them that hear shall hearken, the heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerer shall speak plain." As the Psalmist has said, "O Lord, open thou our lips, and our mouth shall show forth thy praise."

66

Has he done this for ourselves? So we should be constantly inquiring of our hearts, that our faith may not be the faith of "the word and of the tongue alone, but of reality and truth. The passage we have been considering affords the means of a reply. He has done all things well. Of the things which he has done well, do we habitually reckon this as the 'first and greatest;-not that he made the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak, but that he " gave his life a ransom," and "redeemed us from all iniquity;" that he "died for our sins, and rose again for our justification?" His power to make the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak, would have availed nothing to this man, unless they had besought him to put his hand upon him. And so his power to "take away sin" must be first acknowledged, and then personally sought, by all who would be partakers of his salvation.

3

1 Isa. xxxii. 4.

2 Ps. li. 15.

3 Rom. iv. 25.

LECTURE XLIV.

FOUR THOUSAND MIRACULOUSLY FED.

MARK Viii. I-9.

1. In those days the multitude being very great, and having nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples unto him, and saith unto them,

2. I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat :

3. And if I send them away fasting to their own houses, they will faint by the way: for divers of them came from far.

Our Lord often repeated the warning which is so needful to mankind, "Labour not for the meat that perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life." But whilst he diverted his hearers' thoughts from bread that "perisheth in the using," and directed them to the "bread from heaven," he was never inattentive to the wants of the present time. Whilst he taught men the value of the soul, he knew the infirmities of the body, and relieved them. So now he had compassion on the multitude, who had been with him three days, and had nothing to eat. By remaining with him, they showed an interest in the words of truth which he was speaking, and in

1 John vi. 27.

the doctrine which he taught. St. Matthew indeed acquaints us that "they had brought with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them at Jesus' feet, and he healed them." 2 But if they had no other desire or purpose, having obtained the relief they sought, they would have returned to their own homes. Having come to seek a cure for bodily maladies, they remained for the benefit of their souls. And therefore he had compassion on them, and gave an example of his own promise, that all needful things shall be added to those who "seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness." "Their bread shall be sure, and their water shall be sure." Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?"

4. And his disciples answered him, From whence can a man satisfy these men with bread here in the wilderness? 5. And he asked them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven.

6. And he commanded the people to sit down on the ground: and he took the seven loaves: and gave thanks, and brake, and gave to his disciples to set before them: and they did set them before the people.

7. And they had a few small fishes: and he blessed, and commanded to set them also before them.

It was as easy for him, "by whom the worlds were made," to increase the supply of food according to the wants of the multitude, as it had been at first to produce it to cause the earth to "bring forth grass,

2 Matt. xv. 30.

the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after its kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth." So that the disciples were able to distribute the seven loaves among four thousand persons: "and they did all eat and were filled."

He produced the supply, and gave to his disciples to set before the people. The disciples were those twelve whom he had chosen to be about him, and to whom he "gave power and authority, and sent to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick." 5 And the work in which they were now employed, distributing food to the assembled multitude, was a type or example of that greater work to which they were called, and in which hereafter they should be engaged. Those very disciples, who now distributed the food needful to the body, were afterwards to convey that better food, which revives the perishing soul. They were to lead men to Him who is "the bread of life" which bread, "whosoever eats shall never hunger." Accordingly, when his own ministry was now closed, and the great sacrifice had been made, and all things were now accomplished for the redemption of mankind, he commissioned these disciples to proclaim abroad the words of eternal life: those words which he had cautioned them to take heed to, when they heard them :" to "go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever he had commanded them."

But further, we see in this example the method by which the Lord continues to supply that spiritual

3 Gen. i. 11.

5 Ch. iii. 13-15.

Matt. xv. 37.

6

Ch. iv. 24. Matt. xxviii. 19.

food to every age, which every age requires. He appoints a continual succession of ministers, whose office it is to dispense "the word of truth," dividing to every one severally as he needs: warning, to whom warning: reproof, to whom reproof; knowledge, to whom knowledge; comfort, to whom comfort is especially requisite and in season. He has prepared in his word, what they set before the people. "The priests' lips keep knowledge, and the people seek instruction from their mouth." They are "ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God." 8

Not indeed that the Lord, whilst he thus employs his disciples in ministering to his people, divests himself of his own power, or conceals himself from their view, whilst he delegates the care of them to another. The business of the minister is, not to be instead of Christ, but to point him out to the people: to act in the spirit of those very disciples, when they afterwards said to the assembled multitude, "Ye men of Israel, why look ye so stedfastly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?" "The Lord Jesus, whom God hath raised from the dead, through faith in his name, hath made this man strong: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all."1 St. Paul writes in the same

7 Mal. ii. 7.

8

1 Cor. iv. 1.

9 The distribution of food by the disciples in this miracle is one of the passages of Scripture perverted by the Roman Catholics, to serve their purpose in claiming undue honour to the minister in place of the Saviour.

1 Acts iii. 12.