their one
thought.

And bless especially the inner chamber of all Thy servants who
are working for Thee, as the place where God's truth and God's
grace is revealed to them, where they are daily anointed with
fresh oil, where their strength is renewed, and the blessings are
received in faith, with which they are to bless their fellow-men.
Lord, draw us all in the closet nearer to Thyself and the Father.
Amen.

'AFTER THIS MANNER PRAY;'

OR

THE MODEL PRAYER.

'After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in
heaven.'--MATT. vi. 9.

Every teacher knows the power of example. He not only tells the
child what to do and how to do it, but shows him how it really
can be done. In condescension to our weakness, our Heavenly
Teacher has given us the very words we are to take with us as we
draw near to our Father. We have in them a form of prayer in
which there breathe the freshness and fulness of the Eternal
Life. So simple that the child can lisp it, so divinely rich that
it comprehends all that God can give. A form of prayer that
becomes the model and inspiration for all other prayer, and yet
always draws us back to itself as the deepest utterance of our
souls before our God.

'_Our Father which art in heaven!_' To appreciate this word of
adoration aright, I must remember that none of the saints had in
Scripture ever ventured to address God as their Father. The
invocation places us at once in the centre of the wonderful
revelation the Son came to make of His Father as our Father too.
It comprehends the mystery of redemption--Christ delivering us
from the curse that we might become the children of God. The
mystery of regeneration--the Spirit in the new birth giving us
the new life. And the mystery of faith--ere yet the redemption is
accomplished or understood, the word is given on the lips of the
disciples to prepare them for the blessed experience still to
come. The words are the key to the whole prayer, to all prayer.
It takes time, it takes life to study them; it will take eternity
to understand them fully. The knowledge of God's Father-love is
the first and simplest, but also the last and highest lesson in
the school of prayer. It is in the personal relation to the
living God, and the personal conscious fellowship of love with
Himself, that prayer begins. It is in the knowledge of God's
Fatherliness, revealed by the Holy Spirit, that the power of
prayer will be found to root and grow.