(79-83) strengthened us. If they do not get it they will faint by the way as they go looking for other provisions. We have the very thing which all of the household of faith need; without it they eannot maintain their standing, they cannot press on, they shall surely become discouraged. A thousand shal] fall at our side and ten thousand at our right hand without this needed nourishment. Let us be alert. THE USH OF MEANS—THEN AND NOW The lad who had the loaves and fishes and who put them at the disposal of the Lord. we may be sure was greatly blessed, although we hear nothing further of him than is here mentioned. It was a case of opportunity, and we may be sure that the boy thus willing to put his all at our Lord’s disposal, instead of attempting to sell it to the hungry at famine prices, received a corresponding blessing. The lesson for all is that whatever we may have of financial] means for sending forth the bread of life to others, or whatever we may have of knowledge of the truth, 1s neither to be selfishly hoarded nox selfishly partaken of by ourselves. It is to be consecrated to the Lord, and out of that consecration the Lord will bring blessing to others and increased blessings upon our own heads and hearts. The Golden Text of our lesson may be said to be the very heart of it in some respects. It was after Jesus had spent the night in prayer and toward morning came to his disciples still on the lake in the hoat—stormstayed—and after they had come to the landing safely, that some of those who had been with him and who had partaken of the miraculous bread and fish had returned to the vicinity of Capernaum and sought Jesus again, that he upbraided them and accused them of seeking him more for the ioaves and fishes than on account of the truths which he proclaimed; and using this as a text, proceeded to tell them of himself as the Bread of Eterna] Life that had come down from heaven, of which if a man eat he would never die—the bread of life everlasting. Blessed are our ears for we have heard! blessed are the cyes of our understanding for we have seen him! blessed are we for we have tasted of this Bread of Life! Blessed are we if ZION’S WATCH TOWER ALLEGHENY, Pa, we are still hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and day after day being more and more filled according to the promise. A FAMINE FOR THE WORD OF GOD-—-AMOS. 8:11 We live in very stirring times, in times when there is a greater hungering for knowledge, for wealth, for influence, for power, for everything, than there ever was before, Everybody seems to be hungry. Yet our day is so full of philosophies, inventions, sciences (true and false), money-making schemes, financial schemes, theological schemes, etc., etc., that the whole world is absorbed in attempts to satisfy these various hungerings of the soul. Yet these things do not satisfy even the worldly ;-—they still hunger and thirst; and nothing will ever satisfy them but the living bread—the Truth. Now is the time for us who have become “new creatures in Christ Jesus” to see to it that we dispense to others the true bread and water of life; and that our own earthly hunger for earthly things shall not be prospered or gratified at the expense of our spiritual hunger for spiritual things, but that the latter shall have our special attention and care and provision. _ ‘The more people are satisfied with earthly things the less inclination they will have for the heavenly things, and the more we are satisfied with the heavenly things the less of appetite will we have for the earthly things. The new nature flourishes at the expense of the old nature, and the new ambitions, hopes and desires at the expense of the old. Likewise when the old nature flourishes, it 1s at the expense of the new in all of hfe’s aitairs. Let us then, realizing the ditterence between the food that perisheth and the food that brings divine blessing—eterna] life—let us choose the latter, Jet us feed more and more upon the Lord and upon his Word and thus grow strong in the Lord and in the power of his might, and be more and more weaned from the world, its spirit, its hopes, its ambitions. We seek a heavenly country, a heavenly kingdom, a heavenly nature, and heavenly qualities, fitted and prepared for that heavenly nature. We have found the great Life-giver, the one who can and does supply this bread from heaven. It is our great privilege to be the dispensers of this bread. “Give ye them to eat.” “He that hath an ear let him hear.” QUARTERLY REVIEW—MARCH 27 CGioLbEN TExT:—“Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sichkness.”—Matt. 4:23. The Sunday lessons for this quarter have given us numerous profitable pictures and studies in the life of Christ. Beginning with his birth we have traced his life from boyhood to manhood, and there noted his consecration even unto death and his consequent begettal of the holy Spirit as the beginning of the new creature of God—the head of the church. We have followed him through the various steps of his ministry, noted many of his wonderful miracles on the sea and on the land, and in every particular have seen him faithful to his mission, “Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” his expression as a boy, seemed to be with him through all the affairs of life. We are to remember that while Palestine at the present time has a population of about 600,000, it had about ten times as many in our Lord’s day. Galilee, where most of his miracles were performed, as recorded in this quarter’s lessons, is supposed to have had over 100 towns of 15,000 population, or a total population of over 3,000,000. The people of Galilee were evidently thrifty, prosperous work people. The aristocracy centered more about Jerusalem, and the explanation is given that Jesus could no more walk in Jewry because the Jews sought to kill him. Hence, as we have seen, much of his time was spent in Galilee, and evidently with the people best prepared to receive his teachings. We remember that he was called the “Galilean,” and his diseipies were “men of Galilee.” The essence of this quarter’s lessons to the Lord’s consecrated people should be specially that of discipleship—following the footsteps of this great Teacher and Savior. He has called us also to be fishers of men, and we have responded to his eall and left all to follow him, to be his disciples, to share his experiences and whatever ignominy may come as the result of faithfulness to him and the truths which he proclaimed. To us also he has displayed his powers, permitting us to see and know things which are kept secret from those without. To us he has given the good tidings of the kingdom to encourage us, to inspire our hearts with love and loyalty. Blessed were those disciples of old, and blessed are the disciples of today! The blessing then was largely dependent upon the nearness of the disciples to the Lord, and the nearness was marked largely by the degree of zeal and devotion; and thus we must expect it to be today. It was Peter, James and John, who were the most zealous of the apostles, that had the special favors when such were to be given. And so it is today; those who most cheerfully, most zealously forget self and earthly ambitions, aims and projects, and who most fully give themselves to the Lord and to his service, these may walk nearest to the Lord at, all times; these may go with him to the mount; these may be épecial witnesses of his powers, and these in special times may be close to the Lord. Some, like John, may not only sit at meat with him, but sit next to him—in his bosom. In pro ortion as our lives are copies of the Lord’s all the time and influence at our disposal, outside of necessary obligations for things needful to ourselves and families, will be spent as he spent his time—in doing good unto all men, especially unto the household of faith. Vou. XXV ALLEGHENY, PA., MARCH 15, 1904 No. 6 VIEWS FROM THE WATCH TOWER THE ERA OF RELIGIOUS TOLERATION Dr. Alexander McKenzie, pastor of the oldest Trinitarian Congregational Church in Cambridge, and Dr, DeNormandie, pastor of the ancient Unitarian Church of Roxbury, exchanged pulpits recently; and the next Sunday the Rev. Dr. George A. Gordon of the Old South (Third) Church and the Rev. James Eells of the First Church (Unitarian) exchanged pulpits, and, later in the day, Drs. Gordon and Eells officiated together at the communion service in the First Church, to which Dr. Gordon invited his people. These facts have much significance when locally appraised, but they are only part of a movement by no means sectional or denominational. The pastor and pastor emeritus of the leading Trinitarian Congregational Church in the State of Iowa have just refused, on conscientious grounds, to belong to the Ministerial Association of Des Moines, “so long as fellowship [3334]
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