Page:Sermons on the Lord's Prayer.djvu/73

 from Him who is the oue Source of all blessing. But, it is humility that opens the heart; it is the state of looking up, and child-like dependence, and devout gratitude, that opens the mind, and conjoins it to the Lord, and so enables it to receive that flood of joy and bliss, which he pours into every soul that is open to receive it. This, then, is the reason, why the Lord requires us to pray, and to ask for what we want, even in natural things—namely, to accustom us to look to him and depend on him, and so become conjoined to him in spirit, in order that we may receive peace of mind even in this world, and after death life everlasting. It is thus from the Lord's love, and desire for our good and happiness, that he requires us to pray.

But now, it is to be remarked, that while the Lord requires us to pray for our daily bread, he also requires us to labor for it: that is, we are to obtain it from him not directly but indirectly. We are not, after prayer, to fold our hands, and wait for our food to be brought to us: we must work, as well as pray. This requirement is founded on a great law of Divine order: it is to the end that man may be man, and not a mere machine;—that he may be an active, and not merely a passive, being. In order that a man may be truly human,—that he may form, as it were, a character for himself, a character which he is to retain to eternity,—he must act as of himself; he must exercise his faculties; he must think, reason, judge, consider; he must try this and that, "he must endeavor and use exertions, altogether as if the result depended entirely