helps us greatly, though we know that we can never reach it. As the poet puts it

"And evermore the end will tell,
The unreached ideal guided well."

Or, as another says—

“The thing I meant to be,

And was not, comforts me."

Your copy-book has a copper-plate line at the top. Your writing is never as good as that head-line, but its broken likeness to it shows that you are really copying it. You do write better by having so splendid a model before you. As you get near the bottom your writing sometimes grows worse, because your own poor lines above draw your eyes away from the perfect head-line. The more you keep the copper-plate before you, the better you write. And you must not be discouraged by blots and failures; but you must begin again with a steady hand and a determination to do better.

You thus see that you are not asked to be manly, or neighbour-like, or a hero-worshipper. All these models are on earth, and they are shut out by the words, "As it is in heaven." But if you like that phrase, "be manly," make sure of your man. Choose the only perfect Man the world has seen, the Man of men, the

Son of Mary; for He came to show us, in flesh and blood, how the Father's will is done in heaven and should be done on earth. I daresay it is enough for you here to remember that you must really love God's will and be a constant imitator of the Lord of the angels. Three hundred years ago there was a school of great painters and sculptors in Rome, whose masterpieces have never been excelled. They coined a phrase which has ran round the world they said that they did their work con amore, that is, with love. We cannot do well the work we hate or dislike, but true love draws out and increases all our best powers. When very pure and strong it makes real geniuses of everyday folk, and creates the highest possible degree of excellence. Love is the grand secret of all Christian service.

:

"Thy kingdom come: Thy will

In earth be done in love,

As saints and seraphim fulfil
Thy perfect law above."

That

Our Father in heaven loves us, and Christ has shown us how great His love is. redeeming love should kindle grateful love in our hearts, and then that love will out in the doing of our Father's will. To whom, with the Son and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory, now and evermore. Amen.

No. VI

GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY

BREAD

ABOY of four once refused to say his

prayers. "Why," he explained, "they have grown old to me, and God has heard them so many times that they are old to Him. too." Like that boy, you may sometimes wonder why you should repeat the selfsame prayers every day.

But think. We need to be trained as well as taught. The old Romans were among the best soldiers the world has ever seen. They knew perfectly every part of their drill. Yet even their veterans-their oldest and best soldiers had to go through all their exercises every day. From this fact the Roman army got its name of Exercitus, that is, Exercise. It was not enough for them to know perfectly, they must be able to practise all they knew. They had to keep every muscle and joint supple and ready for victory at a moment's notice. This is the reason why you must repeat your devotional exercises as

these splendid soldiers repeated their military exercises.

One of the greatest musicians once said, "If I give up my preparations for one day, I know it; if for two days, my friends know it; if for three days, everybody knows it." Yet he knew every note as perfectly as a man could. His difficulty was to practise what he knew. You must pray every day if every part of your soul is to be as strong and supple as the body of the well-drilled soldier, if your spirit is to be kept in tune and produce such grand music as comes from the voice of the perfectly trained musician. Without daily practice the soul gets out of order and is robbed of all its sweet harmonies. Truth must be oft repeated because it is often written on the heart as you write your names on the yielding sand on the shore, which is washed out by the returning tide.

"Why do you pray every day for daily bread?" a little girl was asked. "Because we want it fresh," was her wise reply. Without faith in God men may come to their meals just as cows and horses do.

You are to pray as a beggar. There are many kinds of beggars, but the humblest of them all begs for his every meal. You belong to this class, for you pray, "Give us this day our daily bread."

Of the seven petitions, five are for the things of the soul, and only one is for the things of the body. We pray first for the things of God-Hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done and after that we pray for things belonging to ourselves. So long as we have bodies we need bread, for we cannot live without it, and we must live in order to live well. Nothing needful for His children is uninteresting to our Father in heaven. "Children, have ye any meat?" was one of Christ's questions after He had risen from the dead. Christ's teaching is

not

"Too high

For sinful man beneath the sky."

This petition cannot be selfish or earthly if we have the spirit of the first three petitions. The Germans speak of bread-scholars and bread-saints. The bread-scholars love learning only for the bread and butter it may bring them, and the bread-saints think they love Christ while they love only his loaves and fishes. You must have bread if you are to do Christ's work in the world. God cares for your body, and there need be no sordid taint in your prayer for bread. "Bread and games was the prayer of the Romans; "God and bread" should be ours.