EIGHTH ADDRESS.

I PROPOSE, my dear children, upon this and the following Sabbath afternoons during the month, to address a few plain remarks upon the Lord's Prayer.

Such a course has doubtless been pursued by one of those your teachers, who have in times past discharged that duty which now awaits. fulfilment on my part: a subject so interesting, so peculiarly adapted to your age and understandings, could scarcely have escaped notice.

I shall, nevertheless, after the design I have sketched out, endeavour to bring before you, in three short Addresses, such points as are therein most prominently set forth, and, therefore, most essentially necessary to be kept in mind; to each and all of which I would beg your most serious attention.

The prayer itself was composed by our Saviour Christ, and thence called "The Lord's Prayer," in order to distinguish it from all

others which have proceeded from the lips and from the pen of man.

It is to be addressed to the Supreme Being, -the Deity; to his Father and our Father, to his God and our God. And this its simple, but eminently pious opening: "Our Father, which art in heaven; hallowed be thy name: thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven." Thus far in the prayer shall I go this afternoon, reserving the remainder for consideration upon two future occasions.

I much fear, that our familiar acquaintance with, and frequent use of, this prayer, tend in some measure to lessen its value, and to take from its importance in our esteem.

It is, generally, the first form of prayer that we are taught when children; and that which has been learned as an infant lesson, is not indeed easily wiped off from the memory; but unfortunately, from its constant repetition, unaccompanied, as is too often the case, by explanation upon the part of parents or others, liable to be regarded as any thing rather than a solemn and spiritual exercise.

The manner in which we address God as our

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Father, involves, upon our part, an admission both of obligation and duty. If God be our Father, we are his children; and therefore, upon all accounts bound to delight in his testimonies, and to love the way of his commandments.

He is our Father, that hath made us and not we ourselves: He is our Father, for it is in Him that we live and move, and have our being: He is our Father, for his dearly beloved and only-begotten Son Jesus Christ, is not ashamed to call us brethren.

Now, there are certain offices that are inseparably interwoven with the character of a parent, and certain others with the character of a child: certain, I mean, that we expect to find, and the want of which would justly excite our indignation. What, for instance, should we say of that mother, who would do that thing wantonly, which the mother of Moses did reluctantly and of necessity?-push off her infant upon the waves of the world, with nought but its little outstretched helpless hands to plead for pity; heedless, even whether or no another Pharaoh's daughter providentially should be

sent to save it from perishing. Or, what should we say of that son, who, cherished through infancy, trained on through youth and let up into manhood, should impiously insult his Father's grey hairs in his days of increasing age and feebleness, instead of loving, honoring, succouring him?

For a few moments, then, how has God proved himself to be our Father? and for as few, how have we proved ourselves to be his children?

A parent should nourish, protect, provide for, and instruct his children. Has God, our heavenly Father, thus marked his love to us? When, let me inquire, did his care over us commence? When, first did he supply our need, and make all necessary provision for our wants? We must go back in thought, my dear children, to the period of our infancy,—when, tender, weak, and helpless, we experienced many and remarkable evidences of our Creator's love. We cannot, of course, call to mind any of those circumstances which attended our own individual cases: we know neither the pains nor the pleasures that accompanied us through our

earlier days; but, from observation since made upon the necessities of others, and upon the merciful and judicious manner in which it has pleased God that those necessities should be met, we can learn to calculate our own obligation, and his unspeakable goodness. "Through thee," says David, "have I been holden up ever since I was born;" and, my dear children, if I were to refer you only to your hours of helplessness, if I were to refer you only to your days of advancing boyhood,-if I were only to point you to the world around, grown up and stout in man's estate, and thence declining to the earth from which they sprang, through the whole course of life experiencing unceasing mercies,-if I were to refer you only to "our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life," I should have a strong case to offer to your notice, of the love of our heavenly Father.

But, when I go on to tell you, as I must, of his "inestimable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, for the means of grace and for the hope of glory," when I go on to tell you, how God commended