ment of thy blessed Spirit, and praying for his. saving influence, in all our words and works." And this we beg for the sake, and through the mediation of Jesus Christ our Saviour; to whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be ascribed all power and praise, for ever and ever. Amen.

LECTURE XXXIX.

THE LORD'S PRAYER.-THIRD PETITION.

"Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven."

ACTS, XXI. 14.

Saying, The will of the Lord be done.

THE words of this third petition in our blessed Master's Prayer, include the very essence of all prayer and all religion; for, to do the will of God, and submit to the will of God, completes the Christian character: it is therefore very expedient that we should be most earnest in this petition, because it is by our advancement in this duty that we approach the nearer to the example of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; who in all things sought the will of his heavenly Father; who came down from heaven (as he assures us), not to do his own will, but the will of the Father who sent him ; and he adds, This is the Father's will who hath sent me, that every one that believeth on the Son, may have everlasting life. And he encourages

our submission to God's sovereign rule, by the most cheering and valuable promises that he can afford us, viz. all who do this, them will he raise up at the last day.

In discoursing upon these important words, it may assist your understanding of what is fully implied in them, to consider,

First, what we in general mean by God's will:

Secondly, to show more particularly how God declares his will to us: and,

Thirdly, to make a few observations upon the addition, or concluding part of the petition, << AS IT IS IN HEAVEN."

By the expression, GOD'S WILL, we understand in a general sense, whatever he has made known to us in his WORD respecting it; whatever he communicates to us through the dictates of our own conscience, as agreeable to him; or whatever appears, in the order of his providence, to be his good pleasure: so that in this petition we pray, that we, and all mankind, may both submit to, and cheerfully obey, whatsoever God sees fit to appoint or command for our respective trial in this transitory life; and this (however grievous for this present) we must bear in compliance with our blessed Saviour's lesson of pious resignation-Not my will, but thine, be done; and supporting our selves with the Apostle's consolation, that

though no chastening seems joyous, but grievous, yet that our light afflictions, which are but for a moment (comparatively), are calculated to work for us an eternal weight of glory; and that, when we view God's dispensations in the light of unerring direction and loving mercy, and receive them with an humble and Christian spirit, we shall be ready most gratefully to pronounce, that his commandments are not grievous.

There are many powerful considerations that will induce persons of a serious turn of mind to resign their own will to God's decrees. Constant observation on the various events of life must convince every one who is well disposed, that it is best for us that all things are under the wise governance of the Supreme Being. If we revert to many circumstances of our own lives, we shall be obliged to confess, that what we have often judged would prove a circumstance of heavy misfortune, has, in due course of time, and by proper application of the event, produced a very different consequence from what our fears suggested, under the doubtful apprehensions of the moment. Nay, the most afflictive visitation to which our present frame is subject, when the weakness of a corrupted nature has recovered strength sufficient to admit the salutary prescription of religious reasoning, will often lead us to contemplate the ways of Providence with pious wonder; and thus by acqui

escing in his will, we experience more enlarged views of his divine appointments, and such comfort under our trials, as establishes a hope superior to any positive enjoyment this world. can boast. For, when we reflect that here, as well as above, all is governed by God's will and permission; that the only reason why we do not always love that will, is, merely because it is often opposite to our own fond and ignorant desires; and that, in the very nature of things, an unerring will must ever militate against the will of a degenerated creature; such thoughts, together with the acknowledgment how continually the gratification of our own will has led us into error, how often we have abused or misapplied the completion of those wishes that seemed to promise us the most exalted satisfaction, will incline us gradually to prefer the will of God, and sincerely to exclaim on all occasions, THY WILL BE DONE. In proportion as we attain to the possession of this valuable wisdom, we change our earth into an heaven, we are induced to thank God for every thing, for apparent evil, as well as immediate good; and this from the confidence of humble faith, that temporal evil, under the qualifying direction of his gracious hand, may hereafter prove the instrument of our greatest happiness. When we When we are actuated by this spirit, we no longer murmur at the inscrutable