seen of men.  Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.  But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet; and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.  But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do:  for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.  Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask Him."[5]

[Footnote 1:  Compare Philo, De Migr.  Abr., Sec. 23 and 24; De Vita Contemp., the whole.]

[Footnote 2:  Matt. xv. 11, and following; Mark vii. 6, and following.]

[Footnote 3:  Mark vii. 6, and following.]

[Footnote 4:  Matt. vi. 1, and following.  Compare Ecclesiasticus xvii. 18, xxix. 15; Talm. of Bab., Chagigah, 5 a; Baba Bathra, 9 b.]

[Footnote 5:  Matt. vi. 5-8.]

He did not affect any external signs of asceticism, contenting himself with praying, or rather meditating, upon the mountains, and in the solitary places, where man has always sought God.[1] This high idea of the relations of man with God, of which so few minds, even after him, have been capable, is summed up in a prayer which he taught to his disciples:[2]

[Footnote 1:  Matt. xiv. 23; Luke iv. 42, v. 16, vi. 12.]

[Footnote 2:  Matt. vi. 9, and following; Luke xi. 2, and following.]

“Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread.  Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.  Lead us not into temptation; deliver us from the evil one."[1] He insisted particularly upon the idea, that the heavenly Father knows better than we what we need, and that we almost sin against Him in asking Him for this or that particular thing.[2]

[Footnote 1:  i.e., the devil.]

[Footnote 2:  Luke xi. 5, and following.]

Jesus in this only carried out the consequences of the great principles which Judaism had established, but which the official classes of the nation tended more and more to despise.  The Greek and Roman prayers were almost always mere egotistical verbiage.  Never had Pagan priest said to the faithful, “If thou bring thy offering to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled with thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift."[1] Alone in antiquity, the Jewish prophets, especially Isaiah, had, in their antipathy to the priesthood, caught a glimpse of the true nature of the worship man owes to God.  “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me:  I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats....  Incense is an abomination unto me:  for your hands are