The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-09-21
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.

BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.
The person who thinks that the
office of religion is confined to the
preaching of the simple gospel will
have to cut out of his Bible the story
Of the feeding of the five thousand.
He had Ifke-minded prototypes in the
first company of Jesus friends. They
wanted to send the hungry horde
away to shift for themselves. Not so
with the Master Himself: he never did
cOnfine Himself to preaching a 'sim-
ME eosDel" He cared for mems bodies
as well as for their souls. Much of his
ministry was in response to physical
need When He came upon an eco
nomic problem He met it.
The truth can not be escaped, as
we study this miracle, the only one
that was reported in all four gospels
a token of its unique importance,
that the mission of the church is to
all men and to all of men. The eco
nomic conditions of our time, the liv-
ing wage for every worker, the pur-
itv of the food which the people eat,
Fairgrounds for city children, the
Improvement of present social condl-
tiOns-all these, and a score of allied
problems, are within the sweep of the
church's ministry They are the in
escapable tasks of twentieth century
Christianity.
The Curious Crowd.
Much IS Sa10 ABOUT the buSyAeS
of a city, but it is noticeable that
whenever any incident out of the or
binary occurs, be it the digging OF
foundation for a new building, the
plight of a cat up telegraph pole,
or the break king down of an automo-
bile the crowds seem to have ample
time for the spectacle. Let great
man come to town, and behold the
multitude that throngs him! The
questioning of these multitudes in
iC a1Onl1Rnt with
the eternal lesson of the need for
more and wOrtheir life interests in
the average breast. Half the evil or
our time is not the result of premed-
itated viciousness, but a consequence
of the eagerness for adventure, for
new knowledge, for fresh interests,
for excitement and diversion. 1t 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 nerve are
scant,
Oh, life, not death, for which we
pant,
More life and fuller that we want"
A Lakeside Conference.
The gathering of Christian work
ers by lake or sea for rest and con-
ference is no new thing, even though
we remark it as one of the charac-
teristics of the religious life of our
ciples driven by many cars and long
ing for leisure, so that at last they
take ship and go to the other side of
the northern end of the Lake of Cali
lee, that they might rest and receive
instruction.
The bow that is never relaxed
loses its power. The life that if kept
forever undner the pressure OF work is
not the most efficient in work. Our
times. with their agitation for shorter
hours and more rest days, are per
ceiving the wisdom of the interlude,
which we here find written in the old
Etory-
Yet there are higher claims than
those of personal rest. The multitudeS
which sought the Master had needs
which took precedence of His own:
Every great soul is ready to spend
itself in human service. Jesus look
ed upon the multitude: He saw them
had compassion for them. The sane
tity of His vacation Welded to the
greater sanctity of humanity's needs.
An Old Economic Problem.
The thoughtless, careless crowd,
bent only on one subject at a time,
had forgotten to provide for its 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 a
crowd OF hVe thousand persons with
nothing to eat. The careful business
man in the company had figured out
that it would take th1rty-three dol
lars worth of bread to satisfy that
hungry host-and thirty-three COL
lars was more than the pooled re-
sources of the Christian Church at
that time could afford. The sum seem
ed small for such { large provision,
but it was only bread that the people
wanted-the large fiat loaVes such as
are still eaten in the Holy Land to-
day, and may be bought two for u
cent.
The selfish, easy way out of the pre-
dicamept was pointed out by some of
the apostles: send the hungry hordes
away: let their plight be upon their
own heads: we wash our hands of
them: their hunger is their own fault;
they are to shiftless to look for them
Felves. and therefore they deserve to
suffer. The arguments sound familiar, |