"In the first place such a view of life puts too high an estimate on purely temporal things. Bear in mind that it was not a question of dinner or no dinner in that house that day, but a question of how much dinner. You are not to suppose that Mary did nothing. If you will study the narrative carefully I think you will agree that she did do something. When Martha came to Jesus she said I read from the Revised Version 'Lord, dost thou not care that my sister did leave me to serve alone?'

'Another reason why such a view of life is mistaken is that it falls easily into peevish discontent. Martha was distracted about many things.

"Then again, such a life forgets that the only really effective service grows out of communion with the Master.

"And finally, Martha's view of life is choosing the thing that cannot last. Jesus' words of commendation were these, Mary hath chosen the good part which shall not be taken away from her.' Here was a sad part of Martha's service-it could be so quickly taken away."

LESSON V. — February 1.

THE UNFRIENDLY NEIGHBOR: A PARABLE ON PRAYER. - Luke 11: 1–13.

COMMIT vs. 9, 10.

GOLDEN TEXT. — Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. LUKE 11:9.

THE TEACHER AND HIS CLASS.

Mr. Spurgeon tells a story of a man who was invited to come into an orchard and eat some of the fruit. He refused, for he said that he had picked up some of the apples by the roadside that fell from those trees, and they were poor and bitter. The owner replied that those trees were placed there on purpose, so that the boys would not be attracted into the orchard to steal. But come inside, and there the apples are delicious.

THE ROUND TABLE.

FOR RESEARCH AND DISCUSSION.

Why do we need to learn how to pray ?
What was Jesus' example as to prayer.
The true use of the Lord's Prayer.
The Lord's Prayer as a whole, and the reason for the
order of the petitions.

Compare v. 13 with Matt. 7: 11, and note the
difference.
Christ's lesson from the Fatherhood of God.
The three forms of praying in v. 9.
The three kinds of answer to prayer.

There are lessons which, seen from the outside only, seem unattractive to the children, like the apples from the trees by the roadside. But the teacher's business is to make the entrance to the field of study as attractive as possible, to lure the young to the riches of blessing and help which will SUBJECT: Lessons in the School of

reward those who study into the very heart of the scripture.

PLAN OF THE LESSON.

Prayer.

THE TEACHER'S LIBRARY. Some of the later Books on Prayer are How can God answer Prayer by W. E. Biederwolf. (Winona Pub. Co.) The Practice of Prayer by G. Campbell Morgan (Revell). How to talk with God. (S. S. Times Co.) Illustrative Answers to Prayer by H. C. Trumbull (Revell). The Golden Gate of Prayer, by J. R. Miller, D.D. (Crowell).

Professor Phelps' The Still Hour is a religious classic.

J. R. Miller's Practical Religion has an interesting chapter on the "Sweet Odor of Prayer."

Stalker's Imago Christi has a beautiful and effective study of "Christ as a Man of Prayer."

Hubbard's The Teachings of Jesus in Parables.

I. AND it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, that when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.

even

The Teacher, v. 1. Jesus had returned from Bethany, where we saw him in our last lesson, and was again at work in Perea. The great crisis of his life was but a few months away. The burdens of his last ministry were crowding upon him. The leaving of his vast mission for the world in the hands of a few unlearned and imperfect fishermen, demanded a faith and vision almost immeasurable. There was no power that could sustain him but his Heavenly Father and His Holy Spirit. Hence he was praying in a certain place, because he needed to pray, and to be in closest communion with God at special times, as one eats his food at special times, but lives and works by means of it all the time.

TAKE NOTE that the Teacher was experiencing in his own life the very things he taught his disciples at their request. It is well to notice this as we proceed with the lesson. Every teaching concerning prayer grew out of Jesus' life and experience. It was not hearsay, it was the fruit of his soul. It is this that makes a great teacher. And every teacher is successful just so far as this is true of his teaching.

The Disciples Desire Jesus to Give them a Lesson on Prayer, v. 1. When he ceased praying where they knew he was at prayer, or when he returned to them from some secret place where he was alone with God. One of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray. The disciples had much need of prayer, as they realized more and more. We must learn to do even the best things, if we would do them in the best way. With the holiest and most earnest spirit, we need to learn how to express it most perfectly. The one most full of music, or of artistic talent, takes the greatest pains to learn how best to express what is within him. So the disciples needed to learn how to pray, the true spirit of prayer, the right things to pray for, the length or intensity of praying, the attitude toward God, praying alone, or in public, what to expect in answer, and when to expect it, and many other things to cherish or to avoid. There must have been a great contrast between the prayers of the Pharisees, and the prayers of Jesus.

In response to this request, Jesus gives them A SERIES OF LESSONS IN HIS SCHOOL OF PRAYER.

First Lesson. The Ideal Prayer, vs. 2-4. I. THE LORD'S PRAYER IS IDEAL and perfect as a means of teaching how to pray. It is filled through and through with the true spirit of prayer. It is comprehensive. "It embodies all essential desires of a praying heart, yet in the simplest form, resembling in this respect a pearl on which the light of heaven plays. It expresses and combines in the best order, every divine promise, every human sorrow and want, and every Christian aspiration for the good of others."

2. And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come.

so in earth.

1 Matt. 6:9.

It is unselfish, "ours," not "mine," "us," not "me." Its structure is such that it can be used for bringing large numbers together in the unity of worship, while at the same time its form is not imposed on any. No other prayer recorded in the Bible, not even of Christ, is a repetition of these words, but all are in its spirit. "Rosa Bonheur exclaimed: Brother, paint as God paints.' The student of Jesus as a teacher may say with equal confidence: 'Brother, teach what Jesus taught, and teach as Jesus taught.' - Prof. Martin Brumbaugh. And we may well add, Pray as Jesus prayed. II. THE ORDER OF THE PETITIONS is in accordance with the true spirit of prayer. First of all the prayer is to a loving Father, to whom we would express gratitude, love, and loyalty, and the desire that his name be hallowed, revered, honored, worshipped by all “on earth as it is in heaven." This is the very soul of prayer without which no other prayer avails. Then comes the prayer that the whole world, including ourselves, may attain to the ideal which God is seeking for it. Next is the prayer for the needs that belong to all that live on earth in physical bodies. Then it takes into account the evil in us, and amid which we live, and asks for deliverance and victory; for all these things belong to God's kingdom, where he rules and has the power; and the redeemed creation will manifest the glory of his goodness and be a new revelation of his character to the universe.

Nothing better, higher, more noble and perfect than this can be conceived.

III. THE FATHERHOOD OF GOD, AND BROTHERHOOD OF MAN, v. 2. Our Father which art in heaven. This title expresses that aspect of God which most attracts us to pray to him. When we think of God as infinite, omnipotent, the creator of the universe, who saith to the sea "Hitherto shalt thou come, and no further, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed," "who sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers," "and weighed the mountains in scales," when we see him in the storm and earthquake, how dare we come to him with our little cares and needs! When we think of him as perfect in holiness, “the high and lofty one who inhabiteth eternity," how can we sinful ones draw nigh to him in prayer! When we think of him as "the bright essence increate," who governs by unchangeable laws, how can we hope for deliverance from the consequences of his laws that we have broken! But when we see him as our Father, a loving person, as we know him in his Son, Jesus Christ as he lived on earth, we can draw nigh unto him as children to a father.

If from all literature, all history, all experience, all poetry, all imagination, we could gather together into one picture the noblest qualities of fatherhood and motherhood, loving-kindness and tender mercies, self-sacrifice, longsuffering, and forgiving love, a care that is wise and gracious, seeing the good more gladly than the evil we would have some faint vision of what our Heavenly Father is. And we would gain an acquaintance with our Father and a communion with him that would enrich the soul beyond all compare.

Jesus is always putting forward as the great encouragement to pray, that "You can pray" quite as often as "You must pray."

"Speak to Him, thou, for He hears, and Spirit with Spirit can meet-
Closer is He than breathing, and nearer than hands and feet.”

"More things are wrought by prayer

Then this world dreams of. Wherefore, let thy voice
Rise like a fountain for me night and day.
For what are men better than sheep or goats
That nourish a blind life within the brain,

- Tennyson.

Our implies that all men are brethren, because children of the same Father; implying, too, our fellowship with Christ, our elder brother. "You cannot have God for a father without taking man for a brother."

We gain some idea of the way God answers prayer from the way a parent answers his children's prayers, always gladly, always giving what is desired if it be best, but giving something better in case the requested answer would be injurious, and drawing the child into closer acquaintance with his parent through prayers and answers.

3. Give us day by day "our daily bread.

4. And forgive us our sins; for we ourselves also forgive every one that is indebted to us. lead And bring us not into temptation;

a Gr. our bread for the coming day.

; but deliver us from evil.

IV. THE MAIN OBJECT FOR WHICH WE PRAY in this prayer is the coming of the kingdom of God, the greatest and best thing in the world, both for all men and for each one of us individually. We who pray are included in the ideal, the hope, the promise, for we are a part thereof, and we cannot sincerely pray for it or work for it unless this is true of us. To pray that we may be a part of this kingdom and of all its blessings is not selfish, Thy will be done is the same ideal under another aspect. It does not refer chiefly to endurance of suffering, but to the free choice of God's will and service.

"Our wills are ours, we know not how;
Our wills are ours to make them thine."

The prayer is for the redemption of the whole world, the universal prevalence of the principles of righteousness and the love of God. This petition asks for the most magnificent blessings the world can receive.

We can see what it means when we read the vision in the last two chapters of Revelation; and in the visions of Isaiah. Study what is excluded, and what is included in these pictures of the good time coming, and you will realize what you are praying for in this petition.

We get glimpses of it in the best and noblest people, and the most perfect communities, within our knowledge.

With this moral reign are included all earthly blessings, an outward world that is exactly adapted to the perfect people who live in it. For Christ himself has promised that if we seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness, all these things shall be added unto us, not only as the best environment for righteous living, but as the most perfect means by which the righteous may do the work God gives them to do.

"I may not stay to see the day

When the great Saviour shall bear sway,
And earth shall glitter in the ray

That cometh from above;

But come it fast or come it slow,
"Twill come at last, I surely know,
And heaven and earth shall feel the glow,
And men shall call it Love."

V. THERE IS ONE PETITION for our EartHLY NATURE, Give us day by day our daily bread. As human beings with bodies as the instruments of the soul, it is not only right but necessary that we should pray for earthly things. The base of the stairway to the spiritual and the heavenly rests upon the earth. Earthly blessings may be made the rungs of the ladder, or rather the wings of ascending angels, that lift us to our Father in heaven. On earthly battlefields are gained spiritual victories. Earthly needs are a training school of prayer in the realm of the spirit. Almost every case of healing by Jesus was made the means of healing the soul. In "daily bread is included satisfaction for every earthly need, not merely the necessities of life, but all that makes life healthier, fuller, more beautiful, more useful; food for every faculty of the soul, every longing of the heart. All earthly things are ennobled by being received from the hand of a loving Father; "Each blessing to my soul most dear because conferred by thee." So Maltbie Babcock sang:

"Back of the loaf is the snowy flour,

And back of the flour the mill;

And back of the mill is the wheat, and the shower,
And the sun, and the Father's will."

VI. LESSONS FOR THOSE LIVING IN AN EVIL WORLD. 4. Forgive us our sins. We are all living in an evil world, and have all been influenced by the evil. Our first prayer therefore is to become right with God, to return like the prodigal to our Father's house and heart, to be assured of forgiveness, and to be delivered from the sin, and sinful nature; which becomes possible when we forgive others as we would be forgiven.

The next lesson is for strength to overcome temptation, for victory over this evil world. And finally to deliver us from evil, all evil of every kind and degree.

5. And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves ; 6. a friend of mine is come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set

For

for

before him?

7. And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee,

8. I say unto you, 1Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.

1 Luke 18: I.

"General Gordon made his prayers the real battle of life. More than once he said: ‘I had a hard half hour this morning hewing Agag in pieces before the Lord.' Agag was his old evil self, 'catering for notice and praise.' His prayers were strivings for sanctification and character." We have a Lesson in Faith, in the form of the Lord's Prayer given in Matthew. Why may we pray with assurance? Because to our Father belongs the kingdom and the power. He is ruler of nature and man. All forces are under his control. And the glory. God's glory is the outshining of his nature, his character, his love, the perfection of his being.

VII. FINALLY,

"The ills we see,

The mysteries of sorrow, deep and long,

The dark enigmas of permitted wrong,

Have all one key.

This strange, sad world is but Our Father's School;
All chance and change his love shall grandly rule."

Second Lesson on Prayer. Perseverance in Praying according to the Principles taught in the Lord's Prayer, vs. 5-8. AN ORIENTAL STORY OF THE Two NEIGHBORS. This doubtless was a true story, for a missionary in Syria had a similar experience, and Jesus begins by appealing to his disciples as if it might occur. 5. A friend, and shall go unto him at midnight. In hot climates travelling was largely done in the night. But for the householder it was a most inconvenient time, when it would require a good deal of patience to grant the request. Lend me three loaves. Thin cakes, of which it would easily take three to satisfy a hungry man. 6. For a friend of mine. Giving the reason for his inopportune but urgent request. The friend, arriving at that late hour, was doubtless suffering from hunger. There were almost no hotels in the East to which he could go. The host was entirely out of food, but hoped that his friend might have some left over, though usually they prepare bread enough only for a single day. Perhaps he did not even have meal to make bread of.

7. Trouble me not. Bruce makes this equivalent to "Don't bother me." My children are with me in bed. In the same apartment, but not in the same bed. Each had a bed, or mattress. "It is usual for a whole family (of the poor) to sleep in the same room." I cannot rise and give thee. It is altogether too much trouble. It was indeed a good deal to ask, but its excuse was that it was for others and not for himself. 8. Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend. Though the higher motives will not avail to overcome his reluctance for the friendship is so weak. Yet because of his importunity. The word rendered by importunity is too mild. It is a very striking word to describe persistence: literally, shamelessness. He let no modesty keep him from insisting on his friend's granting his request.

JESUS' APPLICATION OF THE STORY is made in the following verses, 9 and 10. It is the same as that of the parable of the Unjust Judge in Luke 18,—“ And shall not God avenge his elect, that cry to him day and night, and yet he is longsuffering over them" (Am. Rev.)! "However long the answer to prayer may seem to be delayed, constant faithful prayer always is answered.". Int. Crit. Com.

The two similar parables “imply that we have to wait for the fulfilment of spiritual desires, and they teach that it is worth our while to wait; fulfilments will come."- Exp.

Greek Test.