and Christian principle. Those who abuse Christianity admire the Christian charity which it inspiree. II. OHRISTLY-1'0NED OHABITIF.8 WIN ll!IEN'B CONll'IDENCE. This is clearly shown in the very patent fact that, whene-ver there is a local or a national calamity, application is first made for help to the (Jhristian people. There is a universal public confidence that, if any good work needs to be done, the Christians will be found ready for the doing. This is their open reward. Place, influence, power, in every generation comes into the hands of the sincerely good; and in this way God gives the reward which men are ever seeking, to those who do not s~k it.-R. T. Ver. 5.-Hypocrite prayers. Properly, the hypocrite is simply the "actor;" but the word has come to mean "one who acts a part with a view to deceive others, and get undeserved praise for himself." Standing at prayer was usual. Praying in the syna- gogues was usual. Praying in the streets, if you happen to be in the streets when the prayer-call sounds, is quite usual in the Mohammedan East of ter-day. Our Lord does not reprove these things. Our Lord referred to a bad custom of his day. Men went into the synagogues, and stood ape.rt as if absorbed in prayer, while secretly they were glancing round to see the impression which their superior devotion was making. "Prayer standing is the characteristic of the Jews to this day; and though not often to be seen on the streets in the East, is frequent on shipboard." I. TEST THE CABE SUPPOSED BY THE PROPER OBJECT OF PRAYER. Here is a man who prays so as to draw attention to himself-prays for the sake of getting men's admiration of his praying. Now, is that the proper aim to set before us in praying? Does it matter what our fellow-men may think of us? We ought to pray simply to gain God's help and blessing. Prayer should be the expression of conscious need ; it should be the utterance of fervent desire; it should be wholly concerned with the need, and with God, from whom the supply of the need is sought. "Men heed thee not; men praise thee not. The Master praises; what are men?" II. TEST THE CABE SUPPOSED BY THE PBOPEB SPIBIT OF PRAYER. Prayer I.a uttered dependence. Prayer is supplication. It is precisely the feeling of dissatisfaction with self which inspires us to pray. And anything like self-exhibition is altogether foreign to prayer. A man must be satisfied with himself who confidently makes an exhibition of himself; and such a men wants nothing, and has nothing to pray for. In illustra- tion of this point, reference may- be made to the subtle peril which lies in emotional moods. There is a pride in religious /lllings, which gets expression in "beautiful prayers; and when pride is at the heart of them they cease to be prayers at all. There is much danger of insincerity in extempore public prayers, which must fail to be real prayers if they are "addressed to an audience," and intended to be admired by them rather than heard and answered by God.-R. T. Ver. 6.-The law of personal prayer. That which relates to the individual. Private prayer. "Prayer is the offering up of our desires to God, for things agreeable to bis will, in the Name of Christ, with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgment of his mercies." Our Lord assumes that his disciples will recognize the need for private prayer, and feel the impulse to pli.vate prayer, as distinct from the claim to join in the public prayers of synagogue and temple. " Come, let us worship and bow down : let us kneel before the Lord our Maker." "Enter into thy closet," etc. Our Lord's laws for private prayer seem to take a fourfold form. L HA VE A PLACE. The "closet" here is really the " store-oham ber" of the house. Usually a dark closet, in which the articles used by night are stored away by day, In an Eastern house privacy could be secured in it. Our Lord made a place of prayer on the hillside or in the garden. St. Peter made a place of the quiet housetop. Washington was seen to retire daily to a grove in the vicinity of the camp at Valley Forge. 'l'he late Genera.I Gordon daily put a sign outside his tent to indicate that be wished to be aL me for a while. The sailor-boy made a pll!.Ce at the mast-head; the little, servant made a place in the coal-cellar. Of this it may be said, "Where there'• a will there's a way," 276 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MAT'rHEW. [ou. VL 1-34:.
II. BE ALONE. And feel alone. "Shut the door." "One great ndvantage of a chamber set apart for prayer is that it keeps us free from many distractions. Our hearts are ready enough of themselves to wander; " and eo we need every outward help we can gain. The sense of being undisturbed is most helpful to concentration of thought. Illustrate how God took Moses and Elijah to be "alone with him," before he could speak freely to them. There is nothing so solemnizing as the feeling of being shut up with God. III. SPEAK FBEELY, Then we may do so, because there is no one near to hear us and either admire or reproach us. We can be simply and entirely our own true salve; before God. Even in private prayer Easterns spoke aloud; and for us to do so would give directness, point, and power to our petitions. lV. CHERISH OONFIDENOE, Always keep in mind that you are speaking to the Father, and may have the good child's assurance. And confidence asks much, John Bunyan tells how beggars used to carry with them a bowl when they went to beg at a house. Some of them brought only small bowls; and so, however rich and bountiful the householder might be, he could not give them more than their bowl could contain; others brought great bowls, and carried them home full.-R. •r.