by hi~ pre~ence (Matt. xvi ii. 20); (3) the .saints delight in it (Ps. xiii. 4) • (4) they are to be exhorted to the exercise of it (Heb. x. 25); (5) it is not to be condu'cted in e.n unknown tongue (1 Cor. xiv. 14-16). 2. The variety r:f terms in which it i, here descrihed implies the d£versity of circumstances in whi~h (iod's 7 eople are placed. (1) "Petitions." This term expresses the sense of insufficiency an<l need, e.nd may be 6 specie.I form of R particular prayer. (2) " Prayers." This is prayer in genera.I, as repre• Renting the spirit of <levotion. (3) "Supplications." Thi8 signifies e. closer dee.ling with God,& more childlike confidence in prayer. (4) "Thanksgivings." 'l'his suggests that ~lement which ought never to be absent from our supplications-gratitude for past mercies. II. FoR WHOM ARE WE TO PRAY? "For all men." 1. It would not be acceptab~ prayer if we were to pray only .for oursdves. It is not Christ-like to look down with a sense of superiority upon the mass of men as sunk in perdition. 2. We are bound to love all men, and therefore to 1way for their welfare. Much of our happiness depends upon our identifying ourselves lovingly with others. III. PRAYERS ARE SPECIALLY TO BE JUDE FOR KINGS AND ALL IN HIGH PLAOE. "For kings and for all in high place." 1. Such persons pre-eminently need our prayers. (1) They wield great power for good or evil; (2) they are exposed to many danaers; (3) they are liable to greater temptations than other men. 2. God has pow~ to influence their public action. (1) The hearts of kings are in his hands; (2) he sets them up and he removes them (Dan. ii. 21); (3) he can establish their throne in righteousness and justice (Prov. xvi. 12). 3. Kings can do much to promote the well- being of the Church ef God. "That we may pass a quiet and tranquil life in all godli- ness and gravity." We should pray for kings, because they can promote our outward peace and our inward tranquillity, by restraining the bad and encouraging the good. Kings can thus protect us in the exercise of our religion and in the practice of godliness. Wicked kings can expose the godly to cruel risks, and expose their gravity to unseemly perils. 4. The duty of praying for kings is not affected by the consideration that they are pagans, or oppressors, or persecutors. (1) Christians will pray the more earnestly for them that God will change their hearts. All the kings were pagans in the days of the apostle, and many of them persecutors. (2) It was specially necessary to enjoin prayer for kings upon Christian communities, consisting largely of Jews who had an intense longing to throw off the Roman yoke. It is a curious fact that it was the cessation of prayer by the Jews on behalf of the Roman emperor that led to the final war four years after this injunction W:JB given by the apostle. It may have been owing to his injunction that the Christians were not involved in the disasters of that fatal rebellion.-T. C. Vere. 3, 4..-The benefici,al, and acceptabl,e nature of such catholic prayer. " For this is good and acceptable tefore God our Saviour." L Sues PRAYER FOB ALL SORTS OF MEN IS GOOD. It is good: 1. Because it springs from a good motive, a loving ,:nierest in our fellow-men. 2. Because it is directed to a good 61Ul, the promotion of their highest weifare. 3. Bea,use it is a divinely commanded duty. II. Sucu PRAYER IB ACCEPTABLE BEFORE Goo oUB SAVIOUR. It meets God's highest approval because it i.Ji in accordance with his own graci'JUS designs toward the sons of men. ill. REASON OB GROUND FOR THIS UNIVERSAUTY OF OUR PUBLIC PRAYERS. It is gooo and acceptable "before God our Saviour, who will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth." He wills that all men should be saved, therefore we should pray for all men. Our prayers will thus be in conformity with his will. 1. Con- sider tltl!, nature. of the salvation here descrih,,,l. (I) JI iR not mere salvation from intellectU&l error, for it is that which is involved in "the lull knowledge of the truth." (2) lt is not mere salvability, as if he made the salvation of all men possible. (3) It is not salvation merely ollered for man's acceptance, but i;alvation actU&lly obtained and enjoyed. 'l'he immediate end is" the knowkdge of the truth," the ultimate end salva• tion in ite completeness. 2. Consider the relation of the Divine will to this salvation. "Who will have all men to be saved." (1) Tliere is nothing in the language to justify the theory of Univenialists that all men will ultimately be saved. (a) 'l'he apostle \11108 OR, II, 1-16,] THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY.
tho tenn llb... , uot the stronger term /Jou>..1-ra,, which implies will with a pnrpo~" or intent. (b) If he had used the term ,rii,(a,, he must have ~aved all; but the word i• ""'IJ~va,, implying his will thnt they should be brought, through the lrnowle<lf(e of the truth, to salvation. (c) If we are to interpret the will of God by his provi<lence, we must understand it in consistency with the fact. that the large majority of mankind have never heard of salvation and have no knowledge of it. (rl) It must be remembered that many must have failed to reach this salvation before Christ <lied at alL (2) The langunge of u11iversality is consistent with other language of Scripture. (a) Christ says," And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me" (,John xii. 32); "All men shall see the salvation of the Lord" (Luke iii. 6). The Messiah " shall pour out his Spirit upon all flesh" (Joel ii. 28). Christ" died for all," and he may therefore be truly called Salvator hominum. He died for all to arrest the immediate execution of the sentence of the Law upon man for sin; to obtain for him unnumhered blessings in this life, that be might secure a proper foundation for the offer of salvation through bis blood. (b) But the design of God in the dcrtth of Christ had not the same relation tu all. He is "the Saviour of all, but especially of them that believe." He is the Saviour of his people, of his Church, of the elect. (c) The language of universality used in the passage was suggested by way of contrast to the reKt1ictivenes~ of Gnostic teaching, which led the apvstle to say to the Colossians that his aim was" to present every man perfect in Christ" (Col. i. 28); perhaps, likewise, the restrictiveness of a narrow Judaism, for he emphasizes in the context his mission as "a teacher of the Gentiles." There is deep mystery in God's counsels. But be here sets forth his good will to man, and charges it on the conscience of believers to pray that all without exception should be brought to the knowledge of the truth.-T. C.