The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1906-12-12
The Bread Of Life.

1 GIL yIuS pISdu VI I'D
So.
Jesus has just miraculously fed
the 5000. In company with His dis-
ciples He passed over to Capernaumss
The multitude follows Him. many
are impelled by selfish mottyes-for
the loaves and fishes. Jesus, know
ing this, admonishes them to labor
not for the meat which perisheths but
for that meat which endureth unto
eternal life. Thus arcusing their In.
terest, He breaches to themsthis mag.
niicent sermon, inthe midst OF which
He makes this wonderful declaration
IT am the bread Of life, What must
be Christ's own conception eot HE
greatness and value when he can
thus say to a hungry multitude,
am the staf Of ;life!Y Yettherei is no
egotism or. self-assumption In His
claim. 1t is the literal truth. For
what bread is to the body that iss
Jesus Christ to the soul
Bread is all sufficient for life. IT.
is, a perfect food, containing all the
elements needed for nutrition. Man
will thrive on a bread diet. Nor IS 1T
otherwise with Jesus. In Him there
is everything that we need for life
and character. He is q covert rom
the tempest; rivers of water In
drought; loayes of bread in famine;E
the shadow of a great rock In q
weary land. For the polluted He la
purity; for the irritable He isspa-
thence; for the faint He is courage;t
for the. weak He Is strength; for the
ignorant HeSis wisdom for the hun
CRY He is food. God, who kneWsthe
needs Of our bodies, stored In the
wheat all nutrittye qualities Tor us
to assimiIate according to our need
And knowing the needs Of our souls
He stored all the elements required
for DUR spiritual nutrition In Christ,
leaving US to appropriate them as We;
will.
Bread must be appropriated be-
fore it becomes life giving. Very
complicated is the process Of nutri-
ton. It includes prehension, mastt-
cation, in~salfyation, degluttuons
stomach and intestinal digestion abb
sorption, sanguifcation, circulation,
Observation-Disclosures only Ia the bread
built up into flesh and bone, brain.
and Drawn. Non-appropriation ts nom
assimilation, and non-assimilation
is physical weakness and decay
However much bread lies around 1T
does not appease hunger unless It Is
appropriated and dfgested. And
what digestion Is to food that devout,
| and loving meditation 3on the life,
character, words aud work OF Jesus
is to our souls. In the ;ona process
there is a vital union between our
bodies and the bread; In the other Q
vital union between our spirits and
the risen Christ. In the former we.
extract the principle of life from the
bread; in the latter the principle OF:
spiritual life from Christ Jesus.
Feeding upon Him we derive strength.
to suffer and powersto achieve.
But this text speaks OF sacrihce.
What is necessary for the golden
wheat to become bread? 1T must
submit to the blade of the reaper and
the fail of the thrasher and the
grinding of the mill and the knead-
Ing of the baker and the fire of the
oven before it becomes bread. The
golden wheat sacrifices itself to bee
come bread. So in this text we see
the sacrifice. of the Of God. He
lived a nard and Iaborious life; ems
dured the insults Of His enemies and
submitted to the ignominious death.
of the cross in order that He might
become the bread OF life. Because
He loved us and gave Himself for us
we never weary Of Jesus. He Is
mama for our famished souls. He Is
food for intellect, heart and soul
the glorious ideal. the flower and
contamination Of the human race, the
all-suficient Saviour. - A.. Lincoln
Moore, D. D., Riverside Baptist
Church, Manhattan, in the Sunday
Herald.