484 THE LORD'S PRAYER the thirsty desert should produce spoil- taneous springs of water ; that the tame and savage animals should live together in friendly compact ; that the material hills shall really sink and the vallies rise of themselves ; - we might as rationally hope to see these lively illustrations of the fulfilment of the Divine promises literally verified, as to expect Christianity to make its own unassisted way into the distant and desolate corners of the earth. God has committed Christianity into the hands of Christians for universal diffusion. Let it be observed, that it appears to be no real departure from the subject with which this chapter opened, that reference is not more frequently made in its progress to prayer. This seems to be the less necessary, as we are not reason- ing with the irreligious man, but with the. Christian, with him who professes to use the Lord's Prayer as the pattern of his own devotions ; and from the premises of that prayer, these observations are not
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