The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-05-28

AW mated go to sleep every
NE night with their hunger not
III satisfied. The dire poverty
- of a great portion of the
race is beyond the reach of the mag
ination of the we'll fed Western world
This actual hunger of men and women
and little children is one of the new
arguments for foreign missions that
is being frequently heard from the
present day platforms. 1t betokens
the new spirit of philanthropy wh1ch
possess civilized man.
IT is a historical fact that the fol-
lowers of Jesus have been foremost
in initiating his example in FEEDING the
hungry. AS today the thoughts of all
Sunday schools are turned toward his
two great miracles, of the feeding of
the five thousand, and of the feeding
of the four thousand, it is well TO re-
member that his church is still doing
as he did. Does a famine break out
in China or India or Japan or Ar
menia? 1t is the Christian nations,
and especially Christian North Amer
lea, which are swift to respond. The
fact is rather startling that Christian
nations do not have famines; so broth
erly is the practical outworking of the
gospel.
The Compassionate Heart.
The reason for these two wonderful
miracles Law in the compassionate
heart of the great Teacher. Weary,
and eager for rest, he yet forgot him
self in serving that restless, curious
plebeian throng, with their unthink-
ing irnprovidence. He might have
rallied at them for their carelessness;
but Jesus was never cynical; and he
always regarded the multitudes with
feelings of tender sympathy, and not
as "the rabble." The ecclesiastical
leaders of his day looked contemptu-
ouslv upon "the masses" and cried,
This multitude, which knoweth not
the law, is accursed." But Jesus "saw
them as sheep with the fleece torn
of n d
and his heart cried yearningly and
pityingly Come unto me, all ye that
labor and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest"
That is the Christ spirit, wherever
found. It Is gloriously common in
the world today. That is why imme-
mortal abuses are coming to an end,
and a new mood of humanitarianism
is sweeping around the world. The
twelve hour day and the seven day
week in the steel mills is doomed by
this spirit. So is child labor So are
the unsanitary and overburdensome
hours OF woman's labor in mill and
store Likewise the unlivable tene-
ments, and the white slave evil, and
the drug and liquor curses are to be
slain by this same gentle hand, which
is as strong for shifting as it is smooth
for soothing.
A woman who is busy and honored
said the other day. 81 feel that it is
scarcely right for us to be living our
prosperous. comfortable happy lives
out here in thes sunshine. among the
flowers and the green trees, while so
many people are dwelling in poverty,
congestion and l4aiseEy--in the big city.
/ feel that I ought to be with them,
trying to help them. 1t surely is not
Christian for us to go on in our own
way, forgetting them utterly.
A Motley Congregation.
Some Christians-yes, and let it be
said with shame. some preachers, al
so-pride themselves upon the exclus-
i've social quality of the membership
of their church. They boast OF the dis
tihguished men who sit in their pews:
it is a rare minister who can refrain
from telling the visiting clergyman of
the number of the best people" who
are in the congregation.
you spoke to blank millions of
dollars this morning." is a not I'M
common remark to speakers who are
his guests ii rich churches Pity the
messenger of the Most High who has
to speak to dollars. Unless he is ad-
dressing humble, receptive and con-
trite hearts, he might as well baWl his
message to the rocks or the waves.
That is a poor congregation which
does not have in it representatives of
the poor. the defeated, the sorrowing,
the afflicted. Consider the congrega-
tons to whom Jesus preached, ere he
fed them with material bread. What
a. motley company they were-plain
folk altogether, with a generous
sprinkling of vagabonds, loafers, beg
gars, blind, lame, deaf and sick. "The
fhem"-this was one of the proofs
which Jesus himself gave of his Mes
siahship.
wooden Neckties-and Homily.
From many sides light streams
upon this lesson of feeding the hun
CRY, as we mediate upon it. Jesus
here deals with an economic problem.
The question of the poor has always
perplexed progressive society. To-Day,
it may be asserted with unqualified
holiness the Nazareth Carpenter, who
never enunciated a theory of econom-
les, is doing more to amelforate the
poverty of the world than all the
books and teachings and activities of
all the sociologists He is not now
1niraculously multiplying loaves, as he
did by blue Galilee. But he is put
ting new skill and purpose into the
hands and hearts of men.
once in Toxic, a prosperous Jap
anese business man called upon me
to present me with some samples of
new uses he had made of the wood
shavings. I still have Some of those
beautiful wooden neckties. I recall
that the mans cap and vest were both
woven of wood fibre. Hi sstory. in
christian, I at once began. to try to
think of new ways of helping my coun
try and my fellowmen. That is. how
I came to invent this process of max
ing wood shavings TO look ike SILK
and wool"
I recall Mr.. Ishii, the head of the
great Okayama orphanage in Japan,
whose life was touched by Christ so
that it has blossomed into a largeness
and usefulness that has made him one
of the great, hiIanthropists of the
world In India had pointed out
to me young men whom Christianity
had lifted up from the depressed
castles, so that their income, and their
usefulness to society, was many fold
greater than their fathers. Jesus is
multiplying food by enriching mans
cana cities