The Pulpit Commentary — Mark — Volume 1 — Section 341

sufficient supply. No fellow-creature can give what our circumstances demand and our nature craves; no fellow-creature can satisfy the necessities of one suppliant, far less those of the unnumbered race of humanity. " ~'rom whence can a man satisfy these men with bread here in the wilderness?" I. This language suggests THE ORY OF THE SPmITUALLY HUNORY FOB DREAD. Man cannot" live by bread alone." Unless he change his nature, or blunt its uruencios, and stifle its voice, it calls aloud for God, " " Far and wide, though all unknowing, Pants for thee ea.eh mortal breost; Human t&trs for thee 11.1'8 tlowin"', Human hearts in thee would r"est." Oftentimes do men try to misinterpret this utterance, to persw·.de themselves that it is not God they want; that they are as the brutes, to which due fodder and litter and shelt.er suffice for satisfaction and enjoyment. When one looks upon the vain endea- vours of misguided, self-deluded men, one cannot help crying aloud, in the memorable language of the Hebrew prophet, " Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread., and your labour for that which satisfieth not?" '!'here is a deep-seated longing, a recurring appetite, which prompts all men in whom is any spiritual vitality nt all to look for more than earth, than man, can give. We ask for truth, for without truth-and especially truth concerning God-is no satisfaction possible to the created soul "Oh that I knew where I might find him I "-him, my Maker, Lord, and Judge; that I might know why he has made me, why he has stationed me here on earth, what is the purpose of his wisdom concerning me I Mock me not with dust and stones, but give me bread indeed, even the true knowledge of God I And as conscience assures each child of man that, if this God whom he fain would know take any interest in him, he cannot but remark his disobedience and his errors, the heart within calls aloud for the favour and acceptance of the great King. "How shall a man be just with God?" "Wherewithal shall I come into his presence?" Will he "lift the light of his coun- tenance" npon me, and be gracious to me? Must my sins be a barrier between me and my God; or can he, will he, overturn and cast them away, and admit me to his grace and fellowship and peace? Turning his rrgard inward upon himself, and perceiving his own helplessness in the struggl~ which is not to be avoided, the poor and feeble child of man asks for strength. How shall I gain strength for duty in times of weak- ness and temptation ? How realize the intention of the Creator concerning me, that I shall enter into the conflict, sustain its toils, brave its dangers, and come forth victo- rious? And when the day of suffering and the night of sorrow come, can the human soul find comfort in the lessons of human philosophy, in the balm of human sympathy? Alas! these cannot suffice. Nor can aught truly soothe and effectually succour the weak and weary, the sad and lonely, the bereaved and dying, save the hand which fashioned the soul and made it susceptible to anguish-the heart that, by a Divine sym- pathy and consolation, heals the wounds that it permits. And when "heart and flesh fail," who but the Creator and Saviour can prove "the Strength of the heart, and its Portion for evermore"? No human plummet can fathom the river all must cross, no human hand uphold the feeble, trembling feet amidst the dark, cold waters. Be sure of this: as long as man retains a nature higher than that of brutes that perish, so long as his heart is subject to grief, his life is surrounded by trouble, his nature prone to sin; so long he will ever and anon cry out for supernatural succour and comfort, and call upon bis God. Spiritual hunger is no fancy of the sentimental, no artificial demand of the lei.surely and cultivated. It is a fact-a fact which (however it may be regarded) is not to be denied, and without considering which, our view of our human natnre and our knowledge of ourselves must needs be incomplete and delusive. Bread for his BOU! man will ask for, and, unless he have it, he will hunger, pine, and perish I IL This language suggc8tS THE SILENCE OF THE Wll.DEBNEBB TO THIS APPEAL, Out beyond the Lake of Tiberias, away from towns and villages, in the solitudes of the green hillsides, how was the want of the multitude to be supplied? Blades of grass were not ears of corn, stones were not bread. "Here in the wilderness" was no answer to the demand of the hungering-none I The wilderness could only leave those to perish who trusted to its tender mercies. An emblem of the world's powerlessness to mec&  on, vm. 1-38.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK. 32!)