it so in that particular district. The
Church was much to blame in that it had not been more ready to take
advantage of this feeling and to turn it to proper account. People had
often been driven away from places of worship. As an illustration, Mr.
Davidson said that in one of the churches in that locality a young man
entered and took his seat one Sunday evening. Presently the lady to whom
the pew belonged came in: she said to the young man, harshly, "This is my
pew, you have no business here." The young man took up his hat and
walked out, resolving never to enter a place of worship again. In a week
after, he was dead.

"In their various societies," continued Mr. Davidson, "there was ample
room for all; some were more fitted for one kind of work than another,
but they wanted workers of all kinds. There was a large amount of
Christian talents amongst them lying waste, and they were losers, no one
could say to how great an extent, through all eternity, in consequence.
When there was a cry of anguish from earth, Christ came; and now can we
refuse to utter the response, when there is a cry to the Church, 'Lord,
here am I; send me?' Help is needed, nor can the work be done without
human help." The reverend gentleman then called on Mr. Mathieson, the
banker of Lombard Street, who stood up in the table pew, and, after a
short prayer, proceeded to read a few verses from Matthew's Gospel,
describing how the multitude were fed in the wilderness with seven loaves
and a few small fishes. "In our time," said the speaker, "there was just
such a multitude exclaiming, 'Who will show us any good?' and in the
Scriptures we find rules for our guidance. We find our means of
usefulness in the inexhaustible love of our Saviour. No man could do any
good who did not feel that. Christ said, 'I have compassion on the
multitude.' What was compassion? Fellowship in suffering. And this is
required from us. It was in this the greater part of Christ's suffering
consisted. We may be ready to come to Christ, to have fellowship with
Him at this table; but the question is, Are we equally anxious to have
fellowship with Him in His suffering? It was the wonder-working power of
love by which Christ fed the multitude. The practical question, How many
loaves have ye? was one to be put to us. If our answer is, We have
scarce enough for ourselves; we have very little over, we must use that.
The manna that was not eaten at once became corrupt