The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-07-21
INTERNATIONAL SUNDAY SCHOOL
 LESSON

Third Quarter. Lesson W. Luke xii,
 1-13. July 22, 1906.
 JESUS TEACHING HOW TO PRAY. 'Tord. what a change within us one
 short hour
 Spent in Thy presence will prevail
 Trench.
 The apostles observed Jesus in the act and attitude of prayer. In some oratory of nature. perhaps. they saw Him kneeling with upturned face. His glowing lineaments showed the bliss of communion with God. or repose af- ter wrestling, and the conscious ob- taininG of the thing desired. A goodly sight, No wonder 1t provoked the ques- tion how they could learn to pray after such a fashion.
 The universal Teacher taught through these suppliants ali who would afterward learn of Him concerning tbis supreme act of the soul. He gave first the model of prayer--the Ideas. the words. The Paternoster is an epi- tome. Here are the needs alike of the race and the individual in miniature. It Is the alphabet. the numeral system out of which prayer of every descript- ion can be spelled and figured. An alytically, in its separate parts. 1t H. illustrates the components of a true,
 
 ally. there Is in 1t a tenor. a spirit--a cumulative power unmatched in written language. It is the chief ornament of every ritual Its perpetual repetition wearies no one. It Is suited alike to child and adult.
 The Lords Prayer is a fine example Of the avoidance of many words which Jesus on another occasion insisted up- on The equilibrium between compre- hensiveness and condensation Is main tained. The. exordium Is a reveren- tial address to the Deity. in which His existence, unity, and paternal char acter are adoringly recognized. The Kingdom of heaven" will be found to be solvent of the prayer. The com ing of the kingdom insures dissolution. reduces temptations. and consequently delivers from evil. Criticism has fair ly established that the ascriptions of Kingdom, power and glory was not a part of the prayer as originally given. But the lofty doxology chords so per- fectly that it will probably continue in Use forever. The prayer can be dIvid- ed into two parts: The first relates to the Father, and contains three peti. ticns; 1. G., concerning His name, His Kingdom. and His will. The second concerns ourselves, and is comprehend ed in the words bread. forgiveness, and deliverance. Rudolph Stier says in his "Words of Jesus " "An the tones of the human breast which go from earth to heaven sound here in thei- keynotes." From this matchless formulary Jesus passes to the spirit which should characterize the suppliant. To set this forth, He uses homely domestic in- cident. We must transfer ourselves to the Orient to appreciate 1t. There was no mail or timetable to apprise the host of the hour of the guests arriv- al It would like as not be late at night, as travel was ordinarily contin- ha day. The guest would be down. right hungry, as there were no facili- ties of the modern restaurateur. The hosts 1arder would like as not be empty, the climate making the pres ervation of edibles difficult. and lead ing them to live from hand to mouth. Borrowing would be the next thing in order What a touch of nature in the churlishness of the half-awakened neighbor! To him getting up from his warm bed, and stumbling over his children as they lie hit and miss upon their tiny mats about the floor; the taking down of the heavy bar across the door; all seems to his drowsy pow CTS a superhuman exertion. Yet there comes at length point where 1t is easier for the sleepy niggard to get up and have done with the matter, than to be periodically reused by the persist snt knocking and calling.
 The force of the parable is in it's contrasts. God'S eye IS never closed in slumber. Gods self Is love His treasures are inexhaustible. He de- lights to give. There is no indiffer- @nce or disinclination on the part of God which must be first overcome by mans importunity. The delay in answer, If there is any. is for the recipients own highest advantage; that he may study anew his supposed needs, may analyxe his motives. may review the promises, 10 that when at length the answer comes, he may be in a state of mind and heart to avail himself of the bles- einR to the uttermost Postponement is for the advantage of the receiver. not the Giver
 The Paternoster is still in Jesus's mind. Earthly fathers have judgment 10 discriminate between good and evil gifts for their children. They have natural affection enough to Incline them to bestow only the good. If that he so--and who denies it?--how will not the Heavenly Father, infinite in wiRdoun, power and love, bestow that all-incluslve gift. the life and light of the soul, the Holy Spirit. to those who, out of the vocabulary of the Paternos-