OCR Text |
Show new bapiist nm submits mmi Rev. J. E, Elder Rev. J. B. Elder trie new pastor of the Provo Baptist Church, has just recovered, together with his family, from an attack of the influenza which they contracted a few days after arriving ar-riving here from Grand Junction, Colorado, Col-orado, where they had spent a part of the summer. Rev. Elder hails from Ottawa University and his parents still live near Ottawa, Kansas. He is a graduate of this University and alao a graduate of the Rochester Baptist Seminary, 'of Rochester, New York. He and Mrs. Elder and their little boy arrived here about five weeks ogo and immediately after , renting Mr. J. I Lytel's home they all took down with the influenza. Mrs. Elder had a very severe attack, but is now growing strong quite rapidly. The following is a Bermonette sub- teacher, the Y. M. C. A.' worker, or the church, the Sunday School, the college. Thte is unfortunate. To be sure these give the bulk of their time to the training of the inner life. But why not think of every institution in the community as exerting a spir- itual force one way or the other We do sometimes. Why do we banish the liquor traffic? Is it not because our inner lives revolt against the thing The influence of the newspaper, newspa-per, the play house, the storo, the-railroad the-railroad office, the law office tha " factory, or any business or profession profes-sion upon the soul life of the. community, com-munity, that is the all important thing. Why, we have even used war the most terrible element in our civilization, civ-ilization, as a vehicle for the world's spiritual uplift. If we have succeeded succeed-ed in so doing may not even war be aligned with the ideal of Jesus? The words "of Jesus in his reply to the tempter is a challenge to every man and woman, every business, every nation to be primarily concern! with the influence they are gointrj exert upon that hidden life of hufwan-ity hufwan-ity which grows and thrives, not on bread, but on things unseen. mitted for the readers of this paper, by Rev. J. H Elder during the time that the churches are closed: "The Nourishment Of Life" ''.Man shall not live by bread alone," (Luke 4:4.) This is the reply of a young man wrestling with a temptation tempta-tion regarding tho investment of his life. It is just after the baptism and Jesus feels stirring within him those powers which are afterwards to make him the greatest figure of all time, How shall he use 1hese poweis? Alone in the wilderness there comes to him the vision of his people's poverty. He himself had known the trials of a poor home. He was familiar with that struggle for daily bread in the lives of so many in the Jewish nation. na-tion. His sensitive nature responded in sympathy to- these physical needs. Should he invest his powers in raising rais-ing above the poverty line thousands of his countrymen? It would be a popular work.- Israel was expecting a Messiah who would do that very thing. They had- 'The ay" in view, and that day was to be one of material materi-al plenty. There would be no clash for him with the religious rulers, and a monument would no doubt be erected erect-ed to his memory. In these things lay the temptation. But while the heart of Jlesus went out to the poverty pov-erty stricken he could not get away from the consciousness of a far greater need among the people of the earth. His reply, quoted from the Old Testament, Is the reply of His own heart. "Man shall not live by bread alone." i jesus aoes not say mat nunger ana poverty Of his deep concern for the physical welfare of people. His heart goes out to the multitude because they are hungry; he assigns Dives to torments because he refused to feed a poor beggar; he advises the (Pharisee (Phar-isee to feed the poor when he makes a feast; he puts the need of his dis- -clples for food above the Jewish Sab-Idath. Sab-Idath. These are not the acts of a man who is unconcerned about the daily bread problem. Always there has been in the world that cry of hunger. It was not peculiar pe-culiar to Jesus' day. Indeed, it has increased in volumn in our own time. Sums that would have seenfed fabulous fabu-lous to the ancient world are being ppent for relief of hunger alone. It is a Christian activity. It is the spirit spir-it of Jesus abroad in the world that makes men respond to that cry for bread. An individual is, in part at least, Christian when he helps to relieve re-lieve that need. A nation has taken a long step toward becoming a Christian Chris-tian state when it takes upon its own shoulders the burden of feeding the starving millions in distant parts of the world, especially when some of those millions have so recently been Its enemies. . Any unconcern for .he hungry of our own city, or nation, or the world Is un-Chrlstlan and contrary con-trary to the spirit of Jef.ua. iBut In his reply Jesus qualifies his recognition that men and women and children need bread. He says that bread alone Is not their only need. He ! implies that it is not the greatest need of humanity. Undoubtedly there are times when a person's greatest need is something to eat. If your child had gone hungry for twenty-four twenty-four hours probably his greatest need would be food. If a scholar came into your Sunday School class in - whose home theT had been no food for two days, you would make a mistake if you tried to teach lm the Beatitudes before feeding him. Some of the missionaries in the Near East have almost entirely suspended preaching and teaching that they might g'.ve their time to feeding the starving refugees. ref-ugees. Dut this does not mean that the greatest need or your child, your scholar or the people of the East, for every day of the year and every year of their lives is to be food. Food gives life, but, "Is not the life more than the food?" Food keeps us from suffering and keeps our bodies living. Hut" the temper of the spiritual spirit-ual nature which expresses Itself through that body Is of great importance. import-ance. Did not Jesus reject the one as a life calling that he might give the bulk of his time to the other, that the spiritual nature of man micht be Mi chief concern The training and the nouriwhrnent of that nature is pre-eminently Christian activity. ac-tivity. This does not mean the developing of a certain type of pious nature in people. It fs rather cultivating and Insuring a sturdy growth for those qualities which taken together constitute con-stitute what we recognize as Christian Chris-tian manhood and womanhood. Strong physical bodies are Important In an nrmy, bnt America has recognized that 'bru.d alone" Is not the mont ii, ;u nl tiling even for an army. A f I: r iHle Christianity, that in the t.vro of hiiI -it i cl nature America has "innt o iii' ch time n-ul money trying try-ing to put into her tcoops. :f;ihiT in thW the task of a few rro-'i -ssiona or a few institutions. li n we think of niinixtering to the Fplrlrifll nature niont of uh have in iaii.,1 preacher, the Sunday School |