"What do we pray for in these words, 'Thy will be done?' We pray for two things; 1: For active obedience; that we may do God's actively in what He commands. 2. For passive obedience; that we may submit to God's will patiently in what He inflicts.
"We pray that we may do God's will actively, subscribe to all His commands, believe in Jesus, which is the cardinal grace, and lead holy lives. We pray that we may actively obey God's will. This is the sum of all religion, the two tables epitomised, the doing God's will. 'Thy will be done.' We must know His will before we can do it; know-
ledge is the eye which must direct the foot of obedience.
"At Athens there was an altar set up, 'To the unknown God,' (Acts 17:23). It is as bad to offer the blind to God as the dead. Knowledge is the pillar of fire to give light to practice; but though knowledge is requisite, yet the knowledge of God's will is not enough without doing it. If one had a system of divinity in his head; if he had 'all know-
ledge,' yet, if obedience were wanting, his knowledge were lame, and would not carry him to heaven, (1 Cor 13:2). Knowing God's will may make a man admired, but it is doing it that makes him blessed. Knowing God's will without doing it, will not crown us with happi-
ness."
