e, until the consummation. God's
rule is established through the hallowing of His name; for it is a rule
which works on men through their understandings, and seeks no ignorant
submission.

The sum of this first half is, 'Thy will be done, as in Heaven, so on
earth.' Obedience to that will is the end of God's self-revelation. It
makes all the difference whether we begin with the thought of the name
or of the will. In the latter case, religion will be slavish and
submission sullen. There is no more horrible and paralysing conception
of God than that of mere sovereign will. But if we think of Him as
desiring that we should know His name, and as gathering all its
syllables into the one perfect 'Word of God'; then we are sure that His
will must be intelligible and good. Obedience becomes delight, and the
surrender of our wills to His the glad expression of love. He who begins
with 'Thy will be done' is a slave, and never really does the will at
all; he who begins with 'Our Father, hallowed be Thy name,' is a son,
and his will, gladly yielding, is free in surrender, strong in
self-abnegation, and restful in putting the reins into God's hands.

The two halves make a whole. The second, which deals with our needs,
starts with the cry for bread, and climbs up slowly through the ills of
life, from bodily hunger to trespasses and human unkindness and personal
weakness, and a world of temptation, and the double evil of sin and of
sorrow, and so regains at last the starting-point of the first half,
Heaven and God. The probable meaning of the difficult word rendered
'daily' seems to be 'sufficient for our need.' The lessons of the
petition are that God's children have a claim for the supply of their
wants, since He is bound, as a faithful Creator, not to send mouths
without sending meat to fill them, but that our desires should be
limited to our actual necessities, and our cravings, as well as our
efforts for the bread that perishes, made into prayers. Such a prayer
rightly used would put an end to much wicked luxury among Christians,
and to many questionable ways of getting wealth. 'Bless my cheating, my
sharp practice, my half lies!' If we dare not pray this prayer over what
we do in 'earning our living,' we had better ask ourselves whether we
are not rather earning our death.

Sin is debt Incurred to God. So Christ taught in the previous chapter by
His parable of agreeing with the adversary; and in the other parables
of the two