Ottumwa tri-weekly courier., 1910-02-05
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON AND
YOUNG PEOPLES MEETINGS
News of Interest to Church Goers By a
Writer Who is An Authority on Religious
Subjects. The International Lesson for
Next Sunday.

men regularly make contributions to
various good causes not because they
have the slightest interest in the
causes, but simply on account of the
returns that they think they see for
their own business. Philanthropy is
often cheap way to get distinction
and advertising. Concerning all this,
Jesus said: Verify they have their
reward"
And they have. Let us not lose
sight of that. There is a reward
for having among men a reputation
for piety and good works All the
hypocrites in the world are a vindica-
tion of that proposition. The judg-
ments of the shrewdest selflsts in ex-
istence is that even the form of God
liness Is profitable. The reward, how
ever, is small, immediate and unen.
during. 1t is not enough In times Of
greatest need that anchor does not
hold. A single indiscretion can shat
ter all of the carefully erected struc-
lures of the hypocrite. The man
who builds his hopes on his reputa-
tion with the world at large regardless
OF his character, Is on shaky founda-
ton. Whose lives with respect only
to the Father who seeth in secret-his
building survives all blasts. Its foun-
dations are too deep to be disturbed.
There is permanent power for the
life that is lived only for Gods eyes.
Prayer-WheeI Religion.
At the gates of many temples in ia
pan have seen-and I confess have
mischievously turned in the wrong d.
rection-the prayer-wheels meant for
the pilgrims. Up in North India one
may occasionally see a Buddhist
priest twirling the hand prayer wheel
In Thibet prayers are written thous-
ands and thousands of times and put
in barrels which are turned by water
power. This is the logical develop
ment of the idea of praying and of be-
ing religious for human observance If
a mans religion is in order that he
may be seen of men, then the bigger
and the noisier the display thereof, the
better for him. The Hindu holy man,
with all his marks and ashes and filth
and other outward signs Of religion, Is
then on the right track
That is not the Jesus way. His con-
ception of religion, fundamentally, was
of secret between God and himself.
His real life was his prayer life, lived
apart from men in the times of COM
munion and meditation. Religion goes
! down. to the depths of ones being.
! Not for ones much speaking is he
heard of God, nor for his ,well.ordered
phrases Prayer. is more than a form,
or literary production. The biting
sarcasm of the remark that certain
preacher made the best prayer ever
addressed to Boston audience" still
holds; but better prayer Is that
which cries, God be merciful to be, a
sinner" In truthfulness and conf
dence it looks only to 1.-The Father who
seeth in secret"
The New World-Speech.
The world is steadily getting bigger
IDEAS Old notions of home missions
and of religion are passing away. Men
cannot be religious in the Christian
sense, without thinking of the whole
kingdom of God on earth. The plans
of God are for the entire world, and
the plans of man which are not for
the whole world are too small even for
man. The present imperial concep.
tions which are seizing the church
may be traced back to the prayer Of
the Lord himself. In that great peti
tion there is no singular pronoun at
all 1t is all social and outreaching
The modern selfish petition, God
bless me, my wife, my son John, his
wife, us four, no more. Amen" has
an echo in that great prayer.
We often say that "self-preservation
is the first law of nature; so 1t is
of the lowest forms of nature. The
meanest expression Of religion posi-
BILE to man is that of selfishness 1t is
essentially heather. The motto OF
heathendom is, Look out for number
one" The motto of Christianity is
Look out for number two" Contrast
the selfishness of Cato's prayer with
that which Jesus taught, when he lift
ed men up from the mount of vision
to glimpse of Gods purpose in the
world Father Mars, humbly i'm
/ plore and conjure you to be propitious
and favorable to me, my family and all
my domestics, in regard to the occa
sion of the present procession in my
fields, lands, and estate; to prevent
avert and remove from us all diseases
known and unknown, desolations
storms, calamities, and pestilentia
air; to make our plants, corn, vines
and trees grow and come to perfec
ton; to preserve our shepherds and
flocks: to grant thy preservation Of
life and health to me, my family and
all my domestics.