the nearest
groups would steal to His side, to get their supplies from His own hand.

1. Before touching upon the points in this sign emphasised by our Lord
Himself, it is perhaps legitimate to indicate one or two others. And
among these it may first of all be remarked that our Lord sometimes, as
here, gives not medicine but food. He not only heals, but prevents
disease. And however valuable the one blessing is--the blessing of being
healed--the other is even greater. The weakness of starvation exposes
men to every form of disease; it is a lowered vitality which gives
disease its opportunity. In the spiritual life it is the same. The
preservative against any definite form of sin is a strong spiritual
life, a healthy condition not easily fatigued in duty, and not easily
overcome by temptation. Perhaps the gospel has come to be looked upon
too exclusively as a remedial scheme, and too little as the means of
maintaining spiritual health. So marked is its efficacy in reclaiming
the vicious, that its efficacy as the sole condition of healthy human
life is apt to be overlooked. Christ is needful to us not only as
sinners; He is needful to us as men. Without Him human life lacks the
element which gives reality, meaning, and zest to the whole. Even to
those who have little present sense of sin He has much to offer. A sense
of sin grows with the general growth of the Christian life; and that at
first it should be small need not surprise us. But the present absence
of a profound sorrow for sin is not to bar our approach to Christ. To
the impotent man, conscious of his living death, Christ offered a life
that healed and strengthened--healed by strengthening. But equally to
those who now conversed with Him, and who, conscious of life, asked Him
how they might _work_ the work of God, He gave the same direction, that
they must believe in Him as their life.

2. Our Lord here supplied the same plain food to all.

In the crowd were men, women, and children, old and young, hard-working
peasants, shepherds from the hillside, and fishermen from the lake; as
well as traders and scribes from the towns. No doubt it elicited remark
that fare so simple should be acceptable to all. Had the feast been
given by a banqueting Pharisee, a variety of tastes would have been
provided for. Here the guests were divided into groups merely for
convenience of distribution, not for distinction of tastes. There are
few things which are not more the necessity