It was Sabbath morning, and our little party on the yacht were gathered
about the breakfast table, Dr. Harold having just come down from the
deck, where he had spent the last few minutes.
"What of the weather, Harold?" asked his mother.
"It is cool and cloudy," he said in reply; "rather too cool and damp
for ladies and children to pass much time on deck, I think, mother. I
may gather the men there and read them a sermon, but the rest of you, I
hope, will be content to pass at least most of the day in these lower,
warmer quarters."
"I think we can very contentedly, if mother will lead us in some Bible
lessons," said Grace, with a loving, smiling look at her whom, until of
late, she had been wont to call Grandma Elsie.
"Very willingly, daughter mine," was the sweet-toned, smiling
assent, received by all the children with looks and words of pleased
anticipation.
On leaving the table they had family worship in the saloon, Dr. Harold
leading the service as usual. Then he went upon the deck and the others
gathered about Grandma Elsie.
Then Elsie Raymond, sitting there Bible in hand, exclaimed eagerly,
"Oh, grandma, I am glad of this opportunity to ask you about what I
have been reading here--this miracle of the Lord Jesus feeding so many,
many folks--five thousand men, besides women and children--on only five
loaves and two fishes. It couldn't have been nearly enough, except by
Jesus blessing it and making it more, could it, grandma?"
"No, indeed, Elsie. Five large loaves, such as you are accustomed to
seeing, would hardly be enough to feed fifty such hungry men; and those
five loaves were much smaller than ours--probably little, if any,
larger than our soda crackers; hardly enough to satisfy the appetite of
one hungry boy."
"There were two fishes besides, you know, grandma; but if they were
small ones, a boy could eat them, too."
"Yes; so no wonder the disciples thought it utterly impossible to feed
that great crowd of hungry people, and begged Jesus to send them away
to go into the villages and buy themselves victuals."
"Do you suppose they had any money to buy with, grandma?" asked the
little girl.
"I think it probable that most of them were poor people with little
or no money about them," replied Grandma Elsie. "And even if they had
money, they were too many to find sufficient food in the little nearby
towns. Jesus knew all that; He could see how weary and hungry many,
if not all of them, were, particularly the women and little children.
Jesus pitied and was ready to help them as no one else could, and no
doubt he was glad He had the power. He bade His disciples not to tell
them to depart, but 'Give ye them to eat,' He said; and they replied,
'We have here but five loaves and two fishes;' and Jesus said, 'Bring
them hither to me.' And He said, 'Make the men sit down.' John tells us
there was much grass in the place, and that the men sat down, in number
about five thousand. Then He (Jesus) took the five loaves and the two
fishes, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and brake the loaves, and
gave them to His disciples, and they distributed them among that great
multitude. All ate till they were satisfied; then Jesus said, 'Gather
up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.' John tells us,
'Therefore, they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with
the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above
unto them that had eaten.'"
"It was very, very wonderful, grandma, wasn't it?" exclaimed the little
girl thoughtfully.
"Yes, indeed! a miracle that none but God could work. It proved that
Jesus was divine. You have been reading Matthew's account of this
miracle; now turn to the sixth chapter of Mark, and you will find the
same story told by him. Then in the eighth we will find that he tells
of another time when Jesus had worked a similar miracle--when He fed
four thousand on seven loaves and a few small fishes; and they took up
of the broken meat that was left seven baskets."
"Yes, grandma," said the little girl, turning over the leaves of her
Bible, "and it says after that first time that He departed into a
mountain to pray. But after the second, 'and straightway He entered
into a ship with His disciples, and came into the parts of Dalmanutha.'
Where was that, grandma?"
"It was a town on the west coast of the sea of Galilee. Read on now to
the fourteenth verse."
Elsie read, "And the Pharisees came forth and began to question with
Him, seeking of Him a sign from heaven, tempting Him. And He sighed
deeply in His spirit, and said, Why doth this generation seek after
a sign? Verily I say unto you, There shall no sign be given unto
this generation. And He left them, and entering into the ship, again
departed to the other side."
"Weren't the bad men wanting to do Jesus harm?" asked Ned.
"Yes, they were, indeed," replied his grandma; "they hated Him because
He told them of their sins. 'Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites: for ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that
walk over them are not aware of them.' Then to the people: 'Beware ye
of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.' Again He said
of them: 'In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the
commandments of men.... Woe unto you, lawyers, for ye have taken away
the key of knowledge; ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were
entering ye hindered.' And as He said these things unto them, the
scribes and Pharisees began to urge Him vehemently, and to provoke Him
to speak of many things; laying wait for Him, and seeking to catch
something out of His mouth, that they might accuse Him. They were angry
and wanted to kill Jesus, because He exposed their wickedness. In
another chapter we are told, 'And He went into the temple, and began
to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought; saying unto
them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer; but ye have made
it a den of thieves.' And He taught daily in the temple. But the chief
priests and the scribes and the chief of the people sought to destroy
Him, and could not find what they might do; for all the people were
very attentive to hear Him."
"So they went out at night, when the crowds of people who loved Him
were in their homes and asleep, I suppose, the wicked, money-loving
Judas showing them where He was, and led Him away to the high priest,
and all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes," sighed
Elsie Raymond.
"Yes," said her grandma; "and they went through a mock trial, but could
not get their witnesses to agree. And the high priest stood up in the
midst and asked Jesus, saying, 'Answerest thou nothing? What is it
which these witness against thee?' But Jesus made no answer. And the
high priest asked him, 'Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?'
Jesus said, 'I am; and ye shall see the son of man sitting on the right
hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.' Then the high
priest rent his clothes and said, 'What need we any further witnesses?
Ye have heard the blasphemy; what think ye?' And they all condemned
Him to be guilty of death. And some began to spit on Him, and to cover
His face, and to buffet Him, and to say unto Him, Prophesy: and the
servants did strike Him with the palms of their hands."
"And He could have struck them all dead without a word, couldn't He,
grandma?" asked Ned.
"Indeed He could," she replied; "but in His great love for you and for
me and all His people, He chose to bear it all--all that and all the
awful agony of the death upon the cross, that we might be saved. The
Bible tells us, 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be
saved.' The dear Saviour, who died that awful death for us, invites us
all to come to Him and be saved. For God so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not
perish, but have everlasting life. Those are His own words, spoken to
Nicodemus."
"Grandma, couldn't Jesus have hindered those wicked men from treating
Him so? Couldn't He have made them all die that minute if He had chosen
to?" asked Ned.
"Yes, he could; but as I have just told you, He bore it all, and the
awful death on the cross, that we might be saved--we and all who
would give themselves to Him. The Bible says Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures. He took upon Himself our human nature that
He might bear our punishment and save us from eternal death."
"And all His earthly life long He was looking forward to that awful,
agonizing death," sighed Grace in tones tremulous with emotion. "Oh,
how can we help loving Him with all our hearts?"
"And striving to be like Him," added Grandma Elsie--"so unselfish, so
forbearing and forgiving. Think of His loving, cheering, sympathizing
talk with His disciples in that very night in which He was betrayed and
His awful suffering began. Remember, He knew all the agony He was to go
through that very night--in the garden of Gethsemane, where He prayed
in so great an agony that His sweat became as it were great drops of
blood falling down upon the ground. After that the betrayal, arrest,
trial before the Jewish authorities, with all the abuse heaped upon
Him there, then in the morning before Pilate and Herod, the scourging,
the clothing with the purple robe and crown of thorns, the mocking
salutation, 'Hail, King of the Jews,' the smiting of His head with the
reed they had put in His right hand, the mocking bowing of the knees
and spitting upon Him. Then He was led out wearing the purple robe and
crown of thorns, the cry of the chief priests and officers, 'Crucify
Him! Crucify Him! Away with Him! Away with Him! Crucify Him!'"
Grandma Elsie paused, her eyes filled with tears, her lips trembling
with emotion.
"Oh, how wonderful it was that Jesus bore it all, when even without a
word He could have made every one of those dreadful persecutors die,"
said Elsie Dinsmore.
"Yes," said her aunt; "His love and compassion for us sinners was
wonderfully great. Oh, how we should love Him, how carefully obey all
His commands! Ah, how sweet it is to belong to Him! 'Since He is mine
and I am His, what can I want beside.'"
"Grandma, I want to belong to Him," said Alie Leland; "how shall I get
to be His, and know that I am?"
"Give yourself to Him, dear child, asking Him to make you just what He
would have you to be. His promise is, 'Him that cometh to me I will in
no wise cast out;' and who shall doubt His own word? And how kind and
forgiving He was! Peter, who had denied Him, then repented with bitter
weeping, seems to have been one of the first to whom He appeared after
His resurrection. You remember, the angel whom the woman found sitting
in the tomb said to them, 'Go tell His disciples and Peter.'"
"And if we are really His disciples we will be forgiven, too, won't we,
grandma?" said Elsie Raymond.
"Yes; we will ask Him to help us to be so, and He will."
"Grandma," said Ned, "wasn't it strange that when Jesus could make
victuals so easily He should say to the disciples, 'Gather up the
fragments that remain, that nothing be lost'?"
"I think it was to teach us all that waste is sinful; that nothing
which could be made useful to us or to any one else should be thrown
away. Let us take the lesson to heart and carefully obey this,
and every teaching of our dear Lord and Master," was the gentle,
sweet-toned reply, the eyes of the speaker shining with love to Him
of whom she spoke, and joy that she was His very own for time and for
eternity.