Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-03-10
BY WILLIAM II. ELLIS

years ago IL was my lot TO De OH Ine
famine field. l saw hundreds of thou
sands of starving people, all with the
famine pallor on their faces. Among
the most dramatic of the experiences
of those crowded days was tour OF
the famine refuge camp at Chinkiang,
along with a woman missionary who
was going out to distribute medicines
among the sick. After we had talked
with many groups of these abject
creatures sitting on the cold ground,
my friend turned to me with a puz-
zled, awed look on her face. DO you
know what most of them say Is the
matter with them? Loss of appetite!
They say that even if they can fight
their way up to our relief station, and
get bowl of rice, they have no stom-
ach for it,. So they want me to give
them something that will restore their
taste for food"
Yet everyone of these persons, wore
on his face the unmistakable famine
pallor, as distinct as an Ethiopian's
hue. They were starving to death,
and yet complaining of loss off appe-
for the terrible reason that they had
reached that stage of starvation
wherein even the desire for food has
disappeared. They did not have any
appetite, simply because they were
dying of hunger.
delibly on my memory, l see the
plight of myriads with respect to the
food of the spiritual life. They do
not desire it because they need 1t.
Their souls have grown so emaciated
that they are incapable of the normal
desires Theirs is the saddest of all
fates, the nearest thing we can i'm
agine to the objectionable sin-they
have ceased to hunger for God. To
them there is nothing desirable in the
Bread of Life.
A friend from Hamilton told me a
story, a few days ago, that illustrates
this entire theme of life food and
life satisfactions, which is the les
son for the week. He had been sit
ting at the same table in the hotel
with a man of fifty or whereabouts,
who at length unburdened himself as
to the cause of his manifest unhappi-
ness. He was a wealthy man, and he
had lived for the qualification of his
senses; but now he had come to the
point where his money would not buy
for him those things which he had
once desired. His appetite for them
was gone. All the fires that had
warmed his life were ashes on u cold
hearth. He had lived for the flesh,
and now the flesh had failed him. He
frankly said that he would jump into
the ocean and end it all, except that
he had not the courage. He was
afraid of death, and haunted by life.
He had labored for the bread that
perishes, and had vitiated his taste
for the food of the spirit. He had
had his fiing'-and by it had dung
away his soul There is a way that
seemeth right unto man, but the end
thereof are the ways of death" Our
lesson is crowded with vital truth for
present living. All Scripture and all
of life illustrate 1t.
Seeking Short Gut to Eden
Our modern idea of seeking to live
without work, and of plucking our
daily bread from the trees of some
social paradise, is by no means new.
The crowd whom Jesus had fed, by
the miraculous multiplication of the
loaves and fishes, were quick to jump
at this alluring possibility. They saw
the bread in the sign, but not the
sign in the bread" Although they
had tried to make Him king because
of the miracle hoping thereby to ind
short and easy solution of the
bread and butter problem, they real
ly had not sensed the greatness of the
wonder that had been wrought. To
them 1t meant bread, in abundance
and without labor.
That is why the crowd thronged
the Wonder Worker, even as to-day
every man with a panacea for our
social ills will not lack for a follow
ing, provided he asks little and gives
much. Now the Lord understood
perfectly the secret of this sudden
illusions. He knew what was in man
and yet loved him. A lesser leader
would have been embittered by the
sordidness and selfishness of the
crowd. Many men in public life have
turned in scorn upon the public at
the first sign of ingratitude. Have you
ever listened to a wealthy man, who
has made large public gifts, rail at
the cries of "morei" which besiege
him? Times beyond counting the
milk of human kindness has been
turned to gall by unworthiness or
lack of appreciation on the part of
recipients of bounty.
Here is a wonderful thing, divine
thing, reminding us that God is kind
to the evil and unthankful" Although
he was never for a minute in doubt as
to their real motives, Jesus showed
no impatience or petulance with peo-
pie. He was not alienated because folk
were not ideal. He took them as He
found them-but He also tried to
leave them better. So with discon-
certing candor, He remarked, "Ye
racles, but because ye did eat of the
loaves, and were filled" If we want
to deal with folk after the Jesus
fashion we should be open-eyed TO
realities, yet patient and loving with
people nevertheless.
LOaves That Did Not Last
All the world is acutely aware to-
day that bread is, daily bread. The
underlying problem of Europe is the
problem of food supply. If this is not
continuous and uninterrupted disaster
follows. We are as hungry to-day as
If we had not eaten yesterday. Food
perishes in the using. All its work
has to be done over again day by day.
Yesterdays miracle would have to be
repeated to-day, and every day there
after, if Jesus were to satisfy the de-
sires of the crowd that had pursued
Him over the lake. And-though
they did not realize this-their pro-
gram required that Jesus should have
remained on earth forever, repeating
that miracle every day. Whereas God
is doing a greater work, in providing
through nature for the constant sus-
tenance of humanity. How unsatis-
factory, after a time would have heen
a Christ who merely worked miracles
for the crowd who could come into
His physical presence.
Life's greatest mistake was made
by this crowd of ad-hunters in
that they were spending their powers
for things that do not last. That is
what ails most of the pleasures to the
pursuit of which we give so large a