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. A.D. 28. HORNS OF COMPARE "Peter of Aragon's famous refusal to let Pope Martin IV. know what were his designs against the infidel. Peter implored the blessing of the Holy Father on his scheme of action; but if he thought his right hand knew his secret, he would cut it off, lest it should betray it to his left.'"- Jacox. 4. SEETH IN SECRET.-Compare the Kathode or X-rays. 4. SHALL REWARD THEE OPENLY." Dante, describing the angels whom he met, in the Paradiso, impresses us at once with their external glory, and their spiritual effulgence. Invariably he makes the former the result of the latter." The angel "Became a thing transcendent in my sight As a fine ruby smitten by the sun." LIBRARY.-Joseph Cook's Monday Lectures, "Conscience," "Solar Self-Culture." COMPARE.-Stephen's shining countenance; and that of Moses when he came down from the Mount. Charity ever Finds in the act reward, and needs no trumpet In the receiver." "Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame." 5. PRAY STANDING IN THE CORNERS OF THE Streets. LIBRARY.--Dr. Trumbull's "Studies in Oriental Social Life," "Prayers and Praying in the East"; the booklet, "Expectation Corner," the best extended illustration of prayer. REFERENCE. See on chap. vii. 7-11, “Prayer." 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. The True Reward of Prayer. 6. THY FATHER WHICH SEETH IN SECRET SHALL REWARD THEE OPENLY.-Better as. in R. V., recompense thee, answer your prayers. "The true reward is not pay of any kind, but that which comes as surely as the flowers spring from the soil where the seed has been sown.'" -Bishop Carpenter. The reward is the answer of their prayers, a growing capacity for the spirit of worship and communion with God, more heavenly character. ་ PRAYER LIKE A BELL ROPE.-" Prayer is the rope in the belfry ; we pull it, and it rings the bell up in heaven. Keep on pulling it, and, though the bell is up so high that you cannot hear it ring, depend upon it, it can be heard in the tower of heaven, and is ringing before the throne of God, who will give you answers of peace according to your faith."-Christmas Evans. LIBRARY.-Trench's poems, "The Suppliant." A HELIOGRAM.-"September 18, 1894, a dispatch signed 'GLASSFORD, captain,' was sent from Mount Uncompahgre, Colorado, via Mount Ellen, Utah, via Thompsons, Utah, via Denver, Colorado, to the Chief Signal officer, Washington, as follows: "By sunbeam flash signal this heliogram has been sent direct 183 miles over the sunset slopes of Colorado and Utah; thus distancing the highest record ever made in military signaling.' "A heliograph eight inches square, on Mount Uncompahgre, caught a sunbeam, flashed it off 183 miles through the pure air to Mount Ellen, and by preconcerted signals sent the intelligence to the watchers there, they catching it on their mirrors, were prepared to pass it on till it was transferred to the electric telegraph and sent to Washington. 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. A.D. 28. HORNS OF "It was a simple but effective method; the same that children often use to flash a sunbeam across a room or into some one's face. 66 "Do we ever think that we have power to flash sunbeams to a far greater distance? Do we ever think how a prayer sent up to God may be reflected back to earth, so that a blessing may come to some one thousands of miles away; to some one whom we have never seen; to the sick, the sinful, the suffering, and the sad? “Let us make large use of this wondrous power." -H. L. Hastings, D.D. A WHISPER HEARD 500 MILES.-It was announced recently that the American Bell Telephone Company had so perfected an instrument as to enable an ordinary whisper to be heard distinctly at a distance of 500 miles. With the human voice audible at 1,000 miles, and now a whisper half that distance, what limit are we to place upon future possibilities? And if these things are within the compass of man's ingenuity and skill, who shall doubt that the divine ear can note the silent thought-throbbings of human prayer, even though infinite distances must be crossed. Prayer Wheels. 7. VAIN REPETITIONS.-In some Oriental nations, as Thibet and parts of India, there is in use a kind of prayer-wheel. Blocks of wood are constructed in the shape of wheels upon a spindle. On these petitions are inscribed; and then the pious devotee sits patiently beneath whirling them with a string. Such a wheel near me is constructed like a watchman's rattle, containing prayers on a roll of paper in a cylinder, and is whirled by a slight movement of the hand. Each movement around is supposed to be a prayer, and the more of these prayers the more they suppose that God is pleased with their devotion. Our modern machinery could make a million such prayers an hour. A Shanghai (China) journal thus describes one of these machines: "The machine itself is a red copper cylinder about five inches long 9. After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. and three inches in diameter. The bottom and top, of the same material, are both removable. In the centre of the bottom is a hole through which a copper pin about seven inches long passes and fits into a socket in the centre of the inner surface of the lid. Holding this pin in the left hand, and giving to the machine a revolving motion with the right, it can be kept spinning rapidly round by the same rotary action of the one hand as an acrobat uses in supporting bowls, saucers, etc. The outer surface of the cylinder is divided by chased scroll-work into five panels, on each of which is a Sanskrit character standing out in bas-relief, the whole forming a Buddhist ejaculatory prayer. Of course the idea is that the more frequent the revolutions of the machine, the greater the merit of the revolutionist. Accompanying the machine are an immense number of paper slips, on which are printed prayers in Sanskrit." 9, 10. THE ENVELOPE FORM.-Professor Moulton, in his "Literary Study of the Bible," arranges verses 9 and 10 in what he calls "the envelope form," regarding the first clause and the last clause as belonging to and modifying the three petitions between. Thus : 9. OUR FATHER. Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done In earth as it is in heaven. "Every inmost aspiration is God's Angel undefiled, And in every 'O my Father' slumbers deep a' Here, my child.'' -Falál-ed-din-Rumi. REFERENCE. See on xviii. 10, "Your Father which is in heaven." 9. HALLOWED BE THY NAME." Milton sings of the evening star: Hesperus, that led The starry train, rode brightest.' The first star is the most lustrous of all the night. May not this first 10. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. prayer, 'Hallowed be Thy name,' be the brightest of all; the most radiant Pleiad of the seven petitions? A.D. 28. THE LORD'S "I think that it is; and oh, that God would give us this evening star!"-Farrar. LIBRARY.-The uplifting power of reverence and love for that which is noblest and best, is shown in Carlyle's "Heroes and HeroWorship." "Devoutly look, and nought But wonders shall pass by thee; All books shall edify thee; Devoutly speak, and men Devoutly listen to thee; Devoutly act, and then The strength of God act through thee." IO. THY KINGDOM COME.- "There is an event in the life of Dr. Schauffler which always stirs me. Dr. Schauffler thought it his duty to go to the ambassador of the Czar of Russia and offer his protest against the treatment of the exiles. Russia was represented in India at that time by a kind of protectorate; and when Dr. Schauffler appeared before the ambassador with his Dr. Schauffler protest, he said to the doctor: 'I quite appreciate what you Ambassador. say about the evil being done; but I may as well say to you, Dr. Schauffler, that the kingdom of the Czar, my master, will never allow the kingdom of Christ to gain a foothold here.' and the “And I may as well tell you,' said Dr. Schauffler, 'that the kingdom of Christ, my Master, does not ask permission to gain a foothold anywhere.'" LOVE FOR THE KINGDOM.- "We read how the swift runner Pheidippides, who bore to Athens the news of Marathon, sank dead on the first threshold with the words on his lips, Χαίρετε χαὶ Χαίρομεν |