enced by a becoming desire to please God. In short, our whole conduct will be sanctified, every thing we do will have the nature of an humble sacrifice. In truth, our lives will then, in the strictest sense, become incessant prayer.

Happy for us, did we earnestly experience such a disposition! But never can we hope for such a blessed state, till the rebellious will is subjected by grace to the will of the Almighty therefore let us humbly join in prayer, that God would give us light to see, a heart to close with, and a power to do, his will at all times; that he would subdue that natural aversion which we have to do his will alone; and that on every occasion profitable to our souls, we may ever have grace to say, THY WILL (0 Lord!) BE DONE ON EARTH, EVEN AS IT IS IN HEAVEN; and that by the power obtained for us through Jesus Christ our Lord, we may all become finally perfect. To whom, &c.

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LECTURE XL.

THE LORD'S PRAYER.-FOURTH PETITION.

"Give us this day our daily bread."

MATTHEW, IV. 4.

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

HAVING endeavoured to give you a full and plain explanation of the three former petitions of the Lord's Prayer, which (as I observed before) related principally to the honour and glory of God, we come to consider the first of these petitions, which more immediately concerns our own particular wants.

By these words, GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD, We are taught a valuable lesson of dependence upon Him in whom we live, and move, and have our being—the author of every good gift; to whose favour we are indebted for our daily support, and all the comforts we enjoy.

The method I shall follow in enlarging upon these words, will be, previously to notice from

the general signification of this part of the Prayer before us, that, as man consists of a soul and body, and consequently requires several things to be bestowed upon him for the good of both, so we are here directed to beg of God, first, what is necessary to our present life; and secondly, what will contribute to the everlasting happiness of our souls in the life to come.

Now, every necessary support of this life is here comprehended by our blessed Saviour under the single article of bread, which even signifies all needful supplies both for soul and body. At present I shall confine myself to the latter. In regard, then, to its nourishment of the body, it is a word commonly used in Scripture to describe all sorts of provision, because, being the chief and most necessary, it may supply the defect of all other: and we have read as early as Gen. iii. 19, that when the Almighty was denouncing a curse upon man for his disobedience, he represents the general sustenance that the creature was to obtain by labour by this same word: In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy BREAD; and in Gen. xviii. 5, 6, 7, we find all the hospitable fare which Abraham provided for the angels that were sent to him, is comprehended under this single word, And I will fetch a morsel of BREAD, and comfort you.

Now, in the petition before us, this word is

not used merely to denote what is requisite for the bare existence of the body, as meat and drink, both which are implied in Jacob's vow, in Gen. xxviii. 20: If God will keep me in the way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on; and which same import is again conveyed in these words of Isaiah (iii. 1), For, behold the Lord doth take away from Judah the whole stay or staff of bread, and the whole stay of water; but it is likewise employed to express every other necessary of life, as raiment, lodging, and the like: at the same time it must always be understood as descriptive of essential comforts, and never as extending to superfluities, that is, to the desire of such objects as are coveted rather for the indulgence of our appetites, than for the preservation of our being: and of this we may be fully satisfied, by that lesson of moderation prescribed to us by the Apostle in 1 Tim. vi. 6-8, that godliness with contentment is great gain; and that having food and raiment, we should be therewith content. But for your perfect understanding of this expression, we will consider more particularly, in how many respects what we request of God in this petition, may be called OUR BREAD. In one sense it may be justly denominated ours, as being what is immediately necessary for ourSELVES, and those who depend upon our care of them; or it may be equally styled our bread