Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-04-25

Jesus sought to impress upon His dis
| ciples that they ought always to pray,
and not to faint" because He knew
that through the long delay of His re-
| turn there was the danger that they
would cease to pray for His second
coming. Some may, because of philoSo-
phical reasons. which are not as sound
as they may think, question the value of
prayer. Nevertheless, Sabatier held that
| all men were incurably religious be-
cause they instinctively seek sOlace and
strength in prayer in every crisis. From
the dawn of history TO the present mo-
ment man has been a praying being.
| Socrates, EpictetuS, Xenophon, Demos
themes and Pericles supplicated their
gods for help. While we would find,
as Augustine has pointed out, that it
| ceasing bend the knee. bow the body,
| or lift up the hands," If our Lord were
: calling for us to constantly observe a
definite attitude of the body and ex-
press In language the longing of the
soul We may have a prayer of the
spirit without intermiSsion, SO that our
whole life may become, what Origen
conceived that the life of Christian
should be, lone great connected
prayer"
Not only in the parallels of the les
son and His teachings in the chapter
from which our lesson is taken, but by
His practice in His own life our Lord
has taught us the elements of prayer.
He found rest after a day of strenuous
service in communion with God. Every
important event in His ministry was
preceded by a night of prayer. He COM
manded His followers to pray that they
might be filled with the Holy Ghost.
He taught them that prayer would pre-
pare them to endure sorrow and trials.
The apostles knew that the Masters
experience confirmed His recommen-
dations Of their living life of prayer
He encouraged His disciples to perse-
we're in the exercise of the privilege Of
the fact that "all things are possible
with God" and calling upon them to
have faith In God"
Spirit Of Earnestness.
There was an evidence Of boldness
upon the part of the Master when He
drew an illustration from the corrupt
political judiciary of His day to teach
the necessity of being earnest in prayer
Nothing could more inadequately and
unsuitably represent a loving Heavenly
Father than a corrupt selfish, unsyrn-
pathetic judge. Yet the earnestness
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who had been wronged succeeded in
persuading the judge to give her JUS
tice because he feared that If he did
not she would weary him." or literally
give him black eye. The message
that Jesus sought to impress by this
parable was not that God was like the
judge or suppliant widow, but that If
by her spirit of earnestneSs the poor
woman could secure justice from a cor
rupt judge, then the trustful and earnest
servants can depend upon the Heavenly
Father answering their prayers, even II
there appeared to be q delay In the
Lords return.
There Is encouragement here for US
to pray without giving up hope of our
prayers being answered. II there Is a
delay In the coming of our Lord. we
may rely upon Gods protection in every
hour of danger, trouble or trial He
makes "all things to work together for
good to them that love the Lord" SO
that the testings Of our daily life are
essential to our spiritual good and the
development of our character. All be-
levers are the elect of God. Through
His grace He has chosen them out of
the mass of humanity and has drawn
them by His love unto Himself through