eternal. And that is ever the characteristic of true
kingliness; it has a kingly way of doing the smaller things. I can measure
my own progress toward the throne by my sovereign attention to scruples.
"He that is faithful in that which is least, the same also is great."

The Lord is not oppressed by the multitude of His guests. "He Himself knew
what He would do." We need not jostle one another for His bounty. We shall
not crowd one another out. "There is bread enough and to spare." Even in
the material realm this is true, and everybody would have his daily bread
if the will of the Lord were done. There is no straitness in the gracious
Host! It is the greed of the guests which mars the satisfaction of the
feast.

And how careful the Lord of Glory was to "gather up the fragments"! Our
infinitely wealthy Lord is not wealthy enough to "throw things away." He
cannot afford to waste bread. Can He afford to lose a soul? "He goeth out
after that which is lost until He find it"!

SEPTEMBER The Twentieth

_THE PATHETIC MULTITUDE_

MARK viii. 1-9.

My Lord has "_compassion upon the multitude_." And (shall I reverently say
it?) His compassion was part of His passion. His pity was always costly.
It culminated upon Calvary, but it was bleeding all along the road! It was
a fellow-feeling with all the pangs and sorrows of the race. And a pity
that bleeds is a pity that heals. "In His love and in His pity He redeemed
us."

And the multitude is round about us still, and the people are in peril of
fainting by the way. There is the multitude of misfortune, the children of
disadvantage, who never seem to have come to their own. And there is the
multitude of outcasts, the vast army of publicans and sinners. And there
are the bewildering multitudes of Africa, and India, and China, and they
have "nothing to eat"!

How do I regard them? Do I share the compassion of the Lord? Do I exercise
a sensitive and sanctified imagination, and enter somewhat into the pangs
of their cravings? My Lord calls for my help. "How many loaves have ye?"
"Bring out all you have! Consecrate your entire resources! Put your all
upon the altar of sacrifice!" And in reply to the call can I humbly and
trustfully say, "O, Lamb of God, I come!"

SEPTEMBER The Twenty-first

_LIFE AS BREAD_

MARK viii. 10-21.

It is gracious to know that my Lord is "the Bread of Life," and that I can
feed on Him. It is fearful to know that I, too, am bread, and