Father, if this cup may not pass from Me, except I drink it, Thy Will be done" (S. Matt. xxvi. 42). And if, when we use it, we picture Him to ourselves agonising beneath the olivetrees of Gethsemane, and "watch with Him" there, we too shall "pray more earnestly" (S. Luke xxii. 42), and shall be better able to surrender our will to "our Father Which is in Heaven." The word "Thy" excludes other wills. pray First, we 1. "Thy Will be done "-not Satan's. S. Peter tells us what his will is concerning us: "Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Ep. v. 8). Our Lord warned His disciples what Satan's will was concerning them: "Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat" (S. Luke xxii. 31), and He tells us that wicked men "will to do the lusts of their father” the devil (τὰς ἐπιθυμίας τοῦ πατρὸς ὑμῶν θέλετε Toleîv--S. John viii. 44). But we pray here that his malicious purposes against us may be thwarted, and that those who are now willing to do his works may do the Will of our Father Which is in Heaven. 2. Again, "Not my will, but Thine be done" (S. Luke xxii. 42). We often wish for things which it would be injurious for us to receive : "Our very wishes give us not our wish : How distant oft the thing we doat on most As Rachel said, "Give me children, or I die," and died in child-bearing (Gen. xxxv. 16—19). We pray here that our will may be so conformed to God's Will, that ours may be, as it were, annihilated, and God's Will reign in its stead; or rather that our will may be so perfectly in harmony with His, that 1 Young's "Night Thoughts." when His Will is fulfilled we may not be able to wish for anything better or happier; as George Herbert says— "O let Thy sacred Will All Thy delight in me fulfil ! Let me not think an action mine own way But as Thy Love shall sway, Resigning up the rudder to Thy skill!" that we may be so one with Him, and He with us, that His Will may command ours, and ours be fulfilled in His. 1 By slow degrees we are trained and disciplined till we can really make this Prayer our own. By the early restraints of childhood which are so necessary, and the lack of which, or the resistance and refusal of which entails such sure and lasting sorrow in after life; then, by self-denial, as we grow older, curbing our appetites, and forbearing even from many lawful pleasures, that we may find it easier to forego those which are unlawful;3 and then, by sorrows and sufferings sent from Heaven to subdue and humble us and check the mutinies of self against the Sovereignty of God; by all these means we are gradually helped towards the attainment of that mastery over ourselves for which in this petition we are taught to pray. Even Abraham, the Father of the faithful and "the Friend of God" (Is. xli. 1, 8; S. James ii. 23), grew in conformity to God's Will. It was hard at first to "cast out the bondwoman 1 "Da mihi hoc semper desiderare et velle, quod Tibi magis acceptum est, et carius placet. Tua voluntas mea sit, et mea voluntas Tuam semper sequatur, et optime ei concordet. Sit mihi unum velle et nolle Tecum, nec aliud posse velle aut nolle, nisi quod Tu vis et nolis" (De Imit. Christi, 1. iii. c. 15). "O be mine still! still make me Thine; Or rather make no Thine and mine " (G. Herbert). "Hæc una patientium cura; bene et agere et pati: cætera curabit Ille " (Bengel). 2 "Quia utile est juventuti regi, impositi sunt illi quasi magistratus domestici, sub quibus contineretur" (Sen. de ben., 1. iii. c. 11). 3"Quædam licita vitanda propter vicinitatem illiciti" (S. Aug.).— ταχύ καταπίπτουσιν ἐπὶ τὸ δρᾶν τὸ μὴ ἐξὸν, οἱ πάντα δρῶντες ἃ ἐξόν (Clem. Alex. Pædag., 1. ii. c. 1). and her son," so strongly did his natural feelings cling round Ishmael (Gen. xvii. 18); but afterwards, without a moment's controversy, he proceeded, at God's command, to offer up Isaac, the child of promise. We, too, must grow into closer and closer conformity to God's Will. Little opportunities of selfdenial must be embraced, if we would not fail when larger are presented to us. By fasting and abstinence, by daily and hourly yielding our own will and our own way to others, by continual mortifications of our natural desires, and by secret severities against ourselves (ὑπωπιάζω μου τὸ σῶμα καὶ δουλαγωγώ-1 Cor. ix. 27; ἀλλ ̓ εκδίκησιν—2 Cor. vii. 11) we shall, by God's grace, not only abstain from evil, but become more and more able to resist and overcome it; and not only do God's Will, but learn to delight to do it. "2 Thus shall we become " more than conquerors (Rom. viii. 37); and our conquests, though unknown on earth, shall be greater and nobler than those which here win for the victors glory and renown; as it is written, "He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city " (Prov. xvi. 32). And by thus learning to obey, we shall be learning also to rule, and thus be training 4 σώφρονες, καὶ γενόμενοι 1 ἐκ δὲ καὶ ἀπέχεσθαι τῶν ἡδονῶν γινόμεθα μάλιστα δυνάμεθα ἀπέχεσθαι αὐτῶν (Aristot. Εth. ii. 2). 2 Brave conquerors! for so ye are That war against your own affections, (Love's Labour Lost, Act i.) 3" Latius regnes avidum domando Spiritum, quam si Libyam remotis Serviat uni" (Hor. Carm. ii. 9—12). "Yet he who reigns within himself, and rules (Par. Lost, II. 466-7.) τὸ ὑποπεσεῖν καὶ παραχωρῆσαι τοῖς πάθεσιν, ἐσχάτη δουλεία· ὥσπερ τὸ KрATEÎV TOÚTWV Èλev0epía μóvn (Just. Mart. Fragm.). 4 "Nemo secure præest, nisi qui libenter subest. Nemo secure præcipit, nisi qui bene obedire didicit" (De Imit. Christi, 1. i. c. 20). ourselves for the glories and dignities that await us (S. Luke xix. 17-19; 2 Tim. ii. 12), for "Who best Can suffer, best can do: best reign, who first And thus also shall we enjoy unspeakable peace and happiness even here upon earth,2 and enter here below on that service which will be alike our business and our beatitude in the courts above, being conquerors of self, and lords of the world, friends of Christ, and heirs of Heaven.3 1 Par. Regained, Book iii. 3 2" Voluptatem vicisse, voluptas est maxima: nec ulla major est victoria, quam ea quæ de cupiditatibus refertur" (Auctor Ignot. de bono pudicitia). 3"Qui melius scit pati, majorem habebit pacem. Iste est victor sui et dominus mundi, amicus Christi, et hæres coeli" (De Imit. Christi, ii. c. 3). 159 "IN EARTH, AS IT IS IN HEAVEN." Ir would seem as if nothing could be added to our duty or to our happiness beyond what is expressed in the petition, "Thy Will be done." Neither can there: of Heaven itself one of the most blessed descriptions is, "His servants shall serve Him" (Rev. xxii. 3). When we have learned to offer this petition perfectly and with our whole heart, we shall be ready for a better world. But none of our Lord's words are superfluous; and in so short a prayer as this, in which all that concerns us is so wonderfully contained, we may be sure there are depths of meaning in every clause beyond our powers to fathom. It is well for us to lay an emphasis on the words, "on earth": for 1. We have cause to be thankful, seeing that our work is so unfinished that we are not yet under the earth, but are still permitted to labour on at the work which God has given us to do and we should be heedful to make the most of the opportunities continued to us, knowing that "the night cometh, when no man can work” (S. John ix. 4). 2. Again, we should deem it a great privilege to be allowed to do God's Will, inasmuch as we are not only on the earth, but "of the earth, earthy" (1 Cor. xv. 47); and therefore we should humble ourselves, and yield a ready service and subjection to Him Who deigns to accept of our poor efforts, and Whom it is a priceless honour to be permitted to serve.2 1 "Deest particula ouro, Luc. vi. 31; Joh. xx. 21; Acts vii. 51: &s οἱ πατέρες, καὶ ὑμεῖς ” (Wetstein). 2 "Disce obtemperare, pulvis: disce te humiliare, terra et limus, et sub omnium pedibus incurvare. Disce voluntates tuas frangere, et ad omnem subjectionem te dare" (De Imit. Christi, 1. iii. c. 13). |