The Brinkley argus., 1912-05-31

do not your righteousness before men. tc be seen of them; else ye have no reward with your Father which Is Tn Heaven '-- Matt 6:l
 Someone has called attention to the "buts" of God as recorded in the Scriptures, showing, that they always lead to something good and contrasts them with those of men that are always the introduction to some derogatory re. mark. In something resembling this < the words of Jesus, Take heed" are ] tremendous with import
 Doing was the greatest thing in the Jewish religion that Jesus came to set aside when he established his new Kingdom. It is easy for a man to try 10 do for himself in order to merit for us and we to accept his finished work.
 In this lesson there is one inclu. sive word and three illustrations. This word is the word righteousness" sub stituted in the Revised Version for |. the word "alms' in verse one. The three lines of application or illustra.
 
 make our righteousness secure by so doing our aims as not to be seen of men; second, that in the saying of our prayers We shall not, like the hyprocritcs. desire to be seen of men, and third, that in the keeping of our lasts and our vigils we do them, not, as do hyprqcrites, that the multftudes mae nhcnrva apd ~0$,nranpt tbouoAp
 In another lesson upon this mani festo of Jesus we studied tke subject of the law and in it he summarized 1t Ru by telling us that except our righte- oqsness shall exceed the righteousness of these ScYibes and Pharisees, whom Jokn the Baptist designated as . gen. eration of vipers-hypocrtes, we shall in TO wise enter into this new Kingdom which Jesus came to establish.
 Righteousness He Demands.
 h tho lesson Jesus shows us the difference between their righteous. hess and the righteousness which he Is demanding of the subject of his kingdom. He demands that our righte> business shall seek it's approval not
 
 , motive which must govern is the glory, not of man but of God, not mans approval but the approval of God In verse two the word "alms" IS retained and hence the first illus. iration has to do with our doing of aims i. e., our relations to men about ns. our right.ness. The doing of aims al t<,. xs,lt \ my question of honesty between man and man The doing of aims accord ing to the strict Interpretation of civil law is no part of duty. There is no reason why the business man should give away his earnings provided he is just fin his dealings and does not de- fraud in his transactions Yet we do see men making great gifts and bene- factions to the cause of philanthropy. Why? Jesus lays bare the secret when he says, that they may have the glory of men"
 Next Jesus takes up the subject of prayer. Again our attention Is drawn to the fact that the exercise of prayer has but little to do with our relations 
 must be right before we can come to God acceptably but prayer is to be di- rectcd to God and not 10 man. Apart from our belief In God, why should we prays Commercial or other inter-rela- tIonships to not require prayer, why then pray? The keen blade of Jesus logic again reveals the innermost se- crat. that they may be seen Of men, and such an idea of righteousness is terugnant in the kingdom of Jesus
 We TOW come 10 the third fiiust-a- tiisi, the keepire If lasts. Fasting dcrs tot and usyer has appealed to E tshr fssarai fiaI. Naturally 1t is re prgnabt and dstasteful and yet we tre f,en making show of fasting and inhdaihs q like burden upon others, WhyT That they may be seen of ,neh" Is there. then, no place for. hor r.inissfy In fasting. Certainly . thesA :u True fasting, however, con- fssts iE foregoing and abstaining for the glory of God
 God the Final Judge.
 IL is sad fact that much of our fen ten fasting and Of our abstemiousness npon Fridays is that 1t shall be seen of men and not because of any real ap- rreciation of the underlying need or sense of the principles of fasting. Inl5 lesson is great warning that if We condition our righteousness upon the approval Of man 1t will have aQ fx- wfrd whatever of God The o4tenta- ticus or unctious display cf phil, rnthropy will receive its sreward from men and weighs naught
 Followed through this lesson applies all the walks of life. For illustra- } .icn. to adulterate food for gain and yet appear active in church for the ipbuilding of reputation. This false- ness is the sin that Hes back of graft Ind corruption and that allows Amer lea to have "the worst governed cities in the world"
 It is quite noticeable that there Is not a single personal pronoun in this model prayer It begins with God, toohs n through his dealings with nm and back once more tc him to