not only King, but Father; He not only gives
all, but is Himself all. In the knowledge and fellowship of Him
alone is its blessedness. Hence it came as a matter of course
that the revelation of prayer and the prayer-life was a part of
His teaching concerning the New Kingdom He came to set up. Moses
gave neither command nor regulation with regard to prayer: even
the prophets say little directly of the duty of prayer; it is
Christ who teaches to pray.

And the first thing the Lord teaches His disciples is that they
must have a secret place for prayer; every one must have some
solitary spot where he can be alone with his God. Every teacher
must have a schoolroom. We have learnt to know and accept Jesus
as our only teacher in the school of prayer. He has already
taught us at Samaria that worship is no longer confined to times
and places; that worship, spiritual true worship, is a thing of
the spirit and the life; the whole man must in his whole life be
worship in spirit and truth. And yet He wants each one to choose
for himself the fixed spot where He can daily meet him. That
inner chamber, that solitary place, is Jesus' schoolroom. That
spot may be anywhere; that spot may change from day to day if we
have to change our abode; but that secret place there must be,
with the quiet time in which the pupil places himself in the
Master's presence, to be by Him prepared to worship the Father.
There alone, but there most surely, Jesus comes to us to teach us
to pray.

A teacher is always anxious that his schoolroom should be bright
and attractive, filled with the light and air of heaven, a place
where pupils long to come, and love to stay. In His first words
on prayer in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus seeks to set the
inner chamber before us in its most attractive light. If we
listen carefully, we soon notice what the chief thing is He has
to tell us of our tarrying there. Three times He uses the name of
Father: 'Pray to _thy Father_;' '_Thy Father_ shall recompense
thee;' _Your Father_ knoweth what things ye have need of.' The
first thing in closet-prayer is: I must meet my Father. The light
that shines in the closet must be: the light of the Father's
countenance. The fresh air from heaven with which Jesus would
have filled the atmosphere in which I am to breathe and pray, is:
God's Father-love, God's infinite Fatherliness. Thus each thought
or petition we breathe out will be simple, hearty, childlike
trust in the Father. Th