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not the smallest foundation. It is of private prayer only that our Lord is here speaking; and the hypocrites whom he condemns were those ostentatious Jews who performed those devotions which ought to have been confined to the closet, in the synagogues, and even in the public streets, that they might be noticed and applauded for their extraordinary piety and sanctity. But this reproof could not possibly mean to extend to public devotions in places of worship. This is evident from the corners of streets being mentioned; for those are places in which public devotions are never performed. But besides this, we find in Scripture that public worship is enjoined as a duty of the highest importance. It made a considerable part of the Jewish religion, and the Mosaic law is filled with precepts and directions concerning it. God declares by the prophet Isaiah, "that his house shall be called a house of prayer for all people *." Our Saviour quotes these very

Isaiah, Ivi. 7.

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words

words when he cast out those that pol luted the temple; and was himself a constant frequenter of divine worship, both in the temple and in the synagogues. He taught his disciples (as we shall soon see) a form of prayer, which though very proper to be used by any single person in private, yet is throughout expressed in the plural number, and adapted to the use of several persons praying at the same time. "If two of you," says he to his disciples on another occasion," shall agree on earth touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven; for where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them *." By St. Paul we are commanded "not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some ist." And we find, that after our Saviour's ascension, his followers "continued stedfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship, and in prayer and supplication, praising God,

*Matt. xviii. 19, 20.

+ Heb. x. 25.

God, and having favour with all the people *"

It is therefore incontestably clear that our Saviour could not possibly mean to forbid that public worship which he himself practised and commanded. His intentions could only be to confine our private prayers to private places, in which we are to keep up a secret intercourse with our Maker, withdrawn from the eye of the world, and unobserved by any other than that Almighty Being to whom our petitions are addressed.

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The last instance produced by our Saviour is that of fasting. When ye fast, be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces that they may appear unto men to fast; verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thy head and wash thy face, that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which

*Acts, ii. 42, 47.

which seeth in secret shall reward thee

openly."

There is very little necessity to dwell on this precept here, for there are scarce any in these times and in this country who seem disposed to make a show of fasting, or to be ambitious of acquiring a reputation for that kind of religious discipline; on the contrary, it is by great numbers entirely laid aside, and too frequently treated with derision and contempt... Yet from this very passage we may learn that it ought to be considered in a much more serious light; for although our Saviour did not command his disciples to fast whilst he was with them, yet he himself fasted for forty days. He here plainly supposes that his disciples did sometimes fast; and gives them directions how to perform that duty in a manner acceptable to God. And it appears also, that if they did so perform it, if they fasted without any ostentation or parade, with a design not to catch the applause of men, but to approve themselves to God, he assured

assured them they should have their reward.

Before we quit this division of the chapter, we must go back a little to that admirable form of prayer which our Lord gave to his disciples, after cautioning them against all ostentation in their devotions.

:. This prayer stands unrivalled in every circumstance that constitutes the perfection of prayer, and the excellence of that species of composition. It is concise, it is perspicuous, it is solemn, it is comprehensive, it is adapted to all ranks, conditions, and classes of men; it fixes our thoughts on a few great important points, and impresses on our minds a deep sense of the goodness and the greatness of that Almighty Being to whom it is addressed.

It begins with acknowledging him to be our most gracious and merciful Father; it begs that his name may every where be reverenced, that his religion may spread over the earth, and that his will may be obeyed by men with the same ardour and alacrity

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