The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1910-05-26
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
Lesson IX.-SeCond Quarter,
For May 29, 1910.
THE INTERNATIONAL SERIES.
Text Of the Lesson, Matt. xiv, 1921;
XIV, 29 39-Memory Verses, 10, 20.
Golden Text, John vi, IS Com
mentary by Rev. .. M. Stearns.

/ SOlOSn text, JOnn VII % - SOHl-
mentary by Rev. D. M. Stearns.
In this lesson we are asked to con-
! slider two great miracles, which our
! Lord speaks of as "the five lOaves of
! the 5000 and the seven lOaves of the
4,O00' Matt xvi. 8. 10) on one occa-
sion when He rebuked the disciples
for their lack of faith. The former is
recorded by each of the four evangel-
| lists and is the only miracle recorded
| by the four. while the latter is record
ed only by Matthew and Mark. In
each case Jesus had compassion upon
the multitudes because of their hun
| ger, and He abundantly supplied their
need by miraculousIy increasing Il
very small quantity of food When
we consider who it was who did this
and how He had fed millions for
! many years with bread from heav-
en- and had brought water from a
/ rock for them, how He had cared for
! Elijah by the ravens and multiplied
the widows meal ard oil and made
| twenty loaycs suffice for 100 men.
! there is nothing remarkable in His do
| ing this great thing for His very
| name is "Wonderful" If we consider
/ the first miracle. the 1000 fed. we
/ shall, think. cover the other also. The
! apostles had gathered TO Jesus and
| had told Him all that they had done
/ and taught. and He had taken them
| aside to rest awhile. for there We're 50
many coming and going that they had
/ no leisure even TO eat q am cOnSid-
/ ering the lesson with Il harmony of
/ the gospels before me. The student
of the lesson should do the samcD
! 1t is said by John that the multitudeS
/ followed Him because they saw His
| miracles which He did on them that
were diseased. Whatever their mo-
! tive was, He took advantage of their
| gathering to speak to them of the
/ kingdom of God and to heal them
that had need of healing Gohn vi. >;
| Luke, tx. III.
| He was ever speaking of the king
! dom and setting forth by word and
| deed the nature of it, If we were
more like Him in this respect it would
be better When the day WAS far
! spent His disciples urged Him to
send the multitudcs away that they
might 90 into the villages roundabout
and buy themselves bread. but He
said what must have sounded very
/ strange. They need not depart; give
| yc them to eat" | believe that is still
| His message to all who have the bread
! of life There is in church work to-
! day an Andrew and Philip brother
! hood, and If they are doing as Andrew
/ and Philip did in John i, bringing men
! TO Jesus, it is well. but in John vi. in
| connection with our lesson, we need
| to take warning ana not example
| from Philip and Andrew, for the first
| figured as to how he thought the thou
! sands might be fed, and Andrew seems
| almost to ask pardon for mentioning
| such a trifc as the presence of a lad
| with five lOaves and two small fishes.
| They both seemed utterly to forget
| who Jesus was. They remind us of
| the mountain, or the day of small
/ things, of Zach. iv, :, 10, forgetting
| verse 6 and its teaching that in the
work of the Lord all must be accom-
! plishod not by might nor power of
man, but by the Spirit of the Lord.
| When Jesus heard of the lads loaves
| and fishes He said, Bring them hither
| to Me" Now, that is the one only
/ thing to do always-put ourselves and
| just what we are or have wholly and
unrescrvedly into His hands. remem-
| boring that He always knows what
| He will do, and when His time comes
to act we may hear Him say, Now
| shalt thou see what | will do" John
! Vi, 6; Elk. vi. y. 1t is never question
| Of who we are or what we have or
! can do, but only who is He, and what
| can He do To say or think Can
God do this?" is to speak against Him.
Jesus took the loaves and fishes
/ and gave thanks. looking up to heay-
en-, and, having blessed the food, He
| brake It and gave it to the disciples
/ and by them to the multitude, and all
| did eat as much as they would and
were filled, and there remained over
/ and above all that was needed twelve
/ baskets full of the fragments. one for
! each of the twelve apostles, and the
/ 5000 men, besides women and chill
dren, had been filled, a multitude sat
iSiied and the labOrers twelve baskets
richer than when they started. Which
was better-tO send them away or
| give them to eat? The disciples had
nothing to start with. but see the
| abundance they had at the close.
| Some one has said that this particular
miracle was the result of one little
/ boys giving all he had to Jesus.
( What story that lad would have to
tell his mother when he returned home
! of the wonders wrought by Jesus with
| her lOaves and fishes. and how strange
/ ly joyful he must have felt to see
such a multitude so fed and filled with
/ what he had given up! Surely he
must have become 2 devoted follower
of Jesus. How we %ould like to know
the rest of his story! l believe l am
greatly indebted to him for the way
the Lord has graciousIy used me in
Bible class and missions for over
twenty years. Although | had then
and have now a very small church,
with a comparatively small salary,