instead of being slavish is filial; instead of being
reluctant submission to a mightier force, is glad conformity to the
fountain of love and goodness; instead of being sullen resignation, is
trustful reliance; instead of being painful execution of unwelcome
duties, is spontaneous expression in acts which are easy of the
indwelling 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,' is a son, and obeys from the heart.

This, then, is one reason for the order in which the clauses of the
prayer follow each other, perhaps the chief reason.

Let us consider--

I. Obedience is here set forth as the end of all divine revelation.

II. As the issue in man of all religious thought and emotion.

III. As the sum of all Christ's and our desires for men.

IV. As the bond which unites all creation into one.

I. Obedience to the will of God is the end of all divine revelation.

God's name is made known before His will is proclaimed. That order
suggests as to God's will--

1. That it is not mere naked omnipotent authority.

2. That it is not inscrutable.

3. That its scope and direction are to be determined by His name. All
these thoughts are included in this, that it is the will of a loving,
good God, the will of a Father.

How that destroys all harsh, awful ideas such as those of a stony fate,
or a cold necessity, or an omnipotent tyrant, or an inscrutable
sovereign.

How Christianity has been affected by these ideas--extreme Calvinism,
for instance; but it is more profitable to think how the tendency to
them lies in us all.

II. Obedience is the issue of all religion.

The knowledge of the name, and the hallowing of it must go first. Note--

1. How inward the nature of obedience is. This sequence of petitions
shifts the centre from without to within, from actions to dispositions.

2. How nothing is obedience that is not cheerful and loving. Not
constrained, not sullen, not task-work.

3. How naturally dominant over all life the principles of God's truth
are. Let them be known, and all the rest will follow. They have power to
control all acts, great and small.

4. How impossible practical righteousness is without religion. The Name
is the true basis of morality. We hear a great deal about life rather
than creed; the Gospel is both. The one foundation of theoretical and
practical morals is the will of God.

5. How maimed and