The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 1 — Section 252

the soul that hath not love hath no forgiveness. The Lord shows the importance of this law of love by returning again to it. It is the one clause of the pr.ayer which he enforces by an additional warning. God will not forgive the unforgiving; such men turn the prayer which the Lord himself has taught us into a curse upon them- selves. ,ve must le.am of him who said, 11 Father, forgive them," the blessecl lesson of forgiveness; we must learn it for our soul's salvation, for II be that loveth not his brother abideth in death." 7. The si:J:th petition. "Lead us not into temptation... God, we believe, so putteth away the sins of those who truly repent that he- remcmbereth them no more. He cleanseth from all unrighteousness those who confess their sins. We have made our confession now; we have asked for forgiveness; we· have pledged ourselves to lead a life of Christian love, to forgive those who have offended us. But still the Lord bids us pray," Lead us not into temptation, deliver us from evil." The strife with sin will not be ended while we remain in the fiesh. We, ueed the grace of God every day, we shall need it to the end. God tempteth no man;: he solicits no man to sinful compliance; that is the work of Satan. But God doth prove us; he doth suffer his people to be disciplined with many trials for the more confirmation of their faith. His providence ordereth all things both in heaven and earth; we ask him so to order the circumstances of our lives as not to suffer us to be tempted above that we are able. It is a prayer of humility. We know our weakness; we mistrust ourselves; we fear the power of the tempter. This prayer should teach us never to expose ourselves to temptations unnecessarily. We must not run into that danger against which we pray. It should teach us not to judge our brethren hastily; God only knows the power of the temptations which beset them. 8. The seventh petition. It is deeper, more wide-reaching than the sixth. Temptations from without. would not endanger n.s if there were not evil in our hearts. We ask to be delivered from it. "Draw us away from the evil," we say (as the words literally mean), quite away from it; away from evil of every kind, away from the power of the evil one, away from the defiling contact with evil in the world, away from the snares of thos& sins which do so easily beset us. Evil is all around us. The evil one is always alluring us with his accursed temptations. The world is very evil; it lieth in wickedness--perhaps, rather, in the evil one, in the sphere of his activity, his influence (1 John v. 19). Our own heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; our will is weak and corrupted. There is need of a power greater than our own to. draw us away from the dominion of the strong man armed; there is need of a mighty counteracting attraction to draw us away from the lust of the fieeb, and the lust of the- eye, and the pride of life. 'l'hat power is the grace of God; hie is the kingdom and the power. That attraction is the love of Christ, the constraining influence of the cross. •• Draw me, we will run after thee." This prayer pledges us to follow the drawing of God, to enter into the Lord's battle against the devil, the world, and the fiesh. W& pray daily to be delivered from evil; we must strive against it, fighting the good figh~. of faith; or the words of prayer, though they are the holy words of the Lord Jesus Christ himself, will not avail to help us. 9. The doxology. We may be compeµed by the stem laws of criticism to omit it from the text; but we shall never omit it from our prayers. If it is a liturgical addition, it was made by holy men, men full of the Holy Ghost. It is a precious ending to a precious prayer. The address and the doxology bind the seven petitions together into one P?rf~c_t prayer. A!l ~ow ~ut of the address. He is our Father; he will hear the cry of bis cnildren. All rise 10 faith to the doxology. His is the kingdom and the power and the glory. '.1'he kingdom is hi_s. He is King of kings. His kingdom will come in his own good time; then ~h~ll hlS. Name be hallowed, and bis will be done in earth as it is now in heaven. HlS 1s -the, power. He can give us what is neetlful for our bodies; he can feed us w_ith the bread. of life; he can take away our sins and give us the victory over temptation, ~n~ save us from every form of evil. His is the glory. Here is our hope of glory, Christ 1n us;. for he saith, "The glory which thou gaveHt me I have given them." In ~he !as~ wor~- of the Lord's Prayer we echo the first words of the angelic anthem with which his. birth was hailed. His is the kingdom and the power and the glo!J', and t_h~t for e".er. Here is our hope of everlastio<> life. His dominion is an everlastmg domm1on, which shall not pass away. His sa~ts shall reign with him. We say our "Amon;" it is. the response of the bettever. May God the Holy Ghost make that "amen" the tru• "11, VI.1-34,] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. 245