The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1919-06-12
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
Especially Prepared For Readers Of
The Republican.
Sunday, June Is.

II, Os14.lO.
In nothing be anxious; but in every
thing by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving let your requests be
made known unto God. Phil. AS.
THE METHOD.
Old Dan noticed the moving lips
of Daphne who was curled up in his
arms. "Oh. you are not praying, are
you?" he sQuirmed. Oh. do hope
you are not one of those people who
makes his spiritual toilet in public!
Dear me- To brush your soul night
and morning is no more than any
neat person would do. But in public"
That was precisely what Jesus object
ed to in the Pharisee as He saw him
counting the crowded corner that all
might know his holiness. There was
nothing higher than the sightseers
so there could be no other response
to tie attempt to secure their ap-
proval. Jesus said little about the
fact of prayer; that He accepted and
lived before the eyes of His intimates.
He never seemed to feel the need of
making any statement concerning it
for men pray as naturally as they
preform any other function that is
instructive. But He was occupied
with the correction of wrong ideas
about the fact. And prayer for eff
feet is still common in the East or
wherever the mechanical perform
ance becomes the vital thing. The
Moslem kneels in the street and raises
to murder an Armenian Christian
with a clear conscience. The Hindoo
prays and strangles and robs with
equal facility. Small wonder that
Jesus spoke against any method of
prayer that would lead to such
mechanical idea of it as to rob it of
ministry to the life of the prayer
It should focus the entire attention
of the one engaged so that both the
public and the machinery should dis
appear as the door shut upon both
as we'll as every distracting thing
so that only two persons might meet.
Place has nothing to do with it
One of our leaders has discovered
that the street car furnishes a prayer
closet as effective as any locked one
in the home. The child can clasp the
fathers hand as readily in the crowd
as when alone if the desire and pur-
pose are guiding the weaker arm.
"Prayer is the aspiration of our poor,
struggling, heavy-laden soul toward
its Eternal Father, and with or with
out words, ought not to become i'm
possible, nor, | persuade myself, need
it ever" was the conviction of Car
lyle. 1t is the mood that holds COM
munion under any circumstance and
gives that communion first place in
heart and life that has entered into
the prayer secret known to our Lord
THE MODEL.
A copy was set for the Disciples
to follow not a fetish for their wor-
ship. "He writes like a copy-book"
is high praise for school boy but
sharp condemnation for the man.
That copper-plate line is meant to
guide the fingers into accuracy of
movement not to throttle the ex-
preston of the individual. Jesus
was teaching group of boys the
swing of prayer thru which each
should send his own soul. If we
retain the form it is for the same pur-
pose but the mature manhood that
writes like the COPY or prays like it
declares the lack of development in
some section of the life. The model
has the movement of unselfishness
for every pronoun is plural and shares
its desire with others. 1t holds the
passion for the Kingdom for that
PROCEEDS every other personal re-
quest. Gods name, Gods rule, Gods
will are the chief concern, and Heav-
ems perfect order becomes the ideal
toward which the prayer leads the
thought and life The personal pleas
are not excluded but they also are
shared. Bread. Forgiveness, guidance
and guarding are the inclusive list.
Some one points out the fact that
there are seven petitions conforming
to the Jewish idea of perfectness
represented by that number so that
this prayer form represents perfect
ton and sets such for US to copy.
Certainly there can be no addition or
elision without destroying something
that inheres in the very nature of
prayer. Yet it may be expanded into
the characteristic of every age and
into the language of every land and
life.
THE SPIRIT.
Christ's foot-note concerns the
spirit of the praying man. If he is