February 16

Ecclesiastes v. — 1. Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools; for they consider not that they do evil.

2. Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few. 4. When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed.

Matthew vi. — 1. Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them, otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.

2. Therefore, when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do, in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 3. But, when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: 4. That thine alms may be in secret; and thy Father, which seeth in secret, himself shall reward thee openly. 5. And, when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as

the hypocrites are; for they love to pray standing in the synagogues, and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

6. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet; and, when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. 7. But, when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do; for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. 8. Be not ye, therefore, like unto them; for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him. 16. Moreover, 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. 17. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; 18. That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father, which is in secret; and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.

Our Lord does not here forbid publicity in giving alms, — for this is sometimes necessary and useful, — but alms-giving for the sake of publicity. We are commanded to let our light shine before men, that they may see our good works; but not to do this in the spirit of ostentation, that we may have glory of men, but with that self-forgetting love for God and men which shall cause others to ascribe our good deeds to our Father in heaven. So far must we be from self-praise and spiritual pride, that, in the motive and aim of our charity as concerns ourselves, the left hand shall not know what the right hand doeth. With regard to prayer, the comment of Dean Alford on verse 7, in his own Italics, is complete:

"What is forbidden in this verse is not much praying, for our Lord himself passed whole nights in prayer; nor praying in the same words, for this he did in the very intensity of his agony at Gethsemane: but the making number and length a point of observance, and imagining that prayer will be heard, not because it is the genuine expression of the desire of faith, but because it is of such a length, has been such a number of times repeated." — as in the repetition of Paternostes and Ave Marius in the Latin Church, "the number of repetitions being prescribed, and the efficacy of the performance made to depend on it." The secret of all true prayer is the communing of our spirits with the Holy Spirit of God.

APPROPRIATE HYMNS.]

Prayer.

[Nos. 42, 102, 115.

Our Father which art in heaven, we draw nigh to thee through Jesus Christ our Saviour. Thou reignest above in light unapproachable. Heaven is thy throne, and earth is thy footstool: what are we that thou shouldst regard us, and adopt us as thy reconciled children? Teach thou us to forget ourselves, and seek thy glory. Let thy praise be shown forth in our time; let thy great name be known and feared; let the kingdoms of the world become thine, till thy holy law is kept by men as angels keep it above. And as for us, O Father! preserve us from day to day, and feed us with food convenient for us. And, inasmuch as our love cannot reach the measure of thine, teach us to forgive others as thou hast forgiven us. Suffer us not to be tempted above that we are able: but, however thou triest us, keep us from harm within and without; from the evil in the world around

us; from the evil that is in ourselves; from the Evil One, who lies in wait for our souls.

Thou, our Father, canst hear and answer our prayers; for thou reignest over all from the beginning, and with thee nothing is impossible: for thy pleasure and thy praise all things are, and were created. Thou hast created us, preserved us, redeemed us; our lives have been full of thy mercies; thou hast blessed us in our home, in our friends, in our country, in our times, in the means of knowledge and of grace. Help us to use to thy glory, and the good of others, that which we have so freely received. We come unto thee through Him who taught us to pray, — even Jesus Christ our Lord; to whom, with thee and the Holy Ghost, be all praise and dominion; for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.