St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1904-07-16


cieties, or of the successful Bible class
and be drawn and held there by the
power of numbers and the association
of congenial spirits The connection
may bring self-gratulation, and self
satisfaction, but Jesus may see the real
secret of your activity and interest, and
be forced to condemn you, because you
seek Him not for Himself alone, but for
the fellowship and pleasure you find with
others. And SO with other activities
which may engage you in the church.
What is the motive which draws and
holds you?
A ND this analysis of motives must
~ not omit the object and purpose OF
attendance upon religious meetings.
Some gather for the worship of Cod
but you go for what? To see your neigh
boris bonnet; to admire or criticise her
new frock; to hear the latest gossip; to
plan for the next social event; to talk
over some business project with Deacon
So-and-So, who lives away over on the
other side of town and whom you can
conveniently see at meeting and save a
trip to his home; to see the girls and
smile and motion and whisper to them
through meeting and then bow them
home, and vice versa, to see the boys
and to scandalize the meeting and dis
honor God by your frivolous conduct?
These and a thousand and one other
things take one to meeting. Examine
your heart and let the Lord show you
what He sees there. The same sorrow
which filled His heart as He beheld that
great multitude come trailing back to
Capernaum to find Him because it had
partaken of the loaves for the physical
body must move His heart to-day as He
sees many, many go to His house under
the pretense and guise OF worship. what
is it takes US to the place where two or
three are wont to meet together in the
name of Jesus? Are our hearts filed
with the purpose to behold His won
drous works in the hearts of men; are
we thrilled with the desire to learn OF
Him and to have sweet communion with
Him? While the hymns Of praise and
worship are being sung, while the prayer
is being offered, while the Word OF Cod
is being read or expounded by preacher
of laymen, and the testimonies, of what
are we thinking? Are our thoughts cen
tered in the direction to which our steps
have just brought us, or are they back
at the Office, or out on that play ground,
or off on the fishing excursion, or the
hunting trail? Where are We anyway?
Be honest with yourself and with God!
Are you seeking the Lord with honest
purpose and simple heart, or are you
running after the Lord that the physical
and material things of life may be more
fully enjoyed?
NUHY should we seek the Lord? He
w wanted that restless, unsatlsheo
multitude that sat upon the grassy
hillside and partook Of the loaves and
fishes which multiplied under his touch
to feel higher need and to realize
His power to completely and richly
satisfy that need. He wants you and
me to think less and less of the crea-
ture comforts and more and more OF
the requirements of the undying soul.
He chided the multitude with thinking
more of the perishable food which
filled their stomachs and eased the
pangs of hunger than they did Of the
mighty power of God which had so
given such inexhaustible
store. They had been as blind to the
wonderful sign Of the Divine presence,
as the worm in the black earth is in
different to the glorious sunset. They
had been as content to eat to the full
and then banker after the same gem
erous bounty in the future as is the
beast of the field when it gorges to the
full and then lies by the carcass ready
for the next meal. Jesus wants us to
seek Him in order that He may realize
in us that for which He came into the
world. Let the soul comprehend the
glory and majesty and power of the
Divine presence, and think you 1t will
grovel among the creature comforts OF
this life and desire only full stomach
and full storehouse from which to
obtain future supplies? l tell you nay!
How pitiable it is to think of one
choosing the gaudy bit of glass when
right next to it is the sparkling, pure,
priceless diamond; think of the folly
of one taking the cheap, inartistic
chrome, when one might have had the
splendid masterpiece Of art. And yet
this but feebly and insuficiently ex-
presses the folly of one who will not
seek the Lord for the best which He
has to give.
the trouble with that
w multitude? What is the trouble
with multitudes to-day, that they will
not seek the Lord for the higher needs
Of the soul rather than for the needs
of the natural man? A few days be-
fore the experience set forth in our
text, Jesus had been talking with the
Jews, many of whom were doubtless
among those to whom the rebuke of
our text was spoken. Atsthat time He
said: eye will not come to Me that
We may have life" and this perhaps is
the best and most complete explana-
ton which could be offered for their
unbelief and hardness of heart. They
would come for the loaves and fishes,
but they would not come to the Life
Giver that they might obtain the life
more abundant. When the reason for
is reduced to its last analysis.
it amounts to just this, eye will not"
The multitude was blind because II