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the family and send pandemonium into the home. On the contrary, if all their requests were ignored, they would suffer intolerably. Their requests must be reasonable, and the answer of parents must be so wise as not to put a premium on self indulgence and indolence. The ability of a father and the need of a child are correlative. It is reasonable to suppose that a father will answer the prayers of his child because he should and can. He does not leave him to the mercy of nature, but enables him to make nature serve him. He does not expect all needed blessings to come as a matter of course, but answers his requests by helping him to seek what he needs.

If now, an earthly father cares for his family in this manner, our heavenly Father cares more. This is not an orphan world, nor is God an absentee God. He has not left us to work out our destiny, without His supervision. He is not unconcerned about our welfare, and His ear is not deaf to our cry. Nor, are His hands tied by natural laws so He cannot bless, but laws are His will and His servants in blessing His children. It is reasonable to suppose that God has more autonomy in His world than we have in our homes. We answer the prayers of our children in ways that do no violence to our homes. He can, and does answer our prayers in ways that do no violence to His world. If we are not figure-heads and machines in our homes, certainly God is not in His world.

Light is thrown on this problem also, when we remember that only good gifts come from God in answer to prayer. They are not only good for us, but good for all, because good for us; and good for us, because good for all. God cannot consider our whims any more than we consider the whims of our children. Being a heavenly father, he gives only gifts which most befit heaven, and which most fit us for heaven.

I remark last: Prayer is reasonable because it is universal. The instinct prompting it is as native as it is universal. Whatever their race or clime, men, everywhere, are suppliants. From infancy to old age, men pray and aspire to fellowship and communion with the infinite. The savage and sage, alike, look up and invoke help in time of need. Peasant and king, respond to the same native call to prayer, and bow before the majesty of the same imperative need. The untutored toiler in the field and the philosopher among his books, awake, alike, to feelings

of dependence, and alike, secretly ask for needed benediction. Everywhere men feel that they are beneficiaries, that somewhere there must be a great common father who shapes human ends, and hears human cries. Instinctively we feel for a hand unseen, and listen for a voice that should be heard. From the "tongueless silence of the dreamless dust" there comes no word, but in the great world about us there must be some big heart that beats in sympathy for us. From the unreplying lips of invisible love some response must come. Prayer is the one touch of nature that makes the whole race kin. Men bow in reverence, or kneel in humility at a common shrine and plead for common blessings. Race distinctions and differences of creed vanish before the common cries of burdened souls. Whether on christian or heathen ground, men feel after God, if haply they may find Him.

Prayer is offered wherever a sincere soul seeks after God, and it is answered whenever it finds Him. For the strongest man an hour comes when the world reels beneath his feet, and he wants a divine bosom on which to lean. There are hours when all other helpers fail, and when we reach out for the everlasting arms which are always open to all.

Christ sounded the universal note when he taught men to say, "Our Father." This is the universal prayer. When the great congress of religions assembled at Chicago, during the World's Fair, there came to that great convention, representatives of all religions, from every quarter of the earth. In that company were Buddist priests from India, Brahmins from Ceylon, priests from Japan, teachers of Confucius from China, representatives of the Greek churches from Athens, scholars from upper Egypt and lower Arabia. They represented every shade of religious opinion, and came from every clime. When Dr. Barrows, the promoter of that great movement, rose to open the assembly, he looked out over that vast audience and said, "How shall this parliament be opened?" A Brahmin in the rear of the auditorium answered, "Open it with the Lord's prayer, for I have long been convinced that this is the universal prayer of humanity." And then that vast throng sent up one united voice to the one great, common Father, in the words of the one universal prayer, as they said, "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in

heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen." And the great Max Muller, the greatest philologist the world has even known said this was the greatest achievement of christianity in the annals of its history, when the universal world, in the person of the representatives of the world's religions stood with bowed heads and united in the Lord's prayer.

WHO WAS CHRIST?

And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, who is this?-Matt. 21:10.

"HAT was a memorable day in the life of Christ when,

THAT

amid the shouts and hosannas of an immense throng, He made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and by a vast multitude was proclaimed king. It was the first day of that eventful week in which He was crucified, and soon He was to hang on the cross, just outside the gates of the city, over which He had wept so bitterly, and which He had tried so hard to save. Now that He is nearing the close of his earthly career, He would give His own people a final opportunity to acknowledge Him king. Should they decline to own Him, their house would be left to them desolate. Accordingly, He comes riding into the city, attended by an immense throng. Their enthusiasm rose to such a height that some wrenched palm branches from the trees and scattered them along his path, while others threw their garments in His way, as a recognition of His rule and royalty. His entrance into the city created a sensation. Such was the consternation of the inhabitants, and such the curiosity which the event aroused that the people came rushing out to see what this procession meant. The whole city was moved, and very naturally, they asked, who is this?

The question of his contemporaries is still the question of the twentieth century. Christ has always been an interrogation point in history. The mystery of his incarnation has never yet been fully solved, and the tremendous influence of his unique career has never been fully understood. Wherever He appeared among men, when on earth, His presence created a sensation; and even in our day, the mention of His name still starts thoughts and stimulates inquiry.

Who is this colossal figure who has come riding down

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