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IX.

THE DUTY OF PRAYER FOR ALL MEN, ESPECIALLY FOR ALL WHO ARE IN AUTHORITY.

"I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty."-1 TIMOTHY ii. 1, 2.

THE greatest of all privileges is access to the

throne of God. If we were allowed to draw near to Him only once in a lifetime, and to make known our wants and desires in the assurance that we should be graciously received, it would be an honour and an advantage of incomparable worth. But instead of only once in a lifetime, we are invited to draw near to God daily, and to pour out our hearts before Him. He is constantly looking down from heaven upon us, and saying, "Ask, and ye shall receive." He has regard alike to the highest and to the humblest to the child that has just learned in

some measure to know Him, and to the old man grey with age and tottering on the brink of the grave.

Besides, we have the privilege to make known the desires of our hearts to God not merely for ourselves, but also for others. As it is our duty privilege and our This, the apostle

to love all men, so it is our duty to pray for all men. Paul tells us, is a matter of primary importance. The evangelist Timothy had gone to a heathen city to preach the Gospel, and to lay the foundation of a Christian Church in it; and as he had to set in order for the first time in that place the dispensation of Christian ordinances, it was satisfactory to receive directions from one so fully warranted to speak with authority upon the subject as was the apostle Paul. Accordingly the apostle, in writing to Timothy, touched on many points as to which questions might arise; and among the rest, he gave the foremost place to the subject of prayer. "I exhort," he said,

that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; who

will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth."

These words settle the question as to whether we should pray for others, and in particular as to whether we should pray for others in our public assemblies for the worship of God. They make it manifest that it is our duty as Christians to pray for all men-to plead with God for blessings to be bestowed on them, and to render thanks to Him for the tokens of His kindness unto them. And we cannot read the apostle's direction in this place without observing that while he indicates that people of all classes and countries should be remembered by us at the throne of grace, he mentions specially by name one class only. He says we should pray "for kings, and for all that are in authority."

When we think of the wonderful interest which God has ever taken in the welfare of mankind generally; when we think that He gave His own Son to die not only for our sins, but for the sins of the whole world,-we may well be prepared to hear Him calling upon us to take a like interest in all men, and to lift up our hearts in prayer to Him on their account as well as on our own. But we may be at some loss to understand why He should call upon us

to pray specially "for kings, and for all that are in authority." We are sure that there is no respect of persons with God; and yet we are here taught that the rulers of the world should have a prominent place in all our prayers and thanksgivings. No doubt there is a good reason for this, though we may not discern it fully at first sight. Why is it that, amid the many for whom we ought to pray, we ought to give to kings, and to all that are in authority, the foremost place?

We are to pray for them not as men merely, but as men in authority. It is the authority with which they are invested that gives them their distinction in the sight of God, and that entitles them to our special regard. And what is meant by the authority with which they are invested? It is the power by which order is maintained among men. Order is established among all the works of God. In many departments He has not only devised the scheme of it, but also administers it with His own unerring hand. But while He has reserved a vast sphere in which He Himself rules alone, He has left us a limited sphere in which He calls on us to put forth our energies and to rule. We have nothing to do with the giving of life,

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but we have a great deal to do with the preservation of the life which God is pleased to give. We have nothing to do with the original creation and distribution of the varied material resources with which the earth is stored; but we have a great deal to do with the development of these resources, and with their adaptation to the useful purposes for which they are designed. Life is precious; but what would life be to us if we had no security for its preservation? Property is valuable; but what would property be to us if we had no opportunity afforded us of acquiring it, and no power to protect us in the possession of it? How comes it that we lie down at night with so little fear of the bloodthirsty assassin or of the lurking plunderer? How comes it that we plough and sow our broad acres in spring, and that we look out in harvest upon our fields laden with rich crops; and that all the while we are disturbed by no anxious dread lest these precious fruits of all our labours should be carried off by some horde of thievish wanderers? Is it not because social order has been established among us, and because we know that when any one in any corner of the land dares to disturb that order, a power emanating from the throne, and descending by well-arranged links to the