there were always found some ready to receive, and willing to retain, the sublime and consoling doctrine of the Cross. After the ministry of the Apostles was finished, holy men arose in various countries, anxious to carry on the work, and to spread the knowledge of divine truth to every nation and every country under heaven. Among them (the Gentiles) God has at no period, even of the greatest moral darkness, left himself without a witness :— among them there have been at all times, some who were ready and willing "to gather up the fragments that remain,” in order that not a particle of the spiritual food which Christ has left for the nourishment of his people, may ever be lost, but that all of it may ultimately be applied to the purpose for which it was given.

From all those indications, slight though some of them may be, we conceive that a considerable weight of evidence exists, in favour of the conclusion, that the miracle of feeding the five thousand refers to the case of the Jews-and that of feeding the four thousand to the Gentiles: and that it was the very intention and purpose of the second of these miracles, to shew that the Gentiles were not to be excluded from the privileges of the Gospel.

It affords an additional confirmation of these views in regard to the miracle now under consideration, that the very same meaning and intention ap

pear to be indicated by the circumstances attending the two instances of the miraculous draught of fishes. The analogy between the two cases is perfect and complete. They each throw light upon and confirm the conclusion drawn from the circumstances of the other. The circumstances are too

numerous and exact to have occurred by chance. We are therefore entitled to infer, that they have been arranged by design.

THE LORD'S PRAYER.

God for How are

We are informed that if we pray to things agreeable to his will, he hears us. we to know what things are agreeable to the will of God? We answer that the short and comprehensive form of prayer which Christ taught his disciples, affords a clear and safe directory on this subject. We may be sure that the different petitions included in that prayer are all agreeable to the will of God.

In considering this prayer, our attention is first arrested by the opening words, "Our Father" &c.

This form is not intended solely for social or public worship, but rather for individual and secret prayer. That this is so, appears from the direction

"when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and having shut the door, pray to thy Father which is in secret," &c. This being a form therefore, for secret devotion, why does it commence with the

words, "Our Father?" when the prayer is put up in secret by one individual and solitary worshipper, ought not the words to be, "My Father?" We answer, No. We are not to pray for ourselves alone, but for all our brethren of mankind. Self is to be forgotten, except in so far as to remind us that we belong to the human family, the whole of which our prayers are to embrace. It is impossible to stop short of this. Shall we say, though we do not pray solely for ourselves, it is sufficient if we pray for our own family and friends? No. Our countrymen demand a share in our petitions. shall we confine our petitions to these? No. All mankind are our brethren. Even the Jew was taught that the despised Samaritan was his "neighbour." Are we then allowed to exclude any? No. We are even commanded to pray for our enemies, much more for those who never knew, and never injured us.*

And

* Pope, in his Essay on Man, (though his principles are, in some respects, defective, in so far as he makes self-love the main-spring of human actions,) comes at last to the same conclusion. Thus--

"Self-love, thus pushed to social, to divine

Gives thee to make thy neighbour's blessing thine.
Is this too little for thy boundless heart?
Extend it; let thy enemies have part:
Grasp the whole worlds of reason, life, and sense,
In one close system of benevolence:

Perhaps we do not go too far in saying, that we are not warranted by this prayer to put up a single petition for ourselves, which we do not, in the same breath, put up for the whole human race.

The very first word therefore, of this most precious and instructive prayer, is fraught with a lesson of the highest value, and calls on us for an expression of that love of our neighbour, without a sincere feeling of which all profession of love to God must be mere pretence and mockery. "If we love not

Happier as kinder, in whate'er degree,

And height of bliss, but height of charity.
God loves from whole to parts; but human soul

Must rise from individual to the whole.

Self-love but serves the virtuous soul to wake.
As the small pebble stirs the peaceful lake.
The centre moved, a circle straight succeeds,
Another still, aud still another spreads;
Friend, parent, neighbour, first it will embrace
His country next, and next, all human race.
Wide and more wide, th' o'erflowings of the mind
Take every creature in, of every kind :

Earth smiles around, with boundless bounty blest,
And heaven beholds its image in his breast."

The only defect in the above, is the error of deriving all this from self-love; whereas, in truth-friendship, love of offspring, and benevolence, are just as much original principles in the mind as the love of self. The true doctrine is not that these feelings are derived from self-love, but that they are in harmony with it.