dy to topple over! See them! Is there
no help? Is this plea all in vain? I can not believe it, blessed God.
Oh, thou mighty One, whose garments are red with the wine-press of
Thine own sufferings, in the greatness of Thy strength ride through
this audience, and may all this people fall into line, the willing
captives of Thy grace. Men and women immortal! I lay hold of you
to-night with both hands of entreaty and of prayer, and I beg of you,
prepare for death, judgment, and eternity.

THE THREE GROUPS.

"And they sat down in ranks by hundreds and by fifties."--MARK
vi: 40.

The sun was far down in the west, night was coming on, and there were
five thousand people tired, hungry, shelterless. You know how
Washington felt at Valley Forge, when his army was starving and
freezing. You may imagine how any great-hearted general would feel
while his troops were suffering. Imagine, then, how Christ, with His
great heart, must have felt as He saw these five thousand
hunger-bitten people. Yes, I suppose there were ten thousand there,
for the Bible says there were five thousand men, besides women and
children. The case is put in that way, not because the women and
children were of less importance than the men, but because they would
eat less; and the whole force of the miracle turns on the amount of
food required.

How shall this great multitude be supplied? I see a selfish man in
that crowd pulling a luncheon out of his own pocket, and saying: "Let
the people starve. They had no business to come out here in the desert
without any provisions. They are improvident, and the improvident
ought to suffer." There is another man, not quite so heartless, who
says: "Go up into the village and buy bread." What a foolish
proposition! There is not enough food in all the village for this
crowd; besides that, who has the money to pay for it? Xerxes' army,
one million strong, was fed by a private individual of great wealth
for only one day, but it broke him. Who, then, shall feed this
multitude?

I see a man rising in that great crowd and asking: "Is there any one
here who has bread or meat?" A kind of moan goes through the whole
throng. "No bread--no meat." But just at that time a lad steps up. You
know when a great crowd goes off upon an excursion, there are always
men and boys to go along for the purpose of merchandise and to strike
a bargain: and so, I suppose, this boy had gone along for the purpose
of merchandise; but