3

soul is stronger and closer than that of the body."1 And this feeling will also remove from us the sin of pride and supercilious disdain, which is specially alien from the spirit of Carist (S. Matt. xi. 29). God is not "a God of the hills only, but "of the valleys" also (1 Kings xx. 23, 28); as S. Chrysostom says, "to the rich and poor alike God has given the same nobility, inasmuch as He has designed to be called the Father of all alike."2 "If," as another Father says, "the emperor and the soldier, the lord and the slave, the rich and the all poor, say this same prayer, surely this one word 'our' must exclude all pride."4 If Christ Himself "is not ashamed to call" all believers His "brethren" (Heb. ii. 11) because "He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one," how little cause have they who are all partakers of that common sanctification, however much their outward circumstances in this world may differ, to be ashamed one of another! How could any of us dare to look down upon one another, if we duly remembered that "One is our Father Which is in Heaven," and "One is our Master, even Christ, and all we are brethren" (S. Matt. xxiii. 8, 9).

If only we would faithfully use this Prayer, who can say how much it would counteract that narrow-heartedness and party spirit which is so great a reproach among us, and foster and develope that charity and unity on which, as our Lord

1 "Si ab uno Deo inspirati omnes et animati sumus, quid aliud quam fratres sumus, et quidem conjunctiores quod animis, quam quod corporibus" (Lact. 10, 6).

2 πᾶσι γὰρ μίαν ἐχαρίσατο εὐγένειαν, πάντων ὁμοίως κληθῆναι καταElwoas Harp (in S. Matt. Hom. 19).

3 "Hoc enim dicit imperator, hoc etiam miles: hoc dominus, hoc servus : hoc dives, hoc pauper" (Haymonis Homil.).

4 "Qui dicit noster' excludit superbiam (Hugo de S. Vict. opp., pars 1, exeget. dub.).—" Admonentur etiam hic divites, vel genere nobiles secundum sæculum, cum Christiani facti fuerint, non superbire adversus pauperes et ignobiles, quoniam simul dicunt Deo, Pater noster: quod non possunt vere et pie dicere, nisi se fratres esse cognoscant" (S. Aug. de serm. Dom. in monte).

declares, so much depends the conversion of the world (S. John xvii. 21). And surely it is a blessed comfort, amidst all the clamour of contending parties, the jealousies of rival factions, and "the strife of tongues" (Ps. xxxi. 20), to be able to embrace all, as we remember them at the Mercy seat; and to feel that, however much on many points they may be constrained to differ, all God's children have at least this one common bond, that each and all, and each for all, they daily meet before the Throne of Grace, crying, "Our Father."

"WHICH ART IN HEAVEN.”

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As the former words, "Our Father," encourage us to come before God with confidence and filial love, so these words, “Which art in Heaven," remind us of the distance which still exists between Him and us, and of the reverence and awe with which we should ever enter into His Presence. For if there is a close union between Father and children, there is also a wide separation between Heaven and earth. Hence Solomon says, "Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God: for God is in Heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few " (Eccles. v. 2). Abraham was "the Friend of God” (Isaiah xli. 8; S. James ii. 23), and God spake to him as He spake to Moses, as a man speaketh unto his friend" (Eccles. xxxiii. 11); and yet so deeply sensible was the patriarch of the Majesty and Holiness of Him with Whom He spake, that he said, "Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes" (Gen. xviii. 27). The fact of God being “our Father," so far from producing within us familiarity and presumption, ought to excite within us filial fear and reverence. "A son honoureth his father," God says by His prophet; "if then I be a Father, where is Mine honour?" (Mal. i. 6.) "There is mercy with Thee," the Psalmist says ; "therefore shalt Thou be feared" (Ps. cxxx. 4). Therefore S. Cyprian's rule is that which we must follow more and more, "To love Him as He is a Father, to fear Him as God."

"1

The religious spirit in man, in all ages and countries, has

1 "Amare in Illo quod Pater est, timere quod Deus est."-" Deus quantum Patris pietate indulgens semper et bonus est, tantum Judicis majestate metuendus est" (S. Cypr. de lapsis).

felt that the sky was in some special manner the dwelling-place of God. Homer represents the gods as "inhabiting the Olympian Homes.” 1 Aristotle says that all men, whether Greeks or Barbarians, assign to the gods the highest places in the world, as most fitted to their nature and perfections, and in their height and repose, their boundlessness and unchangeableness the most suitable for the divine habitation.2 Cicero speaks of the "earth as a place contrary to the divine nature and eternity." And hence, on hills and in "high places" temples were built in Pagan countries, to the gods and goddesses which were worshipped in those times. Even in the earlier ages of the Jewish Church the tops of mountains were chosen for places for religious worship; and as the Temple was built on a hill, so we find our Lord Himself "going up into a mountain to pray" (S. Matt. xiv. 23; S. Luke viii. 28; xxi. 37), showing that He felt, as holy men in all ages have felt, that it was a relief to leave the world behind Him, and to breathe a purer atmosphere, above the clouds of earthly sorrows, and the noise of worldly distractions; and to have nothing intervening between Him and the Father, “the things which were seen and temporal lying beneath His feet. will lift up mine eyes to the hills," is the cry not of the inspired prophet only, but of humanity.

"I

In S. Luke's version of this Prayer, several of the MSS. omit the words ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, but the greater number retain them. It is observable, however, that, as Bishop Wordsworth remarks, the expression "the Kingdom of Heaven" (βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν) is never found in one single place

1 ὑμῖν μὲν θεοὶ δοῖεν, Ολύμπια δώματ' ἔχοντες (Π. i. 18).

2 πάντες γὰρ ἄνθρωποι περὶ Θεῶν ἔχουσιν ὑπόληψιν, καὶ πάντες τὸν ἀνωτάτω τῷ θειῷ ἀποδιδόασι, καὶ βάρβαροι καὶ Ἕλληνες, ὅσοιπερ εἶναι νομίζουσι θεοὺς, δηλονότι ὡς τῷ ἀθανάτῳ τὸ ἀθάνατον συνηρτημένον (de cœlo, 1. i., c. 3).

8"In terram, locum divinæ naturæ æternitatique contrarium" (de senect. 21).

D

in his Gospel, but always "the Kingdom of God" (Barinela TOû coû); for his Gospel was written specially for the Gentiles: and the Evangelist, perhaps, would not use the former expression from fear lest he should seem to countenance the heathen idea of a local deity, and represent the Religion of Christ as a new form of polytheism.1

Olearius (quoted by Wolf) says that these words are added by our Lord, not without design that as the Jews were specially commanded to worship God in the temple at Jerusalem, and even when at a distance from it, they turned their faces thitherward (1 Kings viii. 48; Dan. vi. 10), our Lord would here teach them that the time was now come, when they should no longer confine their worship within “temples made with hands" (Acts xvii. 24), but should find God everywhere present, and ready to accept the prayers of all everywhere who should "worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship Him" (St. John iv. 21—24); and that as the Gentiles associated the idea of God with idols and temples, or, at the best, with certain regions of the sky in which they supposed Him to dwell, our Lord, that He might draw them away from such superstitions, calls God their "Father Which is in Heaven," teaching them that He is everywhere present, and that He may be everywhere worshipped, for He filleth all things (Jer. xxiii. 23, 24.)2

1 "Hinc, ut ad Græcos revertamur, præ timore ne illi aut fervidâ imaginandi vi præ cæteris præditi, sibi in fide Christianâ novam quandam polytheismi formam, et Theologiam sensibilem et quasi TоTIKh comminiscerentur, ne uno quidem in loco Christi religio a Lucâ dicitur Baσiλeía Tŵv ovρavŵv, quod contra plusquam tricies fit apud Matthæum, sed semper Barinela Toû eoû" (Introduction to S. Luke's Gospel, p.

167)

"Non præter rem hæc verba Salvatoris Sanctissimum addidisse recte observat Olearius, p. 177, sq. Respici is putat mores Judæorum, qui adorandum Deum in primis volebant in templo Hierosolymitano, adeo ut si in eo esse non possent, vultu tamen ad illud in orientalem plagam converso, preces fieri debere contenderunt. Jam vero aderat tempus, quo non amplius in templo illo manu facto, sed potius in Christo, Filio Dei, templo vonτ, ad Patrem in cœlis habitantem, et ubique cum eo præsentem,