Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-09-19
THE HUNGRY MULTITUDE
rhe international Sunday sehoo, Les
son for September ~ ls "The Feed
ina Of the Five Thousand"
Mark 6:3044.
By william T. Ellis.

r,hA nerson who thinks that the
.s,ica 81 religion is confined to the
nraachine Of the simple gospeI
viii have to cut out OF his bible the
story az the feeding Of the five thou-
sand He had like-minded proto.
tvnea in the first company OF Jesus
friends. They wanted to seno Lne
hungry horde away to snilt IoI
themselves. Not SO with the master
himself: he never did conIine
himself to preaching simple eos.
peI., He cared for mems bodies as
we'll "a for their souls. Much OF MS
ministry was in response 70 pnysr
cal need When he came upon an
economic problem he met It,
I. The truth cannot be escaped, as
We .sstndy this miracle, the only one
mat was reported in all four gospeis'
token of its unique importance
that the mission Of the church is 70
MI men and to all Of men. The econ
nmic conditions Of our time, the Nv
Ing wage for every worker, the puri-
n az the food which the people eat'
nlavxrounds for city children, the
;mnroyement Of present social condl-
1ions-all these, and score OF alhea
nrnhlams. are within the sweep OF
the church's ministry. They are the
inescapable tasks of twentieth CEN
fury Christianity.
The Curious Crowd.
Much is said about the BUSINESS
az city. but it is noticeable that
whenever any incident out OF the or
dinary occurs, be 1t the digging OF
foundation for new building. the
nlight Of cat up telegraph pole,
or the breaking down of an automo-
lille. the crowds seem to have ample
time for the spectacle Let q great
man come to town, and behold the
multitude that throngs him! The
nuesting Of these multitudes IN
Galilee for Christ is eloquent with
the eternal lesson Of the need for
more and worthier life interests IN
the average breast Half the evil OF
o,lr time Is not the result of premed1-
tated yiciousness, but consequence
az the eagerness for adventure, 1or
new knowledge, for fresh interests,
for excitement and diversion. It IS
the emptiness Of life that fills the
newspapers with scandal. We can
scarcely too often quote the words OF
Tennyson:
'Tis life whereof our nerves are
scant,
oh. lift. not death, for which we
pant,
More life and fuller that we want.
Lakeside Conference.
The gathering of Christian workers
by lake or sea for rest and conference
is no new thing, even though we re-
mark it as one of the characteristics
Of the religious life Of our time. We
find Jesus and his disciples driven by
many cares and longing for leisure, SO
that at last they take ship and go to
the other side of the northern end Of
the Lake of Galilee, that they might
rest and receive instruction
The bow that is never relaxed loses
its power.s The life that If kept for
ever under the pressure of work is not
the most efficient in work. Our times,
with their agitation for shorter hours
and more rest days, are preceivfng the
wisdom of the interlude, which we
here find written in the old story.
Yet there are higher claims than
those of personal rest. The multi
tudes which sought the master had
needs which took precedence OF his
own. Every great soul is ready to
spend itself in human service. Jesus
looked upon the multitude: he saw
them as sheep having no shepherd,
and had compassion on them. The
sanctity of his vacation yielded to the
greater sanctity Of humanity's needs.
An Old Economic Problem.
The thoughtless, carless crowd, bent
only on one object at time, had for
gotten to provide for it's next meal In
It's pursuit of Jesus. 1t had been SO
engrossed with his teaching that it
had given no heed to the claims Of the
body. So Jesus, as the dominant
spirit OF the situation, and In lesser
degree his anxious apostles were con-
fronted by the fact that here was
crowd OF five thousand persons with
nathin9 to eat. The careful business