he was nearly all sold out, having only five
loaves and two fishes left. He is a generous boy, and he turns them
over to Christ.

But these loaves would not feed twenty people, how much less ten
thousand! Though the action was so generous on the part of the boy, so
far as satisfying the multitude, it was a dead failure. Then Jesus
comes to the rescue. He is apt to come when there is a dead lift. He
commands the people that they sit down "in ranks, by hundreds and by
fifties," as much as to say: "Order! order! so that none be missed."
It was fortunate that that arrangement was made; otherwise, at the
very first appearance of bread, the strong ones would have clutched
it, while the feeble and the modest would have gone unsupplied.

I suppose it was no easy work to get that crowd seated, for they all
wanted to be in the front row, lest the bread give out before their
turn come. No sooner are they seated than there comes a great hush
over all the people. Jesus stands there, His light complexion and
auburn locks illumined by the setting sun. Every eye is on Him. They
wonder what He will do next. He takes one of the loaves that the boy
furnished and breaks off it a piece, which immediately grows to as
large a size as the original loaf, the original loaf staying as large
as it was before the piece was broken off. And they leaned forward
with intense scrutiny, saying: "Look! look!" When some one, anxious to
see more minutely what is going on, rises in front, they cry: "Sit
down in front! Let us look for ourselves."

And then, when the bread is passed around, they taste of it
skeptically and inquiringly, as much as to say: "Is it bread? Really,
is it bread?" Yes, the best bread that was ever made, for Christ made
it. Bread for the first fifty and second fifty. Bread for the first
hundred and the second hundred. Bread for the first thousand and the
second thousand. Pass it all around the circle: there, where that aged
man sits leaning on his staff, and where that woman sits with the
child in her arms. Pass it all around. Are you all fed? "Ay! ay!"
respond the ten thousand voices; "all fed." One basket would have held
the loaves before the miracle; it takes twelve baskets now. Sound it
through all the ages of earth and heaven, that Christ the Lord comes
to our suffering race with the bread of this life in one hand, and the
bread of eternal life in the other hand.

You have all immediately run out the analogy between that scen