"And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with
compassion toward them, and He healed their sick."--Matthew xiv. 14.
It is often recorded in Scripture that Jesus was moved by compassion;
and we are told in this verse that after the disciples of John had
come to Him and told Him that their master had been beheaded, that he
had been put to a cruel death, He went out into a desert place, and
the multitude followed Him, and that when He saw the multitude He had
"compassion" on them, and healed their sick. If He were here to-night
in person, standing in my place, His heart would be moved as He looked
down into your faces, because He could also look into your hearts, and
could read the burdens and troubles and sorrows you have to bear. They
are hidden from my eye, but He knows all about them, and so when the
multitude gathered round about Him, He knew how many weary, broken,
and aching hearts there were there. But He is here to-night, although
we cannot see Him with the bodily eye, and there is not a sorrow, or
trouble, or affliction which any of you are enduring but He knows all
about it; and He is the same to-night as He was when here upon
earth--the same Jesus, the same Man of compassion.
When He saw that multitude He had compassion on it, and healed their
sick; and I hope He will heal a great many sin-sick souls here, and
will bind up a great many broken hearts. And let me say, in the
opening of this sermon, that there is no heart so bruised and broken
but the Son of God will have compassion upon you, if you will let Him.
"He will not break a bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax." He
came into the world to bring mercy, and joy, and compassion, and love.
If I were an artist I should like to draw some pictures to-night, and
put before you that great multitude on which He had compassion. And
then I would draw another painting of that man coming to Him full of
leprosy, full of it from head to foot. There he was, banished from his
home, banished from his friends, and he comes to Jesus with his sad
and miserable story. And now, my friends, let us make