face to face with God.

Rising, she said: 'Now I feel rested and am ready for work again. Prayer is my easy chair.' There is no life so bare and destitute that it cannot have the easy chair of prayer.". Record of Christian Work.

The Outlook and the Uplook.

"When the outlook is dark try the uplook.'
These words hold a message of cheer;
Be glad while repeating them over,
And smile when the shadows appear.
Above and beyond stands the Master;
He sees what we do for His sake.

He never will fail nor forsake us,
'He knoweth the way that we take.'

'When the outlook is dark try the uplook,' -
The uplook of faith and good cheer,

The love of the Father surrounds us,
He knows when the shadows are near.

Be brave, then, and keep the eyes lifted,
And smile on the dreariest day.
His smile will glow in the darkness;
His light will illumine the way."

Otterbein Monthly.

2. Things Wrought by Prayer. We all can give some instances of answer to prayer from our own experience, or from the experience of our friends, or from the accounts we have read. Many an answer is a refusal because we do not know how to pray, or what to pray for; but there are very many cases in which we receive exactly what we pray for, in just the form we ask for. A young girl I knew well had for years a rather unusual success in finding things she or others thought were lost. Her secret was that in every case she prayed for help, and she almost always received it. If she was not to find the article lost she nearly always had that consciousness as she finished her prayer, and usually ceased looking for it. The answer came at once, and often in such a distinct way that she could recognize it as

an answer.

But God does not always answer in this way. It is not so promised. We do not always "get whatever we want by praying, if we have faith." "I find no such warrant either in the promises of Scripture or in the age-long, world-wide experiences of praying men and women. Jesus had faith and in the Garden he prayed that the cup might pass from him. It did not pass he drank it next day on the cross. Underlying every prayer must be the fervent desire that God's will should be done for and by the hearts that pray. And there are situations where God's will is accomplished by the refusal of some specific request as it could not be by the granting of it."

"A

Stopping the Steamer. Drummond tells a story which illustrates the question of God's answer to prayer for temporal blessings in this world of natural law. large, splendidly equipped steamship sailed out from Liverpool for New York. Among the passengers were a little boy and girl, who were playing about the deck, when the boy lost his ball overboard. He immediately ran to the captain, and shouted Stop the ship, my ball is overboard!' The captain smiled pleasantly, but said: 'Oh, no, my boy! I cannot stop the ship with all these people just to get a rubber ball.' The boy went away grumbling, and confided to the little girl that the captain didn't stop the ship because he couldn't. He believed the ship was wound up in some way in Liverpool, and she just had to run, night and day, until she ran down. A day or so afterwards, the children were playing on deck again, when the little girl dropped her doll down into the engine room, and she supposed it, too, had gone overboard. She said I will run and ask the captain to stop_the ship and get my dolly.' 'It's no use,' said the boy; he cannot do anything. I've tried him.' But the little girl ran on to the captain with her story and appeal. The captain came and peeked down into the engine room, and, seeing the doll, said: 'Just wait here a minute.' And while the ship went right on, he ran down the stairway, and brought up the little girl's doll, to her delight, and to the boy's

amazement.

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"The next day the cry rang out,' Man overboard!' and immediately the bell rang in the engine room, by orders from the lever in the hands of the captain; the great ship stood still until boats were lowered and the life was rescued. Then she steamed on until she reached her wharf in New York. As soon as the ship was tied up, the captain went up town and bought the boy a better ball than the one he had

lost. Now, each of the three prayers was answered. The little girl received her request without stopping the ship; the little boy, by a little waiting, received his also; and yet for sufficient reason the ship was stopped by a part of the machinery itself, not as an after-thought, but something put into the ship when it was made." The Bible Record.

We Must Learn What to Pray for, and we must remember that God will never give us in answer to prayer what we ought to win for ourselves by our own work. An earthly father, or a teacher in school, will not, if wise, do everything for the child, but expect him to do his best before he receives aid. Our heavenly Father is far wiser than any earthly father can be, and will often for our own good refuse to grant such a prayer.

Illustration. "I once knew a little girl who did not like to study. But, because she knew that she must pass her school work, study she did, with a smoldering resentment. And then one day in Sunday School she found the solution to her difficulties. For her teacher said, ' If we ask God to help us he will. If we pray to him for assistance.

"Before her next examination the little girl did not study. Instead of learning her lesson she knelt down and prayed to God, asking him to see that she passed her tests. Of course she failed. She failed rather miserably. For she had left everything, quite lazily, in the hands of Ged without even attempting to do her part. If she had asked God to help her and had done her best to learn her lesson, the prayer would have been worth something.

"We must not be like a child who, unreasoning, prays to pass her examinations and then doesn't study. By neglecting to do our part we may fail in an emergency just as utterly as the little girl failed.

"Store up useful knowledge and strength and helpfulness. If you do that you will also be building up a firm character and will power. And you will find, when the time comes, that it's the reserve character and will-power that can make the average person rise up, supreme, to face any emergency.' Margaret E. Sangster. "In this time of trouble' that seems to be enveloping the whole world we may well remember the words of Phillips Brooks, in a sermon which the writer heard him preach more than twenty-five years ago.

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Oh, do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle. But you shall be a miracle. Every day you shall wonder at yourself, at the richness of life that has come to you by the grace of God.'" The Christian.

Prayer and God's Will. "A man stands in the bow of the boat and draws upon a line attached to the shore. His pull does not move the solid ground one hair's breadth, but it does move his boat towards the land. So when I attach the line of my desire fast to the everlasting throne, faith does not expect to move the throne, but to draw me closer to it, and when I get more and more into harmony with God I receive what my heart most desires. Finding my happiness in Christ I am satisfied." Dr. Bushnell.

Ps. 34: 17,

HELPFUL MESSAGES FROM GOD IN TIME OF NEED.

2 Kings 6: 16,

Dan. 6 22, Luke 22 42, Acts 16: 26, Matt. 77, Mark 9: 29, John 16: 24,

(Study each reference and tell the story.)

The angel of Jehovah . . . delivereth them.

They that be with us are more than they that be with them. God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths.

- There appeared an angel . . . strengthening him.

There was a great earthquake . . . all the doors were opened. - Ask, and it shall be given you.

Phil. 46, 7, the peace of God

James 5: 16,

This . . . can come forth . . . by prayer.

- Ask, and ye shall receive.

By prayer .. let your requests be made known to God. . . . shall keep your hearts.

And

- The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

LESSON IX (22). - February 29.

PETER WRITES ABOUT CHRISTIAN LIVING.

1 Peter 2:1-5, 11, 12, 19-25.

(May be used with Temperance Applications.)

GOLDEN TEXT.-He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also to walk even as He walked. -I JOHN 2:6.

Devotional Reading: Matt. 5: 1-10.

Additional Material for Teachers: 1 Peter.

Primary Topic: DOING AS JESUS DID.

Lesson Material: 1 Peter 2: 21-24.

Story Material: 1 Sam. 26.

Memory Verse: Christ also pleased not himself.

Junior Topic: How To TREAT THOSE WHO WRONG Us.

Lesson Material: 1 Peter 2: 19-24.

Memory Verses: Luke 6:27, 28.

Intermediate and Senior Topic: THE NOBILITY OF PATIENCE.

Additional Material: Job 2: 7-10; James 1:4; 1 Peter 3: 17, 18; 4: 12-16. Topic for Young People and Adults: IDEALS FOR CHRISTIAN LIVING. Additional Material: Rom. 12: 17-21; 1 Peter 4: I-5: II.

Adults and Seniors can broaden the scope of their application and study the The Expositor's Greek Testament; The

I. PETER THE APOSTLE, AND HIS EPISTLE. With our last lesson we came to the division line of the Acts. After the 12th chapter the Book of the Acts is chiefly the report of the work of Paul, and his co-workers. Up to this time the Christian religion was spreading rapidly, but principally throughout Palestine and its vicinity. The church at Antioch had become strong, and it had been decided that Gentile Christians could unite in one loving body with the Jewish Christians. The report at the end of chapter 12 is

The Word of God grew and multiplied.

Peter was probably employed for the most part in building up and completing the organization of Christian communities in Palestine and the adjoining districts. He travel ed about preaching the Gospel, accompanied by his wife (1 Cor. 9: 5), and visited Antioch in Syria certainly (Gal. 2: 11). He is thought by many to have gone to Corinth (1 Cor. 1: 12, and Eusebius). It is certainly possible that he went to the Far East, and that the Babylon of 1 Pet. 5: 13 means the city by that name on the Euphrates. It may be considered as a settled point that he did not visit Rome before the last year of his life; but there is satisfactory evidence that he and Paul were the founders of the church at Rome, and suffered death in that city. The time and manner of the apostle's death are less certain. According to the early writers he suffered at or about the same time as Paul, and in the Neronian persecution, about A.D. 67, 68. All agree that he was crucified, a fate which Paul escaped because of his Roman citizenship.

The only writings which Peter left are this First Epistle of Peter, which has always been considered by the church as authentic, and the Second Epistle, which has been the subject of earnest controversy.

The Epistle of Peter. The date of this Epistle is variously estimated as from A.D. 58 to A.D. 80. The latter date supposes either that Peter did not write the Epistle, or that the tradition of his death at Rome under Nero was untrue. From the references to the Epistle to the Ephesians, which was written in A.D. 62 or 63, it is by most authorities considered to have been written after that time; and the majority put it between A.D. 64 and 67, probably 64 or 65.

The Purpose of the Epistle was to comfort and strengthen the Christians during a season of severe trial; to enforce the practical and spiritual duties involved in their Christian profession; and to remove all doubts as to the soundness and completeness of the Christian system.

“We see in this Epistle the true Peter, with his fervid mind and picturesque

1. WHEREFORE laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,

2. As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby :

3. If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

4. To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,

5. Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

utterance, his large charity and the open-handed magnanimity, which enabled him to embrace new truths. One of its noblest features is its gentle, tolerant, comprehensive catholicity." - Farrar.

"This Epistle was the child of many tears, and of much sorrow. It was written when the followers of Jesus of Nazareth were regarded with growing dislike, whilst clouds of suffering and persecution were passing over the people of God (4:17). The disciples had already begun to learn by bitter experience that they were to follow the Master's steps by way of the Via Dolorosa to the light of the Resurrection morn. They needed comfort; a stimulus to patience; a recital of the arguments for heroic endurance - all of which the Spirit of God supplied through these fervid and persuasive paragraphs.

"To a student of the earlier life of the Apostle Peter it would have seemed in the highest degree unlikely that one so impulsive, so rough-handed, so fond of action, should have been selected to write some of the tenderest and most consolatory words that have ever fallen on the ears of suffering and persecuted saints. So sweetened and softened, so humble and tender, as to afford a tropic soil for the luxuriant growth of the balsam and spicery of Divine Comfort." F. B. Meyer.

Peter's letter was written to show those who had become Christians how they should live and act in the midst of heathen persecutors, haters of Christ and his religion.

They must be true and loyal to Jesus, come what may.

They must put away all evil from their hearts and lives.
They must cultivate and practise the good.

They must submit to the authority of their rulers.

They must be patient in persecution.

They must be steadfast, casting all their care on Jesus.
And they should receive the crown of glory.

"The aim of the letter was to confirm the readers in faith, patience, and hope amidst circumstances of great trial. Its burden is: Hold fast the blessed hope of a speedy deliverance from your sorrows and sufferings. The encouragement which the author constantly urges is that since Christ has suffered for us, we ought to be willing to suffer for his sake, and that the present sufferings of the Christian will be far outweighed by the heavenly blessedness which is soon to be his. Thus the theme of the epistle is the true Christian in suffering. The letter reflects a time when to be a Christian meant to brave contempt and to endure hardship. Its dominant thought is that as Jesus passed through suffering to his throne of power and glory, so the Christian must travel through the valley of trial and sorrow on his way to the celestial city; via crucis, via lucis." Professor Stevens in Messages of the Apostles. II. THE SPIRITUAL HOUSE, vs. 1-5. The New Birth, through believing on Jesus Christ and consecrating themselves to Him, was but the beginning of their Christian life. They were only babes in Christ, and had much to learn and gain in the Christian life. Peter and all Christian teachers were training them, feeding them on the sincere milk of the Word, that they might grow thereby. And they had tasted that the Lord is gracious (v. 3).

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Therefore, changing the figure, they must come to Christ as lively (Am. R. "living") stones, ready to be built into the spiritual house, which is being built on the one Ichief corner stone (v. 6)" elect, precious," a stone of stumbling to all who do not wish to obey his word, but the "head of the corner to all that believe and trust him.

We here find a reminiscence of Christ's teaching recorded in Matt. 21:42;