and God is love. It is because He is our Father that we can approach Him in the fullest assurance that He will hear and answer.

II. "Hallowed be Thy name." The name of God expresses His character as He has been pleased to reveal it. To Moses He said, "I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by the name of Jehovah I was not known to them." Here was a new disclosure of the divine nature. "Jehovah " signified the eternal and unchangeable one, who is, and who was, and who is to come. Later on He revealed Himself as the holy one of Israel. Later still He revealed Himself in Jesus Christ, who is the effulgence of His glory, and the very image of His substance. Christ embraced and expressed His entire perfection.

So He could say, "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father." "If ye had known Me ye would have known My Father also; from henceforth ye have known Him and have seen Him."

We cannot make the divine name holy; it is holy. The seraphim said, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God of hosts." But we can consider His name as holy, and reverence it as such. We hallow God's name when we dismiss all unworthy conceptions of His character, and regard Him as a being of infinite holiness, goodness, power, and love; when we regard His revelation of Himself as the one supreme standard of truth and righteousness; when we show Him the obedience and devotion due Him. "We hallow His name when we display holiness in our whole being and character, inwardly and outwardly, so that disposition, word and deed are regulated by the acknowledged perfection of God and brought into harmony with it." We hallow His name when we make Him known to others and show them that He is worthy of their love and trust and service. "Those that know Thy name will put their trust in Thee." To a missionary who was telling the people of God it was said, "Had we known Him we would be worshipping Him." Many are seeking after God as others are seeking for the prizes of this life. They go on long pilgrimages; they worship in the temples and burn incense before the idols; they fast and pray. They say, "My soul is athirst for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God?" We can hallow the divine name by giving these earnest souls a knowledge of God through Jesus Christ. There are those who stand aloof from God and profane His name because they are ignorant of Him. They think He is a hard master; that He requires them to forego innocent pleasures and things they highly prize. They think His service is bondage and weariness. They do not know that in His presence there is fullness of joy, that at His right hand are pleasures forevermore. We hallow His name by publishing the truth.