As seen in the Gospel of Luke.

The Gospel of Luke, as is well known, differs from the others particularly in that it presents our blessed Lord as the perfect Man. In Matthew we see Him as King; in Mark, as Servant; while John shows us the Only Begotten. But in Luke His glories are neither official nor, if we may use such language, supernatural:He is "the Man Christ Jesus." There is special attractiveness in each of the Gospels, so that we choose none to the exclusion of another; but the peculiar charm in Luke is the simple, human character of its contents. It is our desire at this time to follow one of these human features through this Gospel.

But why should prayer be, as it is, more prominent in Luke than in Mark, the Gospel of service ? Without doubt the Lord as Servant was much engaged in prayer-surely we all need to remember that we can do nothing without the help afforded from above. But there is a sort of official position even in service. It is what we do rather than what we are. Hence in Luke, the Gospel of the Manhood- and such a Manhood-where service is not the prominent theme, we have prayer emphasized, to show that it is to be the habit of our life. It is to be the " vital breath, and native air," apart entirely from the special emergencies we may encounter in our labor or testimony. This is what we learn from the example of our Lord.

The whole introduction, in the first two chapters of this Gospel, is fragrant with the incense of prayer and praise. Zacharias is offering incense within, and the people are praying without, when the angel announces the birth of John, as answer to the father's prayers. Praise bursts out from the lips and hearts of Elizabeth and of Mary when they meet, and a full measure from Zacharias when his lips are unsealed after John's birth. Simeon and Anna but reecho the joy of the angels of heaven who hovered about those holy scenes-all is fragrant with the incense of prayer and praise, fitting introduction to His life which was ever the fragrant incense to God.

Let us now, depending upon the Spirit of God, watch our Lord at prayer, noting, not the matter, for that is not what is given us, but the circumstances in connection with which we are told that Jesus prayed.

"Now when the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon Him" (Luke 3:21,22). At His baptism, our Lord was, as we know, identifying Himself .with the repentant remnant. He had come as the Saviour, and His first public act was to take His place with those who confessed their sins. But there was more than the grace of lowliness with man; there was the public acknowledgment of dependence upon God. Our Lord engages in prayer. How beautifully this accord His baptism.

He opens His public ministry with prayer. That prayer seems to connect the thirty years of private, with His public testimony. The life of habitual communion was to be uninterrupted by the activities of service. With us, too often we forget, in the excitement of publicity, that we are to be ever dependent. Then too our Lord was about to be publicly owned by the anointing of the Spirit;-a fitting prelude to that is prayer. It is striking that we have a similar thought in the baptism by the Spirit of the disciples at Pentecost, that they were with one accord engaged in prayer. With us who have received the Spirit-as all Christians have-let the fact be marked by the same state of soul, dependence upon our God.

"And He withdrew Himself into the wilderness and prayed" (Luke 5:16). Our Lord had just performed the miracle of cleansing the leper by a word, and, as a result, multitudes had flocked to Him with all manner of sickness to be healed. Who of us, endowed with such power, would have turned from such work, with all the attendant applause, into the wilderness, for solitary communion with God ? And yet, what is more necessary for the successful worker? We pray when discouraged, but often times there is an exhilaration about success that unfits for prayer. Just here we need the greatest care. Satan can turn our success into bitterest humiliation if we neglect prayer. Let us learn from our Lord; He prized communion above popularity, and laid at His Father's feet the results of the power He, as Man, received from Him.

"And it came to pass in those days, that He went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God" (Luke 6:12). How long shall we pray ? as if prayer were something to be measured by the time spent in it. But what holy absorption, what living faith, what perfect communion is suggested in this night of prayer. There is nothing to sustain nature, and nothing to foster pride. He is alone, at night, and on a distant mountain. What real dependence He had ! Verily He lived "by the Father " ! Is there not a suggestion of what formed part, at least, of the burden of these prayers? It has often been noticed that He selected His apostles after this sleepless night of prayer. What momentous issues were involved in that selection. These were to be the men who were to company with Him, and after His departure, to carry on the work.

Surely it is not imagination to think of Him canvassing the various names of His disciples, that out of them He might select the twelve. As He weighed their characteristics and spread out all before God, we can think of special prayer for each one. Thinking of Peter's impulsive self-confidence-foreseeing, doubtless, his denial-here began that intercession of which He spoke when the need came':"I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not."

And Judas, known from the beginning to be "a devil," with a heart estranged from Christ, though he had taken his place with the disciples,-may we not think of the agony of anticipation which this knowledge of our Lord suggested, making a part of that night resemble Gethsemane, in little measure ?

But the night is spent alone with God, and without a waver of uncertainty, our blessed Master
chooses the twelve, and begins that discourse to the people, in which He unfolds the principles of His Kingdom.

We have next two occurrences which may be considered together. "And it came to pass, as He was alone praying, His disciples were with Him; and He asked them, saying, Whom say the people that I am ? " (Luke 9:18.) "And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, He took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray. And as He prayed, the fashion of His countenance was altered, and His raiment was white and glistening" (vers. 28, 29).
Only a few times are we permitted to know what passed between our Lord and His Father in prayer, -Gethsemane, and the intercession of John xvii, and the two outbursts of thanksgiving in Matt. xi, and John xi, seeming to be the exception;-but may we not gather something of the matter, from the result ? "Whom say the people that I am ? " Judging from the fact that He had just been engaged in that which suggested need and dependence, we might not be surprised at such as, "a holy Man," " a Man of God," "a Man of prayer," even when it was the opinion of the people, and not of His disciples that our Lord had asked for. But faith has beheld the glory veiled in the tabernacle of flesh, and Peter confesses His own proper Person, " the Christ of God."

In communion with His Father, without doubt the joy of this relationship was ever before Him, and no doubt His heart yearned to have from His disciples a distinct confession of His person, which would be a confirmation of their faith. His rejection by the nation was almost an accomplished fact. Even now He was well nigh outside the borders of the land- at Caesarea Philippi (Matt. 14:13). How important that they who were to be the confessors of His Person and the apostles of His Church take clear ground at once. What was He to them-a prophet, John the Baptist ?

Perhaps He had been asking that this faith might be found now in them, and in answer He receives Peter's simple confession. How it must have refreshed His soul, for this was the work of His Father in heaven. Flesh and blood could not have revealed it to him. There was no outward show, nothing beyond the ordinary that induced this confession. The daily works and words of our Lord had, by the power of God, wrought this conviction in Peter. What a blessed answer to prayer. And as we see Him thus at prayer, we trace the perfectly human character of His walk and ways upon earth, does not the same confession leap from our hearts ?

But we look on in the same chapter to the transfiguration. His disciples had confessed Him in His humiliation; they were now to have a glimpse of Him in His glory. We may notice that, if we may use such language, there was nothing preconcerted about this wondrous scene. It was simply an incident, flashed into the ordinary routine of His lowly life. But the habitual routine, what was that?-a life of prayer. It seems that just as the Spirit descended upon Him while engaged in prayer, so now the glory rests upon Him, in the same attitude. It is as though God not only expressed His delight in His whole life, public and private, but particularly in the lowly dependence which was the mainspring of it all, and which was expressed in prayer.

As usual, we hear none of His petitions here, but from what had just preceded and what followed, as well as the theme of Moses and Elias, we may well gather that the cross, and '' the decease which He was to accomplish at Jerusalem," engaged some at least of His thoughts, as He poured out His soul to the Father. Our blessed Lord was not surprised at the turn of things, the change from popularity to rejection. All had been foreseen by Him, and doubtless all had been gone over in prayer-in holy and uninterrupted communion with the Father. In that presence, the glories of the Mount and the cross of shame were all weighed at their true value, and He passed calmly on. May we learn of Him, and may the mountain tops of joy and delight, as well as the valley, with the fellowship of His cross, find us in the communion of prayer.

This habitual attitude of prayer seems at last to have stirred the disciples to more than their ordinary anxiety to follow in His steps. "Lord, teach us to pray," they ask (Luke xi, i, etc.). The patient, constant, unstudied walk with God had penetrated their consciences. So will it ever be; there is nothing to move men like the power of example. They may resist it, oppose or ridicule it for a time, but eventually they must acknowledge its force. Let this be remembered especially in the households of the saints. Why are there so many worldly, godless families where the parents are professedly followers of the Lord Jesus ? May we not truly say it is most frequently because of the lack of example ? There may be precept and prohibition in unstinted measure, but if the child sees no example of what the Christian should be, we need not be surprised if it follows, not the teaching but the example. A worldly minded, irritable, careless father and mother will have, as a rule, children of like sort. On the other hand, a life of prayer consistently and quietly maintained will produce, with God's blessing, a suited result. It answers somewhat to the march around Jericho for seven days-finally the walls fell flat.

We do not enter here into the substance of this prayer-surely not a verbal model to be said as by rote-save to note how the main characteristics of it are, giving God His true place, and we keeping ours:"Hallowed be Thy name;" "Give us day by day our daily bread." Here is the spirit of true prayer, a lowly dependence upon Him whom it is our chief desire to see exalted.

It has been often noticed how this desire for prayer follows the narrative of Martha and Mary. There the good part was to sit at Jesus' feet and hear His word. Where this is done, prayer will surely follow. "The word of God and prayer" are associated together. That word is the vehicle of the Spirit of God, which He uses to search us out. By that we learn our need, and God's desires for us, we are established in His love, and thus have confidence for prayer. Neglecting the word of God our prayers would become either empty forms, or a mass of unintelligent petitions. Neglecting prayer, the study of the word of God would be apt to become a mere intellectual pursuit, leaving the heart empty and barren, and the conscience unexercised. But both together sanctify the whole man and all his surroundings.

Of the holy scene in Gethsemane (Luke 22:40-46), we will say but little. It should be read upon
our knees. Oh, the wonder of it ! the holiness of it ! The Son of God in anguish, the blood drops as sweat, falling down to the ground.

"He is speaking to His Father,
Tasting deep that bitter cup."

We are permitted to hear His words, to see His struggles and to witness the calm peace with which cross He meets His enemies. The anticipation of the and wrath-bearing there, were what filled his holy soul with all that anguish. But what perfect resignation, what lowly subjection to the Father ! He came to do His will, and nothing should come between Him and the accomplishment of that will. Surely, as we see and hear Him in the garden, we will heed His own exhortation, "Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation."

One last word of prayer we hear from Him, almost the closing words of a life of prayer. As they nail Him to the cross, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do " (Luke 23:34). When human malice was doing its utmost, when every earthly prospect was fading, Jesus prays for those who are putting Him to death ! Well do we know that His death rendered forgiveness possible for all sinners, even those who crucified Him.

"The very spear that pierced Thy side
Drew forth the blood to save."

And so our blessed Master, after a life of prayer, seals His love with His blood. After His resurrection, as He is about to ascend, He blesses His beloved disciples. He raises His hands calling down God's blessing upon His people. Fitting conclusion to a life of prayer; fitting beginning to the life of glory on high, where "He ever liveth to make intercession for us." In these uplifted hands of blessing, we see the prayers of earth merged into the intercessions of heaven, from whence all our succor comes.

Meanwhile has He not taught us to pray, and left us an example that we should follow in His steps? "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them."