_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!"