and consequently not by comparison, but essentially and truly, is Christ the Son of God, the only-begotten of the Father; and therefore not only in His uncreated essence as the Divine Word is He the Son of God, but also in His created human nature; for this was a new creation, but without terrestrial paternity. Other men attain to this dignity only by grace, by means of adoption. The only-begotten is but one; the adopted are many. Hence our Lord, as often as He speaks of His eternal Father in reference to Himself, says, "My Father;" but when speaking of Him in reference to others, He says, “Your Father"-"I ascend to My Father and to your Father." He, then, alone has power to call the eternal Father His Father; as when He says in the prophetic Psalm (the 88th), "He shall call upon Me, Thou art My Father." But we, who are many, may not use this expression, "You are brethren; and one is your Father, who is in heaven." We are, therefore, taught to call upon Him, saying, "Our Father." By this expression, our attention is directed to all and to each one, who have the same right to God as ourselves, as the same Divine essence lovingly reveals and imparts itself to one as to another, What, then, do these words of invocation, "Our Father," contain? They contain the two greatest commandments, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and thy neighbour as thyself;" they contain, moreover, the living cause, which closely connects these two commandments, "thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart," because He is a Father; "thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," because God is thy Father and his Father,-because He is OUR Father.

It was not, therefore, without reason that the holy Dorotheus represented this twofold precept under the figure of a circle; in which from one centre equal rays are drawn to all points of the circumference, or return from these points to the same centre. The point or centre of our spiritual life is in God and in His law; and to all who stand around, the like object is proposed, to find in God their essential and beatifying THOU; for as they are directed to one and the same centre, they are mutually neighbours to each other; and therefore should preserve towards each other harmony and love. When a man separates himself in hatred from his neighbour, when he exalts himself above him, or servilely or idolatrously subjects himself to him, he departs from his point in the circumference; he belongs no more to it, and has lost his centre. He, therefore, who is torn away by ambition, by avarice, or by sensuality, cannot, without speaking falsely, utter these words, "Our Father;" for he has departed from that living circle, which is designated by this word, Our.

If we come to speak of the particular irregularities, by which this beautiful word OUR is destroyed, we shall speak, first, of those words mine and thine, which St. John Chrysostom names the cold words mine and thine,' because they are opposed to holy love, and are the causes of contentions innumerable. The golden-mouthed orator relates a contest of another kind, which its extraordinary nature renders remarkable. 'A peasant,' he tells us, 'sold a field, without knowing that a treasure lay therein concealed. The purchaser, in cultivating the field, discovered the riches, and hastened immediately to the peasant, and obliged him to take back what he

had sold; 'for,' said he, 'I purchased the field, not the treasure which it contained.' The other refused, declaring that he had no further right to the land which he had sold. They thus contested for a long time, until at length an arbitrator, whom they selected, said, laughing, I will decide your dispute; but I will take, as my reward, that which neither of you will receive.'

Is this, indeed, a true history? Many will certainly receive it only as a fable; because the mine and thine are now more common than the OUR. The first Christian communities would have seen nothing fabulous in this narration; for they had but one heart and one soul; and neither had avarice, nor envy, nor pride disturbed their holy life. It is, indeed, necessary that a distinction of rank and station should be observed upon this earth; and this distinction is of divine institution; but the very knowledge of this institution should exclude all pride. There was once written on the window of an hotel at Innspruck the ancient German legend:1

When Adam delved and Evè span,

Who was then the gentleman?

But a celebrated Austrian duke wrote another rhyme underneath :2

I am as ev'ry other man ;

But God made me a gentleman.

That is, I am in essence a man like others, but God hath granted to me to possess a higher rank than many 1 Al Adam hackt' und Eva spann,

Wo war alsda ein Edelmann ?

2 Ich bin ein Mann, wie ein andrer Mann;

Jedoch mir Got der Ehren gann.

others. For the dignity which is enjoyed by individuals in their place in society, is one thing; but the pride, by which men lose their position, is another.

"And now, O Lord," exclaims the Seer, "Thou art our Father, we are but dust; Thou art our Maker, and we are all the work of Thy hands." By creation, we are all of one essence, and members of one family; and we have been united more closely together in a new life by the work of redemption; "for," as the Apostle says, "in Christ Jesus you are all one, you are all children of God, by faith in Christ." (Gal. iii.) In Him, who as a new centre, as the head and heart of the human race, entered into the midst of us, was united the twofold precept of the love of God and our neighbour; for He was our God; and by His human nature He became our brother, to unite us among ourselves and to our Father.

S in the porticoes and colonnades which form the approach to a temple or palace, there is to be seen much that is noble and worthy of observation; to gaze upon which we would willingly for a time delay; so the introduction to the seven petitions, which form the Lord's Prayer, is rich in knowledge, sublime, which it is not permitted to us to pass by without attention. For, as in the words of this preface, "Our Father who art," the essence of God in a threefold personality, and our single personality, in a twofold relative essence, are clearly shewn; so the words, "Our Father," proclaim the paternity of God towards us in its full external revelation, and also our relation to Him and to our neighbour.

But we are especially commanded to pray thus, "Our Father who art in heaven;" and as this command is neither unessential nor unnecessary, we find ourselves placed upon an exalted region, which may be