On the death of John the Baptist Jesus retired to the eastern side of the lake, oppressed with grief and longing for a time of seclusion. But it was one of his trials that he was forbidden the rest of privacy when he most craved it. The crowds followed him with such enthusiasm that they quite forgot to provide themselves with needful food, and therefore when the evening was come they were out among the lonely mountains faint and hurry. Jesus had not brought about this awkward situation. But he could not see distress without desiring to remove it. Thus there was an adequate occasion for the wonderful feeding of the thousands.

I. JESUS HAS COMPASSION ON BODILY DISTRESS. He had manifested this compassion earlier by healing the sick who were brought out to him in this remote region; and now the sight of the weary multitude touched his heart, as it became apparent to him that the evening shadows would find them far from home and without the means of providing themselves with their evening meal

1. The motive of Christ was compassion. This was the motive of his life work and of his atoning death. He came into the world because he took pity on the world's misery. The same motive moved him in particular actions. This is the grand Christian motive. The passion of pity is a peculiarly Christ-like feeling that seems to be rising among us in the present day.

2. The trouble was bodily distress - hunger. Then it is a Christ-like thing to feed the hungry. We are not to neglect men's bodies in caring for their souls.

II. JESUS HELPS THROUGH EARTHLY MEANS. He utilized the existing provisions. He did not create food out of nothing, but he wrought with the loaves and fishes already in hand. They were few, but he did not despise them, for they were invaluable in affording a foundation for his miracle. Christ now uses the instruments of human work. We have to contribute our share, and if we selfishly or despairingly refuse to do so we have no right to look for his blessing.

III. JESUS PRODUCES WONDERFUL PROVISIONS. We do not know how the miracle was wrought; we cannot even conceive of it. But we do not know how God makes the corn to grow in the fields. Nature only seems to us less wonderful than miracle because we are familiar with her external aspect and her visible processes. But behind all nature, as behind every miracle, there is the unfathomable mystery of life and being which God only understands. It is enough for us that our Lord is not thwarted, that there is nothing to which he sets his band in which he fails. He is powerful as well as pitiful. We bemoan the distress we cannot aid. When Christ is moved with compassion he helps effectively.

IV. JESUS SATISFIES THE HUNGRY. He gave no princely banquet, but mere loaves and fishes - the common barley loaves of the poor, the familiar fishes of the lake. His object was not to pamper jaded appetites - that was not needed in the keen mountain air; he simply fed the hungry. Moreover, he gave what he received, and of the same kind. He will bless our work according to its character and quality. He gives the increase, but it is according to the seed we sow - "after its kind." Surely this miracle is more than a miracle; it is a sacrament, a sacred symbol, as our Lord shows in the discourse that follows in St. John's account (John 6.). Christ is the real Bread of life, feeding hungry souls. - W.F.A.

The miracles of Jesus were:

(1)public;

(2)beneficent.

I. THE NATURE AND CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE MIRACLE.

1. When was it wrought? In "the evening." The evening of a day that had been well spent.

2. Where was it performed? In "a desert place." The miracle as to time and place encourages our confidence in Christ in the most trying and destitute situations.

3. What was the order of its performance.

(1)Christ's tenderness to the people — "They need not depart."

(2)The all-sufficiency which He possessed in Himself.

(3)The plainness of their provision, as well as the scantiness of the supply.

(4)However little you have bring it to Jesus, and He will make it more.

(5)His devotion — "looking up to heaven."

(6)Our Lord employed the disciples as the dispensers of His bounty.

(7)A lesson of frugality — "They took up the fragments."

II. REFLECTIONS.

1. In this provision see an emblem of Jesus Christ. He is the true Bread.

2. In the distribution of this provision learn the office and work of Christian ministers.

3. In the apparent deficiency of this provision we are reminded of the treatment of the Saviour and His gospel by an unbelieving world. "Five loaves and two fishes" appeared nothing to the supply of such an assembly.

4. In the real sufficiency of this provision we are instructed in the glorious ability of Christ to complete the happiness of all that believe. The multitude " did all eat and were filled."

(T. Kidd.)

I. CHRIST'S RETREAT INTO THE DESERT. He sought retirement; multitude intruded, yet Christ was not disappointed or annoyed.

II. THE MEN SITTING DOWN TO THE BARLEY LOAVES.

1. There is the want of bread for the congregation in the desert.

2. Jesus asks the disciples what supply they have.

3. Jesus orders the disciples to bring the loaves to Himself. Christ's way of giving us more is to begin with what we have.

4. Jesus next commands the multitude to sit down in order. The multitude needed great faith. We cannot first eat and then believe; must believe and eat. The disciples need faith and courage; sent by Christ on a trying errand — "Give ye them to eat. The foolishness of preaching becomes the power of God.

III. THE BREAD BLESSED END MULTIPLIED.

1. Jesus gave thanks to God for the bread in the face of all the multitude.

2. Jesus blesses the bread before he breaks and gives to the people; and His blessing breathed upon it fills the bread with an infinite fulness. Christ is the Bread of Life to the sinner dying for want; sweet to the soul in the desert.

3. Jesus breaks the bread and multiplies in the using; He breaks and distributes to the apostles, and they break and distribute to the people; and probably the people break and distribute to each other. Christ breathes upon and blesses the Word.

IV. THE FRAGMENTS REMAINING.

1. After the feast is finished there are many fragments over.

2. Jesus and His disciples live upon these fragments. The fragments are more than the entire supply for the feast. The more we feed on Christ, the more always is there of Christ to feed on; He increases to us.

(A. M. Stuart.)

I. Christ feeds the famishing world by means of His Church.

1. The food, though supernaturally provided, is carried to the hungry by the ordinary means.

2. The disciples were prepared for their work. They had to learn the absolute disproportion between the means at their command and the needs of the crowd.

3. We must carry our poor and inadequate resources to Christ.

II. THE BREAD IS ENOUGH FOR ALL THE WORLD — "They did all eat and were filled."

III. THE BREAD THAT IS GIVEN TO THE FAMISHING IS MULTIPLIED FOR THE FUTURE OF THE DISTRIBUTORS.

(American Homiletic Review.)

I. EXPLAIN AND ILLUSTRATE THE VARIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES CONNECTED WITH THE MIRACLE.

II. THE SPIRITUAL LESSONS WHICH THE MIRACLE AFFORDS. In the people we see a striking representation of the moral condition of the human family. In the provision we see a true exhibition of the blessing of the gospel. In its distribution we see the nature of the office of the Christian ministry. In the abundance remaining we see the boundlessness of gospel supplies. What personal participation of gospel blessing is necessary to our happiness and satisfaction?

(Dr. J. Burns.)

Scripture miracles are not merely wonders, but signs. This one is a symbolic revelation of Christ supplying all the wants of this hungry world. Three points — the distribution, the meal, the gathering up.

I. CHRIST FEEDS THE FAMISHING WORLD BY MEANS OF HIS CHURCH.

1. Economy of power. God does not interfere supernaturally, any further than is necessary. Christ's incarnation and sacrifice are the purely supernatural work of the Divine power and mercy; but, after their introduction into the world, human agency is required for the diffusion of the new power. Christian people are henceforth Christ's instruments.

2. Preparation of the disciples for this work. Looking at their own resources, they felt utterly inadequate to the work. Humility and self-distrust are necessary if God is to work with and in us. He works with bruised reeds, and out of them makes polished shafts, pillars in His house. In His hands our feeble resources are enough.

3. The disciples seem to have partaken first. Those only can distribute and impart, who have themselves found sustenance and life in Christ. And an obligation lies on them to do so. Power to its last particle is duty.

II. THE BREAD IS ENOUGH FOR ALL THE WORLD. The gospel addresses itself to universal wants, brushing aside all surface distinctions, and going right down to the depths of our common nature. The seed of the kingdom is like corn, an exotic nowhere, for wherever man lives it will grow — and yet an exotic everywhere, for it came down from heaven. Other food requires an educated palate for its appreciation; but any hungry man in any land will relish bread. For every soul on earth this living, dying love of Jesus addresses itself to and satisfies his deepest wants. It is the bread which gives life to the world.

III. THE BREAD GIVEN TO THE FAMISHING IS MULTIPLIED FOR THE FUTURE OF THE DISTRIBUTORS. TO impart to others is to gain for oneself. If you would learn, teach. If you would have your own spiritual life strengthened and deepened, remember that not by solitary meditation or raptures of silent communion alone can that be accomplished, but by these and by honest, manful work for God in the world.

(A. Maclaren, D. D.)

An emblem of the whole work of the Church in this starving world. The multitudes famish. Tell Christ of their wants. Count your own small resources till you have completely learned your poverty: then take them to Jesus. He will accept them, and in His hands they will become mighty, being transfigured from human thoughts and forces into Divine words, spiritual powers. On that bread which He gives, do you yourself live. Then carry it boldly to all the hungry. Rank after rank will eat. All races, all ages, from grey hairs to babbling childhood, will find there the food of their souls. As you part the blessing, it will grow beneath His eye; and the longer you give, the fuller handed you will become. Nor shall the bread fail, nor the word become weak, till all the world has tasted of its sweetness, and been refreshed by its potent life.

(A. Maclaren, D. D.)

I. THE URGENCY OF THE NEED.

1. What is wanted — food.

2. The urgency of the want — in the wilderness.

II. THE ABUNDANCE OF THE SUPPLY — "He openeth His hand and filleth all things living with plenteousness."

1. Like the five loaves the word is, in the letter of it. contemptible and mean.

2. The miracle instructive on account of its typical character; the disciples received the food they set before the people from the hands of Jesus. We should determine:

(1)To eat the food ourselves;

(2)To distribute it to others.

(C. Clayton, M. A.)

I. OUR MISSION AND OUR WEAKNESS. Hungry men around us. To feed them, superstition offers stones instead of bread. Infidelity tries to persuade that they are not hungry. You say " Who are we that we should feed this multitude, who can count them?" Do not let the magnitude of the work dispirit you. "The supply is scant" you say. There is a tendency to shift responsibility. "Let us send them away into the villages to buy meat."

II. OUR LINE OF DUTY AND THE MASTER'S STRENGTH.

1. "In immediate obedience to Christ's commands.

2. In consecrating what we have to Christ.

3. In prayer.

4. In active service.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

I. THE PRODUCTIONS OF THE EARTH AND OF THE EARTH'S INDUSTRY, OUTWARD POSSESSIONS AND BENEFITS, THE THINGS THAT ARE CONSUMED IN THE USING. Shut up your bread-corn in a granary, and though it may not rot, it cannot grow; but strow it Abroad over the furrows of the ground, and it will swell into a harvest. Lock up your piece of silver or gold, and it is no better than dead; but send it out into the world's free commerce, and the rusty solitary shall become a glittering host. An avaricious policy is dull-sighted and thriftless. It saves, but to be barren. Modern science teaches us that public wealth is born of trust and free communications.

II. INTELLIGENCE AND KNOWLEDGE, THE POWER OF LEARNING AND THE TREASURES OF LEARNING, ARE MULTIPLIED BY DISTRIBUTION. The human mind is not less ready than the soil to render back with interest what is sown in it. Jesus gave to the disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. That is the way in which instruction is imparted. It passes from one to the many. It finds companions. Truth begets truth; and you must have a company to show the supply. What would have seemed inconsiderable if left by itself, grows into great account as it is sent forward among those who apprehend it, and transmit it in new and manifold forms. It is manifested, it is accumulated, by travelling down among the sympathies and wants of those whose hearts love it, whose natures crave it, and whose ability and experience reproduce and recommend it to all men.

III. JOY, HOPE, AND ALL CHEERING INFLUENCES ARE INCREASED BY BEING SENT ROUND FROM A SINGLE MIND AMONG THE RANKS OF THE WORLD'S POOR SOJOURNERS. Nothing is more heightened by communication than just such impulses as those we here require. Joy and hope are social; they ask for companionship; they spread by contact and mutual encouragement. He who has awakened them in his own breast, finds them greatly enhanced by expressing them; and their expression is caught up and repeated by numberless voices that had till then slept.

(L. N. Frothingham.)

The tall grass which, broken down by the feet of the thousands there gathered together, would make as it were "couches" for them to recline upon.

(Dean Stanley.)

From whence God multiplies the crops of corn from a few grains, from thence He multiplied the loaves in His own hands. For the power was in the hands of Christ. For those five loaves were, as it were, seed, not indeed committed to the earth, but multiplied by Him who made the earth.

( Augustine.)When you give a loaf or a coin to a poor man, you do not lose it, but you sow it; for, as from one grain of seed many grains grow, so it is likewise with loaves and money.

(Lapide.)

Christ could as welt have multiplied the loaves whole; why would He rather do it in the breaking? Perhaps to teach us that in the distribution of our goods we should expect His blessing, and not in their entireness and reservation. There is no man but increaseth by scattering.

(Bishop Hall.)

"Send them away, that they may buy victuals." Here was a strong charity, but a weak faith: a strong charity, in that they would have the people relieved; a weak faith, in that they supposed they could not otherwise be so well relieved. As a man, when he sees many ways lie before him, takes that which he thinks both fairest and nearest, so do they: this way of relief lay openest to their view and promised most.

(Bishop Hall.)

The Roman poet Juvenal describes a large provision-basket, together with a bundle of hay, as being part of the equipment of the Jewish mendicants who thronged the grove of Egeria at Rome. The motive for this custom was to avoid ceremonial impurity in eating, or in resting at night.

(A. Cart.)

Likely he was weary in body, and also worn in spirit for lack of that finer sympathy which His disciples could not give Him. being very earthly yet. He who loves his fellows and labours among those who can ill understand him will best know what this weariness of our Lord must have been like He had to endure the world-pressure of surrounding humanity in all its ungodlike phases.

(George Macdonald.)

Herod, Herodias, Jesus, John, Peter, PhilipGalilee, Genneseret, Jerusalem, Sea of GalileeAte, Basketfuls, Baskets, Bits, Broken, Disciples, Eat, Filled, Filling, Fragments, Full, Fully, Gathered, Hand-baskets, Picked, Pieces, Portions, Satisfied, Twelve1. Herod's opinion of Jesus.
3. Wherefore John Baptist was beheaded.
13. Jesus departs into a solitary place,
15. where he feeds five thousand men with five loves and two fishes.
22. He walks on the sea to his disciples;
34. and landing at Gennesaret,
35. heals the sick who touch of the hem of his garment.

Matthew 14:20

     5227   basket

Matthew 14:13-21

     4418   bread

Matthew 14:14-22

     5279   crowds

Matthew 14:15-20

     5939   satisfaction

Matthew 14:15-21

     1330   God, the provider

Matthew 14:19-20

     2351   Christ, miracles

Matthew 14:19-21

     4642   fish
     5341   hunger

July 23. "Bring them Hither to Me" (Matt. xiv. 18).
"Bring them hither to Me" (Matt. xiv. 18). Why have ye not received all the fulness of the Holy Spirit? And how may we be anointed with "the rest of the oil?" The greatest need is to make room when God makes it. Look around you at your situation. Are you not encompassed with needs at this very moment, and almost overwhelmed with difficulties, trials and emergencies? These are all divinely provided vessels for the Holy Spirit to fill, and if you would but rightly understand their meaning, they would …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

The Grave of the Dead John and the Grave of the Living Jesus
'And John's disciples came, and took up the body, and buried it, and went and told Jesus.'--MATT. xiv. 12. 'And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy.'--MATT. xxviii. 8. There is a remarkable parallel and still more remarkable contrast between these two groups of disciples at the graves of their respective masters. John the Baptist's followers venture into the very jaws of the lion to rescue the headless corpse of their martyred teacher from a prison grave. They bear it …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Peter on the Waves
'And Peter answered Him and said, Lord, if it be Thou, bid me come unto Thee on the water.'--MATT. xiv. 28. We owe this account of an episode in the miracle of Christ's walking on the waters to Matthew alone. Singularly enough there is no reference to Peter's venturesomeness and failure in the Gospel which is generally believed to have been written under his special inspection and suggestion. Mark passes by that part of the narrative without a word. That may be because Peter was somewhat ashamed …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Martyrdom of John
'At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus, 2. And said unto his servants, This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead; and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him. 3. For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife. 4. For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her. 5. And when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet. 6. …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Food of the World
'He gave the loaves to the disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. 20. And they did all eat, and were filled; and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full.'--MATT. xiv. 19, 20. The miracles of Scripture are not merely wonders, but signs. It is one of their most striking characteristics that they are not, like the pretended portents of false faiths, mere mighty deeds standing in no sort of intellectual relation to the message of which they claim to be the attestation, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The King's Highway
'And straightway Jesus constrained His disciples to get into a ship, and to go before Him unto the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. 23. And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone. 24. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary. 25. And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. 26. And when the disciples saw Him walking …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Again on Matt. xiv. 25: of the Lord Walking on the Waves of the Sea, and of Peter Tottering.
1. The Gospel which has just been read touching the Lord Christ, who walked on the waters of the sea; [2566] and the Apostle Peter, who as he was walking, tottered through fear, and sinking in distrust, rose again by confession, gives us to understand that the sea is the present world, and the Apostle Peter the type of the One Church. For Peter in the order of Apostles first, and in the love of Christ most forward, answers oftentimes alone for all the rest. Again, when the Lord Jesus Christ asked, …
Saint Augustine—sermons on selected lessons of the new testament

On the Words of the Gospel, Matt. xiv. 24, "But the Boat was Now in the Midst of the Sea, Distressed by the Waves. "
1. The lesson of the Gospel which we have just heard is a lesson of humility to us all, that we may see and know where we are, and whither we must tend and hasten. For that ship which carries the disciples, which was tossed in the waves by a contrary wind, is not without its meaning. Nor without a meaning [2541] did the Lord after He had left the multitudes, go up into a mountain to pray alone; and then coming to His disciples found them in danger, walking on the sea, and getting up into the ship …
Saint Augustine—sermons on selected lessons of the new testament

Mr. Fearing Comforted
I think I shall be quite safe in concluding this morning, that there are some here who are full of doubting and fearing. Sure I am that all true Christians have their times of anxious questioning. The heart that hath never doubted has not yet learned to believe. As the farmers say, "The land that will not grow a thistle, will not grow wheat;" and the heart that cannot produce a doubt has not yet understood the meaning of believing. He that never doubted of his state--he may, perhaps he may, too late. …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 5: 1859

First Withdrawal from Herod's Territory and Return.
(Spring, a.d. 29.) Subdivision A. Return of the Twelve and Retirement To the East Shore of Galilee. ^A Matt. XIV. 13; ^B Mark VI. 30-32; ^C Luke IX. 10; ^D John VI. 1. ^b 30 And the apostles gather themselves together unto Jesus; ^c when they were returned, ^b and they told { ^c declared unto} ^b him all things, whatsoever they had done, and whatsoever they had taught. [They had fulfilled the mission on which Jesus had sent them, and on returning each pair made to him a full report of their work.] …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Herod Antipas Supposes Jesus to be John.
^A Matt. XIV. 1-12; ^B Mark VI. 14-29; ^C Luke IX. 7-9. ^b 14 And ^c 7 Now ^a 1 At that season ^b King Herod [Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great. See page 63.] ^c the tetrarch heard of all that was done ^a heard the report concerning Jesus, ^b for his name had become known: ^c and he was perplexed, because that it was said by some, that John was risen from the dead; 8 and by some, that Elijah had appeared; and by others, that one of the old prophets was risen again. [The work of Jesus impressed …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

First Withdrawal from Herod's Territory and Return.
(Spring, a.d. 29.) Subdivision B. Feeding the Five Thousand. ^A Matt. XIV. 13-21; ^B Mark VI. 33-44; ^C Luke IX. 11-17; ^D John VI. 2-14. ^c 11 But { ^a and} the multitudes heard thereof [heard of Jesus and his disciples crossing the lake], ^b 33 And they saw them going, and ^c perceiving it, ^b many knew them, ^d 2 And a great multitude followed him, because they beheld the signs which he did on them that were sick. ^b and they ran together there on foot from all the cities, and outwent them. ^a …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Miraculous Feeding of the Five Thousand
In the circumstances described in the previous chapter, Jesus resolved at once to leave Capernaum; and this probably alike for the sake of His disciples, who needed rest; for that of the people, who might have attempted a rising after the murder of the Baptist; and temporarily to withdraw Himself and His followers from the power of Herod. For this purpose He chose the place outside the dominions of Antipas, nearest to Capernaum. This was Beth-Saida (the house of fishing,' Fisher-town,' [3198] as …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

The Night of Miracles on the Lake of Gennesaret
THE last question of the Baptist, spoken in public, had been: Art Thou the Coming One, or look we for another?' It had, in part, been answered, as the murmur had passed through the ranks: This One is truly the Prophet, the Coming One!' So, then, they had no longer to wait, nor to look for another! And this Prophet' was Israel's long expected Messiah. What this would imply to the people, in the intensity and longing of the great hope which, for centuries, nay, far beyond the time of Ezra, had swayed …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

The Preachings on the Lake.
Such was the group which, on the borders of the lake of Tiberias, gathered around Jesus. The aristocracy was represented there by a customs-officer and by the wife of one of Herod's stewards. The rest were fishermen and common people. Their ignorance was extreme; their intelligence was feeble; they believed in apparitions and spirits.[1] Not one element of Greek culture had penetrated this first assembly of the saints. They had very little Jewish instruction; but heart and good-will overflowed. The …
Ernest Renan—The Life of Jesus

Be of Good Cheer.
"BE of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid" (Matthew xiv:27). "Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God believe also in Me. In my father's house are many mansions; if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also" (John xiv:1-3). "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart …
Arno Gaebelein—The Lord of Glory

The Rationalistic Explanation.
PAULUS. But the champions of this theory may admit all this, and yet fasten the delusion upon the disciples of Christ, who were so dazzled by his character, words, and works, that they mistook an extraordinary man for a divine being, and extraordinary medical cures for supernatural miracles. This is the view of the older German Rationalism.[75]75 It forms a parallel to the heathen rationalism of Euhemerus, of the Cyrenaic school: he explained the gods of the Greek mythology as human sages, heroes, …
Philip Schaff—The Person of Christ

Capernaum
From the things last spoken, we gather no trifling conjecture concerning the situation of the town of Capernaum. Josephus relates that the country of Gennesar, which we have described, was watered "with a spring of excellent water; the people thereabouts call it Capernaum." From that either the city hath its name, or rather that hath its name from the city; and the city from the pleasantness of the place. The evangelists, compared together, do make it clear, that this city was seated in the land …
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica

The Grave of John, and Another Grave
(MATTHEW XIV. 12.) "When some beloved voice, that was to you Both sound and sweetness, faileth suddenly, And silence, against which you dare not cry, Aches round you like a strong disease and new,-- What hope, what help, what music will undo That silence to your sense? Not friendship's sigh, Not reason's subtle count.... Nay, none of these! Speak, Thou availing Christ!--and fill this pause." E. B. BROWNING. "Tell Jesus"--The Sin-Bearer--The Resurrection of Jesus--The Followers of John, and of …
F. B. Meyer—John the Baptist

The Confidence of Prayer. --Matt. xiv. 22
The Confidence of Prayer.--Matt. xiv. 22. Why thus, my soul, cast down? And why disquieted? Black though the tempest frown, The surge pass o'er thy head; Wait the fourth watch;--for One who saves Comes to thee, walking on the waves. Lord! Lord! if it be Thou, Bid me come down to Thee; Jesus! I know Thee now, And walk upon the sea; Faith fails; ah me! the gulf runs high, Save, Lord, I sink! O save, I die! I grasp thy outstretch'd hand; We climb the vessel's side; And lo! we touch the land, The …
James Montgomery—Sacred Poems and Hymns

The Glory of Penitents and Pious People.
Who are they that compose yonder bright multitude? They are headed by a queen who does not wear a virgin's crown; and yet, she is so beautiful, and enjoys so intimate a union with Jesus. Who is she? She is Mary Magdalen, the bright queen of Penitents, and the star of hope to all who have grievously sinned in this world. She was once a sinner, and such a sinner! Her soul was the home of seven devils! She was a hireling of Satan, to catch the souls of men. But a flash of light came forth from the Heart …
F. J. Boudreaux—The Happiness of Heaven

Christ's Encouragements
'Son, be of good cheer.'--MATT. ix. 2. This word of encouragement, which exhorts to both cheerfulness and courage, is often upon Christ's lips. It is only once employed in the Gospels by any other than He. If we throw together the various instances in which He thus speaks, we may get a somewhat striking view of the hindrances to such a temper of bold, buoyant cheerfulness which the world presents, and of the means for securing it which Christ provides. But before I consider these individually, let …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Dancing.
DANCING is the expression of inward feelings by means of rhythmical movements of the body. Usually these movements are in measured step, and are accompanied by music. In some form or another dancing is as old as the world, and has been practiced by rude as well as by civilized peoples. The passion for amateur dancing always has been strongest among savage nations, who have made equal use of it in religious rites and in war. With the savages the dancers work themselves into a perfect frenzy, into …
J. M. Judy—Questionable Amusements and Worthy Substitutes

The Chronology
45. The length of the public ministry of Jesus was one of the earliest questions which arose in the study of the four gospels. In the second and third centuries it was not uncommon to find the answer in the passage from Isaiah (lxi. 1, 2), which Jesus declared was fulfilled in himself. "The acceptable year of the Lord" was taken to indicate that the ministry covered little more than a year. The fact that the first three gospels mention but one Passover (that at the end), and but one journey to Jerusalem, …
Rush Rhees—The Life of Jesus of Nazareth

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