Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1917-03-02
In the Religious World
6Y WILLIAM T. ELLIS.

had arisen. That is the commonest Of
all ways to deal with difficulties
dodge them. What the followers
thought was none of their business the
Master accepted as his responsibility.
Did Jesus smile to himself at the petty
prudence and fear Of his friends?
Would they never learn the greatness
of his resources? So to test Philip, the
canny, cautious business man of the
crowd, he asked. whence shall we
buy bread that these may eat!"
Be sure that this practical" disciple
had figured the matter all out. He
knew to pennyworth what it would
cost to give this host even little food
and it was more than the combined
resources Of the Jesus company.
AS DR.. Torrey says, philip is quite
a typical church treasurer; he believ-
ed in carrying on the Lords work on
strictly business principles" His cal
culating carefulness, however, ignored
the exhaustless source of supply which
lay in the character and power of Je-
sus himself. Philip was scared by the
magnitude of the responsibility, for.
getting for the moment whose servant
he was. Alas for us that so often in
the work of Christ we forget the near
ness and might of Christ himself.
A Boy-Plus.
boy is always plus. Wise Andrew,
he with a genius for finding folk, had
discovered in the big crowd boy, plus
five barley loaves and two small fishes,
1t was only a boys lunch and not a
very big lunch at that. That it bad
lasted until eventide Is the most elo-
quent of commentaries upon the alb
sorbing character of the Lords words
and works. Imagine boy forgetting
to eat
And the boy was willing to share,
which is in fine contrast to the dis
ciples who had wanted to send the peo.
pie away.
Imagine the wonder and pride that
his little portion-flve fiat barley
cakes, with two small salt fish for rel.
ish-had grown under the Savior's
blessing into feast for five thousand.
Thus does the Master take what we
have, the Titles of our lives, and trans.
form 1t into greatness. Nothing that
we possess comes to its full power UNI
til 1t has been made over to Christ.
The Wonder Wrought
Johns pet word for such wondersti
as this increase of the lads little port
ton of food into more than enough for
five thousand men, is Signs" Our
modern rendering might be Advertise
ments." These works told the charac.
ter of the Worker. They were Signs
of the supernatural character of our /
Lord. or course-and here is where
many stumble-Jesus himself was a 4
greater miracle than any of his works.
Believe in Christ as God and there is
no difficulty about believing in thesey
lesser miracles. admit the existence I
OF Deity and the possibility Of a y
miracle is natural consequences" The
poet Young wrote:
admit God-that mystery supreme I z
That Cause uncaused! all other wols
ders cease: "
Nothing is marvellous for him to do.
Deny him-all is mystery besides"
Many are the definitions Of miro
acle: and we pause to recall few
of them in the presence of this one,
done at a strategic time and place, in
the presence of many and irrefutable
witnesses, and Of nature which so 1
impressed the people that they want
ed to make the Miracle Worker their e
king DR.. McCosh wrote that mir
acle is "A work wrought by Divf.
Power for a divine purpose by meg
beyond the reach of man." st. Aug
tine called 1t What God performs
of the usual course Of nature as iSS
known to u.s." "a miracle is q nel
effect produced by a new cause, ant
that cause the will Of Cod" says DrfS.
A. Smythe Palmer, who adds, ''1n the
Divine economy miracle Is sum,
mons to attention. signal that he whqS
all along has been acting unseen II
natures laws is now about to speaH
AS the Psalmist long ago said, 'thas
thy name is near thy wonderofs worfS
declare, +" or to quote the suprerss
authority Of our Lord himself, "TEs s
very works that do bear witness C%e
me, that the Father hath sent me-" Tho
lesson concludes. This is of truly :.
the Prophet that cometh intoN th%F
world" said the people. a.